[[ A Joyce Perspective ]]

It was hard to sit down in the garden—surrounded by snow—and not be excited. Despite the snow, the temperature was roughly what it always was in Canterlot, except Princess Celestia had politely asked the weather ponies for a white Hearth's Warming.

So there was snow all around Celestia and myself.

While we had tea present, we also had an expansive lunch laid out by the castle staff. Hearth's Warming day was a happy time for all Equestrians it seemed, but the news Princess Celestia had given me made me want to fly. "They're sending an envoy?" I asked.

"Officially, they will be a peaceful group of ponies from another nation coming to share friendship and harmony. Unofficially, they'll be taking back equipment for making more of that magical flu medication you suggested. Your daughter will not be present, but they are sending somepony you know—though Robin didn't say who." Celestia was in her princess role for the moment, while speaking about things of national importance.

I sighed a little. "It's still hard to believe my little filly is helping run the government. She's not even ten years old."

"Your little filly speaks far beyond her years, Joyce. She has a focus and drive I wish I saw in anypony working in the castle."

"It's a human thing, I guess. On Earth, a human isn't considered adult enough to work until at least sixteen or eighteen. Why would they trust she can do the work?" I asked.

"Because she is doing the work. Also, you remember that mental adjustment Dream Thunder created? She's Equestrian, remember?" Celestia sipped her tea while I thought on her words. "How are you and your coltfriend?"

The question made me smile. Happiness was chief among my emotions. "We're doing much better. We cuddle, and nuzzle, and kiss. When we talk I think of him more as my partner and less as my pet. I'm not completely cured of this—it's going to take more work and even more time—but the path ahead is clear." Likewise, I sipped my tea and raised one eyebrow when Celestia remained silent a moment.

When Celestia blushed, being white furred, there was a hint of red visible through most of the fur on her face. "I have a date." How anypony so large, important, and old could look like an adorable young mare facing the prospect of a date I'll never know, but Celestia managed it. "An actual date! He knows, of course, but I'm going to use a spell to make me look like an earth pony."

"I'm not going to ask, but I will next week," I said. "She's something, isn't she?"

"Cadance? I would never have thought to try asking her, but it has given me the chance to put her responsibility to the test. I was worried she was all drive but nothing to back it up. That she would stand behind her talent—and do it so well—was a pleasant confirmation that she has everything it takes to be a princess."

While Celestia spoke, I found a piece of cake with enough icing to put it on par with fruit for sugar content, and speared it with a fork held carefully in my wing-claw. The taste was magnificent, the rich flavor of the strawberry sponge lifted up by the chocolate icing.

"Of course. I would rather test my ponies—show them where their faults are—than have them tested by something that won't offer them a hoof to get back up. This world was not always this calm and kind, Joyce. I fear it won't be in the future unless some of my ponies make a stand."

"That's what your school is for, isn't it?" I hadn't seen Celestia in this mood before, but since she seemed inclined to talk, I had to assume she intended for me to know these things. Or, she just needed them off her chest.

"Among others. Every pony needs the chance to find their destiny, Joyce. For some, their destiny is protecting other ponies, but others will find themselves doing it because it protects others. I want to make sure they're all as ready as I can make them." Celestia looked from her tea to me—really looked. She had an intensity that I couldn't look away from. "When your daughter—then your son—first visited here, I saw it as a portent of something in coming. I had a choice to make, Joyce. I could have sent him home with or without an armed guard to make sure of it, but that is not the pony way."

"You took her—him—in."

"Correct. The future is dark, even to me, but there are patterns that often repeat themselves. Embracing Mike—now Lyra—and inviting him to my school was a statement to destiny. I won't close my border to those who come as friends." The intensity in Celestia's eyes only increased.

I was trapped within her gaze, unable to look away or even think off-topic. Licking my lips, I barely managed to form my reply. "W-What do you think is coming?"

"Someone is going to come to your dreams, Joyce. She will seem like a monster at first, and all I ask is you treat her as you see fit." My time with Celestia let me know when she was using an expression as a shield, but not what the hidden emotion was. "I hope she won't harm you, I really do, but I can't promise it."

"This isn't a test, is it?" I asked. My answer was a slow shaking of Celestia's head. In a way it wasn't fair. I'd come to Equestria seeking knowledge and the ability to apply my own, what I was going to get was a monster in my dreams? Celestia had called it her. "What cannot be avoided, must be endured."

"You can leave. I would not hold it against you, Joyce. Leave Canterlot and Equestria, go back to Earth, rejoin with your filly there. The fate of Equestria is—" Celestia stopped talking when she saw my hoof raise toward her.

"This is important, maybe not just to me, but Equestria. If you think I can help, I will stay and help. I won't lie, Celestia, so far the best friendships of my life have been to what humans would have called monsters." It was a heavy moment, but as soon as I spoke the words I felt it pass. It was like the sun was out again, a bright sunny day. "But if it's in a dream, I will need to some training."

"There is time for that. I do not think she will come until the end of the coming year. I wanted to give you time in case you needed to train, or leave." When Celestia lifted her cup, she found it empty.

I watched Celestia start pouring herself another cup, and ruminated on the problem she had given me. A year of time seemed like a lot, but at the same time it could be the blink of an eye. Dream Thunder was my first choice to contact, as well as whoever Robin's boss was. If there was a monster coming for pony dreams, it probably won't stop when it has all of Equestria. "I'll do whatever I can."

Five words. Well, four and a contraction. But I couldn't believe how committed to the task I felt. I realized what it was I felt, and it was the same feeling as when a patient with something potentially life threatening came to me for medical help, but times thousands—millions. Having time to prepare, however, made all the difference.

I accepted a refill from Celestia, lifted, and sipped at my tea. There was snow all around us, but this one patch of grass wasn't just free of snow, it was warm. It wasn't coincidence, not when the mare across from me controlled the sun. I wasn't going to complain, however. Used to Australia's warmth, the snow and ice of wintertime in Equestria was a shock.

Realization dawned on me that Celestia wasn't guarding her expression at all, and she looked relieved. Was this really something she—with all her power—couldn't do? "Dreaming, at least how Dream Thunder does it, is its own kind of magic. I was skeptical at first, but then she started having information about things she couldn't have gotten, and she—She made me a believer. I'll find her and ask her to teach me."

"It goes without saying, Joyce, that if you need anything from me, just ask." Celestia picked up another piece of cake with her magic—a slice of Battenberg—and nibbled it daintily. Not for the first time since being here did I marvel at something that apparently transcended the universe to co-evolve here. "How is Lyra doing?"

I chuckled at the change in topic. "Didn't you hear? She's looking at joining the army, or the A.U.P—"

"The E.U.P. Guard? The Reserves, I gather?" Celestia asked, and at my nod continued. "Well, that's certainly a good use of her school holidays. I'll make sure to write up a report for her to take along. What brought this on?"

"A girlfriend. I don't think Lyra realizes they are, yet, but every time I see Sweetie Drops, she's with Lyra. When one of them has a problem, the other is there to help. Lyra told me Sweetie was feeling held back working with her mother, and wants to be a monster hunter. I thought they were joking," I said.

"The E.U.P. Guard's Monster Hunter corps are some of the bravest of ponies. They aren't, however, monsters themselves. You can be sure they'll make sure Lyra's friend only proceeds with the career if it is within her grasp."

"Are there really monsters? We didn't see any on the way to Canterlot." I was worried about the answer. I could count the times Celestia had been played a joke on my hooves, so it wouldn't be a joke.

"There are. It's why they started the Monster Hunters—heading off problems before they grow big enough to need more attention than most ponies can give." With her magic, Celestia lifted up the last piece of cake and broke it in two.

Taking my offered half carefully, I nibbled it to death as is only right for such delicious little cakes. "You mean you, right?" I asked.

Princess Celestia nodded gravely. "There have been things in Equestria's past that have required overwhelming force to deal with. I'm doing everything I can to avoid those days."

"But you're still around as a backup, right?" I asked.

"Yes and no. Come fly with me, Joyce." Celestia spread her wings, pumped them, and shot into the sky. It took a surprising amount of flapping on my part to catch up. Leveling out, Celestia waited for me to meet her in a lazy spiral over the city. "There have been other princesses in the past, some almost as powerful as I. Such defenses not being what they once were, I wanted more stability. I think it's working."

Princess Celestia was the one pony I'd met so far that had a larger wingspan than I did. To talk, we glided around a thermal in a tight loop, her a little higher than me so our wings wouldn't tangle. "Hasn't been anything horrible since I moved here, so I'd say that's working. Why didn't you want anyone overhearing us?"

"Change is coming, Joyce. I've done—am doing—everything I can to make it good change. I feel I can confide in you because you are so far outside of the past of Equestria that telling you won't harm the future. In truth? It's probably just that we get along well and you're the only pony I know that doesn't run the risk of falling into worship of me."

What could I say? I'd made the mistake of comparing her to a goddess myself, and felt just a little guilty about Celestia admitting her problem. Buck up, Joyce, she's your friend. "Why don't we visit a coffee shop and have some cake?"

"We just had cake. Tea too."

"Was that a no?" I asked, shooting a grin Celestia's way.

Responding with a grin of her own, Celestia shook her head. "No. Definitely not." She tilted herself first, tucking her wings slightly to surrender to gravity.

My wings didn't quite work the same as a pegasus' did (or an alicorn's for that matter), but I could still wrangle them to follow Celestia in a slightly faster spiral down. It wasn't the upper-class section of town she led me to, but a little doughnut shop near the royal library.

We landed only a moment apart from one another, and I looked at the doughnut shop's sign. "Joe and Son's Doughnuts?"

"Best in Canterlot. Probably the best in Equestria, but don't tell Joe I said that." Celestia walked toward the door and used her golden magic to open it.

Everypony nearby had turned to stare, but for one of the first times since arriving in Canterlot, it wasn't me they were staring at. It was obvious that with Princess Celestia and any other creature nearby, it would always be Princess Celestia that had everyone's attention.

I might as well have been an anonymous pegasus next to Celestia. To everyone watching, I was just someone else who happened to be there. At least that is how it was until Celestia held the door open and turned to me. "Joyce, are you coming?" she asked.

Dozens of eyes turned toward me, focused on me, and half their number of mouths started moving. I moved as quickly as I could to get inside—maybe this wasn't such a wonderful plan. "Does everyone always do that?"

"This was your idea. Besides, it reinforces what I said. I value the company of those who can have a conversation without squealing in excitement." She turned around to the elderly pony behind the counter. "Good afternoon, Joe. How's your colt?"

"Gosh! Princess Celestia!" The old stallion looked wizened—ancient. He had a horn just like any unicorn, which poked out from a thinning mat of gray mane that did little to hide his soft brown coat. "Little Joe is doing just fine. Why, he'll be able to run the shop in another twenty years or so!"

"Dad, who is—" A buff and handsome unicorn wearing a chef jacket and a little white hat stepped out of the back room of the shop. He had the same coat as the old stallion, but a wash of brown mane and tail. On his flank was a cutie mark that made his otherwise drab colors stand out—a big pink doughnut. He froze at the sight of Princess Celestia. "Your Highness!"

The oddest thing was that the younger stallion didn't look shocked so much as just surprised she was here. My mind clicked into gear and I started trying to piece together a mystery I could smell every bit as clearly as the delicious doughnuts behind the counter.

And there were a lot of doughnuts. A glass-fronted counter ran along two walls of the shop, and nearly three quarters of it was full of doughnuts. Every color of the rainbow was represented, plus white too. Sprinkles, jam filling, glazed, cinnamon, and every other topping that it was possible to think of was there.

The next section down was an ice-creamery. Another rainbow, but this one rendered in milk-based produce instead. The last and smallest counter was for milkshakes, if the mixing machines in all in a row were anything to go by. I could feel my hips expanding at the idea of visiting this place each day for lunch.

"Hello, Joe. Your father said you're almost ready to take over the business?" Celestia's tone was my next clue to the mystery that had absorbed my mind before I got distracted by food. She sounded warm and inviting.

Joe Jr. rolled his eyes. "You know the rules I gave him. When he can't see over the counter anymore, he has to retire." He walked up beside what I could now work out was his father, and the pair rubbed cheeks together. "Ain't that right, Pops?"

"I'll get a box to stand on!" Joe Sr. said.

Celestia chuckled at the outburst, and just winked at Joe. "I'll take my usual, to eat in, Joe. Joyce?"

It was like Joe hadn't even noticed me. He actually jumped at the sight of my drab (compared to any other pony) self. "W-What will you have, Miss Joyce?"

Well now I was on the spot. I had a store full of possibilities, and all I could manage to think about was how Celestia not only knew both Joes, but they knew what her usual was—also, she had a usual. My eyes roamed the display but zoomed in on a target right away.

"Double-stuffed, blackberry-jelly surprise? A good choice. A word of warning, it's a sweet one." Joe Jr. said.

Sweet, by pony standards, meant it was somewhere between pure sugar and honey. My fangs ached just thinking about it. "A-And a vanilla-malt shake," I managed to add.

"You'll want a dollop of caramel in that. Add a dollop of caramel!" Joe Sr. said.

I looked around at the prices, and realized that while they weren't cheap, they also weren't expensive. A doughnut and a shake here was about two meals worth anywhere else. But if there was one thing I'd learned since moving here, it was that while pony metabolisms could process vast amounts of sugar, they had nothing on the metabolism of a fruit bat pony. "Actually, could I have two dollops of caramel?"

The old stallion's face lit up. "See! Told you! Two dollops for the pretty mare!"

He might be old, and his vision is probably not so great, but I stood a little straighter nonetheless. Reaching back toward my ubiquitous saddlebags, I started fishing around for my bits when a little glow of orange pinned the cover of my bag down.

"None of that, miss," Joe Sr. said. "Yer here with the princess, and we've never charged her or her friends."

I blushed. It wasn't right, but what could I say? There was only one thing. "Thank you." I looked at Celestia, and noticed she had her guarded face on. She was playing something close to her chest. The giveaway as to what that was came when I looked at Joe Jr. The younger stallion kept sneaking looks at Celestia, and he had to remake my shake when he let the blender overflow.

Looking back to Celestia, I could tell that while she was wearing her impeccably guarded face, she never shifted her head such that she couldn't see Joe Jr.

It was so simple. Celestia's secret crush was Joe Jr. She loves desserts, he makes desserts. The fact he was a big stallion and looked as handsome as any stallion I'd seen wouldn't hurt. He also didn't seem inclined to worship her. I was so deep in thought about the pairing that I didn't notice that Joe Jr. had set my shake and doughnut on a tray before me. "S-Sorry. I was away in my own world. Thank you."

"No problem, ma'am!" Joe Jr. froze and stared as I reached for my try with a wing.

"Joyce is a rather unique pony, isn't she?" Celestia asked, breaking the moment like a bolt of lightning through a cloudless sky.

Then it hit me right in the face. She'd brought me here specifically to gauge Joe Jr.'s reaction to me.

"Have a nice day! Yours is up next, Celestia," Joe Jr. said.

Ah ha! I got him! No pony would call Celestia Celestia unless she'd asked them. I carried my tray to a table with a knowing smirk on my face that wouldn't quit.

My first target was a sip of my drink. Pulling the straw close with one wing-claw, I closed my mouth around it and sucked. Ambrosia flowed forth. Just one little sip and I was on cloud nine. My eyes refocused from some far-off point that the sugar rush had taken me to, to see that Celestia was taking a seat across from me.

"Well?" Celestia asked.

I tilted my eyes toward the counter where Joe Jr. and Joe Sr. were talking among themselves. When Celestia nodded, I smiled broadly enough to show off fangs. "He's smitten."

"He is?" The carefully sculpted, neutral face of Princess Celestia shattered into pure glee. "How can you tell?"

Someone else was smitten too. She hadn't noticed the little mistakes Joe Jr. had made, which meant she wasn't watching what he was doing, but him. "I have my ways of knowing. You knew I'd figured it out?"

"You're not stupid, Joyce. You're also the only pony who I count as neutral enough to honestly tell me if he—"

"He's perfect for you." I watched Celestia's mouth work a few times, while I spoke, as she was about to interrupt me but failed to get something going. "Look at us? Chatting about stallions like a pair of young fillies when there's delicious treats right here."

Looking down at my own doughnut, I employed both wing claws to carefully lift it up to my mouth. It looked like it was bulging a little—as if there was far too much filling in it. Opening my mouth wide, I bit down.

My fangs were first to pierce to the center of the doughnut. Four squirts of blackberry jam shot out into my mouth and sent me to batty heaven. I must have made a happy little noise in my throat, because my ears perked at the sound of Celestia chuckling.

I tried to reply, but with my mouth full of the sweet taste of the berries I had no chance of making any articulate sound. I settled for slurping more of the jam from the doughnut.

"There's not a lot of ponies who could match my enthusiasm for cakes and pastries, Joyce, but I believe you hold a position in that group."

Pulling my fangs from the doughnut, I slurped down the jam still in my mouth and stuck my tongue out at Princess Celestia. "I'll have you know I'm the president of that club."

We both broke into silly giggles, and each started eating our treats in earnest. The rest of the doughnut—despite being mostly bereft of jam—was a wonder to behold. I glanced again at Joe Jr. and Joe Sr. Sure enough, both of them had doughnut cutie marks.

Cutie marks, it seemed, didn't just help one be good at something, it made them better than good. A pony with a cutie mark in a field could probably step right in and be as good as an expert in it, or train in that field and surpass even the greatest regularly trained pony. It was humbling for me to remember that I had a cutie mark for medicine.

I had only just started learning my trade here, but then I'd only had the mark for a few months now. Was I better at my job than I used to be?

A coffee-table book would be in order: Musings on Cutie Marks by A Former Alien Biped Eating Doughnuts. Strangely, I think it would be a best-seller here.

Celestia tensed, though it wasn't the kind to be ready for action. I watched as her benevolent/warm mask slid firmly into place, and behind me the bell rang for the door. Not having the ponies entering able to see my eyes, I rolled them a little and raised an eyebrow.

Smiling just a little wider, it was Princess Celestia who acknowledged my unasked question and the ponies coming into the shop.

Some of them walked past us and up to the counter to order, but all of them kept glancing back. Celestia, if anything, looked genuinely happy that they were curious enough to do normal things around her, but I had to wonder at how such attention would grate.

Most of the ponies who entered the shop purchased something, but there were a few with cameras sitting by the door that only focused their attention on Celestia.

"They're going to be a problem for you?" I asked.

"Not really. They mean well, and are following their destiny, but if I make their destiny too simple—well—it won't feel as accomplished." It was still Princess Celestia that carefully sliced a piece of her doughnut and nibbled delicately at it.

It was too late now, but I resolved to bring doughnuts to our next weekend tea. I cleared my throat. "These really are the finest pastries in all Equestria. What do you call them again?" I stretched my wings more than strictly needed to lift up my doughnut with my claws.

The whole room went dead silent. Ponies openly stared at me. Taking one for the team, Joyce. When I opened my mouth wide—exposing my fangs—my ears detected several gasps of surprise. I bit through the doughnut with a savage snap of my teeth. "Diff foo goof!"

Each chew and each bite was exaggerated enough to flash my fangs. Ponies were mesmerized by it. Then Princess Celestia stood, and the attention shifted back to her. She turned to look at me. "Are you coming, Joyce?" Celestia asked.

Attention shifted again. I'd been a curiosity that was sitting opposite Princess Celestia, now she was acknowledging me. I stood up and popped the last of my doughnut in my mouth and then raised a wing to wave to the two Joes. "Thank you for the food and drink, they were wonderful."

Both stallions smiled and nodded, but only one of them was looking at me. Joe Jr. couldn't seem to take his eyes off Celestia, and I was starting to grow worried I wasn't the only pony taking notice. Time to make it a show.

I stretched my wings up, exposing most of the broad membrane to the eyes of the watchers. My fingers were still curled slightly, so I guess I may have had a rather stooping forward look. A camera flash went off, then another. I turned toward them and posed.

"Anything in particular I can do, gentleponies?" I asked. I may have even fluttered my eyelashes at them and flashed some fang.

A young mare with a camera seemed to shrug off her stupor first. Her face lit up like the sun itself. "Could we get a few words for the ponies of Canterlot?" She batted eyelashes every bit a match for my own, and I didn't doubt she was capable of promising me anything for a story.

"Guard your fruit trees. Protect your baked goods. There are bats in Canterlot, and we love sweet things!" I said.

The mare, indeed all the newsponies, ate it up. This kind of thing would be a circus back on Earth, but in Equestria the press seemed just as excited about happy things as tragedies. Not that I was going to stop distracting them while Joe Jr. lost his hungry glances at Celestia.

I strode to the door, my wings loose at my sides just enough that the membrane showed, and the cameraponies ate it up. All of them turned to face me as I walked into the cooler afternoon air. And they all followed me right out the door.

With a glance around at them, I started spreading my wings wider and wider. The mare who'd asked for the statement earlier, who I recognized was a pegasus, seemed to forget to take any shots. "Do you think you could keep up?" I asked her.

The mare shook her head as her eyes traced my wingspan that was easily two and a half of her length per wing. She shook off her stupor and took a few photos.

"Perfect!" I stretched my wings into the air, looked back past the camera flashes to see Celestia sneaking out of the shop, and leapt into the air with a pump of my wings.

I knew it was the magic of Equestria that helped me spring into the air so quickly, but it still felt great to just rocket away from the ground. Pounding my wings again and again, I soon lost sight of the ponies taking pictures and met Celestia's side.

"Thank you, Joyce." Simple words, but I could see the genuine smile Celestia wore as the real reward for my pandering to the press. She looked happy and carefree in a way I'd never seen before.

Gliding beside her, I was learning how to spot the thermals that Canterlot's magic produced. "It's what friends do. He's got it bad for you."

Celestia dipped one wing and angled the other up. She spun around her center of mass and let out a whoop of pure excitement. "I know!" Two pristine hooves capped in gold trim reached up to cover Celestia's mouth, but then she giggled past them. "I'm as giddy as a filly. Did you see the way he looked at me?"

"He couldn't get enough. Definitely a keeper." I nodded sagely as if I weren't giving dating advice to someone over a thousand years older than me. "It was the doughnuts first, wasn't it?"

"Of course it was! One of my guards brought a box of them to me one night when my pastry chef was feeling poorly. I haven't the heart to ask him to bring more, not and risk breaking Gretchen's heart."

I followed Celestia's movements as she wove through the sky. From the ground we would be nothing but specks against the bright winter's sky. "Perhaps I could bring some on Sundays? I'm sure a particular baker would even slip notes in for his fillyfriend?"

"I'm not his—" Celestia stopped mid-sentence. She laughed again and did another tight roll. "I am his fillyfriend!"

Author's Note

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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