Confined With a Goddess

For an hour or two, Celestia and Jake compared notes. Luna had sent the absinthe while Jake was at the beach, along with a note, which Celestia didn't want to read right now. Jake remembered her holding up a paper and talking to it after she mentioned the note. He couldn't remember what it said, but she did shake her chest while she read. She had two bottles, he'd had half a bottle, and there was still half a bottle that had some bugs in it, which was promptly poured out. After watching their antics, Luna had sent the coffee in a decanter that would disappear when it was empty in order to help them recover. It was her handwriting on the cups, after all.

The note, as they found out, was sitting on Celestia's table. Jake had gone in to find her a shirt to wear, and there was a small box with Celestia's name on it, and a rolled-up scroll of paper with a broken seal. Sure, he was curious, but Celestia remembered part of the letter and said she didn't want to read it, so he left it alone. Instead, he pulled a shirt and a skirt from the same box that had held the bottles, and brought them out to her.

They had some leftover stew that had been covered since last night. It held a fair amount of heat, still, and Celestia said that if they brought it back to a boil and simmered it for half an hour, which could all be done on one log, they could just have it again. However, she wasn't in the best condition, having drank a lot more than he had, and after he lit the fire, he brought her to the pool and washed her to make sure she was alright.

After bringing her back, the coffee decanter was emptied into her cup, and disappeared with his cup in a puff of black smoke. They wouldn't have any coffee tomorrow, but after today, after it had saved them, something which he genuinely believed because coffee was truly a wonderful thing, he'd let it be.

The stew still hadn't come to a boil yet, but it smelled pretty alright, so Jake just let it keep going. Celestia was still not back to full, and had curled up in her hut after returning. A part of Jake just wanted to sit next to the cauldron and wait out the day, and he'd probably be right to do so. After the stew, he couldn't really work on the house anymore. However, another part of him didn't like that idea. He'd stopped early yesterday, had taken a break, and had done nothing today. After so much time spent working, he'd felt he deserved a break, but after so much break, he felt a bit guilty that he hadn't done anything aside from helping Celestia wash up. At any rate, he had some time. At least half an hour, if not longer. He could probably find something to do.

And then it hit him. He'd been given some plants. He had wanted pants and was given plants. He could transplant those.

He had some wood scraps from the floor that were fairly short. Driving those into the ground, he made a grid of boxes not far from the house that he then put the plants into. He wasn't sure exactly how it was supposed to go, so he just dug a little hole in the center of each plot and lowered the cardboard plant pots into them.

By now, the stew was hot, and had been going for more than half an hour. It was also around this time that Celestia stepped outside. She was looking a bit worse for wear than when she went in, but also just a bit more stable.

"Evening," called Jake. "Just finished out here. You doing okay?"

Celestia just shook her head.

"Soup's ready, if you're interested."

Celestia moved over to the fire and sat down as Jake moved the pot away from it to cool down. He scooped out two bowls, and held one out to her, which she placed on the log next to her.

"What's wrong?"

Celestia rubbed her face. "I just found the note. After reading through it, I think I owe you an apology. I think something terrible has happened, and if it has, it is by my hand."

Jake stiffened up. He hadn't told her about the condition in which he'd woken up the first time, or how he'd reasoned out what had happened. He was going to either give her time to confess, let her try to initiate it again, or, barring the other two options, ask her outright if that was her intent. It sounded like the confession was coming.

"So, you recall that, last night, we'd gone through an entire bottle before we found the note?"

Jake furrowed his brow. "No, I don't. I don't remember when it showed up. I know we started drinking before reading it, but that's about it."

"Well, that's what happened." She took a deep breath. "The absinthe was a snare. She knew I loved it; it was a very expensive and powerful spirit. What was in those bottles was diluted to just twenty-five percent and still knocked us on our arses."

Jake nodded. He was still in a stupor when he woke up. "But if it was a trap, why the coffee? If it was meant to make us do something, why offer something to counter the effects?"

"My guess is, she saw what she wanted to see, and gave us the coffee to clear our heads because we were good little puppets. Rest assured, if I'd seen the note before the bottle, I might have just shut it all down and refused the whole box."

"Why? What did the note say?"

Celestia was silent for a moment, then pulled out the note, holding it out to Jake. Accepting it, he pulled it open. The written words were not what he would expect from the same pony that had given him things to plant in his garden and a decanter of coffee to drive off a hangover or let him stay on the island. But it was exactly what he would expect from the pony who had sent him a bunch of slutty clothes.

"Hey, Sunbutt... We noticed that you've been meeting resistance in convincing the human to accept your cock. Allow us to assist you in that. Convince him to drink some of this "medicine," and he will be far more accepting of your advances. Stretch him out for us. --Queen Luna of Equestria."