"Excuse us?" Luna asked. She looked between Max and Celestia, shock and a bit of hurt flowing from her.

"No, that came out wrong. Come here Luna," the stallion said softly. Luna opened her mouth to object but closed it, hopping onto the bed between the two of them.

"We're just a bit shocked. Worried as well. When I first ended up here, Discord told you I'd be alone and that I would be from another place, somewhere very far away. You knew what it was like, I was scared of my new metabolism and alone and we latched onto each other. I don't... I won't say you did the wrong thing. Crystal looks like she needs help. But just...be careful okay?"

Celestia's jaw dropped.

"You're just going to-"

"I'm not going to complain about her doing something that saved my life. Especially when it looks like Crystal was in worse condition than I was," Max explained before turning to the blue alicorn. "Just, if you do something like this again in the future give me a bit more warning, okay Luna?"

"You're really okay with that?" Celestia balked, looking to the shrinking back changeling mare. "You don't know anything about her!"

"Luna placed her trust in me. I owe her a lot for that, returning the favor is the least I can do. It's my mission, remember? Keep my mare happy. If that means letting her build her flock, I'm not going to stop her."

Luna looked between Max and Celestia in confusion.

"I...I forgot, Max. You said humans were...I'm sorry, I-"

"No, don't worry about it," the stallion said, nuzzling her cheek. "I'll let you lead in this, my princess, because you and your sister are rulers and you said mares tend to lead families. Just don't be surprised if I push back. I'm both a predatory species and was raised in a patriarchal society."

"We do not mind some directed aggression every now and again. Your revenge was enjoyable," the blue alicorn giggled. "Crystal is...quiet. We do not foresee her attempting to assert herself over you."

"Well, if she does I'm sure I can have some fun with that," Max said, grinning at Crystal and causing her to squeak in fear.

"So much for not speaking of sex," Celestia growled at the stallion.

"I promised our talk with Luna later on will be free of sex. There were no such stipulations of everyday conversations, just the promise to try and reduce it."

Luna looked at her sister in confusion.

"You wished to speak with us about something?"

"Celestia and I both experienced our first bloody battle he other day," Max said before Celestia could answer. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to talk to us about it. What was it like, how did you react. How did you cope with it afterwards?"

"Yes. We would be honored that you chose to speak with us about such things. We promise to treat the conversation with respect," Luna said in an almost reverent tone. "Now come, Tia. Dinner is ready and then we will exchange the sun and moon."

"My dinner will be afterwards," Max added with a grin.

Celestia buried her face in her hooves, lighting her horn and shoving the stallion off the bed with a burst of magic.

"Huh. I believe our theory on like magic and emotion has been proven, Maximus," Luna called to him from the bed. "Tell us, Tia. Did you even notice that you just used magic on him with no additional effort?"

"But that would mean... You cur! You were feeding on us?! Return to us what is ours!" Celestia shouted, jumping over Luna to tackle Max.

"It wasn't, I was drunk! It doesn't hurt you!" Max shouted even as the princess caught up with him.

"You dare steal from us?" Celestia growled as she pulled him to the floor.

"Borrowed. Borrowed without permission. With every intention of returning it."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

The stallion grinned wickedly.

"Like this."

Max pulled her down in a hug and into a deep kiss. Celestia's anger fizzled into confusion and disgust at the contact but that changed a moment later.

Max took off running for the door, nearly breaking it down as the white mare choked and sputtered, gel dripping from her lips.

"Oh sun and stars, he-it's, I swallowed it, oh stars he just- ew ew ew!"

Luna burst into laughter even as her sister wiped her tongue off with her hooves, gagging and sputtering before rising to her hooves.

"Oh, we're most certainly going to feed him this time. We are going to feed him his own wings!"

Luna followed along sedately as her sister tore down the hallways of the keep in pursuit. Celestia was already swaying slightly as the gel made its effects known.

"You are not concerned that she will harm him?" Crystal asked from behind her.

"Nay, Tia is angry at the moment but she is impeded both by the gel and the fact that she doesn't hate him. You can taste the anger, but relationships are a bit more complicated than that. How was she feeling before his prank?" Luna asked, looking back to Crystal.

"She was angry, but before that she was...comfortable," Crystal said, thinking back to a few moments ago. "A little irritation but otherwise she was at ease. It is difficult to describe. It was positive though. Wouldn't her current anger damage that?"

"Ponies, and we are certain Max would tell you humans as well, fluctuate wildly in their emotions throughout the day. Happiness, anger and sorrow come and go. By teasing her like this, Maximus is claiming a connection to our sister. Most ponies are either submissive, some even lowering themselves to groveling and scraping at her hooves, or they denounce the two of us. We find his treatment of her as more akin to a brother. He teases her, but he does not wish her harm."

Luna cocked her head in thought.

"It's strange, is it not? That such anger would give way to affection? Our sister will be angry for a little while but it will pass. Only the silly memory of him teasing her shall remain and in time she may find it amusing as well."

"I do not believe I am capable of such interactions," Crystal said. "They are much too confusing."

Luna nodded understandingly.

"Give yourself some time. It is something all ponies learn to do, something we learn from others doing it to us. We do not expect you to understand right away, but you must keep in mind that just because a pony is causing you irritation does not mean they dislike you or wish you ill."

"I will attempt to do so," Crystal said, looking down a hallway they were passing by. "Are we not going to retrieve them?"

The blue alicorn shook her head.

"They shall make their own way to the dining room...perhaps they will have already made amends?"

Max's head was still throbbing a bit but at least now he was laughing instead of in pain. He was holding on to a window ledge, Celestia having collapsed from the gel's influence but still having enough control to grab his right rear leg in her magic. The mare was struggling across the stone floor while pulling him closer so he grabbed the nearest structure he could. The mare's strength continued to diminish as time passed, so all he needed to do was wait.

"We will...we will hurt you..." Celestia growled, her eyes not having much focus any more. The magic around his back leg began to sputter a bit and the alicorn's crawling had devolved to writhing on the ground.

Letting go of his support and trotting around her, Max chuckled before poking her side.

"I don't think you're capable of that right now, Princess. How do you feel?"

"...fuzzy. The floor feels nice," she answered. Her movements had stopped and she stopped channeling magic. Running a hoof over the floor she sighed. "Why do you do this to me?"

"Because I find it funny. Because you get wound up but don't relax and have fun. Because as part of Luna's flock, her sister is my sister as well. I mean, I don't know how ponies do it, but humans call it a sister-in-law," Max explained. "That means I tease you and prank you. But that also means I watch your back and do what I can to keep you well."

"...like...the arrows?" Celestia asked quietly.

"Yes, like that. Now let's go get something to eat."

With that Max sat next to the alicorn, allowing her to pull herself to his back. She held on with her legs, her wings hanging to the floor.

"We'll get you back for this..." Celestia mumbled, reaching up and sticking her tongue in his ear.

"Ah, ergh, yuck and hooves don't fit in, ew!" Max squawked, dropping the alicorn in his flailing.

In spite of the fall Celestia was laughing at him.

He shook his head and rubbed a hoof against his ear, trying to remove the saliva but all he managed to do was smear it around inside his ear.

"Oh that's...wet willie's are horrific when you have hooves."

"Perhaps now you will be aware of our superiority," the white alicorn giggled.

"Says the mare who can't stand up straight...alright you had your revenge. Truce until after dinner?" Max offered, extending a hoof.

Celestia shook her head.

"Nay, our revenge is far from complete! The ponies shall tell tales of our crusade against you for eons to come."

"Fine, you can stay there," Max said, rising and moving down the hall. "I'm going to dinner."

"You shall become lost on the way~" the white mare called in a sing-song tone.

Max shook his head.

"Nope, I can smell Luna's affection from here. All I have to do is follow it."

"...Upon further reflection we find a truce to be in our best interest," Celestia called as he started walking away again.

"I could just walk away...but I'll accept the truce. Shake on it."

"Drat," the mare muttered as they shook hooves. "Luna always forgets to confirm the agreements."

With a bit of teamwork the two managed to restore Celestia to her position on the changeling's back.

"Alright, lets get some food," Max said as he took off, following his nose. "Water too. I've still got a bit of a headache."

"See? What did we tell you. They found their own way here," Luna said to Crystal as Max walked in.

He'd received a few questioning stares along the way but otherwise was unmolested. Reaching a seat, he leaned down and allowed Celestia to slide off of his back and into her seat. She was still a bit wobbly but began eating as soon as she was stable.

"Hungry?," Luna asked. "Did you not eat well for lunch?"

Celestia grunted something through her meal before turning red in embarrassment. Swallowing her mouthful, she tried again.

"We were more interested in returning home. We had a very light lunch."

"And a light breakfast," Max piped in. "And a light dinner the night before, if I recall correctly. Don't really remember yesterday's lunch either."

The larger mare drooped slightly.

"We...had a conversation with Knight Lance before our journey. We were hoping for a non-violent way to end the threat but bandits are usually destroyed. To do otherwise would be a disservice to those they have harmed or killed."

"We understand," Luna said. "We too once planned to bring them back into the fold, hoped that there could be another way. The Knights were appalled by the idea. A few of them told us so, explained to us that to accept the criminals in such a way would only harm those we fought to defend. What pony wishes to live under a ruler who will not see them protected? Who shall not see those who wrong them brought to task for their crimes?"

"It feels cruel to not offer them a chance at redemption but it is cruel to the peasants to allow those who preyed upon them to return to society so easily. Anypony would be willing to ask forgiveness when faced with death. It i those who come to us of their own initiative we shall forgive, but even then they must work for their forgiveness. This is the rule we have adopted."

"Sometimes there are no good answers," Max said as he idly poked at his dinner. The food on his plate, not Luna.

"Mother did not suffer traitors. If anyling so much as questioned her they were publicly destroyed," Crystal said, drawing an inquisitive look from the other changeling.

"It is the only word we can think to describe it. Mother took great pleasure in dealing with traitors. Some of them... I question whether our clutch-mate, sub queen 16, was truly a traitor or Mother was merely bored."

"Ultimate power over a city or country, in the hands or hooves of someone cruel, can be a terrifying thing. Humanity experienced our own share of monsters masquerading as people," the stallion said. "Have ponies?"

Luna tapped her chin with a fork.

"We recall reading of a mare who was convinced drinking the blood of young colts would give her eternal life. Or was it a stallion drinking the blood of fillies?"

"Both variations of that story exist," Celestia cut in. "There were also tales of necromancers, ponies who bound the souls of those who perished into eternal servitude. To use magic in such a perverse way..."

"We had the idea of necromancers," Max said. "The closest thing we had to real necromancers we're those who studied dead bodies, though. Many early doctors and scientists ended up robbing graves for a corpse to study. We later adopted the idea of donating one's body to science, where medical students could learn from a preserved body by cutting it open and learning how everything is interconnected."

"Fear and speculation about what early doctors were doing with those bodies produced some interesting ideas though. The most notable scientific necromancer I can think of at the moment was from the story Frankenstein. One scientist had decided he would create life from death. Using his knowledge of the body and its functions he took many dead bodies and stitched them into one larger human. The size was important, I think something to do with how he was doing nerves but I don't remember...or maybe I'm just remembering the dick joke from the parody movie."

Luna giggled.

"What was the joke?"

Even as Celestia buried her face in her hooves, Max grinned.

"The scientist was conversing with his assistant about how everything would need to be scaled up for the creatures body, by I think it was a scale of two or three. Everything. The assistant then makes a comment that his... I think the word she used was braughshweigen or something -it was a made up word- would be enormous."

Luna burst into a fresh fit of giggles before turning decidedly green.

"It would also be, oh stars we are unable to clear it from our mind!"

Celestia smirked at that.

"It serves you right, inquiring about inappropriate jokes during dinner."

"Aw man, I've got all of these jokes but none of you have the information necessary to understand them," Max complained, wracking his brain for a decent joke. "Chemistry, that one's an English joke, oh this sucks."

"You could tell them anyway and explain them," Luna suggested.

"Nah, explaining a joke's like dissecting a frog. You learn how it works but the joke dies in the process."

Celestia snorted, choking on her water and pounding her chest while coughing.

"Huh...so that one still works."

Crystal poked at the plate before her, uncertain what to do with it.

"What about...I'm sorry, I shouldn't..."

"Go ahead, Crystal. You are a part of this conversation as well," Luna encouraged, hoping to get the smaller mare to open up a little.

"I remember hearing ponies telling riddles. I found them enjoyable. Do you know any?"

"We love riddles, actually," Celestia said, smiling at the topic. "We know a few, would you like to hear them?"

Crystal nodded, as did Luna and Max.

"Let's see, no door or lock, but a golden treasure resides inside. What am I?"

"Luna." Max called as the blue alicorn opened her mouth. "Quiet, give Crystal a chance to figure it out."

Crystal's face scrunched up in concentration. She began pouring over the information studiously, trying to figure out the answer but seemed unable to discover it.

As she began to shake her head in defeat, Max was struck by a disturbing idea.

"Hey Crystal, do changelings lay eggs?"

"Yes. Usually it is the queen, but drones can be altered to produce eggs if one uses enough energy. Many changes can be made with enough energy. Some changes will take several molts to fully take effect, but it is possible to alter the form of a changeling," the quiet mare said. "Why?"

"Because this riddle may not work for changelings," Luna said, her eyes widening in realization. "Do you know what a chicken is?"

"Those noisy birds that some ponies keep," Crystal growled in irritation. "They're messy and loud, I do not know why ponies keep them."

"The eggs," Celestia answered, oblivious to the context. "They're quite useful, used in a variety baked goods. They keep bread and cakes from falling apart."

"Ponies eat..." the changeling mare trailed off, her eyes going to the food with horror.

Max saw her start to heave and called out to her.

"Stop, Crystal. It's not the same. The eggs they use will never hatch. The birds lay them all the time. Do queens lay eggs that won't hatch?"

Even as Celestia's eyes bulged as the issue became clear to her, Crystal shook her head.

"I do not remember hearing of such a thing. Mother always had a clutch or five in the nursery but we do not recall ever hearing about eggs that would not hatch...was this made with..."

"The bread likely was, so you don't have to eat it," Luna said, feeling awkward about the whole situation. "Do you not enjoy eating meals? You have not touched anything yet anyways."

"I do not see the point. It does not nourish me. Why would I eat it? And now I find that you used..." the mare trailed off with a shudder.

"For one it calms the ponies around you. It would also help you blend in while in disguise," Max explained, taking another bite of his vegetable mix. "Ponies are used to seeing those around them eat, so it can be disquieting to see someone who never seems to eat. It also can be interesting. There are hundreds of foods out there and they can be prepared in thousands of ways. The flavors alone are worth it.

"Let's talk potatoes for instance. You can just throw them over a fire, baking them. You can boil them in water, making them softer and then mash them into a fluffy mush that can then be seasoned as you like. You can cut them into strips and fry them in oil, something I really need to show you guys. French fries are awesome. Then you can slice them into thin discs and either fry them for chips or use them in a dish with other things. Scalloped potatoes and ham was a pretty good meal, though I do wonder if pigs are sapient here. No more bacon in that case."

Luna smiled at Max's pouting before turning back to Crystal.

"Consuming the product of another creature is of no great concern to ponies. In truth, all ponies do this. We spend the first few months of our lives dependent on the milk produced by our mothers."

"Don't think about it too hard for now, Crystal. It's a culture difference," Max assured the mare. "I was a mammal not too long ago, so the thought of eating eggs doesn't bother me. We can show you a chicken egg later, I'm sure it looks nothing like a changeling egg. Even if it was, I don't think anyone here would consider changeling eggs as food. I'm not a big fan of eating anything that's sapient."

The group fell into silence as they continued their meal, Luna putting a reassuring wing over Crystal's back. The changeling pressed closer to Luna in response before turning to Celestia.

"So what was the answer to that riddle?"

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" Max asked, sitting on the bed in Luna's, or as it had now been claimed, the room for Luna's flock.

Luna smiled.

"Traditionally the greater number surround the lesser. In this case, the mare's sleep on either side of the stallion."

"Ah, but I think both of us are going to want to sleep next to you," Max countered. "You're warm and you produce love even in your sleep. I think Crystal and I are going to want our heater."

Crystal nodded in agreement with Max before looking to the alicorn with a bit of uncertainty.

"I will follow whatever you deem preferable."

"We are asking for your opinion, Crystal. There is no need to fear reprisal for disagreeing with us on sleep arrangements. We also understand your reasoning. Very well, we shall be center. Now then, what shall we do tonight?"

The stallion opened his mouth to make a suggestion when there was a knock at the door.

"Luna?" Celestia called, opening the door a crack. "Oh, if you are all, we apologize. We shall leave."

"Come in Tia. Nothing untoward was occurring...yet," the mare said, adding the last bit under her breath. "What do you require?"

Celestia shifted uncomfortably, her gaze drifting from one changeling to the other.

"We were wondering...we were wondering if we may stay together once more tonight."

"I don't mind," Max said with a shrug.

Luna looked to Crystal for a moment before shaking her head, knowing the changeling mare wouldn't offer an opinion. It would be something to work on in the future, bringing the changeling out of her-

'Oh dear, that saying just doesn't work with changelings.' "Very well, come here. We'll all sleep here tonight."

Crystal looked at the white mare with worry.

"How are we supposed to feed when she is here?"

"There are other ways to draw affection from ponies," Max said. As Celestia jumped onto the bed he gave the larger alicorn a push, causing her to rest on her side in confusion before he began to run a hoof up and down her left foreleg. Having done his exploration, he began to rub the leg in slow circular motions.

"I'm not an expert, but I think I can manage something. Crystal, I want you to do your best to copy my motions on Luna."

"What are you doing? We don't need you...oh wow..." Celestia trailed off as his motions brought him to her shoulder.

Max grinned.

"I'd use venom to increase how much you were relaxing, but then you wouldn't feel this. I've always enjoyed how it felt. Had a massage or two before this whole fiasco. Just say something if it starts to hurt. Crystal, don't be afraid of using a bit of force. Luna will tell you if something hurts."

"Do not fear for us, Crystal. It feels nice," Luna encouraged. "Try putting a bit more force...yes, like that."

Max moved behind Celestia, waiting until Crystal had mimicked the action. As he began to work on her rear leg he looked to the white alicorn.

"If you feel uncomfortable with the contact, say so."

Celestia watched him carefully, the contentment and enjoyment she was feeling starting to shift into discomfort. Max slowed just shy of her flank and moved away, motioning for her to flip over and allow him to work on her other side.

"Why did you stop?" Luna asked, looking from Crystal to Max. "Max, why did you stop the massage there?"

"Because your sister didn't feel comfortable with it," Max answered, slowly working his way up Celestia's right side. "After this I want you to sit on your stomach. It's going to be a bit weird and I'm not touching the wings until I learn more about them, but the neck...actually I should probably just have you stay on your side for that. Your neck sits differently from a humans...and Tia, next time say something. It made you uncomfortable, so why didn't you tell me to stop?"

"We did not wish for it to stop. We also know Luna would have wanted to experience it," Celestia answered. Her discomfort was shifting to a bit of shame at taking such a thing from Luna.

"It's about you though. I told you that. I can always go back to Luna when we're done, or Crystal can try to do it on her own," Max explained as he worked on her side. "This is about helping you two relax a bit. I don't think you could return it, I mean it would be kind of hard to rub through chitin."

"Perhaps...we have an idea," Luna said as Crystal continued to mimic the stallions actions. Pushing Crystal back a bit Luna rose and hopped off the bed, walking out the door with a smirk on her face. She returned a few moments later with a bucket of steaming water and several washcloths.

"You still enjoy hot baths, do you not? Then let us see how this works."

Luna jumped back on the bed, pushing the changeling mare to the matress before taking a cloth, wetting it, wringing it out a bit, and moving it over the changeling's shell.

Crystal let out a strange, purring mewl at the contact causing Max to raise an eyebrow. "Does it really feel that good?"

Luna giggled as the mare below her turned into pudding.

"Tia can show you when you finish with her. After all, she should return the attention."

Max continued to work on the alicorn for several more minutes, painstakingly going over every part of her the two felt comfortable with. With a sign of irritation, Celestia rose to her hooves in a shaky manner and walked over to the bucket. It was time to play her part.

"More enjoyable than you thought?" Max asked the sleepy alicorn, receiving a nod in answer.

Celestia nodded, moving towards him and folding the cloth in half.

"Yes. You said you had ponies who do that where you are from?"

"Massage therapists or masseuses, most put a lot of effort into getting their licenses. I think it was a year or two of schooling," Max explained, sighing as the cloth began to run over his shell.

"That's awesome, actually. I wasn't sure how it would feel."

"Crystal is quite fond of it. We believe she's fallen asleep," Luna said.

Max looked over and saw the changeling sleeping on her back, completely limp as Luna ran the cloth over the changeling's shell.

"Looks like it. Glad we have a way to get her to relax. She seems very wound up."

"We are certain she can be taught to calm down. She has been through quite a bit. It shall be interesting to see how she adjusts," Luna added with a faint smile.

Max nodded in agreement, his eyes drifting closed as the warm sensation flowed over his shell. It was an alien sensation but it just felt so nice. In fact at this rate he wouldn't be surprised if he ended up falling...

"Two for two," Luna giggled, hearing the stallion beginning to softly snore. Celestia continued to mindlessly move the cloth over the changeling for a few moments more before Luna poked her.

"Come now, Tia. It wasn't as bad as you thought, was it? He treats you as family. It's nice to have another pony we can trust."

"It is only, we feel strange about the whole affair. Isn't such bonding for families? Like herds and flocks?" the larger alicorn asked dubiously.

"You are a part of the family, Tia. It is only a different kind of relation. We remember having a large family, and sometimes the sons and daughters would remain with the family for years. They would sleep and mate in a different room, but everypony bathed together. It is a form of bonding.

"He even avoided touching your flank when you wished for him not to," Luna added with a grin. "He likes you. Not in the way he likes us, but he enjoys being with you. We have no doubt he would gladly go with you if you asked him to accompany you on another task."

Celestia stared at the sleeping changelings, worrying her lip.

"We will accept that the stallion is...truthful in his words of his mission. We are reserving our judgment of Crystal for now. She is strange."

"We believe she was bred for war. What she spoke of, her mother was cruel. She saw the changelings as tools for her use instead of individuals. We hope to change Crystal's perceptions of self. To see her acknowledge that she has value and purpose, that her value and purpose is not reliant on a mare who saw her as disposable."

"But that is for a later time. It is getting late," Luna added with a yawn.

"Agreed, we-"Celestia herself was cut off with a yawn, "-Tartarus, we hate when you do that. Good night, Luna."

The mare's relaxed on the bed, Luna with a wing draped over Crystal and pulling the smaller mare to her side. Her flock would have time in the morning. Her older sister needed the sense of safety a flock provided after her experience.

Author's Notes:

I'm coining the phrase "Momma-birding"