FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Say it!" Luna begged shaking Cielo a little trying to get a response from the dark grey stallion. "Why won't you say it!?"

Cielo drew in a deep breath and shook his head a little. "If you want me to, promise me Princess Luna. You have to promise to listen to what I have to say first, by listen I mean just that. Actually listen and care about what I have to say... I don't think you understand the repercussions of your actions." Cielo looked up as Celestia who was still glaring at him angrily. "I don't think either of you do."

"I'll listen Cielo i'm sorry, I should not have asked you to stand with me." Luna nuzzled under Cielo's chin, she had stopped sobbing but the tears were still running down her cheeks. Her heart hurts and her mind raced still, she could tell Cielo was far from being okay and though she was in pain Luna felt if she could calm him down everything would go back to the way it was and all would be forgiven.

"You have a lot of nerve." Celestia growled. "Do you have any idea how much your little stunt hurt her?"

Luna turned to Celestia. "Stop please... don't fight just let it go..."

"I have some nerve? What about you? You don't care how your little stunt made Luna feel or how it would affect me, neither of you even considered me. I was just some pawn you two used against one another!" Cielo snapped angrily.

Celestia went to open her mouth but once more Luna pleaded "Stop the both of you please... no more I can't handle more arguing... Please just stop..."

Celestia swallowed her pride and did not respond to Cielo though she wanted to badly. The show had wrapped up and ponies were starting to leave the bleachers and go over towards the barn. It seems a little after party was planned, many of the ponies wanted to hang around and mingle with the wonderbolts while they had the chance. Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie did not mind in the least either, the longer everypony stuck around the more likely they were to buy something. The reporters had hung around too waiting patiently for a chance to speak with Princess Luna

"Let's go somewhere a little more private and talk then." Cielo suggested, "Because I will not bite my tongue Luna, not the way i'm feeling now."

Luna turned back to Cielo and agreed "Anything you want... where should we go?"

"Wait, what am I to do? You can't expect me to just sit here while you two run off. I don't trust Cielo alone with you right now." Celestia protested.

Cielo scoffed, "Please if I was going to do something I could have done it long ago Princess so save it." Though agitated, Cielo had a great deal of confidence about his voice making Celestia's blood boil at the thought of him taking advantage of Luna. "You wanna join fine but you will keep your nose out of our business until I'm ready to deal with you because mare I have got a lot to get off my chest."

"That's fair right?" Luna asked looking back at Celestia. "Sometimes it's best just to listen... we can do that can't we?"

Cadance, whom had been sitting quietly, placed her hoof on Celestia's back. "Listening couldn't hurt."

Celestia did not like this one bit but at the same time she felt she had no choice, Cadance had obviously worked hard to get Cielo back, Luna was distraught and willing to do whatever it took to work through this and deep down Celestia knew this was her fault. If she declined or tried to argue she would only make things worse for Luna and cause her further pain. Celestia lowered her head a bit losing her look of anger and replacing it with one of defeat. "Yes... I'll listen, I can do that much."

Cadance gave Celestia a pat on the back knowing it was not easy for her to give in. Cadance then peaked to the side of Celestia so she could see Luna. "I'll keep the reporters busy for as long as I can. You do remember you promised them a little interview don't you Luna?"

Luna let out an annoyed sigh. "No... it slipped my mind, I must look horrid right now." Luna looked at Cadance giving her a soft but genuine smile. "Thank you for your help Cadance... really on everything thank you."

"Family looks out for family." Cadance replied smiling back, "If I were you I would use magic to teleport elsewhere for now, it won't have to be far but if you try to fly they will see you."

"I'll take care of that." Celestia replied softly, "Thank you Cadance, you have been a great help as always." Taking a deep breath Celestia's horn lit up, with a flash Celestia, Luna and Cielo vanished.

Cadance left the cloud and flew down below where the reporters had taken notice and were curious as to what was going on. Cadance explained to them that the interview was still going to take place but Luna just wish for a bit of time to freshen up beforehand. The reporters bought it and went about mingling with the other ponies and enjoying themselves to kill time.

Within the blink of an eye Celestia, Luna and Cielo appeared in Celestia's chambers back in Canterlot. Luna still had her hooves around a very confused Cielo.

That was Cielo's first time ever being teleported anywhere and it was a rather odd experience. "Well then... that was interesting."

Luna slowly leaned back a bit so she could look into Cielo's eyes. "Okay, now that we are somewhere private please talk to me Cielo; you have my full attention."

Cielo did not see just how bad Luna looked until they were in a well-lit area, the light from the fire showed Luna's eyes were a bit puffy. It was evident that she had been crying for some time. "Let me start by saying..." Cielo wanted to be mad at her and in fact still was but he never thought Luna would have been so upset by him just taking off. Cielo changed his tone to a softer more caring one before continuing, "I'm sorry." Taking his hoof Cielo gently brought it up to Luna's cheek tracking the tear line that was visible. "I'm sorry I made you cry, I'm sorry I hurt you by taking off... do you know why I became so upset with you?"

"Because you felt as though I were using you as a pawn so I could get back at my sister... right?" Luna asked a bit unsure herself, she only knew what Cielo had told her.

As Cielo expected Luna was clueless aside from what she was told." Not just that," Cielo explained. "Though that was a portion of it. The other reason is because you did not seem to care how I felt afterwards. I was stressing out, playing over each scenario in my head of every possible repercussions this announcement, this lie could have. All you seemed to care about at the time is that you were able to best your sister yet again. That's what really got me."

Luna looked apologetically into Cielo's eyes and expressed how sorry she was once more; the princess of the night had never felt this way before. She actually felt ashamed of herself, Luna felt remorse for turning on Celestia and trying to cause her harm but never ashamed.

"I know you're sorry and I trust you did not mean to make me feel that way... one of the reasons I came back." Cielo lowered his head a bit, "I wanted to yell at you, scream even... until I was able to see your face. I have caused you enough harm tonight Luna and I really don't think I need to say more because nothing I say will be harder on you than how hard you have been on yourself." Cielo turned his attention to Celestia, "You however Celestia are a different case altogether, what the hell were you thinking announcing we were engaged like that. Do you have any idea the amount of trouble you have caused for not just Luna but me as well?"

Celestia remained silent looking into Cielo's eyes as he spoke; she knew things could have gone differently if she had not let Luna get under her skin.

Luna nuzzle up to Cielo remaining there with her muzzle resting against his chest still not taking her hooves off the stallion.

"I'll take that as a no, well then let me fill you in princess. Not only will Luna be under a magnifying glass now but so will I, you know everything about me including my past. You've known for a long time now so don't try to tell me different."

"Yes Cielo I know of your past." Celestia replied somberly.

"Then you know you just handed over a loaded cannon to several ponies, I have kept a low key over the years for a reason and now because of you my name is going to be plastered all over every paper in Equestria." Cielo's voice started to grow agitated as he continued, "And what do you think is going to happen when certain mares and stallions who know me, know what I have done or what I did to them myself, what will you do when they come forward and paint a pretty picture of who I was to anypony who will listen hmm?"

Celestia did not care for Cielo's tone with her but out of love for her sister she gritted her teeth and dealt with Cielo's attitude. "Yes... I see your point..." Celestia said through her teeth. "But what was I to do? Did you even hear me when I was talking about the pictures of you two?"

"What Pictures?" Cielo asked having been in his own little world at the time and oblivious to what Luna and Celestia had been talking about.

Lifting her wing Celestia used her magic to levitate the manila envelope offer to Cielo and remove the contents, lifting her had a little she flipped through the three shots slowly so Cielo could get a good look at each. "This is why I did what I did Cielo... I had no guarantee that the young photographer I got these from gave me the only copies. If I did not make that announcement and these happen to come up in tomorrow's paper my sister would have been branded a harlot. A whore Cielo... I could not let that happen to her..."

"So you chose that moment to stand up and announce that we are engaged to all of Equestria which by the way, news flash, we are not!" Cielo pointed out.

"Well... what else was I to do smart stallion?" Celestia asked adding a little bite to her tone, "Need I remind you that you..." Celestia once more changed her tone, "Well you were kind of drawing a lot of attention and it did not help when Luna made you remain on the cloud with us... I." Letting out a sigh Celestia stopped fighting all together and just admitted it was her fault. "I messed up and let my anger get the better of me."

"You could have just told Luna calmly you had good reason for not wanting to draw more attention by having me join her and that you would explain after." Cielo said in a disappointed tone. "And that reminds me." Cielo looked down at Luna who had yet to let him go. "Luna I'll put up with a lot of things but please never grab me like that again, it's not only embarrassing and emasculating but you made me feel like a foal being put in a time out... it was uncalled for."

"I'm sorry..." Luna replied softly not lifting her head up enough to look at him, she may had made him feel like a colt but he was getting his payback on her at that very moment. Luna felt like a little filly being scolded for making a mistake and it was not a feeling she was finding pleasant in the least.

"Say I did that then? What would be different after that?" Celestia asked trying to follow what Cielo would have done.

"You talk to us after the show, share your concerns and the photos and we would have come up with a plan, we could have worked together to fix this without causing anypony any embarrassment." Cielo explained looking back at Celestia.

"So what now...?" Luna asked wanting to end this argument. "Celestia was wrong and so was I, we both made mistakes even though we both should have known better than to argue in public... and we both upset you with our actions..."

Cielo looked down at Luna and smiled a little. "Do you plan to hide your face on my chest for the remainder of the night?" Taking his hoof Cielo gently rubbed Luna's back. "I said I was sorry and I forgive you... you can stop worrying."

"Will... you say it then?" Luna asked slowly looking up at Cielo with pleading eyes.

"Yes Luna, I promise never to leave you like that again." Cielo spoke softly smiling a little, though Luna was upset the way she was looking at him was adorable in his eyes. "Now, please tell me what you mean when you asked 'what now' Do you mean where do we go from here?"

"If you want... I'll say it was all a lie like I should have done from the start, you shouldn't be dragged into this just for the sake of my silly image." Luna said softly, "As far as we know Celestia has the only copies of the photos and there is no telling if they will pop up again but it's a risk I'm more than happy to take to show that I'm sorry." Luna thought for a moment, "Or if we did... you know...go with it, then we could just cancel the trip and I'll stay here so we don't have to deal with the media at all... that could work right?"

Celestia shook her head slowly but kept her muzzle shut letting Cielo choose as Luna wished.

"We can't just hide. That will solve nothing and create its own set of problems and as far as coming out and saying it was a lie... not the best option either considering that's a good way to get under a lot of ponies skins, and then that will bring up the question as to why Celestia lied in the first place, why you also lied to cover for her, why I was on the cloud and why you chose to come clean..." Cielo took his hoof off Luna's back and rubbed his head a little. "Celestia anything you can do about possible negative press that comes our way... mainly things that will be aimed at me."

"Yes... I can try that it but keep in mind I can't force them to keep quiet, I can only ask the editors to... overlook things pertaining to you." Celestia replied.

"That will have to be good enough then." Cielo shook his head, "This is going to be hard and I hope you both realize that. We need to plan and plan well if we are going to pull this off."

"What do you mean?" Luna inquired.

"I mean if we are going to appear as though we are engaged, then we have to act like an engaged couple would. That means we might have to play up our affection a little in public, we cannot disagree in front of other ponies and we will have to define how we will act around them and in front of the media."

"Like acting? But Cielo what's wrong with what we have now?" Luna seemed confused, she loves Cielo and Cielo seemed to love her back so why would she have to act.

"I agree with Cielo." Celestia tossed her opinion in, "Say you wake up and are not feeling to par or maybe you two had a little argument and might not be too happy with each other... like Cielo is now. It would be best to be able to fall into a default role so as to keep the appearance of the two of you being unified and on the same page... well unless you two actually decide to end things."

"Never!" Luna quickly snapped back at Celestia for even bringing up the thought.

"Well then... it would seem we have some planning to do." Cielo pulled back a little causing Luna to let him go, she looked a little worried as he did so. "Luna I say this not in a mean way but you should go freshen up. If we are to parade around for the press you must not look like you have been crying and your eyes are a bit puffy right now. We don't need them probing into why you were upset."

Luna took a little offence but did not say anything to Cielo, things were finally calming back down and she was in no rush to try to escalate things. "Y-Yes... I guess you're right."

Celestia and Cielo sat in an awkward silence while Luna cleaned up, they did not look at each other or even glance.

Celestia was the one who finally broke the silence between them. "It's not going to be like this from now on is it?" she asked referring the how quiet it was between the two of them. "I said I was sorry, I let you talk and did not argue. What more do you want?" Celestia did not get snippy with Cielo while asking her question.

"No, just until I'm done being pissed off at you." Cielo replied calmly, "What more do I want... hmmm. Well how about for starters, you stop thinking I'm going to take advantage of Luna. You seem to be throwing the 'how little you trust me' in my face every chance you get despite you saying you do trust me and putting me with your sister in the first place. You should get checked out sometime, I think you might be bipolar"

"I think you have to be depressed to have it qualify as bipolar." Celestia turned her head a bit and looked over at Cielo. "Tell me do you think if they examined your head it would be any better?"

Cielo looked out of the corner of his eyes to see Celestia looking at him. Turning his muzzle towards her he smiled a bit. "In some areas yes but then again if I was as old as you my mind might be going too."

Celestia smiled a bit happy she was able to break the tension. "I'm sorry Cielo, I really am. I was just looking out for my sister... and the way you hurt her when you left. That's what the comment about not trusting you was aimed at. I know you have been good to her as far as... behaving yourself. You have done well in that area for a long time." Celestia turned to Cielo a little more. "I know I was wrong Cielo, this was my fault but that does not mean I forgive you for taking off... you should have just stayed and voiced your concerns after."

"When emotions get high mistakes are made, I won't say I did not mean to hurt her because I knew that taking off would upset her I just did not think so much and at the time I was too upset to care... that sounds so horrid when I say it out loud but it's the truth." Cielo admitted.

"Well let me make one thing clear to you Cielo, I can understand why you took off but you made my sister a promise here today. I will hold you to that you know." Celestia's expression grew a little more serious. "I care for you Cielo, you know that... but if you ever purposely break my sisters heart... I'll be sure to repay the favor tenfold."

"Threats really?" Cielo cocked his head a little seeming unintimidated. "You really want to make threats to me right now?" His tone growing a bit deeper.

"I'm just giving you my feelings on the matter, is that not what you wanted? Would you rather I be fake and whisper nothing but sweet lies to you? I love my sister and I don't want to see her hurt. I know I caused her pain today but not nearly as much as you did by leaving and DON'T try to blame that all on me... Yes I admit that I helped push you to it but you are the one who stood up and took off. I did not force you Cielo."

Cielo glared at Celestia for a moment before turning his head taking his eyes off her. You're right, I did make that choice and I know it was a mistake, but your threats do not affect me. If you really want to be sure that Luna stays happy perhaps you should stop trying to drive a wedge between us. Honestly Celestia I love Luna I really do but I can't keep putting up with you sticking your nose in at every turn. Give us some breathing room, as of now you dumped even more weight onto our backs, we have enough without having to lug you around too." Cielo's voice had returned to normal as he continued to on.

Luna had finished cleaning up and was now listening in on the conversation. Luna felt if she walked into the room Cielo might stop talking and she did not want to miss this thinking she might pick up a bit of useful information.

"Well maybe..." Celestia went to counter but was quickly cut off.

"I'm not done yet!" Cielo raised his voice and stomped his hoof on the floor turning to Celestia once more, this time in anger. "This is not about you for once so do what you said you would and open your ears while keeping your muzzle shut."

Celestia could feel her blood pressure rising, her anger building up at Cielo's disrespect for her. She went to open her mouth but heard Luna's voice inside her head. 'Please don't argue... for me' Looking back Celestia saw Luna quickly duck her head back behind the door realizing now she was listening in.

Looking back at Cielo Celestia simply raise her hoof. "Okay I'll keep quiet please continue." Repeating to herself over and over again in her head 'do it for Luna'

"Thank you, I get you want to protect her I do but damn it Celestia you are so blinded by your own ego you don't see the harm you do. You think yourself a great shield for her without realizing you have your spikes pointed at the very pony you want to protect. Each time you block a hit for her you're spikes cause her harm from the recoil. Luna said it best when she said its one step forward and two back with you. Last night was amazing, I honestly thought I had seen the end of you two bickering, then you showed up today and surprised us both with a festival for Luna so she could be given what you considered a proper send off. Then what happened? You had to find a way to ruin everything you worked so hard for with one swift an idiotic action. It's baffling to me it's like you set yourself up just to fail. If I did not know you loved your sister so much I'd swear you enjoyed hurting her... STOP putting your nose in where it does not belong. It's not that you care or want to help that's the problem it's you never think things through... stop and THINK about your actions please! I'm begging you PLEASE use your head before just acting. What was your plan on threatening me? Let's start with that, what if I had told you to buzz off and just left. You would blame me fully when YOU could have stopped it from ever happening in the first place by simply keeping your muzzle shut. Just... Think Celestia THINK!"

Celestia looked at Cielo for a moment watching the stallion pant lightly, it was clear he had been holding back on some of his frustrations with her. "Okay..." Celestia had nothing more to say, Cielo had nailed home some valid points that disarmed Celestia from being able to reply. "Is there... anything else you want to get off your chest?"

Cielo shook his head a bit. "No, I think I'm done."

Luna re-entered the room at that point going back to Cielo's side. "Better?" She asked nuzzling his cheek.

"Much." Cielo eyed Luna a little, "You look a lot better Luna, again sorry I upset you... It won't happen again."

"As I said you are forgiven." Luna smiled softly; she looked over at her sister Celestia and smiled happily. "Thank you dear sister for biting your tongue, I know it was not easy but... thank you for letting him vent."

Celestia nodded her head a little, getting up she walked over to Luna and Cielo. Putting her hooves around both of them she pulled them in close for a hug.

Luna was quick to embrace her sister but Cielo took a few seconds.

Cielo could feel Celestia wanted to move on and so did he, taking his hooves he embraced the two sisters tightly.

The hug lasted for several minutes before Celestia let the two go, with all their feelings vented and the air cleared Celestia was pleased enough to force her own feeling down to keep from causing more trouble. This seemed like a good conclusion, Luna and Cielo seemed happy and everything seemed to be back on track now.

Luna, Celestia and Cielo all started to talk about the engagement and the best way to go about it. All three of them decided leaving the date of the socalled wedding undetermined for now thinking it best to simply say Luna and Cielo were too busy to make any solid plans at this time. This would allow Luna and Cielo time to really let their relationship grow and give the two the chance to see if they really were meant to be.

After hammering out all of the assorted details Celestia took Luna and Cielo back to Ponyville to face the rather annoyed reporters.

Luna apologized for the wait and with Cielo at her side the two of them were interviewed. Every question was faced at Luna putting all the pressure on her and much to Cielo's surprise Luna was nailing it. One thing Luna really seemed to excel at is dealing with press ponies while under pressure almost like she welcomed it as a challenge. The date for the wedding did pop up among the onslaught of questions Luna had to endure but Luna was expecting it.

A few photos were taken of Luna an Cielo though the chances of them being used were not very high, even with the flash none would come out as good as previous pictures taken earlier in the day. After the interview Luna and Cielo caught up with Spitfire.

Sharing a few hard ciders together Luna and Cielo explained everything to Spitfire after she had inquired about the sudden engagement announcement. Needless to say Spitfire did not approve of this illusion Luna and Cielo had cooked up with Celestia but she did understand the reason behind it.

After catching up for a few hours with Spitfire Cielo and Luna decided to call it a night, ponies had started to leave and the farm was just about empty by now.

Luna thanked Spitfire for her effort and apologized for missing some of the show, Luna also made Cielo apologize to his mother as well for not sticking around but did so in a playful way being sure not to actually force him.

Bidding farewell to Celestia and Cadance, Luna and Cielo set off towards town. The wonderbolts stuck around for a little while longer, helping Apple Jack clean up a bit as a favor to Rainbow Dash, before taking off themselves.

Luna and Cielo made their way to the hotel, checking in the two of them made their way up to their room on the second floor after having a brief talk with the mare at the front desk who seemed overly excited to have the couple staying at her inn. Once Luna and Cielo found their room the two settled in for the night, Cielo taking to the bed and laid down ready to get some rest and to start fresh with a new day.

After taking off her armor Luna joined Cielo in bed and gave Cielo a kiss goodnight but decided to stay up for a bit letting Cielo know she was not yet sleepy. Luna waited until Cielo fell asleep. Wanting to be sure, she gave him a few pokes to see if he would react. Feeling convinced Luna used her magic to open her saddlebags and take out the book Celestia had given her. With things going the way they were Luna felt it best to start learning now instead of putting things off until it was too late. Part of her was still nervous opening up the book and yet a larger part of her was eager to learn, she felt if she knew more then maybe it would also help her relax so she would not be so tense over something as simple as a kiss.

The first few chapters were nothing Luna did not already know, she was more than old enough to know all the changes her body had gone through physically but she read them anyway for the bits on how her emotions were affected as well finding them informative and helpful. By the third and fourth chapters of the book Luna could feel her body heating up a bit, Luna's cheeks a soft red. Blushing Luna read on covering the stallion's and mare's anatomy and reproductive organs, then on to chapter five, mating.

Luna continued to read for hours until she had covered every last aspect of the book all the way pregnancy and birth. Putting the book away Luna lay her head down after blowing out the candle, the room dark and silent, only the soft sounds of Cielo's breathing could be heard.

Rolling over Luna cuddled up to Cielo, her mind racing with what she considered perverse thoughts. The book explains a lot but raised more questions as well as caused a few new feelings to surface. Closing her eyes Luna kept tight to Cielo, to her surprise she felt the stallion bring his wing over her and pull her a bit closer to him. Nuzzled against Cielo's chest, her mind slowly letting her thoughts drift away, Luna slowly fell into a deep peaceful sleep.