Da Solis

The next few days were a haze for the human and the two princesses.

Under Twilight’s watchful supervision, the two became better acquainted with each other. Their conversations slowly but surely became more personal, switching from things like the weather and funny stories about their families to their fears, what brought them happiness, their hopes and dreams and the things that they were good at.

To Twilight’s pleasant surprise, it seemed like the two of them were destined to be friends. They both had a great fondness for sweets, and their sense of humor was nearly identical. More than once she’d wake up in the middle of the night to find that the two of them had snuck off to the kitchens to get something to eat. Other times, she’d find them roaming the halls in search of some poor soul to prank.

The two reveled in joke-telling and reading and naps under the sun. Jon, oddly enough, had a fondness for penmanship that the purple princess hadn’t even known about until the subject had somehow come up, while the princess was a diehard hoofball fan. Jon was also ambidextrous, and Celestia could use her wings in ways that Twilight had never seen.

As they learned more and more about each other, Twilight put this knowledge to work. She spun and she weaved everything that she could. She set up exercises designed to bring the two closer together. Whenever the two were in the same room she made sure that they were sitting close to each other. She also had them talking. Constantly.

Soon, both Jonathan and Celestia found themselves becoming rather fond of each other. A friendship began to form and grow. The tense awkwardness that had lingered between them since the princess had made her offer vanished without a trace. They began to joke with each other, play and laugh as real, true, good friends did.

There was a hiccup here and there—there was a mishap when Jon had been using the shower and Celestia had been a little too descriptive when telling one of her tales of sexual debauchery— but they were getting along swimmingly; far better than any of them expected. And it was because of this that Twilight decided to proceed to the next step.

“Alrighty! Tonight, I want to try an exercise that I think will be very beneficial for the two of you,” Twilight chirped, quill and notepad at the ready.

Both Jon and Celestia, who were sitting side-by-side on the bed, exchanged glances before looking over at her.

“Try an exercise? What the hell are you talking about, Twi?” Jon questioned as he ran a hand through his hair. “It’s too dark to be running around.”

As if a switch was flipped, Twilight’s smile turned into a frown. “I don’t mean that kind of exercise!” she snapped.

“And what about you, missy?” the young man continued, acting as if he hadn’t heard her. “Are you just going to stand and watch us do these exercises, or are you going to get off your purple butt and work up a sweat?”

“Jon, I swear to Harmony, I will—”

“Because someone needs to start running off all of those hayburgers. Tubby.”

Celestia couldn’t quite hold back a snort as the two had a bit of a stare-down; Jon, the picture of innocence, and Twilight, the picture or irritation and bemusement.

“Jon…” she said chastised, though amusement was very clear in her tone.

Jon’s lips twitched, but he mostly managed to keep a straight face. “What? I’m just saying that if you wanted us running around it would have been better--”

“Jon,” Twilight growled, eyes narrowing down to slits.

This time, Jon couldn’t quite keep the smile from his lips. “Alright, alright. I get it, I get it,” he assured, raising his hands up defensively. “I’m sorry for twisting your teats. Go ahead and give us the lesson for today, Ms. Dean, President, Madam Sparkle.”

Glaring at him for a few seconds more, Twilight shook her head and looked down at her notes, muttering something about stallions under her breath as she did so. Flipping through a few pages, she looked back up at the two and cleared her throat.

“Okay. Now, as I was saying, before I was interrupted—”

“Hey, you weren’t being specific on what kind of exercise we were doing. Don’t blame me for wanting you to specify.”

Twilight’s nose scrunched up, but for the most part she ignored him. “I’d like the two of you to try a very simple, but in my opinion helpful, exercise today.” She turned the page, her eyes scanning the paper. “To get to the second stage in the pyramid of affection, two parties have to be attracted to each other, be it physically or otherwise.”

Dipping her quill into an ink pot, Twilight began to write on the page. She mumbled something under her breath, turning the page before smiling and looking back up at them.

“So, for today, I want the two of you to list off the things that you find attractive about each other.”

The room was completely silent as Celestia and Jon once again exchanged glances.

“List what we find attractive about the other?” Celestia parroted, brow furrowing.

Twilight nodded. “Yes. Finding something desirable in a would-be partner is very important in building a relationship past the ‘just friends’ stage.”

Jon hummed thoughtfully before nodding. “…Yeah, that doesn’t sound too bad,” he admitted, looking up at the big princess beside him. “I could do that, but don’t expect me to Shakespeare it up or anything.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “…Shakespeare?” she questioned.

Slumping down onto the bed, Jon just sighed. “Don’t worry about it,” he said with a defeated wave of the hand. “Just another human thing.”

Celestia, though she didn’t understand the reference, still understood what he was getting at. And since she knew what he was getting at, she decided to have a little fun.

“If Jonathan is alright with it then I have no qualms about it either,” she said, solemn and deadly serious. “Though, I’m afraid that we will be here for a while if I’m to list off all of the things that I find attractive in this lord amongst lords.”

While such a statement would have made Jonathan stiffen a few days prior, now all it did was make him roll his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure,” he joked, nudging her side.

“It would take days to describe my little human’s beauty to you, Twilight,” Celestia continued, placing a hoof above her heart. “His is a loveliness that only comes along once a century—”

“Shut up.”

“—Nay, once in an age!” She sighed sadly, tucking her chin against her chest. “I fear that I do not have the skill with words needed to properly convey to you what my heart sings to me each time that I am blessed enough for him to grace me with his presence.” Bringing her hoof to her forehead, she began to swoon, purposefully bouncing off Jon as she moved back and forth. “His eyes outshine the greatest of my sister’s stars. No jewel or gem can compare to his smile. There is no sound that compares to the sweetness of his voice.” She sighed again, falling sideways into Jon’s lap, her hoof still rested on her forehead as her mane spilled over his legs. “The maker herself weeps that she will never craft another masterpiece such as him.”

Though Jon was giving the princess the deadest of deadpan looks, the tips of his ears were just a bit pink. “Thy shirts are a’ fluttering, my lady,” he said, booping the grinning alicorn on the nose. “Now roust thyself, rapscallion.”

Twilight, hiding a grin behind her notepad, slowly shook her head. “Jon, why don’t you go ahead first?” she suggested. “You’ll say something you like about the princess and then she can say something she likes about you, and so on and so forth.”

Jon booped Celestia even harder, causing her to giggle and stick her tongue out at him. “Let’s see,” he muttered to himself, eyes narrowing in thought. “Well, I think that the princess has a very nice voice.”

Celestia, smiling, reached up and booped him back. “Thank you very much, Jonathan,” she said. “I think that you have very lovely eyes.”

Jon shrugged. “I might have lovely eyes, but mine don’t glow in the dark like yours do.”

“You haven’t seen your eyes in the moonlight, my lord,” the princess countered. “As I said before, they outshine the stars themselves.”

Jon, guffawing, made sure to flick her nose. “Well, I think your mane is really cool.” He ran his fingers through said mane, watching as the hair floated around his fingers. “I don’t know how you make it move like this, but you should really teach Twi over there how to do it.”

“If she was willing to learn, I’d be more than happy to teach her. Though, she’d need to grow her mane out a bit more,” Celestia said, picking her head up from Jon’s lap to look over at Twilight. “What do you say, my old student? Would you like to learn?”

Twilight perked up at the mention of learning. “I’d love--!”

Before she could leap up from the chair for a magic lesson, she remembered that they were in the middle of something. Something very important. More important than learning new spells even. So, with that thought in mind, she quickly cleared her throat and sat back down in her chair. No matter how hard she tried, however, she couldn’t quite keep the disappointment from her face.

“Maybe later,” she said professionally, looking back down and scribbling something on her notepad. “Jon? It’s your turn.”

The human let out a puff of air through his mouth. “I like how soft your fur is,” he said after a moment. “And your wings are really soft and really pretty.”

Celestia giggled. “I believe that that is more than one thing, my little human,” she teased, her cheeks beginning to take on a pink hue.

Jon booped her again. “I’m just trying to get all of the easy ones out of the way,” he announced. “We’re going to be here all day otherwise.”

“I see,” Celestia answered, her tail slapping against the side of the bed as she looked up at him. “Well, in that case, I rather enjoy your fingers, your smile is an utter joy to see, and it tickles me to no end that you are taller than me.”

“It tickles you that I’m taller than you?” Jon questioned, eyebrow raised. “Why?”

Nuzzling her head into his lap to make herself more comfortable, the princess sighed. “If you had not noticed, Jon, I am quite a bit taller than most ponies. To speak frankly, I’m quite a bit taller than most other races by a significant margin. This makes it very hard to find a mate that I don’t have to lean down to kiss or nuzzle,” she explained.

“Most dragons are a lot bigger than you,” Jon said off-handedly.

Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but immediately closed it. Her muzzle scrunched up and her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know why you found that so funny,” she muttered.

“You were almost drowned in cum by a dragon. How can’t I find that funny?”

A small frown came to the princess’s face as she booped him again. “I did not find it funny at the time, and I don’t find it very funny now,” she said. “It took weeks to get it all out of my coat, and its smell clung to me for decades.”

Jon chuckled at the disgust in her voice. “Come on, you don’t think the whole story is a little funny now, looking back?” he asked

Celestia, without hesitation, shook her head. “No I do not,” she firmly responded, a shiver running up her spine.

“Not even a little?”

“There is a reason why I only mated with two dragons, Jonathan.”

“You did jerk off two of ‘em though, so it wasn’t—”

Twilight loudly cleared her throat, her face as red as a tomato. “I’d very much appreciate it if we stayed on topic please,” she said, tapping her quill against the top of her notepad. “Please. Jon, it’s your turn again.”

“Well… I think that Celestia herself is a pretty great person,” he said. “She’s been through a lot, and a lot of really bad and shitty things have happened to her, but even after all of it she’s this great, amazing mare that everyone loves to bits.” His grin morphed from mischievous to heartfelt. “It’s really inspiring, you know?”

Celestia’s smile came roaring back to her face. “You are not much different than I, Jon,” she said. “Despite the fact that you have lost so much in your young life, you have not become beaten or bitter. You’ve rebuilt, adapted, made a home for yourself here. I don’t know many that would be able to boast the same if they found themselves in your position.”

Jon stopped running his fingers through her flowing mane. A far-off, almost sad look came to his eyes before he closed them. Then, taking a deep breath, he reopened them.

“I wouldn’t be the person that I am right now without the help of a very special little horse,” he told her sincerely. “If she hadn’t been there for me in the beginning, helping me get back on my feet, helping me make friends, get a job, and a million other things, I don’t think I would have made it.”

Though Twilight didn’t look up from her notes, a very noticeable blush exploded across her face and crept down her neck.

“There is a reason why we ponies so firmly hold onto the belief that friendship is magic, Jonathan,” Celestia—her eyes shining—said as she picked her head up from his lap and sat up.

Her wings ruffled against her sides as she hopped out of the bed and began to stretch her legs. “Now, I believe that it is my turn yet again, yes?” she asked with a hum, looking him up and down. “Let’s see… I find your small nose adorable, and your ears are some of the oddest that I have ever seen,” she told him. “In fact, your whole face is deserving of note. Delicate yet strong, flat yet not too much so, with a jawline that catches the eye.” Her tail flicked as her eyes narrowed. “Not a pony, or a gryphon, or a yak; not anything truly. Twilight has described your features as almost apeish—”

Without missing a beat, Jon looked over at Twilight with a less than friendly expression on his face. Twilight, her ears pinned against her skull, cowered behind her notepad.

“—but I must respectfully disagree.” She took a step toward him “Your jawline is sharper; your expressions are softer and have more feeling in them than an ape.” Another step. “While the body of a gorilla or a chimpanzee is compact or stout, yours is proportionally symmetrical. Everything from your arms to your legs to your hands are perfectly sized for your body.” Another step, then another. “I may find your feet a little odd, and it is a true shame that your kind do not have tails since I believe that you’d looked absolutely perfect with one, but those are only minor grievances.”

With a few more steps, Celestia was standing not six inches away from him, her gaze calculating and thoughtful. She was looking him up and down once more, almost as if she were trying to peel back the layers of clothing to see what was hidden underneath. Jon, finding himself reddening under the intense gaze, had to resist the urge to cover himself with his hands.

“You are exotic yet familiar, natural yet unnatural, alien in every sense of the word if it was used in a positive light. Your face, your body, the way that you talk to the way that you carry yourself, all of it is pleasing to the eye and a pleasure to witness, though that may just be my preference.” Taking a deep breath, the princess sat on her haunches and gave him her brightest smile. “You are a very fine looking young man, Jonathan. Perhaps one of the better-looking bipeds that I have met in a very long while, and that is the truth.”

If Jon was red-faced before, now he was an inferno. His face, his neck, his ears, even most of his chest was red. He was blushing so hard, in fact, that his body had been forced to suck the blood from his extremities, leaving his toes and fingertips tingly.

“I, am, well,” he babbled, honestly not knowing what to say. “That’s really, I mean, it was awfully…”

Celestia beamed as he trailed off, getting up and hopping back into the bed beside him. “While I could have gone on, for the sake of Twilight and her writing I decided to keep it short,” she teased as he shied away from her. “Now, I believe that it’s your turn, my lord.”

It took a few moments for Jon to collect himself, but eventually his face was no longer on fire and he could no longer hear the blood rushing through his ears. He took a deep, slightly shaky breath and climbed to his feet.

“A-Alrighty then,” he murmured, taking a few steps away from the princess before turning around and looking at her. “That’s going to be a little hard to beat, but I’ll do my best.”

As the princess had done before him, Jonathan looked Celestia over carefully. His gaze traveled over her body. From the spiraled horn atop her head down to the tail resting against her rump. He drank in every curve, every muscle, every little bump and loose feather and imperfection. It was only then, when he had stared at every inch of her, did he look back into those big amethyst eyes.

Licking his dry lips, he cleared and throat and began. “Well… You’re an awful lot bigger than pretty much all of your subjects—just like you said—and because of it you seem a little more… shapely?” He looked over at Twilight. “Ponies like Twilight here are stocky, pudgy—”

“Hey!”

“—both the mares and the stallions have that same little gut, those same thick, stubby legs, that little neck, and pretty much the same facial features. When I first met some of the ponies in Ponyville, I had to listen to their voices to see if they were guys or girls, because I honestly couldn’t tell.” He began to rub his hands together, his eyes still wandering over Celestia. “But you’re spaced out a little better. Your legs are longer, thinner, and so is your neck.”

Twilight peered over her notepad, giving Jon a glare that could melt steel. He didn’t even notice it, being so focused on the princess.

“With you, I could instantly tell that you were a gir—er, a mare. I could see it in your face, in how your body curves; how delicate your face is, how your ass—” Catching himself, he quickly coughed into his hand. “I mean, your lips are really—” This time, he pounded a fist against his chest as he coughed. “What I mean to say is that you look like a female. A pretty, curvy female.”

Celestia had to stifle a laugh as he took another step toward her.

“I like the color of your fur and I like how soft it is. You’re also very warm, which makes you one hell of a bed-buddy. Your wings are also the biggest and most beautiful that I have ever seen, and they actually feel really nice when they’re wrapped around me.”

Twilight, frowning even harder, looked down at her wings self-consciously. Celestia, her chest puffing out at the praise, gave her own wings a half-flap before folding them against her sides.

Sucking in a lungful of air, Jon looked away from the princess. “…I think I’m done,” he announced with a dismissive wave of the hand. “It wasn’t as good as yours, but that’s all I got.” Making his way over to the bed, he sat back down. “Do you have anything else, my lady?”

Though she wanted nothing more than to wrap her wings around him, Celestia refrained. “No, I believe that I’ve said all that I needed to say,” she declared with a shake of her head, wiggling around to make herself comfortable.

Jon nodded, twiddling his thumbs. “Great,” he said, before adding, “And thanks for the complements. They were… nice to hear. Really.”

This time, she couldn’t quite hold back her laughter. “Thank you as well, my little human,” she said, leaning over and nuzzling his brow. “It’s nice to hear that someone still finds this old mare somewhat attractive.”

Twilight, carefully watching them interact, continued to write in her notepad. “Very good, you two,” she chirped just a little too loudly, making the two of them jump. “I can already tell that this was a good idea. We should continue doing this another day.” Without looking up from her notes, she waved a hoof in their direction. “Now, since we’ve completed this exercise, why don’t the two of you spend a few minutes holding each other’s hooves?”

Both Celestia and Jon exchanged glances for a third time.

“Hold hooves?” Jon asked.

Twilight waved her hoof again, this time dismissively. “You know what I mean,” she said. “You hold her hoof and she’ll hold your hand.”

“I got that,” Jon retorted, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “What I’m not too clear on is why”

Looking up from her notes, the purple princess raised an eyebrow. “Contact between two ponies is just as important to building a relationship as talking is, Jon,” she said, matter-of-factly. “The two of you just poured your hearts out to each other. A little contact will be good for the two of you.”

Jon’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Are you sure that this isn’t just some weird thing?” he asked.

Twilight frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I think you know what I mean.”

“I wouldn’t be asking you what you meant if I knew.”

Mouth setting to a thin line, Jon leaned toward her. “Is this handholding thing some weird fetish of yours?” he asked. “Are you gonna get off to it?”

Twilight nearly dropped her notepad. “W-What?!” she squeaked, her eyes widening.

Jon, shaking his head, looked over at Celestia with a look of disgust. “Princess, I think your old student is up to some debauchery,” he said, tsking.

To both Twilight’s surprise and horror, Celestia frowned. “It appears so, Jonathan,” she said gravely. “Hoofholding? While another pony watches?” She shook her head. “I’m surprised at you, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight, nearly falling out of her chair, quickly sat up straight. “I’m just g-going along with what the notes tell me!” she protested loudly. “I do not have a fetish for something silly like hoofholding!”

“Sounds like it to me,” Jon remarked, folding his arms across his chest. “You pervert.”

“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” Celestia added, shaking her head. “I hadn’t the foggiest idea that your interests lied in… amusements such as this.”

“It’s not— I mean I don’t—!” Twilight sputtered, nearly throwing her notepad. “I’m just doing what it says in the—”

She trailed off when she saw grins coming to her hecklers faces. Her eyes widened in realization. Her shock was so great at her revelation, in fact, that she let her notepad fall to her lap. “You were just…” Puffing out her cheeks, she quickly frowned, leaning back against her chair and crossing her forelegs. “Oh, buck the two of you.”

Laughter immediately rang throughout the room as both Jon and Celestia chuckled to their heart's content, leaning against each other for support. There weren’t quite tears streaming down their faces, but their merriment was loud enough that it could have been heard down the hall. Twilight simply sat there, a frown on her face as they laughed loud and long.

Her face contorted into a pout. Her muzzle scrunched up in indignation. She puffed her little chest out as she let out a huff, the picture of outrage and scandal. And still the two laughed.

“You should have seen the look on your face!” Jon said with a giggle, after their mirth had died down somewhat. “Oh, if I could have taken a picture I would have been able to die a happy man.”

“Yeah, yeah, you laugh it up,” Twilight sourly muttered, giving him the stink eye. “Just don’t be surprised when you wake up blue tomorrow…”

“Oh come now, Twilight, it was just a bit of fun,” Celestia said, her voice still rich with laughter. “You know that we meant nothing by it.”

“Yeah, we were just teasing you, you big purple baby,” the human reassured.

Twilight, unaffected by their words, continued to be grumpy and not at all amused. She even went so far as to stick her tongue out at them. “You still shouldn’t hav—”

All at once, she stopped, her eyes widening as she looked over at the two. Then, for seemingly no reason, a smile—sly and sinister—lowly spread across her face.

Both Celestia and Jon, for reasons that they couldn’t fully understand, began to shift uneasily as she leaned forward in her chair. The royal bookworm seemed to pick up on this unease, her smile widening.

“You can make fun of me all you want, but the point is kind of moot when you’re being “lewd” yourselves,” she smugly sing-songed, nudging her head toward their laps.

Both the human and the alicorn, confused as to what she meant, looked down to see their limbs intertwined. Celestia’s hoof was wrapped around Jon’s hand. Jon’s fingers were firmly wrapped around said hoof, his thumb tracing the hoof’s frog. Somehow, without the two of them knowing, they had begun holding hands/hooves.

“Celestia and Jon sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Twilight childishly sung as they stiffened in surprise.

“When in the hell?” Jon muttered, more confused than anything. “When did this happen?”

Celestia’s hoof was nowhere near like the horses or ponies back home, he noticed after a moment. It wasn’t the mass of cold, hard keratin that he had seen at fairs and the occasional rodeo that his friends had dragged him to a lifetime ago. This hoof was warm to the touch. It was softer, almost skin-like, and it was able to envelope his hand with ease.

Ignoring Twilight as she continued to sing about trees and marriage and baby carriages, he let his fingers roam over the hoof, his curiosity getting the better of him.

This wasn’t the first time that a pony had touched him with a hoof. In fact, ponies almost went out of their way to use their hooves to play with his hands for some reason or another. But this was the first time that he had sat down and really looked at one.

Here was a flat, fingerless appendage that could grab things with a dexterity that was sometimes better than his own. Sure, he might have them beat in more delicate activities, but just for something like this to grab an object, pick it up and move it, was incredible.

It was a hoof yet not a hoof. A hand with invisible fingers. A hand that could hold his just as well as any man or woman could.

Jon looked back up at the princess, realizing that Twilight had ceased her incessant teasing and the room was quiet. Celestia was looking down at him quizzically, an eyebrow raised.

Once again, his gaze drank in her expressive face. Those big, breathtaking eyes. Those soft, supple, human-like lips. Those cheeks, that jaw, those ears, her horn.

A face that looked so human yet so alien at the same time. A different face. An strong, wise, and majestic face. A face that he was becoming rather fond of.

Without realizing it, his grip on her hoof tightened.

Celestia’s eyebrow raised a little higher. “Is everything alright, Jonathan?” she asked in concern.

Hearing his name being said, Jon jumped, though his hand didn’t leave her hoof. “I, um, well, I--” he sputtered, eyes widening. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I was just, uh, lost in thought for a second…”

Celestia gave his hand a little squeeze, nearly causing him to jump up into the ceiling. He could almost feel the fingers across the back of his hand.

“Jon, are you okay?” Twilight asked, sounding just as concerned as her old mentor.

Celestia’s ears pinned back against her skull. Thinking that she was making him uncomfortable, she tried to pull her hoof out Jon’s hand, an apology at the ready. She was surprised, however, when her hoof only managed to leave his hand for a moment before he grabbed it and pulled it against it chest.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said insistently, sincerely, his head snapping back and forth between the two before he looked down. “I was just noticing how much your hoof felt like a hand, Celestia.” He forced himself to look back up at her, smiling. “I don’t know. I guess… I’ve just never noticed it before.”

Celestia’s worried expression became a hopeful one. “So the hoofholding isn’t...?”

Jon’s smile widened. “I guess that I’m just as much as a deviant as Twi is over there,” he joked, trying to ignore his rapidly beating heart. “Because I don’t have any problem holding your hoof like this.”

The princess stared down at him for nearly a minute before she could restrain herself no longer. She extended a wing, wrapping it around him and pulling him against her. Though Jon’s eyes widened at the sudden manhandling, he didn’t make a single sound of protest as their sides touched and his head found a home against her chest.

“I suppose that I must admit my deviousness also,” she said, nuzzling the top of his head as her wing encased him. Though Jon couldn’t see it, she closed her eyes, grinning from ear-to-ear. “Because I not only find nothing wrong with holding a stallion’s hoof while another mare is present, I find myself enjoying it exceedingly.”

~-~-~-~-~-~

The little one-window room was completely dark. Once again, the moon dared not show its face in the midst of this still, silent night. In the corner of the room, Twilight was softly snorting, her notepad clenched between her hooves as she slept.

It was late; very late. So late that even the most die-hard of night owls were tucked away in their beds. Jon, though he didn’t roll over onto his side to look at the clock hanging on the wall, knew it was late. He could feel it in his bones, hear it in the hushed silence that was only held at bay by slow, even breathing and snoring.

He was tired. He knew that he should have been asleep hours ago. He knew that when he got up in the morning he was going to feel like total garbage. But, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t close his eyes and drift off. Instead, he looked at the mass white fur in front of him, wrestling with his thoughts.

Celestia also knew that it was terribly late at night. She could even look up at the clock to see that it would be many, many hours before she needed to be up for the sun to rise. The princess also wanted to get some sleep. While she was a morning pony—it was pretty much in her job description— not even she could be bright and cheery in the wake of a sleepless night. But just like her bed-buddy, no matter what she did, she couldn’t just quite drift off.

“…Princess? Are you awake?” Jon whispered.

Shifting her weight a bit, Celestia sighed. “Yes, my little human. I believe that I am,” she said, nuzzling the top of his head.

“Can’t sleep either, huh?”

“It appears that way.”

“Have a lot on your mind?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing, since you can’t seem to hold still for more than a moment,” she observed.

Jon frowned in the darkness. “Oh shit. I’m the one keeping you up, aren’t I?” he asked. “I’m really—”

“No, no. I promise you that my lack of sleep is no fault of yours,” Celestia assured, nuzzling his brow. “It’s because…” Her nose scrunched up in thought. “I cannot quite place it, but it feels as though something is… missing.”

Jon nodded, the top of his head brushing against her chest as he did so. “I know what you mean,” he quietly agreed. “I’m feeling the same.”

The two lapsed into silence, Celestia trying to catch his eye while Jon stared at her neck.

“Celestia?” he murmured.

“Hmm?”

Jon opened his mouth before snorting. “Jesus Christ, I’m not in fucking high school anymore. It was bad enough that I’ve been getting all blushy and shit the last couple days. I am not gonna start dancing around shit,” he sourly grumbled to himself.

He took a deep breath, puffing his chest out. “Princess, do you mind if I…” he trailed off, losing steam.

Celestia moved away from her bed-buddy a bit so that she could get a better look at him. “If you…?” she prompted encouragingly.

Jon picked his head up and looked over at Twilight. Making a hundred percent sure that she was, in fact, asleep and not faking it, he turned his attention back to her.

“I’ve been trying to think of a way to put this more eloquently, but I can’t think of anything clever or romantic or anything like that. So, I’m just going to flat-out ask you, since I’m not some ten-year-old that can’t talk to girls.” His eyes narrowed to slits. “I’m an adult. I’m an adult, dammit. I have a mortgage and I pay fucking taxes.” He poked her stomach, looking into her eyes before he took another deep breath and asked, “Can. I. Have. A. Kiss. Please?”

Celestia blinked in surprise at the question. “Excuse me?”

“I’d very much like a smooch on the lips. Please,” Jon bluntly told her.

There was bewilderment in the princess’s eyes as she looked down at them. She then began to laugh. “Oh my goodness. This is the first time in a long time that a stallion has asked me for a kiss,” she mused. “And so bluntly!”

Jon scowled even as he began to turn red. “Can I have a kiss or not?” he demanded.

Celestia’s grin diminished somewhat. “I would gladly give you a kiss if you so desire, Jonathan,” she said, her expression becoming more serious. “But are you sure that you’re comfortable kissing me?”

He quickly looked at her lips, then back up at her face, an act which she couldn’t help but note. “I’m just asking for a little kiss. It’s not like I want you to stick your tongue down my throat.”

“And may I ask what brought this on?”

Jon shrugged. “I’ve been thinking a whole lot since this afternoon,” he stated. “And, I don’t know, I just kind of want to know what it feels like. Kissing you I mean. Since, even though I didn’t say this in front of Twilight, I kind of, sorta, like your lips. I think they’re nice-looking.”

The princess looked him over carefully—a small smile on her face— before nodding. “Very well,” she replied, pulling away from him and sitting up. “If you wish for a kiss then I’d be thrilled to give you one.”

He sat up in the bed with her, wrapping their blanket around himself. “Good. Great. Thank you.”

Making themselves comfortable—Jon sitting cross-legged on the bed and Celestia sitting up on her haunches—they looked at each other.

“I’m going to lean down and kiss you. If you wish me to stop then simply ask and I’ll stop,” Celestia whispered.

Jon licked his lips before wiping them with the back of his hand. “Alright,” he said, opening and closing his hands.

Looking into his eyes, she began to lean down as he leaned up. Their lips parted and puckered just before they touched.

To Jon’s surprise, nothing happened. No feelings of revulsion, no outrage, he didn’t explode in anyway or form. The only thing that happened to him as they kissed was that his heart began to beat just a little bit faster and a pleasant warmth began to fill him.

Celestia’s lips were as soft as he imagined and as warm as the rest of her. They were a bit bigger than his, so they the two of them had to adjust mid-kiss, but they managed. Managed very well, in fact.

It was just a kiss. A slightly tense kiss that may have been a bit awkward with how stiff the two of them were, but a kiss nonetheless. And a pleasant one at that.

Counting to ten in his head, Jon pulled away. Breaking the kiss, he looked at the princess, who was staring carefully back at him. “So… how was that?” he asked.

Celestia smiled. “I found it very agreeable,” she told him, trying to rein in her enthusiasm. “And yourself?”

He leaned back and thought hard. “It was… just a kiss,” he said.

Celestia’s smile widened. “Just a kiss?”

A smile came to the human’s face as he nodded. “Yep, just a nice kiss from a very pretty mare.”

That got a chuckle out of the princess. “Well, thank you very much, my dear,” she said. Feeling brave, she leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. Again, he felt no panic, no anxiety, no disgust. It was just a kiss on the cheek.

Jon sighed in relief as he felt a great weight leave his shoulders. “I’m sorry if it was shitty for you though,” he apologized, reaching over and grabbing her hoof. “I wasn’t exactly bringing my A-game.”

“Nonsense, Jonathan,” the princess gently protested. “It was a lovely kiss.”

Jon just grunted, looking over at Twilight. “At least the one over there didn’t see,” he muttered. “I don’t care what she says, I’m pretty sure that she’s getting off to this somehow…”

Celestia chuckled again. “If we are to continue kissing she’s bound to see us eventually,” she mused.

Jon looked over at her before looking back at his purple friend. “I guess so,” he supposed, leaning against her. “We should make sure to practice when she’s not looking then, so when she does see us we’re not fumbling around like a bunch of teenagers that’ve never kissed anyone before.”

Celestia’s wing wrapped around him as she nuzzled his head again. “I’d be happy to practice with you as many times as you want,” she told him. “I’d be a fool not to take such a handsome stallion’s offer.”

“You’re silly.”

“I might be silly, but you’re still fetching, my little human.”

This time, when the two laid their heads down onto their pillows, sleep came easy.