"Too fast?" Twilight Velvet watched Dust's emotions play out over her face. "I can back off if you want, take things slower." They were still in the club, it was still just as empty, but their slow dance had ended and the two mares were left to talk for a moment.

Dust laughed, her own words coming back, echoed in the voice of her comms to overlay Twilight's voice. "S-S-Sorry. I am just so used to being the one to ask that. Now I sound silly. You were soft when I needed soft, but I don't think things are moving too fast, Twilight. We're both adults, I think we both understand what we want from this."

Twilight let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Not that there is a schedule or anything, but I figured if you wanted to get up to anything before Twily solves the problem, then we would need to hustle a little."

Finally, feeling comfortable with herself and Twilight, Dustin grinned and raised an eyebrow. "And what did you want to get up to?" Of course, she knew Twilight wasn't wanting to play tiddlywinks, she counted on it.

"That," Twilight Velvet made her way for the exit and looked back over one shoulder, "is up to you, Dust. I simply have nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon." Twilight swayed her tail in the opposite direction of her hips with each step.

Spellbound by the sight of Twilight leaving, Dust never got a view of what she didn't want to show her. She couldn't move, couldn't think, and when a presence drew up beside her she barely noticed it.

"You idiot, go after her." Vinyl normally saved her voice for such moments. Turning back to her decks, she floated a record down in her magic and slapped Dustin on the flank with it.

Dust's shock at the soft words and sharp smack got her trotting quickly for the exit, only exclaiming once in surprise.

"You just made a horse noise!" Kiera was full of giggles and snorts in Dust's implant. "Here, do you want to hear it back?" Before any reply could be gained, Kiera played back Dust's whinny of surprise.

"Leave me alone, Kiera. Personal time." Dustin made it to the exit and looked around. Spotting Twilight's distinctive tail—attached to her pretty self—was enough to have Dust galloping after her. He knew the way back to her house by now, and was almost prancing with anticipation.

Belay panted heavily at the bulkhead. He hadn't appreciated the raw force of personality of the princesses, but Luna's had his limbs locked in place. He found himself tilting his head back up, not even aware when he had bowed.

Like a hammer breaking through the tense moment, Kiera's laughter sounded for two seconds before she realized what she was doing and cut her audio output until she had her circuits under control again. "S-Sorry about that. Okay, what was that all about? What would have killed Belay?"

"We…" Luna chewed back on her Royal Canterlot Voice and resumed, making sure to shove Belay away from the hatch leading into the airlock. "I remembered the force. It is stronger still than even the 'astral plane.' If you," she looked to Belay, "had gone outside, the magic would have ripped you apart."

Lifting his head to look up at Luna fully, Belay felt a rush of embarrassment at his obedience. "Th-Thank you, Princess Luna. Okay, well this was a bit of a wasted trip then. Let's head back to the surface and I will start working on something to pick up the samples you want, Kiera."

"Making something?" Luna was intrigued. "You are an engineer as well?" She looked at Belay with a new level of respect.

"Kiera is our chief engineer. She… he… has designed any equipment we have needed for unforeseen needs. Dustin is more suited to performing regular brawn duties, but I appreciate having both of them along." Kiera's pride in her brawns was obvious in her tone, the experienced shellperson leaking a lot of emotion into her voice.

Smiling at the praise, Belay gestured back towards the cockpit. "Well, given that mission is a wash, is there anything else we could take a look at while you take us dirt side?" The thick pressure suit was a lot easier to get out of alone with magic, although Belay still missed hands.

"I still need a magic sensor." Kiera had never imagined she would ever say those words. "Something sensitive, but can survive the weaker field on the planet and stronger fields of space. And if possible have it externally mounted."

"Internal, external, and a third one that is just heavily shielded." Belay climbed into one of the crash couches at the main console, and realized he had a problem. "Touch input is going to be hard…"

"Dustin finally gave in." Kiera baited the hook and waited for Belay to bite.

Fumbling with the interface for a moment, Belay finally gave up on typing. "Oh?" It was all Belay could do not to jump up and down asking for Kiera to spill the beans, or indeed any other legume.

"I cut off my feed when Dust was trotting back to Twilight Velvet's house. To be completely honest, I am happy to see him… her… back to her normal self." Kiera started to return to her previous location on the planet Equus, pondering Belay's problem while she did. "You can hold small sticks, right? Why not do that?"

"That would take years. I am not pecking my way around a keyboard." Burning with the need to know more, Belay pulled his hooves back from the keyboard. "So, you made sure they aren't just cuddling, right?"

"Belay! You know rules and regs on this. Once it is established my brawn wants private time I am not permitted to intrude for anything but a class three emergency." Kiera had already poked at the requirements to declare a class three emergency, but she was quite sure that a quarter of the planet's population was not in immediate danger, and her own tail fins were quite safe.

"You know for certain that she asked for privacy? She is on record as asking, explicitly, for that privacy?" Belay was smooth when it came to bending rules and regs. "Surely just a quick peek, and if you find her engaged in personal activities…"

"You would spy on your assistant?" Princess Luna looked between Belay and Kiera's column. "This is most irregular…"

"Twilight Velvet." The moment Belay said the name he had Luna's attention. "She offered to guide us around Canterlot while her daughter worked on restoring us. It was friendly enough at first, but she really took a shine to Dust."

"Dustin finally gave up her struggle while you were getting ready to spacewalk. Twilight led her off like a puppy on a leash." Figuratively biting her non-existent nails, Kiera argued with herself over the morality of looking, as well as the rules. "Just audio."

Doing just that, Kiera had Dust's audio open for just a moment. "EEP!" She slammed the connection off, not even realizing she had exclaimed through her internal systems. "Oh… I can verify that all appropriate privacy locks are legitimately able to be enforced." She scrubbed the usual recordings that were kept of all comms, and even tried—in vain—to scrub the matched moans from her meat-memory.

"Alright Dust!" Belay spun his chair around, pumping a hoof into the air. He froze the moment he spotted Luna's surprised gaze. "Uh… is something wrong, Your Highness?"

"I made it clear about titles." Luna smiled lightly to set Belay's mind at ease. "But it still perplexes me that you are so happy that your mate found comfort with another?"

"We aren't… we were, I mean, but we aren't now." Belay rolled a hoof in the air. "Dustin was having a lot of trouble just fitting in, and she even had a panic attack earlier. Dust is… was… is a very confident stallion… guy… male. Becoming a mare confused her, scared her, and I think Twilight will be the best thing for her right now. Does anyone else have trouble with these pronouns or is it just me?"

"I can imagine that anypony documenting this will have just as much trouble." Luna rolled her eyes as if she had just made a huge joke. "It does confuse me just a little still. You did know that Twilight Velvet is married?"

Belay's eyes widened, and he suddenly ran out of ways to answer the Princess. "Err…"

Dustin's body was warm with the aftereffects of lovemaking. Unlike as a male, the buildup had been slow and involved more what she would think of as foreplay than actual sex. She squeezed her back legs together and rolled her thighs. Slumped on the bed with Twilight, both of them were focusing on their breathing, letting their afterglow slowly fade.

Twilight rolled over slowly, nuzzled against Dust's neck and jaw before giggling at the other mare's soft little exclamations. "Not quite yet. How was it?"

Dustin couldn't understand a word of what Twilight said, but the meaning was obvious. She was starting to catch inflection, and now realized she was eager to actually learn the local language. "Great. Really fun." The words just flowed out. Dust's feelings on sex were that sex for fun was what it was all about, and what they had done certainly filled that bill. "Strange, but fun."

Twilight tilted her head at the mix of tones.

"I've only been a pony for about a week, and only been a female for the same time." Dust's confidence was swollen, vying with her ego. Her ears still remembered the sounds of Twilight, mid-coitus, when they were both squealing for all they were worth. The sound of a door opening behind her surprised Dust, and she quickly rolled over and spotted a blue unicorn stallion standing in the doorway.

"Darling!" Twilight Velvet's voice rose to a surprised level. "You're home early!"

All the confidence drained from Dustin in that moment, and she started trying to back away and slip from the bed as easily as possible. This, of course, resulting in her getting her legs tangled and falling in a heap at the foot of the bed.

Leaning across the bed, Night Light offered his lips to Twilight, and got the same kiss his returns always garnered. "Who is this, Twilight?"

"This is a new friend." Twilight had no way to keep any of the facts from Night Light. The smell in the room was plain to any pony nose, and the way the bedclothes were rumpled had only one conclusion. "She is from another world!"

"Not that mirror thing again? Shiny said he had to send the darned thing to Twily to protect it after the last situation." Night Light walked around the bed and reached a hoof down to Dust. "May I help you?"

Dust, somehow having hogtied herself in bed sheets, stared up at Night Light. "I promise, if I had known Twilight was married, I wouldn't have done this!" She was looking for escape routes, but with a unicorn standing over her bound body she had no chance. "Please forgive me…"

"Twilight, I can't understand a word she is saying. What is going on here?" Night Light rolled his eyes. "You didn't tell her about us, right?" Though he spoke to his wife, Night kept his eyes on Dustin.

Without words, Dust relied completely on Night Light's tone of voice for her cues as to when she was going to be set on fire. The complete lack of any accusation or anger in Night Light's voice, started to tip off Dustin that things weren't quite as she expected. "Kiera!"

Kiera gave a little tone, and then cut in via Dust's mastoid implant. "According to Rule one-one-seven-A, I have engaged audio. Brawn Dustin, do you—"

"Just turn on the translator, Kiera. I need to understand what is going on here." No sooner had Dust requested it than two voices chimed in over her implant.

"You didn't tell her we are open? Darling, that was a bit naughty!" Night Light said.

Twilight's reply was now understandable. "You weren't due home until next week. I was going to introduce her to the idea slowly."

Night Light's words shocked Dust. She looked to Twilight and got an apologetic look from her, then to Night Light. "Open?"

"My wife likes to go fishing. She finds adorable mares and brings them home to play—normally while I am home—and we all have some fun. This is the first time I have stumbled into this, however." Night Light looked between the two mares in his bedroom. "What about we—" He stopped speaking, Dustin had finally gotten her legs free of the sheets and had taken off at a gallop.

"Darling, you need to follow my lead with her." Twilight gave a dramatic sigh. "Now I need to find where she ran to and calm her back down again."

Author's Note

WARNING

This story began as T rated primarily because I wanted to match Anne McCaffrey's age rating. However, due to a re-realizing of some later elements I will be raising it to an M. The intention of this is not to make this a clopfic, but to let me show particular elements of Dust's development that cannot be done with T+sex tags.

I will be changing the rating at the release of the next chapter.

Belay: how was your first encounter with the Royal Canterlot Voice?

Belay lay her ears back and flat. "I have been to synth-concerts, even the less-than-legal ones where the music is so loud you feel it in your neck, and I swear they were not half as loud as that voice..."

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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Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
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