The Princesses' Lovers

Several thousand years ago, in the magical land of Equestria…

The Royal Pony Sisters stood on the large balcony of their castle and wept. Behind stood Discord, towering above them as he exalted in the destruction he had wrought upon their kingdom, the seeds of his chaos already visibly twisting the surrounding Everfree Forest into a dark reflection of what it should have been. But he did not laugh, nor speak, nor bat an eyelid, nor indeed move at all. For Discord was defeated at last, and encased in stone upon a hastily-erected plinth on their balcony so that any who looked could see.

But now was not a time for celebration. The small settlement around the sisters’ castle would have to be evacuated, and soon, because of the damage Discord had caused to the forest. The Everfree, the last place of true nature in the land of Equestria, and a sanctuary to whoever would take shelter within it, was cursed beyond repair. Already the trees were warped, the creatures within mutating, and good spirits driven out by evil spectres. It could no longer support the ponies, and the sooner they left the better.

The evacuations were much hampered by yet another of Discord’s many crimes. As far as the eye could see, the place of the spirit’s undoing had been littered with the corpses of his victims, only now being finally organised and made ready for transportation, to be given proper burials in a safer place.

The sisters wept for their brave little ponies, earth, pegasus and unicorn alike, but their grief for these was tainted with a feeling of guilt, because they grieved for others far more. Amongst the hundreds of dead mortal ponies, there were hundreds more of the Princesses’ own kin, the alicorns. Friends, cousins, brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers: all were slain. This noble breed’s last few had gathered there to help defend the Princesses as they sought to control the Elements of Harmony, these ponies’ power the only thing capable of holding off the Draconequus for any length of time. But although Celestia and Luna had ultimately been successful, they had been too late to save most of their kind. Besides themselves, only two others had survived: the mighty General of Celestia’s Day Guard, and his young brother, a rising star Lieutenant in Luna’s Night Guard. Neither was now present, because they had been sent back to Canterlot on a very important mission: to discover the fate of the King.

Beyond all others, the sisters feared for the safety of their father. He had willingly remained in Canterlot to serve as a distraction to Discord, and hours later they had still not heard from him. They knew to fear the worst, but neither could bring themselves to face the obvious until it was before their very eyes.

There was not much longer to wait. The sisters were drawn from their weeping by a cry from a lookout below. They wiped their tears away and ceased leaning on each other for support, before breaking their hearts once more as they looked to the sky. About a mile away, flying in slow procession, the Royal Chariot and its attendants came ever closer, the brothers before it, and the King’s lifeless body lay upon it on his side. There were more cries from below as ponies noticed, and pegasi lifted into the air before spiralling back down in grief at what they saw, relating the news to their friends when they landed.

General Astrapor of the Day Guard landed first, followed by Lieutenant Ventilus of the Night Guard, and finally the attendants carefully lowered the chariot to the stone floor. As the elder, Astrapor stepped forward and removed his helm, before bowing low to Celestia, even though he himself was much taller.

“The King is dead. Long live the Queen.”

“The King is dead. Long live the Queen.” Ventilus and the others echoed Astrapor’s words, and they too bowed low before Celestia. Luna, by protocol, should have done the same, but both she and Celestia were far too distracted by their poor father’s corpse to be bothered by such things. Sensing their sorrow, Astrapor quickly stood upright again and spoke to the attendants.

“Leave us; their Majesties require solitude at this dark time. Find out from the castle guards in what way thou might help in the evacuation preparations.” The pegasi bowed and hastily left for the castle’s barracks, not wishing to impose for any longer than was necessary.

Princess Luna quickly found herself embraced by Lieutenant Ventilus, in a manner completely unbefitting both a princess and one of her junior officers, although neither alicorn cared at that moment. Luna’s sobs racked the evening sky, and her tears flowed freely and rained down on Ventilus’ armour as he did what he could to comfort her. The childhood friends were watched with a disapproving eye by General Astrapor, although he lacked the heart to interfere for the moment, deciding it would be best to allow the Night Princess whatever relief his brother could offer.

“General, might… might I ask something of thee?” Turning his head, he found his new queen standing near him, clearly having felt uncomfortable to be near her sister and Ventilus for the moment. The former Sun Princess showed none of her usual calm or confidence, instead shuffling nervously on her hooves like a frightened yearling whose mother has left its sight for a moment.

Such behaviour was not normal for her, but neither was it unprecedented, and a brief frown passed across Astrapor’s face as he remembered other such incidents. Its message was clear, however: now, of all times, she would try this again? He was fortunate indeed that the young mare had always lost her nerve before she said something she would later regret, but times of great stress often bolstered ponies to act when they would normally not.

“…Of course, Your Highness,” he replied, his disciplined warrior’s mien descending once more, although a note of caution remained in his voice. The Queen almost jumped at his words, and she stuttered a few words of gibberish with a flushed face before finally regaining control over her tongue.

“Would it be possible… that is, could thou perhaps…?” She swallowed; this was harder than she had expected. Her mind was a frenzied whirl of emotions, even more so than during her normal, disastrous, attempts at conversation with this ancient and handsome stallion. What she truly desired at that moment was the comforting embrace of her sister, but Luna was herself being comforted by Ventilus, leaving only one possible source for her own consolation, a prospect as terrifying as it was enticing.

“I would greatly appreciate it if, perhaps, thou might… hold me? Like Ventilus holds Luna now?” For one used to speaking with the Royal Canterlot Voice, Celestia’s request was spoken very quietly indeed. Astrapor, for his part, blinked and frowned slightly.

“Your Majesty, I do not think−”

“I-I do not mean to say that thou must!” she quickly clarified. “O-or that it would have the same meaning as that which they share! M-merely…” She gulped back a small sob, and Astrapor remembered his earlier observation comparing the young alicorn to a yearling: she was distressed, and it was her sadness and fear which made her tremble before him, nothing more. To lose so much, to have such a huge responsibility thrust upon her, and all when she was barely out of her teens? She needed comforting and kindness, and what better way to receive both than to seek the embrace of another pony? Especially a pony whose sworn duty was to care for and protect her whenever the need arose?

“Celestia, my Queen, I…” He stopped, silently remonstrating with himself for misreading the situation. Unfortunately Celestia misunderstood his hesitation, and she began to back away as she shook her head in apology.

“No. No, please, I am sorry, I have made thee uncomfortable. I cannot rightly make thou do something which thou does not wish to do. Please forgive me.” Celestia turned and walked away, her head held high in regal fashion but her eyes screwed tight shut, tears once more rolling down her cheeks.

“Celestia.” She had not gone more than a few steps before he called her, and only by name. She turned around in shock to see Astrapor striding towards her, his large wings unfurling and sweeping forward in a traditional welcoming gesture.

“I am thy General, thou art my Queen. If there is anything I may do to help thee in thy hour of need then I should gladly do it, whatever it may be.” He had not finished before Celestia had cantered over to him, burying her face in his chest as he placed a foreleg around her shoulders whilst she sobbed.

From where he stood with Luna, Ventilus looked over at his brother questioningly, only to be answered with a small shake of the head by Astrapor. Whatever else may have changed for them all, the circumstances between the General and his queen had not. Ventilus sighed quietly, the old question of “Why?” once more crossing his mind for a moment, before it was once more pushed back. Now would not be an appropriate time for wondering about such things. And so the four stood, two crying, two soothing, simply letting the world pass by for a while as they tried to come to terms with what they had lost.

“…Friends. They were good, good friends,” affirmed Celestia. A small tear ran down her cheek, but on the side Twilight could not see, and it was quickly evaporated by a burst of magic. No use in worrying her student with that detail. She could tell that Twilight had hoped for a fuller answer, but the unicorn was at least sensitive enough to know when further discussion was not desired.

So each bade the other good day, and then they went about their lives once more. Neither pony discussed the incident again, although neither forgot about it. For Twilight, it was remembered as one of the few times that her teacher’s calm mask had broken, and occasionally it troubled the young unicorn that she didn’t know enough to help. For Celestia, it was another of those unfortunate, everyday occurrences that brought back memories of what she had lost over the years.

Little did she dare to dream that, much like her dear sister had returned to her, she might once again see the two stallions who had comforted them so, all those years ago.

And never in her darkest nightmares could she have foreseen what would be happening when they did…