The Mysterious Mare-Did-Luna
Princess Luna kissed her lover's lips, soft in both texture and shade in the dim light, like twilit velvet, and they tasted as sweet as pear butter on blueberry toast. The night outside was clear, and the breeze blew across the open window, playing a discordant tune of windy whistles that kissed her ears. Her mind, fogged by alcohol, was as clear as cloudy quartz, her thoughts slow and her motions clumsy. Deep down, she knew she should be feeling shy, but liquid courage kept her lips moving and her desires strong. Sleeping with another pony was extremely rare for her, but as she lay back and spread her legs, she was aware that, sometimes, that is just how the cookie crumbles.
"Ugh... my head..." Luna said, keeping her eyes closed. Memories of the previous night were dim and distant, but still present enough to earn a coy bite of her lip and a slight blush.
The Princess slowly opened her eyes to the harsh light of day that flooded in through the open window. No, she decided, and quickly shut the curtain with her telekinesis. Channeling magic through her horn immediately sent a bright spike of pain through her forehead and elicited a complaining whimper from her. She opened her eyes to the mostly dark room, and there on the nightstand was a white sheet of paper. Curious, she made a conscious effort to avoid using magic, and reached a hoof over to see what it was. Luckily, her night vision was excellent, and she was able to read the words clearly even in the dim light.
Thank you for the lovely night, Princess. Sorry that I had to leave early, but you know where to find me. I look forward to tomorrow.
Luna read the note three times. She could remember nothing about the pony she had slept with, let alone future plans or where to find her. Yes, she was definitely a mare. That much, Luna knew for sure, despite having almost no memory of the event. She mentally went over what she did recall.
I came to Ponyville to see the School of Friendship, she thought. Yes, I remember that. Pinkie Pie threw a party. There was a lot of cake and ice cream, and Twilight kept flashing me nervous smiles. I could tell she really wanted me to like the school, and I did, but sometimes there is no pleasing her. And there was cider! Yes, lots of it, but they brought the wrong kind of cider. The fun kind. But the students couldn't have alcohol on school grounds. I insisted that we drink it anyway, and we moved the party to a park. Sweet beautiful Night, it has been ages since I've had good hard cider. I certainly went overboard.
Luna blushed and smiled at the memory. She continued going over the timeline of events.
I met all kinds of interesting creatures that I've rarely met outside of stuffy old chambers for boring old foreign affairs conferences: griffons, hippogriffs, yaks, dragons, and changelings. Changelings were especially fascinating. Seeing them shapeshift was rare for me, but Thorax demonstrated it rather thoroughly. By the end of that, I was really feeling the effects of the cider. Hmm... after that, it starts to get foggy. I remember Ocellus walking me back to Twilight's castle.
Luna narrowed her eyes. If she was going to find out who she had slept with, she figured she should start there.
Her head pounded, and she groaned.
Maybe in a couple hours.
"Ocellus?" Luna asked gently after knocking on the changeling's door. A moment later, it opened to reveal a surprised light blue face.
"Princess Luna?" Ocellus asked. "What are you doing here? Or, I mean, good morning, Princess." She bowed respectfully.
Luna smiled. "Do not worry about formalities, little one. Especially after what I did last night, and how you helped me. Anyway, I am here to ask you if you remember me bringing a mare into my chambers to warm my bed."
Ocellus tilted her head. "No, can't say that I do. Also, I'm surprised at how direct you are about it. Most ponies I know turn as red as a ladybug when sex is even mentioned."
Princess Luna laughed musically. "Yes, I have become quite accustomed to modern Equestria, but some habits die hard. Would it surprise you to know that between my sister and me, I was the coy one a thousand years ago?" She chuckled again.
"That's hard to imagine," Ocellus said with a thoughtful smile.
"So, would you like to help me find this mysterious mare?" Luna's expression was patient, and there was no urgency in her words. Ocellus realized she felt quite comfortable around this pony that, until the previous night, had been rather intimidating in her mind. She was still surprised, however.
"You want my help?"
"If you are not busy."
"No. I mean, yes, I'd love to help. I'm not busy at all," Ocellus said. A sudden wave of relief emanated from Luna, and Ocellus noticed that she hadn't felt any emotions coming from her until then. It seemed that she was quite good at hiding them, even from a changeling.
"May I come in?" Luna asked.
"Oh! Yes, sure, please do," Ocellus said, stepping back and holding her door open.
Luna looked around curiously as she stepped into the bedroom. It was decorated with what looked like pieces of changeling carapace, and corners had been filled in with some kind of odd organic substance that gave the room an overall round feel. "I enjoy the aesthetic in here," she said.
"Thank you. They said we could decorate our rooms however we wanted, so I made it feel a little more like home."
"What are these hard bits stuck to the wall?" Luna asked, indicating the chitin with a nod of her head.
"Those are pieces from my parents' molts. They wanted me to have something to remember them by."
"I see. I wasn't aware you changelings had parents. I had been told that Chrysalis laid all of the eggs herself."
"Well... yeah, actually. King Thorax does that now," Ocellus said, earning a quirked eyebrow from Luna. "Technically, my parents are my siblings except older. Ever since King Thorax took over, we started forming families for sharing love with. He decided that we should be like pony families, so we were all assigned parents or children depending on our age. It may not be the same as a real pony family, but I still love my parents and baby brother and sister."
Luna absorbed this with an unexpected nod of understanding. "Oh, trust me, I, too, have struggled with a nonstandard family. Being immortal tends to make such relationships difficult..." she said, and Ocellus could feel sadness leaking through her barriers. "Suffice it to say that there is a reason I do not sleep with stallions anymore."
There was an awkward silence.
"So!" said Luna suddenly, "speaking of sex, this unknown mare that I spent the night with. Let us solve this mystery."
Ocellus nodded. "Okay. How do we do that?"
"Well, who did I interact with last night when you brought me back? Did I flirt with any mares? Or give them a lecherous look?"
"Actually, on our way to your room, we passed by Twilight and a bunch of other ponies in the map room, and you insisted that you needed to stay there with them. After leaving you there, I just came back here."
"Hmm... do you remember who was there?"
"Let's see... Twilight, her friends, their parents, some students, and a bunch of other ponies. It was actually pretty crowded in there."
"You have quite a good memory."
Ocellus smiled. "Thanks. Sorry that I can't help more, but if you flirted, I left before that all started."
"Well, there is only one way to find out who the mystery mare was now," Luna said with an oddly devious grin.
"Talk to Twilight and ask who—"
"Nay! Er, I mean, no. Well, there are many ways to find out, but one that can keep my actions secret. For Twilight's sake, mind you. If I go around asking, it may give her a bad name. I must refresh my memory, and relive the familiar night. I just need to sleep with all of the ponies there without them knowing!"
"Um..." Ocellus said, clearly uncomfortable. "That doesn't sound very... well..."
Luna, realizing her poor wording, waved her hooves in front of her as if to unsay what she had said. "No, no, no. What I mean is that you can use your ability to shapeshift to help me remember who I slept with! Only if you are comfortable with it, that is."
"Oh! Wow, that makes a lot more sense," Ocellus said. "Yeah, that sounds fun."
"Excellent! Let us begin with Twilight."
Ocellus immediately changed, a quick flash of blue leaving an extremely convincing Twilight Sparkle in her place.
"You changelings still impress me with your transformations," Luna said, eyes wide.
Ocellus giggled in Twilight's voice. "It just comes naturally to all of us."
"Well, without further delay, and with your permission, shall we kiss?"
Ocellus nodded. Luna grinned and leaned forward, pressing her lips to those of Ocellus. It felt just like kissing a pony, and all of Luna's senses told her that the pony she was kissing was indeed Twilight Sparkle. It didn't feel familiar. She deepened the kiss, and Ocellus moaned softly as she kissed back. Princess Luna pulled back, requiring some mental effort to do so, as her body insisted she continue. She was panting with excitement.
"No. It was not Twilight," she said.
Ocellus changed back. "Did I do okay?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, it was marvellous. Now, let us try another. Fluttershy, perhaps."
Ocellus nodded and quickly transformed into Fluttershy. "Um... by the way, could you, maybe, um, not tell my professors about this? If that's okay with you, I mean," she said, perfectly mimicking the shy pony's mannerisms.
"Of course, and I would ask the same of you."
Ocellus nodded, and they kissed again. And again, it did not feel familiar.
"Ocellus, how is your patience and stamina for this sort of thing?" Luna asked.
Back to her changeling form, Ocellus smiled. "Well, changelings are pretty open about having a lot of sex at the hive, so I could do this all day if you need me to."
"Good, because this may take a while."
That afternoon, after hours of transformation, kissing, and some light foreplay, Ocellus had gone through every mare that had been present in the map room the night before.
"You're sure?" Luna asked.
"Unless somecreature was in the bathroom or showed up later... yeah. There were no other mares there. If you want me to try the stallions..."
"No. Absolutely not. No matter how drunk, I would never sleep with a stallion. Just trust me on that." Luna sighed. "Perhaps asking around will be necessary... 'tis a shame. For now, however, I am hungry. What say we get some donuts? My treat."
"Ooh, that sounds yummy!"
With a flash of dark blue magic, Ocellus and Luna were suddenly in a bakery.
"Wha... where are we?" Ocellus asked, slightly dazed by the sudden teleport.
"My favorite place in Canterlot: Donut Joe's! Well, the counter appears unattended, so it seems we will have to wait. I need to use the restroom, but if Joe returns, go ahead and order the special combo number five."
"Sure," Ocellus said, looking at the wide variety of glazed pastries on display. Luna left a bag of bits and trotted off, disappearing behind a swinging door. At the same time, Donut Joe walked in from what was presumably the kitchen, carrying a fresh batch of donuts. Ocellus smiled. "Hey! I'll have the special combo five, please."
"Sure thing," the pony said, then selected eight different donuts and placed them in a bag. "Anything else?"
Ocellus shook her head as she left the bag of bits on the counter, then took the delicious-smelling bag.
"Thank you for your business, and enjoy the donuts," Donut Joe said before disappearing back into the kitchen.
Not long after, Luna appeared. "Ah, got the donuts, I see," she said. "I am starving. Ready to go back?"
As soon as Ocellus nodded, they were already back in her room, and her head was still bobbing. Princess Luna took no time to dig in, reaching into the bag and selecting a chocolate-topped donut filled with blueberry jelly. Ocellus took one at random, and it was deep fried with pink frosting and sprinkles. When she took a bite, she realized the frosting was strawberry flavored.
"Mmmm!" she said as she chewed. She swallowed the bite. "This is amazing!"
Luna simply nodded, not taking time between bites to give a vocal answer. The two enjoyed the meal mostly in silence. Ocellus stopped after just two donuts, and simply watched as Luna ate the rest, emptying the bag completely. She moaned slightly as she enjoyed the sugary pastries.
"Wow," Ocellus said as Luna chewed the final bite of the last donut, "I kinda wish I had tried some of the donuts at the party last night."
Luna swallowed. "Believe me when I say they would not have compared to those of Donut Joe."
"Huh? Donut Joe was there last night. He helped cater the party."
"She was?" Luna asked.
"What? She?" Ocellus asked with a slight head tilt.
"Donut Joe is a mare," Luna said with a giggle.
"Wait, what? Uh... anyway, yeah, she was there. The donuts there were made by, um, her."
"Drat. I would have recognized them had I tasted one, and I didn't even see her there!"
"Well, you kinda did. She was the first pony you talked to in the map room," Ocellus said slowly as she put two and two together. "You don't think...?"
Luna laughed. "Yes, Ocellus. Yes, I do think. Shall we try?"
Without another word, Ocellus transformed into a flawless copy of Donut Joe, apron and all.
"You're sure Donut Joe is a mare?" she asked. "This feels like a stallion body to me."
"Yes, I am sure. Perhaps telling apart mares from stallions is difficult to an outsider like you, but to us ponies, she is very clearly a mare. I'm actually having some difficulty seeing how you could have possibly made that mistake, but these things happen. Anyway, it is no matter now. Kiss me."
Ocellus shrugged and leaned forward. They kissed, just as they had before, deeply and full of love. Ocellus could taste the donuts on Luna's tongue, and she even felt some love and lust coming from the princess. She fed on the emotion, and it mixed with Luna's sugary saliva to create a truly delicious kiss.
Princess Luna pressed deeper into the kiss as connections were made in her mind. This was it. Her mare from the night before. The memory was still foggy, but these lovely, feminine lips felt so familiar, and she was certain that Donut Joe was the mare she had slept with.
They parted, a thin trail of saliva connecting their lips, holding a donut crumb in the middle. As the line broke, the crumb swung with the strand of saliva and landed among Luna's chin fuzz.
"Thank you, Ocellus," Luna said. An outpouring of affection and gratitude flooded the changeling's mind, nearly overwhelming her.
She reverted to her real form, then lay down as her legs had become unsteady. "Y-yeah. Any time, Princess."
"I have enjoyed your company thoroughly, and I hope to meet you again some time. For now, however, there is a mare who is expecting me."
Ocellus nodded, smiled, and waved a chitinous hoof. Princess Luna returned the smile, and with a powerful flash, she was gone.
