(Zenith Sol)

Sol was just about to enter Max’s room to see what the commotion was about when a unicorn filly... floated through the door and almost into her. “Whoa! Hold up there, little filly.”

“Mah!” She yelped, “S-sorry, I was just looking around.”

Sol smiled down at the normally invisible filly and said, “You must be Aurora. C- Max said that you were only a spirit now.”

Aurora nodded, “Yeah, that’s right…”

“I am Zenith Sol and this Zenith Mun, my twin.” Sol gestured to the thestral standing on the other side of the door. “She talked to us about trying to make a body like ours for you, one that would actually grow over time.”

The ghost filly nodded, “Yeah, she said something about you making a body for me. So, uh, how’s that working out?”

“It’ll be ready in less than half a year, I’m still trying to calculate how long it will actually be.” Sol gestured to the tank quietly rolling over. “I might not have any games among my files, but you can drive around if you still want to explore.”

Aurora smiled, “Sure! I can’t remember if I’ve ever driven before, but how hard could it be?” She floated a bit towards the tank, “Thank you for making me a body Miss Sol, I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no trouble, Mun and I were going to see if we could make backups for our organics anyways. Making a third for a cute little filly such as yourself is a pleasure,” She said with a serene smile.

Aurora giggled, “Well, I better get used to the controls on this.” She faded into the tiny tank, causing it to vibrate slightly. Once the shaking subsided, the tank started going back and forward, while also turning.

“I’ll make sure you don’t bump into anything. Oh, please don’t try to get past the firewalls protecting the controls for the weapons. I’m not actually supposed to let you into my hull.”

“Don't worry, I’ll release control!” Aurora’s control over the tank suddenly stopped, almost sending it straight through the door into Max’s room before Sol could catch it.

“I meant that you don’t have to worry about hitting anything. You can still drive around, but I’ll be like your training wheels until you know how to watch all around you at the same time.”

“Sorry, I kinda freak out from time to time…” Aurora giggled nervously. “Guess I get a bit jumpy.”

“It’s okay, just remember you have to stay calm. My hull reacts much faster and is more sensitive than Mun’s, so you need to find something that keeps you calm no matter what and hold that in your mind,” Sol said to Aurora through her connection to the hull.

“Roger- I mean got it.” Aurora started driving away from the door.

(Max)
I slowly woke to the sensation of a small muzzle poking my nose and several sets of hooves trying to push me. “Okay, okay. I’m-” I yawned as I sat up in bed, but tried to continue, “I’m up.” I rubbed my eyes and looked down to my legs where Rainbow was just turning over onto her hooves.

“Mama!” Rainbow happily replied, before noticing something and tilting her head. “Who’s dat?”

I looked beside me to where she had pointed and saw she had meant Seph. “That’s your other mommy, Sephiroth. She’s going to help me and daddy take care of you and your sisters.”

She looked at me, puzzled a little. “Other… Mama?” Soon, she smiled, using her hooves and wings to climb up on the bed right where Seph was and snuggled herself into her. “Yippee!! Mama Two!”

Golden and Light joined her and started nuzzling Seph’s face and trying to get some milk from the woman’s still exposed breasts. That actually got a reaction out of her, as she scrunched up her face and lazily tried to wave the fillies away, not really realizing what exactly it was. Which became rather obvious after I heard her mumble in her half-asleep state. “Not now…. Max…”

I chuckled a little and said, “I’m not the one doing that, Seph. You might want to wake up before they start biting.”

A confused look conquered her face and she asked, “Who’s biti-” Only to yelp and sit up abruptly after exactly that happened.

“Well, they seem to like you even more now.” I smiled at her and looked over towards the door, spotting Lucky standing just inside. “Lucky, come join your sisters and say hello to your mom.”

“O-okay,” The colt said, trotting over and jumping up onto the bed.

Still quite dazed, Sephiroth rubbed at her eyes and mumbled again. “I thought you told me that you are weaning them. Why would they just suddenly latch onto me?”

“I dunno how foals think. Maybe they just wanted to imprint on you as their mother as well as me?”

The silver haired woman just looked down on the assembled foals, but all she managed was a quite overwhelmed, “Huh…” Before casting a sidewards glance at me. “I… guess it would be counterproductive to, you know… give them what they want?”

“Not really, they haven’t been trying to sneak a sip ever since I got back from the mirror. I’d say it’d actually help to reinforce that good behavior.”

She smiled slightly and nodded her head. “Okay.” Before she did anything, though, her cheeks turned a faint red and she averted her gaze. “Thanks. For that.”

I smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re welcome. And, if you want, you can help feed my son once he’s born.”

Her smile widened at that and she nodded again. “Gladly.” Then she proceeded to cover her breasts with both of her hands, like I had seen her doing in the infirmary. And just like then when she lifted them away her breasts were visibly swollen. Instead of reaching out to lift the fillies, though, she lit her hands and carefully let them float towards her, scooting back in the process to lean against the headrest of the bed. That in turn caused the two little foals to giggle as they squirmed around in Sephiroth’s pale green aura, eliciting a chuckle from her as well while she watched them closely with such caring eyes that it brought a smile to my face. A few seconds later though they were securely nestled in her arms, which was all the prompt they needed to start suckling.

“Morning Max. Morning Seph-.”

I turned around to notice Lance just walking into the room. His clothes were mostly back on and he looked a little moist. Probably must’ve gotten out of the showers or something.

“Morning, Lancie. Just letting Seph bond with Golden and Light,” I said, putting my arm around the filly-covered woman.

Sephiroth just inclined her head in greeting, not really looking up to him, while she continued to watch the two foals suckling away at her breasts. “Good morning.”

Lance just looked back at Max and sighed. “Yeah… Bonding… Hang on, if the kids are here… then that means-.”

“Hiya Lancie!!”

“Gah!” Lance reacted, caught by surprise as he fell to the floor. “Pinkie!!”

I giggled and looked over at the pink mare. “Hello there, Pinkie,” I said.

“Hi there, Maxie! The fillies were really behaving themselves-.” She said before noticing Seph in the back of the room. “OOH!! Who’s the new pony?”

Reluctantly, Sephiroth lifted her gaze to look at the source of all the noise, blinking in surprise. “And who would you be? It’s quite rude not to introduce yourself first if you want to know who I am.”

“Oooh!! I’m Sorry!! I’m Pinkie Pie!! Super Duper Party Planner and Filli-Second of the Power ponies!!” She cheerfully replied to Seph.

The uber hyper behaviour of the pink pony caused the woman to frown. “I’m Sephiroth. And since you seem to like titles, I’ll share a few of mine. Angel of Destruction, Dragonslayer and - my favorite - Godmother to all Children. I’d like to ask you to turn down the shouting a little bit, if possible.”

I gave the mare an apologetic smile and nodded. “Yeah, we just woke up and Seph is obviously not a morning person,” I said. “Besides, she isn’t really a fan of your usual attitude.”

“Right,” Lance sighed, getting his coat off of the coat rack. “Well, Pinkie and I should get going. I still got some work to wrap up in Centrail City and also some members of a Suicide Squad to track down-.”

“Ooh! Ooh!! You mean the group that has your father be part of it!?”

“Wait, father?” I shot Lance a questioning look. “Your father is in your universe? How come this is the first I’ve heard of him?”

Seph decided to stay out of that conversation, since she technically still knew almost nothing about Lance, and focused on my daughters again.

“That’s the thing. It’s the first I’ve heard of him too. I thought he was dead because he committed suicide. Now he has a mechanical arm, is a bounty hunter, and is known as McCree.” He explained, getting a print out photo of him to hand to me to see for myself.

“Huh, I wondered if I’d ever meet a Displaced from that game.” I handed the photo back to Lance and continued, “What’s he done to get on something called a ‘suicide squad?’”

“Bounty Hunting. Seven years of it. Anything he could to make a living. I don’t know all the details though. This is the only thing we have on him.”

“Then it might not be hard to get Celestia to pardon him and send him here.”

“Actually, the only info we have is on a flashdrive from a mole we uncovered at the police station. An assassin shot him between the eyes before we could question him.”

Sephiroth’s voice chimed in. “If I’m understanding this right, you’ll have to leave, soon?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Centrail City and the Cutie Mark Crusaders need my help in catching a group of Vigilantes. It’s all in a day’s work.”

A little intrigued as to why she had interrupted us, I turned slightly to look at her. Her gaze was fixed on Lance and without any warning whatsoever, her black wing flared into existence out of nowhere, missing me in the process, so that it was spanned behind my back. “Max? Would you do me a favor and select one for Lance? My hands are a little occupied at the moment.”

I noticed at first glance that her wing directly reflected what I already knew due to the feather I possessed. It looked by far less pristine than I remembered it and a few of her feathers even seemed to be more than a little roughed up. There were two or three broken ones, too.

Hmm... Maybe I should preen her wing while I’m at it. Just have to be careful that I don’t end up arousing her like that one guard, I thought before starting my self-made job. I turned around onto my knees and started at the base, slowly straightening each feather as I went and pulling out the ones that were loose, only for them to crumble to dust the moment they left her wing and completely dissipate into nothing before reaching the bed.

The wing ruffled slightly as she shuddered, but she remained silent. Maybe she thought I was just sorting through potential ones?

I continued with my slow pace, looking for one that almost matched mine as I pulled broken feathers and straightened bent ones. Eventually I found one as reached the tip of her wing and said, “Okay, time to let me get the other side.” I turned to Lance and floated the feather I had chosen to him, waiting for Seph to give me access to the other side of her wing.

Sephiroth shot me a glare, that was utterly ruined by the cute little blush on her face, but then she sighed and closed her wing in order to open it in front of me again, giving me access to its backside, while she looked at Lance again. “It’s directly bound to my life, and as you saw, I gifted one to Max, so I’m offering you the same. If you ever need my help, or just want to see me, you can use it to summon me, as it doubles as a token. But it is also my promise to the both of you, that there will always be a deeper connection between us.”

I tuned them both out for the next few minutes as I worked on getting Seph’s wing into something approaching how it was when I first saw her. When I was almost done I said, “You really need to take better care of yourself. I’ve pulled about forty feathers so far because you went up against RD and Celestia by yourself.”

Instead of some excuse or remark she bowed her head in shame. “I- can’t rectify what I have done and I won’t even try to. You’re right. Because of my arrogance I nearly got myself killed…”

I wrapped her in her own wing as I leaned forward and hugged her. “Just next time you’re being tossed around, call me or Lance. Please. We’re here to help you, and we don’t want you to die.”

She pressed herself against me, slightly. “I will. You showed me that I’m not on my own, anymore. And I won’t let my pride get the best of me again. There is no shame in calling for help.”

I sighed and shook my head, thinking back to Kat. “At least you get that.”

“Speaking of her. You wouldn’t happen to know of a master goldsmith that can turn her token into a pendant?”

“Sure, just go to the forge here in the castle and tell the smith what you want done. If he says anything about paperwork, just tell him I said he could shove it up his-”

I never got to finish my sentence as I received a faceful of feathers, albeit gently. “I get what you are saying. I have to go speak with him later.”

I got a devious look in my eyes as I decided Seph’s wing needed a bit more preening and let my tongue slide between a few of the feathers. I felt her shudder as I gently grabbed one of her feathers between my teeth and pulled it a bit straighter.

In a warning tone she spoke, “Max… we’re not exactly alone right now. And you shouldn’t start what you can’t finish.”

I let go of the feather and pushed her wing out of the way. “Oh, fine. I’ll wait until I can, but trust me. You won’t be able to walk straight once I’m done.”

The smirk was easily audible in her voice. “Is that a promise or a threat?”

I giggled and made sure that I’d sound like my male self when I said in a deep and reverberating tone, “Both.”