Living in Equestria

Princess Celestia's horn flared to life in the darkened passageway under her castle, revealing the narrow stone corridor of forgotten holding cells that had gone mostly unused since the time they were built. Cobwebs and dust coated everything except for a narrow track of hoofprints that were freshly made on the floor, leading to the first cell from the bottom of the stairs. Rarely in this land was there ever a call to use the royal prison... usually matters sorted themselves out in the districts long before a pony would need to be placed here.

It had been many days since the unfortunate events surrounding Rattius Fink's death in the furnaces of the weather factory and Celestia had not taken her role in it lightly. It weighed on her mind greatly to know that her anger had gotten the better of her, allowing the paralysis spell to leave her horn when a simple holding one would have kept him alive. Fink may have been a criminal, but she still mourned the death of anypony. Celestia was a believer that life was the greatest gift of all.

Whipwind had been handed over to her as soon as the mayor had found out the connection between Fink and Whipwind. No longer was Clousdale interested in getting their conviction given the circumstances and Ponyville felt the same way. They both differed their judgements to whatever the royal court decided.

She had also been keeping an eye on Whipwind's wife, Nightleaf. The poor mare had been held hostage by his violence and threats, addicted to Sarin root and little more than a mindless pawn in a much larger game than she could ever imagine. Rather than punish her with more isolation for her role of allowing the abuse of her daughter to happen, Celestia and the mayors of both Cloudsdale and Ponyville voted that she needed help.

Cadence offered to take Nightleaf to the Crystal Empire even before Celestia had finished telling her the story. Her long relationship with Twilight and knowledge of Scootaloo's plight made the ruler of the Crystal Empire leap at the chance to help the troubled pegasus return to her former self. Of course she would nurse the broken pegasus back to health, Cadence had said. Physically and mentally. Celestia could only hope The Flock would forget about her and let the mare live the rest of her life in peace.

The Flock.

Celestia's brow creased with worry at the thought of the ancient ideology that had threatened the way of harmony between the races of all creatures in this world since recorded history. Their power and influence ebbed and flowed with the centuries, driven by the generations and rise and fall of leaders that possessed the charisma to focus their scattered religion. They believed the pegasi were superior to all forms of life... and were once again becoming active.

But there was nothing The Flock could do now to help the member who had become too vocal for his own good, Whipwind. There was a special place already picked out for him in the royal garden, imprisoned as a living statue in a dead end row of simple green hedges. But the princess must follow the protocols and have his formal trial, granting him his final request for an audience... provided the ponies he wished to speak with would hear him.

All protocols aside, Princess Celestia wanted answers more than anything. The Flock was rising once again... and the answers she wanted was why she was here.

The heavy door of Whipwind's cell responded instantly to her magic, opening at the slight touch of her horns power. Inside the black chamber beyond was the frozen form of the former Wonderbolt, cast in alabaster with the exception of his very much alive eyes that stared fixedly out with rapidly shrinking pupils at the oncoming light.

He regarded her with a hate that could be felt in his eyes burning like living lava. Celestia wasn't surprised in the slightest. Her magic flared again and the chains that had lain lifeless on the cold stone floor, forgotten by the ages, sprang to life with a sudden chime. Manacles snapped shut over the alabaster ends of Whipwind's four legs and then drew taunt with a metallic clang that rang loudly in the close walls of the holding cell. Another slipped around the his middle and when she was satisfied, Celestia raised her head dramatically to pulse magic out in a radiating light.

Whipwind's body slowly regained it's color, the orange and purple coloring of his hair became vibrant again before his form took on the supple movement of a living being. He only had a split second to relax before being lifted off the ground, the chains pulling all four of his legs tight to hold him spread eagle mid air facing Celestia.

"Whipwind." Celestia's voice echoed in the stony silence surrounding the lower hall, "The court of the royal princesses will be gathered soon to judge your fate. Be thinking of what you would say to us and who you wish to be present for your audience."

Despite being encased in living stone for the last few months, the ex Wonderbolt lacked none of his former vitriol for the ruler of Equestria.

"Hello, Bitch..." he sneered.

Celestia took it all in stride, not bothering to acknowledge him before her magic lashed out with a red pulse, seizing his testicles in a vice-like grip that caused him to wince with pain.

"Tell me, Whipwind... Who's leading The Flock this time?" The bringer of daylight's voice was cold and merciless.

The interrogation had begun.

_______________________________________________

Luckily, the cider bar downstairs next to our motel served food and lacked the seedy atmosphere of the place we were staying. It was narrow and long inside, with a wooden bar taking up the right half and small booths lined along the right. Several ponies sat at the bar, drinking out of tall mugs and generally ignoring the world around them as they brooded in the warm light of the globes glowing overhead.

Night had fallen some time ago and we had decided to eat here before going to sleep. Twilight and I sat at an empty booth across from each other and were immediately set on by a golden mare wearing an apron. Her eyes lingered on me for a moment before she spoke with a reasonably friendly voice.

"Hey folks, what can I get ya?" she smiled.

"Cider and a menu?" I said.

"Sounds good, and for you, purple princess?" she winked at Twilight.

"Uh... I'll... I guess I'll have a cider too! Why not!" Twilight Sparkle said, ignoring my shocked look.

"Kay, back in a second!" the gold mare turned and walked away.

Twilight noticed the expression on my face and reacted with a bruised reply. "What! I like to live on the edge occasionally!"

We started to talk about what we were going to do tomorrow when the mare returned with two large mugs filled with amber liquid and the menu. The cider was ice cold, but didn't taste as sweet as the stuff Applejack made and it burned harshly down my throat, landing in my belly with a warm tingle.

Twilight took a small sip of hers and coughed. "Eeeghh... " she said.

"You don't like it?" I asked as I looked over the dismal menu. More greens...

"S-strong! I've only ever had Applejack's before..."

The mare returned to take our food order and after she left, we went over the plan for tomorrow. Twilight suggested we drop our bags off at the check in station and get a room reserved on the train for the way back. That way, our stuff would be waiting for us when we boarded and we'd have a room ready. It made sense, it was going to be a long flight there and carrying our bags didn't sound like a good idea. Other than that, we really didn't have much more to go on, neither of us knew what to expect at the Badlands tomorrow.

Our food quickly arrived, a disappointing mix of roasted carrots, corn cob and a baked potato. Somehow Twilight and I both managed to drain about half of our mugs already and as I thought about how difficult tomorrow was probably going to be, something occurred to me.

"Hey... did you ever ask Celestia if she knew anything about Spike's problem?" I asked, rubbing my nose that had gone a little numb from the drink.

Twilight's horn about lost it's grip on the carrot it was holding, her eyes widening with shock. "What?! No... I couldn't ask Celestia about something like that!"

"Why not?" I said with a shrug, "Seems perfectly reasonable if you ask me... might have saved us a trip down here." I said, digging into the cob of corn. It was pretty good, actually. Salty and buttery.

"Celestia has bigger things to worry about... besides, Spike is my responsibility, remember?"

"Well, if we don't have any luck tomorrow, You're probably going to have to ask her. Maybe she knows something?"

"Asking Celestia about Spike's Feracity is the last thing I want to do!" her eyes sank to the plate in front of her.

I guess I couldn't blame her for that, but the general subject had brought up something else I'd been meaning to ask her for a while and the cider had taken just enough of the awkwardness out of it.

"Hey Twilight... can I ask you something?" The purple alicorn shrugged, taking a mouthful of carrot, "Is there a spell that keeps stallions from getting mares pregnant?" I asked as nonchalantly as possible.

Twilight choked. "Mason!"

"What? Scootaloo and I were talking about this a while ago after she got pregnant, she said you might know one."

Twilight's eyes watered from her sudden choking fit. She grabbed her mug of cider and gulped down the considerable amount that was left before continuing.

"I- I've read the spell before... yes."

"Great! Can you cast it on me? How long does it last? Does it hurt?" I asked eagerly.

"Mason... I don't think you want me to do that..." she shook her head with denial.

"Why not! Twilight... I don't want to get anypony else pregnant! If we get back to Ponyville and somepony like Pinkie pops up again needing my help, I'd rather not worry about having another foal!"

"No... I get it, it's just..."

"It's just what!?"

"How's the food, guys!" the gold mare had materialized beside our table again, perfectly derailing us.

"Fine..." I lied with a smile.

"And you?" she turned to Twilight who was looking ill.

"Ehh... turns out I'm not all that hungry..." she muttered and slid the plate towards the mare.

"Aww... well how about I top those mugs off for ya?" she offered exuberantly.

"No thanks." Twilight said and got up, a small pile of bits materializing on the table. "I'm going back to the room... I don't think I feel well."

I looked at her, worried something was wrong and quickly determined the gulping of half a mug of cider must have hit her pretty hard. Her eyes were watery and she walked on unsteady hooves.

Crap... Twilight had gotten herself shitfaced. I couldn't suppress a smile as I got up to follow her.

"Come on, Sparklehead..." I put an arm around her neck to steady her, smiling at the mare as we left. "Thanks.. it was great!"

"No problem! Come back anytime!" she answered as I lead the worsening princess out the door.

"Oooh... Mason I 'member why I don't... don't... you know..." she slurred as we entered the lobby of the motel.

"Well ya probably shouldn't have chugged half the mug at once, for starters..." I joked with her.

The stallion behind the cage was gone thankfully, and we passed nopony on the way to the room. Twilight leaned heavily against me while I opened the door and then weaved her way to the bed, landing with a poorly aimed belly flop on top of it. Her purple legs splayed out in four directions with one hanging off the edge of the bed, her wings half opened and flapped weakly against the air.

"Shunshine... shunshine... laady bugz awake..." she mumbled, the dark thatch of her tail swished back and forth with each word.

"You... gonna be OK?" I said standing behind her, unsure of just what the hell to do with a drunken alicorn at the moment.

She rolled to her side, looking up at me and waving a hoof lazily to beckon me towards her. "C'mere Mason..."

"Twilight... you're smashed." I said, grabbing the rear hoof that was hanging off and lifting up onto the bed for her. Off of one mug of cider too! I thought to myself.

"Sooo!" she protested. "I'mma princess... ya have to do what I say... right?" Twilight squinted one eye shut and pointed in my general direction with her hoof. Her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth as she concentrated on aiming the unruly, wavering appendage at me just right.

"No, your a drunk princess who's going to regret it in the morning." I countered as I moved to the other side of the bed, resigning myself to more Daring Do for the evening while she passed out. I kinda wanted to explore outside a bit, but I wasn't going to leave her alone in this shady place.

Twilight did get her wish of me to come to her though, as soon as I lay down with my back propped up against the wall to read a bit, the bed's horrible state caused Twilight's limp form to roll into me with her head landing on my lap, her horn narrowly missed gouging my arm a good one.

"The room keepsh moving..." she mumbled with her eyes closed after she settled down again.

"Yep..."

"Make it shtop... pleassse?"

I couldn't help but smile with sympathy at the poor girl. The bedspins were bad enough without actually spinning in it like she just did. I took my hand away from holding the closed book and let it drop to stroke along the soft fur of her neck. She whimpered and rubbed the side of her cheek against my furry leg. I wondered suddenly if she'd ever had any anypony touch her like this. Probably not...

I continued for a while, moving her dark mane out of the way and then rubbing lower along her side and shoulder. I could feel the muscles and tendons under the fragrant fur relaxing as I did and soon her breathing became deeper and even as if she'd fallen asleep. But when I removed my hand, she whined in protest, snuggling her head into my lap further.

"Nooo.... mmmore pleash..." her thick lips were not letting words come out clearly.

I wasn't going to take advantage of her. Not like this as and do something she'd probably be mad at me for tomorrow when she was sober, but I figured a little horn rub wasn't too far out of bounds. She'd probably enjoy it.

The purple, spiraled shaft with speckles of something that glittered embedded in it was hanging over the far side of my lap, much longer than Sweetie Belle's had been... and much more pointed as well. As soon as my finger made contact with the tip, Twilight Sparkle sucked in a deep breath and let it out with a sigh.

I traced a finger gently in the small groove that wound its way around it, starting from the sharp end and moving down to her forehead where the purple fur tufted out around the base, feeling the rough texture grabbing at the skin on my finger like fine sandpaper. When I finally put my whole hand around it and gave the horn a gentle squeeze, Twilight's whole body writhed slightly.

"Wh...oah..." she breathed.

Slowly, I slid my hand along its length from the base to the tip several times. She was smiling, I could see it on the corner of her muzzle just visible under the flop of dark mane that half covered her face. She moaned once... then twice... then began to shift her back legs against the bed with increasing movements the longer I kept going as if she was ramping up to something. I didn't know if rubbing a horn like this could cause a pony to climax but it appeared she was headed that way based off of her reactions.

Just when she seemed to reach a critical point of whatever she was feeling, Twilight suddenly jerked away from me, scraping the sharp edge of her hoof painfully against my palm and drawing a red line of blood there. She flopped off the bed and rose to her hooves on the floor with an unsteady wobble, her eyes closed in concentration.

"Twilight?" I asked with confusion.

"Shhh!" she said harshly, just before her horn began to glow with a small, white light. She concentrated more and the light grew to envelop her body, sinking into her fur and then disappearing completely. Her purple body remained motionless for a moment and when she eventually opened her eyes, they were clear and steady.

"There..." she said with a satisfied smile and gave a relieved sigh. "That's much better, nothing like a good cleansing spell to knock some sense into a pony, right? I gotta admit..." she gave an awkward laugh, "...you about had me going there!"

"Cleansing spell? Going there? I don't even..."

"Mason, I know there's no possible way you would be interested in giving me a horn job unless it was out of pity because I was feeling so bad. Now, I know it's my fault for drinking that cider so quickly but you shouldn't have to do something that because of my oversight. I'm sorry." Twilight said with a matter-of-fact tone from the side of the bed.

I stared at her for a moment before the meaning behind her words sank in... and for some reason, she irritated me with it. "Twilight... I seriously can't tell sometimes if you're just clueless or suffering from some mental disease."

"Huh?!" her face twisted at me.

"I get that you haven't had much experience with sex... or even being intimate with somepony. But why can't you just accept that somepony just might actually want to be close to you and doesn't care about your image issues!"

"Image issues!" she flared, "What are you..."

"Yeah! Image issues. You've done nothing but doubt yourself lately and now, when you've got your head in my lap enjoying a horn rub or job or whatever you call it... you can't even allow yourself the pleasure!"

"It's not about that!" she stamped her hoof in protest.

"Then what it's it?!"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"Try me! I'm game for a mind blowing experience here, Twilight, because from where I'm sitting, you've got nothing to beat yourself up about. You're powerful, smart, loved by everypony and pretty damn nice to look at on top of it. What am I missing?"

Her face remained fixed on me with the last traces of her anger fading. Her ears, that had been rigid and pointed at me, twisted to the side and fell against her head, mimicking the motion of her eyes. Twilight Sparkle sat back on her haunches, looking deflated.

"Mason... becoming a princess is the last thing I ever expected to happen to me. I'm afraid if I'm not hard on myself... I'll let everypony down. I quit doubting myself for a while and look what happened! Scootaloo got hurt and I ignored Discord's warning about Spike. That just proves that I can't ever let up."

"Yeah... but you can't be that way all the time... otherwise you're just a stick in the mud for everypony else!" I said as gently as I could.

"But I'm a princess..." her eyes shimmered a little.

"So? Do you really think the others are so hard on themselves whenever they think they've made a mistake?"

"They don't make mistakes..." she shook her head in denial.

My jaw actually dropped a little bit and I slid over to her side of the bed to sit on the edge in front of her. "You're saying you honestly believe that Celestia doesn't make mistakes? That's ridiculous. And you're ridiculous for trying to hold yourself up to that stupid idea..." I said, gesturing with my hand. It was the same one she had cut with her horn and she must have seen the streak of red that crossed the palm because one of her forelegs came up, the hoof facing the ceiling.

"Gimme your hoof..." she said quietly, still wearing that sad, defeated expression.

"What?"

"Give me your hoof... er, hand. You're hurt..." Twilight's horn lit with that gentle blue light of healing I'd encountered more than once in my time here.

I held my hand out for her, palm up and she supported it from underneath with her own. Frowning with the difficult conversation we had been having, she looked down and let her horn's light move to me. The stinging warmth I felt there quickly subsided and the red line faded into the plain flesh color of the surrounding skin. Twilight didn't drop her leg though, she continued to look down at my open hand even after the healing light of her magic had ceased.

"I guess I am being ridiculous..." she said softly, "I know that Celestia makes mistakes all the time. I just want to impress them so much that I think every little failure of mine is a major disappointment. I guess I think that goes for all my friends too..."

I sat in silence for a moment, thinking about everything that has happened to me since Twilight's magic had accidentally brought me here. With a sudden change of perspective, I realized that my presence had also caused a lot of ponies to have good things happen to them as well.

"Twilight, just because you make a mistake... it doesn't always mean it's wrong. If you hadn't opened that portal that brought me here, Scootaloo might still be trapped in that house. What about Sweetie's cutie mark? Wilson and Rarity becoming friends, The new foal on the way... They all happened because you made a mistake. You can't beat yourself up over every one and push ponies away because of it."

The alicorn took a deep breath but didn't raise her head. When she didn't move, I brought my healed palm up to her cheek and gently placed it against the warm fur beside her muzzle. Twilight then looked up, her deep purple eyes searching my my own for a moment before taking a slow and almost reluctant step forward. She stopped, took another breath... and then stepped forward again between my legs, sliding her head slowly over my shoulder and leaning into me, using her chin to pull me close.

"You're a good friend, Mason..." she said as I brought my arms up to embrace the bookish girl around her neck, my hands coming to rest on the joint where her wings connected to her back. Twilight's mane covered my face and was drowning me in her lavender, pony smell that when mixed with her warmth and firm feel against me, caused my cock to grow suddenly in my shorts. I stroked her wing joints as I let the feeling of arousal sink into me for a while, ready to act with initiative when she pulled back a little to put her muzzle inches from my face.

"My legs are trembling. There's a weird scent coming from you that's making me feel...something. I never noticed it before..." her purple eyes danced with nervousness when she whispered this to me.

I leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away from me. "Mason... I- I don't think that's a good idea. I feel like if we started doing that now, something might happen..."

"Like what?" I said softly, brushing a strand of her dark mane from her face.

"I'm not in heat, Mason. There's no reason for us to be acting like this, is there?" Twilight shook her head gently, her eyes never leaving mine, "It doesn't feel right unless there's a need for it..."

"You don't have to be in heat to enjoy whats happening, do you?"

"I... I just feel strange about this. Look... can we just go to bed? I'm not mad or anything. I just..." her face went rigid with frustration, "Errh! This is so awk-ward and why I don't ever try this stuff in the first place!" she finished this last part almost to herself.

I gave her my best shrug of indifference. "Alright, Sparklehead. Sleep it is then."

Twilight let a small sigh of relief out and she visibly relaxed. I was admittedly a bit disappointed, but then again if she wasn't going to be comfortable with it, then what would the point be?

She did allow me to take her into my arms once we'd settled with the lights off, however. It was the only way we would be able to sleep anyways being forced together like we were by the bed's horrible condition. I spooned her from behind, letting my hand drape over her barrel and onto her chest. Twilight burrowed into me with a happy snuggle and that was how we fell asleep.

I don't know how long we slept, but when the thumping noise coming from the other side of the wall woke me up, it was still dark. Only a moment of confusion existed before my brain registered what that sound was, made all the more obvious by the moaning of two voices, a low male and a higher female, coming through clearly.

I also felt Twilight moving slightly. The leg immediately under my arm was shifting slightly with a slow rhythmic motion and her deep breaths were ragged, catching every few seconds in time with the movements of her leg. Her wings pressed against me as if they desperately wanted to escape the confines they were in. My cock knew what was happening almost before my brain did. Twilight was rubbing herself in the darkness, listening to the couple who apparently were fucking their brains out on the other side of the wall!

I lay motionless and felt her body gradually tensing up, but her leg never moved faster or changed angles. When she eventually let a tiny squeak of pleasure escape her lips, she froze and held her breath for a moment, presumably to see if I would wake up.

"You want some help?" I whispered into her mane and slid my hand south along her leg where it was socked into the warm, steamy crook between her rear legs.

Twilight's whole body went rigid.

"I get it... they sound like they're really having a good time next door..." I smiled into her neck. She was boiling hot down there.

"No... I... I swear I never did this before... It's not what you think!" Twilight rolled on her back and after a brief awkward adjustment between the two of us to accommodate her rigid wings, we settled back down with me laying along her side.

"I was scratching an itch... and then... Oh Celestia, this is so embarrassing! Can we please just forget about this?!"

"What... with this racket going on?" I nodded towards the wall. As if to make my point the female voice gave a grunting urge for her partner to go deeper. Twilight gradually relaxed her back legs to let them fall open, letting my hand slide down over the pillow-like mounds of her teats.

"J- just your hoof..." her head shook against the mattress under the cascade of dark mane under her head. "...I'm not ready to mate yet."

"Sure" I said.

"Maybe when I get my next est-RUS!" she cried out suddenly, slapping both of her front legs against the bed beneath her and arching her back tight when my fingertips finally brushed over one of the hard bumps of her teat. I didn't stop to give her a chance to get nervous again... seconds later, the soaking wet slit of Twilight Sparkle's pussy was under my hand.

"Oh... oh my gosh..." she panted and I hadn't even done anything yet. In the room next door, things were reaching their dramatic conclusion with a male voice giving a loud bark of pleasure just before the thumping stopped.

"You're pretty jumpy... you know that?" I whispered to her, kissing her cheek.

She swallowed hard and licked her lips. "Y-you would be too if it was your first time letting s-somepony touch you..." Twilight gave a nervous laugh that was cut off when I pressed my fingers between the fleshy ridges of her sex and into her boiling passage. Her smell wafted up to me like a rolling fog of arousal.

It was over in seconds. As soon as the tip of my middle finger found Twilight's hard nub of a clit buried between the soft, wet folds of her dripping heat, she immediately began to climb up into the spiraling crescendo of an orgasm. I probably only made about ten rotations around it before a low moan came from her muzzle.

"Ma... son... stop... I'm gonna pee!" she said.

"No you're not... just let it happen."

"I'm gonna... aaaahh!" she grunted and then snapped, the end of her horn threw a sudden, tiny white flurry of sparkles that fell against her forehead like glowing ants, dancing against her fur for a few seconds.

Her head beat against the mattress in time with her contractions while her back legs kicked out at the air. Wild grunting sounds came from her with the throbbing pulses I felt under my fingers that were buried between her snatch. I could feel the opening down there winking against the tip of my ring finger with an almost grotesque, erotic sensation as she writhed through her climax for several seconds before collapsing against the bed.

I let Twilight recover before I pulled my soaking wet fingers out of her body's crease. Unable to stop myself, I brought them up to my lips and tasted the slippery fluid with my tongue, only to pull them back quickly when her juices tingled on my lips like carbonated soda.

"There... was that so bad?" I asked her.

"Mmm..." came her sleepy, smiling reply. Twilight lazily reached for me and pulled me into a snuggle.

I settled down against her and pulled her into an embrace that she returned. My own arousal was screaming for release but I pushed the thought down. She'd just let somepony give her an orgasm for the first time... I'm sure that's enough of an accomplishment for her for one day.

Turns out I was right. She was asleep moments later.