A Different Perspective

by Living Madness

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character, Princess Cadance
Length: 10291

Celestia, luna and Cadence are keeping a secret, Twilight naturally has to find out.

Celestia, Luna and Cadence have always been weird to Twilight.
Always making up phrases, and using words like boy when they meant colt.
Always making references to books and plays that never existed, and music that nopony has written.
For the longest time Twilight has been told it was nothing, just something Alicorns do.
Now at the start of the three day long secret holiday Canterlot Royal Summit she's going to find out.

Spoilers: She doesnt react well.

Actual spoliers: Different take on the whole Human in Equestria thing. P.S. (No they are not humans).

Published 2014-12-20 01:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-05 22:38:12 UTC

Whats a buoy?

Author's Note

Had an interesting idea involving humans and pony’s beyond the whole one comes to Equestia and does etc...
Hope people like it, if not I don’t care (I really do but I don’t want people to know how much anonymous voices on the internet crush my soul :pinkiehappy:). Had no editor for this once again so be warned.
That being said please enjoy.

Whats a buoy?

Twilight was not having a very good day.

Well scratch that, she was having a good day at first.

Twilight had gotten a letter from Canterlot asking her if she would care to join in the Canterlot royal summit, now that she was a princess it was only fair she rightfully attend.
Grabbing her best quill and most luxurious notebook, complete with the multi coloured ribbon bookmarks and a choice of different sized lines of different fonts for her to write on if she so chose.

With mild trepidation and hopeful determination she was as prepared (or in anyone else's case overly prepared) for the task of attending her first royal summit.

That was the first disappointment.

Yes as it turns out that for some time now the royal summit was a code word for weekend long holiday. The princess of Equestria had used this for many years now, locking down part of the castle, they were pretty much free to do as they pleased for three whole days. They could never outright take three days off there was too much to run, and too much (as Luna would say) needless whining from the nobles to simply take this time off. So this well kept secret was a way for the overworked rulers to stretch their legs for a while, much to Twilight dismay.

Yes leave it to Twilight of all pony's to be disappointed and upset about being given a free holiday.

Well that wasn't particularly fair she wasn't upset exactly. As she came to realise that she was still going to spend the weekend with Celestia and Luna. Cadence had even shown up which was always a welcome addition, she was more than happy to get away from the stress of running an empire.

The more Twilight thought about it the more she warmed up quickly to the idea a three day long sleepover with just mares, it was going to be as Dash would so elegantly put it “awesome”.

And it was, up until they started doing that thing again.

"And pray tell what did thou do next!?" Luna yelled slamming down her hoof with anticipation nearly knocking over the tea set as she leaning over the comfortably sized gilded table that was flanked at all sides by the four rulers of Equestria.

"Well" Cadence began a small smirk on her muzzle. "Well he storms up to me almost demanding that I hand over the gold. So without missing a beat I calmly turn to face him and say 'You forget yourself Count Snowdrop, a Cadenza always pays their debts."

Luna begins to laugh uproariously at the story, slamming her hoof down further onto the table as Cadence joins her in laughter. Even Celestia was chuckling lightly at the story as she did her best to catch the falling China tea cups as they vibrate off the table.

"Most excellent niece, we would have told him to pay the iron price for it." Luna catches her breath enough to comment setting off another bout of laughter from the group.

"Of course you would auntie." Cadence playfully mocked rolling her eyes.

The only one who was not laughing was Twilight, who was looking at the other three princesses in utter confusion.

"I don't understand, why would you say that?" Twilight asked innocently.

Cadence stops her laughing, instead she gives Twilight a queer look. "Well when was I ever going to get a chance to quote a line from Game of Thrones?"

Twilight furrows her brow further. "Game of Thrones what's that some sort of novel?"

An abrupt cough snaps Twilight and Cadence attention to Celestia as she gives Cadence a knowing look.

Cadence quickly remembers her mistake blushing lightly as she sunk back into her seat. The unusual action only heightening Twilights curiosity further as she catches Cadences submissive reaction out the corner of her eye.

"It was a... play, from well before your time Twilight." Celestia calmly answers, letting out only a small hint of hesitation in her voice as she spoke.

The answer doesn't seem to satisfy Twilight at all, as the loopholes in Celestial answer formed in her mind. "But if it was from so long ago, why does Cadence know it? She's only a decade older than me and I've never heard of it."

The question catches Celestia off guard, at points she’s always been proud of Twilights powers of observation but she was digging into a secret as old as Celestia and Luna themselves, and such a secret was not so lightly given up.

"Well you see--"

"What Tia is trying to say Twilight is that she would act out this play for Cadence when she was a filly to help her sleep, isn't that right Cadence." Luna added whilst not too subtly kicking Cadence under the table, making the love princess almost spill her tea.

"Oh uh yes, I had problems sleeping as a filly and aunty Celestia would act out the play to me to help me sleep." She quickly adds, almost too quickly.

Twilight thought about the answer for a minute, how would Luna know this, she was still on the moon when Cadence was a filly. Also now that she thought about it why didn't Celestia ever act out the play for her when she was a filly? It was no secret Twilight had trouble falling asleep as well, especially when there were books to be read, with the amount of nocturnal hours she spent in the library it was any wonder she didn’t have permanent bags under her eyes.

Before she could answer however a sharp knocking at the door pulled her thoughts away from the conundrum.

"Ah that must be dinner." Celestia quickly states, trying to pull the conversation away from the uncomfortable line of questioning.

"Thank the moon I could eat a horse." Luna stated, getting no odd reactions from any other pony besides Twilight, who once again was look at Luna in shock. That was a more than morbid remark for a herbivore to say. Twilight gave herself a moment to collect herself once again giving the statement the benefit of the doubt before shaking her head quickly and turning to the door.

The door opens up quickly as a line of Castle servants enters the room like a living train of pony's, each carrying a different assortment of foods and beverages into the hall.
The food was quickly levitated onto the table in its assorted order. Salad for Celestial and Cadance, a grilled enormous mushroom topped with cheeses and garlic for Luna complete with a bottle of red wine for all, and a large Prench onion soup with dipping bread for Twilight.

The other Alicorns wasted no time digging in as Twilight sighs looking down at her dish in defeat, her questions left once again unanswered.

This was not the first time this had happened in fact as far back as she could remember the Alicorns were acting and saying strange things around one another. As Celestias student she considered it was some form of code or perhaps something she was simply not meant to know. But now that she was a fellow Princess and as stated by Celsetia, Luna and Cadance an equal to her fellow princesses she thought at least they would stop being so secretive around her.

It had even crossed her mind that it could have been some form of schizophrenia, however the morbid point held little weight when Twilight considered the astronomical impossibility that all three princesses had contracted the mental illness also noting that the closest thing to this was Nightmare moon and she had not mentioned anything like what the princesses were saying in the last encounter with her.

This left only the possibility that they were keeping something from her. The thought saddened Twilight as she let her mind brood.
She couldn't help but think back to the first time she had experienced one of these secrets.

A filly Twilight nearly nine years old, yawned as she closed the book she was studying. She looked outside the castle window only to realise by the rising sun just how late she had been studying. She let out a panicked squeak as she realised Celestia was now up and would be waiting for Twilight any minute to begin her studies.

Never one for tardiness, even realising how tired she was, she pushed herself off the chair she was on and bound down the castle hallways, in the direction of her teachers domain.

Racing down the halls she was relieved to see that the guards were nowhere to be seen, meaning that it was around six am, the time the night guards changed posts with the morning team.

Twilight hesitantly knocked on the door, getting no response from the owner inside, again and again she knocked, until finally she gave in and lit up her horn moving the door handle open and passing the door just enough to let her small form Inside.

Looking around the equally enormous chamber, she hesitantly advanced inside, scanning the room as she pushed further through the door, she hesitated flicking her ears up as she heard a gruff voice a few metres behind her

"Man these morning shift suck."

"You said it next time remind me never to be late for inspection, I swear Captain Sturm Hoof has it out for me." Another deep voice agrees, moving closer to the chamber door.

The voices sent Twilight into a panic she realised was going to get caught red handed sneaking into Celestias room without permission, and if Celestia finds out she's going to be punished maybe she’ll stop teaching her, or worse send her back to magic kindergarten.

The thought sent Twilight into a full blown panic, she didn't want to go back to magic kindergarten, she only just graduated a few years ago the embarrassment would kill her.
Pushing through her panicked state, she quickly closed the door running over to one of the potted plants that numbered around the chamber, doing her best to seem as small as possible as she heard the hooves come closer and closer towards the door stopping just at the entrance.

Twilight allowed herself to catch her breath as moments of silence confirmed she had successfully evaded detection.

It was only then that Twilight noticed another sound. She flicked her ears in the direction of the sound behind a closed door she could hear the cascade of running water, but that wasn't what got her attention it was the voice coming from behind it.

Somepony was singing.

She wanted to panic now more than ever. She knew that voice anywhere, it was Celestias voice. Which meant she had locked herself in the room with the exact pony she was trying to avoid getting into trouble with.

But somehow the lust of finding out what her mentor was singing was almost too much for the filly. She had never heard her mentor sing ever in her young life so the idea of Celestia expressing herself in such a way enthralled Twilight to no end. Slowly she stepped out of her foliage hideout and walked towards the door.

The sound getting more and more clear as she progressed. Twilight considered that she had never actually seen her teacher in such a moment of innocence before, always hidden behind her princess persona, the thought only inspiring the little filly onwards as she closed in on the doors location.

"Back... Attack." Even from behind the door she could hear a trace amount of the song.

Despite even her own logical mind telling Twilight to stop she ignored it and pushed further opening the door. As she leaned her head inside, the sight she saw left the filly for the most part completely stunned.

There in the bathroom was her mentor holding a bottle of conditioner up to her mouth, her other hoof moving in time with her singing, her eyes closed as she used the bottle as some sort of makeshift mic in the shower.

"And the man in the back said everyone attack and it turned into a ballroom blitz."
"And girl in the corner said boy I want to warn you It'll turn into a Ballroom blitz."

Twilight could scarcely believe what she was hearing, it was her mentor, her second mother almost, singing such weird out of time music, whilst performing some very usually movements of her head and hips in a dance that was very unbecoming in any ballroom.

It was overloading the filly’s mind, what was a man? Why would it want everypony to attack a buoy? Why was this Woman thing trying to talk to a sailing apparatus?

"It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz, it's, it's ballroom blitz." Celestia continued singing the strange mantra. Twilight didn't even feel the door close behind her, she didn't even feel herself moving closer until she was almost next to the celestial goddess, her mouth completely open in shock and awe.

"Yeeeeah it’s a ballroom blitz." Celestia finally finished opening her eyes and letting a goofy smile grace her otherwise serine face.
Celestia turned in time to see the little Twilight effectively gawking at her.

"Oh Twilight, would you mind fetching me a towel." Celestial stated giddily, that same smile still on her face.

Twilight didn't even move an inch as she levitated the towel over to the dripping wet sun Alicorn.

"Thank you my faithful student." Celestia thanked, turning to dry herself before the realisation hit her like a speeding train.

"Wait, Twilight!"

Twilight grimaced at the memory, that was the first of many lectures on personal space and not just from Celestia.

But still those questions she had asked herself as a filly hung unanswered in her mind, Celestia was very good at skirting around her persistent inquisition.

She looked up from her food with a frown that turned to embarrassment, as she realised that the whole table was looking at her with worried expressions.

"Twilight art thou feeling well, you have been quiet for a peculiar amount of time?" Luna asked.

Twilight shot her eyelids up flicking her gaze up towards the three mares, she gave a sheepish smile as she lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Oh it’s nothing I was just, you know thinking about something."

Celestial raised her eyebrow at her former student but chose not to press any further. "Well please let us know if you’re not feeling well Twilight."

"I will Pri- I mean Celestia." Twilight quickly corrects herself, it was still weird calling her by her own name even to this day.

With that the other mares returned to their banter and food, Twilight looked at her dish deciding she wasn't very hungry.

"Tia would you pass us the wine please." Luna asked.

Celestial levitated her cup up to her sister, however she slipped mid process dropping the cup onto her sister’s coat.

"Bloody hell, Lulu I'm sorry." Celestia cursed bringing a cloth over to her sister.

Twilight let out a gasp she had never heard her former mentor swear, period. Actually was it a swear, she could tell it was by the tone in her voice, but she had never heard those words before. Whatever a hell was she didn't understand why it would require or have need of blood around or inside it.

"No worry's sister, twas an accident, but perhaps you could lay off the wine for a bit." Luna smirks playfully as she lifted the cloth to her chest drying it off her fur. "CJ does say you drink like a Scotsman" she finishes with a devilish smirk as the sounds of Cadence stifling her giggles with her hoof.

Twilight looks once again in utter confusion as the nonsense words bring a small pout to Celestias lips. "I do not, that is an utter exaggeration." She blushes in
embarrassment, as Luna and Cadence give her an unconvinced look.

Okay that was it, she could take no more all these code words were making her crazy, She had to find out now, feeling her eye twitch with annoyance and a the grinding of her teeth she finally released her pent up aggravation. "Okay that is it! Who’s CJ and before you start I know he or she's not a play or an old book or something. Can sompony please just tell me I'm sick of being left in the dark." Twilight finishes placing both of her hooves on the table her wings flared out in annoyance as she directs her gaze equally to her fellow Alicorns.

Cadence bit her lip as she flicks her gaze to Luna who in turn turned to her sister who gives a very short almost unnoticeable sigh, shaking her head. "My dear Twilight, it’s not important trust us CJ is nothing but a phrase."

"No he or she isn't, is this why you all act so weird around each other and make up words?”

“We do not make up words." Luna interrupts.

"Yes you do just last month you asked Cadence hypothetically what sex she would want her foal to be and asked her boy or girl instead of colt or filly and before you interrupt Cadence said Shinning wants a boy so don't tell me it’s some sort of old Canterlot phrase because Cadence wouldn't know that."

"I want a girl by the way." Cadence answered almost too quiet for anyone to hear.

Luna looks dumbfounded at this point stuttering and failing to make an excuse under Twilights scrutinising gaze.

Soon Twilight felt a soft reassuring hoof on her shoulders courtesy of her sister in law.

"Twi trust us it’s not that big of a deal you're making too much out of this it's just something we Alicorns say to each other from time to time."

"But I'm an Alicorns now, why don't I get to be in on this, don’t you trust me?" Twilight asks saddened at being left out of the loop by the closest ponys she had besides her friends.

Another sigh comes out of Celestias mouth as she unfurls one of her enormous wings to Twilights side rubbing her back in a calming fashion.

"My little Twilight you are wise beyond your years its true, but this is something that has been with us for many, many years and you are still very young for an Alicorn, perhaps in a few years when you are ready we will explain but please trust me when I say it is not a problem you need concern yourself with, far from it."

"But Cadence is only so many years older than me, isn't she young for an Alicorn?"

"She is, but she has been one for all her Life and such a thing comes naturally to her it would be impossible to keep her from it."

"So I have to wait before you can trust me."

Celestial gives her a saddened look leaning in and nuzzling her. "Now Twilight you know full well we all trust you with our lives. It is not about trust it is simply that we feel you are still too young to truly appreciate this or understand."

The answer though sweet did not sate Twilight far from it, it had only been a few months that she questioned her role as a princess of Equestria before the Tirek incident. She had only recently understood her purpose, so to have Celestia of all pony's say that she was not mature enough to understand made her feel insignificant to say the least.
The rest of the meal went by fairly tense but uneventful, as Twilight hardly touched her soup. At least her fellow princesses didn't slip back into one of their weird phrases or story's which at least brought some comfort to the young Alicorn.

After the late dinner the others thought it best to retire for the evening. Twilight didn't protest, tomorrow would hopefully be better anyway.

No matter what happened the idea of being around the princesses enjoying the entertainment and games the castle had to offer still gave Twilight some hope to overcome or at least distract her melancholy.

After a round of hugs and nuzzles to signal the end of the night Twilight watched her sister in law close the door to the room parallel to her own before entering her own chambers slumping against the door as it closed behind her.

Alone Twilight had little to distract herself with. Well that's not true she had a abundance of books to be read or re-read in her old room where she studied as a filly.
Twilights second favourite past time after reading was to go back and re-read her old favourites, dispute Spike telling her that was just more reading, not two different hobbies.

She slowly levitated a collection of old tomes over towards her, as she continued to slouch against the door unable to find the motivation to move to a more comfortable spot.
Looking over at the collection of books she hasn't seen for many years, some as a child and some even in her more difficult teen years that she suddenly remembered with perfect clarity as a carefully hidden magazine fell out from one of the tomes revelling an old playcolt magazine with the luxurious title of 'Best plots of the year, just mares addition!' That despite nopony but Twilight seeing upon the magazine falling down to the floor, was quickly thrown under the bed with said pony blushing intensely.
After that little episode, Twilight selected a less mature piece of literacy, and stated to immerse herself in the book.

However after reading the same page for the seventh time she closed the book with a long over drawn sigh. As thoughts of all those times she had caught her Princess friends engrossed in their unusual hidden world.

Twilight thought about the time Cadence had asked Celestia if the PayStation was better than the Z-box, or was it a Y-station, Twilight couldn't remember nor did it make any sense.

Or that time shortly after Luna's return one of the first things she had asked Celestia was the state of the Saracens Rugby team. A question that had led to a dead end of research for Twilight. She recognised that Rugby was a form of Hoofball played by minotaur’s in their homeland, but as much as she researched she could not find any team past or present that went by the name Saracens.

Then there was the time Celestia herself had asked Rarity to make her some form of horse shoe, that had a star on the side of each shoe. Which alone was unusual but not weird, except for the fact that Celestia insisted that the shoes say the words Converses above the star. To make it 'more official' in her words.

Twilight shook her head, there were too many of these occasions to count. She looked at the enormous window outside realising just how long she had been sitting there thinking.

She grunted as her somewhat sore joints clicked and popped into place from sitting on the uncomfortable marble for so long. Annoyed once more that her questions were left without answers, and now the fact that she had wasted valuable reading time pondering the questions that still had no answers thus nothing of worth had been accomplished. She was annoyed to say the least.

She decided that bed would be the best thing right now, if she was going to do nothing she might has well catch some sleep whilst she accomplished it.

However as Twilight began to move she heard a clicking sound followed by a creak come from outside her room. She didn't have to guess what it was as the sounds of soft hooves on marble confined her assumptions.

Quickly and quietly Twilight turned to look through the keyhole of her door. There as expected was Cadence, her mane pulled back into a ponytail as opposed to the regular lavish treatment she afforded it, she was also oddly enough carrying snacks in her magic popcorn and soda floating in the air next to her head.

Twilight lifted her brow in confusion, as the love Alicorn looked both ways twice, as if trying to cross a busy street before opening the door further. As the door swung open the same creaking noise from before caused Cadence to flinch.

However instead of looking both ways her worried glare was fixed entirely on Twilights door as she waited for any reaction.

The simple act hurt more than Twilight could had thought, Cadence had never done anything this secretive before. Well sure there was that surprise birthday that made Twilight think she was blanking her and lead to series of spy-esc shenanigans to see why she was avoided her, eventually ending rather climactically with Twilight falling through the roof of a house onto the cake of her own surprise birthday party Cadence had planned.

Also considering the fact that Cadence had been sneaking behind Twilights back to date her brother for years, only letting her know about it after the big wedding was just a few days away. But to be fair Twilights parents and even Princess Luna and Celestia had been kept in the dark about that for almost as long as Twilight had.
But this was something different, this was the first time it had ever been done specifically towards Twilight and that stung far more than the other times ever did.
Flinching on instinct at the thought that Cadence had spotted her through the keyhole Twilight held her breath.

Finally after a tense free moments Cadence had decided the coast was clear, closing the door behind her she snuck out of Twilight’s limited field of vision.
Twilight wanted to cry, she wanted to hit something hard at the same time. Once again they were keeping something important from her and they didn't even have a valid excuse for it.

How was she too young to understand? She had faced down ancient terrors with equally ancient weapons, she had studied countless scrolls, tomes and history's she had three different PhDs for pony's sake. She had even been trusted to hold an enormous amount of power during Tireks attack.

So how was it possible she was not to be trusted with this, not that Celestia had specifically stated that, but she knew the meaning was there.

No, she thought, this is it, if this had something to do with this CJ she was going to find out or possibly get another stern talk about personal space again while trying.
Opening the more smooth lubricated door that made absolutely no noise, Twilight caught the literal tail end of Cadence at the bottom left of the hall as she turned.
Twilight bound down the hall with fiery determination, as she focused in the spot one thing on her mind.

This ends tonight!

A New Perspective

Author's Note

Apologies for the long wait. For those of you not in the know, I posted a blog in which I explained my neglect of my stories in favour of completing ‘Of A Flock’ as it was the one I wanted do the most. However because my ever helpful editor (through no fault of his own) is having an issue at this time in which he cannot access word as frequently as he wants to, I have written more than enough chapters of ‘Of A Flock’ (or as I like to shorten it down to for my own childish amusement OAF) to convince myself to take a break and focus on my favourite story.

(Please Read)

So this is the chapter in which I feel I might lose some of you. As I hinted at in my story description this is not the HIE story most of you think it is, and the title will become clear in this chapter. Perhaps I am being paranoid, but I feel it would be in your best interest as a reader to drop any pre-conceived notions of what you think this story is.( Haha I know that sounds ominous but it’s for the best.)

Anyway as you might imagine, again I was not able to elicit the help of my editor for this chapter and I warn you that there most likely will be some mistakes. I pray you will be patient and forgiving with these mistakes. I am not am English teacher and this is purely a hobby I am not a master of.

Now that I have that essay out of the way sit back, strap yourselves in and enjoy the second chapter of ‘A Different Perspective’.

A New Perspective

Twilight quickly withdrew her gaze from around the corner hoping that Cadance hadn't spotted her.

The pink Alicorn was being in Twilights mind exceedingly careful not to be followed, the suspicious act only spurring Twilight on more, as she carefully peered back after a few seconds. Only to find that Cadence had continued back down the hallway.

Wherever it was that Cadance was going she was apparently taking the scenic route, because she had been following Cadance for about a half hour now.

Twilight stopped to think for a moment, was the castle even big enough that only a part of it was taking thirty minutes to reach? Admittedly even with her extensive knowledge of the castle layout even she to this very day found herself at a dead end or stuck in the bowels of this enormous ancient fortress.

Perhaps the same could be said for Cadance she wondered. But that ultimately lead to the other question why didn't Cadance just teleport, in fact why didn't she do that straight away?

She shrugged to herself as she bolted behind another hallway pillar thankful that Cadance didn't turn at that moment and stop her before she could expose her dirty little secret.

She did stop to think about the morality of what she was doing as she trailed Cadance. She was effectively spying on her beloved sister-in-law with little to no evidence that there was truly anything to worry about.

Then again, it had been her hunch back at the wedding those few years ago that had saved the day, and it wasn't so much spying as temporary stalking... For a good cause, yeah she would go with that.

Finally after a few more twists and turns Twilight stopped behind the last corner, just a few metres from Cadance. Flicking her ear up and leaning as far up to the corner without anypony noticing her.

As she suspected, she could hear the other two princesses.

"Cadance, finally, pray tell what took thou so long?" Lunas voice rang through the hallway, sounding more than a little irritated.

Twilight heard a exacerbated huff to the question. "Well I had to go through the long route, like I always do, and while we're on the subject, could one of your please explain to me why you put me in the suite across the other side of castle. I mean what did you expect!?" Cadance harshly whispered. Though her voice still ricocheted back through the halls, making the whisper basically redundant.

"The long route? But we haven't used that in months, why didn't you use the teleportation rune Luna installed in your wardrobe?" The calm and ever motherly voice of Celestia asked.

"Wait... what rune!?" Cadance practically bellowed out before being scolded with a harsh "Shh" from both sisters.

"The one Luna installed, did she not tell you?" Celestia answered calmly.

Immediately the sounds of nervous laughing could be heard from around the corner following a pregnant pause.

"Haha, um, how does thine saying go, our bad?" Luna meekly replied the sounds of her rubbing her hoof over the back of her neck fur confirming her mess up.

"You mean you, I could of, I didn't have to... Gahh!" Cadance finished
with an exaggerated groan, which was the best she could muster whilst trying to salvage any pretence of secrecy or stealth that was still alive in the conversation.

Twilight imagined that at this point Celestia was doing her trade mark head shake trying to remain on topic. "Don't worry, even with Lulu's mistake, we still have plenty of time for CJ."

Twilight gasped, quickly putting a hoof over her mouth, there was that code word again, she was right! They were going to see the thing, or do a CJ whatever that was. Finally she was going to witness the princesses doing a CJ.

"Speaking of time, we have spent more enough of it out here pointing the hoof at one another, let us be going, I am eager to depart." Luna announced with her usual flare of grandiose.

A subtle mumble of agreement followed. "Yes I believe we can proceed before Lulu starts doing her little adorable impatient dance again." Twilight could almost feel the smirk that came from Celestias mouth that followed a light hearted chuckle upon uttering the words.

"Tis a lie! We do not take part in this dance you speak of." Luna retorted back getting a laugh from the other couple of Alicorns.

"Yes you do Luna, we both know you start hopping from one hoof to the other when you’re anxious or excited, Auntie’s right it’s pretty cute." Cadance giggled.

Twilight thought back for a moment, putting a hoof up towards her own lips to subdue any form of laughter that might escape her mouth. As mad and hurt as she felt towards the other Alicorns, she had to give credit where it was due, it was pretty cute.

Luna huffed "Ha, well at least we are not doing some childish dance were upon we wave our posteriors in thine air!"

"Hey, Twilight and I happen to think it’s funny... Though I do need to talk to her about that, as fun as it is waving our plots in the air, doing it during a diplomatic meeting in the empire is a touch too much"

One Time! Twilight yelled in her own head the smile from before flipping into a sulking pout.

Celestia sighed once again "Can we please save it for when we are inside, we are late enough as it is and I do not want to keep waiting any longer. You do know what day it is, correct?" Celestia’s voice suddenly became somewhat firm and almost a little irritated at the constant bickering of her family members.

"Fine, but stay thy posterior for thine husband Cadance." Luna smugly retorted. Twilight heard her move into the room, sounds of her hooves trotting towards the door before any clever retort could be formed against her.

At least that was what Twilight assumed, based upon the sounds of Cadence blowing raspberries back at the lunar princess.

A weary grown leaves Celeatias lips before following them inside. Clopping of hooves on marble and the clicking of the door latch signalled the sound of the last princess finally leaving the hallway.

Twilight waits until the door knob stop jittering around before finally stealing a glance. Flicking her ears around to survey the corridors for any more noise in the hallway, and particularly the doorway at the end of it that her fellow rulers had entered. waiting for the appropriate amount of time to pass she slowly tip toed as quietly as she could to the door.

She once again debated about using her magic in a way that could both stifle the clopping of her hoof steps or at least enhance her hearing. But once again thought against the idea. Having the three most powerful rulers just a few metres away, and only three inches of wood to separate her and them, she didn't want to risk one of them sensing her.

Not when she was so close.

Thankfully the others seemed to be two busy with whatever it was inside, making plenty of muffled noises that masked her approach. Taking her sweet time, she tip-hoofed over towards the door, it was just as she was about to reach the handle she was blinded by a sudden impossibly bright beam of light that would rival the very sun in the sky. It shot from all corners of the closed door in equal force.

A mixture of fluorescent colours that flowed in chaotic tandem beamed around her. Though blinding, Twilight couldn't help but notice the colours mixed in with the impossible white. It was obvious to her as she began to recognise them, they were the princesses magical auras.

Shielding her eyes from the blinding light, she waited for what felt like a full minute before the light died down. The glow quickly left the hallway, before the light teetered into nothing and the hall was once again brought back to the warm lighting of soft glowing touches that hung against the wall.

Twilight gasped in shock pressing a long equine ear towards the door she held her breath and waited. However to her dismay, only silence rained for the better part of a minute. All that could be heard was the soft whistling of the midnight winds blowing through the corridor.

Twilight bit her lip, could she go inside, was it safe? Maybe the princesses had noticed her and were waiting for her to make the mistake of entering.

She shook her head, that didn't make any sense. Even if they could be that coordinated in such a short period of time and would put that much magic into whatever it was she had just witnessed, they would have still have been some sort of noise coming from the door. Plus it was unlike Luna to not get the jump on Twilight as soon as possible, simply just to scare the wits out of the lavender princess.

Yes, it was no secret Luna had become something of a scare prank junkie ever since her first nightmare night. It was mostly why the guards had become so incredibly fearless and unflinching even when being subjected to the loudest and most sporadic of noises in the last year. It had become a form of basic training among the guards mostly to hide the shame of it all. Because before it had been expected of the guards, the filly-esc screams of grown stallions running for their lives could be heard echoing from the castle for over a year during those days. It was all the higher ups could do to keep face in the eyes and mostly ears of the general public.

Twilight waited, and waited, and waited until even her value for patience was beginning to diminish. Slowly, ever so slowly she reached for the door knob, she was still too paranoid to use her magic just in case. She leaned up grabbed the circular polished brass door handle... and promptly fell forward, her flimsy grasp slipping and causing her to slam clumsily into the door muzzle first.

"Ouch, ponyfeathers!" Twilight cursed, rubbing her nose softly, before stuffing her hoofs into her mouth as she realised how loudly she had just screamed that out.

Again no noise was heard that would signal that she had been detected. She slowly brought the hoof back to rub her sore snout.

Twilight sighed, did she really relied on her horn that much that she couldn't even grasp a simple door knob? Sure it was up much higher than the average handle should be, but grasping a simple object with her hooves was something even a new born Earth pony foal had no trouble with, and she was an Alicorn now. Why was her Earth pony magic still so weak?

Twilight snapped the troubling thought out of her mind with a violent shake of her head. One problem at a time, she was going to have to rectify that at some point, but not now.

Twilight's horn lit up and she threw the door open, long past caring if she made any noise even if she got caught, she was beyond annoyed at this point.

The instant she walked into room she gasped loudly, almost falling back on her rump as she scanned the room.

"Oh-no-no-no!"

There on the floor three different cushions centred in a triangle formation was all three princesses. Each one slumped down fully. Their heads resting on their fore-hooves, and their eyes firmly shut.

She rushed over to the nearest one, her sister-in-law. " Cadance, Cadance are you okay, speak to me!" Twilight panicky demanded. Shaking the pink Alicorn by her shoulders. Cadance didn't respond, only slumping to her side like a puppet with its strings severe she lay limply back on the cushion.

Twilight raced over to the next monarch, princess Luna, repeating the process feverishly, only to produce similar results. It was only when she got to Celestia that she truly began to panic. Her breath and heart rate rapidly increasing, her eye sight began to blur slightly as she worked herself into a deep panic. Peering around she looked for the pony or thing that could have caused this.

It took less than a second before she spotted it. Though she did not know how to even describe it. There before her very own eyes was a small finely crafted stone pedestal stained by time and dust, it looked beyond ancient. The small bird bath like pedestal was not what kept Twilight attention however, it was the glowing and gently levitating sphere that acted as the only source of light in the room. That was what captured her attention.

Twilight, step by step, approached the object, stopping only when she was but a few inches away. She ogled the orb her eyes wide and her mouth agape. Try as she might she could not look away, the orb seemed irresistible to her, it called to her and something deep inside her soul called back to it. She wanted to embrace the orb, like a long lost family member or a loved one.

Twilight fought with all her might not to hold the orb close to her chest. Like an addict presented with their greatest vice she struggled to rid the feelings of need from this orb. With great restraint she refused it with help from her ever strong logical side of her mind. Biting her lip hard, almost to the point of drawing blood she stepped away. Suppressing the need to be close to it. But in doing so she felt like she was losing a little piece of herself.

With magic this powerful she knew that whatever it was, this thing was undoubtedly what incapacitated the monarchies.

Throwing a scrutinising glare around it, she eyed the spinning orb. Up close she began to recognise something, mostly blue she noticed but also the plots of green and white that dotted the orb. She came to understand the reason why she had recognised it. It was an atlas.

True as it was she still denied it, even if it was an atlas it was all wrong, watching the orb complete its slow rotation several times she recognised none of its land masses. Nowhere on it could she spot Equestria, nor Bullgeria, nor even Griffonia nothing signified this was a map of Eques.

No, this atlas was all wrong, and something about that made Twilight very uneasy. The mapping, the fine crafting, even the shape of the atlas, it was all too detailed, to finely crafted to be fake. Deep down Twilight new that what planet it symbolised existed, she didn't know how, but she could not dismiss it as a fake.

Removing her glare she looked away from the glowing orb to the podium it suspended itself on, looking for anything that could explain it. Circling the column she spotted something, a dimly shining piece of metal that perhaps, she hoped would give her some answers.

Though rusted and covered in dust Twilight squinted, trying desperately to read the abused and worn metal in what little light was offered to her. She brought a hoof up to in an attempt to wipe away the build-up of time that had layered the sign, she read the writing over and over again.

'De Tellurbibus Interiorem Potential'

Again and again Twilight mouthed the words. Thinking back to her long, long list of books she had sought and explored in her time at the Canterlot Library. She rattled her brain trying to remember if she had ever heard those words before.

The ageing of the rock gave her a better clue though, thinking back to her studies in archaeology, regarding the patterns inscribed in the carvings she remembered that the only other times carvings of this grace and talent were seen was…She shot her eyes up in realisation, it was ancient Eques!

But that was impossible, she thought. The last time ancient Eques was written outside of a lecture theatre, was over fifteen thousand years ago. In fact only two known archaeological sites in all of Equestria had these types of hieroglyphs on them, and only really Luna and Celestia had the capacity to read them in any basic form.

Try as she might, she could only work out one of the four words on the sign 'Potential', meaning 'power'. She subconsciously took a shaky hoof back in awe of the object. If Twilight had a reason to hesitate now, this was her reason. Whatever this thing was it literally had power written all over it.

Looking back to the three fellow rulers she bit her lip, feeling utterly helpless and terrified.
What could she do? This device predated the elements of harmony, it even predated the founding of Equestria itself. What could she do to it, how could she wake her friends, her family, she had literally no idea what this was, or worse yet how to understand it in such a short period of time.

The frustration and fear stirred and bubbled inside her like a cauldron in the pit of her stomach. She felt beyond hopeless, stamping a hoof on the ground she could already feel the tears from her eyes wet the fur of her cheeks.

She looked one last time at Celestia. The mare still lay prone like a discarded doll on the floor, she couldn't take it anymore seeing them so helpless. Letting out a cry of unrestrained emotions, her horn ignited with magic shooting forth with unrestrained power.

Here mind mudded from the trepidation and hopeless anger, she did what came naturally to here in the height of here uncontrolled emotion. She unleashed a torrent of magic at the orb. Not even considering her actions the magic slammed into the orb. But as it struck, the tendrils of her magical energy began to wrap and spin across the globe, like a vortex it spun with horrific speed before latching back onto her horn causing Twilight to scream once more, this time in terror, as her very own magic grasped hungrily back on her horn.

Feeling the magic of the orb married with her own, it rushed through her own body with the power of a thousand lightning strikes, coursing through her from the tip of Twilight horn to the ends of her tail Twilight mouth opened in a silent screech as beams of pure energy shot out of her mouth and eyes.

Only once had she felt this before, back when she had had her magic surge that had earned her her cutie mark all those years ago, and like that time it had felt just as painful, just as torturous and just as right.

The alien blast of the all powerful magic had lasted for what felt like weeks or maybe just minutes Twilight could not say. For before the point that her mind and her sanity could not take no more the world went blank, and so did she.

Twilight felt like she was flying, which admittedly was not a new experience for the mare. She knew the blessing that came with having wings and the experiences she gained from having them. But she also knew quite clearly that she was not flapping her still fairly new appendages.

Feeling groggy but simultaneously full of unfounded energy. Twilight fought to open her eyes, prying each eyelid fully open she immediately regretted it, the tornado of light that encompassed everything around her was enough to make her feel blind, terrified and more than a little nauseous.

Every colour she had ever seen, and some she could scarcely dream of spun and whipped violently around her. it reminded her of water escaping down the drain, or what she imagined the inside of pony made typhoons that Pegasi used to bring water to Cloudsdale would look like. It felt like she was on a painting pallet as it's artist mixed all the colours in it together in their feverish mission to create a masterpiece.

The first couple of seconds were beyond exhilarating.

The next couple of minutes still left her with all the more wonder.

The next half an hour was still invigorating, but if she had to admit it, it starting to lose it's charm some what.

After an hour the experience was being to get in her nerves. Twilight gave a somewhat grumpy huff pushing a rebellious strand of mane from her eyeline, letting her head rest on her hoof as she stared boredly at the vortex she was traveling in.

She was still impresses to be sure, but without anything to record this moment on, or any type of context on which to base her many assumptions and rapidly building questions, she was starting to wonder if this would every even end.

Ever the pony to Jinx's the situation Twilight was once again reminded and reprimanded by the lessons of Sods (or more company referred to as Murphy's) law as the vortex came closer and at rapidly increasing speed to her swallowing her panicked form in a blinding white light.

Once again Twilight felt herself go blank, this time it was instantiations and the after effect's lasted only a moment before she was unceremoniously thrown to the floor. With a loud "uff" she hit the ground body and muzzle first.

"Uhh, how many times is this going to happen today?" She painfully moaned with unrestrained annoyance married in the tone.

It took a moment but she got up on shaky legs, hearing the unpleasant popping and cracking of her joints as she got back on all four hooves.

Again she surveyed her surroundings, what she saw baffled her.

She was in a small yet horizontally enormous hallway that from behind her stretched far beyond what her eyes were capable of seeing. The white and golden walls and onyx coloured marble arches similar yet alien to her.

It was different in some ways, yet others it was almost uncomfortably similar to Canterlots interior. The structure was their but the colours were off, the pillars were all but twins of their Equestrian counterparts but the patterns were as far removed as this place was from said country.

She couldn't help but gasped as she stared at the floor. Nothing was what she saw, A endless darkness that seemed infinite in its descent. It expanded unendlessly and left no clues of a floor or anything at all. The abyss below made her shiver subconsciously never before had she witnesses such pure unending blackness.

Twilight tested the sturdiness of where she stood. Tapping the platform that seemed to save her from the seemingly never ending plummet. She sighed in relief when the invisible floor neither shook from here touch nor cracked.

Bringing a hoof to wipe away a sweat that trickled down her brow, her fears sated for the time being she tentatively began to walk forward.

Each step as slow and arduous as the last, though it became a chore she took her eyes away from the flooring, she turned once more to her surroundings each wall of the hallway had an archway every few meters that surrounded it and in doing so announced each granite gray coloured door within it.

Two enormous braziers flanked every door she passed, each as big if not bigger than Twilight herself. Most were dim and smouldering, it seemed to Twilight that they once burned brightly and with uncontrolled passion, but now they were nothing than dying embers.

The doors near them were no different in this regard. Twilight new with all her knowledge of science and all her basic understanding of nature that inanimate objects such as doors were of course not alive, and never would have the capacity to be. Unless Discord was somehow involved of course.

So why was it that when Twilight looked at the doors she passed she felt the cold calming touch of death emitting from them. Like they had long since passed on. What scared Twilight even more was that there was some sort of long dormant magic behind them, like she had felt with the orb the magic was both alien and yet instantly familiar to her.

Twilight shook her head, she was not here to sate her academic mind. She was here to save her family, her beloved friends, for once the quest for knowledge was only a secondary objective on her mind.

Walking with ever increasing confidence she pushed onwards, passing more and more of these death touched doors. Each brazier she passed still had small embers around them. Yet each one she went by seemed to be growing somewhat, very subtly however, it would have been hard to see from a glance but they were indeed getting bigger and stronger as she pushed on. She took this as a good sign that she was getting closer to whatever it was that had taken the minds of the princesses.

Many minutes passed before she finally reached the end. She had pushed a few doors since, thinking she had reached her appointed spot, but each wrong door she touched sent chills colder than any icy tundra down her spine and that was fair enough warning to the mare that she was not in the right spot. Again there would be another time for such experiments.

Reaching the end of the enormous hallway she turned her head left to a seemingly ordinary door considering the others.

There like all before was a giant marble doorway twinned by two brass braziers. However unlike before these braziers were at the peak of their life, their dancing flames touching the very tip of the doors height in their magnificent glow.

Twilight paused for a moment hoping she was finally at her destination, what gave her pause was when large rumblings shook the thick grey doors. Immediately a massive ominous growl that formed into a blood curdling roar from what sounded like an equally enormous beast shot from behind the door piercing Twilight's ears.

It was all Twilight could do to not bolt away with all her might. with the eruption of the beasts mighty roar finally coming to an end she held a hoof up to her chest catching her breath.

"What in tartarus was that!" Twilight screamed to herself. Maybe she was in the wrong area, she shook her head in amusement at her own though, of course! that was it, it must be the door to the right instead.

Yet as she turned she heard what she feared most.

"Now, strike now, the beast is weak, strike while it is grounded!" A familiar voice screamed.

Another familiar voice argued against it. "No, its rearing up for its next attack, run! Or you'll be caught in its blast!"

"Celestia, Luna!" Twilight screamed out loud, racing back to the door before halting like her body had come straight up against an invisible wall.

"They're in danger, something inside is attacking them!" Twilight panicky yelled, in an attempt to motivate herself. Yet she couldn't bring herself to open the door her hooves felt like someone had placed glue under them. A feeling she had felt physically before from a failed prank courtesy of Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. Which she had noted to herself to get back at with unbiased and unrestrained pranking force.

The monstrous roar of the beast blasted through the doors once more shaking Twilight almost physically. Her nerves almost reaching their end and threatened to take away what little motivation she had left. However before she could reach the precipice of despair, she stomped her hoof against the floor in deviance, steadying her body and her will.

"No!" Twilight bellowed at herself. "The princesses need me, come on Twilight, you fought Nightmare Moon, Discord and even Sombra for pony's sake, you can do this!" Nodding at her own peptalk the lavender alicorn breathed in deep exhaling rapidly to psych herself up before throwing the doors open with her hoofs and magic.

"In the name of harmony, friendship and the sovereignty of Equestria, I demand you release the princesses!" Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, charging headlong into the room, before colliding with a large midnight blue rear that belonged to a very engrossed pony.
knocking here on here back, Twilight looked up to spot the beast.

However what she saw instead played tricks on her very own psych.

True to her fears there in front of her was an enormous yet almost two dimensional dragon. Its name somehow and for some reason written below it the 'Ancient dragon' it had read looking up from the name she also quickly spotted what looked like an ape like creature brandishing a spear almost its own size and armour so magnificent that it would put the royal guard to shame. The ape creature paused for a moment turning back to the dragon as the giant monster reared up its head, intent on spewing out its deadly flame.

However before she could see the outcome she spotted the three figures she had been searching for all this time. Each with confused and shocked expressions and not a scratch on each of them.

"Twilight!" They all seemed to bellow at once in a thick Canterlot voice.

The enormous volume of their question made the walls around the room shake violently a sudden sound like a heavy object dropping down and crashing on wood echoed through the room.

it was at that moment that the creature doing battle with the dragon stopped and went completely still. Just in time for the dragons fire to engulf it in its enormous orange flame. A sickening death rattle invaded all four pairs of ears and for a moment every pony present turned back to the battle. Just in time to see the words ‘you died’ floating across the battle in gigantic red letters.

It was at this moment also that the walls themselves began to shake and a low growl echoed through them as if it somehow was trying to contain itself from screaming. Before Twilight could once more question the absurdity of what she was witnessing the wall turned.

The whole view of the wall changed, almost like a motion camera Twilight had seem once shooting a scene for a movie, the screen turned a different direction.

What Twilight saw next made everything she held dear in terms of sanity question itself.

There looking back at her through some sort of mirror the ‘wall’ came into view through its own reflection. Peering at itself however was not the wall but was a creature Twilight had never seen or dreamed of before. Tall in comparison to its surroundings the creature was essentially bipedal, arms and legs like some sort of descendant of apes. The lumps on its chest and it's long pitch black mane suggested its gender as a mare but all other similarity between here and it ended at the gender. The skin of the creature was a light chocolate brown and had as far as she could see no fur on it whatsoever besides just above its eyes.

However it was the burning rage in those emerald eyes that left Twilight the most speechless.
"Okay” it said grinding its white teeth together. “ I'm counting to three and one of you better tell me why the fuck you sods decided to scream all at once when I was this frigging close to beating that god damn boss--” the creature stopped mid sentence bringing itself closer to the mirror and pointing a long index finger against the mirror.
”--or I swear to god, I'm gonna’ find a way to jump inside my own mind and shove those horns up your plots so help me god!" It tone giving all present no doubt that their was truth to the treat.

"Holy Pony feathers What in the name of Starswirl beard is that thing!?"Twilight screamed scampering back and causing the creature to grimace in pain, it pulled its hand away from the mirror and pressed it against its ear.

"Will whoever that is please stop fucking yelling!" it bellowed seemingly at itself back through the mirror.

It was the nervous embarrassed chuckle of Luna that finally answered her "Cousin Jackie, please, we can explain."

Twilight mouthed the words silently eyeing the floor in thought before gasped. Her first and foremost question answered in one sentence. "You're CJ!"