Twilight eventually found her husband and wife in the library, which had her practically bouncing in delight. "I was just coming up for some privacy with the foals, didn't expect to find you here."

Gel turned to see his wife enter. She looked like everything a changeling queen should be. She was big, had that long-legged nature that made his hooves tingle a little; she had their foals, and Fluttershy's, on her back. He closed the distance to her. "Need to find something nice to read to Fluttershy, I don't think it is good for her to be out there alone."

Stepping around the other side of Twilight, Applejack leaned in at the mare's back to nuzzle the little changeling larvae. "Y'all are the cutest little-uns." The three foals clambered over each other to return the affection they were given.

Twilight and Gel both watched Applejack. A moment of closeness that needed no words stretched on, until Twilight's curiosity got the better of her. "So what have you narrowed it down to?"

"The latest Daring Do book, although I think that would be more for me than her." Gel was honest with his choices. "This storybook for foals might be a better choice." He reached out with his hoof, picking up the second book.

"Oh, I loved that one when I was a filly!" Twilight's insectile wings buzzed a little, getting a giggle from both Gel and Applejack. "What?"

"You, sugarplum." Applejack kissed her wife. The fangs were a strange new addition, but this was Twilight. It didn't matter how she looked, Applejack would still fall for Twilight.

Working carefully with his big hooves, Gel reached up to lift down the foals one by one. He felt a warm sense of love for them, taking care of them personally rather than letting Twilight use her magic. Flopping down on the floor, Gel was suddenly the target of three little changeling foals intent on play.

Gel was so wrapped up in being the "monster" that the three were battling that he didn't notice his wives had turned to watch him. "You took him to the deer?" Twilight spoke softly, trying not to disrupt the adorable scene playing out.

"A'course, Ah could see he weren't handlin' being a mare, cute as he was." Applejack watched as one of the foals had Gel's attention, getting nuzzles and pokes with his big hooves, while the other two were sneakily climbing up his body. "He couldn't see it himself, Ah guess he thought being a changeling meant he shouldn't care."

"It could be a lack of control, too." Twilight watched as, with Gel's attention moving to the two sneaky foals on his flank, the first one started nomming on his foreleg. "Discord took away a big part of what makes Gel, Gel. At least on the outside."

"Ah don't care about outsides." Applejack kissed Twilight's cheek and quickly got a return. On the floor, Gel was on his back now, with all three foals atop him, two bouncing up and down on his barrel while the last flopped over his neck.

"Me either, Applejack. Although it is a bit easier for me to say right now." Twilight got distracted by the defeat of Gel. "They got you, fair and square."

"There was nothing fair about it!" Gel opened one eye and peeked at one of the foals. "They were sneaky and under-hoofed, just like changelings should be." He was grinning now, nuzzling the little larva that made it to his snout.

Fluttershy didn't dare open her eyes. She coiled tight around the huge statue, trapped in the dark world Discord had made for her. A little part of her didn't want to free him, didn't want to break the stone prison she had locked him in. But she wanted to be herself again.

Sound had taken on a new world for her. Just holding still and listening meant Fluttershy could hear the soft clops of hooves as they passed, the way a pony's items would jingle around in their pack, or perhaps of a foal galloping on their adorably oversized legs. She heard hooves coming, many hooves. They got to the point where they would turn a little and veer off to the market… but they didn't.

"Fluttershy." Gel's voice cut through Fluttershy's world, it was a lance of brightness that didn't need sight to perceive. She lifted her head and turned to the voice. "I brought somepony to see you."

A tiny bundle pressed up to Fluttershy. She wanted to look, she really did, but she wouldn't forgive herself if Slipper was turned to stone. "Thank you, thank you so much…" The little changeling filly squirmed around and nuzzled at her. "Who else came?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world, darling." Rarity's voice, for sure, but Fluttershy could hear the growling tones of a timber wolf in it.

"I found out my best friend was feeling down." The chill of wind that curled around Fluttershy confirmed what the voice had told her, Rainbow Dash had come.

"Pinky was busy for the afternoon." Applejack's voice came closer. "She did give me these to bring ya." Sugar assaulted Fluttershy's smell, she opened her beak and found a cupcake pressed to it.

"It will be nice to have some quiet time away from the castle. If I ever complain to Princess Celestia about not having enough "princess duties", poke me." Twilight curled up on the soft grass, her filly and colt dropping down from her back to snuggle around her—play time had left them worn out enough for a sleep, but they could sense something was going to happen.

"Wait!" An adorable little pegasus filly, wearing a firepony's hat, zoomed down to land beside Rainbow Dash. "I want to listen too." Cuddles fluffed her wings as she curled up beside a literal ice-storm.

"Are you all ready?" Gel looked around the assembled, getting nods and plenty of smiles. "Once, there was a little unicorn…"

"Bump, try not to eat so much this time, let it flow over you." Grind was settled beside her friend, slowly turning a large black parasol over herself. She looked exactly like Princess Luna. "You ready?"

"I am-" Bump felt barely anything at first, then she opened herself more. A tsunami of love poured over and into her. "Not ready! NOT READY!" It was that nightmare all over, when she had filled in for Princess Celestia before. She struggled to lock down the careful wall she had started to open when a surge of green wrapped and poured into her. Cool green. Wet green. Changeling green. "Thank you." She turned and kissed the other changeling on the cheek.

"What are you doing? We are meant to be in character!" Grind shook her head, pulling away from her hivemate.

"You don't actually visit the princesses much, do you Grind?" Bump lifted her hoof to the Royal Guard stallion who was at the door.

"You know I don't. I like being around other changelings." Which made it all the worse for Grind, when the door opened and ponies rushed into the room. She hid behind the dark sunglasses and the parasol, trying to tell herself that they were just ponies, they wouldn't hurt her.

"Welcome, my ponies, I will now hold court." Bump lifted a pure white foreleg, the little golden shoe on it catching the light. "Who is first?"

Before anypony else could react, a white unicorn with a sharp shirt and jacket on, stepped forward. "Your Highnesses, I hate having to monopolize your time like this, but-" Fancy Pants beamed in delight, fillybustering wasn't normally his thing, but when Princess Celestia herself asked him to take up every minute of her day court, well, a stallion would be crazy not to help.

Bump relaxed again, and smiled at the nice stallion. "He is going to talk through it all." Her whisper caught Grind's attention.

"What, all of today?" Grind looked up at Fancy with shock. "Won't he get tired?"

"No, and we have to make sure his time here is as good as we can, so no talking." Bump cleared her throat and spoke much louder. "Sorry, Fancy, could you please repeat that?"

"Your Highness, I apologize!" Fancy immediately took a liking to whoever the changelings were impersonating the two princesses. "Let me start back from the beginning, but a little slower." Groans raised from everypony present.

Grind giggled and looked to Bump. "And you know what? He is absolutely loving this." She could taste the waves of enjoyment from the stallion.

"You have it?" Celestia stood beside her perfect copy. They both faced the west, with Luna behind them. The other white alicorn nodded to Celestia. "Okay, now very gently… very very gently, start to ease it down."

It felt huge to Muffins, monstrously big. But she moved it. "I feel where it should be, does it go there?" She was being careful, she didn't want to be known as the mare who broke the sun. Beside her, Celestia nodded, her horn unlit.

The sun set on the horizon and, with it pushed into the place that "felt right", Muffins looked to Celestia. "You have it, very well done. Tomorrow, I will show you how to raise it." Celestia put a big white wing around her doppelganger.

"My turn." Luna stepped up beside Muffins and lit her horn. Power—power like nothing else Luna knew—poured forth and lit the room in a blue-black light. It brightened until it was silver as she wrapped it around the moon. "She is lighter than the sun, but no less important. Without the moon the ocean itself would not know how to move." She pressed out, waking the full moon from its slumber and bringing it up, guiding it into the night sky.

Muffins watched the alicorn, not the moon. There was such amazing power, beauty, and danger. It was Nightmare Moon she looked at, not the benevolent Luna. When the moon had fully risen and was set on its course for the night, however, Muffins saw the face turn toward her, she saw the princess trapped in the dark body. "Thank you."

Luna froze and blinked at the mare that looked so much like her sister. A naughty idea flashed in her mind, then fled when she remembered that Muffins was happily married. "What for?"

Lifting a pure-white foreleg, Muffins pointed at the moon. "For giving us light in the darkest times of every day." It felt easy to say, but she meant it. Celestia raised the sun every day, and put it to sleep. When it got dark however, when the nasty things that liked to find ponies were out hunting, Luna brought out the moon, to light up the night.

The honest words cut through the miasma of dark thoughts Luna had, thanks to her form. She smiled at Muffins. "Thank you." She reached forward with her own dark wing, matching her sister as she hugged Muffins.

Tender Taps kept his hooves still only by dint of sitting on the back two and leaning forward onto the front. "So what do we do? We… we are adults."

"No we're not." Apple Bloom shook her head, the multi-hued mane of Cadance jiggling in the corner of her vision. "And that is the worst part. Look at me, Tender, I am a princess. But it isn't me. If we did something, I think we would both regret it."

"Even if it was fun?" Tender gave his fillyfriend a grin. "It is fun, I-"

"Don't want to know!" Apple Bloom tossed one of the cushions in the clubhouse at Tender. "I like you, a lot, but we really shouldn't."

"Your sister is busy in town. Your brother is busy around at Miss Cheerilee's house…" Tender inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. It was time to be a stallion about it. "So let's just lay down and sleep."

Apple Bloom got up and walked over to the white stallion. Curling one wing around him, she leaned in and kissed him soundly. The two became a little distracted with the kiss, and what with there being no immediate reason to stop, they continued.

After some time, and needing air, both broke the kiss and stared at each other. "I prefer you, Tender, not this…"

The stallion nodded and blushed. "I prefer you too, Apple Bloom. You are right, we should wait until we are us again." There was a part of him that screamed against that, that really wanted him to push the issue. That part had never bothered him before and he ignored it now.

Curled up, side by side, the two very mature ponies slept.

Author's Note

A mare walked out onto stage like she was born to it. "Uh, hi..." Sweetie Belle looked around, feeling a little scared. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and breathed out her negative emotions. "I can't feel the Tree Mother at all, I think what Discord did tucked it away, along with the rest of me. I can still sing, want to hear?"

"NUZZLES! DON'T YOU DARE!" Lyra's voice was commanding as it echoed from the side of the stage.

A little announcement, I am thinking of putting Given Shape into hiatus for a little while. I have been having some struggles of late with it in particular, and I think it is a slight stagnation of plot. So I will shelve it for a month or so, either build up some plots for it and push onward, or write a fitting ending.

Until further notice, Shining Chitin Redux will be my daily-default story to receive updates.

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and ~~I~~ they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, ~~I~~ They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! ~~I~~ They will pick one question per chapter.

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