Underneath the crystal castle of Twilight Sparkle was a catacomb like prison, as far underground as the castle was tall, built of solid stone bricks and iron bars. Near the bottom was a large rectangular wooden door, about twice as tall as the humans, and was flanked on either side by large torches.
Currently, it swung open with a loud creak, revealing Marine, the Ballista in his left hand and his armor covered in blue blood. He wiped a tan armored arm off his right shoulder before exiting the room, and the door shut automatically with another creak. A smaller pony sized door placed just down the hall opened, and Heat darted out and towards him, blindly slamming the door shut with his magic. He slid to a stop in front of the human and plopped down onto his rear, smiling up at Marine.
“A few months of practice…” Marine rolled his shoulders with a satisfied sigh. “I think I’ve got it down.”
“Does that mean you’ll finally try being a pony?” Heat asked excitedly, positively beaming.
“Yep.”
“Yes!” Heat exclaimed, standing up. “It’s a good time to get that armor cleaned. You can’t wear anything during the process.” Heat turned and trotted off.
“You just wanna see me naked, don't you?" Marine asked, placing the weapon on his back and following close behind the stallion.
“No comment," Heat happily answered, flicking the human’s leg with his tail. Marine chuckled.
Twilight Sparkle, the purple magic pony princess of friendship herself, was humming a tune to herself, smiling as she made her way to the map room.
*giggle*
She stopped, her tongue music now silenced. She backtracked to the door she just passed, a guest room, which was currently unoccupied. After a minute of silence, she shook her head and continued on.
*clang* *giggle*
She definitely heard something that time. She turned and approached the door, raised a hoof to knock, then stopped. She heard talking, just barely audible. She laid her ear against the door straining to hear what was being said.
“Ah, I'm Shining Armor, Ah,” Somepony said in a clearly mocking tone before giggling again. Not one to stand for mockery, especially of her brother, she adopted a strict face and barged in.
“Okay what's…” she trailed off, looking at the group of ponies in the room. The room had a similar layout to a two bed hotel room, and two stallions stood at the foot of the closer bed, one being Shining Armor himself, facing the bed as they turned to look at the newcomer. She couldn't see the first bed around the corner, but didn't need to, as her very own Heat Breaker peeked around the corner, with Shining Armor’s special gold-trimmed purple helmet resting loosely on his head.
“Hey sis,” Shining greeted, waving a hoof in her direction.
“Shiny? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, shutting the door with her magic as she approached the three stallions and sat by them.
“These two invited me for some bro time.” Shiny gestured at the others.
“Hi princess,” Heat Breaker greeted softly, shyly waving with a nervous smile as he sat back on his haunches, making the helmet sway a bit.
“And who’s this?” She asked, studying the unknown pegasus, who sat up straight. He had a similar color palette to Shiny, with true white fur and a blue colored mane and tail, which were both cut very short. There was a golden chain hanging from his neck, holding a Ruby that she could feel the massive amount of magical energy emanating from. He had a look that was both relaxed and alert, a soft smile on his muzzle. His eyes, however, betrayed the façade he held. Pupils colored like a ruby, cold and unyielding. They kinda creeped her out, if she was being honest.
“The name’s Sapiens,” he introduced with a curt nod. “Ex-Captain of the Royal Guard.”
“Really?” She asked, attempting to peek at his cutie mark, but she couldn’t pull it off stealthily from her position. “Don’t think i’ve ever heard of you before.”
“I was recruited, promoted, and retired in a time of peace, a few years before you were born.” He explained. “Didn’t get a chance to get a spot in the history books.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” She raised a hoof for a formal greeting. He didn’t budge. “So what brings you here?” Twilight asked, lowering her hoof.
“For our bro’s night out!” Shiny answered for him.
“Yep!” Heat confirmed.
“Then what was all that giggling?” She asked.
“That lovely pony up there does a stellar impression of your brother.” The ex-captain explained, nodding towards Heat Breaker. She looked at the director, and noticed he was looking away, his cheeks bright red.
“Didn’t sound so good to me,” she mumbled. “Well, you ponies have fun!” She said, opening the door with her magic as she stood and turned.
“Oh, we’ll be having fun alright,” Sapiens said in a suggestive tone as she left.
“Not in front of the princess!” Heat scolded the captain, who merely chuckled as she shut the door and continued her original path.
“Whew!” Sapiens said with a content smile, breathing heavily as he was splayed out on his back atop the farther bed, which was in an actual rented hotel room this time. “That was fun.”
“Very,” Heat agreed, snuggling into his side with a messy mane as he also panted, held to the stallion with the bigger stallion’s left wing wrapped around his barrel.
“Don’t know how you still got my helmet dirty,” Shiny said from the other bed, sitting up as he held his helmet in one hand and cleaned it with a rag with his other hoof, wiping strands of white liquid off the metal.
“It got in the way,” The ex-captain claimed.
“It was on the other side of the room,” Shiny countered.
“We were on that side at one point,” Sapiens told the captain.
“Still didn’t try to avoid it,” Shiny pressed.
“We were too in the moment,” the other side argued.
“Ladies, ladies, enough fighting,” Heat mumbled, barely loud enough for them to hear as he began blindly pawing at the bigger stallion’s chest.
“I gotta pee,” Shiny said, putting the helmet and rag in front of the lamp on the end table between the beds before hopping off the bed and entering the bathroom right beside the front door.
“The hayburger joint opens for breakfast in ten,” Sapiens softly reminded the unicorn beside him.
“Five more minutes…” Heat snuggled deeper into the pegasus.
“We gotta get there early if we want a good table, now come on.” He opened his wing and laid it flat on the bed, making Heat shudder for a second, who merely moaned in defiance.
“GET UP!” Sapiens suddenly bellowed, making Heat jump with a yelp.
“MOVE IT, PRIVATE ALLEN! RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!” Heat’s half conscious mind went into overdrive as he panicked, pushing off the bigger pony in an attempt to escape the loud noise, which resulted in him falling to the floor between the beds with a yelp.
“Who’s Private Allen?” Heat asked as he sat up, shooting Sapiens a confused look as he rubbed his head. The stallion ignored him as he stretched, producing satisfying pops before he rolled off the other side of the bed, landing on his hooves and turning around.
“Answer me, Sapiens,” Heat said with a threatening tone, watching as the pegasus continued to stay silent as he trotted into the bathroom.
“Don’t make me force it out of you,” Heat called as he sat up before following him into the bathroom, in which Sapiens barked in laughter.