Chapter 17:

The Cornerstone Of The Party

*****

The time was now 2:00 PM on Sterling's watch. He had just finished his meal, to which he gave an 'A++' for the review, and explained to the waitress' boss that she was in dire need of a vacation. And the same boss always that he conversed with told him how they really valued her work. But now, he was in his bedroom, ready for his nap. So much so in fact that his vision was starting to falter from his sudden exhaustion. With a snap of his fingers, his clothes transformed into pajamas. His hands then caressed the sheets and blanket that he pulled up before he moved into the comfort of his bed. But as he got comfortable, he felt a bit of weight next to him. And it was slowly crawling up to him.

“Who's there?” he groggily spoke. After hearing his words, the mysterious person in the bed turned out to be Fluttershy, who popped her head up before she moved her face to nuzzle his chest. Her bubblegum pink hair was the indicator that had him smile a little bit. “Oh... hey, 'Shy.” he tiredly greeted her.

“Mmmm... Did you have a good lunch, dear?” she purred as she kept rubbing her face on his chest.

“Mm-hmm. It was delicious,” he nodded as his desire to sleep came over him. “Have a good time at Rarity's?”

“Mm-hmm.”

*smooch*

“Sleep well, babe.”

“You too, stud.”

All that Sterling could do was chuckle before he could allow himself to snooze away the food that he enjoyed. And all with the company of his main squeeze, Fluttershy, at his side.

(*Beep-beep!* Click!)

“Huh-huh-what?” Sterling gave a slight snort that even made him want to wake up. After wiping the crust that was formed around his eyes, he was able to open them up to see the glorious sun going through the curtains. He was also able to notice, after looking to his right side, that Fluttershy was keeping herself close to him, despite how she clicked the snooze button to off. Sterling could not help but believe that his main squeeze had done it for him.

“Happy birthday, Sterling,” Fluttershy greeted him again with a small smile. Even if it was small, the man that she greeted knew that it was as genuine as if she was making her smile wide. “It's 3:20 right now, and we need to get ready,” she told him in a soft voice after giving him a soft wake-up kiss.

“For my party with the rest of the harem?” he rhetorically asked her.

“No. With me,” she shook her head in a nearly sarcastic tone.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot that it's just us celebrating,” Sterling, deciding to play along, replied to her.

It did not take a long time for the pair to start giving a giggle or a chuckle before it lead to a big laugh. And the laughter had become nearly as contagious as when Pinkie Pie, who was always in that chipper mood,  would give a giggle over something trivial. After a moment or two had passed by, their laughter died down to mere giggles and chuckles while they held each other.

“I just love you so much, Fluttershy,” Sterling smiled widely at her.

“I love you too, dear,” Fluttershy responded with her smile growing as big as his. The immediate thing to do was to give each other a big kiss on their lips, letting their taste linger in their mouths for a moment. Soon the lips parted so that she could say, “We need to get out of the bed to greet the girls.”

“You're right,” he groaned, obviously not wanting to get out of bed.

“Oh, Sterling, dear,” Fluttershy cooed to him with her right hand rubbing on his chest. “The girls will be disappointed if you don't show yourself to them.” He could only grunt. “Or....” she began to grin wickedly, without letting him see. “I could tell them to not have sex with you.”

That... was the straw that almost broke his back. And all women were able to use this tactic since the beginning of time.

“Rrr.... Alright, alright, alright!” he mumbled, knowing that he had been whipped. After rising from his side of the bed, Fluttershy followed suit as they both began to get into some casual clothing. “Just don't tell them that, please? I need to be able to have that time with all of them,” Sterling almost pleaded to her while he searched for something casual to wear. In the back of his mind, he knew perfectly well what one of his girlfriends would bring him as a gift for his birthday.

“I know, dear, but you really have to accept these gifts that all of us have given to you,” Fluttershy giggled while putting on the simple article of clothing that fit her form perfectly. “Besides, all of my friends, and yours, will have contributed to giving you a gift. And uh... I did too,” she said to him while looking herself over with her hands raking through her hair to fix it up.

“Here,” Sterling grinned as he pulled up a brush after using his magic to open the door. “Make yourself beautiful, babe,” he chuckled while holding the brush to her face.

“Thanks, dear,” she thanked as her hand accepted the hairbrush and started to brush her slightly disheveled hair. During her administrations, Sterling could not help but sigh silently at the sight of the beautiful Auran that had captured his heart, coaxed him into making a harem with him, and even had him believing that Goddesses do exist in the world. Although he knew that he is now an Alicornian, all that Sterling could do was look straight at her with a loving look that he could only share with his women while in his home.

“During my lunch at the Trotting Cart, I met and ate with one of the waitresses working there,” Sterling began to say to her as he put on a plain white shirt along with a new change of denim blue pants from his wardrobe drawers.

“Oh? What was her name?” Fluttershy asked him while continuing her brushing as she looked at him for a second.

“Lily Spring,” he remembered. “And she was quite overjoyed with wanting to eat with me,” he chuckled from what happened a while ago.

“She do the whole 'I'm not worthy of being near you' speech?” Fluttershy giggled.

“And she had told me a little story that kept my attention on her while I ate my food,” he then said to her. After looking himself over for a last time, he began to tell her the same story that the waitress told him about a few hours ago. When he was asked what happened after hearing his recollection on the tale, he told her how he gave her a sizable goldback check for her sickly parent's treatments, her bills to treat her husband and just about everything else that she would need.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy gasped from the generous act that he made for the worker who served the food to him. “Sterling?” she softly called to him as she slowly moved up to him.

“Yes?”

Her arms then wrapped around his broad shoulders, and she planted a passionate kiss to his lips. His reciprocation came around with just as much passion as he could muster with her.

“I am just so happy that you did that for the both of them,” she cooed to him with a small cry that she was able to hold back after allowing a sob to accompany a giggle. “You really made the spirits of our Elements happy,” she said to him as she rubbed her cheek to his neck.

“Kindness and Generosity?” he spoke in a rhetorical smirk.

“Hmmhmmhmm! Yes,” Fluttershy giggled in his ear, causing him to chuckle.

“Ah, dammit 'Shy,” he chuckled. “Your giggles are just as infectious as Pinkie's laughs are.” They shared a mutual laugh before parting themselves from each other to allow themselves to breath. “And I blame her for allowing her Element to get to me, too.”

(*Knock-knock-knock!*)

The sound of the front door from below them stopped their laughs for a moment.

“I'll get the door. It's the girls,” Fluttershy volunteered herself. “Just get yourself ready for when I call you down, okay?” she instructed him warmly.

“As you wish, my love,” he complied with a nod. “But, uh... may I get a last kiss before you do, please?” he then asked her before she had the chance to open the bedroom door to open the front door.

“It'll have to be a few pecks,” she smiled at him.

“I can live with that,” he grinned back.

The pecks on their lips were quick, but each of them were just as warm as the next one. And when Fluttershy left the room, Sterling could only shake his head, believing that he was not going to have just a simple party.

“Guess I should put on an over-shirt for the occasion,” he said to himself after looking at himself in the mirror for a little bit.

(…..)

(Somewhere in the San Palomino Desert....)

“Everything is ready, boss!” a shrill voiced person had announced to a person that was at the desk of an unknown room.

“And we await your command!” a second voice, just as shrilled, sounded out in compliance beside the first person.

A small but deep voice had ominously begun to laugh just loud enough to allow the speaking voices to tremble for a bit.

The Body-Cleaner Hogs of this vast desert are able to destroy any evidence that would have otherwise pointed to us, thus halting our plans completely. Ready the dragon-fire artillery on my command.

“As you wish!”

“Yes, sir!”

The same pair then vacated the room, allowing the apparition to appear by itself.

In the next few days, all of Equestria will fall! And all of the riches and slave labor will be mine!

A deeper, more menacing laugh had sounded out all over the room, echoing through the same vast desert that was notorious for having the most dangerous of creatures residing in it, including the same hogs that were mentioned. And said creatures had fought themselves as commanded by the minions who were just as sweating with the excitement of wanting to ransack a whole nation.

(…..)

(Back at Sterling's house....)

“Sterling? You can come down now!” Fluttershy called up to him from her place, most likely in the area of the living room or the dining room from what he could figure out.

“Coming!” he called back to her. After taking a few moments to see to his appearance, he opened the door to find himself in the hallway where the doors of his spare rooms were shown to him. “Should I pull up a blindfold, my dear?” he called to her, hoping for the answer to be simple.

“Just put your hands over your eyes after you reach the top of the stairs, darling!” Rarity called up, replacing Fluttershy's voice for a moment.

“All right then,” he complied as his hands obeyed their order to cover his eyes. “I got them covered.”

“Just follow our voices, and you'll reach us,” Cadence also said from her place.

Once his feet glided to the rim of the step that gave him the sign to begin, while keeping his hands on his eyes, his left foot had begun to step on the staircase, going downward to the ground floor.

“Good job, love,” Luna said to him with a girly grin, even though Sterling could not see her doing so.

“And I suppose that I'm not going to find that I'm dreaming all of this?” Sterling smirked with a mischievous grin as his feet went on the fifth step, keeping a slow pace so as not to fall down on the staircase.

“It's not a dream, I can assure you,” Celestia confirmed to him while also seeing him do his little job well.

“Yeah! But, seriously? Even if it was a dream, you would not want to wake up from it, would you?” Rainbow rhetorically asked him with a slight chuckle from her.

“Oh, Tartarus, no!” Sterling laughed. “Because then I would give Moon-Butt a reason to argue against me,” he kept laughing a little bit while keeping up his hands on his eyes as he made the final step before finding the wooden floor on his shoe-covered feet..

“Seriously? 'Moon-Butt'?” Luna parroted his nickname to her while moving to the living room. “I suppose you have the same kind of pseudonym for my sister, my niece, and Twilight too?” she then asked, allowing him to follow her.

“I do,” Sterling nodded, causing the other Princesses to roll their eyes at him. “Sun-Butt, Heart-Butt & Star-Butt! And you know who amongst you has what symbol on your beautiful buxom bottoms,” he smirked while following his instincts that told him to move into the living room while blinded.

“You think our seats are beautiful, then?” Celestia giggled from the alliteration made about her own hind.

“You and the rest of the girls in the room each have a great body that I just want to worship every day and night,” Sterling mentioned to her in a general direction. “And even I know that each of you has enough fat in the right places that even an average Equestrian or Stirrupean person looks for from their potential mates. And I love every inch of your bodies,” he nodded again with a nearly devilish look on him.

“And this even includes our bottoms?”  Pinkie asked him.

Sterling could only reply with a 'mm-hmm' noise that had been deep enough to allow her and the other women to know that even though he always had certain erotic fantasies about them, he was able to control himself for his own sake.

“Oh! And the breasts as well, my loves. I do enjoy seeing them... maybe a bit more than groping or massaging them,” he commented to them.

“You can open your eyes now, sugar,” Applejack instructed him. Upon doing so, he was greeted with a great, big--

“SURPRISE!!!”

After hearing all nine of his girlfriends shouting their greeting to him, he then saw them lift up their shirts and saw the eighteen perfect breasts that had made him blush wildly. His reaction, of course, had been to nearly laugh from the display that even his equal rulers were not to do unless they were near him.

“Aah!” he shouted as the force of the reaction in his body made him nearly vault over to his recliner chair. “Titties!” he giggled to himself as he got comfortable on his seat. The resulting laugh that he got from all nine of them had echoed throughout the living room after they all pulled their shirts and dress tops back down.

“And beer?” Pinkie added as she had shown him a pint glass filled with his favorite beer in it.

“Thank you, babe,” Sterling thanked her before rising from his seat. When he did so, he was given one of many hugs and kisses that Pinkie Pie was more than happy to give him. “Oh! This is turning into quite an event, if I can say so,” he chuckled while holding the Equian confection baker close to him. After parting from her, he took the beer from her hand and gave a small gulp of his drink. He then set the glass on a coaster that Rarity placed on the table for him via her magic. “You girls must have been nearly perplexed from having thought of flashing me the way that you all did,” he chuckled again.

“And I believe that, though uncouth it may be, you deserve to see such a display from all of us,” Rarity shook her head from having done so while rolling her eyes.

“It was all my idea,” Fluttershy meekly said to him with a big blush on her face.

“And once again, I am quite surprised, 'Shy,” he laughed from hearing her words.

“Yeah, 'cause I have the reputation of surprising everyone,” Pinkie added to the topic while throwing some confetti in the air.

“And we know that quite well,” Luna giggled in her hand.

“But if that display was one of my surprises, then I suppose that the presents behind me are another?” he asked as his thumb pointed behind his chair. “And I believe that some of them are gag gifts, compared to the ones that all of you have given me,” he said with a small huff after looking over the items that were piled up almost halfway to the ceiling.

“It looks like your friends from outside of our country have decided to give you something as well,” Celestia observed, noticing that the bigger number were not from her, nor the rest of the harem.

“Wow-wee! I'll bet that there's about forty presents here,” Pinkie gasped from the sight.

“Oh, my! Your friends must really love you if they went to the trouble of getting a present for you as well, dear,” Fluttershy also gasped.

“If it turns out to have a large group of thieves in there, then I'm holding all of you responsible,” Sterling then said to them. This exchange of words then got all ten of the people, including him, to look at each other with a deadpan look. But this stone-cold look did not last for a long time when they all saw their lips wriggling with the struggle to keep from moving. As soon as the sound of snickers had been heard, coming from the nose of Celestia herself, everyone began to laugh loudly. The same laughs, along with some snorts that followed within, had echoed throughout the halls of his house, leaving him to then say, “And I- ha!- I really don't want to call on some 'Baba' to help!” That statement did not help with ceasing the laughter, as it instead made him laugh even more.

Half of an hour had ticked through the grandfather clock's mechanisms when the ten people (consisting of the nine women and one man, of course) had finally allowed their laughs to ease down.

“I guess it's time to open them, then?” Rainbow nodded as she relaxed herself next to Applejack, who was taking in a few deep breaths as they, along with three others, sat on the larger couch.

“Eeyup. That it is, sugar cube,” Applejack nodded as her smile reached out to the ceiling.

“Well then, let's get the unwrapping session started, shall we?” Sterling said as he levitated one of his gifts towards his legs while he perched his bottom on his favorite chair.

“We certainly shall,” Luna smiled once again.

An hour had then passed by as the presents had one-by-one been unwrapped. Within the time it took to unwrap them all, Sterling had received only two gag gifts from Rarity and Fluttershy, to which some more laughs had been made. And given that they consisted of lubrication bottles and a couple's vibrator, who wouldn't laugh at them?

Along with the said gags, there were also more than forty real gifts. The first one that Sterling had unwrapped was from Cadence herself: A state-of-the-art, professionally designed, one-of-a-kind jewelry designer workshop that had much better equipment to work with than most jewelry stores in the whole world. And after looking over the quite large workshop equipment, he lifted the whole thing with his magic and placed it within one of the rooms within his basement. From Princess Luna, he was given an astronomer's guide to her constellations which had also been written with a detailing of how they each got their names. And from Princess Celestia, he was given a decorative sword that was halfway to being as big as himself. And that was placed on a few hooks that had been drilled into the wall above the couch near him.

The rest of the gifts had consisted of the following from the rest of the women in his harem:

A plastic, interactive display of clockwork, from Twilight, that worked well with just the slight movement of a lever that moved the fake gears. And that was moved to the library. A multi-plug outlet, from Pinkie Pie, that stayed in the living room behind his TV settings. A small row of hand-stitched formal clothes made by Rarity, to which he used his magic to place inside of his master bedroom closet. From Rainbow Dash, it was an autographed poster of the Wonderbolts, with Captain Spitfire writing a long speech to him before making her signature. And that was moved to the basement via magic. From Applejack, he was given a plastic bag of her best apples (no surprise there, given that she always gave him the best), which was moved to the kitchen area. And from Fluttershy, he was given a pair of mugs that had her cutie mark, along with the other's marks, on the side that were beautifully handmade for him. And those mugs were immediately placed on the table in the dining room.

And finally, his last gifts from his Royal Elites had consisted of the following: A pair of gigantic treasure chests from Onyx and Brandon, a map of the world of Equius, a large shield engraved with his cutie mark, a guide for creating any new beer from a brew master, a few small machines for an at-home microbrewery, and about a few other small trinkets. The chests were moved to his vault from a portal that he had opened while some of the other gifts were floated to Sterling's intended places. The moment he closed it, he had given a heavy sigh. But the same gifts from his friends had also been accompanied by the gifts that were given to him by the influential leaders of the continents of Equius.

"Wow... even I never knew how much of an impact I had on the world," he shook his head. "And more than even fifty gifts? I can't even fathom how I was able to make such a difference in every person that I have met." After having said that, Sterling then looked at his harem partners with a surprised look and a heavy sigh that had them all believe that he was about to contemplate what all he had done.

"Sterling? Are you okay?" Twilight asked him, believing that he was just as aghast as her friends were with the gestures.

"I think.... I need a heavy drink to calm my nerves," Sterling almost shuddered in his reply. Luckily, he looked to Pinkie Pie who had already made another pint appear in her hands. Upon seeing that, he gulped down the remainder of his glass of beer with a vigor in him and gently placed it near the mugs before taking the second glass from Pinkie's hand. "Or at least two pints of the sweet nectar of the Lyrish brewmasters," he chuckled at last before taking a big gulp of his second drink.

"'Sweet nectar', huh? Never heard it like that before," Twilight scratched her head from his words while holding a small grin on her lips.

"If you've been in Lyreland for as long as I have, then you start to know why the people there are known for three things that make them a proud nation within the Stiruppean United Kingdom," Sterling replied with a small huff of his breath. "The third great contribution being their wonderful music," he started with three of his fingers pointed up. "The second contribution being their devotion to both Celestia and Luna with their two united cults and artwork for them," he added as a finger went down. As soon as the royal sisters heard that statement from him, they looked at each other with a big blush on their faces. "And finally, their own take on certain alcoholic beverages that all people can enjoy. Responsibly, of course," he nodded with a proud look on his face.

"Whoa! A pair of devoted cults for both Celestia and Luna?" Applejack gasped as she repeated what he had said.

"And their music and artwork, too?" Pinkie asked along with Applejack.

"How devoted are they, Sterling?" Celestia then desired to know, along with Luna who had nodded her agreement.

"Yes! How?" the rest of the women then voiced up to him. Sterling could only make a big grin on his face before he answered them.

"They are both so devoted to the Sun and the Moon... that even a Dragon's greed for treasure can't touch their hearts."

And after the women had heard that sentence, they all gasped a breath that made them want to sit down and think about it. But thankfully, it was only Sterling that was able to break the silence as his next gulp had echoed through the room.

"And you heard this from Quinn, right?" Twilight asked him while looking at him with incredulity in her tone.

"He and I always had our insults to throw at each other, so when he told me of his people's devotion to both Celestia and Luna within his callbacks, I would always try to get him back with a smarter reply. It only worked half of the time, though," he admitted to them all.

*woof-woof!*

A few seconds later, a large dog had appeared in the walkway, running up to the voices in the room.

“Where's the fire, master? Huh-huh-huh?” Chancellor, the pet dog that Sterling had happily adopted some months ago, yipped out as his tail wagged back and forth, giving a slight whip on some of the ladies legs.

“Ah, Chancellor! Good to see that you want to interact with us, huh boy?” Sterling chuckled.

“Hey, boy!” Pinkie spoke up before giving the dog a big hug, to which she received a few sloppy licks on her face. “Tee-hee-hee-hee-hee! Such a good boy, Chancey!” she giggled at his affection to her.

“Why thank you, Pinkie!” he yipped before moving back to face the princesses within the room. “If I can remember correctly, you are Twilight Sparkle, Mi Amore Cadenza, Luna and Celestia, right?” he almost yipped again in the last word made.

“That we are, young pup,” Luna nodded as Chancellor slightly moved up to greet her. What happened next surprised her: The dog stuck his paw out to her, as if waiting for a shake. But as Luna knelt down to the dog, the other princesses did the same. After taking the initiative, the palm of her hand was met with a large paw that belonged to the dog that was just so polite to her. “And a gentle-dog, too,” she giggled while softly holding the paw for a little bit. When she got up, Cadence, Twilight and Celestia took their turns with shaking Chancellor's paw.

“So! Shall we commence with the party?” Sterling had suggested to them after seeing that his pet was satisfied with the shakes of his paw while looking at him as he petted him lovingly.

“We shall!” the ladies in the living room proclaimed cheerfully.

"Gotta hand it to ya! A pet really livens things up, huh?" a new voice then laughed from behind the women, who immediately looked behind them to see the stranger that spoke up. Judging from the voice, Sterling figured out that it was a male that had entered the house. With a stern look on his face

"It does, but I- I-ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!!" Sterling then gasped out as his eyes widened out to where they might have popped out of their sockets as his mouth almost dropped to the floor.

The man in front of him was wearing the standard sheriff's outfit, along with a gold star on the left side of the vest. His face was about as young as his, but the eyes were as gold as his badge. He knew who it was at that moment.

"And who are you, stranger?" Pinkie happily greeted the new man who was apparently making her shared man gasp loudly.

"Oh, well, where are mah manners? I'm--" the man was about to reply his introduction before Sterling raised his hand.

"Gold Star. The newest sheriff of Dodge City," Sterling introduced for him with a trailing off from his voice.

"And?" Fluttershy pressed him to continue.

"....."

"....."

"....and my old, best friend from childhood."

*****