Ponies were staring. He couldn’t really fault them, he was riding on the back of one of their princesses after all. Doesn’t mean their eyes felt good on him. He hugged Luna a bit tighter, just above the thingy she had around her neck with her mark, but was careful not to strangle her. He let his eyes close shut, glad that he at least didn’t have to look at them.
He could feel how tense Luna was. She held her head high even when they started whispering about them, but to him it was obvious that she wasn’t comfortable with it. He felt bad for her, this was because he was acting like a kid after all. He couldn’t even say anything encouraging to her. Well he couldn’t say anything at all, but still. He decided to give her a little squeeze. Maybe it was just his imagination, but it did feel like she relaxed a bit more.
They had gotten out of the hospital without any problems, all he had to do was sign his name below Twilight’s. He just scribbled down ‘Jax’, no need for them to know he had a last name. He wasn’t going to use it anymore anyway. It wasn’t until they got outside that the stares became really obvious. The nurses and doctors at least pretended they were doing stuff, trying to hide their stares. Other ponies didn’t. They stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing and just looked at them. It was disturbing really, and the reason he had closed his eyes.
“I… uhm, I finished more clothes for you Jax. When you find an image or pattern you want on them, just tell me, and I’ll get right on it.” He looked over at Rarity, who looked at him with a smile on her face… muzzle. He smiled back at her and nodded. He needed to get some money to pay for that of course. Twilight had mentioned something about that. He needed to get some paper to communicate with her. He also needed socks and shoes at some point, but he had a feeling that Rarity didn’t make shoes. She probably knew someone who did though.
“Jax, I’m sorry about not visiting more while you were in pain. I just… I hate sitting there without being able to do anything. At least before we could talk a little, and I should have gone more for that, but I just kept postponing it you know? I… hope you’re not mad.” So that was why Rainbow had looked so down when she came in. ‘That’s okay Rainbow, the only pony I know was there for certain is Luna. I’m guessing Twilight visited a lot as well, but if you hadn’t said anything I wouldn’t have known.’ He thought to himself. Of course all he could do was smile and shake his head. Rainbow relaxed a bit but still looked kind of down. Maybe a smile and a nod wasn’t enough for her. Well it was all he could give at the moment. Well, except…
He untied his Bag o’ Candy and offered her a piece. A smile slowly spread on her face and she took a piece. “Thanks Jax.” He smiled back. He offered some to all of the ponies present, and even took some himself. To his regret he found that there wasn’t much candy left. He had a suspicion that Pinkie had been taking from it while he was in pain. He wasn’t mad or anything, he didn’t even really mind. When he looked over at her, Pinkie just gave him a giant smile. He smiled back.
The elements each went their own way along the way until it was just him, Luna and Twilight. The guards seemed to be well trained at looking forward, so that was less stares to worry about. Of course there would be weird rumors again, but he couldn’t find the energy to care. Let the ponies think what they wanted.
They finally made it to the castle. Tree-castle. Crystal-tree-castle. It was weird, how did it just appear there after Twilight defeated Tirek? They said goodbye to Twilight inside the castle and made it to the room Luna had been assigned. He laid his stuff near the door. Now was the time to find some paper to start communication.
“Alright, so this is… uhm, our room I guess. For now at least. I know you are probably tired, so is there anything you need before we go to sleep?” She had a visible blush.
He nodded and mimicked writing something. She just looked at his hand, making him sigh. Okay, obviously ponies didn’t use their hoof to write with, that might have been the problem… what do non-unicorns use to write? He had only seen Twilight write something down and she used her magic. He looked around the room and noticed a desk. There wasn’t much else, just a desk, a large bed and a nightstand, and a door he theorized led to a bathroom. He pointed towards the desk, and Luna went over. He searched through some drawers and quickly found some parchment, quills and ink. How they could have newspapers and still use these tools to write was beyond him. He carefully opened the inkwell, put a piece of parchment in front of him, and picked up a quill, of course all the while keeping one arm around Luna’s neck. Then the next problem presented itself… how the hell do you write with a quill? Luna was looking at him expectedly, waiting to see what he wanted. He finally decided that he had enough parchment to mess up a little and went to work dipping the quill in the inkwell.
He started with the most important thing.
You were there with me for all three days?
He had to rewrite it three times because he kept making giant splotches of ink. Even then it didn’t look too good but she could read it at least.
“Yes, I stayed by your side for all three days, except when I needed to take showers and such.” She answered a bit confused. He was just about to write his thanks, but paused. How could he express how thankful he was? He decided with a more direct form of appreciation first, and got off of her. He never let go of her, but rotated around so he was in front of her, before giving her a gentle hug. Her wings instantly went around him, shrouding him in a familiar warmth. He could have started purring, that’s how good it felt.
He let go with one hand and turned around to write something. To his delight the wings stayed around him.
Thank you. Words can’t even describe how much you helped me.
It was… not enough. A couple of words on a piece of paper. As things were right now, there wasn’t much else he could do however.
“You are very welcome. I didn’t do much really, and I’ve stayed up for much longer before.”
He raised his eyebrows at both statements. He underlined his last sentence before writing a new one.
It was a lot to me. You stayed up for all three days?
“Oh… uhm, yes I did.” He turned around and gave her another hug. “It is not that big of a deal. I once stayed up for an entire month. I had to stay awake in case you had any questions or I had to calm you down.”
He quickly scribbled down ‘thank you’ before going back to hugging her. It just felt so good, he couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t until he almost fell asleep that he remembered that there was still something he needed to do.
I need a shower. How are we going to do it?
He wrote, noticing her blush. He was a bit warmer than usual around the cheeks as well. He needed to take a shower and he needed to hold on to her. He had to be naked to take a shower. It all added up to embarrassing times…
“Uhm… I have gotten used to your scent. We could just not bathe. Ever.” Sounded like a good solution to him. He shook a little in a silent laugh. Ahh, but no, even in the Everfree he had bathed every two or three days in the mostly cold river. He liked being at least somewhat clean.
Let’s just do it.
He wrote, feeling an uncomfortable warmth spread through him.
I won’t get mad that you see me naked, just try not to stare.
He was sure he looked much like a tomato. He just proposed to - ah whatever. They were ponies, they were used to being naked. Of course he wasn’t a pony and he most certainly wasn’t used to being naked. Still, he wanted a shower and she needed to be with him in the there. Nothing else to do.
Luna was blushing as well - they had both been doing that a lot recently, he realized - but she gave him a nod anyway. He swallowed nervously, avoiding her eyes. He quickly crawled back up on her back. He felt bad for her, having to carry him around, but she didn’t seem to have any problems with it, or even mind at all.
He noticed that her walk towards the bathroom was a bit slow, but didn’t comment on it - not that he could anyway - she was probably just a little nervous.
When they finally arrived at the bathroom he was so busy cursing himself for not going with her plan that he almost didn’t notice. For a full minute they just stood and sat there, both unsure of what to do next. Finally he decided to take of his shirt, revealing his scarred upper body. Luna took one look before deciding that the shower in front of them was very interesting. Jax was happy that she did, he wanted to slap himself for somehow finding himself in this situation. He should have never drank that potion. Of course something bad would happen when drinking a green potion. What was he thinking? He took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. Nothing to do about that now, waaaay too late in fact, and in the end he at least didn't have to deal with the prolonged pain of the burns.
In any case, they were there, they didn’t know how long he would be unable to let go of the blue alicorn under him, and they would need to shower at some point anyway. This would probably be less awkward than using the toilet… which they would also have to do at some point. He wanted to die right then and there. They would get to know each other more intensely than any of them would like, it seemed.
He slowly got off again. When he did, Luna used her magic to take off her crown, horseshoes, and the thing she had around her neck depicting her mark, one by one. When she took off her neck thingy, a piece of folded paper dropped out, which she quickly caught in her magical aura, and carefully placed beside everything else. He wanted to ask what is was but… no way of communicating.
The bathroom was big enough for them both to stand comfortably in and then some, but it wasn’t overly spacious like he had expected a castle bathroom to be. The mirror was on Luna’s side, which was good, he didn’t have to worry about her accidently seeing anything. Luckily the bathtub/shower looked big enough for them both to be in without any problems. It was a bit like a Jacuzzi actually, coming out seamlessly from the floor. It could actually be part of the floor for all he knew.
He realized he was avoiding the task ahead by looking around the bathroom, and Luna had no way of knowing whether he was ready or not, so she just kept staring at the shower.
He sighed. He would have to do this sooner or later anyway, might as well get it over with. Taking off pants with one hand was easier while standing up than laying down. He quickly threw the pants over beside his shirt.
There they were, two completely naked creatures about to take a shower together. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.
“Art thou… are you ready, Jax?” Luna asked, probably having heard that he was doing something, but not sure what. He nodded. Of course she was still looking straight ahead, so she didn’t see him nodding. He tried to give her a light squeeze with the arm he still had around her.
“I am going to take that as a yes, though we really should have agreed on this beforehoof.” He agreed with that.
Luna turned on the water with her magic, and then used some time to adjust it for the perfect temperature. After that they awkwardly entered the tub little by little, Luna starting with her forelegs, waiting for him to enter, before she entered with her back legs. They would probably get better... Actually he was hoping a bit that they wouldn’t have to, that he would get over his need to hug her all the time before they got to the point where they actually got better at this.
The water temperature was a colder than he would have liked, but after bathing in a river for a month he was used to dealing with colder water. He instantly went for the shampoo. He was going to get this shower over with as fast as possible.
Before he could get to that, he noticed that Luna relaxed visibly under his half-embrace. Looking over at her, his mind went blank for a couple of seconds. She wasn’t doing anything special, she had just closed her eyes, her head tilted upwards as if to welcome the water drops, a smile on her muzzle, her mane flowing freely as always. For some reason he just found her… well, beautiful. He had thought that about her before, even though he hadn’t about any other pony. Now that he realized, he noticed how strange that was. Why was she more beautiful than other ponies, when they were all ponies? Was it her dark blue, and surprisingly soft fur? Her crescent moon mark? Her majestic wings? Or was it her cyan eyes, shinning with happiness at something he said or did. Or her personality, like that time she cheered him up by blowing a raspberry on his cheek, that had been fun. A reason was certainly her mane and tail, flowing freely as if in a slight breeze, a miniature version of the stars he had come to love so much.
Wait, was he… was he checking out a pony? No, that wasn’t it, he was just analyzing what made her beautiful… which was totally not the same at all. Oh God he thought of her as beautiful.
He started breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down, but his breaths were too quick and shallow. He was hyperventilating.
“Jax? Is something wrong?” Luna asked with worry clear in her voice. He dropped the shampoo he was still holding and repositioned himself so he was hugging her from the front, embarrassment temporarily forgotten. He did calm down a bit at the now-familiar feeling of having her in his embrace, especially when she covered him with her wings.
“Oh, uhm… squeeze for yes, tap on the shoulder for no.” Why didn’t he get a ‘it’s complicated’ option?
He squeezed her and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Yes and no? Those are my withers Jax, my shoulder is right above my foreleg. Let us try again… is something wrong?”
He did the same, except he tapped her on her actual shoulder, instead of what he thought was her shoulder.
“Yes and no… alright… how about this then, is there something I can help with?”
He tapped her on the shoulder. Somehow ‘stop being beautiful’ didn’t seem like an option here.
“Alright… are you going to be fine?”
He hesitated, then gave her a light squeeze. ‘Probably’ was more what he would say than a definite ‘yes’. The ‘conversation’ had calmed him down enough so that he was breathing normally again, which in turn calmed down Luna. She was very sweet, worrying about him like that.
“Good.” She gave a sigh of relief. “Try not to scare me like that, Jax. I have my eyes closed, so I cannot see if there is anything bothering you.” She was so caring. Oh God, now he couldn’t stop seeing her like that.
He gave her a quick squeeze, and almost let entirely go of her, before instinct or fear kicked in, or whatever it was that was telling him to keep holding on, and he instantly latched on with a whimper.
“Jax what is wrong?!” Luna sounded like she was near panic. He just breathed heavily because of the adrenaline suddenly pumping through his system.
“Is there something in the bathroom scaring you Jax? Should I open my eyes?” She didn’t realize how close he had come to letting go of her. He quickly tapped her on the shoulder, waited a bit, then tapped her again.
“Are you absolutely certain? Jax I do not want you getting hurt by something just because you are embarrassed.” So protective. He felt completely safe in her winged embrace.
He gave her a squeeze. Nothing here but a stupid human and a beautiful alicorn. He sighed. He would have to figure out everything latter. He quickly found the shampoo with one hand and started using it.
“Alright, but I expect you to write down what happened later.” No complaints from him, he would just skip some details.
After he had cleaned himself, we wondered how Luna was going to do it. Did her mane need shampoo? She just stood there and he realized she still had her eyes closed. He put a hand on her muzzle getting a smile in return. He started petting her a little, feeling her wet fur under his hand, before catching himself. Why was he doing that? He didn’t even know, it just felt nice to see her smile.
He booped her on the nose with the shampoo bottle. She looked comically surprised, which made him laugh his silent laugh, which made her smile.
“Since you have started playing around, does that mean you are done? Can I open my eyes?” He repositioned himself so that he was by her side, before giving her two squeezes.
Since pony eyes were positioned more to the side than human eyes were, it seemed like it would be easy for her to look at in his direction, but she kept her gaze forward or on different bottles. It turned out that she did wash her mane and tail, but not before using a spell to make it into normal, light blue hair. Considering what she told him about her mane and tail, that must mean she stopped the connection between them and her magic or something.
She used the same shampoo and ‘body wash’ as he did. It wasn’t really the same as body wash back home since it was made for fur, he used it out of lack of other options. After that she used the conditioner on her mane, tail and entire body. Whoever made conditioners here must make a lot of money. Whenever she tried to wash a place where he was hugging her, she gently told him to move, so she wouldn’t hit him with her magic. He differentiated between hugging her neck and her midsection.
When she was done she turned off the shower and they got out. He caught sight of himself in the mirror as he dried himself off. So much change since he came to Equestria. He had lost a lot of weight and now looked unhealthily thin, which could also be because of the last three days and lack of proper food. He had also gained some muscle from his daily struggles in the Everfree, even though he wasn’t anywhere near well-built. Still, he could clearly see that he was stronger than before. And then of course were all the scars. Not many on his face, but from the neck and down... there were plenty. Some of them were from the burns Twilight had bestowed upon him, some of them were from the manticore that had almost killed him, most of them were from his worst enemy: Timberwolves. How he hated those tree monsters. Always hunting him, always behind him, no matter how many times he destroyed them.
His gaze went up a bit and he locked eyes with Luna. She was blushing madly. Slowly, oh so slowly, she averted her eyes and looked straight ahead again, and he realized she had most likely been checking him out in his still naked form. He didn’t even know how to react, he just watched her turn her head. Suddenly feeling very warm, he decided he should finish drying himself. He felt so exhausted he didn’t even have the energy to be properly embarrassed.
After he had put on his clothes he mounted Luna and she walked out of the bathroom without comment, even though she didn’t put her stuff on again, just letting them trail after them in her magic. She went straight over to the desk and looked at him expectedly. He had promised her to tell her why he had acted as he did in the bathroom, but he was too tired to even focus properly.
To do when we wake up:
Tell Luna what happened in the bathroom.
Ask Luna what the paper she has under the neck thingy is.
Eat lots of food.
Luna looked curiously at what he wrote. “It is called a collar, Jax. But fine, let us rest now then. I am tired as well.”
She went over to the bed and placed her regalia on the floor beside it, being extra careful with the folded paper. Now that he thought about it, there was no reason for him to take his shirt on again. He quickly took it off and threw it beside her stuff. Rarity probably wouldn’t appreciate him handling her clothes like that, but he didn’t care at the moment.
Luna went onto the bed and laid with her hooves under her, in the same pose she had been in when he had woken up. He slid down beside her and threw the blanket over them, even though he doubted they would need them in the hot weather. It was still day outside after all. What time was it? Almost noon? Luna used her magic to draw the curtains, letting darkness shroud the room. Sweet sweet darkness. He cuddled up closer to Luna with both his arms around her neck, feeling her put her wing around him. With that, the last of his strength left him and he was quickly lulled into a deep sleep.