CHAPTER SEVEN
A NEW LIFE
The Ceremony was conducted by Priestesses of both Celestia and Luna and it happened at just after dawn with both the Sun and the Moon in the sky. (A Good Omen, for those who reckon these things!) At its climax my left hoof was bound to her right one by two ribbons, one of golden yellow and the other of midnight blue. I kid you not, there were hundreds of Ponies present! Sunny’s relatives and throngs of Ponies from the village turned out to wish us well. I was stunned that the impromptu guest list included, among others, the Tellar Ambassador to the Federation, the Ambassador from Equestris herself, the actress Angel Avallone, (An Alicorn, go figure! Yet another of Alice’s numberless cousins!) and a live video call from Her Majesty the Alicorn Queen Amber III of the U.K.! But the guests that thrilled me the most were the short grey Pegasus Stallion with the grey coat and green-and-white mane and the Earth Pony Mare with the with the dull red coat and brilliant blue mane. Captain Cloud Caper and Merry the Communications Officer from the Hermes! Both were decked out in the new dress uniforms Starfleet was in the process of trotting out. He was resplendent in mustard yellow and gold while she sported a brilliant crimson single piece blouse and (Rather short, by my admittedly prudish reckoning!) skirt combo. I gathered them both up in one-hoofed hugs! Poor Sunny!
“Caper! Merry! Oh, WOW! Damn me for an idiot! I never thought about making up invitations! Say hi to Sunny!” I hugged my new Civil Partner to me, beaming like a foal!
Caper dutifully kissed Sunny’s hoof, she curtsied as best as she could. Merry punched us both on the shoulders!
“Crike! So this ‘ere’s the Sheila ya been keepin’ under wraps, eh? Hey! Congrats to the both o’ ya! Oy’m Merry, yer Ladyship! G’day!” She pumped Sunny’s free hoof vigorously.
Captain Caper cleared his throat to signal Merry to back off, his thick, Rushin accent, as always, only underscoring his gruff voice. “I am Captain Cloud Caper. This is Merry, Chief Communications Officer on Hermes, Mrs. …Eyes?” He rubbed his chin with one hoof and peered upward at the two of us. “Who is who? Are you both Mrs. Eyes or Alicorne. I need to know how to address my officers.”
“Actually we decided to swap last names.” I said. “I’m Mrs. Alicorne and she’s Mrs. Starry-Eyes.”
Caper grunted and shrugged his shoulders. “Hokay then! As long as everypony is happy. Jerry sends regards but could not get away. Ship is only ten days away from launch! You two don’t lose track of time on Honeymoon, da? Many congratulations both of you! Hoopah! Come here, Starry-pushka!”
I leaned down, tugging Sunny with me and Cloud Caper administered a peck on the cheek to both of us. An extremely maudlin display of affection for him!
“Roight! What the Boss Feller said goes for me, too!” Merry chimed in. “But Oy’ll leave all the Mare-kissin’ for you two! Wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Eh? Eh?” She dug me in the ribs with a wink and a good-natured, theatrically lewd grin. “Seriously, though! All th ‘appiness in the Worlds at both of ya! Oy wanna buy ya drinks come Shore Leave, roight? We’ll have a good, proper Pub Crawl to get to know each other, eh? Lookin’ forward to it! Roight now we gotta rub some elbows with the mucky-mucks an’ pick up the data chip to send to yer Pappy back ‘Ome on ‘Questris. Aw, crumbs! That was s’posed to be a secret, wasn’t it? Well act surprised, eh? A wink’s as good as a nod to a blind bat, eh? Eh? Got the ‘ole shindig recorded by way of a weddin’ present. Roight fine feller is that Mr. Alicorne!”
Cloud sighed quietly. “Oy! Come, let us leave Lovebirds alone. New Father-in-Law wants us to have drink to celebrate. We can only stay little while. See both of you onboard, da?” He gave Merry a glower no one who knew him would believe. “Oy! Is too much for Officers to act like professionals? Is not shore leave, try not to make Diplomatic Incident, hokay?”
“Lead on. Boss! Hey, I wonder if Oy could get an autograph from that Avallone Sheila? Eh? Eh?” The two of them trailed away into the throng.
“Oh I do believe I’m gonna like those two, doncha know!” Sunny exclaimed. “…An’ don’ ye ever make fun o’ my accent again, Mrs. Alicorne!”
“Duly noted, Mrs. Eyes! Come on, we’ve got a party to attend… for a little while. Eh? Eh?” I did my best Merry impression and gave her a nudge with my hoof-fasted arm.
Sunny tippy-hoofed to give me a kiss. “Right y’are! Let’s go make our appearance. …An’ don’t ye dare take a drop! I want yer complete attention for… later!” She gave me a mock-severe look, then added in her best Merry impression. “Wink-wink! Nudge-nudge!”
Neither of us were very hungry. We snacked, had some very delicious (Chocolate, of course!) cake and danced and danced and danced. For the record, I never had anything stronger than a Sparkle-Cola… though the uskebaugh and vodka seemed to be flowing freely at the Wedding Table! (I wondered if Amber Rose would do The Horn Trick for Captain Caper?)
We left at mid-morning and were driven by the ever-reliable Cedar to a snug little place up on the Mountain by the shores of a lovely little lake whose name I never learned where I came to find out that Sunny had been pulling her erotic punches all this time. Augmented physiology or no Augmented physiology I was left gasping for breath by the very next morning! During the ensuing week I burned off every single excess calorie I’d ingested on Earth.
Alicorns! Wow!