Hot Commodity

It was a mostly normal day at the Castle of Friendship, MOSTLY. After all Rainbow Dash referring to getting Called by the Map as a "booty call" was a little odd. Twilight just couldn't get it out of her head, no matter how many treatises on ancient arcane philosophy she rearranged on the shelf.

Things had been...weird since Flurry was born, not with Flurry of course she was a wonderful little girl now that her magic was under control.

No, things had been weird with her extended and adopted family of sorts. She kept getting called to Canterlot to mind Day Court while Celestia and Luna were spending a lot of time on diplomatic missions.

That's what they said anyway, knowing Celestia and Luna's long game mindset they were likely using it as training for when they eventually retired, and as an excuse to take a much needed break. Faust knows they deserved it.

Twilight's wool gathering was abruptly shattered by a banging on the castle doors. Muttering to herself as she puts "Arcane Applications for the Modern Day" in it's spot in ancient history.

"Why in the world is someone banging on the door? It's the middle of the day and they are always open!" Climbing down from the ladder and walking towards the door in an irritated huff.

As she opens the door she is greeted by a white and blue blur tackling her to the floor as a familiar white stallion lights his magic aura and bars the doorway with every piece of furniture in easy reach with a yell. "SHE'S GONNA EAT ME!!"

"Shiny? What are you doing? Is everything okay!" Immediately going into panic mode Twilight activated the defenses of the Castle with a quick flick of her hand and a small surge of magic.

Shining Armor, Former captain of the Day Guard and current Emperor of the Crystal Empire, her brother, was panting, disheveled and looked as if he had run from his own death. Backed into a corner of the crystal walls of the castle trying in vain to squeeze his six foot two inch muscular frame into the smallest possible shape he could.

With a shaky voice and a trembling body he looked at his LSBFF like she was a shining light in the darkness "No Twily, everything is most DEFINITELY not okay. Celestia is trying to kill me."

"What?!? No she's not Shiny! She would never do something like that." Twilight chuckled as her brother shook his head, looking like some of the soldiers she'd counseled in her time working with the Day Court. Shell shocked, that was the word for it, while he MUST be mistaken about the cause SOMETHING had most assuredly scared her dear BBBFF.

Speaking in a soothing voice and quietly making a cup of coffee for him with a simple spell, she sat down on a chair "It's okay Shiny, you got scared but it's going to be okay. Celestia isn't trying to hurt you, much less kill you and she certainly isn't going to eat you." Offering up the steaming cup of coffee to her shaken brother held in a tendril of her magic she continued. "Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

Shakily taking the cup and inhaling the life giving aroma of the quality coffee Twilight was so fond of he took a calming breath. "Your defenses prevent teleportation right?" At her nod he visibly relaxed. "Good. Look, I've tried to keep this quiet but I'm left with no other choice but to bring you into this."

Tilting her head in confusion "Into what? If there was something major going on Celestia or Luna would have either told me or I would have heard about it during Court."

"Not this. This is isn't a public matter or national security. This is personal. Celestia and Luna both have been relentless, they are working with Cady and it's just gotten...WEIRD. Don't get me wrong, normally I'd be flattered but those two aren't taking no for an answer and it's getting to where I'm running out of places to hide." Shaking his head and taking a fortifying sip of the broth of life. "Is it so bad that I just want to live my life, love my wife, and raise my daughter?"

Chuckling under breath Twilight can't help but shake her head and listen, Shiny was always a nerd and, like her, tended to overthink everything. Family trait apparently. "just let him talk, the truth will get out of him eventually. This is no different from my panic attacks, I just have to let him work through it in his own head"

"Of course not Shiny, and no one is trying to take that away from you. You're an amazing husband and father, the Crystal Empire is lucky to have you and Candace" Twilight said calmly still not understanding what was really wrong.

Looking at his little sister and fellow royal in confusion it finally clicked. "You don't know do you? You really don't know the laws of the land you help to rule do you? Look at the law books Twily, I'm MEAT. Not dead meat sure, but meat nonetheless"

Anxious to get to the truth of this Twilight levitates over the most current law book. A massive Tome in its own right, it had several appendices to account for new laws, revocation of old or outdated laws etc.

"Okay Shiny, it's going to be okay. What Law am I looking for?" She said opening the book on her lectern and starting to summon the appendices from storage for reference.

"Statute 100, section A, subsection B3." He rattled off in a monotone.

"wow that's an OLD law" Twilight thought as she leafed to the front sections of the book and reading the Header of the section out loud "Royal spouses? Really Shiny? Is this all about some new duty that you have to do and don't want to?

"Keep reading"

"Okay, okay" skimming over the largely ceremonial list of titles, rights, privileges and duties of a Royal Spouse she searched for the section in question, only to read it out loud in growing horror. "A Royal Spouse, 'pon fathering a child amongst the Alicorn, must submit themselves to the O'erbearing Heat that will o'ertake their Royal Highnesses. Thence he will lay with them and perform his Marital duties to the Spouses he now claims." Twilight, eyes wide, looked at her brother. "This has to have been amended right? Royal herds went out of favor when the taboo of incest became common. Nobles wanting to keep the bloodlines "pure" was killing them."

Sighing into his quickly emptying cup Shiny looked at his sister with a withering look. "what's the first rule of Law you learned?" Earning a shocked look from the Element of Magic, his own sister, and a fellow Princess to his Cady.

"The first 100 are Sacrosanct" she recited in mounting horror. "They cannot be altered in anyway"

"The first 100 are Sacrosanct" Shiny repeated ina mocking tone. "Yeah, keep reading, you're just getting to the important bit"

Looking back to the ancient law she found the subsection in question and kept reading "A Royal Spouse, 'pon succefully fathering a child, shall then be named Spouse to all Reigning and given equal stature 'mongst the peerage, and such as a spouse must, give equal time to his wives." Looking back to her brother who was once more shaking in the corner "Equal time? My old Equish is a little rusty, care to elaborate?"

Shining looked up with a haunted look in his eyes. "Fuck them until they are pregnant Twily. I have to, by law, fuck every Reigning Royal until they are all pregnant." He let this statement hang in the air as the wheels all finally clicked in his sister's head with a gasp as the implications all became clear.

"You mean...?" Shining was no longer the only one shaking

"Yeah, ALL four of you, and if that isn't embarrassing enough Wife guess who's been on a thousand year DRY SPELL??" He asked dryly

"Luna?" Twilight ventured tentatively only for her brother to wrench him self out of the corner and roar.

"BOTH OF THEM!!" Taking a breath he shrank back against the wall, leaning heavily on it. "Both of them Twily, Celestia had too much on her plate after Nightmare Moon to search for a lover and Luna was trapped in the moon. Neither of them has had a lover in over a millennia, and NOW they are going into a biological heat for the first time in a thousand years. I'm going to die a mummy, hell Cady has to feed me PonyPower to keep me hydrated as it is."

"Eww! I do NOT need to hear about your sex life Shiny!" Twilight exclaimed with a gagging sound.

"I'm just glad this heat hasn't hit you yet, that's why I came here, I just hope they haven't been able to track my teleport..." He started only for the doors of the castle to rattle on their hinges with an astounding banging sound

A voice cut through the Castle, one they both knew but had never heard sound like this, it was almost sultry. "Shining Armor! Come out to plaayyy! Come greet your wives!

"Oh shit... they're here"