> A Princess' Steed
>  by AmethystMare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess' Steed

Chapter One

 

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof

 

 

“Concentrate. Relax. There is no rush to be had when it comes to magic.”

Twilight screwed up her face, eyes narrowing. Her horn shot fuchsia sparks as she fought to contain the magic as Celestia stood at a safe distance, her rainbow mane and tail waving gently with the undulating pulse of magic that kept them forever in motion. The ceiling of the room rose in a dome above them, the walls perfectly curved and smooth down to where they melded with the delicately patterned tiled floor. There were no windows to connect the two alicorns with the outside world, although the room was large enough for them to stretch their wings for a quick flying lap of the room if they so pleased.

While the mentor and the student worked diligently, another alicorn lay on a cushion in the corner, her front hooves crossed over one another. With a coat as black as the darkest night, she seemed to have been born from the night sky herself with her silvery mane and tail cascading finely down her neck and haunches. Her fine muzzle was bowed towards a scroll, the pile of read tomes growing at her side. Her wings she kept furled in close to her body, almost as if she was afraid to spread them wide and take up a greater amount of space. But it was hardly as if she was trying to be unobtrusive.

“Perhaps I could show you a spell from my travels that would assist, Twilight,” Wilda suggested, though the slight quirk to her lips did not radiate sincerity. “I'm sure there is something in my tomes that would allow this spell to go off without a hitch.”

“I can't do it,” Twilight growled, slamming a hoof into the tiles. “It's simply impossible. Celestia, I'm not advanced enough for this kind of alicorn magic. We should have waited to try this spell.”

Celestia shook her head slowly, her horn aglow as she carefully put the broken tiles to rights again and repaired the hindquarters of Starswirl the Bearded, forever immortalised in the tiling of his private spell chamber. Reinforced so that misfired spells would not go out of bounds or affect the wider world of Equestria, it had been a godsend for the inquisitive unicorn on multiple occasions.

“You have the strength, Twilight,” Celestia said gently, resisting the urge to nuzzle her student's flank while under the eagle eye of Wilda. “You do not have to doubt yourself when learning. We all grow at our own pace.”
Rolling her eyes, Twilight's horn crackled.

“Be that as it may, I am lacking the knowledge to do what you have asked of me.”

Celestia could have sighed and smacked her upside the head with her horn, but the alicorn held herself back. Twilight hadn't been an alicorn for all that long – not in the grand scheme of time and Equestria – and it was only to be expected that she still doubted herself. Why, she had a natural ability in magic, for sure, but it seemed that almost all of their heroics had involved utilising magic within Equestria already, which was, regardless, no easy feat at the best of times. She doubted that even she would struggle to re-learn just how to wield the Elements of Harmony if the tree ever deemed it fit to relinquish its need for them ever again. No, many tasks had fallen to Twilight and her friends, all due to their innate skill in wielding strange magic through the bonds of friendship.

But Twilight had to believe in her ability too.

“Again, Twilight. Once more and we shall call it a day for now. There is no sense to be had in exhausting yourself.”

“There is nothing wrong with my energy levels, princess.”

Despite her quick words, Twilight drew herself up, the pony spreading her wings as she drew on her magic to try again. It was not a simple spell, but one that required her complete and utter concentration. Building up the store of magic, sparks poured from her horn and she growled, struggling to contain it as her eyes lit up with pure, alicorn magic, right to the point where it was ready to be unleashed. Celestia held her breath.

“Don't you think –”

Wilda didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. Twilight's head whipped around and the spell exploded, flying skywards into the roof of the dome. It shattered in a shower of sparks that fizzled and crackled with raw magical energy, a deadly rain spattering down upon their unprotected heads. Celestia barely threw up a shield in time, covering the three alicorns, and gasped as tendrils of magic zigzagged wildly through the dome, seeking out what, exactly, she could not tell.

The abruptly unleashed magic understood its purpose, however, even if they did not. Twilight shrieked and ducked needlessly out of the way as blue streaks of light shot out from the walls, converging in the centre of the room above their own little protective shield. Apprehensively, Celestia backed away, her wings mantled above her back as if she was prepared to take flight and face an, as yet, unknown foe at any time. The aged alicorn lifted her chin defiantly, drawing power to her horn as the lights spiralled into a tendril, increasing their speed with every second that passed. Any accomplished magic user could recognise a portal when they saw one. What only remained to be seen was what would emerge through it.

Twilight darted to her side as Wilda clenched her teeth, backing up against the wall until her tail pressed into the side of the dome. But they had no time to mind her as the portal opened.

In another world, a young man lined up to kick a football at an empty goal, his foot swinging back in a slow arc. He knew he wouldn't be at the school for very much longer, coming up to the time where he was looking ahead to the last step in his education: university. Oh, yes, change was well and truly approaching over the horizon and he smiled, satisfied in the knowledge that he'd worked hard for every last bit of it. He welcomed the change. Going forward, he vowed to make all of his change good. For he finally had a hand in his life.

He just never expected to be ripped from the world he knew and thrust into another.

The young man launched himself at the ball and then, suddenly, his world was no more. Multi-coloured lights flashed across his vision and he tried to rub his eyes – had he been struck? Yet there seemed to be something holding his hands down, all sensation lost from his body. He panicked and tried to thrash to no avail, only able to stare on in horror as something indiscernible reached for him – a mass of twisting purple light that seemed to dip in and out of itself in the form of tendrils, moving so swiftly that it was impossible to tell where one line began and the other ended. His jaw shook, clamped shut against his will.

He wasn't even able to scream as Twilight's magic dragged him into the portal, leaving his football sinking into the back of the goal, as neat and handy a shot as he would ever have liked.

And then his old life was no more. Magic swept him along on a river speeding onwards to a source far, far away, forcing him to become what he would need to be, his human form no longer adequate for the life he had led.

Twisting and turning, tumbling head over heels through the vortex, magic from a world that he could not even begin to comprehend reformed his body, stretching out his limbs and repositioning his spine. It should have hurt – he could even see his fingers pressing together, reforming into something hard and solid! – but all the transformation brought was a warm, tingling sensation that trickled down his spine as if he was standing under a pleasantly warm shower. His hands grew hard and unyielding, a grey-black surface covering them completely like a shell. If he'd been a little more rural or perhaps even interested in horses, he would have recognised them as hooves.

A tail stretched out behind him, hair whipping back and forth from an unseen wind, and his neck stretched out as his face bulged, elongating into a muzzle. His eyes moved to the sides of his head, leaving a blind spot in front of his face, and he burst out in a whinny as his new legs flailed, searching for purchase that they could not find.

Twilight gasped and readied her magic as the portal pulsed, a shimmering shape rapidly taking form through its glowing, dancing rays; Celestia flared out her wings as if she could shield her charges from whatever was coming, for nothing could have possibly prepared them for the true result of the misfired spell. The new pony spun and spun and spun, entirely at the whim of the portal and the path he'd been forced onto.

A grey pony shot out through the other side of the portal in the spell chamber and collapsed on the floor, legs trembling too badly for him to even consider holding his body up with them. Hooves skittered and he whinnied, eyes bulging and nostrils flared with a drop of blood trickling forth where a vein had burst. The metallic scent of blood flooded his senses and, on his side, he scrambled to get to his feet, finding little to no purchase, as the smooth tiles would not quite allow him to grip as he needed to. With the whites of his eyes showing in a dangerous ring around the irises, the grey pony squealed and half-kicked out, hurling his body across the room.

“Halt!”

Twilight stepped forward, forcing the shield aside as Celestia warily allowed her to take charge of what her spell had produced. In the moment of crisis, the alicorn held her head high, wings spread as if to make herself look larger than she actually was. The grey pony tried to spin, but Twilight caught him with her magic, holding him slightly off the floor in as upright a position for any normal pony as possible, all four hooves pointing down.

“Who goes there?”

Celestia would have smiled at another time to hear her old student mimic her language so precisely. It was good to know she'd been paying exceptionally close attention all that time ago.

“Who are you?” Twilight probed when the pony, shaking like a leaf, tried to back up, held in place by her magic. “How have you come here? I mean, I know how you've come here, but...how? Where are you from?”

He shook his head, teeth chattering. Twilight sighed.

“Who are you?” She tried again, adopting a gentler tone. “What happened to you...” She looked him over, her lower jaw falling just a little bit slack. “You look like you've been dragged through Tartarus and back. Does your mane always stick up like that?”

Celestia shot her a look and Twilight backed up, holding the faintest glimmer of magic in her horn on the off-chance it was needed. The grey pony whimpered, eyes flicking back and forth from pony to pony, the rest of his body frozen in place.

“Celestia, it's hopeless. Look at him. He's not going to say anything while he's petrified. I could let go of him and I don't think he'd even be able to run away.”

The larger alicorn hesitated, one hoof raised. Twilight, more confidently stepped up to take charge of the situation. Celestia exhaled softly. Her student really had grown in her time with her friends. Sending her away to Ponyville all that time ago had been the best thing, after all.

It was a pity that she couldn’t say the same for the alicorn who was yet to ascend to Twilight’s level of princesshood.

“I say we can get a little more forceful with him,” Wilda suggested, trotting up to Twilight's side. “You're too gentle, Twilight. I could get him to talk.”

“No!” Celestia said, too sharply. “Call the guards. Take him to one of the holding chambers – one of the ones bolstered by magic, please. We will find out just what he is and who he is...” She shook her head. “And what he is doing here. Please, Twilight, take him away with the guards.”

Bobbing her muzzle sharply, Twilight raced from the chamber, towing the floating pony after her. He tried to whinny, but she’d clamped his jaw shut, at least until she set him on his hooves again on the other side of the wall, skittering and scrambling to make use of his new legs. Helpfully, she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and assisted him with the faintest scrap of her magic, holding him up so that he could find his balance once again. The door swung closed after the peculiar duo with a decisive snap of the lock.

Celestia stared after them, her mind awhirl. The grey pony... He had not just been a pony. There had been something different about him. Leggier than a normal pony, it was almost as if he was the size of one of the created alicorns, yet there was something different about the way his body was put together, his chest and legs more defined. She sighed, wings drooping. She’d have to have a better look at him, but the differences did not bode well for him. Something in his demeanour, however, told her that he was not a threat. She couldn’t have known it for certain, yet instinct screamed that such a scared pony couldn’t possibly have done anything to cause her or anyone else harm.

Call it alicorn intuition.

“Celestia?” Wilda ventured, joining the princess at her side as she stared at the closed door. “I wonder if now may be a good time to speak about the little issue concerning my...ah...studies, shall we say.”

Celestia blinked, looking at her as if she'd forgotten the other alicorn was there at all.

“Studies? You are conducting your own studies, Wilda, as you requested.”

The mare shook her head, mare ruffling up as if stroked by an unseen breeze.

“My cousin has shown exemplary skill with levitation and my family would be honoured if you fast tracked her into magic school or even took her on as your own student –”

“That simply will not be possible.”

Celestia cut across the younger alicorn, her gaze steely.

“Wilda, you are aware of the circumstances surrounding your cousin, the little filly Nightshade Drop. We simply cannot have a student behaving in such a manner at the school - you know how she harassed the other fillies and colts. And,” she added, continuing in a gentler tone than the one she'd been using, “I am sorry, but she did not pass the entrance exam. This skill you spoke of simply did not manifest when called on.”

Wilda's eyes darkened and she lifted one front hoof as if to paw at the tiles, catching herself before completing the motion. She lowered her head, directing her horn at her princess' and mentor's breast.

“She was framed,” Wilda snapped, horn shooting off sparks. “You know this! Everyone does! The school is simply set on keeping my family out and well away from the fortune of learning!”

Celestia shook her head: for her, the conversation was already done. And it was hardly anything that she hadn't heard before. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself, drawing herself up regally. With her taller stature, it was an easy task when faced with the smaller Wilda. Wilda threw herself into pacing the room, jaw clenched and head held at an uncomfortably high angle.

“Wilda, please, calm yourself,” the princess said. “There is no ill will towards your family. Everyone is subject to the same tests.”

Wilda whirled about, eyes glowing purple with the faintest hint of alicorn magic.

“Is that so, Celestia?” She demanded. “And why, may I be so bold as to ask, was it that even I was not accepted into your precious magic school? And look how my magic turned out! You were only interested in me after I'd already proven myself.”

She snorted and struck the ground with one hoof, cracking a tile. For once, Celestia did not rush to repair the treasure.

“I wonder, Celestia, if you do not employ more than a little favouritism when it comes to selecting your students. Or perhaps your eye for true talent has failed to hold its own.”

Refusing to rise to the bait, Celestia stretched out each of her wings in turn, the alicorn's feathers lightly fluffing up as she extended the stiff muscles. Wilda dared her to answer, her eye holding an adversary's challenge as she reared her head back, mane cutting sharply across her muzzle and down her neck. The alicorns faced each another head on, neither willing to break the silence, tension tightening almost palatably in the air between them.

Wilda drew a burst of magic to her horn.

“Celestia? Are you coming?”

Twilight poked her head back into the room, mane sticking up in all directions as if she had raced back down the corridor at a breakneck pace. She looked between Celestia and Wilda, frozen in place as if in a standoff, magic crackling just below the surface. Wilda allowed the magic to drop from her horn and cast Twilight a haughty look that the mare ignored, caught up in a more pressing issue.

“Are you coming? We're waiting for you. The guards don't want to lead him away alone. They're taking this pony to be questioned, like you said.” She gulped. “He says his name is Kevin. I've never heard a name like that – have you, Celestia?”

“No... No, I haven't, Twilight,” the princess acquiesced. “But we must find out more about him, where he's come from.”

She sighed.

“I fear this spell may have more dire consequences than we could have imagined.”

Twilight winced.

“I'll do everything I can to fix it, princess, I promise!”

Wilda took a step away, ears pinned back as Celestia moved all too quickly to comfort her student. It stood in stark contrast to the manner in which the alicorn princess dealt with and considered her. Twilight trembled so badly that the star cutie mark on her hindquarters shook, appearing, for a moment, to be vibrating with magic itself.

“It'll be okay, Twilight,” she murmured, hugging the purple alicorn to her chest, careful to mind her furled wings. “All will come right in the end. We'll send him back to the place he came from...wherever that is. And Equestria will be safe, do not concern yourself, my dear.”

She smiled and winked, hiding her and Twilight behind her wing.

“After all, it is not as if we have not faced far worse foes in Equestria!”

Even Twilight had to giggle, a little of the tension slipping from her back.

“You're right. But it's not good. It's not good at all.”

With her student placated, Celestia turned back to the forgotten Wilda, who had retreated to her cushion and had her book from the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the library levitated before her. She studiously avoided Celestia's eyes.

“No, Wilda, now is not a good time to speak of your cousin,” the princess said quietly. “I would be delighted to reconsider her once her magic blossoms, but right now is not the time to take her on.”

“Of course.” The mare didn't even look up from her text. “I understand.”

Twilight gulped and backed away, eyes wide.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt... But we had better go.”

The purple alicorn laughed nervously, fluttering up a foot off the ground in her anxiety. Eager to have the matter over and done with, or at least in progress, Celestia followed her from the spell casting room at a pace

“Stay as long as you like, Wilda, we shall not disturb you further from your studies – we have already imposed more than enough on you today.”

Celestia extended the figurative olive branch back over her wing as she departed, hooves clip-clopping as the tiles gave way to the corridor's stone, the hallway lined with flaring torches. Maybe it would be enough. She sniffed. The scent of stallion – a very foreign stallion – seemed to have crept into every nook and cranny of the dark corridor, making it impossible to escape his presence. Celestia shook herself, the other alicorn already vanishing from her thoughts. Like Twilight, her thoughts were taking up by more pressing matters to be dealt with than a disgruntled scholar.

They trotted down the corridor at a brisk pace, quickly catching up with the guards who held a shaking pony between them. Left behind in the chamber, Wilda calmly turned the page using her magic and peered down at the text, deciphering a scrawl laid down for studious eyes too many years ago.

“Oh, don't worry,” the alicorn said conversationally to the empty room. “I am quite comfortable right where I am.”

A slow, wicked smile pulled her lips wide and she lit up her horn, letting the glow swell, sparks firing off in all directions. The lamp on the wall swung madly in its bracket, the candle within threatening to peter out from the sudden disturbance. She chuckled lowly, letting her own magical wind whip her mane and tail around her slender body, the mass of swirling hair half-obscuring her muzzle.

“I might even just stay longer than you like.”
> Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Two

 
Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof
 
 


“How can you not know how you came to be here?”

When Celestia walked into the small chamber, usually used for interrogating ponies suspected of misconduct, whether menial or otherwise, the guard had his snout forced up into the grey pony’s face. The strange pony trembled and snorted, nostrils quivering, and struggled to pull away, yet he already had his rump pressed to the stone wall, a lamp flickering contently above his head. The flame danced, casting odd shadows over the walls and Celestia absently sent a fresh flame to the other lamps, illuminating the chamber to a more amenable glow.

“That’s quite enough!” Twilight stepped between them, forcing the guard back. “He’s scared – can’t you see that?”

The pony – who’d only been able to say his name was Kevin – quivered and ducked his head away, his long neck allowing him to at least gain some space from the interfering guard. Fixing him with a glare that would have sent a lesser pony fleeing with their haunches tucked beneath them, Twilight advanced a single step. It was enough. The guard swallowed and conceded space, head respectfully bowed.

“He’s a threat to Equestria,” he muttered, though he did not dare look up. “We must have him talk - it's the only way to find out his plan.”

“I agree, that is quite enough,” Celestia added, though she had no real need to; Twilight had it well in hoof already. “He is no threat to us and there certainly is no plan.”

Twilight started, whipping her head around.

“Celestia, how can you be so sure? What do you know? Have you found out anything?”

The alicorn shook her head. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“I cannot say... Consider it a feeling.”

“A feeling?” Twilight would have rolled her eyes if not for the company around them. “We cannot possibly dismiss this pony simply on a feeling. And how in Equestria are we going to get him back where he belongs? Where do you even belong?”

She addressed the last bit to Kevin himself, who swallowed and lowered his head forlornly nearly all the way down to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice hoarse yet growing in strength as he spoke. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble, but...”

He trailed off, ears back. Eager to keep him talking, Twilight stepped up to his shoulder and lifted a hoof, pressing gently into his flank behind the elbow at the top of his foreleg.

“No one blames you, Kevin. Trust me, I know you didn’t mean to come here. It was a spell, things just went a little...awry. But we’re going to get you home, I promise.”

Kevin lifted his head, tail flicking seemingly without his direction, as, when it struck the wall in a smattering of hair, he jumped and stared as if something had just bitten his rump. Celestia stifled a most unbecoming giggle, one hoof over her lips.

“Back home? Magic? I’m sure I’m going to wake up and this will all be a dream...” Kevin gulped and stared. “I left everyone behind.”

“What kind of ponies are in your world, Kevin?” Twilight asked. “What do they do? What do they look like? Or do they all look like you do?”

Kevin tilted his head, ears twitching.

“There are horses where I come from,” he began hesitantly, fumbling with his words as he struggled with his new mouth and muzzle. “But they don’t talk. There’s people in my world. Uh... I mean human beings.”

Twilight stared, tipping onto her front hooves.

“People? Humans? So it’s all like Sunset Shimmer’s world, where she lives now?”

Kevin blinked and dipped his head back down, although he had hardly raised it any distance at all.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who that is,” he mumbled. “Is that another one of you?”

Twilight sighed.

“I guess you could say so. So, you're a human... Just like Flash.”

Kevin stared at her blankly and the mare sighed.

“Never mind. It doesn't matter. All that's important is getting you back where you came from. If I knew how to do that, you wouldn't be standing here right now, so...”

Casting Celestia a hopeful look, Twilight shifted her weight from hoof to hoof. To her dismay, however, the alicorn sighed and dipped her head down to her level.

“Twilight, this magic is beyond me too. In the running of Equestria and protection of my ponies, there is little time for research into this. It’s never even something we would ever have considered looking into before the problem happened either.”

She regarded her former student seriously.

“This one will be down to you to rectify, but we know that the portal can be opened and it can therefore be closed again. This gives us a far more positive note to go forward from than any other conundrum of this scale we have been presented with so far.”

Twilight cast Kevin a sympathetic look and mouthed an apology as the grey pony swung his head back and forth between them, parting his lips as if he wanted to say something. But whatever he had had to say died on his lips as he lost his balance again, hooves skittering. Kevin squealed and Celestia caught him with her magic before he had the chance to topple to the floor, forelock falling over his eyes. Her gaze dropped to his hooves as she set him gently back upright.

Hm... I've never seen a pony with such defined hooves before, she thought, tipping her head to better survey their shape. As much as he does look like one of us, the differences are there too.
 

When the princess lifted her muzzle once more, she started to find the grey pony's head not all that far from hers. Sometimes it was easy to forget how tall he was. Somewhere between Luna's and Cadence's height, he was the only male who had come close to looking her in the eye on a physical level for a long time.

She shook herself, mane and tail shimmering. It wasn't the time to get lost in her thoughts. Twilight's lips twisted as she considered their situation.

“Well, if there's nothing to be done right now, I can get to work on a spell that puts him back where he belongs, I'm sure. Maybe Wilda will even have some ideas on how to proceed.”

Her eyes lit up at the prospect of all the late nights of studying that surely lay ahead, cosied up with a study buddy in front of one of the roaring fireplaces in the library. Twilight barely restrained a squeal, hooves clip-clopping over the stone as if she wished to leap up and clap them together with sheer glee. Celestia grimaced at the mention of Wilda, but made no comment aloud.

Perhaps I should be the one spending time with Wilda, not Twilight...

 
There was no time to pursue the thought further as Twilight bounded into action, unrolling a scroll of parchment before her, which she'd summoned from nowhere in the blink of an eye.

“Spike! Take a... Oh, never mind.” Twilight laughed at herself, making a quill pop into existence beside the gently levitating parchment. “I'll have to find him later when he's had his claws done. Boy, will he be sorry he missed all this fun!”

“Kevin, you'll have to tell me all about yourself – leave no detail out,” she said, opening the door with her magic. “There may be some time before I can open the portal again so that you can go home, but I will do everything I can to make this happen sooner rather than later.”

Kevin bobbed his head uncertainly; it seemed like the only correct response to a small talking pony who acted like she had everything sorted and a plan in place already. He swallowed, a visible lump travelling down the length of his much longer throat.

“In the meantime, you must make yourself useful. No pony in Equestria can just sit around and lounge all day. We all have a job to do based on our cutie mark.”

She glanced pointedly at Kevin's blank hindquarters and pursed her lips.

“Your kind of pony may not have a special talent that ties you to your destiny, so that may allow us a teensy bit more flexibility in deciding just what should take up your time while you're here in Equestria. Of course, I'm sure you'll want a tour too. I can find somepony to accompany you if you decide that you'd like to go further afield when not working.”

She paused, guilt flashing across her muzzle.

“Not that I meant to bring you here and put you straight to work,” she added hastily, cheeks turning pink. “It's the way of it here. We all have our jobs to do and it’ll mean you’ll fit in for your time with us. And I'm sure it'll help keep your mind off things. We don't want you to be put out in the slightest here, but I'm sure other ponies will be curious about who you are and why you're here too.”

Ushering him from the room, Twilight Sparkle smiled genuinely, quill poised to take notes. Celestia would have been more amused at her old student's antics if she had not been as curious as she. For once, however, she was thankful that she had Twilight there to take charge of the situation while she brooded over darker thoughts. Once again, the mare was showing herself to be a leader in all sense of the word, taking charge of her mistake with a cool, calm head and a smile on her muzzle. It only stood out in stark contrast to how Wilda conducted herself around other ponies and whilst alone with Celestia.

There's something not quite right about that alicorn...
 

Shaking off the feeling of unease the best she could, Celestia watched Twilight lead Kevin from the chamber, flanked by the guards yet already chattering non-stop about all the things Equestria had to offer. Although she asked him several times what he'd like to do to entertain himself and keep himself busy while she worked on a spell to send him back, she did not allow him enough time to reply as they walked away and the pony helplessly followed, ears flopping as he listened.



Celestia let the last guard follow Twilight before closing the door and leaving her alone in the stone-walled room with her thoughts. The lamplight flickered merrily, the chamber a cheerfully warmer place than the one she'd entered. Lost in her own thoughts, she rested a hind leg, the tip of her hoof balancing on the stone. Her tail flicked, a glittering wave running through it from the dock of her tail right back up by her rump as a small smile pulled at her lips.



There's really something about those long legs that is quite attractive...
> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Three
 

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof
 
 

Kevin was a pony on a mission – albeit one that he did not quite understand. Twilight Sparkle settled him down for the rest of the day in spacious quarters usually used for visiting dignitaries and, left to his own devices, learned the limits of his new body. The bed-chamber was large enough for him to do a full lap around the bed, pacing from window to door and back again. The door, of course, had been locked after him with Twilight reassuring Kevin that she would be back again later to speak more and ensure he had something to eat.

He tried to run and toppled head over tail onto the rug, only shakily clambering back to his hooves once he was sure he hadn’t smashed in his kneecaps. The pony snorted at a clump of fluff clinging to his nose and shook his mane off his neck. He lifted his hoof, intending to scratch away an itch on his neck, and remembered a moment later that his arm didn’t work that way anymore. Grumbling, he stretched out each leg in turn, trying to feel out how his muscles worked while aching as if he’d run a marathon.

“She was right,” he said aloud, more to hear something other than the movements of his own body around a strange room. “That purple horse. Pony. Twilight? Whatever. This is draining. She said travelling through portals was exhausting and she was right about it too. She should know if she’s done it before.”

Saying it out loud to himself made him feel marginally better. He at least remembered things still; there was certainly nothing wrong with his memory. He yawned, stretching his mouth impossibly wide and shuddering. The bed suddenly looked very inviting.

“Maybe I should just rest for a while.”

He continued chattering to himself as he moseyed over and nosed at the bed frame. Nonsense words, one after the other, streamed from unfamiliar lips, but it was good to hear that his voice, at the very least, sounded the same. Although the bed called him in, he could not settle and paused at one end of the four-poster, angling his head as something instinctual bid him to rub. Roughing up his mane against the post, he groaned as he finally caught the itch in just the right spot.

Satisfied, he shook himself and trotted to the window, looking down carefully to check just where he placed each of his hooves. His new body seemed to settle into itself a little more and he stood in front of the window, lower jaw slack at a world that he had not known even existed. Kevin swung his head back and forth, staring down at the castle courtyard below and the ponies bustling about their daily business. The violet-hued castle walls towered over the ponies, which were much smaller than his new form, and he watched as some of the guards trotted over the ramparts, the gold-tipped walls seeming to crown the city in glory. The streets alternated between being cobbled and paved, though he supposed that it had all been crafted with the pony magic that Twilight had spoken of.

It was in all ways different to his world, the colours more vibrant even in the clouds that hung in the sky, pegasi darting back and forth as they managed the weather of Canterlot. Something about the world was brighter too, though it wasn’t that all the ponies were smiling or anything or even looking more animated than the people he was used to seeing day in and day out. No, there was an undercurrent of life to the world that thrummed just beneath the surface, calling a new edge into play.

But he was tired. So, so very tired. Kevin yawned, ears drooping. He missed the sound of other human voices. Something stuck in his throat. He only had his own.

“What am I to do here? There’s no point in going home...and still no point in staying where I’m not wanted.” He spoke to himself for lack of another to talk to. “I don’t belong here. I don’t belong anywhere. But how do I tell them that? It’s all just...one big mess. And if I can’t make sense of it, how can I expect anyone else to either?”

He laughed hollowly.

“Heck... This is probably all still a dream regardless. A good dream. I’ll think it’s crazy when I wake up, but it’ll be something to think about in the morning.”

Smiling more genuinely down at the pony world, Kevin stifled another yawn and flicked one ear back towards the bed. Sleep did sound appealing. Maybe that would bring about the end of his dream.

“Whatever. I’ll get by. I always do. Why should this time be any different?”

What Kevin didn’t know was that his dream was only just beginning.




*




True to her word, Twilight Sparkle put him to work in Canterlot castle, with mixed results. It turned out that he wasn’t the most talented pony at washing dishes and the cook chased him out with a spatula after he’d broken the royal chalice. Luckily, unicorn magic made such a breakage a minor problem – a spell from Twilight and everything had been put to rights again, even if he was no longer welcome within the bounds of the kitchen.

He should have thought of the life he’d had back in the human world, but, as the days passed, that life seemed to grow ever more distant at a frighteningly rapid pace. Kevin threw himself into all work he was given, even if the majority of it was cleaning the palace from top to bottom. He’d never been someone to turn down hard work and glared at the suits of armour - pony sized, of course – until they displayed his own reflection.

No, that sorry life could wait. Simple work had its lure and gave him more pleasure than facing his final exams back in school with no rhyme or reward for all the work he’d done. Nothing tangible, anyway. And nobody cared about that either. He sighed and picked up a rag soaked with polish delicately between his lips, nose wrinkling. He’d had his fair sharing of cleaning work back as a human too, but at least, as a pony, any transgressions appeared easily forgotten. He smiled minutely, lips pulling up in an unfamiliar manner. Even the cooks had started smiling at him again, so they couldn’t have been too angry about the burned dinner.

And so he polished, rubbing in small circles until his neck ached and sweat darkened patches down the line of muscle. His mane clung uncomfortably to the arch of his neck where the muscle was the thickest, but still he polished, devoted to his work until every last inch of the suit of armour had been covered. Only then did he step back and survey his work with a critical eye, absentmindedly resting a hind hoof as if he’d been doing it all his life.

He blinked down at the pony staring back at him, his reflection distorted by the curve of the helmet. As far as horses went, he thought he was moderately handsome, at least, and spent a moment playing with his reflection, turning his head from side to side to make his face bulge out in weird and wonderful ways. Chuckling at his own folly, he pawed at the rich, red rug streaking down the full length of the hallway and waggled his ears, amusement growing as the noonday sun shone brightly through the floor length windows.

“Hey...? Hey mister. Mister stallion?”

He jumped, hooves skittering from the rug onto stone, skin trembling. He hadn’t known that horses could jump so far, but the foal that had suddenly appeared at his hooves as if she had always been there seemed completely unperturbed by his display. With a pink mane and tail and a body as white as a flurry of snow, she bobbed her muzzle and giggles, eyes wide and gleaming with the innocence of youth.

She tilted her head to the side and Kevin realised, with a shock, that she was waiting for him to say something. But what could he say? She was a pony! And he was a pony... But that didn’t mean he knew anymore what he was supposed to say and not!

“Uh, hello,” Kevin finally fumbled out, ears back. “Can I help you?”

A thought struck him and he eyed the foal with a worried rim to his eye.

“Are you lost? I’m sorry, I don’t know my way around here very well, but I can find someone to help if you need me to.”

She giggled and shook her head.

“Nooooo,” she said, drawing out the word. “All the other ponies at school were saying there’s a strange stallion in the castle.”

Wincing, Kevin shook his mane off his neck, resisting the urge to itch. It would have felt so good to rub his neck on one of the suits of armour...

“I guess that would be me. I’m the strange stallion here.”

“But why are you here?”

“Um... Well, that’s kind of a long-short story.”

Kevin cast about for words that would make sense to the filly. He could never tell quite how old other ponies were, except for in the case of the alicorns, that was. He’d been told quite promptly by Twilight just how many years they had lived. He scratched an itch on his chest with his chin, barely thinking about the motion as the filly impatiently shifted her weight from hoof to hoof. If she was in magic school, she surely understood more of the basics about magic and exactly what had happened than him anyway.

“A spell gone wrong,” he eventually said. “I shouldn’t have come here, but I did anyway. They’re working on a way to send me back.”

He couldn’t have explained why stating that very simple and obvious fact – they were trying to find a way to send him home – sent a pang through his heart. Frowning, he pushed it away, returning his attention to the filly as she brushed her bubblegum pink mane from her withers.

“Weird...” She muttered, tail flicking. “My misfired spells have never brought other ponies here. Why should one bring you here? You don’t look like a normal pony.”

Kevin laughed and smiled kindly down at her. For all that she looked different to what he was used to – namely a pony youngster and not a human child – it was a relief to have her act just like any normal child. Though perhaps a little too intelligent and sharp for her own good, if he was honest with himself.

“I guess that’s why they’re all calling me the strange stallion out there.”

She giggled with him, ears flicking.

“Hey, mister, you’re tall, aren’t you?”

“Not as tall as Celestia, but, yes, I guess I am taller than most ponies here.”

Her eyes brightened and she squealed, bouncing up and down on the spot.

“Oh! Can you get our ball out of the tree? Can you, can you, can you, pleeeeease?”

She whined, weaving back and forth as she pawed at his front hooves, eyes wide and begging. He swallowed and licked his lips, coat shivering nervously atop muscle.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Kevin stumbled over his words, although his hooves were already in motion, following the filly from the corridor, cleaning cloth discarded. “Can’t you just get it down with your magic?”

She pouted.

“No, my magic’s not good enough yet. But I will be able levitate something like that one day! Then I’ll be the one getting the balls out of allllll the trees!”

He laughed, for the first time paying attention to the short horn poking out of the tuft of her mane. A unicorn. He could recognise one of those, at least.

“I’m sure you will be. I’ll certainly never be able to levitate balls out of trees like that!”

Following the filly through a short maze of hallways, they emerged into bright sunlight, blinking rapidly as their eyes adjusted. The filly bounded forward as if her hooves were attached to springs, darting across the grass of the flower garden surrounding the castle and through a bush. Kevin stumbled over his own hooves, trying and failing to keep up as he called out to her to slow down to no avail.

Pushing his way through a rose bush after the filly, Kevin sneezed, a cloud of pollen framing his muzzle. A high-pitched squeak told him where the filly had gone and he pricked his ears, stepping around the carefully maintained flower beds as he followed the sound of her voice, one word flowing into the next so that no single one was distinguishable.

When he emerged from the shrubbery, a group of four young unicorns greeted him, with his new little friend springing off her hooves at the front of their cluster. Above them stretched the arms of a deciduous tree, the leaves offering welcome shade from the warmth of the sun while their bright yellow ball nestled in the crook of its branches, hopelessly out of reach.

“Here he is, here he is!” She chirped in a singsong voice. “And he’s not that strange! He’s nice! He’s going to get our ball out of the tree!”

“I told you I almost had it,” a cream-coloured colt with a silvery mane and tail grumbled, sitting down hard on his haunches. “Mabs, you’ve got to give me a chance.”

The pink filly’s jaw dropped.

“You had, like, ages to get it down! I had to get help!”

The colt sulked, ears drooping. Kevin’s heart went out to him and, without thinking, he dropped his head to the younger pony’s level and gave him a gentle nudge in the side.

“Come on, I can’t do this without you.”

The colt looked up, one ear quirked; Kevin had his attention. The grey stallion suppressed a smile, a mock serious expression encompassing his long muzzle. Pushing his head down as close to the ground as possible without taking a mouthful of grass and dirt, he wiggled his ears and inclined his head towards the colt. Hopping up onto all four hooves, the colt eyed the much larger head suspiciously.

“Hop up,” Kevin encouraged, a twinkle in his eye that had not been seen in many years. “You’ll be able to reach the ball better than I will.”

The unicorn’s eyes lit up and Kevin grunted as a much heavier weight than expected landed atop his skull. Groaning, he spread his front hooves for balance and slowly heaved his head upright with the little pony clinging to his ears. Giggling, the colt waved his hooves at the ball, horn shooting off sparks that dropped harmlessly over Kevin’s mane as he struggled to reach the ball from his new vantage point.

“Hang on,” Kevin half-laughed half-gasped, sides heaving. “Wait for me to get closer!”

Scrabbling for purchase, the colt’s tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth as Kevin tentatively stepped up to the tree, neck dipping and swaying with the strain of balancing an unfamiliar weight. Luckily, the young pony’s eager hooves swung out and, neat as he could’ve liked, knocked the ball out from between the crook of the branches. It dropped to the grass for the other ponies to crowd around with cheers and Kevin sighed as he gently lowered the colt back down to the ground.

Once he was on solid ground once again, the colt turned about, silvery tail flying as he whipped around.

“Thank you, mister! I’m Silver Rush. Mabs calls me ‘Silly’, but I don’t like that. What’s your name?”

Kevin smiled and glanced at the three ponies tumbling over the ball that was not much smaller than they were.

“Kevin. My name’s Kevin.”

From a distance, Twilight and Celestia stood beneath a tree with pink blossoms, cloaked with magic so that nopony else would know they were there. Well, not unless they walked right into them, which had been known to happen from time to time if the princess’ were attempting to trot around the castle and its grounds unnoticed.

“He is kind too...” Twilight murmured, a scroll levitated before her as a quill took note of her words. “He’s just what I expected from a person of that world. They are quite like us, except in appearance.”

“He seems young,” Celestia said in an equally low tone, cautious to not allow her voice to rise. “His dam and sire are probably sick with worry about him.”

Twilight raised her wings in a half-shrug.

“You’d have to ask him about that,” she said, neatly evading the unspoken question. “But his birthday was last week. He’s not that young. Studying, like I was, but it’s different in the human world. That’s why Pinkie Pie was up in Canterlot – she just had to have a party for him and you know how saying no to Pinkie Pie goes.”

Celestia looked at her, wings flared out.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” She thrust her muzzle into Twilight’s, eyes panicked. “What if he was waiting on gifts from his parents and didn’t get any? And he didn’t get anything from anypony here either?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow and pushed Celestia away with a hoof.

“Wow, okay. Well, we did have a party for him and he seemed happy enough with it, though his expressions are a little hard to read with that longer muzzle. No offence intended. He seems very closed off to other ponies, though he tries, he really does. I just didn’t think you were that interested in him after you had me set up to take notes on how he was acclimating.”

The princess shook her head.

“Of course I’m interested. It’s my duty as a princess of Equestria to ensure he is returned safely to his home. His wellbeing is of my utmost concern.”

“Well, that makes sense, though I’m sure a belated present would still be alright, you know. Eighteen, by the way. That’s how old he is.” Twilight winked and nudged her old mentor in her side. “So not that much younger than me and my friends, though you already know about all the crazy stuff we get up to.” Twilight laughed. “Saving Equestria is no easy task, you know.”

Celestia gave her a look, eyes narrowed.

“You may well say.”

“Aw, come on – lighten up, Tia!”

Celestia winced at the use of her nickname and pressed her lips firmly together.

“What do you think of him, Twilight? Really now? You’ve spent the most time talking with him and observing from a distance.”

Twilight took a moment to consider the question, tapping the quill against the underside of her jaw.

“He’s diligent about his work and curious about everything he encounters. Strangely, he doesn’t seem all that worried about going home or not. I don’t know what’s up with that, but I’m going to find out.”

Musing over her words, Celestia watched as Kevin played with the foals, bouncing the ball clumsily off his hooves as they squealed and darted about, chasing it. Without thinking, the alicorn smiled wider than she had done in a very long time, the tension leaving her wings.

“I think he is something special indeed.”

What Celestia didn’t say was how she wanted to spend more time with the grey pony. Even if his coming to her world had been an accident, perhaps there was something fateful about their meeting.

Or at least, she hoped so.




*




The town hall meeting, photographs for the Canterlot paper, the Canterlot Garden Party – everywhere Celestia went, the thought of Kevin followed her. She misspoke from her carefully written notes at meetings, cheeks colouring with a blush most unbecoming of her, and every single conversation with Twilight included the pony that had come into her life so suddenly. He walked through her dreams with such frequency that even Luna noticed, raising an eyebrow, but not yet making comment on the subject of her sister’s dreams. She could not escape him. And so, she followed him.

Of course, as a princess, she could orchestrate their meetings a little more discreetly than other ponies in a similar situation. She was expected to be around the castle, around him; he, after all, was working in the castle, under her guidance. His running into her on an increasingly frequent basis was far from pure chance as Celestia ensured he was given tasks that kept him around her frequent routes of travel. Particularly convenient were the tasks that called him in close to her private abode and evening haunts.

Peering around the corner of the hallway as Kevin exchanged the dried out lavender bunches for fresh ones around the princess’ sleeping chambers, Celestia ran her eyes over his body, taking in every detail that she’d drank in many times before. How was it that a pony could look so similar and yet so different at the same time? Should it have been possible? Kevin chewed thoughtfully, ears flicking as he replaced the lavender, tail swishing back and forth to a rhythm only he could hear.

She shouldn’t have stared so, yet the alicorn could not bring herself to look away as he busied himself with his task. Twilight was certainly right when she said he was diligent about his work as he attacked his chores with a work ethic that surprised even her.

Celestia leaned further around the corner as Kevin turned his back on her, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being watched.

“You cannot be serious, sister.”

Celestia jumped, shuffling her wings guiltily back over her back and hindquarters. Trust the princess of the night to walk with all the stealth of a ghost.

“What?” She affected an air of innocence – as innocent as an alicorn ducking back around a corner of her own castle hallway could have been, at least. “What’s wrong, Luna?”

Rolling her eyes, Luna pointed her hoof at Celestia’s chest.

“You, dear sister, were leering at that young pony.”

Celestia’s head shot up.

“Luna! Your tongue! I certainly was not leering at anypony, I was merely watching him go about his duties. And he’s not that young. Don’t you know that he had a birthday a few weeks back?”

Sighing and shaking her head, Luna dropped her hoof, though her ears remained pricked to attention, ready to catch the smallest crack in Celestia’s mental armour. The white mare blinked impassively, staring her down with the sweetest, most sickly smile she could plaster across her muzzle.

“Why, are you interested in him?” She shot back mischievously, head close to her sister’s, even though there was no one else there to overhear them. “Are you jealous that I’m pausing in my duties to see what he’s doing around here?”

Lips pursed, Celestia lifted her head and tapped her jaw speculatively with a hoof, musing over her ploy. Her heart beat quicker, sweat dampening a faint patch along the side of her flank.

“Come to think of it...” She eyed Luna up and down. “Shouldn’t you be asleep right now? Are you following me or the new pony?”

Gulping down her reservations, Celestia tried to pretend that the thought of Luna liking Kevin did not bring a lump to her throat. No, Luna and Kevin could like whoever they pleased. She certainly had no say in that, no, of course she didn’t.

Luna, however, only rolled her eyes and fluffed up her wings, a lone blue feather drifting solitarily to the floor.

“Please, sister. I rose early. As if I would have my eyes on a pony that you are openly coveting and batting your eyelashes at.”

Celestia clamped her mouth shut and looked studiously away.

“I was merely watching. You cannot take any more from it than that.”

“He’s too young for you anyway.”

Celestia laughed aloud, the sound of her mirth echoing and bouncing off the walls.

“Sister, since when does age come into it?”

“Aha – so you do like him.”

The elder princess closed her mouth and shook her head. There was little she could say in response to that, but, thankfully or not, she did not have to.

“I thought I heard voices... Ah, I’m sorry...”

Two heads whipped around to see Kevin poking his head around the corner, pawing at the carpet. His ears drooped, eyes wide to see the princess’ in such intent conversation. Instantly, Celestia’s cheeks coloured and Luna hid a smirk behind her hoof: busted.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Kevin added hurriedly with a smile, already backing modestly off. “I just wondered who would be around here at this time.”

“Oh, that is no problem at all, Kevin,” Celestia rushed to reassure him, following him back around the corner. “We were just having a little, ah, discussion.”

“Yes, I suppose you could call it that.”

Luna rolled her eyes as the alicorn walked off with the strange pony, his tail a relaxed swish to his rear. It was not that he’d never learned to respect the princess’, only that he didn’t treat them with the traditional deference of ponies in Equestria. But her sister seemed to like that and who was she to really judge? She could only do what sisters did and watch out for her sister the best she could.

Although Celestia could not hear her as she walked away, drawing Kevin into gentle conversation with skill only a princess could acquire, Luna whispered after her. Though the words perhaps were only for her own ears, if she needed to hear them.

“Watch your back, sister. Not for me, but for yourself.”
> Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Four
 
 

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof
 
 

“Kevin, could you please come over here for a moment?”

Celestia perched at the head of the breakfast table, levitating a cup of tea before her muzzle as Kevin bustled about the kitchen, trying to make his equine lips whistle a tune as he busied himself.

“Yes, Celestia?” He addressed the alicorn informally, more at ease with her presence than he had been on their initial interactions. “Can I get you another cup of tea?”

“No, no...” She waved him off with a hoof, her rainbow mane and tail particularly sparkly for a morning at the beginning of the Equestrian week. “I thought you may like to sit and talk for a bit. I made a second stack of pancakes.”

“Oh, that’s so kind of you...” He gulped and fumbled over his words. “It would be r-rude to refuse, I’m sure.”

Kevin eyed the other plate of pancakes set beside the princess and the one across from her, one with blueberries and one with strawberries. The stallion’s lips quirked into a smile as he stood beside the table, which placed him at a better height for him to eat as his body did not seem to take to sitting on his haunches very well.

Chuckling, he inclined his head towards the blueberry covered stack, some of his confidence returning.

“I take it that that one belongs to Luna?”

Celestia chuckled and shrugged.

“You got me. What can I say? That pony does love her blueberries.”

As Kevin dug into the strawberry covered pancakes, eating directly from the plate as he did not have any magic, the door to the princess’ kitchen opened, permitting entry to a certain blue alicorn princess. Luna plodded in with heavy eyelids drooping over her eyes, tail clamped down firmly over her hindquarters. The moon on her hindquarters gleamed less brightly and her dark blue rump had the fur ruffled up as if she’d been in a scuffle of some kind. Even the waving nebula of her mane was less lively than usual.

Sitting up straight, Celestia gave her sister a sheepish smile, ears pricked and swivelling to catch every sound.

“Good morning, sister,” Celestia chirped a little too brightly. “Did your nightly guarding duties run smoothly for you?”

Luna sighed and plopped down in the spare spot at the table.

“It seemed like every pony had a nightmare last night,” she complained, levitating a forkful of pancakes, complete with whipped cream, up to her mouth as she talked. “Honestly, I was galloping from one end of Equestria to the other. There were also some very interesting dreams coming from Canterlot castle too.”

Celestia choked on her tea and set the cup down, clapping herself on the side with her own wing. Luna smiled sweetly.

“Something in your throat, sister?”

“No, nothing,” Celestia said through gritted teeth. “Nothing at all, dear sister.”

Just how had Luna gotten into her dream last night? She’d thought she’d thrown up enough wards to keep the princess away while they were less than becoming for a princess of Equestria. Finding her resolve, Celestia held her head high and brushed away the notion that Luna had seen her do...that with Kevin, if only in a dream.

“Well, Kevin, I was wondering if I could possibly take you away from your usual chores later on today?” She ploughed on regardless, ignoring her sister’s death stare. “The books in my private library need sorting through.” She winced. “Twilight has been having some rather intense study sessions in there, or so it would seem from the resulting chaos.”

Kevin bobbed his muzzle happily, seeing nothing out of the ordinary from the request.

“Of course! I’m happy to be useful wherever you need me. Could you show me how you’d like them to be sorted beforehand?”

“That would be perfect, thank you, Kevin.”

“Not a problem.”

Kevin swallowed his last bite of pancakes and smiled warmly, ignorant to Luna’s stare, which had not moved from him since Celestia’s request.

“I’ll tidy these up then and be on with the usual chores if you don’t need me for anything more, princess.”

Celestia threw out her hoof, gently stalling the pony as he hustled to clear up the mess that he’d only, in part, created.

“That shall not be necessary. We shall ensure that all is left tidy on our departure.”

Kevin’s ears flicked, but he wasn’t about to turn down the chance to evade kitchen cleaning duty; at least the suits of armour did not break if he accidentally bumped into any one of them.

“That’s very kind of you, thank you. I’d better hurry up and get to my duties.” A flicker of doubt crossed Kevin’s eyes. “I’m not sure what chores I have on my schedule today, so I’ll have to hurry.”

Celestia shooed him off with a smile and a tip of her wing.

“Go, go,” she urged softly. “I’ll see you to sort the library in the afternoon, have no worry about it. I’ll ensure the castle taskmaster is also aware that your presence has been requested elsewhere, so do not concern yourself with the details.”

The grey pony smiled and practically pranced away, light on his hooves as his youthful body displayed his exuberance for him. Celestia stifled a chuckle as Luna looked on, eyes warily narrowed.

“Until this afternoon, Kevin,” Celestia called after him as he departed, his prance breaking into a light trot. “I shall send word.”

“Of course. And thank you!” He shouted back belatedly, skidding into the corridor as the kitchen door swung closed behind his hooves.

Silence fell between the alicorns as the stallion left, Luna’s eyes never once leaving Celestia’s face. Meticulously, the princess avoided looking at her sister, knowing she’d see there more than the usual sleepy bags beneath her eyes.

“Celestia.”

She flinched from the sound of her own name, standing with a shuffle of her wings. Guilt pulled at the corners of her mind – was she doing wrong? – but she pushed it away, locking it down for closer inspection at a later date. Celestia drew herself up tall and pushed her chest forward, as regal a smile as ever painted on her lips.

“I have my morning meetings to attend to, Luna. I trust you shall enjoy your breakfast in peace and quiet this morning? I know you do not enjoy my chatter. There’s fresh coffee in the pot, if you’d like to stay up a little longer too. I know how you like a rich brew.”

When Luna did not reply, Celestia chuckled faintly and sheepishly backed away, heading for the same door that Kevin had exited through. She ducked away as the princess’ eyes burned into her back, the silence unnerving even her enough to try and make a hasty escape.

Although Luna was not done.

“Celestia?”

Taking a deep breath, the mare put her head back around the door as Luna paused, eyes misted over with concern.

“Yes?”

Celestia braced herself, unconsciously tucking her chin down towards her chest. The princess of the night shook her head and laid both hooves flat on the table, taking a deep breath.

“Don’t get hurt.”

Celestia met her eyes compassionately, sending out a wave of love and warmth, carried by her magic, that she knew her sister would feel.

“I will do my best, Luna. But sometimes the greatest risks in life have the greatest rewards.”




*



 


Sorting the library books back into their rightful places should have been a cinch, but Kevin sweated as Celestia sat on a plush cushion before a round reading table, a scroll unfurled before her. Her library was small, a single room with books lining every wall, but it was softly lit with no windows to the outside world. The only light came from the glow of the lanterns set around the bookcases and walls, presumably protected so that the flames would not cause any damage to the books if an accident was to occur. He would have asked her why she shut herself away from her sun, but the princess seemed so at peace with herself while he bustled about – was Twilight really so messy when she studied to leave the princess’ library in such a state? – that he could not bear to disturb her.

There was one question that preyed on his mind, tickling the tip of his tongue until he could not keep his mouth shut any longer. Besides, Celestia had a cup of steaming tea set before her in a pink china cup and was surely taking a break from her reading when he finally found his courage and spoke.

“I thought you had meetings to attend this afternoon?” He said, by way of making conversation, though the words felt thick and ungainly in his mouth. “Did something change?”

The princess lifted her head and smiled pleasantly.

“I have postponed them. There has been news of Timberwolves appearing from the Eastern forests and I must read the reports carefully before attending the town hall later.” She grimaced. “The ponies of Canterlot are a little worried that they will start encroaching on the outskirts, although that is, of course, far from their natural hunting ground.”

“Wow, Timberwolves...” Kevin mused, carrying a stack of books carefully in the flat of his back to return them to their rightful places. “I sure hope I don’t meet any of those out here.”

“Oh, you won’t. Not unless you’d like to go and see them. They really are magnificent creatures. Luna deals with them almost every week now in some shape or form.”

“She does?” Kevin’s ears wiggled and perked up, curiosity brightening his eyes. “Do you think she’d maybe show me what they’re like – from a distance, I mean?”

Celestia rolled up the scroll with a rustle of paper.

“If you are interested in the Timberwolves, Kevin, I’d be more than happy to take you out to the Everfree forest myself at any time. You don’t have to go with Luna.”

The stallion lifted his head, confusion clouding his gaze.

“But you said Luna always dealt with them? I don’t mind staying up to see what she does. Or maybe Luna doesn’t want company,” he added as an afterthought, ears drooping. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on her night time solitude. She seems to like her space.”

“I know one pony who you could never intrude on.”

“Who?”

Celestia did not answer immediately, instead studying her teacup as if another beverage would magically appear. Of course, she could summon a fresh cup, or even a pot, of tea whenever she wanted one, but that was hardly the point.

Kevin scuffed a hoof across the floor and glanced at the stack of books he still had to put away, torn between his duties and wondering what the alicorn was thinking. It would have been so easy to turn his back and cheerfully chat about something else – it was not a tactic that he had not used in his old life to get out of more than one awkward conversation – but something kept him rooted in place, waiting. He held his breath, sides trembling with the force of keeping his massive lungs full of air that he wasn’t willing to let out.

Not yet.

When Celestia finally spoke, his heart leapt into his throat, beating so swiftly that one beat became the next with no interlude between.

“Perhaps I’m the one who’d like to spend more time with you.”

Kevin braced, front legs splayed.

“What do you mean?” He asked, unable to keep the hesitation out of his voice. “Is this why you asked me to help take care of your personal library?”

Celestia smiled. Squinting, Kevin tipped forward. Was that the hint of a blush colouring her cheeks? No, it couldn’t possibly be...

“I like you Kevin,” she said simply, unable to quite meet his eyes as she said the words that made him want to grin like a fool and flee with his tail clamped down. “And I’d like to get to know you better, if you’d also like that.”

“I would like that,” Kevin forced out, tail swishing as if to thwart invisible flies. “I just... Me? Why me?”

He frowned.

“Is this because I came from another world? Do you have questions about that? I’m more than happy to answer anything that you’d like to ask of me, only I don’t know what you want to know.”

It would have made the most sense for Celestia to be interested in his old life and the times he’d lived through, even if it would not have been the answer he’d truly hoped for. To his relief – evident, through the heaving sigh that rocked his whole body – it was not the answer he received.

“No, no, Kevin,” she said gently. “That is not what I intend to do. I would, of course, enjoy knowing more about you and where you’ve come from, but it is the pleasure of your company that I desire.”

Her eyes twinkled.

“I believe the fillies and colts are calling it a ‘date’ these days. Is that so?”

Kevin gulped, ears ringing as if he had been clouted across his skull. He shook his head, cursing how the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. If nothing else – and he could not deny the racing of his heart – it would be rude to turn down a request from a princess! Twilight had taught him that much!

“I...” He coughed and tried again. “I would love to...” He blushed. “Look, if I’m honest with you, I am surprised that you’d even ask me that. Are you serious?”

“Oh, very much so.”

“Then I would be delighted to join you this evening, Celestia.”

The alicorn smiled, ears perked, as her grin stretched nearly from ear to ear. For a moment, Kevin stared, wondering if his muzzle was capable of the same expression. And what had he just said? He was going on a date with a princess! The stallion hid his terror behind what he hoped was an impassive mask. Did he even want to? Could he not? What did he have to lose? She did seem incredibly kind and compassionate about her subjects... And she did have a particularly nice body too, even if he was not well versed in how the pony form was meant to look, if there was any particularly desired figure. Kevin shivered. Yes, there was definitely some attraction there, from his side at least.

Celestia spoke, dragging him from his thoughts.

“That is everything that I wanted to hear... And I was sitting here thinking you were going to deny me the pleasure of your company!”

The princess could not keep the grin off her muzzle either as she stood, scroll levitating in the air before her. She tied it closed neatly with the red ribbon it had come with and stepped away, neck arched and ears pricked sharply. Foolishly stuck in place, Kevin dipped his head in the clumsiest yet quickest bow he could manage. Celestia giggled and put a hoof over her muzzle.

“No need for that around me, Kevin. May I meet you at the main entrance to the castle this evening?”

Too tongue-tied to speak, Kevin nodded mutely.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll check my schedule and ensure there is time aside for us.” She paused. “Plenty of time. I’ll send a runner-pony with the exact time, so that we may not miss each other, but, for now, I must attend to my meetings. Not that I wouldn’t rather stay here in your very pleasant company.”

Stepping to the door, Celestia threw him a cheeky look back over her shoulder, half-hiding her muzzle with one of her wings.

“I know which pony I’ll be thinking of! Until then, I hope you have a pleasant afternoon. You are relieved of your duties for the remainder of the day.”

And, just like that, the princess was gone, leaving only a white feather in her wake, which drifted slowly down to the carpet. Hesitantly, Kevin stepped up to it and lowered his head, blowing at it lightly. It scooted away, but he hurried after, catching it delicately between his teeth as he tried not to smile too widely.

He was going on a date. Sure, he’d been on dates before, but sometimes... He shook himself, careful not to dislodge the precious feather from his lips. Sometimes a date was more special. A date with Celestia was more than just casual fun.

He shivered. Who knew – maybe there was even something there? He liked her well enough, though had not spent quite enough time around her to be able to tell just how much. Covert glances as she went about her duties as a princess of Equestria could only tell him so much, after all, but, even as a human, he’d never been one to admit too easily to his feelings.

But that was all set to change. He may not have known in his mind what his heart thought of the white alicorn as yet, but he was going to find out. And very soon too.

Kevin stifled a whinny, half-rearing as his tail whipped in a happy swish, hooves too jubilant to stay still.

He was going on a date with a princess!
> Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Five
 

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof
 
 

Later that night, in Canterlot...
 

The black alicorn paced down the dark alleyway, blending into the night with the hood of her cloak pulled up over her head and a good portion of her muzzle too. With the fine garment – one from Canterlot Boutique, if the tag denoted it correctly – shielding her wings from view, she looked, to all intents and appearances, just like any other unicorn. Her silvery mane was finely curled and anyone watching would have thought that she was taking a shortcut to a party. And she had her alibi in place if anyone asked.

Wilda’s lips twisted as she hurried on her way and her muzzle wrinkled. There were too many puddles to dodge – and who knew what was in them – round the back of Pony Joe’s Donut Shop, but it was the required location for such a meeting. It was a vile and rank part of Canterlot to traverse – the back streets, that was – but she would not run the risk of being recognised up close, even if it seemed that not a single pony in Equestria or beyond knew or cared for her existence.

She growled deep in her throat, slamming a hoof into the cobblestones and leaving a broken one behind. No, they were far more entranced with the exploits of Princess Twilight and Celestia and Luna and whatever harebrained situation they’d gotten themselves wrapped up in again. What had been the last one? Something about the Changeling queen’s subjects taking the places of the princesses? Every one of them? She scoffed. She would never have fallen for such a trick!

But no one remembered Wilda, always in the background and never in the spotlight. Celestia told her time and time again that it would be her time soon, but she’d had her time studying, waiting and watching for the right moment to spring forth, magic at her horn. They had forgotten her – all of them. Every last pony had thought she’d curl up with her books and scrolls and be happy to just wrap herself up in her sadness while they all played pretty princess games! Didn’t they know just what they’d done? Didn’t they know that they’d shut her out of their coveted private circle? And where was she? What was she, Wilda, to be left with when their stars were faded and dark?

Wilda inhaled deeply, slowing her heart beat and expanding her chest. It was no matter. She should not get so wound up over the injustices afforded to herself and her family. It would all be to their detriment in the end.

A castle guard, clad in the traditional golden armour, waited by a barrel marked with the carving of a Manticore. Slowing her pace, she walked up to him regally, lifting her hooves high. She did not need to throw her hood back from her head to show him who she was, but she did so anyway, taking pleasure in how his gaze travelled up her body to her horn.

Some ponies do still understand my power... They shall be spared.

“Ah, Divide, you have come as I asked.”

The white stallion glanced back over his shoulder, a tuft of grey mane protruding from his helmet and his ears pinned to his skull. If he’d been on the battlefield, his neck would have snaked out, driving him to attack a foe. But it was a very different attack when one was conversing with Wilda. And one forever had to be on the tips of their hooves, waiting and watching.

Some were simply powder kegs, waiting to be set off.

“Are the plans in motion?” She asked simply.

The guard nodded, pawing at the ground.

“All is coming into place, my queen,” he murmured deferentially. “There are other ponies who feel the same way. They are coming and meeting and their numbers are growing. All unicorns, they believe that you are showing them the way, my queen, and we shall usurp the ones that sought to pin us down.”

Despite herself, Wilda allowed herself a little shiver of pleasure. Ah, it was such a delight when a plan came together just so. It was even better than the touch of moonlight on a bare, groomed coat.

“That is what I expected to hear, but we need more ponies. Always more.”

She paced back and forth a few steps in the alleyway, eyes frenzied as she hurried from spot to spot, never really going anywhere. Divide gulped and looked down, digging in his hooves as instinct screamed at him to run. She was a  danger to all and purely ruthless on her best day. But instinct demanded that he follow the strongest leader and he had found just that.

“I shall have Canterlot,” she murmured, not really speaking to Divide anymore as she took pleasure in recalling her own carefully constructed plans. “If Twilight can have her castle and Cadenza rules The Crystal Empire, it shall only be fitting that I take the one where I was raised. Is the teacher you spoke of in the magic school on board also?”

She directed the last sentence at the guard, who nodded quickly. His mane stuck to the crest of his neck, his sweat the only open testament to the nerves that swamped him in Wilda’s presence. Though what pony would be relaxed around her when in the knowledge that she was concocting such evil schemes? For there was no other word for a pony planning what she was, even if it was a means to a glorious, splendid end.

Divide steadied himself.

“Yes, she has been recruited and has taken the oath,” he answered her question. “But she does not have the authority to prevent all ponies from the lower classes from joining the school. She has, however, managed to put off the applications of some from less than traditional upbringings.”

Wilda nodded, a short, sharp bob of her muzzle conveying her acceptance.

“This is a beginning, but there is much work to be done. The magic school is accepting far too many young ponies that do not have the skills and standing in Equestria to deserve such an education. We are truly doing them a favour by showing them that they should be better placed elsewhere.”

Her expression darkened.

“And with those ponies attending less prestigious schools, wherever those are to be found, perhaps fillies such as my cousin will not suffer such great injustices in the future. We are, after all, of the old families. Do you not agree?”

“Yes, my queen. She, that is to say, Studious Quill has suspicions that there may be other teachers within the school that feel the same way. As we speak, she is working her charm to see just who else may join our ranks in the one, true way.”

If she’d been anypony else, Wilda would have beamed.

“Wonderful,” she said, taking evident pleasure in rolling the word around her muzzle before speaking. “The more on the inside we have to monitor their learning and ensure only the highest ranking unicorns are taken further into the elitist of studies and schooling.”

“We must, after all, keep to tradition. For where would we be if we let any old riff-raff into our most prestigious schools? We have already seen where that leads us.”

She waved her hoof dismissively.

“You may leave. Ensure I am updated through our usual channels. I shall bring you word of our next steps when I have our preparations in order. It should not be a great span of time away.”

The alicorn smiled, showing her teeth in an abrupt, blunt smile that was more predator than pony. Divide swallowed his fear and met her gaze as squarely as anypony who was her lesser was able.

“I shall do all you ask of me, my queen. For you are our true leader of Equestria and nopony else.” He took a breath and bowed deeply, curling one foreleg beneath his body. “No one may come close to your excellence, my queen. And soon every pony in Equestria shall know of your glory.”

“Yes, they shall,” Wilda mused, already turning her back on him. “Although I must say it is always divine to hear you say it. Find a suitable, underground location for me to meet the first of my subjects. I would have them speak so adoringly of me too.”

“Yes, my queen.”

He trotted away with his head hung low to the ground, every inch the image of a tired guard. Nobody would have suspected him of his place in her scheming as he made his way back to his city accommodations, blending in better than even she could, but all would come to light eventually.

Or perhaps, even, come to dark.

Wilda did not watch him go. She’d seen him often enough for his passing to hold no further interest for her. Only the information he passed to her was of any particular note. Keeping her voice low, she spoke to herself, casting a spell around her form so that her words would not reach less than friendly ears. Wilda’s eyes narrowed. It never paid to be too cautious.

Celestia had taught her that one.

“Without Luna on her throne, nopony will lower the moon,” she murmured, even then staring up at its white glow. “Celestia will not retain her sanity through the disappearance of her sister for a second time, not after all that broken wreck of an alicorn has gone through. She has no one left to lean on. Twilight is far too busy with that stuffy stallion and working out what went wrong with her poor spell to pay attention to anyone else at this time.”

Wilda smirked, drawing her hood back up around her head with the aid of her magic.

“They couldn’t have laid everything out more perfectly for me. I must commend them once I am queen.”

Turning her gaze from the orb of the moon, the alicorn cast her eyes over the outline of historic buildings peeking over the rooftops outlined in a sleepy glow of street lights, magically powered throughout the city. Her hooves tingled. She’d always loved the night. It had held her best hours of studying, when she was younger and when she had blossomed with her cutie mark, spreading her wings into the darkness. Luna really should have let the night time reign eternal all those years ago. The heartbeat of Equestria would have been all the better for it.

“Equestria, my beauty,” she said, lowering her voice to a sultry whisper. “You shall soon be mine.”

She lifted her hoof to her lips and blew the spires of Canterlot castle a kiss, a chuckle on her lips.

“Until then, my love, I bid you adieu.”
> Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Six
 

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof
 
 


“Where did you say this drink was from, Celestia?”

The princess smiled widely as she topped up Kevin’s glass, which was shaped like the wine glasses he was so used to cleaning in the kitchens of restaurants he could never have afforded to dine at. She replaced the jug in the centre of the table and placed his glass just a little bit closer to him that before. On meeting him at the main entrance to the castle, as promised, the princess had wasted no time in hustling him to her private dining chambers through a side entrance off the ballroom. Normally used for entertaining very important ponies, she could not have thought anywhere else more suitable for dining with the most important pony of all.

“I’m so pleased to hear you are enjoying it, Kevin. I did wonder if it would be to your tastes. We evidently do not allow younger fillies and colts to enjoy this beverage as it can have some, let us say, interesting effects, but nothing else can make me feel more relaxed after a long day of ruling Equestria!”

“Well,” she added, a thoughtful hoof brushing her jaw. “That is besides a massage. Yet another reason to visit Ponyville when times are quieter: the spa.”

“I’m not sure my backrub skills are up to much with hooves, but I’d be happy to give it a shot for you anytime you wanted,” Kevin offered with a tentative smile, setting his glass carefully back on the table with his lips after taking a sip. “I did spend some time in a massage parlour before, just short-term work.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you a pony full of surprises? I would never have guessed you had so many talents!”

Blushing, Kevin nosed at his glass, wondering how he was to take another sip without spilling anything after the level of liquid had suddenly risen, once again, to the very brim. Celestia was proving to be a pro at topping up his glass when he simply wasn’t paying close enough attention.

“I hope I may only provide pleasant ones, Celestia,” he said sincerely. “And I must thank you again for your gift. It really was very thoughtful of you.”

The princess waved off his thanks with a dignified sweep of her hoof, though a discernible heat crept down her neck that she could not put down to the enchanted apple drink. She hiccupped and giggled at herself.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I only thought it was something you may enjoy and the eighteenth birthday is indeed a special one too, even for ponies. Twilight told me it was a very popular sport back in your world, though, so I hope I have provided you with some entertainment while you are here.”

Kevin ducked his head shyly, ears drooping. A set of goalposts and a football, perhaps not designed from the traditional materials, but more than close enough, was the most thoughtful gift anybody, or pony, had ever given him.

He’d never even owned his own set before.

“Your company is entertainment enough, princess,” he forced out, emotion tight in his throat, “whenever you have the time to give it.”

“For you, Kevin, I will make the time.”

Kevin gulped and sat back, tucking his haunches neatly beneath him as he tried to get used to the Equestrian way of sitting to dine. It still felt more natural to stand to enjoy food.

“I’m surprised that you have a drink similar to our liquor over here,” he said, changing the topic of conversation so that the princess would not see his shyness. “I thought Equestria was, well...purer than that, if I’m honest with you.”

“You may be surprised further then. Apple cider is particularly popular over at Sweet Apple Acres. Perhaps I should partake of the beverage at some time. Twilight is always saying that it is a heavenly drink and it is, after all, brewed by the apple family themselves. It can only be the best of the best.”

“Cider?” Kevin laughed. “Now that’s one that I wouldn’t have expected to find here! Is it alcoholic?”

Celestia leaned in and gave him a conspirator’s wink.

“It’s another one we certainly keep well away from foals!”

Kevin chuckled and ducked his head.

“Well, I can’t say I’ve really had anything like this before,” he confessed. “It does seem to make one rather light-headed, even if I do say so myself.”

“It’ll only affect you as much as you want it to, so don’t worry if you ever feel like it’s going too far. It has been known to give ponies an unexpected burst of confidence, however, but that’s about the limit of the effects it may escalate on its own.”

Kevin smiled sheepishly and sipped at the drink, tipping the glass back to allow the liquid to pour between his lips.

“Understood.”

“I forget how it is to eat and drink without the aid of magic,” Celestia commented. “What did you do when you were human? Twilight mentioned something called ‘hands’, but, in all honesty, I find it rather difficult to visualise.”

As Kevin mused through and struggled to explain exactly what hands were to an attentively listening princess, he suddenly became aware of their close proximity. When had the princess scooted so close to him? They were not near enough that they would touch, but the heat of her body warming his was impossible to ignore. One ear swivelled to the princess, paying attention to her at all times while he tried to hold her attention the best he could. He swallowed and trailed off, looking down at the table, the flower arrangements that he’d even seen the servants scurrying in with earlier in the day. What could he honestly do to entertain a princess? What was he even thinking?

“I’m so sorry, Celestia, I cannot imagine how this all sounds to you.” He blinked, nostrils quivering. “You’ve lived for so many years that you’re hearing all of this like one of your foals is talking to you.”

“That’s simply not true!” She pulled her head back to better see him, his drooping ears and lowering bottom lip. “Kevin, I like talking to you, please don’t ever think otherwise. I don’t know where you would have gotten such an idea from. You always have such interesting things to say.”

Kevin laughed, though there was no humour in his tone.

“That’s certainly the first time I’ve ever heard that. Wouldn’t have expected it to come from you either, not with everything you have going on in your life to deal with. Running a kingdom...” He shook his head, his expression a mixture of doubt and awe. “I couldn’t imagine anyone I knew back home being able to do that, let alone...”

He trailed off, the words he left unspoken saying far more than what he was able to force from his lips. Taking a deep breath, Celestia laid a gentle hoof on his shoulder; Kevin trembled beneath her touch. For once, she was not wearing her hoof and leg adornments and the bare warmth of her fetlock glowed through the harder, polished hoof.

“Ponies are not like humans, Kevin, though we have elements of cruelty and unkindness in us too. There is a deeper force flowing through Equestria, our magic, that makes us who we are.”

She paused.

“And you are special. It doesn’t matter that you’re not from Equestria. Not to me.”

Kevin lifted his head, though his lips twitched.

“You really mean that?”

She held his gaze and leaned in to touch her horn softly to the flat part of his head, between his eyes. So close that they shared breath, she sighed gently and let her exhalation wash over his muzzle. The stallion inhaled instinctively.

“Of course I do.”

Celestia dropped a chaste kiss on his cheek as she pulled back, horn shining as she topped up Kevin’s glass once more.

“Then let us not speak of such topics anymore. We both enjoy each other’s company. Of course, if you no longer wish to spend time with me, I certainly will not hold you here against your will.”

Clumsily clinking his glass against Celestia’s, Kevin chanced a smile.

“There’s really nowhere else I’d rather be, princess.”

Conversation flowed more readily between them as the enchanted drink refilled glass after glass and more than just one pony found themselves increasingly light-headed. Kevin giggled, rendered tipsy, enjoying the closeness of the alicorn as she settled herself against his side, a wing loosely draped over his back. And somehow, he didn’t mind. He didn’t try to shy away as she pried more and more information from him and she didn’t mind his past either. Not that there was much to speak of, but that was entirely the point. He hadn’t led the life Celestia had and likely never would, even if his time in Equestria had brought more to light for him than he ever could have imagined.

But he didn’t have anyone to go back to either. The princess’ eyes clouded over with sympathy he hated to see when he told her of his loneliness, but, with all the diplomacy she could muster, she’d smoothly moved the conversation on to happier topics. Grateful, Kevin had gone with it, emboldened by the fact that she had not called the evening to an early close as the hours dragged on and the castle slowly shrouded itself in darkness.

And yet he could not have possibly imagined how his life was further set to change forever, all at her loving hooves. Celestia hiccupped and pulled him in closer with a wing, her mane flickering lightly down his neck. Suddenly, he was all too aware of how warm her body had become with the drink they’d been consuming far too much of, the tilt of her head and the glimmer of something more in her eyes. The princess brushed her nose against his cheek, nostrils shivering as she took in his scent as if she was trying to savour it.

“Celestia?”

Kevin gulped as the alicorn nuzzled down his neck, cheeks tinged with more than the mere hint of pink.

“Yes, Kevin?”

His nostrils flared.

“What... What are you doing?”

“Would you like me to stop?”

He shook his head quickly – too quickly – and she giggled, scooting closer to snuggle up against his side. Her shoulder pressed to his as she ducked her head down and tucked her horn up to his opposite cheek, the flat side of her muzzle warm against the underside of his chin. The stallion swallowed a squeal, heart hammering. Had the princess ever been so close to him before? He knew what it meant when girls from his old world acted in such a manner – truth be told, it wasn’t rocket science wherever one was – but did it mean the same when a pony did so? She wasn’t a girl, nor a woman. She was a mare. He gulped. What if he had taken things the wrong way?

Stuck for something to do, which could be deemed ‘safe’, he cleared his throat with a hoof in front of his muzzle.

“What, ah, do you mean?” He licked his lips nervously. “Stop what?”

“This.”

And then something warm was on his lips and he realised too late to shy away that they were her lips. Celestia’s lips parted against his and his body reacted to hers as if they had been cut from two pieces of the same jigsaw puzzle.

“C-Celestia?” He stuttered, tongue-tied in the breaking of the kiss. “Are you... Do you mean to do this? Kiss me? I mean, of course you meant to, but...” He blushed, ears splayed. “With me? Really?”

The princess chuckled and dropped a chaste kiss on his cheek; Kevin shivered under her touch.

“Of course, Kevin. You’re a fine, young stallion and, well, what can I say? There is simply something inexplicable about you that draws me in.”

He blushed harder and stared down at the empty plate on the table before him.

“Me? Why me?”

She turned his muzzle gently to hers and kissed him on the nose, though the tip of her body towards his betrayed that the alicorn wanted far more than a sweetheart’s kiss.

“Your kindness. The way you interact with other ponies, always considering them above yourself. Your tenacity in driving on through a world that you’ve been, rather unduly, thrust into and meeting every challenge set before you. Really, Kevin, you are an extraordinary pony indeed and I am confident you were an even more exceptional human.”

Celestia took a deep breath, averting her eyes, although she did not increase the distance between them as Kevin struggled to take everything in, tongue practically glued to the roof of his mouth for all his capability in speaking actual words.

“And maybe part of me simply doesn’t want you to leave either.”

The pony didn’t really know how he could reply to that and so he did not, simply enjoying her warmth as her feathers stroked down his back again and again. Almost imperceptibly, their muzzles drifted together again and, somehow, thought was no longer necessary. Her lips parted to welcome his against hers and Kevin moaned softly into the kiss, surprised at even himself for making such a raw and primal sound. His ears twitched as her tongue gently took control of his muzzle, leading him in an intimate dance for the very first time.

“I’ve never done this before,” he murmured when they broke the kiss, nostrils flaring in puffs of breath. “I just want you to know that...first.”

“You’ve never kissed a mare?” She probed gently, lips kissing and nuzzling down the side of his neck.  “You kiss like you have enjoyed the attentions of many mares. Or perhaps more that they have enjoyed a stallion.”

Kevin blushed harder, wondering if the heat in his cheeks and neck would ever fade.

“I’ve kissed before,” he admitted, “though none of the mares here. People from my world. It’s just...never gone further than that. Not that I’m assuming that that’s where you’re going!”

His head shot up, eyes rimmed with white and muscle tense down the line of his neck. Celestia tried to move in, but he scuttled back, hindquarters thumping off the cushions as he staggered upright.

“Oh gods, no! No! Nothing like that – I can’t believe I just said that!” He stumbled over his own words as he bowed his head in a shaky apology. “I didn’t mean... What must you think of me? I should never, ever have said that – I’m so sorry, princess!”

And then Celestia was there, her body supporting his as she held the shaking pony on his hooves, her lips caressing down his mane in a soft, grooming kiss.

“Kevin... There has been no offence taken, please do not think so. You have done nothing wrong,” she soothed. “Easy now, for there is no reason to fret when you are with me, I promise.”

A little of the tension slipped from his back and he chanced a glance at the princess out of the corner of his eye. The smile on her lips said as much as her words and he licked his lips, head hanging low. Words failed him, yet it turned out that he had never needed them after all.

The princess took a deep, steadying breath, sides rising as she inhaled.

“Kevin...” Celestia trembled. “Would you mind if I was to send the guards away? I should enjoy some privacy with you this evening, if you would also like that too.”

Kevin blinked, head foggy with a lust he could not yet understand.

“Yes... Of course. Of course, that is okay.”

Shakily, the princess rose to her hooves and trotted to the doors, sending away the guards with a voice that had more than a little waver in it. He jumped back as the dining table suddenly floated away, complete with the dining set and the remains of their evening meal, only to stand itself against the back wall of the private dining room. Drawing the ruby-red curtains across the windows, Celestia smiled gently and lit the fireplace with a flutter of sparks from her horn, flames crackling to life in a roaring blaze flickering through with pink. To complete the appearance of the room, she floated a pile of cushions down at a safe distance from the fireplace and set a row of glimmering candles atop the mantelpiece, each lit with a different colour flame.

She turned the lamps down in the remainder of the room, removing the crown from her head as the dim light cast a pleasant, warm glow over her finely curved body. Without thinking, the stallion trotted to her side, need stirring even as he frantically bade it to remain hidden. He’d had that problem more than once since arriving in Equestria and had had to hide in an empty room once while the princess had been trapped conversing in one of the main corridors. He would have had less of a problem with the reactions of his body if his eyes had not been roaming Celestia’s form the entire time as she happily chattered away with her back to him.

“I’m so glad you joined me this evening, Kevin,” Celestia breathed, her voice barely above a whisper. “So very glad.”

Kevin answered her with a kiss, blocking out the part of his mind that tried to scream that he shouldn’t be doing what he was doing with a princess of Equestria, much less a pony mare, and let his body do the talking for him. A stallion’s mind was easily ruled by the wants of his body and he grunted, pawing softly at the cushions as the sheath tucked up to his stomach plumped out with much thicker flesh than what he was used to.

But it was what the princess wanted too, so there was no need to feel shame at the condition of his body. Wrapping a wing around his shoulders, Celestia panted lightly and pulled him down to the cushions, letting their legs tangle as their bodies embraced in a new way for the first time for both of them together.

As the princess turned about, she tucked her hind legs to the side and flagged her tail, revealing her twitching marehood, which winked as he stared, a trickle of her juices drooling from her own lips. Her pale pink marehood gleamed and the stallion stared, drinking in his first truly uninterrupted sight of a mare in need. And he took in every detail as she winked and showed off her body for him, the tiny darker splodge of grey on her soft folds like a human freckle, the way her clit seemed to swell and pulse with life of its own, far larger than he could have imagined it to be.

And then there were her udders, hanging soft and full beneath the rounded curve of her belly. Although they were tucked up safely close to her hind legs, in prime position for a foal at foot to suckle to their hearts content, the teats seemed to beg for attention, a little tremble going through them as the mare’s muscles shivered beneath the skin. They’d been shaded by the bulk of her body before – and what pony would put his head beneath a mare to inspect such a private part without due invitation? – and Kevin licked his lips unconsciously, imagining just how warm and soft each would be to take between his lips and play his tongue over.

She was everything he had hoped for in a partner and more that he had not known to wish for. Kevin groaned softly, leaning in with his nostrils flared, sucking in her heady scent in short, needy breaths. It drew him in like an aphrodisiac, need stirring and throbbing deep inside. Lips parted, he half-curled his upper one back from his teeth, pulling in her scent so that he could better enjoy it, even if he could not have understood, at the time, what his equine body was doing.

Where his mind failed him in knowing what to do and how to behave, his body bid him to act. His cock slipped heavily from his sheath, lying against the cushions as it swelled with blood, but his tongue poked near comically from his muzzle as he fought not to clamber up on the princess’ back right away. No... He snorted and nuzzled her firm rump – just the right amount of give in her flesh – with his velveteen muzzle. A gentleman, or a gentlecolt, had to please a lady first: he knew that much.

Yet how? He grunted. His body didn’t know that! His stallion body knew how to reproduce! It didn’t know about giving pleasure!

Luckily, Celestia was right there to guide him, letting her tail float up against his cheek as she arched her neck and nickered wantonly.

“Shush... Let me lead you, my sweet stallion. Just...” She nipped her lower lip. “Have your first taste of me. I’ll tell you what feels good.”

Forcing all doubts from his mind the best he could, Kevin nuzzled up from the back of her leg, taking in her sweet scent with every harsh, needy breath. His tongue flicked out and ran tentatively up her winking sex, wrinkling his nose in anticipation of what he would taste. The honey-sweet fluid seemed to flow onto his tongue and he grunted throatily, curling his upper lip back to better enjoy her scent and taste. But he had a mare to please and was not about to let her go denied.

Pushing his tongue into her marehood, Kevin groaned into her soft rump and lapped deeply, dragging his tongue up and out over a firm, swelling nub that could only be her clit. As her need grew along with her heaving breaths and moans, her juices filled his muzzle and he swallowed them down eagerly, taking his cues from the shudders and little jolts of her body, seemingly to great effect. The princess rocked back onto his muzzle and he swirled his tongue around her clit as she snorted and nickered for more, guiding his tongue with the shift of her hindquarters until sweat darkened her sides.

Celestia moaned.

“Oh... That feels amazing, Kevin,” she murmured, shifting beneath him. “Now, mmm... Now the udders. They’re so sensitive, I need to feel your lips wrapped around my teats.”

He blinked, but did as he was bid, following the princess more eagerly as she exposed her stomach to him, lying on her back with all four legs tucked up to her body. Her hind legs splayed out slightly as he shuffled between them, groaning as his cock pushed against the cushions, even that little bit of stimulation feeling too much with just how sensitive he was. Her full udders pulled lightly out with the effect of gravity on her body, teats plump and begging for attention. Ears pricked, Kevin could see how they were the equine equivalent of human breasts, only softer and more alluring with the faint white hairs where the pink skin melded into the barrel of her body.

“Suck gently now,” Celestia guided him quietly, letting the stallion take his time in admiring her. “Explore them with your lips and tongue... I’m sure you will like them.”

Taking her at her word, he ran his tongue over one of her udders and over the teat as the princess shivered, taking the teat between his lips. Warm and soft, it rolled across his tongue as he dipped his head lower, suckling as softly as he was able while Celestia twitched and groaned, head lolling back.

“Oh my...”

She had no more words to get out as her teats were pleasured in turn, the stallion clumsily learning just how she liked to be pleased. Bolder by the second as he took his lead from her, he swirled her teats around his muzzle, her marehood winking madly as if she was trying to entice him into more. Her juices dripped out against his chest as he pressed in closer and he grunted around her teats, nuzzling over her udders as he lipped and ran his tongue over every inch of them, need rising.

Panting heavily, Celestia wriggled out of the heavy necklace – the one part of her traditional royal garb besides the crown that she could not demand of herself to put aside – and dipped her head to drop it lightly to the floor. It jangled noisily and Celestia picked her head up again with difficulty, lips parted and cheeks heated.

“I’ve never had such an attentive stallion, Kevin. Now...” Her eyes fell to her stallion and his achingly hard, throbbing shaft, unused in equine form as yet. “It seems that I have neglected one of my subjects.” Her eyes twinkled. “And I cannot possibly allow such a transgression to pass unheeded.”

Kevin tilted his head to the side, but the princess was already in motion, kicking the cushions back as she laid her forelegs over his, laying down his body lengthways. Murmuring appreciatively, she nipped his side playfully and let her lips just brush the head of his stallion shaft, the tip shining with pre-cum. Kevin shuddered, eyes rolling into the back of his head as she pressed further over him, lips parting to take the very tip of his length between her lips. She didn’t stop there, however, and pushed her muzzle down quickly, keen to taste every inch he had to give her and allowing the flat head of his cock to ease into the back of her throat. Her long, equine muzzle could have been designed for pleasure, but Kevin would never have thought something so crude and certainly not while a beautiful mare was set on showing him the pleasure an equine shaft could deliver.

Huffing, the stallion fought to pin his hindquarters in place and not rock forward like instinct demanded. By the heavens and goddesses... Would receiving a blowjob from such a stunning creature ever have felt so good as a human? He doubted as much as the fire roared, snapping twigs as it devoured them in its heat, his cock drooling copious amounts of pre-cum as Celestia moaned around his thickness and bobbed her muzzle as if she was trying to get him off right then and there. Tossing his head, Kevin tried to think of anything else, just to hold off and not flood his sweet mare’s muzzle with stallion-cream just yet.

But restraint was more difficult than expected and he was not the only one struggling. Celestia slurped and smacked her lips on the puffy head of his cock, gasping before diving back down with ever increasing vigour. Kevin whinnied and dug at the air with his hooves, trembling and puffing as the mare teased him to the edge and then left him hanging there, nostrils quivering right on the precipice. Yet the princess would not leave him there for long.

“Ah, my stallion, I simply cannot wait any longer!”

Staggering to her hooves with some difficulty, considering how high her tail was flagged, Celestia turned her back to him, hind legs braced and her winking marehood on full display. There was no confusing a mare in need and she dipped her head, nickering lustfully as she enticed him on with the tug and pull of her sex, just begging for him to fill her.

Kevin trembled, climbing more slowly to his hooves after her as his cock slapped up against his own belly

“Celestia, I don’t know how!”

Her eyes smouldered.

“Don’t think. Let your body do what we both crave!”

And that was all he needed. His body took over for him and he grunted as he suddenly found himself on his hind hooves, coming down on a mare’s willing body as she braced herself for his weight. His cock slapped up against her hindquarters, pushing up and gliding over her coat as he missed his mark, but he could not be dissuaded in the moment as instinct drove him on and on, craving her sweet touch.

Purely by chance as he bucked and thrust wildly, Celestia dipped her hindquarters at just the right instant to allow his shaft to brush her winking marehood. That was all the opening that Kevin needed and he groaned as his shaft pushed in, hooves scooting up closer to the mare as he pushed in up to the medial ring and paused there, quivering, as his virginity was so aptly stripped away.

“Deeper,” she pleaded, ears soft and twitching. “I want to feel you all... Kevin, it’s been so long since I had a stallion.”

Kevin was only too eager to fulfil her, having found his position and, with it, a little stallion confidence too. The stallion snorted and tossed his head, nipping her withers playfully as his head spun with lust, driving in hard with a slow buck of his hips. Celestia moaned as she was stretched open, his forelegs gripping her sides as he enjoyed his first passionate mating. And what better pony to have his first time with than the mare who was well on her way to well and truly capturing his heart?

Celestia rocked beneath him, encouraging him on, but he took his time in pleasing her with long, slow strokes, the motion surprisingly easy to maintain with his powerful equine body. Celestia nickered and stomped, begging him for more even as the words to do so stuck in her throat and he tentatively pushed on, driving his full length into her marehood as she still tried to wink and clench around him, dragging him in. The stallion’s breath caught, nostrils wide and flared, and he scraped his hind hooves against the stone, a cushion trapped between Celestia’s front hooves. Neither of them seemed to care for the mess as the lewd squelch of her juices accompanied their mating, breath coming quickly and thrusts gradually speeding up as both their confidence and need grew.

But their loving mating had another effect that could not be denied or held off for more than a natural body allowed. The stallion grunted, balls swinging heavily as he thrust.

“Ah... Celestia,” Kevin gasped, skin shivering. “I... I don’t know how much longer I’m going to last. Do you, ah, want me to pull out?”

“Stay in me, my sweet stallion. I will feel every inch of you as you reach that point of pleasure.”

She arched her neck beautifully and cast him a sultry look, a smile pulling at her lips.

“There’s always another round for lasting longer, after all.”

Kevin shook his mane to the other side of his neck and groaned as she squeezed around him, dragging his cock in even as he tried to be gentle. Slowly, the mare coaxed hard thrusts from him, the long, deep strokes that shook her body to its very core, driving the need in her loins to a thrumming crescendo. Twisting her head back and forth, Celestia panted, encouraging him on between moans as the heat in her body grew and grew, skin tingling and horn crackling with magic that threatened to spill free.

“Ah, that’s it!” She cried. “More! Harder! I’m going to...”

He never heard what she was going to say as the mare whinnied in orgasm, her cries of pleasure echoing off the walls of the private dining chamber that had surely never been intended for such a use. The mare’s pussy squeezed and rippled around him, caressing down his shaft in such a way that it was impossible for him to hold back.

And, as Celestia groaned and whickered throatily through her own orgasm, Kevin hit his first as a pony stallion. His hooves scraped over the stone and he clung to her tightly as he neighed, balls seeming to tighten as they prepared to spill their load. His head fogged over as spurt after spurt of semen travelled up the length of his cock, the head flaring out against her inner walls to deliver the thick ropes of virile cum. He panted and snorted for breath that would not come, Celestia shuddering beneath him as she slowly came down from her own high, delivering far more cum into her depths than he could have ever imagined he would have been able to produce.

The stallion scrabbled against the princess’ sides as his cock throbbed and pulsed, kept inside her by the tight grip of her marehood around him. Even as the spurts trailed off, his mare well and truly seeded, Kevin could not pull out, even as his back ached to be back on all fours again.

Unable to drag his softening shaft from her, Kevin giggled dizzily as the princess’ legs buckled beneath him, drawing them both down to the cushions in a clumsy mess of limbs. Sweat streaked her hind legs and Celestia panted, striving to relax enough to allow her stallion to ease from her. And, when he was finally able to, the still throbbing head of his cock popped free with a lewd outpouring of their combined fluids, semen and arousal mixed together in a delicious cocktail. Her pussy drooled the evidence of their mating messily, the creampie trickling down over her clit as her tail flagged and her marehood winked, the mare already wanting more.

Twisting about, Kevin laid against her, exhaustion rolling through his muscles, half on and half off the cushions.

“Kevin?”

The stallion nickered and pressed his cheek against hers, legs tangled together amongst the cushions.

“Yes, Celestia?”

“Will you sleep with me tonight?”

The stallion chuckled, still striving to regain his breath.

“Sure... But maybe we should go back to your bedchambers if you’d like me to stay with you?” He lipped her neck softly. “It’s a bit public here. If the guards were to walk back in...”

Celestia shushed him with a hoof on his lips, eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Of course... It is a deal.”

He kissed her, letting their embrace linger in the afterglow.

“Deal.”

As his heart warmed to the princess’ loving hold, he nestled against her side later that night, safe and warm in the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, he had found something that would keep him in the world of Equestria.

Just maybe.
> Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Seven

 
Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof

 
 

Poking his head around the door to Celestia’s bed chambers from a side he was unused to, Kevin peered out into the corridor. There were no guards and he exhaled, sides heaving. The coast was clear, or at least clear for a moment. If he didn’t want to be seen, he would have to be swift.

Closing the door quietly behind him, he slipped into the corridor and set off at a brisk clip.

“Kevin.”

He skidded to a halt and whirled to face the disapproving muzzle of the last blue alicorn he would have wanted to run into at that time. Luna flicked her gaze between him and her sister’s closed door, tail stiff and clamped down as much as it would over her hindquarters.

“What were you doing in my sister’s bed-chamber?” She pressed her lips together into a thin line. “Has she been taken ill?”

Kevin gulped.

“Oh no, nothing, nothing really,” he fumbled. “Just...well... She had some tasks for me to do today and I wanted to get an early start.”

It was a lame excuse and he knew it, but it was the only one he had to give when put so on the spot. As Luna advanced, a scowl forming, he did the only thing a pony could do in such a situation.

“Got to go – sorry, bye!”

Calling speed to his hooves that he had not known he was capable of – really, he was simply impressed that most of the time that he managed to remain upright – Kevin fled the hallway, only skittering on the edge of the carpet once. Luna stared after him, not bothering to chase when she already had all the answers she needed.

She could not slumber that day, instead pacing the castle hallways in search of a sister that seemed intent on avoiding her at every turn. Kevin, she noticed, no longer cleaned the suits of armour, which had been on his roster for that day, but was to be found instead reading in the library under the studious eyes of the librarian pony. That in itself would not have been such a terrible transgression if the other servants and guards of the castle had not noticed and been exceptionally vocal in their lack of support. After all, why should the strange pony get a day off – heavens, he was not down for any work at all! – when they had to continue on? It was not a holiday!

Placating them the best she could while giving Kevin the evilest side-eye she could possibly manage as Princess of the Night, Luna tracked her sister’s path at every turn, eventually cornering her where she could not evade without undue notice.

“Celestia!”

The princess whirled to face her sister as the alicorn trapped her in the gardens, her hindquarters up against her hedge. Her eyes flicked up and Luna scowled, the princess’ expression dark.

“Don’t you even think about flying away. You have been avoiding me all day long and you know exactly why I am looking for you, sister.”

Celestia smiled sheepishly.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

Luna glared and prodded her in the chest, making her jewellery bump uncomfortably into bone.

“Perhaps, but there seem to be many discontented ponies in the castle today. Do you have any idea why that may be?”

Celestia bristled.

“Kevin had a late night and I gave him the day off from his duties,” she shot back. “It is unfair to have him working more than other ponies when he has already done so many extra hours within the castle.”

“A late night caused by you, no doubt.”

“What I do is none of your business, sister,” Celestia said flatly, wings tense and ruffled. “And I believe I was fair. I will deal with the ponies who are upset at the change of events and explain my reasoning. Perhaps I should have been clearer initially, though I did not think there were so many eyes on him.”

“Thank you,” Luna sighed. “Then perhaps I may finally sleep. Though I warrant my night will be busier than ever if you’re off prancing with that colt.”

Celestia grinned mischievously.

“I’ll make my dreams extra loud for you, if you prefer that!”

Luna reared and flung her front hooves out towards her sister, closing her eyes against an image that only she could see.

“By the stars – please don’t! Wandering into one is enough!”

Dropping back to all fours, Luna fixed Celestia with a serious look, wings folded back in smoothly to her sides.

“Sister, you know this cannot go on, don’t you? He is so much younger than you and the ponies will talk. There has already been talk – negative talk. Too many whispers will sour Equestria when you and I both walk in the sunlight and the moonlight of all... Respectively.”

Celestia drew back, eyes speculative. The wind lifted her mane and it swirled for a moment before settling back into its usual undulating waves.

“Luna, my personal life is not the business of Equestria,” she said after an unduly long pause. “If Kevin and I enjoy one another’s company, we will continue to do so.”

“It is not the right way for a princess to be consorting herself.”

“Then what is the right way, in your eyes?” Celestia slammed a hoof into the finely manicured lawn, startling a songbird from the tree behind her. “There is no right way for a stallion and a mare to be together, only what they determined.”

Luna lowered her head, levelling her gaze.

“There is a right way for the princess to consort herself. You must not show favouritism to anypony.”

The sun princess scoffed and waved a hoof.

“I showed no favouritism, only I feel you are far too picky in whom you consider to be an appropriate suitor for me! I still haven’t forgiven you for setting me up with that stallion from Saddle Arabia.”

“There was nothing wrong with him!”

“There was everything wrong with him! Perhaps not for you, if you had wanted to court him, but for me he was all wrong. I would never have chosen such a stallion for myself.”

“And now you are choosing Kevin and making the greatest mistake of your long life.”

Celestia pressed her lips together, the lines on her horn shining as if the magic within her wanted to break free.

“I have no words to reply to such a remark, sister, but I hope you shall reconsider once you have had some rest.”

Without another word, she stalked away, every muscle in her body tense and head held stiffly high, though she couldn’t quite wipe the glow of magic from her horn. It crackled a hair’s breadth beneath the surface and Celestia exhaled softly, striving and failing to release it in a manner that could at least ease the throbbing from the front of her skull. Maybe a trip to the palace doctor was in order. He would only be too happy to make her day just a little easier.

As Celestia hid a yawn and resolved inwardly to speak to her sister at a more calmer point in the day, a pony with a silver mane and tail clip-clopped down the path. A casual observer may have thought that Wilda was simply out in the palace gardens enjoying the scenery, but there was not a single thing Wilda did without purpose. A thrush in the trees flitted deeper into the branches as she joined Luna at her side, watching Celestia’s retreat with a little too much interest for comfort.

Unconsciously, Luna shifted her weight away from the other alicorn, leaning onto her opposite two hooves.

“I see your sister has an admirer.”

Luna sighed.

“Indeed. Though we shall have to see how this interlude plays out in the hooves of Equestria. There is little I may do to remedy the situation.”

“Oh, Luna, there is everything you can do,” Wilda said smoothly, brushing her shoulder with a hoof, just above her foreleg. “You are her sister, after all. If she does not take counsel from you, whoever would Celestia turn to in a time of need?”

Hanging her head, Luna’s ears drooped.

“She doesn’t realise,” she said in an unduly small voice, sounding more foal-like than she had in many years. “She needs to think of the needs of Equestria. She can’t go off with whichever pony takes her fancy. She has to think of her kingdom.”

Luna twisted her lips and shot Wilda a look, words flooding from her muzzle like water, a rising tide that could not be stopped once it had begun.

“Did you see what she posted on the barrack boards?” She hissed lowly, thrusting her muzzle closer to the other alicorn. “He’s going into training with the new recruits – for the royal Canterlot guard nonetheless! Just what in heaven and earth is that pony thinking? He is hardly trained or suitable for such a purpose! He has no cutie mark to direct him and no talents that should even point towards a life in the service of royalty.”

The alicorn paused, considering her own words as Wilda nodded sympathetically.

“I know, I know,” she murmured, yet Luna hardly heard her. “It is not how things should be done.”

“Granted, he has the height on his side, but his co-ordination is lacking. However is he to defend Canterlot or his princesses? He has no magic to support himself either. The guards are talking.”

She inclined her head back at the guards stationed by the side entrance to the palace, their expressions twisted and distrustful in the warmth of the day.  Sweat beaded on their brows and yet they still held their posts, determined to do their duty as they had promised, saying their oaths with solemn faces and a hoof held to their chest before the princesses.

“Take these fine colts, for example. All the years they spent training and applying to join the palace guard and for what? So that Kevin can come in from nowhere and take a place that could have gone to one that had coveted it from foal-hood. He may have talent, yet they do not see it as fair. And I cannot say I do either, Wilda. Not in the slightest.”

Luna yawned, twisting her head as tiredness wove tendrils into the corners of her mind. Her eyelids drooped and she shivered. It would only be a few hours before she would be required to rise again to protect the night.

“Luna, as much as I would adore speaking with you further, you really must sleep.”

Wilda pushed her side lightly and the alicorn stumbled, suddenly as shaky as a newborn foal.

“You’re weak from taking on what should be Celestia’s duties,” she continued, more gently than she had ever spoken to the princess of the night. “Go to your bed chambers. Rest. The night will call you when it is time to raise the moon.”

“Yes...” Luna struggled against another yawn, even wider than the first. “You are right, Wilda. I shall have to ponder this come nightfall.”

Bidding her farewell, Luna lowered her head and began her trudge back to her chambers, seeming barely able to carry the weight of her own body back to the comfort of her bed.

“Thank you, Wilda,” she called back softly over her shoulder. “I should not have known what to do without somepony to talk some sense into me from time to time.” She paused, eyes flicking away. “Perhaps we should converse more than we do.”

The silver-haired alicorn smiled, yet the warmth of the false look did not flicker into her eyes or release the stiffness from her hindquarters. They should speak more? That was rarely said. And perhaps it was so, but Luna was not her goal. Luna’s night, as beautiful as it was, was far from the prestige that Wilda coveted with all her heart and soul.

With Luna well on her way back to slumber, Wilda turned to the guards, who eyed the princess obviously as she departed.

The perfect targets...

Standing before them with wide, innocent eyes that could not possibly mean any harm, Wilda spread her wings and smiled charmingly. The cutie mark that she usually kept covered up gleamed, a silver scroll with a blank ink pot that meant far more than its mere base meaning.

“If you are displeased with how the princess is handling her affairs, I have another option for you,” she murmured, too low for the retreating princess to overhear. “Would you spend the time and walk with me? I could so use the company of a pair of fine, strong guards on my walk today.”

Tipping his head thoughtfully to the side, the nearest guard nodded slowly and followed a step back from Wilda’s withers as she told him with a silver tongue of all the ways she could make his life better, the ways of Equestria and the fairness that had run oh so very rife with Celestia ruling. Luna had no sway, it had to be said, and, really, didn’t the guards deserve better treatment than they had been receiving? Their barracks should only take in the best of the best and not just any old riff-raff from the back streets. Kevin had no place in the world of Equestria and should be shut away or assigned to the most menial, demeaning of tasks until he could be sent right back wherever he belonged – for good.

And thus she had another recruit assigned to her cause with the promise of more, the second guard trailing behind with his suspicion melding into hope as he listened and listened, saying nothing. Wilda smiled.

All was coming together in her plan.
> Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Eight

 
Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof

 
 

“All to attention! Reverse position!”

Kevin scrambled to keep up, a full head and shoulders taller than most of the other ponies in the guard. True, there were some lankier ones and earth ponies built like rocks, all sequestered into different strains of talent within the Canterlot Guard, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t stand out.  Regardless of how he towered, everyone had their place and it seemed that Kevin was about to find his too.

Shining Armour, away from the Crystal Empire specifically to train the new recruits, was especially ruthless. He scowled and flung out his hoof, the guards rushing to obey. Their hooves, however, were clumsy and Kevin stifled a grunt as he tripped – and not for the first time either. No matter what he did, he didn’t seem able to co-ordinate his equine body, or at least not to the level that ponies born with four legs were able to command.

He heard the whispers though and turned his muzzle from them in the showers, standing with his back to the other recruits as the water washed the grime and sweat of training from his coat. They glared and made faces, ears pinned and tails clamped down so firmly that one would have thought there was a strong wind blowing up their backs, though Shining Armour was as pleasant as the pony equivalent of a drill sergeant possibly could be. Shaking the water from his mane and tail, Kevin yawned and let his head hang low as he clip-clopped from the recruit barracks, barely seeing any other pony as he left with only one particular pony on his mind.

He chanced a smile and inquisitive tilt of his head at a passing unicorn stallion who looked just about as tired as he felt. The pony with a blue coat looked surprised to be so addressed, but returned his smile with his own and trotted into the showers with what Kevin hoped was a little more spring in his step. One day and one pony at a time: that was the way to do it. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to talk to them, only that they had their own problems to deal with without taking a weird pony that stood much taller than them and was clearly in the princess’ figurative good scrolls into consideration.

“Kevin!”

He sighed and stepped to the side of the corridor, hooves already set inside the palace, seeming to have hardly managed to get far into its bounds before being accosted. Twilight Sparkle raced up to him, the smaller dragon, Spike, trailing behind her with a scroll clasped in his paws.

Skidding to a halt, she looked at him expectantly and he realised with a start that he had not greeted her in turn. He cleared his throat, pain searing up the length of his neck. A sore throat for a horse was something very different than what it could have been for a human being.

“Hi, Twilight,” he murmured, voice hoarse. “What’s going on? Can I help with something?”

“No – not right now, at least, it looks like you’ve had a crazy busy day. Was Shining Armour good with you? I know how much he loves training the new recruits.”

Kevin winced.

“He does, ah, have a rather loud voice.”

Twilight laughed and shook her head.

“He loved playing guard and invader when we were younger, but I preferred sitting down with a good book. He was always trying to rope me into something or the other, that poor pony. I’m glad he got to live out his dreams now too, even if he is in charge of the guards of the Crystal Empire. It was the Canterlot Guard that his heart was set on, right back when he was a colt. He likes to have his part to play too.”

Kevin blinked and tilted his head, one word blurring into the next until her chatter became a wall of noise before him. Swaying on his hooves, he leaned against the wall for support as Spike tapped Twilight behind her foreleg, drawing her attention gently away.

“Uh, Twilight? I think Kevin has somewhere else to be right now.”

Twilight stopped dead mid-sentence, eyes snapping to Spike.

“What? But we have a mentoring session scheduled. We have to go over the history of Canterlot and how the city was formed after the defeat of Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia moving from The Castle of the Two Sisters!”

Spike’s lips twitched.

“I don’t think he’d be able to concentrate on lessons tonight, even if he wanted to, Twilight. Look at him.”

Kevin winced.

“Do I look that bad?”

Spike shook his head and threw the pony a pointed look.

“Besides... I think he has somewhere to be tonight. Somewhere somepony else has asked him to go.”

Twilight looked between Spike and Kevin several times, comprehension dawning on her while Kevin turned varying shades of red. If he’d been a unicorn, he would have been thinking of a spell to make him disappear into the floor or at the very least teleport somewhere far, far away.

The alicorn started, wings flaring out.

“Oh! Oh, yes, of course. How silly of me to not think of your other activities!”

Twilight grinned and winked, tail flicking as she giggled.

“Wouldn’t want to keep you from that now, would I?”

Kevin sighed and smiled to himself as he continued through the castle to the princess’ private chambers. Luna was due to rise at any time and he peered down the hallway before darting down and through Celestia’s door. Having seen him come by time and time again on his own will and the princess’ gentle summons, the guards in the traditional golden armour only shared a smirk as he passed them with a mumbled apology.

Celestia stood on the balcony, her front hooves on the intricate railing bordering the platform as she looked up at the slowly setting sun. Her horn glowed as the orange and crimson rays glanced off her white coat, adding colour to it that he had never had the good fortune to see before in all her purity.

“Long day?” He said, nosing her side.

“As long as I made it.”

The princess smiled at her own joke and Kevin snorted, a chuckle bubbling up from his throat.

“Really now.”

“Yes,” Celestia said, or at least tried to say as a yawn distorted her words. “But I could not stop myself from allowing the sun to set oh so slowly tonight. Luna’s surely got a long night ahead of her and I do not have to lower the sun quite so soon. She may slumber a while longer.”

A flicker of mischief danced through Kevin’s mind and, before he could stop the impulse, he playfully lunged for the princess’ flank, nipping her sharply on the rump. Celestia squealed and half-raised a hind hoof in a threat to kick out, remembering herself an instant before she actually committed to the action. Breaking down in a fit of giggles, she bumped her head into Kevin’s shoulder, the stallion laughing along with her as she lost herself to mirth at the ridiculousness of what he’d done. Biting her!

“What in the name of the sun and moon was that for?” She forced out, snorting through her giggles. “That hurt!”

“It was a love nip!”

“It was hard!”

“Maybe...a hint?”

Blushing, Kevin pranced on the spot, neck arched and mane flowing in waves down his neck, still damp from his shower. Celestia looked at him more closely, something shifting beneath his stomach. His shaft swelled, thickening with blood, bouncing up against his belly as his body demonstrated his need for him. A small smile pulled at the princess’ lips, slowly growing wider and wider as the stallion posed for her, a nicker fluttering on his lips.

“Well, well...” She murmured. “Kevin, you are so bold. I never expected this from you, or at least not so soon.”

Kevin swallowed hard and smiled sheepishly, his tail clamping down as his confidence wavered.

“It’s worth it for you.”

To his surprise, however, the princess backed away, a secretive glint in her eye. Dimming the lights in the bedroom, she set the flames burning in the wall lanterns, shadows flickering and dancing cheekily. She winked and flicked her tail, the multi-coloured essence floating to the side rather than swishing, and Kevin tracked its motion, need rising as he caught a glimpse of her pink marehood tucked up beneath.

“Follow me,” she whispered, turning her back to him.

He needed no further encouragement to follow his love from the bedroom as she tapped a painting on the wall to reveal a hidden passage. The stones in the wall slid apart as if they had never truly been solid and Kevin followed her into the dark passage behind as she lit the way with her horn.

“Where are we going?” He murmured, eyes fixed on her backside, muscle rising through her well groomed coat. “Don’t you want to...well...you know...maybe...”

He trailed off, but she wasn’t about to finish the sentence for him; she was, after all, a princess on a mission. But the end result would leave her stallion very pleased, she was sure. He only had to be patient just a little longer.

Pushing open a creaking, wooden door that may as well have remained closed for centuries, Celestia exhaled softly as she led him into a small, beautiful library. With a window that looked out over the most extravagant spread of the Canterlot gardens, a little reading table had been set by the window with a quantity of plush cushions at the foot of the bookcase for what seemed to be her comfort and her comfort alone. Kevin breathed in, the faint scent of Celestia intermingling with that of the books, the floral perfume that she wore from time to time infused into the very essence of the room.

She kissed Kevin’s cheek gently and leaned into him. The stallion tried not to think about his need and instead paid her his full attention, nuzzling her neck. Or at least he gave her as much sole attention as his needy body would allow.

“This is my private library,” she whispered, as if afraid to disturb the silence. “Nopony comes here but me.” She paused, working the words around her mouth before setting them free. “And now...you.”

He should have said more. He should have had profound words on the tip of his tongue, thanking her for letting him into such a private, intimate place. But his tongue was tied.

And then her lips were on his, passionate and hasty, and his lack of words didn’t matter one bit. Kevin moaned lustfully into the kiss, cock slapping up against his stomach as the princess bore him down to the cushions. Tumbling clumsily onto them in a tangle of legs, the stallion chuckled breathlessly as he found himself on his back, forelegs curled up as if he was suddenly and abruptly at the mercy of the princess.

Yet he could not have thought of a better place to be.

The princess stepped over him, the white expanse of her belly filling his vision. Her teats lowered down to his muzzle and he didn’t need to be told to press his nose up into the softness of her udders. Licking and nuzzling, he teased the pink flesh with the gentlest of touches, though he could not help but wish he was pushing his tongue into her surely winking marehood at the same time. But no stallion was talented enough to please both simultaneously without a little assistance, he already knew. That didn’t stop him from trying, grunting as he stole swipes of his tongue over her soft, winking marehood between suckling and nipping playfully at her udders. The yielding flesh gave beneath his tongue and lips as he nuzzled, groaning and puffing warm breath over her teats, yearning to give her all the attention she deserved and more.

Celestia didn’t seem to mind that his tongue could only be in one place at once and ground down onto his muzzle, letting him take her teats between his soft lips to suckle and tease. The princess trembled as he pulled them both into his muzzle, slurping and lapping adoringly over both at the same time. Flicking his tongue between them, they slipped out of his lips with a lewd, wet smack and he nickered as he pressed his muzzle between them, inhaling her inherently mare-ish scent with quick, sharp puffs of breath.

He wondered faintly what it would be like if she was heavy with foal and her udders larger, full of milk, and, in his mind’s eye, he suckled on her teats, letting her sweet, creamy essence fill his mouth. He licked and lapped with urgent need, imagining that he could draw milk from her just by suckling her teats and his cock slapped his stomach, excitement rising from the fleeting, yet alluring idea alone.

“Mmm...” The princess’ lips parted in a breathy moan. “Very good... You’re even better than you were last time, my sweet stallion.”

Kevin blushed, but did not reply, too occupied with her udders to waste time on words. Swirling his tongue around each teat in turn, he tugged them out lightly from her body, spurred on by her gasps as he, very gently, allowed his teeth to rub along the sensitive flesh.

Trembling, Celestia pulled away and he feared, for a moment, that he’d gone too far, but she only lowered herself to the cushions beside him, the warm rays of the setting sun casting a ruby glow over her coat. She rolled onto her back and tucked her forelegs up to her chest, mane splayed out across the cushions and fluttering up the bookcase with a mind of its own. Kevin swallowed and devoured her with his gaze, cock jumping up to full attention as a steady stream of pre-cum drooled viscously from the tip.

“Would you not rather enjoy me like this?” She fluttered her eyelashes coyly at him, beckoning in her stallion with a wave of her hoof. “There is much of me to enjoy, Kevin...”

The stallion was hardly about to disagree with a beautiful mare laid out before him, a feast to be consumed through lust and love. Curling his hind legs beneath his hindquarters and to the side, Kevin ran his tongue from the base of her winking marehood to the top, tracing her soft folds over and over again as the mare panted. Celestia let her head fall back, groaning as the pulse and twitch of her marehood pushed out her juices, showing her arousal in the best way a mare could.

Snorting lustfully into her sex, Kevin thrust his tongue inside, trying to ignore the pre-cum leaking from his shaft and undoubtedly leaving an obvious stain on the princess’ pristine cushions. But he couldn’t have stopped even if he’d wanted to. The stallion lapped up every drop of her arousal that her pulsing marehood pushed out, tugging eagerly at his tongue, and he dipped down to brush his velvety lips over her clit, teasing her with the notion of pleasure to come.

Panting, Celestia moaned for him as he locked his lips around her clit and gave it a long, hard suck, drawing her need from an ember to a burning flame, crackling with raw desire. The mare’s hooves twitched, legs near beyond her control, and she squealed as he flicked his tongue swiftly over her clit in a series of short, fluttering laps. The mare trembled under his attention, marehood pulsing with need and delivering a steady trickle of her arousal to his fluttering tongue, brushing her lips before dipping back down to her swollen clit, just as he knew she liked.

Whinnying, Celestia flagged her tail for him, throwing him a desperate look. But she knew he’d understand even without the help of words. Her heart warmed. Kevin was special.

And he did know what she wanted indeed. How could he not? He knew a mare – or his mare, at least – in need when he saw one and, keeping eye contact with his princess, he slowly pulled his head back and eased his body up and over hers. They’d tried other positions since their first time mating, but never a version of pony missionary. Kevin giggled to himself, tail flicking. There was a first time for everything, was there not?

“May I?”

“Of course. My one and only sweet, sweet stallion.”

Kevin’s breath caught, but his body was moving before he could do anything about it, instinct forcing his hindquarters forward. It was not the most traditional of mating positions, but he found some balance with his front legs, knees pressed into the plush cushions, and nickered throatily as his cock sank into her warmth. The mare grunted and snaked her neck out to nip his throat, goading her wild-eyed stallion on. His back legs skittered out to the sides as he struggled to balance, the weight of his own body working against him to slam his length in to the hilt.

“Oh... Yes!”

Though she could not force out the words she truly wanted to speak, the princess made her point clear, licking her lips and moaning loudly as she drove him on to mount her. Kevin gasped and gripped her sides the best he could with his forelegs, his nose tucked into her neck. He did not bite her throat as she had done to him, but kissed and licked and nibbled as lovingly as he was able, rocking his hindquarters in a rough, needy buck. The stallion groaned, head swimming with more lust than he could have ever imagined was possible. Did every time with the princess get better and better?

Her marehood clenched and rippled around him, still winking as she tried to pull him in deeper, and he barely pulled out to the medial ring before slamming back in, chest reverberating lightly with his grunts. His chest darkened with sweat where it pressed against hers, bodies rising and falling gently – too gently – together. Celestia hooked a hoof around his fetlock and tipped his head up with her horn, eyes locking onto his. Kevin blinked. Were they shimmering around the edges?

“Harder,” Celestia murmured, holding his gaze with her own, eyes intense. “Take me like a stallion takes a mare. I’ll have every inch of you tonight and your seed spilled in me as a reminder of what we have done, as mare and stallion.”

Kevin opened his mouth and closed it again, something deep in him submitting to the mare who had suddenly taken more of a lead than usual. Sure, she’d been the one to initiate most of the time and there was never really any doubt about what she wanted him to do as she guided him with the hoof of experience, but to be told so carnally what she craved... Kevin gulped and closed his eyes, nostrils flaring as he struggled against instinct to hold back. For his mare always finished before he did.

Rolling his head, Kevin panted in great, heaving gasps for breath, using all the leverage he had to slam into the princess as she moaned and nickered beneath him. And, with every thrust he pleasured her with, she grunted and begged him for more, always more, her need rising and rising as something tightened within her. And there was no holding back when his shaft ground over her clit repeatedly, hitting that spot of nerves within her in a way that had the room spinning as if she’d drunk too much Sweet Apple Acres cider once again.

The best things in life were enjoyed in large doses.

Celestia moaned and trembled as every thrust drove her closer and closer to ecstasy, a slow build to the peak that was tantalising in how close yet so far it was. Without using her magic, she had never learned how to bring herself to climax all on her own and the sensation of feeling another pony stimulate that need in her, that feeling of pending explosion, made her nerves tingle. Her mane snapped and flicked wildly out from the sensual arch of her neck as she whinnied, pressing her forelegs up and around Kevin’s sides in the closest approximation of an equine hug she could manage in the moment. All the while, the tightness within her built and built until it simply could not be contained anymore.

Celestia kicked out, barely missing her sweet lover, and whinnied shrilly as she surrendered to orgasm, the thrust and grind of her partner carrying her through a climax that seemed to grow by the second. Her horn crackled with magic and shot off a beam of harmless light, sparks showering down over the two of them engaged in the frenzied, lustful act of mating, though neither would notice the singed rug until later that evening.

Wave after wave of pleasure swept through the mare, leaving her a trembling, nickering mess as her juices soaked her stallion’s shaft. She could not have honestly said she was in control of her own body as pleasure wracked her in the most vulnerability-inducing way possible. Closing her eyes, she could not see Kevin’s nostrils quivering in shock as her mane and tail turned rose pink and hazy, their substance wavering as her marehood twitched and pulled around him, striving to drag him deeper even as he stood buried balls-deep in his mare, wanting more.

Celestia grunted breathlessly and tucked her nose into the underside of his neck, her juices trickling down the stretched lips of her pussy and over the tight pucker of her tail hole. She shivered at the sensation, head lolling back. Above her, Kevin grunted, tail flagging as he too balanced on the edge of climax, needing to seed his gorgeous mare, yet waiting for the permission he knew was coming. His cock throbbed with sheer, raw need and he swallowed hard as he fought against instinct to hold back, the head of his shaft already flared and wanting. The slightest movement could set him off and he barely breathed as he allowed his mare to come down from her high with the feeling of his thick length filling her to the brim.

It would have been easy to thrust and reach his own pinnacle of pleasure, after all, but that was not what mating was about – not what he had ever thought it had been about, even as  a human being. Inexplicably and irrevocably, he trusted Celestia above all else and knew the wait for his own needs to be fulfilled would be more than worth it. She would never leave him hanging, after all. Kevin’s lips twitched up in a smile as her marehood rippled around him, forcing out a little more of her juices around his cock in a lewd squelch. His princess mare simply cared far too much for him to forget about his needs and desires too.

Kevin trembled. He hadn’t had someone care about him like that in a long, long time.

But the princess knew what he wanted as he huffed and nickered over her head, sides heaving with restraint. With as much energy as she could summon, she pushed him back gently, letting him take more weight on his hind hooves rather than balancing on top of her. Blinking, he followed her lead with a twitch of his ears and let her guide him back to all four hooves, skittering as one caught on a particularly slippery satin cushion.

Celestia giggled and half-reared, putting her shaking forelegs up onto the little reading desk set in front of the window, a band of stained glass radiant in all the colours of the rainbow running across the top and bottom to reflect her mane. Her mane and tail still shivered in that strange, pink glow, but Kevin could hardly think of the reasons why – Twilight would probably have some idea, if he had the nerve to ask her later – with her marehood drooling the evidence of her climax right before his eyes.

Her creamy juices glistened on the soft lips of her sex as she whinnied and spread her hind legs a little further apart, bracing herself for him. Transfixed, he peeled his upper lip back from his teeth to sift through the scents and rumbled lustfully, the sound surprising even him as his cock bobbed and flexed against his stomach.

Shuddering, Celestia groaned as his tongue ran over her clit to the top of her winking marehood, scooping up her juices as he gulped down the treat like a sweet offering in a crystal vessel. The stallion’s tongue pushed eagerly into her, his own need temporarily forgotten in favour of something even more alluring, and Kevin huffed against her sex, letting her tail fall down over the back of his neck.

Cock swaying and drooling pre-cum as if he had already climaxed, there was little he could do to hold himself back anymore. As her marehood squeezed around his tongue, he reluctantly pulled back and pushed up onto his hind hooves, more practiced in the motion than he would have publicly admitted to any other ponies. He even managed to drop his weight gently onto her back as she pushed back against him, hindquarters gyrating as she begged without words for the pleasure, the filling, only he could deliver.

Nuzzling the back of her neck, Kevin inhaled deeply, rolling his hips up and forward as he sought her entrance. He needed her more than he’d ever done before. And it seemed the feeling was mutual.

Their gasps of pleasure came at the same time, the overly flared head of his shaft finding the yielding slickness of her entrance and ramming in as he forced her open once more. The princess moaned and dipped her nose down between her knees, eyes flicking up to her sunset as the last servants from the day shift in the palace scurried home across the grounds back to their families before Luna raised the moon and cast sweet darkness. There was an innate dislike of darkness in ponies, lacking the adequate eyesight to see as clearly under its shroud as their ancestors, yet she giggled at the thought of one of them turning back to see her muzzle in the window. Would they guess what she was doing up in her private library? Or even – would one of them see the shadow of Kevin behind her and flee in shock?

She wouldn’t have minded an adoring observer or two, yet there was no hope of that as her charges made their respective ways home, even if there were some guards that she wouldn’t have minded having the attention of while Kevin mounted her over and over again... Celestia’s breath caught. Sometimes dreams could become reality too, a warm ripple spreading through her skin.

Despite usually slumbering under the call of darkness, there was much pleasure to be had in the sweetness of one’s bed too, she thought as Kevin drove into her, nearly thrusting the notion from her mind entirely. But it was the darkness that had brought her much peace and love with her stallion too, so she could never, ever have scorned it, even if it had not been her own dear sister who cared for the night.

The stallion covering her nickered desperately, the flared tip of his shaft rubbing so wonderfully against that cluster of wicked nerves inside her that she fleetingly wondered if she was about to have a second climax.

There was only one way to find out if her mate was simply that naturally talented.

“Finish in me, Kevin,” she nickered lustfully, legs quivering as she balanced herself on the desk. “I want to feel every drop... Please!”

The words did not come easily in the shaky afterglow of her first climax and Celestia’s voice broke into a needy neigh, which echoed around the little library as if it sought to escape. Yet there was no one but the palace servants, perhaps, in the rooms below to hear her cries and they were certainly not about to disturb a princess of Canterlot as she enjoyed herself with her first lover in many, many years.

Kevin groaned deep in his throat and drove in, hindquarters riding to meet hers as he bred her. His tail flicked madly, too wild to mimic his usual relaxed swish, and his ears slipped back, wiggling as he raced to the brink of climax. He nipped at the mare’s withers, teeth scratching up along her neck, and Celestia panted, eyes rolling back into her skull.

“Ah... Celestia!” He grunted, flanks heaving. “So close!”

Balanced on the edge of another orgasm, Celestia was too far gone to respond, his needy, driving thrusts giving her everything she craved and more. All she could do was neigh her encouragement, one hoof scraping a gouge into the desk to be later giggled over. And she wanted nothing more than to feel every drop of his essence filling her over and over again.

She got everything she wished for.

Kevin’s tail flagged as high as he could possibly force it as his head spun with climax, cock pulsing with thick spurts of seed. The stallion slammed a hoof into the floor and neighed so loudly that it was as if he wanted the whole castle to know what they were up to, balls tucking up closer to his body as they delivered a heavily virile dose of semen down his lengthy shaft. The twitch and ripple of her passage forced his cum out along his smooth-skinned cock and Kevin groaned quietly as it drooled onto his balls, splattering down to mark the floor beneath them, as visceral a reminder of their mating as they could have wanted.

Catching her breath, Celestia relaxed for a fraction of a second – and then Kevin’s teeth found her neck, biting down. The jolt should have set her on edge with a hind hoof raised, warning him back, but the primal, raw bite was enough to throw her over the edge of the mental cliff, her marehood rippling with a second climax. Nickering half through pleasure and half through shock, Celestia trembled against her lover and milked his shaft for all he had to give, his balls swinging lightly up against her engorged clit as he spent himself inside her.

The climb down from such an explosive high had both ponies shaking and nickering, pressing against one another for support as they carefully clambered back down from the desk. The wooden frame creaked beneath them as Kevin dismounted and they giggled breathlessly, though Celestia’s joke that it would have been funny if it had collapsed beneath him only struck horror into Kevin’s heart. The stallion whinnied and shook his head, pawing the ground as his softened cock hung heavily beneath his stomach, completely and utterly spent – at least for the time being.

There was one pleasure he could still enjoy, however, even if his state of sexual exhaustion rendered him completely and utterly out of action as a stud. Celestia turned her back on him, fussing with the cushions as she tried to arrange them more comfortably for both of them to sprawl across, and just like that his muzzle was pressed up to her winking marehood. As her body begged for more, her marehood pulled up and twitched against his lips and he thrust his tongue into her, drinking in her essence like an equine who had been deprived of water.

She squealed, but instantly spread her legs for him, her mane and tail slowly returning to their normal colours. As her marehood pulsed, he ran his tongue around and around the flushed nub of flesh, barely believing that it could bring his lover so much pleasure. It should have been innocuous, but it had swelled with blood as her arousal had grown through their long mating session and Celestia shivered into his touch, horn shooting off a shaky array of sparks.

“Kevin...” She moaned, lips parted. “No more, I must rest...too sensitive. Later?”

He chuckled, breath washing over her sex and finished off with a quick lap to her marehood as his own little conclusion to their session, her taste potent on his lips.

“No words for me tonight?” He teased lightly, letting her rest her weight on his side as he guided her down to the cushions. “I didn’t think you’d climax twice with me.”

He moaned softly, licking his lips.

“That was really something.”

Relaxing on her side, Celestia rested her head on his foreleg, the stallion stretched out behind her with his forelegs flung out before his body. His soft cock flopped across the cushions, seemingly unwilling to retreat to its sheath with such a lustful mare beside him. Celestia couldn’t help herself. Wrapping her magic around one of the cushions, she blew him a kiss as she gently rubbed the silk down the length of his shaft, earning another pulse of cum from the still drooling tip. Nickering, Kevin bobbed his muzzle, tail swishing against the cushions.

“Yes, I can be a tease too, darling,” she giggled and kissed his neck. “But there will always be time together for more.”

She paused, teeth catching at the inside of her lower lip.

“I intend to be with you for a very long time, Kevin.”

The stallion fumbled for words and found none, instead laying his head down beside hers, ears flopping contentedly. What did the intricacies of things matter when they had each other? Everything was coming right at long last and he was hardly about to question matters at such a time.

Yet there was still something he had to say. Words left unsaid bubbled up into his throat and he licked his lips, courage fleeing to the back of his mind where he could not even call it back.

Traitor.

“Celestia, I think...”

Kevin swallowed, the words stuck in his throat

“It doesn’t matter,” he finished lamely, looking down at his hooves. “The thought’s gone now.” He chuckled. “I guess you’ve worn me out.”

The mare eyed him speculatively, but did not press him for information, instead tucking her nose into the dip behind his withers and exhaling softly, breath soothing on his coat.

As Kevin and Celestia relaxed, the stress of the day leaving their limbs at long last, another pony moved across the Canterlot gardens like a spectre. She hid in the lengthening shadows of Celestia's sunset, moving from position to position so seamlessly that it was as if her path had been rehearsed, ingrained into her mind before even beginning her quest.

For it was to be a night to remember for the entirety of Equestria.

Divide awaited her, head bowed as his forelegs trembled. Wilda smiled cruelly. The pony had served her well and had proven his use. And now he would be the one to open the doors to Canterlot castle for her.

“My loyal subject...”

Wilda stepped up to the castle wall, looking up instead of where the path led to the nearest entrance, the grand doors. Her lips curved into a smile, eyes landing on a certain balcony with the curtains undulating lightly in the evening breeze.

“Luna shall never know the light of Equestria ever again,” Wilda murmured. “I always did enjoy the peace of her night for study anyway.”

Divide stepped back, horn lifted as other ponies joined him, including the stern-eyed schoolteacher with a hard jaw and a mane scraped back in a tight, professional bun. More supporters than Wilda could have dreamed of stood shoulder to shoulder with the guard who had been her key to the castle and Wilda chucked softly under her breath, surveying her first subjects with the pleasure only a true queen could divine.

“Take the place of the princess and Celestia shall throw out her own sister, not for the first time,” she said. “My plan is sublime. Are you with me, my subjects? Will you bow the knee to your one true queen?”

One by one, the ponies lowered their heads and touched a knee to the grass. Divide exhaled deeply, eyes brimming over with devotion for his evil queen. Wilda smiled, though the warmth did not reach her eyes.

“Shall we begin?”

As Wilda's horn glowed with dark magic, the fillies and colts hidden behind the bush quaked, their ball discarded and forgotten to the side. The alicorn's dark magic rustled the leaves and they ducked their heads down to the ground, as small as they could possibly make themselves without disappearing completely into the ground. The pink filly who had been so taken with Kevin when he'd saved their ball from the tree, squeaked and tried to use her magic, though only a few, feeble sparks burst from the tip of her horn.

Tongue sticking out from the corner of her mouth, a pegasus filly instead fluttered into the air, eyes skyward as she forced herself away from the ground, higher than she'd ever flown before. As the wind picked up, a shroud of darkness cloaked Wilda from view, mane flittering back and forth madly as if it had suddenly taken on the qualities of Luna or Celestia's magical hair. She struggled and fought against in, ears pinned to her skull, flying higher and higher, passing window after window until she found the one she was looking for. The cries of her friends lifted to her ears on the wind and she whinnied shrilly, pawing at the glass.

But it was too late.

 
> Chapter Nine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Nine

 
Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof

 
 

Celestia hummed a tune to herself as she left her chambers in the evening, closing the door gently on her hooves. She’d left a sleepy Kevin sprawled out across the rug laid out in front of the fire, a scroll tucked between his hooves. She doubted it would be all that long before he was conked out for the count, but at least he seemed content to peruse the ideals of alicorn history to amuse himself while she was occupied with the duties of the realm.

Only one duty remained and that was bringing about its conclusion in lowering the sun: an easy enough task for a pony who used to raise and lower both the moon and the sun in beautiful symmetry.

Yet something was amiss. She turned her head from side to side, using the motion to sweep her gaze down the long hallway lined with floor-length windows looking out over Canterlot and only one other door. The door to Luna’s private chambers was closed.

She was alone.

“No guards?” She stood stock still, head shooting up. “Where in the heavens have they gone?”

She frowned and shook her head, muscles tense beneath her pale white coat, gleaming with good health.

“They should be here.” She spoke aloud, confirming her thoughts. “Why aren’t they here?”

The only other door in the corridor swung open and out stepped Luna – not an uncommon sight on an evening, as it was, of course, her due time to rise. Her stride came shorter than usual, a brisk, clipped walk unlike her usual languid stroll that seemed as if the alicorn had somewhere to be and somewhere to be immediately. Celestia frowned and reached out a hoof to her as the princess stopped before the window, looking up at the sun that Celestia was in the process of lowering, halfway down towards the horizon.

“Good evening, sister.”

Celestia stiffened. That wasn’t her sister’s voice. That didn’t sound anything like Luna. Her tail pushed down against her hindquarters, the undulations slowed as her nostrils flared, adrenaline pumping. She spread her wings as if to prepare for flight and eyed the blue alicorn up and down, taking in every nuance of her features. She certainly looked like Luna, but there was something about the disdain in her eyes and the tilt of her head that didn’t seem quite right, even if she couldn’t put her hoof on just why Luna shouldn’t be doing those actions.

“Luna?”

Celestia backed off, unable to stir the unease from the pit of her stomach. She shook out the tension from her wings, worry creasing her forehead even as she tried to tell herself that nothing was wrong and she was simply over reacting to Luna’s normal moods.

“Luna, you don’t seem herself,” she probed cautiously, stretching out her neck, though her hooves remained firmly planted in place. “Is there something amiss? You are so rarely awake at this hour.”

Laughing, Luna threw her head back, the nebula of her mane whipping around her face.

“Oh, dear sister, I am merely on time for my duties. Or did you think you could take one more duty from me, the duty that makes me who I am, the Princess of the Night?”

“What? No!”

Celestia’s jaw dropped.

“Sister, you are clearly not feeling well if you would speak so ill of yourself and of me. If you adjourn to your chambers, I’ll have the doctor sent for you right away –”

Luna slammed a hoof into the ground and the door to Celestia’s private chambers slammed shut, the lock clicking smoothly closed. One by one, every torch in the hallway went out, the sun slowly lowering as Celestia’s horn glowed, relinquishing her hold on the sun as she had done at the end of every day for a thousand years and more. Only, there was no Luna there waiting to raise the moon in her stead, only an alicorn with a muzzle so contorted that she was barely recognisable any longer. On the other side of the bedchamber door, Kevin slammed his shoulder into the barrier, ears back and throat raw from whinnying.

“Sister, wouldn’t you like me to leave?” She said, her tone silken smooth and dripping with danger. “Then you would have the sun and the moon and all of Equestria all to yourself. There may be other princesses here, but it is only I that sits on an equal throne to you, ruling over the night as you have done the day.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed and she bared her teeth like fangs as her horn lit up, drawing up a swirl of blue smoke to encase her from muzzle to hoof. Lifting a wing to block at least some of the sudden gale from tearing around her muzzle, Celestia threw words to the wind that would never be heard as Luna rocked with crazed laughter, swinging her weight from hoof to hoof. The smoke thickened, plumping and pluming with a mind of its own until the alicorn was encased completely.

Shielding her eyes, Celestia peered through the smoke as the moon rose, forcing her sun back into place and covering it completely. She shuddered. Last time there’d been a solar eclipse, there’d been...

No. No, she couldn’t think like that. The smoke swirled, slowly clearing as the world outside the castle windows plunged into inky twilight, stars pricking into life one by one in the heavens. At any other time, Celestia would have paused to admire their beauty, yet there was no time when her world seemed set on crumbling about her hooves.

The smoke drifted away from the form of the alicorn.

“Celestia!” Kevin howled from the other side of the door. “Celestia! Let me out! I can help! Can you hear me? Celestia!”

The alicorn trembled as she stared down the figure of Nightmare Moon, stepping forth from where her beloved sister had stood. But the nightmare before her was everything other than her sister in that moment and that moment alone.

Steeling herself, she called magic to her grasp, winding it about her horn, a tightly wound coil anticipating release. Nightmare Moon scoffed and lifted a hoof as if whatever Celestia had to throw at her was a mere tickle – nothing to be threatened by.

“Do you really believe your puny magic will be enough to defeat me?” She cackled, mockery lacing her tone. “There’s nothing you can do this time, princess. I am stronger than you and I always will be. Luna was nothing compared to what I am and will be!”

The sun princess closed her ears to the nightmare’s words, laying her ears down to her skull as she snarled like a wild beast, bracing herself in a battle stance as strong as any she had thrown in the olden days. For a moment, she wished she still had the Elements of Harmony to assist, but she would have to rely on her own wit and power – yes, it was there, as it always had been – to bring Equestria back to rights. Her horn crackled, magic begging for release.

But something was wrong. Allowing the magic to slip from her grasp, Celestia hesitated. Yes, those were Luna’s eyes, but she’d never seen that intent, that certain little crease at the corners, not even when she’d been Nightmare Moon all those years ago.

No, something was very wrong.

“Luna?”

The alicorn cast her a haughty look.

“And yet you still use that name? How quaint of you. I would never have expected the great and glorious Celestia to be so timid in her address of the true Queen of Equestria.”

“That’s because Luna is still in there somewhere,” Celestia probed cautiously, magic ever merely a breath away from her touch, able to be called on at any moment. “You’re not the pony you should be, Luna. You’re better than this. I know you’re there.”

Nightmare Moon tossed her head and drew a beam of light to her horn, the reflection glancing daringly off the windows.

“I knew this would be easy, but even I could not have predicted just how easy you would make this for me, Celestia.”

The nightmare spat out her name as if it left a foul taste in her mouth.

“And now, you have merely sealed your fate.” She smiled, terribly pleasant in the curve of her lips that would have been beautiful if not for the malice behind them. “I do hope you have enjoyed your time ruling Equestria, for this day shall be your last.”

The pony that was not her sister lowered her head, pointing her glaringly bright horn at her chest, continuing to draw in power.

“Your very last.”

The bolt unleashed itself from her horn with an almighty crack to rival the worst thunderstorm and Celestia leapt to avoid it, taking flight as the blast seared a hole through the wall behind her. The crumbling, smouldering hole yawned and she shuddered from it; that could very easily have been her if she had not jumped in time.

A crash drew her attention, a flick of her eyes away from Nightmare Moon, and then the nightmare was upon her, pummelling and kicking with shocking brutality. Creatures in Equestria able to use magic traditionally fought with magic, yet the other alicorn leaned on her hooves and horn, lashing out and cracking Celestia across the side of the head.

Head ringing, Celestia staggered. Why didn’t she just use her magic? Nightmare Moon bored down on her, forcing her back with strikes from her front hooves, clipping a shoulder as the princess hastily threw up a shield, just barely protecting herself in time while she gathered her senses. All unicorns and alicorns utilised their magic to fight - it was their biggest strength in conflict! Yet it was almost as if she didn’t want to use magic, didn’t want Celestia to see just what her magic was...

Celestia’s eyes shot wide and she stared hard into the other alicorn’s eyes as her lips curved up in a wicked grin that was so unlike her sister that it may as well have been carved into a statue’s muzzle.

“Conceding defeat, princess?” She gloated. “I knew you would not last against me.”

Drawing strength back to her sore and battered limbs, Celestia stood up tall and proud.

“Do you see me giving in, nightmare?” She took a deep breath. “Why don’t you try your magic? Or are you merely afraid that I will reflect it so easily?”

The alicorn snorted and threw her head high, nostrils flared. But Celestia could not help but notice the extra beat she took, the fraction of a second passing, before words shot back through the air at her like cloaked daggers.

“I need no magic to defeat you! It only shows just how weak you truly are, Celestia!”

The door at the far end of the corridor opened and Celestia spun to halt her subjects a breath too late. Clicking into the frame at the heels of her guards, the door sealed them in and the ponies that had devoted their lives to protecting her and the kingdom lowered their horns, pawing at the ground in readiness for battle. Celestia swept her gaze over them, the other alicorn between her and her charges. Twelve? What good would twelve do against a nightmare?

“Get back, princess!” A guard who she recognised as none other than Shining Armour flung out his foreleg. “We will do our duty for you!”

Her heart went out to them. They wouldn’t have stood a chance alone with Nightmare Moon and yet they were still prepared to do anything and everything for the sake of the kingdom. She could never have asked for more loyal subjects: not in any lifetime.

And the thing that was Luna but not Luna stood between her and them. Gritting her teeth, Celestia drew power to her horn, skin tingling as it trembled through her body, more than she’d been forced to call on in many, many years.

She didn’t hear the bang of a body against the door behind her as she flung out her magic, a lightning bolt crackling from the tip of her horn. Tightly controlling the spell, she called on the weather elements, sending a thundering, dark cloud to the ceiling where it roiled, threatening with its twisting, seething belly.

Forked lightning lanced down into the floor around Nightmare Moon as the alicorn leapt for safety, wings carrying her from harms way, but Celestia was swift too. She gave chase as the alicorn turned to her guards, a shield up to protect her back from the storm Celestia controlled. The smoke shrouded her once again and the princess braced herself for the deluge of magic that was to come, her own golden shield encasing her form like a bubble as she hovered in mid-air.

“Cloaking yourself now?” Celestia used her wings to balance, chest heaving. “Are you so afraid of revealing yourself that you will not attack?”

She narrowed her eyes at the creature before her, hatred simmering from eyes that held no memory of their foalhood together.

“Or are you afraid to let me see what colour your magic is, sister?”

As the alicorns faced off, Nightmare Moon baring her teeth like a creature of the Everfree forest, the guards charged unbidden and something crashed through the door to Celestia’s rear. She could not look - did not dare look - and threw up a dome over the guards in time to prevent Nightmare Moon’s spell from hitting, erupted in a pillar of power from the smoke even as it slowly cleared into fainter wisps. Blood red liquid splattered down over the guards, their protective bubble sizzling as they hit. Shining Armour visibly recoiled from the droplets, dropping his head and striking a hoof into the floor. She didn’t want to think just what that fluid was.

“Celestia! Celestia, it’s not her!”

And Celestia had to look. Throwing energy into her shields, she spun around in mid-air only to see a panting Kevin with scrapes and splinters down his sides, mane tangled and sticking up in all directions. A pegasus filly hovered beside him, her tiny wings seeming far too small to possibly keep her afloat.

Her heart leapt.

As Nightmare Moon locked her gaze on the two new ponies in the scene, Kevin whirled and snapped at the filly. Any pony worth their salt would have understood the gesture and she squeaked, firmly planting herself behind him as she trembled like a filly on her first flight.

“Kevin!” She cried, finding her voice, though it came out as a harsh rasp. “You should have stayed back!”

The stallion shook his mane off his neck and pointed a hoof at Nightmare Moon.

“That is not Luna!”

“Evidently.”

The nightmare folded her wings down to her side and advanced, her stride short and choppy. Her eyes gleamed menacingly, yet Kevin held his ground even as Celestia darted between them.

“Stay away from him!”

“Oh, have your feelings actually developed for this sorry excuse of a stallion?” Nightmare Moon cooed. “You should have listened to me. He is not worthy of the attentions of an alicorn, let alone any other in Equestria. An abomination like him should be cast out! Sent back to the dark lands where he belongs!”

Kevin set his jaw and faced her down as Celestia’s expression contorted, a shudder rippling through her body.

“Perhaps you would think so, but Luna would never think so. And you are not Luna.”

“That’s right!” The filly piped up in a high-pitched squeak. “That’s not her – not really! Though she sure does look like her.”

Celestia whirled on the alicorn and dropped to the ground, legs braced.

“And who is the demon who has impersonated my sister?” She hissed, eyes turning green as purple wisps flared out from her irises. “Where is Luna?” She ground her teeth together. “I knew there was something amiss here...”

The other alicorn rolled her eyes.

“Well, it took you long enough, Celestia, though you still have not uncovered my true identity. Can you not guess from those you have shunned, or is the list too long for you to recall any particular one?”

“Wilda.” Kevin said hollowly, answering for her. “It’s Wilda. She’s been planning this the whole time and she’s taken Luna.”

Celestia lowered her head, magic fizzling out from her horn. Although the battle had not gone on for that long, exhaustion riddled her body, muscles sore where Wilda’s hooves had made contact. Even in the form of Nightmare Moon, the alicorn pony had proven more than adept at controlling her body and she may have been proud of her at any other time. But she could not be proud when the alicorn threatened all of Equestria and those she held dear.

She stared out the windows, muddied with smoke swirls, at Luna’s beautiful moon, the image of a pony carved into its face that did not belong there. Celestia choked on words that would not come. She had never belonged there.

Taking a deep breath, Celestia filled her lungs with air, using the inhalation to steady herself as the alicorn stepped forward, hooves lifted unreasonably high. The time that she had always known had come...had indeed arrived. Just like it had with Luna all those many years ago.

And it could not be stopped now that it had begun.

She blinked away tears as Kevin stepped up to her side, head held defiantly high. Leaning into her, he held her up as her legs wavered, threatening to give out. But she had to hold on. It was the only hope her sister had.

“It is the only way,” he whispered. “You must do what you believe is right. We are all behind you.”

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“It’s written all over your face.”

“When everypony sees how you cast out your own sister for a second time, they will shun you like you shunned me, Celestia,” Wilda hissed. “It will never be the same again. You shall be but a corpse while your sister is trapped for eternity. And the kingdom shall finally be mine.”

“Not while we stand here!”

The guards lined up on the enemy’s other side, armour glinting, trapping her. Far from backed into a corner, the alicorn scoffed and readied her next spell, magic crackling as it formed, pulling into her horn as if she was sapping the very energy from the air around her. The guards wavered, weak on their hooves and Kevin cried out as they toppled to the floor, legs splayed and eyes glassy, although their flanks still rose and fall with breath. He trembled, resisting the urge to step away as Celestia stiffened beside him, wings held rigid. The filly who’d been with him was thankfully long gone, but Celestia set her jaw and advanced, eyes blazing.

“You will release Luna,” Celestia said, stronger with the grey stallion by her side. “My guards have done nothing to cause you harm in all your time in Equestria. And you shall cause no harm to Equestria and not a single second more grief to her subjects.”

Wilda smirked.

“And what, pray tell, makes you think I’m going to do that?”

Celestia’s horn glowed, light running down the fine lines encircling her horn. She pushed Kevin back with her wing even as she readied the spell, head lowered and horn aimed at her foe’s throat.

“Oh, that was not a request, my dear.”

And then the alicorn leapt, wings spread as a ball of energy leapt from her horn. Weaving a net around  it, she swung it around her head as if controlling a lasso, like one of the ponies of Appleloosa, and let it fly. The ball sped towards the alicorn who laughed and dodged, flaring her wings in the form of Nightmare Moon to carry her up and away from the perceived threat.

But the trapped ball of magic pulsed, cracks zigzagging across its surface as Celestia flung it to the ceiling and lanced it with a simple beam from her horn. The ball shattered, magical net falling away as if it had never existed, and Wilda screeched as the shards congealed into droplets of something shimmering and green. The viscous splurge of magic clung to her coat, dragging her down with a shocking weight as it spread as if to cover her from head to hoof in a second skin. Kevin neighed, thinking the alicorn caught, but she merely snarled, fangs curling from her lips. Releasing her own spell, she picked up the princess as if she weighed nothing at all and slammed her back into the wall, letting her fall to the floor in a crumpled heap of wings and legs. It was but an instant before Wilda’s magic flickered to life around her, cutting off the contact of her body with the air itself so that the princess could only be seen through a sapphire haze as the mass bore down and down and down.

“Celestia!”

Down but far from felled, Celestia whinnied and tried to struggle to her hooves, but Wilda glared and forced her magic down, an indent showing across the princess’ back as her coat was flattened to skin and muscle. Wheezing, Celestia’s eyes watered and she tried desperately to call magic to her grasp once more as Kevin rushed to her side, only to be forced back.

“I wouldn’t try that if I was you, abomination,” Wilda warned with a yawn. “You’ll make me lose my grip. Wouldn’t want your special somepony to die too quickly now, would we? Though she was never all that special after all.”

Battering his hooves against the invisible barrier that separated him from Celestia, Kevin screamed a stallion’s cry and bucked, hooves cracking into the magic yet leaving not a dent as the alicorn gasped for breath that would not come. Spinning on his hooves, he wheeled, eyes rimmed with white, and raced by, foam from his drooling lips flecking his chest and neck, the instinct to flee gripping him body and soul.

Wilda barely spared him a glance as he darted back and forth down the corridor, finding no escape and charging through the fallen guards. She stood over Celestia, looking down on her work with pride as she applied just a little more pressure with her magic. One of the princess’ ribs snapped with a sharp, jarring crack.

“I’ll take great pleasure in crushing the breath from your lungs, princess. If you’d been a queen, perhaps I would have let you live. You were never strong enough to defeat me, much less alone. And you’ll always be alone.”

She reared and grunted as something slammed into her side, a second ball of energy splattered as it exploded against her, the same colour as the first, much larger one that had sought encase her. There was not enough of it left to even consider sealing her body away, but the weight of it hauled her down, neck strained as it weighted her chest. Her grip on her restraining magic wavered.

The princess took a breath.

“What is the meaning of this?” She hissed, ripping it from her coat with her teeth and bursts of burning magic. “You cannot use magic!”

Kevin stared her down.

“I may not be able to use magic, but I knew that spell,” he snapped, teeth clicking together. “It only forms another trap when the first dissipates, just like Twilight told me. Maybe you should have known that too with all your studies.” He stomped. “And she is not alone! Princess!”

Wilda spun, eyes wide as Celestia drove into her, horn barely missing her chest. The alicorn sent her tumbling head over her hooves and her disguise shimmered as she lost hold of it, revealing the alicorn she truly was. Kevin leaned into her shoulder as her chest heaved, barely able to draw a full breath with her cracked rib, though there was nothing but raw determination in her eyes.

“Take your strength from me,” he said, hardly thinking about what he was saying. “You can do this... We can do this.”

Celestia smiled faintly, eyes fixed on Wilda.

“I knew you were the right pony.”

Letting his strength and energy warm her side, Celestia’s eyes shone with deadly intent, the irises obscured by magic. Wilda tried to charge, but it was no use as the alicorn’s bolstered magic, a shot of silver entwined with rose, wrapped around her like a satin ribbon. It seemed too delicate to be a capture when blood dotted the carpet and the guards looked on in awe, but the magical force swept around her horn and locked her limbs to her body, dropping the alicorn neatly to the floor. Wilda shrieked as her magic faded and the image of the mare in the moon vanished on the night sky behind her.

Celestia jerked back, eyes wide, as a loud thud emanated down the hallway. Although her legs trembled, she staggered around, only barely supported by an equally drained Kevin, whose head hung so low that his nose nearly brushed the scuffed up, ruined carpet.

“Luna!”

Letting her race to her sister’s side back in her bed chamber, Kevin sat down heavily, head swimming. Lending his strength to Celestia had left him light-headed, though he would have done it again in a heartbeat. He laid his head down on the floor, letting his body slump forward and onto his side, eyelids drooping heavily as the sound of Luna loudly demanding what had happened reached his ears. He could barely twitch them to catch their hurried conversation before sweet, dreamless sleep claimed him, the battle won and Wilda seething across the corridor, every ounce of magical energy drained from her form. She could do no more than he and it mattered not in the tally up of the battle.

In sleep, he smiled, lips pulling up ever so slightly at the corners. With his princess, all had been set to rights in Equestria and the sun would rise again, the balance of day and night restored.

What pony could have wished for anything more?
> Chapter Ten
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Ten

 
Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof

 
 

“Just what happened out there today?” Luna demanded, finally seated in front of a roaring fire with the dirt cleaned from her coat. “I know you wouldn’t talk to me at the time – your lover-pony was face first on the floor, I suppose – but you really must give me all the details now.”

She fixed her sister with a steely glare.

“No details spared, Celestia. I must know everything.”

The princess sighed and rested her chin on the cushion in front of her. Her eyes sleepily roamed the books lining the shelves of her personal library. It didn’t usually make her feel so sleepy, but bed was all she wanted after an exhausting day that had nearly never come again.

And so she told Luna every detail, adding more where the alicorn demanded it, eyes wide and jaw set. Her muzzle tipped down when she filled in the gaps of her capture, how lonely the moon had been even for such a short time, and she stormed about the room as the threats on Celestia’s life were revealed.

By far the most illuminating, however, was her reaction when Celestia recounted Kevin’s part in the fight, how everything may have been so very different if he had not been there and stood by her when she’d most needed a pony at her side. And his strength had been what had, ultimately, sealed their victory.

“He’s quite the pony, is he not?” She said quietly, when Celestia’s eyelids were drooping. “I can perhaps now see what you saw in him originally.”

Celestia smiled warmly, despite her exhaustion.

“I was hoping you would say that one day, although I did not expect that time to come so soon.”

Luna laughed dryly.

“I did not expect to be captured and require rescuing by my sister and the pony she’s lost her heart to either, yet that also happened, as embarrassing as it is to admit.”

“Which part?” Celestia had the heart to tease. “The bit about being captured or the rescue?”

“The falling for a pony a fraction of your age is by far the most embarrassing, but you will not hear me scorn your love for a moment more.”

Celestia opened her mouth to counter and promptly closed it again, a blush colouring her cheeks. Smirking, Luna sipped at the potion, designed to restore her strength, and made a face at the taste. Her sister took a deep breath.

“Actually, Luna, there was something I wanted to ask you, after this whole debacle.”

“Oh, yes?”

The princess paused, lips pulling up in a smile. Luna tapped one hoof against the other, eyes wide and expectant: well?

“I was wondering if you’d have any objection if I were to ask for his hoof in marriage?”




*




Kevin swallowed and tugged at the unusually formal suit encasing his pony form. He had not even known they made suits for ponies and hadn’t even worn one in his life as a human, though he would never know if the garment felt any more comfortable on skin rather than a short coat of ‘fur’.

The palace ballroom had been transformed with seats for ponies lining the grand room and a carpet half rose and half silver running down the full length to the raised dais at the very back. It was there he stood with the eyes of every pony in the room on him, Luna standing regally to the side ready to proclaim him and Celestia stallion and mare.

That was if he could keep his stomach where it belonged and his heart from pounding in his throat, constricting it with every breath. Luna smiled and leaned in, patting his shoulder.

“You’re doing very well. Relax, Kevin.”

His old life was well and truly behind him and he had no inclination to return, though the reasons for that would be between him and the princess. The rest of Equestria didn’t have to know that Twilight had found a way to send him home and he’d refused to go, planting his hooves even as the befuddled princess tried to talk him into returning to his friends and family. The truth was that he had no friends and family to return to and that would not have changed several months after banishing Wilda to Tartarus either. There was nothing left for him in the human world and all the life to be lived as a pony. As a stallion.

And that was when Celestia had proposed.

Luna stood up a little taller.

“Here she comes!”

He thought briefly how kind Luna had been to him since her capture and subsequent rescue, the hours she’d spent ensuring Celestia and he did not overly exert themselves in their endeavour to regain full health. For, although alicorns were particularly resilient, Celestia was not immortal to injury and he had not left her side for even a moment as she recovered - a fact that Luna had noticed too.

But there was no time to consider as the double doors opened and a beautiful alicorn stepped onto the carpet. His breath caught in his throat as she made her way down the carpet, step by regal step as if she was floating on the air itself. Her usual golden jewellery had been exchanged for a flowing white gown with intricate silver detailing. If one looked closely enough, they would have spotted the bracelet around her right fetlock, the strands of silver metal woven together with magic to form the image of a stallion and mare embracing.

Kevin beamed, lips stretched unnaturally wide as the flower ponies bounced behind the princess and the bridesmaids – Twilight and her friends, who he had become better acquainted with in recent weeks – scurrying into position opposite him. Petals scattered in her wake as the orchestra flooded the hall with music, which he only hoped was loud enough to cover the pounding of his frantically beating heart.

When she finally stood opposite him, the princess giggled, covering her lips with a hoof and demonstrating surprising demureness. Luna clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and Kevin swore he caught her rolling her eyes.

“I came as swiftly as I could,” Celestia whispered as she stood opposite him, her eyes twinkling. “Am I late for my own wedding?”

Leaning in, Kevin stole a quick kiss from her lips and the princess blushed.

“There, I forgive you now.”

Rarity, posed beside Twilight, dabbed at her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

“Oh, have you ever seen a more perfect couple?” She sobbed. “Finally the princess together with her special somepony!”

“Darn sure I haven’t, sugarplum,” Applejack chuckled, patting her friend’s shoulder. “But maybe don’t cry off all your mascara just yet.”

“Fillies and gentlecolts,” Luna began the ceremony in her traditional royal voice, the booming echoing to all corners of the grand hall. “We are gathered here to see my sister, the princess of Equestria, and her stallion, Kevin Dusksong, having undergone his renaming ceremony to commemorate the day Celestia and he revealed Wilda’s plot to overthrow Equestria and rescue a certain pony from a rather barren moon.”

The hall rippled with laugher and Celestia hid her grin behind a hoof. Smiling in turn, Luna addressed Celestia and Kevin as one.

“I am proud to stand here before you today with the knowledge that there is no finer stallion in the entire realm of Equestria to take my sister’s hoof in marriage. And, it is with these rings, exchanged as a pair bonded for life, I pronounce you stallion and mare before these witnesses!”

The hall rang with cheers and the stamping of hooves as Kevin delicately took a diamond ring from the ring bearer colt and slipped it over her horn, only for Celestia to ease a similarly bejewelled band around his fetlock, letting it rest above his hoof. The stallion inhaled deeply, legs trembling, and leaned in for a second, his tongue dancing passionately with that of the mare he had never before known that he’d been destined to spend his life with.

But all was indeed to be; some may have even called it a touch of destiny. And the rest of their lives together stretched out before them, as perfect as an untainted pool on a clear summer’s day.

As they turned to face the crowd, slightly breathless from the kiss, for the first time as mare and stallion, Celestia dropped another kiss on his cheek.

“I’d love to say we may adjourn to the bedchambers for some private time now, Kevin, but the afternoon is due to stretch into a long evening and night for us. I do hope you have your best horse shoes on!”

Kevin turned his ears towards her, eyes on the crowd as everypony seemed to spring into action at once.

“A long celebration?” He sighed. “I admit I was hoping for some quiet time with you and me...”

He trailed off, eyes hopeful, but Celestia only shook her head, one eye on the bustle of activity flaring to life around them. The poor stallion didn’t know what he was in for!

“Oh yes, darling,” she said with a glint of mischief in her eye. “The real celebration is only now beginning!”

Gulping, Kevin gave his best effort at a smile, ears twitching as the younger ponies and their designated caregivers were ushered out of the ballroom, servants rushing around to clear the floor of chairs. His tail swished curiously against his hocks and he bumped his nose into Celestia’s neck, nostrils flaring to catch a lingering scent that was becoming very pleasantly familiar. Just what did his sweetheart have planned?

He was about to find out.
> Chapter Eleven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Princess’ Steed
Chapter Eleven

 
Epilogue
 

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof

 

“What’s going on?”

The grey stallion backed up nervously, his formal clothing suddenly feeling too tight around his equine body. Celestia held a hoof over her lips, eyes alight with mischief.

“Why, Kevin, you couldn’t have possibly thought that that was all there was to an Equestrian wedding ceremony!”

He gulped.

“It’s not? Then what more is there? Do I have to say anything?” He sweated. “What do I have to do? I haven’t practiced this!”

Celestia shushed him with her lips on his, deepening the kiss. Against himself, he longingly pressed into her, need stirring in his sheath. But he could not become aroused in the middle of the grand hall and desperately thought of anything else that could possibly keep his shaft within his sheath and not pushing out for everypony to see.

“There’s nothing to practice bar what your body tells you to do, my sweet stallion,” she murmured, breath warm on his lips. “Here you may find, however, that our royal customs are somewhat different to what you have in the human world.”

She giggled, ducking her head away as if suddenly rendered shy.

“That is if what Twilight tells me is true about the human version of your wedding nights. How strange to lock yourselves away!”

Kevin blinked and tilted his head.

“Celestia, what are you going on about? What do you mean?”

The princess shook her head and leaned in close, tipping onto the edges of her hooves as she put her muzzle very close to his and whispered. Though, in reality, there was no secret to be shared, unless one counted the secret that all of Equestria seemed to be in on and the stallion of the hour still in the dark about.

“Dear Kevin, our wedding night stays in the grand hall until we retire to our bedchambers for sleep not...”

She trailed off into giggles, a blush bringing colour to her cheeks. Her tail flicked, the ethereal wave dancing and glimmering, the colours brighter and more vibrant than they had ever been before. Kevin smiled and lost himself in his admiration of her for several long moments. When she turned her back to him, he thought nothing of it until she hiked her tail to fully display her winking marehood. Gasping, the stallion whipped his head around as if to check that no one else had seen, but a crowd had gathered while he’d been preoccupied with his wife and it seemed that all eyes were rapidly falling on the couple.

Kevin would have shushed his mare and pushed her tail back down so that her wedding dress was not so lifted – wait, was that lingerie she was wearing beneath? – but it was too late to avoid attention. Instead of acting, he stood frozen, nostrils flaring. What was she doing in the middle of the ballroom? Why was everypony staring at him with that knowing grin?

Yet attention was exactly what his mare had wanted all along. As she lifted her tail even higher, her wedding lingerie – something blue, like the tradition from the human world – was put on full display. Whereas a human would have worn lingerie to cover and tantalise, Celestia had chosen hers to accentuate, lace framing her marehood in a white that was just a shade off from the pure gleam of her coat. A garter was tucked high up on her right hind leg, sweetly encasing her thigh as if it was simply begging to be tugged down with a stallion’s teeth, while the lace spread across her hindquarters and under her stomach.

Kevin shivered, wanting to crane his neck and see just what else the princess was wearing. Her udders... He licked his lips, nickering indecisively. Had she worn anything to show those off too? Oh, by the heavens – he sure hoped so!

“Do you not want to mount your princess?” She murmured huskily, marehood winking and pulsing. “It doesn’t usually take you this long to rise to the occasion...just for me.”

Swallowing hard, though his mouth was already too dry, and shaking his head, Kevin took a wobbly step back even as his head snaked out, upper lip peeling back from his teeth to take in her scent. He sniffed lustfully and sifted through her scents, need stirring once more even as a small, insignificant voice in the back of his mind begged him to remain quiet. After all, who cared if others were watching when he had a needy mare before him?

And it hardly seemed like it was Celestia’s intention to not be watched as she nickered and winked for him, dress hiked up and falling back over her hindquarters as her tail waved gently, calling him in to her soft folds. As if in a dream, he took first one hesitant step forward as the gathered ponies neighed encouragement and then another until his nose pressed up under her tail. He inhaled deeply, sides expanding, and stole a quick lick of her marehood even as it pulsed and twitched against his tongue. It couldn’t have been any more crystal clear what she wanted if she’d spun about, reared and neighed it to the heavens herself.

Closing his eyes, he trembled and tried to ignore the watching ponies and the flicker of rising excitement blocking out his nerves, focusing on her taste and that alone. Her clit swelled against his tongue, tucked up against the base of her folds, and he wrapped his lips around it, suckling until the princess stomped a hoof and cried out. Though he was not about to stop there as his cock wantonly slipped from its sheath below his stomach and bobbed, pushing his tongue into her passage and nickering to send a small vibration through her sex.

The effect on the princess was electrifying. Celestia whinnied loudly, the sound echoing off the ballroom walls, as expansive as they were. She jigged a hind hoof in the air and bobbed her muzzle, unable to form words as Kevin smirked inwardly and flicked just the tip of his tongue over her clit. He dragged out the sensations, fluttering his tongue over her folds and lapped up her sweet juices as her marehood pushed them out, barely pausing between winks. Even though words failed her, her body spoke loud enough for the princess anyway, begging to be filled, to be mounted, regardless of where they were.

A pony’s body, after all, knew no shame when it came to pleasure.

As he pleasured his mare, losing himself in the raw, sensual act, Kevin faintly became aware of movement around them. They weren’t quite at the side of the ballroom, but far enough away from the wall for ponies to surround them on all sides, all in varying stages of intimate interaction. It didn’t seem to matter to the ponies whether they chose partners of the same sex or the opposite – all were fair game in the name of pleasure. Some of the ponies that had left just after the ceremony had also returned with their reception outfits, although, for some, that meant not wearing very much at all.

His guard captain, the trainer of the recruits himself, hung over the back of a pretty, pink alicorn mare with his shaft pushing into her. The alicorn, whom he only knew as Princess Cadence in the most fleeting of passing moments, moaned softly as her stallion covered her, his shaft bare and wanting even though Kevin knew they had only in recent months celebrated the birth of their first foal. The white stallion flicked his blue striped mane off his neck with a toss of his head, his smart, red jacket askew across his withers as he slammed into her, eyes closed and lips parted in pleasure.

He couldn’t spare much attention for the other guests when he had such an alluring alicorn demanding attention that he was only too willing to give. He did, however, manage to catch a glimpse of Twilight gasping as a strange pony that he did not know suckled on her teats. He could not see whether the pony slurping beneath her was a mare or a stallion, but the alicorn flared her wings out, trembling on what seemed to be the brink of climax regardless of the lack of attention to her marehood. And then Celestia’s tail shimmered into his line of sight, drawing his attention abruptly back to the dripping marehood he was currently preoccupied with.

Servants moved among the guests in various pony clothing from full suits, which were cut strategically over the hindquarters, to as revealing lingerie as what some of the guests appeared to have donned in the interlude. One of the waiter ponies that Kevin had worked with for some time around the kitchens had donned a frilly apron that wrapped around in front of her hind legs and cupped her udders beautifully, letting them hang down sensually, evidently full of milk from having a foal at foot. Unconsciously, Kevin licked his lips and moaned into the princess’ marehood as he eagerly pushed his tongue into her passage as deep as he could possibly go.

“Please, Kevin...” The princess’ skin twitched in that equine fashion, overly sensitive to any and all touches. “More, I need you to mount me, push into me!”

She groaned, tucking her chin down to her chest, neck arched.

“I need you! Now!”

Kevin answered her with a final lap of her pussy, savouring her flavour as he slowly pulled back and licked her juices sensually from her lips, unwilling to let a single drop go to waste. He nuzzled her flank and pressed up to her side, feeling the entire length of her body as the wedding dress bunched up between two hot equine bodies. Rumpled as if she had just had a literal roll in the hay while wearing the dress, it creased behind her forelegs and she panted, meeting Kevin’s lips with a kiss once his muzzle was close enough.

“Well?” She breathed when the kiss broke. “Would you leave your mare so denied for so long?”

The stallion winked.

“You seduced me out here,” he nickered cheekily, low enough so that only she could hear. “Make me mount you then. Otherwise, I’m going to enjoy myself right where I am...sweetheart.”

Before Celestia could reply, he folded his knees and ducked his head beneath her stomach. He reached for her teats, barely pausing to admire how her lace lingerie cupped and framed her beautiful udders, a thin strand of lace running between to separate the two, and ran his tongue around the nearest teat. Suckling on just the very tip, he pulled it slowly into his mouth, nose brushing up against the lace, and smiled inwardly as the mare above him moaned. Oh, yes... He knew when he’d hit just the right spot. And he knew what her moans meant, the tenor rising and falling with her need and what her body craved.

Licking around each of her teats, Kevin rumbled a groan himself, struggling not to flex his stomach muscles to slap his own cock up against his stomach. It was a raw need, something that his body bid him to do even as he shied away from the mere thought of other ponies seeing one of his most intimate areas. Yet equines were a distractible sort and, though his ears burned with heat, he occupied his attention with covering every inch of Celestia’s udders in adoring kisses and loving nibbles as the princess quivered. She pawed at the ground, the dress falling over his head so that nopony could see anything that was going on beneath the dress, and whinnied loudly as he more skilfully – than before at least – drew both teats into his mouth at once.

Celestia’s stomach tensed above his head, ears tickling her belly, and Kevin flicked his tail, sucking her teats with all the pressure his soft, equine lips could supply. He ran his teeth along each lightly, listening to her nickers and grunts for guidance on what she enjoyed the most, and let them pop free of his lips, gleaming with saliva as the skin rose pink and tender. Too sensitive to accept much more stimulation, they couldn’t have called him in more as the scent of her arousal grew stronger and he had no doubt that her marehood was winking furiously, drawing in the attention of every stallion in the vicinity.

But the mare had chosen him and married him. Kevin’s heart warmed and he ran his tongue gently over her teats, the mare shuddering as her need rose and her udders swung lightly with the shift and sway of her body. Nothing she did seemed to keep her hooves in place and she giggled breathlessly, giddy with a mare’s desire.

“Kevin...” She breathed, her tone taking on a more regal, commanding edge that he had become familiar with over the past months. “Mount me.”

He was out from beneath her, the dress falling back down, and shifting his weight onto his back hooves a moment later. Was there any denying such a command? Her tone rang with warmth and love, but her eyes burned with feral desire and he was hardly about to say no when his cock drooled pre-cum in a viscous rope. As his stomach flexed, his cock bounced up against his stomach and splattered pre-cum against his smart suit jacket, far too tight and uncomfortable around the top of his forelegs for what he was about to do.

As his princess neighed encouragement to him, Kevin groaned and rocked back, front hooves lifting from the floor as she stepped back to meet him. Her hindquarters pressed up under his stomach and she bore his weight, hind legs spread apart a little and braced for him. The dress flattened under his chest as he gripped her sides lightly with his forelegs, holding onto the slippery satin as her wedding jewellery jingled musically against her neck and fetlocks. Kevin snorted breathlessly, rocking forward as the flat tip of his cock caught in her sex, framed by the lace as if drawing him into a target.

He’d learned the rise and fall of her body over the months and thrusting into her came more easily than ever before as he let his body do the work for him; it knew what to do better than his sex-addled mind. The stallion groaned and scooted his hind legs in closer to her hindquarters, his shaft ramming in past the medial ring in a harsh, needy thrust that left both ponies gasping. Struggling to keep his weight over her as she kept herself at her full height – he was still, after all, a little smaller than his mare – Kevin snorted heavily, nostrils fluttering and fought for breath as the mare’s cunny rippled around him.

“Yes,” she moaned, mane flickering wildly in all directions as she lost herself to pleasure. “Cover me, Kevin!”

Further words were not needed as the lustful stallion nipped her withers, scraping his teeth very lightly down her neck: an equine love-nip. Her marehood twitched and pulsed around his shaft as he drove in, bodies moving together in perfect rhythm as the guests around them neighed and cheered at their first coupling as a married pair. Kevin laughed breathlessly at the cheers and slammed in, letting their needs take him where they both needed to go.

Every inch of the mare’s cunny wrapped around his shaft like a satin glove, their bodies perfectly designed to fit one another in the most intimate fashion possible. Celestia moaned for her stallion to fill her and Kevin was only too eager to oblige, driving into her with long, near desperate thrusts as she rocked back against him. Her cunny rippled along the full length of his shaft as they mated, sucking around his length as it strived to keep him in even as he pulled back for another thrust. He nickered throatily and scrabbled for purchase on the smooth floor, her juices slurping around his shaft and drooling down over the princess’ clit, easing his path in testament to her pure want.

“Is this why you didn’t have anything tailored to go over my hindquarters and legs?” He grunted softly, pumping her folds languidly for the first time as married mare and stallion. “You wanted...ah...me to do this?”

Celestia panted and gasped, legs braced to hold up his weight as her stallion took her oh so sweetly.

“Is it that obvious?”

Nickering softly, Kevin needed no reply and simply let a stallion’s need take her as they both needed him to.

From his higher vantage point, it was easy for Kevin to lustfully rake his gaze over the other ponies in the ballroom, a mass of bodies rocking together in carnal, loving desire. Whereas Shining Armour and Cadence were already curled up on a pile of cushions that he could only assume the servants had brought in for them, stallion semen leaking from her still winking marehood, many of the other ponies neighed in the act themselves. The ponies colloquially known as The Elements of Harmony appeared to have come to the wedding reception too and Rarity’s diamonds jingled around her neck as a very familiar pony with three apples on her flank buried her muzzle in her marehood, licking and slurping for all she was worth.

Huh. Who knew? Kevin thought, though could not spare much time on dwelling on the partners picked by other ponies in the gathering. The unbridled thrum of need ricocheting through the grand hall could not have been any more ideal a symphony, a backdrop to their mating lust and need drawing each and every pony on to greater heights of pleasure. Twilight was revealed to be being mounted by another member of the Royal Canterlot Guard that he had not seen before, his large shaft stretching her to the brim as her horn crackled with barely restrained need. The purple pony moaned, though the sound was too easily lost in the neighs and nickers of all the other ponies in the hall, and her partner clenched his teeth, clearly struggling to hold back as he drove into her. His hindquarters rocked with such passion that his balls swung up against her clit and between her legs with every thrust, large and heavy and evidently brimming with his seed. Trembling, Kevin licked his lips, knowing his were doing the same, desperate to spend himself within his princess in the best way a stallion possibly could.

Even some of the usually far more prim and proper Canterlot ponies had joined in the fun too and he caught sight of Fancypants, complete with monocle and groomed, silver mane, mounting his sweetheart, the white pony with a pink mane known as Fleur de Lis. Her lithe form appeared barely able to support him as the stockier, older pony thrust into her with the vigour of a much younger stallion, yet she still squealed like a mare in season. With her head thrown back and mane spilling messily out of its line of plaits down the length of her neck, it was strange to see the mare so debased in the raw act of mating, yet in a pleasantly warming way that Kevin could not have explained until he’d examined his emotions at a later time.

Ponies, after all, had to let go of their calm, accepting demeanours from time to time too.

Beneath him, Celestia cried out for more and he looked down at her undulating, beautiful mane as he bred her. He put every ounce of strength he had behind his thrusts and sank deeply into her with every thrust, tail whipping around and around as both mare and stallion gasped and moaned. Her marehood clenched urgently around his shaft and he closed his eyes, barely able to control himself as she so wonderfully milked his shaft as if it was all she craved in the whole world and more.

“Harder, Kevin – so close!” She managed to force out, voice breaking in a trembling neigh that had heads turning around them, curious ponies paying them greater attention once again.

She was not a mare to call out her need without truly being on the edge and Kevin slammed in harder and harder, teeth gritting and grinding together as sweat darkened patches down his sides. His jacket was well and truly ruined as saliva drooled from the corners of his lips in ropes, need rising and rising as muscle jumped beneath his skin, pushing him on to breed.

There was only so much a mare and stallion could take, however, and it was not much longer before the scent of sex and his sweet mare drove Kevin to that pure crescendo of need. With a grunt, he shortened his thrusts, staying as deep as possible as he rammed into her.

And that was all Celestia could take. She tossed her head and neighed out her orgasm, eyes half-lidded and tail pressed up under Kevin’s flank as he brought wave after wave of ecstasy to her body. Without warning, her horn illuminated from tip to base and shot off beams of light in all directions, sparks showering from each beam as if the princess had created a firework purely from her magic alone. The ponies cheered and cried out their own climaxes, joining the princess in ecstasy as her marehood winked and pulled around her stallion’s shaft. Her steed did not take long before following her in kind.

Biting her neck lovingly, Kevin kept his eyes closed as his balls tugged up closer to his body, bumping her clit lightly, and slammed in one final time, leaving his cock fully buried within her sweet marehood. Rope after rope of thick, virile stallion-semen spurted into her passage, splashing up against her cervix and filling her already stretched cunny to the brim. Staying as still as possible, Kevin groaned against her neck and held himself there, his patience ensuring that as much of his cum as possible stayed inside his mare. Celestia trembled in the aftershock of her own climax, legs swaying beneath them as she struggled to hold both of them up at the same time.

Taking more of his weight back on his hind legs, Kevin kissed and nibbled down the line of Celestia’s neck and withers, lips grooming her as the feral equines of his world had. He hadn’t seen ponies do it, but his mare seemed to appreciate the attention nonetheless, nickering breathlessly to him as he spent the last spurts of his seed within her warm, twitching passage. He already knew that, when he dismounted the princess, her cunny would be drooling his cum and yet still winking, craving that second round straight away that he had, as yet, been unable to give.

Alicorn magic, however, was a wonderful thing.

He felt her magic before he saw it, opening his eyes to find his body encased in a warm, golden glow. Coat tingling, he leaned into it, eyes wide and a heady snort bursting from his nostrils, equine body reacting when his mind froze. He could not panic, however, as Celestia held him with her warm, steady gaze, and relaxed into the touch of magic that she’d never once used on him before. He supposed there were things they could do now that they were married as stallion and mare that would not have been appropriate if they’d been simply dating.

Rather than softening as magic flooded his body, his cock twitched and swelled back to full hardness, having only partially softened in the interlude between ejaculation and her magic taking effect. Kevin started and nickered, jumping back and away from the princess as she chuckled at his reaction, slowly returning to some sense of herself.

“It’s okay, Kevin,” she rushed to reassure him, touching her nose to his. “You always said that you wished you could please a mare twice.” She chuckled softly. “And now you can. Please enjoy the effects of my magic as you will.”

Kevin blinked, a smile pulling at his lips.

“What other mare would I spend my pleasure with other than you?”

Celestia blushed, but then her sister was there, clucking and fussing over the pair of them and their near enough ruined clothes. But then Kevin’s lips were on hers and Celestia could think of nothing more than the two of them and how perfectly her life had turned out in the end.

She only hoped that Kevin could say the same.

“You couldn’t have found a better lover, Celestia,” Luna murmured, assisting Celestia out of her wedding dress as she kissed her lover. “I am proud that you chose such a fine stallion to be your mate and I am confident you will love one another until the end of time.”

“I’m so glad to hear you say that, my sister,” Celestia said, a little out of breath. “Then I wonder if you may like to enjoy my husband for yourself at this time?”

The blue alicorn stared at her like she’d turned into a hydra, with multiple heads to boot, and Kevin was none the better, his lower jaw comically dropped.

“Celestia! It is not proper!”

Luna shook her head and took a step back, though Kevin could not help but take note of another, fresher whiff of arousal in the air. He smiled, though hid it behind the duck and tip of his neck, heart hammering. Although he was sure Luna would never have gone through with it, Celestia had gotten more than a couple of secret fantasies out of him while under the bubbling influence of the magic-infused apple drink she was so taken with. It was nice to imagine what the beautiful alicorns could have gotten up to with time and sweetness between them!

“Sister...”

Celestia blocked Luna’s exit, stepping back into their original place while Kevin shrugged out of his jacket, left bare but for his sweaty, grey coat. His tail lashed and he shook himself vigorously, glad to be free of the constraints of the jacket. He didn’t know why ponies bothered wearing clothes at all!

But lingerie... He swallowed and licked his lips, looking over his princess hungrily as his cock bobbed. The lace lingerie extended down her body in a harness, looping around the front of her chest and back beneath her forelegs. Not just to accentuate her marehood and udders, it highlighted the beautiful curves and lines of her body and his eyes following the off-white strips of lace, the one-piece garment expertly designed to show off her best features. Though none of her features were bad to say the least of her!

But Celestia was still occupied by Luna and he snapped his attention back to reality, whining softly as his cock bobbed, hard and flared. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly and deeply, holding himself back when every nerve ending in his body and unbridled instinct screamed at him to mount, to breed!

“Look, your stallion needs you...”

He opened his eyes and blinked. Luna’s hindquarters filled his vision, the curve of the white moon on her sides barely visible as she was guided back up to him. Her marehood was plumper still than Celestia’s, though held a faintly similar aroma and, before he could even think about stopping himself, he inhaled deeply. His upper lip curled back and he grunted, cock slapping up against his stomach. It was every fantasy Celestia had nurtured, whispering in his ear as she roused his lust to a point where he was begging to mount her in their bedchambers.

He barely thought, snaking his tongue out to steal a lap over her sweet, winking marehood, clit twitching and simply begging for his attention in a way only a mare’s body could. Luna didn’t need to speak, her cheeks crimson as Kevin moaned and thrust his tongue into her, lapping up her essence as if he was pleasing his own princess mare. If he’d had any doubts whatsoever about what he was doing – in front of his wife nonetheless! – Celestia was right there to reassure him, whispering what her sister enjoyed so that he could better please her.

Luna groaned and braced her hind legs, slowly getting more into the act and rocking back against his muzzle. Swirling his soft tongue around her clit several times in swift succession, he drew a thick dollop of her juices from her winking marehood, udders swinging back as she started.

“Oh!”

“He’s very good with his tongue too, but you’ll enjoy him even better when he’s inside you,” Celestia coaxed, holding Luna’s chin up with a hoof beneath it, eyes gently crinkling at the corners. “It’s been too long for you, sister. Let go.”

Her eyes met Kevin’s and the stallion knew what she wanted. Need coursed through his veins, body thrumming with sexual energy that could not be contained – out! He had to let it out! And then he was on top of Celestia’s sister, scrabbling and searching for her entrance as desire rendered him clumsy.

Helpfully, Celestia wrapped her magic around his shaft and guided him in with a lewd squelch of slick pre-cum and a princess who had been left wanting in the dreams of other ponies for far, far too long. As he sank in, Luna cried out and the ponies nearby cheered even more raucously than they had for Celestia’s climax, redoubling their efforts in their own rampant, loving copulations in return. The princess quaked beneath him, tail pressed up against his chest and neck as it refused to flick entirely out to the side, the princess hardly in control of her own body as she threatened to buck and squirmed wantonly.

Eager to put on a show for his wife and please the Princess of the Night, Kevin kissed and nibbled her withers as he thrust, employing the same grooming-scratches that had rendered his love weak at the knees. Luna nickered uncertainly and arched into his touch, baring her neck for him as she turned her muzzle to the side, eyes closed as if she could hide the fact that the eyes of everypony in the ballroom were on them and them alone, regardless of what mating the others were engaged in. There was little better a draw than one of the princesses being bred and the younger sister had been oh so secretive with her partners...if she’d had any since returning from the moon at all.

Groaning, Luna dipped her head between her knees, panting open-mouthed as the stallion covered her. He slammed in over and over again, cock hard and desperate for release that suddenly seemed slower in building under the effect of Celestia’s magic.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, sister?”

Celestia moaned in turn, her legs nearly buckling as a pair of mares covered her marehood in adoring kisses, lapping up the creampie of her sex. Kevin had not had much of a chance to admire it after dismounting, but he drank in the sight of her as he mounted her sister, half wishing that it was him lapping up the mess of her marehood as it winked and pushed out more and more of their combined sexual fluids.

Luna had no answer to her, oblivious to everything going on around her as Kevin pounded the mare with his eyes firmly fixed on the creampie oozing from his wife’s marehood, begging for attention that he was, at that time, too preoccupied to deliver.

“I’m glad – ah! – you opened up to this,” she managed to force out through her moans, the wedding crown she’d so carefully picked out tilted jauntily askew as she trembled. “I knew you would enjoy it, Luna, oh, I really did!”

Too caught up in the pleasure of having a stallion breed her, Luna’s only reply was a whinny as she climaxed. His girth stretched her out as she had not been stretched in too many moons – years, if she was honest with herself – and she splayed her hind legs for him, orgasm rippling through her. Celestia, still with the mares devoting attention to her marehood in the absence of a stallion, bowed her forelegs and dipped her head beneath the smaller alicorn’s flank, rightly assuming that she had also been missing out on one particular pleasure.

The alicorn beneath Kevin jumped and neighed as Celestia’s lips wrapped around her teat tenderly, tugging them out from her body as she balanced on the edge of a hasty climax. She squealed like a filly in her first season as sensation after sensation claimed her body, overwhelming her senses so that it was all that she could do to stand trembling and snorting in place with her tail flagged for the stallion and need rising by the second.

“Ah – sister!” She gulped, eyes wide and rimmed with a slightly panicked edge of white. “I’m... By the stars!”

Every pony knew what that meant and Kevin slammed in harder still, desperate for her orgasm to spur him on into his own, desperate to seed her sister. Celestia shared the same sentiment, it seemed, as she suckled more furtively on her sister’s teats, layering her udders with adoring kisses and laps of her tongue as if she had missed out on the treat of doing so for perhaps too long herself. Her tongue swirled around each teat, drawing them deep into her muzzle as she enjoyed her sister as she enjoyed her stallion. Her many talents as a lover, after all, did not only extend to supplying stallions with a divine amount of pleasure!

And the thought of the pleasure she had supplied him rang through Kevin’s mind as he filled her sister, hindquarters rolling in again and again. He remembered just how sweet Celestia’s lips had felt on his shaft, but he had always taken care to finish inside her, holding back until she slurped her lips free of his bobbing length and turned her winking marehood to him to be covered. Celestia moaned wantonly and tickled Luna’s teats and udders with her teeth, swirling her tongue around both of them with the love and care that Kevin was sure only a sister – or perhaps a lover – could truly deliver.

Luna grunted and slammed a hoof into the floor, the tiles cracking beneath it. Without any further warning, her marehood tensed around Kevin’s cock and he suddenly found himself unable to pull back as she whinnied in orgasm. Her marehood barely moved from its vice-like grip around his equine shaft and Kevin’s eyes bulged, nostrils flared to suck in breaths that never seemed quite like they were enough to satisfy the burning need for air in his lungs.

With such a tight fit around his shaft, Kevin had no hope of holding back. With a barely restrained squeal that was rather unstallionlike in hindsight, he panted harshly over the princess’ neck and spent himself inside her cock throbbing. Pulse after pulse of semen – he could never have produced so much if not for the help of his darling wife’s magic – flooded the princess’ marehood and Luna whimpered throatily, eyes closed as she swayed as if in a trance in the glorious afterglow.

Kevin had to be helped down from Luna as the princess near enough collapsed to the ballroom floor, her sister supporting her the best she could until she found her own balance with a substantial barrier of cushions around her. The princess licked her lips, seemingly unable to take her eyes off the messy creampie of Luna’s marehood as it tried to wink, too tired and stretched to move much as it tried to push out her juices, a viscous drop making its way down her clit. It was impossible to hide the fact that she’d been well seeded and Celestia inhaled deeply, her own marehood winking from the mere sight alone.

It was a good thing that she had a stallion to satisfy her needs.

Turning to Kevin and his still hard shaft, which refused to soften under the influence of her magic, the princess cast him a knowing look.

“You’ve pleased my sister well, my dear, but now it’s time for a little experimentation...”

She grinned and winked as Kevin straightened, ears pricked.

“What did you have in mind, my pony-wife?”

Giggling at the nickname, Celestia blew him a kiss and flagged her tail at him, showing her still drooling sex, juices shiny on her soft, mare folds.

Celestia took a deep breath, concentrating on her magic as she changed her body to her own liking, her udders swelling until there were not two but four hanging heavily beneath her body. Kevin stared, transfixed, as her teats pulled out seemingly of their own accord, plump and begging for attention as the separation between her udders became more defined. Each covered in smooth, pink flesh as untainted as that of a newborn foals, they swung lightly as she shifted her weight, releasing the magic with her change complete.

Smiling at Kevin, she inclined her head as his cock spurting pre-cum in a lewd splatter over the floor.

“I think you know what to do, my sweet stallion.”

Sparing a moment to share a kiss with his wife, he nuzzled her over onto her back, her exhausted sister still with herself enough to help by supplying plush cushions, and buried his muzzle in the warmth of her udders. The flesh gave under his touch and he ran his lips over her teats over and over again, losing himself in the primal nature of sensation. Nothing else mattered for him in the world but his mare’s pleasure, even as his cock bobbed and leaked pre-cum, desperate for some attention of its own.

But the day was far from over and the night – Luna’s night – was still yet to come. There would be time and plenty of it too, a lifetime ahead with his princess mare. Celestia nickered her encouragement and he moaned around her teats, suckling each quickly as if he could not possibly choose one to start with, heart warm with the knowledge that all had come to rights for him at long, long last. He’d finally found just where he belonged.

And his life as a pony was only just begun.