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// Night 7: Affection 
// Story: 1001 Cuddly Nights 
// by CategoricalGrant 
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You are slumped back on your basement couch, watching the beginning scenes of a mediocre action film. Sleep didn’t look like it was in the cards tonight. The room is dark, and you feel rather cozy and secure as the changing colors on the TV screen flicker across you and cast quickly-morphing shadows across the room.
You hear the door to the basement open. Immediately, you smile. That was either Luna, or a home invader coming to murder you.
You don’t move. After all, even if it were a home invader, it’s unlikely that you’d be able to prevent your death at this point.
Princess Luna glides around the couch, standing aside it as she marvels at your television. “How fascinating! What is that?”
“Good evening to you too, Princess Luna,” you cast at her. “It’s called a television.”
“Well, I know that,” Princess Luna scoffs, sticking her tongue out at you. “The magical crystals we use in ours give a much better image quality than this.” She gestures dismissively to your apparatus. “I was asking about the movie.”
You frown. There is certainly more to these ponies than first meets the eye, it seems. “Oh. I, uh, I’m not sure. It’s some war movie I got for Christmas a few years ago. I just put it in to pass the time until I can sleep.”
“Violence is your sleep aid?” She asks intently. Her tone softens. “Did you not have faith that I would show up to help?”
“I-I did, it’s just, you know, I wasn’t sure. You don’t always show up when I need y...when I’m having trouble sleeping.”
Princess Luna frowns and blinks. “I’ve been doing better recently though, haven’t I?”
You ponder the question for a moment. “Yeah, I think so. Three out of the last five nights you’ve been here.”
“Now it is four of six,” she grins. Her neck turns as the sounds of soldiers deploying into trucks to head out into the war zone begins to pipe up from the television. “Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin your movie time…” she tells you, eyes fixated on the television. “Instead of cuddling in bed, maybe we could snuggle here instead and watch the movie?”
You can’t make out very many of Luna’s features in the darkness, but you can see the silhouette of her frame tense up as you ask your next question. “Ah, interested in the movie, are we?”
Luna sputters for a moment. “I-I just thought that maybe you would want to finish it, is all.”
“Well, I don’t care either way, now that you’re here. However, you’re the princess, so I think that maybe you should call the shots.”
Her body remains still, but the dark blotches that are her ears perk up. She turns her head to you and you can see her grin mischievously. “You’re right! I am a princess, so I can do what I want- and I say that we snuggle here.”
You gently pat the soft fabric next to you and Princess Luna gingerly steps up onto the couch, swinging her backside around and sitting on her haunches next to you. Looking down at you, she waits intently.
“What?” you ask her with a knowing grin as she uses her magic to remove her metal regalia.
Pouting, she scoots over so that her side is in contact with yours.
“Ooooh, the snuggling. Ya coulda just said so,” you tease, leaning your head against her upper leg. “Actually, hold on, I’ll get us some blankets.”
Princess Luna’s magic pushes you back to the couch when you try to stand. “Allow me,” she offers, her aura opening up a pair of cabinets nearby and floating a soft blanket over to cover your legs and her front hooves.
You think for a moment. “Wait, how did you know where my blankets were?”
Luna turns her head so she can avoid meeting her gaze. “Well, to tell you the truth I explored your house a few times before I left, but while you were still asleep. Since I’ll be spending lots of time here, I thought it wise to, you know, familiarize myself with our surroundings.”
“...You snuck around my house while I was asleep to look through my cabinets?”
“H-hey,” Luna pouts defensively, smacking a front hoof against the couch gently. “I am a princess, remember? That means I can do what I want!”
You narrow your eyes at first, but after a few seconds Luna’s innocent defense and the first sounds of gunfire from the movie make you relax and smile. “I guess you’re right, your highness. My home is yours.” You wrap your right arm around the princess’ body, just below her wings, and pull her more tightly against you.
“Yes,” she spouts confidently. “That is correct. Thank you for your understanding, lowly servant.”
You almost pinch Luna on the flank in retaliation for her comedic belittling, but think better of it. Princesses, after all, also likely have power to assign capital punishment.
As you settle into the snuggling session, the first sensation that overtakes you is Luna’s warmth. You hadn’t noticed you were cold before, but a soft heat now radiates into your body through its interface with Luna. You rotate yourself a few degrees, just to open up more surface area to the calming, pleasant coziness.
In response to your movement, Princess Luna hums gently and rests the side of her head atop yours. “Are we comfortable, Snuggles?”
You actually rather liked her new pet name for you, although you’d never tell her that directly. “Hmmm, very,” you purr into her coat without protesting. Gently, you give her a tight squeeze.
It’s hard to pet her coat in this position, but your right arm is able to brush up and down against her silken fur and the soft feathers of her wings. The feeling they leave hangs upon your skin like a ghost.
Without thinking and as if possessed, you let your right hand, which is wrapped around the far side of Luna’s body, drift down to her hoof. Your fingers wrap around it and lift it up a few inches from the couch, holding it adoringly.
Luna’s head shifts, but she doesn’t remove it from its position atop yours. “What is that?” Her tone is impossible to read.
“I-it’s something that humans do when we want to show affection,” you explain, your speech jittering around the whole time. You’re so nervous that you almost retract your hand. “It’s called ‘holding hands’, b-but since you don’t have hands, I-I thought I’d hold your hoof.”
“Holding my hoof shows affection?” Luna asks softly. Her right front hoof remains flush against your hand.
Inadvertently, you tighten your grip. “Y-yes.”
“Oh.” Princess Luna presses her hoof more deeply into your palm. “Then why aren’t you holding my other front hoof, too?”
“Uh...what?”
Princess Luna leans back into you, using you to support some of her weight as she lifts her other front hoof and paws at your left hand with it. You flip it over, and she moves her hoof into it, allowing your fingers to close around it and caress the soft fur where a normal horse’s fetlock would be.
“You do adore your princess, don’t you?” she teases. “I work very hard to help you sleep; surely that is worth two held hooves?”
You can feel yourself blush, although it’s hidden by the darkness. “Yes, I would say so, your highness.” Her indigo coat, which is effectively black under the low light, now blocks most of your vision, since Luna’s position has changed. You place your cheek against the downy, warm darkness and rub against it.
Tentatively, you inhale, and Luna’s scent comes to you. It is remarkably pleasant and you can even make out hints of lavender; calming and drowse-inducing. As your head rests against her withers and your fingers gently run over Luna’s hooves, you can hear the gentle tingling of her magic grasp the remote and turn down the volume of the movie, until it can barely be heard at all. Instead, all you can make out are the sounds of your own exhalations, Luna’s slow, deep breaths, and the quiet ambience of snuggling; the scratching of your fingers against her coat and the soft ruffling of her feathers.
“If I fall asleep,” you mumble, “will you carry me up to my bed, Luna?”
She yawns. “C-can we just sleep here?” she asks you.
You squeeze her hooves affectionately. “You’re the Princess.”
She lets out a happy little squee. “I am. Sleep here it is.” Gently, she pushes you to a lying position on the couch and rests her head on your chest. She brings her hooves up gently to rest there, as well. “Please hold my hooves, too,” she asks in a way which almost sounds like pleading.
Gently, you bring your hands down and wrap them around her front hooves.
Princess Luna sighs happily. “I do so enjoy affection.”