A Heart with Heart

by BlackWater

7 - Dreams as Reality

Prince Tempo awoke drearily. His body felt refreshed and yet...heavy. He had slept longer than usual and his legs were sore for some reason. None of it could compare to the dream he just had though. And the dream could not compare with the reality he had lived before it. The incident with Oscura's trap and the rock world in space had been no dream - though it was surreal all the same. It was a chapter in his life he felt better about forgetting and only his curiosity about the time theory made him want to think about it at all. He checked the time and did some quick recollections and estimations.

Ten minutes. That's how long they had been away from the current world. He knew they spent more than that trapped on the rock, but he didn't know exactly how long they had been there. As Gleaming Shield mentioned, time was vague there. It felt odd and Tempo didn't want to relive it. Curiosity relieved, he decided firmly to forget it and move on. Besides, other things were of more importance right that instant...

He ruffled the sheets that he was still under to find the mare that was curled up on the opposite side of the bed. He was going to have to find some way to keep her on his own side. She had too much of a habit of rolling off to the other end. The bed was just too ridiculously huge. And it was supposed to be a "marital" bed too. That was only true if "marital" meant that each pony was required to stake out a tent on opposite sides of the globe. His wife's blue mane was just visible in the cold distance as an indication that she had settled the far-away lands.

He hadn't, of course, realized that his hooves were cold until he approached the mare and tried to embrace her. How they had gotten cold under the sheets was beyond him but they were cold all the same. He could hear her mumble and stir in her sleep and was sure that she said something to the effect of "dumb Tempo." He took it as a statement of affection rather than whatever reality had in store for him. He was married. He could dream.

Gleaming Shield did, in fact, awake. She had slept as much as he had and was indeed just as sore as he felt. Her eyes opened lazily but she made no effort to turn or speak.

"Want to know what time it is?" the pink stallion asked softly.

The mare mumbled something that he couldn't catch. "What was that?" he had to ask politely.

"I don't care," she muttered louder than before.

"Somepony's being a grouchy riser," Tempo couldn't help but kid as he stretched his wings over to the white unicorn. The feathers waved back and forth across her sides in tiny motions and the mare let out an "eep" instantly. The sheets flew up in the prince's face as Gleaming Shield shot out from under them. She was an easy pony to get out of bed since she was so ticklish. Sometimes it was hard to keep her in bed when they were both asleep and his wings would touch her involuntarily. It was one of the many unexpected things that came about in the relationship between the winged and non-winged ponies.

"Tempo!" she complained back at the pile of sheets she had left. It was after a few tosses of the soft bedding that the alicorn's head popped up.

"What?" he cooed innocently but flinched and closed his eyes when his wife readied some sort of attack with her horn's magic...

It never came and he opened his eyes again when he heard a deep breath. Only, he was too late to prepare for the incoming hooves. Gleaming Shield launched herself back into the bed and collided with her husband - an act that sent the two tumbling right off the other side and onto the floor. Tangled in the roughly mistreated sheets, they both laughed.

"We going anywhere?" the pink one finally asked in the darkness beneath the heavy blankets.

"If this is about the vacation then forget it," the white one responded. "We'll just get into some unspeakable trouble again."

"Like we did yesterday in the hallway?" he grinned even though his spouse couldn't see him. He didn't want to bring up their little space trip but he couldn't quite ignore such a recent example either.

"Pfft. I think I'm already in enough trouble being married to you," she countered.

Tempo didn't say anything at first. He didn't have to, but he eventually said it anyways. "I don't care what we get into...because I know we can get through it together."

Gleaming Shield could tell that he was being serious for a moment and, as an answer, hugged him within the dark void under the sheets. He returned it and held it until his stomach growled. "Hungry?" the unicorn asked the obvious.

"And it's getting hard to breathe under here, too."

"Tempo?"

"Yes, beautiful?"

"You can't see me right now."

"You're still the same, right? Unless you just got hit by an ugly stick."

A jab to his ribs was what he expected and exactly what he got.

"Can we have somepony make us breakfast and just eat it in here?" Gleaming Shield returned to the subject at hoof.

Tempo thought it over for only a second before agreeing to the idea. "I'll make it happen," he confirmed as a thought struck him. We finally get some time off...

There's no chance that catastrophe can strike in the royal bedroom, right?

Author's Note:

And thus it was in the seventeenth year of the reign of Prince Tempo that a decree was carried throughout the Crystal Empire: that every male foal two yea- are you still reading? Well thank you but you should take a break or something. You deserve it.

This fimfic is the result of much much work. I intended it to be more of a sappy one-shot and then it turned into this drawn-out semi-serious affair. Goodness gracious me. Well, I hope you enjoyed it!

Comments

[The Princess Rarity]

D'awww, loved this!

[BlackWater]

2362169
Thank you very much. In my experience, the genderbent stories do tend to get less attention. Perhaps because their "niche"? I've been hearing a lot about Once Upon a Time but haven't watched it myself yet. Perhaps I should...

[Barbara]

Yes! I've been looking for a story like this!

[NotAllThere]

Very enjoyable read. The characters felt a little dry in their characterization at times, but overall this was quite good.

Doesn't look like it's gotten as much attention as it should, though.

[wolfstorm56]

Really like this. It might seem weird but SA and Cadence are my favorite characters to see genderbent, precisely because of how their gender reversal affects their dynamic and I think you really did a good job showing that here. My one complaint might be that the chapters seemed to go by too fast or that they weren't long enough.

[kushi02]

Great story!

[Ice Star]

This was very cute. It's nice to see the royal couple functioning as a happy marriage instead of the usual bad ideas with them often littering this site.

[DangerDean]

Oscura?
That name sounds familiar...