"Are you sure they're gone?" Flam asked as he peeked around the wardrobe door.

"Why, of course! Trixie sent them down to the docks."

"And... they won't come back here looking for me?"

Trixie chuckled. "You don't know what the docks in Manehatten are like this time of night, do you?"

The joke came out before he could stop it: "Of course not! I'm not Flim."

That seemed to make her stiffen a bit, and Flam could feel his smile falter. "You, er... you certainly have some interesting outfits in there," he said, gesturing towards her closet.

Her snout crinkled as her eyebrows knit, and he flushed in alarm. Oh shit, not THAT face! Abort! ABORT! "You look wonderful, Trixie."

"Well, don't sound so surprised," she sniffed.

"Surprised? Oh no," he said, "I'm not surprised you look wonderful. I'm surprised to find a lovely filly like yourself in a rotten place like this..."

The snippy expression hadn't changed, so he added on a little something else: "...A place that clearly doesn't deserve the likes of you."

Just as he predicted, that instantly mollified her, and she flashed him that self-satisfied grin he was so used to. Yes, he was familiar with this song-and-dance of hers---Trixie knew how to spin golden compliments out of straw, and, for some reason, he was still more than happy to stroke her ego.

She IS much nicer buttered up, after all, Flam thought with a smirk.

She turned her back and pulled two mismatched mugs out of a crate that apparently served as a cupboard. "Now, since you made Trixie an accomplice, you may as well fill her in on why you're on the lam."

"A simple misunderstanding, my dear."

Trixie snorted, pouring what looked like rotgut into the chipped glasses. "Oh really? Do you remember exactly what you said when Trixie answered the door?"

"I---"

She dropped to her knees and placed her front hooves together, mimicking his panicked plea: "'Oh Trixie, please, please! Help me! I'll do anything you want!'"

His face went hot right up to the tips of his ears. "Now, listen---"

Now she was laughing. "The last time I heard you beg like that, you were wearing hoofcu---"

"Trixie!"

"Judging from the looks on those Wonderbolts' faces, Trixie thinks it was more than a 'simple misunderstanding'." She sat down on one side of the rickety table and levitated her glass. "Come. Sit."

He did so, albeit reluctantly. "Sharp as ever, Trixie."

"Was there ever any doubt?"

YES. "Long story short, I may have, er... been involved in a little.... blackmail."

"Ooh, a scandal?" she said, sipping. "No wonder Spitfire had such murder in her eyes. What, pray tell, did you catch her doing?"

Flam took a gulp, and only managed to gag it down after a bit of choking. Gads, the taste brought tears to his eyes. "Not her. Soarin'. And, er, 'murder in her eyes'...?"

"So what did you catch him doing, then?"

He eyed the tips of the photographs sticking out of his pocket. Don't say 'Flim'. Don't say 'Flim'. "You don't want to know."

When he turned back to her again, he was a little surprised to see Trixie's eyes dart up as well. She leaned across the table and took his hooves in hers. "Oh, pookie. You're going to be here for awhile, you know---you may as well spill the beans."

He sighed, but he did lean in as well. "Trixie, as much as I appreciate you letting me hide here, I really do need to leave. I need to get to Ponyville as soon as poss---"

"PONYVILLE?!"

"...You've been?" he said, wondering exactly why Trixie had recoiled like someone had shoved a red-hot poker in her eye.

She pounded the rest of her drink, and very, very slowly, the colour returned to her face. "Of c-course not!" she said with an affected haughtiness. Flam decided not to comment on how shakily she poured herself a rather generous refill.

He didn't bother finishing his own foul drink, and stood up as best he could; the five shots he'd had at the bar before weren't helping his balance much, and whatever Trixie had served him was so blearingly alcoholic he was sure he could light a fire with his breath alone. "I'm sorry, Trixie, I truly am. But I need to leave. I---"

She'd recovered from her near-faint, however. "Oh, don't be stupid. You're staying the night, and that's final."

"Flim's in trouble."

Well, that pricked her ears up. "He's in trouble? In Ponyville?"

"As far as I can gather, yes."

She leapt right over the table and landed an inch from his face. "Who's got him in trouble?" she demanded, taking a hoofful of his shirt in a death grip. "Tell me! Trixie has to know!"

"Well, I would tell you," he said, smiling a little despite how constricted his airway was. "But you wouldn't know who I was talking about, would you? Considering you've never been there, hm?"

Her left ear flicked back, and for a second her eyelids twitched a bit. But she quickly regained her composure. "You've been staying in a hotel, right?" she said, her head cocked a little to the side.

"Er, well, yes, but---"

Trixie hhmphed in satisfaction, and began smoothing the crease she'd left in his collar. "You must've left your belongings behind, then."

Oh. Now he could see what she was getting at. "I---"

"And it would be downright foolhardy to go back and get them now. Spitfire and what's-his-face may be stuck at the docks, but who's to say they didn't get one of their buddies to keep an eye on your room?"

She was right, dammit. "Trixie---"

She turned around and---Flam jumped a little---flicked her tail up against his muzzle. "Did you know they have a show tomorrow morning?"

He couldn't believe how hard he was blushing at the split-second peek-a-boo he got before her tail flopped back down. "Wh-what's that got to do with---"

"Come ten a.m., they'll all be occupied," she said primly as she took her seat again, and drained her glass. Damn. He'd forgotten how easily she could knock back drinks. "That's when you can go grab whatever it is you and, uh, your brother carry around with you. But until then---" She put her elbows on the table, folded her forelegs at the elbow, and pressed her chin down on her hooves, giving him a kittenish grin. "---you are Trixie's guest." And she actually batted her eyelashes.

They both knew that would make him melt.

Almost reflexively, Flam doffed his hat and smiled. "In that case... Thank you, Trixie. I owe you one."

To his great surprise, the mask of priggishness she usually wore dropped, and she looked vulnerable for a moment. Flam pulled his lower lip into his mouth, hiding his smile behind his moustache; there it was, that little tug to his heart that reminded him of why he'd fallen for her in the first place.

"Actually..." she began quietly, "Trix... I-I think we're even."

And a shift to the first person? Something must be on her mind. "What do you mean?"

"I..." She turned away, her cheeks stained pink.

He couldn't help it. He rounded the table and pulled her into a hug. She only hesitated for a moment before easing her head down against his barrel; Flam rubbed a hoof up and down her back, a little surprised to feel ribs under his forelegs. The Trixie he'd first met had been nice and plump, curvy in all the right places. He thought she looked like she'd lost weight, but hadn't realized quite how much until he felt her thin frame in his embrace.

"Shh, sugarplum," he whispered against her silver mane. "It's okay."

The murmur in his ear was so soft and sweet he had a hard time believing it came from her lips: "I... I hurt you. I'm so sorry."

When Flam pulled away, Trixie did so too, pulling her cape back around her sides. She wasn't looking at him. "...What?" he managed.

She glanced back up, still blushing, and her hat slumped a little to the side. "Flam, I... I didn't mean to break your heart."

He felt his breath hitch in his throat. "Trixie..."

"I really thought it was you under that blanket," she told the floor, "And... and when I found out it was your brother, I... well..."

"Trixie!" Flam took her face in his hooves, and gently turned her head so she was looking him in the eye. "Trixie," he said again, wiping his fetlock against the tear he was sure she'd deny was there. "It's fine."

"It was too late!" she blurted, her eyes wide and glistening. "He was already inside me! I didn't realize it was Flim 'til he started moaning---"

Oh, ouch. That mental image made him flinch, and Flam hurriedly swallowed down the bilious surge of emotion he felt rising in his throat. "I said it's fine. It was a mistake---"

But she wasn't done yet, apparently. "I-I just figured 'Why not? You're halfway there already, and this way you can compar---"

"That's quite enough!"

"You two have quite different styles, you know," she mused. "He's much more of a biter---"

"Trixie!" he shouted. "I forgave you a long time ago, but that doesn't mean I want to hear the details!"

They stared at each other wide-eyed, Flam's pulse pounding against his eardrums. Finally, Trixie cleared her throat.

"Flam?"

"...Yes?"

"Could you let go of Trixie's cape now?"

"Oh!" He hadn't realized how close he'd pulled her until he let go, and Trixie flopped down on her haunches.

"I'm sorry," he said as he sat down, too.

After examining her cape for rips or tears, Trixie undid the clasp around her neck and levitated it over to a hook on the wall. "No harm, no foul. We all make mistakes. Although..." Flinging her hat over her shoulder---and missing its matching hook---Trixie shook her mane loose and began a slow, deliberate walk around Flam. "...I suspect there'd be no mistaking who was who now, not with that... incredible new moustache you have." She ended that sentence with a nuzzle, her lips tickling over his.

"And that's exactly why I grew it," he said with a little peck. "...Although Flim says I look like a walrus."

"Well, a very charming walrus," she said with a wink, beginning to tug his bow tie loose. "So... are you or are you not going to fill Trixie in on what in Equestria is going on with you?"

A little swirl of magic caressed the side of her face, and then curled down to undo the buttons on his vest. "Come now, Trixie. We could sit and talk, but... isn't there something you'd rather be doing right now?" He nodded his head toward her unmade cot.

Hopping up on the bed, she patted the spot next to her and showed off what she probably thought was a come-hither smile. "Nice to see you have your priorities in order."

As he took his place beside her, Flam placed a line of kisses up along her jaw, ending with a sharp bite to the ear that made her gasp. "You know I can't think clearly when I'm around you."

His vest was now open, and two strands of different-coloured magic began unbuttoning the starched shirt underneath. As she slowly trailed her hooftip down his exposed chest, Trixie admitted "It... it has been awhile."

Flam was glad they were cheek-to-cheek; he didn't want her to see the look on his face. "Same here," he sighed.

"Mmm," she giggled as she tugged him closer. She grazed her hoof across the side of his vest. "Is that something incriminating in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

Flam smoothly guided her hoof up and around his withers instead. "Trust me. You really don't want to know. There isn't enough alcohol in Equestria to burn my memory clean, and I'd like to spare you the same fate."

She looked just over his shoulder with a pout of confusion. "Huh! That's a strange place to hang a piano."

"What?"

The second his head was turned, she snatched the photos from his pocket and shot out from under him. "Hah!" she crowed as Flam went sprawling down on the bed. "Gotcha!"

He made a swipe for the pictures, and fell on his face again. "Dammit, Trixie!!"

"Let's see what's got you all in a lather," she said, easily jumping out of the path of his blast. Holding the first photo backwards against her forehead, she closed her eyes---not before dodging him again---and said "Trixie predicts it's.... the Wonderbolt in lingerie. Is she close?"

"Give me those!"

"Only one way to tell! Trixie sure hopes you asked for a lot of biiiIIIIIIYAAAAH!!!"

Her shriek made his ears snap painfully back. "I told you not to look," he sighed.

"Sweet Celestia's tits!" she screamed. Her pinprick pupils were darting all around the first picture, unsure of where it was safe to land. "What---what---what is this? What am I looking at?!" She shoved the photo in his face, and Flam just barely had time to squeeze his eyes shut. "Explain this!"

"Well, sugarplum, sometimes when two strangers love each other very much..."

"Don't you be a smart-ass! Was Flim just..." A quick scan through the rest of the photos made her muzzle screw up even more. "...Just doing that for the sake of blackmail, or...?"

He already knew what was coming. "Or what?"

"...Or does he like stallions?" she finished, sotto voce.

Flam rubbed a hoof through his mane. "Er... the latter."

After returning to their normal size, her eyes drifted back down to the photos she had splayed out in her aura like a round of cards. "B-but... he... we..."

Her lips trembled a little, and for a moment he thought she was going to burst into tears---so her squeal of delight nearly knocked him flat again.

"I seduced a coltcuddler!" she cried out with an exultant flourish, throwing the photos over her head. "TRIXIE IS THE GREATEST LOVER KNOWN TO PONYKIND!"

Flam chuckled as he sat on the edge of the bed. It was probably best to let her have that one. "Is that so? Well," he said, leaning back on the mattress, fully aware that he probably looked ridiculous, "Would Trixie care to put her bits where that big mouth of hers is?"

He grinned when he saw her tail begin to flick back and forth in excitement. "You should know by looking at those pictures that big mouths are the most... practical. In fact," she added with a glance down at the ones that had landed face-up, "A few of these have given Trixie some inspiration."

"Do I dare ask which ones?"

She joined him on the bed but dodged his kiss, choosing instead to turn and swish her tail up and down his cheek. "Let's just say Trixie can't decide what to bury her face in first---the pillow, or your stifles."

"Ooh! You always were classy," he leered, and made a grab for her rump.

Giggling, she let him pull her by her haunches down towards his face. The bristle of his moustache against her sensitive inner thigh made her yank her leg up sharply. "Ah! That tickles!"

He couldn't resist trying something he'd only done once before---moving his mouth from side to side, which made the tips of his moustache dance between her legs, sweeping in teasing strokes across her sex. Judging from the patter of droplets against his nose, he was doing something right.

Trixie's shrieks of laughter melted into little gasps and moans as he gently brushed his lips over her puffy folds, covering them up and down in increasingly open-mouthed kisses; it wasn't long before she was furiously winking against his muzzle, grinding her hips back and forth, trying to keep the tip of his tongue against her clit.

"Ah! Right there!" she cried as he finally got his lips around her button. "Yes! Ah! Just like that!"

With a loud MMPH! she stuffed her face against his sheath, letting her tongue swirl around the first few inches that were creeping out. Even Trixie knew there were times when subtlety was the best... and that this wasn't one of them. The fact that one little nibble to his scrotum made his cock jump right up like a spring told her he'd been waiting far too long to be teased.

"Down the hatch," she whispered.

She swallowed as much as she could in one gulp; she'd never been able to deepthroat, and just barely got past his medial ring before her gag reflex kicked in. It didn't matter. Flam was already writhing around like a worm on a hook, his hindlegs bucking out at the empty air. She could feel his chest rapidly rising and falling against her belly, hot puffs of his breath washing along her pussy. As best she could with a cock in her mouth, Trixie grinned. Oh, how she loved making him squirm.

As Flam pulled up a bit to slide his tongue deep inside her, Trixie rounded her lips around his flare and bobbed her head down, corn-cobbing him a bit. It had been a while, indeed---she'd almost forgotten that huge vein he had running down his length. She pressed her lips against it, delighting in the feel of his heartbeat and the long moan her kiss drew out of him.

"Enough of that!" she declared as she leapt to her hooves. Talking over his groan of protest, she went on: "Trixie is craving something a little more substantial than your tongue."

Pushing him to the side, she lowered her barrel to the mattress and stuck her rump up in the air. "C'mon, pookie," she cooed, wiggling her hips back and forth. "Give your old girl a good rutting, will you?"

"I..." The sight was transfixing. Flam blinked a few times to clear the glaze out of his eyes; Trixie may have missed a few meals since he last saw her, but damn if she didn't still have that amazing ass!

Her tail was snapping around like a whip. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"Just admiring the scenery, my dear," he answered, and gave her left buttock a playful bite.

She yelped when his hoof cracked down on the other side, making her cheeks jiggle. "Ah! C'mon, ándale! Trixie wants it, and she wants it now!"

"Whatever Trixie wants, Trixie gets," he answered as he hopped up on her back.

"Mmm, yes!"

There was silence for a few moments, broken only by their panting, as Flam poked around trying to find his mark. When he felt her soft folds part around his flare, he leaned down just enough to press his lips against her cheek. "Are you ready, sugarplum?"

"Wait."

"Uh... alright."

Trixie reached back and gave his elbow a reassuring pat. "Don't worry, you'll get to have some fun tonight. Trixie just thought we, um, we could..."

He was aching. He could feel the hot, sweet wetness that he wanted so badly to slide into; he desperately hoped she wouldn't make him wait too long. "W-what?"

"...try something new," she finished.

"Like what?"

"Well, for starters, why don't you inch your 'little Flam' up a bit?"

"I really wish you wouldn't call it that," he grumbled, but did as he was told.

"No, no. Higher."

"Like this?"

"Hiiiigher."

He looked down between their bodies. "Trixie, if I move it any higher, it's not going to go in!"

She put a hoof over her mouth and sniggered. "Indeed! Trixie wants you to aim for a different bull's-eye altogether."

"I... what?"

She sighed. Apparently she was going to have to spell it out for him. Inching her hips downward so that his flare slid right up under her tail, Trixie shook her ass a little and whispered "Right... there."

Tightening his grip, Flam stammered "Uh... I...I... really?" If he thought he'd been blushing before, well, now it felt as if his face was about to melt off. That particular flavour of intercourse had always been a bridge too far for her. "Are... are you sure?"

"Mm-hmm," she purred.

Flam gulped hard against the pounding in his throat. "Um... do you have... er, any..."

She rolled over with a coy little grin. "Lube? Now, now. Don't you worry about that." As her horn lit up, she said "Trixie knows a spell that---"

"NO!!!"

A balletic leap took him off the bed and halfway across the caravan, and Flam landed sprawled on his back, all four legs curled protectively over his groin. "No! Absolutely not! Don't you dare try it!"

"What, are you afraid of a little lubrication spell?"

"Do you remember what happened the last time you cast a spell on my dick?!"

She scoffed and tossed her mane. "You're being such a crybaby! It came back eventually."

"NO DICK SPELLS! And that's final!"

"Fine." Trixie leaned over the side of her cot and poked around below it for a few minutes. When she sat back up, she had a small bottle in her hoof. "Here."

She passed it to Flam, who turned it over in his hooves a few times. "This is very expensive stuff," she said thinly, "So you'd better be sparing with it! It's a special formula that's supposed to increase sensation for both partners, and it's hypo-allergenic, and---"

"Trixie?"

"You know I don't like it when you interrupt me!" she snapped.

He pointed to something printed on the bottlecap. "Er... this expired a few months ago."

"Oh, damn-fucking-nation!!!" she screamed.

Flam quickly tossed the bottle aside and put a foreleg around her. "Shh, shh! It'll be okay, sugarplum!"

She rested her head against his shoulder, and he got a good whiff of her mane. She always did smell sweet. "But I really wanted to try anal," she said petulantly.

"What?! You've never---?"

He noticed her cheeks flush. "N-no."

A hot swell of pride surged inside his chest, and his forelegs began to tremble. She wanted me to be her first...!

"Well, er..." He cleared his throat. "I don't want that expired stuff making you sick, Trixie, but... maybe..."

Her dour expression brightened. "Maybe what?"

With a shaky sigh, he said "...Maybe you can try that spell out after all."

"Really?" She tucked her head under his chin, being mindful not to jab him with her horn. "You'd let me do that?"

"S-s-sure. Just please be careful this time, okay?"

"Of course! Of course," she said, and moved so that she was sitting between his knees. She glanced up and saw the nervousness in his eyes. "Hey," she murmured, "I know what I'm doing this time."

Before he could answer, her horn crackled to life, and a tingling blue glow had surrounded his erection. Flam bit his lip as he watched the glitters of magic spiral from the tip to the base and back again; the feeling wasn't unpleasant, but he still braced himself for the loud bang he remembered so well.

It didn't come. "Voila!" Trixie cried out, hungrily eyeing his cock. "It worked!"

"It did?" Flam poked his member a bit. A very fine blue shimmer was covering it, but at least it was still there. "This'll work?"

"Let's put it to the test!" Her butt was up in his face in an instant.

But instead of mounting her again, Flam rolled onto his back, beckoning her closer. "If this is your first time, maybe you should be on top. You know, to give you more control over the speed?"

"Oh! Good idea."

She positioned herself on top of him and daintily lifted her tail, giving Flam a nice view of her tight little pucker right before it settled on his dick. He pressed his hooves against her cheeks and spread them apart, making Trixie suck her breath in and peek back over her shoulder. "Are you ready?" she mumbled.

"Are you?"

Instead of answering, she began to ease her way down. He wasn't sure if the spell she'd cast helped her stretch at all, but it did seem to make the initial penetration easier---a smooth glide instead of the rough, scratchy entry he'd experienced the one other time he'd attempted this.

Once the head was in, he managed to breathe out "Are... are you okay, sweetie?"

"Mm-hhph," she gritted out. Her head was still turned just enough that he could see her eyes were screwed shut. She'd alternate easing her weight from one hindleg to another, and inch after inch slipped inside; by the time she got to the halfway mark, she'd loosened up enough to push the rest of the way down in one fluid motion. "AH!"

Flam grabbed her hips, giving her cutie marks a gentle caress. "Oh, Trixie..."

She called his name out too as she started rocking, moving her pelvis around in a figure eight. She let her head flop back, spilling her mane down her shoulders, and beads of sweat popped out on her neck. Flam sucked the underside of his moustache into his mouth to taste her juices that were still lingering there. She lifted herself up, then carefully sat back down; then she began to bounce, filling the caravan with the lewd, wet slapping of flesh on flesh.

Time was, they used to make a lot of noise while lovemaking---Flam thought it both sexy and hilarious how Trixie could babble like a porn star---but this time they didn't speak at all, only opening their mouths to moan, or to breathe through clenched teeth. He wasn't even sure what he would say had he been capable of coherent thought.

She looked back again, her face glistening with sweat, and the sight nearly made his heart seize up. "How is it?" she hissed.

Her spicy musk was in his mouth, and her supple, tight ass had him seeing stars... He had to be honest. "Incredible," he answered. "Mmmm... The best I've ever had."

When he sat up, pressing his chest against her spine, he carefully wrapped his forelegs around her skinny ribs. Trixie squeezed back, smiling as wide and as happily as she had in ages. "Oh, pookie... I've missed you so much..."

He caught her lips with his, and held her close as they rocked against each other, digging into the lumpy mattress; as Trixie pushed her tongue around in his mouth, she whined through her nose, her voice getting higher and higher until all she could do was squeak. Flam, for his part, was letting out feral grunts and barking noises as her ass gripped him harder than he thought possible.

After fumbling a bit, he used his left hoof to pry her labia apart, and then pressed the frog of his other hoof against her clit. Her pussy was winking against him, her pearl eagerly bobbing in and out, and the sweep of his fetlock against her gauzy hood was beginning to short-circuit her brain. "I---ah---I'm not---oh, Celestia-a-a-aaaah! I'm not gonna last long---!"

"Me n-neither, baby... ah..."

"On top!" she panted. "Get on top of me!"

A snagging in his balls told him he had little time to fulfill her request, so Flam flopped over to the left, pulling her with him, and quickly rolled her onto her belly. "Trix..."

She moaned into her pillow as she pumped her ass up to meet him. "Pound me!" she screamed. "I'm so close! Pound me!"

"Ah, shit! Trixieeeee!" The last vowel pulled into a long holler as he jerked forward, and three sharp snaps of his hips brought him to a mind-melting climax, leaving him groaning and trembling on top of her. Just as the last burst of semen shot forth, he could feel her go into a teeth-clenching, full-body shudder below him. Flam whimpered as the spasms of her body slowly pushed him out of her. Simultaneous orgasms? he thought hazily. We've never managed that before...

When he finally slid all the way out, he looked down to see the aura that had been coating his dick dissipate; amazingly enough, it left behind absolutely no trace of what they'd just done---no semen, no sweat, no blood, and, thank Celestia, no shit. He whuffed in surprise. She really HAS improved her magic!

For a few long, lovely minutes, they just lay side-by-side, petting their hooves across the other's body; after most of her sweat had dried and she'd cooled down, Trixie wiped the tears out of the corners of her eyes, and snuggled closer to him.

"Thank you," she said under her breath.

Flam kissed the top of her head. "No, thank you. That was... that was mind-blowing."

"Mmm..." She hiked herself up on the bed and rested her head on the pillow next to him. "How long can you stay?"

Dammit. He wasn't quite ready for reality to intrude on the afterglow. "Just 'til tomorrow. You know I have to leave." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Flim needs me."

"You're really worried about him, aren't you?" she said, lightly touching his face.

"Of course I am!"

Trixie smiled as she settled back. "That means you... you two made amends?"

"Yes," he said, and swept a few strands of her mane off her forehead. "A long time ago."

She pecked the side of his mouth. "I'll help."

"No no no. You don't need to get involved---"

She didn't seem to be listening. "I'll help you get to P...." Her snout crinkled in distaste. "To Ponyville. I know the way."

Flam laughed and put a foreleg around her withers. "So do I, sugarplum. And don't you worry yourself. I have a ride."

"....Oh."

For awhile they lay side-by-side, his inhale matching her exhale. Then Trixie tittered a little when she felt his whiskers brush against her horn.

"You know," he said as he kissed down to her scalp, "The Squeezy runs half-speed when it's only got one unicorn at the helm."

"Oh?"

Their snouts breezed against each other as he moved in for a kiss. When Flam tried to pull back, she nipped at his lower lip with her teeth---always careful not to draw blood.

"Maybe Trixie can help you after all."

Author's Notes:

I began this a bit reluctantly, but these two ended up being so much fun to write! Hope you enjoyed.

Now, back to the main story!