Bagpiperix and the Royals

Cadence awoke from sleep to the sound of her alarm, her ears flicking as she blindly fumbled with her magic for the clock. She sighed as she sat up in bed, which was disappointingly empty with Shining off performing his early morning guard duties. With the city on alert from all the stories from Ponyville and Canterlot, it felt like she and Shining hadn't seen each other at all over the past week.

She climbed out of bed, heading to the bathroom to make herself presentable before she trotted down the steps to the dining halls. Guards stood at every entrance, their crystal coats gleaming in the sunlight. As Cadence headed into the dining hall, she was greeted by her usual breakfast, and a small sealed scroll. Curious, she unwound the ribbon in her magic and unfurled it. The writing didn't look anything like Shining's, and wasn't an update from one of her subjects either.

“Dear Princess Cadence,
We humbly request your presence in the ballroom. Our names are Octavia and Vinyl, we were in the Crystal Empire for a concert, and one of your subjects was present and found our music moving enough he requested a private performance.
We hope to see you soon.”

Cadence furrowed her brow, a tad confused. She had heard about some of the concerts playing in the city, but it was quite uncommon for any to receive a personal invitation for a performance here. The sound of the door opening caused her to look up to see Sunburst stepping in, his mane still frizzy from his pillow.

“Sunburst, did you hear about these two coming to play?” She asked, handing over the note. He read it over, scratching his head.

“I had heard some of the nobles going to a concert last night, I can only assume this is the one. Well, if they've already been admitted to the ballroom, they must have gotten the green light from the guards. It's only polite to pop in, I'd say.”

“Well, I've been needing a way to unwind,” Cadence admitted. “This last week has just been so stressful...”

“Yes, I know what you mean,” Sunburst agreed, closing his eyes and yawning. “Oh, dear… sorry, Princess. I was up late last night working on that spell-”

“It's all right, you don't need to apologize,” Cadence told him. “I know what you've been working on. Do you want me to get the coffee?”

“No, Princess!” Sunburst replied firmly, blinking a few times. “I'm awake, I'm awake… I'll be just a moment, that's all.”

“Well… don't overstrain yourself,” Cadence advised him. “We don't need you to get too much like Twilight!”

Sunburst chuckled slightly, and Cadence waited a moment more before trotting off to make her way to the ballroom.

The corridors of the castle were just the same as ever, and quite similar to one another, and Cadence didn't really need to pay much attention as she headed along them – catching sight of the occasional guard, who nodded to her before resuming their duties.

“I've never really understood why this place has quite so many rooms,” she said to herself. “We don't use half of them...”

Reaching the ballroom door, she opened it with a touch of magic and entered – wondering just what kind of musical performance she was about to witness.

The room was strangely empty initially, barring the few tables and chairs pushed up against the wall since they weren't being used. Cadence trotted in, wondering if she was perhaps early. There hadn't been a specified time on the letter, so perhaps she was meant to wait for word from someone when she was supposed to arrive.

As she was about to turn around, however, she heard something like a wheeze, followed by a strange resonating 'paaarp!'

Cadence spun about to see two pudgy dragons standing in the doorway, each sporting a colorful plaid hide. The gray one stepped forward, grinning as she rested her claws on her gut. “Ah, I'm so happy you've agreed to meeting us! It's an honor to play for nobility such as yourself.”

The white one chuckled as she followed the other one in, her tail, which sported a long pipe at the end, flicked back and forth with excitement. “Oh yeah, the reviews were absolutely rave!” She chuckled, the first dragon rolling her eyes and giving a bit of a sigh at her partner's comment.

Cadence's eyes went wide as she gazed upon the pair of puffy drakes, watching as they waddled forward, music flowing smoothly from the pipes along their back. She quickly came to the conclusion the rumors from Canterlot were true, and whoever these dragons were, they had to be part of the danger that had set the city on high alert. The first reached out a claw to shake Cadences hoof. “I'm Octavia, and my partner-”

Before either of the dragons could continue, however, Cadence's horn flashed with magic as she shot a beam towards them. With a squeak of surprise, the two vanished, leaving Cadence alone once again. She cantered towards the door, rushing to alert one of the guards, when, upon opening it, she was greeted once again by the duo.

“Come now, that's awfully rude! We didn't even finish our introductions, let alone the overture!”

“Yeah, she's right!” the other one agreed, as Cadence glanced left and right – even looking over her shoulder to see if somehow the dragons were in the room as well. “I'm Vinyl! Now, let's get this music flowing!”

She jumped into the air, and came down squarely on her rump. The movement drew Cadence' attention, and she watched in surprise as Vinyl swelled up slightly – then the tunes coming out of her pipes got louder, the sudden change enough to make Cadence shake her head in confusion.

Then she shut the door, which cut off most of the sound of the music.

Turning to look around, using a hoof to hold the door closed behind her, Cadence looked to see if the dragons were going to teleport in.

There was no sign of them, at first, and Cadence breathed a sigh of relief – then glanced back over her shoulder, feeling the door resonating faintly with the music.

From what she could hear of it, it was actually quite a good tune… but it wasn't really to her taste, so she shrugged it off and thought about what to do next.

There was another door to the ballroom, so maybe she could get out that way – if the dragons didn't split up, at least. Still, it was her best chance, and she broke into a canter to the other door and opened it with a tug.

No sign of dragons presented itself – except for the music, still faint in the background – and she trotted quickly towards one of the connecting corridors.

There weren't any guards she could see, unfortunately...

As she opened up the corridor, the sound of the music seemed to be growing louder. Cadence tried to hurry in the opposite direction, finding the halls of the castle oddly confusing despite them being to her own home. She turned a corner and came skidding to a stop as she realized she had somehow stumbled back to the front doors to the ballroom. The two dragons were rocking back and forth atop their rumps, their bodies periodically swelling and deflating to produce their song.

“I knew she'd come 'round!” Vinyl said happily upon spotting Cadence.

Octavia nodded, bouncing up off her rump and back to her feet. “Few can resist such a catchy tune.” She waddled up to Cadence, who was backing up again. “Now, come on, let's head back into the ballroom so we can put on a proper show.” Octavia swelled, then squeezed her belly, letting out a loud 'paarp!'. The music filled Cadence's ears as she stumbled a bit, which allowed Octavia to wrap her tail around her back and help her through the doors.

As the wave of music died down, Cadence's thoughts became clear, and she rushed forward out of Octavia's tail grip.

Her horn flashed again as she conjured up a pair of earmuffs and quickly shoved them over her head. They muffled the sounds of the dragons, allowing her to think more clearly. At least, they did until Vinyl bounced up behind her and tapped them. Suddenly their music was amplified, the earmuffs pumping the song directly into her head. Her eyes spun as she tried to remove the earmuffs, the wheezy, paarpy sounds echoing around as the dragons danced together.

The more she tried to pull the earmuffs off, whether by using her hooves or her magic, the tighter they held and the louder the music became – with a particularly loud burst every time the two dragons bumped rumps or bellies together, using the pressure that came with it to pulse their piping louder still.

After what felt like a minute, though it could have been five seconds or it could have been an hour, she gave up for the moment and turned to the door.

“Oh, Princess!” Octavia said, thumping her tail on the floor with a boom boom boom – a counterpoint to the rest of the musical performance. “You're leaving so soon? But we're not even into the fugue!”

Cadence reached the door, finding it stuck or locked, and turned to shoot a beam of magic at the nearer of the two dragons. It went straight into Vinyl's mouth, and the strangely plaid creature's fabric-like body swelled up as she swallowed the spell up – then let out a loud pulsing blast of music with all kinds of colourful magic streaming out of her pipes as she vented the energy of the spell again.

The beat of the blasts made Cadence's head spin, but it also unstuck the door. Cadence quickly turned, ready to run out of the door, then paused to look back – taking the opportunity to fire off another spell.

This time, rather than a spell to teleport the dragons away, she conjured a pair of giant boxes. One dragon got lifted up and dropped into each box, and Cadence spent the extra moment to tie them up with a ribbon before turning and galloping away down a corridor – not really caring which at the moment.

The music continued to resonate in her ears…

Cadence hurried down the hallways once more, and she found herself humming along to the music. Despite her initial thoughts, it was slowly growing on her. But she couldn't stick around, she had to get... somewhere. The more she jogged, the more Cadence couldn't remember exactly it was she was going. She remembered she needed to get someone, but she didn't remember who, or for what. Was it a guard? But why would she need a guard? Was she looking for someone to watch the performance with her?

Her jogging slowed to a more leisurely stride. She was no longer heading anywhere specific, just wandering the halls of the castle at her own pace. Her steps were starting to meet the beat of the music, and she was simply listening to the song as she let her mind wander.

She wondered what those puffy dragons were exactly. They didn't seem hostile, they were only trying to share their music, after all. Perhaps she ought to give them a second chance. She blinked, and found herself back at her bedroom. The music still played, and as she stepped inside, she was greeted by the two presents the dragons had been placed in. Unsure exactly why, she started to undo the ribbons on them, and before she could react they burst out, each posing dramatically to show off their bloated bodies.

“Ta-da!” Vinyl cried, giggling to herself as she fell back onto her butt.

Octavia looked down to see Cadence, who had been knocked back by their entrance. And was now headphone free. “Oh, goodness, Vinyl, you overdid things again.”

“That's what I do!” Vinyl replied with a chuckle and a ripple of sound.

Cadence blinked a few times, shaking her head and trying to shake off the effects of her long musical session. “I… w-wait, I was trying to...”

Why had she opened the boxes? It had seemed so sensible, but now she had no idea why she'd done it. And that music was just distracting, echoing, spinning her thoughts out of shape and-

She scowled, doing her best to ignore it. “How did you do that?”

“What?” Octavia asked. “We went in the boxes, we came out of the boxes. Seems pretty obvious to me!”

“Don't try and confuse me,” Cadence said crossly. “You were in the ballroom, now you're here… and you did that funny thing with the earmuffs?”

“That's how music works, silly,” Vinyl said, nodding her head and bouncing on her butt – going up and down, up and down in time with the tunes she was blasting out. “Once it gets into your head, a good tune doesn't want to leave!”

Cadence didn't like the sound of that, and she looked over to see if she could make it back to the door – not liking the idea of running away again, either, but knowing she had to do something.

“You're right!” Octavia nodded, the pipes running down her spine letting out echoing tunes as she shook them. “If you think about a tune, you end up thinking about it more and more until you memorize every last detail… but if you don't think about it, it keeps coming back whenever you're not expecting it. So you can't really escape!”

Running for the door in a burst of speed, Cadence pulled it open and bolted through – then skidded to a halt in complete bafflement.

She was still in her room. She'd gone out the door, and ended up coming back in the same door.

“And it's even easier to listen if the music's got lots of catchy little bits to it,” Vinyl said, bouncing back and forth and left and right. “It means when you think about it you get confused where you are, so you just go around in a loop…

Cadence looked back over her shoulder, staring back into her room, then looked down at her hooves, hoping to see them in the hallway, but, sure enough, they were still in her room. Vinyl patted her belly to let out a few drum like 'booms' as she continued, “Repetition really is the key. You listen to the song, and you enjoy it, so you listen to it again. And then listen to it again. The notes all blend together, and soon enough you'll have it bouncing in your head all day long. It's the best way to enjoy a song, not even needing to focus on it as you hum along.”

Octavia was standing on her tail, jumping up before landing back down with a smack to bounce up to Cadence and scoop her into her arms. “You ought to know that, Cadence.” She gave her a playful poke on her muzzle. Cadence shoved against Octavia's puffy belly, her hooves simply sinking in and doing little to push her away.

“Speaking of cadences, that's a good next lesson too! How the song ends is just as important as to how it begins. If you end it with the right combination of notes...” Octavia flopped on her rump, tootling out a tune, the rush of air from her tail blowing over Cadence as Octavia waggled it around, “It leaves you with a warm, happy feeling inside. The kind of feeling that sticks with you and makes you feel good no matter how bad of a day you've been having so far.”

“Makes me feel good?” Cadence parroted, then blushed – shaking her head briefly about having been drawn into responding, and trying her best to ignore the whole situation apart from what she needed to do to get away.

She flared her wings, trying to fly out of Octavia's grip, and flapped as hard as she could – trying to slide upwards, getting purchase on the air in the way she couldn't push away from the bouncy bagpipe-dragon. The effort made her wings ache, but she managed to get up into the air and away from her captor, and hovered up near the ceiling where neither Octavia nor Vinyl could get near her.

“That's right!” Octavia agreed, not put off by Cadence's escape. “If you're doing something else, it makes you feel good because you're enjoying it without thinking about it and that means you're enjoying what you're doing too! And if you're not doing anything else, you can just focus on the music and everything it does!”

“That's right!” Vinyl agreed, bouncing, and Cadence watched with worry in case the tootling dragon was able to reach her – but, fortunately, the ceiling was high enough to mean the bouncy bagpipe dragon couldn't reach her.

There was an uneasy stalemate, with Cadence doing her best to ignore what the draconic duo said, and as the music bounced around the room. It kept tugging at her attention, distracting her, and she shook her head before focusing again on the bouncing Vinyl below her.

“...building up,” Vinyl was saying. “Until… a drop!”

Cadence crashed into the ceiling with a thump, not too hurt because she hadn't had far to go, and realized suddenly that she felt like she was lying on the floor. But she could see the floor down there, and-

-the room was upside down?

Then Vinyl landed on top of her with a parp and a squishy floomph.

Cadence's cry of surprise was muffled by the plaid butt smothering her, with her continued protests remaining unheard as Octavia giggled and rocked back and forth on her rump, which was still somehow stuck to the ceiling. Not that Cadence was really questioning the strange logic at this point, it was something she was becoming slowly more and more forced to begrudgingly accept. A part of her was going to write an extremely stern letter towards a certain draconeques she knew, though, worringly, a much larger part was focused more on how surprisingly comfortable that big plaid rump was as it flattened her.

Octavia bounced up (or was it down?) to grab Vinyl's claws. Cadence's eyes spun as her vision returned to her, although hints of a plaid pattern seemed to linger at the fringes of her sight, which pulsed and shimmered along with the song the pair was playing. The two were clutching each other's hands, each pumping themselves up and down, gravity attempting to pull them in two directions at once. Consequently, they were left bobbing up and down. They positioned their tails outwards, the air rushing out making them start to spin slowly around and around and around.

“And when you don't need to pay attention to the music to enjoy it, you don't even need to worry about it stopping! You just get lost in the tune and it seems to start as soon as it ends, and continues to play over and over and over as it spins around and around and around!” The pair said together.

As Cadence watched, she suddenly found herself tripping over the corner of the room, falling onto the wall. It wasn't the dragons that were spinning, it was the room!

The room began to rotate faster, switching direction with a dizzying swerve, and Cadence found herself galloping along one wall to the next wall and then the next after that. She stumbled a few times, wobbling on her hooves as she jumped between the walls to avoid being bounced around like a ticket in a raffle machine, then began to find a rhythm as she took the same number of steps on each wall before moving on to the next.

Her hooves fell into a rhythm, two-four-six-eight-jump, and slowed down a little as she began to move to the beat of the music – looking up to see the two bagpipe dragons overhead springing apart and then pulling together again.

They looked like each one was falling away towards the floor or ceiling, while for Cadence those were the sides of the room and the walls were what she was walking on, and the confusing sight and the bouncing and the music confused her all over again.

The plaid light in the corner of her eyes seemed to be slowly growing, glowing, taking over more of her vision a little at a time, and the spinning walls changed as well – taking on colours, patterns, all becoming the same as it swirled around her.

One-two-three-parp-five-six-seven-jump, one-two-three-parp-five-six-seven-jump, and Cadence sank into that routine, cantering to the beat of the music and lulled by the lyrics all around her. She couldn't even hear what they were saying, too much of her attention stolen away by the music and by her general lassitude, but deep down they seeped into her mind – in a way that meant she could memorize every word, almost knowing what the next one would be before it was said and at the same time not knowing any of them at all.

Cadence continued along, starting to work more complicated maneuvers into her jog as the music flowing around became more complex. She started to bounce off the bed as it rolled past her, adding into the rhythm of one-two-bounce-parp-five-six-re-bound! She was becoming so lost in the pleasant tune she didn't even notice the patterned walls were becoming softer as well. Everything was swirling around her, the walls looking less like her room and more like a musical staff. She was no longer bouncing around her room, but along a sheet of music, like the little bouncing ball that told ponies about when to sing.

She blinked, and the two dragons were no longer twirling above her, but Octavia was leading her along the music as Vinyl bounced along behind her. Cadence followed Octavia's movements, making sure she landed on the notes just like the dragon did so she elicited the same notes to the pleasant song. Vinyl brought up the rear to keep her in time and make sure she didn't drag. Whenever she stumbled, she simply bounced off Vinyl's belly, flying forward and flopping into Octavia's rump to catch back up with the tempo.

The song continued to swirl and swell, building to a climax. Cadence found herself singing along with the dragons, still not entirely sure how she knew what the next words of the song were, and yet she could sing it just as well as them! She bounced and jumped excitedly, deciding that the dragons were right after all! Music was just so much fun, especially bouncy tunes like this! She closed her eyes to let herself sink into the tune all the more, and when it eventually came to a grand finale, she found herself back in the ballroom, sitting comfortably in front of the dragons who had just finished their performance.

“There, you see?” Octavia asked, with a flourish and a parp. “Don't you agree it was more than worth coming along?”

“I, well… yes!” Cadence agreed, as music sang in her ears and told her how to answer. “It was amazing, hearing your music, and… and… I don't really remember why I was so down on the idea to begin with?”

“Oh, that's normal,” Vinyl shrugged, a parping tune blowing out of the tubes running along her spine. “You start off not sure about it, then by the time you've listened to it enough times you really accept just how good it is! It's a simple process but an important one, and it's why this kind of music is always best to play even if the one you're playing it to isn't sure at first – they'll get to appreciate it!”

Cadence frowned for a moment, wondering how much sense that made, then the plaid in her eyes and the tune in her ears soothed her worries away.

It all made perfect sense…

“So I should show others how good the music is!” she decided, feeling like it was an idea she'd come up with all by herself. “I bet they'd enjoy it if they listened to it enough!”

She frowned. “Oh, but how do I do that? Are you going to be doing another performance?”

Octavia gave a thoughtful sigh, leaning back against her tail. “Ah, no further performances from us, I'm afraid. At least, not until we've spoken with our conductor to help gather up the other players. But I'm sure you can do it yourself, you've proven yourself quite a capable piper!” She said excitedly. She took a deep breath, her belly puffing out before she squeezed down and blew her cheeks out. From the tip of her tail ballooned a purple, lavender, and gold plaid mass of fabric, which muffled her music ever so slightly. Vinyl took a hold of a pipe on the mass, tugging and pulling before the mass popped free, causing her to flop backwards with a laugh and a paarp!

She sat back up and presented a large set of bagpipes to Cadence. The colors matched her mane, and she took the instrument excitedly, looking it over. “Oh my, I don't know what to say! This is quite a gift, you really needn't do all this for me.”

Vinyl laughed. “Ha! Come on, you said you wanted to spread the music, didn't you? Well, this is just the way to do it! Start playing your bagpiaper, and everyone will flock to hear it!” She leaned forward, giving a sly wink. “I bet there's a certain stallion you'd like to share it with too.”

Cadence blushed, squeezing the bagpiaper to her chest with a wheeze. “Shining would just adore your songs, I'm sure of it! Are you absolutely certain you can't perform for him?”

Octavia and Vinyl looked to each other, smirking just a bit. “Well... I suppose we could at least stick by, for moral support.” Octavia snickered. “But, trust me, with you playing, he's sure to fall in love with the songs all the more!”

“Could you?” Cadence asked, sounding relieved. “I'd love to be able to have some support, and, well… I'm not sure how good I'll be?”

“I'm sure you'll be great!” Vinyl assured her. “But if you really want to be sure, then we'll come along to give you tips if you have any trouble!”

She bounced up and down, blowing a blast of music on her pipes, and most of Cadence' worries dissolved into musical confusion.

“Let's head on over there right now!” Octavia suggested. “You should go first, Cady!”

The door swung open, and Cadence began to trot out – only for Octavia to blow a warning note, making her stop in her tracks.

“Huh?” Cadence asked, confused. “W-was there something I got wrong?”

“Sure there was!” Vinyl agreed. “You should be bouncing along, it's faster and more fun and it gives you practice as well! That's the best way to get around with a bagpiaper!”

“Oh, right!” Cadence realized, and shuffled the bagpiaper about a bit before jumping on it and starting to bounce. It made a parp-parp-parp sound, and after a bit of experimenting – and instructed a little by the music in her ears – Cadence began to bounce along through the corridors of the palace with the bagpipe dragons lolloping along behind her – bouncing themselves to add extra sound to the music, keeping it loud enough that it was a continuous blanket around Cadence and keeping her happy and head-rush-y from all the bagpiaper tones echoing from the walls.

Cadence bounced happily down the hallway, her familiarity with the castle allowing her to focus instead on the complexities of the music. She grinned as her rump sank into the bouncy air-filled fabric of the bagpiaper, cradling it comfortably with each landing. Despite her eagerness to show off the music to Shining, Cadence couldn't help but take the scenic route back to her chambers with just how much fun she was having bouncing up and down and up and down!

As she made her way down the halls, any guards she passed didn't seem to pay her any mind. She received a few quizzical looks, but none of them seemed too bothered by the sight. A few even hummed along to the song as the trio passed, swaying their steps in time with the songs.

After some time she was bouncing up to Shining's office door, but as she made to get back to her hooves, the feeling of the bagpiaper around her rump didn't leave. She looked over her shoulder, blushing a bit as she found the instrument now strapped to her rump like an overinflated plaid diaper.

Over her bagpiaper she could see Vinyl and Octavia coming to a halt, or, rather, as much of a halt as a pair of enthusiastic bagpipe dragons could come to as they continue to bounce up and down. Cadence peered through the keyhole, a grin spreading across her face as he saw Shining hard at work inside. She bounced eagerly on her hooves, her rump bobbing up and down as she tried to think of the best way to make her entrance.

She giggled, her horn alighting as a soft glow enveloped her. She crept slowly into the room, forcing herself not to squeeze her bagpiaper with her hind legs as she sneaked up behind Shining. She got up on to her hind hooves, placing her fore ones over Shining's eyes as she let out a playful “Guess whooo~”

“H-hey!” Shining laughed. “C-Cady!”

He shook his head a little, not enough to knock her hooves from his eyes. “That's not – hey! I'm working here, dear… I'm trying to work out the guard schedule.”

“That sounds boring,” Cadence replied. “Are you sure you can't leave it to somepony else? It can't take that long to explain to somepony like Sunburst, can it?”

“Well, he's got the smarts for it, maybe, but he's not got the training,” Shining replied, reaching up and pushing Cadence's hooves away. “I know this whole situation with whatever's going on at Canterlot is a problem, dear, but I do need to do this… it's the best way to make sure we're safe, at least until this problem either gets sorted out by Twilight or goes away by itself.”

His voice turned considering. “Though I guess maybe I could spend some time on… break?”

“You could?” Cadence asked, as her husband's voice trailed off. “Whatever do you mean? I thought you were just explaining how a firm soldier like yourself had no time to spare?”

“...Cady?” Shining asked, a little amazed. “What's that you're wearing?”

“Oh, this?” Cadence asked. “It's my bagpiaper, why?”

She giggled. “I know it's a bit strange, but I think it really works!”

Shining tried to think of a protest, but too many came to mind that he wasn't able to choose one. His shocked mind eventually ground back into gear and he finally settled on a “...what?”

“My bagpiaper, silly! It's puffy and comfy and makes wonderful music!” She promptly sat down, a rush of air blaring from her bagpiaper to produce a twitter of notes.

Shining's addled mind became just a bit more addled, but despite this he suddenly snapped to attention when he realized just what was wrapped around his wife's rump. He got out of his chair, hurrying over to her. “Cadence, we need to get you out of that thing now!” He searched for some way to remove the bagpiaper, some tapes or clasps or other means of securing it.

His hooves ran across her bagpiaper as he searched, which only made Cadence giggle. “Shining, if you were so eager to get closer, you could have just said so!” She wiggled her rump, letting out a few arpeggios.

Shining stumbled backwards as the received a face full of music. What was it he had been so worried about, again? Something about... Cadence and her bagpiaper... He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, only to see Cadence bouncing up and down in place, pressing her hooves into her plaid diaper to create a melody. “See, Shining, isn't this fun?”

“No, this isn't fun,” Shining replied, as sternly as he could – distracted more than a little by his wife, and by the music she was playing as well. “This is – this is dangerous! Don't you remember those stories we were hearing?”

He stamped a hoof on the floor, the clack sound helping his focus – a little. “This has to be some kind of plot!”

“Of course it's a plot!” Cadence interrupted him, bouncing again, then waving her plaid-covered rump around to show it off. “You could have a closer look if you want to be sure, though~!”

“Cadence, don't – can't you stand still so I can get that off?” the stallion pleaded.

“But why do you want me to take it off?” Cadence asked. “It's such a fun instrument – it plays all kinds of tunes! I bet you'd look great in one too!”

Shining shook his head. “No way!”

His firmness was shaken slightly by another bouncing round of parping as Cadence demonstrated a one-two-three buildup to a loud blast of music – the tune loud enough that it made Shining stagger on his hooves a little, dizzy enough to almost fall over.

“Aww, you're being no fun,” Cadence pouted. “Are you sure you're not going to be drawn into having a fun time?”

She winked. “I bet we could enjoy making music together...”

Shining blinked, then shook his head. “I – no, this is making me feel strange… I need to stay focused on what's important...”

Well, what could be more important than your wife?” Cadence replied, trotting backwards so her bagpiaper pressed into his chest. Her tail flicked back and forth to tickle his nose Shining tried to back up, but was pressed up against the wall by Cadence. She leaned backwards, compressing her bagpiaper into Shining and giving him another blast of music. Her mouth curled into a wobbly smile as she pulled back, only to compress Shining once again.

Shining let out a few whimpers, trying to push Cadence away, which only succeeded in adding to her song as he squished her diaper. He managed to pull himself together enough for his horn to flare as he suddenly conjured up a shield, pushing Cadence away to send her bouncing across the floor on her rump.

She flopped to the ground, taking a moment to laugh before she got back to her hooves, which now could only just barely reach the ground around her swollen padding. She looked over her shoulder, batting her eyelids. “Oh, come on, Shiny. I know how much you love my flanks, and now there's more cushion for them.” She giggled again, Shining's face turning a bright red.

“I, um – look-” Shining began, stuttering a little. “Cadence, I know you're feeling odd, because of whatever's going on-”

“I'm not feeling odd, I'm feeling fantastic!” Cadence interrupted. “And you'd feel just the same if you gave it a go...”

She winked at him. “Come on… for me?”

Shining wavered for a moment, then shook his head. “No, I can't...”

“Aww...” Cadence sighed, wiggling her rump and making it play a series of notes. “Sure? What's wrong with just giving it a try?”

She shook her bagpiaper back and forth, and up and down, each wiggle making the fabric compress in a different way – the lines of the plaid cross-hatching compressing together and moving apart in odd, entrancing patterns, drawing Shining's eye as he kept his shield up and sapping his concentration.

The music it played was distracting as well, simply because of how well performed it was – like Cadence was understanding the instrument on a deep, instinctive level, exactly how to use it to make appealing sounds which kept his focus drifting off into wiggles and parps. Even focusing on how deeply wrong that level of musical expertise coming about in the space of a morning had to be didn't help, and Shining's shield stuttered a little before firming up again as he did his best to ignore the distraction.

“Remember when you said you'd never be caught dead at the opera, but now you were just begging me to see Carmare with you? This is just a more personal opera!” Cadence sat back again, sinking as far down into her plaid padding as she could to produce a prolonged note to make Shining's mind fill with a bouncy, fuzzy sensation. Shining closed his eyes as he tried to block the music out and remember what was happening. Cadence was clearly not thinking straight, she wasn't really enjoying that thick, puffy, plaid set of pampers. The way she bounced up and down, wobbling back and forth and playing a bouncy, silly tune...

Shining opened his eyes to see Cadence leaning up against his shield, lowering her eyelids and staring her husband down. “Pleeeaaase Shining. You just need to try it, and if you don't like it, I'll drop the whole thing!” For emphasis, she dropped to her rump and parped once again.

And at that, Shining's shield flickered once again, and Cadence took that opportunity to pounce upon him. He tried to put his shield back up, but by the time he had, Cadence was now smothering him under her bagpiaper inside his bubble of magic.

“C-Cadence, plea-!” His cries were muffled as her padding swelled, filling his vision with the plaid pattern.

“Please?” Cadence filled in. “Please what?”

She wiggled her rump, producing another tune of squeaky parp noises, and giggled. “Well, whatever it was can't be all that important compared to enjoying yourself by listening to my music, can it?”

Shining tried to push the bagpiaper away, but just ended up putting more pressure on it and blowing out more music. That made his strength waver, and the parping note got a bit quieter – so his strength returned a little and he could push harder again.

The wobbly cycle repeated itself four times, a parp-oom-parp-oom-parp sound echoing out into the room, and Shining eventually recovered enough sense to stop pushing and doing Cadence' job of making music for her.

“Oh, Shiny, why did you stop?” Cadence asked, bouncing a little to make the plaid pattern of her bagpiaper sway back and forth. “You seemed to be enjoying yourself so much helping me make music~! Why, I bet you'd love it if you tried a bagpiaper of your own!”

She giggled. “Or was that what you were asking earlier? Did you perhaps want to give it a go? That sounds wonderful, I knew you'd come around eventually!”

With a powerful shove, Shining pushed hard enough that he could speak – though there was a continuous wailing note coming out of the bagpiaper the whole time, tugging at his attention and distracting his thoughts. “I don't want to give it a go because I don't want this at all! All this hypnotic music, these odd thoughts, they're doing things to you...”

“But I haven't mentioned any odd thoughts, Shiny!” Cadence pointed out. “Does that mean you're having odd thoughts?”

She gasped, wiggling her rump again for good measure. “What a scandal!”

Shining's face burned a deeper red, pressing deeper into her padding once again. “C-Cadence, you know that's not what I meant!” He protested, but the more she bounced in place and continued her song, the more Shining found his mind drifting to those odd thoughts. He thought about what it would be like to have a swollen plaid bagpiaper too. Cadence seemed to be having so much fun with hers, maybe he wouldn't mind joining in with his own music. Cadence rolled forward, and Shining lost his strength as her inflated padding smothered him once again. He stared into her rump, the lines of her diaper folding and creasing around his muzzle.

As he stared, he thought he heard Cadence's music change a bit. Somehow becoming just a bit more... complex? He wasn't entirely sure, but it was rather pleasant the more he listened to it. He grinned, imagining Cadence's diaper swelling bigger, the music growing louder and her hooves being swallowed up by the purple and gold padding.

It was at that time that he noticed he could feel her padding growing, and something else poking at his horn. Cadence leaned forward, allowing Shining to see around the curve of her diaper, but the sight only left him more shocked. Cadence's tail was now wrapped up in the same plaid material as her bagpiaper, and her hind legs looked suspiciously wooden and clawed.

The sight was odd enough that he managed to regain some of his concentration, and he closed his eyes to focus for a moment. “Cadence!”

“What?” Cadence asked, then sighed. “Oh, and you were enjoying yourself so much~! What went wrong now?”

“Your tail!” Shining replied, pointing. “And your legs! They're – that's new!”

“That's just part of the instrument, silly,” Cadence told him, the music flowing through and around her making it so she didn't have any reason to question the explanations she was giving. “You need the tail to play the long notes, of course!”

Demonstrating, she squished her padding down again, and a whole glissando of notes pulsed out – ending with a special extra-long note from the wooden tube at the end of her tail, which echoed in the air and made Shining's head swim for a moment.

“N-no, this isn't riiight,” he moaned, blushing. “I need to stop thinking like thiis… I need to-”

“-stop thinking?” Cadence suggested, finding the idea very funny, and giggling. “That sounds like a great idea! All those silly thoughts, they're more trouble than they're worth if you ask me! Why think when you can just get involved in music, join in the rhythm of the beat?”

She punctuated the last words with several bounces one after another, notes filling the air, and Shining almost thought he could see them flowing through her bagpiaper and being shot out of the tubes along her tail and her lower back – though they dissolved a moment later, leaving him to wonder if he'd imagined them.

Cadence shifted left and right in the bubble, her hind legs pressing against the inside wall of the shield as she continued to fill it. She was slowly running out of room, feeling Shining's horn poking into her plaid rump as it grew. Cadence paused just for a moment, wondering if she had thought that properly. She thought she had been wearing a bagpiaper, but she was certain she could feel Shining's horn pressing into her rump. She squeezed her plaid belly with her legs and let out more music, and she decided that, yes, it was her rump, and it was her belly she was squeezing. It just made sense after all, despite what she had just told Shining.

As she played, there was a sudden knock on the door, and she looked over, peering through the glimmering magic. She could just barely make out Sunburst stepping into the room, his muzzle buried in several notes and books. “Alright, Shining, I think I've got everypony's schedule requests and...” His voice died in his throat as he looked up to see Cadence with her plaid rump in a bubble, with Shining's hooves just barely visible pressing up against it.

Before he could speak up, there was a sudden blare of music as Sunburst was tackled to the ground amid a myriad of giggles and notes.

“Hold up there! You were too busy looking at your notes to listen to ours!” Vinyl said as she tumbled across the floor with Sunburst. Octavia was filling the doorway, squeezing her way inside.

“Oh, Cadence! It's so good to see Shining taking a liking to the music already! Don't mind us, we'll take care of this little distraction, you just keep having your fun.” She grinned and bounced over to Vinyl, joining in and filling the room with more music.

“Sunburst!” Shining mumbled, trying to speak past the bulk of the diaper in front of him. “Get mfff!”

His push made a rush of air flow though Cadence, and a parp and a toot pulsed out.

“I don't think he can hear you,” Cadence giggled. “There's quite a lot of dragon on top of him, after all… but there's quite a lot of me on top of you!”

She bounced and played, her whole body resonating with the notes, and Shining's horn resonated as well as the fabric pulsed with music in front of him… making him feel odd, a little dizzy, and making his mind wander before he pulled it back on track.

“I bet it's so hard to concentrate on that silly shield,” Cadence added. “Especially since it doesn't really have a point, does it? And come to think of it, I do like your shields but they're sometimes a bit boringly patterned...”

Shining tried again to push his wife off, but every time he did he just made the music louder.

At the same time, Sunburst got to his hooves with a gasp and a flash of magic.

“This is – this has to be that corruption that was hitting Canterlot!” he said, stammering a bit as he tried not to be distracted by Vinyl and Octavia – both bagpipe-dragons bouncing around on all fours, moving from side to side a little as they continued playing their music and their tails weaving like charmed snakes.

“Well, corruption is a bit of a silly word for it,” Octavia said. “Isn't it? It sounds very scary.”

“But there's nothing not to enjoy about a fun little plaid pipe performance!” Vinyl agreed. “Why not have a parp-along? Or perhaps fun-ifying?”

Sunburst couldn't help but follow the pair's tails as they wound they way around each other before uncoiling and swaying to catch his attention. He watched as they twisted together once again, only to pull back, with the tip of the fabric tied up in a knot. The tails stretched and stretched, moving closer to Sunburst as he bent backwards to watch it pass over him, only to stop. He scratched his head, sure that there was something that was going to happen as the tails stretched, only for his mind to snap to clarity just as the tails snapped back. He was suddenly squished between two very round bagpipe rumps, who promptly began to rub up and down against each other. Sunburst squirmed as he felt the air rush out of him... and rush out of him... and rush out of him! He tried to conjure a spell, but his flattening body could do little more than flutter slightly as he was squished into a thin pancake of a pony.

Shining was spared the sight of the intense smushing, but only because he was experiencing one of his own. His eyes spun and swirled as he tried to maintain his concentration on the shield, but the more Cadence bounced on top of him, the more he found himself admiring the pattern of her diaper, and the soft feeling of the air-filled fabric as it swelled and deflated on top of him. Cadence giggled as Shining's shield shimmered, glittering and turning from a cobalt blue to a bright white, crisscrossed with cobalt and navy blue stripes to form a pattern all too familiar to the plaid-minded princess. She buried her muzzle into the puffy fabric which now wrapped around her neck like a collar, her forelegs slowly being swallowed up in sleeves of bagpipe material to better allow her to squeeze and squish her form.

“I, h-huh, w-whaaa,” Sunburst wheezed as he reinflated. “How did that even happen?”

He frowned, distracted slightly from the situation. “Maybe some kind of magical field? Sort of like Discord uses, or like we assume Discord uses… a modified form of Clover's Synchronization of the-”

A loud oom-pa-paaarp aimed directly at his muzzle distracted him from his contemplations, as Octavia waggled her rump at him threateningly.

“Don't be sensible!” she admonished him. “Not everything has to make sense so long as it's fun! And if it's fun, what's the problem anyway – just enjoy it, that's my advice!”

“She's right!” Vinyl agreed. “And if you're still trying to work out what's going on, then maybe you just need another squeeze!”

“No, I don't need another squeeze,” Sunburst protested. “I – wait, there's this – hey!”

He trotted to the side as the two dragons began to pull apart again, winding up their spring-loaded squishiness. “Stop that!”

Octavia jumped, losing all grip on the ground, and bounced back towards Vinyl. The two contacted one another with a sudden burst of music, blowing notes of confusing cacophany into the air, and Vinyl bounced away – shooting right past the startled Starburst, before being pulled right back towards him to squish him between the two musical dragons all over again.

The resounding impact sounded a bit like someone had dropped a set of bagpipes tied to a rock from the top of Canterlot tower, and left Sunburst only a few millimeters thick as Vinyl and Octavia's rumps compressed against each other, the duo sinking into their plaid fabric before rebounding once again as Sunburst popped back to normalcy. He stumbled left and right, his mind swirling with various thoughts as he tried to piece together what had just happened.

“Aaah, ok, so they don't like sensibility. Perhaps this is a new type of draconequi? But, er, why the music?” He pondered, only to have Vinyl roll her eyes as she looped a tail around his waist while he was distracted. With a creak, she tossed him into the air, bouncing Sunburst back and forth to Octavia with her rear as he received a face full of music with each landing.

Cadence's head bounced against the top of Shining's plaid shield, causing her to rub the tender area with her claws. “Oh, Shining, you wouldn't mind giving me a bit more room, would you? It's so hard to bounce when this shield is so small!” She requested.

Shining gave a muffled response, his horn glowing as his shield glittered brighter. Rather than grow larger, however, the shield suddenly constricted, pressing the duo tighter together. Cadence let out a gasp of surprise as she was now filling the orb entirely, pressing her plaid body against the interior and stretching it like a particularly sturdy soap bubble.

Shining's hooves were rubbing along Cadence's curvy, bloated rear, his eyes shimmering and swirling a myriad of colors as he held his dear princess closely. Whatever it was that had been stopping him before, it seemed like such a silly thing when he could be curled up to his creaky, cushy wife, and wondering if he could be just as puffy too.

“Ooh, well, Shiny!” Cadence giggled. “I know this isn't what I asked for, but this could work well too!”

She huffed sharply, bouncing off the bottom of the shield, and carried the whole bubble with her – letting her bounce in the shield bubble as it became more and more plaid. Her movement made it move around as well, the lines of the plaid shifting in front of her and Shining and distracting their eyes to keep Cadence giggly and Shining confused.

Again and again, those tempting thoughts flowed through Shining's mind – pointing out with every parp that he could be just like Cadence, soft and puffy and musically talented, too!

He began to hum along with the musical puffing and parping that his wife was producing, the pressure ensuring he was sinking further and further into the plaid material, and a musical beat filled his mind…

...until suddenly he found himself landing on the floor as his shield burst with a bang. Bits went everywhere, then swirled together, and by the time Shining had got his bearings they had all vanished… or so he thought.

“Oh, wonderful!” Cadence giggled. “Look, Shiny, you're wearing a lovely new bagpiaper! I told you they were good!”

Shining looked down at his waist, sprawled as he was on the floor, and did a double-take as he saw a white-and-blue bagpiaper there – shimmering slightly with the material of his shield it had been made out of.

Then he did a double-take, looking back up at Cadence – now almost completely changed in appearance to look like the bagpipe dragons bouncing Sunburst between their poofy rumps at the other side of the room.

“Now we can learn to play them better together!” Cadence added. “Doesn't that sound fun?”

Shining stared up at Cadence, watching her rock back and forth, letting out wheezes with each wide sway. A smile crept across his face, and he found himself reaching out, trying to rock back onto his rump as he nodded excitedly. Cadence's grin grew wider as she lowered her tail down to Shining for him to grab onto. He clutched to the wood as he was lifted to his rump, then to his hooves, then up into the air! He dangled above the ground while Cadence bounced eagerly on her heels, squeezing his diaper between his legs.

Cadence giggled, flicking her tail back and forth. “Well, that's one part, Shiny! But you have to learn the most important part first: How to bounce!” She raised her tail up just a bit more before flicking it downwards. The sudden momentum caused Shining to lose his grip as he fell to the ground. With a loud paarp, he bounced off the floor as his flanks sank into the puffy fabric of his diaper, the pipes on the rump wailing out yet another part to the song that Cadence, Octavia, and Vinyl were already playing. His bagpiaper swelled up as it sucked in air and he rebounded back upwards.

“Having fun yet, Sunburst?” Octavia asked, catching the stallion, only to toss him into the air before smacking him with her tail back to Vinyl.

Any response couldn't be heard over the sound of bagpipes playing, but even if they had heard it, they likely wouldn't have bothered to listen when Sunburst was rattling on about semitones and the circle of 5ths. “I don't think we're getting to him very fast, Tavi!” Vinyl cried out, bouncing into the air so Sunburst flew straight into her gut. The pattern on her belly distorted before she took a gulp of air, bouncing him back towards Octavia.

“Well, you know what they say about drastic time-signatures!” Octavia responded, backing up as Sunburst arced in the air above her. She flopped back onto her tail, bouncing up and down, gaining height with each push as Sunburst reached the peak of his flight, hovering just above Octavia. She opened her maw, and with a final bounce, she flew upwards, and Sunburst had just enough time to let out a squeak of fright before her jaws snapped shut. Octavia dove downwards with the stallion in her mouth, down towards where Vinyl was waiting below with her mouth agape and an awaiting empty belly.

With a squoomph, Octavia landed in Vinyl's draconic maw – but she didn't manage to get all the way in, her head and shoulders easily passing through the oddly large mouth but her big rump and spines all getting stuck.

“W-whaaa!?” Sunburst asked, completely out of his depth and completely surrounded by bagpipe dragon. “What's-”

A blast of music drowned him out as Vinyl began bouncing, trying to jolt Octavia down into her big plaid-patterned belly, and Octavia wiggled her legs and tail to help out – resulting in musical notes and a gradually descending scale as she slowly made her way inside.

When only Octavia's plaid puffiness and her tuneful tail stuck out, Vinyl gave her one last big shove and Octavia went pop-parp! Right into Vinyl's puffy belly.