Queen Luna was milling around, looking for something to do. She paced around her room for about an hour, bored out of her mind. Usually her husband would be with her, and they would be reading together or doing something to keep them both entertained. She peered out of the window, looking down at the courtyard where four figures trained.
"I wish there was some way I could help them." She said, laying her head on the window sill.
Down in the courtyard, Alex had set up stations designed for each of the new horsemen. He was walking around, surveying how each of them worked. He had placed dummies made a straw at each station for each of the men to stab, shoot, or just destroy, but most of them remained unharmed.
Erex was wildly swinging his sword but would get off balanced and trip each time he was about to take the dummies head or arm off. Darragh was aiming the best he could, but the arrows either sailed over the dummy or just barely missed it. Lucas was making some progress, slashing or skewering the dummy with his spear, but then he would try something cool like a wild spinning attack and end up cracking himself in the face and falling over cursing like a true navy man.

"Okay, hold up, just stop for a minute." Alex said, ceasing the self abuse. "I wish I could say you guys are a natural, but then I would be lying." he continued after they had walked over to him.

"We're trying the best we can, Alex. But its just not working." Erex said.
"I think I know the reason. You guys are being distracted by something, I'm not really sure what it is, but its preventing you from giving this your all." Alex said, looking each of them over. "Now tell me, what is distracting you?" he asked.

"Well, I guess I miss my mother a little." Erex said, looking down at the ground.
"I miss my buddy James." Lucas said.
"Well, I'm not really missing anyone, but my aim has gotten rusty I guess." Darragh said.

"Hm, well, I have an idea. You guys have been thrown into training without even getting used to your surroundings. So this is how we're going to do this. We are going to take a trip into Ponyville to interact a bit with the ponies that live there. You can relax, unwind, and try to get rid of any mental baggage your carrying around with you." Alex explained to all of them.
All the boys nodded their heads, excited for a break. They all made a quick trip to the armory to drop off the weapons. It would keep them safe, and it would not scare the innocent ponies that lived in Ponyville. They all boarded a carriage and left for Ponyville.
"So, we don't know that much about you, Alex, tell us a little about yourself. What's your story?" Darragh asked.
"Well, I have been living here for around four years. I came into Equestria one day after falling off of a cliff and into a river after having a break up with my girlfriend. I woke up here and decided to stay, to get a fresh start on life. Then everything sort of tanked from there. I ended up getting thrown into a love triangle with Celestia and Luna which later turned into a square after Chrysalis, the changeling queen, got thrown into the mix. Plus there was this whole fiasco with an ancient demon, Discord, an ancient Equestrian army, and now some unknown force that's ransacking towns and leaving no survivors."
"Dude, you talk about this like its nothing. Trust me, you seem like the sort of guy who has seen some shit." Darragh said.
"Hell yeah, but you ended up being king after everything went down. Was it worth it?" Lucas asked.
"I guess so, I really am powerful, but that's the problem. Everybody loves me and just about everybody could rely on me and expect me to save them if shit decided to hit the fan. But what would happen if one day they needed me and I wasn't there? Would they still love and appreciate me as they do now, or would they turn there backs on me." Alex said, eyes concentrating on the floor of the carriage.
"Damn Alex, that's deep." Erex said.
"You know, this has been a thought that has been passing through my head for a while, but, how old are you Alex?" Darragh asked.
"Well, the time in the human world and the time in Equestria are different, and days go by fairly quickly, so I'm going to say around 17." Alex replied.
"Christ on a bicycle dude, your still young." Erex said.

"How old are you guys?" Alex asked his fellow horsemen.
"I'm 16." Erex said.
"I'm 17." Darragh said.
"I'm 17 as well." Lucas replied.

The four of them carried on for the rest of the trip there, talking about past experiences and telling tales of the past. They all were getting used to each other and were really bonding. But back in Canterlot, the girls were not having as much fun.

"Why are they going to Ponyville?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know. I was watching them train, Alex called them over, they had a small talk, then they all dropped their weapons off in the armory and flew off in a carriage." Luna said, saying what she had seen.
"I don't see why you are all so concerned, Alex and the rest are grown enough to take care of themselves and they are just going to Ponyville, its not like they are going to the Everfree forest or something." Cadence chimed in.
"Its not the forest that I'm concerned about, its what lives in the forest that concerns me." Luna said.
"Oh, are you talking about Alex's accidental ex-wife, Chrysalis, who happens to live in the Everfree forest and probably still harbors feelings for him?" Celestia asked mockingly.
"You are never going to let me live that down, are you sister?" Luna asked, obviously not amused.
"You girls are getting worked up over nothing. Luna, Alex loves you with all his heart, I'm sure if they run into Chrysalis, he will know how to handle the situation." Twilight said in a fruitless attempt to calm the queen.
"Still, its better to be safe then sorry. Girls, lets go. Were going on a little scouting mission." Luna said, standing up.
"Sounds more like a stalking mission." Celestia added.
The girls all got up and headed out to get in a carriage themselves. They were on a mission.

"Wow, this place is bigger than I thought." Erex said looking around.
"Yeah, its gotten bigger over the years, but still has its quaint little charm." Alex said.

It was true. Ponyville had almost doubled in size since the start of Alex's rule. Things worked better, but the people still walked the streets and acted the same as they had before.

"So, what are we going to do first?" Lucas asked.
"Well, I'm not sure. What are you guys in the mood for?" Alex asked.
"I'm starting to get a little hungry." Erex said.
"Then I have the perfect place. You guys will love it." Alex said.

The boys followed Alex off past Ponyville to a large open apple orchard called "Sweet Apple Acres". There were hundreds of trees growing and bearing the beautiful fruit that was grown there. There was a barn and not far from there a house. The boys followed Alex up and stood back as Alex knocked on the door. They heard clops from behind the door and it opened to show Apple Jack, one of the many ponies that lived on the farm.
"Well I'll be, look what we have here. The great king of Equestria has come to pay me a visit." Apple Jack said, bowing.
"Man, A.J, why do you do that? I don't like being treated like royalty that much." Alex told her, blushing a little.
"I know, sugar cube. I just like messin with ya." She said, giving Alex a wink.
She looked behind Alex and asked who the three handsome young men behind him were. Alex explained that these were the three of the other four horsemen, that it was a long story and that he would rather not explain it all.

"Alright, so what can I help you boys with?" A.J asked.
"Well, we were thinking you could supply us with something to eat." Erex said.
"Sure! I can help y'all out. But, you guys have to help me first." A.J said.
"Yeah. What do you need help with?" Alex asked.
"Well, you see, it seems half the family has ditched me to go into town when there are apples to be picked. I'm happy you guys came along, would you mind helping me out?" She asked.
"Sure, where do we need to start?" Lucas asked.
"There are some barrels in the barn, When you have filled each one, I'll make ya something to eat." She said.

The boys nodded their heads, thinking this to be a pretty fair deal. Fill up some barrels and get paid in food. Apple Jack went back into the house. The boys started to walk towards the barn, but something caught Alex's eye. Four figures were standing up on a hill. He only saw them for a second, before they darted away.

"Crap! Did they see us?" Luna asked.
"I don't think so, I think we're good." Twilight answered.
"Let it be known right now that I still think this is the stupidest idea ever thought up." Celestia said, rolling her eyes.

The four girls had been following Alex and the others for a while now. They were almost found a few times, so its safe to say stealth was not their strong suit. Now, the four of them sat behind a particularly large apple tree, watching their men disappear into the barn and come back, each carrying an empty barrel.
"Wow, look how strong they are." Twilight said.
"Yeah, even for not having a lot of power, Erex really knows how to get things done." Celestia said.
"Darragh's not that bad either." Cadence said.
"Awww, looks like you three have developed feelings for the boys." Luna said, mockingly.

"We have not!" Twilight, Cadence, and Celestia all said at once.
"Oh come on, I can see the way you look at Erex, Celestia. And don't think I don't see you licking your lips when you see Lucas lifting those barrels, Twilight. Even you, Cadence, it looks like your in total ecstasy when you see Darragh sweating." Luna said.

The girls argued with Luna for a while, but they all knew they had feelings for the boys. Luna also knew it was all because of Alex too. Each of these girls had had some feelings for Alex, and now they feel they will get a piece of him by loving another human. The idea was strange, but if you thought it out, it made sense.

"God damn! Did it get hotter out here, or is that just me?" Darragh said, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Nah, its just because your working. It always seems to get hotter when you're doing manual labor." Erex replied.
"Yeah, whats up with that, Alex? I thought we were getting something to eat, not harvesting crops because the ponies that worked here were to damn lazy to do it." Lucas said, falling out of a tree and bringing some apples with him.
"Don't blame me for this. The more you complain, the harder the work will get. Celestia told me that on the days she would wake me up 0-dark-thirty to train me." Alex said.
The boys worked hard for what seemed like hours. Each of them shed their shirts. Erex, Lucas, and Darragh were all amazed at how scared Alex was.
"Christ on a bicycle, dude. What the hell happened?" Darragh asked Alex.
"A war, being killed once or twice, the normal stuff." Alex said.
"Dude, based on all the stuff you've told us. You should be dead by now." Darragh said.

"Are you like a god or something?" Erex asked.
"Me? A god? No, though I'm sure some of my subjects would like to think I am. But truth be told, I'm just another guy, trying to protect them all." Alex said.

The boys worked hard, filling up barrel after barrel in silence, until Lucas broke the ice:
"So, Alex, hows Luna in the sack?" Lucas asked.
Alex looked at Lucas with a look of surprise and anger.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, a better question would be, have you guys done it?" Darragh asked.
"No." Alex said simply.

"Oh come on, bro. You can tell us!" Darragh said.
"No, seriously. We've never done it." Alex said.
"Some how I find that really hard to believe. Come on, you guys are married. You must have done something." Erex said.
"Well. There was this one time while we were in the human world-" Alex said, but trailed off.
Alex really didn't want to talk about it since it was a private matter, but yes, he and Luna did have sex once. It was the night after Alex's brother, Dalton, had been murdered. Luna had known Alex was in shock, and had gone on a murderous rampage. She thought that if she did not comfort him and try to bring him back to the "land of the living" then she would lose him forever. One thing had led to another, and the rest is history.

"So you guys did do it. That's good to hear." Erex said.

"Why is that?" Alex asked.

"Think about it, dude. A marriage without any sexual activity does not exactly seem like much. After a while, the relationship would get stale, wouldn't it?" Erex explained.

"You don't really know what much of that means, do you?" Darragh said.

"Not really, I just used to hear about this sort of thing from my mother a lot." Erex said.

All the boys laughed and finished filling the barrels with apples. They took all the apples back into the barn, then headed back to the farm house.

"Thanks, boys. This means a lot to me. Ah couldn't have done it without your help," A.J said when the boys got back. "But by golly, you smell like the north end of a south bound goat!" she continued.

She was right. Working in the hot sun had made the boys sweat and stink more than a pile of crap. A.J had already made some pies for them, so she gave them to them and sent them on their way, and told them to take a bath.

The boys were walking along, eager to get started on their pies, but they found a interesting surprise behind a particularly large apple tree.

"Oh, hi boys! What a surprise seeing you here." Luna said, sounding a little nervous.

"Hey, what are you girls doing here?"Alex asked.

"Your jealous wife forcefully recruited us for a st-" Celestia started but was stopped by Luna's hoof getting shoved in her mouth.

"We just wanted to get some fresh air, that's all." Luna said.

Celestia spat Luna's hoof out with a distasteful gag. Alex already knew why the girls were here, he just wanted to make them admit it first.

"So, you guys wanted some fresh air. Your a little far away from the castle just for some fresh air." Darragh said, catching on to what was happening.

"Yep, nothing more than that!" Cadence said, looking around, looking guilty as ever.

All the girls were acting guilty, but Alex still wanted to see one of them give.

"Alright fine! We all wanted to follow you guys to make sure you stayed out of trouble!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Twilight!" The other girls said, bearing down on her.

"I'm sorry, girls! I just was never good at lying!" Twilight said, defending herself.

"Well, at least now I know why I had that strange feeling of being watched." Erex said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Okay girls, fun time's over. Head on back to the castle. We'll be back in a couple of hours." Alex said.

"Okay, but first, give me a kiss." Luna said, standing eye level with Alex.

"What?" he asked, his cheeks beginning to turn red.

"You heard me, give me a kiss and I'll go." Luna said.

"Why?"

"Because I said so, and I'm your wife. That's why." Luna said. "I'm not taking a step until I get one." She added.

Alex's face was now a bright shade of red, but he knew there was not getting around it. Alex put his hands on Luna's shoulders and kissed her. The three other horsemen all went "awwwwww" and Alex gave them all the middle finger.

When Alex pulled away from Luna, she gave him a wink, stood up, and told the girls to come with her. The boys watched them walk off into the distance.

"Well, it has now been confirmed my friend, you are thoroughly whipped." Erex said, putting a hand on Alex's shoulder.
"Oh shut up." Alex replied.

All the boys laughed and began walking back to the town, the fun was not over yet, but training would have to resume soon.