Family bonding

It was a wonderful in Canterlot. There were few clouds in the sky, the sun was high in the sky, and ponies went about their business. But the busiest pony in Canterlot, by far, was Twilight Sparkle, visiting Celestia and Luna and helping to plan the family reunion for the two diarchs.

"Twilight, calm down," Celestia, wearing a flowing, sleeveless white dress that went to the floor. "You are a part of the reunion too." Yeah, Twilight would be there too, due to the fact most ponies, given how close the two are, considering them mother and daughter. "We have other planners. This is meant to be a time of rest."

"But Princess," Twilight, wearing the gown she had worn for her coronation, said, "it has to be perfect. This is the first time Cadence and I will be meeting your family." Cadence, given her status as Celestia's adoptive niece, would be there as well. "When are they supposed to arrive, anyway?"

Celestia flinched a little. "Later today is when they said they'd be here."

Twilight smiled. "Well, I can't wait to meet them."

"I'm sure," Celestia said as Luna, wearing a dress similar to her sister's, but the color being dark blue with silver accents.

"Hello, Sister. Twilight Sparkle."

"Hello, Princess Luna," Twilight said. "How are you?"

Luna sighed. "Truth be told? I could be doing better. I never liked our parents, or most of our relatives, for that matter, but especially our parents."

"Luna," Celestia said, moving to put a wing over her sister, as well as an arm on her shoulder, "it's only for a week. We've lasted longer."

Luna looked at Celestia in a dead pan. "That was before they got, what is it called, ammunition from my time as Nightmare to use against me."

"Luna, everypony's forgiven you. And besides, you didn't harm anypony."

"But I brought about eternal night!"

Celestia sighed. "Twilight, I'm beginning to see your point of the fact ponies seeing a bunny stampede as the apocalypse much more plausible." She turned to face her sister. "Luna, there many things that ponies see as frightening today they didn't see then. I suppose that's partly because of me, seeing as how I've given a practical utopia to live in."

Luna chuckled. "Yes, I suppose so," she said, a smile on her face now. "Come, we need to make sure the food is ready. Goddess knows that Auntie Aphro likes peaches."

"Right," Celestia said as she herself chuckled at the memory of the one time they didn't have enough peaches. Probably good that societal norms were different back then. "Twilight, go find Cadence. I'm certain she'll be happy to spend time with you for today before meeting our parents." Especially Mother, Celestia thought with a small shudder. Best not to think about that encounter.

"You got it, Princess," Twilight said as Celestia and Luna made their way to the royal kitchens.

"So, Lulu," Celestia said, both able to drop into how the two spoke when ever they were with friends, "who are looking foreward to seeing the most?"

"Probably our twin cousins," she said. "They always were enjoyable. Though I think I'm safe i saying neither of us, nor anypony else, for that matter, in the family, want him there."

"That is true," Celestia said. "Even with our strained bonds with them, I've been in contact with Father to make sure he doesn't leave Tartarus."

"I'd still like to know how he's there when he's alive."

"Because the entire world thinks he's dead," Celestia said. "Thought that will change this evening."

The two sisters continued talking about their upcoming family reunion until they got to the kitchens, which were working over time to get all the food ready.

The head chef, an earth pony with tan skin and brown hair, wearing a cook's outfit, rushed over to them. "Your Highnesses," he said, bowing. "Are you here to check on the preparations for your family reunion?"

"Indeed we are," Luna said. "How is it coming along?"

"Quite well, your highness. Most of the ingredients for the dishes you requested were already here in the castle, and those that weren't, we asked the local gardeners, as well as some farmers from across Equestria, for them. Though, a few chefs were somewhat, for lack of a better word, princess, disgusted that a few of the meals required meat."

"That was to be expected," Celestia said. "Most of our family have tastes most would find strange."

"Well, your highness, regardless, most of the dishes are done. The only one left is that cake you asked for. We have all tge ingredients, it is simply taking a long time to bake."

"It's not going to be needed until the final day, anyway," Luna said. "Its long bake time is why we wanted it started today."

"I had figured so, highness," the chef said. "Is there anything else you two need?"

"Not at the moment," Celestia said, and with that, the two alicorns left the kitchens.

"So, what's next for the reunion that you didn't give Twilight Sparkle so she'd have less to worry about?" Luna asked.

"Well," Celestia said, bringing a hand to her chin, "bedding is already taken care of, I made sure of that this morning."

"I had the royal pool uncovered so it could warm up before the others arrived," Luna said. "I'm sure Uncle Poseidon will be glad for that."

"He always did like water," Celestia said. "Shame we don't bring the pool out more, though, especially during the summer. I may have control over the sun, but not the temperature. Not even pegasai can do that."

"I actually think you-know-who does that just to see mares in bikinis, honestly," Luna said. "He does act like a teenager sometimes."

Both of the sisters chuckled. "Yeah, probably," Celestia said. "But back to the preparations, I actually think most of them are done. Just the cake needs to be finished, and the shield spells are needed to be put in place, as I'm certain Twilight and Cadence are going to blow when they meet our parents."

"Definitely," Luna said. "Cadence especially."

"Now come on, we need to get the spells in place, and change," Celestia said.

"Of course, sister," Luna said, and the two went their separate ways.

A few hours later

Celestia and Luna, the both of them now wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt that matched their skin tone, stood in the Gala room.

"Twilight, there is no need to be so formal," Celestia told her student, who still wore her coronation dress. "This is meant to be a reunion, after all."

"But Princess," Twilight said, "this is the first time I'm meeting your family."

"Twilight, it's that way with me, too," Cadence, wearing a knee length skirt with a short sleeved, white shirt with blue accent the the edge of the sleeves. "But i'm still dressed this way. Can't you relax for just a week?"

"Sorry," Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck and blushing in embarrassment. "Guess it's a force of habit to make sure everything's as perfect as possible."

"Perfectly forgivable, Twilight," Celestia said. "Though our brother would just make those obsolete. In fact, the both of you've already met him."

"Really," Cadence asked. "When did we meet?"

"Well, Twilight met him before you, Cadence," Luna aid, "but there is one time when the three of you were together."

"When," Twilight asked.

"Why, when we went to the edge of Equestria, of course," a familiar voice said before there was a flash of light, and, when it faded, Discord, wearing a blue tuxedo, stood next to Celestia and Luna.

Twilight's eye twitched. "He's your brother?" she asked. "I thought he'd be somepony regal, not Discord!"

"I can't be regal," Discord asked. "Twilight, I am the god of chaos. By that definition, I am the King of chaos, so, for that, regal can mean what I want it to be."

"He's right, Twilight," Celestia said. "Everyone in our family has their own version of the word 'regal'. Ours just align more with Equestrian definitions of the word. So, how have you been, Discord?"

"Same old, same old," he replied, shrugging, as Twilight's brain still tried to process his relation to her mentor. "Really, the only thing of note is that there are some wierd fluctuations in space time. Which I haven't caused, by the way. Wonder what it means?"

"Are they harmful," Luna asked.

"Not as far as I can tell. Not yet anyway. Oh, and mom and dad will be arriving next."

"This is going to be interesting," Celestia said with a sigh. "When?"

"In the next few minutes," Discord said. "Sure you want Cadence here?"

"I can hear you, Discord," Cadence said.

"I know. It's just that, as much as I love chaos, I don't want you and mother to destroy Canterlot."

"Why would we do that," she asked as the doors opened, and twp ponies walked in.

One was a stallion with ashen gray skin. He wore what was, in essence, a guards dress uniform, but the colors, instead of red and white, were, black and silver. On his back was a red cape, with white, lining at the bottom that contained specks of black. But his most interesting feature of the stallion was his curved horn with a red tip.

"Hello, Father," Luna and Celestia said in a deadpan to Sombra. "Mother."

Their mother had a dark skin, nearly entirely black. Her hair and tail were a bright, lime green, as were her eyes, which had a reptile like pupil. She wore a dark green, almost olive, shirt that went to her waist, with the sleeves that went to her elbows, as well as a pair of knee length shorts that were the same color as her skin. Her horn was jagged, and her insect like wings were furled.

"Hello, girls," Chrysalis, her arms crossed, said before she looked at Cadence and Twilight, smirking. "Hello, Cadenza. Did you miss me?"