Standing under the overhang that covered the front porch that belonged to Cookie and Hondo, Sentinel gazed at Diamond Tiara after having walked both her and Sweetie Belle home. Sweetie Belle had gone inside, distracting her parents, leaving Sentinel and Diamond Tiara alone on the porch together.

Diamond Tiara watched as Sentinel sat down upon the wooden planks of the porch. He had to be a brave colt to sit down upon what was certain to be cold wood. She felt her heart begin racing, as it always did when she looked at Sentinel. He was handsome, at least Diamond Tiara thought so, with his dark, sooty brown pelt, his night blue membranous wings, and his mane, which was the colour of old rust. His amber eyes were bright behind his eyeglasses, which looked like regular glasses but protected his eyes from the sun.

All of a sudden, there was a fluttering sound and the world all around Diamond Tiara jerked and moved around in a crazy way. The horizon wobbled and her hooves slid over the wooden floorboards of the porch. She let out a startled yelp, not knowing what was happening. It took several seconds to realise that Sentinel had grabbed her with his wings. He was fast; too fast. Diamond Tiara felt unsettled. Nothing should ever move that fast or be that strong. She found herself chest to chest with Sentinel, snoot to snoot, his large eyes now inches from her own.

Her heart was thudding inside of her barrel now, almost hurting from how hard it was pounding. Diamond Tiara came to the conclusion that she was completely powerless in this situation. She could feel Sentinel breathing on her muzzle; he smelled of apples and of cinnamon, with a faint whiff of toothpaste along with something dead.

“Sentinel, let go of me,” Diamond Tiara whispered, feeling afraid but not understanding why. She wiggled in his embrace, but was unable to do much of anything.

“No.” Sentinel shook his head and there was a playful smile upon his lips.

“No?” Diamond Tiara blinked and her mouth pressed into a straight line for a second. “What to do you mean, no? Release me this instant, you mega-brute.”

“No.” Sentinel’s smile became a faint, gentle smirk. “The only way I will release you is if you say please.”

Diamond Tiara’s eyes narrowed and her brows wrinkled. So that’s how it was. This was a contest of wills. Diamond Tiara, after several long seconds of thoughtful consideration, realised that she didn’t want to be let go of, but there was the need to resist Sentinel and show him who was boss. “Let me go. Now.”

“Nope.” Sentinel wrapped his wings around Diamond Tiara a little tighter, and he placed his foreleg around her middle, pulling her even closer. Very close. Diamond Tiara was tilting back now, they were belly to belly, and if he let go of her, she would fall over on her back. He leaned forward, dipping her back a little more, and he could feel the warm flesh of her stomach against his own. It excited him.

Diamond Tiara placed both front hooves against Sentinel’s chest, just below his neck, and applied gentle pressure, a show of token resistance. “Unhoof me, mega-brute… oh… oh… Sentinel, what are you doing?” Diamond Tiara could feel Sentinel’s nose traveling up and down her neck, sniffing, his wet breath blowing through the fine, short hairs of her pelt. His hot, heated snuffling caused her to have cold chills and hot flashes all over her body.

“You smell like girl…”

Sentinel’s voice was a low, dangerous sounding growl. Diamond Tiara squirmed and wiggled, not trying to escape, not any more, just trying to make the ticklish feeling of Sentinel’s nose rapidly sniffing up and down her neck go away. Sentinel was slobbering from his excitement, and she could feel hot drool soaking her pelt now.

Something wet and rough brushed up against the soft, tender, vulnerable base of Diamond Tiara’s throat and then it traveled upwards, moving slowly, leaving behind a wet, slick, greasy sensation as it passed. The pink filly realised that Sentinel was licking her; she felt confused, not knowing if she was delicious food or just a delicious filly, or if there was even a difference when it came to Sentinel. She felt his rough tongue stop near her jawline. She wiggled a bit more, trying to seem like she was resisting, but what she really wanted to do was to melt in Sentinel’s embrace and let him keep doing whatever it was that he was about to do. It was as confusing as it was arousing.

“Sentinel,” Diamond Tiara squeaked in a breathless utterance. “What are you doing?”

She felt Sentinel rubbing the sides of his head against her, moving along her cheeks, along her jawline, against her neck, he was moving from side to side, leaving behind a musky, oily scent. She recognised that smell now. He was marking her with the scent glands just below his ears. She was never going to get that smell out of her pelt, not with a million shampooings.

Diamond Tiara felt herself being eased down upon her back. She wondered what Sentinel was about to do right here on the front porch of Hondo and Cookie’s house. He was still sitting, but his upper half was leaning over her body now, and she was all too aware of how this position might look. It probably looked a lot like Sentinel was getting ready to—

“Mmm, mine!” Sentinel said in a low rumbling growl, a terrifying sound.

Diamond Tiara’s thoughts were cut off by Sentinel’s head now rubbing down her throat, along the base of her neck, she could feel Sentinel’s tufted ears against her forelegs, his head sliding down her barrel, moving closer to her navel. This was blissful and Diamond Tiara’s eyes rolled back into her head as her eyelids closed. She could feel the sides of Sentinel’s face rubbing all over her tender, exposed underside. As he moved, parts of her rubbed up against his belly, and Diamond Tiara became somewhat aware of a gentle feminine awakening as parts of Sentinel brushed up against her. She didn’t know what she was feeling, but she liked it, as confusing as it was.

For a moment, Sentinel’s head rested against the base of her breastbone, and Diamond Tiara wondered, no, hoped that he would go lower, just so she could see what would happen next.

But nothing happened. She lay on her back as Sentinel pulled away. She felt two strong forelegs grab her just beneath her own forelegs and then hoist her up into a sitting position. She felt dizzy and the scent Sentinel’s marking musk was causing her nose to tingle in a strange way. She felt like sneezing, but also like she needed to pee, or something. She had trouble telling. She felt oily everywhere he had rubbed his head.

“You… you mega-brute! What am I going to do with you? You’re half wild,” Diamond Tiara said in a weak, wavering voice. If Sentinel wasn’t holding her up right now, she knew that she would fall over.

“Goodbye,” Sentinel said in a rough, raspy voice. He kissed Diamond Tiara on the cheek, his lips lingering there for several long seconds. “Think fondly of me.” Sentinel made certain that Diamond Tiara was sitting down and had her front hooves against the ground before he let go.

He lept from the porch, spread his wings, and took to the air, flapping, gaining altitude, a crazed grin on his face as he departed. His mane blew back from his face and his legs tucked up against his belly, streamlining his form for faster flight.

Diamond Tiara, still stunned, still feeling weak, raised one front hoof with a great deal of effort, waved, and then in a low voice said, “I love you, Sentinel. Until we meet again.”

Soaring with effortless ease, Sentinel barreled, banked, and rolled, just for the sensations they caused. He tore through clouds, dove, rose, flying with no real set direction or goal, just enjoying himself.

A bright shape popped through the clouds and Sentinel realised that he had company. A second flier appeared, white, following the first. Sentinel squinted, trying to see who was following him.

He saw Raindrops and Blossomforth, no doubt out on patrol. He could see the sashes they were wearing, the caps, and the glinting of their badges. Sentinel smiled as both mares pulled up along either side of him, Blossomforth on his right and Raindrops on his left.

“Hiya Cutie,” Blossomforth said. “How ya been?”

“Fine, thanks for asking. I just walked Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle home,” Sentinel replied, glad to have company. It was flattering to be called ‘Cutie’ by a solar pegasus, something about it made Sentinel feel good about himself.

“How are you and Diamond Tiara getting along? How is that filly doing? I know she’s in therapy. Is she feeling better? Real shame about her father.” Raindrops’ smile was warm and sincere. She flew a little closer to Sentinel, trying to see his face so she could read his expressions.

“Diamond Tiara and I are close. I like her a great deal. She’s doing better, but she still has off days. Yes, she is still in therapy. And yes, it was tragic what happened to Mister Rich.” Sentinel was gliding now, not needing to flap his wings much. His wings had grown it seemed, they were longer than he remembered.

“Sentinel, we’re both very happy to have caught you. The truth is, we need your help,” Blossomforth said, her tone becoming professional and businesslike.

“Oh?” Sentinel asked. “You know I am always willing to help, you need but ask.”

“We have a very clever thief that hasn’t been caught. Somepony… or something… has been stealing produce. We haven’t caught them. We need your nose… we want you to sniff out the crime scene and see if you can lead us back to the perpetrator of these crimes,” Raindrops explained as she flew beside Sentinel.

“I can do that. Just show me where I need to go. We can take care of this right now,” Sentinel said, offering Raindrops a smile.

“Good, follow us.” Blossomforth banked and dropped away.

Glad to be helping, Sentinel grinned and dove after the white pegasus.

“Majesty, we will be looking into the cause of Lord Governor Wrecker’s death, but we suspect it premature old age and any number of health problems he had that might have brought about his demise,” the doctor said as he crammed a clipboard into a slot marked ‘Wrecker’ and shook his head. “That pony ate fried foods at almost every meal.”

“Yes, yes he did.” Princess Celestia, her heart heavy, let out a sigh. “He was fond of beer battered deep fried cheese served with greasy gravy over fried potatoes. It makes me glad that I am immortal.” Celestia’s attempt at humour to cheer herself up fell flat and her ears drooped.

“We have conducted an exhaustive physical on Prince Bitters, Majesty.” The doctor turned to look at Princess Celestia, his face stern and serious.

“Do tell.” Princess Celestia’s head turned to one side and she studied the pegasus doctor. She could see herself in the reflection of his glasses.

“Well, aside from his curious physiology, which we can’t currently identify, we—”

“Wait, go back a bit. Explain,” Celestia commanded.

“Majesty, we cannot currently identify which species Prince Bitters is. He has an equine appearance but his physiology is… remarkably similar to Discord’s, if perhaps a little more draconic and a little less random chimeric. He is more of a sulfur based life form, like most dragons or common demon physiology. He continues to mutate.”

“Mutate?” Celestia asked, her eyebrow raising. “I do not know that I like this term, ‘mutate.’ My nephew does not mutate.”

“Majesty, I meant no offense, it is simple terminology.” The doctor cleared his throat, shuffled his hooves, and continued: “Majesty, the common pony has forty four vertebrae. Our ancestors, the common horse, had fifty one to fifty eight—”

“And my nephew?” Celestia asked, guessing where the doctor was going.

“At the moment he has forty nine vertebrae, and we suspect this number may grow larger. He is still small and slight of build, but he has grown longer. His recent full body transformation into an ice elemental and then reverting back into an equine body, we suspect that it further mutated his already unstable form,” the doctor replied.

“Hmm.” The white alicorn lifted her head and stared off at the wall, lost in thought.

“Anyway, Prince Bitters is in good health. The experimental blood transfusion from Tourmaline went well for him. The changeling magic that he has been altered with made him quite receptive, and the healing compounds in Tourmaline’s blood did an amazing job in revitalising his body. We were able to study him a great deal during his brief coma.”

“Thank you,” Princess Celestia said. “I am a very busy pony. I fear I must be going. Again, thank you so much for your time.”

Author's Notes:

Biology.