Polyamory

Shining had told his family about his intentions for adding Luna to his relationship, and they had been happy for him. Telling them about a certain other participant had been a more nerve-wrecking idea. He had no doubts about his decision, but sadly had equally few doubts about how his family would react to Chrysalis.

Especially Twilight. She thought Chrysalis was evil incarnate… and maybe she was right, but the point was that she would freak.

He had even waited for them to hear about it, but none of them read the paper. Twilight was always too busy with a daily list of experiments, and he was certain that their parents spent most of their time enjoying their retirement in marital bliss.

So here he sat at dinner with his family, a nice little get together. Across from him sat his parents, all smiles at the rare chance to spend time with their foals together. They smelled like they’d banged no less than an hour before his and Twilight’s arrival. That wasn’t unusual, but Cadance had rubbed off on him and he was having somewhat more lewd thoughts on the subject than usual.

Twilight might have been having lewd thoughts of her own. Shining occasionally caught her staring wishfully in his direction. Once, she stared at his sheath for a full minute before she realized he was looking back. She looked forward again, wide-eyed and blushing up a storm. He wished he knew how to get her to admit that, because he sure didn’t have the guts to admit it to her.

He wondered if Twilight dreamed about him. He asked Luna if she did, but she had given him a lecture about the privacy of dreams being sacred, and he supposed she was right. But still…

Back to the task at hoof.

“So, um, we settled on a final date for our um… marriage addition,” Shining broached the conversation.

“That’s great news,” Velvet smiled brightly.

“Still can’t believe you’re marrying a second princess,” jested Night Light, “One more and you’d have a matched set, eh?”

“Interesting you should say that,” Shining swayed into the easier addition first; maybe it’d offset the horror of the other, “Because I guess you could say I have the matched set.”

“Hm?” Velvet paused with her fork half way between her plate and her muzzle.

Night Light had his mouth open to respond too but looked like he couldn’t translate his thoughts into decent conversation.

“That’s nice!” Twilight snapped back to the conversation, having been distracted and lost track of the subject, probably having fantasies about math or something. She took a polite sip of her tea and pretended to know what they were talking about, badly.

“I’m not kidding,” Shining took a deep breath, “Celestia is joining as well.”

“That’s my colt,” grinned Night.

Twilight was half way through taking a gulp of her tea when she spit it back out, “You’re marrying Celestia?!” It was one thing when her brother was marrying a princess she merely respected, but her beloved mentor getting hitched to her brother was obviously another thing entirely.

“Aren’t they… sisters?” Velvet asked politely.

“Uh, yes. Yes, they are,” Shining sat stiffly and poked idly at his meal with a fork.

“Oh…” Velvet trailed off, but added, “Well, congratulations son. We’re proud of you.”

“You got your sights on anyone, dear?” Night smiled at Twilight, “Your brother’s going to become a grandfoal factory at this rate. You’ll fall behind.”

“You’re marrying CELESTIA?” Twilight repeated as if she had heard nothing since that.

“Is that okay?” Shining asked, then added with a chuckle, “At least I didn’t just send you a letter about it this time, right?”

“Of course! It’s fine!” Twilight tried to recover, “I was just surprised… my teacher and all… Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” stammered Shining.

Twilight peered for a few more seconds and asked, “Who else?” She always was a smarty.

“Well this next part may be a… shock,” Shining began, “And I hope that you all… respect my decision… our decision.”

“Shining dear,” Velvet assured him, “We would accept anyone you chose to live your life with, mare, stallion, griffin, whatever. We will be your proud parents regardless.”

“What about… changeling?” asked Shining; his smile was setting new records for awkwardness.

“Oh,” Twilight blinked, “Well… I’m sure you’ve thought it through, I mean it’s not like you’re marrying Chrysalis or something.”

“That means they can be anything, right?” Night asked, “You’re making me jealous, son.”

“Night, behave,” Velvet peered at Night, half scolding and half playful.

Shining stared. The others looked at him expectedly, then grew silent at his reluctance.

“I’m just going to say it,” Shining said, “And I’ll preemptively say that I am not messing with you.” He took another deep breath, “We’re marrying Chrysalis.”

“She’s royalty, too right?” asked Night, “So that’s another one you racked up! Going for the high score? We should invite Princess Skystar over for tea to see if you can put the moves on her too.”

Velvet was staring open-mouthed at her son.

“WHAT?” Twilight almost shrieked, “No! Brother… no… you can’t…” Her ears fell flat as she looked at him, “Please tell me that was a cruel joke. She crashed your wedding with Cadance! I’m sure Cadance isn’t going to be okay with this and certainly not Celestia!”

“Well, that’s just it.” Shining fiddled with his fork. “It was Cadance’s idea… since I sorta already impregnated Chrysalis… and then she sorta deposited mine and her… eggs…. In Celestia… at Celestia’s request.”

“Well how about that?” laughed Night, like it was the best thing ever.

“I’m… we’re… all still very proud of you, son,” Velvet said, but looked like she was staring death in the face.

“Shining, no…” Twilight reached a hoof to take hold of one of Shining’s fidgeting ones. “Shining, she’s using you. I don’t know what her plan is, but it can’t be good! Please Shining… don’t…”

“But this was Cadance’s plan, not Chrysalis’!” Shining insisted, “Cadance… and me… and Luna… were the ones that asked Chrysalis, not the other way around. Then Celestia joined… after having her… special moment with Chrysalis.”

“Shining, she must have possessed Celestia,” Twilight begged, “Please Shining.”

“Uh, no,” Shining said, “I was there for most of it, and Luna was there for the entirety to make sure that Chrysalis behaved.”

Twilight leaned towards Shining, looking into his eyes and powering up her magic, making her horn shimmer. He felt his overpowered sister rooting around in his head, no doubt searching for some sign he was being controlled again. He sighed, but appreciated her concern for his well-being. He kept his defenses down to allow it, and when she didn’t find such, she released his hoof. She placed both her hooves in front of her on the table and stared down at her plate as her face tightened in anger.

“Twilight,” Shining said carefully, “Twilight promise that you will not… attack my fiancée.”

“I can’t promise that,” Twilight said without missing a beat. “If I find out that she is hurting you or Cadance… or Celestia or Luna… I will do what I must to protect you. I love you Shining…”

Shining wasn’t sure if she meant sisterly love or royal sisterly love.

“Now dear,” Velvet came out of her own stunned silence, “We should support him. I think the two most powerful beings in Equestria would realize if she was using them.”

“Twilight,” Shining tried to explain, “Chrysalis isn’t evil, she never was. Her family was starving and she did what she thought she had to do to feed them. Please just give her a chance.”

“I am giving her a chance,” said Twilight, as if not rushing to lop Chrysalis’ head off was her idea of ‘a chance’. The tone of her voice was more than concern though. Was that… jealousy?

“Sheesh, you could cut the drama in here with a knife,” Night commented. He was the only one still eating his meal with any sort of normalcy. “I tell you what though, none of them are half the mare your mother is. I don’t think I’d last a week having to sate two of her, much less three or four.”

“Night Light!” Velvet blushed, muttering under her breath at him, “Not around Shining and Twilight.”

“Oh, come on, Vel,” Night chuckled, “They’re adults, they know what we did to make them.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Shining said for his father’s effort to take some of the awkwardness of the conversation and place it on himself instead of Shining.

“Any time, Son,” winked Night Light.