~ Four days before, Canterlot Royal Hospital ~

Twelve forty nine, forty nine minutes after midday and Air Raid was still snoring away, her consciousness away in the Dreamscape. A Dreamscape created of her own mind, her own desires and dreams. A Dreamscape where she didn’t leave Wily, where she gladly gave up her career and stayed with the pony she loved, where she cared for her marefriend like the loving mare she was supposed to have been all along. And she was happy. So very happy. The happiest pony in Equestria, because she had her Wily, and Wily had her. Air Raid and Wildfire, like it was always meant to be.

The way it should have been all along.

Then the clock on the wall clicked its long minute hand to the next number along, reading twelve fifty and the wondrous Dreamscape shattered; falling away from her desperately grasping hooves in a swirl of colour and a blinding flash of light. At twelve fifty her phone rang, the discordant noise shocking her rudely awake in an instant.

“Shit! Shit, my phone!” Air Raid sat bolt upright in the hospital bed next to Darkstar as she snapped fully awake. “Shit where’s my phone!?” She panicked, launching a futile search of her bed for the ringing phone.

Smiling smugly Brightstar floated her phone out of her saddlebag and moved it over to her.

Plucking it out of the shimmering yellow aura with an almighty pout the lime green mare flicked the green button to receive the call. “Yes?” She asked, a little more tersely than she had wanted.

The voice on the other end was the perfect Canterlot accent of the officer from earlier in the cafeteria. “This is Detective Hoofbeat, are we still on for a one O'clock meeting?”

In reply Air Raid let out a huge yawn that split her face. “Yes!” She exclaimed as soon as she was able, “Yes we are, definitely.”

“Is Mr. Brightstar still with you?”

“Yeah, he's still here,” Air Raid confirmed as she attempted to straighten her mane.

Hoofbeat seemed genuinely pleased with this, “Good will he be there with you then?”

“Yuppe....yeah, he will…” Air Raid almost said one of ‘Wily’s words’ but managed to catch herself at the last moment.

“Hopefully you got a note.” Wherever he was Air Raid decided it was probably the car park as there was traffic in the background. “I have conference room one twelve reserved. See you there in a few minutes.”

Absently Air Raid nodded her agreement. “We did indeed, see you in room one twelve.”

“You may want to take a brush to your mane.” Moonbeak suggested as the pegasus hung up the call and tossed her phone back in her saddlebag.

Brightstar sniggered behind his hoof, “More like a chair, a whip and a lion tamers manual.”

Air Raid raspberried her friend as she once again delved into her bag, fishing about for her brush. Once again she pouted when Brightstar smugly floated it up from the nether regions of her other bag entirely. “He always this helpful?” She asked ruefully.

“Oh yes,” Moonbeak smiled, stroking a claw delicately over her stallion’s foreleg. “Even more so when he is needy.”

Taking the brush to her mane, a mane that hadn’t seen whisper of a brush in at least two days Air Raid tried to brush her unruly mop into submission. “When he...OOOW! Wants his sheath lock off...NGGGH! You mean?” In a temper at hitting two knots in a row she threw the brush on the bed.

“Oh let me...” Brightstar rolled his yellow eyes in mock exasperation and surrounded his friend’s blue mane in his magical field, using it to separate all the knots, tangles and even this tough little colicky bit that tried to deny him but failed.

Moonbeak looked on amusedly as her pet prepared the mane for brushing. “He does do a very nice job of preening too. Did you and the girls teach him that valuable skill?” She asked, genuinely interested as Bright’s preens were very good.

Air Raid smile with a brief nod as Brightstar obediently began to brush out her mane, using long slow deliberate strokes to finally get the mane under control. “He used to watch...very closely.”

“I'm still studying horn care…” Moonbeak replied, her shrill voice almost a husky whisper, “Very thoroughly I might add.”

“Oh...she's very thorough,” the royal blue unicorn smiled happily as he started braiding Air Raid's mane. As he worked the braid into her mane he cast a critical eye over her wings. Wings that hadn’t seen a preen in as many days as her mane hadn’t been brushed till now. “Hmm…no time for a proper preen, but I can get these looking like actual wings again, at the very least.” He lit his horn, his yellow magic encapsulated both of the pegasus’s wings, and a rippling shimmer later had all the broken and misshapen feathers lying in a heap on the bed.

“You look like you're among the living again Raid.” Moonbeak smiled as Brightstar completed the five minute makeover. “Let's get moving.”

Air Raid chuckled as she slid off the bed to stand on her hooves with a quick stretch. “Any more of that and he'll turn me into an actual girl.” She giggled as she fell into step alongside the griffon.

“Heaven forfend that should happen, Raid.” Brightstar said as he dutifully fell in line behind his girlfriend and his Mistress.

Moonbeak giggled as they made their way down the short flight of stairs to the reception. “Good thing he didn't braid your tail or your marehood would be showing.”

Air Raid returned the giggles on the stairs, “I’m willing to share, but not right now...thanks Bright, you did a good job here mate,” she said appreciatively as she shook her wings and found all the feathers actually pointing the right way.

“For five minutes, yes.” He agreed from behind them as they exited the stairwell and walked over the white marble floor up to the reception.

“Hey Pure, where are we going?” Air Raid called out as they neared the ornately carved area and saw there were no ponies queueing up to be seen.

Without looking up from her small stack of paperwork she was currently entering into her computer, Pureheart pointed with her left wing down the adjacent corridor. “Down there first left second door on the left.”

Air Raid lifted her hoof in thanks before she realised the nurse hadn’t looked up. “Thanks Pure. Will we see you in the cafeteria later?”

“Maybe Raid,” the nurse replied, still not looking from her screen but with a detectable smile nonetheless, “Depends on what those ponies out there decide to do to get in here.”

“I'll get you a coffee if I see you?”

“Deal.” Pureheart agreed, moving the stack of completed paperwork further aside to make room for more.

Giving the nurse a smile she didn’t see Air Raid led the way down the corridor that the nurse had indicated to her on their way to the conference room assigned to them for the duration of the forthcoming interview.

“New friend?” Brightstar asked from his position behind them.

“Pretty much, Bright yeah.” Air Raid lead them around the left turn and up to the second door. “Pureheart’s pretty cool, got this ‘Shrink to the Stars’ sister in Manehatten she wants to go live with.”

They found the door to conference room one twelve open and a grey unicorn stallion with a turquoise mane and tail and wearing a police jacket already in the room waiting for them. As they entered the room he turned to face them, briefly showing his cutie mark of a horseshoe pointing up with a white quarter note inside.

“Detective, hello.” Air Raid greeted him as she walked into the room and around the desk, taking the seating pad furthest from the door and nearest the wall.

Hoofbeat stood and nodded respectfully to them, “Greetings Ms. Raid, Mr. Brightstar and…” he paused for a briefly, checking his extensive meticulously written notes, “Ms. Moonbeak. I'm Hoofbeat and I wish this meeting was under better circumstances.”

“At least I'm not being arrested this time.” Air Raid attempted a smile as Brightstar waited for his Mistress to seat herself on her chosen seating pad before sitting himself.

Once they were all sat the detective seated himself, flashing them all a warm reassuring blue-eyed smile. “We don't have a lot to go on so far, which is why we're having this interview. Ms. Darkstar was found in the warehouse district on 3rd Brick Way. Have any of you been there or know of Darkstar going there?”

“No sir,” Brightstar replied with a shake of his head.

“Not the Warehouse District.” Air Raid agreed, “She'd never go there on her own, and especially not in the freezing morning.”

Hoofbeat consulted his notes, flicking from one page to another. “She was found between an empty building, which was searched and hasn't been entered in months. The other building belongs to Office and More. I show no record of any of you working there.”

Brightstar’s temper flared just briefly, “No, look, we know full well who did this to my sister detective!” He exclaimed.

Hoofbeat shot him a quick look, “And whom might that may be?” He asked in his perfect Canterlot accent.

The royal blue unicorn leapt to his hooves, suddenly very irate, he raised his voice to a low yell. “Cold Front! Who else?”

“Wildfire's dad.” Air Raid supplied, “It was him.”

Holding his pen in his blue magic Hoofbeat began taking even more notes in his little book. “Probable cause?”

Air Raid sat up in her seating pad, her grey eyes meeting the blue. “Before Hearths Warming, he discharged Wildfire from here. He told us she was in Filly...”

“Which we know is rubbish!” Brightstar interrupted his friend, still on his hooves. “We all started to look for her.”

Air Raid sighed, “I looked in Filly, I had some races out there. We came back Saturday.” Hoofbeat listened in silence, taking note of every word the pegasus and unicorn spoke. “I thought I saw her out there, little yellow pegasus, and I told Bright, who went out as well to look.

Brightstar lowered himself back to his pad next to Moonbeak, “That's how it happened, detective.”

“Saturday, midday, Darkie called me from Canterlot as we set off to come back from Filly.” Air Raid elaborated, “She was excited; she said...she was close to finding Wily.”

“What motivation would Cold Front have to lie about his daughter's location?” Hoofbeat asked, his pen poised on a clean piece of notepaper.

“Because he's scum!” Brightstar yelled before the pegasus could answer.

“I don't know, detective.” Air Raid said, struggling with the memory of the last few days. “Darkie said she'd dug around here, and this orange pegasus in the cafeteria, must be Autumn Burst, told her how she saw Cold Front meeting with a purple mare from a care home.”

Hoofbeat’s ears pricked as she gave him more details. “Which care home? Do you have the name of the mare?”

Reluctantly Air Raid shook her head. “I don't know, just that she's a unicorn and runs a care home in Canterlot.”

“You have Cold Front's address handy?” Hoofbeat asked, his ever-present pen at the ready.

“Of course, Sir,” Brightstar quickly gave the detective their old friend’s address.

“There's something else, detective. When Darkie called she was at Cafe Diem, when she hung up, she sounded off...weird, like.” Air Raid told the detective.

“What time was that call made?” Hoofbeat asked, ready to take more notes. “We didn't find a cell phone on the victim.”

“It was about one p.m., here, you can check my phone.” Air Raid offered her phone to the detective to check and verify her claim.

“We are in the process of getting a court order for her phone records and to search her place.” Hoofbeat commented, quickly scrolling through the pegasus’s recent records and making another note. “Even with your permission Brightstar, we still need the court order. We will be doing that search tomorrow. Do any of you wish to be there? Also the location is taped off in case any of you wish to go there today.”

“No, we'll be back in Filly, sir.” Brightstar supplied.

“I'm not leaving her side.” Air Raid stated in a manner that suggested it was not up for debate. “Yesterday, I spoke to Java, from the Cafe, he said Darkie had thanked him for a donut he didn't give her, and she seemed, drunk, she was staggering as she left there.”

Hoofbeat noted that in big with bolded letters. “Does Darkstar drink?”

Air Raid shrugged, “No more or less than the rest of us, but...when she started the call she was as sober as a priest on Sunday.”

“I'll have officers check all locations for probable cause so we can get search warrants. Did Darkstar have any enemies other than Cold Front?”

“No!” Brightstar exclaimed indignantly. “Outside of a few pranks, everypony loved her.”

“Any gambling issues, debt, and / or any illegal actives you may know of?” The detective asked, watching the two ponies for their reactions.

Air Raid shook her head, “Nope. Definitely not, no way.”

Hoofbeat sighed deeply, breathing out through his nose. He hated interviews like this. Family and friends were always emotional and unpredictable. “The job seems very professional. No fur or wing dander. Except for being raped. Even then we can't tell if that was from the same ponies that hurt her, or even if it was before or after the damage was done.” He paused for breath and turned the page in his book. “We do know it was to send a message. She wasn't meant to be found alive. Are any of you in possible trouble? Are there other friends of Darkstar that may have problems?”

Now it was Brightstar’s turn to shake his head. “We aren't, over in Filly, and Cyclone is in Cloudsdale.”

Air Raid leant forward on her seating pad, an action that immediately caught the detective’s attention. “I...well I...” she was about to tell him about the time Wily’s dad had broken muzzle but...she sighed a defeated sigh. “No...I'm fine, detective.”

Brightstar turned on his friend disbelievingly. “Raid, tell him!”

Air Raid shuddered as she relived the incident a few months ago. “Cold Front...before we left for the races in Filly, he broke my muzzle, slammed his door in my face…”

“And he used to beat Wily!” Brightstar put in, on his hooves once again.

“Cold Front assaulted you?” Hoofbeat asked, his pen ready.

Once again the lime green mare shook her head. “I-It was...an accident.”

“Bullshit Raid!” Brightstar slammed a hoof on to the table’s surface. “Tell him!”

“Did you or him file a police report on the incident?” Hoofbeat enquired.

“No, no I didn't, and I don't want to now.” Air Raid stated clearly.

“WHAT!?” Brightstar screamed, his horn firing multi-coloured sparks in anger. Moonbeak hooked a claw into Brightstar’s collar and pulled him down hard to his seating pad giving him a vicious stare.

“You've given us some leads. I'll try to get a court order before we interview Cold Front, but probable cause of 'Keeping you from asking about his daughter' may not carry much weight. We'll run a check for any abuse reports to help back it up.”

“Wily never pressed any charges, detective.” Air Raid explained, “She was too scared.”

Hoofbeat lifted himself off of the pad he’d been sitting on and straightened his jacket, a signal the interview was almost over. “I'll still run his name for something, and maybe he has a file. We are treating this case as attempted ponycide and maiming of a unicorn's horn. Both carry very stiff penalties. I'll keep all of you informed of our progress, most likely in a weekly report.” He took his notepad in his blue aura and floated it away. “Thank you all for your time. I'm sorry to have taken you away from your sister for the short time you have here.”

Brightstar stood as well, “You're welcome, detective. Please, please find who did this.”

“We will put every effort into this.” The detective offered a hoof to the two ponies and the griffon, who each bumped and shook his in return, before making his exit from the conference room.

“Why didn't you press charges Raid?” He asked, rounding on his friend almost the moment they were alone.

Air Raid looked him in the eye, not flinching as she stared him out. “Because what happens if I do, huh, Bright?”

“He'll get caught, that’s what!” He yelled back, stomping his hoof on the floor in utter frustration.

“No, Bright!” She yelled back, “I'll get put in a coma in the next damned bed, or perhaps even a damn sight worse!”

“You can't run her life Bright,” Moonbeak said gently as she laid a comforting clawed hand on her stallions shoulder, squeezing just enough for him to feel her talons. “But, I'd expect more from you Raid. Still you have a lot to lose, even more now.”

“You heard him, the detective!” The lime green mare exclaimed, stomping her own hoof at her friend with a snort of fury. “Darkie was a message Brightstar! STOP LOOKING. And, it’s received and understood.”

“Hopefully he has screwed up and the police will take him down.” Moonbeak reasoned. “Now both of you stop shouting or I'll treat Dark to a spanking of you both.” She added with a twinkle in her emerald eyes.

Brightstar opened his mouth few times, “I...I...” he fell to his haunches, defeatedly crumbling. “I'm sorry love.”

“Yeah, me too, Moon.” Air Raid said quietly.

Moonbeak chuckled, “And I thought you'd both keep yelling. Let’s go back upstairs At least Dark won't talk back.”

~ ~ ~

~ Four weeks later, downtown Fillydelphia ~

“How’s your cheesesteak, darling?” The griffon asked pointedly, her shrill voice – usually calm and collected – almost high enough so that only dogs would hear it clearly emphasising each syllable. Narrowing her emerald green eyes she cut into her own cheesesteak, her knife poised to take a slice of the beef and melted cheese.

“MMmmm…” Brightstar murmured in reply, his attention clearly elsewhere, a tiny bit of drool leaking from his mouth to land on his own cheesesteak as he gazed off to the distance to the nearby bar.

Following his faraway stare Moonbeak saw to where he was looking and her powerful dark grey wings spread slightly in anger. Not only was he very plainly ignoring her and the expensive food, her date was busy ogling an attractive young-looking mare in a crimson dress who was currently commanding all the focus at the bar as she overly delicately sipped the glass of whatever it was she was drinking.

‘Hmmm…she’s gorgeous…so pretty…’ Brightstar thought as he stared, carefully taking in every inch of the pegasu’s flank hugging dress; the way it followed the curve of her back, the precisely placed holes for her perfect wings, the shimmering of the sequins as they flowed down over her flanks and around her mint green tail. So perfectly proportioned, everything just where it should be to excite the imagination and, Brightstar’s imagination wasn’t the only thing excited.

‘Perfect, pretty, hateful bitch!’ Moonbeak thought, glaring sharp pointy daggers at the utterly unsuspecting pegasus who was obviously deep in a flirtatious conversation with the middle aged earth pony stallion beside her. ‘Whore!’ The griffon stared hatefully at the mare from her seating pad at the table which had taken a month of waiting to acquire, and it wasn’t even one of the better tables at Gino’s Steak House, subconsciously she couldn’t help but compare her body to her own – especially as her date was undoubtedly doing the same. Slim and attractive in a dress that should’ve been outlawed as a dangerous weapon, Moonbeak couldn’t help but feel deep pangs of jealousy as she glanced down at her own seven month pregnant body. Already not as slim as she’d like to be from having had one kitten, she was starting to show the rounded distended swelling of her second pregnancy, which she knew wasn’t going to do her figure any favours. Add to this the fact that this mare was clearly at least ten years younger than her and the griffon was fantasising about beating the pegasus to a pulp, closely followed by her date.

After another fifteen minutes she decided she’d had enough. “Brightstar…hello…Equestria to Brightstar!” Moonbeak’s high pitched voice squeaked in frustration as she waved a clawed hand in front of the royal blue stallion’s yellow eyes. “Hey! Brightstar I’m over here!” Again the older griffon waved her hand in front of the distracted unicorn’s face, this time reaching over the restaurant table with a heaving groan and slapped his foreleg hard.

“Wha…what, oow Moonbeak what was that for?” Brightstar rubbed his foreleg where he had been slapped, his wandering attention turned wholly back to his date; when it did he couldn’t help but shrink back on his seating pad and away from the very furious look he was now receiving.

“What was that for?” She squeaked, her beak hanging open in stunned fury, her sharp claws digging small trenches in the dining table’s surface. “We have been in this restaurant for an hour and a half and you have spent eighty of those ninety minutes staring at that orange pegasus over there in the crimson dress!”

Brightstar blushed a faint red against his blue coat at having been caught out. He had indeed been staring, though obviously not as subtly as he had first thought. “I wasn’t staring…” he defended lamely, his yellow eyes unable to meet his date’s emerald green ones.

“Not staring, really?” Moonbeak bristled, some of her white feathers standing up on end contrasting with her grey fur. “You were drooling into your cheesesteak for Luna’s sake!” The fuming griffon pointed out the little bit of drool currently on the top of the food.

“You’re imagining it, Moony.” Brightstar replied, a confident smirk on his muzzle. “You’re probably hormonal or something like that,” he said dismissively with a wave of his hoof as he picked up the cheesesteak in his magic and instead of cutting off a little refined piece proceeded to take a huge bite, his cheeks bulging outwards with the quantity of food he was eating.

‘Hormonal?’ Moonbeak almost choked on the steak in her mouth. Struggling to swallow she was so angry she bent the knife held in her right claw. “How dare you! Do you have any idea how hard it was to arrange tonight?” She pounded her fist into the table top, rattling the plates and cutlery, nearly sending their wine glasses crashing to the floor.

Brightstar actually deigned to look at his furious date, turning bored yellow eyes upon her. “Yes I know, by Celestia’s sweet fetlocks do I know!”

“What’s. That. Supposed. To. Mean?!” Moonbeak asked, struggling to keep her voice as even as she spoke, her temper simmering just under the surface, ready to explode as she carefully enunciated out each word.

“Well,” the unicorn sighed, putting down his cheesesteak and wiping his muzzle purposefully with the tablecloth, not the napkin. “I’ll tell you, shall I?” He asked dismissively. “How can I not know ‘how hard it is to eat here’ when all you’ve done for the past week solid is bang on about coming here? Every time you open your beak it’s ‘Gino’s this’, or ‘Gino’s that’ or ‘hey guess where we’re going?’ every day counting down like a Luna damned Hearths Warming advent calendar!”

Moonbeak had heard enough. Suddenly planting her balled-up claws on the tabletop the pregnant griffon thrust herself upright to her paws, looming over the dinner table with her distended belly resting upon it as she leant over and with a swipe of her right arm delivered a resounding slap to the left side of Brightstar’s face, the sharp points of her clawed fingers leaving little trails that began to bleed straight away. “Bastard!” She screeched, her already shrill voice practically inaudible, utterly uncaring of the other diners in the restaurant putting down their knives and forks to watch the unfolding scene that had been brewing for the past ten minutes. “I’m going home!” Leaning forward so her beak was inches away from her date’s nose she gave him the barest flicker of a wink just for him.

Sneering back at her Brightstar rubbed his hoof along the shallow cuts at his cheek and laughed, "Dear, do sit down you’re making a scene; ponies are looking at you.”

“Пусть смотрят!” Moonbeak yelled, her rage evident as she reverted to her native Griffonian, "Я так теку, что хочу тебя прямо сейчас!” By now the whole restaurant, including the staff, had stopped whatever they were doing to watch the drama as the irate griffon slapped her date’s right cheek – her second strike equally as hard as the first – before leaving him sat there alone at the table as she angrily stomping out of the building.

Gradually the other diners returned to their own food and conversations in the aftermath of Moonbeak’s eruption. Sighing happily at a job well done Brightstar lifted the remaining half of his cheesesteak in his magic, this time taking a more reserved bite, he didn’t know whether to be aroused or scared so he settled somewhere between the two.

Fifteen minutes later having finishing off his drink, and being grateful Moonbeak didn’t throw it over him like last time, Brightstar took care of the bill and left the restaurant to walk the three quarter of a mile back to the treehouse he now considered home.

He laughed out loud as he walked. ‘Treehouse’ was doing it a disservice, it really was; Moonbeak’s Fillydelphia house was a large open plan single storey four bedroom log cabin supported by the branches of three large oak trees. Larger than the house he had shared with his sister in Canterlot, Brightstar had fell in love with the treehouse ever since his girlfriend had taken him home after their first date at Gino’s Place three months ago when Air Raid had took the last photo his sister had seen before her attack. ‘Three months ago…’ Brightstar’s cheerful mood turned morose at the thought of his sister. His walk, already slow to give Moonbeak sufficient time to get home, slowed to a virtual stand-still and he leant against a nearby wall, doing his absolute best to fight back the tears that threatened to pour down his scratched cheeks.

Moonbeak had gone with him to see her the first Saturday after her attack. They’d only been together a few days, not even a full week. There had been no question, no argument. As soon as her mother, a griffon in her late fifties – Brightstar had been too polite to ask her exact age – by the name of Astraea had been able she had gladly minded her daughter's one year old kitten Athena. Sitting by his side in the hospital room, Moonbeak hadn’t said a word, she just gently placed her clawed hand on his hoof and sat quietly while he had openly wept at his sister’s condition. Nineteen years old he hadn’t cried like that since the age of fourteen when his mom had been committed to the asylum; he had cried that day though. For hours he’d cried; he’d begged Darkstar to get up, pleaded with her to wake up, he’d even screamed at her, anything to get at least some sort of reaction from his comatose sister and through it all Moonbeak sat without a word, just holding his hoof. He’d known then that evening on the way back to Filly he was going to grow old with her. She was a keeper for sure.

Thinking of Astraea cheered him up almost instantly. She had the unusual combination of razor sharp intellect and wit sitting happily alongside a foalish sense of humour and absolutely zero shame. She reminded him of an older lewder version of his sister and Cyclone put together in one glorious package. They had been dating for one month when Moonbeak had taken him to meet her mother. Brightstar had been so nervous, right up to the point she had opened her beak. Instead of introducing herself like any normal being she had spoken straight to Moonbeak in their native Griffonian, ‘Его член длиннее его рога?’ Astraea had asked, which from his languages major at Canterlot University he had understood to mean ‘His cock - longer than his horn?’ Brightstar knew he was going to like this wonderful old lady. Of course, his reply to her of ‘Ни на один она не жаловалась,’ had all but sealed the deal, once she had stopped laughing long enough to welcome the unicorn into the family that is.

That had been the only time he had made Moonbeak blush, in fact she’d still had a blush visible through her white feathers in her car on the way back to the treehouse. He laughed at the memory of her swatting him between gear changes. “Did you have to tell my mother that ‘She does not complain when I use either of them’?” She had groused at the wheel of her van.

Chuckling, thanking Celestia for the gift of Astraea and her ability to lift his spirits, the stallion started walking down the street towards home once more. He hadn’t taken more than a few steps when it occurred to him that he hadn’t called Air Raid for a few days – true Moonbeak’s photography business had kept them double busy, what with everypony wanting to get married in May - but still, no excuse for not thinking about her and Darkie. Lighting his horn as he walked Brightstar levitated his iPhone out of his saddlebag and dialled his friend’s number, confident she’d be up in spite of the hour nearing ten O’clock at night.

Air Raid answered by the second ring. “Uh…wh-what’s up, Bright?” She asked, her voice heavy with weariness like she hadn’t slept in days and a distinct sniffle that betrayed a hastily recovered bout of tears.

“No, what’s up with you Raid?” He asked, his left ear perked up at his friend’s tone. “You sound like you’ve driven through Tartarus the long way round. Twice.”

Air Raid sniffled and choked back a few barely held tears. “I’m fine. Totally absolutely fine.”

“Bullshit Raid. Tell me what’s up or I’ll get Moony to come and spank you again.”

Air Raid had to admit that prospect was tempting. A griffon’s spanking was like being flailed by several tiny knives, sharp enough to make you bleed but not too sharp that they caused lasting damage and, under any other circumstances the lime green mare would’ve jumped at the opportunity. “Oh…it’s, it’s nothing really, I’ve just had a falling out with Slingshot that’s all.”

Brightstar almost dropped his phone. ‘A falling out with Slingshot?’ He thought incredulously. “No Raid, that’s not ‘nothing’. What happened?”
“Um…well, ‘Shot, he um, paid a visit earlier; wanted to know why I haven’t been racing when we’re only a quarter way through the season. He was pissed we’d missed eight races off the Canterlot circuit, said the sponsors were gonna drop us, well me, if we didn’t start entering some. I said there was no way I was leaving Darkie’s bedside. We uh…had a ‘disagreement’. He said Darkie was nothing but a transparent attempt to make up for abandoning Wildfire. I um…I yelled at him to get out, and he did. He just left.”

“Oh Raid…Raid I’m sorry,” Brightstar comforted, “Hey, it’s Wednesday now, how about we drop Athena with her nan and come up on Friday for the weekend, give you a bit of a break?”

“I don’t need a break. I need to be here for Darkie.” Came the ever stubborn reply.

“Raid…I’m willing to bet you haven’t been out of that hospital in three months.” Brightstar asserted firmly. “At least Darkie doesn’t have to endure the food. We’re coming up on Friday, you’re going to go home and rest, even if Moony has to hoof-cuff you to your bed.”

"Bright I…thanks Bright.” Air Raid’s stubborn defence crumbled before the weight of her tears, like an old dam struggling to hold back the weight of the water behind it.

“Get some rest Air Raid, before they put you in a bed next to my sister.” Brightstar said kindly as he hung up. “We’ll see you soon hun.”

Brightstar rounded the corner onto their street and cancelled the call, floating his phone back in his saddlebag as he approached the base of the treehouse. Looking up he noticed all the lights but one were turned off, namely their bedroom. ‘Uh oh…that’s trouble…’ he thought, remembering the way Moonbeak had stormed from the restaurant. Suddenly he wasn’t sure if he’d left it too long coming home. Oh well…only one way to know for sure. Lighting his horn again he began to charge up his magic, igniting it in a bright yellow mini corona as he concentrated precisely on the treehouse, specifically the small circular area in the entrance hall reserved for teleportation, brought the image to his mind’s eye and imagined himself occupying that exact spot in space. Channelling his raw power she thought of the words of activation for the spell and the familiar sensation of being squeezed through a narrow pipe overcame the unicorn as she disappeared from the spot at the base of the largest oak tree with a bright flash of yellow light, leaving behind him a slight smell of ozone in the air.

“Ложись. Сейчас же.” Moonbeak’s high pitched voice sounded the instant Brightstar materialised and his shining yellow aura had dissipated. Despite there being a good forty five minutes since they’d seen each other there was still a spark of anger in her voice that sent chills down the unicorn’s spine.

Stepping forward from the entrance hall into the darkened main room of the treehouse Brightstar felt the thick quilted carpet beneath his hooves – one of the reasons the treehouse was so warm – he hastened to obey his lady and laid down right there like she had ordered. That she was still talking Griffonian meant she was still pissed.

“Хороший мальчик. Теперь копыта.” Moonbeak ordered with a quiet authority, unwinding a thin length of red silk in her clawed hands, though the colour couldn't be seen in the dark. Flapping her powerful dark grey wings she hovered over to the obedient stallion laid on the floor. “Good boy.” She smiled, her sharp yellow beak glinting in the half light as Brightstar raised his forehooves up in front of his head like she had requested. Hovering above him she slowly lowered herself down until she was straddling herself across his chest. Leaning forward she quickly looped the ribbon of silk around his forehooves, loosely tying them together. “You've been a bad boy tonight though, haven't you?”

Brightstar shivered with excitement as he felt the ribbon snake around his hooves. He could break it of course; as a restraint it was more symbolic than it was effective, which of course was entirely the point. He saw the shadowy shape of Moonbeak sitting on his chest, he felt her warm sex pressed against his fur, rubbing wet and moist against his skin. Slowly she ground herself against him, her labia leaving slick trails on his fur marking her passage. Every time she rubbed against him his sheath twitched as his member reacted to the stimulus, already the flat head was starting to emerge, followed by the rest of him as the griffon continued to tease him.

“Who was a naughty boy?” Moonbeak asked sternly, leaning back and sliding her wingtips along his inner thighs.

“I was…I was naughty Ma’am.” Brightstar answered immediately, the stern tone of his girlfriend’s tone making him harder by the second.
“What did you do?” Moonbeak writhed around on his chest, sliding lower to his belly where he felt her distended belly pressed to his flatter one, his now erect stallionhood resting against her buttocks.

“Nggh…I…I took my beautiful griffon out for a meal Ma’am…and I spent the night ogling a young pegasus.” Brightstar gasped as she raised herself up and moved backwards over his erect shaft, hovering her hindquarters just above it.

“Hmm…you are bad aren’t you?” He could hear the dominant sneer in her voice. “What do you say?” She asked as she rested her dripping wet sex against the underside of his penis.

“S-sorry Ma’am…” Brightstar whimpered pitifully. “I’m sorry for eyeing up that young mare! I truly am Ma’am!”

“Oh…you will be, жеребенок.” Without warning Moonbeak thrust herself downwards but instead of lowering herself gently onto his throbbing shaft she used her bodyweight to force it flat against his belly earning her a very satisfying yelp of surprise and pain then needy desire from her stallion as she rubbed herself along his length.

“AaaAAGH…AaaOOOW! I…I’m s-sorry Ma’aaaam!” Brightstar screamed as she crushed his erect stallionhood to his body a second and third time, the last time Moonbeak ground herself onto his balls, rolling herself around and bouncing her weight up and down on his tender pained nuts. His forelegs flexed instinctively, millimetres from snapping the delicate ribbon, but he knew that wasn’t allowed.

“MMmm…you know what?” She asked rhetorically, “I think you are sorry.” The griffon smiled in the half-light of the main room as she ground against his throbbing hard member one last time, drawing another pained whimper from the poor unicorn. “Would my little boy like a reward now?”

“Aaah…aah…y-yes, Ma’am…pl-please, reward me.” He groaned in delightful agony.

Frowning Moonbeak raised herself up fractionally and landed on his testes again, harder this time, making him almost break the ribbon. She knew he never would. “Stupid little pony. Ask me properly.”

“Ngggh…AAAAAGH!” Brightstar shook with pain under his griffon, he knew what she wanted and he knew she loved making him beg. "Прошу, наградите меня, Госпожа!!” He begged for her in her native tongue.

“That’s better, much better.” This time when she lifted herself up she gently took hold of his abused stallionhood, gripping it carefully in her sharp clawed hand Moonbeak guided the flat head to her wet vagina and slowly, very slowly started to lower herself down upon it. “You’ve earned this, for being such an obedient pony.”

“HmMMmmm…” He moaned lustily as he felt rather than saw her purposefully slow descent. After his torment she was trying to get him to buck his hip upwards, but the unicorn knew better than to try it. She would deal swiftly and painfully with any such attempt. ‘Luna above she’s so tight!’ He thought as he felt the moist walls of her tunnel stretch and expand to accommodate his length and girth within herself.

Moonbeak stopped at his medial ring and placed both of her clawed hands on his broad firm chest. Like that she held herself semi impaled on his throbbing cock for a whole five seconds, until she was sure her stallion was a heartbeat away from bucking his hips before she lowered herself the rest of the way to hilt herself upon him. As she did so with a malicious smile on her beak she dug her claws into the flesh of his chest.

“YEeaaARGH!” With the pain in chest causing wonderful endorphins to course through him and the sudden hilting inside his girlfriend Brightstar almost came right there. “Th-thank y-you…” He gasped as she started to ride him, pulling herself up over his ring then sinking back down to hilt herself once more.

“S-say…hmmm…say my ooooh…name!” Moonbeak groaned, the coppery scent of her stallion’s blood driving her almost to her peak, as well as from her grinding and teasing. Again and again she hilted on his shaft, her overdue climax starting to build in the depths of her core. “Say it!”

“M-Moon…aaaah…b-beaaaAAAK!” The unicorn screamed in pure ecstasy as he was ridden, already he could feel his balls begin to tighten, he knew his own orgasm wasn’t far away.

Leaning forward so her distended belly was touching his she lifted her claws from his bloodied chest and slid them up his body to close them around his neck. “Fuck me.” She snarled in his ear as her claws dug past his blue fur and pierced his skin again. “Трахни меня!!”

“Uuh…aaah…uugh…” Brightstar gasped and struggled for breath as her claws tightened around his oesophagus, robbing him of air and making white stars explode in eyes as with her blessing he finally lifted his hips, bucking them hard to ram his cock into her, easily matching her rhythm. With each exhalation Moonbeak squeezed tighter, preventing the next breath he so desperately needed while at the same time heightening the sensations he was feeling with each deep thrust inside her.

“Ooh…B-briiIIIGHHHT…MMmmm…y-yeeEEES!” Moonbeak screamed her climax in her lover’s ear, her claws still tight around his neck as she sank down on him, riding out the tidal wave of pleasure she was feeling all through her body, her wings outstretched and fully erect.

“Ga…gaaAAAAH MOOOONY!” Finding valuable breath from somewhere Brightstar expelled it in a scream of his own as his penis erupted deep within her, coating her insides with his hot semen as it mixed with her own ejaculate that started to leak from her. “I…l-love y-you…” he gasped, the multi-coloured stars still blossoming against his retina as his intense climax subsided. One thing registered in his oxygen starved brain; she wasn’t letting go. He was really starting to choke. Really properly choke.

“R…Rose…”

Immediately he felt the claws lessen their hold around his neck and as he gulped down the delicious much-needed air the ribbon was removed from his hooves. His ear tingled as he felt warm breath of his girlfriend still above him; felt the affectionate nip of her beak at the tip of his ear. “You did so very well, my lovely amazing stallion.” She cooed, giving his ear a tender lick that made him shiver with prideful excitement. Still breathing deeply Brightstar drank in the sweet air, his body starting to tingle and itch as feeling slowly returned to him.

Dimly he felt Moonbeak lift herself off of him, he heard the wet ‘schlopping’ sound as his spent stallionhood came free from her. Wondering exactly what she had planned next for him the royal blue unicorn whimpered as he felt two strong arms slide under his back and lift him up, pulling him close against a feathery chest.

“I think the bath will still be warm for you my love.” Moonbeak whispered in his right ear, the back of his head supported by the crook of her left arm as her right arm held him at the knees of his hind legs, his back resting just above her large belly. Nestling in her strong comforting embrace Brightstar felt them both rise up as her wings flapped, propelling them through the treehouse to the large bathroom.

As she opened the bathroom door with a kick of her right leg Brightstar couldn’t help but stir in his girlfriend’s arms at the sight that greeted him. The lights had been dimmed and almost every free surface – the sink, windowsill, the shelves, the large flat-topped sides of the bath – were covered in strawberry scented candles, creating a warm glow that permeated the spacious bathroom. As they neared the large double bath another scent tickled the back of his nose.

“Strawberry and kiwi?” He asked with a surprised smile, looking lovingly up into her emerald green eyes. “When did you have the time for all this?”

“Shh, hush now my love.” Moonbeak cooed gently as she lowered them both carefully into the heavily scented still-warm bathwater, the smell of strawberry and kiwi oils even stronger. Still taking the lead she pushed him gently backwards until his head rested against the bath, his bottom of his black mane floating in the water. Scooping up a handful of the water she poured it over the claw wounds on his chest, making him hiss slightly as she bathed him. “You've earned your favourite oils and scents. Enjoy them.”

“I earned them?” Brightstar asked with a grateful smile as he felt his tired muscles soothe and relax in the warm bath. “What did I do?”

“You, my clever blue lovely, played your part wonderfully at the restaurant that's what you did and,” she purred, stroking a claw delicately down his cheek to his neck, “You were a very good pony when you came back.” She finished, kissing her beak tenderly to his lips.

“Yeah…about the restaurant, Gino had a word after you left, he wants to know if we can knock it off for a while? Says he's getting tired of watching the show after the fifth performance.” Brightstar chuckled at the memory of the irate stallion as Moonbeak continued to wash his fur.

“Oh…I suppose we could,” the griffon smiled, “You need to heal before the next time anyway.” She said, kissing him again just as tenderly as before. “Bright…you um…you weren't really ‘looking’ looking at that pegasus, were you?” She asked, suddenly uncertain. At thirty five she knew she wasn't exactly a chick anymore, and that she was lucky to have a young toycolt like Brightstar.

“Moony…baby, there’s only one heart for me, and it beats in your chest. I won't deny that pegasus wasn't pretty,” he said as his lover’s face fell, “But you’re beyond pretty, you’re beautiful, and you're mine.” Brightstar smiled and pulled her into a cuddle next to him in the bath.
"Really? You were ages coming back, I um, I thought…maybe, y’know…maybe….”

“What?” Brightstar smiled up at her in the embrace, “That I’d rather be with a vapid depthless mare just because she’s young rather than be with the world's most perfect griffon?” The stallion smiled warmly at his girlfriend. “Besides, didn't you hear what Athena called me yesterday?”

Moonbeak looked down and blushed for only the second time since they’d been together. “Она называется тебя ‘папа’.”

“Exactly my love. Your little kitten called me ‘daddy’. You think I’m really gonna swap that for anything?” Pulling her back into the tight embrace the unicorn and griffon snuggled and kissed until the water turned cold.