"I...I don't know what you are getting at, Red." Xithicide stammered weakly. But much like everything else in the grand scheme of things, it was a meaningless effort. Red Ink knew that the Zebra was being a dirty little liar, but he would humor his friend for now. It was always fun to coax their need out anyway. It was almost like a fun little game that he would play with his soon-to-be clients.

"Oh, come now. You surely remember our first night together, don't you?" Red Ink asked, his voice dripping with the tone of an experienced harlot. His eyelids half closed, he approached Xithicide and began to caress the Zebra's fur that covered his body, specifically the chest, which was particularly fluffy and soft. From this close of a distance, he could see the beads of sweat rolling down his friend's face, even as he tried to keep cool and collected. This was good to see, it was a sign that he was going to crack like an egg sooner or later. He wouldn't lie, the shopkeeper wasn't that bad to look at, with such soft fur that felt so soothing to the touch that Red Ink felt tinges of sorrow when he needed to pull away. From this close, he could smell the mysterious aromas of countless concoctions, which were blessed with a strangely pleasant strength to them. It was just such a shame he was having to resort to this measure to save Black Flag. But it was worth it if it meant getting him away from that bastard. "How you growled and moaned my name beneath the full moon like the powerful choir of an orchestra. Don't you ever wish to feel my touch, to feel release like that once again?"

"Well, maybe a little bit..." Xithicide muttered under his breath; refusing to make eye contact with the Pegasus. If he wasn't doing this strictly for alternative motives, Red Ink might have found the Zebra's quite pitiful attempts at resilience cute. He could try as much as he liked, but there wasn't a pony alive that didn't have a breaking point. No matter how tough they might have acted, ponies would crumble like paper with enough pressure. It didn't even have to be the ever-enticing temptations of lust that caused them to cave, either.

"So, what do you say? How about I give you a little fun, in exchange for that armor?" A small smirk curled up Red's lips as he observed Xithicide's body language with a keen eye. The Zebra was biting his lower lip nervously, and as such he looked like a young foal that was trying to make a hard decision. How very precious that was. To help the Zebra make his choice, Red Ink began to place the briefest touches of his soft lips against Xithicide's neck. They weren't very firm kisses, just quick brushes that really cemented just what Xithicide would be missing if he passed up this deal. And at long last, Red Ink's seductive charms broke through the alchemist's last shreds of willpower like a hammer through a pane of blood-stained glass.
"Gah, alright..." Xithicide mumbled in defeat. His voice was carrying about as much strength to it as a piece of sopping wet balsa wood. He was already trembling quite violently, even though Red Ink hadn't done so much as give small appetizers before the main course. The poor Zebra must have been really pent up if he was needing sexual release this desperately. Red Ink was almost expecting his new client to be on his knees begging for his touch. Unfortunately, things didn't escalate to that point. Oh well. That was a little disappointing.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," Red Ink said with a small smile curling up his lips. He took a glance downward out of sheer curiosity to how much of an effect he was having on the Zebra, and he was pleased to see that his friend was already half-erect; his jet-black cock swaying back and forth rhythmically between his smooth legs like an enticing lure that was beckoning a wild animal to be drawn closer to it.
"If we're going to go through with this, I'm going to need to get in a more comfortable position," Xithicide said as he briskly trotted across the store and grabbed a thick wooden chair, before bringing it back to the waiting stallion and sitting down. He slowly spread his hind legs, giving Red Ink a very nice view of his genitals; the base of his cock gently resting on his plump balls.
"My oh my," Red Ink said, his voice a borderline purr, as he got down between the Zebra's legs. "I see your cock is just as impressive as ever, handsome. It's so long..." He reached up with a hoof and slowly stroked the shaft, eliciting a low, pleased sigh from his client. "and so thick." A smile curled up his lips as his gaze slowly made its way upwards and saw that the Zebra was already giving up any attempts to stay in control of the situation and was just letting the pleasure consume him. His shoulders slumped, and his head was resting against the back of the chair; his stringy silver mane falling against it. This was good; Red Ink did not like it when clients would try and use demeaning phrases, names, or even violence to try and treat him like a common whore. Several of his customers learned this little lesson the hard way. It was just better for the both of them to just let the Pegasus take control of the situation.

After a few more strokes with his hoof, Red Ink decided that it would be best for him to just cut to the chase. This wasn't supposed to be a long stay; he needed to get moving before Black Flag and Shattering Steel's trail went completely cold. Well, at least he still had the advantage of a bird's eye view, he couldn't even imagine how hard tracking the two down would be if he was forced to travel on the ground. He suddenly remembered that there was still a job to complete, and he should really stop it with the inner monologs. It was gonna start to look kinda weird like he was zoning out or something. He slowly wrapped his lips around the head of Xithicide's cock; his wet tongue just barely grazing the slit and tasting the familiar saltiness of the shopkeeper's precum.

As he began to truly engulf Xithicide's cock, Red started to hear soft groans and gasps from up above; soft as the gentle music of a flute being played for a concert hall. They were truly beautiful sounds, and quite cute at that. When he glanced upwards once again out of sheer curiosity, Red Ink could have sworn he felt his heart melt away into a puddle. The Zebra's emerald eyes were glazed over and vacant with lust; a strand of drool visible in the corner of Xithicide's mouth, which was forming a blissful and completely mindless smile. There clearly wasn't anything even close to resembling coherent thought running through his client's head at the moment, and there was something oddly charming about that.
When he finally managed to fit the entirety of Xithicide's shaft into his mouth, which caused the smooth head to caress the back of his throat, his mind began to wonder a little. What would Black Flag have said if he saw Red pleasing a stallion in such a perverse manner? Whenever he needed to go and please a client while Black Flag was around, Red Ink would usually find some excuse to use so that the unicorn wouldn't find out the truth. He took pride in his work, but he didn't want to even think about what would happen if Black Flag found out about it. He could just picture the poor stallion standing there in the doorway to the shop; mouth agape in shock as his brain tried to process what his friend was doing.

The Pegasus's thoughts were interrupted quite abruptly when he felt the Zebra's hoof gently brush through his luscious mane as a low groan left Xithicide's lips. Red Ink had many clients in the past, ranging from common warriors to high-class nobles. But none of them made such sweet groans as Xithicide did. All of the sudden Red could feel the smooth shaft start to flare, signaling a rapidly approaching climax. Actually, saying that it was approaching 'rapidly' would be a bit of an understatement. A more appropriate phrase would probably be something like immediately, because it couldn't have been more than thirty seconds after he felt the cock swell that the Zebra's thick, gooey load started pumping into his mouth. He recalled how frightened and dirty he felt the first time a stallion came in his mouth, but that was a long time ago. He'd grown accustomed to the feeling by now and had learned to just stay calm and swallow the load.

Releasing the now-flaccid cock from his warm mouth, Red Ink stood up with gritted teeth. As he began to move across the room towards that wonderful armor, he could feel an orchestra of popping joints running through his body. Staying almost completely still in that position for half an hour did not exactly feel very pleasant. Xithicide didn't budge, however. He just began to stroke his cock a few more times to get it rock hard once more.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Red Ink said as he saw the Zebra continue to pleasure himself. He had a pretty good idea what the stallion was going to want, and he would normally comply, but he really needed to get a move on to finding Black Flag and kicking Steel's ass.

"You know precisely what I want," Xithicide said with an oh-so cocky and knowing smirk curling up his soft lips. "And if you want that armor, you're going to come. over here like a good little stallion and ride me like a mighty bull. Are we perfectly clear?" Red Ink just quietly nodded and made his way back over to the Zebra without another word. He really should have seen this coming. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle."

Red Ink didn't really care about whether or not Xithicide was gentle. He just wanted to get this over and done with. He straddled the smooth cock and expertly slid down upon it with ease. And as frustrated as he was with the Zebra, he wouldn't deny that this still felt really fucking good. His own cock stiffened; harder and harder until it was at full mast.

"Heh, I just started and you're already getting hard," Xithicide muttered with a light chuckle. The Pegasus let out a light groan, not even trying to hide his pleasure as the other male began to move his muscular hips back and forth. They were pretty slow movements at first, of course, but as the two truly began to get into the motions Xithicide began to move faster and faster. His large balls began to slap against the Pegasus' taint with each motion. The stallion's lush white mane began to thrash around with each motion, and Red Ink was reduced to a moaning, groaning mess.

"You like that, Red Ink? You like my cock buried inside of your tight ass?" Xithicide purred, no longer the meek or nervous stallion that he was only a couple hours ago. As he wrapped his hooves around the Pegasus's torso, Xithicide could feel the diamond-hard abs that the stallion was blessed with. Eventually, much to the Zebra's dismay, he could feel his climax approaching once again.

"Damn it," Red Ink gasped desperately as his own sexual release was beginning to build up to a powerful orgasmic finale. "Fuck me harder, fuck me as hard as you possibly can!" Xithicide was all too happy to oblige, slamming his cock inside of the stallion as hard as he possibly could; akin to a wild animal dominating its mate. And, thanks to the Zebra's efforts, Red Ink's seed erupted from his cock accompanied by a loud scream of delight as the thick, gooey load sprayed all over the hard wooden floor. And as if the Zebra was waiting for that moment, he filled the sex worker's ass with his seed. Thankfully it was a pretty weak load thanks to the previous climax, which saved the stallion some time when he didn't need to clean himself afterwards as he slid off Xithicide's shaft.

The next few minutes were spent wiping up the mess on the floor. This wasn't anything new to the two stallions. They'd gone through this process several times before now, and as such the Zebra had been prepared with several rolls of towels in the back. The entire process was filled with an uncomfortable silence that was only broken by the sound of the towels wiping against the floor until the job was completed and they approached the armor at last.
"So, I thought it would be a good idea to ask this. Where did you find this armor, anyway?" Red Ink inquired as he carefully picked up the armor with his hooves and turned it around; examining the steel for any marks or scratches. Surprisingly, there were no such blotches to be found. In fact, it was polished to a mirror sheen. With how graceful it looked, it must have been used for special ceremonies like a royal wedding instead of combat. The Zebra probably purchased it from a retired guard from Canterlot, or possibly a collector. Though, it was kind of strange; he knew of no pony king or noble that sported the crest of some kind of bird's talon with a thin band or sash clenched in its tight grip, as shown on either side of the torso piece. He would have thought it belonged to a griffon, but it was clearly forged for a Pegasus. As he sat the helmet back down on the table, he took a good look at the rest of the armor. Just like the helmet, it was also in pristine condition. "I must say, you must have done a lot of hard work to get this suit of armor so clean."
"Actually, that's not exactly the case," Xithicide replied as he absentmindedly glanced at the armor, brushing a hoof against its smooth surface. "I know this will probably ward you off from coming within sight of my shop ever again, but I feel like I need to tell you the truth." Red Ink sighed and pulled over the chair Xithicide was using earlier, preparing himself for yet another long exposition dump. The Zebra hadn't even begun his tale and Red was already silently taking guesses what was so evil about this suit of armor. His two main theories were that it either came to life at some specific part of the day and killed ponies or that it was a knockoff of the umpteen million evil rings in fiction that cursed the wearer somehow, probably by never coming off and then rotting their flesh away.

"See, I was looking around for some herbs in the Everfree Forest; about 50 kilometers west of here. I must have started losing my mind from the paranoia of being eaten alive by some awful monster, because I swear I heard a stallion's voice calling me for help. Despite all of my instincts and natural common sense screaming at me to not try and follow the mysterious voice I knew nothing about and was likely going to result in me becoming a snack for a manticore, I felt compelled to find the source of the voice. It just pulled at me, like a magnet! I broke into a gallop, and I must have been heading north for quite a while because I eventually ran out of the forest and wound up at Pale Moon's Lake." That bit of information seemed to get the Pegasus's full attention, if his look of utter shock was anything to go by.
"Oh..." Red Ink muttered lowly as the realization and horror started to sink in. You didn't need to have a raging hard-on for the history and lore of Equestria to know why it was a really bad idea to go anywhere near that forest, but it was an even worse idea to approach that accursed lake. As the stories went, about thirty years ago a small group of ex-soldiers were on the run from Princess Celestia and her guards who, when they ran into the Everfree Forest to lose their pursuers, were cornered at a large clearing centered by a lake. Before the Princess and her guards could close in and capture them, however, the sky suddenly turned a hellish red and the moon eclipsed the sun before loud screaming was heard from the direction of the clearing. When they finally arrived, they found nothing left of their targets. Not a trace. The reason that Celestia wanted them captured was pretty unclear, all that was known was that the leader of the group, a unicorn named Rising Sun, committed some serious crime. From pony to pony the story would vary; theft, murder of a fellow soldier, even an attempt to assassinate the Princess herself. Nopony could seem to decide what it was he did. On one of his visits to Canterlot a few years ago, Red Ink decided to try and ask the Princess about it but she reacted with surprising hostility and told him to never bring it up in her presence again. "You know you were just asking to get ripped to shreds by something, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know alright. Probably wasn't a good idea to be snooping around in the Everfree Forest looking for herbs in the first place," Xithicide replied with a sheepish grin. "But anyway, I doubt that now is the best time to chastise my poor life decisions. Don't want this to go on forever, do you?" Red Ink shook his head. "Thought so. Anyway, I was actually about to turn right around and head straight back the way I came, but my gaze caught the gleam of something being pushed to the shore by the water's tide. And against my better judgment, I decided to take a look and see what it was. And wouldn't you know, it was this suit or armor. The really strange thing was that, despite presumably being at the bottom of a lake for a couple of decades, it was in perfect condition. No rust, no scratches, no dents. Nothing at all! Not wanting to waste such a beautiful piece of smithing, I decided to take it back here and gave it a little enchantment for some added speed. It just looked perfect for such magic, you know?" Red Ink nodded in agreement; it did look just right for speeding through the sky and ramming through opponents.
"So, how do I activate the magic, anyway?" Red Ink asked as he slipped on the helmet, taking note of how it was a perfect fit. He assumed that armor was usually made with standard proportions in mind. As he fasted the torso piece on, another question came to mind. Quite frankly, he was kind of surprised that he hadn't thought of it earlier, considering it was pretty detrimental to his safety. "Also, how fast does the magic allow me to go?"

"To answer your first question, you just tap your hoof against the ground twice, and the same goes for when you want to deactivate the magic. Doesn't matter which one it is. As for the second question, well, I haven't ever clocked the speed this kind of magic allows, but from what I have seen from ponies using the magic in sparring matches and whatnot, you would appear to be just a blur of motion to most other ponies. So, yeah. Pretty bucking fast, if you ask me."
"Thank you," Red Ink said before he slung his saddlebags over his back and grabbed his crossbow, ready to face whatever challenges would obscure his path. He bolted out of the store and out into the midday sunlight. He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. It was time to try this out, and hopefully not careen right into a building or a tree when he did so. He tapped his hind right leg's hoof against the ground twice, took another slow breath to prepare himself, then flapped his wings once. And immediately shot into the air, eliciting a loud scream of horror from his mouth as he did so.

He swerved and twisted through the clouds uncontrollably, the constant speed of his motions actually starting to make him feel ill. He originally thought this would have been a rather thrilling and exciting experience, but no. It was actually quite terrifying and disorienting for the Pegasus, who was used to just flying around at a rather calming altitude and speed. As a last-ditch effort, he pulled up, imitating what he usually did to slow himself, and much to his shock he stopped immediately. Oh sweet Celestia, that was awful. He was going to need a lot more practice if he was going to save his friend.