Under New Management

Twilight Sparkle stood at the Ponyville train station platform along with many other citizens awaiting the arrival of the train. She stood with all of the poise and grace that was to be expected of a princess. But inside she was positively electric. She wanted to run, and jump and do a back-flip. She wanted to sing at the top of her lungs and dance in a hurricane of excitement. Her mind raced along with her heart. Her legs twinged, rigid, and on-edge. She felt like she was going to explode with energy. But Twilight stood with the continued outward appearance of calm. Prince Shining Armor had replied immediately after receiving the letter.

'I'll be on the next train.'

The next train wasn't for almost a week. It had been a long week but now it was scheduled to arrive in "seventy two seconds... seventy one... seventy..." Twilight shuffled her hooves anxiously when she heard the whistle, heralding the approach of the locomotive.

A voice came over the speaker system, "The train from the Crystal Empire is now arriving."

The smoke stack breached the horizon. The rest of the train appeared behind it. She had to resist the urge to will the train to the station faster with her magic. She would not be able to guarantee stopping it in time, safely. Twilight felt like her teeth were trying to escape her tense jaw. After so many years of waiting, it was finally going to happen. They were finally going to be able to consummate their love.

The door to the train cars opened. Passengers began to file out of the train. Ponies met each other on the platform and embraced. Some were families. Others were more passionate reunions, aggressively kissing one another, onlookers be damned. It was a pure, uninhibited love, that knew neither shame or regret. Twilight's cheeks flushed with heated envy.

Inside, Twilight saw a flash of white fur moving forward from the private caboose. She made a special effort to keep her wings pinned to her sides. At last, after the rest of the ponies had stepped out, she saw him. Her brother, Shining Armor, stepped off of the train. Every fiber of her being wanted to pounce on him right there and kiss him, the ropy muscles of her legs were pulled taught as a piano wire, ready to spring.

"Your Highness," Shining armor greeted with a polite bow.

"Your Highness," Twilight replied with a curtsy, herself. Both of them held the act up for about another microsecond before they both gave in to giggles at the silliness of it. Twilight could feel her body relax with the desperately needed laughter. He leaned in and hugged her, as family would.

And at once she was pressed to his fur. She leaned her head into his mane, taking in his familiar scent. Nothing else in the world smelled like it. It was absolutely unique, incomparable to mere corporal things. It smelled like vague ideas, like 'nostalgia', like 'safety'. She hugged him back harder. The mountains might melt, and the sea may burn, but as long she was in his hooves, it would somehow be okay. She smiled. He smelled like happiness.

"Hey, it hasn't been that long, has it?" he asked, gently pulling himself free. Twilight couldn't help the goofy smile from her face.

"I have wonderful news!" she said in an excited, but hushed tone.

"Yes, I saw in the letter. What is it?" he asked. Twilight glanced around nervously.

"Not here. Let's go back to my castle. I can tell you once we get away from the crowds," she said.

"Okay. Sure." They left the station and walked side-by-side across town toward her castle.

Twilight opened the door and held it for him.

"Please, come inside," she said with a smirk. Shining missed the double entendre, and simply walked inside the castle. Twilight followed behind him and locked the door. The moment the door latched closed Twilight hurled herself across the room at him. Shining caught the blur of purple motion out of the corner of his eye and reflexively put up a hoof to defend himself, accidentally smacking her in the face. Undeterred, Twilight didn't even give him time to apologize before she forced him to the floor, kissing him all over his face and on the lips. Especially on the lips. He kissed her back the first couple of times.

"Hemm- hmmf- hey. Hey!" he tried to say between smooches. He held her head still with his hooves. "Hey, what's all this about?" he asked. "I mean, I'm excited to see you too, but-" he felt her hoof running down his chest to his belly, down lower to his- "Whoa! Hey now, come on!" He stopped her, and lifted her off of him. "You know we can't do that!" She looked hurt briefly, but remembered that she hadn't told him the big news yet.

"Wait here!" She darted upstairs and ran back down with a few rolls of paper.

"What's all this?" he asked, opening the first scroll.

"The big news!" He started reading. She watched his eyes moving along the paper.

"Let's see... blah, blah, blah, Princess Celestia by Royal Decree yada yada..." he skipped ahead "do officially proclaim the town of Ponyville as jurisdiction kingdom under rule of Princess Twilight Sparkle." He looked up from the paper. Twilight had a grin that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame. "So Ponyville is your own kingdom?"

"Yup!"

"Wow! Congratulations! That is big news," he said.

"But wait! There's more!" She passed the next two scrolls to him. He opened the first.

"It's a... requisition to repair a bridge. Oh, you signed this."

"Yup! It was my first act as Princess. But look at the bottom." He read to the end.

"This act formally repeals regulation 1nc35t." He looked up at her with a blank stare. She waited patiently. He opened the second scroll. Unlike the first two which were brand new, the last scroll was very old. "Regulation 1nc35t, oh, this is the law you repealed..." his eyes ran over the old document. He blinked a few time and re-read it. "... prohibition of carnal consanguineous relations... uhhh, what?"

"Consanguineous means relation by blood. In other words, family."

"Oh... and carnal?" he asked. Twilight blushed.

"It means 'sexual'."

"Oh. So you repealed the 'prohibition of sexual family- " he stopped mid sentence and looked up from the paper at her. She saw the realization in his eyes. "...relations'." Twilight smiled even wider. "Twilight, is this real? I mean, is this official?" he asked nervously.

"Yes! I signed it into law a week ago. It's legal in Ponyville!" she said. She leaned in and kissed him again. "And Spike is away for the holiday weekend helping Rarity find gems. So we have the whole castle to ourselves." He kissed her back and dropped the scrolls. Twilight broke the kiss at the sound of the paper shuffling onto the floor. "Wait-" she put a hoof to him, pausing the action, "I need to get these back to the records room at the Town Hall." She collected the papers and put them into her bag. "I'll run them over there and come right back as soon as possible."

Twilight ran as fast as she reasonably could without making a scene. She made short work of getting to the records room, filing the papers away in their proper locations and headed out.

"Princess Twilight!" Mayor Mare caught her at the door. Twilight stopped and did an about-face.

"Yes?"

"I have these items for you to sign, while you're here. I thought that I would save you a trip later."

"Oh, okay. Thank you." Twilight hastily trotted back inside to sign the paperwork as quickly as possible.

"And this... and these... and just a few more, I promise," Mayor Mare said. As Twilight signed each document, Mayor Mare fed them each into a light blue box on her desk. A flash of light emitted from inside and then the document slid out of the bottom.

"What is that?" Twilight asked.

"Oh this? Princess Celestia sent it to my office the day you took over rule of Ponyville. She's asked me to feed your papers through it. Apparently it uses the same spell as Spike's breath to magically send copies of documents to her, while leaving the original here. Amazing isn't it?"

"So everything I've signed, you've sent to her to review?" Twilight asked, feeling her fur standing on end.

"Yes," Mayor Mare answered. "I think she just wanted to make sure things were going smoothly and you weren't trying to do anything too..." Mayor Mare's memory flashed back to the Smarty Pants 'want-it need-it' incident, "...extreme." Twilight's throat went dry. She quickly signed the rest of the papers, and left in a hurry.

She needed to get home and warn Shining Armor. She needed to get him out of Ponyville immediately before the true intent of her plans could be discovered.

This time she made no affordances for appearances. She ran and flew as fast as she could, teleporting herself where she accurately could, outpacing the sound of her own approach. But for the magical properties of the hinges mounting them, did the doors remained attached to their frame as she kicked them in. She needed to contact the princesses before they-

"Greetings, Princess Sparkle," Princess Luna said, standing in Twilight's Castle foyer.

"Hello Twilight," Princess Celestia said, standing beside her younger sister. "We just arrived a few minutes ago. Your brother was kind enough to bid us entrance." Twilight could see Shining Armor standing behind them with their bags and the same 'oh shit' look on his face that Twilight herself was trying desperately to conceal.

"We realize we are early for our weekend vacation at your castle," Luna said, "But Tia was confident that it would not be of any concern."

"You received my letter about our impending arrival, yes?" Celestia asked.

She had sent Spike away with Rarity for the weekend to look for gems.

"Weekend Vacation!? Uh, I- of... course!" Twilight lied. "But... but I haven't had a chance to get Shining caught up on the itinerary. Would you mind filling him in on the details while I make the final preparations for your guest rooms?"

"That's fine," Celestia said, turning to Shining as Twilight bolted upstairs to her bedroom. She had managed to buy herself a few minutes to think, to come up with a plan.

No, wait, she hadn't. She needed to make up a guest room. Two actually. All she had was her own bedroom. Which she had been planning to share with her special somepony. The room adjacent to her own was empty. It had a few basic furnishings and lighting fixtures, but no bed. Twilight focused her magic and vanished from the room, teleporting outside of Quills and Sofas. Across the street was the the Bed & Breakfast. It was a combination bed store and breakfast diner. She didn't question the reasoning behind its existence, only grateful for it. She burst into the front door.

"Your Highness," the clerk greeted. "What an honor it is for-"

"I NEED A BED! THE BIGGEST BEST-EST ONE YOU HAVE!" Twilight said, far louder than was explicitly necessary. It did the job of making the clerk move quickly, running to the back of the store with the princess giving chase. He pointed at a huge, ornate king-size bed .

"This! This is those things!" he said in as frantic a tone as hers. Twilight heaved a large bag of bits at him.

"I'LL TAKE IT!" She leaped onto the bed, vanishing in a flash, along with the bed itself, leaving behind the bag of bits and the faint smell of ozone where the massive bed once was. She reappeared in the guest room of her castle. She had never teleported that large of an object with her before. "Ow." She quickly climbed out of the bed and remade it, neatly folding and tucking the covers. "Shit I need two!" Twilight realized. The store only had the one really nice bed. There was no way she could safely teleport to Canterlot and back with something that large in time. And she couldn't make up another guest room with a regular, plain old bed could she?

"Who would I be more comfortable insulting?" she wondered. Celestia was the elder of the two, but she might be more understanding... no no. Twilight realized she could occupy the other room with her own, over-sized bed, and give herself something simple. "Perfect." She finished preparing the bed and readied to move her own into another guest room. She heard voices approaching.

"... -anterlot...be fine...ithout us for a few days," she heard Luna saying, presumably to Shining Armor.

"And we can move the Sun and Moon from anywhere," Celestia added, reaching the door of the one guest room.

"Princess!" Twilight greeted, trying not to seem out-of-breath.

"Princess," Celestia parroted. Luna looked into the next room from the hallway, finding it empty.

"Just the one room?" Luna asked.

"Well you see- um, it's just that, the thing is-" Twilight stammered, "I uh, had already invited Shining over for the weekend, uh, as you can see." She motioned to her brother with her hoof.

"Yes. We can see that plainly," Luna said.

"Yes. Plainly," Twilight replied with an awkward smile. "But it's just that, I had already invited him, before I got your letter, and I didn't want to cancel his visit, since you know, it's so rare that he's able to get away from the Empire," she said, not explicitly lying. "And um, when I got your letter, I uh, didn't want to say no to that either, since it's so difficult for you two to get away too, I would imagine," she said, stalling.

"And the one guest room?" Luna asked again, growing impatient.

"Yes, the one room, well um, you know me! I'm not one for extravagances. I didn't want to spend a lot of public money on personal effects, so um," She smiled nervously, "One of you are welcome to my bed. Mi casa su casa!" The princesses stood there in silence for a moment.

"Oh Twilight," Celestia shook her head in disappointment, "that will not do at all." Twilight was mortified. She had failed. "We are your guests, but you are our honored host," she said.

"We applaud your frugality. But we could not possibly force you from your own bed," Luna said. "You are a princess after all. You are as much our peer as Princess Cadenza." Celestia walked into the room.

"This bed is wonderful," Celestia said, pressing her hoof into the plush covers. "And it is far more than spacious enough for two. I'm sure that Luna would not object to sharing it with me for a few nights, no?"

"Not at all, sister," Luna confirmed. "But what of Shining Armor?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I've slept in the cots in the Royal Guard," he said, bringing their bags into the room. "I could sleep anywhere flat, really," he pointed at the shag rug, jokingly.

"Preposterous!" Luna scoffed. "Twilight offered her bed to us. You are a Prince now, and you deserve no less." Celestia looked to Twilight.

"Certainly your bed is likewise large enough to accommodate another, yes?"

"Sure Twilie!" Shining said. "Hey, it'll be like when you were a little filly and you had a bad dream."

"Splendid. It will be a-" Luna paused for a moment, "oh how would the pink one put it... a sibling sleepover slumber party!"

Twilight just stood there, awestruck. Never before had she screwed up so successfully. They had been understanding, nay happy even, that she was a bedroom short. And not only that, but they all but commanded Shining to sleep with her in her bed.

"Thank you for accommodating us Twilight," Celestia said. "But if you don't mind, it has been a long trip from the capital and we'd like some time to unwind before dinner."

"......'kay." Twilight slowly backed out of the room, into the hallway with her brother as Celestia closed the door, affixing a Do Not Disturb sign on the handle. Twilight turned and started to walk down the hallway, past her own room. "What the hell just happened?" she whispered to him.

"A damn miracle," he answered. Twilight glanced back at the guest bedroom door and grabbed Shining's hoof to pull him into her bedroom. "Whoa, what are you doing?" She pulled him to the bed. "Hey, come on! We can't!"

"I told you. It's legal now," Twilight said.

"But Celestia and Luna are right in the next room!"

"We'll be quiet."

"What about dinner?" Shining asked.

"I'll just make Spike do-" Twilight stopped in her tracks.

She had sent Spike away for the weekend.

"..."

"Fuck! I actually have to cook!?"

Twilight and Shining ran downstairs to the kitchen. They each tore through the pantry and refrigerator.

"They are going to be disappointed," Shining said.

"How do I have no food!?"

"Well when was the last time you went grocery shopping?"

"Well I usually have Spike... Damn it!"

"Well we've got a frozen pizza, half a loaf of bread, a box of Cheerilee'Os, and a fridge full of condiments," Shining said. "You know, in the Royal Guard, I used to make a mean ketchup and mayonnaise sandwich in the barracks microwave."

"It's Celestia and Luna. Celestia and Luna! And we've only got" Twilight began to panic as she looked at the clock, "forty five minutes!"

"We could order out!" Shining said. Twilight clapped her hooves.

"Brilliant!" Twilight felt a chance of hope. "How much cash do you have?"

"You don't have any bits?" he asked.

"I just bought a BED! Just now! A huge one!"

"I have a little. But not enough for this plan," he said. Twilight went over her options quickly in her mind. She was going to have to ask a huge favor. She needed a party and she needed it fast. There was just one mare for the job. "Wait here. I'll be back as soon as possible." And with that, Twilight vanished. Shining stood there alone in the kitchen, casually scooping hoof fulls of dry Cheerilee'Os into his mouth.

Twilight reappeared in Sugar Cube Corner.

"Pinkie! I have a party emergency!" Twilight cried out into the bakery. The pink earth pony stepped out from the kitchen. Her eyes narrowed and she wiped the flour from her cheek.

"I have prepared for all of my life to hear those words," she said with utter conviction. "Who what where when?" she asked in rapid fire, a notepad and pencil seemingly materializing in her hooves.

"Princess Celestia and Luna. Dinner. My castle. Right Fucking NOW!" Twilight said.

Pinkie Pie didn't even write the last word. "Fly you fool," she said and then she was already moving, Fillysecond incarnate, a blur of motion. For her, the rest of the world slowed down.
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She had released the pencil from her hoof. It began to accelerate toward the floor.

Twilight squinted and her horn began to glow, charging up her spell. Pinkie Pie went down to the basement and began to go through her party supplies. As much as she would have liked it to be, this was not going to be a party of a six-year-old foal. She got together different items of refined taste, making sure to account for theme and colors. Celestia White and Luna Blue, with a splash of Twilight Purple.

She took the first load of party supplies and ran with them past Twilight as she continued to call the spell to her horn. She ran out of the door of the bakery and headed across town. Along the way, she ran past Rainbow Dash, suspended nearly motionless in the air as she passed. She was probably flying at top speed, Pinkie thought. She arrived at the castle and carefully arranged everything around the dining room. Yes it was a formal event, but she added her own personal flare. Balloons, ribbons, streamers. All color coordinated.

She ran back to Sugar Cube Corner to get more things, such as the table cloth, the dishes and silverware. She made another trip to the castle, passing by Twilight, still standing there, her horn glowing a little brighter. Pinkie arranged the place settings on the table, making sure to have the silverware in the correct order, just like Twilight would have wanted.

On the third trip she made a stop in the bakery's kitchen. She grabbed a loaf of fresh bread and some produce to cut up, carefully checking each one to ensure that it was free of blemishes. She cut up some apples in a particular way, arranging the slices to make tiny little swans. Edible art wasn't just for cakes after all.

She assembled the rest of the food and the slices of bread and made a couple of sandwich platters, cutting them into bite-size triangles with colorful tooth picks, and diced the rest of the vegetables and a giant salad in a decorative bowl. She ran out past Twilight again. Her spell was nearly complete and she was starting to disappear. She brought the food to the castle and arranged them in an aesthetically pleasing manner on the table.

It was then that she saw Shining Armor in the kitchen. A lone Cheerilee'O hung in the air, mid way from his hoof to his mouth. She snatched it out of the air and ate it herself. Emergency Party planning always did make her snacky. She ran back to the bakery and got another place setting for the fourth pony, and made some more sandwiches. She ran back out as Twilight just finished disappearing.

Back in the castle, she made a place at the table for Shining Armor, and rearranged the table for the new symmetry of a fourth seat. Twilight began to slowly reappear nearby. Pinkie Pie made another circuit of the room, double checking everything, and ensuring that everything was perfect. Once she was satisfied, she ran upstairs to the bathroom and wiped the sweat from her face, fixing up her mane in the mirror with a brush and headed back downstairs. She stood nearby to greet Twilight and present her the work invoice for her to sign. Pinkie realized that she had forgotten her pencil.

She ran back to Sugar Cube corner and grabbed the falling pencil just before it hit the floor.

She brought it back to Twilight's castle, doodling a detailed mustache on Rainbow Dash's face as she ran past. Just as Twilight finished materializing. The world lurched back into normal speed around her.

"Done!" Pinkie Pie thrusted the invoice to Twilight to sign. Twilight and Shining both froze in surprised shock. Everything around them had seemingly just appeared. "Sign here." Twilight took the pencil from her and signed the invoice. "Thank you for your business." Pinkie trotted casually out the door.

"..."

"It's a good thing that she's on our side."

With dinner set, Twilight trotted upstairs. From down the hall she could see that the Do Not Disturb sign was still hanging on the door. Twilight was reluctant to interrupt their nap, seeing how Princess Celestia had been working basically every day for over a millennium. Nopony was more deserving of some rest and relaxation.

But as she drew near, she could hear a rhythmic thumping noise emanating from inside, in symphony with the squeaking of the bed frame. Clearly one or both of them were awake. She rapped her hoof on the door. The noise inside ceased immediately.

"Aww, I was so close!" Luna's muffled voice said from within.

Twilight waited in silence for a moment. She could hear hooves approaching and the door handle turned from within. The door opened a barely a sliver. Just enough for Celestia to peer out. The sign on the handle glowed yellow for a moment as Celestia checked that it was indeed still there.

"Yes?" Celestia asked, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Um, sorry for the intrusion. I came up to let you know that dinner was ready. I was just checking on the noise. What was Luna close to?"

"The noise!? Um, Luna was jumping on the bed," Celestia said. "She was close to touching the ceiling. Bad Luna! No more jumping on Twilight's guest bed!" Celestia yelled into the room.

"I shall have to be punished," Luna said.

"She and I will be coming soon," Celestia said, blushing at her own words, "By which I mean we'll be going down." She blushed harder. "That is to say, eating." She was beet red. "Dinner!"

"..."

"Go away!" Celestia barked and shut the door, audibly locking it. Twilight turned around and began to walk away. The bed started squeaking again.

"Luna must really love jumping on beds," Twilight thought.