It felt nice to wake up to the feeling of my forelegs being compressed against my chest, and the feeling of Ribbon cuddling me made me feel content with the world. “Mmmmm, don’t go. you're so warm.” I heard Ribbon moan and squeeze me tighter. “Ribbon, I love you.”

“Mmm. love you too.” I gave my snuggle bug a nuzzle, trying to rouse her.

“As much as I would like to staying bed with you all day, we still need to explain some things to Mirage, thanks to Wendy deciding to give Mirage ‘ideas’”

“I’ll punish Wendy later. No sweets for a week.”

“That still leaves the problem of Mirage blurting about sex again.”

“It’ll pass in a month or two, I’m sure.”

“God, What the hell possessed wendy to teach her that kind of thing?”

“Thanks to her, we have to teach, what would be a 5 year old not to yell the word ‘sex’ at the top of her lunges.”

“As well as more than likely give her ‘the talk’.”

“And she’s not even 1.”

“Well, It could be wor-”

“You do it, I already had to tell not to do several other things, like not to eat rocks, blue flowers, and ponies.”

“Do I even want to know what caused that last one?”

“I think she was trying to put holes in their legs.”

“Well, look on the bright side, it could have been worse.”

“Worse?”

“She could have caught us in the act.”

“How? I have a guard at our door.”

“Didn't stop her from finding us while we were going to get her… wait, so... so someling overheard everything that happened last week?” My cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“... It’s for our safety?”

“Oh who am I kidding. Most of the hive would know exactly what happened anyway if you spread the memories over the hivemind.” Hear that? that was the sound of my dignity violently dying. “As if knowing Maria was watching wasn't bad enough… speaking of her, has she showed up since the last time you encountered her in a dream?”

“No, she hasn’t showed up again.”

“Well, enough stalling. I guess I’ll go give Mirage the talk. Or do you want to keep cuddling me?”

“Ugh, you can go.” Ribbon levitated me out of bed and undid the buckles, taking the straight jacket off. I soon walked out the door, giving the guard a small wave, as I made my way to Mirages room.

When I did get there, I entered her room. She was playing with small rocks, like a game of Marbles. I took her away from her game and sat down in front of her. “Mirage, we need to talk.” She looked up at me with big blue eyes that screamed ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did.’ “look, sex is one of those things that for the most part, should never be talked about around other ponies. I’m not mad with you, you wouldn't have known that this was one of those things that aren't fit to be talked about in public.”

“Not for public?”

“Yes, it’s not something you talk about in public. Even Pinkie knows not to talk about it. well… unless shes drunk.”

“Wendy didn’t say that.” Of course she didn’t.

“I think she used you as part of a prank on me and Ribbon. A rather unfunny prank. how much did she tell you?”

“A whole bunch, she said it was fun and all I could do, but she said I could get sick and said what not to do.” Well that saves me a lot of time. Wendy gave Mirage ‘the talk’.

-Ribbon? Wendy allready game Mirage ‘the talk’, she just didn’t mention that you’re not supposed to talk about it in public.-

’That’s a relief, I’ll reduce her sentence to no sweets for a day.’

“She also said that, Mommy and Mama like to make it interesting. What did she mean?” Oh god why?

-Help…-

’Why, what did she ask?’

-she said Wendy told her we like to ‘make it interesting’ and now she wants to know what Wendy meant by that.-

’Just, tell her she’ll understand when she’s older.’

“You’ll figure it out when you're older.” I blushed a brilliant scarlet, once again reminded of how nice it felt.

“Ok.”

-Well, this went better than expected.-

“What about adult toys, she said you had some?”

-I stand corrected. She wants to know about ‘adult toys’-

’She what?!’

-Wendy told her we had ‘toys’ we played with when we had sex.-

’I’m going to kill her!’

“You might want to tell Wendy to hide.”

“Why?”

“Because Ribbon might just make her go away forever.”

“Does that mean I went to far with my prank?”

“Wait. WHAT!?” My shout was most likely heard throughout the whole hive.

“Real Mirage is on the ceiling.” I looked up, and sure enough, she was, waving to me while wearing a pair of fuzzy earmuffs.

“Wendy? I really do suggest you run. Ribbon finding you is going to be the ]least of your concerns. considering me and you are going to have to have a little… talk.”

I saw her gulp and her eyes widen. “Y-you wouldn’t hurt your daughter right?”

“Wendy, you've been caught in the act. Just run. Its no fun when they don’t run.”

Wendy bolted out the door, transforming back to her own self on the way out. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore, and started laughing, as mirage crawled down from the ceiling, taking of the pair of earmuffs. “Mama noisy.”

-Ribbon? We got pranked by Wendy. she was pretending to be Mirage.-

’So, wait… Mirage doesn’t know? Can I still kill Wendy?’

-To answer your questions, the minimum Mirage knows was she was told to shout ‘sex’ and ‘banging’ for no reason by Wendy. And trust me, I got Wendy thinking you’re the least of her concern, and should be avoiding me.-

So… no killing Wendy? Bummer.

-Why kill when you can scar them for life?-

’What are you going to do?’

-remember how I mentioned that I wondered what would happen if I pulled someone into a shadow with me?-

’Yeah?’

-Guess who just volunteered to be the test subject?-

’...Wendy?’

-Bingo. Now lets track her down.-

“Mama’s going to be a while, Mirage. I have to track down Wendy and have a little talk with her.”

“Mama scary.” She said it in a playful manner, so I must not be that scary. Giving a her a wave goodbye, I set out to hunt down wendy. It was really easy, considering I could sense her fear.

“Ohhhh Wendy! I know you're around here somewhere!” I whipped my head around to one of the guards, the fear was coming from that one in particular. “I found you!~” The guard in question burst into flames and Wendy ran down the halls, with me in hot pursuit. “Come back! I just want to perform science!”

“Perform it on Ribbon!”

“But you volunteered to be the test subject!”

“I want my lawyer!” She wasn’t looking at where she was headed, and slammed into a wall. Seizing the opportunity,, I wrapped my hooves around her, and we both begun sinking into my shadow. “No, no no no. Let me go, let me go! I’m sorry!” She was flailing around, trying to grab the at the walls or floor and pull herself away. she was now up past her barrel in the shadow, as I was deliberately making this slow. A tendril of my mane wrapped around her snout, forcing her mouth shut, as I shushed her.

“Shh, just let it happen.” We had sunken up to Wendys neck, and there was nothing she could do to stop it now. As she she fully went under, I quickly followed, still feeling my grip on her. It was my shadow, so I doubt she would get lost if I let her go. Releasing her, I could still sense she was in my shadow with me, when I made a startling discovery. My shadow was still mobile.

-Ribbon? I just found out that I can still move around if I merge with my own shadow. Oh, and apparently it can store ponies inside itself.- It was weird moving as a shadow. compared to moving as a cloud of miasma, moving as a shadow was more like a liquid, instead of a gas. I soon… flowed? back into Ribbons room, having never made a sound, and emerged behind Ribbon. “suprise!”

“AHHH!” Ribbon flung herself up to the ceiling and stuck there like a bad cartoon.

“Did you not see my shadow?”

“How can I see what’s behind me!”

“...good point. But anyway, I brought Wendy.”

Ribbon looked at my shadow. “I half expected your shadow to look like her.”

“should I retrieve her for you to talk to?”

“Yes, I would give her a talking to, but I think you’ve done that for me.”

“Alright, just give me a second.” I quickly sunk back into my shadow. I could still sense Wendy blindly panicking in the back soundless void that was my shadow. I followed that sense, until I felt her, and grabbed onto her once more, bringing her back out so her head was out of my shadow, but the rest of her still inside it.

“You!”

“I’m so sorry!”

“I don’t want to hear it. You told my daughter, who’s not even 1 year old, about sex!”

“I didn’t, I swear! I just told her to say the word to embarrass you.”

“I would sentence you to death, except I don’t want to turn into Chrysalis. So as punishment, If you so much as go near candy, I will use the hivemind to give you the worst Migrane of your life. Got it?!” Ribbon shoved her face into Wendy’s so they were nose to nose, which looked kinda funny considering she had to kneel to do that, because only Wendys head was sticking out from the shadow.

“Yes, no more sweets.”

“Good, you can go.” I brought the rest of her out of the shadow, and let her go, immediately she sprinted out of the room.

“Well, that was interesting. sucks I never got find out what she experienced in there.”

“I’m hesitant to ask, but. Do you want to put me in it?”

“Do you want to try it?”

“Not really, but now I want to know.”

“Allright.” I walked over to Ribbon, and wrapped my hooves around her, before sinking into my shadow alongside her. -So?-

’It feels weird, Like I’m… flat. It’s a little hard to see too.’

-Well, a shadow is a two dimensional object.-

’Kay, you can let go.’

I did so, but stayed close in case she wanted out right this moment. -Its weird, I can sense you in my shadow. You feel a lot less foreign then Wendy.-

’Three guesses why. I want out now.’

-You do have part of my soul, so it makes sense.- I grabbed onto her and as our heads emerged, I pulled her into a kiss, letting us sit there for a few moments. “I love you Ribbon.”

“I love you too Chi.” I resumed extracting Ribbon from my shadow, feeling glad that I had a near surefire way to keep Ribbon and Mirage safe if need be, as nothing could truly touch them if they were inside my shadow.

“Ribbon, I for once truly feel at peace knowing I have a way to protect you and Mirage from any harm.” Upon seeing Ribbons quizzical look, I glanced back down to my shadow. “Nobody would be able to harm you if you hid there, and even if I was knocked out, you could assume control of me and pull yourself out… as a matter of fact, if I hid you in my shadow, you could take control of my body and use it without having to divide your attention beyond much more than breathing. you could use me as sword and a shield.”

“What about light. If you’re in the shadow too, with nothing casting it, wouldn’t a strong light hurt?”

“That’s why I said you could control me while hiding in my shadow, while I remained outside it. You would be perfectly safe.”

“Just be careful when you do it. I don’t want my marefriend to vanish from existence because of a torch.” I blushed heavily at that.

“I will, snuggle bug.” I pulled her up against my side with a wing, nuzzling the side of her face.

“You sure are affectionate today, How come?”

“Last week was just that good, not to mention being your cuddle bandit is always nice. I still feel mellow now that I’ve calmed down.”

“Thats good, I know its a little late but, maybe we can have our first date now?”

“sure, why the deuce not?”