How To Train A Tentacle

Sitting upright in their thrones as yet another pony approached was starting to run short on their patience once more. It was hard enough listening to a few, but each of them kept following up with something going wrong that the government had to fix, or about the obvious disruptions in trade. Those were the common themes that they heard by a dozen ponies so far, but right now it felt like hundreds.

“Thank you!” the lady said when the court introduced her, though her name had already been long forgotten. “I thank you, princesses, for listening to my situation. I’ve had a dreadful morning already and I’m hoping you can help. There had been this rumour of snakes slithering about through the forests, but... not like a normal snake, like a whole bunch of them. A umm… herd of them?” she finished with a small shrug, thinking that was more or less right.

The two alicorns perked up a little bit more, straightening up and listening intently. This certainly wasn’t the regular fare of citizen complaints or kingdom reports.

“I could hardly believe such a thing. I hadn’t seen a snake in years! But today, I opened the cellar door, and what do ya know, the entire flock of snakes just zoomed past! It happened all so fast I barely believed it myself!” she said, flinging her hooves around for emphasis, enough that she almost ended up crashing onto the ground.

She stopped and pointed right at the floor for emphasis. “But there were snake tracks on the ground, going right into the trees and off to who knows where. I don’t know what they were doing down there, but it certainly didn’t help the mice problem any. And I don’t want to get bit by them if they do come back. Who even knows if they are poisonous?! Now I went to my neighb-”

“Thank you!” Celestia called out as she stood on her throne, quickly stopping the mare in her tracks. “I think we’ll be able to handle a few snakes and get rid of this. Shouldn’t take too much trouble, but we may be gone the whole day if we do so.”

The announcer pony raised his hoof and hesitantly spoke up, “We can send a few guard down to-“

“Nonsense! This is a matter that requires our personal attention,” Celestia said as she jumped into the air and Luna followed suit. “Just cancel all of the other meetings for today!”

“But…” the announcer pony uttered, but the princesses were already long gone.

“So, this is the cellar she must have been talking about,” Luna said as the door creaked open, lighting up the stairs into the dark basement. As much as she liked the night, going down there wasn’t rated high on her priorities. Thankfully, it didn’t sound like there was anything down there either.

“And this is where they slithered away,” Celestia said, pointing at the fairly obvious trail on the dirt. It looked like an entire gaggle of snakes had just been slapping against the ground in a tight formation all the way into the bushes.On closer inspection, there were even small droplets that had been left behind by the miscreants.

Since the mare said it was only from this morning, they couldn’t have gone far. The two beat their wings and started floating along the trail into the forest. The path was faster to follow as they soared over bushes and around trees, and the further on they went, the more frequent the drops were and the fresher they looked.

It wasn’t until the path suddenly ended that the two fillies hovered around, looking for where to go next. The tracks looked like they veered off to the side and just disappeared. But as they drifted closer, a large bush suddenly rustled. The two shared a quick glance at each other before they started to float to either side, trying to get a peek through the heavy leaves; something was certainly in there.

A shiver went down Celestia’s spine as Luna let out a gasp so hard it was almost a scream.

“Tia!” Luna squealed. “Tia, Tia, Tia!” She went from casually floating to dipping down and diving into the bush in mere moments. Leaves flew everywhere as she tumbled about and battled whatever was inside, until she came rolling out of the bush, bouncing along the ground until she came to a stop.

Her hooves held on tight to a bright pink tendril thrashing about. It squirmed and tried to pull back into the safety of the bush, slowly dragging her along with it.

Celestia flew down for a landing, before placing a hoof along its soft length and petting it like it was a scared puppy. “Shhh… shhhh… don’t worry, you’re fine... shhh…” she softly cooed out. The length seemed to pause for a moment, and the two fillies shared the biggest of grins. “That’s it… easy there… we’re not going to hurt you… but we would like to talk with you, and see you. Do you think you can come out of that bush for us?”

The creature didn’t move, almost like it was contemplating the choice. Celestia kept giving it gentle pets, while Luna found more purchase while her back was on the ground, and with a bit more restraint, only pulled on it lightly, hoping that would help persuade it into coming out.

Another tendril peaked out from the leaves, and then another, then a whole bunch more as it wiggled itself out of the bush. It moved more smoothly than one would think for what was essentially a giant pile of sentient spaghetti.

Luna’s wings were already flared out and pressed on the ground as she wiggled around on her back, flicking her tail side to side excitedly. “Tia!” she whispered loudly, trying to contain herself without scaring off the creature. “They’re real! They actually exist! Eeeee!”

“I wonder where this thing came from. None of the books said anything about them being from around here… and especially not now,” Celestia said curiously as she stroked the creature. She had to move her hoof as Luna started climbing up its limb, dragging herself along the ground as she wiggled closer.

Now that it had partially come out from the bush, the entire mass of tentacles was a few heads taller than Celestia. Its tendrils were mostly wrapped tightly around itself, with a few limbs grabbing on and curling around nearby leaves and twigs. The creature seemed to lean away a little as Luna pressed herself against it, rubbing and rolling herself on it like a needy cat.

“Heh, I think she likes you,” Celestia said with a sly smirk.

“Mmmmhmmm,” Luna just purred out in agreement, fluttering her wings against the creature, flicking her soft feathers between the crevices made by the layered tentacles.

The two could feel the creature shake, and it continued to pull back more, but Luna’s cuddles were relentless. Finally, it let out something that sounded like a loud, dissonant sigh as a large ripple shook the creature. It seemed to shorten a little and widen up, almost like it was relaxing into a flatter shape just by the slightest amount, even if the tentacles deeper inside still looked tightly wrapped.

However, the more Luna pushed into it, the more the tips of the tendrils started curling around her once there was nowhere else to go. It had a few hooked around her hooves and some squishing in between the pits of her wings, but one had curled right past her tail, between her legs and onto her belly as it started to try and curl around her thigh; it was close enough that it gently hugged against her crotch.

The two shared a mischievous look, both glancing down expectantly every so often as they asked silent questions between each other. Luna wiggled a little more, angling herself until a moist kiss pressed against the length of the tendril between her legs. However, the two couldn’t help but look at each other skeptically, knowing something was wrong.

Where was the ravaging of legends?

Celestia looked the creature up and down, studying it, analyzing its exotic moves. “Hmm… I wonder if it knows what we’ve been saying.” Her eyes widened a little as the creature momentarily paused and a few tips pointed right at her. “Uhh… do you understand me?”

The two watched in awe as those tips nodded affirmatively.

“Tiaaaa. Ask it to ravage me!” the filly whined as she wiggled around on the creature.

Celestia looked down and motioned for the tentacles to continue, but nothing happened. The tendrils didn’t shake in any direction, only pulled back like they were unsure. “Wait… do you know what she’s asking?” she asked carefully, and the tentacles shook their tips negatively.

Luna let out a disappointed groan as her hips gyrated against the vine, hoping to entice it into her wet filly trap.

“Hmm… what do you know?” Celestia asked as she looked it over quizzically, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “Do you know… what a pony is?”

One of the tips glanced between the two until the creature finally gave a hesitant nod, almost like that seemed to be the best answer.

“That’s good. Do you know what this is?” she asked as she pointed to her hoof, then again asking the same thing about her tail, yet only receiving the same hesitant nods.

Luna started to get back onto her hooves since things weren’t progressing as she hoped. She tried pushing things further; the small string of juices connecting her fillyhood to the wet kisses on the side of the tendril was evidence enough. “What about this?” she asked as she arched her back, moving her tail to the side and reaching a hoof down to her rump, spreading her rear, and revealing the welcoming pink that contrasted the dark colours of her filly lips; she made sure it got a good look.

“Have you ever been in here? One of these?” she asked as she wiggled her rump and her hoof dipped down to rub the pearl winking out. “Mmm... d-do you want to be?” she said in a huff.

The creature didn’t nod at all. It was hard to tell, but it seemed more confused than ever.

“Luna, I don’t think it’s really too sure about both of us yet,” Celestia said as she held onto a nearby tentacle, petting it like a puppy she just met.

“Yea… you’re right…” Luna said solemnly. “I just thought after reading that book in the library that it would be more… you know....” Celestia gave an empathetic nod before Luna’s eyes lit up suddenly. “Wait! Maybe our friend here doesn’t know about any of that stuff because it’s just a little baby, like it’s not much bigger than a few of us and you said that some can grow super huge too!”

“That could be it…” Celestia said with a curious optimism. “It did say in the book that they haven’t been seen in ages. Who knows where it came from, or how long it’s been out here in the wild, trying to hide in ponies’ cellars.”

“Probably forever out here,” Luna said as she pieced everything together. “It must be a baby if it doesn’t know simple things like what’s under a pony’s tail! And there’s not too many books out here, or anypony else around that would be trying to teach it. Especially since there hadn’t been any other tentacles around at all; probably no parents either! Aww!” She couldn’t take it anymore and grabbed onto one of the tendrils, cuddling it against her chest. “You poor thing!”

“You can come with us.” Celestia took a few steps forward with a confident smile on her face. “You don’t want to stay out here in the cold all huddled up in a bush, do you? We have a nice, big castle you can stay in too!”

“Yea!” Luna chimed in. “We have lots of space and maybe a whole closet or room you can stay in! It’s much better than some damp old cellar… or maybe if you like those, we can find something in one of the basements as well!”

The creature seemed to relax a bit as they spoke, and its tendrils flicked around rapidly, sending a ripple down its body.

The two shrugged as they looked at each other. “I… take that as a yes?” Celestia asked cautiously. ”Do you want to go?”

The creature’s tips nodded and a bright smile crested the filly’s face. “Yay!” Luna cheered and pranced on the ground, ready to run right back to the castle. “Let’s go then!”

Celestia turned around and beckoned the creature to follow as they trotted away. A sudden chirp sounded out as it hustled along, oddly moving like one would imagine a plate of spaghetti would.

The two looked back after hearing the bird-like call coming from it; it certainly wasn’t any kind of bird that they heard before, but it was close enough. “D-did… did you just chirp?!” Luna asked as she fluttered up excitedly into the air.

Celestia couldn’t help but flap her wings to hover off the ground as well. “Oh that’s so adorable! Do it again!”

Another small chirp rang out and the two fillies excitedly clapped their hooves at the new trick, before swooping down and each grabbing onto a tendril.

“Ok, let’s go! It’s going to be great! And we have a book that you’re just going to love!” Luna blurted out as she eagerly took point on one the fastest trails back to the castle. The delighted chirps that kept coming out filled the two with giggles as they made their way back with a new friend.