Chapter 25: A Time I'll Never Forget

WARNING: This chapter contains content not suitable for younger readers and has been rated M. The part I am talking about should be very obvious.

Important: Read the author note at the end of the chapter.

Near Canterlot Train Station
Local time: 1000
Two months, twenty-eight days since arrival

It's been three weeks since operation Shadow Gems and a lot has happened. For a week Shinning had all the guards on high alert because of what the crystal guard said at the party. Only a few single soldiers and three small groups had been found in the frozen wastes around the empire and after a week Shining took the guards off high alert sending a force of two hundred to the empire just in case something was missed. I doubt that he would make his new base was there since more than a few shadow soldiers were found frozen, unable to move… unable to die. The next week there was an attack on Appleloosa. The town would have fallen if the buffalo tribe that lived in the nearby desert hadn't come to the town's aide. The attack was mostly comprised of Shadow Gryphons and Shadow Earth Ponies, plus most of the damage was to the buildings and orchard. It looks like we really did destroyed most of his army, now he's getting desperate. My recovery has been faster than expected but I guess having Luna around helped. She stayed with me for the first week and when she went back to Canterlot she checked on me every night in my dreams. Most of my injuries have healed and I'm out of the wheel chair. I still can't fly but my wing should be healed enough for short flights in six to nine days and fully healed in two weeks. I also preened them for the first time and if Dash hadn't said anything I doubt I ever would have. Of course I asked Dash to do if for me, since it was my first time, only to find out that letting somepony else preen you is a sign of affection. Needless to say the rest of the conversation was very awkward.

At least one good thing came out of being in that wheel chair, I had plenty of time to learn offensive and defensive spells. Until the second week of recovery I wasn't able to practice any of the spells but I've gotten proficient with all the spells I found useful, plus I've almost mastered the dome shield spell. The spells I know include flamethrower, lighting bolt, ground spike, and blizzard plus shock and the two shield spells. I picked ground spike and blizzard because they were unusual and two of the least commonly used combat spells. Then again the average unicorn hasn't need to know combat spell in almost a two thousand years. Ground spike allows the caster to manipulate the ground below their enemy and form it into a spike that come out of the ground seven feet at a rate of ten mile per hour. Blizzard creates a small snow storm that covers a quarter mile radius and obscures the vision of everypony inside it except for the caster. I also found a spell that would be useful if I ever face Shadow Steel in one on one combat. Unfortunately its considered dark magic so I haven't practiced it unsure what would happen I somepony found out I knew the spell and planed on using it. I know dark magic has a tendency to corrupt ponies so I made a vow that I would only use it if absolutely necessary.

The train's wheels emitted a high pitch noise as it pulled into Canterlot's train station. Princess Cadence had invited me to visit the Crystal Empire, naturally I invited Luna to join me. Luna said she was going to visit the empire soon anyway, she need to talk to Cadence about something. There was a ten minute wait before the train would leave so I left my new cold weather cloak and boots on the bench to keep another pony from sitting there while I got off the train. On the platform I looked for Luna, normally this wouldn't be a problem given our heights but the excess steam from the train was blocking my view. Five minutes later I was starting to get worried, until I felt somepony brush up against me. "You know, you look kind of cute when you're worried." I chuckled, "Well it just one more of my charms." Luna giggled at that, "Come on, we'd better get on before the train leaves without us." Just after we sat down the train started to move again, the next stop being the empire. For the beginning of the ride we just sat next to each other. Luna was resting her head on my shoulder, which drew a few looks from the other passengers but they quickly lost interest. "Steel, I have a question."

"What is it Luna." She looked uneasy, like she didn't know how to start her question. "Well, it's something that I've wanted to know for a while. When you talk about your past in the military you only talk about the bad times. Did you ever have any good experiences?" I looked out the window, "Yeah, it's just that the bad experiences are harder to forget." She snuggled up to me, "Could you tell me some." I shrugged, "Sure, one of my favorite times was during my first posting. I just got out of basic and I was assigned to one of the most decorated squads I knew of, the Iron Wolves. Their reputation was so well know that sometimes my drill instructor would talk about them during basic. They were a five man team and they would sometimes take on a rookie to give them some extra hands on training. I was just the lucky one who got to join them. I was only with them for two months but I got some of my best training then… plus they were some of the nicest people I ever met, almost like a second family. I know most soldiers talk about how their squad is a second family. I felt it with the other squads I was in but for some reason with the wolves it felt more real." I must have gotten lost in my memories because Luna started shaking me. "Can you tell me about them?"

"Where to start… well you know there were five of them and me. There was Brawler, he was our close quarter combat and explosives expert. He got his nickname because he loved getting into fights, fist fights not gun fights, that's why he excelled at CQC. Next was Casing, he was the heavy weapons expert. At first I thought his finger was surgically attached to his weapon, he carried five times more ammo than the rest of us and went through most of it in one engagement. There was also Doc, she was the only woman in the squad and one of the best medics I've ever met. She was also our equipment specialist. If we needed something specific for the mission she would be the one in charge of it. The squads second in command was Beats. He was a musical genius, while he couldn't make music he could pick a song to go along with any situation. He might have just been a rifleman but he was irreplaceable. Finally there was Wolf, squad leader, sniper, tactician, and overall weapons expert. While he preferred to us a sniper he could use any weapon given to him." Luna looked confused, "I thought your old nickname was Wolf?" I chuckled, "That was the short version of it. My full nickname was Little Wolf. You see when the wolves took me in they brought me on a few missions before trying to figure out what my specialty was. I showed promise at all their fields of expertise but I didn't excel at any of them. Eventually Wolf figured out that I was like him, I could use any weapon… but it also went beyond that. Wolf was good with weapons but he had thing he wasn't good at, I could do everything. While my skill would never match a specialist, if I wanted to keep all my skills, I could fill any position a team needed. I remember this one time we were working with the Maniacs, they were a prototype squad. They all had heavy armor that would defect bullets without restricting mobility and their only weapons were knives. Anyway during the mission we had split into groups of two to decrease the chances of being detected. When Wolf and Beats failed to regroup with us the rest of the squad looked to me for leadership. It was the first time I had been in charge of anyone." For the rest of the train ride I told Luna stories of my time with the Iron Wolves. When we reached the train station we found Cadence waiting for us. I found it odd that the station was a good half mile away from the empire. I guess after being gone for a thousand years the princesses were being careful with how fast they introduced the crystal ponies to modern technology.

"Steel, Luna, it's so good to see you two again." While we walked to the place we talked about what happened since we last saw each other. When we reached the palace Luna asked me if she could talk to Cadence alone. I saw no problem with that so I went to go find Shining. He was in one of the courtyards training what looked like new recruits. "Hey Shinning, how are the recruits doing."

"They could be better. But it's only been a few day, I'll wait a little longer before I really kick their flanks." I laughed at that.

POV change: Luna

After Steel left Cadence and I went down to her study for some tea and a place to talk. As she poured the tea she began the conversation. "So Luna, what did you want to talk about?" I swirled the tea in my cup, unsure of how to start, "Well, it's about Steel…" She looked confused, "I thought things were going great between the two of you." I nodded, "It has nothing to do with us not getting along its just… *sigh* I realized something after what happened in Canterlot three weeks ago. Do you know how many times Steel has almost died or been seriously injured since we met? Five, five times in almost three months. I'm just worried that something will happen to him before we take our relationship further. And I want to take it further but I'm worried that I would be forcing him to do so before he's ready. I don't know what to do Cadence." She sat their drinking her tea as she thought about my situation. "I'm afraid the only advice I can give you is to talk to him. He might also be ready to take your relationship a step further but is too afraid of forcing you to do so that he hasn't said anything. If not at least it would be a good idea to talk to him about this." We talked about the best way for me to talk to him about this when the whole castle shook. "What was that?"

"Look, there's smoke coming from the base of the palace. We should go down there, somepony might be hurt." I agreed with Cadence and both of us ran to the source of the smoke. We were unprepared for what we saw.

POV change: Steel

I dogged yet another blow that was aimed at my head. I knew that Shadow was desperate but I didn't think he was desperate enough to attack us in broad daylight with over two hundred Crystal Guards, plus the two hundred guards Shining sent from Canterlot, guarding the target. I still wasn't sure what their target was, perhaps he thought that if he stole the crystal heart the empire would fall into disarray. Turning my horn into a flamethrower I torched ever shadow soldier within range. Hearing a gasp from behind me I turned around to see Luna and Cadence standing in the doorway that lead to the palace. Fighting my way over to them I made sure none of them would get close enough to touch them. "What are you two doing here, get back inside. We can handle this." Turning back to the fight I created a dozen ground spikes and drastically thinned the enemy presence on this side of the battlefield. Moving forward I engaged a squad of Shadow Unicorns that had managed to keep the guards back using magic. I managed to kill two of them with a lightning bolt before they scattered. Not long after that they were cut down by the guards. However, my victory was short lived when I was struck from behind. I must have blacked out for a moment because next thing I know I'm on the ground. A shadow unicorn was standing over me with a chunk of crystal three times the size of my head in his magical grasp. I tried to move out of the way but I couldn't, either that blow to the head did more damage than I thought or it was keeping me pinned. It raised the crystal above my head with the intention of crushing my skull. I don't know why I stopped struggling, maybe it was because I thought I couldn't escape or maybe it was the realization that after all my near death experiences I would die alone on the battlefield. As the crystal feel two I saw two blurs, one white one blue, enter my field of vision. The blue one rammed into the shadow unicorn while the white one went for the crystal. The crystal landed next to me with Shining on top of it. "They're falling back, push forward." I felt somepony pulling me away from the guards and towards the castle. "Steel, can you hear me?"

"Luna?" or at least that what I tried to say but like the rest of my body my mouth failed to move. Looking to my right I saw that Luna was keeping pace with whoever was dragging me. "How bad is it?" I felt somepony touch the back of my head followed by intense pain. "It's not good Princess. There's a large amount of blood, but luckily it's not purring out of the wound. It seems the blow has affected his motor skills. If we get him to a doctor now he should be fine." I felt myself being moved onto Luna's back, "Then let's get moving Captain Armor." We passed through multiple hallways before entering a room. "Here, lay him on his stomach." I was put on a cold table which, like the rest of this place, was most likely made of crystal. "Head trauma, minor bleeding, disrupted motor skills. Drink this, it will help you to sleep." I had some trouble swallowing but eventually I started to drift off to sleep.

POV change: Luna

"Will he be okay doctor?" The doctor shook his head, "I'm not sure princess. Until I clean the wound and find the problem I can't give you a definite answer but I think he will be fine and walking again by the end of the day." Shining left to go check on the guards while I stayed behind. As the doctor cleaned the wound I noticed that most of the blood remained in Steels head. "This is not good. Princess I may need your help. There is a crystal shard in his brain which I believe is what's affecting his motor skills. I need you to hold him down, even unconscious he might thrash around which can just make it worse." I nodded and moved to Steel's right side and put my hooves on his shoulders. The doctor grabbed a par of large tweezers and turned Steels head so he was facing away from him. Steel shifted as the doctor inserted the tweezers into the wound. When the doctor started to pull the shard Steel's started to struggle. The doctor had gotten the shard out but not before Steel accidentally bucked me. "Is that it doctor?" He shook his head and moved Steels head so that it was hanging off the table. "There is still a large amount of blood in his cranial cavity which needs to be drained. I think he will be fine but I won't know for sure until he wakes up. He was very lucky, if the shard was three millimeters to the left he would have been paralyzed permanently, two millimeters to the right and he would have died." I thanked the doctor for saving Steel's life and left to find Cadence who suggested we get something to eat. "Are you okay Luna, you've been awfully quiet."

"No… he almost died again. If the crystal shard that was in his head was two millimeters to the right he would have died. I don't know if I keep doing this. I don't want him to get hurt but if I force him to stay behind he won't be the same pony I fell in love with. He's a soldier and he always will be, I can't just keep him away from that part of himself. I don't know what to do Cadence." She pulled me into a hug. "I know it's not easy, I'm still afraid Shining won't come back. But I was a lot worse, talking with him helped me and I would recommend you do the same with Steel. Shining promised he would do everything he could to come back every time and I think Steel would do the same for you." We didn't talk much while we ate. After we were done eating Cadence went to find out how bad the damage from the attack was and I went back to check on Steel. When I reached him he was awake… somewhat. "How are you feeling Steel?" He looked really tired, "I've been better." His words were slurred, I guess the medicine is still affecting him. "What time is it?"

"Its five o'clock. Which means we should start heading home." He nodded and tried to stand but almost fell over and I had to support him. "A little tired Steel?" He mumbled something about it being the medicines fault. It looked like he was having a hard time staying awake so as soon as we reached the train I put him on the first bench I saw. Sitting next to him I saw him yawn again, "You know you could take a nap it's a four hour train ride." He shook his head, "I don't want to sleep, it's the stuff the doctor gave me." I giggled and rested my head on his shoulder.

The screech of the train's brakes woke me up and I found Steel's head resting on top of my own. Smiling I shook him, "Steel, it's time to wake up." He rubbed his face and yawned. "Where are we?" I stood up and stretched my legs, "Canterlot. I know you planed on heading right back to Ponyville but can you stay awhile? There's something I want to talk to you about." He looked a little concerned, "Sure Luna, no problem. Besides, no stallion should let a mare walk home alone." The walk to the castle was relatively quiet although Steel asked about what I wanted to talk about. All I told him was that it had to wait until we were somewhere private. Canterlot's streets were mostly empty considering the sun went down three hours ago and anypony still out is probably at a club on the other side of the city. As we walked I noticed that Steel would glance at me every now and then, I guess with me being so secretive he's concerned. We stopped for a moment when Steel was distracted by a poster for the annual Canterlot Magic Contest and show some interest in trying it. When we reached the castle I led him to my bedroom. I opened the door and he walked in. Before joining him inside, I told the guard posted by the door that we were not to be disturbed for anything unless my sister came down here herself. "So what is it you want to talk about Luna?" I laid on my bed and patted the spot next to me. Steel laid next to me, "What is so important that we needed to be alone?"

"Well, I'm not sure how to start. Cadence said the best thing to do was to talk to you about this but I thought I would be easier." He put a wing over my back, "Just start in whatever way makes you feel comfortable." I nodded, "Well, in the time I've know you there have been six different times when you were seriously injured. The first time we met you had hypothermia. I just… I'm scared Steel. Scared that one of these days you won't come back, I don't want to lose you." He pulled me in for a hug, "You won't lose me Luna, not without a fight. I know I've gotten hurt a lot but it's not like I want to get hurt. I've never wanted to hurt you in anyway. If it makes you feel better I promise that I'll do my best to stay away from danger." I nodded, "Thank you Steel." He moved to get up, "Steel wait there is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. Well you getting hurt today made me realize how often you get hurt. But I also realized that I want to take our relationship to the next level now, in case I don't get a chance to later. I just don't want to pressure you into something you're not ready for." He kissed me, "Luna, I've loved you since the day we met, I didn't realize it at the time but it was defiantly love. I'm ready but I didn't want you to feel pressured so I didn't say anything."

"Oh, Steel." We kissed again but this wasn't like any kiss we had before. I could tell that we both poured our love into it. Time lost meaning and eventually I felt his tongue ageist my teeth, seeking an entrance. Our tongues met in a battle for dominance which ended in a stalemate. We explored each other's mouths until we had to pull away for breath. "Luna…" I rolled us so that Steel was on his back and kissed him again. He wrapped his hooves around me as we continued to kiss. Soon one of his hooves moved to the spot between my wings and began moving in a small circle causing me to moan in pleasure. He rolled us so that he was now on top. Seeing him on top of me caused my wings to unfold like springs. "I know almost nothing about pony anatomy but I think that's a sign of excitement." Blushing, I flipped us again and managed to get one my hooves between his legs. I locked our lips together and slowly stroked his sheath causing him to moan into my mouth. "Now who's excited," I moaned as his wings sprung out and I rested my wings on his. I soon felt his length leave his sheath. "Luna, do you have any protection?" I cast a silencing spell which would keep all sounds from escaping this room. "Now we do, no pony will hear us."

"That's, uh, not what I meant. Do you have a condom?" Huh, "What's a condom?" He sighed, "Wow, I really killed the mood. It's something that would prevent a mare from getting pregnant." I moaned as he rubbed me between the wings again. "You weren't kidding when you said you knew nothing about our anatomy. Mares will go into a cycle we call, heat when they can carry a foal. Every mare can tell when they're in heat, only being unsure the first few days. We have nothing to worry about." He looked unsure, "Or at least I don't think we do." I added in my mind.

POV change: Steel

Here I was with the pony I loved and I cock blocked myself because I wanted to be safe. Luckily it looked like she was willing to continue even with my interruption, "Are you sure?" She nodded and I kissed her again, "Now, where were we?" She smirked and instead of kissing me, licked the base of my horn causing a wave of pleasure to surge through me. "You really should have read about our anatomy." She began to kiss my horn from the base to the tip. Each kiss was accented by a wave of pleasure, leaving me in a state of bliss. She licked the tip of it with her tongue just before she began to suck on the tip. Even while I was assaulted by the pleasure she was giving me through my horn I remembered Luna. I placed a hoof on her chest and slowly moved it lower until I found what I was looking for, accented by a slight dampness. My horn was touching the back of her throat when I rubbed her the first time. Causing her to gasp, moan, and then gag before taking my horn out of her mouth, throwing her head back and moaning again. As we continued our various pleasurable acts I felt something building up in my horn. A few moments later it reached its peak and I felt my horn discharge. I couldn't really see anything, you know since it was on my head, but I could see some sort of light being emitted from it. Luna lowered herself so she could look me in the eye. She licked her lips in satisfaction, "Reminds me of fire fruit. I think it's my turn." She released me and rolled onto her back. I moved to give her horn the same treatment but she grabbed my shoulders and moved me lower. "I think we've done enough with horns." I wanted to argue that she deserved the same as me but the seductive smile she gave me…

Reaching her lower body I saw it, glistening with moisture. Surprising since I had done so little to her. The smell it was giving off reminded me of a breeze on a warm night. Pressing my muzzle to it caused Luna to moan. Giving it a lick caused her to shudder and a few more produced the same result. I began lapping at it like a dog and as it got wetter Luna's moans got louder. I gave her clit a quick lick before dragging my tongue down its length. Pressing my muzzle to it again, I twisted slightly opening her passage and inserted my tongue, slowly. She withered on the bed as my tongue explored as much of her passage as possible. Her moans soon became shrieks as she neared an orgasm. Pulling my tongue out, I ran it up and down her slit a few time before stopping and clamping my lips around her inflamed nub. That sent her over the edge and she screamed in pleasure and came on my face. Pulling away and moving up so that we were looking each other I was surprised by what she did next. She licked my muzzled, despite having her juices on my face, and then kissed me again. I rolled us so she was under me, "Are you ready Luna?"

"I've been ready. I want you to take me, make me yours." Aligning my cock with her slit I looked at her again just to be sure. After receiving a nod I slowly push forward causing her to squirm from the feeling. Not long after I felt something impeding my progress, "Luna…?" She grunted in annoyance, "Just push through it." Pressing forward it quickly gave away causing Luna to gasp. Whether it was from surprise, pleasure, or pain I wasn't sure but I didn't get a chance to ask because she wrapped her hind legs around my barrel, pulling me further in. After a brief pause, in which my worry increased, she began to buck her hips. I took that as a sign and pulled out until just the tip remained in her and pushed back in. She cried out in pleasure as I pulled out again and pushed in again. After a few more repetitions she took over, rolling me onto my back while I was still inside her. She was practically impaling herself while she kept getting faster and more erratic. She leaned down and started kissing me again. As she lowered herself again I felt my tip brush against her deepest barrier. Again she threw her head back and moaned. She rested her head against my chest allowing me to nibble on her ear, which for ponies is apparently a pleasurable act. I soon felt myself reaching my limit and judging by Luna's raged breathing she was too. "Steel, I'm *moan* getting clo-ose" I grabbed her flanks to keep her steady, "Me too…"

"Steel, I want yo-ou to fill me. *moan* Please, fill me with you-u're…" She was cut off as she reached her breaking point. Her warm juices flowing down my shaft pushed me over the edge. She quickly filled up and the excess flowed around my cock and onto my tail and the bed. Luna lowered herself onto me and I pulled the sheets over us. Neither of us had the energy left to do anything else within minutes I found myself drifting off to sleep.

Authors Note: First I would like to say that this will be the only sex scene in the story so if you felt uncomfortable or disgusted by it, don't worry it won't happen again. Second, I don't want reviews posted with negative comments because of the sex scene. I wrote it, move the fuck on. Third, now that I have put in a sex scene I feel I should share my views on clopping. Personally I find it no different than henti and as long as you keep it where it belongs I'm fine with it. No I am not a clopper. I don't look up pony porn but if I come across a sex scene in a story I don't avoid it. I find that sometimes it enhances the story and further strengthens the bond between the characters. Of course if it is just plain disgusting or disturbing I will skip it, no questions asked. Completely unrelated to this chapter, I have the plan for the rest of the story and my estimates put it at five more chapters before it's complete. These are just estimates but expect no less than four and no more than seven.