Author's Notes:

For those who don't follow me, I've detailed in a blog post that this chapter would be shorter than we are accustomed to because I did not like how the material would be distributed over the next three chapters. So, this chapter is shorter and next chapter is extra long to make up for it... and because you all get a nice little sex scene. No cliffhanger next chapter to prelude such a scene either!

Again, one or two lines may have been shamelessly borrowed.

Part XVII. Forward

“Now, why don’t you tell Stella what has your panties all up in your anus,” Stella began, urging Fredrick to speak his mind as they exited into the Castle Garden in comfortable step. Fredrick fancied a look up at the ever beautiful night that Equestria afforded everypony, and the crisp yet comfortable night air filled his lungs as he took one deep breath, organizing his thoughts.

“So, there was an interesting development last night,” Fred started off vaguely, the duo taking a left turn towards the fountain.

“Oh yeah? Other than developing a hard-on for Princess Luna, what happened?” Stella asked, continuing the conversation with a usual, snarky remark along with a trademark toothy (fanged) grin. The thestral mare also threw an eyebrow waggle into the mix to spice things up a bit. Fredrick, on his part, only shot her a deadpanned look, though in reality, he’d be quite suspicious if she did not playfully chide him or utter anything sarcastic when he spoke to her about any of his problems. Despite her often hands-on and overly aggressive approach to life in general, Stella was a mare of order and precision; she was a Royal Guard, after all. Fredrick deduced that she had a strict frequency of one snarky or sarcastic remark every three or so minutes, and that was just on her idle time. Nevertheless, though, Stella had always been there, like Luna, to listen to him whenever he wanted to talk, and through her often hilariously intense personality, he frequently found solid advice.

“Yup. I know your time’s limited so I won’t get into nitty-gritty details but this is how it went down… On Monday, I offered to join Luna in a prank on Celestia,” Fredrick said, beginning his glorious tale anew, but already elicited adorable laughter from the mare next to him.

“You brought the prank war to your shores, Fredrick… I hope you know you’re going to get catapulted into a mound of griffon shite,” Stella commented, giggling maniacally at the sheer volume of possible pranks both regal sisters could pull on this poor sap. She made a mental note to ensure that she would be the first to know of any unfortunate yet hilarious fate that befell her friend. “But at any rate, continue,” she urged on, motioning with her right hand to continue his tale.

The two rounded one quadrant of the fountain and wandered towards the garden proper.

“The prank was fucking horrifying in all honesty… we dressed up as assassins with weapons and stuff,” he continued, though Fred was interrupted by a snort from his left, Stella having to cover her muzzle at the brilliance of such a prank. It was incredibly horrible and knowing Princess Luna, she played the part flawlessly.

“We hid in her bathroom and waited for her to come back from working late. The plan was to wait for her to pass out as, according to Luna, she always did, and that was fine. But, before we could actually get the prank underway… and we did execute it, mind you, Celestia did something that we didn’t entirely plan for,” Fredrick alluded sarcastically, recalling the images that were burned onto his retinas; not entirely and unwelcome circumstance in hindsight.

“Oh for fucks sake, Fred, quit cockteasing and get to the good part already! I’m already wet from anticipation!” Stella urged him on, dying to know exactly how this story went. Fred’s face did little to not betray a weirded-out expression, though he shook it off and faced forward, continuing to talk as the two of them passed through a path of beautiful Nightroses.

“Well… turns out she decided to strip down completely and have some fun with a dildo,” Fredrick said, cutting right to the chase. Stella stopped in her tracks completely and, without missing a beat, busted out in a powerful guffaw, head held to the sky and everything. Fredrick knew that this would happen; almost exactly the way he envisioned it, actually. However, what he did not expect was Stella’s laughter to die down so quickly. She wiped a wayward tear from under her right eye with her knuckle, turning back to her human friend… though she held a distinctly uncharacteristic expression: incredulity.

“Wait… are you fucking serious?!” she asked for clarification, believing that Fredrick led her on into a joke and was prepared to tell her the ‘real’ story. The lack of a change in his stoicism only alerted her to the fact that he was not screwing around with her this time. He only nodded in response to her overt sense of disbelief.

“Oh… Okay, okay, okay, let me get this straight,” Stella began anew, shaking her head a bit as if it would help her clear her thoughts. “You, Fredrick Himmelreich of another dimension and planet altogether, who is currently mounting Princess Luna, have recently watched a nude Princess Celestia dildo herself?”

“So far that’s about right. Pretty ‘interesting,’ huh?” Fredrick asked rhetorically. Stella huffed humorously.

“I’ll say! More like ‘unfair!’” she objected jokingly. “You’re not even from here and already have more perks and benefits than any of us, who were here well before you. I mean, putting your cock in Princess Luna and watching Princess Celestia do herself? Hell, the best I’ve gotten in my years here is stuffing my tail up my arse having a wank in the armory.”

“Now you’re screwing with me,” Fredrick replied, definitely sickened yet curious.

“About the tail up my arse, yes. About the wank in the armory, no,” Stella clarified so matter-of-factly. Fredrick stared at her for what seemed like several moments, the same look of ‘that’s absolutely revolting but the desire to know more burns intensely within me.’ He then shook his head and continued along the path.

“Jesus Christ…” he muttered. Stella quickly caught up with him.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted clarification,” she reminded, completely absolving herself from anything to do with his discomfort. The left side of Fredrick’s lips curled up in a half-smirk.

“Never change, Stella. Ever. At any rate though, I haven’t finished yet,” Fredrick continued, clearing his throat. “The devil’s in the dildo: it was distinctly human in shape.”

“Wait… as in like, a ‘human’ penis?” Stella asked. Fredrick nodded. Their pace had slowed to barely a walk through the garden, Fred’s hands buried in his pockets.

“Eeyup. Which, naturally, brought on a whole list of questions as to what that actually means.”

“Can I see it?” Stella suddenly asked after a small bout of silence. Fredrick blinked a few times as his walking pace immediately ceased.

“Wait… what?” he asked, completely confused, as he turned to Stella who had quite the inquisitive look on her face. She looked down towards his crotch and pointed.

“I can’t accurately give you my thoughts on this if I don’t have first-hand experience. So, can I see your cock?” the thestral mare reiterated fairly bluntly, though clearly lying about her stipulation. Fredrick widely shrugged and shook his head, easily conveying his obvious bemusement in tandem with his completely puzzled facial complexion.

“Wh-what?? Fucking, no. I’m being serious right now,” Fredrick protested.

“As am I. Drop your trousers, laddie!” Stella nearly ordered with the vocal intensity of her last statement, pointing to his crotch. Fredrick rolled his eyes and took his stand.

“No. Shut up.”

“I’ll show you my ass…”

“FUCKING NO.”

“Damn, thought that would’ve worked,” Stella mused, backing down and reining in her assertiveness. “But okay, so she has a fucktoy that clearly looks like yours for some weird reason. By my own logic, I would guess she wanted to feel what it would be like to have some human dick just penetrating her over and over again; making her scream!” Stella became more serious about the subject, though with her own personal touches to spice it all up. Thus, she drew her own conclusion as to what the whole situation meant, at least to her. Fredrick glanced away and nodded.

“Alright, that’s definitely one of my thoughts, especially since Luna was the one who reminded me of that very real possibility,” he commented. He took a seat on a marble bench that overlooked a few patches of gorgeous, multicolored flowers that glistened in the natural moonlight, though he had absolutely no idea what their names were. Stella sat right next to him, her armor clinking and grinding on itself.

“Personally, I really don’t think it means anything else. What were you getting out of this?” Stella wondered.

“That Celestia potentially has romantic feelings towards me.”

“Well look at you all up in your high castle,” she playfully rebuked him.

“Oh shut. Up,” Fredrick huffed out with an accompanying giggle. Now that he had more sense about him, he had to admit that it was rather presumptuous of him to automatically assume that Celestia had feelings for him. After all, his first-hand source was a deep, translucent red, vagina spear.

“But… I guess that isn’t so far out there. I mean, you got one princess to like you, and although they are different in a myriad of ways, the two share more than a few similarities under the skin,” Stella reasoned. Fredrick noticed that ponies seemed keen on talking with their hands. “So, as an exercise of prediction, let’s suppose that Her Highness Princess Celestia has feelings for you that go beyond just your knob. I don’t quite see the problem here; you’re living in every straight colt’s and gay mare’s wet dream if that’s actually the case.”

“It’s… actually quite the problem. I don’t want to ever hurt Celestia and if it does play out that she actually feels for me, it may very well end that way,” Fredrick replied. This time, it was Stella’s turn to not grasp the theme at hand.

“Why do you assume it would have to end that way? Though it doesn’t happen constantly, herds are still common in Equestria. Therefore, not a problem,” Stella remarked, drawing attention to a specific, important detail of Equestrian culture and society. Fredrick looked to her, his stoicism resurfacing in full.

“Humans, generally speaking, are strictly monogamous; ergo, polyamory is out of the question. I myself am included here.”

“That is a problem,” Stella immediately rescinded her statement. “B-But still, my earlier opinion stands: I don’t think Celestia feels that way about you. But, you will have to tell them that you don’t do herds for whatever reason… because that certainly will come up. You’re talking to them about this, right?”

“Oh of course; tomorrow night, actually. That’s why I came to see you, to vent and get your opinion on this.”

“And do you feel talking about it helped?” Stella asked, the two facing each other now.

“So far, yeah. Ultimately I just don’t want things to get bad or… whatever,” Fred replied, stumbling over his words as he sifted through his thoughts. “Thanks for listening to me ramble though, your reassurances are helping to put me more at ease… really.”

Stella scooted flush against his side and pulled him into a strong, yet secure, armored, one-armed embrace.

“Hey, don’t be getting sappy on me now,” Stella half-heartedly warned with a toothy smile. She pressed her cheek against his in a show of friendship and trust, a gesture that Fredrick had to get used to but found oddly comforting over the months. “You may be a twat but you’re my twat,” she stated endearingly. With a tilt of her head, she beckoned the both of them back towards the castle and they set back off at a much brisker pace.

“Stella, the thestral with two twats… sounds like an interesting attraction. I’d pay to see that,” he joked right back, definitely feeling surer of himself. Stella gave a light yet throaty laugh.

“It’d cost a goddamn pretty bit too,” she replied, playing along and placing her helmet back on her head.

“Says the mare that was willing to show me her ass for free,” Fredrick sarcastically and pointedly refuted, earning a huff out of the batpony.

“Like Tartarus it was for free! All you had to do was pay the low price of ‘flash me your cock and balls’ and you could’ve had a visual helping to the sacred thestral haunches,” Stella corrected, giving a gentle, purposeful shake of her butt to accentuate her point. “The offer still stands indefinitely, though.”

The two exited the garden proper and made their way back around the fountain.

“Seriously?” Fredrick asked, raising his right eyebrow at the mare. She tilted her face towards him and her captivating, golden eyes shone pure disbelief.

“When am I not serious, Fredrick?”

“All the time,” he admitted honestly. The duo was about to reenter the archway out of the Royal Garden and back into the Castle.

“Well, I’ll have you know that—Oh!” Stella cut herself off when her sword and sheath fell off of her belt and onto the ground. “Let me grab this,” she muttered as she turned around and bent over, moving her tail to the side and giving Fredrick an unobstructed view of her armor underlay-clad buttocks, the nigh two perfect ‘scoops of ice cream’ accentuated beautifully under the armor skirt. Fredrick, clearly annoyed at her obvious antics, still did not hesitate to stare, though he held onto his deadpanned expression.

Stella finally righted her posture and reattached her weapon, facing Fredrick and affording him a smug look.

“Now that was for free,” she remarked with a knowing smirk. Fredrick gave a half-grin and shook his head as they finally entered back into the castle, rejoining Radiance back where she stood.

“As I said before, never change, Stella. Thanks again,” he repeated his gratitude, this time pulling his friend into a full hug which was not as comfortable due to Stella’s armor plating but it was nice nonetheless. The two separated after a couple of seconds.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah there you go with the sappy bollocks again. Still down for a pint this weekend?”

“Of course! Assuming I don’t die for whatever reason,” Fredrick affirmed, knowing that Stella loved yet groaned at his morbid sense of humor.

“Well then, don’t fuckin’ die! Because if you ever drop dead I’ll have nopony fun to drink with anymore,” she protested.

“What about other thestrals or your comrades in general. I’m sure you have other friends right?”

“Well, yeah! But most of my best friends are all back in the Northern Mountains, where some batponies come from. And none of my comrades can hold any alcohol or are any fun at all for that matter… so if you’re gone the only one qualified might as well be my fuckin’ right tit with a smiley-face drawn on it,” she explained, gesturing to her right breast for good measure and earning a hearty laugh out of Fredrick.

“Alright alright, I’ll keep that in mind, then.”

“And please, Fredrick, when the time comes for this talk between you three, don’t overthink it! Just say what you have to and everything will be okay, alright?” Stella added in suddenly, reminding him as to why he had any doubts and attempting to quell them right then and there with some parting advice. Fredrick lightly grinned and nodded.

“You got it. Thanks again.”

“Very good, now fuck off I have a post to tend to,” Stella stated, along with pointing Fredrick down the hall with her left thumb. Fredrick gave another chuckle and turned on his heels, starting down the aforementioned corridor towards his room.

“Love you too, Stella,” Fredrick added jokingly as a parting phrase.

“… I’m losing a lot of respect for you, Blueblood,” the suited-up, beige-coated unicorn stallion remarked contemptuously as he was cornered by the Prince near the deserted restrooms.

“Perfectly fine by me, considering I never had any for you, Steel,” the equally-dressed Blueblood quipped in return. Of all the ministers that worked in the parliament, Blueblood absolutely abhorred Steel Works. “Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that I’m asking you nicely to not be your usual, grotesque self when Her Highness Princess Luna eventually announces the human as a consort or ‘courtee.’ Though… that might be a stretch for you. Every time somepony looks at you, a child dies in Zebranica.”

“While I enjoy your flattery and humbling compliments, I, surprisingly, still don’t see the benefit in playing your game, Your Highness. Are you in love with the human now?” Steel inquired. “I’m starting to believe that you do not even want the best for the princesses if you’re willing to let one of them throw their reputation out the window in an act of bestiality. If I were in charge, I’d arrest you for treason.”

In a bold, completely unseen display of force, Prince Blueblood shoved Steel Works against the wall and grabbed his horn with his left hand, angling the stallion’s face with his right.

“The opinion of the human Fredrick is and will always remain lower than that of any pony… but you of all ponies should know that racism, speciesism, and any form of intentional discrimination is absolutely detrimental to business.” Blueblood spoke softly, tightening his grip on his colleague’s horn, whose eyes were tearing at the sharp pain. “Don’t you ever question my loyalty to my country nor my princesses ever. Again,” he seethed.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Blueblood continued, forcing Steel to look at him. “Princess Luna is going to make a public announcement within the next two to three weeks at most… and you’re going to do absolutely nothing but smile and wave,” he ordered. Steel fought through some pain and looked like he was about to say something in defiance but Blueblood shut him up by dragging his fingernails harshly down the unicorn’s horn.

“I’m not even asking you to praise it… I’m asking you to abstain from being the usual reprehensible shitlord you are. Do this, and I won’t publish the myriad of financial statements that show you at Canterlot’s most prominent house of ill repute… and before you question, yes, one of my subsidiary companies owns the establishment.”

Steel’s eyes went wide and his pupils shrank as his coat seemed to stand rigid on his skin. However, before he could voice any protest, Blueblood’s face became much more ‘dreamy’ looking and he pressed their cheeks together, looking in the same direction.

“Think about it…” Blueblood said dreamily. “Your family herd finding out that you’ve spent a noticeable portion of your disposable income exchanging economic goods and services at a whorehouse. You have a beautiful family, full of gorgeous mares and lovely children; I’ve met them. I’m just so excited to let them know that you can’t fulfill your desires with any of your mares, and you have to do it behind their backs,” he ‘tsked,’ shaking his head at the prospect and faking shame at revealing such documents. “I can already hear the explosion of your entire marriage.”

“Y-You won’t get away with this, Blueblood…”

“Oh but I will! And that’s the wonderful part!” Blueblood responded excitedly. “You see, one of the keys to my success is that I keep my ‘personal opinions’ of others to myself when doing business… something you and many of your colleagues have yet to learn. Oh, and naturally, if you breathe a word of this to anypony I’ll release the documents anyway,” he concluded, releasing his coworker from his grasp. Before he moved to leave though, Blueblood fake-lunged at him and made Steel harshly flinch.

The Prince smiled evilly at his colleague before taking his watch out of his coat pocket and exiting the lavatory area as if nothing happened.