Blood, Sweat, and Dinner Dates
A distant rumble of thunder woke me up, and after a stretch I found my bed disappointingly empty. Looking around the dark bedroom I saw no signs of my mate. Getting up I was immediately struck by the (relatively) cool and damp air, I shivered and my skin erupted into gooseflesh under my coat as I stood up and headed for the door that lead out of our apartment out onto the balcony. My neck stung, the pain spiking in time with my heartbeat before slowly fading. The pain brought memories of the night before, and the memories brought a blush to my cheeks.
“Moony?” I called quietly. The balcony was seemingly deserted, but Moon Stalker’s charcoal grey coat would make her nearly invisible in the early morning pre-storm gloom. “Moony?”
“I’m here.” Came a soft, familiar voice from off to my right. I smiled and turned around to find Moony lying on a long body cushion set in the little free space between the numerous potted plants on the smooth cement balcony and staring up at the green-tinted clouds. Even without her enchanted Nightguard armor she was almost impossible to see. I could just make out her outline as a deeper shadow in the near pitch darkness, and if I looked very closely I could just make out the lighter circle of her full moon Cutie Mark. Her metallic gold eyes, reflective like a cat’s, were fixed at a point high above the city. I knew the instant she spoke something was wrong. She sounded guilty. It wasn’t hard to figure out what about. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”
“The thunder woke me up.” I said calmly. We were both whispering, it just didn’t seem right to talk loudly now, in the calm before the coming storm. “Can I sit with you?”
“Sure.” I heard more than saw one of her wings lifting in invitation and I scooted another cushion next to hers with a flick of my hoof and settled down, snuggling against her, she felt cold, like always, and her wing draping over me was like a blanket right when you got into bed. I ignored the mild discomfort in favor of resting my head against hers. She seemed surprised at first, but after a second she relaxed.
“You didn’t have to come out here you know.” I murmured, pressing my ear against her chest and listening to her slow, slow heartbeat. As cool as I thought the air was, she must have been freezing. We had four thick quilts on our bed even in summer and she still said she was always cold. Coming out here into the chill damp was her way of self-flagellating, it annoyed me, but she still did it sometimes. “I’m not angry and you know it.”
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, miserable.
“Don’t be. You had every right to ask for what you did, and no harm was done. Besides, that was one of the best nights we’ve ever had. I loved it.” I reassured her, lighting up my horn and using gentle telekinesis to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
“It was stupid curiosity.” She said stubbornly. Obviously she’d spent some time working herself into a state. Normally she wouldn’t have argued with me at all if I said I liked something we’d done together. I’d known this sort of thing was a possibility when I’d agreed to her proposal last night, but that didn’t make it any less painful to see my fiance tearing herself up.
“Natural curiosity.” I countered. “Honestly dear, I’ve been waiting for you to ask since we started seeing each other.”
“I shouldn’t have given in.” She muttered, half to herself. I suppressed a sigh. She could get very melodramatic about her condition sometimes. Personally I blame the residents of the backwater hicktown she grew up in, but that didn’t mean I could dismiss her worries. It just meant that I had to help her work through them, just like she helped me with mine. That’s how relationships work.
“Again, it’s a natural thing to wonder about, and like I said: I enjoyed it. Don’t do this to yourself sweetheart, I hate it.” I nuzzled her neck gently and kissed her cheek. It tasted salty.
“I won’t ask again.” She said with an air of stubborn finality.
“That’s your choice.” I responded calmly. Staying level headed was important when she was having one of these moods. “However, should you decide to ask me again in the future, I am overwhelmingly likely to say yes.”
“That could be the endorphins talking.” She grated out harshly, her voice rough. She'd obviously been out here a while. The fact that she could sneak out of bed without alarming me was nice when she had to get up at two in the morning to go to work, but I didn't like it when she escaped out here just to beat up on herself.
“If I were still in the grip of the hormone high I would hardly be having a civil conversation, now would I?” I pointed out with a grin.
“No.” She admitted grudgingly, after a long second of hesitation.
“No indeed. I would likely be trying to talk you into a round three, or would it be four, I’m not sure if your, ah, ‘spitshine’ counts as a round or not.” She broke into a reluctant giggle at the mention of last night’s antics. A minor victory. Time to strike while the iron was hot. “Or my taste test for that matter. Personally I’m inclined to say yes for bragging rights if nothing else. I mean, come on, I had to dig pretty deep in order to properly-”
“Enough, enough!” She giggled. “You had me at spitshine.”
“That’s better.” I reached out and dragged her into an embrace, tucking her head under my chin and petting her mane. “There’s the puerile, deviant, mare I know and love.”
“I’m not puerile!” She countered, sticking out her tongue. “I got shots for that.”
“Nice to have you back dear.” I chuckled, holding her close and squeezing her tight. “Love you.”
“I love you too.” She replied, resting in my hooves, her contented breathing comforting to me. We laid still for a long time, just cuddling, before she worked up the courage to ask her real question. “Did…did you really like it?”
“Mmmhmm.” I responded, smiling. “That was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. It was almost like estrus season, but less primal and more…I don’t know, chemical is the only way I can put it.”
“And you weren’t disgusted by…” She trailed off.
“No, of course not. I was a little worried at first, honesty dictates I admit, but it wasn’t nearly so bad as I thought it would be, plus the look on your face and the fun we had afterward totally made up for it. Besides, vitamin potions aside I'm sure that had to have been healthy for you.”
There as a long silence as she digested this. Then she stretched her wing to cover me more thoroughly and shifted position to curl up around me as much as possible. She didn't have a problem if I was the big spoon, but she did prefer that role for herself. As always when she did that I felt safe and protected. She nudged me into a tighter curl and rested her head rested across my whithers, allowing my warmth to slowly seep into her cold body. It was a tangled and uncomfortable looking position that I actually rather liked.
“I have no idea what I did to deserve you.” She whispered softly, and a little wetly, into my ear. “But you’re the best lover a batpony ever had.”
“Don’t talk like that.” I said gently. “You know I hate that.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” She mumbled. “I can’t help it sometimes.”
“It’s fine sweetheart. Just remember that I love you, no matter what. Now,” I cracked an eye and looked up at her. “Maybe you wouldn’t mind being a big strong guardpony and protecting your nervous coltfriend from the big scary thunderstorm? He’s always been afraid of storms, you see, and he’d feel a lot better if his tough marefriend was holding him.”
“Scared of storms huh?” She echoed with a quiet laugh, kissing my cheek and squeezing me tight. “Yeah, I think I can take care of that."
My reply was swallowed by a particularly loud peal of thunder, which itself preceded a veritable deluge of rain. I decided that I didn't really need to say anything to complete the moment and chose instead to relax and bask in my fiance's presence. She shuffled a bit to bring more of her body into contact with me as to stay warmer and kissed my neck softly. I sighed happily and allowed myself to slip into a contented doze, wrapped up in my marefriend and watching a storm batter the city of Canterlot. There was no better way to spend a morning.
Nights, on the other hoof...I smirked as memories welled up that threatened to make my tightly-curled position rather untenable. Last night was definitely something I'd be fondly remembering for quite some time. Hay, I might even put that one in my journal. Moony always did like it when I recorded our more spectacular escapades for later perusal (Read: clop fodder), and last night definitely counted. She did have an extended weekend in Cloudsdale coming up, and it might be a nice treat for her if I had something ready for her to keep busy with while she's away. Yes, I probably should write this one down. Now all I had to do was figure out how to start.
“How did he end up with somepony like her?”
The whispers tended to follow us. Originally it had been extremely uncomfortable for me, but over time it had become a ready source of amusement.
“I don’t know, but there’s no justice in the world, that’s for sure.”
None of it was ever new, not really. Just a bunch of the same stuff over and over again.
“I can’t believe they’re together! There has to be something going on.”
It was almost like a song, a waltz, with a steady beat and a constant refrain.
“Do you think he’s paying her?”
The inevitable question, it always came up no matter who we were around with fascinating inevitability, and it was almost always followed by…
“She doesn’t need the bits. Or maybe she does, being a batpony can’t be cheap.”
Sometimes, however, you needed to remind some ponies to keep their mouths shut.
“She,” Hissed my marefriend, turning a baleful amber glare on the ponies at the table behind her “Can hear every word you’re saying, and would greatly appreciate it if you would shut the buck up before she has to go over there and force-feed you your own plots.”
Ah, subtlety, my marefriend’s greatest talent.
“Moony, be nice.” I replied, enjoying the sight of two Nouveau Riche Canterlotians going ghost pale as my marefriend turned and bared her considerable fangs at them. Even though she was wearing a dark blue dress instead of her stylized Nightguard plate armor she still looked mighty fierce. “It’s not their fault they’re stupid…well, I take that back, it probably is, but either way it’s not nice to growl at them.”
The looks of chagrin on the overdressed would-be aristocrats were even more satisfying than the fear had been. After all, it’s not every day you see some of the aristocracy, even the lower level of newly minted nobles, get told off by a publicly discarded scion of a noble house who was already very much in disgrace.
“Just so long as they keep their mouths shut.” Moony growled, glaring them into submission before turning back to me with a sigh. “I’m sorry sweetie, I didn’t mean to interrupt you but I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” I waved a hoof dismissively. I was wearing my best brown tweed suit jacket, the one with the patches on the sleeves and as such I’d been forced to make some concessions when I’d ordered my food.
Instead of the sublime (but messy) tomato pasta that The Golden Trough was rightly famous for, I’d settled for a less grand, yet still excellent, carrot, chestnut and cheese salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and a light white wine instead of the reds I normally preferred. Moony had, as always, ordered soup. An herb and alfalfa specialty of the chef’s hometown (or so the menu claimed) that was strained after cooking to leave only the broth behind. It was normally an appetizer, but she’d ordered a double portion in accordance with her strictly liquid diet.
“I just wish we could go out somewhere without getting tripe like that.” She grumbled, sending another glare behind her for good measure.
“It’s the way Canterlot works Moony.” I replied philosophically. “Trust me, I should know.”
Ugly rumors and speculation had been following me practically since I was born. My dusty brown coat made me stand out sharply against the rest of my family, who were all completely white without exception, and my green eyes were another quirk that didn’t appear in the rest of my family. Add to that my special talent, accounting, as opposed to the rest of my family who were all politicians or lawyers, and there was considerable speculation on the topic of my paternity. My mother Silver Tongue swore that I was the foal of her husband Binding Contract, but after years of disappointing my family in one endeavor after another (read: by having a moral conscience) my parents had seen the writing on the wall and done what they had been threatening to do since I was old enough to understand them: disown me.
At the age of eighteen I was very publicly and very vehemently cast out of House Chalcedony and left with nothing but the clothes on my back and enough bits to my name to spend a week in a cheap hotel in one of the seedier parts of the city. I believe my family expected me to either leave the city in shame or come back begging them for help, but my deeply buried stubborn streak had reared its ugly head and I had refused to give them the satisfaction. So, operating on the assumption that there was no time to waste, I applied for every job I could. Needless to say, I was rejected by nearly every potential employer. Almost nopony in Canterlot would employ a pony who got disowned by a noble family. Nepotism was the rule, rather than the exception, in this cesspit of a city.
Fortunately, almost nopony was very different than nopony, and on the same day I had to check out of my cheap hotel I was approached by an officer of Her Majesty’s Royal Inquisition. As it turned out, I was more-or-less the ideal candidate for an Inquisitorial recruiting offer: skilled but inexperienced, talented but discreet, and most importantly I had decidedly ill feelings towards the Nobility the Inquisition spent a great deal of time policing. Very long and convoluted story short, I was offered a job as an Inquisitorial Auditor and now I spend my life picking apart the finances of whatever noble family currently holds the Inquisition’s ire in hopes of finding something illegal to fine them for or have arrests made. Needless to say, I enjoy my job immensely.
“Mmph. Maybe.” Moony reluctantly agreed, taking a large gulp of her wine, followed by an unenthusiastic spoonful of soup. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Moony’s claim to Canterlot fame (and infamy) was at once more exciting than mine and more dull. She was a rising star in Canterlot's ever-shifting political game because of her recently-acquired position in the Nightguard, Princess Luna’s personal military force and guardians. Many ponies compared her to Captain Shining Armor, and in a way they had a point. Both ponies had risen through the ranks from the bottom, and done so at a speed that shocked the old-blood aristocrats that made up the upper echelons of the officer corps of the Royal Army.
That was where the similarities ended though. Shining Armor was an aristocrat by blood, although he was by my own admission one of the few tolerable aristocrats, though his family had a tendency to throw pretty odd ponies every few generations, just look at his obsessive-compulsive ubermage brother. Moony, however, was from the sticks near the border with Griffonia and came from a family that mostly consisted of hypogriffs and had no distinction whatsoever. She was a natural batpony, a rarity in and of itself requiring (among other things) a breeding between a Pegasus mother and a Unicorn father with no earth pony blood for at least two generations in both parents, but she also had that rarest of rare genetic deviations: vamponyism.
In old times, all vamponies were drafted into the Nightguard (they served as the night shift of Celestia’s guard of course, with Luna back now things were different) but now in more enlightened times they were allowed a choice of employment, though the vast majority of them signed up as guardsponies since the guard was one of the few places they would be accepted and their unorthodox dietary needs accommodated.
The thing that bugged the most ponies though, was her attitude. She grew up hard, and she never forgot her home or what it made her. She rose through the ranks until she was Captain of the entire Nightguard on merit, tenacity, and sheer bloody-minded willful blindness of the established (but unspoken) rule that only those of noble blood could serve in the highest ranks of the guard. Indeed, it had come as quite a shock to the old blood of Canterlot when a commoner was elevated to primacy in the Nightguard when old Captain Star Shield had retired in consideration of his advanced age.
“If you did I wouldn’t be engaged to you.” I replied, the metallic feel of the engagement amulet tucked under my shirt next to my coat noticeable now that I thought about it. The memory of her nervous, stammering proposal never failed to make me smile…and the memory of what happened after that proposal never failed to make me blush.
“Yeah, I guess there’s that.” She chuckled, a smile blossoming on her face. “On an almost related note, Shade Spiral wants to know if she can wear-”
“No.” I replied instantly, having met Moony's second in command I knew that any clothing request she made would practically make me break out into hives just thinking about it. “She’ll show up in a tie dye shirt and dreadlocks or something. I don’t care too much about what our guests wear, but there are some things I refuse to allow.”
“Oh come on, she wouldn’t do that.” Moony laughed. I met her laughter with a flat stare. “Well, okay, maybe she would, but it would be funny.”
“No. It’s fine if shows up, she's been invited after all. However, she will be wearing appropriate clothing approved in advance with no last minute alterations. She will not have a multicolored mane, and any jewelry has to be approved by either me or the officiator.”
When not on duty, the eccentric Unicorn who did most of the logistics work in Moony’s unit tended to change colors on a weekly basis, and she was just as likely to show up somewhere without clothes but with a blonde spiked mane and bronze hoofrings as to show up in a green paisley dress, purple stockings and a stopwatch necklace with a lace bonnet. She was a sad example of what happens to aristocratic foals when they get out of their parents’ households and were allowed freedom for the first time in their lives.
“What? I can’t approve her jewelry?”
“You’d let her wear whatever she wants.” I took another bite of my rapidly dwindling salad. “Because you think she’s hilarious.”
“So do you.”
“Only when she’s doing something that could embarrass herself or her parents.” I rebutted. “She’s likable, but either she’s colorblind or her upbringing warped her in some way.”
“Probably both.” Moony snickered. She had been known to bring her second with her to the fancy dinners the aristocracy invited her to. Since the meals were really just excuses to try and bribe or threaten her and tended to be hosted by only the stuffiest of old-blood families who hadn’t adopted the ways of modern corruption (i.e. doing it by proxy instead of face-to-face) Shade’s fashion sense and general lunacy drastically cut down on repeat invitations.
“Regardless, her outfit must be approved in advance and checked at the door. I like her, but I will not put up with nonsense on our wedding day.”
“Ooh, look at you. Your groomzilla’s coming out.” She took another halfhearted spoonful of soup. Normally she finished her meals before I was half done, but this time she'd practically ignored it which was distinctly odd. Normally if she didn’t like something she got at a restaurant she didn’t have a problem sending it back.
“I refuse to lower myself to the high-maintenance Canterlot stallion stereotype.” I sniffed. “But since you insist on jumping through the hoops I insist we do things properly.”
“And because you’ve been planning your wedding since you were a foal.” She said with a sly smile.
“Idle thoughts here and there.” I said loftily. “Nothing too serious.”
“Right. Sure.” She covered her mouth with a hoof and (badly) stifled a laugh.
“I didn’t!”
“When we first sat down to start planning you had a list of locations, caterers, and tailors along with prices for each along with a wedding catalogue. Admit it sweetie, you’ve been dying to do this for years.” Her befanged smile was nearly splitting her face in two.
“I will not admit it, because it is simply not true.” I lied, turning my nose away from her haughtily. She had been teasing me about this constantly, and had tolerated my micromanaging with much more patience than could have been expected of her because she knew exactly how much this did mean to me. After being cast out of my family I’d put all thoughts of romance aside in the interest of finding a job and putting my life back together. Getting to start a family of my own was something I never thought I would be able to have, at least not without leaving the city.
“You go ahead and tell yourself that, sweet prince.” She reached over and pinched my cheek with a hoof.
“You’re the one who insisted on having such a formal ceremony.” I countered, truthfully this time. I wanted to get married, yes, but even back when I wasn’t a pariah I hadn’t wanted an elaborate ritual like she had all but demanded.
“Yeah, well, you can blame that one on Princess Luna.” Moony rolled her eyes. “When she found out she wouldn’t settle for anything less than a full-scale nuptial extravaganza.”
“‘Full-scale nuptial extravaganza’?” I quirked an eyebrow.
“She said it a little differently…well, she kinda slipped halfway back into her old speech patterns in her excitement and you know I’m not good with all that thee, thy, and forsooth stuff, but she won’t have the captain of her guard get married in anything less than ‘the grandest old style’.” Meeting and interacting with the Diarchs (and to a lesser extent Cadence) was a perk of Moony’s position. Occasionally stressful, but still a perk. I'd found Celestia to be kind and occasionally puckish, Cadence to be humble and practical, and Luna...well, the lunar princess was still awkward and occasionally a bit (unconsciously) elitist, albeit in a charmingly anachronistic sort of way.
“She just wants to show that she can throw a better party than Celestia did for Shining Armor’s wedding, doesn’t she?” I deadpanned.
“Yeah, sorta.” Moony admitted, an amused sparkle entering her eyes. “I couldn’t bear to tell her no though. She’s normally so regal and aloof when she's at court and so nervous about meeting regular ponies it was funny to see her babbling like that.”
“And her offering to open her royal ball room for us doesn’t hurt.” I added. Each of the Princesses had a ball room within the castle, built and decorated to their exact specifications. They were only usable by royal invitation, and Luna's had been painstakingly remodeled since her recent return..
“I have to admit I was a little worried about that at first, I like Luna but her taste in decoration is a little…monochrome, and when she told me she’d directed the renovation of that part of the castle herself I was afraid we’d be getting married in one big blotch of indigo.” Moony said wryly. It was pretty easy to guess Luna’s favorite color, all you had to do was look at her part of the castle, the whole place was painted in the dark purple/blue she favored. Carpets, tapestries, torches, everything. It went a long way towards explaining the many bottles of headache medication in the Nightguard barracks.
“It turned out pretty good, though, didn’t it?” I asked a little dreamily. I’d gone along on that little tour of course, and I’d shared the same reservations as Moony. Until I saw the room that was.
The recently-renovated ballroom had once been a large rectangular space that resembled nothing so much as a cafeteria with a few fireplaces in it. Granted, it would’ve been extremely impressive back when it was built since it was as big as it was possible to be with the current (at the time) architectural technology without huge supporting columns. Now, though…
The first thing you noticed in the new room was that the wall opposite the entrance looking out over the waterfall had been removed and replaced with a large window made out of innumerable panes of stained glass held in place with rods of glinting silver that formed a caricature of the night sky, stars moon and all that spanned the height of the room and spread out to the walls. The stone ceiling had also been removed and replaced with a curved glass one, though without the elaborate architecture holding it together, all the better to get a good view of the stars. The marble walls had been polished to a mirror sheen and were hung with tapestries depicting famous scenes from Equestrian history and recreations of some of Luna’s finest nighttime skies by some of Equestria’s finest painters were hung along side them.
The fireplaces had been modified to burn constantly with nearly heatless blue-white flames, and the old torch mounts on the walls had similar modifications made to them. Long ebony and silverwood tables ran the length of the room and in due time would be covered with silver and white tablecloths with vases of purple tulips and white carnations set periodically along their lengths.
Bisecting the length of the room was a long carpet the same shade of dark blue as Luna's coat and trimmed with silver thread. It stretched from the entrance of the room all the way to the stained glass window, under which was a mosaic made from sapphires, amethysts, gold, silver, diamond, and platinum of a starry sky all designed designed by Luna herself. We would be married on that mosaic by the light of the full moon, and Luna had suggested with a wink that there may even be a meteor shower involved.
When we had seen the room for the first time we were both speechless, which had pleased Luna quite a lot. Nopony else had seen it since the reconstruction had just finished a few days before she showed us and she was eager for feedback. Moony said something to her but I can't remember what it was because when we walked in there and I saw the room I was going to be married in everything hit me at once and I got too emotional to do much of anything but gape. I was moved by the sheer beauty of it, nervous and overjoyed about the coming ceremony, bitterly resentful of my family for refusing to even acknowledge that I existed, grateful for Luna's generosity, and a million other things all at once. The vibrant melange of emotions ran the gamut from sweet to bitter and everything in between and I was overwhelmed. I actually started crying, not heaving sobs and drawn-out hysterics, but I was rooted on the spot with tears falling down my cheeks and struggling to catch my breath. Luna was kind enough to let Moony and me have a moment alone. I’ll always remember sitting in that room with Moony’s wing wrapped around me, trying to look at everything at once through blurry eyes and listening to her tell me how she loved me and that everything would be fine even as I felt her own tears fall onto my coat.
“Yeah, it really did.” Moony said with a soft smile of her own. Then she wiped her eyes with the back of a hoof and gave me an embarrassed smile, apparently ashamed of making such a display in public.
“Part of me wants to take pictures of it beforehoof, just to see their reactions, but somehow I don’t think Luna would approve.” I said. It probably reflected badly on me, and I wasn’t proud of it, but I had gotten an impulse to send pictures to my family with a smarmy note about how they said I would never go anywhere in life. But, since I try to rise above their level of petty spite, I had quashed that reflex and refused to act on any like it.
“Yeah, besides, everypony will be seeing it all fancied up and at night, when it’s supposed to be seen anyway, so their faces will be even better.” She pointed out.
“I want to get pictures of your parents’ faces in particular.” I got along well with Moony’s parents, despite (or probably because) they were the polar opposite of my family. They were poor, but they deeply cared about each other and their foals. When they saw the room their daughter was going to be married in it was going to be memorable.
“Heh, they’re just happy I’m finally settling down. Though now they’ll probably start asking when we’re going to give them grandfoals.” She made a face that wrung a laugh out of me despite my own discomfort with the subject. We both wanted foals, but not anytime soon. We weren’t ready for that yet.
“So you think they’ll approve of the ceremony? Despite how fancy-shmancy it is?” I borrowed her mother’s catchall term for anything she saw as frivolous (read: anything she couldn't afford).
“Like I said, they’re just happy I’m settling down.” She nickered wickedly.
“Them and half of Cloudsdale.” I retorted. Ambition and martial competence were potent aphrodisiacs for the ever-militant Pegasi, and she had both in spades. Add to that her own…drives, and she had quite a reputation back in the city where she had been trained.
“What can I say? I like to make new friends.” She gave me a leer across the table that would’ve had me blushing and stammering once upon a time.
“Right, well your ‘friend’ making days are over now.” I scolded her with a smirk. “Just keep that in mind missy.”
“Oh don’t worry, you’re plenty friendly enough for me.” She replied. It was impossible to shame her about her proclivities, and I found that rather attractive. “And speaking of which, what do you say we head on home? I have plans for the rest of the night.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” I grinned and forked the last of my salad into my mouth. “I’m ready when you are.”
"Good." She pushed her soup bowl back and flagged down a nearby waiter. Within minutes our bill had been paid, her soup poured into a container, and we were out on the streets of Canterlot heading back to the condo we shared much to the pearl-clutching horror of the older generation of aristocratic stallions who were thoroughly scandalized by my 'loose' behavior. They took great delight in tut-tutting about how my behavior was typical of 'young stallions these days' and the deplorable behavior they could get up to without a firm moral baseline, including spreading some very debased rumors about the supposed contents of our bedroom and what we did there. At first it had infuriated me, but by now I just thought it was funny. Hay, I had started a few rumors myself, 'accidentally' letting something slip while I was talking to Moony when I was sure one of the bastions of Canterlot gossip was around. It was always interesting to see how things got warped and twisted as they made the trip through the rumor mill.
"So, don't you want to hear about my plans?" Moony asked as we entered the small park that lay between the Golden Trough and the condominium where our residence lay. It wasn't much by Canterlot standards, just a square patch of grass and trees with a fountain at the center with a few ruler straight paths leading through it like a plus sign. It was one of if not the smallest of the parks in the city, any smaller and it couldn't even be properly called a park, but it was my favorite since it had an excellent view of the castle and its very smallness meant that most ponies ignored it...well, that and Moony had proposed to me in a secluded gap in the trees. That may have had something to do with my fondness for it.
"Not in public." I replied, knowing full well that she'd tell me every gory detail without any hesitation no matter who was around. Along with her impressive libido, Moony had a very active imagination. Some of those 'rumors' the older stallions loved to trade back and forth weren't complete fabrications
"Oh poo. You're no fun." She pouted.
"Uh huh. Right. If by 'no fun' you mean 'have a sense of decorum'..."
"No, I mean no fun."
"I think I'm plenty fun, you just can't appreciate it sometimes." I retorted, leaning over and nudging her.
"Oh really?" She nudged me back.
"Yeah really." Nudge.
"Oh really?" Nudge.
"Yeah really." Nudge. When we got together it was like somepony cast a de-aging spell on us. We always reverted to four year old foals. It was glorious.
"Oh really?" Strong nudge. A few ponies were milling about the park, watching the moonrise. Most were looking at us oddly and a few were even glaring, but we ignored them with the ease of long practice.
"Yeah really!" I leaned my weight into her and tried to push her off course, but it was like pushing against a brick wall. My hooves scrabbled for a moment as I tried to get better purchase on the cobblestone path we were walking on, but it was pointless. I couldn't budge her an inch, so I glared up at her. "You cheated!"
"No I didn't, you just can't push." She laughed. "Here, like this."
"Moony, don't you d-ack!" She set her hooves and with a smooth bobbing motion she sent me staggering to one side. Nightguard close combat training is no easier than anything taught in the Royal Army, and Vamponyism has benefits. I didn't fall, but for a second I wasn't sure... "Hey! No fair!"
"You started it." She replied, sticking her tongue out. "What can I say, don't mess with the best."
Then, Celestia help me, she actually flexed. She picked a foreleg up and flexed it with a grunt. It was the cheesiest thing I'd
ever seen. I had to work to keep myself from laughing, and after a few seconds of effort I gave up and guffawed at the spectacle she was making of herself.
"Stop! Stop! You look like something out of a bad action movie." I managed to get a lid on the laughter before it could give me the hiccups, as it often did.
"Oh you love it." She said with a smirk.
"No I don't." I said, still fighting back a few giggles as I took my place beside her again, except this time I got close. Really close. She smiled understandingly and lifted a wing in invitation. I gladly slipped underneath the proffered limb and pressed myself against her, enjoying the gentle pressure she exerted. "It's ridiculous."
"And yet you're cuddling with me." She nuzzled my cheek.
"I'm cold, and I thought you could help me keep warm." It was another blatant lie. I'm a wimp about heat, and my body temperature tends to run a degree or two hotter than normal. Moony, on the other hoof, is always cold due to her vamponyism, so we're perfectly matched that way. It was a cool night and I knew she'd appreciate having me right next to her to mitigate some of the chill, especially since she was wearing a thin dress instead of the heavier clothing she typically wore when she was not wearing her enchanted Nightguard plate.
"Well, what kind of marefriend would I be if I didn't help keep my coltfriend warm?"
"The bad kind kind?" I shot back flippantly.
"I can be a good mare," She protested with an evil smirk. "But I have to work at it." She nuzzled me, brushing her lips over my neck and quickly working her way up to my cheek.
"Down girl." I said, laughing as she ignored me and continued to (gently) kiss me. "Bad marefriend, bad!"
"Mmm, I know, aren't I?" She hummed and nuzzled my ear. Then she kissed it. Then she did something else entirely.
"Moony!" I jumped and awkwardly turned my head to glare at her (and her waggling tongue) while trying not to headbutt her by accident. "What's gotten into you? You're normally not so...physical, out in public."
"What can I say? It's a good night." She said, tilting her head back and staring at the moon intently.
"You're a vampony, not a werepony, stick to your script." I said as we exited the park and hit the sidewalk that led up to our building.
"What? I'm a creature of the night too, I have just as much right to enjoy moonlight as those fictional fuzzballs." She snorted in professional disdain
"Nice alliteration dear. Good to see that education paying off." I snarked, knowing full well that I'd just get thwacked in the head for my efforts, and I was.
"Quiet you." She growled without heat. "One of these days that mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble."
"Oh, it already does. Why do you think no Aristocrat will stray within ten feet of me if they can help it?" We walked up the stairs into our building as I spoke. It wasn't large as far as condominiums went, or fancy. Just a large square of bricks with white pillars at the corners and some halfhearted marble crenelations along eaves of the roof. It was an oddity amongst the stylized, baroque architecture of the residential part of Canterlot. There was a good reason for that though. The building was purpose-built for the families of high ranking officers in the Guard. Underneath the uninspired (but heavily reinforced) exterior was a ward schematic powerful enough to withstand direct attacks from siege weaponry, a private well, a generator with numerous backups, an armory, and an escape tunnel to one of the secret bunkers under the castle, just in case things really went pear shaped.
"Because your job is to root out all the money they have squirreled away in tax shelters?" Moony asked, affecting a tone of blank stupidity.
"Besides that." I smirked as we walked into the reception area. The room was bare of furnishings, containing only a security desk, a clock, and a door to the elevator in keeping with its nature as a defensible chokepoint. The carpet was red with white diamond patterns, the walls were paneled halfway up with faux-wood and painted white the rest of the way. The night-shift guard nodded to us absently from behind the desk and went back to his magazine. Though I couldn't see them, I knew there were four more guards in the room, all Moony's subordinates, all of them wearing heavily enchanted Nightguard plate that allowed them to fade into complete invisibility and suppressed their magical signatures to near zero.
"Because you were disowned by one of the noble families?" Moony was the only one who could joke like that with me, and I appreciated it. She didn't think getting tossed out by an aristocratic family was a bad thing, and didn't make nearly as big a deal out of it as Canterlot citizens tended to.
"You're hopeless." I grumbled, rolling my eyes, much to her amusement. I had summoned the elevator with a flash of telekinesis before we'd halfway crossed the room .and the thick metal doors slid open as we got close. Once we were inside the plain white box the doors closed again and there was a pause as hidden scanners in the walls magically probed us for any dangerous materials or weapons while simultaneously checking our identities and searching for the small talismans that would allow us access to the rest of the building. When that was all done the elevator automatically started moving, taking us up two floors.
"That's what Shade keeps telling me." Moony laughed. "She keeps saying I need to expand my horizons and try new things in my spare time."
"What does she want you to do?" I asked suspiciously. I liked Shade Spiral, I really did, but I wasn't convinced she was a good influence on Moony.
"Spike my mane." She replied, flipping her lavender locks by way of demonstration.
"No." I replied. "Just...no."
"That's what I've been telling her, but she keeps insisting."
"No offense honey, but you would look ridiculous with a spiked mane." I said as the doors opened and we walked out into the hallway. Our apartment was right next to the elevator, which was nice, so we could go right in without having to bother with the other checkpoints along the hallway.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe one day I'll give it a try." She grinned puckishly as I elevated a key out of my pocket and unlocked the door.
""Please don't. I'd like to be able to be seen out in public with you."
"Oh now you're being boring." Moony accused as we entered our home. The living room was furnishings were rather indulgent, thick white carpet with numerous overstuffed leather lounge cushions, multiple oak bookshelves (my contributions), a side table with a granite chess board built into the top, and a large central coffee table that concealed a few bladed weapons (Moony's contributions). A door to the left led to the kitchen, a sliding glass door opposite the entrance led out to the enclosed patio and its multitude of potted plants, and to the right was our bedroom and bathroom. Moony idly kicked the door closed as we walked through, and I heard the click of the automatic locks re-engaging.
Then she pounced.
I had been expecting it, so I wasn't startled when she pressed her lips firmly against mine the instant we were behind closed doors. With all the wedding planning we'd been dong and the extra work we'd both had to do to make sure we were ahead enough to allow ourselves a worry-free honeymoon we hadn't been able to be together nearly as much as she liked. She must have been pretty pent-up underneath the normal, jokey exterior.
"A little eager, are we?" I asked with a grin when she gave me a respite.
"Maybe a little bit." She admitted as she started wriggling out of her dress, giving me quite a show in the process.. She was panting and her eyes were wide and shiny with desire. It had taken me a while to get used to how much and how intensely she wanted 'us time'. It was nice to be wanted though, and Moony had always been best at showing affection physically.
"You're going to ruin that dress you know." I said idly as she finally managed to extricate herself from the garment by dint of plopping down on her hindquarters and using her wings as well as her hooves to wrestle with it. The expensive slip was then tossed into the living room like a candy wrapper, which, I supposed, in a way it was.
"Buck the dress." She said, getting back to her hooves in a flash.
"Mmph, I guess you could try, but I don't think it'd be very satisfying." I quipped, only to be silenced by another kiss.
"Oh shut up and get out of that jacket." She growled, only to make it impossible for me to follow her order by kissing me again. She really was worked up.
"I will if you stop trying to clean my teeth." I pulled away with a chuckle and started to undress much more carefully than she had. Buttons undone and tie untied I carefully slipped out of my favorite jacket and the undershirt I wore beneath it, moving slowly partly to prevent any damage and partly to tease Moony, who took that as well as she ever did.
"Anypony ever tell you that you've got really nice flanks?" She asked when I was finally down to my natural state once more.
"You." I replied, stepping into her personal space and leaning up to nibble her ear, which I knew she loved. True to form she let out a happy hum and brought a hoof up to stroke the sensitive underside of my jaw.
"Yeah." She giggled. "I remember how you used to blush when I told you that."
"I blushed because I was pure and innocent, but then you corrupted me."
"Ha! You're a lot of things, Books, but pure and innocent? Not a chance. Not even before I met you." Her hoof slid down to the nape of my neck and started circling.
"I was once." I insisted between nibbles. "I used to be virginal too."
"Not for a long time." She said slyly, and not without a little pride. For all that I'd consciously rejected a lot of my parents' brainwashing when it came to 'proper stallion behavior' I'd still been very shy about physical stuff when we'd gotten together. She put an end to that though. A sticky, sweaty, and satisfying end.
"Oh just shut up and kiss me."
I've occasionally told her to do that, just for fun, and she's never once disobeyed me. This time was no exception.
She snarled and attacked me with the kind of single minded intensity that's only possible for animals and mental patients. Her wings came forward and partially enclosed me, trailing over my barrel in maddening little abstract patterns. By unspoken consent we awkwardly walked towards our bedroom, kissing the whole time and groping as much as walking would allow. Once we were in there was the awkward climb onto the bed, which we handled with less than perfect dignity while I distractedly turned the lights on. Once we were there, though, the horseshoes were off. My hooves beelined for the hypersensitive flesh at the base of her wings where her flight muscles attached to her back. She made a wanton sound into our kiss and responded by moving her wing down to my Cutie Mark.
Now that was just cheating.
Given our awkward, half horizontal position I couldn't easily reach her Cutie Mark while keeping a hoof on her flight muscles, so I did a bit of cheating of my own and went for her neck. As much as she tried to downplay the vampony angle sometimes, Moony had a thing for necks, mine and hers, something I exploited ruthlessly. I broke off the kiss and went downward, capturing a few of the fine hairs of her coat in my teeth and tugging ever so gently. She responded with a happy moan and an all out assault on my Cutie Mark. In the years we'd been together, ever since that awkward first encounter to now, she'd learned to play my body like a musical instrument, my Cutie Mark in particular. She traced the edges of the ledger, pressed slowly on it, rubbed it, fondled it, and in general did anything and everything that she could possibly do to make me harder than a Pegasi's wingboner when the Wonderbolts were in town.
Her tail flagged, letting me know she was just as pent up as I thought she was and I shifted position to get a good view of her plot as well as get a hoof on the newly-presented target. When I found it I started softly stroking the area around her slit, never actually touching it. I knew, from experience, exactly how she needed to be touched for maximum effect. I circled around her entrance, only occasionally sliding in close before immediately backing off again. She rolled her body into the motion, making delightful noises when I got close and frustrated ones when I pulled away. It was a lot of fun to tease her like that, especially since she had graduated to using her mouth on my flank.
Her lips and tongue replaced the hoof that had been tracing around my Cutie Mark and now she was alternately sucking on the underlying flesh and using her tongue to follow the lines on the ledger. I was panting hard inside of a minute. Within two minutes I was bucking my hips unintentionally into her movements and I felt my tip rubbing against the bedding. I considered taking things all the way and going down on her but reconsidered. She wasn't in heat anymore, but it had just ended not too long ago and I could still get overwhelmed by pheromones if I wasn't careful and I didn't want tonight to be like that. I wanted it to be long and drawn out, without the fuzzy memories that could come from a pheromone-induced rutting. So I held off on licking her, but I moved my hoof in for the kill and started touching her swollen petals directly. I started by slowly rubbing each side up and down, alternating between the two, and when I felt that was starting to be a bit old I moved onto writing the alphabet using her body as parchment. She hummed happily into my Cutie Mark, sending buzzing waves of ticklish sensation through my whole body.
Suddenly there was a delicate hoof on my rock hard length and I knew what was coming next. I awkwardly rolled halfway onto my side so I could get my leg out of the way and give her more room to work. Sure enough I was the happy recipient off a surprisingly gentle hoofjob. Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, just the same kind of thing I'd been doing for myself before I got together with her. I wasn't complaining though, it's nice when you're not the one doing it. I complained even less when I felt hot breath puffing against my tip.
"Moony, you don't have to do that." I moaned. As much of a sex enthusiast as she was, there were a few things that she just didn't like (as with everypony) and giving oral was one of them. The taste, according to her, was vile, and I couldn't blame her, having tasted it myself out of horny curiosity once upon a time.
"I know." She said, licking me from base to tip and making me shudder. "But I want to. Just warn me when you're close."
"D-deal." I muttered, then I flopped back down on the bed and let her have her way with me. For all that she didn't like doing this, she was still damn good at it. She kissed, licked, sucked, and (tenderly) nibbled every inch of my cock for an agonizingly long minute before opening her mouth and taking the plunge. Her tongue undulated against the underside of my shaft and I felt the hard sides of her long fangs bracketing me as she slowly sunk her head further and further down. I moaned ecstatically and forcibly restrained myself from bucking into her mouth, knowing how badly that would end.
She bobbed her head slowly up and down, pausing occasionally to breathe and suckling on me hard when she did. Needless to say, I was in Elysium. I absolutely loved this kind of thing, but out of respect for her dislike for it I rarely asked for it, and having it now was an unexpected (and very welcome) treat. While she did all this I kept playing with her as best I could through my distraction. I watched and felt her entrance getting wetter and wetter as I rubbed her with my hoof. She all too happily ground herself into my hoof, making the most of it. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I couldn't decide which, she was almost too good at what she was doing and I felt my climax rapidly approaching. I tried to hold it off as long as I could, but her ministrations were expert and inside of two minutes I had to give her fair warning, mentally cursing the fact that I hadn't been able to relieve myself in the morning and was thus so pent up the experience couldn't last longer.
"I'm about to blow." I panted, wondering if I'd accidentally waited too long. She stopped immediately and the concomitant sudden drop in temperature made me gasp. I made to get up in order to move onto what I was pretty sure she would want, but she surprised me by putting a gentle hoof on my flank, forestalling the motion.
"Hey sweetie, I was wondering...do you think you're up to trying something tonight?" She sounded unsure, which piqued my interest. If there was one thing she wasn't it was unsure in the bedroom.
"What do you have in mind?" Her imagination was almost as robust as her sex drive, so getting requests like this was nothing new. The hesitation in her voice, on the other hoof, definitely was.
"Well..." She trailed off for a second, deliberating. Then she awkwardly reached over to the edge of the bed and a few seconds of rummaging later she pulled a small white box with forest green markings on it out from somewhere and set it on the bedding. I recognized one of the marks as the universal symbol for a first aid kit, but the other ones didn't make sense to me until she opened it up. Bandages, liquid stitches, butterfly strips, antibiotic ointment, a bag of what looked like saline solution, lots of clotting powder and energy supplements. It was a vampony bite kit.
"You want to feed from me." I drew the obvious conclusion and forestalled her before she could begin rambling. Her unenthusiastic efforts at the restaurant made sense now. If she had been planning this, and she would've been, she would want to save room. It also explained the reticence. I would've been nervous about asking too.
"I know it sounds weird, but hear me out." She said, launching into a speech that was probably well-rehearsed. "I had enough at the restaurant that I'm not really hungry, not that I would ever take very much from one pony at a time, and I've been practicing on bottles and stuff so I know exactly how soon to stop. I've talked to a few of the other Nightguard members and they all told me that sex after feeding is fantastic, like heat sex or along those lines anyway. Shade Spiral said she had to spend the next day with an ice pack on her-"
"Okay, slow down Moony, I can barely understand you you're talking so fast." I pressed a hoof to her lips to stop her. I'd been waiting for this for a while actually, and though I'd originally dreaded it, as I got more comfortable sharing my body with her the more intrigued I got. "And I understand. I'm willing to give this a try."
"Really?" Her whole body perked up and her smile jumped up a few dozen watts.
"Yes, really." I grinned back. "But first, answer me one thing."
"Anything!"
"You practiced on bottles?" I quirked my eyebrows. Then Moony did something I never thought i'd see her do.
She blushed.
With the most shamefaced look I'd ever seen on her she reached down under the bed again, coming up with a plastic water bottle with four neat holes in it. I stared at it for a second, imagined how she must've looked draining it, and then I laughed. It probably means I'm a bad pony, but I laughed.
"Shut up." She said, more relieved than embarrassed fortunately. She tossed the bottle at me and it bounced off my whithers before spinning away to land on the floor somewhere.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." I apologized as seriously as I could. "It's just...the image of you with the bottle clamped in your mouth." I started laughing again and pulled her into a hug to lessen the sting.
"You're really okay with this?" She asked when I finished giggling like a foal.
"Yes, I trust you sweetie." I replied. "How do we do it?"
"Well..." She thought for a second, her eyes flicking upwards as they tended to do when she was thinking hard about something. "Here, lie down on the edge of the bed and close your eyes. I'll take care of the rest."
"Okay." I did as I was told, moving until I was as close to the edge as I dared and laid down on my side with my head tilted back to expose my neck. As I closed my eyes I heard Moony hop off the bed and walk around in front of me.
She didn't just bite right away like I halfway thought she would. Instead she started laying a trail of kisses up my throat from my barrel to the underside of my chin. They were wet kisses too, and as she got going I felt something strange. The skin in my neck started to tingle slightly, like a lesser version of the pins and needles feeling, only enjoyable. I'd heard about vampony saliva containing all sorts of chemical compounds to aid their feedings, from painkillers to antibiotics to anticoagulants, and judging by the sensation in my neck at least some of those rumors were right. It was actually pretty nice, just to lay back and relax while she got me ready. The numbness that eventually started spreading would probably get a little annoying if it lasted too long but I doubted that it would, and the sensation preceding it was pleasant enough, so I wasn't worried about that.
"I think you're about ready." She suddenly said, her voice sounding a little thick, which I had to attribute to her fangs which, upon a brief glance, I saw had extended to their fullest. The image of her standing over me, so close to my vulnerable throat made something in my hindbrain squeak and try to tell me to bolt, but I suppressed it. I trusted her. It helped that other parts of my hindbrain had latched onto the idea of good sex afterward and were more than happy to take a little prick to get to the good part.
"Go ahead." I replied, a little breathily. She nodded and slowly, carefully, brought her fangs down, her whole body quivering in excitement along the way. I figured with the numbing properties of her saliva I wouldn't feel anything, or if anything it would be a sensation of pressure. Then, after a little bit of treatment I'd get a randy, desperate moony to play with until-
Celestia's radiant garters!
A shock of chemical electricity surged through my nervous system, making me stiffen involuntarily. Immediately afterwards an oozing soporific warmth radiated outward from my neck, originating from four points of intense heat. The room suddenly snapped into crystal clarity as the warmth flowed to my spine and up into my brain. I could see the individual threads of our sheets, the fuzz sticking out of our polar fleece pillow cases, and even motes of dust floating in the lamplight absolutely perfectly. Moony let out an orgasmic moan that bounced around my ear canal like somepony had struck a gong. Then the warmth oozed its way between my legs and I let out a small, undulating noise as I suddenly felt a need like I hadn't felt since the time I'd gotten too close to her when she was in heat, but to my utter frustration I couldn't act on it. I was paralyzed by her bite. I made another, louder noise, trying to convey my desperation without words. It fell on deaf ears though, and she kept slowly slowly feeding, making increasingly lustful sounds as she did so.
Thankfully the process didn't take too long, though it felt like an eternity. I didn't get woozy or dizzy either, like I thought I would. Instead I was maddeningly, agonizingly turned on. If this was anything like what it was like for Moony to go into heat I'd never roll my eyes about her plaintive requests for relief again. I felt like very important parts of my anatomy were going to rupture if I didn't get to use them soon.
When she finally pulled back she let out a drunk sounding grunt and licked my neck a few times, collecting what little blood had spilled. She swallowed audibly and then lurched awkwardly to the side, reaching for the first aid kit and looking for all the world like she'd downed a few too many hard ciders.
"W-wait. Need 'ta...fix that." She slurred drunkenly, clumsily pulling something out of the bite kit and applying it to my neck. The paralysis was fading, but it was painfully slow, and I was only able to stir weakly before she was completely finished.
"Moony, I need to-" I shivered as her hoof sent shivers arcing across my suddenly hypersensitive body.
"I know, jus' a second...there." She finished whatever she was doing and fluttered her wings, knocking a few things off the nightstand and getting her front half onto the bed, leaving her hind legs spread and her tail flagged. She looked at me over her shoulder, her surprisingly bloodless mouth hanging open and panting. "Now please Books...please..."
She didn't need to have to tell me twice. I sluggishly rolled off the bed and heaved myself to my legs. The shaky weakness in my legs dissipating as I actually moved, and before long I was able to confidently walk around and place my mouth right in front of her entrance. My body was screaming for me to mount her, but there was something else I wanted to do first. It had taken her a lot of (gentle) coaxing for me to try this, but once she got me started I couldn't get enough. We both moaned as my tongue made contact with her slick flesh and I shivered as I felt her scent soaring into my hindbrain and scrambling my thoughts even further. I may just be a freak, but I loved the sensation. I loved pushing the boundaries until my instincts completely overrode my self control, and licking her was my favorite way of testing my limits.
I reveled in the sounds she made as I started to lick her just the way she liked. I slowly and tenderly parted her folds with my tongue, smiling internally when she turned back to watch me, awkwardly moving one of her fully erect wings. She was such a voyeur, but I loved it. Her pupils were dilated and she was panting like she'd flown from Canterlot to Cloudsdale and back, but she was very obviously having fun. Her wings were so stiff they were quivering and the beaming smile on her face told me all I needed to know. After about a minute of gentle attention she started rolling her hips in time with my strokes, letting me know I could take things up a notch. I started lapping at her more assertively, not hard, but firmer than I had been. She tasted tangy and salty, but clean. She probably figured this was going to happen tonight and washed accordingly, which was much appreciated. When I penetrated her fully with my tongue she let out a quavering moan and pushed herself back in an attempt to push me in even further. The motion made my nose bump up against her clit, which made her squeak happily. My head was swimming in chemically induced lust and my hindquarters were quivering with the urge to get into mounting position, but I resolutely held out for as long as I could before bowing to the inevitable.
"Moony, can I-"
"Yes!" She interrupted, no doubt divining my intentions.
Seeing no reason to wait anymore I jumped up on top of her, planting my hooves on either side of her head and started questing for her entrance. When I finally found what I was looking for I had to keep a tight reign on the urge to just bury myself inside her. Instead I penetrated her slowly, being careful not to push too hard and hurt her. We both groaned as I sunk myself in, and I reveled in the feeling of the first thrust. Between the feeding and my own ministrations she was as slick as she could possibly be and I sank in practically without resistance. She clenched down on me rhythmically, adding additional stimulation to the already wonderful experience and I couldn't stop a whole-body shudder.
The next few minutes passed in an enjoyable but increasingly frantic blur of thrusting, grunting and wet schlicking noises. Moony, who was not typically a vocal lover, moaned and whimpered constantly, just like on the single occasion we'd risked heat sex (with protection of course). Her head was turned to one side so she could watch me as I went and I took the opportunity to kiss her when I could, but the awkward way she had to tilt her neck meant she couldn't hold that position for long, and I had to settle for mauling the nape of her neck instead, not that she minded.
Every lust-filled thrust made our bodies collide and her fluids quickly soaked into my coat around the base of my shaft, Which was a plus as far as I was concerned. Her wings brushed against my sides and added another layer of pleasure on top of everything else. I would've tried to use telekinesis to help her even more, but as blurry as my mind was I didn't trust myself with it. Besides, if I was any judge I didn't think she'd last long enough for it to matter anyway. She confirmed this for me a second after the thought popped into my head.
"Books, I'm getting close." She panted, screwing her face up and closing her eyes tightly, a surefire sign that she was, indeed, about to blow. Then came the slightly frustrating part, I had to slow down.
Counterintuitive though it may have seemed, she didn't like it fast when she was close, just the opposite. Instead of doing what my hindbrain-level instincts wanted me to do I had to slow things down and focus on keeping things steady. So I cut my pace in half, but started hilting myself every single time as opposed to the quick in-and-out I had been doing earlier. She moaned in desperate approval and turned to make eye contact with me again. I loved to watch her finish and she knew it. I felt the head of my cock starting to flare and I knew it wouldn't be long for me either, but I was determined to make sure she finished first to I held myself back with every ounce of willpower at my disposal.
A few gloriously tension-filled moments later I was rewarded by an eager look blossoming on Moony's face followed shortly by her whole body seizing up tight. Her breath hitched as her expression changed to one of absolute rapture and she made a long, ululating sound that was part moan, part laugh, and part relieved sigh. Then she wilted down into a puddle of satisfaction and gave me a grateful smile. Then she nodded, my signal that it was okay for me to do what I had to do to finish.
I returned the smile and with a groan of my own I upped my pace for just a second, which was all I needed to go over the edge. Warmth quickly built up deep in my loins and a few thrusts later I pushed myself in to the hilt and stayed there, sighing happily as I plateaued. Bliss clouded my mind and my eyes practically crossed as I finished harder than I had in a long, long time. I squirted three times, filling her up with a generous amount of my fluid before the rush abruptly faded and I nearly fell over.
"Sweet diarchs that was good." I rasped out after I found my voice again, staying inside her.
"You're telling me." She replied with a slightly-winded laugh. "I feel like I just got a heat quenched, except I don't have to worry about foals."
"Tiring though." I admitted, still trying to catch my breath.
"Mmm." She agreed, moving a little. I obligingly got off her and wordlessly levitated a post-coital towel over to her from the stash we kept near the bed and then got one for myself. A quick cleaning interlude later and she started burrowing into the blankets, making a fine mess of them as usual. When she was firmly established in the middle of her nest I joined her, happily allowing her to wrap herself around me like an oversized stuffed animal. "Ooh, you're really warm."
"Uh huh." I mumbled, already half asleep. Normally I didn't flop over and pass out after sex, but then again I didn't get blood drawn before our usual sessions either. A few quick telekinetic tugs later and I completed our typical cocoon. All four quilts tucked haphazardly around us, creating an impermeable shield against the chill that Moony hated so much. Wings and legs wrapped around me snugly and some rustling behind me let me know that she had pulled a portion of blanket up over her head like a hood, as was her habit. "Pretty warm."
"Sleepy?" She asked rhetorically, kissing my neck.
"Mmmhmm." I was barely hanging onto consciousness.
"Go ahead and sleep sweetheart." She whispered lovingly, squeezing me tight. "I love you."
"Love you too." I managed as my eyes closed.
The last thing that passed through my mind before sleep claimed me was an overwhelming sense of safety and security. I was being watched over by my mate, and I knew nothing could get to me so long as I was wrapped up in her loving embrace. I tried to stay awake as long as possible, just to wallow in the sensation of peace I felt, but it was a doomed effort, and within minutes I fell into one of the deepest and most restful sleeps I had in years.