Alabastards

"It's time for bed Shining!" Twilight Velvet called out. The little colt scampered up the stairs to his bed, jumping in and crawling under the covers.

"Mommy? Tell me a bedtime story." The young foal asked, settling into his pillow.

"Okay. Just a minute." Velvet said, sitting on the edge of the bed, her belly heavy with his little sister. "Have I ever told you about the very first pegasus?" She asked. Little Shining shook his head 'no'. She stroked his messy mane out of his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Once upon a time, long, long ago at the beginning of the pony race, there were no Unicorns or Pegasi. There was only Earth ponies." She recited. "One day, a young colt, named Icarus, was watching the birds flying in the sky. And he decided that he would find a way to fly as well. So he went to his chicken coop and gathered up all the feathers he could carry. Then he gathered together some bits of wood, and some cloth and string. And he built wings!" She said. Shining's eyes lit up.

"He made a light frame from the sticks, and bound them with string. He covered them with cloth, and melted a candle onto it and stuck the feathers to the wax! When he was all done, he put is hooves into the wings and flapped! They looked just like real wings and he lifted himself off the ground! He began to fly around!"

"Wow! Really?" Little Shining asked.

"Oh, yes!" His mother replied. He flew and flew, high above everypony else. They were all so jealous of him and he was proud of his wings. He flew higher and higher, showing off to the ponies below. He flew higher than all of the other birds, up above the clouds. 'I am the best flyer ever!' He shouted." Velvet said, flapping her arms enthusiastically.

"And then what happened?" Shining asked.

"And then, he flew too high. He flew too close to the sun and the heat melted the wax on the wings he had built. The feathers fell off and he fell all the way back to the ground." She said, letting the silence punctuate the grim ending. "The moral of the story is to always stay humble in light of your accomplishments in life. Because there will always be those who are jealous of your success. And it doesn't take much for you feathers to melt and come crashing back down to the bottom." She said, kissing him goodnight.

It had been many years since Captain Shining Armor was a little colt, being told bed time stories. But he remembered that story that night clearly. The images of the story, vivid in his mind, now just as then.

And now, here, walking beside the Solar Princess, he finally knew what it was like for the poor colt, Icarus...

flying too close to the sun.
.....

"Come. There is much we need to discuss." Princess Celestia commanded of him. She walked past him, instructing him to walk with her. The sun refracted through her ethereal mane, scattering into a thousand, shimmering colors. It flowed and waved in an unseen solar wind. Her tail grazed his face, caressing his cheek. It felt like the warmth of the sunshine on a spring morning long forgotten. His vision blurred and his cheek felt the cool of the air in her tail's absence. It had become damp with his tear.

He glanced at the closed door to Miss Rarity's suite. And at Fancy Pants's suit that he was still wearing. He vowed to come clean with the mare as soon as possible. But the Princess had given him an order. Rarity would have to wait a bit longer. He turned his head to follow in the direction of her tail. His hooves moved under him, turning him to follow. He was only faintly aware of the motion, only that he was along for the ride. His mind was elsewhere. And his eyes were fixed. She was head and shoulders taller than him. Putting him eye level with her glorious flank. He drank in the sight deeply. He would have followed her into the depth of Tartarus.

His lack of subtlety did not go unnoticed. She could feel his gawking stare upon her royal rump. She slowed her pace down the stairs and bared to the right. Her direction was clear. Shining blushed. He felt like a colt that'd been caught with his hoof in the cookie jar. He quickly averted his lecherous stare and moved up to walking along side her, his head hung in shame.

Together, they walked across the palace grounds, from Rarity's castle suite to the Mane Hall. She passed the guards at attention by the entrance in silence. The each nodded in obedience. They passed the great doors to the throne room, and continued on into the west wing of the castle. The colored light streamed in through the stained glass windows lining the hallway. Each depicting momentous events of time immemorial. The plush carpeting underhoof quieted the clop of their hooves. And there, in the silence of the castle, Shining realized that she hadn't said a word since they'd left Rarity's suite.

They were very far away from anypony who would even remotely be within earshot of them. All he could hear was his own shallow, nervous breathing and his heart pounding in his ears. The collar of Fancy's suit was getting increasingly warm with his growing anxiety. The rest of the suit felt stifling on him, constricting his body. He need to do something. Anything to break this tension.

"Your Highness-" Shining said. He said it as softly as he could. But in the empty, vaulted hallway, his words echoed off the stone walls, amplifying the volume to much louder than he had planned. Or at least, it sounded that way after walking in stilted muteness for so long. He flinched. But Celestia gave no reaction, other than turning her head a barely-perceptible degree toward him, listening with intent. He spoke again, bracing for the reverberations. "You said that there was much we needed to discuss..." He said meekly. Celestia's head snapped back to straight ahead. What little distance it was, it was nigh instantaneous, and poignant. Her lips pursed just slightly for an instant, along with a twinge at the corner of her eyes before both returned to their normal, stoic expression. Shining gulped. Most ponies would have never even seen it. But those few who knew her well enough, knew what it meant.

She was furious

"I remember perfectly well what I said, Captain." She spoke tersely. "I do not need you to remind me!" Shining recoiled slightly at the admonishment, regretting speaking out without having been spoken to first. Especially now that he was already in trouble for stealing glances at the royal posterior. He could feel the heat of the sun melting the wax on his wings, and his feathers falling away. He felt the bottom of his stomach drop. The deep breath before the plunge into free-fall.

As they neared the end of the hallway She turned stopped at the door to the right, putting her hoof to the handle. She paused a moment, letting out a sigh, shedding the toxic anger from her. Her hoof still in place on the handle, she turned her head and faced him directly

"Rest assured, Shining, we will speak plenty, very soon." She said. And with that she pushed open the door. She stepped confidently inside, obscuring Shining's view for a moment. She made a bee line for the far side, where a couple of familiar ponies stood waiting. Shining stepped into the room nervously. As his eyes adjusted to the change in the light, he could see Celestia joining her sister, Princess Luna, and Fancy Pants, standing around a crib.

"Good afternoon, Tia." Fancy Pants greeted Celestia before he looked up to the doorway, a bit surprised to see Shining Armor standing there. However, seeing him arrive with the Princess assuaged his shock. He looked into the crib a final time. Luna's gaze followed Fancy's. She glanced at Shining from the corner of her eye before looking away again.

"We mustn't lurk in doorways Captain." Princess Luna spoke to him. "It's considered rude." Shining proceeded into the room. The interior was decorated with bright colors and soft hues. Pastels, and flower patterns. The floor had errant toys strewn about. This was a nursery. The mobile above the crib features a yellow sphere surrounded by little stars and a crescent moon. As he got closer, he could hear the noises of the tiny foal within. He neared the crib, anxious to see inside. He looked at the other ponies standing around it, glancing nervously between them. They all just looked back at him, waiting patiently. Princess Celestia moved aside, letting him approach. He inched closer, filled with a terror he could never understand. He wanted to run away, but he couldn't. Nothing stopped him from leaving. But he couldn't! He stopped, just short of the edge of the crib. Looking at the other ponies again.

"What is this!?" He asked. His tone, demanding.

"Your answer." Celestia said, cryptic as ever. "Although, you may not yet understand your question."

Shining took a deep breath and peered into the crib. A tiny foal, a newborn, no more than a few days old, lay inside. It always amazed him how small newborns were. She was a tiny unicorn, with white fur, and a tuft of purple mane. The little filly looked up at Shining with her bright blue eyes before nodding off again.

"Who is she?" Shining asked Celestia. She looked at the group, they looked at eachother and back at him again.

"You tell us." Luna said. Shining felt like he was being interrogated.

"We haven't decided yet on a name yet. Would you care to offer a suggestion?" Fancy Pants asked.

"What? Me? No I couldn't!" Shining stammered. He felt Celestia's wing on his shoulder.

"It's okay Shining." She said. "Just... look at her, and into your heart. And then tell us what you feel." Fancy Pants reached into the crib and peeled away the brown and grey blankets, opening them like a clam, revealing inside a white little -

"Pearl." Shining said. He looked up at the others there with him, at each of their faces. "Pearl." He repeated. The others nodded in approval.

"Fancy," Luna tapped him on the shoulder, "it's time."

"Right then." Fancy said, reaching into the bassinet, lifting the foal out. He carefully placed Pearl in the foal carrier and lifted it into the air with his magic. He sighed for a moment, holding her there, looking at her. "It never gets any easier, does it?" He asked nopony in particular. Celestia looked to the floor, unable to watch.

"No... It never does." She said somberly. Fancy took up the carrier and trotted out into the hallway, his hoof steps becoming more distant until they could be heard no more.

"Where- " Shining Armor looked toward the door. "Where is he taking her?" He asked.

"Ponyville General." Celestia said.

"But... why?" Shining asked. Celestia turned to her sister, giving her a knowing look. Luna stayed put as Celestia walked toward the door.

"Patience, Shining," Celestia said as she walked out, "the answers are coming." Shining looked back at Luna.

"Princess Luna, what the hell is going on here!?" He asked. Luna looked at him with empathy, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

"It is not my place to give you the answers you seek. But you will know, soon enough." She said, on the edge of a whisper as Celestia vanished around the corner. "Let me give you one bit of advice: Be honest. She knows more than you can possibly imagine." She said, motioning for him to the door. He turned to follow after Celestia. "Shining?" She called out after him. He looked back at the Princess of the Night. "... Good luck."

Shining Armor stepped out into the darkening hallway. To his left, the direction from which he had come. The direction Fancy had gone with little Pearl. To his right, the last door at the end of the hallway. It hung just slightly ajar, letting a sliver of light cut across the murky dark of hall's red carpet. He stood there in the dark. The light creeping out from under the door like a carpet of light leading him to his destination. Déjà vu came back hard now. He remembered his dream vividly. The very same apprehension, and what was to come. He lifted his hoof to bite it.

"Ow." He muttered, still not waking.

"You're not dreaming." He heard Luna's voice behind him. "Trust me, I would know."

"Right." He muttered. The door to the nursery closed behind him. There was nowhere to go but forward. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Inside, Princess Celestia has settled behind her desk in her comfy beanbag chair. She had on her red-framed reading glasses as her large plume feather quill scrawled busily across the paper she was working on.

"You look tired." Celestia said, without even looking up at him from her work. Shining blinked rapidly, trying to keep the fatigue from showing in his face. The memory of his drill sergeant barked at him as he straightened up his posture. She looked at him over the top of her glasses on her nose. "There's no need for that. I know you haven't been sleeping well." She motioned to the massive beanbag chair opposite her desk. "So please, relax. Sit down, before you fall down."

"How would you know about my sleeping?" He asked.

"We'll get to that." She said. She gave no other response, focusing instead on her work. He walked slowly, deliberately, across the room toward the large pillow. Never once, taking his eyes off of her. He settled into the chair, reading the paper on her desk, upside down.

... on this date, to certify the live birth of...

Celestia finished filling out the birth certificate, lightly blowing on the paper to help the ink dry.

"Who is she." He asked.

"Pearl." Celestia answered. He looked at her from across the desk, watching as she rolled it up and wrapped it in a red ribbon and her seal of office. In a burst of her magic, the scroll evaporated into green smoke and drifted out the window. Presumably to accompany Fancy Pants to the hospital in Ponyville.

"That doesn't answer my question!" He said, raising his voice. "Whose is she? Why is she going to Ponyville? What does any of this have to do with me? Or Fancy Pants for that matter!?" Shining huffed. Celestia waited for him to finish his little display. Clearly it had been gnawing at him for some time. She calmly slipped the reading classes from her face and set them on her desk. She placed her hooves together in front of her nose, the gold shoes clinking together.

"Shining, I realize this will sound silly to you, before I even ask it." She began. "But this is your last chance. After this, there is no going back. If I tell you, it will irrevocably change your world." She let the silence hang in the air a moment to punctuate her point. Shining didn't fold. "And none of this can leave this room, ever. Now then, I will ask you, this one. Last. Time... Are you sure you want to know?" Shining gulped and nodded. "Say the words."

"I want to know." He said firmly. Celestia looked into his eyes. She could see the resolve, the determination. She decided that he could handle the truth.

"Then I will tell you. But there are a few things you need to understand first." She said. "And you are not the only pony here with questions."

"Oh?" Shining asked, rhetorically. Celestia reached into her drawer and pulled out a manila folder, placing it on her desk. She unwound the string that bound it shut, lifting the flap open. Inside, she flipped through the pages. Various reports and photos. Shining could recognize the ponies from where he was sitting. Many of the photos were of him as well. Most of them were very recent. But some were quite old, judging by how old he was in the pictures.

"As you can see, we've had our eyes on you for some time now Captain Armor." She said. "But recently, a report came across my desk regarding a certain unicorn. Miss Vinyl Scratch." Celestia looked up at him knowingly. Shining tried to keep a good poker face. He tried at least. But none of it mattered once she flipped the page to the photo of him in the club, under Vinyl's turn table with his face buried in her crotch. Shining's face turned crimson, but Celestia remained stoic. She turned the page to a hospital chart.

"Miss Scratch checked into Canterlot Hospital shortly after this photo was taken, complaining of abdominal pain." She continued. "Blood tests confirmed that she was indeed pregnant, as she and her partner suspected. Shortly thereafter, she suffered a miscarriage."

"I know." Shining said somberly.

"I know." Celestia answered. "And now you know that I know." She looked down at the folder, flipping to the next page. "Nurse Redheart."

"Oh geez." Shining put his hoof to his face.

"Oh yes. She filled in for your attending nurse for a short time, who had to attend to another, more pressing matter." Celestia turned to another medical report. "Shortly after she reported abdominal pain. Once again, blood tests confirmed that she was indeed pregnant."

"But we-"

"Yes, she reported that she had used a..." Celestia put her reading glasses back on, looking at the report intently " an 'improvised contraceptive'." She looked up at him.

"It was a hoof-glove on my, uh-" Shining blushed.

"Ah." Celestia said. "Well, again, just as with Miss Vinyl, she suffered a miscarriage shortly after conceiving."

"Oh." He said, bowing his head. Celestia closed the folder. There was still a lot that hadn't been addressed in it, judging by the thickness of it. She took her reading glasses off again and spoke with him directly rather than reading from the file. She leaned on the desk and put her hooves together.

"Shining, you have to understand the significance of this."

"I know. I know. I got two mare pregnant by acting reckless. I should know better. I should-"

"No. It's not that." She cut him off. "Well, it's not just that. There are bigger things at stake here!" He looked up at her. She rubbed her eyes. He hadn't noticed it before, but she was tired as well. "Many years ago-" She paused, considering her words. "Many many years ago, my sister and I faced a foe of Equestria."

"Who?"

"It no longer matters. He was buried along with his name. So shall it remain." She said. "But before we smote him, he cast a death curse upon us. He decreed that Luna would never conceive a foal. And that I would receive far worse."

"What do you mean?"

"He decreed that my daughters would never bear foals." Celestia said, tears forming at her eyes. "Luna was able to get over her curse after a time, and cope with it... But for me, to see my daughters grow, and then die, without a foal, again and again through the generations..." Her face faltered. Shining got up from where he was sitting and sat beside her on her roomy cushion, holding her hoof. It was a forward gesture. But he'd never seen her cry before. Ever. Maybe it was the chivalrous part of him. But in that moment, she wasn't his boss, commander, or Princess. She was a mare in tears. And he held her hoof. She looked at him as he wiped her tears away. "Thank you."

"Of course."

"Ahem." Celestia tried to regain her composure. "Shining, ever since that day, every white mare been barren, unable to have foals of their own."

"But I thought you said the spell only affected your daughters."

"Didn't I?" She asked, leading him. Shining processed the thought.

"But... how? When? I've never seen you-" He motioned to her perfectly toned abs. Celestia rose to her hooves from the pillow. Her horn glowed for a moment and her body shimmered. When the Glamour dispersed, she looked only slightly different. Her belly was more distended. "Oh. So that's why you're always craving cake." Celestia's horn glowed again as she restored the Glamour.

"It's easier than makeup." She said with a weak smile. She walked over to the bed at the far side of her royal chambers, settling onto the covers. Shining followed after her, sitting beside her on the mattress.

"Wait, so- all of the white mares...?" Shining asked. "And Pearl?"

"Are my daughters. Yes." She said. Shining looked around the room.

"This- this is huge!" Shining rubbed his mane in disbelief. "Who else knows about this?" Shining asked.

"Nopony knows. And that's how it stays." Celestia said. "It's just you, Luna, Fancy Pants and myself. That's it." She paused. "Fancy will bring Pearl to Ponyville General Hospital for adoption. Another lost foal. One of my little, alabaster bastards." She sighed before continuing on. "There, she will be adopted by one of her elder sisters who have been wishing for a foal." She sighed. "The truth about my foals is one of the most tightly guarded secrets in my kingdom. I hope I can trust you with it."

"Of course. I am your Captain, my Princess. I will do as you command. But, if I may ask, why? Why all the secrecy?" He asked.

"Well, mostly it's because of their fathers." She said.

"Fathers?" He asked.

"Come now, Shining. You're a bright colt. Even you must understand that you need two halves to make a whole."

"Right. But more than one?"

"Please." Celestia scoffed incredulously. "After a millennium am I doomed to love and lose but one suitor?" Shining acquiesced. "Do not take me for some promiscuous whorse, Captain. I've loved each of my stallions deeply, and faithfully. And it's a wound I'd rather not reopen."

"Right. Sorry. But why the need for secrecy though?"

"In my youth, I had taken a greater variety of lovers. But unfortunately, there is only a certain pedigree that I can compatibly mate with. Such as my most recent lover."

"Who is it?" Shining asked. Celestia simply gave him a raised eyebrow. There were only four ponies who were privy to this secret. One of them had to be the one... directly involved in the process. "Fancy Pants. Of course." Shining realized.

"A white pony." Celestia said. "But unfortunately, his time of siring heirs for me has passed.

"Right, the impotence." His heart nearly leaped from his chest. "But wait! That would mean that Princess Fleur de Lis and Rarity-"

"Are his daughters." Celestia said.

"But, he set me up with them to- you know. Why would he do that?" Shining asked desperately. Celestia shifted on her bed.

"Shining, ever since the day I was cursed, my little ponies haven't been able to so much as conceive!" She said anxiously. "The fact that you were able to get not only one, but two of them pregnant, albeit temporarily, is the first ray of hope I've had for grandfoals in centuries! As soon as word had gotten to me that one of my daughters was pregnant, I immediately sought out the father. You. But by the time we figured out who it was, you had already had your encounter with Nurse Redheart as well." She explained.

"So Fancy Pants was at the hospital for me?"

"Him meeting you there was no accident. We needed to be sure of your success. That is why you were set up with Fleur de Lis and Miss Rarity. We are anxious to hear of their results." She said.

"But I thought that Fancy Pants and Fleur were an item. But if he's her father..." Shining asked.

"No! He would never do that. Not with his daughter. Although as I understand it, she certainly doesn't make it easy for him." Celestia said.

"That mare doesn't make it easy on anypony." Shining grumbled. "And you don't need to waste your time with waiting on Rarity."

"Oh?"

"No. We never actually... did it." He said.

"Hmm. Well that no longer matters."

"Okay." Shining breathed. "But, why are you telling me this? I mean, why now?" He asked. Celestia leaned back on the bed, trying to pick in her mind, exactly what to say.

"To put it simply, I want to promote you."

"But what does that have to do with-"

"Shhh." She hushed him. "I've been wanting to promote you, eventually. Although I hadn't planned on it happening quite so soon. But unfortunately I've run out of time." She shifted her seat once more. "I need you to take up Fancy Pants's old job, here at the castle, as he can no longer perform his duties, and must retire."

"What job?" He asked. Celestia brushed her mane away from her eyes, fluttering her lashes at him with a come hither stare. "Wait, what- what about uh somepony else? What about Prince Blueblood?" He asked.

"I had hopes for Blueblood in the past." She said, looking off into the distance. "But it seems that he's taken to an alternative lifestyle."

"Alternative?..." His memory fluttered back to his previous meetings with him.

.....
"Captain, you're quite the talented pony. I'd love to have a capable stallion such as yourself on my staff."
.....

"Oh, that's what he meant by that." Shining said to himself, slapping his face with his hoof. Princess Celestia waited for him for a moment.

"So what say you, Captain? Will you serve your Princess in this most important role?" Celestia asked. "Fancy Pants told my of your infatuation with me, Fleur wearing the wings for you." He looked up at her. "Oh yes. She told him all about that. And he told me." She smiled. "Regardless, I've seen the way you look at me Shining. When you think I can't see you, I can feel your eyes on me." She closed her eyes, reveling in the memory of him ogling her. "I know I've been the subject of your more... intense dreams."

"My dreams? How?"

"I'll give you two guesses but you're only going to need one." She said.

"Luna." He muttered. She smiled and flourished her wings, throwing ripples through her flowing mane.

"You think me sexy. You desire me. Do you deny it?" She asked. Shining felt his heart pounding in his chest, threatening to burst through his rib cage. His pulse was a rapidly rushing thunder in his ears. His hooves were wet with sweat. He gulped audibly. His memory flashed back to Luna.

"Let me give you one bit of advice: Be honest. She knows more than you can possibly imagine."

"I do not deny it." Shining Armor said nervously. Celestia moved slowly, circling him and gently pushing him backwards onto the bed, she herself joining beside him.

"How long, Shining? How long have you lusted after me?" She asked.

"Ever since the first time I saw you." He said. "At the Summer Sun celebration, years ago. It was the summer before Twilight enrolled at your school.

"I remember."

"You winked at somepony in the crowd. I thought it was me for the longest time. But you must think it's silly now. But it was why I joined the guard. To be closer to you." He said.

"It's not silly. You were quite the strapping young colt back then as I remember." She said. "What makes you think now that I wasn't winking at you?" She asked.

"Were you?"

"A colt of pure white fur in a sea of my colorful little ponies? You stood out a bit. All eyes were on me that morning. They usually are." She lamented her constant celebrity scrutiny. "But I could practically feel your eyes on me. And every time since then, I could feel it each time you saw me." She smiled. "But it was so much more than the simple infatuations of the other stallions. It was so much more... genuine." Shining blushed and smiled back. It was all true. "So I had taken to watching you as well, and your career. Fancy Pants will always have a special place in my heart for the rest of his days. But the... carnal part of our relationship has passed. And my barren daughters still need foals." She leaned over him, nibbling on his ear. "I cannot deny that I've been looking forward to this. Are you ready make me your mare? To become my consummate lover in return?" She asked. His hooves moved along her body on top of him. She was growing warmer by the minute.

"Yes." He moaned. "Yes! A thousand times yes!" He vowed with absolute conviction. Her cheek was a hair's breath from his as she whispered into his ear.

"When you get there, call to me, as you would a lover, and I shall join you." She smiled at him.

"When I get wher-" His vision went dark.

Darkness. His consciousness sat there in the perfect darkness. No longer in the bedroom, only utter void. There were no points of reference. There was no up or down. He could not feel his body. In fact, he could not sense anything at all. Not a sound to be heard. He had no mouth but tried to scream. Nothing. Perfect nothingness. No movement. No time. Only his consciousness. His vague awareness that he was. He existed. It was the only thing he was sure of in this place, where ever it was. He did not know how long in this place he spent. Be it seconds or eons.

Stars began to appear in front of his eyes. He thought that it was probably a bad thing for a moment. But they didn't spin around in a dizzying motion like the kind of stars that mean that your brain was being smothered. Instead they burned steady, cold and pure above him. A cold wind touched his face. Fancy's coat was gone. He was once again bare to the world.

He became conscious of the ground beneath him. It was impossibly soft, like one giant down pillow. His vision slowly came back as his pupils dilated in the darkness. The ground he was sitting on was just slightly lighter than the perfect dark of the horizon around him. It was lit, dimly, in the faint starlight, like snow. A shadowy figure shimmered at the edge of his vision, walking slowly toward him. He peered into the darkness. Her swirling mane sparkled in the dark.

"I see you've made your choice." Luna said.

"Luna? Where am I? Am I dead?" He asked. A low laugh bubbled up from her throat.

"You're not dead, Captain." She smirked. "I should say, you'll feel more alive than ever very shortly."

"Where am I?" He asked again. She smiled.

"She wanted your first time to be someplace more... remote." Luna said in a coy tone. Shining's eyes finally took in the visible texture of the 'ground'. His heart jumped. He was on a cloud! For ponies without wings, clouds were little more than intangible collections of suspended water droplets. By all rights he should have fallen straight through it like there was nothing there at all. He rose to his hooves, peering beyond the edge of his aerial world.

Far below him, there were other clouds. He could make out the silhouette of Cloudsdale far off in the distance below them. Much farther below was the peak of Canterlot Mountain, and the faint glow of the city at night. From up here, it was little more than another star in the dark of this moonless night. He felt his stomach flip. It was much higher than any pegasus could normally fly. Wisps of the faint air kissed his fur. But unlike scaling the mountain peak in his youth, he was no worse for breathing in the thin air here.

"So... what are you doing here then?

"Waiting." She answered. "I was waiting to see which of you would appear first. If Celestia did, then it meant that you had declined and I was to raise the moon as normal. If it was you, then..." She looked away. Her wry smile faded in her acknowledgment that unlike her sister, she was without a lover.

"I, uh, Celestia told me about you and... your curse." He said.

She nodded, frowning for a moment before restoring her resolve. "It has been grieved for enough." She said. "I just hope that she's right about you. It would mean so much to her. To both of us... She really does love you, you know." She trailed off as her horn glowed, bringing a patch of the magical cloud up in a rectangular section.

"What are you doing?"

"There are ancient properties to be honored. Words to be said. Rites which must be observed." The surface of the raised bit of cloud began to glow faintly in the starlight. "And you know how much she so does enjoy making an entrance." She said. The playful edge had returned to her voice. "I don't know if Fancy Pants told you, but your first time with her may be a bit... overwhelming." Shining remembered what he had gone through with Lilly.

"I think I can handle it." He he said smugly. Luna smiled knowingly.

"I'm sure that you're strong enough. Just remember that she would never do anything to hurt you." She reassured him. "On purpose, anyway."

"What do you mean?" He asked nervously.

"There is only so much the mortal mind can handle." The starlight's touch made deeply carved runes all around the edge of the cloud bed dance with flickers of illumination, writing done in some language he did not know. Luna understood the signal. "The time has come." She said, walking off into, and herself fading into, the darkness.

"Luna? Luna!" He yelled frantically into the darkness. Her voice echoed in his mind.

"It is not -my- name you should be calling, Captain. -She- might get jealous."

"Celestia. Princess Celestia!" He yelled into the empty sky before remembering Celestia's words.

...as you would call a lover

Shining took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He closed his eyes and blocked out the cold of the air. He focused on the memory of her on top of him, just moments ago in her bedroom, his hooves on her body, her cheek beside his. Envisioning her lovely radiance, he moaned out into the dark night.

"Tia."

The cloud beneath his hooves swirled and boiled, yet still remained solid to him. The runes thrummed with glowing power as a mist rose up around it, spreading from it. And as quickly as it appeared, the mist parted as a figure congealed from the very shadow itself. Slender, feminine perfection. Princess Celestia's white fur glowed iridescent as she neared him. He stood there, alone with her, in her domain of the sky. Alone for miles in every conceivable direction, surrounded by naught but the very air.

On any other day, or night, she was beauty without compare. Ravishing in every sense of the word. But tonight, she was beyond such paltry words. He could spend a lifetime trying to find the descriptive for how she looked this night. And, like searching for the perfect lotus blossom, it would not be a wasted life.

"So, I guess there's a ceremony of some kind to go through?" He asked. She smiled. It was the same warm smile she wore any day. But her eyes, by the stars, her eyes spoke volumes more. Eager, and full of lustful desire. He could lose himself in those eyes. She stepped closer to him. She wasn't an enormous, imposing figure. Quite in fact she was only a bit taller than he was. But she walked with such perfect confidence that the role of predator and prey was clear to both of them.

He edged back from her. It was pure instinct. And he could no more stop from doing so than from shivering from the cold. Her pale hoof extended toward him with each slow, sure step. It was then that he noticed that she was not wearing her gold shoes, necklace or crown. She shook her head from side to side, letting her mane spill from her shoulders. It was not held aloft in the solar wind here. But it was no less radiant. She came before him tonight, not as a princess, but as a mare. But still so much more.

Shining took another step back, falling backwards onto the cloud bed. The runes around him practically hummed with energy, glowing brightly as she approached, bathing them both in eerie blueish white light. Shining could see his breath.

"You uh, must be cold." He said meekly. A throaty little laugh bubbled up out from her soft lips. When her voice was filled with simmering desire, it did very specific things to his anatomy. And the cold was instantly the least of his concerns. She leaned over him and closed her mouth on his, and he gave up even trying to speak. This wasn't a ceremony, so much as a rite, and one as ancient as beasts and birds, earth and sky!

Her body gleamed brightly as she climbed on top of him. Their breaths mingled as she lowered herself onto him. Without pretense or foreplay, she mounted him. Her magnificent wings flared wide open, filling the sky as he penetrated her. Her wings were the sky. He could feel the heat radiating from her wings as she enveloped him, more of his length slipping inside of her. She pressed herself down onto him, taking him completely into the yawning warm of her divine marehood. He could still see his breath, but it was no longer from the cold. It was steam, he was sweating, sweltering under her. In all his days of marching across Equestrian deserts in the height of summer, running in to rescue ponies from burning buildings, he had never know such heat. He felt that he would melt at any moment.

In her, and through her, he felt all of Equestria below them. He could feel the very world tremble beneath them. The ancient mountains and valleys, the very earth and sky pulsing all around them in time with her rhythmic movements on top of him. Ethereal clouds raced over them the sky above.

As she moved more quickly she grew brighter and brighter. He realized that the eerie luminescence all around them was nothing but a dim, muffled reflection of Celestia's loveliness, veiled for the sake of the mortal mind that it could have unmade. She did not veil it as her breathing mounted. And it burned him, it was so pure.

They did not have sex, regardless of what it appeared to be. Sex is just a crude word, three letter arrangement. For the reality of what happened that night was so, so much more. You can't have sex with a thunderstorm, an earthquake, a furious winter gale. You can't make love to a mountain, a lake of ice, a freezing wind. For a few moments, Captain Shining Francis Armor bore witness to the very breadth and depth of Celestia's true power. For a fleeting instant, the barest, tiniest glimpse of her purpose as well as their bodies thrashed towards completion. Her utter beauty, raw and untamed, was almost too much for him to bear. He was screaming. He had been for a while.

Celestia's cry joined his, their voices blending together. Her hooves dug into his chest. Her body was drawn into an arch of pleasure. Her eyes opened and bored into his. Into his very soul. Her mouth opened and she hissed as she slammed her hooves into the cloud bed beneath him, striking it as solid as stone.

"Mine!"

She cried out, claiming him as her lover, devoting herself to him in turn. He felt her voice more than he heard it. The absolute truth of the statement made his body vibrate like the plucked string of a guitar, and he jerked into a brief, violent contortion as the most powerful orgasm of his life ripped through him. Her hooves slid down his ribs. He could feel the fire of her hooves on his body. They tightened on him, gripping his body like a vice as she bellowed again, tearing the very sky asunder.

"MINE!"

She vowed once more to the corners once Equestria herself. Again, his body arched into a violent bow, every muscle trying to tear its way off of his bones. She hissed in eagerness as she felt him fill her with his seed. He felt himself screaming and struggling with no control over his body whatsoever. Her eyes captured his gaze. His eyes frozen wide in their sockets, tears of ecstasy running down the sides, his mouth pried ajar by his wretched muscles, in a euphoric scream long run airless. She leaned close, whispering into his ear, her voice a velvety caress.

"...mine..."

Shining closed his eyes. A bittersweet reprieve. He hadn't the energy to open them. His last clear memory was the feeling of him slipping from her warmth. Only to then be scooped up in her strong hooves under him, carrying him to pony-knows-where. But it no longer mattered where. He leaned into her warm chest, drifting off to sleep.