Revulsion. It's the only feeling at the moment. The warmth of flesh not his own, around his neck and body. From the second it touched him, there was nothing but that sense of disgust at the thought of what was currently wrapping around his torso. He wanted to scream, but the sheer level of violation caused it to die within his throat. The mare hummed in apparent satisfaction. His eyes managed to sight the dark blue-haired ruler for a moment before his cry found traction within his maw. Her expression shifted from kind benelovence to horror. She already knew of his issue and, at that moment, realized her error in introducing him to the group
He was screaming now, a strangled cry of desperation pouring from the deepest part of himself. The most primal part of his mind forced him to shake, not unlike a dog, to dismount the creature currently cosying up to him. But the result of this attempt to remove her was a scream as her grip clamped down upon his limbs. His yell rose another octave, the creature was still latched to him and was refusing to be thrown off. It's own cry was ear-piercing in tone, promising to deafen him if he didn't dispatch this hugging parasite in more than a few moments.
The air turns electric and a lavender glow surrounds the pink abomination, pulling her from his torso and leaving him free of any of the hated physical contact. The mare floats in the air for a moment, still screaming, before realising she was seperate from him. His yell cuts off abruptly, unneeded, as he stares daggers at the one who had hugged him. As the magic gently fades from her body, she looks at him with a confused expression. The six other mares also look confused, except for the dark blue one, who is the only one wearing a deeply apologetic expression.
"Don't ever touch me." He says to the pink mare.
"I'm sowwy, I didn't know."
"Just don't do it again."
"Ok." Her voice is barely above a whisper as she stares at the floor. The moment seems to hang for a moment before the dark blue pony speaks.
"We're sorry, we didn't tell them about..." She doesn't said it, but only because he hates to hear about his weakness. "... Your issue." He shrugs.
"Don't worry about it, Luna." He replies after a few seconds. "Just please don't let that happen again."
"We won't." She replies.
It is that time again. The night air sings a soothing lullaby to her, it's song speaks of the endless wonders she could experience tonight with this new creature. For too long she's avoided the call, trying potion and magics to cloud her mind of that desire. This is the thing that her body craves even as her rational mind tries to steer it to other things. But there is no method, other than this, to appease the night. No other salve for the soul for this particular itch. And it is that time again.
Ascending the steps to the guest room, she pauses at the door. Already, she can smell the creature within. His scent is of sweat and, strangely, of blueberries. It is intoxicatingly exotic, so unlike the smell of her usual supplicants, that she cannot resist sampling it tonight. In times long past, she would be approaching others of her kind and making them hers for the night, only to erase what has happened from their minds with her magic. But she would savor her own memory of the night for years, the forced contact, the feeling of warm flesh on warm flesh and the glorious ending.
Quietly, she pushes through the threshold to reveal her prize. Lying asleep on the bed is the strange creature. His lower body covered by a blanket baring her symbol, she smiles as she notices it, the thought of replacing the blanket with herself excites her further. He lies on his back, his naked chest softly rising and falling. She can only the back of his head, his black locks lying on the pillow framing his strangely shaped head. Gently, she trots over to the side of the bed. Earlier, when he requested permission to move it so one side was by a wall, she had questioned as to why. His response was that he felt more comfortable that way. She could not deny a long-term guest their comfort, especially this one.
There is a moment, as she views the sleeping form, a singular doubt in her mind. Questioning not only her current actions, but the ones preceding this. The night lullaby sings it's seductive song, the current ballad has such a sweet melody. It promises only good things for her, only the best. From encounter to encounter, every stallion, mare and gryphon have been nothing but pleased by the conclusion of the song. The melody hasn't changed since the first time she heard it, those easy notes, those vibrant tones and that glorious fleshy singularity at the peak of the performance!
Raising her snout to him, she inhales his aroma with a delicate sniff. So strange! So exotic! And now all hers! Gently, she runs her nose along the flesh of his cheek. The contact of her coat on his skin feels like sparks of magic are bursting along her snout. She cannot help herself as she lets out a soft moan, her hot breath flowing over his face. She realises her mistake as he starts to rouse from his slumber, his small eyes flittering open before locking onto her. Almost immediately he shunts himself backward to increase the distance between them.
"What are you doing?!" He whispers coarsely, his throat still mired in sleepiness.
She does not answer as she steps onto the bed, her face fully blushing, displaying to him her arousal. As she gets closer, his expression morphs from confused to fearful. She knows why, he has a touch phobia. She recalls the events from last week when the pink party pony managed to wrap him in a hug. His screaming scared the mare so intensely that her hug changed into a deathgrip, which led to an unfortunate positive feedback loop of more screaming and a tighter grip.
It was only the quick thinking of Twilight Sparkle that managed to seperate the two before they worked themselves into a panic induced heart attack. But that would not be the case here, no, the only screaming would be through mutually shared pleasure. A suitable accompaniment to the night's beautiful song.
"What do you want?!" He screeches as his eyes lock on the hoof that is slowly approaching his shoulder. "You know I don't like people touching me! Don't!" Her hoof forcefully presses into the flesh of his shoulder, pinning him to the bed. He gasps in obvious discomfort.
She is on him in heartbeat, her mouth pressing against his, her tongue tentatively exploring his maw. A tiny whimper escapes from his throat, but she is enjoying herself too much to offer him respite now. The feeling of those strange sharp teeth of a carnivore pushes her excitement to another level entirely. She must have this stallion, no, this man now! Breaking the kiss, she uses her magic to tear off the covers, revealing that he slept naked! Her prize was there, a small fleshy appendage that lies flaccid. But she knew precisely what to do about that.
"Please stop! I don't want thiiiisssss.."
His sobbing tone shifts as her long tongue runs from the tip of his member all the way down to the base. Keeping him pinned, she gently takes it into her mouth and slowly works the steadily hardening shaft with her tongue. His pleasure was obvious as she hears his breathing increase, hitching every time her snout rubbed the sac of his testicles and sobbing when nothing but the tip left her mouth. She could tell by the way he was twitching that he was rapidly approaching his apex. It is with some amusement that she notes that most stallions would have already finished, she had to admire his stamina.
Withdrawing from his member, she looks on him with a coy smile and is somewhat surprised to note that he is weeping. Weeping with joy, she quickly surmised as she lined herself up for the main course. This was the moment she'd been denying herself for too long. It was to be a beautiful night....
With an orgasmic shudder, she removed herself from the man and stepped off the bed. Calling on the magics she knew so well, she readied herself for the culmination of the night: Memory erasure. With great care, she reached out to his mind. Only instead of the usual ease of access, she was rebuffed before she could even begin. It took several attempts before she finally realised what was happening. His mind was alien, so strange that she could not even gain a foothold. Which meant she couldn't remove this night from his mind.
As she fled the room, she cursed the lying song for playing her this way.
Several days after her mistake, her sister came to her throne room. The mare approached her tentatively, as if her every hoof-fall was encroaching on sacred ground. Her gaze ran along the floor, bowing her head in an un-Princess-like manner. It was obvious that she was baring a great burden.
"Sister," her voice soft, "we are troubled."
"Why are you troubled, Luna?"
"It is about the 'human', sister. He refuses to see us."
She is gripped with panic. Her sister had spent many a week with the newly found human. Perhaps she had discovered her secret desires? The idea that she might know of those perverted forces within her mind scares her. It would force her to use the sacred rites and banish her for her perversion! Just as she'd had to when she'd given in to that darkness.
"Perhaps he is tired. He is not of ponykind, after all." Luna looks at the floor.
"It is our actions before this, sister, that cause us concern."
"What actions are you talking about?"
"We have spent some time with the human, enough to know that he dislikes physical contact, but over time we have managed to find out his interests. He is a night-stallion at heart, it seems, so after some time we eventually found him in the statue garden. He was admiring the statue of 'friendship'. His eyes seemed to focus on the wings of the pegusi part of the statue. And it is there, sister, that he asked if he might... Touch my wings."
-
With the slightest touch of magic, the starscape was altered ever so slightly, bringing several stars into sharper focus. Her duties complete, she took to the sky with an almost-effortless flap of her wings. The night air flowed over her feathered appendages like a waterfall of endless cool water. Canterlot castle had changed much since her indiscretion, but still provided many new sights to see.
While overflying the statue garden, she saw the strange creature admiring one of the many busts within it. Quietly, she descended to the ground, content on merely observing one of the few beings who actually enjoyed being out at night. He sighed, before moving a forelimb to his back and gently stroked it with his claw. Curiousity got the best of her as she gently trotted from her position and made herself known.
"Good evening, Princess Luna." He offers a slight head-bow at her, not breaking his focus on the statue.
"And the very same to you, John. What has captivated you so?"
"Wings. On my world we don't have any creature who can fly and also talk. My kind has lots of tales of us with them, but not what it must actually be like to have them. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to have another set of limbs that are so elegant as your wings."
The compliment takes her by surprise, nopony had ever dared compliment her without ladling on the praise. Yet, even though it seemed to be an off-the-hoof comment, it appeared to be entirely genuine. The human appears to be holding back for a moment, but before she presses the issue, he speaks.
"Princess Luna, could I be so bold as to ask..." He pauses for a moment, his discomfort obvious. "If I might..." His eyes cinch shut as he whispers the last part of his request. "Touch your wings?"
Her heart starts to pound in fear, but she's skilled enough to conceal that feeling of shame from her sister.
"We let him do so, my sister, because it was the first time he had ever expressed an interest in contact with us. Those hands... Sister I cannot describe them with words alone! He softly ran his digits over our leading edge." She has the faintest blush on her face. "It was a very tender moment, sister. After he finished, he did something unexpected. He... Offered to let us touch him in return."
Strangely, it is not the request to touch the royal wing that surprises her. It is the fact that the creature, who has largely distained contact, has made such a request. Taking a moment to collect herself, she gently extends her wings for the bipedal creature and offers him her left flight limb.
"Please be gentle." She whispers to the human, her nerves singing with electricity.
It wasn't hard to notice the gentle shaking of his hand as it approached, it betrayed a certain nervousness, a certain lack of familiarity, that she could identify with. As the digits gently found their target, she could feel the tentative contact, the restrained desire to let the fingers flow over her plumage. At first, he merely tickled her wing, his contact tentative in the extreme, before his confidence obviously grew as he gently explored her.
Slowly, but carefully, his gentle caress seemed to blur as it moved from her wings to her torso. It might have been unintentional, but the the limb seemed to be gently massaging that tight knot of muscle that came from years of dedicated flying. With a sigh, she felt her limbs start to lose their strength as the overwhelming feeling of relaxation spread thoughout her body.
But as all good things come to those that wait, the pleasurable moment ended far too soon. He withdrew his limbs carefully, almost as if that was the exten of his ration of contact, before he spoke again.
"Your wings are amazing." He said softly, his eye locked on his hands.
"And so are your hands." She replied, noticing the blush on his face as she did so.
-
Her stomach twists in her body, a steadily-rising feeling of bile in her throat. She almost wishes that her sister would stop talking.
"We've always been curious about the structure of his arms, but when we gently touched his arm he recoiled almost immediately. He offered an apology to us and said he needed a moment to compose himself. Then he reached out with a shaking hand and grasped our hoof, bringing it gently to his arm. Oh sister! We felt like a filly on our first encounter with a stallion!" Luna clops her hooves together in obvious triumph. "He felt so exotic, so unlike any pony we have touched. We allowed him a moment, since we saw what an obvious effect physical contact was having on him, before we moved our hoove to his chest. Our heart was racing! We could not help but look into his eyes and he returned our look. We were so excited, we even.... nuzzled his face."
-
As he blushed, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the human. Here he was, lost and alone on an alien planet with a fear that would have seperated him from all beings. Even his own kind! But then, his request was strange, if he could not tolerate ponies touching him, why would he ask her?
The pieces of the puzzle seemed to suddenly fall into her mind in perfect order. He obviously felt something for her, be it love or merely kinship, whatever it happened to be didn't matter. He was reaching out to her and, by her mother, she'd reach back! As she considered this, she didn't notice as the human gently rubbed his arm.
"Princess Luna?"
"Yes, John?"
"I...Well." His discomfort was immediately apparent. "If you want. I mean, you don't have to, but it's only fair." He pauses, looking away for a moment before returning his gaze. "I've seen to staring at my arms and I figure. Well. You can..." It's the longest pause of the monolog, but it carries such significance. "Would you like to touch me?"
She doesn't answer him verbally, but raises her hoof and places it upon his bicep. His reaction is immediate, almost violent, as he lept backward and tried to shield himself with his other forelimb. Offering him an apology, she gently pulls her leg back, but cannot do so as his hand locks around her hoof. Delicately, he guides the limb to his bicep with a shudder.
"I said I'd let you touch me." He whispered.
"You don't have to..." She replied.
There is no more thoughts of expelling her stomach contents, there is only a desperate need to do so now. Her sister clearly cared much more for the strange human than she'd ever known.
"That was a few night ago, sister, but now whenever we go to see him he barely acknowledges our presence. We have tried to talk to him, but he spends his time alone in the guest room. He refuses nourishment. At nights, we can hear him weeping. We do not even think he sleeps, for even though we cannot enter his dreams we can still sense the disposition of his slumber. We fear we have shattered him with our inappropriate actions. We are sorry, my sister."
She does not know what to say. For the first time in practically forever, she is speechless. By her own depraved need for contact, she has broken not one but two beings. One of who was her very own sister. The moment seems to last forever as her sister looks up at her with such a heartbroken expression, but she cannot offer her sibling the forgiveness she so desires.
"Sister, why do you not speak?"
Luna finally breaks the moment but there is nothing to be said. There is no chance she'd risk telling her about that night she had with the human, but there is also no way she would dare attempt to blame Luna for the human's mental collapse. She must find another way.
"Luna, I'm sure it's not your fault. We still do not know much of humanity, perhaps it is part of a natural cycle for them?"
It is a pathetic excuse, she knows, but it is still entirely plausible.
"Perhaps." Luna replies. "But we still feel responsible."
"Sister, I would not worry about it. I'm sure your actions aren't the cause for his current condition."
"Perhaps." Is the only reply she offers her, before leaving the room.
She finds him on the balcony that night, wearing a fluffy garment baring her sister's mark. As she descends, she can hear him breathing. Each intake sounds bone-dry, as if all the moisture of his body had departed him. She lands behind him with the barest whisper of impact with the floor, but somehow he noticed her arrival. He doesn't turn around.
"Round two then?" He finally whispers, his tone that of a defeated foe.
"I'm sorry." She utters after a moment.
"And that makes it all ok, does it?" He turns to look on her. "'I'm sorry', she says. Well I guess that makes it all alright then!" He yells at her, but she doesn't flinch.
"I'm not raising the sun until you forgive me." And she means it, she's willing to let the nation miss a day if it'd mean he'd offer her forgiveness.
"Would you like to know why I can't stand being touched?" She nods, because she feels that the explaination will bring her closer to repairing her misdeed with the damaged human. It has to.
"Ever since I started school, over a decade ago, nobody touched me. It wasn't that I was unpopular or ugly or never bathed. No, it was simply because our society doesn't engage in much physical contact. Then, years after I finished school, someone tried to hug me. The feeling... I can't describe it other than I hated it. I didn't know this person and they'd just touched me in an intimate way. It's an irrational fear, I know, but that doesn't make it any less real. Before I came here, I almost wished I'd had some shitty childhood memory or some actual reason to hate physical contact. But no, I'm not so... I wouldn't say lucky. God, I wouldn't dare say that. But atleast then I'd have a reason. Instead, all I have is fear and loathing."
"Ever since that day, I've gone out of my way to avoid people so I'd never have to do that again. I gave up having friends, in case they'd need a hug or comfort. I've given up sports. Hell, I gave up going out in public most of the time. I spent my time at home writing semi-popular science fiction and trying to make music. My life was good."
"And then, however it happened, I got dumped here. It was like some fantastical adventure. I got brought here and it was amazing. An entire nation built on magic, with two princesses who raise the sun and moon. Without the knowledge of how I arrived, you couldn't send me back, but why would I want to return to that boring existence when I had a second chance at life here? And, since I'm a night owl at heart, I even started to get friendly with Luna."
She doesn't want to hear this, but the lullaby of the night tries to sing to her. It promises such sweet pleasures if she simply listens to it, if she lets it into her heart and mind. But it was also responsible for this situation, so it is not hard to ignore it's seductive music for his voice.
"She was so alone, so desperate for contact that none of your ponies would dare give her. There was some part of me, something I thought was dead, that wanted to comfort her. But I knew that would mean touching."
He shivers in what she assumes is discomfort, but she knows she cannot comfort him. Not in any way that would be meaningful to him.
"And even though I hated it, I decided this was one thing I could do for her. I was willing to push through my fear so that she'd know she wasn't alone. So for the first time in so many years, I let someone touch me. And you know what? I liked it. I didn't feel horrified or terrified. I let her into my own little world and it was good. And then you came along and..."
He doesn't say it, but she doesn't need to for her to know what he is talking about.
"Now you try a guilt trip by threatening the entire nation with darkness; But you don't get it. You don't get forgiveness for what you did, what you knowingly did to me. And the worst part is, nobody would believe me even if I told them. There is no way for me to get home and there is no place I can go to escape you. My father always said: 'You're either the spider or the fly.' I suppose I know which one I am in this world."
He looks out at where the dawn would be, had she started her royal duty. He places his hands on the railing and sighs. Then turns his head to look at her and speaks.
"Now raise the sun, Celestia. Raise the fucking sun before you ruin anyone else."
She closes her eyes to raise the sun, unwilling and unable to meet the look from the human. As her magics coax the stellar orb into the sky, she reopens her eyes. The human has disappeared from the balcony. A moment later, she hears the faintest sound of something wet slapping against the ground below.
She doesn't look down.
As it turned out, the human survived his attempted suicide, but not without cost. His legs were completely shattered, far beyond any sort of magical repair. His left arm also suffered a similar fate. Even his vision did not fair well, his left eye turned cloudy and no longer worked. It meant that he could not function without assistance, without some pony touching him with either magic or hoof. It must have been a living hell for him. He could not even take his own life, thanks to the dedicated nursing team.
He no longer talks, she's told, instead he only whispers to Luna. Her sister seemingly knows now what drove him to that desperate last act, but the other princess has never spoken to her about that day or what happened. She's scoured the archives for healing spells, anything that might alievate his suffering, but it was for naught. There is no magic, not even time travel, that can correct her mistake.
Months pass after that fateful day, then a year. She's come to dislike, then finally hate, anypony touching her. It's become common knowledge across all of Equestria that nopony should dare brush the Royal coat for any reason aside from saving her from danger. Even Luna does not dare get close, for fear of her wrath. Their relationship started straining after the human incident and the tension only ever rose higher. She rarely sees her sister anymore.
The night still sings to her, but it's song rings cold and dark now. In the times before this, she'd find another pony and use it as she had used the human. But such an act, which was once intoxicatingly exciting, fills her with disgust. Once, it was great to have such power over other beings, to revel in it like a pig. It was the highest pleasure to commune with them on her terms alone. The memories of those forced contacts no longer brings the electric thrill it used to, instead, they bring only images of that tear-streaked man's face. Sobbing as she thrusts down upon him.
One morning, before her royal duties, she stood out on the balcony of the guest room as she did all those years ago. Staring, just staring, where the sun would rise when she performed her duty. She could practically hear the splat once again, the slap of meat meeting marble at speed. Silent tears start to roll down her cheek. As dawn quickly approaches, she finally does something she should have done years ago.
She looks down.
There is a stain on the pure white walls of the castle. One she's refused to have cleaned. It is where the man hit the ground all those years ago, making his mark not only on her castle but on her soul. The familar, creeping sensation comes from her stomach. Vomiting might make for a dramatic gesture, but it wasn't going to happen today. Closing her eyes, she tries to hold down her meager breakfast.
There is a click of the door and the sound of movement behind her.
"I specifically gave orders that I was to be left alone." There is steel in her voice.
"This fly flitters where he wishes." The male voice replied, equally stern in tone.
She opened her eyes and wheeled to face the voice. It was the human, only he was standing without any assistive aids. He appeared to be fully healed, even his sightless eye was clear once more. He took a few tentative steps forward, before pausing. Gently, he touches his right thigh, hissing in obvious distress as he kneads the flesh. She so desperately wants to rush forth and help, but she knew not to touch the human.
"How?" She whispered. "How are you healed?"
"That Princess Sparkle of yours knows her way around the human body. Lord knows, she spent enough time studying mine while I was incapacitated." He explained. "After a long time, she managed to create a regeneration spell. It took her nearly six months of repeated applications before my limbs were even close to being function."
"I told her not to tell you." He says quietly.
The moment is too much for her, she starts to openly weep and collapses to the balcony floor. Here was the man she hurt, healed by her former student when she herself failed in that task. She thought herself unworthy of her position, of her crown, of her her kingdom. She could hear his footfalls get closer. Perhaps he was here to take vengeance, his well deserved revenge, on her.
"Raise the sun, Celestia." He sounds calm as he says it.
"I...Can't." She splutters through her tears, she couldn't, nopony so unworthy should have to lift the stars.
She feels something gently touching her cheek, it fills her with revulsion for a moment before she realises that he is actually touching her. Those digits start to slowly stroke her soft coat and the feeling of worthlessness fades. He, who could not stand others touching or being touched, was offering her the comfort she longed for. He, who she had hurt so badly, was being kind to her. She opened her eyes and saw he was giving her a soft smile.
"When I was lying there, bound in casts and medical stuff." He says. "I had alot of time to think. I've spent so much of my life trying to get away from others, losing out on all the unique experiences that make up life because I had such a simple fear of contact. But the reality is, when push comes to shove, it's the contact that makes life worth living. I wasn't living before I came here. I was running away, hiding myself because that's all I knew how to do. It took that night with Luna to show me that."
She recoils at the mention of her sister, trying to leave his grip, only she's stopped by another limb gently snaking it's way over her neck. It is a hug, she quickly surmises, but it does it carries such warmth. She could teleport, or wrestle herself free, if she needs to escape, but that thought quickly disappears in the warmth of the embrace.
"But it was you, Celestia, you who forced yourself upon me and made me do something stupid that showed me what an idiot I was being. For so long I hated you, because I blamed you for the damage to my body and the violation. But, after time, I came to realise that, while what you did was wrong, it broke the parts of me that needed breaking. I needed to leave behind my fears. I needed to jump off that balcony. I needed to suffer actual pain for all those years I'd spent hiding in my home, shying away from the world. I've had more than enough punishment for my sins. I think I deserve a reward."
"So, Princess Celestia, will you reward me by raising the sun?"
The moment seems unreal to her, she had dreamed of this moment for so long that when it had actually come she could not react to it in any rational manner. With her magics she lifts the stellar body into the sky, starting off a brand new day for her ponies.
"I can't forgive you." He finally says after the sun breaches the horizon. "But I've seen what you've become after I hurt myself. Nobody, pony or human, deserves that."
He uses his fingers to raise her head and looks directly into her moist eyes. She silently wishes that if this was a dream, that nopony wakes her before the conclusion. She needs this more than she ever realised.
"Your sunrise is beautiful." He holds her gently around the neck, the warm flesh pressing into her coat, his eyes look over at the coming dawn. "I think it'll be a different kind of day. A good one." He finally says.
Luna's horn finally loses it's usual glow. The deed was done. Her sister could now be at peace with her actions and her depravity would not be known beyond the night princess' walls. The magic of the dream spell would ensure she could continue to perform her Royal duty without losing herself to that madness.
She thinks of the broken creature in the medical suite. While it was true that the newest princess was working on him, she did not expect success anytime soon. But without her intervention her sister would likely have fallen to the very same impulses that had brought about that darkness in herself. The day lullaby's melody rose, singing to her, promising sweet pleasures if she merely gave it a moment of time. It is not hard for her to ignore that poisonous dirge, it's tricks are well known to her and the nightmare it had brought forth from within.
She gently levitated over a piece of cloth to her bed It was shaped in the form of a T and was extremely worn. She found sleep difficult if it was not touching her wings in some way. The smell it carried was mostly comprised of her own, but had the faintest hint of something different from her kind.
It was his scent.
After a thousand years on the moon, she mused, she was still the stronger than her sister.
Someone, after all, needs to have the magic touch.
