"You know, I still hardly have a clue what's going on here," I said, staring at the ceiling. "Seems like there's quite a lot happening, yet I don't really understand much of it."

"What exactly are you referring to?" James asked, rummaging through one of the crates we'd brought.

"I mean, the monsters out here and stuff. They, like, well, the details haven't been very good."

He stopped for a moment, eyeballing me over the box. "Well, it seems as if everyone has been really busy or something. I don't think they're holding out on us."

"That wasn't what I meant. I just don't have a very good image of what we're up against."

"We aren't up against anything," Cadance interjected. "This is just a diplomatic mission, remember?

"Tell that to our raped zeppelin," Mia said, poking at the disassembled pieces of her rifle on the desk.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I wasn't awake for any of that," the princess replied ruefully. "I still feel bad about it."

"The point is, we tend to get involved whether we want to or not," Mia continued, sliding the bolt back into her firearm and reconnecting the electronic sensor pack before snapping the mechanism shut. "Just a consideration, not an accusation, none of us blame you." She set the rifle down beside the desk.

"Thank you," Cadance smiled weakly.

"I meant the details are hazy," I began again. "They said the monsters appear randomly. How or why do they do that?"

James shrugged. "How or why do they do anything?"

"Ugh. Look, I mean, they've given us no specifics. No clue what the creatures look like, or what they do, or how they arrive."

"Well, they kill people," Mia said. "And maybe they don't know how they arrive. And have you ever tried to describe one of the monsters to anyone who hasn't seen one before? Good luck."

"Fair point," I conceded. "Still, I've come to hate surprises."

"Weren't you surprised when I rescued you guys?" Cadance asked.

"That's different!" I protested. "That was a good surprise."

"Want another good surprise?"

"Wha-"

Cadance dropped her hotpants off, then leapt on the bed next to me, where she swiftly straddled me and sat down directly on my face in reverse cowgirl position. "Surprise!"

"Mmmph! Blah!" I squawked, wiggling out from under her tail. "Cadance! What the hay!"

James stopped what he was doing and stared at us, the hint of a smile playing on his lips. "Yeah, we haven't done this for fifteen minutes," he quipped, dropping the lid on the crate. "Maybe this time you'll get farther than first base?"

"How much you wanna bet something happens to interrupt us?" Mia said darkly, pulling her camera out.

"Uh, guys, help?" I whimpered.

"Stop it, you," Cadance chided, scowling down at me. "You know you want this."

"I, uh-"

Her features softened. "Look, sweetie, if you really want me to stop, just tap my butt. I'll stop, I promise."

"O-okay," I whispered. I didn't tap her butt.

"Okay then. Here goes."

She lifted her ass up and repositioned, this time putting her vagina directly on my nose and sliding down to smother me inside her.

"Urk! Mmmph!" I gasped, my face jammed squarely into her warm pink pussy. Her tangy juices trickled into my mouth, and I felt my heart pounding and my own nether regions tickling. I could barely breathe, but I didn't slap her butt just yet. The sudden, eager warmth in my belly wouldn't let me.

"Now lick it," Cadance demanded, looking down at me sternly over her shoulder.

"Mmmph," I protested weakly, forcing my tongue into her wetness.

"Take your pants off and stand in front of me," Cadance ordered, looking away from me. I couldn't see exactly what was going on with her tail swishing over me, but in a moment the bed creaked and I could see James had gotten on it out of the corner of my eye. Laying there with Cadance's firm butt on my face, I heard slurping noises and James groaning with pleasure.

"What's the matter, big boy? Never had an Alicorn suck your dick before?" Cadance chuckled after a bit. "Yeah, I've seen that meme. I've been wanting to say that for some time now and- mmmph!"

From below I could see James had put his hands on her ears and pulled her head roughly forwards again, gagging her while he fucked her throat. I snickered, pussy slime running down my face.

"This is great stuff," Mia said admiringly, walking around the bed with the camera. "And for once we haven't been interru-"

A knock came at the door.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Mia fumed.

I expected Cadance to stop, but she didn't, continuing to fuck my face and suck James off while Mia strode angrily to the door.

"Yes?" Mia asked in an artificially sweet voice, cracking the door and blocking the view with her body. "No, that's fine. We are fine with new towels in the morning. Is there, like, a do not disturb sign or something? Oh, well, let them know if the Princess needs anything she will ring the bell, there is no need to check on her. Yep. Thanks, bye now!" Mia slammed the door on whoever was outside and returned. "I told them to fuck off unless we want something," she announced. "And now I'm putting this camera on the chair."

"Mmph?" I asked, having some difficulty breathing with Cadance smothering me.

"It's a crime that nobody is paying attention to your needs," Mia said to me, crawling up on the bed and around in front where I couldn't see. Soon I felt her tugging my own tight little shorts off, and then the cool air of the room gently touched my bared crotch.

"Remember this at promotion time, Boss," Mia giggled, spreading my legs and putting her mouth on me, then licking my horny pussy.

"Mmmm," I moaned, wiggling my hips. Up above I heard a grunt from James, and Cadance's pussy tightened around my trapped muzzle. From the sounds, it was easy to gather he'd just blown his load into her mouth.

Then, Cadance's rear abruptly lifted from my face. I was delighted to discover I could breath easily again, which was short-lived because within seconds Cadance laughingly spat her huge mouthful of James's cum across my face.

I sputtered, trying to sit up with the mixture of semen and royal saliva running down my cheeks and into my nose and mouth, but Cadance and Mia pushed me back down insistently.

"Just relax, we'll take care of it," Mia purred, crawling up and licking my cheek. Between the two of them, they had my face clean again in seconds.

"Thanks for being a good sport," Cadance winked after they'd finished.

"The things I do for my country," I sighed. "Proud to serve, ma'am."

"And now, since you've been so well behaved, I'll show you my true Alicorn powers," Cadance said mischievously.

"Wha-?" I asked suspiciously, but she had already taken up a position with her face between my legs.

"What are you doi- Ugh! Ahh! Oh, shit!" I squealed as she put her mouth on my slit and began licking. I don't know what she was doing, but her tongue thrashed around inside me like a whirlwind, hitting all the right places so rapidly I felt like I was on fire.

"Ah! Ohh! Gahhh!" I screamed, arching my back and grabbing the sheets. "Yes! Yes, oh baby, oh my gosh, oh yes!"

Mia leaned forward and started sucking on my little tits, and I couldn't take it any more.

"I'm gonna cum," I gasped "Oh, fuuuuuck!"

My whole body shook and I felt hot liquid squirting from my crotch. Cadance lapped it up, her tongue dragging up and down my pulsing, leaking pussy. Little drops of the warm orgasm urine shone on her face and mane while she slurped down the majority of my mess. Mia retrieved the camera and brought it in for a close up.

Finally I lay still, groaning a little. Cadance sat back. "You popped quick," she giggled, licking piss off her muzzle. "That was easy."

I just groaned weakly, a hoof across my forehead, panting.

Cadance leaned over me. "Hey, you okay there?"

"Y-yes, just trying to catch my breath," I wheezed. I reached up and patted her cheek with a hoof. "Thanks, for... what you did."

"I was afraid you might have passed out," she giggled. "Pleasuring you was my pleasure."

Still laying spreadeagled on my back, I watched Mia fooling around with the camera. "Let's see what we got," she exclaimed happily, looking at the holo controls. Then she squinted at the screen. "Uh, that's odd."

"What's odd?" Cadance asked. "Don't tell me the recording came out badly!"

"Would it be so awful to have to do it again?" James grinned.

"N-no, Cadance said. "But I'd like to have a nice collection, you know? Shining Armor loves having fresh material to jerk off to."

"Look," Mia said, angling the camera display towards us. "Just briefly, there's some kind of weirdness with the recording. See?"

She held out the camera, and I saw myself laying on my back, right after Cadance had made me squirt. Mia got off the bed and came towards the camera, and right as she picked it up, something dark appeared and then immediately disappeared.

"Huh," I said. "Maybe it was a shadow or something?"

"Or a bug?" Cadance suggested, squinting at the camera.

"Throw it to me," James commanded, putting on his ARHUD. "I definitely want a copy of it anyway," he added with a wink.

"Catch," Mia said, tossing the recording to his ARHUD with a flick of her finger.

He sat naked on the edge of the bed and fiddled with controls we couldn't see for a few moments.

"I'm running it through a video editor," he explained. "This thing is ultra high definition, it should show anything."

He fiddled a bit longer, then shrugged. "Not much to see, here, look."

We all retrieved and put on our own ARHUDS, joining James's virtual workspace. The image he turned to us didn't show much but a kind of foggy shadow in the center of the room near the foot of the bed.

"No telling what it is," he said with a shrug. "Probably nothing, I don't know."

"Look, it's across several frames," Mia said, tweaking a knob. "It comes up, then immediately sinks back down."

"Ghost gopher?" Cadance joked. "At least it didn't ruin any of the action scenes."

I shifted the virtual knobs back and forth, watching the dark blob rise and fall. "I don't know," I said softly. "I didn't really notice anything unusual at all, of course I was a little worn out at the time."

"Still say it was a bug," Cadance shrugged.

"I don't see any bugs in here."

"Maybe it was a really small one."

"Maybe," I said. "I need a bath, though."

"Ohh, bath!" Mia trilled, tossing the camera onto the bed. "Me too!"

That night, as I lay comfortably between Mia and James, I kept finding my thoughts returning to that dark thing at the foot of the bed. Maybe I did once, but I don't believe in coincidences anymore. Not here, not in a country over shadowed by evil.

I shuddered, glad to be cradled between my two humans, even if they were asleep. Cadance's wing reached over us from where she lay tucked in beside Mia, and I was glad for that too, the soft feathers adding another barrier between me and the unknown.

I know, I shouldn't be such a wimp. But I think we all feel a little vulnerable at times, don't we? There's something about the night, and about sleeping, that makes all the errant thoughts of the day seem so much more real, even the outlandish and weird ones. I shivered again.

"Eris? Are you okay?" James whispered in my ear.

"You're awake," I murmured gratefully. "I'm sorry. I just can't stop thinking about... things. Weird things. I'm sorry, I know I should be braver, but I'm kind of scared."

"I understand," he said, reaching across me and holding me tightly. "We've seen so many unsettling things. If I didn't have you girls here with me, I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink."

"Thanks, I love you," I whispered, giving him a small kiss. "I'm so glad we're together."

"Me too, darling. Love you."

Snuggled there as I was, I eventually drifted off, and eventually I dreamed about walking in the sunlight on a country road, with Mia and James laughing beside me. It was beautiful, and warm.

Yet even in the middle of the day, the shadows were deep on either side of the path, and something whispered to me from the pooling darkness, something ancient, something distant but slowly drawing closer, something that sent little chills up my spine and made the day feel colder and bleaker despite the sun above.