Destinies intertwined

Twilight Sparkle's eyes began to open, but then suddenly closed at the bright light shining upon her. She rolled over in her bed and pulled the blanket over her head, by her estimations she still had a few minutes before she had to start her day. "Twilight?" A voice murmured. It was her assistant, Spike, probably trying to get her out of bed, something the purple unicorn was not ready to do for another three hundred and twenty-eight seconds. "Twilight? Can you please get up? Princess Celestia needs you at the castle!" Twilight's eyes widened, but then she grew suspicious, Spike had pulled this kind of thing before.

Using every bit of strength she had, Twilight pulled off the covers and sat up. "This better not be a trick, Spike."

"It's not." The teenaged dragon handed Twilight a letter, which read:

Twilight,

You may not know this, but last night Nightmare Moon returned and possessed Luna again. Celestia had to imprison her again, send Eclipse into hiding, and leave their one-month-old son in the care of a well to-do family. I'm writing you because I think she could really use a friend; it's hard to imprison your sister, lose your brother-in-law, and trust the care of your baby nephew to strangers.

I think she would really appreciate you being here.

Sincerely,

Solaris

Twilight studied the letter, then. "Spike, I'm gonna be in Canterlot for a while, do you mind staying here at the library?"

Spike shook his head.

Twilight smiled. "Thanks." Twilight stood up. "Now, I should probably get ready..."

Later...

After changing into a pink T-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, grabbing her purse, and train pass, and saying goodbye to Owlicious and Spike, Twilight was now waiting for her train to Canterlot to arrive. Twilight opened her purse and looked for a picture she had of Luna and her family. Eclipse was smiling, with a hand on Luna's shoulder. Luna was lying on the hospital bed, a tired smile on her face, and in her arms was one of the cutest babies Twilight had ever seen, his small hands, the way he was so dependent on his parents.

Suddenly a train's horn brought Twilight back to the present. She quickly stuffed the picture back in her purse and waited for the train to stop and open its doors...

On the train...

After giving the attendant her ticket, Twilight pulled out a book and, after finding her place, began reading. But something began to nag at her. If she looked up she could see a unicorn girl and an Earth pony boy taking to each other, and sometimes giving each other a small embrace (hug, kiss). Some people didn't like it when two different types of ponies dated; they felt it was almost as bad as dating an animal or something.

Twilight on the other hand felt differently, she felt that if a boy liked a girl, and a girl liked the boy, then it shouldn't matter whether or not she has a horn and he doesn't have anything. After watching them for a few minutes more, a passenger pulled an attendant aside and quietly told her how offended she was by the couple's behavior. The woman noticed it and kindly told them to discontinue their public displays of affection. But a couple of pegasi were behind the complaining man and he didn't seem to care!

Twilight sighed at the racist display, and returned to her book, vowing to at least tell the Princess about it.

When Twilight arrived at the castle, it was completely void of any guards, maids, or staff of any kind. She did however see her sister-in-law, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, AKA Princess Cadence, AKA the best babysitter this side of the Stoney Mountains, talking with Solaris, Celestia's husband. Twilight could see why Celestia fell for him: he looked reeeeal nice. But to Twilight there was more to a man than appearance.

Sure as heck didn't hurt though.

Solaris was a white Alicorn with a red mane, wearing a blue button-up long sleeved shirt, tan pants, and black dress shoes.

Cadence meanwhile wore a yellow tank top, pajama pants, and slippers, obviously up from sleeping in a bit.

The two had heard Twilight enter, and Solaris went over to her. "Hello, Twilight, thank you for coming on such short notice."

"It's fine,"

"Hi little sis," Cadence embraced Twilight in a hug, then after a few moments let her go. "I'm glad you made it."

"Yeah, anything for Princess Celestia. So were you in on this?"

"Well...maybe..."

"Well, she did come all the way from the Crystal Empire." Solaris grinned.

"True." Twilight smiled.

"So, how 'bout we have some breakfast, unless you've already had something, Twilight."

"Agh! I knew I forgot something." Twilight giggled.

"Well, looks like we can all eat together." Cadence smiled. "Now I'll just have to get Shining up, we were both up late last night, but I think he'll make an exception for you, Twilight."

"Oh, you don't have to wake him up on my account, I'll probably see him later today."

"But you hardly see him anymore, and besides he needs to get up. Honestly that man would sleep through a hurricane and an earthquake." Cadence and Twilight chuckled.

Solaris had a weak grin on his face and sighed. 'I hope you can help her, Twilight. You maybe our only hope.'