“Say it again, Lieia.”

“No. I dun’ wanna.”

“Please?” Celestia pleaded.

“You are my special somepony and I love you very much.”

“Oh, I never get tired of hearing you say that.” Celestia lay back on the large bed, giggling, experiencing a moment of vertigo as their transport ploughed on through the waves.

The two of them had reached Meridi quite swiftly, having woken up in the early hours of the morning. There, they purchased tickets aboard a liner. Of course, seeing as they were more or less full-blown royalty, they were able to acquire a first-class suite all for themselves. While waiting for the ship to arrive, Lieia took the time to take Celestia on a tour around the harbour town, showing her the huge battleships anchored offshore, the sprawling residences and factories – wherever they went, they were received with friendliness and Celestia had to admit Lieia could be very charismatic when she wanted to. So, they had spent a very interesting afternoon in Meridi. Celestia in particular enjoyed learning about Linv’s various cultures and lands. To her, it was a wealth of knowledge and she absorbed it like a sponge.

Now, they were enjoying their several hours of utter privacy to the fullest as the vessel steadily ploughed towards The Ring. As in, they had a lot of sex.

“Seriously, Cel. No more. For the day, at least.” Lieia gasped, trying to crawl away, but Celestia wasn’t having any of it.

“Oh, come on, Lieia. Just one more time.” She felt the alicorn’s teeth on her earlobe, nibbling gently, her breath tickling her cheek. Lieia sighed explosively, rolling on her back, receiving a faceful of Celestia’s sweat-matted mane for her efforts.

“I… I can’t. Not so soon. You’re wearing me out. Gimme a break, Cel.”

“Lieia, you make me feel so sexy and desirable again. I haven’t felt like that in years. Please. Just one more time.” Lieia found a hidden reserve within her and tackled Celestia, rolling the surprised mare on her back.

“Then you better be ready for this, honey.”

Celestia was content with just lying with Lieia in the mess of crumpled bedsheets, gazing in the woman’s seemingly bottomless blue eyes. At least they still had half a day left until they reached The Ring.

“So… Want to do anything, Celly?”

“I’d rather spend our time together. This ice cream isn’t going to eat itself, too.”

“So, you’re aboard a two-kilometre cruise ship and you want us to spend the day eating various desserts of each other’s bodies?” Celestia blushed at Lieia’s forward manner, but nodded.

“Well, who am I to decline such an offer?” She grabbed the tub of ice cream, brandishing a spoon in a vaguely threatening manner. “Well, then.”

“Y’know, maybe we should cut down.” Lieia muttered thoughtfully, looking at the ruined bed. Three of its legs had been broken. Most of the mattress filling had been incinerated. The pillows and blankets were mere charred scraps, covered in smears of various foodstuffs.

“I swear, this is the first time that’s happened to me, Lieia.” Celestia muttered bashfully, rubbing her forelegs together, the very image of awkwardness. Lieia’s shoulder still bore the teeth marks where Celestia had bitten her.

“Well, uh, you done busted the bed, Cel. I can pay for it, of course. Pass it off as an accident with matches or a lighter.” During their admittedly last session of lovemaking, Celestia had broken the bed in their rigours, and then set it aflame by a stream of sparks that had shot out of her horn, nearly burning Lieia’s tongue off.

“Maybe it was a bad idea to lick your horn, Cel.”

“I have no regrets about asking you to do so, my dear.”

“Well. I suppose I could just leave some credits and an apology note. For now, however…” She picked Celestia up, making the mare yelp in surprise and she pressed her against the wall, feeling Celestia’s hindlegs wrap around her waist, pressing her closer and she clamped her arms over Celestia’s shapely flanks, pulling the mare up a bit.

“Oh! Lieia!” She laughed playfully as her lover buried her face in the alicorn’s chest.

Hours later

On approach to Steel Town Harbour

The horn rang out, a deep, sonorous boom that made Celestia’s teeth rattle as she buttoned her jacket up. Lieia was already seated and ready, waiting for the ship to dock and let them disembark.

As they waited, a nervous young man respectfully knocked on the window.

“My Queen?”

“Yes? How can I help?” A young woman joined the man.

“Well, we were wondering if you could give your blessing to us. We have decided to get married.”

“Well, you could’ve gone to the ship’s captain, but okay. Let’s see if I can do something right.” She stepped out of the car, and the couple immediately knelt down in front of her.

“What are your names?”

“Marek Orikssen.”

“Altria Seyger.” The three of them had drawn quite a few stares already and Lieia looked around for a moment, letting out a soft chuckle.

“We have gathered here today to witness the union of these two young souls – Marek and Altria. Bless their hearts; they sought me out to wed them. Now rise.” The two kneeling lovers in front of her stood up, smiling. She placed her hands on their shoulders, looking at them both.

“May Ara herself bring luck to your marriage and may you both live a long and fulfilling life.” She declared, stepping back from the newlyweds as cheers arose. A small group of musicians immediately struck up a tune.

Aye’ter mo arrat, sil

Noremar telleckar, tu

Weren’ter ma sileran

Oooh, ba’day ramel’to…

The ramp hit the deck with a resounding thud and the first vehicles rolled off the cruise liner. Soon, the lanes were filled with transports of all manners.

“We’re meeting the SWAT team in High Stacks district.” Celestia paid next to no attention to Lieia, instead enraptured by the bustling city. Hovercars zoomed above them, along with personal speeders, using the nano-asphalt lanes seemingly defying the laws of gravity and physics. Big blimps were alight with advertisements, ponderously moving about in the sky as shuttles and small freighters both dropped from orbit or made a hard burn to break free from the planet’s gravity well. Wherever she looked, there was something happening. Her senses were almost overloaded with the sheer amount of things going on. She saw many aliens, some rather similar to humans, while some looked outright bizzare. The sounds, sights and smells of the proverbial boiling pot of myriad alien cultures held her attention during the entire ride.

Lieia slammed the door shut behind her, eyeing the azure unicorn trotting up to her, clad in the colours of 71st Force Recon and bearing the insignia of a Lieutenant.

“Hey, Trix.”

“Lee. I have the team ready and waiting.” Lieutenant Trixie Lulamoon responded, saluting her smartly.

“Good. They give you any trouble?”

“Nah. When they heard we’re going to be escorting two VIPs, they straightened out proper.” Celestia chose to join the conversation that moment.

“Trixie Lulamoon. How did you get here?”

“Princess? Princess Celestia?” Trixie’s eyes widened in surprise. “What’s happened to you?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Yeah… It’s sort of a long story, princess. Remember when I caused that Ursa Minor incident in Ponyville? I kept wandering all around Equestria when Coalition found us. I managed to sneak aboard one of the freighters and run away. Long story short, the Queen here found me and pretty much saved my life. She would’ve sent me back to Equestria but I’m more or less the laughing stock back there, right?” Trixie smiled lopsidedly, magically grabbing the sidearm from her chest holster, offhandedly examining it. “So I joined the 71st.”

“She’s a pretty damn good soldier, too. She got her stripes during a joint-op with 29th Drop Rangers. Craziest thing I ever saw. But that’s a whole another story. Let’s hustle.” Trixie nodded at that, tapping her earpiece.

“Right, people. Locke, you have the civvie duds ready?”

“Affirmative, ma’am.”

“Put ‘em on, then. All of you. And remember – machine pistols and sidearms only.”

“Roger that, ma’am.”

In all honesty, she should’ve seen this coming. Daisy was a stubborn, power-greedy bitch. And a tight-fisted one at that. And, on countless occasions, she’d made it clear she’d very much enjoy Lieia hogtied in her bedroom and fuck her until cows came home, whatever that meant. Still, attacking her was a daft idea. She cringed as another bullet struck the crate she was hiding behind. Celestia tried curling up tighter. A bit further away, Trixie was taking potshots at the gang thugs Daisy’d sent after them. A bullet struck her in chest, but she was saved by the Kevlar nanoweave that made up her bodysuit. Firing off a curse, Trixie slid back into cover.

“We need somepony t’flank them!” She snarled, pawing at her back uselessly for a splinter grenade she knew wasn’t there.

“Don’t worry! I’ll do it! Fuckers won’t know what hit’ em!” Lieia called out, leaping over the small barricade. She didn’t get too far before her torso was riddled with machine gun fire at point-blank range. A hail of bullets tore through her midsection and she fell back in a puddle of her own blood. Celestia cried out in shock, but her voice caught as she saw Lieia change. Her jaw distended, letting a secondary row of sharp fangs emerge and she let out a blood-chilling howl, leaping for the machine gun-toting thug’s throat. It took her only a few moments to tear his throat out and kill him. The rest of Daisy’s thugs had the good sense to flee, valuing their lives more than the credits Daisy’d promised them.

Lieia inspected her right wrist, seeing the small slit of skin part and a grooved spine shot out, embedding itself in the wall thirty metres away. The small incision in the skin sealed up immediately, but she could feel a new spine grate against her bones, ready to be fired.

“Well, that’s definitely new.” Her bullet wounds had also sealed up by themselves, knitting the reinforced skin and flesh back together.

“That, too. I think I know who’s to blame.”

“Really?” Celestia peered over the edge of her cover, both curious and fearful.

“Yeah. I don’t want to talk about it.” Celestia noticed how Lieia’s demeanour had abruptly shifted and decided to drop the matter, for the time being.

“Trix!”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Remind me to later assemble 7th Department for a raid. Daisy’s crossed me for the last time. It’s time we put her down.”

“Understood.”

With that nerve-wracking encounter over, they resumed their excursion. Trixie and the rest of her team were spread out, so as not to draw attention to them. Celestia got the chance to sample different fiery drinks and foods; she bought quite a few good luck charms and trinkets, crafted by what few followers of Old Faith remained on Linv. All in all, they spent three exhilarating days on The Ring, complete with avoiding gang battles that seemed to happen with frightening regularity. Many a time Celestia awoke to the sounds of roaring engines and gunfire outside, as rival gangs raced through the streets in their souped-up vehicles, gunning each other down with reckless abandon, howling gleefully. But such was the life of The Ring – mad. Celestia had never felt more alive, too accustomed to the serene calmness of Canterlot – the planet-spanning construct reminded her of the more seedy Equestrian metropolises, ones she did not visit frequently. She made a mental note to do so someday.

Celestia had opted to lie down on the back seat in the Thundercharge, once more taking her normal form. She cast a longing glance at the megacity slowly shrinking in the distance behind them. The sun was slowly sinking lower and lower, painting everything in a lustrous golden. She had seen odd, borderline insane things in Steel Town. And boy, had she been enjoying her time there. As if sensing her sadness, Lieia spoke up.

“Don’t worry, Cel. Next up, we’re going to the Serriat Plains. I have something really special planned for us there.”

“It’s not that, my love. Just… I have experienced something truly new these few days. I cannot forget this feeling. I already miss the bustling streets...”

“Even the mad, raving gangs?”

“Even the gangs.”

“I think you’ll enjoy our stay at the Plains, Cel. It’ll be something you’ve never seen before. I guarantee that.”

“Couldn’t we have taken a liner again?”

“Nah. It’d take too long. This here highway goes all the way to Keypoint Junction. That’s where we need to go.”

“Oh. Okay. Makes sense, that.” A couple of silent moments passed.

“Lieia, I cannot thank you enough for doing this. Just… We haven’t had that much time together, have we? I understand you do not wish our relationship to become public and I accept that. As you said, ‘all in its own good time’.”

“Yep. Get some sleep if you want to. It’s going to be a long-ass ride ‘til we get to Keypoint.” Next Chapter: Chapter 32 Estimated time remaining: 33 Minutes