Twilight Sparkle was quietly enjoying a book in her room currently reading one of Starswirl the Bearded’s famous books on the study of magic. The palace was completely empty, Spike was currently having a day off and had decided to go to Rarity’s house for the day. Starlight was also out of the castle, spending time with Trixie. Twilight couldn’t help but remain skeptical of Trixie, all things considered, but she couldn’t control who Starlight makes friends with. Not after that disastrous attempt to control Starlight’s social life the first time around.

Luckily she didn’t have to worry about that since she had all day to read in peace. She had even, after several false starts and lectures from Spike, managed to get her automated kitchen spell to the point where it could make tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches without any major disasters, so she didn’t even have to leave the comforting warmth of her blankets. She could just spend an entire day relaxing as only she knew how.

At least that was what she had planned for the day before she heard a loud knock at the door followed by an all too familiar high pitched voice. “Twilight! Are you home!? I have somepony who could use your help!”

Twilight groaned to herself as she closed the book and unravelled herself from the blankets, Pinkie was a great friend, but sometimes she had some of the worst timing. Opening the door to her rooms she was greeted with Pinkie as her usual hyperactive self along with a new mare she had never seen before. What really got her attention was the mare’s fur, completely black fur was an extremely rare thing among ponies, especially after the events of both Nightmare Moon’s and Sombra’s villainy, and most ponies either dyed their coats, or used magical enchantments to change their colors. Twilight smiled at the idea of making friends with such a rare breed of pony.

She could almost feel the questions bubbling up unasked, what was it like? Did she have any problems with it? Could Twilight help her with the friendship problems that were sure to have followed her? Twilight only managed to restrain herself when she noticed that the mare looked like she was about to lose her lunch.

Impala was stumbling even more than she was before and her whole world was spinning. ‘Screw you new world physics.’ She fought to keep her lunch down long enough to the point where everything stopped feeling like she was caught in a high speed fishtail and she could actually focus on what the pink menace had been so eager to show her.

The first thing she noticed was the annoying pink pony that just dragged her halfway across the town, smiling widely as she watched Impala steady herself. Impala could feel unfamiliar muscles twisting and tightening as she clenched her hoof into a fist, maybe Pinkie would stop smiling if she lost a couple of teeth.

The second thing she noticed was the new ‘pony’ staring at them with a mix of curiosity and amusement. What caught Impala’s eye was that this pony had both wings and a horn. Up until this point she had only seen ponies with a pair of wings, a horn or, like her, neither of those things.. ‘A pegasus and a unicorn? What do you call that, a pegacorn?’

Impala was about to respond, but Pinkie beat her to it and at a very fast pace that Impala just barely understood. “Hey Twilight, I found this new mare walking funny around town and she said that she needed a place to stay, so I first thought that I would let her stay at my place so that I could help a new friend and so that we can lots of fun, but when she mentioned about needing to find a library I thought of the most super duper greatest place for her to stay, so can you let my new friend stay at your place for a while? I know your place is very big and only you and Starlight and Spike live here I thought maybe you could use some more company here and Impala here is the perfect fit so can she stay with you?!”

Impala stood there with a blank expression trying to comprehend everything Pinkie just said. By the time she finally processed it all Twilight then spoke and was somehow unfazed by that very long ramble. “While I am more then happy to help, Impala was it?”

Impala nodded. “Impala Winchester.”

Twilight replied with a smile. “Interesting name. Was one of your ancestors an antelope?”

Impala just stood there for a minute with a slightly confused expression. “Uh, I don’t think so.”

“Well, regardless my name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of friendship.”

Impala nearly gagged right there, but held it down with everything she had. ‘For crying out loud! Why is every name here so cheesy and sweet?! Uh If I make it through the whole day without throwing up, I will be amazed. Wait, Princess? Maybe I got a better deal then I thought. ‘Twilight’ could probably help me, I just need to figure out to prove it and also put gently.’ Twilight then brought out her hoof and impala tried to do the same, but it was a bit awkward to get it right. Twilight decided to be polite and didn’t ask. “Well since that is out of the way, come inside so we can work out the details of your living arrangements.”

“Alright with me.”

Impala was about to walk inside, but Pinkie then pulled her and Twilight into a group hug. “This is super duper amazing, my new friends are being friends with my best friends! Well I better get back to Sugarcube Corner, my break is about done anyway, have a good stay at Twilight’s Impy!”

Pinkie then bounced away humming a song. Impala was just confused and annoyed again. ‘Impy? Oh great she makes nicknames. Well, it could have been worse. Pinkie may be annoying, but at least she's helpful.’

Twilight then spoke with a concerned look on her face. “I'm sorry about Pinkie, she can be a bit… overwhelming. She means well, she just doesn't understand the concept of subtlety.”

Impala spoke with her now usual slight frown. “It's fine. So, are you going to show me around?”

Twilight smiled. “Certainly!”

Tardis and Luna eventually reached Celestia’s private study away from all the guards. The Solar Tower almost completely empty of maids, butlers, guards, and the inevitable royal-hangers-on that populated the rest of the castle.

Not even bothering to knock Luna pushed the doors open only to find Celestia surrounded by cookware; bowls, whisks, icing tubes, and bags of ingredients all slowly orbiting the solar alicorn as she herself was muzzle deep in an dogeared cookbook. A fierce scowl of concentration that would be the envy of any of her students replaced her characteristic soft smile while she muttered her way through each step of the baking process. Maybe today would be the day she managed to bake the perfect cake.

The sudden noise of her sister’s entry was enough to dash these dreams against the reefs of reality as Celestia’s horn flared slightly at the intrusion and every single object save for her book disappeared from the room in a flash of light.

Celestia sighed before twisting in her seat to face the door, rapidly switching her scowl of concentration for her natural soft smile when she saw Luna enter, only for her smile to twist into confusion for a split-second when Luna stepped aside to reveal Tardis. It was, in Luna’s opinion, a rare display of unmasked emotion for Celestia.

“Good evening Luna, may I ask who your guest is?”

“A good evening to you too Sister, this is Tardis, Tardis, this is our sister Celestia.”

Tardis was still looking around with a fascination of a child until she saw Celestia. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“As to you, Tardis. Luna, while I do like talking with our little ponies, normally I save it for the throne room or my office outside of the worst emergencies, may I ask why you have brought one of our little ponies here?”

Luna walked to her sister and, after nudging her slightly to the side, sat down beside her, the couch creaking slightly beneath the combined weight of the two royal alicorns. “I found her in one our broom closets and some of the things she has told me I thought might be up for discussion. Tardis if it’s ok, may you tell us your situation?”

Tardis thought about this for a moment with an actual serious face. “Is this room soundproof?”

Luna and Celestia looked at each other in confusion, but Luna’s horn glowed for a second. “It is now.”

“Ok, to put this in the simplest way possible, I am a intergalactic time traveling box that is bigger on the inside from another dimension, something turned me into one of ‘your little ponies’ as Luna called them. Time And Relative Dimension In Space at your service your highnesses. Tardis for short.”

Luna was looking even more confused even after hearing that name for the second time, Celestia, however had slipped into her royal ‘mask’, betraying as little emotion as possible, despite the blue mare’s ridiculous claims. Celestia was the first to recover from that little announcement., watching Tardis as if the strange blue mare would explode at any moment before she leaned over and whispered in Luna’s ear. “I cannot tell if she is telling the truth or if she is just a mad mare.”

“I am pretty sure it’s both, Sister.”

It took them a while to reach Spitfire’s house after Del’s crash, both pegasi chatting like old friends as they ambled along Cloudale’s residential streets, Derpy still supporting Del whenever she tripped or stumbled before making their way into the richer part of town, sprawling cloud mansions slowly replacing the smaller town-houses.

Del barely registered when Derpy turned off the road, instead just following her blindly as Derpy continued to regale her with stories of the misadventures that Dinky would get into until the grey mare halted suddenly, forcing Del to either stop or walk headfirst into her friend.

“Just a little warning,” Derpy looked back at Del as she lurched to a halt, a grey wing shooting out to steady her. “Spits is still a little bit sick from a case of the feather flu you’ll probably have to wash your hooves if you don’t want to catch it yourself.”

Derpy let her wing fall from Del’s back as she pushed the mansion doors open before leading Del through the foyer, down a hallway, and into a ‘small’ sitting room. Every step through the hall Del let her eyes fall on some new poster, some shouting “HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES?” or another stock recruitment phrase, others listing dates, times, and locations she had never heard of before; all of them were framed like they were national treasures.

Even in the sitting room there was no escape from the poster pegasus’s presence, although nowhere near as omnipresent as in the hall it seemed like no matter where she looked there was always a new poster for Del to study, each one different from the last.

Del just stood there, awestruck at Derpy’s sister’s house, her jaw hanging open. “Wow.”

Derpy had a warm smile on her face, already well-used to this reaction and the rather excessive decorations that tended to overwhelm the visitors she brought with her. “Welcome to my sister’s home. Being a Wonderbolt pays well, although I wish she understood subtlety a bit better.”

“What’s a Wonderbolt?”

Derpy looked at Del like she was a mad mare. “Wow, when you said you were foreign you really weren't kidding.” Derpy giggled a bit and Del couldn’t help herself as she started giggling along with her. ‘You have no idea.’

The two stood there in the doorway giggling for a second before Derpy led Del to one of the cloud couches, letting her rest on her stomach and experimentally flex her wings, just getting used to the full range of motion that they had.

Derpy watched Del stretch her wing muscles as she settled herself into a cloud chair before speaking again. “Those are some cool looking wings, I didn’t even know they could make fully functional artificial wings, neither did I know they could make them look this awesome. Where did you get these things?”

Del had smile on her face. “I guess you could say a old friend made them. His name was Doc, he was a great friend, a little bit of a nut case who had a slight problem with getting into trouble, but a good friend all the same.”

“Sounds like it if he made these for you.”

“Yea he was, There was also someone else, Marty, He was good kid, played guitar, always the one to go head first into danger without a second thought, and had a hatred for bullies that called him chicken.”

“Reminds me of my friend Rainbow Dash. Oh hey how did you do that part where an actual trail of flame followed you wherever you flew?”

“I'm not sure why that happens,”Del smiled sheepishly before continuing. “Don't worry about it though, should only do that once I get to eighty eight miles per hour.”

Before Derpy could give a response the yellow and orange pegasus from the posters, her flame coloured mane greasy and matted with illness, entered the room. “Oh hey Derpy, You’re home earlier than I…”

Spitfire stopped as she spotted Del laying on the couch, who waved in greeting. “...Expected. Derpy, who is this?”

“Oh hey Spitfire, this is Del, Del this is my sister Spitfire.”

“What's up?”

“Hi,” Spitfire answered uneasily as she stared at Del before turning to Derpy. “Derpy, can I speak to you? Alone.”

“Oh sure. Del, do you mind resting for a little bit while my sister and I chat?”

A quick shake of Del’s head was her only answer as she turned away from the sisters and started to examine her wings more closely while Derpy and Spitfire walked out into the hallway, Derpy closing the door behind her. .

Spitfire barely waited for Derpy to close the door before she starting whispering, her voice low and rough. “Sis, I love you, I really do, but you need to stop bringing strangers into the house regardless of their situation. I thought you’d remember that lesson after last time.”

Derpy facehooved. “Oh my Celestia, that only happened once and how was I supposed to know that filly with a broken leg was secretly a master thief?”

“Look Dits, you have a good heart, and I love that about you, but it's not a good idea to just invite random strangers into your home. Especially into the home of a high ranking military official.”

“Come on Spits, you're just being paranoid now. Look I saw the injury myself this time and she really did need help. Besides she doesn't even know who the Wonderbolts are. She asked me herself.”

“Well haven't you-”

A grey hoof covered Spitfire’s mouth before her next rant could build any steam. “Spits, I understand you're worried for me, but I'm grown mare and a mother. I know you've taken care of me for most of your life and I'm grateful for that, but you don't have to do everything for me. Let me handle this one. If I fail, I'll learn from it and give you the right to say I told you.”

Derpy removed her hoof. Spitfire thought long and hard about what her sister just told her and sighed. Spitfire then gave Derpy a hug. “How did my little sis get to be so smart?”

Derpy smiled and hugged back. “When ponies think you're a liability you need to show them you’re not by working twice as hard.”

They let go and Spitfire spoke. “Alright I'll let you handle this. Might as well meet the mare properly.”

Before either of them could push the door to the sitting room open they heard a yelp, followed by the rushing noise of air which was cut-off by the sound of a crash. Both Spitfire and Derpy rushed into the living room only to find Del hanging from the ceiling, her metal wings embedded in the cloudcrete. The mare herself blushing in embarrassment as her ears flopped to the side of her skull.

Nopony said anything for the longest time before Spitfire asked the question that she knew her sister was thinking.

“How did you even do that?”

Del’s blush grew brighter as she answered. “I tried seeing if I could adjust my wings so that they wouldn't go out of control like last time and then this happened. Stupid glitches.”

“Glitches?”

Derpy answered for Del. “It's what's she likes to call her accidents whenever she messes up like this,” Derpy looked directly at Spitfire before she continued. “Like you used to call my accidents my ‘derps’.”

Del sighed as she stopped struggling to free herself and just dangled limply from her wings. “Well it could have been worse l...”

A small crack appeared where her wings were stuck. “Oh damn it,” she managed to mutter before the cloudcrete gave way and she fell bonelessly to the floor. Landing on her stomach with all the grace of a puppet with its strings cut.

Derpy and Spitfire could only watch as Del lay there gasping before she muttered out a quiet “I'm ok,” before a chandelier decided to follow her descent and land on her skull, as if to add insult to injury.

Spitfire just watched as everything happened before her eyes, staring at Del while she lay there clutching at her head. “Where did that even come from? I don't even own a chandelier!”

“Stupid glitches.”

Author's Note

I am so sorry for it taking so long for this chapter to come out. I had a bit of a writers block with how to continue the story and keep in as many cameo's as possible without making equestria full of them, but still keep them at a distance where our three hero's can still visit them any time they want. Not to mention all of the situations with life from school to jobs to family and so many other things, and other stories I have been working on. I will try my best to keep this one moving for as long as I can and I'm sorry for making you wait so long, if you want to help support me and keep me going here is my Patreon. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and the rest that will soon follow. Have a trollestia