Split Ends

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

There was enough whipped cream for exactly six adult ponies and one baby dragon.

Under most circumstances, this would have been perfect for Twilight. Rainbow Dash tended to avoid whipped cream and Pinkie Pie ate enough for two ponies, so everything usually worked out. Of course, this was not most circumstances. In most circumstances, she wasn't also feeding her big brother—best friend status extended indefinitely—and sister-in-law-slash-former-foalsitter.

If she had known that Shining Armor and Cadence were coming to visit, Twilight would have definitely bought more whipped cream instead of skipping it herself, so each of them could at least have half the normal amount. This visit had been a complete surprise and, while she appreciated the opportunity to see them, she wasn't always the best with surprises. Surprises, by their very definition, were unexpected, and with how meticulous Twilight's planning tended to be, a surprise was enough to throw her entire day off, no matter how positive the surprise might have been.

And everything had to be perfect for Shining and Cadence. Everything had to be perfect for Twilight normally, but the urgency for flawlessness was quadrupled when it came to making sure her BBBFF and SISFF enjoyed themselves. The concept of something being "better than perfect" was ridiculous and inconceivable, but that did not stop Twilight from striving for it. Cadence's last trip to see Twilight had gone disastrously thanks to a certain spirit of chaos and, due to the bugbear attack, she didn't even get to spend time with her and Shining when they visited for Cranky's wedding. Even though Cadence had ended up enjoying the last time they spent time together without royal business to attend to, this one had to be better.

Thankfully, other than the whipped cream fiasco, everything had gone rather swimmingly. There were so many opportunities for disaster to strike, but it didn't capitalize on a single one. Disaster was an abstract concept that seemed to follow her and everypony she cared about at every turn, and yet it did not seem to poke its metaphorical head into this situation at all. Unless it had changed its focus to dessert-based-disaster, it seemed safe to say that it had been averted today.

"Boy howdy, am I stuffed!" Applejack exclaimed. "I'm fuller than a jackrabbit in a jackrabbit food factory!"

"Not your strongest country-ism, darling," Rarity said as she set her dish aside. "But I must echo the sentiment. I couldn't eat another bite."

"Totally!" Rainbow Dash agreed. She gave a quick nod to Shining and Cadence. "You two should come here more often, if it means Twilight'll bust out the good stuff like she did today!" The two laughed lightly as Twilight blushed and smiled an embarrassed smile.

"You really didn't need to do anything special for us, Twily," Shining told her, reaching over to ruffle her mane. "You know we'll be happy with anything."

"Though we certainly aren't opposed to this!" Cadence chimed in, giving Twilight a wink. The others shared a little laugh, lightening the mood that needed no lightening.

"Oh, don't encourage her, honey," Shining said, giving Cadence a little sideways glance. "You know she'll just prepare even more and overwork herself next time if she thinks that's what we want." Cadence returned the sideways glance, raising a brow.

"Oh, she knows I'm fooling around," Cadence replied. She gave Twilight a little smile, before glancing back at Shining and rolling her eyes slightly.

In truth, both Shining and Cadence were quite happy for the visit, and it wasn't just because Twilight had gone all out on dinner and dessert. The two were still very much in love, but something felt different between them, something they couldn't place a hoof on. Whatever it was, it was making life at home slightly more difficult. Neither was really the type to argue, but they often found themselves getting a little snippy with each other. It would never last long and apologies were quick to be given, but the mere fact that it was happening at all, let alone so often, was troubling to the two.

Even their private activities were beginning to suffer. It took a strong stallion with a large reserve of stamina to satisfy the Princess of Love, and Shining luckily fit the mold. Their wedding night had been so passionate that they were nearly certain they would wake anypony within a five mile radius up, and they'd made an agreement to satisfy each other's needs at least once a week so they wouldn't feel like they were neglecting them. For the first few months, it took no effort to keep that schedule, often far exceeding it. Recently, though, it tended to lack the passion and lust that used to come with it. Perhaps making a schedule for it, however loose it was, had turned it into more of a chore than they'd wanted. Or at least, that was the explanation that Shining adhered to.

Whatever the explanation for it was, though, things had changed somewhat between the two. It was for this reason that they had made this impromptu trip to see Twilight. It was something the two could do together that they would both enjoy, and they'd hoped that they could get through the visit without the snippiness. Apparently, that was a bit harder than they expected. Fortunately, if Twilight had noticed the tiny bits of tension, she hadn't mentioned them. Unfortunately, she tended to be a stickler for little details, so the lack of comment was more likely due to politeness than ignorance.

"I've had a lovely time, Twilight," Fluttershy said with a smile. "But it's getting rather late. Thank you so much for everything." The others nodded in agreement, offering little words of gratitude to echo Fluttershy's.

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, having been too wrapped up in the whipped cream fiasco to even notice the time. "Of course! Thank you so much for coming and helping show Shining and Cadence a good time!" Twilight's friends offered various words of thanks and approval as they departed, leaving Twilight alone with her brother and sister-in-law. She smiled nervously at the two. Something dim in the back of her head was insisting that she had no reason to be so nervous, but it couldn't get a word in over the cacophonous thunderstorm of worries and panic that infested her mind.

"So!" Twilight said, a bit too loudly. "I hope you had a good time! I'm sorry so many things didn't go as planned...I could send you a can of whipped cream tomorrow to make up for it! I'll even time-release the spell so it arrives in time for dessert, and-"

"Twily," Shining cut in. "It's fine. For the fifth time, we had a wonderful time. And don't worry about the whipped cream; I don't even like it that much."

Cadence began to open her mouth to respond, but quickly thought better of it. There were some things that her husband's little sister didn't need to know about their relationship.

"Okay..." Twilight said, a small look of relief crossing her face. Shining gave her a little smirk. He knew her very well, and began mentally preparing his dessert for tomorrow night to make good use of the whipped cream that would inevitably be arriving.

"As lovely a time as we've had," Cadence said, "I think it's time we headed back. It is getting a bit late." Then she sighed lightly. "And I am not looking forward to that train ride back."

"Why not?" Twilight asked. "Was there something wrong with the train?"

"Not at all!" Shining said quickly. With Twilight's constant insistence that everything be perfect for them, that had to be nipped in the bud. He shuddered to think what Twilight would do to the train if she thought it was sub-optimal.

"I just like getting home quickly after a day out," Cadence told her. "It's no big deal, but the train ride back to the Crystal Empire is a rather long one."

"It is pretty long, isn't it?" Twilight agreed.

"Very much so," Cadence confirmed. "Especially when you're as tired as I am. I just want to crawl straight into bed without having to worry about..." Cadence's thought was cut short as she saw the look in Twilight's eyes. She may not have been as close with Twilight as Shining was, but even her time as her foalsitter and the bits of time spent with her here and there nowadays were enough to elucidate the meaning behind that particular look.

"Twily..." Shining began, clearly catching onto this as well. "Whatever you're planning..."

"...Is going to be perfect!" Twilight exclaimed, bouncing on the tips of her hooves. "Because I've been working on a spell-"

"No," Shining interjected.

"That'll work perfectly-" Twilight continued.

"No," Shining repeated.

"It's an easy spell-"

"No."

"That teleports ponies long distances-"

"No."

"As long as it's somewhere I've been-"

"Twilight!" Shining shouted, loudly enough to finally break Twilight from her train of thought. He took a breath to calm himself once he saw Twilight's ears pinned down. "Sorry...I appreciate your wanting to help, but you've done enough for us. I think we can survive the train ride." He felt a gentle tap on his shoulder, and upon turning was met with the eagerly-smiling face of his wife.

"Come on, Shiny," Cadence said, staring hopefully at him. "It's such a long trip...and just look how badly she wants to show you whatever it is she's talking about."

It was a rookie mistake, but Shining found himself turning to look back at his sister before he knew what happened. Had there been an Equestria-wide competition for "Most Pathetic Puppy-Dog Stare," Twilight would have been the one that the trophy was modeled after. The pure unadulterated sadness emanating from Twilight's eyes would have been enough to make King Sombra weep. Shining bit his lip, trying to resist, but the addition of a pouty lower lip was enough to break his resolve.

"Okay, okay!" Shining said, waving a front hoof. "We'll do it your way. Just put those things away!" Twilight smiled a satisfied smile. She didn't like to be manipulative, but there were certain situations where excessive adorable force (Pinkie had once suggested calling it "adoraforce") was necessary.

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed. "Because I've been working so hard on this, and I'm sure you two will be amazed!" Shining couldn't help but grin. As trepidacious as he was about whatever his little sister had planned, she was pretty adorable when she was this excited. It nearly made him forget why he was so uncomfortable about the idea in the first place. "Nearly" was the key word, though. Twilight had already done so much for them, and he knew that if he kept letting her do more and more, she'd feel obligated to continue and end up overworking herself. It was just the way she was, and while a less-scrupulous pony would have no trouble taking advantage of that fact, it just didn't sit right with Shining. The sad eyes, though, were far too formidable a foe.

"So what is it you've been working so hard on?" Cadence asked.

"Glad you asked!" Twilight said, her smile so large it threatened to tear itself off of her face. "Ever since the incident with Tirek when I was overloaded with alicorn magic, I've been working on enhancing my teleportation spell not only to teleport larger distances, but to teleport other ponies as well, and I've finally made a breakthrough! So I figure that instead of making you go all that way on the train, I can teleport the two of you all the way back to the Crystal Empire! I can even pinpoint it so accurately that I can put you in different rooms! Isn't that great?!"

Shining and Cadence stared at one another. They had intended this trip to be a nice bonding experience to get around their recent disagreements, but soon found that they were disagreeing once more, this time over how to react to Twilight's proposition. Shining loved and trusted his sister, but something about this just didn't seem right. The concept of teleporting two ponies such a long distance and with such pinpoint accuracy didn't seem terribly feasible to him. Something was bound to go wrong. Cadence, on the other hoof, seemed to be 100% on board with this idea. Shining knew his wife well enough that she didn't have to say a word for him to know her feelings on the matter. Her hopeful gaze spoke volumes. Shining sighed and looked to Twilight.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Shining asked.

"Of course!" Twilight responded with a smile. "I tested it on myself first. Then when I was comfortable with that, I tested it on Pinkie and myself a few times. The only time I noticed a side effect was the one time when Pinkie got a blue stripe in her mane, and we were able to fix that easily. And before you ask, I teleported us all over the place! Dodge Junction, the Castle of the Two Sisters..."

"The bedroom," Cadence mumbled to Shining, grinning. Shining, however, did not share her enthusiasm for her joke. The last thing he wanted to think about was his little sister's romantic escapades with her marefriend. His lack of reaction caused Cadence to sigh lightly. He felt bad for disappointing her, but it just wasn't something he felt like envisioning. Thankfully for everypony involved, Twilight hadn't heard Cadence's joke, or else the wait for her embarrassment to fade and allow her to speak once more might have been longer than the train ride home would have been.

"So will you let me do it?" Twilight asked, bouncing lightly on the tips of her hooves. Shining quickly found himself caught between the eager, hopeful stares of two of the three most important mares in his life. Logic told him to just deal with the long train ride, but with the knowledge that refusal would disappoint his sister and likely put him in the guest bedroom for the night, logic and safety had to take a backseat for the time being.

"Alright," Shining said. "Let's do it then." The cheer on the faces of Twilight and Cadence was enough to help him forget about his troubles for now.

"Great!" Twilight bubbled. "Okay, so I'll teleport the two of you back to the palace. Cadence, I'll send you to the bedroom. And Shiny, since my BBBFF manual says that you like to have a quick snack before bed, I'll send you to the pantry!" Shining chose to question neither the existence nor the accuracy of this so-called BBBFF manual. Now was not the time for it.

"Sounds good," Shining said. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will!" Twilight said. She galloped up to the two and gave them tight hugs. "Thank you so much for visiting and for letting me try this!"

"Any time," Cadence responded with a smile. "We had a fantastic time."

Shining took a breath as he watched his sister back up, her horn beginning to glow. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous. Twilight was a very accomplished magician, after all. It wasn't fair to dwell on mistakes like the time Twilight accidentally enchanted a wave of parasprites to eat everything in sight...or the time she turned Fluttershy into a vampire fruit bat...or when she accidentally changed her friends' cutie marks and destinies...

Shining wasn't sure if there was a being higher in power than Princess Celestia, but he sure was praying to them whether they existed or not as he felt Twilight's magic surround him. For the slightest of moments he was sure he could hear a muffled voice answer his thoughts, but it faded to silence just as everything went black. A bizarre feeling came over him, like his body was being painlessly disintegrated and reconstituted. Celestia and Luna had teleported him a few times before, but it had never felt quite like this. He figured that maybe different ponies' teleportation spells felt different. Of course, there was always the chance that something had gone wrong with the spell...but he didn't want to dwell on that possibility.

As Shining's vision began to return, he couldn't help but notice that one thing had gone noticeably wrong. Twilight had said she was teleporting him to the pantry, but based on what he was seeing, she had mixed up his and Cadence's locations, because he was definitely in the bedroom. Luckily, though, that seemed to be the only problem with the spell. He felt fine, he wasn't missing his head or anything...he took a deep breath, then let out a sigh of relief. One white-furred, blue-tipped hoof wiped the sweat from his brow as he came to the realization that everything seemed to have ended up okay. He stretched his forelegs, deciding that after that worrying experience, he didn't particularly feel the need to get himself a bedtime snack. Right now, all he wanted to do was lie down and take his shoes off.

Shining hesitated at that last thought. He didn't wear shoes very often, and was positive that he hadn't worn them to Ponyville. And yet he could distinctly feel shoes on his hind hooves. He glanced back to look at said hind hooves, and sure enough, there was a set of golden shoes adorning them. That, however, was the least troubling part of his observation. What he found to be infinitely more troublesome was the fact that in place of his thick white-and-blue hind hooves was a set of delicate pink ones.

Shining felt his mouth go dry. His eyes slowly traced up those pink hooves connected to his body, traveling up the similarly-colored shapely legs, a tri-colored tail visible just behind them. He was no dullard and already figured out what had happened, but it wasn't until his sight settled on the crystal heart cutie mark on his curvy flank that his mind finally locked up, reluctantly accepting the truth of what had happened. Only one thought was able to permeate the massive freakout going on in his mind right now: they should have taken the train.

Chapter 2

There was no need to panic.

Everything was perfectly fine, and there was no need to panic.

The spell that Twilight had cast on him had fused him and Cadence together at the waist. That was all. Everything was perfectly fine, and there was no need to panic.

There was every need to panic.

Shining thought himself to normally be a rather level-headed pony. It took a lot to shake him, which was probably part of the reason that he made such a good captain of the royal guard. His unflappable, steadfast personality had always served him well in his career and in his life. It had not, however, prepared him for this type of situation.

Shining's first panic-driven instinct was to pace nervously back and forth. Such a task, while out of character, would not have been an issue under normal circumstances. The current circumstances, however, had already proven to be rather abnormal. Shining found himself nearly stumbling as he tried to use Cadence's legs. They cooperated with him just fine, responding to the actions he was trying to take, but for good reason, he wasn't used to the difference in the way a mare's hips and legs moved. It didn't help that Cadence's legs were not as thick and muscular as his own; a fact that he was usually quite okay with. Walking was walking, though, and after a few little adjustments made, he was able to nervously pace with relative ease, although the way his hips swayed admittedly made it feel a bit odd.

Shining let out a frustrated sigh as he sat on the edge of the bed, noting how much different things felt down there as he did so. The more upset he got about the situation, the worse he felt about it. All things considered, he didn't have as much right to be upset as Cadence did. In fact, he wasn't even sure if Cadence could even feel anything at the moment. All that remained of her was her lower half, and he even seemed to have control of that. What had become of her? Was she even conscious? He wasn't sure which answer he would have preferred for that question. Would be rather lose conscious thought completely, or be a sentient rear end on another pony's body, subject to the whims of said pony with no input whatsoever? It wasn't exactly Hoofie's Choice, but it wasn't one he ever wanted to have to make.

Just as Shining was about to continue lamenting his wife's fate, he heard a loud screech from down the hall. This was followed by a clattering of hoofsteps, a sudden thud, and then some frantic scraping before the galloping sound resumed. Shining knew that screech instantly. He was intensely relieved that his wife was okay, but a little part of him had a feeling it knew why she was screeching like that. The slow realization of what Cadence's situation had to be wasn't enough to prepare him for what he saw when the bedroom door burst open. There was Cadence, even more panicked than he had been. His eyes drifted towards her rump, as they often did, but with far different intents and results. There, in place of her perfect rear end, was the large, muscular form of his own.

The two mismatched ponies stared at each other for an amount of time that felt like somewhere between forever and a little after that. The silence persisted until a bewildered Cadence flicked the blue tail that was attached to the bulky rump connected to her body. Shining wasn't sure why that triggered such a reaction, and had he the mental capacities at the time to consider the ramifications of his actions, he would have likely tried harder to stop said reaction for fear of earning himself a permanent spot in the guest bedroom. Either way, he quickly found himself overcome with laughter. His own sounds of merriment were enough to temporarily distract him from not only the problem he'd already been dealing with, but also the new problem arising in the form of his very angry wife. Cadence puffed her cheeks out, pouting like a small filly.

"Oh, I'm glad you find this so funny!" Cadence shouted. "Nice to see Mr. Pink Girly Butt can find the humor in this!" Shining took this opportunity to once again look back at his—or rather, Cadence's—rump. It did look quite ridiculous and out of place, that gorgeous pink rump that often occupied so much of his attention now attached to his thick frame. Her thin waist made it look like somepony had squeezed him in the middle like a tube of toothpaste, getting wider again at the hips. Suffice to say, it was not exactly the manly look that Shining usually strived for. He looked back at Cadence, figuring it was in both of their best interests for him to apologize ASAP. He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath to make sure to get any little scraps of laughter out of his system.

"I'm sorry, honey," Shining said, giving her a sincere apologetic smile. "You can laugh at me too, if it makes you feel better." He turned a bit, giving his wife a nice side view of her rear end ridiculously attached to him. Seeing that his wife was yet to laugh, he bit the bullet and gave that rump a little shake. This seemed to do the trick, as he heard the victorious sound of a snicker coming from Cadence's mouth. The snicker was followed by a gentle giggle, and Shining gave her a grin. "Feel better now?"

"Well...okay, it is a little funny," Cadence admitted, looking back at the hindquarters she had been forced to borrow. "But funny or not, we need to get your sister to fix this."

"Of course," Shining agreed. "We'll write her a letter and send it out tomorrow." He waited for Cadence to agree, only to be met with a look of shock. "What is it, honey?"

"Tomorrow?" Cadence asked incredulously. "You expect us to stay like this and wait for her to come to us?" Shining sighed lightly, putting a hoof on Cadence's shoulder to try and calm her back down.

"Cadence," Shining said softly. "Taking the train to Ponyville now would take forever. Then we'd have to hope Twilight is awake, and then we'd have to ride the train all the way back, because after what happened here I'm sure not expecting to be teleported back. And we both have work tomorrow, so we can't be staying out very late or staying the night there."

"Work!" Cadence exclaimed. "I can't have my meetings tomorrow looking like this!"

"So wear a dress, honey," Shining said. "At least you have that option. Just think about the problems I'm going to have with the royal guard tomorrow with a beautiful rump like this." As frustrated as Cadence was, she couldn't help a little smile at both the compliment and the idea of Shining having to do his job like that.

"Okay, you're right," Cadence admitted. "You go lay down and I'll write the letter to Twilight."

"Right," Shining responded. He sat back down on the bed and shifted to lie down. His thighs met, and he reflected for a few moments on how weirdly nice it felt having such soft, smooth hind legs rather than his usual muscular ones. He gently rubbed them against each other, silently reveling in the feeling.

"Enjoying yourself?" Cadence asked playfully. Shining blushed lightly, not having realized that she was watching him.

"You know how much I like your body," Shining said, an awkward grin crossing his face.

"I'm aware," Cadence replied as her quill worked across the scroll in front of her. "Please do take good care of it while we're forced into this trade."

"I always take good care of your body," Shining replied with a wink. "I hope you do the same with mine." He smiled to himself, giving his thighs another little rub together. It had been a little while since he'd come back at Cadence with a flirty little line like that.

"Oh, I will," Cadence replied with a grin. "I absolutely will." Shining liked this return to flirtatiousness. If there was one positive to come out of this whole rigamarole, it had to be that. Shortly after thinking this, he felt Cadence climb into bed with him. As he felt the rough cut of his own hind legs on Cadence's body brush against him, he was once again reminded of the fact that this was, in fact, a mess that needed fixing ASAP.

~~~~~~~~~~

Shining woke up the next morning to his alarm, hoping that the events of the previous night had been a dream. To his dismay, it only took a quick glance behind him to see the tip of Cadence's tail poking out from his side of the bed. He let out a soft sigh, then groaned as he pulled himself out of bed, careful not to disturb his wife. Cadence still had another hour before she needed to be awake, and she was typically not a happy camper when she was woken up early. Personality-wise, the beautiful princess of love was not quite as beautiful when disturbed from her slumber, although he would never tell her that.

Shining trudged his way to the bathroom. He stood in front of the toilet for a few moments before remembering that his current plumbing did not allow for relieving himself in such a position. Having to sit down to relieve himself was bizarre, but enough bizarre things had been happening that it was nearly to the point where something not being strange would be stranger than anything. At least he didn't have to worry about his aim being off.

Once that business was over, Shining began drawing his bath. He used to take showers, but Cadence had long since convinced him of the comfort and luxury of baths. He stepped in once it was drawn and began scrubbing himself down. He spent a few minutes scrubbing his waist, marveling at the difference in coat consistency where white met pink. He already knew how soft and smooth his wife's coat was, but feeling that difference on his own body was a unique experience. The experience wasn't as unique, though, as the experience of washing his privates. He had taken baths with Cadence before and often helped wash her, but having to wash those parts on himself felt utterly wrong. He had never really thought about how sensitive the flesh of a mare's teats was, but he certainly gained a new appreciation for it as his hoof brushed against them. He made sure to spend ample time massaging them, quietly enjoying the gentle and relaxing sensations. He would make sure to remember how nice this felt when he and Cadence had their own parts back.

Shining bit his lip as his hoof drifted downward towards Cadence's marehood. He had washed Cadence here before, but again the idea of washing a vagina that was attached to him was more than a little odd. Still, he had every intent of being thorough as he always was with his cleaning. His hoof slowly descended until it rubbed against his outer lips. He had expected a sudden burst of pleasure, but was met with just a gentle pleasing feeling, maybe just a bit more pleasing than when he'd rubbed his teats. Shining frowned slightly. He took pride in his ability to make Cadence feel good with a touch of the hoof, and yet he hadn't gotten the expected results. He gave the area another rub, tracing deliberately along his folds as he often did to arouse Cadence. This felt a bit better, but it wasn't until he applied a bit more pressure that things really began to flare up. Shining bit his lip as small waves of pleasure coursed through his body. He gave himself a bit of a harder rub to try and get more of that pleasure, and was not at all disappointed with the result. Forgetting his original goal of just getting clean, he closed his eyes and sank a bit deeper into the water until he felt the water meet the back of his mane. His hoof worked slowly and methodically, employing on himself the techniques he would always use to get Cadence off. He bit his lip, hind leg twitching slightly as he worked himself closer and closer, his breathing quickening. The tip of his hoof worked itself between his folds, gently spreading them open. This felt just fantastic, and he just couldn't get enough of his own touch.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened. Shining jerked up in the tub, eyes shooting open and hoof flying away from its favorite place and up to his chest. He stared as Cadence wandered into the bathroom, looking rather drowsy.

"Morning, honey," Cadence mumbled, only half-awake. "I was going to sleep longer but I really had to go to the bathroom."

Shining stared at his wife, slack-jawed, as she dragged herself towards the toilet. It wasn't uncommon for one to use the bathroom while the other was in the tub. They were both quite used to each others' bodies—although one could argue that they were getting more used to them now. If she had caught him doing what he was doing, though, he had a good feeling that he would never hear the end of it. Shining sighed and sank back into the water, closing his eyes. The crisis had been averted, but not without the flaw of having to leave himself hanging.

"Gah!"

Shining's eyes jolted open as he heard his wife's startled cry. He looked over to see Cadence sitting on the toilet, her face dripping wet. For the second time since last night, the humor of the situation overrode his natural desire to avoid angering his wife, and he let out a snicker.

"Good job, honey," Shining said.

"Shut up and get me a towel," Cadence practically growled.

~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Shining got home from his day at work, he'd had more than enough of what he was going through. He had already figured that work would be a pain, but hadn't quite anticipated just how bad it would get. He wanted so badly to put on a pair of pants, but as the head of the guard he had to adhere to the dress code. Even if he had been able to wear pants, his shapely rump would certainly have drawn attention anyway, but it would have been far better than going without like he had to.

His company had first reacted with utter shock, just like logic would have assumed had it expected something like this to happen. It took a little bit to explain the situation to them, which reduced the shock a tiny bit. The shock, however, was soon replaced by the emotions that Shining had expected to get from them. Their attention spans varied, some of them barely saying a word and some being even more eager to listen to orders. No matter how attentive they were, nearly every single one of them spent most of their time with their eyes glued to his rump. The mere idea of being ogled like so by his company was embarrassing and infuriating. He figured this had to be what it felt like to actually be a mare, having horny stallions staring intently at his rear end, and instantly gained a new respect for what mares had to go through. He didn't want to think about the thoughts that might have been going through their heads, but having been around crystal ponies for so long, he knew that they had a tendency to glow and glimmer a bit when they were particularly happy. As he strode past the ponies, he couldn't help but notice each one that he passed begin to glow just a bit more. He thanked the stars for Cadence's long tail as he walked, and made a mental note never to let his wife around the guard outside of official business unless he was nearby.

As frustrated as he was with the first set of guards, the second set of guards actually put him a little more at ease. That group had been working with Shining for years and felt comfortable enough with him to make jokes at his expense here and there, knowing he'd shrug it off and shoot jokes back at them. They really let him have it once the initial shock had passed. Strangely enough, the way they poked fun at him was more agreeable than the treatment he'd gotten from the first group. In trying to be more respectful, they'd made him feel more uncomfortable. The second group tended to make jokes about being attracted to Shining and each other on normal days, and Shining's new feminine rump certainly did its part to keep that going. In essence, they were treating him the same despite his altered appearance, and that brought him some solace. By the time his day was over, he was almost feeling okay about the situation. Unfortunately, it was about that time that he started receiving wolf whistles from passers-by as he was walking back to the palace. He was beyond done with this whole mess.

Cadence had only fared slightly better. Fortunately for her, she did have the option of wearing a dress, and made sure to take full advantage of it. Unfortunately, the dress raised its own questions. It was uncommon for Cadence to dress so formally for her royal business unless she was entertaining foreign dignitaries or attending a fancy party. The particular dress she had chosen didn't help matters either. She had needed a billowing dress to hide the shape of her borrowed bottom, so simple dresses were out. Many questions were raised as to why the princess had chosen to wear a tremendous ball gown to a meeting with the royal counsel, but most of those questions were raised in whispered voices when Cadence's attention was elsewhere. Only a select few noticed her oddly-altered sitting position and her rather different gait, but being as they really shouldn't have been paying such close attention to the way she sat and walked in the first place, nothing was said of it.

The only major mishap occurred near the middle of the day, and thankfully only one other pony was there to witness it. Cadence knew today was rather breezy and had been rather diligent most of the time about making sure her dress stayed down. It was during a chat with her closest advisor, Sparkle Scribe, that an errant gust of wind caught her with her guard down. She managed to light her horn up and quickly lower her dress, but not before Sparkle caught sight of a muscular white leg under it. Sparkle wisely chose to hurry Cadence off somewhere private before asking about it, and was appropriately shocked when she received the full explanation. For the rest of the day, Sparkle followed Cadence around, surreptitiously keeping her horn lit to make sure the dress did not reveal her again. Cadence made a mental note to add a bonus into her next paycheck after that.

The two talked about their days over dinner, but Shining opted not to mention how he'd come to enjoy the teasing from his second shift. As awkward as the topic of conversation was, the two found themselves talking quite a bit more than they had in the last couple of weeks. It was refreshing having such open conversation again after how short and subdued a lot of their talks had been recently. In its own odd way, the failed spell was helping them relate to each other. Shining's comments on how it felt to be stared at like a piece of meat and Cadence's laments about having to walk around carrying a piece of meat both hit home with the other and got them laughing. The laughing may have been at each other's expense, but laughter was laughter, and at least it was evenly distributed.

Once dinner was over, Shining quickly excused himself to the bathroom. Shining had spent a large portion of the day thinking about his bathtime fun that morning. It was a whole new type of pleasure, a pleasure that he wanted to experience again and actually finish. He knew that Cadence typically liked to write her letters to her friends after dinner, so the possibility of her interrupting his alone time was highly unlikely. Even so, he made sure to lock the door as he closed it. Better safe than sorry was what he always said, and seeing as they hadn't had any foals yet, that mantra seemed to be working out for him.

Shining ran the tub once more, figuring that he might as well get another relaxing bath out of it. He let out a happy sigh as he lowered himself into the water, taking a few moments to enjoy the comfort before moving on to even more enjoyable things. He felt quite naughty as his hoof began to drift downward. Even though the context behind the situation was far different, he was still enjoying Cadence's body without even her knowledge, let alone permission. This was a very unique circumstance, though. No court in Equestria would try him for it.

Shining began just like he had this morning, massaging his teats gently. He didn't keep at this for too long; his eagerness to get to the main event was palpable. He sank back into the water, letting his hoof slide down until it reached his marehood. He traced along his outer lips with the tip of his hoof, the pleasing feeling stronger than before now that he had spent the day looking forward to this. He pressed his hoof against his ladyparts, a soft, happy moan escaping his lips. Sinking into the water until only his face was poking out of it seemed like the optimal position to really enjoy himself to the fullest degree, so down he went, joyfully hoofing at himself the entire time. One hoof spread himself open and the other tried to work its tip inside, but as good as it felt, he was unable to really get as far as he'd have liked. He was determined to get off, though, and began running through ideas in his head. That was about the time that he caught sight of the showerhead.

Shining had heard many tales of mares using a showerhead for this very purpose. It hasn't made a whole lot of sense to him at first, but he figured that it was certainly worth a try. He lit his horn up, lifting the showerhead from its holster and lowering it down between his hind legs. He pushed the head up against his eager marehood, trying to remember what setting it had been left on. Even this light touch against his outer lips was nice, the metal of the showerhead having warmed up a bit from being submerged in the hot water. He took hold of the showerhead with his hooves, holding it in place as his magic turned the water back on.

As soon as Shining activated the showerhead, his eyes went wide. It was less common for himself and Cadence to take showers unless they were running short on time, and whoever had used it last had apparently left it set on the "jet" setting. The sudden intense blast of water between his nether lips was enough to make him cry out in a mix of pleasure and surprise. Even though this had its merits, it was a little more than he'd been planning on, so he quickly used his magic to switch to the "massage" setting. Now this was more like it. The various jets of water from multiple points were much better than the one intense jet, and Shining melted back down into the water, letting out soft moans as the showerhead did its job. He felt pangs of pleasure that he never imagined possible as his inner walls and his sweet spot were sprayed, and he began carefully shifting the showerhead around to try and find the best spot. It didn't take long to settle on a bit of positioning that maximized the pleasure, and he moaned happily as he worked himself with the streams of water. Little jolts of pleasure shot through his lower body, more pleasure than he'd ever felt with his own parts, or at the very least, more than he'd ever felt outside of sex with his wife.

Shining panted lewdly as the water continued to please him. The pleasure was beginning to cloud his mind so much, his concentration on his magic was beginning to wane. The pressure was beginning to build in his lower belly, and in his distraction he accidentally altered the setting of the showerhead again. Before he knew it, the "jet" setting was now blasting his clit at full power. This sudden assault was too much for the already-close Shining, and with a loud, somewhat-girlish cry, he experienced his first female orgasm. It felt like every single nerve ending down there had exploded in ecstasy as he rode out the powerful climax, hind legs twitching as he gasped and panted. His hooves lost their grip on the showerhead, and in a perfect world it would not have gone out of control and began spraying all over the place. This was not a perfect world, though, as much as Shining might have currently felt like it was. Whereas the bath setting saved him from having the mess of his orgasm to clean up, there would certainly be a different mess for him to take care of once he was conscious of it. For now, though, his mind was focused solely on the utterly amazing experience he'd just been through.

Shining let his whole body go limp as his climax passed. It was only the feeling of water by his nose and mouth that finally got him to sit up, and even that bit of effort felt like a lot to him. He often felt exhausted after his usual orgasms, but this was something else entirely. This was possibly the best thing he'd ever felt in his entire life. He took a soft breath and gathered his thoughts; thoughts which were quickly jumbled once more as the wildly-flailing showerhead hit him in the noggin. He didn't even care about the pain; the pleasure he'd just experienced was enough to outweigh it. He looked around the bathroom, finally catching sight of the mess that the showerhead had made. He decided that he'd take care of that...right after he laid here and relaxed for a bit. The knowledge that he was currently resting in his own juices passed through his head briefly, but he didn't care. He felt amazing, and that was all that mattered at the moment. As he laid back down, he thought about how screwed he would have been if Cadence had walked into the bathroom right then. As he thought this morning, there was no way that she would let him hear the end of it if she saw what he had been doing. Thankfully, the door was locked, and there was pretty much no chance that she would be anywhere near the bathroom at the moment.

Meanwhile, just outside the bathroom door, Cadence grinned to herself. She had forgotten her favorite quill in the other room, and without it she couldn't possibly write her letters to her friends. She'd happened to pass by the bathroom in time to hear one of Shining's earlier moans, and her ear had been pressed to the door the whole time. Her stallionhood twitched as she listened to the sounds of her husband and the showerhead, her mind piecing together exactly what must have been going on. She bit her lip as she thought about what he was almost certainly doing in there, her borrowed little buddy between her legs now standing at full mast. Clearly Shining was enjoying this new experience. Her kinky little mind got to work right then and there. As she tiptoed away from the bathroom door, she couldn't help an evil little grin. She'd been rather curious herself. Now, she had an opening—or rather, her husband did—and she planned on making the most of that opening.

Chapter 3

Shining Armor was certain that he'd gotten away with it.

And honestly, he had no reason not to be. He had taken precautions to keep himself safe. The locked door, the bath alibi, the timing...it had all worked together to form the perfect crime. Not that what he did was a crime—crimes, as far as he knew, never felt that mind-blowingly good. But it was still something that he knew he'd catch more than a little bit of flak over if Cadence had caught him. Thankfully, as far as he knew, he'd gotten away scot-free.

Cadence, meanwhile, was waiting for the perfect time to strike. In some ways, she was more like her sister-in-law than she realized. In certain situations, perfection was everything. A rookie would have burst in just before Shining climaxed. An amateur would have been waiting outside the door. A professional would have brought it up while they were playing board games that night. But a master would have saved it for exactly the time that Cadence was saving it for.

After a particularly rousing board game night, which saw Shining win at Dominion for the first time in what felt like ages, the two decided to hit the hay early. It had been a long, strange day for the two of them, and bed seemed like the best option. Shining hummed to himself as he headed to the bedroom. He idly wondered why Twilight hadn't shown up to fix things yet. Twilight was nothing if not prompt, and taking care of a mishap she'd caused to two of the most important ponies in her life seemed like something that she wouldn't dilly-dally on. He decided not to worry about it too much. Twilight would be here to fix things soon. If she still wasn't here by tomorrow night, then he would start worrying.

Shining felt an odd sense of foreboding as he went to open the bedroom door. It was an odd, persistent feeling that he couldn't seem to shake, nor could he place why he was feeling it. Other than the obvious issue of the partial body swap, he couldn't think of a single thing that he should have been worried about. Even his issues with Cadence seemed to be getting better, as the two were getting along better today than they had in weeks. And yet this foreboding feeling just wouldn't go away, ever-vigilant in its effect on Shining's nerves. He figured it had to be some false feeling as he opened the bedroom door. As it turned out, that feeling was present for good reason.

Shining stared in disbelief at the sight that laid before his eyes. There was Cadence, wearing the strangest mishmosh of lingerie he had ever seen. The half of her that was still soft and pink was wearing the top of his favorite black lace ensemble. Meanwhile, her bottom half was wearing a set of his boxers, and he couldn't help but notice a tent beginning to form in them.

"...Honey?" Shining asked nervously.

"What do you think?" Cadence asked with a grin. "I tried to look my best under the circumstances."

Shining bit his lip as he stared at his wife. It was obviously no secret that he was rather attracted to her. She was a gorgeous princess of love, stunning in both her physical and personal beauties. The most alluring pony he'd ever had the pleasure of knowing. The way she poised herself, she somehow even managed to make his own lower half look good to him. His brain wasn't quite sure how it felt about that last part.

"Do you know what day it is?" Cadence asked, letting that tiny hint of seduction sneak into her voice; the hint that she knew drove her husband mad.

And "mad" was a rather appropriate way to describe Shining at that moment, although thankfully not in the sense of anger. For Shining knew exactly what day it was, and even if he hadn't, the tiny sensual growl to Cadence's voice would have given it away. That tiny sensual growl that was always able to wriggle its way into his mind and fill it with dirty thoughts. Even in this state, it was doing its job perfectly. Shining felt an odd, warm feeling in his nethers; a desire that was longing to be satiated. Still, all things considered, he felt like he needed to resist.

"Cadence..." Shining began.

"I know what you're going to say," Cadence interrupted, slinking up to him. "And don't bother. I know how much you want to explore these new feelings." She licked her lips, going in for the kill. "I bet it'll be better than a showerhead."

Shining thanked his lucky stars for the fact that his coat was already a pristine white. Had his coat been any other color, his face would have surrendered that pigmentation upon hearing that he'd been caught.

"Y...you know about that...?" Shining stammered.

"Mhm," Cadence replied, relishing in the look on her husband's face. "And I don't think that's very fair."

"What do you mean...?" Shining asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"I mean it's not fair that you experimented without me," Cadence whispered into his ear. Shining gulped as the weight of Cadence's words settled upon him, and from the way she was hanging on him, there was a different, more physical weight that she wished to settle upon him as well. Shining tried to reply, but couldn't manage more than a squeak. His patterns of thought were becoming increasingly clouded by the dull heat he was starting to feel between his haunches. He always knew that he couldn't resist Cadence even if he wanted to, and the fact that she was still able to seduce him just as easily proved that more than ever.

"Come on, Shiny," Cadence purred in his ear. "You're still attracted to me even like this, aren't you?"

Shining's nod was instinctual and instantaneous. It only took a look into her eyes to confirm it. She was still his lovely wife, no matter what parts she had down there.

"I thought so," Cadence said with a smile. "And I'm still very much attracted to you, as you can see." Shining followed Cadence's gaze down to her erection, which was already threatening to breach the boundaries of the boxers she was wearing. His erection. Cadence took this moment to bring herself up and wrap her forelegs around Shining, engaging him in a deep kiss. Shining was more than happy to return the kiss, his tongue exploring his wife's familiar mouth. He was so in love with her that even a simple kiss could arouse him, and the dull warmth between his hind legs was starting to give way to a burning desire. Feminine arousal felt so wonderfully bizarre to the stallion, and by the time Cadence withdrew from the kiss, his face had become flushed.

"My goodness, I've gotten you excited, haven't I?" Cadence teased. "I can smell my own scent in the air." She giggled softly as her horn lit up, slowly pulling the boxers off of her body and letting her hardening stallionhood out of its cloth prison. Shining let out a soft pant, the burning down there starting to become unbearable.

"Come on, honey," Cadence growled, her hot breath tickling the hairs of Shining's ear. "Aren't you just a little curious? I know I am. Not many ponies get this opportunity. Why don't we make the most of it?" The playful lilt in Cadence's voice was just too much for Shining. There was virtually nothing he wouldn't do for that voice. He loved Cadence, and had vowed to do anything it took to make sure she was happy. If this was what it took...

"If you do this for me, I'll do absolutely anything you want next time." Cadence whispered.

That sold it. It really barely needed to be sold any more for Shining as he was already cautiously on board, but that sealed the deal. Cadence had already made the closer; now she had just brought up a signing bonus.

"Okay..." Shining said shakily. To be honest, even though he wasn't nearly as eager as Cadence seemed to be about the idea, he was rather curious about what it would be like to be on the other end of this. If it felt even half as good as the showerhead, he feared he might never want to get this fixed.

Shining's train of thought was interrupted as Cadence pushed her lips against his once more. He eagerly kissed back, taking a step back as Cadence forced herself forward. It took him a few steps before he realized that Cadence was doing exactly what he often did to her, walking forward while kissing to slowly back the other towards the bed. He wanted to feel strange about letting Cadence establish dominance, but with all the strange things that had been happening, he had a feeling he would have to re-establish his personal definition of the word. Plus, it was hot seeing her take control like this.

Shining soon felt the mattress against the back of his hind legs. Cadence kept pushing forward, and he allowed her to gently ease him back onto the bed. Before he knew it, he was on his back on the mattress. Cadence's tongue invaded his mouth, and his own quickly submitted to hers, letting it do as it pleased. Then, as quickly as it had entered, it receded. Cadence's lips left his and began drifting down his chin, giving little kisses and nips down his neck. Cadence had clearly learned from his usual technique and was employing every little tactic of his to entice him. Her kisses, nips, and nuzzles continued down his chest, gradually traveling from white to pink. He felt her hesitate slightly once she'd crossed over, pulling up for a moment.

"Gosh, it feels weird looking at my own lower body from this angle," Cadence said as she sat up. Shining's eyes shifted focus, catching sight of his own hard stallionhood standing at full mast on Cadence's body.

"Tell me about it," Shining muttered. Cadence followed his gaze and giggled. She reached down and placed a hoof on her rock-hard member, gently stroking it.

"Oh, are you looking at this?" Cadence asked playfully. "Is this what you want? Does this turn you on?" Shining bit his lip, now unable to look away. He wasn't about to admit it. But something about the sight was quite alluring. The intense heat down below was getting harder and harder to ignore, and he could feel himself getting wet. His own arousal was still evident in the air, but it was now joined by an easily-recognizable musk.

"Now I love you, Shiny," Cadence said with a grin. "But this is something I think you could stand to do better. Pay careful attention, alright?" Then her face sank back down towards Shining's teats. Shining felt Cadence's warm lips wrap around one teat, and his eyes went wide. Playing with his teats earlier had been nice, but the warm embrace of Cadence's lips and the playful licking of her tongue felt even better. He had never paid a whole lot of attention to those teats when they were on Cadence's body. Sure, he'd play with them a little, but not to this extent. As he rolled his eyes back in pleasure from Cadence's gentle licking and occasional suckling, her other hoof coming up to massage the other teat, he decided that this would have to change immediately.

After a little bit longer, Cadence pulled up, staring down between Shining's legs. Even with how eager she was, the sight of her own marehood in front of her made her blush a bit. Shining stared down his body at her, now more than eager for her to go on, so much so that her slight hesitance was almost frustrating. Just as she was about to get going once more, there was a sudden magical crackle. Shining began to panic, worried that Twilight had managed to find the absolute worst time to finally come and fix things. Both Shining and Cadence were momentarily confused as they watched a can of whipped cream suddenly materialize in front of them, falling onto the bed and bouncing on the mattress before settling next to Shining's rump. The two stared at it for a few moments before Cadence burst out laughing.

"Hah!" Cadence exclaimed, picking the can up in her magic. "I guess Twilight wasn't kidding about the whipped cream!" Shining facehooved, beginning to laugh himself. Even when she wasn't even there and didn't intend it in the least, Twilight had a way of interrupting things.

"That's my sister," Shining said with a chuckle. Then he got a good look at the devilish little grin on Cadence's face.

"Well, this has worked out pretty well," Cadence said, beginning to shake the can up.

Shining didn't even have time to ask questions. Nor did he need to, actually. He knew exactly what was coming, because he'd requested trying this with Cadence long ago and had loved having that request fulfilled. Shining shuddered slightly as the chilly whipped cream was sprayed onto each teat. A generous amount adorned the bit of skin between his teats and his marehood, with a final spray briefly relieving the burning in his marehood as it was coated in what was likely only the first white substance that would decorate it tonight.

"Mmm..." Cadence said with a giggle as she looked down at her tasty masterpiece. "You look good enough to eat." She lowered herself down, her tongue once again finding its mark on Shining's teats. Shining let out a soft moan under the dutiful diligence of Cadence's tongue, but he was getting eager for her to move onto the main course. He waited with bated breath as she finished the whipped cream on his teats, anticipation building as she snacked lower and lower. She was just about to reach his marehood when she stopped suddenly.

"Oh, how selfish of me," Cadence said with a grin. "Here I am enjoying myself—quite literally—and I'm not even offering you any."

Shining watched as Cadence righted herself. She began to turn around, and Shining was once again left with a sense of foreboding. Cadence was quick to change positions, and the next thing Shining knew, his face was up close and personal with his own privates. His amply-sized genitals dangled pendulously over his face, just begging to be lavished with attention.

Shining took a moment to reflect. If, a mere two days ago, somepony had told him that he would be on his back on his bed while his own genitals, attached to his wife, swung in his face, he would have likely added a potential drug bust to his list of guard duties for the day. And yet here he was, dark blue shaft and balls inches from his nose. He was trepidatious, to say the least.

"Almost forgot!" Cadence sang. Shining watched as the whipped cream can floated back into view, spraying a line down the length of the shaft and dollops on the tip and each ball. "Make sure to finish it all! We wouldn't want it to go to waste." Before Shining could protest, he felt Cadence's forelegs wrap around his lower half. He was hoisted up, hind hooves in the air, with a strength that he didn't realize Cadence had. Then he felt jolts of pleasure as Cadence dug in, burying her muzzle in his marehood. Shining let out a delighted moan as she began eating the whipped cream and him. This did feel better than the showerhead.

Seeing how Cadence was so eager to please him that she didn't mind going all out on what was her own genitalia, Shining knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was doing this for the love of his wife, and opened his mouth. His tongue gently grazed the head of Cadence's stallionhood, and he grinned as he heard her gasp softly. He always did love hearing the happy sounds his wife made when they made love, and decided to use that as his inspiration to go outside of his comfort zone. He leaned forward slowly, willing himself to wrap his lips around the head. This elicited another happy squeak from Cadence, which only made her work on Shining's marehood increase.

Shining did his best to not think of exactly what was in his mouth as he sank further down onto the shaft, tongue dancing around the obstruction and lapping up each bit of whipped cream it came upon. For each inch he took, Cadence rewarded him by working more fervently at his opening, completely eschewing the fabricated goal of finishing the whipped cream by plunging her tongue deep within his folds. Shining eventually got far enough that his nose touched the whipped cream on Cadence's balls. Too far gone to be concerned with what was going on anymore, determined to make things as good for Cadence as she was for him, he nuzzled at her sack, gathering the whipped cream onto his nose to finish later. It was only kind of cheating, but rather than doing it to avoid having to suck on those too, he was doing this more to not have to relinquish what was already in his mouth. What was in his mouth, by the way, was now reaching the back of Shining's throat. He coughed slightly, feeling his gag reflex beginning to kick in.

"B-breathe through your nose," Cadence called back to him, her voice sending pleasant vibrations into his marehood. Her voice was cracking, likely from the pleasure she was feeling. "A-and try to swallow a bit to help with that gag reflex." Shining knew how good Cadence was at doing this from first-hoof experience and took her advice, gulping quietly. He felt the tip of Cadence's shaft enter his throat slightly, and began breathing heavily through his nose. His eyes were watering slightly, but his dedication to making Cadence feel good helped him persevere. He closed his eyes as he moved far enough down her shaft for her balls to gently rest against his face. By this point, he'd mostly stopped caring about what he was doing, concentrating primarily on the fact that it was a loving act between himself and his wife.

Just as Shining was sure he was ready to explode, Cadence suddenly pulled away from his nethers. Shining began to tense up, expecting the tip of Cadence's stallionhood, which by now was firmly lodged in his throat, to flare up, but instead it popped out of his throat, gradually receding from his mouth altogether. Shining took this opportunity to take a deep breath through his mouth, happy to have that passage unobstructed again. Even though he had never had the desire to have a cock in his mouth, he supposed it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Not that he was about to go and request a repeat performance. Still, he found himself oddly confused by the fact that he somewhat missed having his lips wrapped around it. What he missed even more, though, was Cadence's tongue between his folds. He was so close to relieving that burning desire, only to have it taken away from him. He let out a soft "ngh," rubbing his thighs together gently.

"Okay..." Cadence said, also sounding a bit flustered by the feelings she'd just experienced. "That was a good warmup. Now let's get on to the main event."

Shining felt Cadence rest his hindquarters back on the bed, then watched as she turned around to face him once more. He had been in this position with Cadence many times, but the roles had been reversed. Looking up at Cadence as she stood over him, he couldn't help but swoon. She looked so sexy when she was standing over him, taking charge of the situation. He decided then and there that he would have to let her on top more often. He loved that beautiful mare, no matter whose hindquarters she had.

Cadence lowered herself to get nose-to-nose with Shining. She grinned and licked his nose, gathering up the whipped cream that had ended up there from her balls. She tsk-tsked lightly.

"I thought I told you to finish all of that," Cadence said. "Good thing I was hungry, huh?"

"H-heh..." Shining responded, blushing. Then he felt a gentle prodding against his nether lips. Cadence had moved herself into position and now her meat missile was looking to dock. The feeling of that thick tip prodding against his sensitive folds was driving him wild with desire. Despite being positive that he never would have had a thought like this before, Shining wanted desperately to have that length inside him.

"You ready, baby?" Cadence asked, shifting her hips a bit to let her tip gently trace along Shining's opening.

"Put it in me, baby..." Shining said. He blushed intensely as he heard those words come out of his mouth, and even moreso when he saw Cadence's grin.

"Oh, I wish I was recording that..." Cadence mused. She took a breath, making sure she was on target."Now I'm obviously not used to this, but I figure it couldn't be too hard..."

"It's pretty hard," Shining replied, giving Cadence a wink.

"Oh, I'm giving it to you extra-hard for that one," Cadence responded with a roll of her eyes and a chuckle. She made sure she was lined up properly, then gave a quick thrust, moaning as she sank her stallionhood into her husband. Her eyes crossed as her member was surrounded in warm wetness. "Oh my gosh, this feels amazing! No wonder you like this so much!"

Shining didn't respond. His mind was currently in disarray, trying to comprehend the onslaught of wonderful feelings that his body was processing. If the showerhead had been amazing, then this was beyond description. The feeling of something so thick, hard, and hot inside that tunnel was cripplingly, mind-numbingly fantastic, and when he finally found himself able to vocalize, the moan that escaped his lips wasn't much of a coherent response.

"Ngh..." Cadence moaned, pulling back slowly. She knew what she liked when Shining did it and tried to copy his methods. She loved his strong thrusts, so she did her best to emulate that, rocking Shining's world with another powerful push. The feeling of Shining's walls squeezing her temporary member was intoxicating to the mare, and she moved to an unsteady pistoning, eyes closing as she concentrated on that feeling. It was like all the nerve endings in her clit had been spread across a larger surface area, and she needed to keep pumping in order to keep the friction going.

Shining, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how to get his pelvic muscles to aid in working Cadence. Cadence had some way of tightening her vaginal muscles to squeeze and clench around his member when they normally made love, and he wanted to give Cadence that same sensation. He never realized how hard it was to take control of muscles that he hadn't possessed before. A lack of muscle memory made it quite a feat, but with some shifting, he managed to tighten his marehood's grip on his wife's shaft. Cadence clearly appreciated that effort, as was made evident by the loud, somewhat-husky moan that the action elicited. With that under control, Shining was able to concentrate on shifting his hips to move with Cadence. He knew how much it took him out of it when Cadence was tired and didn't move much—though he didn't dare complain about it to her. The last thing he wanted to do was not move himself, lest he ruin the experience for her.

Cadence gave her husband another hard thrust, lowering herself down to push her lips against his. Shining was more than happy to return the kiss, wrapping his hind legs around Cadence and locking her in place. She couldn't escape now, although she couldn't say she had any intent to do so. Her amateurish pumping and pistoning left something to be desired, but Shining couldn't possibly care less. He was feeling absolutely fantastic, and from the feeling of it, he wasn't going to last much longer. The pressure was starting to build behind the dam, and judging from Cadence's increasing pace, she wasn't too far off herself. The climax from the showerhead earlier had been mind-blowing, but he could already tell that this one was going to be even better, and as the dam finally burst, his prediction turned out to be true. He let out a loud, practically-girlish cry of pleasure as he came, soaking the bedsheets with his feminine juices. If his mind was blurred before, it was far more so now as his entire body was awash with utter pleasure.

But the ride was not yet over, Shining quickly realized as Cadence's pace quickened. He felt her tip begin to flare inside him, and his thoughts raced through his head, trying to decide what to do about it. Those thoughts, however, found themselves solidly blocked by a wall of happiness, contentedness, and pleasure. In the state that he was in, Shining's sense of logical thought was as good as gone. He kept his hind legs locked around Cadence, his body language practically begging her to finish right where she was. And finish she did, a loud moan accompanying her orgasm. Shining felt a wave of hot seed flood his insides, followed by another, and another still. Shining had never expected to feel anything even remotely close to this, and the sensations of it all quickly brought him to a second climax. Both ponies rode out their intense orgasms, clinging to each other as tightly and lovingly as their pleasure-wracked bodies would allow.

Shining and Cadence's muscles finally gave out on them as they finished, and Cadence's mostly-small frame flumped down onto Shining as her legs gave way. The two lovers panted heavily, goofy grins crossing both faces. Their eyes met, and they gazed lovingly at each other for a good few moments before they found the energy to meet in a kiss. Cadence sat up afterwards, grinning down at her husband.

"You did good, stud," Cadence said softly.

"You too, babe," Shining replied, reaching down with a hoof and patting his midsection. He could feel a slight bulge down there; Cadence had really gotten in there deep, and it felt better than he ever would have imagined. He gently rubbed the bulge, eliciting a happy little sigh from Cadence. He couldn't explain the feelings he was feeling right now. He and Cadence loved each other with all of their hearts, and had shown this physically quite often, but he couldn't think of a time where he felt closer to her than he did right now.

Chapter 4

Tandem showers had been one of the first things to go once Shining and Cadence's little marital problems had started up. It had disappointed Shining greatly, but he understood that there were more important things to worry about. This morning was the first time since those problems started that the two had shared a shower, and it was even at Cadence's request.

Shining let out a happy sigh as Cadence began to scrub him down. This was something that he had sorely missed. Even though they made sure to take time out for sex while they were in the midst of their minor spat, it had started to become more like a chore than an enjoyable activity. It was a far cry from the love and care that went into Cadence's scrubbing right now, and an even farther cry from the wild night they'd had last night. Last night was one of the most bizarrely passionate lovemaking sessions they'd had in a long time, and he was thankful for the soothing massages that Cadence was giving his hindquarters right now. He had been left wonderfully sore from the pounding Cadence had given him, a pounding that he never even knew she had in her. He had no idea just how sore a vagina could feel the morning after a good pounding, but he knew that Cadence wouldn't have expected him to before this experience.

"This feel good, baby?" Cadence asked softly as she brought a warm washcloth up between his haunches.

"Better than good," Shining responded, closing his eyes and letting the water from the showerhead sprinkle over his face. He lit his own horn up, bringing a second washcloth over to tenderly scrub Cadence's privates. "How's that?"

"Marvelous," Cadence sighed. She looked up at the showerhead too, grinning lightly. "So was I better than the showerhead?"

"Much better," Shining mused, looking back at her with a smile. Cadence switched to holding the washcloth with her magic so she could move up and share a loving nuzzle with her husband.

"You did great last night, Shiny," Cadence said, a pleasant little singsongy tone to her voice. "I'd say I never knew you had it in you, but I know exactly what you had in you." Shining rolled his eyes and laughed, giving Cadence a swat with his tail. It was nice having a long tail sometimes. His usual tail would never have allowed for that.

"Yeah?" Shining responded playfully. "You sure seemed to know your way around handling that thing. Is this something I should be concerned about?"

"Probably not," Cadence laughed. "After all, it's not like I'm going to have this thing much longer."

"There are toys for that, you know," Shining joked.

"Are you suggesting I-" Cadence started.

"No!" Shining quickly responded, recognizing the hole that he was digging himself and filling it up before Cadence offered to do it for him. The two laughed heartily before leaning in and sharing a kiss.

"You know," Shining said, "In a way, I'm glad this happened."

"Is that something I should be concerned about?" Cadence asked with a grin.

"Not like that," Shining told her, bumping his rump against hers. "I mean...I feel closer to you than ever now, and after all those weeks of little arguments and tension, it's really nice to get back to the romance of it all."

"It really, really is," Cadence agreed, nuzzling against his neck. "I don't know exactly what got us to that point, but I think a change of pace like this and an opportunity to see some things from the other's perspective was just what we needed."

"Mhm," Shining agreed. "I'll tell you two things; I definitely know what it's like to have stallions staring at me now, and I've learned to greatly appreciate a long tail."

"And I don't even want to talk about what I learned when I sat down on my throne too quickly," Cadence replied. The two of them laughed again, happy to be able to find humor in the situation.

"I just wish the mixup would have happened a little higher up," Shining said, a hoof touching Cadence's waist where it became his. "I would have loved to take those wings on a test flight."

"Aww, poor Shiny," Cadence said tauntingly, fluffing her feathers out. "Maybe next time this happens, we'll see if Twilight could fix that."

"Next time?" Shining asked, turning the faucet off. "You want there to be a next time?"

"Don't you?" Cadence responded, giving him a wink. Shining looked back at his pink lower half, thinking back to the events of last night. As much as he loved regular sex with his wife, being on the other end had felt so good that he would have been an utter liar if he tried to claim that he wanted it to stay a one time thing. He grinned a playful little grin.

"Yeah, maybe," Shining admitted. "Now c'mon, let's dry off." He lit his horn up, opening the shower curtain just as a loud crack and a flash of light filled the room. The two bewildered lovers stared as two ponies appeared in their bathroom.

"I'm here!" Twilight shouted, looking quite frazzled. "I'm here to help!"

"And I'm here because I don't know why I'm here!" Pinkie Pie shouted after her. Twilight and Pinkie both fell silent as they got a good look at the mismatched ponies in front of them. Neither of them were the type of pony to laugh at another's misfortune, but it was a combination of nervousness and absurdity that did them in. Surprisingly, it was Twilight who cracked first, falling over with laughter. Pinkie soon joined her, falling on top of her and erupting in a fit of hysterics. Needless to say, neither Shining nor Cadence were amused by this response.

"Whenever you're done," Shining said, frowning at the two.

"Sorry!" Twilight and Pinkie said at the same time.

"Jinx! You owe me a cider!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Later, Pinkie," Twilight said, giving her nose a boop with her hoof before getting up. She gave her BBBFF and SISFF an apologetic smile. "So...I see there's been a bit of a mixup."

"You think?" Cadence asked, trying her hardest to keep the sass out of her voice.

"I'm so, so sorry about that," Twilight said, her ears drooping. "I've tried this spell so many other times and this never happened. I even used it to get Pinkie and myself here. But I think I know why it happened, and that's why I brought Pinkie with me."

"Oh yeah?" Shining asked. "Do tell." He glanced over at Pinkie, who looked about as surprised as he did.

"Well," Twilight began. "You see, since this spell teleports two ponies, the easiest way to do it is to bring them together, enabling the spell to see and treat them as one target rather than two. Of course, this would mean that part of the spell would be devoted to splitting the one target back into two, making sure they were in the same state as they were before the spell was cast." She rested a wing on Pinkie's back, giving her a sideways glance. "Which would have worked out just fine if somepony hadn't burst into the room shouting just as I was finishing up the spell."

"Yeah!" Pinkie said insistently. It only took her about a second to realize that Twilight was talking about her, making her blush and smile an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry, Sparklebutt! I really needed to show you that potato chip I found that looked just like Fluttershy's head!" She grinned awkwardly to Shining and Cadence. "To be fair, it reeeeeeally looked like Fluttershy's head. See?" She held up the string of the necklace she was wearing, showing off the potato chip that was hanging from it for them to see.

"...You know, it does," Cadence said.

"Do you want to see the one that looks like Applejack?" Pinkie asked.

"Later, Pinkie," Twilight said, rolling her eyes and giving her a nuzzle. "But yes, we're both very, very sorry for the mixup."

"Sorry," Pinkie said quietly. Shining and Cadence looked at each other, then they each gave a little sigh and shook their heads.

"It's okay, Twily," Shining said, offering a smile. "It was a pretty huge inconvenience, but there was no real harm done. And to be honest, it helped us sort out some of our little differences."

"Well that's great!" Twilight exclaimed. "An unintended side effect!" Then she lit her horn up. "But let's get you fixed up. I would have been here sooner, but Muffins accidentally sent your letter to the wrong house. How that happened when I live in a huge castle, I have no idea."

"Good thing Berry Punch came to give you the letter!" Pinkie said with a smile. "And good thing you gave her her mail back! AA would probably be concerned if she didn't respond!"

"Oh, I'm sure Apple Advertising wouldn't be too upset about waiting one more day," Twilight said. "Applejack and Berry are friends, after all, and payment isn't due till the end of the month."

Shining and Cadence watched nervously as the magic built up on Twilight's horn, also keeping an eye on Pinkie to make sure she didn't interrupt and cause another mishap. Pinkie, for her part, had learned her lesson and was holding a hood over her mouth just in case. Twilight's magic shot out towards the couple, bathing them in magenta light. Shining once again felt that feeling of painlessly disintegrating, hoping with all of his heart that everything would go as planned. He wasn't sure what another mistake would even do to him and Cadence, but he certainly wasn't looking to find out.

Eventually, Shining began feeling like he was being put back together, bit by bit. Once it felt like everything was in place, a flash of light engulfed the room, one that might have blinded Twilight and Pinkie had the latter not suddenly placed pairs of sunglasses on their faces. Once the light faded, Shining opened his eyes cautiously. Part of him was positive that something had gone wrong and he would end up with six legs or two heads or something. The first thing he laid eyes on was Cadence, whose eyes were still clenched shut. He scanned her up and down, and was incredibly relieved to see that her entire body was intact and matched properly. He quickly looked back to make sure that the same could be said of himself, and breathed a sigh of relief when his hopes were confirmed. Never had he been so very happy to look at his own legs.

"You did it!" Cadence shouted, having just discovered the fix herself. She galloped up to Twilight and hugged her, beaming. Shining laughed and joined in the hug, Pinkie doing the same. Pinkie was never one to resist a group hug, after all.

"That's my little sister," Shining said proudly, giving Twilight a squeeze.

Twilight, meanwhile, did not share the same facial expression as the rest of the group. She was smiling, but while the others were full of joy, her smile was far more introspective. Shining noticed this about midway through the hug, as well as the fact that she couldn't stop looking at Cadence, her grin growing as she did. After a few moments, he finally broke away from the hug and gave Twilight a nudge.

"Sis?" Shining asked. "What are you thinking about?"

"Well..." Twilight said, her smile growing even more. "My magic happened to pick something else up while I was fixing you two."

"Yeah?" Shining asked. "What's that?"

~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a long, long day for Shining Armor and Cadence. Work had been rough on the both of them, and they were both looking forward to spending the evening at home together. Alone time had become increasingly rare for the two of them, but thankfully they weren't exactly looking for alone time tonight.

The two arrived home at the same time; not too uncommon of an occurrence for them. They greeted each other with a loving kiss before Shining opened the door for Cadence. Immediately upon entering, the two were met by a frantic Twilight.

"Oh, I'm so glad you two are home!" Twilight said, practically bowling the two over.

"Oh, we're glad to be home!" Shining said, giving Twilight a hug. "Has little Melody been giving you problems today?"

"Oh, she's been rambunctious today!" Twilight told the two. "Every moment it's the same thing. When are Mommy and Daddy coming home? I want to talk to Mommy and Daddy! I swear, if she didn't greet me with a hug and a kiss then I would think she just didn't like her poor aunt!"

Shining and Cadence grinned to each other. Melody could be very willful when she wanted something badly enough, and clearly she wanted her parents quite badly today.

"Oh, you know she loves you," Cadence said with a smile. "But we'll take it from here. Thank you so much for watching her again, Twilight."

"Any time," Twilight responded with a smile. "But I should really be getting home now. You three have a wonderful night! And good luck with whatever it is that Melody wants to talk to you about. Whatever it is, it sounds like it's very important to her."

"Of course," Shining said. "And you and Pinkie have a great night too!" He smiled as he watched his little sister teleport away. He had a good feeling he knew what Melody wanted to talk to them about. Her seventh birthday was coming up in a few weeks, and this would most certainly be the onslaught of requests for gifts. As it turned out, he would not have to think about it for long, as the little pink filly bolted into the room.

"Hiiiii!" Melody shouted, leaping at the two. Shining beamed and caught his daughter in midair, wrapping his forelegs around her. She was always such a sweet, loving child. From what he could tell, she'd picked up a fair amount of Cadence's love magic, and he feared the day that she would be able to use it properly. For now, though, she was a little filly who needed their love and attention.

"Hello, sweetheart!" Cadence said, leaning in to kiss Melody on the forehead. "We missed you so much today! Did you miss us?"

"Uh-huh!" Melody said, smiling up at her mom and dad. "I wanted to ask you something all day but you were at work!"

"Oh, yes," Shining said. "Aunt Twilight told us about that." He and Cadence walked over to the nearby couch, sitting down and setting Melody on Shining's lap. "What is it, honey? We're all ears." He grinned to Cadence, ready to start planning finances to cover Melody's demands.

"Well..." Melody said, looking at them curiously. "Can you tell me about how I was born?"

Shining and Cadence paled. They looked at each other with worry, then back to Melody.

"...Maybe when you're older."