Madame Butterfly

Sinisteed

“-violation of your oath as a Guardspony, not to mention-”

But Shining Armor did go on to mention it, in copious and shouty detail with lots of extra, angry syllables. This, Sinisteed supposed, was a chewing out. Chewing-outs hadn't ever been a feature of the swarm's hierarchy. If the Queen thought you'd done well, she looked disdainfully at you and gave you another order. If you'd done badly she looked disdainfully at you, tilted her head in that way Queens had when they were considering something, and sent you away. If you'd really screwed up, after she was done considering she cracked you open and ate the gooey filling inside.

Chewing up, yes. Chewing out, not so much.

Queen Chrysalis, admittedly, was down on eating the swarm's changelings, and even went to far as to provide orders like: 'Go. Feed!' He'd learned a new phrase in Equestria: 'Positive Reinforcement' – and he liked it.

Things had been better in the swarm, under Queen Chrysalis. If, indeed, he was still under Queen Chrysalis and not Queen Cadenza or Queen Celestia.

“-furthermore completely inappropriate familiarity with a member of the Royal family-” Shining was continuing, until-

“Aww, Darling, inappropriate familiarity's the best kind,” Cadance said, nuzzling Shining. “In fact, I'm kinda in the mood for some intimate inappropriateness right now. I've been sealed beneath Canterlot for weeks, and I'm a little-” she nuzzled her way up Shining's cheek, and whispered something into his ear that turned his face as red as his jacket. He whinnied as she nipped his ear. “Now, please. If you don't mind, darling.” Delicately, Shining nuzzled his fiancée’s neck. “I thought you'd be more eager,” she said. “I mean, it's been weeks for you too.”

It was a good thing Shining was nuzzling his fiancée’s neck, and she was too distracted snuffling his flowing blue locks, because it meant Cadance couldn't see the deepening of his blush, nor the sudden shiftiness of his eyes.

Of course, Sinisteed saw them just fine.

Knowing what he knew as a changeling, it was pretty obvious why Shining was acting shifty, too: Queen Chrysalis had been in far too good a mood to be a mare who wasn't getting bucked on a regular basis. She was also a comparatively nice changeling, even though she was a Queen – who were usually evil, not to put too fine a point on it – and didn't seem to go in for making ponies fall hopelessly in unrequited love with her.

Rather, so long as she was well-fed and satisfied, it seemed likely Queen Chrysalis would've shared her favours with her lovesnack.

Not that any of this was anything but prurient speculation on Sinisteed's part, of course, and Queen Chrysalis would probably kill him if she knew. Similarly, Princess Cadance would probably kill him – followed by Shining – if he told. On the other hoof, if he didn't tell and she found out anyway (and he had no confidence in Shining Armor's ability to live the lie) and she found out he'd known, then he'd live only long enough for her to massacre Shining and move on to him.

Maybe she'd kill Shining slowly, and he'd have more time.

He rethought that. He wasn't at all sure he wanted more time to imagine Princess Cadance hunting him down in an torturous mood, having already gotten her torturing hoof (and horn) in.

Alternatively, if Shining wasn't the painfully honest paladin that he suspected the Guard-captain to be, then Shining might murder him to keep the secret.

It was a good job Princess Cadance was too distracted snuffling Shining's flowing blue locks to notice Sinisteed's distraction, and her attentions were doing a good job of diverting Shining, too.

“Mmm...” purred Cadance, until-

“Ah!” Blurted Shining. There was an impregnated pause. “Um, sweetheart? Don't you think we should continue this somewhere else? In private?”

“Send the guardponies away and we'll be in private,” Cadance murmured, so quietly Sinisteed thought he might've imagined it. Even to a changeling's jaded ear, that was a seductive tone.

“I can't,” Shining replied. “Somepony has to rescue Princess Celestia-”

“Auntie's an immortal sun-goddess,” Cadance said softly. “She'll keep.”

At this, there was a soft: 'Mmmph' of protest from the fallen cocoon. Given the volume, Sinisteed doubted anypony who wasn't a love-flushed changeling could've heard it.

“Maybe,” Shining said softly, burying his snout in his fiancée’s mane as she turned to look at the cocoon – because they were talking about it, probably. “But she'll still be here, and that means-”

“If Auntie Cellie isn't out, she can look, but not touch. Or interfere,” Cadance leered at him. “Kinky, if you're into that sort of thing.”

“Ah, um-” Shining replied. “Are you? I mean, I know there was always a chance we'd get seen by Twilie, but I didn't think you wanted that. I thought we didn't have anywhere else to go.”

“I live in a castle,” Cadance blinked. “Twilie actually catching us would've been a problem. The possibility of being caught, now that's a thrill. As for being watched,” she smirked, and shrugged. “Ask me again in a couple of decades. Age jades you. If I told you some of the things Auntie Cellie's into-”

“Mmmph!!!” Went the fallen cocoon, suggesting Princess Celestia was awake, irritated and impugned.

“Ah. Looks like Auntie's awake, so, better not,” Cadance said, looking at the cocoon and grinning. “We'd end up spending our honeymoon on the actual moon.”

“No you wouldn't,” Sinisteed made out Princess Celestia's objection through the cocoon's heavy muffling. It didn't look like anypony else did, though. “Don't tease the other ponies, you naughty little filly. You're not too big to take over my flank!”

Said the absolute god-pony ruler of all Equestria.

“Um, sweetheart?” Shining said, taking his fiancee gently in his hooves as Cadance blanched. “Are you alright? You're being a little, well...”

“I'm fine,” she snapped. Strange, Sinisteed thought. It didn't sound like she was.

It didn't look like Shining thought she was, either. Cadance sighed. “Shining, I love you,” she said, “but I've spent the last three weeks sealed in a damp, wet hole beneath Canterlot whilst mine turned into one for lack of you.” She drew a fast breath. “I know we said we'd break for a month so our wedding night could be special, but truth be told I wasn't doing too well after a week. Or didn't you notice I was avoiding you and your handsome, toned, virile stallion's body?!”

Her eyes were a little wild as she finished.

“Me too,” Shining barely had time to nod, before she'd snatched a fresh gasp and was off again.

“Anyway, there's no way I would've held up if I'd been up here with you” Cadance's ears twitched at the thought, “I probably owe the imponysonating witch one for that. But I was supposed to have been married to you for half an hour already, and I had certain expectations I'd expected you to satisfy!” At the last, desire got the better of self-control – she was clearly a mare in heat and on the edge – and her volume slid steadily from hissed whisper to full throated shout. “So I really really need to either slip away with you or for you to slip in and satisfy me right here!!”

Shining glanced back and forth between his emphatically not-blushing bride-to-be and his stunned and very much blushing guardponies, his mouth opening and closing like a caught fish. Then Cadance got a wicked look in her eye. The kind of look Sinisteed had often seen on her face – when Queen Chrysalis was wearing it.

“Sunshine sunshine,
Snake becomes awake,
Clop with your hooves,
And do the shake!!!”

Sinisteed could feel the heat in his own cheeks now, and it wasn't at all faked. This was too brazen even for a changeling Queen as much into the Power of Love as Chrysalis had been, and Princess Cadance had done it without a second thought. She's certainly wearing the right cutiemark, he thought, then realised he was staring at her wriggling flank as she shook her plot in her fiancée’s face.

“Okay!” Shining blurted as he leapt on her, knocking her to the ground and getting a faceful of feathers as her wings pomfed. “Just wait till we're out of here, alright. Into private.” Shining ducked beneath Cadance's wing and helped her back to her hooves. “Into privates sounds good to me, Captain Armor,” Sinisteed heard her snicker as her feathers caressed down Shining's neck, flank and onto Shining's stallionho-

-he didn't need to see that, frankly.

Guard-captain Shining Armor turned back as his fiancée’s wing pulled him away, sweeping a glare across his guardponies. “Nopony saw that-” he snapped – and stopped, staring at the door. “Uh, hey, Twilie,” he continued weakly. “Um, how long have you been standing there?”