//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Failures And Acceptance 
// Story: The Unity Pact Side Stories: The Teacher And The Pupil 
// by Truthseeker 
//------------------------------//



Luna stood directly in front of Chris looking him square in the eyes,
"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yes." Chris answered evenly.

"Are you aware of what is going to happen, and do you have any questions or concerns about it?" Luna asked.

Chris huffed slightly,
"For the third time, yes I understand and no, I do not have any questions or concerns."

"Alright then, stand ready and prepare yourself." Luna commended.

Chris shifted his feet to shoulder width and flexed his knees as Luna's horn lit up, 'I am so sorry for last time Chris. I'll never assume anything about you ever again.' she lamented within her mind, 'I care about you too much.'

Chris' vision went dark along with his senses of taste, touch, and smell. He took a deep breath, but he managed to remain calm.

"Are you alright?" Luna's voice was twinged with concern.

Chris spoke only a single word,
"Yes." he never moved a muscle.

Luna bit her lip, already feeling nervous about denying him his senses. He had agreed to the training after he had calmed down from the last debacle. He said his sense of smell was a bit more keen ever since the incident. Luna on the other hand, had her own issues to deal with. Ever since Chris had shown her how it felt to have a choice stripped from her by forcing her to kiss him, she hadn't been able to get close to him without feeling nervous. Every time he placed his hand on her back, she had to fight her reflexive response to run or scream. He had left an injury to her psyche, one which was much more severe than she let on. In her heart she knew he only forced the kiss to make a point, but her mind screamed otherwise.

"Alright then, follow the sound of my voice and the echoes of my shoes. We will be walking around the palace, but the staff have already been notified that you are training. They will not mock you." Luna said.

Chris had expressed his feelings of embarrassment at what she had done before when she made him follow her around by smell. In truth she had given no earlier thought to any sort of possible embarrassment because of what happened. It had all compounded, one thing on top of another and as he had told her, it weighed heavily on her heart that she had hurt him so. Chris had told her that they were 'even' but Luna felt she had only compounded her debt to him. She had not told Celestia about the incident for fear of her sister's anger at Chris forcing the kiss on her. It hurt Luna every day that she saw Chris, every time she saw him, it felt as though somepony was driving a stake through her heart. When she saw him, all she saw were her mounting failures, betrayals, and disappointments. She never mentioned to either Chris or Celestia that she relived the forced kiss every time she slept, nor that she awoke crying every day. To Luna it was her punishment for what she had done and she was going to bear it with stoicism, 'I deserve it.'

Chris replied with a simple,
"I will follow you."

Luna shouldered open the doors to her chambers and slowly walked out into the hallway. Chris bumped bis right shoulder into the door frame but corrected himself. Luna had left his pain receptors still functional. Chris started out his walk slowly, but gained confidence with every step until he was ambling down the hallway as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Luna led him down the hallway and around the first corner on a left turn. Chris walked right into the wall, face first with a loud smack and crunch.

Luna spun on her heels and watched as he began to fall backward. Her horn ignited and she caught him, which was when she noticed him clutching both hands over his nose and the blood which trickled down between his fingers. 

"Ouch." came his muffled voice from under his hands.

Her heart began to race as she set him down on the floor,
"Christopher!" she cried as she galloped back toward him, "Remove your hands, let me see!"

Chris' senses returned as soon as his butt hit the stone floor and he blinked at the Alicorn Princess who was less than a foot away from his face. She nosed his hands, shuddering fearfully at the physical contact, and moved his them out of the way so she could see his injury. Seeing his swollen, bleeding nose, she lit up her horn and scanned his face. Her spell revealed that his nose was indeed broken. 

She took a step back,
"Oh no, no, no! Hold still I'll fix you!"

She lit up her horn again and Delved him. Focusing on his face and finding his nose, she used her magic to align the bone fragments and cartilage then fuse them back together. Chris cringed from the pain in his nose and the unsettling sound of shifting bones. 

After a brief flare of intense heat, Luna's horn extinguished,
"Oh Christopher I am so sorry!" Luna whimpered.

She fell back onto her flank and lowered her head,
"I cannot seem to do anything without hurting you..."

Chris waved her off absently,
"It was just a busted nose and besides, you fixed it right? So no harm done. Let's just get back to what we were doing."

Luna shook her head firmly,
"No, take the rest of the day off. I... I need to reevaluate... everything. This isn't working. I keep hurting you in one way or another and that is unacceptable." she looked up, meeting his eyes with hers hesitantly, "I am an amateur playing at a game of which I am bumbling around like a blind goose in a hailstorm. I am so sorry Christopher. I'm ruining everything. I thought I could help you become the guardian you wanted to be, but... I'm doing naught but hurting you over and over." she said sadly, "Perhaps I WAS better off on the Moon." she whispered.

Chris' bushy eyebrows rose,
"Hey, take it easy." he reached out to pet her shoulder and for the first time noticed when she flinched at the contact, "Luna," he spoke quietly, "What's wrong?"

Luna shook her head and rose to her hooves,
"Nothing."

She took a step to walk away but Chris reached out and held her in place with his hands on her shoulders,
"You're not a very good liar Luna. If this is about me bumping my nose it's fine, really. I'm stubborn and sometimes it takes some pain for me to learn. It's really not a big deal."

Luna shivered under his hands,
"There's... no, never mind. Please, just go and enjoy the rest of your day."

Chris shook his head,
"Not until we get this resolved. Why did you flinch at my hand? And don't say 'it's nothing' because you're shaking right now." he shifted his weight and took a knee so he could look her in the eye, "What happened? Did Celestia fuss at you for the whole 'blanking my senses' thing?"

Luna closed her eyes and turned her head away,
"No. She doesn't even know it happened... it's... when you were angry... and... you kissed me..."

Chris sighed,
"Yeah, I thought that might have been it. I'm sorry if I came off a bit over the top with that..." he suddenly blinked as a new thought occurred to him, "Tell me that wasn't your first kiss." his voice was almost a whisper.

Luna nodded,
"It... it was."

Chris fell back onto his butt,
"Aw fuck." he mumbled, "Look, I'm really sorry about that. I never even thought about that. I figured you were, you know, over a thousand years old... I just thought you would have had a ton of lovers by now. I remember that first day when you brought me to your room and I found that necklace hidden behind the fireplace. You said it had been a gift from a Gryphon King."

Luna nodded,
"It was but... I ended up on the Moon and he died of old age before I returned. We never kissed."

Chris sat back against the wall on which he had broken his nose,
"So then you never... went any farther?"

Luna shook her head,
"Of course not. Even if he and I had married, I would have needed other mares to act as Comforters."

Chris quirked his left eyebrow,
"Blankets?"

Luna let out a tiny giggle at his misunderstanding,
"No, a mare needs sister/wives to Comfort her when she and her husband... conjoin for the first time."

Chris' face registered immense confusion,
"I'm not trying to sound rude or condescending, but... why?"

"All mares fear their first time with any male. It is ingrained into us by the Natural Magic of the world. There is a very tragic tale associated with it." Luna explained.

Chris folded his hands behind his head,
"Well my tutor just gave me the day off so I have the time, if you're willing to tell the story."

*          *          *

Chris sat silently against the wall, his face an emotionless mask,
"So... when I... forced you to kiss me... I..."

Luna nodded her head, still very quiet,
"The term is 'raped a kiss'."

The words bit him like a tidal wave, devastating in their effect. Chris folded his hands in front of his face, sucked both his lips into his mouth, and bit down slightly as he processed everything she had told him. He sat in place in silence, resting his nose on top of his intertwined fingers, 'Oh hell, what did I do? That's why she's so scared of me, I basically raped her!' he took a long breath through his nose and let it out loudly, 'Okay, it wasn't quite the full-blown event, but...' his eyes rose and locked onto Luna, 'I hurt her... bad... real bad.' he released his lips and ran his tongue over his teeth, 'I wasn't trying to do... THAT. I was just trying to make a point... aw fuck me.' his eyes trailed down to the floor, 'How the fuck do you make up for pseudo-rape?'

"Christopher," Luna spoke, pulling Chris out of his thoughts, "Are you..."

"I'm so sorry Luna." Chris suddenly said, "I never... I wasn't trying... gah, Jesus! I... I... I..." he grit his teeth, "GAH, FUCK!" he punched the floor next to him, "I had no idea!" he quickly spilled out, "I thought... it was the same thing... as it would be for Humans and... that it wouldn't be a big deal and... and it is and I've... I've hurt you and I didn't mean to and... and it turned out to be your first kiss... and I stole that... and it hurt you... and... and... and... FUCK!" he slammed his left fist into the floor with a resounding thump.

Pain raced up his arm, but despite his aching fist, Chris never moved a muscle, he would never admit to the mist in his eyes either,
"I never... I never meant...FUCK!" he clenched his eyes shut and punched the floor with his left hand again.

Red hot pain shot up his arm, but he ignored it,
"I'm not that kind of... and I did... and now you're..."

White hot agony lanced up his arm as he punched the floor again, this time accompanied by the quiet crunch of bone,
"Christopher stop it!" Luna's horn lit up halting his arm, "Enough! No more!" she placed her nose half an inch from his, "No more," she whimpered, "Please. No more."

She channeled her magic to soothe his pain and hold his arm immobile.

Chris clenched his eyes shut and leaned his forehead against that of the Alicorn in front of him,
"I... I didn't mean to..."

Luna reached up and held his mouth closed with her right forehoof,
"I know..." she whispered, "Neither did I." she lowered her hoof, "We were both wrong. Neither of us meant to do as much harm as we have. I am sorry... for everything."

Chris sniffed and turned his head, grinding their foreheads together,
"I am too Luna." his right hand rose part way before he halted it, "May I?"

Luna nodded and stepped into him. Their heads slipped past each other and rested on each other's shoulder. Chris wrapped his right hand around Luna and held her close.

"I am sorry Christopher." she whispered sincerely, "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's alright Luna." he whispered back, "We both made mistakes."

They stayed locked in their embrace and quickly lost track of time.