This time we weren't in the library. Twilight lay on her bed and I stalked toward her with my magic free and flowing around me like a cloak. However much energy my tryst with Twilight had given me, it flowed easily and didn't hesitate to spread out and let me feel the room.

Twilight's energy was like standing next to the sun. She throbbed with the power of friendship and an alicorn who'd stood on the throne for many years now. "Will you be able to do it again?"

I sniffed at her with my power and physically. To both she smelled good. "Yes. Lay down on the bed—on your belly."

"Make me."

It was a challenge, plain and simple. Twilight was big enough and powerful enough that my instincts told me she was capable of fighting me. My power flowed out around me like a cape and poured down my body—it stole more of my pony shape than ever before. I was long and sinuous, my back legs were gone, but I still had some pony shape about me. Not as big as Feather—not by a long shot—I could still feel Twilight's power pouring through me and calling for more.

Snarling, I lunged at her had to dodge her horn. A fight. She wanted a fight—I purred. A fight I could do. As I circled around her slowly, I sent my magic out toward her. At first it was rebuffed with flicks of her own magic, but I had one trick she might not know.

Taking a little of her undigested magic, I wrapped it around what amounted to a hook. I cast it out casually and in the midst of other attempts to snare her mind. Her magic flicked and deflected my other attacks, but the part of her clung to her own magic and pulled the hook deep into her.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ruler of Equestria," I said as I plucked the link between us, "want me."

Had I really gotten past her defenses with that little trick? Whether or not she'd let me do it, I had a direct line into her physical desires and I strummed that string again. "Want me, need me."

"Y-You wouldn't dare—" Twilight said, her voice sounding like she struggled to say even that.

I played with that magic thread yet again. "Want me. Need me." As I said each word with emphasis, Twilight's body flinched as if struck. "Want me, pet. Need me, to rule you."

Feeding would have been simple now. She couldn't fight her own physical desires, nor could she stop me using them to worm my thoughts into her head. Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head like she could dispell my magic with the simple gesture, but all fighting did was tangle her up more in her own need. "I—I…"

"What, pet?" My voice was deep and full of promise and purring. "What does my little pet want?"

"Y-You."

"And what does my little pet need?"

Twilight's eyes widened and I saw my magic swirling around in their depths. She opened her mouth but seemed to struggle to say the words.

"Tell me, pet. What do you need more than your freedom?"

"I need you. I want you. I…" She choked a gasp.

"Tell me and I'll give you everything you want and need."

"I need you to rule me." Twilight slumped to the bed as if she were a marionette with all her strings cut. Her breathing seemed uneven and ragged. "I want to be your pet. I need you to rule me."

She looked completely and utterly bespelled—just like last time. And last time she had broken my spells like paper rope the moment she needed to. She wasn't in control right now, but she could definitely tell me it was time to stop. The thoughts fluttered through my mind quick as lightning. I watched as Twilight lowered her head to the bed and slowly rolled onto her back.

Leaning down, I circled my tail around and above her in the air while pressing my lips down to her throat. "My pet." My breath tickled through her fur and I could hear a gasp leap from her chest to her mouth. "You know what a siren does with their pets?"

She bit her lip and shook her head slowly. Damn but it was the most amazing thing to see her do this willingly. The power—dominant, not siren—that I felt from the interactions had my blood pumping and fed the predator within me.

"We breed them. We get little sirens upon our pets and have them raise our young. Are you ready to serve your purpose, pet?" As I spoke, I trailed my lips up and down her throat, letting my breath play over her neck from just under her jaw to her breast.

This close to her, I could feel the beat of her heart pumping blood and the rush of her lungs moving air in her chest. It was a symphony of sound and sensation that told me more about her state than words could. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but in the end she squirmed in place and let out a long, throaty moan before saying, "Yes, master."

"Good girl." Straightening myself out, I had a sudden worry about how big I might be now. Was I too big? Would I hurt her? I had to trust her to tell me. Adjusting myself over her, I felt my arousal build and grow hard under me only by where it pressed against Twilight's soft belly. "Relax yourself, pet, it's time to fulfill your purpose."

Sliding my body down hers, I lined myself up at her entrance and pushed inside. Her passage was slippery and big enough that I shouldn't have worried. The sounds of excitement she made as I pushed deeper only sparked me on. "Look at me."

She couldn't ignore the command. Twilight's eyes snapped open and locked with my own, and as I ground all the way into her, she stared up at me with wide-eyed surprise. While I held still, she looked to be panting and trying to get her breath. "S-Sure Beat?"

"Twilight?"

"I'm strong. You can be rough with me." My shock must have registered on my face because she laughed. "You're not a monster at all. Use your magic without reservation and put me in my place." She nuzzled up against my neck and ran her teeth over the scales there. "Break me in, Sure."

She hadn't displaced the hook of magic I had in her—time to see how much further I could put her under. Twitching that strand again, I pulled back and started my rhythm. With each thrust I tickled her mind with my magic. Rewarding her for pleasure as we performed the ancient dance, I focused on her emotions.

There was only a small trickle of adoration, but each time it grew I rewarded her further. Each thrust and each blast of adoration only made her squirm and moan more. When she stretched her wings out, I reached aside with one hoof and pinned her right one to the bed.

Twilight's head snapped over to look at what I'd done to her wing, and I heard her moan just a little louder on the next thrust. And the next. Bringing more magic to bear, I wrapped her forelegs up in it and pushed them down to her chest, then used my other foreleg to pin her second wing down.

She struggled now, bucked and squirmed under me, but after no more than four more thrusts she surrendered and got back into the rhythm I'd set. This was forceful now. I had her pinned to the bed and she couldn't struggle her way free. One look at her eyes told me I'd done everything she wanted.

"Pet—when I—cum—you cum." My words came between my rapid thrusts. Everything was speeding up and I was burning magic faster and faster to keep her restrained. Things deep in my body started to tighten and my tail coiled around one of her back legs. The extra grip made it easier to drive hard into her as my pleasure reached its peak.

As I started to lose all control, the beast inside me surfaced and found its perfect prey underneath us. Twilight looked up into its eyes and I saw her own shock register a moment before she threw her head back into the bedding.

Squealing, she humped up against me and fought against my grip, but now was the exact moment that I would feed—and feed I did.

A blast of pure white light surrounded Twilight and then almost as quickly as it swelled around her, it poured into me. My body twisted and shook, grew and held her even tighter, but there was an ultimate target for the lion's share of this power.

Even as my orgasm stole my ability to reason, I shunted the magic off to Feather Bangs.

He was my master and savior. He'd rescued me from a life of self-inflicted denial, and now it was time for me to show him how much it meant to me that he had.

Just being a conduit for so much raw power meant I caught a lot of it, but there was so much more than I could deal with, and that's why Feather Bangs swam through the air to my side. He didn't touch Twilight, he didn't even attempt to feed off her directly, but his contact with me made giving him power so much easier.

Twilight moved. She barely twitched her wings to knock my forelegs off them, she stretched her hooves and broke those bonds, she shoved me sideways against Feather and rolled atop me. Somehow, even more power and adoration poured from her and through me, but she didn't look at me.

"Feather Bangs, I can feel your spirit. I can feel how much you love ponies—though in a different way to how I do. Protect my little ponies with this power. Take it freely and love." She turned back to look at me, and the single beam of white magic turned into a rainbow of light.

I lost consciousness just as that beam hit me.

In my dreams I was a huge siren. I swam at Feather's side and slew the enemies of ponies. We were unstoppable. Not even Rock and Grunge—somehow twice our size—could stop us. But as happens to all the best dreams, this one ended.

My head was swimming, but something odder was how warm and safe I felt. I opened my eyes to find I was currently nuzzled against Feather's neck. Okay, so sometimes waking up from a great dream meant you found yourself even more comfortable. Smiling, I nuzzled my long snout against him and flicked my tail so that it lay over his.

My very long tail.

"I'm going to have to stop calling you little fish, Sure Beat. I don't think a siren has ever fed this well before in their life." A lot of Feather Bangs moved. He shifted his tail and body in what seemed like a stretch, then wrapped both his forelegs around me and squeezed me to him. Finally, he angled his head down and kissed the bridge of my nose. "Reach for your magic, Sure, but don't draw on it."

I wondered what he meant as I reached for my magic and had to stop reaching very suddenly. It had felt like the leading edge of a tsunami must feel to clams. "W-What hap—?" My memory caught up with me.

Twilight Sparkle. Feather bangs. Everything coming together and a single moment of her gifting us power.

"I believe I might be in lust, Sure Beat. I wouldn't call it love—since I love everypony—but I could lay with that mare every second of every day for a hundred years and never get tired of that. I don't think even lust does the feeling justice. I'm drawn to her like a moth to a flame." Feather coiled and rolled on the bed, his fins shredding the fine sheets and covers. "Where is she?"

"Given how much power she gave you, downstairs having more pancakes than should be able to exist." It was easy to remember Twilight's habits. We'd had breakfast together once or twice, but it had usually been because I'd passed out while reading something she'd recommended.

Feather rolled off the bed in a cloud of feathers. What seemed odd was neither of us had gotten that far up the bed. "Where did all the feathers come from?" I asked as I rolled off too.

"Not guilty. Nor are you. That was all Her Royal Highness' doing. Something smaller, Sure." Feather compacted his form down to the sleek and athletic stallion I'd first met.

Reshaping myself was easy, but I was much bigger than a pony now. It took several attempts before I figured my size out and shrank down to the stallion I walked around as every day. "There." It felt way stranger to make myself small again. I looked back at my body and started when Feather laughed. "What?"

"You're so cute. Checking out your own butt? I can promise you, Sure Beat, it is a very nice butt." He sounded playful and fresh. The lightest touch of my siren-sight revealed him to be a roaring inferno of energy. "Did you just peek at me?"

"Look at yourself."

"I don't need to look, I know I'm bursting with power."

I smirked at him and made a point of showing my teeth. "There's a difference between knowing and seeing. Somefish taught me that."

Feather strutted over to the mirror and I felt a prickle in the air—proof he was using his own siren powers. "By the sea…" He sounded breathless. When he turned back to me, he shook his head. "Well, you're not the same, but your aura is far more siren now, Sure Beat, than it was a day ago."

We finally managed to agree and head downstairs together. Was it so wrong to feel smitten by her? I'd always fantasized about being with Twilight, but it would have been one-sided. I'd been her physical match, sure, but now I felt much more a match for her magically. But I really wasn't. The way she'd shrugged off my magic had been a testament to her power being more than mine.

But that was all before she'd fed me. Could I control her fully now? Should I try?

The sound of talking surprised me as we walked down the great stairs. It was easy enough to follow the sound, but the implication of the voices I heard surprised me. Rainbow Dash's sharp and direct tone, Rarity's cultured accent, Pinkie Pie's giggly voice, and even Fluttershy's deep sound met my ears—as well as Twilight's voice interjecting here and there.

Taking the lead, Feather Bangs walked into the room occupied by five of Equestria's greatest heroes. As I entered the room, six sets of eyes locked on me.

"Yeah, yeah. I know when I don't want to hear something. You got enough pancakes, Twilight?" Spike asked.

Looking from the stack of nearly a dozen pancakes before her to Spike, Twilight was blushing when she nodded. "Princessly sufficient, thank you, Spike."

Almost the moment he was out the door all five sets of eyes locked on me again, but it was Feather who spoke first. "All of them?"

Five blushes as the mares looked at each other in surprise.

Kissing my cheek gently—soft as a lover—Feather Bangs let out a slow sigh. "No wonder you're bursting with energy today."

"You meant to say," Pinkie Pie said, poking her hoof in all her friends' directions, "that Big Mac—" The moment she said it, everypony in the room gasped in surprise. "Oh, come on! You all knew it!"

"Well…" Rarity tossed her mane. "I'm questioning more how he managed to find the time. How in Equestria did you charm all of us in, what, three days?"

"He gave me what I needed." Fluttershy's deep voice drew everyone's attention. "Since the Ponytones, I've always wanted to feel what it was like to be as big as that voice made me feel."

Rainbow was quick to move closer to Fluttershy, and I could see without any siren powers that they were saying things softly to each other.

I could have focused on hearing the two of them, but instead I just smiled. "You all had something you wanted another pony to share with you. I shared as much of myself as I could, even giving away"—I looked at Feather Bangs—"too much."

"You made the right choices, my fish. I can see why you trust these ponies." Feather's eyes were almost locked on Twilight. He seemed fixated on her like a moth to a flame.

"What I want to know is, what was up with that rainbow blast last night?" Rainbow Dash sat next to Fluttershy with one of her wings halfway around Fluttershy's back, while Fluttershy's huge yellow wing could almost have hidden Rainbow completely.

"That would be my fault." Feather Bangs stepped a little more into the room and then cast off his pony form. He didn't grow, but he did swim a few circles around me before making his way toward Twilight. When he reached her, I feared he might do something forward. Instead of anything I feared, Feather lowered his head and bowed to Twilight. "Your Highness, I trust you weren't too worn out?"

"Twilight!" Rarity's shock didn't seem completely made up, but I could see a smile trying to force its way past her perfect features. "Also, sir, I don't believe we've been introduced?"

This bit was technically my job. Dropping my form as well, I swam forward and cleared my throat. "Rarity, Pinkie, this is Feather Bangs—my master. Feather, this is Rarity and Pinkie Pie. I believe you've met Rainbow and Fluttershy." The last bit was pure farce—I knew they'd met.

"My apologies, Your Highness, but I believe I should make myself known to your friends." Feather was laying it on thick, and a blush on Twilight's cheeks said she recognized it too, but was enjoying it. At least I think she was. I could activate my siren-sight and check, but that would be bad manners. As soon as Twilight nodded, he swam around to Pinkie Pie and reached out one of his forehooves to take her hoof. "Miss Pinkamena Dianne Pie, the honor is all mine."

Pinkie's giggle as Feather kissed her hoof was infectious, and though it didn't make me outright laugh, I smiled a little wider without even realizing it. I swam over to where Twilight was trying to eat her pancakes and coiled myself up beside her. "Thank you."

"Sure Beat, you don't have to thank me, but it is welcome. Even taking out the magical stuff, I had a lot of fun last night." She didn't sound like the timid librarian and newly-crowned Princess I'd known before I left. Nor did her kissing me on the cheek seem like something that mare of old would have done.

I blushed. How could I not? For all the sexual situations I'd been involved in, I'd never been as connected to anypony as much as I'd connected with Twilight before I'd left Ponyville. "And with the magic stuff? The—the stuff I did…"

"Was a lot of fun."

It was. I certainly couldn't deny that. "You could have broken it any time."

"Sometimes, Sure, it is fun to not be the princess. To have somepony treat me as just another pony. And, admittedly, my tastes run a little exotic, but you were gentle and caring, and I never once felt truly scared of what you might do."

"I have a lot more power now. You changed me." I gestured with a hoof toward all my extended body. A quick glance revealed Feather talking to both Rarity and Pinkie, and I had to wonder if he was trying to get together with both, either, or get them together.

"You wanted to change."

"I did. Thank you." That's when I noticed Rainbow and Fluttershy watching us. Watching us and whispering. Well, siren hearing didn't need me to use any magic.

"… cute together." Fluttershy's deep voice was hard to track, but to the senses of a predator it was easier to hear than as a pony.

"You're listening to them, aren't you?" Twilight asked softly. "What are they saying?"

"Fluttershy thinks we're cute. I missed whatever Rainbow said because there was a beautiful princess talking to me." I flicked my lashes at Twilight.

"Sure Beat, are you trying to charm me?"

Now I flexed my power. I wound it around Twilight and squeezed down on her just enough to remind her of my abilities. Her eyes widened just a little before she smiled a little wider.

"You are trying to charm me. It's a lot stronger than last time." The raw anticipation in her voice almost had me ready to drag her off to her bedroom again. Or maybe she'd drag me off. I wasn't picky. "But not at the breakfast table—I'm still working on recovering after last night."

Worry hit me like a brick. A cold shiver ran down my spine and I felt immediate concern that I'd hurt her. "A-Are you alright? Did I hurt you?"

"Sure, I didn't mean you hurt me. A mare can only take so much before she needs a little break. It has nothing to do with your magic or what you are, just that you're male and I'm female and what happened was very vigorous." She blushed more and more as she spoke, but there was a sense that she needed to say the words. When she reached up and kissed my cheek, her blush drained away. "Vigorous and fun."

"Princess Twilight? I hope you don't mind but—There's two of them here now?!" Dinky's voice from the doorway, yelling, broke-up all the conversations. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Don't mention a word to her about last night," Twilight whispered. She then cleared her throat. "We were just discussing a treaty between Feather here, his family of sirens, and Equestria—weren't we, girls?"

"Oh! Oh yes." Rarity was the quickest to catch on. "Hammering things out as it were. Feather here was just explaining how he will be assisting in the defense of Equestria. Weren't you, darling?"

"Just getting to the ins and outs of it, yes. Oh! Where are my manners?" Feather swam over to Dinky, and he politely ignored the way she took a step back. "Feather Bangs, at your service." He bowed and dipped his head.

There was a spark of confusion before Dinky replied. She dipped her head and offered her hoof. I'd had enough lessons in eloquence from Feather to know that this was training of a sort. "Th-Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you." She gasped when feather carefully took her hoof and kissed it.

"May I have the pleasure of your name?" Feather let his breath play over her hoof, knowing Dinky would feel it.

"D-Dinky Hooves. Please, forgive my ignorance, but do you have a preferred method of address?"

"That is a question many mares wish they'd had the courage to ask me. Please, just call me Feather. I take it you know of my kind?"

Twilight coughed lightly. It was enough that my attention was pulled back to her, which I think was her intent. "Is he going to seduce her? I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable with that."

"You trust that he won't use his powers to directly manipulate her, right?" I asked. When Twilight nodded, I continued. "Then trust that he will leave the task of being seduced to Dinky. I think it would do her good to—ahem—broaden her horizons."

She sighed and shook her head. "She's an adult. She knows exactly what Feather is and what a siren can do. If she lets herself be seduced, she knows what she's in for." Whether Twilight was trying to convince me or herself was the only thing I was unsure of.

"You knew what I was, and you knew what a siren could do," I said. "And yet—"

"I stand by my words, Sure Beat. I can't claim I know everything Princess Celestia went through over the years, but every day that passes makes me see a little more of why she became what she became."

Watching as Feather invited Dinky into the room to rejoin the conversation with Twilight's friends, I started to get curious. "She's going to be your successor?"

Twilight sighed. "She could be. She's smart enough to be. I don't know if she has enough empathy. I asked Celestia just a few years ago how she knew I was the one. She told me she didn't know. She always seemed so sure of herself, but there was so much she just trusted to fate."

"I can promise you two things. If she finds herself in the bed of a siren, one of us, she will have the experience of a lifetime, and even if we drink a little, she will not be harmed."

"Like myself? I don't know about you, Sure Beat, but I intend to live a long lifetime. Please, make sure you announce yourselves whenever you see me."

"My dears," Feather Bangs' voice was raised to address everyone in the room, "you really must excuse us. We have a long day ahead of us. Fluttershy, please keep my offer in mind—it will always be open to you. Rarity, the next time I'm coming through her I promise to spend enough time to approach you in a more professional sense. Rainbow, look after Fluttershy. Miss Pie… I have no idea where to even start, but I Pinkie Promise I'll be back one day to kiss you again. Dinky, don't trust a single siren who doesn't swear loyalty to myself—you are a strong and wise mare, please look out for Princess Twilight." He finally turned—swimming in the air—to face Twilight. "Your Highness, never have I felt as welcome as you have made me. Equestria's future is in firm hooves. With your leave, I'm sure we'll be seeing you again soon.

"Sure Beat, let's try to round up your brothers before they shimmy their way into every bed in town." It wasn't an order. There was no weight of command on me to follow what he said.

Bowing my head as if to a ruler, I swam after him. "Goodbye everypony. I'll see you again—soon, hopefully." I followed Feather out the door and, when he resumed his normal pony form, I did likewise.

When we'd left the castle, Feather's stride turned into a strut. "I can't wait to see how your brothers react to your changes." He turned his head to look at me and I could have melted at the smoldering, hungry expression he wore. "If I were to guess, you traveled about forty years further down your path to sirendom. How does it feel?"

"Knowing that my new family is stronger and my old friends are happy is more important, but it feels good—really good. Princess Twilight was amazing." It was still hard to connect the town librarian Twilight Sparkle with Princess Twilight, but still being welcome in her library helped.

Feather barked a laugh. He seemed much more vital and pony than normal. "Sure, you have a talent for understatement. For last night I would almost have sworn fealty to her in the ways of old. Such generosity and power is uncommon in a leader."

Our wagon was not where we'd left it. "Where are they?" I asked.

"What do you think? I thought I was swimming to my death to face down the mightiest alicorn in Equestria. I told them to scatter and meet up at Ghastly Gorge." Feather leaned over and kissed my cheek. "At least we don't have to go all the way to Neighagra Falls."

As we walked through town, there was a lot of ponies with very happy expressions and vaguely distracted looks in their eyes. "Your brothers fed well here, though I don't think a single one fed as well as either of us." Feather's eyes, I saw, took in everything.

"I'm sure Twilight will understand. Maybe we could make sure to swing by again soon and say sorry?" My eyes drifted to a pair of mares sitting on a swing together, gazing into each other's eyes with absolute devotion and a raw feel of satiation. "Or maybe not. Nopony seems upset."

With a mutual laugh we broke into a canter until the town was out of sight behind us, which was when we both—at the same moment—shed our pony forms and shot into the air. I could fly as a pegasus, of course, but this was something new and special.

Darting in and out of the trees, chasing each other and laughing each time we got close, I couldn't remember a time when I'd seen Feather so free and happy. When we spotted the wagon beside the train tracks at Ghastly Gorge, Feather swam up beside me and held out a hoof. "We don't want to make them jump, Sure, so let's just take this easy and swim up to them."

"And you don't think that will make them jump?" I asked.

"Maybe a little, but they'll know my scales, little fish." Feather booped me on the nose and swam along the road and toward the railway line.

Gathering up whatever confidence I could, I followed him and kept a little behind and to the side of Feather. As we got closer, I could make out Stereo Mix sitting at the back of the wagon. He raised a hoof in our direction and shouted something that my enhanced hearing picked out as being a wordless, panicked noise. "So much for not making them jump."

Glamour Trot and Smooth Vibes came around the wagon from each side to look back at us, and both gaped as we got closer.

"You felt it?" Feather asked as we got close enough to talk. "You felt what our little fish did?"

"How?" Glamour trotted over and then around me. "How did our little fish get so big? I felt the second blast of magic, it was like the entirety of Equestria poured magic into that castle. The first shook the aether for everything within 10,000 leagues. I don't think a magic creature in this world missed that second one."

Feather laughed. "Firstly, my fish, we are safe. Safer than a siren has been in a thousand yea—No. Safer than a siren has ever been. We are recognized by Princess Twilight of Equestria herself as being defenders. While our fishy attributes will not be passed on to her soldiery, they will be aware that we are agents to support them."

"That's the funniest joke you've ever told. I know it's a joke because it sounds insane." Smooth took a few steps back from Feather, though he couldn't get far enough to avoid our master if he got angry.

Feather swam a quick loop and laughed as he did it. "I know! It's madness! When I dove into the castle to do battle with the princess in the hope I could grab up our little fish, I expected to have a bitter fight on my fins at best, and at worst have to give up my life to get him out of there.

"Instead I found him in flagrante delicto." Feather had my brothers enthralled. His every word and pause had them eager for more. "And things got more curious from there. Slightly embarrassed at my attempted rescue of Sure from a place he definitely needed no rescue from, we got to talking.

"It turns out that Princess Twilight is far more tolerable of a friendly group of fish swimming in her shoals than I would have given her forebears credit for."

Glamour Trot tilted his head to the side. "She—She actually gave you permission to live in Equestria?"

"Sure Beat, I believe the rest of the story is yours to tell." Feather gave me a smoldering look that was almost an open invitation to do all sorts of naughty things with him. "Tell them as much or as little as you wish."

"The short answer is, Princess Twilight allowed us to feed on her. She let us take so much—she let me take so much. I fed it on to Feather, but letting that much adoration flow through me left its mark." I squirmed into a tight circle and flicked my long tail to get out of it again. "She let us feed to capacity—and then some—and we shared her bed for a night."

Three jealous sets of eyes stared at me. Glamour, being the closest to becoming a full siren himself, was the first to recover again. "And what does this mean?"

"We don't have to live in fear. We don't have to struggle and scrape before moving on so we don't cause a fuss. Though, we do have to be a little more careful. Those bursts of magic are likely to stir up our kin. They will probe at first to see if it was a sign Equestria has grown weak." Feather swam quickly around us in a circle before stopping to kiss my cheek. "But we will be there. Princess Twilight trusted me with such power as no siren I have ever met has possessed, and I don't intend to let her trust be misplaced.

"So come, my fish, let us make haste to Vanhoover. I will be the helplessness feeders will be the first to probe. They are the closest school to Equestria, after all." Feather compacted his body back to that of a pony and dropped lightly to his hooves. "And we have some more training to do. Sure Beat, I think you have all noticed, had a little boost beyond his former self and now has to learn how to use his new-found might."

I focused on my form and shrank down to normal pony size first, then folded my siren self down until I was a pegasus again. Ruffling my wings a little to get used to my form, I trotted in a few circles to get my legs back in check. I paused with my rump toward the group, loosed my wings at my side and leaned over to preen—my eyes settling on my brothers.

"I call dibs on training him." Glamour Trot started walking toward me, and for a moment I thought the others might fight him but he was the older of the three. "You just wait until we get to the next town—this will be so much fun."

Years had come and go since the pact was made between Feather Bangs and Princess Twilight. Whenever our energy was running low, our journey would inexorably swing toward Canterlot. The huge city on top of a mountain was the pinnacle of Equestria, but it was only by our efforts that the rest of the country was safe for ponies to walk.

As we walked into the city, Smooth Vibes pulling the wagon, the whole city seemed to buzz with excitement. Before I knew it I was prancing a little, my wings a little loose at my sides. Some pegasi saw it as a sign of weakness to let their wings hang a little, but I liked the way it showed off more of my feathers. "It wasn't an easy year," I said.

"You are too used to being plump on power, my little fish." Feather strode in the lead, guiding us toward the campground set aside for wandering ponies—right beside the E.U.P. Guard training grounds.

Glamour, never far from my side, had been distracted with my prancing stride. He liked to watch me move and I liked to be watched. It made us a good combination. "He was with us for plenty of years before the pact, master."

Stepping closer, I kissed Glamour's cheek. "He knows that. He's poking fun at me."

"It's still hard to get used to this new Feather Bangs," Glamour said. "You're a lot less intense now that we have a reliable food source to fall back on."

Feather paused just short of the camping ground. "You have known me the longest, my big fish, and yet even you didn't know a time when we could swim so freely and enjoy life."

A clattering of hooves approached which earned all our attention. Looking, it was a lone Guardpony—a pegasus stallion who looked almost as slim as myself. We waited for him to halt, not wanting to appear the aggressive predators we were.

The stallion snapped a salute. "Sirs! Princess Twilight Sparkle wants to see you as soon as you can make it." He looked to expect something. "I can escort you there."

Feather gestured to us to gather around him, even Smooth chocked the wagon and came over. "Urgent, from my darling princess' lips, is worth every second of our time. Come, my fish, duty calls." He turned to the pegasus. "You know what we are?"

The pony went white as a sheet—despite his soft blue coat. "Sh-She said you were—"

"Good enough. Escort us, and fly as fast as you can." Feather was the first to change. He stretched out and grew into his full size. He was immense. Towering over the shocked pony, Feather pointed toward the castle with one hoof. "Fly."

Letting my pony form fade and fall away was as easy as breathing. I jumped into the air after Feather with Glamour beside me and I knew Smooth and Stereo were following us. We shot into the air above Canterlot and sped like arrows toward the castle with a lone pegasus escorting us.

Truth be told, I expected us to be stopped, but the closer we got, the more Guardponies flew up to flank us. The truly worrying thing was when the Royal Guard saluted and let us fly overhead without challenge.

Twilight Sparkle, princess and ruler of Equestria, was waiting for us in the garden with a pony laying on a makeshift bed beside her. My eyes narrowed down and the yellow coat and pink mane sent a chill through me. As we came down in the courtyard, I could see that the pegasus mare laying on the bed was old. Granny Smith had seemed young by comparison to the waif-like elder laying there. "Fluttershy?"

"She arrived a week ago." Twilight stepped back to give us room. "She said you would be here soon and that she was ready. She only barely there." She looked panicked and terrified.

"I need power." Feather Bangs had never sounded so serious. "Princess, I need you to give me power for this to work." He didn't give up his siren form as he settled down beside the bed.

In the years since the truce, Twilight still wouldn't trust Feather to feed directly. She didn't adore him, but… "Twilight?" I asked. It was all I needed to do. Her attention shifted to me and I felt a mountain of adoration warring with her worry.

"Please. Take all you need."

I coiled my magic around her and inhaled power couched in adoration. She still felt it after all these years, and it never ceased to amaze me that she could give so much. I had, thankfully, become far better at passing the magic on without letting it affect me. Much as I wanted to become a siren fully, doing so in one day would alienate me from my brothers.

Splitting my attention between Twilight and Feather, I passed off the power to him as quickly as Twilight fed it to me.

"Fluttershy?" Feather's voice carried magic and words both. He leaned over the bed and the old mare laying upon it. "Fluttershy, listen to my voice. You have a choice to make, and only you can make it. I'm going to share my own vitality with you."

Gasping, Fluttershy lifted her head and looked around with eyes that looked almost too dull to see. "F-Feather? Sure? What happened? I was waiting for you and—" Her eyes widened. "I'm dying." She didn't sound scared so much as surprised.

"That's why I'm here. Do you remember the promise I made?" Feather looked half-dead himself. I had never seen him use his power in this way. "Make your choice quickly, I cannot sustain your life for long."

"You made it. Everypony I've loved and all my forest friends have passed on, Feather. There's no reason for me to be a pony anymore." She seemed ready to lay back down. With so much magic pouring through me, I was hypersensitive to the fact that her heart wasn't beating. She was being kept alive only by Feather's will and power. "You still want an old mare like me?"

"Of course." The strain in Feather's voice brought tears to my eyes. He sounded as tired as Fluttershy did.

"Then, if you can, I'd like to join you."

Finally, Feather released the magic he'd been letting build up. He held Fluttershy's life in her body still, and now coiled siren magic into her. With my senses I could perceive how he did it. Feather kept feeding his own life energy to her while he forced magic to change her body.

Glamour Trot moved in on the opposite side of Fluttershy and held her as she began to grow. The first and most obvious change, at least as I felt, was when her body started to work again. Her heart began beating and she started breathing deeper. She didn't grow a small gemstone, like I had. Fluttershy was being fed so much magic that it outed in the most spectacularly sized gem I'd ever seen. Huge and yellow, it pulsed in time with the magic we were feeding her. Just as fins started to form, Feather cut off the magic and drank from the hose as it were. After several moments of that, he waved at me to stop.

I uncoiled myself from Twilight. I hadn't even realized I'd wrapped my tail around her and clung there, but now that I stopped feeding from her, I realized how intimate we might look together.

But, before I could uncoil fully, I felt Twilight stumble. I caught her with my forelegs and held her upright against my side. "Are you alright, Twilight?"

"Twilight?" Fluttershy's voice was weak, but I noticed a hint of steel in it.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight moved toward the bed without my support. She stepped in between Feather and Glamour as if they were no more a threat than her own guards.

"Twilight, I'm sorry for making you worry, but I didn't want to be a bother." Realization dawned that Fluttershy was going to be just as much herself as a siren as she was as a pony. "I caused a fuss, didn't I?"

With Fluttershy and Twilight talking, I rushed to Feather and crowded in beside him. "Master, if you need something from me, it's yours." I bared myself to him on every level.

"Shh. Silly little fish. This is nothing that you need to help with. The princess was generous with her power." Feather reached out only with his forehoof to brush at my fins. When he repeated it, I leaned into the attention gratefully. "But it is appreciated. You are mature enough, you and Glamour, that you could leave if you wished. Together you would be able to swim your own waters."

"That wouldn't be Equestria, though, right?" I asked.

"A hundred years ago I would have told you no. I possibly would have chased you out to see for even thinking of lurking here." Far from chasing me off, he kept stroking my fins gently. "I have grown soft, Sure Beat. I am a well-fed siren—a lap dog—and I don't know if I have it in me to bark at my own family anymore."

"'Lap dog?'" I actually laughed. "You fought off five sirens at Las Pegasus while we were struggling to keep their thralls from harming themselves. Five. At the very least you are a well-fed attack dog, if not a tame wolf."

"Tame wolf. I like that." Feather chuckled. "Five. Five little fish swimming with me. I've never raised a daughter before. I wonder if she wouldn't rather be a stallion?" He sounded relaxed and contemplative.

"Ask her. She spent some time as a stallion, remember. She has experienced both sides of this dilemma." I noticed something from the corner of my eye, but didn't want to turn my head away from Feather's caress. "I think Twilight's guards are getting a little antsy with all the predators gathered around her."

"Antsy?" The voice was familiar and sent a shiver of ice down my spine. "Antsy? There's a flock of sirens in the castle grounds, and they're only antsy?"

I knew who it was even before I turned to see him. "Discord."

"Big McIntosh, whatever have you done with yourself? Here, let me fix things." As he raised his paw in the air, the bottom fell out of my world. He started to bring his finger and thumb together, and a part of me screamed in terror.

"Discord!" Fluttershy's voice was as vigorous and sharp as I'd ever heard it. She walked on four hooves still, but there was a significant amount of siren in her now—as she approached Discord. "Don't. You. Dare!"

"Oh, but Fluttershy! I don't—Wait. You're not Fluttershy anymore." Discord lowered his paw and pointed at her. "You're just another monster now. No longer the sweet, innocent Fluttershy pony I knew when—"

"Is that all I was to you? After all those years? I was just a pony?" I'd seen Fluttershy angry before, I'd even seen her furious before, but this was new. There was fire behind her words—there was a predator in there that gave her a new level of fury. "Sometimes, Discord, I wonder if I ever knew you at all. You're calling me a monster because I'm not a pony now? What about you, Discord? Were you never my friend because you're a monster?"

"Well I mean—That is to say—I—" Discord, like many creatures before him, was undone by angry Fluttershy. Part of me hoped I'd never have to face that fierce determination myself while the rest of me struggled to come up with ways to make her happy again so she wouldn't be angry at me. Discord fell back a few ponylengths from her, giving ground before her assault. "There's just something special about being a pony. You're so full of bright energy and excitement. That's—that's missing from monsters like me."

Fluttershy's anger just seemed to melt away. One moment she'd looked like she'd pounce on Discord and bite him, now she wore a serene smile. "Discord, how many years and how many afternoon teas did we share?"

"I—" Discord shook his head. "You're not the same Fluttershy. I've never seen Fluttershy get that angry at—"

"Plenty of times. Do you forget that time with Tree Hugger? The time you brought back King Sombra and freed Tirek and Cozy Glow? The day you broke my house in half because you saw a spider?" Reading off the litany, Fluttershy took step after step toward Discord. She lifted up a hoof and poked at him. "When you decided that Rainbow Dash needed to be put in her place?" There was ice in her tone that stung just to hear, but there was also Fluttershy's compassion. "And so many more. You only don't remember me being this angry because—as I got older—I couldn't be this angry without hurting myself. I'm as vital now as when we first met, and that means I can be—I can be really peeved again!"

"Not to butt in, but you seem to be under the assumption that monsters can't be good ponies at heart." Given the nature of the situation, it had been completely naive to think the princess of friendship wouldn't step in. Twilight literally stepped between Fluttershy and Discord.

At Discord's confused expression, Twilight went on. "Princess Luna was the first pony to teach me that. She was the first monster I'd had to fight, but deep inside what her envy had made of her was a pony—a very good pony.

"Thorax, too, had seemed like a monster, but he had so much goodness within him that I can't call him anything but a pony at heart. Starlight Glimmer had let herself be twisted by her fear. Stygian allowed darkness and shadow to guide him. Even the spirit of chaos himself turned out to have the heart of a pony within.

"Then, nearly eighty years ago, I met a group of sirens who had been protecting Equestria for as many years as Princess Celestia had. One among them who thought himself so monstrous as to face down myself just to save one of his children.

"Discord, being a pony isn't about your shape but how you feel. You, even so upset at Fluttershy's choice, tried to fix things in the only way you knew how." Twilight looked up into Discord's stunned eyes and I swear in that moment she had him. "You aren't wrong to follow your heart, Discord, but you need to keep your mind open at the same time."

I hadn't personally seen Discord in one of these moments. It was the most I've really screwed up I've ever seen him look. "Oh dear. I—I've been a party-pooper again, haven't I?"

Fluttershy stepped around Twilight and walked closer to Discord. "You know why B—Sure Beat is so different, right?" When Discord shook his head, Fluttershy reached a wing up and toward him. "He didn't like what he was. It was entirely his decision to change. What you almost did…"

Discord's head turned toward me and I could now see worry in his eyes. We'd enjoyed some good times together, mostly while playing games of O&O. "What was wrong with—well, with Big McIntosh?" He looked genuinely confused. "You liked playing the big hero in Ogres and Oubliettes."

Sighing, mostly because he seemed to legitimately not understand (but also because I was trying to work out how to phrase it), I swam in a quick circle. "I liked playing the big hero, Discord, but what I liked to play for fun wasn't what I wanted to be. I'm me now. This is who I have always wanted to be in the flesh."

"Surely you didn't want to be a siren all your life?" he asked.

"Well, no." I compacted and changed myself, squeezing smaller and becoming my pegasus self again. Everything seemed so much bigger than me like this. I felt sexy and slim and ready to move. "This is what I always wanted. Being a siren means I get to do that. I get to be the me I've always wanted to be—even if sometimes I need to be big still."

"I don't do well working out what ponies want. It's a failing I've had my entire life, though I used to just ignore whatever it was I thought they wanted anyway." Discord seemed to shrink—no, he was actually shrinking. He stopped when he was probably small enough to ride on my back without causing a fuss. "I need to work on that."

"You've got time, Discord." Twilight reached out with her magic and levitated the midget draconequus up and into the air before her. "And I can help."

With a flash Discord was back to his usual size. "You'd do that for moi? After everything I—"

A normal pony wouldn't have been able to reach high enough of have the required leg-length to hug Discord, but Twilight was hardly a normal pony. She squeezed Discord until he let out a sigh. "Yes. Not despite everything you've done, but because of it."

Fluttershy didn't go with them as Twilight led Discord away. She watched them go, yes, but she stayed out in the garden with the rest of us. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Hey, don't worry about it." I walked over to Fluttershy and stretched a wing out to brush down her side. This had the effect of her eyes widening in surprise. "We were just setting up over in the campgrounds. Do you want to help?"

"But I—" Looking down to her breast and seeing the gem, Fluttershy looked back over herself and I saw her eyes linger on her new fins.

Still carrying a little extra charge after being a conduit for Twilight's power, I reached out and wrapped Fluttershy in an illusion of her old pony self. "You'll get used to doing that yourself. Come and meet your new family."

"Family?" Fluttershy sounded surprised. "Y-You mean—?"

"It's not exactly like a pony family, but at the same time we're closer. It's—I shouldn't try to explain it. If one of our brothers wants to make you feel good, though, let him. They're all really talented." I tested my illusion spell with my wing. I could feel where the magic tried to tell me I was touching, but knew that there was more to her than I was feeling.

"'Feel good'? Oh, you mean…"

"Here she is." Feather Bangs was waiting for us to return to the group. "Good job on the illusion, Sure Beat. Let's shimmy into something more appropriate for Canterlot and leave the nice princess to recover." His plan, it was obvious, included Fluttershy. "After all, I think we might spend a few days here to teach our littlest fish how to swim."

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