The sight before them was, if not explicit, then at least surprising.
Princess Twilight had just fallen from a couch and was laying on her back while Princess Fast Change held a pair of tweezers, a tiny paint brush and a little pot of paint in her magic.
Moon tried to pull the door back but Slow still held it in his grip, the changeling's mouth open and staring at the situation inside.
"Honestly, I am not trying to just paint your wings, this was how a pegasus taught me how to understand what happens." Fast reached a hoof down to Twilight who got back up on the couch.
Finally Moon's magic got the upper hoof and the door closed silently.
Inside, the changeling princess, having restored the other mare to her seat, gently teased at one of her wings, stretching it slowly until it was fully spread. Each primary feather was painted with alternating colors, gold then silver.
"It feels strange to have somepony touching them like that." Twilight tried to twitch her wing again as Fast resumed her work. "Like that!"
Fast was not a silly mare. While it was true she had learned advanced flight in this way, there was an ulterior motive. Wings were sensitive, feathers more so. She could barely contain her grin as another blush overwhelmed Twilight while she moved on to the next feather.
And this was just the first wing, too!
Penny had some time to think, walking side by side with Stick. Her marefriend was mostly quiet, having managed to stop laughing at Penny's expense.
Inward searching was the order of the day, her and Stick's time earlier had been fun, really fun. She pondered and squirmed a little getting a nuzzle from the changeling. "How does… how does this, estrus, change me?" She asked it softly, hoping nopony but her wife would overhear.
"Normally? Not really much at all. A mare feels a little better about things, as does a stallion who smells it." Stick explained it in a way a book likely had and Penny knew right away that Stick likely didn't know much about it either. "In your world, what happened when a pony had it?"
"Moodiness, well, in humans. In others… animals, they get really worked up. Lots of chemicals… oh-" Penny sighed and smiled, shaking her head. Was it as simple as that, just a dump of estrogen into her system and things felt… better?
"Are you having regrets?" Stick sounded lost, worried and more than a little scared at the prospect until she felt a wave of emotion, pure love, from the unicorn. "Oh!"
"Oh indeed. I don't think I would like this to go on all the time, but right now, it is okay. This is a part of me now, there isn't much I can do about it."
Penny felt the rhythm of her hooves catch into a new beat, her tail swaying behind her. "Oh goodie…" She had begun to talk, but then her voice lifted into song instead.
She sang of loneliness at first, but that was just the first verse. The tune started to pick up in tempo and emotion, Stick joining her for a duet about their early love, growing closer. As their verse ended a chorus around them started, singing about the beauty of love.
In her present condition, just having decided she understood things a little better, this was quite a boost and her heart soared. Then their second duet began, Penny and Stick singing of getting closer and closer but, halfway through the verse Stick stopped and it felt to Penny like there was a spotlight on herself. She sang of how amazing it was to be with her marefriend, of how great it was… to have her foal.
The song ended with Penny standing dead still, surprise on her face as each hoof just refused to move.
"What's up Penny?" Stick nosed at her shoulder, giving her flank a gentle swat with her green magic.
"A song…" The unicorn felt shell-shocked. "Did you hear it?" Stick tilted her head and shook it. "It just, it felt so good to sing, to have you sing with me. I sang of how great I felt and how wonderful it was to be pregnant. How can the song know before we do?"
Penny poked Stick with a hoof, but it was the grin that spread right across the changeling's features, that broke Penny from her worry. "A foal! But how… oh, right!" She looked drunk.
The two, lost in their own little world, had managed to stop right in the doorway of their destination and it wasn't until a mare behind them asked if they were going in that they quickly made to enter.
It wasn't a formal restaurant, they were apparently meant to find their own table and did so, slipping into a booth to one side of the entrance. As Penny scooted up onto the couch-seat, her hoof lifted to her belly and rubbed it, only hours after the event and the world itself had told her she was pregnant. "There are a million things we need to do, I just wish I could think of what they are."
Penny hadn't even noticed the waitress was already talking to Stick. "And that cheese bread to start." The changeling was poking her hoof at an item on the menu and looked quite full of energy, despite her admitting earlier she needed to 'feed'.
"Don't suppose you have any fish?" Penny found herself asking into a lull in Stick's ordering. The waitpony shook her head.
"We keep getting asked about that, mainly from griffons who are passing through. Do b-" She barely got the first letter out but stopped herself. "Do lunar ponies eat it as well?" Penny nodded. "Huh, well, we might have to see about getting some in, I wonder where would be the best place to buy it… Oh forget that for now, was that all?"
Penny brightened up, glad she didn't have to say anything about the mare's almost-slip. "Some cider would be nice, two glasses please."
"Oh we have a wonderful berry cider, made right here in the Empire!"
The prospect sounded good to Penny and she nodded to that. "Thank you."
Left alone again, Penny felt something rest on her hoof, on the table. It was Stick's own, of course. The changeling looked to her eyes and Penny almost blushed at the way it felt to just be looked at like that. Luckily for her, somepony came in that they had both been needing to see.
"And here I thought the guards wouldn't know where you two would be, but I asked anyway. Imagine my surprise when it turns out they knew exactly where you are. Penny, Stick." It was Perfect Poise, the mare looking and sounding a touch more relaxed than her usual strict self.
"Perfect! It is good to see you, we have, unfortunately, not been able to work on our projects these last few days." Stick made some room as she spoke, lifting a hoof to get the attention of the serving mare again.
"Understandable, it is not every day that such events as these happen. I took the liberty of keeping things moving. Your little clothing store got a delivery of bulk working clothes and shipped out some of the most amazing dresses that will sell for a good profit in Canterlot."
A new order was quickly placed, Perfect apparently knowing just what she wanted, as always.
"And the railway?" Penny asked as the waitress set three big glasses of cider on the table. "Any news there?"
Perfect nodded and took out a notepad. "Two engineers arrived from Canterlot, Fancy Pants has been quite busy getting them in our pocket. They are already taking measurements and readings for what they called a spur-line. What was more, they already were talking of ways to move cargo, one examining the crystals at the mine to see how they would travel." She give the slightest shrug. "Not really my forte, I normally like to keep myself on top of these matters, but they seem to speak a whole new language."
Penny sipped at her cool cider, the tang of the berries tasting wonderful. "How much is it costing?"
The earth pony mare grinned in a predatory way that would have most lunar ponies looking twice. "Absolutely nothing… on paper. We are paying for the line, for the station and any cars to be built… as well as a damn locomotive. But Fancy negotiated that all funds spent in that way will be buying a share of the railway company itself."
Stick clopped her hooves together. "I need to meet this pony, they sound quite clever."
"You have no idea. Fancy Pants is not just the smartest stallion I have ever met, he is also one of the kindest." Perfect sounded quite a staunch supporter of her boss.
Penny nodded to this. "When I arrived in Equestria, I kind of landed a little rough. Despite having a human drop in front of him, from thin air, he helped me up, got me orientated. He is more than just a smart pony, he is a nice one."
Perfect nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with this and Stick took them both at their word. "He sounds awesome. I want to meet him." It was settled, it seemed.
The lunar unicorn was about to add some more to the conversation but right then their plates were served. No sooner was food on the table than a small bite-worth rose up to her lips, wrapped in green magic. Penny was all set to grumble about not being able to talk but couldn't find it in herself. She really did love the mare to bits.
It wasn't until one plate was empty that Stick started feeding Penny from the other and Perfect raised a brow. "Okay, you have my curiosity. Adorable as it is to see you feeding your special somepony, why are you feeding her both plates?"
Stick grinned at this, making sure Penny had no hope of replying, not with such a full mouth. "Well, we were already feeding her extra, she keeps me fed all on her own and I guess, no matter how you wrap it, she needs to eat for the two of us." Perfect nodded at this, the sentiment making sense. "But now…" Penny's eyes went wide, she knew what Stick was going to say and looked utterly defeated as she chewed. "She is eating for another."
The earth pony grinned wide, reaching a hoof over and patting one of Penny's. "Congratulations!"
Penny blushed at this, still trying to finish her mouthful and explore how it all made her feel. Finally getting the food down, she smiled to Perfect. "Thanks, we just found out today and… well, it was an interesting way. But enough of that, we have business to attend to."
Even Perfect was prepared to dispel such a notion with a hoof. "Nonesense, if you only found out today you need to start planning. How far along are you?"
Penny blushed again. "Well, a day."
Perfect laughed at this. "Well, okay, I concede, business might be fine for today."
The two marefriends looked at each other, something seemed a little different with their normally more contained business partner. Penny guessed first, her eyes narrowing. "Who is he?"
It was Perfect's turn to blush, but it faded quickly as the mare slipped into her namesake. "What?"
"Your new friend." Two hooves accompanied the word 'friend' to emphasize what Penny meant. This of course clued Stick into things.
"Oh, you have a special somepony?"
The blush returned and Perfect seemed to have given up on her attempt to hide it. "It was only meant to be a little relief. A dalliance." She gave a sigh and both could see she her eyes were not focused on the table or them. "He is so smart, but does this adorable thing with his hoof when he is thinking of me."
She was so in love that Penny and Stick both beamed at each other. "But who?" They both said it together. Giggling a little at their synchronization, they looked on at Perfect to wait for the identity.
"Articulate."
The name was what they had both been thinking, each lifting a hoof up and clopping them together. "Knew it." Penny got the words out first this time, sticking her tongue out at Stick only to get a mouthful of food sent her way, aimed right at her snout.
Stick turned to Perfect. "Not surprising." The earth pony looked a little surprised at that. "Well, who asked him to join our little group? Who knew that Penny and I are already a thing and that there was only one mare in our clique that would be receptive to a brightly intelligent and handsome stallion?"
Perfect looked surprised but not unhappy. It really did an ego a bit of good to know that the princess of love personally took an interest in your life.