//------------------------------// // 4: The Discussion // Story: A Whole New Responsibility // by Flanagan //------------------------------// I woke up early yet again, headache back with a vengeance. I pushed the palms of my hands deep into my temple in an attempt to dull the pain a bit, but alas, it was no use. The throbbing continued no matter how close I came to crushing my own skull. As I lay there, reeling in silent agony, a sudden chill descended on me, which was odd given the fact that instead of feeling it just on my head, I felt it all over my body. Ignoring my pain as best I could, I looked down to see that I wasn’t covered at all, save for my boxers. My mood turned from confused to disgruntled over the course of a few seconds. There was one, and only one, reason that this could have happened. I turned my attention to the individual on my right, all covered in warm, snuggly blankets. My hand met my face with a loud slap. “Of course…” I grumbled, “Why wouldn’t she do this today?” Normally, I would just be able to grab the covers and throw them over myself with little incident, but this time my attempt was met with far more resistance than usual. Fighting through my pain, I inspected “Sleeping Beauty” even further to see that not only had she stolen my half of the covers, she had somehow she managed to wrap herself into a cocoon. “Well isn’t this peachy…” I sighed to myself, pinching the bridge of my nose. I didn’t really want to leave the bed, but I definitely didn’t want to be cold either. There would have been a debate inside my head, complete with posh figures yelling at each other in front of a boisterous crowd, but a sudden and painful jolt shot through my head, causing me to curl up in pain. What happened next was pure instinct; clenching as tightly as I could onto the covers, my hand pulled it as hard as I could to my forehead, disregarding anything, or anyone, in its way. The resistance that was Luna’s body weight was no match for the sudden burst of strength, and she too was carried towards me, squeaking like she always does when someone surprises her. Less than a second later I felt the crushing weight of another human being land on top of me, forcing the wind out of me. Somewhere between me fighting for air and desperately trying to make my headache go away I realized that the added weight on my chest had never left. I turned my attention to the area in question to see Luna looking at me like she’d seen the devil himself, almost quivering in her place. ] “Evening Luna,” I said, smiling sarcastically, “You sleep well?” “Up until now, yes,” she said, giving me a concerned look. “What was that all about?” “It’s nothing Luna,” I said feeling the throbbing subside. “Well nothing you need to worry about at least.” “If you insist…” she said, starting to pout. “But why would you wake me? I was having a wonderful dream.” “You were hogging all the covers again,” I answered, patting the sheets that now entangled us together. “I was just trying to get some for me.” “You could’ve just pulled them over to your side gently,” she replied, shaking her head, “like you do every other time.” “Well I couldn’t this time,” I replied. “You were wrapped up snuggly enough that somebody may have mistook you for Nefertiti.” “Who?” “Never mind…” I said, rolling my eyes. “But why would you start wrapping yourself like that all the sudden? You’ve never done that before.” Luna looked away from me sheepishly for a few seconds as she tried to think of a good reason for what she had done. “Well…” she began with a smile that no man or beast could possibly ever get mad at. “I AM pregnant…” “I know…” I grumbled, pulling her face closer to mine. “How long are you going to use THAT excuse?” “How long is the normal gestation period for your species?” “About nine months.” “Then about eight more months,” Luna replied, sticking out her tongue and sliming me playfully as she did so. “Touché…” I said, unable to maintain my seriousness as I continued to stare at Luna’s face. “Well, now that that’s been taken care of, how about we-ARGH!” In that instant my headache hit me harder than any other headache had previously. The pain was so great that it couldn’t stay in just my head anymore. My skin boiled as though liquid metal had been pumped underneath it, while my heart struggled to pump frozen rivers of blood to the rest of my body. My spasms nearly threw both Luna and I off the bed, but she was able to prevent that by clinging to both the bed and the covers that still bound us together. After several seconds the hurt had receded, and while I struggled to breathe and see through the spots now crowding my vision, Luna squirmed out from the covers and laid herself right next to me, burying her head into my chest for a moment before looking up at me with clearly frightened and disturbed eyes. “W-what… was that?” she asked with concern that I hadn’t heard in a very long time. “It’s nothing babe,” I said after a bit, trying to dismiss her worry, yet unable to resist bringing one of my hands up to massage my forehead. “Just a headache, that’s all.” “I’ve never seen a headache that causes one’s entire body to thrash,” She replied, placing her hand on my head before I jerked away due to the sudden contact and sensitivity of the area. “Don’t do that…” I said through my teeth. “It hurts…” “I’m sorry Aedan,” she said, pulling her hand away. “Maybe if I just-“ In her attempt to adjust herself to where she wouldn’t touch my skull, her elbow slammed into my temple, reigniting the blaze in my head. Without no capacity to think, I pushed her away to bring my hands up to my head and face, twisting my thumbs down to press into my eyes, as though popping them back into my head could somehow alleviate the pain. “I’m so sorry Aedan!” Luna managed to say, before she foolishly reached for my head again, “I didn’t mean to-“ “DON’T TOUCH IT!” I snapped back, “It hurts, dammit!” “Well, where doesn’t it hurt?!” Luna yelled with a strange mix of whining and genuine concern in her voice. Ever the sarcastic ass, even when I can’t think straight, I threw up my arm and pointed to my elbow. “Here!” I screamed, sarcasm so thick a plasma cutter couldn’t even scratch it. Without missing a single beat Luna pressed her lips against the presented body part. That wasn’t the odd part though. What was strange was the way she kissed it: gently, lovingly, sensually. I was utterly speechless when she parted with my elbow. When she looked at me next, it was with a gently smoldering fire in her eyes that began to wash away the pain I felt, and replace it with something else entirely. “Anywhere else?” she asked with half lidded eyes. “Here…” I said after a few seconds, pointing to my neck to test the waters. Sure enough, Luna crawled upwards and pressed her lips against my neck in the same way she had to my elbow, except with added gusto. I could feel my whole body shudder at her touch. She had been practicing, and it DEFINITELY showed. I almost whined when she stopped to look back up to me, with an even more determined spark hiding behind those half-lidded eyes. She didn’t say anything. She just fluttered her eyes and bit her lip, demanding without words that I say something before she would move again. “H-here…” I said, involuntarily pointing to my lips. With a low but seductive growl, Luna brought her face up to mine, stopping less than an inch away from the desired area in an effort to torture me. An effort that was succeeding. “I hope this makes you feel better…” she whispered before pressing her lips against mine with all the power. A sudden feeling of blood rushing downward away from my head came upon me as her hands migrated up to my chin to hold my face in place. As if on cue, my arms slowly wrapped around her waist, making sure that she wouldn’t be going anywhere. I’d like to think my kiss was what really kept her there, though. After a few minutes we finally parted and let out an exasperated sigh in unison. Luna looked me square in the eyes and gave me a deviant, yet seductive grin. (Don’t let ANYONE ever tell you that Raiders of the Lost Ark is a terrible reference for foreplay.) “We have a good two hours until we have to be ‘up’ up…” she whispered, drawing little hearts on my chest. “Whatever do you think we shall do in that amount of time?” “Well…” I grinned, brushing some hair away from her face. “Your sister DID just recently soundproof our room… maybe a little test is in order.” “Oh I think so too-wait…” Luna suddenly sat up, placing her hands on her hips. “Why would my sister do that?” My only response was a cocked eyebrow as I stared directly at her, patiently waiting for her to figure it out herself, as I had done with Celestia in the past. As the seconds ticked on and she furrowed her brow in thought, I decided to help her along by looking up and down her exposed body in a fashion so shamelessly obvious she’d have been blind to miss it. It wasn’t long after that she realized what I was silently suggesting. Unlike her sister’s reaction before, Luna’s face went so red that you could swear she was glowing. I couldn’t help but smile at that point, but just as soon as I started to laugh Luna pressed two of her fingers against my lips, effectively silencing me for a moment. “You do realize that I know exactly how to silence you…” she almost purred, sliding her fingers down to my chest. “Or do I have to remind you?” “By all means…” I growled, pulling her down to me again. “Remind me…” Suave, sarcastic me. It just comes so naturally, even during foreplay… and the best part is Luna loves it even more than I do. Close to an hour and forty five minutes later the two of us were tiredly getting ready for the day. It had been awhile since we had a rut like that, and with all the stress that had come into our lives it was much needed. A knock came to our door the second I put my pants on. Usually I wouldn’t pay much mind to it, but Luna was still getting ready in the bathroom, so being the man I am I went to answer it for her. If anything, it would be Night Wing or one of the other guards giving a helpful reminder that she needed to be ready in a few minutes. Those guys and gals had seen me wearing much less than a pair of pants. Some may have hated that more than others. That was my thought process as I decided I was decent enough to hold a short conversation with them before I threw on a shirt. However, upon opening the door I came to the realization that my reasoning was wrong. Oh, so very wrong. Instead of one of the few that already had the pleasure of beholding the majesty that is a perfect human male, a rather tall human female stood opposite of me. She was draped in a formal dress that didn’t really leave much to the imagination when it came to the cleavage department, something that pushed boundary of the gentleman I try to be in my mind. “E-evening Celestia…” I said quickly, forcing my eyes to stay locked with hers. She was silent for a few moments, eyes locked with mine, silently daring me to look away and give her more ammunition for the inevitable quip. I continued to hold out against the primal side of man, knowing that even the slightest errant thought might reflect enough on my face to break the stalemate solidly in her favor. “And you’re always going after me for lack of clothing…” she finally acquiesced with a smile, averting her eyes. “At least I try to keep it PG-thirteen,”I managed to mutter without a smirk. “What?” “Forget I said anything…” I said, rolling my eyes, “What can I do you for?” “I was hoping I could have an audience with Luna at the moment,” she said, trying to look past me. “You two aren’t… ‘busy’ at the moment, are you?” “Not anymore,” I said rather casually, “but if you were here about five minutes earlier…” “I get the point,” she interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose, “but may I please speak with her?” “She’s still getting ready for the evening…” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Sorry about that.” “I understand,” Celestia said, suddenly throwing her arm over my shoulder, “but as luck would have it, I also need to discuss several things with you as well.” I gave her a confused look for a few seconds, but the smile she gave me eased my mind before I could question what she even needed to speak to me about. “Shall we be off?” she asked, preparing to snap her fingers. “Shouldn’t we tell Luna that we’re going to be gone for a while?” I asked, looking back into the room. “I’m sure she won’t mind if I borrow you for a few minutes,” Celestia replied, patting my chest. “Besides… the things I need to discuss with you are of a more… personal nature…” Before I could ask what ‘matters’ she needed to discuss with me, Celestia snapped her fingers and the two of us were consumed by a blinding ball of white light. I thought it was strange that even after all my time in this place I still couldn’t get used to being teleported. The feeling itself was a bit off, like being wrapped in a silk blanket while being clawed at by a hundred angry pumas. There were also the times it would leave my clothes smoldering, but somehow my skin was immune to the flames, so I got that going for me, which is good. It also gave me a new appreciation for what the Hulk had to put up with. Within an instant, I could feel my feet on solid ground, but that wasn’t really what concerned me. Another thing about teleporting was that if you travel with more than two individuals, unless the one teleporting you tells you where you’re going, you have no idea where you’ll end up. At least Luna had the decency to inform me of where we would be heading before we went off on our adventures. Sis still had to pick up that particular skill. I opened my eyes, but that really didn’t matter because I was still blinded by the light that encompassed me moments before. I waited for my temporary blindness to subside, but just as I was nearly able to make out our location I was struck by yet another migraine. This time the blinding light I was trying to recover from amplified the pain, sending a shock through my body that buckled my knees and brought me down on them, hard. My instinctual response of bringing my hands up to my head to try and force the pain out failed spectacularly. With each passing second the throbbing continued to worsen, forcing a single tear to make a break for it down my face. Then, almost as soon as it had begun, it vanished without a trace. In my clarity I felt something gently pressed against my forehead. I opened my eyes, now finally adjusted enough to take in my surroundings, to see the hand of Celestia gently resting on my head. I followed her arm up to her face to see a concern in her eyes I hadn’t seen since we first met in the hospital room that fateful day. After she stopped trying to kill me that is. I stared her square in the eyes for a few moments before finally rising back to my feet, taking an offered hand to help me along the way. “Are you alright?” she asked, her voice mirroring the concern in her eyes. “I’ve never seen such a violent reaction to teleporting.” “I’m fine now…” I replied, trying to shake it off. “That bright light just threw me off guard I guess.” “I’d say so,” she agreed, nodding her head. “In all the time I’ve known you I don’t recall ever seeing you cry.” “A migraine’ll do that to you,” I grinned, looking around to get a hold of my surroundings. I didn’t have to look around for very long, the massive wardrobe and bed on the opposite wall not far from where I was standing was a dead giveaway. “Why is it when you need to speak to me in private we go to your room?” I asked, turning my attention to the woman standing next to me. “I can hardly think of a place more private Aedan,” Celestia replied, taking a few steps towards her lavish couch. “Can you?” “I guess you have a point…” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “But you said that you needed to speak to me.” “Indeed I do,” she almost whispered, falling on the couch and laying out with so much grace she seemed more a feather in motion than a person. “I’m sure you’ve considered what Luna’s pregnancy means, yes?” “Almost every day for close to a month,” I sighed, shaking my head. “The whole ‘I’m going to be a dad’ thing still unnerves me. I just-“ “That’s not what I meant Aedan…” Celestia interrupted, raising her hand to silence me. “I’m speaking of the social and political consequences.” “I beg your pardon?” I asked, cocking my eyebrow. “What do you mean by ‘consequences’?” “Surely you don’t think she’ll go through the entire pregnancy in secret?” Celestia began. “There will come a point in time where the public will have to know and I want to make sure that you are ready for when that happens.” “Wouldn’t the populace be ecstatic?” I asked, “I mean, back on Earth, when people heard their princesses were expecting they went crazy... in a good way.” “I don’t doubt that there will be elation for the news, Aedan,” Celestia said forebodingly, “but I am far more concerned with the royals here in Canterlot. We both already know how they feel about you, title or not.” “Oh yeah…” I said, looking away, “I haven’t thought about them yet…” And I hadn’t because they bothered me. They already hated me for breathing the same air they did. Now that Celestia brought up the issue, I shuddered to think how they would react when they found out that I knocked up their co-ruler. I still remembered the petitions they made towards Celestia when I first arrived, as well as the protests. Some of them got pretty violent considering the fact most of them were stuck up and pampered socialites that would run at the first sign of conflict. Good old harmony, huh? “You should steel yourself for when the day comes,” Celestia said softly. “And there is also the matter of the child… Never in my time have I seen a mortal and an immortal bear offspring, let alone with a between races from different dimensions, so there might be complications in that aspect.” “I don’t think that first one is really an issue,” I said, shrugging my shoulders, “I’m not really mortal anymore.” “What?” Celestia asked surprised, propping herself up on her couch. “What do you mean… ‘not really mortal anymore’?” “Luna and I bound our souls about four months ago,” I explained, surprised that she didn’t already know. “I thought you-“ “WHY DIDN’T EITHER OF YOU TELL ME ABOUT THAT?!” Celestia yelled, rushing me and forcing my back against a wall. “Do you know what the two of you have done?!” “We made sure that Luna would never be without me?” I said, pushing her off of me a bit. “Isn’t that a good thing?” “Did you even think about what you were agreeing to before you submitted to such an act?” Celestia asked back. “Do you have any idea what dangers you both have suddenly put the entire kingdom in?” “Uh… No?” “Binding the soul permanently intertwines the two, meaning that if one of you dies…” Celestia said, staring me square in the eyes, “the other will soon follow.” “I know that,” I said, “she explained that to me the night she did it.” “She may have explained it but I’m sure you don’t really understand what she did,” Celestia replied commandingly. “Yes she bound you to her soul, but that doesn’t mean you’re truly immortal.” “You mind getting into details with that?” I questioned awkwardly, since she wasn’t about to let me out of the corner she had put me in. “Luna can’t die by normal means here,” Celestia explained, “But YOU can…” Celestia snapped her fingers and a second later a sword appeared, its tip pointed directly at my throat. I was about to ask her what she was doing, but before any words could come out the blade pressed deeper into my throat, causing a small amount of blood to trickle down my neck. “Blades, spells, sticks and stones…” she said, pulling the blade away from my neck. “All of these can kill you… and if you die… so does she.” “I think I got the point…” I said, rubbing my neck. The pun wasn’t lost on me. “But What about me getting old? Was Luna right about me being ageless?” “If she performed the spell correctly, and I know she would have, then yes,” Celestia assured, though she was still noticeably upset. “You are still ageless.” I was able to let out a deep sigh of relief right then and there. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that in time my own mortality would have been the end of both of us. The very thought nearly brought on another headache, but I managed to steel myself for Celestia’s sake. “I just want you to understand the gravity of the situation,” she continued, “And the danger that Luna has put you both in.” “I would never put any of us in danger,” I stated confidently. “You know that.” Celestia glared at me in silence, eyes burning with both fury and fear. I stared right back, making sure that she knew I was being honest. However, the fact remained that I never saw it the way Celestia had. It started to make sense why that practice was no longer in use. Kids could be left without parents at a moment’s notice that way, and even though I didn’t particularly care much for kids I wouldn’t want them to go through such an experience. Close to a minute had passed and neither of us had so much blinked, until finally Celestia took a deep breath. “I know, Aedan…” she said, still staring directly at me, “but we risked so much bringing you here. All of us did…” “I know that Tia,” I said softly, dropping the formality as I placed my arm around her shoulder, “and I also know that you want to keep your sister safe… but sometimes she’s going to do things you don’t necessarily approve of.” “That’s blatantly obvious right now,” Celestia said, giggling a bit at herself. “But I can’t change the past, so I guess all I can ask you is to be very careful in the future.” “You have my word,” I said, nodding my head. “I won’t risk my neck if it means I’ll also be risking Luna’s.” “Thank you Aedan…” she replied with that beautiful smile of hers, before wrapping me in her arms without warning. “Thank you so much.” I was caught off guard by the sudden affection. It had been ages since Celestia last hugged me, but I knew for a fact that she had never done it like this before. It was so much like Luna’s loving embrace, the only differences being that Celestia’s arms rested higher on me and that her assets were several cup sizes larger than her sisters. That single thought brought up another question, why was it when she came to our door that she was human? I may have found it easier to comprehend if she was in her casual outfit, but instead she was in formal wear. It was more than a tad provocative, and I’m certainly not complaining about it, but it’s a lot like something a royal from Earth would wear while in a meeting with delegates. It was obvious to me she’d never bring the subject up herself, so I bit the bullet and brought it up myself. “Hey Celestia…” I said to get her attention. “Yes Aedan?” she asked, looking right back at me. I was struck for a moment by the strange feeling of looking at a woman’s face at eye level. Maybe other guys dealt with the height issue better, but it could creep up on me. “Why do you look like… me?” I asked. Probably could have worded that better. If I’m a majestic male, they’re clearly goddesses. “Oh, I’ve been like this more and more often lately,” she said, releasing me to look at her perfect figure. “I figured that on since Luna’s stuck looking like you, she’d want someone else who looks like her. You know, for comfort and such.” “Well that’s… thoughtful,” I said, looking to the ceiling, “but why do it when she’s sleeping? I mean, she sees you for only a few hours each day.” “Does she get to return to her original state when I sleep?” “No.” “Then I guess I’m just trying to garner some empathy for her,” Celestia said with a playful smile as she patted my head. “Not to mention it’s fun to watch you fight the urge to look down.” I stared at her blankly for a few seconds as a giggle passed through her lips. She’s lucky the nobles are too far up their own asses to notice what she’s really like, or they’d never listen to her. “Alright then…” I grunted, purposefully taking a gander at her chest before turning around. “I guess I should be off, Luna should be wondering where the hell I am by now.” “Don’t let me keep you~” Celestia replied with a playful smile as she turned around and walked back to her couch, adding an extra swing in her hips as she did so, “just don’t forget what we talked about.” “I won’t,” I said just before opening her room door, but before I opened said door yet another question popped into my head. “Well…” I said turning around, “there IS one more thing I’d like to know…” “Of course,” Celestia said, sprawling out on her couch, “What else would you like to know?” “Well…” I started slowly, trying to find the proper way to word my question. “Luna seems to have gotten more… experience,” I said, figuring I could dance around the issue a bit, “you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Celestia looked at me perplexed for a few seconds, probably surprised that I would ask her such a thing, but she smiled and shook her head just the same. “Well… given all the ‘training’ you two have been doing I would assume she’d be getting better as it is.” “Yeah but this time her… uh… ‘skill’ went way up…” I said awkwardly, “more so than ever before.” “Well if you must know…” she said propping herself up on her elbows. “I assigned Twilight some special material to cover.” My jaw nearly unhinged. The purple, bookish alicorn who ran those tests on me and Luna a few weeks back? Several images of the things Luna and I had done flashed through my mind, only I was replaced with a human Twilight. Twilight was laid out on her back at the front desk of some library in a proper librarian’s uniform, hair done up in a bun with pencils through it and sticking out of a front pocket, shaking with nervousness and uncertainty over both her new form and the unexpected nature of her assignment as she pushes down her skirt to hide everything underneath. Luna, my sexy Luna, decked out as an office lady, with an unbuttoned top, high cut skirt, and fishnet stockings leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, getting on her knees and crawling towards Twilight, reaching out to grasp her knees an- dead. My brain is dead. Too much heat, too much to process. Celestia won. Celestia couldn’t help but laugh at my near catatonic state before snapping her fingers, making something appear in her hands. Before I managed to replace all the parts she just broke in my head, she playfully tossed it in my direction. “I got her that close to two weeks ago,” she said, placing her hands behind her head, “Something tells me she’s put some of it into practice.” Back online. “A book?” I said before looking at the title, which read in bold letters ‘Pleasing Your Stallion’ “Well… that explains a lot.” “Does it?” Celestia asked, smiling like a loon, “I didn’t even know if it would transfer over anatomies very well.” “Oh it does…” I said, quickly flipping through a few pages. I was just as surprised as she was. Literally anything I could do, ponies could too. “Well I’m glad to know it worked out.” Celestia laughed, taking the book from my hands with magic. “Now I want you to keep that a secret, Luna would never forgive me if she found out I told you about this.” “Will do Celestia,” I said, “I’d better get back to Luna now… she’s probably wondering where I went.” “I wouldn’t doubt it Aedan,” Celestia nodded lying back down on her couch, “but please, in all seriousness… do remember what we discussed. I don’t want to lose her again.” “Celestia, you have my word,” I replied, walking out of her room. “I will do anything to keep her safe.”