Author's Notes:

This story was a Patreon request by Rainbow Glaze, and contains themes like cross-dressing, M/M lewdness, and attempted adultery alongside other dark themes.

After that… awkward viewing the previous night, Twilight was obviously not very optimistic about using that surveillance spell first thing in the morning. Fortunately, Sunburst and Starlight were happy to return to the room after finishing their skilled breakfast at the claws of Spike. Luckily for the drake, Twilight didn’t seem too suspicious that he had grown much more skilled at cooking following his recent trips to the Changeling Kingdom. Of course, considering how her mind was plagued with images of Fluttershy she never hoped to have seen, it was easy to see how she could overlook any subtle hints about the dragon that Sunburst and Starlight were aware of.

As the two re-entered the room where that magic orb remained, Sunburst had heard enough about Starlight and Twilight’s viewing to ask, “So… Fluttershy is with Discord too?”

“Seems like it,” replied Starlight with a shrug. Even though she knew it was wrong to gossip about the things she saw in such a secretive experiment, she figured that Sunburst was trustworthy enough as a fellow recorder to share details with. “I gotta admit, I had a feeling somepony like her would have a wild side behind closed-doors.”

Sunburst wanted to ask how his friend would assume that, but merely huffed before pointing out, “Closed-doors? From what I heard, Fluttershy’s ‘Wild Side’ wasn’t inside any private rooms either time she was seen in that spell.”

“You know what I mean,” jeered Starlight with a smirk back at him. “I was just bringing up that old saying when it comes to ponies with secrets. Sometimes, it’s the quiet ones who have the most going on~”

Sunburst thought about that for a moment, and shrugged indifferently to that kind of answer. “Well, I suppose that can be the case sometimes. But I really don’t think an experimental process like this is worthy of assumptions. I mean, would you have ever guessed we’d learn some of things we did?”

Upon recollection, Starlight couldn’t help shaking her head with a glance back at him. “Well, I guess not. I mean, that Spike thing was REALLY unexpected alone! But still, sometimes you can just tell that some ponies have more going on than others, you know?”

Sunburst couldn’t argue with that answer, and nodded before lighting his horn to re-activate the magic orb hovering before them. “I guess that can’t be helped sometimes, huh? But for the sake of this process and Twilight’s well-being, let’s hope that this spell doesn’t involve Fluttershy again. Or ummmm… fluids…”

The stallion shuddered uncomfortably, not wanting to be reminded of what he was forced to witness alongside a Princess. Meanwhile, Starlight just giggled as she watched those familiar colors glowing and swirling to conjure up the blank screen. “What’s the matter? Feeling a little… pissy about it?~”

Sunburst shot an annoyed glare over at his experiment-partner, who was looking back at him with a cheeky-looking grin. “Starlight, I’m really not in the mood for puns right now.”

The screen may have floated up within that orb, but Starlight still giggled coyly before adding, “Oh, what? Are you going to… punish me if I don’t stop?~”

“Starlight!”

The screen that came into view showed a rather unexpected location. Unlike all of the other places the spell was conjured to, this one appeared to be indoors. However, Starlight and Sunburst were also able to see that it was within a library, which was one of the most public locations for a pony to be. In fact, Sunburst’s face lit up as he immediately recognized the location: the ancient history wing of the Crystal Empire’s library of records.

But despite its massive size and walls full of books and scrolls, there didn’t seem to be many ponies around for the screen to survey on. That was, except for one peculiar-looking unicorn who was walking by himself while wearing a suspicious raincoat and matching hat. As his hooves stepped with ominous clops that echoed across the vacant aisles, his head repeatedly darted around to ensure he wasn’t being followed or watched. And due to his outfit and thick sunglasses, neither of the unicorns watching through the orb could immediately tell who it was.

However, his identity soon became clear the instant he walked into a discrete rear section of the library, and lit his horn with his distinct pinkish hue. He used his magic to put up a temporary barrier around the entranceways of the adjacent aisles, which turned the vacant corner into a makeshift room so he wouldn’t be disturbed. The stallion then undressed when was sure nopony was watching him, and placed his items on the empty table to reveal his identity.

Sunburst and Starlight’s eyes widened in shock, not expecting to see the Crystal Empire’s Prince Consort on screen. “Sh-Shining Armor?!” they shouted at the same time, which thankfully wasn’t heard outside the room while the door was closed. Neither of them had no idea what Twilight Sparkle’s brother was doing to prompt the surveillance spell to spy on him, but they were thankful that the Princess wasn’t present to witness this alongside them. Given their luck with this orb of magic, it wouldn’t have been shocking if Shining ended up doing something very inappropriate.

Unfortunately for the two unicorns, his heavy blush and shifty eyes indicated that their assumptions may have been fairly correct. Shining sighed with his eyes closed after ensuring he was alone, and pulled out the small satchel he was carrying underneath his trenchcoat. A various assortment of items were placed on the table alongside his bag and “stealthy” clothing, which caught both of the ponies’ attention as they watched. For Sunburst, his eyes were locked on an old book that Shining brought into the library with him, which was titled ‘Hayescartes Methods of Magic Manipulation’; the Crystaller knew about the book from Twilight and her friend Moon Dancer, but he wouldn’t have fathomed that Shining would take an interest in such an obscure spellbook of advanced magic. Of course, if he had taken notice to the other items the Prince had in his bag, his expression may have been more worried like Starlight’s.

Next to that old book he borrowed from his sister, Shining also had a small makeup kit placed on the table that he had inside of his satchel. Next to that were an assortment of rather feminine and… revealing clothing items; this included a bright pink pair of panties, a blue short-cropped mini-skirt, fishnet stockings, and a hot-pink crop-top that matched the oversized bow laying beside it. By the time Sunburst noticed those things, Shining was already trotting towards the bookshelf behind him to grab the last item he needed. His hooves were as shaky as his nervous smile, but the Prince seemed rather elated at seeing his chosen book was still in stock as he placed it on the table next to the Hayescartes one:

‘King Sombra: An Illustrated Archive Of A Tyrant’s Power’

“Ohhhhhhhh no,” muttered Starlight with a very nervous look on her face. She had no idea what Shining was doing , but all the signs were leading to this being another recording to hide from Twilight. Fortunately, one glance back at Sunburst made it clear that he agreed as well. But alas, even after a silent nod of understanding, the two looked back at that screen to see what the heck the Prince Consort was going to do with his items.

Shining may have been in a public library with the bare minimum of magic protection, but he didn’t seem to hesitate as he quickly began to put on his clothing. His breaths came out weak and shaky as he put on his stockings first, followed by the pink panties that he needed his magic to help slide up his legs. By the time the tight garment was tightly around his waist, his rear was prominently shown at its full thickness while his erection was tenting the front of those panties. His stallionhood was straining hard against his cotton restraints, and a dark stain was already appearing at the tip from how badly he was leaking. However, Shining only replied with a timid moan as he paused and glanced down at his deeply aroused state.

Due to how vacant this section of the library usually was, nopony was around to witness their Prince squirming into such a promiscuous outfit. By the time he put on his crop-top, and barely covered his cutie mark with his skirt, Shining looked more like a cross-dressing prostitute than a former Head of the Royal Guard. But judging by his deepening blush, it was doubtful the Prince cared too much as he shivered with a smile at how he was looking. While he used his hooves to tie that pink bow around his luscious blue mane, the stallion used his magic to open the makeup kit and begin applying generously.

Using the small compact mirror, the pony couldn’t stop smiling shamefully as he donned so much of the degrading makeup over his once masculine-looking face. Lipstick was carefully applied to his lips to make them appear fuller, mascara was meticulously drawn around his eyes to add fullness, and a good helping of rouge ensured his cheeks would always look pink for what would come next. When he was satisfied enough to put down his items, Shining looked absolutely unrecognizable as the pony he was known by to his Empire. Heck, there was a good chance that any pony who would walk by would just assume a ‘fem-boy’ was taking a break from soliciting at a nearby alleyway.

Meanwhile, Sunburst and Starlight looked absolutely stunned at what Twilight’s brother was doing. The stallion was too blushed to say anything towards his friend, but Starlight was able to breathe out warily before asking, “Wh… What do you think this is for?”

“I… I dunno,” Sunburst muttered with a shake of his head and a quick bite of his lip. “But… I have a feeling it’s going to involve those two books…”

Starlight wasn’t fully aware of what that Hayescartes book contained, but she grew concerned as she watched the cross-dressed Shining open up both of them at the same time. The stallion was shivering with an increasingly giddy-looking smile, looking like he was anticipating this plan for a while. And from the way he flipped the pages of both texts to the specific sections he was looking for, it seemed as if this wasn’t his first time browsing through them.

“Okay, let’s see,” mumbled Shining to himself as he studied the Hayescartes texts first. His eyes narrowed studiously on a specific section, which Sunburst was able to see clearly enough to gasp in horror. But alas, there was nothing he could do as he heard his Prince say faintly, “Hmmm… I really hope Twily taught me the correct way to do this…”

But before he could try to test the specific spell that was leaving Sunburst so worried, Shining made one last glance back at the other book he had opened for this occasion. The historical text about King Sombra contained hundreds of detailed, accurate depictions of the former tyrannical ruler of the Crystal Empire, as well as artistic renditions of his countless crimes against ponykind. Many of the pages showed gruesome pictures of the former King’s torture and intimidation methods, which was why this book was in such an obscure section of the library outside the public’s easy reach. However, the book also contained a good portion of artistically rendered depictions of Sombra’s more… lustrous side that he embraced during his rule…

More specifically, the many, many drawings involving him with his harems and sex-slaves.

Shining bit his lip with a quivered exhale upon seeing those images, and had a faint blush on his cheeks that could be seen glowing beneath his rouge. The one picture he was especially keen on leaving open for view was a detailed portrait of King Sombra himself, seated on his throne with a domineering grin while his very well-endowed stallionhood hung lewdly between his legs. His piercing red eyes were peering forward directly, almost as if he was beckoning for one of his many servants to service him.

The dressed-up Prince didn’t say anything, but it was obvious from his meek expression that this wasn’t the first time he scanned that particular drawing in private. Except now, he seemed determined to do much more than just look at that page like he had before. After ensuring that page wouldn’t easily be flipped-over to something more gruesome, and then overlooking all the counter-spells alongside the Hayescartes method, Shining took a deep breath with his eyes closed. “Alright,” he whispered as he exhaled calmly in order to focus. “You practiced it before with Flurry’s books, Shining. You know you can do this…”

After that quick reassurance, the Prince sighed and lit up his horn brightly. His muzzle contorted a little as he grunted under his breath, clearly having some slight difficulty with getting the perimeters of the spell correct. Fortunately, it seemed that his attempt at performing the Hayescartes spell worked exactly as he had hoped, as a bright flash of light engulfed his entire body within a floating ball. That ball of magic then shrunk down in less than a second, and zapped directly onto the picture of Sombra within that book’s page.

Sunburst and Starlight were stunned silent with looks of shock on their faces, but neither of them could look away from the screen after witnessing the Prince’s tremendously stupid act. In fact, the two unicorns leaned in close to the orb to get a better look at the book itself. Fortunately, the spell managed to zoom in on the action as well. And before too long, both of the ponies could see a detailed, and animated drawing of Shining Armor appear within the very picture he enchanted.

Shining looked around frantically while donning his promiscuous attire, and huffed in surprised elation as he blushed profusely. Meanwhile, the rest of the picture seemed to come to life as a result of the spell too. The portrait of King Sombra stopped smiling, and jolted in surprise as he blinked a couple of times at the new pony in the picture. He looked like he wanted to ask who the heck was in his throne room, but his head only tilted curiously at seeing the femboy Prince standing before him.

Shining gulped worriedly at seeing the Tyrant up-close and personally (especially while dressed like a whore), but he managed to stand his ground in front of him. After a couple seconds of silence, King Sombra grinned evilly wide at the unexpected sight. “Oh, myyyyyyyy~”

That low and venomous voice made the Prince shiver in a mix of unrelenting dread, and the slightest bout of shameful arousal. Nevertheless, Shining still breathed out shakily before giving the dark being a meager smile. “Uhhhhh… H-Hi there~” Even with how tempting Sombra’s cock may have looked up-close, Shining made sure to keep his focus on his face. “Do… D-Do you need any assistance?~”

Sombra had no idea who this new slave was, or how he managed to enter his room while being painted for a portrait. But alas, the King’s stallionhood twitched repeatedly as it slowly sprung to life between his legs. It was then that Shining was finally unable to look away from that meaty cock, and his blush deepened immensely as his eyes locked onto it. Meanwhile, Sombra chuckled lowly as he leaned against one of the armrests of his throne with an inquisitive raise of his brow. “Weeeelllllll… you seem rather determined in making yourself useful, aren’t you?~”

Shining shuddered as his grin grew antsier, secretly loving how Sombra was acting exactly how he fantasized him. He may have hated himself for wanting something so thoughtlessly taboo, but he couldn’t help nodding his head firmly before the waiting Tyrant. “Y… Yes, King Sombra! I… I wouldn’t mind doing whatever it is you wish~”

The Prince then shot a flirtatious grin up to Sombra before turning himself around, and wiggling his rear to make that mini-skirt ride up temptingly. His face was as red as a tomato, but Shining was tenacious enough to continue as he slowly lifted his tail, and looked back at the King with a needy gleam in his eyes. As soon as his tight, tented panties were shown in full view to accentuate his plump rear and massive bulge, the stallion smiled even wider at seeing Sombra’s cock grow fully erect in clear approval.

“Ooooohhhh… I see that one of my slaves wants to become a little whore, does he not?~”

Shining quivered once more at hearing that threateningly alluring voice, but he nodded diligently while keeping himself presented. “Y-Yes, Sombra! I… I got myself all dressed-up so you can have some fun with me!~ You… You wouldn’t mind, would you?~”

The Prince had the slightest glimmer of worry as he asked that last part, and he planned to have his horn lit just in case Sombra didn’t immediately agree to his request. Fortunately, the Tyrant seemed intrigued enough to smile wide back at the pony, and lift himself up from his throne to inspect him himself. “Well… I was planning on visiting my harem in a half hour, but… I suppose I wouldn’t mind inducting a new male into my ledger if that’s what you desire~”

Shining’s makeup-covered face lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree, and it took everything in him not to squee in elation. After all the time he spent thinking this fantasy over, the idea of actually living it out meant everything in that moment. “Th-Thank you!” he squeed with a goddy smile, happy that he was finally going to get a good rutting that Cadence's strap-on could never deliver; and with his counter-spell fresh in his mind, he knew he could easily get out before things got too intense. As the King stepped up to him, Shining quickly pulled down his panties to show off his puckering hole and plump balls. “B-Believe me, King Sombra, I’ll make sure you don’t regret it~”

“Well, I certainly hope not…” That was when Sombra grinned ominously wide, and lit his horn to grab something from outside the picture with his purple magic. Before Shining’s smile could get the chance to drop, a thick magic-inhibitor ring was quickly pulled into view. The Prince gasped with his eyes widened in fear, not expecting that to be nearby for this drawing to use. Unfortunately, the stallion wasn’t able to light up his own horn before Sombra shoved that ring onto the base.

“GAAAAHHHH!!!~” The Prince screamed out painfully as that ring immediately took effect, overriding the magic sensors in his horn to make him fall to the floor in debilitating pain. As he writhed on the floor while groaning through his teeth, Sombra cackled in perverted delight at seeing such a sadistic display. Shining tried to grip the ring with his hooves, but they were quickly pulled away with Sombra’s magic as he became tightly bound in his purple aura.

“Oh, what’s the matter?~” asked Sombra cheekily as he tilted his head with a fanged grin on his latest victim. “I thought you wanted to be in my harem…”

By that point, Shining’s cock was quickly turning flacid as he struggled against the restraints with a look of pure terror on his face. Meanwhile, Sombra was still rock-hard as he stood before him, and lifted him off the ground with his magic. “Oh, but don’t worry, my pet~” he cooed in a sickeningly sweet growl as he began to walk away with the Prince floating in tow. “Once I have you properly reformed, I can guarantee that you’ll serve your purpose before the day is through~”

Shining was absolutely petrified as he began to leave the picture’s frame alongside Sombra, and used the last of his strength to scream out, “HHHEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPP!!! HHHHEEEELLLLPPPPPPP MMMMEEEEEEEEE!!!”

And with that, the two disappeared from sight as the photo in the page only showed an empty throne.

As soon as the image dissipated, both unicorns were left with highly worried and distressed-looking expressions on their faces. Sunburst, who was the Crystal Empire’s Royal Crystaller, looked especially mortified at seeing his Prince being trapped inside of a book without any form of escape. Even if Shining wasn’t hurt by the time he was found, there was a good chance he would be if one of the guards (or Celestia forbid, his wife) were to discover him in that book themselves doing Celestia knows what with the Crystal Empire’s sworn enemy.

Meanwhile, Twilight was just finishing up some re-organizing in the library when she heard a couple of shrieking voices. The first was Sunburst’s, who seemed to be shouting some panicked expletives that the Princess did NOT want Spike to overhear. But before she could rush out of the room to try and confront him, she heard Starlight shout out, “Wait, WAIT!!! I have a teleportation spell, lemme get you there myself!”

Twilight wasn’t sure what that was about, but she was piqued enough to run out of the library and rush towards the hidden room. There was a good distance to trek between those two points, and the Princess ironically didn’t think to use her own teleportation spell to just appear there instantly. Instead, she heard Starlight unleash a poof of magic by the time she ran past the main stairway towards the map room. And by the time she reached the open doorway to where that orb was being held, nopony was inside the room for her to see.

Twilight began to panic, mostly since she knew she couldn’t follow another unicorn’s teleportation path without the aid of a specialized machine. Fortunately, she recalled that she and her protegè exchanged photographs of common location points, just in case one of them became lost due to a poorly-executed teleportation spell. In a flash, the Princess managed to find the photo album in Starlight’s room before shooting back into the map room. She frantically began to scroll through the pages, hopeful that there was one her student was likely to have used. “Oh, come on, come on…”

Her horn lit up as she settled on the first option that made sense: Sunburst’s house in the Crystal Empire. However, just as she was about to teleport there herself, another flash of magic could be seen bursting inside of the room to stop her. Twilight jolted with a yelp as she saw Starlight once more, having returned by herself while panting heavily.

The unicorn’s mane waa a bit frazzled, and her face carried a look of exhaustion and worry by the time she rectified the situation. Starlight instinctively shoved something into her nearby saddlebag, which fortunately wasn’t noticed by the Princess as she frantically looked around the room. “Wh-What just happened?!” shouted Twilight while her eyes darted around the vacant space. “Where did Sunburst go?!”

Starlight waved her hoof and said in one exhausted breath, “HUUUUUHHHH…. SunburstwascalledforanemergencyattheCrystalEmpireandIteleportedhimtherebeforecomingback!!”

Twilight’s protegè almost fell onto her butt as she gasped following that taxing reply. Given how much energy those teleportation spells took out of her (as well as using the Hayescartes spell herself to enter that page in the book, and blasting Sombra before pulling Shining out), the unicorn had to lean against the wall and catch her breath harshly. Twilight didn’t say anything, but glanced back at that magic orb to see if Sunburst’s exit was related to it. However, the relevant recording was already out of that dome, and securely within Starlight’s bag for safe-keeping.

“Ummm… should I ask wha--”

“NO.” Starlight shook her head firmly while lying in a mix of panic and relief. Even though she was extremely lucky to have found Shining outside the boundaries of that picture, she would’ve been a complete idiot to spill anything regarding that to the Prince’s sister. So instead, she closed her eyes while collecting her breath, and said in a winded hiss, “I… I’ll bring Sunburst back... after he helps clean some stuff up…”

A small part of Starlight wanted to feel bad for leaving her friend back in that library to tend to a hysterical Shining in drag; however, she knew that he would probably be a better choice to tend to the Prince and make sure nopony discovered his moment of stupidity. Meanwhile, Twilight remained utterly puzzled as she stood before her student with a million questions. But after waiting another moment for Starlight to settle down, all she could think to ask was, “Okay, I just have to ask one thing… Are my brother or sister-in-law hurt in any way?”

While she was grateful Twilight wasn’t demanding any specific answers, Starlight had to sigh before shaking her head sincerely. “N-No. I… I can assure you that they’re safe. And… And I think that’s all I can address without breaking any Pinkie Promises…”

Twilight looked a little peeved, but she made one last glance back at that orb before deciding to drop the discussion. She left the room so that Starlight can regain her bearings, and said firmly while walking, “Well, as long as it isn’t anything endangering to Equestria, I’ll trust your judgement.”

“Th… Thank you,” replied Starlight with a relieved smile, before she fell onto her back on the floor of the hidden room. She closed her eyes as she tried to control her heart-rate, replaying her reassurances over and over that Shining was indeed safe from that drawing’s clutches. Unfortunately, just as she felt good enough to try and walk again, the unicorn’s eyes widened when she heard Twilight shout from the other room:

“Hey, Starlight, do you know where my book on Hayescartes is? I could’ve sworn I had it in here...”

“Uhhhhhh… I think Sunburst has it!” she shouted after a moment of thought. “But don’t worry! I’ll make sure he gets it back!”

Starlight then groaned with her eyes closed as she added to herself bitterly, “Right after I hit your brother over the head with it.”