I could have easily slipped back into my schedule. In ten years I had only slept past dawn once, and that had been in Feather Bangs' wagon. I had been harnessed to life, dressed in all its tack, but Feather had yanked my reins and shown me a different way.

To live yoked to the farm any longer was impossible: it wasn't truly living.

Rolling out of bed, I slipped from my room and down the hall. Nopony was in the kitchen, so I slipped outside and into the chill predawn air. "Ah'm going." The words were heard by me and nopony else.

Advancing on the water trough, I found a small stack of papers folded and sitting on the edge. Picking up the first, I found my library card folded in it.

McIntosh Apple. You left this in the library, again. If you ever need help, you know you have a friend here.

Librarian Twilight Sparkle.

I lifted up the second and read it, too.

Mac. I thought on what you said, and I am going to talk to Twilight about it. I think you might be right, but I still like to think I am Twilight's student.

Starlight Glimmer.

A smile creased my cheeks. Starlight wasn't my most favorite pony in Equestria, but she had fought so hard to do what was right, and to think she was suppressing her most impressive magic just to be good.

The last letter was not so neat as the first two. The writing was rough, and I caught a few spelling errors.

Hey big mac, just keep beeing you and you'll be alright. Your totaly awesome!

It didn't need a name at the bottom for me to know it was from Rainbow Dash. I folded up all three letters and carefully put them aside before stepping into the trough.

The chill of the morning was nothing to that of the water. I grit my teeth and sank down as far as I could get. While the cold bit into my flesh, I shivered and shifted, freeing all my fur to move and clean off.

Stepping out, I turned and dunked my head into the water. I repeated the previous process, letting the water wash through my mane and the fur of my face, until I couldn't hold my breath any longer.

Yanking my head from the icy depths, I gasped for breath. Chilled to my bones, I felt reborn to the new day—to the future. I stood in the open, watched as the sun was lifted above the horizon. The warmth of Celestia's gift to Equestria, to the very world, soaked into me.

By the time Granny Smith rang the breakfast bell I was warm and ready to face what may come. Picking up my letters, I turned from my future on the farm and headed inside.

"'Ere he is. Ah thought we might have t' send Apple Bloom out to fish you out of that trough." Granny Smith, despite her doubting of my timeliness, was setting a plate stacked high with apple-pancakes.

"Nnope." As I walked around the table, I lifted a hoof to muss up Apple Bloom's mane. I knew she hated it, but this was the first time she didn't actually complain. "Ah got a few things Ah need t' say."

Applejack managed to cut in before I could get further. "Ya got our support, McIntosh."

"An' mine!" Apple Bloom capitalized on my silence.

"Mine too. But y'all gonna shut yer yappers right now so's Big Mac can talk. Ain't ya?" I couldn't help smiling back at Granny. She had given her support too, but then derided everypony for giving theirs. Of course, she wouldn't admit to seeing the joke. Apple Bloom and Applejack nodded, of course.

I was reminded of a similar time we had sat like this, although Apple Bloom had been much younger—then again, we were all a lot younger. I remembered Applejack's words. "Ah gots to go." I looked right in my eldest sister's eyes, and saw a glimmer in them as she recognized the origin. "Ah had a choice, though. But if I don't go and see, Ah'll never know what it was like.

"An' ya know Ah have some odd tastes." I looked right at Applejack. "Not a single one o' ya ever said anything bad about it. Ah like wearing pretty things." The words, to my surprise, didn't choke me. All my life I thought it had been something to be hidden, and now that I had said it I couldn't remember what all the fuss was about. "Feather said he could help me embrace that, and Ah 'ave to know what that's like."

Silence hang heavy in the kitchen. Everypony sat there, staring at their pancakes. As if breaking a spell, I lifted my fork and speared some on my plate. Cutting a good-sized piece free, I lifted it up and put the wonderful food in my mouth.

"That was a might wordy, Big Mac." Applejack's grin was insufferable, and took any barbs from her words. My sister couldn't resist comparing our respective departures. It occurred to me that she figured I would be coming back, but I had to believe that I wasn't or else it would be all for nothing.

"It's more'n 'eeyup' and 'nnope',"—Apple Bloom was jumping to my defense, not that I needed her too—"but big brother has been spendin' a lot of time in the library!"

I reached a hoof over and poked at her shoulder, a sloppy, big grin on my face. "It's a joke. All ya sister said, when she left, was, 'Ah gots to go.'" Dawning realization grew on Apple Bloom's face, so I returned to my breakfast.

Granny Smith, when I was out of pancakes, somehow produced another stack. By the time I was done, my belly felt fit to burst. But it was time to pack everything I would take.

Turning in my seat, I slipped up to my hooves and made my way down the hall. "Apple Bloom? Ah got somethin' important I need ta give ya." Finished calling to my littlest sister, I turned into my room.

He was there on my pillow, facing the sunshine coming in through the window like he always did. "A princess gave him to me, an' Ah had to fight off the whole town to keep him."

Apple Bloom stared at me from the doorway, her eyes wide. "Yer not takin' Smarty Pants?"

"Nnope. Ah think he prefers it here on the farm." I tried as hard as I could not to cry, but it was impossible. Trickles of liquid made their way down my cheeks. "Can you look after him, please?"

A yellow and red missile launched itself at me, and I soon had Apple Bloom trying to wrap her forelegs around my neck. I sat down on the floor and curled a foreleg around her, pulling her into a hug.

"Of course Ah will, big brother." Her voice was almost lost with how hard she pushed her snout into my mane. A drowning pony wouldn't have held so tight to the side of a boat as Apple Bloom did to me. "Feather's really that cute?"

I bit back my initial reply. "He is." It was easier than I thought to finally admit that to my littlest sister. She liked stallions, now I liked stallions. Why shouldn't we compare notes?

Because she only got her cutie mark recently, and while she had a coltfriend, I didn't want to so much as think about how sexy Feather looked—and made me feel—with her in the conversation. Nonetheless, I squeezed a little tighter before letting go. "Ah have t' see if he's the one."

Wearing a smirk I judged at being five years too old for her face, Apple Bloom winked. "Good luck." She giggled in the way a filly would giggle about a colt, and it had the effect of shattering any illusion I could speak freely about Feather Bangs with her.

"Thanks, Apple Bloom." I ruffled her mane until she shouted at me to stop, which didn't take all that long.

Opening my closet doors, I didn't see much that I needed to take. There was the two suits I had ever worn (one would fit Apple Bloom, the other was too big to ever fit her); a set of four, striped socks; and five dresses.

Feather's promise made me want to burn the dresses in the hope I would never need anything that big ever again. I heaved a sigh and reached to the doors to close them.

"Y-Your clothes, Big Mac. Aren't you going to pack them?" I had managed, somehow, to forget Apple Bloom was still in the room.

I turned and shook my head. "Nnope." Reaching across my bed to my most prized possession, I passed Smarty Pants to Apple Bloom with all the ceremony of a princess being given her crown. "Take care of him."

My tears seemed contagious, because now Apple Bloom was crying too. "Ah will!"

Walking for the door, I had to go before I promised I would stay. Apple Bloom was the only one in the family, now, that could simply ask me to stay and I would. It was a powerful hold for the filly to have over me, and I loved her all the more for not using it.

In the kitchen, Granny Smith and Applejack were sitting together at the table. There was a hundred and one chores to do, but they both sat as if there was nothing to occupy them.

"That's all ya takin'?" Granny's eyes lanced at mine, and I nodded to her in reply. "Figured. Just remember, ya always got a bed here."

"Thanks, Granny." I stepped up before her and leaned down so I could offer my cheek.

No sooner did Granny kiss my cheek like the colt I always felt to her, than I was literally tackled by Applejack. I was right, she was stronger than me, and right then I felt like Apple Bloom must have when I hugged her. I clung to Applejack while she almost crushed my spine.

"Take care of yerself, Big Mac." With Applejack's words I upgraded her status: if either of my sisters begged me to stay, I would. I squeezed her back for all I was worth.

"An' you look after the farm. Ya always did love it more 'n me, anyhow." My tears were back, but I felt no shame in spilling them. I sat there, a mare almost half my size practically crushing me. "Uh… Applejack?"

Her legs suddenly let go, and I crashed to the floor. "S-Sorry McIntosh. Ah guess Ah got a mite carried away." Freckles and a blush. There was no way any mare could resist her like this; for an instant I wanted to get Rarity to come and see Applejack's face, but then I remembered I was leaving.

"Ah like it when ya get carried away." Straightening up, I managed to get my hooves under me before reaching out to pull her into a one-legged hug. "Ah'll miss ya."

None of us dared say another word. We hugged, and I walked out of the house for what I was sure would be the last time. Turning around in a full circle, I took in what the farm was, and committed everything to memory. Finishing my gaze back on the house, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, and Applejack all stood there looking at me.

"Goodbye." I tried to be the big, brave stallion. I tried to hold back more tears, but it wasn't the day for dry eyes. As my vision got blurry, I turned towards the road that led to Ponyville, and began putting one hoof before the other.

As I walked—not feeling like trotting, that was for sure—I remembered that I still had Twilight, Rainbow, and Starlight's letters. I pulled the three out and examined them. I still had my library card, nothing could go wrong.

Bright and sunny, as always when living in a town with a dedicated group of weather ponies, the day was looking to be a great one. Reaching the outskirts of Ponyville, I felt a desire not to walk through the slowly waking village.

Skirting around Ponyville, I managed to keep my interactions to nods and waves. I wanted to make a clean break, and that would be impossible if I stopped and talked to everypony.

"Hi Big Mac." I had never heard the movement, and never so much as sensed their approach, but the moment I heard Pinkie Pie's voice, I knew she knew.

I was going to stop my walk, but she began a slow trot at my side. "Hiya Pinkie Pie."

She looked at me with a deep, penetrating gaze that I felt saw more than even I had over the last few days. "You really should have told me, I could have thrown a party. As it is, I only had time to bake this for you."

I wasn't sure what to expect. I had seen her produce entire wedding cakes out of thin air before, so when I saw Pinkie Pie reaching to her mane, I started to panic—she kept some crazy things in there.

"Here you go!" Pinkie Pie plucked out a neat little paper bag, just like those used in Sugarcube Corner. She thrust it forwards.

I reached out for the bag with one hoof. "Thanks, Pinkie—"

Of course that wasn't enough. She reached into her mane again and pulled out a huge cake. "That was just for your lunch. This is for your impromptu going-away road-trip party!" She saw that I had nowhere to put everything, and reached to her mane again.

When Pinkie Pie slung a saddlebag across my back, I sighed in relief—it wasn't an eldritch abomination (this time). "You don't need to do all this." I tucked the bagged lunch in my bag only to have a slice of cake stuffed in my mouth. "Fwank ooo."

Holding the cake that was only missing one slice, Pinkie Pie tilted it up and shoved it into her mouth. I had watched her devour much larger cakes than my "impromptu going-away road-trip party cake," so it wasn't too much of a surprise. "You have to promise me something, McIntosh."

"Yeah. Anything P…" I trailed off. When a mare's lower lip wobbles as much as Pinkie's did right now, and when her eyes had that hint of almost-tears to them, there was only one thing you could do. I reached out and pulled Pinkie Pie into a hug.

She squeezed back every bit as hard as I hugged her. "I wanted to throw you the biggest, bestest party ever, but then I looked at all my notes and they all point to one thing, a small party, and I don't really do small parties all that good, and I really wanted to make your party as super-duper-amazing awesome as I could, but for every pony I would invite it would just make it less super-duper-amazing awesome, and I didn't want your last party in Ponyville to—" I pressed a hoof to Pinkie's mouth, but her lips kept moving against my frog.

"Pinkie Pie, this is perfect." I remembered how I would hug Marble (Pinkie's twin sister), and was surprised all over again that the two mares were twins. "This is the smallest party you could throw, after all."

"It,"—Pinkie sniffed hard, her nose making the same kind of sound as a balloon letting all the air out—"it is, isn't it?" She pulled back a little and looked in my eyes. For just a moment my defenses were undone, and I watched the happiest mare in all Equestria recover from a depressed moment. It was like the sun rising all over again.

"Eeyup." At my assent, Pinkie Pie broke into the giggles. I let her out of my forelegs, and she dropped back to all fours. "Thank you, Pinkie Pie."

"Goodbye Big Mac!" She stayed in place, and started waving. Pinkie Pie, since she had moved into Ponyville, had become the first face every new pony saw, and now she was the last I would see.

I turned and started walking. Twilight's castle was just ahead, but I turned away from it to wave back to Pinkie—and of course she was still waving.

Pinkie Pie's lunch had served me well, with chocolate and caramel sandwiches apparently being what she knew I liked (being miles from anywhere as I munched them, I had to admit she had somehow got my tastes pinned down). The sun was advancing into the afternoon overhead, and I could see the buildings of Our Town ahead.

I still had days to go to Feather Bangs; there was something I just had to do first. Walking into town, I marched all the way to the bakery—Sugar Belle's bakery. Huffing out a breath, I straightened and entered the shop. Looking around, I could see evidence of much baking: on the shelves there were pies, pastries, and even a small batch of candy apples, but of Sugar Belle there was no evidence.

"Sugar Belle?" I walked over to the counter, my nose assaulted by so many rich, cooked apple dishes that I almost dove onto the shelves I had built. The sound of talking came from the door leading to her attached home. "Sugar? I came to talk."

I advanced on the doorway and looked through into what was apparently Sugar Belle's kitchen. The room was a proper, shop-kitchen. Very fancy equipment adorned every hook and shelf. But what I saw through the doorway into Sugar Belle's living room caught my attention.

Sugar Belle was laying on her couch, her eyes closed and mouth moving slowly, while Stereo Mix seemed to comfort her. "Sugar Belle?" Without the twists and turns to conceal it, my voice obviously carried to the living room.

Sugar Belle lifted her head and looked at me. Tears streaked her eyes as she returned my look. "Big Mac? What're you doing back here?" She rushed to float a handkerchief over, blotting her eyes dry.

"What Ah did wasn't fair, Sugar Belle." I had told my friends and family I was leaving, now I had to tell another fillyfriend that I it was time to move on. I walked into the kitchen, then through to the living room. On the couch, Stereo shifted a little, making room for me on his opposite side from Sugar Belle. The invitation seemed too much. "Ah just wanted to tell you Ah'm sorry, this ain't gonna work. I've f—"

"Shh. Sit down, relax and tell us what happened." Stereo's voice was calm, relaxing. I looked into his eyes and he nodded to me.

Slumping down on the couch, I started to talk. I described what had happened on that night—the one where I found my love for Feather—and I used any and all words to describe how it made me feel: how wonderful, and how perfect.

When I got to the end, even describing the last few days in Ponyville, I looked up and saw Sugar Belle staring at me.

"You really love him that much? You would leave your farm?" Sugar Belle's voice sounded more surprised than upset. I tried to nod, but Stereo's hoof slid up and onto my head, and as he started rubbing one of my ears, my words halted.

"Shh, McIntosh. It is Sugar Belle's turn to speak." Stereo's voice was a slowly rolling ocean, and he carried me away from my worries with just the tone. "Sugar, you need to tell Mac what happened to you."

I watched Sugar Belle. A brown hoof lifted up and started rubbing at her ears, too. She kept quiet, and leaned into Stereo Mix's touch.

"It really was a lovely dinner. Spending some time with you, Big Mac, and not having to worry about the shop, or anything else. But I felt a yearning for more. I needed somepony, but—" Her lips snapped closed, and only some more persistent ear-rubbing urged her to open them again. "But I needed somepony smaller."

A gasp should have exited my throat. I wanted to accuse Sugar Belle, to point a hoof at her and tell her, "That's not fair!" But Stereo found a new spot behind my ear, and started rubbing at it. I felt my words waver, I felt the thoughts that pushed the idea that I should be outraged just fall apart.

Stereo Mix shifted a little on the couch, pressing his back against it, sitting upright. "You need to be calm, McIntosh. Let me give you something for that overactive mouth to do."

The angle he held me at, the direction he had me staring—he couldn't mean——. I inhaled the scent of stallion, and almost got drunk on it.

"I went with Stereo, he and I…" Sugar Belle's words trailed off, and I saw her gulp. "He felt so good inside me. He was perfect in every way no other stallion had ever been. I wanted him inside me, on top of me, all over me. I wanted to be covered, to be used, to be pleased, and to be—to be…"

Without realizing it, my tongue had snaked out and lapped along Stereo's sheathe. The rubbing on my ears increased, and I closed my eyes and licked again. And again. And again. I couldn't move any part of my body apart from my mouth, but that was enough.

"We…" My free ear twitched as Sugar started talking again. She gave a little sigh after a pause, and I felt her shift on the couch. "He started off with a massage. It was gentle, slow. He worked down from my stiff neck to my rump. I didn't know a massage could feel so arousing."

As she spoke, I tried to squirm closer, and Stereo let me. I nuzzled against his sheath, begging him to let me work further.

"He was so gentle, so firm. He massaged every inch of me until I couldn't move I was so relaxed. When his touch shifted, I barely felt a difference. He lifted my tail and started licking me." I opened my eyes again, watching Sugar Belle squirm at the telling of her experience.

Above me, Stereo kept rubbing at my ears, kept me just barely close enough to worship the side of his hardening sheath with nuzzles and licks. While I watched, he gently guided Sugar Belle to lean down too until we were almost nose to nose. There was just one thing between us, and at the same time we both licked it.

"Keep talking. He needs to know everything we did, just like he told you what he did with Smooth." Stereo's voice was calm, relaxed, and relaxing. He certainly didn't sound like two ponies were nuzzling his growing erection.

"He licked me until I was wet. He licked me until I whimpered and begged him to do more." Sugar had the side of her snout pressed to Stereo's shaft, pushing it towards me just a little. "But he told me I had to wait, he wasn't done with me. It felt like hours, and each lick pushed me further away from thinking of you, thinking of the shop, thinking even of myself. I existed only for his tongue to lick." And with that, she lapped a long stroke along Stereo's hard penis.

We were both quiet, sharing the joy of our ministrations. Sugar Belle would lick one side of his shaft, and I would lick the other. But Stereo's voice coaxed Sugar Belle back. "Come now. You can't have the prize without the work. Tell your coltfriend what happened next."

Sugar whined a little, and her licks stopped. More for me. "When he finally stopped licking me, he took me." Her voice had no shame in it, only a shaky joy. "He was big how I wanted big, but not too big. He filled me so well, but then he started moving. Each stroke was bliss, and each time he pulled back ripped a whimper from me. It wasn't lovemaking, he was giving me life." She lapped along Stereo's shaft just once. "And he filled me with everything he was.

"I screamed, I begged for more, and I promised I would do anything for more of him. He took me again, then again, and again." She closed her eyes and started lapping again.

"And how did it make you feel? How did I make you feel?" Stereo Mix's voice felt thick in my ears, like his words were honey.

"It made me feel alive." I hadn't realized I had spoken. I looked at Sugar and realized she had said the same words at the same time. One of our eyes could see clearly, but the other was filled with the towering perfection that was Stereo's shaft.

"You both lost yourselves that night." He rubbed my ears, and I saw him rub Sugar's too. The rubbing and his voice combined made it so easy to relax. I licked twice along his shaft. "But it wasn't me McIntosh fell for. You love Feather Bangs, and he took care of you all night. He promised you everything your heart desires."

I nodded, making a soft moaning sound. I wanted nothing more than to sit up, open my mouth, and let Stereo fill me.

"You what? Why did he get that?" The words were at odds with Stereo Mix's tone. It was Sugar Belle, and she had shock in her voice. "You just took me home and left me. Why did he get to stay with you?"

I opened my mouth to reply, and now the rubbing of my ears felt like encouragement. "Because Ah loved it. I wanted it, and him. I needed him. I love him."

"He got to stay because Feather has feelings for McIntosh." Not you, was implied at the end of Stereo's words. I felt all tingly at the confirmation of what I was to Feather.

"Ah just. I couldn't leave him." I looked at Sugar Belle, stared right in her eyes. "Ah love him, Sugar Belle. Ah love him and he loves me."

When Sugar Belle, her chest heaving now, opened her mouth to yell, Stereo Mix rubbed her ears. "You said what you needed to, now you can have more reward." His rubbing intensified at my ears too, and I relaxed under his touch, stared at Sugar Belle past his shaft as we both returned to licking the wonderful stallion's shaft.

We both settled, and Stereo's voice seemed to drone on and on, telling us how good we were, and how great this reward was. He wasn't wrong. I worshiped his shaft. I slathered it with my tongue and ran kisses up and down it.

"Now Sugar, you love McIntosh here?" With Stereo Mix's words, Sugar and I locked eyes across from his shaft again. She nuzzled and adored the penis just as much as I did, and she nodded between licks. "Say it, Sugar Belle."

"I love—" Sugar Belle looked down and pressed her lips to Stereo's balls—breaking eye contact. "I love Big Mac." She lifted her face back up, and I saw tears there. "I do love him."

"You know he loves somepony else?" Stereo's hoof played slow circles on Sugar Belle's head, rubbing an ear every now and again. "He even gave up his life to be with Feather Bangs." I watched as Sugar Belle closed her eyes, but it didn't stop her tears. She nodded. "Say it, Sugar Belle. Tell our little colt here how much he means to you."

I railed against the magic of the moment. I struggled and strained, but I couldn't move with the gentle hoof playing with my mane. All my strength was for naught.

Sugar's eyes locked on mine. "B-B-Big Mac? I love you. The songs—the silly games—only made me love you more. It hurt to tell you to go, but when you came back it made me want you more. I love you…"

"McIntosh, it is your turn. Tell Sugar Belle how much you love her, how much you want her more than anypony in Equestria." The soft tone of Stereo's words bit into me like the barbed teeth of a saw.

I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes closed.

"If you tell her, I promise you we will leave you and Sugar, and you two will be the happiest ponies that ever lived." Saccharin. His words seemed the sweetest thing ever, but it was a fake.

I cried as I nuzzled at Stereo's shaft. I whimpered and whined as I marked myself with his scent. But I couldn't say the words. I couldn't lie.

"Not got it in you to lie?" Stereo rubbed my ear enough to make the barbed question slide. "Why don't you tell Sugar Belle, the mare who loves you, who you truly love? Tell her, McIntosh."

Squeezing my eyes closed as hard as I could, I licked up the underside of Stereo's shaft, playing along the medial ring. "I love Feather Bangs."

The world seemed to fade to black, and I woke up in a soft bed with a warm presence at my side. My heart soared and I turned to see who it was, hoping it was Feather Bangs. Stereo Mix lay beside me in the bed, his back towards me.

I let out a sigh until the bed rocked. Then again. Stereo was moving his hips, he was—he was having sex!

Jerking up, I looked over him to see he was bucking against Sugar Belle's body. He noticed me, and tilted his head up to look at me from one eye. "You don't love her." His tone was dismissive. "So I figured I would take her again, give her a measure of what sex with her true, true love would be." As he spoke, he punctuated each few words with another thrust.

Opening my mouth, I tried to tell him to stop, to get off her. I wanted to tell him I loved Sugar Belle, but the words wouldn't come.

"Who do you love, McIntosh Apple? Who do you desire?" The voice startled me. I turned my head to see Feather Bangs sitting across the room, watching. My heart soared, and I started to move towards him. A single raised hoof stalled my movement. "Tell me, McIntosh."

"I love you, Feather. I love you!" The words were real, the truth. I looked at his whole form and could feel my body reacting. Lust, need, adoration, and more vied within me, but all of them pushed my heart towards Feather bangs.

"You don't know the full truth, McIntosh. You need to know that before we continue. I want to make you perfect, but perfect has a price." He stood up, he started walking towards me. "My kind have long called to ponies with song, and some even left the oceans after I did. Three sisters followed me, but not my example."

The fur all along my spine stood up—the same as it did when Princess Twilight performed magic (any unicorn really, but the Princess' was the most potent). I watched Feather Bangs' snout push forward, I watched his ears spread out into fins around his neck. His eyes narrowed into slit pupils, and half his body became fish-like.

My heart raced, Princess Twilight had told me the stories about—

"Sirens." Feather Bangs was a little cramped in the room, now that he was his full self. I had to believe this was him, an earth pony couldn't transform like this. "They were quite literally the worst thing to ever come from the ocean. Have you any idea how hard it was to keep myself hidden once The Pillars knew about our kind?"

Something was odd about Feather. Not odd like "that's disgusting" or "horrible," but I could sense he meant me not a jot of harm. I looked at him, and I couldn't help seeing where his pony beauty had come from. Each curve, each crest of fins, was perfect and sleek. He looked gentle and strong at the same time.

"Regardless. I didn't lie to you, McIntosh. I promised I could make you look exactly how you wanted to, but it will take some adjustment." His words drew me to my hooves, and I got up and approached Feather Bangs.

Feather circled around me, even coiled his tail over my back, and he ignored the rutting ponies on the bed. "A pony can become a siren. A pony can be made perfect. But it takes time, McIntosh. It takes time and commitment."

His touch was anything but fishy. He was smooth, his scaled body gliding over my fur and stroking along me. I let out a little moan until his long body finally stopped, his head and upper torso just before my face. When I looked up into his eyes, he looked amazing. I gulped.

"You know the story of the sisters. I can see that in your eyes. You are afraid, scared, but also intrigued. Tell me what you know of sirens." His voice caressed my ears in much the same way as Stereo Mix's hoof had, and just like then I felt the need to speak.

"They feed of confusion and anger. They left every village they came to a wreck of angry, fighting ponies. When they left ponies still able to be angry, at least." I gulped once more; pinning horrible deeds to the beautiful creature that was before me.

"I don't feed on anger, McIntosh. Surely you know what I feed off?" His words were like silk to my ears: soft, gentle—I wanted more.

I remembered the dancing, how he seemed to come back stronger each time Sugar Belle chose him above me. "Love?" My answer met with a shake of his head. "Lust?" Again he shook his head.

"Adoration, McIntosh, is what me and mine feed off. It is finer than any love, sweeter than any lust, and more pure than anger. When a pony adores you, you are everything to them." As he spoke, Feather leaned closer and closer, and just as our lips brushed he swam around me again, stroking my fur and leaving me shuddering. "You don't hold that for me, you would be a poor meal."

I groaned when a fin seemed to stroke under my belly, but kept away from my shaft. I finally caught on to Feather's movements, and when he swam back around me I leaned forward and caught his lips with a kiss. It was no more than the brushing of flesh, but I saw Feather's eyes flash with power.

"You love me?" I nodded to him. "You want me?" I couldn't stop nodding. "You want me to make you perfect?" Like a toy on a string, I nodded—not that I didn't mean it all with every ounce of my heart. "Then come, the first taste is the one that binds, and you need to be close to take it."

His movements guided me, and I followed without thought of regret. I walked around to the side of the bed nearest to Sugar Belle. She was moaning, her eyes unfocused. I could see her lower body shift with each thrust of Stereo's hips, even spotted a slight push of the stallion's length from inside as it drove into her.

"Sugar Belle?" Feather's words were soft, but with his head right beside mine I heard him clearly. "Sugar Belle? You don't just love McIntosh, do you?"

Her eyes found focus, even as her body shook with each thrust. "I want him. I want him so much…"

As her gaze met mine, I felt something stirring in the air. My fur stood up again, and I sensed magic close. Very close.

Feather spoke again, and the words were so soft and pure that I barely registered them. Sugar did, though. "You adore this pony even though he will never love you back?" She nodded. "Tell him you adore him, Sugar Belle. Tell him and mean it."

Soft whines came from Sugar's throat, timed with the thudding of Stereo's groin against her plot. I watched her lips forming words, but something in her seemed to swell, grow, and call to me. My ears didn't register her words, but instead I heard Feather Bangs. "You see her aura now? How ripe it is?" I nodded weakly. Sugar Belle was wrapped in a cloud of soft yellow light. "Open your mouth."

I had no choice, not now that I had given over everything to be with Feather. I did as he asked and opened my mouth.

"Now swallow." At Feather's words the yellow light flowed up and towards me. I didn't close my mouth. I didn't try to get away. Instead, I inhaled, swallowed, and devoured. The prickly-fur sensation spread all over me, but I ignored it as it sucked and slurped at that light. It poured into me, it filled me in a way I had never been filled before, and it made me feel really good.

"Brother." Stereo's words were harsh to my ears. He sounded like he was yelling, though his lips barely moved. "Master, he drank it all."

"I know, my colt, I know." Feather's words were infinitely softer to my hearing than Stereo's, but still they were too much.

Tucking my ears back, I tried to hide from the brightness of the room, the noise in my ears, and the scraping, sandpaper sensation of Feather's scales on my body.

Author's Notes:

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter.

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