It was almost 4 a.m. by the time Surprise arrived outside of Luna’s chambers and cheerfully greeted the guards. Tonight she’d opted for a red strapless dress that fell just above her knees. Holes were cut in the hips to show off her cutie marks. The top managed to contain her generous bosom while still hugging to her shapely figure, save for the third hole; a boob window situated between the bottom of her breasts. Her blonde mane had been combed and thoroughly shampooed, but she’d opted to otherwise leave it as its normal cheery and poofy self. For makeup she’d applied a bit of blush to her cheeks and royal blue lipstick without sheen.

“Alright Surprise. Just breathe,” she coached herself. “You’re going to do just fine.” She quickly rid herself of all the negative what-if thoughts that had been swimming around in her head. After all, she knew Luna. She knew she knew Luna and it was just plain silly to just assume the Luna she knew she knew would spontaneously warp into a Luna she didn’t know she didn’t know. Well, there was that one time, but that had been an extreme circumstance. There was no reason to think such a thing would happen again any time soon. Then again, there was always the possibility that… Nope! Bad brain, She scolded. No negative nancying tonight! Or else no cookies before bed! It was a bit harsh, but sometimes Surprise needed to use tough love to keep her brain in check.

Before her overthinking could trouble her further, Surprise summoned up the entirety of her courage, reached out, and knocked on the door.

It opened to reveal the warm smile of Silver. “My! You certainly clean up nicely,” she teased. Tonight her midnight black dress had glitter in the fabric and hugged her figure in a much more flattering manner than the last one. An extended v-neck had been cut from between her breasts and stretched almost down to her navel. The slits cut in her skirt were of a more standard design, but the trim had a lovely red lace sewn into it. Her silver fur almost seemed to glisten under the soft light of the magic lamps.

“Hehe, thanks,” bubbled Surprise. She knew there was no malice in the bat’s words. This was just her way of showing affection. “You’re really pretty, too. You’re like a Hearth’s Warming present where the wrapping is so snug you can tell what it is, but that just makes you want it more cuz it’s so awesome. I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold myself back.” Beaming her appraisal, Surprise then lifted her hand up to her face. She wrapped her lips around her pointer finger and gave a soft suckle that was just barely audible to the bat mare’s keen ears before letting go with a distinct pop.

Silver shuddered, imagining what else those lips could wrap around. Her dress suddenly felt very hot and confining. “Flattery will get you everywhere. Then again, you haven’t seen tonight’s main course.” She stepped back and gestured for Surprise to enter.

The pegasus did as bid and entered the same room she’d visited dozens of times already. Nothing looked different, but it didn’t feel quite the same. Just looking around at all the furniture and knickknacks caused her nervouscitement to bubble up anew.

Silver was also aware of Surprise’s sudden onset of anxiety. Not only did her keen hearing alert her to the pegasus’ thudding heartbeat, but she was able to see the jiggling of the mare’s breasts with each pulse. It was terribly distracting. Thankfully, a brave hero had arrived to save her from this peril.

“She’s right, you know,” Luna cooed, stepping out of the bathroom with a swagger.

Surprise went bug-eyed and her wings went rigid. She’d known to expect the alicorn Princess to wear some sort of disguise for their date. However, there was simply no way she could have prepared herself for the pegasus who was now standing before her.

Luna was colored a regal midnight blue – the same shade as Surprise’s lipstick – with a slim, curvaceous stomach that was the aspiration of all pegasi, although she remained just as tall as ever. Her hips and chest, however, had been scaled down somewhat to be closer to the proportions of a unicorn, although this still left them larger than Surprise’s. Her mane was a two toned pink and purple and hung down over her shoulders. Tonight she wore a crimson dress – the color nearly matching Surprise’s dress and complimenting her other colors – which modestly covered her cleavage and had the cutie mark of a waxing moon sewn into the waistline of the dress.

“Well?” Luna asked after she’d felt the silence had gone on for too long. Surprise was just staring at her, mouth agape.

Coming back to reality, Surprise pulled down her chin a second before letting go. The result was her lower jaw snapping upward and making a thwacking sound reminiscent of one of those old roller window blinds. Her lower jaw seemed to also make the same spinning motion, but that was dismissed by the others as a trick of the light. “Sorry!” Surprise blurted. “I just… you…” She gestured impotently at Luna. “I want to say something cool, but all I can think of is how I’ve never wanted to take diet pills more than right now cuz you look so yummy and I just want to eat you up and I’m sorry!” She gave an embarrassed-sounding squeak.

Luna burst out laughing, causing Surprise’s ears to twitch. The pegasus was normally well attuned to the different frequencies of laughter and what they signified. However, at the moment, her internal instruments were on the fritz and she couldn’t tell if she was being laughed with or at.

“I… I’m sorry,” Luna gasped, clutching her pained middle. “I just… I was actually thinking of saying the same thing.”

“You what?” Silver and Surprised asked at once.

Luna gave a sigh, finally regaining control. “Yes. ‘Twould seem frazzled minds think alike.”

“Frazzled?” Surprise parroted. “You?”

“Don’t act so…” Luna paused to rethink her word choice, “shocked. You are quite the lovely mare. Honestly, it’s taking all of my self-control just to keep mine own wings in check.”

“For realzies?”

Luna nodded back. “For ‘realzies.’ But surely such a beautiful and lovable mare like you must be used to such reactions.”

Surprise blushed. “Well, not really. I’ve never really gone out on a, you know, date-date before,” she admitted while fiddling with her dress. “I hang out with friends a lot and we have sex plenty, but I’ve never really dressed up like this before.”

“If I didn’t know you better,” Silver began, “I’d think you were lying just to show off.”

“Well…” Surprise shrugged. “Maaaybe I’ve got a liiittle experience in helping others get ready for their dates, maybe. But it’s a whole new thing being on this side of the makeup.”

“I know what that’s like,” Silver admitted. “At least you can take solace in the fact that this date will be more straightforward than mine.” She finished by shooting an accusing glare at Luna, which was expediently deflected by a well-placed wing stretch.

“What’s she-” Surprise started to ask. “Oh right! That whole thing where you were in disguise and didn’t tell Silver cuz you wanted her to order you around as part of a convoluted scheme to help her see you as more of a mare and not just as a goddess.” She beamed absently as the other mare stared slack jawed at her. “What? I might be blonde, but don’t underestimate my ability to be aware of social interactions. Also,” she continued, “if it were me, I’d have told her about the disguise and had us all go volunteering to a soup kitchen or something. Let her see me getting down and dirty and all that. More straightforward that way.”

Luna blinked. “Are you… making a bid to be my new advisor? Because that would have been excellent.”

“Indeed,” Silver agreed with a grin.

Surprise beamed. “If by ‘advisor’, you mean pillow talk snuggly wugglies, then you bet your sweet flank I am!”

Silver chuckled. “Now I’m imagining what night court would be like if all the petitioners were schooled in your methods of diplomacy.” She laughed again. “It’d be less tedious, at least.”

“At least,” Luna agreed. “But never mind all that. We’ve wasted too much time as is. Onwards to our date!” she proclaimed boldly.

“Onwards to fun times and snuggly wugglies!” added Surprise with equal vigor.

The two tall mares then leveled stares at Silver until she gave in. “Onwards to, uh… sorry,” she mumbled. “My brain must be frazzled, too. Either that or I’ve been spending too much time with bad influences, because all I can think of are bun puns.”

“We’ll take it!” cheered Luna.

“With extra honey!” That earned a chorus of snickers.

**********

“Please,” Luna begged.

“Nope.”

“Pretty please.”

“Still nuh uh.”

“With a cherry on top?”

“Do you have a cherry?”

Luna deadpanned back at Surprise. “Dammit,” she hissed under her breath. “I knew I forgot something.”

Surprise giggled. “Hehe. This is fun. What do you want to play, Silver?”

The bat mare gave a long, mulling whine in answer. After leaving the castle, the trio had grabbed a carriage to take them to their destination. Although Silver knew where they were going – given that Surprise had talked it out with her beforehand – Luna was just itching to know and, for some reason, had only been pressing Surprise for answers. However, more concerning to Silver was that, perhaps in response to her comment about buns, the larger winged mares had seen fit to situate themselves to either side of their smaller counterpart in the carriage and press their bodies snuggly around her. Silver had no problem breathing per se, but she was presently drowning in the stench of mare cleavage. Not to mention the fact that both mares’ plump behinds had almost completely engulfed her bottom half, warming it and surrounding her cutie marks with a comforting pressure. To any passersby looking into the carriage, they would not be faulted for believing only two mares were inside.

“Is she okay?” Surprise asked. “She hasn’t really moved or, well, done anything in like ten minutes.”

“Indeed,” sighed Luna. The three of them were packed tightly into one seat and it was a bit of an awkward struggle to pull her arm into a position that would allow her to stroke Silver’s mane. Even then, it was a struggle to move between the pressure of Surprise’s breast and her own. “It seems the poor dear is still susceptible to sensory overload. But don’t worry. She usually wakes back up after a kiss.”

“Oh. Like the handsome Princess who wakes the sleeping Prince?”

“That’s actually based on a true story,” Luna informed. “Although it was my sister who had done the kissing.”

“Still seems like a pretty big inconvenience, though,” Surprise said, frowning down at the near comatose Silver. “She’s missing out on all our travel games. Isn’t there any way to fix her?”

Luna shrugged. “Thomas has suggested exposure therapy as the most straight forward approach. It seemed to be going well at first, but I fear we’ve already taken it as far as it can go.”

“Don’t you hide her under your clothes so she can play around while you’re in public sometimes?”

Luna nodded. “Two to four times a week.”

“And she still locks up like this?”

“I am afraid so,” Luna replied, followed by a long-suffering sigh.

Surprise frowned down at Silver, pulling her own breast aside for a better look at the mare’s face. “Hmm… I wonder.”

“Oh. Have you learned something?” Luna asked hopefully.

“Maybe,” Surprise said carefully. “That look on her face.”

“Yes. What about it?”

“I get that same look when I eat a liiittle too many sweets. It’s like I get into a zone, a food frenzy and I just tune everything else out so I can focus on the sweets.”

Luna furrowed her brow. “How do you know what your own face looks like?”

Keeping her focus down on Silver, Surprise reached her hand into her mane. She fished around for a few seconds and pulled out a small mirror tied to her hairs and suspended directly in front of her face. “Sometimes I like to see my own o face,” she explained as if it were obvious.

“I believe you,” Luna deadpanned as she watched Surprise’s mane move of its own accord and absorb the mirror back into itself. Deciding to bring her focus back on the here and now, she continued. “But what does this have to do with dearest Silver?”

“Dearest?” Silver asked, perking up. Sloly her head turned and she met Luna’s worried gaze. “You’ve never called me ‘dearest’ before.”

Luna blinked. “Have I not?”

“I think I would have remembered,” Silver replied with a nervous laugh, her cheeks a bright red.

“Knew it,” Surprise bragged with a snap of her fingers. “There wasn’t ever a problem. Well, not really. She’s just getting into the ‘Luna-zone’ and wants to enjoy it to the fullest by focusing only on that. It doesn’t look like she’s overdosing, though. She just needs to learn to enjoy herself without going off to lala land.”

Silver turned and leveled a flat glare at Surprise. “I love how you’re psychoanalyzing me like I’m not sitting right here.”

“You do? Personally I find it annoying when other ponies do that with me, but whatever floats your wings.”

Silver blinked and turned back to Luna. “I can’t tell if she’s being serious or just messing with me,” she whispered conspiratorially.

“Probably both,” Luna whispered back.

**********

At long last the carriage descended to its destination and the three mares disembarked.

Luna read the giant neon sign. “Globe’s Dinner & a Show? I believe sister spoke of this place once. They perform a play while serving meals to an audience, yes?”

“Yaperoony,” chirped Surprise. “I figured this’d be a good place to take you and Silver agreed. Blend of classic theatre and modern cuisine and all that.”

Silver puffed out her chest and flexed her wings in a show of pride. It had been fun helping to plan out something her beloved alicorn would enjoy.

“Only problem was picking out something I thought we’d all like. Not too many plays about Luna. And those that are go, well… Let’s just say they’d kind of break the mood I’m going for,” Surprise explained. “Plus I don’t want you to think I think you’re just some self-absorbed prat who only thinks about herself-”

Silver tensed while Luna listened with utmost calm.

“-And so I thought, ‘Hey. You know what would be really unexpected?’ And I asked, ‘What?’ And that’s when it hit me. Well, it almost hit me.” She pointed up at the sign, specifically the title of the play just below the theatre’s name. ‘Travel by Starlight’. “The big T almost landed on me when I was walking by. The manager was super nice about it. Gave me these free passes for myself and two others to see any show we liked in exchange for not suing.” She pulled a bundle of white tickets from her mane and waved them around.

“Excellent negotiation prowess,” congratulated Luna as she bumped Surprise’s hip. “Now we get to see a show, and it’s free!”

“Isn’t something like this just a drop in the bucket for the royal treasury?” Silver asked.

“Hush you,” Surprise hissed. “Don’t harsh the mellow.”

“Verily!” Luna proclaimed in a heroic pose. “There will be no mellow harshing this night!”

As Silver beamed up at the proclaiming Luna, Surprise knelt down and whispered into the bat’s ear. “You just did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Silver chuckled. “Can you blame me? She’s so adorable when she poses like that.”

“Fair enough,” Surprise conceded and they entered the theatre.

Even though Surprise technically had free passes, she’d still called ahead to make sure they had good seats reserved to provide an optimal view of the stage. The leveled rows of the theatre were much wider than that of the average auditorium to allow for the placement of tables. The lights were dim, but still bright enough so that everypony could find their seats and read their menus. At the bottom of the stage, the orchestra was busy tuning their instruments and providing a rather classy ambience. Having conversed with Honey about how Luna had made frequent trips to the bathroom during their date; Surprise had selected one of the private booths right smack dab in the middle of the stands. It was the ideal place to block out onlookers and cast a selective sound barrier to allow them to hear without being heard.

“Comfy?”

“Verily,” Luna purred, wiggling in her seat to test its softness. She was seated in the middle of the booth with Surprise to her right and Silver to her left. “This is surprisingly spacious.”

“Heard that one before,” remarked Surprise, causing her dates to chuckle.

“And the floors are so clean,” added Silver. “That’s a relief. I was a little worried about kneeling down in used gum and ruining my dress.”

“Oh shoot. I hadn’t thought of that,” Surprise hissed.

“Thought of what?” Luna asked worriedly. “It seems as though you have arranged everything to perfection. Why the distress?”

“Not completely. I didn’t think about Silver having to miss parts of the play while she’s got her back turned doing…” She paused and looked around, ears swiveling to make sure no pony was eavesdropping. The sound barrier hadn’t been placed yet and would not be until after the food had been brought. “Well you know.”

“Oh dear. That is troubling,” Luna agreed.

“What’s this play about, anyway?” Silver asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before. Maybe I won’t mind missing a few parts.”

“It’s about a family of bat ponies who get separated from the main migration,” Surprise explained. “They stumble on a group of pegasi that got left behind long ago in a wild storm and the two groups have to get to the ‘promise land’ by basically figuring out how to navigate by the stars.”

Silver blinked. “You’re right. This is troubling.” Star navigation was said to be one of the great skills contributed by bat ponies so long ago. The idea of a new play that actually emphasized bat pony heritage like this was not something she cared to miss.

“What if I were not in the middle?” Luna offered. “If I were to sit on the side, you could,” she lowered her volume and patted the top of her thigh, “peek over.”

Surprise thought it over a second, and then giggle-snorted. “Now that’s taking dinner & a show to all new heights.”

A short bout of musical chairs had the mares now sitting with Surprise in the middle of the booth with Silver and Luna to either side. A waitress arrived shortly after to take their orders. While they waited, the sound barrier was erected Silver decided to test out how well this scheme of theirs might work.

“Comfy?” Surprise asked. Her ears were fixed forward and focused on the sounds of soft moans and hungry slurps coming from under the table.

Luna breathed gently, her expression a portrait of utter contentment as she leaned back in her seat, hands on the table. “This will not be our last visit to this establishment,” she said firmly.

Surprise giggled. “Really? We haven’t even gotten to the dinner or the show yet.”

“Oh. Right,” Luna replied distractedly. “In that case, I may simply purchase one of these fine cushions for mine own use.” She tensed and sucked in a lung full of air. “‘Tia is not to be told.”

Feeling bold, and just a bit amorous, Surprise scooched closer along the booth until she was hip-to-hip with the disguised Princess. “Nope,” she said plainly and leaned in ever so slightly, now touching shoulders. “This’ll just be our little secret.”

Silver gave a gasp and inhaled deeply. “Our?” Although she was concealed under the table, the other two mares could hear the coy smile in her voice.

Staring fondly into Surprise’s eyes, Luna reached one hand under the table. “Back to work, you.” There was a gagging sound, followed by a continuation of moans and slurps. “We’re trying to have a moment.”

Conveniently, Luna had managed to find relief just in time for the waitress to return with their orders. Silver now sat across from her with Cheshire grin. Given how everything was free, they decided to go for broke with the finest wines and the most lavish of dishes. Even for her size, Silver had ordered the smallest portions. She anticipated filling up on alicorn ambrosia.

The curtains rose soon enough and the play got underway. The story was far more harrowing than Surprise’s brief summary let on, for these were the times of the untamed wilds and unearthly natural and unnatural disasters. Things were simply too dangerous for travel by day, forcing the characters to travel by night purely out of necessity, much to the dismay of the pegasi. However, as obstacles were faced and overcome, the two families began to grow closer. Allies of convenience became friends and with the passage of time and danger, became kin and, in the end, a single united family became bound in the bonds of love.

As for the dating trio, they observed the universally accepted courtesy that frowned upon making too much noise in a theatre. Once in a while they would whisper things like “This should be good” or “How dare she” or provide any other manner of short commentary. Otherwise, they kept themselves satisfied with sighs, giggles, and soft touches.

Silver’s trips under the table were infrequent, even after Luna had conjured a pillow for her knees. The play, it seemed, had consumed nearly all of her attention. Even so, the little bat was able to read Luna’s expressions and anticipate her needs before even she realized she had them. This was especially relevant during the more steamy romance scenes being performed.

Surprise, much to even her own surprise, hadn’t seen fit to speak as much as expected. Rather, at some point during the show, she and Luna had cozied up quite snugly. Both of their hands found purchase on the small of one another’s backs while Surprise rested her head on Luna’s shoulder. More than once their wings had brushed up against one another – in a way that might have been accidental, but totally wasn’t – causing both to shiver in delight. The pegasus had all but tuned out the sounds of what was happening under the table. All she cared about was Luna, how happy she looked, how lovely she smelled, how she wanted this perfect moment to never end… and how much she wanted to jump out of her seat, fly over to the stage, and bitch slap the comic relief character for not being funny.

At the conclusion of this uplifting tale, when the family of two tribes arrived at the border to Equestria, there wasn’t a dry eye to be found in the theatre. The three dates waited for the rest of the theatre to empty out before departing. Besides, they were too busy huddling together for mutual support after the emotional rollercoaster they’d all been through. No words were exchanged as the three held and gently caressed one another, saying more with small gestures than words could ever hope to match.

They grabbed a carriage back to the castle, with Silver sitting in Surprise’s lap this time.

“I’m sorry, Luna, but I have to disagree with you.”

Luna’s eyebrow rose in query. “Oh?”

“Forget the seats at that silly theatre. This,” Silver wiggled her butt around atop Surprise’s thighs, “is a throne fit for a Princess.”

“You don’t say,” Luna replied as the corners of her mouth migrated upward.

“Back off,” Silver barked when Luna tried reaching out. “I’ve claimed her now. Wait your turn.”

Luna just blinked in befuddlement while Surprise did her best to not buck Silver right off with a full belly laugh.

“You guys!” The pegasus wiped a tear from her eye. “You’re just too much.” She giggle-snorted again. “I just love you so much.”

In the blink of an eye, Luna lunged for Surprise and stole a quick lick of the white mare’s cheek; retreating before she knew what happened.

“Hey!” whined Surprise playfully. “Didn’t anypony tell you it was rude to steal kisses?”

Luna just shrugged, grinning like the cat who’d swallowed the canary. “If memory serves, in the time in which the play was set, it was upon each individual to protect what they valued most. And if something was stolen,” she beamed, “you were expected to take it back.”

Surprise blushed pink at Luna’s implication. “Uh, you think you could close your eyes, first?”

Luna nodded and complied, closing her eyes as she smiled at Surrpise.

Surprise’s gaze fixed upon the lips of the mare before her. “It’s funny,” she said to no pony in particular. “The color’s different and the size is slightly off, but the shape of those lips is unmistakably Luna’s.”

“How is that funny?” Luna questioned evenly.

Surprise shrugged, only to remember that Luna couldn’t see. “Not really sure. Maybe it means I’ve been looking at those lips more than I realized.”

“I think that’s a given,” Silver commented quietly. While she recognized this was meant to be a moment between Surprise and Luna, she couldn’t help herself. With the snarky remark out of her system, she contented herself to be as still as possible and just watch.

“That actually gets me thinking about this whole concubine business,” Surprise continued. Luna motioned her to elaborate as she patiently waited for Surprise to take action. “Well, like in the theatre. Silver looked like she was doing whatever she wanted, even when you didn’t ask. And you, well, liked it.”

“If you were curious, you should have asked if I was willing to share her services,” Luna replied cheekily.

“But now I’m thinking of what you just said about taking what’s mine. Well, what is mine? As a concubine, does that mean I basically have free reign to just take and give happiness whenever I like?”

Luna giggled. “Only when we’re in private… Like now.” She popped her lips in invitation.

Turned to the side in her seat, Surprise’s left wing was cramped uncomfortably against the carriage’s seat while her right wing boner had shot out to full length. “Is it weird that I’m suddenly overcome by a desire to start dancing around to show off my wings in a traditional mating dance?”

Luna giggled again and leaned slightly closer. “It would be more odd if you had no such desire.”

“Oh,” Surprise purred. She caught sight of the way Luna’s wings were twitching with impatience and knew her ramblings would not be tolerated for much longer. “Well, I guess what I’m trying to say is that-”

“Yes?”

“-that I-”

“Yeees?”

“Ah, buck it!” And with that, she lunged forward and pressed her lips firmly and passionately into Luna’s own. The two wrapped their arms around one another, caressing each other’s arms and shoulders as they noisily made out.

“Oh Faust,” Silver swore under her breath. Watching the two gorgeous mares make out, with the addition of Luna’s pungent musk still heavy in her nostrils, it was taking all of the little bat’s willpower to keep herself from seeking out her own release all over Surprise’s pretty dress.

The pair continued sucking face all the way back to the castle. When the carriage driver came around back to see why they hadn’t left, Silver made a horizontal chopping motion under her throat to dissuade the guy from interrupting. He just shrugged nonchalantly, likely having dealt with this sort of thing before.

In time, both mares had to come up for air and finally left the carriage. Surprise escorted Luna and Silver back to their rooms, holding hands the entire way. When it was time to part ways the three shared a goodnight/good morning kiss and allowed the doors to finally separate them.

At long last, after months of waiting, inspiration has finally struck for this chapter. My editors gave me a few suggestions, namely the dinner and a show, but all it really took was me just sitting down and forcing myself to write. Inspiration didn’t come as smoothly as I’d have liked, but things still turned out rather spiffy, if I do say so myself. Surprise was goofy, moments were tender and sweet, and the obligatory sex references were (hopefully) not intrusive.

Also, as is my custom, this whole chapter was written all in one day. Not quite the length I’ve become accustomed to writing these last few months, but still passable. So yay me!