Advanced Lessons

Chapters

Lesson One: Don't Panic
Lesson Two: Assess the Situation
Lesson Three: Seize the Initiative

Lesson One: Don't Panic

Another cheery day in Canterlot was well underway. Any onlooker would be able to tell as much just by looking around at the many cheerful ponies, going to and fro, seeing to the business of managing such a happy nation. The ponies of Equestria had reason to be even happier than usual due to the recent discovery and coronation of a new alicorn princess, who, by all accounts, was both friendly and modest. With this in mind, it wasn’t too surprising that quite a few ponies may have been perplexed by the anxious expression adorning Princess Twilight Sparkle’s face as she hastily made her way to Canterlot Castle.

‘What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!’ This one thought was running the circuit through Twilight’s mind as she quickly approached the main entrance to Canterlot Castle, ponies quickly making way for their newest Princess. Drawing to a halt before the guard ponies, two of which had quickly approached at seeing her distress to assist, Twilight was able to derail the thought that had plagued her so for the last couple of days to regain a modicum of composure.

‘Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Breath in…’

Exhaling as her nerves steadied, Twilight soon took note of the many ponies watching her, some with no small amount of trepidation, at the sight of an Alicorn princess so frazzled. ‘Okay, calm down Twilight. There’s no need to panic anyone. It’s not the end of the world…You just have no idea how to be a princess. No big deal. So what if you’re the worst princess in the history of Equestria, and you disappoint everyone, and Princess Celestia is forced to revoke your crown?...’

‘Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Breath in…’

Exhaling again, and very deliberately not thinking about it, Twilight turned to the guards “S-sorry, everything’s fine-“ Pausing as she turned to the crowd “There’s no problem, just-…running late! Yes, I was terribly worried, I wouldn’t make an appointment…which I should get to.” Plastering a smile on her face as she placated the crowd and guardponies, she calmly walked through the gate, nodding to the bemused guards as she passed.

A moment after the newest princess passed, Silver Shield leaned over towards his fellow gate guard, the more experienced Stalwart Gaze. “Did that seem at all strange to you?” Glancing towards the greenhorn briefly before re-focusing his attention on his duties, Stalwart only muttered “Not nearly as much as you would think.”

“Okay Twilight Sparkle, no more panicking, you’re a grown mare, Celestia’s personal student, and now a Princess, you can handle this rationally.” Having stepped into an alcove in one of the many beautiful hallways of Canterlot Castle, Twilight was quickly getting herself in order. “Princess Celestia specifically told me to come to her if I had any questions about all this. She’s ready for this and I should be too. So, I’ll just calmly request some of her time, and explain the issue…”

It wasn’t like she had just immediately had a panic attack, when the thought occurred; she had tried to work through the question herself. And it was an important question, right? What does somepony do with all that power and responsibility? It seemed like it would just come naturally…but once the celebrations died down, and she had adjusted to having wings, she had found herself slipping into her old routine…and wasn’t that just wrong? Princesses did things, helped their pony subjects and made the world a better place…but Twilight was pretty sure she didn’t have subjects, yet. She didn’t really have any specific ideas of how to improve the world. She could fight evil-doers, and protect everypony still. But how often did evil-doers really show-up? Certainly not often enough to do as a day-to-day kind of thing. She couldn’t just keep studying and managing a library, right?

And creating a checklist for all of that, instead of giving her a course of action, only seemed to confirm that she didn’t know what to do…That had, admittedly, been a blow to Twilight’s inner world.

But she hadn’t panicked then either; she may have had Spike a bit worried by that point, but she had certainly not panicked. After all, it was clear that Twilight just needed to study up on the subject, to help her fill in the holes in her knowledge. Then a course of action would be clear. And as it turned out there were a great many books on the subject of Princesses, Government, and even a few on alicorns in general. They did not, however, actually tell her what she was supposed to do. It seemed that no one was even aware that you could just…become an alicorn and thus need to know that kind of thing.

But she still had her friends to turn to for advice! And they had all reassured her that she was going to be a wonderful princess, whatever she chose to do. Which had been comforting for a few moments…till things went off the rails.

“Trust us, sugarcube. Ya’re plenty smart and ya heart’s always in tha right place. I bet the Princess just wanted ya to relax a bit before jumpin’ into the Princessin’.”

“Applejack is exactly right, dear. You’re feeling restless, and anypony would in your position. Perhaps you can focus on just helping the ponies you know for now? I have a new design, that you would be a perfect model for.”

“Thanks girls. I think you may be right. Maybe I’m just trying to rush into things when being a Princess should just come naturally.”

“Yeah, it’s not like this is some sort of elaborate test by Princess Celestia, to see if you’re really, really, ready for all this, that if you fail will cause her to un-princess-cify you, Twilight”

“Pinkie!”

“…Though, Princess Celestia does seem to do stuff like that a lot.”

“Rainbow Dash!”

She may have panicked a bit, then…and teleported straight to Canterlot.

But, no more. She was calm. She was collected. And Princess Celestia’s doors were always open to her. Her head back on straight and most nervous ticks quelled, she quickly began making her way through the castle. Perhaps she should have taken the time to make a proper appointment, and…she probably shouldn’t have just left her friends like that. They were probably worried about her now. ‘Alright, I’ll just have to take care of this quickly, for their sake.’ That thought actually gave her a bit more strength she found. The pony she asked to direct her to Princess Celestia didn’t even stare at her with worry or confusion. Even better they had last seen Princess Celestia heading towards her study, so Twilight knew they could have a bit of privacy.

Slipping through the door into the antechamber, Twilight took a moment to do a quick check of herself, settling her wings and straightening her hair a bit; her mad dash had taken a toll on her appearance. ‘Oh, I forgot my wing maintenance…again.’ Rainbow Dash had been rather serious about instilling how to properly take care of her wings. Settling her feathers, she resolved to be more on top of that in the future. Pulling a loose feather, her ears twitched as she caught…a peculiar sound. The feather dropped and forgotten, she focused on the door that lead into the study, approaching as she tried to place the sound. Without thinking she placed one ear against the door; it was…sort of a buzzing sound, but also kind of musical, like bells…trilling was the best way she could describe it.

Pulling back to give a bemused look at the door, Twilight’s mind churned over this. She knew that Princess Celestia kept a fair collection of odds and ends in her study. Princess Celestia had shown a fair few to her over the years, whenever Twilight’s curiosity had overcome her sense of propriety. But she was fairly certain she would remember such a sound, if she had heard it before.

Shaking herself from her thoughts as she realized that she had been effectively eavesdropping upon her mentor, and what’s more had been distracted from what had brought her to the castle in the first place. ‘One thing at a time. And Princess Celestia always said that the best way to get answers was to simply ask.’ Setting her curiosity aside, she took the time to knock, before steadily easing the door open. She did note a slight stutter in the rhythm of the curious sound, after knocking.

Peeking in, she cast her gaze over the room, the door creaking as it edged further open. She was quick to note that it did not seem like Princess Celestia was present. Also the sound had abruptly stopped. It did seem like her mentor had been in recently. There was a cheery fire in the fire place, a small table set down by her cushions with what seemed to be a recently laid out tea set, and a rather groggy looking Changeling Queen rolling over on the aforementioned cushions.

Nothing out of the-…Twilight took a moment to reassess her thoughts, just as the Changeling seemed to catch sight of Twilight, mid-yawn.

Both standing stock-still, both trying to work the situation out in their heads…

“…”

“...so, I believe it’s Princess Twilight now?”

The calm broken by the attempt at small talk, Twilight found herself leaping into action.

“You! What have you done with the Princess, you monster?!” her horn already glowing brightly, as her magical power surged forward, ready to be used.

“Calm yourself! Nothing has befallen your Princess-“ The Changeling Queen’s words were soon cut off, as she found herself leaping to the air to avoid the blast of magic that had just decimated the cushion she had been lying upon.

“No one’s falling for your tricks this time, Changeling!”

The Changeling Queen now becoming increasingly irate herself “What tricks?! You asked me!” Not having much time to complain, the Changeling Queen was quickly levitating the table to serve as a shield against the very agitated purple princess’ assault.

What seemed like hours of deflecting or avoiding the bolts of energy, may have actually only been just under a minute. But even so, the furious amount of magic being thrown about was quickly wearing upon Twilight, giving the Changeling another opportunity to get in a word.

“Cease your foalish attacks! I am no enemy of yours!”

Halting her onslaught, Twilight gave the Changeling a look that made it clear that she had only stopped out of incredulity, instead of any genuine belief in the Changeling Queen’s claim.

“…I am not currently an enemy of yours.” Chrysalis would later admit to herself that this was a less than effective response. Particularly given how quickly the young alicorn resumed her assault.

To all outside observers, Princess Celestia seemed prepared to enjoy a nice, relaxing afternoon. And why shouldn’t she? With a platter, featuring a pleasing assortment of imported tea and pastries, in her telekinetic grip floating beside her, the hustle and bustle of her student’s ascent to alicornhood behind her, and the lack of looming evil on horizon for the foreseeable future, today was the perfect day for some relaxation. Surely nothing could interfere with that...

Silver Shield leaned towards the more veteran Stalwart Gaze, during a lull in the traffic to-and-from Castle Canterlot. “Princess Twilight did seem a bit agitated. Don’t you think we should have-...I don’t know, mentioned it to someone, sir?”

Glancing towards the green recruit, before refocusing on his watch “It’s generally best not to gainsay the actions of royalty, Shield.”

Looking a bit bemused, Silver Shield waited for the next pony to pass their checkpoint before asking “So…we shouldn’t be worried?”

Leaving the recruit to stew for a bit, Stalwart Gaze finally turned towards him, before flatly saying “I didn’t say that.”

Indeed, those ponies that knew Princess Celestia well understood just how much their beloved princess would need this time to herself, and spared only respectful greetings for the Princess, letting her be as she moved into the privacy of her personal chambers.

Those ponies that knew Princess Celestia so well, would be rather disappointed that their efforts had gone utterly to waste.

Opening the door into her private sanctuary revealed a scene of utter magical-pandemonium. The magical bolts flying back-and-forth were occasionally punctuated by globs of changeling goo, as both the walls and her many trinkets were alternatingly blasted to bits and encased in thick, quickly hardening slime. Most of the heavier furniture was being held in powerful telekinetic fields serving as mobile shields/battering rams. Two large sections of the room seemed to be experiencing major climates shifts. A miniature tornado was quickly sucking up most of her literary collection, as well as a worrying numbers of parasprites. And worse yet, it seemed her favorite cushion, so lavish and well-used that it was essentially irreplaceable, a piece of furniture that was literally part of Equestria history, seemed to have suffered the brunt of this chaos.

Her shock was thankfully short-lived, as she found herself protecting herself from a stray spell with her tea platter, which, much like her cushion, bordered on irreplaceable. Watching as its contents fell to the ground, and the platter itself tried to hop away on undersized frog legs, Celestia only briefly heard the the triumphant cries of her student.

“Princess Celestia!! Now you’re in for it, changel-”

“CEASE”

With that single declaration, the madness that had consumed her personal sanctuary did just that. The spell volleys ceased, furniture came crashing to the ground, the weather calmed, and apart from the parasprites and the transmogrified tea platter, everything came to a halt.

Taking a deep-breath as she glanced between Twilight Sparkle, who seemed to be in shock, and Chrysalis, whose cheeks were puffed out with unlaunched changeling slime and likewise seemed a bit surprised, Princess Celestia sighed. Closing the door behind her, mindful of what she assumed to be recently conjured parasprites, she passed between the two, marching up to the remains of her favorite cushion. Pausing only a moment before rather forcibly lying down upon the portion that seemed to have retained the most stuffing, she extended one hoof pointing it directly to her right.

“Twilight, please sit down.”

“Princess! I-what-you-…!”

“Twilight, please come here, and sit down.”

That ended any objections she might have had with Celestia’s request, as she quickly rushed forward and sat down.

Turning toward the Changeling Queen, her expression unchanged “Chrysalis,-“ Twilight briefly started, upon hearing Celestia addressing the changeling with a name “-please relieve yourself, and sit down.”

Chrysalis' cheeks still packed with the unlaunched goo, she soon glanced about looking for somewhere to cleanly dispose of the burden. Appraising their surroundings, she glanced back to Celestia, only to note that her expression had remained unchanged. Realizing that it was rather pointless to spare the study anymore punishment, she leaned to the side and deposited the slime amidst the wreckage of a bookcase. Wiping her mouth in as dignified manner as possible, she cantered to Celestia’s side before lying down, Twilight’s gaze following her the whole time.

Taking one more calming breath, Princess Celestia looked between the two at her sides “Now. While I am quite sure I can guess at what lead to what just transpired, I would like to ask the two of you just how my study was turned into a battlefield.”

Looking like she was about to burst from built up tension, Twilight burst out “What’s going on here, Princess Celestia?! You know who she is, right?!” jabbing a hoof in the Changeling Queen’s direction, which she seemed to totally ignore.

“Yes, Twilight, I-“

“I mean, she tried conquer all of Equestria! She kidnapped Cadence! And me! And brainwashed my brother!! And- STOP LOOKING SO SMUG ABOUT IT!!!” Indeed over the course of her little outburst, a small smirk had appeared on the Changeling Queen muzzle. Which soon faded as Celestia leveled an icy look in her direction.

“Why is she even here?! Is she-…Did she?”

Trailing off, as a terrible thought crossed her mind, as she looked between her mentor and someone she absolutely loathed. Jumping to her hooves, Twilight had almost began a mad dash from the room, before Celestia placed a gentle, but firm, hoof on her withers.

“Twilight, please calm down. I am not under her influence. She is only here because I am allowing it.”

Her calm, understanding tone halted Twilight’s growing panic, though only just “Wh-what?”

“Luna is aware of her presence here, as well as select heads-of-staff, and the interim-captain of the guard. You can confirm this with them…and if you must, you may check me for any sort of magical control.”

Slowly calming down, Twilight soon found the strength leaving her limbs as she found herself lying down again. Looking between her mentor and the Changeling Queen again, the latter of which seemed to have an unreadable expression on her face as she watched “B-but, why? Why is she here? Are you…negotiating or…?”

For the first time since Celestia had become involved in this affair, she seemed to hesitate. Twilight found herself noting the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis she had been called, giving a questioning look towards the Princess Celestia as well, as if she too was curious how she would respond.

Princess Celestia briefly cleared her throat, after taking a moment to consider her student “No…this is not to discuss diplomacy, or anything of that sort. Chrysalis is here in an…unofficial capacity.”

Still not understanding, Twilight looked up to Princess Celestia with a discomforting expression, her unasked questions written in the look she gave the pony she trusted most.

“This-this may take some time to properly explain, Twilight…”

With a snort, that utterly ruined the otherwise tense moment, both princesses turned towards Chrysalis as she tried to control an inexplicable bout of amusement. Noting their attention, the Changeling Queen quickly brought herself under control. Composing herself once more “Ah, forgive me, Celestia. And Princess Twilight, I suppose. That was just…quite the understatement…” as she trailed off, an uncomfortable silence settled in.

Clearing her throat, Celestia decided to break the silence, as a thought visibly occurred to her “Chrysalis, am I to understand that all of this-“

Gesturing a hoof at the devastated study, before continuing.

“-was a resulting of Twilight stumbling upon you while undisguised?”

Clearly a bit thrown by the question, Chrysalis blinked as she processed what was just asked. “…yes, well, your student was rather quick to leap to assumptions, about my presence. Ah, not unfairly, I suppose.”

Nodding at Chrysalis’ response, before continuing “Indeed. But I do recall asking you to try to be inconspicuous during your stay here. And you are, as you often remind me, a master of disguise.”

“Yes. What’s your point?” punctuating her own question with an arched brow, Chrysalis seemed a bit defensive.

“Oh, I am just wondering how someone with such a talent for going unnoticed, could have been uncovered by accident. Were you perhaps distracted?”

Not meeting her gaze, Chrysalis seemed to visibly be trying to avoid looking flustered by the direction of the conversation “Well- that is to say, even the most talented of individuals can be struck down by the wiles of fate. Regardless of their natural talent and vigilan-“

“You fell asleep again, didn’t you?” Celestia cut her off, her inquiry tinged with both amusement and exasperation.

“That is ridiculous! I-“

Scarcely missing a beat, Celestia turned to her dumbfounded student, who had been entirely wrapped up in the bizarre exchange “Twilight?”

Sitting up straighter at suddenly being involved “Wh-what?”

With a gentle smile, Celestia asked her student “When you discovered Chrysalis here, was she perhaps in the middle of a nap?”

Ignoring the indignant noise coming from Chrysalis, Twilight tried to recall the circumstances surrounding her discovering Chrysalis “I-I don’t really know. I was kind of caught off guard and-“ Thinking it over briefly she faced Celestia again “-maybe? She did seem to be lying down when I came in. And I think she may have been yawning when she noticed me. And there was-…”

Celestia’s eyes seem to glint with the faintest of amusement “Go on?”

Still not understanding the bizarre conversation she seemed to have been pulled into, she decided to simply humor her mentor, in the hopes of receiving answers afterwards “Well, before I knocked, I heard this sound. Like, this odd sort of musical buzzing-“

“I do not snore!!”

Jumping at the sudden outburst from the Changeling Queen, Twilight quickly looked over at the, now, rather flustered Chrysalis. Lowering an outstretched hoof, she looked between the surprised expression on Twilight’s face and the positively mirthful expression on Princess Celestia’s, before, to Twilight’s bafflement, blushing. Quickly drawing herself up and in a forcibly composed voice “Changelings do not snore. Nor do Queens. As I’m both, logically you did not hear what you think you heard.”

“I don’t think anyone has suggested that you were snoring, Chrysalis…apart from yourself.” Princess Celestia noted.

Sputtering as she tried to maintain her poise “That- d-don’t play coy! We both know what you were insinuating. And it is completely ridiculous.” Pausing briefly “And totally unrelated to the matter at hoof!”

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!”

Unable to contain herself any longer, Twilight’s angry outburst quickly brought an end to the exchange between the two. Looking down at her clearly upset student, Celestia’s mirth soon fled, as she realized how much stress her antics had inadvertently caused Twilight. Looking abashed “…forgive me Twilight. I promised you an explanation, and I let myself become distracted. As Chrysalis pointed out, her sleeping habits are not the matter at hoof” It seemed Chrysalis was simply content with the change of topics.

Considering her words briefly, Celestia seemed briefly conflicted before starting “I suppose the best way to start is with a proper introduction. This is Chrysalis, Queen of the Changeling Swarm. And for much of the last thousand years, somepony that I would consider a…friend…sort of.”

“You're friends? With her?! How would that- I mean, her?!”

At Twilight's exclamation, Chrysalis snorted “As if I'm that bad.”

“You are!!”

Interjecting between the two before things could again go off topic, or violent, Celestia turned towards Chrysalis “Chrysalis, I would appreciate it if you left this to me, for the moment.”

Rolling her eyes, before she let them wander across the devastated room, Chrysalis evidently acceded to Celestia's request.

Celestia turned her attention back to Twilight as the young princess continued.

“After all she's done, you're friends with her! She's a monster! After all she's done-...how can she be a friend to anything?”

Twilight quickly lost steam by the end uttering the last bit in a low voice. All throughout Celestia merely waited patiently and with a look of understanding. It was with that same expression she began to explain.

“You are absolutely correct Twilight, and I do nothing to excuse the wrongs she committed those days. Indeed, I was planning on having a very long conversation with her on just why she decided to take such-...extreme action, in the first place.” At this point, she pointedly shot a look towards Chrysalis, letting her know that a conversation was still going to be had about her invasion.

“I wanted this opportunity to attempt to understand why this time she has gone so far beyond what we've agreed to in the past. And see if what we had could not be salvaged.” Princess Celestia explained.

“...agreed to?”

Princess Celestia seemed to pause for a moment, before nodding at Twilight's question. Sighing before continuing “Yes, what we agreed to. That might take some time to properly explain, as well. I'm not entirely certain where to begin.”

Chrysalis interjected “One usually begins at the beginning.”

Glancing towards the changeling, she was a bit annoyed with her quip, but could find no fault in the reasoning. “I suppose you are correct, Chrysalis.”

Facing Twilight once more “I-...the first thing you must understand Twilight, is that...I am very old. And by most standards, so is Chrysalis-”

Chrysalis looked a bit miffed at this assessment, but couldn't seem to decide if it was meant as a jab or an honest assessment.

“-and I have known her for a very long time. Well before...Nightmare Moon, I've known Chrysalis as a foe, and have faced her many times. And that's how I believe things truly began, I think.”

Celestia smiled a bit at that “At times, I think she and I have exchanged more banter, insults, and exposition with one another, than I have actually spoken with most ponies I've known their whole lives. We were familiar with one another, if not friends at the time. She would make a move and I, and Luna, would move to stop her. Or some other circumstances would have us interact before going our ways again, to face each other again.”

“Until her sister fell.” Chrysalis again interjected, though this time it was more a neutral statement rather than amused quipping. Celestia didn't seem to betray any emotion at the statement; she would have had to bring it up at one point or another. It seemed to amount to little more than the Changeling prodding her forward.

“Yes.”

Celestia seemed to take a moment to consider just what she wanted to say. “In the days after I was forced to banish Luna, I was...heartbroken. She had been at my side since time immemorial, and for the first time in a...very long time, I was alone. I wanted to do many things in those days, but what I wanted was not what my little ponies needed. The country was still in a state of crisis and I had to put my woes to the side.”

Noticing Twilight's growing distress at where the story seemed to be going, she took a moment to smile gently down upon her student “I don't mean to suggest that I was struggling with this by my lonesome, Twilight. There were ponies that felt much the same, that missed Luna, and understood the circumstances surrounding those days. Many spent no small effort comforting me.” She sighed before continuing, the smile taking a somewhat sad countenance “But time passed, and those that knew Luna passed as well. Most ponies did not want to examine things too closely from that time, and within a few decades more knew the story of Nightmare Moon than of Luna, my sister.”

Twilight had always been quick at putting things together and saw where things were pointing “But she...”

Chuckling at Twilight's expression, as she grasped what had sparked the change between the alicorn and changeling, her mentor gave a nod. Chrysalis merely huffed, a bit irritated at seemingly being relegated to the sidelines.

“I think you see where I am going, my student. I don't mean to imply that Chrysalis was ever a comforting shoulder to cry upon, but she remembered Luna as I did, to my shock at the time. And that meant a great deal to me at the time, even if it was nothing intentional on her part. When we butted heads, time and again, it helped me remember Luna rather than Nightmare Moon. I imagine it was simply out of habit on her part, but hearing somepony refer to my sister as Luna helped me in ways I didn't realize would.”

Chrysalis snorted at this “Yes, I make a wonderful emotional anchor for weepy princesses.”

Celestia rolled her eyes as Chrysalis ruined the moment before retorting “Forgive me for being emotional at the time, I know how uncomfortable that makes you.”

“As well you should, I have made no secret of it. Quite inconsiderate, Princess.” Chrysalis replied.

“If I had known that thwarting your plans at the time would have led to an awkward moment between us, I certainly would have stood aside then.” Celestia countered with a smile.

Twilight had to admit that she was mystified by how quickly the two of them fell into such back-and-forth banter. The situation was hard to grasp, but it certainly seemed like they were used to speaking casually with one another. Her curiosity was still far from sated entirely though “Awkward moment?”

Looking back towards Twilight, it seemed to take a moment for Princess Celestia to get her thoughts back on track. She actually giggled for a moment, as she recalled the day “Yes, I suppose that warrants some explanation, given that it was the day that things became a bit murky between she and I.”

“Ah, yes. The day you decided that your nostalgia took precedence over a foreign power infiltrating your government.”

Smiling at Chrysalis' snark, Celestia continued “I was hardly ignoring your scheme at the time, Chrysalis. And I've apologized for throwing you off when you were trying to monologue.”

“I was not monologuing. I was explaining why you failed in averting my plan. If anything, that was exposition!”

“My apologies. I didn't mean to interrupt your exposition.”

“And even then, it hardly counts as monologuing when you keep interjecting.”

“I agree. If anything that would be a conversation...may I continue now?”

Taking Chrysalis' silence on the matter as permission to continue, Celestia resumed. “So, yes. I admittedly trampled upon our well-worn routine by that point, in my hopes for reminiscing.”

Twilight held up her hoof, as she felt something important was being glossed over “But, didn't she just admit that she doing something- you know? Terrible?”

Celestia nodded at the question “True, though by the point we had begun our usual confrontation, Chrysalis had already sent her changelings away. They had already collected a substantial amount of love, under the noses of just about everypony. By that point, it probably would have caused everyone more trouble letting anypony even know that it happened. Honestly, it probably would have made more sense to skip our usual routine entirely and focus on sorting out matters.”

Twilight seemed to nod as she considered this, not entirely comfortable with the answer, but at least understanding things a bit.

“As I was saying, I may have derailed our usual dramatic confrontation-”

“To my great annoyance.” Chrysalis chimed in again.

“-and from there, things seemed to lead to our first real conversation, I had ever really had with her.” Celestia continuing smoothly over Chrysalis' interjection.

Twilight tilting her head as she asked the next question that came to mind “What did you talk about?”

“Mostly we spoke of how annoying Chrysalis found it whenever I tried to bring up my feelings or Luna.” Princess Celestia said.

Twilight blinked at that, not really having a proper response to the blunt answer.

“After that, we did fall into our usual back-and-forth when it came to her raids against Equestria, to feed upon our love and how I needed to protect my subjects. But we had already had the same arguments before, and I suppose we had already sort of broken the ice earlier, and eventually we settled on a different topic. Which of us had the harder job.” Her mentor elaborated.

“So that's it?...You had a conversation, and then you were friends?” Twilight asked, with a tilt of her head.

“No, I think we both parted ways that evening still seeing the other as the enemy. It was just the...dynamics that I believe changed. We weren't just making declarations of righteousness and revenge or delivering clever retorts against one another before battling anymore.” Celestia clarified.

“A mistake I've regretted ever since.”

Celestia briefly pouted at Chrysalis' assessment, before going on “In any event, it would be decades before we actually met specifically for the sake of each others company, rather than as a result of our competing interests. That day opened the door to the possibility. And even then, I think we both had our own excuses for seeking one another out. From then on, it was more a matter of time than anything else, before I found myself actually looking forward to her company.”

“As I said, I excel at serving as an emotional anchor for weepy princesses.” The Changeling Queen noted.

“Indeed. Though you cannot tell me you didn't enjoy reminiscing from time to time, as well?” Celestia asked.

“Ah, yes. Like the time I broke into your room, only to find you in bed with a dessert cart and half of your royal guard?”

“What?!” Twilight had been steadily calming down as she had spoken with her mentor. Her calm quickly went out the door, to be replaced by outrage at the insinuation made by the Changeling Queen. That outrage soon followed her calm out the door, as she took note of the blush quickly spreading across the face of her mentor, the Immortal ruler of Equestria, the very embodiment of the warmth and power of the Sun, and apparent pervert.

“Chrysalis that-...You can't-...It wasn't half of the guard!”

Chrysalis looking quite pleased with the turn in Celestia's normally ever dignified demeanor, held a hoof to her chin recalling the day “I suppose, I could be wrong about the numbers involved. It was quite the mess, and I certainly wasted no time in giving you back your privacy.”

“Chrysalis! That is hardly an appropriate topic!”

“Oh, were we not talking about how our views about one another were changing? That certainly changed the way I saw our Princess of the Sun.”

Those words continued to bounce around hollowly in Twilight's mind, as her mind desperately did it's very best to not consider anything about what had just been introduced to it. A titanic conflict between her naturally inquisitive tendencies and her fervent desire to not break her own mind with imagery involving her mentor had ensued. But, as with all conflicts, one-side will gain the upperhand eventually, and Twilight was a very thoughtful pony. A tiny sliver of a thought slipped by her defenses and made it's way to the forefront.

'Shining Armor was in the Royal guard. He likes dessert.'

The bickering rulers were torn from their argument, just as Celestia was prepared to scold Chrysalis' for bringing up that incident, when they both turned at the sound of a body hitting the floor.

“Twilight?”

“...I'm counting that as a victory for changelings everywhere.”

Author's Note

First story here, but by all means criticize and ask questions. I spend enough time going over it in my head, having others do it for me would be a welcome change of pace. There are reasons behind the characterizations I've set down for Celestia and Chrysalis, so hopefully things will become clearer later on. As I mentioned, this should be the first of three chapters for this little story I have. There will be a more serious side to this story by the third chapter though I intend on continuing to inject humor in liberally.

For the record, I haven't seen Equestria Girls yet, and so I have no plans yet to incorporate anything from there into my writing. Not ruling it out, but don't expect me to bring it up.

Hopefully this isn't a trainwreck.

Lesson Two: Assess the Situation

It was a perfectly wonderful, perfect day.

The birds were chirping, the Sun was shining, her friends were all around her, and pony-shaped bees were flitting amongst the flowers.

Truly, there could be no better time for Twilight to be with her friends and loved ones. Rarity was relaxing in the sun. Rainbow and Applejack were getting into one of their little athletic competitions; breaking bricks with their heads, it seemed. Fluttershy was fluffing Angel Bunny's tail. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were bouncing the Moon back and forth over a volleyball net, while Pinkie Pie was rearranging the stars into the shapes of various baked goods. Spike was reorganizing a bunch of bookshelves that had found their way outside. Which was ridiculous, as Spike had reorganized the 'Reference' section last week. And Cadence and her brother, Shining Armor, were on a picnic blanket eating cake, while Twilight's parents averted their eyes.

Twilight sighed as she walked amongst her friends, free of her royal trappings and wings for the day. 'After all, what alicorn doesn't deserve a break from being an alicorn, once in a while?' Smiling as Luna waved her over to their little corner of the field, she cantered over.

“Come Twilight! Thou should join us in this marvelous game! With the invention of Moonball, all of my woes have been resolved and fun now reigns supreme!”

Approaching the beloved diarchs, Twilight was ready to enjoy a day of casually rearranging the cosmos for fun. “Ok. I don't think I've ever played Moon-”

“Twilight.”

Stumbling over her words as Princess Celestia called her name, Twilight looked to her mentor, wondering what she needed.

“I'm sorry?”

After a pause, it seemed as if perhaps she had just imagined it. Twilight was starting to turn back to Luna to learn the rules of Moonball, when Princess Celestia called her name again.

“Twilight.”

Becoming a bit more concerned she approached her mentor “...what is it Princess-”

“Twilight.”

Again surprised by her mentor's insistent desire to call her name, Twilight blinked before looking around to see if anyone else was concerned by this. Only to note that everything seemed to be getting...fuzzy and a bit less colorful.

“What?”

And that's when she realized that she was waking up.

Things remained a bit blurry as Twilight began to open her eyes, with the first thought that occurred to her being that, clearly, she was not waking up in her own bed. Rather she seemed to be lying back upon a rather uncomfortable cushion, looking into the eyes of her very concerned mentor.

“Twilight, are you alright?”

Twilight blinked a bit slowly, as she noted that Princess Celestia was supporting her head with her hoof, before trying to make sense of what was going on.

“Aren't we going to play Moonball?”

Blinking with confusion, Celestia continued “Twilight? You had a...shock. You fainted. Do you think you are going to be alright?”

Twilight started to realize that “Moonball” may have just been a part of a dream. She soon started to take an accounting of herself, before looking back up to her beloved mentor.

“I think so...what exactly happen-”

Twilight's mind stumbled to a stop as a second Princess Celestia came into her field of vision, and with a sultry look that left poor Twilight reeling for a moment, purred the next question.

“Ah, then is my dear student ready for her dessert?”

And suddenly Twilight remembered exactly what had lead to her little episode. Outside observers could tell that by the sudden scream she loosed as she began to scramble away from the two Celestias. Quickly getting back on her hooves, Twilight could feel her heart hammering in her chest. She took in the devastated room, even as one of the two Celestias began futilely scolding the other, who had fallen to the floor consumed with laughter.

“Chrysalis! In what world could you think that the right thing to do?! Are you out of your mind?!”

Twilight looked between the two of them, as she began to put the events that had transpired together in her mind. She recalled her earlier rush to Canterlot, discovering the Changeling Queen in her mentor's sanctuary, and the conversation that eventually led to...

...the point was that she remembered what was going on.

Princess Celestia, looking almost as livid as Twilight had ever seen her, glared down upon the guffawing Changeling Queen, before turning back towards her student. Her face softening with the concern she had shown before, she moved over to see to her student. Though not before jabbing a hoof into the Changeling Queen's side, causing her to lose her breath as she resumed her natural form in a burst of green fire.

It did not entirely stop her chuckling.

Approaching her student once more, she left Twilight with a fair amount of personal space before asking “Twilight? Are you going to be alright?”

As she finally began to get her heart to calm down and breath to steady, she was able to really focus back upon Princess Celestia again. And take note that her teacher seemed nearly as distressed as she was now. She noticed the worry in her eyes, the tension in the way she stood, and the space she had let her keep to herself. Twilight had found out over the course of an hour that one of the beings she hated most was a long time friend to her mentor, that she had kept it a secret from Twilight for sometime...and that apparently her mentor did indeed have a libido that she indulged in, from time to time. She had to suppress a bit of a flinch at the last one. Twilight's world had been badly shaken, at a time when her life was already undergoing a large upheaval. The response she gave felt entirely appropriate for the situation at hand.

Princess Celestia gave a heartfelt smile, as Twilight closed the distance and nuzzled her before returning the affection.

“I-I'm going to be alright, I was...just having trouble sorting my thoughts out.”

Nodding in understanding, she enjoyed her student's presence a bit longer before she again turned her ire towards Chrysalis. Sparing one last glace towards her student, she marched towards the changeling, who even then was only just composing herself.

Finally taking note of Celestia's ire, Chrysalis began to pick herself up, still chuckling at her little revenge against Twilight “No need to thank me. I so rarely get the opportunity-”

“Am I to thank you now? For tormenting Twilight for your own amusement?”

Briefly taken aback by the harsh tone from Celestia, Chrysalis quickly became defensive “You can scarcely blame me for your constant coddling. For the amount of faith you claim to place with her, you can hardly say that you've been open with her.”

Celestia seemed to pause at Chrysalis' words though not for the reasons Chrysalis might have aimed for “After everything you have done to abuse my trust this last year...I did not allow you to stay so that you might abuse it further.”

Twilight could not help but note how the Changeling Queen seemed to stumble with her response; for a brief moment, it seemed she meant to say one thing before stopping herself. Twilight also found it rather noteworthy just how much outrage she wasn't feeling towards the Changeling. It's not that she felt she shouldn't feel anger over her little stunt though. She was certainly angry in an academic sense.

'Maybe I'm still in shock from earlier.'

After Chrysalis' brief pause, she actually leaned towards Celestia sneering her response “Oh, would you like it if I doted on your little student and smoothed her ruffled feathers, now? Perhaps kneel down and beg forgiveness for making her uncomfortable? Lest you be forced to throw me in the dungeon, for being mean?”

Twilight actually found herself becoming a bit anxious as tensions mounted; Celestia's expression had scarcely changed since the start. It was a bit of a relief when Princess Celestia bobbed her head and closed her eyes, as if in understanding before she began walking back towards Twilight. “No, Chrysalis. If you can't bring yourself to apologize to Twilight and myself, you are free to leave.”

For a moment, it seemed as if Chrysalis was having trouble understanding what had just been said. Over the course of a few seconds a number of emotions seem to flit across her face, though Twilight would have been hard pressed to pin down any one of them. “I think I must have misheard you.”

Taking a breath, Celestia clarified what she meant, even as she laid down upon her still-ruined cushion. “Chrysalis, if you can't muster up the smallest amount of remorse over what you just did, for my sake if no one else...there is no reason for you to stay here.”

Chrysalis seemed to go still, her mouth opening briefly in an attempt to speak before it shut, strangling a few syllables before they could actually mean anything. She stared at Celestia for several seconds, before her gaze passed over Twilight then averting from both to wander the room. Watching as the Changeling Queen seemed to struggle with this, Twilight was struck just by the fact that it was a struggle at all. Everything she knew about her from the Wedding Incident told Twilight that the Changeling Queen was vain, cruel, manipulative, and pathologically unpleasant.

What she learned today was that she could add immature and petty to that list. So it was kind of a shock that the changeling didn't just march out the door.

Caught up in that thought, she almost missed it when the Changeling Queen stepped in front of Twilight. Unsure what to actually do, Twilight ended up just staring up at the changeling, as Chrysalis' gaze wandered from Twilight to Princess Celestia to the room and back again.

This went on for about a minute.

Twilight was just about to ask if she was going to say anything, when Chrysalis made her attempt. She spoke with a surprising amount of poise considering how tense she seemed.

“As somepony that has experienced firsthand the trauma of being suddenly exposed to the nightmare that is Celestia's sex life, it is clear now that I should have been aware of what a travesty it was to inflict it's knowledge upon another thinking individual.”

Silence reigned after Chrysalis abruptly delivered her prepared words. Twilight glanced to the side to note that Celestia seemed flabbergasted herself at this...whatever it was. '...that may have been the worst attempt at an apology...just ever.' Twilight couldn't even bring herself to speak, unsure of where to even start. In one fellswoop, the Changeling Queen managed to paint herself as the unwitting victim, insulted Celestia over her personal affairs, and avoided actually apologizing entirely. Even more amazingly, Twilight was starting to think that she may have actually been trying.

Twilight merely raised an eyebrow for lack of a better response, as the silence wore on, and Celestia looked as if she might try to intervene at this point. Chrysalis, looked almost as tense as before. It was a very strange scene that was only broken when the colorful, little ball of cuteness that is a parasprite took that moment to land upon Chrysalis' nose, utterly oblivious to what was going on.

Twilight was sure she could have taken flight, when she jumped in surprise, as Chrysalis let out an incomprehensible shout as she batted the parasprite from her face, with evident fury. Twilight stepped back certain she was about to be attacked when Chrysalis again shouted directly at her.

“I was once afraid of brussel sprouts!”

This did very little to reassure Twilight that she was not about to be devoured whole by a crazed changeling.

After a brief moment, wherein Twilight avoided any sudden movements, Celestia tried to calm the Queen of the Changelings.

“Chrysalis? Perhaps you should-”

Whipping her head to face Celestia, she resumed shouting “I thought they were breezy eggs! And that they were cursed! Your Princess once threw them at me! Happy now?!”

Snapping back to face Twilight at the end, her eyes boring into her own. Twilight hesitated as she tried to take everything in she had just had shouted at her.

“...yes?”

Silence reigned, broken only by the sound of Chrysalis marching back to her original spot and laying down, as Twilight and Princess Celestia followed her movements. A moment later, Celestia glanced towards Twilight, her student seeming to be deep in thought, before leaning towards Chrysalis and asking the question that was hanging on the air.

“Chrysalis? Are you-”

“Why did you invade?”

Celestia blinked, not particularly used to the thought of her student interrupting her. She turned back towards Twilight, at the same time as Chrysalis, causing the purple princess to shrink back briefly in embarrassment for interrupting.

Shaking it off quickly, Twilight cleared her throat briefly, before addressing the Changeling Queen again “I-I mean, I think I understand what you just...whatever that was.” Twilight had a bit of trouble getting the next part out “I mean, I guess I accept...it. So does that mean you actually do care?”

Chrysalis simply furrowed her brow, with her expression otherwise remaining unreadable.

“Right. So I'll take that as a yes. So...” Twilight actually paused a moment before scowling towards Chrysalis as she asked her next question “Why did you do all of those terrible things, if you actually cared enough to not leave, just now?”

Chrysalis did not seem in any particular hurry to answer the question, which Celestia found herself a bit grateful for; it gave her a moment to sort out everything that had just transpired. While she didn't quite understand why Chrysalis couldn't have simply said 'I'm sorry' Celestia supposed revealing something embarrassing about herself sort of evened the scales. Regardless, in a rather roundabout way, she found herself waiting for the answer to a question that she had been hoping for, for sometime now.

Chrysalis briefly looked away from the two of them, before nodding to herself, and facing Celestia “You never got around to explaining our little compromise.”

It took a moment, but a touch of realization came upon Celestia face at that remark. Twilight tilted her head at this, before turning towards her mentor; it seemed that whatever they had agreed upon in the past was somehow relevant to the now.

“Yes, I suppose we were a bit distracted by certain matters before we could cover that for Twilight.”

Facing Twilight again “As you can imagine, my student, we have considered possibilities for ending the conflict between myself and Chrysalis, and more importantly the conflict between ponies and changelings. We've discussed it on more than one occasion, but-”

“-it's a zero-sum game.” Chrysalis took this moment to cut in, rather sharply.

“My subjects need to harvest love from ponies in order to thrive. And unfortunately most ponies are too weak, to be fed upon for long without...deteriorating. And without that love my changelings will suffer instead...I take it that a pony as clever as yourself, can see the issue.”

Twilight, looked between the two of them before asking “But, what did you agree to then? Didn't you find some sort of compromise?”

Chrysalis snorted at this, before Celestia answered for her “The only compromise that we could find was to keep doing what we had always done, Twilight, and try to minimize the damage that came from it. She would continue to lead her raids and I would drive Chrysalis and her changelings away. She avoided hurting my ponies or raiding too often, and I would help keep the changelings a secret from the public to avoid harm to the changelings.”

Twilight couldn't really believe what she was hearing for a moment “But that's not a solution at all!”

“I know, Twilight.”

“What about-what about ponies volunteering or something?!”

Chrysalis cut-in again “As I said, repeated or longterm feeding wears upon you ponies. Or do you not recall your brother? He handled it better than most.”

Twilight glared at the mention of her brother, before continuing “Alright then, if the problem comes from feeding upon ponies directly, maybe you could put the love into something else and feed from that!”

Celestia took this one “We've attempted that, but love is a very powerful force. We've never been able to transfer more than a small amount of the energy that sustains a changeling into any sort of container at a time. Not enough to care for the numbers needed.”

Twilight not deterred kept reaching for possibilities, though at least she wasn't shouting at the two rulers now “Have the changelings tried eating something else?”

Chrysalis again answered, in a rather cynical tone “Tried that. Nothing else has been able to meet our needs. We need it just to grow our population, to say nothing of seeing to it that they are healthy.”

Growing frustrated with the pessimism coming from the two of them, Twilight rubbed her face before blurting out the next thing that occurred to her “Well, what about the Crystal Heart?”

“...”

Celestia's eyes steadily widened, as her student's question sank in.

Chrysalis, confused by this reaction, looked between the two of them, uncertain as to what they were referring to. “Please, tell me that is not another insipid euphemism for your feel-good pony philosophies.”

Taking in her mentor's expression, Twilight took no note of the otherwise biting words from Chrysalis “It's a magical artifact that protects the Crystal Empire. It takes all of the love and goodwill of it's people-”

“-and projects it across the entire countryside.” Celestia finished.

There was a pregnant pause as Chrysalis took in this information. “...what?”

“The Crystal Heart is a-”

“Why haven't you mentioned this before?!”

Chrysalis was going to need a moment to come to terms with this. As could be discerned by the shouting and the way she was shaking the Princess of the Sun back in forth, with her hooves.

“We've been gripped with this problem for centuries, and now is when you feel the need to bring this up?!”

Quickly growing annoyed by Chrysalis' rough handling of her royal self, Celestia soon got free of the agitated changeling's grip.

“It hasn't been an option for over a thousand years, Chrysalis! And-...”

Celestia stopped abruptly, glancing towards Twilight, before finishing “And it still may not be an option.”

“What are you talking about? We finally have a way to solve things, and now you're telling me that we don't?!” Chrysalis snapped.

It had taken Twilight a moment, as well, to remember just who she was speaking with; the individual that had terrorized Equestria, and on a more personal level her brother and...

“Cadence”

Princess Celestia nodded towards Twilight, before facing Chrysalis again “The Crystal Heart is a part of the Crystal Empire, which was lost to time when it's rightful ruler was deposed by a brutal tyrant. It was prophesied to only return when it's rightful ruler was reborn and was bound in true love. That has come to pass, and now Cadence sits as the Crystal Empire's sovereign ruler.”

Chrysalis took this all in, letting the pieces come together “I see...”

Chrysalis abruptly turned away from the two of them, glancing around the room for a moment, before cantering towards a particular pile of wreckage. Peering through it, the changeling brushed away rubbish looking for something, as the two princesses watched in bemusement.

“Chrysalis? What are you-”

Before Celestia could finish, Chrysalis' horn abruptly lit up as she retrieved a bottle filled with an amber liquid with her magic. Celestia sighed as she watched Chrysalis begin removing the stopper on the bottle.

“Chrysalis that isn't going to help the situation...and you don't drink anyway.”

“I've just found out that after placing all of my changelings in jeopardy, exposing them to the world and assuring that they are viewed as monsters-”

“Chrysalis-”

“Ponies are allowed to drink! Especially after they've personally assured that their subjects are doomed!”

Punctuating this last bit with a sudden gulp from the bottle, Chrysalis suddenly gagged before she started coughing, and glaring at the bottle.

“And this tastes terrible!” She shouted as her outrage was directed towards the bottle, as she tried coping with the harsh sensation it left behind.

“Chrysalis please. The last thing we need is for you to act rashly...and most ponies don't drink it for the taste.” Celestia once again brought her calming influence to bare, as she walked over towards Chrysalis, her own magical aura stoppering the bottle before setting it to the side.

“What exactly are you proposing? That I send her a basket of strawberries?!” The changeling bit out sarcastically.

“I think Cadence prefers peaches...not that, that is the point. The point is we need to calmly think about the situation, and consider how we can make things right, or begin to make things right. Cadence has genuine grievances against you and your subjects, and it's not within my right to force her choice within her realm. But, I have hope that we can convince her to hear the case. Between myself and Twilight we may-”

“I-I don't think I can help her.” Twilight blurted out.

Princess Celestia glanced towards her student, at her objection, her calm expression carefully maintained. While it may have been her own idea, Twilight had proprosed it spur of the moment and without thought. When her thoughts had begin to find some order again, her own experiences from the royal wedding had come to the forefront once more. Twilight may have understood the situation, but she wasn't sure she could just overlook the things that Chrysalis had done, anymore than she could expect Cadence to.

After a moment Princess Celestia merely nodded towards Twilight, before saying “I understand, Twilight.”

Chrysalis simply seemed impassive by this point, and didn't even seem angry or surprised. Twilight was surprised to find this to be somewhat more discomforting, than the idea of the changeling being outraged or upset.

Princess Celestia turned back towards Chrysalis, continuing on “That is unfortunate, but the situation is far from insurmountable.”

Chrysalis merely looked towards Princess Celestia, doubt evident on her face. Looking to the side in brief consideration, Celestia turned back “Though I believe, that I may need some assistance in this matter. Though, I think I know a pony that may be able to help. If you would wait here?” Chrysalis merely began rubbing the bridge between her eyes, in agitation.

Nodding, Celestia began moving towards the door, before speaking to Twilight “I know it's quite a bit to ask, Twilight, but could you keep an eye on things here until I return?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. Celestia nodded in turn, before moving to the door. Pausing she glanced back to the room, before channeling some magic through her horn, causing the loosed parasprites from before to wink out of existence before suddenly reappearing in a sealed jar with air holes poked in the top. That taken care of she stepped out the door.

"And for the record, I've never once pelted anyone with brussel sprouts." Princess Celestia called back, as the door closed behind the alabaster alicorn.

Leaving Twilight in a profoundly awkward situation.

Silver Shield watched in curiosity as Princess Celestia marched down the halls with a clear purpose. Turning towards the veteran Earth Pony, Stalwart Gaze “Do you think that had anything to do with Princess Twilight coming through earlier?”

Sighing again, Stalwart Gaze turned towards the greenhorn Unicorn “I've told you before. Unless there's an emergency, when we're off-shift, you need to let some things go.”

“Yes, but-”

“If anyone needs your help, when you're off-duty, they are perfectly free to ask for it. That includes Princess Celestia.”

Relenting under the words of his superior, Silver Shield decided to change the subject. “So, I was thinking I could sign-up for a rotation down at the 'Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp' in a couple of weeks.”

Stalwart tilted his head at this before, stopping. Turning to face Silver Shield “Take my advice, Shield. You're not ready.”

“What? It sounds like it'd be fun working with foals for a while, bringing up the next generation and all. I mean, I was here for the Changeling Invasion, and I did alright.” Silver Shield chuckled a bit, before he noted the serious look on the veteran's face. “It can't be that bad...right?”

Stalwart Gaze considered the younger stallion for a few seconds before he asked “Have you ever heard of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

Silver Shield laughed out loud at the question “Oh, you had me going for a second there, sir. Yes, I've heard of them. And like everyone else, I know they're just a story you guys use to try to scare us.”

He laughed again before he steadily trailed off into silence, as Stalwart Gaze waited for him to finish. Silver Shield asked with a bit of nervousness “Right?”

“All I know is what I've heard, Shield. But I can tell you, that I've been hearing more and more rumors about the Cutie Mark Crusaders, from Ponyville to Manehattan.”

Silver Shield paled at that, as Stalwart Gaze turned around and started making his way towards the guards mess-hall “But...I already volunteered.”

Looking everywhere but towards the Changeling Queen for a few seconds, Twilight quickly began going over all the events that led up to this moment, over the course of the day. She was broken from her thoughts, as her attention was caught by Chrysalis suddenly shaking her head briskly, like she was trying to clear it. Watching as Chrysalis blinked a couple of times before she made her way over to the cushion from earlier, it occurred to Twilight that the changeling had slammed back quite a bit of, what she assumed to be, hard alcohol.

After Chrysalis took the seat, the silence wore on for another minute before it started to get to Twilight. She was briefly tempted to apologize to the changeling, before her mind again reminded her that, no, she was kind of justified in not offering her assistance. Though this did lead her to another thought.

“You didn't really answer my question.”

At Chrysalis's glance, Twilight clarified what she meant.

“I mean, I think I understand, but you didn't really explain why you did what you did at Cadence's wedding.”

Chrysalis merely arched an eyebrow, leaving Twilight in silence for a few seconds. Clearing her throat, Twilight decided to play a card “And if you don't want to talk about that, we can always talk about that brussel sprout incident?”

Twilight actually flinched back, her wings fluttering, as Chrysalis suddenly snorted with laughter. Calming herself, Twilight briefly wandered if she had caused something to snap in the Changeling Queen, before Chrysalis spoke up.

“Ah, that is just delightful. A bit of of venom to go along with all of that pony sweetness for a change.”

Standing to her hooves once more, and still chuckling, Chrysalis continued “Though, I suppose that isn't terribly surprising, given your history of not letting any subject drop. Very well, if you really wish me to spell it out for you, I shall.”

Twilight was pretty sure she didn't need it 'spelled out' for her. It was just the way Princess Celestia had seemed to understand exactly what Chrysalis had meant earlier, had kind of left Twilight in the dark.

“Alright then, Princess Twilight, let us start with a simple question. What should be the highest priority of any ruler?” Chrysalis began.

“Well-”

“That was rhetorical. Stop talking.”

Scowling a bit, Twilight nonetheless let Chrysalis continue.

“It's to see to the welfare of their subjects. That is the whole point of it. They grant you the power to see to their needs...so what happens when that basic trust is broken?”

Chrysalis paused again, though this time Twilight didn't rise to the bait, causing Chrysalis to chuckle again.

“Your Princess and I decided, that while we could not bring an end to our little conflict, that was no reason we couldn't enjoy the other's company, when we weren't facing one another down. We'd keep the two worlds separate, our personal and...professional lives, and try to simply keep a lid on things. But you can't really keep things like that from getting mixed up in one another.”

Gesturing to herself with one hoof as she continued, Chrysalis briefly wobbled on the other three, apparently still feeling the effects of the liquor from earlier “When I realized...when I realized that I was letting my personal desire to not...I passed up opportunities to gain a leg up on Celestia on more than one occasion. Gave up opportunities to gather more sustenance for my changelings. Because that might have hurt our...understanding. It might hurt...”

Twilight felt the need to interject at this point “But that was the whole point wasn't it? Compromising so that neither ponies or changelings would suffer too much?”

“Exactly. I was compromising on seeing to the needs of my subjects, so that I could...consort with your Princess. I gave up on ensuring that my changelings could thrive, because of what I wanted.”

Twilight furrowed her brow before objecting “I get that...but that still doesn't justify everything you did.”

“Doesn't it? Perhaps you haven't had enough time to think about it. Or perhaps you're right. I admit, the invasion didn't go as I expected it would, at first.” Chrysalis admitted.

“We wouldn't be here now, if your invasion had been a success.” Twilight pointed out.

“True enough, Twilight Sparkle. This is proof of just how utterly I failed.” Chrysalis chuckled again at this.

Twilight again was left with the feeling that Chrysalis was again implying more than she said. She was surprised by how quickly the answer came to her.

“You were trying to destroy your friendship.”

Chrysalis spared another glance towards Twilight, again finding herself surprised by the young alicorn's insight.

“That was the greater goal, you could say. After all, if I was having trouble choosing between her...trust, and my changelings, then the logical course would be to remove the ability to choose between the two. And things proceeded so smoothly after I made that decision. I had replaced Cadenza, without garnering the slightest bit of suspicion. I had your brother at my ready disposal. Even your interference had barely been a bump in the road for me. Why not capitalize on this...wild success?”

Twilight following along as Chrysalis explained things in detail “But it wasn't a success.”

“Indeed not. Your delicious older brother and your saccharine, pink princess did-...whatever it is that they did, costing us the energy that we had already reaped. And just to make it clear what a total loss the whole plan was, Celestia didn't even have the courtesy to despise me.” Chrysalis finally finished with a bitter smile.

Silence fell over the two of them for a few moments, as Twilight tried to take in everything. She could admit to herself that, the explanation made a certain amount of sense, even if it had led to something terrible. But the idea of trying to destroy a friendship, one that you wanted, that you valued...it flew in the face of everything that Twilight had learned and had grown to cherish over the last few years.

“What exactly was that anyway?” Chrysalis abruptly asked.

“Hm?” Twilight glanced up, broken from her thoughts at Chrysalis' sudden question “What?”

“That...bubble that those two used to eject my invasion force from Canterlot. I've asked Celestia about it, but I suspect she was trying to mislead me.” Chrysalis clarified.

Furrowing her brow at the question, Twilight had to fish around a bit for an answer “Oh...well, I gathered that it was Cadence's love for Shiny that allowed them to generate a field of pure love that saved everyone. I didn't really have an opportunity to study it properly.”

Chrysalis gave Twilight a look of plain skepticism, at that explanation “A field of pure love, defeated an army of changelings. Hungry changelings. Defeated by love.”

“Uhm, well...actually you have a point.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head as she considered this.

“Of course I have a point! Do you realize how absurd that sounds? By that reasoning, I should have armed my changeling warriors with pies. Or we should begin fighting dragons by throwing bags of gems at them!” Chrysalis exclaimed.

“Well hold on, maybe...maybe it was like a Super-pie!” Twilight began.

The look of bewilderment on Chrysalis' face was all the prompting Twilight needed to continue.

Gaining a bit of momentum as she grasped a hold of an explanation that kind of made sense “Like a pie so big that it would still hurt being hit by it....Even though it was a pie.”

“That's even more ridiculous. Do you know how large a pie that would have to be? I had hundreds of my changelings there.” Chrysalis countered.

“Well, perhaps. But it's not like it's easy to take a bite out of a pie, as it's hitting you in the face, right? So it's not just the size of the pie, but the velocity.” Twilight tried to explain.

It took a moment for Twilight to absorb what she had just said.

“...let's leave out the parts about pies, if we try to explain this to anyone else.” Twilight suggested.

“Agreed. I suppose if nothing else, your brother can make a fine 'love-pie'. How lucky for Cadenza.” Chrysalis responded with a roll of her eyes.

“What?” Twilight's tone was flat enough to pave over.

Chrysalis quirked an eyebrow at Twilight's tone “What? I just agreed with you. Is that a problem, now?”

“No, the other part.”

“Cadenza is lucky?”

“You said it like she wasn't lucky.”

“...Did I?”

“You did.”

“...I think you might be reading to much into what I said.”

“Why wouldn't Cadence be lucky to have Shiny?”

Chrysalis considered the expression on Twilight's face, before then taking in the still devastated room.

“Perhaps we should change the subject.” Chrysalis suggested.

“No. What's wrong with Shiny?” Twilight's voice was quickly cooling.

“Nothing. There's nothing wrong with him. His relationship with Cadenza just came off as a bit...shallow.” Chrysalis waved her hoof at the last part, as if it was nothing.

“Shallow?!” Twilight nearly shouted.

Chrysalis taking this as leave to continue “Everyday it was nothing but gooey eyes, proclamations of love, and how he was so happy to be getting married. It was utterly tedious.”

“What's wrong with being in love?!”

“Nothing. There's also nothing wrong with a bit of stimulating conversation here and there. Frankly, he came off as a bit empty-headed before I even started brainwashing him.” Chrysalis continued easily.

“Shiny is not empty-headed! You don't get to be Captain of the Royal Guard by being empty-headed!” Twilight countered angrily.

Chrysalis continued on unimpeded “And that's another thing. The only times he wasn't going on about how wonderful I, or rather how wonderful Cadenza was, it was 'It is my duty to defend Canterlot' and 'I must be ever vigilant for threats'. I'm kind of amazed anyone could get him to stop running drills and assigning patrols to even get married. Much less anything else.”

Twilight was struck speechless.

“And don't get me wrong, he was quite well-built as stallions go. But that voice of his? For a few moments, I was worried that I would be wed to a teenager.” Chrysalis added on as an afterthought.

“Th-there's nothing wrong with Shiny's voice!” Twilight denied.

“There's nothing wrong with his voice. It just doesn't exactly ooze sexiness.” Chrysalis explained.

“My Brother is extremely sexy!!”

Twilight was a bit pleased by the fact that she had finally managed to put a halt to Chrysalis' badmouthing of her big brother. The Changeling seemed rather shocked by the outburst. It occurred to Twilight just why that might be a moment later.

“Ahem.”

Twilight jumped at the sound of a stallion clearing their throat, before turning around. There, in the doorway, was Princess Celestia sporting a carefully neutral expression. At her side, was the admittedly handsome Prince Blueblood, looking a bit uncomfortable.

Caught between panic and embarrassment, Twilight tried to point towards Chrysalis, while trying to face everyone in the room at once “I- She- It was Shiny and-...Brussel sprouts!!”

She shouted the last part, as she again jabbed a hoof towards the Changeling Queen, rather helplessly, before taking a deep breath, lying down and covering her face with her hooves.

'Clearly, the insanity is contagious'

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at Twilight's inarticulate reaction before turning towards Celestia.

Before the Changeling Queen could get in a word, Celestia merely held a hoof up, calmly saying “I don't need to know. Let us all just drop the subject, and move on to more important matters.”

Prince Blueblood nodded amicably, before speaking in his very posh manner “As you say, Auntie. Though I must admit, when you told me you needed my assistance in matters of State, I assumed you had been trying to set me up on another blind date. I take it by Queen Chrysalis' presence, that's not the case?”

“No, not this time...though if you would like me to set you up with somepony-” Celestia began to offer to her nephew.

Blueblood interjected quickly at the offer “No, no. No need to go and do that, let us focus on the issue at hoof.”

Still hiding her face, Twilight asked miserably “Why is he here?” As far as Twilight knew, Prince Blueblood, apart from being Princess Celestia's nephew, was just a particularly stuffy and rude noble. All of the rumors, and her friend Rarity's testimony, had said as much.

“As I said, Twilight, I was hoping he could assist us in convincing Cadence to hear our case.” Celestia explained.

“Why would she listen to him?” She actually peeked out from her hooves at this, curious.

“Well, while I admit we've had our rough spots, I am still her big brother.” Blueblood pointed out.

“Y-you're Big Bubba Blue?!” Twilight was back on her hooves, utter shock clear in her features.

“...I'd appreciate it if we could not throw that little nickname around so much, Miss Twilight.” Blueblood brushed off a bit of imaginary dust from his person, as he confirmed his identity.

“But-but how?!” Twilight stammered.

Princess Celestia was no longer able to keep her own curiosity in check at this point “Surely Cadence has mentioned him to you before Twilight? Have you never met him before?”

Indeed, Twilight knew all about Cadence's beloved big brother. She remembered exchanging stories with her foalsitter for hours, as they both claimed to have the best big brother in the whole world. Before now, all the stories of Cadence's big brother's adventures and exploration had made perfect sense. But now...

Blueblood chose to volunteer some input on the discussion “I'm sure we've been introduced before, Auntie. She wanted to introduce me to her new coltfriend, as I recall. We had a bit of time extra and she wanted me to also meet Twilight.”

“I-I don't remember that.” Twilight said.

“Yes, Cadence was very excited. As I recall it was a rainy afternoon, and you were reading in the library...I was there for nearly an hour.” Blueblood explained.

A look of understanding instantly appeared on Princess Celestia's face, as she nodded “That would explain things.”

Twilight had probably kept her nose buried in a book throughout all of Blueblood's visit.

Twilight's face burned with embarrassment, before she tried to salvage her case “But, why didn't she ever introduce us some other time?”

“Well, I am the Royal Cartographer. And unfortunately that does call for a lot of time spent traveling abroad.” At this he turned to the side, displaying his compass rose Cutie Mark. “And frankly, I do try to avoid Canterlot, when I can. Utterly filled with ninnies. I can never get a moments peace.”

“So all those stories about her Big Bubba Blue exploring the wilderness, and meeting with different cultures...?”

“Well, I can't speak for all the stories Cadence has shared, but I am quite well-traveled if I do say so myself.” While he sighed again, at the childhood nickname, Blueblood otherwise spoke with plain pride. “And between the Buffalo tribes and the Changelings, I suppose you could say that other cultures have a healthy appreciation for yours truly.”

Chrysalis took a moment to roll her eyes at this.

Twilight rubbed her face in agitation “But, everyone says you're a narcissistic jerk."

Celestia looked ready to intercede at this point, not willing to let Twilight go on like that, though to her surprise it was Chrysalis that did so first.

“And what exactly is wrong with that?”

Twilight blinked, as Chrysalis got to her hooves and joined the fray. “Honestly, the way you ponies go on and on about loving and caring, I would think you could appreciate the virtues of self-love, a bit more.”

“But-” Twilight tried to interject, but was cut off as Chrysalis continued.

“It's not as if everypony doesn't engage in a bit of self-love from time to time, and it's hardly a crime if this stallion chooses to indulge himself a bit more often. Self-love is very important to changelings, and is considered perfectly healthy, and I speak from experience.” Chrysalis argued.

“Chrysalis-” This time it was Celestia that was trying to get a word in edgewise.

“And frankly, I suspect that you could stand to engage in a bit more self-love, Princess Twilight. Perhaps you would not be quite so tightly wound if-”

“Chrysalis!” Celestia finally decided to raise her voice in the matter, before Chrysalis carried things much farther.

And Chrysalis did look rather indignant as Celestia cantered over and began speaking with the changeling in low voices. Twilight was only able to catch a few of Chrysalis responses as the two conferred.

“...”

“A euphemism? For what?”

“...”

“Since when?”

“...”

“Truly?”

At a nod from Celestia, Chrysalis then glanced towards Twilight in consideration. A few moments later she nodded again.

“Well, she could probably use a bit more of that too.”

Celestia facehoofed.

Twilight looked ready to have another episode, before Prince Blueblood chose to swoop in and save the day.

“Yes, well. Back to your original point. While I think 'Narcissistic Jerk' is a bit strong, I suppose some ponies in Canterlot might see things that way. I've certainly done my best to give them a taste of their own medicine, when I can.”

Taking the opportunity to get the discussion back on track, Princess Celestia chose to take the reins from there “And while I'd like to discuss your behavior further, my nephew, I think that is perhaps for another time.”

“Ah, of course Auntie. Do tell, why exactly have you brought me in? Has Queen Chrysalis sued for peace?” Blueblood inquired.

“Not exactly, do you recall the conversation we had about my relationship with Chrysalis, and how we had been unable to the solve the problem between our subjects.” Celestia asked

Twilight held up a hoof, still reeling from the earlier discussion “Wait. How does he know all about that?”

Chrysalis volunteered the next part “We were forced to bring him into the fold, when one of his expeditions stumbled upon my hive.”

“Your pardon, but I do not stumble anywhere.” Both Chrysalis and Twilight rolled their eyes at Blueblood's objection, both knowing better.

Princess Celestia continued “As I was saying, we believe we may have found a solution. But recent events have made it...untenable.”

Prince Blueblood considered this for a moment “But we went over so many options already, what could- Of course! The Crystal Heart!” Knowing the problem, and that the situation involved his younger sister and Chrysalis had certainly narrowed down the possibilities for him. And it just as quickly revealed to him why the solution was at risk of failing.

“Oh my. That is an untenable situation. You were hoping I could convince Cadence to overlook Queen Chrysalis' crimes?”

“I would not use the word 'overlook', but essentially, yes.” Celestia answered his query.

Rubbing his chin in thought “My, that could prove quite challenging.”

“Just like that?” Twilight cantered forward, surprised “After everything she did to Cadence, you're still going to help Chrysalis? Didn't you see what she did at her wedding?”

Celestia chose to supply a bit of context before Blueblood could respond “Blueblood was on an expedition to the north at the time, surveying the tundra for the Crystal Empire's return.”

Blueblood nodded at that “Yes, my wedding gift to Cadence. And I'm quite aware of what transpired, and look forward to Chrysalis' punishment.”

At this Twilight tilted her head in confusion, not understanding.

Seeing this Blueblood continued “Put simply, I'm not helping Chrysalis. I'm helping her subjects. Now, as I was saying...”

Twilight didn't quite hear what they were discussing as she was struck by Blueblood's words. He wasn't helping Chrysalis, he was helping the changelings. Granted, everything she had ever experienced of changelings had been rather unpleasant. But then that had been an invasion. For all she knew there were many more, relatively, nice changelings out there. And...

...Twilight had been utterly lost earlier today precisely because she did not know what she was going to do as a ruler. She had no idea, what she was going to do to make the world a better place for everypony, and that had terrified her.

Chrysalis had a long way to go to get into Twilight's good graces, if she ever did. But there was a problem, a big problem, that she could help solve. As the Princess of Magic, the Princess of Friendship essentially, how could she stand to the side?

“I'll help!”

Everyone paused, as Twilight made her decision, each taking a moment to grasp what she was saying.

“That is-...I want to help.”

Chrysalis had another unreadable look on her face as she processed this.

Prince Blueblood didn't really have the context to understand what was going on between everyone.

Princess Celestia merely smiled and nodded.

Author's Note

Well, there we have Ch.2. Touching on some more serious ground during this chapter, but hopefully I still got some laughs there. Assuming no troubles, I'll probably have Ch.3 up in a week. You can expect to see a timeskip, covering what they do now to solve the problem between Changelings and Ponies (About two months), more hilarity, the Romance tag come fully into play, more Blueblood, and more lessons learned for Twilight.

I have to admit, I'm a bit less certain about the quality here, and how well everything came across, so criticisms and questions are quite welcome. I had to sacrifice some exposition for the sake of maintaining the natural flow of the conversations, so I'm worried something may have been lost.

On a sidenote, if anyone's curious about that little side glance at Silver Shield and Stalwart Gaze, that's just me setting the foundation for the next story :).

Lesson Three: Seize the Initiative

It was an altogether not-terrible day, for Princess Twilight Sparkle, and that was all she would say on the subject.

Though, actually the day was going quite well. Better than average, really. But she had learned well of the perils of tempting fate.

She had been seen off from Ponyville with a “Bringing about Inter-species Peace” cupcake from Pinkie Pie, taken a leisurely ride, by train, to Canterlot, and was even now, as she walked the halls of Canterlot Castle, rearranging her reports for the aforementioned bringing about of inter-species peace. She already knew them to be properly sorted and had memorized most of their contents, while going over them, but she was going to a meeting with Princess Celestia. And even now, that was still enough reason for her to obsess, just a little.

Especially since she really didn't want to embarrass herself, again, in front of Chrysalis or Prince Blueblood, both of whom would also be there. Chrysalis, because even when she was trying to be-...not actively malevolent, she would still ruthlessly tease the purple princess. Which, according to Princess Celestia, was essentially Chrysalis' version of being 'nice'. Which really said quite a lot about the changeling.

And she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Prince Blueblood, because...well, he was very attractive. And a somewhat smarter, nicer stallion than he let on with most. And even when he was genuinely being a bit snobby or arrogant, it often led to a few giggles on Twilight's part...

She quickly shuffled her files again, as she noted that same stallion down the hall from her, as she reminded herself that they were there to discuss the steady integration of the Changelings with the Crystal ponies. Not Twilight's tendency for...giggling around Prince Blueblood.

She briefly noted that Blueblood seemed to be discussing some manner with a couple of ponies, before he took note of her, and waved them off. They looked like they wished to say more, but Blueblood had already cantered away.

“Ah, excellent timing, miss Twilight. I was just on my way to our little meeting. Care to accompany me?”

“It's good to see you too, Prince Blueblood. And sure, though, who were those ponies you were talking to? They seemed a bit upset, when you waved them off.”

“Oh, you saw that? Dreadful business. I've been dealing with reporters all day, on account of my personal nom de plume being uncovered.” Blueblood explained.

“You have a pen name? Wait, you write?” Twilight asked, surprised by this revelation.

“Oh, just a bit”

“Is it anything I would recognize?”

“...no. No, I don't think so.”

Twilight tilted her head at his elusive answer, before deciding to let the matter drop. She was curious, but he, evidently, didn't wish to talk about it. Plus, she would probably be able to just pick up a newspaper and find out later.

“Well anyway, by all the reports, things are going really well.” Twilight cheerfully changed the subject.

“Oh, that's a relief. I ended up missing lunch today, and not being wrapped up in all that will speed things along immensely. Hopefully, Auntie set out some snacks, for that matter.”

“I don't know why she wouldn't have brought anything out for the meeting.” Princess Celestia almost always brought some kind of snacks out for official meetings, and such. According to her, bite-sized morsels had, on more than one occasion, averted war. Twilight was sure that there was more to it than just snacks, but history seemed to favor her theory.

'Although, by that reasoning, Princess Celestia should instate Pinkie Pie as Equestria's next ambassador to the Griffin Kingdoms.'

“True enough, miss Twilight. Just bracing myself for the worst.” Blueblood chuckled at that.

Twilight blinked, thinking that perhaps she had said that thought out loud before remembering the conversation she had been having.

“Oh, right. Well, I suppose worse things could happen, than missing out on a few snacks. I'm kind of surprised by how smoothly things have been going the last couple of months.” Twilight admitted.

“Oh, be careful now, miss Twilight. You wouldn't wish to tempt fate.” Blueblood lightly teased.

Twilight actually tilted her head at Blueblood at that remark, wandering if perhaps she had been blurting out loud a lot of her thoughts around Blueblood.

'Perhaps strange minds just think alike.'

Twilight had been giving herself that warning for a while now, though apparently it still hadn't properly taken root in mind. Though perhaps that was alright. She had kind of been wary of being taken by surprise, as of late, but things really had been going well the last couple of months.

That day that she had waltzed in on the Queen of the Changelings lounging around in Princess Celestia's private study had lead to a lot of new things.

They had spent hours that day, working out a way to convince Cadence to allow Chrysalis' changeling swarm to take up residence in the Crystal Empire. Well, first they needed to convince the Princess of the Crystal Empire to let them test their idea first, then work on the bigger obstacle of getting her to take in the changelings. Of course, they hadn't cut straight to that point. Twilight had still been a bit on edge about the changelings, and knew Cadence would be, as well. So she decided that it would be a good idea to first visit with the changelings, to get to know them better as a race.

'That's right...I decided.' Twilight smiled lightly at the thought. She had almost entirely forgotten that she had originally sought out her mentor to ask about leading as a Princess, that day.

Looking back over the last couple of months, it was kind of obvious now that Princess Celestia had been ready to guide Twilight as a Princess from the outset. It had been subtle, but Princess Celestia had steadily guided her to taking the lead on this whole undertaking. And more amazingly Twilight actually took to leading.

Even Chrysalis didn't make much of a fuss about introducing Twilight to her changelings, though she had suspected Princess Celestia had greased those wheels for her, just a bit.

And her visit had been absolutely fascinating. Most of what ponies knew about changelings had come from the invasion attempt; before that, they were just obscure folklore. Sure, there were other difficult to study cultures in the world. Dragons and Diamond Dogs came to mind. But this was something else entirely.

The partially underground hive alone would have been something worthy of years of study, based on it's construction techniques alone.

And even more surprising had been the changelings themselves. She had been striving to keep an open mind before visiting, but the fear that Chrysalis was the norm for changeling behavior had been in the back of her mind. It turned out, the average changeling had more in common with Fluttershy.

The soldiers, scouts, and love-collectors were a bit closer to her expectations, if not particularly bad, just hardened. But most of the other changelings were almost...skittish around her, during her visit with Prince Blueblood. Chrysalis' presence probably helped, but even so many of them were rather soft-spoken and kept to themselves. And that had been another surprise. It seemed most of them spoke Equestrian, though with the same resonant quality that Chrysalis' voice had, and quite a few spoke other languages besides. In retrospect though, that made sense given their reliance on other sapient species, and the fact that most other folk probably wouldn't think highly of the changelings' needs.

The whole experience really helped settle Twilight's worries about what she was doing...apart from a few choice encounters that still haunted Twilight.

They even gave her gifts as Twilight was leaving.

Which led to an unfortunate moment, when she screamed upon realizing that some of the gifts were alive. Prince Blueblood forgot to mention their usage of ground dwelling creatures and insects in making their hive more livable.

Twilight suspected that Chrysalis chose to neglect to mention it because she thought it would turn out to be hilarious.

One of the gifts, in particular, was a bulbous little glowing fluid-filled insect that served as a sort of light source in their tunnels, that also doubled as a sort of security measure. When startled they would emit a particularly foul odor.

Chrysalis had indeed found the results hilarious. More worryingly, Princess Celestia seemed to have trouble containing her own amusement when Twilight relayed the story to her.

Twilight was fairly sure that Chrysalis was turning out to be a bad influence upon the Princess of the Sun.

In the end, she had decided it best to leave her souvenirs in Fluttershy's care. Partly, because she wasn't entirely sure which were critters and which weren't, and had no idea how to care for them, and partly because Fluttershy found them adorable. It seemed to really help Fluttershy get over her own concerns about the changelings, knowing that the changelings also cared for other creatures.

Also, Twilight was pretty sure that the little bulbous insect was holding a grudge against her, for screaming in it's face that first time.

And, actually, it hadn't been terribly difficult explaining the situation to her friends. Primarily, due to the fact that they had followed Twilight on her mad dash to Canterlot, by train, out of concern, and had burst in on her first discussion with Princess Celestia, Chrysalis, and Prince Blueblood.

Much like when she first stumbled upon Chrysalis in the middle of her 'not-nap' it had been a bit rocky at first. But she had managed to talk them down, explain the situation, and convince Rarity to not throttle Prince Blueblood. Twilight had even managed to extract an apology from Blueblood for Rarity, for the events that had transpired during the Grand Galloping Gala.

And while everyone had been a bit leery of the situation, apart from Pinkie Pie who wanted to throw a party for the new “nice” version of Chrysalis, the situation had been defused.

Really, their reactions to everything being revealed, had been better than Twilight's own.

In fact, just about every party concerned had surprisingly amicable reactions. Again, while the changeling soldiers had still been a bit intimidating, most of them were pretty nonthreatening, cooperative and willing to follow their Queen's course. Cadence and Shiny while both shocked and suspicious, had been convinced to test the idea, provided the changelings were closely watched and Chrysalis was both punished for her actions and stayed out of the Crystal Empire.

That had been a bit of a sticking point, for a while. Neither Cadence or Shiny would budge on those points and it was hard to argue with their positions, all things considered. Both Chrysalis and her subjects had been agitated more by the idea that Chrysalis would essentially be stepping down as ruler for the changelings, than anything else. Eventually, it was agreed that Chrysalis would assign a number of changelings to coordinate everything, and stay under a sort of house arrest under Princess Celestia's supervision in Canterlot. Any internal problems that the changelings couldn't sort out themselves would be passed along via correspondence through Princess Cadence and Shining Armor and then to Canterlot. And otherwise the changelings would submit to the authority of the Crystal Empire during their stay. It added a lot logistics to the equation, but it was something that everyone managed to agree to.

Twilight had been worried when they had been trying to sort all of that out at the time. Chrysalis being her typical prickly self hadn't helped matters. She was fairly sure that it had been the Crystal ponies themselves that had saved negotiations.

They had perhaps the most surprising of reactions, when talk of the negotiations leaked out to them. They had been excited. Once the story got out to the Crystal ponies, they had immediately latched on to the idea, and while it could be because they had little knowledge of how changelings were viewed by most ponies, they had been eager to help and offer sanctuary to the changelings.

One day, after several long hours of arguing, Cadence had simply been swamped by Crystal ponies looking to help with the project. With suggestions for living arrangements for the changelings, volunteers looking to assist, many questions about the changelings themselves, and Crystal ponies wandering when their new neighbors might be arriving. They had no idea that the negotiations had been fraught with so much tension. It seemed the Crystal Ponies were eager to meet and help others, after their long ordeal.

After everyone had gotten over their surprise, negotiations had gone much smoother.

And most amazingly, it all worked. She could actually tell just by looking that the changelings were invigorated by just being in the Crystal empire. And with the enthusiastic outreach of the Crystal ponies, the changelings were almost bouncing with excitement. Not unlike Pinkie Pie after she's had a bit of coffee. Soon Shining Armor was coordinating with the changelings, expanding the area for the rest of the swarm to start moving in, and the Crystal ponies were quickly looking for things to share with the new arrivals. Even Cadence was starting to warm up to the industrious changelings.

And while they had taken measures to keep things low-key at first, the ponies in Equestria soon heard about it. And to Twilight's relief, for the most part reactions were mostly limited to quiet bemusement and curiosity.

She was feeling pretty good about all this. Twilight had helped resolve an age old conflict between two races. Princess Celestia was practically walking on sunshine. And even the most fearful of ponies were starting to relax their concerns. Chrysalis was still rather moody, but Twilight supposed that might be a natural reaction, considering that she was pretty much expected to keep her distance from her own subjects.

And Twilight was starting to grow to-...well, no she could admit to herself that she wasn't ready to say that she was 'friends' with the Changeling Queen. And she might not be for some time. Chrysalis still hadn't really taken any steps to make amends with Twilight, and didn't seem inclined to yet. But Twilight could also admit that she enjoyed speaking with the Changeling Queen; the changeling was pretty knowledgeable, by any standard, and brought an interesting view to most topics. And Twilight had gotten a bit used to her snark and teasing, and kind of enjoyed returning the favor.

Again, Twilight was pretty sure that Princess Celestia was trying to nudge the two of them to be more amicable towards one another.

“-was terrible, sir. I was sure those foals were going to do me in...I thought they were planning on eating me. One of them brought ketchup!”

“Odd. I rather enjoyed myself, Shield.”

Twilight shook herself from her thoughts, as she realized she was approaching her destination, one of the many side rooms that had been set up for just these kinds of meetings. Just down the hall, she could see the two guards stationed outside the room engrossed in conversation. One of them looked like he had been put through quite the harrowing experience.

“A-and, I think one of them may have been...a Cutie Mark Crusader.”

'That explains it.' Twilight thought to herself, even as she took in the the sight of the bruised, battered, and traumatized stallion. He even had one of his forelegs in a sling.

The older, less battered of the two stallions soon took note of her approach and stood up a bit straighter, prompting the other to do the same. As she and Blueblood approached, he quickly saluted her. He was about to speak, when all eyes turned towards a crashing sound, taking in the sight of the younger guard on the floor. Evidently, he had attempted a salute, without considering the number of hooves he had on the ground.

Shaking his head, Stalwart Gaze returned to the formalities of his job, saluting Twilight again “Princess Twilight, Prince Blueblood. We've been told to expect your arrivals. Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis have already arrived and are awaiting you inside, when you are ready.

Twilight nodded at this, still concerned with the younger stallion “Thank you...is he going to be alright?”

Blueblood appraised Silver Shield, as well “Indeed. You look as if you've had a particularly nasty scrap. With a dozen angry buffalo...I speak from experience.” With that he soon offered a hoof to help the stallion up. Twilight almost rolled her eyes at how he tried to intermingle tales of his exploits with his concern for the younger stallion's welfare.

Steadily getting back to his hooves, Silver Shield nodded in thanks, before realizing who was in front of him and trying to salute again. Fortunately, Twilight caught him in her magic before he could go crashing to the floor once more. “Sorry! I mean thanks...Miss- I mean Princess Twilight and Blueblood. Prince Blueblood...I think, I might be concussed.”

“Do you think you should be on duty then, if you're so hurt?” Twilight again asked with concern.

“Oh, no. I'm quite fine. Just got to shake it off. Neither sleet, nor foal, nor floor, and all that...” Silver Shield waved off her concern, before trailing into silence awkwardly.

“Worry not, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I fully intend on keeping an eye on him.” Stalwart Gaze calmly reassured.

“Oh. Well, be sure he doesn't push himself too hard then, I guess.”

“Of course. Would you and Prince Blueblood like to enter now?”

Twilight looked over towards Prince Blueblood, who simply shrugged in response, apparently leaving the decision to her. Glancing towards Silver Shield again, she gave him a smile as he adjusted his armor, before facing Stalwart Gaze once more. Straightening out her load of files and reports with her magic “I suppose we shouldn't keep them waiting on us.”

Nodding at this, Stalwart Gaze moved to open the doors for the two royal ponies, with Silver Shield following his lead a couple of seconds later.

She thanked the two guards again, as she passed through the doors. She drew to a halt, at a most peculiar sight, with Prince Blueblood stopping at her side about half a second later before summing up her own initial reaction most succinctly.

“Oh my...”

It was a bit of a process for Twilight to figure out just what she was seeing. There was Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis, and they appeared to be hugging. Not too strange, though they were engaging in some very...vigorous hugging. And there were some sounds that one might not associate with hugging, also there seemed to be some lip contact...Really, there were many different ways that Twilight could react to what she was seeing.

There was the sound of a body hitting the floor.

Twilight looked back to note that the younger of the two guards, Silver Shield, was now on the floor, having apparently fainted. His superior was only sparing a glance towards him, his attention otherwise taken up with the scene in front of him.

Twilight turned back to the two rulers, both of which were now standing stock-still, limbs still wrapped around one another, staring at the sudden intrusion.

Something in Twilight Sparkle snapped.

“Really?!”

Time seemed to resume flowing for the two rulers, at Twilight's shout, as they untangled themselves and scrambled apart. Prince Blueblood jumped at the sudden exclamation, before he brought his hoof to his chest, trying to steady his breathing. Princess Celestia seemed to be the first to recover.

“Twilight, I-”

“Seriously?! You two are spending your time making out with each other, now?! Without even telling me!?”

Chrysalis tried to get in a word this time “This is hardly-”

“And right before a MEETING?!?

Twilight was breathing a bit heavily now, as the two rulers looked on uncertain as to whether or not Twilight was done. After a few more seconds of silence, Princess Celestia again tried to take control of the situation.

“Twilight, please, please try to calm yourself. I'm sure we can explain this.”

Twilight took in a deep breath at this before asking one of the many questions circling her mind. “Just how long has this been going on?”

Celestia considered this for a moment before answering “Well...just now.”

Prince Blueblood finally managed to get his voice back, as he started rubbing his head with a hoof, exasperation tinging his words “Naturally. Naturally, I would walk in on this. It's the same as Cadence, all over again. Every time...”

Twilight turned with shock at these words, though Celestia was able to grab Twilight's attention before she could process what she had just heard much further.

“We were simply passing a bit of time, as we awaited your reports. We had just started talking-”

“Arguing.” Chrysalis corrected.

“-debating, and the discussion got a bit...heated. One thing lead to another, and Chrysalis-”

“You aren't seriously blaming me, are you?”

“Chrysalis, you were the one that...initiated contact.”

“That hardly matters! You're the one that has been mooning over me for the last two centuries!”

“W-what? What are you talking about?”

“Don't try playing dumb with me!”

“I'm not!”

“That's even worse!”

Blueblood once more tried to play the voice of reason. “Ladies, ladies! I think we all need to take a moment to-”

Chrysalis quickly snapped “Pipe down, Princess Purple Prose!”

Everything quickly fell silent again in the room, as everyone's attention turned towards Prince Blueblood. Twilight turned towards Blueblood, her brow furrowed in confusion. “Princess Purple-”

Before Twilight could finish her question, she was interrupted by a banging sound at the door. Turning her attention to the double doors, she saw the older of the two guard ponies attempting to drag the unconscious stallion past the threshold, with limited success. As Silver Shield mumbled after bumping into the door, Stalwart Gaze looked up to note all the eyes on him.

“He's blocking the doors...it can wait, though.”

Rather than draw any more attention, he let Silver Shield lie where he was, while he simply took his earlier position outside.

Twilight turned back towards Blueblood “Your pen name, is Princess Purple Prose?”

Chrysalis looked between the various surprised faces before asking “Am I the only one here that follows news in the literary world?!”

Ignoring Chrysalis' question, Blueblood tried to explain “Before you judge! A pen name is supposed to provide anonymity. I thought it would throw them off! And I was merely trying to provide a parody of the genre! I can't be blamed if mares everywhere decided to take it seriously!”

That actually helped a few more connections form in Twilight's mind “Wait. The Princess Purple Prose? The pony that's always writing those trashy, romance nov-”

“Trashy?!”

For a second, Twilight had thought it had been Blueblood contradicting her assessment of his writing, before she realized that Blueblood's mouth hadn't moved. And it wasn't his voice. And Blueblood was now staring at the pony that had chosen that moment to interject.

Twilight, Blueblood and Chrysalis all turned towards Princess Celestia, questioningly.

“...That is to say, I could not imagine that a pony with my nephew's education could write anything that could be considered trashy.”

“Oh, Auntie. Say it isn't so.”

“And while I was unaware of my nephew's pastime, I am all too happy to encourage his-”

Chrysalis cut in at this point, with a mixture of sudden understanding and annoyance “And now it all makes sense.”

“Chrysalis, this has-”

“Yes, now it's clear that you really were just completely oblivious. With your Oh-so-perfect love for ponies everywhere, your centuries of repression, and now with your clear obsession with romantic drivel-”

“It was meant to be satirical.” Blueblood interjected briefly.

“-it's no wonder you couldn't realize when you were actually attracted to someone.”

“I don't know why you believe-”

“Queen. Of the. Changelings. Why do you need me to remind you that I can sense love, like ponies can sense baked goods?”

That actually brought Princess Celestia short, as the sense of Chrysalis' words took root.

It was actually Twilight that managed to respond next, in wonder as the pieces all started to come together “...and then you started to realize that you loved her back.”

Chrysalis and Celestia only managed to turn towards Twilight, as she started voicing her thoughts “But her love for you wouldn't be enough for your subjects, so you felt you had to choose. And when you came back after the invasion...you could tell right away that she still loved you.”

Chrysalis actually took a step back at that, shocked by the young alicorn's insight.

“And-...that's why you were so cruel towards Cadence, when you took her. You were jealous of what she was able to have.”

Chrysalis fell silent for a few moments after that, when Celestia stepped forward “Is what Twilight's saying the truth, Chrysalis?”

Taking the changeling's silence as a confirmation “Chrysalis, I had no id-”

“Of course, you didn't. Clearly, nothing would have made you realize any of that, short of an overwrought declaration, out of some cheesy story or me slathering myself up in cake frosting.”

Twilight rubbed the bridge between her eyes at the last part, before complaining “I thought we agreed to not bring that up anymore.”

Ignoring Twilight's objection, Chrysalis continued “But look. We've got Princess Purple Prose here to write us up some dialogue. And you even brought cake.”

Twilight did note that Celestia had, as she had guessed, brought snacks to the meeting. In this case, cake.

Chrysalis waved her hoof towards Blueblood “Well, your up. We'll be needing some "romantic" dialogue for the moment, after all.”

“Uhmm...well, this is rather spur of the moment...I mean you can't rush art and-”

Celestia tried to calm the irate changeling “Please, try to calm down, Chrysalis. There is no need to become hysterical.”

Blueblood looked towards Princess Celestia with incredulity “Oh, Auntie. You are bad at this.”

To all appearances, Chrysalis didn't seem bothered by Celestia's, arguably poor, word choice, and seemed to just wave it off “Not exactly poetry, Blueblood. So perhaps we need to improve the mood some other way.” Punctuating her remark, by lifting up a plate with a generously sized slice of cake. “So would you like the first bite, Celestia?”

It took a moment to put together what Chrysalis intentions were, before Celestia said in a warning tone “Chrysalis...let's just take a breath and-”

Celestia was cut off by the slice of cake hitting her in the face.

The following silence was briefly interrupted by the sound of Silver Shield stirring. As Twilight watched the strange standoff between the two, she instinctively placed a hoof on Blueblood's shoulder, warning him against trying to get involved again.

As the crumbs and icing fell from Celestia's face in bits, she blinked before steadily taking a deep breath. Chrysalis seemed to be winding down from her little rant by this point.

Calmly wiping away the majority of the confection, she finally spoke “You may be right, Chrysalis...And if you are quite done, I'd like to talk about all of these revelations. Calmly.”

Everyone present seemed to let out a held breath. Apart from Silver Shield, who, while still dazed, was quickly being lead from the room by Stalwart Gaze.

“So, did I just see what I think I saw?”

“That depends on who you're talking to, Shield...But, I think so.”

“...And was that not the strangest thing you've ever seen?”

Stalwart Gaze considered this for a moment as he handed the younger stallion an ice pack. Shrugging he responded as resumed his post “It's probably somewhere in the top ten.”

“What?” Chrysalis responded articulately, not quite having expected that response.

Princess Celestia took a breath before clarifying “I said, you may be right, Chrysalis. While I'm certainly not repressed, it might very well be the case that I...don't examine my own feelings very closely. It's been a long time since I thought to view somepony in that light, and I'd like to apologize for any heartache this may have caused.”

Chrysalis was staring at this point, more than a bit flabbergasted “...ok.”

“Though, frankly, I think we could have avoided a lot of trouble, if you had opened up to me before about this. Do you understand where I'm coming from, Chrysalis?”

The Queen of the Changelings seemed to still be having trouble processing this turn of events “...ok.”

At this Celestia smiled a bit before cantering forward, causing Chrysalis to tense a bit, and avert her gaze “And...considering our reactions earlier, it would not be unreasonable to examine these feelings a bit more closely. We will probably be spending a fair amount of time around each other. Wouldn't you agree?”

She punctuated this question by using her hoof to guide Chrysalis to meeting her gaze again. Chrysalis still a bit speechless, actually seemed to blush.

'I've got to remember to ask how a carapace can blush.' Twilight could admit that her mind could end up focusing on some very strange things at times.

Chrysalis eventually blinked, before again settling on a fairly brief response “Ok.”

Celestia smiled once more, before holding up her hoof “I'm glad to hear that you agree. But there are two more points I would like to address, before anything else. First...”

A second later a slice of cake wrapped in Princess Celestia's magical aura slapped into the side of Chrysalis' face, causing her to step back and stare in shock for a moment “You-”

“And secondly, while I'm not ruling it out, I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring up any marriage-talk for a while.”

Chrysalis again stared for a moment, as a bit of the cake slid off her cheek “What?! I never- Who said anything about marriage?!?”

Celestia continued as if Chrysalis hadn't spoken up “Of course, it would have to be a lavish affair, with a great deal of planning, anyway. I can't imagine you would be that interested in the catering though. Also, by then we would need to broach the topic of foals.”

“Foals!?!”

“Or, hatchlings, I suppose. In the changeling parlance.”

“B-but- That-”

As Chrysalis sputtered, Celestia quickly leaned in and ended her protests with a quick kiss. A relatively tame one compared to before. As she pulled back from the confused changeling, she simply tilted her head and smiled.

“Gotcha.”

Chrysalis seemed to consider this turn of events for a few moments, before finally getting her thoughts straight. Shooting a quick glare towards Celestia, she simply nodded “Well played, Celestia.”

“I thought so...And Twilight, Blueblood?”

Shaken from their own awe at what had just responded, both quickly faced the the Princess of the Sun with rapt attention.

“I think it might be best if we postponed this meeting for another time. Don't you agree?”

It didn't take long for Twilight to quickly come to a decision, as she scooped her files up and began to lead Blueblood to the doors. Putting on a smile for Princess Celestia's sake “Nope, not a problem. Just...send a message to Spike, and we'll try another time.”

Celestia still smiling “Excellent.”

Twilight quickly shuffled through the doors.

Nodding to the two guard ponies, as she passed them by, she quickly pulled the door closed behind her. She took a couple of steps forward, dragging Blueblood with her, before facing them “Uhm, I think Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis are probably going to be in...private talks for a while, and probably shouldn't be disturbed.”

Stalwart Gaze merely nodded, before saluting “Understood, Princess Twilight.”

Silver Shield almost saluted again, before stopping himself. Grinning a bit “Lesson learned there. Understood, Princess Twilight.”

Blueblood having finally gathered himself “Well, not the meeting I expected, to be sure. Still quite...revelatory though.”

Twilight wasn't particularly aware of Blueblood's comments, having been struck by Silver Shield's own offhoof comment. About having learned a lesson.

'It's been as if I've had to start relearning everything I've ever known, since I became a princess.'

She had been put through so much, these last couple of months. She had found out so much about her mentor, and a race that she had thought to be nothing but monsters, changing how she looked at so much. She was starting to learn how to lead as a Princess, to help others, and overcome obstacles. But there was another aspect, she was beginning to appreciate about being 'Princess Twilight Sparkle'.

It was starting to dawn on her that she might be around for a very, very, long time.

And in all likelihood, she may very well have to deal with the same issues she had been witness to, between the two nigh immortals in the other room.

Would she eventually have to say goodbye to her friends someday? Forever?

Watch as the world changed all around her?

Would it eventually get to the point that the only others that she could relate too would be those that were similarly long-lived?

...Would she eventually become isolated? That thought quickly centered on Chrysalis and Princess Celestia. They had buried their feelings for centuries.

'But...not anymore.'

Twilight had helped them get past that. To move past their worries and...

Twilight was the Princess of Magic. The Magic of Friendship. Of that wonderful bond, formed through Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Loyalty.

She wouldn't let herself fall into that, and she wasn't going to let anyone else. She would be there for others and herself. She'd live day-by-day, and never stop forming bonds with others. She would seize the initiative. She would...

Twilight's train of thought trailed to a halt, as her gaze wandered towards Prince Blueblood. The very handsome stallion, that had turned out to not be as much of a witless lout, as she had thought. The stallion she had spent a great deal of time with lately, and...

“Uhm, Blueblood?”

“Hm? Oh, I'm sorry. Still a bit distracted by...recent events. Is there something you needed?”

“I was thinking, that I'd still like to go over all these reports with somepony. And neither of us really got anything to eat earlier. So...perhaps we should go have lunch somewhere?”

Prince Blueblood blinked at this, as it became clear what Twilight was suggesting. “Well, I-”

“That's a marvelous idea, Twilight. We can make it a double date.”

Both Twilight and Blueblood turned to see Princess Celestia stepping through the doors into the hallway, her face cleaned, with Chrysalis a couple of steps behind her. Still wiping her own face, Chrysalis managed to ask the question on the tip of Twilight's tongue first “What?”

Celestia, seeming quite upbeat, answered “A double date. It'd be a great opportunity for everyone to sit together in a more casual setting. And I'd love to see how these two do together. I was beginning to worry that my nephew would be forever single.”

Chrysalis simply shrugged at the idea. This time it was Twilight's turn to ask the most pertinent question “Wh-what?”

Celestia smiled again “In fact, there is this cafe that I've been meaning to visit for some time, just a little ways from the castle.”

At this point, Stalwart Gaze stepped forward, saluting “Would you and your companions like an escort, your highness?”

Celestia merely shook her head “No, I think it would be best to go incognito today. Thank you. You may consider both of yourselves relieved for the day.”

Twilight was about to ask what her mentor meant by incognito, when Celestia underwent a sudden transformation. Her hair fell to her side, a soft pink color, instead of the usual floating rainbow that it normally appeared as. She shrank by a fair bit, till she was nearly the size of an average mare. And in a puff of magic, her horn disappeared from sight. Her Cutie mark was unchanged, but it wouldn't stand out too much on an apparent pegasus.

Blueblood soon noted the obvious problem with Chrysalis “I think she may still draw-”

Chrysalis merely rolled her eyes, before transforming into a pony of similar dimensions to Celestia's form. With a black coat, a mane and tail of teal, green cat-like eyes, and a matching Cutie mark, she would probably still turn a couple of heads, but would probably blend easily enough.

Blueblood, coughed as his objections had been seen to “Right. Changeling.”

Celestia nodded at Chrysalis' transformation, before turning to Twilight and Blueblood once more “Well, shall we set off?”

And without waiting for a response, she began cantering down the halls, Chrysalis in tow. Blueblood glanced towards Twilight before shrugging helplessly and following as well, Twilight a few steps behind him.

As the two guards watched the group disappear down the hallway, Stalwart glanced towards the stunned Silver Shield, before muttering “That'll probably bump this day into the top five.”

Silver Shield looked over at his superior before adjusting his ice pack. “Maybe, I should do a rotation in the Night Guard. It's got to be less stressful than this.”

As the two stragglers caught up with the two disguised rulers, Celestia chose that moment to address an earlier topic with Chrysalis.

Smiling as she looked towards the changeling “And just to wrap up our interrupted conversation from before, I accept.”

Chrysalis merely tilted her head, not quite following "What?"

"Your apology. I accept." Celestia cheerfully clarified.

"I-I never apologized!" Chrysalis denied.

"No. But you were trying very hard to do so." Celestia replied.

"We were arguing if you recall." Chrysalis reminded.

"So, you're a bit indirect. Personally, I find it rather charming, how you get all embarrassed when your busy trying not to apologize." Celestia teased.

"You're being ridiculous." Chrysalis accused.

"And you're being charming again." Celestia countered.

Blueblood and Twilight looked on, both sporting varying degrees of bewilderment with the interactions of the two rulers. Celestia chose to simply carry on, not giving any attention to their apparent befuddlement “Though, I still expect you to find a way to make up with Twilight and Cadence, at least...and I don't think spontaneously making out with them will do the trick.”

Twilight almost stumbled as she caught what was said. She did stumble when she heard Blueblood deliver his two bits.

“I'm not entirely sure it would hurt things, Auntie. Provided it was cleared with Shining Armor first...Cadence has always been a 'fan' of...physical love.”

“What?!” Twilight quickly got back to her hooves, and stared after the others. Noting her pause, the others stopped, as well.

Blueblood clarified “Not that there's anything wrong with that...though, she could have been a bit more discreet at times...I don't think your brother ever took issue with that, as I did.”

Twilight honestly did not know how she kept ending up in this kind of conversation.

Chrysalis quickly added her own input “That would explain quite a bit actually. The only time I ever earned any suspicion from him, was when I turned Shining Armor's advances down. I eventually had to tell him that I was waiting till the honeymoon.”

As usual, Chrysalis was not helping Twilight's situation.

She thought she had been saved from this terrible conversation topic, for a moment, when she heard a couple of ponies calling out to her and Blueblood. Obviously, she would be proven wrong.

They seemed to be reporters.

“Princess Twilight, how do you respond to rumors that you are, in-fact, the real Princess Purple Prose?”

“Is it true that Prince Blueblood is taking credit for your works, without your permission?”

“When are you releasing your next book?”

“Are these two mares providing research material for your next release?”

Twilight closed her eyes, and took a calming breath.

“I'm on a double-date with Princess Celestia, the Queen of the Changelings, and Prince Blueblood. They're discussing Cadence's, my sister-in-law's, sex life. And now, I've been mistaken for the writer of a series of books that could qualify as marital aids...I was wrong. I want the status quo back. Seizing the initiative was a terrible idea.'

Author's Note

Alright, so I've only done a cursory going over of this final chapter, before posting. Not meaning to rush, but I won't get another chance to really post till Tuesday, and I'd rather not leave you guys waiting when it's otherwise done. Hopefully, it's all up to standard, and don't be surprised by a bit of editing when I have a bit more time.

It's late for me, so I'll simply say that questions and criticisms are welcome, and I'll be happy to field them when I can. And as I mentioned before, I plan on adding more stories as part of my own continuity. The next story I have planned out will focus on Diamond Tiara, and take place during the two month timeskip. Scootaloo and Snails will also feature prominently, along with more OCs. If you have any questions on this topic, feel free to let me know. I'll probably begin typing it within a week or two.

I might also add some oneshots down the line, examining some moments that I glossed over, like Twilight's visit with the Changelings. That is if there's any interest and I have a decent idea of what I might write.

Hope you all enjoyed my first story.