Author's Notes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Zabj_NkXgYP_mJz2cbXdyvYjiHHuR0QQlJ5Mirmmr0/edit

On the third day of the first week I spent back in the forest, I stumbled upon a cave. I had found plenty of caves before, with all manner of nasty critters living in them, but this was the first cave that had loads and loads of jewels in it.

I knew immediately that I was probably about to die. A cave like this means a dragon. That many jewels meant a large dragon. I started tiptoeing out the cave, trying to make as little sound as I could.

To no avail, of course; I wouldn’t be so lucky. I saw a massive green head poke out of a pile of jewels, and a large serpentine neck followed. “Who enters my cave?” the dragon rumbled, opening its huge orange eyes and staring directly at me.

I closed my eyes for all of a second to say a silent prayer. I opened them and answered, hoping my voice wouldn’t break, “A weary traveler, seeking shelter for a short time. I see there is no shelter to be had here, and will leave.”

“Not so fast, creature,” the dragon answered, snaking its head around me and blocking my escape. Massive spines larger than my body lined his neck. “What are you? I have not seen your like before.”

“I am a treant. Part tree, part man. I would not give you much satisfaction to eat, I believe.”

“I am not interested in eating a peaceful guest, treant. If you aren’t here to steal, like my last guest, I would welcome the company. The last dragon to visit stole from me, and had the temerity to be angry at me for pointing out his transgressions. What’s worse, he escaped.”

“I have no desire for your riches, dragon. I have no use for jewels, I who get my sustenance from the sun.”

“And yet you have the lingering smell of gold about you…” He breathed in deep, sighing hot steam at me. “Much, much gold.” His snake-like tongue flicked out, slapping the air right in front of me and drawing back in with a nasty schlicking sound. I flinched.

“I have worked for rich ponies, in the past. Part of my job was protecting money.”

“You’ve lived among ponies!” Before I could do anything, his hand reached out and grabbed me. At that point I figured it was the end for me; it was day, so Luna wasn’t watching and Twilight or Celestia probably weren’t watching or either would have pulled me out by now.

Instead of crushing me or eating me, though, he set me down on a high pillar. “Much better,” he rumbled, bringing his head back up to eye level. “I grow weary of holding my head low to talk with the mortal races. How does Princess Luna fare?” he asked. “I remember long discussions with her, when the night fell and her subjects grew weary.”

Holy fuck, this dude’s old. “She is doing well,” I answered. “There are more of her subjects willing to stay awake during night, now. She hardly wants for friends.”

“I’ve noticed! I haven’t seen her in over a thousand years. I heard whispers from the night that she had been harmed, but I could find nothing definite out here in the wild. I rarely visit pony lands these days, since so many of them fear our kind now. I worried for her safety, but I knew if I came to help her, I might be attacked.”

“The situation with Princess Luna was… complicated. Her mind was subverted by something, and she basically turned evil due to jealousy of her sister. There was a struggle between titans, and Celestia came out on top. Luna was banished to the moon for a thousand years, until she could be freed and cured.”

“I see,” he hissed, narrowing his eyes. “And what of the creature that subverted her mind?”

“I don’t know. I might be able to live for thousands of years, but I’ve only just started. I wasn’t around while all this was happening.”

“And you never thought to ask?”

“You are a dragon, so this might not seem like a reasonable excuse, but… The princesses are incredibly powerful. Something like this is a bit of a touchy subject. I’m somewhat afraid to ask.”

He nodded, “I suppose you should be, at that. Truth be told, I would be leery of asking as well. The princess and I were friends, long ago, but she is young and might be angered at my asking. I would not want to risk hurting her.” Luna, young? Just how old is this guy?

“You aren’t worried of your own safety? She may be young, but she is powerful.”

“It takes more than magic to hurt something like me, treant. She could be annoying, of course, but it is better to just not risk it. I would not mind speaking with her again, but not on this. You have worked with ponies in the past, you said. Do you know if the princesses receive visitors still?”

“They do. And if they’re busy, I’m sure they could make time to see you. Though Princess Luna is usually only awake during the night.”

“What are a few hours, to one that has watched eons pass? I may call upon her, one of these years. Back in my day, more respect was given toward us ancients, but I suppose a thousand years is still a long time for one as young as she and her sister. I might have been forgotten over the years, with their turmoil.” He suddenly sniffed at me again. “I smell other things on you as well. Dragons. Cats. And,” his eyes opening a bit wider, “naga! I have not spoken with one of them in… I can’t even remember how long. Do you know if the great city Nagapolis still lies beneath the center of this land?”

“Big sapphire room?” I asked. He nodded eagerly. “There are still naga there, but the city was mostly abandoned when the caverns partially dried up. I’m told it is but a skeleton of what it once was. It is a shame what happened to them, but all things pass.”

“And we remain,” he answered, filling the cave with steam from a massive sigh. “I’ve seen wonders big and small. I knew Discord when he reigned, and knew his successors in Celestia and Luna. I’ve known mighty champions of almost all races, living and extinct. I’ve known every comfort and every hardship. I’ve seen many things come to pass, and I know that someday I, too, will pass. But enough talk of that. Tell me happy news, treant. What goes on in the world outside this cave?”

“Feel free to call me Navarone, friend.”

“Friend…” he slowly whispered out, as though tasting the word. Apparently he found it to his liking, for he slowly nodded. “It has been a long time since I heard that word. My name is… Is…” I heard a rumbling in his chest, followed by a deep chuckle. “I don’t even remember anymore. I suppose Princess Luna might know. You may call me Friend, until I remember. Tell me of your journeys, Navarone.”

I did just that. I didn’t tell him everything, of course, but I did tell him plenty. The telling took an hour or two, long enough for the sun to sink rather low in the sky. When I finished, he nodded, saying, “Things are getting interesting again. I might have to seek out some other dragons; I suppose I am probably one of the oldest of us, anymore. I have been away from things for so long… Long enough for the capital of Equestria to move. Long enough for a princess to be banished and reconciled without me even noticing. Long enough for the young to forget the reverence for the old. Too long.” He stretched his massive wings. “You say you know both the princesses.” I nodded. He looked at the shadows at the front of his cave entrance for a second and turned back to me. “What say you to reintroducing us?”

“Right now?” I asked, somewhat incredulously.

“Yes, Navarone.”

“I think you can fly a little bit faster than me, so you’ll have to slow down for me to keep up. But sure, I suppose I can do that.”

“You are not heavy, Navarone. You said you don’t like being handled, but I believe I can get us to this Canterlot in a short time, as long as you can tell me where it is.”

“I’ll need to go up to get my bearings, first, but I will consent to being held for a short time.”

He nodded, and bent down to a pile of jewels. He took a monster-sized bite right out of it, and chewed a bit before swallowing. “Let us depart this cave of mine, then.” He had to get down on his stomach to be able to get out, but he made it. I jumped down from my perch and followed him out, flying. When I was clear of the entrance, he moved a massive stone in front of it. “Avert your gaze, Navarone,” he warned, before blasting the stone with a massive gout of flame, clearly marking it. “I have learned my lesson,” he explained. “There are a few thieves out here, even in this relatively desolate forest. Go and find this city. I will be behind you.”

“You will probably scare them, Friend,” I told him.

“It truly has been a long time. They will get over their fear.”

I flew high into the air, until I could see Ponyville. Way in the distance, I could see the spires of Canterlot rising above the land. I looked down for Friend, to signal him up, to find he was already above me. In one thrust of his wings, he had soared higher than I was able to get in half a minute. I looked up and pointed off to Canterlot, to make sure he knew the way, and then flew into his talons.

You know, I never thought I would write that… We made it in five minutes.

And I was right: The ponies in Canterlot were definitely terrified. As soon as we got over the castle, Friend let me go. I led the way to the main entrance of the palace. He was barely able to fit in front of the entrance. When he landed, it felt like the entire castle shook on its foundations. As soon as we touched down, guards came sprinting up, terror visible in their eyes.

I waved them down from doing anything foolish. “Guards, this is an old friend of Princess Luna. Is she awake yet?”

“I am, Navarone,” Princess Luna answered, stepping out of the palace with Celestia in tow. “You caused quite a…” Her eyes widened farther than I had seen them do in a while. “Reginald!” She ran up to the dragon. Celestia watched with a small smile.

Reginald chuckled, letting out a bit more steam. “Reginald! That was it! There’s my name for you, Navarone.” Luna finally reached him, and was looking up at him with a look of wonder. “Hello again, my friend. It has been a little while since last we spoke, I believe.”

The guards were standing down, and looking to Celestia for instructions. “There is no emergency here,” she said to their questioning gazes. “Go and calm the ponies of Canterlot. I’m sure they have questions. Just tell them a friend has arrived.” They bowed and went to do as she commanded. “Sir Navarone, let’s go for a little walk.”

We left Luna and Reginald there, and walked to a massive labyrinth near the palace. “You always find a way to surprise us, Nav,” she opened with. “But this…” She shook her head. “It was foolish of you to bring him here, but it was also perfect timing.” Suddenly, a message burst into existence in front of her. She gave off a longsuffering sigh. “I could not tell you how many times Twilight has interrupted me with a note during an important meeting or function…” She passed it to me without even opening it. “Anything important?”

I opened it and did a quick read through. “Yada yada, dragon attack, do you need help?”

She sighed again. “I don’t suppose you have a quill and ink on you?”

I tore a strip of paper off what Twilight sent and pricked my arm with a knife. “You want me to just tell her no?”

“Please.” I didn’t think Twilight would be pleased to get a note in blood, but she’d get over it. When I was finished, I held it up. With a small glow of her horn, she sent the note back. I put some pressure on the arm; I figured it would stop bleeding quickly enough. She continued where she had left off, “Seeing this dragon will be good for Luna’s mind, I believe. She grew up with him as a friend. Where did you find him?”

“The forest. He was living in a cave. He didn’t even know about Nightmare Moon or that the capital had moved. He just knew Luna hadn’t visited him in over a thousand years, which to him is apparently a drop in the bucket.”

Celestia snorted at that. “He’s old, but not as old as that. He knew us before… Well, he’s been around for a long time. And he’s been in the forest all this time… It is interesting that he would choose now to come out, but I suppose it was going to happen sometime or another.” She was silent for a while. We walked around the labyrinth—not through it, but around—for a few minutes. “So, how goes the rest of the exploration in the forest?” she finally asked.

“I found an old castle that looked like it had been used recently; there were hoofprints all throughout it. I found what looked like an old factory, and that place… It was spooky. I felt like I was being watched the whole time I was in there. If I had to guess, I’d say it was another ghost. Those exist, apparently.” I shrugged. “As soon as this conversation is over, I’ll probably head back to the forest.”

“If you need to rest, Nav, you know the castle is open to you. I know Luna would be happy to have you here, and I always enjoy our talks as well.”

“I know. But there is still much to explore and much to find. I may have all the time in the world, but the sooner I start, the sooner I’ll be finished. This isn’t a task I’d want to postpone.”

“I understand. I wish we could send somepony in there with you, but… It’s dangerous enough for you to go in alone, let alone with somepony not invisible to the animals. Didn’t do you much good with Reginald, though.”

“When I found his cave, I thought I was a goner. I turned to sneak out and almost made it when he stuck his head out of the piles of treasure he had. I suppose I got lucky that he was lonely. When he grabbed me with those talons… Well, I’m here.”

“You are. And not wearing your ring, either. Leave it behind?” she asked with a smile.

“I don’t wear it that much when I’m in the forest. I won’t risk needing to be rescued but being unable to get help.”

“Yes, trust the magic when you need it. But you don’t trust me unless you’re wearing it.”

“Should I, Princess?”

I knew she was going to lie before she said, “Of course, Navarone.” So some ponies can lie. “I don’t know why everypony—and you—seem to think I’m such a villain. Do I truly seem so evil to you?”

“You blackmailed me into killing people. You threatened me with prison if I didn’t guard Blueblood. You aren’t a villain and you aren’t evil, but that doesn’t mean you are good.” She looked somewhat sour when I said that. “If you don’t need me for anything, I think I’ll return to the forest. I might as well try to find the spot I left.”

“You really do need some rest, Nav,” she said. “You seem… jumpy. I think the forest is getting to you. I know you don’t sleep, but please stay the night in the palace. As a favor to me, if nothing else.”

I thought about it for a few seconds. She might be right. That forest, man… It digs into the mind. And what’s a single night?

“Very well, Princess. I’ll freely admit that the forest gets into my mind. I will stay the night here. I have always wanted to walk this labyrinth.”

“You know, one of your friends from Ponyville is staying at the palace. You could spend some time with her, if you think it might help ease your mind.”

“Which one?”

She thought for a minute. “The white one with purple hair,” she finally said. “Rarity, I think it is. So many names in my mind, these days. I pay so little attention to the petty politicking that goes on in Canterlot, and I think this one visits just to be a part of it.”

I grimaced. “Yeah, that sounds like Rarity. The last time I was in Canterlot with her was when I was in prison… Though I do look a bit different now. I think I might pass on seeing her anyway. We don’t always see eye to eye.”

“That’s probably because you’re taller than she is. I really think it would do you good to talk to some ponies that aren’t princesses or guards, Nav. You’re getting strung out.”

“It’s nearing night, and I leave in the morning. Most regular ponies will soon be asleep.”

“You are free to take as much time off as you need, Nav. I understand that the forest is an evil place.”

“I don’t think I need any time off, Princess. I am staying the night here because you asked me to, not because I think I need it.”

“You don’t have to explore the forest if you really don’t want to.”

“And risk missing out on another discovery like that?” I asked, pointing over my shoulder where we left the dragon. “There is no telling what else might be in that place. And it has been interesting, at times, to see what manner of critters are in that place.”

“You are making this very difficult for me, Nav. Do I need to order you to stay out of that forest for a few days?”

I ruffled my wings. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to pretend I didn’t hear that. I will obey your orders in public, but remember that I am not a pony. Until you start threatening me again, I’ll do as you ask if I see a good enough reason to, or it doesn’t involve a serious risk to me.”

“I can do threats,” she said, her voice dropping in a way I wasn’t entirely comfortable with.

“Then you will lose a friend and gain another slave. A considerably more useful slave, but still a slave. I help you because I trust that you won’t ask me to do something I wouldn’t willingly do, or to do something that would put me in needless danger. You start disrupting that balance, I put my ring on and you never see me again.”

She sighed. “Why can’t you see that I just want to help you?”

“I’ve been wanting to try this for a while,” I said, digging something out of my pocket. I pulled out my old keychain, with the magic key attached. I envisioned Celestia’s mind as a locked box of secrets. “Are you trying to help me?”

Her eyes sort of… shut down. “I am trying to do the best for Equestria. Helping you right now furthers my primary goal.” While she was out of it, I slipped the ring on my finger. She blinked. “What did you do?” She did not sound at all amused.

“Abused the hell out of my key,” I answered, putting it back in my pocket. “Not quite what I was expecting, but okay. I’ll stay here for a few days, or until I feel I am not welcome.”

“What. Did. You. Do.” She was staring at me like I had just pinched her bottom.

“I have a key that can open any lock. Your mind is a locked box of secrets.” I shrugged. “I didn’t actually think it would work.”

“Do not do that to me or Luna ever again. And if I ever find out that you are abusing it, I will take that key from you.” She’s just jealous I thought of it and she didn’t.

“There’s a reason I tell lies. I know what the truth can do to people.”

She snorted. “I know you don’t sleep during these seasons, but there’s no reason for you to go carrying those,” with a look to my weapons, “with you in Canterlot. And you need a bath. And I suppose you should wash your clothes, too. You can have a room next to your friend. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.” She must really not know Rarity that well.

She told me where to go and then left to do princess things. Probably torturing guards by ordering them to do pointless things. I went off to take a bath.

I dropped my clothes off at the palace laundromat—you can’t expect people important enough to stay at the palace to do their own laundry—and picked up a towel that was as big as I was. I didn’t have any spare clothes, so I had to do that ahead of time so I would have something to put on when I got back.

All that done, I carried my weapons and the contents of my pockets to my suite, wearing nothing but a giant towel. I dumped everything on the bed I wasn’t planning on using and took a bath.

By the time I was finished with all that mess, it was well and truly night. I got my clothes, strapped on some knife belts, put on the ring and grabbed my key and locked the door behind me.

“Navarone? What are you doing here?” I heard Rarity asking from a few feet away. I looked over and saw her at the door next to mine.

“Did you see the dragon come in?”

“You’re here because of that dreadful monster? I know the guards said the situation was under control, but I didn’t know they had to use your… talents… to do it!”

“Actually, he is here because of me. Reginald—the dragon—is an old friend of Luna’s. And I do mean old. He knew her before she was Nightmare Moon. Hell, he said he knew her before she and Celestia were even in power. I found him in the forest. He left several huge piles of gems to come to Canterlot to see her.”

Her eyes glowed a bit at that. “Huge piles of g—No! Not this time, Rarity… You’ve got things to do…” I let her have her moment. After a second, she continued, “How long are you going to be in Canterlot?”

“A few days. Celestia asked me to take a break from the forest.”

She got a thoughtful look on her face. “If you’re going to be here that long… Do you mind helping a friend in need?”

“Depends. What does this friend of mine need?”

“Well… You know how you’re a knight and all? The first Lunar knight in such a long time…” At my raised eyebrow, she continued, “And you’ve been ignoring so many invitations. Ever since you offered to take me to some events, I’ve been… Er, borrowing the invites you get.” I had wondered why I wasn’t getting any more of them. I suppose she just asked Derpy to deliver them to her instead. She blushed a bit at this next part. “I’ve been attending a few of the events you get invited to, when you get nameless tickets.”

I shrugged. “At least they aren’t going to waste.”

She sighed. “That makes me feel a bit better. I was thinking you might be angry!” Why would I be mad? “Since you’re here… I was just wondering if that offer to take me to a few of the more… Well, prestigious events still stands.” She gave me one of her seductive looks that did nothing for me. The smile accompanying it almost made me burst out laughing.

I opened my mouth to tell her hell no, but remembered what Celestia told me about spending time with regular ponies. I almost said no anyway, just to spite them both. After a second, I answered, “If I am not needed for anything else, I suppose I could. If we end up in prison again, though, I am done helping you. And I won’t give you your last request again, either.”

I saw her mouth last request with a confused look on her face, before she shook her head until a smile reappeared. “You can’t know how much this means to me, Nav!”

“A few points, though: This isn’t a date, it’s a thing between friends. This isn’t going to be a common thing. If you start getting ridiculous or annoying, I’ll leave you hanging. And if this makes Luna mad, you’re taking the heat.”

She waved her hoof. “It’ll be fine, Nav! I think I know you well enough by now to know what your limits are.”

“Good. How threatening do you want me to look?”

“Um. Don’t scare anypony, but otherwise feel free to go all out.”

“I’ll meet you in the morning, then. What time?”

“Oh, any time before eleven, I suppose… Hm. Are you going to be wearing that?”

I looked down at what I was wearing: Basically, a suit of camo clothes, shortened because it was spring and warm. I looked back up. “I just got out of the forest. This is all I have here.”

“You didn’t wear that marvelous armor? Why ever not?”

“Not worth it. That stuff is too hot to wander around in for weeks at a time. I’ve yet to get hurt, so I don’t really think I need it. It’s not a long trip home if you want me to go and get it. I can easily get there and get back before we need to leave tomorrow.”

“Hm. That could work. Though I don’t suppose you’d need me to fix up that set of clothes before you go?”

I looked down at my clothes again. They were pretty fucked up. I looked up at her and shrugged. “If you want. They can wa—” She dragged me inside.

“Not enough time to make anything new… Well, all you really need is a fix. Take your clothes off.”

I could see it now: I’ll take my clothes off and in five minutes Luna will come through that door looking for me, finding me and Rarity in some manner of compromising position. I closed the door and locked it. I turned to find Rarity giving me a look. “I’ve had too many misunderstandings,” I answered. I took my shirt off and threw it at her. She caught it in the air with her magic.

“You simply must stop treating your clothing like this, Nav!” she whined, doing her best to ‘unwrinkle’ my shirt. She was so absorbed in that she didn’t notice the pants flying at her. She peeled them off her face with magic, to reveal a glare, which quickly subsided when she noticed how many straps of knives I had around me.

I noticed her looks. “I know you’re not attracted to my human body, Rarity. Stop looking me over.” Her face turned crimson. I saw her cat giving me looks, too. “Shut up, Opal,” I said. The cat sniffed and went back to napping.

Rarity didn’t avert her gaze, though. “Nav… Are you… healthy?”

I saw she was looking at my torso and I looked down at it. I was so skinny you could see my stomach delving up into my ribcage. I put a hand on my stomach. “Holy shit,” I said, feeling it. “Well, I don’t really need to eat anymore, so I haven’t been,” I answered. “Twilight doesn’t have many mirrors in her house and I rarely look down there. If I was still a human, I would be dead from starvation by now.”

“…How long has it been since you last ate?” she asked, horrified. I noticed her gaze was going… other places.

“Oh, about a week, I think.” She was looking at something else. “Rarity? Rarity!”

She blinked and looked up. “A week? Nav, you’re going to kill yourself like that!”

“I’ve survived this long. What’s a few more centuries? Besides, it’s not like I can eat most of that crap you ponies shovel down. I tried eating a few flowers when I realized I wasn’t quite human anymore and I got sick.” It was miserable, too.

She was shaking her head. “I can’t let you do this to yourself, Nav.” She used her magic to pull a cord hanging down from the wall. I saw a grille on the wall start to shine with a glow I’ve long since discovered means magic is being done upon it.

A voice suddenly crackled out of the grille and I realized it was an intercom. “What do you need, Mistress Rarity?” It sounded like a young stallion.

“I need a meal sent up here as fast as you can make it,” she commanded. “No grass, no flowers, no vegetables. Bread is fine, fruit is fine.” I could eat most vegetables, but there were a few I couldn’t. “Eggs, if you have them.”

“Right away, Mistress,” the voice answered. “Will there be anything else?”

“No, that’s all,” she answered. The grille stopped glowing.

“So that’s what that cord is for,” I said.

Rarity turned her gaze back to me. “I suppose this will be acceptable?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “I’ll eat what I can.”

“No, Nav. You’ll eat all of it. You’ll eat it if I have to hold you down with magic. And I know you know I can.” You’d be surprised. I wanted to say it, but I wasn’t going to give away my trump just yet. “Now, let’s get started on your clothes.” She turned to where she had set them down.

Despite my time in this world, I still wasn’t comfortable with being naked in front of anyone. I sat on the bed and covered my lower body. “How long should this take?” I asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

“Oh, surely less than an hour. I don’t have to do anything too drastic. Just a bit of metal here and there, gotta modify the pants, I might touch up the shoes a bit…”

“I thought all you were doing was fixing them.”

She gave me a look. “Navarone, you are a knight! I can’t allow you to go around dressing like… Ugh. Even if you’re going to be in the forest, you still must have some standards!”

Pick your battles. I sighed. “Whatever. I have to have something to do all night, anyway.”

She beamed. “That’s the spirit!” She went back to changing my clothes. She dug through all manner of bags around her to get what she needed. She added metal studs to my gloves and curved metal knee pads for my pants. She added length to everything I had.

After fifteen minutes of doing essentially nothing but watching, I asked, “So what should I expect tomorrow?”

She didn’t look up, but answered, “Oh, you know, standard high society ponies. I don’t expect many of them to talk to you, but I’m sure you’ll make a nice impression. Especially when I remind them who you are.” Fun. “Hm… Do you think—Oh, shoot!” I looked over to find she had a needle stuck in her hoof. How does that even happen?

With a glow of her horn, she pulled it out. “This is what I get for not paying attention, I suppose. So, Navarone, do you think you can get Princess Celestia to one of the various functions around Canterlot? I’ve heard she almost never attends any of them.”

“She isn’t interested in stuff like that. We were actually having a conversation about that earlier, when she told me you were in town. Petty politics and social events like that start meaning less and less the longer you live, and she has lived for quite a while.”

“I never thought about it that way before. I don’t suppose… Is she lonely, Navarone? I know you are closer to her than most ponies know.”

“This conversation doesn’t leave this room.” I waited for her nod to continue. “She is. She has lived thousands of years. Time has ceased to have much meaning for her. Ponies come and go. Students come and go. Time passes. Every single one of her subjects sees her as Princess, not Celestia. Leader, not friend. She can meet with her subjects all she wants, but they’ll still only see her as Princess. That’s how they were raised, and it’s what they know. And she loves them anyway.”

“And what of you, Navarone? You said ponies treat her like that. I know you don’t see yourself as one of us.”

“I am one of her few friends, I think. I grew up with no reverence for royalty. We have an understanding of sorts.”

“I’ve never really thought about what it must be like, to live as she has. Do you think she would come to any event, if you asked?”

“Maybe. But even if she was, she would be treated as a princess, not as a friend. Luna has a bit of an advantage, there, since she is hardly known as a princess anymore. Or rather, she wasn’t when she started making friends again. Celestia, though? She could try. But I don’t think it would turn out well.”

“You know her better than I,” she answered doubtfully. She bent back to her work. Not a minute later, she looked back up. “What about Princess Luna?” she asked. “I know she isn’t usually awake during the day, but do you think you could get her to come with us?”

“I think I could, but I know I won’t.”

“Oh, come on, Nav! You said yourself that they were lonely and wanting friends, and that Princess Luna could make them easier.”

“And she told me she doesn’t like people toadying up to her. She wants friends, not people that listen to her because she’s important. You would be hard pressed to find somebody in this town that would be a good friend, I believe.”

“That’s not true! And this is a city, not a simple town!”

“First, if there are more than ten thousand ponies living in this place, I would be shocked. There are cities in my world with millions of people living in them. I don’t think the population of sapient animals in this world is as large as the population of Manhattan alone.” She couldn’t answer that. “And second, you might be correct about a few friend-worthy ponies being here. I will admit to not having met too many Canterlot ponies. I might be wrong. I suppose I can judge tomorrow.”

“I suppose you will,” she said, bending back to her work. Five minutes later she looked up again. “Do you still remember how to dance?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Hm…” She looked over my clothes. “No, it’s too late for that. This will have to do.” She went back to it. I was tempted to ask where she was getting the metal, but I have learned that it is wise to not ask where a pony is pulling something from. I’ve seen Pinkie Pie pull numerous things out of nowhere, often to use as comedic effect. And I don’t mean nowhere as in I didn’t notice them before she picked them up, I literally fucking mean nowhere. I’ve just learned to accept it.

Fifteen minutes later, she was finished. It took her a second to get my attention; I was zoned way the hell out. When I came to, I saw she had a look of concern on her face. “Navarone?” she asked. “Oh Celestia, don’t tell me you’re dead!” I blinked. She sagged.

“I’m part tree. I only sleep at night for half the year. For the rest of that, I’m constantly awake. Learning to zone out has saved my mind, in some ways.” I got out from under the covers and put my pants on.

She was watching for my reaction, but before I could give it she gave out a gasp. “What a beautiful ring!” she exclaimed. “I simply must get a better look! Hold it into the light for me!” I finished putting my pants on and did so. “My my my, where did you get this? I don’t remember seeing you wearing it before!”

“A gift from the Everfree Forest,” I answered. “Neither Celestia nor Luna knows what it says, or how old it is.”

“Hm… I know rings are out this season, but… Do you think I could borrow it for the outing tomorrow? This might bring them back in style!”

“You don’t want to wear this ring, Rarity. Trust me.”

“Oh, posh! This would look wonderful on me!”

I slipped it off my finger and onto her horn. “Bring a mirror on over to see how it looks,” I said, hiding a smile.

Her shriek of pure terror made staying in Canterlot worth it. “GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!” she cried, pawing at her horn with her front hooves. I reached down and plucked it off, openly showing my smile. I slipped it on before she could retaliate. She gave me a haunted look. “I will never, ever question again why you like having hands.” Her eyes hardened. “And if you ever, EVER put that thing back on me, I will beat you to within an inch of your life.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image that gave me. She thought about it for a second and gave me a weak grin in return. “Okay, I’ll admit that might be an overreaction. A bit of one. But still… How can you stand wearing that?”

“Because it makes me immune to magic. This isn’t the only gift the forest gave me, either.”

“Oh? Do tell! Though if they’re anything like that ring, I’m not so certain I want to know…”

“I’ve a key to open any lock and a pair of stones that can change gender. The first time you change is a bit painful, but after that it’s painless.”

“Change gender? Why would anypony want to do that?”

“Fuck all if I know. If it didn’t hurt the first time, I would have already thrown the male stone at you, just to see how you would take it.”

“I would not take it well.”

“That’s kind of what I thought. If it makes you feel any better, you were the only one I wanted to do that to.”

“It doesn’t, actually. It really, really doesn’t.”

“Well, to each their own. So, what have you done to my clothes?”

She brightened right up and began talking about things I don’t care about using words I don’t know. I already mentioned some of what she did. She also fixed all the damage everything had taken in the forest. She added iron to the toes of my shoes, which she promised was easily removed. It was her usual masterful work.

“I do feel a lot heavier now,” I said, trying to judge if it would slow me down any. A few seconds of experimentation told me my arm would be off if I tried throwing something, but I had a bit of time to fix that. “You need anything before you go to sleep?”

“You are staying right here until that food gets here, Nav. It should have been here by now, but it is late…”

“You really can’t make me stay, Rarity.” She got a look of determination on her face. I continued, “But I will stay anyway; I have few enough people willing to help me get better to risk hurting them.” She smiled with relief.

We talked a bit about my travels in the forest until the food got here. I knew she wanted to yell at the guy delivering it for taking so long, but she refrained. Poor stallion didn’t look like he could take being yelled at anyway.

She floated the tray in and gently set it down on a table set up against the wall. “Now eat!” she told me, giving me the kind of look I would expect from either a mother or Celestia.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the table. “Apples. Raw bread. Boiled eggs. They don’t have any imagination down there in the kitchens, do they?” I asked.

She used magic to pull a chair out and pointed at it. I sat. I think she tried to use magic to push the chair back in, but it didn’t work; I heard her loudly gulp and when I looked up at her she was looking away. I shook my head and began. Least they could have done was give me some butter…

I finally finished and pushed the tray away, feeling slightly sick. “Happy?” I asked.

She looked down on the tray, making sure I actually had eaten everything. “Happy enough,” she replied. “You just make sure to keep eating, even if you don’t feel hungry. I don’t care what kind of magic you have sustaining you, you still need to eat.”

“I’ll be fine, Rarity,” I said, standing up. “I’ll just go drop this off at the kitchen and let you sleep, I guess.”

She nodded a bit. “Good night, Navarone. Have fun doing whatever you do all night.”

I grabbed the tray and shrugged. “I might have fun. I’ll probably just walk the labyrinth for a spell, or maybe explore the castle. And I still need to get my armor. See you in the morning.”

I dropped the tray off and got my armor and axe first. I threw the armor in a bag as quietly as I could and flew back to Canterlot and dropped it all in my room there. That done, I hit the labyrinth. Nothing much in it, but it killed a few hours. It’s deceptively big, too, and I made sure to explore the entire thing using the right-hand rule. I’m beginning to think a few places in this world have black holes in them, and distort space and time so they will look smaller than they actually are. I’ve said it before, though: This world makes no sense to me.

When I reached the end of the maze, I remembered I was wearing the ring. I removed it; if it was day I would have left it on, but Luna might wish to talk during the night. I wasn’t expecting it tonight, with her old friend here to catch up with, but you never know.

The labyrinth conquered, I decided to head into the castle proper, to see if I could find any manner of library. While I was still outside, I looked up at the sky to see if I could possibly tell what time it was.

When I looked down, I saw a massive dragon in front of me, with Luna alongside him. They were both looking at me. “Princess, Reginald,” I nodded to them. How did I not hear them coming?

I suddenly found myself being hugged by Luna—suddenly as in teleported into her open front legs. The thing about being hugged by a pony is that you get a lot of their weight shifted onto you. For Taya, that’s not a problem. For ponies like Twilight, it isn’t that much of a problem. Luna was pushing the edges of what I could hold, though. I don’t even want to think about being hugged by Celestia. I also really don’t want to think about where that would put my face.

Thankfully, the hug didn’t last long. “Thank you so much, Nav,” she said, letting me go. “I actually forgot about Reginald here until I saw him again!”

I heard a deep chuckle beside us, and felt a warm breath of steam hit us. “And they say the old have bad memories,” he quipped.

“You aren’t that much older than us,” Luna said. “Though you’ve always liked to pretend you were. Anything to impress somepony, as I recall.”

He snorted, bathing us with more steam. “Calling me not that much older is a bit of a misnomer, for those as old as us. I’m a few thousand years older than Celestia, Navarone, and don’t let her try to tell you otherwise.”

“A thousand years means quite a lot, you know!” Luna answered.

“To you, yes. Especially if you spend it on the moon, I suppose. To me? I recently woke up after sleeping for around a hundred years. Though to be fair, dragons are actually supposed to live this long. What happened to you—”

“Enough of that, Reginald,” she answered with a pained look. He bowed his head. “So, Navarone, is there any reason you fell off the map earlier?” How she manages to watch me all the time she’s awake, I don’t know; Twilight mentioned how distracting it was to see things from my view.

“I fear I angered your sister again. I thought it not worth risking my neck just to see how far I can push her and still come back.”

“Then perhaps you should stop angering her,” she answered rather pointedly. “But surely her wrath didn’t last that long.”

“I ran into a friend from Ponyville. I always find it pays to be protected around her. Never know what she might try to do.”

Luna’s gaze grew colder at the mention of Rarity. “I see.” The air grew somewhat frosty at those words. “I’m surprised to see you even still here. I suppose Celestia’s anger is because you refused to go back into the forest?”

“It was because I refused to take some time off from the forest, actually. She… convinced me to stay in town, and suggested I spend some time with my friend.”

“She did, did she?” I was just digging my grave deeper and deeper. “And what kind of plans do you two have?”

I was somewhat afraid to answer, but I did anyway: “Rarity wants to further her image here in town. She knows how I keep getting invited to all manner of boring events since I’m your knight. She asked me to take her to a few of them. We’re going to some tomorrow as friends.” I thought for half a second, and continued, “She tried to get me to ask you or Celestia to attend with us, but I knew neither of you are interested in things such as those.”

“Uh huh.” Sometimes I just shouldn’t open my mouth.

“Yup.” I think it might have been dangerous for me to be there much longer, so I decided to beat feet: “Well, it was good seeing you again, Reginald. I think I’ll leave you two to continue catching up. You know how to find me if you need me, Luna.”

She gave a stiff nod, and Reginald answered, “Until we meet again, Navarone.” I casually walked away as quickly as I could until I got out of sight, when I slowed down. I contemplated putting the ring on, and decided against it; no reason to risk pissing Luna off even more if she did want to talk to me later.

It didn’t take me much time to find a library. It took me even less time to get inside; it was locked, but that doesn’t mean much to someone with a skeleton key.

The sun took a long time to rise, that’s for damn sure; Princess Luna never summoned me, so I was left in the library all night. I was interrupted a little after dawn by a librarian. He saw me sitting next to a stack of books and his jaw dropped.

“How did you… What…” He sighed. “Human, why are you in my library?”

I shrugged. “I got bored. What time is it?”

“Around seven. When you get done, put everything up as you found it, I suppose.”

I finished a bit of the passage I was on and put everything up. The librarian let out a sigh of relief as I walked out the door. I slowly meandered my way back to my room.

I changed out of the clothes Rarity modified and put on some thicker clothes I brought with me to muffle the feel of armor against my skin. Then I started strapping on the actual armor, which took a while since I didn’t remember exactly how everything went. When I finally got it all on, I started putting on weapons. I left the sword in my room and slid the axe over my shoulder instead. I’ve described my weapon alignment before, so I don’t feel like writing the rest of it out.

All that done, I stepped outside, relocked my door, and knocked on Rarity’s. She opened it with a bit of a fearful look. “Thank Celestia,” she whispered. “Oh hello, Navarone!” she said, louder. “Do come in!”

She opened her door wider. I got a step inside. I. Am. An. Idiot. I saw Princess Luna inside, sipping casually at a cup of tea. “Luna,” I said, nodding at her. “If I’m interrupting anything, I can find something else to do for a little while.”

Rarity closed the door behind me a little bit too hard to be natural. “No, no,” Rarity said, “Nothing that important. Princess Luna and I were just talking about you, in fact!”

“We were talking about your invitation, to be more precise,” Luna said. “I think I might accept it; I have not been to many events in Canterlot since I got back, even though I am always invited.”

“Glad to see you’re trying to make more friends, Luna. Though I don’t really know if any of these people will be someone you’d want as a friend.”

“I guess we shall find out. Though that does raise a bit of a conundrum, of sorts… You see, my typical guards of the night are asleep right now. It simply wouldn’t do for a princess to be somewhere without an escort.”

“It’s a good thing Celestia has a load of royal guards just sort of chilling around the palace, then,” I answered.

If looks could kill… Well, I’d have died long ago. But I think my body would have just gotten dismembered by this one. “Indeed,” she answered in a tone that should have given me frostbite. Why do I keep digging this hole?

“So, Rarity, what kind of events will we be attending, anyway?” I asked, keeping my tune relatively hopeful.

She perked up a little, but she still looked rather scared. “An opera,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. “And then a luncheon. And finally, a garden party.” By the time she finished, she was about up to a conversational tone.

Now, none of you will believe this, but I actually liked some opera back home. I didn’t know anything about pony opera, but surely it couldn’t be that bad. Though if I was having to deal with Luna being a jealous little filly the whole time it might be excruciating.

“So when do we leave?” I asked.

A few hours later, a relatively small group left the palace heading to some opera hall or something. Luna decided not to take guards, which gave me a bit of an eerie feeling. Rarity and Luna led the way, with me flanking them. I did my best to look like an actual knight before I realized that I honestly didn’t care.

Pretty much everyone on the streets was watching us. Some were more discreet about it than others, but we were definitely the focus of the crowds. And I don’t think it was Rarity’s ridiculous outfit that caused it. I was relatively well-known around Equestria by now, but I still always get looks wherever I go. But most of the looks were reserved for Luna, I believe. She didn’t go out much in Canterlot, preferring to spend her time either in the palace or in smaller places like Ponyville.

I noticed something that I wasn’t able to ask about until much later. When I did, I learned that there was some manner of tradition in the city for dealing with Celestia or Luna: If they were in a carriage or something, bow and make obeisance. But if they were on foot, they were to be treated with respect but no bowing or the like. We were on foot, thank God.

I had a feeling that anything Rarity might have gained from my being with her was going to be lost when everyone noticed Luna was there. Unless Rarity managed to convince them that Luna was there because of her. I wanted nothing to do with that; I was there as a knight. Or more truthfully, I was there as a friend of Rarity’s who happened to also be a knight.

At the opera, Luna was given a special VIP seat, of course, and much fuss was made over her. You know, typical royalty stuff. She very purposefully and very discreetly snubbed me and Rarity in taking over the VIP box just for herself, too.

The few ponies that would have been there with Rarity were put into the next best seating, and the buck pretty much passed down that way, until the people in the last ‘special’ spots were put into the regular crowd.

There were a few looks and comments about why she was snubbing her ‘loyal’ knight, but when I explained that I was here with Rarity, most of those comments were nipped.

In their place, however, were ponies actually talking to me before the show started. No one mentioned that I hadn’t responded to any of the letters I had gotten, which was good because they probably would have expected me to remember who sent what. I checked each one to make sure there was nothing personal before I had Taya start burning them, but I didn’t recognize any of the rich people here.

Shortly enough, the opera began and everyone settled down. I sat next to Rarity, of course. She tried to hide it, but I saw the hurt feeling in Rarity’s eyes from what Luna had done. When the singing and whatnot started, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I know what Luna is doing, and why. I will try to reason with her.” I put my hand on her hoof for a second before backing out of the balcony.

I made my way up to Luna’s seating, where a small horde of the opera house’s servants stood milling about, uncertain what the exact protocol on this was; it had been so long since either princess had visited that there weren’t exactly any rules in place for it. I took one look at that mess and couldn’t help but face-palm. I don’t suggest doing that with gauntlets.

“Why are you all here?” I quietly asked. They all turned toward me with more hope in their eyes than they should have had. “Well?”

It took a few seconds, but one of them finally spoke up. He said, “We… we don’t exactly… what are we supposed to do? She’s a princess!”

I’m sure I had a bit of an exasperated look on my face. “What has she asked for?” I asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

“Not to be disturbed,” the stallion answered.

“Nothing else?”

They all shook their heads.

“One of you, stay here. The rest of you go back to your positions, whatever they are.” They all looked around at each other, but none started walking away. I rubbed lightly at my temple. I pointed to a pony at random. “You, stay here. The rest of you, leave.” They all looked at the marked mare, and she tried hiding her astonishment by bowing her head. After a short moment, they all started breaking away. I was left with the mare and the stallion that originally spoke up.

“Now Berry, you do as he tells you, ya hear?” the stallion was whispering to her. She nodded fearfully. “That’s a good filly.” The stallion looked up to me. “Thank you for setting us straight, friend; it has been a while since we had a patron of her rank. Berry here will serve you both well. She’ll be sure not to disturb the princess.”

I nodded. “Thank you both. We would have sent more warning, but it was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision for Princess Luna to even come by. My apologies for the inconvenience. I’m sure if you sent some manner of runner to the palace, you would be compensated for any loss of business from giving away the VIP seats.”

“Oh, no!” he said quickly. “It is an honor to have royalty here again! And the others all understand the reasoning behind it, of course. No insult was taken.”

I nodded again. “Thank you, then. If you have no further questions, I need to speak to the princess for a moment.”

The two ponies looked at each other. The stallion nodded. Berry hesitantly spoke up, “Princess Luna asked not to be disturbed… I’m sorry, but…”

“She’s expecting me,” I told them. She looked back to the stallion, who shrugged. I went on through and closed the door behind me.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to sort through that mess,” Luna said without looking away from the show. “I was starting to think they would all be there the entire time.”

“I would never let you down, Luna,” I answered. “Surely you know that by now.”

“And yet…” She stopped.

“And yet you still think Rarity might be some manner of threat to you.” I sat down next to her, making sure my wings didn’t get caught anywhere. “You are jealous.” I’m pretty sure I offended her when I said that. I pulled my gauntlet off and removed my ring, making sure she saw me do it. “You have nothing to be jealous about.”

She looked at me, then. “I know, Nav… It’s just hard, knowing you care so much about your friends. I know you care about me, but…” She sighed, looking down slightly before returning her sorrowful gaze to the show.

“I am doing a favor for a friend right now, Luna. I promised her I would do this for her. You and I both know it’s silly, but she asked and I agreed. I never go back on my word; you should know that by now. I lie, but if I say that I’ll do something, it will be done.” We were both silent for a little while, just watching the show.

Finally I said, “You scared Rarity, Luna. I don’t know what you did, but when she opened the door this morning, I could tell she was terrified.” Luna didn’t say anything, but looked to the floor instead of to the show. “You can make it up to her by being nice on the rest of this day’s trip. I know she’s overly dramatic and can be somewhat annoying, but a more generous soul you’d be hard-pressed to find.” Usually.

She sighed lightly. “I will be nicer,” she finally said. “And when the day is over, I’ll apologize.” She looked back up to the show. A second later she turned her gaze to me. “How deep does your friendship go?”

“We’re just friends, if that’s what you are asking.”

“What would you be willing to give me if I did more for her than be nice and apologize?”

“You are going to have to name a few specifics, both what she’ll get and what you want from me.”

She did so. When she finished, it was my turn to be silent for a while. It would greatly help Rarity’s image… But was it worth it? I debated that in my mind for a little while. Well, what the hell. I’ve done worse for less.

“Deal,” I told her. I held out a hand, and after a moment of hesitation, she held out a hoof. We shook. “Now, I fear I have to return to my seat. If you require anything, the little mare outside is named Berry. She’ll be happy to help.”

“Thank you, Nav.” I nodded and quietly left. I spooked Berry a bit when I opened the door. Her face quickly turned red.

I pulled out two coins and put them on a little table next to the door to the balcony. “For your… discretion,” I commented. She tenderly reached a hoof out. Before she could blink, there was a knife between the two coins, right in front of her hoof. “For your silence,” I whispered, holding my finger to her lips. Her eyes went as wide as saucers and her mouth would have been wide open if I hadn’t made sure it was shut. “Do we have an understanding?” I asked, removing my finger from her lips and brushing her low-hanging bangs from her eyes. She nodded, too afraid to trust her voice.

I pried the knife out and worked my way down the hall to where Rarity and the other stuffy rich folk were still watching the show with all appearances of absolute boredom. I slipped the ring on as I made my way back to sit beside Rarity. I leaned over and said in a voice for her ears only, “You owe me for this.” She waved her hoof back dismissively. I knew she got the message.

The show was due to go on for a little while, so I settled in to either enjoy it or ignore it, whichever came first. As it turned out, it was pretty good. Something about the founding of Equestria or something. They got it factually wrong, but it was still decent enough.

We all left the opera together, Luna, Rarity’s little group, and I. The workers there were relatively happy to see Luna gone, though they hid it well. It isn’t that they were afraid of Nightmare Moon, but more that they were completely unsure of how to handle her or if she was any different from Celestia. Still, I know they were pleased to have had her there.

When we got outside of the opera house, Luna came straight over to Rarity and the rich ponies around her. “Thank you for inviting me, Rarity,” Luna told her, making sure to be heard by everyone in the little group. “Sometimes I forget the simple pleasure of song.”

It took Rarity less than a second to recover. “It was my pleasure, Princess,” she answered, bowing slightly. The others followed suit. “You are welcome to join us for the rest of the day, if you are available…” A few others with Rarity offered their invitations as well. Fucking toadies, the lot of them.

Luna took a moment to pretend to consider. “Normally I am abed at this hour, but… I rarely get to spend time with friends. If I truly wouldn’t be a bother, I will tag along.” The toadies were quick to assure her that she would be very welcome.

So instead of Rarity getting to show off a knight, she got to show off a princess. And a knight, but with the princess there, few of them took much notice of me.

There were a few rich and very snooty people with Rarity, but there were one or two good ones. A fellow that really stuck in my mind was the hilariously named Fancy Pants. No, I’m not joking. To be fair, though, there was a guy in Ponyville named Filthy Rich.

Anyway, Fancy Pants was among the first to talk to me after the opera. “Sir Navarone, you’re here to join us today as well? Rarity, you do surround yourself with the elite!”

She looked up from her conversation with a few random, less important ponies to answer. “Sir Navarone? Yes, I know him from my hometown. He was kind enough to ask me to join him on some of today’s events!” I grimaced slightly and wished for a moment that I was wearing my helmet.

“I see,” he answered. “So, Sir Navarone, what brings you back to Canterlot? Last I heard, you were working out of Ponyville.”

I answered, “So there are some ponies keeping tabs on me. I suppose my fame is growing. Yes, I do live there. But perhaps you remember the dragon last night?” He nodded, shivering slightly. “He is an old friend of the princesses, but they had not spoken in a while. I found him in the Everfree forest—” That got everyone’s attention. “—and he asked me to come with him to visit them, in case he was not recognized. I suppose we caused a bit of a panic,” I finished with a light smile.

“Everfree forest?” he asked with awe. “Whatever were you doing in that horrid place?”

“Princess Luna asked me to explore it.” I shrugged. “There’s only so much of it you can see by flying over it, so I had to do it by foot.”

“And have you found anything worth the effort?” a redshirt asked.

“Yes. But you’d have to ask the princesses for more details; I have been told not to discuss my findings.” That set off tickers in a lot of minds. There was something worth finding in the Everfree Forest that the princesses don’t want anyone to know about.

After that, I was left alone, for the most part. The luncheon progressed nicely—though Rarity glared at me until I ate something—and within an hour or so, we found ourselves at the garden party. It was on the grounds of the palace, thankfully.

The rest of the day had been mostly small events, with a few people involved and all in relatively tight groups. There had been little chance for any of them to approach me, and less desire for them to do so with Luna and Rarity there. This party was a lot larger, with several rich ponies around. Luna got swarmed, and as soon as she mentioned she was there with Rarity, the swarm surrounded her as well. I was cut off from them both, thankfully. Rarity seemed to belong with those annoying people, and she was kind enough to pull as many of them as she could away from me.

However, with Rarity and Luna completely surrounded, that left little in the way of interesting people to talk to. That didn’t bother me so much, given that I could zone out for hours at a time, but it did matter to others. There was still Fancy Pants, but he was a common visitor to events like this. Given that, a few ponies started gravitating toward the only other thing of interest they saw at that party: Me.

I heard a mare behind me say, “So Sir Navarone, I’ve heard many tales about you.” I turned to face her and froze: It was Fleur. I gulped, worried that she might easily recognize my voice. She continued, “Is it true that you single-hoovedly led a rampaging army across Egypt?” I’m a fucking royal knight. What’s she going to do to me even if she does recognize my voice?

“No one pony leads an army, dear,” Fancy Pants answered, walking up. “I see you’ve met my wife, Fleur-de-Lis. I’ve heard tales of that feat as well, and always wondered the truth of them.” His wife? Interesting. Wonder if he knows she’s a whore. For a pony, she was probably beautiful. She didn’t have many other redeeming qualities. Trophy wife, I suppose.

“I was Celestia’s voice, I suppose,” I answered. “And I did my share of the leg work and planning to keep the army moving. But I wasn’t the actual leader of the group. That honor went to a cat named Jocasta.” They asked me a bit more about it. I’ve referenced that dirty event enough, I think, and if you really want to know more, look in a damn history book.

Then they got to asking me a bit more about the Everfree forest. “I’ve heard there are all manner of undiscovered fruits in that place. Have you considered bringing any out for study?” Fancy Pants asked.

“I have been, actually,” I answered. “I watch a fruit tree long enough to see animals eating the fruit, to make sure it is all edible. When I see that, I grab a few and make sure to grab some seeds as well. Some of them I give to a farmer friend and some of them I bring to a scientist friend. I don’t know how well the seeds will take to the ground, but if they do well, you can probably start expecting more Everfree fruit in the coming years.”

“Ah, the Apple family I presume?” I nodded. “We do so love their Zap Apple Jam…” Zap Apples are some strange brand of apples that came out of the forest and were grown at Applejack’s farm. Once a year or so, they magically sprout and grow the most magnificent apples you could ever see or taste. Every other time of the year, the trees are completely barren. “Though I suppose it will be some time before they start making products with the fruits.”

“I don’t know anything about farming,” I answered with a shrug.

“What else have you found in there, that you are allowed to talk about?” Fancy Pants asked.

“A few ruins. The dragon. A zebra hermit. All manner of nasty critters. I don’t suggest using that place as a vacation spot.”

They smiled at that. Before they could ask anything else, though, we were interrupted. “So where do you come from, human?” Blueblood asked, striding up. He looked… well, he wouldn’t be winning any more beauty contests, that’s for sure. The poison sure did a number on him. His face looked ravaged by time, and his mane was mostly gone. His eyes were bloodshot and had lost much of their color. His entire coat looked ragged. He was glaring at me with a fierceness I hadn’t been subjected to in a while, a sneer on his face. I saw that his teeth were rotting, as well. The only thing about him that was similar was his voice, which was an eerie contrast to his ruined body.

“Another dimension, I suppose.” I shrugged. “I’ve never really thought about it in relation to Equestria.”

“And is everypony there as bad a guard as you?”

“Hey, I got as much of that poison as you did! It’s not my fault you suck at living.” Oh, that pissed him off big time. It also won me a hidden smile from Fancy Pants; Blueblood was never well liked by most of the ponies that actually knew him, and I garnered that his recent behaviors had made him even less popular.

“Do you know what I do to bad guards, human?” he asked with a very dangerous gleam in his eyes.

“I suppose you yell at the royal guards. Maybe order them strapped or something.”

“Or something,” he mocked. “I challenge them. If they can beat me, they do not receive any punishment. If they can’t… Well, their punishment varies based on their actions.”

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not a guard and that you have absolutely no authority over me.”

“You were assigned to guard me. I do believe that makes you a guard. And as to having authority? I am a prince. You are less than a commoner, not even the equal of a pony.”

I saw Luna turn her gaze and ears over to us at that point. I knew this was about to get interesting. “Frankly, Blueblood, I don’t give a damn what you think or what you think you are entitled to. Nor do I really care what you have to say. How about you head on back to bed? You look like you need some rest.”

What it looked like he needed was a chill pill. Or an unhealthy dose of euthanasia. With every word I said, his rage grew and grew. I think it was only the fact that he was in a public place that stopped him from attacking me offhand. “I challenge you, human,” he growled.

“Uh huh. Fancy Pants, what are the rules of an Equestrian duel?”

“The pony that is challenged picks the time and the place. Killing is discouraged, but allowed. The duel ends when either party is unable to continue fighting or either party admits defeat.”

“Weapons?” I asked.

He looked confused for a second. “There are no official rules against them, but they also aren’t specifically allowed. Maybe Princess Luna could fill us in?” She had been listening with more and more interest, and finally stepped up when called upon.

“Weapons are allowed,” she said. “It is an old rule, back when races with hands were more common in cities. Most races didn’t have as many natural weapons or strength as ponies, so it was decided weapons should be allowed.” I checked my crossbow.

“Of course,” Fancy Pants continued, “there hasn’t been a real duel in Equestria in… centuries, I suppose. There are a few games every year, but those are always for fun. To actually have a duel…” he smiled. “This day will be talked about in a while, I believe.” Blueblood was still giving me the most hate-filled looks you could imagine.

“So, I can set the time and place?” I asked. Luna put on a small smile, and nodded. I think she knew what was coming. I hoisted my crossbow a bit. “Blueblood, I accept your duel. I set the place to here and the time to… Now.” He had half a second to look surprised before a bolt dug deep into his neck. He dropped and began flopping on the ground.

“So that means I win, right?” The only ponies not completely panicking were Luna and Fancy Pants. Luna bent down to make sure Blueblood didn’t die.

Fancy Pants was doing his best to not burst out laughing. When he finally got control of himself, he answered, “Yes, Navarone, I think you won. Now don’t get me wrong: What you did was wrong and had absolutely no honor in it, but you definitely won.”

“Honor?” I asked, confused. “Why the hell would anyone fight with honor? If I’m in a fight, I’m in it to win, not to make my opponent feel okay about losing.”

“That is… an interesting way of looking at it, I suppose,” he answered. “But you won’t find too many ponies willing to fight against you if you keep that attitude.”

“Good. Only an idiot seeks fights out. I fight when I know I will win or when I know I have no choice. To do anything else is suicidal.”

He nodded slowly. “You definitely have a refreshing viewpoint, human. There are many that would call you a coward.”

“I’d rather be a live coward than a dead hero. Especially if either way I’m the victor.”

He gave a dark smile at that. “Yes, I can understand that. Tell me, how long will you be in Canterlot? Sometimes I grow weary of… this,” he said, waving his hoof around the party that was just beginning to stop panicking. “It would be nice to have somepony to talk to that isn’t just doting on me. Somepony that actually treats me as an equal.”

“I’m probably leaving tomorrow morning, actually. And I have a relatively busy day and night ahead of me, after this.”

“I understand,” he said. “When the princess calls, we obey.” He looked around again, sighing. “I suppose I’ll have to help fix this mess. Blueblood isn’t well liked, but he is a pony and he was just almost killed by something not a pony. I don’t think many here realized it was a duel that he challenged you to.”

“Hm… I didn’t think that this might add more fear against me.” I looked down to Blueblood, mostly recovered but still on the ground. “But I think it was worth it.” We shared another smile before he went off to calm the party.

He wasn’t gone half a minute before Blueblood got up and stormed off without a word. I grabbed the bolt that Luna had pulled out and reloaded my crossbow. “Well?” I asked her.

She just shook her head with a smile and went to help Fancy Pants. I sought out Rarity.

It didn’t take me that long to find her: She was also helping calm the ponies down. When they all saw me, the ponies she was trying to comfort bolted. She sighed and turned to me. “Well, Navarone? What do you have to say for yourself?”

I shrugged. “He wanted a duel.” I gave off a little chuckle, and continued in a flat voice, “I won.”

“Blueblood was stupid enough to…” She sighed again, shaking her head slightly. “This party is over. Head back to my room. I’ll be there soon enough.”

“You got it.” I slipped the ring off and jumped into the air. Probably not the best move to remind the people that thought I just murdered someone that I could fly, but I also didn’t really care. It was also probably not the best move to take my ring off when I just almost murdered Celestia’s nephew; I don’t imagine she would be too happy about that.

I made it to Rarity’s apartments with no problems, and put the ring back on with a sigh of relief. I got in using my key and sat back to wait. Opalescence rubbed herself against my leg and we played for a bit; as long as I was the only one around her, she was pretty alright. She was also one of the few animals smart enough to know I exist, which might have been why she was okay with me.

As soon as Rarity got back, though, Opal immediately hissed at me and buggered right off. Rarity didn’t spare the cat a glance, though. I barely had time to stand up before I was forced right back down by a tackle that soon resolved into a hug. I can’t imagine that was comfortable for her against my armor. “You’re the best friend ever!” she laughed.

“Yeah, I’m pretty great,” I said. “Now, I don’t suppose you could get off me?”

She noticed what position she was in. “Oh! Yes, I suppose I could do that.” She picked herself off of my lap and stood back up. “When you said you took care of Luna for me, I didn’t expect you meant that! What did you say to her?”

“We made a deal.”

“What did she want from you? I thought you did just about anything they asked of you.”

“It’s not important, Rarity. So your image wasn’t ruined by having your ‘date’ almost kill Blueblood?”

“Absolutely not! That was the best thing that happened for me all day! To have a date so loyal to challenge the most renowned fighter in all of Equestria for my honor! And then to win that duel, in my name… If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were expecting some kind of reward from me.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at what she said. “That’s what they told you the duel was about?” She nodded, looking confused. I continued, “I see no reason to deny it to any of your friends over there, but what really happened is that Blueblood was being a dick and I put him in his place. He didn’t like that, so he challenged me. I suppose Luna made the other story up to make you look better.”

She was silent for a moment, and then gave an even bigger smile and jumped on me once again. “Now I really owe you for getting Luna on my side! Whatever she demanded in return, it couldn’t have been enough!” Now that is an opinion.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you care so much about your image here. The only one of those rich people worth talking to is Fancy Pants. And his wife is the reason we ended up in jail those few years ago. Also, can you get off me?”

She jumped back down. “She is the reason we were arrested and your career as a model was ended prematurely?”

“Yep. We were visiting one of their country houses or something, and she tried to seduce me. I took it about as well as someone who isn’t at all attracted to ponies would. She was not amused and fabricated some charges.”

“Hm. I wonder why she would… Oh! She’s probably jealous of me.” At my look, she continued, “Of everypony here in Canterlot, I’m one of the few Fancy Pants actually enjoys talking to or being around. She might have assumed there was something else going on between us. To that end, she wanted some manner of revenge, and thought we were a couple and could get back at me by seducing you.” Or she was mad that someone else didn’t want to sleep with her.

“Well, I guess that makes sense. Didn’t work out very well for her, though. We got arrested and got out with no problem. And you’re free to continue sleeping with her husband.” She gave me a bit of a dirty look for that. I pretended like I was thinking about something for a second. “Maybe I should have slept with her. I suppose it would have been fair. Though I don’t know how she looks.”

“Hmph. I have not slept with Fancy Pants, nor would I. As to you bedding his wife? I don’t suggest it. I don’t think she thinks with her brain that often. She might be stupid enough to eventually think you love her.”

“Yes, that would be inconvenient. I’ve dealt with enough of that shit with you ponies; I don’t need another one to add to the list.”

“That’s just because we’re all more open-minded than you are. If you got over your distaste for the idea of loving a pony, you wouldn’t be complaining so much. From what I’ve heard, you don’t seem to have that problem with cats or dragons.”

“I got used to the cat when I didn’t have any choice in the matter for half a month. The dragon… Well, Celestia did tell me to enjoy myself at that party.” And God, Kumani could do some things with that long tongue of hers… I realized I was smiling slightly, and tried to wipe it off my face. “Everything after that is a bit of a blur, with all the spells I had over me. The only reason I remember some of that week is because I wrote it down while it was happening, in my spare time.”

“Well, if you ask me—” she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She gave me a look that promised this wasn’t over, and opened it with magic. In walked Princess Celestia. Here we go.

She didn’t look overly pleased. “Navarone, come with me.” Not even a word to Rarity. I got up and went with her, Rarity watching me go with a mixture of fear for my fate and respect for Celestia.

When I got outside Rarity’s rooms, I found Celestia was alone. Well, it isn’t like she needs guards to subdue me, if it came down to it. I’m not stupid enough to attack her anyway. She pulled Rarity’s door shut and led me away, not saying a word. I followed. After a second of thought, I casually slipped my ring off. If she noticed, she didn’t mention it.

I don’t know how long we walked. She never said a word to me, but she did talk a bit to a few other ponies we passed.

Eventually we got to the throne room. Celestia walked right up to the dais and took her spot. After a moment’s consideration, I stood a bit in front of her, to her side. We still didn’t have any guards with us, and I figured I might as well pretend to be here for a reason that wasn’t punishment.

We were there for a few hours, while a steady stream of courtiers and messengers came in to deliver something or discuss some issue. I gotta say, if that’s what Celestia does all day, I’m glad I’m not in that position. As soon as I realized I was there for the long haul, I zoned right the fuck out. I paid just enough attention to make sure no one threatening entered.

A few of the people that stopped by were there at the party. As soon as they saw me standing by her side, they quickly decided to head somewhere else.

We were like that until around the time the sun was setting, when Celestia stood and set off again. I followed her without a word. She led us to what I suppose was the royal dining hall or something. Luna was already there eating breakfast. She looked up when we came in, and raised an eyebrow when she saw me.

“Navarone? I wasn’t expecting to see you so early.” She yawned, reminding me that she didn’t get much in the way of sleep last night. Or during the day, I suppose.

“Well, Celestia told me to follow her, so I have been. She hasn’t said a word to me since, so I suppose unless you feel like telling me to follow you instead, I’ll just follow her right to bed.”

Luna’s guards stiffened at that, either at what they thought I implied or at the thought that they might be forced to deal with me. Luna looked thoughtful for a second and was about to reply, but Celestia finally decided to break her silence. “You seem to insist upon making my life hard, so I decided to make your life boring. It seemed only fair.” She sat down to eat.

Luna spoke up, “Well Nav, which would you prefer: A dangerous life or a boring life?”

“If I’m going to end up living in the palace, from the looks of things it’ll be both. Challenged to a duel by a royal twat and then punished for winning. It’s hard, being a human in a pony’s world.”

“Well, we’ve offered to fix that for you,” Luna commented, sipping at some manner of juice. “It’s hardly our fault if you choose to be difficult.”

“I don’t remember either of you offering to turn all the ponies to humans. I guess I took a few too many knocks to the head while serving you.”

“Well that was pretty obvious,” Celestia murmured. Louder she continued, “I suppose you might as well follow Luna for the rest of the night, Nav, unless you are really that interested in watching me sleep. And if you are, you can definitely follow Luna instead.”

“I suppose I can do that,” I answered.

“Now sit. No reason for you to watch us eat. And you two are also welcome to whatever you please,” she said to me and the two guards with Luna.

I pulled out a chair—seriously, why the fuck do ponies even have those?—and sat. The guards shared a look with each other before moving to either side of Luna. They sat, staring at the food but not daring to actually eat. I rolled my eyes and threw an apple at one. He caught it with his mouth before he even realized what he was doing. It went a bit easier from there.

A few minutes into it, the one I didn’t throw anything at asked me, “What of you, human? Aren’t you going to eat?”

I shrugged. “I ate last night. I’m still fine for now.”

“Last night?” the other guard asked. “How are you not famished?”

“I’m part tree.” The princesses smiled at that description. “It has given me all manner of interesting skills. I barely feel physical contact, I never sleep in spring or summer, and I almost never need to eat.” I paused for a moment, as if thinking about something before continuing, “Oh, and I’ll probably live for thousands of years. You know, the typical tree things.”

I think that if the princesses weren’t there, the guards would have commented on some of those. As it was, they remained silent and Luna took up the slack, “At least eat something, Nav. It’s eerie, seeing you just staring into space. Besides, Rarity mentioned your… condition.”

Dammit, Rarity. “For all you know, this is typical human eating behavior.” She gave me one of those looks for that. “Fine. But only because you asked so nicely.” I pulled a knife out of somewhere and stabbed an apple with it. I raised it to my mouth for a second, lowered it, mouthed, Have I killed someone with this?, shrugged, and took a bite.

Luna rolled her eyes at my display. “Stop showing off, Nav.” I looked up briefly before continuing eating. She just sniffed. Celestia shook her head, wearing a small smile.

After a second, Celestia looked up. “Do you like bananas?” she asked, pointing to a bushel of them. “We don’t get them here often.”

I looked at them. “I haven’t had a banana in… a while.” I grabbed one and peeled it. I saw one of the guards smiling lightly as I took a bite. I flipped him off and continued eating. I knew he didn’t know what that meant, but it made me feel better.

It was a pretty nice meal, all things considered. And it was a nice prelude to a long, long night.

(Sex is coming. Ctrl+f Sex is over to skip)

When Celestia went to bed, Luna left momentarily to arrange the moon and the stars. That didn’t take long, for better or for worse.

Since I was less specific as to what the deal was earlier, here it is: I was Luna’s toy for the night. I would do whatever she told me to do. In return, she was Rarity’s friend for the day, and would be any time Rarity requested her and Luna didn’t have something important to do.

Thankfully for me, Luna was still a princess and still had princess duties to do. I stood guard on her while she did all that mess for a little while. Finally, she called me up. “Oooh, looking at you frustrates me, Nav! Curse this administrative work!” She pulled a key out of… somewhere, and passed it to me. “Go wait in my chambers. If any guards give you trouble, show them the key.”

“Yes… mistress.” She gave me a seductive smile when I said that. Here we go…

I got lost on the way to her quarters because apparently I’m fucktarded, but found the way easily enough after a moment of thought. There weren’t any guards outside her room this time for some reason, but I wasn’t about to question it. I opened her door and walked on in.

And immediately stopped. Oh fuck. Where the hell does a pony get a full set of bondage gear? Why the hell would a pony even ne—Oh boy.

Rarity, you bitch, you really owe me now. I closed the doors behind me and walked on in. I looked over the selection of toys. Let’s see… Riding crop. Table with plenty of straps. A few ball gags. I don’t even know what that is. Strap-on. Paddle. Leash and co—STRAP-ON!

Oh fuck no! I turned around and ripped the door open, only to bump into Luna. A very happy looking Luna. I started backing into the room, trying to get away from her. I stopped when I bumped into the table.

She continued into the room, using her magic to close the door behind her. “I see you found my new toys,” she said, ignoring the expression on my face. “Don’t worry. They’re not for you.” I visibly slumped. Wait, if they’re not for me… I looked up again to see her smiling even wider. “They’re for me!”

“Wait, what?”

She used her magic to gently lift me out of the way and walked over to the table. “Being a princess is hard work, Nav,” she answered, not looking at me. “And everypony always bows and scrapes. You’re always in charge, always responsible…” She turned her gaze to me. “Tonight, I won’t be. Tonight, you get to be in charge of me!”

“Oh. Huh.” Not what I was expecting.

She frowned a little. “You don’t like that?” she asked, confused. “I thought you always wanted more control in your… relations.”

“I’m not going to lie, Luna: I have been raped. A lot. It’s getting old. But this… I’ve never really been the dominating type.” I saw her expression drop even more. I sighed. “But for you, Luna, I’ll do it. And I’ll do my best at it.”

The look on her face was almost enough to make me happy I was about to do something uncomfortable. She used magic to scoot all of that stuff off the table and gently lied down. I noticed then how large the table was.

“Pardon me if I’m a little… unused to this, Nav,” she said when she was on her stomach, legs splayed. “All I have to go on are the few times I’ve seen you… Well, you know.” The thing is, she actually had never seen me with Kat, back when it was really bad.

Well, if I’m going to do this… “Flip over, Luna,” I ordered. She did so, to lie on her back. I went to lock the door. “If a guard walks in on us… Well, explaining that is something even I wouldn’t want to try to do.” I walked back over to the table. Hm… “Stretch your legs out.” She did so. I started strapping them down. “You know, in my world, a pony couldn’t even stretch her legs like this,” I said while working. “They’d break in a heartbeat.”

“You don’t sa—mmf!” I slipped in the ball gag and kept going. When I was finished, her wings were strapped in, her tail was strapped in, her legs were strapped in… Hm.

I unstrapped her tail and looked at her. “Luna, if I go too far, swish your tail.” She looked at me, confused. “Look, Kat didn’t give me the option of a safe word. I had to take it from her, and that terrified me. I’m not going to do that to you.” I gently stroked her stomach. “So if you start to think I’m going too far, you swish your tail and I’ll stop.” She nodded.

Suddenly an idea struck me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my ring. She saw it and opened her eyes wide and started shaking her head frantically. I pulled out the riding crop and struck her lightly on her flank. She stopped. I slipped it on her horn and watched her tail. Nothing. Well, this night just got a lot more interesting.

Now, I’m an honest kind of guy. I had no idea what I was doing. Truth be told, after so long of being forced around, I kinda got to like being on the bottom and being submissive. Taking control felt… wrong.

But, I thought, looking at the toys she so thoughtfully provided, I’m sure I can think of something.

I started on her wings, gently caressing them. She immediately started moaning lightly. Maybe they’re more sensitive than mine… I kept going.

I brought my fingers in hard enough to start feeling little lumps. She shivered whenever I got near a certain one. Oh ho. I gently fingered it. She moaned. I pressed down on it. She began to shudder. I mashed it in.

Her entire body strained against the straps as she moaned loud enough to get through the gag. I looked at her face and saw her eyes raised to the back of her head. A gentle stream of drool worked its way down from her ball gag. Huh. Why don’t I have something like that on mine?

I looked down to see how excited she was. Her marehood was sopping wet.

I stopped caressing her wing and turned my attentions there. I waited until she stopped straining so hard before gently stroking her lips with my fingers. She was still taking quick, short breaths from whatever I had done to her wings. When I began to touch her, the moans picked up again.

Suddenly a very errant thought struck me: I’m sexually dominating a horse. Never thought my life would take me there. At least it’s a mare.

It’s amazing what you think of at times like that.

I slipped a finger inside her pussy. I knew where her hotspots were, after all my unwanted experience with mares in the past. I pushed a finger to a large one and began rubbing it. When I felt her start to clench around me, I withdrew my finger.

I heard her groan behind the ballgag and her tail swished. I walked up to her head and pulled the gag up. “Stop teasing me, Nav!”

“Is this about me teasing you or me going too far?” I asked.

“Teasing me, of co—mph mmf!” I dropped the gag back into place.

“You gave me control over this, Luna,” I said, caressing the other wing. “And you gave me all these fun little toys… Well, I think it would be a shame to let you cum without playing with some of them first. Now, unless I start hurting you, please don’t stop me.”

In my gentle caressing, I found the same node I had used on the other wing. I pressed down on it and she had a repeat performance, but this time I’m positive she fully came: She began to gush out.

“Now Luna,” I said, “Look at this mess you’ve made! I should make you clean it up…” She was too busy riding her orgasm to give me a look, so I just made my way over to the pile of toys. “Let’s see,” I mused aloud, “where are the clamps…” I heard her moan in response. “Ah, here we go!”

I picked a set of clamps that looked to be just the right size. I walked back over to Luna. “Now, if this starts to hurt, by all means let me know.” I started to tighten them over the nodes on her wings. I saw her eyes widen in surprise and her tail swished. “But,” I warned, “if all it does is make you feel too good, you can deal with it because I’m not removing them.” Her tail stopped and she put her head back down, eyes closed. “Good girl. Hm… It’s a shame you’re the princess… I would love to use some fun little humiliation techniques Kat forced me to learn.” I shuddered, but I knew she couldn’t see. “Just imagine all the night guards watching their beautiful lady getting ridden by the evil human, ball gag in her mouth, plug forced deep inside her, riding crop occasionally hitting that pretty little flank…”

She was getting more and more aroused with each word. I reached over and picked up a dildo from her pile. “Oh, you like that idea? Hmm… I wonder what your sister would say when she saw us like that. She might decide to punish you herself. Maybe use that long horn of hers to give you just what you deserve…” Without another word, I shoved the toy inside of her. She strained against the bindings again, arching her back slightly.

Her tail didn’t move.

“Ah, it seems my lady of the evening likes that! Let’s see how much she cares for this!” I began toying with her clit, leaving the toy inside. She began straining even harder. “Oh, my pretty pony, if you could only see the mess you’re making down here. I dare say your maid will have quite a fit when she sees it. I wonder if you’ll let her toy with you like this to make up for it.” I gave her clit a sharper twist and heard her squeal as she came again.

“You do have a dirty mind, Luna,” I said, patting her flank amiably. “I wonder how far you’re willing to let me take this.”

After a moment, she looked up at me with those pretty cyan eyes. She slowly nodded. She didn’t know what I had in mind, and had probably never even considered it.

“Now, I have no idea if this will work or not, so if I start going too fast or you aren’t getting anything out of it, by all means let me know. But I will have to start slow or I might actually hurt you. This is a human thing, so it might not even do anything but hurt. You trust me, I know, so let me try it.”

She didn’t respond. I slowly pulled the dildo out, teasing her clit gently while doing so. A lot of juices followed the toy out. I looked down, past her marehood. I’m not going to use my fingers on that. I picked up the riding crop and got it nice and wet with her plentiful juices. She moaned deliciously. “Oh come on, I haven’t even gotten started yet!” Didn’t stop her moans.

When I deemed it slick enough, I lowered it down to her ass. “This is where it starts to get strange,” I said aloud, and gently pushed it in. She flinched, but her tail didn’t move. “Now, here is where my expertise starts to drift,” I commented as I pushed the crop in. “I don’t have too much experience with this, so forgive me if I do something incorrect.”

The riding crop sank in a bit further before I began to twirl it slightly, trying to loosen her hole up a bit. I moved my other hand up to her clit and began teasing it a bit more. She knew what I was doing was odd, I know she could feel it.

Soon, I decided she was loose enough for something different. Leaving the riding crop in, I checked the pile of toys again. Is that… Is that a fucking lash? I picked it up and looked at Luna. What the fuck is wrong with her?

I whipped it and cracked it down, causing her to flinch. “Luna, I don’t know why the fuck you have this. But I think I can put it to a use.” Its handle was thicker than the riding crop.

I gently slid the crop out while still toying with her clit. I rubbed the handle of the lash in her juices again and slowly slid it in her ass. It went in easily enough.

“Relax, Luna,” I said. “Any of this starts hurting and you just swish your pretty little tail. Unless… You want it to hurt, I guess.” I looked at her. She was blushing, though I don’t know if that was because of my continuing teasing or if she actually did want it to hurt. I mean, she did give me a lash to use.

I started twirling the handle around, as I had with the crop.

With another low moan, she came again—probably from my treatment of her clit more than anything else. “You’re going to need quite a bit of water, with the mess you’re making down here,” I remarked, still toying with her.

It didn’t take long for her to relax enough that I felt comfortable with the real toys. I left the handle alone for a moment and reached down to pick up the dildo again. I gently pushed it all the way into her pussy, still rubbing her clit. She moaned weakly in response, more drool dripping from the gag.

“Aww, does the princess like having all of her holes stuffed?” I asked with a smile. “I’m sure your followers would love to know that you can please three of them at once!” I slowly pulled the dildo out and yanked the lash out. Turning serious, I said, “This is where it might start to hurt. I’ll go slow. Remember your tail.”

I put the tip of the dildo so that it was gently prodding her hole. With a gentle push, I popped it inside. I felt her body clench and I stopped pushing. I put one of my hands back on her pussy. “Just relax, Luna,” I said, gently rubbing her again. “This will be much easier if you just relax.”

I felt the tension slowly leave her body. I started pushing it in a bit more. She squirmed slightly as it entered her. When she had taken a third of the overly large toy in, I stopped. “Doing okay?” I asked her. She weakly nodded. I gently started pushing again.

She was breathing deeply, and a few moans were still escaping the gag from my hand on her clit. I stopped again when the thing was most of the way in. “Still okay, Luna?” I asked. She nodded, not even looking up.

Since she was currently stuffed and had plenty of her own fun, I decided now might as well be the time I got to enjoy myself. I only had one pair of pants at the moment, so I made sure to back away from the table before dropping them and kicking them aside. After all I had done with her, I was definitely fully erect and ready for some fun. I approached her table with a smile.

She had her eyes closed, breathing deeply, so she didn’t notice any of what I was doing. Her eyes jerked open when I hilted her and she strained at the bonds again, moaning deliciously under the gag.

Since Luna was larger than your average pony, she wasn’t as tight at first, but one thing I’ve found is that mares have some amazing control down there. As soon as she looked down and saw that it was actually me inside of her, she clamped down with her muscles, slowing me down mid-thrust. My eyes slammed open at the sudden tightness and it felt like I almost broke my dick trying to force it in, but thankfully, she was wet enough that I just slowly slid through.

But it was enough of a wakeup call that I pulled out. “Naughty girl,” I said, walking over to the pile of toys and grabbing the crop. It felt nasty, but I was going to have to take several showers after that anyway. “Trying to hurt me like that.” I gave her a nice switch on the ass, making her gasp. “Tight, but not painful,” I instructed as I lined myself back up and reentered her warm depths.

She took a slow breath and I felt her walls tightening around me, something that’s really freaky. God, what the hell is wrong with horses? Sure, it feels good, but it’s just so weird! Anyway, when she felt ideal, I gently tapped her with the crop. “That’s enough.” Her ears flinched back and she stopped.

One hand held the riding crop and occasionally switched her while the other reached down under her to gently tweak the toy in her hershey highway while I just started fucking her in earnest. I was in an awkward position and somewhat regretting telling her to flip over onto her back, but being able to see her cute face as I stimulated both of her holes at once made up for it.

Her breath quickly began to pick up, since she was so sensitive after multiple orgasms. It didn’t take her very long at all to break again, her maregina going into overdrive and squeezing me just right. Since she’d had her fun and I was getting bored, I decided to stop fighting it and cum, hilting so I can force my seed deep inside of her. The massive blush she got on her face when she felt my cum coating her pink walls made it worth it.

I pulled out with a pop and let some of the fluids drip before dropping the crop and walking around the table. She was heavily panting, so I did her a favor and removed the ball gag. She took a deep breath from her mouth which I probably ruined by thrusting my softening dick inside. “Clean,” I commanded.

I don’t know how she managed a cross-eyed look of indignation at the intruder in her mouth, but she definitely did. In response, I grabbed a handful of her glowing mane and gently jerked it. She began licking me clean, getting a large taste of our combined fluids and making me sigh in pleasure at her relatively unskilled tongue.

When I decided it was clean enough, I let her hair go and pulled out. “Good girl,” I said, patting her gently on the head.

“That was certainly… interesting,” she slowly said, her voice breathy and tired. “I might need some time before we go on to part two…”

“Part two?” I asked, moving back to her lower half. “I thought I was in charge this night.” I touched the toy still inside of her and she closed her eyes, biting her lower lip. I put my hand back on her clit. “If you’ll tell me what you had in mind, though…” I started rubbing her again as I gently pulled the dildo out. When it was fully out, I continued, “I might be willing to accommodate you.” I threw it away from the other toys.

She smiled wickedly and pointed with her horn to her bookshelf. “Top row, in the little bag.”

I walked over to it and grabbed the bag. I heard her adjusting behind me. “What’s this?” I asked, opening the bag. Stones?

The blood drained from my face. She had my gender changing stones.

Without turning, I said, “I think I’ll have to pass on this, Luna.”

I heard a voice much deeper than Luna’s reply, “I’m afraid that isn’t an option, Navarone.”

I whirled around to see a giant pony standing and slinging its head, sending something careening off into the wall. Oh my God. It looked slightly like Luna, but a hell of a lot more evil. Where Luna was a dark blue, this mare was completely black. And Luna’s eyes definitely do not have cat irises. This pony was larger than she was, probably larger than Celestia. Her horn was longer. And was that… was that a helmet? This entire pony seemed to have a malevolent feeling pulsing off of it.

I backed away in fear. “Where’s Luna?” I weakly asked when my back hit the book case.

She smiled. “Don’t you recognize me, Nav?” she asked. “I am Luna. Or perhaps Luna is me. I am Nightmare Moon. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

I bolted to the door but didn’t make a step before I wasn’t moving anymore.

“Oh come now, Nav!” she mocked. “Surely you remember your agreement. You’ll do anything I say this night. You are my toy.” She used her magic to bring me closer. “And you got to play with me. Now I get to play with you. Be a good sport, would you?” She set me down.

“I didn’t make any agreements with Nightmare Moon,” I said. “I made my agreement with Luna.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know better than that, Nav.”

Fucking fuck. I hate being a man of my word. Or perhaps it’s a soon-to-be-woman of my word. I started pulling my shirt off.

“That’s the spirit!” the mare in front of me said. “Now, hold up that bag.”

“Luna… Are you sure about this?”

She smiled wickedly. “You promised me, Nav,” she said. “And you always keep your promises.”

I dropped the last bit of my clothes and held up the bag. “Where did you even get these? I thought I had them hidden!”

“You hid them at night,” she answered. “I was watching. Where do you think I went yesterday while you were guarding Celestia?” She used her magic to pull the two stones out of the bag.

“If you turn me into a chick and you use any of those toys on me, you will split me open,” I warned. After all, my female body would be a virgin. Probably.

Her wicked smile turned soft. “You were gentle with me, my first time,” she whispered as she floated the pink stone over to me. “I’ll be gentle with you.” The wickedness returned as the stone touched me. “Relatively gentle, at least…” I flinched as the stone touched me and I transformed. Why did I take these fucking stones from that cavern?

I opened my mouth to respond when her horn lit up brighter. I fell forward as my center of weight shifted and I turned into a pony—a mare.

I shuddered at the feeling. Nothing like being a stallion! I felt so much smaller than I had been as a stallion. And Luna… Oh God!

She changed shapes when the blue stone hit her. She was now a large stallion. A large, evil looking stallion with the tip of her cock gently protruding from its cover.

I saw that and swallowed, trying to back up until I hit the book case again. I am not in my comfort zone anymore. “Luna,” I whispered, my voice choked with fear, “I’m really, really not comfortable with this…” I felt my tail begin to curl underneath me, covering my… my marehood. I gulped again, unable to tear my eyes away from the slowly extending dick under her.

“Navarone,” she cooed, her voice much deeper, “I trusted you.” She began to walk forward slowly. “Do you not trust me?” She stopped when she was right in front of me and gently raised a hoof forward. I flinched back, squeezing my eyes shut. I heard her move back a pace. “Please, Nav!” she—he—pleaded. “I swear I won’t hurt you. I swear it.”

I slowly forced my eyes open. Luna was looking at me with a pleading expression. In a very quiet voice, I whispered, “Don’t gag me.”

She—He—sagged a bit with relief. “If I do anything to hurt you, just tell me and I’ll stop.” If it’s any consolation, he can’t last long. I don’t know why that thought hit me. I shuddered when it did.

Luna led me to the table and gently picked me up with magic and set me down on my back. I saw his legs put him at just the right height to… I closed my eyes again.

“Nav,” he said, “I’m going to get started. Your legs?” I noticed they were curled above me. I slowly forced them down—I had to force them since I was pretty much completely terrified—and he used magic to loosely bind them. He did the same for my upper legs. “And your wings?” They were harder to move for some reason. I was just barely able to force them out.

Luna stopped. “Why are you shaking?” he asked, his voice confused. He probably noticed my eyes were squeezed shut. “Nav?”

I couldn’t answer.

“Try to relax, Nav,” Luna whispered, gently rubbing my wings with magic. I felt him hit a few spots and flinched.

“Oh, I remember what you did to me alright,” he said with a smile. “But… I promised to be gentle.” Luna’s magic slowly caressed my fully spread wings. I felt a growing… hunger, perhaps, is the right word. When the caressing hit the nodes on my wings, I flinched back from it. I heard Luna walk to my back legs. “Relax, Nav,” he said. “I know it feels good because you just did it to me and I was begging for more.”

I couldn’t help but whimper slightly as he began to focus more on those two nodes. “It feels wrong!” I finally burst out. It did. This entire situation felt fucked up, like something Kat would do to me.

He rolled his eyes and finally just mashed the nodes down. My eyes went wide at the explosion of something—pleasure. This is what chicks feel? Holy fuck! I felt the magic on the nodes slowly release. As a stallion, I was cursed with my circumcision. The naga was too cold to feel good. Kat terrified me too much to feel all that great. Even as scared as I was here, though, I couldn’t deny that this felt… good.

“You’re silent, Nav,” he said with surprise. “Not a peep.” I imagined a grin spreading over his face when he said this next part: “You sure did fight against those straps, though!” He patted my flank with a hoof. “Didn’t do you any good, with those girly muscles you have.”

I was breathing out of my mouth now, panting. If that’s what she was feeling, no wonder she was wagging her tail! “Is… Is that all you got?” I panted, still unable to open my eyes.

Luna laughed. It was an evil sound, terrifying. I immediately decided that I needed to work on Luna’s bedroom manner.

I felt the table shake and fearfully opened my eyes. Luna was right next to my face, her front legs on the table, an evil smile plastered on her face. “The only reason I’m not impaling you right now is because I promised to be gentle,” he hissed.

I felt something hit a tender spot between my legs and I let out a gentle gasp.

“Already wet?” he whispered. “My my, you must really want this after all!” He began to push lightly. I squeezed my eyes shut again, trying to brace myself. “Oh come now, I know it doesn’t hurt already! Or… or does my visage frighten you?” I popped an eye open and realized from his expression that the question was rhetorical.

I flinched as he began to push further inside. I felt… I felt it in me. Oh God this is so wrong… He wasn’t slowing down, though. I think he was fighting to keep from speeding up. “I swear to God if you get me pregnant,” I muttered just loud enough to be heard.

“Shut up, you aren’t in heat. I would know if you were.” Luna was terrible at that and he was doing nothing at all to make me feel better at the situation. It was starting to feel less and less like something I was doing with a lover and more and more like another rape. So I did what I always do: Retreat into myself.

It’s an odd sensation, to suddenly think of basic biological facts when you were forced into a different gender into a different animal race from your regular one while currently being strapped down and fucked on a table. Namely, that since I wasn’t actually born with eggs, there would be no way I could become pregnant. And since Luna had only been a guy for a few minutes, there would be no physical way for her to impregnate me since she hadn’t produced any sperm y—HOLY FUCK!

He just popped my cherry! I let out a loud yelp, straining to pull up away from the massive hunk of meat probing me. Luna wrapped her front legs around me while I was straining with my back arched and held me close. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Just give it a minute. I know it hurts, but just give it a minute.”

It didn’t just hurt, it hurt! I bared my teeth and if I was still a human, I would have been biting. As it was, I couldn’t do much damage with these shitty horse molars.

I felt something brushing my wings again and I realized his magic was gently caressing the nodes again. “I’m going to start pushing again, Nav,” he warned me, still holding onto me.

It was still stinging, and it started to hurt even more as he pushed further in. Intellectually, I knew Luna would stop if I asked, but… Emotionally, I was so abused in terms of sex that I was too afraid to speak out. If this was Kat, she would love my pain and go faster because of it. If this was the naga, she would just ignore me.

So I just bore it, eyes clamped shut. I felt him inside of me and it hurt but I couldn’t stop it. Luna was moaning lightly at that point, and I was pretty sure it was his first time doing anything as a stallion. Hell, I knew I had to be tight, and my pain was probably making me clench down more.

If nothing else, I had a release in the continuing attention on my wings. Luna’s horn was still glowing lightly, pressing down on the nodes. It was the only thing about this that I liked.

With a shuddering breath, Luna stopped and looked down at me. “I don’t know how you can hold this in, Nav!” he moaned. “It feels so good! I just want to speed up and ravish you!” He gasped. “Are you okay?” he asked, shaking me slightly.

I opened an eye. “It… hurts,” I whispered. I saw him looking at me with concern.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked with an obvious reluctance.

I never wanted to do this at all. “I… I am yours, Luna,” I answered, my voice weak.

“That isn’t an answer, Nav,” he said.

“Yes it is,” I replied, my voice still shaking. “I promised to do whatever you told me. Don’t ask me if I want you to stop. Either stop or keep going.” I put my head back against the table and closed my eyes again. I felt Luna nuzzle me. “I’m doing this for you,” I said without moving.

He sighed and continued pushing in slowly. “I want this to feel good for you,” he said. “But it won’t if we don’t work through the pain. It’ll get better. If it’s any consolation, you’re squeezing me just… right.” He shuddered again, and began to pull out. I couldn’t stop a sigh of relief even though there was still a dull ache.

“That’s… that’s a lot of blood,” he commented. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I didn’t answer; what could I say? I had been a mare all of a few minutes, meaning I never had a chance to have my hymen torn. I felt him leap off the table. “You did this for me,” he said. “I suppose it is fair I return the favor. Though I’m sure you’ve had a bit more practice…”

I picked my head up and looked down just in time to see him extend his tongue and gently lick my clit. I gasped, feeling the pleasure. It still felt wrong, but as he kept going I stopped caring. “Still silent?” he mumbled around my clit. “I’ll make you moan before the night is out.”

I wouldn’t be particularly averse to that, at that point; his continued efforts were starting to build pleasure in my body, making me squirm. After a few minutes of Luna’s efforts, I began to buck, trying to ride a cock that wasn’t in me. Luna giggled at that and doubled his efforts.

Another minute later, I came, sighing deeply. It was like an explosion in my mind and my entire body seemed to shudder in pleasure. If that’s what these mares feel, no wonder they always want sex. I felt Luna lapping gently at the juices coming out of me. He giggled. “Didn’t get a moan, but I think I like this more,” he said with a sultry tone. “Tastes much better than I thought it would, that’s for sure.” I leaned my head back again, sighing.

A moment later, I felt his legs pound back down on the table. “Let’s try this again. But first…” He kissed me deeply, sharing my taste. When he broke it, he looked me in the eye. “Why are you so silent in bed?”

I turned away, unable to look at him. I felt the magic lift my head back up so I was forced to look at him or close my eyes. “Navarone?” he whispered.

“If I’m too loud, she wins,” I whispered, dreading the answer but knowing Luna wouldn’t stop asking until she got it.

His head pulled back and I closed my eyes, fearing some manner of retribution. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

I couldn’t answer.

“Navarone, it’s just you and me in here. You have nothing to fear. Tell me what’s wrong.”

I sighed. “Kat broke me,” I finally said, opening my eyes. “The only way I could resist was with silence. She… They had Spike…”

He gazed at me with sorrow before holding me again. He held me for a while. Eventually Luna pulled away and looked me in the eyes. “Are you ready?”

I gulped. “I’ll never be,” I answered. I was still scared, but it wasn’t as bad anymore.

I felt his tip gently tease my opening before popping in. I flinched again but he didn’t stop, just kept slowly pushing it inside. It hurt less this time, but it still hurt. He didn’t stop at all, just kept pushing in and out, slowly. I suppose it was much easier, now that I was wetter from cumming.

After a few thrusts, Luna’s magic went back to work on my wings, gently caressing them all over instead of focusing on any one spot. I was breathing deeply, trying to focus out the pain and focus on the pleasure on my wings. Luna was breathing shallowly, close to peaking. She was occasionally letting out a moan, considerably less now than when I had been toying with her.

With a grunt, she thrust in fully in one quick motion that startled me, causing me to gasp in pain. I know she hit her climax, but nothing came out; she had nothing to give. Her shuddering body fell on top of mine.

“I’m… sorry, Nav,” he panted. “I… just had to… thrust.” I let my head fall back again. “I’ll give you a bit of a break,” he said, his voice slowly returning to normal as he caught his breath. He fell back off the table. After a moment, I heard him bark a laugh. “If that’s what sex feels like for you, no wonder you flirt with every mare you meet.” Now that’s not entir—Well, yeah.

“That’s my natural response,” I finally said. “I only do it because I can’t tell if a mare is hot or not.”

He sniffed. “Shows what you think of me,” he said.

I picked my head up to look at him. “You are currently a stallion in the most terrifying pony body I have ever seen. The reason I gave in so easily at the beginning is because I was positive that if I didn’t, you would throw me on the table and force me anyway, until I realized you actually were Luna. And even then, I was absolutely terrified the entire time. So don’t you go talking about looks.”

He looked hurt for a moment before looking incredibly surprised. “You would just… give in that easily?” he finally asked. “Not even try to fight back?”

I blinked. “Fighting back is reserved for instances in which it would work. If I had a hand, I would tick off the assaults on my body, but I kind of don’t. So far I have yet to find a situation in which fighting would have accomplished anything but pain and suffering before I got tied down and raped anyway.”

His eyes flicked to my bindings and he flinched lightly. Didn’t think that one through, did you? “Why did you let me do that to you, Nav?” he weakly asked as he released the straps.

I tried sitting up before remembering I was a pony. I flipped over instead and turned to face him. “You told me to get on the table,” I finally answered, settling down in a position that calmed the ache inside me the most.

“I also told you to stop me if I hurt you!”

“The straps didn’t hurt,” I answered. Not physically.

“But the rest of what I did?” he demanded.

“What you did to my wings didn’t hurt,” I answered.

He slammed a hoof down and I couldn’t stop a flinch. “You were in pain the entire time!” he accused.

I just looked at him. I thought he had known. After a moment, he sighed, shaking his head. He closed his eyes and seemed to shrink. I blinked and realized he had turned back into Luna. The pink stone flew at her from where it was resting on the floor and she changed back into a mare.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. She swung her head so quickly I thought her neck was about to break. With a bright glow of her horn, everything around me went invisible. “This isn’t over,” she promised me. “And don’t move.”

She walked over to the door and flung it open with magic. A guard stood on the other side. Before he could say anything, she said, “If the next sentence out of your mouth contains the words tax report, I am sending you to the moon for a month.”

The guard gulped nervously, a blush appearing on his face as the smell from the room started escaping. Luna stared at him.

“I believe I requested not to be disturbed,” Luna said after a moment of silence.

The guard finally closed his mouth and coughed nervously. “There’s… there’s a visitor here to see you, Princess Luna,” he finally said. “She says she’s here to report some missing cursed artifacts.”

Luna blinked. “Is this a purple unicorn? Name of Twilight Sparkle?”

The guard nodded, “Yes, Princess. She is a student of Princess Celestia.”

Luna ground her teeth together. “Send her to me!” she demanded, her voice tense with anger. “I’ll be right here. Take a long route.”

The door slammed shut before the guard could respond. Luna turned to me, glaring as I returned to view. “Does Twilight know where you hid the stones?” she asked, walking up to me.

I shrugged. “I don’t think so. But she probably has some manner of detection spell to check where they are. My question is… how the fuck did she get here so fast?”

“Train rides don’t take that long…” Luna muttered something else and said, “Fine. You are the one who… broke her in, right?”

“She was in heat at the time, and needed release,” I said. “I helped her as a friend, nothing more.”

Luna smiled wickedly. “Well, now you’re going to help her as my hands.” The blue stone flew and hit me in the face. I flinched as I changed into a human again. “Get dressed,” she ordered. I did. She mused aloud, “It would be fun for her to walk in on us doing something… inappropriate. But she might alert the guard.” While she was talking, my ring floated up to me from where it had been thrown. “When I get her on the table, you slide that over her horn.” Her wicked smile got deeper. “Let’s find out why Twilight Sparkle is Celestia’s favorite student, shall we?”

I looked at Luna with a bit of horror. “This is rape, Luna,” I said. “There are a few things that I’m willing to go back on my word for, and this is one of them.”

She gave me an odd look. “You really don’t know much about ponies, do you?”

I shrugged. “I spent my time learning more about pony magic and pony history than pony anatomy.”

She smiled. “Trust me when I say that what we’re doing won’t be rape.” I was starting to run very, very low on trust. “Now stay away from the table; we don’t want her to bump into it when she gets here.”

I went back to the bookshelf and pretended to browse the shelves. “Good, Nav,” she said. “Just like this is a casual visit.”

I rolled the ring in my hand nervously. I didn’t know what Luna had in mind. I wasn’t going to hurt Twilight, but I don’t think I could stop Luna if I tried. I don’t even know what she had in mind.

And my mind was still reeling from what had just happened. I still felt a dull ache even though I couldn’t pinpoint where. I heard Luna say, “And we’re still going to have that talk, later.”

There was a knock at the door. I stared at the book case, pretending to look it over. The door slowly opened. “Come in, Twilight,” Luna said.

“Thank you so much for agreeing to see me, Princess Luna!” Twilight said with her usual joy at being seen as correct in a situation. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but—Navarone?” I heard the door slowly drift closed.

I turned to face her with a nod. “Twilight,” I answered.

She turned to face Luna. Instead of asking why I was there, she continued, “Some of Navarone’s magic items have gone missing!”

Luna looked to me for a moment before turning back to Twilight. “Which ones, Twilight?”

“The two strange stones,” she answered. “Normally I’m able to feel a small resonance when they’re nearby, but that feeling was missing today for some reason. I went to check to see if they’re where he usually kept them hidden, but they weren’t there.”

Luna smiled. “You worry too much, Twilight,” she said, walking closer to her. “This could have waited until morning, I think. But since you’re here…” Luna was standing right alongside Twilight now. She lifted a hoof onto Twilight’s back. “I think you could do with some relaxation. You’re so tense! Navarone here has been helping me with some human relaxation techniques.”

“You called him back from the forest to… help you relax, Princess?” Twilight asked, incredibly confused.

“Oh no,” Luna said. “He came back to bring me an old friend, and Celestia ordered him to stay in the city for some time. I’ve been helping him with pony relaxation techniques to get his mind off the arduousness of the forest.” Luna looped her front leg around Twilight’s shoulder and began to slowly lead her into the room. “Do you want us to help you relax, Twilight?”

Twilight’s eyes widened slightly. “I-I don’t know, Princess… I really think it’s important that we find those artifacts! Just imagine the trouble they could wreak!”

“Don’t worry about those, Twilight,” Luna purred, still leading her to the invisible table. “They’re already taken care of.”

“You know where they are?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” Luna answered. “Navarone has them.”

Twilight seemed to sag with relief. “Wonderful! Now, I really need to get back to Ponyville, Princess,” she said, trying to pull back. Luna didn’t let go.

“Nonsense, Twilight!” Luna said. “You relaxed a little, but you still seem so uptight! You really should let us help you relax.”

Twilight sniffed at the air a bit and began to blush. “I… I’m not certain I want to, Princess,” she answered.

Luna smiled. “So uptight indeed! You are definitely one of Celestia’s students; she always was such a bore. I made sure the students I had were always less tense. It always helped their mind, to relieve that much tension.”

Twilight turned to me. “Navarone?” she asked, her voice somewhat frightened.

I shrugged. “I’m obeying Luna’s orders,” I answered. “I had to make a deal earlier to help Rarity out.”

“And what do you suggest I do?” she asked after a moment of thought.

“That depends,” I answered. “If you want to be sexually exhausted and thoroughly pleased—” Luna gave me a mean look at that. “—then stay here. If not, I suggest turning around and walking away.” I looked at Luna and shrugged. “I told you: I’m not going to do that to her unless she’s willing.”

I thought Twilight was blushing before. Her entire face turned luminescent at that. She was still blushing when she finally said, “I’m in.”

I blinked in surprise and Luna smiled victoriously. Twilight looked… determined. Luna turned to me. “I should let her use the blue stone to punish you for that… But I think I’ll let Twilight have some fun.” Her horn glowed for a moment and all of the toys reappeared, along with the table that the two of them were now standing right in front of. “Navarone is going to be taking care of you, Twilight,” Luna continued. “And I’m going to be learning from him. So your pleasure can be doubled: You get to help teach somepony something, and you get to have a bit of fun yourself.”

Twilight was still gaping at the sudden appearance of the table. She finally blinked and looked at Luna. “What’s he going to do to me?” she asked.

Luna’s horn began to glow and Twilight lifted off the floor and onto the table. “You’re the third pony that’s been there tonight,” Luna said, her voice beginning to drip with lust. “As I’m sure you can tell from the puddles.” Twilight shuddered as she was placed against the table. Straps began to tighten down around her legs. When she was in place, Luna turned to me. “It is your show now, Nav,” she said with a filthy little smile.

I walked up and dropped the ring on Twilight’s horn. “Two choices here, Twilight,” I said. “You can either pleasure Luna with that little mouth of yours or you get a ball gag.”

Twilight looked up at me with confusion.

“Oh right,” I remarked. “You don’t know shit about sex. Ball gag it is, then.” I reached down and grabbed it from its resting spot. I don’t know how Luna had gotten it off of herself so quickly, but whatever.

“Nav, I’m… I’m not so sure about th—Mmf!”

I patted her cheek. “Luna wasn’t either. She got over it.” I looked over the toys I now had. Twilight was a lot shorter and smaller than Luna, so I was going to have to be more careful with her. She also didn’t have wings I could abuse. I turned to Luna. “I don’t reckon unicorns get any pleasure from their horn?”

“Nothing non-unicorns can do,” she answered with a smile. “I know there are some techniques unicorns can do to each other, but I don’t know any.”

I shrugged. “I prefer more down-to-earth methods over magic any day.” I walked around to Twilight’s back legs. “Nervous, Twilight?” I didn’t wait for a response, just began rubbing her pussy. She twitched when she first felt me, but settled down a bit. “If I start going too far, swish your tail for me. And too far means I’m hurting you, not that it feels good.” I turned to Luna as I was rubbing Twilight. “I don’t suppose you know the names for any of the things down here?”

“I just know what feels good when you touch it,” she answered.

I nodded slowly. “Figured as much. Damn ponies don’t have any sex-ed in their schools.” I snorted. “Still, I figure what you have is better than what they teach where I come from.” Twilight was finally getting wet, and her clit began to poke out. I grabbed it and began to rub it. “What I’m rubbing right now is called the clitoris,” I said. “It’s probably the best feeling thing you have down there.”

I proceeded to give a very detailed vaginal lesson to Luna—and Twilight, I suppose, if she was able to pay attention through the pleasure of what I was doing; she came at least twice during the lesson.

“I’m honestly surprised how little you ponies know of your own sexuality,” I finally said. “I know you guys have sex for pleasure, so there’s no reason for you to know as little as you do!”

Twilight tried to say something, but I slapped her on the flank with the riding crop. She let out a groan through the ball gag—she had been doing that a lot, and my response was always the same. I was trying to train her out of over-explaining something no one really cares about.

So instead Luna answered, “I really don’t know, Nav. I… I never really had much of a chance to do stuff like this. Now what was it that you did to me earlier? With… that other hole.”

“Oh, that’s called anal.” I explained that to her as well, using a small toy to demonstrate with Twilight. “Most girls don’t really care for it, but if you’re a gay guy, that’s pretty much all you can do unless you want to suck each other off. Any more questions?”

She shook her head.

“So now that the lesson is over, how about we really break Twilight in?”

Luna smiled. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well… I still haven’t had too much in the way of release tonight. I help Twilight learn how to give you some release and you turn me into a stallion so I can rut you both until you drop.” Being a horse was less fun, but I lasted longer since I was less sensitive. The opposite is true in real life, but I was assuming the ponies were more evolved, and could last longer during sex. I mean, stallions in real life? Done in less than fifteen seconds.

Luna looked pensive. “Do you really think you could outlast us both like that?”

Twilight tried getting my attention again and got the same response. I answered, “I’m part tree. I have a whole lot of stamina and I barely feel pleasure or pain, especially due to some scar tissue as a stallion. I help Twilight out, she helps you out, and when I wear her down, I move on to you. Sound fun?” Twilight tried one more time and I finally actually hurt her when I hit her with the crop.

Luna thought for a moment. After a little while, her smile deepened. “I have another deal: If you cum before we’re both completely worn out, Twilight gets to take the blue stone and you get the pink one and your situations get to be swapped. The game itself is what you get if you win, I suppose.” Twilight looked up from her table with a nasty look for me.

I looked at Twilight with a small smile. “Deal,” I said. “Before you turn me, let’s get Twilight started on you.” I led Luna up to Twilight’s head and pulled the gag out. Twilight licked her lips nervously. “Twilight, you were paying attention when I was teaching Luna. Do with your tongue what I was doing with my fingers.” She nodded, not trusting her words just then. “Show me,” I said, pulling Luna so her marehood was level with Twilight’s head.

After a moment, Twilight tenderly pushed out her tongue and began to give some unprofessional licks. Luna let a small gasp escape. I patted Luna on the flank as I turned back to Twilight’s lower legs and began to take my clothes off. “I’m ready, Luna,” I finally said. She didn’t answer, just turned me into a pegasus.

I popped my neck and put my forelegs on the table. “It’s a good thing I already broke you in, Twilight,” I said. “I am just itching to ravish something.” I heard Twilight choke as she pulled her head away from Luna to look at me with horror.

She saw the evil look on my face and gulped. “Don’t… don’t hurt me, Nav!” she said.

“Go back to Luna and I’ll think about it,” I said, my smile dropping some of its evilness.

Her eyes widened and she quickly went back to pleasing Luna with her tongue.

“Good girl,” I said. I looked down to aim properly. “Swish your tail or scream or something to stop me when you give up.” With a gentle repositioning, I propped my stallionhood right up to Twilight’s hole. With no other warning, I began to fuck her. Not rough, since I’m not a dick and she was completely unable to resist, but I was going to make this mare walk funny when she was done, if she was able to stand up at all.

I lost myself in the motion of in and out, in and out. I don’t know how long I was at it when I saw Luna pull away from Twilight. “Her tongue stopped working,” Luna complained. She got a look at Twilight’s face, covered in mare juices and drool. She was blushing heavily, her tongue stuck out and her eyes rolled up in the back of her head. “Oh, it looks like you broke her, Nav!” she said. “Keep going!”

I did. I know my legs were getting wetter and wetter as I pounded her, and I felt the pleasure in my dick slowly building, though I knew I was nowhere close to releasing just yet. With a full-body shudder, Twilight came one last time and I pulled off of her. “I think she’s spent, Luna,” I said. “How long have I been at her?”

“Oh, about an hour,” she answered. That can’t be healthy… for me or her. Twilight was unable to do much of anything, I think, aside from maybe sleep. When I pulled out, my dick seemed fine, but I knew it should be smarting.

“Unstrap her and float her to a bed, Luna,” I said. “She’s out for the count.” I walked around and removed the ring from her horn with my mouth as Luna undid the straps. She floated Twilight over to a couch and unceremoniously dropped her.

“Now, where were we?” Luna asked pleasantly, turning to me with a dirty smile.

“I think I was just about to wear your pussy out,” I answered.

Luna sniffed. “It hardly seems fair, I say: I’ve been toyed with all night!”

I shrugged. “Turn around, then, and let me get back to trying to cum. Sooner I do, sooner it’ll be done.”

She smiled. “Now that Twilight is out, we could do something a bit… different.”

I answered her smile with my own. “I think I’ll stick with the deal, Luna.” She clipped a hoof on the floor; I think she was hoping I’d have forgotten. “Now, turn on around so I can give the good princess what she deserves.”

She turned around but couldn’t help getting the last word, “If you want to help the good princess, you’ll have to wake her up.”

I mounted her and bent down to her ear, “In that case, I prefer the dirty princess,” I whispered before thrusting inside her. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go at her for nearly as long as I did Twilight: She gave up about fifteen minutes in.

She bent her neck down, breathing out, “I’m done, Nav!” I sighed and gently pulled out. I still hadn’t cum! Fucking trees, man.

“I just can’t win, can I?” I asked. She turned her head to look at me. With a small glow of her horn, she flipped me onto the floor and put her head to my crotch.

“This should make you happy, I think,” she purred, wrapping her lips around my dick. She slowly took the entire thing in, not choking once. She looked me dead in the eyes. That is fucking hot. I don’t even care if she’s a horse!

She gave me head for five minutes, moaning slightly to ripple along my entire head. Her throat clenched me in just the right places at just the right times, even though I could barely feel it. I finally came in her mouth. Her eyes widened a bit before closing as she swallowed my seed and tried to pump me for more. I finally leaned back on the floor, satisfied.

“Still silent?” she asked when she pulled her mouth away from my dick with an audible pop. She set herself down on the floor next to me. “If this is what it takes to satisfy you, I think I’ll be getting these stones each time we have sex so you can be the mare.”

I sighed. “This time I was trying to make it last so I would win and because it felt really good. If we start having sex on a more regular basis, I’ll be a human so it’ll be more fun.”

She snorted. “Show-off. Rest quickly; I’ll have to do my best to revive Twilight so she can revive me so I can get back to princess duties.”

I raised my head enough to see Twilight on the couch, still looking pretty dead to the world. “I think she’s out of it, Luna,” I said, lowering my head back down. “You might just have to go about your duties leaking mare juices. I’m sure your guards will love that.”

She looked at me when I said that. She did not look that amused. “About your… comments,” she said, glaring at me. “I would not like Celestia’s horn anywhere near my… Ugh! And if you ever tell any of my guards what we just did, I’ll turn you back into a mare and let them have their way with you.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her threats. With her voice still sounding deep and breathy like that, she sounded so cute! “And your maid?” I finally asked, still wearing a smile.

She glared at me for a moment before breaking her mood with a giggle. “She is pretty cute…” She turned her head back. “We really need to get up, Nav.”

“You do,” I answered. “I can stay here all night and you’re the only one that’ll miss me.”

“Our original deal doesn’t expire until the sun comes up,” she said. “So you’re mine until then. If I need to get up, you need to get up.”

I sighed and got to my feet. She looked up at me in surprise. I smiled. “I have a shitload of stamina, remember? Hell, I could probably ravage your pussy again in a few minutes, if you really wanted me to.” Actually, I doubt that. God, my crotch is starting to fucking hurt.

Her eyes widened. After a moment, she smiled. “I think I picked my paramour well.” With a grunt she pushed herself to her feet. She looked over at Twilight. “Yes, she is much too content to be moved. I’ll send her off when she wakes up later in the morning.” Her horn glowed bright and I turned back into a human. I quickly grabbed my clothes; it was cold in that room without fur or clothes.

I grabbed my ring from the table when I had the clothes on. Luna finally opened a window to let some of the interesting smells out. I went into her bedroom and grabbed a blanket for Twilight; we might be leaving her on a couch, but I could at least leave her on a couch with a blanket. I threw it over her and tucked her in. Luna watched with an unreadable expression.

That done, I finally straightened my body out and stretched, popping all manner of joints. I finally turned to Luna. “Ready when you are, Luna,” I said. “Though you really should take a shower to wash the smell off of you.” I grabbed a bit of her still flowing mane and breathed in deep. “Smells like sex,” I sighed out.

“And what’s wrong with a princess having a bit of fun?” she coyly asked.

“Oh, nothing,” I answered. “I quite like the smell. I just thought it was unbecoming of you.”

She rolled her eyes. “This has been fun,” she said. “We’ll have to do it again some time.” Like we just had tea. She led the way out. I followed, shaking my head.

At least she forgot the conversation we were supposed to have.

(Sex is over)

A note from your loving Discord

When Blueblood fled from the garden party, he went straight to his royal chambers, exhausted and humiliated. He stared at pictures of himself for an hour or so, tears leaking from his eyes.

When he finally gained the mental fortitude to flee his rooms again, he went straight to the throne room to talk to Celestia, to try to convince her to punish the human. He peeked inside the room first, to make sure she wasn’t receiving anyone he wasn’t important enough to trump.

He looked in to see the human placidly standing at Celestia’s side while a peasant recounted some manner of grievance, face to the floor.

Blueblood fled the throne room in horror. He sought solitude within the labyrinth.

Instead of solitude, he found me.

I whispered into his mind as though from a great distance, “Do you want revenge, Blueblood?”

He blinked, thinking his mind playing tricks on him. He looked around to make sure he was alone before whispering, “I would give anything to look the same…”

A gentle wind blew an old photograph past him, flitting the image it contained in and out of view. He saw it, saw part of the picture it contained, and eagerly followed. It led him to a small fountain cunningly woven into the bushy walls of the labyrinth. The picture landed face down in front of the pool of water.

Blueblood bent down to flip the photograph when his eyes brushed to the water. He froze, looking into his reflection.

It was whole, unblemished and unbroken. “Do you care so little about your looks that you would let the one who broke you go free?” I whispered into his soul.

Blueblood just continued staring.

“Do you remember what it was the human told you, that night in the tower?”

I felt his mind flick back to that night. I saw him recall what I had said: Do you really think she would waste all that energy to send me here to babysit you? I’m not a guard, and you’re in no danger here.

“You were in no danger… from anypony else.” I felt his mind rushing as he looked into the water, past the reflection. “Why do you think he was there, Blueblood? As he said, he was not a guard. He is an agent, one who specializes in dirty tasks. What is more dirty than transporting a poison used to kill an upstart noble? You saw him around that black cat. You saw him feeling her up. It was the perfect chance to pass on any kind of package.”

His mind was still trying to deny it. “But… the dog! It couldn’t have been the human… He was poisoned too!”

“Yet he suffered no ill effects. And yes, the dog. Do you remember what happened right after you recovered?” He most certainly did. The whole changeling crisis can’t be so easily forgotten, even by one as self-centered as Blueblood. “The dog vanished, Blueblood. He could very easily have been one of Celestia’s agents who was relocated when his use was fulfilled. The changelings were a perfect scapegoat.”

“Auntie Celestia would never… She loves me!”

“Does she? Or did she? Flip the picture over.”

With a trembling hoof, he did so.

Depicted on it was the transformation process between Navarone’s human body and Egill’s body, with the beginning and end result clearly shown.

Behind the shock in his mind, I felt the rage begin to grow. I continued, “Oh, he is hardly the ideal replacement: He’s no unicorn, for example. And he doesn’t have any highborn blood in him. And he’s not even the same species, or at least not really. And he certainly doesn’t have any manner of honor.” I felt his mind grow a bit more enraged at each word. “In fact… Celestia must just really hate you to replace you with him… Or perhaps she just really loves this new human.”

“Love?” I felt his shock grow a bit. Mind, I had no clue if Celestia actually did love Navarone: I decided that trying to pick through her mind would ruin the game for me.

“And she isn’t the only one. Think: Who all did you see today with him?”

“Luna,” he whispered. “He has them both in his pocket.”

“And he’s building more and more friends. Fancy Pants, for example, just seems to adore him. And I’m sure you remember how they all treated you.”

He ground his teeth so hard together that some of them broke under the rot and pressure.

“Do you just want your looks back? Or would you prefer some manner of revenge on those that did this to you?”

“Revenge,” he whispered, voice dripping with hate.

“And how far are you willing to go to see them suffer?” I ask, my voice growing in his mind as though I was getting closer.

“I would do anything to make that human suffer.”

I filled his mind with laughter as I stepped out of the picture still at his feet. “I think you might recognize me, Blueblood,” I said, keeping my voice relatively grave.

“The draconequus statue…” he whispered, flinching back from my presence. “I thought you were a myth!”

“I am quite real, I assure you.” I said. “And I am very, very powerful.” I snapped my fingers and brought forth a mirror. I held it up for him. “I can make you whole again. I can bring you revenge against Celestia and her servants. And I can give you power.”

He was staring in the mirror with a disturbing sense of desire. I lowered it for a moment and pointed to the water. He looked at the mirror for a second, wishing it would snap back up, and finally contented himself with looking into the water. He gasped, seeing himself as he was: broken.

“You must choose, Blueblood,” I told him. “You can stay here and be replaced and forgotten. Or you can come with me, and remake Equestria as we wish it to be.”

He stared into the water for a long while.

“Blueblood disappeared yesterday, Navarone,” Celestia told me when we met the following morning. “Right out of the palace.”

“I was with Luna. I’ve been with at least one of the two of you since you stole me away from Rarity,” I answered.

“I wasn’t blaming you, Nav,” she replied. “I was just commenting on it. Now, before you leave, visit your friend from Ponyville. I’m sorry your short stay was so stressful, but you seem to be an absolute magnet for trouble.”

“I don’t suppose there will be any manner of trouble over what happened with Blueblood?” I asked, pretending to sound hopeful.

“Not from me,” she answered with feigned disapproval. “But he did have a few allies in court. There will be no official discipline, but don’t be too surprised if you find yourself unwelcome by a few ponies here.”

“I was unwelcome by a lot of them just by being different. I suppose I might as well give them a real reason for it.”

“Being different is something you could have overcome with time. You might have made some life-long enemies, Nav.” After a second, she fixed herself, “Their lives, anyway. I don’t suppose you have to worry about that as much.”

“Truth be told, I don’t really care what happens in this court. I take my orders from you and Luna. The rest of them can fuck off.”

“I’ll remember you said that, Nav. Now go on. I don’t have all day to devote to watching you, and you still need to visit Rarity.”

“I don’t really need to do that…” I caught Celestia’s look—it was one of those—and sighed. “But I suppose it might be good for her mind to know I’m okay. I’m sure our departure yesterday didn’t leave her with much confidence.”

“Then go tell her you’re okay, Nav. I will see you again later, I suppose. At the Gala, if not before.”

I left and made my way to Rarity’s apartment. I found her there, pacing the floors worriedly. “Navarone, you’re okay!” she yelled, throwing herself at me as soon as I stepped inside. I barely managed to stop from flying back outside.

“Yeah, Rarity. Celestia decided I was too important to go too hard on. She just made me pull guard duty for several hours.”

She dropped her hug immediately and said, somewhat disgusted, “Guard duty? I spent all night worrying about you for guard duty!?”

“It was really, really boring,” I tried placating her with. She sniffed and turned her back to me. “It’s not my fault Celestia has a mind built for cruel and unusual punishments. Maybe worrying about me was your punishment for using me and Luna yesterday.”

She turned back wearing a smile. “I’m not mad at you, Nav. Not after what you did for me. I was just… shocked, is all. Tell me, did anything happen to Blueblood after his display?”

“He apparently disappeared sometime last night,” I answered. “No one knows what happened, or if anyone does, they aren’t saying.”

She got a bit of a sad look on her face. “I know he was a stuck up self-centered jerk, but I can’t help but feel sorry for him… He might have been able to change, now that he didn’t have as much to be proud of.”

“He was too full of hate, I think. I’m just worried about what happens now; will he want revenge against me for my part in it?”

She sighed. “Let’s not talk of such matters, Nav. This is a happy time! After what you did for me yesterday, we’ve both been invited by Fancy Pants to everything he does in the future! There’s a Wonderbolt show happening today in a few hours. I don’t think you’ve ever seen them fly before, so this would be a wonderful thing for us to go to!”

That actually did sound kind of interesting; Rainbow Dash managed to make watching pegasi fly in circles sound interesting. However, I really didn’t want to get caught in Canterlot again. “Sadly, I can’t. I need to get back to the forest.” She gave me her puppy dog face, which I was able to ignore. “Blame Luna. I’m her knight and this was one of her orders. The only reason I’m here right now is because I knew you’d still be worrying about my departure yesterday.”

She sighed. “Well, thank you for putting my mind at ease, at least. I’ll be sure to tell Fancy Pants that you send your regrets for not being able to attend. I’m sure he’ll understand. I suppose I’ll see you back in Ponyville in a few days?”

“I should be back in a week or so. This little break kind of cut into my plan of a week in and a week out. Have fun with your high society people. Oh, and you were right: Fancy Pants does seem to be someone worth having as a friend. The rest, I don’t know.”

She smiled. “I’ll be sure to tell him you said that, too. Good luck in the Everfree forest, Nav. Celestia knows you’ll need it…”