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// 70. Touch #1 (Celestia) 
// Story: Short Shorts 
// by Coranth 
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She wasn't a 'dumb' animal.

She was a rational, thinking being.

She was no human's pet!

So then why, Celestia mused - as her beloved petted and stroked her coat and mane - did her body and mind seem to crave human touch.

Why did she enjoy being petted so very much like an animal--being brushed and stroked like the horses of her beloved's world.

Few knew the truth.

But she did.

In old Equestrianii - or Ponytongue as it was now called - the word Alicorn roughly translated to "Engel Haas".

Engel Haas. Angel Horse.

All Alicorns - and through them all Little Ponies - had come from the Great Horses of the Dream Time. The genes which allowed those Horses of old to be domesticated by man still ran strong within all Ponies of Today, including her.

"You are not a pet!" the part of her mind that was Princess screamed. "This is humiliating! This is undignified!"

That part of her psyche was acknowledged, but in the end smashed by the ancient Horse Genes, the parts of her mind that were Mare, Foal and old Engel Haas; those parts of her which cried and screamed for touch! Man's touch! Thus when Daniel moved to ruffle her silken mane, and scratch her just so behind the ears where ear met head, Lumos Sol, Engel Haas and Friend of Man, groaned softly, then nickered, and blew gently into her beloved's face.

"There's a good girl..." the human murmured softly. She huffed breath through her nose softly and nuzzled into him, foal-like, resting her head in his lap--and then a sound escaped her - "Hrr Hrr Hrr Hrr Hrr Hnnh!" - as he moved to scratch her withers, the place where her Mother rubbed to comfort her so long ago. Eyes drooping closed, she cuddled closer to him as his wonderful hands continued their work...