Celestia walked down the halls to her sister's room with apprehension. She'd spent most of the day trying to think of a way to make up with her sister, but nothing occurred to her. Now it was time for their shared meal and the blue alicorn was nowhere to be seen. It scared the white mare in more ways than she could have anticipated. Was Luna still angry, was the smaller mare still angry that she'd stop the binding oath? Was the creature, Max, right in saying she was her own worse enemy in this latest fiasco?

She needed to find a way to make this all right. He was right in saying that ignoring the problem now would just make it worse. Before he'd spoken, she at least had the excuse of saying she hadn't noticed, she could-

'Sun and stars, now I'm making excuses, making sure they check out. What am I doing? Luna was suffering and I did nothing about it.'

Celestia soon found her way to her sister's room, the two guards stationed outside the door standing straighter at her approach.

"Is my sister present?"

"She is your highness. She also brought the, the creature up a few hours ago. We've heard nothing from either since," the stallion on the left of the door answered.

"She requested privacy, saying none were to enter while she discussed things with it," the stallion on the right offered.

Celestia bit down her apprehension. Luna was powerful, there was no way she would be endangered by a creature that didn't even seem comfortable in his own flesh. Opening the door to her sister's room, the solar alicorn stepped inside and closed the door behind her, not wanting the guards to hear a possible fight. Turning back to her sister's bed, Celestia choked.

The room was thick with the scent of feminine arousal, the smell causing her to dread what she'd find. Certainly her sister wasn't so weak as to be seduced by the creature that quickly? Had he already consumed her emotions? Was there anything left of her sister?

Throwing the blanket off the lump on the bed, she was greeted by the horrific sight of the changeling sleeping on her sisters back. Even worse, his muzzle was smeared with an odd substance that the white alicorn soon identified as belonging to her sister. Worse, Luna was sleeping easily in the changeling's hooves, a content grin on her face even as they slept the day away. A slight resistance at her hooves directed her attention to the floor, a stain similar in color to that coating the stallion's muzzle covering a good portion of the floor just before the bed.

'Oh gross, I just stepped in it!'

Celestia was thankful her regalia had taken the contact instead of her own hooves. For once the ridiculous jewelry the ponies graced the diarchs with was proven to be useful. Unfortunately, the aching hooves she was often left with because of them just didn't make up for a single point in their favor.

Looking back to the two creatures currently resting with each other, the mare noticed the changeling was now awake and staring at her in curiosity. His eyes drifted lazily towards the window, spotting the evening light. He nodded in comprehension, acting as though he were oblivious to her anger. Without another word, he nuzzled the mare below him, whispering something to her that was so quiet the white alicorn didn't hear it. Luna did, however, and soon the smaller alicorn was yawning widely as she slowly awoke from her rest.

The deepest fears Celestia had seemed to fade slightly as the changeling whispered something into Luna's ear, drawing a happy giggle from her sister. Whatever the male had done, Luna still retained her emotions. That left a her slightly curious, actually. The stallion's eyes had a red tint to them, so he'd done something while they shared...

"I do believe I told the guards that we were not to be disturbed," Luna said, breaking Celestia out of her mental rambling.

"Is this how it is to be, sister? Celestia gives the ponies orders and they follow them without question, while Luna's orders are ignored? Are we not just as much a princess as you are, mine sister? What about our rank is different from yours?"

Luna shifted, sitting up on the bed and causing the stallion to roll off her back in surprise. She glared at Celestia, showing a well of anger the white mare could never have guessed at.

"Why, Tia? Why do you continue to lie about this? You said yesterday you wished to fix this, yet you continue to trot over our orders! What must we do to make you understand?!"

Celestia took a step back, unprepared for such an outburst. To her horror, the blue alicorn pursued.

"We are always your shadow, always below your level!" Luna shouted, stomping closer. "Ponies clamor for your attention while we are forgotten, they listen to your words of wisdom while ours are dismissed. They obey your requests immediately, yet ignore our commands! We work just as hard as thee, and yet our place seems to be forever in thy shadow. Why, Tia? Why go through this nonsense of naming us thine equal if we are to forever be thy second in all things?"

As the white mare stared in horror at the rage and hatred spilling off the younger alicorn, unable to react in any way besides sputtering denials, the changeling moved. He approached Luna from behind, pulling her back and wrapping his hooves around her, holding the blue alicorn against his barrel. He whispered into her ear and she seemed to deflate, closing her eyes and breathing deeply before nodding. The changeling looked Celestia in the eyes, darting them towards the door while mouthing the words 'wait outside' to her. The alicorn of the sun, shaken by Luna's tirade, promptly left, closing the door behind her. She told the guards to alert the maids that she would be late and to tell either the changeling or Luna that she would be next door. Celestia walked into the room, closed the door and made sure the privacy spell that had been placed on most of the rooms was active.

Seeing that it was, she trotted over to the bed, jumped up on it, and wept.

Max held Luna for a while, feeling the bubbling anger slowly receding as he nuzzled and hugged her. She seemed to be slowly working the anger out of her mind. In the meantime the emotion was leaving her physically warm to the touch to his senses, an oddity that he filed away for later. Once the blue alicorn was sufficiently cooled, she slumped slightly in his grip and sighed.

"Why does she do this to us? She continually acts as though we were her equal, in both word and on script. The second we seek to act of our own accord though, doing things she sees as unbecoming of our place in society, she acts the part of a mother or older sibling. She cannot have it both ways! We are either her equal, or we are below her!"

"She's scared right now, I think," Max offered, still stroking the mare's mane. "She thought she knew what was going on, that everything was going well, and now she learns that it isn't true. Her world's falling apart around her and she's looking for control."

"We are not some, some toy to be controlled! We do not come at her beck and call!" Luna shouted, stomping the ground.

"Maybe not, but I need you to be the adult Luna. She was radiating fear when you started yelling at her, and now she's just tasting of sorrow. At least I think it's sorrow. She's likely even crying now. I don't need you to forgive her just yet but I need you to be willing to eat dinner with her, or breakfast as the case may be. The first step to solving this isn't talking it out. It's being able to talk. Right now I don't think the two of you are capable of that. There's too much emotion right now. The wounds are too fresh. So we work on being calm, being civil. Do you think you can do that for me, Luna?" the stallion asked while nuzzling the alicorn's neck

Luna sighed at the physical sign of affection, leaning into him.

"Only on thy word that you will be in attendance for our court tonight. It is often quite tedious. Boring even."

"I promise. Now, would you like me to make sure your sister's alright, or should we both go?" he asked her.

Luna shook her head.

"I will tell her we will dine together tonight. You are not going to be wandering the halls looking like that. With our own tell, we may at least mask the scent with a spell. We are not certain if thy shell will accept our magic at this time. The bathing room is through yonder door."

While he was dubious about Luna handling the situation, he was left curious about her comment. A quick trot over to a nearby mirror caused him to wince at the sight. His muzzle was currently smeared with what he could only assume was the dried remnants of last nigh-no, today's activities. It wasn't a few smears, either. The entire portion of his muzzle that extended from his neck seemed to have a good layer of the dried fluids on it and the smears continued down his neck and over his belly.

'Oh yuck,' the stallion thought with a wince. A bubbling in his stomach came forth as he remembered in detail his...feast the night before.

'Oh god, I was just, and I just kept, oh geeze what the hell?'

Max shuddered at the memory. He'd never been one to just jump on a female like that, but that had unfortunately been his goal, one directly linked to survival. He needed someone that loved him, preferably a female. Luna was fairly desperate for any attention at this point, so he'd used that to push himself into the situation he'd found himself in last night and attempted to feed. What he didn't realize was what feeding seemed to entail.

'There's got to be more to it than that. I mean, I still feel hungry. It's like I ate a few Peeps before bed. Maybe it's like that; the easier the emotion is to cause, the less powerful the emotion, the less energy I get. I don't know, this is all so weird. The fact that I actually could taste her lust in that though, ugh. I think she said the bath was through...that's a big bathtub.'

The large changeling stared for a few moments at the large pool of water that was currently steaming before him. Why it was already hot he could only guess, and currently those guesses were somewhere between a schedule( it was just about time for Luna to be up) and 'fuck it, it's a magical bathtub.'

Walking over to a small pile of clean rags, he grabbed one in his mouth and hopped into the warm water. He instantly felt his muscles relaxing. The warm water, while feeling strange on the bug-like shell he was currently occupying, still warmed him up in a wonderful way. Max managed to wipe what he could see from his muzzle but was certain he would need Luna to verify his work.

He'd begun on his forelegs, the towel painstakingly wrapped around a fetlock to keep it in place when the mare in question arrived. Without a word she jumped in, levitating to her side a myriad of oils, soaps, towels, and brushes. Looking to his own pitiful attempt at cleanliness, the mare burst into laughter.

"Surely there is no questioning that thou art entirely out of place, Max. Do you not even know how to grasp with thine hooves?'

"Honestly, Lu-do you mind if I call you Luna?" the stallion asked, looking up from his makeshift scrubber "I have no fricken' clue what I'm doing. It's embarrassing, but I may have to hold off on giving you that bath. In fact I may owe you two after tonight. Would you mind helping me out?"

The blue mare rolled her eyes and approached, her brushes and soaps wielded like weapons as she advanced on her unfortunate victim. A pitiful squeak of fear was all the stallion managed before he was overcome.

Max watched the two alicorns as they ate their dinner. Awkward as his own family reunion meals had been, this was downright pitiful. Luna had taken a seat on one side of the table, while Celestia sat at the other. It was by no means an obnoxiously large table, but the fact that they were both the only ones normally eating at a table that could clearly seat about sixteen beings of their size spoke volumes.

Max was seated by Luna of course, the two of them on one side of the large table. The blue mare was currently eating quietly, more than he'd hoped for considering the toxic interactions the two had partaken of earlier. Celestia was doing likewise, though she'd cast depressed glances at the other mare every now and again. Both were radiating their respective emotions to Max, but he was uncertain if it was possible to repair this in the near future. Both seemed unable to see the problems, just the resulting issues, the symptoms. Both were also unwilling to even say one word to each other at the moment, though it seemed mostly hesitation on Celestia's part and a case of 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' for Luna. It wouldn't be something the two would overcome in one day, but it was more than had occurred naturally as far as he knew. Perhaps with a bit of effort it would be possible to work this out?

The stallion was picking at his meal, Luna having taught him the proper use of hoof-grip during the start of the meal. The food tasted alright, it was just odd. Not just because he mentally was assigning it as things that weren't edible to his previous form, but because it did nothing for his hunger. That was currently being supplied in a trickle from the alicorn at his side, a small stream of gratitude and affection keeping him sustained and active. The small trickle seemed to be doing more for him than his entire feeding session the night before. It just reinforced the idea that simple emotions wouldn't cut it for him. He needed more.

"Is it not to your liking?" Celestia asked carefully.

"It's not that, it's fine-"

"Max is incapable of subsisting on the same nourishment as you or I. He feeds on our emotions. That being said, why do you eat this as well?" Luna asked, turning to him.

"It's familiar to me, helps add a bit of normalcy," Max answered, looking to the blue mare. "I need anything I can get at the moment, Luna. New world, new body, new metabolism, it's all weird to me. Eating dinner though, that's something I did all the time with my family or friends. I know it probably doesn't do anything for me, but it's calming. If food's an issue for you guys though, I'm sure I can skip it."

"No, it is not. I was merely curious," Celestia offered, returning her attention back to picking at her own dinner.

Max managed to not roll his eyes at the depressing lack of interaction going on during the meal. It was bothering him quite a bit and he'd only had the experience this one time.

"Why is the table so long?"

"We must be able to accommodate any who wish to speak with us. Therefore, our dining hall is created with the intention of hosting anypony that may stay here," Luna answered.

Max nodded at the reply, but it still didn't help him much.

"That's nice, but it kind of feels...empty?"

At the uncomprehending stares of the two alicorns, he chuckled nervously.

"I mean, there are other rooms that aren't being used, right? You throw a smaller table into one, one suited for four to six individuals, and suddenly the room doesn't feel so empty. You don't have to shout at each other, the servants aren't making a two minute trip to round the table...I think it would feel a bit more personable. A bit less lonely."

"I believe I understand what you propose," Luna said while tapping her fork on her plate in thought. "One dining hall for when we have ambassadors or visitors of importance, another for daily meals. One to be a bit less ostentatious, yes I think I like that idea. One does become a bit tired of constantly being surrounded by opulent, empty space. You suggest a more homely approach?"

"Would that not make us appear poor? I was under the impression that such things were only to be enjoyed by the common ponies," Celestia added. It was normal speaking volume, but the distance cut it to a whisper.

"As I said, it would only be for you, or whoever you decide to share it with," Max explained to the white mare. "Friends who can be trusted, confidants, family. Keep this place, keep it clean and ready, but save it for when you're trying to impress. In fact, you can do the same with the plates and utensils. Keep a few sets that you use here, and a few sets that are for your private use. The more expensive ones are saved for when you have company. May save you a bit in ruined silverware as well. It's what my mother did. She wouldn't let us touch the fine china unless it was a special occasion. It may come across as petty or cheap, but it makes the nicer things a bit more special."

"I find it an acceptable plan," Luna said, drinking the last of her wine. "Night court begins momentarily, Max. We must be going."

As he stood to follow the mare, he called out to her.

"Be there in a moment, Luna."

Stepping around the table to Celestia, he winced at the confused mess of hostility and depression flowing from her.

"Are you alright?"

The mare blinked in confusion at the question.

"For what reason do you ask such a question? Are mine emotions not plain for you to see?"

"Emotions, yes. Actual thoughts on what's going on? Not so much. I want Luna to be happy, as I've told you before. For her to be truly happy though, this thing between the two of you needs to be resolved. I'm going to lay this out for you, princess. All three of us are terrified right now. Luna of losing the one creature that's approached her for the longest time, you of losing your sister I assume, and I'm scared of what happens tomorrow night when Discord pulls the plug. I don't know how much energy I need to be pulling to survive, as it's not something I've had to deal with before. We all need to work this out before someone gets hurt."

The white alicorn took a calming breath, attempting to cool what the changeling was feeling.

"I, I know Luna is alone now, and I know how I feel about all of this, but why would you tell me your own issues? You've been very forthcoming with any and all information we may require of you, suspiciously so."

"It's been too much? I was just trying to-damn, too much?" Max asked, scratching his chin with a hoof. "I was trying to relax you, to head off any problems you may have. I already told you this though, princess. I have nothing on this side, nothing but my connection to Luna now."

"Which you have already exploited," Celestia accused with a glare.

"I hate to try and explain this to you, but I think the trickle I was receiving during dinner did more for me than all that I fed on earlier. That flow of happiness and affection was something that was focused on me, directed. I can actually still feel it and it's still powering me right now, whereas all that emotion I ate last night was burned by the time I woke up. I think the more complex emotions, the ones that actually require a relationship, provide more energy. Lust wont cut it. So I'm going to keep doing my best to make her happy. Making her happy will require more than just doing what she asks me to do, though."

The stallion gave her a sad smile. "

"I'm willing to help you too if you ask me, Celestia. I don't want to help one of you just to see the other fall."

"You're a very dangerous creature," the white mare said after a moment of silence.

The changeling turned to follow Luna, opening the door with a hoof. He stopped just before closing the door, calling back to the mare.

"So are you, princess. We're just dangerous in different ways. From what I know of the story, you have a lot of magic, more than most creatures on this planet. For your own peace of mind though, the reason I'm not running around panicking in spite of my situation is because I'm scared. This is a survival scenario for me right now. If I panic, there's a good chance I will die. Therefore I need to maintain what little control I can exert. One thing Humans are good at is surviving. I won't just roll over and die when there's still a sliver of hope left. I'm willing to offer that to you as well. An ally or, if you'll allow it, a friend that will endure any hardship to survive. Right now, survival means making those around me happy, maybe even earning their love."

"And once you are safe? What is to become of mine sister after you are situated?"

Max chewed his lip, a bad idea with his new body.

"Ow, dammit. I don't know yet, princess. This may be an ongoing campaign, as just because I have access to enough emotion to survive doesn't mean it will last forever. I need to be able to live, not just survive. So I need Luna to be happy for as long as it takes me to either find a better solution, or until the day I die. Even if such a day comes that I no longer require her to survive though, I will not harm her. That both speaks ill of me and my own, and goes against everything I was taught as a child."

Night Court was dull.

No, dull didn't quite capture the sheer level of boredom that the stallion was experiencing at the moment. He was sitting beside the throne, watching the time pass, watching the guards shooting him nervous glances and the single maid that was waiting nearby for any requests Luna may have. The mare had almost passed out when he'd first focused on her.

After nearly two hours of boredom, he'd been ready to call it the most boring, tedious, ridiculous waste of time that he'd ever experienced.

"It's like this every frickin' night?"

"It is. We must remain vigilant, however. We do receive requests during these courts. We will not abandon the subjects who require our aide," Luna said.

Max shifted a bit, feeling pins and needles in his legs from not moving for a while. Finally groaning in irritation, he stood up and started walking the width of the room, stretching his legs. He never did like sitting around for hours on end, sitting on his...ok, so he did sit around for hours at a time, but he had something to focus on. Actually, maybe that would work.

"You have a chess set or something?"

"Chess? You wish to play a game in the middle of court?" a guard asked with a mixture of anger and shock.

"Well no-one's showing up right now," Max said with a gesture to the doors. "That and the guy down there will announce when someone shows up. It's not like we're going to be playing a game while someone's petitioning for help. In fact, I think it would help a bit. I'm dozing off, and if you do this every night I can't see this being very...stimulating for you. It could keep you awake, leaving you better suited to deal with whatever issues are brought up. Personally, I think you could even do something else, then show up when someone comes looking for help. I mean, you talk about a game being a waste of time here, I think it's more of a waste to sit here for hours on end doing nothing."

"Our duty to our ponies is not a waste of time," Luna said stoically, though he tasted a bit of curiosity in her voice. The guards were still between livid and shocked he'd be talking like this to her.

"I'm not saying abandon them. When a, a pony shows up to ask for help, have someone call you back to the throne room. You can study, exercise, what have you. When you're needed, you show up and take care of whatever the problem may be."

Luna seemed to ponder the idea.

"It...does seem to have some merit."

"Your highness, you can't be seriously considering this thing's words!" a guard said in disbelief.

"How long is the rotation for the guards?" Max asked the stallion, catching him flat footed.

The stallion stuttered for a second before looking to Luna for permission to speak. When she nodded in approval, he answered.

"About six months for regular schedules, two for night guards. It keeps us from getting..."

"From getting too apathetic in your duties," Max finished. "Even the guards get bored of this, soldier. Princess Luna's been doing this for a while now, how do you think she feels? She doesn't get to switch with her sister every few months and you expect her to keep doing this for, for however long she rules. Actually, having the two of them switch would probably be a riot to watch. Those ponies come in, expecting Celestia and end up with Luna."

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, creature," the other guard corrected.

"Max, not creature," Luna added with a mischievous grin. "I would love to take mine sister's place for her court, but the day is not our time...perhaps if we kept the moon up for-"

Max blanched at the route Luna was thinking of pursuing.

"I'm going to stop you right there, Luna. The moon doesn't have to be up for you to be on the throne. Also, I don't think anyone would appreciate the sun and moon acting wonky again. After Discord, they want something they can count on. My own people count the moon and sun as an untouchable source of order while the ponies and everything else on this planet aren't so lucky. As I was saying earlier though, I don't see why you waste your time sitting here for hours at a time."

"It is tradition for the ruling party to be seated on the throne during their hours of duty," the guard to Luna's right answered.

The stallion stared at the guard for a breath before speaking.

"How long has that been tradition first of all. Second, did you ever have a ruler that was up all night? The situation has changed, so you need to adapt. I know it's not something you want to do after all the forced change with Discord, but change isn't to be feared. That's the one thing I'll kick that jerk for when I see him. Well, besides the whole forcibly changing me and leaving me on your front lawn to starve. That earns him an extra special kick in the 'nads. That being said, the only thing that doesn't change is the fact that things change. It's normal for societies to change and adapt to new ages, and this is a new age. New rules and customs are to be expected, in fact I'd say they're guaranteed."

Max grinned as the guards looked questioningly at each other and Luna thought the idea over. Celestia was proven to be capable of managing the day to day things in the worst case scenario, so why not? Luna didn't need to be wasting her time on a throne as nothing more than a seat warmer. She could go out and do things, see the country they were working to build, manage things while Luna passed her time in other ways. In fact, that would be his next pitch. She wanted to be closer to the ponies, so he'd suggest going out to the various towns and settlements, seeing what it was that the commoners wanted, what they did, what they needed.

Luna eventually nodded, beckoning the maid closer and asking her to retrieve a chess set. The mare left, soon returning with an ornate glass chess set, along with a small box containing the pieces and an additional set of checkers. A small table was set near the throne and the game was started.

Just before he moved his first pawn, Max moved around the table to whisper into the alicorn's ear.

"Winner of the first game gets a favor from the other, redeemable after court."

Considering the flair of excitement and just a little bit of lust he tasted after saying that, he was fairly certain he knew what Luna's favor would entail. It was fine though. He was here for her, after all. Anything the mare asked of him, if it was in his power to deliver it he would do so. His life was dependent upon her happiness, after all.

Author's Notes:

Soemone commented last chapter that it seemed to be moving fast. To that I have three things to say.

1: Max's life depends on making this relationship as quickly as possible. He doesn't know how the feeding works though, so he needs someone who wants him to survive, needs someone who needs him. By making this connection with Luna, she's that much more likely to endure discomfort for his sake.

2: Luna is experiencing her depression right now and it includes a feeling of abandonment. She suddenly has someone who asks about her, who wants her to be happy and is willing to stay up late with her for the sake of her comfort. I think she'd be willing to jump at anything to get rid of that feeling of loneliness.

3: It's a clop-fic, of course there's going to be those kinds of scenes. That being said, the connection has been made, and things are being learned. Now that he knows lust won't do it, he's going to be aiming a bit higher. Survival comes before freak-outs, after all. It helps to have someone there to support you during those, anyway.