The scritch-scratch sound of quill on paper filled the room like a lion’s roar compared to the tense silence of everything else. Even the ding of the coffee pot rang like a gong in Shining’s ears. His eyes were focused on the mountain of paper before him, but his mind was still back in his room. Specifically, the moments after his morning romp which kept looping through his mind

Shining sighed with relief after emptying his balls down his wife's throat. Cadance was really laying the teasing on thick this morning. If he wasn't going to be late for work, he might have enjoyed it a little while longer. Once he was done, he pulled himself out, letting the last few spurts glaze Cadance’s face.

“I think that's a good look for you. White really goes well with your coat.” He said with a grin.

Cadance returned fire with a playful glare. “Really? Then I guess we'll find out tonight how well pink goes with yours, you naughty colt. I might have to break out the paddle for your little stunt.”

Kinky. “Worth it. Although I have to ask why the whole performance? Was Feather Duster watching again? I think we should give her a good ‘farewell present’ before we head back to the Empire.” They had thought about letting their maid join in considering many times she watched them get ‘frisky’.

“Oh, we will.” Cadance said. She nodded to the bathroom door. “But this time, it was our favorite love bug. I bet she’s passed out with a cute look on her face.”

Shining felt his heart skip a beat. “How long was she there?”

“I felt her pass the barrier a few minutes before you started getting rough.” Cadance whispered as she tip-toed her way to the bathroom door. She peeked inside and grinned. “Wow, she really enjoyed it.”

Meanwhile, Shining was mentally kicking himself. Of course his wife would know of Chrysalis' arrival thanks to that bracelet, but he assumed she would tell him the moment she showed up. What if she arrived and Cadance was out doing work? He needed to alter the enchantments on the barrier the second he had some time, which wasn't now, much to his dismay. He was shaken out of his brooding by Cadance running up to him with a camera and photo in hand.

“This is definitely one for the album.” Cadance said, holding the picture like a griffon would with a prize catch. Even before they began dating, Cadance kept a “love album” with pictures and details of all things related to love. It had pictures of them and other ponies on dates or with that love struck look in their eyes. There was even a considerable section on various and sundry ships, though it sometimes looked like a cross between a forensic report and a paparazzi’s journal. But it also contained a section dedicated to sex, be it fetishes, positions, or even special moments they or others had. Cadance took her position very seriously and it was one of the many things Shining loved about her, not to mention the bonuses that came with it

Shining tried to ignore the picture, as well as the sudden rush of blood going down when he looked at it. “Are you sure you're going to be okay? I can always tell them that a family emergency happened.”

Cadance smiled, “You're sweet, but you need to put more faith into your wife.”

“So I should rename my dick to ‘Faith’ then?” Shining asked, a smug grin plastered on his face. That got a few chuckles out of them.

“You can keep the name,” Cadance said, “All I ask is that you trust me on this. Go and do your paperwork. I promise to let you know if there's trouble.”

He had left shortly after and now here he was, using the piles of work to distract him from intruding on them. However, after a few hours, he was starting to run out of excuses to keep working.

’I shouldn’t be doing this. I need to check on Cadance. What if Chrysalis tries something this time?’ He started to get up, but stopped himself before he left the chair, ‘No. No, Cadance said she could handle it and I trust her. If I loom over her shoulder, she won't think that I do. Gah! This is so frustrating! What am I supposed to do?’ It was a testament to his family’s inherent writing skill that he wasn’t copying down his thoughts onto the military reports.

Shining tried to focus on a list of officer promotion candidates, but his thoughts were consumed by all sorts of “what if”s surrounding Chrysalis. What if she was lying about wanting to be friends? What if she was luring them into a trap? What if this was just some huge, elaborate nightmare that he hadn't woken up from yet? The last one couldn't be true since the nightmares he had after his wedding began to return in force after his anniversary. Luna often had to intervene, even to the point of forcefully waking him to help escape his night terrors.

“Sweet Celestia, I wish I could talk to Twilight about this,” he muttered, “But she would catch on to us and we all know that would end well.” Panic in the streets and accusations of being a changeling would be thrown around until it all blew up. Needless to say, Luna and Celestia were also out of the question. Was there anypony he could confide in that would take his side?

He tried to focus once more on his paperwork, but soon found himself staring at the same page for five minutes. Sighing, he set his quill down and got out of his chair to stretch.

“Note to self, use paperwork as punishment for soldiers. It’s definitely worse than cleaning the barracks.” He muttered, glaring at the pile of paper while contemplating the pros and cons of just burning it all. Grumbling, he grabbed his mug and began to fill it from the fresh pot of coffee.

As he drank the dark brew, he let his mind wander back to the night of his anniversary and the morning after. Cadance told him after Chrysalis left out of the circumstances that led to them sleeping together. Chrysalis tried to capture her again and possibly pull off a second invasion, but wasn't expecting Cadance to offer love and more. Shining was willing to bet that Cadance wasn't expecting that to happen either.

“Although, I find it hard to believe that Chrysalis freaked out about having sex,” Shining said to himself as he nursed his cup, “You'd think someone who feeds on love would jump at a chance for anything more than cuddling with Cadance.” But upon reflection, when Chrysalis had posed as Cadance during the wedding, Shining couldn't recall her doing anything more than holding hands and chaste kisses. Of course, he was also under her spell so he was a little skeptical of his memories of that time.

Shining shook his head. “No, Chrysalis is an evil, devious whore and this whole innocent act of hers is just another way to empower herself with love and then take over Equestria. She might have Cadance fooled, but not me. I just need to keep my guard up at all times. That reminds me…” Shining opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a crystal ball. It took a lot of arguing and persuading, but Luna had given him this tool to keep an eye on Chrysalis when she came back. Unfortunately, as he found out when he tried to track her down, the crystal ball could only reach about as far as the Everfree forest, but at least he knew Chrysalis wasn’t hiding nearby.

“Show me Chrysalis.” he said. The crystal ball glowed and shimmered for a second until an image appeared. Chrysalis was still with Cadance, but they weren’t in the castle anymore like he thought. Instead, they were out shopping and from the looks of it, they were now at Celestia’s Secret trying on new clothes. Cadance was sporting a small string bikini that looked like it would break if she took a deep breath. Chrysalis, who was out of disguise at the moment, was wearing thigh high fishnets and lacy black bra and panties. She kept trying to cover herself despite no one being around (Cadance probably used her title to get some privacy). All she needed now was a short skirt and-

“Nope!” Shining shouted as he almost slammed the crystal ball back into the drawer, “Nope! Nope! No. Not going down that path. No, sir. Not going to think about her as a sexy maid...Dammit!” He tried to stop the flow of risque images his imagination brought to his head, but it was a futile attempt as a certain part of his body was more than ready to go. Grumbling to himself, he stood up and went to the attached bathroom to splash cold water on his face until his body calmed down.

Staring at his sodden reflection, it reminded him of the times Cadance teased him while on duty. Trying to stand at his post was very difficult whenever she passed by, much to the amusement of his fellow guards. She certainly knew how to make his armor very uncomfortable with a few words. At the end of the day, he couldn’t stay mad at her because it was all in good fun. Even now, she still did it, but since they’d gotten married she had been getting adventurous. Before, she might have tossed him a few winks and words when he was on duty, but now she would practically drag him into an empty room if she had enough time.

“I wish I knew what Cadance was thinking.” he groused to himself, “Maybe then I could understand why she’s doing all this.” Shining tried to recall everything Cadance had been doing lately to see if he could pick out some sort of clues to the mare’s mind, “She’s been eating well, so no diet problems. Stress from her royal duties has increased a lot since the Empire appeared. Maybe it’s finally gotten to her head? Then again, she has been rather frisky these past few months, but that might be stress relief.” While his mind wandered to possible clues, he left the bathroom and paced around his office. He kept pacing like that for a good while until he finally gave up.

“Gah! I just don’t get it! Dad was right, you really can’t understand mares.”his voice raised in frustration. Glancing at the clock, he noticed it was well into the evening, almost time to call it day and head home. He looked at the stacks of paper covering his desk, then at the clock, then back at his desk, “I’ll finish some more before going home.” He cursed under his breath as he went back to the soul grinding punishment of paperwork.

*****

The halls couldn’t go by faster for Shining as he trudged back to his chambers from a long day’s work, though in reality he didn’t get much done. Such is the price of bureaucracy when you have to fill out various forms in triplicate. That’s not even accounting for his lack of focus.

“At this rate, Cadance and I might not get back to the Empire for weeks.” He grumbled as he rounded the final corner to his destination. His mind was focused on a warm shower then a nice dinner with his wife, as soon as Chrysalis left that is. He had checked the crystal ball again about an hour ago to see the changeling and his wife lounging about in the room, though he didn’t know what they were saying. While it was likely that Chrysalis may still be there, he did hold onto the hope that she had left by now. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed as he heard laughter and voices coming from the doorway when he stood in front of it.

“Celestia give me strength.” Shining muttered before knocking on the door. The second he did that, the laughter ceased and gave way to loud whispers. When he heard the call to enter, he did so and it took every bit of will not to freak out from what he saw.

Sitting on the couch, sipping tea as if there was nothing wrong were Cadance...and Cadance. They were identical, even wearing the same style sun dress, though one wore a purple one and the other a red one. They both looked to Shining with innocent faces.

“Something wrong?” They asked in unison.

Shining took a long, deep breath and then spoke calmly, “Cadance, what in the name of Celestia are you doing?”

“After we came back from the spa, we started talking about changeling disguises and Chrysalis decided to show off a few of her impressions.” Red Cadance said.

“She’s quite skilled at it,” Purple Cadance said, “We also learned that you look quite cute as a mare.”

That statement halted all of Shining’s thought processes. “What.”

“As amazing as the disguises can be, they still can’t change their gender,” Red Cadance said, “So when Chryssy turned into you, she only produced a female version.”

“Of course, I had to dress ‘you’ up in some cute clothes as soon as I could.” Purple Cadance said, a wide grin on her face.

As much as he didn’t like Chrysalis, his curiosity overruled his fears. “Fine, I’ll bite. Show me then.”

“Ah ah ah, not so fast, hot stuff.” Purple Cadance said.

“First things first. You have to guess the real Cadance,” Red Cadance said, “Only rule is no magic to reveal her.”

“Alright then.” Shining stepped a bit closer to the twin Cadances, who giggled as he approached. He stared at both of them, eyes flicking back and forth to find even the smallest telltale difference, but the disguise was too good. He did consider using magic to get it over with, but it was against the rules and, though he would never admit it, it would take the fun out of this. After a minute of staring, an idea occurred to him. It was dirty, but it should work. With a smug grin, he said, “Since I can’t seem to tell you apart by appearance, maybe I can tell through sex?”

Purple Cadance flinched. “Nope!” Her disguise fell away as she leapt off the couch.

“Gotcha.” Shining said, smug grin still plastered on his face.

The real Cadance frowned, though a ghost of a smile could be seen. “That was mean, Shiny.”

“It worked though. I hope you had no problem with her today?”

“No, unless you count almost having to drag her out of the spa,” Cadance said.

“Hey, that spa was amazing!” Chrysalis protested, “First thing I’m going to do when I get back home is check to see if my Hive has any.” She glanced at the window to see the sun almost setting. “Which will be soon, it seems. I’ve stayed here much longer than I intended and I must leave now. I’d rather not fly in the dark.”

“You’re not leaving without a goodbye hug.” Cadance said, pouncing upon Chrysalis and ensnaring her in a bear hug, “And a bit of love for the road.”

Chrysalis’ horn glowed as it absorbed the love. “Thanks for that. Also for today. That was probably the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

“Any time, Chryssy.”

Chrysalis grabbed her bags with a smile and bolted to the bathroom. Shining followed a minute after to update the barrier spell. When he came back, Cadance was laying down on the couch.

“You know, she left without showing you your filly self.” Cadance said.

“Guess I’ll just have to ask about it next time.” Shining replied, “And who’s idea was it to do the guessing game? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

Cadance gave him an apologetic look, “It was mine. I admit, I was a bit lost in the moment and didn’t consider how you would feel. We were having too much fun with the disguises and her impressions. I’m sorry.”

Shining couldn’t stay mad at her. “No, I’m sorry. It’s been a long and stressful day, and coming home to see that only added to it. I’m still trying to comprehend how you can be so friendly to her after what she’s done.” He said, shaking his head.

“Maybe you should spend some time with her next time. Then you might understand that she’s not a terrible pony, just one who made bad decisions.” Cadance said with a tired sigh, “But for now, I think we should call it an early night and and be ready to work extra hard tomorrow. The paperwork isn’t going to do itself.”

“We could ask Twilight if there’s a spell for it. I’m sure she would know.” Shining joked.

Cadance rolled her eyes. “Please, Celestia would have made one if it were possible. No one gets more paperwork than her. You should hear her complaints. They can get quite creative.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

*****

Chrysalis walked with confidence down the halls of the Hive palace towards the throne room. It was certainly not the first time she had done this, but the first in what seemed like ages. Maybe she can show up her sister this time. That would be a nice cherry on top of the pile good things going for her today.

It wasn’t long before she turned the corner to the hall that led to the throne room doors. Chrysalis smirked when she saw a familiar figure standing in front of the doors, waiting for entry. “Good evening, sister.” She said as she strode towards her, “Did you forget how to unlock a door? You know mother doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Her sister sneered back, “Big words from a little sister. I’m just here to watch mother tear into your sorry hide when you show her how little love you brought her again.” Black Widow had a slightly similar build to Chrysalis in that she was only a couple inches taller, but after that similarities stopped‏. Protruding from her back in the place of the usual changeling wings were four long, spindly limbs that ended in sharp claws. With two above and below her shoulders each, she looked much like her namesake. Her hair was a bright crimson, matching the highlights on her back limbs, arms and legs. She wore a red silk dress that was barely coming up to her bosom, revealing generous amounts of cleavage. The dress flowed down her body, hugging her form and her large, curvy ass. Her stomach was exposed, revealing two red triangles pointing towards her navel like an upright hourglass.

“Don’t hold your breath.” Chrysalis retorted. Before her sister could say anything, they heard their mother call for them from inside. The doors slid open and neither of them hesitated to walk in. They kept an equal pace like they were taught as they approached the throne and kneeled before the Queen.

“What do my daughters bring today for the Hive?” the Queen asked as if she wasn’t expecting much.

Black Widow went first, as protocol dictated. “I come bearing Love for the Hive.” She opened herself up and projected her love towards the Queen.

After a moment, the Queen spoke, “You’re lacking today, child. This is much less than your last tribute.”

Black Widow kept her head down, “My apologies mother. My victims were rather stubborn in giving up their love.”

“Stubborn?” the Queen said, as if it was a new word, “Or were your efforts not enough? I have taught you all that I know and yet you say that your targets were ‘stubborn’?” She leaned forward, “Or, perhaps, that’s another inch on your waistline I see?”

“No, mother! I would not consume my tribute to the Hive!” she protested as she tried not to raise her head to look at the Queen. Changelings didn’t have many laws aside from the standard ‘no stealing or killing’, but one of the highest they had was to never interfere with the gathering of love for the Hive. Sure, changelings could eat out in the field as necessary, but to eat or tamper with the tribute was equal to treason.

“So says the daughter with the appetite of a dragon,” The Queen said, “ Let us see what your sister brought. Maybe she has more than you this time. What do you bring to the Hive today, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis grinned to herself, “I come bearing Love for the Hive.” She said before letting her love reserves spill out like a burst dam. Once she let it all out, it was three times as much love than what her sister brought. Even Chrysalis was surprised at the amount, struggling not to stagger at the sudden loss of so much energy. It was likely that the massive amount came from the ambient love that Cadance emitted, but it piled up too slowly for her to notice. She glanced at her sister who was giving her a nasty glare. Her musings were cut short as the Queen spoke.

“Well well, and here I thought your last tribute was a fluke. Not nearly as much as last time, but not bad.” she said, “I’d begun to think you would be slacking in your duties again.” The Queen created eddies in the love with her fingers, almost as if she were testing the quality of it or perhaps for idle entertainment. It was hard to tell with her impassive face. “Now why can’t you bring in this much love energy more consistently?” she asked, “You still have a debt to pay, and with your sporadic tributes you’ll need another life before it will be paid off.”

“I shall do what I can, Mother,” Chrysalis said.

Beatrice snorted, “So be it. Both of you, leave.”

The sisters rose, bowed, and exited the chamber. Once the door closed behind them, Black Widow turned on Chrysalis.

“Where did you get that love?” she demanded, refraining from shouting.

Chrysalis smirked triumphantly, “Aww, wassamatter Widow? Can’t catch enough flies in your web? I told you that perfume you wear would alert stallions to stay away.”

Widow’s eye twitched, “I’ve told you it’s not perfume, it’s pheromones!”

“Call it what you want, but you still stink.” Chrysalis retorted.

“Shut up, virgin!” Widow screeched, “You got lucky this time, but I’m still better at this. Even mother knows it.” She turned away to leave, “Enjoy your victory while it lasts.”

Chrysalis just smiled at her sister’s retreating back, “Oh I will. I most certainly will.”

Author's Note

Changelog: Everything. Gutted the whole chapter and stuffed in new organs for it to work.

I want to take this moment to say two things.
1) ~~Here's the new cover art poll.~~ ~~It has google authentication so one response per person.~~ POLL HAS ENDED.
Since this story has undergone such large revisions, I figure i might as well change the cover art too. I have my own preferences, but I do want to know what you guys think would be a better cover for this story. The poll will last until the next update to give people a fair chance of picking.

2) College is a pain in the ass when it comes to writing and having great plot ideas aren't helping. Due to having lab reports every week and Workshop stories to do, I may not have time to finish chapter 8 revisions until December. Rest assured, that I am trying to work on it when I can (unless I'm trying to incubate new clopfic ideas. Why do I have so many? Why must they be so distracting?)