Author's Notes:

Happy Easter everypony!

After some technical difficulties the chapters are done, thank you for the patience.

Next chapter is a big one, we finally go back to our princesses.

Happy reading!

****

The Gryphon Republic and Minotaria Border

Ari

Today was the day. Yes, the day. Not just another endless blend of slogging through the land to get supplies or another boring flight, it was the final stretch before I reached the edge of Equestria, and everybeing knew it.

My marefriends were super glued to me ever since we woke, their barrels pressed so close to mine that I could feel their breaths pressing against mine, and I had had a constant buzzing in my left ear as well. Not that I blamed them for being nervous, I certainly was. If all went according to plan, by nightfall I would be teleporting two unconscious racists onboard the ship.

And if everything went pear shaped, well, that was a thought I tried to avoid focusing on. But, it would be infinitely worse.

I felt butterflies twist in my stomach when I thought about that, moving my endless hunger to the side as knots formed in my stomach with every passing minute I spent on the possibility of failure. Although my nerves weren’t as bad as somebeing’s nerves, the Ayo’s were strangely jittery. Both of them jumping at every noise, from the wind whistling by up here to the faint whapping of a lose rope. Not to mention they had been gravitating to my haunches since they exited their cabin.

Our prisoner just trailed behind them.

Echo was in a bit of a slump. He wasn’t crying outright or anything quite as dramatic as that, but I could feel the sadness in the way he was acting on autopilot. The shackles didn’t seem to exist to him as he shuffled behind us this morning, his slitted eyes were dull, and I didn’t receive anymore manners lessons from him after he went silent yesterday. I didn’t feel it was my correction either; it wasn’t that bad of a hit, more of a tap really. Still, despite what he had said, the racist beliefs that were clearly still inside his psyche, I didn’t like seeing him like that.

He believed that he was in the right before and to consider his whole life and aspirations were causing suffering across the continent couldn’t be an easy message to take in.

Even Equestrians like Marble Cake were affected by their mess. How she didn’t have ponies looking for her still puzzled me. Echo certainly didn’t indicate that he had heard of any missing pony reports on any of them.

So I just let Moonlit Echo be, there was nothing I could say that would help him. It was more of an internal dilemma he faced and only the arrival of his princess would help clear his conscious…Or spin him into a depression so bad he considered other options. It was hard for me to tell which way the princesses really were aligned.

But, aside from the clearly nervous air on the ship, the day was going well so far.

Yesterday we had just made it to the edge of the mountain range, descending slightly before the sun started to set on us. The last stretch had been the major time waster as the fog had moved in, which combined with a light drizzle and ominous roaring that we heard added to our immense joy…And also made me drive very slowly. So today we started out with a slightly cloudy, mountain free expanse to fly over.

I really, really wanted to floor it.

The clouds were even starting to drift away as my herd and I made our way to the control room. The warm breezes were deceiving to my mood as I saw the endless pool below us, continuing into the horizon before patches of green began.

“Feeling better Ari?” A feminine voice called from up ahead.

Looking away from the devastation, I saw Ayodele had trotted ahead of me, my hooves having stalled at the sight of flooded farmland. She was turned back to me, while her cousin stood beside her and tried a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Be friendly. Breaking into a smile I perked my ears at her, “Much better!” That book actually had had a useful healing spell. “Not even an itch this morning!” But, “I just hope we can find a fur growing spell next.”

Ayodele’s smile faltered a little as she gazed at me, gulping before turning back towards the control room, and swishing her tail in wide arcs. “Y-you look fine!” I raised an eyebrow at that, glancing between my bald patches and the zebra. I looked questionable at best with the many long, thin bald patches that inter connected at points, a tail no longer than my dock, and my wing joint was still missing the feathers around it where Folami had plucked them.

“Define ‘fine’ for me because this doesn’t look like a good first impression to me.” My mares snorted at my form, but nothing came from the slowly jingling colt behind us, not even a dig at how looking odd wouldn’t be proper.

Her ear twitched back my way as her cousin alternating between looking at my bald patches and Ayodele’s set of near matching furless areas.

Okay, so we both looked a little worse for wear, but she wasn’t trying to talk to royalty.

My ‘Alicorn card’ would only take me so far.

We had to find something to make me look better than this. I would bet one of their first questions would be ‘what happened’ and that would lead down a rabbit hole I couldn’t let them know about till I had them restrained. And if they were aware of slavery…I didn’t like to think about that, my plan would be infinitely harder then.

Moving on from that depressing line of thought, we trickled into the control room. Our prisoner curling up with a long sigh as we shared a frown around him, wide eyed looks and eye pointing gave me a unspoken ‘do something’ message, like I had some control over him.

Shaking my head at the colt and by default the rest of the group as well, I moved on to the control panel and started checking the oil levels, and finding the overall level of everything good I raised the levers.

First I stopped slightly above the halfway point, crouching slightly as we lurched forward, and a smile started to grow.

Thrumming came in from the open door as Chrissy and Lyric settled beside me on the cushion.

As everybeing was settled I started to raise the levers more, the wind whistling by the cabin as several sets of wide eyes found mine. Shrugging my withers at them I watched the ground turn into a blur of green, blue, and brown. Patches of other colors blending in as my heart pounded.

I was shaving days of travel this way…It’s too bad I can’t fly this in Equestria.

“Okay,” I addressed everybeing, happy to note that their eyes had returned to normal. Now for food, several pops filled the room, and our breakfast arrived as I tried to get my head on straight. Although I wasn’t an automobile junkie like my uncle could be at times, I still appreciated the speed. Although, maybe a little too much.“Today is going to be big,” my mares exhaled beside me, tensing as I continued. “So I was hoping I could count on you,” I looked at Ayodele, “To steer while I get ready.”

“Me?” She questioned, looking me strangely. Her head cocking as her eyes searched my face.

I didn’t know why it was so strange to her; she had practically…Actually she had forced herself on this trip, claiming she was ‘here to help’. I suspected her help wasn’t entirely for Ayomide’s or my benefit. “Of course Chrissy and Lyric will be here to help if you want to take a break,” I paused as she frowned, letting her ears splay for a second. It was kind of hard of me to justify her presence on this trip, the ploy had been very obvious, and it would be helpful if I didn’t have to steer for a little bit…I also needed to give my mares sometime to hopefully end the crush she had on me. The first talk obviously didn’t work.

Just sitting and watching us couldn’t be fun for Ayodele. So, having her steer sounded good. She was there for the intro on how the ship worked and could actually read the manual if anything went wrong.

Having my herd stay with Ayodele also prevented her from being alone with the Thestral, he may be down now, but that could be a well thought out act…

I wasn’t paranoid.

Echo was clearly upset; even as the ship rushed forward, and breakfast was dispersed he still wasn’t really eating.

“Really,” Ayodele asked, looking uncertainly between my herd mates. Chrissy just rolled her eyes, leaning her body onto me to sprawl out as Lyric paused in her breakfast to narrow her eyes at the zebras.

Silence edged into the room as I let the unspoken message transfer.

As her eyes went down, I swallowed my mouthful of hay, answering in the kindest way I could. “Of course, it would be a big help if you could manage the controls.” Her eyes rose slightly, watching me as I perked my ears. Excitement bubbled up, replacing the anxiety as I thought of how close we were. “And my herd will be here in case…,” I trailed off, letting my eyes wander over to our despondent prisoner. A sigh was the only sign he had heard me. Her eyes returned to mine, green orbs bright in the sunlight as her ears rose.

Wind blew by the door, rattling it as she opened her mouth, paused, and closed it to nod. The energy back in her somewhat, not as much as before, but enough that I didn’t feel like such a dick about sending the wrong signals before…Actually, I did tell that I didn’t know the culture here…Well, I still felt a little bad upsetting her.

But, it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. I still had thousands of years left in me apparently.

That fact actually made me freeze, a cold shiver settling in as a fact really hit me. They still had thousands of years left. If this did go…Then…I would have to pray that they were merciful, that they could settle for being friends.

Glancing between my mares I noticed their focused stares at what must be an interesting expression on my face.

Looking at Chrissy, I gave a wan smile, pushing away that thought for now. “Sorry, my emotions are kind of all over the place today,” as sea green eyes softened and a smile grew on her muzzle I turned to Lyric, “This just feels pretty big to me.” Lyric nodded since her mouth was full of fruit at the movement.

It never would have worked out.

Turning away from my herd I found brown eyes. They widened slightly as Ayomide realized I was looking at her, after a second they blinked and grew further away. Suddenly shy under my gaze, I broke the stare off as I glanced at her stubbly remains of a mane.

Frowning for second, I let my words form in my head, still unsure on how to handle myself around somebeing that tried to kill me. The mindset alone to do that…The fortitude she would have needed to take life after life for coin…It was still a little flabbergasting to me. Still, she was just another being in this world, a world I was mostly unfamiliar with. My knowledge of earth’s poisons were limited to the few included in mystery novels and that knowledge was next to useless in this world.

I needed her help on this.

“Ayomide,” the mare in question slowly nodded, sitting straighter as I continued, “I need your help this morning baking the cakes and icing.” A quick nod followed, no words coming forth as her eyes seemed dull with the real meaning of my words. Help me poison the princesses. Her ears twitched in an attempt to splay out, going down slightly before standing rigidly upright.

But no argument or question was started, not even a question of when I would ask for her assistance came from her tightly drawn lips.

Flexing my wings a little, I smiled at her before looking back out the window. Loving thoughts were slow to come to me as I saw the blur, knowing that the murky water was before us, but they slowly trickled in as we moved on. Picking up speed as a strong wind began, I raised the lever a little more, and the thrumming sputtered a little.

Clunks and fizzes sounded as several calls of my name rang out, ending as I lowered the levers a notch. Maybe I wouldn’t go quite that fast. As I rhythmic thrumming started to even out again I got settled in. Nips notwithstanding it had totally been worth flooring it.

The clock ticked onward and the bales diminished, being replenished several times over as we marveled at the land before us.

Patches of almost all the colors of the rainbow passed by in the blur of hours, easily one hundred thousand acres of farmland that was yet to be touched by the encroaching flood waters. Among the fields I swore there were small dots of red, blue, tan, and black. The Minotaurs that almost moved by too fast for me to track as they too moved around in a great orchestra of movement, only stilling as our shadow approached and provided a moment of shade under the summer sun.

Some even appeared to run after us. Whether they were chasing the shade or knew it was me was still unclear, the latter very unlikely from my altitude. But the sight still brought a smile to my face.

The entire world wasn’t ruined yet.

With my mares content and lightly dozing against my barrel I found I was growing sleepy myself, the rhythmic thrumming almost lulling me into a lazy lull, that is until I saw the new horizon.

Dark green forests lay ahead, an endless canopy that was mere hours away, and from there I would head due east towards the onyx anthills in the furthest distance.

My heart started to pump harder, faster, and I couldn’t stop my feathers from puffing up. Chrissy’s eyes found mine in the next instant, and a slow buzz started as Lyric’s tail started swishing. All I could give them was a smile. It didn’t do my nerves justice, but I didn’t know what to tell them. So I turned to our company, finding my helpers lazily dozing in a patch of sun.

Clearing my throat and effectively gaining the attention of the zebras, I stood and let my magic fade from the steering wheel. The wheel moved slightly. It turned either way for a moment as Ayodele got up, nuzzling her cousin as she also rose, and both made their way to their respective destinations.

Giving my mares a brief nuzzle as well, I rose and started off to the cabin with Ayomide trailing behind me.

Ayomide wasn’t bad, not in the true sense of the word, but her choice in earlier career made the walk over distinctly awkward, at least on my part. I couldn’t think beyond her past during that time. We walked at a sedate pace over, the world below us passing by in a brightly colored blur. Only the whizzing sound of air going past us taking up the space between us, the gap seemed large though.

I didn’t have to talk to her, but it felt like I should get an idea where her head was at. One hundred thousand bits was a lot of money…No, it wasn’t even that. I was curious, really fascinated at the idea of somebeing just deciding ‘yup, assassination is the way to go’. Of course I knew it might not be that simple, but she had left her family, country, and ended up doing that.

Of course, asking the questions I wanted answered was easier said than done.

“So, have you been…,” I trailed off as the answer came to me, of course she was enjoying the time with her cousin. Before I could think of a smarter question we entered the dining room and she quickly turned to the bedroom, off to get her poison I assumed.

That went well.

Making my way to the kitchen I shook off the frustration and tried to move past my blankness of what to talk to her about. The topic of killing, assassination kept coming up in my mind, and quite frankly it appeared like she wanted to move past that chapter in her life. Any conversation I had overheard between them had centered on how the potion shop was doing, family matters, or various cultural points that made no sense to me out of context.

Instead of trying to deal with my mental block I focused on what cake would be easiest to bake. And that was a great question since I wasn’t even a good baker, maybe mediocre at best, I mean, I was very familiar with Betty Crocker. But, unfortunately my kitchen didn’t come with pre-made cake mix, which was really a miracle considering everybeing seemed to have made a cake joke about me at one time.

Cake was just too sweet, well, the icing was anyway. I didn’t like sugary sweets generally.

What they had left me was sort of useful, I couldn’t read the bins when we had the tour but mares seemed happy, and I settled for that.

The design of the kitchen was nice at least; very similar to the one I had at home.

Blue gems adorned my lower cupboards, one for each door, while the upper cabinets and drawers were free of gems. The countertops were a smooth, lacquered light wood. It curved around the room, only bulging where a black stove stood out slightly; still it made an ‘L’ shape that hugged the long island that took up the center of the room.

As I began looking through the cupboards a slow clip clopping reached my ears, swiveling them back I continued with my search. They stopped behind me, before soft clips in place caught my attention.

“Just put the vials on the island, I need to find the ingredients still.” My voice echoed back from my place in the cupboard.

The hoof steps started up again, ending when a clink of the vials on the island.

But I tuned it out, grabbing several canisters to examine them. The first one held white powder, the second had off white powder, and the third…Pink powder? My eyebrow rose but I placed the lids back on and the canisters on counter. The next hieroglyph decaled containers I found confused me even further, all had different shades of purple crystals, and the texture was almost like sugar or salt. But the smells didn’t match any that I recognised.

“Can I help you…gather anything?” Ayomide’s voice piped up, a little hesitant, and offer sounded unsure. As if she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

I sighed, putting down the containers. “Actually, you could,” I looked the other cupboards, grabbing the knobs in my magic as a frown worked its way onto my face. “I don’t know what ingredients are the same as earth,” I looked at the canisters that had the white powder, flour I assumed, “And what is like what I need.” Levitating the many canisters out, I began to list the ingredients, “Flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, and butter…Or margarine.” Her eyes remained blank, “Something with oil or fat in it. Lard maybe?”

Slowly Ayomide nodded, “Right,” she made her over to the counter, watching my close form with a tense posture for a second before peeking into each cylinder with a practiced ease, seemingly forgetting my presence. As she began dismissing some I levitated more down for her, replacing them till she held up a hoof. The island holding five canisters already, “Do you want to make chocolate cake or anything specific?”

“No,” I finished returning the containers to their original places, “Just a plain white cake.”

We turned to the island, a bright light filling my mind’s eye as I grabbed the bowls. She grabbed the spoons and measuring cups, standing a little ways from me, as if my wings would pop out and smack her at the wrong move.

Her voice was very hesitant, nervous eyes flicking to my face and then the ingredients. “Did you want me to…,” the question trailed off as our eyes met, brown orbs widening in a trance. Frustration grew in me as her stare carried on, the cake not getting made, and my nerves just not able to stand this tip toeing around her.

“You are uncomfortable around me.”

I didn’t mean to sound quite so blunt, but I didn’t know what else to say, and I was just as uncomfortable. Working with somebeing that tried to kill you was a little surreal, even after everything it was still up there on the ‘WTF’ list.

“Y-yes,” she blinked, trotting past me to the stove. There she stood on her hind legs and tapped the orange gem twice, the gem glowing a darker orange with each tap. Her gaze pointedly avoiding mine, the nervous mare that was sticking to my haunches earlier appeared to be gone without her cousin around. Now I had this cautious filly of a mare, more awkward than I would expect for somebeing that killed people for a living for eight years.

How in the world did her life come to that anyway?

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I feel about the same.” One ear swivelled in my direction as she started to organize the bowls by hoof, pushing the largest one in the middle. “No being has every tried to kill me before.” Although some guys may have wished I didn’t exist. “I don’t really know what to say to you and your cousin,” pausing I listened for movement, and finding none I continued. “Really, I don’t know what to say to her.” Any tips?

That broke her silence, the spoon clattering into the large bowl before me as her ears went back.

“So you let your marefriends do the dirty work then?” The lack of emotion in her question scared me more than the words themselves.

I slowly looked over to her, gulping at the truth in it. “The way I understand it the mares here are sort of in charge of herd management.” She cocked her head at me, “I mean, when Lyric joined the herd it was after a mare challenge and Chrissy’s acceptance…Of course I did have to say yes too, but that seems like a footnote in the whole process from the way they talked about it.” My ears splayed a little as I inspected the different dry ingredients. Still no response, “Sure, I can veto their decisions and challenge results but it sort of sounded like…” I already said that, “And it feels like mares do a lot more in the courting part of the relationship.”

“Really,” she asked, genuinely sounding confused. “That’s why you didn’t say anything to my cousin? Del goes on and on about you.” We locked eyes, her hooves measuring the beige powder by feel alone, and she was seemed to be pretty accurate from what I could see. “She doesn’t believe your mares,” a snort escaped her as a small grin twisted its way up her muzzle, “Even when I point out the lack of interest you show.”

“Maybe now she will…”

We continued measuring for a while longer, the bowls slowly filling up as the silence grew between us.

I didn’t know what to else to say to that. Would my words work on Ayodele then if the most obvious ploys to have my mares sort it out didn’t?

Placing the last of the dirty cups in the sink she stood on her hind hooves beside the island, the sight made me pause in my mixing. Hooves still puzzled me, even after the generalized explanation of ‘earth pony’ magic being present in everybeing I still didn’t quite understand the how the magic produced grip. Wasn’t earth magic a connection to the ground as well? How did it decide to switch? Was it unconscious or something else that made the switch?

But that was for another moment.

The sight of her mixing the icing was strangely mesmerising, as she slowly emptied the vials one by one into the bowl, and turned the icing a pale green.

Brown eyes looked up from their work, glancing between the bowl before me and the spoon I had suspended in my magic.

“Did you want me to?”

Shaking my head, I blinked to clear my thoughts and I started on mixing the dry ingredients. Slowly adding water as my eyes kept going to the icing. “So, know any flavors I could say that icing is?”

“Treeme,” Ayomide said, almost questioning her choice of whatever it was.

“Would whatever that is be believable though? I feel like the color is still odd and I need them to eat all of it.”

It may have been the doubt in my voice, but as I finished mixing the cake she rolled her eyes and looked to the cupboards. “Grab me the gro-,” she stopped herself, sighing before continuing, “-The dark blue powder.” Nodding I levitated the canister over, watching as it turned the icing a dark yellow. “So, just remember it is a special icing recipe with Treeme fruit extract and ground Bruneberry.”

“Bruneberry and Treeme fruit, I got it.”

Setting the icing aside, I poured the mix into two round cake pans, and set those in the oven that was nearly the same as a modern one. Except it didn’t have a timer or a digital display at all. All it had was five orange gems.

“How do I know when to take it out?”

Ayomide looked over from her search, rustling around in a cupboard beneath the island that I hadn’t noticed before. “Hmm,” raising her eyebrow at me she frowned, “You look at the clock like any other being? Don’t they do that on Earth?”

I nodded, “Yes, but most appliances have clocks and timers on them.”

“A-HA!” I jumped in place at the outburst. Apparently she had finally found what she wanted. Muffled bangs came from the space as I peered at her head stuck under there, after a short time she backed out of the space with a large tin in her mouth. A second later her hoof went back in, coming out with the lid. “Sorry about that…” She trailed off, tensing as she put them on the counter.

I just laughed in relief and mild embarrassment, a way to carry the cakes was one part I hadn’t quite thought of yet. I was just glad it was something actually bad that had caused her outburst; my nerves couldn’t handle another surprise today. Catching my breath, I smiled down at her wide eyed stare, “No problem, you know you don’t have to be anything…Proper,” that was the wrong word, “Or fake around me. Being an Alicorn doesn’t mean much besides more magic and longer live expectancy, I’m just like you on the inside.”

“Mhm,” she grabbed the empty vials in her hoof and went to the door, frowning at the floor the whole way. I followed, expecting more from her. You don’t just say ‘mhm’ in that tone and not follow it with something.

“Well?”

“Well what?” She snapped at me, ears going back as we entered the main cabin. “You know what it feels like to make your first kill, forced to chose between your life and somebeing else?” I walked beside her now, frowning at her words. How do you answer that? It was pretty specific and most beings I assumed wouldn’t know. I sure as hell didn’t know that feeling.

The clock ticked on as I failed to answer.

“I have to go home and explain to my aunt, the mare that practically raised me that I had been killing beings for the last eight years, and that I can’t even bring home any bits to show her!” A ‘scritch’ came from her mouth as she clamped her teeth together. Tail whipping, she continued to my growing horror, “All of my bits are trapped in my hide out,” her eyes closed, “Which is probably raided already since I didn’t come back with your head.” We arrived at the crew bedroom, her withers shaking as I opened the door for her, and my wing twitched with uncertainty at this situation.

Would it be too forward to give her a wing hug?

Her entire career changed, eight years of moral anguish was all for nothing. Nothing could really erase that. Still, Zebrica had changed.

“But I will be around to keep the slavers down, no being needs to pay them off,” she nodded as the vials slipped under her pillow. “And from what Ayodele said the shop doesn’t sound to be in a bad state or anything like that,” again, another nod. But her head was slowly rising as she turned to face me, a fact that had my ears up again.

A bang echoed from across the deck.

We both winced at each other, likely having the same thoughts. The signs were obvious even to me this morning.

She gave me a small smile, her eyes crinkling under my widening stare. “Thanks,” exhaling a big breath the former assassin glanced at the clock, “You should take the cake out in forty minutes.”

Making our way back I was dreading what we would find, but strangely happy with how the cake making had gone. The icing making didn’t really need Ayomide there, I could have easily just had her explain it to me, yet I felt like we needed to clear the air. Not just between Ayomide and me, I had noticed the sidelong looks from Ayodele yesterday, and I tried not to think of the way her eyes sparkled at me.

What we found wasn’t what I expected.

My bets were on Chrissy, all the way. I loved that mare, but she was the more vocal one with her agitation.

Yet, that was clearly Lyric pinning Ayodele to the floor.

Looking to Chrissy, “Mare challenge,” I asked, already knowing the answer. And she nodded, glancing between Ayomide and I with a raised eyebrow.

Turning to my siren as Chrissy made her way to my side, I watched as she slowly removed her hoof from the mare’s neck. The message having made itself very well known as Ayodele just laid there, not even twitching as her cousin curled up beside her prone form.

It was then that my brain noticed the other oddity.

Echo was steering.

Watching him as Lyric crooned her way to me, I noticed his eyes briefly glance at the scene before nodding at me.

“Baths,” ears swivelled in my direction, “We are going to need a bath.” Complicated thoughts escaped me, yet I knew I needed to cleanse my scent a little, on the small chance that Celestia recognized the smell of changelings.

As scales met fur I turned my herd around, keeping an ear back on the odd scene. Ayodele wasn’t even physically hurt, the victory appearing to have been a swift one from the lack of noise we had heard. And as we exited the control room and entered our own I still didn’t hear anything.

The ship didn’t start to nosedive or turn; in fact it felt like it was going faster.

Running the water, I watched as Lyric practically glowed beside me. She was even prancing in place a little. The victory still seemed to linger in her mind, clearly a big deal for her and a nice development in my opinion as well. Ayodele can’t have any doubts after that!

“I guess she wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Chuckling to myself until Lyric got a odd look in her eye.

Making her high pitched crooning sound again, she twisted herself around my body. Dragging her tail under my chin as it rose and flipped over, tightening my stomach as I felt the familiar sensation begin.

Chrissy giggled beside me, starting to twist the other way. Her blue tail held my attention, slowly rising as I tried focus, “Didn’t we already do this today?” Her eyes followed mine.

Purring answered me, low and throaty as a pink glow enveloped the door.

The heady mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, water lilies and some other sweet floral scent filled my nose. My herd’s scent almost clouded my senses as the blood continued to flow downward, growing heavier as my heart sped up. Flaring my nostrils as my instincts reared their head and I went with it.

Before I could start anything hooves reached under my barrel, forcing a small whinny of surprise from me at the sudden contact with my stallionhood. But I soon melted under their ministrations as the hooves increased in speed, moving in tandem, up and down. Nickering back at them, I turned my head and could only see the winking forms of my mares, and their heads were slowly lowering. My cock grew hard as hot bursts of air flowed over my base, the resulting twitches highlighted by the slapping sound against my stomach.

With the heavenly smell of my mares filling my nostrils I gave an instinctually bucked forward into their hooves, my sack swinging, and a heavy feeling taking hold in them. Yet the smooth caresses didn’t really match the real deal, the source of the smell that was driving me crazy.

Flexing my neck, the sight encouraged me. Golden lips winked at me, letting a small dribble out as the moist tunnel moved away.

Ignoring the splashing of water hitting porcelain I grabbed her by the dock, finding my prize as a hoof faltered, and rested softly on my glans. Trapped between my fur and her hoof, I groaned and slowly thrust my hips with the lone hoof stroking me, and the time grew harder to keep track of.

Pushing the dark form of my mare over with me as I turned around in the small space of the bathroom, facing Lyric’s shuddering form, and increasing the tempo of my tongue.

A squeal brought me back.

Her legs spread momentarily, eyes lidded as Chrissy’s hoof left my cock wanting more, but as I reared up she darted around. The following splash had me on her tail, airborne for a second as I jumped after her. Clattering and splashing filled the room for a moment. A sparkle shone in her eyes as a wide grin spread across her muzzle, her tail swishing on her back and beckoning me over.

Quickly settling my hooves on her scales, I positioned myself with a couple of sloshes of water, and a horn grazed by wing as I entered. Slowly, the pressure pounding in my member as moist warmth overtook me.

She clenched around me, mewling as pink sparks flickered in front of me. And with that I lost what control I had, plowing into her tight form with one loud squelch.

As her tunneled milked me my breaths came out in pants. The pressure built in me as a tongue started on the base of my wing, sending them outward, and into the walls with a wince on my part. But the slick bodies around me fueled my instincts onward. Grabbing her mane in my mouth I quickly started moving, starting with a slow rhythm as I tried to calm down, which was quickly thrown away as she started backing into my hips. Faster and faster, the pressure building as the water went everywhere.

We would wash each other after, definitely after.

Beneath me a loud squeal started, gripping me as I tried to reach that point, and small waves started. My mare moving forward with a muffled splash, the water at our bellies, but that only seemed to spur her on.

The end was so close, the water coming up and washing my sides as a warm mouth sorted through my feathers.

I froze in balls deep in her as the water actually hugged the my balls, caressing them like they had hands, and I was lost.

Relief spread through, mixing with the pleasure as anther squeal started below me. Hot ropes of stress releasing into my siren as a hot squirt splashed back onto my sac. It lasted for a while before I had enough reasoning to release my grip, letting her mane and body fall.

But the water just swirled around her like a living being, almost cradling her above it. Mesmerizing me almost as much as her content smile and closed eyes. They matched how I felt.

My muscles felt so loose, begging to sink down into the water.

An ebony hoof entered my line of sight as it rested on top of the shining scales, “My turn.”

I wasn’t one to refuse.

Eventually though we did leave the bathroom, having actually cleaned each other after relaxing, and although I was a little worried at returning to the control room I didn’t need to be. Ayomide was exiting the dining hall as we came out.

The time!

“Don’t worry they just came out, I wasn’t expecting you out so soon.” I managed a small smile at her guess, my ears splaying at my timing. Chuckling quietly, we soon met her midway. Stopping to watch the world go by, I looked between the room and Ayomide. Raising my eyebrow in what I hoped was a obvious question.

And it was.

“She is…Recovering.” A frown started on my muzzle, an action that Ayomide just shook her head at, “Once we get home she will work herself through it.” Our eyes met as her ears came forward, “You aren’t her first crush, you know?”

“She isn’t physically hurt,” Lyric spoke up, ear going sideways under our gaze.

Her cousin just shook her head at my herd, “Just give her sometime before you go back in.” As Chrissy’s mouth opened, “Don’t worry about the bat, he is just focused on what his Pwecious Luna would really do.”

With the forests approaching, growing clearer, and not much left to do I teleported our cushion to the deck, settling on it as I considered my hooves. The cake would have to cool before I iced it, but these obvious conversation starters needed work.

The healing spell didn’t affect hooves. You imagine my disappointment when I learned that, and my surprise. Kapera had almost thought of everything.

Before I could open my mouth Chrissy said just one word, “Bandages.”

After a couple of blinks I gathered my magic and brought the red kit before us with a pop. Rose tinted magic took the kit from my magic, retrieving the rolls of bandages, and dropped one before me before starting on the closer hoof.

Taking the white bandages in my field of magic I looked at the crack, it almost went to the base of my hoof, and I cringed inside at the glimpse of blood that peeked from deep within the crack. The porcelain wasn’t gentle on it, but I hadn’t noticed at the time. Copying Lyric’s method I started just above my knee, moving down my pastern, and ending at my hoof.

Cocking my head at the finished results, I rose and craned my head to examine the work. It was a stark difference from my dark fur but it looked almost sporty, certainly not as gruesome as the sight before.

Nerves tingled along my back, raising my fur as I excused myself to prepare the cakes, but I passed them off as nerves. A little sex didn’t erase the fact that I was lying and more than likely ponynapping the two most important figures in Equestria. Icing the cake didn’t take long at all and so within minutes I had two white cakes, covered in a innocent yellow icing, and packed in a equally inconspicuous tin.

Exiting the dining cabin I froze mid-step as the ship slowed down, shuddering under my hooves as it slowed to a crawl.

The door to the control room opened.

In the short time it had taken me to prepare the cakes, word had spread across the ship. Jingling and clip clopping sounded as my good bye party stood by my herd, the saddle bags already full and held aloft for me to slip on.

Walking slowly over, I felt the pressure build a little. Beings were counting on this, even if they didn’t know it, and that felt very heavy on my mind.

I hadn’t even flown very far before...

Releasing my breath, I pushed the nerves down. Beings were dead either way, my way just meant less death, even if I may become the most wanted stallion afterwards.

Ayodele watched the deck, never quite raising her head enough to look me in the eye. But I just smiled at her and wished it could have been different. Her cousin and Echo had almost matching looks, their eyes holding determination as they nodded to me, although the Lunar guard also held another emotion in his eyes. It flickered in and out as I nodded back.

My herd had most of my attention though.

Even though it would just be the afternoon the looks they gave me made it look like it was going to be forever. Standing before them, I felt wrong leaving them, even for the short time I had to, and from the way I could see how Chrissy was shifting her hooves she felt the same way.

Nothing really came to me at first, the silence only broken by the wind, and her hooves.

“I will be back for dinner,” glancing at Echo, “And I will on my best behaviour.” He snorted at my grin. Though the grin faltered for a second as the pack was placed on my back. Carefully cramming the tin in the empty bag, I paused and mentally checked everything off.

Poisoned cake, magical inhibitors, and a mostly tidy appearance…All good, then it occurred to me.

We were in the middle of a wide open plain. A dark green far below us and the forest a good distance away still. Nothing was hiding the ship, if any curious onlooker glanced or even down with our shadow…

This bugged the hell out of my instincts, not only was I leaving my pregnant marefriends to do something very risky, but I was leaving them in the open. Hell no, “Actually,” my feathers ruffled, “Can you move the ship towards the small mountain over there?” Pointing to the closest tall mass, which was still a ways off, but it was some cover. I saw my mare’s mouths open and quickly interjected, “I will definitely find you, don’t worry. I just don’t want the ship in the open like this.”

Nods came from the group, my herd mates slow to nod as they fixed me with hard stares. The message was very clear but I only smiled. Unless they blasted away the dining room I couldn’t mess up the teleportation.

So, with nothing more to really say, nothing that could be said anyway, and everything accounted for I spread my wings for liftoff.

One step back, the warm breeze whispered under my feathers, and I let them ruffle for a second before I shot forward. A single flap taking me a couple hundred feet forward, the following flaps sending my towards Equestria, and away from the rumble of my airship flying away.