Dreamwalker's Tale: An Anthology

It was Celestia's free day.

The mere fact of this statement being true never ceased to amaze me. We, collectively, had to drive a hard bargain for this. We piled each and every opinion we could find on top of each other to increase the pressure. Luna, Twilight, Cadance and me – the obvious first choices. Shining Armor, Twilight's parents, the other Elements of Harmony – second choices. And finally, we resorted to piling on everything we could think of. Including but not limited to her aides and seneschal.

Every time we waltzed into the throne room to reopen this discussion, our entourage grew in size. We had started this little project with the best intentions. She needed a break, but her sense of duty would not allow her to take it. Almost a year later, the throne room had become quite lively. At that point, there was no need anymore for any of us to utter a single word. She knew exactly why we were there. And I liked to believe that at some point, she had started looking forward to this.

So many ponies cared about her well-being. So many ponies close and dear to her wanted her to take a step back. To take a break once in a while. We were not about to dethrone her of course. But once she caved in and actually signaled her willingness to listen, to truly listen to us, she had to argue against so many voices drowning out her objections that the mere attempt became futile.

She had been willing to take one day off. Per month.

We attempted to force her to take one day off. Per week.

We met in the middle and compromised on one day per two weeks. She had tried to argue of course. She was constantly sneaking away anyway, under the guise of her transformation spell. Being Sunny Skies had already helped her a lot. Flying around in the sky, free to do whatever she wanted. Walking the streets of Canterlot, seeing her ponies mill about. But it was not enough – according to us. She tried to use her wily diplomatic skills on us, tried to make us ‘see reason’, but she argued against a sea of ponies at that point. She might have been able to persuade one, two, three, but before the fourth one of us could cave in, the others piped up and destroyed whatever progress she had made. There was no victory to be gained against the hive mind we had become.

Thus it became a recurring thing that Celestia had a free day.

I was obviously not about to complain. As her paramour, I was probably the one profiting the most from this. She still snuck out as Sunny every once in a while – just because she enjoyed it a lot, for a whole variety of reasons. But that one day was something I could plan with. Something I could make arrangements for. Setting up little dates, reservations in fancy restaurants, visits to Ponyville…

I had made no such plans for today however. I had endured a grueling week of guard training and I was just looking forward to spending some time with my love. It seemed to be one of those rare times where her days had been less taxing than mine.

“Ready?” I asked her as I fastened my saddlebag to my right side. It bore little weight, only carrying my one-of-a-kind, Rarity-fashioned purse.

Celestia's horn wreathed in a soft, golden glow and her entire body was encased in the same aura. It seemed to flow over her in ripples and shrunk her down. Her horn vanished completely into her skull, and a moment later, Sunny Skies smiled at me, a regular old pegasus. “Now I am.”

I chuckled, stepped up to her and kissed her. “Hmmm… I like that,” I mumbled and promptly dove in for a second kiss, and then a third. “It’s so much easier to do this when you’re my size.”

“I find no reason to complain about your creativity to circumvent this ‘issue’ so far,” she replied with a warm smile. She gave me a little peck on the cheek before sidling up to me. We exited her chambers and the day guards flanking the door did not even blink. By now, most of the guards knew about ‘Sunny Skies’ anyway. But they were sworn to secrecy to allow her a little bit more freedom. “So,” she started again while we were slowly walking along the hallways of Canterlot Castle, “how was your morning?”

We both giggled.

“How dare you defy the Great and Powerful!” the massive beast roared and ripped another building in half.

Luna and I just shared a quick look before we broke into roaring laughter. We threw ourselves on our backs, rolled on the ground and just laughed. We laughed at the absurdity of it all. We laughed despite the smoldering ruins of half of Ponyville. We laughed in the face of something that looked at us with such intense indignation.

Shapeless, faceless ponies were lying around, strewn between the wreckages. Unmoving. A dark sky above, without clouds, moon or stars. Only the empty black void. We could hear the terrified screams of fleeing ponies from somewhere. The few survivors of this massacre.

The beast sported massive claws drenched in blood. Its gaping maw featured rows upon rows of teeth, similar to a shark. It moved quickly on its six legs, despite its size. Indestructible scales covered its body, but they were barely visible beneath the thick, wool-like fur.

Props to the dreamer for this creation. That was a decent imagination.

“Watcha thinkin’?” I lazily asked Luna once we managed to compose ourselves a little. The beast seemed bewildered enough to just stop its rampage and stare at us. “Time to finish it off?”

Luna wiped away some tears and allowed herself a final bout of giggling before she stood back up on slightly wobbly legs. “Yes. While this has been most entertaining, I think it is enough.”

So I stood back up as well and we faced the beast. Seeing as we were apparently finally willing to face it, it unleashed a supposedly terrifying roar and smashed another building. “You will know fear once I’m done with you!” it bellowed.

“Oh. So you’ll let us live? Well, that’s awfully nice of you,” I answered with a smile.

“What? No! No, I will kill you!” it disagreed.

“Well I mean, you just said ‘we will know fear once you’re done with us’. That does imply we will live through this, doesn’t it?” I was not even asking the beast itself and instead turned my attention to Luna.

She nodded, affirming my assessment. “It seems it is confused. Or not all that intelligent. Maybe both.”

“I am—“ the beast started but was swiftly interrupted by me.

“Well, maybe it’s just cranky? You could try to hug it out with it.” Luna furrowed her brow in thought, pondering my advice.

The beast roared again, but I just held up a hoof in a ‘please wait a second’-gesture. It only enraged it further. “I will not suffer this—“ it started again but was interrupted by Luna this time.

“You may be right. It does seem rather cranky. And Twilight always lectures me on the importance of hugs, so we might as well test her theory,” she agreed.

“Well, you’re not exactly the right size for hugging it, are you?” I offered.

The beast watched the exchange in puzzlement. And further increasing rage. It did not even start complaining again in fear of being interrupted once more. It instead waited this one out. Luna focused her considerable willpower and changed a little detail about the dream. Like a slider on a scale, she began to grow in size. Until one massive Luna towered over the supposedly impressive beast.

The creature watched her grow and grow with increasing horror. Realization dawned on its face as Lunas hoof came down and pressed the beast against her leg, softly squishing its back. “There, there,” she cooed.

Not daring to move out of fear of being squashed, the beast just remained still… until it dissolved. No amount of imagination could keep this nightmare alive at this point. And with the creature turning to starlight and vanishing, Luna shrank down again.

I walked over to her and we looked around. “He’s here somewhere,” I noted.

She nodded, confirming my presumption. “Let us give this dream a little twist for the better.” Her hoof stomped onto the ground twice and she raised her voice to Royal Canterlot-level. “Thank you, everypony! This was a fantastic exercise. Everypony gets an hour of downtime. We will rebuild the stage and try again once you are all back.”

Her input was heard, and felt, and accepted. The dream shifted. Stars sparkled in a beautiful, if somewhat simplistic night sky. The moon was still missing. The pony-shapes started to rise, dusted themselves off and milled about. Some even gained faces now, smiling to each other, congratulating each other for a good performance.

That finally drew out our dreamer.

From beneath the rubble of a destroyed building, a small colt crawled his way to freedom. He had no cutie mark yet. A dark gray coat, a ruffled brown mane, he reminded me of somepony… but I could not tell who exactly. “This… this was all just a play?” he asked incredulously.

Luna put a hoof to her chest. “Goodness gracious, you are not supposed to be on set, little one,” she said, only to immediately rush over and dote on him. She checked for any signs of wounds. “No heavy pieces fell on you, did they?”

“N-No,” he mumbled and left his head hanging. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snuck on set.”

She ruffled his mane and lifted his head with a hoof under his chin. “Do not worry, little one. The only important thing is that you are unhurt.” She craned her neck a little in an exaggerated gesture, looking at his haunches. “No cutie mark yet? Were you looking for an opportunity to become an actor?”

I was fascinated. Luna was passionate about everything she did. Every word had meaning, every gesture had weight, and she always put her whole heart into all. She had this caring, loving gaze right now. Like a mother. It was a charm I could hardly resist myself, so the little colt stood no chance at all.

Somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my mind, a little piece of me ached. I remembered a family I once had with her. I remembered our son Stardust. And I remembered seeing that same spark in her eyes when she watched him play around with his friends.

I shoved it away. Tried to ignore it, like I had done so many times before. But it was there, it would always be there. To remind me of what I had lost, in a way.

“I… I want to do what my father does,” the little colt replied with these big, hopeful eyes only a foal could have. Because surely a princess could help with that. His pleading tone freed me from my reverie.

“And what does your father do, little one?” Luna asked him as she stroked a hoof down his back to further ease his worries.

“He’s building stuff!” the colt piped up excitedly. “Tables and dressers and chairs and entire houses!”

And suddenly, I had a name: Stonewood. And a face. He was the resident carpenter of Ponyville. He had helped me furnish Twilight's castle at some point. That felt like it was ages ago. I took a closer look at the colt as I remembered this. He was young, but not that young. He must have been around already when I encountered Stonewood. Maybe another reason he had looked so tired at the time? Or was I only remembering him looking tired now?

Luna talked a little more to our dreamer while I started rebuilding the town. With the dreamer’s subconscious working in tandem with me, it took little effort to bring to life a couple of ponies restoring the ‘stage’. It would help the dream move along.

After a while, Luna came over to me. The colt ran off, grabbed a wooden plank and helped my ‘workers’ to restore the buildings. “You have a knack for foals,” I stated the obvious.

She smiled proudly. She was happy, and that made me happy in turn. “I know. I just love them.” The expression in her eyes shifted considerably while she regarded me. There was an almost mischievous twinkle. “You would know that though, would you not?”

I sighed and a bittersweet smile tugged at my lips. “I do,” I admitted.

She grinned and sidled up to me. “One day,” she half-promised.

I did not answer her. What was I supposed to say? We had discussed this at length on numerous occasions. I had told her everything I remembered about Stardust. About Arcana and Magnus as well. About our family. It had helped me come to terms with how things had changed. But at the same time, it might have put an idea in her head. A fascination of sorts. And it seemed to be quite the persistent idea indeed. Every now and again, she would bug me about this.

It had been years. Surely my relationship with her sister was stable enough to experiment a little, right? Statements like these still made my skin crawl a little. My resistance to the idea had admittedly diminished as I grew more comfortable with her again, but I had not brought this up with Celestia even once. And I did not intend to do so for a couple of years more. However, Luna was not exactly a patient mare. So I had to put up with her little jabs every so often.

I could endure this. I loved her, after all.

We returned to the dreamscape, exited the dream of that little colt. We walked side by side, searched for our next task, another nightmare, another greedy dreamscape creature, when I felt a shift. A real shift in the physical world. It tended to affect me in the dreamscape as well, giving me a short moment of vertigo. “Celestia is getting up,” I let Luna know. Celestia would start her morning routine. Get into the bathroom, take a shower, fix her mane, brush her coat, clear away any traces of imperfection the night might have left behind. I loved those imperfections.

She would then raise the sun from her balcony. She would always leave the doors open. Just so I could sneak up on her if, by some miracle, I would actually be awake and wanted to. It meant that cold night air flowed into the room. I would grab the blanket a little tighter, a subconscious whine escaping my throat because I missed her warmth at my side, and even here in the dreamscape, I would shiver for a moment.

Once the sun was up, she would close the balcony door, close the curtain as well and give me a kiss on my forehead. And I would feel it, although I was sleeping. Or working, rather. Training. Learning from her sister.

She would then leave her chambers to have breakfast with Luna and I would remain in the dreamscape alone. I had promised Luna not do to anything stupid. Like engaging enemies of our dreamers alone. But I could handle the occasional nightmare. Especially if they were still young, still forming.

I was proud of that. Luna was awake, had breakfast with her sister, chatted and enjoyed herself and I, I was the guardian of the night owls. Kindred spirits of mine. I watched over those who were sleeping into these first hours of the day, because they had burned a lot of lantern oil staying awake through the night.

It was a responsibility I cherished.

I would, as was the case most nights, be less thrilled to wake up alone in bed. But feeling her leave, feeling her kiss me… it at least eased that pain a little.

I looked at Celestia, a goofy smile formed on my lips as I remembered her kiss this morning. “It was… nice,” I finally answered and leaned in to steal another one of those. “Nothing out of the ordinary though. I woke up miserable, because you weren’t there, I zombie-walked over to the bathroom miserable, because you weren’t there, then barely enjoyed my breakfast, because you-“

I had difficulties retelling the events prior to our meeting with a straight face even before she jabbed my shoulder with a hoof. “Shush, you!” she chided me with a wide grin. I would have had to sidestep for a moment, losing a bit of my balance, if it weren’t for her wing draped over my back, holding me close and steady.

We exited the castle, but we did not leave the castle grounds. We had not talked about what we wanted to do today and I deemed it unnecessary. I just steered her to the right, in the direction of the castle gardens. There was a fun hedge maze, beautiful flowerbeds and the occasional statue of impressive craftsmanship. I had once jokingly asked her how many of these were villains, banished for a thousand years, waiting to return for Twilight to reform or banish them again. I still clearly remembered shuddering when she answered “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to hear the answers to,” accompanied by that serene smile of hers.

Despite that non-revelation, it was still a beautiful place for a stroll.

“So, how was yours?” I shot her question right back.

Gotcha.

The very moment I asked, she directed her gaze forward. That in itself was no indication. But the speed at which she had done so, that told me loads.

I smirked as I carefully poked her shoulder with a tendril of magic. “Tell me,” I asked. “Come on, Sunny… tell me of your great morning…”

“Will you stop it,” she pleaded as she failed to contain her giggle. “Fine! I worked! I’m irredeemable! Are you happy now?”

I just quietly laughed and shook my head. “No, of course not.” We both smiled and walked on in silence for a couple of minutes, enjoying the sun’s warmth, the beauty of this place. “So,” I picked the topic back up again, “how was it?”

She sighed. I already knew the general gist of it. She went to the dining hall to have breakfast with Luna. Luna would have told her about our nightly exploits. How my training went, how the dreamscape was, all that hot news. They would chitchat a little, maybe a prank or two would be involved, but inevitably, they would part again. Luna would return to her chambers to sleep for the day, and Celestia – because it was her free day – had time to kill until I was awake.

She must have returned to her study. There was paperwork to be done. There was always paperwork to be done. I did not like it much when she did so on her free days and she knew that perfectly well. But I could not change it. And neither could she, it seemed.

“I actually got a lot done,” she admitted. “I denied half a dozen proposals for tax law changes, supported the foundation of a fund and had a good laugh about another of Prince Blueblood's requests for my blessing.”

That actually sounded like a lot for what amounted to maybe two or three hours. In my eyes, that only provided further proof that most of the time, it did not matter as much how many hours were put into something. It was more about what mindset one was in when working. Of course, that name immediately made me grimace.

While it was not official-official, the tabloids had been doing their job. Which consisted of snooping around and being nosier than Luna and Rarity combined. By now, the better half of Equestria knew about Lunas and Twilight's romantic involvement. But of course, there were always those that did not believe what they were told. That was admittedly a good thing as far as tabloids went. I nevertheless had learned to despise Blueblood. Not only because I had heard quite enough from Rarity about him. (And Luna. And Twilight. And Cadance. And Celestia. At this point, I had even heard of him from Fancy Pants, for crying out loud.)

No, I had met the charming gentlecolt on a few occasions.

Celestia helped me stay out of the public eye as much as we could manage. I did not deal well with the spotlight. But there was the occasional event when she asked me to attend, when she wanted me by her side. And that was enough, it would always be enough for her to merely ask. I would brave the spotlight for her. I would stand at her side, legs heavy and frozen in place, and smile and wave.

A relationship is based on a mutual exchange. Concessions needed to be made on both sides. And I had decided that I could do this for her. Even if it meant encountering the press… or worse, Blueblood. I liked to believe that I had a decent upbringing. I usually bit my tongue instead of swearing. The worst swear words I knew made Rainbow Dash and Applejack laugh. But merely thinking about him, I wanted to direct a lot of them at him.

He had the gall of asking Celestia for her blessing, so that he may marry Twilight.

Because obviously, Twilight's opinion on the matter didn’t, well, matter. Neither did Lunas, it seemed.

“I want to—“ I started seethingly, but Sunny interrupted me.

“-kick his teeth in again, yes, I know. Please refrain from trying.” She gave me this forgiving smile, wordlessly asking for my patience. Blueblood was a fool, a dolt, a prick, but he was a noble as well. His family had money and influence and both had allowed him to look the way he did. He was larger than me, and probably stronger. But I had four years of night guard training behind me by now — I might actually be able to kick his flank now and the thought of testing that out was quite a charming one.

We stopped walking for a spell, so that I could close my eyes without tripping and take a deep breath. I had to take three before I felt calm enough again that we could resume our little stroll. “How did that— How did he end up being a prince anyway? I think I never asked.”

She smiled, with a spark of mirth dancing around in her eyes. “You don’t already know?”

I shook my head. “I’m trying not to search for it,” I replied. Maybe I already had that knowledge. Maybe somewhere in the back of my head, there were memories from other lifetimes where I had asked that question, where I had been given answers. Of course and as usual, there was no guarantee that the reasons would be the same each and every time. Maybe in one lifetime, Blueblood had been Celestias son. Maybe in another one, he was granted that title because of some heroic deed. It did not matter. I did not want it to matter.

She studied me for a moment, watched closely as I fought my own memories with a small amount of disdain. In the end, she squeezed me with her wing and gave me a warm smile. It distracted me enough and I replied in kind. “He has employed a lot of very smart ponies for many years,” she explained. “He spent quite a good portion of his family’s fortune on this endeavor. As far as I am aware, this all started with a couple of nobles remarking on mere visual similarities between him and myself. He became somewhat obsessed with the idea that he might in fact be related to me. Sadly, that turned out to be true.”

That surprised me. A lot. “Wait, he is? He actually is?”

She nodded. “While the visual similarities are only superficial, the ponies he employed managed to trace his lineage back hundreds of years. He is a direct descendant of Drab Tone. She was my seneschal back before Luna… vanished. She had to resign from her office once we married.”

“And you… uh… ‘direct descendant’ meaning…” I had almost laughed about how silly I was behaving. There should have been no need to beat around the bush.

But it made her giggle quietly, so I had no reason to complain too much. “There is magic for just about anything, you know that,” she reminded me. I immediately blushed, both due to the images in my head and the fact that she noticed me staring at her rump, or rather below it. “Is that curiosity I see?” she inquired with another giggle.

“Eh, n-no… I don’t think so,” I answered. To be honest though, I had no idea what I was thinking. How I felt about that. I was attracted to mares and mares only. But Celestia would still be my Celestia. It was confusing and right now, I did not want to occupy my mind with that train of thought. So I looked around instead and by chance spotted a beautiful blossom. A part of the hedge was in bloom. Petals of a soft pink hue with golden stems in the middle. I carefully detached it from the hedge, levitated it over to Sunny and quickly weaved it into her golden mane, just above her ear.

A rosy tint colored her cheeks as she held still, so that I may finish my work. She smiled happily. “Thank you. A valiant attempt as far as distractions go.”

I chuckled a little. “It might not be as beautiful as you, but it serves well to accentuate your good looks.” I stole a kiss from her and we resumed our stroll. “So he found out and you gave him the title?”

“In a roundabout way, yes,” she answered with a nod. “There were some dusty old laws he dug up that required as much.”

“But Twilight is in no real danger… right?” I could not help but worry nonetheless.

Celestia smiled. “There is a loophole that circumvents any need for my blessing or her acceptance of his proposal. But you do not have to worry about that. Twilight and I have been monitoring his progress on the matter and we expect him to become aware of it in about four or five years. Plans have already been made and put in place for that occasion. We are well aware and a lot of steps ahead of him.”

“You what?” I was mildly confused. Twilight had never mentioned anything like that… “Plans?”

Unaware of my confusion, she nodded with a satisfied smile. She almost seemed smug, actually. “This was his seventh request for my blessing. I have denied him once, and I have not granted him any further answers. If he persists despite that and push comes to shove, I will grant Twilight sovereignty as a reward for her accomplishments for Equestria. Similar to Cadance and the Crystal Empire, she would have her own empire to rule over. At that point, a marriage between Twilight and Luna would be more beneficial in the eyes of the nobles, as it would form a stronger bond between our nations.” She giggled and shook her head at the absurdity of her own words. This entire plan was so ridiculous. Just because one bullheaded noble didn’t get the memo. Maybe I should try to kick his flank after all.

But instead, for now at least, I just sighed. It immediately caught her attention. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know, it’s just… this was news to me,” I replied.

“Well there was little reason to tell you about it, love.” She leaned over and nuzzled me.

I sighed happily and smiled, even if it only lasted a moment before I returned to brooding. “Twilight hasn’t told me either,” I meekly noted. The implication was clear to read. We, that was Twilight and I, we shared. We shared just about anything. But I had heard nothing of this. She had not vented her frustrations to me. She had not complained to me, or plotted with me. She had not even name-dropped him.

“While I can only take a guess about her reasons, I presume that she did not want you to worry about her too much. You do have a tendency to worry and go overboard with that.” I managed a sheepish smile at her little jab. I was a worrywart, I could not deny that – despite my efforts to better myself.

I silently decided that I would talk to Twilight about this eventually. But today was Celestia's free day and I intended for us to enjoy it as much as we could. A sentiment she seemed to share as I had not noticed her steering us out of the Canterlot Castle gardens and onto the streets of Canterlot itself.

We spent the next couple of hours window shopping.

“I tried to learn the contrabass at one point,” Sunny mused as she stared into a shop's display featuring several instruments.

“Really? Sounds like it didn’t go well?” I inquired.

She gave a sigh and nodded. “Sadly it was not meant to be, yes. What do ponies say these days? ‘Practice for a thousand hours and you become a master’. While that might be true, I did not have the patience required back then.”

“I think it’s ‘ten thousand hours’, but yes. Hm. It’s hard to imagine you running out of patience.” I stopped at her side, leaned lightly against her and followed her gaze inside. Classical orchestra was something we both enjoyed greatly. It inspired me enough that I had taken up writing again at some point. Only small pieces, short stories and the like. I rarely had enough time to sit down and write and when I did, I usually preferred to relax or spend my time with her or my other friends. Writing, while fulfilling as an art form, as just another very lonely hobby. You could share your writing, share your ideas and stories, talk at length about the why and what, but the process of writing itself, of expressing those ideas, of more or less carefully choosing the words to convey your ideas… that was a solitary task. It was unfortunately also this task that I enjoyed most about it. To tell a story, with little regard as to whom I was telling it to.

“It quickly turned out that string instruments in general despise me, even though they are my favorite part of any performance,” she added and stirred me from my reverie.

“That’s a shame really. I would have loved to hear you perform.” As a late afterthought, I added a little eyebrow wiggle. I had heard – and appreciated – her musical performance on many occasions and they were marvelous indeed.

She rolled her eyes, but could not keep herself from smiling all the while. “Maybe I will grant you a private performance later on,” she whispered into my ear.

I felt a tingle all over my body, a slight shudder and I quickly tilted my head to capture her lips in a kiss before she could retreat. “I’d love that,” I replied once the kiss broke.

“What about you?” she asked and turned her attention back to the store.

“While I appreciate the string section a lot, I think I’m more of a drums type,” I remarked, thinking about what pieces I cherished and for what reasons.

“Drums,” she deadpanned.

I shrugged with a grin. “Yeah. Drums. I like ‘em.”

She shook her head, giggled, and draped her wing over my back again to softly steer me away from the window. “Have you ever tried to learn an instrument?”

“I don’t think I have,” I mused. “Can’t remember any instance, at least. No surprise there really, I mean… I’m overwhelmed at the complexity of playing a triangle. I love music, and I couldn’t live without it, but I lack any and all talent of making my own.”

I knew that I had offered her a perfect occasion as soon as the words had left my mouth. She immediately started to grin in that mischievous way of hers. “Oh I don’t know, you can make some very enjoyable sounds…”

Cheeky mare.

I nuzzled her. I was about to tell her how much I loved her flirting when a low grumble made both of us pause. Her stomach had just growled at us, vying for our attention. And hilariously enough, a second later, mine answered in kind. We shared a look before we both giggled. “Right,” I commented and looked up at the sky, noting the position of the sun. “We passed lunch and neither of us had anything besides breakfast.”

We both looked around and Sunny spotted a little corner café. “I would not mind a little break, maybe something to snack on and a nice tea,” she said and pointed towards the café.

While the café looked nice and all, I had a different idea. Restaurant row was not that far away. “Do you know masala chai?” I asked her.

She furrowed her brow and tried to remember, but ultimately shook her head. “No, I don’t think I have met her yet.”

I quietly laughed for a second or two. “No, no, it’s not a ‘who’, it’s a ‘what’,” I corrected.

Given the new context, her eyes lit up. I would have been quite surprised if she didn’t know about chai. “Oh, chai! Tea! Yes, I know, of course I know.” She seemed almost embarrassed. It was really endearing.

“So?” I merely asked.

She gave it some more thought and shrugged. “It is not my usual fare. There are many, many varieties of chai though. Asking me if I like chai is like asking me if I like black tea. But… I could go for some chai, yes. I just don’t think this café offers any.”

I smiled and was satisfied with the answer I got. “Great. That’s all I needed to know. Follow me, love.”

A short walk later, we were on restaurant row. But instead of choosing any of the very fancy – and very pricy – looking restaurants, I steered us to the right, into a dingy looking alleyway. At the end of it was Saffron Masala’s restaurant. Well technically it was her fathers, I believed. We entered the Tasty Treat and I immediately knew that this had been a good choice, if only for the way Sunny stared in awe at the décor.

“It. Is. Beautiful,” she breathed.

“Why thank you kindly,” Saffron greeted us with a bright, cheery smile. She stepped up to us, her wild brown mane barely tamed by being worn as a braid. “Table for two?”

I looked around and for some reason felt relief at seeing so many patrons around. While getting a table to ourselves would be no issue, I was still glad to see this restaurant booming like it was. “We’d love that,” I let her know and we followed her to an empty table, taking our seats.

Sunny still stared at everything, when Saffron brought us the menus. The Tasty Treat was one of the most colorful restaurants I had ever seen. Panels of purple, orange and golden fabric were lining the ceiling, the reddish brick walls were decorated with stylized depictions of elephants and framed photos of famous guests. Rarity and Pinkie Pie among them. A redwood floor, cozy two-seaters complementing the varied selection of chairs and stools… It was busy to look at, but in a nice way.

I especially adored those little paper craft lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

But of course, being a restaurant, the best part about the Tasty Treat was the smell. It was exotic and spicy.

I took in the sights myself while Sunny was bugging Saffron about her chai selection. At some point, I noted the attention shifting to me. My ears swiveled around, my own attention in turn on Saffron now. “I remember you,” she remarked with a knowing smile.

“You do?” Sunny interjected, her curiosity piqued.

“Oh yes,” Saffron confirmed. Her golden earrings jingled a little as she was half-heartedly trying to stifle her laughter. “He came in here asking for advice. He wanted to get a birthday present for his marefriend,” she remarked with a grin and a glance to the side. “What was it you asked? ‘Please tell me you know a tea, any tea, so weird that even a tea connoisseur wouldn’t have heard of it’.”

A part of me wanted to sink into the floor. Or rather the cushions of the two-seater we currently occupied. Not because that request embarrassed me, oh no. If she remembered that, than she probably also remembered—

“He came for the tea, he stayed for the food,” Saffron proudly proclaimed to Sunny. “Although he didn’t quite handle it as well as he expected.”

“I was… uhm…” Any defense I tried to put up melted at the sight of Sunny wordlessly pleading with me for a good story. On one hoof, I just knew that I would never hear the end of it if I were to tell her about that. On the other hoof, with Saffron present, there was no chance of her not hearing about it one way or another. “Haaah,” I breathed, giving myself up to my fate. “Restaurant row is known for its prices, amongst other things. But the Tasty Treat doesn’t only have great food, they have great prices as well, and they held an ‘all you can eat’-contest that day. A small entry fee and whoever won the contest by devouring the most in one hour would win a prize. One free round for one table. I thought I could easily win that and make it a date, I… really, clearly, remembered that I dealt well with spicy food. It just turned out that apparently, I had become quite a lot more… sensitive.”

“He was bawling his eyes out, the poor guy,” Saffron remarked with a warm smile. “I warned you about those chili cheese peppers.”

“Yes. Yes you did. But I didn't listen,” I admitted.

Saffron spent a couple more minutes at our table, regaling Sunny with some more juicy details about that day, until her presence was required elsewhere. She still served as the waiter of the Tasty Treat, after all.

As soon as she left, Sunny turned to me. “Don’t!” I hastily blurted out. “Not. A. Single. Word.”

She giggled quietly for a moment before she leaned over and kissed me. “It was a sweet thought. And that chai had been quite a positive surprise.”

“W-Well, I… thanks,” I mumbled a little dumbfounded.

I regained my composure after she finally stopped teasing me and we took a look at the menu. We were hungry, but we were not starving. Looking around when other patrons got their foods, it became quite apparent how generous the portion sizes were. We both chose to stick to the same appetizer. Fried pastries filled with spiced potatoes, red onions and peas. Not only did that sound tasty, I just loved the shape of samosas. They just looked funny, being triangular and almost hat-like.

Sunny got her chai, I got my pineapple juice and a few short minutes later, we happily nibbled away at our food. I loved this place. “We need to come here more often,” I remarked once I returned from another bout of bliss.

“Mhm,” she agreed as she grasped her fork with her wing and led another piece to her mouth, “Mmm~…”

“Yes. That.”

While silence might have fallen over our table, that did not mean the restaurant suddenly grew silent as well. As was normal with any restaurant, there was a constant background noise of other ponies chit chatting. Other customers arrived and left. Rarely was anypony in a hurry.

We were done with our meal at some point, but remained where we were for a little while longer. A small family had taken up the table next to us. I watched their little filly prance around in the room, curiously asking other customers what they were eating. And why. I smiled at that and even felt a little bit of pity for her when her parents, noticing her behavior, asked her not to bother the other ponies. Her ears splayed flat against her head and she nodded, but as soon as they looked away, she perked right back up again. While she did not ‘bother’ the other patrons anymore, she did walk around, eyes full of curiosity, taking in those vibrant colors, those photos and stylized depictions of elephants. She asked her mother what that was, but her response was a disappointing “just some animal”.

“Ksst.” What a strange sound. I turned my head and noticed that Sunny was lowering hers and repeated a quiet “ksssst” until she got that little fillies' attention. She pranced over to our table with an enthusiastic giggle. “That is an elephant,” Sunny explained.

“What’s an elephant?” For a moment, I could see a very, very young Twilight in her. Regarding a world full of wonders. Everything was worth knowing about. Everything was exciting. It was cute.

I followed their little conversation without actually listening much. Sunny talked about some faraway land, barren, yet still full of life. She talked about cypresses – apparently some kind of tree. And golden grass, high enough to hide a pony.

To that filly, it sounded like adventure.

“Peridot, come on, leave those nice ponies alone,” her mother once more chided her.

Sunny looked up to her mother. “Oh she’s no bother at all. She’s precious.”

At that moment, it hit me.

I marveled at that specific expression on Sunny's face. In her eyes. That tone in her voice. So soft, so warm… motherly. When Celestia spoke about Equestria, she always spoke as a mother. It was the same warmth. The same softness. And yet it was different. This right here and now was more… personal. Almost intimate.

Peridot, as the filly apparently was named, thanked Sunny and trotted over to sit by her mother’s side, just like she had requested. Sunny’s gaze had followed her longer than was necessary. And that expression lingered even after she managed to tear her gaze off. It remained even as she looked over to me, regarding me with a smile as blindingly radiant as her sun.

I had seen Luna care for ‘the little ones’. I knew what type of mother she was. Or would be. Could be?

But right here, right now…? “I want foals with you.”

For a fraction of a second, that smile only grew. There was a bottomless well of hope and love. I knew deep down in my heart that she wanted this as well. What I saw in her eyes in that moment was all of her being, screaming an overjoyed “Yes!” at me.

But as was inevitable with Celestia, clouds started to gather. And that moment passed. And her smile, albeit still radiant, dimmed down a little.

Foals aren’t easy. Nothing ever was, or would be. And without a single word spoken, and without a single thought finished, I could already list so many things that would need to be addressed in some fashion, at some point. I could list all those things and I was sure that she was thinking about them this very instant as well.

While there were illusion spells to hide her potential pregnancy, using that wouldn’t even make sense in the first place. At some point, ponies would start to wonder about that little filly – or colt – running around in the castle.

Shining Armor and Cadance had tried for years. And due to conversations I had not managed to flee from, I knew that they had tried a lot. And hard. It seemed alicorns just were not quite as fertile as regular ponies.

We were not even married yet. We had not even talked about marriage. The outrage that would provoke! Maybe it would even involve some nobles dusting off ancient law texts again, dragging me to court for spoiling a Princess or something.

And she was The Princess Celestia. She had a nation to care for. Either Luna and Twilight would need to considerably step up their game, or another solution would need to be found. I could hardly raise a little night owl all by myself with barely any involvement from her, that would just be horrible.

A singular instance of overenthusiasm right at the beginning of our involvement aside, we had used proper protection whenever necessary. I could be infertile for all I knew. And how would I know?

The list went on and on and on. I knew that. She knew it as well.

We gazed into each other’s eyes. There was a lot that needed to be said. A lot that needed to be talked about. A lot of concerns that needed to be addressed. And in the background, we heard Peridot giggle. We both looked over to the other table and watched her fold the paper menu into the rough shape of an elephant. Her mother was not exactly thrilled once she noticed, but did not have the heart to reprimand her daughter once she saw how proud the young filly was.

We returned our gazes to each other.

There was a lot.

Sunny leaned over to me, pulled me in with a wing that quickly encased me. “I love you,” she whispered and kissed me. And I felt it. I felt loved. Cared for. Needed. And the longer she kissed me on that second round, the needier her kiss started to feel.

I had enough presence of mind to levitate my purse out of my saddlebag, deposit half of its content on the table and stash it away again. That would probably have been enough to pay for every meal currently out here, but I did not care. My attention immediately returned to Sunny, like a drowning pony’s attention returning to that glimmer of hope, that speck of land nearby. “I want you,” I replied quietly. I was still conscious enough to realize that we were in a restaurant and that there was at least one filly present.

She noticed the bits on the table with a sidelong glance.

I dove in for a third kiss, knowing full well what was to come. The rest of our window shopping would have to wait for another day, it seemed. A shimmering golden glow enveloped us. I doubted that anypony would question it, that anypony had been attentive enough to notice my distinctly different color of magic when I had levitated my purse around, or my cutlery.

Teleporting right out of the restaurant might have been rude. But apparently, right now, that was the best we could do. At some point, I might return to the Tasty Treat to apologize properly. But right now, I could not be bothered.

We reappeared on her balcony at the castle, right outside her chambers. She stole another deep, greedy kiss from me before she pulled back and panted a little. “Were you serious?” she asked. She still held me close as she tried to catch her breath.

“Dead serious,” I answered without any hesitation whatsoever. A tiny voice in the back of my head lamented the wasted opportunity. After all, I could have told her that I was ‘dad serious’.

She immediately dove for another passionate kiss and opened the doors without effort. For a fraction of a second, I was sure she would have kicked them out of their hinges if they had dared to be uncooperative. I had not seen her this excited in quite some time.

As soon as we reached the bed, I put my hooves on her shoulders and pushed. She willingly fell away from me, onto the bed, and immediately turned onto her belly. Her tail swished from side to side in agitation and spread the scent of her arousal. I put my hooves on her flanks, pressed into her cutie marks and her tail swished one last time, staying to the side. Even though I had witnessed first-hoof how aggressive she was, I was still surprised to see her drenched already. I dove in without hesitation and buried my muzzle in her private parts and elicited a long, needy moan from her.

With how things were going, there was no need for a slow buildup. Heck, she would probably kick me if I tried. And just to confirm my suspicion, she managed to string a few words together between labored breaths. “Don’t, just… take me…”

I withdrew my muzzle, licked my lips and enjoyed her taste for just a moment, enjoyed the view as well. She looked back at me over her shoulder and there was fire in her eyes. I dared not deny her. I did not want to either. I just lined up behind her, my magic adjusting the angle a little, and pushed forward. Our moans intermingled in the air. I had not anticipated this. In one singular motion, I buried myself entirely in her, up to the hilt. I dared to stay still for a couple of seconds, placed a little trail of kisses along her neck, nibbled on her ear and elicited another, quieter whine from her throat. Sunny’s frame was a lot smaller than Celestia’s. That had its own advantages at times. But right now, I was not so sure if her tightness was one or not. It would certainly not help me last longer.

Then again, that wasn’t the point right now, was it?

I withdrew and she bit down on the blanket in preparation. A second later, I rammed into her again. It felt incredible. Her entire body seemed to wrap itself around me, drew me in, held me in, clawed at me to stay and whined when I withdrew, only to welcome me back with tightness and heat. I bit down on her neck at some point. Her yelp did not sound like pain, or rather, not only pain, and I was careful enough to measure my strength so as to not leave any visible mark.

“Faster,” she almost begged.

I can do ‘faster’.

I plunged into her with wild abandon, over and over again. No finesse, no techniques, just a simple, repetitive motion. But it was pure bliss. Her wings twitched, unfolded on their own accord. I leaned down, licked along her joint and to my surprise, she started to tremble. I was getting close, approaching my own climax fast, so I doubled down on my efforts. I had never expected her to be this excited about the prospect. But thinking about it? For a brief moment, I had this image right before my eyes. Her bulging belly. Me pressing an ear against it. Being overprotective. Doting on her. But whatever fantasy my mind tried to create, my attention almost immediately returned to that image of her inflated belly. It was beautiful.

Her scream was barely muffled by her biting down on that blanket. And I did not slow down for quite a while after I had reached my own climax. It almost felt like I was stuck, like… if I just kept going, maybe I could force my will upon reality, like it worked in the dreamscape.

Finally, however, I had to surrender.

I slumped down next to her, lying on my back, but my head tilted to look at her. Her pristine white coat was aglow with a heavy blush that was, to varying degrees, visible almost everywhere. Her gaze was still delirious, but accompanied by a wide grin. I shuffled a little bit closer and drew her muzzle to mine.

“You taste funny,” she replied, clearly still not quite straight in the head yet.

“You taste funny,” I shot back with a quiet chuckle before I belatedly added, “and I love it.”

“Hm… that would explain it,” she remarked and kissed me again anyway. We fell silent for a while. Minutes, maybe? Probably. Until she spoke up again. “Foals?” she just asked. I nodded. “As in… more than one?” she specified.

I grinned. “I want a little filly. She’s going to be daddy's little princess and I will spoil her rotten.” I quietly laughed.

That made her giggle. “I want a colt.”

I nodded once more. “I thought so. And that’s why. Foals. One filly, one colt. If you can’t decide, take both.” Somewhere in the back of my head, I was simply hoping for fillies, many, many fillies before she got her colt. We'll just have to try more, love.

“You keep saying that, yes,” she said with a happy sigh. “But usually, we are talking about which ice cream to buy or what tax proposal to accidentally burn in the fireplace.”

“And you tend to agree with me. And we tend to be happy with the outcome. Haven’t heard you complain all that much so far, hm?” I shot right back. I leaned over, but instead of kissing her on the lips again, I overreached, nibbled on her ear and elicited an endearing mixture between a sigh and a moan.

“Hmmm, yes… no reason to complain,” she hummed. I involuntarily tensed a little as I suddenly felt her primaries trailing along my side. I was ticklish as heck, but she knew all my spots. She knew how to avoid them as well, and did just that. The softest touch in the right spots and I could feel the buildup again. “You should go back to work, hm?” she teased in a sultry voice. “That is… if you still have anything in you? You did tell me about that grueling, exhausting week of yours that—“

While she had been busy teasing me, riling me up again, I had simply stood back up. And I was not about to let her challenge me like that without answering accordingly. She gave a startled yelp as soon as I plunged into her again — carefully, of course. I didn’t want to hurt her after all. But I found that I still had no need to worry about that. “If you can take it, I can give,” I purred into her ear and drove myself deeper bit by bit, almost agonizingly slow.

“I-If you can give it, I c-can take i-it,” she replied, her breath growing labored again.

I grinned. It felt like my face was about to split open any second now. “So be it,” I answered.

And that was that.

A second later, we both moaned again. A deep, primal sound mixed in the air. It would be heard for the better part of an hour or two, if only inside this room's walls…

I could barely move. But neither could she. We were laying there, our limbs entwined, belly to belly. The bed was a mess. Changing blanket and sheets wouldn’t quite cut it this time, not with that puddle that had formed beneath her rear.

For the moment though, we did not mind much.

While staying awake would eventually prove difficult, we were in the right mindset now. We were able to think straight. And discuss what needed to be discussed. “We should talk,” she started.

I stole a little peck from her lips and nodded. “We should,” I agreed. “I have some suggestions for filly names…”

She giggled quietly. “Hm, is that so? But I fear that is not what we should be discussing right now.” I gave her an overly dramatic pout and she giggled once again. “Well… maybe we can start with names.”

I had honestly not expected that to work…