FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A Princess' Steed

Chapter Ten

---

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Chris Silverhoof

_ _

---

"Just what happened out there today?" Luna demanded, finally seated in front of a roaring fire with the dirt cleaned from her coat. "I know you wouldn't talk to me at the time - your lover-pony was face first on the floor, I suppose - but you really must give me all the details now."

She fixed her sister with a steely glare.

"No details spared, Celestia. I must know everything."

The princess sighed and rested her chin on the cushion in front of her. Her eyes sleepily roamed the books lining the shelves of her personal library. It didn't usually make her feel so sleepy, but bed was all she wanted after an exhausting day that had nearly never come again.

And so she told Luna every detail, adding more where the alicorn demanded it, eyes wide and jaw set. Her muzzle tipped down when she filled in the gaps of her capture, how lonely the moon had been even for such a short time, and she stormed about the room as the threats on Celestia's life were revealed.

By far the most illuminating, however, was her reaction when Celestia recounted Kevin's part in the fight, how everything may have been so very different if he had not been there and stood by her when she'd most needed a pony at her side. And his strength had been what had, ultimately, sealed their victory.

"He's quite the pony, is he not?" She said quietly, when Celestia's eyelids were drooping. "I can perhaps now see what you saw in him originally."

Celestia smiled warmly, despite her exhaustion.

"I was hoping you would say that one day, although I did not expect that time to come so soon."

Luna laughed dryly.

"I did not expect to be captured and require rescuing by my sister and the pony she's lost her heart to either, yet that also happened, as embarrassing as it is to admit."

"Which part?" Celestia had the heart to tease. "The bit about being captured or the rescue?"

"The falling for a pony a fraction of your age is by far the most embarrassing, but you will not hear me scorn your love for a moment more."

Celestia opened her mouth to counter and promptly closed it again, a blush colouring her cheeks. Smirking, Luna sipped at the potion, designed to restore her strength, and made a face at the taste. Her sister took a deep breath.

"Actually, Luna, there was something I wanted to ask you, after this whole debacle."

"Oh, yes?"

The princess paused, lips pulling up in a smile. Luna tapped one hoof against the other, eyes wide and expectant: well?

"I was wondering if you'd have any objection if I were to ask for his hoof in marriage?"

*

Kevin swallowed and tugged at the unusually formal suit encasing his pony form. He had not even known they made suits for ponies and hadn't even worn one in his life as a human, though he would never know if the garment felt any more comfortable on skin rather than a short coat of 'fur'.

The palace ballroom had been transformed with seats for ponies lining the grand room and a carpet half rose and half silver running down the full length to the raised dais at the very back. It was there he stood with the eyes of every pony in the room on him, Luna standing regally to the side ready to proclaim him and Celestia stallion and mare.

That was if he could keep his stomach where it belonged and his heart from pounding in his throat, constricting it with every breath. Luna smiled and leaned in, patting his shoulder.

"You're doing very well. Relax, Kevin."

His old life was well and truly behind him and he had no inclination to return, though the reasons for that would be between him and the princess. The rest of Equestria didn't have to know that Twilight had found a way to send him home and he'd refused to go, planting his hooves even as the befuddled princess tried to talk him into returning to his friends and family. The truth was that he had no friends and family to return to and that would not have changed several months after banishing Wilda to Tartarus either. There was nothing left for him in the human world and all the life to be lived as a pony. As a stallion.

And that was when Celestia had proposed.

Luna stood up a little taller.

"Here she comes!"

He thought briefly how kind Luna had been to him since her capture and subsequent rescue, the hours she'd spent ensuring Celestia and he did not overly exert themselves in their endeavour to regain full health. For, although alicorns were particularly resilient, Celestia was not immortal to injury and he had not left her side for even a moment as she recovered - a fact that Luna had noticed too.

But there was no time to consider as the double doors opened and a beautiful alicorn stepped onto the carpet. His breath caught in his throat as she made her way down the carpet, step by regal step as if she was floating on the air itself. Her usual golden jewellery had been exchanged for a flowing white gown with intricate silver detailing. If one looked closely enough, they would have spotted the bracelet around her right fetlock, the strands of silver metal woven together with magic to form the image of a stallion and mare embracing.

Kevin beamed, lips stretched unnaturally wide as the flower ponies bounced behind the princess and the bridesmaids - Twilight and her friends, who he had become better acquainted with in recent weeks - scurrying into position opposite him. Petals scattered in her wake as the orchestra flooded the hall with music, which he only hoped was loud enough to cover the pounding of his frantically beating heart.

When she finally stood opposite him, the princess giggled, covering her lips with a hoof and demonstrating surprising demureness. Luna clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and Kevin swore he caught her rolling her eyes.

"I came as swiftly as I could," Celestia whispered as she stood opposite him, her eyes twinkling. "Am I late for my own wedding?"

Leaning in, Kevin stole a quick kiss from her lips and the princess blushed.

"There, I forgive you now."

Rarity, posed beside Twilight, dabbed at her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

"Oh, have you ever seen a more perfect couple?" She sobbed. "Finally the princess together with her special somepony!"

"Darn sure I haven't, sugarplum," Applejack chuckled, patting her friend's shoulder. "But maybe don't cry off all your mascara just yet."

"Fillies and gentlecolts," Luna began the ceremony in her traditional royal voice, the booming echoing to all corners of the grand hall. "We are gathered here to see my sister, the princess of Equestria, and her stallion, Kevin Dusksong, having undergone his renaming ceremony to commemorate the day Celestia and he revealed Wilda's plot to overthrow Equestria and rescue a certain pony from a rather barren moon."

The hall rippled with laugher and Celestia hid her grin behind a hoof. Smiling in turn, Luna addressed Celestia and Kevin as one.

"I am proud to stand here before you today with the knowledge that there is no finer stallion in the entire realm of Equestria to take my sister's hoof in marriage. And, it is with these rings, exchanged as a pair bonded for life, I pronounce you stallion and mare before these witnesses!"

The hall rang with cheers and the stamping of hooves as Kevin delicately took a diamond ring from the ring bearer colt and slipped it over her horn, only for Celestia to ease a similarly bejewelled band around his fetlock, letting it rest above his hoof. The stallion inhaled deeply, legs trembling, and leaned in for a second, his tongue dancing passionately with that of the mare he had never before known that he'd been destined to spend his life with.

But all was indeed to be; some may have even called it a touch of destiny. And the rest of their lives together stretched out before them, as perfect as an untainted pool on a clear summer's day.

As they turned to face the crowd, slightly breathless from the kiss, for the first time as mare and stallion, Celestia dropped another kiss on his cheek.

"I'd love to say we may adjourn to the bedchambers for some private time now, Kevin, but the afternoon is due to stretch into a long evening and night for us. I do hope you have your best horse shoes on!"

Kevin turned his ears towards her, eyes on the crowd as everypony seemed to spring into action at once.

"A long celebration?" He sighed. "I admit I was hoping for some quiet time with you and me..."

He trailed off, eyes hopeful, but Celestia only shook her head, one eye on the bustle of activity flaring to life around them. The poor stallion didn't know what he was in for!

"Oh yes, darling," she said with a glint of mischief in her eye. "The real celebration is only now beginning!"

Gulping, Kevin gave his best effort at a smile, ears twitching as the younger ponies and their designated caregivers were ushered out of the ballroom, servants rushing around to clear the floor of chairs. His tail swished curiously against his hocks and he bumped his nose into Celestia's neck, nostrils flaring to catch a lingering scent that was becoming very pleasantly familiar. Just what did his sweetheart have planned?

He was about to find out.