Sunset's Crowning Achievement

by LordBrony2040

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue

Chapter 1

Sunset opened her eyes to the not-darkness of her room.

It was not-dark because of two factors. The first of which was her eyes. Normal pony eyes were able to see better in the dark than those humans had, and being a pegasus raised the bar even higher than what she had experienced for the past three years. The second factor was the big spotlight outside her open curtains most ponies referred to as the full moon, but what Sunset had been calling ‘that fucking annoying as shit bright bastard that ruins my sleep’ as of late.

Sometimes, she just wanted to punch the damn thing, the type of punch that would shatter it into little pieces, or at least throw it off into space so it wouldn’t be such a bother. But Celestia always got...touchy whenever the subject of the heavenly body that wasn’t depicted on her cutie mark was mentioned. So, she kept her mouth shut and put up with it instead of asking to be put in charge of the moon, or at least getting the weather ponies around Canterlot to place some convenient cloud cover outside her window.

She would have made a cloud herself, but the head of Canterlot’s weather department was so anal about everything being in its perfect place, a cloud being where it wasn’t supposed to be would have given him an aneurysm.

“Mmmm, corn dogs,” her male sleeping companion mumbled as he nuzzled in deeper to Sunset, making her look over to the stallion drooling on her coat as he shifted a bit, allowing Sunset to realize that whatever he was dreaming about, the rest of his body knew that he was pressed up against a big alicorn that could be described as horny the majority of the time they were together.

Not heat season horny though, Sunset told herself, silently thanking whatever deity had decided that she didn’t need to spend three to four days with her biology screaming it was time to make babies. Which...she supposed was Celestia, seeing as how she controlled the moon. Even though she technically wasn’t a deity. She couldn’t even claim the status as one power-level-wise anymore.

It was a thought that actually made Sunset want to go back to something more raunchy, but...the uneasy feeling held fast as the reality of the situation ran its way through her head. Celestia was no longer the most powerful pony around, not by a long shot. In fact, Sunset couldn’t help but compare her to...an ant. Sure, an ant could lift ten times its own weight, but anypony could lift ten times an ant’s weight so...who cared?

While Sunset knew that her power wouldn’t just run out of control and destroy the world if she sneezed and it was in fact nothing but a benefit to Equestria since the amber alicorn could protect it from any major threats that had any even the slightest intention of causing trouble, it still made her feel uneasy now that she had such power. Not to mention the love of her mother and friends that truly understood her. It was everything she ever wanted.

And didn’t deserve.

Sunset sighed at her train of thought.

It had been a week. A week of vacation, as the young female population of Canterlot didn’t have enough experience in their lives to resist the overwhelming biological urge to create more ponies and needed to be kept separate from the stallions, but still...a week.

And she still felt the same way she had back in the hidden vault.

If not worse.

“Mmmmm, Sunset?” a melodious voice spoke, bring the distressed pony out of her thoughts.

The amber alicorn glanced over to the real princess beside her, the pony that had truly earned her alicornhood. Cadance was everything Sunset wished she herself was. She was kind, beautiful, independent, loving, and a much, much better flier.

Her words made Sunset tense. “Cadance!” she said in a hushed whisper. “Did I...wake you?”

Sunset’s question was met with a kiss to the cheek. “It’s okay,” the pink princess said before scooting up on the bed so that they were eye to eye. “It just means we have more time together is all.”

As Cadance rolled on top of her and straddled the bigger alicorn’s belly, Sunset frowned before the makeout session could begin. “So, what’re your plans for the day?” with her coronation giving everyone even more time off from school, Sunset wasn’t sure if Cadance actually had anything to do.

After a few seconds of turning her attention upwards in thought, Cadance looked back down to Sunset. “Well, I’m going to talk to an article writer of Romance about my relationship with you and Shiny, and after that...I think I’ll pop in on Fleur and Sassy, see if they need to use your Rods of Relief again.”

Sunset groaned. “I can’t believe you showed the girls those things.”

“Hey I’m not exactly thrilled about an item that a mare can use to get off whenever she wants without the help of a loving partner, but I have to admit that they are very useful when the seasonal urges come around,” Cadance said. “Just be glad I called them Rods of Relief instead of Rods of Pleasure. They’d be wanting to use them all the time if that was the case. So, how’s your day going to go?”

Sunset spared a look at the snoozing colt snuggled up against her. “I figure that since I’m going to be spending time with Mom in the Sun Court, I’d eat breakfast with Twilight, should make her happy. After that, no real plans.”

“You should do something with your mom,” Cadance told her. “Spend the day with her.”

The way she had said that so quickly made Sunset look away from the pink pony. “I...Cadance…”

Cadance frowned down at her. “Sunset, over the past week, I’ve done nothing but schedule time with you, me, and Shiny so that we could work out the kinks in our dynamic with group dates, engage in couple activities, and spend the night having sex,” Cadance told her. “Now that the three of us are moving ahead to a steady rhythm, you need to start thinking more about your mom.”

Once again, Sunset groaned. “Cadance, please don’t mention Mom and sex in the same paragraph. I’m still trying to forget the last time the two of you went on about it.”

A little giggle escaped Cadance’s lips. “You have to admit, that was pretty fun.”

“You were singing about sex, with my mom, at the breakfast table,” Sunset deadpanned. “In fact, three of the last five songs you’ve sung over the past week were about doing it.”

Cadance shrugged. “Hey, it’s like you told those colts at the Formal, when ponies feel strongly about something they need to talk about, they sing,” she said before her face turned a bit more serious. “And stop trying to turn the topic into something other than how you need to spend more time with your mother.”

When Cadance effectively ended the conversation on their bedroom, bathroom, and even when they couldn’t find a room activities, Sunset looked away. “Hey, me and Mom are...getting along.”

“Have you done anything with her in the past week besides your duties?” Cadance asked evenly. “And that newspaper interview doesn’t count. You had to do that to explain to everypony why Empress Sunset was being replaced so quickly.”

Sunset cursed internally. “Well...um...she was pretty good with that, wasn’t she?”

A frown appeared on Cadance’s face at Sunset's attempted deflection. “Sunset, stop stalling.”

Cornered by the pony on top of her, Sunset let out a distressed moan. “We’ve barely seen eachother, okay! There! I don’t talk to Mom when we’re not in public. Is that what you wanted to hear? I just know she’s going to get super judgemental, because I didn’t even think about her when I was about to leave Equ-”

“Sunset!” Cadance said, making the amber alicorn snap her mouth shut. The pink princess bent down and kissed Sunset on the nose. “Shhh, it’s okay, my fiery Sunset.” Another kiss came in, making Sunset close her eyes as Cadance kissed away her forming tears. “It’s okay.” She went up to lick the rim of the bigger pony’s mouth sensually before breathing her words into Sunset’s ears. “Everything will be okay.”

The amber alicorn’s entire body went limp as Cadance continued to give Sunset her special kind of attention. Sunset had no idea how Cadance did it, but...Cadance could affect her in ways that made Sunset wonder if pegasi had some weird naturally occuring emotional magic. When the caresses and the kisses stopped, Sunset looked back up at Cadance before she spoke again. “Sunset, how are you ever going to get the forgiveness you need from Celestia if you don’t talk to her?”

With Cadance looking down at her with her big blue, beautiful eyes, Sunset found herself relenting. “Okay,” she reluctantly agreed. “If Mom wants to spend time with me today, I’ll spend time with her.”

“Ung, unghhhhh.”

Both Sunset and Cadance widened their eyes as Shining Armor announced to the rest of the room that he was coming out of unconsciousness. “Shiny?” the amber alicorn asked as she glanced over to the clock to see it was still ten minutes before six.

“Hm?” he replied.

Cadance flapped her wings, came down on the other side of the unicorn and slipped back under the covers so she could press her whole body up against Shining Armor. “Oh sweetheart, did we wake you?” she asked.

“Wha-huh? Girls?” he asked before letting out a morning yawn. “What time is it?”

Despite the fact she knew the general time, Sunset took one last look at the clock. “Five before six. Thirty minutes or so to sunrise,” the amber alicorn said.

“Which means we’ve got a good thirty minutes for threesome activities and-oh! Shiny you’re good and ready for us,” Cadance said with a grin as Sunset saw that one of her hooves had moved under the blankets. “I love you.”

“Well I-uh-um-ah,” Shining Armor got out as the way the blankets were being ruffled from below told Sunset exactly what Cadance was doing to make him stammer.

So, Sunset let out a sigh and gave the pink princess of nymphomania an even look. “Cadance, can you have some self control?” she asked. “I want to bang him too, but I’m at least going to wait for Shiny to wake up and ask the guy before playing with his penis.”

Cadance stopped moving for a second. “Okay, I am getting ahead of myself here,” she said before kissing Shining Armor on the cheek. “Sorry, Shiny.”

“N-No problem,” he replied. “Uh...you can let it go now.”

A little whine escaped Cadance’s mouth. “But then it’ll be all cold and lonely,” she said before moving closer to whisper into Armor’s ear. “Let me keep you nice and warm, Shiny. You know how gentle I can be.”

Sunset let out a displeased moan. “He’s not a toy, Cadance.”

“Ugh, I know Sunset,” she said before movement under the blankets told Sunset Cadance had withdrawn her hoof. She proudly raised her head. “I’m the toy.”

Confusion flooded Sunset’s mind at the summarization of Cadance’s place in their relationship. “C-Cadance, what’re you talking about?”

“Um, I pretty much do everything you want me to when it comes to sex, Sunset,” Cadance told her. “Most of which is very submissive. Even when you’re not overpowering me, I’m being subservient to you when you plop your plot down on my face to kiss.”

Sunset sucked in a breath as she thought back to everything they had done the past week, and...while she had been pretty...normal with Shiny, her activities with Cadance had been pretty… “Oh...oh, fuck. I...Cadance, I-”

Cadance shot her a glare. “Don’t you dare apologize!” she ordered. “Do you have any idea how wonderful it feels to be with you like that? How comforting it is when this big alicorn with so much strength and power, who I might as well be a flea in comparison to, shows me how magnificent she is? I love it when you show me who’s in charge when it comes to the bedroom, Sunset.”

Which only made Sunset’s panic increase. “But-but I never meant to make you feel-”

“Girls!”

Shining Armor’s sudden interruption derailed Sunset’s train of thought and had Cadance losing her glare as she turned her attention to him. “Yes, Shiny?” they both said as one.

“Sunset,” he said as he looked over to the bigger alicorn. “Let’s be honest, you are pretty physically dominating. You can’t help it. You’re bigger than us, you’re way stronger, and...being the pony in charge is who you are. The pony Prin-ergh, I’m never going to get used to calling her just Celestia, raised you to be. But it’s not like you’re some super bossy mare or anything. You don’t even hold the reins in the relationship.”

The summarization that Shining Armor gave made her blink. “Eh?” Sunset asked before her rational mind reasserted itself. “Shiny, I can’t be in charge and not the boss of us at the same time.”

“Well, of course we’ll always do what you ask in the heat of the moment and follow your lead in public, Sunset. But let’s be honest, Cadance holds the reins in this relationship,” he said. “She plans out all the dates, she gets us in the mood, she makes all the big decisions about us. You may be the pony that’s going to be Celestia’s right hoof and have enough magic to make reality your plaything, but Cadance clops her hooves, and you, uh...jump.”

Sunset rested her head and went back to looking up at the ceiling for a moment. She thought about what Shining said and realized that he was right. In public, Cadance bowed to her. She followed Sunset’s lead in all things and let the amber alicorn lead the way. But that was only after deciding where they were going to go in private beforehand.

“If anything, I’m the one that’s-”

Sunset didn’t let him finish. She heard the less than perfectly happy tone in his voice and decided to act along with the mare next to her. Both her and Cadance shifted around until they were laying on top of him. “Keeping me sane?”

“Holding the three of us together?” Cadance went on.

Sunset was quick to add, “Being nothing but supportive?”

Which Cadance quickly followed with, “Going the two of us in reality with a calm and rational view of things?”

“What Shiny?” Sunset asked.

“Which one is it?” Cadance prompted.

Shiny looked back and forth between the two mares. “I was gonna say, gets the super special treatment.”

“You’re fucking right you do,” Sunset said before she dropped back down to snuggle up to Shining Armor.

“Not special enough if you ask me,” Cadance added as she did the same.

Shiny...well, Cadance had outright told Sunset where Shining Armor fit in their relationship during the couple outing the two mares had last Tuesday, when they were by themselves. Shiny came first in everything. Every consideration, everything they did, both the girls had agreed to put his wants before their own. When he spoke, they were to drop everything and listen, even if they were ready to yell at each other.

Sunset had thought it was to avoid another fight like the one they had before the Formal, with the two alicorns verbally pushing Shiny back and forth between them. But now, she wasn’t so sure. Shining Armor...grounded the two of them.

The realization made her blink as a strange feeling of comfort found its way into Sunset’s mind. She didn’t like to admit it, but...she had been pretty unsure if the three of them were going to work out in the long run. It was based on a human idea after all, and those things couldn’t even keep half of their marriages together. But now…

Sunset nuzzled their stallion and smiled. “I love you, Shiny.”

“Mmmm, me too,” Cadance said before she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “So, seeing as how we woke you up before you could finish what feels like a very interesting dream, how about we get you some release, Shiny?”

“If you want us to,” Sunset added before he had any time to think.

With the topic of sex in the forefront again, Shining Armor turned a delightful shade of red. “W-Well, if it’s okay with you...girls…”

Cadance let out a tiny whine. “Shiny,” she chided him. “You know it's always okay with us. So, which one of us do you want this morning, my shining paladin?”

The smaller alicorn pulled herself over until she was straddling Shining Armor, then gave him an incredibly sexy look before letting out a hungry moan. “Do you want me to take care of it for you?” she asked before slowly licking her lips. “You could just sit back and take it easy as I kiss you. Lick you. Wrap you in my lips and tongue until I milk you of every...last...drop.”

Sunset shivered in need at the mental image as Cadance finished the last word with a popping sound. Then, Cadance gave her a little smirk that Shining didn’t notice, lost in the fantasy of Cadance giving him a blow job.

“Or do you want somepony else?” Cadance asked before she sat up. “Somepony with a big, bouncing beautiful butt?” Cadance started to move her hips a bit. “Do you want Sunset to raise her tail for you? Do you want to come inside her, Shiny? Do you want to pound...your...pony...princess's...plump...plot? Her lips wrapped around your mighty spear as you thrust deeper, and deeper, and deeper?” Every word was accompanied by Cadance sliding back and forth across Shining’s body, making the small stallion panting grow heavier and heavier until it seemed like it was going to lose it right then and there. “Impacting that round rump over, and over again-”

“Sunset!” he said suddenly. “I want Sunset.”

Before the big alicorn could even start to feel anything about Cadance’s setup, the pink princess’s ears perked up. “Okay I’ll go start the bath,” she said happy as she rolled out of bed and trotted over to the room’s closet to retrieve a maid costume. “Oh! I also call dibs on cleanup duties!”

As Sunset got into position at the foot of the bed so Cadance could get a view of their expressions, the amber alicorn had to wonder aloud. “Cadance, does Sassy even know why you really wanted that outfit?”

Once she had slipped on the black dress, Cadance trotted over to give Sunset a pitiable look. “Oh, I’m so sorry my mistress,” she said with a pouty face and wide eyes. “I thought you wanted your personal little pony to dress in accordance with her station.”

Sunset felt a pleasurable shiver that had nothing to do with the stallion behind her getting into position. Although Cadance had never been so...that before, the way she did it… Okay, she’s right. I do like it when she does that kind of stuff.

“No offense, Princess Sunset, but when I was assigned to be your personal chambermaid, I didn’t think I’d be having to do this much laundry,” the blue and red unicorn mare said as the dirty sheets floated in her magic while she examined the maid costume.

Sunset looked at the floor. “Star, I am so, so sorry,” she apologized.

The young mare gave Sunset a look of surprised confusion. “That’s...okay, Highness,” she said before looking over to Cadance for some direction.

To which Cadance could only respond to with a shrug. Despite having been with Sunset in a sexual relationship for a week, Cadance still didn’t understand how the goddess could be completely unrestrained in private, yet so squeamish about sex when in front of other ponies. The very first day the three of them took a stroll through Canterlot on their way home from their first official date as a threesome, the pink pony had skipped down the streets proclaiming the depths of her loving passion and future plans for that night in musical verse that still run through her head from time to time…

“We’re gonna make love-love-love!” Cadance’s memory sang as she danced around her colt and fillyfriend on their way back to the castle.

...while Sunset had decided not to join in.

But whenever another pony came upon the evidence of their actions, she couldn’t even meet the young mare eye to eye.

“Um...Princess Sunset, there is something I was hoping to ask you,” the mare said hesitantly before she also looks down and started to poke the carpeted floor with her hoof. “I-I know you must be very busy, with the coronation on Wednesday and all the nobles coming in to pledge fealty and offer tribute. But you see, one of the professors overseeing my education wanted me to write an essay about what I want to do with my education and I-I’ve wrote it, but I...need somepony to proofread it for me and-oh, what am I doing, you’re a princess! I can’t ask you to-”

Sunset’s head shot up. “What?” she asked before rushing over until she cast a shadow over the smaller pony and took up a hoof. “Star, I told you that I would help you out with your education. If you need anything, just say it. Okay?”

As the two of them worked out a little schedule for when Sunset was to do her helpful deed, Cadance smiled at the plump mare with the swelling belly that only promised to get bigger. Spangled Star was probably the greatest example of Sunset’s impact on Equestria. The mare had laid with a stallion when she was in heat and was left with a foal growing inside of her after the minor noble found another tail to chase.

Despite the obvious problems a young, single mother-to-be faced, most of Equestria ignored the fact that they existed. They were a small minority that said sometimes, things didn’t end happily ever after. Even Cadance didn’t think about such things because of her own views on intercourse. Only ponies who loved each other, who were one-hundred-percent sure that they would be together when they were old and gray had foals, that was the way things were.

Anypony that created a life without that level of love was...odd.

But Sunset didn’t care about any of that. Just hearing about Spangled Star made the amber alicorn seek her out. The goddess then went about setting up an entire program to help such ponies, with Spangled Star being the test subject. And when Star reached the final month of her pregnancy, when she was too big to walk around, Cadance knew that Sunset would give her a room at the palace and employment on the staff while she finished her education in an environment where somepony could help with her foal when she wasn’t able to.

To Cadance, that was an action by the real Sunset Shimmer. It took her old habit of just bucking the rules to the side so she could do what needed to be done and combined it with the compassion and understanding that Sunset had in spades since her return.

She didn’t like to think about it too much, but there was something odd about the changes in personality Sunset had shown since her return. Cadance understood that Sunst had been through a traumatic experience, having being taken over by dark magic and shown true evil, but...the amount of remorse she felt was outright disturbing. It made her timid, afraid, and unsure of herself to unhealthy degrees. To the point where she was willing to hurt herself.

“Cadance?”

The sound of her name drew the princess out of her thoughts and over to the young stallion standing in front of her. “Yes, Shiny?”

“Are you okay?” he asked as he took a tentative step forward. “You looked a bit worried.”

Cadance blinked before her heart fluttered just a bit and she stepped forward to give Shiny a kiss on his nose. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?” she said before swinging around to put a wing over Shining Armor’s back to nuzzle the side of his neck. “Love you so much.”

The physical contact left Shining Armor a little flustered, but Cadance couldn’t stop herself. The more time she spent with Shiny, the more the pink princess saw him as the perfect coltfriend for a princess. He was just so kind, supportive and understanding that Cadance knew she couldn’t have found a better match for Sunset.

Of course it also made her feel the tiniest bit guilty about being in the relationship.

“And I was just thinking about how to juggle this week's schedule,” she half-lied. The thought had been on her mind, and it would be tricky to figure in Sunset’s healing relationship with her mother on top of their threesome, Shiny’s family relationships, all of their social relationships, and Sunset’s big day that would be here come the middle of the week.

Shining Armor chuckled. “When you talk like that, I feel like I’m with my sister...sometimes.”

The comparison made shrug. “Hey, a good relationship does need a bit of work,” she said before giving Shiny another peck on the cheek.

“Should we give you two the room?” Sunset asked evenly.

Cadance looked back to her fillyfriend, which felt amazing to classify Sunset as, and smiled before she leaned into her coltfriend. “Well if Shiny’s up for it, I could give him a ride.” Although they had their uses, Sunset’s inventions paled in comparison to the real thing.

As soon as Cadance made her reply, Shining Armor went stiff...in the wrong way. “I...I’m good.”

“Okay,” Cadance said before either of the ponies she was with could start thinking about how turning down sex was a bad thing. “Well come on you two, let’s get going.”

When Sunset didn’t follow, Cadance looked back to her. “Something wrong?”

“Shiny and I are eating at his house, remember?” Sunset asked.

The reminder made Cadance sigh. “Right. Sorry sweetheart. I was listening it’s just...have a bit on my mind,” she said. “Dating schedules, and uh...hey, Sunset? What do you want for your fealty gift?”

Sunset frowned. “Say what?”

“What’s a...fealty gift?” Shining Armor as he looked back and forth between the two alicorns.

Cadance didn’t break her gaze away from Sunset. “Everytime a new alicorn becomes a princess, the nobles of the kingdom gather to present their new royal with a gift that shows their devotion and proves their loyalty to the pony in question.”

“Exactly,” Sunset said. “Superior. You’ve been a princess longer than me. Hell, since she’s just been re-crowned, you technically have superiority over Celestia!”

The argument made Cadance snort. “You’ve been trained in how to deal with statecraft since you were twelve. You’ve actually ruled Equestria for a little while. And do we even have to mention just how much more skilled and powerful you are than me?” Cadance demanded.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “We just established that you’re the one in charge!”

“Of our relationship!” Cadance exclaimed. “I may be the one that decides where we go on a date, but if something happens that requires a real princess, you’re the one that I’m going to be looking to.”

As Sunset looked away, Cadance trotted away from Shiny and moved to Sunset. She looked up at the bigger alicorn until they were nose to nose and sighed. “Sunset, if you want to follow my lead socially, that’s fine,” the pink princess told her goddess. “Hay, I’ll even agree with it. But do not think for one bucking second that you do not outrank me in the Equestrian hierarchy. Understand?”

Sunset slumped a bit. “Okay,” she relented.

“Good,” Cadance told her before kissing the pony on her muzzle and rearing up a bit to whisper in Sunset’s ear. “And tonight, you’re going to show this little upstart that her place is beneath you, Mistress.”

The word got a deep blush out of Sunset, which Shining Armor brought to an end with a question. “So, I need to bring you a present, Sunset?”

“Oh, um,” she said before getting herself under control “No, Shiny. It’s just the nobles. Oh, and the high ranking members of the military. But because most of them can’t afford the level of opulence that other ponies can, they’re usually given a task by the...new...oh...oh I just realized something!”

Cadance started to get a little worried as Sunset got one of those looks on her face.

“Muha-muhaha. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the amber goddess cackled as she threw her head back and howled in mad laugher.

Shining Armor leaned over to Cadance. “Should we be worried?”

When Cadance entered alone and took her seat, Celestia greeted the other princess with a nod. “Good morning, Cadance,” she said. “Did you have a pleasant night?”

The pink princess gave a little nod. “Oh yes,” she replied with a smile. “ And a good morning.You?”

“It was nice enough,” Celestia told her. “Is Sunset…”

“She enjoyed herself too,” the pink princess informed the bigger alicorn. “Although, if you’re asking if she’s coming, Sunset decided to eat breakfast with Shiny’s family this morning.”

Like every time that her daughter was absent as of late, Celestia didn’t know whether to be worried...or greatful. “Oh...hm...Cadance, you’ve overseen several relationships before coming to Canterlot. Is a week sufficient time for me to meet with Shining Armor’s parents?”

Cadance blinked at the question. “You’re...asking me for parental relationship advice?”

Despite how all her instincts as a princess telling her to admit that she wasn’t all-knowing was the last thing that she should ever do, Celestia nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid I don’t really know what to do when my daughter is...dating,” she said, trying the word’s taste out in her mouth.

Something else occured to Celestia as well. “Oh! Not that your relationship with Shining Armor and mental health aren’t equally as important to me, my niece,” she said without her usual regal dignity.

Cadance gave Celestia a half-lidded stare. “I don’t know whether to roll my eyes, or turn that into an insult about how little you care about Sunset if it’s equal to what you feel to a pony whose family title is only a matter of proper manners,” the pink pony said. “Auntie.”

Celestia couldn’t help but wince at the sting her words held. “Sorry.”

“No, that was wrong of me,” Cadance replied as the little bit of ire she displayed evaporated. “I get it. I’m the emotionally stable alicorn with a level of magical skill that would be a waste of time to teach until she’s got the general basics down. Sunset needs you more than me, I am not debating that. Even if it does mean my feathers get ruffled with a little jealousy from time to time. But it’s nothing major.”

After taking a few seconds to let Cadance get herself under control, Celestia bowed her head. “No, you have a right to be angry. I threw your needs to the side to focus on her,” she said before smiling a bit. “So, how is your relationship with Shining Armor going?”

Cadance stiffened a little at the question. “Oh, well...um...he’s...a nice colt,” she said before looking over to one of the windows.

“That’s not something I’d expect to hear from a pony like you, Cadance,” Celestia told her. “Is there something wrong?”

Several more seconds passed as Cadance began to sweat just a little bit, and then the pink pony looked back to Celestia. “Okay look, if I tell you this, none of it gets to Sunset,” she said. “And I mean ever.”

Although centuries of negotiation had taught her to never agree to a deal before hearing all of the terms, the bigger alicorn nodded. “Very...well.” Celestia quickly choked down the unease rising in her throat from going against her instincts.

“I love Shiny, I really do. He’s adorable, and fun and kind, and a million other things that just make him the perfect coltfriend for a princess,” Cadance said.

Celestia put her hooves together. “I’m sensing a but coming.”

After nervously licking her lips, Cadance took in a sharp breath. “There’s something bothering him, and I have no idea how do identify it, or even fix it,” she confessed. “On top of which, I’ve got Sunset’s problems to deal with. Let’s be honest, Celestia, Sunset deciding to stay in Canterlot didn’t actually fix any of her problems, it’s just her deciding not to cripple herself again. She’s still a wreck, and the only thing I’ve been able to do is lift my tail, or shove my face between her cheeks to keep her distracted for the past week. Oh, and as long as we’re being honest here, I’m starting to feel guilty about this threesome we’ve agreed to get into!”

“What?” Celestia asked as her confusion mounted along with Cadance's panic.

The pink pony let out a loud snort. “What? You thought I knew what I was doing when I went, ‘Oh Sunset, let’s be a threesome’?” she asked before banging her hooves down on the table. “The reason I did it is because all my projections said that Sunset was going to get another coltfriend!”

Celestia let the information wash over her, it’s weight cocking her head to the side. “So, there will be four of you, then?”

“Of course not!” Cadance exclaimed as she waved a hoof as if to slap that possibility away like a bothersome fly. “I’m talking about the colt that Sunset is going to pick up after Shiny dies. Then she’ll get another mare to fill my shoes when I’m gone. Having more than a single special somepony will allow her to find more and move on once we pass away. That’s why I pushed for this whole thing, to make sure Sunset is willing to take another pony as her lover when Shiny and I pass on.”

After hearing Cadance’s angry confession, Celestia opened her mouth to speak.

“And now that I’m actually in a threesome, I can see that it’s a lot more work than I thought it was going to be,” Cadance continued before Celestia could talk. “Not to mention how it’s affecting pony society. I’m meeting with a journalist from Romance today, and I know what the topic of choice for that interview is going to be.”

Celestia took a sip of her tea and decided to lend the sympathetic ear. “I can see that it’s causing you a great deal of stress.”

“Got any advice about that?” Cadance asked.

“Well, from what I hear, you seem to have a great deal of really big problems with what sounds like some pretty complicated solutions. So many big problems that you’re feeling overwhelmed by them,” Celestia told her as she brought an old lesson about life to the forefront of her mind. “But what a lot of ponies dealing with big problems don’t realize is, big problems are actually made up of several little problems. And little problems actually have very simple solutions. So the first thing you need to do is, figure out what it is you want to accomplish.”

Cadance snorted again. “The happiness of my special someponies, obviously.”

“And what’s standing in the way of that goal?” Celestia asked.

“Well...whatever’s brining Shiny down lately…”

Celestia nodded. “Which I have agreed to help you identify.”

“And...Sunset’s...guilt,” Cadance said. “Which...all I’ve been able to do is distract her from. Because I have no idea how to help her with this. She feels bad about a pony who, for all intents and purposes, no longer even came into existence. How can she feel bad about a pony who didn’t exist to suffer from whatever Sunset did to her? How am I supposed to help her when I don’t even understand where she’s coming from?”

When it looked like Cadance had finally finished, Celestia poured herself some more tea. “You know, Sunset was angry at me for not writing to her when she was on Earth, despite the fact that it never happened this time around,” the big alicorn said. “The only way we got past it was when we were stuck in the vault and had to talk to each other.”

Cadance frowned. “So you’re saying...what? That I should stop distracting Sunset and force her to deal with these things?”

“Is she even ready to deal with her guilt?” Celestia asked as evenly as she could.

Once again, Cadance took several second to respond. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Guilt is something I am well acquainted with,” Celestia told her. “I have had to live with it for the better part of a millennia. In many ways, I am just like Sunset, and despite the words we shared a week ago, I can completely understand her desire to go back to Earth as a self-imposed exile. If she can not deal with the guilt of her actions, however foolish they may see to us, and move past it, then you need to help her find a way to live with the guilt, not just ignore it with the help of some physical distractions.”

Cadance was silent as she thought over what Celestia had told her. Although the bigger pony had her own ideas, she was ashamed to admit that she didn’t know Sunset well enough to guess if any of them would work. So, she sat silently as the younger princess became lost in thought.

“Okay,” the little pink pony princess said after a while. “By the way, I talked Sunset into spending some actual time with you today. I don’t know what the two of you are going to do, but I do have some advice when it comes to your relationship with her.”

With her curiosity peaked, Celestia sat up a little straighter. “Oh? What would that be?”

“Don’t get into an apology loop with her,” Cadance said. “The two of you trying to take the blame for everything just makes you run in circles. I know you don’t want Sunset to put everything on her back, Auntie. But if all the two of you do is fight over which one of you is to blame, then nopony ever gets forgiven. And right now, Sunset needs forgiveness more than absolution.”

Despite the fact that Sunset could pop anywhere she wanted in a moment, she always landed a few blocks away from the house so that Shining Armor could enjoy a few moments in a situation as close to alone as the two of them could get before they got to the insanity that was his family. As soon as they landed, Shining found Sunset’s wing across his back and he put his side up against hers before laying his head against her neck, several inches below her chin.

They got a few steps before Sunset stopped a shuddered, making Shining Armor pull his head away and look up at her in concern. “Something wrong?”

“Shiny, you ever get one of those moments when you have this feeling of intense terror just rush right through your spine like a lightning bolt?” she asked.

He thought about it for a moment, then gave her an even expression. “You’ve met my sister, right?”

The previous nerves forgotten for a moment, Sunset giggled before she leaned forward and kissed Shining on his lips. “I love you,” she said.

Shining Armor turned back towards his house and started back home, Sunset quickly falling in beside him before she reapplied her wing around him. The young stallion tried not to blush at the action.

After Cadance had told Sunset the significance of putting her wings across another pony’s back, she had spent every moment she could in public showing ponies they were together. Cadance did too, after a fashion, but not nearly as much as Sunset. The amber alicorn did everything she could to announce that they were together, short of carrying a sign that read, ‘SHINING ARMOR IS MY COLTFRIEND!’.

It was...more than a little embarrassing.

Not that he could ever actually tell her that. Sunset’s happiness was a fragile thing, and Shining Armor didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it.

“Something wrong, Shiny?” she asked.

The question got a stumble from the young stallion. “W-What?” he stuttered.

Sunset gave the smaller pony a little smile before she quickly pulled Shining Armor along with her until they were between a pair of houses and out of the general populace’s view. She released her grip and turned around to get right in his face. “Is something wrong?”

“N-No,” Shining Armor stammered before blushing at the close attention and looking away. “I’m fine.”

A little frown appeared on Sunset’s face. “You know, when you say stuff like that with a face like that, it just makes me want to know more.”

Shining Armor looked out of the tiny alley Sunset had pulled them down. “Sunset, don’t we need to get going to my house for breakfast? We told Mom we’d be coming by this morning. She wouldn’t want us to be late.”

“Yeah, I suppose I should do something about that,” Sunset said before her horn lit up so brightly that Shining Armor couldn’t look at it. There was a bright flash, and then...nothing happened to change his current situation. “There we go!”

After Shining Armor finished getting the spots out of his eyes, he looked back to Sunset. “What’d you do?”

Sunset smiled. “Bought us six weeks to talk before we need to get to your house,” she said before indicating the sky overhead.

The explanation made Shining Armor look upward, where he saw a pegasus just hanging in the air. He wasn’t moving at all, not even his wings were flapping. He was completely frozen. “Oh...right, you can stop time.”

Meaning that the possibility of escape was just about zero.

“So, what’s bothering you?” Sunset asked before her expression went from a one of curiosity to a thin smile. “Or are you feeling jumpy for...another reason, hmmm?”

Shining Armor stepped away from the bigger pony. “A-Another reason?”

“Well you are a boy,” Sunset said as she cornered Shining Armor at the edge of her temporal bubble’s safety shield. “In my experience, sex is what guys your age have on their mind ninety-percent of the time. So if you want to do it after breakfast, we can go up to your room and I can give you some relief.”

The sort-of accusation made Shining Armor frown. “Sunset! I don’t want to have sex with you!” he exclaimed, making the bigger pony back off a step as Shining Armor got himself under control. “Um...I mean, that’s not what’s bothering me.”

Sunset blinked at Shining’s reaction. “Oh...um, sorry,” she apologized before looking away from the unicorn. “I shouldn’t have assumed. I know you’re not just a mass of hormones, Shiny. Not that I’m any better. Hell, I’m actually worse than you, way worse.”

“Uh, Sunset,” Shining Armor said.

But it didn’t look like Sunset was willing to hear him at the moment. “You don’t think Cadance and I have been pressuring you into sex, have we?” she asked before plopping her rear down on the grass and groaning. “Ugh, I’m such an idiot!”

“Sunset!” Shining Armor snapped, making the amber alicorn look over to him in confusion. “First off, you and Cadance may be practically predatory when it comes to...physical love, haven’t made me do anything. And that’s not what I was getting nervous about. Although, uh...if you feel like spending some time together after breakfast, I’d like that too.”

A little blush appeared on Sunset’s cheeks. “Well, I’ve got to do the day court with my mom, but…” she looked up and smiled before turning her attention back on Shining Armor. “I can always find the time for you, Shiny.”

Shining Armor felt the pace of his heart increase slightly at the amber alicorn’s smile. “So um...like I was trying to say...for the past week, I’ve been watching you giving Cadance her uh...lessons.”

“I know it’s not exactly how ponies are supposed to learn magic,” she said. “But theoretical skills without practical application isn’t much use. I’m pushing her along pretty fast, but let’s be honest. A princess that can only use magic in a classroom is useless.”

The summarization of their nightly activities made Shining Armor shake his head. “Sunset, I don’t think you get it. The things you and Cadance do…” He took a deep breath and jumped all in. “I want to join in on them.”

Sunset frowned. “I thought you were having second thoughts about joining the guard.”

“I am,” he nodded. “But that doesn’t mean I want to limit my options before I even get done considering them. Besides, it’s not like getting some exercise is a bad thing.”

The expression she was wearing didn’t look like she agreed with the idea. “Well...that’s...true, but...Shiny…” Sunset let out a tiny whine and stopped talking all together.

Shining Armor frowned at the weird behavior Sunset as she pulled in on herself. “What?”

“I...don’t what to see you get hurt because of us,” she said in a pathetically small voice.

“Sunset, you’re not making any sense,” he replied.

The amber alicorn shifted around in place a bit. “Okay...look,” Sunset began. “Remember two weeks ago when I made you feel like a total loser just by showing off my magic, super strength and...all that?”

Shining Armor cocked his head to the side. What did that have to do with anything? “not my proudest moment, but...yes.”

“Well...Cadance has been making up for lost time with how fast she’s improving physically,” Sunset told him. “I just don’t want another repeat of you being emasculated because some alicorn is bench pressing twice as much as you and stuff. And now I hate myself for saying it, because it shows how little faith I have in your maturity, even if it isn’t fair that a guy who’s always wanted to join the guard is getting shown up by a couple of girls just because they’ve got tribal advantages that he doesn’t and-”

Before his big fillyfriend could go into a full blown rambling panic, Shining Armor raised his voice. “Sunset!” he said, cutting her off and getting the giant pony’s attention. He looked up unto her eyes. “First off, nopony is ever going to call foul that you’re stronger than me. I mean, you can probably meet Princess Celestia eye to eye these days!”

“Nostrils.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Say what?”

A blush appeared on Sunset’s cheeks. “My eyes are even with Mom’s...nostrils,” she said. “We checked a couple of days ago when I attended court. Which is really disturbing considering I haven’t even started to develop my alicorn physique yet. My head is still just as big as ever, my horn hasn’t gotten any longer in comparison to the rest of my body, and...well, okay, I think my butt may have gotten a bit bigger, but I have been eating a lot more recently.”

Shining Armor sighed and did his best to keep him mind off of Sunset’s round, plump perfect plot that was just begging to be measured by his hooves. “Well, I wouldn’t say you’re even with Celestia in that department just yet,” he said as he failed miserably not to think about Sunset’s rear end and looked over to it. “She’s still got about three inches on you.”

“Shiny?”

The young stallion looked back up to Sunset’s face. “Yeah?”

“We are going to go back to the topic we were just talking about, and you are never again going to even hint that you know the exact measurements of my Mom’s butt, just like we’re not supposed to mention the stacks of porn I found under your bed that one time, okay?” Sunset asked in a perfectly amicable voice that hid a very dark threat underneath.

Shining Armor gulped. “Okay,”

“So, yeah...even if you had a normal alicorn’s level of strength, nopony would think twice when you won the wrestling match,” he told her. “And Cadance…” The idea of the prettier princess being able to tie Shining Armor in knots with her hooves might have seemed a bit out there, but...she was an alicorn that grew up as the only pegasus of a farming community. “I suppose it makes sense.”

She had been looking a little more fit lately.

A second later, Sunset took another step and pulled Shining Armor into a hug, pulling her wings around to envelop him completely. “I just don’t want you to get hurt again, Shiny,” she said before kissing him on the cheek. “I love you too much to see something like that.”

After a few more seconds passed, Sunset pulled herself back. “So...while we’ve got the time, is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?”

The question stirred something in Shining Armor’s memory. Something he was pretty sure his little sister was going to be upset with him about. “Uh...actually, there is something else I need to ask you…”

“You want to take me to the Princess Fair?”

Sunset forced herself to smile at the little purple unicorn that looked up at her with confusion. “Yeah, Twily! We can go on the rides, have some candy, and spend some time together. I know I haven’t had as much time for you as I said I would lately and I want to spend some time making some memories together.”

A tiny frown appeared on the little unicorn’s face. “Yeah, but that’s not your fault. You’ve been having to get ready for your coronation, teach Cadance magic, help my brother with his hoof-to-hoof combat training-”

Sunset blinked. “Shiny’s what?”

“The-uh, wrestling drills you and Cadance have been helping me with,” Shining Armor clarified. “For the-you know, guard training.”

With Shining Armor giving her the polite code word for their sexual activities, Sunset’s smile forze on her face. Her eyes darted over to the pair of ponies sitting at the breakfast table before she looked back down to Twilight. “So...um, are you saying that you don’t want to go to the fair with me?”

“Well…” Twilight said before she paused in thought. “Wouldn’t going to the library make more sense? Oh! You could take me to the royal archives!”

The options made Sunset internally groan. Now, she understood why Shining Armor had asked her to get Twilight to go to the fair. While she didn’t have the same disposition as Sunset did when she was a filly, the amber alicorn had prefered to curl up with a mystical text and practice her magic by herself more than anything. She knew Twilight wasn’t going to follow her down that path, but the similarities were quite disturbing.

There was also Twilight’s future that she needed to think about. The little purple unicorn was supposed to grow up to be a princess. If Sunset messed with her too much, that future might disappear.

But haven’t I already decided to do just that? Sunset asked herself. She had decided to stay in Equestria, decided to stay with Shining Armor, and that meant being involved with Twilight Sparkle.

And even though part of her was worried about changing things too much, if it was any other filly in the world, Sunset knew that she wouldn’t be letting her become a shut-in before even becoming double digits. Which meant she wouldn’t be letting Twilight do it either.

“Twily, the fair is only going to last a week and I’m going to be so busy after my coronation that I don’t think I’ll be able to take you then,” Sunset told her. “The archives will be there for years after its done. So let’s go to the fair now, and if everything works out, we can see where things go from there. That sound good?”

The foal’s defenses began to show weakness as she looked away from Sunset. “Well…”

Sunset beant down to look at Twilight face to face. “Come on, Twily, I promise, you’ll have lots of fun. I’ll even bring Cadance. And maybe I can even swing Princess Celestia if-”

“Not Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed in terror, making Sunset lift her head in surprise. “I’ll-I’ll go! With you, and Princess Cadance. There’s um, no need to bother Princess Celestia.”

The oddity of Twilight’s reaction to seeing Celestia got a frown from Sunset, but she shrugged it off a moment later. She probably thought Celestia was too busy and would get mad if she was asked to attend such a frivolous affair.

Which would probably encourage her to do just that, Sunset realized. She just needed to think of how to ask her mother in a way that would have her agreeing to it.

Cadance took her seat on the couch in front of the reporter and shifted around until she was comfortable on her belly. Something told her that this was going to take some time and considering the subject, the more comfortable she was physically, the longer her patience would last.

Tea and various other treats and fruits adored the trays on the coffee table in front of her, as well as a quill and several inkwells.

The mare across from her was a slender unicorn that was the usual height for a high-class canterlot pony, with a bright orange coat and green mane. A large heart with a quill on it adored her flank, which went well with her name.

“Hello, Love Letter,” Cadance said. “Before we begin, I just want to say that I love Romance. I placed a special order for it every month back home, and your columns were always the best part.”

The writer smiled at the compliment. “Thank you, Princess Cadance. I’m always pleased to meet a fan,” she said before a pink glow brought her quill and writing pad up to her. “However, I should warn you, I’m not going to take it easy on you in this interview. Ponies have a lot of questions about your recent activities, and the newspapers...um…”

Cadance giggled. “Yes, Sunset has been a bit...fierce in her actions to keep Shiny out of the public spotlight,” she agreed. “ By the way, I need to remind you of Empress Sunset’s last declaration, which forbids any investigation of a pony below the age of eighteen without both the pony’s and the parent’s expression permission for reasons other than a criminal investigation. But I am a princess, so…” she left the statement incomplete. “Now, I’m running a bit late because of a discussion I had with Princess Celestia, so let’s get started, shall we?”

“Very well,” Love Letter replied. “Just to confirm, you are currently in a relationship with both a young stallion and another mare, correct?”

The overy-expected question got a mirthful roll of Cadance’s eyes. “Yes, the three of us are in a relationship,” she said before becoming a bit more serious. “And by that, I mean the three of us. I spend just as much time being romantic with Shiny as I do with Sunset.”

Love Letter looked up after she jotted down her words, then looked back up at Cadance. “So, the three of you do everything together?”

“Oh, most definitely not,” the pink princess said with a laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, we do spend a great deal of time together. But there needs to be a balance.”

After making another note, Love Letter frowned. “What do you mean?”

Cadance thought about her young relationship for a moment. “Well, we’ve only been dating for a week, you understand,” she said before looking back to Love Letter. “But, I have been on a date with just Shiny and just Sunset, and they’ve been together. And we will continue to have two-pony date nights, at least once a week.”

“Now, we know that the three of you began your relationship at Canterlot Academy’s Fall Formal, and you were seen at the Solar Battles premiere with Shining Armor,” Love Letter began. “When did then-Empress and soon-Princess Sunset enter into the relationship?”

As her cheeks began to heat up in embarrassment, Cadance let out a nervous laugh before she reached out with a wing to get some tea. “Actually, I’m the one that butted in,” the pink princess clarified. “You see, Shiny had caught Sunset’s attention several days before, and the two of them had even had a couple of dates before then.”

Love Letter frowned in confusion. “Then, why were you on a date with Shining Armor at all?”

“Because the two of them were just so bad at it!” Cadance said before laughing at the memory. It helped hide her frown as she began the story of how the three of them ended up together. “You see, when the two of them had their first date, I had set things up to make Shining Armor look like your classic heroic stallion…”

“We really need to implement a more orderly system for the audiences,” Sunset said as the last petitioner made her way out of the throne room before the guards shut the door.

Celestia looked over to her daughter. “Why do you say that?”

The question got an even look from the amber alicorn. “Mom, nearly twenty-percent of the pones who came here got sent somewhere else by you,” Sunset reminded her. “And about half of the others could have gotten what they needed from somepony else.”

“Oh?” Celestia asked before looking over to the smaller alicorn. “I always found it good to know what my little ponies were in need of and who was to be delivering it to them.”

Sunset let out a small grunt. “Okay, getting the pulse of the population is important,” she admitted. Not to mention harder without online polls or Twitter. “But, I’m just saying…” The amber alicorn stopped, unsure if she should continue.

In truth, Sunset wanted for Celestia to admit that she was right. But pushing the issue would cause another fight. So, she just stopped talking and looked at the floor.

“But, I can see the appeal in what you are getting at,” Celestia said. “My way isn’t the fastest or most organized. I’m sure you have a dozen ways to expedite the process so that we can help as many ponies as possible. Perhaps we can come up with some kind of system to do that, together.”

As tempting as the offer was, it was work, and Sunset had told Cadance that she wouldn’t spend the day working with her mother. “I’ll draw up something official tonight and we can talk about it then,” she said.

With the last bit of business out of the way, Sunset found herself hesitating. Now came the hard part, talking to her mother when the only subjects available were herself and Celestia. So, she sucked a breath and…

“Sunset?” Celestia said before she got a bit closer to the smaller pony. “Is something wrong? You look uneasy.”

Her next words came out of her mouth in a rush. “Of course I’m uneasy! I’m supposed to do something with you today,” she said before looking down and taking a breath. With the hard part over, Sunset's heart slowed down and she organized her thoughts. “Outside of work, I mean.”

Celestia put a wing around her daughter as an uneasy look appeared on her face. “Alright, if you want to do something with me today, I have some time. But, I would like to know what is it that’s bothering you so much before we begin. Is spending time with me really that bad?”

The way Celestia phrased the question made Sunset knock her mother’s wing aside. “Don't try that defensive crap on me!” Sunset said before she trotted off the dias and spun around to face her mother. “You know what we’re like unsupervised!”

“Sunset,” Celestia said, actually having the the gall to look hurt over the fact that Sunset had called her on trying to be sympathetic.

Then Sunset’s eyes widened at her own actions and she hung her head. “I’m sorry Mom,” she apologized. “I love you, I really do. And I do want to spend time with you. Not as teacher and student, but as mother and daughter. And I just-”

“Stop,” Celestia commanded her, making Sunset clamp her jaw shut. “Sunset, first off, I forgive you for snapping at me. To be honest, I need to grow a thicker coat for times like this. Now, what do you want to do with me today?”

Sunset blinked at the sudden turn of topic. They had almost started going in circles again. She would getting wrapped up in the past and drag Celestia along with her. Sunset needed to put a stop to that. “Mom, you had plans to make me an alicorn for years, right?”

Celestia blinked at the sudden change of topic and tone. “What?” she asked before recovering. “Well, yes. I wouldn’t have made you my student if I didn’t see the potential in you.”

“And what was the biggest thing you wanted to do with me after I became an alicorn?” Sunset asked without missing a beat. If she slowed down to think, she might trip herself up.

Once again, Celestia took a moment to fight through her surprise and the confusion that came from it. “Well, honestly?” she asked before answering her own question. “I wanted to teach you how to fly, and all the other things a pegasus’s mother does with her child.”

Sunset felt a pang of guilt for letting Cadance being the one to do that when Celestia and the amber alicorn had still been fighting. That feeling was quickly replaced by a wave of fear as she remembered what happened the first time she tried to fly, the sensation of falling through the clouds as she rushed to meet the ground.

She knew that being afraid of flying was stupid. She had shaken off a fall from Canterlot for crying out loud! As far as Sunset knew, the was pretty much indestructible. She had no reason to be afraid of heights.

“So let’s go flying!” Sunset said to her mother before fear could paralyze both her legs and her mouth.

Sunset fought to keep herself steady. She was indestructible. There was no need to worry. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Although she tried to keep her attention on her Pa, the orange filly's eyes kept drifting back to the lopsided saddlebags on her Ma’s back. The even smaller filly was sleeping soundly in the left bag while a heavier sack full of food hung down a bit further as they moved through an area that didn’t have any trees with fruit growing on them.

When she looked over to her older brother for an explanation about what was going on, the red stallion gave an unknowable shrug to show he was just as clueless as she was.

“Why’re goin’ all the way out here, Papa?” Applejack asked.

Bright Mac took a moment to shoo away an insect with his Stetson, then put the hat back on to look at his daughter. “Well Applejack, yer brother’s probably a mite too young to remember, and you definitely are, but when we get a new member of our family, the first thing we do as a family is go have ourselves a picnic in a very special place.”

Applejack looked over to her Ma and baby sister. “But, Apple Bloom’s been around for weeks now,” she said.

“Jackie, you know your sister’s been a tad sickly,” Buttercup told her daughter. “We just needed to make sure she was okay before heading out.”

Then Big Mac had to start opening his big mouth. “Course, we also had to go and see Empress Sunset about some help for the apple blight. Have to wonder why she took such a shine to you, Applejack. Don’t even have yer cutie mark yet, but that Sunset just called you on up to her like you were something as special as zap apple jam,” he said before frowning and looking around. “Say, I don’t mean to sound like a yellow pony, but... ain't we a bit close to the Everfree?”

Bight Mac let out a little laugh. “Oh, Ah don’t think we need to fret about some Everfree-”

“Awhoooooooo!”

Applejack's legs went stiff at the familiar sound of timber wolves howling. While the few times she had heard it before had been reason to get excited for an upcoming zap apple harvest, those howls had been quite a ways off. The one Applejack had just heard sounded much closer.

So close, it probably came from the timber wolf that walked out of the brush right ahead of them.

Or it might have come from the one that walked out to stand next to the first wolf.

Then again, it could have come from any of the five wolves that made their way out of the underbrush, snarling at the five ponies in front of them.

“Oh dear,” Buttercup said.

Bright Mac gulped. “Buttercup, Ah think you need to be taking the youngin’s back to the farm now.”

Even young as she was, Applejack could see what was going on. “Papa no!” she said as she galloped up to her Pa to grab onto his leg.

“Jackie,” Bright Mac said as he turned around to face his daughter. The big stallion took off his hat and gave it to Applejack. “Now, I don't want nothin’ to happen to mah new hat. So Ah’m needin’ you ta watch over it fer me, okay?”

Applejack looked down at the head covering. “But, Pa-”

Before Applejack could get started, her Ma spoke. “Big Mac, I think you need to escort your sisters back home. Take your little sister off my back, and go. Now.”

“Buttercup-”

“There’s five of them, Bright Mac,” Buttercup said in a tone that refused to even be argued with as she unlatched her bag and foal carrier to put it on Big Mac’s back. “Now, you two need to get going. We’ll...catch up to you, soon as we can.”

Despite what her Ma was saying, Applejack knew that this would be the last time that she would be seeing her parents. She grabbed her Pa’s hat in a death grip and did her best to burn the memory into her mind. She took note of the trees. She took note of the expressions on her parents faces. She took note of the five wolves that were just standing there, snarling and waiting for an opening. She even took note of the odd whistling sound coming from somewhere behind her, and...up?

Applejack blinked and looked up in time to see a gold and red blur rush down into her sights, then followed the trail just in time to watch...something slam into the timberwolves hard enough to smash them all into kindling and leave a large crater as it did so.

Then, the little filly handed the object in her hooves back to the big stallion standing next to her. “Here’s yer hat back, Papa.”

“Thank ye kindly, Jackie,” Bright Mac said as he took the Stetson that was offered.

Once she had taken back the basket and the filly carrier back from her son, Buttercup looked over to the large crater. “What do you suppose that was?” she asked before taking a half-step forward, then looked back to the filly on her back and reversed course.

And then, just to make the whole thing even more confusing, Princess Celestia dropped out of the sky.

“Sunset! Sunset? Are you alright?” the big alicorn cried out in a panicked tone as she landed at the edge of the giant hole. “Please, say something!”

A second later, an amber alicorn rose out of the ground. Although her wings were spread, she didn’t flap them to gain any altitude. Instead, her body was surrounded in a blue aura. “Flap them hard, she says!” Former-Empress and Future-Princess Sunset Shimmer said as she floated in the air and glared at Princess Celestia, dirt falling from her mane.

For her part, Princess Celestia took a step back, then returned the scowl. “Oh for crying out loud,” she grumbled. “Don’t give me that. You need to learn to move your wings if you want to fly.”

“Oh? Let’s see here,” Sunset said as she made a show of looking to her perfectly still wings. “Hey look at that, another fact of pony flight that you don’t know anything about!”

Princess Celestia scowled at Sunset for a moment, then lifted a horseshoe and tossed it at the amber alicorn. It hit the smaller pony on the horn.

“OW!” Sunset cried out before the glow around her vanished, and she glided forward to stumble onto the ground and land face first in front of the bigger alicorn, who was smiling at her.

“You know, if you would learn to flap those wings without creating hurricane force winds, you wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that,” Princess Celestia said with a small laugh.

A loud groan came from the pit before there was a flash of light behind Princess Celestia that revealed Sunset Shimmer. She opened her mouth as the bigger pony turned to face her and...stood mute for a moment before breaking eye contact. “Okay, I’ll admit, you got me good with that one,” she said before plopping down on the ground. She lifted her wings and frowned at them. “Maybe I can come up with a spell that disperses the winds these things create before it goes far enough to destroy the local weather patterns.”

Princess Celestia sighed. “Well I suppose it’s better than never learning to fly at all,” she said before turning towards the Apple family. “Now let’s find someplace to get you cleaned up and-Oh!” The big alicorn blinked upon finally noticing the group of earth ponies standing in front of her. “Hello there, my little ponies. Who are you?”

“Applejack?” Sunset Shimmer questioned as she walked past the Princess. “Hey, I didn’t see you all there. Hope my landing-”

“Crash,” Celestia quickly corrected.

“Landing!” Sunset immediately snapped back at the big pony before looking back to the earth ponies. “Well, I hope I didn’t frighten any of you.”

Applejack stood frozen as she remembered what had almost transpired just moments ago. Despite her age, she knew that if Princess Celestia and Sunset hadn’t come barging in when they did, it probably wouldn’t have ended well for her parents. So, instead of telling her that everything was mighty fine, the little filly ran forward to give the amber alicorn a big hug. “Thank you! Thank you thank you, thank you, Princess!”

With Applejack showing her gratitude, Sunset let out a nervous laugh before she patted the little filly on the back. “Ehehehe, um...you’re a lot more...affectionate than I thought you’d be,” she said before looking up to the filly’s parents. “Umm...Anypony want to tell me why AJ is doing this, exactly?”

Chapter 2

Princess Celestia did her best not to stare at Sunset as they underwent the trek back to the Apple Family’s farm, filling the time with talk from all of the other ponies around her. Which, thanks to that talkative red stallion, let her know that the youngest had been born a few weeks ago, the middle filly was eight, and he was a strapping fourteen on top of a dozen other things about every single subject that seemed to pop into his head. Plus, she could see that there was something...special about the older filly.

Although it was good to see how the seed she had planted all those years ago had borne such wonderful fruit, Celestia honestly couldn’t care less at the moment.

Ever since they landed, Sunset had been in a daze. She barely said three words after the mother and father of the family thanked her for saving them from the timberwolves. Although Celestia knew her daughter had a problem with praise, clamming up for saving a family seemed a bit extreme. But…Celestia had to admit that it was an improvement from where Sunset had been before. At least she wasn’t going on and on about how she didn’t deserve any praise because it was just an accident.

But on the other hoof, Sunset not talking at all was also worrying to her in its own ways. At least a talking Sunset told her what was wrong.

So, when they got back to the farmhouse, Celestia immediately looked to the mother of the family. “Do you have someplace where Sunset and I could freshen up? The crash did a number on her mane, and I must admit that I’m a little out of sorts from needing to catch up to her. Haven’t had to fly that fast in years.”

“Third room down the hall on your left,” Buttercup said as she pointed in the door’s direction.

Celestia took Sunset up in her magic.

The action snapped Sunset out of her stupor, and she started kicking in the air. “M-Mom!” the amber alicorn exclaimed.

“Your mane needs combing and your feathers are very ruffled and I doubt Cadance has taught you enough to care for them on your own yet,” she told her daughter before Sunset could use her horn to free herself. “Now, come along.”

A young mare stepped out of into the hallway and looked up at Celestia in surprise. “Waaaaaat?”

“Pardon me, miss,” Celestia said as she waited for the wrinkled mare to remove herself from the hallway.

“Granny get outta the way,” Big Mac called out. “Princess Celestia’s gotta go to the bathroom!”

Sunset stopped her struggling and groaned as Celestia waited for the elder of the family to move past her. Then, she trotted down the hallway and found the room she was looking for. It was...cozy, but still big enough for Sunset and herself...after she sucked in her rear a bit to get through the door, Celestia put Sunset in the tub, and didn’t turn around.

The door’s knob pressed up against her flank, digging into her cutie mark.

“Ugh,” her daughter complained before she looked over to Celestia. “You okay there, Mom?”

Celestia tried to look back towards the doorway, but hit her horn on the wall when it ran out of room to move around. “I’m a little...snug.”

After a few seconds of giving her a considering look, Sunset lit up her horn. Celestia’s defensive spells were washed away by a tsunami of magic coming from the amber alicorn. Then, there was a bright flash and Celestia found her neck being pulled down by a massive weight before a loud thunk resounded in front of her on the floor.

However, her flank found the space to be free.

When her vision cleared, Celestia found that she had room to stumble, as she did so out of horseshoes that were five sizes too big away from a crown that couldn’t possibly fit on her head and out of the regalia that had been touching the ground when she had been wearing it. The white pony looked up at the bathroom counter that was now much too high to see over, and Sunset...who absolutely towered over her.

If she had to guess, Sunset had reduced her to the size of a foal. Oh my, no wonder Twilight had been so frightened when we met, Celestia told herself as she looked up at her daughter’s massive form. “You shrunk me?”

“Sorry,” Sunset apologized before Celestia heard the door close behind her. “But you were having problems. I’ve been practicing, but this really is hit or miss.”

After flapping her wings to get some height, which took a great deal more effort than it should have thanks to her condensed mass, Celestia used her magic to turn on the tub’s shower head and wash the dirt off her daughter’s coat. Since she had gotten Sunset talking, the white pony decided to get the topic going. “You’ve been practicing size alteration magic? Why?”

Sunset pulled in on herself. “Come on, Mom. You know why,” she said.

To make thing easier on herself, Celestia cast another spell to reduce her weight to what a pony her size should have had and adjusted her flapping accordingly. Then she surrounded the room with a privacy spell. “No, I don’t.”

“Because I don’t want to step on anypony!” Sunset told her. “I’ve been having nightmares about being this giant pony that stumbles into the Canterhorn and knocking the city off of the ledge, then falling over and crushing everypony in Ponyville to death with my giant butt!”

Celestia frowned before moving the showerhead so the water would begin removing the dirt and sand from Sunset’s mane. “Cadance hasn’t said anything about you still having nightmares.”

After tilting her head back, Sunset continued talking. “Well my pillow’s dry when I wake up, so I doubt I’m crying in my sleep,” she said before giving Celestia a disgruntled sigh. “Besides, it’s just a stupid dream. I know this magic I’ve got isn’t going to turn me into some giant monster.”

Once the surface layer of grime had been removed and sent down the drain, Sunset put a stopper on it and switched the flow to the faucet setting before she laid down in the tub that was quickly filling with water. The amber alicorn spread her wings to hand over the edge of the tub, and Celestia took a brush in her magic to start scraping the remaining dirt off of the appendages. “So, what’s the real reason you’re interested in reduction spells?”

“Because I don’t like being so tall all the time,” Sunset grumbled. “Look, I know you get a kick out of being the biggest pony in the room, and I do too most of the time, but sometimes I just want Shiny to hold me and well...I even miss being shorter than Cadance sometimes.”

Celestia flew up to land on Sunset’s back to give her daughter’s wings a closer inspection before she went about straightening her feathers. “Is this about what happened to...me and Hurricane?”

Sunset tensed underneath her before she looked around and Celestia’s field of vision was filled with her daughter’s face. “Oh geeze, I-you want to go there too?” she asked before turning her head back to face forward. “Okay, yeah. It is a little annoying that Shiny’s penis is going to be filling me up less and less. I’ve already gotten bigger since the first time we had sex and he’s gotten better at it since then with Cadance’s coaching. But...damnit, size matters Mom! I-I know it sound weird, but just once, I want him to pin me down on the bed and fill me up till it hurts or shove his cock down my throat to the point where I choke on it.”

Something they both knew wasn’t possible, even with Sunset’s level of power. Reduction magic had safeguards to keep shrunken ponies from being crushed to death, even from the inside out. If Shining Armor tried to have sex with Sunset while under the spell, she would immediately revert back to normal.

“It almost sounds like you want him to...abuse you,” Celestia said as she chose her words carefully.

A groan came from the amber alicorn, and Celestia had to fight to keep standing as the big pony shifted around. “I knew this wasn’t something I should talk to you about.”

Celestia froze, unsure if it was a good idea to press the matter. Perhaps it would be better to let Cadance take the next step on this journey, she told herself. “Okay then, let’s talk about what’s been bothering you since you got here. Is there a problem with the fact you saved the Apple family from certain death?”

“Oh…” Sunset said before tensing. “Yeah...that.”

The miniature alicorn laid down on her daughter’s back and rubbed her shoulders. “Is this about your...praise problem?”

Sunset sunk deeper into the bath’s waters. “No.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Celestia asked. “Please tell me, Sunset. I’ve seen where this leads, and it breaks my heart to see you suffer like this.”

“...I don’t think I was supposed to save that family,” Sunset said with an empty voice.

Celestia stood back up and flew over to sit on the sink so she could look her daughter at least partly in the eye. “What?” she asked as Sunset pulled the plug on the tub.

Sunset looked over at her. “I’m not supposed to be here, remember? You’re not supposed to be here! Five timberwolves? I’m not stupid! They would have killed AJ's parents while the kids ran for safety,” she said before stepping out of the bathtub and instantly drying herself off with magic. “But then, the whole thing runs through my head again, and I realize that I’m actually feeling bad about saving ponies from dying! From saving AJ from losing her parents! It’s so fucked up, it’s actually making my head hurt.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Celestia told her daughter before looking to Sunset with the intent of hugging her, then stopped when reality reminded her that Sunset was currently five times her size.

It didn’t stop Sunset from reaching out to grab Celestia like a living plushie and pulling her close. “What am I supposed to do, Mom?” she asked softly. “I compartmentalize, trick myself into not thinking about things. But times like this...I barely got by just thinking about how I’m going to ruin Twilight’s life! But I’m a princess for crying out loud! I’ve already made laws and fucked all kinds of shit up on a grand society-level scale already! Cadance is even talking to a magazine about dating two ponies at once because I was stupid enough to think Equestria already had the concept of multiple partners!

“I stay up late sometimes, planning on how to bring Earth technology to Equestria because I need to keep my mind busy before it thinks about something else,” Sunset rambled on. “I’ve already come up with ideas for things like television using a network of crystal towers and magic mirrors, that could also double as an instant facetime communication system now that I think about it. But then I realize what I’m doing and I’m horrified because...because…”

Celestia decided to finish the thought for her. “You know that you can make things better.”

After a few seconds, Sunset let out a sigh. “Yeah,” she said before she hugged her mother a little tighter. “Did I tell you that I’m taking Twilight to the princess fair tomorrow?” she asked before she immediately continued talking. “The fair’s not even supposed to be going on, and Twilight...there’s no way she would be going to a public celebration if I hadn’t agreed to take her.”

“Then why did you?” Celestia prompted.

“Because it’s the right thing to do!” Sunset exclaimed before she leaned back against the bathroom’s wall and let her mother fly free of her grip. “She’s six! But she doesn’t even know a single pony outside of her household! She needs to go out into the world and meet ponies!”

Celestia landed in front of Sunset and looked up at the massive alicorn’s stressed face. There was something else that stood out as strange about the Apple situation to her. “But, Applejack isn’t Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said. “That new maid of yours, you decided to add a law that massive ramifications for all of Equestria, snatched her up, and decided to introduce a massive change in the direction of both her life and that of her foal’s. But I haven’t seen you get upset about Star once. So, what’s so different about Applejack and her family?”

“Oh...yeah...that,” Sunset said. “Um...well, that’s a little...complicated.”

Celestia found herself wondering if Sunset’s connection to Harmony also allowed her a certain foresight. Could she also see the potential within ponies? Was that why she didn’t feel any problems with helping Spangled Star? While she was a sweet filly, Celestia knew she wouldn’t be amounting to much in the grand scheme of things.

After a few seconds of gathering her thoughts, Sunset looked back down at her mother. “Okay, so...remember how I told you that there are other versions of ponies on Earth, but...human?”

Celestia nodded a bit. “Yes,” she replied.

“Well, everything’s not the same,” Sunset said. “I mean, you don’t have a sister named Luna like the other Celestia.”

The world seemed to stop for a moment at her daughter’s words. There was a Luna in that other world. Celestia didn’t know why she was so affected by that fact. She had been to alternate realities before thanks to Starswirl’s other mirror.

But, that did stop her from wanting to know something about the other her and that Luna. Did they get along? Did they work to together? Was she...happy?

As soon as Celestia cleared her mind of such thoughts a minute later, she saw what Sunset was getting at. “And you knew an Applejack, there?”

“Yeah,” Sunset said with a nod of her head. “She was one of my friends. Twilight may have known this one too…” She reached up and cradled her head with her hooves. “I don’t really...remember. Twilight never wrote about what she did in Equestria.”

Because she didn’t care about you, Celestia wished she could tell her daughter without alienating her. That was the thing that really showed what Princess Twilight Sparkle thought about Sunset. Celestia had gone through the journal time and time again, and it was always Sunset writing to Twilight, Sunset telling Twilight what was going on, Sunset pouring her heart out to the bucking purple alicorn, getting next to nothing in response beyond the most basic of pleasantries.

Except of course for that one time she was suffering at the hands of every other human in school. Twilight had told her to stay there rather than come home where she belonged and wrote a bunch of nonsense about wendigos. It angered Celestia to no end.

“Wait,” Celestia said before frowning at her daughter. “This Applejack, was she one of those creatures that abandoned you because of the...misinformation?”

Sunset looked away from her mother. “I really don’t want to think about that.”

After letting her temper cool a bit. “Well, it’s not like the pony we just met is like that...creature,” Celestia admitted. “But then, what do you want to do about...what’s going on?”

“Honestly?” Sunset asked. “Part of me wants to wipe Applejack’s memory, replace it with a constructed one, abduct her parents, turn them to stone and hide them away for about eleven years so I don’t mess anything up!”

Celestia blinked. “And you...thought all of that up just now?”

Instead of answering, Sunset just continued on. “But another part of me wants to take Applejack to Canterlot with me tomorrow. I want her and Twilight to meet. I want to introduce them and see them play together like I did with that other Applejack. I want them to become friends and wright letters and see each other every other weekend, because-because...I just know they’ll get along and be better for it!”

“Then do it,” Celestia told her. “The second option, I mean.”

Sunset froze. “But...but I can’t!”

A few flaps of her wings brought Celestia up to meet Sunset face to terrified face. “Sunset, look at me,” Celestia told her. “When we came in here, you casually blew off five layers of mystical defenses, and reduced me to the size of a foal just so we could shut the door. You are as close to all-powerful as a pony can be. There is quite literally nothing that you can not do.”

“But-”

“I know you, daughter. If you had really wanted to go through with that first option, you would have done it,” Celestia told her. “You know what would be best. The only reason you’re even talking with me about this is because you’re looking for permission. Which I am now giving you. Send a chariot to take that filly to Canterlot, tomorrow. I’ll even end court early and go with you.”

Even after Celestia parked herself on the sink countertop, Sunset didn’t look convinced. “But...what if I mess something up?”

Celestia took in a deep breath and made a quick decision. “Sunset, as you know, I have a...sense about certain things. It’s the reason I made you my pupil,” she told her daughter. “And I’ll tell you this, Applejack is very special, full of potential. Potential that will shrivel and die if she sits here bucking apples for the rest of her life.”

A silence filled the room for several minutes as Sunset looked down at her mother. Then, she sucked in a deep breath. “Okay...but after we’re done inviting her, there’s another pony in town I want you to take a look at.”

While the response wasn’t quite what she was expecting, Celestia let out a sigh of relief. Although, she was still a bit troubled about what what Sunset had told her in regards to intercourse with Shining Armor, Cadance could take care of that worry.

A thought that made Celestia wonder just what Cadance was up to at the moment.

The pink pony princess shoved her boyfriend’s butt into the face of the archivist. “Well what about this?” she demanded as she poked the picture on Shiny’s flank with her hoof. “Are there any books in the restricted section with the picture of this star in them or on the cover?”

After a few seconds of checking out the side of her coltfriend’s butt, the old unicorn across the desk sat back and lit up her horn. She swung it to the left and then back to the right before leaning back on her pillow. “I’m sorry Princess,” she apologized. “But there aren’t any books with that symbol on them in the archives.”

“Damnit,” Cadance swore before she dropped her Shiny on the floor and let out a snort. “Well, thanks anyway. Come on Shiny, we’re done here.”

Shining Armor picked himself back up and followed after the pink princess. “Okay so, are you going to tell me what’s going on now?” he asked. “You just barged into my house while Twily was having me help her plan for tomorrow and told me to come with you to the palace.”

She was a little surprised when Twilight insisted that she needed to stay home and work on her schedule. But, if she had known Cadance planned on going to the archives… Better not tell her. “State secret,” Cadance replied automatically.

“Cadance,” Shining Armor said with a frown. “It’s my cutie mark you were showing that mare.”

The pink princess froze in mid-step and looked over to Shining Armor. What little frown she had left after the pony in the archives told her something she didn’t want to hear slowly wilted as she realized how rough she’d been treating Shiny before Cadance let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, Shiny. It’s just that this is a time-sensitive issue, and I’m a little stressed on top of everything.”

“What’s so important about my cutie mark?” Shining Armor asked.

Cadance held herself from saying anything for a moment. Both Sunset and Celestia had told her to be very careful when it came to just doling out information about the future. Shining Armor might have known that Sunset was a time traveler, but she had been very careful not to say a word about Twilight. “It’s not your mark, specifically. It’s about the six pointed star on your shield. It’s supposedly a universal symbol of magic despite not being in any bucking book and...well...how much do you know about Sunset’s...evil episode?”

The question made Shining Armor tense up and look away. Cadance could understand how much he didn’t want to drag up the memories of the conversations he had with all of the alicorns involving Sunset going overboard on telling him how she turned into a bloodthirsty murderous monster that tried to burn a group of innocent little girls to death because it was the most suffering way to die she could think of on top of being convenient.

“You know everything I know, Cadance. You were there when she told me. You and Celestia,” he said. “Do we really have to talk about it? It took an hour for us to stop Sunset from crying.”

Cadance nodded, the memory wasn’t a pleasant one for her either. “And you remember how she said she was purified of the darkness?”

“Yes,” Shiny replied.

It took a few moments for Cadance to steel herself for the next part. She didn’t even like to think about the possibility of what she was about to voice, much less talk about. “Well...what if she was a little...too purified?”

Shining Armor’s head cocked to the side. “Come again?”

“Look, I don’t want to talk bad about Sunset, but...she used to be a total jerk,” Cadance told him. “She had her reasons which I totally understand and sympathize with, but...well...she came back...not a completely different pony, but the level of guilt she seems to experience over her past actions is just so all consuming that it’s beyond all reason!”

When Cadance couldn’t think of the proper way to voice her concerns, Shining Armor spoke up. “You mean she may have been geassed in some way?”

Cadance gave her coltfriend a nervous grin at the question. Despite being an alicorn and undergoing training under Sunset, she was still a novice in magic thanks to her rural upbringing. “Geassed?”

“Well, it’s like a spell that compels you to do something,” he explained before becoming a little uneasy himself. “Uh, at least...that’s the way it works in O&O. I don’t actually know if it does that in real life.”

The admittance of his ignorance got a shrug from Cadance. “Well, it’s more of an idea than I had before,” she said.

Shining Armor frowned. “But, I thought Sunset had been gone for three years. That’s plenty of time for a pony to decide to take a new path in life.”

“That’s true,” Cadance agreed with a nod. “But according to Sunset, she only got worse during her three-year stay in the other world.”

She sighed and sat down near the stairs back up out of the archive. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just wanting this to be too easy. I want there to be some magical force that’s making Sunset do what she does, making her want to cripple herself.”

Shining Armor nodded. “That, I can understand. You wouldn’t believe how many times I wished Twily had a curse on her or something when it came to her panic attacks,” he said. “But, if Sunset really was hit by a magic spell, so...I guess it’s possible. Still, wouldn’t Princess Celestia told you if anything was wrong?”

“This is just something I’m looking into on the side, I don’t want her getting worked up without a good reason,” Cadance explained. But now that she had exhausted her last real lead on Twilight’s crown, it looked like Celestia was her only choice.

However, that was a worry for another time. Right now, she needed to pay Shiny back for abducting him. The pink pony princess stood up and smiled at her colt. “Thanks for helping me out, Shiny. I’m sorry I had to pull you away from your baby sister.”

Shining smiled. “It’s okay.”

“You know,” Cadance said as she stood up and gave him some bedroom eyes. “If you want, we could go back to my apartment and I could give you a proper thanks for putting up with me.”

Her advance was met with withdraw. “Um...it...uh,” Shining Armor stammered before his cheeks lit up.

Cadance giggled before moving close to give him a peck on the lips. “You are so adorable,” she said before giving the paralyzed pony a quick nuzzle. “Although, still being embarrassed after sleeping with me for a week is a little silly. Unless...Shiny, does me and Sunset being so open about our sexual attractions make you uncomfortable?”

“What?” he asked, startled. “Well, um-that’s not...okay, maybe a little.”

The confession made Cadance sit back down. She looked back up to the stairs. Although where she was at wasn’t the best place to hold such a conversation, nopony would be coming into the restricted archives. So, she looked over to Shining Armor. “Why is that, Shiny?”

Shining Armor looked down at the ground. “Honestly? Sometimes...well...I know it’s stupid, but...sometimes it feels like you two only want me for my body,” he said before giving Cadance a little laugh. “I know, right? Me, saying something like that. Plus, you two...well, it’s really hard to keep myself sheathed when you’re both just around.”

“So, you want to have less sex, and more activities,” Cadance surmised before she nodded. “I can do that if you want. But, uh...Sunset, well… Shiny, you know you are literally the first colt she’s seen in three years after being stuck on a world of bald apes who only get naked to engage in intercourse that she had to have sex with at the drop of a hat as a means of survival. To be honest, I’m not even sure if she knows how to be romantic. The only real experience she’s had with males is to raise her tail.

“But, I’m not Sunset,” Cadance told him as she stood up. “So, what do you want to go do, Shiny? I don’t have any other plans until Sunset comes and gets me for my nightly workout.”

Shining Armor stood mute for a moment, then shook his head quickly as if to dislodge the paralysis. “Okay...well,” he said before thinking things through for a moment. “Uh, there’s a card tournament at the Iron Golem’s Dungeon today because of Sunset’s coronation. We could go sign up for it.”

The offer made Cadance blink. She didn’t know Shiny played cards. “What type of tournament? Poker? Go Fish?”

“Uh...these cards are a bit...different.”

There was a knocking at the door.

“Sweetie, could you get that for me?”

Rarity looked up from her still unfinished masterpiece with thread in hoof, as her magic had not reached the refinement necessary to wield a needle with the precision necessary for sewing, and back to her mother. “But Moooooooom! I’m in the middle of creating something,” she explained to her parent, who was in the same place she had been since this morning, laying on the couch. “Besides, isn’t the door unlocked?”

They lived in Ponyville after all. Everypony’s door was always unlocked. They hadn’t had a robbery in over eighty years.

There was another knock at the door.

“Rarity dear, you know the doctor said that I need to stay off my hooves as much as possible,” the mother reminded her daughter.

After letting out a sigh at the unfairness of the world and her lot in life, Rarity looked back at her mother. Twice as fat as anypony had the right to be, Cookie Crumbles laid on the family’s sofa with some food resting not too far away on the table next to it. The reason for her bloated belly being Rarity’s as yet unborn little sister.

At least, Rarity hoped it was a little sister. But, as there wasn’t any magic to tell the gender of her unborn sibling, all Rarity could do was silently ask Princess Celestia to make sure that she got a baby sister. After all, colts were just so...icky.

But, since the doctor had ordered her mother to stay off her hooves as much as possible, Rarity graciously arose from her spot on the floor and abandoned her all important work of sewing a tiny dress for her future little sister to go answer the door.

Oh Princess Celestia, please don’t let it be another salespony, Rarity begged to the alicorn of the sun before she got to the door. They had been coming around like crazy since her mother’s condition started to show with all sorts of things for a new foal.

After taking a second to compose herself, Rarity opened the door. “Hello, how may I-eeeeeee,” she said as she spotted the big golden horseshoes being worn by four legs longer than Rarity was tall, which after following them up, found they were attached to the only pony in Equestria with golden horseshoes and snow white legs that were taller than Rarity. “Whaaaaaaaa… Princess Celestia! Y-You! You’re Princess Celestia!”

The immortal ruler of Equestria, the pony that was the very definition of poise, beauty, grace and utter refinement stood on the other side of Rarity’s door with her perfect mane blowing in a magical breeze that existed just for her...blinked. “I am?” she asked before taking a step back.

Without the goddess filling her home’s entrance, Rarity could see that the ruler of Equestria had attracted quite the crowd of ponies who were keeping a respectful distance. As for Princess Celestia, she looked at her hooves, then her chest, which was followed by an unfurling of her wings to examine them before turning her head to check her cutie mark and let out a gasp of utter surprise. Then she looked back to Rarity. “Oh my heavens, you’re right! I am Princess Celestia!”

The high Princess of Equestria turned to look at the crowd. “Why didn’t anypony else tell me I was Princess Celestia?” she asked all of the ponies that had gathered.

Rarity cocked her head to the side. “...huh?”

Outside, the gathered ponies began to look around nervously.

“Hey, why didn’t you tell her she was Princess Celestia?” one of the mares in the distance asked.

“We were supposed to tell her?” another pony said. “I didn’t know we were supposed to tell her! WHY DIDN’T ANYPONY TELL ME WE WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL HER!”

“Is that why she always has all those ponies with the trumpets and loud voices announce her all the time?”

The commotion was cut short by an earth shattering boom that left Rarity’s teeth rattling for a second. Princess Celestia looked over to her left. “Sunset! Are you alright?”

“I’m invincible Mom,” the royalty perturbed voice that Rarity wouldn’t forget if she lived to be a hundred said. “I can do an epic facehoof.”

Then, the...well, Rarity couldn’t say that she looked as regal as her mother, but she was still royalty, so… The royal amber alicorn walked into the view provided by the doorway and gave her a little smile. “Hey there Rarity. Excuse my mother for being well...her.”

Princess Celestia gave an indignant sniff. “Well, I never!”

“Mom, quit trolling everyone,” Sunset told her, which got a confused look from the bigger princess.

“Trolling?”

Princess Sunset ignored the question and looked back to Rarity. “Anyway, like I was saying,” she continued. “There’s a big celebration in Canterlot going on all week because they’re putting a stupid crown on my head and I was wondering if you want to go with me to the Princess Fair tomorrow?”

Rarity...blinked.

“And I can set you and a few other foals I’m inviting up in the palace tomorrow, so you can attend the coronation afterwords,” Sunset went on before becoming a little hesitant. “Uh, that is your...thing, right? Fancy ceremonies and stuff like that?”

“Hugima...ra...Princess...castle...coronation…” Rarity managed.

“Oh, we can take your family too, of course,” Sunset said after a moment before she looked through the doorway as much as she could from her place outside the house. “Speaking of which, are you doing okay? Your dad is treating you right, isn’t he? I haven’t gotten a letter from you yet and was wondering how you were doing.”

Faced with the reality of meeting Princess Celestia in pony, spending the day with Princess Sunset, and GOING TO A CORONATION...Rarity did the only thing she could. The little unicorn rolled her eyes up in her head, and promptly removed her legs out from under her.

“Yeah...should have seen this one coming,” Rarity heard Princess Sunset’s voice say as her world was replaced by darkness.

Cadance looked down at the cards in her hooves, then to the ones spread out in front of her on the table in front of the illusion grid before turning her attention back to the ones in her hooves. While some of the pictures were downright adorable, others were...less so.

“Okay, so...let me just see if I understand this,” she said before looking up to Shiny. “The game has three types of cards. Creature, magic, and structure. You build structures to power your creatures, and magic lets them use special moves, or affects creatures on your opponent’s side of the field.”

Shiny nodded. “Right,” he said before adding, “Oh, and the structures you build also have special abilities, but they can only activate in response to an event.”

After making a mental note of that, Cadance looked over to the rest of the room. Thankfully, most of the other ponies in the store were more concerned with setting up their games and playing than gawking at the princess in their midst. While this was probably because she had seen a good many of them at school, it was still nice not to have every action she took examined by a dozen ponies at once.

Then she looked over to the store manager, or more specifically, the counter behind him. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be better for me to just buy my own cards instead of using these?” she asked. While it was sweet of Shiny to help her out, the deck she had...well, it just didn’t suit her personality. The pink cards behind the counter that looked so cute and were linked to the candy element seemed a better match than the mystical aqua deck Shining had helped her build with spare cards from his own collection.

“This is just to help you learn the game, Cadance,” Shining Armor told her. “Once you get your hooves wet with a few matches, then you can make your own deck.”

Cadance smiled “Oh, that makes sense,” she said before a thought occurred to her. “Say, why don’t you play this game with Twily? I’ve come to your house plenty of times, but I’ve never seen the two of you doing this.”

For some reason, the anticipation of enjoyment on Shining Armor’s face morphed into a nervous grin. “Well...uh...that’s because...she’s a little young...you know,” he told Cadance while his eyes darted around nervously. “I...uh, have to let her win.”

The obvious lie got a frown from Cadance. “Shiny, tell me the truth.”

“She routinely beats me worse than a red-maned foster foal,” he admitted as he lowered his head. “I’ve never won a single game against her, and the last time we played was so bad, I gave up on ever trying to take her down.”

Cadance blinked at the information. Despite how much she wanted to ask Shiny if telling the truth made him feel better, she thought better of it and just focused on what he wanted to do. “Okay, let’s start the game then,” she said before setting down the three creature's in her hoof and activating the enchantment on the game mat in front of her.

The table between the two of them sprang to life, and her three creatures: the blue beagle, the pig, and the analytical archaeologist appeared on the field inside of her blue-colored zone, with its ice mountain, frozen fields, and the Floating Eye of Glob atop her mystic tower.

Shiny’s side of the field looked much more inviting to Cadance, reminding her of her home village with all of its planted fields, a silo, and...well, the Pyramid of Plenty sitting in the middle of the area wasn’t something they had back home, but everything else made her a bit wistful for the good old days for a moment.

“Okay, I’ll go first,” he said before playing a card from his hoof. “I summon my corn dogs, who increase their damaging power by a factor of two thanks to the power of my corn field’s Pyramid of Plenty and and play the spell, butter churn! This gives them the slippery ability, which allows them to retreat before being counterattacked.”

On the table below, energy flowed from Shiny’s planted vegetables to the yellow dogs with ears of corn for heads. The creatures doubled in size before a butter churn appeared overhead to shower them with golden liquid that stuck to the hounds. Then, they charged forward into Cadance’s territory.

“Alright Cadance,” Shiny said. “Now you need to pick which of your creatures you want to call and defend your territory.”

The pink princess looked down and read her cards’ stats. After skimming over them and glancing to the cards still in her hoof, she turned one of her creature cards already in play sideways. “I floop the pig.”

Shining Armor blinked as the little pig trotted past his corn dogs that were still approaching Cadance’s structures. “Hehe, Cadance, hon. You need to call a creature to defend your territory if you don’t-ahhhh! WHAT IS IT DOING?” Shining Armor said as he watched Cadance’s pig devour his crops of corn.

“The pig’s special ability allows me to destroy corn-based fields when I floop him,” Cadance explained before she looked back on the board to watch the fallout take effect. Without the power of Shiny’s corn providing them power, the attacking creatures became sluggish as they entered her territory, eventually stopping all together and turning blue. “And, my frozen field’s special power freezes all creatures that travel through it without being empowered by their home element.”

With his dogs frozen cold, Shining Armor hung his head. “Okay then…” he said before looking at his hand and lowering his head. “I end my turn.”

“Okay,” Cadance said before she pulled a card from her hoof.

“Oh! Cadance!” Shining Armor quickly said. “You need to draw a card at the start of your turn. I didn’t because I started the game, but now that it’s begun, everypony draws a card at the start of their turn.”

Cadance smiled at her coltfriend. “Okay Shiny,” she said before doing so and reading the spell card’s effect before setting it down. “I play, Crown of the Ice King on my analytical archaeologist.”

The golden crown that appeared in the air fell on top of the earth pony that was standing on Cadance’s side of the field. A second later, the pony’s mane turned white before he sprouted oversized wings and let out an insane laugh as he flew into the air.

“Uh, Cadance...turning that creature into the Ice King makes him go crazy,” the unicorn pointed out. “He attacks everything on the field.”

Cadance took a second to double-check the card, then looked back to Shiny. “Not if it’s played by a princess, see?” she said as she pointed to the instructions on her card with a feather on her wing. “So...I have him activate his new special ability, eternal ice age on your side of the field.”

“Yes my Princess!” the little pegasus cried out before he flew over to Shiny’s farm and summoned a little storm.

Shining Armor’s mouth dropped as all of his corn fields, pyramid, and silo were covered by a glacier. “But...that, my creatures...they’re all frozen, and you’ve put glaciers on the empty parts of my field.”

After double-checking her card’s effects again, Cadance looked back to Shining Armor. “Plus, it transfers your section of the map to my control, giving me all your structures,” she said before putting two and two together. “Oh! If I have control of all your structures, does that mean I win?

Shining Armor’s mouth continued to hang as his eye twitched...and his head fell to impact the table between them.

“Uh...Shiny?” Cadance asked in confusion.

“Wait! A dress! I need a new dress! If I’m going to go play with the Princess, I need a dress by tomorrow!”

Celestia’s daughter sighed as she and her mother left the house before turning back to face the little unicorn after she thought of how to avert the latest problem to Rarity’s royal day at the fair. “Don’t worry Rarity, I’ll send something suitable with the guards that will be picking you and Applejack up, okay?”

“Um...okay,” she said before going into her twenty-third bow in the last thirty minutes. “Thank you for your generosity, Princess Sunset. I will never forget it!”

Sunset put on what Celestia could tell with a fake smile as she gave the filly a little wave before the door to the house finally shut. With the crowd shooed away from Rarity’s house long ago, the amber alicorn let out a long sigh on the mostly empty streets of Ponyville and hung her head. “Good gravy, if that filly had her nose any further up my butt, she would have died from lack of oxygen.”

Unable to stop herself, Celestia let out a tiny giggle at her daughter’s discomfort. “Welcome to my world,” she said.

After giving the bigger alicorn a brief glare, Sunset started down the free area between the houses that the ponies of the small hamlet used as de facto roads. Celestia quickly matched pace with her daughter. “So, who’s next?”

“Well,” Sunset said before becoming a bit hesitant. “I think Rarity and Applejack are the only two of my-uh, the ponies who are like my old friends from Earth that live in Ponyville. I know Rainbow Dash is in...wait, she’s in that junior speedsters...thing. At least I think she is. Hey Mom, shouldn’t she be in school? It’s the middle of Fall.”

Not that any human would ever be able to tell with the way most of the trees still have their leaves. Equestrians didn’t really knock their trees bald until right before Winter.

“Cloudsdale has a different timetable for their education system than the rest of Equestria, remember?” Celestia reminded her daughter. “Most of the schools are out for Fall because the weather factory needs to hire extra hooves for part-time work to help with snow creation for Winter, not to mention that Fall is the season that gets the most rain.”

Sunset blinked, then frowned. “Huh...didn’t actually know that,” she said before her expression dipped a bit. Then she shook it off and looked back to Celestia. “But...it’s not like we can just pop over to Cloudsdale and grab-”

Before her daughter could finish talking, Celestia sucked in a deep breath and drew on her source of power. Like Sunset, she had her own special power source that granted her magic beyond a mortal pony. She didn’t draw too much. Doing so would have caused her to burst into flames and scorch everything in her immediate area, something Celestia did only in the most dire combat situations. But, she could draw enough power to increase the range of her teleportation and combine it with her sun’s position that looked down on all of Equestria to get a destination.

After that, the world disappeared in a flash of bright light, and she deposited Sunset next to herself on the edge of a large cloudbank.

“Gah!” Sunset said as she stumbled back and fell on her plot. “Mom! Don’t do that!”

Celestia looked over to Sunset and blinked in confusion. “What?”

Slowly, Sunset picked herself up and took a tentative step forward. “Well, aside from the whole, popping me without permission being rude as hell, I’m still getting used to having permanent cloud-walking. Plus, heights make me-uh...nevermind,” she said as an embarrassed blush began to creep up her cheeks.

The sharp pain of upsetting her daughter was repressed before Celestia could wince. Despite the arguments they were getting into, she knew she had a good thing going with Sunset, if she stopped it now to apologize profusely...well, Cadance had warned her about getting into an apology cycle. “Well, you said you needed to get here, so I thought that it was just best to jump on over,” the big alicorn explained.

“Now, you said this Rainbow Dash is-” Celestia stopped herself from talking as she heard a tiny voice let out a trio of sobs, followed by a little sniffle that was followed by a tiny whine before more sobs. “Is somepony crying?”

While Celestia looked around the cloudscape to find it empty, Sunset closed her eyes and perked her ears up a bit. After a few more sobs, she pointed to a tiny puff of cloud that had drifted off of the main mass of Cloudsdale. “Over there.”

Sunset moved to launch herself into the air, then suddenly stopped when she reached the edge of the cloud. “Uh….”

“Perfectly understandable,” Celestia told her after walking up behind her daughter to put a wing across her back. “With the way your wings are working, I don’t think Cloudsdale would survive even a short trip. I’ll go see what’s happening, then we can go find your little friend.”

A second later, Celestia took to the air and went into a glide after a single flap to fight the force of gravity. When she landed on the tiny cloud, she found the source of the tears. A little butter-yellow pegasus with a long pink mane was curled up into a ball and crying her eyes out.

One look at her told Celestia what was probably going on. While young, the little pegasus’s legs were very long, and her body extremely thin. As a whole, ponies were a very uniform race. With the exception of Canterlot unicorns that resorted to alchemy to increase their height in imitation of Celestia, anything outside the norm was considered ugly. Which usually led to being mocked and all kinds of trouble.

Which was also why the poor little dear was hiding in the depressed section of a cloud.

Celestia knelt down until she was on her belly and extended a wing to both shelter the pegasus filly from the light of her sun and have a feather ready to wipe away the tears. “Hello there, little one,” Celestia said gently to the crying pegasus. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Hmm?” the yellow pegasus said before she rolled onto her back and proved to Celestia that it had been a good decision to keep the sun out of her big blue eyes as they went wide upon seeing the alicorn. “Princess...Celestia?”

While it had been a little fun to go on in front of Rarity until she just...collapsed, Celestia decided that a different method would be needed for this little yellow pony. “That’s right,” she said gently. “Now tell me. What has gotten such an amazingly beautiful little pony like you so upset?”

The little pegasus blinked before she looked looked away from the alicorn. “Oh...well...it’s...n-nothing you need to worry about, Your Highness.”

“Hmmm, I think I’ll be the judge of-say, would you mind telling me your name, my little pony?” Celestia asked.

“F-Fluttershy,” the tiny pegasus answered.

“WHAT?”

Celestia’s ears perked up and she looked over to her daughter standing on the edge of the cloudbank. Fluttershy joined in the investigation a second later, peeking over the top of the dip she was hiding in.

“Somepony made Fluttershy cry?” Sunset demanded.

Although she didn’t quite know what was going on, Celestia let out a little sigh and surrounded herself with a forcefield a second before Sunset’s wings flew out on instinct in a show of angry dominance that sent a roaring wind past Celestia.

The amber alicorn’s eyes lit up as she started putting out an absolute terrifying amount of power. “I’ll turn them inside out and-” Before Sunset could finish what Celestia hoped was an empty threat, Celestia used her magic to bring the cloud she was sitting on close to her daughter, causing Fluttery to let out a tiny ‘eep’ and latch onto Celestia’s neck as best as she could. “Would you please cut that out? You’re scaring her.”

Sunset froze for a moment before she blinked away the whitness in her eyes and looked at the filly. “Sorry,” she apologized before reaching over, and waiting for a second for Celestia to drop her shield before she put her fetlock across the back of Fluttery’s neck. “I’m sorry I frightened you, Fluttershy. I just don’t like it when I hear about somepony being bullied.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said before she looked over to Sunset. “I wasn’t crying because of that. I mean, I do get bullied a lot, but...I was crying because…b-because my little friends went away.”

The little filly’s statement threw Celestia for a bit of a loop as Sunset took a look around in thought for a moment before she turned her attention back to Fluttershy and smirked. “You’re talking about some birds, right?”

Fluttershy stopped clinging so close to Celestia and looked at Sunset in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I’m a princess, we know everything,” she said with a smile.

Celestia looked up at her sun to ask for emotional strength in case Sunset started to do something...Sunset.

“Now, I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for you in Cloudsdale,” Sunset told her gently. “There aren’t any animals that can be up here with you, and it’s hard to keep birds as pets since both them and the city are migratory.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Every month, I have to say goodbye to my friends, and sometimes Cloudsdale doesn’t go low enough to where I can meet new ones.”

“Well, maybe you should try making some friends with a few pegasi,” Celestia suggested.

The suggestion was a bad one. Fluttershy tensed over what had to be traumatic memories of the past while Sunset gave Celestia a tiny frown. Well, how was I supposed to know.

Fluttershy let out a little whine. “I-I can’t make friends with other ponies. They make fun of me because I can’t fly very well and...I’m afraid of heights.”

“Oh...that’s…” Celestia blinked as she found herself at a loss for words.

A pegasus that was afraid of heights?

In her one-thousand-one-hundred-plus years of life, it was the first time she had heard of such a thing. Pegasi were the warrior tribe of Equestria. While there were plenty of less than athletic flying ponies in the skies above her country, one that didn’t even like to fly seemed almost too unnatural.

Sunset didn’t even blink at the information. “Well you know what Fluttershy?” she said before leaning in to whisper into the little filly’s ear. “Heights scare me too.”

“WHAT?” Celestia cried out as she reared up a bit, getting a squeak of fright from the little pegasus on her neck before Fluttery lost her grip to be caught by Sunset’s magic and placed on the amber alicorn’s back. “What do you mean you’re afraid of heights? Since when?”

The half-lidded stare Sunset gave Celestia a second later made the big alicorn regret asking the question. “Since you threw me off the edge of Canterlot.”

“...oh,” Celestia replied.

Sunset didn’t even seem to notice before she smiled at the little filly and turned around to walk away from her mother with a little bounce to her trot. “You know what you need Fluttershy? A trip to Canterlot! There’s a fair going on there with a petting zoo, and if your parents will agree to it, I can take you to the castle and show you Mom’s menagerie! Her phoenix is still out nesting-thank the sun-but a ton of other birds I know you’ll just love. We just need to be careful not to spook them because-”

Her daughters words were lost as Celestia stood on the little cloud, left behind as what Sunset had said ran through her mind. She...she wasn’t serious, was she. I didn’t-no, keep it together, Celestia. If you stop smiling, your daughter will wonder what’s wrong, and everything that’s going so wonderfully will be ruined. Just keep smiling.

Cadance looked over the cards in her magic. “So, I think I’ll go with the rainicorn, elasto-hound, fuzzy bunny and hug-wolf out of this set to add to my deck,” she said as she sorted through the good cards from the last few packs. Once she had put them aside, the princess looked up to her coltfriend that was laying on the bed, letting lunch digest. “What do you think, Shiny? Is that a good set of creatures?”

The question went unanswered for several seconds before Shining Armor rolled onto his back and looked at Cadance when he let his head hang upside down from the mattress. “Honestly? I think I’ve created a monster.”

“Huh?” the pink princess asked.

Shining Armor sighed and looked over to the table where Sunset worked on her projects whenever she needed to scratch some weird itch. He rolled back onto his stomach and used his magic to open the middle left drawer before pulling out a scroll. He floated the scroll over and unrolled it before reading. “The hooded figure unlatched the block of crystalite, letting it fall to the floor. She reached into her bag and withdrew a sparkling potion to pour on the rock that rested on the floor. Seconds later, the magical minerals dissolved to reveal the brave, roguish pegasus, So Low,” he read before looking up to Cadance with an even expression. “You wrote a Solar Battles fan fiction.”

Cadance crossed her forelegs. “It’s not going to be fiction when I get them to put the scene in the next play,” she said before Shining Armor’s face became a little judgmental. “What? That duchess needs to prove she’s worthy of So Low’s affection! If they don’t do that, then any romance between the two will be completely unbelievable!”

“Cadance, I’m ready for that pony ride now,” Shining Armor told her.

“In a minute, Shiny,” Cadance told him before looking back to her stacks of unopened cards. “I need to finish building my deck. Then we need to play a couple of test rounds. Then, I can get the mood for some loving.”

“Our little girl, I just can’t believe that Princess Celestia Herself came to invite our little Dashie to Canterlot!” the pegasus who introduced himself as Bo exclaimed.

“Well I can!” Windy Whistles said happily. “Every dawn, I would tell Her Glorious Highness that if she wanted to see something amazing, that she should take a second to watch our daughter!”

All of the fillies and colts along with the instructors for the Junior Speedsters looked on as Sunset waited for the pair of blue pegasi in front of her to finish celebrating the good news.

From the looks of things, they had come just in time to catch Rainbow Dash. The presence of the parents told Sunset that the fillies and colts were fixing to go home. Unfortunately, it looked like she had missed the big airshow/musical number the students had probably put on.

Although, considering how Celestia was handling Dash’s parents, it was probably better that they didn’t stay very long.

It was slight, but Sunset saw the strain on her mother’s smile as the pair of pegasus parents hugged their daughter. “Well, this is Sunset’s initiative, actually. I’m just here to...provide support,” Celestia explained rather... pathetically.

Sunset understood what was going on with her mother, if not the why. A few of Equestria's ponies literally worshiped her mother as a goddess. It was a religion that endured despite the fact that their goddess wanted nothing to do with the whole thing.

So much so that she couldn’t even bring herself to stick around long enough to disband the religion.

“So, I take it that’s a yes, then?” Sunset asked, not even stopping for clarification before she went on. “Great! We’ll send a couple chariots to pick Dash and the two of you up tomorrow morning. Well, we need to get going! Important princess stuff to do and all that.”

Before the little ponies could try and guilt her into staying with a collective awwwwwwww, Sunset quickly led her mother away from the crowd. Once they had made their escape, Celestia looked over to Sunset. “Okay, that’s four. Where can we find your fifth friend?” she asked before quickly shaking her head. “I mean the pony doppelganger of the girl you knew back on Earth. My, that’s going to become a bit confusing.”

Sunset looked down at the clouds beneath her. “Actually...this is it,” she admitted. “I have no idea where to even start looking for Pinkie Pie. Hell, the only reason we got Rainbow Dash is because you ported us here, and we just stumbled across Fluttershy.”

Well, if you’re supposed to meet with her, it will happen when it’s supposed to,” Celestia assured her. “So...shall we head home? We’ve missed lunch, but I’m sure the cooks wouldn’t mind preparing something for us. Although, I suppose we should humor them and ask for something a bit more extravagant than hay burgers.”

“Oat burgers it is then,” Sunset agreed before she prepared her teleportation spell. Unlike her mother, the amber alicorn couldn’t just pop anywhere the light touched with perfect accuracy. So far, all her extraordinary power had provided was an unprecedented boost in magical energy. But no special abilities.

But, that did mean she had plenty of power to make the trip with a spell. And the teleportation marker she had placed in her room at the palace had enough energy to be sensed from all over Equestria. So, she locked onto it, weaved her magic into the proper pattern, and felt the world disappear around her.

When the world came into focus…

“Sh--Shi-Shi--Shiiineeeey!” Cadance cried out after several thumps sounded from the other side of Sunset’s bedroom door before she let out a loud neigh of a pleasurable cry.

...Sunset was left standing mute as the banging sounds from the other room ended with Cadance doing the thing she did when she did...that.

“Oh...oh my,” Celestia said, reminding Sunset of the reason she was feeling rather embarrassed over almost but not quite walking in on Cadance and Shining Armor.

And then, they started up again, making Sunset groan and hover her face with a hoof. “Oh for the love of…”

Celestia blnked at the door. “My, he um...certainly sounds...enthusiastic,” she said before looking over to her daughter while the racket continued. “Sunset, if you don’t mind me asking, how exactly is your colt possessing enough stamina to give Cadance-” Another cry of pleasure came from Sunset’s bedroom, making Celestia pause for a moment, “-more than one of those.”

“Can we please not have this conversation where I can hear by boyfriend pounding my girlfriend into the bed like a nail?” Sunset demanded as she whirled around to glare at her mother. Not even bothering to see if her mother was following her, Sunset made her way to the door. “And it’s two things, an endurance spell and one that increases a mare’s sensitivity. And now that I’ve answered you that, tell me something. What the hell does thirty pages of sex magic have to do with crystal creation? It fills half the damn spellbook she has!”

Shining Armor trotted down the hallway of the palace bit a spring in his step. Although he didn’t like the way the girls constantly pawed him in an almost predatory manner, the sex that came from it was absolutely amazing. Of course, the downside of being a member of the least physically imposing tribe meant that Cadance needed to give Shining Armor a little extra help to keep up, which caused him to pass out shortly afterwards because the crystal ponies didn’t think stallions should be allowed to have tons of sex with their special somepony and then cuddle afterwards.

Sunset got to cuddle with Cadance after getting her off.

Which...made Shining Armor wonder if that was why he felt a little jilted when it came to his relationship with the girls. After all, being the constant object of his mares’ affection wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. They were princesses! He was lucky they even noticed he was there!

And...then Shining had to start wondering where they were.

He trotted through the castle until until he ran into one of the palace staff. “Hey, where’s the Princess?”

The gray pegasus pointed to the dining room, making Shining Armor feel a little worried. “Did I miss dinner?” he asked himself as he made it to the door. That would have made the time he was out from Cadance’s magic much longer than it should have been. Shining Armor opened the door as he went in. “Hey girls, sorry I’m late I…”

Princess Celestia looked up from the dining table where she was reading the evening paper. “Oh! Shining Armor,” she said. “I thought you were going to exercise with Cadance and Sunset today.”

“I...had planned on it,” he admitted. “Um….” As Shining Armor tried to think of something to say, he remembered what Sunset told him in regards to her mother as she had him pinned against the wall and blocked out his entire field of vision. “Never be in the same room as Mom, alone! I’m being serious here, Shiny! Jump out a window if you have to!”

Princess Celestia took a sip of her tea. “Actually, I have been meaning to speak to you about a few things in private. Now is as good a time as any. Sit down, Shining Armor.”

The white unicorn looked over to the windows behind the Princess. If he could put up a shield like he did with Twilight right before he hit the ground… No, there really wasn’t any way out of this.

“Okay, Princess Celestia,” he squeaked before cautiously walking to sit down on the raised pillow across from the supreme ruler of all Equestria that raised the son and happened to be Sunset’s mother...and Cadance’s aunt.

“I know I’m here a bit early, but I missed lunch and Sunset teleported us back to the palace. She popped us back into the living room of your apartment while you and Cadance were in the bedroom,” Celestia explained.

Shining Armor whined and sunk down in the chair in an attempt to hide.

Then she looked at him for a few moments before speaking again. “Hmmm, too much?”

“What?” Shining Armor asked, his attempt to escape from Princess put on hold for the moment.

“I’m sorry, I’m a bit new at this,” Princess Celestia told him. “You are my daughter’s first coltfriend, and while I can speak candidly to Cadance, I found myself forgetting you aren’t yet comfortable enough with my presence to...play with. So, let’s skip straight to the heart of the matter, shall we?”

Shining Armor blinked. “Um...okay?” What heart of the matter? Had he done something wrong?

He couldn’t think of anything that he did wrong.

WHAT HAD HE DONE WRONG?

“From what I understand, there is something that’s been troubling you lately. For several days, in fact,” Celestia said before her gaze turned intense. “What is it?”

The question had Shining Armor blinking. “Ummm...why’re you-”

Celestia didn’t give the colt a chance to finish. “Shining Armor, my family is the most important thing in the world to me. You yourself saw how I gave Equestria to Sunset as a present in an attempt to keep her here despite the fact that Equestria is hardly ready for her rule,” she said. “And you are one of the most important things to both my daughter my niece.”

“Huh...I never thought of that before,” Shining Armor mumbled.

A half-lidded expression crossed Celestia’s face. “That I didn’t love my family?”

“No, that Cadance and Sunset are cousins,” Shining Armor explained. “That kind of makes the two of them being together a bit more-”

Princess Celestia snorted. “Oh please, Canterlot is filled with in-house marriages amongst the nobility,” she said. “Sixty years ago, the matriarch of house Lion had gotten things so tied up, she effectively became her own grandmother after marrying a stallion of House Rose because her daughter had...well, never mind. Besides, it’s hardly important. Cadance is my adopted niece.”

With the mention of the two of them getting together like they did, Shining Armor couldn’t help but ask, “Princess, did you...mean for them to...be together?”

“No,” Princess Celestia said as she shook her head. “I wanted them to be friends. Sunset had all the skills Cadance lacked when they first met, while Cadance possessed several traits I had hoped would rub off on Sunset. My hope was that they would become friends. Now, Sunset has acquired everything I had hoped she would gain and more, and Cadance is...taking after her instead of it being the other way around. Honestly, I’m still not sure how I feel about that.”

Shining Armor looked down at the empty table. Since he had nothing else to really talk about… “Well, the thing is...I don’t know what’s bothering me,” he said. “I thought it was because the girls were being pretty...grabby, but I told Cadance, and she listened to me and stopped it. Although, I did like it when Sunset would wrap one of her wings around my butt...okay, maybe I did like Cadance’s teasing when I was in the mood for it too. They’re princesses, they could have any stallion they want, but they choose me, and I like the fact that they like way I look and that they enjoy my body because I enjoy their bodies and I just realized I said that in front of Princess Celestia! Please make me stop talking!”

A golden aura of magic closed Shining Armor’s mouth. “Better?” Princess Celestia asked, to which he nodded. “So, you like that Sunset gives you a few squeezes on your plot with her wings. But it annoys you sometimes. My advice is for you to speak your mind more to the girls, they will listen to you.”

The magic disappeared and Shining Armor took in a breath. “Okay, but...I don’t think that’s what’s wrong,” he admitted. “To be honest, I’m not sure it’s the girls at all. Maybe it’s...me.”

Back during the Fall Formal, a lot of ponies had given them their opinions and a lot of it had made sense at the time. It still did! But...it still didn’t feel like solving the things they pointed out would lead anywhere, if any of that was even possible. After all, Gaffer had said Shiny felt the way he did because he didn’t think he had earned the right to be with Sunset.

How in the hay was somepony supposed to earn the right to be with an alicorn?

“So, you don’t know what’s wrong,” Celestia clarified.

Shining Armor threw up his forelegs. “I know!” he exclaimed. “That I don’t know, I mean. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Two princesses, the pony that bullied me pretty much my entire life is gone because of Sunset, Cadance fixed my school, I’m talking to Princess Celestia Herself, who is offering to help me of all ponies with the littlest of things and any possibility is in my reach, but here I am, worried about...nothing!”

“No, you just don’t know why you’re worried about nothing,” Celestia said before her horn lit up. “That’s something completely different.” A piece of her newspaper was torn off and was transmuted into a piece of clean parchment. She fired a blast of magic at the paper before it rolled up and was tied with a red ribbon that appeared in her magic. “Here. Use your magic on this before you go to bed, then ask Sunset what’s bothering you. Don’t worry about the side effects, I’ll have a potion ready to counteract them by-”

The doors behind Shining Armor banged open. “Shiny!” Cadance called out gleefully before she trotted up to him and smiled. “I’m sorry sweetie, it took a bit longer than usual to set up the obstacle course and…” she looked over to Princess Celestia for a moment before looking back to Shining Armor with a much more intense look. “She didn’t do anything to you, did she?”

Princess Celestia groaned. “No Cadance, I didn’t do anything to your coltfriend,” she said. “In fact, I promise not to do anything until after the marriage and it’s too late for him to escape. That sound good?”

“If you know what’s good for you, don’t propose for at least twelve years,” Cadance told him.

“Oh, Cadance,” Celestia said as the pink princess motioned for Shiny to come with her. “Could I have a word before you go? In private, if you would.”

Sunset looked at her cards, then down at the field for a few seconds. It would hurt, but...she couldn’t not go through with it with the way all everything was looking. “Okay, I play the volcano,” she said before putting the card down. “That’ll burn all the creatures on the fields and destroy non-fire power sources of energy.”

“WHAT?” Twilight cried out at she watched the mountain of fire grew out of the middle of the board and erupted before covering everything in lava. All of her creatures were destroyed by the red mud that flowed from it. “NOOOOOOOOOO!”

A bird cried out from Sunset’s side of the board. “Being destroyed by a fire attack causes my phoenix to be reborn with twice the damaging power it had before,” she said before her three dragons emerged from the lava unharmed. “Plus, being fire lizards, my dragons are immune to lava. And now I begin my attack phase.”

As her armies had already been destroyed, Sunset’s forces quickly moved in on and laid waste to what was left of Twilight’s base as the little purple horse looked on, making Sunset worry if she had made a mistake. “Um...Twilight, you know...my deck is a lot better than yours,” she said. “I had a ton of bits to buy whatever card I wanted. Please don’t freak out over the fact that I beat you!”

“It’s okay Princess,” Twilight told Sunset after looking up from the carnage. “I didn’t expect to beat you anyway. I’ve only ever played against Shiny and he always lets me win. It got boring, so we just stopped playing.”

The mention of Shining Armor made Sunset look up and over to the track, where Cadance just got done lapping him for the third time. Sweat absolutely covered his body as he trudged ahead, the spell Sunset had cast on him beforehand putting a great deal of strain on the poor colt’s muscles.

Sunset was just glad she had long since ordered the military cadets that usually used the training field to stop watching her and Cadance days ago. She knew that there was more admiration and jealousy than lecherous leers from the ponies, but she really didn’t feel comfortable for a bunch of guys and girls watching Cadance run around naked.

She cast a spell to carry her voice over to him, and cleared her throat. “Shiny, what do you say to calling it quits for the night? This is your first time doing this,” Sunset pointed out. “I don’t want you hurting yourself by overdoing it.”

“N-No,” Shining Armor panted as he trudged forward. So much sweat was dripping from his body that it was leaving a followable trail while the pound of cold iron being held by his magic continued to wobble. “I...I can….finish another lap.”

Since it looked like the poor guy was about to collapse under his own weight, which was a good four-hundred-plus pounds thanks to a minor tweak Sunset did to his personal gravity, the amber alicorn teleported in front of him and stopped the colt with a pitiable look. “Shiny, please. Let’s go get cleaned up and have dinner. You’ve pushed yourself plenty today,” she said.

The extremely loud footfalls from a Cadance that was five times her normal weight stopped, then started up again after she turned around to run back to where her lovers were. “Yeah, Shiny. I feel like calling it quits a bit early tonight too.”

Sunset studied Shining Armor for a moment as he looked over to Cadance. From what she could tell, he didn’t seem ecstatic about the offer, but it didn’t get a frown from him either. “You sure you don’t mind?” he asked.

“Shiny,” Cadance said before reaching out to him and wisely stopping short. Altered gravity made things...tricky when it came to touching other ponies. “I love that you want to come and exercise with us and run through some of Sunset’s tests. But if it’s going to cause you to hurt yourself, then I’ll call it quits here and now, understand?”

It took him a minute, but the cold eventually nodded. “Okay...I am pretty sore,” he admitted.

Sunset stepped up to the young stallion to kiss him on the nose and give him a hug. The smell of sweat entering her nostrils gave the alicorn another reason to like being changed from a human and back into a pony. While humans didn’t much like a body’s odor, ponies didn’t mind it at all. The sweat Shiny was coated in just magnified his natural scent and added a bit to the mix, which Sunset sucked in as much as possible when she stepped in to give him a lite hug. “Mmmmm, gotta say, loving this part of the process,” she said before burying her nose in Shiny’s shoulder.

“Okay you two, hungry ponies with empty bellies here,” Cadance reminded them. “Where do you all want to go eat after we clean up?”

“Feel like just heading back to the palace and eating there?” Sunset asked before glancing down at Twilight. For some reason, the little filly just froze up at the mention of the big house.

Cadance let out a contemplative moan. “Well, it’d just be the four of us. Celestia ate dinner early,” she told them. “And she said she had something else she needed to work on when I went there to pick Shiny up for our workout.”

Adding to the mystery, Twilight’s nervousness suddenly vanished. “Oh, well...then we’d...go home?”

“Do you want to spend the night there, Twilly?” Cadance asked her before kneeling down to look her eye to eye. “Shiny’s already had his workout for the night, so he could sleep with you if you wanted. And it would save a little time tomorrow all the other fillies that will be coming to the fair will be coming there too.”

Twilight thought about it for a minute. “Well...okay,” she said before glancing to Sunset. “As long as we don’t have to bother Princess Celestia. I don’t want to keep her from doing anything important.”

After Sunset dispelled the gravity magic around her lovers to return them to their normal weight, the three of them freshened up and had the amber alicorn teleport them to the palace. Sunset decided to use a new marker she placed outside of the main gate because of what happened earlier that day.

Twilight showed both of the princesses the schedule she had spent the entire day at home planning out, then revising after finding out that there would be several more fillies accompanying her and the others.

Then it was time to turn in, and she went to her private quarters with Cadance, who seemed more and more uneasy as they got closer to the bedroom. So by the time Sunset got there and set up her wards in case of a changeling incursion, she couldn’t help but ask about it. “Something wrong?”

“Just a little...butterflies I guess,” Cadance answered before immediately switching topics. “Say, Sunset. That magic you used on the portal to Earth, that was a full spectrum analysis scan, right?”

Sunset blinked at Cadance’s sudden knowledge of such spells. “Um...yeah,” she replied. “Wait, you don’t think I’m going to open a portal to Earth or something, do you?”

Ignoring Sunset’s question, Cadance just went on into another. “And did your scan go past the portal, into Earth?”

“Yes,” Sunset said before giving her fillyfriend an uneasy frown. “Cadance, what’s going on?”

“And you still have the data from that scan stored in your mind? Celestia told me it’s saved in some type of matrix that lasts about a month so you can pick it apart at your leisure,” the pink princess told her. “Did you save the data?”

Although she was starting to become a little uneasy, Sunset nodded. “Yes.”

Cadance took in a deep breath and held it. “Does that include the information you need to turn yourself into a human?”

All of a sudden, everything...became even more confusing. “Yes,” Sunset replied slowly.

After taking in another breath through her nose to steady herself, Cadance stood tall and looked at Sunset in the eye. “Do it.”

Sunset blinked, but decided to trust Cadance and did as she was told. She accessed the information stored in the back of her mind. There was more than just the biological information on human beings of course, analyses of Earth’s atmosphere, the readings from the tear, information Sunset could use to chart the exact rate at which time flowed on Earth relative to Equestria. The amber alicorn just took what she needed and put it into the species-change spell.

The change was slow and painful, not like the nausea followed by an instant switch the mirror caused. Her wings ungrew and hands unfolded from hooves. Hair retreated back into her body, while it grew atop her head. Bones restructured all over so they were of a bipedal configuration, and Sunset found herself looking down at Cadance from even higher up than she had been before.

Sunset slowly clenched and opened her hands as her brain remembered how to use them before she wiggled her toes for a bit while the got used to the change in how humans perceived the world around them. After experiencing it with the enhanced senses of pegasus, the whole thing just seemed a dull comparison to what life was supposed to be like. Colors weren’t as bright, she couldn’t hear the clip clop of hooves outside her door as the palace’s night staff came out to do the majority of the cleaning, and the bland coconut shampoo Cadance had used to wash up with back at the training field no longer reached her nose in sufficient quantities to be detectable.

There was some things that were different from when she had undergone a true transformation, though. She could still feel her magic and the mana flowing throughout the air all around her thanks to the horn jutting out of her temple. On top of that, a sun with a red and gold coloring adorned both sides of her butt. Sunset didn’t know which she found more comforting.

“Huh?” Cadance said as she looked up at the biped’s face. “I thought you said humans didn’t have horns.”

Sunset sighed and sat down on the bed, which was actually a bit higher than what she was used to on Earth thanks to her sleeping arrangements back there being little more than an old mattress on the floor she had salvaged from a Goodwill donation area. “Safety measures. A unicorn would never willingly give up their horn or cutie mark.” She didn’t even know if it was possible to remove those.

All of a sudden, Cadance lifted her nose and sniffed the air. “Oh,” she said before taking another sniff. “Oh my. Sunset, is that you?”

“Huh?” the former alicorn replied before the pink princess stepped forward and pressed her nose into Sunset’s stomach to inhale a deep breath. “C-Cadance! What’re you doing?”

Sunset tried to stand up, but Cadance pushed her back down on the bed with a surprising force amount of force that left her sprawled out on her back and a bit sore in the stomach. “Sorry, I just...Sunset, do all humans smell like this?” she asked before raising her head up a little bit. “And I thought humans didn’t have coats. What’s with that patch of hair above where your legs join?”

A groan escaped from Sunset’s lips. “Okay,” she said before sitting up and rubbing her stomach. “In order, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Humans do grow a little bit of hair on their bodies,” she explained. “And I don’t need you commenting how the rug doesn’t match the drapes!” Sunset had to admit that it was strange how the hair that grew on her body was the same color as her pony coat as opposed to something resembling her hair. “And be more gentle, humans are fragile compared to ponies.”

Cadance’s eyes stopped looking at Sunset’s toes and widened in concern as she looked to the human’s face. “Did I hurt you?” she asked in concern.

“Well...no,” Sunset admitted. “But...well, look. You were jogging around an hour ago, weighing the better three-fourths of a ton. I can’t even lift a hundred and fifty pounds with my hands right now.”

For some reason, the pink pony became very worried. “Okay, that’s...oh, buck!” she exclaimed before pacing back and forth beside the bed. “Okay...okay, let me think here.”

“Cadance,” Sunset said in concern. “What’s going on?”

The pink princess looked up at the human for a moment, then let out a tiny groan, followed by a sigh. “Okay, look. I was talking to Celestia earlier today, after I sent Shiny down to the track and…” Cadance stopped and gave Sunset a hesitant look. “Sunset, you’re still holding a lot of guilt from the time when you were a human, right?”

Sunset blinked as Cadance came to rest her head on Sunset’s lap like a big pink dog to press her nose against the human’s belly. The few hairs on her muzzle tickled Sunset a bit she reached down to scratch Cadance’s ear on instinct. “Well...it’s not as bad as before. But...yeah,” she admitted. “Especially when it’s late at night, and I’m laying there with you and Shiny. I can’t help but think how much I don’t deserve anything I’ve got, about how I should be in Tartarus, or jail cell back on Earth.”

“Ohhhh, that feels good,” Cadance moaned before her whole body jerked and she quickly back away. The pink princess looked to the ear Sunset had been scratching for a moment, then back to the human. “Well, um...like I was saying. I...um, talked to Celestia, and then I started thinking that one of the reasons you’re still feeling guilty is because of the human’s stupid system that’s more interested in punishing creatures for doing wrong than making things right, so I thought that’s what you needed and to help separate your past and present in your mind, I could punish you as a human and now I’m talking really fast and rambling so could you say something please?”

The rush of the sentence that Cadance said took a second for Sunset to work out, but by the time she was done sorting through it, the transformed pony was both nervous and a little...excited. “Are you saying you’re going to...punish me, for all the bad things I did as a human?”

Cadance looked down at the ground the way she always did when she was blushing intensely. “I was thinking of using a paddle,” she confessed. “And the rods of pleasure, but now I’m not sure because I don’t think you’re anywhere near big enough to handle them, and if nudges can knock you down, I really don’t want to know what happens if I actually hit you.”

“Uh...what exactly were you planning to do?” Sunset asked.

The question made Cadance even more embarrassed. “Restrain your hands with crystal cuffs and spank you with a paddle,” she confessed.

Sunset gulped as the image ran through her mind, which quickly transformed to the pink princess pinning her down on the bed before planting one of their sextoys inside of her before she had Sunset suck her horn, then lick her frog like a good little dog...with a restraint around her neck.

Grateful that she hand hands again, Sunset reached up to rub the bridge of her nose as she sighed. “Okay, we’re going to need the dildos, a dog collar, and...hmm, we don’t have any lube, so you’ll need your pet to-”

“S-Sunset!” Cadance cried out in alarm. “What’re you talking about?”

The human looked back to her. “What you’re going to do to me tonight when we have sex,” she explained simply. “Oh, I’ll also need to have an amnesia spell cast on me after we’re done planning. It won’t be as effective if I know what’s coming. Next time, bring a lactation potion too, you can get that question you asked that one time about human milk answered. Plus, I gotta admit, just thinking about you being all masterful with me as a human... it’s getting me a little excited.”

“Your...place?” Cadance asked, her head falling to the side while she looked on in confusion.

“Oh! Don’t forget to do stuff like call me your bitch and a worthless piece of garbage,” she said before getting up to look for something she could transmute into a collar. “I wonder if I should make it with a choke chain?”

Cadance stood by the bed, stunned. “Okay, now I’m even more worried than I was with the paddle idea.”

With it being nearly ten-o’clock, Twilight didn’t take long to fall asleep, leaving Shining Armor awake and alone in the room they had agreed to share, looking at the scroll Princess Celestia had made for him. It still glowed a faint golden color with her magic as it floated in the air on its own.

She had said it would give him answers, but not how it would do that, only that he needed to ask Sunset after he cast it.

The longer he looked at the scroll, the more nervous he felt.

What if it couldn’t help him with his question?

What if it could, and he didn’t like the answer?

What the hay did Sunset have to do with anything?

“Well, only one way to find out, I guess,” he said before channeling his magic into the scroll.

The piece of parchment unrolled before there was a bright flash that blinded Shining Armor and then...he found himself standing in the same room he was before. However, daylight was streaming in through the windows, and Twilight was gone.

There was a minor change to the room as well. Instead of candle holders on the wall, there were what looked like electric lights, which confused Shining Armor. Electricity was hard to generate in large quantities, giving priorities to hospitals and other important institutions that communities needed. Everypony else made do with candles and firefly lights.

“What the?” Shining Armor said before a strange alarm blared in the unicorns ears. “Ahhhh!” He looked around wildly for the source of the noise, then started running to the window in the hopes of learning what was going on, only to have a wall of metal suddenly slide down before he got there, blocking all light from coming into the room.

Shining Armor concentrated to light his horn, which was another reason Canterlot didn’t push very hard to expand its electric grid since unicorns populated the majority of the city. “What’s going-”

The door was suddenly smashed open, and Shining Armor let out a startled cry as a purple dragon twice the size of a pony, with green spikes and wings crashed into the room, carrying what looked like a spear with a crystal head on the end. “Intruder! Get down on your belly and surrender!”

“W-What?” Shining Armor stuttered as he reared up in surprise.

The gem on the end of the dragon’s staff lit up before a lighting bolt shot out to strike the white unicorn. Shining Armor felt his body go numb and he quickly collapsed onto the ground. “Wlgha?” the young stallion tried to say, his mouth not wanting to do what it was told.

“Take him to a cell boys,” the dragon ordered.

With his eyes the only thing that would work like his brain said they should, Shining Armor was only able to watch as a unicorn came in wearing a strange set of crystal armor that covered most of his body to levitate Shining Armor and carry him out of the room. A group of three ponies and one griffon, of all things, surrounded Shining Armor before carrying him down the hall, following the purple dragon.

Because of the ponies surrounding him, Shining Armor couldn’t see anything at eye level, but the stained glass windows that he began as they entered one of the main hallways of the palace were telling enough. The first one showed an amber alicorn standing over a giant blue dragon that was laying on its back on a field of green. The next window depicted a white alicorn facing a black three-tribe pony with a background of gold and blue. The third glass picture depicted six ponies around a strange serpent creature that also had arms and legs. Then there was a window showing a pink alicorn kicking a black unicorn with a red horn in the face with a crystal heart comprising the background. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see the bottoms of the stained glass windows that depicted the resolutions of the historic events.

Then the scenic windows stopped as Shining Armor was carried into a side hallway and down a narrower corridor before coming to a stop at what he recognized as the door to Princess Celestia’s office door.

“Hold here boys,” the dragon said before knocking on the door and opening it a bit.

“Ha-ha! Our warrior doth prove superior to-”

“Princess? We captured-” A surprised shriek came from beyond the door before Shining Armor heard a great deal of hooves striking the ground and things moving around.

“Spike!” a voice that was much too high to be Princess Celestia called out from inside the office. “What did I tell you about knocking?”

The dragon stiffened. “Do it before entering?”

“Get permission first!” the unknown princess exclaimed. “What if I had been in the middle of an important experiment, and you distracted me.”

Spike shrunk in on himself. “I-I’m sorry, Princess,” he apologized. “It’s just, the last time I did, you were on your game station, and you couldn’t hear-”

“Are you implying that I am disregarding my royal duties, playing Fighting is Magic when I should be working?” she demanded.

The purple dragon held up his hands and backed away from the door. “N-No, Princess! Everyone knows how hard you work for the good of the Empire. If anything, you deserve as much downtime as you want.”

Then the dragon retreated a bit more, and Shining Armor caught sight of the princess he was talking to as she came halfway out of the door.

The alicorn that stepped out into the hallway wasn’t one that Shining Armor had ever seen. She was tall, but not overly so, not much more than the bigger stallions. Her mane and tail were a mix of light pink and sky blue that ended in curls the same way Cadance’s tail did and ponytail was starting to. At first, Shining would have called her coat white, but second later his eyes told him it was a very soft pink, while her eyes had a icy quality to them.

There was something a bit odd about her, though. The princess’s horn seemed much more thick as it should have been, and her wings looked like they belonged on a pony twice her size.

The alicorn let out an irritated growl. “Okay, now what did...you,” she said, her volume dropping as she saw the other guards out of the corner of her eye and looked over to where Shining Armor was floating in the middle of the air. “...the hell?”

“Ahem!” Spike said before standing up straight. “Princess, we detected an incursion in the palace and deployed a security team to investigate, apprehending this unknown stallion who set off the alarms. We...um…” The dragon stopped as the alicorn slowly trotted up to Shining Armor to stare at him as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing before the dragon spoke again.

“Princess Flurry Heart?”

Chapter 3

Shining Armor hung in the air, placed their by the magic of the dark red unicorn guard still standing behind him as the princess continued to stand in the hallway for several seconds. Then, she was right in front of the white unicorn, looking him up and down for a solid minute while her horn glowed before there was a brief spike of pain that made him let out a tiny yelp.

“Okay, so you’re not a changeling pulling some sick joke,” she mumbled before Shining Armor felt some of his mane fly up before there was another brief moment of discomfort and a few strands of hair were floating in her magic. “Not a clone either.”

The purple dragon cleared his throat. “Ah, Princess-”

Flurry Heart spun her head around. “Quiet you!”

“Yes Ma’am!” he said before standing up straight.

Then the Princess turned back to Shining Armor and frowned. “Okay...you,” she said with a frown. “Tell me, how did you get here and why did you come?”

Shining Armor gulped. He wanted to play it cool, but his memory kept remind him about how explosive alicorns could be. So, he quickly worked to come up with an answer. “Um...well, judging by the griffon, dragon and stained glass windows, this is the future, isn’t it?” he asked.

“That wasn’t what I-wait,” she said, the oddly detached alicorn’s suddenly lit up with a panicky fear before she spun on the dragon. “Spike you idiot! you took a time traveler through the Hall of History?”

“W-What?” the dragon stuttered.

“YOU’RE ALL FIRED!” Flurry Heart yelled angrily as she jumped in the air, suspended simply by the power of her voice for several seconds.

“What?!” the rest of the guards said.

Then the strange alicorn frowned. “Wait,” she mumbled before shaking her head for a second. “Okay, escort him to a containment cell, then you’re all fired.”

Spike bowed his head. “Yes, Your Highness,” he said before moving towards Shining Armor.

“Wait!” Princess Flurry Heart exclaimed before she dashed back into her office, then came back out with a black bag to throw it over Shining Armor’s head. It smelled like carrots. “Okay, now take him to a containment cell, and no talking about anything to him!”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Shining Armor heard Spike say.

The world spun as Shining Armor was taken in the direction he had come in at. They got three steps before the temperature suddenly dropped to freezing, and all the guards stopped in their tracks. “Oh and boys, make sure that my da-new prisoner, gets to where he’s going without any trouble,” she said, the raging emotions in her voice from earlier completely gone. “If not, I’ll lower your body temperatures to absolute zero.”

After the line started moving again and got far enough away from the crazy alicorn, Shining Armor looked in the direction that he was pretty sure the dragon was standing. “Um...sorry about...costing you your job.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Spike replied in an easy tone. “It’s the third time Princess Flurry has had me fired.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Yeah, but-”

“This week,” Spike went on before Shining Armor could continue. “She’s...like that.”

“...oh,” the white unicorn said. “So, uh...what’s a dragon doing in the royal guard?”

Spike let out a loud sigh. “Just continuing the family tradition,” he said before they started heading down the stairs.

There’s been enough dragons in the guard to make a family tradition? Just how far in the future am I? Shining Armor asked himself. “So your dad was in the guard?”

“No, my mom,” Spike told him. “Adopted mom, I mean. I...probably shouldn’t say anything more.”

Shining Armor found himself a little curious. “So...what’s it like being the guard of a princess?”

The movement stopped, and Shining Armor’s bag was removed. The palace dungeons were a lot cleaner than he expected and the number of bars on the square hole in the wall were far fewer than he was expecting. In fact, nothing seemed to be there to keep ponies from leaving the tiny room that was equipped with a thin mattress on the ground and toilet in the corner. “This is a jail cell?” he asked before looking over to the dragon. “What’s to stop me from just walking out?”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re a unicorn?”

“Magic,” Shining Armor said as he was led inside before he turned around to face the opening. “Got it.” He didn’t need to know if it was some kind of force wall, teleportation safeguard, or what, he knew not to try and leave.

Seconds passed, followed my minutes, and while the quadrupeds headed out, the dragon continued to remain. Shining Armor looked over to him. “You know, you never answered my question about being a princess’s guard.”

“Oh...that,” Spike said before crossing his arms and thinking for a second. “Well, it’s not as glorious as a lot of ponies like to think. And sometimes, it’s pretty thankless too, but I can’t really hold that against Flurry, she’s more of a arcanist than a princess. Hell, I don’t even do any real guarding. I mostly just help her on research projects or experiments. You were the first time I ever really had to put my training to use outside of simulations. The only thing I really do is...hmm, how to put it?”

Shining Armor got a little worried as he waited for the dragon to reply.

After another minute, Spike looked up at Shining Armor. “Okay, so...Flurry’s the Princess of Ice, ya know? She tamed the windigos and bound them in the Crown of Winter, making it so the frozen north could be settled. A pony like that doesn’t need guards, we just get in the way. But it’s like every now and then, when she’s walking along, there’s this...caltrip in the road, that she’s walking right towards. She doesn’t see it, but you know if she keeps walking, she’ll step on it, stagger, fall, and land flat on her face in front of everyone. So I run in and snatch it up, or lay over it and let her walk over me if I have to. I look like an idiot and everypony laughs at me when I do, but the Princess doesn’t fall on her face in front of everypony.”

“Spike!” Flurry Heart’s voice echoed throughout the dungeons before the Princess came sliding in on shoes that looked to be made of ice. A dozen different platters floated in her magic as well as a pitcher of red juice along with one of water. She stopped in the place between them and turned to face the dragon. “Um...about before, I uh...I’m sorry. It’s just, Mom wants everything perfect for the Festival of the Rising Sun, and Chrissy isn’t here and-and now this!”

The Princess pointed towards Shining Armor. “I was a glorified organizer! I didn’t sign up to deal with this!” she exclaimed.

Spike looked up from the Princess and over to Shining Armor. “Okay, so we got an intruder. So what?”

“You mean...seriously? You don’t know who this is?” Flurry Heart demanded.

After taking a few seconds to look at the white unicorn again, he turned his head back towards the Princess. “No,” he said. “Should I?”

Flurry heart took in a deep breath, put a hoof to her chest, then let out a long exhale. “Okay,” she said before taking another breath. “Spike, I love you like a baby brother, but get the fuck out. And don’t tell anyone about what you saw here.”

“But-”

“Out!” Flurry Heart said.

“But-”

“Outoutoutoutout!” the alicorn with the oversized parts exclaimed before her horn lit up and Spike disappeared in a bright flash of light.

With Spike gone, Flurry Heart turned to look at Shining Armor before all of the food she was carrying zipped over to float between them. “Okay, so I’ve got your favorites. I didn’t know which ones you wanted, so I just had them all made. Wait, are you hungry? Crap! I had all this made before I knew if you were hungry.”

Knowing where this was going, Shining Armor held up a little hoof. “I could eat a bit. “Do you have any broccoli?”

“Yes!” Flurry Heart replied with a happy smile. “Yes I do!”

A serving plate flew to land in front of Shining Armor before it was uncovered and the lid went back to the Princess. When he knelt down to eat it right off the plate, the Princess spoke. “So...how did you get here?”

After taking a bite of the food in front of him, which Shining Armor had to say, was very good, he realized something odd. “Wait...how did you know my favorite foods?” he asked after looking up at the Princess.

Flurry Hearts eyes widened. “Uh...crap!” she said before throwing all of the food still in her magic out of Shining Armor’s view and turning back to him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

One of the covers to the dishes rolled between the two of them and continued down the hall. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“H-Hey! You can’t look at me like that! I’m a princess...a-and older than you now! So...do what I say and stop asking questions!” she said before plopping down and crossing her forelegs to look away and puff out her cheeks in a pout.

Shining Armor decided not to press his luck and went back to eating. The food tasted a bit odd, but he didn’t say anything about it. “Look, can you just go get Sunset Shimmer?” he asked after eating enough to be polite.

“GAAAAH! Don’t say her-” Flurry Heart paused and looked up above Shining Armor with widening eyes before she got herself under control. “Oh...right, she’s still sleeping.”

The sudden outburst made Shining Armor blink. “Ohhhh-kay, that was, uh...weird,” he said. “What’d I do?”

Flurry Heart took in a deep breath and exhaled. Once she had calmed down, the alicorn frowned at the unicorn. “What do you mean, what’d you do? You said her name! You can’t say M-mmmmy great and exalted Empress’s name! Uh, may her glorious light forever guide us to an even brighter future,” Flurry Heart recited before drawing a circle in the air and dividing it with a waving line. Soon as she was done with the incantation, the alicorn went back to frowning. “You can’t say Her name without attracting her attention! And if She’s just waking up, She might just focus all her attention on you. And since it’s you, She might even wake up early! Do you know what it’s like to attract the attention of an all-powerful god-being when she’s too sleepy to bother putting up the proper amount of protections before she looks at you? Do you want to get your entire existence snuffed out or Her Glorious Radiance to get sad over crushing your meager existence like the amoeba that we are to Her? Noooooooo? SO STOP SAYING HER NAME!”

Shining Armor gulped at the mare’s absolutely terrified reaction to Sunset. “Uh...okay, so...I already figured this out, but...you know who I am, right?”

“Pff, of course,” she said before going back to crossing her forelegs. “I’m not blind Daaaa-mn...it.” The two ponies sat in silence for a moment, Flurry Heart growing more nervous by the second as Shining Armor tried to figure out what was going on with her. “So what do you want?”

“I’m wondering why I’m still here,” Shining Armor said.

Flurry Heart locked her eyes on the young stallion with a frown. “You’re a time traveler. There are rules for this sort of thing!” she said before taking another breath and smoothing her features into a gentle smile. “I know you’re a good pony. I know you’re not here to hurt anyone. And I know you being here is all some big mistake and we’ll get your memory wiped and sent back to where you belong soon as...uh, how old are you? I need your age so I can put you back where you belong with any accuracy.”

With the Princess being so difficult, Shining Armor decided that he would need to get tough. “Look, the spell that sent me here was given to me by Princess Celestia. She told me to find Sunset, and ask her what was going on,” he explained before crossing her forelegs. “So either you help me out, or...Sunset Shimmer.”

“GAAAH!” Flurry Heart screamed, her wings going wide in fright. “STOP DOING THAT!”

Shining Armor took in a breath. The princess in front of him seemed just about ready to leap out of her skin. Maybe calling on Sunset wasn’t a good idea, but Princess Celestia had said to seek her out. So… “Sunset Shimmer.”

The third calling of Sunset’s name got another cry of terror from Flurry Heart before she leaped across the cell’s threshold and tackled Shining Armor to put a shield around them both.

There was a sudden pressure pushing down all around him despite the shield before the room began to shake. W-What’s going on?”

Hmmm? Shiny? Is that you?

The...Shining Armor didn’t know how describe the words he became aware of. There was no sound, but they reverberated inside his brain and made his teeth rattle.

“Sorry,” Shining Armor heard Sunset say over the ringing in his ears. “Flurry, sweetie. You can get off of him now.”

The alicorn picked her head up and looked back. “Um...oh no!” she exclaimed before scrambling to her hooves. Shining Armor saw Flurry give him a brief glance. “I-I tried to stop him! And now you’re awake, and the festivals been ruined! And-and did you get enough sleep?”

“Flurry!” Sunset snapped as Shining Armor got up to look at Sunset.

The pony he saw looked a lot different than what he was expecting. For starters, she wasn’t a ten foot pony with two pairs of wings, a horn that crackled with energy as her mane flowed in the wind. She didn’t even have wings. “You’re a...unicorn.” he said as Sunset trotted up to give the alicorn a once-over.

She looked back towards him. “One moment, Shiny. I need to take care of this first,” Sunset said before turning her attention back to Flurry Heart, who sat down and pulled in on herself as she closed her eyes.

Sunset examined the bigger pony for a minute, then blew a gentle breath over her face. Flurry Heart’s face became distorted before melting away. In its place was a pony with dozens of hairs out of place and dark circles under her eyes.

“How long has it been since you slept?” Sunset asked gently.

“Mom, I’m sorry, I-” Flurry stopped mid-sentence to look over at Shining Armor. She let out a pathetic whine and lowered her head.

Shining Armor’s mouth dropped for a moment, and he looked over to Sunset. “Mom? What does she mean, Mom?” he asked. “Sunset, is she-”

The unicorn giggled as she looked back to Shining Armor. “I adopted her, Shiny. You know, like Mom did with me?” she asked before facing her daughter again. “Now, how long have you been up?”

“...two days,” Flurry Heart eventually admitted before looking back down to Sunset’s face. “I’m sorry Mom! I had everything planned out, but then some stuff came up, and-”

Sunset held up a hoof. “Sweetie, it’s okay,” she said. “ I get it. You procrastinated and now you’re rushing to try and make up the time. It doesn’t matter. You’re going to get some sleep, then we’ll talk.”

“But-”

“Shhhh,” Sunset gently said before Flurry Heart slowly drooped and curled into a ball that just...floated there. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at the sight. There was no magic or glowing horn. “Spike.”

There was a popping sound, and the purple dragon was standing in the hallway between the cells. “Wh-oh shit!” Spike said before collapsing into a bow. “E-Empress! You’re awake! I...um-”

“Spike,” Sunset said gently. “Take Flurry to her room so she can get some sleep. I’ll speak with you both in ten hours.”

“Yes Empress!” Spike replied before standing up to take the alicorn in his arms. Once he had her, he left at a brisk pace.

Then Sunset looked up to Shining Armor and smiled. “It’s good to see you, Shiny,” she said softly. “Do you need anything? Water? Grapejuice? Cider? I can conjure anything you want. Here, let me give you something better than that dingy mattress.”

Sunset flicked her neck. The next thing he knew, there was a large, plush pillow behind Shining Armor as well as another one across from him that Sunset sat on. “Honestly, I want to sit with you. But I doubt you want to cuddle with an old mare like me.”

“Um…” Shining Armor said before he plopped down on his pillow. “How are you doing that without your horn glowing and um...how old are you...exactly? And what’s with the Empress thing? And what was that stuff that happened when I said your name? And-and what’s wrong with that alicorn princess? She’s...well, honestly, she reminds me of Twilight a little too much. And how are you a unicorn again?”

After a few seconds of silence, a giggle came from the amber unicorn. “Oh fuck, I didn’t count on that cuteness of yours,” Sunset said. “Okay, well, working from back to forward. This isn’t my real body, it’s a construct avatar that I’m focusing on at the moment. Think of it like a puppet I’m using to talk to you. It...wouldn’t be a good idea for you to see the real me right now.

“Flurry’s a...long story,” she said with a loud sigh. “She’s trying to prove to everypony that she can be a princess and everything else when she’s not really cut out for it. When it comes to magic, she’s a natural genius. Her analytical mind is second to none and she’s so sweet I can practically taste the sugar in the air whenever she’s around. But a princess? It’s just not in her. Whenever she tries to take on any duties, well...you see how she gets.

“Sorry for what happened when you got my attention,” Sunset went on. “The thing that made me like this also connects me with all of Equestria. If I don’t spread that focus out a bit, or they’re not in properly shielded location, ponies tend to pass out when I focus on them. Don’t worry, I’ve never really hurt anyone though.

“The Empress thing is more of a joke that snowballed on its own,” she said before smiling. “And you shouldn’t ask an old mare her age, Shiny. I thought you had better manners than that. And I am using magic, I’m just doing it from one hundred and seventy three miles away.

Once she was finished giving her answers and refusals, Sunset took a moment to study the colt as Shining Armor digested them before going on. “Now, would you mind telling me just how in the hell are you’re here?” she asked before giving him a once-over with her eyes. “You’re...what? Sixteen? I don’t remember you just disappearing at that age. So how did you get here?”

“Well, I’ve been having these...feelings, so Princess Celestia gave me a time travel spell that sent me here and told me to come and talk to you,” Shining Armor explained. “So, uh...since it’s, you know, the future...can’t you tell me what I told you about it in the past. Since I’m going to tell you what you tell me when I get back. Um...I can go back, right?”

Sunset let out a loud laugh before she rolled onto her back. “BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the amber unicorn laughed before she turned herself over on her side. “You-you actually thought Celestia would just point you straight towards the answer you needed?”

The response let Shining Armor mute for a moment. Then, he got to his hooves and frowned. “Hey! Sunset, I’ve been marehandled, had to deal with another crazy princess, and got thrown in a jail cell. I’d appreciate not being laughed at! So could you just tell me what I need and...um, can you send me home?” It seemed like Sunset could do even more than when Shining Armor left, but this was time travel he was talking about.

“Okay, sorry Shiny. You’re right, I shouldn’t have laughed,” Sunset said before she also stood up and slowly started to walk towards Shining Armor. “Okay, I’ll tell you what you need to hear, but only if you keep it a secret between the two of us.”

When Sunset got to him, she leaned up as much as she could, which meant Shining Armor had to lower his head a little to hear. “You…” she whispered into his ear, making Shining Armor lean as close as possible. “...are sixteen years old.”

“And as much as I’d like to keep you around to have oodles and oodles of fun, show off our empire and be your personal sex toy for a few days, I can’t. It would be really wrong of me to do so and I don’t even want to know what you’d do with as much maybe as that would cram into your head.” Then the unicorn tapped her horn to his, making Shining Armor wince as there was a tiny shock that accompanied the touch. “Now, time to send you back home.”

Shining Armor frowned at Sunset’s choice of words. “Wait, you’re just sending me back in time? Right now?” He hadn’t gotten the information he needed!

“Oh Shiny, don’t you remember what Sunset told you about that silly stuff the first night we were all together?” she said before letting out a sharp breath, as if blowing out a candle.

Then, the world was gone.

When the world came back to him, Shining Armor picked himself up off the carpeted floor. He was back in the room he’d been sharing with Twilight. Shining Armor only had a moment to wonder what time it was before the sunlight rushing in through the window made him look away and shield his eyes.

Shining Armor blinked several times as he tried to clear his eyesight and mind to properly wonder about what had just happened. After getting Twily to sleep and barely being able to keep his own eyes open, Shining Armor cast the spell Celestia had given her to help him figure out what was the cause of the sensation that was gnawing at him, and then...he had spent about four hours in a cell without bars without batting a wink.

“Then, was that all a drea-” Shining Armor stopped himself from talking. Something sounded...off. He looked over to the bed and blinked again. The mattress was even with his eyes. “W-What the hay?”

A little groan coming from the top of the bed stopped Shining Armor from thinking too much as Twilight rolled over to face him and opened her eyes. “Shiny?” she asked before picking her head up. “Why’re you my age?”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” his squeaky voice went before he galloped out of the room in a panic.

Twilight got out of bed and quickly followed behind. “Shiny wait up!”

Cadance awoke feeling dirty.

It wasn’t the sweat that covered their bodies thanks to the extra sheets Sunset needed to stay warm throughout the night that made her think she was filthy. The heavenly scent that Sunset’s body was giving off made Cadance want to bury her nose in the human’s chest and bottle the stuff. There was no physical reason for what the pink princess was feeling.

What Cadance was experiencing was purely mental. For the first time since getting in bed with Sunset, she couldn’t call the time they spent together an expression of their love. The lack of such a thing left her feeling...tainted.

A bit of physical discipline, Cadance could handle. That’s what she had planned on before the night had even started. It was a simple solution to help Sunset deal with a guilt problem there didn’t seem to be any real solution to. Making her take the form of a human would have allowed her to separate it from her new life as a pony princess.

But, complications arose that Cadance hadn’t counted on.

For starters, humans were fragile, ridiculously fragile. Things that would have just made even a unicorn pony, the least physical of all the tribes, which had Sunset doubled over as a human. Apparently, whatever magic was empowering her didn’t give the current biped the invulnerability she gained as an alicorn. Even Cadance’s marehandeling of her lover had left marks.

Then, there were all the things Sunset had wanted Cadance to do to her that the pink alicorn hadn’t felt comfortable with. It hadn’t been an issue after Sunset gave herself amnesia and thus forgot everything she told Cadance so that she didn’t have to go through with the vast majority of it, but the pink princess had remembered it well.

Cadance knew that Sunset needed an outlet for what she was feeling, but...she wasn’t sure if what she could do about it would have any effect, considering how far Sunset was wanting her to go. And if that were the case, well...she already felt uneasy where she was now, if it went any further…

I need to nip this in the bud, Cadance told herself before her thoughts could become too dark. “Sunset, wake up, we need to talk,” she said before nudging the human sleeping beside her.

Which in turn got a tiny moan from the human next to her.

“Sunset?” Cadance asked. “Are you awake?”

“Waaaaaa?” the animal next to her replied.

Cadance wiggled around, before groaning a little. “Okay, buck this.” She lit up her horn and tossed off the sheets before looking up to ignite enough candles around the room so that Sunset’s weak eyes could see what was going on.

Sunset let out a cry of dismay as she lost her blankets and curled up in a ball to help conserve her warmth. It also showed Cadance a few places where her hooves had touched Sunset much too harshly the night before when she was yanking her around in a display of dominance before having some fun with that tasty body of hers.

For a moment, a frightened thought ran through Cadance’s mind as she looked at some of the welts on Sunset’s skin. Did I kick her in my sleep? While the pink princess hadn’t broken anything when she had been playing with Sunset, unconscious movement wasn’t very restrained, and there had been more blankets on the bed due to Sunset’s lack of temperature resistance. “Okay, yeah. We really need to have a conversation about this.”

A pathetic whine escaped from Sunset’s mouth, and Cadance saw she was reaching for the discarded blankets.

Cadance sighed. “How about this?” She rolled Sunset onto her back, which allowed Cadance to see the remaining red marks on her body, then scrambled over to cover the human.

“Wha-C-Cada-Mistress! What’re you doing?”

“Making sure you can’t ignore me. Conversations mean two ponies talking,” Cadance said as she slipped her front legs under Sunset’s arms. “And stop calling me Mistress, that’s my title for you.”

As Cadance readjusted herself as not to put too much of her weight on the fragile human, Sunset thought to herself for a moment. “What about Princess?”

Cadance frowned. “No,” she said firmly. “Now, we need to talk about what happened last night.” The pink princess looked down at the numerous welts and bruises on Sunset’s body. While the human hadn’t experienced any major injuries, some of the places Cadance had grabbed the girl with her hooves to simply flip her around with her hooves were sore where the end of Cadance’s appendages had dug into her. The rough nature of the alicorn’s hooves had demolished the human’s soft skin. “Look, I understand you need an outlet for your feelings. But unless you figure out a way for me to put my hooves on you in a rough fashion without causing damage, I can not do this with you anymore.”

“What?” Sunset cried out as the last vestiges of sleep left her eyes. “No! You can’t-”

“Sunset!” Cadance exclaimed. “It’s bad enough that we’re doing this, but I am not going to cause real damage, is that understood?”

The human broke eye contact. “Yes...Cadance,” she mumbled in a dejected tone before bouncing back with bright eyes almost immediately.”Oh! What about socks?”

“What’s a...sock?” Cadance asked, stumbling over the odd word.

Sunset brightened up a little. “Well you see, humans have almost no heat generation around their feet, so they need special covering for that part of the area alone and-and um, well, they’re like stockings for...hooves,” the human explained before frowning thoughtfully. “Which Equestria doesn’t either, so...I’ll have Sassy make us some. They’ll blunt the force and keep the ends of your hooves from scraping me. Which was the worst of it.”

“Okay fine, next time, I’ll wear socks.” Glad that was dealt with, Cadance when on to the other problem she had with what had occurred between the two of them last night. “Next is the insults. I know that you were expecting some kind of verbal beating from me last night. I’m not budging on this one, those aren’t happening.”

“What? But how did you know-”

Cadance growled down at her. “There is a difference between punishment and abuse, Sunset. You want me to be rough with you as I take what I want from your body, make you do embarrassing things like lick my hoof or use a little stormcloud to give you a jolt and tell you it’s for all the pain you caused on Earth? I can manage that.”

Admittedly, Cadance had no intention of just stopping there. Just punishing Sunset only served as a stopgap measure that she wasn’t sure would truly solve anything long-term. Over the next few months, Cadance planned to direct Sunset to engaging in acts that pleasured the pink pony, but left the human high and dry in an attempt to ‘make up’ for all of the distress Sunset caused Cadance during their time together. Then, once she had conditioned Sunset to obey her when it came to her penance, Cadance would tell Sunset she had done enough and she didn’t need to engage in such acts for any reason other than the shared pleasure.

If Sunset had to work off her guilt, that was the way she was going to do it. Not through emotional torture. “Doing it while calling you a stupid little whore of a useless cunt? Not going to happen. Understand?”

“...yes, Cadance,” Sunset agreed.

“Now, cast a spell to reduce my weight so I don’t crush you when we snuggle,” Cadance ordered after remembering to be assertive. She could at least do that for the non-pony. “And why do I weigh so much more than you?” The difference in size wasn’t that great. If anything, Sunset looked bigger than her.

The amber horn on Sunset’s head lit up. “It’s a density thing. Although we take up about the same amount of space, but there’s just more of you packed in the area. Which is a little strange since you would figure that a flying pony would weigh a lot less, but you’ve also got that whole earth pony thing going on, which I think is finally kicking in now that you’re actually using those legs of yours to do more than walk around.”

Cadance blinked. “Uh, Sunset...that is the majority of the training we do,” she replied. “I run around blasting targets you’ve set up before. You know what? Never mind, we’ve got a good half an hour to cuddle before the sun comes up. Now grab my butt and squeeze it. We’ll move on from there.” Those finger things were unbelievably useful.

“Yes, Cadance.”

A second later, Cadance felt her human’s hands dig into her rump before she buried her nose in Sunset’s shoulder to take in a breath. The scent that greeted her was so much more wonderful than anything she had experienced before meeting Sunset. So much so that she couldn’t stop herself from scooting down the bed so she could bury her nose in Sunset’s bare chest, between her teats that just begged to be sucked.

The fingers Cadance had broken free of moved to scratch her ears, further enhancing the experience. “Oh Celestia, why do you you smell so good?” Cadance asked before she kissed her human’s skin to put Sunset’s taste on her lips.

“Do you really want to know, or is it just one of those rhetorical questions?” Sunset asked.

Cadance picked her head up for a second to think about it. “Actually, yeah. I do.”

The question had Sunset scoot herself up and stack the three pillows she, Shiny and Cadance slept on to double as the back of a chair before she sat up and leaned against it. Not wanting to let go of her human, Cadance moved closed to her and leaned her head up against Sunset’s stomach to kiss her skin again.

“So ummm, see….” she began as Cadance gave her another hickey. “Unlike ponies, humans don’t smell good to other humans. In fact, we stink.”

There was a light pop as Cadance removed her mouth from Sunset’s skin. “Really?” she asked in disbelief.

Sunset nodded. “Different olfactory senses and brain composition,” she explained. “And the reason my scent is so strong is because every inch of a human’s skin is made for extreeting oils, salt, certain acids, proteins and other...stuff.”

“Wait,” Cadance said as she latched onto the important part of Sunset’s explanation. Salt was one of the most inebriating additives in pony society. Cadance had seen stallions that could down a gallon of cider without a problem become unable to stand after working their way through half a pound of salt. “Are you saying I could get drunk off you?”

The sun blasted through the window as the day came to Canterlot.

Sunset moaned in pleasure as Cadance allowed her a brief rest from being used as her as an oversized lollipop that could give ear scratches and belly rubs. “You know, it is a little disturbing how much you like the taste of my skin,” she told the Princess.

“Good thing ponies don’t eat meat,” Cadance told her before turning her head towards the window. “Although, it looks like we need to get ready for-um, are you going to the Sun Court today?”

Before Sunset could answer, the door banged open to admit Princess Celestia. “Up and at’em Sunset! We need to get going early this morning….to…” she stopped talking and looked at the pink pony laying on top of the human’s lap in silence before shaking it off. Her smile disappeared. “I have got to stop coming into this room.”

The sudden presence of her mother had Sunset sitting up in bed and covering her breasts on instinct. “GAH! M-MOM!” the embarrassed girl yelled. “Knock first!”

Celestia frowned. “Young lady, this is my palace. So-” she stopped to sniff the air. “What is that wonderful smell?”

“No!” Sunset exclaimed. “No, we are not doing this! It’s weird enough that my girlfriend likes to smell, lick and-okay, the boob sucking isn’t that strange, guys want to play with them all the time and-look! Point is, no more weirdness!”

Before she could push Cadance off, or at least use her out of place horn to float Cadance away so she could get out of bed, a high-pitched scream echoed throughout the halls that grew and grew until a little white unicorn pony galloped into the room and jumped onto the bed.

He was cute. Adorably cute. With a messy blue mane and bright eyes that were framed with cheeks just begging to be pinched. “Sunset! You gotta fix...Sunset?” the tiny colt asked.

Cadance leaned forward and looked at the colt’s cutie mark. “Shiny?” she asked. “What happened to you?”

“Hello? Is anypony-ahh! Princess Celestia!” Sunset thought she heard Twilight shout before hearing a scrambling of hooves even a human’s ears could detect. But by the time she looked back at the door, it was empty.

Shiny pointed a hoof at Celestia as he looked to Cadance. “She gave me a spell that teleported me to the future, and when I got back, I was like this!” he squeaked.

“I told you there were side-effects,” Celestia said before lifting a hoof to wave away her concerns. “Don’t worry. The aging potion I put on for you last night will be done simmering by the end of the day.”

Shiny looked back to the biped. “Sunset? Why are you...uh…” he stopped to lean in and sniff the human’s chest. “Mmmmmm. You smell nice, Sunset.”

“Okay, time out everypony!” Cadance said as she stood up in the bed to throw out her wings in a display of dominance before looking over to Celestia. “What’d you do to my coltfriend?”

Said coltfriend was wrapped in Sunset’s arms as he was kept away from her chest. “Please don’t suck boobs right now Shiny. There’s only so much weird I can handle in one morning, and fake breastfeeding my youthanized boyfriend crosses the line.”

The accusing question didn’t even get a reaction from the big princess. “Shining Armor said something was bothering him that he couldn’t put his horn on, so I gave him a spell so that he could visit a future to gain the information he needed. However, the side effect is that the caster loses half his age. It took away fifty years from me when I used it,” Celestia explained before looking over to Sunset and frowning. “Now, tell me what are all of those scratches and red marks are about.”

Sunset looked over to her mother with a frown. “You gave my boyfriend a time traveling spell, knowing how screwed up everything is right now?” she demanded.

“Oh yes, Sunset. I am a complete and total moron,” Celestia replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes before she frowned back at her Cadance. “Bruises, explanation, now!”

From her place atop the bed, Cadance let out a loud sigh. “Okay...fine,” she said before giving them all an even look. “Sunset, go clean yourself up and get changed back into an alicorn. Shiny, you go get Twily so we can take a bath together and calm her down. Celestia….um...we’ll talk while they’re doing...all of that and….um, what are you doing this morning, anyway?”

“I’m reviewing the security arrangements for Sunset’s coronation tomorrow with my daughter,” she deadpanned.

Sunset’s eyes went wide. “Ohmygosh! I’ve really been looking forward to this!” she said before jumping out of bed to leave Shiny laying on his back a moment later. She started to leave, then looked back to the colt standing on her bed. “Sorry in advance Shiny, but…” She reached forward to snatch the colt off the bed and hug him as tight as she could. “Cutie!”

The little colt sighed as Sunset hugged him to her chest, then lifted the little pony up to touch noses. “Sorry sweetie. I had to do that just once,” she said before leaning down to kiss him lightly on the nose.

A tiny jolt ran through her horn, making Sunset pull away a second later. “Shiny?”

“Yeah?” the colt asked a second later.

After not getting anything from the colt a moment later, she set him down on the bed. “Never mind. I’m gonna go clean up and get changed back to normal. Be just a sec,” she said.

Instead of leaving, Sunset stared at Shiny for a few more seconds. “You’re coming with me!” she declared before snatching him up and holding the little pony to her chest before running off to the bathroom.

“Sunset, we don’t have time for you to take a bath, just use magic,” Celestia called out to her before she looked back to Cadance.

“Okay then,” Cadance said under the older pony’s gaze. “Now, about last night.”

Cadance looked back to the colt sitting uncomfortably on her back as they escorted Twilight towards the Saddle Arabian guestroom. There were closer bedrooms, but it was the only one with a bath large enough for the three of them aside from the ones Celestia and Sunset had, and she didn’t want Twily going into Sunset’s bedroom after last night’s activities. “What’s wrong, Shiny?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” he deadpanned.

With the colt on her back still a little on edge, Cadance didn’t say anything as she opened the door for Twilight and went into the room with all of the Celestia-sized furniture that had an exotic quality to its design. “Come on Twily, the tub is this way, but we need to get everything ready before we go in,” the pink princess told the little filly before she opened another door that led to the bathroom.

“Okay Princess,” the purple unicorn said before trotting through and starting the water. “Let’s see, we need towels, shampoo, combs and brushes…”

As Twilight rooted around the room, going through a verbal checklist, Cadance set Shining Armor down and gave him a gentle smile. “So, ready to stop pouting?” she asked.

Shiny looked up at the big mare and frowned. “I’m barely older than Twilight, Cadance,” he said in a voice that squeaked half-way through.

Taking a cue from the cause of all of this, Cadance let out a little squeal of delight and clapped her hooves. “I know, isn’t it great?” she exclaimed. When Shining Armor gave the pink princess a look that told her he thought she was crazy, Cadance went on. “I was wondering how we were going to get Twily to go on all the rides that were meant for all the little ponies by herself. But now, you can go with her to make sure she feels safe.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Uh...that’s…”

“And now you get to go on all the rides you probably wanted to experience, but would have looked silly on,” Cadance continued.

The colt looked down at the ground with a frowned. “Okay, I did want to ride on the-”

“Plus, you can get to really know all of the other fillies that Sunset is bringing along much better than either of us and being as young as you are right now means Sunset will keep her hooves to herself long enough for you to explain to her what you told me yesterday,” Cadance told him. “Honestly, I think this whole age regression problem you have could be turned to your baby sister’s benefit in a way that makes sure her first real foray into a social activity, which can really be a make it or break it thing for a filly her age is a stroke of pure genius on Celestia’s part.”

After a few more seconds of looking up at Cadance, Shining Armor sighed and hung his cute little head. “Okay, I’ll admit, there are a few benefits to being like this, today of all days.”

Cadance giggled and picked the colt up in her magic. “I was hoping you would,” she said with a smile that slowly became a dark frown. “Otherwise, Celestia and I would be having words.”

“Umm…” Shining Armor began hesitantly as Twily adjusted the water coming out of the tub faucet to get it the correct temperature once it hit the cold tub and cooled a bit. “Cadance, I’ve been noticing something lately. Do you...not like Princess Celestia?”

The question got an uncertain sound in reply as Cadance thought it over for a minute. “Well...it’s not that she’s a bad pony, or anything,” she said. “It’s just...Celestia tends to focus on the big picture so much that she tends to trip up on the little things. And she’s been doing it so much lately…it has gotten me a little miffed at her.”

“Okay, everything’s ready!” Twilight called out from the bathroom.

Celestia looked over to her daughter as they sat down in the big pony’s office, the plans for her coronation’s security and the details of the banquet that would follow laying on her desk, hiding the nervousness she was feeling at seeing Sunset’s expression. The reason for her nervousness was Sunset’s happy expression. Everything she knew about her daughter told Celestia that the amber alicorn’s expression should be anything but happy at the moment.

And yet, there it was. A big, wide smile that showed teeth.

It wasn’t fake. Sunset was genuinely happy about what was to come.

Then, the door opened. “Greetings High Princess Celestia,” the captain of the guard said as he nodded towards the ruler of Equestria. He walked into the room, and the big pony blinked as she noticed the heavy bags under the unicorn’s eyes.

“Hello Hard Line!” Sunset said in a voice that was much too cheery. “I’d ask how you are today, but before we get to the pleasantries, I really should point out that absolutely horrible mistake you just made!”

Oh dear, Celestia told herself as she saw the unicorn’s eye twitch at Sunset’s happy tone. Now, she understood what was going on. Instead of her usual grumpy or high and mighty demeanor, Sunset had decided to use an annoyingly happy tone to mess with the stallion.

The animosity between the two ponies had gone back years, since before Sunset was an alicorn. Like his father and grandfather before him, Hard Line had commanded the royal guard since he was old enough to be given the responsibility. And, like many ponies in Canterlot, he looked down on anypony who wasn’t part of the noble house system that had grown out of the final days of Unicornia in an attempt for the more prominent families of that time to hold onto their political power in a changing world.

As a whole, the system was a good thing to have around. While Celestia couldn’t deny that many of the noble houses in Canterlot had grown a bit...lazy, the standards that they upheld kept them from slipping into moral decay as many tried to outdo the other in philanthropic acts such as charity auctions and donations to the needy. While Celestia would have prefered ponies to do good deeds simply for the sake of doing good, a pat on one’s back and praise from peers was a simple enough reward that she didn’t raise a fuss about it.

Unfortunately, no system was perfect. Some ponies that were born into it forgot the moral half of their standards and simply looked down on anypony outside Canterlot’s special social circles. Such ponies were rare, but Celestia had seen the effects of their actions, like with Sunset’s private maid.

While Hard Line wasn’t quite as bad as a stallion that would...knock a pony up, as Sunset put it, Celestia knew that he was full of faults. Ironically, it was that same sense of superiority that both kept Hard Line out of any serious trouble and made him such a disappointment in Celestia’s eyes.

“What mistake would that be?” the stallion asked evenly.

Sunset let out an overly dramatic gasp before going on her much too sweet tone again. “Why, you called Mom the High Princess! She’s not the High Princess anymore,” she said. “I think you need to go apologize to the real High Princess right away!”

As Hard Line simply stared at Sunset as if she had gone crazy, Celestia looked over to her daughter in confusion. Unable to stop herself, she asked the obvious question that the amber alicorn was probably just waiting for the stallion to voice. “What makes you say that, Sunset?”

“Well, you see, Mom,” Sunset said to her mother. “You abdicated the throne to me for a weekend before I restored you to power. Under the wording of Equestrian law, the High Princess is the alicorn that’s held power the longest. Since I’m not a princess anymore, and your term has only lasted nine days, that makes Cadance the supreme authority in Equestria.”

Then, Sunset turned her head back to Hard Line. “You remember High Princess Cadance, don’t you?” she asked the stallion. “That pony you called, an overblown sky farmer who you will never accept as a real princess, no matter what? That is what you said to me a week after she arrived, right?”

Hard Line’s eye twitched. “I...do not recall that conversation,” he replied after a moment before looking over to the big pony in the room. “Now, Princess Celestia, might we get down to business?”

“We are on a tight schedule this morning,” Celestia reminded her daughter before looking back to the map that showed the layout of the throne room. “Now, I want the southern exit completely sealed off, four guards at the door and another four in the hall itself. Aside from the members of Sunset’s honor guard, there needs to be two pegasi at every window and ten other guards at the entrance to the room.”

Taking a break from poking Hard Line with her proverbial stick, Sunset looked over to Celestia. “Not that I’m all that worried about the changelings attacking when three alicorns are together, but are you sure that Chrysalis isn’t going to try something when I put my crown on? You told me what she said, and let’s be honest Mom, that would be your big moment of triumph.”

Celestia shook her head. “It’s extremely doubtful that Chrysalis would reveal herself at that moment,” she assured Sunset before turning the map over to a sketch of the palace’s garden. “If anything is going to happen, it will be during the celebratory banquet. So many ponies will be coming between the coronation and the dinner that it gives all of them ample opportunity to take whomever they want with little trouble. All the important ponies of the kingdom will be in one place and by giving the majority of the staff the day off, they will see it as an golden opportunity to sneak around. That’s why I’ll be making a celebratory toast after everypony has taken their seats.”

“Okay,” Sunset said with a nod. “So, I get my crown, then stand around for hours on end while the heads of every noble house in Equestria comes to give me something, followed by pledges from the commanders of the military and-oh!”

The wide smile returned as she looked over to Hard Line. “Captain! As a high ranking member of the military, don’t you have to do something to prove your loyalty to the crown?”

Once again, Hard Line’s eye twitched as Sunset went back to poking it with her invisible stick. He cleared his throat. “Ahem. That...is correct.”

“Oh, I wonder what feat of daring do you could perform to show Equestria your devotion to the crown?” she asked before crossing her forelegs in thought.

Hard Line’s mouth became tight and he looked away from Sunset. “I am sure it will be...acceptable.”

Sunset nodded. “You know, I’ve been reading up on previous princess throughout Equestria’s history and how their coronations went. Just to, you know, get me ready for this whole thing,” the amber alicorn said. “And I found something really, really interesting in the case of Princess Star Butterfly.”

The utterance of that pony’s name got a wince from Celestia. While not the worst of ponies, Celestia had spent years wondering how Princess Butterfly had become so...odd. “Sunset-”

“While not exactly the most...admirable of princesses, she did set a very nice precedent when it came to one of the ponies that showed his loyalty with a half-hearted action,” Sunset went on, completely ignoring Celestia. “Apparently, Star decided that if a pony’s act of loyalty isn’t good enough, then the newly crowned princess can make up a new one for him to perform on top of what they promised.”

Sunset’s false air of joy disappeared, replaced by an angry scowl. “So tell me, Captain, do you have an idea for something that will prove to me that you no longer think of me as some gutter trash that Celestia mercifully took pity on and salvaged from the trash heap when it would have been better for everypony if I had just been thrown from the side of Canterlot the day my low born parents died?” she asked. “Because if you don’t, I’ve got a few ideas.”

“Did you see how much he wanted to piss himself at the end there?” Sunset asked happily as she took her seat on the cushion next to Celestia’s throne. “I thought were were going to see a puddle on the floor before he got out of the room!”

Celestia sighed and gave her daughter a look of tired disapproval. It made Sunset feel a little bad about herself, but not enough to show. After all, it meant that while her mother didn’t condone Sunset’s actions, she had gotten used to them. “You know Sunset, Hard Line isn’t the only pony that acted in a manner unbefitting of his station.”

The comment made Sunset sigh through her nose. “Hey, I’m paying for the way I used to act,” she replied. “And if he’s willing to apologize and act the way he’s supposed to, then I’ll treat him the way he’s supposed to be treated. If he doesn’t...well, I’ll treat him the way he needs to be treated.”

After a few seconds of silence, a tightness crept its way into Celestia’s eyes. “So, you and Cadance...devised something, between the two of you?”

Sunset sighed in disappointment as she remembered their activities the night before. She understood Cadance was doing her best, but...she deserved more than what Cadance was giving her. Then again...Cadance endured about just as much as all the humans I tormented. Maybe she’s right about me being too hard on myself.

While not the best pony, two days of ruling had allowed Sunset to make some much needed reforms to the way things worked in Equestria when it came to parents and their children. The laws might not have been put to use very much from here on out, but it was good for there to be something around in case parents tried to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.

“We worked something out,” Sunset explained.

Celestia smiled and nodded. “That’s good,” she said before Raven trotted up to bring her a scroll that the Princess too up in her magic. “Now, I followed through with your suggestion and we’ve only got a few ponies to deal with today. Sunny Daze, please tell the first pair of ponies to enter.”

The pegasus zipped off and had the guards open the door, making Sunset turn her head to see what was going on. When she caught sight of the pair, Sunset blinked. She was familiar with the the yellow unicorn with the pocket book thanks to all the time they had spent together at Canterlot Academy, and although she couldn’t name of the silver gray stallion wearing the ascot, Sunset did remember he had been with her at the Formal.

Both of the ponies trotted up to the dais with the usual amount of reverence and respect Princess had been shown by the vast majority of Equestria, although the looks on their faces said that they would rather be anywhere else. When they got in place, Celestia began the usual greeting she had been using for the past few days. “Hello my little ponies. Tell me your troubles,” she said before looking towards Sunset. “This is my daughter, Sunset Shimmer. She speaks with my voice in all matters. A decision from her will be thought of as one from myself as well.”

“Princess Celestia, I am Jet Set, and let me just begin by saying-” the silver gray stallion said before Upper Crust immediately butted in. “Sunset, tell this stallion to give me my money!”

The non-existence of Upper Crust’s decorum shattered Jet Set’s. He looked over to the yellow unicorn with a frown. “Preposterous!” he said before looking back to the alicorns. “I want this horrible mare locked up for forcing me on her!”

Sunset blinked at the confusing use of words. “Um...say what now?”

Upper Crust cleared her throat. “Your Highness. Due to my circumstances, I stayed with Jet Set over the past week. The two of us had relations when I was in heat, and according to this test,” she said before pulling a sheet of paper from her purse, “I am pregnant. As he was the only pony with me for the past week, he must be the sire. So, as per your new laws, I am entitled to half of his family’s fortune.”

“You forced me to drink a love potion at the Formal!” the stallion yelled at her before looking to the biggest ponies above him. “Your Majesties, surely there is an exception to be made here. I was unable to stop myself from mounting her because of a potion she made me drink!”

“That is completely irrelevant!” Upper Crust exclaimed. “I get half of your family’s money to help provide for-”

“The unborn foal that you made me produce!” Jet Set said.

“ENOUGH!”

With Celestia’s shouting, the room went dreadfully quite. She took in a deep breath through her nose, and looked over to her daughter. “Well, Sunset. As this involves a law that was created during your term as Empress, I believe I shall grant you full authority to decide which course of action needs to be taken.”

Sunset’s mind tried to digest what she had just heard, taking its sweet time to do so. When she had made the law, it had been to ensure that ponies like Star weren’t forgotten by Equestria and given a chance to have some sort of a life that didn’t involve a dead end job where most of the bits went to feed a foal that barely ever saw its mother because she needed to work twice as hard as most just to put food on the table. And, like many of the ideas for all of the inventions she had come up with late at night while Shining Armor and Cadance were spending time together on the bed, the idea for the law had come about thanks to all the time Sunset spent amongst humans.

Humans, a species that didn’t have love potions.

Well, love potions that allowed you to keep the majority of your mental faculties and not stand around in a daze where you offered no resistance to mental or physical suggestions at least.

“So, you…” Sunset paused as she went over the information in her head again. Then, she reviewed everything she knew about Upper Crust. “Forced Jet Set to breed you...because of one of the laws that I made?”

Fluttershy looked back to her father as he held her little brother while trying to wave goodbye. “Do you think father be okay with Zephyr on his own, Mommy?” she asked.

“I’m sure he’ll be able to manage,” the older pegasus told her as they boarded the golden chariot that was hitched to the two burly white pegasi.

The size of the guards made Fluttershy nervous. Not to mention the idea of having to fly all the way to Canterlot. And there was the fact that they would be going halfway to the ground.

Just the thought of the ground made Fluttershy nervous. Like all pegasi her age, she had heard all of the stories about that terrible place. Down there, monsters roamed a land that was covered with blades of grass! Ponies that weren’t lucky enough to be born with wings spent their lives running from the awful creatures until their hooves were so cut up they couldn’t escape anymore.

Because of that, none of the foals flew very far away from Cloudsdale. If they did, they might get tired and find themselves unable to make the trip back. Then, they would have to glide down to the ground, too tired to fly away and get eaten by something horrible like a bunny!

The thought made Fluttershy absolutely dread the idea of going to flight camp come Spring. Once there, the fillies and colts would have to endure all sorts of punishing exercises as they built up their stamina and learned how to deal with things like updrafts and various weather patterns.

When she got into the chariot, Fluttershy took a seat as far away from the edge of the vehicle as possible and was glad when her mother took a position that would stop Fluttershy from stumbling backwards and falling to the ground and being devoured if they got bumped.

Although, the fact that she would need to spend time at the Princess Fair did make Fluttershy nervous. Not as nervous as the idea of being on the ground, but still very uneasy. A fair meant lots of ponies, and lots of ponies meant that some of them would laugh at her and make fun of her for being tall, or being a poor flier, or...well, Fluttershy didn’t think that anypony would make fun of her because of what happened in cloud kindergarten, but that was only because none of them knew about it.

The chariot slowly accelerated and Fluttershy crouched down onto the floor in fear of the pegasi hitting a bump and throwing her off into the air so she could through a hole in the clouds before she found her wings unable to work and plummeted down to the ground, where a pack of kittens would be waiting to turn her into their lunch!

“Oh, hello there,” Fluttershy heard her mother say. “Were you called to Canterlot by the Princess as well?”

“That’s right!” an energetic female voice replied somewhere above the crouching yellow pony. “Princess Celestia’s daughter noticed how special our little Dashie was and invited her to attend the coronation!”

Fluttershy picked her head up when she heard mention of another pegasus going to Canterlot like her.

“Oh, Princess Celestia and Sunset brought my little filly home with them one day and invited us to Canterlot as well,” Fluttershy heard her mother reply. “She’s…” there was a pause as the older pegasus looked down at her daughter. “She’s a little uneasy about flying all the way to Canterlot. First time away from home.”

“What type of pegasus is nervous about flying?” a squeaky voice asked, growing closer and closer as it talked.

Before she even knew what was going on, there was another filly in the chariot, looking down at her. Thankfully, it wasn’t one of the mean fillies Fluttershy had met in school’s classroom the previous year. But...the rainbow mane and tail did stir something in Fluttershy’s memory.

Had she been in another class? Fluttershy had seen plenty of ponies on the playground between lessons that she never talked to.

Dashie gave the taller pony a deep frown. “You...look familiar.”

Fluttershy gulped and let out a tiny squeak as she hid behind her mane. If Dashie had heard the stories the other foals in her class had been telling to anypony that would listen so they could have more ponies to point at her and laugh, she would tell. Then, the Princess wouldn’t want anything to do with Fluttershy!

Rarity looked up at the strapping stallions that would be pulling their carriage with stars in her eyes. The perfect example of what Canterlot ponies should be, both of them were larger than any pegasus in Ponyville and had an air of authority about them that just screamed heroic. Like true gentlecolts, they helped her mother into the enclosed flying box that came with a bench large enough for her currently ample frame.

Inside the carriage, a white box with a bow on top held the dress Princess Sunset had promised her. Just thinking about it made Rarity giddy with anticipation. She just knew it would be covered with sapphires and rubies!

“And your husband is…”

“Still out on a delivery, I’m afraid,” Cookie Crumbles explained.

The guard nodded. “Very well them, Ma’am. We’ll leave as soon as the other family we’ll be transporting arrives.”

Rarity blinked and looked towards the big strong, strapping stallion. “Other family?” she asked in confusion. Were the Riches also coming? They were certainly of a high enough class to attend Princess Sunset’s coronation.

“Ah, there they are now,” the guard announced as he looked at something behind Rarity.

The white unicorn turned to greet the most affluent stallion in Ponyville and... froze in horror. The pair of ponies coming towards her were most definitely not the classy ponies she was expecting to travel with her to Canterlot. In fact, they were just about the most unclassifiable pair of ponies in all of Ponyville!

Well, with the exception of that Hayseed Turnip Truck colt.

Across the street, a pair of earth pony mares approached the carriage. The first was that apple farmer named Buttercup, her mane full of flowers that while pretty, probably had a ton of dirt still clinging to them. Next to her was the most uncouth, mannerless little filly that had ever been born, Applejack.

The very thought of having to spend any amount of time locked in a box with the filly that always came into the classroom with a trail of dirt behind her made Rarity want to scream in terror.

The sight of Sassy and Cheerilee coming into one of the palace’s many solar’s that she caught out of the corner of her eye made Cadance look up from the book she was reading about the art of potion making. “Girls!” the princess said before getting down from her couch and trotting over to the others to give them a big hug with her forelegs and wings.

“Morning Cadance,” Sassy said.

“Good Morning, Princess Cadance,” Cheerilee greeted her, taking a moment to bow.

The pink princess sighed at the formal display, but let it pass in lieu of more important matters. She looked back and forth between the two mares for a moment. “Where are the others?”

Sassy sighed. “I’m afraid Fleur is still in the midst of her heat. She came a bit late this week.”

“Mare too,” Cheerilee said.

“Well, I suppose we have enough. Thank you for agreeing to help me out with this,” she said. “Especially now that we’re one stallion down.”

Both of the mare’s blinked in confusion before Cadance looked back to the couch that Shining Armor was hiding behind. It took him a few seconds, but Cadance didn’t need to give him another queue before he slowly trotted out. Even though she knew he was embarrassed by the fact of being a little colt, Cadance couldn’t stop herself from getting a little bubbly over how cute he looked.

“S-Shiny?” Sassy stuttered.

“What happened to you?” Cheerilee asked in surprise.

As Shining Armor blushed at the attention, Cadance made her way back to the sofa to sit down before levitating Shiny up and placing him in her forelegs. “There was a bit of a magical mishap, I’m afraid,” she said. “A spell reduced Shining Armor to half his actual age and although he’s still him on the inside, I don’t think it would be a good idea to have him act as a chaperone for our day at the fair.”

Cheerilee gave Cadance a worried look. “Can’t Princess Sunset or Princess Celestia do anything to help him?”

“While age spells do exist, they’re too...ballpark to do anything less than one-hundred years,” Cadance said before she glanced over to the book she had been looking over. “However, there are magic potions meant to age whomever drinks them depending on the dosage. Princess Celestia is brewing one that will return Shining Armor to his proper age, but it will need to simmer for a few more hours.”

Twily looked up from the book she had been glued to since Cadance led them into the room. “So that means I can play with Shiny at the fair today!”

His sister’s words got an embarrassed groan, which made Cadance hug Shiny and kiss him on the top of his head before she looked at both the young mares standing near the door. “I don’t think I need to say that any mockery of Shiny’s condition will get a Sunset-level response from me, do I?”

Both of the mares shook their heads.

“Cadance!” Shiny complained. “You telling them that just makes it worse!”

Shiny’s words got a wince from Cadance. “Sorry.”

The little colt sighed and looked back to the unicorn and earth pony before he took a deep breath. “Okay so...lay it on me.”

Both of the newcomers shared a confused expression for a few seconds. “Lay...what on you, Shining Armor?”

“Oh come on!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been made fun of and bullied for so many years, I know the patterns. Something stupid and embarrassing happens, everypony points at me, cue laughter and stupid jokes.”

Sassy quirked an eyebrow. “Why would we do that?” she asked.

“Because that’s what you’re supposed to do!” Shiny told her as he squirmed in the pink princess’s grip. Cadance held fast to her colt to keep him from escaping. It also stopped him from continuing his rant.

The assumption got a look of surprise from Cheerilee while Sassy frowned at him before speaking. “You mean it’s what Buck and Crust did,” she said before sighing. “And what everypony else just went along with.”

As Shining Armor blinked at her words, Sassy trotted over to look down at him. “Shining Armor, while I will admit that I do find you adorable at the moment, your discomfort is nothing to laugh about,” she said. “And if you want, we will never speak of this again. Okay?”

Shining Armor blushed and looked away from the bigger pony. “Okay.”

“Good!” Cadance said before she took Shiny up in her magic as she hopped onto the ground to place him onto her back. “Now, let’s go meet up with Sunset. Then we can meet with the other foals.”

Celestia gave her daughter a hesitant look as they sat in her office, finalizing the paperwork she would need to close the little loophole Upper Crust had found that violated the spirit of Sunset’s laws in regards to foals. Sunset sat in one of the chairs, staring out the window with the same blank expression she had after the problem was brought to her.

While Sunset’s lack of reaction or breakdown in the throne room had been a good thing for the crown’s image, seeing her daughter just shut down was beginning to trouble Celestia even more. So much so, she couldn’t stop herself from disturbing the pony. “Sunset?” she asked, getting her daughter’s attention.

Sunset slowly looked back at her. Celestia could see the utter devastation in the amber alicorn’s eyes. “Yes, Mom?”

“What’s...going through your mind?” Celestia asked. “A week ago, I would have expected you to be more...verbose about something like this, if you had a problem with it.”

The question went unanswered for several seconds as Sunset just stared at Celestia before she looked down at her mother’s desk. “Yeah,” she mumbled quietly. “I guess I would have been obsessed with beating myself up rather than…” Sunset trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.

More silence followed, making Celestia even more nervous. She felt as if she was a foal poking a sleeping dragon with a stick. While it might have appear to be a good idea to let the creature lay there, everypony would pay for it in time.

So, she spoke. “Are you...placing the blame for what Upper Crust did on yourself?” Celestia asked quietly instead of in the tone she felt like, one that would have told Sunset how stupid such an idea was.

“Well, she wouldn’t have done it if not for me, right?” Sunset asked in a depressed voice. “I’m the one who gave her the idea. Me and my stupid laws.”

Celestia took in a breath to keep herself from breaking her calm. Sunset didn’t need to hear how stupid her current train of thought was. “You made those laws to protect ponies like Spangled Star.”

“And Upper Crust just came around and turned everything on its head!” Sunset exclaimed as her head show up to look Celestia in the eyes, a bit of fire returning to her voice. “How-how am I supposed to be a princess when the very first fucking thing I did ended up creating a situation like that?”

When Celestia saw that Sunset wasn’t going to start on a rant, she took a moment to think about how to respond to her daughter. She knew she couldn’t raise her voice to Sunset. If Celestia got into a shouting match with her daughter, Sunset would start arguing just to win the fight.

So, she kept her tone low, but firm. “Sunset, I know more than most that there will always be that one pony who will try to take advantage of your kindness,” Celestia said, getting a wince from Sunset. It almost stopped the Princess from going on, but she kept herself on task. “But you must not allow one incident to dictate your every following action. Yes, Upper Crust used your own laws to her personal advantage, but that is one of the reasons I hold court every day, to stop such abuses.”

“And what about the foal?” Sunset asked, her anger leaking out of hrr again as she looked down at Celestia's desk with empty eyes again. “We can make all the laws to stop this from happening again that we want, but Crust has already conceived. I know an abortion is an option, but...a pony that forces herself on a stallion to get herself pregnant so she can take half his fortune, that’s not a pony that would have a foal if there wasn’t any financial gain in it. And the idea of Crust just...undoing it, even if it’s only a small collection of cells right now seems just as bad as bringing a foal into the world when she won’t have a parent to love her.”

Her huh? Celestia thought with a little frown before she smoothed her face out again. “You don’t know that, Sunset.”

The amber alicorn frowned at Celestia. “The stallion was forced into having sex, Mom. It would be hard enough for the mother to keep a foal under those circumstances,” Sunset told her. “Expecting the sire to do it is just wishful thinking on anyone’s part.”

Celestia decided to approach the thing from a different angle. “So, what do you want to happen?”

“I want,” Sunset said before pausing to think for a second. “I want Upper Crust to pay for what she did, I want her to take responsibility for her actions! Nobody should just be allowed to just bring a little filly up for any reason and then just toss her aside because things don’t work out the way she wants them too!” Sunset yelled.

It didn’t take much to see that Sunset’s thoughts had gone a bit off track. Celestia considered her daughter for a moment, then put her hooves up on the table and placed them together. “Okay,” she said. “So, how can I make what happened up to you?”

“Y-” Sunset got out before she stopped herself. Her eyes went wide for a moment which she followed with a hanging of her head. “Oh. I...I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to... I know it wasn’t you who…”

Celestia took in a deep breath. “Do you want to know what the spell I cast on Shining Armor did?” she asked suddenly to bring whatever train of thought Sunset was riding to a halt before it could go anywhere too dark. “It’s one Starswirl concocted hundreds of years ago in an attempt to see what the future held for Equestria.”

“...huh?” Sunset said.

“Doesn’t actually do that though,” she went on. “What happens is the caster is transported to a kind of miniature universe for a few hours. The universe’s existence is based off of a probability prognostication magic developed several years before Starswirl's spell. I cast it myself, and for the most things, it got stuff right. But, it missed a few things too. Yet, I had determined to live every moment of my life since then according to what that spell let me expedience. Even though none of it was real.”

Sunset blinked. “Mom, I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

“I’m telling you this because, like me, you experienced a future,” Celestia said. “And in this future, I abandoned you.”

“Mom, that's not-”

Celestia silenced her daughter with a glare. “It’s something I would have done again if not for Cadance, so don’t defend me and let me make my point here,” she said. “Which is, I have wronged you, Sunset. Maybe it wasn’t the current me, but it was still me. The me that would have been. And if the current me needs to do something to prove to you that I do feel remorse for what I did to you, then it is something I will gladly do. Understand?”

When Sunset gave her a nod, Celestia smiled. “Good! Now, as for Upper Crust. If I understand you correctly, you want her to feel the consequences of her actions, but you don’t want her to bring a foal into the world if there’s nopony to love it, correct?”

After thinking on it for a few seconds, Sunset nodded. “Yeah, that’s the gist of it.”

“Oh, well that’s simple enough to achieve,”Celestia told her as she formulated the bare bones of a plan in her mind. “I’ll work out the details with you in good time, but Crust will keep in the palace cells for the moment so that we can focus on much more important things.”

Sunset blinked. “More important things?”

Ignoring her daughter’s question, Celestia opened up her desk’s topmost right drawer to withdraw the clothing she had stored inside with her magic. “Yes I’m afraid I’m going to be needing a bit of help if I want to fit into my dress when we go to the fair.”

Sunset blinked again. “Your...dress?”

To which Celestia nodded in reply. “Yes, I know. Me in a yellow sundress is a bit of a pun, but it really is the best color for my coat and mane.”

“Mom,” Sunset said as she looked at the little dress Celestia would have had trouble putting a single leg into. “That dress is for a little fil-oh, buck. I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Celestia gave her daughter a little smile. “Well, how else did you expect me to go on some of the rides with Twily?” she asked before using her magic to grab the bucket of white paint and setting it down on her desk. “Now, I’ve already done the calculations that will let you cast a spell that will leave me about six years old, but please don’t reverse the math. I like ponies not knowing my actual age.”

Cadance gave Twilight a concerned look as the filly trotted back and forth in a worried frenzy while they waited in the courtyard for the carriage and chariots carrying Sunset’s guests to arrive. When the pink princess had told the little purple pony that she would be meeting some new friends, the reaction that Twilight had given had been a bit different than what Cadance had been hoping for.

“What if she likes them more than me? What if they don’t like me? What if I don’t like them, and not liking them makes Princess Sunset not like me? What if she decides to make one of them her student instead of me?” Twilight asked in a panic before something truly horrifying occurred to her, judging by her worsening expression, and she turned to Cadance. “What if they’re better at magic than me?”

After taking a moment to raise her hoof and rub the spot just below her horn with a hoof, Cadance looked down to the little pony. “Twilight, I really don’t think you need to worry about that. Only one of them is a unicorn,” she assured the filly.

Thankfully, before Twilight could start on another horrible possibility, there was a blare of several horns. The noise made the filly close her mouth before any sound came out and look at the direction the noise came from as the pair of ponies lowered the long instrument while a third stepped forward. “Announcing, Sunset Shimmer,” the earth pony in the poofy outfit said before the amber alicorn exited the palace...with another filly behind her that was trying to look every direction at once.

“Okay, two unicorns,” Cadance told the Twilight before looking over to the strange little filly trailing behind Sunset.

Clothed in a plain yellow dress, the pony with the white coat and pink mane looked every which way while firing off several questions, only half of which Cadance managed to catch when they came close enough to hear. “I didn’t think everything would be so big! Are we gonna ride in a carriage to get to the fair? Will it be roomy? I think it’ll be roomy!”

Sunset slumped a bit and sighed as she got to the pink princess. “Hey Cadance,” she greeted before looking over to the other adult ponies that were present. “Cheerilee, Sassy. Good to see you girls.”

“Princess Sunset,” both of the commoners both replied with a formal bow.

Cadance nodded to her. “Hello Sunset,” she said before looking past her fillyfriend. “Who’s-” Cadance blinked at the sudden lack of a pony.

There was a pop of magic, and all of the bigger mares besides Sunset turned their attention to the new filly as she appeared in front of a surprised Twilight. “Hiya Twily! My name’s Sunny Skies,” the energetic filly said before she snatched up the little pony in a hug that made Cadance worry about Twilight’s oxygen supply. “I just know we’re gonna be bestest best of friends!”

“Y-You can teleport?” Twilight asked as her back hooves dangled off the ground.

Sunny let Twilight go and gave an excited nod. “Uh-huh! I love magic! You love magic too, right?” she asked before continuing on without pause. “Learning magic. Casting magic. Making magic. Oh! We should try making magic together!”

As Twilight gave the manifestation of her worst fears the same horrified look she had shown Cadance not five minutes prior, the pink princess turned her attention to Sunset. Despite the amber alicorn’s lack of excitement and other signs that something was weighing on her mind, Cadance had to figure out just what in the name of all things pony possessed Sunset to bring such a filly to play with Twilight.

“Ohmygosh! Is that a royal guard chariot?” Sunny asked as she raced over to where a pair of pegasai were getting ready to take off with one of the golden things in tow, taking Twilight with her.

“Sunset...sweetie,” Cadance said as she gave the other alicorn a forced smile. “Just who is that? I didn’t know you knew such an...excitable filly.” She looked back at Sunny for a moment and frowned when her dress bulged at the sides for a brief instant.

After giving Cadance a flat look that lasted a second or two, Sunset let out a sigh. “It’s Celestia.”

Cadance and the young mares as well as Shining Armor turned their heads to look at the energetic filly for a few seconds to watch her talk Twilight’s head off while her dress revealed a blank flank, then the pink princess turned her attention back to Sunset. “Say what?”

“That’s...Princess Celestia?” Cheerilee asked in confusion.

“She seems...different than I remember,” Sassy added before looking back to Sunset. “In uh, personality, I mean. Not just...age.”

A small uneasy moan came out of Sunset’s mouth. “Yeah.”

Shining Armor frowned and looked back to Sunset. “How?”

“Age spell,” Sunset told him. “And before you ask, no. I can’t use it to fix your problem. Mom spent most of last night doing the calculations to make sure I didn’t put her in diapers.”

She moved onto Sassy. “And yeah, aging spells have a few side effects. Apparently, Mom was a really hyper filly with AD-”

“Look Twily! A butterfly!” Celestia said as she chased after the thing.

“...attention problems,” Sunset said before her horn lit up to encompass her mother in a field of magic before she could nab her prey. “Come here you!”

As the little filly let out a disappointed whine while she was levitated over and Twilight followed her back to the group, Shining Armor spoke up. “Well, guess I can’t be angry at her for turning me into a little colt anymore.”

Sunset snorted. “I can,” she said before glaring at the little filly.

Before she could really get going, Cadance stepped over to give the amber alicorn a nuzzle. “Oh lighten up a bit, Sunset,” she said. “I think is sweet she wants to play with Twilight like this. And don’t be so gloomy. I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

A second later, a pair of golden chariots came into view from over the walls and landed in the courtyard. While the blue filly zoomed up and out then all about while her parents trotted over towards the group, the yellow filly followed what had to be her mother at a much more conservative pace.

Before anypony could even start to make an introduction, the blue pegasus zoomed over to hover right in front of Twilight and Celestia. “Hey there! I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“Hi there Dashie!” Celestia said with an enthusiasm to match Rainbow’s own. “I’m Sunny! And this is Twilight!”

After a little bump on the rump from Celestia’s own blank flank, Twilight raised a hesitant hoof. “Hello.”

When the mother and her foal arrived, Cadance stepped forward and gave the filly a friendly smile. “Hello there, I’m-”

“Eep!” the little pegasus said before she darted behind her mother.

Rainbow Dash landed and looked over to the frightened filly for a few seconds before she turned her attention back to Cadance. “That’s Fluttershy.”

With the yellow filly still cowering behind her mother, Celestia took a step forward before pausing for a moment in consideration Cadance doubted a filly her apparent age would have bothered with. “Hmmmm, better not,” she said before looking over to Rainbow Dash. “She a friend of yours, Dashie?”

“No,” the other pegasus said with an annoyed snort before becoming a little thoughtful and flying over to Fluttershy to begin examining her. “Although, I think we have met. Just can’t remember where.”

The statement made Fluttershy crouch down behind her mother all the more.

“That’s our little girl!” the blue pegasus mare said as she reached down to pick up her daughter.

“She even remembers the noponies that aren’t worth it!” the blue stallion that accompanied Rainbow Dash added a moment later.

Cadance did her best not to frown or roll her eyes at the parental encouragement. That really wasn’t something a foal should be hearing coming from her primary authority figures before she looked over to Sunset. “Well, I think that Fluttershy and Twily will be able to get along, but uh...Rainbow and...Sunny seem a bit excitable.”

The look on Sunset’s face morphed to one of extreme worry. “You think they won’t get along?” she asked almost desperately. “Cadance, I-I need these girls to get along.”

With Sunset needing some encouragement, Cadance quickly worked to turn a better light on her first assessment. “Oh, well...I’m sure that they’ll become friends. Rocky starts always lead to the best of bonds, right?”

Just then, a pegasi drawn carriage landed in the courtyard. The door banged open and a little white unicorn galloped out screaming for several feet before she turned around to glare. “You-you uncouth fiend!” she shrieked.

“Hey!” a little orange earth pony shouted back at the unicorn. “I said I was sorry!”

Sunset’s worried look became more pronounced. “Um-”

“You threw up on my dress!” the unicorn yelled.

“Well pardon me for never flying before!” the earth pony yelled back. “It was either yak in that box, on mah seat! Or would ya rather of had me do it on yer momma?!”

Another Earth pony with curly hair finished helping a pregnant unicorn out of the carriage, then quickly trotted over to the pair of fillies. “Alright you two that’s-”

“Now I know where I’ve seen you before!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed triumphantly as she flew into the air and point a hoof at the horrified Fluttershy. “You’re that filly everypony said peed herself during the first day of cloud kindergarten!”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide before she quickly galloped away with tears flying through the air behind her.

After Cadance took in the sight of the earth pony and unicorn arguing about who was to blame for the destruction of a dress, a pegasus galloping away, another pegasus looking proud of proud of herself, and Twilight becoming even more disturbed as Celestia created a magical barrier to show off, she looked over in time to see Sunset conjure a paper bag out of thin air and begin hyperventilation procedures. “Are you sure that these girls are supposed to be friends?”

Chapter 4

Special Delivery knocked on the door that led to the office of his boss’s boss’s boss for a third time, and for a third time, got no answer. He glanced down at the folders tucked under his wings and thought about just shoving them under the door but... he knew that wasn’t going to be enough. The stallion in charge seemed to take an odd pleasure in berating Special Delivery and a few of the other ponies that he came across for the tiniest infraction. Not turning over the latest reports personally would just give the grumpy old unicorn more ammunition to use against the low-ranking stallion.

So, the young pegasus stallion opened the door and looked around. Unlike the majority of the time he had been sent on a delivery to the stallion at the top, the office only had a single pony within in. And he was asleep at his desk.

Special Delivery cautiously approached the sleeping stallion and blinked at the sight of him drooling on a map of the castle and some other papers that covered his desk. “Um...Captain Hard Line, Sir?” he asked cautiously.

“Stop,” he grumbled as his body jerked the slightest bit.

The command made the private blink in confusion. “Stop what, Sir?”

Hard Line grunted. “No...no! Can’t let her,” he mumbled before his body twitched a little in his sleep. “See...now…”

“See what, Sir?” Special Delivery asked before he poked the sleeping pony.

Captain Hard Line sat up with a cry of surprise. “Huh? Wha?” he asked before looking around. When his eyes settled on Special Delivery, the unicorn’s gaze narrowed. “What do you think you’re doing, interrupting my special concentration method?”

With the captain being so demanding, Special Delivery took a step back. “You mean, you weren’t sleeping, Sir?”

“SLEEPING?” the captain yelled. “Are you suggesting that I am lax in my duties, Private?”

The tone of the captain’s words had Special Delivery standing up a little straighter. “N-No sir! I’d never do something like that, Sir!”

“Don’t lie to me, Private! Report to Corporal Punishment for immediate disciplinary action for speaking ill of a superior officer!” the unicorn yelled.

Special Delivery winced. “Y-Yes, Captain,” he said before extending one of his wings to put the folder on the unicorn’s desk. He didn’t want to give the unicorn another reason to be angry at him. “H-Here’s the morning report from the ponies that were assigned to assist the Civic Guard, Sir.”

When the Captain didn’t move, Special Delivery gulped. “T-The soldiers that were assigned there because of the extra mare power needed to handle security for the Princess Fair.”

After staring at the collection of papers for a few seconds, Hard Line snatched the folder away with his magic. “I knew that! Now get going!” he ordered, making Special Delivery gallop out of the unicorn’s office as fast as he could.

Despite her newfound youthful exuberance, Celestia was still a thousand-plus year old pony. So, when she saw the train wreck that Sunset’s plan to try and recreate the friendships she had on Earth in a new form was quickly becoming, the little alicorn took action. Celestia galloped away from Twilight and put herself between Sunset and Cadance before lighting up her horn to cast spell. Grunting from the effort of having to use an immature horn for magic that most adult unicorns would have been unable to do, Celestia needed to close her eyes in effort from the strain it put on her. When the opened them, the world around her was a dull, lifeless gray that stood perfectly still, save for the tiny bubble that she shared with Cadance and Sunset.

A bubble that was much too precariously small for her liking. So they would need to deal with the matter in front of them quickly.

“Huh, you can stop time too,” Cadance mumbled before taking a tiny step away from the border and looking down at Celestia. “But...why?”

Celestia pointed at her daughter. “So she can catch her breath,” the little alicorn explained before giving Sunset some direction. “Come on Sunset, in and out. Push out the fears when you exhale and-”

Sunset spun on Celestia. “Push them out?” she demanded as she looked at the smaller pony with wide eyes. “How am I supposed to push them out when they’re right in front of me? Maybe, I should have kept them in a little longer. Then I would have been able to go, putting Rarity and Applejack in a box together for more than five minutes, does that really sound like a good idea? Oh and hey, Rainbow Dash. Yeah, let’s let someone who’s never even heard of a filter next to Fluttershy. Or maybe, I should have gone, geeeee we’ve got these things called love potions that can make a pony do it with somepony else. Yeah, that isn’t going to make the first official law I made go horribly wrong!”

Cadance put on a confused frown. “Um...what?”

The mention of Sunset’s earlier crisis got a sigh from Celestia. “Upper Crust did something horrible that’s got Sunset doubting her ability to make good decisions,” she said before hanging her head with a sigh. “Which...might be upsetting her more than I originally thought.”

“Okay so first thing we need to do is smack her out of the panic pity party,” Cadance said as she raised a hoof.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at the bigger pony. “Don’t you mean, snap?”

“Nope,” Cadance told her before drawing back a foreleg and...pausing. “On second thought, I got a better idea.” She lit up her horn and created a long crystal formation as thick as one of her legs. Then, the pink princess took it in a hoof and whacked the amber alicorn upside the head hard enough to send cracks down its length. “Cut it out, Sunset!”

A cry of pain came from Sunset and she looked back to Cadance while rubbing the back of her skull. “OW! Cadance that…” she said pausing for a moment, her eyes widening a bit. “That actually hurt.”

“Well of course it did,” Celestia mumbled. Didn’t the overgrown foals in front of her know what crystal magic did to a pony’s natural energy flow? Cadance studied the spellbook revolving around it every night for pony’s sake!

Shaking off the bit of childish contempt she had at her daughter’s ignorance and niece’s lack of instruction, Celestia looked up at the amber alicorn’s face. “Okay Sunset, now that you’ve had your moment of panic, think! Analyze the situation.”

Sunset paused and looked out to the little fillies in front of them. “Well...okay, give me a second here,” she mumbled before focusing on the unicorn and earth pony that were in the process of yelling at each other. “Applejack and Rarity are fighting because Applejack made a mistake. She’s not going to give anything but lip service when it comes to an apology, because anything more would make her admit she was wrong. As for Rarity, she’s not going to settle for anything that doesn’t involve the replacement of her dress.”

Then she looked over to the blue pegasus. “Pretty sure Rainbow didn’t mean to say anything bad. She just does...all the time, now that I think about it.”

“And Fluttershy’s-”

“Overreacting to the situation while focusing completely on the negative, like you?” Celestia asked evenly. “Yeah, I’ll take care of her.”

Cadance looked over to Rainbow Dash. “Guess Dashie is mine, then,” she said before turning her attention to the fighting fillies. “Should we leave them to their parents, or…”

The ensuing silence was filled by a snort from Sunset. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I’ll take care of them.”

“You need to talk to Twilight,” Cadance told her before looking down at Celestia. “For some reason, she may have reason to believe that you’re replacing her with a more talented filly.”

Celestia stiffened uncomfortably under Cadance’s unhappy gaze. Now that the pink princess had mentioned it, Twilight had seemed a bit...terrified, for some reason.

A reason that was now rather apparent thanks to Caddance’s comment. “Oops.”

Sunset rubbed her forehead and sighed. “Okay, I’ll...take care of her after I stop Rarity and Applejack from killing each other.”

“And the other thing?” Cadance pressed.

“What other thing?” Sunset replied.

Celestia joined Cadance in giving Sunset an even look. “This crazy idea that you’re responsible for the actions of a selfish, short-sighted fat filly that made several stupid decisions after you made a law that had nothing to do with her at all in any way, shape, or form?”

After being glared at by the two alicorns for several seconds, Sunset lowered her ears. “If I had seen that loophole, then Upper Crust wouldn’t have-”

The rather short temper Celestia had gotten from being turned into a filly ran out. “Oh shut up about that already!” she yelled. “Fine! You didn’t see one little hole in your new laws because you're not an opportunistic monster anymore. Stop beating yourself up about it! Even I don’t see everything coming! That’s why there’s other princesses to pick up the slack. So next time when you want to start making decrees, ask us for help! Got it?”

While Cadance blinked at Celestia’s ferociousness while Sunset lowered her head. “Okay.”

“It will work out Sunset. Just give it time,” Celestia said before she looked back to the frozen scene in front of her. “So! I’ll handle yellow, Cadance gets blue, and Sunset will take the rest. Let’s go!”

Celestia popped her magic bubble and moved forward as the world around her continued at normal speed. She galloped after Fluttershy as the smaller filly ran away from the group in search of someplace to hide.

While she quickly gained on the yellow pegasus with the gangly legs, something shiny caught Celestia’s attention and she skidded to a stop in order to examine the important object.

Which turned out to be an extremely shiny chariot that gave Celestia a very distorted view of herself. “Hmmm,” she said before spinning around so that the chariot gave the little princess an enlarged view of her rear end. “Did I put on more weight than I was supposed to when I got older?”

When no answer came, Celestia looked around to see she was alone, then caught sight of Fluttershy as the pegasus darted into the storage building where the palace parked their unused chariots that needed repairs. “Ugh! Stupid immature attention span,” Celestia grumbled before resuming the chase. Gotta get Fluttershy. Gotta get Fluttershy. Gotta get Fluttershy.

When she got into the storage barn, a minor locator spell led her to the back corner where Fluttershy had curled up in a ball to cry. Celestia looked down at the yellow pony and tried to think of something. She wasn’t Princess Celestia at the moment, she didn’t have the reputation that would make Fluttershy calm down and listen.

So, she went with her strengths and gave the little filly a bright smile, despite the situation they were in. “Hey there Fluttershy,” Celestia greeted in a cheery voice. “Why’d you run away? We didn’t agree to play hide and seek.”

Fluttershy froze for a second before she looked up at Celestia. “Wha-What do you want?”

“I wanted to come play with you,” Celestia lied before nodding her head towards the exit. “Come on, let’s go to the fair.”

“But...but didn’t you hear what Rainbow said?” she asked.

Celestia thought back to just a few moments ago. “That you got nervous in front of a bunch of other ponies and had an accident that they never let you live down?” she asked before nodding. “Yeah, I heard. So, you wanna go play?”

The offer made Fluttershy give Celestia a long look before she curled back in on herself. “You’re just trying to get me out there so that everypony can make fun of me.”

“Everypony, huh?” Celestia asked evenly, a little teed off at the fact the pegasus filly had just insinuated that Sunset would be joining in on the mockery. “Do you honestly think Princess Sunset and Princess Cadance would be mean and laugh at you?”

Fluttershy was silent for a few seconds. “...well...no,” she admitted.

“Do you think that anypony they want to spend the day with would be mean and want to make fun of you?” Celestia continued.

Once again, Fluttershy became hesitant. “Uh...Rainbow Dash-”

“Yeah, I think that’s her being an idiot more than anything else,” Celestia said before Fluttershy could fully voice her thought and add more weight to it. “She didn’t follow you around in kindergarten and pick on you, right?”

Fluttershy looked up at Celestia. “Well...no,” she admitted. “This is the first time I’ve ever even heard her voice.”

The rather obviousness of it all made Celestia half-close her eyes and look away from the filly for a second. Called it, she thought before centering her gaze back on Fluttershy. “Listen, Fluttershy. I know the whole social scene hasn’t been all that kind to you, but that doesn’t mean hiding yourself away where nopony can even see you is the answer. Because if you do…” Celestia cut the light to her horn, letting the shadows cover them. “You’ll spend your whole life in the dark, alone...and afraid of everything.”

After giving the pegasus a second to digest her words, Celestia lit up her horn and offered Fluttershy a hoof. “So, if you’re tired of all that stuff, come with me and let’s go have some fun.”

There was another moment of hesitation as Fluttershy looked at the alicorn with the pink mane. Then, she reached out tentatively with a trembling hoof that Celestia gently took before hauling the little pegasus to her feet. She blinked as Fluttershy met her eye to eye. Despite her age being at least two years more than the little pegasus, Celestia and Fluttershy were of equal height.

“Hey you’re tall!” the alicorn exclaimed, making Fluttershy start to crouch down. But before she could get an inch down, Celestia continued. “Just like Princess Celestia. That’s so cool!”

Fluttershy straightened up before Celestia grabbed one of her hooves. “Come on, let’s go see what everypony else is doing!” she said before galloping forward as best she could. Fluttershy fought to keep up, eventually flapping her wings and just letting Celestia pull her through the air.

When they made it outside, Celestia found Rainbow Dash and Cadance waiting for them while Sunset stood over a downcast Rarity and Applejack as a simple light blue sundress with a few tiny sapphires in the hemline floated above them.

“Hey there Fluttershy,” Dashie said as she stepped forward before reaching up to run her own shoulder uncomfortably. “Look, sorry I...embarrassed you. I didn’t mean to uh...be mean...like that. I was just...excited when I remembered you is all.”

Fluttershy looked around uncomfortably. It didn’t look like she had gotten many apologies in her life. “Well…”

With the taller pegasus hesitating, Celestia stepped in. “Long as it doesn’t happen again.”

“Hey I’ll make sure that’s the last time anypony mentions it,” Rainbow Dash declared before she flew up into the air to hover there in a dramatic fashion. “That’s what heroes like me do!”

As Fluttershy smirked at Rainbow's antics, Celestia trotted over to give Cadance a pensive look. “Hero?”

Cadance let out an uneasy giggle. “Well, Rainbow hasn’t gone through anything that would let her empathize with Fluttershy so...had to give her something cool to emulate,” she said with a shrug.

“Guess that makes sense,” Celestia reasoned before she turned her attention over to Twilight, who was with Cheerilee and Sassy. “Has Sunset talked to Twily yet?”

“This is Sunset we’re talking about,” Cadance deadpanned.

Sunset watched Twilight go over her schedule as the rest of the girls stood around the food cart to get a snack that would hopefully help put the disastrous start to their day behind them, her face mirroring the worry on Sunset’s. Okay, just got to reassure her that I’m not replacing her. That won't be hard. All Sunset had to do was what she wished Celestia had done when Cadance came around. Just...less extreme.

She looked back to the food cart and Cadance gave her an encouraging glare that made Sunset turn her attention back to Twilight. “Really wish she didn't take after me so well.”

But, Cadance’s visual kick in her butt got Sunset going. The amber alicorn trotted over to where Twilight was standing and took a second to think. She couldn't open with the problem, so… “Hey Twily. What are you doing?”

“Why did you have to bring all those other fillies?” Twilight asked as she looked up from the paper floating in front of her with wide eyes. “My plan for today didn’t include so many other fillies.”

After getting hit with Twilight’s energetic sad face, Sunset broke eye contact with the unicorn. “Well, uh...I thought you might want to meet some other ponies in your age group, so I invited some other fillies I knew to the coronation.”

“Where’d you meet them?” the purple pony asked.

“Dash and Fluttershy come from Cloudsdale and Rarity and Applejack are from Ponyville,” Sunset told her.

Twilight frowned and drew in on herself a little. “What about Sunny?” she asked. “Where’d you find her? How is she so good at magic? Are you...tutoring her too?”

Okay here we go, Sunset told herself.

After learning about Twilight’s fear that Sunset was replacing her with Celestia from Cadance, the amber alicorn had worked up a plausible explanation. “Twily, you remember that letter I gave you a week ago?”

“The one you wrote to tell me you wouldn’t have as much time to teach me magic that I misinterpreted to mean that you were going away forever? Then had a panic attack about and passed out until the next morning when you came to have breakfast?” Twilight asked.

The mention of the cover story Sunset had fed her to explain the missing time of the night she had almost left Equestria got a nervous laugh from the amber alicorn. “Well...Sunny is the pony I want to be a...tutor,” Sunset half-lied. “She just wanted to get to know you on a more...even field, first.”

Both of them turned their attention to Princess Celestia after hearing a little squeal. “Cake flavored ice cream? You have ice cream that tastes like cake?”

“Well, birthday cake flavored,” the earth pony that was operating the cart said uneasily as he glanced over to Cadance.

Twily blinked as she looked up at Sunset. “So, she’s...a student from Celestia’s school?”

“Five scoops. No wait, ten! No! Two cones with five scoops each,” she ordered. “My filly metabolism makes me unstoppable! Muhahaha!”

“Uh, sure. Let’s go with that,” Sunset said with a nod before forcing a smile on her face. “Now, I know what you want to do, but let’s see about your new friends want to try. And don’t you want some ice cream?”

All of the fillies looked at the collection of straws Sunset held in her hoof, trying to decide which one to pick. Shining Armor understood that the older girls needed to keep from showing favoritism, but random determination of what they were supposed to do seemed wasteful. Although not designed for more than herself and a few other ponies, Twilight’s plan did maximize the time they had to spend by going from one ride to another based on what ponies did at a certain time of the day. It seemed foolish to just toss it aside.

Celestia went first, her straw turning a bright pink as she picked it from the grouping.

“Hey Shiny, I’ve been wondering,” Cadance said. “You not feeling any side effects from the age regression, are you?”

He looked up to his fillyfriend. “What kind of side effects?”

“Twily! Hey Twily, check this out!” Celestia called out, getting everypony’s attention before she cut off the magic holding her staw and stuck out her tongue. The plastic fell on her mouth muscle and remained upright while she stumbled around in an attempt to keep it balanced. “I kwan bawance my staw on my-waaaaaah!”

Cadence sighed as Celestia crashed into a nearby cart that was serving snow cones. “A complete lack of impulse control, for one,” she said.

Sunset cleared her throat. “Okay, let’s see everypony’s straws so I can get the order,” she said before taking them up in her magic and looking at them closely. Each one had less than an inch difference in length from one to the next, and they had different colors, depending on the pony who drew them. “So, it looks like...Sunny gets to pick first, then Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Then we’ve got Rarity, followed by Twilight and Fluttershy.”

“I wanna go on a roller coaster!” Rainbow Dash cried out.

Fluttershy’s head cocked to the side. “What’s a...roller coaster?”

The request got got an uneasy look from Rarity. “Darling, while I’m sure that sounds fun and all, some of us have weak stomachs that can’t even take a little ride in the sky from Ponyville to Canterlot. Maybe it’s best if-”

“Hey!” Applejack exclaimed. “Are you talking about me?”

Rarity shrugged. “Well, if the horseshoe fits…”

“Ah can handle roller coasters just fine!” Applejack told her before looking over to Sunset. “Princess, Ah wanna go on the roller coaster too!”

Sunset gave to two fillies a hesitant look. “Well, there are three of them, so I guess it’s-”

“Then I’ll go on a roller coaster as well!” Rarity declared at she looked at Applejack.

“Okay girls,” Sunset said as she gave Rarity a look of disbelief over her choice of activity. “But right now, it’s Sunny’s turn to pick. So...what do you want to do, Sunny?”

When the hidden alicorn decided that she thought they should spend some time at the game booths, all of the girls happily followed along before dividing up into pairs or groups of three, with Celestia sticking to Twilight like glue as she talked the purple pony into playing a game that involved rolling a ball into a set of holes protected by rings on the ground.

Since it didn’t look like Shining Armor needed to help Twilight, he looked around for something to occupy himself with. That something turned out to be a cart offering cotton candy. The idea of eating anything before going on three roller coaster rides seemed rather foolish.

But...cotton candy wasn’t really food, so...Shining Armor didn’t see that much of a problem with having some.

“Hey! You can’t use yet horn fer horseshoes!” Applejack cried out indignantly from the booth her and Rarity were at.

He trotted up to the cart and looked up at the earth pony. “One please.”

Once he paid for the candy, a process that involved tracking down Sassy Saddles because she was the first older pony he found with any money, Shining Armor took his treat in his magic and looked for a place to sit down. When he found a bench with a dull pink-ish purple unicorn sitting on it with her mane done up like a pair of feather-dusters, Shining Armor trotted up and plopped himself down. “Hey there, mind if I sit here?”

She looked over to him with big, sad eyes and sighed before slumping down on the bench even further than she alreasy was. “I guess.”

Shining Armor moved to take a bite of his candy, but stopped before he did. “Hey uh...you want some?”

The filly looked up and blinked at the offer several times. “Uh...okay,” she agreed before her horn lit up and tore off some of the pink puff. She looked at the candy for a few seconds, then over to Shining Armor. “Thank you.”

While seeing a filly at a fair wasn’t uncommon, seeing one sitting by herself while every other pony in her age bracket and then some were running around having fun worried Shining Armor. “So...are you...feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” she replied in her not fine, super depressed voice.

Shining Armor looked around for a pair of older ponies that in some small way resembled the filly next to him. “Are your parents here?”

She shook her head. “I’m a student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” she said, as if that explained everything, before looking down and sighing. “For now, anyway.” Just mentioning the academic institution looked as if it depressed the little filly even further.

“Oh, uh...that’s...I have a little sister that wants to go there next term,” Shining Armor said. “Maybe you can show her around sometime.”

The filly’s eyes started to tear up a little, and she started blinking her eyes. “I...I’m not, that’s not...going to happen,” she said. “T-They’re probably gonna...kick me out.”

A sniffle quickly followed the little filly’s words. Shining Armor decided not to wait and looked around for a pony to help him before the waterworks really began.

“Princess Sunset! Princess Sunset! Look what Sunny helped me win!” Twilight cried out as she galloped up to the amber alicorn with a familiar looking yellow stuffed animal held in her magic. Although, the Sunset plushy was a bit more...foal friendly than the actual model.

“It’s so fluffy!” Twilight cried out as she lowered the stuffed princess to hug it tightly.

Well, it’s not like Celestia’s in a position to do something at the moment, he told himself before finding the little pony standing at a strength test machine, trying to lift a hammer twice as big as she was.

And as for Cadance…

“Nu-uh!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Yeah-huh!” Rarity countered.

“Nu-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

“Nu-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

“Nu-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

“Nu-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

The pink princess looked up to the heavens and sighed as the debate she was moderating continued with no end in sight.

So, Shining went with his final option. “Uh, Sunset! Could you come here a second?”

“You seem...familiar.”

Starlight Glimmer gulped as she looked up at the gigantic alicorn looming over her. Despite the lilac unicorn’s position on a bench, Princess Sunset Shimmer looked even bigger than the little unicorn remembered. And the frown on her face made her seem much more intimidating.

Ever since she had come to Celestia’s school, Starlight had heard the stories about Sunset Shimmer. Ponies commented on Starlight's skill and power, but then turned right around and said it was almost like Celestia’s personal student. Teachers would endure her loud protests, then talk about she wasn’t nearly as bad as Sunset Shimmer’s outbursts. Other students would shy away from her from time to time while they spoke of Sunset Shimmer in hushed whispers and froze at the mention of her name.

And now, she was literally standing in the new Princess’s shadow. “Um...I-I’m...Starlight G-Glimmer,” she said quietly before finding a very interesting piece of grass to look at.

Princess Sunset blinked at the reaction before the frown disappeared to be replaced by a smile. “Hey there, Starlight. Sorry if I spooked you, I forget how big I’ve gotten lately and how scary that can look to a little filly. You wouldn’t believe how scary I used to think Celestia was back in the day.

“So, um...what’s wrong?” Sunset asked after a short pause. “Did you lose your friends?”

Even though she knew Princess Sunset meant it in a locational sense, Starlight couldn’t stop herself of thinking of the question in the worst way possible. “Ye...yeheheheeeeessssss!” she cried out as tears fell from her eyes.

Starlight didn’t care if Sunburst did have a new friend, she would play with both of them! She’d have Trixie play Dragon Trap and make kites with her and Sunburst. Even if Trixie wasn’t good a magic, she could...she could hold the spellbook and run errands for Starlight while she practiced it with Sunburst!

Two big forelegs enveloped Starlight. “Aww, there there,” Princess Sunset said as she picked the much smaller pony up and hugged her. Starlight buried herself in the royal’s shoulder. “Shhhh. It’ll be alright. Ummmm. Hey girls, can you umm...handle the fillies for a few? I need to take care of this real quick.”

“Huh?” Starlight said as she looked up at the big pony with wings and a horn. “You’re gonna...help me?”

Sunset looked down at the little filly and smiled. “Why wouldn’t I?”

The question confused Starlight. It wasn’t that she misunderstood it. What confused her was the fact that a princess was asking her such a thing and going against everything that Starlight knew important ponies were supposed to do. “Because...you’re a princess. You’re too important to do something like that. This whole fair is all about you!”

“So?” Sunset said with a little snort before she used her magic to put Starlight on her back a reached up with her wings to settle the little pony in before she started trotting forward. “Now, let’s go find your friends. What’re their names?”

Starlight blinked. “Uh well, they’re a unicorn colt and filly named Sunburst,” she said before stumbling over the next part. If she told Princess Sunset the truth, she might not want to help her. “A-And Trixie.”

The pony Starlight was riding came to a sudden stop. “Trixie...Lulamoon?”

“Y-You know her?” Starlight asked in fear. If Trixie knew the Princess, then all she had to do was say one bad word and Starlight could kiss any hope of staying at Celestia’s School goodbye!”

Sunset smirked. “Sort of,” she said before looking back to a bunch of fillies that were gathering around another princess.

When the colt that had given her some candy galloped over to them as well, Starlight realized that Princess Sunset and Princess Cadance must have taken the lot of them to the fair for some reason. “Um...Princess Sunset, aren’t you with them?”

“Okay everypony, are you all ready to go on the roller coaster?” Princess Cadance asked them in a loud voice that was full of energy before the colt got the Princess’s attention and said something as he stuck a hoof out in Starlight’s direction.

Princess Sunset gave Starlight an uneasy laugh. “Yeah, but I’ve already had enough of being flung through the air at breakneck speeds to last a lifetime.”

The search for Trixie and her boyfriend didn’t take long, with what Sunset knew about the little pony’s human counterpart.

Since the fair was all about cheap entertainment for little fillies, there was a good deal of performances going on on top of all the rides and candy. So, all Sunset had to do was take a look at an information booth’s schedule and map to see where a magic show was being performed. She found Trixie sitting in the front row next to another unicorn that had almost the same coloration as Sunset did. But, rather than reveal herself right away and ruin the show, she waited in the background under a tree and looked back to Starlight Glimmer.

“Okay girl, while we’re waiting for your friends to finish watching the show, how about you tell me just what I’m getting into here,” Sunset requested before she picked the little filly up and set her down on the ground as she crouched to rest on her barrel as well.

Despite the loss of height that went with her legs, Starlight still had to look up to see Sunset’s face. “What do you mean?”

Sunset took a second to consider her answer. “Well, why aren’t you hanging out with Sunburst and Trixie anymore?”

“Um...well…” Starlight looked away and twisted her hoof on the ground. “I never really hung out with Trixie, and uh...Sunburst, he said he...moved to Canterlot to get away from me.”

Despite the fact that she knew preconceptions were a bad idea in situations like these, Sunset could already guess what had happened. The two kids had played around as children, with Starlight being the bossy one that always had to have everything her way. Then, when Sunburst moved away and found Trixie, he got a...well...okay, the Trixie that Sunset knew was also pretty self absorbed and bossy, but maybe she and Sunburst just clicked better than him and Starlight did. It also made sense that the guy would gravitate towards a similar personality to what he was familiar with.

Although, the fact that the guy was hanging out with Trixie when Starlight said he moved away to get away from her… It didn’t speak well of the filly’s character.

“But, I thought you were friends,” Sunset said.

Starlight’s expression became desperate. “We are! We always played together back home! He played Dragon Trap with me. He studied magic with me. He even made a few kites with me when I took him out of town.”

The particular wording of Starlight’s description had Sunset thinking for a moment. From the way Starlight talked, it was pretty obvious that she was a very self-centered filly, not that Sunset could blame her, given her age. “And now you want Sunburst back, so that he’ll play with you again.”

Starlight nodded. “Yes. Can you make him play with me again, Princess Sunset?”

With a great deal of willpower, Sunset managed to keep the smile on her face from turning vicious as she looked down at the filly. “Of course I can, Starlight. Don’t worry, by the time I’m done, Sunburst will be playing with you like crazy.”

The little filly’s beaming smile lasted longer than it took for the magician’s performance to end. When it did, the performer announced that the next show would be a juggling act involving a pair of brothers on unicycles and torches. As the magician waved goodbye, Sunset let Starlight up on her back before she trotted over to the little ponies.

Thankfully, most of the crowd dispersed quickly rather than wanting some time which the Princess, which Sunset felt she had to thank her tyrannical weekend rule for. Sometimes, being a bitch paid off.

The two foals were too into their discussion of the show to notice Sunset until she cast a shadow over them and spoke. “Hello, my little ponies.”

Both of them looked up and got wide eyes upon seeing the amber alicorn, but it was Trixie that managed to talk. “P-Princess Sunset. It’s um...hello, Your Majesty.”

Since she didn’t want anypony else to see what she was doing and it didn’t look like there was going to be anypony sitting in the stands for the next several minutes, Sunset cast a misdirection field around the lot of them. It was a simple spell that worked on the same unobtrusive principles as a number of other spells built around not being noticed, if to a lesser degree. Ponies would still be aware of Sunset’s presence, but it would take them several minutes before the information really registered in their brains as important. Unless a pony was actively searching for Sunset or one of the younger ponies, she wouldn’t be disturbed or eavesdropped upon.

“Hello Trixie,” Sunset said with a nod before looking over to the other unicorn. “And you must be Sunburst.”

The amber unicorn blinked. “Um, yes. T-That’s right, Your Highness,” he said, obviously affected by the fact an alicorn even knew his name. “How do you know who I am?”

Starlight took that as her cue and promptly jumped down from Sunset’s back to stand tall with a borderline vicious smile on her face. “Because I told her!”

Both of the other unicorns stiffened at Starlight’s presence. Sunburst took a step back and half-moved behind Trixie as the blue unicorn frowned. “W-What’re you doing here, Starlight?”

“Princess Sunset is going to make Sunburst play with me again!” she said proudly.

Sunset nodded. “Yep!” she agreed before lighting up her horn. “And I’ve got just the spell to help me with that.”

It took a great deal of effort to keep the bile from rising in her throat as she weaved the spell around Starlight, but Sunset managed to do it without letting her distaste show.

A blue aura surrounded the lilac unicorn for a moment, making her blinked in confusion before she looked over to Sunset. “Princess, what’re you doing?”

“Oh! Well, you see, you talked so much about playing with Sunburst when we were talking,” Sunset said before she completed her spell. “I figure that it’s his turn to play with you.”

Starlight blinked. “Huh?”

Ignoring the filly’s confusion, Sunset looked over to the colt. “Give her an order.”

“Uh…” Sunburst said as he looked back and forth between Sunset and Starlight, his eyes finally settling on the unicorn. “Lift your right foreleg?”

Starlight frowned. “Why would I-ahhh!” she exclaimed as her body responded to the command. A second later, her face twisted in anger. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

Sunset’s smile turned dark as she narrowed her eyes. “Like I said. I think it’s time Sunburst got some time to play with you.”

“Oh my gosh!” Trixie exclaimed with an excited look on her face. “She’s like our doll! Quick! Starlight, the Great and Powerful Trixie orders you to dance!”

There was a brief flash of fear on Starlight’s face before she...stood there with her hoof raised. “...huh?” she asked.

“Sunburst is the one that gives the orders,” Sunset explained before she looked over to the disturbed colt. The fact that he didn’t like what he was seeing was a good sign in Sunset’s opinion. “So Sunburst, what do you want your new plaything to do?”

Starlight’s expression turned angry as her horn lit up. “Sunburst, you better let me go right now or-”

“S-Stop using magic!” the amber colt ordered.

The light around Starlight’s horn winked out. When the filly became fearful again, the emotion stuck around. “W-What?” she breathed out in terror.

With things going not quite as she envisioned them, Sunset looked over to the colt that shared her coat color. “Sunburst, did she use to threaten you like that a lot?”

“H-Hey-” Starlight said before Sunset shot her a look that quickly silenced the little filly.

The alicorn’s menacing presence seemed to have an effect on Sunburst as well, as he looked away and rubbed his shoulder. “Well, uh...not...a lot,” he said.

“So, she did bully you into playing with her? How far did it go? Did she just threaten you, or did Starlight actually hurt you?” Sunset asked, one question quickly following the next, what little sympathy she had for the filly evaporating more and more with every one. Sunset had thought Starlight had just been a self-centered brat with control issues. But if she had gotten her way through physical violence…

Sunburst gulped. “Well...j-just once,” he said. “She said it was my fault for...not playing with her.”

But the threat of beating the poor colt within half an inch of his life with her horn probably kept him in line after that. Sunset snorted angrily at the thought. It also made her little plan go right out the window. Originally, Sunset had just planned to just use the spell for a few minutes to show Starlight what it was like when another pony made her do everything he wanted without having to do anything she did. The whole thing would let her feel what it was like to be on the receiving end of that type of relationship and hopefully develop some perspective and empathy. After that, she would have hopefully come out of it an improved pony and treated others better down the line.

But if the little brat was just a violent maniac, then Sunset knew it was probably better to just toss her down the darkest hole she could find and never let her out. She had seen today what giving ponies one too many chances led to. Life wasn’t baseball, and three strikes just gave the unrepentant two more chances to hurt others.

Sunset moved to sever the command spell with the intention of dragging the filly off when she noticed water gathering in the lilac unicorn’s eyes. “I’m sorry!” Starlight cried out before tears started running down her face. “I’m sorry, Sunburst! I just...you wouldn’t play with me unless I made you. But -w-we had fun sometimes, didn’t we?”

Despite the uneasiness Sunburst was obviously feeling, he nodded a little bit. “Yes. Even if you did make me do a bunch of boring stuff like fly kites.”

Starlight latched onto the colt’s words as if she was a drowning mare given a life preserver. “Then we don’t have to do that anymore, or anything you don’t want!” she said. “Please, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I ever did anything to make you angry at me.”

Trixie sniffed and turned her nose up at Starlight. “What makes you think we want to do anything with you?”

“Because-” Starlight cut herself off and looked back to Sunburst. “Because...I...I said I was sorry. I...I’ll be good from now on, I promise.”

“You’re just saying that because of the spell!” Trixie accused as she pointed a hoof at Starlight before turning to the colt. “Sunburst, make her tell the truth, make her tell us what she really thinks feels.”

Sunburst looked up at Sunset, who found herself torn. On one hand, she saw so much of the old her in Starlight, the one she was after she put on the crown and didn’t bat an eye at the idea of killing Twilight Sparkle. She saw Upper Crust, a pony that had used Sunset’s kindness in taking her to the Formal to commit such an evil act that Sunset still wasn’t sure how to deal with her. She saw...a terrified little filly that was teetering on the edge and in desperate need of a pony to pull her back.

Which was something Sunset knew she couldn’t do. She was the authoritarian princess. She could make a pony obey. She could make them do what they were supposed to do despite their personal desires. But she couldn’t make the filly in front of her change her way of thinking.

That was more Princess Twilight’s thing.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” the amber alicorn told the colt. “You’re the one that can tell her what to do here.”

With that, Sunburst looked back to Starlight. “Okay then,” he said before gulping. “Starlight, I order you...to...do whatever you want for the rest of your life, even if I tell you otherwise.”

Starlight blinked at the words, then looked down at her leg, which slowly lowered back to the ground before she turned her eyes up at her horn that responded to a mental command by lighting up. “Huh?” She looked back to Sunburst with wide eyes. “Why?”

“I don’t...force you into doing thing you don’t want to, Starlight,” he told her before sighing in exhaustion. “Like you did with me. Go do whatever it is that you want.”

The useless command hung in the air several seconds before Starlight eyes tear up again. “But I want...I want to be with you again!” she cried out as she galloped forward to rear up and hug Sunburst. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I was so mean to you! I don’t have to fly kites ever again. I can do what you want from now on. I just want my friend baaaaaaaaaack!”

Since all the colt did was stand there as Starlight cried into his shoulder, Sunset cleared her throat and stepped forward. “You know Starlight, I wouldn’t exactly call what you had with Sunburst friendship.”

Starlight sniffed in a loud breath through her runny nose and looked back at Sunset. “Friendship is when two ponies want to be together because it makes them both happy, not one pony making the other do something because it makes only her happy,” she explained.

“Then…” she said before looking back at Sunburst. “Do you...want to want to be friends, Sunburst? For real this time? Please?”

The colt looked away from Starlight, but his face was more amused than sour. “Well...I wouldn’t say that our time together was all bad,” he admitted, making Starlight smile before he turned to the blue unicorn of the group. “What do you think, Trixie? Do you want to hang out with Starlight?”

When the colt deferred to the blue filly, Sunset started to consider how best to fix this latest development.

Trixie gave the lilac unicorn an even look before she glanced at Sunset for the briefest of moments. “Well...if Princess Sunset took the time out of her day to bring this pony to see Trixie, then I suppose we can give her a chance.”

“Thank you!” Starlight said before she rushed over to the unicorn filly. “You’ll see Trixie, I’ll be the best friend you’ve ever had!”

The close proximity made Trixie take a step back. “Uh…”

“I’ll let you practice magic tricks on me!” Starlight offered.

Trixie looked over to Sunburst with a pleading expression.

“I’ll help you cheat on your tests!”

Sunset cleared her throat loud enough to cut into the conversation. “Excuse me?”

The interruption had Trixie giving Sunset a nervous smile a few seconds later. “Oh um…” she said before turning Starlight around and smiling up at the amber alicorn. “D-Don’t worry, Princess Sunset. Trixie and Sunburst will show Starlight how she needs to behave from now on!”

A very big part of Sunset said that she needed to just go ahead and drag Starlight off to the magic academy’s disciplinary committee and take steps to make sure that she was dealt with. From what she could tell, Sunburst was a well behaved colt and Trixie...okay, well Trixie was also pretty borderline, but Sunset doubted she would be as bad as her human counterpart if there was a positive influence in her life like the amber colt.

It was a thought that had Sunset thinking back to her own expulsion and how nobody had stuck their necks out for her. Which Trixie actually...well, Sunset doubted that the blue unicorn actually wanted to save Starlight’s proverbial bacon and was just wanting to get some points for doing what she thought Sunset wanted her to do. So, it wasn’t all that altruistic.

From what Sunset had seen from the equine counterparts to her human friends, foals were pretty short sighted, selfish little bastards. Something the amber alicorn had to admit she never really grew out of. Which was partly Celestia’s fault for never doing anything until she expelled Sunset from her school. If something had been done to at least make sure she followed the rules before, then...

Sunset blinked as an idea suddenly popped into her head. “You know what?” she asked rhetorically. “That’s not a bad idea.” It needed some fine tuning, but the thought of a discipline system for foals enrolled in Celestia’s school began to form in her mind. Something that would have helped keep her from turning into such a brat way back in the day.

“Eh?” the little blue unicorn said in confusion as Sunset looked down at her before turning her attention over to Sunburst.

“I haven’t actually heard from you yet,” the amber alicorn told Sunburst as she focused her attention on him. “What do you want to happen with Starlight?”

Sunburst blinked. “Why’re you asking me, Princess?”

“Because, you’re the one that knows Starlight the best of of the three of us,” Sunset explained before looking to the little filly. Starlight pulled in on herself from the attention and crouched down to the floor “From what I’ve seen, Starlight Glimmer is a selfish, self-centered little filly who doesn’t care about the wants of others and only uses other ponies to make herself happy, no matter how bad it makes them feel. But I know that’s only a part of who she is, you’ve been around her for years, you know the full story. So, I’ll leave the final choice of what happens to her up to you.

“If you want, if you think she can turn herself around, I’ll let her stay here in Canterlot and keep going to Mom’s magic school,” Sunset offered. “But if you think that she can’t change her ways, that everything she’s saying in a lie that she’s just saying to avoid getting in trouble, then I’ll take her to the school’s disciplinary review board and explain to them how she wanted me to cast a spell that would have made you and Trixie follow every command she gave with the recommendation that she be expelled. Which I’m guessing they’d do since both of you fillies have already been caught trying to alter grades.”

Starlight went stiff and Trixie winced at Sunset’s words. “Trixie was hoping that you didn’t remember that.”

“And that on top of the time I grabbed Starlight before taking her to the office a few weeks ago means that one more mistake from her and it’s over. So, that’s my question to you, Sunburst,” Sunset told him. “Do you think that there is a chance that Starlight will become a better pony, or do you think that it’s best we cut her loose now so that she doesn’t do something really bad?”

The question had Sunburst rubbing his chin while Starlight looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Well...Starlight’s not that bad, as long as you do what she says, that is.”

“I won’t boss you around anymore!” Starlight promised from her place on the ground. “Please, Sunburst. I don’t...you were my only friend. Please don’t let them kick me out.”

After looking into Starlight’s eyes for a few seconds, Sunburst sighed and hung his head. “Okay, I guess that I can give her another chance.”

A second later, Starlight leaped up and hugged Sunburst again. “Oh thank you! Thank you! Tank you! Thank you!” she cried.

“Good,” Sunset said. “Oh, by the way, if Starlight does get into trouble again, I’ll make sure that Sunburst will be expelled as well.”

Trixie gasped. “What?” she cried out. “But why? Sunburst is such a goodie-goodie, he never does anything wrong!”

Sunset frowned. “Because that’s what taking responsibility means,” she said before looking over to Starlight. “Do you understand that, little filly? If you truly care about your friends and don’t want them to suffer for your mistakes, then I would suggest you keep yourself under control or you won’t be the only one paying the price. So behave, got that?”

Hopefully, Starlight’s desire to be friends with the colt would keep her on the straight and narrow while Sunburst’s newfound stake in the mess would keep him from trying to distance himself from the filly thanks to their past. Sunset knew from personal experience how hard it was to turn a life around when nobody else wanted anything to do with you.

Sunburst gulped. “Understood, Princess.”

Starlight hugged onto the colt even tighter.

Trixie stepped forward. “W-We will, Princess Sunset.”

“Good,” Sunset told them. “Because, even though I’ll have a busy schedule, if I do come by to check up on the three of you, I hope that I’ll see the three of you have set this problem behind you and become good friends.”

Sunset turned to leave as she dropped the facade and smiled to herself. Although it probably could have gone a lot better, it felt good to deal with a friendship problem that wouldn’t affect the fate of the world.

“Hey Twily! Twily! That was fun, wasn't it? What do you want to do next?” Sunny Skies asked excitedly as Shining Armor the rest of the fillies with the exception of Fluttershy took a moment to recover from their third straight roller coaster ride.

Twilight let out a little moan. “I want the world to stop spinning.”

Thanks to all the tunnels beneath Canterlot with tracks already put in place, all ponies needed to do was put on the movement and protection spells to create the longest roller coaster rides in Equestria. Tracks they had just spent thirty minutes on thanks to the presence of two rather...competitive fillies.

“Ready to give in yet, Applejack?” Rarity asked as she sat with her back propped up against the mountainside as she held her stomach. “There’s no shame if a pony with a stomach as sensitive as yours has had enough.”

The earth pony that was sitting next to the unicorn looked back with a superior smirk as she took in deep breath after deep breath. “Don’t know the meaning of the word.”

Rainbow Dash gave them both a hesitant look. “Hey, I think roller coasters are cool and all, but we just rode all three and-”

“What’s a matter Dashie, you too chicken to go again?” Applejack asked.

“...I have no idea what that means,” Rainbow Dash said.

With a lack of knowledge shown, Twilight's ears perked up and her eyes locked onto the target. “A chicken is a white bird that’s unable to fly and kept to harvest their unfertilized eggs for consumption,” she explained.

Rainbow Dash took to the air. “Hey! I’m great at flying!” she yelled at Applejack.

“That ain't what I meant,” Applejack deadpanned.

Before they could continue, Cheerilee totted up. “Okay girls, I think that’s enough of that,” she said. “There are other fillies here that want to do something. We went on three roller coasters, that’s one for Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity. It’s time for Fluttershy or Twilight to decide what we do.”

Rarity looked back at the earth pony teenager. “What about one of the mares picking a ride?”

“Oh! Well, we’re fine with whatever you girls what to do,” she said.

There was a disgruntled sound from the male of the group. “Hey, don’t I get to make a suggestion?”

“Yer a boy,” Applejack told him. “Probably want us all to ride around in go karts or something.”

Twilight winced at the utterance of what her parents called a trigger word. Anything with four wheels and an autonomous movement enchantment that wasn’t meant to haul around anything always…

“No,” Shiny said before he sat down to curl into a ball. “Not racing karts. Not derby racers. Monster behind me. The fire. Only race in water. Boats are safe. Boats are fun.”

Cadance trotted over to the colt before looking back to the purple pony. “Uh, Twily? What’s wrong with your brother?”

“Mom says it’s because of the Canterlot Derby,” Twily explained. “But that’s all she or Dad will say.”

Shining Armor began to rock in place. “Fire all around me. Monster behind me. Monster wants to eat me.”

At that point, Cadance scooped up the colt and held him close. “Okay, I’ve been through this enough to know the drill. Cheerilee, you’re in charge until Sunset returns or Sassy gets back from the bathroom with Fluttershy. I’m going to take Shiny to get something to eat that’ll help calm his nerves.”

After Cadance took to the air with her little coltfriend and headed off, Applejack looked over to the near-adults. “What happened to Shining Armor?”

“Certainly his memories of the Derby couldn’t be that bad,” Rarity said. “I lost the position of most original to the oddest mare in town, but I don’t let...it...g-get to me.” A second later, the filly wiped a tear from her eye.

Sunny Skies cleared her throat, getting everypony’s attention. “Canterlot’s derby is a bit different than Ponyville’s. The parents of the foals build magic into their carts. The three criteria that our racers are judged on are most powerful, most enchanted and winner of the race,” she explained. “Because I-think Princess Celestia puts a shielding spell and a teleportation enchantment to remove them from the race when their kart gets destroyed, the karts get enchanted with several spells, including concussion blasts and fireballs.”

After a few seconds of silence, Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground. “I so got to move to Canterlot before the next derby.”

Applejack snorted. “The only ribbon worth winning in a derby is the one for most traditional.”

“Pashaw!” Rarity exclaimed. “I think you meant to say is the style ribbon is the most important.”

Cheerilee blinked at the sight from her place beside Twilight. "Why is it that the oldest fillies in this group also the most immature?”

A dismissive snort came from Applejack. “No. I mean what I say. And what I say is the style ribbon is the most worthless. Least the fastest kart is fast. Style is the most stupid.”

Rarity’s mouth dropped. “Y-You-” she said before her eyes widened and she galloped past Twilight. When the purple pony turned around to see where Rarity had gone, she caught sight of Princess Sunset right before the white unicorn reared up to put her hooves on the amber alicorn that had made her way over with Fluttershy and Sassy not far behind. “Princess Sunset! Tell Applejack that the style ribbon is the most important thing to win in a soapbox derby.”

“No!” Applejack said before she galloped over to stand next to Rarity in front of Princess Sunset. “The traditional ribbon’s the most important.”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

The look on Sunset’s face became annoyed and she raised ahoof halfway off the ground. Knowing where this was going, Twilight quickly braced herself for impact. A second later, the ground shook, and both the little fillies found themselves standing on cracks in the ground.

“Now that I have your attention,” Sunset said as her horn lit up and the damage was repaired by magic. She looked back and forth between the two fillies for a few seconds. “Let me guess...you’re arguing over the importance of form versus function?”

Cheerilee cleared her throat. “Actually, it’s style versus tradition. They’re arguing over which prize for their town’s derby is more important,” she said before frowning slightly. “Although, it’s a little strange how you were able to get that close after just hearing Rarity.”

A tiny laugh came from Sunset’s mouth. “Well, they’re a lot like some other friends I used to have,” she replied. Then, the amber alicorn gave both of the nine-year olds a disappointed look. “Maturity level and all.”

“Okay so, this shouldn’t take too long…” Sunset paused to think for a moment. “Girls, what you’re arguing about is simply a matter of personal taste and opinion. While there’s nothing wrong in sharing your opinion tactfully, getting angry because someone doesn’t agree with your way of thinking and trying to force that way of thinking onto them is like beating your head against a brick wall. Both of which are utterly futile and only end up giving you a headache,” Sunset told them. “I mean, if I said that I don’t really like wearing clothes or eating apples-”

Rarity backed away as if Sunset had turned into a demon while Applejack let out a horrified gasp. “Y-You don’t...like...apples?”

As the two fillies had a nervous breakdown, Sunny trotted over to the stunned Sunset. “You should have quit while you were ahead.”

“Oh for crying out loud, I was giving them an example!” Sunset shot back before she moved to calm the fillies down. “No, no! Girls, I think clothes and apples are just fine! I used to wear and eat them every day!”

After managing to get Shiny to calm down with the help of a corn dog and some talk about how good it was that he was a colt at the moment or she would have used the time alone together to give Shiny a bit of sexual relief, it took Cadance a good half an hour to find Sunset and Sassy. However, the fact that they were alone was something she did not take as a good sign. “Hello you two...um, where are the girls?”

Sunset pointed towards a giant pink tent that was set up nearby with a long line waiting out front. The sign on top made Cadance squint in order to read it. “The Pavilion of Pony Princesses Past?”

“It’s a display of artwork featuring all of the princesses of Equestria,” Sassy explained. “Well, except for possibly you and Sunset.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Why aren’t you two accompanying them?”

“The number of ponies allowed in the tent for at a time is limited to eight,” Sassy said.

Next to her, Sunset offered Shiny a seat in her lap, which he took after a moment of consideration. She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him to her chest. “Hey Shiny, the girls told me what happened. You okay?”

The colt blushed at the attention. “Yeah.”

“You know, the girls will probably be in that tent for a while,” Sunset told him. “If you want, we could go do something together, like take a picture or go on a ride you don’t want Twily to remember you went on ten years from now.”

“Um…” Cadance began as she looked over to Sunset. “I’m pretty sure that they would have made an exception and let you in Sunset.”

Sunset looked up from their colt and raised an eyebrow. “Cadance, it’s a tent full of paintings of alicorns that actually earned their titles. Does that really sound like something I should be surrounded by right now?”

Sassy put on a confused look and blinked several times.

“...point taken,” Cadance replied before taking a seat at the picnic table.

The three mares and one temporary colt sat in silence for a moment before unset broke it. “So uh...what exactly made Shiny freak out?”

Cadance shared a nervous look with Sassy before the unicorn spoke. “Uh...it was that race Canterlot holds every ten years or so for the foals.”

“You mean the derby?” Sunset asked, causing Shiny to go stuff in her forelegs. She bent her head down to kiss the little unicorn on the top of his head a giggled. “I remember when I rode in the derby. I built my kart to be about twice as big as everypony elses, with wings on the side that could slice through stone, and spikes in the wheels that let me just shred any kart I ran into. Not that they were much more than a burning wreck by the time I ran over them thanks to an all consuming fireball spell Mom helped me work into the front.” Another tiny laugh came out of Sunset’s mouth. “I think it was the only race where a single car finished. I roasted the rest.”

After Cadance’s mind worked to connect the dots, the princess looked down to the colt in Sunset’s arms, then back to the pyromaniac who had apparently traumatized him.

“Something wrong Cadance?” Shining Armor asked.

Since it didn’t look like Shiny had realized the connection, and telling Sunset would probably mean having to talk her out of jumping off the side of Canterlot five minutes later, Cadance decided to keep them ignorant. “Nope!” she assured them both with a happiness she had to force. “So, Shiny. Since Twily and the others are going to be busy for awhile, what do you think about getting a few pictures made, hmmm?”

Twilight could barely contain herself as she and the rest of the girls walked into the pavilion. As soon as they got in, the purple unicorn got around Cheerilee, with Sunny leading the way past their supervision. Temporary walls had been set up all around to hang portraits that had to be well over a hundred years old, showing the past of Equestria in all its glory.

Cheerilee made a sound to get everypony’s attention. “Okay girls. We just need to wait for the tour guide to lead us through.”

“Wait, is this like, a maze? I thought we were just going to look at a bunch of dumb pictures.”

Twilight looked back over to Rainbow Dash, unable to contemplate how a pony as intelligent as Sunset could see any worth in a stupid pegasus like the blue one floating in the air behind Twilight. “It’s obvious that the walls are set up to they can display the maximum amount of artwork in the space provided,” she deadpanned.

While Twilight was contimplating the correct terminology to label the aerial ignoramus, she a hoof grabbed her right foreleg, and she found herself an inch away from Sunny’s muzzle a second later. “Come on Twily, I know more than what some tour guide can tell you,” she said before zipping ahead with the little purple pony in tow.

“Shouldn’t we…” Twilight said before looking over to Cheerilee and seeing the earth pony with a half-raised hoof and hesitant expression.

Then they turned the corner, and the rest of the group was gone. The next thing Twilight knew, she was alone with Sunny as the pink-maned unicorn pointed up at a picture of a red and black alicorn standing alone on a yellow field. “So, do you know anything about her, Twily?”

Twilight looked at name tag under the painting. “Princess Luminescence, the obscure,” she said before giving a nervous glance to her future tutor. “Ummm, I’m sorry, I don’t really know anything about this pony.”

A worry passed through Twilight’s mind. Had that been another test? Was Sunny really at the fair to see if Twilight was smart enough to be tutored by her?

“I’d be very surprised if you did know anything about this alicorn,” Suny told her with a smile. “Everypony thinks that Luminescence was some really old student of Celestia’s whose records were all lost after the Princess moved from the Everfree to Canterlot. But the truth is, she’s a mistake.”

Twilight blinked. “Eh?”

Sunny giggled. “One day, Princess Celestia tripped while trotting through Canterlot Palace and spilled grape juice on a painting that showed her in a dark hallway. Then the artist that she commissioned to restore it thought the shadow she was casting was in fact another pony. Then, he decided to paint a picture of the pony by herself,” she said. “After that, historians from all over looked around to find information on this mysterious alicorn that Celestia would only smile pleasantly about. Entire books were written, compiling facts about this pony that ranged from accounts of how she was Princess Celestia’s first daughter from which all other alicorns are descended, to a bat pony that had been born with a horn.”

“But...she wasn’t real,” Twilight said as she tried to wrap her mind around how somepony could find facts about the life of an alicorn that never existed. “Wait! If she wasn’t real, but everypony says she is, then how do you know that she wasn’t real?”

A pleasant smile appeared on Sunny’s face. “Oh, caught onto that, did you?” she asked. “I wonder which pony you should believe. The one voice in front of you that’s saying one thing, or the hundreds of books that say otherwise?”

Twilight reached up to rub her forehead. “I’m confused.”

“Ohmygosh! I haven’t see a picture of her in forever!” Sunny exclaimed before Twilight was dragged along to another painting and plopped down in front of her.

As she tried to stop the world from spinning, Twilight turned around to see a painting of another alicorn. Unlike the first, this one was on a silvery backdrop and depicted an alicorn that looked much taller than a normal pony with a black coat, wearing armor that had been colored blue. “Now this is-”

“Nightmare Moon,” Twilight said before Sunny could finish.

With the white pony still holding her hoof, Twilight could feel Sunny go rigid at the name. “What?” she asked before looking around and sucking in a breath. “Oh...that...thing. I thought I had told them to stop putting it up.”

Twilight blinked at the grumbling coming from Sunny Skies in confusion. What did Sunny Skies have to do with the Pavilion? She put the question out of her mind and took a step closer to the painting.

“So...uh, Twilight,” Sunny Skies said. “What can you tell me about Nightmare Moon?”

The question posed to her made Twilight think for a few seconds. After her last conversation involving a black alicorn that was regarded as fact when she was actually mythical, she knew that just giving Sunny the basic answer of how Nightmare Moon was just an old mare’s tale wouldn’t be any good. “Well…” the purple pony began as she looked at the painting, focusing on the alicorn’s sharp teeth. “I don’t think she actually gobbles up young foals. Even if she’s supposed to be evil, she’s still a pony, which makes her a herbivore.”

Sunny’s ears perked up at that. “Oh? What else do you think about her?”

Twilight wracked her brain, reviewing all the old bedtime stories that she had heard about Nightmare Moon. “Well, she was supposed to have been banished to the moon by Princess Celestia for trying to blot out the sun forever, and that the silhouette on the moon’s surface is the magical seal that keeps her there for all but a single night of the year,” she said before putting some thought to the information. “But, the weird thing is, there’s nothing about where she comes from, or anything like that. Or why she battled Celestia. There’s just this one big evil thing that she did after she just appeared one day for no reason.”

Even if Nightmare Moon was just a fable, it struck Twilight as odd that she had absolutely no backstory. Mythic figures like Flash Magnus and Starswirl the Bearded had dozens of legends revolving around them, half of which couldn’t possibly be true.

Except for Starswirl’s of course. He probably did all the amazing things he and other ponies said he did and more. He was the greatest magic user of all time, after all.

“So what does that tell you?” Sunny asked.

“Well,” Twilight said as she began to think it over. “Assuming that Nightmare Moon is real. Then she would have had to had a reason to do what she did and a past to go with it.” The purple pony looked over to the bigger white unicorn in front of her. “Even Princess Celestia was a filly at one point in her life.”

Sunny nodded. “That’s true.”

“Sooooo,” Twilight drawled as she continued to think. Her brain went back to the last painting. “Oh! What if nothing we know about Nightmare Moon is right?”

The expression on Sunny’s face became a tiny frown. “What do you mean, Twilight?”

“Well, there’s the possibility that all these stories about Nightmare Moon are made up. Princess Celestia’s the only pony who knows for sure what happened, but she could be...um...well...lying,” Twilight tentatively admitted before she crouched down in preparation for whatever fierce rebuttal Sunny had for her.

After all, everypony knew without a shadow of a doubt that Princess Celestia was the most beautiful, most graceful, most intelligent, and most truthful pony in the history of Equestria. Is was practically a banishable offense to say something negative about her. Which was what Twilight had just done by calling her a liar.

Sunny stood perfectly still. “What makes you say something like that, Twilight?”

“Well...I...um...I met Princess Celestia this one time and-and she…” Twilight shivered at the memory. “She wasn’t nice, or warm and friendly like everypony who’s met her says. S-She looked at me, and I felt cold, and small. It was like all the light in the world got swallowed up by this big mean pony because she didn’t want to give me any.”

Twilight gunted in surprise as she found herself in a strong hug. “I’m sorry, Twily!” Sunny cried into her ear before letting out a sniffle. “I didn’t mean to frighten you! I just got reminded of this other pony when I saw you and-and it all just came out!”

The nonsense that Sunny blabbed to her got a blink from Twilight. “Eh?” she asked.

“Oh!” Sunny said before she blushed and let the smaller pony down. “Sorry, um...bad impulse control.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Why’re you apologizing for what Princess Celest-”

“Hey! You know what?” Sunny said before Twilight could finish talking. “We should go find the tour guide! She’s been taking way too long to make her way back through the tent for our group!”

Once again, Twilight found herself being carried through the air by Sunny’s unnatural strength. Well, unnatural for a unicorn, at any rate. They zoomed past dozens of more displays, using the trick of always following the wall on the right to find the end of the maze. As she was carried, a confused thought kept running through her mind. Why would Sunny apologize for something Princess Celestia did?

“And you’re sure she didn’t touch any of the paintings or start a fire?” Sunset asked the tour guide as she stood outside the tent with her friends and the fillies standing not far behind them.

Celestia frowned at the bigger alicorn as the tour guide shook her head at the question. “You know, I’m starting to think your faith in me is lacking, Princess Sunset,” she said as she sat on the grass nearby with her forelegs crossed.

Just because she had a little attention problem...and maybe some impulse control issues, it didn’t make her a pyromaniac like Sunset used to be!

After making sure Celestia didn’t accidentally bring a picture to life, Sunset looked back at her. “You were on your own for a good five minutes like that. I’m just trying to make sure you didn’t do something to doom us all somewhere down the road.”

When Sunset looked back at the guide, Celestia stuck her tongue out at her daughter. “Naaaaaaaah!”

“Okay,” Sunset said as she spun around to face the girls. “So, whose turn is it to pick a ride? Um, Fluttershy, right?”

The little yellow pegasus crouched down at the attention from Sunset. “Oh, um...I um, I’m fine with doing whatever the rest of you want.”

Celestia blinked at Fluttershy’s unease and trotted over to her. “What’s wrong Fluttershy?”

“She heard that the petting zoo has bunnies,” Rainbow Dash said. “Which, I think would be totally cool to see. Uh, long as, you know, they’re in cages or something.”

As everypony that was raised on the ground just gave the pegasi a look of confusion, Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Neither of you have been to flight camp yet, have you?” she asked.

Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash turned to look at Celestia before they shared an uncertain look and shook their heads in response to her question. “That’s this Summer,” Dashie explained. “And what difference does that make?”

“In order to keep pegasus foals from flying too far away from Cloudsdale, most pegasus parents tell them that the ground is much more dangerous than it actually is,” Celestia explained. “They tell their little ponies that every animal down there wants to eat them, and even the grass is dangerous.”

Cadance, the former pegasus who had been raised on the ground, frowned. “Why would they do something like that?”

Celestia rolled her eyes at the obvious answer. “For their mental stability, mostly,” she said. “While there are dangerous animals on the ground, the chance of a pegasus foal being able to avoid them is pretty much guaranteed unless they’re drop dead tired. However, pegasus ponies of Fluttershy and Dashie’s age don’t have the endurance to fly from the ground back up to Cloudsdale. Added to the fact that the city is almost always on the move means any pony left on the ground would have to watch her home and parents fly further and further away. And that’s not even beginning to consider how behind the weather would be if the city had to stop for every single foal that had thought they were tough enough to fly from the ground back up to the city.”

As she finished her explanation, Celestia realized the odd looks all of the fillies were giving her before she realized that there was no way a normal filly of nine should have known something like that. “Oh!” she exclaimed before reaching to scratch the back of her head and smiling. “At least, that’s what my Mommy told me when I asked her why I never meet any pegasus fillies that come from Cloudsdale until they’re about the same age as me.”

“Aaaaah!” Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity all replied in response to the little alicorn’s explanation before Fluttershy went a little further. “So, there aren’t any big scary monsters at the petting zoo? Just animals and cute little birdies?”

Sunset came towards the little pegasus. “Well, I’m sure they’ve got plenty of animals,” she said. “Not sure what they’d have as far as birds, though. They’re not exactly...pettable.”

The news made Fluttershy’s head droop. “...oh,” she mumbled dejectedly.

Before Sunset could get into a panic about ruining the little pegasus’s hopes, Celestia came to her rescue. “But while they’re clearing out the animals in the palace garden for the banquet, the birds are all still there,” she told Fluttershy. “I could even show you some!”

“That would be nice,” Fluttershy agreed with a little smile that looked like she was afraid that if she looked too happy, something would come along and ruin it.

Celestia had to wonder just how horrible the poor filly’s first year of school had been for her to actually be afraid of feeling happy about something. At least she wondered until her mind went back to how sad it was that Fluttershy didn’t even think she could feel happy without something bad happening to her.

With such a thought running through her head, Celestia bounded over to wrap the lanky pegasus up in a super special hug with all of her strength just to show her little friend how much she cared. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy! I’ll take you to the gardens myself! I’ll show you all the nests, oh! I’ll even take you to see Philomena!”

“Say Mmmmy little Sunny,” Sunset said as she looked over to her mother. “I know you mean well and all, but I’m pretty sure Fluttershy would like to breathe sometime soon and not have to deal with a crushed spine.”

Celetia dropped Fluttershy, who sucked in a deep breath of air after being released. “Sorry,” she apologized.

After making sure Fluttershy was alright, Sunset lifted Celestia up in her magic and placed the tiny princess on the amber alicorn’s back. “Come on, let’s trot on over to the next ride everypony. Then we can break for a late lunch.”

The group fell in line behind Sunset, who put an invisible sound barrier around herself and Celestia before glancing to at the filly on her back. “We can talk now,” she said. “If you want, I mean.”

“Talk about what?” she asked.

Sunset took a few seconds to respond. “I dunno. If there’s anything...wrong?”

As far as Celestia could tell, today was going great.

They had played a ton of really fun games at the start of the day and even though a lot of the others didn’t really care for the experience, riding all of those roller coasters had been really fun! Plus, there were the conversations she had with Rarity about their dresses and getting to hear from Applejack how her family was doing after Sunset saved them. Rainbow Dash’s questions about how fast Cadance and Sunset were in the air were a bit awkward considering that neither of them were a good flier, but Celestia’s offer to race her that the white filly had made without thinking had been laughed off as Dashie had accepted it, thankfully. The paintings had only really been fun at first when it was just her and Twily, because the tour guide had gotten just about a million bajillion things wrong and she was so slow and boring.

Although, it still felt good to be with her friends and…

Celestia’s train of thought slowly grinded to a halt as the wisdom of her years corrected the foalish brain’s thinking. They’re not my friends. Not really, she told herself to look back at the group of ponies.

Cadance was carrying Shining Armor and Twilight’s Sunset likness while Sassy and Rarity had stuck up a conversation. Fluttershy was sticking close to Cheerilee as Rainbow Dash did a flip for no apparent reason, which was quickly followed by Twilight asking her why she was flying around instead of walking like everypony else. It was a beautiful scene of togetherness that reminded Celestia of…

Well…nothing personal.

It had reminded her of the other times she had watched groups of ponies have fun at fairs and events that she never participated in. Some were students, others were just ponies she saw through her telescope.

The closest thing she had ever some to experiencing such events were high society dinner parties and events like the Grand Galloping Gala. She would go into a room surrounded by a bunch of ponies that, as Sunset liked to put it these days, fought to see how far each one of them could stick their lips up her butt. A joke she had heard a dozen times before and maybe laughed at once, thus proving it was Celestia-approved, got told by every single pony there while she just happened to be in close proximity.

“No,” the pseudo-foal of an alicorn whispered sadly before she laid her head on the back of her daughter and did her bed to wrap her forelegs around Sunset’s thick neck for extra support. “Everything’s...perfect.”

Thankfully, Sunset didn’t look back to see the tears that were making her vision blurry.

The wait for the log drop was longer than most, with a whole lot of ponies forming a twisting snake of a line that probably would have gotten tangled in itself had it been the actual article. While royal privilege probably could have gotten them all to the front of the line a lot sooner, Princess Sunset had insisted they wait around like normal ponies for some reason Twilight couldn’t conceive.

Which was probably why Princess Sunset was the princess, and Twilight Sparkle was just the common unicorn foal.

So, she stood in the back of the line, behind Sunny and everypony else.

However, all the standing around did give Twilight time to think. And what she was thinking about was the odd actions of the oddity of their group.

Where Sunny Skies had been about as active as a filly could ever be before they had to wait in line, her time since then had been anything but energetic. She wasn’t even making fart noises with Rainbow Dash and blaming it on other ponies like during the princess painting tour! She just stood there, staring ahead with a blank look on her face.

Twilight looked back to the princesses, but upon finding they were talking to her brother understood that she wouldn’t be getting any help from them. It was up to her to try and find out what was wrong with...well, she didn’t really know any other fillies that were slightly older than her.

If anything, Sunny acted like…

“Uuuuugh! I don’t get why we gotta wait in line to ride a part of a dumb tree off the side of a mountain,” Rainbow Dash whined. “Can’t I just go jump off myself?”

...a more knowledgeable version of Rainbow Dash. Only with a horn and less colors in her hair.

A sigh coming from Sunny had Twily looking back to her. “What’s wrong, Sunny?”

“Twilight?” Sunny Skies asked as she looked over to the purple unicorn. After a few more seconds in which they all had to move forward with the line, she replied. “What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“Well, this is the first time since I’ve met you that I’ve seen you look sad,” Twilight told her.

Sunny blinked before giving Twilight a little smile that still looked sad, somehow. “Well...it’s just, after we’re done here, we’ll have to go back to the palace to show Fluttershy the birds, and after that...it’ll be over.”

The answer only confused things for Twilight. After the log ride and showing Fluttershy the birds of Princess Celestia’s menagerie, they were all planning to have lunch and then...well, Twilight’s fair schedule didn’t really go past that, but she knew Princess Sunset would have something fun planned for them to do!

Unsure of what to say next, Twilight spoke to buy time as she racked her brain for a suggestion. “Um...well, we can play games in the palace, maybe?” she asked.

“I...Twily, you know I’m not really a normal filly, right?” Sunny asked.

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

The smile on Sunny’s face didn’t get any happier as she nodded. “Well, we get back to the palace, I’ll have to go back to being my old self.”

“Uh, is the old you so different from the...um...young you?” Twilight asked as she confused herself. Just going back to the palace wouldn’t make Sunny any older. At least, not any older than the other fillies would be since they were all constantly aging at the same rate.

Sunny blinked. “Honestly...well, apart from my current impulsive nature and something Sunset calls ADD, I don’t think I would have wanted to act any differently than the way I did today.”

The confession made Twilight raise an eyebrow. “Even the fart noises?”

“Especially the fart noises,” Sunny told her with a smile that looked a little more genuine. Then she frowned a bit. “Besides, that mare deserved them. Star Butterfly didn’t invent the blazing rainbow, she just accidently set one on fire. It’s a completely different thing.”

Twilight blinked as the line moved forward again and she noticed something odd about Sunny. She didn’t use titles. Even Rainbow Dash, as rude as she was, put the big P-word in front of Princess Cadance and Princess Sunset’s names.

“So...what will you do after we get back to the castle and you go back to normal?” Twilight asked.

The question killed what little happiness Sunny had managed to raise. “Go back to the same old routine, I suppose. Talking with ponies without really being talked to. Having everypony do what I tell them to because of what I am rather than who. See, every single pony in Equestria watch me for the slightest misstep or pretend to like every single thing I do because they think it’ll make me like them more.”

If ponies acted like that towards her, Twilight guessed that Sunny must have been a very important pony. But, the mystery of Sunny’s identity could be solved later. Right now, Twilight needed to cheer her up. “We could play a game!”

Sunny looked back to Twilight and blinked. “Huh?”

“Card Wars, or a slumber party!” Twilight suggested as a real plan began to form in her mind. “We could have a slumber party! I bet if I told Princess Sunset that I scheduled in a slumber party, then she could intervene because she said that I got to plan out the schedule, and if it’s on the schedule then everypony has to make time for it no matter how important they are.”

Despite Twilight’s best efforts, Sunny didn’t look very sure as the line moved again. “Twily, that’s…”

“Don’t be sad, Sunny!” Twilight begged her. “You’re super nice and super smart, and I know that you’re just here because you wanted me to talk to you without anything else getting in the way, but you’re the most fun filly that looks about my age I’ve ever played with. Please don’t stop having fun with me the next time we’re together!”

Sunny blinked. “T-Twilight, I...that’s a very sweet offer, but, you should know something about me,” she said hesitantly.

“Hey! get moving you little punks!”

Sunny bristled and looked past Twilight. “Cram it dummy! I’m trying to have an emotional moment here!”

Before Sunny could get herself in trouble, Twilight tapped her shoulder. “Uh, Sunny? It’s our turn to get in the boat.”

The white unicorn with the pink mane blinked and looked back at where the ride’s operator was standing as well as a very large and open space between them. “Um..but, I was gonna tell you-oh, nevermind. It can wait till tonight,” she said before taking Twilight’s hoof. “Come on Twily, let’s plummet hundreds of feet in the most basic of flotation devices!”

As she found herself yanked forward, the reality of the situation suddenly became apparent to Twilight. “W-What?” she asked as Sunny put her in the front seat of the two-pony vehicle that was nothing more than a very big log that had the top of it cut out to hold a pair of fillies with a pair of restraining devices to keep them from falling out. “No wait!”

The spells keeping the log in place faded, and the two ponies shot forward into the tunnel that lay before them at a pace even an energetic pegasus would have had trouble keeping up with thanks to the magical spell on the back of the log that multiplied their momentum by several times as they raced down the river. A situation that had Twilight voicing her displeasure. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The darkness of the tunnel disappeared five second later and Twilight was blinded when the light from the sun hit her eyes since her pupils had been trying to adjust to the darkness of the cave. By the time she could see again, Twilight found the log she and Sunny were in had flown off of the rapids beneath them and had reached the point where it seemingly floated in the air for a moment before gravity pulled it down towards the lake below.

Because of the crude boat’s shape, or perhaps some other spell that had been placed on the front of the log that Twilight couldn’t see, the ride they were in quickly adjusted to point straight down towards the lake at the bottom of the waterfall a good three hundred feet below them.

Even with the belts holding them down and the numerous protection spells that the makeshift boat had been equipped with, Twily couldn’t get her mind off the fact that even a watery impact from such a height would cause catastrophic damage to her body. That, and the fact she didn’t want to be reduced to a pile of floating mush. “I want off! I WANT OFF! I WANT OFF!”

“T-Twilight?” she heard Sunny call out from behind her. “It’ll be okay! We’re perfectly-”

“LEMME OFF! LEMME OFF! LEMME OFF!” she screamed in a panic.

The water got closer and closer, and Twilight found herself unable to keep looking at her approaching doom as her panic words became a terrified scream before she felt a pair of hooves touch her from behind.

“Okay Twily, hold on!” Sunny said in a voice that was much too calm before Twilight felt herself being wrapped in the other pony’s magic.

A few seconds later, the belts holding her in place undid themselves and the purple unicorn was met with an odd tingling sensation over her entire body. “S-Sunny? What’s going on?” she asked in fright.

Everything came to a sudden stop, but Twilight didn’t feel a dreadful lurch or anything, they simply stopped moving. Almost immediately afterwards, there was a loud splash sound beneath her, and Twilight found herself soaking wet.

Instinct demanded Twilight reach out and her front legs flailed around in a panic for several second before she felt another filly’s forelegs on her upper barrel, which told her which direction there was something to latch onto. She wrapped her forelegs around Sunny’s shoulders and swung her hind ones forward until they got ahold of the other pony’s barrel. Then, Twilight buried her head in Sunny’s shoulder and her own forelegs as far as it would go as a strange fluttering nose filled her ears while little droplets of water continued to hit the side of Twilight’s head at rapid intervals.

“Shhhhhhh,” Sunny softly whispered into Twilight’s ear as the purple unicorn felt them slowly move through the air. “It’s okay. I’ve got you Twily. You’re safe now. I’d never let anything bad happen to you.”

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, which only showed her a blurry mess of white and blue for a few seconds before her vision cleared. Once it did, she stared at the large hole in the back of Sunny’s dress...because there was a pair of rapidly flapping wings sticking out of it.

What? Twilight asked herself as Sunny flew her over to the edge of the lake, away from where the logs from the ride launched themselves out of the water and onto the prepared landing area that had several pegasi to fly them back up to Canterlot.

When they got to the the grass, Twilight stumbled forward before she turned around to see Sunny working herself out of her ruined dress as Princess Sunset and the others galloped over. There was also a large splotch of white on Sunny’s rear that looked as if it was melting.

“What happened?” Princess Sunset’s voice resounded in Twilight’s ears a second before she was aware of the big alicorn that had Shiny on her back. “Is she okay? Twily, are you okay?”

Behind the amber princess, Cadance and the others stood a few feet away, held back by the pink pony’s wings.

“She go frightened on the way down and I just reacted,” the pony with the white paint said as it continued to run down her coat, revealing the golden yellow underneath. “Don’t worry, I made sure the sudden stop wouldn’t hurt her before I pulled us out of the dive.”

Princess Sunset let out a long sigh as she lowered her whole body in relief and put a foreleg on Twilight’s back. “Oh Twily, why didn’t you tell us you were afraid of going on the ride?” she asked gently. “I would have stayed with you.”

The paint ran off of Sunny’s cutie mark completely, making Twilight blink as the questions that had been cropping up all day involving Sunny’s true identity found their answer. “You’re…” Twilight mumbled as she slowly raised a hoof to point at the little solar alicorn. “You’re Princess Celestia.”

Despite the distance between them, the rest of the fillies gasped at the sudden reveal.

Princess Celestia blinked before she looked to the wings on her back, then to her cutie mark. “Hmmm…” she said as she turned her head back to Twilight. “Real-wait, I already pulled that one with Rarity. Okay, yeah. It’s me Twilight.” Then she looked up to Princess Sunset. “Now, can we get out of here before somepony with a camera decides to start taking pictures?”

Thanks to Sunset and lot of teleportation magic, the group made it back to the Solar Palace before anypony else got close enough to see Celestia’s wings, something the little filly was very thankful for. If stories about her galloping around as a foal got out, she couldn’t even guess how bad a scandal it would cause. Maybe even to the point where she would have to call for a news blackout.

However, the sudden reveal of her true identity before she was ready to go through with it did make her sad. She glanced over to where all the other fillies were walking down the other side of the hall, silently eyeing Celestia as they trotted to the dining room.

Celestia hung her head and looked in despair. While it would have happened at the end of the day anyway, she would have a least been able to play with Fluttershy in the garden before all of the fillies found out who she really was and distanced themselves from her forever like all ponies eventually did.

“So uh, are we gonna race around the palace, or is it gonna be like, the Wonderbolts track?”

The question coming from above her made Celestia pick her head up and look back. “Huh?” she asked after seeing Rainbow Dash floating there.

“The race you said we were gonna have,” Rainbow Dash clarified. “Are we gonna do it around the castle, or the track? You can swing that, right? You know, with you really being Princess Celestia and all, right?”

As Celestia continued to stare at the impossibility of the filly asking her a question without any care of her title, Fluttershy floated over to share the airspace above her. “Rainbow Dash,” the yellow pegasus whined. “Princess Celestia said she was going to show me all of her bird friends.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed with a nod. “But when she’s done with all those stu-uh…” The blue pegasus looked back to Cadance, who was giving her a sharp frown. “...birds, she’ll have to do something else before Twilight has her slumber party, right?”

The purple pony of the group froze solid, prompting them all to stop. “W-What?” she stuttered.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “You know, that party we heard you planning with Princess Celestia when we were all in line waiting for the log ride.”

“Ah didn’t hear nothing,” Applejack said.

“A P-Princess slumber party?” Rarity cried out with excitement before she rushed over to the shortest alicorn. “Oh! Princess Celestia, can you do my mane?”

Celestia blinked at the sudden intrusion of her personal space. “Uh...that, um...okay, Rarity.”

Sunset cleared her throat, making the fillies stop any further requests. “Girls, I think you should give my mom some space to breathe,” she told them, making the fillies take a few steps back. “Okay, so...birdwatching now, right?”

The question made Celestia realize that there was a flaw in her original plan to take the girls to the gardens. While one or two ponies, or one pony with a filly on her back wouldn’t be any trouble, a whole group of foals would cause too much racket. The birds that stuck around the gardens were very skittish creatures that didn’t like newcomers very much.

“Actually Sunset, I think it would be best if just you and Fluttershy went to the gardens,” she told her daughter. “A bigger crowd might cause problems. Is that okay, Fluttershy?”

For her part, Fluttershy looked back to Sunset and then over to Celestia again. “Well, if you think-”

Celestia didn’t let her finish. “Hold up,” she said as she put a hoof to the filly’s lips. “I see that hesitation, and I know I said that I’d take you to see the birds in the garden. So if you want, I’ll have Sunset undo the magic spell and take you there myself. But, a crowd any larger than two will cause problems.”

“But, I can’t race you when you’re an adult!” Rainbow Dash cried out. “You’ll be all faaaa-uh, big, and-”

The blue pegasus’s protests were ended when Cadance cleared her throat. “Dash, this is about Fluttershy, not you.”

As Rainbow became so dejected she actually stopped flying, Fluttershy guided Celestia’s hoof away from her mouth. “No, it’s alright. I’m fine with Princess Sunset taking me. To be honest...um…”

“You were worried I’d scare the birds away with my antics?” she asked with a knowing smirk. When Fluttershy flinched at the words, Celestia just snickered. “Hey now, just because I have impulse control issues doesn’t mean I’m not aware of it. I am Princess Celestia, after all.”

Sunset cleared her throat. “Okay, come on Flutters. We’ll meet you all back here in an hour for lunch.”

The group Celestia was with watched Sunset depart after she put Fluttershy on her back until she turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Once her daughter was gone, they all turned around to looked at Celestia. “What is it?” she asked.

Cadance blinked. “Uh, well...are we going to the Wonderbolt’s track or do you know someplace else do you want to use instead?”

“Well, I’d prefer if we use something a little more private since I don’t want anypony to see me like this but-wait,” Celestia said as she got an uneasy feeling in her gut. “Why’re you all asking me about this?”

“Because you’re you,” Cadance deadpanned.

Celestia sighed dejectedly. Even if the other foals would talk to her directly, it looked like she was thrown back into the role of a leader. “Right,” she said before considering her options. “There’s a hidden garden set up on a ledge on the other side of the mountain that I go to when I needed a moment to think for myself. We can let everypony use the edge as spectator seats while I set up a track with some clouds.”

When everypony agreed to the suggestion, Celestia looked over to Twilight. Since being revealed as an alicorn, the poor purple pony had an odd look plastered on her face. She wasn’t afraid or even confused, but the girl was obviously trying to work something through in her head.

“But before we do that, anypony else need to go to the bathroom?” she asked before sending out a miniscule pulse of magic. Even if all of the ponies in front of Celestia had been staring at her horn, they wouldn’t have seen anything.

The spell she used was one she had developed centuries ago to help her deal with petitioners that just wouldn’t stop talking. Rather than telling them, as Sunset would put it, to piss off, Celestia just used a teeny bit of magic to cause a minor reaction in their body that fooled it into thinking that they had other business to take care of.

As soon as the magic went off, Twily raised her hoof. “I do!”

“Okay, come on Twilight,” Celestia told the filly before trotting past her at a brisk pace.

Twily looked over to the other ponies for a moment, then quietly followed Celestia a good foot behind the alicorn. When they got to one of the palace’s staff restrooms, Celestia waited for Twilight to enter, then threw up a minor illusion that told anypony wandering by that the room was closed for repairs.

By the time she entered, Twilight was already in her stall, so Celestia stood outside near the sinks and waited for her to finish. As she did, the nervousness the little alicorn was feeling bloomed into a prediction of what would come about if she didn’t make up with Twilight here and now.

For starters, Sunset would find out how she had been mean to Twilight, and then…

“How could you do something like that to a filly?” the much bigger, much more powerful alicorn shouted at Celestia as she looked down on her with a frown.

Which would quickly be followed by…

“You’re the worst mother EVER!” Sunset yelled.

And to top it all off…

“YOU’RE GROUNDED!” Sunset ordered as she sent Celestia to her room to sit in a corner and think about what she had done.

Celestia blinked in confusion at the last image that came to mind before quickly shaking her little filly head to clear it out. Yeah, that seems like a bit much, she told herself.

Although...Sunset getting angry and leaving Celestia in her current state didn’t seem too out of the realm of possibility. To further complicate the matter, Celestia didn’t know if that would even be so bad. She could stick around and advise Sunset on stuff, but could also play with her new friends and do all the things she hadn’t been able to do when she was younger because she had to take care of Luna!

The happiness Celestia had been feeling at reliving an unburdened foalhood quickly died at the realization.

As her mind shifted to her little sister, the door to Twilight’s stall opened to reveal the little filly while the waste depository emptied itself out behind her with a flush. When she saw Celestia, the little pony blinked. “Uh...P-Princess,” she mumbled.

Grateful for something else to focus her mind on, Celestia smiled at Twilight and looked over to the sink. “Um, do you need help washing your front hooves, Twily?”

Twilight looked over to the counter that was just a bit too high up. “Y-Yes,” Twilight replied nervously.

After conjuring a stepping stool, Celestia followed Twilight to the other end of the room and made her own risen area to put her hooves. As the little foal turned on the water using her own magic, Celestia did the same and looked ahead to the mirror that stretched the length of the room. Pushing back the nervousness inside her with a little cough, Celestia began speaking. “I never meant to frighten you, Twilight,” she told the filly. “The day we first met, I mean.”

“Oh,” Twily repled. In the mirror, Celestia saw her glance over to the white alicorn. “But, um…”

“Why did I get so angry after seeing you and hearing your name?” she asked for the purple pony when Twilight didn’t continue. Celestia looked up at the ceiling. “Well...it’s...Twilight, you know I’m really, really old, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. Nopony knows your actual age, but using the time you first raised the sun as an estimate, then you have to be at least over one thousand, one hundred and ten years old.”

Hearing the purple filly give her a number that was far below her actual age, Celestia decided not to correct her. “Well, it stands to reason that I’ve met lots of ponies, right?”

“Yes,” Twily replied with another nod.

“And having met so many ponies, it also stands to reason that I would have met ponies that look alike with similar names, correct?” Celestia asked.

Twilight nodded again. “That is reasonable, yes.”

“And by the law of averages, some of these ponies I met wouldn’t have been very nice. In fact, some were downright mean and selfish little monsters that didn’t care one bit about anypony else,” Celestia said, her tone darkening as she ran through everything she knew about Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Twily shut off the water and gulped. “Um...that’s...I-I suppose.”

The expression on the little filly’s face made Celestia reign in her anger...barely. “I’m sorry, it’s just...Twilight, seeing you reminded me of this pony and when I looked at you, I didn’t really see you, I saw her.”

“Oh,” Twilight said uneasily. She hesitated for several seconds before speaking again. “What was she like?”

Celestia frowned at the question. “She was very cruel and deceitful,” the alicorn answered. “She even fooled me until I saw some of her correspondence with Su-ome other pony. And I’m even angry with myself, because after reading it, I couldn’t see how I could ever-!” Celestia stopped talking as she realized that her voice was getting loud enough to go through the door and travel down the hallway for quite the length. “Ah, one second.”

After taking in a deep breath, Celestia cleared her mind and started over. She looked over to Twilight and gave her an apologetic smile. “Look, I’m not angry with you, Twilight, and I’m sorry I frightened you,” she told the filly as they both jumped back down to the floor. “You are the most-uh, okay, the second most wonderful little unicorn I have ever known. Which I’m guessing you know is a lot of unicorns.”

A tiny smile appeared on Twilight’s face. “R-Really?” she asked as she pulled back in on herself a little, as if she expected Celestia to suddenly rip the floor out from under her after getting her hopes up.

Celestia wrapped the little filly up in a hug. “Yes,” she told Twilight. “I can’t wait until I can get you into my school and start teaching you magic.”

“Oh,” Twilight said in a tone that actually sounded a bit disappointed. “That sounds, um...nice.”

“Sorry all this is such a disappointment for you, Fluttershy,” Sunset said as she walked out into the palace gardens, the little filly on her back.

There was a shift in weight as the little pegasus looked over to the amber alicorn. “Disappointment, Princess Sunset?” she asked in confusion.

“Well, yeah. I mean, you had to go on all those roller coaster rides and now most of the animals have been cleared out of the menagerie. Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s my mom that you’d rather be walking around the gardens with, not me. Oh, and you don’t need to call me Princess, just Sunset is fine.”

Fluttershy let out a tiny and hesitant moan, much like her human counterpart, making Sunset look back at her. “Actually Prin-er, Ms. Sunset. I liked going on the roller coasters.”

The completely unexpected response brought Sunset to a standstill. “You...liked being on a rollercoaster?” she asked, a little worried that Cadance’s overblown fear about changelings was right on the mark. Only that they had struck in an unexpected place. “It wasn’t scary, or anything?”

“Well, it was a little bit frightening,” Fluttershy admitted. “But that was because everything was so dark. But when I just closed my eyes and enjoyed being pushed along, everything was fine.”

Sunset blinked at the nonsensical answer. “So...you were frightened because the tracks aren’t that well lit, but after you completely cut all the light coming into your eyes, everything was fine,” she said, trying to verbalize her train of thought. “But, you weren’t…” Sunset stopped herself before she could list everything that could go wrong on a roller coaster. “Worried about anything else?”

“No,” Fluttershy said with a shake of her head. “I might have been frightened going that fast if I was flying, but all of the straps and padding kept us safe, so there was no reason to worry. I actually found it very fun and exciting.”

Fluttershy’s reasoning had Sunset working to process the information as she tried to figure out why the pony version actually enjoyed roller coasters while the human version froze up at the mention of a visit to the amusement park. Could be an age thing I suppose. Plus, one of the fears surrounding roller coasters was heights. What type of pegasus could be afraid of heights?

The trek continued and Sunset made her way out into the garden where they tables had already been set out and covered, but not much else had been done. “Oh...well, the menagerie is pretty much empty because of the coronation, so...sorry about that,” Sunset apologized.

“That’s okay,” Fluttershy told her. “All I really wanted to see were the little birdies.”

Once again, Sunset found herself thrown off by the little pegasus’s response. “Uh, okay. Well, I’m sorry you got stuck with me instead of going with my mom. Maybe she can spend some time with you after the coronation. Like, have a tea party, or something.”

Fluttershy blinked in confusion at the amber alicorn. “Didn’t you already apologize for that?” she asked.

Fluttershy’s question made Sunset blink as her mind reviewed the last several seconds. “Yeah, well...it’s important enough to need more than one apology,” she said to avoid correcting herself. “There are some things that a pony should never stop apologizing for. Like me making you miss out on a personal tour of my mother’s menagerie, performed by Princess Celestia herself!”

The increased volume made Fluttershy pull in on herself. “Oh...um...that’s...okay?”

With Fluttershy once again failing to stand up for herself or call out the unfairness of the situation at getting saddled with the lesser princess, Sunset stomped her hoof. “No it’s not!” The little pegasus needed to call Sunset on her ruining things, not be understanding about it!

The sound of more than a dozen wings flapping on top of the tree limbs shaking got Sunset’s attention. It also made her tense up when she realized just what had happened a second later. “Oh no,” she mumbled before looking up. Every single bird that had been in the garden flew through the sky in a mass consisting of every color imaginable in nature.

She had just ruined Fluttershy’s bird watching experience!

“Oh my,” the little pegasus said.

Sunset gulped. “Fluttershy, I’m sor-”

“That was so amazing Ms Sunset!” Fluttershy exclaimed when the amber alicorn looked back at her to finish her apology, an excited look covering her face. “There were so many pretty birdies, I don’t think I would have seen nearly as many if we just trotted around the garden looking for them in the trees.”

Fluttershy’s unexpected exuberance caught Sunset off guard, mentally unbalancing her even more. “I um...but you, uh…”

“I can’t believe there are so many birds here in Canterlot!” Fluttershy went on, completely oblivious to Sunset’s confused distress. “I usually only get to see one or two a week when Cloudsdale goes down from its usual elevation to give a town its weather.”

Sunset paused, unsure of what to say. Despite her mistake, Fluttershy had apparently enjoyed the show. If Sunset told her how she had screwed everything up, her happiness would probably be affected. So, the amber alicorn kept her mouth shut and put on a tiny smile she hoped Fluttershy couldn’t tell was fake. “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it, Fluttershy,” she said, unsure of what else to do. “So...we’ve probably got some time before Dash and Mom finish their little run around, anything else you want me to show you?”

The question made Fluttershy think for a second before she looked around and threw out a wing to point with her feathers. “Oh! What’s that?”

“Hm?” Sunset replied before looking over before her mild curiosity concerning what Fluttershy was interested in died a quick death to bring about an air of slight annoyance. “That’s a statue,” she deadpanned.

Fluttershy blinked at the answer and tilted her head. “Yes but, of what? It looks strange.”

Sunset looked back at the mismatched thing and frowned. “It’s called Discord,” she explained before taking a moment to think up a summary that a filly Fluttershy’s age would comprehend. “A long time ago, he caused trouble for a lot of ponies and Princess Celestia ended up...making it so he couldn’t hurt anypony else.”

While Sunset didn’t see any problem with Fluttershy learning about the monster’s real fate, the fact that Celestia put one petrified enemy in her garden inevitably led to the fact that all of her statues were ponies that had committed one heinous crime or another without showing the slightest bit of remorse for their actions.

As Sunset continued to look at the statue, an idea occurred to her. It wasn’t something she could act on immediately though, so she shoved it to the back of her mind with the intention of running it by Cadance later. Right now, she needed to focus on Fluttershy. “So...want to come and see some pictures of what type of bird Princess Celestia keeps as a pet?”

“That sounds nice,” Fluttershy agreed happily.

After that, they could fetch Cadance and the rest of the girls and grab some lunch. Hopefully, the food would put the lot of them in the mood for some easier activities that involved things like naps, books, and whatever else they could think of that required little to no physical effort.

Although, after thinking about how the next big group event they would have involved food, her mother, and an immature version of Rainbow Dash that probably wasn’t all that different from her human counterpart despite the age difference, she turned a calculating eye back to the little yellow pegasus on her back. “I’ll even let you sit next to me at lunch.”

Fluttershy smiled back at her. “That sound nice, Ms Sunset.”

“Eh, it’s more for practical reasons and anything else,” the amber alicorn told Fluttershy as visions of the upcoming food fight danced through her head. “I doubt you’ll want to get involved with the combat and these big wings I’ve got should make good cover for you.”

“...Huh?” Fluttershy asked as Sunset carried her out of the garden.

Chapter 5

“Princess, you move so magnificently!”

“That there was the most fanciest flying Ah ever did see!”

The white alicorn beamed under the praise of the two ponies as she stood tall while Rarity and Applejack looked up at her in amazement. While she knew it was good manners and junk to congratulate the winners, Dash just couldn’t find the energy to move from where she landed. Despite the fact that she was used to losing to older ponies and Princess Celestia was the oldest pony of them all, Rainbow still felt pretty lousy about the outcome of their race.

A shadow covered the grass she was looking down at. When she looked up, Rainbow saw Princess Cadance standing there with that dorky pony Twilight beside her. “Hey Rainbow Dash. You...flew really fast?” the purple pony said like she was asking a question before looking over to Cadance.

Cadance took a step forward and got down on her belly before running a fetlock over Dash’s head to hook it behind the filly’s head. “You did great, Rainbow. I couldn’t fly half as good when I was your age.”

“Yeah, that unpredictable updraft at the finish line that knocked you off the track and dissipated in the nick of time for Princess Celestia to fly though was just an almost impossible fluke that nopony could have predicted,” Twilight added before she pressed her lips together tightly and frowned up at the sky for a moment while rubbing her chin. “Especially since Canterlot is supposed to have the most regulated weather in all of Equestria and Princess Sunset said that the weather team was supposed to be working extra hard today so everything would be perfect.”

Cadance’s grip became as strong as iron and Rainbow’s breath caught when she saw the princess look up and the warmth go out of her eyes. “Yeah,” the alicorn said in a cold voice before she stood back up. “Twilight, play with Rainbow Dash while I go have a word with Celestia.”

As Rainbow Dash looked back at Twilight, she found the purple filly was giving her an intense once-over while muttering to herself. “Let’s see...loves action, good flier, probably adventurous….do you wanna play Daring Do?”

“What’s Daring Do?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion.

“Whaaaaa!”

Both the fillies looked over to where the surprised cry had come from to see Princess Cadance holding Celestia upside down by the tail in her magic. “You and me need to have a word in private,” the bigger alicorn said in a tone that sent a shiver across Rainbow Dash’s spine.

“Ummm….o-kay?” Celestia nervously agreed as she gave Cadance a nervous grin that died two seconds later when the pink pony’s frown only deepened.

As Princess Cadance turned to leave, she started talking a lot about her old home for some reason. “Did you know that the maximum amount of pegasi in my village never numbered more than five in its entire history?” she asked sweetly. “I know, my official duty was matchmaker, but since it was just a small village I had to fill in a ton of odd jobs to help others out, and more often than not, they were weather related. And the funny thing is…I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gust of wind that strong just come out of nowhere like we just did!”

Meeting her in Cloudsdale had been awesome enough. And the fact that she got Princess Sunset to bring her to Canterlot for the Princess Fair was pretty radical too. Not to mention how she showed Rainbow the way she needed to behave if she wanted to be a hero like the Wonderbolts would want to join them someday. But seeing her just step in and take charge of the situation clenched it. Princess Cadance was the most awesome pony ever.

Thanks to the massive amount of physical activity that followed their late lunch, the day passed very quickly for Twilight. After Dashie and Princess Celestia got done with their race, the girls had a nice big meal in the palace before finding themselves at a loss on what to do. So, they ended up playing games under the supervision of the princesses, with the exception of Princess Celestia. She played with all of the girls until it was time for bed.

Because Shiny and Twillight’s formal dress was back at the house, they needed to go back home so they could get ready in time come tomorrow morning. But first, they needed to make Shiny as old as he was before, so after Princess Sunset turned her mother back into her scary form, they went to a room with furniture that was twice as big as normal. Once there, Princess Celestia poured half of a green potion into an empty beaker before the two of them huddled over it with great interest.

“Do we have to change him back?” Twilight whined as she watched Princess Celestia and Princess Sunset add another drop of green liquid to the glass held in a golden magical glow. Or tried to, it was getting hard to keep her eyes open. “I like Shiny the way he is!” To emphasize that fact, Twilight held onto her not-big brother as tight as she could.

Shiny patted his same sized sister’s back before Cadance broke the hug up and set them both on the large couch in Princess Celestia’s living room. “Sorry, Twily. We all gotta grow up sometime,” Shiny said as Cadance sat down between them.

Another drop fell into the vial and Princess Sunset turned towards her. “As cute as Shiny is right now Twily, I miss my boyfriend,” she said before looking at her mom. “And you’re sure that the measurements are right on this? We’re not getting a second go at this.”

Princess Celestia looked up from the bottle with a tiny frown. “I checked the calculations ten times over, Sunset. You saw them yourself. Shining Armor will be within a week of his true age when were done.”

From her spot next to Twilight, Cadance cocked her head to the side. “What’s with the eye dropper? If Shiny gets too old you can just magic him young again, right?”

Both the solar alicorns looked up at each other for a few seconds the way Twilight’s parents did sometimes. She still didn’t understand how getting older let ponies develop telepathy or why there weren’t books on the subject. But after what must have been a lengthy debate conducted at speeds too great for verbal communication to suffice, Princess Sunset turned her head to look at Princess Cadance. “Uh, not really.”

The reply got a frown from Princess Cadance. “Sunset, you’re talking to the pony who put your foal of a mother across her hind legs to give the little filly a spanking for beating around the bush. So don’t think I won’t do the same to you.”

Princess Celestia groaned and reached back with a hoof to rub her rump. “Still can’t believe you did that.”

“What did you expect? You cheated to win a race against a little filly!” Princess Cadance exclaimed.

The accusation got a ruffle from Princess Celestia. “Hey, we never discussed rules. The use of magic to boost my acceleration and control other influences was never disallowed. Besides, Dashie didn’t seem to mind. She says she loses all the time.”

Princess Cadance sat up a little straighter. “That’s because she races against fillies twice her age! And of course nopony forbade magic, it’s implied! Using something that another pony isn’t able to isn’t a fair contest,” the pink princess proclaimed, restating her position from the earlier debate.

“By that logic, ponies with sports-related cutie marks shouldn’t be allowed in the Equestria Games,” Celestia countered.

“Can we please get back on the task at hand, so I can kiss my coltfriend tomorrow without everypony thinking I need to be put on a special kind of list?” Princess Sunset suddenly asked before she looked over to Princess Cadance. “And to answer your question in depth, no I can’t just regress Shiny’s age if we mess this up. The spell that altered Mom is very imprecise, she spent hours on the calculations and even then, there was a three year margin of error. Plus, it’s an unnatural form, not a permanent change. All I had to do was unlock the magic to restore her. The potion will accelerate Shiny’s natural aging process as well as provide muscle and magical pathway stimulation to make sure his body doesn’t atrophy while we’re making him nearly a decade older inside of a minute.”

Princess Cadance blinked a few times. “Oh...okay.”

“So, any other questions?” Princess Sunset asked.

Twily raised a hoof and waited until the amber alicorn gestured for her to speak. “What’s a hand?”

“...that’s a good question Twily,” Princess Sunset said before she grabbed the draught in her magic and poured it down Shiny’s throat as Twilight beamed at the compliment. “Don’t worry about getting every drop, Shiny. The liquid is just the conductor of the magic stored inside. Long as you swallow the majority of the potion, your body will suck up all the enchantment.”

Twilight blinked as Shiny jumped down from the couch and drank the potion as instructed. She didn’t answer my question, the little unicorn thought to herself when her joy at being praised by an alicorn dissipated.

“Hey, I don’t feel any-aaaaaah!” Shining Armor said as his body began to rapidly change. Twilight watched the odd sight as her brother began to age rapidly in front of her eyes. Legs, barrel, muzzle, horn and everything else quickly expanded to their old proportions.

However, there was a great deal of growth that Twilight hadn’t been counting on, nor any of the princesses, from the looks of Princess Sunset’s frown and Princess Cadance’s amused smirk. On top of the eight years of leg, bone, muscle and horn growth, Shiny also had eight years of mane, coat and hoof growth as well. Twilight giggled and ran around to glomp onto her brother’s front leg. “You’re so fluffy!”

Princess Sunset giggled before she poked Shiny with a hoof. “We going to need to change your name to Poofy Armor?” she asked with a little smile that disappeared when she looked down at his hooves. “Okay, yeah. Six years of keratin growth. Sorry Shiny, but I can’t make fun of that. It’s just just gross.”

The older colt looked down at his hooves and winced. “Can I even trot with these?”

“One moment, Shining Armor. Please step away from the colt,” Princess Celestia said. When Princess Sunset grabbed Twilight, the big princess’s horn lit up. There was a bright flash of golden light and when Twilight’s eyes cleared, she saw Shiny was standing in a circle made from his own hoof clippings and hair from his coat.

Two parts of his body remained untouched though. The blue mess that was Shiny’s mane and tail were as overgrown as they had been before Princess Celestia worked her magic. “Princess Celestia, you forgot some stuff.”

Princess Sunset cleared her throat uneasily. “Uh, it’s not a good idea to use magic on a pony’s mane and tail,” she said. “No matter how powerful she is.”

“Ah yes. Remind me to tell you what happened to Sunset when she tried to make her mane like mine one day,” Princess Celestia said with a little giggle.

Princess Sunset looked up to her mother with a little frown. “Do it and you’ll be Twilight’s new pet hamster,” she threatened. To which Celestia simply rolled her eyes and laughed.

As the close family members engaged in some sort of non-verbal communication, Princess Cadance circles Shining Armor with a calculating eye. “Shiny, are you feeling okay? You look...different,” she said in concern.

“I thought it best to leave a margin of error,” Princess Celestia told everypony. “So he’s still a bit fuzzier than yesterday and...I’ll have a full team here in the morning to take care of your coat, give your hooves a pedicure and style your mane and tail any way you want.”

Princess Sunset let Twilight go and the little filly galloped over to hug Shiny’ leg again. “Can I pick your new mane and tail, Shiny?” she asked before noticing something. It was minor, but Shiny leg did feel a bit different; harder.

Part of Twilight’s mind wanted to place the reason for the oddity on Shiny’s thicker coat, but she was unable to categorize the cause as such. A thicker coat meant Shiny should have felt softer. It was a puzzle that had Twilight taking a step back from her brother in confusion. “Hey Shiny,” she said before looking up and finding another oddity. Instead of her original question Twilight asked the one that just popped into her head. “Are you taller?”

“WHAT?” Princess Sunset yelled before she galloped over to give Shining Armor a through visual examination. After her initial movement, she slowed down and frowned. “You don’t look taller.”

“Says the five foot six and still growing alicorn,” Princess Cadance snarked before trotting up to Sunset and looking back to Shiny for a few moments. “Uh...yeah. You definitely look a little taller, Shiny. And a bit more filled out.”

As Shining Armor took a step back from Princess Cadance’s more intrusive studies, Princess Sunset spun around to shoot a look that would have probably killed a non-alicorn pony. “Mom! You said Shiny was going to go back to his old age!”

Princess Celestia’s normally controlled expression collapsed. “What? He is!” she replied. “Do an intensive scan on him yourself. Shining Armor is a healthy sixteen year, eight month two week and three day old pony.”

Instead of continuing the argument, Princess Sunset spun back around pointed her horn at Shining Armor. “Shiny, hold still while I probe you,” she said before she frowned, blinked and then blanched. “Ugh...can’t believe I just said that. Just...don't move too much.”

As a glow surrounded Shiny, he looked around nervously with his eyes. “Uh, Sunset, what’re you doing?”

“I made sure to keep the information from the magical check-up I gave you after that jackass Buck was stupid enough to try and pick on you in front of me. It’s not as in depth as this one, but I can still-huh,” Princess Sunset before the light went out and she picked her head up to frown. “That’s odd.”

Cadance moved closer to Shiny and wrapped her forelegs around his neck before her wings also came out to cover his back and front protectively. “What’s wrong, Sunset? Did Shiny end up older? Younger?” she asked before becoming slightly thoughtful. “Although, I don’t suppose it would be so bad if he lost a year.”

Shiny’s face become stressed and he looked over to the pink pony surrounding him. “How is that not bad?”

Princess Cadance ignored the question and began to feel Shiny’s body with her wings as she frowned. “You know, I can’t really tell what it is thanks to all this fuzz your coat is right now, but you do feel a bit different, Shiny.”

“No, Shiny’s basically the same age as before. Eight hours older, actually,” Princess Sunset told her before she looked over to her mother. “But everything else is way off! Just what the buck does that potion do when it ages a pony?”

After taking a step back from her daughter’s verbal assault, Princess Celestia frowned a little. “What do you mean, everything else is off?”

Princess Sunset rolled her eyes and lit up her horn. As she talked, her eyes moved back and forth, as if she was reading something only she could see. “His muscle mass has increased by the better part of fifteen percent while while body fat has gone down by more than ten! Mystic pathways have been strengthened by twenty, and his bone density has even gone up a little bit. And that’s not going into hoof and hair follicle strength, which I’m pretty sure has also gone up, but since the normal medical scan spell doesn’t cover that stuff, that’s just a guess.”

“Hmmm,” Princess Cadance said as she looked over the old colt’s neck. “You know, you are looking a bit shinier than usual. And Sunset, really don’t think you need to be so hostile over our coltfriend getting a little upgrade.”

After making a annoyed groan, Princess Sunset turned her head back to Princess Cadance. “I’m not being hostile!” she snapped. Her eyes quickly widened before she closed them and sighed while hanging her head. “Sorry. I’m just worried.” She looked back up to Princess Celestia. “If this happened to him, what else might have gone wrong?”

Princess Celestia smiled down at the amber alicorn. “It’s alright, Sunset. I’ve had a few of these moments myself over the years when it came to you.”

“So…” Princess Sunset took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “Okay, so...you made the potion. Do you think somepony might have slipped something into it while it was in your rooms?”

Taking a moment to nod in the negative, Princess Celestia answered when she was done. “No. I made it in my private lab. The only ponies that know it even exists are the four of you.”

Twilight’s ears perked up as she detached herself from Shiny and trotted closer to Princess Celestia. “You have a private lab, Princess?”

“Um,” Princess Celestia said as she blinked a couple of times and looked down at Twilight. “You saw me go into it to get the potion, Twily.”

Disappointment set in as a vision of a state of the art laboratory with all the latest equipment was shattered by the reality that Princess Celestia’s private lab was barely bigger than a janitor’s closet by her scale of things. “...oh.”

Princess Sunset gave her mother a sound of displeasure. “So if nopony messed with it, then you had to have done something wrong,” she told Celestia angrily before she took in a deep breath again.

Before she could continue, Princess Celestia stepped forward. “No I didn’t, Sunset. I examined it before I gave it to Shining Armor. The potion did exactly what it was supposed to do.”

After letting her breath out, Princess Sunset touched her forehead with a hoof. “Which was what, exactly?”

“You saw it yourself, it aged Shining Armor back into a teenager,” said Princess Celestia.

Princess Sunset took in another breath, this time from her nose. “Yeah, but how?” she asked before sighing again. “Okay, look. I’m asking for the mechanics here, Mom. I’m no expert in biology, but I do know if any living organism aged eight-plus years in ten seconds, the body would literally eat itself trying to find the fuel for that amount of growth. And even if you solved that problem, his body would be so pitifully developed he wouldn’t be able to stand thanks to years of inaction.”

The explanation brought a brightened look to Princess Celestia’s face. “Oh, that’s what you mean. I must say Sunset, you certainly have changed, and not just in attitude,” she said with a smile. “You used to just jump into your magical studies and figure out how to work your spells, not bothering to learn how they worked.”

“Yeah well, that way of thinking doesn’t really cut it when your bike needs fixing and you can’t afford a mechanic,” Princess Sunset said a she looked away from her mother and blushed a bit. “And you don’t want them to run the license plate.”

Although Twilight didn’t understand what Princess Sunset was talking about, Princess Celestia quickly recovered from her own bout of confusion and went to speaking. “Well, while the pony is aging, the magic of the elixir provides the equivalent of three healthy meals a day along with a fair amount of physical activity.”

With her mind trying to work out a problem and eager to show the princesses her intelligence, Twilight quickly absorbed the information and worked it into an explanation as to what brought about Shiny’s differences. “So Shiny’s bigger and everything because Princess Celestia’s potion made him eat healthy and get some exercise this time around?” she asked before frowning a little. “Because I don’t remember him doing either of those things before.”

“Say what?” Princess Sunset asked.

“Twily, I exercise...um, sometimes,” he said before looking away. “When I can.”

The purple unicorn looked over to her brother. “Yeah, now you go with Princess Sunset. But you didn’t use to, and you don’t work out every day like Princess Celestia implied the potion does to your body,”she said before raising a hoof to signal her second point. “Plus, she said it gives you the equivalent of three healthy meals a day. Sometimes you eat a lot of junk food and there were other times when Sunset came along that mean stallion Buck took your lunch money at school.”

The room began to shake ever so slightly and Twilight blinked before she heard a slight growl that drew her attention. The little lavender unicorn turned in that direction and saw Princess Sunset standing there with an angry look on her face and a foreleg that was trembling in anger.

Princess Cadance detached herself from Shiny and trotted over to Princess Sunset to place a wing across her shoulders. “Yeah, the memory of that puts me in a sour mood too, but we have more important things to do right now,” she told the bigger alicorn before smiling at Princess Sunset with an expression Twilight’s father called bedroom eyes. “Like finding out just how much Shiny’s grown thanks to that change in nutrition.”

The room stopped shaking and Princess Sunset looked over to Princess Cadance. “Uh, I already know Shiny’s new measurements thanks to my check-up.”

Princess Cadance’s vision became half-lidded. “I meant we should,” she said before stopping suddenly and glancing at Twilight out of the corner of her eye. Then she stepped in closer and whispered into the amber alicorn’s ear.

Princess Sunset’s eyes widened. “Oh! Yeah...that,” she said before rushing over to Twilight’s brother. “Come on, Shiny. We gotta check a few more things out real quick before we let you go home for the night.”

“Yes, just one more thing and you can go,” Princess Cadance agreed as the two of them led Shining Armor to the door on the far side of the room to pull him inside it.

Princess Celestia became a little flustered. “Hey! That’s my bedroom!”

To which Princess Sunset turned and replied, “Yeah well... daughters always do it in their parents beds at least once so... something, something, family bonding. Bye now!”

Twilight became a little bit more worried when Princess Celestia’s eye began twitching. “Princess Celestia?” Twily asked. “What’re they doing with Shiny?”

“Urk!” the Princess exclaimed before she looked down at the curious filly with an uneasy expression. “Um...that’s...well,” Princess Celestia said before just gave her a nervous smile. “Say, Twily. What’re you doing next weekend?”

As soon as they were in Celestia’s bedroom, Sunset shut the door with a final word to her mother and Cadance led Shining Armor back towards the bed to set him up on the mattress. Although, with her mother just outside the door with Twilight, second thoughts began to creep into Sunset’s mind. While she was perfectly fine getting rutted by Shiny on her mother’s bed while she had Cadance beneath her, doing it with Twilight on the other side of the door to actually hear them when she needed to go to bed did make her stop.

Then she realized the solution to their problem and quickly enveloped the room in a temporal bubble that moved a thousand times faster than normal. Once she was done, Sunset looked to her lovers. “Okay, we don’t have to worry about being interrupted. Or...Twilight hearing what we’re doing. If she does, it’ll just be a quickly fading sound that she won’t be able to make sense of.”

For some reason Sunset couldn’t discern, Cadance turned to give her a little frown. “One of these days, somepony’s going to blink and you’re going to freeze time, and fuck Shiny right in front of them before they can open their eyes,” she told Sunset.

Sunset gave her a blank stare. “Well I wasn’t gonna before you said that, but now?” she said before smirking. “I am definitely going to try that out.” The question was, who? Twilight was out of the question and Sunset was already getting revenge on her mother for her actions as a filly with this bit of teenage antics. Everypony else she knew either didn’t deserve that, or needed much worse.

“Well, as happy as I am to see some of the old you rearing her head, I’m much more interested in getting Shiny to get his up,” Cadance said before she spun around and reared up so she was even with Shining Armor’s chest, if he had been a human, that is. “So, what do you think we should do, Shiny? Lip wrestling? Soft petting? Or how about...oral stimulation of of the important area?”

The odd comment got Sunset thinking. What’s that supposed to mean? Sunset asked herself as she looked down at the floor. And which one of us is going to get him first? Whenever they had sex with Shining Armor before, Cadance made sure to get across who got him first and what they were doing. Of course, she had insisted that Sunset be the first to be with him.

Wait a second! Sunset said to herself as a sudden realization shot through her mind. If Shining Armor got reduced in age and then restored in a new and improved body. Would that also mean his virginity has been restored?

While Shiny was hardly a human girl, Sunset supposed that he had hit a reset button...of sorts. And since that was the case, Sunset could even kick out the one big imbalances of their relationship that was impossible to even out. “Hey Cadance, why don’t you…”

Sunset stopped talking and blinked at what she saw. Although all her eyes could take in was the back of Cadance head and the front of Shiny’s, the vacant smile on the colt’s face told her everything. “Cadance! What’re you doing?”

All doubt about her actions were taken away when Cadance raised her head to the sound of wet flesh detaching before she even spoke. “Playing with Shiny’s balls. We did drag him in here pretty fast, so a little extra stimulation is required to help get him in the mood,” she said before she began to step aside. “He’s already started to unsheathe. Se-”

Sunset quickly looked back to the ground. “That’s okay!” she told them.

But her mind had already seen Shiny at full mast plenty of times, so Sunset found her brain already constructing the worst case scenario.

Sunset’s face was positioned right between Shining Armor’s legs. Her nose filled with his overpowering scent as she looked to see his-

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Sunset mentally screamed at herself before shattering the image in her mind. Stupid imagination! Cut that out! It wasn’t right that her mind could rebel against her like that sometimes.

“Sunset?” Cadance asked as she took a step forward. “Are you alright?”

The amber alicorn gave her pink lover that was still close enough to Shiny that she kept Sunset from seeing anything that would put thoughts in her head a big smile. “Yep! Just fine! Perfectly, absolutely, fine!” Sunset assured her before waving Cadance off. “You just go on back to doing what you were doing before.”

Cadance gave Sunset an even look. “No, you’re gonna tell me what’s bothering you, right now.”

Embarrassment the likes of which she hadn’t felt in weeks flooded Sunset’s mind to the point where she was afraid of dying from blood loss with the way it was all rushing to her cheeks. “I-I,” she said before looking back down at the ground. “Look! I told you how I feel about s-sucking...ahem! You know.”

“Oh. Right,” Cadance said. “Sorry. I forget about that in the rush. Since social and romantic interaction was out of the question in this particular setting, I went with oral stimulation of the unmeasured region in order to bring it to full height.”

The way Cadance was trying to sound scientific made Sunset snort in laughter. She didn’t make the mistake of looking up though. That would mean seeing Shiny and putting all kinds of mental images. “Okay, whatever. Just...make as big a mess on my mom’s bed as you can.”

Thanks to the fact she was staring at the ground, Sunset didn’t see Cadance get close until the pink princess ran her tongue along the inside of Sunset’s ear. The feeling made the amber alicorn’s head shoot up in surprise. Cadance didn’t let it stop there, though. She placed her legs beneath Sunset and flipped the bigger pony onto her back in a way that brought her own body down on top of Sunset’s. “C-Cadance?”

“Shhhh,” the pink princess replied as she put her hoof on Sunset’s lips and her muzzle in the amber alicorn’s ear. “That look. That blush. I’ve never seen you look so cute, so you’re not going to ruin it by talking.”

Sunset gulped before she felt Cadance’s tongue touching her ear again, which made her shiver right before the pink princess started whispering. “That look on your face told me everything I needed to know,” Cadance whispered softly into Sunset’s ear. “You want to do it, don’t you? You want to put your lips on Shiny’s stallionhood and have him thrust it deeper, and deeper, and deeper inside of your mouth.” With every mention of the d-word, Sunset felt Cadance slide herself back and forth across the bigger alicorn’s belly.

“I-I-!” Sunset’s eyes went wide when Cadance stopped her from talking with a powerful kiss. The bigger, stronger, older and more magical alicorn was at a complete loss as Cadance had her way with Sunset’s mouth before letting out a moan and breaking their kiss, with the exception of some splittle that connected their mouths even as Cadance sat up to her full height.

The pink princess licked her lips as Sunset fought for breath that had been stolen. “Not tonight though,” Cadance told her before looking down at Sunset with a calculating expression that made it seem she was the one with the limitless magic power and extra six inches of height or more advantage. “That can wait a little bit. Tonight, I’m going to get Shiny ready, and you’re going to give him a ride. Now just sit back and listen in, I’ll try and give you an accurate measurement.”

As Cadance got up and turned around to walk back to Shining Armor, Sunset tried to say something to stop Cadance. This was their chance to even the score card! She opened her mouth and...stayed silent as her mind produced the image of Cadance eyes looking down at her a moment before.

Cadance had been strong, confident and commanding. Absolutely everything that Sunset had dreamed her of being like during those passionate nights. So, Sunset couldn’t help but obey her. She laid back and looked back up at the ceiling.

“Is there anything wrong?” Shining Armor asked.

Sunset heard Cadance smack her lips. “No. Just needed to get Sunset ready to take you when you’re good to go. Don’t want you plunging into a dry cavern,” the pink princess said. “Now, let me get those wonderfully musky balls of yours warmed up again and then we'll move on to the part that’s peeking out.”

Over the next few minutes, Sunset discovered how evil her girlfriend really was.

Cadance sniffed so deeply that Sunset’s newfound enhanced hearing from her pegasus third could pick it up. “Mmmmm, Shiny. You smell so good.”

Every word, every sound, every action...Sunset could tell exactly what was going on despite looking in a different direction. In fact, it became quite evident that Cadance was making sure to telegraph the whole thing when she complimented his taste!

But the worst part of it was…

Sunset kept picturing herself in Cadance’s position and...it...didn’t seem all that bad.

At least, not until Cadance suddenly started coughing and stepped back. Concern made Sunset spin around and…

“Cadance! Are you oh-kay,” Sunset said as her mind broke down when she saw her boyfriend sitting there, giving their girlfriend a worried look. That’s um...that’s...yeah. That’s definitely...bigger.

Celestia looked up from the little filly slumbering on her belly when she heard her door open. After hearing the rapid thumping, it wasn’t hard to figure out what had transpired. “It’s been a good four minutes, Sunset. Haste makes sloppy spell-” she stopped talking when she saw the three ponies leaving the room.

Sunset had the type of smile that some of the palace’s little ponies possessed after they thought they had gotten away with some passionate actions inside the castle between working hours. Shining Armor looked a tiny bit distraught, making Celestia want to ask him if anything was wrong. As for Cadance, she...

“Ah, Cadance, you have some...evidence,” Celestia said as she lifted a foreleg to point. “On your muzzle, dear.”

The pink pony blinked. “Eh?” she said before rubbing her nose with the back of her hoof. “Oh! Oh dear. Um…”

Celestia looked back at the tiny pony sleeping on her belly before gently wrapping her in a levitation spell and moved her to the couch while adding a minor sleeping charm to make sure Twilight didn’t wake up earlier than the sunrise. “While I don’t mind the three of you being a little promiscuous, please don’t walk around the palace with the evidence on your muzzle,” she said before turning her attention back to Shining Armor. Once of the ways for Celestia to get deeper into her daughter’s good graces was to take a bigger interest in her friends after all. “And, is something wrong, young Armor?”

When Shining Armor slunk down a little bit at the question, Celestia feared that she had erred, until Sunset threw a wing across the colt’s back and kissed him on the cheek. “Just some premature...uh,” she paused and looked back to Celestia before clearing her throat. “Stuff that I really don’t want to talk to my mom about.”

After taking another look at Cadance, the solar alicorn could guess what had happened. “Shiny went off early and you had to finish up?”

“Mom! That’s not something...uh,” Sunset said as her quick flash of anger gave way to uncertainty and embarrassment. “Can we please not talk about sex? You’re my mom now, and sex talk with parents is bad.”

Cadance giggled and leaned over to muzzle Shining Armor. “Well you’re not my mom, so...yes. Although, I did spend a little bit too long getting him ready,” she said before kissing him on the cheek and leaning in close to whisper in the colt’s ear. “Not that I’m complaining about getting to taste my two favorite ponies at the same time.”

“No talking sex with my mom either!” Sunset snapped in embarrassment at the filly across the colt. She looked around and then settled on Twilight. The flush in her cheeks declined. “We should get her home.”

The opportunity presented to her made Celestia grab for it. “Cadance, could you escort Shining Armor and Twilight to the carriage in the courtyard?” Celestia asked. “I want to speak with my daughter in private.”

Cadance looked over to Sunset, who nodded for her to leave before releasing Shin. As soon as they had kissed their goodbyes and were gone, Celestia closed the door and looked back to Sunset.

“Okay, what did I do wrong this time?” the amber alicorn asked as she refused to meet her mother’s eyes.

Her daughter’s words made Celestia suppress a pang of distress. Even after all this time, the first thought that came to Sunset’s mind when she was alone with her mother was that she thought Celestia was going to scold her. Celestia didn’t waste time dwelling on the thought, she needed to dissuade the big filly’s fear. After a second, she decided to go with laughing the question away in an attempt to show Sunset that such fears were ridiculous. “Oh my silly little filly, you were everything I had always hoped you could be today,” she said before Celestia felt her trepidation rise.

With Sunset’s fears brushed away, Celestia’s mind could only focus on the thing she really want to talk to her daughter about. And having it in the forefront of her mind made Celestia feel...embarrassed.

"Ah, so…” Celestia thought for a second about how best to lead into what she wanted to talk about. “Did you have fun today?”

Sunset blinked a few times at the question, having obviously been caught off guard. “Uh...yeah,” she said before lifting a leg to rub the back of her head. “Look, I know you’re probably going to lay into me for it. They’re not the people I used to know. I shouldn’t try and recreate the past using fillies nearly ten years younger than the other species counterparts I used to know. I’ll cut off contact with them after tomorrow.”

The suggestion made Celestia frown down at her daughter. “You do that and I’ll be the one giving you a spanking,” she told Sunset. “I told you, those girls are very special and I want to make sure the five of them don’t separate.” The idea of giving each of them journals that were all connected so they could exchange messages was something Celestia had already set in her mind. “You will be the one to guide and teach them. And if you have an objection that, I will drag you kicking and screaming to their houses.”

“Oh...um...okay,” Sunset said uneasily. “But if not that, then...what do you want to talk about?”

Celestia paused. She took in a deep breath and held it to help calm herself down. “I...had fun today,” she said before sighing and laying down on her barrel. “More fun than I ever remember having, actually. I was able to just let go of everything that’s always on my mind and play with the others like a regular filly.”

The confession had Sunset giving her mother a calculating look. “Well, I guess…” She paused in thought for a second. “It’s probably because of the regression your mind experienced. You were still you, but your brain just wasn’t mature to the point that it liked to think things through.”

“Or think about what I’d have to deal with the day after tomorrow, or the day after that and so on,” Celestia added. “It’s been centuries since I was able to just live in the moment.”

When Sunset didn’t follow Celestia’s comment with one of her own, the solar alicorn knew it was time to begin the discussion. “So... I was wondering if...well…” Celestia’s face reddened and she broke eye contact with her daughter. “We could see some of those fillies again, this weekend?”

“Why’re you asking me?”

Celestia looked back to her daughter’s confused face and saw that Sunset didn’t understand just what she was asking. The anxiety in her gut increased even further. “Because I need you to cast the aging spell.”

It took a second for realization to dawn in Sunset’s eyes. The frown on her face slowly gave way, with the eyebrows lifting as far as they could. “You mean you want to…”

The fact that Sunset didn’t finish just made it worse for Celestia. It was stupid, really. She was stupid. Asking her daughter to regress her age so she could have some kind of weekly vacation wasn’t fair. She didn’t deserve a vacation from her responsibilities, her worries, her guilt. Luna didn’t get to leave her captivity, Sunset hadn’t been able to hop back to Equestria whenever she wanted to back when she was trapped on Earth, alone and crippled without her magic!

Celestia closed her eyes again and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She took in a breath to help center herself and...

“Okay.”

...nearly collapsed in relief when Sunset spoke. Celestia looked over to her daughter and blinked. “R-Really?” the solar alicorn asked.

Sunset got an uneasy look on her face. “Well, I don’t really get it. But, if it’s what you say you need…” she took a moment to sigh and shrug. “Sure, I can give you a hand.”

The relief Celestia felt flooding her body was short-lived when Sunset’s expression turned into a dark smirk. “Of course, this means that you’ll have to give Dash a rematch where you don’t cheat.”

Celestia flushed and cleared her throat. “It’s not cheating if you don’t say its not allowed before the contest begins.”

Cadance shifted on the bed but held tightly to the plush doll Sunset had created in her own image when the genuine article entered their room. After looking at the doll for a moment, Cadance set it on the nightstand nearby. She sat up and smiled at the pony she loved the most in the world. “Hey Sunset. Have a good talk with your mom?”

“Little disturbing, but overall, good,” she said before frowning a little and lifting a hoof to spin it in a circle at the fetlock. “Hey, could you get on your barrel real quick?”

Although Cadance didn’t understand why, she rooted around underneath the bed sheets until she was resting on her stomach and facing the headboard. “This good?”

Sunset didn’t reply before she lifted the fabrics covering Cadance’s body into the air along with the pink princess’s tail. By the time Cadance looked back to see what was going on, Sunset already had her face up close and frowning at something between the pink princess’s cheeks.

Cadance smirked at her. “If you wanted to see under my tail, all you had to do was say so.”

“Huh. Don’t smell anything and your coat’s dry. So, no bath or washcloth. You didn’t do it with Shiny after you left?” Sunset asked as she brought her head back up and dropped the sheets.

The question got a cocked eyebrow from Cadance. “You do remember that Twilight was with us, right?” she countered. “She may have been asleep, but I’m not going to make love to a pony when his baby sister is less than ten feet away.”

Sunset gave Cadance a worried frown. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Cadance told her before she began to become a little concerned. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you just watched Shining Armor plow me with a double digit penis that belongs on an earth pony,” Sunset told her. “Then you stuck your nose in my pussy and made me whinny like an inexperienced foal. But you’re not the least bit wet in any sense of the word!” She paused and gulped. “Are you, uh...having second thoughts with this, um...three of us...thing?”

A stampede of terror galloped through Cadance’s whole body, knocking around in her head until the pressure made her think it was going to split open while another tied her stomach in knots. “No!” the pink princess assured Sunset as she rose halfway to her hooves, then got closer to the edge of the bed and reached forward to gently cup Sunset’s cheeks. “Sunset, I love you. I love Shining Armor. Nothing is ever going to change that. I’m sorry. I just...you know, I’m not as... casual about sex as you and Shiny, you know that.”

“...oh. Um...okay,” Sunset replied uneasily before she looked down and started playing with her hoof. “Uh, sorry for doubting you.”

With Sunset acting all hesitant, Cadance’s mind jumped to the most logical conclusion and she gave the amber alicorn a sour look. “What’d your mom do now?”

Sunset blinked in confusion. “Why’re you asking about her?” she asked before getting a little embarrassed. “Although, she did have something to ask me. She ah...wants me to turn her into a filly again so she could play with Twilight.”

“That’s…” Cadance’s mouth went upwards into a smile. “Okay, I’ll say it. That’s adorable.”

After rolling her eyes, Sunset motioned for Cadance to make room. Once she got into bed next to her girlfriend, the amber alicorn sighed. “You know, before I went to Earth, all I wanted was to do was become an alicorn. I come back as one, I get more power than I ever thought possible, but all it does is make me miserable. So I look at my mom thinking, she’s got it figured out. Sure, there was all that junk she told Fleur and Sassy, but I thought she was just being dramatic,” Sunset said before sighing. “Now, I think she really is just as miserable as I am.”

Cadance reached out and hooked fetlocks with Sunset. “Is it really that bad for you?”

“Well...okay, maybe I am being a bit maudlin,” Sunset admitted with a smirk. She scooted closer and gave Cadance a kiss on the lips that lasted well beyond a second. “She doesn’t have you, after all.”

Cadance let herself be pulled into Sunset’s embrace as the bigger alicorn gave her two more kisses. She rested her head on Sunset’s neck and closed her eyes to wait for sleep to come.

She listened to Sunset’s heartbeat as she waited.

She reminded herself that the wards Sunset had around their room protected her from any changelings that were prowling the halls.

She held herself tighter to Sunset, the pony with so much power that Celestia Herself was less than a foal in comparison, the pony that could swat the entire changeling army that threatened Canterlot as if they were flies.

“...you having trouble getting to sleep too?”

Cadance opened her eyes and raised her head at the question to be met by Sunset’s tired face. “Yeah,” she said. The events of tomorrow loomed over Cadance and made her feel afraid. While Sunset’s coronation was nothing but a happy event, the dark things that threatened to come with it worried Cadance to no end. “I’m nervous about tomorrow.”

“What do you have to be worried about?” Sunset asked.

The question got an annoyed frown when Cadance realized that Sunset wasn’t joking. “You do remember the part about the secret army of shapeshifting insect ponies that are going to try and infiltrate your coronation, right?”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “Oh!” she exclaimed before looking away from Cadance. “Uh, right, the changelings. I...um, remember.”

Not buying Sunset’s lie for a second, Cadance stretched her neck up as high as it would go to try for at least a little height advantage over the bigger pony. “I can’t believe you forgot about the changelings!”

“Well it’s not like they’re a big topic of conversation, you know,” Sunset whined weakly as she drew in on herself under Cadance’s stern gaze.

This is supposed to be the unstoppable goddess of infinite power that’s going to protect me from an entire race that’s predisposed towards eating me, Cadance told herself in annoyance before sighing and shaking her head. “I can’t believe this junk.”

“I’m sorry Cadance,” she apologized. “I know this stuff is important to you, and I know what it’s like to live with this massive fear in the back of your mind.”

Cadance rolled away from Sunset and looked up at the dull ceiling above them. “Really don’t want to hear from you right now.”

Sunset rested her head back on her pillow. “Oh...sorry.”

The second apology got an annoyed groan from Cadance, but she kept herself from lashing out at her omnipotent lover’s impotence. “You want to make it up to me?”

“Uh, doesn’t true forgiveness have to come from within a part of you that is untouched by any acts done on the part of the other person as proof of their regret and desire to do good?” Sunset asked in an uneasy manner.

Cadance sighed. “Just get on top of me.”

When Sunset did as ordered, Cadance felt a little better when the weight of the bigger pony pressed down on her. Thick Earth pony muscles pressed her down into the mattress and Cadance reached up to run her hooves along the side of Sunset’s powerfully built body.

“You really are one sexy pony, you know that, Sunset?” Cadance asked her before kissing the amber alicorn on the side of her neck. “The perfect amount of muscle with a light layer of fat over it to even things out. Except where some extra fat is of use, that is.” She reached back and smacked Sunset’s plump plot to watch it jiggle just a bit. The sight brought a smile to her face.

Sunset blushed at the attention and turned her eyes away from Cadance. “I-I um, you know, I never really cared when I got compliments before. Especially when it was from humans,” she said before blushing even more. “But...I really like it when you compliment me.”

Okay, got to step up my game here, Cadance told herself. While the bashful Sunset was adorable, it wasn’t the facet of the complicated mare that she wanted to see at the moment. “You know, I really did enjoy seeing you and Shiny together. And I’m talking in more than just the way how happy it made me to see the two of you enjoying each other. I loved watching him mount you, how he pounded your plot over and over again,” she said before closing her eyes and replaying the image in her head with a moan. “I enjoyed Shiny’s hips smacking into your plot so hard I could hear it.” When she opened her eyes, Cadance kissed Sunset on the lips as sensually as she could while she worked herself into the proper mood.

She laid down on the bigger alicorn and nuzzled her as hard as she could, took in her scent and did everything she could to drown herself in Sunset’s presence. It didn’t do anything to push the anxiety out of her mind. The problem was...working oneself into a proper mood when he threat of death hung overhead tended to be...impossible.

“Sunset, can you do something for me?” Cadance asked.

After a second of silence, Sunset gave her a tiny laugh. “You know, my mom taught me to never agree to something before I knew what it was in negotiations with the ruler of a country.”

It took a second for Cadance to realize that Sunset was talking about her. It was strange that she was the High Princess of Equestria considering that she had less education and political experience than either of the others, but Celestia had abdicated the throne for that weekend and despite the fact that everypony treated Sunset like royalty since she became an alicorn, her official authority wouldn’t be given until tomorrow. But since she was the highest authority in Equestria… “ Well since I am the big princess now, I could just order you to do it.”

Cadance could almost hear Sunset roll her eyes. “Don’t be silly, of course I’m going to agree. What does my princess want?”

“I want you to make love to me,” Cadance told her.

A snort came from Sunset’s nose. “And here I was wondering what all the kissing was about,” she snarked.

Since she saw that Sunset didn’t understand, Cadance pushed herself up until she was sitting on the amber alicorn's barrel. “I love you, Sunset. I love making love to you. You’re gentle and kind, but steadfast and strong,” she said with a smile before frowning down at her. “But that’s not what I need from you tonight.”

The sudden change shattered the lazy smile on Sunset’s face and left a mess of confusion where it had been. “Uh...okay?”

“I want you to ravish me,” Cadance told her. “As soon as I stop talking, I want you to throw me off of the bed and onto the floor, then pull me back up rear first and plunder my pussy. Then I want you to do everything that you’ve thought about doing to me since the day we met. I’ll put up some resistance, but nothing major. What I’m saying is, I want you to dominate me.”

Sunset tensed up beneath her and broke eye contact. “Cadance…I…”

Instead of letting it drop, Cadance grabbed onto the topic with her teeth and bit down hard. “You’ll what? Enjoy it?” Cadance asked her as she pinned Sunset down. “That’s the whole point of me wanting you to do it!”

“Cadance…”

When Sunset gulped, Cadance took the opening. “Well let me tell you something, you are going to enjoy it, because that’s the type of pony you are,” she told her bigger lover. “I’ve seen you practice magic and exercise, sweetheart. You like throwing your weight around. You like putting those muscles of yours to use, and you absolutely love using your magic. Having a gentle you is nice, but I told you when you first got back, I want all of you, Sunset.”

The amber alicorn looked away completely. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I want you to act like the old you,” Cadance told her in no uncertain terms. When Sunset looked back at her with wide eyes, the pink princess rolled the pair that was in her head. “Sunset, you need to get over this fear of you turning into this corrupt monster if you should happen to cut loose.”

Sunset gulped again. “Okay, so maybe you do know what you’re talking about.”

Cadance sighed and collapsed onto the amber alicorn as she began to despair that Sunset wouldn’t go through with it. “Please, Sunset. I...I need this from you tonight. Just tonight. Please.”

“Why?” Sunset asked in a whisper.

The question split Cadance’s mind in two. Half of it looked to a selfless reason as to why she wanted Sunset to be the overwhelmingly dominant partner in bed. The other half galloped full speed and grabbed onto the selfish reason. It was the full speed explanation that came out first. “Because I need you to make me feel safe,” she whimpered.

“...I’m not throwing you onto the floor,” Sunset said in an even tone.

Cadance blinked in confusion at the statement before the dull lighting for the room flared up with the flame of several candles. She gave a startled cry when a field of magic enveloped her body to quickly pull her up into the air to have her hang upside down with her muzzle inches from the mattress.

Unable to budge an inch, Cadance felt her tail move aside of its own accord before she felt Sunset’s breath on her private parts. “You are so going to give me an explanation for this when I’m done.”

The magic holding Cadance’s mouth dissipated and she tried to look up at Sunset’s face to no avail. So she just spoke happily. “Yes ma’am!” The idea of what Sunset was about to do to her made Cadance’s whole body shiver with anticipation.

“And don’t think I’m just going to handle you the way you want,” Sunset told her firmly before taking in a deep breath and getting right up under Cadance’s tail. “You want me to do it with you like the old me would have? Fine, I’ll do it. Just this once.”

The way Sunset talked, letting out more and more air with every word right at the entrance to her sex made Cadance’s need grow more and more. She bit her lips in anticipation and took a moment to center herself. “Yes. Yes, thank you Sun-ah!” Cadance cried out when Sunset dropped the pink princess onto her back.

Sunset smiled down at Cadance the way she used to back in the day whenever she had something nasty in store for her. “Now, I’ll get around to getting you off in a bit. But, I think you need to show me that you’re serious about this whole thing, so…” Sunset extended one of her rear hooves. “Now, kiss.”

It took a moment for the confusion to clear out of Cadance’s mind so she could gain some insight on what was happening in front of her. Oh, so that’s how she’s playing it then, the pink princess thought to herself.

Debasement. Sunset was attempting to make Cadance regret her decision by making her be overly submissive in humiliating ways. But the joke was on Sunset, because Cadance had offered to do such things from day one of their sexual relationship as a boost to the amber alicorn’s non-existent ego. The fact that she was finally going through with it just made Cadance jump at the chance.

So, Cadance placed her lips on the amber alicorn’s hoof and looked up at Sunset before stepping up her game considerably.

Sunset swished the mix of water and toothpaste around in her mouth before she leaned over and spit it into the bathroom sink. Then she looked up into the mirror and made sure there wasn’t anything clinging to the fuzz on the end of her muzzle. Considering how deep she had gone into Cadance a bit earlier and the four times Cadance had climaxed, Sunset was surprised she had gotten it all. The smell still lingered in her nose though, much to the amber alicorn’s annoyance

She looked over to the pony standing next to her. Her coat and mane were still ruffled from all the ways Sunset had manhandled her while she was playing with Cadance’s body, but she still looked absolutely beautiful to the amber alicorn. However, the question of why Cadance had insisted on being handled so roughly during their latest sexual encounter still filled Sunset’s mind. “So, you gonna tell me what that was all about?”

Cadance stretched her neck out and spit the mouthwash she was using out. “Don’t see why I have to clean my teeth again. You’re way too much of a hygiene horse these days.”

“Cadance, I sat on your face and had you dip your tongue as deep as it would go into my butt less than five minutes ago,” Sunset deadpanned. The memory of the experience made Sunset fight off a blush. It had been the first time that they had done such a thing without Cadance pulling Sunset down on her and Sunset felt embarrassed over how much more she enjoyed being the one in charge of the bedroom.

“After you cast a cleansing spell on yourself,” she pointed out.

The mention of the magic made Sunset’s rear tingle with the uncomfortable memory of having every foreign particle inside her rear exterminated. She looked back and shook her butt a bit before turning her head to face Cadance again. “Can we go back to talking about why you wanted me to have my way with you?” she asked pointedly.

Cadance gave Sunset a playful moan. “But I like talking about your butt,” she said before stepping over to kiss Sunset’s cutie mark and nuzzling her plump plot. “And kissing it, and being surrounded by it. Hmmm, you want me to do it again?”

Cadance’s words got a blush from Sunset as she felt the pink pony move from her cutie mark to nuzzle the spot beneath their tail. She looked back at the mirror as she felt Cadance kiss the edge of her sex. “Explanations please,” Sunset said before remembering her tail was for more than just looks and swiped at the pink pony with it.

“Bah! You’re no fun,” the pink princess said as she detached herself from Sunset’s rear, then reared up and leaped to completely straddle the bigger alicorn with her hind legs while her front ones wrapped around Sunset’s neck. “Take me to our bed. I’ll tell you there.”

The sudden application of weight made Sunset’s legs buckle for a second before whatever magic made her stronger than anything else alive adjusted to it and the presence of the pink princess on her back became negligible in terms of pressure. Then Sunset took one more look in the mirror before Cadance reached forward to take the amber alicorn’s ear in her mouth and begin sucking on it. “Okay,” she agreed before pulling her ear away from Cadance’s mouth. ”If you’d stop trying to pop my wings up again. We just got them down.”

A childish cry of displease came from Cadance’s mouth. “No fun pony.”

“I’m just not the nymphomaniac you are,” Sunset deadpanned.

Cadance looked up to the ceiling in thought before shrugging the comment off. “If that’s an insult, you should probably pick words that I know the meaning of, it works better.”

With Cadance giving her a bright smile, Sunset rolled her eyes. “It means you’re sex crazy.”

“Thank you!” the pink pony replied before they reached the bed. Cadance fluttered off of Sunset’s back and onto the bed. Then she laid down on her back with her wings closed in tight near the far edge.

Sunset put a sour look on her face. “That wasn’t a compliment,” she said before getting into bed. Like Cadance, she laid on her back, but spread her wings out.

As soon as she was fully spread out, Cadance rolled over to lay on Sunset’s chest. “Hold me?” she asked softly. After she had wrapped her pony-arms and wings around the smaller alicorn, Cadance kissed Sunset on her neck before laying her head on the amber alicorn’s body. “Sunset, I don’t want you to mess around tomorrow.”

“Say what?” Sunset asked.

After a few seconds of silence, Cadance pushed herself up to look down at Sunset in the candlelight. Pegasus eyes made it easy to see her just fine. “I know how powerful you are. And I’m not talking the casual, I can make Canterlot shake with a stomp of my hoof and have more power in the tip of my horn than Celestia does in her entire body. I’m talking about when your eyes get all glowy, mane starts moving on its own and you grow extra parts on your cutie mark. The type of powerful that makes other alicorns look like we’re fleas jumping on your back. Understand?”

“Yeah,” Sunset said hesitantly thanks to how intense Cadance was getting.

“When the changelings are revealed tomorrow,” Cadance said slowly. “Or if anything goes wrong. The second something happens, that’s the level of power you will react with.”

As her fillyfriend’s expression became more and more worried, Sunset gulped. “Cadance-”

“Listen to me,” Cadance told Sunset before she could really begin talking. “The idea of an entire race of creatures that can look like anypony they want and eat love scares the bucking hay out of me. The only reason I have been able to keep the fear from consuming me is that I have you. But I know you’re not perfect. Something could go wrong, you could react too slowly, or they changelings could have something we’re not expecting. If something happens tomorrow. You don’t hesitate, you don’t hold back, you use your magic to gather up every single one of those insects under your hoof and you crush them flat. Understood?”

The fear Sunset could see in Cadance’s eyes had the amber alicorn nodding before she could speak. “Okay, Cadance. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you tomorrow,” she said before reaching up to pull the pink princess back into her embrace. “No. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

Cadance gulped. “Thank you, Sunset. I love you.”

“I love you too,” she replied before loosening her grip a little and closing her eyes after snuffing out the lights.

…

“...still having trouble sleeping?” Cadance asked.

Sunset sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah,” she said.

Instead of prodding her on what was wrong, like Sunset was thinking she would do, Cadance just reached up and kissed a spot beneath Sunset’s ear before she settled back on top of the amber alicorn. “You know, I’m really jumping the bell here, but after playing with those fillies today...I want one.”

The thoughts that brought to mind made Sunset smirk. “Cadance, I know princesses have absolute authority and ponies fall over themselves to kiss our butts, but I’m pretty sure you might cause a few problems if you decide to just abduct a foal.”

“That’s why I want to make one,” Cadance told her. Strangely though, she sounded melancholy about it. “With you.”

Sunset gulped. “Okay….that’s...uh…” She frowned and lit up her horn with a soft light before she looked down at the pink pony. “Cadance, do I need to go into details about how many ways that’s not going to happen? Like, we’re both still in high school. Our private maid had to give up her education because of her pregnancy before I stepped in. That’s one of those example things ponies are supposed to learn from. Not to mention, we’re both girls, just in case that wasn’t apparent.”

“Really?” she asked in mock surprise before sighing. “I know my love sense makes you feel uneasy. And I’m not saying I want a foal right now. Like you said, we’re still in highschool. Hay, we don’t even have a stable enough relationship to survive having babies for years. It’s just...after today, I really, really want one.”

The simple idea of babies made Sunset feel uneasy. She had never wanted foals, they had never been in any long term plans while she had been a pony and trying to make any long term plans as a human usually ended in tears when Sunset realized how hopeless her future really was on Earth. Plus, the biological stuff involved was...unpleasant. “Uh, you know what’s involved in foaling, right?” Sunset asked hesitantly.

Cadance gave her a little rapturous giggle. “Feeling another pony, a life growing inside of me? Having another pony suck on my teats, depending on you, me and Shiny for everything?”

“Yeah, think I’ll leave that to the nursemaid,” Sunset told her.

The comment got a little snort from Cadance. “No, you’ll dote on yours almost as much as I’ll obsess over mine,” she said before sighing. “And that’s why we’re going to have to wait more than ten years to have foals. Not to mention get pregnant at the same time.”

Sunset tired to just put Cadance’s words into the back of her mind, but with the Princess of Love saying even she could fail to hold a relationship together, it made what her lover said impossible to dismiss. “How...um…does something like that happen?”

Cadance looked at her in confusion for a moment before she smirked. “Well, one of those days when your feeling super hot and wet under your tail, Shiny sticks his penis really deep inside you and leaves behind a load-”

“I’m well aware of that part,” Sunset deadpanned. “What I meant was, how in the hell do our foals make us break up?”

The question was answered by an uncomfortable silence from Cadance before she cleared a disturbed look off of her face. “I’m not really sure. It may be that the foals put a strain on our relationship that we’re not mature enough to handle without years of interaction and strengthening our ties, not to mention all the other stuff that’ll probably factor in as well.”

Sunset blinked as she finished digesting the news. “Huh, that’s...well...damn.”

“Yeah, you’re not the only one with the depressing thoughts,” Cadance told her before adjusting herself on top of Sunset a little. “You know, there’s so much stuff going on tomorrow that we’re both terrified about I doubt either of us is going to get much sleep tonight. Three hours at the most.”

“Probably,” Sunset agreed. “If not less.”

Cadance let out a long sigh and slumped down in relief. “So let’s put that time to good use,” she said before taking a deep breath and sitting back up. “You being nervous about the Princess thing. Let’s deal with that. What’s the problem? Something about the ceremony or just more of the same about the position in general?”

Hearing Cadance put it like that a half-annoyed, half-embarrassed blush on Sunset’s cheeks. “Hey, it’s not...that’s not-”

“Is it your usual junk?” Cadance asked before getting overly dramatic and speaking in a bad imitation on Sunset’s voice. “Oh! I don’t think I can be a princess, despite the fact that it exactly what my mother, Princess Celestia, raised me to be since the day she took me in. I won’t be able to protect Equestria, even if I am more powerful than every other single living creature on this planet by several times. I shouldn’t ever be allowed to make any decisions at all, just because it’s more inexperience than anything else that makes me trip up over the stupidest of things that nopony else in my position would never see coming. And whatever you do, don’t praise me, because my self-esteem is so messed up that I’ll actually become more insecure if you give me compliments.”

As Sunset found herself blinking at Cadance’s bad imitation of her, the pink princess's expression changed of one from wide-eyed to half-lidded before she looked back down at the bigger pony. “That about cover it?”

The amber alicorn blushed and looked away. “You don’t have to be so...that about it.”

Cadance fell down onto Sunset and gave her a tiny poke on the nose before she put on a tiny smile. “Yeah well, I may prefer caring and gentle, but sometimes harsh and rough just works better with you,” she said before kissing Sunset where she had booped her. “Now, out with the specifics, or I’m gonna...do...something.”

As her fillyfriend just trailed off, Sunset frowned. “You really need to work on your threats,” Sunset told Cadance.

“Yeah, yeah. Confess now, coach later,” Cadance ordered.

Sunset took in a deep breath, unsure of where to start. “Okay, yeah. I am nervous about the princess thing. For all those reasons and more,” she admitted to Cadance. “But come on, that’s...normal. There’s a super important event with an invasion threat looming overhead. I’m allowed to be nervous.”

Her argument didn’t remove the harsh look from Cadance’s face. “Over the event, yes. But be honest, Sunset. This is more than about one little thing with you,” she said before sighing and nuzzling Sunset’s neck. “But I’m here for you. So share some specifics with me, and I’ll help you.”

“Okay,” Sunset reluctantly agreed before she mentally compiled a list of the billions of worries that were going through her mind. Well, might as well start with the most recent addition. She took in a deep breath and… “I think I know what I’m going to do about Upper Crust.”

Cadance pushed herself up and looked down at Sunset with an encouraging smile. “That’s good,” she said before her expression became more hesitant. “Which is, what? Exactly?”

The thought of actually telling Cadance in a private setting, where she could explain to Sunset how stupid she was being as opposed to announcing it at Upper Crust’s sentencing where the public venue would have made it impossible to argue with her decision, which still wouldn’t have made the decision a good one, didn’t make things easy. Ignoring the fact that she was the most horribly stupid pony to ever be offered a crown and not go into things would have been a lot easier.

“Can we have sex again?” Sunset asked. “I wanna have sex again.”

Cadance frowned. “Sunset.”

“I’ll suck your horn, or tickle your pussy, or oh!” Sunset exclaimed. “I haven’t given you rimjobs yet! Let me at that love butt of yours.”

The pink princess growled. “Sunset.”

“Or we could take this opportunity to come up with something to do with Shiny!” Sunset exclaimed. “Now, I’ve been hesitant in even thinking about this, but after seeing how happy the unfinished blowjob made him, maybe we could-”

“SUNSET!” Cadance exclaimed in anger before glaring at her. “While I admit I’m more interested in the fact that you’d be willing to tongue my plot and suck Shiny’s penis than talk about a royal decision you’ve got baking in your brain, I care a hay of a lot more about you than my personal interests,” she said before sitting up straight to cross her pony-arms. “So, what is it you have planned for our old brown noser?”

“Well…” Sunset gulped and looked away from Cadance. “I was thinking about... petrification.”

She glanced back to see Cadance was giving her a calculating frown. “And I suppose that you’ll put the statue right outside our window, so you can trot out and look at her every day?” she asked.

Sunset made a pensive sound. “I hadn’t thought of that,” she said. Although, the amber alicorn admitted that she probably would have paid a visit to the mare from time to time. “Maybe not...every day.”

“Well, as long as you’re not gonna use her to beat yourself up, I don’t see any problems with the idea,” she admitted. “If you are going to outlaw emotional affecting magics, you need to set a strong example to the ponies that use it.”

The way Cadance phrased it made Sunset give a considering moan. “I know it’s a big change,” she said. Ponies had been using potions and spells to affect emotions for years. Sunset probably wouldn’t have thought anything about what Upper Crust had done if not for her time on Earth. She would have just rolled her eyes at the mare ‘getting herself pregnant’ before Jet Set tossed her aside.

Of course, it wouldn't have happened if not for the laws Sunset put into effect. Which, aside from making it partly the amber alicorn's fault for giving Upper Crust the opportunity, meant she needed to make sure it didn’t happen again. Which made her mind go back to the fact that ponies had been using emotional magic for years without problems and outlawing it was a major change put in overnight.

“Cadance, you’re the love pony. Am I making the right decision here?” Sunset asked. “Or am I going too far?”

After a few seconds of thinking, Cadance spoke. “Well, I can certainly agree with the idea that...forcing pony to lay with anypony is abhorrent,” she said as if spitting out something that tasted horrible. “But...a blanket ban on all compulsive magic does make it seem like you’re just kicking at something that tugged your tail without looking behind you first.”

Sunset sighed. “Yeah I know the humans I lived with had a big hard on for deciding their own destinies while we’ve got cutie marks,” she replied. “But can you honestly give me a situation where being put under a spell that even influences you to do something is a good idea?”

“Shining Armor,” Cadance replied without hesitation.

When Cadance didn’t say anything else, Sunset started to get very worried. “Uh...please tell me you didn’t do anything to Shiny when you were...coaching him.”

Cadance rolled her eyes. “Of course not,” she assured her fillyfriend. “You know my philosophy is that if the stallion doesn’t have the balls to ask a mare out under his own power, he doesn’t deserve to be in love. I’m just using his name to grab your attention, but the situation is one I’ve seen plenty of times before.

“Let’s say that Shiny never met me, he just got walked home by you that night and you decided to play O&O with him the following weekend. But instead of going through the scenario I gave, you ended up playing that other scenario we ran through, meaning that you would have been trapped alone with Shiny. It would have been the perfect chance for the two of you to talk and even share a few kisses. However, Shiny can’t even form a single word because he's so nervous and ends up just annoying you to know end, which...let’s be honest, you would be in that situation. You go home unsatisfied and even if you remain friendly with Shiny, he’s shown that he's definitely not coltfriend material, putting him squarely in the friend zone.”

After thinking over it for several seconds, Sunset gave Cadance a nod of agreement. “Yeah, I could see that happening.”

“Or,” the pink princess went on. “Another option, Shiny drank a love potion before you showed up. Then, while the two of you are alone, he makes a complete fool of himself trying to get a kiss with you to the point you quit the game and go home early in a bad mood. The next day, the need to apologise makes him actually talk to you and you decided to go to a replay because you’re into second chances. That’s when the two of you hit it off.”

Sunset frowned at the other pony. “You don’t have one where he just hits it off with me from the get go, huh?”

Cadance shrugged. “I’m a romantic, not completely detached from reality,” she said before adopting a serious expression. “Look, I’m not saying that I like love magic all that much, but it does have some uses if used in the proper way to help create those moments that some ponies need to build their foundation on. Not to mention that completely doing away with something that’s been around since before Equestria because of a single incident is way too reactionary.”

The argument made Sunset want to counter by saying that Upper Crust was just the only instance that they knew about. But, making decisions on the supposed actions that the amber alicorn knew she wouldn’t even be considering if not for her time on Earth also made her hesitant.

Another fact popped into her mind. “Hey Cadance, you didn’t even consider you, me and Shiny dating, right?”

Cadance groaned and rolled her eyes. “No Sunset. You know nopony’s ever done a three pony relationship before,” she said.

“Just like nopony’s ever used a love potion like Upper Crust did,” Sunset said. That we know of, she could help but think.

But what if trying to preempt other actions with a blanket ban just gave ponies who were willing to do something awful despite the laws the inspiration they needed to think of the crimes Sunset wanted to prevent from happening? Cadance was the Princess of Love, but never once thought beyond a two pony relationship before Sunset.

“So how about...a law revolving around forcing or tricking a pony to take a love potion or casting a spell that affects a pony’s thought process without permission,” Sunset mused. “It’ll mean taking a few extra steps to prove any accusations aren’t lies, but it’s better than just taking any accusation as truth.”

Cadance looked back over to her. “Do you really think anypony would actually do that?”

“Well...not ponies, but…” Sunset sighed. “Look, I spent the better part of three years on a planet populated by creatures that had a whole set of professions whose entire purpose was to find ways to skirt laws. If I’m going to be the one making the laws, then I’m going to be making them in a way that can’t happen.”

After a few seconds, Cadance snuggled back up to Sunset. “Well, I suppose it’s best to be safe,” she said. “So, what about the foal?”

Sunset blinked. “...what foal?”

Cadance groaned. “The foal Upper Crust has growing inside of her,” she reminded the bigger pony.

“Oh...that’s...um...well, crap,” Sunset mumbled. “I was so intent on punishing Upper Crust in a way that would stop this sort of thing from happening again, I completely forgot about the pregnancy.”

Once she gave Sunset a few seconds to digest that thought, Cadance gave a little shrug to show how much worry Sunset should have over this. She opened her mouth right as something occurred to her. “What about Celestia’s potion?”

Sunset looked down to Cadance. “Celestia’s potion?”

“That potion Celestia made for Shiny,” Cadance pointed out. “What if Upper Crust drank some of it? Like, just a drop or two. If it aged her and the foal eleven months, she could have the baby and we could find somepony to take care of her or him. That’s what we’re doing, by the way. I’m not just going to pass it off to the local orphanage.”

After running what she knew about potions through her mind, Sunset sighed. “That may work. Truth is, I was more into horn magic than alchemy. Too much bookwork for my taste.” She would have to ask Celestia.

And keep the whole thing secret. Sunset could already see the problems that would spring from a short-cut to childbirth. If parents couldn’t put up with the burdens of labor, then they honestly didn’t deserve to be parents in Sunset’s mind. Like her own genetic donors, who dropped her off at Celestia’s because they didn’t want the inconvenience of…

Sunset let that line of thought trial off into nothing. She knew that her biological mom and dad had the best in mind for her when they placed her in Canterlot for her education. That was how things worked in Celestia’s school for unicorns who didn’t live in the city. Some even had houses on the mountain, but still lived at the dorms. But the fact that Sunset’s parents had left her behind when she wasn’t even old enough to clearly remember their faces still hurt, no matter how much logic she threw at it.

“But it is a possibility?” Cadance asked.

Sunset thought about it a little more before sighing over her lack of expertise on the subject. “Honestly, your guess is about as good as mine,” she told her fillyfriend. “What’s with the big interest in getting Upper Crust into the statue garden so quickly, anyway?”

Cadance shifted around a little on top of Sunset before she sighed. “Well, it’s just...the other option, keeping her locked up for nearly a year before going through with her punishment because we don’t want to hurt a foal, it seems cruel to me.”

“I’m sure everything will work out,” Sunset told her before kissing the pink pony behind her horn before deactivating the illumination in her own. “Good night Cadance.”

“Good night, Sunset.”

…

“Hey Sunset?”

The second the words were out of her mouth, Cadance knew they were a mistake. The big pony she was sleeping on jerked in a motion that made Cadance hold on tight to keep from being thrown into or possibly through the ceiling from the unconscious motion.

“Hujawha?” Sunset asked as she brought her head up and looked around.

Cadance winced. “Sorry. I thought you were still awake.”

After opening her mouth to let out one of the longest yawns Cadance had ever heard, Sunset lit her horn back up. “No, I was...um, you know that moment when your whole body shut down and you’re just about to go unconscious, the one where if a pony interrupts you it triggers a surge of adrenaline that will keep you up for hours more?” Sunset asked. “That’s where I was.”

“Sorry,” Cadance apologized as she winced.

Sunset let out a long sigh and tried to pat Cadance’s head, but ended up smacking her with a hoof on the back that promised to keep the pink princess away with a oncoming headache. “It’s fine. What do you need?”

After running the back of her head a little, Cadance lit her own horn with the level of brilliance Sunset was using. “Well, um...I thought were were taking turns, me telling you a fear and then you telling me and so, it’s um...my turn, again.”

Sunset ran a foreleg along the back of Cadance’s neck and the pink pony took in a breath. She had wanted to ask Princess Celestia about it more in-depth before bringing the possibility up with Sunset, but since they were talking about mind alteration magics now, it seemed like a good a time as any. “Sunset...are you still you?”

“Okay, Cadance. I’m about seventy-four percent asleep here. You’re going to have to make more sense than usual,” Sunset told her.

The half-insult made Cadance puff her cheeks out in annoyance. It almost just made her reconsider her position right then and there. Sunset was still capable of being a jerk, a definite sign that Cadance’s fears were unfounded.

But, she had to know for sure.

“When you talk about your time on the other side of the mirror, you say that you were a huge jerk until Twilight blasted you with the magic of her crown,” Cadance said.

She felt Sunset tense beneath her. “Yeah,” she agreed cautiously.

“And then you had this huge change of heart,”Cadance went on. “You decided you wanted to be a better pony.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say it was that simple,” Sunset told her. “But...yeah. I got to take a good look at myself when I put on Twilight’s crown. I got to see all the darkness inside of me, what I was really like and I didn’t like what I-”

“Stop talking right now,” Cadance told her. “That! That is what I’m talking about! What you’re really like? You’re not really like that. You’re not evil! You were angry and hurt, and alone.”

Sunset looked away from Cadance. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you had seen me when I had that crown on.”

“And you wouldn’t be saying this if you were thinking clearly,” Cadance said. “Yes, you’ve made improvements, I’m not going to ignore that. But...you...it’s like there’s something else inside of you screaming at you, telling you these stupid things making you feel guilt and doubt at unnatural levels. It’s like there’s a spell on you and I’m just trying to understand what it is so I can fix it!”

“...you think that Twilight did something to me?” Sunset asked carefully. “Something that made me...the way I am right now?”

With the question out there in the open, Cadance grabbed onto Sunset as tightly as she could. “I don’t want to,” she said. “But we’re talking about mind magic...and for the past couple of days, I’ve been thinking back to the way you were before and the way you are now. I think about how you acted when you came back to us and how if it wasn’t for some apocalyptic event, you would have stayed in that horrible world! And all I can do is wonder if the pony who just left you there to suffer would have done something to make sure you stayed, or went to far as to completely erase the pony I used to know and replaced her with somepony more obedient.”

Sunset gave Cadance a confused frown. “Are you honestly telling me that you would have wanted the old me to come through the portal with all the power I have now?”

“You’re avoiding the issue!” Cadance accused her before she stood up and looked down at Sunset. “And do you want to know what would have happened if you had come back with your old bad attitude and the kind of power you have now? You would have taken over Equestria, no question about that. You would have done something humiliating to Princess Celestia but in a way that would have been able to show off and-oh! You would have…

“Servent! Servent come here!” Sunset called out before knocking her hooves together.

Dressed in her palace maid outfit, Cadance galloped through the court that had changed the dress code to better comply with Sunset’s colors before coming to the foot of the dais and entering a respectful bow that had her nose touching the floor.

Without raising her head, Cadance looked up towards the throne. The enormous alicorn that radiated so much power her eyes, mane and cutie mark were constantly aglow lounged in a throne that barely contained her bulging plot. She would have been half-again the size of Celestia.

That is, if Celestia wasn’t sitting beside her in a birdcage, about equal in mass to the average pigeon. Rather than stick Celestia in some dark dungeon, or banish her to a celestial body that Sunset now controlled, the giant alicorn kept her mother on full display for all to see in an attempt to both show her power and show off in front of Celestia, or at least prove to the powerless pony how much better Sunset was as a ruler than she was.

“Wait, hold on just a second,” Sunset said, cutting Cadance off before she could get to the good parts. The big alicorn looked at her with a disbelieving expression. “If the old me got the power I have now, you think I would have put you in a maid outfit and Mom in a bird cage? You remember when I told you the parts about turning into a she-demon when I put on the crown, right?”

Cadance rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about evil you, I’m talking about old you. And yes. You would have taken over and done something to me and Celestia to show everypony how much more powerful you were while keeping us around because you probably would have had this need for Celestia to tell you that you were a better princess than her and-”

“A perverted desire to see you in a maid outfit?” Sunset asked with her eyes half-closed.

“No, but I’ll gladly wear one if you want after our next date,” Cadance assured her. Before Sunset could object, the pink pony kept talking. “Anyway, long story short, you would have ruled Equestria with an iron hoof...for about two weeks. Then you would have let your mom out of her cage, named her your representative on the throne then gone back to your apartments to lay around and do nothing because by then the novelty of being a princess would have worn off and let’s face it, the old you wouldn’t have liked doing all the other work that comes with a crown.

“As for me,” Cadance went on. “I would have been kept on as your maid and we’d eventually get on speaking terms because let’s face it, everypony else would have been too frightened to talk to you and you wouldn’t have considered them worth your time anyway. Within the third week of you being back, we would have moved past awkward conversations, by the fourth week, you would have been meeting me after school to hang out before just decreeing that princesses didn’t need to go to school and getting me out of there. Of course by then I would have gotten used to your temper tantrums and gone to school anyway for the education. Which would have led to you going to school like you are now to fight sheer boredom. I’m pretty sure Shiny would just be some pony in the background you barely paid attention to and while I don’t think I’d be in a physical relationship with you, although there would have been a pretty good chance of you trying something since I would have been your closet equine contact and I would have gone with it out of pity and maybe a little bit of fear. But you wouldn’t have been some evil despot or anything.”

Sunset stared at Cadance for several seconds as if she had grown a second head. “Just how long did it take you to dream that up?”

“Two minutes,” Cadance told her with a little shrug. When Sunset continued to stare at her like she no longer made sense, Cadance rolled her eyes. “I’m the relationship princess, remember? I understand how ponies interact with each other.”

Sunset laid her head back on her pillow and sighed. When she didn’t talk after several seconds, Cadance began to get a little worried, but after getting a better look at her face, the pink princess calmed down. Whenever Sunset got really deep in thought, she put on a particular expression that was a combination of a frown and pressed together in a cute way that Cadance felt the urge to kiss them just to see if Sunset even noticed her coming.

“Okay, you want an explanation as to why I’ve changed so much?” Sunset asked. “Real, in-depth psycho-analyze and all that? Okay, fine. I haven’t really thought about it in awhile, but subconscious problem solving and all that…”

The fear that she was about to deflect the blame away from Princess Twilight Sparkle made Cadance frown. “Sunset, the amount of guilt you’re feeling is unnatural!”

“Cadance, I spent three years in a completely different culture, as a completely different species. I wasn’t just surrounded by different philosophies, way my brain worked was different than the way it works now,” Sunset told her. “And one of the main forces driving human civilization is guilt. Consciously, I know it’s stupid, but I was surrounded by an entire society that told me every day I needed to not only feel bad for things I did, but for what my mother and my mother’s mother did too. Maybe something I heard there got stuck in my subconscious.”

“And that’s why you never came home?” Cadance asked hesitantly. “Because even then, you were punishing yourself?” She remembered all the time that Sunset said how much being without magic hurt her.

Sunset took in a deep breath and let it out. “And...well, as much as I hate to admit it...I was happier back on Earth than I was on Equestria. That little example you talked about earlier? You were right in thinking that all I cared about was power, but power doesn’t make you happy, I’ve learned that the hard way. So if you’re wondering why I never really came home, it was probably a little bit of guilt over what I had done, some fear of what I thought Celestia would do to me, and...even though I hated living on that world and knew I had no future there, I had friends that filled some need I never knew I had before,” she explaining before giving Cadance a tired look. “Why’re you're so instant that I stayed on Earth because of some weird geas?”

The question posed to her made Cadance freeze. Although she had personal reasons, they weren’t the main ones. When Princess Celestia told Cadance about Nightmare Moon, she had explained her plans for the future, or lack thereof. But that had been before Sunset had shown what her true power was. If Celestia’s sister had truly been taken over by darkness, as Sunset had been according to her own recollections, then Sunset's magic could be the way that Luna was freed from the power of that evil without anypony dying. However, if exposure to said power also caused Celestia’s sister to torture herself on a daily basis because of some unnatural guilt, she needed to know before anything was done to make sure Luna could be properly cared for.

Unfortunately, if Cadance even began to tell Sunset that, there was no doubt in her mind that Sunset would teleport to the moon, smash Nightmare Moon’s face in before ripping the darkness out of her, then pop back to earth with the defeated mare in her hooves to drop her right on top of Celestia and demanding they make up. All of which would probably take less than ten seconds.

So, Cadance cleared her head of such thoughts and focused on the personal reasons. “Because it doesn’t make sense!” she exclaimed. “Okay, you made friends and didn’t want to lose them. I can understand that. But you also told me that just weeks after you saved their world and their lives, they turned on you because their little sisters galloped around, posting information and blaming it on you! They didn’t believe you when you said you were innocent, they didn’t try to look into things for themselves, so why? I just can’t understand it.”

“Because you’re a good pony. Because you’ve always had friends. And because they were my first friends, something I’m probably always going to use to measure-wait,” she said before stopping suddenly and giving Cadance a once-over. “Are you bringing all of this up because we messed around with filly versions of the humans that I used to know?”

Even though Cadance’s reasoning had nothing to do with that initially, with Sunset posing her question, she had to admit that the amber alicorn might have had a point. “You have to admit that it is pretty weird for you to invite four immature pony versions of beings that threw you away like you were trash at the first excuse they got.”

Sunset let out a tired sigh. “You remember the part where I talked about how we all made up, right?”

“They hurt the mare I love most in the world,” Cadance told her with a cold voice and even expression. “There are three things I can’t ever forgive, and that one is tied for first place with hurting the stallion I love most in the world. I know, you’re going to talk about how I should let it go, but I’m the Princess of Love, Sunset. It’s not going to happen, ever.”

Love had its dark side after all.

A nervous laugh came from from the pony beneath Cadance. “Okay, new topic, need a new topic,” Sunset said nervously before letting out a couple of nervous laughs. “Sex! let’s have sex, Cadance. Good ol’ relaxing sex! Let’s just bury our muzzles in each other’s backsides and go crazy.”

Seeing that her beloved pony was getting nervous, Cadance sighed and did her best to clear her mind. “I’m sorry, Sunny,” she apologized before kissing Sunset lightly on the lips and shifting herself around just a bit to better rub the bottom of her barrel up against Sunset’s so they could get in the mood that much faster.

She leaned in close and spoke into Sunset’s ear. “I adore those fillies. They make me want to have two of our own. I want a foal inside of me, Sunset.”

“Yeah, not sure how we’re gonna role play that one, Cadance,” she said before giving the pink pony a devilish smile. “That is, unless you want to pop into Shiny’s bedroom in the middle of the night all hot and horny and ask him to mount the two of us.”

It took Cadance all of one second to think up the correct answer. “Yes. Yes I do.”

Hard Line stood resolute as he watched what was surely the end of Equestria. Upon the dais above him sat the lowborn gutter trash Sunset Shimmer, daring to wear a crown as she sat upon the throne of Canterlot. Beside her, Princess Celestia sat with a collar around her neck that only Hard Line could see, a victim of Sunset’s dark magics and lies that clouded her vision to the truth of things.

In front of him, the line to swear fealty moved forward as yet another pony that was ten steps above Sunset’s proper station finished.

All around the room, dark shapes moved like predators in the night, the buzzing of their insectoid wings filling the chamber.

“Look at her up there,” a sensual voice tickled the brave stallion’s ear. “She doesn’t belong on that throne.”

The line moved forward, and Hard Line moved with it.

“She is an insult to everything you are,” the voice told him again in a mirror of his own thoughts.

Another movement brought him closer to the steps leading to the throne. The place where she would force him to bow to her in a show of loyalty.

“This can not be allowed.”

Hard Line got to the edge of the dais as the pony in front of him swore to Sunset. He looked down at the sword at his hip, then to the darkness where a thousand predatory eyes glared back at him.

Something forced Hard Line to look forward. “That’s not important.”

He moved within striking distance of the amber alicorn.

“You know what you have to do.”

Nightmare Moon withdrew herself from the stallion’s dream, sparing a moment to watch two weeks of her suggestions come to fruition in her pawn’s mind. The sight of such a thing brought her no pleasure, but she had tried other methods of removing the threat to her rule that was Sunset Shimmer to no avail. When opportunity presented itself, rulers took action.

The familiar tug of a particular consciousness drew Nightmare Moon’s attention for a moment. Celestia’s mind floated in the darkness, surrounded by the pathetic protective spell she thought kept her and all the ponies around her safe. The ego that made that mare think she could match the mistress of the night was astounding.

Still, being the caster of such magic, it was enough to let Celestia know if her own dreams were intruded upon. So the happy images she had of proudly looking up at her adopted daughter as Sunset shone even brighter than Celestia herself up on the lone golden throne were left alone.

Despite the fact that it was all a lie! Celestia would NEVER let anypony outshine her! She was a selfish, self-absorbed horse that only cared about herself!

Nightmare Moon stopped herself when she felt a familiar tingle alerting her to the presence of the project she had spent the most time on for over a month. She turned and looked into the dream window of her niece, Sunset Shimmer. In it, she and the colt she had been spending time with recently along with Princess Cadance were playing a game Princess Sunset had learned from her time in the bipedal world.

Just looking at the young mare sent a chill of fear along Nightmare Moon’s back. Sunset’s power was absolutely terrifying. The tiny bit she had felt when the growing princess had forced Nightmare Moon from her dream had made her hesitant to come close to it again out of fear of being undone. If it ever came down to a direct confrontation, Nightmare Moon had about as much chance as a flea did against a dragon lord. The amber alicorn could flick her horn and crush the night mare in an instant.

She had tried to talk the filly into leaving, to get her out of the way to no avail. So, more drastic measures were required.

It was a pity to do such a thing. She too was a victim of Celestia. In all of Equestria, Sunset Shimmer was the one pony that could truly understand her. If she had remained a unicorn, or at least become an alicorn without unimaginable power, Nightmare Moon knew that she could have been an ally against Celestia come the day of her release.

But, now she was too much of a threat and needed to be dealt with, regardless of any other possibilities.

So, Nightmare Moon touched the edge of Sunset’s dream with her magic. She didn’t do much, she didn’t have to. The fears and worries in the back of that mare’s mind were more than enough to send Sunset into a panicked dream where every decision she made as a princess ended in absolute disaster, resulting in the absolute destruction of Equestria.

Sunset would receive no rest tonight and come the morrow, she would be slow and ponderous, her mind balanced on a razor’s edge. The perfect position to provide ample opportunity for Nightmare Moon’s pawn to...fulfill his task.

Chapter 6

Sunset sat on her mother’s throne as she looked out the demolished wall of her palace to the land of Equestria below. Ponies rioted in the streets of Canterlot over a complete lack of food and burned Celestia in effigy as the real one was being tied to a wooden pillar by the mob surrounding her with torches and pitchforks. A swarm of dragons flew through the city of Cloudsdale above, literally tearing the city apart before they glided down to breathe a slew of fire that completely consumed Ponyville, where they then proceeded to settle down and make a meal of its remaining citizens.

“Wow, I’ve seen some doozies in my time, but this is one hay of a mess, Princess Sunset.”

The amber alicorn tried to ignore the purple princess sitting next to her, to no avail. Twilight’s words cut through any attempts to block them out. “Please stop.”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “But I’m not doing anything. You’re the one who came up with a new tax system without seeing all the loopholes the nobility could use to avoid paying anything. And I didn’t send that letter to the dragons showing weakness, you’re not supposed to ask dragons to find a flight path for their migration that doesn’t take them over a town, silly!” she said happily before reaching behind her back to pull out a scroll that unrolled with a list so long it fell to the floor and rolled off of the cliff that the far end of the throne room had become. “By the way, they finally got the casualty report from Manehattan. Do you want to know how many ponies died from that burst of magic you sent in that direction?”

“N-No,” Sunset replied weakly as she raised a hoof to her head. She vaguely remembered something about an invasion of griffons, their entire species, if the numbers were to be believed. Reacting as fast as she could, Sunset had fired a blast of energy from Canterlot to stop their invasion. Only, the offensive spell obliterated anything in its path between her and the target, including the city of Manehattan itself.

“All of them!” Twilight announced happily. “Oh that’s the ponies and the griffons. Well, all the ponies in Manehattan and all of the griffons. Congratulations Sunset! You wiped out an entire species!”

A second later, Twilight blinked. “Hey, you got a little...something there, on your hooves.”

Sunset raised her other hoof to her face as she heard the screams in her mind. Blood flowed out of her hooves to cover the ground. “I...I didn’t...I…”

“Hey look, Cadance is back!” Twilight exclaimed excited as she extended a hoof.

Grateful for some help, Sunset looked to where Twilight was pointing...and widened her eyes in horror. A diamond dog, a zebra, a buffalo, minotaur, yak and a hippogriff marched in a line with long pikes slung over their shoulders. Attached to each of the pikes was one of four legs, a torso, and finally, the head of the pony in question. Sunset stared blankly at the sight of them carrying the pieces of her girlfriend over to where Celestia was tied to the unlit pire and holding them up to the wood like marshmallows waiting to be roasted.

“Well, most of her is at least,” Twilight said before giving Sunset an excited smile. “Wanna see what your idiocy has done to Shining Armor?”

Sunset curled in on herself, bringing her hooves up to protect herself despite the innocent blood that covered them. “N-No.”

“Sunset!” her boyfriend cried out. “Sunset, how could you let this happen to me?”

“No...no,” Sunset told herself as she pulled inward to try and protect herself.

“Sunset, Sunset!” Celestia cried out over the mob’s demands for her to burn. “How could you let them do this to me?”

“I...I didn’t...I…” she whimpered.

“Why did you send me away to talk to these monsters?” Cadance asked despite her head being detached from her body.

“Leave me alone,” Sunset begged pathetically as more voices called out to her.

“How could you let this happen?”

“Why did you let them do this to me?”

“What were you thinking?”

More and more ponies crowded around her. Friends and their family.

“How-”

Another pony began talking before the first could finish. “Why-”

“What-” Yet another pony demanded.

Ponies that worked at the palace, others that she just knew in passing at their school.

“How-”

“Why-”

“What-”

As more and more of them crowded her, Sunset saw glances of burnt skin, missing limbs, soldiers that had nothing but terror in their eyes because of what they’d seen, all thanks to her.

“How-”

“Why-”

“What-”

The mob closed in on Sunset, completely cutting off her view of anything else as they fell on her, becoming a sea of death and pain that dragged her down into its depths while demanding answers.

“How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhy?”

As Sunset sunk deeper and deeper into all of the ponies that suffered from her all she could do was curl in on herself and beg for forgiveness while the dragged her down to Hell. “I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry…”

Cadance slowly opened her eyes to a field of golden yellow that was her pillow. She smacked her lips a few times and looked over to Shining Armor’s still snoozing face before turning her head back to...Sunset’s butt. The oddity made her blink before memories from the night before came flooding in to remind her of how she ended up in her current position, with one of her romantic partners sleeping the wrong way.

Thanks to Sunset marking Shiny’s place at the start of Canterlot’s heat week, which wasn’t the best of ideas considering that it was the time when the vast majority of mares in Canterlot entered their cycle and felt an overwhelming urge to breed, Sunset had deposited them in the young stallion’s bedroom. Surprisingly, Shining Armor had been awake. A side effect of the aging potion that nopony had counted on was that it had also given him too much energy for him to get to sleep.

It was a problem Cadance was happy to help him take care of, after a little bit of foreplay to help her get in the mood. Although the sex that followed was extremely enjoyable, especially since Shiny broke the double digit mark that only earth ponies tended to pass, the more emotionally satisfying moment of the night was when Sunset, who wasn’t as keen as just watching her colt and filly friend go at it like Cadance, decided to stretch her horizons. She was still pretty new to the experience and hesitant, but the fact that she had used her mouth on Shiny’s lower rear regions at all when she had given nothing but harsh refusal before was a clear sign that she was much more laid back and comfortable being with her lovers than before.

“Sunset, did I ever tell you how good a pillow you make?” Cadance asked lazily before she put her head back down on the bigger alicorn’s fat flank. The perfect mix of cushion and support made Cadance smile in contentment.

A slight shiver ran through Sunset’s body, causing Cadance to lift her head. A whimper barely loud enough to detect came from Sunset’s mouth, causing Cadance’s ears to flatten. Another nightmare, the pink princess reasoned sadly before she moved around to take Sunset by the shoulders with her hooves. Sound rarely got Sunset’s attention when she was in the grip of such fears.

“no...no…” Sunset mumbled as Cadance shook her. “Leave me alone.”

“Sunset, Sunset! Wake up!” Cadance said as she increased her volume and the amount of force she was using to stir Sunset from her slumber.

“NO!” Sunset shouted as she sat up halfway in a rush after rolling over onto her belly. Bleary eyes looked up to reveal wet fur that showed signs of extensive crying and a lost expression. “C-Cadance?”

Although she had no idea exactly what had been going on in Sunset’s mind moments before, Cadance could guess that it wasn’t good. “Shhh. It’s okay, it was just a dream. Everything’s fine now.” Cadance assured her after getting Sunset up on her butt to bring her in for a supportive hug. She kissed the bigger pony’s forehead to reassure her. “I’m here and everything is okay.”

The amber alicorn sucked in deep breath after breath as if she had just run a marathon. Cadance could feel the heart pounding hard in Sunset’s chest like it was a hoof beating against a wall with the intention of freedom. “It was horrible, Cadance. Absolutely horrible!”

Seeing where this was going, the pink princess made a move to steer the conversation away from such talk. “Well it’s over. Now, let’s go see our friends and get you ready for your coronation,” Cadance said happily before Sunset went rock solid stuff. She moved a hoof to try and dislodge Sunset’s grip, but found it firmly attached. “Um, Sunset?”

A second later, Cadance found herself at leg length with Sunset as the amber alicorn held the pink princess by her shoulders. “Are you crazy? I can’t be a princess!”

Oh no, Cadance thought to herself. It had been some time since Sunset had experienced a nightmare. Or, at least a nightmare that turned her into a hopeless, fearful wreck. Sunset’s recent dreams from the past week about being so big she filled the street with her presence and knocked over buildings with her big butt just made Cadance giggle.

Even Sunset laughed about them after she managed to look back on them in a calmer mood a minute later.

But, Cadance could see that the nightmare Sunset just had wasn’t the type she would be laughing about in an hour or two. “Sunset, you need to come get ready for your coronation,” Cadance told her. “Think of all the ponies that came from all over Equestria to see you.”

“They can get over it!” Sunset told her before she fell down to the floor. Then she crouched down on the ground and lit up her horn for a few seconds. “I’m not moving from this spot, and you can’t make me.”

Taking that as a challenge, Cadance stepped around Sunset to get behind her, then wrapped her forelegs around the amber alicorn’s barrel and lifted. “I’m part earth pony too you kno-urgh! Urgf! Ungh!” After her third tug with absolutely no success, Cadance flapped her wings to fly around back in front of Sunset. “Sweet Celestia! HOW ARE YOU NOT FALLING THROUGH THE FLOOR RIGHT NOW?”

While not the strongest pony, Cadance’s weight limit was several hundred pounds above what Sunset should have been able to be even at a gross overestimation of her body’s dense musculature. She had bucked boulders into the air during their workout sessions that were lighter than what her marefriend weighed!

Sunset looked up at Cadance and gave her a smug smile. “Magic!”

Lost on what to do next, Cadance looked up at their coltfriend. “Shiny, your princess needs your help.”

The seriously fluffy and hot in more ways than one unicorn picked his head off of the pillows before getting off of the bed. He took a long, considering look at the situation and...quickly cantered past Cadance. “I’m gonna go get my mom.”

“...seriously?” Cadance asked the open door that Shiny had disappeared through. “Sunset, I adore Shiny and all, but...there are moments when I wonder if we would have just been better as a couple.”

Sunset gave Cadance a considering frown as she studied the pink pony. “You don’t really mean that.”

Cadance sighed in defeat. “Yeah. Okay, I don’t. Still, what the buck is his mom going to do?”

A minute later, Cadance’s ears twitched as Twilight Velvet’s muffled hooves striking the carpet could be heard coming down the little hall that ran along the staircase. She poked her head into the room before trotting in all the way, then looked around a little before her gaze settled on the bed.

The mare’s nose twitched as she took a loud sniff that had Cadance realizing they had forgotten to cleanse the air after last night’s activities. The smell of a three pony sexual encounter that had lasted until a pair of alicorns had worn each other out still hung heavily in the air.

Twilight Velvet stepped forward and locked her legs in place before looking down at the crouching alicorn with the expression of an equality fearsome beast. “Young lady,” she said gently, but with a firmness only a mother could achieve without seeming too hard. “You may be a ruler of my country and the most powerful pony in the land right now, but you are also a guest in my house. And guests in my house do not carry around a telltale scent that let’s everypony know what they were up to the night before.”

“Urk! M-Mom!” Shining Armor shouted from behind her as his face reddened.

The older mare looked over to her son with an even expression. “Shiny, you spend nights over at the palace. I’m not stupid. I have spoken to both of the princesses about this and I’m hoping your father has done the same with you.”

Shining Armor’s blush intensified. “Y-You talked to them about it?” he asked in horror.

“Mostly to make sure we weren’t using you as a sex toy and were willing to break your heart for a cheap thrill,” Cadance told Shiny to keep him from developing a terminal blush from all the wild places his mind was going.

Twilight Velvet ignored the question and turned back to regard Sunset. “Now, come along. We need to get you cleaned up.”

The command was completely ignored by the amber alicorn, who only curled in on herself all the tighter.

“Young lady,” Twilight Velvet went on. “I may not be a Princess of Equestria, or an alicorn, or even a noble. But when you are in my house, you will follow my rules. Now, outside this house, I have absolutely no authority in regards to you. I can not say what you will, or what you will not do. But while you are here, you will obey my rules, and that means you will make yourself presentable before heading down for a morning meal. Now, come along please.”

It took a few seconds, but Sunset slowly reached up and took Velvet’s hoof, then stood to her full height at the little unicorn’s urging. Once Sunset was looking down at everypony else in the room, Velvet looked over to her son. “Now, Shiny. You need to...ah, well, you can’t get dressed without getting that full body mop of yours trimmed, but I expect you to at least wash and comb those things before we go to the palace. Um...Princess Cadance…”

Without the need for some motherly discipline, the pink princess could see Velvet’s hesitation at telling an alicorn to do anything start to reappear. So, Cadance moved to help her out. She sat up straight and puffed out her chest before throwing up a hoof in salute. “Ready to fire off a salvo of cleansing spells to freshen up the room, myself and Shiny, Ma’am!”

Twilight Velvet blinked three times. “Oh, that’s...very well, carry on then. Princess,” she replied before turning around to lead Sunset out of the room.

Before she departed, Cadance leaned over to whisper at Shining Armor in a voice loud enough for the parental pony to hear. “Your mom is awesome.”

Twilight Velvet led the big alicorn through her and Night’s bedroom and into the bathroom she and her husband had for themselves. Such things were a requirement for ponies with younger foals. She turned back and closed the door behind her with her horn. Unfortunately, it also gave Velvet a look into Princess Sunset’s lost eyes as the dim things stared ahead but saw nothing.

The sight broke the older unicorn’s heart, but she didn’t let it show before she turned around to look away and made sure she wasn’t facing the wall-length mirror to her left. Years of experience taking care of ponies too young to do anything for themselves gave Velvet her checklist, which she quickly fell back on with the absolutely terrifying event of one of her nation’s primary leaders just shutting down in front of her.

Half a dozen odors that came from the room of a young stallion who had just shared his bed with an equally young mare wafted off of Sunset’s coat and made Velvet turn on the bath’s hot water at full stream before twisting the cold nozzle until it had gone from boiled alive to mildly scalding. Then, she led the alicorn back to the wash basin and levitated a wet washcloth to help clean her face and other obviously dirty areas.

“So, I take it that you, Shiny and Cadance are all happy together?” she asked while doing her best to keep thinking of Sunset as a young mare that was just going through a rough patch and not a princess.

Sunset lifted her chin to give Velvet a better view. “Yes,” she said before her cheeks went a little red. “If you’re ah, wondering why I’m so-”

Velvet quickly dipped a new washcloth in the bath water and floated it over to clean the front of the filly’s face. The fact that this also had the effect of stopping her from talking was just a completely unintended side effect, as Twilight Velvet would certainly never attempt to stop one of the princesses from saying whatever she wanted. “Sunset, sweetie. I was a young mare once too and I still have fun with my husband every now and then. You don’t need to tell me anything for me to know why there’s a mess on your coat. All I need to know is that Shiny is happy with what the three of you have worked out, which I can clearly see that he is, in a teenage way, that is.”

The cheeks on the amber pony lit up. “R-Right. Sorry,” Sunset said before looking over to Velvet. “Uh, in a teenage way?”

Velvet smiled smiled back at her. “Oh, you’ve had some of those moments yourself, if fact, I’ve seen you have one. When you get into that type of thinking that has you start questioning things you didn’t when you were a foal, but since you don’t have the experience to get a firm answer and you’re old enough to know you don’t have the experience, you’re constantly questioning all of the answers to life’s questions that you yourself come up with. Like with Shiny and how he’s going on about how he may not want to join the guard these days.”

“Actually, Shining Armor’s training with me and Cadance to get in shape so he can join the guard,” Sunset told her. “Which...is probably going to be a lot easier for him now.”

“See? Questioned things, looked deeper, found an answer that he’s going towards ever stronger than before. Now,” Twilight Velvet said before she spun around back towards the bath and looked up at the numerous shampoos in her collection. “We probably don’t have the choice you’re accustomed to, but we have lilac, kiwi, lavender and there’s a bit left in the rose shampoo. I really do need to get a new bottle of that this weekend.”

Sunset looked down at the ground. “Anything is good, Mrs Velvet. I’m used to, um...anything is good.”

The odd answer was so far away from Velvet’s preconceptions about the mare that she cocked her head to the side and for a moment, forgot that she was speaking with royalty. “Really? I would think that after living in a palace, you’d have some fancy tastes,” she said before putting the rose aside and deciding to go with the lavender. “Then again, Shining Armor does say you’re very down to earth more often than not.”

“I...learned to live without a lot of things,” Sunset said as Velvet guided her into the bath.

When the bigger mare winced halfway down into the water, Velvet looked to the temperature controls. “Too hot?”

Sunset shook her head. “No. It’s good,” she said in the same empty tone that she had been using all morning.

“Now, what were we talking about before I got distracted?” she asked rhetorically before putting the answer out herself. “Oh right, Shiny and how good you’ve been for him despite all this teenage drama you’ve all got going on. Which is completely reasonable considering how old you all are.”

“Actually, Mrs Velvet, I’m more closer to twenty or twenty-one than Shiny’s...age,” Sunset said before she looked over to the mare with a fearful look in her eyes.

Twilight Velvet stood motionless for a moment as she absorbed that new bit of information while cross referencing it with everything she knew about the old filly, which was quite a lot. While the newest member of the royal household treated the press like the children of Nightmare Moon, ponies from Sunset’s old school had been more than willing to give magazines and newspapers information on Sunset Shimmer. Her friends in the writing sector had even told Velvet that there was a trio of biographies coming out detailing the amber alicorn’s life up until this point. All of which she had read, save for the unpublished books, of course. While a lot of it stunk of jealousy and bias, describing the lovely young mare in front of her as some petty and stuck-up little filly, those sources all agreed that her age was a fresh eighteen. “Um...how exactly-”

There was a knock on the door. “Honey, there’s somepony here who-”

Velvet didn’t let her husband finish. She spun on the door and glared at it. The fact that her husband was trying to interrupt her when all the signs Velvet saw told her the poor filly in front of her was screaming for help didn’t sit well with the gray mare. “I’m busy right now!”

“Um, sweetie, I really think you should come out and speak with-”

“I don’t care if you’ve got Princess Celestia Herself out there!” Velvet yelled through the door. “Tell whomever it is to plop their plump plot down and take a number!”

When muffled voices began speaking on the other side of the door, Twilight Velvet looked trotted back to the bath and gathered the alicorn’s mane up in her magic before doing the same with some of the water and moving the two of them to occupy the same space. “Now, you were saying something about being two years older than all the newspapers and magazines claim your actual age to be,” Twilight Velvet surmised. “Not that I’m doubting you, of course, but how did something like that come about?”

Sunset stared at the older mare for several seconds before speaking. “Shouldn’t you um, go...see what’s going on?”

“My dear, unless my daughter stumbles down the stairs and injures herself, you are the most important thing to me in this household right now,” Velvet told the big filly before something occurred to her. “Although, if it does turn out to be my supervisor wanting me to come in today to clean the telescope lens even though I’ve told him seventy-three times now that is a job best suited for pegasi, I would very much appreciate it if you would have a word with my supervisor’s boss to make sure that I am not fired.”

“...oh...kay?” Sunset replied.

Velvet let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. “That’s good, now. What’s all this about you being two years older than what everypony thinks?”

After gulping loudly, Sunset looked back to the front of the bathtub. “Well, you see...more than two years ago my time, but only about a month to the rest of Equestria, I...I ran away through a magical mirror because I thought it would make me more powerful,” Sunset said. “I was transported to another world that was very different than this one. Once there, I stole from the inhabitants and hurt them in too many ways to count for about two and a half years before somepony stopped me and I came back here.”

Twilight Velvet studied the young mare as Sunset sunk deeper into the water and looked away from her completely. Although a dozen different questions ran through her mind, she focused on one of the questions put forth in the scientific journal she read in regards to Sunset’s ascension and lack of any warning. “I take it this other world is where you became an alicorn?”

“Well...um...:” Sunset lifted one of her wings and looked at it before putting it back in the water. “...yeah.”

Guess that answers that, she told herself while taking in a deep breath. The news had wondered how Sunset’s change had come out of the blue like it did when Cadance’s arrival in Canterlot had been to a parade and her coronation was within two days of that. Sunset’s had taken weeks to prepare.

Velvet closed her eyes and steadied herself. She needed to keep herself hard for the next few moments and experience said Twilight Velvet was anything but that around alicorns. But the filly in front of her wasn’t just an alicorn. Sunset was somepony very precious to Shiny that was obviously in a great deal of pain. “Tell me something, Princess Sunset. Do you always try to sabotage yourself like this?”

The amber alicorn looked over to Velvet. “Huh?”

“Well, it’s just that after your first little incident in my home and this, it’s obvious that you are a mare in need of somepony to help you with your burdens,” Twilight Velvet told her. “But the moment that I even begin to get into a position to offer even the slightest comfort, you do your best to make me change my mind.”

Sunset frowned at her. “Are you even listening to me?”

Velvet nodded at the question. “Both then and now. I also listened to my son when he said you were complicated and a little like Twilight in more ways than one before refusing to go into details. But after seeing this hearing his ‘just a little nervous about princess stuff’ explanation...I’m thinking that you’ve got some seriously troublesome mismatched perceptions to reality problems going on behind that big horn of yours.”

“...huh?” Sunset said as her frown went back to her lost expression.

“It’s a term I came up with while dealing with Twilight. Basically, it describes an event where a pony holds two very contradictory beliefs about themselves and the world in general,” Velvet explained. There was much more to it, but they didn’t really have the time to go into it in detail. “Like you are right now. You think that you’re going to do something bad because of mistakes in the past you must have had in that other world.” Otherwise Velvet was certain she would have known about it. While one pony from Celestia’s school had Sunset a jerk in an interview, guilt over a little thing like bad relationships would hardly cause what Velvet was seeing in front of her. “When you’ve been nothing but the perfect pony to my family and all of your friends.”

“Yeah, but before I came back to Equestria-”

Velvet held up a hoof and swatted the words away with a wave of her leg. “Doesn’t matter.”

The stunned silence coming from Sunset lasted several seconds before she frowned. “Of course it matters!” she shouted as she raised a foreleg out of the tub and...stopped before slowly lowering it to rest her fetlock on the edge. “See, I almost lost control and...um, smashed your...bathtub.”

Velvet took in a deep breath to keep herself calm. “And now you’re focusing on the fact that you wanted to do something bad for a brief second rather than the fact that you didn’t. Something you’re still not doing. Just like just like how despite you did bad things before, you’re not doing them now. But here you are, thinking you’ll do bad things again, even though...I take it you don’t want to repeat that behavior?”

“No. I don’t,” she said.

“Then it’s not important,” Velvet told her before noticing the mare’s hooves. While clean, the edges had a definite scruffiness about them. She went in for a closer look and saw they were in serious need of some upkeep. Velvet looked up at Sunset’s face. “Have you been taking care of yourself, dear?”

Sunset’s expression became one of confusion. “Yeah, I’m...oh!” she said as something dawned on her. “My hooves. Yeah...um…the other world turned me into this other species and ah...I didn’t have hooves. Honestly, I still forget I have a tail from time to time.”

Practice at being a parent let Velvet keep a straight face as she digested the information. “Well, that’s no excuse for doing it now,” she said before looking back up at Sunset’s made that was being held in the bubble of water. “Let’s finish that up first and then I’ll do your hooves.”

After Sunset agreed and put her hoof back in the bath, Velvet grabbed a hard bristle brush and scrubbed the young mare’s head before using her magic to collect most of the shampoo particles and pull them along with the water away from the alicorn. She dumped the dirty water in the sink, then opened the cabinet underneath to pull out her hoof cleaning kit.

The practiced routine kept Velvet’s mind from thinking too much about the other pony in the room, or from thinking too emotionally about her at any rate. From what Velvet could see, Sunset was the adult example of a pony with Twilight’s problems. She knew what she had to do. Keep her calm and remind her of the way things are.

A second look at Sunset and her wet mane made Velvet grab a few brushes and combs. “Alright dear. Let’s get you out and cleaned up.”

Sunset gulped. “Um, that’s okay. I ah...I’m-”

“Dear. You said yourself that you’ve spent so long as something else that you still forget you have a tail,” Velvet told her. “Are you honestly telling me that you know every little thing about grooming yourself for big events like this?”

The blush Sunset had turned her coat the other color of her mane. “Cadance helps me,” she said before pulling the stopper on the drain and stepping out to sit on a towel that Velvet laid out on the floor.

With Sunset’s extra height, she was on eye level with Velvet even when on her rump. Although, the use of magic made height differences matter little when it came to unicorn groomers. “Is there any special way you want me to fix it up for you?” she asked. “Or at least, start it for the ponies you have waiting at the palace?”

“In all honesty Mrs Velvet, I’ll take whatever you can give me over what any professional pony could do,” Sunset told her with a small smile.

Twilight Velvet blinked at the mare’s words before she picked out the combs and got to work. She had seen Sunset’s mane enough times to comb it out the proper way. As she moved them through the hair to work out the tangles, the unicorn took in a breath and forged ahead on the more important task. “Sunset, do you mind if I ask you a question? The type of question you may be uncomfortable answering, I mean.”

After a few seconds of tense muscles, Sunset nodded. “Okay.”

“You’ve had a nightmare. One Cadance said you’ve had before,” Velvet said. “One I take it is about you becoming a princess?”

It took some time for Sunset to answer with a nod and a few more seconds to speak. “Yes,” she said. “It’s not the same exact one every time. But they’ve all got their commonalities. Like how it’ll be terrible for Equestria if I’m in charge.”

“How will you be a disaster for Equestria?” Velvet asked. “Give me specifics.”

“Because I...um...well…”

Velvet finished with the mare’s mane and moved to start working on Sunset’s tail, motioning for her to stand up. “Something wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing it’s just...I was just thinking back to my dream and...it’s stupid,” she whined.

Velvet craned her head around the amber alicorn’s rear to look at her face. “That’s not very specific.”

Sunset groaned and looked back at Velvet. “Look, I know everything in my dream was overblown, okay? Getting worked up about it like I did was...stupid. Now that I’ve had some time to calm down, I get that.”

“Not stupid, just too reactionary,” Velvet told her firmly. She wasn’t about to let Sunset start beating herself up again. “Your nightmare was a symptom of your fears, not the cause of them. When you get confused about that it’s like chasing your tail. You don’t go anywhere and spend all your time coughing on your own dust as things just get worse and worse.”

While Sunset mulled that over, Velvet took a stuff brush and water scraper to start working on removing the excess moisture from Sunset’s body after a stiff brush to her coat loosened up any clinging dirt particles. Magic was also an option, but that was rather fast and Velvet knew that she needed to take as much time as possible. Plus, the process was very much like getting a massage, and Sunset needed all the help relaxing that she could get.

But that time wouldn’t be spent relaxing from a water scraping. “So, why is it that you’re having nightmares about being a princess?” Velvet asked.

Thankfully, Sunset didn’t tense up from the question. She just smirked and let out a snort as Velvet moved to take care of her front end. “It’s a pretty long list.”

“And now you’re smiling about it, or close enough anyway. That’s a good sign,” Velvet told her. “But, not an answer to my question.”

When Velvet locked her eyes on Sunset and didn’t falter, the amber alicorn sighed in defeat. “Okay, if you really want me to get all introspective about it, I don’t think I’d make a good princess because I’m too reactionary. The very first thing I did while ruling Equestria’s had some major...problems.”

“Then learn to slow down and think things through,” Velvet told her with a shrug, it’s not that hard. “What the next reason on this big long list of yours?”

Sunset let out an annoyed sigh. “Ugh, you sound like my mom and Cadance,” she grumbled. “Just coming up with solutions like it’s no big deal.”

“Thank you,” Velvet replied with a bright smile before she used her magic to fetch her hoof grooming kit and the stool for Sunset to rest said appendages on. “Now, let’s get a new towel under you so your barrel doesn’t get wet again.”

After Sunset did as she was told, Velvet worked to clip away the outer edge of her hoof. It took a lot more effort than she thought it would. “For your information young lady, I’m well aware that coming up with solutions is a lot easier than following through with them. Especially when you’re not the one doing the work.”

“Cadance says the same thing...sort of,” Sunset told her with a tiny smile.

Velvet smirked. “Well, it’s nice to know that you’re following her advice.”

Once she had clipped away the edge of Sunset’s hoof, Velvet got to work with a file to even out and smooth the edges. As she did, Sunset looked down at her. “What do you mean, following her advice?”

“Sunset, the night of that little school dance, both you and Princess Cadance came to pick Shining Armor up for the same reason. When both of you found out the other one was supposed to be the one taking him out, you didn’t throw a fit or do anything beyond trying to make sure he went out with Cadance, probably because of the self-esteem issues you’re suffering through at the moment. Not long after that, Cadance is being interviewed by a magazine because the three of you are doing something that nopony before you ever has.”

The princess gulped. “Mrs Velvet-”

She didn’t let the young mare finish. “When faced with an impossible decision, you invented a completely new solution. And that’s why you’re going to go out there today, put on a crown, and be a princess. Not because of anything I said, but it's because that's what you do.”

Sunset blinked. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

“You’re an alicorn,” Velvet told her before she motioned for the other hoof and began working on it. “According to everything history has ever said on the subject, that makes you a princess. Just like how history said that only two ponies could be in a close relationship together. If you didn’t want to be a princess, you wouldn’t be here.”

Sunset was silent as Velvet went to take care of her rear hooves. She remained that way, thinking to herself as the gray unicorn took care of her right one. Then the left. When she was done, Velvet moved back to the front and dug around for her hoof lacquer.

“What a hard thing it is, to hold onto one’s resolve in the face of adversity,” Sunset muttered.

The gray mare looked up at the big pony. “Pardon?”

Sunset looked down at her with a little smile before Velvet went back to work. “The night of the Fall Formal, I was going to run away from Equestria. From everything, really. Shining Armor, Cadance and my mom stopped me from making that mistake. When I made that decision, even if it was to keep them from being hurt, I accepted what came with staying in Equestria. I accepted that I would have to take up the position of Princess of Equestria.”

“You make it sound as if this is a burden,” Velvet said as she finished Sunset’s front hooves and moved to her rear ones. “That’s not exactly a good mindset to have when it comes to your career choice. Has being a princess been nothing but trying for you?”

After lifting one of her rear hooves, Sunset looked back to the mare. “No, there’s been some good points. I introduced Twily to her new friends. Pretty much led Cadance through getting rid of that corrupt principal, saved Shiny, met Shiny, helped Star get a job and continue her education, straightened out those three foals at the fair, not to mention I’m finally able to put this huge asshole that works at the palace in his place,” she said with a smile before giggling. “Boy, do I enjoy doing that.”

Velvet finished with the one hoof and moved on to the last. “So, from what I gather, you’ve had two bad experiences as a princess and...how many good? Ten? Fifteen?” she asked before finishing up and trotting back around to Sunset’s front side. “An even twenty?”

“It’s...not a good idea for somepony to keep a score of their good works,” Sunset told her. The way she said it sounded as if she was quoting somepony else. Speaking thoughts that weren’t truly her own, but ones she still tried to follow.

The scowl that Twilight Velvet gave Sunset made the other pony take a step back. “It is for ponies like you!” she snapped before taking a moment to calm down and take a breath. Honestly, how could a pony that was obviously so intelligent also be so stupid? “You’ve done so many good works as a princess, but all you seem to care about is the two missteps? Now, I’m not saying to completely focus on the positive and simply eliminate the negative. I’m not even saying that you shouldn’t examine the negative and figure out where you went wrong. But to only focus on the negative to the point where you believe that all of your outcomes will be equally bad is by far the worst philosophy you can have when it comes to anything!”

Sunset blinked a few times when Velvet finished before looking down at the floor with a sad smile. “Is that really how my thought process works?”

“You’re the only one that can say that for sure, Princess Sunset,” Velvet told her.

“I…” Sunset stopped and frowned. “To be honest, I don’t really like the thought of me thinking like that. But, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to completely change my ways of thinking...or the second, really. Third?” The amber alicorn’s frown deepened. “Geeze! How many times have I had to completely rebuild the way I think about things from the ground up?!”

For some reason, Twilight Velvet couldn’t stop herself from giggling at the amber alicorn’s angry outburst. “Well then. That experience should help you immensely, Your Majesty.”

Princess Sunset looked back to the gray mare. “Although, um...I don’t suppose,” she said as hesitantly as possible while a blush slowly crept up her cheeks. “If I needed to, um...talk to you about this stuff again…”

“It would be my pleasure,” Velvet said as she went into a tiny bow. “Your Majesty.”

The sudden change in address is probably what got Princess Sunset to press her lips together in a thin line. “By the way, mind if I ask you a question?”

With the final leg of her little idea not yet come to fruition, Velvet quickly grabbed at the only chance to save it. “If you’ll answer one of my own, first.”

“Shoot.”

Twilight Velvet forced her voice to stay absolutely neutral as she spoke. “Do you want to be a princess?”

After the question was asked, the amber alicorn stood silently for a moment, the sat down on the smooth floor and frowned in thought. Sunset was silent for one...two...three whole minutes before she looked back up to Velvet with a small smile. “You know if anypony had asked that before yesterday, I probably would have just told them yes out of some sense of obligation while screaming no as loud as I could inside my head. But now, I really think I do,” she said before giving a small laugh. “Okay, I’ll still probably do my best to shove all the big decisions and bureaucratic work on Mom and Cadance until I’m ready for that kind of stuff, but when I really think about it...I love being a princess. I love helping ponies and having the authority to throw my weight around when I need to solve real problems instead of just being some kid with good intentions and no power. So...yeah, I do want to be a princess.”

Velvet smiled at her. "Well, that’s good to hear.”

“So, my turn now?” Princess Sunset asked, to which Velvet gave her quick consent. “Where’d you learn to do...this?”

The question got a giggle from Velvet. “You’ve met my daughter, right?” she asked before getting a knowing smirk from Princess Sunset. “I’ve read dozens of books on parenting, but none of them came close to helping me with Twilight. To be honest, there isn’t a single source for everything. We’ve talked to medical doctors and they gave us some suggestions about how to deal with her episodes when there isn’t a potion nearby. Other parents, teachers that had had to deal with problem foals. Using what they’ve told me, I’ve come up with a few contingency plans should Twilight ever need a good talk with her mom.”

“Are you telling me that you gave me a speech you had prepared to give a six year old?” Princess Sunset deadpanned.

Velvet laughed a little at little at Sunset’s demeanor to avoid thinking about how she had upset the royal. “Oh no, Princess. I gave you a lecture that I have tucked away for when Twilight has a freakout at the age of seventeen to thirty five,” she explained before standing up proudly. “I’ve prepared over a hundred different scenarios for helping my daughter work through her troubles, all of which I’ve practiced dozens of times!”

“So...cookie cutter psychotherapy...got it,” Sunset mumbled.

Psycho-what? Velvet asked herself as she tried to deduce what the princess had said while she followed the royal out the door. After Princess Sunset made her way into Velvet’s bedroom, she looked to her right and pulled her head back in surprise before calming down to speak. “Yeah. Should have guessed you’d be showing up.”

“Hmmm?” Velvet asked before following the younger mare out through the door and...freezing when she looked over to see the big white alicorn sitting in the corner of the room. “P-Pr-Prin-Princess Celestia!”

The highest ruler of Equestria and pony who controlled the sun and moon, which all other life on the planet relied on, smiled back at the mare whose nervousness was quickly skyrocketing as she tried to determine just when the most important pony ever had graced Velvet’s house with her presence. “Ah, Twilight Velvet,” she said with a smile that seemed a tiny bit fiendish. “I plopped my plot-does it really look that plump?-on the ground as you instructed, but I’m afraid I don’t see any numbers to take.”

Twilight Velvet’s mouth dropped to scream in absolute terror as she realized the only reason Princess Celestia Herself would say such a thing. Only, no words came out due to her paralyzing fright.

“Mom, be nice,” Princess Sunset said as if she was addressing a pony below her standing. “And what’re you doing here?”

Celestia sighed almost disappointingly before addressing her daughter. “Your absence at the palace has caused a bit of a disturbance, Sunset. We couldn’t even finish the song we were singing. Such a lovely melody,” she said before Sunset snorted. “Yes, well...I already sent Shining Armor and his father ahead with Twily. Cadance is downstairs waiting for you. Now, I need to have a conversation Twilight Velvet in private.”

Oh no. No no no no nonononononononono! Velvet begged Sunset with her eyes as the amber alicorn looked back and forth between the two ponies. Protect me Princess Sunset!

“Okay,” she agreed hesitantly before fixing Celestia with a stare. “Be. Nice.”

As Princess Sunset turned and left, Twilight Velvet reached towards the amber alicorn in hopeless desperation in an attempt to make her stop leaving by sheer force of will. When Sunset closed the door behind her, Velvet’s last little hoped died. WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?

After the amber alicorn was gone, she looked behind herself to the white pony sitting on the carpet behind her. Well, I might as well get this over with. Twilight Velvet gulped. “So, um...w-what do you wish to speak to me about, Your Highness?”

“How did you do that?” Princess Celestia asked.

Twilight Velvet looked around the room to see what the white pony was referring to. “D-Do what? Highness?”

“When I came here looking for Sunset, Cadance met me downstairs. From from she told me I fully expected to have to drag Sunset back to the palace. And getting her to go through with the coronation...” Princess Celestia said before pausing and taking a deep breath. “Well, that probably wouldn’t have happened anytime soon.”

A few seconds later, Twilight Velvet managed to speak. “I just did what I would have done with Twilight in that situation,” she said before smiling and seeing a way to hopefully placate some of the anger Celestia must have been concealing for being treated so poorly. “I’m sure you would have done a much better job with your own filly than I did.”

Princess Celestia’s wings dropped like they were made of stone and she looked down at the ground. “Actually, I’ve been learning as of late that I am an absolutely horrible parent.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Velvet told her.

When Princess Celestia looked back up at her, Twilight Velvet was shocked at how downtrodden the ancient mare looked. Her eyes dropped with a sadness that the mother could tell ran very deep. “Mrs Velvet, please don’t lie to me. I get enough of it from the nobles trying to kiss my plot. You’ve seen my daughter, she’s a mess. And I’m the one to blame.”

Velvet found herself in a position she hadn’t been expecting. From the looks of things, Princess Celestia didn’t want to punish her for actions that most other ponies would have considered treasonous disrespect. “Well, I’ll admit that this morning was a bit...problematic, but I wouldn’t say that young mare is anything to feel sad about. Unless, um...d-did she really spend two years in another reality where she was transformed into a completely different species?” Not that she wanted Princess Celestia to think that Velvet believed her daughter was crazy or anything…

“Yes, it wasn’t a mystic vision or pocket dimension,” Princess Celestia replied. “A physical I had her undergo shortly after Sunset returned gave her newfound age and other physical evidence she didn’t even know about backs up her claims. By the way, such knowledge is a state secret that you’ll be keeping to yourself.”

The order made Twilight Velvet gulp. “Understood, Your Highness,” she said before quickly moving back to a happier subject. “But if that is true, then I think you did an excellent job raising that young mare, Highness.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“Because she’s a strong, independent mare with a good mind behind those eyes of hers,” Velvet explained. “She had a little hiccup today, but…” A thought occurred to Velvet, making her pause and frown in thought. “Actually, that is a little strange.”

“Pardon?”

The lack of malice in the alicorn’s voice let Velvet continue on. “Well it’s just...forgive me if I sound too familiar, but I know your daughter, Princess. She is a very resolute individual and hearing that a nightmare of all things turned a pony that has survived on her own in a completely foreign environment for two years into such a mess that she needed a in a worst case scenario that I had made for my own daughter is a little...strange.”

Princess Celestia’s gaze became hard as she looked down at Twilight Velvet, telling the unicorn that she had messed up. Nopony talks about an alicorn strange and she had just do so to Sunset in front of her mother. “Well...Sunset’s undergone some…” She stopped and looked away from for a moment.

When she turned her head back to the mare, Celestia was wearing a smile again. “Thank you for showing kindness to my daughter today,” she said with a slight bow of her head. “I will not soon forget it, or any others that I know will one day follow.”

Sunset trotted through the little hallway and down the stairs to find Cadance waiting for her on the couch. As soon as she saw the pink pony, an immense amount of guilt set in from her actions. Horrible as it was to even think about, Sunset had lost count of how many times she had put something on Cadance’s plate first thing in the morning. Sunset’s movements became hesitant the closer she got until she eventually stopped altogether and just cleared her throat to get Cadance’s attention.

When the pink princess looked her way, Sunset licked her lips nervously. “Um...hey.”

“Sunset!” Cadance said happily before she hopped off of the large seat and trotted around to get close to the amber alicorn. “You look nice. Well, except for your wings, but I can help you with those when we get back to the palace. Did you get your hooves done?” She got on her belly to look at them closely.

It was times like that which made Sunset wonder if Cadance was actually a fiendish genius who only played at being a pony of average intelligence with moments of pure stupidity. Crouched beneath Sunset as she was meant that the amber alicorn couldn’t casually avoid eye contact with her usual maneuver of looking at the ground. In fact, when Sunset looked down on pure instinct, Cadance looked back up at her with a happy smile. “Yes, Sunset?”

“Um…” she gulped and stepped back. “I’m sorry for...this morning.”

Cadance’s face became serious as she stood up, making Sunset follow her with her eyes. “Okay, guess we should have a little talk if this is going to keep happening,” she said before going back to the couch and sitting down on her plot and rear hooves, leaving a space for Sunset that she patted with a hoof.

When Sunset joined he on the sofa, Cadance reached over and locked her fetlock with the bigger pony’s before putting her hoof on top of Sunset’s. “Look, when we were just sharing a bed because I was going out of my mind with fear, you had every right to feel guilty over waking me up in the middle of the night with your whining and making me worry that you were going to wet the bed or something.”

“Seriously, Cadance?” Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow. “You thought I was going to pee on you?”

Cadance gave Sunset a half-lidded stare. “Hey, I’m giving the talk, you’re giving the attention,” she said before taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh. “But now, we’re in a relationship. Even if you exterminate the entire changeling race today and ensure that I can go back to my old bed, I’m not going anywhere. I made a choice and went into this relationship knowing full well that you could worry the buck out of me every single night that we’re together with one nightmare after the next. Fact that you’ve gone nearly two weeks without any real problems aside, you have no right to feel guilty about this, understand? I knew all of this going in.”

With Cadance being so...her, Sunset felt a little embarrassed about her feelings towards the subject. “Um...okay?”

Wet lips touched the end of her muzzles and Sunset twitched her nose to keep from sneezing. “But don’t you dare start taking it for granted either,” Cadance told her before the smile on her face became more of a frown. “Seriously, don’t you dare start taking me for granted. I have my limits.”

Sunset gave her girlfriend a nervous smile and backed away off the couch. “Got it!” she agreed.

“So, you feeling good about finally becoming an official member of the royal family?” Cadance asked.

The question made Sunset turn her smile from one of nervousness to joy. When it came down to it, that was what she was really excited about. Official adoption by Celestia. For that, she would trade her wings, her title and everything else. “Oh yeah,” she said. “But, I’m gonna like being made a princess too.”

Cadance trotted over and kissed Sunset on the lips with a quick peck before maneuvering around to her side. “Well that’s good,” she told Sunset as music started wafting in from nowhere and the amber alicorn felt the air around her change slightly as Cadance started to move in synch with the music.

Cause there’s a party here in Canterlot
There’s excitement in the air
And everypony’s gonna gather round
To see you put on that crown

“We’re doing a song, now?” she asked as Cadance opened the door to lead her out of the house and locked the door behind them. “Well, I suppose if it’s not the kinky type, I’m good with it.” She had been singing those the past week after all.

Cadance shot her a smile. “No promises,” the pink princess told Sunset before beginning another series of verses.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And everypony will be there.
So we need to get those feathers fixed.
And do something with your hair

“Wait a second,” Sunset mumbled as she saw streamers, confetti and balloons going everywhere in the air over the rooftops blocks away. Along with those things, notes of music were carried on the wind that were in perfect synch despite coming from everywhere at once instead of being localized around a single pony. “Cadance, is the entire city-”

Sunset was cut off when every pony in the neighborhood suddenly opened their windows or doors to pop their heads out.

Sunset’s getting crowned
And it's gonna be
the celebration of
The century

“Singing?” Sunset asked as she became completely dumbfounded. “The entire city is singing in Harmony?” She had ever heard of anything like that before. Nothing even came close!

Cadance giggled and leaned in close to Sunset. “Well of course they are,” she she said before her body began to move in synch with the rhythm.

‘Cause you’re getting crowned
and you’re gonna see
Just how we love you

Once she had fought off the blush from the kiss, Sunset put a wing on Cadance’s ass and forced her to pick up her pace. “Cadance, do you have any idea just how impossible an entire city singing in Harmony about one event revolving around a single pony is?” Sunset asked. “We only do stuff like this when we have something to sing about. Is everypony just stuck in the chorus, or do they actually have something to say?”

Coming back from breakfast, the orange earth pony stuck close to her Ma. Although they had asked for something to eat for breakfast, the palace maid told them that while plenty of food was being prepared, the number of ponies to bring it to them weren’t available thanks to just how many other guests the palace had today. So, Applejack had to trot through the mess everypony was making with her Ma to grab some eats before heading back into the set of rooms she and those other girls had been given.

It was a mite...noisier than she woulda liked.

Sunset’s getting crowned and it’s gonna be
The celebration of the century
Nobles gathered round are gonna see
Just how much I can do.

Applejack trotted out of the hallway with the big hoopla going on. That snooty cook she had seen making lunch for them all the day before was trotting around with a bunch of his staff and all their fancy fixin’s. She had a few songs sung to her by her Ma and Pa over the years, but none of them were such a hullabalu as the one she had seen as the one that started up on her way back from breakfast.

“Buttons and bobkins Applejack, where have you been?” that overly tall unicorn friend of the princesses said as soon as AJ came into the common room of their set of quarters. “We need to get you ready for the coronation.”

Buttercup smiled at the taller mare. “Pardon us bein so late to get back, M’Lady,” she said with a bow of her head. “We got a bit turned around out in the hallway. This place is just so much bigger than we’re used to.”

The big important mare, which she was considering just how much she did with three princesses giggled and waved Buttercup’s worries away with a hoof. “Oh, I’m not a noble,” Sassy Saddles told them. “I go to school like everypony else.”

“Are you saying the important ponies in Canterlot don’t have to go to school?” Rainbow Dash asked as she zipped out of whatever corner she was hiding in. “How do I get to be a noble? Can Princess Cadance make me a noble?”

A pony just as tall as Sassy, but with a coat of pure white and mane so pink that Applejack was afraid that Tia had come back as a teenager until she saw the three symbol cutie mark on her rear trotted up and giggled. Still, she was just as beautiful as Applejack thought a teenage Celestia would be. “No, Dashie. The nobles of Canterlot that don’t decide to enroll in Celestia’s school get private tutors,” she said in a melodious voice that sang in Applejack’s ears. “So it would just be you all alone in a small room with the teacher, who could give you all her attention. Which means, no goofing off, no sleeping, no-”

Rainbow let out a scream of terror. “AHHH! I take it back! I take it back!” she said before quickly dashing away to her parents’ room.

“Fleur de Lis,” the unicorn said to AJ’s mom. Once she had gotten a polite nod, she moved past the mare to get down on her belly. However, she was still a good head taller than the earth pony filly. “And you must be Applejack! It’s nice to finally meet you.”

With the magnificently white unicorn filling up her field of vision, Applejack couldn’t think of much to say. “Y-Yer purdy.” As soon as she said it, Applejack knew she made a mistake. You didn’t just tell ponies you just met that!

“Awww, thank you!” Fleur explained before she got back on her hooves and looked around. “Now, Sassy said you all picked out your dresses for the event yesterday?”

Applejack blinked in confusion. “Picked out, wait you mean that dress up game Rarity made us all play after lunch?” she asked with a worried look on her face. Her and that bigger Rarity that had a mane like Rainbow’s had gotten Applejack into a thing that was nothing but pink poof and frills!

Fleur raised an eyebrow and looked over to Sassy. “Game?”

“I thought it better than telling them we were deciding what they would be wearing to the coronation,” she said before pulling over a rack of clothes from the corner of the room where Applejack had missed it. “Now, where was yours?”

Applejack looked back at her mother. “Do Ah have to, Ma?”

“This is Canterlot, sweetie,” she told the little filly. “Ah can’t wait to see what kind of beautiful outfit that you picked out for me to see.”

Sassy came closer, holding a mess of clothing in her magic. “Well, I did have to make a few changes,” she said before the music that was playing outside crept in and the big unicorn smiled at Applejack before a tornado of clothing that was worse than any storm Applejack had ever experienced came flying at her, completely blocking out the young mare’s field of vision. “After all...

You mustn't wear an outfit that’s shoddy
And going nude, it just won’t do.
No jewelry that’s tasteless or gaudy
Don’t worry you’ll look gorgeous when I get through

If anything, Sunset found the palace was even more hectic than the city that had tripled in population thanks to all of the ponies coming in for the festivities. Servants were running everywhere, setting up freshly picked flowers for the decorations and carrying food to rooms or empty plates from them for the out of town nobility that rated a room at the place.

Despite their status as alicorns, even Sunset and Cadance found themselves nearly trampled a time or two. Once they got to a hallway that looked relatively safe from traffic, Cadance looked over to her fillyfriend. “So, you want to take care of your wings first, or jazz up your mane?”

“Honestly?” Sunset asked before spotting a familiar light gray mare with a black mane that looked like she was about to have a meltdown as she stared at the scroll in front of her. “I think I wanna find my mom, first. Hey Raven!”

There’s a party here in Canterlot
But preperations aren’t quite done
Celestia’s not finished her duties yet
HAS ANYPONY SEEN THE MARE THAT RAISES THE SUN?

Despite how wrong it was to laugh at another pony’s panic, Sunset giggled as Celestia’s personal aide looked around frantically before she decided to proverbially swoop in and save her. “Hey, relax Raven. I saw Mom earlier when I was at Shining Armor’s house.”

The shorter unicorn looked over to Sunset. “You mean your paramour’s place-wait!” the distraught pony exclaimed. “Y-You mean, she’s no longer in the palace?!”

Sunset winced as Raven shrieked in her ear. “Y-Yeah.”

Using her magic, Raven rolled the long list of things to do makeshift megaphone before turning to face down the hallway to Sunset’s left. “Attention everypony! The pigeon has flown the coop! Code red! Code red!” she said as she trotted away at a brisk pace. “I repeat! THE PIGEON HAS FLOWN THE COOP! SCRAMBLE AERIAL RETRIEVAL TEAMS!”

“Should I be worried that there’s a code phrase for Celestia running away from the palace?” Cadance asked nervously.

Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. “Pfft! This is nothing. Last two times I went with Mom to the Summer Sun Celebration, she got drunk off her ass and spent most of the night either hugging me, crying, or shouting at the moon of all things.”

“R-Really?” Cadance stuttered. “Well...um, since your mother isn’t here. Let’s go get those wings touched up.”

The comment made Sunset look down at her still-new appendages. “Do they really look that bad?”

Cadance gave Sunset an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but…”

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And all eyes will be on you-

“Okay! Okay! I get it,” Sunset told Cadance before she could continue. “We’ll go get my feathers done and put on makeup. You don’t need to chew me out in song that the whole bucking city is in on. Sheesh!”

She began to trot away quickly, but Cadance quickly caught up. “Little mad you haven’t gotten your part yet?”

“...yes,” Sunset grumbled. “Yes I am. I actually learned to carry a tune and play an instrument when I was a human. They don’t get mystical trace paths for dance numbers and background music just pop out of thin air you know!”

Sunset's getting crowned
And it’s gonna be-

Lady Crooked Line turned away from her balcony and went back inside before that horrid song could continue to damage her ears. Eve since that fake Princess Cadance had appeared, Princess Celestia had been becoming more and more foolish. Now that Sunset Shimmer was also revealed to be of her blood, it made the whole Line family want to puke.

The lesser alicorns were supposed to be the best ponykind had to offer. Unicorns that had been plucked from the cream of Canterlot crop. After all, whom else would the offspring of Celestia had lain with, if not the most prominent families in Equestria? The fact that harlot Cadance had been a sky farmer before Celestia’s blood came into bloom meant that too many of Line’s ancestors had been sleeping with the help!

She looked over to her husband. Blue Line was a thin unicorn stallion that had the same darkened color as his namesake with a black mane. Like his son, the old stallion had served as the captain of the guard, with his father holding the position before him. He looked up from his paper and set aside his coffee. “Is there something wrong?”

Crooked Line took in a breath and felt a need overcome her that she hadn’t experienced in years.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
But I’m not sure that we’ll go
While the hostess is the shining sun
The guest of honor is rather low

Blue Line took another sip of his drink and stood up. “Well, the colt has been telling us it would be best not to attend. Not that it will stop us, of course. Stupid brat thinks just because I decided to give him my position, it means he has any say in how this House functions.”

“Still calling him that, Blue?” she asked with a frown.

The stallion snorted. “I’ll call him that ‘till he proves himself otherwise,” Blue Line said. “And we will be going, because he told us not to. I am still head of this family, and I decided to attend. So, we’ll be going. She may be some...pauper that Celestia pulled from the gutter, but as you said, Celestia is hosting the event. Go tell the colt.”

Crooked Line sighed. As the only son of the seventh house of Canterlot, she had thought that marrying the self-important stallion would have been a big trade up. After all, Crooked was the fourth daughter of the twelfth house. Her eldest sister would have been the one to inherit the title when their parents passed away and she doubted that both of her other elder sisters would pass on too.

So, she spent her money on cosmetic treatments to make herself taller, basic illusion enchantments to lighten her coat from gray to white and dyes that turned her mane a light blue much like a part of Celestia’s own. It was enough to attract the attention of a stallion from a higher station, so she considered it a sound investment at the time.

However, Crooked learned just why a prime stud like Blue Line had stayed unclaimed despite the political connections that came along with him rather quickly. The stallion was one of those backwards-thinking ponies that actually thought males should be the ponies calling the shots. Something she supposed came from generations of being in the one profession outside that silly little political body that gave stallions the chance to run for position based on peasantry favoritism. It had been a source of strain on their marriage, especially considering the fact that they had beaten the odds and produced a stallion foal on the first try.

Blue Line had gotten what he had wanted out of their union. As far as he was concerned, they were a pair of ponies that had united for the purpose of continuing his line. In return, Crooked got invited to social parties of a higher tier that allowed her to forge better business ties and make a fair amount of money.

Although, the opulent days looked long past with the advent of Sunset Shimmer. The low-born little filly had already shown that she wasn’t the type of pony to let anypony that crossed her off the hook like Her Highness. There was also the fact that she had taken in some commoner that had gotten herself pregnant and enacted new laws that let ponies that didn’t even wear clothes half the time take their betters for paternity tests.

What was next? Letting commoners take the highborn before a magistrate because a servant needed some correctional action?

It was bad enough that some of the merchants were all but buying their way into high society thanks to that little revolution in industry during her father’s time, but royalty coming from the common stock like Cadance and Sunset was just insulting!

After letting the situation swish around until it left a bad taste in her mouth, Crooked resisted the urge to spit and cleared her throat. “Well, if we’re going, I suppose I should tell Hard the bad news. Hopefully, we’ll have...well, under the circumstances, I’m not sure if I’d prefer a seat to just standing in the crowd.” Even if it would have been an insult to her house.

Crooked trotted out of the living room and into her mansion’s grand entrance, then up the left flight of stairs since that was the wing that Hard lived in, preferring to be as far away from his father as possible. She passed three servants on her way there, ponies whose families had been in service to the house for generations bowed to Crooked as if she was Celestia herself. All of them Canterlot-born unicorns.

She didn’t bother knocking as she entered the living space of her stallion’s quarters. She found it empty, but the question of just where Hard Line was at was answered when she heard the stallions words coming from his bedroom, accompanied by a tune in the air.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And my role will be a surprise
While that brat will be expecting words
I’ll give her a sword in the eyes

Crooked Line gasped at the last part of her son’s song, drawing his attention away from the mirror he was using to examine his dress uniform as she opened the door.

“Mother!” Hard Line exclaimed as his eyes went to the thin blade sitting on his bed.

The mare took a step in the room, hardly believe what she had just heard. To...kill a princess...it was unheard of. And when it was finished, Crooked had little hopes for the future of her offspring.

But…

All of her worries, all of the problems that Sunset Shimmer would cause, all of a sudden, her son had found the perfect solution to them.

However, Crooked Line could see one little problem with his idea: it didn’t go far enough. “You’ll have to get the pink one too,” she told him.

And should Celestia punish him in turn...well, there would be little reason for Blue to hold out on giving her a new foal. One she would make sure was a filly.

Fleur trotted down the halls of Canterlot Palace, freshly garbed in in the black dress she had made for the coronation. Well, the dress Sassy had made using materials provided, but Fleur had given her the instructions on coloration. It seemed a little dark for such a happy occasion, but...Fancy had said he planned to wear a jacket of similar coloration, and since she was his foreleg candy, Fleur needed to dress to match.

The thought of Fancy Pants put the white mare in a bit of melancholy. While certainly not the worst stallion she could have gotten, he was just...nice. The nice son of one of the bottom tier noble houses. So bottom tier that they let in lesser Canterlot ponies who were pretty, magically powerful or wealthy. Not that Fancy’s family needed the money.

What’s wrong with me? Fleur asked herself. A month ago, she had been happy about the arrangement her parents had made with the House of Covers, to which Fancy Pants belonged. They were important ponies in the textile industry and didn’t have any awful rumors floating around like several of the more important houses did. After meeting him and finding out that the young stallion was a perfect gentle colt, Fleur knew that she should have been ecstatic at their engagement.

But when it came time to create the mental image of the colt that was satisfying her over the past week like Princess Cadance had instructed her to when using the rods of relief, it wasn’t Fancy Pants that came to Fleur’s mind. She had tried picturing him, tried like there was no tomorrow. But the closest thing she could manage was just a nondescript white unicorn with a blue mane.

“What’s wrong with me?” she asked herself as she trotted along, deep in thought.

That is until somepony had the audacity to not notice she was coming around a corner and bumped into her. Bumped into her so hard she fell down. “Off!” the bothersome pony said as Fleur worked to get her bearings.

“Oh! Fleur, sorry. I should have watched where I was going,” a familiar voice told her as she felt a big, strong hoof take hers and wait for the pony with the pink mane to recover instead of just yanking her up like so many so-called gentle colts tended to do.

When Fleur pulled on his foreleg a gentle tug helped the young mare to her hooves. “Thank you,” she said before looking to see just who had been so kind and freezing in shock.

The pony certainly looked like Shining Armor. Only, more...like a type of pony that reminded Fleur she had just entered her cool down and there was still a slight chance that if the pony in front of her spun Fleur around with his fit forelegs to lift up her dress and tail to mount her right then and there, pounding her from the back with powerful after thrust after powerful thrust with his strong hind legs until she whinnied like an inexperienced filly.

“Fleur, are you okay?”

Hearing her name again shook Fleur out of her daydream. It also confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that the pony standing in front of her with the fresh mane and coat cut was Shining Armor. A very well developed Shining Armor that made the space between Fleur’s rear cheeks quiver with excitement. “W-What?” she stuttered as her brain tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Shining Armor was not hot. Shining Armor was the nerdy little friend of Princess Sunset that she had taken a liking to because he was a nice colt with a cute smile that didn’t have an overwhelming urge to try and breed every mare he saw. Admittedly, it was something that made Fleur desire him a tiny bit, but not enough to...well, date him in school. Ponies like him, she could wait until she was out of Canterlot Academy to ask him out on a date in the hopes of getting a decent stallion.

However, the Shining Armor she was seeing in front of her with the dress suit slung across his back had the body of the type of colts that played sports and got the cheerleaders to raise their tails. The type of pony she had gone gaga over before her hoof had been promised to Fancy Pants.

“Shining Armor,” Fleur said as her brain continued to try and work through the impossibility in front of her. “You’re...hot.”

A second later, as Shining Armor was blinking at the statement, Fleur’s mind caught up with her mouth and she realized just what she had said. Oh, good one YOU IDIOT, she mentally screamed at herself. She just made a pass at the royal bed stallion. If Sunset Shimmer found out, Fleur’s only hope was finding out that she was also a descendant of Celestia in time to sprout wings before she hit the ground after the big mare tossed her off the edge of Canterlot.

“Really?” Shining Armor said before he looked himself over. “We clipped off a lot of my coat, but I guess I am still a little sweaty.” He took a quick sniff of himself. “Well, I need to shower and get all of the hair that’s still clinging to my coat anyway, so...um...hey, Sunset was looking for you earlier. She’s in the west wing, third story, hallway B, third door on your left.”

Fleur gulped. “I’ll um...go see her now,” she said before turning around and trotting away as fast as she could without galloping.

It took some time, but Fleur managed to find her way thanks to several guards that pointed her in one direction or another. She was rather nervous as she walked up to the room Sunset was using to get dressed. Although she was friends with the alicorn, promising to show up to help out with all those fillies and then not doing it might have put Fleur on the outs with the princess. Not to mention the comment Fleur made to Shining Armor, which she knew Sunset would eventually know about. And as the last pony from their social circle who made Sunset mad was currently rotting in the Canterlot dungeons...the young mare didn’t want to take any chances. But, refusing the invitation and not coming now that her heat had finally abated might have been worse.

Okay Fleur, just trot on in and see how it goes, the young mare told herself. A shaky hoof raised to touch the door and...the unicorn wished that she could have been the one stranded in Manehattan with Princess Sunset and forced to ride the train back a few days before the Fall Formal. Whatever happened on that train let Sassy speak to royalty as if they were just regular ponies.

The unicorn took one last breath to steel herself and opened the door to take the plunge.

“Okay now, just one last...got it!” Cadance exclaimed before she brought her head up and away from Sunset’s wings that sparkled a bit in the light from the same wing decoration that she had worn at the Formal.

Behind the big alicorn, that pregnant unicorn name Star...something was inspecting Sunset’s rear end. “Princess Sunset, are you sure you’re not just imagining it? I can’t see anything wrong with your dress from back here. At least, nothing to suggest it shrunk in the wash.”

Cadance giggled. “Maybe it was that extra slice of cheesecake you had with the girls yesterday.”

“Ugh! Figures you’d play the weight gain card,” Sunset grumbled at Cadance before she noticed the pony in the door. “Fleur!”

The unicorn found herself caught up in the Princess’s magic that moved her forward and into an engulfing hug. Forelegs twice as thick as Fleur’s squeezed her tight and had the pink-maned pony worrying that Sunset was trying to find out of she could pop a pony’s guts out or if squeezing a mare too hard just made her go squish. “I’ve missed you so much!” Sunset told her before hesitating for a moment before placing her cheek on Fleur’s for an affectionate nuzzle.

Then, it was over as suddenly as it began and Fleur found herself back on the ground while Sunset looked her over. “Like the dress too, by the way. Very slimming.”

“Oh, um…” Fleur took a moment to look at Sunset. While the green gown the princess had on looked a great deal like the one she wore to the Fall Formal with its dark green coloration and gold-colored trim. Sequins were sewn into the rear that made it look like Sunset sparkled with every movement she took, while a gold and ruby decoration that matched her cutie mark adorned her body just below the alicorn’s neck. Rubies were also decorating the mare’s obsidian horseshoes, one large gem each.

To anypony who had seen Sassy’s work at the Formal, it was as if the pony who made the dress Sunset currently wore was standing up and shouting ‘ANYTHING SHE CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER’.

“You look lovely, Princess,” Fleur told her in absolute honesty.

Sunset sighed and looked down at herself. “Yeah, I know I should have gotten Sassy to make me a dress, even put in an order for one too,” she mumbled. “But, Mom’s been planning this since before I even knew Sassy, and...well…”

Fleur nodded in understanding. “Sassy’s not this good.”

“Yeah. Plus this is a public event,” Sunset grumbled. “Can’t show favoritism and all that. Although, it would be cool to at least make her my personal seamstress once she graduates.”

A second later, Cadance cleared her throat. “Did you just badmouth favoritism and then show it in the same breath?”

Sunset blinked, then rolled her eyes and snorted. “No, me hiring Sassy is cronyism. Which is a totally different thing that favoritism. They’re pronounced and spelled with completely different letters.”

Listening to the two princesses have their friendly argument as the three other mares in the room laughed at Princess Sunset’s excuse, Fleur blinked as she felt something she hadn’t in a long time. Just being around the other two alicorns filled the unicorn with a feeling she had been missing for six days too many.

Or more.

As Princess Sunset went on to share a few quips with Princess Cadance before dragging their chambermaid into the conversation and letting her talk to them on equal standing, Fleur was reminded of just how empty her life had been during her reign over Canterlot Academy. Her three member clique had gossiped and discussed the latest magazine topics, but they never really had time to talk in a friendly manner the way Fleur found herself doing with royalty from time to time.

Which made what she had to confess all the harder. “Um, Princess Sunset?” Fleur asked.

“Admit it, you just think there’s something wrong with the dress because Sassy didn’t make it for you,” Cadance said.

“Okay, you may have a point there,” Sunset replied before looking back to Fleur. “What’s up?”

Fleur gulped. “Princess, I...ran into Shining Armor in the hallway.” She froze in fear, unable to say more. If she did, it would be the end of their friendship.

After a second Sunset stepped forward to tower over Fleur’s retreating stance. Her smile curved upward and became absolutely predatory before she lowered her head to within inches of Fleur’s. “Isn’t he just scrumptious now?” she asked with a giggle before trotting away with a spring in her steps and continued talking in a voice that bordered on musical. “Bet you wished you had hitched him to your post when it was still single!”

“Y-Yes!” Fleur told her quickly before realizing what she had just said. The mare’s eyes widened as both alicorns turned their full attention onto her. “I mean...um...oh, ponyfeathers, I’m dead now, aren’t I?”

Princess Sunset and Princess Cadance shared a confused look before the amber alicorn turned her head back towards Fleur. “Huh?”

As the room was filled with silence, Princess Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Did you also have sexual fantasies about him?”

“J-Just one, Princess,” Fleur admitted as she shrunk in on herself.

Princess Cadance stepped forward and frowned. “Did you tempt Shiny with an offer or receive a pass from him?”

After gulping down her nervousness, Fleur looked up to the bigger pony. “N-No. I’d never-”

Princess Sunset didn’t let her finish. She glared down at Fleur with a look that made the white pony wish she was a mouse and had a hole to hide in. “Did you shove a magical potion down his throat that made him unable to do anything but have sex with you?”

“Of course not!” Fleur exclaimed in a panic.

And just like that, the irritation on Cadance’s face along with the dark storm on Sunset’s cleared up. “So all you did is have sexy thoughts about our super sexy coltfriend,” the amber alicorn said with a smile that only widened. “Somepony’s jeal-ous.”

Fleur slowly got to her hooves, but kept her head low. “Of Shining Armor and many other things,” she admitted to the big, strong, powerful and beautiful alicorn with the personality to match.

“Although, I don’t think we could be angry at you if Shiny initiated it, or if you did proposition Shining Armor, for that matter,” Princess Cadance said in consideration a moment later.

Sunset turned her head to face Cadance. “Say what?” she asked evenly.

“Well, we are in a multi-pony relationship that has no established rules, so it would be pretty hypocritical for us to be angry for anypony seeking to increase our numbers when we ourselves have gone outside the limits of a couple,” Cadance explained. “Plus, let’s be honest about the ponies involved. Shining Armor isn’t the type of pony who would just chase a mare’s tail for what’s underneath it. If he did go after Fleur in a romantic way, it would be because you and I aren’t giving him what he needs. Either that, or all the extra stuff he has to deal with because of who and what we are is too much, and he just wants somepony simpler. In both cases, we’d either have to let him go or...see if Fleur could be worked into the relationship if that was what she wanted.”

The mention of such a possibility had Fleur freezing up until Cadance looked over to her. “Which isn’t going to happen,” the pink princess told her. “Sunset is the only mare I will ever need.”

Sunset groaned and rolled her eyes. “You just had to get all love science on me, didn’t you?” she asked before looking back to Fleur and putting up a hoof to wave away the unicorn’s concerns. “And I’m not the thought police Fleur, you can think whatever you like and look wherever you please. And if Shiny’s unhappy with us...can’t believe I’m actually saying this, talk to him about it and...maybe us?” She looked over to the other princess. “Okay, need you to do the love science stuff again because, um...did I seriously just give Fleur permission to hit on our boyfriend?”

“If Shining Armor is genuinely unhappy, then yeah, she should do something about it if she has the mind to go the distance. Even if that means...stealing him,” Cadance admitted reluctantly.

In the interest of staying on the good side of the royal family, Fleur quickly spoke up. “Let me just say that, even though Shining Armor is probably the best colt I know, that’s...probably not going to happen. So...no...worries?”

“Oh, so you’re saying Shiny’s not good enough for you?” Sunset asked.

It was only a few seconds later that Fleur noticed the little smirk on the princess’s mouth, which made her giggle and smile in turn. “There’s just no winning with you, is there?”

Sunset’s smile widened. “Well I am a princess,” she said before she threw out foreleg to put it behind Fleur’s neck and walked over to the window. “So, what’d you do for your week off? Other than...you know...putting a fake penis in your pussy?”

“I read some books,” she said. “Now that I’m not getting the answers to every test ahead of time, school’s a lot harder than it used to be. Talked with my mother about Fancy during my more...controlled days.”

Cadance trotted up to stand beside Fleur after dismissing the blue unicorn. “How’s that going?”

“I...don’t know,” Fleur admitted before searching for something good to say about the stallion in question. “Fancy’s...nice.”

There was a knowing nod from Cadance. “But coltfriends that you’re hoping to marry need to be more than nice,” she said. “That’s the problem with arranged relationships. There’s no foundation to build on.”

“Hey!” Sunset whined. “Me and Shiny didn’t have anything to build on and look where we are now.”

Cadance extended her head forward to look past Fleur to Sunset. “Yeah well, you’re weird.”

The comment got a few blinks from Sunset before she managed to retort. “Yeah well…” she said before sticking out her tongue to razz Cadance. “So, I win.”

Even though it went against the survival instincts that hadn’t been fully shut away, Fleur found herself unable to stop herself from speaking. “Actually, Princess Sunset, I think the pony who resorts to razzing is the pony that loses the argument.”

“Oh yeah?” Sunset asked before briefly razzing Fleur.

To which Fleur replied with her own, “Phfzzzt!”

Sunset took in a deep breath and…

“Phffffffzzzzzzzzzzzzz!”

...promptly choked on it when Cadance stuck her head out beneath the space between the two of them and shook it furiously while razzing both the girls at once. Both Fleur and Sunset giggled before the trio split up in stumbling laughter.

“Well, Cadance had a point,” Sunset said.

Fleur managed to her herself under control. “Yes, hard to argue with that.”

As the three girls got themselves under control, another silence followed. Then Fleur realized that she still had things to tell them. “Oh! I also took part in the song this morning!” she exclaimed happily.

It looked to be the wrong thing to tell Sunset, as her face fell and she sighed. “Oh...that’s...great.”

Cadance trotted up to stand alongside Fleur before she leaned over and whispered out of the corner of her mouth. “Sunset hasn’t gotten any musical inspiration yet.”

“Okay, yeah. It’s stupid,” Sunset said before turning back to the window. “I mean...

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And the party’s all for me

Fleur blinked as she heard a violin’s slow melody floating in on the wind.

I can barely believe just where we are
And how my dreams have come to be

I never thought I’d have a real family
Or even just one true friend
Somepony who would understand me

Sunset shared a look with Cadance and her friends as they stood there with her dress and all of her royal regalia save for thee crown Celestia had made for her. The four of them smiled at each other and Sunset found herself enjoying the moment. Then...the door burst open to admit a big white alicorn flanked by her secretary Raven and the palace’s majordomo, Kibitz. “Sunset hurry up! The ceremony is at ten!” Celestia yelled.

She rushed in and all of the amber alicorn’s makeup was on in a flash of magic that had Sunset wondering just what the hell had happened before Celestia put a wing across her daughter’s back and guided her towards the door.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And it’s starting right away
Get rid of that frown and ready for a crown
Because it’s your coronation day!

Cadance fought a losing battle as she tried to keep her nervous panic from showing as she trotted in place wearing in her white and gold gown next to Celestia as she adjusted the enormous pink covering that had been made for her. “You know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should do things a tiny bit different than planned,” she told the bigger alicorn. “I should escort Sunset to the dais for the ceremony.”

“I know you’re nervous without Sunset around, Cadance. But you saw me drink the same potion you did in the dressing room,” Celestia reminded her. “You know I’m not a changeling. You’re safe with me.”

The hole in Celestia’s logic was enough to back her big butt through. “That’s if you weren’t already replaced! I could be talking to a changeling right now!” Cadance pointed out.

Celestia gave her an even look. “The day of your coronation, you complained about an upset stomach I said was just nerves. Then, when it came time to give your crown acceptance speech, you farted with enough pressure to ruffle your gown. An event nopony has commented on since I used my magic to cover it up, so only you and I know about it.”

“...okay fine. You’re Celestia,” Cadance admitted when she worked through the embarrassment of that particular memory. Here I thought everypony was just being nice. Although, knowing what she knew about Sunset now, there was no way that the then unicorn wouldn’t have made her the butt of every joke possible.

Still, the fact that she was next to the second most powerful pony in Equestria was calming. “So, are you doing that to us again?” Cadance asked.

“I use it every time there’s going to be paparazzi,” Celestia explained before she look forward and lit up her horn. “You can look nervous or ask me any question you want when we’re not supposed to be speaking, as long as you don’t do something like start dancing on your hind legs, nopony will see it.” She looked over to Cadance. “Is there something bothering you. I know this is Sunset’s day, but...I am here for you too, Cadance.”

The pink princess sighed. “You mean besides my rampant paranoia?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, I’m willing to listen to that too. As long as it’s in a way to help you. I’m not just going to let you work yourself into a frenzy because you think everypony and everything in the next room is a changeling in disguise.”

“Well...okay, I guess there is something else bothering me,” Cadance admitted. She started to sit down, then thought better of it and quickly straightened out her hooves. “Sunset had a relapse this morning.”

“I’m aware of that,” Celestia said flatly.

Cadance gave the big pony an irritated groan. “Well, what I mean is...I just don’t get it! This and when she first came back. I know I’m really biased here, Celestia. But...Sunset’s a strong pony, and I’m talking in more ways than just the Canterlot-shaking kind of strong. She survived being ignored by you for years, then she didn’t flip out and burn me alive when I showed up and was given what she always wanted. Not to mention how she apparently thrived on her own on a whole other world, not even bothering to call out to you once, even though we both know she would have wanted nothing more than to have some kind of communication from you. Plus-”

Celestia snorted very loudly. “I am well aware of my failings and Sunset’s strengths, Cadance.”

The annoyance in Celestia’s voice was apparent. Cadance lowered her head in apology. “Sorry,” she told the bigger pony before looking at her again. “It’s just...she goes through all of that and more without a single mental scratch. But she gets home and now she’s having problems?”

“Weren’t you the one who thought that being cut off from her magic helped her deal with everything as a type of liberating punishment?” Celestia asked.

Cadance looked back to the ground. “Well...yeah,” she admitted. “But I’m finding a replacement for that. You saw it the other day when you saw Sunset as a human. A human with a horn, but…” Cadance sighed and shook her head. “Maybe I’m just overthinking things. But...well, what if I’m not? What if there is something making Sunset be this way?”

“That something being?” Celestia asked while holding back any sign of emotion.

The question had Cadance thinking back to one of her earlier theories. Theories she had spoken to Sunset about a little, but not all the way. “I’m hardly knowledgeable when it comes to magic. But I know there is magic out there that can alter a pony’s mind, make them think what another pony wants them too. Sunset told me that Princess Twilight used a magical item on her to cleanse her of a demon she herself made, or turned into or… Look, I know Sunset’s still shown herself be far from pure, so the idea that somepony just came along and scrubbed her clean of any dark impulses is really far fetched. Maybe I just want there to be some evil monster out there giving Sunset nightmares because it means there’s something more I can do to stop it than just help her by holding my fillyfriend when she cries. But you can’t deny that there is something strange going on with how she’s acting.”

When Princess Celestia didn’t give Cadance some kind of warm reassurances about how her actions counted for more than she knew or other some such thing, the pink pony looked up to the bigger alicorn. “Celestia?”

The blare of trumpets sounded and Celestia shook her head, as if throwing off some annoying insect of a thought. “That’s our cue,” she said before trotting forward.

Cadance followed along not a second later.

The throne room looked very much like Cadance remembered from her own coronation, with the exception that instead of pink banners with crystal hearts, amber ones with fiery suns hung in their place. Every single inch of the room that they didn’t need to move around was packed with rich and noble ponies, with the exception of the right rear corner where Sunset’s special guest fillies were gathered and the very front of the crowd to Cadance’s left, where Shiny’s family was seated on posh cushions.

The later was a position that Celestia and Sunset had argued about. Apparently, the first ten rows of the crowd, the ones allowed to sit during the proceedings that were less exciting, were supposed to be held by the top ten noble families of Canterlot, plus important military commanders. The fact that she had given it to a bunch of political noponies...well, like Celestia had said, it wasn’t doing Shiny’s family any favors.

Once they had taken their places in front of the throne, Celestia smirked. “Do you have your speech ready?”

Cadance’s eyes widened. "Speech?” she asked before looking over to the bigger pony. “What speech?”

“Before an alicorn approaches to be crowned, the High Princess of Equestria gives a speech to introduce her,” Celestia told her with a wide grin. “Remember?”

“...this is that...tolling thing Sunset warned me about, isn’t it?” Cadance asked with a scowl. “You play some silly joke that is obviously a joke if somepony bothers to stop and think about it for more than three seconds. But since you’re Princess Celestia, nopony does and just panics.”

Celestia’s grin devolved into a smirk. “She called it trolling. And don’t worry, I’ve got you covered,” she said before stepping forward. “Fillies and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous event. One that I have been waiting for some time to occur. My most beloved student, Sunset Shimmer, has done many extraordinary things in the past several years, many things that I am sad to say, nopony will ever know about outside her immediate family. However, the achievement of fully realizing her potential is not something to be humble about. Thus, she will be crowned as Equestria’s newest Princess!

“So, without further ado, may I present for the very first time...since, you know, she wore a different title the last time she ruled Equestria, Princess Sunset Shimmer!”

A worry ran down the back of Cadance neck. “Celestia, I just realized something. I’m not with her and neither are you. What happens if she turns tail and just runs away?”

The wide smile didn’t disappear. “Then, as Sunset would say, we’re totally fucked.”

Unlike the first time Sunset had attended a coronation, the princess waiting outside the throne room wasn’t surrounded by any guards. They were all over the castle, making sure nobody suspicious went anywhere they were supposed to. So, Sunset stood in the entryway all by herself.

The announcement of her name by Celestia made Sunset gulp down her fears and put one shaking hoof in front of the other. And then…

Then she…

She…

Hesitated.

Why am I just standing here? Sunset asked herself.

The amber alicorn nervously licked her lips. Rationally, she knew he old thoughts of not deserving a crown were foolish. Velvet was right, Sunset had made the decision to become a princess weeks ago. If she didn’t want to, she could have just turned around, smashed through the wall and gone her merry way.

But if she did, it would cause no end of problems for everyone she loved. Not to mention, Sunset would never be able to show her face in public again. And Cadance would most definitely freak out and spend the rest of her life hiding in a closet. Oh, and there’s some stuff I want to do as a princess too, Sunset reminded herself.

Which was...something Sunset thought she probably should have started with. Doing things out of obligation and fear was never a good place.

So, Sunset took a deep breath to steady herself and opened the double doors with her horn. A minor illusion spell made anybody who bothered to look see Sunset looking ahead of her with purpose. What she really did was look around every which way at the crowd around her.

The regional nobles from all over Equestria looked on in excitement and awe. Which was to be expected. Unlike the ponies in Canterlot, they had no idea just what Sunset was like and if the reports were to be believed, the southern ponies looked very favorably on Sunset thanks to her actions as Empress. Then came the Canterlot nobles, they were a mixed bag. Some looked upon the amber alicorn with worry and outright fear, others were more calculating, trying to see how they could use her to their advantage. Fancy Pants looked a little hopeful about the whole thing though.

She looked over to Shiny as she passed him and smiled. When Twilight raised her hoof to wave at the alicorn before her father moved to stop her, Sunset paused to wave back. The huge break in protocol got several gasps and pictures taken, but Sunset’s thought on that was, fuck you idiots I’ll say hello to whomever the hell I want, protocol be damned.

“Sunset,” Celestia said before she looked over to where a black crown that looked like a smaller version of Celestia’s own instead of the thing Cadance wore to formal events sat on a short column that had been brought in for the coronation alongside a scroll. It had been a rush job after the crown Celestia planned on giving her ended up a flawed mess, with the promise that an improved version would follow in the coming weeks. “Although it fills me with a great deal of pride to finally present you with this badge of office, what comes next is what I will remember this day for.”

Sunset bowed down as Celestia levitated the crown over place it on her head and set it firmly behind her ears. The cool dark glass that had been magically reinforced like her horseshoes pressed against her coat and limited the movement of the ears atop her head. Once she was sure it wasn’t going to fall, Sunset turned around to stand beside her mother as ponies snapped dozens of photographs.

Once Sunset was in place, Celestia took the scroll in her magic to unroll it and brought the paper over to float in front of the two of them. The legal jargon that took up more than half the page took Sunset a minute to work through, but she already knew what was on the paper before she even started reading. It was the official adoption order that would legally make Sunset Shimmer the daughter of Princess Celestia.

There was a fluttering in Sunset’s heart at she looked at the document. It was a strange feeling that went up to swirl around in her head. Sunset knew that legal papers didn’t really account for much in the way of family. It didn’t really matter what a paper said if it wasn’t true in a pony’s heart. Celestia had called Sunset her daughter dozens of times since she came back to Equestria in front of everypony. But there was something to be said about something being put down on paper, the creation of an undeniable record that would exist for the rest of time.

Which, Sunset saw the document would. Celestia had woven so many protections about the paper that it wouldn’t get wet in the rain or even be singed from being tossed in a volcano. The space set for their signatures was mystically receptive, the proof of which was shown when Celestia touched her horn to the paper and her cutie mark appeared along with her name.

It took Sunset a whole second to do the same, leaving her magical signature on the page along with a recreation of her cutie mark.

As soon as it was done, Celestia showed the front of the paper to everyone long enough for photographs to be taken before she rolled the scroll back up and placed it aside before looking back to the crowd. “Although I have loved and cared for her as my own for many years now, let it be known that as of this moment, Sunset Shimmer is my daughter and heir.”

For the first time since Sunset came back, she didn’t feel the urge to yell at Celestia’s synopsis of their earlier years. She simply stood next to her mom and smiled.

“Now,” Celestia said. “Let those who wish to approach your newest princess come forth to show her your devotion.”

A large white stallion with a golden mane and matching mustache got to his hooves along with a dark gray mare who followed behind him with a satchel on her hip. Sunset recognized Blueblood the some-number-that-was-one-less-than-the-one-the-son-that-had-been-sitting-beside-him-possessed.

As he trotted forward, Sunset leaned over to Celestia. “Hey Mom, did we check their stuff to make sure it was free of explosion runes and junk?”

Celestia blinked and looked over to Sunset. “Why would anypony do something like that?” she asked in disbelief. “They could be caught up in the explosion as well.”

“...nevermind,” Sunset replied. Considering what happened the last time she introduced a human idea to Equestria, it was best that she didn’t tell anypony about terrorism.

Although, Sunset still got ready to deal with any surprises that would come her way.

Blueblood went into an elegant bow. “Greeting, Princess Sunset. I am Prince Blueblood, of the House of Platinum. In show of my house’s longstanding ties with the crown, going all the way back to my ancestor, Princess Platinum. I give to you my grandmother’s favorite country estate,” he said before looking over to the mare beside him who in turn reached into her pack to pull out several documents and photographs of an opulent mansion, as well as pictures of a vineyard, farmland, lakes and a small village Sunset wasn’t familiar with. “The land is one thousand, three-hundred thirty-eight acres of viable farmland in total, with a peasantry that is very hard-working and obedient. I assure you that it will be a very profitable holding.”

After making a show of studying the documents that gave her information on the financials of the prosperity, Sunset gave a tip of her head in thanks. Unlike her signing with Celestia, there would be time for transfer of possession later. “Thank you for this lovely gift,” she said gently. “I’ll have to ask for a personal tour as soon as I can.”

Even though she didn’t think much of the first family, the offer of thanks was genuine. A personal estate of her very own meant an income that didn’t depend on tax money, something Sunset felt guilty about spending on anything but necessities. Despite being in a palace again, years of living as a minimalist had taught her how to get by without much of anything. So, things like a guitar were put on a wishlist instead of in her hooves.

Once she was done giving thanks to Blueblood, the stallion gave a respectful bow before taking a few steps backwards and turning to return to his seat. Then came the House of Card and House of Mouse, which also offered up estates in the southern and eastern areas of Equestria. More ponies came with gifts, until finally, the head of House Guard approached.

Sunset blinked when Blue Line stood up and inclined his head. “Our son carries our gift to you, Your Majesty.”

There was a gasp of surprise from some of the ponies gathered, along with more than a few smirks at the open act of defiance. To try and circumvent the rules surrounding the gifts of fealty was unheard of. Still, by saying that the gift his son carried, a gift that was also tied to an arm of the palace’s military unit, he had lumped the royal guard in with him if their gift of fealty was judged insufficient.

The oddity got a frown from Sunset. Her eyes darted over to the stallion with the steel rod up his ass before she turned her head back to the blue unicorn and motioned for him to stay with a hoof gesture. “Well then, let’s see just what he’s got for me, shall we?” she said before looking over to the other Line stallion. “Hard Line, come up here with your father and show everypony just what you’ve got in store for your newest princess.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sunset saw Celestia giving her one of those looks she remembered from her last days as a unicorn, but she ignored it. The gift that Hard Line was supposed to be handing over was a gift from the palace guard, which was usually a decorative weapon with a message of fealty inscribed upon it. However, Sunset didn’t see him carrying anything aside from his normal blade, which had a hilt that wasn’t the least bit fancy.

“Sunset, what’re you doing?” Celestia asked.

“This may be maximum hypocritical coming from me, but ponies have been getting away with way too much as far back as I can remember,” Sunset said as she looked over to her mom. “And I get it. You’re patient, you give ponies the benefit of the doubt and second chances and all that, but I’m not you, Mom. I call ponies on their bullshit and give them enough rope to...tie themselves in knots.” Sunset didn’t want to use the usual saying. It would just make Celestia more upset.

Hard Line approached the dias. “Sunset Shimmer, I have your rightful gift,” he said. “But before I give it to you. Let me say, that what I shall give you will show the dedication and love that my house holds for all Equestria. For Princess Celestia, and all of the ponies who are here today. So, let them bear witness to my house's dedication to you all!”

With all the grandstanding going on, Sunset was pretty certain what was going to happen. She just didn’t know how another pony could flip her the bird without fingers. Still, it was getting pretty boring. She let out an annoyed groan and looked up at the ceiling. “Get on with it, you idiot.”

There was a bright flash of light on the edge of her vision that was enough to draw Sunset’s attention before she saw the stallion coming at her with a sword in hoof while on his hind legs. Hard Line’s horn lit up with a light spell that completely blinded the amber alicorn as the stallion’s voice reached her ears along with another one right behind it that Sunset could half-recognize over the din of screaming that was the crowd’s reaction. “DEATH TO SUNSET SHIMMER!”

“NOOOOOO!”

Chapter 7

It all happened in an instant, faster than anything he had ever experienced before. Which, admittedly wasn’t that long a list of experiences when it came to ponies attacking alicorns, or ponies being in danger in general. There was that time Twily was nearly crushed by a rockslide when he earned his cutie mark, that fake dragon that nearly roasted him alive shortly before he and Sunset kissed for the first time, and although it wasn’t really real, that time he fought alongside Cadance in the mage's tower.

Still, when that crazy unicorn had charged at Sunset with a sword in a hoof of all things, Shining Armor reacted like he did those first two times. He didn’t think about the how he simply leaped forward and threw out his magic on pure instinct despite the fact that the image he saw was burned away by a bright light.

He felt a pressure on his horn and the familiar sensation of his magic depleting at an alarming rate. Although, unlike the times when he saved Twilight and kept his own plot from being fried, the drain didn’t suck him dry in a matter of seconds.

The room was silent for several seconds. Then, a scream reached Shining Armor’s ears. It was a primal sound, full of anger and fury like nothing Shining had ever heard from a pony. But, it wasn’t the voice of a mare that did it.

And when he opened his eyes, Shining Armor saw a half-bubble that had been formed around Sunset. However, it didn’t look like Shining Armor’s reaction time was quite up to par. The sword that Hard Line pony had been wielding was stuck in the pink energy barrier as he tried in vain to pull it free.

“Well,” Celestia spoke in a hard voice. “This is certainly the most...unique show of loyalty that I have ever seen.” She looked up to the ceiling. “Guards, apprehend the Line stallions.”

The order seemed to knock Hard Line out of whatever mental loop he was in. He turned around and began to gallop away before five white pegasi in gold armor came down from above to pile on top of him.

His father looked around at the four ponies that quickly surrounded him before looking up to Celestia. “Highness, I-I have nothing to do with-”

Celestia spoke before he could finish. “If you wanted me to believe that, then you should have at least brought some sort of gift.”

“N-Ugh! NO!” Hard Line shouted as the guards ponies piled onto him. “It’s her! She’s the one you need to attack! She’s not a princess! She’s not even a noble! She’s just trash! LOW BORN TRAAAAAASH!”

A bright flash of golden light filled the room and the next thing Shining Armor knew, Hard Line’s words were made incomprehensible by the muzzle of magical energy covering his mouth.

“That’s enough out of you,” Celestia said before she looked up and over to the blue pony and the mare sitting next to her. “And as for you-”

The noble mare that the blue stallion had been sitting next to a moment ago let out a scream and began to gallop towards the door. Halfway there, the guards standing by the exit subdued her. “You can’t do this to us!” she shouted. “She’s just some common filth! She’s not better than us! We’re nobles! She’s NOTHING!”

A few seconds later, the blue unicorn that had been sitting next to the mare sighed and raised his hooves before lowering his head. A pair of guards came over not long after to fit his horn with an iron ring at Celestia’s order.

Shining Armor’s vision began to blur, making him shake his head to try and focus.

“Hey Shiny, is this yours?” Sunset called out as she pointed a hoof at the pink barrier, drawing the young stallion’s attention.

With his head starting to swim, Shining Armor took a moment to respond. “Y-Yeah.”

Sunset blinked. “So them you...you...saved me,” she said as a dazed expression started to fall over her face. “Um…”

“Well, I’m not sure-!” Celestia got up before Cadance poked her in the side with enough force that it might have been called a punch, forcing her to look over. Then the pink pony whispered something at Celestia he couldn’t make out.

The white alicorn turned her head back to look at Shining Armor again with an emotionless mask that actually sent a small shiver down the stallion’s spine. “Thank you for your quick actions today, Shining Armor. It looks as if my daughter was right to place your seating at the front of the crowd,” Celestia told him before inclining her head ever slightly. “Now, if you would please cut the magic to your shield. I would also advise sitting down, the defense of my daughter seems to be taking quite the toll on you.”

With Celestia pointing out that he was still feeding energy into his protection spell, Shining Armor cut off the power flowing to his force field. But, it wasn’t quick enough to stop the effort from showing on his fancy clothes.

Which actually fit him much better than the time when he took Cadance out on a date. It seemed his mother was right about growing into it.

He looked back to the mare and saw that Velvet was keeping Twilight under control as he took his cushion.

When he looked back, Sunset quickly shook her head as if to clear it. “Well if that’s what passes for an assassination attempt here in Equestria, doesn’t look like I’ve got much to worry about,” she said, earning a few nervous glances from all the ponies sitting at the front. “So...anypony else want to try and kill me, or should we get things back on track?”

When Sunset’s attempt at levity fell flat, Celestia cleared her throat. “Guards. Escort your former captains to the dungeon through the exit behind the throne,” she ordered in a neutral tone. It was easier than she had thought it was going to be a moment ago.

Of course, a moment ago, she had barely restrained herself from caving in the guard captain’s skull. The thought that another pony had tried to harm her daughter was maddening. For the first time in her life, Celestia thought she understood what Luna had gone through. Which was why she acted to make sure there wasn’t a repeat of the incident from back then.

In the ensuing silence that followed the three ponies being taken into custody, Celestia reapplied the illusion she had dropped that kept the personal actions of her family private. As soon as it was up, she spun her head to look at Sunset, the emotional control she held onto buckled. “What do you think you’re doing? We need to call a stop to these proceedings at once!”

“Mom, I know you have this whole thing where your emotions cloud any sort of rational thinking when it comes to me,” Sunset told her. “But we can’t stop this.”

Celestia frowned back at her. “The hay we can’t! Somepony just tried to kill you.”

Despite the fact that she had a point, Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yes, and much like my first attempt at world domination, it was a poorly thought out temper tantrum of a plan that wouldn’t have worked under the best of circumstances. Thank Celestia ponies suck so much at being evil.”

“That’s beside the point!” Celestia exclaimed.

To which Sunset nodded in reply. “Yes, the point is that there is another group of creatures that you believe to be in Canterlot right now, creatures we have been planning for pretty much since I got back to Canterlot. If we change any plans now, they could decide to call off their little coup attempt and then we’re back to square one.”

Celestia stood up a little straighter. “And you think that all of this isn’t going to make the changelings suspicious?”

“Right now, the only ponies who know about what are going on in here are the ponies that are in here!” Sunset exclaimed. “Plus the ones you let out, that is. So, we go on like normal and take care of things.”

“No, we need to call a stop to this,” Celestia said as she examined her daughter. From the look of things, it seemed as if the white pony wasn’t the only one who needed help in thinking things through clearly. Sunset had always been a prideful pony. It was obvious that was keeping her from canceling the event like she should.

Cadance cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” she said, getting the attention of the other two alicorns. “I know I’m stepping into a mother-daughter argument here, but I think only the High Princess of Equestria should make that kind of decision.”

“Great!” Celestia said. “And I-”

“Not the High Princess of Equestria anymore, remember?” Cadence reminded Celestia. “Not that it matters, since a two princess vote could overrule that authority.”

Both of the big mares shared a nervous look before Celestia let out a disgruntled sigh. “I hate it when rank gets pulled on me.”

The sickness Cadance felt in her belly had nothing to do with the thought that she’d soon be drinking another dose of Princess Celestia’s anti-changeling potion. Which she still had to do, unfortunately. Princess Celestia had poured the drink herself. She knew the true cause of the butterflies in her stomach was the guilt of having Sunset continue on with her her coronation and everything that went with it.

And so, after some angry encouragement by Sunset, the coronation fealty practices continued. All totaled, Sunset ended up with four grants of land that promised a large amount of bits to flow into her pocket, a private airship, a collection of ancient mystical tomes, a private regular seagoing vessel, and the simple gift of fifty million bits by the last of the remaining top nine families of Canterlot, who claimed that knowing just what was on a great mind like Sunset’s was impossible for such simple ponies as themselves. All in all, Cadance estimated the value of the gifts to be perhaps three times what she had been given upon becoming a princess.

But then, Cadance had been a country bumpkin, unskilled in the ways of politics and a complete unknown to Canterlot. Sunset had grown up around the court and garnered a reputation for going off like a firecracker at the tiniest spark. The gifts to Sunset were obviously meant more as bribes for her to leave them alone than anything else.

Cadance had a feeling they were going to be in for a rude awakening.

Once the ceremony had completed, a process that felt more like a torture than a celebration thanks to the change in atmosphere from Hard Line’s actions, Princess Celestia instructed everypony in a no-nonsense tone that spoke of banishment to anypony stupid enough to disobey to move to the gardens for the coronation luncheon.

Which was where Cadance found herself ten minutes later. She sat at the largest dining table next to Celestia, positioned at the northern end of the garden, a large beast of a rectangle that equaled a fourth of the wall’s length. With the alicorns only needing a fraction of the space, the rest of the table held numerous foods and treats. The idea was that when ponies came up from the little round tables that each family had, they could give the Princesses their good tidings.

The change of scenery did nothing to improve Celestia’s mood or the atmosphere it was creating. Even with a band playing some lively music in the background, everypony looked to be walking on eggshells. Most of the ponies remained at their seats and most of those that did find the courage to approach to grab a meal quickly galloped back to their table after giving a respectful bow to the royal family.

However, some managed a few words. Although Cadance was certain that was because they had been born without much in the way of common sense.

“Yo, Princess-ezes,” Rainbow Dash finished awkwardly as she floated in the air in front of them. Having escaped her parents while they were busy grabbing food from the buffet, the little blue pegasus had zoomed in to talk to her white alicorn ‘buddy’. “Wasn’t that awesome when Shining Armor got all Wham! Kablam! and saved Princess Sunset?”

“Yes,” Celestia answered in a dry tone that spoke volumes about how she was probably really feeling. “Seeing my daughter put in danger was quite, awesome.”

Apparently taking a hint, Rainbow Dash lowered herself to the ground before she cleared her throat and looked back to the crowd for an instant. “So uh...does that mean Shining Armor’s like...a knight, or something?”

The look on Sunset’s face became uneasy. “Well…”

Celestia answered the filly in her even, but still barely restrained voice. “I assure you that the reward Shining Armor will gain from his actions will be far greater than some silly little title like Sir.”

As Rainbow Dash took the hint and decided to go back to her parents, Cadance noticed Raven trotting in through the garden’s side entrance with a look of purpose in her eyes. When she arrived, Celestia looked back at her. “Is it done?”

Raven cleared her throat before addressing Celestia. “The banks are closed because of the holiday, but I managed to track down Stable Loan and High Interest to deliver your orders. They’ll take care of House Guard’s holdings and have a list of any other financial institutions Hard Line transferred funds to or from as soon as the doors open tomorrow.”

The name discrepancy raised a few questions in Cadance’s head. “House Guard?” she asked. “I thought it was the Line family that just...um...you know.” As the magma beneath Mt Celestia seemed to become closer to eruption with every mention of her daughter’s attempted murder, Cadance thought it best not to say words that were quickly becoming taboo.

“When Canterlot was founded, Blue Line’s ancestors were the founders of the Royal Guard,” Sunset told her. “Blueblood and the House of Platinum is the same way. It’s pretty rare that ponies like Mini Mouse and Trump Card have names that match that of their houses. Which you would have noticed if you had bothered paying attention after they hauled the Lines away instead of just standing there with that weird grinchy-grin on your face.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow. While she remembered not being able to contain her excitement on face at seeing what was going on with Sunset in regards to Shining Armor… “I wasn’t...grinchy,” Cadance said as she tripped over the end of her sentence before looking up to Celestia. “Is that even a word?”

“It is if a princess says it,” Celestia told her firmly before she looked around. “Are the servants done passing out the cider yet? I want to get this farce over with as soon as possible.”

Sunset leaned forward to look past Celestia. “I’ll give you the rundown on Dr Seuss later.”

“Um, is there anything else you need...Princess Celestia?” Raven asked nervously, which drew the attention of the three princesses. Which only made her more nervous.

“Put away the papers, then take a glass of cider and find a seat for the celebration,” Celestia told her.

Raven flinched ever so slightly. “Oh, um...if you don’t mind, I’ll just have water. You shared some with me this morning and...it just wouldn’t be right for a common pony like me to have two glasses when even ponies like Prince Blueblood only gets one.”

The look Celestia gave Raven before she even started speaking made the little unicorn assume a cowering position. “That was not an offer, it was an order. If you can not tell the difference between the two, then perhaps I should find a secretary who can.”

“Mom! What the hell?” Sunset demanded through gritted teeth before she stood up.

Raven looked over to Sunset. “N-No, Princess. You don’t need to-”

A hoof to the unicorn’s lips stopped her from talking. “Please don’t stop me from stepping in here,” Sunset told her before looking back to her mother. “Raven has been a member of the palace staff for as far back as I can remember, and your personal aide for the last three. She has put up with a lot of crap from both you and me.”

“Oh, no. Princess Sunset! You were-” Raven said again before Sunset moved to stop her.

“Raven, I remember all the times you ended up with the watch Sunset and make sure she doesn’t burn the castle down job when I was younger, the job that nopony else wanted. So, shut up and let me defend you before you end up taking the same amount of crap from my mom.”

The unicorn blinked and took a step back before Sunset looked back to her mother. “Mom, I get you’re upset and your taking it out on everybody here. And while I don’t give two shits about the vast majority of the guys out there that you’ve got ready to piss themselves, you don’t talk that way to Raven. I like Raven, and she deserves better from you.”

The two alicorns held each other’s gaze for a few more seconds before Celestia lowered her head with a sigh. “You’re right,” she said before looking over to the glorified secretary. “I apologize for treating you in such a hostile manner, Raven.”

Even though the unicorn obviously wanted to tell her such actions were necessary, Cadance saw her glance at Sunset before regarding Celestia again at the end of the second. “Apology accepted, Highness. I understand that you must be going through something unimaginable right now.”

“Thank you,” Celestia replied with a much calmer voice. “Now, please take a drink and sit down.”

Raven blanched at what anypony who wasn’t in the know would have thought of as a peace offering before she put on an obviously fake smile. “T-Thank you, Highness.”

As soon as Raven had gone out of earshot, Cadance looked over to Celestia. “Did you have to give her another taste of this stuff?”

“Raven was out of sight for the entire transition from the throneroom to here. Considering her close proximity to all three of us on a daily basis, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was at the top of the list for ponies to be replaced,” Celestia replied as she looked around the garden again. “Now, is anypony else refusing a drink?”

Cadance looked around at the assembled ponies. While the foals didn’t have any of the sparkling liquid in front of them, everypony else either held a flute in their magic, wings, or had it sitting on the table in front of them. Even the guards that lined the ramparts above the crowd, who would be put to their true use in moments, had been given drinks with instructions to wait for the toast before even sampling them.

“Everypony’s got one as far as I can tell,” Sunset replied.

Celestia stood up, dispelling the illusion around them as she did. “Good,” she said as she raised her glass in her magic and tapped it with a knife. “Ladies and gentlecolts, your attention.”

Every single one of the assembled ponies looked towards Celestia. “I’ve been thinking of what to say when this moment came for the past several years, now. I even decided to make the whole thing a little more special by being the pony who personally made the cider that is in the glasses before you.”

Surprise ran through the crowd like a wildfire and each one of the assembled ponies looked to their drinks with a bit of awe.

“I guess,” Celestia said before a tiny sigh escaped the side of her mouth. “I wanted to make this coronation special. I wanted to make it...no. No, that’s not it at all.”

Sunset looked over to the big pony. “M-Mom?”

What had to have been a prepared speech went right out the window as Celestia turned her attention to Sunset. “I wanted to make it about me. I talked about how proud I was, how this pony that I raised has come so far...as if everything you’ve accomplished was only because of me. And here I am now, letting my displeasure taint what should be an acknowledgment of your accomplishments.”

“Mom, did you chug a few of those when I wasn’t looking?” Sunset asked.

Cadance wanted to roll her eyes at the question. It was obvious that the recent events had put a mental strain on Celestia to the point where she was starting to feel the effects. Considering how bad her daughter’s nights were and how much they both liked to go on guilt trips, Cadance had to wonder how little sleep Celestia had been getting as of late.

Celestia didn’t let Sunset’s jab turn her aside. “But the truth is, I had nothing to do with your success, Sunset. You became a wonderful mare all on your own. And because of that, I know that you will be able to handle whatever may come in the future,” she said before raising her glass. “To my daughter. May she continue to go through life with the same fiery passion and indomitable spirit that has brought her here.”

Although a few ponies in the crowd gave each other worried looks, they all quickly followed Princess Celestia’s example and downed their drinks. Cadance felt a rush of nervousness as she watched them go through with the action.

How many of the ponies in front of her were actually changelings?

Just what would drinking the potion actually cause a changeling to do?

Did the potion even work? It wasn’t as if they had a changeling to test it out on after all.

Cadence’s eyes darted all over the crowd as she looked for signs of black exoskeletons.

Faces turned queasy. A mare’s body went still as she moved to wretch. A stallion doubled over and puked.

The last action made Cadance take in a breath. That one! she thought before pointing out a hoof. “GUARDS! SEIZE THAT PONY!”

“Um...here’s the information you wanted from our operatives in Zebrica, my Queen.”

From her private chambers deep within the changeling hive, Chrysalis looked up from the newspaper that she was reading while lounging on her bed. The announcement of Sunset Shimmer’s coronation in big bold letters on the front page was probably giving several powerful ponies back in Canterlot more than their share of ulcers with all the bad chatter about Celestia’s adopted daughter going around.

She took the offered scroll in her magic and unrolled it to look the thing over. The zebra concoction that reports from her informants in Canterlot said Celestia had based her own work off of looked simple enough. Chrysalis could breed in an immunity to it in her next batch of eggs and coming up with a spell to disable the magic base of both potion and face goo for Chrysalis to use in case she needed it wouldn’t be that hard either.

When she noticed the delivery changeling was still standing there, Chrysalis frowned. “Yes?”

“My Queen. Would you be willing to answer a question for me?”

Chrysalis looked away from the scroll and over to the changeling. He was a bit off color, probably one of the eggs she had toyed around with in an attempt to create a stronger minion. Just getting rid of him would have been a waste, even if she didn’t like her brood asking questions. “Very well.”

The changeling cleared his throat. “After that message that you had Cornea give to the pony princess...I thought we would have invaded Canterlot by now.”

After waiting a few more seconds to make sure his not-question was done, Chrysalis sighed. “Who are you again?”

“Pharynx. My Queen,” the drone answered.

Chrysalis sighed in annoyance. “Which Pharynx?” she asked in exasperation. She had thousands of changelings and only so many body parts to name them after.

The changeling cleared his throat in embarrassment. “Pharynx Seven. Majesty,” he answered. “I’m the one they’re grooming for guard duty? I-I thought because of my specific look, you didn’t need my identification number.”

“You’re following Chitin Seventy-Six around for guard training, correct?” Chrysalis asked for clarification.

Pharynx nodded. “Yes, my Queen. Although I’m still just a gofer for the captain.”

“Tell me, what are we?”

The changeling blanked at the question and tilted his head to the side. “Uh...changelings?”

“And what is it that we do better than anything else on this planet?”

Once again, Pharynx’s confusion and hesitation increased. “Um...change?”

Chrysalis decided to throw her offspring a bone and take that as a viable answer. “Yes. We conceal, we adapt, we infiltrate and make sure that no creature is the wiser to our presence,” she said. “So tell me, just how much sense does it make for me to spread some rumors among the nobility with a few anonymous letters and have one of my brood posing as an out of town politician at a party mutter a few bad words concerning the new princess before skipping town, have Celestia find out that I’m no longer where she trapped me, then outright tell her when exactly it is I’m going to strike in the most terrifying way possible?”

To his credit, Pharynx actually took a moment to think about it. “Well, the first two would be a good way to get the ponies suspicious about each other. But um...the second...I’m not sure what good warning an enemy when you’re going to attack would do,” he admitted. “It seems a little counter intuitive. All it would do is make Princess Celestia build up her defenses.”

“My, you do seem to be showing more intelligence than the average changeling,” Chrysalis complimented him...and herself. She had designed him that way after all. “And you’re exactly right. Despite her age, Celestia is still as weak as any other pony. Frighten a pony, tell her that there is something coming to get her, something she can’t even see, and she will show you exactly how she plans to deal with such a threat.”

Pharynx nodded. “Like sending a letter to all of the other kingdoms, asking if they knew anything about how to counter our transformation magic.”

“Exactly,” Chrysalis replied with a confidence she didn’t truly feel. Celestia reaching out for assistance from other species had been unexpected, even if they had intercepted the missives in the end. Ponies tended to keep to themselves. The fact that Sunset Shimmer had done something so unexpected was the real problem.

It made her a dangerous unknown. The fact that Sunset was powerful was a minor thing. As long as Chrysalis could predict her movements, she could make sure that power wasn’t unleashed on the changelings. But powerful and unpredictable was a dangerous combination.

Which meant...Chrysalis would have to learn more about the pony in question before making any serious moves.

She shooed the drone away. “You may go now.”

Not even bothering to hear Pharynx’s reply, Chrysalis went back to studying the potion mixture. Perhaps a potion of my own drunken beforehand to counteract the magic, she mused as she continued to look at the worthless defense that Celestia now thought kept her perfectly safe.

Royalty didn’t need to answer questions. They didn’t need to give explanations or justify their actions. They existed to lead their ponies into a brighter future, not serve at the leisure of the populace. Such was Sunset Shimmer’s reasoning as she looked out her window to the courtyard below as she watched her mother give a press conference while Cadance stood by her side.

Still, the desire to know what was going on and a simple spell to carry the sound up to the window she was looking out allowed Sunset to keep herself informed.

“Although we were aware that there was a plot on my daughter’s life in the works,” Celestia spoke loudly. “I decided to proceed with Sunset’s coronation after taking several safeguards. One of which was a potion of my own design that would have allowed us to discern the intentions of anypony that drank it by displaying the amount of violent intentions they possessed.

“However, even I couldn’t have predicted the actions of my own guard captain, whose family has served in this position since the founding of Equestria,” Celestia went on. “Hard Line was also privy to these security measures, including access to the potion. After seeing its effects, it is obvious that he altered its composition in some way to cause nausea instead of the change in coat color we had intended.”

The bright bulbs flashed before more hooves went up along with ponies asking for Celestia’s attention. After a few seconds of looking around, Celestia pointed at a brown pony. “Yes?”

“Back Bench. Manehattan Times,” the pegasus stallion replied before he flew up a little to look over the crowd. “Princess, Hard Line was taken into custody during the coronation. At that point, why didn’t you have the cider switched out?”

Celestia gave a sad smile. “You need more than a single pony to make a conspiracy,” she explained. “Although Hard Line would have known any attempt he made would have to be before the toast, any other ponies that might have been involved would have been outed at that time. While the emotional nature of his attack tells me that is unlikely. Sunset Shimmer is my daughter. Even the possibility of any other conspirators forces me to do anything in my power to seek them out.”

Another question came soon after. “Cross Head, Ponyville Press. If the potion didn’t work as intended. Why then did Princess Cadance order the guard to apprehend Lord Barnyard?”

“Yes, well...anypony who works in the palace knows that I am one to play things close to my barrel,” Celestia told them. “Princess Cadance knew there would be some sort of reaction, just not what that reaction would be. As Lord Barnyard’s reaction was the most prevalent, it was a logical assumption that he was the other conspirator. I would like to take this moment to publicly apologize to Lord Barnyard. I should have informed Cadance of the potion's effects so that she would know what to expect.”

Hooves went up again, and Sunset turned away from the window as the next pony was called. “Head Line, Canterlot Times. What is going to happen to Hard Line and the rest of his family?”

“There are already laws for attempted regicide. I do not need to elaborate on them further,” Celestia replied in a cold tone. “Next question.”

Sunset moved away from the area of the spell’s effect and down the hallway until she got to her quarters. From the looks of things, Celestia was creating enough safety for Cadance not to have a panic attack over the fact that their anti-changeling plan had failed to net a single shapeshifter. It didn’t look like Cadance was ever going to be leaving her bed.

After going into the living room, she blinked at surprise at the pony who was already there, looking at some flowers sitting in the corner. “Shiny.”

The young stallion turned his head to look at her and smiled. “Oh! Sunset...um….your flowers are…”

Although the colt was talking, Sunset found herself unable to listen properly. With Shiny’s dress jacket gone and his coat clipped down, Sunset had to agree with Fleur’s assessment. He looked hot. But it wasn’t just Shining Armor’s looks that made the amber alicorn feel that her mare parts were much too empty at the moment.

She remembered the events of just a few hours ago. Of being blinded by that fucking idiot’s spell and opening her eyes to see Hard Line’s rapier inches from her face. While Sunset was pretty sure the lack of the smallest scrape from barely subsonic crashes into the ground meant that her coat was next to indestructible, she had no intentions of testing that theory out on the internal space of her nostrils, not to mention her eyes.

“Shiny...um…” Do you want to fuck? Sunset mentally asked before shaking off the urge to just take the stallion right then and there. “W-What do you..uh, what’re you doing here?”

Shining Armor turned away from the flowers and opened his mouth.

“Oh!” Sunset exclaimed as she remembered something important. “Thank you! I need to thank you. D-Did I thank you at the coronation? I don’t think I thanked you at the coronation. Did I?”

Shining Armor reached over to rub one of his shoulders with a fetlock. “Princess Celestia did.”

“Ohmygosh!” Sunset rushed out before she quickly closed the distance until the two of them were within reach. “I forgot to thank you. Thank you! Thank you for saving me, Shiny. I-I don’t know what would have-no. No, I do. I would have, I would have...oh boy. Um...I need to thank you.”

Shining Armor took a step back. “You just did.”

The words got a fierce shake from Sunset’s head before she began to pace back and forth. “No. I mean, thank you. Like...anal,” Sunset decided after going over her list of options. She looked back to Shiny. “You deserve anal for this.”

“What’s...uh, on second thought,” Shining Armor said before taking a step forward. “Sunset, are you alright?”

Sunset looked back at Shining Armor was an obviously forced smile. “Alright? Why wouldn’t I be alright? I was almost killed, Shiny. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” she said before beginning to wonder aloud. “Do we have hand grenades in Equestria? I don’t think we do because we don’t have hands, but-”

Sunset was cut off when the door to the hallway opened. She looked over to see her mother walking in with Cadance right behind her and Kibitz, who was wheeling a cart with some tea on it. The big pony gave her a worried look as she sat down and Cadance greeted Shining Armor.

“Sunset, I told you. Even if you didn’t want to do the news conference, you need to remain in sight,” she said before Sunset found herself in a warm hug as her breath quickened. A second later, a cup floated in front of the amber alicorn’s face. “Here, drink some tea. I will help with the side effects.”

A thousand red flags shot up in Sunset’s mind. “S-Side effects?”

“Cadance, would you please escort Shining Armor...oh, someplace else?” Celestia asked. “I believe it would be better if Sunset and I had some semblance of privacy for this”

The third alicorn in the room nodded. “Come on Shiny,” she said before leading him away, past the stallion with the mustache. “Great job with the coronation, by the way. Really heroic and...well, I’ll warn you outside.”

As soon as Cadance shut the door to Sunset’s living room, after having to wait for the older stallion to leave the tea, Shining Armor pulled away from her in confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked in concern before looking at the door. “Sunset came in and just started...um...freaking out.”

“Shiny? Did Sunset’s actions during the coronation, or Celestia’s or...well, seem a little off to you?” she asked.

He thought back to a few hours ago. Although he was hardly in a place to judge Celestia since he didn’t know her well enough, Sunset and Cadance...well, Cadance had acted normal enough, but Sunset… “I dunno, she seemed a bit…”

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Too calm for somepony that was just attacked?”

“Yeah, but...it’s Sunset,” Shining Armor replied. The thought of her being afraid of anypony was ridiculous. “She isn’t the…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say. Sunset had freaked out plenty of time in front of him, but never due to bodily harm.

When Shining Armor couldn’t think of the right words to continue the verbal thought, Cadance cantered in. “Well, to keep things from spiraling out of control, Celestia…”

“YOU USED MIND MAGIC ON ME?”

As soon as the room stopped shaking from the sound of Sunset’s voice, Cadance put her ears back up. “She did that to Sunset and herself. A emotional safeguard spell that keeps a pony from overreacting too much,” Cadance explained before becoming hesitant. “The problem is, when it wears off...well, remember that spell we used during that marathon orgy I kept casting to let you go another round?”

Shining Armor threatened to drop before he looked to the stallion standing in the hallway with them. “Uh...C-Cadance? Are you sure this is the best place for-”

“This would be a good time to take my leave, then?” the older pony said in a heavy posh Canterlot accent.

Cadance nodded. “Yes, thank you. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they don’t blow Canterlot up or drown us all with tears.”

The stallion nodded. “Excellent! Good day, Princess Cadance,” he said before trotting away at a brisk pace.

“...what was that?” Shining Armor asked.

Cadance hummed in thought for a moment. “Oh! Well, Kibitz is one of two or three ponies in the palace that Princess Celestia left Sunset with when she was very young and didn’t have time to care for the filly herself,” she explained. “I wouldn’t exactly call him a father, but...he’s the closest thing Sunset’s got one...I guess.”

Shining Armor gulped as he looked back to Cadance. “So um...that spell you used. I remember it. I also remember it made me sleep for a long time afterwards.” He was never going to forget that day, or the night that followed.

“Right,” Cadance said with a nod. “Same thing here. Sunset got great emotional control for one moment...and now she’s got next to none.”

A earlier snippet of the conversation came back to the forefront of his mind. “Wait, you said that Princess Celestia-”

“YOU'RE A HORRIBLE MOTHER!”

“-also cast it on herself,” Shining Armor finished.

“I AM A HORRIBLE MOTHER! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Shining Armor blinked as another memory came into focus. “But...Celestia, was really angry at the banquet.” Anypony, even those that didn’t know Celestia could tell that.

Cadance nodded. “I said better emotional control, not perfect,” she said before becoming a little nervous. “Quite frankly, I don’t wanna know what she would have done without it.”

“NO! I’M A HORRIBLE DAUGHTER! BWAAAAAAAAAA!”

“So...you okay?” Cadance asked.

Shining Armor too a moment to think about the question. “I’m good,” he replied a bit too quickly. When his final assessment came, he had to revise his opinion. “Better than good, actually. I feel...great!” It was weird, despite everything that had happened, Shining Armor felt great about himself.

“NO! YOU’RE THE BESTEST DAUGHTER EVER!”

His horn still ached a bit and he had to get this clothes cleaned because they had been covered in sweat afterwards, but despite everything, Shining Armor couldn’t stop himself from smiling the more he replied the day’s events in his head. “It’s strange-”

“WELL YOU’RE THE BESTEST MOM EVER!”

“-Sunset almost gets stabbed, but I’m feeling great,” Shining Armor said before frowning down at the ground for a second before he looked up to regard the pink alicorn next to him. “Is that wrong?”

Cadance giggled and trotted up to throw a wing over his back and nuzzle the young stallion’s neck. “What’s so wrong about a paladin feeling good about himself for saving his princess,” she said before kissing him on the cheek. The smile was short-lived though, Cadance blinked it away a second later. “Although. I should probably warn you that Sunset’s going to be really into you for the next couple of weeks.”

“I LOVE YOU BABY!”

Letting himself be guided down the hall and away from the screaming alicorns that were still crying like crazy, Shining Armor looked over to Cadance. “What do you mean?”

“I LOVE YOU TOO MOMMY!”

Cadance looked up in thought for a moment before answering. “Well, Sunset fell in love with you without a real infatuation stage. There was plenty of sexual desire, but that was more brought on by the fact she hadn’t seen a stallion for the better part of three years,” she explained. “But after this? She’s going to be very into you. Like, her happiness is in your hooves, into you. Please, don’t drop it.”

“Hey, that’s what heroes like me do, right? Saving the princesses and keeping them happy,” Shining Armor said, earning a little giggle from Cadance.

The pink princess leaned in closer to rest her head against Shining Armor’s. “Yeah. Just like with me and Buck.”

Reality slowly set back in to Shining Armor’s mind. “Okay, I know it probably isn’t that big a deal, but I…” Metaphorical lightning struck Shining Armor’s horn, stopping him cold and sending a realization into his brain in an instant. “...that’s what he meant.”

“Shiny?” Cadance asked.

Shining Armor stepped away from Cadance. “That dragon I met when Celestia sent me into that future...dream...thingy,” he said. “There was a dragon there that told me some stuff about princesses and roads, and...well, it wasn’t really literal, but…”

“You’re losing me here, Shiny,” Cadance told him.

“Okay,” Shining Armor said as he strained out his thoughts. “I met a dragon there, and he talked about being the guard of a princess. The thing about being the guard of a princess is...you’re not going to be a hero.”

Cadance gave him a little smirk. “I wouldn’t say that.”

Despite how good it made him feel to see Cadance smiling at him, Shining Armor kept himself focused. If he lost this train of thought, he might never get it back. “Well, I’m not going to be a hero compared to the two of you. You’re both leagues ahead of me, but that’s okay. Fighting big scary monsters, saving the whole kingdom, that’s what you’re supposed to do. Big flashy things. But…” Shining Armor went on as his thoughts became muddled, his voice a little hesitant. “Because you’re probably going to be on the lookout for big, flashy things, there’s going to be things that you don’t see coming. Small things, like a bully outside a theater, or some crazy pony with a sword. That’s the stuff I can...deal with. Does that...make sense?”

“...I think so,” Cadance said after a moment.

Shining Armor gulped. “W-What I’m saying is...I-I want to be your guard,” he told Cadance as she looked at Shining Armor with eyes that made his hind legs feel weak. “Y-Yours and Sunset’s. I know I won’t be able to do anything against the dragons and stuff, but if a pony’s sneaking up from behind if there’s something hidden that you girls aren’t going to notice before it’s too late. I-I’ll deal with it and take care of the two of you.”

Lips touched his in a kiss. When Cadance pulled away, she was giving him one of her looks. The kind of look that made the space between his rear lower legs twitch. “You have no idea how perfect that sounds to me right now.”

Knowing where looks like that led, Shining Armor’s brain reminded him of one last thing. “Oh! My family got a scroll from Princess Celestia, telling us to stay the night so we’d be at court tomorrow. Any reason you know what’s going on?”

Cadance smiled. “Well, you did save a princess from a dastardly villain. Ponies tend to get rewarded for stuff like that,” she said before the level of Look more than doubled. “Which reminds me, we haven’t broken in my bed yet, have we?”

“Hey, Cadance...what’s going to happen to those three they arrested?” he asked.

“Shiny, stop talking about that stuff, you’re gonna kill my mood.”

A slight jolt of energy brought Celestia back into the conscious world. She opened her eyes to wonder what was going on before the memories of past events reminded her of what had happened. After the emotional control spells broke down, she and Sunset had thrown around a few words before crying each other to sleep on her daughter’s cutie marked carpet.

The warnings of that particular piece of magic wasn’t kidding when it said the spell was both emotionally and physically exhausting. But without it, there was no doubt in Celestia’s mind that she would have struck down the entirety of Blue Line’s house, not to mention anypony else that happened to be sitting next to them and probably singed a few others.

When her visioned had cleared to show Celestia the danger that Sunset had been put into, the same fears she had felt upon her daughter’s return and subsequent declaration of intention for self harm returned twofold to quickly transform into rage. Hard Line was not Celestia’s daughter, he was not something to be coddled and coaxed into a change for the better, he was something to be struck down and scoured from the Earth for daring to threaten her family.

A slight shift in her arms brought Celestia’s attention back to the big filly wrapped in her wings and forelegs. It had been too long since she had held her daughter in such a way and done far too few times once Celestia had given Sunset that title. The urge to simply put a spell on her foal to make sure Sunset didn’t wake up from being jostled and carry them both for her bed for a motherly cuddle almost made Celestia forget just why she had a mystical alarm set to go off at certain times.

“This isn’t fair at all,” Celestia told her daughter before casting a spell to keep Sunset’s sleep undisturbed before she levitated Sunset out of her grip and set the big filly’s sleeping form on her couch.

But, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t not lower the sun and bring out the moon.

Still...when was the last time that she spent some real time with her daughter?

Sunset stirred in her sleep, letting out a tiny moan of need as she grasped forward with a hoof for something that wasn’t there. Despite her unconsciousness, it seemed that the poor foal knew that something had been taken from her, something she desperately needed back.

Cadance had said her nightmares had returned.

“I’ll return shortly, little one,” Celestia promised with a kiss to Sunset forehead. Then she quickly rushed out of her daughter’s quarters and down the hall to find a balcony capable of giving Celestia a proper view of the sky for her duties. Which the positioning of Sunset’s room made impossible since it was to the East.

After finding a vantage point in the form of northern window, Celestia stuck her head out and quickly went to work. She pushed the sun down beyond the reach of her eyes, then started the hard part.

Raising the moon was always a task, no matter how many times Celestia did it. She had discussed the process with mages, philosophers, scientists and even a party pony or two over the years, hoping to find some insight as to why that was. But the only explanation Celestia ever received that made any sort of sense was that the moon wasn’t hers.

The moon belonged to Luna. While Celestia could move it with some effort, she would never truly be its master. No matter how many times she performed the deed or attempted to adapt her magic to handle the task better, the white pony knew that she was just a clumsy replacement for the mare that was supposed to be putting the silver orb into the night sky.

Celestia sighed in relief as she finished her task. Over nine-hundred years, and she had only truly failed at the task seven times during the first decade.

The silhouette of Nightmare Moon held her attention longer than most times as the sight of Sunset’s uncomfortable sleep replayed in Celestia’s mind. For the first time in centuries, she felt a spark of anger at Luna’s fall and subsequent departure. If she was in Equestria, she would be able to take care of Sunset’s needs!

The errant thought got a little sigh from Celestia before she looked back up to the moon. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before smirking at her actions. “But, I guess that proves how much of a mother’s mindset I’ve developed lately, huh?”

Realizing that she was just wasting time, Celestia turned around and headed back to her daughter’s room to find the filly where she left her. Sunset was curled up on her sofa, letting out tiny, distressed moans like a little foal that had been denied the presence of her mother’s warmth.

The sight of her daughter being so frightened and vulnerable made Celestia’s heart ache. A pony that so many others looked up to as a mentally strong, independent mare who could thrive under the most inhospitable circumstances a pony could imagine was in truth something so different that Celestia had to wonder how such an image came to be. As Luna was fond of saying, a pony’s true self was revealed in their sleep.

“You’ve had a long day,” Celestia told Sunset before she picked the pony up in her magic to trot into the filly’s bedroom.

Despite the pony Sunset hired onto the palace staff being put there out of charity, Star did good work. Celestia could see that fresh sheets had been applied to Sunset’s bed, along with a lingering scent of soothing chamomile. A spell gave light to the room and Celestia set Sunset down on her bed before taking a look around.

Even with the hour or two of sleep that followed their emotional marathon, Celestia knew that she needed some more rest. But then, actual sleep would leave her up for a majority of the night. Plus, she had yet to eat dinner, and it would be nice to visit with the fillies again before they needed to sleep for the trip to their respective homes tomorrow.

Oh, I also need to get their gifts ready, Celestia reminded herself. Sunset had mentioned that she was thinking about giving them something, but that was a good as a decision on her part. Celestia just needed to enchant the books.

Which...took time.

Maybe getting some sleep now so I can be up all night won’t be so bad, Celestia mused as she examined her daughter’s room. Despite the addition of a much larger bed, it hadn’t changed much. There were some magic books from various disciplines on the shelves, including the one Cadance was currently studying with Sunset’s help. There were also several mare magazines that had to also belong to Cadance, what with Sunset never showing an interest in such things.

Celestia’s eyes continued to wander until they fell upon her daughter’s study desk and the messy piles of parchment that littered the thing, surrounding a notebook with several colorful pieces of paper sticking out the side. Curiosity pulled Celestia closer to take a look.

Although she knew that Sunset had been playing with the idea of introducing Equestria to several of the inventions, Celestia had seen little of the work her daughter put into the task. The closest thing she had done to helping with Sunset’s side project is give her information on the availability of rare components like naturally formed crystals that could absorb, hold, or transform pure magical energy into another form. Something that had been much harder to come by since the fall of the Crystal Empire.

An idea struck Celestia. While things had been getting better with Sunset, they were still a long way from where she knew they needed to be, where they had been just a year after she had taken her daughter in as a student. Celestia remembered so many good times when Sunset had been working to learn a spell or complete some sort of project she needed Celestia’s help with because she didn’t have parents to fall back on. They were some of the happiest memories of her long life.

Although those days were gone, perhaps there was a way to recapture the heart of such moments. Flying lessons didn’t seem to be cutting it, but a product using magic to construct a device of some sort might turn out better.

Sunset let out a tiny cry, drawing Celestia’s attention. “Oh! Coming, sweetie,” she said before heading over to her daughter. When she got to the edge of the bed, Celestia frowned. “Wait, why am I talking to you? You can’t hear me, can you?”

After getting no reply but Sunset’s distressed moaning, Celestia climbed onto her daughter’s bed and pulled her in close. It had been a few years since Sunset was of a comfortably snuggable size, but the white pony made do with what she had.

Although, it wasn’t as if Celestia didn’t have any experience sharing the bed with slightly smaller ponies. She had Luna had spent many nights together, having to share a book due to the printing press not yet being invented and the written word being scarce in comparison to modern times. Celestia and Luna spent a great deal of time together just curled up, reading together in the winter months in the early hours of the night when the ponies of Equestria had yet to fall asleep thanks to how early the sun went down.

Celestia opened the notebook and flipped through the pages with the magic of her horn as she held her daughter close, letting Sunset calm down in her mother’s presence. Several of the pages at the start of the book had a large X drawn through them, with some of the diagrams not even half-finished before Sunset tossed the idea away.

Unfortunately, incomplete notes and half drawn diagrams made it impossible to tell what some of the doodles were even supposed to do. The television box looked like it might have been used so that people could see inside the packages they mailed from all Celestia could tell. Some parts of the drawings made Celestia wonder if Sunset had stayed up too late. The the way she spelled saddle light was just awful and she didn’t even want to try and consider how a pony was supposed to strap the cylindrical object to their body, or where the illumination would come from. It was no wonder there was an X through the thing.

One set of inventions did catch Celestia’s eye, though. Sunset had crafted designs for mirrors that would send whatever image reflected in them to another mirror as well as pick up images from other mirrors with the same enchantment. There even looked to be a few ideas on how to make them mimic sounds using very specific vibrations; although they looked incomplete.

While several ponies had come up with such ideas in the past, they had always run into a wall when it came to the fact that the spells involved didn’t travel far enough to make it a viable means of communication over long distances. However, the next design in Sunset’s little notebook seemed to solve that problem. Towers with enchantments that would receive, store, and then amplify the message for another transmission instantly would more than double the range of such magic. A side note questioned if it could also be used as a teleportation booster, but Celestia didn’t see any more notes on that.

“This is brilliant,” Celestia mumbled before letting out a yawn despite her interest. She flipped back and forth between the two pages before looking up at Sunset’s desk. The sketches in the book were little more than doodles of ideas. If Sunset had made any real designs, they were probably somewhere in the stack of papers on her desk. “We...we could build this.”

It would take some work and any sort of ‘network’ as Sunset put it, would be limited to Canterlot, the surrounding townships, and maybe one other major city of Equestria due to the materials and number of towers needed, but if Celestia could get reports from places like their southernmost towns or the ones on the western frontier the same hour that they went out, it would change so much.

“Sunset, I think we should...try…” Celestia trailed off as her eyes fell on her daughter.

Tears streamed down Sunset’s face before she let out a tiny sob that shook her whole body.

Celestia blinked. “What?” she whispered to herself before setting Sunset’s book on the nightstand and holding her daughter close. “No, no. Don’t cry. I’m here, I’m right here. Everything’s okay.”

Being asleep, Sunset didn’t seem to notice a single word as she continued to silently cry, oblivious to her mother’s presence.

Should I wake her? Celestia asked herself. However, the answer to that came as she fought to keep her own eyes open a second later.

Instead, Celestia went with a much more unicorn approach. She surrounded her horn in raw magic and moved it down with the intention of touching Sunset’s. According to the books on parenting Celestia had read since Sunset’s return, it was a very intimate way that mothers could calm the rough emotions foals experienced during magical surges.

Celestia touched her horn to Sunset’s and let the magic she was generating slowly seep into her daughter’s horn. As it did, she became aware of Sunset’s mental presence while filling her with Celestia’s own thought’s of love. The poor girl was afraid, alone, guilty, sorrowful, ashamed and…

Something touched Celestia’s magic, sending a wave of anger and hatred through the white pony’s mind with such intensity that she physically recoiled from the experience as a primal scream of rage ran through Celestia’s mind. Despite the fact that the contact had lasted only a moment, the feeling of what she had touched with her magic was one Celestia would never forget.

Panic and terror ran through the alicorn’s mind. How? How could she possibly-There was a loud thud, drawing Celestia away from her thoughts when she realized she had just knocked Sunset off the bed.

“Bwa! Huh? Wha?” Sunset asked he head rose from the other side of the bed to look around for a moment before her eyes fell on Celestia. “M-Mom? What’s...going on?”

Celestia fought to keep her heart from pounding out of her barrel. “S-Sunset...you...I saw you...were you having another nightmare?”

A blank stare was her daughter’s only reply for several second before she reached up to rub the side of her head with a hoof. “Yeah...you were...um…” she looked away. “I was back in Canterlot High and...you were yelling at me that was where I...belonged.”

“No!” Celestia told her before she rolled over and adjusted herself to lay on her barrel and look Sunset face to face as she held her shoulders. “You belong here. You belong with me. And I will never, ever let you go, do you hear me?”

Sunset looked up from the mattress and into her mother’s eyes. “Mom...what’re you doing on my bed?” she asked.

The question broke Celestia’s train of thought. “I...carried you in here after you cried yourself to sleep. Um, are you still mad that I cast a mental control spell without permission? I’m sorry that I upset you.”

“Well…” Sunset sighed and shook her head. “What’s the point? It’s not like it was total mind control. Just...please don’t do it again? Humanity gave me a huge hang-up about mental manipulation.”

Celestia smiled at her daughter. “Never without your permission,” she promised before giving her foal a peck on the nose. “Now, I need to take care of something. So…Sunset?”

“Yeah?” her daughter asked.

“I’m sorry I was never the best mother to you. I’m sorry it took me so long to-”

Sunset stopped her. “Please don’t start doing that again. You know where it leads. We just cried to sleep over it.”

Celestia nodded. “Right. So, let me just say again that you are beyond everything I could have hoped for, and I know you will be a better princess than I could ever hope to be,” she said before pulling herself off of the with her hind legs. “But, I need to go take care of something important. I’ll...see you in a bit. Go play with your friends”

As she turned to flee from her daughter’s presence, Sunset’s words reached Celestia’s ears. “Yeah, that’s not cryptic at all!”

Cadance cuddled her coltfriend, basking in the post-coitus feeling she so enjoyed before rolling on top of her stallion. “Mmmmmm, I see somepony’s adjusting to his new circumstances quickly,” she said before kissing Shining Armor.

Like most times when the subject of sex came up, Shining Armor gave the cutest little light blush. “Thanks. It’s um...okay, I got nothing.”

Cadance giggled before kissing the stallion on the lips again. “I’ll take honesty over egotistical bragging any day,” she said. “So, what do you want to do for the next couple of weeks, hero?”

“Huh?” Shining Armor asked.

The question got Cadance groaning at what she was about to bring up. “Well, with heat week and everything else that happened, somepony in this relationship deserves a little pampering so...what do you want to do?”

Shining Armor shrugged. “It’s okay Cadance. Anything you and Sunset want to do is fine with me.”

“Okay Shiny,” she said before sighing and rubbing the side of her head with a hoof. “Look, it’s okay to ask us to throw our weight around if you want something like a tour of the military academy. Sunset was the one who got trapped on an alien world and lowered her expectations. You’re allowed to raise yours a just little.”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “You mean besides the gourmet food I eat every time I come here, Twilight’s scholarship, the LARPing tablet and my fancy clothes?”

“Doesn’t change the fact you’re getting whatever you want for the next two weeks,” Cadance told him before giving Shiny a peck on the lips. “Hero.”

The complete made Shiny’s mouth curve into a tiny smile. “I just like being with you girls.”

“So...replay?” Cadance asked. It wasn’t exactly her thing, but Shiny enjoyed them and Solar Battles had been good.

Shining Armor thought about it for a second. “Well, there is that Ant-Mare show they’re doing.”

It took Cadance a moment to recall what the papers said about the play. “You do remember that you’re talking to a mare that has been compacted in size, right? Kind of kills the amazingness of the ability when it’s been done to you,” she reasoned. “Although, I haven’t actually be tiny enough to get lost on another pony’s coat. How would they even do that in a play?”

“What happened to letting me pick?” Shining Armor asked.

Cadance gave him an apologetic grin. “Sorry. You’re right. There’s probably a subplot I’ll like. If not, well…” she said before her smile turned lecherous. “I’ve always got yours.”

She moved in for another kiss before snuggling close to her stallion to just enjoy the peace and quiet. Which was odd, when she thought about it.

For the past few weeks, Cadance had been terrified of changelings attacking Canterlot, seeing them in every corner at her lowest moments. She even managed to infect Sunset with her fear at one point, causing the amber alicorn to pin her to the ground and become wonderfully threatening to the pink princess. Only, when the smoke cleared from the post coronation celebration, there wasn’t a bug to be found. Ever single guard, noble, servent and pony that had been standing in the background had been exactly what Cadance’s eyes had told her they were.

All this time, she had been afraid of nothing.

Cadance was well aware the changelings were out there and that they were one of the biggest enemies that Equestria would ever have. But...letting herself think that she needed to spend every waking moment away from Sunset or Celestia on guard against them had shown her that even though it was a step down from her previous fears, she was still taking things too far.

Princess Celestia had a way to detect them if suspicions were raised and she knew her close-knit circle of friends well enough that Cadance was certain she could spot a fake. That was enough to keep her safe.

After soaking up a few moments of contentment, Cadance looked to the face of her coltfriend. “Hey Shiny, you want to get something to eat?”

“What time is it?”

Cadance picked her head up and looked around for a clock. Had it really been so long since she slept in her own room that she had forgotten the layout? Then again, I wasn’t here for that long, she reminded herself quickly. “Maybe six? Six-thirty?” The sun going down was her only clue.

Feeling Shining Armor begin to move underneath her, Cadance rolled off of the stallion before he began to speak. “Yeah, I should probably get together with Mom for dinner,” he said before hesitating. “Um…”

“Why yes, Shiny. I’d love to come and eat with the rest of your family,” Cadance told him.

Shining Armor blushed and looked down at the bed. “Right. Sorry, it’s just...sometimes I feel a little...guilty about it. I’m always with my parents, but yours are miles away. They didn’t even come for the coronation.”

Bittersweet feelings, or both feelings of sweetness and bitterness swirled in Cadance’s chest. She didn’t blame the ponies that had cared for her, the timing probably meant that the earth ponies were working on getting one last harvest before Fall started really turning to Winter. It took a lot of earth pony magic, but it was doable. “That’s okay, Shiny. I love your family. They’re so caring and inviting and they’ve never once made me feel unwelcome, and it’s not just because I’m a princess.” Velvet proved that when she spoke up to both her and Sunset in regards to their relationship with her son.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

Cadance looked away from her stallion. “It’s just...seeing Sunset and Celestia has gotten me thinking about a few things, lately,” she admitted. “Remember when I told you that I was found in the forest by some earth ponies to be taken in and raised in their village?”

“Yeah,” Shining Armor replied.

“It’s just...with all Sunset’s family relationship troubles, I have to wonder what my parents were like. They didn’t even leave me in an orphanage, I was just set down in the woods,” she said before her speech fell to a complete grumble. “At least Sunset’s parents left her with somepony who wouldn’t let her starve to death before they abandoned her for better employment opportunities.”

Shining Armor brought Cadance into a hug that she gladly melted into. “Do you want to find them?”

It was a question that Cadance had asked herself plenty of times over the years. As a foal, she imagined that her parents had just been moving and her basket had fallen out of their wagon without notice. She thought that they would just appear one day, looking for her. The idea that they had died protecting her was also a theory, but the little filly that was her younger self didn’t like to go down that road very often. Then when she became an alicorn, there was a brief fantasy of them appearing at Canterlot one day, both of them powerful alicorns in their own right who had to leave Cadance behind as some sort of test so she could prove herself before joining them in some magical land where only alicorns could exist.

But now… “If I did, there’d probably be a lot of crying and screaming involved before I told Sunset beat the feathers off them and had them jailed for foal abandonment,” she said with a sigh. “The only thing I ever got from them was a name nopony under the age of ten could pronounce, which was sewn into the blanket a lumberjack found me in. Which could just be the name of an old line of clothing for all I know.”

“The Mi Amore Cadenza?” Shining Armor asked.

Cadance rolled out her tongue as if she had just eaten some bad oat. “Blech! Give me Cadance, any day over that thing.”

A little kiss to her cheek picked Cadance up a bit before they moved to get cleaned up for dinner. Still, the issue of her original parents continued to linger as she and Shiny played in the bathroom a bit while freshening up since the toys Shining had were just too irresistible. But still, the distractions were just that, distractions. The question of her parents lingered in Cadance’s mind. It was the same question that every orphan asks themselves at one time or another, despite the circumstances of their life. Why didn’t they want me?

When they came out into the hallway, Cadance blinked when she saw the light gray unicorn with reading glasses and a black mane done up in a bun waiting for her. While Princess Celestia’s personal aide waiting for her was a tad worrisome, she didn’t let it show. “Yes, Raven?”

“Princess Cadance,” the smaller pony said in worry. “Pardon me if I’m overstepping my bounds for asking, but...do you know if anything is...amiss with Princess Celestia?” she asked.

The question got a sigh from Cadance. “What’s she done now?”

Raven cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. “Well, she summoned me not too long ago while she was inspecting the ancient wards around the castle before penning a pair of scrolls with instructions that they were to be delivered to you and Princess Sunset at seven AM tomorrow, before departing.”

“And you’re telling me this, why?” Cadance asked in confusion.

“Well, despite the continuing routines of the castle that have everypony going to her, you are the High Princess of Equestria,” she explained. “If something is going on, it is my duty to keep you informed, Highness.”

Cadance blinked at the title. During one of her lessons as a princess, Cadance had learned the odd intricacies of the Equestrian title system that was lost on the vast majority of ponies. While most other countries referred to their rulers as Highness and Majesty, the terms were not interchangeable. Majesty was the higher rank of the title, with Highness coming in second, usually marking the next in a line of succession. However, Equestria flipped that on its head, with Highness being the rank for the High Princess, and Majesty being what ponies in the know called the lesser princesses like Sunset.

The fact that Raven, a pony in the know was calling her a title that only Celestia should hold had Cadance feeling odd for a few moments before she could gather a reply. “I…um…” she said before her reply fell apart when the reality of the situation hit her. “Wait, departed as in, she left the castle?”

“Technically, this is a palace since it has no defensive structures,” Raven pointed out. “But, yes Your Highness. She flew out of her bedroom balcony after sealing the scrolls.”

Cadance’s eye twitched. “Are you telling me she just took off before Sunset’s coronation dinner?” the pink princess demanded.

After giving a quick nod in repose, Raven spoke. “Yes, Highness. Considering the level of affection that Princess Celestia has been showing Princess Sunset as of late, that is why I decided to come to you. Something must have been terribly wrong for her to have done this.”

“That…” Candace plopped her plot down on the ground to cross her forelegs in annoyance. “Buck! You’re right. I can’t just ignore the fact that she’s no longer a bucking moron when it comes to Sunset anymore. So...did she get a letter or...something?”

Raven shook her head. “Not that I am aware of, Princess. And all pertinent mail does come through me before reaching Princess Celestia. Just because I don’t read most of it doesn’t know when we get an important missive from the griffons or the minotaurs.”

Without much to go in, Cadance felt her tensions rise. “So, I can either trust Celestia and go to a dinner that’s going to break my fillyfriend’s heart because she had no idea where her mom is on one of the most important days of her life, or...rip open the scrolls and hope she told us what the buck is going on, hoping it’s not the type of things that sends Sunset off the rails and barreling after her,” she mumbled before groaned. “Which...considering Celestia’s actions...it probably is.”

“So...what do you want to do, Highness?” Raven asked.

Cadance found herself awash in an ocean of what if scenarios. What if she opened the scrolls to find that it was nothing to worry about and this violate Celestia’s trust? What if Celestia had to go settle a dispute between two warring factions, and she got hurt? What if Sunset came barreling after her and started a war? What if Celestia had been captured by changelings and the letters were ransom notes left by an impostor?

Despite being a princess for longer than Sunset, Cadance found herself at a loss of what to do. The biggest problem she had taken care of had been a corrupt principle, she didn’t know how to deal with something like who to tell a potential state secret!

“Let’s…” Cadence paused. She had wanted to say, ‘go ask Sunset’. But that was the same thing as telling her what was going on! So, she either had to trust Sunset enough not to blow up, or go with Celestia’s decision not to tell anypony.

“And she just left?” Cadance asked. “Not even a ‘tell my daughter I’m sorry, but something very important has come up that can’t wait’ message?”

Raven nodded. “I’m afraid so, Princess. But, I’m certain that it was done unintentionally. She was very distraught when she departed.”

So...Sunset...or Celestia, Cadance thought to herself. If it was a simple family thing, Cadance would have sided with Sunset in an instant. But, with the way Raven was describing the situation, Cadance could see that something more stately was going on. Which was a completely different thing than the personal squabbles the solar alicorns tended to have.

“Okay,” Cadance decided with a sigh. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

The sounds of fillies talking made their way through the dining hall’s large double doors as Sunset stood outside them with Sassy and Fleur behind her while Cadance and Shining Armor were a few feet behind the secretary that had just finished addressing the amber alicorn. “What kind of emergency?” she asked the little gray pony.

“I’m not certain, Your Majesty,” Raven replied before adjusting her glasses. “But, Princess Celestia does convey her deepest regrets. If there was any way for her to be here, you know that she would.”

Sunset gave the mare a disappointed sigh before picking her shoulders up. “Well, guess it can’t be helped,” she said before going into a grumble. “Would have been nice for a little heads up, though. I’m not a foal anymore, and it’s not like being a princess doesn’t give the highest security clearance there is.”

Raven nodded at the big mare. “I’m sure it was a simple slip brought on by her haste, Majesty.”

“Yeah,” Sunset agreed before turning towards the dining room. “Well, come on Raven. Let’s grab something to eat.”

The glasses-wearing pony blinked. “Pardon?”

A feeling of confusion also showed on Cadance’s face. “Sunset?”

Sunset threw a foreleg around Raven and turned her around to face the other princess. “Cadance, allow me to introduce you to the royal baby sitter.”

“Oh!” Cadance replied with a blink as she tilted her head in confusion. “I knew Celestia couldn’t watch you all the time, but I didn’t know that Raven was your official caretaker while she was away.”

Raven blushed. “Well, I was tasked with the responsibility of looking after Princess Sunset a few times when Princess Celestia had duties to attend to.”

The comment got a little grin. “Yeah, but I’m talking about all the times you had to foal sit my mom,” she said. “So, how much cider did Mom down last year, when you wheeled her home in a wagon over in Baltimare?”

“Urk!” Raven exclaimed.

“Wait, that’s a story that should be shared with everypony,” Sunset told her before opening the door.

As the amber alicorn started to lead the nervous secretary into the dining hall, Cadance quickly caught up and gave her fillyfriend a private frown. “Sunset, there are foals in this room, you know.”

The statement made the bigger alicorn flinch just a bit before she looked over to Cadance with an uneasy grin. “Yeah, but I’m thinking the girls got to go play or hit the hay sometime before us big ponies do so...that’ll give Raven plenty of time here to think of her best tales to share with the rest of us.”

Raven gulped. “Princess Sunset, I don’t think your mother will appreciate such information being given out without her knowledge.”

A dark frown appeared on Sunset’s face. “Well, she should have thought about that before leaving me here in Canterlot and having you deliver the message.” Which of course left the question of, just where was her mother, anyway?

Space. The empty frontier. Such were the thoughts of Celestia as she voyaged through the dark expanse, propelled by the magic in her wings that simply extended out into the void.

Mostly because those thoughts helped distract her from the fact what she was doing was absolutely insane. Just coming into Nightmare Moon’s center of power after giving her nearly nine-hundred ninety years to fortify it was the same as a mouse walking into a cat’s den when it had a limp.

But after examining the dream wards in her palace that protected the ponies of Canterlot from unconscious mental intrusion and finding them functioning just fine without any signs of tampering, the only explanation for what she had felt when her magic touched Sunset was that despite the impossibility of it all, Nightmare Moon had sunk her teeth into Celestia’s daughter.

All the things Cadance and Twilight Velvet had said, Celestia had casually tossed them aside, thinking that she knew better. Sunset wasn’t some invincible pony like she pretended to be in front of others, she was a fragile little foal who needed her mother’s love.

At least, that was what Celestia had thought.

But now…

Celestia gulped down a breath of air her sustenance spell was creating around most of her body. How long had it been going on? How far had Sunset been pushed into despair from her dreams? How much had she suffered because Celestia had refused to look at what was right in front of her face from day one?

Coming in for a landing, Celestia was surprised to find the presence of air a few dozen feet above the ground. It seemed that Nightmare Moon had made her prison a bit more livable during her time on the lunar surface. She touched down on the surface of the barren rock, kicking up a cloud of dust with every step.

Although it had been well over a thousand years since her last trip to the Moon, old memories bubbled up like it was yesterday. Thanks to a pair of competitive natures that only increased as they got older, Celestia and Luna frequented the lunar surface to engage in the more destructive contests that might have burned down a forest or stirred up a maelstrom if done around Equestria. It felt wrong for Celestia to stand on her old playground for such a reason as she was about to undertake.

It didn’t take long for her to feel the change in the air. A foul presence closed in from all around her even before Celestia could see the black clouds so thick with darkness they might as well have been moving globs of oil moving across the desolate plains. Every pony instinct she had told Celestia to take flight, to run away from this dark place as fast as she could and never look back. Her legs trembled and a primal neigh wanted to escape from her throat as the darkness closed in, but Celestia stood her ground.

For years after Nightmare Moon had been banished, before Celestia enacted her magic to strip away all written record of Luna’s existence in an effort to keep her name from being dirtied, Celestia had conferred with the brightest minds of Equestria in an attempt to understand just what Nightmare Moon was. While she knew it was an attempt by a distraught mare who wanted to try and spare her sister any blame, the answers she received had been interesting.

The first and most prevalent among them was that Nightmare Moon was simply Luna. Although her little sister usually adopted a lesser stature than Celestia, the power of the moon was equal to that of the sun. By all accounts, they should have stood as equals. It was only by some desire of Luna’s that she stood at about the same height level that Sunset currently occupied. When she decided to overthrow her sister, that desire was done away with and Nightmare Moon was born.

Another idea was that unlike the sun, the moon held some sort of dark power unknown to other ponies. Because of that, Luna’s power was slightly less than Celestia’s, as was her stature. But when she finally decided to rebel against Celestia, she blotted out the sun to cut Celestia off from her power source while drawing on the full might of the Moon. The dark powers of her mystical font then worked to corrupt her mind, turning the angry tantrum that Luna was known to have from time to time into a full on homicidal rage.

The final theory was the one least favored by the ponies Celestia had spoken to, but one she hoped for the most. According to Equestrian legend, there were places across Equestria where the remnants of dark magic would collect and build up over time. This magic would then take on a pseudo-life of its own, not truly alive, but not quite inert, something that acted on pure instinct. It would seek out a host, reforming into a dark reflection of whatever pony that it came across. While the pony herself would provide the basic will and motivation for its actions, it was the darkness that was truly responsible for the actions that were undertaken.

While Celestia had come across creatures that had been corrupted by darkness in her time as Princess of Equestria and dealt with them, she had never found another being of any sort to be so consumed. In fact, the only case she knew of was second-hoof, told her by one of the magical researchers. According to him, a great-uncle of his had fallen into such jealous hatred of Starswirl the Bearded that he had become swallowed by such a creature.

Despite how little credence there was to such tales, they were the ones Celestia held to. And seeing the creeping sea of darkness in front of her, Celestia couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope, despite the danger she was in.

After lighting up her horn, only for a black wind from the darkness to suddenly sweep in to send a chill down her spine and snuff it out, Celestia steadied herself. “I understand the desire to be theatrical, but if I do not return to Canterlot alive and well before Sunset reads the missive I left for her, I very much doubt there will be much you can do to stop my little girl from hoof painting the ground with your blood.”

The darkness in front of Celestia retreated just a step before a figure as black as the empty night emerged from it. Just the sight of her sister’s captor made Celestia tense in anger. Nightmare Moon looked exactly how Celestia remembered her to be. Although just as tall as Celestia was herself, the Nightmare’s frame was much more lithe and slim than the pony who had lived on Equestria for the past several years.

“Hello...sister,” Nightmare Moon said in that same near-seductive voice she frowned at Celestia. “To what do I owe such an honor as your bountiful presence?”

Celestia couldn’t keep the anger held back. “You are not my sister!” she shouted at the monster.

The rebuttal only got a tiny laugh from Nightmare Moon. “On that, we can agree,” she said. “I am not the foal you berated because she was a step behind you during magical training despite being six years your junior. I am not the filly you bullied and snapped at because she wished to be your equal. I am the mare you made a mockery of at every party with your lies concocted to undermine my authority!”

With the end result of her early stumbles shouting at her, Celestia felt her legs weaken. “I…” She sighed and lowered her head. “Yes, I was prideful and foolish. I admit to my failings, to all my mistakes. And when I see my sister again, I will placate myself before her and beg for the forgiveness that I do not deserve,” the white pony said before raising her head to meet Nightmare Moon’s angry gaze. “But that is for her, not you.”

“Oh yes, your noble sacrifice,” Nightmare Moon spat. “As if you ever had an ounce of nobility in your entire body. I know all about your stupid plan to end us both. I see you’re still lying to yourself as always. I’m amazed that you haven’t sent your little weapon here to end me already.”

Celestia frowned. “I would never force the burden of a death on Sunset’s shoulders.”

A snort came as Nightmare Moon’s reply. “Yes, you say that now. But tell me, one, two...five years down the line, will you begin to tell yourself that you’re wrong? That Equestria needs you for some greater purpose? That paying for your crimes isn’t as important as what you could do to make it right, or some other weak-willed trash?”

“I committed no-”

“YOU DID THIS TO ME!” Nightmare Moon shouted. “For one thousand years, I have been left on this dead rock, unable to return to where I belong. For one thousand years, you slaughtered any of those who could truly be called mine.”

Celestia snorted at the accusation. “You mean your puppets? I released them from you.”

The reply got a laugh from Nightmare Moon. “Is that what you call it?” she asked. “Tell me, how much did Gum Drop’s mother cry when you so graciously released her?”

“Enough!” Celestia shouted. “I am not here to discuss such things. I am here for Sunset!”

Nightmare Moon threw her head back and laughed. “Do you mean, this pony?” she asked before her horn became...Celestia couldn’t say that it was illuminated. An aura of blue that was almost black surrounded Nightmare Moon’s horn and actually decreased the light coming in from the stars in the sky.

Behind Nightmare Moon, the darkness took the shape of a wall before a clear image was displayed within it. Celestia sucked in a breath as she saw a much smaller, wingless Sunset than the pony she had just crowned looking up at Celestia with wide, hurt eyes as the alicorn glared down at her. “I’m selfish?” Sunset said before she threw a book at the big alicorn that was deflected. “This book says you could become as powerful as an alicorn princess! I could rule here! It’s selfish of you to keep me from my rightful place!”

“W-What is this?” Celestia whispered.

Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Oh come now, Celestia. You know that the memory of a pony is an open book to me. This is what happened to her way back when. This is the real you.”

“I deserve to stand beside you and be your equal...if not your better!” the Sunset in the projection told that Celestia. “Make me a princess!”

The world around Celestia dropped from her attention as she took a step closer to the image. “Tell her that it’s too dangerous,” she said to her image. “Tell her what might happen if she’s not ready.”

“No,” the Celestia in the projection said, dashing both that Sunset’s hopes and the living alicorn’s. “Being a princess must be earned. I have been trying to teach you everything you need to know, but you have turned from it. Every time you say you deserve to get something without the effort just proves to me that you are not ready.”

Celestia frowned at the hypocrisy that came from her double’s mouth. A born alicorn, she and her sister had been given a crown on a silver platter. “What you talking about?” she demanded of her past self. “You’re the one that controls the curriculum. If she wants a test to prove her worth, then give her one! Even if it’s one designed for her to fail! Don’t just stand there, wrapped in your own foolish sense of superiority!”

“Sunset Shimmer!” the projection of Celestia went on. “I am removing you from the position of my pupil-”

“No!” Celestia told herself as the sound of her terrified heart drowned out some of what she was hearing.

“-your studies end here,” the other Celestia said as she glared down at Sunset with her wings spread to their fullest.

“OH SHUT UP YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS NAG!”

The force of Celestia’s voice blew the image away before her vision began to blur. “How dare you look down on her like that! How dare you not see the pain in her eyes! I HATE YOU!” she shrieked before the tears made it impossible to see and she fell into a sitting position before looking down onto the ground to cry. “I hate you.”

Nightmare Moon’s voice cut in a few seconds later. “I wonder how many times she told herself things were better this way. How many times she said she could rule Equestria all by herself, without any other family to get in the way.”

Unable to rally her anger, Celestia continued to look at the ground. “I never truly meant any of that,” she mumbled.

“Yes you did!” Nightmare Moon accused her between clenched teeth. “Admit it! You were glad I was gone. That you didn’t have anypony you needed to debate issues with, that all the authority was in your hooves!”

Celestia let out a sob as the words brought back memories that she would sooner forget. How she had stood proudly in her new throne room as the put a single throne on the dais. How she had told ponies this would be much better now that her sister would no longer slow down legislation. How she had envisioned an Equestria molded in her own image, rather than the hodgepodge of two different ponies.

It was with heavy numbness that Celestia realized she needed to move on from this. If she left the Moon too late, Sunset would come calling even if the Nightmare agreed to allow her departure. Fighting was out of the question. The surface of Nightmare’s moon pulled Celestia’s power away until she felt like a pre-teen foal, barely able to light her horn.

She took in a deep breath and looked up at her sister’s jailer with heavy eyes. “Nightmare Moon. I’ve come to bargain with you.”

The hoof that struck Celestia in the side of the face sent her sliding a foot along the ground. Her jaw ached with a throbbing pain as the black alicorn stomped up and pressed her hoof to Celestia’s cheek. “Well of course that’s what you’re here for. Do you think me a complete fool?” she asked. “You want me to stop intruding on the dreams of the precious little girl you were willing to throw away like trash. Of course, the question then becomes, what’re you willing to give me in return?”

“That is a rather hard question to answer,” Celestia replied. Her voice sounded strange to her own ears from being pressed to the ground by Nightmare Moon. “On the way here, I was thinking about offering to take you into my own body.” As far as Celestia knew, the binding would still hold the darkness to the Moon. And Sunset would never do anything to hurt her own mother.

Nightmare Moon giggled before removing her hoof from Celestia’s face and circling her like a predator would wounded prey. “Oh yes, you still think of me as some sort of monstrous parasite to be removed from your precious baby sister,” Nightmare Moon said. “You truly are an idiot.”

Celestia picked herself up off of the ground. “It is the only option that makes sense.”

“Okay, let’s go with that for a second,” Nightmare Moon replied. “You’re hoping that I’ve just some evil manifestation that has possessed you previous wittle Woona. A manifestation that has held her body hostage for centuries. An evil creature that has cut into her mind, tortured her, torn her apart from the inside and devoured her soul bit my bit. All because you don’t want to think that you pushed your little sister into doing all the things I have.”

The scenario presented chilled Celestia to the bone. Was that what she had truly been hoping for all these years? The idea that Luna was alive within Nightmare Moon had given her hope, but she had ignored the fact that Nightmare Moon was the one controlling Luna’s wellbeing. “Surely, something of the host must survive.”

“Host?” Nightmare Moon spat. “Even after I told you such a thing, you cling to that. To the foolish idea that you can see your baby sister again when in fact I am your sister.”

Seeing that any further talk would only drag her down deeper, Celestia hung her head. “What is it you want?”

Nightmare Moon snorted. “Only what is rightfully mine,” she said before frowning. “But since you are unable to give me such a thing and my freedom would only lead to my eventual defeat. I’ll settle for...your life.”

As soon as the words were said, Celestia dropped into a defensive stance. She didn’t know how well she would be able to ward off Nightmare Moon’s attacks, but she was hardly going to just agree to be murdered. However, instead of moving on her, Nightmare Moon just threw her head back in laughter. “Ohohohohoho! Do not not think me that simple you twit!” she spat. “I wish for you to engaged in a life pact with me. That way, if you break the agreement we make-”

Celestia cleared her throat. “I’m aware how it works,” she mumbled. “What is the agreement?”

“I shall no longer assault the dreams of Sunset Shimmer, Mi Amore Cadenza, or any pony within the royal house. In return, you will continue to keep my existence and all things related to it a secret, as well as keep your proxies from revealing me to your daughter or anypony else. In addition, when I am released from the moon, you will be the first pony to face me in combat. While happenstance encounters will be allowed, should another pony or another group attempt to impede our reunion and subsequent battle, or interfere with it after it’s begun, the contract will be void and your life will end, as will mine should I invade the minds of your family.”

After going over the words in her mind, Celestia looked back to Nightmare Moon. “So, you and I will still meet on the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration?”

“I’ve been looking forward to it for some time, sister,” Nightmare Moon sneered. “Now, shall we begin? The spell does take some time to prepare.”

As she ran her mind over the spell time and time again, something occurred to her. It didn’t have anything to do with the agreement, but with Nightmare Moon herself. Back when Sunset had just arrived, she had mentioned the desire to kill herself, or close to it. But as time went on, that thought changed to something else. “Nightmare Moon, if you’ve been plaguing my daughter’s dreams...then why didn’t you simply push her towards suicide?” Celestia asked as she constructed her part of the spell.

Nightmare Moon snorted. “I suppose you think I escape from the Moon once a year to eat foals as well,” she spat before a black light appeared at the tip of her horn. Then a pensive frown appeared on the mare’s armored face. “Well, I’ll admit to the assassin, but honestly? We both know he had little chance to wound your daughter, much less end her life.”

“W-What?” Celestia stuttered in shock.

Instead of answering, Nightmare Moon charged and touched the tip of her horn to Celestia’s.

Thus is our treaty written; Thus is the agreement made

Though memory shall dull with time; This agreement shall never fade

What asked is given; The price is paid.

There was a thunderous boom before Celestia and Nightmare were forced a step back from each other, the magic’s presence was still ringing in her ears. “You made Hard Line try to kill my daughter?!” she demanded.

Nightmare Moon smirked at Celestia, showing her fangs. “Oh, we both know you can’t make anypony do things from the dream realm. Forge agreements and manipulate emotions, but nothing that can force a pony into an action,” she said. “What’s truly pathetic is that it barely took any convincing at all on my part to make him so homicidal that he would attack his ruler.”

“Why would you do such a thing?” Celestia demanded.

“I will admit that he is quite useless,” Nightmare Moon replied. “But as a former captain of the guard, he will know everything about your castle's defenses and will be able to train the others that bow to me in combat. Well, once that my other minions break him out of that pathetically guarded dungeon this night.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in alarm. She turned around and began to gallop, hoping that the added speed would assist her in leaving the Moon’s gravity. Only, when she got a few inches off of the ground, the shadow-stuff swarmed in to engulf her hooves before a dark glow surrounded her horn to prevent any magic from escaping.

“Oh sister, you shouldn’t leave yet,” Nightmare Moon said as she came from behind Celestia to stand beside her. In front of the white mare, the darkness gathered to form an image that was obviously pulled from Sunset’s life as a human. “I’ll let you go after seeing Sunset’s...I believe she would call them...her greatest hits.”

The darkness expanded to create room for another image, one of Sunset sitting on a cot, looking at some kind of white rod. The look on the redhead’s face was one of horror. “This is the time she thought one of those naked apes had left his seed in her.”

Another picture showed looking at what was obviously some kind of waste bin. “Oh, this is the one where she ate discarded food because she wasn’t aware of her gems’ value yet.”

Then another picture appeared. “There’s her eating grass. Poor thing lowered herself to such an action, not knowing what it would do.”

And another. “Her first human disease.”

Followed by another. “First Winter there. As I understand it, humans don’t really like the cold.”

Then came another. “Oh! This one is my favorite,” Nightmare moon said as she forced Celestia to look at the picture of the human Sunset standing in front of a horse statue. The journal in her...arms(?) drew Celestia’s attention. “You noticed it too, then? This is after that Princess Twilight Sparkle went to Earth a second time. After that, the portal was open all the time. All she has to do is walk through, and she’s home again.”

Celestia gulped. “W-Why’re you showing me this?”

“This is during a point in her life where several of her human friends have turned against her because of that Anon-thing,” Nightmare Moon went on. “She’s been out there for hours because Twilight Sparkle told Sunset to...oh yes...find her family.”

“Would she...even want me back?” Sunset’s image asked. “Is she...still mad?”

Nightmare Moon leaned in close. “Look at her, shivering in the cold. The humans who have cursed at her, abandoned her. Thrown her away like trash and left her to cry in the middle of a hallway...or you?”

Sunset looked back down at the back of her journal, where Celestia’s cutie mark shone brightly. “She...hasn’t sent me anything since…”

“Please...please, stop,” Celestia begged as she tried to lower her head with no effect. So, she closed her eyes.

Sunset’s voice cut into her ears. “She...she doesn’t want me,” the projection said before Celestia heard the crunch of snow. “She never wanted me.”

Celestia cried.

And Nightmare Moon...laughed.

With her dress and jewelry taken from her, Crooked Line sat on the cold ground in the nude, the cold feeling of the stone beneath her draining any hope for warmth away. Across the hallway from her cell, both of the males from her house sat glaring at one another. They had been arguing for hours on end about Hard’s actions until dinner had been brought in. That had at least stopped things long enough to give her a little quiet.

Much to Crooked Line’s surprise, there was another mare in the cell next to her husband and son. She was a chubby, yellow thing, but at least she had a horn. Crooked could remember something about a non-noble getting thrown into the dungeons by Sunset under Princess Celestia’s authority, but as she was just a wealthy commoner, that was all Crooked Line cared to learn about the subject.

And it seemed that any attempts to converse with her ended after the meal. Blue Line quickly stood back up after swallowing the last bit of food from his plate. “You stupid little foal!”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me? TO OUR HOUSE?” he yelled. “RUINED! You’ve ruined us! One thousand years of history and success, ruined because of you! HOW COULD YOU HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?”

The younger stallion let out a whine. “B-But, she was going to destroy Canterlot. Everything we made, everything we’d worked for. All of it would have disappeared under her rule.”

“Rule? WHAT RULE?” Blue demanded. “Celestia rules Canterlot! She rules Equestria! She has ruled it for over a thousand years! Do you think she’s stupid? She would have never let that brat have any real power!”

“But, she gave Sunset the crown for a weekend,” Hard Line said.

Blue Line snorted. “That was a test, you fool! A test she failed!” he insisted. “The only thing that brat was going to do was sign her name to every document Celestia put under her nose and be the Princess’s flunky for the rest of her life.”

As Hard Line went back to sulking, Blue Line walked over to look through the bars at his wife. “And I suppose by your reaction, you had a horn in this disaster as well?”

The accusation made Crooked Line roll her eyes. “Don’t pretend you didn’t hear us conversing,” she said. “I also know what you talked about with some of your friends during Heat Week’s stallion soiree.”

“Then you should have joined the conversation,” he said. “If you did, I would have told you all how stupid you were being. And grumbling about business is a long line from what you and the colt did!”

Crooked looked away from her husband in disgust. “You should have charged the commoner the moment your son did. He’s ten times the stallion you are, trying to remove filth from the throne.”

The sound of hooves coming down from above perked Blue’s ears. There was only one guard on duty around the cells, and if schedules were still running like they were supposed to during big events like this, he wasn’t to be swapped out until the middle of the night. Unless, they had been imprisoned for longer than he thought.

An earth pony in gold armor with a covered tray on his back came trotting down to greet the white pegasus standing half-asleep by the stairs.

“Good evening. I’ve bought food for the prisoners,” he said before motioning to the tray. “Uh, this isn’t going to fit through the bars. You got the key?”

The pegasus cocked his head to the side. “They just ate a few hours ago.”

“Well, the party and all...they cooked up so much food,” the big earth pony said. “I uh...guess they didn’t want it to go to waste?”

The pegasus sighed and reached to his side with a hoof. “Alright. Give me a minute,” he said before raising a wing and reaching around with his teeth to get a key.

As the pegasus turned his head away from the earth pony, the larger stallion looked back to remove the platter’s cover. Atop it sat a pie, made with some type of white cream or frosting. “You know, it seems a shame that prisoners get to eat this stuff and a hard-working guard like yourself doesn’t have a taste. Cut yourself a slice.”

“Well…” the pegasus guard said as he considered the offer.

Hard Line ran up to the bars. “Hey!” the stallion shouted. “What do you think you’re doing, soldier? You can’t eat on duty, I’ll have you court-martialed for this.”

Blue Line put a hoof to his face and groaned.

After letting out a considering moan, the pegasus looked back up to the earth pony. “Unfortunately, he has a point. I shouldn’t eat while on duty.”

“Of for the love of-JUST EAT IT ALREADY!” the earth pony shouted before he slammed it into the face of the pegasus guard as he tackled the smaller pony the ground and kept the pie tin from leaving his nose. After a few moments of struggle, the stallion finally went limp.

Once the guard was unconscious, the other guard trotted towards the cells and-

“Hey, I know you,” the other mare that had been locked in the cell across the hallway and over exclaimed. “You’re that um...Buck’s dad, right?”

The stallion looked her way and the yellow unicorn gasped. “Have you come to rescue me?”

“...no,” the big stallion told her before he began to trot on.

“Well if you don’t rescue me, I...I’ll scream!” she told the earth pony.

The stallion stopped moving to look back at her. “Fine! Fine, I’ll take you out too.”

“Too?” she asked when the stallion continued moving.

He trotted up to the cell both Line stallions were standing in. “So, you’re the failures that couldn’t even kill a stupid overgrown foal.”

Blue Line snorted. “Perhaps if my idiot son had told me of his plans beyond a basic, do not worry father, I have everything well in hoof, things would have ended differently.”

The false guard snorted. “Yes, I too have an idiot for a son. It makes me wonder where I went so wrong,” he said. “So, let’s get going. The coronation pulled most of the guards from the night shift into day duty, so there shouldn’t be much trouble in getting out.”

“Why are you doing all of this?” Blue Line asked after the cell’s door had been opened.

The stallion turned to work on Crooked Line’s cell. “Why, so you might serve the true Princess of Equestria.”

Celestia came in for a landing on her balcony and barely managed to keep from stumbling. She was drained emotionally and physically. Aching wings and legs demanded rest, but duty demanded that she moved to check on what Nightmare Moon had told her. So, Celestia opened the door to her bedroom and moved inside.

As soon as she did, a new wave of exhaustion pressed down on the white pony. As if somepony had flipped a switch and told Celestia’s body it was time to sleep.

But, she had things to do.

The pair of scrolls sitting on the top of one of her bookcases made her stop. She frowned at them. They contained personal letters to both Sunset and Cadance, as well as instructions on how to perform certain duties such as raising the sun, and what Celestia knew what would have been her fate had she not come back from the Moon.

She looked at the scrolls. Then took them in her magic and promptly tossed the things under her bed. Out of the way, she could deal with in the morning.

Celestia opened the door to her living room and...blinked when she noticed the amber alicorn princess slumped over Celestia’s writing desk with a quill and several parchments of paper. “Sunset?”

“Mom!” Sunset exclaimed before bolting up. “I um...I couldn’t sleep, and uh...you were gone and…geeze, Mom what happened to you? You look horrible!”

The unexpected appearance of her daughter was like a kick to the gut to Celestia. “Sunset, I-I love you,” she said before stumbling forward to wrap her daughter in a hug. “I love you so much, so much.”

Sunset caught the bigger pony, but quickly fell backwards onto the thick carpet shaped like Celestia’s cutie mark. “Whoa!” she exclaimed. “I-I uh, I love you too, Mom.”

“I always wanted you. I always...I’m sorry, I...I wasn’t there for you,” she whispered.

Sunset ran a hoof down Celestia’s back. “That’s okay.” the amber alicorn told her mother. “You had something important to do. I understand.”

Celestia tried to say something, but it only came out as a sob. “I...I’m sorry.”

The slight tingling of another pony’s magic was quickly followed by the sensation of floating as Celestia found herself being lifted by Sunset’s horn. “Come on, Mom, let’s get you to bed.”

But instead of heading in that direction, Sunset moved to gather up her notes on the desk. Celestia made herself read the label on the diagrams. “What’s a...holo...deck?”

“Just uh...it’s nothing,” Sunset assured her with a little blush. “Come on now. Let’s get you into bed.”

Celestia tried to move but, she was just so tired. Everything that had happened wore her out more than any single day had in hundreds of years. Had Nightmare Moon done something to her that she wasn’t aware of?

But, she still need to get to the dungeons!

She tried to shake off the fog in her mind, but found that it didn’t work.

After Sunset moved the sheets aside to lay her down, Celestia reached out to her. “Sunset...wait.”

“Yeah Mom?” she asked.

“Don’t...don’t go,” she told her daughter.

An uncomfortable look crossed Sunset’s face as it began to turn red. “S-Seriously?”

“Hmmm?” Celestia asked as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Sunset groaned loudly. “Fine,” she agreed before magicing Celestia over a little and climbing in after her. “This is a mother-daughter...celebration...thing. Late as it is, Cadance and Shiny are probably already asleep anyway so…” Sunset moved in and kissed Celestia on the cheek. “I love you, Mom.”

Unable to even muster a response, Celestia closed her eyes.

Sleep came moments later.

Chapter 8

A minor flare of magic that moved throughout her body brought Celestia out of her sleep and into the waking world. Just enough moonlight streamed in through the window to give her a clear vision of the pony sleeping contently next to her. The tiny smile on Sunset’s face brought a matching one to her own before Celestia’s body reminded her of yesterday’s strenuous activities.

Even with magic that let her skip half the journey by teleporting, it had still taken several hours for a round trip to the Nightmare’s prison and back. Which had occurred after having endured a spell that put a great deal of mental and emotional strain on her body. Such things were not removed with only a few hours of sleep. Celestia’s wings throbbed, her legs ached, even her hooves hurt. A moment later, there was a dull throbbing in her head as well.

Entwined with Sunset, Celestia knew that she wouldn’t be able to get up without waking her daughter, but...letting Sunset just sleep in wasn’t an option either. They had business that needed attending.

“Sunset, it’s time to wake up,” Celestia told her.

“Meh,” Sunset replied as she fought off her mother’s gentle prodding.

Celestia sighed before she shook her foal a bit harder. “Sunset, wake up.”

“Wha?” Sunset awoke with a sudden jerk, her eyes fluttering open to take a look around. “Mom? What’re-oh, right,” she said before blinking the sleepiness out of her eyes. “Man, I’m wiped.”

A giggle escaped from Celestia’s mouth as she extracted herself from her bed. “Well, perhaps you shouldn’t have waited until I came home then and gone to bed with your loved ones.”

Sunset snorted. “Couldn’t sleep,” she said before yawning and rolling off of the other side of Celestia’s bed. “You run off without telling anyone tends to worry everyone around you. I’m a princess now too, you know. You shouldn’t be keeping secrets from me.”

“I...panicked,” Celestia admitted. “Information came to light and I acted to prevent further...complications. And I’ll admit, it was a mistake not telling you that I would be gone. I’m sorry.”

For a few moments, Sunset simply stood on the other side of Celestia bed, just giving her a blank look. “Yeah, don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that.”

“Get used to what?” Celestia asked.

Sunset smirked. “You apologizing.”

The mirthful reply made Celestia slump. Despite just waking up, she was too tired to put on a brave face for her daughter. Even if Sunset had obviously meant it in jest, the truth hurt. “I didn’t think I could. Not as a teacher, or a princess, anyway.”

“Uh…” Sunset put on a little smile. “This is where you put on a smile and say something like, well you didn’t give me many reasons to practice.”

Celestia resisted the urge to correct her. She needed to apologize for every day that Sunset had been under her care. But they didn’t have that much time. “Come along Sunset, we need to wake Cadance. There’s work to do this morning,” Celestia told her before moving out onto her balcony in order to lower the moon and bring up the sun.

When she was done, Celestia slowly cantered out into the hall with her daughter not far behind. Sunset must have sensed the mood, because she was quiet on the way to her room. After reaching the door with the stylized sun, the amber princess opened the door and allowed Celestia entry before moving on to stick her head in the bedroom.

“Hey guys, time to get up, we need to...” Sunset paused to take a sniff of the air. “Wait...you two didn’t do it last night?”

Cadance let out a tiny groan. “It’s not as if I’m in the mood all the time, Sunset,” she said sleepily.

“Well that’s-whoa! Shiny...um, you uh…” A blush appeared on Sunset’s cheeks before she cleared her throat. Her wings twitched and her tail flicked around before raising ever slightly. “You want me to...take care of that for you?”

Celestia moved up behind Sunset to see what the problem was. “Is something the matter?”

A high-pitched scream came from Shining Armor before he grabbed the blanket’s to cover his male anatomy. “P-Princess Celestia!”

“Oh, Shining Armor,” the mare said as matter-of-factly as she could. Doing things her usual way would be a mistake. Stallions were very sensitive about their reproductive organs and Celestia had no intention of making the colt Sunset was so head-over-hooves for want to break up with her because of everypony else that came along in the bargain.

She looked down at the floor where the regalia of two princesses and a stallion’s coat had been discarded. Seeing them made Celestia realize that she still had her crown and the rest of her princess gear on. Meaning that she had slept in them.

Again.

“I’ll send a member of the staff to have your suit pressed and ready for you after breakfast,” Celestia told the colt as if she had never seen anything before gathering up Sunset’s regalia and taking it with her out into the living room to set in front of her daughter. “You should take better care of your things, Sunset. Especially considering how long you waited to earn that crown.”

Sunset got dressed and carefully set her crown on her head. “Not like I wanted the stupid thing. Not anymore, I mean.”

“Good,” Celestia replied. Which earned her a confused look from her daughter and demanded a follow up that she quickly delivered. “While I can’t say those who seek power shouldn’t be trusted, those that have power thrust upon them without the desire for it are set to make much better rulers”

A tiny smile appeared on Sunset’s face. “Pretty sure I’ve heard that one before.”

Celestia straightened up a bit. “Well, it’s a good lesson. Besides, let’s...um…” With her tank still only-half-full, the train of thought Celestia had let detour found itself completely lost. “We need to go find Raven and Kibitz. They should have today’s schedule.”

“You okay, Mom?” Sunset asked as she followed Celestia out before letting out a little yawn. Not to mention able to locate other documents for her that any investigation to a crime she knew had been committed but not yet seen far more easily solved.

Celestia smirked. “It would seem that I am not the only one still out of sorts. I said that you should have gone to sleep with your lovers. It seemed to me, Shining Armor felt the lack of your presence well into the night.”

The mention of her coltfriend got a tiny stumble and blush from Sunset, as well as numerous other signs of what her first thought was upon hearing her stallion’s name. Something must have happened to cause this flare in embarrassed behavior outside of their usual passions. “Y-Yeah well, um…”

“As you noticed, I didn’t make a single quip about him while I was in the room with him,” Celestia pointed out before feelings of mischievous began to crop up. “Although I have to wonder...considering that you’ve had the same stallion at two different sizes now...what are you thoughts on the bigger is better theory?”

The coat on Sunset’s face changed to match the other color of her mane. “Moms and sex talk don’t mix.”

Celestia giggled. “Well, if you ever want any tips…”

“I already read your book!” Sunset exclaimed before freezing up again. “That...um...you know…”

The mention of that particular tome earned a wince from Celestia. “Right...well, I’m just saying…” she let out a long breath to clear away any mirthfulness. “Sunset, I had a pegasus for a lover. It’s no secret that they’re the least endowed of the three tribes. I had to come up with a few tricks to keep things...interesting. Beyond the one that became famous, I mean. So, if you ever do find your relationship becoming a bit stale in the bedroom because of ah...size differences, I can give you some pointers.”

Sunset continued to walk uncomfortably as they got to the stairs and descended to ground level. “...thanks,” she replied. “So, uh...you gonna tell me what you were up to last night?”

“I receive information regarding another attempt on your well being. So, after making sure the palace’s defenses against such things were in place, I set out to investigate,” Celestia half-lied. “What I got instead was a message informing me that during my absence from the palace, the Line family was given the chance to escape under the cover of night.”

“WHAT?” Sunset shouted as she whirled around and glared at her mother. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me about it when you got back?”

Celestia sighed. “I tried. You mistook my intentions for a desire to hold you,” she explained. “A slumbering spell must have been placed on me, set to trigger when I returned, or perhaps something that slowly drained my already depleted stamina had been placed on me without my notice.” Such things were not beyond her sister, and Nightmare Moon had been allowed a much longer time to practice than Luna did.

There was no hesitation on Sunset’s part as she moved to gallop down the hall. “Then what the hell are we standing around here for?” she demanded before taking off towards the stairs that would lead to the lower levels.

“Sunset!” Celestia shouted at her daughter to no avail before following her lead despite the protest her body gave. Despite the fact that she could already guess what would happen, the big alicorn followed without further protest down the long, single set of stairs that led to an area carved out of the mountain and separate from other parts of the palace.

When they reached the bottom of the long flight of stairs, Celestia watched her daughter look around in a panic at the cells. “Where is she? She’s not-the guards were keeping her down here, right?” Sunset asked.

After sparing a moment to examine the guard sleeping on the floor with a diagnosis spell that told her he was in a state of magically induced slumber, Celestia did her best to avoid the pie remains on the ground and slowly walked over to her borderline-panicked daughter. “Crooked Line was being held with the stallions, yes.”

“I don’t care about her! I’m talking about Upper Crust!” Sunset exclaimed. “She was in here too, right?”

Celestia blinked at the question as her mind worked to recall the pony in question. “The...rapist?” she asked, tripping over the word she had only heard Sunset mention a few times before nodding. “Yes. We were holding her here for today so that you could sentence her under your own authority.”

The nervousness Sunset was displaying quickly transformed into anger before Celestia’s eyes. “Well, she’s not here anymore!”

“True,” Celestia agreed before moving to take a look around the barren cell. “It would appear that she went with them.”

“Or they took her!” Sunset exclaimed.

Celestia nodded at the theory. “It’s possible. But, as most of the dust in her cell is undisturbed, there didn’t look to have been a struggle. She went willingly,” she replied. “More than likely, she is still with them.”

“Or they didn’t want to cause a racket when they killed her, so they strung her along until they were out of the palace, then dumped her body somewhere!” Sunset shot back.

With her daughter giving such harsh accusations, Celestia raised her head up in alarm. “You think they would do such a thing?”

Sunset’s frown deepened. “Do I think that the guys who tried to murder me in front of everybody else would stoop to killing another pony? Uh, YES I DO!”

With her daughter falling into old paths, Celestia frowned. “Sunset, the only reason they did that was because you constantly pushed Hard Line and-”

“ARE YOU SAYING THAT IS MY FAULT THAT SOMEBODY TRIED TO MURDER ME?” Sunset raged.

Celestia blinked. “No, that’s not-”

Sunset didn’t let her finish before speaking in a mocking voice. “The only reason they did that was because you,” she repeated. “That’s what you JUST SAID!”

“Please stop-”

“What?” she demanded. “Stop living? Hey, maybe I should just-”

“LISTEN TO ME!”

When Sunset was pushed back by the sound of Celestia’s voice, the older alicorn took the opening to lower her head. “I’m sorry, Sunset. I misspoke,” she said. When she looked back up at her daughter, Celestia continued. “What Hard Line did was in no way justified, that much I want to make clear to you. However, the circumstances between the attack on you and the abduction of this other filly are different. I doubt that any cries for help could have been heard from down here, so taking her to keep an alarm being raised makes little sense. And as you put it, they have already shown themselves to be capable of a crime that would turn a normal pony’s stomach just to think about. So, if they wanted to silence her, Upper Crust’s body would be lying here right now, either unconscious like the guard’s, or dead.

“More likely, they had some ulterior motive for taking her along,” Celestia reasoned. “Her parents are quite wealthy, and while she was cast out in an attempt to curry favor with you, she is still their daughter. Even if they are not willing to pay for her release, it’s entirely possible that she is capable of providing them with information on the family’s wealth or skilled enough to forge her mother’s signature on a request for funds from a bank.”

Sunset was silent for several seconds before she sat down on the hard stone. “Oh...yeah. Guess that makes sense,” she said. “Uh, sorry I thought you meant…”

Holding up a hoof to stop her daughter, Celestia went on. “The fault is mine. I trained you to think for yourself and read other ponies at a young age, then did everything I could to show you the worst facets of myself,” she said with a sigh. “I was so much harsher with you than what I should have been and I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay-”

Celestia shook her head. “No, it’s not. But, I promise to do better in the future.”

“Well, suppose I should let you finish talking before I spout off about junk,” Sunset grumbled.

A feeling of deja vu settled over Celestia. “Didn’t you already promise me something along those lines?”

“...it’s a work in progress,” Sunset admitted as she turned her head away.

“As am I, it seems,” Celestia said before moving to put a leg around the back of her daughter’s neck. Once the brief hug had concluded, Celestia looked back to the guard. “Now, let’s wake him up and see if we can find out just whom put a single guard in charge of four prisoners.”

Unfortunately, Sunset and Celestia found nothing out from the guard pony that they had awoken. The magic potion that had been mixed into the pie included an effect that did away with a pony’s short-term memory, meaning that the eye-witness to the beginning of the crime couldn’t even give them a description of just who had drugged him.

Celestia hope for a lead didn’t pan out either. With Hard Line removed as the guard captain and the security staff being short on members, Celestia had given the lieutenants orders to manage their sections until a new captain was promoted. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any lieutenant that was in charge of the section of the castle that didn’t have a single pony in it for the past hundred-plus years. So, that meant there wasn’t a glaringly obvious finger pointing to a pony that had been assigned to the dungeons and willing to aid in his escape.

That meant they would have to get a complete headcount of all the guards and the cooks that had come to work today to try and find any suspicious absences before even starting on the ‘where were you on the night of’ type of questioning. Which was going to take awhile. Time they would have to spend surrounded by a bunch of foals and nervous parents that kept glancing to the big white pony in the room while they ate breakfast.

Each of the ponies had the usual staples of a hearty Equestrian breakfast, with the proportions to match their needs. Foals got a few chopped up pieces, alicorns got miniature mountains. Pre-peeled fruits were arranged across the middle of the table and within easy reach of the parents and white foals with horns that were willing to give the orange pony some help, as well as pancakes, three different types of juice alongside the milk and some fancy oats from somewhere Sunset could barely pronounce properly.

“My, I never imagined would be able to eat breakfast with Princess Celestia!” Rarity’s mother...Cookie Crumbles, that was her name, exclaimed before gulping and fidgeting in the miniature sofa she was laying on. “So...I understand that the coronation was...eventful? I would have gone, but...” She nodded to her swollen pregnant belly.

The memory of Shining Armor saving her played through Sunset’s mind again, making her heart flutter. She reached over to sink her hoof into his flank and dragged the stallion of her dreams closer to lay her head his shoulder. After a little bit of scrunching down to his height, anyway. “Yeah, my Shiny saved me,” she said before kissing him on the cheek and giggling.

“Yes,” Celestia agreed in a voice that brought all eyes onto her as if she was an approaching hurricane.

Cadance cleared her throat. “So...um, did you girls enjoy your night?” she asked.

All of the girls nodded, but Rarity was the only one to speak. “It was lovely, Princess Cadance. Are you sure we can keep the dresses?”

“Yes, Rarity,” Cadance assured her before taking a bite of the fruit on her plate.

Celestia finished off the pineapple on her plate and looked up to the clock before speaking. “Well, we need to be off. Shining Armor, your appointment is at ten sharp. Please do not be late. Court business like this means that I have to hold petitioners at the gate until it’s done.”

Applejack’s mom looked over to the big pony in surprise. “Yer taking petitions today, Princess?”

A little smile appeared on Celestia’s face. “While I can give myself as many days off as I wish, the problems of Equestria are not very accommodating,” she said before frowning a little. “Ah, pardon me. We only met briefly and…”

“Pear Butter,” the earth pony mare said, which earned an odd look from Applejack.

Celestia blinked a few times in confusion. “Oh...I thought...never mind,” she said. “What is it that you wanted to ask?”

The earth pony cleared her throat nervously. “Er, my family made an arrangement with Princess Sunset when she...well, ruled Equestria. Is that still...valid now that you’re in power?”

“All proclamations, laws and judgments made by my daughter will be upheld,” Celestia assured the worried mother. “You’ll receive your agricultural assistance as soon as we can provide it. Now if you’ll excuse us, we must be going.”

Sunset kissed her lover’s neck before she whispered in his ear. “Hey Shiny. We’ve still got an hour, you want to-”

“He has an hour, you will be coming with us, Daughter,” Celestia told Sunset as she moved to rise from the table.

Cadance gave the girls a little smile. “We’ll see you all off before your trains depart,” she promised Applejack and Rarity before focusing on the pegasi. “Or chariots.”

“Seeya later Princess Cadance!” Rainbow Dash said, before flying up into the air to give a wave and drip more than a bit of food.

“Our little Dashie, friends with a princess!” Dash’s mother exclaimed.

“Well of course she is,” the male Rainbow replied.

Fluttershy just gave a nervous wave.

As they got up to depart, Sunset leaned in close to give Cadance a whisper. “Me thinks you need to keep an eye on that one, my future delinquent senses are tingling.”

During her reign as Princess, Cadance had only been to court with Celestia a dozen or so times. Usually on Saturdays when there wasn’t anything else to do. Despite how simple Princess Celestia made it seem, Cadance knew that making important decisions on the fly took a great deal of knowledge about every little thing regarding Equestria and beyond.

Even if her domestic decisions made the mare wonder if Celestia was missing something upstairs, she ran Equestria better than anypony else possibly could. Even Sunset wasn’t on par with her by any stretch of Cadance’s biased imagination.

However, none of those days of court involved a large crowd of ponies that Cadance recognized from her coronation. Eighteen of them were the head mare and stallion from the nine remaining top houses in Canterlot, along with seven younger ponies that were old enough to behave themselves. Behind them were what she guessed to be other minor noble pairs of ponies with their heirs mixed in with a few other ponies that stood on their own.

She noticed that stallion that Fleur had taken to the dance standing the neat back with what may have been his parents. It was hard to tell, sometimes.

From what little Cadance could pick out from their mumbling, most of them were worried about why Celestia had summoned all of the assembled ponies. Some whispered about war, others were worried that Sunset had been displeased with her offerings and was going to demand recompense for the insult, others...wondered if Cadance would be engaged to Prince Blueblood?

Cadance flicked her ears and turned her head away from the crowd to face Celestia. Honestly, it isn’t as if Sunset and I are being discreet, she thought to herself with some indignation. Maybe going to a high society party and getting Sunset to put up one of her time bubbles so they could bang in front of everypony wasn’t such a bad idea after all. At least then, something might sink into their subconscious so that everypony realized that she had already been claimed by a pair of ponies.

Thanks to turning her head, Cadance could see Raven standing behind her with a small clipboard and notebook along with a small satchel that looked to be full of parchment for Celestia to make decrees as well as the ink and quills to do so. When Cadance gave her a smile, the unicorn returned it with a polite nod before the pink princess faced forward again.

“As you are all well aware, there was an attempt upon my daughter’s life yesterday,” Celestia said in a loud voice that was one trot short of a shout. “The ponies responsible for attempting this heinous act were quickly bound and sent to palace dungeon. Once there, they confessed that they were not alone in this act and that many more worked with them in the act of sabotaging the potion that would have displayed a pony’s true colors.”

Cadance blinked and turned to face Celestia. “Really?” she asked. All Sunset and Celestia had told her before the nobles came it was that the guard for the dungeons had been found asleep and there were no other leads. Even scrying spells and potions that would allow a pony to see into the past couldn’t be of use thanks to current state of temporal affairs, with the universe's rotation on its temporal axis being increased to such a degree they were going several times faster than what was proper.

It...messed up the aim of the spell...or something. Cadance couldn’t really follow the specifics of higher magic so early into her training.

A sigh came from the other side of Celestia before Cadance saw Sunset dip her head and rub it with a hoof. “No Cadance. She’s bluffing.”

For a second, Cadance widened her eyes. “And I just told them-”

“Nothing,” Celestia informed her. “As far as they can see, we’re all just studying their response.”

In other words, Princess Celestia was using the same spell to hide their reactions, just like how she had done at the coronation and the banquet. Not wanting to press her luck, Cadance looked back to the crowd as several ponies talked in hush tones among themselves.

“Did you help them Mommy?” one little pony asked louder than most of the others.

“W-What?! N-No, sweetie, of course I didn’t!” a fat mare said before looking at the other ponies around her to give a big smile. “The silly things foals say these days.”

“But last night, you told me that Sunset Shimmer was just a big fat poo poo head,” the mare’s foal pointed out. “And that that crown of her would need to be cleaned daily to keep the stink off.”

The mare froze when Sunset’s gaze focused on her, almost as if she could feel it. As the crowd took a step away from the nervous noble, she let out a pathetic whine and sunk to the floor before looking up to Sunset. “P-Princess, please. I-I didn’t…”

“You’re very lucky that I think honesty is one of the traits we should cultivate in foals as soon as we can and that I consider it the greatest of tragedies for a foal to be separated from her mother,” she said evenly. “And I prefer to use dandelion shampoo, by the way. Not whatever scent you seem to think my mane smells like.”

The lesser noble gave a shaky nod. “A very good choice, Princess. As an apology for my error in judgement. I ask that you allow me to insure that you are never without such things.”

Celestia cleared her throat. “I assure you. If any of you had been implicated by the perpetrators, you would not be here right now,” she said, much to the room’s relief before her expression darkened. “However, I consider the lot of you barely one step away from the ponies that did it in the first place! A colt, barely more than a foal stepped in to defend my daughter while the rest of you sat on your plots! How many of you attended my school, the institution created for the purpose of creating unicorns that would be able to defend this kingdom? How many of you look down upon every other pony below this city because your superior breeding is meant to produce competent casters? Yet when it came time to actually put those skills and traits to use, the lot of you did NOTHING!”

“Are you saying we have a eugenics program in Equestria?” Sunset asked.

Cadance leaned her head forward. “What’s a eugenics?”

“...never mind,” Sunset mumbled.

Prince Blueblood stepped forward. “Princess, please,” he said in a poor attempt to placate the alicorn. “The ponies here that did attend your school rather than study at home took mostly non-magic intensive courses. None of us ever expected use what we used the in the real world. In truth, I’ve already forgotten half of the spells they taught me.”

“Then perhaps you should have stayed home and bought your education like your peers instead of wasting the space in the classroom for a pony who could have used that knowledge properly,” Celestia told him, quickly cowing the pony back into place. “Now, while we have taken other ponies into custody I know that Hard Line had accomplices whose identity were unknown, even to him. This is because late last night, while I was away on business, one of these ponies descended into the dungeons to subdue the guard with magic and release the Line family, as well as Upper Crust, the mare that my daughter had placed in jail days earlier because of her actions in forcing a stallion to breed her in an attempt to appropriate half that young stallion’s fortune.”

As the crowd gasped before speaking amongst themselves in the sudden silence. Although she knew that she should have been trying to pick out any incriminating speech, Cadance found herself focusing on the talking going on between Sunset and Princess Celestia.

“Did you seriously just do that to me?” Sunset asked evenly.

Celestia smirked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Mom. It makes your moments of true stupidity only that much worse,” the younger alicorn said.

Peeking past Celestia again, Cadance got her lover’s attention. “I really don’t know what’s going on, Sunset. Care to enlighten me?”

“Hm? Oh, sure thing Cadance,” Sunset replied after she also look around Celestia. “So, Mom just told the overgrown fillies and colts how disappointed and upset with them she was, then proceeded to say that even though she can’t prove that any of them were in on it, every last one of them looked pretty complacent with the whole thing. So now, to prove their loyalty and junk, well...you’re going to have to start sharing my butt with everypony else that wants to kiss it.”

Cadance gasped. “No! That is my butt. There may many butts in the world, but that one is mine. So tell them to go get their own!”

After giving Cadance a dumbfounded look for several seconds, Sunset sighed and covered her face with a hoof. “Out of all the human lingo I drop, that’s the one you pick up.”

Due to the fact that nopony could actually see them, the pink princess felt her mischievous streak extend all down her back. “I also like the word boobies,” Cadance told her happily. “Boobies and butts. They just go together.”

Sunset groaned and brought up her other hoof to shake her head. “My girlfriend is a total pervert.”

“It’s not perverted when princesses do it,” Celestia reminded her daughter before she cleared her throat.

The news didn’t cheer Sunset up in the least. Still, she did settle down so that Celestia could continue speaking when the rest of the crowd did as well. “As of this morning, all land and property belonging to House Guard has been seized by the crown. As of this moment, I declare that the house itself be dissolved and spoken only as a curse and example of the most despicable beings on four hooves imaginable! I also strip them of their titles and declare them enemies of Equestria. Anypony who knowingly gives aid and comfort to them in any way, shape, or form will be subject to the aforementioned acts before being banished from the kingdom, cursed to never return!

“Royal scribes and bankers are currently going over all documents in regards to the former house’s finances. As such, I will look favorably on any house that decides to aid the crown in this endeavor by revealing any dealings with House Guard. At the same time, any house that attempts to hide a connection will not only fall under suspicion of treason themselves, but they will earn my displeasure. Displeasure I will be very vocal about.”

There was a collective wince among all the ponies gathered, both noble and rich commoner. This time, none of them broke out into gossiping as Celestia’s words were carried throughout the chamber. Some of the ponies looked ready to turn and run out the door right then and there to try and find their private ledgers.

Still, Cadance could only tilt her head in confusion at the reaction. Celestia told them all that she was going to banish a pony that helped the Line family, but they took that calmly. Yet they freaked out when she mentions her displeasure? “I don’t get it,” Cadance said. “Is having your mom say bad things about somepony really that big a deal?”

“Okay, well, you know how the nobility has their hooves in a lot of pies when it comes to commerce and finance, right?” Sunset asked. “They don’t really make anything themselves, but they do fund projects that are expected to give a payout, own a few brand names and are able to rent out property for farming and such, right?”

Cadance nodded. “More or less.”

“Well, how many ponies do you think would go to a pony with money making ideas, buy their stuff, or rent their land if Princess Celestia told everypony that she didn’t like them?” Sunset asked.

The logic was sound. She knew even before coming to Canterlot that everypony did their best to copy Celestia. But she never endorsed or decried anything. If she did...“Then why-”

“Because greed makes ponies stupid,” Celestia said before Cadance could finish asking her question. “You were going to ask me why I wasn’t simply charging them with treason and banishing them as well, right? Well, while a pony could argue, even rightfully, that covering up some backroom deal with House Guard isn’t the same as aiding them, making the action a crime in and of itself with a punishment with a cost that surpasses any fine on the books isn’t a risk worth taking.”

Celestia took a deep breath. “Any other questions, girls?”

A thoughtful groan came from Sunset. “Well, I was going to ask if you could do that. But private property right are more of a democracy thing than a monarchy one,” she said “So...no.”

“Excellent,” Celestia said before turning her attention back to the crowd. “Now that we’ve covered the topic of the traitorous monsters and made the punishment that shall be dealt to anypony who dares to aid them clear, let us move onto a happier bit of business, shall we?” She clapped her hooves together. “Bring them in!”

The doors at the other end of the throne room opened to reveal Shining Armor standing at the entrance, flanked by his mother and father. Cadance didn’t see Twilight among them, but it made sense to leave the filly with her friends when there was serious business to attend to.

Not that Twilight couldn’t be serious. In fact, she was probably the most serious filly that Cadance had ever met. But still, this wasn’t a time for fillies. At least, not actual fillies, overgrown ones that whined about everything were allowed.

Sunset...reacted appropriately for a mare who had become freshly infatuated with a stallion. Her tail swished around a few times and Cadance saw a little bit of glossing over of her eyes as she imagined doing all sorts of things to the approaching colt.

A murmur spread throughout the crowd as the three little ponies made their way over the red carpet. Somepony must have schooled them on proper court manners, because the three of them went into a respectful bow when they reached the correct distance from the throne and remained in such a position until Princess Celestia bid them to rise.

“Shining Armor, you may approach,” Celestia said with a little nod of her head. “Tell us, Shining Armor...do you know the history of Equestria?”

With their stallion being put on the spot, Sunset gave Celestia a disgruntled sound. Cadance opted for giving Shiny an encouraging nod and smile she hoped wasn’t covered up by Celestia’s private conversation protector.

A few seconds later, Shining Armor gave an uneasy smile. “Well, not as much as I probably should. Er, Princess Celestia.”

As the crowd mumbled some more on top of some light laughter as Sunset turned her attention on them and let out a near growl.

“Well, it’s a subject that I will admit to have never studied at all,” she said with a light chuckle, getting nervous laughs from the crowd as they attempted to mimic her. “What most ponies don’t bother to learn is the history of Equestria’s most important families. When many of the old Unicornian nobility resisted the three tribes joining together, much of the landed gentry sided with House Platinum, of whom I am a member. Those that distinguished themselves with acts of bravery or works of great compassion, would comprise the new nobility when the rest of the Unification troubles were over. They were given preferential treatment by the crown in many ways.

“But when it came time for their descendants to assist one of mine, they showed themselves to be slow, lazy, inept, and impotent. Squandering the superior opportunities and talents given to them,” Celestia announced. “While a mere common colt, the product of public education was able to do what they could not using a spell hastily thrown together on pure instinct!”

The hash words had everypony without wings and a horn in the room slowly pulling in on themselves, Shining Armor included.

“So, as a commoner has proven himself to be superior to the entirety of the nobility. He will be inducted into their ranks so that they might better understand how to use the opportunity provided by their wealth and station,” Celestia announced. “Shining Armor, as of this moment, I hereby grant you the title and station of Lord, to be held by your parents until you have come of proper age to wield the authority that comes with it. The crown also bequeaths unto you the following.”

Celestia brought her hoof down twice. A second later, Raven trotted forward and pulled a scroll out of her satchel to begin reading. “The land and structures located at Gentry Row Seven, and all the items therein. The sum of two hundred million bits in Equestrian coin, a collection of various gemstones estimated at five hundred million bits, properties located in the following…”

As Raven continued to name the numerous belongings that Shining Armor was to be given, Sunset looked over to her mother. “Let me guess. The entirety of the former House Guard’s belongings?” she asked.

“And a few other little things to show my appreciation to Shining Armor for saving you,” Celestia said.

Sunset let out a long sigh. “Well, I wanted to put that off until after we were married and Shiny put a couple of foals in us, but...oh, we uh...should probably stop Raven.”

Celestia turned her head away from the crowd. “Why’s that?”

An amber hoof pointed to the ponies down below. “Pretty sure Shiny and his parents are going to completely shut down if this keeps up.”

“Oh! Well, yes, I suppose having the new colt on the block standing around in shock isn’t the best way to introduce him to the nobility,” Celestia said before she stood up and took a step forward to lay it on her secretary’s shoulder. “Thank you, Raven. But I am sure that our new noble family is much more eager to celebrate the rightful bounty of Lord Armor’s actions than hear you list off every little thing. Now, before we allow the new member of our court to depart, let us give him our congratulations.”

Everypony in the room simply stood there in mute shock, so Sunset stepped forward and took a deep breath.

“CLOP YOU IDIOTS!”

The command had the assembled ponies beating their hooves as fast and loudly as they could a moment later.

When it died down, Celestia spoke again. “You may take your leave. I also give you the services of my assistant, Kibitz. So that he can help you to sort through everything you’ll need and help with such a big adjustment.”

However, Shining Armor and his parents continued to remain as still as they were when Raven mentioned the collection of estates in western Equestria, totaling some ten-thousand acres. So, Cadance moved to act. “Well, come on Sunset. Let’s get them going.”

With Cadance’s gentle guidance, Shining Armor managed to make his way out of the throne room and into the hallway. His parents fared a little better, capable of moving on their own. As for Sunset, she trotted in front of them all with her tail swishing back and forth in an angry manner as she talked to the older stallion that had been behind Celestia’s right side.

“I want you to fire all of the servants in the Line’s old house and get some appraisers to go through the place. Oh, and give the ponies we let go three months severance for the trouble, I’ll pay for it. Collect every painting of the family and anything else with the house sigil or cutie marks, we’ll put them up for auction and have the proceeds go to Shiny’s family. The nobles will bid high to show their support for the new family that’s got the backing of three princesses and sleeping with two of them,” she told the stallion, Kibitz.

Part of Shining Armor wanted to remind Sunset that he and his family had just been given all that stuff, but...he had no idea what to do with any of it. Plus, being from Canterlot, he knew that there were special rules that applied to nobles on top of certain privileges they were granted. It was just that, being a colt, didn’t know what any of those rules and privileges were.

The stallion with the mustache cleared his throat. “Actually Princess, your mother had the civic guard round up the staff yesterday and took them to stations throughout the city. Most of them are still being questioned in the hopes that one or two of them overheard a plot against you,” he told her.

Sunset snorted. “Can’t believe I’m actually glad these assholes treat their servants like dirt for once,” she grumbled before the anger on her face cleared up a little. “And you don’t have to call me Princess, Kibitz. You used to help dress and teach me the facts of life for pony’s sake. Pretty sure having to give the speech to a little filly that’s wondering why she’s so hot on a cool spring day entitles you to that.”

“I’m afraid I have far too much respect for you these days for that, Princess Sunset,” the older stallion replied. “And I’m afraid that your recollection is flawed. I hid behind Ms Raven for most of that explanation. By the way, where is it that we’re going, exactly?”

Sunset stopped and yawned before she turned to face the stallion. “Oh...um, well...since I should probably explain just what Mom got them all into…” she said before looking around to stop when she saw a door. “Oh! Private audience chamber, here we go!”

After she opened the door, Sunset spotted a pegasus maid that was carrying a set of bedsheets. “You, fly by the kitchen and have somepony bring us some tea, something soothing,” she said before yawning again. “Oh! and some coffee!”

Once the servant bowed and headed on his way, Sunset led them into one of the few rooms Celestia used for meeting with ponies to discuss private matters. The room had a few small padded benches for letting ponies lay out on their side as well as a very large one on the other end of a table that had obviously been sized with Celestia in mind.

As soon as they were all inside, Sunset kicked off her horseshoes and detached her torc decorated with her cutie mark on her flank before moving over to her mother’s couch to jump up and snuggle into the corner. She held out her hooves. “Come here, Shiny.”

Shining Armor kicked his legs in alarm when he was levitated off the ground. However, a cough from the stallion he wasn’t related to drew Sunset’s attention. “Princess. Considering that you didn’t get much sleep the night before and an apparent lack of rest the night before that, perhaps it would best if you didn’t get too comfortable?”

“Spoilsport,” She grumbled before letting Shining Armor go and falling forward onto her belly. “Okay, so um…”

While Sunset let out another yawn, everypony else took a seat in the couches provided, with the stallion that Celestia had sent moving the seat on the far right to the head of the table, between the ones for Shining Armor’s family and Celestia’s. Cadance went to take up the other half of the big couch, hooking her fetlock with Sunsets after she did.

“Oh! Uh, sorry for stepping on your hooves like this,” Sunset told them. “I just...well, I just thought we’d have more time to get you two accustomed to the whole noble thing. Like, years more. After we married Shiny.”

The mention of marriage jolted Shining Armor’s parents out of their state of confusion. “W-What?” Night Light asked.

“Pardon?” Twilight Velvet quickly followed.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t think he wasn’t going to get a title from our relationship, did you?” she asked before quickly shrugging. “Admittedly, any foals we have won’t be princesses, but lots of the minor nobility can trace their lineage back to an alicorn princess, and just about all of the higher houses have pulled a second-born filly or foal from those bloodlines to try and get an alicorn themselves. Not that it’ll actually work, of course.”

Cadance’s eyes went wide for a moment and she gave a little yank on Sunset’s leg, who suddenly winced. There had apparently been something important in that, but Shining Armor didn’t understand what it was.

“We’re still quite a ways off from marriage,” Cadance told them with a light laugh and wave of her hoof.

Twilight Velvet smiled and nodded. “Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about that. But, we would appreciate your help with this, Princess. Er, Princesses.”

Sunset gave her head a quick shake and blinked her eyes a few times. “Okay, so...new staff, accountants, uh...help me out here, Cadance. What else are we gonna need?”

The question got a confused look from the pink princess. “I don’t know anything about this sort of stuff.”

“What’re you talking about? You were granted unclaimed land by Celestia and given three already-made estates during your coronation. Not to mention what the minor houses have given you since,” Sunset pointed out. “Okay sure, it’s probably all in a trust until your turn eighteen. But you have some accountants and property managers to help you manage all that stuff and give you updates, right?”

Cadance started to look from Sunset to the older stallion and then back to Sunset. “Um…”

Sunset’s entire body drooped. “Kibitz, please tell me that Mom set something up to manage the incomes from what Cadance was given when she received a crown.”

“Ah, well...I’m not the pony to ask about that, Princess Sunset. I’m your mother’s majordomo for the palace. Perhaps one of the secretaries would-”

“Make a note to hire Cadance a pony to administer her accounts, a few to manage her estates and a team of surveyors to look over all of the land given to her by Mom to see if it’s just farmland, or if there are valuable minerals to be mined,” Sunset told him.

Night Light chuckled. “My, Princess Sunset, you sure seem to know your way around all these things.”

A second later, Kibitz let out his own chuckle. “Well, Princess Sunset was studying to be-”

“A princess,” Sunset finished for him. “Mom was teaching me everything I needed to know to be a princess.”

Kibitz chuckled again. “Really? Princesses are something you’re born as, as I recall. Now, the position of High Magus, on the other hoof, that requires plenty of knowledge about Equestrian society, a great deal of magical skill, and the ability to blast dozens of pillow-monsters.”

Sunset let out a tiny groan and covered her face with her hooves. “Quick Cadance, banish him! Banish him forever!”

For her part, Cadance giggled. “Wait, isn’t that the same type of game we play with Twily?” she asked.

“You were hoping to become a magus, Princess Sunset?” Twilight Velvet asked.

An embarrassed moan came from the amber alicorn. “High Magus,” she corrected with a little blush while Shining Armor tilted his head in confusion. He had never heard of a High Magus. “Instead of being given an area of Equestria of protect centered around a town, I um, woulda been Mom’s right hoof mare. Taking care of trouble that popped up that she was too busy to deal with all across Equestria, marrying into a powerful noble family like ah...well...House Platinum.”

Cadance gave a long, knowing “Ah,” before smiling. “Technically making you Celestia’s niece.” Her smile died a second later as she blinked. “Wow, no wonder you hated my guts from day one.”

A strange look formed on Sunset’s face as her eyes made like they were miles away for a moment before the door opened to admit the pegasus pony from earlier, wheeling a tray of coffee and tea. He set it out for all the assembled unicorns and made a quick bow before leaving.

“Okay! So...staff!” Sunset exclaimed. “Need staff on the inside, groundskeepers on the outside. Um, better hire out-of-towners. I don’t want some snoop that’s a spy from another house getting in to report back to their bosses.”

Shining Armor raised a hoof. “Uh, do you think we can see the house?” he asked.

After taking a sip of her coffee, Sunset looked over to Shining Armor. “Why’re you asking me, Shiny? It’s your house.”

“Yeah, but...you’re making all of these decisions,” he told her.

Sunset slunk in on herself at the point. “Am I? I’m just telling you all that you need to hire ponies, not telling you the ponies that you’ll need to hire.”

Kibitz cleared his throat, drawing Shining Armor’s attention. “Honestly, Lord Armor, I’d be the one screening applicants. Your parents would have the final say on all hires, of course. But, I can assure you that I am better suited for weeding out the incompetent applicant and liars than most.”

“And Kibitz, look into getting some painters, the house interior and portrait kind. Since we’re going to be taking down a ton of pictures, I don’t want any of those, uh...you know when a painting has been hanging in a place for years, making an outline kind of thing? I don’t want any of those in Shiny’s new house.”

Twilight Velvet looked over to Sunset. “You want us to have a portrait made?”

There was a brief pause from Sunset before she took in a deep breath. “This is going to make me sound so snobbish, but...everypony does it, Mrs Velvet. Considering the amount of parties and other junk you’re going to have to start throwing, you need to have fancy decor everywhere. Which reminds me, we’re also going to need porcelain vases, plates, whole new set of stuff with Shining Armor’s cutie mark.”

“Why mine?” Shining Armor asked.

“It’s your title, Shiny,” Cadance reminded him. “They’re just holding it for you. Since you’re the founder of the house, you need to put your mark on everything. Windows, doors, dinner plates-oh!”

Cadance grinned before leaning over and whispering something into Sunset’s ear. To which the bigger princess gave a tiny frown. “You are such a pervert.”

“That’s not a no,” Cadance replied happily before knocking her hooves together excitedly.

After getting to see Sunset show her embarrassment for a few more seconds, she cleared her throat and went on. “Which reminds me, you need to start thinking of a design for your house name and sigil. Which you’re also going to have to put on another set of everything.”

Twilight Velvet let out a worried groan. “This sounds like it’s getting a bit expensive.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing were rich now, huh?” Night Light said before chuckling. “I’d hate to see our boss’s face if we asked for a cost of living expense raise.”

“Oh, that’s another thing,” Sunset spoke up. “You’re going to have to quit your jobs.”

Before even bothering to look over at his parents, Shining Armor developed a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Despite the awkward schedule it caused at home, Shining Armor knew that both of his parents loved their jobs. They didn’t talk about work when they were home that much, but what he did pick up was that due to one of them being an astronomer while the other being an astrologer, they both shared the workplace without their careers geeing in the way because of the differing fields.

Twilight Velvet gave Sunset a blank look. “But...I like my job.”

“I’m really sorry,” Sunset told her. “It’s...well...okay, you guys don’t really have CEOs, so I can’t really give the whole pony that decides to give himself a raise analogy, but...look, nobles don’t get to have jobs. They drive the economy and invest in it, they don’t...serve as a cog in the machine?” Sunset groaned and reached up to rub her forehead. “Sorry, not really at one-hundred percent here.”

Night Light reached over to hold his wife’s hoof before looking back to Sunset. “But, the guild is run by a noble! Our overseer’s boss’s supervisor reports to him!”

After giving the stallion a nod, Sunset sighed. “Yeah, because he’s the main investor keeping you all paid. Although, I think that Princess Celestia is also subsidizing the whole thing...I’d have to check,” she mumbled more to herself than them before turning her attention back to Night Light. “But, he doesn’t actually do any of the things that keep the place running. He just...makes sure the building is still standing at the end of the day.”

“Hey wait a second,” Shining Armor said as fear started to build in his mind. “Does that mean I can’t be a guard?” A guard was a job, right?

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Um, Shiny? Hard Line was a guard, remember?”

“Technically, being a guard isn’t a job. It’s a service to the public,” Sunset told him. She took a breath and rubbed her eyes. “Look, I know, this is a big change. But, it was an inevitable one, too. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t get you all ready for it in time.”

“But what’re we supposed to do all day?” Twilight Velvet asked in desperation. “I-I’ll enjoy being with Twily more, but she’ll be in magic school a year from now. Am I supposed to just sit around the house all the time?”

“Actually, one of you will be needing to attend court for the next year or so with Mom,” Sunset told Velvet. “And the other one’s going to need to be doing a bit of traveling. House Guard was one of the Ten. You’re going to need to look over your new holdings, make sure everything is on the up and up, and probably replace some-or a lot of staff.”

Twilight Velvet looked back to Shining’s father before asking Sunset another question. “We have to meet with Princess Celestia every day? Why?”

“Because you’re the new favorite,” Sunset told her. “The nobles of Canterlot may be big into business, but they are also like bickering foals, squabbling for their mother’s attention. You need to be there to remind them of that. You’ll go to court, stand around, maybe comment on the rulings of a few audiences, then go eat lunch with Mom before calling it a day.”

A dazed look fell back over Twilight Velvet. “Lunch...with Princess Celestia...for a year,” she said before looking down to her tea. “I’m going to need something a lot stronger than this.”

Cadance got worried as she watched her filly friend continue to blink her eyes several times in an attempt to stay awake. “Sunset, maybe you should go lay down and take a nap. You had a big breakfast, after all.”

“Coffee, had coffee. I’m good,” she assured them before nearly stumbling into a small table with a flower vase on top of it.

Not convinced in the least, Cadance moved to support her before slowing down her pace so Shining Armor could catch up. After guiding Sunset over to her, Cadance threw a wing around the dazed stallion’s back to support him as well. While his family had managed to get over the sheer amount of stuff that they were getting, the changes that becoming part of the nobility was still hitting him hard.

“Hey Cadance, am I gonna have to drop out of school or something?” he asked.

Once she had gotten a wing under Sunset’s barrel, Cadance looked over to their stallion. “Where’d that come from?”

“Don’t nobles get-well, the ones that aren’t in Celestia’s school, I mean, don’t they have private teachers?” he asked.

Cadance sighed. “Shiny, I go to public school, Sunset gave up the private school to go to public school. If you want to keep going to Canterlot Academy, do it. If you don’t...well, do it anyway for now, because making a big life choice after a major change like this isn’t the best idea.”

With her wing on his back, Cadance could feel her stallion’s muscles loosen up just a little. “Okay, that’s...yeah...but, what about my friends?”

“What about your friends?” Cadance asked.

Shining Armor groaned before motioning to himself. “Cadance, I turned into this two days ago, and now I’m rich. Like, super-impossible, buy the bank that owns the mortgage on a pony’s house if they don’t sell to me and foreclose on them rich. I’m basically, Buck Withers now!”

The mention of the stallion’s name brought Sunset’s head up as she wildly looked around like a dog that had been told there was a squirrel nearby. “Huh? What? Where? Where’s Buck? Is he trying to pick on Shiny again?”

Cadance sighed and put a hoof on the amber alicorn’s side. “Down girl,” she ordered. “Think somepony decided to give you decaf.” Which made her wonder if was an honest mistake, or somepony being a...dick, as Sunset like to say. Considering the importance of Sunset being awake when she wanted to, that was probably enough to cost a pony their job. Ugh, and now I’m thinking...well, is this how Princess Celestia thinks? Considering every little thing at all the possible angles?

The thought left a bad feeling in Cadance’s mouth before she shook her head to clear it and looked over to Shining Armor. “Okay, so...you think you’re Celestia’s gift to mares now and had the irresistible urge to attack me?”

“Um...n-no,” Shiny admitted.

Cadance smirked. “Well, you certainly don’t sound or act like a violent jerk.”

“Yeah, but...you know...money,” Shining Armor told her pathetically.

With Shiny bringing up the one thing that may change things, Cadance began her verbal tip-toeing. “Well, you’re probably going to have to be the guy that always pays for the snacks when the guys comes over and I doubt we’ll ever have a game anywhere else other than your new house once the renovations are complete. But, how things change more than that is more up to them than you.”

Shining Armor cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”

“Shiny, you know how I’m from a middle of nowhere little village, right?” Cadance asked. “The kind that doesn’t really get any help at all from anypony. Well, about a week after I became a princess officially, I started getting some requests from back home. Some were reasonable, some were...not. If your friends are really your friends, they won’t make unreasonable requests.” It wasn’t the answer he was hoping for, but it was the one he needed.

When they got to the ambassadorial quarters, Cadance kissed him on the cheek. “Now, let’s go play with the girls, shall we? They’re not going to care about some silly little title,” she promised him.

After she opened the door, Sunset stumbled through before the other two with a yawn. “Hey girls, what’s going-”

“PRINCESS SUNSET!” a little purple bolt asked before it stopped to take the form of Twilight. “Is it true? Did Princess Celestia give a lordship to Shiny? Does that make me a Lady, now? Or do you have to make me one?”

Rarity was behind her a moment later, except she ignored Sunset to go straight to the colt of the group. “Lord Shining Armor,” she said before dipping into a curtsy. “How delighted I am to make your acquaintance.”

“Okay, well, most of them aren’t going to care about your silly little title,” Cadance corrected herself.

Thankfully, Shining Armor was able to grin the introduction off. “Rarity, we met two days ago. I gave you my ice cream after yours got dropped.”

A tiny blush appeared on the unicorn’s cheeks. “Yes, well, I still have a slip with my horn from time to time.”

“I’ll Lady you!” Sunset told Twily happily before she moved to pin the little unicorn with her nose and… “Pfbttttt!” Twily laughed at Sunset’s breathing on her belly set the foal into a fit of wild kicking.

Cadance took that as her lead. “So, ignoring a pony of higher standing to talk with a mere Lord, huh?” she asked before stepping forward to look down at Rarity. “I think somepony needs to be punished for such insolence!”

“W-What?” the older unicorn foal asked before Cadance pounced. Rarity’s eyes went wide as the pink princess came nearer and she held out her forelegs. “Oh no! Princess! I meant no disrespect-Bwahahahahahahaha!”

“Hey, what so funny out here?” Both Cadance and Sunset looked up from their respective prisoners to see Rainbow Dash entering the room with Fluttershy right behind her, peeking over the more outgoing pony’s shoulders.

Sunset looked over to Cadance. “Did they forget to bow to us when entering the room?” she asked with a smile; previous exhaustion apparently forgotten in the face of the fillies.

“Yes. Yes they did,” Cadance agreed before scooping Rarity up with one of her wings. “I call Dashie.”

Sunset followed suit with Twilight. “Then Flutters is mine!”

“Meaning Applejack is the tie breaker!”

The girls played their little run around game for an hour, tickling the girls and releasing them to chase them down again. Pillows were thrown, which Sunset acted as if they killed her at one point before the ponies foolish enough to check on her were quickly subdued.

Twilight called for a set of rules to be applied to their nameless game.

To which all the other fillies responded by covering her in the sewn sacks of feathers and cotton.

However, whatever second wind Sunset caught managed to escape not long after she got it. Luckily for her image, whatever the girls had been up to the night before had them joining in her yawning before she just fell back on the thick rug next to the main room’s fireplace. An action that got Twilight cuddling up on her barrel before Rarity agreed to take a short break and digging into Sunset’s left side, with Applejack taking her right. Fluttershy was the last to join in willingly as she laid down on Sunset’s wing. Rainbow Dash commented how she didn’t need a nap before Sunset yanked her out of the sky to bundle her up in her other wing. She was also the first one to fall asleep.

As the five foals slumbered atop the big pony, the parents finished getting everything packed before exchanging pleasantries with Princess Cadance and Lord Shining Armor, even if the title wasn’t quite his just yet. However, when Princess Celestia came into the room, she wasn’t very pleased to see what was going on, even less to learn what had transpired. She was so distraught that she made her pleasure known by plopping down on the ground, crossing her forelegs, and puffing out her cheeks in an indignant matter.

“Are you seriously pouting because you didn’t get to play a glorified game of tag with a bunch of fillies?” Cadance deadpanned.

Celestia promptly humphed. “Yes. Yes I am.”

“...I’m keeping the High-Princess position,” Cadance told her in a deadpan voice.

With a great deal of difficulty, Shining Armor turned his attention away from the pair of alicorns and back to the five foals that had pinned the most powerful pony on the planet. “So, um...should we wake them?”

Cadance gave a dejected sigh. “Yes. The parents will be back any minute.”

“Okay,” Shining Armor said before trotting up to take his little sister up in his magic.

Unfortunately, the tiny purple fuzzball stirred from her sleep. “Huh? Wha? Shiny?” Twilight asked before letting out a yawn and looking around with sleepy eyes. “Where’s Princess Sunset and my friends?”

Shining Armor blinked. “Friends? You made friends with those fillies, Twily?”

“Physical proximity and…” she paused to yawn. “...mental images of them generates a feeling of mutual affection,” Twily said. “So...friends.”

Being as careful as he could, Shining Armor set his sister on his back. “Well, it’s time for them to go home.”

“They coming back soon?” Twilight asked as her eyes closed again.

Shining Armor smiled. “Hopefully.”

“...good.”

As Twilight fell back asleep, Shining Armor spared another look towards the princesses while Celestia took the fillies in her magic and Cadance shook Sunset awake. A funny realization came over him as he turned away from the trio to head down the hallway. Since meeting Sunset, he had watched her fight dragons, bullies, break the laws of magic, cause earthquakes and destroy a god of destruction’s avatar with a single hoof to the face.

But finding ponies that Twilight Sparkle could actually make friends with?

That was an achievement.

Once all the foals had been set home with their mothers, Celestia found herself looking down at her sleeping daughter, curled up with a content smile as if she was some kind of overgrown cat with wings and a horn. It a sight Celestia hated to ruin, but she needed to get Sunset into a real bed. So she took a moment to wrap her in a spell to ensure her sleep wasn’t disturbed, then carefully carried her into one of the nearby bedrooms before setting her down and pulling the sheets over most of her body.

“Well, that was the last one,” Cadance said as she trotted into the room. “I sent one of the maids with Cookie to make sure she got home and had everything she needed. How’s Sunset?”

Celestia smiled. “Good,” she said both commenting and replying to the question.

“No more nightmares?” Cadance asked.

The question had Celestia guiding her adopted niece out of the door a few moments later. She put a spell around the living room a moment later to make sure nopony would be able to hear them. “There’s something I need to tell you about that. You were right,” she said. “Nightmare Moon was delving into Sunset’s dreams and magnifying her fears to an uncontrollable degree. Last night, I traveled to the Moon and...dealt with her.”

With the way that her relationship had been going with Cadance, Celestia planted herself and prepared for the worst. There would be shouting, probably a few things thrown, and an honest assessment of her intelligence from an extremely biased source, but she could deal with it. So long as she could explain to Cadance what was going on. After all, if she told Sunset about Nightmare Moon, Celestia’s deal would still be broken.

Seconds ticked by. Cadance’s ears drooped and she bowed her head. “Oh Celestia, I’m so sorry.”

“...eh?” she asked, completely thrown off by the response.

Cadance quickly moved forward and wrapped the bigger pony in a hug. “You must be going through so much right now,” the pink princess said as Celestia continued to wonder just what was going on. “We-we’ll have a memorial for her. For Luna, your little sister. Everypony will learn how wonderful she was and-”

“Wait,” Celestia interrupted. “What? Cadance, what’re you talking about?”

After pulling back to they could see each other eye to eye, Cadance blinked. “Your sister, who was attacking Sunset. I’m talking about how you made a hard choice that nopony should ever have to make and went to the Moon to kill her.”

“It’s rather disturbing how quickly you jumped to that particular conclusion,” Celestia deadpanned before she sighed and raised a hoof to rub her head for a second. “And no. I literally dealt with her. As in I went to the Moon, and made a deal with Nightmare Moon so that she would no longer harass Sunset, you or me.”

Cadance stared at Celestia for several seconds before turning her head to the side just a little and giving her a very cautious frown. “Okay, I may not know much about everything involved, but that sounds like a very risky move.”

A nod of agreement preceded Celestia’s response. “It was. So close to my sister’s power source, I needed Nightmare Moon’s help just to leave the rock. But, a deal was struck. Sunset’s fears will no longer be fed as they were before.”

While Celestia knew that such fears had to grow from somewhere, and that Sunset’s original startling statement about her life was probably not the work of Nightmare Moon’s interference, her daughter could finally heal without all of her efforts being destroyed by that thing coming along to rip off the proverbial scab so that she had to start all over again.

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “And what did you have to do in return?” she asked.

“In return for her for leaving you, me and Sunset alone, neither of us will reveal her existence to Sunset,” Celestia explained. “Also, when Nightmare Moon does break free of her imprisonment, I will confront her alone. The agreement was sealed with magic. If one of us breaks it, that pony’s life will immediately end.”

Cadance’s eye twitched as she stared at Celestia for several seconds before finally throwing out her wings in a display of anger and speaking.

“ARE YOU A SPECIAL KIND OF CRAZY?”

Once her mane stopped being blown around from the force of Cadance’s voice, Celestia sighed. However, the pink princess continued to lay into her. “You know, when Sunset revealed to be some kind of super god-being, or at least when everypony calmed the buck down about it, I thought, maybe just MAYBE you might think to yourself ‘Oh, my daughter is powerful enough to easily defeat my sister, looks like I don’t have to die after all and spare her unimaginable suffering’. But nooooooo,” Cadance drawled out before her words become more of a primal neigh. “I just...you just...GAAAAAAAAH!”

Celestia watched as Cadance trotted back and forth in a complete fit. “Did you actually expect me to have my daughter kill my sister?” Celestia asked calmly with some effort. Even though that might have been the outcome if Nightmare Moon’s survival instincts hadn’t been enough to let Celestia go, it was a risk she had been willing to take for Sunset’s continued survival.

“No!” Cadance said as she stopped pacing and turned to face Celestia. “I expected Sunset to SAVE YOUR SISTER!” As Cadance took in a breath, she began to slowly trot towards the bigger alicorn. “It’s just like this whole mess with Sunset! Except instead of never seeing your daughter as anything more than a student, even when you were acting like a mother to her with half of your oversized plot, all you can see this long road that you’ve been walking for nine-hundred years is death!”

Celestia’s shoulders slumped. “Cadance, you don’t understand. I tried to save her. I used the most powerful magic there is, the same power that Sunset has found a way to tap into. Even then, all I could do was-”

“NO!” Cadance shouted, cutting her off with a hoof to Celestia’s mouth. “You do not get to talk about this anymore! You gave up! Now, I may have one hay of a job in front of me since I can't tell the super alicorn about it without killing her mother, but I will find a way. And when I do, after you’re done hugging it out with your baby sister, you’re going to get on your belly and thank me after admitting how stupid you are!”

Before Celestia could reply to the fuming alicorn, Cadance spun around and trotted to the door before opening it and slamming it shut behind her in a magical fury, leaving the white pony to sit silently as she tried to sort through what had just happened before other ideas began to form in her head.

With that newfound assuredness Cadance had found, Celestia couldn’t help but wonder...

Epilogue

“So, this is the place, huh?”

Sunset got a definite Beverly Hillbillies vibe as she watched the family of ponies plus pink princess friend walk into the opulent mansion and look around in wonder. Although the family wasn’t from the sticks, Cadance was, so the metaphor was an apt one since she was with them.

But while Cadance managed to keep from looking around with an open mouth, she did go along with them.

The entry room was exactly what Sunset would expect from a family of ponies that wanted to make a statement right when any guests came into the house. About as big as three normal Canterlot-sized living rooms, a pair of columns flanked the main doors, while a pair of red carpeted staircases that started at opposite ends of the room curved around to meet at the second floor. A floor of stone helped to create quite the echo as hooves used to carpet or wood in earnest.

Kibitz trotted in behind her a moment later to address the family, despite the whole lot of them still looking around the glorified entryway in wonder. “As requested, I had any of the decor dealing with the history of the former owners removed, so there will be splotches of off color here and there as well as indentation on the rugs, but those can be replaced as well. I brought along a book of paint samples-”

“Give them a minute to look around,” Sunset told him before she focused on the white pony halfway up the flight of stairs on the right as opposed to the one on the left.

Velvet looked back towards the two of them. “Where’s the kitchen?”

“That would be back towards the rear of the house, Ma’am,” Kibitz told her. He took a step forward, then reached into the saddlebags hanging his back and handed Sunset a folder. “Please remind Princess Cadance about her meeting later today. This young mare comes highly recommended.”

Once Sunset took the folder, she opened it to glance at the pony’s information before moving onto the letters of recommendation bearing the seals of several out of town nobles, dukes and minor lords who still ruled their territories directory. Simply amazing...harsh but effective...It’s like there’s three of her.

“If you would allow me to escort you? I will have decided on a kitchen staff by the end of the week, so there’s no need for you to get your hooves dirty.”

Sunset looked up in time to watch Twilight Velvet follow Kibitz until they were out of sight before turning her attention back to the tasty stallion in the room as he trotted up the right staircase. “Why are there two of these?” he asked while turning to face Sunset.

“Shiny!” Twily said in an exasperated tone. “It’s obvious that one is for going up, and the other is for going down.”

The colt let out a laugh. “Twilight, I don’t think that’s how it works,” he said before taking a step down.

“USE THE OTHER STAIRS FOR GOING DOWN!”

Shining Armor froze, then quickly went back up before coming down the correct flight of stairs.

Not knowing whether to laugh or groan, Sunset quickly moved to picked Twilight up into her forelegs. “Come on you little bundle of OCD. Let’s go and find the room you want.” It would still be a week and change before they could move it, but claims of ownership needed to be done right away.

“It needs a bookshelf, and a reading desk, and a comfy chair, oh! And a study chair, and the study chair needs to go next to the reading desk because it’ll help me study.”

Cadance smiled as the pony with the small saddlebag on her hip she was waiting for came into the cafe and looked around a moment before noticing her. If the mare was impressed by the fact she was meeting a princess, she didn’t show it. Of course, Princess Celestia had advised meeting her in the palace, but...that just wasn’t Cadance’s style. If she was going to be working with this pony for the next several years, then she wanted to be able to sit in an informal setting with her.

She didn’t just want to be her boss, she wanted to be her friend too.

As for the pony herself, Hidden Figures was was a tall, lean unicorn with a body that spoke of alchemical beauty enhancements in more than just stature. Her shiny, jet black coat was exquisitely well groomed and a teal braid hung down to her body, although Cadance calculated that it would nearly reach the floor if undone. A pair of frameless reading glasses sat on her muzzle, which was probably a good indication of just how much work she did if her eyesight required them.

Cadance held out a hoof and scooted the chair back. “Hello, Ms Figures. I thought this would be a better place for us to meet than the castle,” she said before pouring a cup of tea from the pot and setting it aside with her magic. It was nice not to see neither the cup nor pot shake. “I’d also like to buy you lunch, if you don’t mind.”

“You’re the Princess,” she replied evenly before sitting down, a neutral expression on her face. She looked down at the tea, then up to a large clock hanging on the wall. “One moment.” The black pony opened her pack with a glow of green magic that matched her eyes to withdraw a small red vial, which she uncorked and quickly downed. “It was time for my medication.”

The information made Cadance blink. “Oh my, nothing serious I hope.”

Hidden Figures looked back at the princess. “Blood pressure,” she said. “Having to untangle the messes many of the little country lords get themselves into with the timetable they give me can be...stressful.”

Cadance hoofed over cup. “Well, I hope this helps with the taste,” she said, barely managing to keep a straight face.

“Thank you,” Hidden Figures said before the cup lifted in her magic to her lips. She took a sip and…

Despite the fact that the pony in front of per promptly spit the drink that had been mixed with Celestia’s changeling revealing potion out onto the floor, Cadance felt nothing but relief that the pony in front of her was in fact a pony. “Oh my!” she exclaimed. “Did the tea go bad? It wasn’t out for that long,” she said before stroking her hooves together twice to get the server’s attention. “Waiter, we need a new pot of tea. I think this one had bad leaves, or something.”

The earth pony stallion eyes widened. “R-Right away, Princess!”

Cadance felt bad about making the poor pony think his place of business was to blame for such an error and made a note to give them several times the written bill as her waiter galloped off to get a mop. Once he had gone over the area, she looked back to the prospective hire. “Now, let’s get down to business, shall we?” she asked before bringing over the folder Sunset had given her earlier in her magic and opening it. “It says here that you’ve worked for a number of different nobles, businesses as a consultant on a number of issues, ranging from sorting out paperwork problems, accounting, personnel, contract negotiation and tax preparation.” She looked back up at Hidden Figures. “Did you really get the crown to pay Baron Cob not to grow corn last year?”

“It was a perfectly valid legal loophole,” Hidden Figures told her in the same dry tone she had been using since the interview began. “I’d also like to point out that it has since been closed and if I knew how to let my employers get away with such things, then I will know how to catch them if you hire me to keep track of your holdings, Majesty.”

Since she had already gone over the paperwork a dozen times, Cadance closed the folder and looked at the pony sitting across from her. “I hope you understand, this isn’t some temp job where you need to come in and untangle a mess before you go,” she explained. “I am looking for a permanent personal assistant, not just to help oversee my private holdings, but to also help me in the palace as well,” she explained. “While I won’t be taking on all my princess duties due to my current age, I can assure you that will change once I graduate.”

Hidden Figures cracked a little smile. “That, Your Majesty, is exactly why I am here.”

Standing outside the door to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, Sunset felt more than a little nostalgic. While the place had turned rather sour as the years went on, her first year there had been enjoyable. She could remember learning how to cast spells in classes before showing them to Celestia back at the castle, when her mother wasn’t appearing at the school to give a lesson herself. It had been a much happier time for her.

Even after the death of her parents, the school had been where she felt that she always belonged, until…

Sunset frowned at the ground.

Something…

There was something that had happened back then…

Something...

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please wait, I have something I need to speak to you about!”

The familiar voice made her gasp in remembrance.

Sunset trotted down the path towards the big doors. School hadn’t started yet, but she knew the doors were unlocked. Today was the day, the day she would ask Princess Celestia something about a thought she had. A thought she had been thinking about all week.

It had been a month since her parents had died. She didn’t have any other close relatives that she knew of. After some reading, most of which she didn’t fully understand, Sunset gathered that the crown should have assigned a pony to look after her by now. Not an adoptive parent, but a pony that was old enough to look after Sunset until she found somepony that wanted her.

But, nopony had come.

On top of which, Sunset lived at the castle. All the other students lived at the school dorms. Even some of the ponies who had parents in Canterlot lived in the dorms.

Princess Celestia had other ponies take care of her when she needed to, like Kibitz and Raven, but there were many times when she did it herself. She held Sunset when she cried about her mommy and daddy, read her bedtime stories, even gave her baths and slept with her during that awful week after Mommy and Daddy died, when she could barely bring herself to move or eat.

So today was the day that she would ask, “Princess Celestia, are you my new Mommy?”

Past the gates and halfway down the path, the door to Celestia’s school opened up and a stallion stepped out. He was a pretty stallion, with a white coat and blonde mane that Sunset had seen dozens of times before, talking to her not-yet-Mommy at the castle.

“Hello Lord Blueblood,” Sunset said happily as she approached her cousin-to-be, halfway to the building. Or would he be her nephew? Being Celestia’s daughter would make her great-several-times-nephew Sunset’s...what, exactly?

The big stallion looked down at her with a sneer. “That’s Prince Blueblood, urchin. What do you want?”

“I’m on my way to ask Princess Celestia if she’s my new Mommy!” Sunset declared happily.

Blueblood frowned down at her with a look that Sunset had only seen ponies use when they saw something really icky. “My aunt is nothing of the sort. What in that empty little head of yours could make you even imagine something as stupid as that?”

The hope that Sunset had been holding in her heart all week trembled. “Be-Because she...loves me.”

“She doesn’t love you,” Blueblood told her as he stepped forward to loom over her and leaned down to get right in her face. “You’re nothing more than her pet, a toy she found to play with. She’s had dozens and dozens of students. Just. Like. You. And just like all of them, if you overstep your bounds. If ask her something like that, well...she’ll throw you right back in the gutter where you belong. I’m her real family, not you. And that’s the way it will always be.”

Sunset starred up, horrified at the stallion’s words, even after he got up to trot away. The world got all blurry and she felt the dampness on her face. She took a step towards the door where her Mommy was-no!

Not her mommy, never her mommy. If she ever called Princess Celestia Mommy, then Princess Celestia would have to get rid of her! She couldn’t cry in front of the Princess, she couldn’t fail her classes, she couldn’t show weakness, if she did…

Sunset turned and galloped towards the exit as fast as she could. She needed time to get herself under control. She could fake being sick for a day or two, get herself under control, she was smart enough not to get kicked out if she only missed a day or two.

“Princess! One moment!”

The sound of Blueblood’s voice drew Sunset out of the memory long buried away. She took in a breath through her nose to help steel her emotions before turning to face the big stallion. Much like mares, stallions in Canterlot had their own options for alchemical enhancement. Although, instead of going a route that made them look more like Celestia, they just put on a bit of height and kept in good shape without an ounce of work.

It was something that made Sunset appreciate Shiny all the more, since he had asked if they were going to be continuing their workout routine come tonight. Like her, he wanted to work for what would be his.

“What is it, Blueblood?”

“Ah, yes! Princess Sunset, glad I caught you, there’s a matter of some urgency that I must speak to you about,” he told her before pausing to take in a deep breath.

If Sunset had still been the old her, the presence of the pony who had shattered a little filly’s dream and laughed about it all those years ago would have been burnt to ash on the spot. As it was, just just felt a mild wave of anger and slight disgust at how alike they used to be when she got older. “We are not in front of a dozen camera’s right now, Blueblood. So I would suggest you tell me what you’re doing here before I lose my temper and do something that you won’t be able to regret until you regain consciousness.”

Blueblood gulped. “Y-Yes. I tried to catch you at the palace, but...ah, here. It’s just something I need for you to sign. No need to read it. Legal jargon and all that. Wait! I said you don’t need to-”

A spell sewed his mouth shut, giving Sunset the quiet she needed skim over the document in just a few seconds. What she read put her into so much shock that she felt her hind legs give out. While the contract didn’t outright state what Sunset realized by the time she was done with it, only an idiot wouldn’t be able to read what an acceptance to disavow any relation to Princess Platinum meant.

Princess Platinum was Princess Celestia’s adoptive mother. She had adopted a pony barely younger than her when Equestria had just been founded to show the nobility her support for a unified Equestria. Since they went to war not two years later with all of the unicorn houses, pegasi legions and earth pony militias that disagreed, it didn’t really work out that well. Especially for the remains of three divided tribes that faced a nation tired of ice and snow. But it did legally make Princess Celestia, Princess Platinum’s daughter. And she did run the house that the former Queen of Unicornia became leader of for a good twenty years before old age failed to set in and she passed things off to her little sister...whose name Sunset couldn’t remember.

Sunset blinked at the odd gap in her knowledge. She wasn’t a history, buff, but for some reason, that bothered her.

Even after retiring to give rule of the house over to Platinum’s biological daughter, House Platinum continued to include Celestia in the family registry for obvious reasons. Making her the eldest member of House Platinum...who for all intent and purposes, just had a kid. A kid that was much, much higher up in the line of succession than either Blueblood around today.

Making Sunset Shimmer the legal holder of House Platinum’s matriarch title.

Sunset couldn’t help it, she threw her head back and laughed. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the princess got out before she had to take a breath. That calmed her down enough that when she looked back at the trembling stallion, she could actually speak. “Do you remember about oh, ten years ago, that meeting you and I had. It was about a month after my birth parents died. Blueblood?” Sunset asked. “Do you remember what you said to me, back then when we stood on the steps of this school?”

The thread holding Blueblood’s mouth closed vanished. He worked his jaw, then gulped. “Princess, I don’t see what-”

Sunset grit her teeth. “The title that family members call the supreme mare of the house is Matriarch,” she insisted, freezing the stallion in place without a bit of magic. “I’ll help you remember. It was here, at the school. I was on my way to ask Celestia if she was my new mommy. But I met you at the entrance and decided to ask you first. Now tell me what you said that left me in a pool of my own tears.”

“I...I said.” He gulped. “T-That you were...b-being stupid. That A-Auntie Celestia d-didn’t love you. That you were just a pet, a toy she found to play with. That she had dozens and dozens of students in the past, but she eventually got tired of them, j-just like she would you. And i-if you asked her...y-you’d go right back to the gutter...w-where you belong. B-Because I was her r-real family.”

Seeing the sniveling pony cower before Sunset brought her no joy.

But she didn’t much dislike it, either.

Sunset sucked in some air through her nostrils, then let out a long, cleansing breath. “You know, I actually forgot about that over the years? Oh, I went back and cried in my room for two days afterwards until Mom came to check up on me. And even then, I didn’t tell her because I was afraid of being kicked out, but as time when on, I put that into the back of my mind and focused on my work until I didn’t think about it anymore. Then, as I started wanting more and more power, I plotted ways to get hitched with your son and become Celestia’s niece by marriage. I even thought about using magic for a bit, if you can believe that hypocrisy,” she said before smiling at him. “But now, I’ve got your house and I can marry whomever I bucking please, isn’t that great?”

The threat made Blueblood shake. “I can go to the courts-”

“That I can overrule with my superior authority,” Sunset pointed out.

“Princess Celestia-”

Sunset couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Pffftbwahahahahaha! Okay-okay,” she said. “Even if my mother doesn’t banish you from Equestria for that little moment in time, which might have actually changed my life by the way, I would like to remind you that Princess Cadance, the mare I’m sleeping with, the mare that shouted down Celestia because she didn’t act like a full blown parent much earlier in my life, she’s the real High-Princess of Equestria! Let’s go tell her the reason Mommy never got to hear me asking if she was my replacement mother is because of you. Because I would just love to take that point of contention between the two of them away.”

After a few seconds, Blueblood lowered his head in defeat. “I...you...win...Matriarch.”

“Well, not really. Not with this, anyway. You see, you’re actually very lucky. Because, I’ve learned a very important lesson since going through a trial and gaining my wings, Blueblood,” Sunset told him. “It’s a lesson that I think all alicorns learn, eventually. It’s why they start new minor noble houses instead of setting up a place for their descendants in the top ten.

“And lesson is, power is the antithesis of happiness,” Sunset told him in a serious tone. “And there is nothing I want more in this world than my friends and family to be happy.

“Unfortunately, it’s a little too late to stop that from happening with Shiny thanks to all that money and status Mom gave him. So, I’m going to make you a little deal. I won’t swoop in and take everything you have if you keep Shining Armor and the rest of his family out of the political madhouse that is Canterlot. In fact, you’re going to go out of your way to make sure he and his family are very, very happy. Because if they’re happy, I’m happy. And if I’m happy, I don’t want to ruin that by grabbing at a lot more money and power, understand?”

Blueblood nodded slowly. “Yes...uh…”

“We’ll stick with Princess,” Sunset told him before frowning. “Unless you decide to make me unhappy.”

Once their little meeting was concluded, Sunset about-faced and headed inside of Celestia’s school. Even if it was Sunday, the ponies who worked records would still be in. As would the dorm mothers. She had promised to check up on Starlight, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going in without some foreknowledge about the foal.

The streets of Canterlot outside her carriage were teeming with activity as ponies took in the last day of the Princess Fair before it was time to pack everything up and go back to school, work, or...whatever it was that her defacto fiancee did. Fleur made a mental note to ask about that at some point, it might actually help her care when it came to the young stallion.

“I say, such an amusing sight, seeing all these little ponies, crowding lines for their rides and confectioneries,” Fancy Pants commented as their little moving room took them past an earth pony on a unicycle, that was keeping half a dozen objects up in the air as well as any unicorn could.

Fleur looked back to him with a with a little smile. “Would you like to join them?” she asked. Missing the ounting with the princesses had been a huge disappointment, but there was something to be said for time spent alone with...the pony you were supposed to marry.

A sour look appeared on Fancy Pant’s face for a moment before he laughed it off. “Oh-hoho, my dear. That wit of yours, I actually believed you were serious for a moment. You know that we are above such things. At least, you are now,” he said with a smile. “The thought of actually doing something so common is…” The smile on his face turned to a grimace. “...horrendous.”

Yet you didn’t have a problem with a ride as common as me, she thought to herself while keeping a frown from forming on her face. The colt wasn’t as snooty about it as some of the wealthier ponies she had met, but he still looked down on other ponies all the same.

For several seconds, Fleur wrestled with the idea of telling him that Sunset, Cadance, and Princess feathering Celestia had gone to the fair, with the most refined of the three being the one that went on all the rides with that group of fillies Fleur she had met. Sometimes, it was a bucking pain being as close to royalty as she was. She settled for looking back out her window.

“By the way, that Shining Armor chap I met during your school’s little...dance,” he said. “I don’t suppose you could manage to get an invite for us and my parents to his housewarming celebration, could you? They would be very grateful.”

Fleur looked back to her...Fancy Pants. “Shiny? Wait, why would your mom and dad care about a party he’s throwing?”

“Oh, yes...you weren’t at the palace yesterday,” he mumbled. “Honestly Fleur, you must get in the habit of reading the news every morning if you’re going to be joining my family.” Fancy paused for a moment before taking in a short breath. “Yesterday, Princess Celestia gave Shining Armor land and title, as well as the entirety of the holdings of House Guard. On paper, that makes his family the seventh most powerful in the realm. In reality, because of his relationship with the younger princesses, that number is closer to four or three. Even House Platinum, who counts Princess Celestia among their number, will be paying his family tribute. It isn’t a stretch to think that within ten years, he could very easily supplant even Prince Blueblood as the most influential stallion in all of Equestria.”

The news had Fleur sitting back in her seat as a slight melancholy began to set in. Being a senior, she knew life was going to be changing for her at a rather rapid pace, but…

Sassy’s success in the fashion industry was almost assured. She would be taking off like a rocket right out of school and start a whole brand of her own, putting clothes in stores all across Equestria. There was no need for a pony like Upper Crust, now. She would be her own pony within a year of being out on the fashion scene and able to do whatever she wanted.

Shining Armor may have gotten his start based on a lucky encounter with Princess Sunset. But he had gone from there to entice Princess Cadance, then earned a place in Canterlot’s highest levels by saving Celestia’s daughter during her coronation. Instead of becoming a pony that would be mostly irrelevant in a few years, he would be able to stand horn to horn with a Blueblood.

Meanwhile, Fleur was...a rich pony’s broodmare. Oh, she would be given her chance to model and look pretty, appear in a few magazines that could go up on the wall, but the truth of things was that she was in her relationship to have beautiful little foals that would one day grow up and hopefully attract the attention of more powerful nobles. While it would have been enough for her a year ago when Upper Crust was around, these days…

“My dear, the tickets?” Fancy asked.

Fleur looked back to the stallion. “Hm? Oh! Yes, I’ll ask.”

“That’s a good girl,” the noble told her.

Princess Celestia watched the mare across from her begin to glisten with nervousness as she looked down at the plate of salad in front of her. When she had invited Twilight Velvet to lunch, it had been to talk about important matters. However, it seemed that wasn’t going to be the first topic of discussion. “Is something wrong, Twilight? The meal not to your liking?”

“What?” she asked quickly. “No! No, it’s fine, Princess Celestia.” She even took a few bites to prove it. “Mmmmm!”

What is it about me that makes everypony act the foal in my presence half the time? Celestia asked herself before dismissing the question. At least Twilight wasn’t the squabbling kind of foal like the rest of them, when they weren’t jumping up and down for mommy’s attention at any rate. “Twilight? I did have an ulterior motive for having my guards fetch you for lunch today.”

The mare quickly wiped some of the dressing off of her face with a napkin. “Oh, yes Princes. My husband and I discussed it, and if it’s alright with you, I’ll be the one attending you at court, starting Monday.”

Just like whenever the start of the weeks was mentioned, Celestia had to wonder what her sister would have thought of it. Probably a bad joke. Before the modern Equestria, back when the two sisters still ruled together, everypony was given the beginning of the week off. Sun Day was the first, Moon Day was the second. Now, ponies carried mugs of coffee proclaiming their hatred of Monday, the bastardized version of what had been Luna’s day.

Luna wouldn’t have been happy with it at all.

“Princess Celestia?”

“Hmm? Oh! I’m sorry, Twilight, my mind has a tendency to wander when I’m reminded of things from my distant past,” she apologized. “It doesn’t happen much, but when it does… Now, what were you saying.”

The mare gulped. “Princess Sunset told me that you would be expecting myself or my husband for court, Highness. After talking about it, we thought that it should be me.”

It took a moment for Celestia to reason just what was going on, but she didn’t let it show. For a rather embarrassing moment, she feared that Sunset had somehow guessed her reasoning. But that was so impossible, such a fear was short-lived. “I see. Well, I will warn you that things can get quite boring from time to time and quite heated every now and then. But, it will give us an excuse to talk and for me to see you at lunch. There is something I must ask your expert opinion on.”

Twilight’s expression told Celestia that she had just completely derailed the poor mare’s. “My expert opinion, Princess? I-I don’t know what I could tell you,” she replied. “T-There were many more ponies much more skilled than I was at reading the stars-”

“I’m not talking about that, Twilight,” Celestia assured her as she raised a hoof before taking in a deep breath. The next part would be hard for her to say. Despite how much she tried to teach others modesty, Celestia had been learning that she was an extremely proud pony in all the worst ways. “Two days ago, you helped Sunset better than I ever could. So, would you teach me how to be a better mother to my daughter?”

Sassy walked into her parents’ apartment and after taking a moment to make sure she wasn’t going to be tracking any dirt onto the carpet. “Mother, Daddy, I’m home!” she called out happily before walking looking into the little dining area her family had and spotting her parents sitting around the table with a dark brown earth pony stallion she didn’t know in a business suit.

The thing that really caught her eyes was the fact that the patterns for one of the dresses Sassy had designed were splayed out on the table, along with photographs of Princess Cadance and Princess Sunset in their Fall Formal attire.

“Mother?” Sassy asked carefully as she slowly approached the table. “What’s going on?”

The shorter blue mare looked over to her daughter in excitement. “Oh, Sassy, dear! Mr Bucks here said that he was interested in purchasing the designs of the dresses you made for the Princesses in order to sell them to ponies in Manehattan! Isn’t that wonderful?” she asked excitedly.

“Mega Bucks!” the big stallion said with the sound of Manehattan heavy on his tongue before moving to take Sassy’s hoof and shake it. “I’m a member of a little clothing conglomerate up in Manehattan, and we all love, love your work, Ms Saddles.”

Much to Sassy’s embarrassment, her father spoke using that out of town ‘drawl’ he still carried from before he met Mother. “MmmHmm, always knew my Sassy would hit it big one day. Didn’t think it’d be this soon though. Still, mighty proud of my little missie,” the dark horse said. All he needed was a spittoon to drive Sassy under her bed in embarrassment.

“Blazing, please. You know how Sassy gets when you talk like that in front of guests,” Mother told him.

What is it with so many stallions using the name Buck? Sassy asked herself in a moment of cognitive disconnect. It was the goto stand-in word for sex and usable as a curse for pony’s sake!

“Ms Saddles?” the stallion said to Sassy.

The question drew the tall unicorn out of her private thoughts and back into reality. “Oh! Pardon me, my mind was elsewhere. Ah,” Sassy told him before something else occurred to her. “I have a question I must ask, why am I being given these offer now? The Fall Formal was three weeks ago.” The papers had already made the rounds all across Equestria and back again.

“My dear, you know how it takes time for fashion demands to properly propagate,” Mr Bucks told her. “Yes, the drab and boring newspapers get their colorless little photos printed off as fast as possible, but the fashion magazines have to develop the color pictures, remove lens flares, design the perfect display from the photographs available...something Princess Sunset does not make easy, let me tell you. Then the pictures have to go around, get commented on, articles written and printed. By the time everything is done, I’m surprised what they’re saying is hot is already not and we’re already making the new line. Especially with Canterlot’s...ahem...shall we say, couples week. Then the princess fair comes along and everypony who’s anypony knows anything knows that you’re not supposed to conduct any business in Canterlot on during a princess fair. So, of course you get all these knockoffs and imitations being put on the shelves, but no originals. And we all know that true fashion forward ponies won’t buy those things. Blech!

“Now, of course since today is the last day of the Princess Fair, I do not have any contracts with me. We are not talking business, this is just a purely introductions meeting that according to our legal experts, you will need both your parents hoofprints and signatures accompanying yours if you want to go with our offer tomorrow. Which will be somewhere in the neighborhood of...one moment,” the stallion said before he reached into his suit to withdraw a notepad and a pencil that he put in his mouth. He then proceeded to look down and looped his head around five times after touching led to paper, before spitting out the pencil and tearing off the bit of paper for Sassy to take. “Here.”

Sassy took one long look at the number written out for her. She felt her brain nearly shut down as she blinked in surprise, struggling to find the right words to say. “This...this is...for my two dress designs?” With that much money, they could buy a house in Canterlot twice as big as their apartment with money left over for furniture and decor. Tasteful decor.

“What?” Mega Bucks asked before giving her a little laugh and waving off the question. “Oh, no. No, Ms Sassy. That’s just a little preliminary offer for each of the designs.”

Twice…

They were offering twice what she was looking at.

Twice...or more.

After her eyes rolled up into her head, Sassy promptly fainted.

The tinted windows in addition to he shades of the carriage kept Blue Line and his son in the same darkness they had been in since fleeing Canterlot. Even though they were unicorns, the iron rings that had been hammered onto their horns made it far too painful for magic. So that mean they couldn’t even get a mote of light to illuminate their dark transportation.

Not that he understood the point of it all. They were no longer in Canterlot, they weren’t even in sight of the mountain upon which it was perched. The darkness did nothing to conceal the identity of carriage’s other passenger either.

Strong Withers had been a member of the commoner government before trying to foolishly rally support against Princess Sunset and falsely accusing her of being a changeling. There wasn’t a bit of proof of course, aside from how her ascension had made the big filly a bit more bearable to be around. But more than one pony’s political career had been ruined by such accusations before they were forced into self imposed exile by the mob.

But that was where the commoner had erred. He had attempted to treat her like an equal, like some rabble that had been pushed up from the other commoners beneath her. As nobles were immune to such things, so too was a member of the royalty. While Hard Line had taken any excuse to take his foalish frustrations out on, only a few minor lords had backed the politician’s attempt to out oust Celestia’s little brat.

Then came that report he heard whispers about, with the stallion’s son attacking that woodland princess, Cadance. But Celestia, in her unending mercy towards the lowborn, allowed Buck Withers to slink back home into that villa they had left the other unicorn that had escaped with them.

Now, they were headed somewhere else. Where, he had no idea. But it was better to remain silent than ask obvious questions whose answers should have already been volunteered.

“Why aren’t we allowed to see the outside?” Hard Line asked.

Strong Withers snorted. “Don’t they teach you high-born anything? I’d let you do it too, seeing you burned alive the second you were touched by direct sunlight would be quite the sight, if it didn’t also alert Celestia to our position.”

The sheer idiocy of the statement made Blue Line’s son laugh. “You think we’re vamponies or something? Vamponies are a myth you idio-” was as far as he got before the much stronger hoof of the earth pony struck his jaw.

“I will not be insulted by some stupid twit who tried to strike down a princess with an enchanted toothpick,” Strong Withers told him. “Do so again and I will break your legs and drag you out before dawn, then tie you to a tree close enough to a cave that I can hear your screams echo through the hills so that you can know how monumentally stupid you truly are to anger the being that controls the sun.”

Despite the threat, Hard Line reached up and attempted to take the ring off of his horn. It was a futile effort. They had been hammered in place by earth pony guards. Even if they could be removed by bare tools, the cold iron had dug into their horns. It would take months to recover their magic.

Blue Line looked over to the stallion, or at least, in his direction. “What you say has me curious. Will we burst into flames if we go in direct sunlight?”

“I was warned by the Sleeper not to let it touch you or you would be burned alive,” Strong Withers explained plainly. “Whether this means that sunlight will actually kill you, or if it will alert Celestia to your presence so she could do it herself, I don’t know. But the legends about vamponies had to come from somewhere, and I have seen with my own eyes what an alicorn can do if properly motivated.”

The Sleeper, Blue Line focused on the title as soon as he heard it. Back when he had been just a colt, the old pony had told him stories of the older days, stories that had been passed down the line of House Guard for years. In some of them, it told of a monster that could take control of you when you went to bed. Sometimes the addition of ‘if you were naughty’ was placed on the end by his grandmother, but most tellings had the monster getting you no matter the strength of a pony’s moral character. Ponies that fell to the monster became the Sleeper, a puppet of a monster that could never really be killed, because it would only attack with its puppet.

“This...Sleeper,” Blue Line asked. “Is that some sort of title, or something more?”

If this really was some ancient monster, if Princess Celestia really would become aware of him when his coat was touched by the sun, then there was still hope. For Blue Line, at least. His son was dead, but there was still some hope for his house. Blue Line hadn’t raised a sword against Princess Sunset, hadn’t encouraged it like his wife. If he could find a way to give Celestia one of her ancient enemies on a silver platter…

Strong Withers snorted. “Thanking about how to sell us out?” he asked, making Blue Line hold in his reaction. “She said you would. But I can see you’re a sensible stallion. Think on it for a moment, even in the impossible world where Celestia will welcome you back, what type of future will you have? You’ve seen the papers, she’s already given everything that was yours away, aside from those hidden accounts your wife agreed to give us in return for her release. You were right next to your son, with military training and everything else you needed to jump in, but you did nothing.

“Even if she allows you back into Canterlot, even if Sunset Shimmer doesn’t deal with you herself, you’ll have nothing. You will wander the streets, a beggar. And no matter where you go, ponies will point a hoof and go ‘there is Blue Line, the fool who let his house crumble while he stood around and did nothing’ before laughing at you,” the commoner told him with a smile he could practically see despite the lack of illumination. “Or, you can join with us and remake Equestria in Her image.”

Blue Line raised an eyebrow. For a commoner, the fool had a point. “Her who, exactly?”

“Why, Princess Nightmare Moon, of course.”