Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Wonder Woman, or any other Wonder Woman characters. I make no money from publishing this story.
Billowy, wispy clouds surrounded her, backed by an endless ocean of
clear blue extending in all directions.
There was a down; by reflex she had used her flying power to stay
aloft, but it was a weak, faint pull, and there was nothing underneath
to fall towards, just more clouds and sky. A sun could be seen
peeking behind the shifting clouds, but to her bafflement it was
seemingly not always in the same place. The mutable cloudscape made
fixing references difficult.
Was this another realm made from a broken aspect of the world? How
many such places could there be, each different to the other?
A light breeze played over her, making her long hair flow; it was no
longer wet now, just as she was no longer dressed only in paint and
accessories. Her clothing had been restored again, this time directly
over her body, though her bustier seemed to tighter on her bosom than
before, barely covering her past her aureoles. Perhaps that was
intentional, she thought, wondering which of the Olympians was
responsible.
The golden lasso remained coiled around her upper arm, the amulet
pieces still held by it, and carefully she removed them. Closing her
eyes, she felt the faint tug, the call of the amulet, yearning to be
whole, leading in a direction as apparently featureless as any other.
Heeding the amulet, she flew.
Estimating time was suspect, but it was nearly an hour of flight
before between the nebulous shrouds she sighted several masses of
land, suspended in air, close to each other, in defiance of even the
weak gravity. Islands, she realized, floating islands adrift in a sea
of water vapor. The blanketing clouds made their number uncertain,
and judging their size was also difficult; her initial estimates
needed adjustment after it took her longer than expected to grow close
enough to see details. Once near enough, she cautiously circled the
larger mass at a distance, noticing a few forest-covered mountains and
vast short-grassed plains, but no signs of human habitation. To her
surprise, a river born in one of the surrounding, smaller islands,
cascaded down in a misty spray to fall on the larger one, feeding a
large lake.
She saw movement in the plain by the lake, and flew down.
White as the clouds, they raced over the green field, fleet and
graceful, beauty in motion. Diana stared, fascinated; they were the
most beautiful horses she had ever seen. She landed carefully at a
prudent distance and moved closer on foot. The herd grew nervous at
first, but she approached slowly, careful to avoid threatening moves,
and after a while earned their trust with soft words and gentle
motions. Soon her hands moved over their strong flanks and necks,
caressing the long manes, whispering compliments. She wondered who
kept these fine creatures here? They were not likely wild, not only
because they accepted her presence so quickly, but also since as far
as she could see, they appeared to be all mares. That did not seem a
natural situation.
"Oh, crap," a voice many paces behind her muttered behind her.
"Surprise inspection!"
Trying not to spook the white mares, Diana turned cautiously, prepared
for the worst, worried about not having heard anyone else approach
amidst the noises of the heard. She could not afford to be so
careless.
Clad in brown and green, they walked out of the knee-high grass that
had hid them from sight. Their feet shuffled nervously and their eyes
did not rise from the ground but for fleeting, anxious glances.
"Welcome, O Exalted Lady Who graces us with her presence!" The
greeting by the older one had ceremonial intonations. "Blessed are
our humble charges and we lowly servants by Your Presence!"
"-Thy Presence!"
The older one ignored the correction from his companion and knelt on
one knobby knee, followed with frantic speed by the others.
Diana looked at the half-dozen two-feet-tall humanoids with growing
bafflement. "There's no need for that. Who are-?"
"Forgive us for not having been ready for Your arrival! We are but
simple hands of The Gods! We-!"
"There's nothing to forgive. I don't think-"
"Please, Great Lady of the Hunt, Maiden of the Forest, accept our-!"
"Maiden of the-? You think I am-?"
"See! Told you!" Another of the small goblin-like creatures rushed
forward, pushing the previous spokesman aside. "We meant no offense,
Oh Most Beauteous Aphrodite! We're just struck dumb by Your
countenance!"
"-Thy countenance!"
"Aphrodite? But I'm not-"
A third jumped up, rising his arms. "O GREAT POWERFUL HERA! HIGHEST
QUEEN OF OLYMPUS! FORGIVE THE BLINDNESS OF THESE IDIOTS-!"
"Please! I'm not-!"
The first little man shook his head. "Queen Hera? Are you joking?
We would have been punished into oblivion already if-"
The second one gestured towards Diana. "Come on! Look! Who else but
Lady Aphrodite Herself would look like THAT?"
The third one pulled on his scraggly, spare hair. "SHUT UP! I BEG
YOU LISTEN NOT THEM GREAT HERA-! THEY ARE MORONS! YOUR OWN FABLED
BEAUTY IS UNMISTAKEABLE-!"
"THY-!"
"Didn't you brain-dead assholes see Her with the mares? Who else but
the Patron Goddess of all Beasts would-?"
"Like Aphrodite couldn't charm any creature alive or dead! LOOK AT
HER! Didn't just looking give you the hardest-?"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU'RE BEFORE A GODDESS-!"
"I am not a goddess," Diana cut in, embarrassed. "Olympus forgive
me, I'm just-"
"She's incognito, you idiots! Respect her choice of disguise-!"
"I'm not-"
"Please, O GREAT LADY, we know we are really behind schedule! As our
latest filed report explained, the procedure continues to show
complications-!"
"Damn thing is not cooperating at all-!"
"Really, I'm not-!"
"We need an extension-!"
"We have the paperwork ready to-!"
"WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME?"
The short beings froze into silence at Diana's outburst, except for
the whimper of one whose leather breaches showed an obvious damp patch
growing.
"I am not a goddess. Incognito or not. Honestly."
One of them glanced about before speaking up nervously. "Really?"
"Really."
"You really look like a goddess."
Diana could not help but blush. "I-Thank you, but really, I'd never
dream of passing myself as an Olympian. I swear so."
The one with the moist crotch grimaced. "Then who the fuck are you?"
"I am Diana, Princess of the Amazons of Themyscira."
"Oh, shit. Royalty? Should we bow again or curtsy or what-?"
"That isn't necessary-"
"Wait, doesn't she have way too much tit there for an Amazon? Didn't
those broads cut off-?"
"Will you shut up? Be respectful!"
"Tell that isn't a lot of-"
"She's royalty! She may have been sent by Olympus!"
"Well, in a way, I was."
"CRAP! I KNEW IT! WE'RE GOING TO BE FIRED!"
Diana sighed. "We need to talk."
The complex of low galleys was attached to a gentle hill just by the
great plain, their roofs covered by green growth, making them
difficult to discern from the air. There was at least a dozen more of
the small cattle-hands, performing various tasks in and around the
stables. Small as they were, they were clearly skilled in their
crafts. The fillies were at ease under their ministrations, and
proved compliant when needed.
Diana nodded with approval. "You are doing good work with them."
The elder, a wizened headman named Eliopoulus, scratched the fringe of
scraggly hair surrounding his pointed ears. "Only in the care of the
fillies, I'm afraid. Our primary purpose still eludes us. Soon, if
we cannot produce any viable offspring from the Prime Subject, we'll
need to start arranging for the breeding of yet another new beta
generation, and hope for better luck. But I fear it would be equally
fruitless."
"How long have you been trying?"
"This is the fortieth generation." He looked at his oversized feet,
shaking his head. "We may be at the end of all viable paths. The
environmental conditions, including magical substrates, are as optimum
as can be achieved. We have scouted and analyzed all prospects of
improvement by further crossing with every breed currently on Earth,
studying any possible genetic enhancement, praying to Great Poseidon
for guidance, anything that would allow for increased strength and
resilience, but I am afraid we can no longer improve the herd by just
selective breeding with normal equine strains."
"But they are already magnificent! I've never seen their like, on
Themyscira or elsewhere! How much stronger would they need to be?
How drastic is the difference with the stallion?"
"The first attempts all proved fatal, Princess. Catastrophically so.
Our last ones resulted only in broken bones and related injuries, but
the procedure really never progressed beyond the preliminaries." His
expression was pained. "We've been forced to put down so many,
Princess. So many of my best, my most lovely ones. I may now... lack
the heart to keep trying."
"But... what about bypassing the act by-?"
"It can't be done! He's too wild, too powerful! Son of Poseidon
himself. He could never be made to-"
Diana fingered the golden lasso hanging in glowing loops from her
belt. "I can help."
Already thin and pliable, the local fabric of space bent and twisted,
creating a path, a shortcut, that the headman and the Amazon Princess
used to walk onto a rocky plateau.
"I could have flown us here," Diana said, her voice low.
"He may have seen us approach. The less conspicuous, the better."
With a gesture, the headman then bade Diana to crouch next to him
behind a boulder. Peering over its edge, they could see the mighty
spring that flowed from a mountain-face, its water filling a large
basin before overflowing to cascade down the edge of the plateau,
towards the other island miles below. "His hoof struck there. He
returns daily to drink from the source."
Diana nodded, and sat on her heels, to wait.
It did not take long. She first heard the loud beating of the
powerful wings, then the noise of unshod hoofs, harder than metal,
landing on stone. The wind favored them, blowing their scent away, so
she could smell him instead, a strong, deep aroma of sweat and musk.
Slowly, she edged around the boulder, her soled feet stepping with
care lest she make noise.
Then she saw him.
Diana thought she knew what beauty was, what grace was; but she had
been mistaken. She had never really known, not until now.
White as the clouds and as graceful as their dance on the sky, he
pranced, taking to the air with effortless elegance every few steps,
his lines clear and fluid as the purest stream, yet boasting with each
motion of all the hidden might that water may have.
Diana stared, fascinated. Son of Poseidon himself, bred on the Gorgon
Medusa, taken to the skies by the gods centuries ago.
Staring with awestruck fascination, she could not help but whisper his name.
"Pegasus."
The great winged stallion reared and neighed, his voice pure and
powerful as the greatest waterfall, and then, before Diana could move,
he was gone.
"You spooked him!" Grimacing, the headman turned towards the Amazon.
But she was also gone.
He was a flash of silver, fading fast, losing himself easily in the
vastness of the cloudy skies. But she had her eye on him, the eye of
the huntress that was one of the gifts of Artemis, goddess of the
hunt, and her speed was that of Hermes himself, flashing red, blue,
white and gold as she raced in pursuit.
Her speed surprised him, but only for an instant. He neighed and
banked to a side, his wide wings sweeping the sky with heartbreaking
grace, before he folded them close to the lean, muscular flanks and
dove down, hurtling like a missile through the wispy blankets of
vapor.
She had raced against horses before, on foot, in Themyscira, before
she had learned to master the gifts of Hermes.
She had never lost a race.
Ever.
But she had never known what a real race was. Not until now.
She laughed, caught in the joy of flight, of speed, and the chase.
Her long hair danced black in the sky as she followed the divine
stallion, and golden fire twirled in her hands.
She caught up with him, again and again, and the golden lasso crossed
the sky like lightning, but despite his size, despite the wide spread
of his wingspan, he was never even touched. He banked and swerved and
sped away, quick and nimble, flowing past her attempts like the
quicksilver which his shining mane resembled.
Diana called out his name again, in challenge and praise.
His neigh in return both mocked and encouraged her.
Whispering a brief prayer to Hermes, Diana twisted and swung about,
diving at the vanishing speck, focusing her will on her gifts of
flight and speed.
She had never lost a race.
They raced for hours, across countless miles of sky. Many times she
thought him lost, but the gift of Artemis never failed her, and she
always found him again.
Or perhaps he wanted to be found, loving the race as well, enjoying
the unique challenge.
She grinned with almost manic delight, chasing the beautiful steed,
pure and distant as a wild dream.
They dove again, faster than ever, cleaving the clouds like meteors
hurtling to their doom, mere seconds away from the other, but at such
speed that a second seemed inexorably out of reach.
But Diana would not quit. She had never lost a race.
She could not remember when she had last enjoyed herself so much.
Suddenly, the clouds were gone and rock spread before them, a cruel,
sprawling wall of stone, spreading in all directions, looming so much
closer every fraction of an instant. Close, too close. And they were
going too fast.
Sound had been long left behind for a cry of surprise.
Marshaling all her power, Diana instantly threw her lasso yet again,
and the braided strands of gold finally found purchase in the long
equine neck. Twisting with all her strength, Diana tossed the
stallion aside in a wide sweep, deflecting his flight away from the
rocky obstacle with a jerk that would have easily severed the neck of
a lesser creature.
An infinitesimal moment later, Diana's back struck the floating island.
Slowly, against every demand of her body, Diana opened her eyes.
Sorting through the fog of fading unconsciousness, she recalled what
had happened. She recalled focusing on strength, on resilience,
calling upon the endurance of the Earth itself.
She was lying face up, in the center of the wide and deep crater that
her impact had carved into a floating mountain of rock, and above her,
looming close to lick gently at her cheek, was a blurry vision of
silver and pearl, trailing a sliver of gold.
Instantly, she reached out and grabbed her lasso.
Her battered and bruised body screamed with indignant pain as she
strained with effort, the lasso digging into her hands like sharp
blades while the stallion fought for freedom. His initial startled
tug had pulled her away from the crater with almost as much violence
as that of her impact, and his fight against the lasso became only
more frantic with each second. But she kept her grip on the lasso,
and focused on her power of flight, leveraging against the wild pulls
of the bound steed.
She called out to him with concern, worried about his injuring himself
in the desperate struggling, but the flying horse knew only that it
had to be free.
With a pang of regret and guilt, Diana held on.
For hours, Pegasus flew and pulled and banked wildly, fighting Diana's
hold, fighting the pull of the unbreakable lasso, with power that
spoke of his Olympian blood.
If the chase had been a delight, a daring challenge of speed and
agility, this instead was a nightmarish punishment, a painful
struggle, a hateful ordeal, for Pegasus and Diana alike. It pained
the Amazon Princess beyond the physical.
The flying horse was freedom and swiftness embodied, untamed speed
made flesh. How dare she try tame him? What right had she to bind
him, to tie him down, to deny his nature?
Yet she had a mission to accomplish. One she dare not fail.
Shaken by uncertainty, her grip almost failed for an instant, when suddenly
the
winged horse dove at her, sharp hooves aimed at her face.
"She did it! SHE HAS HIM!"
The cattle-hands looked up in amazement, gathering in a hurry, as
slowly, Diana flew down, carefully lowering the bound and trussed
Pegasus into the center of a cleared enclosure. His legs were bound
together and his wings folded against his body, tightly wrapped in
multiple loops of the golden lasso, yet he struggled and neighed with
fury. When placed on the ground, he twisted and shook violently, but
the lariat could not be broken, not even by his strength.
"Would ya look at that!"
"She got him all tied up!"
"Ah! Some would pay well for one like her to-!"
"She tamed him!"
"Silence." The elder shouldered his way past his assistants. "Anyone
who thinks him tamed is welcome to try approach him." The were no
takers. The elder turned to the Amazon Princess. "You got him.
Impressive."
Diana's face showed a turmoil of conflicting emotions, her grip on the
taut lasso shifting uneasily. "It was not easy."
"There's a derivative of the Mist of Lethe we can apply in small
dosage, so he may tended to, and you may rest."
Diana shook her head. "The natural way may still work. He's just too
rash, too energetic. He needs to work out excess energy. I can-"
"You think you can actually tame him? Make him docile?"
"Tame-? No." Diana did not shift her eyes from her captive, and her
voice grew pained. "He should not- He must not."
"But then-?"
"I can try to wear him down. Spend his strength against me."
The elder nodded, but with little conviction.
With swift, skilled motions, Diana released the stallion's legs,
though her lasso still wrapped around his neck and body, keeping his
wings bound down. Still, he jumped, with power beyond any earthly
equine, and would have cleared out of the whole complex if not for
Diana's firm hold. Though she stood in a floating island, this had
once been part of Gaea, and with her feet planted on its ground, she
could focus on stability, and not be moved, her strength that of the
Earth itself.
She pulled, and maneuvered, giving slack and taking it away, again and
again, making Pegasus return to the ground when he jumped, trotting by
his side as he raced wildly by the enclosure's wide perimeter. She
ducked and dodged when he lunged at her, and often escaped the
threatening hoofs by such a small margin the onlookers gasped in
fright.
She spoke to him, trying to calm him, to gain his trust. But he would
not be cowed.
She expected no less of him. She remained after all his captor, his
jailer. She kept him in the enclosure, but did not try to force him,
would not humiliate him. She could never dream of trying to break his
spirit.
The elder looked on, shaking his head. "Won't work," he told his
aide. "She's conflicted, and he can sense it, judging it weakness.
He's trying to wear her down instead."
"Princess, you must rest!"
Dusty, sweaty, and weary, she shook her head.
Uncounted hours later, the stallion finally stood still, and stayed
that way, trembling, and breathing.
The few grooms still on duty ran for the elder.
Diana frowned, her breathing showing her weariness as well.
Cautiously, they brought the mare, a beautiful creature whose sheen of
vitality would make any equine breeder weep with envy. Pegasus canted backwards,
his
nostrils flaring, smelling the heat on her. She began to trot by the
edge of the enclosure, and after a moment's hesitation, he followed.
Diana gave him slack, letting the two get close, and ran in pace, at a
distance, watchful.
Finally, it happened. Rising his forelegs, Pegasus mounted the
willing mare, with a fluid lunge that made the crowded hands hold
their breath with anticipation.
He thrust once, twice. At his third thrust the mare was roughly
driven to her fore-knees with a neigh of pain and fear.
Cursing between gritted teeth, Diana pulled, tugging the stallion off
the downed mare.
Pegasus reared violently, his voice loud with anger and frustration.
"Sedate him!" The elder's voice boomed with power belying his size. "NOW!"
"Is the mare-?"
"You were fast enough. She'll recover."
"And him?"
"The dosage needed to put him under was thrice larger than expected."
Several grooms attended the sleeping stallion, their monitoring
devices surprisingly modern for their context. "Once we're sure he is
stable and suffering no side effects, we can proceed with the manual-"
He paused at evident discomfort. "You need not be present if you-"
"No. I have to see it through."
"Are you sure?"
Diana nodded. "I got him here. He's my responsibility now. I want
to... do it myself."
Lying on his side, Pegasus stirred just slightly as she entered the
stall. Her lasso still held him, but it was now secured to massive
security structures deeply anchored into the bedrock below. She
placed her hand gently on his flank, feeling his ribcage expand with
each breath.
She had spent time at the stables in Themyscira when younger,
learning. She knew what had to be done.
She stroked gently, yet insistently, caressing and encouraging,
bringing him closer to full hardness, the massive member growing
longer than her forearm.
The elder whispered advice, his eyes alternating towards the
monitoring devices. The collection paraphernalia had been readied.
After a while, he shook his head.
"The drug is inhibiting his functions too much. We need to get him
closer to wakefulness, but it may be too dangerous. He could-"
"Go ahead," Diana said, continuing her ministrations.
The winged stallion squirmed and tossed, his breathing faster and
faster, as Diana worked on him with increased fervor. The equine
erection was almost fully rigid, and glistened with the lubrication.
Ignoring the elder's misgivings, she drew much closer, pressing tight
against him, using her body to provide more stimulation, rubbing
against his male-hood with her torso, while whispering to him, egging
him on.
Roused even further by the stimulation, Pegasus snorted and shook, his
legs trying to kick, to find purchase and stand. The elder cried a
warning, but Diana held them in position, using her strength to keep
the stallion stable, trying to reassure him with her touch, her voice,
even as she pushed him to further excitement.
The elder spoke his encouragement, the anticipation his voice rising,
as did the tension in the stallion's body.
Pegasus neighed loudly, a powerful shudder running through his
restrained frame, and Diana looked up, catching his eye.
Artemis had gifted her with the eye for the hunt, but also communion
with the beasts, the enhanced empathy that allowed her to bond with
the creatures men called animals, to share and sense their feelings
and intentions. She suddenly was aware of what was happening as if
being a detached observer. She saw Pegasus bound, held against his
will, drugged into submission, while being physically stimulated,
forced, into sexual arousal, driven mechanically towards
culmination. Diana blinked, unsettled, and for an instant, she was
again under the Manticore, held still, helpless under her ravisher's
hateful weight and the maddening numbness born of his sting, while he
used her, entered her, forced her body to obey the instinctive
responses her mind renounced, inflaming her flesh with unwanted
excitement that rushed her toward orgasm.
"No," she cried, softly, and drew away. In response to her will, the
golden lasso's coils loosened, falling away from the anchor
structures.
With a loud neigh, Pegasus sprang to his feet, free. He kicked, and
the structure behind him shattered. Amidst the cries and curses of
the small men, he jumped straight up, crashing through the roof,
the loose lasso hanging from his neck. His wings spread wide and beat
with such power that all near were flattened to the ground by the
resulting turbulence, except for the Amazon Princess who stood
straight, her eyes full of relief while following the diminishing
speck of silver and gold in the sky.
The elder staggered to his feet. "Why? Why did you-?"
"He is too proud, too... pure. To force him like that..." She
clenched her fists. "It was wrong. I couldn't do that to him. Not
like that. It would have been a sin."
"Princess, all our work, generations of effort-!"
"The end does not justify the means."
"Then all is lost. We have failed-"
"There is always a way. A right, proper way."
Without further explanation, Diana took to the air.
Diana finally found him, near the spring where she had first him. He
reared and whinnied, his whole body screaming his outrage.
"You have every right to be angry." She spoke softly, remaining at a
distance, her empty hands spread apart in a gesture of appeasement. "I
wronged you. Wronged you as I would not wish to be wronged. I-I can
only say that I'm sorry. I am truly sorry."
Pegasus stared at her, nostrils flaring.
"I was fixated on achieving what was expected of me, on succeeding at
the task I was given, and... almost did to you what an enemy did to
me." She grimaced. "I almost became the same as what I had faced and
hated."
She lowered her eyes, and went down to one knee.
"Please accept my apologies. Please forgive me."
She remained still, her eyes on the ground, while Pegasus snorted and paced.
"Please forgive me," she repeated. Contrite, she did not look up,
even as his hoofs struck sparks off the rocky ground barely a step
away from her.
After a while, Pegasus stopped pacing, standing close to the kneeling
amazon. He lowered his head and gave hers a nudge.
Diana looked up at the stallion. To her relief, the anger was gone
from his eyes.
He snorted softly and nudged her head again, gently, before stepping
back a pace.
Slowly, Diana stood up. Pegasus drew closer and brushed the side of
his head against hers. She closed her eyes, and leaned against him,
her cheek against his. They stood like that for an extended while, as
Diana basked in the warm contact, in the noble creature's forgiveness,
in his generous lack of resentment.
"Thank you," she whispered.
With careful slowness, she placed one hand on his strong neck, running
her fingertips over its warm, soft surface, feeling the powerful
muscles beneath, the beat of his flowing life. She stepped slightly
to a side, still stroking him softly, and his head followed her.
"I wish I could... make amends."
His head nuzzled against her cheek again, and then moved down,
brushing her neck and shoulder, and then her upper chest. His
nostrils flared against her skin, and his nose nudged the small pouch
now holding the amulet fragments over the start of her cleavage,
pending from her neck with a strong leather strap. Diana stepped
back nervously, her face reddening, while two points of growing
stiffness began to push against the gold-plated cups of her bustier.
"Please." She spoke softly, her face growing even warmer as her
fingers slid over his neck towards the loose noose of her lasso around
it. "Allow me to finish releasing you."
She touched the golden rope and there was a sudden exponential jump in
her perception of his emotional and physical state. She almost
stumbled backwards, shaken at the intensity of his feelings, the
strength of his longings and frustration.
"By Aphrodite... You... You really-?" She nervously brushed her
hair aside, with one hand still resting on him. "Of course, you have
never... because of your strength... you poor thing."
The stallion's large eyes sparkled at her, eloquently.
"But if I-?"
Uneasy, she looked away, and became even more flustered with her
glancing view of his hindquarters.
"Oh, Gods. Could that-?"
His nose again nuzzled at her shoulder, and she nearly trembled with
uncertainty, perhaps even fear. She felt his nervous energy, his
barely restrained urgency, through both the physical and empathic
contact, and became aware again of the parallels and contrasts to her
past experience with the Manticore. She had been wronged, but used
the very act of her abuse to achieve victory, to overcome her
predicament and prevail over her foe. In turn, she had almost wronged
this noble, beautiful creature, with an equally improper imposition,
but perhaps the very acts she had almost forced upon him could become
the way to redeem her offense.
"But I did ask... how to make amends." She stroked his side, feeling
his ribcage expand and contract with his breathing. "To deserve...
your forgiveness."
She moved along his flank, her hands and body brushing against his
powerful frame as she leaned lower.
"Aphrodite help me," she muttered. With his now obvious willingness
the task seemed much more daunting than before.
She bit her lower lip, nervous, but determined.
"It's the least I should do."
Eliopoulus, the headsman, ran as fast as his old legs allowed,
summoned from his quarters by the multitude of excited voices. He
reached the clearing out of breath, and leaned on younger shoulders,
to stare in surprise.
Pegasus spread his wings and reared, his voice loud and clear. He
settled down and lowered his head, nuzzling against the shoulder of
the disheveled Amazon Princess. Her long black hair was wild and caked with
drying fluids, much like
those covering her glistening skin and frayed clothes. Her golden
lasso was clasped at her hip, and the stallion stood by her side,
unbound, yet completely at ease.
She shifted her weight unsteadily from foot to foot, apparently on the
verge of exhaustion, yet she smiled, stroking the stallion's silver
mane.
"You can bring one of the mares to him now."
Diana whispered softly in the stallion's ear, and stepped aside, her
steps slow and careful.
Confidently, Pegasus strode towards the mare, a lovely, vibrant
creature of dappled coat and shiny eyes.
"Gently, dear," Diana called out, when he mounted the mare. "You know how."
The grooms stood ready, prepared for the worst, but no intervention
became necessary. Soon, all started clapping softly, among subdued
laughter and cheers, while wary of spoiling the stallion's mood.
"He knows his strength now," Eliopoulus said, amazed. "He can
measure himself, and what his mate can take."
Diana nodded, smiling.
"Bring him another," she said, when Pegasus finished. "And ready
several more. He will go on for all day."
"All day?"
"Oh, yes. He is truly tireless."
"The project is saved, gods be praised!"
"Praised indeed." She smiled. She had slept for several hours, and
had just bathed and changed into clean robes provided by her hosts,
before joining the headsman at his table for a repast of assorted
fruits and dates.
"How can we thank you, Princess?"
"There's no need for that. It was my pleasure, to help you, and him."
"We must wait for confirmation, but if just one out of each ten foals
successfully, it will be enough." Eliopoulus was too excited to touch
his food, while Diana just picked at the plates politely. "But most
likely it shall be more than that," he added. "He has godly blood.
Olympian blood. It's almost warranted!"
Diana raised one eyebrow. "Really?"
"Oh, yes. The potency of Olympian bloodlines ensures offspring in
nearly all matings with mortal partners."
"All... matings?"
"Yes, historically-"
"Even involving... different species?"
"Oh, that happened often in the old days, but it's not a concern here.
While Pegasus was sired on a woman, he is mostly equine
anatomically."
"Of course he is."
"So the mares are perfectly compatible. All our studies-"
"But if he mated with a different kind of female? A human one?"
"A human? That hardly seems possible. Even with the control he now
shows, his size and strength-"
"Yet Lord Poseidon coupled in full equine shape with his dam."
"But Medusa was not an ordinary human. She was a Gorgon."
"But not immortal, and was changed into monstrous shape only
afterwards, precisely because of what happened-"
"Still, she may have been far stronger and more resilient-"
"As I am."
"Yes, exactly. It would need someone with physical attributes as
enhanced as yours to even complete such a coitus. Even discounting
size, he's so much stronger than even a normal Earthly horse that-"
"So is it possible that he could actually... impregnate someone like me?"
The elder headsman frowned. "Possible? Yes, it is. Particularly
here. In modern Earth, the underlying physical laws may impede such
miscegenation, even with his godly blood, but in realms such as this,
it's far more likely. The magical sub-strata here prove particularly
favorable, that's why the project was located-"
"I see. And how about other magical creatures?"
"Other-?"
"Like a manticore. Could such a being-?"
"Nonsense! Pegasus and a manticore? I doubt highly that-"
"I meant a manticore and... someone like me. In a similar magical realm."
"Ah, an interesting scenario." He held his chin, deep in thought.
"It would depend on various factors. Most such beings were
magically-spawned hybrids, so even back on old Earth, with the
stronger magical fields of the time, most likely they'd be sterile.
But in differently patterned realities like those accessible via
Tartarus, it might be quite possible, if involving someone capable of
enduring the physical rigors of such an act and bearing the results."
"Someone like me." Diana stood, and walked towards the curtained
window. "So the danger exists."
"Danger? Well, yes, if you'd call it like that."
"And the possible offspring... would they... take after the father or
the mother?"
"Another interesting conjecture. When in centuries past, Olympians in
bestial shapes coupled with mortals, the results were most often
human, since such was their basic essence, despite the shapes worn.
But when mortals bred with magical creatures, as did Phasiphae, wife
of Minos, the result-"
Diana frowned. "The Minotaur."
"Yes, reportedly it bore combined animal and human features. Similar
origins are speculated for Kentaurides. Some vague records even speak
about the famous Atalan-"
"How soon after the act could one know, about such... conception."
"Well, the seed of Pegasus, or any other being of Olympian-blood,
could conceivably survive and remain potent for several weeks."
"So the time of the month would be irrelevant."
"Yes." The headsman rose from his seat, and stared at the beautiful
Amazon standing over twice his size. He cleared his throat before
speaking again: "If my lady would remain with us for a pair of
weeks, I'd be honored to do the necessary... tests."
Diana turned, with a one-sided smile. The headsman was no fool. "My
quest must continue. I must still locate the amulet fragment in this
realm." She shrugged. "At every step, there are risks. I must face
them all the same."
The headsman nodded. "You are an avatar of the Olympians, Princess.
Your choices are your own, and your trials are beyond what one like me
would ever bear, much less judge. You honored us with your help, and
will always have our gratitude." He bowed and pressed his head
against her hands. "I cannot speak of this... manticore. But Pegasus
is a demigod, of Olympian blood, Princess. Some things may be a
blessing."
Diana did not reply.
She heard the neigh and awoke. By the bed improvised to accommodate
her height, were her clothes, mended and cleaned, which she took with
her.
Heavy clouds covered the erratic sun in their slow drift, creating a
semblance of night, letting only a faint light pass, yet Pegasus shone
like bright silver among the shadows.
Diana felt her heart jump at his pristine beauty, but she placed her
hands on her hips and spoke sternly.
"You may have really gotten me in trouble, you know?"
With the vast wings folded by his side, Pegasus cantered forward,
towards her. She tensed at his proximity, her body reacting to his
very physical presence, to his scent, his aura of power, grace, and
virility; that brought intense echoes of what had come before.
She had stroked his length, gently, but firmly, and the spongy member
grew harder and harder in her hands, under her tongue and lips, much
faster than the previous time, whose memory she now sought to dispel.
The large, pendulous scrotum was a darker silver, and she kissed and
licked it tenderly at first, sucking playfully at the testicles within
before releasing them, enjoying his strong taste and smell. She then
licked up the length of his shaft, ending with her lips on its flaring
end, kissing its rim before opening her mouth as wide as she could.
She almost choked instantly. He sought to thrust, powerfully, into her
mouth, but she managed to bid him to stay still with her touch, her
hands guiding his motions, instructing him to control his energy, his
restless anticipation, and let her do the work.
It took mere seconds for him to explode, filling her mouth and
spilling all about her, in sprays that bathed her face and chest, like
the fountains and springs classically associated to his name. With
eyes closed, she swallowed, choked and spit, overwhelmed by the shower
of warm, fluid essence of life, that coated her face and body.
His nose again nuzzled her cheek.
Diana breathed deeply, closing her eyes. "If the headsman is right,
even if I succeed at this quest, I may... have to give some very...
awkward explanations."
He snorted and his muzzle moved down her neck.
"Gods, you spent hours mounting dozens of fillies! Haven't you had enough?"
It had not been enough. He remained hard, perhaps even more than
before, and his restless need, was unabated.
She gasped and breathed heavily, her hands pushing on his powerful
hindlegs to moving back and from under him, feeling all of his
built-up tension, his powerful vitality, through the contact with his
warm skin, sharing his nervous energy, his restlessness as if it were
his own.
But surely she could not.
She was a Princess, and Champion of her people. Pegasus, marvelous
and unique as he was in his winged splendor, in his almost
breath-taking grace and power, was a horse. Even the Manticore had
been clearly a sentient creature, despite his grotesqueness, and
ultimate base nature. While clearly above any mundane horse in every
respect, could Pegasus be considered a sentient as well? Was his
Olympian heritage manifested only in his physical powers and equine
beauty?
She could only know for certain the intensity of his feelings, of his
need, for her, of her; so powerful and clear and overwhelming,
rushing through her mind and body alike, so intense that she could not
keep from being swept along in its careening escalation, in its demand
for release.
And what about her own feelings? Even if she could ignore her
empathic response, her echoing of his overwhelming urges, how did she
truly feel towards such an outrageous choice?
She got nervously to her feet, shaking her head and wiping her face.
While Pegasus was by blood a demigod, a scion of Poseidon himself, she
had put her people in deadly danger by refusing the advances of the
highest among the Olympians. How could she take such an opposite
choice now? Just because she felt she owed compensation, just
because, unlike before, it now felt... right.
His nose brushed her hair aside with a quick nudge, exposing her upper
chest. His warm breath on the sensitive skin above the swell of her
breasts gave her goosebumps.
He snorted softly, and then drew back slightly. His mouth opened,
exposing his perfect teeth.
She held her breath, nervous. He had not done that before. But
without hesitation she arched her back, pushing her chest forward.
Two points of growing stiffness began to push against the gold-plated
cups of her bustier.
She backed to the face of a sloping cliff, loosening the lacing at her back.
She wondered, nervously, if he would bite at her chest through her
top, or would his teeth just fasten on its fabric, to tug it off, as
prelude to more. How rough would it be to feel his teeth there, on
her teats?
Her nipples ached in tense expectation.
Stepping off her clothes, she tossed her soaked hair to a side, and
turned, leaning forward at the waist to place her hands firmly against
a rocky ledge. She spread her long legs wide, and set her booted feet
flat, willing them steady against the hard ground. She would need to
be well anchored.
For a moment, the uncertainty returned, approaching panic, and she
nearly balked at that last moment.
"Gently, please," she muttered.
Gleaming pearly white despite the darkness of night, Pegasusfs teeth
flashed forward.
Diana gasped.
Pegasus drew back, tugging softly at the small pouch now held between his teeth.
Diana blinked repeatedly in surprise.
"I-Is that-?" She stepped forward, following the beckoning of his
pull on the pouch, her face flushed with frustrated anticipation.
"What are you... trying to tell me?"
Pegasus tugged again at the pouch containing the two amulet fragments,
and scrapped at the ground with one hoof.
Trusting him, Diana untied the securing strap, letting the pouch be
held by his teeth alone.
Pegasus then gestured with his whole head, gestured up.
Diana frowned, and then nodded.
He leaned and released the pouch into her hand. Then he bent his
forelegs and knelt before her.
"You want me to... mount you?"
Ultimately, her resolve held, as did her balance, and the strength in
her legs, as unable to wait any longer, Pegasus mounted Diana.
Diana sat astride the stallionfs powerful back, leaning forward to hold
onto his strong neck, her knees bent high because of his wings, thighs
pressed firmly against his sides. She gripped the silken silver of his
mane, the pouch held as well in her right hand, its strap wrapped
several times around it.
Pegasus flew fast, rushing through thickenings clouds, while she felt
the amulet's call grow in power every second.
She was surprised at the stallion's understanding and initiative.
Could he sense the amulet's spell, its call to be whole? What else
did he know that she had not realized?
The clouds about them grew denser and darker, and suddenly they were
shaken roughly, almost dislodging Diana and throwing her off her back,
caught in furious turbulence.
Pegasus neighed, and beat his wings faster and faster.
Could he be so much more intelligent than she had believed? How did
that change her feelings about what they had shared? Should they
change at all?
A fierce storm had already formed around them, and lightning flashed
between pitch-black patches. Diana closed her eyes against stinging
wind gusts, and gripped his mane more securely, pressing her head to
his neck, her trailing hair actually pulling painfully on her head.
Resolutely, Pegasus dove right at the swirling maelstrom before him, a
dark pit of ominous depth, while Diana strained to hold on, to endure
the ride.
The winged horse rode her, rode her hard and fast.
She strained under him, under his great weight and size, and even
greater power, gasping, grunting and crying out in pain, and shock,
and astonishment.
His forelegs had landed on the sloping granite surface before and
above her, and where his diamond-like hoofs struck, water gushed
forth, twin newborn springs foreshadowing the goal to which the
stallion and his mate raced with wild urgency.
After she helped guide him, he had rushed into her in a single fluid
stroke, diving through her wetness despite her tightness and his size.
Driving all the way into her depths, the softer tissue of his flaring
head struck with staccato intensity against the sensitive spot just
below her cervix, making her gasp, and moan and whimper. She was
amazed by how big and powerful he felt over her, and inside her: too
big to take completely no matter how much she wished she could. She
knew not how much of him she managed to take, but even the partial
penetration hurt her as she had never been hurt there before, not by
the manticore, not even by Darkseid himself. Yet she managed,
enduring the dramatic impalement of the stallion's enormous phallus,
holding her stance under him despite the power of thrusts and his
great mass, while his no less inhuman mass filled her to capacity,
filling her whole body with more than just pain.
The darkness around them was broken only by the furious barrages of
lightning that barely missed them, followed by deafening thunder.
Gravity had lost meaning as wind gusts battered them from all
directions and monstrous vortexes grasped at them hungrily. The only
direction amidst the chaos remained the call of the amulet, an
insubstantial tug beckoning faintly under the savage fury of the
storm. Only Pegasus could have kept their course true. She knew it
now. She had to be taken this way by him.
She had to be taken this way by him. She knew it now.
She could have never forgiven herself otherwise.
She cried, yelled and screamed, louder and louder, calling his name,
calling on her gods, her patron goddesses, and calling out her
pleasure, her rising ecstasy.
They had raced before, and she had laughed and loved the challenge of
striving to match him, to beat him, but that joy paled now before that
of this different kind of match. Despite his recent ejaculation, he
still beat her in the race to culmination, arriving before her to the
peak of pleasure, but his sudden eruption deep within her pushed her
there instantly, and her arms and legs almost faltered with the power
of her orgasm. She shook with delight as he filled her with mighty
bursts of so much hot seed that it flushed down her long, trembling
legs, cascading to the ground. But her strength did not falter there,
nor when her rush towards a second climax mere moments later proved
even more intense.
Diana gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, squeezing her legs
about Pegasus with all her power, while the raging chaos around her
sought to dismount her. Suddenly a surge of hail struck them with the
power of a giant's fist, and her legs lost purchase, leaving her
trailing after Pegasus by her grip of his mane, shaken about like a
ragdoll. Realizing the precariousness of her situation, Diana decided
to risk everything and let go of his mane with one hand.
With a loud series of cracks, the whole rock formation against which
Diana leant, broke apart, unable to endure further the repeated
impacts of the stallion's thrusting.
Diana cried out in anger and frustration. But even as they both
tumbled forward off-balance amidst the rubble, Diana twisted and
turned, and her golden lasso snapped through the air. With a grunt of
urgent need, Diana looped it about Pegasus and her, pulling both
together, face-up against his abdomen. Tugging on the lariat's ends
with each hand, she slid along his underbelly, spreading her legs
apart, to impale herself again on his still rigid member, with a cry
of both pain and relief.
The golden lasso flashed like golden lightning in the storm,
tightening instantly around Pegasus. Diana looped it around her
wrist, and then hooked a leg around a taut length, drawing herself
back astride the stallion's back. Driven by her will, the lasso
stretched and encircled both of them, binding them securely to each
other against the rage of the storm.
Pegasus spread his wing and swooped through the clouds, neighing
loudly, while under him, Diana rocked back and forth, her legs
squeezing against him with all her power just as her sex did the same
to his phallus. She felt envious of the mares who could take all of
him, as she wished she could take him, being hilted all the way to his
scrotum.
But she strove to do her best, driving herself harder and harder
against his loins, gasping and moaning with effort and pleasure. Much
as she had enjoyed the sensation of being physically overpowered by
his strength while being mounted from behind, the added intimacy of
being able to embrace him like this, with arms and legs, made her feel
even closer to him, more deeply joined to him in the coupling, bonded
into one by flesh and passion and the magic lasso while they rocketed
through the endless sky.
The winds were razor-sharp knives that lacerated her skin with
murderous cruelty, and she dared not open her eyes. She embraced
Pegasus with desperate strength, strength that would have crushed a
lesser being, while the rage of the storm seized at them with
murderous intent, dragging them into an abyss of nothingness.
Her voice caught in her voice as they climaxed together, so hard she
almost lost consciousness, and there was nothing in the vast universe
but the two of them, and the single instant of exquisite delight they
shared, joined as one.
Suddenly there was silence, and stillness. Diana remained still,
frowning with disbelief, wondering if they had both died, rent apart
by wind and rain and lightning, and been transported to yet another
level of existence. Then she opened her eyes.
Pegasus held his wings still, but they still floated effortlessly,
centered in a pocket of perfect calm. Around them the storm raged
unabated, spanning all that could be seen in any direction, but unable
to touch the sphere of peace at its core.
Weakly, Diana smiled, letting her head fall back, her long wet hair
flowing in the steady wind as they flew, still joined by lasso and
flesh.
"Oh, gods... You truly are a stallion, Pegasus. My stallion."
She squirmed gently, slowly sliding up his length a few wet inches.
He remained hard, and she had to use that.
"Now, you must start again. But this time, slowly. And gently. Very
gently... Oh, I loved how you rode me, so hard, and wild, and..."
She sighed, stroking his flank tenderly. "Aphrodite help me, being
ridden like that long enough may have actually tamed even this filly...
But you need to go easier on others, dear. Much, much easier. Not
everyone can take you as I did. Nor me as you did, either... But you
don't need to. You don't need to rush. You can go slow, be gentle...
Be careful... Be... Yes, oh, yes, like that..."
She felt the pulsing from inside the pouch, her hand aching from the
strength with which she had gripped it. Pegasus neighed, and
following his gaze, Diana saw the gleaming fragment floating in the
air a few feet before them.
She loosened the lasso and stretched forward, taking the amulet piece.
It began to glow brighter, along with the ones inside the pouch when
Diana placed it with them.
She floated off the stallion's back, keeping a hand on his neck,
stroking him tenderly. "Thank you, Pegasus. For this. For the ride.
For everything."
He flapped his wings, rearing before her, and neighed, loud and clear.
She smiled. "You can return to your fillies now, you stallion.
Remember to be gentle with them. Be careful. Hold back."
He would have to cross the storm again , and she worried for him, for
a moment. But she knew his strength, and smiled.
"But we must race again sometime. Maybe the winner gets to... ride
the loser. Or the other way around. And you won't need to hold
back."
Pegasus shook his head, his silver mane flashing like a wave, and then
golden light wrapped around Diana until she was gone.
EPILOGUE
Hermes stood up, metal helmet in hand, and bowed elaborately towards Poseidon.
"Such was my humble homage to my dear uncle: A most worthy offering
to his bloodline."
Poseidon's beard rippled like sea foam as he smiled. "It was an...
interesting liaison you arranged, Messenger. I am certainly pleased."
Aphrodite's eyes sparkled. "As was our dear Amazon, as well. Many
times, too."
"It was... surprising, at first," Hera said, re-arranging the mantle
over her arm, as she shifted on her seat, uncrossing her legs. "But
the Amazon certainly got... into it, with true enthusiasm."
"Oh, she really got into it. And it into her. So into her! Quite
impressively."
Hera glanced coldly at her husband. "I expect someone did not get his
mind into anyone else this time."
Zeus lifted his hands up in protest. "Will you get off my back? I
swear by Me I did not ride anyone-!"
"Our uncle's mighty scion rode the amazon well enough, though. Almost
made me envious." Aphrodite smiled at Ares. "Of how well others are
doing."
Ares rubbed his chin, frowning. "The amazon is full of surprises."
"Oh, quite full she was, yes."
Artemis stood up, pursing her mouth. "Stop that already! Could you
be any more crude?"
Hermes spread his arms in conciliation. "Sister, I thought you would
be pleased as well. Was it not an exciting chase? A most worthy
contest and match? For both of those you favor?"
The goddess of the hunt and patron of beasts lifted an eyebrow. "It
had its... appeal. It was as much a hunt as a race, yes. And Diana
did not... disappoint."
Aphrodite leaned forward. "You gifted her with Communion With The
Beasts, did you not, Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron? She put good
use to it. Maybe you should, too."
"Maybe you should shut your-"
Athena raised a hand. "Bicker not, sisters. Diana met her challenge
and prevailed."
"Indeed," Hera agreed. "What if she was also... quickened?"
"That remains to be known. Even if not, the line of Pegasus is now to
ensured to continue, at least through lesser mates." Athena turned to
Hermes, allowing a hint of smile on her face. "Quite crafty,
Messenger, all you did at once."
He bowed slightly at the compliment. "Multi-tasking is the new way of
things, as you know."
"Indeed." Athena's grey eyes stared deep, while Hermes sat back,
smiling, his winged helmet flashing silver.