Author's Notes:

There will be a perspective shift halfway through this chapter, prepare yourselves. This story was a blast to write, I'll start working on the next one as soon as the muse strikes. Thank you all for reading and supporting me throughout. Until next time!

"Mood Music" Start at 2:17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgLsPWAgd8A

Six Months Later.

I leaned against Celestia as we sat on the balcony, Equestria stretching out before us. Our honeymoon had been one for the books, we had barely left Tia’s room for three weeks, there had been talk of a trip to Saddle Arabia, but with the political landscape still changing, we’d felt it best to stick close to home. Once the formal announcement was made, the celebration had spread all across the country, we were still getting congratulatory letters, and they showed no signs of slowing down.

Over time we’d settled into an amazing routine, I was learning what my new duties entailed…

As Deputy Director of the Crown’s Secret Service.

Some things are hard to put down, and Luna had insisted. I’d only relented when Tia and I had a long talk about it, I wouldn’t be in the field, so I’d be keeping my promise, and I could still help by doing what I did best. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed the work, but the thrill? I had all that and more wrapped in my arms on that balcony.

“Tia?”

“Yes, my Prince?”

I’d never get used to that, no matter how many times I heard it, “I was thinking the other night, about us.”

“Oh-ho, going to run?”

I let my hand glide up through her mane, gently scratching her ear, “You wish, you’re not getting rid of me that easy darlin’… I was just wondering what’s next? Maybe it’s too soon to be thinking like that; I don’t know. Call it an overactive mind at work.”

She smiled, “That overactive mind is what drew me to you in the first place, love, as far as what comes next? Well, we have the time, and I suppose it’s time I told you.”

I was just idling, but now she had my attention, “Told me what exactly?”

She sat up, and my old bells were ringing again, “There is a spell, brought to life by Luna and I some millennia ago,” She seemed to be searching for the words, an odd thing to witness from someone who was always so unflappable, “It replaces a piece of the target’s soul with our magic, they would cease to be fully mortal, and gain some of our power in return, namely an extraordinarily long life span.”

I could barely believe what I was hearing, was she offering to make me immortal?

“You would live a thousand years before you began to age. It is not offered lightly and remains a closely guarded secret of mine and my sister, which is why this is the first you are hearing of it. I have only offered it to one other in my long life, and he refused. I am offering you the same, my love, to remain young and by my side for as long as you wish.”

I just stared at her for a moment, was she kidding? But the longer I looked into her eyes, the more I realized that there was no humor there, she was serious, and the way she fidgeted told me the chance she was taking.

“Tia I…I don’t know what to say. That’s beyond a bomb you just dropped in my lap, I’m grateful for the offer, but Jesus, that’s a lot to take in.”

Her ears splayed back, “I’m sorry my love, perhaps I spoke too soon, I was a little swept up in the momen-“

“This spell, what about my family, my friends? This isn’t something you can spread around like’s nothing; you’d have people knocking your door down.”

She turned her gaze back to the landscape, “Exceptions could be made, but only for your family, even then they would have to be certain, beyond any shadow of a doubt, and I would have to discuss it with Luna.”

I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding, “But we have time to talk it over, don’t we?”

She turned back to me, giving me a radiant smile, all her earlier nerves seemed to have fled, “My love, no matter your decision, I will love you with all of myself, for the rest of your life and beyond, no matter the length of it.” She leaned in and kissed me softly; I felt my trepidation melt away, she’d thrown me for a loop, and given me a lot to field. But right here, right now? I was in heaven.

After a long, long moment, we separated, her glowing eyes shone with more love than I could handle, when she spoke, her voice was more of a purr, “Shall we continue, inside?”

It was a perfect moment, perfect beyond measure… So I bit one of her ears, came flying off the plush chair and hauled ass back into the bedroom.

“Race ya!”

“Human! When I catch you, not even the Maker Herself will be able to save your skin!”

Blissful torture followed close on my heels as I laughed all the way to bed. What a life.

Faddei Ivanov had settled in nicely in his position at the Kremlin, after so many years in the field, it felt good to relax. Even if NATO had all but crippled his country, he would survive, he always survived.

Today was lunch with his daughter, a brisk walk to the cafe would shake the dust from his bones; he had been languishing in the office for too long. Faddei whistled as he walked, his deal with Bratva had borne fruit, and now his eventual retirement was assured, a lovely dacha on the Black Sea a fitting cap to his years of service. There had been setbacks along the way, FSB had found two of his old associates hanging in a meat locker in Chelyabinsk, their bodies mangled, an unfortunate consequence of their back-alley deals with the Chechens no doubt.

No matter, their lot was their lot, he wouldn’t shed tears for odnorazovyye muzhchiny.

So involved was Ivanov in his rumination on life and good fortune…He never noticed the tail. Nor the three men coming towards him, one of them, a tall man with hard green eyes, brushed against him as they passed. A sharp stinging sensation in his side stole his breath away, and Faddei Ivanovich only had time to realize something was terribly wrong before his vision went black.

“Wake him up.”

A bucket of water, the cold almost stopping his heart, brought him back to consciousness. Ivanov blinked once, twice, and the room came into focus, a single lightbulb illuminated the dingy basement, the chair he was tied to, and the three men standing around him. Two of the men wore masks, but the third…

“You?” Faddei’s voice was rough, almost like someone had rubbed his vocal cords with sandpaper.

“Yes, Ivanov, Me. I’m almost flattered, you remember, a busy man like you.” The American’s green eyes were boring through his soul, were they, glowing? The tone of his voice showed neither malice, nor contempt; it simply was. The lack of emotion brought out something Faddei hadn’t felt since he was a boy.

Fear.

“You, you will pay for this, I am under the protection of the Russian Government, there are rules!”

The American stalked towards him, like a big cat moving in for the kill, at a slow, almost languid pace. It was the stride of a man who had all the time in the world and knew exactly what he was doing. The thought frightened Faddei utterly.

The American held his hands out to his sides; one of them held a knife that glinted dully, “No rules today, Faddei Ivanovich.”

Faddei struggled against his bonds, trying desperately to avert what was coming. Fear like he had never known turning his blood to ice.

When the American spoke again, his voice was still impassive; the man could have been discussing the weather.

“Rob?.”

“Yeah, Zack?”

“Let’s set the mood, huh? And grab that saw for me?”

“You got it, brother.”

Music began to play as the American and…Oh God his knife… closed the distance.

Miles away from anywhere, no one heard Faddei Ivanov screaming. Screaming for hours. Screaming his bloody throat raw right up until the moment he died.

For Scotty and Raven.