The evening was just upon the city of Canterlot, and Luna had set her Moon on course for its usual trek throughout the sky as she had thousands upon thousands of times before. As the calming and illuminating entity crawled ever more and more towards its apex in the heavens, the soothing light eventually bathed the open balcony of Princess Luna herself.

Soft candles within her darker-themed quarters did well to tactically add light where it was most needed, though most of it was provided by a soft-hued spiral galaxy on her ceiling that slowly but surely rotated with the course of her Moon.

For normal ponies and Celestia herself, they would struggle for the first ten minutes to cope with the night-complete darkness, and find completed work hard to come by. But for Princess Luna, it was her prime condition. Her vision had been much attuned to the darkness over the millennia, and she preferred everything else that came with it.

With the darkness, came the tranquility of the nocturnal world.

With the ambiance of the nocturnal world, came a sense of belonging and ease.

And with a sense of ease, came productivity.

Garbed in her usual sleeveless, navy-blue work dress, Luna sat at her ebony-wooden desk adjacent to her bed and had gotten right to work. Her schedule was relatively light tonight, with a brief court appearance and then she could spend the rest of her time with Celestia talking about impending policy or simply getting drunk with her.

The latter would be much more preferred than the former.

In fact, Luna was in a bit of a transition: within the next week or so, Luna would be altering her sleep schedule to participate in what would be the first and forward-going ‘Combined Court.’ This was to eliminate Luna being mostly alone during her Night Court sessions, and instead, she and Celestia would see a larger volume, as well as more high-profile cases during the day.

Celestia had been the first to suggest it for Luna’s sake, and despite the ungodly times Luna would have to wake up at, the Night Princess was surprisingly excited about the prospect.

Luna smirked at the thought, and the excitement bubbled up in her stomach at actually being able to see her subjects with regularity for once. And she knew for a fact that her lonely nights would be over after that point.

Her general mood would improve exponentially, and she could spend some later nights hanging out with her sister when the administrative duties of running a nation had been tended to throughout the day.

Her thoughts meandered as her hands worked on autopilot. Papers and parchments with proposed bills shared between her and Celestia were levied with her signature and full authority of the crown, among other miscellaneous things she had to tend to.

She usually liked to take care of most of these little things before court started: signatures accepting and rejecting proposals, expense reports for her higher-level diplomats and advisors, as well as the occasional letter that made its way into her unending ranks of paperwork.

A specific letter passed through her hands that brought her out of her automated state—specifically because of the lack of multiple paragraphs and uniform writing style most becoming of nobility or in the upper echelons of her staff.

Luna cocked her head and eyebrow as she placed it flat on the table top. She thumbed the upper-right corner to smooth out the parchment, and a feeling of familiarity ran over her mind as she read the words… she recognized this writing style.

It was from Stella.

Luna’s once comfortably stoic exterior was gradually ruined as a smile creased its way up her cheeks. Each word that her eyes scanned brought an immeasurable amount of giddiness to her chest… which warped into giggling and eventually into maniacal laughter that she was sure all Canterlot could hear.

Stella was requesting a sufficient batch of ‘Potion 63.’ It was this moment that Luna realized she was an arms dealer between the two sovereign nations of Fredrick and Stella in their prank war.

And she loved every minute of it.

Luna continued to snicker as she stood up from her desk. She smoothed out her dress and slid the paper off the table top to pin it as high-importance. She’d have a vial filled up and delivered by the time the couple returned from their vacation.

Lune continued to giggle at the thought—and she had to remember to save the day when Stella would enact her plan, so she could be around to see Fredrick’s reaction to the impending prank.

With one final chuckle into her hand, she slid out of her door and headed to court to start her day.

His legs moved in step with Stella, but his mind did not think. His brain did not react to the environment around him as he fought to process the bug in his system caused by Stella’s most recent question.

To which Fredrick could only come back with a resounding:

“Fucking… what?!”

As he turned his head to look at Stella in sheer confusion, he expected to see that snarky, downright cute yet annoying face of hers that she would adopt when deliberately attempting to get on his nerves. But, none of that was present.

No dimpled smile, no wink, no accompanying giggle… nothing.

Only a serious, stoic face that was fatefully awaiting a true answer to her question.

“I told you I wasn’t jokin’, love,” Stella followed up. “But seriously, I know this sounds weird, but it has a point, I promise…

“Whaddya think of Sveta?”

Fredrick was in no way going to let Stella escape with this question, but he figured, as per her request, that he would give her the benefit of the doubt for now. To be fair though, the perplexed human still had little idea what was going on, and was further disturbed because deep down, as a man, any questions involving ‘looks’ and ‘sister’ were a recipe for disaster.

“Well…” Fredrick placed a hand on the back of his neck. “I think she’s an upstanding mare with a good head on her shoulders and a bright future!”

The right side of Stella’s mouth curled up, exposing her teeth in the most infuriatingly smug way Fredrick could conceive.

“Y’know she’s also good at givin’ head, aye?” she said, nudging him.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Fredrick exhaled. “Okay firstly, how the fuck do you know that?”

“She’s told me very specific, particular details of her few exploits. Do ye really wanna know said details?”

While Stella had a knack for making almost anything sound erotic, from fruit cups to a rock, Fredrick still felt a bit uneasy about any such details involving Sveta.

“Honestly, I don't think I do,” he conceded, though Fred was by no means done:

“I gotta say though, if I didn't know any better, it sounds like you're trying to hook me up with Sveta…”

Stella was unflinching.

“Well, I mean… kinda?” she said.

“And just why would you do that, based on our relationship? And why would I entertain such a proposition?” Fredrick followed up, his tone a tad defensive.

Stella rolled her eyes overdramatically.

“You really need tae relax, mate…” came her reply. “You sound like I just asked ya tae lube up yer bunghole and bend over!”

It was Fred’s turn to roll his eyes and sigh out, exasperated.

“My marefriend just asked me to size up her sister… all things considered, it might as well be the same thing.”

Stella ran both her palms down her face, seeming like she wanted to rip her lower eyelids off.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” she growled. “Apparently you're not getting it at all because of how that cock of a head ye have is wired!

“I don't know what bullshit customs your human mares were used to, but do you honestly know me after all this time? I'm not tryin’ tae trick ye. It’s a simple question that I'd like tae move past sometime today: would you say Sveta is attractive?”

Fredrick rolled his eyes… but the ironclad reassurance from Stella's words put him a little less on edge when it came to the question itself.

Back on earth in a more ‘traditional’ relationship, implying that a sibling of your significant other was sexually appealing was tantamount to signing your execution by public firing squad.

Stella remained true to her character of being wholly unpredictable in most instances.

“Well, I mean…” Fredrick began, his voice uneasy as Stella continued to await his answer. “Of course she is! A blind dude could see that.”

Stella nodded.

“‘Bout goddamn time. Fuck me,” she expressed with an exasperated sigh.

Fredrick glanced back over at Stella.

“But can you really blame me for faltering a bit?” he asked. “I mean, girlfriends back where I come from never ask if their younger sisters are hot in the eyes of their partners, so…”

Stella was quick to politely dismiss those rhetorical concerns.

“Nae. Not if ya knew what I was gonna ask next,” she said, and used that segue to springboard into her aforementioned second question:

“Which is, would ya be opened to… ‘relations’ of the lustful variety?” she treaded carefully with her words.

Fredrick couldn't roll his eyes harder if he tried.

“Oh for fuck’s sake are you kidding me right now?!”

Stella threw her hands towards the floor.

“Oh my fucking Celestia I thought we JUST fuckin’ established this, mate! Fer the last time: I’m being serious. This isn’t a trick, and it’s not some retarded test. I’m being serious here. Want me tae ask in me normal style? Fine:

“Wanna give Sveta the ol’ Bam Bam in the Ham?”

Fredrick let his head sag backwards as the two of them walked, and though Stella was waiting patiently for an answer, she had to admit that he looked positively ridiculous in his current situation.

“And why would I want to fuck Sveta?” Fred ventured.

Stella returned his question with a rather pointed shrug, as if Fred was the weird one for asking.

“Ummm… I dunno how yer male instincts work. Fuck she’s the biologist, not me. I honestly… honestly don’t understand why this question is so hard to answer, Fred. You managed the first part!” Stella said.

Fredrick decided to ease himself through the situation.

“Okay! Well… I mean…”

Stella’s impatience boiled over.

“Put it this way, love!” she began anew, harshly wrapping one of her arms around Fredrick’s neck and placing their faces side by side before gesturing her hand out to nowhere in particular. Her tone was serious, but with a playful edge of condescension.

“Imagine… if you will, a world where I don’t give a single slow-roasted, pineapple-glazed shite about yer human customs. Also, pretend you and I never met. Yer a laddie about town and you suddenly see…”

Stella sprang away from him and gesticulated, with two open hands, to a pony right in front of them that did not exist.

“This hot thestral lassie with tits a mite smaller than yer fuckin head… nice and firm too!” she mimed groping.

Her actually-amusing hyping continued:

“She’s got a cute butt—not as cute as mine, of course—but this bitch has got legs fer days to go along with that slim tummy and those gazongas! Top it all off with a pretty face ripe fer yer ‘pearlescent’ home-churned ragu sauce!”

Fredrick recoiled, nearly suffering an asthma attack.

“PFFT! Did you just say that?!”

“Oi! I can use big words like ‘pearlescent,’ ya inflatable cock!” she barked, but her expression immediately bounced back to a youthful eagerness.

“But of course, I’m talkin’ about Sveta Rapier Sabre. And she’s winkin’ at ya!” Stella pointed back at Fredrick, who was attempting to stymie his laughter at her display. Her eccentricity always had its way with him when he became muddled down in his internal musings.

Stella went back to her original question:

“So. What would ye say tae that, aye? Ya fuckin' overripened clitoris, ye.”

It wasn’t like Fredrick needed much thought on the matter when presented with very specific parameters and hypotheticals.

“Well duh! Of course I’d go for it… assuming I could get past the orbit of other dudes surrounding her,” he answered.

Stella's features brightened considerably.

“There we go! That’s what I was lookin' for! Now, would ye wanna take her back to her room and enter her like the lottery?” she said, and waggled her eyebrows.

Fredrick burst out laughing, head thrown back as he contained himself.

“Jeeeeeesus… whew you’re full of good one-liners today, aren’t you?”

“Don’t dodge the fuckin' question, mate!”

With Stella's reassurance, Fredrick felt he could approach this conundrum with a little less unease than he had previously.

But first, he needed a little bit of clarification on some matters he deemed important.

“Okay I have some legitimate questions: I’m kinda with you right now. By Equestrian standards, aren’t we exclusive?”

“We are,” Stella affirmed with an obvious nod.

“Then...” Fredrick gestured to the obvious elephant in the room.

“I'm tryin' tae do two things. One, tae get Sveta's lips wet. Two, make sure you get something out of it for your troubles, really. Our exclusivity ain’t got three shits on it.”

And despite all the reassurances, Fredrick still felt weird talking so candidly about this subject. Nevertheless, he just had to deal with it—improvise, adapt, overcome.

“Okay fine, sure…” he accepted. “But why Sveta in that case? You’ve never expressed this before except now.”

Again, Stella shrugged as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“Because ya never asked, retard!” she exclaimed, nudging into him.

“Wait… are you serious?!”

“FUCK NAE!” Stella, again, nudged into him, nearly taking him off his feet with how hard she pushed him. She followed that up with a hefty cackle. “You’re stuck with me, mate! This only ‘exception’—if ya will—applies tae Sveta.

“But if ya need tae know everythin,’” Stella continued, wrapping her arms around Fredrick’s neck and leaning most of her body weight on him. Fredrick, in kind, placed his left hand on her bare waist and enjoyed her extra weight and heat.

And with a little hesitancy, she admitted:

“Sveta just needs tae get the Friendship Express run through ‘er and not feel like rotten spunk stain afterward—she hasn’t had the best experiences if ya know what I mean.”

Fredrick grimaced, but he was even more perplexed now than before, in some instances. Regarding Sveta, some things just didn’t add up.

“Wait… how does she not have a trail of stallions following her at all times? She of all mares has dude issues?”

Stella continued to hang on Fredrick as they strolled along to wherever she passively led them to.

“In her words, love: ‘It’s a quality issue. Not quantity.’ In the end, as I said, she’s got a stick up her twat when it comes tae social interaction outside of when I’m home. If it weren’t fer me, she’d study, perform with her band… and that’s it. The bitch needs variety in her life! And if she’s not willin’ tae weed out the dickheads outta the ranks of attention she gets, I gotta do it for ‘er!” Stella explained with another grand, over-arching gesture of her left hand.

“Which is why…” she continued. “I need somepony I can trust enough and that she gets on with a mite good… tae ‘remove’ that stick from her twat.

“With their diiiiick!”

Fredrick figured it was best to sum it up succinctly for his own sanity.

“So, you want me to bang your sister because—aside from Equestrian culture being much more open with sexuality and not seeing this as remotely any problem whatsoever—she’s a bit tense and easily annoyed, and needs to get laid and I’m the only dude you trust to do the job because you’ve sufficiently vetted me already?”

Stella beamed radiantly. Her sharpened teeth seemed to sparkle in the nonexistent sunlight.

“Aye, sounds ‘bout right, mate!”

“And refresh my memory,” Fredrick responded. “How does this not violate our exclusivity? Putting my own upbringing and preconceived notions aside, I’m curious how you’ll sell this to me.”

“Well, since we’re on a heart-to-heart junction fer some fuckin’ reason… you find me good lookin’, aye?”

It was Fredrick’s turn to deadpan.

“You know, I never knew you and I were still on the ‘fishing for compliments’ stage of our relationship,” he jested, squeezing her exposed side to elicit a involuntary batpony ‘EEE!’ and a giggle.

“Hey, nothin’ wrong with gettin’ told I’m hot! But on the next note, how do you feel about me outside of looks?”

“I feel… very strongly for you,” Fredrick offered the vaguest way he could place his true feelings for her.

“Aye, it’s mutual, love,” Stella affirmed with a wink. “But tae follow up. You find Sveta hot, right?”

“Duh.”

“Do ya feel the same way about her that ya do about me?” Stella questioned with a cocked, knowing eyebrow.

Without missing a beat, Fredrick answered:

“Not in the slightest.”

“There ya go, mate!” Stella confirmed. “She just needs tae get her rocks off. Ya don’t need tae go an’ buy her dinner or some fancy shit and say cute things to her.”

She then chortled maniacally to preempt her next words.

“Hell, but ye can give ‘er yer own homemade pearl necklace if ya feel so inclined!”

“GODDAMNIT!” went Fredrick, but it was futile to hold in his own cackling, which set off Stella again. And just like that, there the two were, just walking down the street, shuffling their feet, and cackling like wild animals in public.

Once Fredrick managed to calm himself down, he voiced some jesting concern:

“You know, if I actually had siblings, I’d be ashamed to say the things you do about yours.”

Stella giggled again.

“Well Fredrick, there’s something you should know 'bout me by now,” she teased, then leaned in close so her mouth was right next to Fred’s left ear.

“I’m just really fucked up, mate.”

Fred bobbed his head in hefty consideration.

“True. I’m messed up in my own ways, so I guess we’re even. Wouldn’t have it any other way, to be honest,” he mused, and allowed a warm smile to creep onto his face.

Stella resumed her previous position with her arms around his neck, and the two of them locked eyes briefly. A pleasant heat made its way to both of their cheeks, though neither had the courage to look away from one another, opting to instead relish in a moment of non-tomfoolery, and pure emotion that heated them up on a more temperate day.

But of course, like most of those in passing, it was short lived by Stella’s direct intervention.

“So… just tae get it out of her system and to reward you fer doin’ what’s pretty much a favor fer both of us, you up fer a romp with Sveta?” Stella asked with an aura of finality. It was time to seal the deal, in her eyes.

“Or seven?”

Fredrick chuckled as he mulled on her words. He knew for a fact that he was being offered any up-and-coming dudes dream and a scenario that pretty much only happened in pornography: having a hot girlfriend and banging her sister who is equally as hot in their own way. Reasoning with himself, he’d be lying if he told himself that he didn’t carnally want to have sex with Sveta—she was an absolute knockout.

In the end, if his human morality morphed by his upbringing and culture were irrelevant to the ‘other parties involved,’ and he could set aside what he felt was wrong when it ‘technically wasn’t,’ then there was little room for him to complain.

Fredrick shrugged.

Fuck it. Spontaneity!

“Eh. Yeah, sure. Why not, I guess!” he conceded.

If there was one thing he lived for in Equestria, it was Stella’s genuine smile and happiness. And perhaps he was being purposefully underwhelming: he knew that if things boiled to fruition, it would probably be a little more exciting than how he expressed.

“Yesssss!” she exclaimed, kissing his cheek multiple times in the process. “Thank you! I know it’s weird fer you… but yer doin’ us all an amazing favor, aye?”

Fred still wasn’t entirely convinced of that.

“Right… I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied, remnant unease and caution still evident in his tone.

Stella bounded into the lead once again and snatched Fredrick’s hand up in hers.

“Now come on! I gotta show you something—you’ll love it, I promise!” she teased with an inviting smile and pulled him along.

“Alright, let’s go!” Fredrick replied, and jogged to keep pace with her and more so prevent himself from faceplanting into the sidewalk.

And with that, the young couple took off down the suburb street and made a beeline towards where they first entered Thestralshire. As usual, the journey back towards the mountainous elevator was rife with banter and conversation aplenty—and in turn, rife with excessive laughter that drew odd looks from the general public.

Fredrick, in the initial stages of their friendship, was often wary of the attention that would be drawn when he and Stella, and possibly other friends of hers were out in public—as the only human in Equestria and not fully comfortable with anthropomorphic ponies at the time, attracting needless attention that would instantly hone in on him was towards the end of his list of priorities.

As of now, he paid little attention to this. All he was concerned about, instead, was just making sure that Stella didn’t go out of her way to do something too stupid and hurt herself. These instances were few and far between, thankfully.

In fact, most of the times where he’s been cognizant of Stella’s well-being, he’s been the one that’s gotten (hilariously) burned on his own.

It was all in good fun though.

A ten-minute trip to the elevator and being taken back to the entrance where they first arrived, and like that first time, Fredrick stood aside at the edge to enjoy the view that seemed to enamor him just as much as it did the first time. The rolling clouds that he had once seen prior seemed to be frozen in time, especially with the gentle fog that trailed down from the faux-mountain peak. The petrichor smell was as stark as ever, and even more so in the more humid tunnel.

However, Stella pulled him along, as they had little time to dilly-dally.

“Alright, bear with me fer one second,” Stella spoke softly as she continued to lead Fred along. A line of ponies continued to come and go through the entrance tunnel either down the side of the mountain or into the embedded train station.

Stella, for her part, tried to look as innocent as possible when, at the mountain’s edge, there was a cordoned off path upward.

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her wallet, pretended to look in it and juggle it around, and then ‘accidentally’ flung it into the cordoned-off pathway.

Her immediate response to that was mechanical as it was hilariously exaggerated:

“Oh. Fuck me. I should get that. Fredrick, come help me?” she announced, swinging one leg after the other over the barrier to retrieve her wallet.

Once she was on the other side, she hurriedly beckoned Fredrick to follow her example, and after looking once over each of his shoulders, mimicked her movements.

“I’m guessing we’re not exactly supposed to be up here?” he questioned, uneasily making sure that he didn’t look down, despite the minimal guard rails.

Stella stooped low to pick up her wallet, and placed it back in the confines of her rear pocket. She patted it for good measure.

“Aye, though nopony really enforces it. And since batponies can fly, no one’s really died from fallin’. It’s more of a formality than anythin’,” Stella informed.

She rolled her eyes, however, at Fredrick’s slight unease. He looked a tad unconvinced if his constantly avoiding… then eventually giving in and glancing over the edge were anything to go by.

“You know I’d catch you, right?” she deadpanned.

Fredrick looked up at her, tearing his eyes away from what would be impending doom without a guard rail and a guardian batpony such as her.

“Yeah… doesn’t make the idea of falling potentially to my death any less unpleasant. Besides, didn’t you throw me off my goddamn balcony a month or two ago??” he pointedly reminded. “You cunt.”

She was quick to dismiss him as she took his hand once again and lead him up a deserted path, one that took them higher up towards the faux-peak.

“Psh. Semantics,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Fredrick was quick to point out.

“Neither does yer sniveling poofery, mate. Now come on! We’ve got a little bit left.”

And once again, Fredrick placed his life in Stella’s hands should anything go wrong. The mountainous trail and rock beneath them held firm with every step upward that they took, but he couldn’t help feeling like he was in one of those movies where one step would upset the entire side of the mountain. Then the whole thing would come crumbling down…

And to Stella’s credit, she seemed completely unfazed by this—likely from a lifetime of experience and countless times venturing up here with Sveta.

One thing he did observe, most curiously, was that the rock walls seemed to harbor much more moss and general lushness as they climbed higher and higher. He deduced that this was due to the ungodly amount of rain this region received that filtered through the soil and the tiniest abscess in the stone; as the lushness on the exterior of the range was quite telling, after all.

Speaking of rain…

The sound of distant thunder interrupted their quiet ascent, and both Stella and Fredrick glanced upon the center of Thestralshire from their vantage point. Another sight to behold was the wreathing clouds swept aside with one motion under the weight of falling rain through the open peak. A blanket of water from their distance instead supplanted what was once a gentle bathing of fog and cloud-cover.

Fredrick was again awestruck by the view, but Stella was even more excited. Her ears perked up and her eyes glinted as she smiled widely.

“Perfect…” she mused, then yanked Fredrick along with an accompanying yelp from him. “Just what I was hopin’ for! You’re gonna absolutely love this!” she declared.

Fredrick chuckled, and followed close.

“So you’ve told me like, thirty times already,” he teased.

“Well, ya won’t listen to me when I tell ya tae get the cum outta yer ears, so I’ll have tae settle fer repeatin’ m’self when I can,” she shot right back.

Fredrick countered with a nonsensical:

“I’ll cum in your ears.”

Stella giggled into her hand.

“Sucks fer you, mate. I ain’t into that shit. Sveta might be, though. You should ask ‘er when yer ready tae give ‘er a battle with yer flesh-rifle.”

Fredrick pursed his lips—he didn’t need to put much thought into that proposition.

“Yeah, I’m… not gonna do that.”

Stella glanced back over her shoulder.

“Hey, she may be a bit more uptight, but you’ve seen how she acts. She can be more horrifying than me sometimes. You’ve got no idea what she’s into… so hey, ya may get lucky!”

“I still find it really weird that you’re talking about this so openly… when and if this does happen, I have this weird vision of you just sitting in an armchair across from us smoking a pipe as you leer all smugly. I’ll just leave it at that,” Fredrick voiced the oddly specific scenario.

Stella turned back to him, exaggerating her teeth mischievously.

“Don’t tempt me!”

The two devolved into some more, light-hearted laughter as they continued their little trek around the interior of the mountain. They had ascended a couple hundred feet by this point, and eventually, the two of them came to what appeared to be a series of caves and tunnels.

Stella was quick to beckon him over to a very specific one, a circular tunnel that held an oddly smooth ceiling. Moss had covered the entire ground, which masked the continuous trickle of water from within.

“Alright, just in here, love,” she nearly whispered, leading the way again.

Fredrick peeked in and saw light entering waaaaaay down and to the right, but still, he had some questions.

And by questions, he meant pointing out the ridiculousness of the scenario.

“You’re not gonna like, lead me down this here dark alleyway, then molest and murder me, right?” he asked with an exaggerated, questioning tone.

Stella proved as quick-witted as always.

“Nah, Fred. I’d murder, then molest you. There’s a subtle difference that ye just wouldn’t understand, aye?” she quipped.

Stella’s hooves and Fredrick’s shoes were cushioned by the meandering green moss beneath them, though the weight of their steps resounded against the flat plane of water just under that. Tiny splashes were all that sounded besides their conversation when they were out of the environmental noise of Thestralshire proper.

“Don’t you molest me enough?” Fredrick ventured to ask.

Stella glanced an eye over her shoulder again.

“Sorry, but weren’t you the one fondling me last night after we woke up?”

Fredrick shrugged in concession.

“Yeah, but as you said, that was fondling your boobs. I wasn’t molesting you,” he clarified.

Their pace slowed down as the odd conversation continued. Stella turned around and walked backwards so she could address Fredrick with her usual snark and smirk.

“Right, but I didn’t exactly ask ye tae grope me, y’know.”

Fredrick deadpanned, then leveled his hand and index finger to dutifully correct her:

“You literally took my hand from your tummy, ran it up your torso, and let it rest on your tit. You then said ‘that’s better,’” he mimicked her accent.

Stella mirrored his gesture, and placed her index finger right in his face as their odd walking cadence continued in earnest.

“Objection, cunt!” she began, but had to quell an impending chortle at her own use of that word. Fredrick himself was not in any better straits.

“I let yer hand rest on me tit, while wearin’ me bra. It was yer idea tae slip it under the cup and molest the nipple.”

Fredrick opened his mouth to counter… but realized that she was, indeed, absolutely right in that regard.

There was a large opening on the right-most wall of the tunnel, and Stella stopped them both, so they could finish their little exchange. And in that moment of observation, Fredrick came up with an arguably lame response.

“Right… but you didn’t object to it. In fact, you said you loved the way it felt before you and I got all sappy and fell asleep.”

Stella cocked an eyebrow and donned a lopsided, toothy smile.

Just like that, Fredrick knew he was beaten.

“But I didn’t verbally consent to it, even though I was more than fuckin’ open to it… and more had ye been up for it last night, love,” she said. “Since I didn’t explicitly verbalize it, you technically molested me.”

Fredrick pursed his lips and disengaged his gaze from hers. Defeat had been conceded.

“Fuck. You’re right.”

Stella threw her head back in gut-clenching laughter at his concession, then jumped to embrace him by throwing all of her weight onto him. Fredrick was easily able to catch her in his arms and keep her suspended off the ground, as per her wish.

The thestral’s giggling subsided and, after exchanging a bright smile with Fredrick, she kissed his cheek with an exaggerated ‘mwah!’ and released him to fall back to her hooves. They echoed with a hollow, wet clop from down the tunnel.

“Ya never learn, do ya?” she teased, then took him by the hand once more. “But tae be fair, you’re right: I did enjoy when you molested me. And as much as I molest you…”

She slinked up right next to him, leaned her muzzle by his ear again, and delivered a tantalizing lick to his earlobe.

“You can molest me anytime you want, aye?”

With Stella, Fredrick understood fully what she meant and that she was entirely serious. His face went pensive and excited.

“Hmmm… I think I’ll have to test my luck with that soon,” he mused, allowing himself to be led along towards this new entrance.

As per the status quo, Stella always had to have the final word in their banter:

“Luck ain’t got nothin’ tae do with it when it’s a fer sure thing. Just don’t be a fuckin’ pussy,” she said, winking. “Now, come on, we’re here!”

From the relative darkness of the tunnel, Fredrick followed Stella when they entered through the jagged hole in the wall, where light poured through. His eyes had to adjust properly, and he shielded them with his arm before he could get a proper look at what was inside. What piqued his interest was when he heard what sounded like a tiny waterfall from within.

“So, where are we?” he asked just as he dropped his arm.

And what he saw nearly brought a tear to his eye.

Stella felt she would have to introduce him properly to she and Sveta’s ‘personal hideaway’ throughout their childhood, but observing Fredrick’s reaction, she opted to remain quiet.

The majesty could speak for itself.

Fredrick was greeted with a literal chamber in the wall, where light poured in from the outside world by way of the far-most wall of said chamber. In fact, the wide-enough aperture led directly to the open air outside, meaning that this was essentially a window seat on the edge of a mountain—one could sit on either side and enjoy the eternal, rainy view from within.

With the natural illumination from the overcast day on its last hour outside, Fredrick’s eyes could wander over a field of cushy moss and clovers that covered the stone and soil-laden ground. There was nary a patch of drab to be found in this lush little oasis.

Fredrick stepped in further, ahead of Stella, to get a better look at what lay at the direct center of the hidden chamber. There was yet another aperture in the ceiling formed by countless hundreds of years of erosion. A steady, hollow stream of water poured from the top and fell to the ground to small irrigation funnels to travel elsewhere on its trek with gravity. The effect was not a flooded chamber, but a curtain of water that veiled another circular island of patchy, lush, comfy-looking flora within.

Minerals and crystals much like he saw down in Thestralshire proper lined the walls and jutted out to help reflect any passing light. This created shimmering reflections that darted across the stone and mossy surfaces of the walls and ceilings, all in tandem with the glinting reflections of the falling water.

It was a natural meditation chamber.

This was a paradise away from home.

An unknown feeling of happiness welled up inside Fredrick—this was the place that, if asked what his ideal vacation and living spot would be, this was it. This was exactly it in every conceivable way.

Lush.

Rainy.

Tranquil.

Perfect.

Fredrick pivoted on his heels to get a full-degree view of their little chamber, and every inch of the hideout radiated a beautiful feeling of belonging.

Silence had dominated for a good three minutes as Stella leaned against the entryway, smiling with great pride at a successful little adventure that she knew Fredrick considered worth it. Like he with her, Stella had no intention of suppressing the giddiness that collected and pooled in her chest at seeing Fredrick this happy and at peace.

She pushed herself off the wall and took a couple easy steps through the bushes of clovers to join her coltfriend.

“So,” she broke the silence, wrapping her arms from behind around his waist, having pressed her cheek into his back. Stella nuzzled him with closed eyes as she followed up with:

“Welcome to our little escape, Fred. This place… is very special to Sveta and I.”

Fredrick placed his hands atop Stella’s as he continued to take in the small scenery. His eyes, too, reflected every bit of light with how wide they were, enamored.

“Holy shit I can understand why! This is fucking incredible!” he exclaimed, to a round of chuckling form Stella right behind him.

“I’d want to show everyone this place… but at the same time, I’d want to keep this super-secret and to myself!” he added

Stella dropped her arms and strode in front of Fredrick, waving him over towards the faux-window. On either side of the view out were two stones covered in moss, moss than had been curiously flattened out seemingly with time.

She motioned for him to take a seat on the right, as she spun on her hoof and planted her butt on the left-most stone.

Doing just that and sighing out as he was able to finally catch a break for his legs, Fredrick internally remarked that the moss felt oddly comfortable by way of just how much there was. It was a bit slippery, and it probably ruined his shorts to the point that it looked like he maybe had an accident, but it was a small price to pay to be afforded the scenery just outside.

And as the two began to stare out into the horizon that disappeared under heavy rainfall, ocean of green, and clouds, Stella followed up with her response:

“I felt the same way,” she said. “But, Sveta and I were the only ones tae ever come up here. No one else ever did, surprisingly. And keepin’ it ‘pure’ between us, I never brought anypony else up here, and neither has she,” Stella admitted.

“Not even past coltfriends.”

Fredrick tore away from the view to face his marefriend, incredulously, who faced him in turn with a soft expression.

“Really? You never brought a past lover up here?! This is like, romance on steroids up here!” he remarked, again looking outside to just get lost in what was essentially the perfect live wallpaper to his life.

Stella nodded and leaned against the stone wall, letting her vision wander outside in kind. She extended her leg a little bit to intertwine it with Fredrick’s. He accepted her without question, and the two played an idle game of leg-tangle and footsie.

“Aye. Never trusted ‘em enough. I was a lot younger back then, and me ‘relationships’ didn’t last, fer better or worse,” she again, admitted. “Didn’t want tae break it off with some dumb cunt and come back up here and find him here fuckin’ some twat in our sanctuary. Then I’d actually have tae kill somepony.”

Fredrick pulled his head back and leaned against the wall, much like Stella was across from him. The two locked eyes comfortably once more.

An innocent, genuine question followed suit:

“And yet you brought me up here, on Sveta’s suggestion?”

Stella nodded nice and slowly.

“Aye. I was thinkin’ really hard about it, and I wouldn’t bring anypony up here without talkin’ tae her first… but fuckin’, lucky you. I don’t know what impression ya made on her while you two were alone about town… but fuck me you might as well have fucked ‘er already!” Stella prodded, pressing her hoof into Fredrick’s thigh.

He quietly yelped at the sensitivity—he was quite ticklish in that area, and Stella was careful to note this for later.

“Hah!” he blurted. “You wish!”

But then, his tone became much less overt and more restrained, as per the gravity of what Stella was telling him.

“But jeez… you’re right. Maybe she thinks I’m alright then,” he mused.

Stella allowed her smile to further brighten up the room, ready to affirm his words:

“She does like you, actually. A lot. I could read it in her walk. It’s kinda why I asked ye the question I did, and why she not so subtly brought that shit up to me. In the end, we both agreed to let you be up here, fer many reasons.

“And as I said, this place is really, really sacred fer us. We’ve brought nopony else up here. You’re the third being to see this in all its glory.”

Fredrick reached down between his legs his and took ahold of Stella’s leg. He crossed his own and allowed her to stretch herself out, laying her leg atop his lap and beginning massage it at his idle whim.

And with her words and how serious she was speaking, with the lack of her usual joking mannerisms, Fredrick was beginning to fully understand the gravity of where he was.

“So, then I guess you really trust me, huh?”

Stella, suddenly, donned a much more reserved complexion. Her cheeks colored and her once confident stare devolved into averting her gaze.

Sheepishly, she nodded.

“Aye. I do. I really do.”

Fredrick found himself positively unable to not smile at that point. He drew two of his fingers down Stella’s leg, letting his nails barely grace her skin, much to her subtly shuddering pleasure.

“Well, I’m really happy to hear you say that. I trust you, too… with my life,” he added with extra conviction.

A small bout of silence fell upon them, and what little rays poked through the overcast firmament outside were beginning to dwindle as Luna’s domain was prepared to take over for the impending evening.

“There’s…” Stella began uttering, earning Fredrick’s full attention as he continued to idly stroke her leg.

“There’s another reason I brought you up here, too.”

Fredrick cocked his head, smiling encouragingly at his marefriend as she sat up more comfortably.

“Yeah? What’s that?” he asked.

“Well, because I love you.”

Fredrick’s lips separated into a gentle ‘o’ as his eyes widened in kind. Those words felt as if they literally held weight to them, and he was pressed up against his leaning post once they left Stella’s mouth.

Across from him, he found a golden-eyed, beautiful thestral mare staring back at him with a confidence he’d expect… but with an underlying sense of unease that he’d rarely feel from her. Her eyes reflected not only the light in the room, but all her internal musings that she had wanted to bring forward, that she had laid on the figurative table right in front of them. The reflections played off of her form and added to her innocent—apprehensive allure.

And with her more reserved body language, Fredrick figured she was not the one usually accustomed to saying things like this… which made the inherent significance of it all that much stronger.

“Stella…” Fredrick finally breathed out, as his mouth ran dry for the briefest of moments. “Are… are you sure? I love you too but, you’re sure about this? I only want to affirm this step if—”

Stella stopped his words in their tracks, chuckling as she rolled her eyes for the thousandth time tonight. She got to her hooves, and Fredrick followed suit.

And she brought herself close, never daring to break eye-contact. She smiled brightly and pressed her muzzle to his nose.

“Aye… I am. I know it hasn’t been long fer ‘us.’ Like what? One? Two months? But… you’ve…”

She averted her gaze as she fought to find the appropriate words for what she was trying to convey. Stella sighed, and cursed herself as to why she was never good at this… and the feelings of once lightness were being replaced by dread as the thoughts she wanted to lay out were in the deepest recesses of her lexicon under lock and faulty key.

“Fredrick, you shithead, ye… you’ve taken me,” she finally settled on what she felt was right to her.

Fred let his idle grip on her tighten into a hug, but still, their faces never wavered.

Perhaps it was just all the water-reflected glistening playing tricks on them, but Fredrick could have sworn that he saw a distinct sheen of mist in her eyes.

“You get me, Fred. If ye didn’t want tae be with me, you’d’ve run off a long time ago, during our friendship. And tae be quite honest, love, not too much has changed since we… you know,” she fumbled.

Fredrick nodded, and stayed silent.

Stella took this cue to continue:

“And well… fucks sake…” she pursed her lips, huffing out as she blinked something out of her eyes. “As shitty and vomit-y as it sounds, I’ve never felt about anypony else as I’ve felt about you. I really haven’t.

“And I wanted to show that by taking you here…” she gestured all around them.

Her voice dropped to barely a whisper.

“Somewhere that means so much to me.

“Because Fredrick… h-handsome… I love you.”

Fredrick had no words. How could he ever manage to come back to that? His mind was muddled a moment before, but had been vacated entirely by Stella’s admission. By some manner, he questioned who this mare was in front of him to bring out the sappy cannons in full force?

But almost instantly, he realized that this mare was, indeed, his marefriend.

This was a mare that he knew without any shred of a doubt, whom he loved with all his heart.

But more than that, this was his marefriend, Stella, whom he felt was more beautiful than he had ever seen her.

Not when she was dolled up, not when she was in armor, not even when she was in a bathing suit or even nude.

Now.

And from here on out, she was a goddess in Equestria. His dark-coated Venus whom he cherished so much since the first day they met.

The quick mental deliberation was all he needed to pull Stella into the tightest hug he had ever levied on her, and she reciprocated in kind with her head on his chest.

“I love you, Stella. No matter how short of a time we’ve been together.”

The two relished each other in silence—the world no longer existed outside of their sanctuary chamber. They swayed in a nonexistent breeze to the audible rainfall that quickly became a white noise to the two, closer lovers in a sea of newly freed emotions.

Their hearts beat unrestrained in their chests, drumming synchronized to each other’s newfound admissions and excited thoughts of things to come.

Stella pulled back just enough where she could see all of Fredrick’s face. To her, he was the stud amongst studs at this moment.

She positively beamed and gestured forward with her muzzle.

“Say it again, Fred.”

Fredrick tilted his head.

“Say what?”

“Oh, you know exactly what. Say it fer me, babe. Come on,” Stella urged with child-like enthusiasm, letting the pet name she had never used for him slip from her mouth.

Fredrick mirrored her own smile.

“I love you, Stella.”

Stella pulled herself impossibly tighter against him.

“Say it again?”

“I love you, Stella.”

Stella, with a cuteness that even Fredrick didn’t know she was capable of, tilted her head innocently and widened her eyes.

“One more time?”

“I love you, Stella!”

Stella closed the distance between their mouths and pressed her lips to his. Her hands snaked their way up his back and held his neck in place, in case Fredrick had any bright ideas of leaving at this moment of historic importance.

Of course, Fredrick had no intention of doing any such thing, but had the same idea to hold her face in place as their lips reacquainted themselves. Eyes fluttered shut as they only allowed themselves to feel and hear, like they always had before in their shared moments of intimacy.

The rain continued to come down and patter their outside, and contribute to the small waterfall at the center of their chamber to add to the ever-romantic ambiance. The couple’s lips combined and separated with gentle, wet smacks with little care for frequency. Their warm breath broke like waves on the vast Equestrian shoreline against their cheeks, serving to heat them even more as the temperature gradually dropped. As their heartrates increased, their clothes became that much tighter on their bodies, and their breathing became that much more labored. They salivated for the very concept of each other, an internal thirst that refused to abate like the constancy of the water curtain faithfully flowing.

After a gentle moan on both sides, the two separated… then after a few extra moments, they let their eyes flutter open.

Fredrick was struck again just by how beautiful Stella was in this moment. In her normal wear, she stared back at him under the veil of her eyelashes… but this was not just a mare who was his marefriend, after all.

This was a mare who loved him.

And that thought again, sent butterflies exploding in the same type of shrapnel-laden grenade in his stomach. His entire world was set alight by a combined feeling of caring, love, and lust that muddled together all simultaneously.

“Well…” Fredrick broke the silence first. “That was… wow. That was probably the best kiss you and I’ve shared so far.”

Stella bit her lower lip with one of her fangs, then licked her lips.

“I happen tae agree, love~,” she said drunkenly, looking up to him with a pride and a love that she had never let show in full-force.

She placed a hand on his chest for good measure, just to feel that heartbeat that had become metronomically intoxicating to her.

“You know…” Fredrick began anew. “I’ve had this retarded video fantasy where I’ve wanted to kiss my girlfriend in the rain. It hasn’t happened yet so, hopefully you and I can share one soon,” he hinted.

Stella, at that mention, had other plans.

“Well, maybe I can give ya the next best thing!” she replied, separating from him and sashaying her way over towards the center of the room.

She glanced behind her and undid the ponytail in her mane as she stepped up to the water curtain that continued to cascade diligently down into oblivion. Stella flipped her long mane free and placed extra emphasis on the sway of her ass as she strutted.

Before she stepped in with a leg planted forward, she glanced back at a clearly-enticed Fredrick.

“How ‘bout ye follow me in here… I won’t fuck you in here—that’s just rude. But how ‘bout you an’ I lay down fer a while~?” she questioned with that innocent inflection.

Wordlessly, Fredrick’s face lit up like it was Hearth’s Warming once he got wind of her idea, and took large strides over to her.

Stella giggled all girly-like and stepped into the water curtain. Her clothes, coat, and mane got just wet enough for effect, but not enough to soak her to the bone.

And beyond the veil, she turned on her hooves to face Fredrick, who only had a thin curtain of flowing water separating him from his gorgeous thestral mare, distorted by the purest element of nature.

As if he needed any more enticing, Stella closed her eyes briefly and allowed a gentle tune of nature to enter her mind… and with that she began to sway to a random routine… a figurative siren’s call into the void for her brave human just beyond.

She promised good times for him… and Fredrick was more than willing to oblige.

Like her mere moments before, Fredrick stepped through the curtain of water and joined his mare who held her arms wide open and with a lascivious smile on her face. He bounded into her embrace and lavished her with one of his own… and there they held each other, warm, yet wet.

No further words needed to be said as they stared at one another. Her mane had flattened against her head, courtesy of the water, and her ears cutely poked through her flowing ocean of navy blue. As darkness continued to set in and the natural light of the crystals reflected more and more off the walls, her golden eyes became that much more radiant, and sent Fredrick’s heart into a flurry at just how enticing she was.

Her golden eyes were his weakness, injecting the butterflies directly into his stomach even when he didn’t want them. Her predatorial pupils, however, induced a fight-or-flight reflex that pumped adrenaline straight into his body. When these two melded together in the crucible of their aggregate relationship, it introduced a feeling into his core that was unlike any other.

She was a drug to him.

It was a feeling so powerful, that Fredrick felt himself at a loss for words as to what to do in the more intimate moments… he felt he had to let go of rational thought and let Stella do the whisking away.

And every single time he relinquished this implicit control to her, he was always rewarded in ways he could never have imagined.

Stella’s arms wrapped snuggly around his neck, and Fredrick’s arms around her waist, lifting her shirt just enough so he could feel her tummy.

Stella blinked heavily and let a couple drops of water flake off her eyelashes. She leaned in again and, though she did not allow their lips to touch, she had one last thing to say…

…one last thing as Fredrick felt Stella pull him towards the ground and on top of her, letting gravity have its way with both of them.

“I love you, Fredrick…”

“I love you, too, Stella…”

Their lips fused together once again, and as Stella lay back in the comfortable bed of moss and clovers, Fredrick gently lay his body weight atop of her, and embraced her tightly as their lips did all the communicating for them.

Face to face.

Chest to chest.

Heart to heart.

Both were now blissfully unaware of the coruscating, cascading water around them, shielding them from the outside world and containing them in their own little moment in time. The sun finally set, and the moon began its course in the sky above as the rain continued to fall…

…and they were none the wiser.

Love is blooming for this couple! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it