Author's Note

Warning: contains inappropriate use of pastries, and alternate fillings.

I actually went out and bought myself a dozen doughnuts after writing about half of this. I'm still craving some, actually. I think I'll go grab another before I call it a night. Mmmm, maple-glazed doughnuts
Oh, and I'm in no way belittling or making light of depression. I just think both of them would be aware of such things at this stage of their lives.
Ctrl-f post to get to the action. You know, if you're impatient. I don't mind if you ignore my hard work

Kink 1: Depression is No Match for a Doughnut...or Twenty

Ares sat in his office, a frown on his muzzle as he reviewed the problems that had arisen from the admittance of the Equestrians into his country. For the most part there were minor complaints; one or two ponies demanding the arrest of a changeling or diamond dog on the accounts of their species being slavers, which he ignored. Then there were several complaints from the ponies that a nearby shopkeeper had been attempting to charge extremely inflated prices for the ponies as his stall was closest to the refugees' living areas. It was actually documented by several guards, so the shopkeeper would probably face fines; Ares had put out a decree against a certain level of inflation. Some inflation was expected, as that was just business, but there was a set limit for that and a changeling guard had even overheard the store owner making disparaging remarks about the 'damned grazers'.

The stallion narrowed his eyes as he read the name. Auto was a diamond dog that had originally been a berserker for his pack before they dispersed into the city, and this wasn't the first time the dog had tried to cause him trouble. The first time he'd literally walked right up to the castle, demanding that Ares step off his throne as 'Stupid ponies not strong enough to be Alpha'. A week in intensive care had prevented the idiot from challenging the stallion's rule a second time, but that didn't stop him from causing trouble other ways.

"Charge him the usual fine for ignoring a decree. I'm honestly not even surprised he's causing problems at this point, but at least he's not trying to challenge their right to live here anymore." Ares told a guard, handing off the signed writ against the diamond dog. The young drake took it with a grin, already used to dealing with this particular trouble maker, and sauntered off to make a certain dog's life miserable.

A knock on the door didn't even draw his eye from his paperwork, merely a 'It's open' and a dark mutter about paperwork in general. Looking up as he attempted to sort through the chaos, he met the eyes of a purple alicorn, the mare obviously not certain about her presence in his office. Which was odd as she'd been the one to request a meeting in such informal circumstances.

"What's up, Sparkle?"

"I was wondering if you'd spoken to P-Celestia lately. She's been real quiet, and I'm not sure what's wrong with her. It's been almost a week already, and she's still not really doing anything," the mare explained while dragging a fetlock against her alternate cannon.

The stallion sighed, putting off the papers and shuffling them into a somewhat less embarrassing mess. The librarian-turned-princess-turned-refugee's eye twitched slightly at the mess on his desk, but she managed to focus on the problem at hoof. Ares shook his head; it was as sure a sign as any that Twilight was worried for her mentor.

"It's called depression, Twilight. We all fall into it once or twice; even your friend Pinkie ended up depressed a few times in the past. Most of the time it's nothing big, and it would just be called 'being depressed. Sometimes though, there's a bit more to it than that. This has been a bit of a shock to you, moving here, right? Helping all your people try to settle in, to try and make something of themselves?"

The mare nodded silently, and he continued.

"Celestia has had two things throughout most of her lifetime. She lost one just over a thousand years ago, but knew one day her sister would be back. Since then, she put her heart and soul into turning Equestria from a couple of ponies working together to survive into the global powerhouse that it was. Make no mistake, the griffons and minotaurs have no idea what they've done economically. In the coming years, there will be shortages of food, manufactured goods, high-end magical devices, all kinds of things. We're pretty self-sufficient and we just got a big influx of farmers in the form of refugees, but the rest of the world is co-dependent even if their rulers state otherwise. Griffons have been importing food from Equestrian farmers for years now, and while they managed to raid your farmlands for a limited boost, that's going to dry up faster than a puddle in the desert."

"That's what some of the others here have said," Twilight said quietly. "The griffons, dragons, and diamond dogs I've spoken to here just kind of shake their head when I ask them about it, about why they're here instead of in their home countries. Some actually sat down and told me their stories, others just ask that I don't bring it up around them anymore. One thing that's been bothering me though; why is everyone here so tense lately? I know my, our ponies have been the cause of some friction, but it doesn't match up to how bad it feels."

"It's not something you'd think about, being from a land of plenty like Equestria, but what happens when the food runs out, Twilight?" he asked her. "What do you think the griffons will do when they realize that they're going to starve, and there's another country right in the forested mountains to the deep south of them? They're going to go to war again. They're going to try to keep going, as their leaders are shortsighted. They fill their bellies and their population explodes on pillaged food, but that won't keep them going forever. Soon they'll learn the truth, and there will be death. There will be starvation, sickness, riots, likely even civil war. But before that happens, there will be another war, one against any state that has the resources they need that they think is weak. They just booted three alicorn's from a well-fortified area, so what do you think they're going to do when they hear about one alicorn ruling a prosperous country?"

The mare slowly nodded, understanding filling her eyes.

"They'll target us, target you. They'll try to use the fact that Celestia and Luna weren't able to win as a reason why they can beat you as well."

"War will be coming to our doorstep very soon, Twilight. Likely within the next year. If there's one thing Celestia did well when she was in power, it was keep everyone in check. There were no problems like this, because her connection to the sun made her one of the most powerful creatures on the planet. If she is killed now though, the sun will still rise and fall. With the sun and moon moving on their own, unicorns aren't needed either. The griffons and their allies see no reason to hold back anymore.

"Back to Celestia though. Equestria was her life's work, and she just watched it fall apart behind her, watched over a thousand years of blood, sweat, and tears crumble into the dust. She still has her friends, her sister, and many of her subjects that survived, but technically they're my subjects now. She's living on borrowed time, and she's feeling the pressure."

"I know she's sad, but there's got to be something I can do!" Twilight shouted, immediately recoiling and rubbing her cannon once more. "Sorry, I just, I can't stand knowing she's doing this. She's not even eating right now, just sitting in her bed all day. Your guest bed, actually. By the sun, you're right. We really don't have much of anything right now."

"None of that now, I don't need all three of you falling into that pit. Luna's passing the time at the moment in the library, I'm sure you could read some books there as well. We have all kinds of things on the different species that live here, the cultural differences, the..." Ares trailed off, looking at the mare's irritated scowl as she looked around his office distractedly. A grin split his muzzle and he leaned over his desk, placing his hooves on it and came within a few inches of the mare's face.

"How would you like to help me out?" he asked her. "I see you looking at all of this in irritation, and I remember reports of you being absolutely manic when it came to organization. I'll work on Celestia for the next few days, and you Twilight Sparkle, will return the favor by helping me clean this mess up. This problem has been building for several centuries now, and the addition of the refugees has only exacerbated the problem. You find me a simple, organized way to do this, emphasis on simple mind you, and then you go through the files and condense them to be less wordy, as I know politicians tend to write all of their stuff in legalese, and I'll hire you on as an official historian, researcher, and secretary."

Twilight boggled for a moment at the offer before turning suspicious.

"Why would you trust me with that? What would stop me from, from giving you falsified information."

"Your need for precision and accuracy on anything you do, mostly," Ares responded with a chuckle. "You pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. I believe you'd be more than happy to take this task, especially when it will help your own people learn that they can adapt to this change. The refugees are scared Sparkles, and seeing one of their princesses moving on and participating in the government of their new home will be the kick in the pants they need. The others are depressed, though Luna's fighting it in her own way by burying herself in research, and the ponies are going to be looking to you; watching how you react. If you fall to depression as well, and publicly at that, things could collapse very quickly for the ex-Equestrians."

The purple alicorn chewed her bottom lip for a moment, her eyes tracking over the office and then roving to the door, remembering just how many beings were working in the city's record offices. Being in charge of it all nearly caused her to giggle in excitement; so many checklists, so much research to make sure she wasn't running over old laws and regulations. It would likely take her at least four days to get through all the laws and rules the stallion had set up to prevent fraud and abuse of the system, much less actually begin sorting through an ever-growing pile of forms and regulations.

By the time she turned back to the larger alicorn, Ares was wearing a toothy smile, absolutely certain he had the mare right where he wanted her, and where she wanted to be. Twilight sighed in defeat, nodding.

"Yes, I'll do it. I think you knew that I'd say yes the second you asked, didn't you?"

"One thing you'll learn over time is that the best way to get people to do what you want, is to make them want to do it. I want help with this, and I'll even give an already sweet deal an unnecessary injection of sugar," the white alicorn said, leaning to whisper into the mare's ear.

"The entirety of the library and science labs are at your disposal. Just ask before you try anything that could blow up, or pursue anything Celestia had previously nixed without explaining. She was overly cautious in some areas, but there are certain things that don't need study, like mind control and demonic summoning. I don't need a nameless horror trampling my city because you were curious."

With that he trotted to the door, stopping only when Twilight recovered enough to ask his destination.

"I'm off to Glazed Bun's bakery," he called back as he slowed for a moment. "I have a depressed mare to visit, and a national treasure to restore to its former glory. I think a couple dozen doughnuts would be a good start for both projects."

<-(0)->

When the occupant of the room didn't answer after the sixth knock on the door, Ares popped the lock and entered anyway. Depression wasn't something he was going to ignore, not when he'd nearly fallen to it so many times himself. Walking into the room while levitating two large boxes of fresh doughnuts, the stallion grinned wolfishly at the mare laying on the bed. For her part, Celestia just gave him a quick glance before she zoned out once more, staring off at a wall.

'No, this won't do at all,' he thought.

"I heard from a certain purple encyclopedia that you haven't even bothered to eat. I'm disappointed, Tia. You're not going to make my restoration project easy, are you?" Ares chided, hopping up onto the matress beside her and setting the boxes on the floor before the bed.

The alabaster alicorn looked at the boxes forlornly, then eyed him with a simple look of irritation.

"I locked the door for a reason, Ares."

"Oh, I know. But I also know that sometimes you get depressed, and I need to do something to keep you going. I don't have to go through other methods this time though. I can walk right up to you, give you a hug," he explained, doing so with a wing while he pulled a doughnut from the box and taking a few bites," and then I can feed the lovely lady some well-deserved comfort food."

"Well deserved. Right," Celestia muttered. "My country is in ruins because I, because-"

"Because you lost a good portion of your power to the stupidity of another," Ares finished. "You can't blame yourself for not being able to figure out everything, Tia. You and I both know what happens when people do that; it doesn't end well."

"It doesn't change the fact that I could have done something, maybe if I'd paid more attention to the stallion, or put a few guards on Discord for his own safety.."

The grey alicorn rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm certain that would have gone well. I spoke to him a few times, you know. He thought my power base here was entertaining enough to warrant not mentioning it to you, and we had a few game nights over the years. I knew him fairly well actually, and I can tell you right now that he wouldn't have taken guards. Guards are symbols of order, and having them around would have just irritated him. He was very careful about that kind of thing you know. Symbolism, I mean. I even gave him something, a crystal necklace of a circle with arrows pointing in all directions. It was a joke, and he loved it, asked if it meant we were dating and everything. I tell you, that guy played a mean game of gay chicken."

Celestia frowned in concentration, calling up the memories despite the pain connected to them.

"I saw him wearing it once or twice, what was so funny about it?"

"The omnidirectional arrows are a symbol of chaos. By making it out of crystal, a symbol of order, I gave him a symbolic oxymoron. He thought it was hilarious."

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm out of a job. What's my new position, Ares? Concubine of the ruler of another country?" Celestia shot back, her weak smile at the mention of the stallion's friendship with Discord not being nearly enough to lift her mood.

"I think you're a little over-qualified for that, Tia," Ares answered, placing a warm kiss on her cheek. "Ruled a country for over a millennia successfully, in fact I daresay that if not for The Shift, Equestria would have lasted for a long time. Possibly longer than my own. I told sparkle-butt earlier, the fall of your country will be felt for years, and not in the good way. The griffons will face food shortages, while the minotaurs will not have access to any advanced magitech besides what they salvage from the factories and labs, and even then they'll not be able to do much to repair them as they've wiped out the means of production. Their short-sightedness will cause even more pain to themselves in the future, though I'm sure that's small comfort to you. You're also one of the oldest known spellcasters on the planet at the moment, and have hundreds of years of public affairs experience. You're a warrior, a politician, a mage, a teacher; the world is your oyster, to quote an old expression from home."

"For now though, I want you to think of this as a vacation. Try to relax, enjoy the quiet, maybe finish a few books you've been wanting to read but never had the time. Spend a few days just walking the city with your sister, go shopping with her, take Twilight to the spa, invite the Bearers over for a cooking night and sleepover. And remember, I dropped everything I held against you in the throne room last week. If you ever need to talk about something, and feel Luna or Twilight or any other being you know won't understand, give me a shot. I'd be happy to talk shop with you; maybe we can trade stories about how we put our respective countries together with our own four hooves someday?"

A weak smile appeared on the mare's muzzle, and Ares rubbed his nose against her cheek affectionately. The stallion opened the second box for Celestia, levitating two iced bars to the mare and taking a quick bite out of his own, waving a white-frosted pastry before her nose. The white alicorn took a tentative sniff of the treat and her eyes widened.

"Strawberry?"

"Yup. Strawberry filling and white icing. ~I've got a whole box of them, Tia~," he told her in a sing-song voice. "I know you're hungry, even if you won't admit it."

Celestia chewed her bottom lip, and Ares idly wondered if Twilight had picked up the habit from her mentor over the years. Just as she was about to refuse, a knock came from the door, and it was opened to reveal a single changeling servant walking in with a tea-cart. The drone pushed the cart just shy of their position before bowing and leaving, closing the door on the way out.

"Tea?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Naw, tea isn't something I normally drink with my doughnuts," Ares answered, pouring a steaming cup of happiness. He drank his hot chocolate, grinning at the hungry gurgle the other alicorn released at the gathered sights and smells.

'Step one, break her fast with a calorie explosion.'

The white mare took a tentative bite of the doughnut, releasing a hum of enjoyment even as he floated a warm cup of hot cocoa to her. She accepted it, drinking it with a bit more enthusiasm before returning to her doughnut, this time stuffing the rest of the treat in her mouth, her hunger finally winning out. She blinked a second later, her cheeks tinting pink as she looked to Ares, but he just grinned at her once more, floating another doughnut into her vision.

"I can only eat a few of these you know," Celestia muttered, taking a large bite of her second doughnut, already floating a third in her grip. "I'll get fat if I eat too many."

Ares just pulled her closer, nibbling her ear and earning a giggle from the mare before he responded.

"We'll just have to burn some of those extra calories another way, I suppose. Besides, you haven't eaten properly in a while. You're going to make up for that. I want to get the restoration project started post-haste."

"What restorEE!" her question cut off with a squeak as he stallion's horn blazed with power, the feeling of a warm aura kneading her flanks causing her to blush brightly even as she giggled at the attention. Ares rose from her side, moving behind her and trailing feather-light kisses along her cutie marks, emphasizing his focus even more as he floated yet another white-iced pastry over to her.

"I told you I'd get this thing in its pre-Shift condition, and I aim to do that Tia. Before it can be perfectly toned, though, it needs a nice layer to be the foundation of that sculpting you managed. After that, you can join me for my morning exercises to help burn off the extra."

"You were the envy of mares everywhere, you know. Your flanks were full, but not fat enough to start causing the rest of you to be overly corpulent. Ponies told me it was almost mesmerizing watching you trot along on your evening exercise. I snuck up to Canterlot once just to see it, and I have to say I was pretty tempted to jump you then and there."

He settled on the mare's back, trailing kisses up to her jaw. After reaching her jawline, he ran his tongue back down her neck, trailing back up and ending with another kiss that left the white alicorn shuddering. Even as she consumed her seventh strawberry-filled pastry, he wrapped his forelegs around her, pulling her onto his own barrel as he fell backwards onto the bed, a pile of pillows propping them up.

"I never had someone to play with like this, you know," Ares whispered into her ear, levitating yet another doughnut in front of her. He didn't let her eat it though, just surrounded it in his own aura. Her curiousity as to his reasoning was answered a moment later as it began leaking the filling in an obscene way, the stallion bringing the bar just shy of her muzzle.

Giggling at the sight, she began licking it sensuously, trailing her tongue all over the fried treat and eventually pulling it close enough to begin suckling on it, moaning as if she were enjoying it. She smirked even as she took it into her mouth, bobbing it in and out of her muzzle; she could feel the male behind her becoming aroused by her display. A few more sensuous licks, and she once more took the bar into her mouth, bobbing on the doughnut once more.

She felt Ares chuckle as much as heard it, and her eyes bulged in shock. She coughed and sputtered, wiping her muzzle with a hoof and rolling to strike the stallion with a hoof even as he rolled away from her, the doughnut still held in his aura; the doughnut that was now crushed by his magic, ejecting the filling into her throat.

"I couldn't help it, Tia. You were just doing such a good job, I got excited," Ares laughed, trotting around the bed to the pastry box. He placed it on the table, giving the bed some clearance before jumping back up onto it from the front. Celestia glared for a moment longer before grabbing another doughnut, this time using her magic to open the injection site wider, holding it in front of the grey alicorn expectantly.

Ares moved up to it, running his tongue around the outsides of the opening just as he'd done to her several days ago, before lapping slowly at the jelly inside. He hummed and chuckled, giving the faux-marehood a thorough tonguing and keeping his eyes on her the entire time. Celestia giggled, squeezing the entry hole of the doughnut once, twice, almost subconsciously in time with her own dampening needs clenching.

Pulling out of the doughnut, Ares smacked his lips before giving her a disappointed pout.

"I liked the real thing better. It didn't run out of filling."

Turning the doughnut to herself, she huffed as she inspected the empty shell.

"You ate all the filling out of my doughnut. What am I supposed to do with this now?" the white mare demanded in mock anger. For his part the stallion just stared at her in confusion.

"Eat it? If you don't want it' I'll-"

"No, you're going to fix this." Celestia said, pushing him onto his back and nuzzling his rigid protrusion. The mare began licking and kissing his rod, drawing a few sounds of pleasure from the stallion before she giggled, her horn glowing as she encompassed his orbs in a warm, roiling aura. Ares bucked, grunting as the intensity of the sensations doubled then tripled, causing him to moan even as his wings splayed against the bed. Tia continued her assault, running her tongue up and down his ever-stiffening sex before she saw him start to flare.

"Shit, Tia, if you don't stop I'm gonna-"

She ignored his pleas, giving a suckling kiss to his member even as her aura intensified further. He bucked against her, and she grinned lecherously as she made her move.

Ares blinked the haze from his vision as he came down from his orgasmic high, idly noting the mare was sitting on his barrel at the moment. Focusing on her, he noticed two things.

First, Celestia was no longer sad in the least. Instead, she was looking rather hungry. Not the 'I want food' kind of hungry either. Second, she was still holding the doughnut he'd licked clean of filling earlier, though at the moment it looked like it was dripping-

'Oh. Oh, wow, she-' the stallion's mind stuttered even as the mare took a bite out of the refilled doughnut. His eyes bugged a bit at the site, a slight trail of white dripping down her muzzle even as she floated it back to her mouth, finishing it easily. She cleaned the dripping fluids from her muzzle with her tongue, smacking her lips in satisfaction.

"Delicious," she purred, looking down on him with a wide smile.

Ares stared at her for a moment, letting the mare become slightly uncomfortable with the silence before speaking.

"Celestia, that was weird."

The white alicorn's muzzle instantly tinted a deep pink, and she looked away in shame, feeling she'd crossed a line. Before she could move off of his barrel, he reached up and pulled her tightly against himself, a grin of his own matching the one she'd just lost.

"And it was the sexiest thing I've ever seen anyone do," he said, kissing her.

Breaking the kiss, he stroked her muzzle with a hoof, and whispered in her ear, "I wasn't kidding when I said you could talk to me about anything, Tia. You get an idea you would like to try, let me know. I'm sure we could have a lot of fun."

"I, I'm sure I could think of a few things. For now though I, I just want..." Celestia frowned, raising her head a bit and looking back to her raised tail.

"I was going to say 'to cuddle', but I don't suppose you'd mind helping me out, would you?"

"I don't know Tia, I don't think I'm qualified for that kind of job," the grey alicorn chuckled. "I mean, I think it has more experience than I do."

The mare scowled at him, raising herself off of him with her forelegs.

"Are you calling me-"

"Experienced. Experienced is the word you're looking for."

With a haughty sniff, the mare fully raised herself, readying herself to move off of him to attain a suitable position. He stopped her though, pulling her back and using his aura to guide himself right into her need.

"What, why-"

"Just keep your forelegs like that, and move your hips. Have you never done this?" Ares asked in surprise.

"M-most of my attempts to find a-ah a mate were with ponies, and a stallion would be nuzzling my barrel if I laid down in this position. So no, I, I haven't tried this. I, I think I heard ponies mention this position, though."

Celestia continued to shift for a few moments, enjoying the feeling of how much each twist of her body pressed him into her, enjoying how she could let her weight push him deeper inside, and especially enjoying being able to keep his ring rubbing at the most sensitive points in her body. She soon found a simple, pleasurable rhythm, grinding for a moment before lifting off of him a bit, bouncing at the odd height with the aide of her wings. She then lifted a bit higher, just shy of losing her occupant before driving herself back down on the stallion, a wet slap echoing through the room at the impact.

She laughed at the sensation of Ares' bucking under her, placing a hoof on his muzzle and feigning irritation at his actions.

"I thought I was the more experienced here? Why are you trying to take over?"

The white mare lifted herself fully off the grey alicorn's cock, turning around and dropping her weeping sex right on his muzzle.

"Now I have to put you in your place. No pleasure till you get me off. I'd hurry, that erection looks awful lonely without me wrapped around it," she said with a giggle.

Ares wasted no time in grabbing her flanks and spreading them wide, driving his muzzle into her winking flower. He faintly heard her gasp, but with the pillows surrounding his ears it was muffled. Before long he was closing his eyes, the amount of nectar leaking from the mare surpassing his ability to consume it and leaving it dribbling down his muzzle and almost into his eyes. Noticing a faint glow coming from his horn, Tia gently swatted the stallions dick, earning a grunt and a sputtering of his horn.

"No magic, or I'll make it two," she threatened, the grin never leaving her face. As if in response, he began running his tongue over her bump repeatedly, causing her grin to evaporate as her eyes bulged, a loud moan escaping her throat. After a few more hits, she bucked down onto him, as if trying to drive his muzzle deeper into her pulsing canal. Growling in frustration, and knowing which position she preferred her peak in, she lifted off his face, twisted around, and used her magic to drive the stallion back into her sex.

"I thought you sa-"

She cut the grey alicorn off, pushing him into the bed with a deep kiss while bucking against him, feeling herself begin to spastically grip him with her dribbling pussy. With a muffled moan she clenched, pulling him tightly against her even as he twitched deep inside her body. Giving the mare a few more bucks into the air, though he didn't actually manage to change his depth of penetration, the stallion climaxed as well, emptying himself into her heat.

As they laid there, the mare sighed in contentment.

"I think I prefer my stallion-filling entering my body the proper way. It's definitely more fun," Celestia said, nuzzling into her mate's neck.

"Now we can cuddle."

Ares nodded, levitating a small clock over to himself to check the time.

"Dinner's in about three hours. We can cuddle for two, take a shower and get ready, then we'll have a nice dinner. I know a wonderful little spot in the gardens I think you'll love."

"I thought concubines don't get dates."

He wrapped his wings around her reassuringly, telling her "They don't. Sexy princesses who need more food do, though. They also get sun and fresh air, because the handsome stallion that's helping them is just so nice."

"I accept your offer, Lord Ares," Tia said, bringing her muzzle up to meet his own. "I expect it to at least meet the standards to which I am accustomed to."