Dreamwalker's Tale: An Anthology

When I woke up, I was not quite sure if I felt like I was able to move mountains. What I was sure of was that I felt heavy enough to be a mountain. My situation was not helped by the circumstances I found myself in. Smooth satin sheets, filled with the accumulated body warmth of an entire night of rest. A thick, feathery blanket that covered me lovingly. And even without cracking my caked eyes open, I could sense that it was juuust dark enough still to drift back off to sleep.

Really, everything was against me. Oh woe is me.

I smiled and was ready to drift off again when a thought tickled my brain: That… was not a blanket.

I could obviously feel the larger body right behind me. Powerful hooves held me close. My back was comfortably warm. I felt incredibly… safe. I leaned my head down just a little until I blindly found fur with my snout and placed a grateful kiss on it. She was still asleep, I was certain of that, and she would be for another hour or so if I had a say in that.

But then I noticed something odd. I could not even tell why it was odd at first. Her coat was a little ruffled, as was to be expected after a long night. But it had a different… quality to it. A slight variation in what my subconscious had expected. Slight enough that I could not even find proper words for it. But this mental bug was enough to stir me. Enough to deny me sleep.

“Ugh, I hate myself,” I croaked almost silently. My voice was a mess.

I finally cracked my eyes open. Only a tiny slit.

Her wing was a beautiful dark blue.

Well. That ain’t right. What?

At that point, I might have subconsciously given up on sleeping through another couple of hours. The gears started to turn, my mind came awake with creaking and groaning and started to initialize the usual daily operations. Thinking was hard sometimes.

Now that my mental faculties slowly returned, I did finally notice other tidbits my senses fed me. The marvelous satin sheets were a Luna-thing, obviously. Celestia had some, but those were mostly gifts from other ponies and she rarely used them. She usually just snuck them into Luna’s dresser at the earliest convenience. And of course, her scent permeated the bed. The pillow my head still rested on. The sheets themselves. Her fur. That massive wing that covered me. Goddess, I was thankful for that wing. A room this huge was hard to keep warm throughout the night, especially in the colder times of the year. I could have woken up freezing a while ago without her.

Which begged the question though — where was our blanket anyway?

I probed around with my hindlegs. It was not hard to stretch them out a little, but I wanted to be careful. I did not wish to disturb Luna’s sleep. And lo and behold, I noticed a little tangled up bundle of cloth at the lower end of the bed. How had we managed to get it there, though? Or maybe we had forgotten to cover ourselves?

The room reeked of sex. So there was at least one obvious explanation as to what happened last night. But it did bother me that I had such a hard time remembering. I was pretty sure that this, me being here, waking up next to her, was all kinds of wrong. I was not supposed to be here. I had been with Twilight the prior morning. We boarded the train to Canterlot. It was about some… diplomatic… something-something. We wanted to switch. I would get to spend a couple of days with Sunny. I had missed her horribly the last few days. I could not really explain why, it just happened occasionally. One of the things one had to deal with when being involved with more than one pony. And Twilight wanted to visit Luna.

Twilight wanted to visit Luna.

She was supposed to be here.

Where was she?

And with that, the marching band arrived. It started slow, with massive drums going off in my temples. Despite my best efforts, a low, grumbling groan escaped my lips.

“Hmmm,” I heard from behind me. I mentally cursed myself and tried to keep quiet. But as was to be expected: As soon as I attempted to lay extra still, it only made it more obvious that I was awake. She shifted behind me ever so slightly, wiggled a little lower to bring her muzzle to my ear. I could feel her soft, deep breath. It tickled. And admittedly, despite my building headache, it was both soothing and exciting. “Seems I have caught myself a firecracker,” she whispered.

And just because she used my pet name, a shiver ran down my spine. Judging from her amused faint giggle, she was very satisfied with my reaction.

I shifted myself as well, turned on my back to better face her and still keep my backside warm. Her mane, ever ethereal and star-strutted, was a wavy mess behind her. Her coat was ruffled, her regalia was missing and she was so incredibly, irresistibly beautiful.

I only stared for a second. Maybe ten.

Then the secondary drums went off and I cringed. “Sweet Celestia, please kill me,” I mumbled as I brought a hoof to my temple and slowly massaged it.

“I would be very cross with her if she tried,” Luna replied with a smirk.

The drums eased up a little bit. Enough to shoot Luna a wry glance. “I can’t really remember—… I mean…” A party. No. A delegation? Something diplomatic. A… gala? Maybe? “I swear, that red wine is pure evil,” I muttered dissatisfied. Then my own words registered in my head. Red wine? I furrowed my brow and stared at the ceiling. “At least I think it was the red wine?”

Luna snickered a little. “I told you not to underestimate the fruity one. It packs a punch.”

I sighed. The inhale of fresh air, or whatever air currently filled this room, made me particularly aware of that thick fur on my tongue. A distinctly bad tasting fur. “Oh goodness… I think something died in my mouth overnight…” I took another deep inhale through my nose and looked at her. Alicorn physique was just unfair. She seemed perfectly fine. And I had seen her drink. Lots. “I’m pretty sure I heeded your warning and stayed away from the fruity one.”

An almost devious smile spread on her lips as she watched me. “Did you now?” She hummed in thought before she shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

I knew her well enough to anticipate where this was going. And really, I did not approve. I raised my hooves in a defensive gesture. “You really don—“’t want to do this, I finished in my head.

Outside of my head, her lips sealed mine. I felt a little bit strange to be relieved just because I noticed that I was not the only one with bad morning breath. Something died in her mouth as well. But I had to admit, that was quickly forgotten once she deepened the kiss somewhat. I sighed heavily, and happily. And only a couple of seconds after did I feel bad. Because I must have tasted awful. So did she, true, but that was not the point. Completely different, really.

Luna simply smacked her lips and nodded with a grin. “As I thought. It was the fruity one.”

I could not help but snort and giggle a little. “You’re weird.”

She grinned in reply and lowered her muzzle closer to mine again, so we were only a few inches apart. “But you still love me, don’t you?”

I tried to kiss her, obviously. But every time I lifted my head up with a little bit of effort, she retreated just enough to tease me. After the third time, I simply gave up. “Very much, yes. I think your weirdness really adds to your appeal.”

This time I got her good. She laughed for a solid half minute before she dove down for another kiss. It again tasted awful, but it felt really good. She leaned a little bit more over me and I felt her hoof make contact with my side. A slow, tentative brush down to my flank and I could not help but smile into the kiss. Luna was rarely shy about what she wanted. But she could be. And she could be quite tender as well. If only I felt less hungover.

I broke the kiss with a heavy heart and shot her an apologetic smile. She understood, and smiled in turn. Everything was okay.

I finally propped myself up in bed. At least enough to survey the room properly. Last night apparently must have been quite a mess. Her horseshoes were strewn about, her peytral hung off the bedpost and her tiara was… nowhere to be seen. It made me snicker again. “Wow.”

Luna nuzzled my side while I took everything in. “You’ve been very carefree. And quite dominant. I love that side of you.”

I snorted and looked down at her. “So you’re planning to get me drunk more often? I’m not sure I approve of that. Actually, come to think of it, doesn’t alcohol… you know… interfere with… stuff?”

For a second, for just a second, she shot me a predatory grin so intimidating that I half-expected her to pounce on me immediately. Then her expression went back to her usual playfulness. “No, you do not have to worry about that. I know you rarely indulge. It makes it special, I think. As for your performance, do not worry about that either. You were quite eager. Ravenous, I might even call it.”

She knew exactly what she was doing. As usual. A blush spread to my cheeks. I could feel the heat radiating off my cheeks, even my ears. I could hear my blood rushing in my ears. It really did not help ease my headache, though. And I could not help but notice how she licked her lips when she caught sight of a certain something growing in anticipation. I rolled my eyes, but could not stop grinning. I was blessed to be loved by this little minx, as much as I was cursed with her.

“You do realize that this still poses a bit of a problem, right?” I tried to distract her.

She had a very sweet pout when she looked up. Hard to resist that one. “Well, she has not broken down my door just yet, so I am assuming everything is fine.”

I sighed again and chuckled quietly. “Right.” Sunny could drink a lot more than Luna. I didn't quite understand how, or why, but I could accept facts. Maybe it had something to do with her larger frame. Maybe it was just another alicorn physique quirk. Luna certainly drank more, and more frequently, than her sister. And she still went down earlier than her every time they actually tested this. Which happened once every millennia or so. Yesterday had not been one of these opportunities, oh no. Yesterday had merely been an unofficial, relaxed… gala… thingy.

“I need to find her. And talk to her. This wasn’t planned,” I concluded.

Luna pouted a little bit harder. “You would leave me? All alone and cold in this enormous bed?”

I chuckled and nodded. “I would. Worse still — I will. Because I’m a heartless monster.”

She grinned, effortlessly caught me with a hoof and dragged me back down right next to her. “No you are not.”

I did not resist at all. I merely looked up at her. Luna's mane fell down. Waved down, rather. It formed a little curtain to shield us from the glaring morning sun that tried to sneak its way past the heavy black curtains. I put a hoof to her cheek. A tender touch. “You are astonishingly beautiful.”

Her smile widened a little. “Are you trying to charm your way out? I do not think it works like that, but you may continue!”

I raised my head again. She tried to escape again. This time though, I saw it coming. My hoof traveled from her cheek to her neck and held her in place. She could have escaped anyway, obviously. She was a lot stronger than me. But she let me catch her. My eyes fluttered shut as our lips met again.

It is easy to throw big announcements around in these moments. When your heart is so full of warmth, close to another’s, when love permeates your entire being. I will love you forever. We will never grow apart. We will always have each other. Those and more. I loved these big statements when they showed up in romance novels and the like. Because they were statements of intent. Of commitment. I rarely used them myself, however. Because I was really good at overthinking things. And ‘forever’ is impossible for someone who will eventually age and die.

And because my brain would not let me use those nice, short statements, I usually came up with my own variation of them. Something my brain could accept as feasible.

“I will love you for as long as I can.”

I saw that hunger rise in her eyes. And I swallowed the urge to sigh. Maybe it was cruel to play with her like that? Not that I did it intentionally. “I need to talk to her.” I cringed a little. Well, actually, a lot. It was such a sudden one-eighty. A real mood breaker.

And yet she merely smiled. “Why?”

I sighed. Both because I was relieved that she was not cross with me, and because I knew that she knew the answer anyway. “Because this relationship works. It works because we talk. A lot. About everything. We make unanimous decisions, and we stick to them. For as much as I love being here, with you, right now… that wasn’t the plan. I’m not supposed to be here. It’s not what we agreed upon. Our time will be next week.”

She sighed and her smile faltered ever so slightly. A moment later she laid her head onto my chest.

“You don’t regret it… do you?” I dreaded the answer. Luna was a free-spirited being. Boundless and wild. I feared that ‘yes’ so much.

But once again, she eased my worries. “No. But I will admit that… it is hard, sometimes. Sticking to a schedule is difficult when your heart cries out.”

I smiled and propped my head up with a pillow underneath it. And I put my hoof in her mane and slowly stroked through its ethereal strands. She closed her eyes with a content sigh. “I know. I’m… I agree, you know? Sometimes. But compromise… is the solution where everypony has to give in a little bit. I want all of you to be as happy as you could be. I want to contribute to your happiness as much as I can. But I couldn’t… I can’t… choose. That’s a me-problem, obviously. All of you would be… it would be your right to decide to… make me choose.”

Luna sighed quietly and shook her head as best as her position allowed her to. “We would never do that. You know that.” She paused for a little bit and since no answer was forthcoming, she cracked an eye open and regarded me. “Right?” she belatedly added.

My chest, and therefore her head, rose as I inhaled deeply, and my nostrils flared when I slowly exhaled. “Right.” I was a worrywart. Always had been. It was in my nature to fear. To see problems before solutions. “I just… I don’t want you to just go along with all this just because you feel you need to. Or for my sake. I want you… to want this, too. If that makes sense.”

Luna shot me a wry smile and lifted her head off my chest. “I do want this.” Her tone, the conviction within, eased my mind a little once more. “Now go and find my sister dearest, before I decide to gobble you up.”

I grinned and gave her a peck on her nose. “I don’t mind if it’s you.” But I still exited the bed, because I was not an idiot. Usually. Sometimes.

The floor was a harsh contrast to the bed. It was hard, it was cold and it was not the soft, downy embrace of Luna's wing. I shivered a little, but made my way over to the door anyway. I stopped right at the gate and dared to look back over my shoulder, and as I expected — I was greeted with the sight of Luna lasciviously stretching out on the bed.

“No fair,” I muttered and had to put actual effort into tearing my gaze away. Goddess, she’s good…

The door opened and I risked a glance outside. No guards. Weird. Maybe Luna dismissed them? It would have been easy to just turn around and ask her. No, scratch that. It should have been easy. But it would not be. Because I knew her. And she would make a game out of it. She would make me work for it.

So instead, I simply slipped out and quietly closed the door.

The hallway was bright. The narrow, but high windows let so much sunlight stream in that I had to blink a couple of times just to get used to the brightness. After I felt less blind, I looked around and noticed… nopony. Which was fine, really. I knew where I was heading and the less ponies I encountered, the better, actually. Because after a couple of steps, I became quite aware that I skipped a couple of steps in my usual morning routine. Like the entire ‘bathroom’-thing, and everything that included. Like brushing my teeth. Washing up. Combing my mane. Sorting out my messy coat. Goodness, I probably looked like a mess. A sleepy, moaning, shuffling mess. So basically a zombie pony, then. Great. Spike would love it.

I tried to be sneaky as I walked down the hallways. Which was really hard to do. I had to angle my hooves in a specific way when I placed them down on the floor so that they would not make any noise. Because with these gigantonormous hallways, any noise echoed. And I cringed every time I heard any sound I accidentally produced. And the noise was not even the worst part. The hallways were mostly empty. Sure, there were banners. Massive tapestries. Sculptures and oil paintings and decorative armor stands and whatnot. But a single pony of normal size – so, me, basically – could barely hide behind those, if at all. The only real option to hide from somepony in these hallways was to quickly and quietly slip through some of these doors that went off to the sides every now and then.

I knew the palace well enough to find my way around. I knew the way to the library. To the kitchen. To Luna’s, Sunny’s and Twilight's quarters. But there were dozens, if not hundreds of other rooms in the palace. Dining halls. Archives. Vaults. Guest rooms. And I was just guessing. I had no idea what most of these rooms even were and honestly, I did not care all that much either.

However, that did mean that I could not just slip into a room to hide. Because I had no idea what I would get myself into by doing that. Maybe I would scare the ever-loving crap out of some poor archivist. Or maybe I would awkwardly grin and wave goodbye when I suddenly found myself in the middle of the barracks, with dozens of guards sharing their breakfast at the table.

Yeah, no. If somepony would come around any corner at any point, my best shot was to play it cool and pretend everything was normal. I was not hungover, I was certainly not sneaking around the palace, I belonged here and I was not to be addressed by anypony for any reason. If I could convey that much by sheer force of will and attitude, it would be fine. Right?

To be fair, I encountered not a single pony on the entire way over anyway. Which really struck me as weird. Sure, it was morning. Late morning, to be a bit more precise. Which meant that the usual morning rush was already over. And I did know the palace well enough to use my little ‘sneaking track’, which circumvented most of the well-trodden hallways. That said, not running into a single pony while crossing over from the furthest reaches of the east wing to the furthest reaches of the west wing still felt strange.

Even more so since I found no guards in front of Sunnys room either.

“Maybe a terrible disease broke out,” I surmised, “and all the ponies of Canterlot are currently hardened survivors in the post-apocalypse, battling zombie ponies in makeshift battle tanks and we simply missed the entire spectacle because we slept in.” I chuckled a little. The idea was hilariously stupid.

I stepped in front of Sunnys door, raised a hoof and… hesitated.

I was supposed to be in there, right? Why would I knock? Actually, maybe I should have made a little detour to Twilight's room and checked up on her. Well, too late for that anyway, I was here now. Maybe on my way back, then. I grabbed the door handle with my magic and silently pushed it down. The door slid open just a small gap and I was surprised to see the room being somewhat dark. Sunny was an early riser, usually. Came with the whole ‘raising the sun’-thing. And she very much loved sunrises. So why were the curtains still drawn shut? Was she still asleep? Did she sleep in as well? That was not unusual for Luna, or me. But her?

I opened the door a little further and slipped inside. It was so much more noticeable from inside how much light broke through that small gap in the door. So I closed it silently.

I was right. The curtains were still drawn shut. And there was a large bundle under the blanket on the bed. A wicked grin spread on my lips. I would tease her to the end of time and back for this. Princess Celestia, Sol Invictus, my flawless Sunny… slept in.

I snuck closer to the bed and considered if I should simply slip under the cover and pretend to be asleep. Heck, maybe I actually would get another hour or two of sleep in. Or maybe it was worth it to wake her up and start the teasing already. Slipping in beside her without waking her up was really difficult to achieve anyway.

I stood in front of the bed and my eyes had adjusted more and more to the dim light when I finally noticed a little obstacle in my plan.

Celestia was sleeping, oh yes. And were it not for that blue and purple mane splayed over Sunny's neck, I could have had difficulties guessing who was currently claiming my spot.

“What the heck,” I uttered flabbergasted. Didn’t see that one coming.

Celestia was very much spooning Twilight. She held her tight to herself, her wing wrapped around the smaller alicorn, and the blanket was halfway up there as well. Sunny wore that dreamy, deeply satisfied smile that often grazed her features when she was having a nice dream. Her long neck stretched a little so that her nose was close to Twilight's head. With each soft inhale, she got another nose full of Twilight’s scent. And Twilight did not mind much. She looked quite content as well, actually.

This could all have been very, very innocent, really. It could have been. Just a couple of friends who had a bit too much yesterday and cuddled up in the wrong bed. But again — the entire room reeked of sex.

I stood there, frozen in place, and I expected a pang of jealousy that never came. They had been dancing around this issue for who knows how long at this point. A part of me was simply… relieved. Glad. Actually, no. Scratch that. A part of me was happy. Elated. They had apparently finally come clean. They had finally opened up to each other. They had finally addressed what they felt for each other, and how these feelings had developed and changed over the last years.

I wanted to hug them so badly. I wanted to kiss them, both of them, and congratulate them, and yell a ‘Finally!’ in my most annoyed-yet-relieved voice ever. I wanted to bake them a cake. With the icing on top spelling out ‘Finally!’ as well.

Okay, the cake idea was weird. But the mystery surrounding that thought was quickly solved when a very quiet, almost timid grumble echoed from my stomach. Breakfast. Right.

Now, despite me vibrating on the spot in sheer joy like Pinkie usually did, the actual current situation posed a bit of a problem.

There had been a gala last night. Not the usual formal event, but basically just a nice little get-together with a bunch of friendly ambassadors. Most of which, I assumed, were in their guest rooms nursing their own hangovers. Because I vaguely remembered everything going downhill fast. The ambassador from Yakyakistan was a very, very, very loud fella. Who became strangely timid and soft spoken once he was sufficiently drenched in rum. I remembered Luna drinking with a dragon ambassador. I also remembered Luna very pointedly warning me not to drink the stuff the dragon ambassador had brought along with him, as it would quite literally kill me.

At some point, the ambassadors had left, one by one, and just the four of us remained. We were all plastered by that point. Even Sunny. And after that… black.

I took a deep breath. It was meant to help me concentrate and figure out my next steps. What it actually did was to make me well aware of the very distinct scents of two of my loved ones lying very close to me in a messy condition that was very much enticing. I ignored the little tingle from downstairs as best as I could.

So. Positives: Twilight was fine. I would not need to check up on her, because I just did. Sunny was fine as well. And whatever would come from this, I was inclined to believe that a barrier had been broken down last night. A barrier that would not be fixed and returned to its place, no matter how hard Sunny might try.

Negatives: We were drunk. All of us. Including these two. As soon as Twilight would wake up, she would freak out. Also, Celestia would probably have a bad conscience.

I smirked as an idea struck. I liked it enough to glance around the room to see if executing it was even a possibility. For better or worse, I found everything I needed. A little sheet of paper that I folded in the middle to make a small standing card from it. I drew a heart on it. Just a heart. And placed it on Sunny’s nightstand. It would hopefully be enough to ease her worries and concerns. I had been here. I had seen it. I was not mad. I was very much in love with her, and in favor of this.

With that, I dared one last glance at the sleeping pair. Twilight sighed in her sleep, a persistent smile on her face as well. And in turn, Sunny squeezed her just a little bit. Enough that Twilight noticed and her smile widened a little. Gosh darn, they are so incredibly adorable together… why did it take them so long!

I could feel my cheeks ache due to my grin spanning from one ear to the other.

Then I finally retreated. Each step was carefully measured. No mistakes were allowed. Not a single sound was made. I went back to the door, opened it silently and slipped through the smallest gap as fast as I could without making any noise.

When the door was closed, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was out. And immediately after, my grin returned. I must have looked so stupid. I stood in front of a massive double door, my muzzle inches away from the intricately designed wood, and I grinned like a madpony. At a door.

I wallowed in that image for a minute or two. I had committed it to memory. Celestia holding Twilight close to her heart. Holding her tightly. Almost possessively. I did not mind the ache in my cheeks. Heck, I barely noticed it. When I finally turned away from the door and made my way down the hallway, I had a little extra spring in my step. And my headache was receding as well.

A very busy, no-nonsense voice in the back of my head immediately got to work, of course. We would have to have another relationship talk soon. Probably. Hopefully. Our dynamic was changing once more. A new connection was formed. “Oh please let it be a new connection,” I heard myself plead. If they unanimously decided that last night was a mistake, it was their right to do so. I would wail and deny and plead, because for some strange reason, I had way too much investment in their relationship, but ultimately… it was their choice.

On my way back to the east wing, I actually encountered a living pony. A very rare find these days. She was a maid, part of the castle staff. Earth pony, lime green coat, amber eyes. Really cute pigtail. “Good morning,” she greeted me. And she blushed a little and averted her gaze. Probably because I still looked like a mess. And I could not have cared less.

“Good morning to you too! Good morning indeed!” I replied with a brazen confidence in my voice that I rarely heard from myself. She giggled a little as I skipped by and a minute later, I rounded the corner and she was gone. At least her existence disproved my prior theory about the end of the world. Good. It really would not do now, would it? That would be bad timing. Really bad timing.

I found myself in front of Luna's doors soon after and after a brief argument with myself, I simply entered.

And I could not help but grin when I noticed that she was still in bed. “Have you been waiting for me?”

She rolled over to face me. But she did so in the most out-there way possible. Slow movements, so that I may take in every inch of her. And with an invitation like that, how could I not? Her alluring smile made my heart skip a beat.

“I had my suspicion that you would be back soon,” she admitted.

“You knew they left together,” I stated.

Her grin grew a little bit more predatory in nature. “Maybe. Maybe I recall offering something a little bit stronger to Twilight after she was tipsy already. I warned her though. Maybe I recall seeing them leave, with Twilight leaning heavily against my beloved sister, who I might have instructed to get Twilight to bed. And maybe, just maybe, I recall Twilight trying and failing to whisper some not-so-subtle suggestions to her.”

I laughed. Honestly, this mare was crazy. The good kind, obviously. But still crazy. A thousand years ago, she went to war with her own sister out of jealousy. Jealousy was a thing for her. We can never truly change what lies at our core. Neither the good, nor the bad. Jealousy was a part of what defined Luna. We all knew. We all took great care to work with it as best as we could. We loved her. And she clearly loved us. Enough to push her Twilight towards her sister.

“You… are a wild minx…!” I managed to squeeze out between deep breaths as I continued to laugh. I slowly regained control and closed in on the bed. And as soon as I was within reach, she rolled close to the edge, grabbed me and rolled back. I had learned early on to never underestimate alicorn strength. Despite the weird angle, she easily overpowered my instinctual urge to keep my balance. She dragged me across her own frame and rolled over with me landing under her. A position I knew well and cherished a lot.

“Hi there,” I offered with a wry grin.

“Hi there,” she shot back with a smirk. I could see that familiar hunger dance around behind her eyes, but she held back. And when she spoke up, her voice was soft. Almost concerned. “So, what did you find?”

I raised a hoof to her cheek and smiled as she nestled against it. “Whatever your great master plan might have been, it looked like it worked. They are both still sleeping, curtains closed, and the entire room smells of sex.”

“Yesss!” she exclaimed.

I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re weird. And very, very adorable when you care.”

“I always care!” she protested.

“I know,” I merely replied with a grin.

A faint blush rose to her cheeks as I held her gaze. “So. What do we plan on doing now?”

“Oh, now you want to involve me in your masterplan?” I chuckled and lifted my head up enough to steal a kiss from her lips. Then my heavy head fell back down onto the pillow. “We will need to help them. I tried to ease Sunny's worries preemptively and I hope that will do some good, but I can’t be sure until I see her awake. And we know Twilight. I think we both suspect that she will freak out as soon as she wakes up. Sunny will be there though, and she will hopefully be able to calm her down. The most important thing right now… is to give them some space. They have a lot they need to figure out. We’ll meet them at the breakfast table, okay? Then we can see what’s what. How they are doing. What they are planning. How we can help. And then, after we brought back some semblance of stability, then you may tease the ever-loving heck out of them. I know I sure will.”

She smiled down at me and for a long moment, she was still and silent. Almost like a sculpture. Then the corners of her mouth twitched upwards and she nodded in agreement. I immediately gasped when I suddenly felt her hoof trail along my stomach and over my sheath. Luna lowered her head beside mine. “Teasing does sound like a lot of fun,” she murmured into my ear and gave it a nibble.

The sound I produced in reaction to this ranged somewhere between a strangled laugh and a foolish giggle. “Well, a tease like you would know, I assume,” I managed to reply.

She raised her head enough to let me see that adorable pout on her snout. “I am not cruel. You can make me stop at any given moment, you just need to say the word…!”

I grinned like a love-struck colt when I pressed my lips firmly together. Not. A. Single. Word.

A wicked smile spread on her muzzle as she peppered my jaw with small little pecks, following an invisible line down my throat and beyond my chest. “I will make you talk, do not worry,” she murmured promisingly into my coat.

“Make me moan your name and I’ll return the favor thrice over,” I promised with a rapidly quickening breath.

Her eyes shot upwards, towards me. I could not see her entire face, but I could feel her grin. And I could barely hear her mumble when she slipped a little lower still. “Deal.”

They were fast asleep anyway, I told myself. It will take aaages until they have everything figured out.

This had not been our plan.

But it sure had been hers.