How to Get a Marefriend (In a Roundabout Way)

Chapters

Down Below
Brought to the Surface
Hypothesis
Questions With An Answer
Left on the Back-hoof
Linen and Lavender
From A Different Perspective
Liminal Space
Into the Other End
The Things Ponies Want
False Climax
Completely Incomplete
Questions With No Answers

Down Below

“So then why don’t you ask her out?”

Shining had come to like the question. It rolled out of his mouth at this point like a cast pair of dice. Which side would it land on? Would he be too busy, would it not be the right time, or--

“She’s really just a friend,” Sunburst responded.

Ah. A four. That meant he must feel down today.

Shining liked to spend his free time with Sunburst when he could. Right now the two of them sorted odd artefacts to submit for research, bunkered deep in the archives of the Royal Library. The warmer colored crystals formed the deeper down they grew, so underground like this the oranges and reds of the walls bounced torchlight softly around the chambers, tingeing Shining’s own coat to more closely match Sunburst.

Shining lurched forward to catch the vase as it was dropped. Sunburst had a nasty habit of not communicating things when he was distracted, and had simply let his aura go on the vase without asking Shining to grab it. With a flash from his horn, Shining stopped it quietly and set it down in the “non-submit” pile.

The only noise for a moment was Shining letting out a tired breath. Sunburst, unfazed by the question, was scanning over the shelves and shelves of older artefacts to find more odds and ends to submit. So intent. It reminded Shining of a younger Twilight. Whereas Twilight grew into her studies, became boisterous and proud of her focus, Sunburst was still quiet, persistent. Shining’s eyes drooped with the nostalgia of the thought.

“You know exactly what I’m going to say to that.” Shining decided to prod forward a little bit. He liked Sunburst, but he felt like mercy was overrated at the moment.

“I know what you think you were going to say,” Sunburst didn’t even look behind him.

“Huh?”

“You think you can make a good point about how obsessed she was for me. Either that or you’re gonna tell me how much I talk about her and how I clearly like her back.” He was playing confident, clearly. Shining always liked it when he heard the slight waver in Sunbursts voice. It meant that he was trying to force himself to be more assertive. In an almost paternal sense, it made Shining a little proud to know that he was someone Sunburst could step out of his comfort zone with.

“So what am I actually going to say, then?” Shining flicked his tone up, challenging Sunburst right back.

Sunburst pivoted slightly. His muzzle caught the hardest edge of the bouncing torchlight, making him glow a soft red, and his eyes, staring with surprising energy directly at Shining, held in them two glimmers of the surrounding light. Shining leaned forward just a bit as the two looked at each other from across the small chamber. The silence was shattered.

“You’re going to ask me if I know how to play.” Sunburst held up a small box with, from what Shining could remember, middle (maybe early middle) ponish scrawled all along the front.

Shining stepped forward a bit, closing the distance between him and Sunburst. Drawing him in like a fish on a hook, the box slid through the air backwards until Shining, pulled by his own focus, bopped his side against Sunburst as they both looked down at the box.

“The...Unicorn...and the--” Shining tried to read the box aloud. He could feel Sunburst tense up next to him, struggling not to interrupt.

“The Unicorn and the Fighting?” Shining finished.

“The Unicorn and the Duel!” Sunburst almost spat the words out, having clearly wanted to correct Shining. Again, very Twilight. “You got the root right, but with that ending it becomes the noun ‘duel.’” Sunburst had leaned back from their point of contact a bit, bending his head to peer at Shining in a very teacherly way.

Shining, knowing that Sunburst hated the contact, mirrored him directly, squishing the ends of their muzzles together playfully, snout to snout, before saying “Whad issit?”

Sunburst didn’t recoil in the same way he had at first. Shining was a very physical pony, used to hugs and tackles and friendly cuddles, and Sunburst very much wasn’t, but it seemed like he was at least getting used to his friend’s antics, if not warming up to them. Still thought, much to Shining's continued disappointment, he levered his whole body away to face Shining at an angle, still holding the box out to him with his aura. He had that slight chip in his voice, that chirpy quality it got when he was just a bit more excited than his demure body could handle.

“It’s an old old old old game. 600 years--”

“I guessed that it was early middle ponish by the accents,”

Shining was taken aback for just a moment. Sunbursts face, breaking spastically from his excitement, showed a level of amazement at Shining’s pin on the date that was frankly almost demeaning. The same look a father would give a pegasus filly who managed to fly for the first time. If not for the fact that Shining knew that Sunburst didn’t have a mean bone in his body it would almost come off as backhanded. It didn’t though.

Moment aside, “yeah. You hang around me too much if you started learning stuff like that.” He looked down for a moment, stamping his hoof. “But, it was the first game, at least the first we have a record of, to use a dice system with modifiers in order to roll for your chances to do something. Meaning that this is one of the earliest design ancestors to--”

“Ogres and Oubliettes!” Shining matched Sunbursts energy exactly as the two spoke.

Shining didn’t even need to be asked, “I extend royal permission, as Prince of the Crystal Empire, to postpone the submission of the Items for Magical Research Initiative by one day.”

Sunburst let out a small staccato giggle at the faux formality of the situation. He waited a moment to let some air out of the conversation before piping up, “I don’t think we should. This report doesn’t just go to Cadance, it’s going to the other princesses too, and it’s meant for the royal archive.”

Shining began to smirk. The look on Sunburst’s face was almost comically sullen, like a foal being told that it hadn’t snowed enough to cancel school. He didn’t even bring his eyes up to meet Shining’s.

“And this is one of the biggest research projects I’ve ever been in charge of and I do--” A blue aura tilted his head up to meet Shining’s eyes. His face, eyes half lidded and mouth set in a soft smile, his eyebrows raised in amusement, gave off nothing but understanding. Sunburst quieted himself. Again, Shining noted, at this angle his light blue eyes caught the pinkish light of the archive chamber. Shining wondered what his eyes looked like to Sunburst.

“You are a very good researcher.” As soon as the words were out Shining knew that his habit of trying to make Sunburst uncomfortable was becoming one of his favorite hobbies. Beyond physical contact, beyond the habits he had to overthink, beyond all of that, the thing that Sunburst could not do was accept a compliment.

“I--” Sunburst stopped. Meeting Shining’s eyes directly.

“You work hard. You are motivated. Hiring you was one of the best decisions that I have gotten the chance to make.”

Sunburst’s posture tightened. His ears had begun to fold back, and his eyes, still struggling to hold their lock with Shining, had shrunk down to pinpricks. He was like an animal backed into a corner. Shining giggled internally. Only with Sunburst could he feel like he was being mean by being nice.

“My sister is the smartest pony in equestria and my best friend is the second.”

That was the finisher. Like he had been swatted with a newspaper, Sunburst swung his head down. Shining could almost see the blush through the pinkish light of the room. Maybe he had gone too far. Too bad, he thought.

“We will work ahead of schedule tonight,” Shining continued, he was aware now of the light echo, the bass of his voice bouncing gently in the small chamber, “and then tomorrow evening, after I’ve completed drilling and instructions, we will play.”

Shining liked to use his authoritative voice on Sunburst sometimes. It was a secret weapon. It always worked. Sunburst untensed a moment and faced Shining once more. His eyes again. This time Shining caught himself. Why was he so interested in Sunburst’s eyes?

With a stiffened lip and a look of determination, Sunburst set the box aside and Started, “We have at least 4 more shelves to get through then. Come on.”

Author's Note

The buildup begins.

Brought to the Surface

Shining looked at himself with all the scrutiny he could muster, which wasn't much; he had been told that he could come off as self absorbed. He looked fine enough for the long day that he had had. More precisely, he supposed, the normal day preceded by the long night. Sunburst hadn’t let the requirement of getting three more shelves done undercut his performance in sorting our artefacts that met research criteria. The whole evening was spent trying to identify dates, track down ancient records of inventory, and blowing the dust off of very old things.

It was all done though, and it only took them until 2 in the morning, which was a convenient 3 hours before Shining conducted morning inspections. Tired as he was though, he was also excited, and sure that he looked off. Why did it matter what he looked like? The Crystal Empire did have one unique advantage, and that was reflective materials, so he knew that his mirror wasn’t lying to him. His looks really didn’t crack, he thought to himself. Maybe being around Cadence all the time has some kind of effect like that? In any sense, his eyes were bright and his mind was sharp. His hair looked fine. His armor hadn’t left any odd mattes in his fur. He brought his hoof up and scritched away at his chin, pondering. Oh.

His eyes now intent, he focused in on his chin in the mirror. He hadn’t had the fur on his face trimmed in quite a while; it was starting to curl at the ends with its length. If he let it get any longer the ends would start to tint blue. He hadn’t let himself get a scruffy chin since before he had entered the Royal Guard. Now as the captain he technically didn’t need to abide by the dress code, but it was still a formality. He met his own blue eyes. Maybe he would try to see how a goatee would look on him nowadays.

It wasn’t a long way to Sunbursts chambers. He lived on the royals grounds in a small bunker sitting just below ground level outside of the royal gardens. Most of his days were spent among the royal archives and libraries and, as opulent as those were, he had insisted that they not over accommodate him otherwise, so there he was situated in what was more or less a dormitory for the grounds staff. Shining had not actually gone to Sunbursts quarters all that often. Their shared business around the castle afforded them ample opportunities to hang out in their normal day to day. In fact, now that Shining thought of it, Sunburst would probably be considered a “work friend” more than anything else. He made a mental note that he wanted to connect far more with his daughter’s Crystaler.

The door was already being opened as Shining walked up to it, but Shining, a step ahead of his friend’s actions, was already beginning to speak.

“I want us to hang out more.” The words came bluntly.

“Uhh. We hang out a lot,” Sunburst began, “I’m at nearly every event for the castle staff. We talk when you help out with my work. I’m there for all of Flurry Heart’s events. Oh, and we do monthly O&O one shots with Shore Shine and--”

“No.” The natural weight his voice carried cut through the middle of Sunburst’s sentence. “We need to hang out more.”

The distinction seemed lost on Sunburst as he simply stood in the doorway processing. Lacking the acuity to understand and the will to care, he opened the door the rest of the way and gestured Shining inside.

Shining expected it to be far messier. It was actually surprisingly austere. His bed, while not clean, was made up well enough. His workstation, the messiest part of his room by far, was easily readable as an organized chaos, with things out of order in just such a way to suggest a method to the madness if Shining cared to investigate. His bookshelves were organized, though not at a Twilight level, Shining remarked to himself. Beyond any of that the room lacked much distinct personality. There were no heirlooms or pieces of art. Shining was sure there would’ve been pop culture paraphernalia or O&O figures. No, however, no such thing. Only a smallish room and the smallish scribe within it.

His cloaks seemed to all be in the armoire that sat ajar in the corner. Shining realized how little he had seen of his friend without his cloak. Without the added volume his figure was so slight. He wasn’t quite short as much as Shining was tall, but his narrower shoulders and softer slope from his withers into his back were something Shining was unused to, seeing more toned and battle ready stallions as much as he did. He spent too much time with soldiers, he thought to himself, if he got this caught up just seeing a normal stallion. It had to be the unfamiliarity that made his eyes linger as much as they did on Sunburst, he thought. It had to be.

“So the rules are actually pretty simple,” Shining realized that he had been staring as Sunburst began to speak, “I translated them this morning.” He turned away from Shining for a moment. His mane is so red, Shining thought. The moonlight was only just cresting the horizon and Luna was muting most of Sunburst’s coat, but the light was hitting his mane and reflecting brilliantly, bouncing a deep red that seemed to leak out into the air around him. Was Shining’s mane that pretty in the light?

His aura picked up the small wooden box from next to his desk and hovered it gently over the floor, landing it on a small carpet by his bed. In the darkened room as Sunburst walked Shining took a moment to learn his stride. It wasn’t just his cloak that always gave him the appearance of gliding. In fact, he moved with a very natural grace as his smaller form seemed to slither between the patches of light draping in through the windows. Shining stood in the doorway watching.

Sunburst sat excitedly on the floor, shimmying his back up against his own bed and looking up at Shining. His eyes caught the moon perfectly. They seemed to hold it. It's almost like they offered it to Shining.

“Sit.”

Sunburst’s voice almost sent Shining into a sensory overload. Had his voice gotten deeper?

Shining never cared much about acting like an idiot. It came natural to him so he never worried about embarrassing himself. Even so, he could feel himself blushing a bit. How did he feel smaller than than he was? He made his way over and finally sat opposite Sunburst on the carpet, his back open to the air, the game between them.

“We pick characters,” he began, taking several old, worn wooden slats out of the box. The smell of age was immediately apparent as the whole room seemed to sour with it. “That are represented by these. Then we pick weapons for them,” more slats, “that have different modifiers to different types of attack. Then we pick one of these,” again, more slats, “that give a special power, like negating a certain type of attack, adding onto certain rolls, or getting to reroll. We only get to see each other’s character and primary weapon, our other two weapons and our special abilities are hidden from each other.”

Shining was amazed how much he had hung onto. Very few things caught his mind enough to make him focus, but apparently this was one of them. Every word.

Shining was quiet as they began to play. His mind took a moment to start slipping into the strategy of the game. It was played by using their attacks on each other, rolling for the base damage and using the weapon to modify it. Shining lost the first few rounds, both getting poor rolls and not being able to find a good loadout that he enjoyed. He found himself looking up at Sunburst often. Shining was no idiot, and being the husband of the Princess of Love can make a pony pretty emotionally intelligent. He felt like he needed to leave.

Sunburst flashed his aura behind him, his blanket slid off the bed and draped itself around his sleek shoulders, giving him back his usual form of being cloaked.

“It’s cold, isn’t it?” Shining let the words stumble out before he could reel them in. Eh, he figured during the silence that hung for a moment after, he just gave himself a door at least.

Sunburst looked back up at him, he held his slats in his aura close to his chest. His eyes were brighter than Shining expected them to be.

“Here.” His aura floated one of his cloaks to Shining. “I don’t have any more blankets, but these should be pretty clean.” Shining took it in his own aura and wrapped it around his shoulders. He was too broad for it to close and too tall for it to reach very far, but it hung limply down his back nonetheless. The gesture sent blood rushing to his face, warming him nonetheless.

Shining had to get some control of the situation. He had learned from Candy that emotions were natural and can’t be fought. They were like a river. But he could still control himself as he floated along.

He won the match.

He could smell the cloak.

He picked the card that said “sword” in middle ponish.

Deep breaths.

The smell of books of course.

Sunburst played the armor card.

The smell of magic. The faint spice that Sunburst’s aura seemed to carry.

Shining played the sword again. Sunburst couldn’t seem to figure out a counter.

He could smell something else very faintly.

Shining could see the shift in Sunburst’s body language. That was his tell. He had a plan.

Shining played Armor this round.

Sunburst played the Cloth Cloak.

He smelled Sunburst’s body on the cloak, Shining realized. It was the smell of his fur, his skin.

“The Cloak’s ability!” Sunburst cut in, proudly asserting himself in the situation. “You’re defenceless right now!” Sunburst began to lean in as he placed the slat representing his Spear down. Shining tried to recoil, leaning back as far as his sense of balance would let him. “And with your guard down I roll and…” Sunburst had looked down at the die as he cast it. It was a 4. Shining was dead. The die was not what Sunburst was looking at. Shining was not one to get embarrassed often, but this was embarrassing, being out like that in front of a friend.

Shining rolled to his side and closed his legs quickly, casting the cloak to the side. “Oh shit. I’m...wow I’m so sorry.”

“H-hey it’s fine man, it’s fine,” Sunburst stammered.

Shining curled up on his side, “I just haven’t--”

“I’m sure you wanna get back to your wife--”

“That’s...Yeah. No.” Shining was in the fetal position, his back to Sunburst.

“Yeah. A butterfly flaps its wings, yeh?” Sunburst spoke breathlessly, “You know what they say?”

“I’m just sorry you had to see--”

“It’s fine.”

They both hung in silence for a moment. Neither had moved much after their initial burst. Sunburst was still leaning forward, a hoof on the ground supporting him, while Shining was curled on his side, craning his head back to keep his body turned away from Sunburst.

“It’s fine.” This time Sunburst had a confidence in his voice that scared Shining. “Do you want to keep playing?”

It wouldn’t go down.

“No thanks,” Shining began, “It’s been a good few hours and I’m tired after last night.”

“I guess so. Besides, if you spend another night up late with me Cadence might start to get jealous.”

Did he know?

It was fairly obvious, Shining remarked to himself.

He really did have to leave.

“I really do have to leave.” It was fairly clear by Shining continuing to remain prone what the persisting problem was.

“I already saw it, dude, just get up and go if you need to.”

“I can’t let the guards see this.”

“You share a locker room. I’m sure they’ve seen your penis more times than your wife has.”

He just needed to wait and stop talking about it.

“I just need to wait...And let’s stop talking about it, please.”

Sunburst rolled his weight back onto his haunches with a smirk. “I’m not used to seeing you so embarrassed.”

“It’s an embarrassing thing,” Shining snapped. He really didn’t like feeling this embarrassed. Why wouldn’t it go down?

“Sure sure, it is. I would feel so awful if it were me right now.” Sunburst leaned his body forward, seeming to seep onto the floor, resting his head on his hooves. “And you know the thing,” he talked at Shinings back. Shining didn’t want to face him. “If it were me, you would be ruthless.”

Shining had taken shrinking potions before. He had never felt smaller.

“You,” his head pronounced itself forward, bringing his mane partially in front of his face, “you would say something about my size.”

Why was he doing this?

“You might even ask me to just ‘sack up and sit up. I don’t care if I see it.” His impression of Shining was kind of funny, thought Shining wouldn’t admit that to himself in the moment.

He wasn’t that bad of a person. What kind of Karma would serve him retribution this severe?

“And ooooh boy. You would even say I must be gay.” How close was he going to lean. Shining could almost feel his breath on his flank at this point. Sunburst slipped ever closer to Shining. “You might even accuse me, if this were reversed,” He crawled noisily up behind Shining, “of wanting to fuck you.”

This was almost too much. Too much emotion. Shining was not in control right now. He did not know what to do. It was all too much.

Sunburst was laughing.

Shining turned back around, his eyes almost shrunken back into his skull. Sunburst had fallen back onto the carpet, rolling on his back at this point. Holding his sides. Shining felt a little more comfortable but a little more conflicted. While Sunburst wasn’t in the same state, he had also become present.

Relaxing from his curl he felt comfortable enough to chuckle.

“You suck right now,” he said. Only half joking.

“Oh come on. You know how guys are. You’ve actually been in locker rooms before, right?” He made no effort to cover himself from where he laid on his back.

He was right, of course. Stallions were an excitable enough group, and when it can't just be hidden under a tail like mares, stallions had gotten quite used to not worrying about it in certain company. He sat back up, feeling the tension in the room soften.

“And you know,” Sunburst continued, looking over himself at Shining from the ground, “that if I had been the first to pop a stiffy in private that you would’ve gone harder than that.”

“The problem is that I went harder.”

“Oh haha. Get out of here and get your wife to take care of that, dude.”

“I’ll make sure to think of you since you seem so concerned about it.” That shrank Sunburst back again, closing his legs slightly. Shining still knew how to make Sunburst squirm. He stood up, both of their problems having taken care of themselves at that point, and held his gaze with Sunburst while he was still prone. With his red mane glowing in front of his face, Sunburst’s eyes still seemed to hold the moon out to Shining. To offer it. Shining may accept it. More than the moon, as he stared at Sunburst, on the floor but still mockingly on display, he resolved himself with his feelings. He saw an impending resolution.

Hypothesis

“So you’ve got to tell me who it is? Come on, I won’t be mad, you know me.” Cadance’s voice was hard to read. It always was. She was an empath, so she seemed to never get the hang of telegraphing her emotions properly, at least not the complex ones, since she had gone her whole life recognizing them intuitively. It was something most ponies wouldn’t guess from just looking at her, not something befitting of the princess of love in theory, but it was something Shining thought was charming.
So here Shining was, looking into her eyes, brilliantly purple, and trying to read the emotion he saw in them. It was interest, he finally realized, she was just curious. She went on, “I can feeeeeel that you have a crush, Shiny. If you really think that the Princess of Love would be mad that you have a little crush, then--”

“Sunburst.” Shining said with a waver in his voice.

They were sitting at the table together. A wide, ornate table meant to host the most elegant of feasts, crystals of every color embedded into the table cloth, chandeliers, yes plural, casting sparkling reflections all around the high hall around them, throwing the moonlight that hit them through the windows into all corners of the room, and especially into Cadance’s eyes. Eyes that were definitely shocked.

She sat back in her seat next to his, composing herself very quickly. Shining had trouble being shy around Cadance, and he was recovering from being caught off guard with the question. Even so, in a situation as delicate as this, he kept his posture smaller, shoulders slouched apologetically with his eyes drifting back to his food. With anyone else he would try to press the advantage and take control, but he knew that he could be a little more vulnerable with Cadance. He wanted her to take control because, frankly, he thought to himself, she might know better than him right now. She might tell him that it is all in his head. She might talk him down. She could even…

“That is so cute,” she chirped next to him, her cheeks puffing out with a smile as she giggled.

This was one of the reasons he loved her, Shining thought as he slouched back in his chair, his eyes shrinking back in his skull for a moment. He had a thing for women that could keep him on his hooftips.

“Aw...Shiny. Look at me.” A long, delicate pink hoof seemed to glide in front of his face and tilt his head to look at her, his scruffy cheek being cupped in a way so soft and deliberate as to put his mind at ease. She could inevitably feel some of his tension dissipate, her empathy only getting stronger with touch. Her eyes looked worried, however; Eyebrows were drawn up tightly onto her forehead. As Shining met her eyes he lost himself. Days of guilt and worry and abject anxiety seemed to come into focus. He realized all at once how he hadn’t unclenched his jaw in half a week, how his upper back was tense, how his temples were tight; he realized how he hadn’t been contemplative and stoic all of this time, he had been scared.

The tears had hardly begun before she had pulled him into a hug. Her forehooves, longer than his, reached around his broad barrel easily and her long neck wrapped gently around the side of his head, nuzzling her into his mane. His burly hooves came up to reach around her slender frame in response, her moving her wings up and out of the way so he could close the loop of the hug.

There was something so sure, so still and unwavering about how Cadance hugged. With so much physical contact she could basically tell what he was thinking. For anyone else, this would be a terrifying thought, but with Cadance it made things so much more intimate. Even when she knew every little emotion, every fleeting flaw that gets hidden by the mind on a daily basis, every imperfection that Shining even kept from himself, even when she could feel every negative emotion, all the doubt and the false bravado, through all of it the hug never wavered for a second. Knowing that right now, right along with him, his wife was feeling his fears, it only made him sadder. Or, more than making him more sad, it made him comfortable to accept how sad he was. He knew that in this moment, no matter how hard he fell, she would catch him.

He wasn’t sobbing, instead he let out a few deep, fitful breaths, letting the tears fall freely onto his wife’s mane. The hug was like a conversation in itself. He could feel each thought start to bubble in his chest, and he could feel a slight reaction from her, her hoof rubbing broadly on his shoulder blade, her face sinking deeper into his mane, her chest rising and falling against his. It was a long hug, one that kept soothing a deeper and deeper level of his insecurities. It felt good. He wanted the moment to continue, and she could feel that from him, so they just sat, thirty seconds, a minute, two, the tears were done soon enough but he just wanted to hold her. He never wanted to lose her.

Finally, taking a deep breath of the lavender and linen smells of her mane, so simple yet so rejuvenating and lovely, he patted a broad hoof in the center of her back and began to shift his body weight away. She let him out of the hug, but kept her right hoof wrapped around his back. Staying close, she leaned her head against his, putting them forehead to forehead, their horns resting on the tops of each other’s manes.

“Why do you feel this way?” Her voice came out as a croak and his heart sank as he realized that she had been crying too. He swallowed as he felt like a burning hot rod was in the back of his throat and waited. He knew that she could feel him thinking, working out how to explain his feelings. She would never interrupt someone trying to introspect.

Pulling back he responded, “I thought it was wrong.” The answer was simple, but it cut to the core of it. It was wrong for him to feel this way. It was wrong for him to want somepony other than his wife. It was wrong for somepony who was straight to want a stallion. It was wrong for a father to want something that could change his daughter’s life forever. It was wrong. His eyes did not meet hers. He knew what she would want to say.

“You know what I want to say,” she said gently. This was her favorite tactic. Her and Shining knew each other well enough to play the, “you know” game often. It let them lead each other without being heavy handed.

“I do, but it’s just how I feel, Candy.” He finally met her eyes again. It crushed him to see the hints of pain that were still there. Pain for him. His eyes began to wetten again.

“Who in the Crystal Empire, who in Equestria, would make you think that you have anything to feel bad about?” Her delivery stiffened with her resolve.

“It isn’t just that,” Shining began, he didn’t want the breadth of the issue lost, “It is how guilty I feel for you--for Flurry Heart.”

“The heart does what it want’s, Shiny,” her tone shifted once again, this time to reassurance. “I know that you are faithful. I trust you. I would never be mad at you for getting a crush, being married is a long and hard journey. I just want you to trust me enough to tell me.”

“How can I be attracted to someone without wanting to cheat?” This was what Shining wanted to know. He had plumbed the depths of his mind to find a way to rationalize his feelings that didn’t involve him being a harlot, someone who wanted to risk his whole family for a passing fling.

“By not cheating.” Her face was plain again. Whatever emotion she wanted to convey was one that she didn’t do consciously. Shining took a moment. It was inquisitive, he finally reckoned.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, lets just say, right now, if you got the chance to sleep with Sunburst, would you?” She cocked her head just slightly.

“I would not, no.” Shining made sure his voice was tempered. He had questioned a lot about himself in the past few days, but he had never faltered on this.

“Then please, let go of this self-resentment. I’m not mad at you.”

There was a pause for a moment. Shining expected a weight to lift from him. This was what he had wanted from the conversation, after all. He was absolved. There was no catharsis. The same pit rested on the top of his stomach as before.

“There is a question that comes out of all of this, though…”

As soon as Cadance spoke again Shining could recognize the shift in her tone. Some heat already began to rush to his face.

“There are some spells, ones that have some more out-there effects, that I may have always wanted to try in the bedroom.” Cadence had this lovely pitch to her voice, a low note that she could let hang at the end of her sentences like a fishing line, and it certainly reeled Shining in. After last night with Sunburst, not seeing Cadance until tonight, and having no chances to hoof off in between, he was certainly along for the ride wherever this was going. “Guards!” Cadence cut off his thoughts, “Step out for a moment and make sure we aren't disturbed.” Really, right here and now?

“Really, right here and now?” Shining didn’t have time to react even. Cadance was marvelously forward when she wanted to be. As soon as the guards were out of the room her aura slid his chair back, and she dropped to the floor in front of him, her hooves making soft klacks on the crystal floor. He felt a gentle nudge pushing him back in his seat as she placed her forehooves on his thighs and set to work.

Her muzzle pressed into his sheath and her tongue darted out to begin probing at his head, lapping gently at the tip for a few moments, drawing a shuddering breath from Shining. Her purple eyes caught a glimmer of light in them as she looked up at him, nosing her way around his package, running her tongue in circles up and down the ring of his sheath a few times just before his cock began to slip forward. As soon as it crested the edge, she flattened her tongue and gave several forceful, slow licks from just under the base up to the head, massaging it further and further out with her ministrations.

“W-woah. You really do spoil me. I need to get sad more often.” Shining felt the edges of his mouth quiver with the feeling as he spoke.

She stopped for a moment, leaving his cock at half mast, and spoke, “It’s gonna be your birthday in a week, right? So I just have to make sure I give you 31 blowjobs by the time you turn 31.” She had a smile plastered on her face the whole time she spoke; she really did know the right ways to make Shining feel better. The smile was almost better than what she was doing. Almost.

She bent her head down and slid her face under Shining’s member, running the flat of her tongue from the bottom of the base of his cock up to the top, letting the stiffening rod flop off of her face as she moved. She repeated this motion on the other side, and then she died it again and again until Shining had finally dropped fully from his sheath, standing at full attention.

She gave a coy smile once she had him fully aroused. Shining knew her game; they both knew that he enjoyed anticipation. Predictably, now that every inch of his cock was on display, she ignored it entirely. From her position between his legs she rubbed her face on his right thigh, sliding in closer and closer until her muzzle was pressed in the crevice between his thigh and balls. Taking a deep breath, getting his scent to fill her nostrils, she pressed her tongue out and took a long, deep sampling of the region. Shining melted back into his chair, feeling the tension slip from him.

She let her tongue slip all the way from her mouth and traced the contours under his balls as she went over to his left thigh. Repeating the same process, again smelling the clean but distinct musk coming off of him, she set to work on his sack. Opening her mouth as wide as she could, she scooped his left nut up with her long soft tongue and suckled it gently into her mouth. Pursing her lips and drawing her tongue back into her mouth at the same time, she rolled it delicately in her mouth before gently letting it fall from her lips. She devoured his right in much the same passionate way.

Shining could feel the tightness in his lower groin as she edged him closer and closer with each passing moment. A thin line of runny precum had drizzled its way from his head, lazily hanging off the ridge, it finally dripped down onto his waiting thigh. Even this was not lost on Cadence however, as she ran her tongue from his groin outward and lapped up the emission.

“All right,” as she spoke he could feel her warm breath on the underside of his shaft. “Do you trust me?”

“W-what?” Shining had to take a moment and swallow before he could even find his voice.

“I want to try a little bit of a weird spell to make this more interesting. I don’t want to spoil the surprise though.” Her voice was very chipper as she spoke to him on the other side of his dripping dick.

“How weird?” Shining knew that his wife, Celestia bless her, could be quite devious.

“Hmmm. Compared to the things we have tried...an 8 or a 9 out of 10.”

Shining perked up, “Is a 10 the thing I really liked?”

She let out a mischievous grin, “It is, but I don’t have that here in the dining hall with me unfortunately. Besides it’s a whole different idea, what I want to try.”

“Hmm.” Shining was genuinely trepidatious. But he did trust her. “I do trust you.”

“Then close,” her words practically dripped into his lap, “your,” she certainly had a way about her, “eyes.”

Closed.

He let out a sharp gasp, feeling his balls clench immediately as she went almost all the way down his shaft in one gulp. Shining never knew if it was some kind of magic related to being an alicorn, or genuine endurance and control, but her throat was both as loose and as tight as it ever needed to be. Fully sheathed in her muzzle, he wriggled his hips and let a tacit moan fall out of his mouth he could feel the back of her tongue flex against his medial ring. She stayed there for a controlled moment, her breath hitting against his pelvis as she got control of her breathing. She began to slowly pull back, constricting her throat muscles as she did so, dragging his now flaring head against the walls of her neck. Finally, constricting the back of her mouth and pursing her lips as she pulled back to the edge of his cock, she ran her tongue along his head, teasing the ridges of his flair as she sucked hard, making a very stimulating vacuum for a moment.

She angled her head to perfectly avoid her teeth hitting the flair as she released his cock with a pop and left it standing at painful attention, soaked in saliva and open in the air. He still didn’t open his eyes when he heard the hum of magic begin. If he knew anything about Cadance, and he did, he knew a lot, he knew that in the bedroom when magic was in play it was best to relax. Something was going to happen somewhere, he was sure, and no matter where it was it would only benefit him to be loose for when it happened.

There was no such surprise thought, just a pause before a slight warmth radiated in the room, and then a set of lips touched the tip of his dick. Who’s though?

“Uh--”

“Shhh,” the voice that spoke was weird. It was not Cadance. A magic aura, one that was also not Cadance, it smelled faintly spicy--like a cinnamon spice more than a dry heat. Cadence’s aura smelled almost like grass. Perhaps a little sweeter, like Baby’s Breath filling out a bouquet. But this was all getting caught in the weeds, or the flowers, who was suckling the head of his penis?

“Uh...I guess I’m supposed to keep trusting you?” His voice was stiff.

“Mhm.” He couldn’t quite get a read on the voice. It was one that he had heard.

“This is you, right? You wouldn’t...um...bring another person in without asking me?”

“Mm-mm,” he could feel the bass of the new voice through the head of his penis. He was certainly interested in what was going on.

The new mouth, for what it lacked in the softness of Cadance’s normal lips, was very voracious. Cadance mawed at Shining’s cock, kissing and licking and making out with it for several moments, her tongue was now rougher but stronger and wider, making Shining shudder each and every time that same wide tongue licked flatly around his flair. There was more scruff around the mouth, that was for sure. However, just having a deeper voice and more facial hair didn’t necessarily lead to the conclusion that Shining assumed.

Cadance definitely didn’t have the same level of control with this new mouth. Wider feeling teeth grazed the top of his flair. It didn’t hurt, but the technique had surely taken a hit. Erstwhile, this new throat that Cadance had for herself had nowhere near the training. Shining felt it constrict and convulse a few times as his head reached the back of her mouth. Maybe it really is the alicorn blessing to not have a gag reflex, but that isn't anything he would be comfortable asking Celestia or Luna or...Shining wouldn’t want to ask any of the other alicorns.

What the new form lacked in muscle memory, it made up for with Cadance’s own brand of vigor for dick. Since she seemed to just not quite be able to deep throat, not right now with Shining being flared at least, she made a point of upping the tongue work. The new tongue was quite nice, too. Shining never assumed that having a less soft tongue would help, but it really did. Much more stimulation with every deep lick, lapping up the precum from his tip before swiveling it around his head. She moved on to run her new mouth and tongue up and down along the side of the shaft. Shining felt a tickle on his pelvis as some of Cadance’s new facial hair grazed him. Okay, the game was up, it was time for him to see Candy as a colt, clearly this was the surprise, she was trying to make him feel better about having an interest in stallions. Huh.

“Cadance?” He stared into his wife’s new blue eyes. The moonlight from the chandelier reflected through them and stared back at Shining. Her cream muzzle was nestled under the base of his cock, gently kissing at it. Her red mane draped itself just so slightly in front of her face. “Why Sunburst?” The question finally crystalized in his mind enough for him to speak it.

“Well,” She managed to emulate his vocal chords quite well. Minus her tone, she didn’t seem to have any handle of Sunburst’s affectations, though she did sound quite like him. “I thought that if I was gonna try to do the whole ‘gay fantasy’ thing, why not hit the nail on the head?” She bopped her wider white hoof on the head of Shining’s penis.

“This is...uncomfortable.” Shining shrunk back in his chair a bit, already beginning to wilt. He could feel the blush on his face start to form.

“I didn’t want to upset you,” Cadance stepped back, wiping her mouth and goatee, her eyes showed genuine concern.

“That’s...a lot. I don’t know. Is it even...I mean. Isn’t it kind of weird to use Sunburst’s body like this? That’s weird, right?” Shining was surprised that he had found such a cogent point. He was nervous already, but as soon as he stumbled upon it he found traction.

Cadance paused a moment, contemplating. Her eyes, Sunburst’s blue eyes, locked into that frozen expression, the ones she made when she was processing an emotion that she didn’t know how to make the face for. There was a light hum in her horn as she shimmered before Shining’s very eyes and left herself back in her normal form, still looking perplexed.

“Ask him.”

“Whhhaaat!? Ask him if you can take his form for sex? I can’t just ask him. Do--I mean--you know how embarrassing that would be, right?” Shining was fully blushing at this point, closing his legs and shrinking his posture to avoid looking at his wife.

“Oh I know,” she began, Shining could already feel the implication of her words and his cheeks were burning from it, “but I also know how much you like to make people feel out of their comfort zone, so I like it when you are forced to get some comeuppance.”

Shining simply stared at her, jaw slackened. She had so much control over the situation right now. So much control over him. He gulped and spoke, “well...if you wanted to let me try with a stallion, just to see if I like it, then--”

“No.” She cut him off tersely. “First, you would have to ask any other stallion, just the same and just as awkward. Second, and this one I know because I know you, you don’t want another stallion. You have a little guy crush on Sunburst. Just get some guts and ask, you never know what he’ll say.”

“Question, though…”

“Hmm?”

“Can you finish the blowjob first?”

Author's Note

Gonna try to keep the updates to at least one chapter per week, so let's see how this goes.

Questions With An Answer

“Tonight?”

“If you have time, yes please.”

Shining and Sunburst were back down in the royal archives, surrounded in the soft bouncing red light of the crystals, once again sifting through artifacts. Sunburst and his team had determined that a few of the artifacts from the first group were likely part of sets, so they were searching for the accompanying objects in the sea of shelves and old instruments and dusty tomes underneath the royal library.

“You’ve always said I needed a hobby.” Sunburst was already on a solid track as he spoke, Shining knew where he was going with it.

“Yeah, I said it would give you more confidence,” Shining responded, defeatedly. He hated when people took his advice at his expense.

“If you and Cadance don’t have time to come down and try my cooking, then I really don’t want to impose.” Sunburst was already shrinking back into his cloak, hiding himself a bit behind the book he held in his aura.

“No,” Shining made sure his voice cut through the air a bit. He didn’t like seeing Sunburst retreat like this. Well really, most of the time he didn’t like it, sometimes it was funny. Either way, he wanted his friend to be proud of his new hobby: historical cooking. There was a problem, however…

“Is there a problem?” Sunburst has such an apprehensive tone of earnest in his voice. It made Shining’s cheeks heat up to think about how much his friend just wanted to cook a nice meal for him and his wife.

“Cadance is leaving for the next few days with Flurry Heart.” The two of them gently set the odds and ends that they were sorting through down, facing each other to talk. “Celestia and Luna want to see Flurry before they go to Yakyakistan as a royal envoy. She won't be back until Friday.”

“So you have tonight and tomorrow alone then?” Sunburst let his voice trill a bit at the end of the sentence.

“Yeah.” Shining wasn’t too concerned with being lonely, but he felt the empathetic note in Sunburst’s voice.

“I hate it when I have to spend days alone.”

Shining was very aware of the implication under that sentence. While the two of them had spent time together on Monday and Tuesday, Shining hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Sunburst all of Wednesday. The stallion was no doubt in his personal study for the day, working hard, trying to make a name for himself in his new position. Alone.

“That means it will just be me and you,” Shining let the hopefulness leak into his voice.

He turned to look directly at Sunburst, at the blue in his eyes. It was only for a moment, but the pure joy, the genuine and warm excitement that the stallion seemed to feel for the idea, was so piercing that Shining found himself smirking. However, an inevitable, invasive through also creeped into his mind: Cadance. Not just Cadance, however, but Cadance as Sunburst, lapping away at him like a horny schoolmare, looking up at him with Sunburst’s bright, blue eyes. His heart skipped a beat.

“We need to hurry up and find the mouthpiece for that flute,” Sunburst began, his voice dropping to a melodramatic low, “If we at least find that then I can get back to my quarters and find the recipe.”

***

It wasn’t a bad idea. Shining had at least come to trust himself enough to believe that. He trusted himself a lot more. He was surely still uncomfortable with all the recent developments, but he was still starting to feel better. Even so, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was playing with fire.

His quarters were painfully empty without his family, even in his pride he could admit that. The wide, cold chambers, the high ceilings and spanning arches, the wide columns that could make even the burliest earth pony feel small, they were all ignorable when he had his child in his hooves or his wife by his side. His family made him feel larger than life, and without them, left on his own in the massive palace, there was no way not to feel small.

Guard duty was easy this morning. The cadets were shaping up well. His time in the archives was also relaxing. In fact, despite the fact that Cadance wasn’t here, called away unexpectedly at the whim of her aunt, he had had a great day. He had seen all of his friends, had good conversations, life seemed to be turning up. He knew that he would be thinking of asking Sunburst the whole night.

It was unavoidable. With the offer on the table from Cadance, he knew that it would be on his mind. Since he was able to admit to himself that he found Sunburst attractive he had been thinking about the mechanics of sleeping with a stallion more and more. He had remembered all the times that Cadance had been a bit more frisky, approaching the back door in her adventures, and wondered what more he might enjoy if he let himself try. He remembered all the times he had been in locker rooms, all the times he had seen stallions exposed. It seemed so queer now, wording intended, that he had never questioned his own responses. Seeing all the toned, muscular, attractive stallions that he had, he distinctly remembered always thinking “that sure is nice, but it isn’t for me.” Evidently, that isn’t what a straight pony would think.

Now it was all before him. He could try. Not only that, he could try without hurting his wife. All that stood between him and what could be the apotheosis of his sexual development was a very awkward conversation with his friend. A very very awkward conversation with his friend.

He stared at himself in the mirror. The better half of a week without shaving meant that the scruff on his chin, at the very ends, was just starting to take up the same blueish tint as his mane. Speaking of his mane, he had styled it a bit, nothing fancy, just making sure that it was groomed well. His coat was clear and he had trimmed his fetlocks earlier today. He looked as good as he always did.

The walk to Sunburst’s quarters always made him feel just a bit guilty. It was only 10 minutes across castle grounds. He should visit more. He was visiting now, he reckoned, so it was at least a start. It wasn’t until he was making his way across the inner grounds, walking through the yard, Sunburst’s hut coming into sight, that he realized that he didn’t remember the small dormitory even having a kitchen.

“Hey!” Shining jumped nearly out of his fur at Sunburst’s voice behind him. Tripping over his own hooves, Shining plunged forward, smacking his broad chest softly into the well kept grass of the lawn, sending his hind-end up in the air as he skidded hoof over head before plopping over on his side. He didn’t even look back towards Sunburst from where he laid, choosing instead to stew in his own embarrassment at having been scared. “You okay?” Sunburst put just enough inflection in his voice for Shining to be unsure if he was teasing.

“Yeah.” He mumbled, letting his cheeks redden at Sunbursts sniggering. The evening air was cool in the waning sunlight. Still giggling, Shining could hear Sunbursts hooves pad through the grass until he was standing over him from behind. A few thuds later, Sunbursts back pomphed against Shining’s and the two sat there. Their backs to each other, both looked off into their respective sides of the horizon, Shining facing the twilight, seeing the mingling hues of the sky in the clouds. Sunburst squinted his eyes into the Sunset, seeing the horizon gradually overpower the sunlight as the night came.

He could feel Sunbursts back shift with every breath as the two of them just let the receding light warm their sides. His breathing soon matched. It was nice, he thought, to be dragged back out of his own solipsism. He loved his friend. Just as Cadance had reminded him time and time again, emotions were simple, it was how a pony chose to act about them that was complicated.

“We gonna just lay around all night?” Shining let the words destroy the silence.

“The meal is quick.” Sunburst spoke with a calm matter-of-fact.

That was all the assurance Shining needed to lay for a bit longer. The grounds had some activity around this time. Recruits were out on late drills, less active than their early morning routine, but still lazily doing exercises while chatting. Staff were out in the mess area, an open air shelter with tables set out, having dinner before some went to their quarters on castle grounds and others went back home to the city. Birds were quiet, having settled in for the night long ago. The material of Sunburst’s cloak felt nice on his bare back and the grass, freshly cut, tickled at his side and flank.

As the sun dipped under the rim of the walls. The yard slowly cleared. Cadets went back inside, the mess area cleared, and slowly the whole area quieted itself as the last beads of sunlight leaked their way out of the sky through the horizon.

“Have a good day today?” As Sunburst spoke Shining could feel the soft hum of his voice through his back.

“Yeah, actually. Relaxing and short.”

“Time going a little quicker without Cadance around?” Sunburst’s voice produced a surprisingly deep and pleasant timbre against Shining’s back.

“It’s more that there isn’t much to do without her around.”

They were under the soft gradient purple of the sky, stars beginning to poke their heads in through the haze of the atmosphere, as the sun had finally retreated for the day.

“I had to wait for the mess area to be clear.” Sunburst began, rolling away from Shining and hefting himself onto his hooves lightly.

Shining rolled over to lie on his legs, looking up at Sunburst as he stood, “Do you always use the mess area to cook?”

Sunburst looked down at Shining, his horn lighting up to an offering glow, aura lightly picking Shining, helping him to his hooves. “My hut doesn’t have a kitchen,” was the only answer he offered. Once Shining was up, Sunbursts aura, which Shining had decided to call cinnamon-smelling even though it was just off cinnamon, swept down and brushed some of the errant grass from Shining’s chin and chest. He was very dextrous with his aura, seeming to try to make it emulate personal touch, rather than just serve a function. “Go choose where you want to sit, I’ll run and get the ingredients real quick.” There was a zen in the way that Sunburst spoke. It seemed like taking a moment to just lie in the sun together had melted away some of the more fidgety anxiety that he knew his friend would often have. He turned and began to trot away, moving with a limbered out grace that conveyed his loose mood.

Shining watched him go for a moment, smiling at himself in consternation as he took note of the outline of Sunburst’s rump in his cloak. There is time to think about any of that later. He trotted over to the empty mess area, dragging a bench over to the bonfire pit, angling it so that they could both sit together with a nice view of the castle grounds. In surprisingly little time, Sunburst came cantering back over the open grass between the mess and his hut, his aura carrying a cast iron skillet and a small sack, presumably of ingredients, and two plates.

“So, Sous Chef, what historical dish is on the menu?”

“A simple one,” He chimed, setting the sack down on the bench and beginning to take ingredients out, “grilled cheese.”

“That’s it?” Shining winced at exactly how harsh his tone came off.

“I know it isn’t very exotic, but my hope is to make it authentic. I got some real cheese, made exactly how it would’ve been made 600 years ago, real butter, and some bread from a historical bakery that has been making bread the same way for nearly 200 years.” The excitement began to bleed back into his voice. Shining would lovingly call him a spas right now, if not for his genuine interest.

“Rising Dough’s?”

“Huh?” Sunburst seemed like he had been reminded not just that Shining was there, but that other ponies existed as a concept as he looked up from his ingredients. “Oh, yeah, Rising’s. I forgot that you were from Canterlot. I ordered it a few days ago, should still be fresh enough.”

The cheese, a deeply colored hunk, looked as old and...chunky, as a good piece of cheese should as it sat on some wax paper on the bench. The butter, an equally amorphous lump, but lighter and softer looking, sat next to it on the paper. A few slices of bread, admittedly very fluffy looking, were placed on the paper too.

Shining just enjoyed the show of Sunburst working. Once the firepit was lit, a simple spell, he enthusiastically spread the butter on the pan, plopping the bread and cheese down in the skillet and frying away. He procured a few spice shakers and seasoned the grilled cheeses as they simmered. Shining enjoyed the way that he seemed to dance a bit with each of his actions. Just like when he was doing research. However, there was a greater range of motion, more chances for him to add flourish, a little sway to his hip, a little flick of his ears, a little sashay to his tail, all showing the level of genuine passion he had for the moment.

Shining found himself starting to recognize the loose, scatological rhythm that Sunburst seemed to move on, gaining some semblance of a beat to each of his sways and jitters. Demure as his friend seemed, Shining found himself infinitely drawn in to moments like this, the times where Sunbursts sheer enthusiasm and energy seemed to be too much for him to handle. The moments where his voice gained its higher, chirpy pitch, the moments where all 4 of his hooves just couldn't seem to stay on the ground, the times where his rump seemed to wiggle on its own, all of this gave off just how impassioned and fervent Sunburst could be, if only Shining could coax him out of his shell more often.

“I do want you to ask Starlight out.” Shining spoke from the heart to the mouth, realizing his words as he said them. He did mean it, he realized, but he hoped that Sunburst didn’t take it harshly.

“I know. And I know that I want to.” Sunburst spoke in an up-beat tone, flipping the second sandwich off of the skillet and on to the place, serving Shining 2 authentic, historical grilled cheeses, while taking his own plate of two for himself. “There’s no point in dancing around the fact that I’m nervous about the idea.”

Shining took the plate in his own aura, holding the plate out and letting the steam sway and shimmer off of the food, airing it to cool before he dared take a bite. The sandwiches looked fantastic, golden toast and cheese drizzling from the edges, crispy looking and shimmering with the butter and seasonings.

“Why are you nervous? You already know she liked you back at some point. Even if she isn’t interested anymore, there is no way she would be mean about rejecting you. She is still a friend.” Shining watched his food cool in front of him, aware of how chilly the night air was becoming.

“I’m nervous because I’m a nervous person.” There was a starkness in the way he spoke that struck Shining. He picked at his friend further, scooching closer to the fire a bit to warm himself. He just sat in suggestive silence, knowing that Sunburst would assume he wanted elaboration.

After a moment, listening to the quiet crackle of the fire, Sunburst took a bite of his grilled cheese and sighed deeply. The cheese hung down from where he bit invitingly. It looked good.

“That looks good,” Shining said.

“Then take a bite of yours.” Sunburst let his inflection rise sarcastically at the end of the sentence.

“Oh.” Shining took a big bite. He was hungry. It was delicious.

His thoughts got a bit simpler with food. It let him bring his mind back down to the carnal. The two munched for a while, both clearly enjoying the meal, before Sunburst, swallowing a bite, began to speak again: “I haven’t ever interacted very well with ponies.”

“You interact just fine,” Shining’s face showed his concern for how his friend put himself down.

“I do, most of the time I do. That doesn’t mean I like doing it. I’m just a nervous person, like I said. I’ve never really even had a marefriend. There’s just a lot I don’t know, especially when it comes to what other ponies are thinking and it just all makes me...nervous.”

Shining could hear the hurt that lay under his voice. This was an issue that, at least from how Sunburst sounded, ran deep. Again, the two sat quietly and ate. Shining shivered for a moment, the fire was starting to get smaller and he couldn’t lean in any closer without getting off of the bench.

Sunburst looked over at him for a moment, his blue eyes infinitely darker and deeper under the clear night sky, the moon still far behind the two of them rising from the horizon. He fidgeted a hoof under the back of his cloak and procured a fleece blanket.

“I remembered you were cold last time we hung out.”

He shifted over towards Shining in a single motion, bringing them sitting flank to flank, and leaned his weight into Shining, having his shoulder caress into Shining’s upper arm, shorter than Shining as he was, and used his aura to drape the blanket gently over the two of them. There they sat, Sunburst lightly nuzzling his smaller, sleeker body into Shining’s side. Shining couldn’t help but find himself blushing at the sudden contact.

Sunburst took another bite of his food. Swallowing, he spoke, “You can help...by the way. You do help. I notice how you like to push me a bit. It can get on my nerves, but it does help. You’re a good friend. You really are.”

Shining took a slow, deliberate bite of his sandwich. His face was hot. There was even a heat behind his eyes. Judging that he could only ruin the moment by saying anything further, he contented himself with a simple, “thank you.”

“I haven’t had many friends, either, if you couldn’t infer that about me--”

“Stop.” Shining could feel the resolve hook onto his voice as he spoke. “Stop doing that to yourself, please. It makes me...It makes me feel really sad to hear you put yourself down.”

He wasn’t looking at Sunburst as he spoke, he was only looking at the embers of the fire. He felt a tug in his chest. Sunburst’s head slowly came to rest on Shining’s shoulder. Again, the two just sat, feeling the touch of each other. They ate quietly for a while. The air was still and cool. The sky seemed to slowly paint itself in a panorama above their heads. Shining finished his second sandwich as Sunburst finished his first. He sat his plate down, saying, “I’ll save it for lunch tomorrow.”

“They were really good.”

“It’s mostly the ingredients with any grilled cheese,” Sunburst responded, looking up into the shimmering stars being reflected from the façade of the castle. “These were really good ingredients.”

“I just want you to feel better about yourself.”

“I know you do. I do too. It’s hard having a friend that seems like he loves me more than I love myself.” Sunburst’s voice sounded like it was wavering.

“Sunny…”

Sunburst giggled. “My mom used to call me that. Starlight did too. Getting to feel better about myself is slow work. It’s hard, but I am trying. Thank you for helping me.”

The two never turned to face each other during all of this. Instead, Shining could read all the little intricacies of his friend’s body language through touch, feel him breathe out with a little shudder, feel him shift, feel each of the little responses that would be on his face, were he looking.

Neither felt the need for more words after that point. The night had changed into a more somber tone, but Shining knew that he didn’t mind, and it didn’t seem like Sunburst did either. The blanket was warm and Sunburst’s side, still draped in his cloak, felt nice against him. Both of them settled their breathing into each other. The night carried on as the embers continued to glow softly in the ever darkening night.

“Do you want to play a few rounds of The Wizard and the Duel?” Sunburst’s words seemed to drift through a haze to reach him, to be a part of the almost meditative state that he was in.

“Sure. It isn’t too late yet.”

***

It really must be the intimacy of it that made Shining get hard. The intimacy of the small shack with the soft light. The intimate smells of the area that Sunburst stayed in, slept in, his fur on every surface, his presence was everywhere.

The games were going fine, Shining and Sunburst had more stalemates than anything now, since the two of them were starting to get a deep understanding of the admittedly poorly balanced rules of the game. However, the excitement, the banter between them, the lingering sword of Damocles that was the question, all made Shining deathly aware of the exact moment when his head dropped from his sheath, the heat starting to grow in his groin.

They were sitting across from each other, there was no way that Sunburst would notice unless he looked, and the odds of that were slim.

“So are the boners a weird nerves thing?” Sunburst noted the situation.

“Ah... hmm...I’d say probably, yeah.” Shining could feel himself drop a bit more from his sheath, the attention exiting him as much as it embarrassed him.

“Well I hope you remember what I said,” Sunburst went on.

“Yeah, I know. You were right. I’ve been in locker rooms, I’ve seen dozens, I need to not be embarrassed around a friend.”

“Good. I haven’t been in locker rooms, but I’m glad I don’t have to be embarrassed that it happens to me too.”

That isn’t the color Shining thought that Sunbursts head would be. His cock had started to protrude too. It was a dappled pink, much different from the auburn that Shining had noticed that his balls were.

“Actually, I hope you aren’t embarrassed by that. I have a weird question.” Shining saw this as the perfect moment.

“What a way to make me nervous,” Sunburst said, his eyes drawn up in concern.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t weird. Well it is, but...well...just hear me out.” Shining eased the tone, leaning back a bit, letting his own cock sit a bit more freely as it hung limply out of its sheath, it’s length drooping down to touch the floor. “Me and Cadance want to make things a bit more interesting.”

“Oh Stars!” Sunburst shrank immediately.

“Nonono! Not anything about bringing you into the mix...per se. She has this transformation spell, but it can only recreate ponies that already exist, she can’t just make up a new pony. Since you are a close enough friend we were wondering if you were okay with us using your form in the bedroom?” Shining kept his more laid back posture, trying to keep his own member on display as it stiffened to make Sunburst feel less alone about his own hardening dick.

“That’s...hmmm. It’s just my form, right? I wouldn’t feel anything?”

“Nope. It would just be a powerful illusion, at least if what Cadance tells me is true.”

“Huh. Y-yeah, I guess I’m fine with it. I’m kind of flattered that Cadance would want to make you look like me for sex, even if it is just for variety, like you said.”

Shining leaned forward a bit. There was no easy way forward. There really wasn’t. This was the turning point. It would have to be.
“Yeah, but I don’t know, it will be interesting to be you, I guess.” Oh no. Why did he lie? He didn’t mean to lie, he really didn’t.

“So does that mean that you’re already gonna see everything? Since, you know, It’ll be yours?”

“Heh, actually, the spell can only replicate based on things that I know.” Shining felt himself quiet mentally. He was still admonishing himself for lying, so he barely even noticed when Sunburst shimmied himself out of his cloak.

“Wanna have a better look?” Shining looked up to see Sunburst’s bright red face, blushing. His eyes were bright, apprehensive, and surprisingly earnest.

“A-are you sure?”

“I mean, sure. If you are gonna ‘be me’ then it’s no more awkward to know exactly what you are being, I guess. I don’t know. Heh. Here.” Without much more warning Sunburst stood and leaned himself back onto his bed, rolling to leave his whole undercarriage exposed. This was happening.

Splayed on the bed, Sunburst looked up at Shining with apprehension from where he lay, his face still red. Shining stood slowly, much less aware of himself than before. It was almost like a painting, the way the haze of his mind coated the scene before him.

The bed lacked a blanket, it was the blanket Sunburst had brought outside with them. On the bare mattress Sunburst was spread, his hind legs down dismissively, his forehooves drawn up to his chest, covering himself on reflex. His long, slender, wiry frame produced such subtle curves, little pits for the light to bounce gently onto, that Shining found himself staring at his bare torso before anything else. He could see his ribs just slightly framed against the skin of his barrel, and his muscles, lithe as they were, pushing their outlines through his fur.

He drank in the sight of the soft light drawing out every detail, rendering it for him beautifully. Finally, obviously, and inevitably, his eyes drifted between Sunburst’s legs. The skin around his groin shaded itself down from his standard orange to a dark auburn, Shining noted first. He knew the moment was slow, lethargic, and so he didn’t rush himself to observe any further. He stepped forward to where Sunburst lay, hovering his head only a foot or so away from his friends groin.

“Are you okay if i look closer?” Shining’s words hit like hammers, the blood in his ears rushing as it was.

“S-sure.”

They both appreciated the pause. Shining leaned in even further, mesmerized. He knew that his hot, heavy breath would have an effect. Bringing himself only an inch or so from Sunburst’s balls, he could see his cock twitch and stiffen in place from his periphery. It was true that this was nothing Shining hadn’t seen before, nothing he hadn’t seen on dozens of guards in his time in the service. However, in the quiet hut, the acoustics killed by the old wood so that the only sounds were the nighttime wind and Shining’s heart, he felt different this time. He took a deep breath in through his nose, letting Sunburst’s scent, the clean but skinny musk of his groin area, fill his nostrils.

He let a forceful second breath out, this time seeing Sunburst’s whole body wiggle at the stimulus. The tense way he moved, Shining didn’t even have to look up to see how aroused he was.

His cock wasn’t anything inherently surprising. The auburn stretched uniformly up to his medial ring, and then a dappled pink began to wrestle more and more control until it got to his head, which was wholly that pearly pink. It was about what Shining expected, size wise: solidly average for a pony. His head drifting and hovering around it as he looked, Shining wondered if Sunburst was embarrassed about the precum.

He really was worked up. A vein running from the medial ring half way up the left side was pulsing just a bit as his cock twitched with every light breath from Shining. His head flared fully, the ridges striking out painfully in need of release. There was a single pearl of precum that seemed intent to mosey its way through the crease of his head, holding itself just at the edge, refusing to quite be willing to drop off and roll down the top of his shaft.

Shining didn’t even notice how vocal Sunburst had become. Not quite moans, not even whimpers, but more like purrs. His friend, keeping his head turned firmly at the ceiling, obviously hesitant to look down at such an embarrassing situation directly, mewled obliviously, his right hoof up to cover his face.

Shining evaluated the situation. Sunburst was laying before him, perfectly submitted to the scene at hand, his cock on ends, ready for release. Shining could smell the sex off of him. More than the musk of his balls, he could smell the skin of Sunburst’s dick, he could swear that he could smell the bitter bead of precum.

“I think I got a good look.” Shining decided that enough was enough. “I think,” He swallowed, aware of how dry his mouth had become, “I think I know all I need.” Shining backed his head away, sitting on the ground, aware of how almost painful his erection had become.

Sunburst lay there a moment, breathing heavily, shuddering, his leg twitching as his cock continued to sway. He calmed his breathing slowly, having his cock come a bit to ease, but still stayed up prominently. He brought his back legs up a bit, allowing them to partially shield his body, letting his hooves fall from his face so that he could meet Shining’s gaze. His mouth was curled up at the ends in a messy, restrained, almost satisfied smile. His cheeks almost glowed with blush as sweat rolled its way down his brow.

“Hah. Yeah. Glad you got a good look. Is that all you need?” Sunburst rolled over on his side, facing away from Shining on the bed.

“Y-yeah. Definitely. Sorry if I got a little close, I--”

“No no, don’t worry about it, you’re fine. I think I just want to turn in for the night; you might want to too, I’m sure.” Sunburst had twisted himself and gestured to Shining’s persisting erection. The implication was clear.

“Yeah, sure. Thanks, Sunburst. I had a lot of fun today.”

“Me too.”

Author's Note

A little late, but that's mostly because the chapter is long. I'll try to keep more to the Monday or Tuesday releases. (Edit) Busy busy life right now, so possibly a whole week of hiatus ahead. Shouldn't be more than that though.

Left on the Back-hoof

“Sorry to kick you out so quick yesterday.” Sunburst spoke from behind a stack of books, his voice barely carrying over, both a testament to the size of the pile of books and the timidity with which he spoke.

“It’s okay, I hoofed off when I got back to my quarters too.”

Shining heard a book thump onto the ground from the other side of the pile. Sunburst poked his blushing face around the stack to look at Shining. “Oh, we’re just being that forthcoming then?” His voice wavered as he looked around the empty library, apparently afraid some invisible pony was listening in.

“After you almost finished in front of me last night?”

Sunburst seemed to forget he wasn’t a turtle for a moment, his head shrinking back into his shoulders as though he expected it to recede. “I. I-I-”

“It was an intimate moment, it’s fine.” Shining stepped around the side of the pile to stand next to Sunburst, bringing his shoulder down to bump into his friends. “I got pretty worked up myself. We are both just a bit pent up.”

“Hehe. Yeah. You don’t even know the half of it.” Sunburst’s face was so red. Shining almost wanted to touch his cheeks to feel how warm they were.

“Slow time for you?” Shining chucked, almost worried he may touch a nerve, and exited at the prospect of doing so.

“You’ll have to tell me what It feels like to have sex in my body, let’s just say that.” Sunburst took another book off of the pile as he spoke casually.
“Sweet Celestia, Sunburst! I think I need to report you to psyche for self harm!” Shining almost felt his eyebrows raise off of his skull.

“I had to take the ammo from you before you used it.” Sunburst let out an awkward laugh as he leafed through the book he held.

“I know I’m harsh, but Luna’s stars I didn’t know you thought so low of me.” Shining leaned his head down, trying to look at Sunburst’s face to read his expression.

Sunburst let out another gentle laugh. “You can be kind of an asshole.”

“Woah woah woah, I am charming and caring.” Shining and Sunburst shared another gentle laugh. “Oh, but I did lie to you.”

The two of them stopped for a moment, letting the room quiet as Sunburst looked up to meet Shining’s gaze, eyebrows up in expectation.

“Yeah. Um. If you wanted to ask anyone what it would feel like to have sex in your body, you would actually have to ask Cadance.”

Another pause between them.

Sunburst spoke, “You’re both going to be me?”

“No.”

“Oh geez, are you going to be Starlight? Is that why you were asking about me and her?”

“Sunburst-”

“Oh man, wait, are you going to just stay as yourself!?”

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. The look on Shining’s face had to have been very obvious, or Sunburst had to have gotten better at reading faces, because understanding slowly crept into his expression.

“So you will be you...and you needed to see me...so you could help Cadance be me...so you could have sex with me…?” The gears were visibly turning with each segment of the sentence.

“I’m sorry for lying.” Shining tried to keep his voice even.

“It doesn’t really change the pretext of me letting you look at me…” Sunburst pontificated aloud.

“I really just didn’t want to have to talk about-”

“You’re gay?” Sunburst let the question fall like a guillotine.

Shining paused a moment, leaning back to sit on his haunches before responding. “I think. Maybe. I guess all of this is part of being sure.”

“How does Cadance feel?”

Shining looked up to see the worry in Sunburst’s eyes. He hated having people feel worried for him. “I still love her. I still find her attractive too, that much I know for sure. I think she just wants to help me figure things out. I’m lucky. A lot of guys in my position would be left with these questions forever.”

“Unless they decided to cheat.” Shining didn’t like that being out there.

“Either way. I get to try out my fantasies a bit. I’m really lucky to have a wife as loving and talented, and I’m really lucky to have a friend as understanding as you.” Shining rubbed his hoof on the back of his neck.

“And attractive, apparently, right?” Sunburst was taking the reigns on this one, Shining could already feel it.

“Hehe. Um…” Shining knew he had lost as soon as he found himself without a response.

“Come on now. I let you oggle me up and down, and you can’t even say to my face that you think I’m attractive?” Sunburst moved to sit next to Shining, bumping his side against him. “If you can’t admit it, then I might just not let you get a peek again.” There was a cutting playfulness to the end of this sentence that Shining truly didn’t know how to react to.

“Yeah. I’m used to, like, guard ponies. Big and burly, you know. But earlier this week, when I saw you in your hut, the way you moved with your cloak off...I like the way you look. It made me rethink the way I think of stallions.” Shining didn’t need to feel Sunburst’s cheeks anymore, his own cheeks must’ve been just as hot.

“I can turn stallions gay but can’t get a mare. Sheesh.” Shining could feel Sunburst chuckle next to him. “I didn’t know I was such a catch.”

“Oh for sure. If Cadance hadn’t given me a blowjob before she left, I would’ve probably cum just from looking at you like that.” Shining could feel Sunburst tense next to him. He had the high ground again. Still embarrassed himself, he decided to be punitive. Without looking over to see Sunburst’s reaction, he went on, “more than looking at it, which your dick is just as nice as your body, might I say, It was the smell. It was really...rich down there, between your legs. Knowing each of my little breaths was bringing you closer and closer. If I had been backed up just a few more days, Sunny, smelling the salty tinge of the precum you had dripping from the tip, that would’ve driven me wild”

Shining finally looked over at his friend sitting next to him, unsurprised to find that he was hunched slightly, an erection sticking prominently forward from his legs where he sat. Shining had slid out of his sheath by this point as well, but Sunburst’s cock already twitched with his heartbeat.

Without looking up, Sunburst spoke somewhat raggedly, “Hey Shining…”

“Yeah, buddy,” Shining admired the slightly shallow breathing, pleased to see that he could have such an effect on his friend.

“The...the door is locked, right?”

“Um. Yeah, it is. Why?”

Sunburst still didn’t look up as his horn began to glow softly. His aura wrapped itself around the pink dappled head of his cock and began to slowly snake its way up, blobbing around his head, already beginning to flare, and then slowly dragging its way down, pulling the skin taut around the head of his cock as it went, leaving itself sitting around his medial ring, squeezing at it before repeating the motion. Up and down and up and down.

Shining stepped to the side to look at Sunburst more head on, and Sunburst reciprocated. He shimmied his cloak off of his shoulders and leaned back against the pile of books behind him. He brought his hooves up to feel around his chest and run through his mane as his aura continued to work. He began to gyrate his hips a bit as another strand of his aura snaked its way under his balls, delicately rolling his orbs as his breathing got only more and more rushed and shallow.

Getting more bold, he brought a hoof down and raised his left leg up and to the side, giving Shining a view of his ass as he continued to jerk himself off in front of his friend. Shining didn’t dare move. He had been bested. In the game of being more willing to say something lewd, there was no beating masturbating in the open. He let his cock ache in front of him as he simply observed.

Sunburst began to let out soft moans, his chirpy voice raising an octave as he responded to his own ministrations. Building to a coup de gras, another light of his aura began to shine, this time glowing around his perineum. Shining watched, his mouth slightly agape, as Sunburst’s aura began to massage at his taint, finding a steady rhythm with his own strokes. The room was silent save for the sound of Sunbursts aura gliding up and down his cock, at this point accompanied by the soft schlicks of his precum lubricating the process. His cute moans acted as punctuation for this process, cooing more and more as he got closer. He opened his eyes to look at Shining just a moment. “Step back.”

Not knowing what was going to happen, and completely at the whims of his friend at this point, Shining leapt to his feet, his cock bouncing against his belly, and stepped back and to this side. Just in time too, as Sunburst grimaced and arched his back deeply before thrusting his hips a few times into his own aura, shooting several thick ropes of cum out to glitter in the air before pittering onto the cold crystal floor of the library. After the first few, a few secondary spurts of cum leaked out and messed their way around the head of his cock. He let out a few shuddering breaths as he sighed deeply.

The two of them sat for a moment in the afterglow. Both deathly aware of the scenario. Shining was enamored with watching Sunburst’s cock slowly slide back up, lazily retracting back up into his sheath. “You reap what you sew.” Sunburst spoke through his tired breaths.

“H-h-” Shining couldn’t even get words to form. He was shocked at his friend.

“It’s a sneak peak for what you’ll see tomorrow from your wife. I don’t like the precedent where you can just try to turn me on and face no consequences, so from now on, if you turn me on I’ll just take care of it.” The way Sunburst spoke was awfully matter-of-fact considering his cum stained cock was only just now folding back in.

“I...Sunburst…”

“You can’t even pretend to be offended. Put yours away though. Unlike you, I’m not expecting to fuck my best friend tomorrow, so I find you being erect right now rather inappropriate.” Sunburst chuckled to himself as he stood, putting his cloak back on. “I am going to get something to clean this up. Keep sorting, if you don’t mind. You’ll have to let me know how well Cadance acts like me when she cums.”

Shining could only stand and stare.

Author's Note

Back from hiatus. This next chapter might take a bit longer, but isn't a hiatus as much as this next chapter being a bit beefier.

Linen and Lavender

Cadance could only stand and stare.

Her face was again locked in that pose, that “does not compute” expression she adopted when she had to express an emotion that she knew intuitively, but didn't quite have a face for. Shining would’ve taken the time to find it cute, the way his wife thought differently than most other ponies, and the weird faces she made when she had those thoughts, but it was lost on him at the moment, clouded behind utter despair.

“So he did it because you were teasing him about looking him over?” Cadance stopped and started in her sentence, trying to find the ways the puzzle pieces fit.

“That’s what he said.” Shining sank further into his chair. They were alone in their smaller, private dining quarters. Much less showy and ornate than the main hall, but a far cry from anything that could be considered quaint or homey.

“You didn’t tell him to stop? I mean, you didn’t want him to? This wasn’t him forcing this experience on you?” Cadance let one eyebrow raise.

“No. I could’ve stopped him, but I didn’t.” Shining’s voice cracked. It was over.

“I know you could’ve stopped it. He’s quite small. Did you want to? Did you feel threatened or coerced? Sometimes situations can take ponies off guard in a way that muscles don’t account for.” Shining winced at the matter-of-fact nature of her words.

“I didn’t stop it because I didn’t want to.” A hot tear rolled down his cheek. This time Cadance didn’t jump up to hug him.

“You didn’t touch him?”

Shining’s vision had become a kaleidoscope with the tears welling into his eyes. He couldn’t read her expression anymore, but he didn’t dare lower his head.

“Shining.”

He blinked and let his head fall, his lip curling into a light whimper. Tears dropped from his face down onto his chair as his shoulders rose and fell in quiet sobs.

“Shining, that wasn’t good.”

His eyes shut tighter. He could feel his face redden like a foal. He should’ve told Sunburst to stop. He shouldn’t have towed the line with Sunburst to begin with. He shouldn’t—

“But I do forgive you.”

It took a moment for Shining to wind down. Cadance sat next to him patiently, never letting the warm, loving expression fade from her face. Shining got control of his breathing first, then he wiped his face, tears matting his fur. Finally, his wife still fixing her loving gaze on him, he brought his own reddened eyes to meet hers.

“You do?”

“I do.”

Shining could feel the hot ball of emotion in the back of his throat again. The guilt. He shouldn’t be forgiven.

“I know how hard this has been for you. It’s all very sudden. I can only imagine if I found out this late into my life that I was attracted to mares.”

Shining sniggered, “You aren’t?”

“Oh hush. That was a long time ago and only once. But even then, it goes with my point. You missed out on a lot of your life that you could’ve lived. Your birthday is next week, and you are coming into it knowing that there is more or less an entire part of yourself that you have missed all these years.”

Shining could, again, only stare. His wife was so calm and loving. He felt tears well up again, this time much more gently, as his chin dimpled and he let a few run down his cheeks.

“That wasn’t a good thing to do. And I don’t blame Sunburst for it. It sounds like he may be bisexual himself, so he is probably figuring things out too. You lied to him.”

Shining bowed his head a bit.

“I blame you. But I understand why you did it. I’m glad you didn’t go any further. You came clean. I forgive you.”

They sat facing each other as Shining finally regained his composure. Cadance waited for him to make the move, feeling that he would. He hopped off of his chair and took a step forward, wrapping his fore hoof around his wife and bringing her in for a tight hug. This time Shining felt her wait for his body language. His heart dropped a bit. He could tell from the way she limply pressed into him that, in this instance, he was comforting her.

He stood on his hind legs, bringing his other hoof up to swathe her slender frame in his embrace. “I’m sorry,” came as a hoarse whisper. He smelled her hair. Linen, lavender, it was sweet on his nostrils. He pet down on her wings gently.

Finally he broke, keeping his hooves on her shoulders. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “So.”

He could feel the immediate shift in tone from her. She could master her emotions well.

“Since you lied to him in order to get a good look all over him…”

Shining shrunk a bit, but she brought a hoof up to rub his stomach reassuringly.

“And then got his permission after. You wanna tell me what he looked like?”

“What?”

“Well it actually would help.” Her hoof tickled a bit lower on his white stomach. “I have to go from assumptions. As far as size, shape, smell, color, I’ve never seen Sunburst like that. Since you, ehem, took the initiative, we’ll say, I can use that. Plus, I like seeing you get flustered, and I want you to describe to me how I can be the perfect sexy colt boy-toy for you.” She ended the sentence with a slight trill to her voice, one that timed itself well with Shining sucking in a sudden breath as her hoof grazed gently around his sheath.

“Uh…”

***

“Go ahead. Get it all out of your system. Tell me all about how he looked. Tell me about the restraint you used, keeping yourself from touching, from smelling, from licking, from sucking.” Cadance had a fire in her eyes now.

The two of them lie on their bed in their private chambers. The crystals of their room, walls, and furniture all seemed to blend together into a gradient of deep blues and purples in the moonlight that was streaming through their opened balcony. Cool night air flicked the tapestries to the sides and dragged the drapes halfway through the room. Cadance’s mane caught the wind slightly as she sat on the bed across from him. Her head was faced away from the night sky, but her lithe silhouette left the dots of her eyes, reflecting the light from the room, peering at him.

Shining hesitated.

“You know I can just ask Luna about your dreams, right?”

“Okay. Okay. Let me get into the mood a bit and I’ll talk.” Shining went to move his hoof down his torso.

“Oh, by all means, let me. You focus on giving me a good mental image.” Her long forehoof came forward, slightly swatting his to the side and petting the fur on his lower stomach slowly, circling up and down, but refusing to move any lower. “Talk,” the word cut through the air.

“This might count as extortion,” Shining joked before letting himself melt into his wife’s touch.

“Let me give you a prompt. What did you notice first that turned you on to him?” Her words were honey as she brought her body forward, leaning her weight into him.

Shining slid down into the sheets, letting his eyelids droop. Her chest came into contact with his as her muzzle slid past his, and she pecked him on the cheek before letting her lips dance around the side of his jaw, kissing at his fur. Shining brought his hoof up and felt Cadance’s side, running lavisciously up and down her barrel.

“His form,” Shining spoke as he leaned his head to the side, giving Cadance more space to kiss his jaw and neck.
“How so, baby?” Cadence spoke quickly, onle breaking away for a moment before bringing her lips down to Shining’s neck.

“He is...slight.” Shining could feel himself starting to rise out of his sheath. Cadance still had her hind end raised as she leaned over him on the bed, and he could feel his cock begin to rise into the open air between them.

“Do you wanna fuck a little femcolt, Shiny?” Cadance spoke with sarcasm ringing in her voice before coming in hard for a quick, sloppy kiss to Shining’s mouth, barely giving him time to respond before she pulled away and looked expectantly at him.

He deliberated. “It isn’t that he seems femme. It’s that he seems...springy. Taught.” Shining trapsed his hoof down her waist and across her upper thigh, teasing around her her vulva absent-mindedly. At his touch she started to swivel her hips a bit, trying to eek out more contact.

“You wanna feel him, don’t you?” Cadance kept her voice measured, bringing her hips down more into Shining’s hoof. Shining ran his other hoof up and down her side, measuring it along her curves, tickling her fur with slow, loving movement.

“I want to feel his chest,” Shining said, his cock achingly hard at this point. Even with her hips lowered into his hoof, she was still standing far above bringing their hips into contact. She had her hoofs on either side of his head as she closed her eyes and cuddled her face into his neck.

“Tell me all that you want to do to him. Tell me how he looks and how you want him to feel, Shiny.” Shining could feel her take a sharp breath in, smelling the side of his neck as she buried her face in his mane. He brought the ridge of his hoof more firmly into contact with her, matching her rhythm as he hoofed her off.

“His fur is a little rougher, I don’t think he uses product. I want to rub down the harsher fur on his chest and feel the muscles underneath. I’ve seen them, tight underneath his skin. I wanna run my hooves along his rib cage, and feel where it slopes down into his tummy.” Shining, sped up his actions slightly, the ridge of his broad hoof smushing itself into Cadance. She was wet enough at this point that her sloppy movements left his hooves glistening.

Shining could feel her moan a bit into his mane. He went on, “I want to rub my cheek against his stomach, and hold my hooves on either side of his hips. I want to kiss my way down, down, down and stop right before I get to it.” Shining could feel his breath getting shorter, responding to Cadance next to him. The smell of her arousal was all around them.

“I want to kiss his cutie mark.” Shining paused, letting the wet sounds of the room egg him on, “I want to pinch his fur there in my teeth.” He subconsciously chomped at the air, a hard click ringing out. Cadance let out a higher moan. “I want to feel his tail and brush it aside…”

Cadance was now moaning and humming into his shoulder. She was bucking hard into Shining’s hoof. His wrist had tired so he just braised his arm and let her have her own fun. “I want to brush his tail aside to look at his...his ass.”

“Yes, Shiny! Yes! Then what?” Shining didn’t need to be an empath to tell that Cadance was close. She was in the short strokes, riding her clit up and down along his hoof, which he responded to by starting to move his hoof again, ignoring the soreness in his wrist.

“I want to get him ready first. I wanna lick up and down his auburn ponut.”

“Yes, Shining!”

“I wanna taste the sweat off of his balls.”

“Yes, Yes!”

“I want to take the pink head of his cock and wrap my lips around it-”

“YES! Ohh. Oh.” Cadance slowed her movements, and so did Shining. She dragged her pussy over his hoof a few slow times, turgidly pulling out every second of the orgasm that she could, her upper body slumping as her hind legs shivered.

“I wanna bring myself down as far as I possibly can, right to the point where it goes from pink to brown.” Shining moved his head to the side to let Cadance kiss at his neck again. He went on, “and I want to feel his precum on the back of my tongue as I bob back and forth.”

“Shining.” He hadn’t realized it, but Cadance had laid down beside him at some point. “Sorry, love, I just needed to get myself out of the way first and think you being gay is a funny little turn-on.”

“Oh.” Shining blushed and lowered his hoof, still in the air. “Any reason you really needed to go first, or is this just normal you-teasing-me?”

“I don’t know what a penis feels like,” Cadance responded simply.

“Is this a roleplay? Am I supposed to say I can show you?”

“No. Well, sure, in just a second, but no. I can mimic Sunbursts physical body, but mimicking a different set of sex organs is...hard. There are only two ponies who are smart enough to pull something like that off, Starswirl being one of them.” Cadance swirled a hoof around his chest as she spoke.

“Who is the other?”

“You don’t want me mentioning her when we are in the bedroom.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Making me think of Twilight is the same thing as mentioning Twilight, you know.” Shining raised an eyebrow as he spoke.

“Yeah, and your cock doesn’t seem to mind either,” she tapped a hoof against Shining’s still hard dick as she spoke.”

“Oh please, you got me worked up as I’ve ever been, you could bring up mom at this point and it wouldn’t go down.”

“Noted for future transformation spells.” Cadance smirked.

Shining’s eyebrows almost flew up off of his head.

“Either way, everything down there that I don’t know how to remake, is just gonna feel like skin. I’m gonna transform already hard, so arousal isn’t a factor, but figuring out how the nerve responses to, say, a clit work differently from those in the head of a penis will take a long time studying to figure out.”

Shining slumped a bit. “So it will just feel like movement for you?”

“For a while at least, yeah. That’s why I wanted to get mine first without getting you off. It’s your birthday week and I want to let you cum inside Sunburst as much as you want.” She gave him a firm kiss on the cheek.

“Will you even be able to cum yourself?” Shining’s excitement was diminishing.

“Well. Once I learn how to make my balls make cum and how to get the right synapses to fire, I’ll be able to make myself cum at will as Sunburst. Feeling the actual orgasm is a bit more complex, a lot going on in the brain and in the groin there. However, it’s feasible that I should figure out how to make myself at least cum as him in the next few weeks. Why? You wanna taste cum, you little gay man, you.” She tickled his snout with hers at the last part.

“Yeah. I do want to try sucking you off. Like, the full experience of it. It’s also a shame that you won’t be able to really enjoy...well any of it.” Shining sighed.

“I enjoy making you happy, Shining. If you like me changing into Sunburst every now and then, and pretending I’m cock-crazy as you smash my prostate, I’ll put up the act for you, even if I don’t get anything out of it. You forget how good of an actor I am, too.” Cadance snuggled her body into his. He could feel the wetness between her legs against the side of his flank. Her coat had a thin trace of sweat on it that was cooling in the night air.

“Alright. Well I’m ready then, whenever you are. I’m ready to try.” Shining braced himself mentally, but before he could think Cadance was upon him, this time the kiss was fiercer. She sucked on his bottom lip, catching it between her teeth, before opening her mouth and darting her tongue forward.

Shining closed his eyes and responded in turn, his tongue coming to meet hers, but finding it very different. He had experienced this trick once, and knew what was going on, so he decided to savor it. Her new, widening, flat tongue toyed with Shining’s, and he tried to move his own tongue submissively, letting her take the lead. Her soft lips became firmer, rougher as Shining felt her hot breath against his face. A broader, shorter body rolled halfway on top of Shining, and a hard cock slapped itself on Shining’s stomach.

Cadance pulled away, leaving Shining staring at Sunburst as he slowly opened his eyes.

There was a pause. A very deep and serene one. Cadance was draped over Shining, her lanky body had been reduced to one that was firmly smaller than his. From their switched positions, the moonlight cascaded over the side of her, painting her orange fur a hazy pink. Her red mane seemed to glow with luminescence. Her body language was still feminine; she hadn’t gotten into character yet. A dramatic slant in her shoulders and an exaggerated way of holding her neck: it would come off as sexy in a mare like the one she used to be, but in the stallion body she currently had it looked almost mocking, like a pastiche of femininity a stallion would do in the locker room as a joke. Her eyes were blue now, and Shining could see them, her eyes, Sunburst’s eyes, in the moonlight. Two black saucers of pupils, offering the moon to him.

“So?” Cadance’s voice had the more chipper inflection that it normally had, even if it was coming through Sunburst’s vocal chords, “there is one question left: how authentic do you want this?”

“Wh-what do you mean?” Shining spoke through half lidded eyes, ready for the moment to take its natural course, and for the release on his straining cock that would provide.

“Am I Cadance in a stallion body, or do you want me to be Sunburst?” She cleared her throat before speaking again, this time in a surprisingly well done impression of Sunburst’s inflections, even changing her body language to match his timidity, “ Are we here, now, actually doing this, Shiny?” Shining’s cock jumped like it was on a spring trigger between them. “Hehe. Oh,” she said, still impersonating Sunburst, “I guess you really are excited for this.”

Shining closed his eyes for a moment. He heard the voice in the room with him. He tried to sell the fantasy for a moment. This was his wife giving him her blessing. This was him being absolved for all that he has wanted from this encounter. This was Sunburst. Right on top of him, right now. Shining breathed deeply, feeling his cock twitch again in anticipation.

Cadance leaned in, putting a broad hoof on Shining’s chest where he lay, and slowly made a figure eight in his fur. Shining opened his eyes to the trepidatious face in front of him and gave in. Like moving through water, he floated forward and locked her into another deep, passionate kiss.

Lips smashed against hers roughly, hardly waiting before his tongue padded against her mouth, knocking for entry. Shining brought his hooves up and rolled Cadance fully on top of him, locking his hind legs behind the crook of hers, pinning their pelvises together. Cadance had brought her tongue out in turn, matching Shining’s ferocity as her new, broad, stallion tongue was able to wrestle Shining’s for all it was worth. Shining’s forehooves groped all along Cadance’s back, feeling her new broader shoulders, the power in her barrel, letting the ridge of his hoof tease its way down to the small of her back.

He sucked air through the corner of his mouth as he started to squirm his hips. Locking his forehooves behind Cadance’s back, just down above her tailbone, he used his lock--both above and below her waist--to roll their cocks together between them. Shining did his best to move Cadance on top of him, but her new weight made it hard. She responded in turn, however, getting a sense for what he was going for, and began to roll the muscles in her lower stomach, making a tight hip gyration that frotted her cock against his as they made out.

Shining kept moving his hooves slightly—getting less and less concerned about the kiss and simply letting his mouth melt into hers—and focused on the sensations. The weight of the stallion body on top of him, the way he could feel the flexing of the muscles in her stomach with each thrust of her hips; his eyes half closed in bliss as he brought one hoof up and felt the muscles in her shoulder blades, much more defined as a stallion, flexing and relaxing over and over.

Her hooves had been on either side of his head, keeping her in place so she could grind against him properly, but as she got a rhythm she brought a new, wider, cream colored hoof over to the ends of Shining’s mane, tickling them a bit before dragging slowly under his chin and holding under his muzzle, right under the point where their lips came into contact.

Shining had already been close, as arousing as the night had been to that point, and this was the home stretch. A firm hoof holding his chin, a strong back to grope and paw at, strong legs intertwined with his own, and a hard cock grinding against his. It was a feeling he hadn’t expected. She had made Sunburst’s cock a little bigger than it was, matching Shining’s almost exactly in size and shape. He hadn’t had a chance to look at the color. It was a bit dead feeling too. There were no little twitches, no times it would tense or flex, no times the head would flare just a little bit more; it was just a cock, but it did feel good against Shining. She had left it just a bit flared, so the ridges of it felt great as they ran up and down Shining’s length a bit with each thrust, hitting the flared head of his own cock.

She had begun to moan into his mouth too in a way that was undeniably Cadance. Shining let out the odd grunt as he focused his breathing, feeling his lower abdomen begin to tighten. Her balls were plapping against his over and over, they felt on point. The heat between them was growing. He took a sharp breath in, wanting to smell the sex between them.

Clean linen and lavender.

The thought couldn’t cross his mind fully before it was over. He puffed his chest out against hers and slid his face forward from their kiss, bringing them cheek to cheek as he could feel his pelvic muscles tighten. He could feel the pressure in his balls as his cock spasmed between them, firing thick ropes of cum over and over onto Cadance’s cock and stomach. She shifted for a moment, Shining could feel her goatee tickle his shoulder, and gave a few finishing thrusts, freeing Shining’s cock and leaving the two of them connected at the hip as she ground her cock slowly and deeply into his own spamming member. The feeling in his balls was only heightened as hers came back into gentle contact.

The finale of his cum splattering in thick wads on his stomach and chest, Shining contented himself with letting out a deep, guttural whinney as his leg kicked at the air instinctively.

Cadance came back in, leaving the traces of a gentle kiss on his tired, unresponsive lips as Shining watched her transform back. A quick morph, like a blur, and his wife was back in her beautiful normal form, still coated in Shining’s cum. With that same body she fell to the side of Shining and wormed over to cuddle him in his afterglow. The body Shining knew he loved. The one that smelled of clean linen and lavender.

The room was quiet as the two of them simply laid with each other, breathing in the air of the room, the smell of cum on the air. Shining had gotten what he wanted. For now.

Author's Note

Dense Chapter and the end of Act 1. Schedule should still be a new chapter every week or two tho, thanks for all the continued readership!

From A Different Perspective

Every day was an interesting day for Sunburst. At least it was always an interesting day for him personally. His curiosity and penchant for obsessing over the little things ensured that there was rarely a dull moment. His interests were, for the most part, fairly uninteresting. At least to other ponies they often were.

Relics and artefacts aren’t the eye-catcher of the century. Board games had limits in their appeal. Comics had quite the following, but not as much in Sunburst’s age group. It was true that Sunburst was often left to feel invisible. He could engage in his own agenda in plain sight and, thanks to how boring he was viewed as being, he never had to feel like any eyes were on him. His current interest, however, or at least his current task, as one that he was afraid was going to draw eyes to him. He was interested in dildos.

It had been a few days since he had his altercation with Shining. His friend had been hard to reach since then, and Sunburst, being one to do so, feared the worst. However, he was also pragmatic enough to know to cross bridges when you get to them, and he would get to see and talk to Shining in 2 days at his birthday dinner. The current bridge to cross was an entirely different beast, and it was that of Sunburst finding something to put in his ass.

He walked down the streets of the Crystal Empire, certain that some part of his person, his mane, his gate, his glasses, some part of it had to tip ponies off that he was walking to a sex shop. He ruminated to take his mind off of it. Stallions. That was an interesting topic to think of. He made a turn, watching to make sure there were no carts coming in the road before he walked on.

Sunburst had been attracted to stallions before. Very much so, in fact. He had his heart set on Starlight currently, but before her he had always found himself smitten by athletic buck-ball players, tawny farm hands, and burly guards. Those guards, now that Sunburst thought about it, weren’t too dissimilar from Shining Armor.

He had never acted on any of it of course. Dating was...well...it was a whole thing. A process. It was something that Sunburst never gave too much though to. As such, much thought was never given to the mechanics of it either. It wasn’t until Shining had brought up the idea of sleeping with Sunburst, or at least with a copy of his body, that Sunburst had really even thought of himself in that context. Of course the context of that situation brought up the next natural question: did Sunburst like things in his ass?

Magic would be a half measure. While it could do its job in the bedroom, it was almost universally agreed on by any pony that didn’t have a fetish for it that hooves, as imprecise as they could be, felt better than the distant feeling non-touch of an aura. Since he was well paid, and since he wanted to give his first attempt at it a true college try, Sunburst set off to research. With the same obsessiveness he approached the rest of his life with, he began finding out the effects of different firmnesses, how to properly stimulate the prostate, any potions or spells that could enhance or ease the experience, and virtually any other fact he could scour. Most of it was all coming from modern sex magazines, but he had even found an extremely interesting book in the Crystal Archives about a crystal forming technique that the ancient empire used to make sex toys.

As Sunburst rounded the corner he rehearsed his interactions in his head again and again. He knew the exact brands that he was looking for, and the exact cost it would run him, sales tax included. He could get in and get out rather quickly. The shop was in a discrete location too, buried pretty deep in the boroughs that were in the heart of the city. “Horns” was the simple name of the shop, displayed on the sign. The building was squashed into an alleyway too, meaning that ponies from the Main Street couldn’t see the entrance directly.

Sunburst sighed, went over his order again in his head, and opened the front door.

There was a little jingle being played from a gramophone in the corner. About 4 wooden aisles with end displays, and then a counter in the corner with a petite Pink and grey crystal pegasus working. “Welcome to Horns,” her voice cut through the acoustics of the building.

“Hmm. Hello.” Sunburst began to speak, walking towards the counter, but was distracted but catching just a glimpse of a flank as it walked between the aisles at the far end of the shop.

“My name is Easy Glide, can I help you find anything?” The pagasus smiled, there were bags under her eyes.

“Ye-wait. Is that really your name?” Sunburst raised an eyebrow, tilting his head with the question.

“The Godess of the moon is named Luna,” Easy responded.

“Yeah. I guess I get what you mean.”

“If my name fits, then just about anything else will.” She drew her cheeks back for a thin lipped smile at her own innuendo. “What can I help you with?”

“I...uh. Hmm.” Sunburst had rehearsed what he was going to say so many times. She threw him off by being nice and making small talk. More importantly, she threw him off by being a mare.

“It’s fine to feel a little awkward. This is the only sex shop in the Crystal Empire, so I’m used to new ponies needing a little nudge to help them feel more at ease.” Easy Glide reached a wing underneath the counter and pulled out a catalogue. “Here. It’s all just numbered. You can go and browse, or just find what you need, and then come up and just order that way.” She slid the book forward with her wing tip. Sunburst swallowed.

“It’s okay. I know what I want.”

She looked at him.

“I want the Bronco Brand.”

“The dildo?”

Sunburst winced. “Yes.”

“What firmness?”

“4.”

“With or without balls?”

“With-eh...With the balls please.”

“Size?”

“Eh.” Sunburst lost his steam and stuttered. His face had only grown redder with each question.

“The Bronco has pretty good ridges for the flare. You never want to get more than you can handle, but I’ve only heard good things about this one when it gets really deep.”

Sunburst almost fainted. He regained his composure slightly. His words croaked out, “the medium. The eight inch one is more than enough. A small bottle of water based lube too please.”

“I’ve gotta recommend Gliderz. It’s like a bit more, but this stuff is pretty decent. It’s also a family brand, to be transparent.” Easy gave off a cocky smile.

“Sure. I’ll take that.” Sunburst hunched his shoulders forward a bit, bringing his cloak up and letting him shrink into it.

“I’ll go get those for you, be right back!” Easy flapped her wings twice, lifting gently over the little swinging door to get out from behind the counter and clomping down on the other side. She cantered off down the aisles, leaving Sunburst alone with the pony behind him.

“Ah!” Sunburst jumped towards the counter, seeing the pony that had been waiting in line behind him. Then he saw who the pony was, her face half hidden behind a cloak, slouched down on purpose to hide her posture from the public that would recognize her otherwise. “Cad-Ca…” Then Sunburst did faint.

***

It was like being slapped awake, but for only his mind. Sunburst felt slight, but noticeable prods in his thoughts, like pats on the cheek, that seemed to be drawing him out of his unconsciousness. Finally he opened his eyes to see the warm look of concern on Cadance’s face. Oh no.

“Oh no.”

“Sunburst, it’s okay. Are you okay?” Cadance was laying on the floor next to him in the middle of the sex shop. She had untied his cloak from his neck, it lay crumpled on the floor next to him, likely done because she was worried it would constrict his breathing. Easy Glide stood off too the side, her eyebrows drawn up in worry.

“Are you okay enough to get up?” Cadance brought her muzzle forward and nudged Sunbursts hoof, letting it shake limply.

“Yeah. Sure.” Sunburst felt like his eyes would sink into his skull as he leaned off of his flank and sat back onto his haunches, then grunting as he got up. Cadance’s aura whisked his cloak off of the ground and draped it around his shoulders for him. He thanked her and refastened it. He stood staring at the ground a moment, the two mares looking at him, making sure he wouldn’t fall again. He looked up at the bag on the counter, presumably his. “How much do I owe?” His words came out with a wobbly confidence.

“Oh. Um. With everything it comes to 33 bits.” Easy Glide watched him as she spoke, being careful not to say anything to upset him any further.

He fished the money from his saddlebag and placed it on the counter. With simply a nod to Easy Glide he took the bag and stepped to the side, letting Cadance get to the counter.

“Thank you,” she said with some unease, stepping carefully by him holding her own wares. Sunburst went to step out, but as soon as he began to trot Cadance called, “Wait, do you want to stop for food? Are you busy this afternoon?”

“Picking up somepony in a sex shop? Forward.” Easy Glide punched in the numbers for each item into the register.

“Oh no, he’s one of my husband’s friends.” Cadance smiled as she explained.

“Well you both have good taste. 33 bits.”

***

“So how have you been?” Her voice was always so bright. Sunburst wasn’t a melancholy pony by any stretch, but the pure energy in her voice always bordered just on the edge of saccharine. Only barely, however, as Sunburst still always found himself smiling right along with her when she spoke. Come on, she was Cadance.

“I’ve been fine. Pretty...um...closed off for the last few days. How was your trip to canterlot?” Sunburst tapped a hoof on the side of his cup of tea, observing the ripples.

Cadance picked at her salad, her aura prodding her fork around to find the best possible bite, a crouton and a tomato being the combo that would fit on the fork that she settled on. Selected bite in her aura, she responded, “it was...fine. My aunt can be a bit preoccupied sometimes, especially if her and Luna are arguing. Which they were.” She crunched down on the bite.

The two sat in silence.

“I can feel how embarrassed you are.” She spoke in a very matter-of-fact-way.

Sunburst shifted, “and bringing it up will make me feel less embarrassed?”

“It will. You get over things like this by confronting them; I know that about you. I suppose it’s more that Shining knows that about you.” Cadance took a sip of her own tea, grinning.

There was another pregnant pause.

“I’m so sorry for that.”

Cadance narrowed her eyes with her grin. If Sunburst had been looking at her, he might’ve wondered if she thought this was funny.

“I was a bit concerned at first, but now I think it was funny more than anything.”

Cadance swirled her tea cup a bit, more to check that time was still moving than to stir it any more.

“It was a crossing of a line, sure, but I can understand the progression of events. My husband can be impulsive to say the least, but both of your were confused, horny, acting off of some macho-stakes-raising competition. Hopefully you can both get it out of your systems. I know Shining has been having fun exploring that side of himself. It seems like you’re planning to.”

Again, Sunburst heard her shimmy her cup around on its platter, filling the pause. The dildo. He had been so worried about her being mad at him for masturbating in front of Shining that he had forgotten that the dildo. He heard her buy it. She bought the same one.

Two ponies walked by their table. They were dining at an open air cafe, plenty of space between them and any other pony. Sunburst was counting the distance in his head and trying to figure out how many decibels to speak at.

“I wasn’t too far off from the correct one to buy actually. For your size and everything.”

The pauses were beginning to feel like Red Light Green Light.

“What?”

Cadance gave a light chuckle. Sunburst knew why those two were married. Both showed no shame in how they loved to torment poor ponies who had a normally developed sense of shame.

“Shining told you about our arrangement. It isn’t enough to just have the body. I need to practice with it too, you know.”

“Actually I don’t know. I’ve been meaning to ask you what the spell was that you were using.” Sunburst felt the conversation come back into his side of the court; magical knowledge.

“It is more or less just a modern version of Chromar’s Polymorph.” Cadance took another bite of her salad.

“How are you able to use that for s--” Sunburst lowered his already low voice to a whisper, “how are you able to use that for sex?”

“It’s pretty convoluted, but it involved knowing some pretty in depth anatomy.” Even though she spoke with food in her mouth, her words came out clear.

“So are you saying you are rebuilding the feeling of...all that down there bit by bit? That’s insane!” Sunburst slid his plate to the side. He hadn’t been eating much anyways, and this seemed far more interesting than any hay burger.

“Alicorn brains tend to find some more complicated patterns more easy to grasp, I think it comes from being more in tune with magic as a sense.” She swallowed her bite. “So if I’ve found some good progress comes from practicing based off of what ends up feeling more and more right.”

“Oh. So that is meant for you to practice...um...receiving as me?” Cadance nodded at Sunbursts words, sipping her tea to wash down her food. “So you are trying to make my...um...my parts all do the right thing when all that stuff happens?” Cadance stirred her tea and raised an eyebrow at him, smirking again. “You...I mean…”

“I’m trying to figure out how to make your body orgasm. Prostate orgasm specifically, since that’s something I’d like to surprise Shiny with for his birthday.”

Sunburst noticed something about the silence this time, having spent considerable time with it during this conversation.

“Did you cast a sound dampening spell?” Sunburst peered around, seeing if any ponies were reacting.

“Of course. This is too sensitive a conversation to just have in the open, silly.”

Sunburst sighed. She had at least some consideration for him it seemed. “I’m tempted to ask you to compare notes after...hehe…” As he spoke he looked over to Cadance, his heart sinking as he saw the earnest in her eyes. “Oh crap.”

“Look...we are both adults here.” Cadance was adding a healthy amount of schmooze to the way she spoke, poking at the salaciousness of the whole conversation. “I need to really understand how it feels for that body to have an orgasm.”

“My body…” Sunburst meekly corrected.

“Yes. There’s a spell doctors use for examination that essentially stores the bodily sensations, anything physiological, and then allows the doctors to experience it for themselves so they can figure out what’s wrong--” Cadence was cut off in her explanation by Sunburst

“Nozzle Bottles Bodily Note Taker,” Sunburst said, pronouncing the name with none of the whimsy it would suggest.

“Yes. Since we have the same model here,” she gestured to the unmarked bags sitting by their hooves, “If I get the magical notes and get to feel it for myself, accompanied by a reasonable and mature recounting of the events, it would really really speed up me figuring out how to cum as you.” She had this air of finality in her voice, something that approached the way a commander would lay out plans for a platoon. Sunburst smirked to himself as he recognized that Cadance was speaking like Shining would in this scenario, and she was undoubtedly taking unconscious inspiration from her husband.

“That sounds like a lot, Cadance.” The doubt dripped from his voice as he scratched a hoof on the back of his neck.

“I’m not my husband, otherwise you would give me a front row show.”

Sunburst’s face was pale in shock until he looked up to see Cadance giggling.

“It’s fi-hi-hine, Sunburst,” she chuckled as she spoke, “you and him were both recklessly curious to explore a new part of yourselves, and in the end you didn’t truly cross a line. I’m glad you both trust each other. Look, if you are worried about doing something you’ll regret, I can just learn the old fashioned way. More than that, if you aren’t comfortable with me and Shiny adding this to our bedroom rotation, you can ask us to stop at any time. Deal?”

Cadance had a warmth in her eyes that was hard to distrust. Sunburst had to be honest with himself. He hadn’t thought of Shining Armor as more than a friend, Cadance was right. There was an allure, the idea that a friend he trusted, that was close to him, had these same thoughts, wanted to try the same things he wanted to try. He thought of the dildo in the bag, he thought of him taking it, of Cadance taking it as him, of Shining mounting her, of Sunburst’s own voice moaning out from her. It was interesting and exciting.

“Okay. I’ll let you know.”

***

Shining was out for the day and Cadance had the castle to herself for all the time she needed. She had read over his notes and replayed the scene in her mind quite a bit before she transformed. The notes were actually quite a fun read. Cadance had expected them to be quite dry, but Sunburst was clearly having fun with the clear eroticism of the situation, especially by the end of it.

I first made sure that the implement was affixed and lubricated extremely well.
Cadance laughed at how the line could be interpreted as the beginning of a manual for machine repair. She took a moment adjusting herself, Sunburst’s body was stockier than hers. She rolled around in her bed for a moment, the Sunlight that bled through the drapes warming her fur. Recalling the notes, she peered above her head at the headboard where the dildo was prominently affixed. It glimmered a bit in the light, very thoroughly lubricated. She had gotten a few rounds with it in her original body, so she was pretty confident in being able to handle it more than fine.

I then, knowing that previous arousal aides prostate stimulation, consumed pornographic material.

Cadance let the magic flow through her horn as she replayed the “tape” of Sunburst’s evening. She had managed to transform with a flaccid cock this time. She meandered a cream colored hoof down her stomach. Through the spell she could feel the physical nature of Sunburst’s arousal that night. Letting that feeling guide her, her hips began to grind on their own. Lightly bucking at the air, the ridge of her hoof teased its way around her sheath.

I used my hoof to stimulate the rim around my sheath, an area that I find very erotic. I, as I normally would, took my time rubbing back and forth around the base, letting my penis drop from its sheath at its own pace, not touching any higher on the shaft to avoid affecting blood-flow.

He was such a dork. She focused on the feeling, using her magic to create the same responses that she could feel Sunburst had had. She felt her hoof tease the head of her cock as it slowly rose from her sheath, just as Sunburst had felt it. Soon she was entirely erect, her penis now almost identical to Sunburst’s after getting some more in depth notes on it from her husband. She took a moment to marvel at it. She didn’t really get time to acclimate to her new body any of the other times that she had transformed. She was interested at how weighty her cock felt, its own girth bending it down so that her head touched her stomach.

She kicked her back legs up, bringing her cock closer to her head and leaving her balls and ponut exposed. Her entire lower half felt different. Her long legs, normally feeling so graceful when posed, were replaced by stallion legs. Legs she still found attractive, much like her husbands. Less curvaceous, surely, but still possessing enough mass to come off as quite supple, the more powerful thighs and stumpier hooves had their own appeal. She bucked her hooves a bit again, feeling her fur on her chest tickle her cock.

Once fully erect, I used my hooves to self stimulate, cupping my testes with one hoof while rubbing my shaft against my torso with my other.

Cadance did as she remembered from the “tape.” She recalled the response she felt. As if on cue, as she rubbed up and down she noticed a little trail of precum starting to stick to the fur of her chest. She was a bit surprised at how nice her hoof on her balls felt. She had always figured that there was a direct pleasure from them, but it was more of an attractive pleasure, something that felt nice, but carried with it a raw eroticism that made it all the more exciting.

After getting myself properly worked up, I used magic to stimulate and relax my anus for a good while before moving on. I was able to use my aura to probe beyond my entrance, surprising myself with how pleasurable that could be, and maintaining my stroking on my penis, I achieved a fairly powerful orgasm.

This was the real test. Between her recollection of Sunburst’s notes and the feelings of his that she was replaying, she could already feel a pressure starting to build as she improved her mimicry of Sunburst’s body more and more by the second. She squeezed some of the lube from the nightstand into her aura, struggling a bit at all of the spells she was managing at once, but ultimately bringing a shaky glob up to her asshole and beginning to apply it.

She let a quavering moan escape her throat as the sensations began to overwhelm her. She was certainly succeeding in recreating the proper nerve endings. Her aura lacked control, but feeling the rough pressure she put around her ponut was getting close to sending her over the edge.

She slithered her aura up into her ass, only having to prod forward a few inches before she was sent past the brink. It was a strong one. Being the first time she had managed to ejaculate as Sunburst, she had no idea what to expect. Her core tightened as she could feel the pleasure start from her balls and radiate outwards. She pressed her hoof down at the base of her cock and milked the pleasure as cum practically jetted out onto her chest and face. She thrashed her legs a bit, but was otherwise locked into the rhythm of her strokes, riding out every short, powerful wave of release that she could.

She caught her breath for a moment, amazed at the difference between orgasms. It wasn’t the same as when she was in her normal body. She might even call it weaker if she had more chance to compare them back to back. However, the afterglow of it was certainly interesting. She felt spent and satisfied immediately in a way that she rarely felt in her base form. She obviously was already acquainted with stallion stamina—even Shining had his limits—but only now, modeling the feel of her body off of Sunburst’s, could she truly understand the reasoning behind it. She was tired.

I recovered a moment, spent but still determined. After catching my breath and drinking some water—Cadance took a strong swig from the glass on her nightstand—I positioned myself at the dildo (which was affixed to my wall). I took a deep breath and lightly worked the head into me, becoming increasingly thankful that I got the unflared model as I did so. Once there I moved only very slightly back and forth, barely getting 2 inches deep, but getting used to the sensation.

What a sensation it was. Cadance was shifting her form, giving herself the appropriate responses to model after the ones that she could feel from Sunburst. At this depth it wasn’t too very different from having something in her ass as a mare. Even so, she could feel the arousal beginning to stir in her penis, something fairly different from the heat and need that she would feel from her pussy at this point in the act, her cock idly responded in a way that was distinct and much calmer than the winking clit that she was used to.

She wasn’t always as keen on ass play as Shining was, however she was never shy from it either. She had never gotten off just from Shining pounding her ass, but some secondary stimulation was always enough to make for an effective experience. Sunburst had managed to get off without anything else though, she remembered, wiggling her ass, getting a feel for the dildo. Stallions had an easier time getting off just from the ass, she thought she read somewhere. Either way, Sunburst had, which meant that she should be able to as him. She pressed on.

I pressed on. Having cum already, I found it quite easy to relax. Imaging a scenario to match the feeling also helped. For the sake of helping you, since I don’t know if you might need the mental image for the spell, I will write the fantasy: I approach a royal guard, a burlier one, and thank him for his service. We rendezvous in a secluded corridor and, well, you can guess the rest.

In any case, working through this fantasy for a moment, I found myself caught off guard by the medial ring. I had already worked a whopping 5 inches down without even realizing it! I kept wiggling my butt, working back and forth a little bit, taking more conscious note of the feeling of what was already inside of me. I couldn’t feel every part of it clearly, more like feeling the idea of the contours than any of the finer details themselves. I was also shocked that I couldn’t feel my prostate in the same way I assumed I would feel it. I had no idea how I assumed I would feel it.

It was at this point that I explored that feeling more, drawing myself all the way back until I could feel the head of the dildo run over the gland, then plunging back. I repeated this a little faster each time, using the pressure of the ring to stop myself in one direction, and the pull of the flare to stop myself in the other, until I could distinctly feel mounting pressure in my balls. I took this as a signal that I could likely achieve another orgasm through this alone, but I didn’t want to until I found a comfortable limit.

Cadance didn’t have the patience to follow Sunburst’s pace. The closer she got to being able to simulate a male orgasm, the closer she got to achieving one. She was well aware of how to relax herself, letting her measured breaths control her rate down until she had gone long past the medial ring. She arched her back, wincing her closed eyes as she made the final few inches in a single, controlled movement, feeling the balls of the dildo tap against her taint. Her own technique differed a bit from Sunburst’s after the entry as well: she bounced back and forth just enough for the medial ring to rack its way down just until it threatened to leave her, then she would rock back until she felt the gentle bap of the base of the toy.

Her own dexterity let her keep her movements swift and clean, impaling herself over and over on the dildo, she found a rhythm in her own reactions, ignoring the piercing pleasure with each thrust and focusing on the little parts of the experience. There was a tinge of satisfaction every time she felt the meat of her cock slap into her stomach, leaving a mess of precum everywhere it swung. She enjoyed the way that she could feel her balls tighten, not having expected them to be as central to the feeling as they were. She enjoyed the smaller details as she could feel her time approaching, getting better at simulating the orgasm just as Sunburst had felt it. His experience beyond this point was much more direct.

I was able to coax myself within an inch of fully sheathing the dildo. I then spent a while moving a bit, getting a sense of how to work my hips. Once I found a range of motion that I liked, I proceeded to grind myself into the dildo, the medial ring and the head being the prime stimulators, until I achieved another quite powerful orgasm. I then ended the recording spell.

Her own ending was feeling to be just as extreme, if a bit more exciting in the moment than Sunburst had made it sound. In her furious movements she had more than once let the ring slip from her tight ponut, popping it back in quickly, eliciting shocked moans from her each time it happened. She could feel the wide head deep inside her, a feeling she already knew she loved when she had mare bits, and imagined it was her husband's cock, ready to burst any moment and fill her with glorious seed.

It didn’t take long once she had a tempo to work from. Dramatically being racked by the entirely new experience of a prostate orgasm, she slammed her ass back as far as it would go, feeling her ass cheeks press against the cold crystal of her headboard. As her balls clenched she instinctively bucked her hips a bit, grinding the dildo deep inside of her as she came for a second time. It was a feeling she had to get used to, the rushes of pleasure as rope after rope of cum shot out onto the bed. Finally she could feel her cock begin to ease as she slumped over.

She stood on the bed a moment, taking the scene in. She was coated in her own cum at this point, with a generous helping on the sheets. She could still feel the stiff rod inside her, her asshole worn from its generous use in the last few minutes. She listened to her own breaths, gone were the dainty little gasps of her normal form, but instead a deep, but slightly nasal breaths of a stallion. It was perfect. It felt good for her too, while being in this body was more amusing than inherently attractive to her, she wouldn’t mind treating Shining to this every so often. He would love it.

Author's Note

This story is more than likely bi-monthly at this point, let's be honest. However, progress is still always being made, and I can't wait to bring out more fun chapters. The past chapters have also been proofread by Awni, so I'd like to thank him for that.

Liminal Space

“Sunburst!” Shining had to be conscious of his space, he almost jumped back, startled at the pony who seemed to have snuck up behind him. Doing so would’ve been bad though, plunging a hundred feet off of the inner wall would certainly make the night worse.

“Sorry, sorry, I really didn't want to scare you. Sorry.” Sunburst shrank his slight form into his burly cloak, the wind on top of the wall whipping his mane to the side.

Shining put himself at ease. Apart from the pale light of the odd illuminating crystal, he now stood in the orange glow from the tip of Sunburst’s horn. The night sky was brilliantly painted behind him as the natural northern borealis stained the atmosphere. The lights of the city splattered below, the greens and blues and purples of crystals lighting up the porches and windows of the crystal ponies. In between both of these veritable light shows, the streak of the horizon battled free with the natural beauty of the sky, the piercing dark of empty space drawing an odd amount of attention to the negative space, liminal between the bustle below and the quiet brilliance dancing in the sky above.

“What are you doing up here?” Shining’s voice was quiet, morose, and in the open air of the wall, cool wind around them, Sunburst had to strain himself to hear.

“I followed you.” Sunburst started, shocked at how little his own voice seemed to be carrying. Even when it was with his best friend, he could still be too nervous to talk sometimes. “Well, I saw you walking outside from my hut, so I followed you, and then I saw you sitting here sky-watching, so I ran back and got some things to come out here and sit with you.” He hitched up his saddle bags, letting Shining hear the contents rattle. Shining smirked.

“That’s...that’s really sweet. Thank you.” Shining scooted to the side, leaving some room to look out of the low embrasure he was peering over. Sunburst’s horn shimmered a moment before another light appeared, this time at his hip. It was a stocky lantern with a grated face. He took the handle in his teeth and sat it against the wall in front of Shining before beginning to take off his saddle bags.

“It’s a heater too. It’s pretty cold tonight.” Sunburst spoke into the air as he unloaded. It was a chilly night. Shining could already feel the warmth of the lantern start to radiate onto the cold crystal under his hooves. “Stand up real quick.” Shining did as Sunburts ordered, and his friend laid a quilt down on the smooth crystal where he had been sitting. He set the rest of his bags against the wall and took a seat, wrapping himself in his cloak and and gazing wearily into the light of the lantern, letting his horn flicker out.

“You have an early day tomorrow. I can help you bring all this back.” Shining stood on the blanket, looking down at Sunburst. His friend looked up to meet his gaze and gave a weak smile.

“So what’s wrong?” Sunburst had taken a page out of Shining’s own playbook. He sidestepped Shining’s own worries entirely. Shining let out a breath, half expecting it to make fumes in the cold air, but it wasn’t quite that cold. A gust of air felt as though it whipped him forward, his mane falling in his eyes as he sat next to his friend on the blanket, both of them facing the open sky through the gap in the parapet.

Shining didn’t say anything, he just half-lidded his eyes and let the warmth from the heater hit his hooves. Sunburst didn’t pry. He pulled another blanket out from his bags and offered it quietly to Shining, who took it in his own aura and draped it over his shoulders. He hunkered over and rubbed his cheek on the material of the blanket, smelling the light cinnamon of Sunburst’s magic on it.

“Do you want any green tea?” Shining looked over to see Sunburst already pouring himself a cup from his thermos.

“Sure. Thanks.” Shining waited, watching the steam dissipate over the cup as Sunburst poured some for him. Shining took it in his aura carefully, a habit most unicorns had, even though it couldn’t burn their magic aura they would still treat hot cups and platters as though they could, and set it aside to cool a bit before taking a sip. “Is it historical tea?”

“No, but it was made in a 400 year old tea kettle.” Sunburst took a sip as he sat with his friend.

“I hope you washed it first.” Shining looked back out into the open air and listening as Sunburst took another sip. They were both tired, but there was a comfort in their presence that seemed to make silence into a preferable alternative to speaking. At least for a moment. A few sips of his own drink later, Sunburst clearly wanted to get the caffeine out of his tea, he fished a container out of his bag. He opened it to reveal a small but surprisingly robust charcuterie board’s worth of snacks having been packed away. Veggies, some cheeses and crackers (including a few chunks of that old cheese Shining liked) and some olives and dates. Sunburst set the open container between them and pulled out a smaller tin of hummus, opening it and setting it down too.

“How did you have time to make this?” Shining was in awe.

“It’s my lunch tomorrow. It’s fine though, I’ll catch something from the mess hall from the guards. Can you write me a note or something so they don’t give me flak?” Sunburst spoke so calmly and kindly, dipping a slice of cucumber in the hummus and taking a bite as soon as he finished.

Shining turned to look back out to the sky, aware of how wet his eyes were. What was with him lately? Why did Sunburst have to go out of his way to do something so cute, so kind, so caring? “Of course,” Shining responded simply. He took a sip of his tea and ate a date. The wind bounced off of the keep behind them, making a low hum, before whistling its way through the arrow loops of the parapet. In the distance the bells rang over the city 12 times.

“Happy birthday,” Sunburst said quietly. The final bell rang. After a moment he added, “sorry you feel bad for it.”

Shining swallowed his food. He waited a moment, not turning to meet Sunburst’s gaze, but instead swallowing again. He spoke, “I’ve never been too big on my own birthdays.”

“Why not?” Sunburst took a hearty gulp of his green tea now that it was cold.

“For the past few years at least, I watch these ageless empires and ponies all around me, I see ancient evils that have persisted for thousands of years, and then I have a birthday and suddenly I’m older. If that makes sense.” Shining took a chunk of cheese, ditching the formality of a cracker entirely and just taking a bite.

“It makes sense. I look at things from the past all the time. Take classical Ponish history for example. It’s a span of 700 years. The rise and fall of empire after empire around Equestria, the rise and fall of several political dynasties in the higher court, all of that, and Equestria itself simply stays still in time. Without the rest of the politics of the country, without the rest of the world as a measuring stick, it seems like time stands still, but then we get older. When you look at all of history like I do, it starts to seem a little unfair that we only get such a small slice of it to ourselves.”

“A very small slice.” Shining echoed the sentiment. “I first realized that when Twilight turned 12. She was so excited. She wanted to act like a big girl, read big girl books, act more ‘proper for her age’,” Shining giggled to himself, “and I was excited for her. For a day I was at least. Then the next day I asked her if she wanted to go play in the runoff—there was a drainage ditch by our house that overflowed when it rained—and she said ‘that’s for little ponies. I’m not a foal anymore.’” Shining could feel a tightness in the back of his throat.

“It’s how I feel every time Flurry makes a big milestone. I’m just aware of the fact that she will never be that young again. We miss out on so much as we age, and sometimes we don’t even know what we are missing out on.” Shining locked his eyes on the moon, using it as an anchor to focus on, to keep his thoughts from spiraling.

They sat in silence again. Sunburst finished his tea. Shining finished his hunk of cheese and gulped more of his tea down.

“I wrote a letter to Starlight,” Sunburst spoke.

“Really!?” Shining didn’t even pretend the that the change in topic wasn’t appreciated

“Well we write all the time. Twilight likes to make her write letters. I write back obviously, but this time I sent my own letter.” Sunburst was blushing. Shining took in the bashful way he batted his eyes as he spoke, his pupils almost invisible under the reflections of all the light in the sky.

“And…” Shining made a gesture with his hoof.

“I just asked her if she had time to stay an extra day after your party this weekend; if she wanted to hang out. I told her I had something I wanted to talk to her about. I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes.” Sunburst looked up to see Shining beaming at him.

“You’re already in, bud, I’m telling you,” Shining spoke like an old master imparting wisdom. “She already likes you a lot. Even if she only likes you as a friend right now, which I think she likes you more than that, but even if that’s all she feels you’re still a horseshoe in.”

“You think?”

“For sure. You have a lot of attractive qualities.”

“You seem to think so.”

Both of them chuckled at Sunburst’s joke.

“But really,” Shining went on, “I think she already likes you. I just think you are bad at seeing when people are in love with you.” Shining felt a pinch in his stomach.

“I try not to be down on myself often, but I really don't know what you’re talking about when you say I have ‘attractive qualities.’” Sunburst opened up a water bottle from his bag and took a drink.

“If you want me to compliment you, you need to just learn to ask,” Shining sneered jokingly.

“I’m not just fishing for compliments. I just want to know.” Sunburst pitched his voice up indignantly.

“So what would you want me to say? Give me an example of a quality you would want me to point out?” Shining smugly looked to his friend and took a sip of his own tea.

A guard on patrol clopped by, saluting briefly to Shining. Sunburst thought for a moment.

“Well you say that me being smart and dorky is good,” Sunburst pontificated.

“Ponies are drawn to passion. It’s clear that you are passionate about a lot of things,” Shining agreed.

“So you could say that.” Sunburst looked at his friend, proud to have argued his point.

“That’s really only one thing. ‘Qualities’ is plural. What else were you thinking I could say?”

“Well,” Sunburst began, “you say I actually carry a conversation pretty well. I am clueless, but in a cute way, you’ve told me. Also, apparently I’m doing something right with physical attractiveness, or at least I’ll infer that’s what you think for obvious reasons...and…” Sunburst looked at Shining, the smug look on his face giving up his ruse.

“Oh stars,” Sunburst giggled and blushed, “I’ve been hanging around you too much, I’m developing an ego.”

“You’re getting confidence. Nothing you said there was wrong.” Shining scooted in and laid a reassuring hoof on his friend’s shoulder. Sunburst looked to him again.

In his left eye were all the lights in the world. The crystal city shined like a flame and the northern lights shimmered like embers. In his right eye, as he faced Shining, there was only the gentle glow of the lantern, a pearl amidst the ocean of black and blue. Somehow that eye was just as mesmerizing. Bleary eyed, Sunburst’s look carried with it a natural pause in the conversation. Shining moved his hoof just a bit on his shoulder. Sunburst leaned in slowly, the whistling wind around them seeming to slow to syrup, his already tired eyes closing slowly.

Shining held his breath, waiting for the two to come into contact. His heart fluttered as he felt the warmth from Sunburst’s breath tickle the wispy hair on his chin. His lips parted just a bit. He tilted his head back, expecting to feel the tickle of his friend’s goatee. He felt Sunburst’s cheek rub against his as he leaned in all the way, wrapping Shining in a calm and sleepy hug.

The earth still spinning slowly, Shining opened his eyes. Heat in the back of his throat, he brought his own larger hooves up and rubbed the back of Sunburst’s cloak. The smaller pony simply relaxed his forelegs over Shining. A gentle murmur of thanks came from just behind Shining’s head. He rested his chin on Sunburst’s withers, swallowing his complex mix of shame and disappointment and enjoying the hug. Wrapped in blankets, near the heat of the lamp, the cool night around them, Shining stopped himself from spiraling again and focused only on the niceness of the situation.

Soon enough however he began to notice something. Sunburst’s breathing had eased into something calm and rhythmic. He had fallen asleep. Shining chuckled to himself. He had been working hard this week.

Using his aura and his dexterity, Shining lowered the smaller pony down onto the blanket. He poured out the rest of his tea, closed the snack container and packed everything away into Sunburst’s bags, loading them up over his back. He looked over the lump of fabric that was his sleeping friend, taking the smaller pony up in his aura and draping him gently over his back, eliciting only a few errant mutters from him in the process, but not waking him up.

He folded the blanket, turned off the lamp, and hitched them both to Sunburst’s saddlebags on his back. Double checking that everything was packed, he took one final look at the city and the sky and the moon before carefully trotting off.

It was a long walk down through the ramparts and across the courtyard, one filled with whispering to guards that he was only delivering his friend home, no one was hurt. As he finally made it back outside, only a foray across the grounds from reaching his destination, a sharp sweet voice carried itself through the wind to him.

“Shining?” Cadance spoke gently, tired enough herself. “I woke up and you were out of bed.”

“I went for a night walk and this one came out to cheer me up,” Shining nodded back to Sunburst, who had begun to snore lightly,” but he was more tired than he let on and fell asleep.”

“That was very kind of him,” Cadance closed the gap between them as she spoke, “I know how you get about birthdays.” A slender hoof came up under Shining’s chin, tilting his head up to meet a flurry of short kisses. Shining noticed the empty hiss of the baby monitor crystal Cadance had tucked under her wing, broadcasting the comfortable silence inside of Flurry Heart’s room. “Let’s get him to bed.”

Cadance and Shining drifted across the grounds, making the short walk to Sunburst’s house together. Cadance fished his keys from out of the bags on Shining’s side, and the two of them simply lifted Sunburst off of Shining’s back and laid him on his bed, blankets and all, before closing the door. Both of them politely pretended not to notice the object suction cupped to Sunburst’s wall, though Shining thought it looked oddly familiar.

Once outside, Cadance tugged at the blanket Shining had still left draped across his back. “You know,” she began with a yawn, “I have the baby monitor with me. How do you feel about sleeping under the stars tonight, honey? The sky is so pretty.”

Shining called a guard over and asked that somepony keep watch over the princess and him while they slept, and Cadance teleported back into the castle to get another blanket. They found a nice spot to the side of the main courtyard, where the crickets weren’t too noisy and the wind was blocked off by some bushes.

Cadance folded her legs under her body gracefully, and Shining did the same right next to her, the two of them lying so close on their blanket that their flanks were touching. “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” and again Cadance gave him a series of short kisses on the cheek and lips. She ended the combo with a longer kiss, not anything fancy, just the two of them sharing the moment with each other. She broke the kiss, her eyes having gone from a sultry-half-closed to a tired-barely-open. She pressed her head against his, the base of their horns rubbing against each other as they held this pose for a while. Shining could feel her breath hit his chest.

She shimmied herself a bit, letting her head slide down the back of his neck until she had folded herself like a swan, resting her chin on his withers. Shining folded his own head down, bringing himself to rest on her folded forelegs, his cheek against her chest. The both listening to the crickets and the wind and each other’s breathing for a while, their heart’s slowly matching each other in rhythm. Cadance fell asleep first and Shining listened to her lethargic inhales and exhales. The hiss of the baby monitor crystal still carried from under her wing. Even though he knew it couldn’t pick up a sound that small, Shining convinced himself that he could hear Flurry Heart’s breaths too, and he finally let his own eyelids droop to that sound as it played in his head.

“Oh. Luna. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Author's Note

Just when I admit this is a bimonthly series, I finally release a weekly chapter. Expect another week or two before the next one, and thank you for everyone that returns to this series dedicatedly, I’ve never written for an audience before, so thank you so much for all of your time. Also, thanks to Awni for continuing to provide proofreading help as this series goes on.

Into the Other End

“You didn’t expect to see me in your dreams, dear Brother in Law?

Shining Armor looked at his surroundings. Before him was Princess Luna, and scattered around the two of them were dozens of bodies. Most of the wriggling mass were Shining himself, some of them slender and shorter, some of them burlier and stronger, while the rest of the mass was Cadance. In some places there were three Cadances piling over one Shining, all of them fawning over him, and in others there were three Shinings positioned around a single Cadance, each of them diligently pumping their cocks into one of her orifices.

Shining Armor turned his head to the side to see a skinny, more effeminate version of himself laying back while a taller, much more curvaceous Cadance bucked her hips up and down over his cock. He then turned the other way to see a stronger version of himself laying with his ass in the air, being pegged mercilessly by Cadance, his precum spilling out on the plain floor as his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

Shining assessed the orgy of him and his wife, the mass of meat and cum that surrounded him and his Sister in Law, and spoke, “It would make more sense that this was a dream, now that I think about it.”

Luna gave a stern look for a moment, leaving the two of them nothing but the rampant sounds of sex around them to fill the silence. Shining tried to peer across the bodies rolling and writhing on the floor, but everything beyond them seemed murky, vaguely outside of his perception.

He spoke again, “so this is pretty awkward.” Behind him a Cadance had an intense orgasm.

“Oh I assure you, Shining Armor, being the protector of dreams I see much worse.” Luna spoke with a very formal, royal authority, even as her cheeks blushed upon hearing the beefiest, bulkiest Shining of the orgy moan in delight as Cadance rutted him with a strapon.

“So what brings you by, then? Just wanted to see my dream orgy?” Shining shrunk a bit as he heard one of the Shinings in the background ask another if he was going to cum soon.

“If I wanted to see your sex dreams I would wait until your mother visits,” Luna spoke with a smirk slowly creeping its way across her face.

“Ponies need to stop joking about that. It’s gross,” Shining barked, harumphing his hoof down.

“If anypony can make jokes about that it’s me, having seen the dreams of all of equestria.” Luna stepped forward a bit, puffing her chest with indignity.

“So what are you here for?” Shining almost had to shout over the noise of an unlikely string of simultaneous orgasms behind him.

“I am just here to talk,” Luna responded, waving her hoof contemplatively. “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“I’d hate to take your time after a-” Shining drew his hoof away as an errant jet of cum landed near him.

“Shining. I know you have much inner conflict as of late. I’d like to just take a moment to check in, catch up, to wish you a happy birthday, of course, with regards from Celestia too.” She dragged her sentence along, consciously trying to avoid looking at one Cadance to the side who was managing to take a frankly gratuitous number of Shining’s at once .

Shining paused for a moment. As his head sank in thought the mass around them began to shift. The noise quieted and slowly, seeming to sink into the imperceivable veil that coated the dream, the Shinings and Cadances all began to disappear. Finally it was the two of them alone. The veil seemed darker.

“I’m not mad, Shining Armor.” Luna carried a softness in her voice that reassured him. “I know better than most how hard it can be to control our own desires.”

That hit a bit too close to home. Shining sat down, keeping his stinging eyes closed for a moment. Luna walked over, her hooves making echoey clops in the void, and Shining felt her rub his back comfortingly. She spoke again, “you must face it.”

Shining opened his eyes and began to turn back to look at her, but the sight he faced stopped him. It was a mini recreation of the night he studied Sunburst’s naked body. Only the bed; Sunburst and Shining; and the window, draping moonlight over the both of them, were there. Shining watched himself as he stared at the head of Sunburst's penis. Seeing it from a different angle, he was shocked at how lustful he looked. Sunburst had shrunken himself into a bashful mess while Shining seemed to almost hang his tongue out of his mouth, practically drooling over the cock in front of him.

Shining almost thought it was a picture, not a moving scene, with how long he watched himself hold there. He almost let out a gasp when he saw himself finally stoop his head down, his eyes dragging behind to absorb every inch that was laid out before him. Sunburst, Shining only now noticed, lifted his legs just a bit, bending his back in an attempt to give Shining a little better of a view.

Shining and Luna watched in silence as the scene slowly unfolded. Shining could feel the back of his throat burning. Luna finally spoke, “we are both well aware of what you wanted to do.”

Shining took a moment, trying to keep his eyes from stinging anymore, to try and speak, but he was cut off by the events before them taking a drastic turn. The dream Shining, finally giving in to the hunger in his eyes, parted his dry lips, pausing to pucker and rewet them, and gently pressed his snout into Sunburst’s crotch, giving his sheath and the base of his cock a full-mouthed kiss as the smaller pony twinged in surprise, letting out a slight yelp.

The void of the dream only amplified the sounds as Shining watched in horror. His eyes were wide as he witnessed himself succumb to his own fears as of late. The dream Shining paused a moment, tilting his head to the side and taking a long sampling from around the base of Sunburst’s cock. Sunburst fidgeted helplessly, precum oozing its way slowly down from his head. Shining fastened his lips around the base and swabbed his tongue around once more, this time carrying the motion to draw slowly up the length of Sunburst’s penis, resting his upper lips around Sunburst’s flare as he playfully mawed at the head.

“Be honest with me, Shining Armor. Be honest to yourself too. Confront your arousal. Embrace it.” Luna spoke with such authority and volume that it was as though her voice simply existed around him. It was a command.

“I don’t. I DON’T want this!” The air around them seemed to grow hot as the dream versions of Shining and Sunburst disappeared. Luna simply stood quietly at Shining’s side, looking down on him calmly as he spoke, the anger wavering in his voice already. A tear rolled down his cheek as he wracked himself with a light sob. “I don’t want to want this.” He bowed his head in defeat.

“Cadance knows how love and desire work, Brother in Law. She knows that you would never betray her. She knows, just as I do, that hiding this part of yourself, hiding your own worries and desires, it will only hurt you. It will only hurt those around you.”

“So what more is there? I’ve already told my wife I want to have sex with another pony. I still feel awful.” Shining looked to Luna the way a foal looks to its mother, desperation in his eyes.

“Sex is easy, Shining Armor. If it were only sex you felt guilt over, then why would you be unsatisfied with Cadance’s use of the transformation spell?” As Luna spoke images swirled around them. They gradually formed into whole scenes of Cadance transforming into Sunburst, and of her and Shining having sex.

“I...this all started because I got horny for Sunburst…” Shining felt like he was swimming in his own thoughts.

“You are only getting older, Shining Armor. Old enough to find out that some things are not truly once in a lifetime. Face what you feel, only then can you resolve it.” Luna began to shimmer, it became harder and harder for Shining to see her standing before him.

“You want me to say I…”

“Not to me, Shining Armor. To her. To him. To yourself.”

“I love him.”

Cadance only barely heard the words escape Shining’s lips, carried on the heat of his breath by the night air as the two of them slept, nestled together under the stars. She furrowed her brow, though not opening her eyes, and swallowed. It wasn’t news to her. She was an empath. What’s more, she knew that Shining would never cheat on her on purpose. She really did trust him, and she felt sorry for him, knowing his conflict. To stop loving someone hurt, but she trusted Shining to do it. Those thoughts were rational, however. In her heart at the moment was only a hollow pain, a very emotional one. The pang of hearing your lover want for something you can’t give them.

Author's Note

Loooooong hiatus, and I'm sorry for that. Things got busy, you know how it goes. This story is not dead though, and should see a few more updates before an actually planned hiatus that may come at the end of August. Back to writing emotionally complicated gay romance plots for the time being however, so strap in.

The Things Ponies Want

Twilight hugs were nice. She had this stiffness about her, this kind of perfunctory politeness that no amount of practical social experience could seem to shake, and that made her hugs distinct. A blend of a bear hug and a hover hoof, but delivered by a small pony who had the magical power to throw a mountain, Twilight hugs were a treat.

Cadance was happy she was here. She loved Twilight, but more importantly Shining loved her too. It was a pipe dream, hoping Twilight would swoop in and fix all of the her problems, but in her defense that was something Twilight was very good at.

“We have the good guest bedroom already made up for you, Twi,” Cadance began, soaking in the nice warm emotion of the moment, “ you can stay as long as you like.” The main courtyard bustled around them.

It was another few seconds before Twilight stiffly pulled herself away, sitting back down and awkwardly fidgeting her wings. Twilight had never realized that putting her wings over another pony’s during a hug was an easy way to make sure her feathers didn’t get ruffled. Finally, feathers in order, she spoke, “That’s very sweet of you Cadance. I may stay into Monday but I don’t know.”

“You’re already here a day early for the party; don’t feel pressured to stay late! Shining’s going to be so happy when he sees you!” Cadance did a little dance, shuffling her hooves.

Twilight smirked, no doubt thinking of the little dance her and Cadance used to do when she was a filly. She sighed. “You said you wanted to talk to me about Shining?”

***

“I can’t believe he never told me…”

Cadance could feel the sinking pit in Twilight’s stomach from across the lounge. She hadn’t even thought of this reaction, but it made sense.

“Twilight…” Cadance had barely said her name before she had started to cry.

She sat there, letting tears softly roll down her cheeks, listening to Cadance stride calmly over to her from across the room. The acoustics of the lounge, furnished with plush chairs and places to recline and thick books that covered the walls, seemed to suck the sound out of the area. Cadance felt like she could hear Twilight’s heartbeat as she laid a gentle hoof on her side. The pain Twilight felt was especially bitter.

“Twilight, this is only something he really started to think about more recently. I’m sure he trusts you enough to talk about it, but you just weren’t here.” Cadance spoke so softly it seemed like magic that her words could even reach Twilight, and it probably was. The gentle cracking of the fire dominated the room.

“Why didn’t he send a letter?” Twilight finally spoke, the brunt of her sadness dissipating under the gentle patting and calming presence of Cadance.

“This is all so fresh Twilight. I’m sure he was waiting to talk to you until after his birthday.” That did it. Cadance breathed out slowly and gently, feeling some of her own tension release as Twilight seemed to undo the emotional knot in her stomach.

“So he’s just having trouble coming to terms with himself?”

***

“With Sunburst!?”

“Twilight, don’t be rude.” Cadance raised an eyebrow.

“Nonononono, I’m not trying to be mean to Sunburst…but—“

The look on Cadance’s face was one of complete smug, “Twiiiii—“

“I just mean that Sunburst for Shining is a bit of a surprise.”

“I think it fits.” Cadance sipped her tea.

“Shiny is one of the most eligible stallions in Equestria if you ask me. Very smart at magic and organization and extremely fit. Tall.”

Cadance merely smiled.

“Ew.” Twilight read the look. “Why do you think it fits?”

“Well mechanically speaking, Shining is tall and fit and Sunburst is a little shorter and…slighter.” Cadance waved her hoof around.

“What do you mean?” Twilight took a sip of her own drink.

“Well it’s clear who would be the top.”

Magic thankfully made cleaning up Twilight’s spit take fairly trivial. After she recovered and refilled her drink Cadance went on, “He spend his whole life around strong big stallions. Just not his type. He sees a cuter boy and it gets him thinking.”

“I guess. There are plenty of cute stallions he’s been around before…do you remember—“

“Twilight, I would love to talk about cute stallions with you, I really would, but I do need to know if you have any advice first.” Cadance took another drink. Twilight did the same.

“I would start by hitting him with a rolled up newspaper for worrying everypony. Then hit him again and tell him to shave. Then again for not telling me.”

“Twilight, you’re going to get me arrested.”

“Okay okay okay. Hmm. Did I ever tell you about the crush Shining had before you?”

Cadance shifted in her seat, “no?”

“It was right as you became my foalsitter. I think you were the one to ‘awaken’ Shining when it comes to mares and suddenly he realized that just about everything had mares in it. At the time I was too young to understand what was going on; I just thought he must’ve had a stomach flu with how often he was going to the bathroom.”

Their tea only got colder as the two of them laughed.

Twilight went on, “But there was a pony that got tangled in his heartstrings at just about the same time as you did.”

Cadance let the pause hang in the air. She knew Twilight wanted her to ask who it was, but some stubborn part of her wanted to make Twilight say it. Cadance won.

“It was Ms. Hayfarthing, the earth pony who ran the general store we would go to in the middle of town.”

Cadance was a bit more unflappable; her spit take was dainty in comparison to Twilight.

“Why Ms. Hayfarthing?” She finally asked, a chuckling laugh breaking out between her words.

Twilight thought for a second, spinning her drink slowly in the air, watching the steam drift lazily up off of it. “I think she was different. She was a pony he would never have.”

Cadance nodded.

“You were a mare around his age—pretty, smart, peppy, single—and he was confident that he could get you. I assume he was, I guess; Shining has always been pretty confident. Ms. Hayfarthing was spindly and reclusive, much older, a widow who didn’t want to remarry…Shining didn’t have a chance, especially as a teenager.” Twilight took a sip.

“So you think he just liked to chase things he can’t have?” Cadance was shocked that she hadn’t ever thought of the predicament from this angle. This meant it really could all be a…

“I think it’s a mid-life crisis,” Twilight said, deflating Cadance a bit by stealing her revelation.

It was so obvious! Cadance couldn’t believe it! When Shining had his first crush he panicked and distracted himself by falling for a pony he knew he could never end up with, and now he was doing the same thing about getting old. It was like this great mystery had been solved, some great monster had been slain, it was all so simple.

Twilight wasn’t an empath, but Cadance was very easy to read sometimes. Impossible at other times, her face going blank as she forgot to emote properly, but sometimes it was like a book. Twilight almost mad a joke in her own head about herself and reading books, but it would’ve been too easy.

“This doesn’t really help you, you know that right?” Another sip.

Cadance froze.

“I mean, its good to know why he feels like that, but he still feels that way. You can feel how he feels, Cadance, you know it isn’t a front.”

Cadance slumped back again. She took a sip of her drink. Twilight was right. Again. She cleared her throat, “So what do I do then?”

Twilight looked at her. Cadance couldn’t get a read off of her emotions; her own were getting in the way.

She spoke again, quietly, “I just don’t want Shining to hurt…”

Twilight leaned forward. The fire crackled.

“…and I don’t want him to leave me…” Her words were barely a whisper.

It was a taboo worry, and it was one that she wished she didn’t have. She wanted to trust her husband. She wanted to understand. He was scared and so mad at himself; she could feel his heart torn to pieces from all this. She could feel it, feel it deep in him…his love for her was so strong. He wouldn’t do this to her. His heart was torn, but he was strong, but without him she didn’t know what she would do.

If he left today she would be mad. Perhaps it’s better to say she would be bitter. She could forgive, sure, but she was still a pony. It wasn’t what she wanted. She loved Shining.

Twilight had been comforting her through this entire breakdown. She wasn’t sobbing, but gentle tears rolled down her cheeks. Her breath was ragged as her shoulders rose and fell into Twilight’s side.

“Let’s talk about cute stallions, Cadance.”

Cadance smiled lightly and leaned into her sister in law.

Twilight hugs were nice.

False Climax

It wasn’t even an especially good orgasm, really, but Sunburst was quite pleased with the accomplishment. His body shuddered as he felt his groin tense, the feeling deep inside him radiating out, his cock twitching as cum oozed out onto the floor. He had taken the whole dildo.

This is nothing special necessarily. He had gotten close the very first time he had tried. The second time he succeeded but didn’t get off from only the dildo. This time he did. It was more a symbolic victory for him: the first time he had gotten a hooves free orgasm from 8 inches of silicone dick.

He didn’t know why he woke up this morning with an itch that only a stallion could scratch, but he was glad it didn’t take too long. He still had plenty of time to get ready for Shining Armor’s birthday party. He would see Twilight for the first time in a long time. He would see Starlight, of course; she would even stay into Sunday so the two of them could go…Sunburst still hadn’t thought that far into it. He would see Shining.

Oh! He still needed to wrap Shining’s present. Building up resolve, he twisted his lower back and wiggled his butt side to side, feeling the sinking, kind of slimy feeling of inch after inch sliding out of him, finally ending with a light…

***

POP!

The champagne fizzed and the partygoers all cheered. It was an extravagant affair, Sunburst noted. He forgot that Shining was a prince sometimes. Almost a hundred attendees, all dressed to the nines in the most contemporary fashions from around the Crystal Empire and Equestria. It was an interesting intersection: the Crystal Empire nobles all wore modern revivals of ancient styles, something out of a history textbook; meanwhile the Canterlot nobility donned its ever antiquated tailcoats and frills. The normal atendees, not bound by some noble tradition, dressed plainly with the modern trends, dark colored suits and evening gowns.

Sunburst was in the third camp. He had a dark blue suit on, one that felt a bit tight around his stomach, but he was assured by Twilight that it “brought out the best of his figure.” She ordered the suit for him from Sassy Saddles a few months ago, so he would never complain about it to her now. Something about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Twilight’s friends were all sitting at their own table, seemingly reconvening with friends they had made in Canterlot. He made a mental note to try to say hello to them later. Parties were a lot for him though, so he promised to not hold himself to it if things felt like too much.

The main table had Shining at the head, of course, dressed in a red and gold tailcoat with a little laurel atop his head, a Crystal Empire tradition for royal birthdays, and flanking him at either side were Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance. Apart from them were esteemed guests, Luna and Celestia, some Canterlot high nobles like Blueblood, some Crystal high nobles. It seemed like a stuffy table. Not unbearable, however, as Sunburst noticed Celestia repeatedly stealing pastries from the platter in the center using magic when she thought no one was looking.

Starlight still wasn’t here. Apparently the map had called her away at the last moment. While sad, of course, awkward was the main theme of the night. Sunburst didn’t really know any of the ponies he sat with. As head researcher he was the only one in his staff to get an invite, so he was seated with other heads of royal staff like the chief armorer and the head cook. Everypony was friendly, but Sunburst preferred to focus on his food when social situations were this hectic.

Focus on his food he did. Most of the evening drifted away into not one, not two, not three, not four, but five and counting glasses of wine. An appetizer, a serving of cheeses and bread, a main course, and a dessert all raced by as he felt that sinking, pathetic feeling in his gut again. Such a wide, ornate hall packed with so very many voices talking at once, no easy access to anypony he knew, and the one pony he was waiting to talk to not being here, tonight was fun.

With another sip of wine he looked over to the main table. Shining was talking to Twilight, the two of them forcing smiles. Twilight apparated a newspaper for a moment, rolled it up, and bapped Shining on the nose with it. Sunburst found himself chuckling. Cadance leaned in too and Sunburst transfixed himself on them, following along without hearing anything they were saying.

It was a fruitless effort, of course. They were keeping all of their body language subdued; the three of them all well used to acting regal and reserved in public. Sunburst couldn’t read lips either. However, even without being able to glean any of the actual content of the conversation he was still enthralled. Like an outsider looking in, he simply marveled at the ease and power of those ponies, the way they so casually talked with each other and those around them.

Shining had at least organized the light blue stubble on his chin, but had gotten away with not shaving it entirely. Sunburst wondered why he decided to try and grow facial hair.

Oh.

He wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew that Shining seemed to like him. What do you do with that though? He could only really ignore it. Shining had quite a lot of emotional pull on Sunburst’s life right now as his chief male friend, so much so that it felt like a situation that was too hot to touch. Shining wanted to hold him, and kiss him, and rut him, and that was something Sunburst found himself excited by. He had never felt all that attractive before, and the flattery was pretty appealing. Shining was his friend though. He really didn’t want to lose that.

He swam through the room, out of his chair before he had even realized it. Another glass, maybe two, maybe three, he slid between the crowds, bouncing pony to pony while smiling. He felt like his eyes would leak from his teeth, the sheer number of sights and sounds that shoved their way into his head. He talked. He heard himself talking. Magic and artifacts.

Twilight.

He was talking with Twilight.

Some words crept through the haze, words that felt more real than any other part of the conversation: “…marefriend or coltfriend?”

She was gone already. His answer was sputtering and chirping, he thought. He thought. He was thinking about his life. He was on a balcony.

The cold air pulled him free, whipping his mane to the side and making his ears sting. Inside and around the corner he could hear the sounds of the party ending. It was over. He was thinking.

Starlight wasn’t there. Meanwhile—

“I’m out here!” Shining shouted in from the doorway. Sunburst almost jumped over the rail in fright. He looked pale, his wide, pupils like needle points.

“Woah, buddy, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Shining paused, the wind lashed around them. “Are you okay?”

What a question. The answer was no, Sunburst knew. He was drunk and scared, not just because of Shining, but because of the whole evening. He was scared that he would be lonely. He wanted to tell his friend the awful night he had had. He wanted to cry about being stood up. He wanted Shining to carry him home to his bed again. Sunburst gulped. He was scared of heights.

“Yeah I’m fine. How was the party?” He moved to the side to let his friend step forward.

“I would say ‘you were there,’ but from your breath I can tell you weren’t. Still aren’t.” Shining was grinning.

If Sunburst’s face wasn’t already deep red from the wine and the cold he may have been worried about blushing.

“You’re blushing,” Shining commented with a smirk.

He couldn’t really blush any more so no harm no foul.

“Never took you for a drinker.” Shining looked over the city as he spoke. It was a beautiful view, but one that Sunburst couldn’t process in his current state. Nonetheless he stared out into the open air. The stars seemed to so thoroughly outnumber the lights on the ground, the candles and windows and street lamps, that it made Sunburst nervous. He looked at the moon, trying to soak it into his eyes.

“I was just passing the time,” he responded. He would get the moon in his eyes, he just knew it. He needed to stare hard enough. He could pull the moon into his eyes and give it to Shining. A gift.

“Not much for parties?”

Sunburst was fidgeting in his coat while Shining watched. He had utterly ignored the question; it was a silly question. Clearly not. Shining giggled. Sunburst felt a climbing fear, something closer to a rage or a panic, at how alluring the simple, guttural laugh was. It was a pony. It was his friend. In this moment Sunburst was not alone, alone in his cottage. He wanted Shining with him.

The gift wasn’t in his coat. It was magic. He remembered, blushing (but not visibly) at his own foolishness, and poofed the present between them. Shining just stared at it on the ground, his laughter slowing.

“Aw, thanks, man.”

“Open it.” Sunburst was falling, and he knew where he wanted to land. The stars and the sky were swirling around him. The universe was spinning and he was it’s axis. He had the moon in his eyes.

It was a careful, shocked, deliberated movement, Shining opening the box. He recognized exactly what it was immediately, Sunburst could tell, the white noise in his head overpowering this quiet, tender moment. Sunburst told himself he was sure he could feel Shining’s heart skip a beat.

A cloak. Dark blue, lighter blue trim, stars, it was Sunburst’s cloak. Shining was utterly paralyzed. Sunburst took the initiative, fully willing to push Shining around in this state. He took the cloak and, wafting his aura up and over Shining, lightly laid it on his back. It sank down over his evening clothes. Shining kept staring at the box the cloak came from, but his own aura took hold around the neck, gently holding it closed.

The wind slapped against the two of them so hard that it felt like a warning, like a mother slapping a foal’s hooves away from stealing icing off of a cake.

The lights had started to go out below.

Sunburst was falling. Not yet. He was passing out. Not yet. Shining was staring at him. He was looking into his eyes. He had the moon in his eyes for Shining, and he wanted to give it to him. Looking at Shining, little goatee on his chin, cloak on, Sunburst wasn’t alone. He wasn’t alone and he wasn’t scared, not anymore. He needed to get closer so he could give Shining the moon.

It was explosive and intentional, sloppy and passionate. It took so long to get to him. Sunburst fell into Shining, bracing his hoof on his friend. He didn’t pay attention to Shining as a whole, to the surprise in his eyes, he only saw his lips. He only felt them against his. It was a short kiss, his first kiss. He may have been scared of heights, but at least right in this moment he wasn’t scared of falling.

He slumped into Shining once and for all, falling asleep.

Author's Note

Idk I feel like this was an important chapter but I can’t tell.

Hang in there, party ponies, I wanna try to finish this story up for New Years. We are rounding the final bend if you couldn’t tell. I came up with this story at the beginning of this year and I am so deeply grateful for those of you who’ve come to join me along the way. Thank you so much for reading, cya in the next chapter.

Completely Incomplete

Sunburst was just as surprised when he got a kiss back. Passionate but tender, longing, the feeling of two magnets, held apart, finally coming together in climax. She smelled like lilac. Not strong, it didn't smell like a perfume. Maybe it was just the product that she used for her mane. Maybe it as her aura, even. Sunburst barely moved. He didn't expect it to work.

***

A few hours earlier he had been getting ready for his date. It really was a date too, that's the part that shocked him. Starlight had come to meet him the day after the party, him hungover and her tired from her journey. They had a breathless conversation that he couldn't quite remember a play-by-play of no matter how hard he tried, but the short of it was him saying he had wanted to take her on a date and her doing something to the effect of emphatically agreeing to it.

Simplicity was key. A nice meal out, a show, it would all go well. He would be in.

***

He was in. She was kissing him. The show was fun, he couldn't remember most of it. The meal was good. He couldn't remember what he ate. He was kissing a mare for the first time in his life.

"This was really fun, Sunburst," she had said to him.

"I've always liked you too," she had responded.

"I think your cute and dorky and funny. After all this time I can't help but still admire you," she had admitted.

There they were, kissing outside her room in the castle. replaying the night in his head brought him a rush of confidence. He Pressed forward, bringing a hoof up to her shoulder to stabilize her. She tilted her head in response. Twenty-eight and a half seconds. Not the most intense kiss but certainly a good one. She pulled away and batted her eyes. The way she looked up at him, he felt like he must look dreamy to her. He probably did. She had always liked him after all.

A short goodnight, a promise to go out again next week before she left, and a short walk home later--

***

Sunburst was cumming. Well Cadance was cumming as Sunburst. This was her second time of the night and she was heartily spent, but with what strength she could muster from her shorter orange haunches she slammed her hips into Shining's rear one last time, huffing and groaning as she released another thick volume of seed into her husband's ass. Shining gritted his teeth, taking his second load in a row without stopping, and furiously worked his aura around his cock. Sweat dripped from his chin as his shallow, quick breath shuddered. Finally, after being rutted more deeply and thoroughly than Cadance had ever tried with a strapon, he emptied his balls in a virtual torrent onto the shower floor.

The two of them stayed put a long while. No motion or grinding or teasing, just breathing. The water had been shut off for a while, and both of them had starchy fur, almost dried from the water but replastered with sweat. Each movement brought the sound of wet hair on wet hair. Cadance shakily squeezed her front hooves on the sides of Shining's barrel and started so shimmy herself back. Little step by little step, she moved back just enough to pop her medial ring out of Shining.

He shook a bit but made no noise as he felt the cock being taken out of his ass. It was a deflating feeling. He clenched up as he felt the soft head slip out, but stopped himself, letting himself relax and feel the cum seep out. He closed his eyes and bowed his head down, focusing on controlling his breathing. He didn't even react as he felt the tongue slither into his ponut. Cadance wearily lapped away at Shining's filled rump as he turned the water on again. The hot shower was just as good as the tongue exploring his tired, pounded ass. He watched the puddle of seed on the floor swirl around the drain.

His eyes had to readjust to the bright white crystals that made up the bathroom walls. The steam in the air of the shower. He looked back to see Cadance, back in her normal form, happily attending to his asshole. Her alicorn tongue was quite the utensil.

Things were back to normal. At least they were to a new normal. Cadance knew that Sunburst had drunkenly kissed Shining. They had talked. It was all swept under the rug, nothing but a misfire of emotions, a false climax. This was the first time in nearly a week that Shining had felt the mood strike him to try cock again, to which Cadance happily obliged. He hadn't felt particularly strongly about Sunburst in a while. Not since the kiss.

Shining had simply brought him home that night, telling Cadance the exact story the next day. She was disappointed in Sunburst, but the two had talked alone and cleared the air and that was...it.

Shining hung out with him just as much as ever. He helped gas his friend up for his date with Starlight, which should be concluding now, as Shining stood in the shower with his own wife servicing him.

The two of them had felt a spark, and they had almost followed it, they had played with fire and lit both of their emotions aflame. It was so fleeting in hindsight, almost ridiculous. It was hollowing, Shining thought, that something that feels so real can be gone so quickly. It made him feel old, frail.

It wasn't truly gone though. Cadance sidled up next to Shining and began to wash her mane. Shining just came to his senses. Sunburst did too. Shining knew himself well enough to know that his fancy had simply overtaken him. He was getting older, and he wanted a glimpse into a life that could have been. However, you can't just peer into what you've missed out on that easily. There may have been some timeline where he met Sunburst, or some other colt, and had led a very different life, but he would never know.

Meanwhile, for Sunburst he couldn't really say. Maybe it was for confidence. Maybe he wanted to feel wanted, to feel attractive, to feel like he commanded something. Shining could already tell the ordeal had made him far less anxious and far more assertive. It even led to him finally asking Starlight out. Maybe Shining was overthinking things, and all Sunburst had really needed from all this was to figure out how to get a marefriend...in a roundabout way.

***

Shining and Cadance lay in a calm slumber, ordeal behind them, while Sunburst stayed awake, peering into the stars in the courtyard. Under a million stars he realized how hard it was to feel alone in this moment and he let a tear gently roll down his cheek.

For the first time in his life, Sunburst fell asleep that night not feeling alone.

Author's Note

When I said I would finish things by new years I meant new years 2023 clearly. Either way here it is, a short, simple ending, the one I planned for nearly a year and a half ago when i started this fic, and the one I finally found the impetus to make. It's been a long, raunchy retelling of one dramatic, emotional week for our 3 main characters, but its over. Thank you all for reading along, and I hope you check out the other works I have on here, with more coming soon as part of my return, including the start of another long form romance in the next month or so. Cya.

Questions With No Answers

So what should he call it? A crush? Crush seems like it was a good word. A good word for a very bad thing.

Shining sat in the cool nursery contemplating. Flurry Heart, nestled in her ornate crib, lay staring gently at him. Her chambers were large and extravagant, as most things in the Crystal Empire were, and sitting in the center of the tapestries and crystals, the ogee arches that left the room open to the wide night sky, and all the engraved pilasters lay the girl that Shining would sacrifice all of it for.

Her wide blue eyes watched him through the bars of the crib. He imagined that they had to be just like his eyes, that the magnetism he could feel from her must be something he could channel. She was calm right now, as the drapes were drawn through the room on the wind. His heart still, Shining watched the summer air flick away at a loch of her mane. There was weight in this moment to him.

He was still shocked that he had a daughter. Who wouldn’t be? However, painting over any of his doubts was a firm shade of confidence. Confidence, as Shining was coming to find, was fickle. For example: one may be confident that they would never feel inclined to cheat on their wife. That confidence, if one had it, may just be the bedrock that helped somepony manage to quell his fears and settle down to start a family. One may also be confident that they don’t like stallions, is another example.

Oh stars, that was another issue. How? Was it just with age? Hormones calming down? What in Shining’s life was changing to bring this to the forefront? While he had never found stallions repulsive, it simply hadn’t ever been a factor he had considered. He could feel his chest tightening up a bit. He didn’t want to think about stallions. He didn’t want to think about Sunburst. He didn’t want to think about Cadence even. It was all too complicated, too much at once for him to rationalize. Flurry Heart was simple.

Her eyes were starting to slip closed, her little twitches and movements beginning to settle. Instinctively he leaned his head forward, coming to rest gently against the side of the crib, his horn sticking through the bars and ending up right in her reach. She laconically moved up to grab the end of Shining’s horn with a small hoof. With only the sounds of the drapes fluttering through the room, Shining let out a deep and gentle hum, feeling the end of his horn begin to gently flicker. With his eyes closed and his head down, Shining continued to hum until he could feel the probing grasp begin to loosen.

Slowly he began to pull away, letting her limp hold slacken until her small foreleg lay gently to her side, his horn drawn back through the bars of the crib. His mind a bit calmer, more airy and focused, he drew a sharp breath through his nostrils and looked once again at his daughter. Everything in his life was different because of her. Absently, he brought a broad hoof up gently and went to touch her. There was a gentle clop as his hoof, seeming enormous by comparison, touched against the bars of the crib, coming just short of managing to make contact with his daughter.

Scraping his hoof down the bars of the crib, he sighed. The light and ephemeral acoustics of the room barely carried the sound of him trotting out of him trotting away.

Author's Note

The end of Part 1 for now. How will Shining come to terms with this new side of himself, and how will he let it affect those around him? There's plenty more story to tell, so stick around.