"Cady." Shining Armor was sprawled on their big bed, and something was bothering him. Leaning around, he nosed at his midsection. "Cady?" He lifted his head up to look at perfection. Cadance always eased any mental anguish he had ever had. She had been the shield that guarded his heart, as he was the embodiment of the physical aspect of protection. But right now, Shining felt profoundly uncomfortable.

"Shining Armor, you are never going to find out what is wrong like that." Cadance flicked her mane and looked at her husband while still brushing her mane. "Drop your disguise, Shiny, and let me take a look at my wonderful lover."

"Oh yeah…" Shining cleared his thoughts and pushed his magic through his horn, banishing the shape he had worn since birth. Green fire swirled around him, and his magic revealed the changeling queen that Shining Armor truly was now. "Oh!" She groaned and arched her neck, pushing back instinctively with muscles she had not known she had.

"I was not prepared for this." Cadance blinked rapidly. At the angle she was seeing her lover—and with Shining's tail raised—she could see exactly what was happening. "You silly colt, you have an egg to lay." Working fast, Cadance used her magic to levitate a parade of towels from their bathroom closet, and began to pack them thickly under Shining's back end. "Push when you think you need to…" Getting ready for a birthing mare was one thing, but Shining was a changeling now, and was going to be laying an egg. There was likely going to be differences she could not anticipate.

Shining had a few moments between each contraction. When the next came, she bunched her muscles and pushed. The shape inside her didn't feel hard, but it felt absolutely huge. "Cady! Cady!" She whimpered and turned, spotting her wife watching her from behind. "Cady! Get one of the drones, surely one of them knows what to do!"

"None of them are queens, Shiny. Oh, it's pushing out of you!" Cadance watched the egg, about the size of a small squash, crown her husband's black folds. "Next push. Good girl, Shiny! PUSH!" Shining's groan echoed through the room, and the egg pushed out more and more until finally the thickest part broached Shining's entrance. The egg fell into Cadance's magic, and almost right away it started to swell out. "Sh-Shiny. You laid…" Cadance stared at Shining's body, able to see muscles rippling.

"There's more!" Shining groaned deeply, and pushed back with the next contraction.

Cadance quickly gave up trying to keep their bed sheets clean. Green goo seemed to leak out with each egg, staining everything it touched. When she put the seventh egg down beside Shining, she watched her husband visibly relax. "Shiny? Any more?"

Shining Armor was totaled. She had run other ponies into the ground over long distances, she had made shields of force that even alicorns couldn't break, and she had held up for days under the mental assault of a changeling queen. But Shining Armor had just added "laid seven eggs" to the list of great accomplishments, and it had cost her every ounce of strength. "No more… please…" She tilted her head and froze. Staring at the eggs, Shining felt a connection and a link to them that she hadn't been prepared for.

"You are beating me to the punch all over the place. I can't believe you told Princess Celestia to bug off at the Summit." She was a little weary, certainly enough to collapse on even a goop-stained bed. "But one thing I never thought you would do, Shining Armor, is beat your wife to having offspring."

"I didn't mean to." Shining looked up at Cadance, her eyes taking in the beauty of her wife as if for the first time. She studied the swell of Cadance's belly. Green magic flared, and Shining lifted Cadance up and carried her closer. "I am sorry little one, but at least you will have some brothers and sisters to keep you company." She nuzzled the bulge in Cadance's belly.

"Put me down so I can snuggle you properly, Shining Armor." Cadance didn't mind the attention, but she was spent and wanted to relax. Shining put her down on the cleanest part of the bed, but she ignored the mess and scooted closer to the little cluster of eggs in the middle. Leaning forward, Cadance kissed Shining's nose, only to get a snore back from her husband. "Typical."

Careful Steps had waited at breakfast—not that he had eaten himself, but she loved spending time with Nimbus while she ate—and hadn't seen hide, hair, or chitin of his queens. In a bit of a lull after the Summit, he honestly didn't begrudge them a morning off.

"Excuse me, Careful?" Grate still felt decidedly exposed being around ponies without his disguise on, but his queens had made it clear that they didn't need to disguise themselves here, and he didn't want to waste love on keeping a disguise when he didn't need to. "I was going to clean the royal chambers and…" He chirped in excitement at what he had seen, but he couldn't say it aloud here in the dining hall. "Queen Shining and Queen Cadance need your assistance as soon as possible." He chirped twice more, face split into a big smile.

"I'll follow you there right away. What has you so excited?" Careful's eyes studied his fellow changeling. There were no bursts of happiness that would suggest his hivemate's state was food related.

"You will see, sir." Chirping again, Grate turned and started to trot.

Careful was both happy to see the new changeling fitting in so well, and intrigued at what had the other 'ling so happy. Keeping silent as he trotted after him, Careful ruminated on what might have his queens so secretive.

Grate Hole stopped at the big double doors, and looked both ways. Raising a hoof, he tapped three times, then once, then three times again. "Okay, sir."

Opening the doors, Careful slipped into the royal suite and closed the door again behind Grate. A hum of green magic came from the door, and he knew that Queen Shining's power had secured it again. "Your Imperial Majesties?" The sitting room was empty, as was the bedroom when he peered in. A scent caught in his nose.

"You smelled them!" Grate giggled when Careful's wings chirped loudly. "Come and look! Our hive grows!" He walked to the stained bed, ignoring the green goop that had hardened on the bed sheets overnight. "Seven for her first clutch. Our queen is mighty!"

"Seven…" Careful Steps gazed in awe at the eggs clumped on the bed. "Seven! The records said Chrysalis had—"

"Two. And her mother before her had just one in their very first clutches." Grate bounced in place, chirping his wings over and over like a huge cricket. "Seven new drones, and more to come!"

"More?" Shining froze on her way out of the bathroom. Her mane and tail were both wrapped in soft towels, and she was soon joined by Cadance at her side. "I don't…" She trailed off, her voice sticking in her throat.

"You can't finish that thought, can you?" Cadance nuzzled Shining's cheek, and threatened all the changelings present with overwhelming waves of love. "I am glad you are here, Careful. You too Grate. You did well." She giggled as the chirpy changeling chirped again at the praise.

"More…" Shining parked her plot on the floor and stared at Cadance. "More." Her tone of shock drew the attention of her wife, and Shining felt Cadance's forelegs wrap around her neck. "More?" Her tone now was not just resigned, but inquisitive.

"Definitely more." Cadance nuzzled Shining's neck, offering what comforts she could in her touch, her words, and her scent. "I always wanted a big family, Shiny." She raised her voice. "How many changelings does a hive typically have?"

"That's just it," Careful had to fight his instincts and keep his tone respectful around his sensitive queen, "a hive can have upwards of a thousand drones, and will typically grow depending on how available love is around it."

"A th-th-thousand?" Shining clung to Cadance now. "Cady, I don't want to lay a thousand eggs…" She shook her head no. "How will I choose names for them all?"

Cadance froze, fighting her need to laugh at her husband's silly question. She focused herself and renewed cuddling and stroking Shining's mane. "I will help, and the more we have in our family, the more that can help us. We already have a lot more than other pony couples—what is a few orders of magnitude more?"

"But if the amount of food limits how many eggs a queen lays," Grate Hole's mouth—and mind—were running off on a tangent that neither Cadance nor Careful wanted him to go, but they couldn't stop the train wreck that was about to happen, "wouldn't having Queen Cadance so close…" He finally worked out that what he was saying shouldn't be said around a sensitive new queen.

"What does that mean?" Shining spun around to look at Careful. "What is he saying and what does it mean?"

"It means, Shiny, that this will be a natural thing from now on." Cadance kissed Shining, tickling her husband's lips with her tongue. Knowing it always broke his train of thought. She watched Shining's eyes widen a moment, then her slits narrowed back down on themselves. The kiss deepened, and both queens expressed their love for each other in one of the most traditional ways possible.

Grate's eyes widened and he started to wobble on his hooves. "They are so amazing…" His wings chirped a few times, until even that seemed hard to focus on.

"Still not used to this?" Careful waved a hoof in front of Grate's face, and noticed no recognition of any movement at all. "And done for a bit." Careful was not struggling in the wave of love pouring from Cadance. He simply let it pour through and around him. Something Grate was going to need to learn to do if he was to remain their personal maid.

"Will it get easier?" Shining was relaxed now. All her stress was smooshed to nothingness by her wife. She was full in a way only a changeling could be, and only a changeling this near the Princess of Love. "It probably isn't, I know, but can you tell me it will?"

Cadance laughed at Shining's logic. "It will get easier to lay each one, Shiny. I am sure it is like foaling in that respect." She turned to Careful and Grate, only to see the latter pushing themselves around on the floor like a cat on catnip, wiggling their plot around playfully. "I was going to ask him to clean up the… uh… nest. Will he be okay?"

"He will when he can burn off love faster than he is getting it." Careful reached a hoof over Grate's belly, and immediately Grate grabbed it with all of his, giggling. "I will help him recover. Would it be best to have a bed and a nest to lay in? Maybe something attached to the bathroom for ease of cleaning?"

Shining blinked at the suggestions. "That would be good, thank you, Careful." She felt things reach an equilibrium. "What… what happens when the eggs hatch?" Things couldn't stay in balance of course, not when Shining's imagination was working in overdrive.

"The eggs will hatch into larva. When depends on the ambient love." Careful was fighting with his memory for every scrap of information. "With Queen Cadance nearby, I am sure they won't be spending long as larva or egg."

"We will need the guest suite beside ours, then. A nursery needs to be set up," Shining's training stood her in good stead, and she started putting her logistics training to work. "How often will I be laying?" She looked at Careful, and saw the shocked look on their official adviser's face.

"She is in full control of her emotions again, Careful. You best help her when she gets in this kind of mood, because if you aren't helping, you are another problem in the way." Cadance kissed Shining's cheek. "I am going to go and have breakfast. You three can plan out our extensions."

Shining watched Cadance as she tossed her towels away and grabbed a brush to work on her mane and tail as she left. The last sight she had of her wife was Cadance's plot, tail swishing. And now I am horny again, Shining had to shake her head to banish the thought. "Okay, so I need somewhere comfortable to lay these eggs, somewhere that can be washed down easily at that. Do these eggs need to be kept warm? Do they need to be… I don't know… rotated?"

"Y-Your Imperial Majesty," Careful kept his tone as neutral as he could despite his own sudden panic, "I am going to find a changeling who has worked in the nursery." He bowed, waiting for a wave of dismissal from Shining.

Gesturing for Careful to go about the task, Shining looked down at Grate. "Well, I think I have a way for you to burn off some energy…" She waved a hoof above the drone, and saw their rapt expression when they spotted it. Without realizing it, Shining was leaving herself open for her maternal instincts to adopt her hive properly. I need to be their mother, I need to be the best mother I can be for them, and for myself.

Author's Notes:

Princess Celestia: "how closely does Sunset remind you of your own youth for you to clash so much with the young filly?"

"My relationship with Sunset Shimmer is one of the very few things I have regretted in the last thousand years, and unlike my sister's banishment it is still a hot thorn in my side." Celestia sighed and sipped some tea. "You realize now I have told you that state secret, I will have to kill you?" Her snout was pulled into a smile, and her one visible eye showed the mirth in her words.

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

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.

Support me on atreon

Join me on Discord. Please use your FimFic name as an alias. Warning, said chat may contain NSFW material and should be considered adult in nature.

Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
Boulder
Canary in the Coal Mine
Daremo
Dio-Drogynous
Ian
Javarod
Jeffh4
Mary Rowland
Mephia
Nils
Sirion123

And special thanks to the following, for careful eyes and friendly words:
Cross Lament
Jeffh4
Vutava