Luna yawned widely as she prepared to rise from bed. Max was still beside her, though his constant shifting over the last few hours had caused her to settle for a wing over his back as opposed to a full hug. It was likely for the best. No telling how he'd react if he ended up with grooved imprints of her forelegs all over his body.

'Ha, Tia would turn into a tomato if she saw grooves over his flanks. Though they may aide in grip during intercourse, especially if we could use our hind legs better during that...other position. Still, we are certain he would be unappreciative of love-making handles.'

Running a hoof softly over his foreleg and giving it a gentle press she was both happy and a bit disappointed in the fact that the shell had hardened. At the least, he should now be a bit more alert. That would mean somepony to talk to again, as well as the possibility of learning if he knew anything about power through ponies.

One of the changeling's eyes popped open, looking at her in confusion before he raised his head to look around. Grinning at his apparent confusion, she nuzzled his neck.

"How much of this morning do you remember?"

"I, went to bed and...shed?" he said cautiously. "I remember being frustrated and I think I pulled my face off, or at least the chitin around my face. That was weird..."

"I thought as much. You shed this morning, and were quite lost to us. We actually found you under the bed in your room, wrapped in blankets and hissing," the alicorn mare explained. "Tia was unfortunate enough to find you first. She walked into your room without announcing herself. As is normal for her. This time she did not walk back out."

Max's brows furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"We mean that when she looked under the bed for you, you bit her and dragged her under the bed with you. It was as though you were one of those ambush spiders. You were holding her like you were claiming her as your mate. She was unable to move or cast magic, we nearly laughed ourself sick at the sight!"

Max wrapped his hooves over his face, groaning at the information.

"Oh my god, she's going to kill me."

"Nay, we spoke to her when she recovered from your venom and said you would likely apologize even though you were not aware at the time," the alicorn said with a smile. "We will oversee the exchange of apologies before our evening meal, then the two of us shall walk the castle's town. You requested a tour so that you would know what we have to work with, correct? Tia is about to take some of our mares at arms to deal with bandits and we would like to know if you have any knowledge of such warfare. The two of us have dealt with most incidents personally, but it becomes difficult sometimes. We cannot be everywhere."

Max sighed before standing and moving over her, lying on her back and wrapping his hooves around her.

"That's not my idea of pillow talk. Yea, I'll see what I can think up. There's plenty of things to think about and I may be able to help a bit."

"That is all we may ask of you. Now while we would like nothing more than to laze about for the remainder of the week, we have a meal to attend and plans to make with Celestia."

Not waiting for the changeling to remove himself from her back, she rose and leapt from the bed. To her amusement, the changeling wasn't so easily dislodged. That amusement faded with his next action.

"I've always wanted to ride a horsey! Giddy up!" the stallion barked, his rear leg digging into her thigh.

Luna whinnied in shock, rearing up before dashing forward. She hadn't even made it five steps before she tripped on a discarded blanket and slipped, tumbling to the floor in a tangled mess of limbs. Max was laughing hysterically at their own foolishness, even as he went rolling off of her back.

"Hahaha, again!" the changeling barked, rolling onto his hooves.

"I think not!" Luna shouted as she took a step back, preventing him from resuming his position. "And refrain from calling us your whorse. We do not care for such a title. Such individuals are usually less than what we wish to be regarded as."

"Individual-wait, what?," Max asked. "A horse is an animal from back home. It looks like an alicorn without the wings or horn and usually only comes in brown, black, white and red. What are you talking about?"

Luna blinked in confusion for a moment.

"An animal? As in a mindless beast? There is a creature that looks similar to alicorns where you are from?"

"Kind of," the changeling said with a nod. "Horses are beasts of burden. Herbivores mostly, though I've heard of them being trained to be able to handle meat in the real nasty parts of the world. I'd say that Celestia would be more passable as an Earth horse, but her mane would give her away. There's nothing on Earth with hair like that and even dyes can only do so much. What were you talking about?"

"Whorse is another word for mares of the night," Luna said, not sure which name would be worse to bear. A beast of burden or a whorse, both were less than flattering.

"Mare of the night.." Max muttered, running the title through his mind. "Mare is a woman, women of the-oh. Oh geeze, I'm sorry Luna. No, horse is different from a, a whore-se? In fact, we have a similar word, whore. That, that's actually a really strange coincidence."

A knock at the door drew both of their gazes.

Using her magic to open a shutter and seeing the setting sun, Luna nodded.

"We suppose it is about time to begin our night. Come, we must be going."

Max entered the dining room just behind Luna, catching sight of a stoic, if slightly irritated Celestia staring at him. Deciding to get it out of the way, he walked around the table and bowed his head low.

"I'm sorry if I managed to hurt you. Or frighten you, or whatever else occurred while I was out of it. The last thing I remember was accidentally pulling my face off."

The white mare's gaze shifted from him to her sister before returning and, to his surprise, she bowed her head slightly.

"We also apologize for intruding. We should have held our curiosity in check."

"I accept, thank you," the stallion said before moving to his seat.

As he was getting comfortable, Luna began chuckling.

"He was as soft as the caterpillars, wasn't he?"

"Yes, yes he was," Celestia admitted. "How did you calm him? I was certain he was going to bite me again when I started moving."

"He responded to warm thoughts, actually. While it sounds silly, the idea of thinking happy thoughts seems to work with changelings. If ever that occurs in the future, you should try it. He became quite cuddly last night. We were actually curious if we could imprint our legs in his shell. Such indentations would have made excellent grips while he claimed us in a reverse mount," Luna said casually, causing Max to stop mid bite while Celestia began choking on her salad, pounding her barrel with a hoof.

"Luna!" the solar diarch barked out amid her coughing.

"Uh, thank you for not doing that?" the changeling ventured. "Not that I don't find the idea interesting but I'm not certain how my legs would respond to that. It could damage the muscles. I'd uh, wait until we know a bit more about my shell before we start messing with it."

Tasting the her amusement at her sister's embarrassment, he decided it was time for some brownie points, as well as setting himself up for some much needed lessons.

"Tell you what, Luna. If you can teach me that levitation thing you do, I'll teach you a different position."

The blue mare's ears perked at the deal while Celestia gawked.

"Humans are well-versed in love-making?" Luna asked.

"There isn't much that humans haven't managed to turn sexual. Give us a new technology, and we'll use it for sex. Give us magic, we'll probably end up using it in the bedroom. Give us a peace treaty with an alien species and we'll get to know them really well," Max said, chuckling. "I'm certain I could turn some combat spells into spells that are used in the bedroom if I had access to them. It's kind of something humans do. I think my favorite version of such things was someone likening rockets flying into space being similar to a male penetrating the sky. It was supposedly the ultimate display of male sexual prowess."

While Luna laughed at the oddity, Celestia just looked confused.

"What is a rocket? And space, you use the term differently. Is space not the area all around us?"

Seeing Luna also watching him curiously he, carefully this time, bit his lip in thought.

"Space is used to define the emptiness around us, but it can also be used to describe the emptiness between planets. As you go higher, the air starts to get thinner, right?" he asked while looking between the two. Luna nodded and he smiled, glad it wasn't different here.

"That continues as you go higher and higher until eventually, there's just no air at all. Once you get to a certain point, you break free of the planets pull and you just kind of float. That is what most humans think of when they mention space. It's a void, an emptiness that doesn't even have breathable air."

"As for the rockets, those are a bit more complicated. Let's just say that the end all-be all of some of the most advanced human technology is fire."

"Odd. Most ponies think of magic when discussing advancement," Celestia stated, leaning into the conversation.

"We didn't have magic though. Fire is also a lot more versatile than you would think. It destroys, but it also changes," Max explained. "If you put a pot of water over a fire, it changes the temperature of the water. Leave it long enough and it will change the state of the water, boiling it until there's no water left in the pot and you're left with water vapor floating in the room. It can allow you to reshape metal, or cauterize wounds. It is even used in farming in some areas, the farmers burning either left over plant matter to prevent rot and infestation from pests from harming their other fields, or to clear the land and allow easier tilling of the land. That's all just straight up fire, ladies. Flames. You take the concept or other variants like lightning, explosions, and burning? There's not many limits to what you can do.

"Using concentrated light to superheat a target, you can cut away dead tissue thus preventing infections from spreading. Lightning powers most of our appliances and is used to in everything from keeping food cold and preventing spoilage to heating it up and cooking it. The thing you need to know now though is the explosions. Do you remember the carts I asked you about Luna? I asked you to think about ways to move them without active spells."

Shock spread over the lunar alicorn's features.

"Surely you don't mean those things are moved by explosions?! We have heard of ponies killed by the effects of spell misfires that resulted in explosions!"

"The explosions are very small, very fast, and extremely controlled. There are safeties now, but people have to be careful that the engines they were using didn't get out of control, otherwise the entire thing could explode. The worst thing that could happen is the fuel tank is heated to a combustion point causing the tank of flammable materials, often kept in a metal case for protection, to explode and throw the metal outward. The metal in such a case is called shrapnel. It can and will kill you."

"Taking that same idea of using the energy that results from controlled explosions, it's possible to move things heavier than air without magic. With such ideas we made heavier than air vehicles that could move faster than sound itself. Continuing on that same line, we made a vehicle that was completely airtight with a good supply of air inside and aimed it straight up. Rockets use that same idea to leave the atmosphere, that's what we call the entirety of the area around a habitable planet like this, and move through the void."

Watching the two alicorns processing the information, he gave a fanged grin.

"Then we learned that because there's no gravity, it's kind of hard to have sex in space. So people started discussing ways to allow proper intercourse in a place where a good thrust could send your partner floating across the room."

While Celestia's look of deep thought immediately twisted into disgusted irritation, Luna burst into laughter.

"Your species breaks free of the very planet that bore you, and you discuss the, the complications of intercourse in the void?" the smaller mare asked in gasping breaths.

"Here ye, here ye, we have discovered a way to prolong life indefinitely! The answer is not to engage in intercourse! Tell us Max, how many humans would be immortal?"

"Not very many, I don't think," he answered with a chuckle. "Oh don't be like that, Celestia. It's funny and you know it."

"It was improper," the solar alicorn huffed. "It was also rude. We are eating a meal, the table is no place for such discussions."

"Tia, you must see about removing the rod from your flank. This is not a dinner with guests, it is the three of us. If we cannot make merry with those gathered here, when shall we do so?"

"Maybe she likes having something stuck up there?" Max sniped with a chuckle.

Once more the comment was met with two starkly contrasting responses. Celestia was staring at him with her jaw hanging open in shock. Luna on the other hand-

"It can be pleasurable? We would assume such a thing would be uncomfortable."

Max worried his lip a bit, unsure how to field the question.

"It...can be. For both individuals if done right. I think the mind sometimes confuses where the sensations are coming from, especially sensations of that type. Thus it could feel as good as conventional sex. I think, I'm really not sure about that. You also have to be more cautious about it. I mean, what's one of the first things that happens to you when you start thinking about having sex?"

"We cannot believe that the two of you are talking about this during dinner," Celestia muttered, covering her face with her hooves.

"We feel warm," Luna answered before her eyes widened. "Oh! Our marehood becomes wet and we leak fluids, allowing easy penetration. Such wetness would not be present, correct?"

"If it was there's something wrong with you," Max joked. "You can use substitutes of course, basically anything that would reduce the friction to a manageable level. There's also the fact that it's not as clean as regular intercourse. You don't really want your partner to be swapping back and forth carelessly between the two holes or you could get sick."

Chuckling nervously, the changeling waited for any further questions. When no more were forthcoming he returned to his dinner, laughing inwardly at the irritation that was radiating from the white alicorn, though there was something else underneath it...no, he had to be imagining that.

"We wish to try it," Luna suddenly said, causing a round of chokes to issue from both Celestia and Max.

It was the white mare who managed a response.

"Luna!"

"You are aware of what would be needed, correct?" she asked the changeling. As he nodded dumbly, a look of shock still on his face, she turned to Celestia.

"We trust him to be cautious and are curious as to the sensations that such contact would evoke. Can you cite anypony you would trust while in such a vulnerable position, Tia?"

"Uh Luna?" the changeling cut in, seeing the predatory grin growing on the blue mare's face.

"When you feel the need to speak plainly, who will be capable of listening to you vent?" Luna asked Celestia with rising hostility. "When you see a stallion that catches your eye, who shall you speak to of him?"

"Luna, we are princesses, and princesses do not speak of, of..."

The lunar alicorn rolled her eyes, fixing her sister with a glare.

"Of a stallion mounting us and filling us with his seed? Or of receiving his seed in the incorrect hole? Perhaps we should not speak of licking-"

"Stop it, jeeze. You're acting like a pair of five year olds," Max interrupted. "Luna, not everyone wants to hear of our exploits. We can discuss things later. I'll even walk you through some ideas I've had with magic. Celestia, I gave the idea of this room for a reason similar to this. It's a place where you can tell dirty jokes, tell us what you really think of an individual, complain about other rulers, or whatever you wish. I apologize for egging your sister on like that, but please don't use the 'it's not princess-y' reasoning. You can both act as princess-y as you want in front of the masses. It's neither needed nor welcome here."

Luna's glare shifted to the changeling for a moment before she sniffed haughtily.

"Tis not like she would know what to do with a stallion should she ever find one."

"Excuse me?"

"Is your hearing failing you as well, Tia?"

"Check please," the stallion muttered, standing up and hip checking Luna.

"Come on, everyone up. You two are obviously done here. Where do the guards practice?"

"The practice yard of course. Where else would they practice?" Luna said, her face scrunched up in confusion.

"Lead the way, Luna," he said in reply, moving around the table. Reaching Celestia's spot, he began bumping her with his muzzle, pushing her off her seat.

"Come on, you too!"

"Do not order us around, changeling! We are your superior and-"

"And you're not moving fast enough, let's go!" Max said, snaking under her forelegs and hefting her up on his back. The white alicorn whinnied in surprise at the sudden change in elevation, earning a giggle from Luna.

"Lead the way, Luna. We're all going to get some practice in."

"We are the princess of the sun! We wield more power than you shall ever know, changeling! We do not need to learn to wield a weapon, we-"

"How many of the ponies here are present because they think you can defend them better than anyone else?" Max asked, interrupting the white mare's tirade. He noticed Luna slowing as well, her ears perked and swiveled towards him.

"How many of the ponies are here because it was the two of you who imprisoned Discord in stone? You didn't hire someone else, you went and did it yourself. They see that, and they hope that you'll put that same effort into their safety. They hope that after so long with nowhere that was safe, the castle watched over by two alicorns will be a place where they can lie down at night and not have to worry about their children going missing. They respect you because you saved them from their old life, and they stick around because they hope that in the event something else goes wrong, you'll do so again. Just because you have a ton of magic doesn't mean you can't benefit from knowing how to fight the old fashioned way. It will also allow the three of us some exercise, which will be nice."

The changeling slowed, seeing both of the alicorns staring at him.

"How old are you two, anyway?"

"We are uncertain. It is difficult to gauge time when the days come and go at the whim of a creature of madness," Luna answered quietly.

Celestia nodded from her perch on his back, agreeing.

"Luna was just coming of age when we battled Discord, and that was...two years ago now," Celestia added.

"Christ, you're younger than me," Max griped. "At least I think you are, we can discuss length of years later. Let's go learn something interesting."

"You may put us down. We will go with you," the mare on his back said.

"Nah, I think it would look good," Max said with a smile. "In fact, when we get outside, go ahead and sit up straight. Let everyone see a Princess being treated like one."

The changeling laughed when the white alicorn launched herself from his back with a huff, ruffling her wings in irritation as she started walking down the hallway. As he started walking again though, a weight landed on his back before his ears were blasted with a shout.

"Forward, servant! To the training yard!" Luna barked, her hooves wrapped around his neck.

The group received more than a few stares as they walked into the training yard, Celestia leading the way with an irritated expression while Luna proudly sat upright on her mount. Max was barely restraining his laughter, thankful they didn't seem to weigh that much. It could have been the pegasus in them, or maybe it was something to do with him? Who knew?

Luna was entertaining herself by shouting directions for him to follow, swatting at his ears if he didn't respond correctly or fast enough and snickering in spite of her best attempts to remain stoic. Eventually they reached an empty training circle and Max, still getting his ears batted by Luna, bowed theatrically while tilting his head to the side, keeping his horn out of the way as Luna tumbled off his back.

"We have arrived, Madam. Bringing you here was my pleasure, Madam. I live to serve, Madam."

Quickly rising and ruffling her wings, Luna coughed theatrically.

"Yes, yes. Very good. Well done."

Celestia stared at the two as they held their composure for only another moment. When the moment had passed the two of them burst into laughter.

"Ah we needed that. You make a fantastic mount, Max," Luna said, patting the changeling on his shoulder.

"So do you," he whispered back, earning a blush and a punch in the shoulder, though the mare continued to giggle.

"Okay, so how about we grab a few knights who know what they're doing and get started?"

Cupping his hooves around his mouth, the changeling shouted into the training yard.

"I need a unicorn who knows weaponry, a pegasus who knows aerial drills, and another pony who knows stretching and strength exercises."

Luna suddenly spiked with nervousness, as did Celestia, but both held their ground as a few ponies approached. Many kept their distance, but a few came close enough to speak.

"The, creature said you required a few ponies, your majesties?" a pegasus in bronzed armor asked, eyes keeping on Max.

"Indeed, though we are uncertain of his plans for the evening," Luna responded.

"Right, here's the deal. The three of us are brawlers. We can fight in a pinch, but we don't actually know how to use weapons properly, nor do we know ha-hoof to hoof techniques. I'd like the three of us to get some basics over the next few weeks, or however long it takes."

The knight looked confused, as did his colleagues.

"But their majesties defeated Discord, Lord of Chaos. Surely they are powerful enough to face anything that challenges them."

"Indeed they are powerful, and in time their power will only grow," the large stallion agreed. "But tell me, what happens if they find themselves spent of magic? What happens when their foe is resistant to magic, as with a being such as myself? Will you leave them to their fate when a few moments of your time could have saved their lives?"

"Of course not! We will teach you whatever we are able, my ladies," the pegasus said with a bow before raising his head slightly. "If that is your wish, of course."

"Indeed," Luna answered with a nod.

Celestia looked torn, leaning between dismissing the idea as foolish and agreeing with the stallion's plan. The idea of running into a creature like Max who was resistant to her magic swayed her opinion. With a sigh of defeat, she nodded as well.

"Excellent. First thing is proper stretching. Do you guys have a set method or is there different rules for different workouts?" the changeling asked.

"Uh, Twister? You want to run them through the stretches while I set up a quick flight course? Pike, you grab some practice weapons."

"It shall be done," a unicorn mare said with a quick nod of acknowledgement, rushing off to grab the training weapons and padding.

"Alright, your majesties. I ask that you keep up and, er, please don't force yourselves to do anything you do not wish to," an unarmored pegasus mare stuttered, moving into the training circle. She was a skinny thing, with a golden mane and blue coat.

"To start, we shall be, um, stretching our forelegs...are you aware that the, uh, creature is also..."

"We are, Knight Twister," Luna reassured her. "Max is the one who requested that we take these lessons and after hearing his reasoning we concur. He would also gain from this training, so he will obviously be joining us, right Max?"

"And miss out on a chance to hit you with a training sword? Ha!" the changeling guffawed.

Celestia brightened considerably at the prospect, though whether it was hitting Luna or himself that caught her attention he was unsure. It would be a bonus either way. Stress relief the old fashioned way. Maybe he'd finally figure out some magic during these lessons as well?

A stray thought occurred to the solar alicorn as the three of them moved on to the rear legs.

"Luna, did you cancel court tonight?"

"Nay, we found a substitute," she answered, her grin downright insidious.

Celestia's focus was instantly on the smaller alicorn.

"Luna, what. Did you. Do?"

In the throne room, two knights sat on either side of the resplendent seat of power. Neither moved a muscle, staring stoically ahead as was expected of them. The halls were quiet as usual, in fact the only sounds being made were from the individual seated on the throne. And what a nervous individual she was.

"Um, are you certain I should be here? I mean, it really seems..." a serving mare asked nervously.

"Her highness asked you to do so. You will not be in trouble. Consider it your place of duty until her highness is available again. Like if you were assigned to clean the dining hall," the guard on the right answered.

Silence pervaded for a while, broken only by a nervous cough from the serving mare currently occupying the throne. Finally, one of the guards sighed.

"I believe the creature is a bad influence on Princess Luna."

"I believe you are right," his companion said. "I believe he's a bad influence on myself as well though, because I find this hilarious."

"Indeed it is," the first guard answered. "Did she ever say where she was going to be if we actually needed her?"

"Gave me a list with different times, also said to allow for about five minutes for each item and that if one of their stops takes too long she'll send word to us," the second said, patting a satchel on his hip. "We're covered."

Once again the throne room lapsed into silence, nothing happening but the shifting of the serving mare on the throne. Feeling her nerves fraying even more, she said the only thing she could think of to sum up her situation.

"Oh dear."

Author's Notes:

Max is the worst, getting Luna to play hooky. He's a bad influence. I also like the idea of Luna just being curious about everything that comes up.