Chapter 10: Blue on Black

Luckily, Riffraff had not been able to hold out very long and the two were soon flying back to their cheap motel room, pressed closed to each other in the cool night air. Graceful Melody had an extremely pleased look, seeming somewhat sated while his companion carried a more dazed expression that was similar enough to the face he’d seen Trip with after leaving the club bathroom. Two years and change as Graceful’s romantic partner had done little to whittle away at the sexual punch of an oral ambush from the slender pegasus. Though it had been so worth it just to see Dusey’s face. Gracie knew right where he was, too...downright freaky.

“Uh, so...how’d you know where Dusey was sitting?” Riff asked with a smile, his senses beginning to come back to him as the soothing breeze calmed his body.

“Well, he’s kinda big, silly, and we weren’t touchin’ him, so...figured he had to be on the other side,” Graceful replied with a giggle. “That, and I totally felt him starin’ at me. I’ve gotten used to that feeling!”

“I can’t imagine why.” Riffraff snickered and shook his head, looking over at the cheerful stallion. “I’m sometimes afraid to find out what makes you tick, Gracie.”

“Mostly male bodily fluids,” he replied airily, swaying back and forth in mid-air to lightly bump his flank against the other pegasus’s. “You know. The stuff dreams are made of.”

“Yeah, maybe wet dreams. Dirty, dirty little colt.” But he smiled again, and Graceful felt reassured that his companion wasn’t harboring any masked irritation or frustration with his outlandish behavior.

As much as he was explicit about his needs and desires, and as comfortable as he was with the degree of sexuality he regularly experienced, Graceful Melody still worried in the back of his mind about Riffraff’s true opinion of him, especially when he was so...forceful. It certainly helped that he knew Riff was well aware of his nature even before they’d joined as partners, and the worst responses he’d ever given were mostly-teasing complaints about his flings with the many other stallions they’d met during their travels together. He was well aware of how fortunate he was to have such an understanding companion, and one who truly loved him even knowing the slender male’s unquenchable desires. He’d even made the hesitant offer to try and change his ways, on more than one occasion, but Riff had always firmly told him that he’d fallen head over hooves for him because of who he was. Riffraff was attracted to him physically, of course, but also had a deep admiration for his love of music and singing; Graceful’s near-clinical nymphomania was simply a quirk to the muscular stallion, and for all of Graceful’s nervousness, Riff had never tried to alter his behavior, never even shown genuine ire over an infatuation with another male. An’ that happens more than often enough... Grace smiled a bit to himself, then leaned over to nuzzle his partner’s neck quietly, pressing their soaring bodies a bit closer. “I love you, Riff.”

Riffraff blinked in surprise, gazing over at his companion softly and murmuring in return: “I love you too, Grace.” He wrapped a foreleg gently around his shoulders, just above his steadily beating wings. “Somethin’ on your mind?”

“Nah. Just...happy that you don’t hate me.”

Riff smiled quietly, shaking his head gently again. “You worry too much, Gracie. Besides, you know by now that it doesn’t bother me.” He paused, then grinned. “So was your new little coltfriend bigger than me?”

“Riffy!” Grace protested, actually blushing somewhat as he giggled and gently shoved the larger pegasus, Riff flapping his wings quickly to keep from tumbling downward while laughing. “And I dun kiss and tell.”

“Oh, you kiss and do a lot, nice try,” Riffraff replied with a chuckle, gliding closer to the smaller stallion with an amused smile. “I hope you know that Groove made it very awkward while you two were busy making a mess in the bathroom. Trip’s like a son to him, and. He was practically grilling me like some father whose kid was going on his first prom date.”

“Well, he shouldn’t worry. Trip is quite capable of handling himself,” Graceful replied impishly, teeth flashing in a brief grin. “He should be very, very, very proud.”

Riffraff laughed again. “I’ll be sure to never, ever repeat that to Groove. He seems like the kind of pony who might chase you down and beat the crap out of you and me both for making the kid cry or something.”

“I did not make him cry, though I totally coulda if I was trying harder,” Graceful replied pompously.

“We would never make a living if you were a full-time prostitute,” Riff remarked, earning a deathly glare from his partner. “You know it’s true. You’d get like. Beaucoup bits for the first two, but then you’d get so crazy-lusty after that you’d end up giving them all our money just to have them stay longer.”

“That...is not entirely true!” Graceful whined in protest, flailing his hooves at the air. “You’d stop me from giving away all my earnings, right?”

“Are you making me be the pimp?” Riffraff sniffed disdainfully, tilting his muzzle away. “What if I wanted to join in on all the dirty stallion sex?”

Graceful’s eyes brightened. “Oooh, can we have a threesome with Dusey when we get back?”

Riffraff snorted, rolling his eyes with a helpless smile as he looked pointedly over at the smaller pegasus while beginning a slow dive as their humble motel became visible ahead. “I think it’s been made pretty clear that Amdusias isn’t gonna have sex with either of us. Some ponies just don’t like to have sex.”

“Yeah, but he’s not a pony! And he has a penis!” Graceful frowned, crossing his forelegs childishly. “That means he wants to have sex with me.”

Riffraff paused as they touched down a moment later, the pegasi folding their wings and entering in through the lobby door. “Not everypony with a penis has wanted to have sex with you,” he reminded the smaller male with a playful smile, nodding briefly to the tired looking pegasus slumped back in her chair behind the front desk.

They slipped into the first elevator that opened and Graceful pouted as the doors slid shut. “Yeah, well...all those ponies were probably like...stupid. And weren’t loved as foals. And are still stupid.”

“Some...stallions just don’t like other stallions,” Riffraff said gently, the elevator lurching to a stop and giving a muted ding as the doors opened once again. They stepped out onto the ratty carpet and he continued mildly, “I’m afraid that’s just life, Graciepuff.”

“Yeah, well...life is...stupid,” Graceful mumbled immaturely, looking surly as they got to their room and then producing the key once again to unlock the door and shove his way in. He tossed the key onto the counter and went to go flop on the bed, leaving Riffraff to close the door with an entertained smile. “All stallions should want some of this.” He reached back and slapped one of his firm buttocks with a hoof and Riffraff rolled his eyes but continued to smile.

“I’m sure many of them do, hon.” He paused, then made a face. “Ugh. Didn’t smoke on the way back. I’m gonna go run up to the roof and have one.” Graceful glanced up from the bed, looking with concern over his shoulder. But Riff gave a soft smile again and shook his head. “I’m good. Why don’t you go have a shower, babe? I’ll be back in a jiff, then we can...”

“Have more sex?” Graceful asked hopefully, immediately rolling onto his back and sitting up with a grin. “An’ why you suddenly usin’ all the cute names you said you hate usin’!?”

“Because you’re cute when you’re filled with semen,” Riffraff replied sweetly, winking and then snatching the key from the counter before turning back toward the door. “Go ahead and clean up, or at least get the water ready, and...I’ll join ya when I get back, how’s that sound?”

Graceful smiled back, rubbing his taut stomach quietly and nodding. “Okay, Riffybutt. And tell Amdusias I wanna see his penis.” He sniffed at the air, flicking his tail and then trotting into the bathroom to leave his companion with a half-amused, half-confused expression.

Riffraff shrugged and exited their room to take the emergency stairwell at the end of the hallway, heading up to the roof and pushing through the rusted door to stroll into the refreshing night air once more. He took a deep breath and reached for a cigarette from his pouch, exhaling slowly and lighting the thin cylinder a moment later.

“So does Graceful Melody only pretend to be an idiotic maid of dishonor, or is he simply mentally damaged and merely manages to randomly perceive that which other mortals cannot?”

Riffraff nearly dropped his lighter with a curse, glaring over his shoulder to find Amdusias’s reptilian eyes gleaming through the dusky darkness a few meters away. “You...are a real asshole, sometimes,” he mumbled, sighing and replacing the lighter while dropping back onto his haunches and drawing slowly from the smoldering cigarette.

“So it’s the latter?” the demon said easily, strolling forward while glancing around at the dull light cast upward from the metropolis around them.

“Make that all the time,” Riff amended acidly, pursing his lips sourly as he looked up at the towering demon lord. “But it’s actually the former. He just acts the way he does ‘cause...well. That’s how he is.” He shrugged as he slowly breathed out a thick plume of smoke, gazing off into the distance even as he felt Amdusias hesitate near him, then drop down to sit at his side. He sighed and rubbed his forehead slowly, dropping a bit of ash over his features. “Why do you do this, Dusey?”

Amdusias stiffened slightly at the pony’s words, looking off in his own direction for a few moments as the silence spun out between them. Eventually he glanced down at the mortal, Riff turning his head to look up at him in return, his features more weary than inquisitive. The demon snorted quietly and shrugged himself, crossing his legs before him and leaning over them and resting his elbows on his powerful thighs. “You know my answer already, mortal,” he replied softly. There was the usual edge of danger in his tone, though a hint of something else, enough that it made Riff curious. The pony looked down at the gravelly surface of the roof beneath them, allowing the demon to continue rather than interrupt with what he thought Amdusias might have in mind. “A wise decision,” he muttered icily, glaring down at the mortal contemptibly. “Do not presume to have even an inkling of a clue as to what thoughts I have.” The scaled creature mumbled darkly in his native tongue, reaching down to pick up a small pebble and fling it irritably from the roof before suddenly holding a hand out toward the pony. “Give me that disgusting thing, foul insect.”

Riffraff blinked, looking slowly up at the demon, met immediately with a dour expression and a gesturing hand. He frowned with confusion for a moment, then carefully placed the cigarette into Amdusias’s awaiting fingers. The demon scowled and jerked his hand away before placing it against his own lips and inhaling deeply to the pony’s shock. There was a moment of silence between them before Amdusias tilted his head back and exhaled almost leisurely, his expression somewhat relieved. Wordlessly, he reached up to pluck the cigarette from his muzzle and offer it back to the pony, who took it numbly and drew quietly from it again himself. “Stop...your pitiful attempts at figuring out everything that I choose to do,” the demon lord muttered, rubbing silently over his bare chest as his tined tail flicked idly behind him. “You are quite aware I have a fire breathing ability – Hel, you have it to a degree, yourself. Such filthy mortal habits will hardly have an effect on me.” Riffraff opened his muzzle slowly but the demon smiled wanly and reached over to pluck the cigarette away once more, taking a long puff from it and answering the unformed question dryly: “Yes, these are having an effect on you. Your lungs are mortal. And the fire breathing harms you when you are stupid enough to use it, do not be an idiot.”

Riffraff leaned back on his front hooves, studying the demon silently. Amdusias remained hunched over, his expression one of contemplation, and the pony couldn’t help but wonder what possible reason the powerful entity had to remain so constantly in contact with himself and Graceful. “So...you really just came up here to...share a cigarette with me?”

Amdusias looked over his shoulder sourly, smoke drifting out of his nostrils in thin tendrils and giving his features an even more demonic appearance. “Consider it research. I am merely studying you so that when the glorious day comes and I may drag your writhing soul down to Helheim...I will know exactly where to begin our little torture sessions.” The demon shoved the cigarette back into Riff’s jaws, the pony flinching and then grumbling as he puffed quietly again and flopped completely onto his back to look up at the cloudy night sky. Amdusias watched him, waiting for a reaction but finding only a mortal pony who, confronted with his own terrifying fate, seemed to find some pointless line of mental questioning more pertinent. “You would truly ask yourself those questions rather than implore me to consider having mercy on you for all the improvements you have made in your musical prowess?” the demon asked coldly, shifting slightly but remaining seated as he glared down at the reclined stallion.

Riff gave a small smile, taking one last, long draw of his cigarette before flicking it silently to the side. He nodded once and glanced away, speaking with soft plumes of smoke accenting each word. “Why would I? I’m your prize, the culmination of fruitless attempts to snare a soul to claim as your own after centuries of being all but ignored by us deplorable cockroaches...” He grunted quietly, looking almost amused as he turned his eyes back to the frowning demon lord. “It would only bring you delight to have me begging and pleading for mercy. No, I’m...resigned to that fate, when it does come about.” He rested his front hooves behind his head, shrugging slightly. “No point in crying about that. All I care about is what happens to Graceful when...I’m gone.” He glanced down at his own chest and Amdusias smiled cruelly, but the pony interjected before he could speak: “And no. You can’t take him. His soul isn’t yours to drag down there, and I’m going to fight tooth and hoof to make sure that never happens.” He looked up into Amdusias’s burning eyes, meeting his cold gaze with his own quiet defiance.

For several seconds, the demon continued to watch the pony for any further reactions, any minute signs that proved his words to be only those: words, nothing backed by true conviction or belief. But Riffraff remained still, his eyes calmly locked with the scaled male’s until Amdusias finally snorted softly. “Mortal love. Ridiculous. You could do so much more with your remaining years if you broke free from this fruitless binding. Your companion is anything but faithful, and your talents could see such greater exposure and be free to expand almost without limit.”

Riffraff swallowed thickly, his first show of emotion since the demon struck up the darker conversation. He silently sat up and then got to his hooves, slowly reaching behind him to brush the loose gravel from his coat. “Yeah, well...I guess that’s what separates us, Amdusias.” He looked down, hearing the powerful reptile slowly stand behind him. “And...if you even think about trying to separate me from Graceful again...you can go right ahead and fuck yourself.”

With that, he went back to the rooftop door, hooves crunching quietly over the gravel before he disappeared into the stairwell and left the demon standing silently behind, amber eyes glowing broodingly. For a few moments, he only continued to gaze after the pony, and then he shook his head slowly, reaching up and polishing his claws against the smooth scales of his chest as he murmured softly: “Disappointing.”

But what the demon couldn't comprehend was over what he felt disappointed; what that feeling in his gut was, as he glanced up again before sighing and turning to gaze moodily out over the city of stone and metal these ponies had built, eyes raising towards the sky as he muttered: “And here I was hoping the gift of my genius wouldn’t carry the same madness every other talented artist of my craft seems to carry in one form or another...”

Riffraff hurried back to the room, unsure of what exactly he felt but knowing his conversation with the demon lord likely hadn’t gone the direction either of them had intended. He fumbled with the key and didn’t know why he was in such a hurry – the demon did not require the use of doors or even windows. He flattened his ears before finally opening the door, pushing through and then slamming it behind him with a sigh. “Riff?” Graceful’s voice floated out from the bathroom, accompanied by a bit of steam that rolled across the carpeted floor. “Riffy, is that you, honey?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” he called back, twisting one of his wings slightly to allow the small pouch secured beneath it to slide free. He tossed it onto the counter with the key, then glanced back at the crack beneath the door even as he convinced himself that the demon wouldn’t show up simply to try and hurt him or the innocent Graceful Melody. Innocent. Now there’s a word I normally wouldn’t use to describe him...Riff smiled slightly and nodded once. His body relaxed somewhat and he hesitated before reaching up and slowly pulling the silver necklace forward over his head. Holding the dented harmonica before his eyes, he studied it for a moment and then carefully carried it into the bathroom. “Looks like you got the shower at the right temperature,” he commented with a small smile, laying the soulbound instrument upon the dirty sink while glancing through the heavy plumes of steam to spot Graceful smiling and sitting on the edge of the bathtub expectantly. “You didn’t get in the water yet?”

“Nope! I was waitin’ for you, Riffy.” He giggled quietly and then stepped backward blindly, slipping into the falling torrent of hot water without so much as even clipping his hooves against the tub. “But noooow...” the pegasus said playfully while motioning with a hoof as the water began splashing over his slender frame, winking toward the masculine stallion. “Now you c’n get in here with me an’ we c’n get dirty, and then clean!”

Riffraff rolled his eyes but smiled as he strode forward through the thick steam to join the smaller male in the shower, both stallions seeking the combination of pleasure and relaxation they’d been craving.

The two pegasi eventually found their way back to the bed – even when the hot water supply had ended and their shower had grown cooler and cooler, it hadn’t stopped their pursuit of delight. By the time they passed out upon the sheets, curled up together, Riff felt more clear-headed than he had in a long time. Even the dour conversation with Amdusias had faded from his thoughts, and he’d enjoyed a restful sleep like he hadn’t experienced for days.

Graceful Melody woke first the next morning, giving his typical long, gaping yawn as he stretched his forelegs out above his head, then smiled over at his snoozing partner. Riffraff had one muscular limb around the smaller male’s waist, keeping him held close enough that Graceful couldn’t help but giggle, pressed as he was against Riff’s morning arousal. But he kept his hooves to himself, smiling a bit and squirming carefully away to roll out of the cramped bed. He stretched his spine out slowly, sighing quietly as he felt a few vertebrae pop but feeling good despite the soreness. Shaking his head a few times, the effeminate pegasus began to go about the process of making their coffee.

He glanced back at the bed, his hooves moving of their own accord to prepare the cheap coffee. Riffraff had been especially passionate in the shower, and it piqued his curiosity somewhat. Graceful wasn’t complaining, of course – it had been all the more enjoyable to have the muscular stallion express such desire. But he knew the crimson pony almost better than he knew himself, and it wasn’t difficult to notice when Riffraff had something on his mind...or something he wanted to get off his mind, for that matter. He was on the roof for a while. And I know Amdusias was up there...he had to have been, he woulda wanted to finish whatever they were talkin’ about at the bar... Graceful frowned and prepared Riff’s coffee cup, leaving his empty as always, and then turned around to sit back on the floor and gaze over at the snoozing male. What’s going on, Riff. ..what’s happening out there? And what does it mean for us...

He sighed softly again, slumping back on his haunches and tousling his own spiked and curled mane slowly. He didn’t really mind that Riffraff sometimes seemed to share more with Amdusias than he revealed. Nothing necessarily physical, of course, but rather knowledge, ability. He’d seen Riffraff breathe fire, and naturally knew about his musical talents. But sometimes there were hints that the demon was sharing more with the masculine pony than either of them let on. It wasn’t rare, after all, for Amdusias to put the slender pegasus into a slumber when he came to talk with Riffraff. Graceful mumbled quietly, feeling a pang of jealousy; the sensation, after all, was foreign to him. He rarely ever felt envious when it came to his companion – more often than not, he was worried it was the other way around, considering the way that he acted on his compulsions so hungrily, often doing so while Riffraff remained within earshot. But all the same, his heart ached to think of what complex and intense discussions Amdusias shared with his partner. They may not have talked about emotions or their future together, but it was still a deep conversation that had left Graceful in the dark.

The powder-blue stallion looked down shamefully once he realized how long he’d spent almost...resenting his partner for his connection to a demon that essentially had full rights to his soul once he died. Now I’m just bein’ stupid.

“So you really are no genius in disguise?” a cold voice asked from behind him. Graceful blinked and whipped around in surprise to see Amdusias looming over his slender frame, his features devoid of any emotion except perhaps a tiny hint of droll amusement. “This was my guess. Then again, your beloved stallion did not answer that question last night with any sort of defined closure.” The tall demon rubbed slowly along the bottom of his spiked muzzle while Graceful furrowed his brows, then turned his back on the reptile to watch his sleeping partner once more. Amdusias made a face at this physical show of ignorance, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Feeble mortal, it is very unwise of you to disrespect me with such childish ignorance.”

“He’s not awake yet, Dusey...why don’t you go away until he is?” Graceful closed his eyes and looked down, half-expecting to be placed under one of the scaled creature’s sleeping spells.

But he instead received a light slap with the demon’s tail along his side, wincing and then glaring up as Amdusias strode past him arrogantly. The demon ignored him for a moment as he studied Riffraff’s sleeping frame, bending over the edge of the bed before placing his tines against Riffraff’s temples. Graceful flattened his ears, slowly leaning forward with anticipation of an attack on the muscular stallion as his teeth bared slightly. But Amdusias looked sourly over his shoulder as he sensed the pony’s suspicions, explaining flatly, “I am merely having a look at his dreams. You disgust me, assuming I would harm the one I gifted with my abilities...and while he slumbered, no less!” Amdusias snorted and turned his attention back to Riffraff as he closed his reptilian eyes in concentration.

“Well...how would I know?” Graceful mumbled in response, watching the demon lord focusing his body and then wincing when Riffraff’s dreams were apparently transferred over. The small pegasus felt something else inside him sink even further, looking away from the muscular reptile and trembling slightly. He and Riff could tell each other their dreams, but they couldn’t physically share them. One more point for Amdusias... He swallowed quietly and rubbed along his foreleg with a hoof, starting to turn back toward the coffee when the demon’s irritated tone made him halt.

“I came here to visit you, you moronic insect.” Graceful blinked, slowly turning his head back toward the sour-looking demon. Amdusias muttered and withdrew his sharp tail tips from Riff’s features, leaving the pony to continue snoozing peacefully while the towering male fixed his piercing glare on the comparatively tiny mortal. “I was simply curious about what graces the thoughts of your stubborn shining knight while he sleeps.” Amdusias snorted quietly, then wiped his hands together before slowly approaching the lithe pegasus and looking down at him thoughtfully.

Graceful blinked, as surprised as he was nervous. “Um...why...me?” he squeaked out, taking a subconscious step backward.

“Because...there’s something about you that prevents Riffraff from achieving his full potential. I intend to discover what you possess so that I might...”

“Are you tryin’ to pull us apart?” Graceful interrupted, shrinking back but giving the enormous demon a fierce, defiant glare. “It...it isn’t gonna work!”

“Really now?” Amdusias dropped down to one knee, reaching down and grabbing Graceful’s pierced muzzle to force the stallion to stare up at him. “Because I was under the impression that you were a weak, pitiful, useless little mortal, with nothing to offer to me and even less to use against me in some amusing little show of rebellion.” The feminine pegasus whimpered and tried to pull away, but the demon snarled and only squeezed his fingers tighter around Graceful’s jaws. “No, you will listen to me, cockroach. I have stood by and allowed the two of you to meander about, wasting your talents, playing tiny and worthless venues when Riffraff is capable of so much more, of spreading my glorious domain to so many more starved souls, deprived of the nourishing power of my realm. You have ability, yourself, but you know as well as I do that you are slowing him down, that you are preventing him from peaking, that he has plateaued because of you, because of the limitations you inadvertently place upon him. You are his weakness, you are the reason he has not exceeded further beyond his borders. You make him...comfortable.” The demon sneered and finally shoved Graceful’s muzzle back, the slender pony half-twisting away from the force. “Cease your stranglehold on my talent. Leave him, you can get back to your heinous lifestyle without any more traces of guilt, and I can have my prized possession back on the road to perfection,” Amdusias added contemptibly, crossing his arms and slowly shifting backward to stand up once more.

“You think...you can just...TAKE him?” Graceful whispered, slowly turning his head back, his silver eyes gleaming dangerously. “You...you want him all to yourself?” He grit his teeth and got to his hooves, Amdusias blinking and tilting his head slightly as his own eyes narrowed slowly.

“You will regret this defiance, disg--” He was cut off by his own cry of shock as Graceful suddenly turned to grab the near-full carafe of coffee from the counter behind him and then spinning around to whip it into the demon’s features. The cheap glass shattered and sent the scalding black fluid exploding across Amdusias’s scales – it hardly hurt him, but several shards of the glass cut thin lines along his face and he stumbled back in surprise while closing his eyes and shaking his head with an infuriated roar.

“I’m not leaving, and YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM!” Graceful screamed as he sprinted forward and leaped into the air with a hard flap of his wings to send himself rocketing into the demon’s face, instinctively biting down hard just beneath the curved spikes lining the top of his muzzle while flailing his hooves fiercely against the reptile’s checkered chest scales. He was driven purely by his jealousy and convoluted emotions, the simple presence of the demon alone making his blood boil. Amdusias yelled again and shoved at the slender pegasus, but could hardly even get a grip on the squirming stallion and then instead opening his muzzle wide, preparing a gout of flame to exhale over Graceful’s exposed belly.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!”

Amdusias widened his eyes, pausing an instant before he could release the deadly inferno while Graceful closed his eyes instead, keeping his childish bite secure on the demon’s nose while trembling and falling limp against the massive demon. Behind them, Riffraff slowly sat up, his eyes bleary and full of disbelief as he looked slowly from one to the other before looking genuinely hurt as he asked softly, “Amdusias...did you attack Graceful? I told you what would happen if...if...”

Amdusias snarled, managing to get a firm grip on Graceful, ripping him forcefully from the end of his muzzle with a wince of pain, then shoving the pegasus down onto the bed. He wiped at the black blood dribbling down from the deep bite, eyes burning wrathfully as he slowly walked backward from the two ponies, steaming coffee still dripping down from his form. “Your insolence in accusing me of--”

“He...didn’t attack me,” Graceful murmured, avoiding the eyes of both Amdusias and Riffraff as he silently crawled behind the larger pony and then curled up with his back against his companion’s, swallowing thickly. “I attacked him. But...he...was trying to...take you away, and...I’m your partner, I’m your coltfriend, me...not...not him...”

Amdusias snarled again, leaning forward as his eyes narrowed to slits. “I don’t have to listen to this mortal drivel.” His glare burned into Graceful’s barely visible back while Riffraff frowned slowly, feeling his partner’s trembling sobs against his body. “Make your next choices wisely. I am through being kind.” He shifted his cold gaze back to Riffraff, finding the expected traces of confusion and fear...but seeing the same stubborn defiance from the night before, the determination to not be undermined, or ordered about, glowing fiercely in his eyes. The demon growled and then disappeared into a plume of smoke that simply vanished a moment later, no theatrics, leaving not even a trace of where it twisted away to.

Riffraff remained seated at the edge of the mattress for a few seconds, confused and somewhat horrified by what he’d woken up to. The smell of coffee barely masked the stench of sulfur – Amdusias had truly evacuated the area in a hurry if he hadn’t taken the care to mask the defining scent he often complained about other demons leaving behind. He could see broken glass scattered throughout the carpet. His eyes then spotted the thin trail of demonic blood that led to Graceful’s shivering form behind him upon the bed. The muscular pegasus reached down silently to touch one of the spots of ebony fluid – still damp. He sighed softly, then turned around to lie on his side and pull the whimpering stallion tightly to his chest in a fierce embrace, nuzzling the top of the other male’s head silently while murmuring softly, “It’s alright, Gracie. It’s alright. Are you okay?”

Graceful Melody pressed closer to him, hugging his neck fiercely and trembling violently but managing a slow nod against him. Riffraff sighed quietly again and pulled his companion tightly against his masculine chest, letting the slim pegasus curl up against him and cry against his crimson hide, rocking slowly with him. Guess that things are gonna be pretty awkward from now on...

There hadn’t been another sign of the demon as the morning wore on, the two pegasi left alone to quietly clean up the room together as best they could, though Riffraff received several small nicks on his hooves from picking up the glass slivers littering the carpet. He’d half-expected Amdusias to appear in a dramatic puff of black smoke as always, spouting some party-line insults, praising himself and putting down all mortals, then eventually healing the pony’s minor injuries before disappearing once again. But there wasn’t even a whisper from the powerful creature, not a hint of his presence; Graceful had torn apart one of the cheap hoof-towels in the bathroom in lieu of having any magic at their disposal, wrapping the thin strips around his hooves where the most blood could be seen dribbling down. It was almost uncomfortable to not have Amdusias there – Riff, at least, had gotten used to the demon’s presence over the last several days, at peace with the probability that the reptilian male might pop into existence at any given moment.

Graceful hadn’t been able to think of much he could say as the two ponies cleaned the room and then silently started to pack up their various bags and pieces of battered luggage. He couldn’t begin to imagine all the things going through Riffraff’s head, considering the scene the crimson stallion found upon waking. His lover, his two-year companion, in a vicious scuffle with the demon who held the contract for his soul; strange as it was to say, both Graceful and Amdusias were guilty of their own crimes. Graceful had let jealousy get the best of him and attacked the muscular demon for trying to steal Riff away from him. And Amdusias had certainly harbored the intention of splitting apart the pegasi – he’d even vocalized it rather clearly to each male during their individual conversations. But Graceful had lost himself in his senseless emotions, driven by the insane thought that Amdusias craved the masculine pony for himself, as a romantic partner.

In Riff's eyes, however, Amdusias also shared in the blame, even if he would never agree with the accusation. He’d sworn in a near-contractual agreement that he wouldn’t harm Graceful and that he wouldn’t attempt to change the relationship between them, considering that it had been the entire reason Riffraff had resorted to summoning a demon for a desperate trade. Graceful had given a fairly complete summary of the conversation and subsequent fight – Riffraff believed him, even if he knew the slender pegasus was exaggerating somewhat to make the situation feel more dramatic than it truly had been. But it was straightforward enough for Riff to feel confident that, while Graceful had acted more immature and leaped wildly at the demon with nothing but useless hot coffee as his weapon, Amdusias was truly at fault for instigating the entire situation.

Riffraff sighed softly, glancing down at his wrapped forelegs and then gazing over at Graceful as the smaller male packed away the last of their extricated trinkets, his slim frame trembling, eyes full of unshed tears. His partner had already sobbed for what felt like hours, but Riff knew better than to think his companion could simply move past such hard-hitting emotional pains. He was rubbery, personality near-elastic in just about any other situation, but when something truly hurt or scared the periwinkle stallion to such depths, it could take hours if not days for him to recover completely. He rubbed slowly at his mane before shaking his head and gathering up a few of the larger duffel bags. “I’m gonna run these down to the cart. We can fill it up, then go find a bank, open an account and get us some money.” Graceful sniffled and nodded, looking over his shoulder but managing a small smile. “You...you sure you’re gonna be alright, hon?”

The lithe male rubbed at one of his tear-filled eyes, nodding with more confidence this time. “Y-yeah...yeah, I’ll be okay, Riffy. Just...gotta make this a lesson, somethin’ to learn from an’ not to be sad about.” He swallowed and Riffraff nodded once, slowly, then turning to walk out with the bags. “W-wait...before we get going...” Graceful murmured, looking down hesitantly. “I know...I was taking things the wrong way, but...would you ever...think about going with Amdusias?”

Riffraff wanted to make a bad joke about how he didn’t think he’d have a choice when it came down to it, but he could see by his companion’s eyes how much the subject bothered him. “Instead of you? Graceful Melody, that’s crazy even for you to say.” He carefully set down the bags, then went over to the dejected stallion to pick him up in another fierce hug, pulling his head to his broad chest. “You were the one who taught me the difference between physical affection and true emotional love, Gracie. We’d both probably do things with Amdusias...or rather...we would have. Things we’d feel awkward about. But I’d never leave you for him.” He smiled a bit, feeling Graceful’s tension relax even as warm tears rolled down his chest, his companion crying quietly and pressing closer. “I might be stuck with him in the afterlife. But you won’t get rid of me any time soon, baby.” He kissed the other stallion’s forehead tenderly. “I know you wanted to go and be a full-fledged prostitute, but no chance of doing it without me.”

Graceful gave a hitching half-sob, half-laugh, nodding silently against the larger male and letting himself be slowly rocked as he closed his eyes tightly. “O-okay, Riff. Thanks...I’m s-sorry for bein’ such a stupid li’l b-baby...”

“Nah, it’s alright, it’s all good,” Riffraff replied gently, rubbing slowly along the other pony’s neck and spine, massaging the base of one wing as Graceful curled a bit closer and nodded once again. “We’ll get our money today, we’ll get a nicer place...and if Amdusias comes by and is a jerk to either one of us? We’ll beat him up together, how’s that sound?”

The smaller pegasus giggled quietly, the hesitant sound further muffled by Riff’s masculine breast. He lifted his head after a moment, cheeks streaked with tears but a meek smile adding some light to his downtrodden features. “I...you think we c’n actually beat him up?”

“Sure we can,” Riffraff answered warmly, lightly squeezing the smaller pegasus around the waist with one muscular limb. “Has there ever been anything we’ve worked at together, that we really really wanted, and couldn’t do?”

Graceful looked down, his muzzle wrinkling with deep thought while Riff smiled slightly and let his partner sift through each memory that came to mind. Childish or not as the behavior seemed, he’d grown accustomed to the regression Graceful sometimes experienced while he recovered from a traumatic incident. It didn’t bother Riff all that much; it rarely lasted long, and assuming that the small pegasus didn’t pull the immaturity card in an inappropriate situation, Riffraff could live with the occasional bouts of foal-like behavior. “Um...I guess not, huh? We...we always ended up solvin’ stuff together, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we did,” Riffraff murmured, leaning down to nose his partner’s forehead lightly. “So let’s put those worries behind us, huh? Get outta this dump, see how much we’re gonna make off that flank-face’s silly tambourine, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Graceful gave a wider smile and nodded again as Riff smiled slightly and released him from the tight embrace. “Thanks, sweetie.” Wiping his eyes one final time, Grace turned around to reach for the dress he’d been fumbling with for the last several minutes. “Let’s...get outta here.”

“Sounds good,” came the soft reply of the blood-red pegasus before he turned around to lift the bags near the door once again. “Everything’s gonna work out alright.” He grunted and then opened the door, leaving it propped wide with an unused coffee mug as he made his way down the hallway and to the tiny elevator. He sighed as he used his nose to mash the call button, inflating his cheeks and slowly letting the air out through pursed lips. He wasn’t sure what bothered him more: the thought of seeing Amdusias again, considering the animosity coming from all three involved parties; or the fact that he wanted to see Amdusias again and get his side of the story. He had an uncomfortable infatuation with the demon – it was nothing so simple as lust or curiosity or even a desire to harness the kind of power the demon had. Riff couldn’t explain it, but he knew that he couldn’t turn away. It didn’t help that, with his soul contracted to become the demon’s property as payment upon death, Amdusias would make it a point to come and visit whenever he felt the need. But then again, I’m gonna guess that this whole...thing might make our visitations less common for a while. He grimaced and entered the elevator once the doors slid open, then setting the bags onto the floor of the cabin for the slow, creaking ride down.

Their cart remained in the small lot behind the motel and Riffraff tossed the bags in before pulling the two-wheeled transport around to the front of the building. A much more cheerful Graceful approached him in the lobby, heaving several smaller packs across the unpolished linoleum and smiling brightly at the larger male, bumping their flanks lightly together as they passed. Riffraff shook his head and smiled, then stopped by the front desk to settle their room accounts – only a few regulatory fees were left on their bill and Riff felt relieved that they’d paid in advance, since they barely had enough left on them to cover the incidentals. And I’m sure we would have found something to buy or spend our money on if we’d been carrying it around.

With both pegasi bustling to get themselves out of the dingy motel, it didn’t take long to clear out the room and put their backs to the dilapidated building. They were eager to move on from this stage in their life, brief as it was. The mere idea of having excess money was foreign to them and they wanted to experience at least a sliver of it before they inevitably became stingy with their spending. The two ponies felt driven forward, smiling at each other as they both hooked up to the front of the cart and jumped into the air simultaneously to begin their trip to the museum.

The dappled unicorn was there to meet them, as promised. He’d been excited to tell them that the tambourine had been positively tested and identified as a rare artifact from centuries that had long passed. Its historical value surpassed nearly every other exhibit through the entire museum and the ponies in the lab were saying it might take another two or three weeks just to analyze all the trace evidence left on the instrument over its long existence.

Riff had done his best to politely inform the curator that he and Graceful had no desire whatsoever to hear the winded – and hypothetical – history of the tambourine, though they’d still be forced to listen to nearly thirty minutes of the unicorn’s rambling. Graceful didn’t seem to mind all that much, admittedly – he’d sat down childishly and listened with wide eyes to the whole narration while his companion wandered around the office to peer into glass cases and poke quietly at display models. Apparently the tambourine, which the two pegasi saw as a mostly-useless instrument but a priceless treasure and which Amdusias had considered to be even more worthless because of its lack of musical ability, had been forged over four thousand years ago – more than two millennia before Celestia herself had even been known to exist.

After the grey and white unicorn finally wound down his exuberant babbling, he’d been practically joyous in giving the pegasi the sealed envelope with a check for seven hundred thousand bits. The curator was extremely grateful to have had them offer the tambourine to the museum, rather than a private collector or black-market dealer who likely might have given them an even higher sale price. Furthermore, the amount the museum offered to purchase the instrument was the proverbial drop in the bucket in the minds of the board of directors, compared to the fact that the museum’s profile would be soon rising above that of any other institution within the whole eastern half of Equestria; the long-term effects of such a boost for their status would easily cover their losses within a few months. In both the curator’s eyes as well as the opinions of those who decided the fate of the museum’s future, the transaction was a mutual victory for all sides.

They’d left the museum promising to come back and visit, although the moment that they returned to the cart, Graceful groaned and flailed at the air, his wings flapping lazily to give his body lift and leaving his limbs free to wave about childishly. “Oh my GOOOODS, that was so boring! Let’s never go into a museum again! Unless we’re going to have sex behind a statue or somethin’, ‘cause we never did that, an’ you promise me that we could.”

Riff blinked, looking amused as he strapped himself in and waited for his companion to do the same at his side. “You...seemed like you were interested in his story, Gracie.”

“Well, yeah, it was interesting to LISTEN...just like I love to listen when you talk about borin’ lawyery stuff. It’s interesting when ponies talk about things, at least when they’re good at talkin’ about things, like you! And like that guy back there, I don’t remember his name, though.”

“Dr...Something, I don’t remember either. Maybe Dr. Jones?” Riff paused and looked slowly over at Graceful again as they began to move along the cobbled street toward the center of the metropolis, where the crimson pegasus was fairly certain they’d be able to find a bank. “Anyway, we were only in the museum for like two minutes after we left his office.”

“They were very boring minutes!” Graceful pouted, crossing his forelimbs and then peering into the windows of the shops they began to pass. “Can we spend the check there?” he asked curiously, pointing toward a designer dress store.

“No, we can’t spend the check there. We need to take the check to the bank,” Riffraff replied patiently, peering toward a slate skyscraper ahead.

“Oooh, can we spend the check there?” Grace asked again, his eyes lighting up as he gestured wildly to a lingerie shop on the other side of the street, Riffraff groaning loudly in response.

“No. We can’t spend the check there,” he mumbled, rubbing at his forehead slowly. “I guess you’re feeling better?”

At this, the smaller pony immediately quieted and drooped a bit in his fluttering to look down silently at the cobblestones below them. “I...I dunno. I’m just tryin’ to pretend not to think about it now, Riffy, I don’t...I don’t really know what I feel. What happened...it...I’m sorry about what happened, I didn’t mean to fight him and make you so upset...”

Riff laughed a bit, looking at his companion and lowering his ears. “Aw, Gracie – I’m not upset, I was just...worried, and mad that Dusey was being such a douche to you.”

“But...you never said anything about...not wanting to see him again,” Graceful murmured, rubbing at his foreleg and continue to fly slowly forward even after Riff had stopped in front of the building he’d spotted, labeled “First Equestrian Loan and Savings”. The larger pegasus winced as the front of the cart bumped against his flank, taking a stumbling step forward and reaching over to gently grab the other pony’s tail, stopping him from continuing to flap mindlessly forward. Graceful blinked and looked over his shoulder stupidly before blushing a bit, furling his wings and dropping down to his hooves. He sighed and quickly slipped out of his harness, shaking his head several times and then mumbling, “You...you act like...it’d be cool if he showed up or something. Like it wouldn’t even bother you...like you want him to be here, almost...”

Riff frowned and tilted his head, looking confused. “What do you mean? I don’t...want him to show up now, I just...can’t exactly pretend he doesn’t exist, he holds my contract...”

“Yeah...I guess,” the smaller pegasus responded, looking away and shrugging a bit before walking toward the front of the bank and leaving Riff standing by the cart with a concerned expression on his features. “We...should get that account made and stuff, right? Get our money deposited...” Graceful gave a faint smile and then pushed silently through the front doors.

Riffraff slowly sat back, halfheartedly removing the harness from around his muscular torso and stepping free of the leather and metal trusses. He glanced over his shoulder, almost wishing for Amdusias to appear behind him, to offer some sliver of semi-useful advice, masked as always by a snide comment and rude implications. But there was nothing but the sight of other ponies bustling past, giving the pegasus dark looks for daring to block a portion of their curb with the strange two-wheeled wagon. Even the strange, still-evolving abilities the demon had told him about, that gave him the foreign tickle down his spine whenever a supernatural entity lurked nearby, didn’t offer him the slightest hint of Amdusias’s presence. He sighed and carefully lowered the front of the wagon to rest it against the cobblestones as the adjustable axle shifted backward to compensate for the altered position. Riff glanced over the wagon, wondering briefly about theft but unable to care enough to keep his attention on it as he shook his head again and followed his companion into the bank.

Any lingering worries were replaced with awe the moment Riff stepped hoof into the expansive lobby. His eyes took in the polished jade and white marble beneath him before slowly staring around in wonder at the individually carved columns, made of the same smooth stone as the flooring. He counted no less than ten smiling ponies standing behind teller’s counters, not to mention the multiple glass-enclosed offices that bordered the spotless lobby. Riff turned a slow circle, staring from the gleaming lighting fixtures to the gold-framed paintings – for all the time he’d spent in grand courthouses and sprawling law firms, he’d never seen this level of gilded construction. Even the museum’s displays on renaissance architecture might be called boring superstructures next to the interior of the bank. He reached up briefly to touch his harmonica before shaking his head quickly and looking around for his companion with a slight frown.

Graceful had already been ushered into one of the many translucent offices, seated in a large leather chair with a bespectacled unicorn across a mahogany desk, leaning forward and speaking excitedly to the slender pegasus. Riffraff blinked and flattened his ears, quickly trotting through the lobby and ignoring the young mare who chased him in an attempt to discern the purpose for his visit. He waved her off while rushing into the office, startling the unicorn out of whatever practiced lines he'd been speaking. The pale green stallion gave Graceful a searching look and the feminine pony glanced up briefly with a wan smile. “Oh, hey, Riff. I was just finding out about what kinds of accounts are available to open with the initial deposit we have prepared to make.” Grace held up the envelope containing the check from the museum and Riffraff automatically reached up to the pouch beneath his wing where he’d been sure he’d tucked it. The slender pegasus gave another thin smile, then turned his attention back to the somewhat confused unicorn. “Please, go on, Mr. Ingot.”

“Uh...” The banker cleared his throat, tilting his head slightly while adjusting his tie and waiting awkwardly for Riffraff to slowly sit in the chair next to the first pegasus. “Right, then. We have many types of accounts available, some free, some that charge a small fee but in turn offer full insurance on your deposit, as well as varied tiers of savings based on the amount of capital you have with us, some of those are aggressive compounded savings based on the local interest rate, though others can be...”

As the unicorn droned on, Graceful leaning forward and listening patiently, Riffraff sank silently into the soft leather cushion and looked slowly at his companion. But the slender male had both ears pricked forward, his eyes locked onto the rambling banker as he calmly held the envelope across his lower legs. Come on, seriously? I didn’t do anything that bad, did I? I just asked if he was okay... He glanced down and frowned, half-listening to Graceful calmly explaining that they’d like to split the check between two accounts, one checking account with unlimited withdrawals and the other in a high-yield money market account, and that he understood the risk of constantly shifting annual percentage rates, but wished to take his chances with a higher-risk, higher-profit account. Riffraff only wanted to disappear into the dark leather upholstery and somehow put this surreal scene behind him before he could continue to try and convince himself further that it was all some horrible dream.

At one point, Graceful and the banker both stood and shook each others hoof across the table before the unicorn had attempted to get Riffraff’s attention for the same courtesy. But the pegasus only continued to stare down with a dejected expression while his companion handed over the check, then briskly filled out a small stack of paperwork before finally receiving a checkbook for both accounts as well as a small plastic card upon which all their information had already been imprinted. Ingot had reminded them that First Equestrian Loan and Savings had locations across all of the country, and would soon be expanding even across the Great Seas to the mysterious nations beyond most ponies’ reach, and that they could withdraw or deposit money from any of those locations. Riff had just sluggishly begun to wonder why anypony would ever want to do business in the supposedly savage lands beyond the oceans by the time that Graceful wandered out of the office as the unicorn deposited their check and confirmed both their account balances.

The blood-red pony looked up and found himself alone. He panicked for a moment, but saw his companion through the tinted glass, walking slowly around the lobby with cursory glances around and otherwise seeming somewhat detached from reality. Riffraff felt a sharp pang race through him and he looked at the carpet beneath his hooves for a few seconds as he tried to think of what would send the smaller pegasus to such extremes. I really don’t want to leave him for Amdusias, why is he getting so hung up on this? It’s stupid... He sighed and rubbed at his chest slowly before closing his eyes and letting himself slide out of the chair and onto four legs, leaving the office a moment or two later and attempting to fake a smile for those who happened to focus on him. Riffraff hesitated, then slowly approached his partner. “Graceful Melody?” he asked carefully.

The lithe stallion glanced over his shoulder with a polite smile. “We should be all set up now, Riff. He’ll bring us balance sheets that confirm what we have in our accounts and then we can find a new hotel to stay in for the night.”

“Yeah, alright, but...” Riffraff wrinkled his muzzle, confused and hurt by the smaller male’s aloofness. “I...okay. Where...did you learn all this stuff, anyway?” he finally managed to ask, following the periwinkle stallion as he approached one of the empty teller booths.

“Well, not everypony has to be a fancy lawyer to learn something from school,” Graceful snapped, turning away to wait for the suit-wearing unicorn to return.

“Graceful...” The larger pegasus faltered, leaning forward for a moment with a hurt expression and then quietly sitting back on his haunches. Maybe he just needs some time to let all this blow over... He looked down at the cool marble below them, his shadowy reflection staring back at him while the uncomfortable silence spun out between the two males. The tattooed and pierced pony attracted many strange looks and normally Graceful would bask in the attention, though he now simply stood with his back to his partner, waiting coolly for the associate to return. Riff sighed quietly again and rose to his hooves, turning around and trudging across the enormous lobby to exit through the heavy glass doors and enter once more into the unnatural hum of the metropolis. He glanced briefly toward their cart but realized at that point, he could have cared less if somepony had gone through and taken everything from the back. But he nonetheless returned to the customized carriage, harnessing himself into place and then pulling out a cigarette to shove into his muzzle as his eyes closed.

Five minutes later, Graceful strode out of the bank with both checkbooks gripped securely between his teeth. He went immediately to the wagon and hopped into the air to hover for a moment, placing the bound booklets into one of their sturdier packs before landing next to Riffraff. He made a face as the dejected stallion chain-lit a second cigarette from the first smoldering butt, turning his head away as the excess plume of smoke wafted toward him. “For the love of Celestia, isn’t one enough?” he asked irritably, quickly shoving his legs through his own harness and pulling it snug against his slender frame. “Amdusias isn’t even here to make it worse.”

Riffraff’s heart dropped a few more inches, feeling intensely hurt and yet helpless to do much about it. “I...I’m sorry,” he mumbled around the new cigarette, leaning his head away and swallowing thickly. “Guess it’s been a while, and...I don’t feel so great, and...you’re...”

Graceful Melody glared across at him venomously for a moment before his fury visibly diminished a bit. The smaller pony glanced down and then sighed quietly. “I...why dun we go find a new hotel and...get some food, and...maybe we’ll both feel better, I’m not mad at you. Well, I mean, I am, but I know it’s stupid, but you’re also being kinda mean, too, not right now, but...you were earlier, you know how I get, and I know it’s silly because I’m the one who’s always out being a whore, but you know I always come back, and...and yet you almost never do anything with anypony else, and I know you’re always there, but what if you don’t come back to me...” He trailed off and then flinched slightly when Riffraff reached out to grip his shoulder.

“Oh, Graceful...” Riff looked at his companion’s silver eyes, filled with unshed tears that were themselves saturated with pain. “I don’t know why you’re so worked up about it. I’m not gonna go anywhere...” He wanted to add “not until it’s time” for the sheer sake of being realistic and admittedly somewhat morbid about his future, but figured now wasn’t the best time to discuss the eventuality of Amdusias dragging his soul off for eternal torture. He knew at this point that the tumultuously emotionally pegasus would fixate on “eternal” and not “torture”. “You’re right, let’s just get a room and...we’ll work through all this, alright? I’ll show you I mean what I say.”

“Yeah...” Graceful nodded silently, giving a weak smile as they both began to walk forward. They nearly collided with three ponies pulling a much large carriage around the next corner, receiving a burst of shouting and cursing. But it hardly impacted the powder-blue pegasus as he asked softly, “Has...he...really not come by since this morning?”

“He hasn’t even done that magical-mind-talking thing, no,” Riffraff replied with a short laugh, glancing down for a moment before turning his eyes up again, both ponies looking for something that resembled an upscale hotel. “I’m sorry again for blaming you for anything,” he murmured, blushing somewhat.

Graceful sighed softly and looked to the side. “No, I guess...I kind of let emotion get the better of me.” They moved slowly down the busy streets in silence for several minutes before the smaller pony glanced back at his companion. “Does Amdusias hate me?”

“No more than he hates me,” Riffraff replied wryly, though his response immediately brought a frown to his partner’s features. “Sorry, I...I know you’re serious.” He shrugged slowly and lifted a hoof to tap the cigarette silently to the side. “He’s been...weird lately. You noticed it yourself, I know. I think that whatever animosity he shows toward you, it’s not because he’s jealous of you, it’s because he feels like...I dunno, like I should be out there giving concerts to the masses or something, and for whatever reason, he wants to blame you for slowing me down.”

“Am I?”

Riffraff looked softly over at the smaller pony, finding a worried expression on Graceful’s face. “No, hon...not at all. Because I don’t want to do that. I wanna play music with you. And normally, in the past, he’s seemed...proud of this, much as he tries to hide it. I don’t know what it is lately that’s made him so...driven to try and split us apart. Sometimes he almost seems like he forgets that he’s the demon holding my soul in contract, and acts more like some weird friend who finds delight in our misfortune. But then...when he remembers what all of our roles are, he...sorta...overcompensates and...well. We argued on the roof, and then you two fought. Have you ever wanted to...fight him before?”

Graceful hesitated, then shook his head slowly. “I...I guess I haven’t, no. I dunno, I just got...so riled up, so angry at him. I felt like he wanted you for himself. I still really don’t want to see his stupid spiky face any time soon, but at the same time...he’ll be back, won’t he? Or is he only gonna show up to you from now on?”

“I dunno.” Riff frowned and looked up at a very clearly-advertised hotel, motioning toward a smaller side-street next to it. The ponies turned together to pull the cart into a spot amongst a few other wagons and carriages and he continued quietly: “He has been pretty good about not hurting you. He even sort of protected us both before, in prison and stuff. I dunno what’s been making him act so...manic.” He softened as they began to unharness themselves. “I’ll be honest. It’s almost...uncomfortable not seeing him around, with how much he’s been showing up lately. But Gracie...you’re the most important thing in the world to me. And right now...yeah, I kind of don’t want to see him, myself. I think as much as I try to convince myself that he’s warming up to us, I always have to remember that he’s...a damn demon lord. He takes pleasure in our pain, sometimes way too obviously, and he sure as hell isn’t giving up on taking my soul.”

Graceful looked down at his hooves for a few seconds, head bowed in thought. Riff paused and gazed at him quietly, tilting his head somewhat. “I...what if I...made a contr--”

“No.”

Riffraff’s interruption was firm, but gentle, and he quietly came over to hug the smaller pegasus fiercely. “No,” he repeated softly while holding the lithe stallion close to his masculine frame. “I can’t let you do that. Not a day goes by that I wish I hadn’t done what I did, now that I...I know you don’t only love me because I can play guitar. Because now I have the shadow of an inevitable future lurking over me. And it’s...unfair to you even more than me, because one day...”

“I know...” Graceful interjected quietly as he closed his eyes and pressed silently to his partner. “I know. It’s okay, Riffy. We...we still have a lot of time. And I dun wanna spend it being all...sad and poo-brain.” He smiled a bit as they pulled apart enough to gaze into each other’s eyes. They shared a brief kiss before embracing tightly again, a flood of emotions -- and relief -- washing over Riffraff. “Besides...” Riff could feel the slender pegasus’s cheeks flushing slightly against his chest. “Much as I hate him and don’t want to see him right now...he’s still pretty damn sexy,” Graceful mumbled.

Surprised, Riffraff blinked and slowly pulled back again, but found a small smile on his companion’s muzzle. He smiled slightly himself and shook his head a few times. “You’re a mess, Graceful Melody, I hope you know that.”

“Yeah, well...you’re no neatly stacked bundle of stallionness, yourself,” he grumbled, kissing the other male’s throat softly. They smiled together once again before Graceful nudged the larger stallion gently and jerked his head toward the tall hotel. “Let’s go get a room and have angry make-up sex.”

Riffraff snickered in amusement, shaking his head again and flapping his wings to float up to the front of the wagon and snagging the first few bags in his forelimbs. “You know, I’m not even gonna argue. That sounds good right about now.” He winked down at his smiling companion, tossing him two smaller duffel bags. “But you’re paying.”

“Well, duh. I’ve got the checkbooks – never trust a guitarist with money,” Graceful teased, catching both packs and slinging them over his slender shoulders, both ponies’ moods finally improving for the first time that day.