Fugue - Volume 1

"Dear Huey,

It is wonderful to read that everything is okay in Canterlot. It is even better that you have been able to help Princess Luna, I had my worries too, but I did not wish to impose myself upon Princess Celestia's affairs.

Meanwhile, I have been busy with adventures of my own. After you left for Canterlot, I received a pair of tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala, a social event hosted by the princess every year. Suffice to say, being given two tickets, but having five friends, made the situation very distressing for myself. Before you begin to worry, I was eventually able to come to terms with the problem and learned a great deal about friendship in the process. I was given extra tickets so that all of my friends could come along to The Grand Galloping Gala, which definitely made their day! If you could pass on my gratitude and best wishes to the princess', that would be a great weight off my mind.

Best Wishes,
Twilight Sparkle

P.S: If you are curious about any of my findings regarding the magic of friendship, I am sure Princess Celestia will allow you to read the reports I sent to her."

Huey looked up from the letter at Princess' Luna and Celestia. After spending a while enjoying the twilight he had organised for them, the trio had decided to have breakfast together. During the wait for their food, he had quickly penned a letter to Twilight summarising his own adventures in Canterlot, after ensuring to omit any private details he had been made privy to by both monarchs before sending it.

"My student is such a kind soul," Celestia remarked as she sipped her tea. "I sometimes wonder whether she ever has any time to think about herself. Her studies or the needs of those she cares about have always been her priorities."

"We are certain that your prize pupil has the common sense to ensure that she does not deprive herself of their basic needs," Luna replied soothingly. "We are sure Huey will be able to confirm this, considering he resides with her."

"From what I saw, she is coping just fine!" Huey stated indifferently. "Thinking about it, I'm not sure if I would have accepted Your Highness' invitation if I had reason to believe that Twilight wasn't coping. After all, she is the pony responsible for me. It would be most heartless if I was to not return the favour and be concerned about her welfare."

"You are right, Huey," Celestia murmured with a nod. "I am overthinking it. Please, do forgive me, I am still getting used to not having Twilight near by."

"She mentioned that she lived here in the castle itself once," Huey added, while cutting up the pancakes he had ordered into easy to eat chunks. "From a very young age, as you already know. So, it's only natural that you would miss her. I guess you could say you are experiencing the heartbreak a parent experiences when their children finally grow up and... 'fly from the nest', so to speak."

"True," Celestia admitted. "But I don't know whether it is appropriate for me to have such feelings for her though."

"Nonsense, Tia!" Luna exclaimed, while her hoof slammed onto the table forcefully and startled Huey. "It is only natural that you, the princess mother of the kingdom will harbour maternal feelings for all of your subjects. It is merely through prolonged contact with Twilight in particular that those feelings have become much more pronounced."

Huey nodded and hummed in agreement, his fork waving towards Luna to accentuate that she had raised a very perceptive point.

"Don't worry yourself over whether you should feel what you're feeling or not, Your Highness," Huey said. "Just act on them. Twilight speaks very highly of you, when given the opportunity. I dare say that she probably harbours some feelings for you that are akin to the affection and respect one has towards their mother. I could even go so far to say that she may even consider you as something of a second mother. Whether that's true or not, I'd have to ask Twilight herself, but I don't see idea as being impossible."

"You're right," Celestia replied with a shake of her head. "I'm overthinking it. Moving on, it's truly wonderful that you and I have shared a meal together, Lulu. It's been too long."

"Far too long, Tia," Luna replied with a nod. "Almost two thousand years, if memory serves us well."

Huey suddenly gagged, the revelation that the two sisters had not sat at the table to eat together for two millennia causing him to inhale and send a fragment of pancake into his trachea. The two alicorns watched in alarm as he leaned forward and began pounding the front of his chest in a frantic attempt to dislodge the fragment that was blocking his ability to breath.

"Luna, he's choking!" Celestia yelled. The pair stood up so swiftly that their chairs were sent flying, the urgency of the situation overriding the need for decorum. Luna stood Huey up, while Celestia bent him over and slammed her hoof into the human's back. Huey wheezed, his face turning pale and a faint shade of blue as Celestia's attempt to assist failed.

"Stand back, Sister!" Luna ordered. "We shall deal with this!"

Celestia stepped back, while Luna reared up and wrapped her forehooves round Huey's torso. As his vision began to fade to black, Huey became aware of a sudden pressure being exerted upon his diaphragm. What little air he had been able to inhale, while choking to death, was suddenly expelled from him, causing the fragment of pancake to fire out of his mouth like shot from a cannon, and splatt unceremoniously against the wall on the far side of the room.

The pair then collapsed to the floor, Huey was too weak to stand, while Luna was unaccustomed to standing on her rear legs and, therefore, lost her balance. Celestia was quick to throw herself to the floor to pet Huey and comfort him as he inhaled deep lungfuls of air.

"It's okay, Huey," She cooed. "It's all over. It's gone!"

Luna joined in with the comforting and nuzzled his neck protectively. Huey's vision was blurred, his eyes were watering and the first droplets of a cold sweat had began to form on his forehead.

"Th-Thank... You..." He wheezed weakly. Both princess' shushed him, eager for the human to rest and recuperate from the shock.

"Don't talk," Celestia ordered tenderly. "You had both of us worried, Huey. What happened?"

Huey deadpanned at the sun princess, the order for silence being immediately contradicted by the query. However, his expression swiftly melted away when he responded.

"Sur-surprise..." He began quietly. "So long... Since... Meal... Together."

The sisters shared a brief glance after Huey was able to wheeze the final word of his broken sentence. Celestia shook her head and ran a hoof through his hair tenderly.

"Don't worry about that, Huey," She reassured him. "That chapter is over now. This is, as you say, the first time in two thousand years that Luna and I have shared the same table for a meal, but it will not be the last time. After losing her to Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago, I don't know if I could handle being separated from her again."

Luna blushed, a solitary tear falling down her cheek before she gave her equally tearful sibling a loving nuzzle on the cheek.

"We missed you too, Tia," She remarked. "We do not wish to be separated from you again either."

Huey coughed, causing them to look down at him. Much to their relief, the human was nodding weakly in support of their shared ambition, a smile slowly creeping its way onto his face.

"I'm afraid it will soon be time for me to leave to begin my duties for the day," Celestia said mournfully. "But I will endeavour to check on you at lunchtime. Luna, will you be able to take him to our private quarters to rest?"

"Of course, sister! We shall watch over him like he was our own foal!" Luna declared confidently. Huey was able to exhale a strained giggle before passing out, the strain, combined with his already notable fatigue from being awake the entire night, proving too much for him.

"Poor thing," Celestia remarked, her hoof running through his hair again. "I thought for a moment he might have..."

"We thought so too," Luna added. "It is fortunate that the technique we performed to remove the blockage did not cause any damage. After all, he is a human, not a pony."

"You'd be surprised how similar his kind are to us," Celestia stated. "I read Twilight's notes, which he had brought with him at her request. They know a great deal... Much more than we do."

"Considering the fact that they do not have magic to control the weather, they undoubtedly need to exploit the knowledge science can bring to survive. He told us about how his planet spins around their sun last night, and how it creates the seasons and more."

"Hmmm... I don't know how I can break the news to him that he can't go home." Celestia muttered sadly, causing Luna's eyes to widen.

"Thou hath tried?"

"We have," Celestia admitted. "He came here when a unicorn miscast a spell. It would take centuries to recreate the broken spell that brought him here. His kind can live, if they're lucky, up to around one hundred years at the most. He would be deceased long before we find the way."

Luna frowned and looked back at the unconscious human on her back.

"Then perhaps we shall pray that he would prefer to stay here?" She suggested. "We hath known him for less than a day, but... He is already like an old friend to us... Like dearest Starswirl."

"I must admit that I feel the same way as yourself," Celestia murmured. "The way he acts... It's refreshing to be treated like a pony, instead of a princess. However, he might want to go home if his memory returns."

"He has amnesia?" Luna enquired in surprise.

"He does," Celestia confirmed. "He knows much about his kind, but nothing about who he really is. The name 'Huey' was the result of Twilight's creativity."

"Then..." Luna muttered in shame. "Perhaps we should pray that his memory never returns too? Even though it is a horrible thing to wish upon someone."

"You are not alone in your shame, Luna. I am worried that he might be very different if he recovered his memory too."

The pair fell silent, both contemplating the shameful, and possibly selfish, wishes they were both nurturing. Eventually, Celestia shook her head and gave Luna a brief hug.

"Pray, do not tell him what we have discussed here, sister," Celestia begged. "When the time comes... IF the time comes... I will be the one to tell him."

"We understand, Tia," Luna replied. "We shall say nothing, as if this conversation did not happen."

"Thank you."

Huey's eyes flickered open. The ceiling above him and the delightfully soft mattress beneath him showed he was in Celestia's bedchamber. Biting his lip, he rewound the events he could remember to ascertain how he ended up back in her bed. Vaguely remembering the near death experience he had at breakfast, he swiftly deduced that he must have been deposited in the princess' bed to rest and recover. Humming in thought, he began to sit up, but discovered he could not due to something weighing him down. His decision to admit defeat without a fight and return return to sleep was overturned when he clocked onto the fact that whatever was holding him down was not touching his clothing, but his bare skin.

Eyes wide, he slowly, and nervously, looked down. Much to his disbelief, Princess Luna was using him as a pillow. Her head was nestled under his chin, while one of her forelegs was draped across his chest. This was an arrangement he had experienced with Celestia and, as a result, did not bother him, however, the fact that he had been stripped shocked him. Waves of panic washed over him, causing his heart to pound as he closed his eyes and focused on ascertaining how much of his clothing had been taken from him through what he could feel against his skin.

His heart sank progressively as he realised that the situation was worse than he expected. He, at first, assumed his t-shirt had been removed, but that was proven wrong when he discovered that his trousers and socks were missing too. Clenching his eyes shut, he muttered a prayer that, at the very least, his underwear had been left alone. Gingerly, he grasped the edge of the quilt that covered his and Luna's bodies and lifted it up. What he saw caused his blood to run cold, even his underwear had been removed. Huey let the quilt fall back into its original place and stared, dumbfounded, at the ceiling.

"I am... Currently being cuddled by a talking pony..." He whispered to himself. "Without any clothes on at all."

Huey blinked and repeated the statement mentally over and over again. His already strained and panicked breathing hitched when he realised that he must have been stripped by one of the equines, since he had clearly been unconscious. As anger, stemming from being stripped without his consent, threatened to encroach upon his thought processes, his attention was caught by a soft, feminine hum. Huey mentally facepalmed when he remembered that he was not alone. Luna was cuddling his naked frame like a teddy bear. Unlike the previous physical interactions he had engaged in, the skin-to-hair contact between himself and the naturally nude equine made his skin crawl.

Whether he would have been more accepting if the situation had occurred on terms he was comfortable with, Huey did not know, but he did know that he was not comfortable with what was currently happening. Gritting his teeth, he looked down at the sleeping alicorn and began weighing up his options. He could be polite and just tolerate the predicament he was in until Luna woke up, but he was eager to escape from the uncomfortable situation, and he had no idea when she would wake up. The second option was to attempt to quietly break free from Luna's embrace and retrieve his clothes, but that carried the risk of backfiring and disturbing her slumber. The final option was to bite the metaphorical bullet and wake her up intentionally, however he did not feel it was polite to disturb anyone if they are asleep.

"Damn it."

Huey sighed and rubbed his face in exasperation. Even though he was in a situation that was, as far as he knew, the worst he could possibly be in, he could not bring himself to put Luna at risk of losing sleep. With a deep frown, he shook his head and gently gave Luna's mane a pet.

"Hmmmm... That's nice," Luna mumbled in her sleep. Huey rolled his eyes and sighed again. Huey's ears pricked up when he heard the sound of the door handle turning.

"Oh no!" He hissed and pulled the quilt cover until it covered the lower half of his face. The voice that he heard chilled his blood.

"Lulu?" Celestia said softly. "How is he?"

Nervously, Huey raised a hand and waved.

"Oh, you're awake!" Celestia whispered. "What of my sister?"

Huey immediately revealed his face and mouthed the word "asleep" before gesturing to urge Celestia to step closer.

"What happened to me!?" Huey hissed to the princess, once she'd approached his side of the bed. "I choke on pancake one moment and find myself completely naked, with Luna, in bed the next!"

"Ah, I think I can guess," Celestia murmured quietly. "You passed out, and I asked Luna to take you to my room to rest."

"Okay, that explains the fact I'm in your bed," Huey hissed. "But why have I been stripped?"

"I would assume that Luna thought you would feel comfortable if you weren't dressed," Celestia mused. "Did you tell her about your kinds... Aversion... To nudity?"

Huey shook his head and sighed.

"Could you, at least, pass me my underwear?" He asked. "I don't want to wake up Luna, but I REALLY don't want to have her hugging me while I'm not decent."

Celestia blushed and giggled before her horn ignited and, much to Huey's surprise, teleported his boxers into place.

"I apologise for what my sister did, Huey, She undoubtedly had the best of intentions when she... Deprived you of your clothing."

"Har har..." Huey replied sarcastically. "Regardless, thank you for giving me my boxers."

Celestia waved a hoof dismissively.

"It is quite alright, Huey," She murmured. "I shall leave the two of you to sleep. Both of you were awake last night, after all."

Huey nodded and released a small, silent yawn.

"You're right," He muttered. "Again, thank you for... Clothing me."

Celestia chuckled again, her hoof giving Huey's hair a motherly tousle. The alicorn then turned tail and left the room, leaving Luna and Huey in peace. Shaking his head, Huey looked down at The Lunar Princess, who was still sleeping peacefully, and gave her neck and gentle stroke. Luna hummed and her body shivered at the pleasant touch.

"Sweet," Huey remarked as he laid back and, gingerly and carefully, coiled his arms round Luna in an embrace, the embarrassment from being naked diminished by the presence of clothing, even though he was wearing the bare minimum.

"I am definitely going to tell Luna not to take my clothes off next time," He muttered himself with a quiet chuckle before letting fatigue claim him again.

"We are certain that these were removed when we tucked him into bed!"

Huey sluggishly roused himself from his slumber, his brow furrowing in concentration as he listened intently to the voice that woke him up. While blinking rapidly to clear the blur that was obscuring his vision, Huey suddenly became aware of something tugging on his boxers. The realisation that someone was in the process of robbing him of his underwear proved to be effective at waking him up. Sitting up, Huey, to his horror, found Luna attempting to strip him. His eyes widened as he witnessed Luna standing over him, her head buried into his groin so that she could grasp the waistband of his boxers with her teeth.

"Luna!" Huey shouted, causing her to let go and allow his underwear to snap back into place. "What the hell are you doing!?"

The princess looked up at him in surprise, but not embarrassment.

"We took the liberty of removing your garments for the purpose of ensuring maximum comfort during your period of rest from your near death experience!" Luna explained nonchalantly before poking his boxers. "However, somehow, this... Thing... Is still on your personage."

"That's because Celestia helped me put them back on when she visited a while ago!" Huey replied defensively. "I'm not a pony, you know!"

"But surely your kind remove all clothing before heading to sleep?" She countered. "After all, the function of garments is to insulate one’s body from the cold. When that is being done by the bedsheets, dost thou truly need to complement that with clothes?"

"That's not the point!" Huey exclaimed. "We don't allow ourselves to be nude!"

"Even in these circumstances?" Luna scoffed. "What about when you are born? Were you born fully clothed too? Nay, such an event could not happen. You hath nothing to be afraid of."

"I can see why you'd not understand, since your species walks around naked by default," Huey mused. "However, that's not the case with humans! We reserve nudity for those we trust, those we love. It's even illegal to be nude in public... It's just... Not the decent thing to be nude."

"Dost this mean that you do not trust us?" Luna asked aggressively. "Art thou suggesting that you do not consider me worthy of seeing your naked form?"

"What!? No!" Huey stammered. "Well, Um... Maybe... No! It's not like that! Look, nudity is something that my kind take very seriously. Even among friends, it's considered inappropriate to be totally nude... Heck, even being in just underwear, like I am now, is considered to be either on the boundary, or crossing over it, in regards to decency!"

"Hmph... Your ways are confusing and make little sense," Luna said with a shake of her head. "You were born naked. We saw nothing that should cause you any embarrassment when we removed your clothing the first time around."

"You saw... E-E-Everything?" Huey stuttered in horror.

"Correct," Luna replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "We know what the intimate anatomy of equines consists of. While yours is a little different, we saw nothing too special."

"Why did you take the time to examine my genitals!?" Huey interrogated angrily. "I was unconscious! Do you know how creepy and inappropriate that is?"

"We were curious," Luna said indifferently, her nose held high indignantly. "Plus, we did not believe you would be so averse to displaying your body."

"So, at no point you thought the fact that I wore clothes everywhere could indicate that I may have a cultural aversion to nudity!? That idea never occurred to you at all?"

"Never."

Huey rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, his fingers reached up to rub his temples in annoyance.

"Okay..." He began calmly. "Let's just be absolutely clear, if you need to remove my clothes, don't touch my underwear, unless it's absolutely necessary. When I found myself totally naked and you snuggled up to me... It made me really uncomfortable."

Huey gave his boxers' waistband a gentle tug to highlight what counted as his underwear to Luna. The princess nodded in understanding.

"So, you did not feel great honour from being able to sleep with us?" Luna probed, causing Huey to blush deeply.

"W-What!?" He spluttered. "N-No, I mean... That is to say... I-I-I-I-It's an honour to be able to share the same bed, but... I-It's still... I..."

Luna cut him off with a mischievous laugh, causing Huey to puff his cheeks out in exasperation.

"Calm yourself, Huey," She soothed. "We were only jesting. We are sorry for assuming that you would be okay with nudity, we should have been more cautious and understanding."

Huey raised a hand to silence the princess.

"It's fine," He murmured. "I am the only one of my kind and very little is known about me. Indeed, the fact that there is much humans share with Equestrian culture would, undoubtedly, make one believe that the similarities exist with other things, like how one treats nudity. So, what matters is that it's been corrected, no one's been hurt and it won't happen again."

"You truly are a very forgiving individual," Luna remarked. "We are certain that if this had happened with someone else, it may have ended in a manner that was less agreeable."

"It was partially my fault," Huey admitted with a shrug. "After all, we've shared some very close moments together, but I never really explained where the boundaries lay. You can't exactly stick to them if you don't know they exist, right?"

Luna nodded in agreement. The human sighed and reached out to grasp Luna by her forelegs. The princess squeaked in surprise as she was dragged from her position, which was dangerously close to Huey's intimate region, into an embrace. Swiftly recovering from the shock of being forcefully relocated, she returned the gesture.

"Fresh page?" Huey asked quietly. "Put this awkward event to miscommunication and move on?"

"Agreed!" Luna murmured. "We are sorry for causing this."

"Don't be, Your Highness," He muttered. "It's over and no one was hurt."

Huey gently pet Luna's mane, earning him a delighted hum, which became a coo after he tickled her ears.

"Thy fingers are truly amazing!" Luna groaned, while her body shivered. "They are truly agile and capable of bestowing great pleasure."

"I see you've read Twilight's notes on human anatomy," Huey deduced with a smirk. "And yes, I've noticed everyone seems to enjoy ear scratches and having their mane caressed."

"It is undoubtedly a pleasure unknown to us ponyfolk," Luna reasoned deliriously. "Our hooves do not permit such precision when physical contact is needed."

"Most definitely," Huey agreed, before reaching out with his free index finger and tenderly pressing Luna's nose like a button. Luna blushed slightly and scrunched her muzzle up in confusion.

"What purpose dost thy action fulfil?" She queried, her eyes crossing in a vain attempt to see if anything had been placed on the end of his nose.

"Well, if it causes you to make such an adorable expression," Huey mused. "The purpose is to make you look cute!"

Luna shot Huey a brief glare.

"We art not cute, human!" She declared in a mock-authoritative. "We hath passed the age that permits us to be described as that."

"Age doesn't limit when you stop being cute!" Huey argued. "No matter how old one gets, they still have the ability to make someone else's heart melt... Metaphorically, of course."

Luna rolled her sighs and sighed in exasperation, before climbing out of bed and doing some minor stretches that accentuated her lithe, supple form. Huey was quick to follow her lead and hopped out of bed too to fix the stiff joints he had acquired while sleeping.

"Any idea what the time is?" Huey asked before glancing round the room for his clothes. "And where did you put my clothes?"

"The time is quarter past five in the afternoon," Luna reported. "While your clothes were sent to be washed. We could smell your essence upon them."

"Hey!" Huey snapped defensively. "I have yet to get some more clothes yet, they're all I've got! In fact. In fact, I've yet to get a proper bed set up in Ponyville! The only bed I can fit in is one crafted to hold an alicorn!"

"That is most regrettable," Luna mused. "We insist that you obtain more! There are many tailors and seamstresses throughout Equestria that will, I am sure, be more than happy to assist you."

"But I don't have any money!" Huey countered. "I can't expect them to make custom-made clothes for me without getting due payment, surely?"

Luna pursed her lips and tapped her chin in thought.

"We received an allowance from the royal treasury to permit the purchase of personal items and such before we were exiled," She stated thoughtfully. "Tia has one too."

"You mean... You'd give me the money to buy clothes? Also, you don't actually control all of the money you obtain through taxation and such?"

"We did not choose to rule over Equestria for the purpose of acquiring wealth and power!" Luna exclaimed defensively. "It is right that taxation be performed only when it is necessary. As such, My sister and I passed a decree over a thousand years ago that ensures we do not have total control over the treasury, but receive a generous monthly stipend for purchases that are not considered to be integral to our role as monarchs."

"Sounds reasonable," Huey commented. "After all, you may want to buy something for yourself at some point. However, what's that got to do with me?"

"Simple!" Luna replied. "We shall furnish you with the funds necessary to provide you with a new wardrobe!"

"Oh, a-are you sure?" Huey stammered. "I mean, I could just get a job... I'd rather not sponge any money off of you."

"Nonsense!" The princess countered with a dismissive wave. "We shall speak to our sister immediately and explain the situation. We are certain that she will permit us to obtain a small sum to use for payment!"

"I-If you say so," Huey replied weakly. "Wait, does that mean I'm going to go shopping?"

"Why... Yes, it appears that we are!" Luna concluded. "I trust you are not shy?"

"No, I've wandered through the streets of Canterlot before," Huey answered. "I was worrying about you."

"W-What? What do you mean?"

"You said 'Yes, it appears that we are', Luna," Huey explained. "Does that not indicate you wish to come too?"

"Oh..." Luna muttered, while looking away to try and hide the wave of nervousness and concern that washed over her. "I... It must have been the slip of the tongue... M-Misheard us!"

"Could you come with me?" Huey asked. "I'd like the company, and I can't think of anypony else."

"You mean, there's no alternative to me?" Luna replied sadly, assuming that Huey had so few friends that she was at the bottom of the pile. The human swiftly noticed the insinuation and approached Luna before he gave her a hug.

"No, it's because I would rather I had you by my side than anyone else," Huey admitted. "I will be honest, if this was night time, I would be tempted to ask Celestia, since she'd, technically, be off-duty. However, she's busy, and if she weren't... I'd have to flip a coin."

"Flip a coin?"

"Because I'd never be able to decide who to choose on my own," Huey explained. "That's how much I like you and your sister. You're equally wonderful to me."

Luna's eyes twinkled at the comment and she looked away to hide a light blush that had snuck onto her cheeks.

"Thank you," She whispered before wandering towards the door. "That means a lot."

"Where are you going?"

"We are going to speak to our dear sister," Luna replied. "We shall return as swiftly as possible. Meanwhile, we shall call a servant for you."

"A servant? What for!?"

"To ask that they retrieve your clothes, naturally!" Luna stated. Her horn ignited and grasped the end of a large, golden rope that hung down next to the bed. Huey watched her give it a forceful tug with her magic, and caused a distant bell to ring.

"One will arrive shortly, we are sure that you do not need instructions regarding how to ask someone to fetch your clothes."

Luna then left the room, leaving Huey on his own. A few moments passed before he was struck by a sudden and awkward realisation.

"But... I'm not dressed now!" He called out to no one. "I'm going to have my body seen... By a stranger."

Huey looked down at his barely clothed form. He was decidedly average in appearance. Neither fat, nor thin, and his skin relatively smooth, if one disregarded the barely visible hairs on his arms and legs. However, he still felt exposed without a full set of clothes that covered him up.

"Crap."