"Something very strange is going on." Celestia stood beside her sister, the pair alone in the garden. Pulling slowly, the Princess of the Sun slowly ended the day, just as her sister was flush with her own power while raising the moon.

"Oh?" Luna loved the sensation of raising the moon. She may have been a monster for her time there, but she loved the night and its herald. "You mean Shining Armor and Cadance catching changelings skulking around is normal?"

The look Luna gave Celestia had the white alicorn giving a giggle and wrapping a wing over her sister. "Ever since you returned, the days have been more interesting, Lulu. But no, everything happening in the Crystal Empire seems completely at odds with how I intended things to go."

Luna leaned in, pressing her neck against her sister's throat. "Oh no, Princess Celestia!" It was obvious by her tone that she was working on another droll comment. "Has something in Equestria not gone according to your Marechiavellian plans?" Luna lifted a hoof and rested her fetlock across her forehead for extra effect.

"I see your sense of humor is coming back, Lulu." Celestia shook her head at her melodramatic sister's little stunt. "I sent Shining Armor and Princess Cadance there to help give them a little space, some practice leading, and to help stabilize the north."

"And?" Luna slipped out from under her sister's wing, trotting to an old rose bush that had just past its flowering time. A rose hip was swiftly consumed.

"Lulu, there is something really strange going on. They have a changeling as their Regent, and if the guards' reports are anything to go by, as their Captain of the Guard." Celestia had to smile past her worry, seeing her sister so at ease soothed her spirit.

"So they are more than just monsters? I think I would dearly like to go and see for myself." Luna plucked up another rose hip, biting into it to release the strong flavor. She thought about it some more. "So what will you do now? What is the real problem?"

"The real problem is, Lulu, if I had pushed on the claims of my guards, I might-well have been ejected from the Crystal Empire. Cadance always had a strong sense of what she wanted, I hoped Shining would temper that a little, being the biggest thing she wanted. Instead, he has risen to match her."

"He challenged you, didn't he?" Luna couldn't stop her giggle, her sister's tone was a mix of indignation and righteousness. The silence Celestia dropped into was Luna's answer. "So they are going to be their own country? I think that is wonderful."

"Wonderful? Luna, one, or both of them, might be under the control of changelings and you think it is 'wonderful'?" Celestia's shock at her sister turned into understanding. "I hadn't gotten to that bit yet, had I?" When Luna shook her head, Celestia sighed. "Shining dismissed all the guard there, told them they were released from their duty. Then he invited any remaining to rejoin the 'Royal Crystal Guard.' "

"Sensible if he wants to secede from Equestria. You mentioned a changeling as the Captain?" Luna knew the answer, but her sister nodded to her anyway. "A bit odd, considering his treatment by them in the past… although I would only know that through second-hoof ways…"

"I said I was sorry I didn't wake you. It was a wedding, and then I was in a pod, and then I had to clean up and… You fight dirty, Lulu." Celestia gave a sigh as her sister pranced over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Of course I do. You were always the mare to stand up tall and call out our enemies." Luna used her magic to pluck two more rose hips, tossing one toward her sister's snout and bringing the other to her own. Inhaling the spent scent of the rose she had to fight her urge to gobble it up immediately. "I will send somepony." She gave in to her desire and bit the hip in half.

"How can you eat these things? They are so bitter…" Celestia, however, ate the hip regardless. "Do you need me to-" She stopped at the expression Luna gave her. "Okay, I trust you. If your… friend, needs help-"

"If they need help they will let me know, and then we can both go sailing in like old times, blasting away the monsters and making all the little ponies happy. If they find a fledgling nation growing into its own hooves, we will instead send a letter of congratulations and a request to visit." Luna smiled at her sister. "After all this time, Tia, and you still leave the dark things to me. You brought this to me because you didn't know what to do but make a mess," Luna lifted her hoof up and with great precision, booped her sister, "so let me handle it."

"But LT, when are we going back on active duty?" Gleaming Fire had given their squad three days of leave, but he didn't want to leave Dropper alone with him so worked up. "You said to take a rec-leave…"

"Gleam, I am going on a solo mission." Dropper was packing his kit. "You should be on leave, with the rest." He added his personal effects to the pack too.

"Drop, what are you doing? Did you get an order to go somewhere?" Gleam watched as Dropper packed the photo the stallion kept of his parents. "Dropper, talk to me. You know I am always by your side."

"Nopony believes me. I gotta go save the Captain. Whatever that bug has done to him, I'm gonna stop it." Dropper's tone was a study in controlled emotion, he was trying desperately not to cry for Shining Armor. "I am heading for the train in an hour, after I requisition some equipment. If you want to be a hero, be ready."

Gleam charged off, his blood running hot with the near-order. Reaching his bunk he started packing his own things, stuffing his pack with his gear as well as his picture of Sugar Melt. "I'll be back, you know I will be, I just have to do this Sugar." Another spike of loyalty hit him, had him draw his attention to a picture at the end of the barracks. "I need to tell somepony what I am doing, first."

Hefting his bag, Gleaming Fire trotted from the barracks and worked through the castle until he was at the door of the suite Princess Luna lived in. "I need to see the Princess." He had seen action, the two bat ponies standing guard at the door didn't faze him. "Now."

"Princess Luna is in a meeting and is not to be dis-" One of the guards at the door didn't even see the pegasus move, a note was fluttering in the pegasus' wake. "Huh… wasn't he a Royal Guard?"

"Your Majesty, please focus on the image you want." Careful repeated himself, his magic making another little mark on the page.

Shining sighed deeply and rolled his shoulders, secretly glad to have a reason to be out of his armor. "I am trying. I am making the image of me-"

"No, do something easier first. Something you look at every day of your life." Careful blinked at how stupid he had been. "Sorry, Your Majesty, that was my fault. I should have thought to coach you more on selecting an image. Why not try your wife first?"

"C-C-Cady?" Shining couldn't stop himself, just mention of Cadance had her image, smell, and even taste, come to mind. Something poured up into his horn, a new kind of magic and, before he could stop it, it grabbed the image in his head and rushed back down, pouring into his body.

"You did it!" Careful was on his hooves, doing a little dance. "Come quickly! Shining finally managed to transform!" He was still dancing when Cadance, Twilight, and Rarity all dashed through the door. "Look!"

"Princess Cadance?" Twilight stood in shock at her brother.

"Princess Cadance?" Rarity looked back and forth between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.

"Shiny!" Cadance, the real one, rushed forward and wrapped her husband with both wings and forelegs. "You did it! What…" She turned to look at Careful. "Should I ask why my husband looks like me?"

Shining Armor finally got the nerve up to look down. "Wow…" Her voice was perfect, her body was perfect. She closed her eyes and thought, what would Cadance do? Smiling, Shining Armor opened her wings and wrapped them around Cadance, pulling the two closer together, and kissed her wife soundly.

"We should leave." Rarity started to turn and, despite the impropriety of it, grabbed her friend and pulled Twilight from the room too. Just behind her, Careful marched, flush with success.

"I did it, my Queen did it!" Careful closed the door and did a little more of a dance. "Shining is now fully a queen!"

"Shining, this is… tell me what happened." Cadance didn't let go of her husband, even if it was a little strange to be hugging herself.

"We had been working on disguising, Careful kept telling me to form an image of what I wanted and push magic through it. So I was trying to remember myself, so I could be myself again." Shining was a little surprised at her voice, but the more she talked the more comfortable it got. "I mentioned I was trying as hard as I could to think of my own image. He got mad, but at himself. He… I need to change back." Shining's eyes were suddenly wide.

"Shiny, what's the matter?" Cadance tucked her wings back from her struggling husband. "Just change back then."

"No, I need… he didn't teach me…" Shining was dancing from hoof to hoof, looking like a filly in a panic. Suddenly she squeaked loudly and took off at a gallop. "I NEED TO PEE!" Bursting out the door, she barely slowed as she rounded the corner and was off.

Cadance blinked a few times at the image. "I wonder if I look that silly when I flap my wings and run?" She sat down to wait for her husband's return. It wasn't a long wait, no more than ten minutes.

"Where is that drone?" Shining clopped her way into the study, dragging the door closed behind her. "If I find out where he is before-"

"Bathroom?" Cadance lifted her hoof to hide her giggle, badly. "We kind of shooed them out, Shiny. Are you feeling better?" She reached out with her magic, flicking the "annoying" bit of mane that always bugged her out of her husband's face.

"The next time I complain about you being late due to, ahem, 'mare things'… Just kick me, okay?" Shining walked right up to Cadance and kissed her soundly. It felt different, but the same. Cadance's lips felt just as soft and inviting, just as perfect as always, but now Shining's were the same. Opening her new senses, she reached for her wife and slurped up the love she was giving off, not stopping until she felt her head spin.

Cadance felt Shining feed, not caring in the least. It is a little strange, kissing myself. He… she, feels softer, not bad… different. Cadance found it easy to relax, to give herself to the attention.

Shining's eyes widened a little at the renewed excitement Cadance seemed to bring, how good it felt to relax. But she wanted more, her body wanted more and she pushed, thrusting her tongue into Cadance's mouth and smiling into the kiss.

Cadance had done the dance many times, but as she charged her horn she realized this was going to be a new one. Holding Shining Tightly, Cadance teleported herself and Shining to their bedroom, hearing a little gasp of surprise from her husband. With their lips broken apart, she could talk again. "What? You thought I would be turned off by this?" She didn't want to risk another kiss, realizing they could be stuck for hours if she did.

"I am not sure about it… I mean, what is down… down there, is really different." Shining pointed to her back end with a dainty pink hoof. "I… what?" She blinked at her wife, missing the humor she obviously was taking with it all.

"Shining Armor, I believe you know exactly what is 'down there,' and if by now you don't then I propose we both study it in more detail." Cadance stood up to her full height, loosing her wings at her sides to add extra dimension. "You honestly think we were never going to play any sorts of games with this?"

Frozen like a deer in headlights, it took a few moments for Shining's brain to catch up with her wife's intent. "I guess I didn't think about it like that… what if somepony catches us?" She couldn't help but face-hoof at her own words. "Okay, I am being silly, aren't I?"

Cadance just nodded and pranced up to their bed before slipping to her side and gliding onto it. She watched her mirror-twin staring back at her with hungry eyes. "Shining Armor, just relax and let me show you why you make me howl so much."

Shining couldn't stop herself, her hooves were moving before her brain caught up. But when she slipped down onto the soft covers beside Cadance, she knew she was already complicit in whatever her wife had planned. "What would-" A kiss stole her words, she nuzzled and kissed back, but Cadance broke it as suddenly as she had started it.

"Let me teach you more about my body." Cadance began nibbling down Shining's long neck, using her snout to push her lover's head up so she could nibble more. Trailing down, she barely got to Shining's barrel before she heard the first gasp. I wonder how perfectly it mimics my body, does it include all Shining's knowledge and fill in blanks, or does it have more than that? She nuzzled in between one of Shining's forelegs and her torso.

Control failed Shining for a few moments, her back legs cycled and tangled in the covers as Cadance did something she had never felt, never experienced before. "C-C-Cady…" She heard her wife's voice groan in pleasure, but it wasn't her wife behind it.

"Somepony has a sensitive spot? Not surprising. Are you taking notes, Shiny?" Cadance nuzzled the spot again, hearing a soft whinny of excitement leave Shining's throat. Trailing down, Cadance used her own magic to help reposition, turning in place so her own body was offered to Shining. Licking down the soft, pink belly, Cadance let out a happy trill of excitement as Shining's own snout started exploring.

It was different, so very different. Shining nuzzled and licked, her brain pulling up the memories of time spent exploring Cadance in the past. Each time she felt a particularly well-placed nuzzle or nip she arched her spine and immediately tried to find the spot on her wife's body. Together they drew closer and closer to what each knew was the end target.

Cadance found one of Shining's teats first, pressing her snout against it and, like a filly, curling her tongue around the sensitive flesh. She felt her lover stiffen sharply at first, felt the gasp of Shining's breath as Cadance worked. Smiling, Cadance swapped to the teat's twin, her tongue tracing a line of saliva through the pink fur. It was suddenly her turn, she felt Shining nuzzle and lick, his snout a little less practiced but no less eager.

With her eyes open, Shining could see her wife's tail start to lash and move, then felt her whole body join it. She couldn't believe how good it felt, just exploring and playing. Normally, as a stallion, sex was over in an almost explosive rush, or so it felt. But as she worked, Shining noticed her prize, and with little further ado, traced her snout down to Cadance's vulva.

"Shining!" Cadance lost her focus as her husband found 'her.' She bucked and squirmed, words failing her as Shining serviced her. Trying desperately to fight the feelings, she had no hope; this one thing was something Shining had practiced many times on her before. "Nnnnn… too good…"

Snout curling up into a wide smile, Shining knew just where her tongue needed to move, needed to rub. She pushed Cadance along quickly, savoring the smell and taste of her musk, glorying in how she tasted to her changeling senses. But then her tricky wife managed to fight the pleasure enough to find Shining's own exposed and winking sex. Groaning into her wife, Shining's eyes crossed briefly as Cadance began working on her, not as skilled at finding all the spots as Shining was, but she was learning fast.

It was the best of races for both ponies, each fighting against their own pleasure, to make sure their lover was fighting just as hard. As the crescendo quickly rose, each lost their struggle against the wave upon wave of pleasure and groaned deeply into each others sex.

Shining felt her whole body trembling and pulsing, she wanted to spread her wings and fly, she wanted to just unleash all her magic and flood the world with changeling power. She wanted to be right where she was, as the lightning of sexual release danced over her body. A probing nose found her just as she was about to talk, to say something. "Cady I love-" The words died, choked from Shining as Cadance's tongue stroked, flaring the inferno of passion higher than ever.

If a mare could purr, Cadance would have been.

Author's Notes:

"A dress?" Cadance looked left and right, she clearly looked a little spooked by something. "Uh, I... ahem. I would wear any dress Rarity made, that is for sure." Fluffing her wings a little uncertainly, the Princess of Love looked to be acting quite odd indeed.

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter.

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