//------------------------------//
// 35. Daniel tells Celestia a Bedtime Story. 
// Story: Short Shorts 
// by Coranth 
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The night had ended well for Daniel and Celestia; they'd had dinner and then - after man and mare had completed their evening ablutions - Daniel had changed into his nightwear, before heading to bed with his beloved. Now, Daniel lay snugly beneath the thick, quilted duvet of their brand new double-bed with Celestia, the alicorn mare having thrown a wing and a foreleg about his body as she rested her head upon his chest in a state of half-awareness. Free was she - free of duty, free of burden, free of crown - and after having ruled the Principality of Equestria for a thousand years she relished the freedom to be with her love. Wrapped within the warmth of the duvet - and the warmth of her beloved's affections - as he idly stroked her here and there, she murmured, "Daniel...?"

"Mmmm?" murmured he in response.

"... Could you... tell me a story?" she finished. At the question, Daniel blinked at Celestia, a smile gracing his lips as he watched her nuzzle into him, foal-like, in the soft glow provided by the night light upon his bedside table. A moment later he responded, "A story, eh? Well... let me think..." A moment to think did she give him; then Celestia gently tap-tapped his chest with her hoof, impatient. Chuckling, Daniel scratched her behind the ears a little and then he said, "I have one. I think you'll like it, sweetie..." Then, he began:


"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say
that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last
people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious,
because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made
drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did
have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had
nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she
spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the
neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their
opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and
their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't
think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs.
Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years;
in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her
sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was
possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would
say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the
Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy
was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want
Dudley mixing with a child like that.

When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story
starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that
strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the
country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for
work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming
Dudley into his high chair.

None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window..."


And so it was that Daniel continued to tell his beloved Celestia the tale of 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' until ever-so-gradually, her eyes closed and she slipped into sleep. Shortly thereafter, Daniel joined her and together, human and alicorn shared dreams of wizards, witches, owls, broomsticks... and of a very special boy, the boy who lived in the cupboard under the stairs.