The morning light hurt Dust’s eyes as he slowly opened them. It felt as if he was staring straight into the headlights of a passing car, and instantly he pulled the covers over his face and rolled around in bed. The smell of clean laundry filled his nostrils, and he couldn’t help but take a deeper breath, but it just hurt his head doing so.

He rolled around over on his other shoulder, stretching out one of his arms out of instinct at the same time. Ti was something he did every morning, and would probably do it for as long as he lived. Just as always, his hand brushed against something soft and warm, lying in bed right next to him.

“Are you finally awake?”

He heard the voice of his wife talk to him, but it took him a few seconds to register what she said. Not only because of the splitting headache, but also because her voice was like pure pleasure to his hears. He loved it so much, and could listen to that sweet voice for ever.

Dust reached out further, wrapping his arm around Luna and pulling himself closer to her. He buried his face in her neck, taking in a deep breath of her scent.

“I think I had a bit too much to drink yesterday…”

Luna pulled her head away from him before spinning herself around to face him. She nuzzled gently against his cheek as he spoke. Her snout was warm against his skin, and for a moment, all of his worries faded away.

“I’m sorry, sweetie… I probably stink of alcohol.”

She stopped nuzzling him, instead moving her head upwards to plant her lips upon his.

“It’s alright, dear.” She whispered as their kiss broke. “Besides, you should have seen Silversoul.” She added with a smile playing over her lips.

“He was that bad, huh?” Dust asked her.

“Worse. He was staggering around the courtyard, singing about Merlin…”

“Merlin, the Happy Pig?”

Luna nodded, and they both burst out laughing. Once they calmed down, they pulled close to each other again, and just stared off into the ceiling above them. Slowly, Dust felt the pain in his head decrease, and more and more he found that something was building up inside of him. Maybe it was the remnants of the whiskey still affecting him, but he couldn’t help but feel needs burning inside of him. He looked over at Luna, just wanting to throw himself over her. Her eyes was partially closed and she looked as if she was about to fall asleep again.

Carefully, he reached his hand up, letting his fingers trace down her soft cheek. She smiled and squirmed slightly at his touch without opening her eyes. Her coat was like satin against his skin, and he left his hand travel down her neck and back.

“Luna?” He whispered into her ear. She opened her eyes and looked back at him. Her breathing changed slightly the further down her body he let his hand travel. “You know… I’m still a little bit drunk.” He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss without breaking eye contact with her.

“If you want to… I’m a bit buzzed, and wouldn’t be able to resist you if you suddenly decided to… use me.” He added a sly smile to his last words. Luna giggled and answered his kiss before moving closer, putting her hooves around him.

He shuddered as one of her hooves touched his stomach before moving downwards slowly. He tried to tell her he loved her through their kissing, but couldn’t gather enough air to talk properly.

Then the large doors to their bedchambers swung open.

Both of them jumped out of their skin, instinctively letting go of each other, trying to put on a disguise of innocence. They both breathed hard, trying to control their heartbeats and settle down. It wasn’t such a good situation for the rulers of the land to be caught in.

A small creature ran in through the doors, its legs flailing about randomly across the marble floor. It looked at the couple in their bed with a huge smile upon its lips, skidding sideways as it turned towards them. No more than a second later, it jumped into bed with them, going straight at them.

“Mom, dad!”

Stardust beamed from joy as he jumped on them, hugging both of them close.

“Calm down Stary, you’re strangling your father.” Luna said jokingly as the young colt hugged Dust. “That’s my job…” She said the last few words in a quiet whispering tone that only Dust could hear, giving him an almost devilish grin at the same time.

Stardust released his vicelike grip around his father, still smiling from ear to ear. “What’s gotten into you today?” Dust asked his son.

“You mean you’ve forgotten what day it is today…?” Stardust said with an unsure tone on his voice.

Dust glanced over at his wife, giving her a small smile and a wink. Of course he knew what day it was today. It would be impossible to forget June 21; the day of his wedding and the day his son was born.

“No, can’t say I remember anything special…” He said slowly, faking a wondering face. “Sweetie, do you have any idea what he’s talking about?”

“No...” Luna answered slowly. “Maybe… Is it time to change the linens?”

“Mom…” Stardust rolled his eyes at her.

Before she could answer, Dust leaned forward and scooped up his son in his arms. “We’re just messing with you, kid.” He said as he pulled the young colt into a warm embrace. The next second, Luna joined in as well, wrapping both her hooves and wings around both of them.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” She whispered in her son’s ear.

“How old are you now anyway, four or something?” Dust asked with a smile.

“Come on, honey, he’s a big boy now!” Luna said with a smirk. “Six, right?”

“I’m ten!” Stardust exclaimed, believing himself to be smarter than his parents, not realizing they were just joking around.

“Of course you are, little star.” Luna said, carefully nuzzling her son’s cheek. “Now go on down to the kitchens, I told the cooks to make something special for your breakfast today.”

Well-mannered as he was, Stardust did what his mother said and wriggled himself free from their embrace before hurrying out of the room. Dust heard his tiny hooves clacking against the marble floor, fading in strength with each step. He sighed deeply and let his head fall back on the pillow. Grains of dust and hair flew up into the orange beams of light coming from the windows next to their bed.

He felt Luna rest her head against his right shoulder, and instantly moved his head to the side to connect with her. The fur of her forehead felt soft against his chin.

“I love you.” He whispered to her before taking another deep breath, feeling his body relax and sink further down into the mattress.

“Love you too, dear.” She answered, after which she moved her head slightly and planted a kiss on his cheek, before continuing. “But we should probably get out of bed and down to the kitchens as well.”

Dust nodded slowly before kissing her back, then sitting up straight in bed. He snapped his neck that was still a little bit tensed up, and slowly rubbed his left shoulder. Not until now that he was moving did he notice the aching pain covering the left side of his body. He probably slept in an awkward position.

Slowly, he removed the blankets from his legs, bent them slightly to spin around. Chills went through his body as he planted his feet on the cold marble floor, and he shook his shoulder slightly without really realizing it. With his elbows placed on his knees, he rubbed his eyes slowly to remove the blurriness in his eyes.

A yawn escaped his mouth, and it muffled the sound of Luna moving behind him. He froze in place as her hoof brushed against his back slowly, tracing one of the long scars covering it. He could hear Luna’s voice breaking behind him even before she spoke.

“It’s never going to heal completely, is it?”

Dust shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so.” He felt her hoof trace up to his shoulder, and heard her getting ready to say something.

“I’m… I’m so sorry I had to do this to you…”

“You don’t have to feel sorry, sweetie.” He answered her, trying to keep his voice steady. Just the memory of what had caused those scars made his body tremble. “You saved my life that day.”

He heard the ruffling of bed sheets as Luna moved behind him before he felt her warm body pressing against his back. She wrapped her fore legs around his stomach, pressing herself hard against his back. Dust almost felt like melting as she placed her head on his shoulder, drawing a loud sigh of contentment at the same time.

“Jag har sån tur som har dig, Mattias.”

Dust smiled at his wife’s words. He couldn’t help it; he loved the accent she had when she spoke his native language. They’d been working hard for a long time, and she could almost speak it fluidly now.

“I’m lucky to have you too, sweetie.” He responded. “And your Swedish is really coming along nicely.”

“I had a good teacher.” She answered. “The best.”

Dust spun himself around to face her, and looked into her perfect face. He just couldn’t believe how everything about her was so perfect. Even the little flaws she had, like her accent, o the fact that she snored, even the few arguments they had sometimes… It all came together into one perfect being, mirrored beautifully in her eyes.

He let his hand touch one of her wings, allowing his fingers to slip between the soft downy feathers. Even more perfection, right at his fingertips.

“You know…” He began. “we could just say we overslept. I don’t think they’re gonna mind us being half an hour late…”

She smiled at him and pulled him closer. Dust pressed his face against hers, pushed her down on her back in the bed and kissed her deeply.

“Jag älskar dig, Luna…"