"I'm so glad you brought me that flyer, honey!" Twilight Velvet adjusted her son's tie as she talked to her husband. "Now that Twilight has a foalsitter, we can both go to Shiny's flugelhorn recital!"

Shining Armor shifted uncomfortably but said nothing.

Any further fawning was interrupted by a knock on the door - answered by Night Light.

On the other side stood the evening's foalsitter: a lanky pink alicorn with a bright smile and a mane like the dawn. "Hi! My name's Cadance! I'm here to foalsit for Twilight Sparkle?"

Shining Armor remembered very little of the next few moments. He was entranced by the vision before him - one not just physically attractive but who's beauty was deep into her soul. His own sang in response, unable to look away from the most lovely filly he had ever seen.

His mother said something about his recital. His sister made a joke. He heard none of it. All he heard was Cadance's musical giggle. Summoning up all his courage, Shining Armor stepped up to the angel and introduced himself.

"ꃅꍟ꒒꒒ꂦ"

He turned and immediately trotted away, confident that he'd nailed it.

Twilight - despite being just a foal - gawked at her brother's utter failure.

And then something amazing happened. Something utterly incomprehensible and unfathomably unlikely. Cadance bit her lip, trying to hold back her smile as her heart saw Shining Armor's utter idiocy... and fell in love.

An explosion of color.

A swarm of butterflies.

A mind opening to joy.

A cracked geode.

A rainbow leading home.

An egg that was never supposed to hatch.

"Twilight Sparkle... You have a very special gift."

"It's her." Celestia paced back and forth across the balcony, manic energy spilling out of her. "It has to be her. Has to be! Obviously, she's incredibly powerful to have done that - and her cutie mark! It's the same one that's etched into the Tree! She has to be the one."

Cadance - sitting at the tea table while her aunt cantered like a lunatic - frowned. "Auntie, I don't think--"

"All I need to do is put her on an accelerated training course. Time's running out but I'm pretty sure I can squeeze in everything she needs to know." The Princess ranted to herself, not even giving Cadance a glance. "I'll have to start small but with that level of power I should be able to get her into combat shape in five years or so. Then it's just a matter of training her to have the right worldview so she can connect with the Elements and--"

"CELESTIA." This time, Cadance didn't hold herself back, not quite reaching Royal Canterlot levels but giving it her best shot.

It was enough to break the Princess' revere. She looked up at Cadance - at first in annoyed confusion and then realization. "...What am I doing?"

Cadance stood, closing the distance and hugging her aunt. "Falling into old habits."

Celestia deflated, slumping into the embrace. "Repeating old mistakes and nearly destroying yet another life." She took a long, shuddering breath. "I need you, Cadance."

"Huh?"

"I need you," Celestia repeated. "I cannot trust myself to not ruin Twilight, too."

Cadance gave her aunt a squeeze. "You can. I'll help, but you can't have somepony else change yourself for you. That's up to you in the end."

Celestia's response was a snort full of self-hatred.

"You can start," Cadance gently suggested, "By treating her like a filly instead of a weapon."

"Easier said than done," pouted the elder alicorn. "I can't remember the last time I treated anypony like a pony period, including myself."

"You treat me okay," Cadance countered.

And Celestia snorted again. "You're different. You're--"

"A pony, just like any other."

Celestia... frowned. She thought. And then she sighed. "I have so much to unlearn. And I must be a teacher at the same time." A low, bitter chuckle slipped out. "I suppose if I wanted things to be easy I would have refused the throne so long ago."

Cadance - wing still across Celestia's withers - guided the two of them to sit back at the tea table. She poured fresh cups for them both, adding a little honey to her own. "I know it seems daunting, Auntie, but you miiiiiight be making this more complicated than it has to be." She paused to take a sip. "You said I'm different, but what if I'm not?"

"You are different," Celestia insisted with a frown.

"I'm a pony. You're a pony. Twilight Sparkle is a pony. So are Raven Inkwell and Kibitz and--"

Celestia shook her head. "Cadance, you're an alicorn. Pretending you're less than that is foolish. Relating to you is very different than to anypony else. The very nature of our being sets us apart."

Cadance frowned and tried a different angle. "Auntie, you're looking at it backwards. I don't mean you should devalue me - I mean why aren't you valuing them more?"

"There's a diff--"

Cadance cut her off. "You've said yourself that anypony could become an alicorn if the conditions are right, correct?"

Celestia frowned, flashes of Sunset in the back of her mind. "Harmony chooses that, but yes, in theory."

"So Twilight Sparkle could become an alicorn." Cadance floated the ridiculous idea out as if it were perfectly normal.

Princess Celestia frowned more, gears turning in her head. "...Yes, in theory." Logically, there was nothing wrong with it. It was as likely as being struck by lightning three times in two minutes (without a pegasus being mad at you) but improbable did not equal impossible.

"Kibitz could become an alicorn," Cadance offered.

Celestia shrugged, unable to dispute the subject.

The envelope was pushed even further. "Blueblood could become an alicorn."

The image of that made Celestia hesitate. "I... don't see why not. Theoretically."

Cadance grinned, knowing she'd won. "So it only makes sense to treat all of them like it. They aren't short-lived mortal ponies. They're potential alicorns. From Twilight on down." She let that settle for a moment before she turned the conversation's angle back again. "I know you care about all your 'little ponies' but you keep trying to put up walls like this. I'm not that different than they are and I don't think you are, either. You just need to stop pushing yourself away. Let yourself be a pony. This is your chance for a fresh start." A fresh start. She could correct all her failings with Twilight - to do what she lamented she never did for Sunset. Cadance didn't need to say it - those regrets were engraved upon Celestia's soul.

Silence and tea followed as Celestia pondered that. It was obviously a lot for her - she didn't even pick up a cookie, leaving them all for Cadance's far lesser sweet tooth.

But about halfway through the second cup, the Princess set her tea down. "I don't think it's quite that simple. But," she quickly added, "It's somewhere to start from. I'll... try."

Cadance smiled. "And I'll help you. Twilight deserves the best from both of us, after all."

And that was something Celestia was happy to agree with.

Celestia remained Celestia, and that was a good thing. Human or pony, she had the same blind spots as ever and Sunset knew them inside and out.

She had been a sucker for a story with just enough truth to it: a young girl who was new to town; her mother, long dead from a tragic accident; her father, having traveled the world for his job; the struggle of home-schooling his daughter as they bounced from nation to nation and continent to continent; the relief of finally landing a job that would allow him to settle down and give her the life he thought she deserved.

Fortunately, his 'busy work day' prevented many meetings and Sunset had long since learned how to forge her father's writing. It was a tenuous fabrication but not an unreasonable one. And Celestia - the principal - was still vulnerable to stories that made just enough sense and fit into her world view. So she was eager to help the sharp young girl with sparse documentation and a hand-written letter from her father explaining things - Celestia wanted to help the unfortunate and educate those in need.

All of which had led to this moment and Sunset handing over the paperwork with her invisible father's signature on it.

Principal Celestia examined the writing, appearing to look over it closely. Sunset knew that was for appearance's sake, though: Celestia had already made her decision and this was mere formality.

"Your work on the placement tests was exemplary," she noted as she set the paperwork aside. "They easily put you in the top five percent of your grade level. I really must commend your father on teaching you so well despite the difficult circumstances."

Sunset looked at the floor, faking being flustered. "Thank you, m'am. I try my best."

"Your best is excellent and he should be proud of you."

The wince was real. Sunset soldiered past it. "I'll let him know."

Rising up, Celestia came around her desk to stand beside Sunset. "Well then. With the paperwork out of the way, let me be the first to say: welcome to Canterlot High School, Sunset Shimmer."

She held out her hand - and Sunset took it with a smile. "Thank you. I'm looking forward to what I can do here."

A part of Moondancer knew Sunset Shimmer wasn't coming. She had hoped and done her best to be positive, but there hadn't been any reply to her letters in months. Going to the School or the Palace to see her supposed teacher was plausible now that her family had moved to Canterlot... but fear had kept her away. Fear that was now confirmed reality: no Sunset. She hadn't been there to meet Moondancer at the New Student Orientation, she hadn't been around at the Meet & Greet, and she hadn't shown up at the library as promised. Moondancer had even asked around, but the answer was the same from every quarter: they all knew who Sunset Shimmer was, but nopony knew where she was and couldn't remember having seen her for weeks if not months.

She had been abandoned. A little voice in Moondancer's head told her that it shouldn't have been a surprise. After all, Sunset herself had spent letter after letter reminding Moondancer that she couldn't rely on others. If she wanted to succeed, she needed to stand on her own.

Rather than mope, Moondancer started on that by finding the nearest book and burying her nose in it.

Several minutes later, it registered that somepony was sitting next to Moondancer. Lowering her book slightly, she expected to find some foal brushing up on their addition and subtraction. Instead the purple filly (about Moondancer's own age) was reading Starswirl's On the Order and Harmony of Natural and Mystical Matters - the same book Sunset had given Moondancer to study eight months before. A quick mental count of pages...

"Chapter six?"

The filly looked up. "Huh?"

"You're at the start of chapter six," Moondancer stated, this time with more confidence. "I started reading that book last year. Six is where it talks about transmutation."

For a brief moment, the other filly's eyes widened with surprise and... joy?. "Yes! It's so fascinating, too! Wanna read together?" She paused. "Unless you already finished this part."

Unease made Moondancer squirm. "I didn't. I was supposed to have a teacher show me, but she..." Her voice trailed away.

Not even questioning it, the filly scooted closer and turned the book. "Then we can both learn it!"

Moondancer's eyes darted between the book and the filly. Well. She couldn't rely on others. But short-term alliances couldn't hurt. "Okay. I'm Moondancer."

"I'm Twilight Sparkle!" She held out a hoof.

The two shook, then set their minds to unraveling the secrets of the universe.

Author's Note

Time continues forward.

Two chapters remain.