Celestia rested in the sun, the pods in the large solarium a reminder that the world wasn't quite as perfect as it may feel. She shifted, her large belly making such adjustments a little less than easy. "Lulu, tell me this silliness is over?"

Luna adjusted her shade-umbrella, making sure it covered her own swollen form. "A truce, at least until… until we are back to normal." She looked over to the ecstatically happy changeling queen. "If we didn't know any better, Twisty, we would suspect this was all your doing." Her words carried no heat, all the silliness had indeed been at her and her sister's doing.

Twisty could taste not an ounce of prejudice against her, and could instead feel quite a lot of delight in both mares for their condition. It made the changeling ponder that in all the nice books she had read on the history of the pony empire, not one had ever talked of children of the two rulers. "These are your first?" She looked from one surprised, equine face to the other.

"Yes." Celestia breathed the word out, the pressure inside her now quite substantial. The revelry from the changeling hive, upon finding that their queen had filled both alicorns with eggs, had lasted the better part of a week and overtaken a good third of the city. Celestia couldn't fault them, nor deny their delight… or her own. Uncomfortable as it was, awkward as the questions from her nobles had been, the idea of binding the inhabitants of her city closer with this act was undoubtedly a good one.

"Indeed." Luna agreed with her sister, smiling over at Tia's big belly. They were quite a sight and yet, despite it, neither had even mentioned the topic that the first prank had begun.

It was a shock to both mares, then, when Twisty looked to each of them. "So are you two going to screw and get it over with or do I need to keep you both heavy the rest of my life so you can keep an excuse not to?" Twisty had never seen Luna blush quite so much, nor Celestia look quite so startled. She really did love her mares.

Starry had not spent her weeks at the castle idle. She had been working with Twilight, to help teach her… friend, magic. It was amazing, to her, to feel the insane joy of the parasite as it slowly gained mastery over her magic and what became more intriguing for both her, him and Twilight was their seeming ability to both manipulate magic at once.

"Magic is the focus of energy through will." Twilight reminded her as they were working on casting at the same time. "You have two wills, even if one lacks its own mind, of course you can do this."

On one podium, an apple sat, on the other, an orange. Starry was focused on the orange, it needed to become a pear but she needed to cast the spell at the same time he did. Isn't it time you took a name?

The second personality within her was slowly working to bring his spell up and as he unleashed it, so too did Starry her own and each fruit changed. I hadn't thought of it, most will think we don't need one.

Well, you do, at least for me. Starry reached out with magic and lifted the pear to take a bite out of it. Like it or not, we are bonded, you said, so I would feel much more comfortable if I had something to define YOU that is not ME.

The unicorn felt laughter in her head. There is not much that is me and not you, and not much you that isn't me, but I can feel this is important, so lets come up with a name for the me that isn't you.

Twinkle. Starry smiled as she tasted the delicious fruit.

A stir of indignation swelled from within Starry but it turned to confusion. It is a mare's name… but I can't fault it. Everypony referred to me as male...

Well, you did enter a mare. It was Starry's turn to feel humor at it. But you don't feel male...

"Are you okay Starry?" Twilight's words cut in on her internal conversation.

Starry nodded. "We are discussing a name, for them." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Well I can't just keep using pronouns, it feels so impersonal and this… is very much personal." The unicorn mare blushed a little, it was hard to deny that it was personal when the 'other' knows every little biological detail about you.

"I guess…" Twilight's words weren't heeded too well by Starry, or her guest.

Okay, Twinkle. Twinkle squirmed a little inside Starry, making her blush at how intimate the sensation was. She could always feel Gel still inside her, it was a peculiar feeling but it was the least peculiar of all the peculiar things that had happened.

"Twinkle." Starry spoke the word and smiled, reaching a hoof back to rub her belly gently. "Now, lets teach you some better magic, this is fun!"

The nice feeling happened again and Twinkle had the sudden thought if stimulating their body was even sexual and if so, did it count as masturbation. The thought made Starry laugh and clap a hoof over her mouth quickly.

"Twinkle then? That's a nice name for them… her?" Twilight's question got a nod from Starry that was reinforced by Twinkle. The unicorn thought briefly that life had become much more complicated.

"So, Dash, what can I do for you, then?" Gel was relaxed, spread out on his back and watching the clouds fly by, clouds he knew the mare beside him had shaped.

"What do you mean?" Rainbow briefly blushed. "You are already doing most of the 'doing'…" It wasn't easy to talk about her kink, not even to one of the ponies that helps scratch her itch. "Things are going pretty good as it is."

"They are, aren't they. Okay, let me put it another way. I feel I am getting the better part of this deal." Gel didn't take his eyes off the clouds, instead thinking of what dirty things they almost looked like.

"Whatcha doin'?" The voice was unmistakable and both ponies looked up and saw the pink party pony. "Oh, serious stuff? Eh." She leaped and landed on her back on the other side of Dash. "Oh that one looks like a muffin!" Her hoof immediately raised up and pointed at a cloud that Gel had been thinking a whole lot else about.

"You're such a dork." Rainbow Dash reached over and bopped her friend in the shoulder. "Clearly, it's Daring Do escaping from a dark dungeon!"

Gel didn't get his answer, but he did get an idea. Dash liked her stories so much… what if he made one come true for her… that could be fun and it would be something he could actually claim, at least to himself, that he had done for the mare.

Muffins worked with the three gooplicates, the idea of building a dungeon for her friend to adventure through had tickled her in a lot of good ways. "Okay Gel, so after this section, what happened in the book?" She gestured to the trap she was carefully setting.

"Well, Daring Do, with one of her wings hurt, couldn't fly over the trap and it tumbled her down into a pit of vipers… we shouldn't use real snakes though, they could be dangerous." Gel was fitting stones, setting a mechanism and helping Muffins dig the next section. "Maybe we could find a spell to use instead? Maybe animate something?"

Muffins nodded, digging the heavy rock out that was in their way. A little magic later and it was more stones for placing. "Oh, oh, you could ask Twilight or even Celestia if they know of a spell to animate a snake."

The end of the day revealed the biggest problem encountered so far. After helping to get Muffins nice and clean, Gel asked Twilight about the spell and got a shrug from her. "Are you sure Twi? This means a lot to me and I really don't want to use real snakes… it wouldn't be kind to them OR Dash."

"The best library apart from mine is the one in Canterlot, perhaps you could ask Luna to search it for you?" Twilight squirmed a little, the gooplicate around her was restricting her movement, but not outright stopping her.

"Okay, I guess Luna would be the best at this hour…" Then it hit Gel, with Spike as a pony and not a dragon, sending messages was not quite as easy. "Oh I will go visit them tomorrow, then I can get the spell all nicely written out." He began to massage Twilight, starting at her shoulders, working the mare's muscles and banishing any knots he found.

"Lower please…" Twilight's eyes were closed, she had frozen in place of her own accord. The rubbing sensation on her back lowered and she let out a soft, "aaaaahhhh, there."

"There?" Gel instead started to rub gently all down her back, shoulders and flanks.

"Oh… everywhere…" The mare inside Gel melted, almost literally. He didn't plan to stop until she told him to, which could take a while. "What's up with Dash anyhow?" Twilight sounded drunk, even to her own ears, she didn't care.

"Nothing, far as I can tell she is having a great time, but I want her to have something special." Gel knew he was a bit of a softie on the pegasus, but 'taking care' of her had taught him much of himself, how much he liked to push, which was apparently less than she wanted to be. He had adapted.

"You like her?" Twilight's shoulder spasmed, it made her tongue hang out a little at how very good it felt.

"Like her like her? Like, you or Muffins like? No." Gel smiled, his logic was flawless. "But she is oiling gears in my life, gears I didn't know needed oiling. And she is a friend." He focused on that little spot that seemed so tense.

Twilight's body was putty, she felt Gel push muscles around, work all the nasty tension from her and soon she was slumped in his tight grip, eyes closed. Gel heard the soft sounds of sleep from the mare and sighed. She deserved it.

The train ride was, as ever, comfortable and swift and Gel was soon before Celestia in a private meeting room.

"Your… Your Highness… you… are those eggs?" Gel was flabbergasted at the alicorn's condition, when he was in Chrysalis' hive, the task of carrying eggs was always that of ponies and so although they were precious because of their cargo, they were still lower ranked than any changeling of the hive. It was hard to think that the ruler of Eqeustria had taken that role and it was… a hard stereotype to break.

"They are." Celestia was beaming with delight. "I am told they are just about ready to be lain, Lulu had her clutch two days ago."

"Luna as well? What… Twisty?" Gel's question got a fond nod from the princess. "You asked her to?"

"Not exactly, our bedroom is not subject for even the friendliest of conversations, and we are friends, Gel." Celestia put a lot of emphasis on the last part but her eyes narrowed. "The hive here is much different to the hive under Queen Chrysalis."

Gel shrugged. "Perhaps I am just an old changeling." He smiled and held up a hoof. "May I?"

Celestia nodded and smiled, it was odd for her to be accepting this, for once, rather than admiring another mother-to-be. The touch of the odd changeling's hoof on her belly was so gentle, but it made Celestia grin like a yearling for some reason. "It has not slipped my attention the good that changelings have done here. With the right guidance, it would behoove us to grow hives in all the major cities."

"Is that why…" Gel drew back, feeling a touch uncomfortable being so close to Celestia.

"No, this was just a happy surprise. But I do plan to let the changelings spread. It doesn't harm ponies to have a drone living near, but it does much good for my city to know if an area is collectively feeling down about something. Wonderful little barometers." Celestia rubbed her own belly now, finding the effect not quite as rewarding as somepony else doing it.

"So Vicious will be given her own hive?" Gel raised his eyebrow at this.

"No, Vicious had her chance to lead a hive, I don't plan to do that again. Maybe one of my daughters." The idea sparked the mare's delight. They might be black as pitch, with green mane and tail, but they were hers.

"Twisty doesn't need to play politics. She already has you playing it for her." Gel chuckled. "But on to what I came for, I have a mare who needs something very special and part of that is I need to make a snake, an animated one. Do you know of a spell to help me?"

Celestia brightened. Either Muffins or Twilight, she thought, both would adore what the 'snake spell' her sister had done. "I know exactly what will fit."

Author's Note

Celestia has plans, Gel has plans, everypony has plans but Twisty, she has mares

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