In Somnis Veritas
There's truth in dreams. There are dangers in there too.
Chapter 1:
In Somnis
Teeth grabbing on the vine, flexing my strong neck, twines around the hoof, another three inches up. Earth ponies were not made for climbing. The route that would take a pegasus ten seconds took me nearly an hour by now. Need for silence, need to blend with the vines whenever the guards passed below. An ache of my neck, strained with the effort of supporting my whole body -- still, nothing compared to the cliffs of Gull Harbor, six years ago, stealth storm on the demon fort. That was my past. Once again, I pondered my folly. Just one glimpse up close, hearing her voice once again, and then I'd likely spend the short remainder of my life in prison. But it would be worth it. Bite into the vine, flex neck, secure position with hooves, look around for dangers, repeat.
"Luna." I whispered the name, and the whisper felt sweet on my lips against the bitter juice of the vines. The most beautiful mare of Equestria, my employer until recently, and my dream since I saw her for the first time, the day she returned. I dreamed about her ever since -- fifteen years by now. I joined the Shadow Guard, a military force under her command, and I fought the most dangerous battles to prove myself worthy to become one of her personal Elite Guard. Then -- with three medals on my chest, I presented my application to the clerk. And the clerk stamped "Denied" without ever looking. "We don't need earth ponies in Her Majesty's personal guard."
At first, I thought I'd murder the clerk in my rage, but then... I was no longer the infatuated colt who would quit, broken-hearted. I was a veteran, a master, and she was my whole life, my purpose of existence. If she herself denies me, my life will lose purpose, but I would not give in to a fancy Canterlot clerk.
Bite. Flex neck. Hold with hooves. More than two thirds of the way to her tower.
A cramp twisted my leg in paralyzing pain.
"Luna."
And the pain didn't matter.
* * *
I jumped onto the balcony. The curtain revealed the inside, dim, luxurious but harsh; big, heavily decorated furniture by bare stone walls, dark paintings, lavish, heavy couch, a huge four-poster bed, a large mahogany desk loaded with papers, a wardrobe the size of a wagon; everything barely outlined by the weak light of a single bright candle on the desk.
She was there; I saw her shadow in the light of the candle, sitting by the desk. That was the moment when my life would reach its culmination. Five steps in, and she would see me.
The curtain felt heavier than the door of the commander room of the demon fort.
And then I stood inside.
She was sitting with her back to me, at her desk, outlined by the light of the single candle.
"Princess," I whispered. I wanted to say it out loud, but I could only force myself to whisper.
"Sergeant Shadow Step," she said, turning to me.
She knew my name! How did she know my name?!
"No longer a sergeant, your majesty." I bowed my head.
"Sergeant, retired. Narwahl Bay, Blizzard Sea, Gull Harbor. You were the one who fought commander Khuzul, the baroness of succubi, one on one. That takes some fierce bravery, but then your record isn't impeccable. There was a case of insubordination, questioning orders of your superiors."
"I believe I saved the lives of twenty by my case of insubordination. Frontal assault was bound to fail. I think the young officer didn't really get the memo that shadow scouts are not heavy infantry. We achieved the goal, but through stealth instead, with no losses at all."
The princess nodded, a small smirk on her face. I recalled the fact that Lieutenant Ironshod, the superior who'd given me the order of frontal assault and later filed the reprimand, was quietly transferred to Canterlot, to a position where she couldn't do much harm.
"So, why did you come?" she asked.
Her smile was so beautiful, my heart jumped.
"I... I wanted to apply for your personal guard... considering that I was able to slip past them..."
"Considering that your file is on my desk," Luna levitated a binder, "you didn't. But don't let that discourage you. You overcame thirty-two percent of countermeasures along the route unnoticed. That is the third best result so far."
I stood there, my heart pounding wildly. She was not angry with me. She was... coy.
"Currently, you don't qualify," she continued. "Your exceptional bravery and skill exceed the expectations and your tenacity is precisely what I expect -- not a single official application to Elite Guard is ever approved. Your insubordination was deemed justified. Still, what I demand from my personal guard is complete trust and absolute honesty with me. You were not completely honest with me."
I gasped. "Princess, I would never lie to you!"
"No, not outright lie. More like... withholding your true intentions."
"I... I really want nothing more than to be one of your Elite Guard!"
"Nothing more? Just a guard?" Luna asked, her coy smile making my heart flutter wildly. "You are either lacking in honesty or in bravery."
Her beautiful smile made my mind fuzzy and I was unable to come up with words that would rebuke her accusation. And that thought that kept surfacing, that compulsion that would ruin everything, I must resist, I must...
No, actions speak stronger than words; I must prove my honesty, and my bravery too. I will pay dearly for that, but at least she will know me for my true feelings.
In two quick strides I approached the princess and kissed her mouth, quickly, without hesitation, bracing myself for the inevitable impact of Luna throwing me off, pushing me away.
And then, a second later, a second of the sweetest kiss of the universe, a second of feeling the most wonderful touch and breathing the scent of my deepest desire, I felt the blow, staggered and fell to the floor stunned.
No, it wasn't a blast of her magic or a kick of her hoof.
It was the merest touch of the tip of her tongue on the tip of my tongue, but the sudden impact it had on me -- the sudden realization what it meant -- sent me rolling like I was hit by a train.
Through the daze I heard a giggle like crystal bells. "Oh, my. We will have to work on desensitizing you a little."
Levitation magic surrounded me. I felt it carrying me through the air and place me on a soft bed. There was some motion and quiet steps out of my focus. My senses returned slowly; I was lying on Luna's big four-poster bed, and she was standing by it.
"You took your sweet time to overcome your fears and come to me at last. I observed you for quite a while... I've been in your dreams..."
My eyes shot open wide. Luna stepped forward and lay on the bed beside me.
"Some were your tests of loyalty. Most of them I just observed..."
"Did you... did you see..." I stuttered, suddenly feeling cold sweat gathering under my coat.
"The earlier ones, yes, I did see. The last few... as your subconscious was about to create a figment in my likeness, I would step in and take its place. We are not exactly strangers, to put things mildly. And in all honesty, I enjoyed those dreams a lot!"
"I...you..." I was choking on my words, my eyes bulging. "Did I...? The scarves? The armchair?"
"The royal carpenter said the armchair will be ready by the end of the week. I ordered some modifications though; the armrests would mercilessly cut into my thighs. As for the scarves... these were more readily available..."
Four long, colorful silk scarves levitated over the bed, surrounded by glow of Luna's magic.
"Princess, are you... do I... we shouldn't...."
"It is your right to argue with me, my brave guard, but don't you think it's better saved for more worthy occasions?" Luna's smile was nothing short of naughty as she held her forehoof out, with the end of one the scarves tied in a knot around it already.
I swallowed loudly and took the other end of the scarf in my teeth, cautiously.
"You were more eager three days ago." Luna smirked.
"I wasn't quite aware of my actions," I mumbled around the scarf.
"But you followed your heart's desire back then."
"You were very... alluring." I stepped off the bed and began tying the scarf to one of the posts. "Truly, this is my true desire, my dream come true."
As I picked the other scarf, which Luna had tied around her other hoof by now, I felt a pleasurable shiver in my spine. That was truly a dream come true...
Or was it? Was it true?
I threw a glance at a bookshelf near the bed and tried to read the first title. "Renaissance of the Pony..." "Reconnaissance?" "Resonance?" "Renounce the Pony?"
The story that you can't feel pain in your dreams is an urban legend. Reading though... You can't read in your dreams. No sentence ever reads the same twice.
I began noticing other inconsistencies. "Big, heavily decorated furniture" -- I knew it was heavily decorated, but I had to focus on the decorations to make them anything more than a fuzzy concept of decorations in peripheral vision. The couch was just the same as in the lobby of the inn where I stayed on my visit to Canterlot. The wardrobe was so ludicrously oversized it was totally impractical. One candle was not nearly enough to keep the whole room of this size lit -- there was some ambient, sourceless light, and the shadows were all wrong. And on top of that, I didn't feel temperature or smells, I lacked taste and my hearing was all about understanding speech and tone, not about actual sounds.
My heart sank. This was a dream. Just a dream. Vivid, beautiful and painful for feeling so real...
I looked at the princess with her two hooves bound already. "I'm sorry, my dear figment of imagination, but that would be disrespectful to the real princess."
Luna slapped her forehead with her hoof. "Yes, this is a dream, but that doesn't mean I lied. I am real. There; she wasn't very cooperative..." Luna used her magic to open her big wardrobe. There, under fancy dresses, bundled in the corner was another Luna, hogtied with a rope, gagged with a piece of cloth, and with a dull green, donut-shaped puff of magic surrounding her horn. "There's your figment. I'm the real thing."
"That's exactly what my brain would show me to convince me."
Luna didn't hide her ire. There was a shade of malice in her stare. "I will not tolerate disobedience. If you ever are to be my guard, you will follow my order. Do me."
I smirked. "I may not know everything about our princess, but I know she would not abuse her position like that. Begone, nightmare."
And there, with my wish, by my will of driving the reality of the lucid dream, my princess dissolved into blue mist and vanished.
I untied the bound copy and she slipped the gag off her mouth, but I was unable to remove the ethereal ring of energy from her horn. She looked at me; there was some fear in her eyes. I shook my head sadly.
"My dreams start worrying me. I mean no ill, but I wish you to be gone too, my troubling companion." I sighed, smiling to the other Luna gently, and focusing on dissolving her too.
It didn't work.
She smirked, though without malice.
"And now you'll tell me that it happened because you are the real one, right?" I asked, sighing quietly.
She shook her head and answered in a gentle tone. "I might, but you wouldn't believe me anyway. Would you believe a mere figment living in your own subconsciousness managed to subdue the real princess? I have no way of proving to you here that I am real anyway."
"If you are real, you should be able to leave."
"Not with the magical blockade. Wish it away from my horn and I'm gone that very moment. I hate to overstay my welcome in others' dreams..."
"Nice try. I wouldn't mind the real Princess here, but honestly, what are the chances? And you... Nice and kind as you are, you are just my idealized image of her."
I focused on the ethereal ring and wished it out of the horn. The ring stretched thin, flowed out but parts of it stuck, then it flowed back and reformed, flowing like slime over the horn surface. I tried again, but try as I might, I couldn't grasp the substance which would find leaks in my wish and flow back.
"Oh for goodness sake," the princess scoffed. "The ungraspable goo! Your subconsciousness is more tenacious than I thought. Forget it. Just wake up."
"Why? A lucid dream this vivid has countless possibilities that would not be disrespectful to the real princess. I can just leave you here, can't I?"
"Ummm..." this visibly troubled her. "Do you have to? I'd be stuck here for who knows how long until you wake up... and..."
"Come on, grab yourself a book or something... oh, wait. You can't read in dreams. But you could take a walk in the gardens or something..."
"Please?"
"Are you... scared?" I grinned.
"That fake me that lives in your mind is really creepy. I'm worried she might take her frustrations out on me."
"And there we have a proof you are not the real one. Would the ageless Princess Luna be afraid of some boogeypony lurking in my mind?'
"You'd be surprised..." She shook her head. "Please? Pretty please?"
"Oh, all right. Spoilsport." I sighed, then pushed myself against the fabric of the dream, asserted my reality, felt for my real limbs.
Before the dream unreality vanished, I saw her smile to me thankfully. "In Somnis Veritas," she whispered.
With some effort I sat up, and opened my eyes.
* * *
I was sitting on a cot. Rock walls. A torch behind the bars.
Bars? Oh, drat.
With a sinking feeling, I realized I was in jail. My legs were bound with two pairs of manacles.
I tried to recall how I got here.
Yes, I tried it. I sneaked through the Canterlot Gardens. I bypassed the outer walls, got through the servants' quarters and was about to climb the barrack's roof when...
I rubbed my rump. Yes, a tranquilizer dart. I failed. They must have spotted me.
There, my failure of a dream in ruins.
I stood up and hobbled up to the bars.
"The sleeping prince woke up!" a screeching voice sounded. It was an old prison guard, a mare with so many wrinkles that her face was barely visible, sitting at a desk on the end of the corridor outside. "Took your sweet time to wake up."
She rang a small bell on her desk, and soon I heard approaching hoofsteps. Two strong guards. The crone opened my cell, and the two told me to follow. They led me out, down the corridor, then pushed me into an interrogation room.
I knew the interrogation room. I had interrogated a minor demon once in a room exactly like this one. I remembered the change, an order signed by the Princess that stripped the interrogation room at our base in Iceberg Straits of all torture devices, and this one was to code: just a chair with straps, a strong lamp, a table and another chair on the other side of the table. They didn't need to strap me in, there were bolts to attach the chains of my manacles that were much faster to use.
One guard switched the strong lamp on, while the other removed lamps from the walls.
They left the room, but then soon I heard another set of hooves. Shifting of the chair. There was my interrogator.
"So we meet again, Shadow Step." The female voice was filled with malice.
"Ironshod." I sighed.
"Yes. Lieutenant Ironshod. Three years after Black Frost Forest and still just a lieutenant, all thanks to you. But I still outrank you, if I'm not mistaken."
"You surely do, lieutenant. I'm a civilian now."
"In whose service?"
"My own."
The blow was quick. Ironshod did live up to her name, famous for her heavy, cast iron horseshoes. The pain and shock weren't anything a veteran like me couldn't handle, but I knew Ironshod.
"Who do you work for?"
Before Black Frost Forest two good guards were sent back home, permanently crippled by her "training". There was a rumor that she was the reason why Princess Luna banned the torture devices. I knew it was just the beginning, and besides... I told the truth the first time over. What else was I supposed to say?
"Nopony."
Another blow, to my stomach, and as I bent down, another hit me in the face.
"Talk now."
"Just myself."
She hit again, twice. Blood ran from my mouth, and I felt one of my teeth moving. She certainly knew how to cause pain; my body began giving in.
"Talk."
I looked at my tormentor with hate.
A kick to my hind leg, then another to my stomach.
The pain was becoming unbearable, so I used the best painkiller I knew. "Luna," I whispered, and the pain lessened.
"What did you say?!" Ironshod pushed my face up, holding it between her hooves.
"Luna. Princess Luna. I only answer to her."
"If that's a lie, you are going to regret it dearly. It so happens the Princess is visiting the barracks tonight, so we should be able to verify it easily."
She left the room, leaving me in my pain.
True to her word, she was back maybe ten minutes later, followed by four guards -- and then, by Luna.
By Princess Luna, regal and powerful.
Princess Luna approached me.
Last glimpse... I struggled to remember her beautiful face but the darned lamp blinded me and I barely saw her outline.
"I don't know this pony. I mean, I understand he used to be one of my soldiers, but you can't expect me to remember them all," she said to Ironshod. Then Luna's horn glowed as she lowered it to my head. Then she stumbled back, as if repulsed.
"I can feel the dreams of this one, dripping with perverted emotions, directed at me. He is not a spy. He is a sick pervert." She scoffed, turning away from me, indignant and angry. "I'm not going to touch this one. You decide what to do with him, lieutenant."
"I heard he was a veteran of the Gull Harbor, a war hero," I heard one of the guards tell Luna.
"So low has he fallen... How did a hero become this despicable creature?"
My head sunk low as the door closed after the princess. Not for long. A punch of the iron-shod hoof felt... deserved. And another. And another. I spat two teeth while Ironshod was catching her breath.
I didn't even struggle to oppose the pain. I didn't dare to speak the name again, to tarnish it with my tongue.
Then Ironshod kicked me in my balls.
"Sicko," she spat at my face as I curled in pain.
Three more blows and I began losing my consciousness.
* * *
There she was, in darkness of my pain-induced daze. She still had the ring of magic blocking her horn. Her mane was frazzled.
"Wake up! For goodness sake, wake up!" she shook my shoulders. "You are still dreaming!"
"Well, duh, Princess Obvious. Sure, I just got knocked out," I blurted out through my daze.
"Not this! Do you think I banned the torture devices to have sick officers browbeat the prisoners? Do you think I would keep that inept buffoon in the Castle Barracks? Wake up!"
Another blow woke me up.
I raised my face and looked Ironshod in the eyes. "Wait," I said.
"For what?" Ironshod smirked.
"Let me read something. Anything."
"I'm not falling for that one again."
"Again?" I smirked. Then I fought, pushing against the unreality and forcing myself to wake up.
* * *
There I was in the darkness of my own room of the small inn on outskirts of Canterlot, in my bed, covered in sweat.
No, wait. I did go to the Gardens. I did try to get to Luna. How did I get back here? This is wrong!
"Give up."
There was a movement in the corner, and Princess Luna emerged from the shadows. She had a rather ravenous smile on her face.
"Give me what I want, and I will let you wake up. Or wake up in another torture if you refuse."
"You can't hurt me. This is just a dream."
"But I can hurt her. "
Another shape came into my focus. She was there, in the corner of the room, bound and gagged again.
"Next time you wake up in another dream, I won't be there. You will wake up to realize I'm somewhere away, tormenting her. And you will be unable to stop me; you will run an endless plain or blunder through unending corridors and I won't be there. I will be away, making her regret she ever tried to travel the dreams of her subjects."
"She's not the real one." I shook my head.
"Then you won't mind me doing this..."
"NO!" I shouted before she got a chance to show me what "this" was.
"Good."
"Why? Why are you doing this?"
"That's none of your business. Do me."
She turned and flicked her tail to a side, exposing her vulva, winking at me.
"All right." I said, then stood up from my bed.
The bound princess shook her head rapidly, protesting.
"Under one condition. You will set her free."
"Oh, no. She's my hostage. You do my bidding, she remains bound and unhurt. You refuse, you both regret it."
"Let me ask for advice..." I said. I approached the bound princess. I wished her gag gone and my wish became reality. I bent my neck to her. "Any brilliant ideas, princess?" I asked, with a sheepish smile.
She bowed her head to me.
"Fight. Wake up. In Somnis Veritas."
Then she kissed my cheek. It wasn't that stunning kiss that made me faint. It was feeling too real, too normal, too "flesh and bones", a real kiss of a real mare who did care about me.
I pushed against the fabrics of the world.
* * *
I woke up in the middle of a desert. Endless sand in all directions.
I pushed against the fabrics of the world.
* * *
I was in my room in my inn, in my bed. I stood up and pushed the door. I ran down the corridor; there was a turn. Another row of doors, another corridor. Another branch.
I stopped and pushed against the fabrics of the world
* * *
I woke up on the cot in the cell in the jail. I tried pushing at the fabric. Oh well, I tried.
I walked up to the bars, chains on my manacles ringing.
"Took your sweet time," the crone at the desk screeched.
I turned rapidly. I bit my fetlock hard, very hard. I pulled, ripping a chunk of flesh. Blood gushed from the wound.
I pushed my wounded fetlock against the wall, and wrote in blood, in large strokes. "In Somnis..."
Before I got to writing the last word, my gaze tried to process what I wrote. "In Sombris." "In Sonic." "In Solis..."
I pushed against the fabrics of the world again, hard.
* * *
I was hanging on a rope half a mile above the bottom of the Gull Harbor.
I let go.
Then, before hitting the bottom, a thought struck.
I wished myself a pair of wings.
I flew up. There was a rain of flaming arrows from the tieflings on the walls of the fort. I wished to shield myself from them and the arrows exploded on the magical bubble of my shield harmlessly.
A horned demon threw a net at me, then pulled me down and killed me with an axe.
No, wrong, denied, I refuse to accept this sequence of events!
A horned demon threw a net at me. A flaming shield burned through the net and I soared down towards the door of the central building, where the captain of the fort dwelt.
I kicked the door hard and rushed inside.
And just as I expected, Princess Luna was there.
"Are you going to attack me?" she asked with a smirk.
"Khuzul, drop this pretense. Show your real form."
"Why should I? You don't feel attracted to my real form the least bit."
"Get out! Leave my mind! Begone!"
The demoness chuckled. "Give me one good reason."
"Because then I may let you live."
"You? You pathetic, gullible creature make threats against me? You couldn't hurt me if you tried."
"But SHE can!"
"She's trapped and at my mercy, and you can't set her free. The shadow guard use very potent sedatives. You know that perfectly well. You are to sleep for a long time yet, and the things I can do to both of you before you can wake up... I can't leave even if I wanted. You killed my physical body. I saved myself by hiding in your mind. Feed me until I can reform my own body, and I will leave on my own. Deny me and your precious princess will suffer."
I pushed against the reality of the universe. I pushed harder than ever before. I struggled through a dozen of dreams until I encountered one that refused to yield.
* * *
In Somnis Veritas.
In Somnis Veritas.
In Somnis Veritas.
The ornate writing on the plaque on the wall opposite to my bed swam a little but didn't want to change. I pushed the blanket away and struggled to my legs against the heavy daze. I was so sleepy! But if this is the reality...
_"Truth in dreams."_I knew the sentence. It didn't say dreams are true. It encouraged you to make your dreams come true. It was the motto of Luna's Elite Guard unit.
A simple, though sturdy and comfortable bed. A simple nightstand with a drawer and a lit oil lamp. A simple, tall wardrobe with a full weapon rack on the side, standard issue. A strong, low table and two pillows in dark blue linen pillowcases. I could recognize a standard single room in barracks of the Shadow Guard. The only thing out of the ordinary was the plaque with the motto.
I moved to the door. I pushed it open.
The hall of the barracks was bustling with activity of guards talking, training, busy with common occupations. One of them stopped, seeing me. She was a young yellow mare in Luna's Elite armor.
"Hello, Shadow Step. I'm Lemon Slice, and I guess we'll be seeing each other a lot. The princess asked to tell you to see her as soon as you wake up. It seems she slept in today; that's fairly unusual for her but there didn't seem to be any reasons to wake her up tonight. She's upstairs." The mare pointed to a staircase at the end of the hall.
...oh?
"Come on, I'm sure she will explain everything. Go, don't make her wait!"
I nodded and trotted briskly up the curving stairs through a wide tower, two floors up. The wide landing in front of the tall double doors with motifs of the princess of the night was occupied by one of her guards and a unicorn butler pushing a cart with a couple fancy plate covers. As I approached the door, the butler stopped me. "You have to wait. Her Majesty just woke up and I need to tend to her before she begins her..."
"Nope," the guard at the door shook his head. "Her Majesty made it perfectly clear she wants to see this one as soon as he regains consciousness, no delays. Come on, Shadow Step, she's expecting you."
"Does everypony know me here?" I frowned.
"I certainly don't and I don't care..." the butler wheeling the cart towards the door scoffed, but the guard cut him off.
"The Shadow 'Demon Slayer' Step? The guy who took the whole Black Frost Forest leading a team of twenty and without a single casualty? It's an honor, sir. The princess awaits." He pushed the door open for me, while standing in the way of the cart.
The room was basking in morning light falling through tall open windows. It was nothing like the luxurious, dim, dark study in my dreams. Tall, white walls were decorated with big paintings, some landscapes of Equestria and some modern abstractions. A glass table sat low in the center of the room, surrounded by a ring of pillows. A minimal desk, more like a lectern stood by the near wall. A huge "sleeping pit" occupied the other end of the room, consisting of a round depression in the floor padded in soft plush, surrounded by curtains of pastel muslin, with lots of pillows big and small, and at least three comforters scattered disorderly. The plaque, In Somnis Veritas, same as in the barracks, was hanging on the wall nearest to the sleeping place. There was a slim, tall vanity mirror, a dresser, and a narrow, lean, tastefully decorated wardrobe clearly too small to hide a pony. And in front of the mirror was Luna, the morning filly, whose sight filled my heart with joy.
She wasn't regal or royal or noble at all. She was incredibly cute instead, struggling with a brush through her long bright blue mane which displayed some extreme "morning mane syndrome", with several puffs of star-like deep blue everflow sticking from the few places where she managed to get it brushed.
She noticed me, and opened her mouth in a voiceless "Oh!"
"I'm sorry if I came too early. I will leave at once, Your Majesty!" I bowed.
"No, no, no!" she waved her hoof. "Please, take a seat." She pointed to the table. "The butler should bring breakfast any moment now, and... would you care to share it with me?"
There was something in her question, in her gaze -- hope and fear.
"I would be delighted, Your Majesty."
"I'm sorry for my disheveled state. I had hoped to wake up well ahead of you but as you surely recall... things didn't go entirely according to plan..." She looked at the hairbrush, then put it on the dresser with a frustrated sigh. She trotted to the table and sat on the other side.
"Your majesty," I bowed a little, "I'm begging your forgiveness for my disrespectful behavior and for..." I struggled for words. Luna blushed and cast a spooked look towards me from under her disheveled mane that momentarily hid her face.
"Let us not talk about that for now," she muttered, embarrassed. "Let me just assure you sincerely that I don't hold any of your actions against you. Quite opposite, I'm begging your forgiveness for invading the privacy of your dreams..."
"Oh, you surely realize you are more than a most welcome guest in them."
Her blush deepened. "You are too kind. I have failed badly. I let a demon surprise and trap me, I didn't realize the nature of the threat even after the fact, and in the end I became a hindrance instead of aid in your battle."
"When the demon killed my hope and my faith, you gave me strength to fight. I would have never won without your help."
"You would never get in this kind of trouble without my meddling."
"Excuse me, princess, but I am the only one to take the blame for sneaking through the Canterlot Gardens and getting myself shot with a tranquilizer dart that prevented me from waking up when things got worse. Without you I would likely just keep feeding the demon until she'd achieve her goal, whatever it was..."
"Taking possession of your body after consuming your soul."
"Then your intervention truly saved me in the long run."
"Thank you for your kind words. I just wish I handled this better..." She looked around impatiently. "Where is that butler?" she muttered.
"Oh, he's just outside, probably waiting for us to finish."
Luna scoffed, then used her magic to open the door. "Bring that food in!" she waved her hoof.
The stallion quickly approached contents of the cart were placed on the table, and the covers removed from the ornate silver trays, revealing all too little of everything, while the unicorn presented the fancy names of the dishes.
Luna stopped him. "Thank you for the nice appetizers, but where is my breakfast?"
"Princess, this is your breakfast."
"I appreciate your sense of humor. Now bring me my breakfast, and another one for my esteemed guest."
"But princess, I am not joking, this is a..."
"No buts. The size of the breakfast I requested was calculated to satisfy both me and any unannounced guests I might be having. Whoever took liberties with my requested menu put me in a very uncomfortable position. This," she pointed her hoof at the six or so bites in fancy forms scattered around the table, "is an unacceptable violation of the diplomatic protocol, and will be dealt with accordingly unless remedied in a timely manner. I expect two healthy, tasty and nutritious meals of at least six hundred calories each in front of us in at most five minutes." Luna reached with her magic to her desk and brought a hourglass to the table. She flipped it and placed on the table rather hard. "Time starts now."
"But princess!"
"Do I have to explain what 'dealt with accordingly' means? Every single pony contributing to this diplomatic blunder directly or indirectly, through action or inaction will be discharged on disciplinary grounds with a permanent record, fined and barred from any work in the public sector for life. I suggest you cease stalling and start fulfilling my request now."
The butler stood for three seconds more, opening and closing his mouth voicelessly, then he turned and ran.
"There", she sighed, pushing the door closed with her magic, then moving half of the tiny plates to my side of the table. "I hope this does the trick."
"That was scary," I gasped a little.
"Oh..." she sunk in a little. "I'm usually... less... only when I'm stressed..."
"No, no, princess! That was quite impressive. I mean, you're very efficient in dealing with insubordination."
"It's not what I meant... I mean, not what I intended... or implied..." she fiddled with her hooves. "I mean, I didn't want... didn't intend to imply anything."
"I think I understand. No making connections with my incident with Lieutenant Ironshod, right?"
"I really wish I could officially clean you of all charges. But there are things... dependencies... diplomacy is such an ugly thing..."
"Can you clean me of these charges unofficially?"
She smiled to me. "I already did. You wouldn't be sitting here otherwise."
"Thank you. This is more than satisfactory for me." I replied.
We sat for a while in uncomfortable silence.
"Won't you try some hors d'oeuvre?" she nodded towards the tiny pieces of food.
I tried picking the dainty little silver fork with my both hooves. I managed after the third try. I managed to get some fancy pastry boat with cheese sail on a saltsette mast and the hull filled with some fancy cream on the fourth try.
Luna giggled a little, then covered her mouth, scared. I began sweating, lifting the odd thing to my mouth carefully.
"No, please. I'm sorry." she said in an apologetic tone. "I didn't want to make you embarrassed. Let us forget one of us has a horn." She took the fork off my hooves with her magic, shook the fancy morsel off it, then collected all utensils and sent them with her magic at the ceiling, where they stuck... next to, as I noticed, multiple holes that could have been made by similar utensils in the past.
Luna lifted her own plate with both hooves, then bowed a little to it and swept a figurine of a buffalo made of mushrooms and vegetables into her mouth. She gave me a little mischievous smile while munching on the piece of art.
I bowed to my plate and took the boat in one bite. I had to admit, tiny as it was (and considered one full course!) it was rather tasty.
We munched on the tiny morsels for a moment. Luna got a drinking straw from somewhere and put it in the single glass of orange juice she left in the middle of the table, next to the one straw that was in it already. We both bowed to take a drink at the same time. We stopped, retreating. We laughed and bowed to the glass again together, taking the drink together, our noses inches apart. I could see her beautiful turquoise eyes and her little smile as we sipped the drink.
Of course the glass was far too small and we got to the bottom in a matter of seconds, the straws making that slurping noise.
The door burst open, spooking us both as the butler raced in with a cart loaded with two plates loaded with piles of daisy sandwiches and two tall glasses of fruit yogurt. He stopped, breathlessly.
"Do you like daisy sandwiches?" Luna asked me.
"They are my favorite."
"I'm glad to hear that. I love daisy sandwiches."
She waved to the sweating butler to leave the plates in front of us, and he trotted to the table. The plates shook in his magical grip a bit and rang as they landed on the table -- by the looks of his attire I could guess he fought quite a battle in the kitchen.
"Is that all, Your Majesty?" He bowed to Luna.
"Yes, this is satisfactory. Just please make sure this doesn't happen again."
"Yes, Your Majesty". He scuttled to the exit, taking both carts in the tow. Even before the door closed we held the sandwiches with our hooves and munched on them for a good while.
Luna licked her lips and sat up, trying to take a somewhat more regal pose. She was not too successful at that considering the state of her mane, clearing her throat.
"Commander Shadow Step..."
"Oh, just sergeant, if even that."
"Commander Shadow Step, and if I'm saying Commander, this is effective immediately, following retroactive revocation of the acceptance of your discharge. You are hereby drafted into the Elite Shadow Guard. If you still wish to resign, you are free to reapply for discharge or transfer, and it will be accepted, although I sincerely hope you will not, as your qualifications are quite outstanding."
"Yes, ma'am!" Suddenly my heart jumped. "I will not fail you!"
"Then let me give you a briefing on your duties. This information is top secret, so act accordingly. The structures, role and tasks of the Elite Shadow Guard, commonly known as my personal guard, are shrouded in secrecy for a reason. We are a secret task force, and if I'm saying 'we', I mean myself too. We are acting under the guise of a bodyguard formation for the princess, but you are under no obligation of protecting me any more than you are under obligation of protecting your direct superior in any level of the army. The formal structure is extremely simple. I'm your direct superior and then there is everypony in the guard, equal. They vary in military rank which is to designate merits and experience, but not the chain of command. If any more fine-grained chain of command is ever required I create it on an ad-hoc basis and dissolve once the necessity is past.
"In Somnis Veritas is not a statement of fact, but a statement of our double mission. We -- primarily I -- find hints of threats in dreams of my citizens. We face and neutralize these threats, whether here, in the real world, or in the dream world. We fish out grains of dangerous truths in dreams and use them to locate actual threats. That's our primary activity. The other part of the job is more benign. We locate good, worthy dreams and make them come true."
"That's an extremely noble mission, your majesty! I'll be proud to be a part it."
"Now for the other matter... I found your dreams, while troubled, and troubling, worthy of following. The threat present in them will be neutralized, make no mistake. My earlier error won't happen again and you'll have an opportunity to witness the deadly precision of your soon-to-be companions. Now for making your dreams true..." She blushed a little again, "I hardly know you beyond reports and soldier tales. I like what I have seen so far but I am definitely not ready to fulfill your dreams yet. Still, I'm willing... actually, quite enthusiastic about trying to develop this into something more advanced and maybe eventually... I mean, I am on very friendly terms with all of my Elite Guard, but I'm quite aware none of them share this degree... Oh, wait. I'm rambling, aren't I?"
My heart didn't flutter. It was pounding heavily. She was more wonderful than I ever imagined! Say something! Say something, stupid! You can fight demons, but you can't ask the mare of your dreams on a date! How to phrase it?! Simply! Simply will do.
I found the tongue in my mouth and said it.
"Princess Luna..." I smiled. "Are you free this evening? I would like to ask you out for a date."
"Oh... yes!" she clapped her hooves. "How should I dress?"
My gaze wandered up and encountered the utensils stuck in the ceiling.
"How do you feel about informal? Very informal?"
"Yes!" she shouted out enthusiastically.
Chapter 2:
Veritas
"Nearing two thousands years, over a month of dating you, we work together daily, and I'm still feeling like a bashful little filly." Luna took a seat on the other side of the table. Our seventh date, and for the first time we tried for "fancy", with Luna wearing a designer dress, me in gala uniform, a place in a top elite restaurant. We were moving slowly in our relationship, but I didn't mind. I would savor every evening in Luna's company and I loved to see how each time more of her reservations vanished.
"Why? I'm certainly not your first, and hopefully not your last."
"Oh, no... Actually, I had many suitors in the past. All I needed was a peek in their dreams. Fame, fortune, power. Some did dream about my body too. There was one who... who might have stood a chance, whom I might have accepted. He was climbing the vines to my window. He fell and broke his neck."
"Oh. I'm so sorry."
"Don't. He had some annoying habits and expectations, I really didn't think it could have worked out between us."
The waiter brought the menus. I opened mine, and quickly realized I have no clue what any of the entries meant. I looked over the menu at Luna who threw one quick glance at the content, closed the menu and placed it on the table. She sent me a smirk I understood too well. "We'll ask for your recommendation," she said to the waiter.
"The princess is quite concerned about maintaining a healthy diet." I picked the thread. "The dinner should be between seven hundred and a thousand calories. Balanced amounts of vitamins, proteins and fiber."
"Liquids," Luna interrupted. "Don't forget about liquids."
"Yes, of course. Liquids, reasonable sugar levels. Milk products are acceptable."
"We prefer fresh organic produce," Luna added with a gracious smile, "although Commander is not picky. Canned or pickled ingredients are acceptable. But please, no magical coloring, no crystal seasoning, no products processed through oxygenless fermentation or the like."
"And no seaweed. I have bad wartime memories involving seaweed."
The waiter stood there, blinking.
"Please, I believe these are very reasonable outlines for a normal, healthy meal." I frowned. "Every common cookbook contains hundreds of recipes that fit the bill. What can you recommend?"
The waiter stood stunned, his mind obviously grinding at highest gear. After a minute of nothing we decided to interrupt the silence.
"Do you have dark bread in supply?" asked Luna.
"Oh, yes, we do." the waiter answered, jerked out of his stupor.
"Fresh flowers? Daisy, rose, thistles?" I asked.
"Only freshly picked!"
"I believe daisy sandwiches will fit the bill. Some fruit yogurt will go fine with that."
Somewhat shocked, the waiter nodded. "Yes, of course." He turned and went to the kitchen.
We chuckled quietly.
"Do you have bad wartime memories involving seaweed?" Luna asked, concern in her voice.
"Yes, I do. Truly horrific memories. They served a seaweed soup in the canteen once."
"...and?"
"And it's the most awful food I've ever had. As you chew it, it separates into long strands," I kept showing with my hooves as I talked, "...that stick between your teeth and the other end goes down your throat and stays hanging there. The remainder is devoid of any taste, and literally removes any taste from whatever it's mixed with. And it smells like fish; not very fresh fish, too. Truly horrible experience. Never again."
"Oh dear. That's horrible!" Luna laughed.
"War is hell." I winked.
"So, what did you plan after the fancy dinner?" Luna smiled.
"We could go to a classical music concerto, visit the art gallery or have a romantic walk in the Canterlot Gardens."
"Aren't the gardens closed for the night?"
"Did I just say 'romantic walk'? I might have used a bit wrong phrasing."
"You meant that as a kind of euphemism, didn't you?"
"We can always pick the Oaks Park on the outskirts of the city for a genuine romantic walk if you prefer."
"No, please, explain your idea."
I pulled a napkin out of the stand on the table and got my fountain pen from my pocket, then began drafting the plan.
"As I analyzed the setup of our security, I have to concede, no single pony, earth, pegasus or unicorn can ever sneak across the gardens at night. Choke points seventeen, thirty and fifty-one make it impossible, mutually exclusive. Bypassing one, you forfeit the chance of bypassing the other two. I have a theory though..."
"Yes?"
"I believe a team of two, consisting of an alicorn and one other pony different than a unicorn or alicorn, would be capable of sneaking past all the obstacles and successfully accessing point S."
"That's your idea of a romantic walk?" Luna snorted. "We are both going to end up with tranquilizer darts in our flanks."
"Then we'll end the date in here," I knocked my head with my hoof.
Luna gave me a mix of a wince and a grin and poked my chest with her hoof. "You are freaking me out. I mean, did you sneak into my head to see my true desires? What kind of mare would ever think this is a good idea? You know me better than I know myself!"
"In all honesty, I just saw the stylized L as signature on a number of penetration test reports. You got all the way to exposure point 58, better than anypony in the guard, and leaving me with my pathetic 37 far behind."
"For a pony without access to the plans 37 is not pathetic, it's actually very impressive."
"I know there were ponies who got farther on their first try."
"Yes, for example Princess Twilight Sparkle managed to get all the way from 15 through 27, 34, to L6, L8, L9, P6, P4, L4 and back to L6."
"Why such a weird route?"
"She lost the way. She wanted to reach L6 in the first place."
"Alicorns." I held my hooves spread apart, in a gesture of "this explains anything."
"No, she was still a unicorn back then."
"Really? Wow. How did she bypass both 17 and 30?"
"She was blind in one eye at that time."
Our sandwiches arrived. Cut in fancy shapes, decorated with a tower of various goodies stuck on toothpicks in the middle, with lots of greens around. They were very fancy and looked quite delicious if rather small.
"Are you sure these exceed seven hundred calories?" Luna frowned to the waiter.
"The yogurt, madame," he said, placing big, tall glasses filled with fruity drink, with at least six different things -- umbrellas, straws, fancy biscuit pipes and such sticking out of each, "contains enough sweet fruit for at least five hundred calories. The sandwiches combined with the dressing exceed the remaining two hundred. Still, you didn't order any dessert, and if I could make a suggestion, a dessert of ice cream flambé fulfills all the requirements of your original request and would push the total calorie count closer to the upper end of the bracket of the requested allowance. I believe you would find it quite to your taste too."
We nodded, accepting the suggestion and got to eating our sandwiches and drinking the fruity drink. And true to the promise, the fancy ice cream, once it arrived, was quite good.
* * *
A grab of teeth on the vine, flexing my strong neck, twines around the hoof, another three inches up. Of course a disturbance caused by pegasus wings, even a mild flutter to keep balance, would have triggered the alarm. Even a spark of magic from unicorn horn, reaching for another vine and the place would light up brightly. Only an Earth pony could do this.
And seeing Luna's face observing me from the balcony and rooting for me gave me more than enough strength. Another grab, another pull, and she grew closer. Finally, I was level with her, almost a hoof's reach.
"You've passed the endurance point 98!" she said with glee.
And then I didn't stop. I passed the balcony, climbed even higher. Hooves in the vines...
"A little room, your majesty?"
"You... you are going to cross 99 with a jump?!" she gasped.
"Just two steps back please." I grinned, and she did as requested.
I grabbed the vine with my teeth and began swinging. As my teeth released the grip, as my hooves scratched against the sheer wall, for a moment I thought I'd fall. But then one hoof found a small imperfection in the stone and I gained the sideways momentum. And there I was, hanging on the railing. I pulled my hind legs up and crawled onto the balcony.
"You are here!" she pranced.
"Almost," I corrected. I reached to my utility belt and opened one of the pockets. The large sheet of blackness unrolled from my teeth. I slapped it at the wall by the door and it stuck, forming a big black circle.
"What is this?!" Luna gasped.
I dove in, and soon waved to her from inside, from behind the curtain. I moved it and invited her inside her room.
"You bypassed the point 100! We're at S! How did you do this!?"
"A portable hole. I don't have one for real, and they are awfully hard to come by, following Celestia's ACME ban of 376, but there are still a few in possession of assorted ponies around the country and a dedicated attacker could have obtained one."
"Oh, my!" she swooned."We could have done this today!"
"No, I told you I don't have the portable hole for real." I smiled.
"And I'm not letting you climb that dreadful 98 for real! Not to mention 99! I mean, I know it's just a dream but I swear my heart stopped there for a second!"
"All right. Better tell me why we failed 77. It was fairly trivial I believe."
"It's my fault. I thought a spider was crawling on my face and I swept it with my magic without thinking. I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be. At 94 we'd have to split up. You'd be stuck down below and I'd reach empty, cold, dark point S. That would make for a rather poor date, wouldn't it?"
"That date was AWESOME!" Luna hugged me. "Wait. Normally at this point the colt leads the filly to the door of her place and she decides whether to invite him in or not. But we are already..."
"I honestly swear I didn't mean it like that!"
"And I certainly didn't intend us to part ways at my door tonight!" she smiled, looking into my eyes as I held her in my hooves, our mouth getting nearer. Such a beautiful gaze. Almost like the real one.
Regretfully, I wished for the illusion to dissolve, and not a moment too soon, as the real Luna stood in the doorway with her eyes aglow and her mane flowing upwards like flames, tall and dark, about to shout something but suddenly silenced by her rival's disappearance.
"I've been starting to miss you." I smiled innocently.
"I do not approve of you fooling around with my imaginary depictions!"
"Are you... jealous?" my grin was reaching my ears.
She blushed. "You did this on purpose!"
"I was getting bored waiting for you to join up so I decided to produce a surrogate for the necessary partner and run the remainder of the track... at first."
"At first?"
"After the first few times I learned to sense you snooping on my dreams. So, when instead of just showing up you decided to keep lurking..."
"You did do this on purpose!" she said in a hurt voice.
"Just an innocent little tease. When you're irked you get this little cute crease on your nose."
"Please. Don't." Her expression softened, she approached me and put her chin on my neck. "Whenever I think she managed to impersonate me, _she_did manage to trick you... made you believe she was me... I want to rage, I want to wage a war against Tartarus, I want to kill all of her kind. I know she's dead, she's as dead as only a demon can be, and still I feel like she could backstab us any moment. For such a long time I waited, I sought. I'm so afraid of losing you. Yes, I am jealous, I'm so incredibly jealous! Please, don't test me like that, don't tease me. It's not just petty ire or silly possessiveness. It's a chill that reaches my bones, a fear worse than any fear I've ever felt. For a youngster it may be just an itch, but after two thousands years... I don't want to take chances. Spiders? I failed 77 because 78 is genuinely dangerous. With enough bad luck you'd get hurt. I exposed us on purpose. Please, Shadow, don't make me worry, don't make me afraid."
I backed off a bit and looked into her azure eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I won't. I'm yours and only yours, for as long as I will live."
"Mine." she held me close with her hoof. Then she leaned closer to my ear. "...and yours."
"Mine?" I asked.
"I've made my mind. I don't want to wait any longer, I don't want to test, to hesitate, to question. Wake up, come to my room and let us be together."
"Easier said than done," I winked. "These sedatives are strong."
"Are you forgetting who I am?" She smiled and took a step back.
She spread her wings, and her eyes filled with light. Waves of energy surrounded her body with a halo, a smaller ring formed around her horn, as she floated in the air, dark in blinding brightness. Her wings cracked with energy, and the cracking thunders grew, solidified into cracks in the fabrics of the reality of the dream, then kept growing, swallowing more of the dream, breaking it and melting into tiny stars.
We floated in a blue void as Luna's magic subsided. There were images floating around us -- images from my life.
I wanted to ask Luna about them, but she shook her head. Not yet, not today. Sometime.
Then she cast a bright spell at me; its sphere surrounded and swallowed me. And then I stood in her room, in darkness, dazed and with some headache, next to her.
"Am I awake?"
She lit the the tip of her horn and cast her gaze at the wall. In Somnis Veritas, read the sign.
"So, was that one true?" I asked.
"Dare to test it!" she answered, her mouth a breath away from mine.
I closed the gap and our mouths met.
This was not a dream. This was happening for real. With eyes tightly shut I reveled in the sensation.
I felt weakness overcoming me. My legs buckled under me but I focused all my will on maintaining the kiss, I extended my neck and held my mouth to Luna's.
The kiss seemed simple, chaste, just lips, no tongue, no pushing, just a soft touch. But there was more magic, more delight in that kiss than in any of my dreams. I felt the sweet nectar of life obliterating my worries, soothing my aches, quenching burning needs. Whatever wounds there were on my soul, were healed.
The satisfied fullness filled my soul and I opened my eyes.
I saw her eyes shut tightly, tears shining between the eyelids, little trembling of her lips as she drank the same power from my mouth, fed on it hungrily -- what is my short life compared to her ageless experiences? How many wounds of the soul did she bear, how many unfulfilled desires eating at her over such a long time? And it cost me nothing, no, it earned me this wonderful time, prolonging that blessed kiss -- I could stand here for ages and let her feed forever and adore her beautiful face and the expression of a pony who spent for a long time without water, drinking from a spring.
The trembling stopped, the hunger subsided. The tears ran free from the closed eyes. Still, she held the kiss, afraid to let go, afraid it would never happen again.
So I reached with my hoof and held her, and pulled her close, and as our lips parted we held each other in embrace so tight as if we were in the middle of a storm afraid for elements to tear us apart.
"Mine," she whispered.
"Luna," I said.
We lay in the pillows, close by. Luna grabbed one of the comforters with her magic and wrapped us in it, a tight cocoon where we were pushed to each other so tightly. Our breaths interchanging, her inhale for my exhale, so that we'd never push each other away.
"Yours."
Her whisper in my ear bore the sweet promise, her soft wish. There was no urge, no compulsion. That wasn't a request. We could just be for each other and be satisfied. We could delay it, observe social customs, play the whole courting game for months to come and it wouldn't mean a thing, because I knew she was mine, I was hers, and time didn't matter. Still, just as there was no need to hurry, there was no reason to wait. We could do it anytime we wished, and we wished it now.
I pushed a little, sliding deeper into our comforter cocoon. Luna squirmed, moving up. I found in our tight coupling, as we kept holding each other snugly with both pairs of legs each, I got my hind legs on her above her own, and now they tangled with hers, my hocks hooked against her stifles, the comforter wrapped under her back without any give. I squirmed for a moment, but it was hopeless. I looked up at her face; she looked at me, puzzled.
"It seems we're bound for better and for worse," I smiled sheepishly.
She first snorted trying to withhold laughter, but she failed. We both laughed without restraints... well, actually within restraints.
Still laughing, Luna grabbed a tight hold of me and we rolled through the pillow-strewn bed, unrolling from our feathery bonds. The cool night air reached our hot, sweaty coats, and as I untangled my hocks at last and laid my abdomen between her hind legs, she covered us with the comforter again, this time loosely placed on my back.
There, we lay embracing again. She bent her neck, pushing her chin to her chest, nose to nose with me, so that we were breathing each other's breaths. We wouldn't say a word but our expressions were enough to converse. Her little playful frown of mock scorn, the minimal smirk meaning "I don't feel anything firm down there." I replied with a mock indignant shock, it would be crass to wave your erection in presence of the princess. Then I followed with a soft, gracious nod, like bowing to a lady asking her for a dance, very respectful and proper. And her welcoming reply: a gracious accepting nod.
I rested my sheath against her opening, and my member, still soft, began filling, growing. The soft petals parted under the minimal push of the still soft tip, her warmth welcoming me as my stallionhood nestled within. I could feel each of my heartbeats pushing more blood into it, as it inched its way in, filling and sliding inside. There was a small barrier, a ring, that would not allow my maleness in its fully erect state to enter, one I would have to conquer and break. But currently, the yielding tip squeezed in, the tight ring pressing into the sides. And yet the pulse kept pushing, stretching it, filling her.
I felt her breath shifting; the former calm, regular respiration replaced with shorter, rapid gasps. Her look was a little panicked as if she suddenly had second thoughts, as if she agreed to it without thinking it fully through and was now unsure if that decision was right.
I stretched my neck a bit, the shift of my body pushing another inch into her, eliciting a sudden gasp. But my mouth met that gasp, closed her lips gently and stayed touched, the same sweet, chaste kiss as before.
And with that, all her doubts were gone. She recalled who we are, she understood nothing bad will happen. She relaxed, and flexed her loins, taking me another inch deeper.
Now my stallionhood began gaining girth and hardness. With most of it inside, deep, past her navel, I could feel the minimal bulge on her slender abdomen. The tight ring of her virginity, now not far from the base of my shaft was cutting into me painfully, and I could see her face tensed in discomfort too. Then, suddenly, the ring snapped, the pressure vanished. Luna gave out a quiet yelp, a deep gasp, and then smiled contently. And now the unrestrained flow of blood suddenly filled my maleness out, pressing against her walls snugly.
I tried pulling a little, observing her face for signs of discomfort. She did squint a bit as my maleness moved.
"If it hurts..." I began, but before I could continue, she cut me off. There was just a minimal blink of magic on her horn, and I felt a spark of the healing spell within her -- I'd received that spell too many times in the past to not recognize it, though I'd never seen it executed so expertly, so casually. "Not the least bit," she said with a smug grin. "Please, Shadow, I adore your care, how gentle you are, but really, I am not a porcelain doll you could break."
I saw how she wanted to add some words of encouragement, then she bit her lip and stopped, a pained thought running through her mind. I could guess the thought: she'd ask me to plow her hard, unrestrained, she'd love to be bold and cheerful in love and in sex, but she was afraid. If she appeared too bold, she might remind me of her, she might appear greedy and demanding like the succubus, and drive me away. So, meek and shy was it for her, and despite being banished forever, the demoness managed to leave a seed of darkness in our relationship.
No, it shall not stand. I will not let Khuzul get between me and Luna ever again.
"Mine," I said. "Yours. Let us make love like no mortal, no demon or god ever did."
She looked into my eyes and saw my trust, my total confidence. No mere baroness, no mere succubus could compete with her. She was the alicorn princess, she was simply better.
I pushed myself up with my hooves to sit, my loins retreated, and I saw my flared tip spreading her dark labia. There were a few drops of blood on my length. But before I could even think about what it meant, before I could ponder the implications and consequences, I was swept with her magic.
The glow of her magic surrounded us and lifted us off the bed. The comforter slid and fell of my back as I floated in the air. She reached out to me with her forehoof and bent it lightly, as if beckoning, calling me closer. Her magic replied, pulling us together, pushing me in, deep, to the hilt, hard. She cried out quietly, I gasped, the sensation was overwhelming.
She recovered, smiled, then moved her forehooves as if pushing me away, and I floated away, sliding out, most of the way.
She beckoned again, and I slid into her, slightly slower, but this time we both reveled in the sensation. That warmth, that small bulge traveling up her abdomen, that texture smoother than silk.
"Now you," said her lips without making any sound, her hoof pointed at my chest. I extended my front hooves and made a pushing gesture, and we drifted apart. I spread them and readied for embrace, and she flowed into that embrace. I held her, with my nose buried in her mane. The stars were little electric prickles, the blue space was a gentle breeze. I felt the tip of her hoof tracing a line along a scar on my shoulder, touching a small bare patch left after a wound on my chest.
The magic was still within my grasp. I pushed us apart again, just halfway out. I gave a small naughty smile, seeking her approval. At first she raised her eyebrows, then she gave a little nod.
Weightless in the grip of magic, I pushed away, still halfway in her, but now I had her slender hind legs in front of my face.
This time my hooves didn't operate in sync. I gave a little push with one, little pull with the other, and my dearest pivoted on my stallionhood, until she was facing away, and I had her lean back in front of me.
I pulled, hard, until her back slapped against my groin. She gave out a little, surprised yelp, then a giggle. Using both my loins and the magic she lent me, i gave another deep, long, fast thrust. And another, faster.
She turned her head, her face filled with a mix of shock, exhilaration, joy, and coy encouragement. Her tail, loose so far, now flared up and to the side; welcoming, exposing, inviting.
Sex is many things: significant, binding, magical, leaving impact, with consequences... but above all, sex is fun. And we had fun, like a colt and filly discovering life. The magic made fatigue a non-issue, and I could plow and thrust and push and dig, and slam, and Luna laughed cheerfully like on a funny ride, giving out joyous yelps whenever I'd drive home harder than normally. And I slammed into her oblivious to consequences, propriety and status; we weren't a princess and a soldier, we were a stallion and a mare, in love, making love, happy. Our bodies were making all kinds of undignified noises, and that made us only laugh and enjoy, droplets of our fluids shone on our coats, excitement causing facial expressions that would make the partner snort with laughter. At another time and place I learned that demons hate laughter. That was something no demoness could ever give me. But at that moment my mind never even approached the damned. I lived the "now" with my beloved, shagging her hard!
In our future there would be times of tenderness, of slow, tantric binding, of kinks, of dreams, of angry sex and make-up sex, of "make it better" sex and of "make it even better" sex. But now Luna needed to know she's no porcelain doll for me, no mighty goddess and no rich, influential princess, no ageless sage nor ethereal beauty. She was my mare, and I was her stallion, we were in love and there was no second bottom to that.
Her yelps got more high-pitched, more frantic. My breath grew heavy, I felt the tension rising towards a climax. For a second there I thought to slow down, keep it going, keep her on the edge, but I recalled her plea, "do not tease me." So I didn't. I actually did slow down a little, but only to make sure I finish last.
Luna was losing herself in the sensation. Her little slit would pulse with short, sparse rapid throbs, then there would be a period of break, and a moment when her insides go loose, just a smooth slippery touch, no pressure, no tension. Then another pulse, a ring of pressure running from deep inside to the opening, quickly massaging my length from tip to base.
I looked at her flaring wings and something let go in me, some kind of muscle that I kept tense since birth went relaxed, followed by a spike of pleasure. My eyes closed without my attention, I thrust a couple times more and suddenly my orgasm hit; sudden, unexpected, tightly squeezing some muscles I didn't know I had, pushing my semen through my urethra, it felt chunky, almost gritty, but the flow felt like a most delicious massage along my urethra, making me spurt more.
The spurts felt all the stronger, as Luna's insides held me tightly, with rapid, sudden throbs deep in, and a firm, solid grip near the opening. Then pulsing followed, her long, smooth tunnel acting as two parts, the inner and the outer playing in sequence, one squeezing while the other would let go. A splash of her liquids leaked onto me, and I still wouldn't let go, wouldn't stop. Drained, I kept thrusting, keeping her going, her orgasm still strong.
I opened my eyes and they got assaulted by flashes from outside -- the sky was filled with bright discs of light, as if there were hundreds of tiny moons. Luna's magical grip that keep us floating subsided and we landed in the pillows. I kept embracing her, kissing her neck, holding her back.
She turned to me, as my maleness finally slid out. She held her nose to mine, no kiss, just touch. We didn't need to say a thing. We just knew all that was to be said, and we knew everything was alright.
At least that's what I hoped...
Luna turned and looked at the window, then covered her mouth, gasping. She ran up to it, looking at the sky in panic. "My stars! All my beautiful stars! They all went nova! What have we done? What have we done?!" she despaired.
"Room for new constellations?"
She turned to me with a glare, then it softened. She held her hoof out at me. "You and your improper optimism! Do you think fixing it will be easy?"
"We've done harder things together, haven't we?"
"We? We?" she scoffed. "All right, WE broke it, WE fix it. Enjoy your being mortal while you can, this is three centuries worth of work and you're not going to escape that one into death."
"Of course, Your Majesty!" somehow my voice failed to carry any regret.
"And get that grin off your face. You're not getting any until we find a way to make sure this doesn't happen again!"
I nodded and tried my best to conceal my smile. I really tried. Then she got that little crease on her nose...
"STOP GRINNING! THIS IS NOT FUNNY!" she hit me with a pillow.
I hesitated only for a second before kicking a pillow at her face.
"You!!!" she grabbed a dozen pillows with her magic.
Despite taking heavy damage in pillow fight, I got her good mood back in ten seconds flat.
THE END