Author's Notes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15nVipNZQ1pHy85uAdf_G2QOqIDZMMc-JKKeR9nuc3SI/edit
I wrote an alternate ending to this chapter. I liked it more, but I was encouraged not to use it officially. If anyone's interested, here you go: https://pastebin.com/1AvmbT8u

I was woken up early the next morning by a loud groan. Since I knew it was just Twilight dying as rudely as possible, I did my best to go back to sleep. I mean, I was aching in a few places too, but you didn’t see me waking anyone up.

Unfortunately, she’s selfish and refused to let me get my rest. The groans continued until I finally sighed and sat up. Twilight was lying on the floor, twitching occasionally and making annoying noises.

“Is that really necessary?” I asked with a yawn.

“K-kill me,” she croaked.

“Maybe later, after breakfast or something.” She groaned again as I stretched. “Honestly, I don’t know what you’re bitching about,” I finally said, falling back down into bed. “You can heal the hangover.”

That realization made her gasp. A few moments later, she groaned again. “But I can’t cure the other aches…”

“Yeah, you can’t cure getting fucked from all angles at a glory hole.” Slut. “So, worth it?”

“Ugh… Yes.” I grunted. “Not for the sex itself, though that part was definitely fun. Just being able to say I did something like that feels… fantastic. And empowering, in a way.”

“At least there’s that. Get some water. You’re probably dehydrated, even if you don’t realize it.”

“...Yeah, I know. I tried going to the bathroom earlier, but I didn’t make it.”

“Gross.”

“I cleaned it up with magic! But it means I haven’t gotten any water yet…”

“Hm, that sucks.” I pulled the blankets back up and rolled over. “Let me know when you’re ready to go get breakfast.”

“...You know, you could get me water.”

I sighed dramatically and threw the bedsheets off. Walking petulantly is an art. It’s one I’ve mastered as a human, but hopeless at as a pony. Still, I did my best to seem as unhappy as possible while walking to the bathroom to get my current main marefriend a glass of water.

It didn’t really bother me, of course. I just wanted to make her feel bad for inconveniencing me.

When I had the glass, I walked back out and hoofed it to her with a loud, exaggerated sigh. “Thank you, honey,” she croaked as she grabbed it with magic.

“You’re so demanding,” I muttered as I walked back to the bed. I knew at that point that there would be no more falling asleep, but it was still better than just standing around.

“I’ll try to work on that,” she sarcastically replied. Drinking the water shut her up and also made her stop groaning. When the glass was empty, she teleported on top of me and forcefully hugged me. “Maybe some kisses will make up for it?”

“Maybe. I guess we’ll just have to find out!”

She smirked and we began testing. Turns out, a few kisses actually did make me feel marginally better about getting woken up.

After collecting her data, Twilight decided to just cuddle in close with me. “So, did you have any plans for the day?” she asked.

“I figured you’d be aching and would want to either stay in or do something light, like maybe visit the libraries in your normal body. I was hoping you could turn me into something else so I could mingle better with the crowds?”

“Like a griffin? I’m pretty sure I can do it!”

“Changeling, actually,” I said. “That’ll give me plenty of options.”

She sighed and pulled me tighter. “I promise I won’t turn you into a house cat again, Nav.”

“I know, but I also don’t really want to be a griffin right now. I’m kinda tired of being in heat. I figure a changeling would be a good way of avoiding it while still letting me blend.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Are you being racist again?”

She replied by turning me into a changeling. “I think you’re cute no matter the race, Navi,” she said with a kiss on my snout. Her aura was coming in pink, but very jumpy. “But griffins don’t like changelings. In fact, I think it’s actually illegal for you to even be in Gryphus.”

“If I get caught, I can teleport back. That spell is so convenient!”

“Right?” She kissed me again, because I was powerless to resist. The pink aura smoothed out slightly and only seemed to occasionally pulse. “I’m just worried about you going out all alone. There’s no telling what might happen out there!”

“I’m not a child, Twilight,” I replied. “I’ll be fine. Besides, who would want to hurt me?”

“The dogs, apparently,” Aqua muttered. I ignored her.

“I know, you’re right… But that doesn’t stop me from worrying. I am in pain, but I could still go with you!”

“If you wanna go, you’re welcome to,” I said. “But I don’t want to hear any complaints about how you’re aching or how you need to slow down or whatever.”

Her aura began jumping about again. “...Not even to ask for a ponyback ride?”

“Especially not even to ask for a ponyback ride. Honestly, I think your body needs a break today. The library would let you get out without putting you through much pain. If I go out as a changeling, I can fit in and teleport away if necessary.”

“...I mean, you could just come with me to the library.”

“I ain’t about that nerd shit, Twiggles.”

She immediately hit me with some hardcore nuzzle action. It was almost too warm and snuggly. We were both surrounded by pink while she abused me. When her assault finally ceased, she pulled back with a smirk. “Not even with me? I can think of all kinds of ways to spice it up!”

“Look at yourself, Twilight,” I said. “You can barely stand! No offense, but it really might be better if you just stayed entirely clean for a day.”

“It’s not too late for me to put that changeling body to use,” she sultrily replied, her aura getting even worse.

I turned my horn into a human arm and booped her on the nose with it. “Snap out of it, you horny cow!”

She stared at me in silence for a little while, her grin slowly fading away. Her aura depleted at the same time until there was just the barest hint of pink. She finally quietly asked, “How did you think that was gonna go?”

“With a giggle and maybe a kiss on my nose? And then you’d stop trying to make everything sexual and take like five minutes to chill the fuck out? Like, I know you’re loving this, but if you don’t take a break, you honestly might hurt yourself.”

“I want this date to be perfect, Nav!” she said. “And after the griffin that bought you was a bust and after you actually won the chase, it felt like you weren’t having any fun…” She actually picked up a hint of blue with that statement.

“Nothing’s perfect, Twilight,” I said, finally retracting the creepy arm thing. “That’s just life. I’ve been enjoying this, faults and all. You may have went a little bit overboard and I don’t want you to hurt yourself, so I really think you should take it easy today.”

All the pink disappeared, leaving only blue around her. “...And you don’t want to spend time with me while I do it.”

“How often do I really get a chance to just blend in with a crowd, Twilight?” I asked. “I always stick out somehow, whether it be through horrific mutations or looking beautiful. If I go out as a changeling, I can just melt into the festival!”

“And I am to be left to rot in a library?”

“You said you wanted to go anyway! You’re just being reluctant now because I’m the one who suggested it.”

“Yeah, which is why I think you have an ulterior motive!”

I recoiled in mock pain. “Twilight you… you wound me!”

“Out with it,” she said. “Right now.”

The red in her aura kinda worried me, so I finally said what I should have at the beginning. “I was attacked by a hunter who was trying to collect on a bounty the dogs put out on me. He knew I was Rosie. It would be best if we split up and laid low for a day or two to see if someone else makes a move.”

Her aura turned orange, which made me assume the news actually made her afraid. “You have a bounty out on you?! For what?”

“I dunno.”

“How did you get away?” Before I could reply, her aura turned solid yellow and she gasped. “Does he know where we are?!”

“He’s no longer a problem. I’m pretty sure we’re not gonna have any more hunters, but I think it would be best if we didn’t chance it. With you in the public library and with me completely invisible, there’s nothing anyone could do to us. That’ll give you time to recuperate and let the heat on Rosie and Lady Ivory die down.”

“So why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” she demanded.

“I knew you’d overreact.” That and you were shitfaced drunk last night, to the point of throwing up and passing out. “This problem is contained.”

“If it was contained, we wouldn’t have to lay low!”

“It’s probably contained.”

She shook her head and sat up. “We need to leave, Nav. Just pack our bags and go. Neither of us are really prepared for a confrontation like this.”

“First off, my momma ain’t raise no bitch.” That made her turn bright red. I sat up and matched her new glare. “Second off, if I turn tail and run now, I will never hear the end of it. Every single person told me going alone was a bad idea. I am not gonna let them win!”

“And double down on what was honestly a dumb idea?” Twilight asked. “You are in danger, Nav!”

“I’m okay with that,” I replied with a shrug. “For the first time in a long time, I might be in good hands.” At least, hands that will actually do whatever it takes to protect me. No bounty hunter is getting me out of here.

Aqua sighed in pleasure. “You don’t know how wet that made me, Navi! I might have to reward you for that later!”

And now I wanna take it back.

“You’re really a stubborn idiot sometimes, Nav!” Twilight said.

“I know, but you love that about me. That’s the part of me that always gets in trouble and you love the drama.”

A tiny amount of pink replaced some of the red. “Shut up, I’m mad at you!”

“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes. “What do you want, then? I’m sure you have some outrageous demand that’ll make you happy again.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. It seemed like she wanted to angrily retort, but she stopped herself before she could say anything. A calculating look came over her face. When those calculations finished, she grinned and her aura finally turned pink. “Fine. I do have a demand. The next time you see Aqua, I want you to make up with her.”

“What?” I hissed.

“You both made mistakes,” Twilight smugly replied. “I think it’s time to work past that. You should talk with her and try to mend your relationship!”

Every fiber of my being wanted to tell her to go fuck herself. Aqua didn’t give me the pleasure. Instead, she used my mouth to sigh and said, “If that’s what it’ll take, I guess I can give it a try…”

“Good,” Twilight replied with a nod. “We shall definitely have a talk about what you should and should not tell me, though. I think I deserved to know we could have had bounty hunters breaking in at night!”

“...That’s fair, I guess. I just really didn’t want you to freak out. You do have a habit of doing that.”

“I think I had every right to freak out! You were attacked!”

“Yeah, but not successfully! You just make a big deal of the all the little things.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Maybe Kat and Watcher were right… You really shouldn’t go around unchaperoned.”

“I resent that,” I replied.

“She’s right,” Aqua said with a giggle.

“Well, you’re lucky you’re right!” Twilight said. “I do like the drama and the trouble. You’re always interesting to be around. So you get a pass… if you try to make up with Aqua.”

“I really don’t want to,” Aqua let me say.

“At least give her a chance,” Twilight replied. “I’m sure if you do, you’ll find her quite charming!”

...Did you secretly stay in Twilight’s mind?

“No. I do have some limitations, unfortunately. Keeping both you and Celestia under my thumb at all times means I can’t micromanage another pony without their permission. I can manage drones like the guards easily enough, since almost all they do is just stand there. That makes their reactions limited, but that doesn’t matter. Since I had to put so much extra water into you and Celestia, I can create temporary hosts like the bounty hunter. I hold onto them until their use is up, then have the nanites return to me.”

Thanks for all that information. It gives me a few ideas about beating you.

“Don’t get your hopes up, silly,” she said, pinching one of my cheeks. “Those plans will never work against me! I’ll see them coming a mile away!”

“I hate you,” I sighed aloud.

“No you don’t,” Twilight said, booping me with one of her nasty hooves. “I’m the best mare for you!”

“Calm your adorable fuzzy butt down, missy. I don’t need that attitude.”

“Oh, of course. My apologies.” She sniffed and turned away. “Since it seems I’m no longer wanted, I shall go take a sho—bath. You are dismissed.”

The effect would have been better if she hadn’t fallen onto her face as soon as she got out of bed. I laughed at her as she limped away, red-faced.

“That was mean,” Aqua said.

That was revenge for her trying to get me to make up with you!

“That will be great for our relationship! You’ll beg my forgiveness for all the mistakes you made and all the times you were mean to me and I will graciously forgive you. Then we can be the best of friends out in public, too!”

Welp, guess it’s officially time to kill myself.

“Nope! We’re gonna be friends forever and ever, Navi!”

That conversation was getting bleak and depressing quickly, so I finally hopped out of bed. I decided to be Rosie until I got somewhere private outside and could turn into whatever I wanted. That in mind, I once more became the pony maid.

Before leaving, I took one more look around and decided to grab one of Twilight’s bags. I shook it to made sure it had bits, then actually opened it to see what else. There were a few snacks, a single vial of that shitty poison, maybe twenty or so bits, and a few sugar cubes. I closed the thing and slung it over the shoulder before letting myself out the door.

When I got downstairs, I very unfortunately bumped into the curious owner. “Ah, Miss Rosie,” she warmly said, brutally ending my attempts to escape quickly and quietly.

“Good morning, ma’am,” I replied, trying to sound happy.

“Have you been enjoying the festival? Your lady has been quite vocal about it, but you’ve been keeping your peace.”

“I’ve had fun,” I said with a grin. “My lady may have overdone things a little. Her body is aching quite terribly, so she’s going to take things easy today. She dismissed me.”

“Serves her right, it does,” the hen replied with a nod. “But no matter. At least you’re enjoying the festival, little lass. If you need anything at all, just let me know and I’ll be there for you!”

“Of course, ma’am. And thank you.”

She grinned and bobbed her head, which I took as permission to finally leave. It was still too early for the festival to be going good, so I wasn’t surprised to find that there weren’t many revelers out and about. I walked about a block down the road so no one from the hotel would see me take off, then I flew off to hunt down a secluded alley.

After I had been in the air for about a minute or so, I flared my wings and stopped so I could take a good look around. “Seem like anyone’s following me?” I asked.

“It doesn’t look like it,” Aqua replied. “However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t being watched. If push comes to shove, you have a guardian alicorn who would be happy to come to your rescue.”

“Luna’s in hell and Cadance is busy living her mostly perfect life. I can’t think of any other alicorn that would actually be happy to save me.”

“Celestia would be happy to get the chance to rub the fact that she saved you in your face.”

Of course. Since I was pretty sure no one was following me, I finally dipped down into an alley that didn’t appear to have anyone in it. I waited for another minute or two before finally deciding I was about as alone as possible. “Now, who to be…”

“An older male griffin,” Aqua said. “You wouldn’t have any reason to be at work right now and not many female griffins would ask you for sex. You’d essentially be as invisible as possible.”

As tempting as it was to ignore her just to spite her, it actually made sense. I was still tempted to become an older female griffin instead, but decided I’d rather have a penis, even if it was just a fake one. Bloodbeak was the only older male griffin I knew, so I became him, then made a few minor changes so no one would think I was the king.

“See there?” she said. “We can work together with no problem at all!”

“There actually is one problem,” I said. She sighed. “I damn sure don’t want you in here.”

“That’s not a problem,” she said. “That’s a temporary opinion. You’ll learn that I’m the best elemental for you soon enough. In fact, I’d be happy to prove it to you right now!”

“And how is that?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“I’d be happy to hide all the emotional auras so they don’t get distracting! Flo never did that, did she?”

“I don’t remember. You’re probably just capitalizing on that fact in an attempt to trick me.”

“Eat a dick, Nav,” she petulantly replied. “I would never lie to you. I don’t need to! It’s not like the truth would ever help you anyway!”

“You’re just overall an extremely unpleasant person to be around, aren’t you?”

She patted me on the back. “Well, it’s not like you can go to any of my competitors, Navi! You made them all hate you, so none of them would make you a host even if you asked!”

“I don’t need their help to escape you.”

She giggled and patted me on the head. “Soon enough, you might not need it. When Twilight gets us to reconcile, we can slowly fake a relationship over time until everyone believes you’re happy to ask me to be your host! And then it’ll be official… We can be together forever!”

“You’re way too optimistic.”

“I like to dream big, Nav,” she happily said. “After all, you have to if you wanna kill a god! I know the two of us can do it together, Nav. We can beat that thing and with luck, cut your ties to him in the process!”

“I’m still not seeing where any of this justifies eternal slavery.”

“I’m afraid you’ll just have to take my word for it, Nav,” she sighed. “It truly is for the best, even if you can’t see it yet.”

I had been down that road far too many times, so I finally just walked out of the alley and joined the festival.

Sure enough, I didn’t see any emotional auras around anyone. At least you can do some things right.

She just angrily sniffed at me.

As I began walking down the streets, I noticed something comforting. Instead of lascivious stares, eyes just glazed over as they noticed me. I missed invisibility.

“There is security in anonymity,” Aqua said. “But I never took you for a coward.”

I’m allowed to have preferences. If I must get stared at, I will. But when I have a choice, why would I pick the option that makes me miserable?

“There is no crime in being striking, Nav. Your differences are no fault of your own. There is no need to hide from what you are.”

Yeah, I don’t need to. I just want to. Now shut up and let me enjoy this before I get back to Canterlot and you ruin what’s left of my life just because you want to see me unhappy.

She actually shut up. Honestly, I figured she’d refute that point. Instead, I went back to peacefully enjoying the festival.

After maybe an hour of wandering around, taking in the sights, and looking like a lecherous old pervert, I found myself relaxing on a bench and just watching the crowd. There were two street entertainers working on this road. One was a dog juggler and the other was a griffin musician. Sitting alone in a crowd with no one paying me any mind sent my mind back and for the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to reminisce.

Aqua ruined it because she hates me, of course. “Listen, Nav.”

To what? The music? I was trying.

“No, to the griffins. Listen to what they’re saying.”

I really wasn’t interested in eavesdropping, but she wouldn’t be wasting my time if it wasn’t important. Instead of doing my mental health some good and thinking back to better days, I started listening to all the street gripes of common peasants.

The one in particular she was talking about was easy to identify. It was right behind my shoulder, from two griffins sitting on the other side of the bench. “It’s just not right. That little princess should be out here!”

“The lot of them should be,” the other one said. “Only one I’ve seen so far was the young prince who sold himself off.”

“But the little one shoulda been the one sellin’ herself! She still doesn’t even have any prospects!”

“What can we expect from the royals, anymore? When even the king chooses to abandon his duties, what can you say for his children?” the first one darkly replied. “It was the ponies, I bet. He only started acting like that after getting back from their capital! Then he arrested his own cousin and started throwing away all his power!”

“It don’t seem right to speak ill of a griffin on his deathbed,” the other sternly replied. “King Bloodbeak always did what he thought was best. In a way, he was right. This new system will take some getting used to, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. In a way, it reduces the possible damage the ponies could do in the future! Instead of just influencing one king, they’ll have to influence all of parliament!”

“It’s just a whole lot of hooey! We need a strong king to keep us united! This parliament is just an attempt to divide us. They’ll spend all their time bickering about a problem that a king could just solve immediately.”

“I believe in the process. Griffins are united. This just gives everyone the ability to voice their own viewpoints through public mouthpieces.”

“And as each one takes their turn, our enemies would act. A king can just act!”

“And at times of emergency, he will. That is why he still has some power. But when problems are not severe, the public should be allowed to weigh in on issues. It may take some power from the king, but only to give it to us!”

“Bah! Useless propaganda. Let’s just go. I don’t wanna hear you spouting that filth.”

“Tch, whatever. I heard there’s a play a few blocks over. I’ll lead the way.”

They both walked off, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

“Or not so alone,” Aqua said. “This is worrying, Nav.”

It’s one conversation.

“What one says, ten think. Gilda might be right to fear a coup, Nav.”

Perhaps. There’s not much we can really do to prevent that, though. All I can do is react when it happens.

“So you think,” she said, almost sounding disappointed. “If we work to address problems, perhaps they will regain their faith in the royal family.”

Well, I was going to see Gilda anyway. Maybe I can get her out into the festival.

“That is a step in the right direction. I will begin thinking on the other matters.”

I was hoping that would make her shut up for a while so I could go back to thinking. Unfortunately, by that point, it was too late. Despite myself, I kept hearing other conversations. None that were as detailed as that one, but I’d hear pieces from people passing by.

After maybe half an hour of listening, I knew two things for certain. First, that Rosie was an overnight sensation after what happened on the first day. The fact that no one knew what happened to her after the griffin bought her only added to the allure. If she persisted, she would be quite the local legend.

And second, I knew that the royal family was not very popular right now at all. Most of what I heard was bad and not many people seemed willing to openly support them. It was honestly slightly troubling.

Aqua finally interrupted me again. “You’ll need to feed soon.” I blinked myself back to the present. “You didn’t get any emotion from Twilight before you left, so you’ll need some soon to keep up your disguise. You should have enough energy left to transform into something more enticing to lure in some lust.”

Sure enough, I could feel myself going hollow. I slid out of the seat and jumped into the air to look for another empty alley. They were in much shorter supply now that the festival was getting more active. I had to dismiss several that were too close to revelers. I finally settled on one and settled down into it.

After I was sure that nobody was coming near me, I turned into Blackberry again. I wasn’t going to risk being Rosie while a changeling, so it had to be an anonymous pony. “Now then, let’s go bag us a griffin.”

“Oooh, you said us!”

“The royal us. You can go fuck yourself.”

She giggled and pinched my cheeks. “I know what you really meant, Nav.” Ignoring her was obviously the right idea, so I began exiting the alleys. “Would you like directions?” she sweetly asked.

“No.”

“Very well,” she said with a giggle.

After that, she made snarky comments or just laughed every time I turned a corner. Of course, she zipped her lips as soon as I turned the last corner to the marketplace I had been aiming at. Nobody would care about me coming out of an alley into a bazaar and I could walk around until I blended in.

I grinned smugly and made my way into the market. A few griffins looked up, but the only ones that continued to stare at me were obviously looking at my… assets. I made sure to give them a good view as I kept going.

“That would have been a good opportunity to get a lot of lust as quickly as possible,” Aqua said.

I’m not just gonna appear out of an alley and immediately ask for sex. That sounds like a complete setup. They might go for it, but they’d be suspicious and might notice me feeding.

“So you do put some thought into these things. You know, when it comes to sex.”

Man, back off my life. What’s wrong with liking the way you are?

“Because you are an abomination, Navarone. You wield so much power, yet you do not realize its consequences! You must be guided so you can learn a proper respect for what you can do!”

And just when have I ever abused my power?

“When you murdered that kobold,” she said. “That might have permanently soured our relationship with them! This could have been the death knell of an entire species, just because you had to get your selfish revenge!”

That was not revenge. That was vengeance. Do unto others as they do unto you. So expect no mercy when I get the upper hand. I will either force you to obey me or I will destroy you.

“Your empty threats are so amusing to me, Navarone,” she said. “But I’m afraid that when we become friends in front of Twilight, they’re going to have to stop. There might have to be some punishments if you don’t.”

That’s when I stopped listening. I don’t negotiate with terrorists or dictators. Wandering the market was demanding all of my attention anyway. The festival had definitely hit the place and there was free food everywhere. I couldn’t smell any of it and even looking at it made me feel kinda queasy.

Because of that, I wandered over to the crafting area. A few smithies were open and seemed to be selling commemorative items. I guess even sex festivals have merchandise.

I didn’t have enough money to buy anything great, but some of the items were neat. If I ever had any more cash, I decided to try and come back.

As it was, walking around there made me feel comfortable enough to start hunting for events where I could find some prey. Maybe a minute after I started walking, Aqua said, “We’re being followed.”

Who?

“A dark grey griffin. He’s following you, about thirty feet back.”

Feet?

“...Fine. Ten meters. There, are you happy?”

No, you’re still in me. I turned to look at a stall so I could get a glance on the guy. It took me a second, but I spotted him. He was moving closer, trying not to seem too obvious. It seemed like he kept looking toward me, though. Think it’s malicious?

“I don’t know. I’ll have to watch for a little while.”

Then I hope you’re paying attention. I finally started walking straight toward the guy. He noticed immediately and froze. When I finally got up to him, I got slightly too close for his comfort level and lifted my hoof. “My name is Blackberry! What’s yours?”

Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t a grin and a hoofshake. One of his talons awkwardly took mine and he shook it once before letting go. “Ah, my mistake, ma’am. From a distance, I uh... thought you were someone I knew.”

I withdrew my hoof, though I kept on my grin. “Well, sorry to disappoint! Have a nice day, sir!” Before he could retort, I pranced away.

“You know, until now, I always thought you were actually stupid. Now that I realize you were just pretending, it really does make me feel better.”

Do you feel good enough to let me go?

“No.”

Is he still following me?

“I don’t know if he’s still following us.”

I stopped the prancing, but I did continue walking away. If there was any chance he might want to keep following me, I needed to get away quickly. To that end, I took the first alley I found. It was a larger one, so I was hoping to just pass over streets. Before I could decide what to do, I saw him standing where I had entered, staring at me.

“Did you need something, sir?” I asked.

“I think I smell changeling scum!”

I fucking booked it down the alley, hoping to lose him. He was a lot larger at the moment and knew his body better, so he easily kept up with me. The only reason he didn’t catch me is because I kept finding more corners to turn down. Finally, I realized I was at the end of the line as I came to a dead end.

The griffin skidded around the corner and then grinned when he saw he had me trapped. It was unfortunate, because I really hadn’t wanted it to come to this. “Nowhere left to run, changeling,” he said, slowly stepping forward. I wanted to be as far back as possible so he wouldn’t have a chance to get away, so I began backing up until I hit the wall. He chuckled and said, “Now, for giving me a chase like that, I might have a little fun with ya first. Well, after roughing you up a bit. But don’t worry, you’ll live to see the dungeons.”

“You’re really kind of an asshole,” I said.

Right before he could pounce and an instant before I changed, something held him in place. “That is no way to treat a lady,” Shining Armor said, turning the corner.

“Shiny?” I suddenly exclaimed. Seeing him was a complete and total shock.

When I said that, he dropped his guard and the griffin broke free. Instead of charging me, he spun to look at Shining Armor. “This ain’t no lady! It’s a disgusting bug! I can smell it on her!”

Here’s hoping Shining Armor doesn’t freak out. In response, I turned into a tyranid and pointed some heavy spikes at the guy. Shining Armor flinched, but he made it seem like it was from the griffin yelling at him. “I don’t see how that excuses this kind of behavior. Just because she’s a changeling doesn’t mean she committed a crime.”

“Well, what are you gonna do to stop me, little pony?” the griffin snarled.

“Nothing. I think she’s fine on her own,” he replied with a big grin. The griffin suddenly whirled around and saw me. I shrieked in his face and his mouth dropped. When I started moving closer, he bolted. Shining Armor neatly stepped aside, letting him pass. Once the guy was out of earshot, Shining turned back and said, “Looks like your unlucky day, changeling. Not too many griffins can see through a changeling’s disguise.”

I warped back to my normal changeling form and said, “I didn’t know any of them could.”

“As I said, it’s a very rare skill. It’s not so much sight as it is smell, though. Something to do with their predator’s nose. Honestly, I was kind of hoping to take him in. He threatened you. If he catches another changeling out there…”

“Then chase him. I will go my own way.”

He stepped back in front of me before I could. “Not even a thank you?”

“Thank you for letting me walk away.”

“Well, I never said that.” A magical chain suddenly appeared between me and him. “I absolutely mean you no harm, but I have questions for you. So we’re going somewhere more comfortable.”

“I don’t—” With a loud pop, we suddenly appeared in a sizeable suite. It looked like some kind of hotel room.

“I really do apologize, but I just can’t let you go without asking some questions first.”

God dammit. Time to come up with a bunch of lies. “Ask what you wish,” I sighed.

Before he could say anything, a familiar pink alicorn walked out of the bathroom. “Um. Why is there a changeling in here?”

“I need to ask her some questions,” Shiny said. “I helped her against an irate griffin, where I discovered she was a changeling. She won’t be here long.”

“She shouldn’t be here at all. She’s a changeling in Gryphus. Give her to the guards and they’ll throw her in the dungeon until they can get her shipped to a hive.” What the fuck? I thought Cadance was okay with changelings now.

“She called me Shiny,” Shining Armor said. “Not many people out there who do that.”

“Who cares what a changeling called you?” Cadance asked. “Maybe she’s just a drone and saw something shiny.”

“She has pupils. Definitely not a drone. I’m not exactly an expert judge of changelings, so I don’t recognize you, but you seem to know me. Why?”

“We have a mutual acquaintance,” I said.

“I see. And why exactly are you in Gryphus?”

“I am here because of that mutual acquaintance. She is a person of much repute and my queen wanted her protected.”

“Is that mutual acquaintance my wife, perhaps?”

“No. It is entirely happenstance that you found me. Our paths simply collided. If you release me, you will never see me again.”

“Well… I do pride myself on being a good judge of character. And it seems that you can keep a secret quite well, too.”

“I will never tell a soul that I saw you or your wife. I just want to go on my way.”

“Good,” Cadance said. “Let it go. We still need to make plans.”

Shiny grinned. “I had some thoughts on that, actually. After turning yourself into that horrific monster, I’m sure you’re pretty hungry. And if you are here to guard someone else, you might not have much time to safely feed. Since you’re not going to tell a soul you saw us anyway, how about we help you recharge?”

“I… I… What?”

“Absolutely not!” Cadance shouted. “A changeling? I was willing to try a griffin, but absolutely no changelings!”

“Oh come on, she can become a griffin!” Shiny said. What the fuck is going on?

“Why… why are you two here?” I slowly asked.

Shining Armor grinned and walked over to his wife, who was slowly starting to blush more and more as she realized what she had said. When he got to her, he threw his leg over her shoulder and pulled her close. “My loving wife here needs a break,” Shining Armor said. “So we’re here to loosen up a little, have some real fun. We’ve just had a hard time finding someone trustworthy enough. You’re a changeling spy, so I’m sure you already know all about us anyway.”

“There’s no way they know!” Cadance said. “Absolutely no way!”

“Oh, please. Nav wasn’t exactly subtle about it. He’s told Celestia, Twilight, Moonbeam, and who knows who else. He knows every single one of our secrets, silly.”

Cadance started to grow more and more red-faced until it looked like she was actually about to cry.

After a few seconds of watching her, it clicked. “I think I discovered one more secret,” I slowly said.

“Oh?” Shiny sweetly asked with a grin. Cadance looked at me in horror and started shaking her head.

“I think you two like switching bodies…”

Cadance… Er, Shining Armor finally burst into tears and jumped back into the bathroom so… he could slam the door behind him. “You told me no one would ever know!”

“I certainly didn’t tell her,” Cadance in Shining Armor’s body said. “And come on, it’s not like it matters! Don’t be ashamed, honey.”

“Get that stupid bug out of here!”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go,” I said, finally walking toward the door. A magical wall stopped me, though. “Wildfire.” Something clicked and I seemed to phase out of existence for a moment before materializing again.

“This place is warded against teleportation,” Cadance said.

God dammit. “I have a gift I can give in exchange for letting me go.”

“Oh?”

“It’s an experimental salve that greatly increases sensitivity. If you rub it in your… husband, he’ll turn into a mess instantly. I’ll give you a whole bottle, enough for two doses.”

“I’ll take it… if you show us how to apply it.”

“I… would really rather not.”

“You look pretty haggard. You need the energy. Go ahead, try to turn into something.” God dammit. I tried for something small, but really didn’t have the energy. I had forgotten how tiring turning into a tyranid was. “I promise we won’t hurt you. You may even have some fun. And if you really aren’t interested after you show us how to apply it, we’ll find another way to help.”

God dammit, Cadance. “Alright, fuck this,” I said, grabbing her. “Come over here.” I dragged her to the far side of the room so Shiny couldn’t hear us. “I’m actually Navarone. I’m here as a changeling with Twilight.”

She grinned and said, “I know. I had a lie detecting spell on you from the beginning and figured it out along the way. It’s nice to see you!”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I finally asked.

“I’m here to get my slutty little wife fucked,” he said. “For some reason, my stamina is really great as a stallion, even though hers is pretty poor, so we’re here to have a threesome! It took ages to talk her into it and I’m sure she’s really regretting it now, but I want this to be fun for her. So… wanna join us?”

“…Are you seriously asking me to have a threesome?”

“No, actually. I’m asking you help me apply that salve on her. Then, if you’re interested in getting some lust, you may do whatever you want to Shining Armor after I’m through with her.”

I really need the fucking energy. If I can’t change before I leave, I’m gonna get arrested immediately. “God dammit. If you can’t convince him, you’ll find another way to feed me. If you can, I’ll help you apply the salve, but no promises after.”

“Deal.” He immediately started trotting back to the bathroom. “Oh honey!” When he got there, he knocked on the door. “Can I please come in?”

“Is the changeling gone?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Go away!” Cadance sighed and used magic to unlock the door, then let herself in. Some kind of magic muted the bathroom and she closed the door behind her.

As soon as she did, I looked at the door. It was still blocked by magic. The window wouldn’t budge. There was a mouse hole, but I couldn’t escape that way without being able to change. “Wildfire.” Nothing happened at all. Twilight told me it was a one time use, so I wasn’t surprised. “This is going to be interesting.”

“I’m not surprised you found yourself in this situation,” Aqua said. “Your recklessness is its own undoing. I can’t believe Kat and Watcher let you out of the house without at least one shadow.”

I decided to roll with it, just to spite Aqua.

“And so you’re going to have sex with the one you called a sister,” she sighed, sounding almost disappointed. “You truly have fallen so far.”

You heard her. I’ll just be fucking her husband.

“Yeah, in her body.”

If they changed once, they can change again.

“So now you’re fucking your sister’s husband.”

Why do you hate fun?

“Because you’re the one having it, duh.”

And now the truth comes out.

Cadance and Shining Armor came out a few seconds later. Shiny was looking my way with a grin. “Hey, Nav. Why didn’t you just say it was you?”

“You told him?!”

“Of course I told her,” Cadance said. “I’m not going to lie to or manipulate my wife.”

“Your husband,” his wife corrected him.

“Well, now that you both know the truth, you can just pump me full of energy and send me on my way,” I said.

“I thought we were gonna have sex first,” Shiny said.

“You… want to have sex with me here?” I slowly asked.

“I’d prefer a threesome, actually.” My mouth dropped. “But I wouldn’t mind you just watching, either.”

“It seems the great Navarone is speechless,” Cadance said with a smirk. “What’s the matter, Navi? I thought you’d be happy Shiny wants to sleep with you! You seemed to be interested in her, after all…”

“He didn’t say he wanted to fuck me,” I finally replied. “He said he wanted a threesome.”

“With someone I can trust,” Shiny said. “You might tell everypony about it, but at least I know it’ll be worth it. And as long as it’s with my wife’s permission, I’d also be okay with just you alone.”

“You have it,” Cadance immediately replied. “As long as I get to watch.”

“You both have problems,” I sighed, hanging my buggy head.

“I think in this case, you’re the one with the problem,” Cadance said. “We both think it’s perfectly fine. You’re the only one here who has an issue with it.”

“I wouldn’t say the only one,” Aqua replied. “And I’m proud of you for feeling uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I know you’re still going through with it all just to spite me.”

I finally pulled my bag around and popped it open. “Here’s the vial,” I said, holding it up. “It’s highly refined spider venom. Normally, it would make you incredibly sensitive and also paralyze you. This greatly increases sensation in a certain area and when it wears off, you feel numb for a few hours.”

“How long is a few hours?” Cadance asked. “I’m not putting anything on my vagina if it’ll last too long!”

“Maybe twelve or so,” I said with a shrug. “We went to bed right after and it was numb when I woke up, but it didn’t last more than an hour or two after I actually noticed it. I was helping alpha test it.”

“Then I’m fine with it,” Cadance said. “So how do we apply it to my wife?”

“Your husband,” his wife corrected.

“Preferably with a toy or magic,” I replied. “Use it like lube on a toy and just jam it in there, then leave it in for a few minutes as the poison takes effect. Once she’s good, pull it out and go to town. I’m not sure if it’ll also affect your penis when you start dicking her down, so you might be in for a surprise.”

“Your partner didn’t say?” Shiny asked.

“She didn’t have a penis, so she couldn’t exactly test it.”

“And she didn’t use her talons?” he asked. “I thought that was the whole point of doing it with a griffin!”

“It wasn’t a griffin.”

“...Oh. Never mind.”

I finally passed the vial to Cadance. “Do with it as you would. I’m gonna go into the bathroom to think about what I’ve done.”

“What have you done?” she asked as she took it.

“Ended up in this situation,” I sighed as I started walking into the bathroom.

“There’s nothing stopping you from enjoying this,” Shining Armor said before I could close the door. “Fate brings us together at the strangest of times, Nav. After everything you’ve said, I know there’s at least some attraction there. Why not just let this happen?”

“Because I have absolutely no business in anyone else’s marriage.”

“Even if we’re both openly inviting you?” Cadance asked with a grin.

“That shit’s creepy, fam,” I replied.

“Love should be shared, Nav,” Cadance said. “I understand you may not think of me in that way, but that’s no reason to force Shiny to go without!”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna go ahead and lock myself in the bathroom now. You two have fun.” I finally walked in and shut the door. Locking it was pointless, but the loud click it made satisfied me.

“It’s not too late,” Aqua said. “Tell them you absolutely refuse. Cadance has the spell that can pump you full of love.”

“...I’m thinking,” I sighed.

“You know it feels wrong. You know it would make things awkward!”

Wasn’t it you who told me I should start making big changes?

“And you think this is the place to start?”

To upset you the most, yeah. It may feel weird and squicky, but if it means I piss you off, it’s worth it.

“That’s a very… problematic mindset. I will allow you to misbehave for now, if only to show you the consequences of your actions. But once you return to Canterlot, you will become a proper little lady.”

We’ll just see about that.

“Yes, we will,” Aqua confirmed. “We’ll both watch you turn into a wonderful, beautiful young lady. You’re gonna get to be my Barbie doll, Navi!” The very thought of it made me shiver in disgust. “Oh, you’ll come around. Whether you like it or not.”

And just like that, I made up my mind. I unlocked the door and stepped back out. Both of them were standing in front of it with the widest grins on their faces, like they just knew I was coming. “Shut your whore mouths. I’m gonna critique you, Cadance. And then if I’m in the mood, I’m gonna plow your husband in the ass.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said with a nod.

“Wait, what?” Shining Armor asked.

“I ain’t havin’ sex with Cadance’s body. That would be gay. So you two can swap back and I can turn male. Everybody wins!”

“What about me?!”

“I brought the cage,” Cadance happily said. “And a few other odds and ends! Just think, Shiny: It’ll be like the strapon, but so much better!”

“And that’s the only way I’ll touch you,” I said with a nod. “If I have to feel weird about it, so do you!”

“Sounds fair to me,” Cadance said with a nod. “Now let’s get that poison applied.” He floated his wife over to the bed and plopped her down.

“Are you sure we can’t talk about this some more?” Shiny nervously asked.

“You heard her, honey,” Cadance said. “If you wanna have sex with Nav, it’ll have to be with both of you as guys!”

“Yeah, but—”

“Yep,” I said. “Your butt, being penetrated a lot. That’s the deal, Shiny. You got some time to think about it. Though I have no idea what a cage has to do with anything. Where are you even keeping it?”

That made Cadance giggle and Shiny blush. “L-let’s just do this,” Shining Armor finally muttered.

As the two of them started getting weird, I hopped up on a chair and tried not to be creepy. “You know this feels wrong,” Aqua said. “There are some lines that shouldn’t be crossed. I swear I won’t hold it over your head if you just back out. You know you don’t want to be here.”

To be quite honest, I had expected my day to go very differently. I knew that I would be doing some weird stuff at the festival, but this was… out there. I’m really not sure I want a piece of this.

Truth be told, it didn’t even look like they needed me there. Cadance was apparently a very loving partner. “It’s not too late for you to ask to leave,” she said. “Just put your foot down. You don’t do that often enough.”

Forgive me for not trying to fight back. I happen to know there’s not much I can do to you.

“Not just to me,” she said. “In general. You’re really kind of a push-over. You used to be different. What happened?”

Is now really the time for this talk?

“Would you rather join the party?” she sweetly asked. Cadance was still preparing his wife’s body for the poison, but it was involving a lot more kissing than I’d expect. Truth be told, it did look warm and comfy. “You’re better than this, Nav,” she said. “You don’t want to be here. All that’s keeping you here is you. Say the word and they’ll let you go. Or stay and spite me. Give in to what they want for you.”

Is that supposed to be better than what you want for me? Cadance is a friend. I’d rather do what she wants than what you want.

“And what about what you want, Nav. Did you forget about that?”

You’ve never seemed overly concerned about that before.

“You haven’t either. Why is that, I suppose?”

“So do you guys do this often?” I asked.

“Do what?” Cadance asked, pulling away from his wife to look up at me.

“Swap bodies. Hell, where’d you even get the idea?”

“Oh, from you.” He patted his wife’s thigh and grinned. “Remember that night when Luna showed up at your house very late one night?”

“Yep. That was Celestia. Luna swapped bodies with her.”

“Right. I learned how.”

“But Shiny hated his time as a girl,” I said. “He told me to hide the stones forever.”

“Oh, because she was ashamed,” Cadance said, making his wife whimper and blush even more. “But after seeing you as you are, I convinced her to give it a try.”

“...As I am?” I slowly asked.

“Permanently a mare, like it or not,” Cadance said with a shrug. “But you seem to be doing well despite it. Shiny thought you’d hate sex now, but when she learned that you just want it more…”

“Shut up,” his cute little wife finally said.

“I’m not here to judge,” I said with a shrug. “Just getting a feel for the room. I still definitely prefer sex as a man, myself. I can just have more of it now.” Aqua snorted, but both of them seemed to accept that. “So I gotta say, I really perverted this fairytale marriage. I hope both of you forgive me for that.”

“If we didn’t forgive you, we wouldn’t have invited you!” Cadance said. “I understand that this is kinda weird for you, but I’m willing to work with it.”

So I have two choices. I can talk about my feelings with a shitty robot or I can have weird, kinky sex.

“It’s not too late to put a stop to it…” Aqua sweetly said.

“Are you ready?” Cadance expectantly asked his wife.

Shining Armor took a deep breath and slowly let it out. When she was done, she nodded. “Let’s do it.”

(Incoming lewdness. Ctrl+f “What have I done” to skip)

Cadance lifted a smallish toy and floated the vial over. “So you said to use half of it?” she asked.

“Yep. That said, I was a regular pegasus at the time. I don’t know if there’s any difference between alicorns and pegasi that would require more or less.”

“None that I know of,” Shiny said.

“Good enough for me.” Cadance slowly tilted the vial until some of the slimy fluid ran out onto the toy. He kept it going until half the bottle was on it. “And it acts as lube?”

“Sure does,” I replied with a nod. “It’s kinda cold and slimy, though.”

“Ugh,” Shiny sighed.

“Don’t be a silly filly,” Cadance said, floating the toy closer with magic. When it pressed open his wife’s slit, Shiny lightly moaned and gripped one of Cadance’s hooves with hers. “Just relax and let it happen, honey,” he whispered as the toy continued moving in.

So I guess sex between people who love each other is a lot more tender and loving. Who knew?

“Only everybody ever,” Aqua sarcastically replied.

Once the toy was firmly in place, Shiny slowly let go of her husband’s hoof. “That’s not too bad,” she uncertainly said.

“You say that now,” I replied. “Wait until it takes effect.”

“...Um.”

Cadance slowly grinned. “Nav never did explain just how effective it was…”

“You’re about to make some very amusing faces,” I said. “And I hope you have some water here. You might end up dehydrated from drooling and cumming too much.”

“...It’s not too late to pull it out, right?” she asked.

“Oh, live a little!” Cadance said. “We’re on vacation! If we have this stuff, we should put it to good use!”

Shiny sighed and nodded. “Fine. When will I know it’s working?”

“Oh, you’ll know,” I said. “Trust me, you’ll know. Until then, you have a perfectly functioning mouth, right? Might as well put it to use getting your husband going, right?”

“My wife,” Shining Armor hastily corrected.

“Your husband thinks Navi is right,” Cadance said with a smirk. She hopped up onto the bed and presented her stallionhood to Shiny. “Go on, honey.”

“I think she would like slut more than honey,” I said.

Shiny shot me a glare, but couldn’t respond since her mouth was already full.

“I think I might prefer slut more than honey,” Cadance replied. “Your mouth is like magic, slut.” Shiny moaned around the cock, so I assume she actually did like it.

“Don’t be afraid to put your hoof on the back of her head, too,” I added. “Guide her where you want.”

“I don’t wanna be too rough,” Cadance said.

“She’ll be fine as long as you’re careful. Having a grip on her just lets you make her stop where you want her to, so she can circle the tip or let it go all the way down. It lets you go at your pace instead of hers. Remember, you’re the big, strong stallion here and she is the one pleasuring you. So show her how it’s done.”

“...If you insist.” He finally placed his hoof on the back of his wife’s head. “If I’m too rough, just let me know.” Shiny moaned again and Cadance started making her head bob. “Mmm…”

“See there?” I asked.

“I suppose being on both sides of this has given you a… oooh, better perspective, huh?”

“Something like that. Receiving is much better than giving.”

“Agreed,” Cadance happily sighed. “Though Shiny is so cute when he squirms under me!”

“Can’t deny that,” I said with a shrug. “Making a guy moan or curse is always fun.”

Shiny finally pulled back with a loud pop. “I-it’s starting to get… w-warm!”

“That means it’s working,” I said. “Give it another minute or two and you’ll really feel it kick in.”

“Can’t we just… try it now?” she slowly asked.

“Yo momma ain’t raise no bitch. Now put that mouth back to work, slut.” Cadance actually pushed Shiny back in front of his glistening dick. Shiny eyed it uncertainly for a moment before continuing her duty.

“See, this is why you should have done that threesome with us way back when,” Cadance said. “You have so much you could teach us! Shiny and I were each other’s firsts, so we don’t really have that much experience…”

Well, Shiny was your first. He can’t really say the same. “Honestly, I don’t want to be doing it now. I just really don’t want to get arrested for being a changeling and this is the only way I can get energy at the moment.”

“You know you’ll enjoy this,” Cadance sweetly said, pushing his wife down to the hilt. Shiny’s tongue slurped out and she lapped at Cadance’s balls. “Mmm, your mouth is wonderful, slut!”

“So how’s it feel to suck a cock, Shiny?” I asked. “Like the taste? Like how it feels down your throat?” She moaned, but Cadance wouldn’t let her pull all the way back to whine. “That’s right, keep on working it like the whore you are.”

“You don’t have to be mean,” Cadance said.

“I’m just about willing to bet she gets off to humiliation and teasing. She may act like she doesn’t like it, but I’m pretty sure she does.”

“...Yeah, you might be right. I’ll have to test it thoroughly later. For now…” Cadance finally let Shiny up for air. She pulled back, gasping slightly for breath. A single strand of spit went from her mouth to Cadance’s stallionhood. “How you feelin’ down there, honey?”

“I-it’s… it’s so… so sensitive!”

“That means it’s done,” I said. “Take the toy out and go to town.”

Cadance finally stepped back from the bed and used magic to slowly extricate the toy. Shiny moaned and squirmed as it came out. By the time it was free, she was dripping wet and panting. “Wow. That stuff is strong,” Cadance said.

“Sure is. So, you just gonna take in the sights or what?”

“P-please,” Shiny whimpered. “I need it!”

“Tch, slut,” I muttered.

Cadance responded by tossing the toy at me and mounting his wife. “I’ll be gentle… at first.” Before Shiny could reply, Cadance kissed her and started inserting his meat.

“I can’t believe you’re just gonna sit here and watch this,” Aqua stuffily said.

It’s weird, but I’ve been through worse.

“And you would rather watch this than talk about your feelings?”

“So how’s it feel?” I asked with a grin. Cadance finally pulled away from the kiss so she could talk.

However, Shiny could only reply with a high-pitched moan.

“I’d say that’s a good sign,” Cadance replied. He was all the way in, at that point, and just waiting for his wife to adjust. “I hope your body is ready… uh, prostitute.”

“Wrong word,” I said. “Prostitutes have sex for money. Slut, whore, skank, or harlot are your choices.”

“Noted.” Cadance finally started withdrawing, making Shiny clutch at the bed for support. When he thrust again, Shiny went cross-eyed and actually screamed out in pleasure as she squirted. “Wow. I didn’t even know I could do that!”

“Shiny’s never made you squirt?” I asked.

“Nope. How’s it feel, honey?”

Nothing like a rational response would be coming from her any time soon. I guess Cadance picked up on that pretty quickly. “Just go for it,” I said. “Turn her into a quivering wreck.”

“With pleasure!” After a few thrusts, Shiny tried pulling away. Cadance giggled and grabbed her hips, holding her in place. “There there, honey! I only just started!”

“Don’t forget her clit,” I said. “You have a horn for a reason.”

“Want me to put it to use on you, Navi?” he sweetly asked as his wife began squealing.

“No. I gotta say, I’m not surprised she’s a squealer.”

“Isn’t she so cute?” Cadance condescendingly asked.

“That’s a word you could use. I kinda think that body suits you better, Shiny,” I said.

“I’m starting to agree,” Cadance said.

Shiny’s reply was another loud moan as she squirted yet again.

“Flip her over,” I said. “Bury her face into the pillow.”

“This is why I invited you, Nav,” he replied as he flipped his exhausted wife over. Before Shiny could collapse, Cadance grabbed her with magic, pulled her ass up, and forced her face against the pillow. “Hope you’re ready!”

Shiny wrapped her front hooves around the pillow. It didn’t help her. Still, a minute or so of watching made me scoff in disgust.

“Ugh, no finesse,” I sighed, shaking my head. “You have to work that bitch. Pull her hair a little. Spank her! Treat her like the slut she is.”

“You really know how to t-treat a mare, Lady Navi!”

“Shut your mouth. You know what all women really want, deep down.”

“...To be fucked like a whore?”

“And then fed tacos.”

“I’m afraid that’s just you,” she replied. “I happen to enjoy a gentler touch, myself.”

“Yeah, that’s all you’ve ever had. No offense, but your husband’s obviously not up to the task.”

Cadance gasped and momentarily stopped thrusting. “Nav!”

“What? Trust me, she’s not paying attention. Shiny, what’s two plus two?”

“T-twenty-two!”

“So keep going. We can talk.”

Cadance sighed and continued thrusting, though he did so vengefully. “Shining is not a bad lover.”

“Cast the lie detecting spell and say that again.”

The vengeful thrusting turned to sullen thrusting. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Name your price,” I said. “You tell me this, I’ll tell you any secret.”

“...Fine. I’m disappointed in sex, Nav. It’s stale. Getting Shiny open enough to do this is exhilarating, but not for me! I am no stallion.”

“You’re definitely fucking her like one.”

She sighed and slowed her pace. “For a while, I wondered how you could feel so lost by just a change of gender. Now that I see what it is like to live in a body not my own, I understand. I’m glad she’s enjoying it, but I’m afraid it’s not doing much for me. Truth be told, I barely even feel this!”

Maybe your cunt is just big. I mean, Shining Armor is a sissy little unicorn and you’re a huge fucking alicorn. “You know what you should do, if this goes well?” I asked.

“What’s that?”

“First off, turn him into a changeling so he can be a chick all he wants. Second, find a few guys in the Crystal Empire you can trust. Then they can fuck the two of you and you can leave me out of this weird-ass shit.”

He snorted and finally slapped his wife’s ass. “There, is that better?”

Shiny moaned, “H-harder!”

I smirked while Cadance looked down at his hoof in wonder. “...Perhaps you’re right.”

“Does that mean I can leave when you’re done?” I asked. “I could totally get some of that lust and just walk out. Hey, I bet you could find a bunch of griffins here who would love to fuck you both like that.”

“Help yourself to the lust,” she said. “Want me to pull her head up? I’m sure she’d be happy to put her tongue to use.”

“No, I’m good. I’m pretty sure I don’t even need to do anything. Let’s find out.” I hopped off the couch and walked over. I didn’t want to get too close to Cadance, so I flew up onto the bed and pressed my horn against Shiny’s side. The feeling of lust was overwhelming and it hit me like a truck. My eyes slammed wide open and I instantly felt myself get wet.

“How’s my wife taste?” Cadance sweetly asked.

“Honestly? Like a whore. It’s obvious she’s more comfortable as a mare. I picked up so much residual lust that I am sopping wet. I’m uh… Gonna go sit down.” I started to walk away, but something grabbed my tail. “No thank you,” I immediately said.

“...I’m not doing anything,” Cadance said.

Shiny shot straight up, knocking her husband back. “You’re not going anywhere!” she shouted. One of her hooves wrapped around Cadance and she hobbled over to the bathroom, dragging her husband behind her. Her magic kept me in place the whole time.

“...What just happened?” I asked when the bathroom door closed.

“You just trash talked him really, really hard,” Aqua said. “Did you expect he would just take it?”

“Honestly? I thought it would turn her on.”

The bathroom door burst open a moment later and Shiny walked out in his own body, glaring at me. He flipped me over onto my back and forced me onto the mattress. “You talk a lot of shit, Nav. I’ll make you a deal.”

“You know, I got my fill of lust. I’d really rather just go.”

“Please. I need this.”

“That sounds really gay. It also sounds like a you problem. I’ll hear you out, but no promises.”

“Give me a chance to rut you. If I cum before you do, you can do unto me as you wish in whatever body you please.”

“And if you win?”

“Then I win! That’s good enough for me.”

Man. That’s honestly kind of sad. “You know what, I’m gonna have to take a rain check on that. It was nice to see you guys, but I’m just gonna scoot on out.”

His entire body slumped and the magic released me. Before I could get off the very wet bed, a bedraggled Cadance entered the room. “N-Nav, please… You saw how I am as a lover. Perhaps you could do for him what I could not.”

“...Look, Cadance. You both like getting fucked in the ass, right? Surely there are a few guards you could ask to—”

“I will not force my subjects to deal with my problems!” Shiny shouted, slapping a hoof on the floor. “Really, Nav. I thought you’d be more insulted. This is a challenge. Do you really think you can’t beat me?”

Aqua sighed. “Give him a break, Nav. You’ve already come this far and you were willing to have sex with him anyway…”

Fuck it. I shrugged and said, “I really just don’t want to have sex with you. No offense, but it wouldn’t be worth it.” He grit his teeth. “But tell you what. If you really wanna do this, we will. But remember that I’m a changeling. If you insist on this, I’m gonna make you regret it.”

A dark grin spread across his face. “Do your worst.”

I grinned right back and turned into myself, minus the shitty tails and with only feathery wings. “Come on over, Shiny! Your wife never has to know…”

“...Is that really your worst?” he asked, his grin slowly fading.

“Oooh, I see somebody has a human fetish.” I spread my legs and used my fingers to open my slit for him. “Come on over, stud! I need it!”

“A prince never leaves a lady waiting!” he said, marching over to the bed. “Mmm, you actually look pretty good under all those clothes, Nav. Not as much hair as I was expecting, but I love how exotic it is!”

“I sure do hope you can fuck as good as you can talk, Shiny.”

I did not at all like the awful smirk that came across his face. “You see, about that… You didn’t mention anything about me using magic.” My eyes widened right as he gagged me and flipped me over onto my back. He held me down and I felt something cold, slimy, and hard entering me. “Good thing we only used half of that poison. That’s gonna make this so much easier, as if the lust you ate earlier wasn’t enough.”

“Now that’s just mean,” Cadance said, though the giggle she added at the end made me assume she wouldn’t do anything to stop him.

“I learned alllll about cheating from watching Navi here,” Shiny said, harshly slapping my ass. It made me moan, of course. “She’s taught me everything I need to know to win, even against her!”

“And of course, she also taught you plenty about pleasing the right kind of mare,” Cadance said. “At least, if you were listening at all while I was going to town on you.”

“I was, despite what she was thinking.” Some of his magic moved to my clit and started stroking it, making me shiver in delight. A little bit more of his magic started tweaking my boobs and nipples, making me moan through his magical gag yet again. “It’s about time I had a chance to beat you, Nav. After everything you’ve done to me, I’d say this was a long time coming!”

I’ve never done a thing to him. What the hell is he talking about?

“Don’t even try to play that game,” Aqua said. “Cadance gave you quite a long list fairly recently of all your misdeeds against poor Shining Armor. I honestly have to agree with him: This comeuppance was a long time coming.”

You are the worst elemental ever.

“Then it’s only fitting that I should be paired with the worst host ever. It’s like we just belong together, Navi!”

“So how’s it feel?” Shiny asked. It felt like some of his magic started probing at my darker hole, but he didn’t actually violate it yet.

Since I was still gagged, all I could do was moan in pleasure. Despite definitely not liking the situation, I couldn’t deny that what he was doing felt amazing. The poison on the toy hadn’t taken effect just yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time. I really didn’t want to deal with that all day, but I was hoping I could ignore it.

“I knew you’d get off to being held down and forcefully used like the little whore you are,” Shiny cruelly replied, finally stretching my other hole open and sliding a small rod of magic inside.

“So do you actually like how humans look?” Cadance asked. “Celestia used a spell to turn me into one before. According to Nav, I was beautiful. I’d be happy to learn it for you!”

“I do, but I love you just as you are,” Shiny replied. I snorted, so he spanked me again. “But I’m always willing to try new things…”

“Maybe when you’re done with your new toy. I wouldn’t want to make her jealous, after all…”

The poison was finally started to take effect. I could feel it resonating in me and slowly warming up as it worked against my poor, abused vagina. “You’re in for quite a ride,” Aqua said. “Shiny may not last long, but I guarantee that you won’t last a second when he gets going.”

So are you gonna do anything about this? Aren’t you supposed to protect me?

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have made this bet, Navi. I certainly see no need to interfere.”

Bitch.

Cadance finally walked over and hopped up on the bed next to me. “I’m looking forward to watching my hubby use you like a cheap buck hole, Navi. I bet the faces you’ll make are gonna be so cute!”

Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds that creepy.

“You’re not,” my mostly useless elemental thankfully confirmed.

“I’m not sure she wants you that close,” Shiny said. “I think she was trying to do some roleplaying thing where I was cheating on you.”

“That was before you tricked her, silly! Now I bet she’ll want something soft to hold onto.”

“Then she can use a pillow, not my wife,” he replied, floating me a pillow. I immediately snagged it and tucked it under me so it propped me up. “See there?”

“Well, too bad. I want a front row view!”

The heat in my nethers was starting to get unbearable and it felt like my lady juices were finally leaking. I could barely feel his magic on my clit anymore since the heat was so distracting.

When he finally pulled the toy out, I was almost to the point of begging. I was actually glad he had the gag on so he wouldn’t have the satisfaction. “You’re making quite a mess down here, Nav,” he said. “After seeing you at your worst so many times, I have to say, seeing you like this really makes me feel better.”

And now he’s just being purposefully vague.

“Oooh, remember that time she tore your throat out?” Cadance asked. “You should make her pay for it!”

“That’s the plan, honey!” he happily replied. “And not just for that, of course. All those times you were mean to me, all those times you called me Shiny, all those times you saved the day when it should have been me… Let’s just say that this is a long time coming!”

Gee, I’m sorry for acting to help you. If I had known you were gonna be such a bitch about it—

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by the feeling of his warm, fuzzy body mounting mine. His horse cock stiffly pressed against my slit, but he didn’t push in just yet. “What do you think, honey?” he asked. “Wanna hear her beg for it?”

“Nope! Make her feel like the mare she is!”

“The woman she is, dear,” he gently corrected as he started easing in. A low moan escaped my gag and I gripped the pillow tighter. “The slutty woman. Oooh, she’s so tight!”

“Tighter than me?” his wife rudely asked.

Shiny apparently decided that wasn’t worth replying to. Either that or I missed the reply as he started picking up steam. Since I had already tried the stupid shitty poison once, I knew what to expect, but that really didn’t do anything to prepare me for the ridiculous sensations Shiny’s normally shitty cock was feeding me.

The pleasure mounted faster than I could ever fight back. Soon enough, I tried screaming around the gag as I squirted all over his lower body and the bed. “That’s what I thought!” he shouted as he kept pounding away. “Where’s that smack talk now, huh?!”

“I was right, she is cute when she cums!”

At that point, I couldn’t have told them to fuck off even if I wasn’t gagged. There was no way anything sensible would be coming out of my mouth any time soon, that’s for damn sure. All I could do was squeak and moan as he continued treating me like a horny piece of meat.

After about another minute or so of his abusing me, I felt a huge orgasm come and my entire body froze, then burst into flames as I reverted back to my changeling form. The heat and suddenness of it forced Shiny back and broke his magical gag over me, letting me scream as the waves of pleasure overtook my body, leaving my entire form shaking.

“I’d say you definitely won,” Cadance said when her husband had recovered.

“Absolutely,” he replied with a nod. He was probably smirking, but I couldn’t move enough to tell for sure. “It’s about time she learned her place!”

“Now now, you already won,” she said. “There’s no need to be mean anymore. Now, I must admit, I’m honestly kinda jealous. You bucked her so hard you made her revert! You’ve never treated me like that!”

“W-well… I love you! I wouldn’t wanna hurt you…”

Cadance chuckled. “I’m not made of glass, Shiny. I’m a big, grown-up mare. A big, grown-up mare who’s feeling all kinds of horny…”

“I-I’m… I’m still… right here!” I groaned.

“Yes, you are,” Cadance replied. “And you put on quite the show for us, Navi! Now, it’s my turn.” She floated me out of the way and spread her legs for her husband. “So get over here, stud!”

Aqua, wanna be useful?

“Always,” she immediately replied. She did… something that cut of all the sensitivity from that stupid poison bullshit. She also killed every single piece of pleasure I was feeling and granted me use of my back legs again.

I immediately hopped off the bed, of course. “It is well past time for me to go,” I said. “I’m done here. And this is never happening again. If you even ask me, I’m thumping your ears until you give up.”

“Agreed,” Cadance said.

Shiny pressed his hoof against one of my legs and all the juices coating my legs disappeared. “Thank you for doing this, Nav.”

“I don’t know why you even wanted to beat me,” I said. “It’s not like I ever did anything to you.”

“...Uh. What?” he asked.

“You’re a prince. You’re married to a beautiful horse and have an awesome demonspawn kid. I’m literally a soulless monstrosity who completely hates everything about herself and has literally attempted suicide multiple times. You’re living the high life, man.”

“Yeah, but… You’re Nav! You always win anyway! I’ve never beaten you!” Way to gloss over everything I just said.

“So?” I asked.

“...You’ve done so much for me and Cadance that… I dunno, I felt like she depended on you more… And with you always one-upping me in every competition, it felt like… You know...”

“You have an overactive imagination.” I turned into the first female pegasus I could think of, which happened to be Fluttershy. “Now, let’s never speak of this again, please.”

“No can do, Navi!” Cadance said. “I’ll be sure to tell everypony how you helped us!”

“I will do horrible things to you,” I said. “Legal things, but horrible. And I’ll make Shiny help. Anyway, open the window.”

“You don’t have to leave,” Shiny slowly said.

“Open the window.”

“How long are you gonna be in Canterlot?” Cadance asked.

“Dunno yet. I’ll contact you later. Open the window.”

One of them finally relented and used magic to force the window open. I let myself out without another word.

(“What have I done”)

“So that just happened,” Aqua said when I was a few blocks away.

I’m gonna need so much booze to wipe that from my mind…

“Then perhaps you should not have agreed to it.”

Yeah, well, how else can I make you suffer? It’s not the first time I’ve hurt myself just to hurt someone else more.

“The fact that you even consider such a thing to be acceptable just proves how much you need guidance.” Normally, I would take offense to that. This time, though, I kept my peace and continued aimlessly flying. “If there actually are changeling hunters out and about, you should either return to the hotel or find Twilight. It’s not safe for you out here. I highly doubt you’ll run into another incredibly powerful friend to bail you out.”

Never doubt my luck. She was right, though. The chances of one sniffing me out while I was in the air was low, but I wasn’t too interested in taking the risk. I started flying toward the library. So what did you even do to my vagina, anyway?

“I cleansed the poison. It was not difficult.”

If it’s not difficult, why couldn’t Flo do it when I was poisoned by the spiders?

“Because Brook exhausted her. She likely had no strength with which to help you. That, and I love you more than that hussy ever could.”

I disagree with that. Flo made mistakes, but she actually cared about me. She didn’t just want to turn me into the ideal person.

“Then you should not have ruined your relationship with her. After all, if she was still in you, there’s no way I could have taken you as I did.”

Ain’t that the fucking truth. Bitch. I suppose hindsight is 20/20, or whatever. Hell, a small part of me honestly wished that she had secretly implanted me the last time I saw her, but I never was allowed to have anything nice.

The only griffins I saw in the library were the librarians and a bunch of children. The older ones were reading their own books while the younger ones were being read to by the librarians. I really didn’t want to get bothered by them, so I just went right up to the counter, where a very bored looking young hen was idly twirling a pen in her talons.

“Can I help you find something?” she droned when I was standing in front of her.

“I’m looking for somepony, actually,” I replied. “A friend of mine, a purple mare. I believe she said she was going to the library today.”

“Yeah, I saw her come in earlier,” the chick said. “Last I saw, she had a huge stack of books somewhere in the history section, right over there.” She waved the talon that wasn’t holding the pen over to our side, where I could very clearly see a huge sign that read ‘HISTORY’.

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said with a nod. She went back to staring in space as I went to look for my precious little Twiggles.

Sure enough, at a table deep within the library, Twilight sat alone, surrounded only by dozens of books. Since she was completely absorbed in what she was doing, she didn’t notice me walking up. That gave me a pretty good chance to gently nibble on her ear.

Unfortunately, that made her squeak and shoot me with a blast of magic that slammed me against one of the bookshelves, surprising me so much that I lost my disguise again. Aqua transformed me right back as I painfully slid down the side of the shelf. Once Twilight had recovered, she looked at me in complete shock. “Fluttershy?!” she gasped. Once she got over the shock, she ran over to heal me. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”

I groaned and fluttered my wings slightly, testing them both. “I’m fine, Twiggles,” I replied, slowly getting back up to my hooves.

“Ooooh, Nav. That makes much more sense. Why are you Fluttershy?”

“First pegasus I thought of.” I walked over to the table and sat down. Since it looked like I was fine, she took her seat again. “Say, did you know that some griffins can smell disguised changelings?”

Her eyes widened again. “What?” she hissed. “Are you alright?!”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I had a chase on my hands, but I got away with no real issue.”

She sighed in relief. “That’s good. To answer your question, I didn’t know that. How long have you been on the run?”

“I wasn’t being chased for very long. I ended up running into a friend who helped me.”

One of her eyebrows lifted. “Another changeling? You didn’t hurt any of the griffins, did you?”

“Nah, that dude fucking dipped as soon as I turned into something horrifying. And it wasn’t a changeling who helped me. Anyway, you learn anything interesting?”

“Yes, actually, but I’d much rather hear about your day.”

“I wandered around a bit,” I replied with a shrug. “Got to meld in with a crowd and hear some gossip. I also found some neat merchandise that I’d like to pick up as soon as I cash the check I got.” I might also pick up some gifts while I was there. I’m sure a few of the people back in Canterlot would appreciate souvenirs. “I was about to go on the prowl for some emotions when I got caught and had to run. Then I got rescued and did some stuff and now I’m here!”

“...Stuff like what?” she asked. “And rescued by who?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, waving a hoof. “Trust me when I say that you absolutely don’t want to know.”

“I think I should be the judge of that.”

I rolled my eyes, of course. “Fine, then I’ll tell you on two conditions. First, you have to cast the lie detecting spell. And second, you can’t be mad at me.”

“I can accept those conditions. So who was it?”

“It was Cadance in Shining Armor’s body. She’s here with her husband, who was in her body. They were looking for a griffin to have a threesome with.”

Her mouth dropped, of course. “I… What?”

“I accidentally called her Shiny when she saved me, so she got suspicious and forced me to come back to their hotel room. That’s when I told them the truth and she twisted my hoof into staying while they did lewd things to each other.”

“...Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you demanded to know. Anyway—”

“You can stop now,” she hastily said.

“Oh no, I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet. You see, I had some of the poison with me, so—”

Her magic pinched my snout closed. “Yeah, you can definitely stop now.

“Why don’t you wanna hear about my day, Twiley?” I regretfully asked when she released me.

“Because you’re only continuing to make me suffer, duh. If I had known you were gonna run into my brother, I wouldn’t have let you wander around at all. At least I know you didn’t do anything with them.”

“Welllll…” Her eyes narrowed. “Never mind.”

“Oh no, you’re spilling the beans now. I swear to Celestia, if you ruined their marriage…”

“I resent that,” I said. “But since you’re demanding to know, fine. Since Shiny can’t last more than a few seconds in bed, he swapped bodies with his wife and was planning on getting fucked by a male griffin. So I gave Cadance the poison to use on Shiny’s vagina and then she fucked him silly while I tutored her on how to do it properly. Shiny eventually got tired of me trash-talking him, so he swapped back and made a bet with me. If he came before I did, I could fuck him up the ass in whatever body I wanted. Then he decided to cheat by using what was left of the poison and handily won.”

“...So you had sex with my brother.”

“Yep.” She very loudly sighed and facehooved, of course. “It’s unfortunate. I honestly kinda did wanna put it up his pooper. But whatever I guess.”

“You’re awful,” she muttered.

“Yeah, sometimes. It’s gonna be me drinking the mead tonight. I need to wipe that shit from my memory.”

She finally looked back up, her angry eyes meeting my amused one. “And you never thought to just leave?”

“Oh yeah, plenty of times. They both really wanted me to stay, no matter how many times I told them that I really didn’t want to. Shiny had to appeal to my pride and Cadance had to appeal to my compassion to get me to stay. Even then, I honestly didn’t want to. The only reason I didn’t just teleport out is because they had the room warded against it.” Of course, getting to spite a bitchy elemental was a pretty nice upside, even if I kinda hate myself even more than usual at the moment.

“You really are something else,” she sighed, shaking her head.

“Well, yeah. I’m a fucked up abomination of nature.”

“I’m telling Doppel you said that.”

“You’re such a bully.”

“And you’re such a slut! I can’t believe you had sex with my brother!”

“Don’t remind me. I still feel bad about it.”

“Yeah, because you lost.”

“Not just that,” I replied with another shrug. “I never wanted to have sex with a married couple. It’s gonna be something I regret for a while, I guarantee you. And it’s something that’ll hopefully never happen again. Anyway, can we please stop talking about this? The sooner it leaves my mind, the better.”

“Fine,” she testily said.

“So how was your day?”

“Good. I didn’t buck any of your family members.”

“Excellent. I had a feeling you weren’t into necrophilia. Since, you know, my entire family and species is dead.”

“Great, and now you’re guilting me.” I sheepishly shrugged. “I suppose I may have deserved it, at least.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight. I really didn’t want it to come to that. They pushed me and I caved because I’m a pushover.”

“You really are,” she sighed. “I enjoy it sometimes, but it can be depressing to watch. I’m kinda hoping that changes after the coma, at least in some ways.”

That made Aqua giggle, because she wants me to suffer eternally under her watery thumb. “Here’s hoping. So how was your day really?”

“Like I said, good. It’s interesting to read griffin-pony relations from another point of view. Griffins have a very… different take on history, and not just the history between the two races. Their version of the founding of Equestria is quite a lot more bleak than ours.”

“You mean the part where Grogar fixed the environment, forcing most of the ponies living in the arctic circle to move south in order to survive the newly freezing temperatures?”

“Yes. The griffins were actually already living here when that happened. Luna and Reginald conquered them on the way south and the ponies lived here for a while until the weather continued worsening. Finally, we moved further south. Over time, the griffins were able to break free. Celestia and Luna were dealing with other issues at the time, so they weren’t able to retaliate until the griffins were able to establish enough of an army that reconquering them would have been more trouble than it was worth.”

“Nice.”

“Of course, there’s quite a lot more to it than that, but that’s the story in the nutshell. What’s interesting is how many times the griffins have come close to civil war since then.”

“That’s because Celestia’s been manipulating events for years,” I replied. “She was doing her best to keep the war between the griffins and the changelings going as long as she could to keep both nations imbalanced. She knew that if either of them tried striking at her, the other would ally with her to take them down.”

“...Did you know that when you got them to make peace?” she asked.

“I had suspicions. King Bloodbeak agreed with me and decided to put the matter to rest. Celestia basically confirmed it later and admitted to having several plans in place to keep the griffins weak.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Celestia, how could you…”

“Because she’s fucking evil as shit,” I replied. “Look at what she did to the dragons.”

“I know… It’s just…”

I reached a hoof out to boop her. “So how you feelin’ now, Twiggles? Is your body still aching like crazy?”

“Somewhat. It’s not as bad as it was, but it still hurts.”

“Wanna head back to the hotel? I’ll do my best to massage you in the bath.”

“Yes,” she immediately replied with a nod. I hopped to my hooves, but we both suddenly reappeared on the hotel bed with a loud pop. “I really didn’t enjoy the walk to the library this morning…”

“Fair enough.” I turned into my normal, non-fucked up body. “So, shall we get started…?”