"She is… a problem." Luna walked back through the hallways, Big Mac at her side. "But there is not much we can do about her yet. But I promise you, Mac, we will both work to make Applejack's life a little easier. Do you think he will break?"

"Nnope." Mac found herself strutting a little at the thought. "Used to be I was the most stubborn, not once that filly learned to dig her hooves in." He thought about it a bit more. "But I worry about her."

"Not used to quite that level of… things, I gather." Luna led the way right back to her own bedroom. Opening the door with her magic she gestured inside. "You need to get used to a more nocturnal sleeping pattern. Some of my guard stand watch during the day, but we are most active at night." Luna yawned widely as she walked into her room.

Still standing at the door, Mac clamped her jaw shut. She wrestled with the ache, the need. When her eyes started to water she finally opened her mouth wide, yawning and squishing her eyes closed. I hate how good that feels.

"Come on, Mac, if you are that tired you can just sleep in here if you want. I promise you, no shenanigans today." Luna climbed down onto her huge bed, patting the soft covers and then purposefully turning her back.

"But… my armor?" Mac took one step, then another. She jumped a little when the door pulled closed behind her. "Don't I have to let it…"

"The armor is fine to wear to bed, Mac, it is soft and forgiving." Luna looked back over her shoulder at the worried mare. "Your choice where you sleep, but the bed is comfortable, and you have my… my…" Luna yawned again, tilting her head back and flopping down on the bed. "Word."

This is silly. She saved us from… well, she has her own ends, but she seems a lot nicer than Princess Poopy. Mac giggled at the name for Celestia. Putting one delicate hoof before the other, she advanced on the bed and carefully laid down on it. "Thank you, Princess Luna…" Mac let the words out, intending it to be a big heartfelt moment, but got a snore from the alicorn in response. Settling down on the bed, despite the giggles that threatened to overwhelm her, Mac closed her eyes just once and was instantly asleep.

"Mac. You are such a strong stallion, but I think you are a stronger mare. I can teach you how to care for Luna, but you have to accept all of me." It was Night Reign, and Mac knew that full well. The dark mare was an exact copy of her. "Right now, you have my body and enough of me to not keep tripping."

"Ah just wanted to help my sister…" Mac slumped down, looking at her forehooves, no longer the huge ones she had possessed most of her life. His life… This is confusion.

"You have too much heart for a stallion, Mac." Night stepped closer and spread one dark wing and pulled herself beside her twin. "And we will work to help her, but we need allies."

"Princess Luna." Mac lifted her eyes up to look at the amber slits that Night's—and probably Mac's too now—were. "Can I really trust her? Look what she did to me!" She waved a hoof down at her body.

"Things are more complicated for you, now, is that the problem?" Night didn't try anything, just hugging her doppelganger. "That is why I am here for you. I have been worn by others, some I could barely whisper to, most I could ease into their duty. Big McIntosh, you are the first pony I have actually been able to do this with." Night Reign was smiling, flashing her fangs. "You have come further than anypony before you, but you can go further."

"Not now…" Mac huddled against the other mare, pressing her body against her side. She needed to help Applejack, but she sorely needed help herself. "What can you do?"

Night lifted a hoof and gestured upwards. "Flying for one. You have wings, you need to learn to use them. I can make the easy stuff… easier. You were strong, Mac, you still are. Luna will expect you to be able to defend her against mundane threats, I can help with that too."

Mac felt there was more, something she wasn't being told. "What else would Luna have us do?" She was intrigued and a little worried.

"I won't lie. She will have us tease Molestia. She trained me herself…" Night blushed. "I was a soldier first, but Luna found my softer side, trained it."

"S-S-Softer side?" Mac wasn't sure, but the mare seemed quite comforting still. "I am not sure I want to do that."

"Not even for Applejack? If you think Molestia is going to stop from bending your sister until he breaks, you have a lot to learn. Molly takes conquests, she will push and push until AJ breaks. When he breaks, he will be tossed away." Night wouldn't and couldn't lie to the once-stallion.

"Ah'd do it for AJ and you know it." Mac sighed and lay down. Night joined her on the soft ground of the dream-scape. "So how do we do this?" Mac felt her own wing reaching out to cuddle up to the only pony that seemed to be able and willing to help.

"Just do what we are doing now, relax, Mac, let me help." Night just settled in with the other mare, the ghost of the long-gone bat pony slipping into Mac just a bit.

"McIntosh? Mac, it is time to wake up." Luna's voice stirred Mac from her sleep. She looked down at herself, realizing that she was very much still a winged bat pony. "There you are. Did you sleep well?"

"I talked to Night Reign." Mac squirmed a little on the bed, her armor not feeling odd at all. "She wants to help me." Freezing, Mac looked to the shocked princess. "What's the matter?"

"She spoke to you? My little Night spoke to you?" Luna pushed up close to Mac. "Was she in your dreams?"

"Uh… eeyup." Mac fell back on her old ways, her voice not the best at making the long drawl, but she improvised. "She wanted to teach me things."

Luna blinked and smiled widely. "McIntosh, you surprise me more and more. You can stay in my guard as long as you want, just name your price." Luna gave the other mare some room and stepped over to the ornate set of pipes that led to the huge bath in one corner of the room. "The sun falls soon, Mac, come and relax with me." The alicorn just stepped down into the pool, taking the steps easily.

"My armor…" Mac looked back at the light plate.

"Take it off, if she is in your dreams she is no longer bound to the leather, and neither should you be." Luna clopped the side of the ground-inset bath.

Trotting over, feeling a little self-conscious, Mac sat down where the princess had indicated. She gave a little sigh as the straps, gripped in dark blue magic, began to unfasten. Stepping up and backwards, the body armor and helmet, both, lifted free. After that, Mac stepped around the bath back to the stairs. It feels good to be free of the armor, to be able to just move and… I walk differently. She stopped, then looked back at herself and did another little walk.

"You don't need to show off for me, Mac." Luna's voice was practically a purr. "Stop blushing and get in!" If Luna had done anything but yell it and laugh, Mac might have balked, but as it was she seemed more making fun of herself than him.

The water flowed up around Mac's legs, then belly and, as she settled into the deeper water, it flowed up and over her back. The black-blue mane that spilled out into the water surprised Big Mac. She held still a moment and looked at her reflection.

Luna wanted to squirm and giggle at the mare seeing her own reflection in the water. Without the armor on she was still the image of Night Reign. "Would you like help, Night?" Luna froze the moment she had slipped. She blushed and tried to hide under the water. Please don't have ruined all my chances with her...

Mac looked on as the princess try to hide, badly. She studied the blush in Luna's ear-tips and gave a smile. "Might have ta ask you to use my real name," Mac looked over her shoulder at her body, "but that don't mean I'm not going to say yes. Ah got no clue…"

Her head shooting out of the water in surprise, Luna suddenly reminded Mac of Apple Bloom on hearths warming day as she found her presents. Is it so bad to let her remember a little? Mac wasn't sure if it was her thought or Night's. No sooner did she think it than she realized Night was a little more distant. "Ah'm going to need my armor on after this… Night is…"

Luna moved in on the slightly out-of-sorts bat pony. A curry-brush floated over in dark magic and, with a squirt of shampoo, Luna began working. Mac let out a soft, happy groan at the feel of the brush at work. "You don't go enjoying this too much, McIntosh." Luna applied more shampoo as the brush started to run short.

"Too late." Mac melted under the attention. She squirmed a little as Luna worked the soap into her flank. Then it hit her and she half-spun in the water to check her side. "What…" She blinked at seeing the shield on her flank. A closer look revealed there was a heart in the middle of it. "That's not my apple!"

"Calm down, it isn't Night's cutie mark either, hers was a spear laid over a helmet. You are protection tempered with a big heart, Mac." Luna ran a hoof down the bat pony's spine, again, and again. Mac's panic eased.

"It's not my apple…" Mac couldn't stop the stroking from soothing her if she tried. "Why isn't it my apple?"

"Would an apple be suitable for my guard?" Luna kept up the stroking, also returning to brushing the mare. "I am sure your apple will be back when you return to your farm, Mac."

It helped Mac relax further. "Ah never talked so much in my life as Ah did… is it still the same day?" She turned as a hoof gently pushed her, letting Luna work on her other side. "It is, isn't it?" Luna nodded to Mac. "Are all days going to be this confusing?"

"Maybe a few." Luna hadn't stopped in her ministrations, working down Mac's tail. Just like Night. Her heart ached. Slow, Lulu, slow. "But if we work at it, things will get easier. I have called on a friend to help out." The alicorn grinned fiercely. "A lovely young mare who I helped once or twice, who has been itching for a chance to step on Molly's hooves."

Mac snapped out of her trance just as Luna finished on her tail. She blushed red hot when the soft plume was lifted and the softest of soft touches began gently cleaning more tender places. Eyes wide, she stared at the wall until Luna set her tail down again. "T-T-Thank you…"

"You are welcome, dear. There are some tricks to being a mare, particularly one without a horn. Always clean upwards, dear, trust me on this." Luna swapped ends, now washing Mac's mane. The brushing of it completely redeemed Luna's attentions as Mac once again relaxed. "This is glorious, Night always kept her mane cut short, close-cropped." Luna washed, rinsed, and repeated the attention until she had Mac practically gleaming.

Realizing it was time to depart the water, Mac started walking up the steps when dark cobalt magic wrapped her. She gulped and held still but as quickly as it had come the magic left. "Uh, what was… I'm dry?" Mac smiled and continued getting out of the bath. She closed in on her armor and then saw movement to the side. Night's instinct cut in and Mac was already diving at the mirror before she even realized it was her.

"My brave guard." Luna repeated the spell for herself as she slipped out of the water. "Maybe one day you can defend me from even your own image, today is not that day."

The words were background noise to Mac. She stared at the mare in the glass and realized how… perfect, she looked. The armor floated above her, she watched in the mirror as the form-fitting plate settled over her. Deep blue magic began fastening the straps. She loved me, Mac. Big Mac nodded to the mare in the mirror, she almost looked like she was crying.

Luna was even closer to tears. She fitted Mac with the armor, strapping it on, preening and brushing her mane and getting her ready to be one of the most stunning of the night guards. She is the most stunning, she always was.

Mac felt the helmet fasten itself, then straps around her tail and the girth strap under her. She breathed deeply, as she felt she needed to, to test the girth. "Thank you, Princess." Call her Lulu, please. Mac paused at that. She felt there was a path that would be walked, or flown—she tested her wings in the armor—and if she called the Princess "Lulu" it would put her hooves, put her wings, on that path. "Lulu, how do I look?"

Luna froze, like a statue. Her heart raced as she stared at Big Mac, at Night Reign. "You look amazing." Tears, laughter, panic, and the need to hug the mare all warred in Luna, she wanted to do all of them, and none of them.

"Then let's go face the night, together." Mac relaxed, she wasn't sure why, but she felt a lot better about where she was and what she was doing. Next step, make AJ just as comfortable.

Author's Note

A kind patron of mine has enough interest in the Mac-Luna side of things, to have started funding this story to continue. Things will slow down and get a little more serious. Modified the tags to suit.

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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