Citrus Blush relishes the warmth all around her, the beds in the royal palace are a new level of comfort. She snuggles into the warmth behind her, then she stops. She is in bed with Tim. What did she do last night? She searches through her memories, the last thing she remembers is bidding good evening to Cayenne before she walked onto the palace grounds. She peeks an eye open. Yes, she’s in the palace, in Tim’s bedroom, with the human himself lying next to her, his body heat a comforting presence for her. She stretches her neck around, and she can see that Tim is completely passed out. Citrus wiggles slowly away from him, finally finding the edge of the bed, she drops onto the floor. Never before has she been so grateful for the thick carpeting here than this morning, as she walks silently into the bathroom. She charges her horn and shuts the door as she flips on the light. She rears up and looks at herself in the mirror.

“I look a fright,” she laughs softly, mindful of the sleeping human. A washcloth is brought out of the cupboard and wetted, then Citrus takes several minutes to clean off the expertly applied makeup from the previous night. Once her face is clean, she turns her attention to the toilet. After her bladder is empty she moves to the bidet. She adjusts the water temperature and washes that area. Upon the water hitting that area she quickly sighs. If they had done anything last night, she would at least have some soreness back there. Soon her marehood is squeaky clean, and she shuts off the water. She trots up to the vanity and rears up to look in the mirror, staring herself for a long moment. “I’m not going to let anypony distract me today,” she whispers fiercely, egging herself on. “If Princess Celestia herself shows up, I’m going to let Tim know how much I want him.” She smiles brightly at herself as her horn lights again, extinguishing the room lights as she opens the door.

A quick and silent trot has her hopping back up onto Tim’s bed. She moves over next to him and sits down. When she had moved away, he had rolled onto his back. All the better for her, and for him. He had removed his shirt apparently and she moves her head closer to inspect his chest. She takes in the spiderweb of scars up and down his chest from the several surgeries he had to go through. Repairing all his vital organs was not an easy task. Surgeons who barely had a clue about his anatomy had been working to save his life, so they weren’t all that elegant when it comes to cutting him open. He was pretty much healed, the scars weren’t irritated and red anymore. She turns her attention to his pajama pants, her horn lights up and he’s completely covered in her aura. He doesn’t react to the soft chiming of her magic, she undoes the tie for the waist of the pants and slides them down and tosses them off the bed.

“That’s it?” she whispers, a little disappointed after looking at his manhood. The testicles are a decent size, but the penis itself, not so much. She leans forward to inspect it further, her nose flares, inhaling his scent. His own musky smell causes her insides to heat up, and she can feel herself wink as her tail thrashes back and forth. She snorts softly as she enjoys how wonderful he smells. He groans softly in his sleep and bucks his hips a little bit. Her eyes widen as his penis twitches before her eyes. In a matter of seconds it’s swelled to nearly double its previous size. She narrows her eyes, looking up at his sleeping face, his brow is furrowed like he’s having a bad dream. She knows one cure for bad dreams. She looks down at it again, even if it stays this small, she still wants him. She wants him inside her. She nuzzles it a bit, it still remains fairly flaccid, not really good for sex. And as she watches, it subsides and retracts back to its previous size.

His scent is driving her crazy though, feeling herself wink long and hard. She’s all ready to go, she can even feel her wetness starting to leak. The feeling is almost as bad as when she was in heat. Well, there’s one way to get a stallion ready to go. She nuzzles the tip gently, and is rewarded with a guttural groan from him. That elicits a smile from her, he’ll like what she’s about to do next. Her tongue flicks out, running around the tip. His reaction is strong as the penis starts to expand once again. She draws him into her mouth, using her tongue to feel the member as it continues to expand. And expand it does, as she continues to use her tongue, his penis not only gains length, but girth. A pony stallion’s penis expands as well, but it looks a lot different. The mushroom shaped head is something she’s finding she likes as she runs her tongue around the edge of that head. He’s groaning even more now, getting a grin from her. He likes it. She shifts a bit as he stops growing, though he certainly likes what she’s been doing with her tongue, she decides to take a different course. She pulls out to where just the head is in her mouth and then she sucks strongly on it, while at the same time flicking her tongue on the very tip. She watches his face as his eyes fly open as he nearly screams.

She lets him go with a soft pop. “Good morning, Tim,” she greets him with a sultry giggle.

His eyes flick back and forth, he seems to be trying to piece himself together for a moment, then he focuses on her. “Citrus!” he shouts and then looks down, “Where are my pants?”

She giggles and points at the floor, “I found a better place for them.”

He furrows his brow, “Ya know, you could have asked.”

“Would you have said no if I had asked?”

“Well,” he thinks for a moment, “No. I wouldn’t have.”

She moves over and kisses him on the lips, just a soft peck, “So, what’s the problem?” She kisses him again, her tongue invading his mouth, enjoying his taste as her nostrils flare, inhaling his scent, which nearly makes her knees give out. His arms wrap reflexively around her as he responds to her kiss, their tongues battle for a long time, though she makes sure to rub hers along his small, sharp teeth. While kissing him, she moves to straddle him, her forelegs over his shoulders, her rear legs over his middle, and her tail continuously thrashing on his now erect manhood. She nearly gasps as his hands touch her sides, she moans into his mouth as he runs both hands up and down the soft fur. Her tail flags when both hands reach her flanks, tracing her cutie mark for a long moment, then he moves his hands back up, towards her barrel. Finally he brings them to her cheeks, she pulls back, panting.

“So, you like me waking you up?”

He nods, “Best way to wake up.”

She looks over her shoulder at his manhood. It continues to twitch and throb and she doesn’t want to wait any longer. “Well, it’s about to get better,” she grins as her horn lights. She leans forward to lay on him as she scoots back, her winking marehood moving closer to his manhood, her magic gently grasps him, lining him up with her. She wants to see his reaction as he enters her. She scoots back a little more, and she can feel his tip tease her entrance, part of her wants to just slam back and have him inside her fully, but she remains in control. She wants him to feel the lust that she is feeling. She adjusts her rear legs to get better positioned on the bed, lifting her rear a little bit so she can move easier. She adjusts his tip up just a little bit and moves back. She gasps as she feels the tip move into her. His eyes roll back as she continues taking him into her. His hands move up and down her body, caressing her cutie marks, then running along her ears. She smiles as she puts one forehoof, then the other on his chest as she finally has all of him inside of her.

She’s already panting, winking over and over, and her clit is grinding against his pubic bone. She’s already close to her peak. She shifts her rear legs to have good purchase as she moves her forelegs a little bit down his chest. Slowly she lifts off of him, which surprises her as her body wants nothing more than to just slam back down onto him. She whines softly as she brings herself to where he nearly comes out of her, then she slowly lowers herself back down, her body screaming in pleasure as he once again fills her. Any doubts about his size not being enough are completely banished as she once again raises herself. It’s almost as though her body wants to betray her, and just keep him inside of her forever, but she’s nearly passing out with the pleasure as she lowers herself onto him again and again. Each time, she gets a little faster, her hips meeting his with a little more force. He starts to groan as she continues, she can feel her peak coming. Faster than she’d ever believed.

“Oh, Tim!” she cries as her orgasm slams into her. She hilts herself once again on his body, her body doing everything it can to milk him as all reason leaves her. She screams her pleasure, just sitting on him, the feel of him filling her making her entire world explode in her mind. Finally the pleasure ebbs a bit and she collapses onto his chest, panting. She looks at him, his eyes are round, he strokes her ears and her head as she continues to pant.

“Well, those were some fireworks,” he chuckles softly.

She smiles as she raises her head a bit, shifts, then she notices something. Shifting again, she looks at Tim, “You are still ready?”

He smiles and runs a hand along her cheek, “Yeah.”

She furrows her brow, “You didn’t cum yet, did you?”

He shakes his head slowly, getting a growl from her, “Well, I’m going to have to fix that.” Only to squeak as his arms lift her off of him. Tim rolls and places her on her back, he grins as he moves down her body.

“Oh no, I don’t want to cum just yet, Citrus. I want to make you scream like that again, those fireworks were awesome.”

Her eyes widen as he foregoes the foreplay that he had done yesterday. Once again, he brings a nipple into his mouth, she whinnies as he sucks on it. He repeats with the other, getting more equine sounds to escape her lips. The dark bedroom lights up with several different colors as her horn brightens the room once again. Her eyes close as she focuses on what he’s doing to her. Her tail thrashes under her as he continues to pay very close attention to her teats. Citrus never knew how sensitive those could be. She gasps as he moves a little further south, his tongue moving her lips aside as she continues to wink almost continuously. Tim traps her clit with his lips, and he does the same thing to her that she had done to him earlier, sucking strongly on it while using the tip of his tongue to flick on the very tip of it. Just a few moments of that has her screaming again. He moves again, his arms moving from supporting his weight, to spreading out at her sides, those beautiful fingers moving along her barrel, every nerve ending causes fireworks in her head as he buries his face in her marehood. His strong tongue may not be very long, but long and slow laps up and down her lips has her entire body trembling. The room lights up again as she peaks once again.

She pants as he continues to use his tongue on her, finally she’s able to concentrate enough to use her magic, she brings his head away from her marehood. “Tim, I want you, right now. I want you inside me,” she moans. He smiles as he comes forward, trapping her rear legs against his chest.

“Your wish is my command,” he replies with a guttural growl. She watches as he uses a hand to direct his cock into her and screams her pleasure as he once again enters her. He starts to move with a purpose, his hips working as he pistons into her. She watches his face, seeing his chin is dripping wet from her juices, the occasional droplet landing on her chest only turns her on more. All reason once again leaves her as another orgasm explodes inside her. She just enjoys the feeling as the pleasure just rolls around inside her entire body, leaving everything tingling. As the orgasm abates, she notices that his pace has changed, and he’s gotten even bigger inside her. He’s about to cum himself, he shifts a bit and her eyes go wide. He’s planning on pulling out!

“I don’t think so!” she shouts, spreading her legs and getting them around his hips as best she can, she pulls him closer into her. “Don’t you dare stop!” she demands as he starts to shudder. She closes her eyes and can feel his cock as it spasms inside her, her inner walls trying to milk him as he continues to cum. Every spurt, every twitch of him inside her intensifies her feelings, and that pushes her over the edge once again, this time, her orgasm is quieter, but no less intense. Electric tingles of pleasure race around her entire body, centering on her groin, and slamming right into her head. She closes her eyes and just enjoys the feeling as his body finally relaxes. She finally relaxes her grip on him and he pulls out, shifting his weight to the side so he can collapse next to her, she wraps all four legs around him and brings him close.

“Citrus...” he pants. “That … was … amazing.”

She smiles in a blissful daze. “Yes, you were.”

She licks his chin, tasting herself. She frowns as she asks, “You like the way I taste?”

He nods, “You taste different than anything I’ve ever tasted before, and you are amazing.”

She raises an eyebrow, there’s a bit of a tang to her taste she didn’t expect, but it’s not entirely unpleasant. She reaches up and kisses him, their tongues intertwine for a long moment, but they have to break away sooner than they’d like. She sucks in air greedily, knowing he’s doing the same.

“Citrus,” he starts softly, as his breathing starts to slow down towards normal.

She looks up at him, he smiles. “I was thinking about you all day yesterday,” he continues, to which she smiles back. “Well, you know how you told me you were falling in love with me?”

She nods, “Yes, I remember.”

“You were passed out last night, but I wanted you to be awake when I told you again. Told you that I’m falling in love with you too,” he whispers.

She reaches forward and kisses him, running her tongue along his teeth and wrestling with his own tongue.

Finally she breaks away, still panting softly, “Tim, we need to see Princess Celestia.”

His face falls, “Why? She won’t let me out.” He grumbles.

This gets a grin from Citrus, “Movers are at my place right now, I got a new place to live yesterday.”

He shakes his head as though to clear it, “Movers? You got a place yesterday? You’re moving in today?”

She nods, but he only furrows his brow further, “But why?”

“So you can move in with us, silly.”

Tim’s eyes cloud with confusion, she moves up and nuzzles him, “I talked to Cayenne, she agrees with me, so we found a bigger place to live. And I’m going to ask Princess Celestia to let you move in with us.”

“Us?”

“Cayenne and me, duh.” She clops her forehooves together, “Our own little herd.”

His eyes widen, “Cayenne.” He gulps, “Is she going to expect…” He runs his hand along the sheets of the bed.

“Sex?” She asks, fluttering her eyes? “Well, that is only part of being in a herd. The biggest part is the family, the mares protect and support the stallions.”

“Stallions? As in more than one?”

She cocks her head to the side, “Well, Cayenne has a stallion friend, we’ve already talked about it, and she’s going to court him into the herd.”

Tim stops for a moment, thinking furiously, “And you’ve told Cayenne that I’m not a pony? That I’m…”

“Human?” She chirps, then she giggles, “Of course I’ve described you to her. She said you sound interesting, she said she’ll make the decision for sex after she’s met you.” She leans close and her voice lowers, “Though after this morning, I’m pretty sure she’ll be jumping you pretty quickly.”

His eyes go wide and he just looks at her, she leans forward and bites his ear, hard. Getting a wince from him, she runs her tongue along his ear then whispers softly, “You were amazing, and I guarantee she’ll like you when I tell her. She’s told me enough about the stallions she’s been with. It’ll be nice to have my own story for her.”

“Story?” He yelps.

She cocks her head to the side, smiling softly, “Oh, stallions in your world kiss but don’t tell?” She leans forward and kisses his check, “No worries, I’m not going to tell everypony I meet. Just Cayenne.”

She stands up and moves to the edge of the bed, her tail swishing from side to side, she looks back at him, her tail flicking to the side and he gets an eyeful of her marehood, which winks at him before she jumps off the bed, she giggles, “I need a shower, want to join me?”

He gulps as he stands up, he concentrates on putting one foot in front of the other, the light in the bathroom snaps on as he gets close. He watches her as she uses her magic to turn on the shower as she starts to work on the bow, the velvet of which has been crushed by sleeping, and the morning’s activities. Her magic picks at it and she huffs, “Did you like it?”

He sits down on the floor and starts working to unbraid her tail, “The sex? Or the bow?”

She looks down, “Well, to be honest. Both.”

He gets the bottom half of her tail unbraided, his fingers moving up through the soft hair, “Well, first off, the bow looks completely adorable on you. I really like it.”

She looks up at him, “Really? So, you want me to wear one more often?”

He nods, “Anytime you want to wear it.” That gets a grin from her, and he continues, “When it comes to the sex…” He trails off.

She lowers her head to the side, “I know, I’m not all that experienced, I just did what felt good.”

That gets him to shake his head, “NO!” he exclaims, “Not that at all. It was possibly one of the best times I’ve ever had.” His voice softens, “It’s been a long time for me, and I had resigned myself to never again. It was a shock to find out you were interested in me.” That gets her ears to prick forward as he finishes unbraiding her tail, he pulls on the ribbon, drawing it out, “Then to wake up with you like that. And all you wanted to do was make love to me.” His face reddens, “I’m flattered about that, and very thankful. That will be a time I will remember for the rest of my life.”

She smiles, “Well, Cayenne is a couple of years older than I am, and she’s had some more experience. I hope your first time with her will be just as wonderful.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” He asks softly.

She looks at him questioningly, “Serious?”

“About other mares in our relationship.”

She nods, “Well, we’ve got Cayenne to start with. And once we get all settled down, we can look for other mares as well.”

He sighs, “Citrus, I don’t know about this. I’m falling in love with you, that I know for certain. But I’ve never even met her. Even though you’ve told me a lot about her during the time I’ve known you. How would I know if her and I are compatible? If we would enjoy each other’s company, much less any sex, gah, this is just all so confusing.”

Her face scrunches up, her ears flicking back and forth, then she smiles brightly, “Oh, because human are monogamous, right? Just one male and one female?”

“Well, yeah. This whole thing is totally new to me.”

He’s interrupted by a soft nuzzle on his neck, she sits down and brings up a hoof to his cheek, “Tim, do you trust me?” She looks deeply into his eyes, he nods slowly, “Then don’t stress about it. If you find you don’t prefer Cayenne, you aren’t going to be booted out of the herd. You are safe with us.”

“But won’t she be upset?”

She looks down, “She might be upset, Tim. But that means we’ll have to court that stallion she was talking about into the herd that much faster. Though you just might find you like her more than me.”

He snorts, “Fat chance of that.”

She giggles, “You are sweet.” Her horn lights and the glass door to the shower is opened, “Well, let’s get all cleaned up to see the Princess.” She moves into the steaming shower and is immediately drenched. He follows and the water plays over his body as well. He takes his time to wash her, despite her insistence that she can wash herself. He then sits down, letting the water from the multiple shower heads play over both of them as he slowly works the suds into her fur. As he’s washing the shampoo out of her mane she turns and looks at him with a smile, “I kinda like this,” she sighs contently.

He grunts in agreement as her horn lights and the bottle of shampoo moves over to him, she giggles, “My turn.” Her magic squirts out some of the viscous liquid and she works it into his hair, along with expanding her magical field all over his body. He squirms as she finds his few ticklish spots, but she doesn’t exploit them. Her intent seems to be simply to get both of them clean. Soon she’s directing him to stand underneath the big shower head in the middle, letting the water play over his body. He closes his eyes and enjoys the hot water as the suds wash down the drain. He almost wants to whine when her magic chimes and the water turns off. He closes his eyes and braces his body, he knows what’s coming next. In moments the shower stall has become a wind storm, warm air rushes all around, and in a matter of a few minutes, he’s dry. Citrus taps the door and it opens and she trots to the mirror. She tsks softly as she works a brush through her slightly damp mane.

“How are you still wet?”

The brush stops, still held in her magical aura, “I’ve got a little more fur than you do, Tim. It takes a bit more to dry, though if I stayed in the dryer long enough, my mane and tail would become a big puffball, and that’s not easy to fix.”

He turns and looks back at the shower stall, the first time that had happened, it had nearly blown him over, “How do they do that? I’ve never seen any blowers or motors or anything like that?”

“Magic. What else could it be?” She chirps as she finishes with her mane, she turns and picks up the bow, “Well, I won’t be wearing this one. I’ll have to get some more of these, since you like them so much.” She places the bow on the counter and turns to look as Tim heads into the closet, she giggles, “Well, remember, the new apartment isn’t going to be as fancy as the royal palace, but it’s nice.”

He pulls on his boxers and finds a pair of dress slacks. Some pony had been brought in when he had asked for some clothes although he couldn’t remember her name. The white pony had taken his measurements and in a matter of a couple of weeks, he had a closet full of clothes, everything from casual, everyday wear, to clothing fit for a ball. And nearly everything had some kind of gemstone set into the collar, or on the shoulder. Everything tasteful, never ostentatious or gaudy, but always there. The slacks he chose are midnight black, while the bright white shirt he picks out has a single diamond sewn at the tip of each collar, the fold of the clothing fits him perfectly. He pulls on the sky blue jacket that came with the outfit, with more diamonds on the cuffs. Precious gemstones must be easy to come by here in Equestria. At home, this outfit would be tens of thousands of dollars. And that is without counting the custom work by a very skilled pony. He had asked one of the guards how much was spent on that, and the guard had just laughed. He pulls on the lapels of the jacket to set it on his shoulders just right, and he turns around to see Citrus just sitting there, looking at him.

“By Celestia, you are beautiful in that.” she compliments him. She stands up and walks over to him, somehow swaying her hips as she walks, “I’ll never understand why you like to wear clothing, but that just works perfectly for you.” She nuzzles his hip, “Let’s go and see the Princess.”

He sighs, the Princess was quite insistent that he stay in the palace a mere two days before. But he follows Citrus as she high steps it towards the door, her confidence inspiring him as she heads towards the door of his suite. Her magic easily opens the door and he follows her into the corridor. Two guards he knows walk by, both are light gray unicorns. The stallions offer a friendly smile to Citrus and one of them comes over and hip checks Tim.

“Sounds like you two had quite a morning,” he snickers.

“Magnet!” Tim nearly shouts, “You were listening?” His face turning red.

Magnet Bolt stops and sits on his haunches, “Tim, Star Bright and I patrol this corridor. The walls are thick, but they aren’t completely soundproof.”

Citrus turns around, her tail flagging and her ears folded back, “And I will thank you to keep that kind of information to yourselves.” She snarls, her face red.

Magnet shakes his head and pulls off his chanfron, as he does so, his coat color fades from dark gray to a bluish gray, and his white mane and tail are suddenly red. “Miss Blush, we work in the palace, we know how to keep our muzzles shut,” he answers, his own face heating. He glances up at Tim, then back at Citrus, “To be honest, we really like the big guy here.” He smiles at her confusion, “He doesn’t treat us like mobile furniture like some of the nobles do around here, he’s never been anything but nice. Even during his recovery, when he was hobbling around in pain, he was always nice to both us, and his nurses.”

Citrus nods, “I know he was.”

He continues, “We were all hoping he’d find love. And you’ve been coming around a lot, pretty much since he’s moved in. But we didn’t know if you were just being a friend, or something more.” He glances at his partner, “We’d actually been talking to a few of the guardsmares. One or two expressed mild interest, but nothing really serious.”

Citrus’ eyes have gone wide, she glances up at Tim, then back at the guards, “Well.” She clears her throat and shakes her head to clear it, “I’m glad to hear you hold him in such high regard.”

He smiles as his helm is replaced, his colors reverting back to the normal gray of the unicorn guard, “Don’t mention it.” He and his partner turn to walk down the corridor, continuing their rounds.

Citrus takes up the pace once again, with Tim falling in behind her, he knows the inside of the Canterlot palace almost as well as any guard. Citrus gestures for him to move up next to her, “Why are you so nice to the guards?” she asks softly.

He’s momentarily taken aback by the question, but after a moment he answers, “Well, they’ve never been anything but nice and professional with me. There were a few times they were called in to help the doctors when I got moved to the palace. And they’ve always been exceedingly polite.”

She nods, “That’s what I thought. I knew there were plenty of reasons I was falling in love with you.”

She giggles at the look he gives her, “Tim, you don’t care about status, you just treat ponies based on how you are treated.” She looks forward, “You’ve got a big hoof up on many of the nobles around here. He wasn’t kidding, the guards are nothing as far as many of the nobles act. It’s kinda sad, really,” she pauses for a moment. “I probably don’t talk to them enough when I’m here.” She looks up at him and giggles, “Well, of course, it’s because I’m focused on you when I come here. I’m coming here for you, not much else matters.”

Tim finds his cheeks heating, “You are sweet.” He stops as they get to a set of doors. Two pegasi guards are standing there.

Citrus steps forward, “Citrus Blush and Tim Malone to see Princess Celestia.”

“They don’t need to see Auntie.” Comes a familiar, sneering voice.

Tim turns and looks at the white unicorn with the bright blonde mane, “Blueblood.” Tim snarls.

Citrus moves between Tim and the larger stallion, he watches her body language. She’s looks nearly identical to how she did earlier when she was warning the guard, with her ears flattened back, and her tail flagging back. She paws the ground as she keeps moving to stay between Tim and Blueblood. Tim reaches forward and places a hand on her withers, “You just mind your own business. I have every right to talk to Princess Celestia as anypony here.”

"You are not a Citizen of Equestria, nor a member of any 'Recognized' kingdom, and as such, your legal status is tenuous at best. The rights you have are what my aunt gives you and those can be stripped quickly with a mere word, commoner." He prances up towards Tim, completely ignoring the enraged mare.

That gets a low growl from Citrus and Tim entwines his fingers in the base of her mane, she shudders a bit but she looks back at him, he smiles down at her, then he looks at the stallion, “Princess Celestia said that I could talk to her anytime I wanted to. Even if she was seeing anyone else, I’ve actually been escorted into her quarters more than once. So you can take your hot air and piss off.”

Blueblood prances forward, “I am not named Prince. Prince is my title. As much as you forget I am actual royalty."

Tim crouches to get the same height as Blueblood, “I’m sorry, your highness, but I will be seeing the Princess.”

Blueblood tosses his long mane, “Well, you’ll be waiting a while, she’s currently talking to the Griffonstone representative.” He starts to walk away, then he stops and looks over his shoulder, “Ambassador Griswald is in the middle of negotiations. I don’t think they’ll like being interrupted. So you’ll just have to wait out here.” With a flick of his tail, he turns the corner.

Tim turns to Citrus, “Follow me!” he tells softly as he turns on his heel and jogs off, “I’ve got an idea.”

Citrus takes off to follow him, keeping up with a moderate trot, “Where are we going?”

He laughs softly as he turns a corner and starts up a narrow flight of stairs, “I’ve had free time, so I’ve explored the castle. Let’s go watch.”

“But Prince…” She starts only to trail off at a look from him.

“Do you care what that stuffy ass says?”

She continues trotting up the stairs as she thinks, “Well he’s never been nice to you.”

He nods, “Exactly, come on!” At the top of the stairs, he heads down a narrow corridor. He makes a turn and then descends a level of stairs. They end up at a plain wooden door, he turns to Citrus, “I’ve sat here a few times before, and Princess Celestia saw me sitting there, she smiled at me. So I’m pretty sure it’s okay to be up here. This is a little viewing area, if you don’t know where it is, it’s hard to see from the floor of the throne room.”

Citrus’ eyes go wide, “We are going to spy on the princess?”

He shakes his head, “No, just watch. And wait until they are done. Princess Celestia will likely know we are there, and she can let us know to leave if she wants. I’ve watched her talking to the Canterlot nobles quite a bit up here. It’s perfectly okay.”

She smiles tremulously, “Okay, Tim.” He reaches out and opens the door, holding it wide for Citrus to slip through, then he gets into the little vestibule himself. Then he stops. It was already occupied. A griffon is sitting there, her eyes wide.

“Um, hi.” she greets in surprise.

Tim looks down at Citrus, then up at the griffon, “Hi.”

She steps off the chair and comes up to Tim, she’s a little shorter than Citrus. This is the first time he’s met a griffon, Her head and body are pure white, she has black claws and dark gray wings are folded at her sides, the tip of her long feline tail is the same gray as her wings, she rears up and puts her claws on her hips, “You really shouldn’t be up here.” She warns, quietly.

Tim peeks over the edge, looking out into the main throne room, A griffon is down there as well, quite a bit older than the one up there with him. He’s sitting at a table with Princess Celestia. Tim’s heart catches in his throat as the Princess glances up and catches his eye, though he’s gratified when she winks at him with a sly smile. He turns back to the griffon, “I don’t think you are supposed to be here either.”

She giggles, “Well, that’s what my dad would say. Though it’s kinda boring to watch them have tea together. She extends a claw, “Galileah.”

He reaches his hand out and grasps her claw, “Tim, that’s Citrus,” he says as he gestures towards Citrus.

She moves back over to the small line of chairs, “Well, if you are going to stay, then settle in.”

Citrus takes the seat on the end, Galileah on the other end, and Tim ends up in the middle, Galileah leans over, “So.” She asks softly, “What are you? I’ve never seen anything like you.”

“I’m human.”

She frowns, which is amazing to Tim to see a creature with a beak actually frowning, “Human.” She seems to be tasting the word, “Where in the world are your people? Are you an ambassador?”

Tim glances at Citrus, then back at the griffon, “I’m not from your world.” He sighs, “I really don’t know how I got here, the ponies said I was severely injured when I came here.” He puts an arm around Citrus, “And Citrus Blush here has been instrumental in my recovery.”

Galileah cocks her head to the side, “Not from our world?” She furrows her brow, “And you don’t know how you got here.” She smiles, something else that twists Tim’s mind, “That’s so cool.” She glances over the parapet, “Oops, Daddy is about done with his meeting with the pony princess. I’ll catch ya later.” Faster than a thought, the griffon slips through the door.

“Well, hello Tim,” comes Celestia’s voice from the main throne room. Tim glances over and smiles at Princess Celestia. He makes to move to the door, and both of them are gently grasped in the Princess’ magic. They float gently down and land before the Solar Princess, Tim bows, as does Citrus. Princess Celestia looks at them both, “So, what brings you to me this beautiful day?”

Tim opens his mouth, but Citrus beats him to it, “Princess Celestia, I brought Tim here.”

The white alicorn narrows her eyes a bit, looking at Citrus. Citrus, for her part, starts to wilt under the scrutiny, but she soon stands tall, “Tim’s been in the castle ever since he got out of the hospital. He’s a prisoner. I want him set free.”

Princess Celestia raises an eyebrow, “I would hardly call him a prisoner. He cannot leave not because he’s a danger, but because there are enough unknowns in Equestria that he would not be safe.”

Citrus moves over and brushes up against Tim, “Princess, I want to take responsibility for him, I want to be the mare to watch him, to protect him.”

Princess Celestia looks at Tim, “Would you go with her? Let her guide you, let her be the leader, know that her love for you is true?”

Tim gulps a bit, then he looks down at Citrus, who is looking up at him, “Princess, I’d go wherever Citrus leads.”

“Then I now pronounce you mare and colt.” Princess Celestia says firmly.

Tim’s eyes bulge, and judging by the strangled sounds coming from Citrus, she’s just as shocked. Princess Celestia waits several seconds as both of them try to stammer out a response.

“Now sister, that wasn’t nice,” Princess Luna chimes in. The midnight blue alicorn comes up and sits next to the solar alicorn. She looks at Tim, “You’ll have to forgive her, sometimes she thinks she’s clever.”

The loud exhale from Ctirus announces she’s breathing again, Tim reaches over and places a hand on her back, noticing her heaving sides.

Celestia giggles, “Oh, Luna, you spoil my fun.” She moves closer to Tim, “Yes, I was joking.” She looks over at Citrus, “And considering who your sire is, an official marriage might be a good idea in the future.”

“We haven’t even figured out how big we want our herd.” Citrus says softly. Then her ears fall, “I’m going to have to tell my parents about me starting a herd, aren’t I?”

Celestia nods, “Tim, you may go with Citrus, with my blessing. Just remember that you may visit here any time. Understood?”

Tim nods, “Thank you, Princess.” Both of them bow as Princess Celestia walks off towards her office, her sister with her.

Citrus turns to Tim, clopping her hooves together. “Let’s go, we can send somepony for your clothes and stuff later.” She turns and gallops for the door, her magic yanking it open as she rushes through. Tim hot on her heels.

Tim gasps as they rush through the castle, “Citrus, where are we going?”

She looks over her shoulder, “Your new home.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 5. Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 4 Minutes