Author's Note

For those just looking for the sexy time, search the page for:
Pump ze shaft, work ze balls

3- Close Quarters Combat (The Part You All Came For)

A fluorescent white beam shot out of the golden pad, shooting up towards the sunless sky. It rapidly shrunk to nothingness, motes of energy slowly falling upwards as Six and Phasma stepped off.

The room they found themselves in had a rocky natural cave feeling to it, but was far more majestic than anything that would be found on the surface. Only the Crystal Caves would hope to hold a candle against the sight before them. Past a blackstone platform ringed with more teleport pads encrusted with various jewels was a large open expanse reminiscent of a cathedral from old Earth. The walls were lined with crystal-like scales, glittering and shimmering in rainbow incandescent light that flickered behind and within them. Formations as big as a falcon helicopter extended from the ceiling above, a natural chandelier that cast the room in warm yellow light. At their hooves, a thin cyan mist clung like vapor in a cold room. Before them, a grand passaged yawned, lit up in all the colors of the rainbow. The blackstone path continued forth into it, plunging deeper before a flattening curve far below. At its edges– unlike the pyramid, intricate gold filigree etched out a rectangular pattern.

Phasma let out a breath he was holding. The next he let out was tinged with pink mist, but the third was back to normal.

“Where have we landed?” Six asked, relaxing once she saw the immediate area was free of hostiles.

“Somewhere deep,” Phasma answered. “You can’t feel it? It’s in the air.”

“What is?”

To show her, Phasma reached up and tapped his hoof to the tip of his horn. When he drew the keratin edge back, an arc of rainbow-colored static electricity danced between his hoof and his horn.

“Magic. It’s so thick down here that it feels like I’m swimming.”

“Great,” Six said through gritted teeth. “Will you be fine in a fight?”

Phasma traced a shape on the ground, watching the mist swirl, “I might be able to levy the environment’s ambient magic rather than my depleted reserves. I’m going to be slower in a fight.”

“What can we expect down here?” Six asked.

The changeling gestured towards the crystals beyond count that grew from the walls, “We are in the most magical place on this planet, Noble Six. This is Requiem! This is to changelings what the plains of Africa were to humans. This is our crucible. Our Garden of Eden. You can expect the greatest wonders you will ever see in any of your lives, as well as monsters so terrible that they fell civilizations with a sweep of a claw.”

Six considered this, “.... Do they bleed?”

Phasma laughed, “I guess we’ll find out. Or better yet, we don’t and can just pick up the MacGuffin.”

“Requiem,” Six recalled the name. “You mentioned in the briefing that the Queen’s kingdom might be down there. Down here. Have we been teleported to the front door?”

He nodded, “Without a doubt. The Red Queen would’ve built her palace down here. Let’s get moving, the sooner we get the MacGuffin, the sooner I can go home.”

“Let me try my radio. The Breadcrumb system might work through the teleporters, right? They’re both magical.”

Phasma shrugged, “The teleporter is not active now, but they might have an ambient channel linking them. Otherwise, how else would it know where to send its users? Might as well try.”

There was a moment of silence and stillness as Six suddenly found herself recalling her radio etiquette training. It had been just over a year since she had last used her radio. It had been just over a year since Reach fell.

“This is Sierra-B312, Noble Six, calling Breadcrumb. How copy?”

Six held her breath unconsciously, her mind playing a memory of Emile answering. He was the last Noble member she had spoken to, before she would join him in death.

“Six? I can hear you.”

The voice was quiet and full of static, and most definitely not Emile’s. Cadance’s radio etiquette left much to be desired, but Six was thankful to hear her.

“Princess. We have arrived in Requiem, in the Queen’s kingdom. No casualties. What is your status?”

“We’re back on the surface, looks like somewhere near the Rainbow Falls. Quite a walk back to Canterlot, in fact the Empire’s closer. We’ll wait in town for you two. I’m glad to hear that you two are okay. How are you feeling?”

Six resigned herself to the impromptu therapy session, “Tense. Phasma has told me that the worst might be yet to come.”

“That’s usually the best part,” Cadance said under her breath, not knowing it was picked up. “Understood. Keep an eye on the wayward King. He didn’t look like he was doing okay when we left.”

“He’s walking,” Six noted. “That’s an improvement.”

“Ask him how he’s feeling.”

“Why– nevermind, hold on,” Six sighed, switching off her microphone. “Phasma, Princess Cadance asks how you are feeling.”

The stallion squinted, “You know that brutal Mongolian execution method of tying someone to their horse and dragging them around, running them over rocks and stuff till they die? Something like that.”

Six flipped her mic back on, “He says he’s feeling better.”

“Good, good,” Cadance seemed relieved. “Now that you two are alone, remember all those lessons–”

Six turned her radio off.

“Right. What’s our heading?”

Phasma pointed towards the downward sloping ramp, “I was thinking we take the one exit there is out of the room, but if you have any better ideas, I’d love to hear them. Wanna try the teleport pads like a bad game of Russian Roulette?”

Six started down the path, slowing down a moment later to let the changeling catch up. She noted that he was limping a bit, and that she would have to pick him up again if they had to flee.

They descended even further into the planet, hoofsteps echoing uncomfortably loudly in the crystal tunnel. As she got her muscles moving, Six noticed that it was much warmer down here. The previous layers ranged from frigid in the Endless Dark to tepid and lukewarm in the Sunken Rot. But here, Six had no doubt that they were deep enough for sulfur pools and magma pools to form, if Phasma’s intel was correct.

She glanced backwards, checking in on the bug occasionally. His attention seemed to be on the walls around them, occasionally reaching out to tap one of the glowing crystals. Six decided that it would be best if she took full responsibility for keeping an eye out for danger; Phasma was perhaps too sluggish at the moment to be relied upon. So, she kept one eye on her motion sensor, and the other and the path ahead and behind them.

The floor began to level out, and the wide cavern suddenly opened up to a vast cavern. Its true size was comparable not to the endlessly busy Sunken Rot that extended beyond the horizons, but to the changeling Hive far closer to the surface. While the Sunken Rot felt like a cramped natural cavern with mushrooms extending almost up to the ceiling, this was too perfect to be anything but the planned wonder of a civilization.

It was perhaps as tall as the modern changeling hive within its cavern, but this crystal snowglobe was at least four times wider. Even from their low distant point at its edge, Six could see that this hidden world was divided into sections. Her mind classified each one, already assessing each one for dangers.

The first, where she and Phasma now stood, would be the outskirts. Crystal formations, pools and streams of water, great chasms, and thick rock formations that thrust into the sky formed a landscape similar to the world of a barren world, cast in neon colors. Like the world above, it seemed almost like a fairy-tale in beauty.

Next, ahead stretched their blackstone path, arching over a sudden drop and towards walls of solid crystal. Thirty meters tall, they glowed faintly with the same rainbow hue that imbued every translucent surface in this place. Six marveled how the crystal was formed not into chunks but as one solid piece, but lingered for only a moment, as beyond it lay something that existed only in paintings.

It was a twin of the changeling hive they had traveled through– yet this city immediately made the new hive seem like a crude joke of an imitation, a child’s drawing not fit for the fridge. The inhabited hive above was like a stalactite and stalagmite carved into a city, with drones buzzing to and from the various spires that hung from above or reached from below.

This ancient sculpture that dwarfed Canterlot was two pyramids, one above and one below. Its spires were perfect cylinders and rectangular prisms that were carved with generations of care and dedication. She could see a pattern to them, as if they were planned to form a shape visible from below or above.

Crystal, gold, gems beyond count, silver, copper, and metals that gleamed in every color shined from the spires and pyramids. It was the wealth of entire worlds. It was the greatest single art piece they might ever see in their lives. It was the Queen’s Kingdom.

And it was as silent and still as a grave, frozen in time.

“It reminds me of Nisir,” Phasma said, breaking the awed silence. “Though they didn’t quite have as much gold, metals, or jewels. This is… This is more gold and gems than I thought could exist in one world.”

Six’s response was quiet and slow, “Was there any place like this on our homeworld?”

He thought for a moment, “Any place on earth with a fraction as much planning was always mired by greed and corruption. There were legends of cities of gold on distant shores, but this is… There was perhaps one place.”

Six turned to him, attention fully captured.

Phas stepped closer and smiled, “They called it Tenochtitlan. It was an ancient city built into the lake of a vast valley. I believe it was one of the most beautiful in its height. No gold lining the street, though, as those who came to its distant shores would find. Pyramids and wide avenues of beautiful painted stone, colorful artwork, and magnificent carvings, and its king wore a crown the likes of which would never be made again. A plumage of feathers, plucked in pairs from a bird that would only ever grow two, seated headdress of gold. Of all the ancient wonders, I would have liked to see that one the most.”

Six frowned, “If it was so wonderful, why wasn't it taught or talked about in my time?”

Phas looked back at the perfect city, “Because its people were only known for carving out the hearts of their captives to offer to their cruel gods.”

“Six, come in. It’s Cadance.”

Six clicked her microphone on, “Noble Six reporting.”

“See? They’re fine. I told you they’d be fine. Six, everything is fine, right?”

“... Yes,” Six answered. “Anything else?”

Six and Phas had been walking down the path for five minutes now, slowly approaching the great bridge that spanned the chasm before the city. They had done so in silence, sticking close together and keeping an eye out for monsters.

“What do you think of King Phasma?”

“I think he is injured and operating at less than optimal levels,” Six surmised. “But the mission comes first. I agree with his thinking that a second trip is too risky.”

“No, no,” Cadance interrupted. “Like… Personality wise. What is your take?”

“He’s an arrogant ass who takes nothing seriously,” Six said, staring daggers at the bug through her visor.

“He seemed pretty serious back there when we were together,” Cadance retorted.

“And I like him for some reason.”

“Oh? Oooooooh–”

“Stop ‘oh’ing me,” Six hissed. “I told you this radio is for mission-critical information only.”

“This is my mission!” Cadance smiled.

Six definitely heard the smile.

“What is your mission? To annoy me?”

Cadance hummed, “Not at all. My mission is to improve your capabilities. Yeaaaah. Let’s go with that. It’s important to test boundaries, riiiiiight?”

Six frowned, “Where are you going with this?”

“Would you consider him a friend?”

Would she?

Six stared at the back of the changeling’s head, thinking. She thought about the moments they shared together, specifically back when she tried to kill him. He actually did quite well in that spar, and the fight would be very informative in case she ever had to face a skilled spell caster. He pushed her limits. Too far, considering what he did to her knife, but he also made up for that later.

She then considered the other moments with him. Talking about Earth and Reach, humanity, and history. He was a window to a life she had left behind. It hurt. It felt nice. It felt weird.

Six stuck out one of her left legs underneath him, causing the larger stallion to trip forward and fall onto his belly with a grunt.

“Oof!”

Six stopped, looking down at him, “You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine,” Phas muttered quietly, slowly getting up. “Just tired, sorry.”

It felt very weird, which only made Six even more annoyed.

She turned her microphone back on, “We don’t choose our brothers and sisters in arms.”

“No, we don’t,” Cadance admitted. “We don’t choose our family, either. Not often. But you did with your Spartans. Shining asks if you can picture yourself drinking with him. Something about comradery? Yes, Shining, I just asked that.”

Her motion scanner was still empty, so Six returned her focus to the question.

“We’ve already drank together once,” Six recalled. “It wasn’t horrible. He made an ass of himself, but we’ve already addressed that point.”

“Would you go a second time?” Cadance prompted.

“Yeah, I think I would.”

“Sounds like he’s a friend, then,” Cadance replied. “Maybe not one you’d chosen, but one you don’t want to let go of?”

Six ground her teeth together, “... Is there anything else you needed?”

“It’s really boring up here, you’re the only interesting pony I can talk to,” Cadance sighed.

“I’m not a pony.”

“Yes, yes, you are so interesting Shiny. I meant… I am feeling hungry, can you go get us something to eat? Love you! Now… Six. Six, six, six. Six. Six!”

“Princess Cadance.”

“Would you kiss him?”

Six killed her radio, welcoming the silence.

‘Seriously, what is it with these ponies?’

By the time the two had reached the great bridge, Six still was turning in circles in her head. The pair walked up to the edge and gazed down, finding a moat of molten lava several dozen meters below. Around the edges of the chasm, waterfalls fell into open air, spraying rainbow mist in stark contrast to the deadly molten floor.

“Is that even a possible geological formation?” Six asked Phas.

He nudged her shoulder, “Magic ‘n shit. If it wasn’t before, it is here. C’mon, the doors are up ahead.”

At the far end of the bridge, which was easily a hundred meters long by itself, were two massive steel doors were covered in carvings that Six was too far and too mentally distant to care about. The Queensblood lining many of the carvings was a different matter. It branched out from the hinges like tree branches; but when it pulsed, Six likened it more to a circulatory system.

“The defense system is still online,” she told Phas.

“Stay close,” he advised, and Six did as suggested, squeezing against him. “I don’t know if it’s designed to attack ponies or anything non-changeling. My aura should cover you, or maybe trick the defenses into thinking you’re podded or something.”

“Mages have a hard time detecting me through my shield,” Six said. “Perhaps all magic has trouble detecting me through it?”

Phas’s horn glowed orange as he scanned the bridge, “It’s stable. In fact, it’s probably even stronger than the foundation of Canterlot. Suck it ponies, changelings are superior builders!”

With that, he stepped forward onto the bridge and over the moat of lava. Six followed immediately, sticking against the tall insect, keeping an eye out around them. But despite the fact that she could not forget that they were right above a pit of certain death, the journey across the bridge went by quickly and in silence, much like their walk to it.

The doors loomed above them, stretched in size as with everything else they had found beneath the changeling’s hive. They seemed closer in family to the blast doors of the Charon class light frigate than something that would be used by people. The Queensblood pulsed faster as the two approached, and Six found herself pressing even harder against Phas.

“Just gonna slowly walk through the front door,” Phas said quietly, slinking forward towards a gap between the massive gates. “Shhh, nice creepy blood magic. We’re all cool here.”

The pair squeezed past, Six’s armor scraping the edges of the metal as she followed Phas. Now through the curtain wall, the two got their first look at the outer district of the immaculate city. The streets were lined with rows of squarish buildings that were more in line with the angular architecture of changelings and humanity than ponies. But these homes and shops were empty husks. Window frames and doorways stood empty, stalls lay completely bare, gardens were completely flat and featureless, and grand avenues of dirt on either side of the main thoroughfare were utterly dead. Metal circular grates indicated where trees might have stood, or some facsimile of tall growths. But as far as the eye can see, there was nothing but bare featureless dirt. Six spied boxes of dirt beneath windows that were just as empty, and lattice fences that might have supported ivy were just as stark and naked.

The whole city was sterile.

A shiver went down Six’s spine as they examined the closest house. It was empty. With no windows, doors, or furniture inside, it was as if someone sucked out every bit of life and personality from the home. And every single building was like this.

“We,” Six said, then paused as her voice echoed farther than she wanted. “We should keep moving,” she said more quietly.

She tugged at her suit’s collar, feeling hotter inside her suit. Not quite re-entry hot, but it was noticeable. They turned away, towards the heart of the city. The buildings grew taller as they moved.

“I’ve heard stories of the Second Hive,” Phas whispered as they set forth toward the great pyramid ahead. “A washed-up skeleton, haunted by its sins. This place seems nothing like it. The Second was at least… there was life in its decay. Nothing is here. Not even the wind.”

Six felt like there was something missing with what the King said. Some unremarked fact that had escaped both of their notice. This whole city instilled the idea in her mind that things were just… off.

Old instincts kicked in and Six kept glancing at her motion sensor every second, expecting an ambush. She stared at the eaves and roofs of the buildings, looking for jackals. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for any sign of movement that betrayed the presence of a camouflage sangheili.

The fact that nothing continued to happen only made the paranoia worse.

“Phas,” she whispered.

“Six.”

“There’s too many angles. Too many nests. We need to get out of the open.”

“Six? The way forward is… forward?”

She grabbed him, jerking the stallion backwards as her hoof threatened to crack his chitin shoulder.

“Too. Exposed.”

Phas looked around, horn glowing orange. His eyes glowed, too, lit up with his magic.

“There’s nothing, Six. No souls around us, and I detect no malevolent magic that heralds the undead. We’re alone.”

But Six couldn’t shake the feeling that they weren’t.

“We can’t be,” she insisted, staring into empty windows.

Phas relented, reaching across her chest and grabbing her far shoulder to lead her off the street. They took a side way off the main path, plunging into the rows of blank buildings. Six’s paranoia retreated, but did not vanish. They were being watched. Her heart beat hard, pushing adrenaline through her veins as she tensed her wings.

“We need cover,” Six said quickly.

This time, she pushed him towards a seven-story tower, pressing up against the wall beside the doorway as he stumbled forward. He fell again, flat on his belly with another ‘oof.’ Seeing her in combat mode, Phas huffed and rolled to the side, pressing against a wall and out of direct sight from the doorway.

“What is…. Uh,” Phas mumbled. “Hold on, hold on,” he said as he opened his armored saddle bags and pulled out a black marker.

He tested it on his right fetlock, then clicked his tongue as the black-on-black didn’t really show up. He wrote the word ‘Danger?’ onto the ground and looked around.

“There was one god in this layer I was warned about,” he told Six, staring at the doorway. “That Which Consumes. The Good Friend. Subject 004. It has many names, and even more victims.”

“What is it?” Six asked, eyeing the street wearily.

“I don’t know. No one does. That’s how it gets you. You can’t remember it when you look away. It’s the Silence.”

“How do you kill it?”

Phas looked down at his writing. Beneath the word ‘Danger’ was just empty space.

“You have to find out if you’re being hunted first. Then, you stab it with the pointy end till it stops moving. So far, so good. We could be freaking out over nothing…”

“What do you suggest our next move is?”

Phas looked around, “We should get somewhere high. Somewhere where we can see it coming, somewhere overlooking a number of streets.”

If this were a movie, it would have been raining out. The water would have pitter-pattered off the metal shingles of the tall tower Six and Phas were holed up in. It would have forced them to huddle close against a fire for warmth. But this was no movie. Down here, the stillness was jarring. Utter silence dominated the city, not even the sound of wind blowing disturbed them way above the ground, twelve stories up.

Six glanced down at the marker held in her hoof. There was still nothing below the word danger.

“What am I looking for, again? How will I know when I’ve found it?”

Phas looked up from his spot on the ground, “When you check your little message and find something there that you didn’t write. If that thing is here, we should be able to spy it. I know it’s not small.”

“Large enough to appear over the rooftops?”

He nodded, “So it would seem.”

Six went back to her silent vigil, hoping for an uneventful night. Or, at least, what she considered night, the time of day was always bright, despite there being no sun. Six had experience with guard duty, having to sit around and wait countless times in her brief stint in the military, which has lasted two lifetimes at this point.

An hour was easy to pass by.

Two was a struggle, without even the wind to cool her down. It really was warm in this city.

Three was getting painful. She had looked around for a reprieve, anything to occupy her time, but this tower– which must have once held a large bell– was just as featureless as every other building.

At fours, she woke Phas. Both to sake her need for stimulus, and to get him ready for his watch.

“Nothing,” she reported. “Are we sure it’s here? It might be something unique to your world.”

Phas stretched like a cat, sticking his rear into the air, “It could be. My world definitely seems more dangerous than most. An uneventful night means we should be all clear. If it’s hiding somewhere, then there’s nothing we can do.”

Her face twitched, “That is not an acceptable answer.”

Phas walked over and sat down next to her, peering out the wide open wall-less side of their impromptu camp. After looking around, he turned towards her, smiling.

“Welcome to my worlds. Sleep is hard to come by, and good conversation even harder.”

Six reached up and freed the airtight locks on her neck, popping off her helmet and letting her mane spring free. She set the helmet down and tugged uselessly at her armor’s collar.

“It’s too hot down here, and my suit’s cooling isn’t helping. An orbital reentry isn’t this hot, damn it!”

Phas chuckled, “Bugs like it warm. For some damn reason, we put our ancient city in a fucking frozen mountain on my world. It sucks. How long can a Spartan stay in their armor, by the way?”

Six wiped the sweat off her brow, “Until the thing falls off by itself.”

“Uh-huh. You smell like a fursuiter.”

She scowled, “The hell is a fursuiter?”

His smile widened even more, “Hahaha. It’s… nevermind. Don’t worry about it, we’ll get a cold shower when we get back. Go lay down and sleep, you’ll need it.”

“It’s too hot to rest,” Six complained.

Phas reached up and pressed his fetlock to her forehead.

“Are you feeling ill?”

Six’s scowl began to scowl, “No. I am fine. It’s just too hot here.”

“It ain’t that hot,” Phas said, horn lighting up in his magic again.

Six felt sudden relief as a block of ice materialized on top of her head and on the back of her neck. Her expressions softened, even going so far as to tighten into a small smile.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Phas winked. “Actually, do mention it. Your Luna really thinks low of me.”

Six sat back, starting to relax somewhat, “You didn’t make the best first impression.”

“Yeah, I’m not good at those. My teacher says I ‘don’t play well with others,’ whatever that means,” he said, motioning air quotes with his hooves.

She grinned and chuckled, “You should have seen my first impression.”

The bug pursed his lips in thought, “Let me guess, you crashed through a staircase because your armor weighs so much? There’s diets for that, you know.”

Six laughed, throwing her head back and pressing her muzzle up against the ice before looking back down at him.

“No, they arrested me.”

“Oh, psshh,” Phas dismissively waved his hoof. “They like doing that. I’ve gotten arrested dozens of times, I tell ya. Dozens.”

“Care to recount your crimes?”

Phas scooted over till he was bumping shoulders from her and took the marker from her hoof. As he began his watch and looked out over the city, he recalled some tales to tell.

“I think the funniest was when Prince Solaris called the daily court in. Not many ponies were fond of the idea of their Princess suddenly having a penis. I think it was funny, especially when Celestia showed up.”

She laughed again, pushing a lock of her mane out of her face, “What happened next?”

Phas shrugged, “What do you think? I called her a changeling imposter and ordered the guards to arrest her!”

The two of them broke into laughter, enjoying their moment together.

Six wiped away a tear, “I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in years. Or… maybe in my life?”

“Oh,” Phas’s eyes widened. “Then I probably shouldn’t tell you about the part where I tackled her, rolled over, and tried convincing the guards that she was the fake Celestia, not me. Despite the fact that she had ruled as a Princess for thousands of years, they still were pausing to point their spears at me. I tell you, with magic, any prank is possible.”

She grunted, “Mmm!”

Six’s grip on her helmet tightened, and she drew little circles on the top of it as she tried to recall any pranks she pulled. Or any jokes she told. Or anything that had something to do with living, and not just surviving.

‘Did I even have a life before this?’

“I hear all this talk about Cadance about love and life, but I just don’t get it.” Six looked up, meeting Phas’s stare as she spoke her thoughts out loud. “All my life, I’ve been trained to be a soldier, a Spartan, a gun for someone to point at their problem and tell me to make it disappear. I’ve never had what Cadance calls a childhood, or senior year, or college. That type of thing. That wasn’t… I don’t know what life is outside of being a Spartan. And… quite frankly, I’m afraid.”

Phas looked away, tapping the marker on the ground for a moment, before looking back at her. He reached over and pressed a hoof against her chin, lifting it up so their muzzles were pointed at each other.

“Remember what I said the last time you told me this, Six? There’s no straight answer. You’ve been on the other side of the razorwire. You’re always gonna have that twitch, that instinct to respond to danger. You aren’t the first to be like this, and you won’t be the last. I think you should start somewhere small. Build a life, piece by piece, and as the years drag by, you can look back and suddenly find yourself with something to be proud of.”

“How do I start?” Six asked him.

She almost leaned forward. She almost pressed her muzzle against his. But she didn’t know why she wanted to, so she ignored the idea.

“One hoof forward at a time. Friendships, then hobbies, then pull your hair out while looking at buying a house or apartment, then… Hopefully, by then, you’ve found someone. Some best friend who you wanna bang. That’s love, by the way.”

He chuckled, then pressed a hoof to his horn, hissing in pain.

“Are you okay?” Six asked.

“Yeah, fine. Just forgot to use the ambient mana to summon that ice. I’ll be fine.”

Six snorted, “Really? You were defeated by a chunk of ice? The great King Phasma, brought low by solid water?”

He whined, “My reserves are empty! At my peak, I could cast two dozen of those sun spells! Or like, one really big one!”

“Then why didn’t you recharge,’” Six added air quotes, “when we started this mission?”

He shook his head, “It ain’t that easy. Recharging love stores, well, there’s two options. Either I find someone who won’t be missed and drain them to the point where they are an emaciated husk, or I try something even rarer.”

“What is that?”

Phas raised his eyebrows, “Use the traditional methods of gathering love. I seldom use them, but they are there.”

“What is it?” Six asked, curiosity shining in her voice. “I don’t know much about changeling biology… Other than the colors inside,” she added at the end sheepishly.

The stallion rubbed the back of his neck, “You know. Gathering love. Making it. Sex. I’m talking about sex, Six.”

“Ah.” Six blinked slowly, “I believe that was stunted in Spartan creation. It would interfere with our operations too much, so the sex drive is suppressed during a Spartan’s augmentation.”

Phas frowned, “Oh. Shit, Six, I didn’t know. That’s…”

“I didn’t know, either,” Six continued. “It’s hard to miss something you never had.”

He exhaled slowly, “Man. I guess the brightside is that you still got bones of adamantium or vibranium or whatever?”

“And I have wings,” Six smiled, extending them and showing them off. “Not that I can fly, but clearly I gained some things with the arrival to this world.”

“Oh yeah,” Phas leaned in close. “What else did you get?”

Six stared into his orange-slitted eyes. The complexity, the color, the shape, it was… soothing, in a strange way. Six briefly thought this was what it’s like to have a favorite color.

“The annoying itch of having to preen feathers.”

He chuckled, “Yeah, that sounds annoying.”

“And…” she continued.

“And?”

“The need to do this,” Six whispered, and leaned forward.

She pressed her lips against his. His eyes widened in surprise before slowly settling. Phas reached around and pressed against her back, forcing her to lean against him. She wrapped her hooves around his chest, hugging the stallion. Six noticed the faint sense of suction on her lips and mimicked it, guessing that was part of the whole ‘kissing’ thing.

Phas pulled back, breaking the kiss with a giggle, “Mwah! Hahaha, slow down there, Six. If you fall onto me you might squish me.”

Six’s ears pinned back as her muzzle reddened for the first time in both of her lives, and she sat back, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have– that– I don’t know what came over me.”

He reached up and brushed her cheek, “Don’t apologize, you look cute with that blush. Just be careful with yourself, you don’t want to hurt your prospective partner by crushing his or her pelvis. Despite the memes, it’s actually not a good thing.”

Six cleared her throat, “This is the middle of a dangerous operation, it’s no place for… exploring. I should not have done that.”

Phas rolled his eyes, “Are you kidding? I doubt I would have been able to concentrate with a space heater full of random emotions next to me. I knew you wanted to kiss me before you did, and that’s not some chauvinist bullshit, changelings can read emotions.”

“What do I want now?” Six asked, not knowing the answer.

Phas pressed a hoof to her lips, shushing her, “To go to bed. I’m counting on you, Spartan, to carry my well-pampered ass tomorrow. Get some rest and you can do some exploring when we aren’t literally in the physical equivalent of hell.”

Six didn’t have the words to reply, so she just nodded, collected her helmet, and walked over to the center of the bell tower before lying down. She rested her muzzle on her armored hooves, pressing one against her lips. Six knew that somehow, somewhere, Cadance was laughing.

‘It wasn’t horrible,’ she smiled.

When they set out again, somewhat rested and confident, they stick to side streets in their approach to the city’s heart. With the buildings closer in on either side, and the spooky emptiness somewhat less noticeable, Six’s paranoia abated enough for her to remain focused.

Unfortunately, her focus was endangered by the Princess of Food.

“Six! It’s Cady! You two still okay down there?”

Six mentally groaned as she activated her mic, “Minor scare of our imminent demise, otherwise fine.”

“Oh! Did you fight more monsters?”

“Thought we were being hunted by one, but we seem to be all clear,” Six said, glancing at her right foreleg.

A marker dangled on a piece of string, and her titanium vambrace lay clear of markings. Phas sported a matching one, and was walking ahead of her so he could write on the ground if he saw something. Black marker still didn’t show up well on chitin, after all.

“Spooky! Up here in the Rainbow Falls, it’s nice and calm. Seems impossible for this place to be in the same world as the Underhive…”

“Roger.”

That did not deter the Princess of Boredom, “Any new advaaaancements? Six?”

“N-no?”

“You stuttered there,” Cadance pointed out.

“No.”

“Ahhh, something did happen, didn’t it?” Cadance smiled, her grin once again so easily imaginable.

Six stared at Phas, watching his red fin tail swish from side to side, “No, nothing happened. And if it did happen, it is none of your business. But it didn’t happen.”

They passed a wide intersection, some sort of concentric road that circled the palace in the center. The etching on the blackstone street changed from gold to small rubies as the buildings grew taller and the facades more intricate.

“But of course it's my business! I’m the alicorn of love! Do you know what that means, Six?”

“You invade everyone’s personal business?”

“Precisely!” Six heard Cadance clap her hooves. “Now, spill the tea. All of it!”

“We have water rations, no beverages.”

“The details, Six! The details! Tell me everything!”

“We are under attack,” Six said in a monotone voice. “It’s violent. I have to go.”

“If you turn off your radio again– because I know you’re doing that, then I’ll convince Luna to take you dress shopping.”

“Last night, if you can call it that,” Six began breaking instantly, “I spoke with Phas.”

“Oh wow, talking! You never do that!”

“He described a few of his stories that he accumulated. We spoke of what it means to be a civilian.”

“Go oooon,” Cadance goaded.

Six sighed, “We kissed.”

“Let’s gooo, woooooo baby! That’s what it’s all about! That’s what I’ve been waiting for! Yes, Shining, we’re all fine in here, go back to your patrol…. Wooooo!”

Six checked around for hostiles, ignoring the loud cheering in her ears.

“I am proud of you, Six! So proud! Now, my young apprentice,” Cadance’s voice dropped low. “Speak of it. Did you feel the power of the–”

“What are you doing?” Six asked, running out of patience.

“Am I not allowed to be proud of my little Six growing up?”

“I could crush your head between my thighs, I don’t think I am considered little.”

“Oh please. I mean, you enjoyed the kiss, right?”

Six rubbed her helmet’s seal, thankful for the temporary cooling enchantment Phasma placed on it when they woke up. It was already fading and the heat building, but it was something.

“... Yes,” she admitted.

“And you wanna do it again?”

“I am considering it, maybe. This is hardly the time and place for that.”

“Good, good, my young apprentice. Let the love flow through you.”

“That sounds painful.”

Cadance chuckled, “No, that’s the best part. You’ll get there eventually. Hold a moment, I know I have my beginner’s guide to seduction around here in my pack somewhere. I can read it off to–”

Six turned her radio off again, resigning herself to going dress shopping with Luna.

‘I am going to have a serious talk with her about only packing mission-critical equipment. The actual mission, not her… Damn it, she’s not gonna listen.’

Six sighed again, shaking the thought from her head.

“You alright back there? You sound like a tire losing air,” Phas quietly called back.

“Would you accept Cadance as an answer?”

“Oh yeah, her,” Phas hummed. “She’s one of a kind. What is it this time?”

“She’s… you know… talking about…. stuff.”

“You’re not very good at lying.”

“Thank you,” Six nodded. “I am used to staying silent. OPSEC and all that.”

“No spooks around here,” Phas smiled, turning around and walking backwards. “Just a shapeshifting emotional vampire that can half-read minds. So, is there a reason why your emotions taste like you’re a teenager at your first prom?”

“What’s a prom?”

He winked, “It’s where teenagers go to make memories they will look back upon in embarrassment for the rest of their lives. Dancing, kissing, no small amount of hazing and bullying that causes serious depression and suicidal thoughts.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“Yeah, High School was only the peak of life for those with not much going for them. The auspicious janitors and burger flippers of the world.”

“I’ve never had a burger,” Six said.

Phas turned back around, facing forward, “Don’t ask for a hamburger. Cows are people around here. Hayburgers are the equivalent.”

“Are they worth trying?”

“Lady, you’re talking to someone who gargles down the taste equivalent to what methamphetamine does to the brain. Nothing is worth trying compared to love.”

“Are they worth trying?”

“Do whatever you want!”

“Do you want to try them with me?”

Phas paused, nearly getting run over by Six in the process, and turned to her, “What?”

Six repeated, “Do you want to try them with me? When we get out of here, I mean.”

He looked at Six, staring into her blank visor. Then he examined her, boots to helmet, taking his time.

“... Sure?”

“Okay.”

Phas stared at her some more, before shrugging and starting forward again, “Anyways. We seem to be getting closer to the ominous gigantic pyramid on the horizon. Look, it’s right there. I’m pointing at it.”

Six saw him pointing, “Yes. You are.”

Their little sidestreet had twisted and turned throughout the little boroughs of borrows and hive spires until it dumped them back onto the main thoroughfare. As the squarish buildings got fancier, Six took in the more unusual architectural methods. The simplistic methods had given way to more fancy hexagonal structures and designs, almost like many of the windows, doorways, and towers were ripped from the heart of a beehive. There were colors, too. Metals and gems adorned arches, doorways, plaques written in the changeling hieroglyphics, and on tall street lamps. The rubies that lined the road were now joined by a shallow groove filled with red liquid.

Six walked closer to the center of the road, taking care to avoid the Queensblood.

It pulsed in small waves from ahead as they walked on. The movement grew stronger and more pronounced as they neared the palace. When Six looked at the center of the palace, where the two sections met, it shimmered and moved, as if cloaked in a heat mirage above a hot surface.

Phas’s ears flicked in annoyance, “There she is, the Red Queen.”

“Where?” Six looked up at the pyramids, then around.

“Can’t physically see her, but I can feel her presence against my wrapped-up Weave. It feels weird, like waves pressing against a ship.” He scratched his neck, “I don’t know if unfurling my Weave is a good idea. Spirit isn’t here, but it could alert anything nearby.”

“What are the benefits of doing that?”

“You know that feeling you get after getting into a cold shower after a long day in your armor? Like that.”

Six frowned, “You should not remove your armor if you’re expecting a fight.”

“Well, it goes both ways. I’d be able to feel out enemies, too. If there’s any changelings within this city, I would know.”

Six considered their situation. They had the advantage of stealth. If Phas’s Weave worked in the way she guessed, it would be the equivalent of using Sonar. It can find the enemies, but it will just as easily let the enemies find them.

“We continue in stealth for now,” she decided. “If it gets messy, you can… do whatever with your hive mind thing.”

“It’s not creepy, mom,” Phas giggled. “Everyone’s got a hive mind nowadays– all the cool kids are doing it!”

“Let’s just get out of the open,” Six relented, “and into that palace as soon as possible.”

The cityscape broke, ending abruptly into a massive empty space around the pyramids. Towers continued to climb into the sky, interrupting the emptiness of the field as they formed an equidistant pattern around the pyramid.

Six had no frame of reference for the structure, but to Phas it looked like someone had taken two Necron tomb structures and painted them ruby red. From corner to corner, it spanned a quarter of a kilometer. That’s 250 meters for those who can’t do math. It stretched into the sky, forcing the two to crane their necks painfully back to see the accompanying base at the ceiling. Now that they had arrived, they noticed the anomaly which rested at the very center of the city.

Between the two tips of the pyramid, light bent out of shape. It raced around a perfectly circular black abyss, warping and stretching itself thin.

“That’s not possible,” Six muttered.

“What did I tell ya,” Phas beamed. “Changeling builders are the best in the world!”

“That’s a black hole!” Six stomped a hoof. “That’s not possible!”

“Skill issue.”

Six elbowed Phas, knocking him over, “Skill issue my ass! That thing should rip apart this whole planet until there is nothing left!’

Phas stood back up, dusting himself off, “Then clearly it’s not a black hole, huh?”

“If it’s not a black hole, then what is it?”

Phas threw his hooves into the air, “How should I know? It could be where they dump the city’s sewage for all I know. C’mon, this big scary passage right here is the way in. Look, I’m pointing at it.”

“I have eyes too, I can see things before you call attention to them,” Six deadpanned.

Set into the center of the pyramid’s base was an indent, as tall as the city’s outer gates, only a hundred times more opulent. Rubies were the motif, and were done to the point of being exhausting. There were thousands on each of the two massive doors, glittering as Queensblood cascaded between them. The sanguine liquid formed into a symbol, one they recognized: an upside-down heart. The symbol of the Empress.

Six and Phas stood before the doors, staring at them. Phas felt the waves against his Weave intensify, adding a heat as if he was standing under the sun and feeling it upon his chitin.

He cleared his throat, “What–”

The doors began to grind open, squealing metal putting the two of them into a combat-ready stance on instinct. A passage that had been sealed shut for thousands of years opened on its own, the great gates swinging without hinges outwards. The two backed up, keeping an eye out for danger. Beyond, crystal torches flicked to life, bathing a great stone hall in pale white light.

The doors clicked into place, shuddering with a groan as they stopped moving.

“Welp, that’s our invite,” Phas said.

“Is this reacting like the teleporter, or something else?” Six asked.

“Something else,” Phas said confidently. “Someone’s rap-tap-tapping on my Weave.”

“Is it a trap?”

Phas tapped his chin, “A strange vision luring us to a dead city in the deepest layer of hell, now opening two doors in the spookiest fashion possible for us? Nah. No way.”

“... It’s a bad day to have no guns,” Six bemoaned.

The two walked inside, no other choices available. As they entered, the great gates ground shut behind them.

“Banners,” Phas pointed out, motioning towards the silk tapestries hanging across the grand hall.

“And?” Six asked plainly.

“Those should have degraded away like the rest of the city’s furniture. This place was preserved.”

Long red banners with upside down hearts hung from the walls between paintings of changeling royals. All colors of the rainbow were represented in the bright colorings in each’s hair, elytra, and eyes. Even the base chitin had several hues present, from black to gray to white. Several posed with open tomes, others with swords or staves, and a few were drawn in the midst of great battles against monsters or ponies. Pegasi warriors featured heavily in a number of these latter depictions.

Phas pawed at the ground, finding a plush red carpet laying across the hall. Fine wooden side tables topped with marble held golden jars and bowls underneath the paintings. Flickering lights behind pearl and glass sconce torches, casting bright white light, closer to a lightbulb than a flame.

The two set forth, hoofsteps muffled on carpet as they stuck together. When it opened up into a large central hall, with four doors on either side and a grand staircase in front rising and splitting to two doors, Phas and Six stopped and stared up at the great colored glass window at the far end of the room. Rays of vibrant light fell from the window, decorating the staircase in the window’s depiction of a tall red royal changeling. Her crimson elytra was splayed wide, atop her head lay the crown which Phas recognized as a red-tinted equivalent to his own, the Gift of Panar. It was a solid gold crown with hoof-sized diamonds studded across it like embrasures, and a huge gem, ruby in this world, towering above the rest at the forefront. Unlike his, a long veil hung from its edges, obscuring almost the entirety of the Empress’s face, save for her two slitted crimson eyes judging any who entered her hall. A great glass chandelier hung in a tall dome above their heads, covered in pink crystals.

Arranged in formation along the sides of the grand staircase were twelve statues of female royals. Each stone facade was painted and perfectly preserved, and each wore black robes, tall simple headdresses with matching black veils, and a single reversed heart-shaped gem on their fabric, each in the royals’ unique color.

Six looked to each of the doors, “Which way next?”

“Up,” Phas answered. “And left, arbitrarily.”

They stalked past the guardian statues, walked through the light cast through the Empress, and continued up the stairs. Another hall, much like the first, stretched beyond the opened door on the left. It twisted slowly up and to the left, with ornate wooden doors leaving the whole place feeling like the Equestrian royal palace, only with prominent shades of red. Their path chosen, Six and Phas kept walking.

The unease from outside had fled, replaced by a sense of wonder– and a growing sense of boredom.

“There’s only so many Palaces of Versailles you can walk through before they all look the same,” Phas groaned. “Where do they even get this much gold? Back on Earth, all the gold ever mined could fill a ten meter cube. This is ridiculous.”

“They carved out an entire city down here,” Six thought out loud. “It stands to reason that they got lucky?”

Phas poked a bejeweled urn as they passed, “Or the high magic concentration led to more jewels and rare earths forming in these lower layers. Adamantium and Mithril were only naturally occurring here in my world, but I have yet to see either in this city.”

“Who needs so many rooms in one palace?” Six grunted. “And why wooden doors? That is exceptionally insecure.”

“You think trees grow down here?” Phas laughed. “This is a sign of prestige and wealth. Every piece of wood was shipped from the surface, without a doubt.”

“That makes more sense than having a black hole in the middle of your city,” Six relented. “TIme itself should be slowing down as we get closer.”

“Maybe it does within the event horizon,” Phas looked up at the ceiling. “According to my chronometer spells, it’s flowing normally. Whatever preserved the interior is some other magic bullshit.”

Six grit her teeth, uselessly flapping her wings to try to cool herself off in the Palace’s obscene heat, “I. Hate. Magic.”

Phas recoiled away from her blades, “Hey, watch it! If you want more ice, I can summon it, just don’t take my head off!”

She glared at him through her visor, though feeling a bit guilty, “How is it that you are so unaffected by this damn heat?”

He shrugged, “Feels fine to me. I watched you survive orbital reentry, how is a little humidity killing you?”

“Magic. Bullshit,” Six insisted as she removed her helmet to get some more air. “As much as I hate to remove my armor in a dangerous locale, drowning in sweat is tactically unsound.”

“Whatever you say, sexy space babe,” Phas winked. “I am constantly checking around for nearby souls– literally– and we seem to be good. I’ll let you know if something’s coming, muscle mommy.”

Six stopped in her tracks, “What did you call me?”

He shrugged, “You know. Muscles, as in you’re capable of crushing a watermelon with your thighs, and mommy, as in the fetishization of the mother-son relationship, albeit with the incest removed and instead all of the focus placed on the domination aspect of the relationship?”

Six’s mind skipped several beats, “... Is this something Cadance told you? Your mouth moves and yet I hear Cadance’s voice.”

“She’s the Princess of ‘wuv, Six,” Phas reached around her and tried to pull her closer into a hug, only succeeding in pulling himself against her. “Romance, seduction, lust, that sticky stuff on the floor that gets all over your hooves in the nightclub bathroom. It’s all her domain.”

Six leaned away, “I have never been to a nightclub bathroom, and I don’t think I want to now.”

“Well you don’t go for the cleanliness. In fact, that’s usually why you go there: because you can get away with having sex.”

“Who would want to have sex in a bathroom? Cadance told me it occurs in bedrooms.”

The changeling nodded, “Usually. But sometimes, you’re with a mare or stallion, dancing your heart out, getting sweaty and feeling frisky. Kisses work for a time, but you can’t get your hooves off each other, and you just need a relief for the heat now. And the risk of getting caught gets your heart pumping just a little bit harder, so you pull them into a stall and–”

Six walked forward, causing the King to fall flat on his face, “That’s enough.”

As he righted himself, Six checked behind one of the doors out of curiosity. There was a large sitting room full of fine upholstery, a cold fireplace, a view out into the glittering crystal cave, and enough pillows and blankets to fill seven barracks. Aside from the honeycomb geometric patterns on the walls, Six found nothing of note, and shut the door before she could think too much about the mirrors around a bed in the corner.

She put her hooves in front of her and started walking, but her thoughts stayed behind. Sitting down somewhere with a single point of entry sounded nice. Plenty of material to form barricades, too. And a bed, a real bed. It wouldn’t do much with her armor still on, but something was an immense improvement over nothing at all.

And there was the matter from last night to think about, as much as Six avoided it.

“I think the other way went to the throne room,” Phas sighed. “We’re probably gonna have to find a side route.”

Six didn’t hate Phas. Not anymore. Sure, he was a stallion who couldn’t get his hoof out of his mouth. And he was a changeling. And he was a royal. And he was a gigantic asswipe. But he was human where it counted, and every guy in uniform tended to be gigantic asswipes. Especially those from ONI. Six was used to that, and could tell there was a soft side to him. Deep down. Way deep down. She wondered if he thought the same. Did she have a soft side? What even constitutes a soft side? Are there accurate metrics to determine one’s soft sidedness? These were Cadance-Questions to be asked later.

As their journey dragged on and the hall seemed to be endless, Six grew more and more tempted to ask for that ice Phas offered. Then they ran into the big metal door.

“Oh, this looks promising,” Phas said as he poked it.

The big metal door was glowing with Queensblood etched into runes and lines, forming a carving of supplicant drones before the veiled Empress. Six gripped her helmet tighter as Phas poked uncomfortably close to the deadly substance.

“Out of power.”

Six tilted her head, “Can we supply it with power? Can you power it?”

“Sure, with love,” Phas said, scratching his head. “Fresh out of that to spare, though.”

“How can we replenish your love?”

The stallion shrugged, “As I said last night; either I kill someone, or bone someone. Most solutions to the changelings’ problems boil down to that.”

He turned, facing Six. Their eyes met, blue and orange locking onto each other. Six felt her heart beat hard in her chest. She felt the heat grow on her muzzle as she came up with a plan. She smiled bashfully, growing more confident in her desire to tell Phas what she really wanted.

“Let’s blow a hole in the wall next to the door,” she suggested.

She had been itching to blow stuff up, and Phas’s bomb earlier had reignited that desire.

“That could work! It’s a lot easier, and changeling’s love their security flaws. One problem though, that still requires love.”

Six frowned, “... What if we find another way in?”

“Hmm, like a servant’s hall door or something?” Phas suggested. “That could work. Maybe the doors are broken open there, or ran out of power while open? Or… Hell, beats just standing here.”

They retraced their steps and took the closest door. On the right this time, left had failed them. A wall of heat and steam met them as they opened it, revealing a large and lavish bathhouse. It held a large pool in the center, with two saunas to the side, a sizable hot tub, and flowing water that babbled and spat mist as it flowed into the cool pool.

Six was not happy with this finding

Phas whistled, “Do you have any idea how impressive this is, Six?”

“No.”

“All that water is heavy,” Phas said, waiving a hoof to it as he stepped inside. “It’s a gigantic pain in the ass to engineer a support system underneath pools strong enough to carry their weight. I bet any room directly under here has got to be lined with enchanted pillars of concrete or something.”

“Cool.”

He continued nerding out on obscure architectural knowledge, “Not to mention all the conflicting enchantments on pumping water and heating it and cooling it. Not as much of a problem as supporting the weight, but you gotta appreciate that they have to have sealing enchantments to prevent moisture from leaking into nearby rooms.”

“Oh for fucks sake,” Six muttered under her breath.

She glanced at the far wall, finding it far too sturdy to break through. Then, she looked down at the water. It looked cold. Finding a sudden inspiration lodged within her, she stomped past Phas and kneeled before the water. Then, she craned her neck down, shut her eyes, and stuck her entire head into the cold water.

Then she screamed.

She whipped her head back out, spraying water behind her as her mane dripped with wonderfully cold water.

“Shut up!” She yelled. “Just shut up! For the love of God, shut the hell up!”

Phas blinked in surprise, raising two hooves in a placating gesture, “Uh, okay? Sorry?”

“Fucking spook,” she growled, sticking her head back into the water and screaming some insect-oriented profanities.

When she emerged again, she felt considerably better. Phas watched in silence, frozen with his hooves in the air from her outburst. She brushed her mane from her eyes, flicking her head back to push it around. Then, Six adjusted her position, sitting down on the tile floor and cracking it.

“All I want,” Six said slowly, “is to just… take off this damned suit and get some damned R&R from this warmth. In silence.”

Phas pointed to his saddlebags.

Six raised an eyebrow, “... What?”

“If you are on the fence, I’ve got a Magic Eight Ball we can ask to see if we should take off our armor and relax. It’s around here somewhere–”

Six scowled, “We are not consulting a Magic Eight Ball for tactical decisions.”

The King produced the black pool ball, pointing the number towards Six.

“Are you suuuuuuure? It hasn’t steered me wrong before.”

“I somehow doubt that.”

Phas wilted, “I mean, besides the three ambushes it led me into. But I had fun in the end, and that’s what matters, right? Friendship and magic and relentless violence, as the ponies say?”

Six sighed and put a hoof to her temple. Phas shook the ball.

“... What did it say?” Six asked, hating her own curiosity.

“It says definitely not.”

“Then we should move on with the mission.”

“Yep,” Phas agreed.

Neither moved. A quiet click and murmur came from Six’s discarded helmet. But she found that she did not care enough to redon it, instead choosing to just sit there and enjoy the bit of cool water still clinging to her fur. Phas slowly undid the latches on his saddlebags, shrugging them off and depositing them to his side. He held eye contact with Six the whole time.

“Cannonball!” He yelled, galloping past Six and jumping into the pool.

Six shielded her face from the tidal wave of water that soaked her unarmored bits. Chuckling, she began to undo the seals on her armor. Her boots fell to the floor with an echoing clank and she started to shed her various armor-plating as Phas emerged from the pool. The bug splashed around, swimming from one end to the other, before stopping before her in the water.

“How do you piss in that thing if it takes an hour to remove?”

“It has a built-in filtration system, “Six answered, unlocking her chestplate.

“Ew,” Phas gagged, paddling around.

When at last her armor had been removed and just her undersuit remained, Six freed the seam and ripped off the magnetic seal on her back. She emerged from the suit like it was a cocoon, stepping out from the black body glove. She stretched her wings with a long groan of satisfaction, working each limb to shake it awake.

Six felt hooves wrap around her right foreleg and looked down just in time to see Phas pull her into the pool with a yelp. She pushed off the stallion and burst through the surface, spitting out the blessingly-cold water.

“What was that for?!”

Phas splashed her face, causing her to raise a wing to shield herself, “You took too long.”

Six stuck her tongue out at him. Phas paused, then shook his head.

“You of all ponies seemed least likely to do that, Six.”

“I am out of armor,” Six said, sluggishly paddling and struggling to swim as a quadruped.

“Yeah?”

“If I am to relax, then I will relax entirely. No point in half-measures.”

In response, Phas grappled the Spartan and pulled her under. The two wrestled underwater, squirming to put the other in a lock. They broke the surface a few times, enough to breathe, but their blind fight was mostly submerged. Six embraced the relief from the oppressive heat, letting it cool her core.

Six at last got her two hindlegs around the tall changeling’s neck and put him in a headlock. She reared back out of the water, scooting back up to the edge as he kicked in her grip. Six hoisted herself half-out of the water, dragging the stallion onto his back against the edge.

“Got you.”

The changeling thrashed, fruitlessly yanking on her leg. But with his elytra pinned against the wall and Six leveraging her whole strength, the stallion would not budge.

“Fine! Fine! You win!”

Six lessened her deadly grip, but kept the annoying bug locked down.

“... Now what do I do?” She asked him.

“Normally you let me go–”

“No.”

Phas craned his head upwards, squinting as water splashed against his face, “Alright, well…. What’s your plan, then?”

“I.. don’t… know…” Six said slowly, but with complete confidence.

Phas, still gripping her hips, looked up from between her legs. His horn poked her belly as he tilted in confusion.

“... You know, stallion will pay a lot of money to be put in this position.”

“Why?”

“What, you’ve never heard someone say that they’d love for you to crush their head with your thighs?”

Six scowled, “... Not while sober? Someone may have said that, and they may have found themselves skidding face-first across the stones outside the bar. Not my doing to be clear…I think.”

Phas shifted, his headfin brushing somewhere sensitive that caused Six to hiss through her teeth, “Uh huh. I’m sure many stallions have thought it, Six.”

“What’s the appeal?”

Phas tried his best to get comfy– since he clearly wasn’t going to leave this position– and started floating on the surface as much as he could. Between her hooves, Six got a good look at the ribbed chest of the changeling, and just a bit beyond. The chitin was perfectly smooth, leaving Six’s reconciling the fact that instead of the well-toned muscle of a warrior, Phas was practically in armor the whole time.

Inexplicably, she felt disappointment.

Distracted by her question, Phas missed her checking him out, “Either you are into dainty mares who look pretty, or you are into tomboys who could crack your spine. Something to do with power dynamics, I think.”

“And you are into the latter?”

He chuckled, tapping her gigantic muscled thigh, “I’m married to a demigod who hurls a celestial body around like a shot put. Yeah, I think I am into the latter.”

“Luna does not have the muscle definition typical to a soldier or to hurl a celestial body,” Six pointed out.

He smiled, “True. That’s why she uses cuffs.”

“Cuffs for what?”

“To pin– nevermind,” he said.

She squeezed her neck, bringing her hindhooves closer, “Cuffs for what?”

Phas pulled at her legs, “Ah! Six!”

“Answer my question.”

“To pin me down! There, happy?!”

She kept the pressure, “Why? When?”

The stallion was slow to answer, “You’re really gonna make me say it?”

“Yes.”

“When we’re having sex!” He spat out.

Six lessened her grip, letting him breathe, “Ah. Is that appealing?”

“Power dynamics,” Phas said between coughs.

“... Is the current situation appealing?” Six asked, her wings feeling restless and wanting to splay out.

“A bit,” Phas said, regaining his composure. “The water constantly getting up my nostrils is a buzzkill.”

Six sat up, her wings arching behind her, and she scooted backwards. Phas coughed and struggled as he was dragged across the hard edge of the pool. Six stopped when only his hindlegs remained in the water. Six and Phas panted from exertion, cold water dripping off their muscled and smooth bodies respectively.

“Better?”

“S-Six…. Where are you going with this?”

Six pursed her lips, “I haven’t found out yet. What do people typically do next?”

Phas swallowed, “If you’re talking about what a stallion and a mare would typically do next… They would move to the sauna and crank up the sexual tension ten times over till they are kissing and groping.”

Six released her hold. Phas let out a sigh of relief, rubbing his neck. He was not prepared for her to hook a foreleg around his chest and drag him over to the nearby sauna. His hooves scrambled and scraped against the tile floor as the shorter pony pulled the King forward against his will.

Stepping into the wooden alcove, Six hurled the bug against the far wall. The room shook from the impact as the King slumped onto the bench that ran the wall’s length.

He rubbed the back of his head and looked Six in the eyes. Six found it difficult to keep breathing as she stared back into his slitted orange eyes.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Phas asked.

“I’m not sure about any of this,” Six answered. “But I’m going to keep going. This isn’t for the mission. This is for me.”

Stalking forward, Six placed her forehooves on the bench on either side of Phas and leaned forward, pressing her lips against his. She pressed forward, pushing him against the wall. Phas slowly reached around Six and wrapped his forelegs around her withers, pulling her against him. He opened his mouth and pressed his tongue against her lips, slipping inside. Six’s eyes widened at the unexpected intrusion, and snorted in delight as his tongue met hers and wrestled in her mouth.

For what seemed like hours, they held each other, kissing and huffing. Needing to breath, Six broke the kiss, leaving a string of saliva connecting their muzzles. She reached up and touched her cheek, feeling it burning hot with a blush.

“... Did we… have sex?”

Phas laughed, “Hahaha, n-no. That’s still kissing.”

“Oh. How do we proceed?” She panted.

“By getting this sauna working,” Phas said.

He reached out with his magic to scoop water into a nearby bucket and poured onto a brazier of smoldering and twinkling rubies. Six watched as the water hissed and boiled into steam, filling the alcove with its cloying warmth. It built up inside her as she turned to face Phas again, and she desperately craved some way to quench its thirst.

Six swallowed, her mouth unusually dry despite the rather intense humidity now surrounding them, “I believe it is now operational.”

[Pump ze shaft, work ze balls]

Phas grabbed Six's hooves and placed them on his chest. He leaned forward, giving Six a small kiss. When he leaned back to break the kiss, Six followed, pressing the ends of their muzzles together each time Phas backed up. Slowly, Phas pushed down on Six's hooves, making them slide down his chest and belly. With her hooves on his hips, Phas gently spread his hind legs, presenting himself for Six.

“I… don‘t know what I am looking at,” Six admitted rather sheepishly as she found her gaze swapping between Phasma’s eyes and what lay between his legs. Little Phasma had yet to show itself fully but the feeling of Six‘s hot breath as well as her general position would change that in short order.

The stallion rolled his eyes, "Oh boy. This is going to be awkward, a bit painful, but decently fun."

He guided her hooves, pressing them against his thick package. The changeling grunted at the feeling of their hooves rubbing at his sensitive bits, and he guided Six through the motions.

"This is called a sh-sheath. My penis is inside, and w-will emerge in time as I get aroused. Below that are my balls, or testes. They're sensitive, so treat everything with care. Y-yeah, like that. Slow, soft motions. You can pick up with speed when pumping my– not like that! Just! follow my lead...."

Showing her what to do, Phas and Six rubbed at his sheath. The motions drew out the King's breeder, emerging slowly and hardening. He guided her hoof down to his orbs, showing her how to properly grope and fondle them. His cock, thick and hard, started black in color at the base and had transitioned to bright orange before his medial ring.

Six observed the now fully emerged organ with no small amount of curiosity, her gaze lingering on it as she took in its details. Slowly she raised one of her hooves to carefully run up its length, stopping briefly at his ring, her touch light as if the thing would break under the slightest bit more pressure. As this was happening Six began to feel something begin to tickle at the back of her mind, an itch of some kind that ran down her spine, making her wings shiver before coalescing somewhere inside her just behind her tail. This was also coincidentally where the heat that had annoyed her so seemed to be at its strongest, though she doubted that the sauna helped matters.

“So this is what Cadence had been trying so hard for me to find. It looks…” she poked its tip experimentally, “strange. Is this what we will use to have sex?” The one and a half thousand pound super soldier asked sincerely.

"Hahaha! Yeah, it is, Six," Phas tried and failed to suppress his laugh. "At this rate, I don't even see the point in talking dirty if all the terms are gonna fly over your head. Speaking of head, why don't we get started on the basics, then we can start moving onto the fun bits."

Phas lifted Six's chin up and leaned down to give her a short kiss.

"I'll return the favor in a bit- and you'll love that part. For now, start with stroking it, like uh... like you're cleaning the exterior of a gun barrel. Only without the elbow grease needed to get rid of a stain, it's sensitive..."

Nodding, almost as if she had been given an order by a superior officer, her attention returned to the organ, bringing her hooves to its sides. She started at his tip before moving downwards following the example set by Phas and thinking of the phallus as the barrel of a gun that required maintenance. She was partially right as while it was no firearm, the King’s long travels through the fabric of reality had given him scant opportunities to relax as he could now.

Her movements were more akin to that of a machine, each stroke and movement of hers precise– yet still surprisingly gentle and pleasurable to the changeling who hummed in pleasure at the sensations flowing up his spine like water.

Six, seeing the obvious effect her movements were having on the changeling, felt emboldened by that reaction and slowly began to pick up the pace. She could now feel the faint pulse of his heartbeat on her hooves, one that was steadily increasing in ferocity with every stroke whilst something similar happened to her too. She felt her own heart thumping in her chest and ears, the spartan breathing heavily as the itch began to grow stronger once more and the light feeling of sweat running down her legs registering in the back of her mind.

"Is this correct?" She asked, a bit breathless, looking for confirmation from Phas, though guessing from the look upon the stallion’s face she could guess at his answer.

He had let his head roll back and tongue droop, with a big goofy grin across his muzzle. He nodded slowly, relaxing as she worked his thick shaft.

"Y-yeah. Don't go any faster, that's a good m-max speed. Mmmff-y-yeah.... Stallions love hoofjobs like this, as this is how we help ourselves when we're alone."

The large organ pulsed in Six's grip, the tip widening as a bead of translucent liquid collected at the top.

"N-now," Phas stammered, "the lesser of the two f-fun bits. Mouths and tongue. It's called a blowjob, a-and requires a lot of skill. Your task is to wrap your lips around my tip and slowly bob your h-head up and down, taking more of the length into your mouth and throat. Don't let your teeth touch it, and use your tongue to lick all over it."

When Six paused her movements to parse his direction, Phas scooted over and leaned back onto the floor.

He motioned towards her rear, "Lay down on my stomach and go slow. Start with nuzzling, kissing, and licking, before trying to take the tip. Spread your legs wide, and I'll show you what mares get out of stuff like this. That itching and burning of yours is gonna get scratched in the best way..."

Six did as requested, stepping over the now lying down changeling until she stood fully above him with his twitching organ just below her head. She did not know what to expect, but with a nonchalance that showed the gaps in her knowledge, she promptly bent her knees to lie down upon the changeling's stomach. Her hind legs spread wide just as Phas had asked, giving him a completely unobstructed view of what lay between.

Her lying down on him also had the distinct side effect of subjecting him to her full weight, promptly forcing no small amount of air from his lungs that brushed into the damp place between the spartans legs.

The sudden feeling of cool blown air against her nethers sent a lighting bolt up her spine as forgotten nerve endings were suddenly shocked with activity, and, sensitive as they were from the increased blood flow, made Six’s controlled descent onto the King’s belly become a crash as her legs gave out from the sudden spike of pleasure.

The proud King deflated like a balloon under her, coughing and tapping her haunch to signal his defeat. The contact of his hoof against her Cutie Mark, so close to her burning nethers only made Six itch even harder.

"Ack! Six! Please, air! I thought your armor was heavy, gah!"

Quickly regaining her senses from the sudden jolt she rolled off to the side– much to the displeasure of the itch that had been momentarily, if slightly, appeased.

“Y-you alright?”

Phas patted his chest, looking down his nose and pressing his chin to his neck as he examined himself.

"Y-yeah. Nothing broken, save for my pride. Not the big important one, though, he still needs attention. Goddess, Six! You're not supposed to drop on a stallion like not, not with your muscle mass!"

“I wasn’t until you suddenly did something, and the next thing I knew my muscles were giving out from under me!” She huffed her gaze switching between the King's face and between her slightly twitching hind legs.

Phas turned to his left, gently pressing down her hindleg to take in the view of her dripping and twitching entrance.

He licked his lips, "Mmmm. You're certainly dripping with love and lust. Emotionally, too. Alright, since you can't keep your hooves under you, I guess I'm on top."

With a groan, Phas flipped over and slowly stood up. He shuffled to the side, standing above Six, planting his hooves on either side of her.

His thick brightly colored breeder draped against her muzzle. The changeling crouched lower, bringing his muzzle closer to her nethers- and consequently pressing Six' nose right at the base of his shaft as his balls rested on her snoot, blocking her vision.

"D-damn, Six, you're a mess down here. I'm gonna take my time, you should too. A lot of stallions and mares are into immersing themselves in the smell of an aroused stallion, b-but feel free to open your muzzle and start kissing and licking."

Pausing only long enough to let her get adjusted to the position, Phas stuck his tongue out, pressed it against her inner thigh, and licked upwards towards her pushy. He slurped up her dripping excitement, covering her inner thighs in kisses and licks, painfully just out of reach from where she needed his muzzle the most.

The reaction was immediate from both ends of the Spartan as her, until 5 minutes ago, lust deprived body took in the sensations with relish and no small amount of need. Her senses were engulfed in the strong pheromones she didn’t know she had needed or wanted from the organs that now rested mere millimeters away from her eyes and nose.

Endorphins flooded her system as the nerves being tended to by the changeling sent blaring messages of approval and want throughout her body. Her hips began to twitch as well now in a vain attempt to direct the changeling towards the knot of most need building in her core. Her wings beat against the ground, kicking up a small cyclone and vortex of steam around them, as for the first time in her life Six felt pleasure, lust ,and desire in something else other than a mission cleanly executed.

Through the rather intense feelings Six began to return the favor to the king through the haze of his own ministrations that made it hard to think for the slightly-writhing Spartan. Through her panting her senses were flooded with what could only be described as the pure smell of a male, one which she had only ever gotten tiny whiffs of when walking past soldiers fresh from PT. Now however it was something else entirely to her brain, it was something that made her mind go haywire with dopamine urging her for more.

She began to press her muzzle into the changelings underside, nuzzling his organ, and more specifically his balls like a cat would mark its scent on one's hand, until she remembered what Phas had told her. The next thing the changeling felt was the wet and warm sensation of a tongue going over one of his balls experimentally, before feeling like how an ice cream cone must feel as the writing mare beneath him ‘dug in.’

The stallion's mind short circuited as she started to worship his balls, "O-oh S-Six! F-fuck, that feels good!"

Determined to repay the favor, Phas pressed his tongue just above the Spartan's winking entrance. He dragged it forward, running it over her folds, stopping to lap at her clit, before pressing his long tongue just inside the mare. Phas made sure that every bit of her folds was given the attention it needed before he started to push his tongue into the prone mare, slurping up love and her juices in equal measures. Muzzle now rubbing against her clip and getting soaked, the stallion was driven mad by Six' scent, matching her own ferver with his mouth and dripping a line of hot pre from his tip onto her cheek.

A lightning bolt– magnitudes stronger than before– shot down Six’s spine, a bolt too strong for her inexperienced body to handle with grace. And as Phas’s oral assault on her nethers continued, the knot within her grew, and grew, and grew until… it snapped!

Every muscle in her body grew rigid at once as her eyes rolled to the top of her head in one agonizingly long moan as her nethers erupted like a geyser as a lifetime of tension was ended in a moment of pure nirvana.

The changeling felt Six clenching hard around his tongue and pressed his tongue down, spreading her as wide as possible. Her climax drenched his tongue and muzzle, and he lapped and licked every bit of it up. Phas groaned happily as he filled his stomach with her love, banishing that painful ebb of hunger as the changeling royal drank and drank until Six could only squirm and moan at his insistence on more. He felt his strength returning as the King was flooded with the instinct to not just feast on her love, but make love till they were both too exhausted to move.

He freed his muzzle, licking his lips to collect as much of her nectar as he could. Panting, he looked over his shoulder at the collapsed mare, giggling at the sight of her squirming with his package still covering her muzzle. His own muzzle was shining in the steam, covered all the way to his cheeks in the Spartan's juice.

"...F-fuck, you're hot, Six. And delicious."

“Hhhhnnngmmhgaaaa…” Was her only incoherent response to his compliment as she fell limp, panting heavily as if she had not run a marathon but ten in a row. After a moment of deep breaths she spoke with words this time, “W-was…t-that…sex?”

Phas chuckled, slowly turning around and plopping belly to belly onto Six. He hooked his forelegs under hers, petting the top of her head. He nuzzled her cheek, then kissed her neck, whispering to her as they cuddled.

"Sorta. Mmm. That's oral. I ate you out, as the slang goes. As far as sex goes, think of it like getting some light exercise instead of doing PT till the pain's funny. Actual sex can come in a bit, you need a break." He paused to kiss her neck again, showering the mare in small affections. "Goddess, I missed this."

“I…have never… felt something… like that.” The spartan continued speaking as if she were having some kind of divine revelation.

Phas rubbed their cheeks together, "And this is called cuddling. Happens a lot before and after sex. But what happened to you is, well, climaxing. Cumming. Blowing or draining your load, if you were a guy. As a mare, you can do that back to back without rest. Normally it takes a while to reach that point, but you clearly needed this."

Six returned the gesture as more of her strength gradually returned, one of her wings weakly moving in an attempt to drape over the changeling “D-did you cum?”

Phas booped their noses together, kissing Six gently, "Heh, that was awesome, but not *that* awesome, blushy mare. You'll know when a stallion cums, the volume alone will leave you wondering where we keep it all."

“Shouldn’t I return the favor? C-Cadance told me it was the polite thing to do,” she responded as she found the strength to embrace Phas in a wing-hug, draping the two appendages over his back.

The changeling buzzed quietly with delight, not unlike a cat purring, as he was enveloped into the wing hug.

"Mhmm. Gonna breed you till you're walking funny for a week," he said, face still squished against hers. "In a few minutes, though. This is really comfy. You'll love 'returning the favor' even more, don't ch'you worry, jarhead."

Six sighed in contentment as she also melted into the comfortable embrace of the changeling that buzzed in her grasp. She had never felt more tranquil in her life as she idly returned each and every nuzzle from Phasma. She could feel her heart begin to slow and breathing turn from quick pants to deep and deliberate breaths, her eyes began to droop and darkness encroached on the edges of her vision.

Six stirred, blinking sleep from her eyes.

She didn't remember passing out, or where she was. A quiet snore from under her chin caused her to scowl and look down. Lifting a wing, she found Phas belly to belly with her, snoozing against the ground and her neck. His Kong limbs draped over and under her, holding her underneath his large form- and suspiciously light- form. Their recent activities return to Six's memories, as well as an accompanying feeling that was equal parts stickiness and what the Spartan could only describe as bliss.

A small smile began to grow on her lips as she watched the changeling rise and fall ever-so-slightly in concert with her breathing. The sauna had lost a good amount of steam with the air becoming significantly clearer and cooler though she still felt warm inside though to a much lesser degree than before.

After what Six estimated was half an hour of basking in the moment and ignoring the mission's objective, the stallion covering her stirred. Phas swallowed and licked his lips, nuzzling deeper against her neck, shifting his weight on top of her.

"Five more minutes," he whined.

Six couldn’t help but laugh slightly before whispering, “You woke up all by yourself.” She punctuated this by pressing her wings slightly tighter against his back in an affectionate squeeze.

He groaned, "Stirring of emotions woke me up. Sleep with one eye open when alone." He blindly reached up and patted Six. She scrunched her muzzle and closed her eyes as he hit her face first, before finding her hair and ruffling it gently.

“What…are you doing?” She asked, her muzzle still scrunched as he continued to ruffle her mane, further increasing its unkemptness.

"Head pats," Phas explained, ruffling her mane back and forth. "Yer suppose to like it."

“Well, I didn’t say I didn’t like it.” She said before leaning into it, “It's nice.”

Blinking an eye open, Phas stared up at the relaxing mare. As she leaned further into his hoof, he smiled coyly, and pressed his tongue against her neck, dragging it all the way up to her cheek. He ended it by kissing Six slowly, nuzzling the underside of her muzzle as he continued to give her head pats.

"It is nice," he agreed. "It's been so long since I've done something like this. Feel like I could punch a hole through steel down there..."

Six shivered at the feeling of his tongue going across her neck, “Strong enough to get us through that door?” She asked as she remembered the entire reason they had taken this detour, though a part of her mind hoped that Phas would say that he needed more energy if it meant they could stay here longer

He chuckled, vibrating Six's chest with the rumbling. Phas licked her cheek again, slowly dragging his tongue to a flick and whispered to her. "I said punch a hole down there."

While Six’s first instinct was to point out that what could punch through steel didn’t matter so long as something could, that comment died on her lips with another shiver as she registered the pulsing object that rested sandwiched against their bellies and between her forgotten, but now quite sensitive, teats.

“Oh…”

It slowly slid back and forth and Phas began to dry hump the mare under him. His hot breath on her neck, he continued to whisper to her. "It's hard enough getting a safe bed, let alone someone to share it with. Thank you, Six, for... being my friend. I needed this. And from what I can taste, you do, too."

“Y-you know,” Six began before having to stop to take a sharp intake of breath as the stallion's balls brushed against her gradually remoistening lower lips, “t-there was what looked like a p-pretty strong bed back in the o-other h-hall. “ Her voice was shaky as Phasma continued to push her proverbial buttons. Buttons she didn’t know existed until they entered this sauna.

Phas smiled, tracing a hoof down her side and circling around her aching nethers.

"Let's go break it."

He reluctantly climbed off Six, offering her a hoof up. Six accepted pulling up to her hooves– but succeeding only in yanking the stallion down onto her. They laughed before collecting themselves and stood back up as Phas motioned for her to take the lead, licking his lips with a mischievous smile.

Six fell for the trap, walking ahead as she retraced her steps to the bedroom she spied into. Hot breath against her flanks was the only warning before a tongue deftly licked her where she was most sensitive, sending sparks up her spine and halting her pace.

"Better hurry, I'm gonna keep doing this," Phas winked.

“Hng… not gonna make it to the bed if you keep this up!” She responded with a small grunt as she tried to remain focused at the task at hand of returning to the bed she had spotted earlier.

But as they were making their way through the bathhouse, even in her current state of newly-discovered arousal she simply couldn’t leave her armor sitting here unattended. Old instincts and training reasserted itself for the time being forcing her to ensure that her armor remain close by at all times. This was her first mistake, as when she leaned down to start picking up its various pieces, she had unintentionally left herself in a rather exposed position to the stallion.

Weight settled on her back as Phas mounted her from behind, gripping her shoulders. He scooted forward, rubbing his hips against her rear. Between her cheeks, his hard and dripping cock pressed against her entrance, rubbing up and down slowly, driving Six mad as the tip brushed below her clit and rubbed her teats.

"Hurry up~" Phas sang slowly. "You don't want your first to be in a pool, do you?"

“Eeep!” Six let out a very un-spartan like squeak at the sudden and unexpected contact against her equally dripping slit, freezing her in place mid reach towards a section of her armor.

Phas continued his teasing, rolling his hips and dragging his tip across her entrance, prodding it and testing her resistance. "S-Six, I need you…!"

Six didn’t know what she was doing, she was practically making it up as she went along, following instinct up until this point. And now, with Phasma on her back, the desire, need and desperation that filled his voice when he said those four words had never made her so sure of something in her life.

Trusting what her gut told her to do she shifted her hind hooves further apart, her wings coming up to Phasma’s sides and her neck moving to meet his when she whispered breathlessly, “I-I need you t-too!”

Her tone felt almost alien to her, so marred with nervousness that most would call impossible for a Spartan to experience.

Phas spread his hind legs to match hers, knocking against her hindhooves as he fell to his instincts. He sturdied his grip on her shoulders and pressed his cheek against hers, nuzzling her. His heart beat against her back, felt even through his chitin as his breath quickened. Pushing forward, the stallion's tip– dripping wet with a line of pre– pushed into Six's entrance. His breath hitched as the soft wetness rubbed his sensitive flare.

With a staggered sigh, he leaned forward, pushing the tip of his cock inside Six's tight, warm, and winking marehood.

Six gasped and felt her knees wobble as she tried to remain as still as possible, as overwhelming sensations of pleasure radiated outwards from where the two of them now became one. Even with just the tip, it was the most amazing feeling of her life. She felt her marehood be spread open like nothing ever had before.

Already, Phasma could feel how tight Six would be with his cock being her marehoods first ever visitor. He could just barely feel those gene-enhanced muscles rippling around his tip, trying to draw him further into heaven as well as the vice grip it already had on him. There was no doubt on his mind when he thought that this would be the tightest pussy he would ever have the pleasure of breeding.

“H-haaa…haaa…” cute small breathless moans escaped Six’s lips as her wings reflexively beat lightly against Phas’s sides, her hind legs shifting and trying to spread further apart to give better access and relieve the tightness in her core.

"Ahhh-fff...!" Phas gasped. "Try to relax, S-Six! Gonna go slow..." The stallion snorted, craving his muzzle down while Six held hers up higher, both deep in lust.

Phas shimmied his legs forward, bringing his hips closer to hers and pushing the wide tip of his cock deeper into Six. His shaft followed, keeping the mare's tunnel stretched wide behind his flare, filling her more than she thought could be possible. Phas rubbed Six's chest with a hoof, trying his best to keep her calm, and fighting his own instincts to push the rest of his painfully hard breeder in and rut as hard as he could.

"E-easy now, hot stuff. Squeeze too hard and I lose my favorite organ. Just take it in, breath, and let me know when you are ready for more..."

As those words registered in Six’s mind, she tried her best to follow his instructions, her mind consciously focusing on slowing her breathing front quick pants into slow and deliberate intakes and outtakes of air. She had to almost fight her own body down from its heightened state as the organ spreading her open in an extremely pleasurable manner had made her body believe it had been struck by a wounding projectile. But with every slow breath she took, she refocused her mind on that divine feeling of pleasure Phasma was giving her. She let out a shuddering breath as a dopey smile made itself known on her face.

“You feel… so good,” she said dreamily, her hips rolling slightly as every slight movement made her feel as if she were floating on cloud nine.

As she did so, her body began to relax and even push back against the stallion. Her lower lips winked almost constantly, spreading her juices throughout their conjoined hips– but it was as if there was one last barrier in the way that needed to be overcome for the fun to truly begin.

With a deep intake of breath she centered herself and looked Phas in the eyes, “I’m ready.”

Phas nodded once, kissed her on the cheek, and began to push his hips forward. His thick flat tip pushed deeper into Six's warm core, and the changeling had to stop himself from drooling from the pleasure and immersion in love. He tightened his grip and continued his slow assault, bringing their hindlegs and hips closer together. When he sunk his shaft halfway to his medial ring, Phas paused to let the Spartan get used to the feeling of being so full.

"Ah-haa, y-yeah," he grunted quietly. "S-Six- mmph- you feel amazing..."

“I…never knew… Sex felt this… goooood,” Six slurred her last word as she did, in fact, drool slightly at the mind-numbing ecstasy she felt as every itch she ever had, has and will have were scratched in the best way possible.

Has she been missing out on this feeling all this time? If she had taken Cadence a bit more seriously could she have reached this state of enlightenment earlier?

She peeked through her nearly closed eyelids at Phasma and came to a conclusion: this was the moment Cadence had been nudging her towards all this time, and she was going to enjoy it to the fullest until all those years as a weapon had been made up for!

She grew more and more used to the feeling of Phas within her, and Six felt her competitive side begin to take hold.

With a cheeky smile, only mildly ruined by the small strands of drool on her muzzle, she spoke “Is that all-“ a small unconscious hump from Phas briefly interrupted her with a minor hiss of escaping air through gritted teeth, “–is that all you’ve got?”

Phas raised his head at the goading, taking it hook, line, and sinker, "That's only a quarter of it, S-Six! You're gonna get every bit of it now!"

To Six's surprise, he leaned over and gently bit into her neck. His oversized fangs brushed against the side of her neck as he grabbed, growling and staring into her eyes.

Then she felt him pulling back on her shoulders and forward with his hips. The bigger stallion started humping Six, his massive shaft began to slide forward and back, exploring deeper into Six with every thrust. Deeper and deeper it went, rubbing and stretching every part of her core as Phas pistoned into her.

Her whole body rocked with the motion, leaning forward every time the changeling hit the apex of his thrust and began to pull out. Phas snorted hot air onto her neck, lapping up the pony's offered love as he claimed her marehood.

Six almost started to regret her decision to goad before the tidal waves of pleasure began to flow through her with every impact of flesh on flesh as more and more of Phasmas rod entered her tunnel. When she felt his medial ring begin to go over her clit, still as new to these sensations as she was, the burst of lighting that went up her spine sent her spiraling into a minor orgasm which quickly began to grow in intensity as Phasma got deeper and deeper, fucking her through her ever growing orgasm until with an echoing clap of hips to hips the stallions tip hit her innermost barrier. in the moment of silence that followed the bubble that, Six’s growing orgasm popped once more, sending Phas’s rod for a ride of its life, hilted within the cumming super soldier.

"Three!" The stallion grunted, letting go of Six's scruff. "Record is seven, and that– nnff– was a stallion! Ah, haa! We're gonna beat that, easy!"

His rod throbbed inside Six, dripping hot pre and rubbing it into her walls. Six gripped into his rod and instinctively milked it through her climax. Phas fought back, pressing down onto the Spartan till her chest was rubbing against the tiled floor. He snarled and growled, feral and backseat to his needs. The two worked up a sweat; smooth chitin rubbed against fluffy fur till they were both slick with sweat, excitement, pre, and a bit of drool.

What would have been fatally painful to Six as a human- and in short order Phasma once she got her revenge- was instead driving Six wild. She could feel his tip meeting something deep within her, deeper than she thought she could even have a sense of feeling. But her body knew, and it wanted.

She wanted him inside.

Six was in a type of daze after that last peak, her mind slowly catching up with what her body wanted, as a fire was lit inside her– one which was quickly growing into a blazing inferno as Phasma began to breed her in the most primal way possible. It was as if her insides were on fire and her deep recesses of her mind told her Phasma had the means to extinguish it. Even when, filled to the brim as she was at that moment, she still wanted-

“M-more!” Six practically shouted out as she began to push back against Phasma with everything she could muster, which wasn’t a lot thanks to her recent climax.

It was a miracle unto itself that her legs hadn’t given out already.

His heavy sack met her clit each time he hilted his whole length inside her, adding a steady plap plap plap plap to the sounds of their hips meeting and their panting and moaning. The pressure mounted within the King's package as his own climax grew closer and his thrusts grew more rapid. As much as he prided himself on his stamina, his body sorely needed this, and the super soldier was milking him for everything he had. Phas unconsciously lifted a hindleg off the floor, angling himself to pound as deep as possible into the mare he had mounted. Every thought in his mind turned towards filling Six with his foals, and at last he could not hold it back any longer.

"S-Six!" Phas moaned loudly, "I'm gonna- fff-aaahh S-Siiiiiix!"

His tip pushed through and into her womb, plugging it neatly. Now with the sensitive area round the flare being held fast by Six and the rest of his cock milked by her, Phas felt his balls contract upwards towards his body as they rubbed her clit. His tip widened, flaring out and sealing the entrance to the mare's core. Six could feel something pulse through the King's breeder as his load of royal changeling seed sprayed from his tip, coating her core in white stallion batter. Rope after rope of hot cum shot from his cannon, filling Six to the bim and more. The hot seed both quenched and fueled the fire burning within Six- the sense of relief and ecstasy raging through her whole body like a storm as she felt every single pump of his cock inside her. Even when there was no room left, the stallion kept pumping, breaking the seal around his engorged tip and coating his shaft and her tunnel in the virile seed. It coated their groins, dripping from her folds and down his balls to the floor where it pooled between their hooves.

Phas held tight, groaning Six's name as he bred her, "Ah-Yes! S-Siiiix! Mmmf! Ah-hahhh!"

“P-Phasma!”

Six responded in kind as the flood of gooey warmth set off her most powerful orgasm yet. Her body froze and shook in equal parts as her wings beat irrhythmically against Phas’s sides, before fully embracing him and pushing him closer.

“P-Phasmaaaaaaah!”

A further spray of marecum erupted from their union, joining the pearly white cream that was already leaking out of her. They remained locked like that together in euphoric bliss for what felt like hours simply basking in the afterglow from their shared orgasms. And then Six’s legs gave out from under her, their already weakened muscles finally giving up after that shared crescendo. Six yelped at the sudden loss of elevation for her face.

Phas's face hit the ground a half a second before Six, letting out a strangled cry of surprise as he collapsed onto the Spartan. Through a squinted eye, he looked over to Six, and failed to stop a smile from reaching the corners of his mouth.

He burst into laughter at their ridiculous situation, pulling Six into a lopsided hug, "Four! Hahaha! Halfway– hah– to a new record already!"

Removing the stars from her eyes with a small shake Six shuddered and sighed in contentment at the gooey warmth she felt in her core, and tail...and running down her hindlegs.

She returned the embrace with as much power as she could muster at the moment as her muscles demanded a break before they continued. Because this would not be the end of their time together, Six had a lifetime of catching up to do and she had a lot of tension to get rid of. Phasma had awoken a monster and it was not the one he thought he would find down here.

"If… if that is a record," she said through panting breaths,swallowing to wet her throat that had gone raw from her scream before her eyes met phasma's with the largest smile she could muster, "then let's go break it."

Six cupped his length with her wing, soft feathers pumping the orange rod as she played with it. So close to her muzzle, she marveled at the size and wondered how stallions functioned without passing out from blood loss any time they got aroused. Phas hummed happily and sat back on the table, spreading his hindlegs further while Six stroked him with her wings to completion.

With a cry, his long and hard organ throbbed, and Phas painted both her feathered appendages and her face white with seed. Drowning in ecstasy, the stallion missed the concerning creak from the table below. He definitely did not miss the sudden falling sensation as the large wooden table gave under his weight, snapping clean through the middle.

The shout he gave out was definitely masculine.

...

Six grunted with each thrust, brushing her mane out of her face. She had missed the feeling of feeling so full in the scant few minutes she had been without it, and let her tongue hang from her maw as Phas hammered away into her womb. That flared tip did unspeakable wonders to her, and she felt that burning need within her again. She bit a hoof to stop from crying out for Phas again. As much as Six wanted him to drain another load into her core, she was hoping this could go on forever.

Unfortunately, when the bed in the royal chamber had protested loudly to the Spartan being half-draped over it, it joined its dining table companion in breaking right down the middle of the short width of the bed, sending the two crashing into a pile of blankets, torn mattress, and pillows. The sudden drop forced his stallionhood to the base inside her, sending them both careening into another shared orgasm that spurted out from where their bodies met and filled the hall with the melody of their voices.

...

Phas was all but thrown back-first into the wardrobe, shattering its immaculate and intricately carved doors. His hard elytra and back pressed into the splintered remains, chitin unharmed. He had reared back onto his hindlegs as Six buried her nose against the base of his cock and inhaled deeply. That he had been prepared for. Her tongue cupping and fondling his sensitive sack was another matter entirely.

Six didn't care for the taste, but finding out she could make the stallion gasp and moan with a high pitched voice by giving him less attention rather than more was a discovery worth its weight in titanium-plated hyperweave.

...

Six's body was completely enveloped under Phas's. His forelegs hugged against hers against the wall in front of them, and his hindlegs and tail covered hers. He rested his head on top of her head, huffing with exertion as he swung his hips. The king's large royal jewels plapped against Six's sensitive clit and folds each time he hilted inside her. Her forelegs were shaking as she struggled to stay upright against the wall, electricity arcing up her spine and flooding her brain with endorphins each time her button of nerves was hit and her depths pistoned into. No matter how much she got, it was never enough, and she knew just how to get more.

The Spartan backed her hips up against each thrust, pushing the changeling's thick rod deeper into her and pounding their hips together until more mutual gasps of climax and the sound of fresh cream splattering between their legs broke through the sounds of shuddering flesh against flesh.

They froze when the wall they had put their weight against began to crack and cave in around their forehooves, sending the two of them tumbling once more, still in the high of orgasmic bliss.

...

The large upholstered chair had lasted less than a minute under their weight. It lay on its back with all four legs snapped off, and the pair had left it behind for the bed. The two of them had to move in tandem as Six categorically refused to allow him exit. They barely made it five steps before the two of them rutted like their adopted ancestors once more.

...

Now Six lay atop Phas, a shivering, huffing, twitching mess of feathers, fur, and muscle. Under her, Phas was splayed out on his back, arms loosely holding her in a hug. Behind or below them, depending on your perspective on quadruped anatomy, Six's hindlegs pressed into the now double-shattered remains of the bed, while Phas's drooped in the air.

Their groins, bellies, and muzzles were all thoroughly matted and sticky with drying liquid love. Six licked her lips, finding the taste from earlier still as unpleasant- and her body now ached in ways that even Spartan PT struggled to replicate, but it had all been worth it.

Six shifted her weight and her mind blanked as the thick rod still inside her throbbed at the sudden movement. She let out a tiny gasp, eyes rolling up as the tip flared for the final time that night. She wondered if the pinned and groaning stallion was about to put another load inside her already-full body, and with a final a weak shudder he did. The weak pulse pulse pulse of his final clip in the magazine flowed into her, one final deposit of genetic material for her womb.

She forced herself to slowly relax as she basked in that feeling of fresh warmth inside her- but not before grinding her rump into his sack under the dock of her tail as revenge for not having any more. Phas kicked a hindhoof in the air and gripped her hips, begging for mercy. Six was a merciful mare, however, and upon feeling his rod begin to shrink and slip out of her she rolled off to his side, the two of them now lying next to each other staring up at the ceiling.

She could feel a veritable waterfall of fluid begin to slowly drip out of her as the organ that had deposited it was now absent. The feeling made her shiver and twitch slightly, but above all she felt better than she ever had before.

Smiling, Six lifted a wing in front of her muzzle, depriving the stallion of half of his blanket as she examined her now-white feathers.

'I need another bath.'