After Talon had finally been satisfied with Thomas’ performance in the gym, she led the way to the showers past the locker room. The showers were unisex, so there was no worry about any taboo of different sexes being together. This made sense as it would be most absurd for a culture with no problem with nudity to suddenly make an exception just because water was involved; though that still didn’t explain why Luna’s attendants wore bathing suits.

Talon had insisted on them sharing a stall in order to ward off any further advances from the other ponies. However, Moonlight managed to convince the griffon to take one of the neighboring stalls while she showered with Thomas. While Thomas was grateful for her and Moonlight’s protection, he was having an especially difficult time being completely naked in such a cramped space with a naked mare who wasn’t Luna. Moonlight had no such qualms as she casually shifted about, regularly bumping Thomas’ back with her bare flesh while he struggled not to look. He also pretended not to notice any time she took long, deep breaths through her nose, or the contented sighs that followed each sniff. He’d all but given up on fighting for access to the shower head, content with merely using a wash rag, before Moonlight threatened to scrub him down if he didn’t do so himself.

“I am your guard, Sir, and that makes it my duty to protect you from preventable hazards,” she lectured in a tone that sounded like she didn’t want him to do as she said. “If you don’t clean yourself now, we’re going to spend the rest of the day warding off the advances of every pony that doesn’t have nasal problems.”

The prospect of more unwanted solicitations, especially from males, was motivation enough for Thomas to rub himself down till his skin was raw. Once clean, they returned back to the lockers where they left their clothes, Thomas walking awkwardly as he tried his hardest to hide his privates. Talon had stolen his towel and refused to give it back.

After such an exhausting ordeal, Talon recommended a peaceful walk through the gardens.

“I don’t suppose I could file a restraining order against the guy?” Thomas asked his companions as they walked past a series of statues.

“I don’t think anypony’s ever done something like that with royalty before,” said Moonlight.

“Little prick‘d probably say there’s nothing wrong with one pony inviting another to his room,” Talon grumbled. “Then he’d slip the judge a few bits under the table, maybe invite ‘em to some fancy party or something.”

“So basically the courts are completely corrupt,” Thomas sulked.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Talon countered. “I was just running my mouth off. I mean, I’m pretty sure he’d make the bribe, but the stallion’s so stupid he’d probably do so in a really obvious way that the judge wouldn’t be able to take even if he wanted to.”

“Heh,” Thomas laughed half-heartedly. “I can see that happening. Can we try the restraining order, then?”

“The prick’s still a Prince,” Talon discouraged. “Plus you two live in the same castle and I’m pretty sure neither of you are gonna move. I’m not sure a judge could do anything even if he wanted to. And I’m sorry to say, but a concubine suing a royal really wouldn’t go over well with the aristocracy and it’d be a major pain for the Princesses.”

“Never mind then,” Thomas conceded. “If it just leads to trouble for the Princesses, I won’t bother.”

Moonlight frowned at the griffon. “If not the courts, then what are his options?”

“First thing that comes to mind is growing a backbone.”

“S’cuse me?”

“You’re excused,” Talon nodded. “But seriously, you need to learn to stand up for yourself instead of relying on mares to fight your battles for you all the time. What kind of male does that, anyway?”

“That’s actually rather normal for stallions,” Moonlight corrected. “I’m not sure how it works in griffon relationships, but for ponies it’s the stallions who are the more submissive ones while the mares are more assertive.”

“Oh yeah. Forgot that part,” Talon admitted.

“I’m not a stallion,” Thomas asserted. “I feel bad enough about having to hide behind mares as it is, but what do you want from me? The guy’s almost twice as big as me. Most of you ponies are.”

“Not a pony,” Talon corrected.

“And that’s before you count the magical horn on his head that can do who knows what to me. What chance do I have against that?”

“Sir Thomas makes some valid points,” Moonlight nodded. “He is quite small and defenseless.”

“You could have said that in a less demeaning way,” Thomas pointed out.

“Wouldn’t make it less true,” Talon added before Moonlight could apologize. “Besides, physical strength and magic aren’t everything. Back when I was first starting out in the RGR, I wasn’t much bigger than you. But that didn’t stop my instructors from showing me all kinds of techniques to bring down all manner of threats, including things twice my size and unicorns.”

“Can you teach me?”

“Can? Certainly,” Talon shrugged nonchalantly. “The real question is, would I? What do I get out of it?”

Thomas’ palm met his forehead with a mighty smack. “Damn it. I forgot the bits again. What the hell is wrong with me?”

“Buck brain, I think,” Talon suggested. “That’s where repeated bucking sessions addles the brain and makes it hard to remember stuff.”

“I’m not sure that’s a thing,” doubted Moonlight.

“Well you’ve never been bucked by an alicorn Princess, so you don’t exactly have much of a frame of reference, do you?”

Moonlight opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it and lowered her head in defeat.

“That’s what I thought,” Talon gloated. “And before you even try it, we are friends, but that’ll only take ya so far. For this, you’re gonna need to pay.”

“How much?” Thomas relented.

“No bits this time,” Talon held out her claw haltingly, bringing the trio to a stop. “As much fun as it would be to extort ya for more bits, I had something else in mind.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” Thomas admitted. “But what?”

Talon smirked and leaned down, pressing her beak against the human’s ear before whispering “a kiss.”

“A what!?” Thomas and Moonlight shouted together.

“You heard me,” Talon emphasized by tapping her claw against the tip of her beak. “Just. One. Little. Kiss.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Thomas said as he stomped off with Moonlight following close behind, only for the griffon to fly ahead and land in front of them.

“You sure you want to refuse?”

Thomas glared at the griffon. “If I said no to Blueblood, why the hell would I…”

Talon cut him off with a press of her claw to his lips. “Don’t ruin this by comparing me to him, kay? And it’s not like I’m telling you to come to bed with me so I can buck you up the plot or anything.”

“Thanks for that mental image,” Thomas pushed the claw away.

“And I’m not asking you to stud either. We can hold off on that till later.”

Stud? Oh shit. That’s probably a thing here. Thomas thought in a panic.

“Besides,” Talon continued. “You didn’t let me finish. I never said who you had to kiss.”

Thomas eyed the griffon suspiciously. “What does that mean?”

“Think of this as part of your harem training,” Talon said with a slap on his shoulder. “Luna’s harem’s gonna grow eventually. That means you’re gonna need to learn how to please multiple mares, and don’t you dare think for one moment there’s a way for the Senior Concubine to stay exclusive, because there isn’t.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Kissing mares’ll also help with your backbone issue.”

“Does that work?” Moonlight asked, clearly intrigued.

“It’s worked wonders for the stallions in Leste’s harem.”

“Leste?”

“My little pet name for Celestia,” Talon said to a chorus of awed silence. “Well she likes it,” the griffon crossed her arms indignantly.

Thomas massaged his temples as he processed all he was hearing. “So… one kiss, and you’ll teach me to defend myself?”

“Not quite,” Talon grinned in satisfaction. “You’ve been awfully ungrateful about all this, so I think I’m gonna have to up my rates. One kiss, and I’ll teach you for one lesson.”

“That’s price gouging!” Moonlight protested.

“And your point is…?”

“So I was right to question your character,” the guard snorted.

“Sticks and stones, smarty-corn,” Talon shrugged before looking down at Thomas. “The first few lessons are some basic holds which you can practice on your down time. It’ll be up to you if we should continue after that. And like I said, kissing mares will help you build confidence in yourself, not only so you can stand up against pricks like Blueblood, but also so you can become the stallion Luna needs you to be.”

Thomas had been fuming in anger at being exploited like this from his supposed friend, right up until she said the L word and all his fury evaporated away. “The stallion Luna needs,” he muttered to himself.

“You got it,” Talon nodded. “It’s a win-win-win for ya. You get the training, the concubine practice, and the pleasure of kissing about thirty mares.”

“Thirty?”

“Conservative estimate,” Talon shrugged. “No offense, but if your performance at the gym was any indicator, we might have to stick with some lessons longer than others.”

After much thinking, Thomas looked up unwavering at the griffon. “Only after I ask Luna.”

“Good colt,” Talon nodded, satisfied in his answer.

“Not a stallion?” Thomas asked disappointedly.

“You already said you weren’t, remember?” Talon pointed out. “Besides, that’s what we’re going to be working towards. Before the next Summer Sun Celebration, I’ll have made a stallion out of you.”

Thomas mentally cursed the griffon for reminding him of that stupid song. You know the one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V06DISKajss

**********

With the matter settled, Talon agreed to give Thomas a freebie. Whenever trying to subdue a unicorn, the key was always to go for the horn. While there were magic suppressing tools, Thomas wasn’t likely to ever be carrying any around, so he’d have use other means. As it turned out, all it took to disrupt a unicorn’s magic was to apply pressure to the horn. While Moonlight volunteered to demonstrate this, she quickly pulled back once Talon started moving her claw around. Apparently it was necessary to constantly adjust the grip; otherwise the unicorn would adapt and move the magic around the pressure. And as Moonlight had just shown, the unicorn horn was a rather sensitive part of the body. Her implications could not have been more obvious. After that, they ate, chatted about more mild issues, and then departed to their respective rooms.

**********

“Hey Luna,” Thomas greeted as he ran up to his alicorn in her chambers.

“Dearest Thomas,” Luna welcomed his approach with an embrace. “Tell us of your night.”

After The Princess of the Night lowered the moon, Thomas proceeded to vomit out the details of the evening while her attendants undressed her.

“Do I really smell like that when I sweat?”

Luna tilted her head inquisitively. “W-I cannot say. In my experience, by the time you have worked up a decent sweat, your perspiration is overshadowed by other odors. At that point, it is difficult to distinguish between one smell of arousal and another. What do you ladies think?”

“I didn’t want to say anything,” Midnight Chain began. “But sometimes, when the castle is a bit warmer than normal, you do start to smell a little.”

“Not that we’re complaining or anything,” Starry Sky insisted. “It’s a really nice smell.”

“So I really am just sending out pheromones all over the place?”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Lunar Stone assured. “It’s an involuntary physical reaction. Are you entering into some sort of mating cycle?”

“No,” Thomas said flatly. “And human males don’t even have those.”

“Then perhaps you are responding to a sense of arousal,” Lunar Stone suggested.

“It’s just sweat,” Thomas insisted. “That’s it. I sweat really easily. Ugh. All I can say is that I’m glad I only go out at night. If I sweat bad enough to attract this much attention in the cool night air, Faust help me if I ever went out in the sun.”

“Would it truly be so bad?” Luna chuckled. “Perhaps you could use thy aroma to solicit stallions to do things for you?”

Thomas glared unamused at Luna from his position on her bed. “It’d be bad enough if it was only mares, but why the hell am I attracting stallions?”

“What is wrong with stallions?” Starry Sky asked. “Some of my best friends are stallions,” she said to the snickers of the other mares. “What?”

“Nothing, except I’m not gay, or a colt cuddler, or whatever,” Thomas shook his head violently. “And I especially don’t want freaking Blueblood.”

“Blueblood?” Luna’s ears stood high as the last of her regalia was removed. “What does our nephew have to do with this?”

“Oh yeah. I guess I forgot to tell you about that. Um, just forget I said anything,” Thomas waved his hand dismissively.

Luna furrowed her brow. “Dearest Thomas, alicorns have impeccable memory. If there is a problem regarding our nephew, you must tell us.”

The attendants glanced nervously between Luna and Thomas. When he looked to them for some way out, they gestured that he’d best just tell.

“Just… just promise not to get mad, okay?”

“We promise.”

Thomas took a breath to brace himself. “Well, on Monday he… kinda… invited me back to his room,” Thomas explained hesitantly.

Luna nodded as she listened intently. “And did you go?”

“Did I… no. No! I just said I’m not a colt cuddler,” Thomas said, irate that Luna wasn’t seeing the problem yet.

“Calm down, Thomas. It’s alright,” Luna soothed maternally as she sat beside him, silently gesturing for her attendants to leave.

“But I want to hear what happened with Blueblood?” Starry Sky complained as the others locked arms and carried her out, closing the door behind them.

“Now Thomas, thou art clearly upset, but we are here for you, whatever your ales.” Luna set her hand upon Thomas’, interlocking their fingers. “Now please, tell us what happened.”

“Today,” Thomas continued. “After Tali left, Blueblood showed up and said that I defied a royal decree when I refused to go with him.” He looked to Luna, but her expression was blank. “Then he said he’d throw me in the dungeon unless I stayed in his room and let him… play with me… for two weeks.”

Luna crossed her arms and folded her legs as she looked down ponderously. “He truly said these things?”

“I’ve got witnesses.”

Luna held her hand out in front of her, balling her fingers up and audibly tightening them into a fist. It lasted only a second, but the sound of her crackling knuckles made the human flinch. “Is there more?”

“Um… Moonlight tried to discourage him, but I don’t think he was listening. Then Tali showed up and… kinda… put him in a headlock.”

“Did she, now?”

“He kept saying that she had to do what he said because he’s the Prince, but she didn’t care. It was kinda impressive, actually. Er, then she threatened to bring in Sun Dancer if he didn’t back off, and then the guy ran off with his tail between his legs, literally,” Thomas said with a forced laugh, but the alicorn did not share in his levity. “Um, Luna?”

“The cur!” Luna swore as she stood from the bed, ranting all manner of obscenities as she paced around the room. “Insolent little whelp. He dares to threaten one of our consorts. Such an insult cannot go unpunished. We shall have to bring this to our sister’s notice at once. There shall be retribution for this brazen disrespect!”

“Easy there, Luna,” Thomas tried to sooth as he followed Luna across the room, but she was not listening. “Easy. It’s not that bad. Tali…”

“The griffon!” Luna’s wings flared out, causing Thomas to flinch. “This Talon lives up to her reputation as a hero. We shall arrange for an award ceremony at once.” She asserted as she began marching towards the door, ready to smash it to pieces as she stormed down the halls in all her naked glory. “Perhaps her medal can be carved from his severed horn.”

“You PROMISED!” Thomas shouted, stopping Luna in her tracks. “You said you wouldn’t get angry.”

The alicorn turned to find her human red in the face. “Thomas. This is a serious matter. Such an offense cannot and must not be taken lightly.”

“Talon said that if we did anything to Blueblood, it’d just turn around and cause trouble for you and Celestia.”

“Thomas…”

The human breathed heavily as he felt his eyes water. While trying to wipe his face, he heard the steady clop of Luna’s hoof steps as she approached. “It’s… its fine. I’m…” Before he could say anymore, Thomas felt himself engulfed in Luna’s wings as she pulled him close.

“Thomas,” Luna said gently. “Thy concern for us is appreciated beyond what we can say. Tis been such a long time since a stallion has acted to protect us, but that does not change the matter at hoof. By threatening you, Prince Blueblood has committed a serious offense against the both of us. He must be made to know the consequences of such disrespect to the crown.”

“I just,” Thomas struggled against the tears. “I just don’t want to be a burden.”

Luna knelt down on one knee and pressed Thomas’ head onto the top of her breast. “Thou need never hold such fears with us. Dearest Thomas, thou art our Senior Consort. But more than that, thou art ours. Thou shalt never be a burden upon us.”

“Luna,” Thomas said into her tear stained fur. He wanted to tell her how much her words meant to him, but the words caught in his throat. All his life he’d felt as if there was nothing he could do and that he’d been a burden on those around him. Of course he’d never admit as much for fear of making them worry over his petty insecurities. But hearing Luna call him hers filled him with warm contentment. Maybe someday he’d find the courage to tell her.

“Come, then,” Luna said as she lifted her human in her arms and carried him over to the bed. “Thou art clearly tired from the night’s events. Let us retire for the day,” she punctuated with a kiss to his forehead.

While he was admittedly tired, and having Luna tuck him into bed was certainly relaxing, there was one more thing that needed to be done. “Wait,” Thomas held out his hand. “There’s something I need to ask you first.”

“Oh?”

“Well, after the thing in the gym, Tali suggested she start giving me lessons so I can defend myself.”

“Really?” Luna asked. “That sounds like a splendid idea.”

“Except that she said I had to pay for it. Now don’t be mad,” Thomas insisted at seeing Luna’s face scrunch in anticipation of anger. “But she said it’d be good practice if I… kissed other mares.” Thomas sat silently in the bed, waiting for Luna to explode again, but nothing happened.

“Is that all?”

Thomas shot the Princess of the Night a look of surprise. “Is that all? You’re not bothered by this?”

“Certainly not,” Luna shook her head calmly as she slipped into the covers beside him. “Tis the function of a harem that its members be intimate with each other as well as the Princess; to a certain extent anyway. While we do find your shyness around other ponies endearing, this trait poses as a real problem for the future. We agree with the griffon’s assessment that you could stand to be a bit more bold, including in the bedroom.” She stroked his arm encouragingly, smiling as his skin rippled with goosebumps at her touch. “You have asked our permission, and we grant it. You may enter the tutelage of Talon and pay her little fee. We are proud of you for being so willing to step out of your comfort zone.”

Thomas beamed up at the Princess, nuzzling her shoulder. “I’m glad.”

“As are we.”

“It still seems a little weird, though” Thomas admitted. “Why does me kissing mares have to be called payment?”

“Was that not obvious?” Luna asked. “Clearly the griffon intends to take satisfaction from watching.” She smiled as she pulled him into a tighter embrace and began nuzzling him. “You are just too cute.”

Thomas briefly considered struggling out of the alicorn’s powerful grip, but decided to return the nuzzle instead. If she wasn’t in the mood, he was just going to let his sore pelvis take a break.

Talon makes an offer to Thomas, one he feels he can’t refuse yet most of us would probably jump at. We address the issue of Thomas needing to stand up for himself more, along with him finally opening up a bit to Luna about his insecurities. It’s not much, but it’s progress.

Also, studding is a thing in this world. Just thought I’d remind you guys about that in case you missed it. For those who don’t know, studding in pony society is where a male volunteers for a one night stand with a female with the intent of getting her pregnant. It’s not important or anything and will never be brought up again or be relevant to the story, probably, but I felt you needed to know just the same.

Lastly, because so few people have been able to figure it out, Thomas has depression. It's not a pleasant thing, nor is it a thing that you can just get over. People with this condition have it for life. You feel bad over the tiniest thing, and then you feel bad for feeling bad, and it just spirals down in a whirlpool of negativity.