Part XIV. Focus
By the time Stella ended up having to leave for her Guard shift, she had imparted some valuable knowledge on Fredrick in terms of formally courting/asking out Luna. As well, the two had formed a tentative plan to make the whole event much more… special. That time would come when it did, and technically, Fredrick would not have to court Luna, as Luna wanted to announce that she was courting him. It was some weird business, but either way, he wanted to also ask her out… so in effect, they would be asking to be each other’s special someone.
The whole situation was already giving him a headache.
But, that could be worried about when the time drew closer to ‘appropriate.’ For that particular moment, though, Fredrick only wanted to catch up on sleep. He got a paltry amount the previous night for obvious reasons and he still did wish to be rested for the next day’s work day. Checking over his schedule before he retired early, other than his normal job, he was meeting with Blueblood in the Labyrinth on Wednesday night and that was the only outstanding appointment that he had, meaning that the next week would go by nice and fast… at least, that was the hope.
Fredrick’s decision to turn in early was actually quite a nice one, as his energy absolutely swelled come Monday morning. That, and he was still ‘glowing’ from the aftermath of Saturday evening’s activities and Celestia was all too observant when Fredrick sat down at his desk. He already knew it was going to be an interesting day when Celestia, right hand supporting her muzzle, greeted him with a shit-eating grin and continued to stare at him likewise for the entire duration of him getting ready. After a few minutes of setting up and his friend/boss not tearing her smug face away from him, he sighed and resigned to just get the whole experience over with.
“Good morning, Celestia,” Fredrick greeted with as professional of a voice as he could. The Solar Princess’ expression never changed.
“Good morning, Fredrick. How was your weekend?” she greeted and asked in kind, though with a knowing tone of voice.
"It was nice while it lasted. Luna and I were able to go out in public without incident with her little disguise but that wasn’t a problem at all. Also, I met Twilight Sparkle; awesome mare,” Fredrick began detailing, the Princess nodding appropriately. “Too bad it had to get cut short because of that incident. Luna didn’t swing by to say goodnight so I assumed it was a bit hectic to deal with. How’d that go, by the way?”
“It’s always unfortunate to investigate an accident such as this, but the worst part is writing back to the families. Fortunately, no relations have been damaged and the investigation continues, though both sides are confident that there was nothing nefarious at play,” Celestia replied a bit somberly, her eyes drifting somewhat to the floor, but her expression quickly bounced back to its original smugness and she resumed staring Fredrick down.
“I cannot help but wonder though… was Luna out of practice?”
Fredrick rolled his eyes as he was turned away from the Princess, laying his coat on the back of his chair.
“Were things… too tight?”
Fredrick finally turned around and faced her with a look of great impatience.
“Just do it already! Get it out of your system!”
Celestia could not stifle her maniacal laughter any longer, and the human only sat on the edge of his desk as he watched the diarch completely lose her composure.
“So…” she finally was able to get out after calming down just a tad, running her fingers through her mane. “I see you diddled my little sister.”
Fred looked at her with a disgusted complexion.
“Diddled? Really? That makes me sound like a pdf-file,” he commented on her choice of words. She, however, responded with confusion.
“A pdf-file?”
“Nothing,” he waved her off. “Either way though, taking age into account, if anything, Luna was the one who diddled me.”
“So you did diddle dearest darling little sister…”
“Hah, nice alliteration. But since you seem so insistent on hearing it come from my mouth, yes. I had sexual relations with your next of kin,” Fredrick admitted, much to Celestia’s humor at his choice of words. “It’s funny though… as an older sibling, you seem to be taking this in quite a stride.”
“Older siblings will always worry for their younger ones, but in this case, I’m not too concerned. There is really nopony else I’d rather my sister choose to be intimate with, because I know for a fact that she is in perfect hands,” Celestia stated resolutely, making Fredrick feel somewhat fuzzy inside that he had Celestia’s blessing.
Then again, he never was worried about Celestia’s blessing. Chances are, she blessed him before he even knew what was happening.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way, what do we have planned today?” Fredrick asked, more than willing to get the day started so he did not have to start talking in depth about he and Luna’s ‘relations.’ He did not put it past Celestia that she would ask. On that mention, though, Celestia perked up as if she recalled something, and pulled an envelope from her inbox.
“Well, first things first, I’m delighted to say that you have a second assignment; courtesy of Luna,” she said, handing him the aforementioned envelope.
“Assignment? And Luna didn’t mention anything,” Fredrick questioned the word usage as he took the envelope, examining it and only finding Luna’s official seal.
“Yup! Think of it as a second, part-time job. Lulu wants you shadowing the Economic Council when they hold their meetings, Mr. Econometrician,” the Princess teased with a wink. Fredrick angled his head and gazed at her with mock-irritation, having opened the envelope and read the brief within.
“Sounds exciting. What do I do with this?”
“Take it to Luna, she should be in her office expecting you, actually. You just need to run over the details and for formality’s sake, sign a few forms. Worry not, though, you’re still my full-time slave assistant,” Celestia explained, adding the last bit with a full-toothed smile.
“Oh boy, oh boy! Slave to the Sun Princess, my favorite!” Fredrick replied with jokingly fake excitement, curling his arm in front of him for emphasis as he drifted to the door. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“I’ll keep the bed warm for you,” Celestia called out as she was drafting a letter.
“You’re hilarious, you know that?” Fredrick added sarcastically, waving and closing the door upon his exit, leaving Celestia to herself; she giggled as she continued writing.
[Luna’s Office]
It was a typical Monday, but Princess Luna was not too terribly bored. She was in the middle of responding to an advisor’s input via letter but her writing had slowly begun to drop off as she started to daydream. Soon enough, her quill rested on the parchment while her head rested in her left hand. Luna’s eyelids hung lazily half-way as her mind drifted about, a small but very noticeable smile on her face.
“Hmmmm…” she hummed out contently, relishing in the fuzzy feelings inside from merely gracing her thoughts with the recollections of this past weekend. She was still ‘with it’ enough to know that today would most likely not be a productive day… and she was okay with that. She just could not get her mind off of her human… her handsome, caring, hilarious, and downright sexy human.
Stupid… Sexy… Fredrick
If one could read Luna’s thoughts, it would be laughable as to how bad she had it for Fredrick. She had known this for a while though… and the events leading up to and including this past weekend had only confirmed it for her: she loved him. She loved everything about him and very few things could compare with the feeling of knowing that Fredrick loved her too.
They were still self-proclaimed best friends… but that title was slowly beginning to be ushered into the foundation of something with much more weight to it. In particular, Fredrick would be her coltfriend, and for him, she would be his marefriend or girlfriend, whichever he preferred. The formal, if archaic title would be ‘the Royal Consort’ but, as conservative as Luna was, even she admitted that that title was drab and had absolutely no ring to it. She had no issues in sticking to an informal title, but that would all be decided when the time came.
What was more important, for Luna at least, would be officially (with each other) taking that next step and then proclaiming him as such to the public as to avoid any confusion and annoying tabloid articles. That, and if Blueblood could make do on his word, it would pave the way for a seamless, dare she say almost normal relationship… something she had not had in quite a long time.
Four firm knocks brought her out of her little daydream, but Luna did not alter her positioning.
“Yes?”
The door opened and upon flicking her eyes up to the new entrant, she spied Fredrick letting himself in. She immediately perked up and straightened out her dress.
“Good morning, Princess,” he said with a genuine smile as he made his way over, rolling up his sleeves as Luna moved to meet him halfway.
“Good morning to you as well,” Luna replied with an equal tone, meeting him halfway and pulling him into a tight, loving embrace. Luna wrapped her arms around his neck while Fredrick’s were around her lower back, Luna burying her muzzle into his neck. After a single, chaste kiss, the two separated.
“So, I can’t help but wonder about this,” Fred said, gesturing to the envelope that he held in his hands containing his ‘assignment.’
"Ah, yes!” Luna affirmed, gliding back to her desk and pulling a couple of forms from her inbox. “You’re going to be shadowing the Economic Council and me when we hold our fortnightly meetings. Feel free to take notes and if you’re asked, give your opinion on the subject at hand. I just need you to fill these two documents out completely; basic non-disclosure agreements and legal stuffs.”
“This is the Economic Council of the entire nation, you sure I can just walk right into this?” Fredrick asked with uncertainty, taking the forms that Luna provided and folding them in his hand.
“Of course! You’re merely shadowing, as I said, and are not formally part of the Council itself. However, if you show enough promise, I could see you possibly being inducted as a Junior,” Luna teased, leaving the future open to question as she shrugged. “And this, I feel, will be more tailored to your tastes. Your experience in macroeconomics and the underlying econometrics will serve you well.”
“Why suddenly place me on the—erm—next to the Council?” he questioned, leaning on Luna’s desk as she took a seat and reclined, placing her arms behind her head.
“Because I would like to give you the opportunity to pick up your career where you left off. Since you cannot return to your world by our error, might as well have you continue with a hopefully suitable equivalent,” Luna reasoned as she relaxed. “That and because you’re talented and I love you. Need I require more reasoning?”
The Lunar Princess’ coy smile brooked no counter-argument. Fredrick could only return her cocky smirk with a playful one of his own. Even so, the three powerful words that Luna spoke towards the end of her last sentence had a warming effect on him, causing him to color and jumble his words. To Luna, he could not possibly have gotten more adorable.
“Well, t-thank you, Luna… and I ummm…” he scratched the back of his head and neck as he reinitiated eye-contact. “…I love you too.”
Luna giggled and lowered her eyelids, shooting him a much sultrier gaze as her right index finger began tracing a figure-eight right above the top of her cleavage.
“Do I receive a kiss?” she asked, pressing her advantage. With the briefest of flashes of her horn and a flick of her finger, her office door was locked.
“Why don’t you stand up and find out?” Fredrick gladly played along. Luna did as she asked, giggling maniacally the entire time and relishing in her victory. Fred took her into his arms and wasted no time in gingerly pressing his lips against hers, both pairs of eyes closing as they lost themselves to touch. Fredrick maneuvered his hands back down to where Luna’s back dimples would be while the Princess’ hands gently gripped the back of his head.
Fredrick began running his hands up and down Luna’s slender, toned back, tracing vertical lines through the fabric of her dress and she responded by deepening their kiss. Luna returned the initiative and eased her tongue forward, barely touching his lips and silently begging for him to let her enter… a request that Fredrick had absolutely no intention of denying. With a gentle smack from a temporary separation, their two tongues met in a wet embrace of their own, not vying for dominance, but rather, cuddling each other; a wanton expression of desire and love, even more so when Luna pulled led them back into her desk so she could sit, wrapping her legs around Fredrick’s waist and allowing their crotches to press firmly together.
The two separated their lips just so they could breathe, but Fredrick pressed forward and tugged at the alicorn’s lower lip, coaxing a feminine yet throaty giggle out of her. Embracing being a little more adventurous, Fredrick began planting little kisses and nips along Luna’s jawline, she gasping faintly at each careful, deliberate nibble.
“Mmmmph… Fredrick…” Luna quietly moaned, her hands having slid down his back and found their way to his rump, gripping him through his trousers.
“Ahem…”
Fredrick jumped and promptly separated from Luna, but the latter was not startled, but by how slowly and deliberately (with a look that could incinerate) she turned her head to face the new individual in the room, she was clearly done with their shit.
“Am I interrupting something?” Princess Celestia asked coyly, raising her right brow with her arms crossed under her chest.
“Oh no, not at all! Despite you overriding protective magic on a locked door and most likely just standing there for who knows how long, why would you ever feel you were interrupting anything?” Luna asked, lacing her words with lethal amounts of sarcasm. Fredrick had no place in this conversation and opted to watch it unfold as he recovered from their titillating make-out session.
“About two minutes, actually… and I’m glad I wasn’t! Which brings me to why I’m here. Firstly, pencil in a joint meeting with Zebranican military leaders on Wednesday, they wish to share their findings with us. Secondly…” Celestia pulled a manila envelope from the inside of her suit coat, handing it to Luna.
“…a bill from the Upper House that falls under both of our purviews; a joint signature is needed. Thirdly, I need my administrative assistant here, back.”
“Very well. Firstly, thank you for letting me know. Secondly, the bill will be returned to your desk by the day’s end. Thirdly, I need to go over one more item on one of the forms I gave him, so I shall return Fredrick to you shortly. Until then, as the adolescents say, kindly make like a tree and fuck off,” Luna responded in kind and gestured to her door.
Celestia gave a mock, half-assed bow and promptly disappeared in the flash of a teleportation spell. Upon ensuring she was gone, Luna turned to Fredrick, looking rather miffed.
“Are you still willing to partake in a joint pranking venture?”
“Yup! And after that interruption I think I’m ready to get caught up in this little prank war you two have,” Fredrick admitted, a bit irked that they had to abruptly cease their session. Luna smirked determinedly.
“Most excellent. I’ve been mentally crafting what we could do in response but I think I finally figured out the most humorous yet practical approach…” Luna commented, sitting on the edge of her desk with a pensive look on her muzzle, resting her face in the crook of her thumb and forefinger.
“What’d’ya figure?” Fred urged on, taking a seat next to her.
“Wednesday night. I shall provide the appropriate dress but we shall pose as intruders. Before the day is done, we shall sneak into Celestia’s quarters and cloak ourselves in the restroom. When she is most off her guard, we shall expose ourselves as contract killers sent to apprehend her.”
“Whoa… WHOA! You wanna pose as assassins or hit-men that are attempting to kidnap her?? That can’t possibly backfire in any conceivable way,” Fredrick reacted sarcastically, stunned at how far Luna was willing to go.
Prank... jeez that's borderline fucking insane.
“She wishes to ‘play hardball,’ then she shall receive hardball. As for potential, unforeseen consequences, I know some temporary spells that will disable magical ability in a unicorn; the effect is somewhat minimized on an alicorn. However, I’m in possession of a few ‘extraneous wearables’ that will disable magical prowess for an indefinite amount of time, dependent on me,” Luna elaborated. Fredrick’s right brow was raised quite high at this revelation and why Luna would be in possession of such items was somewhat questionable.
“None of my business. I’m still in, though.”
“Wonderful!”
“I do need to meet with someone at midnight, though, namely a certain Princely figure,” Fredrick stated. Luna nodded in acknowledgement but she was still not concerned.
“That shall not negatively affect our plans in the slightest. In fact, that’s actually more perfect. It will allow us a more opportune striking time. With certain events on our calendar that day, Celestia will wish to work late, thus she’ll be much more fatigued and ‘out of it.’”
“Fine by me. I’ll meet you at your room when I’m done?” Fredrick confirmed.
“That would be lovely.”
[Castle Labyrinth | Wednesday | 11:49 PM]
The rest of Monday and all of Tuesday had passed by uneventfully, though Luna and Fredrick were secretly looking forward to Wednesday night, and that eagerness was what got them through the days in between. Before the two could sortie out on the planned prank, there was one last order of business to take care of: a progress update from Blueblood. Fredrick figured this meeting would not take very long, and the lengthiest part of the whole ordeal would probably be treading through the labyrinth itself.
Dressed in some loose pants, a t-shirt, and a jacket, Fredrick was about to exit the castle proper and enter into the Royal Gardens when he spotted a nice, familiar face having been posted by the archway. Upon turning the corner, the human found Stella armored up and standing at attention with a stoic expression… that was until she noticed him, flashing him a smirk.
“Oh, hey Stella! On garden watch I see,” Fredrick greeted with a wave as he continued sauntering onward.
“The hell are you doing gallivanting at this time of night? And headed to the gardens no less,” the guardsmare inquired in her usual, adorable yet aggressive accent.
“Your mom, heh,” Fredrick replied without missing a beat as he continued closing the distance between them. He did not have much time to stop and talk, unfortunately, so they would hold conversation for the short time until he passed into the garden. Her eyes narrowed.
“Me mum’s dead, ya cocklord,” Stella shot back passively, though Fredrick knew for a fact that that wasn’t true. He heard the batpony mention her parents in passing many months ago.
“I know. That’s why I brought extra lube… I like ‘em dry and dusty to start with. It’s gonna be a mess, let me tell ya,” Fred added, clearly on a roll and accentuating his humor by pointing at the mare as he passed by.
“Hah! Fuck you, Fredrick. Let’s have a pint this weekend.”
“Sure thing, just remind me! See ya later!”
After waving goodbye to Stella as he stepped into the garden, Fredrick entered the labyrinth and casually made his way to the center using the route that he had taken many, many times over the months. It was a lazy stroll, he being able to doze off and still know exactly where he was at any given time, and when he rounded that last corner into the center, he found Blueblood already waiting for him. The Prince was dressed formally as always, and with his arms crossed over his pecs, his posture exuded ‘business.’
“You remembered our appointment. It appears being Aunt Celestia’s assistant has instilled some decent habits in you,” Blueblood remarked, though Fred was not sure if there was sarcasm involved at all. The stallion unfolded his arms as he walked to meet Fredrick.
“Hello to you too, Blueblood. Always nice to have a trademarked dose of your welcoming demeanor. I believe you summoned me, though?” Fredrick replied, though with enough sarcasm for the both of them. He only wanted to get this all over with so he and Luna could (hopefully) scare the living shit out of Celestia.
“Indeed, though just a progress update; we shan’t be here more than a few minutes. I’m about three quarters of the way through a list of known, would-be nuisances and with how things are progressing, I’m hoping to hammer out the final dissenters within about… two weeks or so,” Blueblood began, immediately cutting to the chase.
“Great to hear. No one is in any rush so take as much time as you need,” Fredrick acknowledged, but the Prince shook his head.
“You and Aunt Luna should be in such a rush when the time draws closer. Like a planetary alignment, once all of the opposition voices have been whipped neatly into a line, there will only be so much time before ponies start dissenting yet again… seeing if my threats are credible and what not. It’s time to focus on the more important aspects of the greater plan at hoof.”
“Alright, what do you propose we do?” Fred asked, realizing that this was indeed good information for the future.
“Ideally, by the time I convince the last one on my list, Auntie should make a formal announcement. If you have any barbaric human courting routines that you’d like to do on your own, I suggest you start thinking about that now and putting those plans into motion immediately,” Blueblood answered, never losing his serious edge. In fact, Fredrick thought he could make out an ever so slightly fatigued complexion through the darkness. Perhaps the Prince had been working some overtime.
Whatever the potential, future returns of this endeavor were must certainly be worth it.
“I’ve been giving it a great deal of thought, so I’m way ahead of you there. I’ll relay the message to Luna about the formal announcement.”
“Excellent. Oh, and by the way, just for your information, one of the last members on this list I have happens to be a prominent member of the Economic Council which you’ll be shadowing. I’m curious if you may be able to identify them,” Blueblood remarked with not-entirely-playful derision , his words throwing Fred for a loop in a few ways.
“Wait… how did you know that?” he asked, not sure how he got that information as he had only spoken with Luna and Celestia about his new, future assignment. Blueblood only chuckled to himself as he strolled past Fredrick into one of the dead ends.
“I have my ways of finding out many things, Fredrick. Heed my words, and we shall be in touch very soon,” the Prince cautioned, bundling a bidding of farewell with those words as he disappeared in a flash of magic. Once again, Fredrick was left alone in the labyrinth but he decided not to mull on Blueblood’s words as much as last time, opting to instead jog his way out of the enormous maze. He’d relay the message to Luna most likely in transit to carry out their indisputably over-the-top prank on the Solar Princess, so his mind was more focused on just that.
It was time to prank the shit out of Celestia.