Nobility and Royalty

by LordBrony2040

Rating: mature
Tags: Profanity, Shining Armor, Slice of Life, Sex, Sunset Shimmer, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Alternate Universe, Other, Romance, Comedy
Length: 60589

As Shining Armor deals with his new noble title, Sunset also finds her first real test as an alicorn brings up some things that she'd rather forget

Shining Armor quickly learns that becoming a noble in Canterlot comes with more than a bank account that has too many zeros and special privileges. But, he knows he can deal with anything, as long as he has his friends to help him.

Only, the pony he's come to depend on the most has her own test to face. And it is one that Sunset must do on her own as she must stop a pony from going down the same path she pursued not too long ago.

Published 2018-09-28 02:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2020-05-11 16:04:13 UTC

Chapter 1: Just Another Normal Day

Princess Celestia hoped she didn’t appear too stiff as she sat, waiting for Sunset and her party to enter the dining room. As a former bully with a genius level intellect, her daughter could probably pick out nervous tics better than any predatory species Equestria had ever known.

When the door opened to admit the three ponies, Celestia smiled at all of them, even though her mind couldn’t help but feel a little odd at the sight of her little girl leaning on her coltfriend. Mostly because, Sunset had to lean down a bit for her colt to take the weight as she rested her cheek on Shining Armor’s ears.

Already the more than equal height with where Luna had been during her hayday, Sunset’s body showed no signs that her magically fueled growth spurt was running out of energy in the slimming of her legs and longer muzzle. What little changes to the body there were lay in the rounder rear that Sunset carried behind her and the muscles that managed to show when she extended her legs for a long stride. In comparison, Cadance simply appeared to be a tall mare with a fit physique that seemed to be getting more athletic by the day, and Shining Armor looked to ready to take the running back position on a school’s football team with his lean but chiseled body.

It was almost enough for Celestia to wonder if she needed to do more than trot around the palace for exercise as she ran from meeting to meeting. But, with only a little over ten years left in her life, such ideas were merely a passing thought. Since Nightmare Moon had assured their confrontation, Celestia knew that there was little need for things like physical improvement.

“Hello girls, hello Shining Armor, did you have a good time last night?” she asked.

The three of them shared a hesitant look before Cadance answered. “You’re talking about our workout, right? Because Shiny didn’t get a ride on either of us when we got back from the track on account of how tired he was.”

Sunset balanced and looked over to the alicorn on the other side of their unicorn. “C-Cadance!” she exclaimed.

“What?” Cadance asked as she turned her head to face Sunset. “She knows what we’re doing, Sunset. Which reminds me, you need to have a talk with her about littler ponies before you, uh...outgrow Shiny.” Then she frowned and looked Sunset up and down. “Did you gain another inch last night?”

If anything, Sunset became even more put off by the question and took a step to the side, away from her...group. “You did not just tell me to have a sex talk with my mom!”

After blinking at the comment, Shining Armor looked back to Cadance. “Uh, Sunset’s already bigger than me, and I think you did get a little taller,” he said after turning his attention back towards the amber alicorn.

Sunset whined and pulled in on herself. “Can we not talk about my height, either?” she begged before she stood up straight. “And didn’t you used to go on how intercourse isn’t the be all and end all of relationships?”

“Yeah, when I was a virgin,” Cadance countered before she rolled her eyes and stood a little taller. “But in all seriousness, physical intercourse is a very important part of a budding relationship, especially when the ponies taking part in the relationship are composed of eighty-percent hormones. Just look what happened with your mom!”

Despite the fact that history had proven it was a bad idea to insert herself into such conversations, Celestia didn’t think that staying silent would be a good idea either. “To be honest, Cadance. My sexual frustrations were just part of a larger problem when it came to why my first real relationship failed. The fact was, I had become a princess without earning it and felt entitled to everything, like a spoiled brat.”

The look on Sunset’s face quickly shifted from fearfully uncomfortable to utter hopeless her rear legs gave out and she planted her plot on the ground. “Our relationship is doomed.”

“Oh come on!” Cadance exclaimed.

Completely ignoring her fillyfriend, Sunset stared off into nothing. “Doomed.”

The pink alicorn rolled her eyes and trotted over to the bigger one. “Sunset-”

“I’m a spoiled brat, Cadance!” Sunset exclaimed wildly. “I don’t deserve Shiny, much less being an alicorn! You all saw what happened when I got the tiniest bit of authority. I became an evil tyrant! Just like mom used to be!”

Celestia winced at the comparison. “Well, I wouldn’t say that I was evil.”

“DOOOOOOOMED!” Sunset said as she galloped away in a panic rather than let Cadance talk her out of freaking out.

After Sunset fled the scene, Cadance sighed and shook her head. “Good thing tomorrow’s Tuesday,” she mumbled before looking back at Shining Armor. “Uh...be right back.”

Left alone with the colt, Celestia closed the door and used her magic to lay out Shining Armor’s seat, what with the table being too high for normal ponies to eat at thanks to it being built for the big princess. “So, Shining Armor...you’re still exercising at the Academy?”

Shining Armor approached the table as if it was a bear trap. “I um...y-yeah. I might have gotten super fit, but...if I slack off, I know that this body isn’t going to stick around for very long.”

“That’s very admirable,” Celestia told him as a unicorn came in pushing a serving tray full of the usual fruits and grains that most Equestrians ate as a notepad floated alongside his head in a magical field. “Most ponies with your wealth would resort to alchemy in order to hold onto your physique.”

After placing their orders, Shining Armor recovered from his blush that must have come from being paid attention to by Princess Celestia. “Uh...t-thanks. Does that kind of stuff...work?”

Hoping that he was simply trying to make conversation, Celestia did her best to try and dissuade him from pursuing such measures. “Yes, but as with all things magic, there is a balance. For instance, a potion to increase your muscle mass could cause other traits to also be affected. You could become quick to anger or lose the ability to think clearly when it comes to planning for the future.” She decided not to mention what it might do to his magic or male anatomy. Celestia was trying not to embarrass him.

“That...sounds a lot like Buck Withers,” Shining Armor told her. “Whatever happened to him?”

Celestia let out a tiny sigh. “Well, rather than simply tossing him off the edge of Canterlot for assaulting royality, I gave him a provisional reprieve in exchange for his assistance in locating other ponies who want to sow dissent among the politicians. Which did little to stop the nobles, I’m afraid.”

Shining Armor looked down at the fruits and oatmeal underneath his nose. “Right.”

“So...what are your hobbies?” she asked, having already gone over the subject of his cutie mark thanks to the fact that it integrated the Element of Magic. Upon seeing it for the first time, Celestia had a foolish hope that Shining Armor might have been a pony capable of using it, but that idea was quickly thrown aside once she learned where it came from.

Shining Armor shifted around on his cushion a little. “Well, I like playing Ogres and Oubliettes,” he admitted.

As the colt squirmed from his admittance of what he obviously thought of as some deep, dark secret, Celestia took a moment to remember a previous conversation with her family. “Yes, Sunset and Cadance mentioned something about that. Honestly, it sounds like a rather fun way to pass the time, more so than some of those dull dinner parties that I’m practically forced to attend for political reasons,” she said before smiling a little. “You know, I have asked Twilight if she would like to spend time with me again. I know Sunset wouldn’t want her mother tagging along on some pen and paper adventure, but...I hope you don’t mind if I sneak a peek to see how you three are getting along.”

Cadance stumbled a little when Sunset teleported her and Shining Armor onto the school’s roof. “Ugh, don’t think I’m ever going to get used to being popped around like that,” she said as her head stopped swimming.

“I’d say it’s more of a bamf than a pop,” Shining Armor commented.

Before a debate in onomatopoeia could begin, Sunset stepped in between them. “Well, it’s like being a car driver who takes corners way too quickly. I’m holding onto the steering wheel so I know exactly how the car is going to go-and you guys have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” she asked in a less than enthusiastic tone towards the end with half-lidded eyes.

Cadance frowned and cleared her throat. “Is somepony still being super-scatterbrained and needs a little reminder of how she’s supposed to slow down and think? Because this school has a bathroom, you know.”

“No,” Sunset admitted reluctantly.

Shining Armor looked back and forth between the two ponies. “What did you do to her while I was with Princess Celestia?”

“Just showed Sunset that as the Alicorn of Love, there was no way that I was going to allow our relationship to fail under even the most impossible of circumstances,” Cadance told him.

Then, feeling she needed to cheer her fillyfriend up a little, Cadance moved in to nuzzle her amber alicorn’s nose with a giggle. “We’re back in public again,” she told Sunset after taking a step back. “So you’ve got to watch the talk about crazy aliens and super advanced technology.”

Sunset rolled her eyes as Shining Armor moved to open the door for them like the gentle pony he was. Little acts like that reminded Cadance one of the reasons why she stayed in love with him after the rush of emotions that came from being saved from assault died down to a warm glow in her heart.

With only two of them capable of fitting on the stairwell at a time, Cadance let Sunset go first before waiting for Shiny on the first few steps so he could catch up and she could lay a wing across his back. Just because Sunset was at a point in her relationship with him that she wanted to be intimate with him as much as possible didn’t mean Cadance wasn’t going to get as much time with their stallion as she could.

“Attention students, there will be a presentation in the auditorium during first period.”

The three ponies shared a look of confusion about the surprise announcement before turning their attention to the speakers positioned over the door.

“I repeat, there will be a presentation by a special guest in the auditorium during first period.”

Sunset shrugged. “Sounds good to me,” she said before getting into formation with the other two ponies. It suprised Cadance when she edged her way in between the pink princess and the wall instead of going for the stallion of their trio. She leaned in close to Cadance’s ear. “Maybe we should skip out and do our own little assembly.”

A nibble on her ear sent a quiver through Cadance’s body. “D-Didn’t you get enough this morning?” Cadance asked after fighting off the urge to raise her tail.

“Oh, Shiny filled me up plenty. You’re the one that didn’t get anything,” she said before straightening up to look down at Cadance. It was still a little odd for the pink princess that the pony who had been so much shorter than her as a unicorn was just a head short of Celestia as an alicorn, and still growing at a much faster pace than Cadance was herself. “But I don’t like it when you’re left out. What happened to this being a relationship that needs tons of balancing, and all that junk?”

Cadance rolled her eyes. “Shiny and I are going out after school to have some fun while you go talk to his parents about noble junk and play with Twilight. Tomorrow is human night, which I’ve already commissioned a potion for-”

“Ugh,” Sunset groaned. “You’re really serious about that, aren’t you?”

A uneasy look on Sunset’s face got a giggle from Cadance. “Yes. Yes, I am,” she said with a grin. The scent and taste of human was just so intoxicating, and Sunset’s fingers could reach everywhere, servicing Cadance’s every need. Not to mention whatever energy empowered Sunset to make her so many times stronger and more powerful than even Celestia didn’t seem to have any effect on her human form. So, a riding crop to her rear wouldn’t need enough enchantments to shatter a mountain for it to be effective on Sunset. If anything, Cadance would be the one holding back. Humans were ridiculously fragile compared to ponies.

“Then we’ll have dinner with Shiny’s family on Wednesday night and have him over at the palace on Thursday,” Cadance went on. “We’ll help his family move in to their new house Friday. Saturday will be our O&O game night, and Sunday…” Cadance blinked as a flash of inspiration hit her. As an alicorn, she was gifted with a magical kind of foresight that allowed her to see into the future when it came to things like relationships and love. While she could focus it on demand if that instinct was hitched to her already extensive relationship knowledge, premonitions still only came when they wanted to, not Cadance. “Sunday’s going to be a party. A big one, there’s going to be lots of fancy nobles attending as well as Princess Celestia.”

Shining Armor tapped her with his hoof. “Uh...Cadance?” he asked cautiously.

Cadance shook her head quickly to clear out the foggy feeling that came over her during moments like that. “Sorry. Had an...alicorn moment,” she said before looking over to Shining Armor. “But, yeah. You’re going to have a party on Sunday. Big fancy one.”

“Makes sense,” Sunset agreed as she rubbed her chin. Then she put down her hoof to look at Shining Armor. “Your house is getting fixed up right now, but your family needs to have its big coming out party as soon as possible to show that they’re not just a bunch of idiots with money. Getting everything ready in a week will prove you have organizational skills, at least.”

Shining Armor looked down at the ground with a frown. “Okay that...might be doable,” he said.

Sunset lifted a wing to begin listing items off on her feathers. “That means you’ll need to take a new fancy family photo so the painter can turn it into an oversized portrait Separate photographs for each of your family, better make it in different suits and dresses. It would look tacky if the group paintings and the separate ones were all done in the same clothes. We’ll also need fresh china with your cutie mark and-oh! You still need to design your house sigil and the little saying that’s going to go be printed with it, like...Fire and Blood,” Sunset said as she raised a hoof and slowly moved her leg across in a sweeping motion.

Both Cadance and Shining Armor gave Sunset an uneasy look. “Well, that’s a little dark,” Cadance told her. “Even for you.” Sunset had a violent streak but...that was a bit much.

“Yeah, but...I doubt either of you would have got, Winter is Coming,” she said with a shrug. Then, when Cadance and Shining Armor continued to stare, she gave an annoyed sigh and slouched. “It’s a human thing.”

Shining Armor reined in his neck a little to look at Cadance rather than around her. “So, uh...what’s your sigil like, Cadance?”

The question got a tiny laugh in order to keep Cadance from giving him a lost look and giving her time to think. “I’m a princess, remember? We don’t have that stuff. Although, after we make a foal or five to found a new house, I was thinking something like my cutie mark beneath…” She held up a hoof to copy Sunset’s revel motion. “Love Conquers All.”

Cadance blinked at her own words. Just a month ago, she probably wouldn't have even considered something so...aggressive to sum up the ideals she wanted her descendants to carry. But, when she ran other phrases like ‘Love is for Everypony’ or ‘Love is Eternal’ it just sounded wrong to her. Love was a powerful force, it gave ponies the strength to smash down barriers and gave ponies the will to endure anything for the sake of another. Giving it a more...friendly catchphrase just didn’t do the emotion justice.

After all, love had its dark side as well.

“Oh, don’t use your cutie mark,” Sunset told Cadance, cutting into her thoughts. “Well, not your whole cutie mark. That just shows everypony you're narcissistic, unoriginal, and kind of stupid if you can’t come up with anything. But at the same time, you need to incorporate part of it if you’re the founder of the house.”

Shining Armor looked to the shields on his saddlebags. “Part of it, huh?”

The bell ran, ending their discussion on the matter. “Well time to get going,” Cadance told them.

“Oh, we still have a few seconds to spare if you want me to give you and Shiny some alone time,” Sunset told her with a little smile.

“You mean that whole freeze time thing you do so we can make out?” Shining Armor asked. “Or...nap?”

Sunset groaned and rolled her eyes. “Shiny, I’m not freezing time. I’m creating a localized bubble reality in dimensional synch with this one that spins on its own temporal axis several times faster than the universe around it,” she explained. “It just looks like everything is still because anything inside the bubble is going a thousand times faster than what’s outside. It’s not that big a thing.”

The explanation got a giggle from Cadance. “Yes. Creating new realities sounds so much easier than freezing time.”

“...you need more magic lessons,” Sunset deadpanned at Cadance.

To which Cadance replied by sticking out her tongue a little and blowing her fillyfriend a raspberry.

Sunset frowned back at her. “Stick that tongue out again and I’m going to have to french you,” she threatened.

“Promises, promises,” Cadance said before she got the three of them going.

Looking down at Twilight as the little gray mare walked beside her down the hallway towards the throne room, Celestia could feel nothing but pity for the poor mare as she fussed with expensive dress she had put on before rushing over to the palace nearly half-an-hour earlier than she should have. It didn’t look anywhere near as good as the one she wore to the coronation, a dress Celestia had sent her to make sure she didn’t stick out too much, but that one was probably still in need of cleaning. “I’m afraid that you’re going to have to see a seamstress either today or tomorrow,” she said. “I could have Raven find you a few good recommendations if you don’t know of any.”

Twilight Velvet stopped adjusting the broach with her hoof and looked up at Celestia. “Um, thank you, Princess. Your daughter said we would need enough clothes for a different dress a day for at least two weeks,” she said. “We’re still trying to figure out what to do with our house.”

The question got a knowing nod from Celestia. Out of necessity, what with space in Canterlot being so valued, it was illegal to keep a dwelling empty for more than two months. If a family couldn’t find use for a house, or a business went belly up, the building would be appraised and put up for auction. Nobles usually got around that law by having servants live on the premises whenever they took a long vacation or spent a season away.

“Well, since I doubt that you’ll want to sell something that’s been in your family for more than a thousand years,” Celestia guessed. Shining Armor’s family didn’t look nearly rich enough to have moved into Canterlot after it had been made the capital. Which placed them in Canterlot for several generations, maybe even as far back as the Great Freeze. “Renting it out seems the best choice.”

Twilight smiled sadly. “It is very special to us. I grew up there, as my father did before me and his mother before him. I had hoped to pass it on to Shining Armor one day.”

The mention of her son got a little smirk from Celestia. She knew where the Prince-Consort was going to be sleeping, and it wasn’t going to be there. “Not Twilight? Er, the other Twilight, I mean.”

“Oh Celestia no!” Velvet said with a giggle. Then, as was the norm with new ponies around her. Twilight Velvet realized what she had said and spun around to look at the mare whose name she had just used with wide eyes. “Um...I mean...oh bother.”

And, like all the times before her, Celestia found she had a choice to make. Sometimes, she like to play the fool, acting as if she had no idea ponies used her name like some verbal talisman. Other times, she simply ignored it, as if the pony had just said her name like normal. Then there were the times when she played at reading too much into the use of her name, acting as if the pony in question was a full-blown sun worshiper and giving her all the information she would need to go to the next local meeting of those silly little ponies on Sunday to ask about a pence ritual that didn’t actually exist in order to show her how silly she was being.

But with Twilight Velvet, she decided to have a bit more fun.

“You should probably work on that,” Celestia told her before becoming thoughtful while Velvet started getting a little nervous. “After all, if you go ‘Oh Celestia, I’m hungry’ I’d feel obligated to go make you a daffodil sandwich. Or if you went, ‘Oh Celestia, I’m thirsty’ I’d have to go get you a drink.” Then her smile turned turned extremely mischievous. “And heavens forbid a few months from now when the season comes around again and go ‘Oh Sweet Celestia, I’m in heat!’ in front of everypony. Then I might feel obligated to do something that would make our foals quite uncomfortable.”

Twilight Velvet’s mouth dropped, making Celestia let out a mirthful giggle. “Oh my little pony, I’m going to have so much fun with you.”

Thanks to their debate on temporal mechanics Cadance and the others ran so late to the gathering that even the status of alicorn couldn’t make the crowd of students part ways. So, they ended up with seats the the back instead of anywhere near their friends.

They folded the seats of their chairs and sat down, with Sunset grumbling a bit as she worked to get her much larger than average ass, a size Cadance wouldn’t want any smaller, into a seat definitely not suited for a royal rear of her caliber. She let out a groan. “Buck this.”

Sunset’s horn lit up before her entire body was encased in her magic. There was a soft flash, then Cadance found herself sitting next to an amber alicorn the size of the average house cat. “There we go, much bet-bwa!” she said as the seat snapped shut with her still in it.

Although it was probably in poor taste, Cadance couldn’t help but giggle at Sunset’s foible before she reached down to take her out of the seat and scoot down to sit ‘human style’ with her hind legs propped up against the chair in front of her so she could seat Sunset on her barrel. “Decreased weight and size, huh?”

Sunset blushed and looked away. “Need to get used to doing them both, so...yeah,” she said before her eyes brightened. “Oh! Hey Cheerilee!”

The little mulberry pony looked over and blinked as Sunset waved at her to offer her the vacant seat. If she was put off by the foot-long alicorn, she didn’t show it as she made her way over to sit down. “H-Hello, Princess Sun-oh!” Cheerilee exclaimed as Sunset leaped over to hug the filly and give her a nuzzle. “Yes, it’s good to see you again too.”

With all the attention embarrassing the hay out of the freshmare, Cadance reached over to take Sunset back in her hooves as if she was an overly affectionate foal. Which, after meeting Twilight’s new friends, Cadance understood. While Sunset had been trapped in that awful human world, a creature that was some dimensional double of Cheerilee had been kind to her. Sunset was simply spreading that kindness around to ponies who reminded her of the librarian.

“Sorry I didn’t send you an invite to the coronation, Cheerilee,” Sunset apologized. “I just didn’t think you wanted to be trapped in a room with a bunch of horny jerks.”

Cheerilee looked at her with wide eyes for a few moments before giving Sunset a little smile. “That’s okay, Princess Sunset.”

“By the way, where’s um…”

The smile turned to a tiny grin. “Oh, Mare’s out sick today. We decided to splurge at the Fair yesterday and...I think she ate a bit too much.”

A second later, the lights went out. Talking quieted down and ponies turned to look at the stage a moment before the stage lights came on to illuminate the front of the room moments before the principal came trotting out. Just looking at him made Cadance sit up a little straighter, even though it got a complaining cry from Sunset.

The first principal of their school had been a mare by the name of Cinch. She was a horrible pony and even worse headmistress, letting students cheat on their tests if they were good athletes or could advance the school in some way as well as let them get away with the worst of offenses. Cadance had been the one to throw her out after collecting evidence to make sure nopony would think of her as biased.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome back to Canterlot Academy after our extra long seasonal Fall break,” the stallion announced. “Now, as part of a new public service initiative by the EEA, I would direct your attention to Chancellor Neighsay.”

“Oh no, not this guy,” Sunset grumbled.

There was a show of applause as an important-looking unicorn with a goatee and a cape came into the stage. “Greetings, students of Canterlot Academy,” he said in an sharp, yet somewhat dry tone. “As part of our desire to educate the young minds of Equestria, I am here to talk to you about a fast approaching danger to our land. Projector!”

A screen lowered from the ceiling before a light showed an image of the school’s mascot. “Dragons!” he exclaimed. “A fitting choice for your school, considering it’s previous principal. However, dragons are hardly something to use as something to represent something as hallowed as a school!”

The pony raised his hoof and the picture changed from that of the slightly adorable mascot to that of an actual dragon, setting fire to a building in what looked to be a small town of some sort. “Real dragons are cruel, greedy, evil monsters that delight in causing pain and suffering to ponies, and every other creature in their path!”

Most of the students in the audience gasped at the stallion’s emotional declaration as the picture was changed to one of another dragon tearing the roof off a house. “Now, I am not here in an effort for you to change the name of your school or some silly little thing like that. I am here to inform you of a great and coming danger!”

The picture changed again to show a picture of a dragon breathing fire on a forest. “I know what you all might be thinking. We are in no great danger. After all, we live in Canterlot, protected by Celestia Herself! You’ve never seen a dragon attacking our fair city. In fact, I doubt any of you have even heard of a dragon attacking any Equestrian city in your entire life! And, you would be right. For the most part, dragons keep to themselves, staying on an island to the northwest of Equestria.”

There was a collective sigh of relief among the students. At least, until Neighsay spoke up again. “HOWEVER! once in a generation, all of the dragons, dozens upon dozens, HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS migrate across Equestria! Burning down forests! Tearing down villages! And putting an end to every single creature unlucky enough to be in their path! Birds! Mammals! Reptiles! Even ponies! All of them destroyed by this dark menace that feels no mercy or love, only an all consuming desire to burn everything around them!”

No love? Cadance thought to herself as she wrapped her forelegs around Sunset to hold her tight, as if she had the stuffed animal that had been made instead of the amber alicorn herself.

“Oh come on, Cadance. You can’t be falling for this,” Sunset said.

All three of the ponies sitting around the alicorn on Cadance’s barrel looked down to her as one. “Huh?”

Sunset rubbed her head. “Have any of you even met a dragon?” she asked.

“Well...no,” Cadance answered for herself, although she was quite sure that Shining Armor and Cheerilee hadn’t either.

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “Have you?”

Instead of giving them all her usual smirk whenever Sunset revealed in her superior knowledge, Sunset pressed in on herself a little. “Well...sort of?” she replied in a way that sounded more like she was asking a question. “Spike had been transformed into a dog at the time. But he was a purple talking dog that said he was really a ferocious dragon, so...yes, and no. I’ve met a dragon.”

Cheerilee blinked. “I see...when was this?” she asked.

“Um...that’s one of those state secret, classified kind of things I can’t talk about. Sorry,” Sunset apologized.

It was enough for Cadance to know what Sunset didn’t mention. The only thing in her past that she didn’t talk about to anypony aside from family and family-to-be was her time on Earth. Even then, getting details from Sunset beyond things like human inventions was akin to pulling teeth. Which meant this Sprike dog/dragon must have been connected to Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Just the thought of that mare put a frown on Cadance’s face and took her mind to dark places. A future version of the little filly she already loved as a baby sister had battled Sunset in another dimension and apparently saved her from a foolish mistake brought on in a moment of her trademark anger.

However, Cadance felt in no way indebted to Princess Twilight Sparkle, as what she did next erased all good will the pink princess would ever feel towards the twisted future version of the purple pony. Instead of taking Sunset home with her, Princess Twilight Sparkle left her on Earth; effectively banishing her from Equestria and her own mother, Princess Celestia. Completely cut off from her magic again and alone, surrounded by creatures that felt nothing but ill will towards Sunset. Even the humans that had been left to care for her, creatures that were no more than foals themselves without any means to do so, eventually turned on her thanks to some false rumors. From what Cadance understood, Princess Twilight even returned later by finding some sort of workaround using a magical journal, but didn’t tell Sunset she could come home, or even allow her to contact Celestia. And when Sunset faced another danger that threatened both their worlds, Princess Twilight completely ignored her cries for help.

While Sunset tried to convince her that Princess Twilight wasn’t a bad pony, she was just too biased and forgiving to see the other alicorn for what she really was. As for Cadance, she was glad that whatever time travel magic that sent Sunset back to Equestria before she technically even left had disrupted such a pony from ever coming into existence.

“Uh...Cadance?”

“Hm?” she asked before realizing she was digging her hooves into Sunset with a scowl on her face. “Oh! Sorry, sweetie. I was just...thinking.”

Sunset gave her a nervous laugh. “Well, I know that takes some effort in your part sometimes-”

“Keep that up and I’ll sit on you,” Cadance threatened.

There was an eye roll and sigh in response, but when no more words came, Cadance took that as a sign that their discussion was over.

“Ponies! Ponies please!” Neighsay called out from the stage, quieting down the crowd that had worked itself into a mild panic after hearing his words. “Now, while the dragon migration is still years away, I am sorry to say that the government of Equestria is a slow and plodding thing. Therefore, I am here today to ask you to join NARF!”

Once again, the projected slide behind him changed. This time, it was a giant word in bold letters, spelled out in a column. “Now, of course NARF is an acronym, which stands for…”

The slide changed again.

Not

Another

Roasted

Foal

“Not Another Roasted Foal!” he announced. “With your help, we plan to encourage Princess Celestia to take action against these evil lizards! Together, under NARF, we will defend our land from being put to the flame! With NARF, we will ensure that every Equestrian foal need not fear for their lives! NARF will be the force that makes dragons and all such creatures learn to fear us instead of the other way around!”

“NARF! NARF! NARF! NARF!” the student’s chanted. “NARF! NARF! NARF!”

Cadance blinked as she noticed Sunset looking at the crowd with a half-lidded stare. “We should probably get going before they remember two-thirds of the Equestrian royal government actually go to this school,” she said before her horn lit up and the world disappeared.

After she heard the bell ring, Fleur looked over to the empty seat that Princess Sunset usually occupied, wondering where the mare was. She had seen Cheerilee in the hallway before class, and after exchanging pleasantries, the freshmare had said that Cadance and her friends were at school today, but the announcement during first period had them laying low.

Now, it was time for her third period, so she set off in that direction, catching Sassy as she came out of her class. Despite the fact that it was obvious the poor mare had something on her mind that had been there since they walked to school this morning, Fleur didn’t want to pressure her into talking about it. At least, not unless she started getting too anxious. There was a danger in waiting too long to deal with problems, after all.

Which was why Fleur wished that Princess Cadance would hurry up and show herself. She needed to talk to somepony about her not-yet-fiancee, and the Princess of Love was the obvious pick.

“Um, Fleur, can we...talk about something?” Sassy asked.

Seeing that this was going to be one of those talks, the white unicorn began looking around for someplace they could use for privacy. Even though she knew it would probably come back to hit her later, now that she actually needed to work for her grades, Fleur nodded. “Of course,” she said before taking the other mare’s hoof and leading her into a nearby unlit room.

Although the lights weren’t on, the windows provided more than enough illumination to see everything. Fleur blinked as she found out that her choice ended up being the home economics room. While she had never taken the class herself, she had seen the interior enough not to be dazzled by the classroom that was three times the normal size with ovens to her right while a line of sewing machines were positioned against the wall in front of her. The actual class part of the room was over to her left, in front of a white board, and the large open space between had what looked like a space taken from a living room, with a couch, coffee table and three pillows.

“Oh, Professor Homemaker still has all this,” she said before trotting over to lay out on the couch.

“Right, you had all this your freshmare year,” Fleur remembered before moving to take a seat on a cushion across from Sassy. “So...what did you want to talk about?”

Unfortunately, it looked like the reminder pulled Sassy out of her nostalgic happiness and back to a nervous reality. “Right...um...Fleur...n-nothing’s going to change between us, right?” she asked before biting her lip. “It’s just...you’ve been my best friend for as far back as I can remember.”

With Sassy’s question, the realization of what was going on hit Fleur like a hammer. After Shining Armor got promoted to noble status, or close enough to it at any rate, the realization that Fleur was also going to be marrying into a noble family must have finally hit home for Sassy, and she was worried about losing her best friend.

It wasn’t that silly a fear, either. She had seen how Fancy Pants looked at the ponies that were his...lessers. He wasn’t mean about it or anything, but there was a clear divide between him and everypony else. And Fleur knew that she wasn’t on the same side of the line as him.

The extreme irony of the timing of said question brought a horrible smirk to the white pony’s face. “I don’t have anything to worry about there, Sassy.”

The other unicorn let out a long sigh. “Oh, that’s good.”

Fleur took in a deep breath. Now comes the hard part, she told herself. But if she couldn’t talk about this with a good friend, her best friend, then talking about it with anypony else would be impossible! “Because I’m not sure if I can go through with my marriage to Fancy Pants.”

“...what?” Sassy asked as a completely dazed look fell over her face.

The insanity of what she was even considering became apparent and Fleur reached up to hold her head with her hooves. “I know, I know it’s crazy! But...it’s just...I don’t…” She took a deep breath and tried to organize her thoughts.

Sassy sat up a little straighter. “Fleur does he...do...things to you?” she asked hesitantly.

“What?” Fleur asked in confusion before her mind filled in the blanks thanks to the uneasy look Sassy was giving her. “No! It’s not...he’s not...I don’t get abused or anything, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s more…” She tried to think of the right words to describe how she felt about the state of things.

And that was the problem. There weren’t any feelings.

Fleur sighed. “It’s like...yesterday, I tried to get him to go to the Fair and...he talked to me like I was his dog,” she said before trying to sort out her thoughts some more. “Well, that’s not true. Ponies like their dogs.”

“Should we tell the Princesses?” Sassy asked.

“Tell them what?” Fleur replied, becoming more disgruntled the more she thought of it. “That the stallion my parents sold me to in exchange for better working conditions and an apartment upgrade thinks of me as some annoying animal that’s just around to benefit him when it’s time to make foals? Let’s be real here, Sassy, I knew that going in.”

The other mare got off the couch to sit eye to eye with Fleur across the table. “Then why did you?”

“I wanted to be a model,” Fleur responded immediately before the other reasons came to mind. “And Upper Crust said she’d help me, then my family met with House Covers. Mother and Father got promotions at work, not to mention that new apartment we got put on the short list for. And then there’s you, of course.”

Sassy blinked and pulled her head back a bit. “Me?”

Fleur gave a half-shrug. “Fancy Pants’s family is in with the clothing industry, Sassy. I’m pretty sure I could have gotten you the help you needed to make a big break,” she said before sighing. “Now, you don’t need me for that and Upper Crust is gone.” She took in another breath and rested her foregs on the table before looking down on it. “For nearly a year, I thought about all of the pampering I’d be receiving, and that was enough. But now...what’s wrong with me, Sassy? Why can’t I just be happy with what was promised?”

“Because you are not a piece of trash to be looked down on,” Sassy told her evenly. Which made Fleur look up to see her friend giving her a frighteningly cold expression. “And the fact that this stallion has turned you into this...it’s inexcusable.”

The comment worked its way through Fleur’s mind, making her snort in response. “Sweet Celestia, I’m at the bottom now, aren’t I?”

Sassy raised an eyebrow. “Eh?”

“Our little social ranking, remember?” Fleur asked rhetorically. It hadn’t even been two months, but it seemed like forever ago when Fleur had been the princess of the school. Anything she wanted, she got without any effort. Even after Princess Cadance came along, Fleur continued on as if she was so important. “I’m pretty sure Shiny’s friends outrank me at this point.”

After giving Fleur a roll of her eyes, Sassy told her friend what she thought about that assessment. “Oh please, Fleur. Those colts are sweet, but they’re still capital L losers. Poindexter actually thinks bow ties are cool.”

Fleur smacked the table with a hoof. “And I’m a whore!” she exclaimed. When Sassy rose to argue, the white unicorn cut her off. “What? That’s what you call a pony that sells her body for bits! Except, I’m not even doing that! I’m doing it for fancy food and expensive clothes!”

A few seconds later, Sassy let out an uneasy groan. “Well, there is your modeling career.”

“Except, all I’d have to do is name drop a princess or put an alicorn down as a reference, and wouldn’t matter what job I applied for,” Fleur said. “I’ve literally sold myself for nothing. Well, other than a better life for my parents that barely speak to me anymore. Which I’m not really feeling too good about these days.”

Sassy took in a deep breath. “You know what I think?” she asked.

Hopeful that her friend had somehow seen a way out of this that she hadn’t, Fleur lifted her head off the table. “That I’m an idiot for missing something so completely obvious, which will get me out of this whole mess?”

“I think we should get to class,” Sassy said. “It will at least give you something to occupy your brain.”

“...your solution bucks.”

Since getting to know two of the three Princess of Equestria, Shining Armor had learned a few things. Things aside from the biographical stuff that most ponies knew, or the top secret stuff about alien dimensions and Sunset’s actual age. There were things that only he knew about them. Like how the one that the public feared the most was really sensitive on the inside and the one the public adored was actually quite terrifying once you got beneath her coat.

Then there was the stuff Shining Armor had learned after prolonged contact with them in a relaxed setting. Things like, sitting around with a bored Cadance for more than an hour was usually a bad idea, because her mind went to some strange places whenever it didn’t have something concrete to focus on for very long.

“I’m the pink pony princess who rules all these lands,” Cadance sung without a musical accompaniment as she fluttered around to a place behind Sunset on the cloud they were hiding out on above the high school. “I like big amber fannies, like these big round cans.”

Sunset looked up from the book floating in front of her. “Uh, Cadance?” she asked over the silence in the air. “What’re you doing?”

“I’m a pink pony princess that can slap on them buns,” Cadance sang before bringing her hooves down on Sunset’s plot as if her rear cheeks were a pair of drums. “Slap on them buns.” Two more slaps that got a good amount of jiggle out of Sunset’s hind quarters. “And cause I’m just so bored, I will slap them for fun!”

Shining Armor did his best to ignore how much much Sunset’s plot jiggled from Cadance’s little...moment and rolled onto his belly to...focus on how odd it was that he, a unicorn, was currently on a cloud thanks to Sunset’s magic. He most definitely didn’t focus on how the most beautiful princess in Equestria was currently on the back of the sexiest princess in Equestria.

Which...he knew was a losing battle.

Cadance was without a doubt the most beautiful pony in Equestria. Every inch of her body was the perfect mix of strength and grace, which only seemed to grow by the day. Tall and fit without being too lean, graceful without being fragile, powerful without being bulky, Cadance managed to trot down that impossibly thin line that balanced everything beyond what anypony could hope to achieve.

In contrast, Sunset had certain assets emphasized on top of an already ample frame. Although a head taller than Cadance, the amber alicorn hadn’t slimmed down in the least from her height increase. On top of which, her horn was a bit longer than what would have been the normal unicorn length, as was her rear end. While not as refined as Cadance, there was certainly more of her to enjoy in all the right places.

So, when the two of them decided to have fun, Shining Armor didn’t know what was worse: the reality of two impossibly beautiful mares on top of one another, or the image that his mind generated when two impossibly beautiful mares who were also quite loud had fun in the bedroom.

“Girls, please!” he asked them. “If you keep this up, I’m not going to be able to walk around school without getting frowned at.”

“Now let’s see what you’ve got-oh!” Sunset said from her place atop Cadance, having turned the tides and pinned the smaller princess beneath her bigger body. “Uh...sure thing, Shiny.”

As Sunset removed herself from Cadance, Shining Armor looked down at the school. “Uh...think we should get going back?”

Sunset groaned. “Well, I suppose it’s been long enough for the hysteria that idiot stirred up to die down,” she grumbled. “So if you want to be getting back, we can probably do it without being mobbed.”

A second later, Shining Armor grabbed the cloud they were on a little tighter as Cadance pushed it down close enough to the roof for the three of them to get off. It was still strange to Shining Armor how Sunset outright refused to use her wings. She was afraid of doing it, as if it would cause a disaster or something.

“Anypony have an idea as to what period it is?” Shining Armor asked nervously. Before meeting the Princesses, he had perfect attendance. These days, he was lucky to get through a day of school without missing at least one period. It was excused since attending the girls was considered royal business, but still…

Cadance looked over to Sunset, who shrugged. “Hey, just cause I got this sun on my butt doesn’t mean I can tell the time just by looking at it. Especially since Mom always puts it up in the middle of the sky until it’s time to take it down. Well, unless somepony distracts her or something.”

The first of her comment got Shining Armor curious. “Hey Sunset, just what does your cutie mark mean?” He had told her about his the very first time they met. But, she had...okay, Sunset had been a girl that was interested in him and a tabletop RPG, Shining Armor couldn’t bring himself to shut up about himself long enough to ask about her.

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” Cadance said.

“Oh...um…” she said before getting a little nervous. “It means, I’m supposed to be like Celestia...at least I was supposed to until I got corrupted and attempted to surpass her.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Well, the whole having a pony whose whole life is supposed to be a nudge to Auntie’s ego aside, I’m pretty sure you surpassed that old nag a long time ago.”

There was a moment where Sunset gave Cadance a disbelieving look, then let out a groan and rubbed her forehead. “Great. So, what has she done to piss you off now?”

“You mean besides the monstrous level of neglect she forced you to suffer through for ten years?” Cadance asked. “Because that’s plenty of reason for me to dislike her.”

Shining Armor held up a hoof. “Girls, can you please not talk about that stuff in front of me?” he asked. “Every time you start, I’m afraid that Equestria going to split apart with the three of you fighting for control or something.”

As Sunset gave him an embarrassed blush, Cadance laughed it off with a giggle and waved away the young stallion’s concerns. “Oh, don’t be silly, Shiny,” she said before getting serious. “I already am the High-Princess.”

Which was another thing that Shining Armor didn’t like to think about. Because of an oddity in the system, Cadance legally ruled Equestria. And from he could tell, Princess Celestia acknowledged her authority to do so.

When they got down to a more populated level of the school, the girls checked the clock then trotted off towards their respective classes, or their next classes, as the period was almost over. With only one to go before lunch, he slowly walked towards the class he and his friends were supposed to have together. The door opened as the bell rang, and Shining Armor waited for his friends.

However, after the crowd came through the door, with the teacher following suit on his way to the break room without a single sign of them, Shining Armor stuck his head in. “Uh, hello?”

The three young stallions, Gaffer the unicorn, Eight-Bit the brown pegasus, and Poindexter the gray earth pony stood around the large table in the art room, with Gaffer’s horn lit up. “And...finished.”

Both of the other colts let out adoring ‘oooohs’ before taking a step back to admire the figure in the center of the table. It looked like Gaffer had managed to finish his horn-crafted, personalized night flier; complete with full paint job.

“Hey guys!” Shining Armor said as he trotted forward to get a better look at the thing. “Wow, that’s some great-”

“Oh, it’s-” Shining Armor blinked with Gaffer suddenly turned around to scowl at him. Or, scowl for a second, then take astep back, look up, then resume scowling. “Oh, it’s you. Lord Shining Armor, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

In response to the title, Shining Armor gave a nervous laugh. “So, uh, you heard, huh?”

Eight-Bit looked back and forth. "Eh? What’s going on? Uh, Shiny? Are you taller?”

Gaffer snorted. “Unlike the other students of this school, we read the papers.”

Poindexter moved up beside Eight-Bit and threw out a hoof. “He’s a normie now.”

The most vile insult in the entire geek kingdom made Shining Armor take a step back in shock. “What? I...I’m not a normie!”

“Oh yeah?” Gaffer said in a challenging manner before he waved his hooves at Shining Armor’s physique. “What’s all this, then? You taking potions? You know what that stuff does to your brain?”

Shining Armor winced. “It-It was just one potion.” Plus, it wasn’t the same kind meant to buff ponies up. Princess Celestia had turned him into a colt and an aging potion was the only way to change back. It wasn’t his fault the potion just assumed he ate three balanced meals a day and got plenty of exercise!

After thinking for a few seconds, Eight-Bit stepped forward. “Plus, you’ve got a fillyfriend!” he exclaimed before becoming even more agitated. “Two fillyfriends! That’s two more than we’re all supposed to have, combined.”

The brain of the group reached up to push his glasses up to his eyes. “The facts are irrefutable, Shining Armor. You have become a normie.”

Shining Armor groaned. “Guys, come on. This is stupid.”

“Quiet, normie!” Gaffer exclaimed before throwing out a hoof. “As GM of our game sessions, I hereby banish you from our O&O domain.”

“... seriously?” Shining Armor asked, unsure of what he was hearing had been correct. “You come to my house to play, you eat my food, and hey! You’re even using a five hundred bit magical item that Cadance bought to run your game!”

Poindexter gave a huff. “That doesn't change the fact that you became a normie!” he told Shining Armor. “And house rule eight clearly states, no normies!”

“Guys, come on be ser-”

“No normies!” Gaffer insisted.

“No normies!” Eight-Bit added.

“No normies!” Poindexter began to chant with the others.

“And so, I went to class and...now we’re here,” Shining Armor said as he finished his tale.

All five of the girls sitting around Shining Armor in the lunchroom at their usual spot while the other male members of their group were...he had no idea. It was a pretty big lunchroom. Most of them, like Sassy, wore looks of confusion. Sunset was the odd mare out, of course, she had on a disgruntled frown.

Although Sassy had wanted to talk to Princess Cadance about her problems with Fleur, it seemed that she wasn’t the only one with concerns to attract the pink pony’s attention. Even though she didn’t quite understand what was going on.

Fleur was the first to speak to the colt across the table. “I’m sorry, but...I’m not sure I understand. What’s a...normie?”

“Oh,” Shining Armor said. “It’s uh...short for normal pony, or...normal ponies, since we always used the plural form. Basically, it’s anypony that’s uh...well...popular and...stuff. We made the rule, cause um...honestly, it’s pretty embarrassing to admit to playing Ogres and Oubliettes. If he had started handing out invites, there probably would have been a lot of ponies who made fun of us.”

The explanation got an eyebrow raise from Cheerilee. “So it’s a word for...every mare here, besides me.”

A single laugh came from Fleur. “Come now, Cheerilee, are you saying that-”

“I’m a smart freshmare with braces that would rather help ponies do the assignments correctly than give away the answers and can see through fake attempts to be my friend so that ponies can try and hang out with royalty, Fleur,” the younger earth pony said. “That’s not really popular.”

Fleur looked back to Shining Armor. “So, let me get this straight. Since the last time they saw you, you gained more money, a better social standing, a bigger house, an improved...physique, and they’re angry at you for that?”

“Well,” Cadance said hesitantly. “At least they’re not trying to mooch off of your wealth and exploiting your friendship. That’s...something, right?”

“You want me to beat them up?” Sunset asked. “Cause I can give them a real reason to play the victim card, if you want me to. Not just the crappy ‘you’re popular now so go away before you pick on us’ one they’re pushing.”

Shining Armor looked over Sunset. “No,” he said uneasily. “But um...thanks for the offer?”

Cadance looked round the stallion that the two alicorns had flanked. “Victim card?”

“Oh...right, non-pony term,” Sunset said before thinking a bit. “It’s like um...well, okay I guess it doesn’t really apply to this situation, but uh...hmm...does it?” She rapidly shook her head to clear out the thought. “Nevermind.”

Then Sunset gave a growl of a groan. “It just…” She looked over to Shining Armor. “I don’t like it when a bunch of...ponies you think are your friends ditch you, thinking you’re the bad guy, despite zero evidence!”

“Down girl,” Cadance told her gently before a wing came out past Shining Armor to pat Sunset on the back.

Shining Armor looked down at his food. “I guess this means my O&O days are done for awhile. At least until their brains come back from vacation. Not like I’m going to find anypony else to play. Three is just not enough.”

There was an uneasy cough from the seat next to Sassy. “Um...I...might be interested, Shining,” Fleur told him. “If you want me around, that is.”

Sassy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You can’t be serious.” They just gone over how Shiny’s friends were the biggest losers in school, and idiots on top of that now, and Fleur wanted to replace them in his leisure activities.

“Well, since meeting Fancy Pants, I’ve had to...go by a different set of options for social activities,” Fleur replied. “And, sitting around a table rolling dice and talking about things is just about what we do for fun, just with more gambling.”

The explanation got a frown from Sassy. With the way how Fleur had talked earlier, she knew just how much control Fancy Pants thought he should have over their relationship. While normally, she would just shrug and let Fleur make up her on mind if being with a colt was worth certain restrictions, like how she knew Shining Armor had to accept certain things when it came to topics of conversation with the Princesses and that their plans might be canceled because of some royal duty. But then, Shiny could choose to break up with the Princesses if he wanted to without problem. If Fleur did that, there would probably be a problem with her apartment’s lease and her parents would quickly find themselves out of a job.

Cadance cleared her throat. “Actually, we use a Tablet of LARPing. It puts us into a dream state where we can act out the events, complete with all the action.”

“Hmmm, that actually does sound pretty fun,” Sassy said before thinking about it for a second. If Fleur was going, she...didn’t really have anypony else to hang out with“Would it be alright if I join you this weekend?”

Cheerilee tapped her chin with a hoof. “I’ll admit, I’m a bit curious myself, now. Can I come too?”

With the three offers coming in at once, Shining Armor held up his hooves. “Whoa! Hold on a second. We’s still need somepony to run the game.”

“Well, I saw a few auto-run scenarios in the store, but...it’s pretty obvious that Sunset should be the GM,” Cadance pointed out.

The nomination got a confused expression from the amber alicorn. “What? Why me?”

“Sweetie, you’re so OP, you break the game,” Cadance pointed out. “You literally break the game, simply by playing because you’re already more powerful than any player can possibly be.”

Sunset crossed her forelegs. “Not my fault that the game is so underpowered,” she grumbled before letting out a sigh. “Okay, so...next order of business. Shiny, you need to see how Kibitz is doing with the staff. There needs to be enough ponies to serve and prepare food this Sunday.”

“So, you are having a party?” Fleur asked. “Sorry to put you on the spot, but...Fancy said that if you were, his parents would like an invitation.”

After hearing her request, Shining Armor gave a shrug. “Sure. Be nice to know at least one pony there,” he said before looking back and forth between Cheerilee and Sassy.”Either of you want to go?”

Sunset let out an uncomfortable groan. “I doubt you girls will have any fun, but...if you want...oh, I should probably also make sure some ponies that Twilight knows is there too. Better make it today, too. Um...better get going, then,” Sunset said before she stood up. “Uh, You guys, can I copy your notes?”

“Not that you need it, but of course,” Fleur assured her.

“Okay,” Sunset said. “Be seeing you tonight, Shiny.” She gave the stallion a kiss on the cheek. “Cadance, um...all things considered, you may want to get that assistant of yours on this to get the staff we need in time to decorate for the party too. Kibitz may have his hooves full if he’s needing to put a party invite list together and staff the house.”

Shining Armor looked over to Sunset. “You’re leaving?” he asked.

A look of hesitation covered Sunset’s face. “Well...if I’m going to be giving ponies time enough to get what they need for a fancy party like this, plus some other running around I need to do aaaaaaand, crap, that idiot just walked in,” she said, looking over the heads of the students to the lunchroom far right exit.

After turning her head to see what was making Sunset so upset, she blinked when she spotted that Neighsay pony. Just seeing him made her shiver at the memory of his presentation. Still, she was glad that somepony was talking about those monsters.

“Okay, so...I’ll get him off my back, probably just wants to talk to Mom anyway, take care of some other stuff, then wrangle up some guests for Twily,” Sunset said. “Cadance, you get your girl on staffing the house, sound good?”

Cadance nodded. “Sounds good.”

After Sunset trotted off, the four remaining mares and Shining Armor went back to eating before the next topic of discussion came up from Fleur. “So, um...I take it from the conversations I overheard before...I need to do something before our private get together on Saturday?”

What followed, Sassy could only be called watching a colt in a candy shop. Shining Armor was apparently very into his little game, describing all the different options and everything else in great detail. While she let most of it go in one ear and out the other, Sassy did get a few ideas that excited her, like designing the outfits. It would be like making costumes, something she could only do once a year before Nightmare Night.

Once they were finished, Sassy waited around while Cheerilee and Fleur were taken by Shining Armor to get a more detailed explanation of O&O. Once Princess Cadance got through with her much larger meal and put the tray in the receptacle, Sassy managed to get the courage to start what she knew would be a harrowing process. “Princess, can I...talk to you someplace in private?”

Cadance looked a little surprised at the question, but shrugged and agreed to it. With the end of lunch being a bit of a bathroom rush, they decided to sneak out the building’s back exit and found a secluded area near the buck ball court.

As she double-checked to make sure they were alone, Sassy laid out the basics of the situation. “So, um...I need to talk to you about something,” she said before looking behind her. “Concerning Fleur.”

“Squeeeeeee!”

Hearing the strangest sound ever, Sassy turned around in confusion a second before Cadance completely conquered her personal space with her presence and gave her an excited expression. “You finally realized your romantic feelings for Fleur?”

Sassy blinked and took a step back for some breathing room. M-My what?” she asked, despite hearing Cadance just fine. “Cadance, it’s not like that!”

The reply made Cadance take a step back. “Oh, um...that’s, uh…”

“What makes you think I have feelings for Fleur?” Sassy asked.

Cadance’s darted around, going in every direction except towards Sassy. “You know what? I just remembered, I have...princess things to do, hehehehe,” the pink pony told Sassy. “Lots and looooooots of princess things. So, uh...bye!”

With that, Cadance spun around before galloping a few strides and taking to the air while talking in some strange language. “Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!”

After the fleeing princess completely disappeared, Sassy found herself standing along for a few seconds before her mind started working on its own.

She didn’t have any feelings for Fleur beyond friendship, admiration, desire, and a healthy amount of sexual attraction to the hottest unicorn in school. But that was normal for a pony like her. After all, they had spent all of their heats together since they were foals. You couldn’t not do what they did, like kiss, snuggle, fulfill needs, and all that stuff without a physical attraction.

But that didn’t mean she was in love with Fleur! Sassy just liked spending time with her, seeing her smile, hearing her laugh, the way she wiggled her plot from side to side just an extra bit when she walked and what that did to her tail. Fleur was just a pony that made Sassy’s life brighter by being in the same room and her nights more peaceful when they slept cuddled up together.

And that was all.

It wasn’t as if she wanted to get married to Fleur.

She just wanted to spend the rest of her life with her close friend. Plenty of ponies did that!

The die bounced around three times before its kinetic energy became too low for it to do more than roll. When it landed on a side with three circular indentations, the little green plastic figure that loosely resembled a winged reptilian creature was surrounded by the glow of a unicorn’s magic and moved the same number of colored squares forward. A few seconds later, the box of a board game rumbled before the volcano-shaped ejection point spat out a heavy marble that proceeded to roll down the provided path until it came out onto the board and...struck absolutely nothing on its way to the edge, where it fell into a tiny groove that guided it down beneath the playing area and into position for the next turn.

“YES! My dragon survives another turn!” Sunburst yelled before his horn flared with magic right as he jumped up on his hind legs. A second later, the entire game board went flying through the air, end over end, spilling its contents and flinging the three dragon pieces that had been inside to the far corners of the room before the game board itself struck the wall before falling on the unmade bed of one of the room’s occupants.

One of the game’s players, a little blue filly with a silvery mane looked over to the other filly playing the game. “Trixie does not see the point of this game if he is going to ruin it every single time that happens,” she said before blinking a few times and frowning. “Have you ever even finished a game of Dragon Pit?”

Starlight Glimmer blushed at the question and looked at a very interesting spot on the door. “Uh, well...there was this one time, when Sunburst was sick. He couldn’t really use his magic then, so...I had to move everything,” she admitted before looking back with a smile. “But finishing the game isn’t the point! Just look at him!”

Trixie followed the direction of Starlight’s hoof and watched as the four-eyed colt danced around in celebration. “My dragon survived! My dragon survived! My dragon survived!”

“So...are we supposed to laugh at how he’s acting now?” Trixie asked in confusion.

The question made Starlight think for a moment before she shook her head in a negative. “No. That’ll make him stop.”

Unfortunately, despite how quiet Starlight and Trixie were being as Sunburst was prancing around like a foal on Hearth’s Warming, a knock at the door quickly drew his attention and put an end to the excitement. “Who could that be?” he asked before opening the door.

The amber alicorn standing on the other end of the doorway made the three foals freeze in shock. Starlight didn’t know whether to be happy or afraid. Because of Princess Sunset, Sunburst and Trixie had decided to play with Starlight and after a rocky start, they had worked out a system that was fair and ensured that everypony was happy. But...what if Princess Sunset decided that it wasn’t good enough and kicked her out of the school anyway?

“Hello, Trixie,” the big alicorn said as she made her way inside the little room before her eyes fell on Starlight. “What in the world happened to you?”

Starlight looked down at the ground as she felt her cheeks heat up, but couldn’t help but catch sight of one of the bright yellow spots on her coat. It was one of many that covered her entire body where she had hair covering her body. “I...had an accident.”

A little giggle came from Trixie. “Starlight tried using magic on her mane to change the way it looked.”

The blush intensified. “I...wanted it to, um….look like yours, Princess. I-It’s very pretty.”

Princess Sunset laughed at her, making Starlight pull in on herself further. She didn’t want the Princess to laugh at her! She wanted Princess Sunset to be proud of her. Starlight wanted to show Princess Sunset that she was worth the time the alicorn had taken to keep her in school.

Starlight gave a start when a pair of hooves came in front the side to pick the little pony up and bring her up to the big princess’s face. She felt like a little foal again in front of the giant pony before Princess Sunset pulled her into a little hug and positioned Starlight as if she was sitting on one of Princess Sunset’s forelegs. “Yeah, I made the same mistake once too, trying to make mine look like Celestia’s. Don’t try and use magic to change your looks, Starlight. You’re perfectly perfect and pretty, just the way you are.”

The complement made Starlight blush and she looked down for just a second before Princess Sunset flicked her muzzle with a hoof. “Boop,” she said, getting a giggle from the lilac foal covered in polka dots.

“So, how have you all been doing?” Princess Sunset asked as she looked away from Starlight.

Even though it was an open question, the fact that the Princess was looking right at Trixie is probably what kept Sunburst from answering. “Trixie has been doing much better with her magic since we last met, Princess Sunset. Do you want to see?”

Princess Sunset gave a little laugh as she looked around. With the Princess’s eyes on her room, Starlight began to feel very self-conscious about the way the place looked. Designed to be used mostly for studying and sleeping, the dorm room only had enough space for a pair of beds and a pair of desks, with barely enough space left over for them to play a simple board game. The bed Starlight had slept in was still unmade and her homework she had gotten at the end of the short day was still on her study desk. “So, which two of you does this room belong to, anyway?”

“Just Starlight, Princess Sunset,” Sunburst quickly volunteered. “She had a roommate, but had to move out when it became problematic for her to be in the same room as another pony.”

With such a horrid half-truth given about her, Starlight tensed up and quickly looked to Princess Sunset to give her the whole story. “My spots glow in the dark!” she explained as fast as possible. “S-So nopony could sleep in the same room as me.”

Princess Sunset looked back over to Starlight with a little smile. “You okay sleeping with a nightlight?”

“Y-Yes,” she admitted before deciding to go all the way with her explanation. Starlight just hoped the Princess didn’t think she way a baby or anything. “I slept with a nightlight back home too.”

“Yeah, I kinda got used to one too after a week of being in the palace,” Sunset said. “Mom saw I had trouble sleeping and took me to bed with her for a few nights. It’s really faint, but her mane really does glow in the dark.” The Princess took a moment to study the filly’s coat before looking Starlight in the face again. “So...let me guess, you’re stuck with them till you get a new coat?”

Starlight nodded. “Yes, Princess.”

After a few seconds of thinking, Princess Sunset looked back down at her. “What about makeup?”

“The teachers said I shouldn’t bother,” she replied as her face fell. “I’d take too long putting it on in the morning and just have to wash it off every night.”

“Clothes?”

Starlight shook her head. “Everything in Canterlot is so expensive, and all Daddy sent me is-” Starlight quickly clamed up when she realized just where that conversation was going. “T-Too small. I outgrew all my old clothes from home.”

“Mmmmmhmmm,” Princess Sunset said with a knowing smile that told Starlight she knew the filly was lying. Thankfully though, she didn’t call the little pony out on it before setting her down. “Tell you what. I’ll send a friend here to do some measurements, and we’ll get you some clothes to cover all those spots. It can’t be fun, looking like that.”

The comment made Starlight squirm as the memories from earlier today came to mind.

Trixie nodded. “Everypony laughs at her,” she explained. “Even the teachers.”

“It’s a good lesson,” Sunburst added, talking more to Trixie and Princess Sunset. “They said using magic on a mane is dangerous. Starlight got off light, all things considered.”

A little grunt of displeasure came from the Princess. “Maybe it was a stupid decision, but that doesn’t mean I like ponies constantly making fun of her for it,” she said with a frown. “I’ll have a word with the principal on the way out. And with some clothes, all you’ll have to do is cover the three on your face with makeup, sound good?”

Starlight looked up to Princess Sunset with a big smile on her face. “Y-Yes!” she said before galloping forward and little to hug the much bigger pony. “Thank you, Princess!”

“Okay, okay! Here,” Princess Sunset replied before picking Starlight up again to hold her close. Then she turned her attention to the other filly in the room. “So Trixie, how’re things going for you? And shouldn’t you all still be in class?”

“The teachers just gave Trixie and her friends a half-day with light review assignments, Princess,” the blue filly said. “And Trixie is doing good.”

The conversation drifted to the back of her mind as Starlight turned her attention back onto Princess Sunset while she talked and laughed with Trixie while the filly went on about becoming a great magician. Starlight understood that after their first meeting that she had been too demanding of Sunburst and was now trying to be just like the amber alicorn that had saved her from making a horrible mistake. Princess Sunset was just so nice a kind, but also tough enough that she could be hard when she needed to, like when Starlight met her at the fair.

Before that, Starlight hadn’t known what she wanted to do with her life, even if her cutie mark was in magic. At first, she wanted to make everything fair again, but that was only because Sunburst had got his cutie mark first and left her in the dust for Princess Celestia’s school; which Starlight had to beg Daddy to let her attend even after she got her cutie mark and a scholarship as the second magically talented filly in her hometown. If they had just gotten their cutie marks at the same time, none of that would have happened.

But now, Starlight knew what she really wanted to do. She wanted to be like Princess Sunset, strong and powerful, but kind and helpful. She wanted to help Princess Sunset, she wanted to show her that she was worth the time the amber alicorn was investing in her. Starlight didn’t quite know how she could help an alicorn, but she would study hard and be the best in the school since the Princess Herself attended so when the chance did come around, she would be ready for it.

Although thankful that she hadn’t needed to pull the girls and Sunburst out of class to have a talk with them, the half-day Sunset had intruded on made her stay a lot longer than intended. Still, she enjoyed it. Dealing with Trixie’s little group was refreshing since every decision Sunset made didn’t have her worrying that she was destroying another pony’s rightful future.

But, after hearing from each of the kids, playing a board game, showing them how not to flip the damn thing over every time the colt spazzed out, and having a word with the pony in charge of the school, beneath her Mom at any rate, the time with a good ten-past-four, and she still had a lot of work to do if she was going to meet with Shining Armor and Cadance in time to do their exercise routine at the end of the day.

A check of the train schedule at the station told Sunset that she would have to wait around a good hour for the next one. While royal orders could command anything in Equestria, there were only so many trains to go around the country. So, Sunset found herself considering a very stupid and bad idea before making her way to the edge of the city and past the security fence that kept foals from going anywhere they weren’t supposed to.

Anywhere, like the edge of Canterlot.

Sunset looked over the edge and gulped. The first time she had been at The Edge after getting her wings had been for a flying lesson with Mom. A mom who had promptly knocked her off rather than answer a question in regards to just what the hell Sunset was the princess of, before impacting the ground at a speed that would have probably pasted anypony else. The second time, Sunset had also gone over The Edge, but at her own volition. It still didn’t end well, except for the part where she saved the Apple Family from certain death by crashing into a pack of timber wolves that looked ready to have a few of them for dinner.

And now, she had returned.

Okay Sunset, she told herself before backing up several steps to get a running start. Third time’s the charm. She took a deep breath, spread her wings to lock them in a gliding position and began galloping. Third time’s the charm. Third time’s the charm. Third time’s the charm. Third time’s the-a surge of adrenaline and caution made Sunset stop her mantra as her legs locked in a breaking position three-fourths of the way there and her wings turned to act as an airbreak.

Barely stopping in time to keep from falling off, the inertia made the amber alicorn’s head extend forward enough to look over the edge of the city. Seeing the ground so far away below her, Sunset tucked in her tail between her legs. Okay...yeah...fuck that, she told herself before looking forward to the town below her.

But close enough to the horizon that Sunset didn’t actually have to look down to see it.

“Okay...okay, Sunset,” the amber alicorn said to herself. “You...you are more powerful than Cadance and Celestia combined. You could take them both with two wings and three legs tied behind you. You are an all-powerful alicorn princess, and you...you…”

Sunset found herself doing a few quick mathematical calculations in her head. “You can just fucking teleport to a city that’s only a couple miles away and well within your visual range,” she said before lighting up her horn to ready both the spell and her body. Then, Sunset disappeared from the world.

After blinking into existence above the town, Sunset resist the urge to flap her wings and held them out at full extension to catch what air she cold. She fell for half a second before a sharp jerk changed her plummet into a steady downward glide, straight for the town hall. Unconsciously stuffening at the prospect of slamming into a wall.

She pushed magic into her horn and focused a teleportation spell to take her past the building. The ‘bamfing’ sound of the magical displacement filled Sunset’s ears for a moment before she completely lost the sense of everything surrounding her. When she appeared, the sudden reintroduction of reality made her completely lose balance and tilt backward while kicking wildly with her legs. “AHHHH!” she screamed when the air underneath her wings suddenly disappeared and she fell backwards to the point that she could see the ground...a whole two seconds before impact.

There was a collective gasp from all around that made Sunset’s ears twitch. She heard hooves on the grass coming closer and held up a leg to stop them. “It’s okay. I’m okay,” she said before lifting her face off the ground to spit out some dirt and grass before picking herself up.

A crowd of some thirty to forty ponies had gathered around her, sharing looks that ranged from extreme distress to confusion. Sunset took a moment to pick some more grass out of her hair, then looked back to the crowd. “Guys, I’m fine. Go back to work, or...whatever you were doing,” she said before waving a hoof to shoo them away.

The crowd went back to looking at themselves and muttering, making Sunset frown. “What?”

A mare with an orange mane that was a mess of curls and light tan coat came trotting through the mess of ponies. Once she had cleared the invisible force field that was keeping the crowd back, Pear Butter raised a hoof to gesture towards Sunset’s horn. “Er, Princess? You got a, um…yer horn.”

Sunset blinked before reaching up to feel around with her hoof. Despite the muted sensation in provided in comparison with her previous form, there was a definite feeling of foliage just pat the tip of her horn. She tore it off and blinked at the sunflower that was now in her hoof. “Thanks, Pear Butter. Nice to know somepony in this town has the guts to tell a princess when she looks stupid,” she said to the much shorter mare before moving to guide her through the crowd.

The ponies around them quickly dispersed with a few nervous looks towards Sunset before they got enough distance to at least look like they were going about their business. “So, uh...what do we owe the honor, Princess?”

It took Sunset a bit of effort to hold down the request not to use her title. They were in public and Pear Butter wasn’t really in that inner circle of Sunset’s. Considering the fact that her farm would probably be depending on the crown for a few months, it was probably best for her to look at the bigger mare as something a bit more royal than a friendly schoolgirl. “Well, wanted to make sure you got home alright.”

“Yes Ma’am. Cookie Crumbles was grateful for the helper too,” Pear Butter told her on the way to her stand. When they reached the display box with the red apple painted on the front, she turned around to face Sunset. “Care for an apple, Princess?”

There was a tiny bit of guilt that set in Sunset’s gut as her mind quickly formulated a manipulative plan in order to get the Apple family to where she needed them to be come Sunday. She looked down and quickly counted as many apples as she could before realizing that she was going about things the wrong way and turned her attention back to Pear Butter. “I’ll take a thousand.”

The order got a stunned blink of surprise from Pear Butter that had her motionless for several seconds before she looked down at her stand. “Um...Ah don’t think Ah’ve got enough here for that.”

Sunset took the apples from the cart up into her magic. “Well then, let’s go where you do have enough,” she told the mare happily.

“...right,” Pear Butter replied in a somewhat dazed voice.

Sunset collected all of the red fruit in her magic until they were floating in one pass behind her head before turning to the earth pony. “So, let’s get going.”

It took some doing, but Pear Butter eventually got moving in the direction Sunset vaguely remembered the Apple farm being. As they walked, she saw the mare giving her nervous looks out of the corner of her eye. “You know, it occurs to me, I don’t know all that much about you guys.”

“Well, there’s not much to tell...really,” Pear Butter replied. “Ah was born here in Ponyville. Raised on a farm here too. Fell in love with Bright Mac when Ah was just a filly, then got married to him as soon as Ah could. Had Big Mac just a year later.”

Sunset smirked. “So you farmed apples with the name Pear?” she asked. The wince she got in response was hard to miss. “What is it?”

After a few seconds, Pear Butter sighed and hung her head. “Mah father had a pear orchard here in Ponyville. The Pear and Apple clan hate each other, have for generations. They try to show each other up at every opportunity. When the Apples put some of their land up for sale, mah grandfather got the clan to buy it and started a farm there. But after a few years, mah Pa sold off the property piecemeal to other families here in town and moved to Vanhoover to open a jam store. He was gettin on in years and it was easier work to just buy pears in bulk at the family discount then make them into jam or jelly than to harvest them ourselves.”

They left the view of town as their walk continued. “Well that’s…” Sunset stopped talking when she saw the miserable look on Pear Butter’s face. Sunset reviewed the mare’s first life story with her second and came to the obvious conclusion. Her expression became hard and she stopped moving. “Are you telling me that your father kicked you out of your family for being with a pony you loved?”

Although Sunset didn’t mean to sound harsh, she was afraid that was what came out when Pear Butter recoiled if struck. “Well, it’s not...Ah mean...he saw us together one day, and then Ah hear not a week later how we’re movin’ to Vanhoover. So Bright Mac proposed to me and we got married under the moonlight the very next night. H-He didn’t kick me out, he uh...just...made me choose.”

With Pear Butter on the verge of tears, Sunset looked around for some bit of privacy. She pulled the mare close and teleported them off the road and into the nearby apple orchard before realizing that she hadn’t taken the apples. Apples she watched float in the air for a moment before gravity pulled them down into the mud.

“Oh no! Yer apples!” Pear Butter exclaimed before breathing in a sniffle.

Sunset reached forward and laid a hoof on her shoulder to turn the mare around before she sat down. “It’s okay,” she said before throwing up a privacy screen then putting a projection overlay on top of it. As long as nobody looked too close, they wouldn’t see anything and no sound would escape. “Now, why do you look about ready to cry over something that happened years ago?” Unless Sunset missed her guess, there was no way Pear Butter nearly lost it from casual conversation about thing that had happened years ago.

It seemed the direct approach was a bad idea, as the mare let out a loud sniffle and closed her eyes before tears started to fall. Which made Sunset stiffen for a second before she moved to pull the pony into a hug with her hooves and completely envelop her with the big wings that came with alicornhood.

Having her face hidden was apparently the signal for Pear Butter to begin, because she let out a loud wail before crying in earnest. Even though she had no idea what was going on, Sunset simply held the mare close, giving her the physical support she needed to remain upright while she let out something she had been holding in for a lot longer than a single conversation.

Sunset wasn’t sure how long it lasted, maybe a whole hour, but Pear Butter eventually ran out of tears and simply leaned on the big alicorn until Sunset spoke. “So, ready to talk about it?”

“Princess Sunset, this isn’t something somepony like you should concern yerself-” Before she could finish, Sunset pushed her back to full leg length and held her there with both her hooves and an even glare like Celestia used when the amber alicorn had nearly been assassinated.

“Stop talking and listen,” she commanded the mare. “I know you’re older than me, and by a good bit if your family is anything to go on. But I don’t care. You are my little pony. Ever since my crash saved your family’s life in the Everfree, you have been mine. Every day you’ve had since then is a gift from me, and I do not like to see my gifts wasted. Now, you will tell me what is bothering you, is that understood?”

After having Sunset meet her gaze for a few moments, Pear Butter dropped her head. “Funny you should mention that day,” she said with a sigh. “After we had a more successful picnic for Apple Bloom, Ah got to thinking. If things had gone a bit different, mah foals wouldn’t have ever known their grandpa. So, I asked Bright Mac if we could take a trip to Vanhoover.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “And he said no?”

“No. Bright Mac never had a problem with Pears. He married me after all,” Pear Butter said with a tiny smile. It fell to a look of despair a moment later. “Granny Smith forbids it. She doesn’t even let me use mah name around the house. On the train ride back home, Applejack woke up and asked me what that Pear Butter stuff in Canterlot was about. M-Mah own daughter didn’t even know mah real name.”

The rather...unexpected reveal had Sunset sitting on the grass in surprise for a few seconds before she actively got to work in thinking of a way out of that mess for Pear Butter. What she decided was...it would take more than an afternoon to come up with something. “Okay, I’ll think of something. But until then, you need to keep it together, for your family,” Sunset told her. “Can you do that, Mrs Butter?”

Pear Butter sucked in a wet breath through her nose. “Thank you Princess. Ah don’t know how I could ever repay you, though.”

Sunset conjured a handkerchief for the mare and put it up to her nose. “Here, blow.” She barely kept from wincing as the mare’s mucus came in contact with her magic. Despite being separate, a unicorn’s magic was still a part of her. It was an even more muted feeling than her hooves when compared to hands, but that didn’t mean she didn’t go as fast as possible in dropping the handkerchief onto the ground and letting it fade away. “I’m sure I’ll think of something, but for right now...need to get going to your farmhouse.”

They took a few more minutes to hide the evidence of Pear Butter’s crying, then collected Sunset apples before trotting to the Apple farm, with Sunset taking a moment to mark the location with her magic so she could pop back to the place easily enough. It would take a great deal of energy, but that was something Sunset had in spades.

She could probably poof all the way to another planet if she wanted to.

As they approached the house, the door banged open and an old green mare stuck her head out with a scowl on her face. “Lan sakes Buttercup! Where have you been? Stall was supposed to have closed half an hour ago!”

It was strange seeing the pony Granny Smith. She was just so different than her human counterpart. Even if ponies weighed more due to density or...something, Sunset didn’t have that much of a scientific background as to postulate a more reasonable theory, she was still sure that the human version had a good forty pounds on the pony.

“Granny, Princess Sunset wanted to have a few words with me,” Pear Butter explained before stepping aside to allow the old nag to get a clear view of Sunset.

In what seemed like no time at all, Sunset found herself standing in the Apple Family’s living room, finishing up her explanation of the situation. “And so, we’re going to need a lot of apples for the celebration. I’ll admit, we probably won’t be using all of them, but it’s better to have too much than too little for times like this,” she told the big stallion that actually managed to be on eye level with her.

Bright Mac nodded. “Well, shouldn’t be much of a problem. Do you just want the apples, or do you want them prepared a special way? We don’t usually cook the things, outside of country fairs Ah mean, but considering it’s...well, you, we could go the extra mile or two.”

It took a second for Sunset to think of a polite way of saying that any food prepared by the family would be insulting to the unicorns at the party. She smiled and gave a little laugh to buy time before speaking. “Well, as much as I could go for some home cooking, I’ve afraid everything needs to be prepared Canterlot style,” she said before putting on a more disgruntled look. “You know, tasteless and bland.”

The words got a little laugh out of Bright Mac. “Ah understand, Princess Sunset,” he said with a little bow. “And, um...thank you fer takin little Jackie to Canterlot, the other day. Ah don’t know how we can ever-”

“You and your wife will attend the party as well,” Sunset told the stallion before he could finish. In the ensuing silence, she looked over to the two kids across the room that were doing their best to not be noticed. “Mrs Butter seemed to get along well with Twilight Velvet, and I want a few mares there she can stand talking to. Your foals will be coming as well. Twilight will need somepony to play with, and...Big Mac looks about Shining Armor’s age. I want there to be some ponies around that aren’t spoiled brats that look down their noses as everything they can.”

Applejack stepped forward. “Ah’m gonna go see Twily again?”

“And Rarity, and Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash,” Sunset told her as she fought to keep her royal persona intact. With AJ looking happy, she turned her attention to Big Mac. “I know you’re not the most talkative pony...um...but…”

Big Mac cleared his throat. “Actually Princess, Ma’s always told me she was surprised my cutie mark wasn’t something resembling the gift of gab,” he said. “In fact, Ah am the very model of an earth pony individual. Ah’m articulate, passionate, and also very physical. Ah could name you all the apples from-”

After fighting off her surprise at seeing this Big Mac say more words in a single sentence than she had ever heard from the human one over the course of months, Sunset held up a hoof to stop him. “Okay!” she said. “I get it, you can talk.” If Principal Celestia can be under five-hundred and have a sister, I guess pony Big Mac can have a big mouth.

Seeing on the clock that Sunset would need to hurry if she wanted to get to Cloudsdale in time to tell the other kids without delaying the exercise routine Shiny wanted to do tonight, Sunset realized she needed to wrap this up as quickly as possible. “So, I’ll be taking you and two of your foals, you can leave Granny Smith here to watch Apple Bloom and...oh! I’ll have a tailor sent down here tomorrow to get all of your measurements for some new clothes.”

“Princess,” Pear Butter spoke up. “Ah still have the dress from-”

“I said I’ll be sending a pony down here to get measurements for some new clothes. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Ma’am,” Sunset told the mare before she could finish. “Now, if you would be so kind as to escort me off the property, I still need to talk to Mrs Crumbles and take care of a lot of other things. So don’t waste my time denying my generosity and let’s get to stepping.”

A cool night breeze made itself known as the two alicorns flanked their stallion, standing in the middle of the military academy’s training field. Aside from the three of them, there were two other ponies. The first was Hidden Figures, Cadance’s personal assistant and one of the few ponies that she had ever met that didn’t fall over herself to, as Sunset would say, kiss her ass. The second was a big, forest green earth pony with a brown mane that had been buzzed down to near nothing.

It was the earth pony Cadance had dragged everypony out to meet.

“Hidden?” Cadance said, making a mental note to come up with a more familiar name for the mare if they were going to be working so close together in the future. Figgy, maybe? “Is this the...instructor that I asked you to inquire about?”

Sunset gave the green pony a quick once-over with her eyes. “Why does he look like he belongs in the Guard?”

The pony in question stood up a little straighter. “Princess!” he asked in a very direct, near shout without moving much more than his mouth. “I would prefer to answer that question, if I may?”

“Um...okay?” Sunset replied in confusion.

The earth pony didn’t move an inch as he replied in the same energetic manner. “Princess! My name is Corporal Punishment! Previously, I was one of the instructors here at the Academy, with a regimen centered around building a pony’s leg strength, speed, and other physical attributes, Your Majesty!”

As Cadance’s excitement rose from hearing the pony’s past accomplishments, not to mention his attitude, Sunset frowned and looked over to Hidden Figures. “Previously?”

“After a review last year, it was decided that the Corporal was too harsh to the new cadets, and he was given a desk job,” the black mare explained.

“So...Cadance asked for a personal trainer, and you gave us a drill sergeant,” Sunset deadpanned.

The Corporal cleared his throat. “Majesty! If I may correct you?” he shouted. “Sergeant is a rank above me, I am still a simple corpora!.”

“And you thought a pony that I’m already wanting to toss off the edge of the city was a good idea to use as a personal trainer, why?” Sunset asked.

Hidden Figures pushed her glasses back a bit before answering. “Going by the explanation of what you and the others do during your exercise routines, it was clear that you plan on doing more than just some basic strength and endurance building. On top of which, your...Lord Shining Armor plans to enroll in The Royal Guard once he graduates. I thought it best to pick a pony who also knew a thing or two about the type of training he would be put through to better prepare him for it.”

“Well, I suppose I’ll take that over you being stupid and just picking some loud stallion that’s just going to yell at my little ponies all the time,” Sunset admitted before looking over to the pink princess. “What do you think, Cadance? Shiny? Wanna give him a shot?”

Shining Armor gave the stallion a hesitant look. “I...guess?”

Cadance did a poor job of hiding her excitement as she looked up at the large earth pony with stars in her eyes. With Nightmare Moon coming back and Celestia’s stupid promise to her, Cadance knew that she would have to push herself if she had any hope of finding out a way to neutralize the sun pony after she got into a fight with Nightmare Moon, but before Celestia could do anything fatal to herself, all without Sunset’s help. If this stallion could help the pink princess push herself not only physically, but mentally as well…

“He’s perfect!” she exclaimed.

“So...the added weight and gravity spells are a bad idea for when they’re running the track?” Sunset asked as she watched both of her lovers slowly trod across the grass towards them, the exercise course having been completed several times. Like usual, Cadance’s superior genetics had allowed her to lap Shining Armor more than once, despite the added difficulty she had with targets to hit, but the gap between them had been closed substantially from where it had been when they brought him in on their physical training.

Corporal Punishment nodded. “Yes, Princess. Also, I’d be best to start with simple strength and stamina training. Things like combat and physical obstacles should really be added in later, once they’ve learned how to gallop. And the added weight, well Princess...it might work for an earth pony, but the colt’s a unicorn. Even an athletic unicorn will get his tail handed to him by an average earth pony. More weight just means you’re adding much more stress on the joints that his tribe can’t deal with as well as the more physical ones.”

After realizing the truth of the stallion’s arguments, Sunset nodded in agreement. “Okay, so...let you handle their training schedule and everything, starting tomorrow?”

“I’ll work something up and be ready by then,” the earth pony said.

As the earth pony trotted off, Cadance and Shiny came walking up, with the pink pony increasing the speed of her trot before she reared up to wrap her forelegs around the bigger alicorn and kiss her on the nose. “There’s my Sunset. You wanna have a roll in the grass with your sweaty, sweaty princess?” Cadance asked as she rubbed herself up against Sunset.

Sheer habit had Sunset tensing at the suggestion before the aroma of Cadance’s hard work filled her nose and made Sunset remember a few things. Pony noses were different than humans. While a naked ape would find the odor coming from another human that had just galloped twenty miles revolting, ponies tended to consider the scent of hard work somewhat pleasant. But instead of taking the bait, Sunset just sighed. “Now I’ve got to take a shower, too.”

Cadance gasped in mock horror and backed away. “Oh, no! Shiny, did you hear? Sunset’s going to have to shower with us! Now, we’ll get to ogle every inch of big, strong, sexy body without her coat getting in the way. Whatever will we do?”

“Huh?” the young stallion asked as he made his way up to the mares. “What’s going on?”

Despite how much she knew his ignorance was bliss, Sunset thought it better that Shiny be forewarned. “Cadance is going to molest us in the shower, which I’m pretty sure that she’s going to insist you join us for.”

“Well duh,” the pretty pink pony princess added with a roll of her eyes before she smiled at their stallion. “By the way, I insist that you let me clean you up underneath personally before we go in.”

Sunset looked over to Cadance for a moment and watched as her lips were parted to be wetted by her tongue. “Translation, she wants to lick your-”

“Yeah, I know,” Shining Armor said before sitting down on the grass. “But um, afterwards, can you poof me home, Sunset?”

Both of the alicorns shared a worried look before Cadance stepped forward. “Am I coming on too strongly again?” she asked in a rushed worry. “Look, I know I’m really super sexually active and your embarrassed by me sometimes. But, just say the word and I’ll tone it down, Shiny.”

“I know,” Shining Armor assured her. “And it’s not that. It’s just...this is probably going to be the last week I spend at home, so…”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, I get that. And your bed is a bit too small for the three of us.” Plus, he probably needed to tell his parents about that party they were supposed to be having.

After looking back and forth between the two of them for a few seconds, Cadance sat down and crossed her forelegs. “Well, it’s not like that’s a hard problem to fix for Sunset, but I get what your saying, Shiny. Plus, it would be nice for Twily to have her big brother around more often than not. So...see you in school tomorrow?”

“Uh, I thought we were going to be taking a shower together?” he said before looking to the military academy’s physical training and fitness building. “And, you know...sex...stuff.”

Cadance was on the colt in an instant, rubbing her coat up against his as she pressed her muzzle to his. “Who says we have to wait for the shower?”

Before they could get into it any more, Sunset wrapped the two in her magic and lifted. “I do. Now come on you two, let’s go get cleaned up.”

“So we can do something dirty!” Cadance exclaimed.

Chapter 3: An Average Alicornian Afternoon

Shining Armor smiled as Cadance cuddled into him on their lunchtime cloud, something that might end up being a little tradition between the three of them if this distance between Shining and his friends continued to expand. Up in the clouds, away from prying eyes, he didn’t feel nearly as much pressure for being with a princess as he did everywhere else. Nopony to judge him or make him feel guilty about getting two princesses instead of just the one.

Cadance let out a sigh. “Guess Sunset’s not going to make it for the end of lunch.”

“That really so bad?” he asked.

After a few more seconds, Cadance gave him a disgruntled moan. “It’s just...something tells me that moments with the three of us getting to be alone outside of the palace are going to be getting harder to come by as things continue on and-you know what?” she said as the conversation obviously veered left in a very hard way. “We should do something after school.”

Cadance’s words made Shining Armor jump a bit as they cut into the peacefulness of the moment. “Huh?” he asked before looking back down to her. “Um...like, do something as in b-bedroom stuff?”

A tiny giggle came from Cadance. “Not that silly,” she said before kissing Shining Armor on the nose. “Tonight is human night and Sunset’s still in her punishment phase. The first thing I need to do is help clear away all of that guilt she’s pushed back down inside of her. But when we’re done with that and she’s really let go of it rather than just ignore the problem, I think you coming in and giving her some positive experiences as a human with that nice new rod of yours would help her finally move past it all,” she said with a smile.

After some untangling of Cadance’s words, Shining Armor thought he had an idea of what Cadance was proposing, which was...erotically confusing. Because it sounded like Cadance was talking about having sex with Sunset when she was a naked ape. And as weird as it was, thinking back to the time he had seen Sunset like that...the idea had Shining Armor’s lower horn threatening to push out the more he thought about it.

It wasn’t that he found her that attractive, it was just...something about that memory he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around made him almost...giddy.

He also hoped the conversation veered off that particular path before they would need to do something about it. Because while his mind was a little confused, his body didn’t seem to have a problem getting ready. “Oh...kay?”

The sound of a teleporting pony put their conversation on hold. The next thing Shining knew, an amber blur zoomed up past them like a rocket before he looked up to see Sunset gliding her way down in an uneasy manner before another teleport brought her onto the cloud. She stumbled forward a bit, barely managing to stop herself from falling off the edge.

Sunset stood there for a moment, tensely staring off towards the South before she let out an annoyed snort and fell onto her belly, next to Shiny and Cadance. “Ooof. Sorry I’m late guys, Mom wanted to go for lunch and...well...stuff happened.” Then, she flipped around to completely pin Shining Armor to the cloud before pressing her body against his and nuzzling his chest. “Mmmm, it’s been forever since I got to cuddle my...colt.”

There was a sudden drop in the pressure being applied by Sunset as she went limp. Cadance giggled from her place on the cloud beside them. “It’s only been a few hours, Sunset.”

To which, after looking down at herself with a thoughtful frown, the amber alicorn looked back to the pink princess to give a faux Canterlot upturn of her head. “Well it feels like forever, and when you’re a princess, that’s what matters,” she said before looking back to Shining Armor with a thinking frown and tiny bit of hesitation in her eyes. “Mmmm...maybe later.” Then Sunset rolled off the unicorn and looked over to the two other ponies sharing the cloud. “So, what’d I miss?”

Before Shining Armor could speak, Cadance answered. “Fleur told me Shiny’s old friends tried to start something this morning, then at lunch, they glared at us until we left from the corner of the room.”

The small amount of happiness Sunset had on her face since landing disappeared as her expression became a frown. “So, what you’re saying is, I should turn them into mice, then dangle them over a hungry cat.”

Even though he was pretty sure she was joking, Shining Armor frowned at her. “Sunset!”

“Shiny, when somepony tries to bully you, you crush them under your hoof,” the alicorn told him before brightening up. “Oh, what about if I-”

“No,” Shining Armor told her firmly.

Sunset tried talking again. “But I didn’t even say what-”

“Don’t care, don’t want you doing it,” he said with an absolute authority in his voice before she could finish. When it seemed Sunset finally gave up on arguing with him, Shining Armor took in a deep breath. “Look, I know that you want to help and you’re probably joking, but...I got to handle this one on my own. Okay?”

The amber alicorn looked at him with an unreadable expression before her eyes lit up in a way that screamed light-bulb. “Oh! This is one of those growing as a pony things!” Sunset exclaimed before she snuggled in closer and kissed Shining Armor on the cheek. “Say no more, Shiny. I’ll let you deal with those idiots.”

Cadance picked her head up and looked over to Sunset. “Am I missing something?”

“Hm? Oh, well...this is one of those stallion things,” Sunset replied as she looked back to Cadance. “So, we just need to stand to the side and let the boys go at it until Shiny shows them he’s got a bigger penis than the rest of them.”

With Sunset’s explanation making absolutely no sense, Shining Armor blinked. “Huh?”

However, Cadance seemed to get something from it. “Oh! I see now, it’s a territorial thing. Okay, yeah,” she said before resting her head back onto Shining Armor. “Don’t worry, Shiny. We’ll let you show them who’s in charge.”

Sunset cleared her throat. “No, we don’t let Shiny do anything. We’ll abide by his decision to handle this problem on his own, Cadance. By the way, uh...speaking of problems...I need to go see my Mom after school,” she said a little uneasily. “It’s uh...family thing. I know we were all supposed to go out to dinner, but...um…”

“Well...I think the two of you have gotten past the point where you needed me to keep the peace or cause a distraction so...oh, Sunset, can you freeze time real quick?” Cadance asked.

The question got an annoyed groan. “Cadance, you know I’m not really freezing time, I’m-”

“Sunset,” Cadance said before she could finish.

“Alright. Alright,” Sunset said before her horn lit up. Shining Armor was a little put off by how the alicorn next to him suddenly began producing more magic that all the unicorns in Canterlot combined, but experience let him keep a straight face as Sunset blasted a great stream of magic skyward that changed color as it reached its highest point and exploded in several directions to come down as a giant shield spell more complex than anything Shining Armor had ever seen produced by a non-alicorn. The purple dome that covered the top of the school’s roof a few moments later gave everything a slightly darker vibe. “Okay, so...now what?”

With the extra time and Cadance snuggled up to him, Shining could guess where this was going. “You want to have sex, right?” he asked.

Cadance’s lips met his in a light kiss. “Well, not yet,” she told him. “I want to discuss what you and I are going to do after school. If Sunset’s going to be with Celestia, then I think the two of us should be doing something. Like a date, but not romantic. A play date,” Cadance decided as she rolled around so they were belly to belly. Cadance’s forward barrel to Shining’s more rear-middle to be precise. Her end ended up spooning his a tiny bit. “We’ll eat out, too. But I want to do something you enjoy. Something nerdy. Something like a Card Wars game. But new, you know?”

With the offer given, Shining Armor ran through the list of nerdy things that he knew of before coming up with a little problem. “Uh, Cadance...have we ever done something you wanted?” he asked. “Let’s do something you want to, tonight. I...come to think of it, I don’t even know what you really like to do, besides exercise and stuff. What are your hobbies?”

Cadance blinked and pulled her head away from Shining Armor. “You mean besides whatching you and Sunset have sex and planning dates?”

Sunset frowned from her place beside them. “Cadance, I really don’t think we can count your voyeurism as a hobby.”

“I like getting ponies together. Back home, I liked using my talent to find matches. But that was also my job. It was everything that I really had,” Cadance explained as her face fell for a fraction of a second before it perked up and she looked directly at Shining Armor. “And I’m still doing that, I’m doing it with us. The three of us, I’m living my interests every moment of every day. But I’m doing so much more since I met the two of you, I’m growing so much more as I get to experience all these things I never even dreamed about before I met you and Sunset. I want to do something you like, because so far, I’ve liked it too. And I want to keep liking new things. I want to keep growing closer to everything you are.”

Shining Armor blinked at the pony laying on top of him and her impossibility. “You really don’t have any hobbies? None at all?”

A roll of the eyes and a sigh came from Cadance. “Oh please, I lived in a farming village. We didn’t have many choices for recreation outside of things like a knitting circle. I gossiped and I set ponies up on dates. That was it,” Cadance said before she became thoughtful for a moment. “Okay, I’ve become a lot more interested in sex since I came to Canterlot, thanks a lot to Sunset, but that’s still part of the relationship stuff.”

“What uh, does Sunset have to do with it?” he asked cautiously before glancing over to the amber alicorn. She looked equally confused and interested at the same time.

Cadance gave him a reassuring smile. “Nothing as far as attractiveness or anything like that, but…” She paused to think for several seconds before rolling over on top of him. “Okay, so you know how being close to Sunset has basically given me a pair of balls, proverbially speaking, I mean?”

The question made Shining Armor become aware of his own sperm production centers, pressed up against the bare skin of Cadance’s body. They felt a little...stifled. “Uh...yeah?”

“Well, because of that courage Sunset’s inspired in me, I’m exploring the physical desire part of our relationship in ways I never would have dreamed of before,” Cadance told him in an excited voice. “If you had gotten together with the old me, which is actually a distinct possibly after I saw how you were outside of the theater, still get wet just thinking about that by the way, I would have been boring as fuck.”

With the memories that brought to mind, Shining Armor had the decency to blush. “You’re not b-boring.”

Sunset frowned. “Cadance, you’re making it sound like I corrupted you.”

The comment made the pink princess look over to Sunset. “It’s called inspiring me!” Cadance snapped before she scooted around to sit up on her haunches and look down at the two of them. “Shiny, if you would have gotten together with me without Sunset, I probably would have just let you plow me once a week. And even then, I would have just laid there and taken it like a sack of grain or something. But now, we experiment and explore our carnal desires with reckless abandon!”

“Uh, I wouldn’t call that a good thing,” Sunset told her nervously.

Cadance glared down at the other alicorn. “Yes it is!” she insisted vehemently. It took a second to recover herself. “Okay, so I’ve gone a little sex crazy compared to when I wasn’t getting banged, but so what? And the two of you have no idea just how much I’m holding back. Sunset, the crazy inter-species stuff we’ve got planned for later tonight? That’s nothing compared to what I want us to do when we’re really comfortable with each other!”

Both of the ponies laying on their backs shared a nervous look. Unable to stop himself, Shining Armor recalled the multiple times Cadance pulled Sunset down to cover her face with the big alicorn’s rear end. “You mean like when you have Sunset, um...sit on you?”

“Right!” Cadance agreed happily before becoming wistful. “And like I said, that’s already tame compared to everything else we do, compared to everything else I want to do with the two of you! Just thinking about it makes me-squeeeee! I just can’t wait to try some of it out!”

Despite his common sense saying that he was approaching dangerous territory, Shining Armor gulped and soldered on. “Come on Cadance, just how freaky can you be?” he asked.

All of sudden, Shining Armor wished that he had decided to use a different set of words, because judging by the smile on Cadance’s face, she took that as a challenge. “Well, since you asked,” she said. “Tonight, I plan to turn Sunset into a naked ape, make her drink a potion that was cause her to lactate at a rate possible only with magic, then take a riding crop to her bare plot for several minutes before throwing her on the bed, and after putting on special leg covering clothing so I don’t hurt her, pin Sunset down as I slowly make my way up to those over-sized teats she has, then suckle them both until their dry before I move down and do the same to her reproductive area before I make her please me sexually with those fing-hers she has as a human while making sure she calls me High Princess Cadance every single time she address me or smack her on the plot if she doesn’t.”

“...okay, I’ll say it, that does sound kind of hot,” Sunset admitted. A second later, she blinked and frowned. “A uh, riding crop?”

Cadance shrugged. “Pretty sure I’m less likely to really hurt you with that than an ordinary paddle.”

A few seconds passed as Sunset looked down at her own barrel in thought. “Yeah. I can see that.”

Shining Armor...blinked. “...oh, that’s...um…” he said before deciding discretion was the better part of valor and promptly threw the whole conversation into a vault deeply hidden in the back of his mind where it would never see the light of day. “S-So! Tonight! You want to play Card Wars after school or s-something else?”

“Well,” Cadance said before she frowned in thought. “It’s not that I want to play anything, not yet, anyway. I wanna go...nerd shopping.”

The unfamiliar term made Shining Armor frown. “I don’t follow.”

Cadance dropped back onto Shining Armor and snuggled up to him some more. “Shiny, I want to go exploring in your world. I love playing O&O and while Card Wars is fun, even if you did let me win, I know there’s got to be a million more things nerdy to do and I want to experience them all. Or at least another one.”

“Oh...that’s...um, okay,” Shining Armor said, unsure how to process the beautiful pony on top of him not screaming ‘ew’ at the things that usually made mares run away from ponies like him in droves. Although, it did make him a little worried as to what he could introduce her to.

He had a hesitant idea. Maybe a board game?

But, board games were for...normies. The type of ponies that were mainstream. Ponies that didn’t fully put themselves in the mindset of what it meant to actually be the characters they were playing.

Did they even have board games in the village Cadance came from?

Come to think of it, he didn’t even know the name of the village Cadance was from.

Lips pressing up against the side of his face drew Shining Armor out of his thoughts and made him look over to Sunset before she also joined in on the cuddling. “So...sex now?” she asked.

“Mmmm, sounds good to me,” Cadance replied before looking back at the unicorn. “Unless, you have something you want to talk about, Shiny.”

Unable to think of anything to really talk about that couldn’t wait until after school, Shining Armor sighed. “Not really. Plus, it’ll be good to let my uh...ahem, male parts breathe. Getting a little stuffy down there.” He could feel himself getting pretty damp in his male area with Cadance’s body pressed up against his own and adding her body heat on top of his own.

Sunset giggled. “Shiny, you can say balls. You’re a...big...” Hesitation entered her voice again as she trailed off.

Cadance’s smile turned wicked. “Oh, my big strong Shiny, why do you think I did it?”

As Shining Armor’s eyes went wide, Sunset moved her lips closer. “Mmmm, don’t you want to just fill that silly little pink filly’s tight pussy up and pound her plot hard to punish her for being so dirty?”

“Or maybe you want to take your big, bouncy sunny buns and-”

“Uh, Cadance?” Sunset spoke up. “I’d um...rather watch the two of you go at it. No offense, but got some stuff on my mind right now.”

After giving Sunset a considering look, Cadance snuggled on top of Shining Armor, rubbing her fuzzy belly up against his hard penis. “You heard our mare, Shiny. Now, let’s give our big strong alicorn a show, and fill your little princess up all the way. Unless...you don’t feel up for it either.”

“Oh, I’m up for it,” Shining Armor told her uneasily. “It's just, uh…clouds are kind of...an odd place to be banging each other, you know?”

A bright smile crossed Sunset’s face as her horn lit up. “Okay Shiny, I can fix that easy!” she said before the world disappeared in a flash a moment before the color returned and they found themselves in Sunset’s bedroom.

As he was still recovering from the vertigo caused by the teleportation, Cadance nipped his ear before whispering into it. “Now, you just sit up there on the bed, and let your royal mare take care of her big, strong, virile stallion.”

The rest of the school day passed by at a relaxed pace for Cadance. Not slow, but not the level of hecticness she hadn’t been able to adjust to since coming to Canterlot either. She didn't want to attribute it to what happened at lunch, but...it wasn't as if anything else major happened.

The young stallion's reluctance to plow them on the cloud was a little upsetting though, Cadance hoped it was just something like an unease with cloud walking spells. Another possibility, one she didn't like considering very much, was that she was starting to get a little too casual about sex. The only counter to which would be going back into 24/7 seduction mode, but Cadance didn’t know how Shining Armor would feel about that kind of stuff. Plus, Sunset would have to start it up again too. The mares in a 3 pony relationship needed to present a united front.

There was also Sunset’s sudden reluctance. That...was new, and Cadance would have to ask her about it tonight when they were alone. Then again, she is meeting with Celestia again today. Might just be her worrying over nothing.

She caught Shining Armor in the hall and galloped over to him. Deciding to show at least a little respect for the rules about PDA, Cadance restrained herself from outright kissing the colt and went with a little nuzzle. “Hey Shiny, you ready to go?” she asked before moving around to stand next to her stallion and putting a wing across his back.

The few of the older pegasi teachers that gave her an uneasy look, which made Cadance stand up a little straighter. She was proud of her feelings towards Shining Armor and after living with Sunset, Cadance knew that doing anything short of flying around Canterlot with a banner behind her proclaiming her love was simply cowardice. “Oh, and did you figure out what we’re doing?”

“Well,” he said in an uneasy tone. “I think we’ll just go to the game shop and pick up another tablet. And have a look around there to see if anything intrigues you. I know it’s not really anything special, but…”

Cadance rubbed a cheek up against her stallion. “It’s exactly what I asked for in the most forward way possible. Nice and honest,” she told him with several nods of approval. She understood that Shiny probably felt uneasy planning a date since she had been the one to schedule all of their group activities. But if he was ever going to get past the unease that permeated several of their interactions, then Shining Armor needed to be some confidence in his decision making abilities. “And where’re we going to eat when we’re done?”

A tiny blush formed on the stallion’s cheeks. “Uh, about that. Since you’re still new to Canterlot, I’m pretty sure you haven’t heard about it, but there’s this one street that’s supposed to have the best places to eat in town. I was thinking we could go there and you could pick.”

After making a show of thinking about it for a few seconds, Cadance smiled at Shiny. “That’s so considerate of you!” she exclaimed before the memory of an earlier date came to mind. “So, it’s on the same street as the one place Sunset took us?”

Shining Armor blinked in confusion. “You mean the Golden Truffle?” he asked before taking another second to become thoughtful. “Actually, it’s nowhere near that place at all. That place was made for diplomats. The stuff on Restaurant Row is pure pony cuisine.”

“Sounds good then,” Cadance replied before leaning into her coltfriend as he led them outside. She had to fight the urge to try and just sink into Shining Armor’s presence. It was foalish, but just being around him made her feel wonderful. If Sunset hadn’t brought them back into the normal flow of time once they were done with Shiny’s lower horn, Cadance would have been happy to spend the rest of her life in a comfortable bed with her mare and stallion.

Once they passed the doors, Cadance blinked at the oddity that waited for them down on the street. While she had seen plenty of carriages in Canterlot since coming to town and even ridden in a few, finding one just standing in the middle of the road was unexpected. Especially since the lack of a sun emblem on the side of the carriage meant it wasn’t from the palace.

She wasn’t the only pony who found the presence of the carriage puzzling. Several of the students had stopped and were looking confused at the unexpected sign of a noble’s conveyance. Then Cadance’s ears picked up the sound of hooves coming up behind her, closer than most other ponies would dare, before a familiar voice groaned. “Oh no, what’s Fancy doing here?”

Cadance looked back to see Fleur standing there with a pained look on her face a second before Sassy came trotting out. The other young mare’s expression turned to a frown. “Ugh. What’s he doing here?” she grumbled at a volume a pony without pegasus hearing probably didn’t have a prayer of catching.

Not a moment later, the door to the carriage opened and the white unicorn stepped out. Dressed in the most expensive clothes, Fancy Pants made most of the young mares that had gathered around the school’s courtyard swoon, regardless of the proximity they had to their own stallions as the driver of the carriage leaped down to shoo them aside for Fancy to come up to the stairs.

The sight was a disturbing one for Cadance. Several days of being with Sunset in the palace had allowed the pink princess to see a good bit of Equestria through Sunset’s eyes, especially how the amber alicorn thought of the nobility. Thanks to that, she couldn’t stop herself from imagining some kind of invisible bubble around Fancy made by his servant that kept him from behind ‘contaminated’ by the commoners. Cadance knew it was wrong of her to think in such a way, especially since Fancy Pants hadn’t really done anything wrong aside from worry Sassy and possibly upset Fleur about some mysterious thing. But Cadance’s time with Sunset made her follow the alpha mare’s lead.

As etiquette dictated, he stopped one step from behind on equal level with Cadance and bowed his head; the proper greeting for a minor royal. “Ah, Princess Cadance, you are looking as radiant as ever. I am honored just to be in your presence.”

The minor tug of irritation in the back of Cadance’s mind made the young mare want to give him a remark that would have turned the compliment into an insult, which would have probably turned the colt into an incoherent mess as he tried to keep from collapsing, was pushed aside. She needed to handle things with this stallion cordially until Fleur decided to ditch him. “Fancy Pants.”

Fancy Pants moved towards Fleur, who retreated a step before he got to her. “There you are, my dear. I brought the carriage to take us to the house. I’m sure my parents will be ever so pleased to hear about your day.”

Fleur sunk in on herself a little. “Oh, you didn't tell me we’re going to see your-”

The hesitation in Fleur's words made Cadance step forward on instinct more than anything else. “Oh dear, I’m sorry, Fancy. But I’ve already made plans to do some things with Fleur today. I’m afraid your parents will have to wait for another time.” It was rude, not to mention a total abuse of her social standing, but seeing Fleur standing there, unable to even put on a fake smile, Cadance hadn't been able to simply let him take her off where she didn’t want to go. “If I had known you and she had made plans, I wouldn't have included her in mine.”

The older pony blinked. “Oh…” Fancy stood there for several seconds before finally nodding. “Yes, well I suppose it can't be helped then. Perhaps next time.”

After the blue-maned stallion took his leave, Fleur turned to look over at Cadance. “Ummm, we have plans, Princess?”

Cadance stiffened. Crap! She had wanted to stay out of things with Fleur until the mare came to her for help. Interfering ahead of time, before Fleur was ready to cut ties, had a very good chance of dragging things out.

Quickly recovering, Cadance gave Fleur a nervous smile. “Oh, well...uh,” she managed.

“Well, we could take Sassy and Fleur to the game shop too,” Shining Armor spoke up before becoming thoughtful. “The faster they get introduced to O&O, the more time they have to look through the rules and learn them.”

Sassy quickly trotted into the conversation. “Right! That game...thing,” she said before looking to Fleur. “And we still need dresses if we’re going to Shining’s party. We can go shopping for those tomorrow. Something I can use as a base and alter a bit to make them worthy of a noble’s house. Of course, that means I would need you for the rest of the week…”

Which meant all of her time would be taken up by ponies other than Fancy. Cadance could see what Sassy was doing and felt conflicted. All the blue unicorn would be able to accomplish was delay the inevitable choice Fleur would have to make. But, seeing Fleur together with Fancy didn’t sit well with Cadance either.

Fancy wasn’t a bad pony. He just seemed much too aloof and...snooty? Like he just expected Fleur to fall in line with what he wanted while not really caring about her desires. It wasn’t really a good relationship, which made the part of Cadance’s brain that protested such things grab a bullhorn and start shouting in her ear.But if she just galloped in now to declare their agreements over and done, what happened the next time she spotted a bad relationship? Would she spend the rest of her life roaming Equestria, breaking up mismatched couples? That was hardly what she became an alicorn for.

I'm supposed to be bringing ponies together, not breaking them up, Cadance told herself.

How did this happen to me?

Even though she was grateful for the help, Fleur couldn’t stop herself from feeling shame over how far she had fallen. Fleur De Lis, the wingless princess of Canterlot Academy, the mare that could get any colt to do what she wanted and make him thank her as she took the bits from his wallet, reduced to something that was little more than a dog. Fancy Pants had appeared and Fleur had been ready to just meekly do as she was told.

Because...she had to. Their families had agreed on it, after all.

She looked up to the rest of their group as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor walked in front of her. Things had changed so much since meeting them. Although she was even more of a hanger on with Princess Cadance than she ever was with Upper Crust, Fleur had found herself to be much more free as well. And Shining Armor, he had gotten so...

Fleur squashed that thought before it could continue.

Shining Armor was her friend. Even if he had gotten hot in the past couple of days, not to mention rich, and politically powerful. Much more than Fancy Pants could ever hope to be.... well, all that didn’t mean anything. Even if Fleur could have rewound time, she knew that they wouldn’t have ever been more than friends.

Just like how she and Sassy were friends.

Only, without the sleepovers, heated or otherwise.

No matter how... attractive Shining was getting.

Not to mention rich and… Fleur felt her mind stumble at that thought. Her growing sense of moral decency reared up to plant a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach while her head went on to also point a horn at the fact that Shining Armor also outranked Fancy Pants on the social scale.

Oh buck, I really am pathetic, Fleur told herself as she tried to keep herself from continuing down the train of thought that kept trying to pull her back onto it.

“Something wrong?”

The question coming from behind her made a jolt of electricity run through Fleur’s body. She turned to face the speaker, the mental image of an angry amber alicorn towering over her that could somehow peer into Fleur’s mind was shattered by the reality of Sassy’s concerned face.

“Oh!” the pink-maned unicorn exclaimed before calming down a little. “Sassy! You um…just...startled me, that’s all!”

The blue unicorn raised an eyebrow. “I’m quite sure me asking you a question isn’t why we’re falling so far behind the love birds over there even before I asked it,” Sassy said as she pointed to the couple trotting ahead of them as Cadance, with a wing across Shiny’s back, looked like she was trying to just melt into her coltfriend.

“I was just…” Fleur said as she tried to think up an excuse.

“Falling deeper into a pit of endless black as you consider your future married to a pony that sees you as nothing more than an attractive foal factory?” Sassy asked evenly.

Fleur grit her teeth. For a moment, she thought about denying it, but Sassy had been there to see everything with Fancy a few minutes prior. “I’m not...I knew what I was getting into from day one, Sassy,” she said before the memory of Fancy looking down on her played out in her head again. “It’s just...he just…”

Instead of waiting for Fleur to find the right words to describe how being humiliated in front of everypony as she was told to come along like a dog made her feel, Sassy looked over to the ponies in front of them. “Well, it’s not as if you know where some very powerful and rich ponies that could easily solve this problem for you are. Oh wait, there’s some right now!”

As soon as Sassy took a single step, a confused panic ran through Fleur’s mind. “No stop!” she said before grabbing her friend’s ear in an aura of magic.

“Ow! Wha-Fleur! What?” she asked before shaking off the spell.

“You can’t tell Cadance!” Fleur begged.

Sassy blinked a second before her face was twisted into a mass of confusion. “Say what?” she asked. “And why is it that we can’t do the perfectly reasonable thing to get you out of some stupid betrothal agreement that is now not only completely unnecessary, but also unwanted?”

Confused thoughts flowed through Fleur’s mind in a chaotic mess. Why didn’t she want to tell Princess Cadance about her problems with Fancy? That had been her idea just yesterday! To ask Cadance for a little assistance.

Only, it wasn’t going to be asking for a little assist. After what Cadance had just seen, she would know the truth and anything Fleur asked of her would be like running to Cadance and...begging for help.

And that was why she couldn’t do it.

She was Fleur De Lis, the uncrowned Princess of Canterlot Academy!

The only ponies she needed to save her were the ones she strung along to use for that purpose before she cut them loose! She had been going out with Fancy since the Fall Formal and even after coming to the conclusion that she wanted more than just some money out of a relationship, she hadn’t broken it off by running to the Princesses because if she did, Fleur wouldn't be herself anymore!

Instead, she would be nothing but a pathetic filly who couldn’t do anything on her own at all. She was nearly an adult, which meant she either had to honor her agreements or find her own way out of them. “Because...I can take care of things myself, Sassy,” Fleur assured her.

“Yes,” Sassy agreed, at least before she pointed at the pink alicorn who had stopped at the shop in front of them. “By going to the Princess that’s supposed to take care of problems like yours and have her help you!”

Since it seemed Sassy just didn't get it, Fleur had to hold back a sigh. “No Sassy, I can’t. I…I’ll handle this...on my own.”

The other mare’s breathing slowed down as she took in several measured breaths. “Okay, you’re my friend. I respect your decisions,” she said before stepping up into Fleur's face. “But if you just flounder around like a fish out of water instead of doing anything on your own, I will go running back to the princesses and tell them something that will make them get involved, understand?”

Sunset appeared in Celestia’s secluded garden on the opposite side of the mountain from Canterlot with a bang. The arrival of the filly didn’t help settle the butterflies that had been rampaging throughout Celestia’s stomach for the past hour. She had thought calling the day early would give her time to calm down and focus on the task at hoof. But, it didn’t. The long wait had given her mind plenty of time to fester on her fears and only hundreds of years in court let her keep the unease hidden.

“Hello, Sunset. I brought your favorite,” she said as her filly trotted over before levitating the tea set up to pour her a cup. Once Celestia had everything perfect, a worry flashed through her mind. “I hope your tastes haven’t changed too much since your time away.”

Which was another touchy subject that Celestia realized that she should have avoided at all cost. Burn it all, she told herself. Usually, it was everypony else that tried to avoid hurting Celestia’s feelings. Which made her wonder just how many of her little ponies stepped on eggshells when she was in the room without her even knowing.

But she also knew that Sunset’s tastes had changed, and substantially at that! Where her little filly had only wanted the most expensive treats prepared by the most skilled cooks just months ago, Celestia had seen her daughter’s pallet devolve into something that was satisfied by street vendors. It was just another harsh reminder of how hard her life in that other world must have been.

Sunset looked down at the tea with an uneasy expression that said she was wrestling with her own thoughts as she took the cup in her magic. “Actually, I never really thought this stuff was all that great. I just ordered it because it was hard to get and expensive,” she said before smacking her lips, like she was trying to taste something. “And I’m still getting used to the differences between pony and human taste buds.”

Although Celestia could tell Sunset was upset by her reasons for choosing the tea, they needed to focus on other things to talk about. No dwelling on the negative. Take a bigger interest in your daughter’s thoughts and feelings. “You mentioned that before, but don’t talk about it very much. How many things are you having to adjust to?” If the reason for her change in the quality of food she liked was because of something biological rather than situational, there was a chance Celestia didn’t have to keep kicking herself...as hard.

Sunset looked down at the tea as she became thoughtful. Seconds passed, which slowly became a minute as Celestia became worried she had made another critical error. “I’m sorry, you probably don't want to even think about such things,” she said as she lowered the pot back to the tray. “I can’t even do something like this right, it seems.”

Or ever, really, since it seemed she had always been feeding her daughter bad tea.

“What?” Sunset blurted out as she pulled her teacup towards herself. “No! Mom, this is fine. I was just thinking and it’s a pretty long list.” She paused for a moment and gave Celestia a careful look. “Are you okay?”

Right as the question was asked, Celestia felt the metaphorical weight begin to weigh her down. “I’m…” She stopped. When anypony ever asked that question, she always lied or just downplayed her problems. But if she tried that with Sunset, Celestia knew it wouldn’t end well. So, she hung her head and sighed. “To be honest, I’m frightened. I don’t want to mess this up.”

Sunset looked back down at her tea. “Yeah, I can see why you would be worried. I seem to blow up at nearly everything these days.”

“You’ve gotten much better about that, actually,” Celestia complemented before realizing one of the reasons why. “Not that I can blame you for being so on edge when you first came back. The life you have lived for so long was gone and you had a whole new body to get used to again. I...could have been more accommodating after reading my journal and finding out, well...the last few years of your life weren’t some magical delusion like I had originally hoped.”

Which had been another mishandling of the situation. Celestia hadn’t wanted to think what she was reading was real, or that Sunset had accepted her explanation about everything she experienced on Earth being a magical delusion, or...anything other than the reality of the situation. She had just wanted to toss the whole thing aside with Sunset able to go on with her life.

She didn’t want to think of herself as such a failure.

The attempt to help relieve Sunset of some of her guilt for more recent actions was met by a shake of the amber alicorn's head. “No, I am the one who did all the exploding. Being emotional is no excuse for all the damage I caused.”

Celestia leaned in towards her daughter. “No, Sunset I…” Before she could explain why everything that had happened between them was all her fault, the big white alicorn froze. “We’re doing it again, aren’t we? Playing the blame game and just chasing our tails.”

“Uh, well-”

Before Sunset could agree, or do something worse like just keep going, Celestia decided to try and forge ahead to some other subject. “Let’s try and talk about what I tried to start a conversation over before we got into this spiral. Tell me, what was the biggest thing you had to readjust to, once you were a pony again. And don’t say wings, you didn’t have them the first time.”

Sunset paused for a moment before drawing in on herself a little. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

Celestia took a moment to consider the question. “No,” she finally said as she kept a straight face while Sunset's expression became annoyed. Before things could fall apart, she quickly added, “but I will promise not to mention it in company, or even to Cadance, if that's what you want.”

Seemingly taking that as good enough, Sunset took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It's my vagina,” she said with some difficulty, as if she expected something horrible to happen if she admitted it. “I’d talk to Cadance about it, but well... it’s Cadance. Just saying the word gets her wet.”

“...I see,” Celestia replied as she thought of how to probe deeper into the subject of Sunset’s sex.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? I was expecting at least a giggle.”

“I didn’t say I would laugh,” Celestia told her as she kept her face smooth before she took a moment to breathe. “So, I take it this is going to involve some talk about sex?” Some of the books on dealing with foals she had read after Sunset arrived covered things like that. Although...with Sunset being as experienced as she was on the subject, Celestia didn’t think a speech about birds, bees, and being careful in heat would do much more than annoy her.

A tiny smirk appeared on Sunset’s lips. “Hey, there's more stuff that goes on back there than just that! I still miss having underwear, sometimes. And going to the bathroom is different. After my first day, I'm still holding my tail out of my way because I'm afraid I might pee on it.” Then, she became a little hesitant. “And um...it uh...feels different.”

Celestia cocked her head. “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“My pussy feels a lot duller as a pony than it did as a human!” Sunset got out in a rush. “I mean-okay, I enjoy the sex stuff more with Shiny than I did with any of the stupid apes that stuck their dicks in me, but it still feels so different! And I don’t know if it’s because there’s something wrong with me now or if it’s just a species thing!”

As the slight panic ran its course, Celestia opened her mouth to tell Sunset that she wished she could tell her daughter that she had nothing to worry about, but she couldn’t. She had never actually been a human, so she didn’t have any experience to draw from.

Although, there was a way to remedy that…

“Say, Sunset you still have the human species parameters saved in your transformation spell, right?”

The nerd shop was just like Shining Armor expected it to be: completely empty.

The new hot mares walked into the store and looked around with expressions of curiosity as they went from self to shelf as they perused some of the board games and deck builders before looking through the O&O manuals. Cadance did too, but her wanderings had more of a purpose to them. She went to the comics, passed the cards, then after giving the board games a once-over, she came to a collection of small figurines. “Oh! How cute!” she said before looking to the young stallion trotting after her. “Shiny, what’s with all of these little er...action figures.”

Shining Armor frowned a little at hearing the default name most mares galloped to when trying to describe collectible figurines and trotted up to see what Cadance had found. When he saw what she was looking at in one of the display cases, Shining Armor frowned a little. “Oh, that’s Warhorse 40K.”

Hearing the disinterest in his voice made Cadance’s ears tilt back in apprehension. “Is it not any good?” she asked as the jingle of the bell above the door rang out.

“I wouldn’t know,” Shining Armor replied. “Warhorse 40k is one of those games that takes a lot of bits to play since you need to buy a lot of the figures, landscapes, books, intractable enchantment interface and-” Before he could finish, Cadance had zoomed over to the counter to slam her hooves down in front of the comic book pony. “I want to buy all of your Warhorse 40K merchandise and other paraphernalia!”

“YOU CAN'T DO THAT!”

Shining Armor’s ears perked up at the familiar voice, and he looked over to the door to see his new tormentors. Although, unlike with Buck, Shining Armor didn’t experience an overwhelming feeling of dread at their appearance. Rather, an intense weight settled on his back, coupled with the desire to be somewhere else. “Hello Gaffer,” Shining Armor said in an annoyed, yet tired tone.

He really wished his old friends would hurry up and get over whatever had crawled up inside their plots. Confrontation really wasn’t Shining Armor’s thing. But if they kept going like this, he knew he would be learning less towards the ‘get over it’ side of things and more towards the ‘buck off and never talk to me again’ side. It wasn’t like he had done anything wrong after all.

Flanked by the other two ponies Shining Armor used to play O&O with, the pony that Shining Armor probably would have called his best friend a few weeks ago trotted into the spacious room with a frown on his face. “It’s bad enough you’re bringing girls into the sacred ground that is O&O, but Warhorse is only for the truly devout, not some...casuals like the ponies you’re hanging out with now,” said, spitting out the most vile word in the gamers language in obvious reference to the princess standing next to him.

Pointdexter looked over to the young mares flipping through the O&O players guide. “Uh, what are you girls doing here?” he asked after a moment.

Seemingly annoyed by the question, Fleur put on an expression that Shining had remembered her wearing before he joined the cool kids. It was the one that made it seem as if she was looking down her nose at another pony, even when the stallion was just as tall as her. “We are discussing which class would be best to play as,” she said before using her magic to snag a flashy cape and rather large hat with a green feather in it from a conveniently placed rack of elaborate costumes meant for playacting to wrap herself up in. “And I will play a bard! A traveling troubadour of great renown for her skill at the flute and extreme acting ability!”

“...I’m still considering what I want to be,” Sassy added after a moment of looking at Fleur in cosplay.

After a few twitches in his lower right eye, Gaffer let out an exacerbated yell. “Gaaaaah!” he screamed before pointing a hoof at the two tall unicorns. “You two can’t play O&O! You...you’re...girls!”

“Um,” Cadance said before she turned away from the store owner and trotted towards Gabbard. “So am I, and I seem to remember me, Sunset and Twily playing O&O with the lot of you not that long ago.” A rather smug expression appeared on the Princess’s face and she raised her head just a bit. “In fact, I remember a certain mare defeating your super monster with one kick.”

If anything, Cadance’s smug declaration of Sunset’s feat only seemed to make Gabbard more livid. “That just proves my point. Mares have no place in the realm of stallions! O&O and nerd stuff should be for guys only! When mares show up, you ruin it.”

Despite not being a weather pony, or even possessing wings, Shining Armor felt a distinct change in the air of the room as Cadance looked back over to Gabbard. Gone was the merriment of moments past and in the depths of Cadance’s eyes dwelt something that sent a shiver down Shining Armor’s spine as the pink pony glared at the nerd in front of her. “Run that by me again, please?” Cadance said in a way that in no possible way could be construed as a question, but a royal decree. “Because it sounded like you just said I shouldn’t be allowed to indulge in my special sompony’s recreational activities!”

“Because that’s precisely what I just said! Mares have no place in things like O&O and especially in games like Warhorse!” Gaffer declared, not only repeating his previous statement, but actually upping the ante. Behind the stallion, both of his backup ponies quickly did just what their positions implied and backed up.

Before whatever doom Cadance was planning to unleash could be let loose, Shining Armor leaned into the mare. “Uh, Cady...sweetie,” he said, trying to up the closeness between them to hopefully draw the pink pony away from the precipice she was standing on. “Maybe we should just make our purchases and go.”

Cadance slowly turned her head to look at the young stallion, then wrapped a wing over his back so tightly he couldn’t stop her from carrying him back with her for a little side conversation. “Shiny, shnookums, snuggle bunny,” she said after a moment. “While I would normally do anything you want at the drop of a hat, this is the one, or rather, one of the super rare times that I’m afraid I have to ignore your concerns. So, please just give me a moment to put this pony in his proper place, okay?”

“Ca-” was all Shining Armor could say before Cadance zoomed back over to Gaffer and put on her dark aura of authority.

“Okay...Gaffer, a name I am only using because I can’t think of an insult that wouldn’t reflect badly on my Shiny since you both share the same interests,” she quickly added before becoming deathly serious again. “Since you think that mares have no place in this entertainment niche, I’ll play you in a game of Warhorse 40k just to prove you wrong.”

The unicorn was quick to find an opening to interject his terms. “Okay, and if I win-”

“I’m not going to so something stupid, like say I’ll stop playing with or break up with Shiny over any bet,” Cadance quickly told him evenly.

After a second of thought Gaffer nodded. “Okay then, if I win, then you and Shining Armor will have to leave the real role play to the true enthusiasts and stick to playing,” he said before pausing, his demeanor taking on its own dark tint before revealing the last part of his dastardly wager. “Board games!”

Everypony in the shop except Cadance gasped in horror at the condition. Even Fleur and Sassy appeared to know the absolute mediocracy such travesties were. Only the most basic of players, with the odd criminally insane pony thrown in every now and then, would play such games for any length of time.

“And when I win, you will eat your words,” Cadance told him.

Gaffer and his friends looked confused at the demand, but shook in agreement on the wager. Once that was done, Cadance turned towards the shopkeep. “Oh, Comic Book Guy.”

The tubby stallion cleared his throat. “Actually Princess, my name is-”

“IF YOU TRY AND PULL ANY OF THAT SUPER NERD ‘actually the real fact of the matter is’ PLOP, I WILL USE MY AUTHORITY AS PRINCESS TO LEGALLY CHANGE YOUR NAME TO COMIC BOOK GUY!” the irritated pink princess told the stallion in a booming voice before he could get another word out. Then, she cleared her throat and regained her royal demeanor. “Ahem! Now, I’ll take all of the Warhorse stuff you have.”

As most of the other ponies in the room were silent and the girls went on about their business, Poindexter looked over to the head stallion of their group. “Gaffer, did you consider the fact that you’re challenging a pony with unlimited money to a game that favors ponies with deep pockets, while you only have the starter set for a single army?”

“Uh...I...have a plan?”

Seeing his old friends nervously back out of the store while Cadance quite literally prepared for war, Shining Armor wondered what Sunset was up to with Princess Celestia. It couldn’t possibly be weirder than what he was going through.

“HOW HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO LIVE WITHOUT THESE THINGS?”

Sunset did her best to look in any direction other than the one Celestia was in as she heard the human with the freakishly long horn continue to crawl around on the garden floor with her hands and knees, feeling the grass beneath her as she amazed herself with the much better tactile responses of human fingers after having nothing but hooves to feel with for over a thousand years. It probably would have been a nice sight to see, if Sunset’s mother wasn’t butt naked and completely uncaring about the display she was putting on.

And the impossible hotness of Celestia’s body made it a very sexual display. While the naturally human Celestia from Earth had long legs and a slender figure that would probably send human males to the showers to take care of some plumbing problems, the equine Celestia in human form put her to shame. The enormous woman stood seven feet tall with legs that were even longer than the other Celestia and enough meat on them to consider the things pillars. Which she needed to support the rest of her body since it came with extra deluxe padding in the back and breasts that were almost as big as Sunset’s pony head. In short, for some reason Sunset just couldn’t fathom beyond some strange side effect caused by her link to the sun, Princess Celestia was a sex bomb that teenagers could only fantasize about ever meeting, because the transformed pony’s proportions were absolutely impossible.

Which...made an odd sort of sense, because pony-Celestia was the same way.

“Sunset, this is amazing! They’re even more sensitive than a nose and-oh! Come here, let Momma feel her little filly-AH!”

The amber alicorn winced when her mother reached out with her new arms and discovered that humans on their hands and knees weren’t nearly as good at balancing things as ponies were when they reached out with their forehooves. Plus, Sunset thought as she looked at Celestia land on her boobs before her face hit the ground. She’s got those things. They have got to weigh twenty pounds each!

Sunset knew it was a gross overestimation on her part. But being a teenage girl for several years that could make the boys drool with relative ease and now finding out her mother put her to shame in every measurable category gave the easily irritable alicorn something to get on edge about.

“Okay...one second...this...I got this,” Celestia said as she picked herself back up, then rolled over onto her back and repositioned her arms like she was trying to crab-walk, and failing at it as she looked at Sunset with an upside down head. “Wait...this can’t be right.”

Caught between the urge to laugh at her mother’s fish out of water routine as she looked at Sunset upside down or just feel embarrassed by the whole thing, Sunset settled on wrapping the woman in her own magic to sit her upright, then gave her a bit of extra support by conjuring a bra around Celestia’s ample chest. “How’s that?”

“My, this is much better,” the human-corn said as she reached up to feel her newly acquired top and test the support it provided. “What ever do humans use these things for?”

Feeling somewhat embarrassed by the question, Sunset slunk in on herself a bit before she answered. “Those are their teats.” Hadn’t I already explained all of this to her? she asked herself. Or had it just been Cadance, Sunset couldn’t remember. “When they have foals, humans-”

“I know what teats are, Sunset,” Celestia assured the other pony before she looked down at her breasts. “Strange that they’re this big.” After a few seconds of curiously staring at her chest, she worked her left breast out of the bra and gave it a little squeeze for some reason, then moved her head down towards the nipple and-“MOM!” Sunset shouted in embarrassment, stopping the woman.

Celestia looked back up at her adopted daughter. “Yes?”

Not even caring about the rudeness of her own actions, Sunset wrapped Celestia in her magic and forced her mother to release her own body, then trotted closer as she stuffed Celestia’s boobs back in her bra before undoing the magic. “Don’t do stuff like that in front of-no, don’t do stuff like that, period!”

After giving her daughter a cautious look, Celestia let out a long sigh, “Sorry.”

Sunset took in a deep breath...and felt her whole body shiver when her nose picked up the most alluring scent. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced before, a musky mix of earthy aromas that made her whole body both tingle with anticipation and relax at the same time. Almost in a trance, Sunset took another whiff as she moved closer to the source of the smell...to put her muzzle directly on her mother’s chest as she inhaled.

“Uh...Sunset?” a voice spoke before she felt someone the side of her head.

For the briefest of moments, Sunset didn’t care about the touch and was about to inhale more of the mind boggling perfume, then she remembered where she was and jerked away before taking a few steps backwards. “That was-I just...um...one second!” she quickly said before spinning around to look away from her mother and hopefully get some fresh air.

Holy shit, is THAT what humans smell like to ponies? Sunset asked herself as she shook her head quickly and blew as much air out of her nostrils as she could to get rid of the remnants that filled her nose. If her own human body gave off something like she had just experienced, it was a wonder how Cadance hadn’t been humping her within seconds of seeing her transform.

And if a human ever made it to Equestria, every single pony would be seeking to get him in bed.

Once she had gotten hold of herself, Sunset turned around. “Okay Maaaaa...” ...and went completely stiff when she saw what her mother was doing.

Celestia looked up from her crotch, but kept both of her hands down there as she looked back up at her daughter. “Yes, Sunset?”

“It...you...that...STOP TOUCHING YOURSELF!”

Cadance found herself less than blissfully happy as she made her way down the street with her stallion and two best friends. Which was a good thing. If she kept things somewhere between eighty-five to ninety percent happy, Shiny would have a good time, but think that it could be better if the mare they were missing was a part of the party.

Of course, she did have to take care of what might be a growing relationship problem that had been nagging Cadance since they left the store. “Okay...um...I overstepped my bounds back there, didn’t I?” she asked her coltfriend hesitantly as they walked down the street with their friends behind them, Fleur keeping Sassy from running into anypony as the blue mare read from her O&O instruction book.

The only solace Cadance could take from it all was that she hadn’t just turned around and done the exact thing she and Sunset promised not to do. She came close, but there was a difference between letting Shining Armor sort his friends out, if they could still be called that at this point, and Cadance doing it for him. This was about her showing both Shiny and herself that she could thrive in the niche community that he enjoyed.

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “You mean when you bet any chance of the two of us doing anything nerdy together on the outcome of a miniatures game without a single word from me?” he asked. “Yeah, I think that was over the line.”

The assessment made Cadance moan pathetically. “I’m sorry!” she apologized. “It’s just...those three show up and they get all indignant. And over what? That ponies actually like you now? It’s insane! Whatever happened to being happy for your friends?”

“I just wish they would hurry up and get over it,” he said in response. “No offense, but the six-to-one ratio of our group makes it pretty heavy on the estrogen.”

Sassy looked up from the rulebook she had her muzzle in. “I hate to say this Shining, but that’s probably not going to happen.” The other three ponies turned their heads to face the blue unicorn, prompting her to go on. “From what I’ve seen, it’s the same thing Fleur and I had going with Upper Crust.”

The extremely bad comparison stopped Cadance in her tracks and made her look back at the other pony to make sure Sassy hadn’t sprung a leak in her head. “Sassy, Shiny is nothing like Upper Crust.”

“Really? You mean he didn’t consider himself part of a group that was different than everypony else and special in their own particular way?” she asked with an honest curiosity that kept Cadance from getting angry at the obvious and general question that could have fit anypony’s social circle long enough for her to go on. “Then, some new ponies show up and come into their group. Not exactly taking it over, but let’s be honest, we could all tell who was calling the shots before you and Sunset showed up. Now, Gaffer’s little gang doesn’t really belong to Gaffer anymore, and the things that made him unique are being done by ponies he probably looked down on much in the way Upper Crust looked down on anypony that passed her in the street.”

Fleur snorted. “I just think they’re jealous.”

“Well, that too,” Sassy agreed before looking back at Cadance. “There was a reason it was just me, Crusty and Fleur in our little social circle and it didn’t have anything to do with the exclusivity. It was because she had a hold on us and didn’t want to risk losing control of the reins.”

Shining Armor made a sound of protest. “Come on guys, it’s not like that. They’re just…”

When her coltfriend couldn’t come up with anything, Cadance stepped in close and nuzzled him. It was sweet that he didn’t want to think anything bad about his friends. “Okay, girls, enough of those kinds of conversations,” she told them. If the two of them were allowed to keep going, Gaffer and his cronies would be turned into foal-eating nightmare cultists by the end of the day. “Now, let me see…”

Cadance looked around the street that was lined with restaurants that hung signs of three hooves above the entryway. Aside from the different names spelled out in elegant script, there seemed to be no difference between them at all. Even the interiors were almost mirrors of one another, with the only difference being the color of the wallpaper. Did Celestia complement one of these places on its decor and it just spread like the plague or something? Cadance wondered before picking one with a bit of pink in it.

Unfortunately, the hostess made a big deal of seating a mare with both wings and a horn, making Cadance feel a little self-conscious. She had been at the school long enough for her presence to be normal, but it looked like the rest of Canterlot still thought a princess that hadn’t done anything since getting her crown aside from some basic removal of academic corruption was still worth bending over backwards for. Then they were given the menus, and things just got worse.

“Buttons and bobbins, are these the names of the dishes, or the instructions they use to cook them?” Sassy asked, making Cadance look up when she was only halfway through the description of something called a tofu square with a crown of grated celery and some kind of sauce. “Um, we aren’t actually going to cook these things ourselves, right?”

“I don’t think these are menus, I don’t see any prices,” Shining Armor commented.

“You’d think they would have a picture or two so we could see what we’re ordering,” Fleur mumbled.

After another ten minutes of reading through the menu, the group finally ordered and did their best to make smalltalk while they waited for their orders. Sassy had a dozen questions about the O&O game in regards to rules and half a dozen about the experience that was the simulation. Most of them were answered by Shiny, but Cadance ended up having to take the last one.

“Well, I’ve never done anything like it in real life, so I can’t tell you how authentic the combat is, but I didn’t find it frightening,” the pink princess explained. “There’s some sort of...how did Sunset put it? Altered perception, that’s it! Things slow down so you can think normally and you don’t really get hurt in fights. It’s like somepony touches you and you know they’re touching you, but it doesn’t hurt. I’m sorry, I’ve only experienced it once myself.”

Sassy nodded. “I see...I think,” she added after a few seconds. “To be honest, it’s a little unnerving. The idea of designing the wardrobe for my ah...character, is it? That part sounds exciting, but I’m not really an adventurous pony.”

Which earned her a little snort from Fleur. “That’s kind of the point, Sassy. Come on, take a trip outside of your comfort zone. I’m sure Shining Armor will keep us fair damsels from being harmed, right Shiny?”

“Unless Sunset just powers through everything again. She kind of does that,” he said before frowning down at himself. “Come to think of it, O&O is probably going to be more like her real life than anything going on in school.”

For a brief second, a warning started to sound in Cadance’s mind as she watched Shiny and Fleur have some back and forth. But that quickly ended when the waiter arrived with their orders. The unicorn brought out four covered saucers and made a show of opening them up before putting the four little dishes they were covering onto the table.

Each one of the group looked down at their respective...well...Cadance didn’t know what to call the dish sitting on the plates in front of each of them. It wasn’t a meal. It wasn’t even an appetizer! “Um…” she managed to say while trying to think what went wrong.

“I think they forgot mine,” Shiny muttered.

“No wonder there weren’t any calories listed. I don’t think this thing has any,” Sassy said to herself.

Fleur looked up from her plate. “We ordered food, didn’t we?” she asked. “I distinctly remember ordering food.”

Inspiration as to the explanation for what was going on finally Struck Cadance. “Oh! I know what this is,” she said happily. “Sunset told me that during long banquets and multi-course meals, they give you little bits of food to cleanse your pallet or help the digestive process. This must be a little gimmick the restaurant uses to imitate that.”

The sensible explanation as to why they were given enough food to barely fill a gerbil’s stomach realized, the ponies of the group ate the little bites of food that all tasted like gray mush, then got back to talking while they waited for their actual meal to arrive.

Two hours later, hungry and feeling cheated, they went to a Burger Princess.

After taking a sip of her tea, Celestia looked back to Sunset. With her daughter so uncomfortable about Celestia’s human body, the white pony had reluctantly undone the spell and the two of them had gone back to drinking tea. After a few minutes, with Sunset’s breathing slowing down, Celestia felt it was safe to talk again. “So, how are things going with Shining Armor?” Then, her eyes widened a bit and she held up a hoof. “I’m not asking about what the two of you do in bed! Just...general things.”

“Well…” Sunset thought for a second before she started talking. “Things are going well enough, I guess. But…” There was another long pause before she continued, her tone more worried than before. “Okay, there are some things that have been cropping up in my mind recently. And I try to tell myself they don’t matter, but...ah...the feeling that I’m getting just doesn’t go away no matter how much I tell myself nothing’s wrong.”

“Things like?” Celestia urged when Sunset didn’t continue. It was better than trying to have her talk about a nebulous feeling. Things were specific. Feelings weren’t.

“Okay so... it’s things like how Shiny’s old friends are mad at him because he’s better off than them now and I want to just pound their faces in but I can’t because he’s the one that needs to deal with it instead of me because he needs to learn how to take care of situations like this,” Sunset said in a rush that had Celestia fighting to keep up and reason things out. Something she might have been able to do if not for the rest of Sunset’s super fast explanation about what was bothering her. “Not to mention all the feelings of inadequacy that I am making Shiny feel because I’m some kind of freakish super alicorn that has to walk around inside of a kinetic dampening field to stop from causing earthquakes. Yeah, Cadance said he dealt with those, but I don’t see it! Before I came around, he wanted to be some kind of big hero that saved the princess, not follow her around like a beta male footstool! I want him to be the hero and be all dashing when he saves me. But I also like the idea of me being the big strong all-powerful princess that can do anything with a flick of her horn!”

As Sunset took a breath that didn't last nearly long enough, which was soon followed by another, Celestia did her best to try and piece together a response to help her daughter. “Well, wanting to fawn over your colt and see him succeed is normal for anyp-” she stopped when Sunset cringed before she could stop speaking, as if seeing her impending doom rushing towards her and she needed to brace for the end.

“And there’s that.”

Celestia put on a nervously hopeful smile. “That what you feel is normal?” Sometimes ponies just needed somepony else to point the simple facts out to them.

Yet sometimes, they took those simple facts and galloped in the completely wrong direction. As was made evident by Sunset’s expression became much more horrified. “No! Shining Armor is a colt!”

Not following her daughter at all, Celestia raised an eyebrow while doing her best not to giggle. She needed to stay calm and collected. “Sunset, I admit that your anatomy instruction under me was lacking, but I know you're aware of Shining Armor’s gender. You would have to be at this point.”

Sunset shot Celestia a glower. “Not...that,” she said with some difficulty. “Shining Armor, he is way too young to be dating me. I mean, he’s sixteen or seventeen, and Cadance is...uh…”

“Seventeen,” Celestia supplied. “She’ll be eighteen in six months by the way.”

Then Sunset went back to thinking. “And I’m...um...maybe...twenty?” she asked, looking to Celestia for conformation.

Celestia sighed and nodded her head as she thought back to the through physical her daughter had undergone back when she first arrived from the future. She knew that giving Sunset her physical age would only make matters worse in the short term, but lying to her daughter about anything when Sunset asked about it was no longer an option for her.

“I’m twenty and he’s almost sixteen!” she repeated. “At this point, I belong in jail, not on a date with him!”

The expression on Celestia's face became disagreeable. Shining Armor was closer to seventeen than he was to sixteen, from what she had gained after having her ponies dig into his background a little. It might have been a little intrusive, but being the ruler of a kingdom had to come with some privileges. “According to whom, exactly?”

“Everybody!” Sunset exclaimed as her wings shot apart to blow her mother’s mane around with the wind they generated. The magic she had learned to lessen her outbursts of strength did little to temper the tempests she could create on the fly.

Celestia frowned a little at the use of Sunset’s terminology. “But not, every pony?”

With the emphasis put on the end of the word, Sunset found herself stopping and reconsidering her words at a much slower pace than she had when she said them. “Okay, this is one of those times where you’ve got something introspective to say to me, isn’t it?”

Since it looked like being a little assertive had put the break on Sunset’s little panic attack, Celestia kept her face firm as she looked down at her daughter. If Sunset’s mental health needed her to be less gentle than she was used to at the moment, then that was what she would be. There could be no uncertainty in her voice this time if she wanted to keep Sunset from sliding further into her panic. “So,” Celestia said evenly as she took up the conversation again in a no nonsense tone. “You’re making this judgement about yourself based on the regulations of another culture, from another world, populated by a completely different species. Sunset, do you have any idea how foolish that is?”

Put like that, Sunset couldn’t help but slump under the weight of Celestia’s argument, despite her impossible strength. “Well…” she said, trying to think of something to counter the point.

To keep Sunset’s mind unfocused Celestia quickly added, “I take it that this age difference problem you’ve cooked up is based on human cultural norms?”

Sunset only nodded a few seconds after the question was asked.

“Sunset, do you feel bad about your relationships with Cadance and Shining Armor?” Celestia asked her daughter when the other alicorn didn’t continue.

Fighting through the confusion that was threatening to choke her, Sunset shook her head. “No.”

“Then just what is the problem?” her mother prompted.

Sunset groaned as she failed to come up with a response that suited her right away. Instead she sat down and looked down at herself, like when she usually had to focus inward and really think about the question. “I... I’m afraid...and angry, and...ugh! A lot of things,” she grumbled. And when that wasn't enough for Celestia, Sunset snorted and went on. “Look, everything I learned when I was a human told me that sixteen is the age you're supposed to experiment and make all kinds of mistakes. For social stuff, that means you go on dates, get girlfriends, break up with girlfriends, and get over it before finding new ones. That’s what I...okay, well I didn’t do it, I was too busy becoming an evil bitch that wanted to take over the world but it’s what Shining Armor should do, it’s what he needs to do to grow into a fully adjusted pony.” Sunset raised her hoof and put it up against her chest. “But I don’t want to break up with him. I want...well, okay... I'm not going to say marry, that would be a little creepy seeing how long we’ve known each other, but...um…”

Seeing the conflict in Sunset’s mind, Celestia sat down on her stomach. “So, do you think you should break up with him, then?”

“Well...maybe?” Sunset asked in fear. “I...even Cadance said it would be good for him to go out with somepony else, before he...uh, went on a date with her. And now we’re...all together. Ghaaa! That's what I mean! Normal ponies would have just picked one or the other. But we’re doing this! And I’m too old for this. I’m way, way too old for this.”

As Sunset became more animated in her displeasure towards the end, sitting down to wave her forelegs around, Celestia decided to add something to that last part. “Says the humans.”

That was one of the biggest jumbles of problems and blessings since Sunset had come back. Although she was very tight lipped on the matter most of the time, the mornings when she did talk about humanity made them seem like creatures only Discord could find agreeable with all the contradictions they had as a species. While some of the scientific knowledge that she had learned would be useful, there were several of their mannerisms Sunset had learned that Celestia thought she could be better off without.

Sunset looked back at her and blinked. “Come again?”

“Oh, I’m just pointing out that most, if not all of your social development only came in the last few years and because of all your time spent studying,” Celestia said before pausing and moving herself closer to Sunset so she filled the amber alicorn’s vision. “You have some rather stupid ideas on the way ponies should behave.”

In less than a second, Sunset’s attitude did a complete turn around as she detected the attack and counted with a harsh frown. “You mean like how all of Equestria thought it was okay to use magic to force someone to love them until I saw a problem with that idea?”

Celestia had to force herself not to flinch at the jab as she berated herself for resorting to becoming too confrontational. Still, it hurt less than seeing her daughter in a distraught state. “Well, until then, I hadn’t even considered the possibility of a pony doing such a thing,” she admitted before setting her mind back on task. “But, shall we get back to speaking of what's bothering you about your relationship with Shining Armor?”

Sunset winced and broke eye contact with Celestia. “Uh...okay,” she said after a moment.

“Now, how long has this been bothering you?” the bigger pony asked.

Seeing Sunset pull in on herself and tap her hooves together, Celestia didn’t need to know that it hadn’t been that long. If anything, Sunset was exacerbating the problem beyond what it should have been because that was what Sunset did these days.

“...maybe...since this morning,” she finally said.

“Well, I’m not Cadance. So my approach to this question is going to be a bit different,” Celestia said before she began to slowly walk in a circle around Sunset. “You already said that you love Shining Armor, but the problem is that you think that being a little less than four years older than him makes you too old for the c-young stallion. Except we’ve already been over this, haven’t we? When you went through the portal, you became the normal age for the humans in the area. Which made you live a few of your ages over twice, that really didn’t seem to do much to the level of maturity you have aside from some things you were lacking before that were a bit stunted.”

Which was putting it nicely. Sunset had acted more like a ten-year-old brat long into her teens.

“Yeah...but…”

Celestia held up a hoof and took in a deep breath. “Sunset, you’re sabotaging yourself again,” she said. “It’s just like when you came back. You’re just doing it in a different way, looking at some minor little thing in your current life and focusing on it instead of the bigger picture. You have two ponies who love you more than anything else out there. You’ve got a pony who looks up to you more than anypony else.”

Before Celestia could continue on, Sunset sighed. “You’re right. I can’t fall apart, I’ve too many ponies depending on me and I’ll bring them all down with me if I do.”

With her message completely misconstrued, Celestia frowned down at her daughter. “That’s not what I’m saying at all,” she said before taking another deep breath and trying to clear her thoughts. “Okay, you want to be an adult about things, then let’s be adults about this. No getting overly emotional, no running off, no exploding. We sit here and we work through this. Now, You’ve already realized this minor age difference between the two of you and dealt with it. Why is it an issue for you again, all of a sudden? As in the last two minutes that we’ve been talking.”

When Sunset said nothing, Celestia just went on. “Is it about what happened at the Princess Fair? Did seeing him as a younger version of himself make you reconsider things?” Celestia asked.

“...no,” Sunset said after several seconds of moaning and groaning in thought.

“Was it something he did?” she asked. “Did you...I don’t know...catch him doing something unbelievably immature for his age?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “No,” she said before frowning up at her mother. “And I’ve been doing everything he’s been doing for the past few weeks. I just…” She turned her head away and groaned. “Okay, so maybe it’s not Shiny’s age that I’m upset about.”

“But you are upset about something,” Celestia reaffirmed.

After letting out a little groan, Sunset looked back up to her mother. “Yes.”

“Which is?” Celestia prompted as she tried to coax out what her daughter was trying to get at. Pulling teeth probably would have been easier.

“I don’t know!” Sunset practically yelled as she threw up her front hooves before going on a tirade. “I woke up this morning with this weird feeling in the back of my head. You know, like when you’ve forgotten something, something you know is important, but just can’t quite remember what it is or why it’s important? And it just stays there and keeps eating at you as the day goes on? Well that’s what’s happening to me, and Shining Armor wasn’t with me this morning, so I’m thinking it’s something to do with Shining Armor. What’s the biggest problem between me and Shining Armor that I can think of? Our age difference, that’s what! Except it’s not about Shining Armor’s age, because that was never really a problem for me to begin with and now I can’t think of anything else that’s bothering me. But I’ve still got this dread in the back of my mind that just isn’t going away!”

The way she explained it tickled something in the back of Celestia’s memory. It almost sounded like a budding premonition. But Sunset was far too young an alicorn for that. She thought about explaining that to her daughter, but telling a pony they were going to see a vision of the future too soon would have them finding meaning in every little goosebump on the back of her neck.

After Sunset stopped, or at least ran out of breath before she fell back on all fours to begin panting like she had just run a marathon, Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure what’s bothering you has anything to do with Shining Armor at all, then?”

“Well what else could it be?” she asked with wide eyes. “Shiny’s become a noble since that whole mess at the coronation, adding even more to his plate of stuff to deal with. Okay sure, I can help him out with most of it. You raised me to take care of nobles and go to parties and to deal with these things, so as long as I’m around, there shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, it’ll probably help him build his confidence. Which is actually really great. So...okay, now that I actually think about it, that can’t be it.”

Hoping to guide the conversation to another topic, Celestia mentioned the other pony in Sunset’s life. “What about Cadance? Everything okay there?”

Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. “Of course everything’s fine with Cadance,” she said before becoming a little hesitant. “Okay, maybe I’m a bit nervous about our inter-species sexcapades she has planned for tonight since she actually has a plan, but it’s Cadance.”

“Yes, your...um...punishment for being a…” Celestia took a moment to think of the correct phrase. “Slightly annoying disturbance in a school where you were all alone and hurt with nopony to turn to.”

Sunset frowned back at her. “Mom, I was a monster.”

The unfair comparison made Celestia frown at her daughter. Hearing that from Sunset’s mouth made Celestia bite her tongue to keep from shouting at the filly about how she had just been unloved and misunderstood. But, the white pony understood Sunset still wasn’t ready to hear that yet, so she would let Cadance’s rather insane way of helping Sunset to manage her guilt continue.

Celestia gulped down the retort any decent mother would have used and went with one that would start a fight. “But you’re better now,” she said. “So, let’s focus on the present, shall we? Did Shining Armor’s parents agree to the social gathering?”

“Yeah,” Sunset mumbled as she looked away from the bigger mare and towards Ponyville. “I was thinking-oh crap!”

Unable to resist, Celestia smirked at her daughter’s sudden change in demeanor. “Well...that does seem to be your default mode these days.”

“No!” Sunset said as she suddenly stood up in a rush and looked around wildly. “The party. I forgot about the Apples. I was planning to have Sassy measure them for some formalwear, but then Twily’s mom said we had to have tea and I completely forgot to ask her because I was worried about all of this!”

All of a sudden, Sunset stopped and blinked. “Hey, maybe that’s what’s bothering me lately!”

“Well-” Celestia said hesitantly as her daughter jumped to conclusions once again in order to snatch the nearest quick fix for something that very well might be completely unrelated to her current mood. At best, it was a distraction for her mind.

“Okay, I need a fancy schmancy dress maker-”

“Fancy Schmancy retired two years ago,” Celestia reminded her daughter to try and stop her from going out of control. “Now, can we-”

“STOP TELLING ME FACTS!” Sunset shouted in a panic before her eyes widened and her whole body drooped. “Sorry.”

This time, Celestia forced herself to giggle at Sunset’s challenging outburst and retreat into herself. If she thought that Celestia had been hurt by the yelling, things would only get worse. And if she tried to pull Sunset away from the problem she had just galloped towards, it would just cause more difficulty between them.

So, she kept her smile on as she focused on the task at hand. “Okay Sunset, deep breath. Now, let’s focus on the solution to the problem. We can find a tailor for your friends’ family easily enough. Although, it would probably be best to delay it by a day. That still gives the pony we hire plenty of time to do their work. What’s next on the list?” she asked.

Unfortunately, even if they worked though things fast enough, Celestia doubted she would be able to get Sunset back on task to what was really bothering her. It looked like she would need to broach the subject tomorrow at breakfast.

Sunset blinked. “Um, about that. I could use some advice on something.”

Cadance looked down at the game’s rules as the last box of figurines was being brought up and into her room by ponies in palace livery. While Shiny had to head home because his family would be moving out soon and the female unicorns of their group needed to study their O&O manuals to design their characters so that Cheerilee could use them after school to take care of her own adventure persona, Cadance still had one other pony to help her with what looked like an extremely complicated system of rules that governed the miniature conflict that would be playing out on the table in front of her.

“Okay, so, there’s three general groupings,” Hidden Figures half-read, haf-explained to Cadance as the tall black pony with the dark green mane went through the game guide. “There’s ponies, non-ponies, and the discorded, with each having several different factions for each of the three...huh, they have changelings.”

Cadance looked over to the stack of boxes that bore the name of the most dark of creatures and frowned. “So they would be on the evil side.”

Figures looked back down at the book. “I don’t think they have the stuff broken down along a good and evil dynamic. It looks more like it’s ponies, and...not ponies.”

“Like I said, good and evil,” Cadance said with a nod.

“...yeah,” Hidden figures replied after several seconds. “So...the rules are…” she began before going into an overly long description of complicated terms before explaining how the dice worked with the spells laced into the game’s special table to create a realistic experience that still had absolute rules that were determined by chance.

Cadance found herself completely lost after all of five minutes. “Look, let’s just try playing the game, and I’ll figure it out as we go,” she said before looking through the various boxes. “I...think I’ll go with the Crystal Mareines.”

After taking a moment to look at all the other boxes that held dozens of characters important to each faction and several add-ons that went with the main group, Hidden Figures made her selection. “Guess I’ll be the changelings, then.”

“WHAT?” Cadance cried out in surprise before she flapped her wings to fly over the table. “Why would you want to be the most sneaky, dirty, evil and underhanded thing out there? I get not wanting to be a pony since I’m going to be using a pony army, you could be...look! You could be the yaks!” Cadance held up the box with the big hairy mammal on the cover proclaiming ‘YAKS DA BEST!’.

Hidden Figures didn’t even seem to acknowledge the princess as the glow of her dark green magic carried the changeling set and its two expansion boxes over to the table that was holding up the game mat. After opening the box, she picked up the figure of the changeling queen in one of her dark black hooves and blew a strand of dark cyan hair out of her face before frowning at the little figurine. “I don’t think they got the horn right, and the holes in the legs are in all the wrong places.”

As Cadance watched Hidden Figures carefully study the figure of the changeling queen, she had a sudden realization that hit her like a freight train and made the bottom drop out of her stomach. With her trepidation rising quickly, Cadance raised a hoof while Hidden Figures turned the Chrysalis figurine around and grumbled angrily something about the plot being too big. “Hidden Figures...you…” she said as she moved her hoof just a little bit over to point at the game piece.

“Hm?” Hidden Figures replied as the extra tall black unicorn with the dark green mane and sickly magical aura turned her attention to the pink princess.

Cadance gulped. “You’re one of those anal retentive ponies that has to have everything perfectly right, aren’t you?”

After putting the Chrysalis figure down on the board, Hidden Figures raised an eyebrow. “Well yeah. That’s part of the reason why you hired me.”

“Great. You, Twily, Sunset...kind of...I’m officially surrounded,” she mumbled before beginning to unpack her army of miniatures and place them in their starting positions.

Once they had set everything up, and Hidden Figures had activated the tables’s advanced Come to Life spell, causing all the miniatures to begin moving on their own while shouting at each other in their tiny voices, Cadance ordered her troops forward to engage the horrid monstrosities that her aide had chosen to command.

“So, Princess...is it true that your...ahem, Princess Sunset is completely indestructible and as close as you can get to all powerful?” Hidden Figures asked before she ordered her troops to split into three groups, going left and right as a much smaller force left behind to guard her Chrysalis stood back.

Seeing the foolish mistake, Cadance became excited and sent the vast majority of her army forward in the hopes of removing the changeling queen from play. “Yes and no. I mean, I don’t actually think anything can hurt Sunset in a straight up fight. But, there are ways around her invulnerability.”

All of a sudden, certain victory turned to dust as the changelings Hidden had sent off to the sides turned around to trap Cadance’s forces between them in a dastardly move. As the princess’s forces fell, Hidden Figures smiled at what was going to be a quick victory. “Oh? Like what, pray tell?”

“Well for starters,” Cadance began as the evil army finished off her troops and moved towards her commander.

Despite being an all-powerful alicorn with an earth pony part that could completely demolish Canterlot if she put her hoof down too hard, Sunset felt worn out. After meeting with some Hoity Toity stallion to arrange an on site fitting for the Apple family, she had to go see Corporal Punishment and inform him that they were taking a day off from training, which was followed by another meeting with Velvet’s family that Sunset had to bring Kibitz to so that they could pick out invitations as well as be introduced to the temp captain of the guard that would have to handle security arrangements for the party since Celestia would be attending.

She was so tired and fed up with the whole administration thing, Cadance’s plans for their night together actually sounded like a preferable option to having to get up the next morning and do it all again after school.

The idea of simply testing out of most classes ran through her head again, and Sunset had to give it a good shake to clean it out. While everything but History could be taken care of easily, what with her time in the human world giving her a better grounding in science and math, Sunset didn’t really go to school for the education experience. She went to be with her friends.

And keep Celestia from giving her a real job.

“PLEEEEEEASE? I need to try again!” Cadance’s voice resounded through the hallway, making Sunset blink when she realized it wasn’t coming from the direction of her own royal apartment, but down the hall that led to Cadance’s quarters. “You don’t know what’s at stake!”

Sunset poked her head into Cadance’s living room and blinked at the sight. A magical game had been set up in the center of the room on a very large table that could have doubled as one of Celestia’s desks. On it, little changeling miniatures stood victorious over dozens of inanimate pony figurines that had been captured and had their movements shut off. But the real draw for Sunset’s eyes was Hidden Figures holding a cringe stance while a pink pony princess was glomped onto her back leg as the big black unicorn tried to get away.

“I said no! I was supposed to go off duty two hours ago!” Hidden Figures told her as she tried to get away from Cadance. “You lost eight times with every army you tried!”

Cadance failed to dislodge herself. Instead of giving up, she floated over one of the boxes. “Let me try the Marecanicus again!” she said while holding up the box that showed pictures of ponies wrapped in what Sunset would have called cybernetic augmentation, if not for the fact they were in Equestria. “I did pretty good with those!”

A groan escaped from Hidden Figures’s mouth. “Six turns is not pretty good,” she explained. “And I felt sorry for you, which should really tell you something about just how bad you are when it comes to playing this game! Now get off! And look, there’s the pony to help you with that!”

“Uh...what’s going on?” Sunset asked as she watched Hidden Figures try and dislodge herself from Cadance’s grip without using her magic.

A second later, Cadance was only inches from the amber alicorn’s nose and in a complete panic. “Sunset help! I bet one of those stupid nerds that I could beat them at a stupid nerd game, but I totally suck at it!” she cried. “And if I lose to Gaffer, I’ll have to stop playing O&O with Shiiiiiinyyyy!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow while Cadance grabbed onto her and cried. “Why would you do something like that?”

“BECAUSE I’M AN IDIOT, OKAY?” she yelled between tears.

Hidden Figures cleared her throat. “Apparently, it has something to do with indirectly showing Shining Armor won’t...bring down his game, or something to that effect. But I do have to agree with her assessment in regards to her decision making.”

Dragging Cadance along with her, as the pink pony didn’t let go of her neck, Sunset took a look at the game setup before getting an explanation of the game from Hidden Figures while Cadance continued to give her a fearful pout. Once she had gotten her head wrapped around how the game worked by each player having to buy their own pieces, Sunset looked over to Cadance and suggested a solution.

Which made Cadance calm down a little as she considered it. “Can I really do that?”

“It’s very underhanded and a complete misuse of your authority as High Princess,” Hidden Figures told her. “But I’m pretty sure it falls within the current legal structure of Equestria. And even if it doesn’t, you can just change the laws.”

Sunset tensed. “Now that I actually think about it-”

Before she could finish, Cadance moaned and kissed her on the nose, stopping her from talking before she pulled herself up a little more to whisper in Sunset’s ear. “Mmmm, I just love it when you’re a naughty girl. Giving me such wicked ideas. Somepony deserves a spanking,” she said in a seductive voice before biting Sunset’s ear.

The amber alicorn shivered at the touch to a sensitive area. “Ah-ha! C-Cadance! There’s still somepony here,” Sunset said desperately as the pink pony moved a hoof down to begin stroking Sunset’s wings in all the right places.

As the bigger pony’s wings floofed out, Cadance actually flung herself around onto Sunset’s back and pulled herself up close as she wrapped her forehooves around the amber alicorn’s neck. “Mmmm, now there’s an idea,” she said as she continued to talk in a voice that was a bit deeper than normal. “Maybe I’ll let her stay and watch. Let somepony see how I train my little pony to be a good girl.”

Sunset’s mind raced at the thought of what Cadance was saying, in not in a good way. The idea of actually being put on display, something she thought Cadance might actually do, got her heart racing. Which was quickly followed by her body following suit. “Nope!” she yelled before galloping out of the room as fast as she could.

“Oh-hoho Sunset, letting everypony see me ride you in the hallway! You’re such an exhibitionist!” Cadance laughed as the bigger alicorn carried her across the carpet.

Which made Sunset even more panicky before she locked onto the saved teleportation point in her room and took them there. As soon as she landed, the amber alicorn looked back at the door and hastily threw up the wards Cadance always insisted on. The rush job was a little sloppy, making them a little less gentle than normal, but Sunset didn’t care. After Cadance’s comments, she didn’t want anypony walking in on them.

The weight on Sunset’s back disappeared as Cadance flew over to their bed and turned around to lay down on her belly “Seriously Cadance, did you turn that sex switch you got in your head all the way to twelve?” she demanded.

Cadance stood up on their bed and leaned forward until her nose was nearly touching Sunset, and the added height meant that she was looking down on the more powerful pony for once. “It got your heart pumping, didn’t it?” she asked before giving her fillyfriend a light kiss. “And I know how you like your ears treated and wings rubbed. Now, let’s get you looking like the species that might just make you sexier than you are right now.”

Adrenaline mixed with endorphins in Sunset’s body and she felt herself start to get wet. It was almost annoying how easy Cadance could get her turned on at the drop of a hat. “Okay fine,” she said with a blush before she lit up her horn.

Although, Cadance wasn’t exactly right when she said Sunset was changing species. Because she had used the spell on Celestia not long ago, the amber alicorn had been able to watch the spell’s matrix at a distance as well as make a comparison to how it worked on Celestia as opposed to herself. Despite the alterations to the biology of a pony, it didn’t turn them completely human. It was more like they were reshaped using all the available materials while safety constraints were still applied to keep the horn and cutie mark around.

Still, Sunset felt her whole body change as she went from quad to simply bi before fingers sprouted on her hand and her mane rearranged itself into a more acceptable human fashion. After the experience ended, Sunset felt a chill in the air and reached up to cover her breasts with her hands, the globs of flesh barely coverable by her non-pony appendages.

On the bed, Cadance had taken the time to make some changes of her own. Four thick socks covered most of her legs. She frowned before she began trotting forward, the socks that promised Sunset some protection from her hooves when Cadance decided to get frisky muting her steps. “None of that now, let me see all of you,” she said before a rough surge of magic pulled Sunset’s hands away while she spread her knees apart on her own. “Hmm, the bit of coat you have between your legs is a different color than your mane. Didn’t notice that before. And no magic unless I give you permission to use it.”

Embarrassment began to color Sunset’s cheeks as she didn’t even consider not doing as she was told. Being naked, really naked, again made her feel exposed in front of Cadance as the pink pony licked her lips while circling Sunset, like a shark taunting its prey.

Without her natural coat or resistance to the cold pegasi had naturally, Sunset felt the chill in the air quickly sap away her body's heat. She moved to cover herself again, but stopped. “H-Hey, Cadance? Could you light a fire in here? Ponies are a lot better in cold weather than humans.”

“Punishments aren’t meant to be comfortable, Sunset,” she said in a very business-like tone before reaching under the bed to pull out a hoof bag. After opening it with her magic, she levitated out a piece of parchment to float it over to Sunset. “Are any of these substances harmful to humans?”

A second of reading later, Sunset looked back to Cadance. “No, but some of these plants didn’t even exist back on Earth. What’s this for, anyway?”

Cadance levitated a vial filled with half a pint of milky white liquid out of the bag. “Those are the ingredients for the lactation potion. I’ve also got a cleansing and enchantment removal potion in case anything bad happens. It’s naturally accelerated production, so drink it now. I want your teats to be full when I…” the pink pony gulped before licking her lips. “Ahem! Now, drink the potion.”

“Wait a second, don’t we need to set some rules or something?” Sunset said.

There was a flash of movement that came from Cadance’s bag that Sunset barely caught out of the corner of her eye before a sharp pain made itself known on her butt, accompanied by the sounds of leather on flesh. “OW! What the fuck was-” Sunset cut herself off as she looked back to see a riding crop floating in Cadance’s magic before she began to rub her stinging butt.

Concern flooded Cadance’s face. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she asked as she floated the riding crop up next to her head to glance at it. “I thought about it and this seems better than a paddle. There’s more give, so I don’t have to worry about breaking anything, but we can use something else if it’s too dangerous.”

“Spankings are supposed to hurt, Cadance,” Sunset said as she rubbed her stinging. “And I think you’ll stop before you flay my skin off.”

Cadance got even more worried at that. “Of course I will!” she agreed before taking in a breath through her nose. “N-Now, um…” The pony came and put her nose in Sunset’s crotch.

“H-Hey! What’re you-” Sunset demanded before Cadance took a deep whiff so loud even Sunset’s horrible human hearing could pick it up.

“Buck, you smell good,” Cadance said before shaking herself out of whatever daze Sunset’s scent had put her into. “I, um...gah! Sexy funtime later, right now, drink the potion.”

Sunset looked down at the vial in her hand with trepidation. Was she really going to do this? Drinking a potion that would make her lactate was odd, but having Cadance actually drink the milk straight from the breast was a whole other story. She looked over to the pony. “Um-”

“Sunset,” Cadance said in a tone that broke no argument. “I gave you and order. Now. Drink.”

With her fillyfriend being so commanding, Sunset’s hesitation vanished. She uncorked the vial and did as told.

The effect was immediate. There was a growing weight in her chest before something started to push her breasts outward, making them swell in size. Sunset cried out in discomfort before she reached up to touch the handfuls of human flesh as she could slowly but steadily swell outwards.

“Are you okay?” Cadance asked in concern.

“Y-Yeah,” Sunset stuttered before looking back to her breasts. “It’s just, uh...taking a bit longer for my body to adapt to the extra stuff than I would have liked. And to be honest, being a human again feels...strange.”

Cadance studied Sunset’s chest. “Well, I didn’t plan on feeding until afterwards. Now, we’re going to cover the rules,” she said as she began to walk around Sunset at a slow pace while her expression took on a more hardened veneer. “I’ve had some time to think about this. You did a lot of awful things when you were a human, Sunset. I’ll admit that you made up for them when you saved the human world not once, but twice. However, doing good and being punished for doing wrong are two very different things, aren’t they?”

The question had Sunset blinking. “Yeah,” she agreed before she felt the riding crop strike her in the butt again.

“And you will refer to me by my proper title when speaking to me!” Cadance announced in an angry tone. “You looked down on me for years and you will be making up for that tonight as well! Understand?!”

Sunset did her best not to stammer. “Y-Yes, Princess Cadance!”

The riding crop struck her again before Cadance flew up into Sunset’s face. “That’s High Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! UNDERSTAND?” she demanded loudly.

“Yes High Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!” Sunset repeated as fast as she could as her body began to shiver just a little.

“Now, from what I understand, there are two things involved in the rehabilitation of a pony. Punishment and restitution,” Cadance said as she continued to circle Sunset while in the air. “Since I have no desire to punish you for anything you did while you were a unicorn, I will count the time you spent in the human world without your horn as the punishment for not giving me proper respect and the times you saved Earth as your restitution towards the humans. However, this means that you must still be punished for your actions while a human, and you must restitution to me for your actions in Equestria through tonight and every other Tuesday night’s activities by being my little plaything until I decide that you’ve done enough. Understood?”

“Y-Yes, High Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” Sunset stuttered as what Cadance had really just said ran through the redhead’s mind. Cadance planned to turn Sunset into her weekly sexual plaything. The horned human honestly didn’t know where to be excited, or nervous.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a word where you were both.

Cadance floated the crop in close to touch Sunset’s skin. “Good,” she said. “Now, you will confess to me everything bad you did at Canterlot High, and I will ensure you are properly punished for it. Then, when you can’t take any more of that tonight, we’ll move to the bed, break out the chocolate syrup and whipped cream, and you can make up for all those bad things you did to me. So, start talking.”

“W-Well, I guess the first thing bad I did-” was All Sunset could say before she felt the sting of the riding crop again. “W-What was that for?”

The question was followed up by another smack to her ass before she remembered the rules. “H-High Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!”

Cadance slowly landed beside her and made Sunset turn to face her before the pink pony pointed at the ground. “Get on your hands and those midsection joints, I won’t have a lowly human bully looking down at me. And please remember, what I’m about to do is for you.”

Such an expected command coming from Cadance made Sunset pause. “S-Say what?”

The crop in Cadance’s magic lashed out and struck Sunset in the rear once again, making the human girl jump with a yelp before she reached back to rub her sore butt. However, Cadance didn’t give her any respite. “GET ON THE FLOOR, YOU DAMN DIRTY APE!”

Leading a cult of outcasts and unwanted foals was hard enough when you didn’t have to do it through an intermediary that was barely clinging to life thanks to years of inactivity. Nightmare Moon decided that the first thing she did after returning to Equestria would be to ensure that her truly loyal followers created a system of attracting some fresh blood that was actually competent and devout.

Despite the resources Strong Withers and the outcast noble provided in the way of funds, neither of them would live long after her return. They had betrayed Celestia, and while one of her followers stabbing the white pony in the back wasn’t in and of itself a bad thing, a traitor was still a traitor.

Gathering her magic, Nightmare Moon entered the dream domain that was her realm and sought out a familiar dream. Unlike Luna, she didn’t enter the point of light. Her magic crept out and ensnared the pony’s dream, bending it to her will as she poured more of it into the pony’s mind. The magic spread from the subconscious into what could be called the waking mind and Nightmare Moon seized control of the body to have it turn its head and carry her voice. “Have the new pawns provided the...cat birds, they promised would serve for bits?” she demanded through her vessel.

The idea of griffons being allowed to make their way through Equestria sickened Nightmare Moon, but with the times being such as they were, certain allowances had to be made. She would just have to cleanse the world of them upon her return to make up for it.

“No Mistress,” she, or rather, her vessel heard the faithful stallion speak before it was relayed back to her via the dream Nightmare Moon held. “They claim the mercenaries to still be many days away.”

Nightmare Moon wanted to punish them for making promises of assistance without delivering fast enough, but restrained herself for the moment. Their time would come. “Very well, take note then my faithful one. When they arrive, they are to locate a very select group of ponies for me of the following description.”

Although known as the Mistress of Dreams, another one of Luna’s, and thus Nightmare Moon’s abilities, enabled her to look into the mind of anypony she touched with her magic. Despite the fact that she was no longer able to delve within the mind of Sunset Shimmer thanks to the agreement with Celestia, Nightmare Moon had long since taken all the information she needed from the young mare’s head.

A barely remembered newspaper article giving vague tales concerning the exploits of one Twilight Sparkle.

The image of a purple pony princess who would come to possess the Element of Magic.

And most importantly, a brief glance in a darkened hallway that revealed to Nightmare Moon who would wield the other Elements of Harmony that still existed in this time. Of course, the memory showed them as adults, but ponies barely changed in looks since the day they were foaled and several of them possessed very distinct features.

Prologue: Before the Dawn

Strong Withers gave the torches hanging on the walls of the cavern a curious look as they burned away. Not being a unicorn, he would be in a bit of trouble, should they go out since the meeting place was so deep within the system of caverns that no natural light got anywhere near it. Blue Line wouldn’t be of any help either, the ring that had been hammered onto his horn left quite the indentation and wouldn’t allow the unicorn to use magic for the next few months.

“So, will I have to be paying a fat sum every time I am to see this Sleeper, creature?” the unicorn asked with the arrogance that all unicorns carried whenever they were talking to ponies that they thought lesser than them.

It took some effort to put the stallion in his place, but Strong Withers wouldn’t prove himself a fool and rise to the bait. “Do not think that your bits provide you any sort of leverage, idiot. If our Princess simply wanted your family’s bits, then it would have been a simple matter for her to extract the information while you and your wife slept. The demand was simply a test to see if you would be willing to cooperate without needing further education.”

Blue Line grimace. “Where is my wife?” Not that he much cared on the matter anymore. After she and their son had failed to tell him about their idiotic plan that cost him everything, he couldn’t care less about her welfare. But, she did have most of their financial information. “I haven’t seen her since I met your darling son at the villa with our other guest.”

“Well, after my son decided to play with that other mare we brought along, I thought it best that a pony of your wife’s beauty be kept elsewhere,” Strong Withers told him before smirking at the irony. A member of a proud and connected unicorn family, now nothing more than a plaything for an earth pony’s amusement. “But if you want, I can have a letter sent to her. I’ll even write it for you, I know how you unicorns can’t do anything without your magic.”

Instead of continuing the conversation, Blue Line went silent as they trotted deeper into the cavern. “So, what is this Sleeper creature, anyway?”

“The sleeper is she who has been blessed with an ear that allows her to both hear our Dark Princess and carry out her will at the same time.”

The voice from out of nowhere made Blue Line look around frantically, obviously put off by his inability to light up his horn to help add some illumination to the dark caverns they were in. Out of the dark, a trio of figures approached, each clad in a dark blue robe that went well with their gray coats, which blended in well with the rock of the cavern. The golden eyes of each one of the old bearded stallions clashed with the horns sticking out of their heads, which screamed of a mixed heritage with a tribe that none of the normal three would have ever associated with in this day and age.

“Thestral half-breeds?!” Blue Line exclaimed.

All three of the old pones gave the unicorn a sour look, with the middle one coming forward. “Do not insult us with such foalish names, given to us by ponies who know nothing of our parents,” he said. “Our forebears were and shall always be known as lunar pegasi, or bat ponies, if you are too stupid to remember such a poetic term.”

As Blue Line took a moment to work down the idea that he would be serving alongside a tribe of pony he thought of as lower than Strong Withers, the earth pony found himself looking back to the Cult of Eternal Night. Considering all of the legends, history, rumors, and everything else that was said about the ponies that secretly plotted the downfall of Celestia from the darkest corners of the world, the truth was...underwhelming.

The three ponies in front of him, plus their chosen one, were all there was of the ancient cult. In the thousand years since Nightmare Moon’s banishment, it seemed that time and their status as myth had whittled their numbers down to nearly nothing. Numbers that probably would have been reduced to zero within the next ten years, had his plot against Sunset Shimmer not gone so wrong.

A few seconds of intense glaring later, Blue Line inclined his head. “Apologies. I have simply been under Celestia’s rule for so long, that it is hard to shake off the ideals that she has been sure to indoctrinate her followers with, in regards to the lunar pegasi. Are more of your...nocturnal tribe about?”

“Neigh,” a new voice spoke as it filled the chamber.

Immediately upon hearing it, the three elderly ponies went to the ground as an elderly lunar unicorn mare only slightly younger than the three stallions seemed to melt out of the shadows. Like the others, her robe was blue, but the mare’s coat was an almost impossibly black color, with a dark purple mane behind it. Despite her age, the voice she spoke with was not one of an elderly pony, but full of power and confidence. “While they have inherited the blessing I did bestow upon their forerunners, Celestia’s lies have long since filled their minds to lead them astray. Something that will be corrected upon my return. Now, I have been informed you have given a gift of gold to prove your loyalty, but trust is not something that can be bought. Why should I not have you, who has served my enemy for so long, into my confidence? Those that have shown themselves traitors can easily turn on their new masters as well. Especially when doing so the first time was not of their choosing.”

Blue Line gulped. It was obvious he knew what would happen if he didn’t give an appropriate answer. “Well, your Highness. Other than my gold, I am afraid all I can do is offer my oath of fealty.”

The Speaker’s horn lit up with a blue color, one that didn’t match her golden eyes like most unicorn magic did. A circle of magic appeared around the unicorn from Canterlot, making him gulp. “Then speak it.”

“A-As the head of my family, I hereby swear that I shall serve you in all things,” Blue Line told her.

The Speaker raised an eyebrow. “And if you should violate your oath?” she said. “I am not as weak as my sister, colt. What do you offer as proof of your loyalty.”

Blue Line shivered a little at the question. “I...I still have some bits-”

“Loyalty equal in value to all the riches in the world is something so worthless that it is less than trash,” the Speaker told him. “Do not insult me with such an offering again.”

Blue Line gulped. “T-Then, all I can offer you is myself, Highness.”

“Then I will take you,” the Speaker said before the magic circle that had appeared around Blue Line’s neck slammed into place as if it was a collar before fading from sight. “Know that should you forfeit your oath, so to shall you forfeit yourself.”

After Blue Line raised a hoof to rub his neck, the visual effects of the magic gone, the Speaker looked to the bowing ponies. “Rise, my little ponies. There is much to be discussed before my sister brings her eyesore into the sky once again, and little time to do it.”

Twilight Velvet stared up at the dark ceiling above her, unsure of what to do. Being a pony that mostly functioned at night, she found that going to bed at the more reasonable hours than simply trotting into her bed and closing her eyes after an exhausting day. While she did get to sleep when she was supposed to be going to work, said sleep ended far too early and left her awake several hours before the dawn with nothing to do but think.

And because Velvet didn’t have anything like a job to occupy her thoughts anymore, all she could do was play the events of the day before over in her head. Because of what had happened, she and the pony next to her were considered part of the nobility, which accounted for at most, only ten percent of everypony in Equestria. In fact, they were the top ten percent of the top ten percent, which made them, the...one percent?

Velvet had no idea how she was supposed to feel about that.

Before, she had a plan. Twily and Shining Armor were going to go off to join Celestia’s school and the Royal Guard inside of two years. They were moving out. They would be gone. She and Night Light could concentrate on their work, visiting the two of them whenever the feeling arose.

Now, all of that was gone. While she could probably take over the the Astronomy Guild since the stallion that headed it was only a member of the seventy-something numbered house in Canterlot, he was a good stallion and didn’t deserve to have the defining thing behind his family taken away from him just because Twilight Velvet needed something to fill her day. Which...she supposed she already had, what with Princess Celestia wanting her to attend court for the next year.

Not to mention the advice she was asking for.

That...worried Velvet. Who was she to tell Princess Celestia anything?

And once that year was over...then what? She would wake up to a large empty house, tell ponies to do everything for her, sit on her plot while bits flowed in from too many places to count, and only see her foals about once a week before they went off to do something important.

She needed something else. Something to devote her time and attention to. Something to pour her passion in. Something like…

Like…

An idea struck her.

“Night Light?”

The stallion next to her stirred. Like her, he was wide awake, probably thinking along the same lines as her, just not quite as far down. “Yes, dear?”

Twilight Velvet reached out to link her fetlock with his. “I think we should have another foal.”

There was a shift in the sheets as Night Light turned to face her. “What?”

“Hear me out,” Twilight Velvet said. “Twily’s going to be going to Celestia’s school in a year and Shiny’s going to be joining the guard thanks to Princess Celestia’s little...non-mistake.” The more she thought about it, the more she knew that the old goddess had meant to give Shining Armor his new and improved body. “The house will be empty, and it’s going to be quite the big house. We’ll have so much time on our hooves, we can raise another little one.”

Night Light was silent for a moment. “Are you sure this is what you want? Plenty of mares talk about this sort of thing when their stables go empty.”

The suggestion that she was doing this just because Velvet needed a foal in her life made the mare tense. Her husband may have been the old fashioned, obediently silent type of stallion, but he knew how to cut to the quick with just a few words. “I’m not just doing it for me,” she said. “T-Twilight might want a baby brother.”

Twilight Velvet blinked at her own words. Up until that moment, she hadn’t been sure of anything, but now...she could already see the little colt growing inside of her. After he was born, she could spend the Summer days lounging on the patio with him during feeding times and the Winter would have them curled up together by the fire. Velvet would get him interested in books, like his sister, who would calm down a bit when she learned that there was another pony in the house looking up to her for an example.

“Darling, the odds are-”

“We can afford an ensurance treatment,” she told Night Light before he could finish. With the help of magic, the gender of the unborn foal would be certain.

There was a deep intake of air from Night Light, followed by a long sigh. “Let’s give it a few days before we make a decision. How does that sound?”

Velvet decided to at least give him that, but she knew that things had already been decided.

Celestia looked up at the white ceiling of her room, nervous about what was coming. She knew it was silly, even stupid, but but she couldn’t help but feel nervous. The princess lifted her head to grab a pillow and bring it around to hold it in her foreleg for a little bit of comfort.

“All I’m doing is having breakfast with her,” Celestia told herself. She had eaten breakfast with Sunset dozens of times, hundreds even!

Only...Sunset tended to explode at breakfast, and their relationship was so fragile, even one little misstep could bring everything they had taken weeks building, crashing down around her. Celestia couldn’t afford that, she…

She just wanted to have some happy times with her daughter before everything came to an end. Was that so much to ask?

Shining Armor’s probably going to be there too, the alicorn realized.

Shining Armor was...complicated. And part of the reason for that was that Celestia had promised Sunset not to play with him like she did with everypony else in Equestria.

It all led back to Sunset.

Maybe I should just concentrate on him instead, Celestia told herself. She only needed her four hooves to count how many times she had a conversation with the colt, and most of them were just pleasant hellos because had been acting like every single other pony in Equestria acted around her for the first couple of months when they got a job in the palace. It would be nice to get to know the colt that my daughter is...wait, why am I being hesitant, these are my private thoughts! I want to know more about the colt that’s plowing my daughter.

She took in a deep breath as she cemented the decision. This morning at breakfast, she would have a conversation with Shining Armor about her daughter, her niece, and where this relationship of theirs was headed.

An insanely annoying ringing filled the room, bringing the white pony out of her rather wonderfully disturbing dream where a shining knight galloped in to save her from an evil lord that liked to play with his mustache and wear monocles. She reached over and put an end to the sound with a hoof before her mind caught up with her body enough to look over and turn off the alarm clock with her magic.

Fleur de Lis gave an uncomfortable moan before she rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling to her little bedroom. There was still a good three minutes before she really needed to get up and start working on her mane to make it absolutely perfect for the day ahead.

Today was the day she went back to school. With that Celestia cursed extra long heat finally over and the Princess Fair done on top of that, everypony had gotten a week to relax after going through the natural biological process of having a burning sensation in the opposite end of their body from the brain threaten to try and completely override their thinking process with an intense urge to make babies.

Except for Fleur. Her head had decided to come a bit later than everypony else’s, meaning that she missed out on the fun activities before being forced to attend Princess Sunset’s coronation. Most ponies would have probably considered it worth it, but...most ponies didn’t get invited to the castle on the tail of a young noble. After watching her friend nearly get killed, Fleur was subjected to a bad magic potion that left a taste in her mouth, which lingered for the entire meal. Not that she minded the last part too much, Fleur had eaten at Restaurant Row before. If that was the creme de la creme of high society, the food given to royalty must have been absolutely toxic.

Three minutes passed far too quickly and Fleur had to roll over to walk into her private little bathroom. Most ponies didn’t know just how much time and work being pretty took. Time that she could only get from waking up before the sunrise, not that she would have seen such a thing since she lived in a Canterlot apartment, and going through a daily routine. She had to take a shower, scrub her coat, wash all of her her hair with product, dry it, curl the ends, apply makeup, shine her horn and check everything to make sure that there wasn’t a single hair out of place.

Then was off to the breakfast table to eat some oat bars with some kind of yogurt in the middle instead of an actual breakfast. Watching her weight was crucial. Any noticeable gain meant she would have to burn it off, which came with the danger of developing too much muscle. Her future depended on being absolutely physically perfect.

Her horribly...bleak...future.

There I go again, Fleur told herself.

She was just being stupid.

Her future wasn’t bleak, it was even better than the one she had been looking forward to her whole life! Fancy Pants would take care of her, provide for her, take her to dinner parties where she would meet ponies that would give her a job in modeling. Although there had been the idea that she would also introduce fashion ponies to Sassy in the hopes of getting her friend famous as well, that part of her future was no longer needed. Then, after five or six years, she would retire from modeling and start having foals before cozying up to the more powerful nobles in Canterlot so that they would hopefully make more foals with the foals she was making with Fancy Pants.

It would be a life of decadence, luxury, parties and all that stuff. Everything she could ever want would be hers with but a word.

After finishing her breakfast, Fleur double checked her bags to make sure she had everything she needed. The school books were there. Thankfully, nopony had assigned anything over the long break, so she had been able to complete the entirety of her backlogged work and went over her books to relearn what she needed to. There was her portable makeup kit for any touch ups she needed to do throughout the day, a few spare bits just in case and...a little black book titled: Canterlot’s Noble Families.

Fleur sighed at her other assignment, the one Fancy had given her if she wanted into his house. Inside that book was a brief history detailing each one of the hundred houses of Canterlot, along with their family crest. Oh, and I also have to get that party invitation from Shiny, she remembered.

Not that he was having a party, as far as she knew.

With everything in order, Fleur put on her saddlebags and looked back into the apartment. “Mom, Dad, I’m heading out.”

…

…

…

“...bye,” Fleur said before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway to be greeted by the flickering light crystal that still needed to be fixed. She knew the wait time on such things was long, but this would be the third year that the thing was malfunctioning and they were still on the waiting list.

Not that being in the dark was a problem for unicorns, but still…

Fleur sighed and shook her head before heading for the stairs. She trotted up to the entrance level of her apartment building before heading out into the open air and towards the old complex that she used to live at with Sassy before...her parents’ agreement with Fancy’s family.

She took in a deep breath and kept going.

Thinking about such things was...distracting.

“Freak!”

“Four-Eyes!”

“Brace-Face!”

“You don’t belong here!”

“Canterlot is a unicorn town! Get back in the dirt where you belong!”

Cheerilee cried as she tried to run from all the voices filling the school hallways. But no matter where she went, the voices that mocked her followed the mare. She looked behind herself as she turned a corner, but didn’t look back in time until she ran into a wall of yellow and toppled backwards.

“Here, let me help you up,” the most amazing voice in the world told Cheerilee before she found herself lifted off of the ground by the most powerful and gentle hooves of all time. “Is everything okay, Cheerilee?”

Hearing her name, Cheerilee looked up and saw Princess Sunset Shimmer standing in front of her. They were no longer in the school’s hallway, but standing in a field that was surrounded by the same flowers on the mulberry pony’s cutie mark.

Seeing the most magnificent pony alive in front of her, Cheerilee felt her legs get weak. “P-Princess Sunset,” she said in awe.

The goddess giggled and reached down to help support the earth filly. “Hello, my little pony. I’m so happy to see you again. Did you have fun at the fair?”

Cheerilee nodded happily. “Oh, yes, Princess! Thank you for bringing me!”

“I’m sorry it couldn’t be just the two of us,” Sunset said before she reached over and caressed Cheerilee’s cheek. “But you saw what happened when Shining Armor got put in the spotlight.”

The feeling of her goddess touching her made Cheerilee’s heart soar. “I-I don’t mind, Princess. I know you’re very busy and don’t have much-”

“Shhh, my special little pony,” Sunset told her as she pulled Cheerilee in closer. “Now, I think I need to make some time for you.”

Cheerillee’s lips met Sunset’s and she was overcome with the most amazing feeling imaginable before the goddess pulled back. “Now then, let’s see to the needs I’ve neglected for so long, My little pony.”

“I’m your little pony Princess Sunset!” Cheerilee cried out in pleasure as the dream ended, ripping her away from the feeling of being with her goddess.

After reaching over to turn on the light, Cheerilee looked around the little bedroom that her aunt was letting her use during her stay in Canterlot. The place was a small drab thing, barely bigger than a walk-in closet. Space was a premium in Canterlot, which meant the underground homes most ponies used didn’t have much in the way of spare space, especially aunt Petunia’s.

“Making more racket in yet sleep, little missy,” the cranky voice of Cheerilee’s father’s older sister called out from beyond the door. “Now get out here and eat yer grits.”

The little earth pony looked around her room and sighed and relief. Aunt Petunia hated having to do extra laundry. Luckily, the dream hadn’t gotten that far. “Coming, Auntie,” Cheerilee told the ornery mare before she worked her way to the front of the bed her aunt had let her use since that was the only way to get off of it and trotted out into the small apartment’s living room. “Thank you for breakfast.”

Cheerilee wished she could have had a little bit more time for sleep, but her aunt was an old fashioned earth pony. Which meant that if she didn’t beat the sun up, she was being lazy. “What’re you doing at the palace today?”

The green royal gardener, or one of them anyway, with the dark mane sighed and took her seat across from Cheerilee and shook her head. “Dreamin’ ‘bout that Princess you say is yer friend?”

“Princess Sunset is my friend, Auntie,” Cheerilee assured her.

“Then how come I ain’t never seen her here like that other filly?” she asked. “Listen, Cheerilee, I don’t mean to be mean to ya. But this here’s Canterlot. Yer Papa sent ya here to me so you could get a good education when it turned our yer cutie mark wasn’t no good for gardening. You don’t need to be filling yerself with such foolish ideas, like makin’ friends with princesses. I work at the palace and see Princess Celestia every day at least three times. You know how many she sees me? None. We’re earth ponies, Cheerilee, we belong in the kitchens, and on the farms. We don’t belong rubbing noses with royalty. Ger yer education and go be a nurse or somethin’. Maybe that’s what them happy flowers mean, making ponies happy in the hospital or somethin’.”

Cheerilee looked back at her cutie mark. It was a little embarrassing, but she had no idea what the flowers were for. They had just appeared one day when she was explaining some things to her friends back home during a study session. She hadn’t been farming, or planting flowers, or doing anything, really. Just talking.

As always, thoughts of her cutie mark drained the energy out of Cheerilee. Without such feelings to help her put up a fight, she just sighed and nodded. “Yes, Auntie.”

Shining Armor opened his eyes to the sound of light moans and the feeling of breath on his ear. A second after he did, the sun came streaming in through the window to illuminate the two alicorns that had cocooned him in a mass of legs, feathers and hooves. While Cadance gave a little yawn before she raised her head and smacked her lips in a half-awake daze, Sunset kissed him on the cheek. “Bout time, my sexy little stallion.”

As his brain cleared the fog of sleep, Shining Armor read deeper into the statement before he looked over to see Sunset staring at him with a pair of eyes that definitely belong in the bedroom. “How long have you been up?”

“Not too long,” Sunset replied in a sensual voice before pawing at the stallion’s chest with her hoof. “Wanted to make sure you had plenty of rest after last night.”

Shining Armor blushed at the mention of the night before.

With everything getting back what had become normal for him the past couple of weeks, he had suggested they return to the track field to continue exercising. Even though his body could probably pass the physical requirements for joining the guard now, he had to maintain that fitness and build on it if he wanted to be able to gain a position as a royal escort. Twilight had come along for more levitation and magical stamina exercises from Sunset while Shining Armor and Cadance ran an obstacle course of Sunset’s magical make as she kept herself busy playing a board game of some type with Twily involving dragons and a boulder. After heading back to the castle, Shining Armor had been much too tired for the amorous amber alicorn, and was left to watch while Sunset’s needs were taken care of by Cadance.

It had taught him just why Cadance had been content to sit by and watch the other two members of their relationship go at it so many times before.

“Good morning you two,” Cadance said before leaning in to kiss Shining Armor and Sunset on their cheeks. “Good sleep?”

Sunset’s smile turned predatory. “Oh yeah,” she said without looking away from the smaller stallion before her foreleg went beneath the covers and made Shining Armor stiffen all over at her touch. “Feels like Shiny’s ready to go too.”

A giggle came from the other side of the bed. “Okay. I’d better get the bath ready for the two of you, then. We do have school today,” Cadance reminded them before she kicked the covers off and slid her wing out from under Shining Armor before standing up to flex it a few times. “Have fun!”

Shining Armor felt an odd sense of content dread as Cadance the room and Sunset rolled on top of the young stallion. The extra weight of the part-earth pony mare pressed him into the mattress before Sunset leaned down to lightly run her tongue along the inside of his ear before whispering. “Oh, Shiny! I need you inside me so bad right now.”

The big alicorn bit her lower lip and began to rub her belly against his, along with other parts. “So, so bad right now.”

“S-Sunset?” Shining Armor said before gulping.

All movement stopped and Sunset readjusted herself before pushing up just a bit to take the weight off of the stallion. “Something wrong, Shiny? D-Do you need me to stop?” she asked before her cheeks reddened a little. “I-I know you’re up, but that doesn’t mean...you’re up for it. So, um...if you don’t want…”

Being a stallion, all of Shining Armor’s instincts quickly told him to put a stop that kind of talk as soon as he could. “What was all that so bad talk, then?” Shining Armor asked with a little smirk.

Sunset’s blushed deepened before she darted her eyes away. “Enticement,” said nervously before looking back at him. “And I-I really do feel that way. I love you, Shiny. I loved watching you before you woke up this morning and I ah...well…” More cheek redness. “I-I thought how nice it would be to start every day with you...inside me.”

Unable to stop himself, Shining Armor gave a tiny snort of laughter at how ridiculous Sunset was being. He reached up and rested a fetlock on the back of Sunset’s neck to pull her back down towards him. “It just sounds like you are trying way too hard,” he said before kissing her on the lips.

“Honestly?” Sunset replied as she slipped her hooves underneath his shoulders. “I’m holding back.” the big alicorn rested her weight on top of Shining Armor again before she moved her head closer. “Ever since I got crowned. I can’t get you out of my head. Every thought I have makes me wonder if you would agree or approve with it. I love you Shiny, I love you so much right now that I can barely think about anything else.”

Shining Armor licked his lips as he felt Sunset’s breath on his nose. “You know, that might make Cadance a little jealous.”

As if on cue, the door to the bathroom flew open for Cadance to pop her head out. “No I’m not!” she said before frowning. “And don’t kiss on the lips right after waking up, morning breath ruins the mood.”

Both of the ponies on the bed turned their head to Cadance and blinked. “You’re listening at the door.”

Cadence rolled her eyes. “Well, the two of you are taking to long, so...Shining Armor, are you reasonably in love with Sunset Shimmer and have the desire to stick that big, black fleshy rod of yours deep into her as far as it will go?”

“Um...yes.”

Cadance’s eyes moved up a bit. “Sunset, are you madly in love with Shining Armor to the point where you can’t think about anypony else and want him to pound your moist mare hole as hard as he can?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Then by the power in me as High Princess of Equestria and Alicorn of Love, I pronounce you properly romanced, you may now commence making love,” Cadance told them. “So Sunset, get off of Shiny and into position. Shiny, mount that mare and bang her till she whinnys like a filly during her first heat.”

The door slammed shut a moment later, leaving the two alone. “Well, you heard Her Highness,” Sunset said before scooching over to give Shining Armor room to get up before she swished her tail to the side and raised it up. “Lord Armor, your Princess needs you to come into her castle. There’s a raging fire only you can save her from!”

A loud whinny from the bedroom made Cadance smile to herself as she stuck her hoof in the water to test the bath’s temperature. She didn’t know whether to feel happy about Sunset’s newfound passion for Shining Armor, or pity for Shiny being the center of Sunset’s infatuation. If the poor colt thought the alicorns had made him work before, he was in for a rude awakening.

There was a tiny flare of jealous thought over the fact that Sunset was so enamored with Shining Armor, but Cadance quickly shook it off. Back when she had been getting the two of them together, Cadance had noticed her sexual attraction early on. It would have been a simple matter to snatch up Sunset’s attention and keep it all to herself. Cadance had chosen the two of them to be together.

The fact that Sunset had slapped her choice aside in favor of a threesome, something she had learned about while on Earth, just meant that Cadance would be allowed to join in on their love and share hers as well. But the relationship was like a plate that was precariously balanced on a stick, jealous thoughts would send it tumbling in an instant.

You knew this wasn’t going to be easy, the pink princess told herself as she tried to order the confusing feelings galloping around her head. She wanted Sunset Shimmer to make love to her, to beg Cadance for her attentions or just throw the pink princess onto the bed and ravish her body like a pony who hadn’t gotten a bite to eat in weeks. But she also wanted Shining Armor to take her with his newly enhanced physique that pushed Cadance to the limits of what she could comfortably handle. She wanted to hold them, to be held by them, to make love to them in every conceivable way before inventing whole new ones that would drive the three of them to completely new levels of pleasure.

Both of which she realized she could have at that very moment. So, after testing the water and feeling that it needed to cool down a bit, she grabbed a pair of washcloths from the cabinet and wetted them before heading into the bedroom. “Okay you two, let’s get cleaned up aaaaaaaand a bit more dirty,” she said with a smile that belonged on a centaur.

The content smile on Sunset’s face that Cadance had caught upon entering disappeared in a mass of confusion as Shining Armor moved to cover himself up out of reflex more than anything else. “Cadance,” the amber alicorn said. “What did yooooooo!” she exclaimed as the pink pony wiped her feminine area clean and set the damp rag onto a nearby table while tossing Shining Armor his cloth.

“What I want,” Cadance said before leaping onto the bed like a predator and pinning the bigger alicorn beneath her. “Is you.”

Sunset smiled up at her as she laid on her back. “Silly. I’m already yours.”

The statement had Cadance pausing for a moment. “Yes,” she said in realization before she reached forward to caress the side of Sunset’s face. “You are, aren’t you?”

Saying such a thing left a feeling of contentment in Cadance’s heart that she hadn’t been expecting. When she had first entered the odd relationship she had with Sunset, Cadance had been sure it would be the amber alicorn calling all the shots. After all, Sunset was naturally powerful and commanding, everything that Cadance knew she would have to work her plot off to even have a hope of being; nevermind the impossible levels of magic and strength that Sunset wielded which Cadance knew she would never have a prayer of matching. Every scrap of common sense said that it was Sunset who would be the alpha pony in the relationship.

But around Cadance, she was submissive. Sunset followed the pink princess’s lead as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Deferring to her in nearly all respects, except in the areas that anypony with half a brain knew Sunset would be the better choice to get things done. It seemed almost unnatural that a pony who had been raised by Celestia to rule Equestria would bow to another in any situation.

While Cadance had tried to make things go a different way, tried to be the follower to Sunset’s lead as she did her best to learn from the bigger pony’s example, it was clear to her that things wouldn’t be working out like that. She still respected Sunset more than anypony in existence and would bow to her in public when she was ready to take on the title of High Princess of Equestria, but Cadance understood that she would always hold the reins in their relationship.

“So, my big sexy pony,” Cadance said as she licked her lips. “How should I have my fun with you this morning?”

The door opened behind her, making Cadance swish her tail in irritation. “Yes?” she asked before looking back to see who had ruined her moment.

The black unicorn mare was taller than most, with a dark green mane and glasses sitting on her muzzle. Hidden Figures was supposed to be the best accountant and personnel management mare in Equestria, if not the world. Although, she could use a bit of learning when it came to manners. The pony didn’t even look the least bit bothered by the fact Cadance was on top of her fillyfriend in a room that reeked of sex.

“Princess,” she raise before adjusting her glasses. “Since you’re going to be gone for most of the day, I came to see if you wanted me to do more than just stand around the palace.”

Sunset gave her a frown. “Don’t you know how to knock?”

Hidden Figures moved her head slightly. “I did, Princess Sunset. Although, I guessed that you shouting, come, come in me Shiny, were not addressed to me,” she explained evenly. “So, I decided to wait until after you whinnied and the banging stopped.”

The response made Sunset’s eyes go wide. “Oh, um...that’s…” She blushed and reclined her head. “Thanks for that.”

Cadance didn’t know whether to laugh, chastise her glorified secretary, or just ignore the pony so she could get back to business. She was about to tell the pony to start trotting, but something occurred to her before she could get a word out. Since they were still waiting back for the income reports from her estates, Hidden Figures didn’t really have much to do in the way of managing Cadance’s financial affairs, which meant she could be put to work on other things. “Now that I think about it, there is something I want you to look into.”

Chapter 2: A Completely Mundane Morning

Sunset opened her eyes with a tiny jerk as she was kicked from an extremely confusing dream. A dark room that really wasn’t all that bad thanks to the pegasus parts in her eyes greeted her. Cadance was asleep on top of her, gently snoring into the larger alicorn’s coat. Like usual, her mane smelled of strawberries from the shampoo she used from the night before.

Which made Sunset a little hungry for strawberries.

And Cadance. But, that was normal. Sunset was always hungry for Cadance in the morning as of late. It was one of the differences between human and pony sex. Pony taste buds enjoyed the taste of her lover’s sex.

There was a brief second where Sunset thought about the fun they could have if Cadance was covered in strawberry jam. Then, Sunset’s reality cut through years of sexual memories and she realized that having to get strawberry jam off of Cadance’s coat wouldn’t be pleasant for either of them.

While still trying to work the mental image of Cadance covered in jam out of her mind, Sunset became aware of another feeling. Despite just waking up, something felt...off.

It wasn’t anything really major, just an odd feeling in the back of her head. An odd pull in the back of her mind. There was nothing outright wrong, but...something...some little thing just wasn’t right either.

Sunset frowned. Had she forgotten something?

It was as if she had forgotten something, knew that she had forgotten something, but couldn’t figure out what that something was. Being a girl that prided herself on her brain, which included a near perfect memory, the inability to remember just what it was that she had apparently forgotten irked her to no end.

So, she decided to deal with her problems in the most logical way: by snuggling up to her boyfriend and having some hot and heavy early morning sex so that she could concentrate on something that would be impossible to forget about, what with it rammed up inside of her. Sunset reached over with a hoof and came up with...nothing.

Confusion mounted over a lack of colt in her bed that should have been getting ready to mount her.

“Shiny?” she asked in confusion when her stallion wasn’t to be found.

She looked around the dark room before her eyes drifted to the obvious place he might be. Weeks of having to listen to Cadance’s come-ons made Sunset follow in her girlfriend’s steps. “Hey Shiny, if you woke up all stiff, I can help you take care of it,” Sunset said in the direction of the bathroom door before loudly smacking her lips. Then, Sunset realized just what she was doing.

Embarrassing as it was to her old self, who had slept with more guys than humans had fingers on one hand, Sunset found that she enjoyed the feeling of giving her boyfriend some oral attention. And thanks to the change in species, the taste was far from unpleasant.

The light weight on Sunset’s chest shifted around. “Hm?”

“I was just…” Sunset said before she looked back in time to see Cadance opening her mouth wide for a yawn. As she waited for the princess to finish, Sunset remembered the events of the night before. “Right, Shiny went home after we got done practicing. Forgot about that for a second.”

Still, the odd feeling in the back of her mind didn’t go away, despite the question being answered. Shining Armor not coming home wasn’t the thing that was scratching the back of her mind.

Cadance pulled herself up and gave Sunset a peck on the nose. “Well, I hope you didn’t forget what happened after we got back home,” she said with a smile. “That was awesome. You need to do me like a bear starved for honey more often.”

Rather than let Cadance go on into some sex talk, Sunset cleared her throat. “C-Cadance?”

“Hm?”

Sunset gulped. “Do you mind if I ask you something, about Shiny, I mean?” she asked. “You’re the relationship pony, and well, it’s a relationship question. So…”

A cautious look was her answer before Cadance even started to speak. “Is this going to be another thing where you realize you’re happy and need to try and sabotage it by being too hard on yourself or over analyzing something to find the smallest problem and make a big deal out of it?”

Sunset stared at Cadance for several seconds, unable to toss the question aside. “Uh...maaaaaybe?” She replied nervously as the back of her mind continued to pull at her.

After letting out a long sigh, Cadance shifted around to push herself up to look down on Sunset. “Okay, what’s got my favorite filly fretting today?” she asked before glancing at the empty third of the bed. “Shiny?”

“Are we too physically demanding on him?” Sunset asked right on top of Cadance’s question. “I know we’ve talked about it before. But, we’re not laying off with the sex stuff anymore and...he went home instead of going to bed with two mares that love to fuck his brains out after an extreme exercise routine.” From her experience, girls were the only ones that got too tired for sex.

And she knew from past experience with her little stallion that things weren’t that different in Equestria than on Earth in that aspect. Mares just liked to make most of the moves. At least, Sunset did.

Cadance paused for a moment and gave enough physical cues to show she gave the question a little thought. “Remember our little conversation at breakfast yesterday? We’re teenagers, or close enough to that age in your case, and this is our first real big relationship with a colt. And don’t tell me all the time you slept with naked apes, different species don’t count,” she said before thinking about it a little more. “Okay, we are pretty carnal in our desires. Which is way different than what I thought a relationship should be before we started sleeping with Shiny. But when it really comes down to it, this is just a phase, Sunset. Eventually, the fires are going to cool and we won’t be as physically active with him as we are now. If you want to throw some water on the fire before it does that naturally, hmm...okay, that may be a problem.”

When Cadance simply stopped there, Sunset started to become worried. “What?”

“Well, three pony relationship dynamics are complicated,” Cadance said as she rolled onto her back. “And you may be right, we may be putting too much of a strain on Shiny both physically and emotionally with all the sex. Even though we fulfill each other's needs a lot, we do expect a lot from him.”

“But we can’t just tone it down, either,” Cadance went on. “He’s gonna read that as we’re upset with him about something or are losing interest in him, which is probably gonna terrify the buck out of him. Considering where our relationship began, that’s a bad thing.”

Sunset blinked before she thought about it for a second and came up with the perfect answer. “Okay, so...we’ll just tell him that we understand the pressure we’re putting on him and if he wants to back off, then we’ll do it.”

A snort came from Cadance’s nose as she looked over to the other alicorn evenly. “And after you’re done telling him that he’s not stallion enough to handle us, be sure you rip off his penis. Because I doubt he’ll have much use for it when you’re done verbally castrating him.”

“He’ll take it that badly, huh?” Sunset asked hesitantly.

Cadance moaned and rolled back onto Sunset to lay her head down on the amber alicorn’s chest. “One of the trickiest things about balancing the three of us is the starting point of our relationship,” she lamented. “We’re alicorns, he’s not. But we’re the ones that decided to come after him. He only proved himself worthy of us when we were on dates. If it had been the other way around, with Shiny doing something brave and spectacular to get our attention, this would be easy. He’d just have to do things to show that he loves us, even when we don’t need that to keep loving him. But as things stand, there will always be this tiny little voice in the back of his head telling Shining Armor that one day, we might decide to just leave him because there was nothing really spectacular that attracted us to him in the first place.”

Anger built up in Sunset after hearing Cadance’s assment. “You mean besides the fact that he’s kind, loving, funny-”

“Sunset,” Cadance interrupted. “You don’t have to tell me that. I love him almost as much as you do.”

“Uh, Cadance-”

“And don’t start with me about some kind of equal love junk I know isn’t true, even if you believe it,” she said. “I know I’m the third wheel on this cart. I accept that. I have to if I’m going to make things work. If I didn’t, the three of us wouldn’t last a week.”

Sunset didn’t like the way that sat in her mind either. “Cadance,” Sunset said as she tried to think of a way to tell the Alicorn of Love that she was wrong. Which she was. Sunset couldn’t see herself being without either of them. In the end, all she could do was state the obvious. “I love you.”

“I know,” she said before moving to kiss Sunset lightly on the lips. “But that’s also what makes this whole thing so difficult. For centuries, two ponies declared their love and decided to put each other over everypony else. It was simple. They could have foals, but that's a different type of love. Now, there’s three of us trying something new and...things have gotten complicated. Every little decision has to be weighed on a scale with three balance points instead of two. If one takes on too much weight, everything comes crashing down.”

The seriousness that Cadance spoke with made Sunset feel somewhat inadequate. When it came to their relationship, Sunset treated the two ponies she was hooked up with like friends with benefits. She had a hell of a lot more friends back on Earth and they worked out just fine. “Is it bad that I don’t take this with the same level of seriousness as you?” she asked.

Cadance fidgeted. “Honestly? I am a little peeved you don’t take it as seriously as me. But at the same time, I’ve seen what happens when you worry too much, Sunset. The burden of this new type of relationship is something I choose to bear because I know I can. You’re not forcing me into anything.”

“Still, I feel like there’s something I should do to make it up to you,” Sunset told her.

After a little more shuffling around, Cadance stood up on the bed. “In that case,” she said before walking backwards a little and laying down to put her lips on the part of Sunset’s underbelly not covered by her coat. “There is something I’d like.”

She kissed Sunset’s bare skin, making the amber alicorn shiver at the light ticklish sensation. It also took her a moment to realize just where Cadance was putting her lips down. “You wanna suck my horse teats now too?”

Cadance giggled. “No. Although, there might be something to my lack of a birth mother and how much the idea of milking you with my mouth is so appealing,” she said before pausing to raise her head and looking Sunset in the face. “What I’m wondering is, can you make alterations to your human form?”

The question had Sunset working with some of the possibilities of the spell mechanics as she blinked at Cadance. “Like what?”

“Maybe making yourself a bit bigger, stronger, more durable, pad your plot a bit more...that sort of stuff,” the pink princess explained.

Sunset smirked as she saw where this was going, with her towering over Cadance as a human that only existed in some very peculiar nerd fantasies of amazonian women. “And I suppose that if I happen to give myself bigger boobs in the process, all the better, right?”

After giving her a thoughtful look, Cadance shrugged. “That would be a bonus, but I’m more interested if you could make a human body capable of having sex with Shiny.”

The explanation of Cadance’s reasoning made Sunset’s eyes go wide. “Say what?”

“I want you to have sex with Shining Armor while you’re in a human body,” Cadance told her. The pony’s face became one of concern. “It would be one way of getting around your ah...growing problem. But judging by what happened the first time we slept together, intercourse with a colt like Shiny would cause some real damage to you if your so fragile in human form. Not to mention the size of your equipment, I don’t think it would be able to fit his comfortably.”

Sunset continued to stare at Cadance. While her mind could process many things, what Cadance was saying was...too much of the wrong information. “You want Shiny to what now?” she asked in disbelief.

Cadance smiled back at her. “Ride human you like a filly in her first heat,” she said before biting her lower lip. “Mmmm, just thinking about him thrusting into you, over and over again. His balls slapping against your butt, your fat teats jiggling with every impact. I just...yeah, you’re gonna have to get me off before we get out of bed.”

With her mind still distracted, Sunset quickly did as she was told as her brain calculated just how Shining Armor would feel inside of her as a human. Which caused Cadance to let out a surprised yelp as she went flying across the room to crash through the door on the far wall and into the living room thanks to Sunset pushing the pink princess off of their bed.

“Not what I meant!” Cadance called out from Sunset’s living room.

Sunset winced. Sometimes, it was easy to forget she could probably crack the planet in two if she stomped around too much. “Sorry!” she apologized before reapplying a few kinetic dampener spells that must have run out during the night. They wouldn’t stop everything, but did make the accidents less bone breaking.

Shining Armor opened his eyes to a black darkness before he lit up his horn and did the same to the lamp next to his bed. Although he had no idea what the time was, the lack of light outside told him that he was probably the first one up.

The lack of the girls was definitely noticeable. Shining Armor missed the smell of Cadance’s shampoo and Sunset’s overwhelming presence that he could just be completely surrounded by when she cuddled with him. It was still embarrassing to him, thinking about how he had gone from being a unicorn who wanted to be the big strong pony, to a unicorn that liked to be held by his much larger fillyfriend.

And much more powerful. And authoritative. And...still growing. In fact, Shining Armor had a sneaking suspicion that by the time Sunset was done, the view he had of her at the Princess Fair a few days ago would be the norm.

Of course, if Sunset ever found out the way he felt, she’d probably freak out and go on about how she was stifling him or other such silly things. She was weird like that. And caring. Which was probably why the idea of her having a panic attack made him smirk when the reality of it wasn’t cute at all.

When his body forced him to get up and take care of unavoidable morning tasks that required the use of a specialized room, Shining Armor shifted his thoughts away from the girls and over to other matters. His mother and father hadn’t been very enthusiastic about the idea of holding a big party so soon after they were supposed to be moving into a new house, but after Shining Armor explained it had been Cadance’s alicorn future-vision thing telling them to, they had reluctantly agreed.

Once he was done in the bathroom, the sound of hooves on the outside of the door caught Shining Armor’s attention. So he wasn’t very surprised to find Twilight in the upstairs hallway with a drowsy look on her face. Actually glad for once that Sunset insisted that he clean himself beyond what any normal pony would consider rational after going to the bathroom, Shining Armor reached out to pick his baby sister up and hold her close as he leaned up against the wall while sitting down. “Hey there, Twily. You’re up early. Is something wrong?” he asked as he gave her a hard once over.

The little purple pony yawned for several seconds before she replied with a question of her own. “Why’d you come home last night, Shiny? Is Princess Sunset mad at you?”

The way Twilight always went for the worst possible explanation that she could think of had started to worry him since meeting Sunset. She had shown him what that kind of thinking looked like when it was all grown up. “No. They just uh, wanted to keep playing after I got tired and this is the last week we’ll be spending at home so I thought I should spend my last few days here. And what makes you think I didn’t want to spend my last few days here with you instead of with a pair of silly princesses?”

“Because you’ve spent much more time with me than you have with Princess Sunset and Princess Cadance,” Twily replied before she leaned her head down on Shining Armor’s shoulder. “By all logical measurements, you need to spend years more with them to catch up to all the time you spent with me.”

Considering it was the pre-dawn hours and the fact that Twilight hadn’t been getting up before the down regularly thanks to a pair of alicorns who didn’t know how to sleep all the way through the night, Shining Armor made a guess. “Did you have a bad dream?”

It took Twilight a moment to respond, but eventually, she nodded her head. “I dreamed that Princess Celestia banished us from Equestria because Princess Sunset didn’t want to play with you anymore.”

Shining Armor ran a hoof down Twilight back. “Come on, Twily. You know Princess Celestia wouldn’t do that.” On top of which, he doubted she could if she even wanted to. It was Cadance that had all the legal power these days.

“How do you know for sure?” Twilight asked fearfully. “What if you did something that made Princess Sunset really mad and then-”

“Twily,” Shining Armor said before she could work herself into a panic. “If you’re that worried about it, how about you go along with Mom when she goes to the palace and hear it from Princess Celestia yourself?”

The suggestion kept Twilight quiet for a few seconds as she paused to think. “Hmm, think she’ll let me?”

“Well, we can ask her at breakfast,” Shining Armor said before he lifted Twilight up in his magic and put her on his back. “Now come on, I’ll let you sleep with me until the sun comes up.” If they were lucky, Twily could get another hour of two of sleep before the day started.

-Break-

“Come to the palace with me today?” Twilight Velvet said, repeating her daughter’s question as she placed the oat cake in front of the little purple pony, much to her daughter’s distaste. Just because Twily was smart enough to know that certain food was good for her didn’t mean she liked it. “What for, sweetie?”

The hesitation on the foal’s face grew until Twily looked away from her mother. “W-Well, there’s something I want to ask Princess Celestia,” she said. “It’s um...i-important.”

Velvet sent over the rest of her daughter’s breakfast, a mix of fruits and vegetables onto one of the small plates before she sat down at the head of the table. “I’m sure I can just pass it along if you want.”

“No!” Twily exclaimed, looking back to her mother as she did and bringing her neck forwards. “I have to be the one to do it!”

“Well…” Velvet paused to think. All she really did was sit around and watch Princess Celestia pass judgement on the cases brought before her before going to lunch with the big pony and listen to her talk about the worries every mother had about her daughter, if a little amplified by her guilt over some supposed past neglect Velvet didn’t really understand, as well as how proud Celestia was of both the girls. “I don’t see the harm in it.”

If it wasn’t for the fact that Princess Celestia was an immortal demi-goddess and second most powerful pony in Equestria, both politically and magicly, Velvet might have been able to think of her as just another mare worried about her filly. It was the one way she could bring herself to deal with the larger pony.

There was a knock at the door and after a brief look that the family shared, Shining Armor got up from his cushion to trot over and open it. From her position near the dining table, Velvet could barely see his rear end disappear in a blur of motion before there was a loud Mmmmm sound, followed by smack.

“Missed you,” Princess Sunset’s voice carried into the house before a similar noise quickly followed.

“Missed you just as much,” Princess Cadance added after her own very loud kiss.

Shining Armor chuckled nervously in a way Velvet could hear the blush. “I uh...missed you girls too.”

As soon as the girls were through the entryway and Sunset had wrapped a wing around Shining Armor’s back, Twily jumped down from her raised seat to dash over to the pair. Halfway there, Cadance intercepted the foal and took a stance like she was a predator getting ready to pounce.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!” the two of them repeated in unicorn before going into the other motions. “Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

After they were finished, Cadance giggled and scooped Twily up to give her a kiss on the cheek. “How’s my favorite little filly doing today, hm?”

Twilight giggled at the attention as Cadance held her close to nuzzle the smaller pony. “I’m good, Princess Cadance,” she said before pausing and letting out a hesitant sound. “Um, is everything good between you and Shiny?”

Cadance gave Shining Armor a perplexed look as Sunset continued to hold the colt close and nuzzle him intensely before she turned her head back to Twily. “Of course it is, sweetie. What makes you think otherwise?”

“Well, he came home last night,” Twily told her.

“And he’ll be home tonight, too,” Sunset said, finally stepping away from Velvet’s son. “We’ve got some uh...interspecies, xeno-biological research to do tonight. So...oh, shoot! I’ve got to have a word with that drill instructor too.” She looked over to Twilight Velvet. “Shiny did tell you guys about the party, right?”

Twilight Velvet sighed at the question. “We were informed as such, yes. Girls…” She stopped, unsure as to how she should proceed. Usually, a mare’s son’s fillyfriend couldn’t just say ‘party at my coltfriend’s place!’ without getting in serious trouble. However, Twilight Velvet wasn’t dealing with the usual fillies.

Or the usual party. From what Shiny had said, what the girls had told them to make was a very serious social event that Twilight and Night had only read about in the newspapers. Something a simple stargazer had no idea how to do on her own.

“I’m really sorry to just drop this on you, Mrs. Velvet,” Sunset told her with lowered ears and a hunch in her stance that almost put them at eye level. Which was quite a drop since Princess Sunset was more than a head taller than normal mares.

“Please Sunset, if I’m going to be dropping your title, you can do the same to mine,” she told the royal mare that was in fact a full-grown pony, not the teenager her records said she was. She still didn’t know how to feel about that her son was going out with a mare at least four years his senior, if not five. There were both good and bad things about being with an older pony. “And, Shining Armor explained it to me. Cadance had some kind of...vision?”

The pink pony put Twily down and patted her back towards the breakfast table before she came over to see the gray unicorn. “Premonition. It was more of a feeling that guided my words than any real vision,” Cadance explained. “Auntie Celestia tells me that I’ll get full blown auditory and visual ones eventually. But right now, all I can manage are feelings that guide more logical trains of thought. They mostly come when I’m plotting out at a pony’s lovelife, but I get them in other places too.”

Velvet looked back to Sunset. “Any suggestions on how to proceed?”

“We told Mom what’s going on, so she can probably give you a list of ponies after you invite her,” Sunset told her. “Make sure you do it at court too, uh...knowing her, she’ll probably make some kind of big scene. Just try to roll with it.”

Despite the fact that proprity told her to remain silent, Velvet couldn’t help herself. “Dear, if your mother’s involved, I’m afraid of being run over by it,” she said with a tiny smirk.

Sunset didn’t seem to appreciate the humor. “If you want, I can have a few words with her,” she said with a frown.

“Oh, heavens no!” Velvet told her quickly. When she noticed all eyes in the room were suddenly on her, including the crossword addicted ones of her husband that she had pulled away from his newspaper, Twilight Velvet crouched in on herself a bit. “It’s just...she’s Princess Celestia. Ever since I was a foal, she has been this unapproachable...thing. And now...I’m having lunch with her, talking about, well...things that I’d expect to talk to my neighbor about! It’s...hard to process, that’s all.”

The explanation seemed to placate the amber alicorn, as Sunset’s wings stopped bristling and she came down from her full height. “Oh, that’s uh...yeah, I guess I never really had to deal with that, what with Mom grabbing me up when I was so young. Sorry, can’t give you any advice on how to deal with the upheaval. I just went through it in reverse.”

There was a little twitch as Princess Sunset broke eye contact and looked in the direction of the castle with a frown. Velvet knew there was a bigger story there, not just what she had been told. But she didn't know what to do about it either. Prying too much was completely out of the question. “Still there,” she mumbled.

“Hey Shiny, hurry up and go finish your breakfast, we don’t want to be late,” Princess Cadance said before she led Twilight’s son back to the table to take her own unofficial seat next to him, so close that she wrapped a wing around his back and rested her head on the side of his. “Hmmm, I think I need some more practice with my magic.”

After watching Cadance lift some grapes to Shining Armor’s mouth, which he took with an embarrassed air about him from having the pink alicorn fawn over him so, Twilight Velvet looked back towards the other alicorn...and gulped. Princess Sunset was standing at her full height, looking down at the much shorter Twilight Velvet with the same expression the unicorn had seen Princess Celestia use the day before in court, during those times when a pony brought forth a serious matter to be considered.

It was a sharp contrast to the mare she had seen just a few days before, one Twilight Velvet had to bathe and give a fresh clipping before her coronation because Sunset had been such a mess. She had seemed to be just as much as a frightened little foal that Twilight Sparkle sometimes was back then.

Now, Sunset Shimmer towered over her with a hard expression that made her want to cower in fear. Velvet could almost see the scales behind the amber alicorn’s eyes tilting back and forth as they weighed the unicorn’s worth, her life, her very soul. All the light seemed to disappear from the room before the room itself vanished, leaving just Twilight Velvet, and the being that stood in judgement over her. All the pretext and lies Velvet had managed to tell herself regarding Princess Sunset Shimmer with the alicorn’s help were burned away and she was left with the undeniable truth: that the pony before her was a demigoddess and so far beyond her that to harbor any other thoughts was the highest of insults.

“I’m going with you.”

And just like that, Twilight Velvet found herself standing in her living room again, looking at the much bigger mare as Sunset wore a perturbed look on her face. “W-What?”

Princess Sunset gave her a little smile. “I’m going with you,” she repeated. “It’s not fair that you have to deal with this kind of stuff without any preparation. If you’re worried about Mom, I’ll break the ice, help you lay some groundwork, then head back to school come lunch. Sound good?”

Twilight Velvet’s lungs screamed for air that she hadn’t realized she had been denying herself, making her take in a deep breath as a bead of sweat that must have appeared while she had been frozen by Princess Sunset’s gaze traveled down between her eyes. Velvet sucked in a deep breath before responding. “Y-Yes. That’s very...yes. Thank you Prin-um, I mean S-Sunset.”

The much bigger pony blinked at the mare's reaction and winced. “Sorry, I didn't mean to um…I-I better tell Shiny what's going on.”

“You’re ready to admit your feelings for Fleur?”

The words Princess Cadance had spoken the day before ran through Sassy’s head again as she met her best friend that was standing outside of her apartment, looking over a little black book that had become a little obsession of hers as of late.

Just like every other time Sassy had seen her, Fleur looked perfect. Her body had quite literally been made to attract the attention and desires of other ponies thanks to some alchemical treatments to increase her height, horn and muzzle length. Sassy had gotten the same treatments as part of the deal with Upper Crust’s family, but she had to admit, she didn’t take to them nearly as well as Fleur. The way Fleur swayed her hips when she walked, the way she had exercised in just the right way to let her flank fill out a bit while keeping the rest of her slender, everything about her screamed sexy.

Except, for her expression. The look in Fleur’s eyes as she read through the book Fancy Pants had ordered her to learn had none of the confidence, kindness, or superiority that Sassy had come to admire so much in her friend. Her eyes were sunken and depressed, like a pony who had given up.

Hoping to put a bit of cheer into her friend’s life, Sassy did her best not to make any noise by getting on the grass that the entrance to Fleur’s apartment complex had in front of it and carefully walking up until she was standing behind the beautiful pony that was letting her saddlebag double as a cushion as she sat on the street. Once she was behind Fleur, Sassy pounced as lightly as she could as not to put too much weight onto her friend and wrapped her forelegs around the bottom of Fleur’s neck as she pressed in close for a tight hug.

“Bwa-wha-S-Sassy?” the other unicorn exclaimed as the book she had been reading filtered about wildly before Fleur’s magic dropped it completely. “What’re you doing?”

With Fleur being obsessive about her makeup, Sassy moved in close and planted a light kiss on the back of her ear before giggling and rubbing her barrel against Fleur’s back. “Well, it’s getting a bit chilly these days and I thought you could use an extra coat. So I thought I’d share mine.”

The confused look on Fleur’s face intensified. “Did...you just...feed me a pick-up line?”

“Eh?” Sassy asked.

Fleur’s expression became concerned. “You aren’t reheating, are you?” she asked. “It’s been a few days, but after the week I had, I can understand a pony’s oven unexpectedly firing up again. So...we’ll miss the first period, but if you need me to help you out, we can go back down to my place and cool you off.”

Thoughts of the last time the two of them were together rushed into Sassy’s mind. She remembered the fire burning inside of her, making every single part of her mare parts sensitive and how gentle and caring Fleur had been with every kiss and touch of her tongue. Although Princess Cadance had provided them with special equipment that could reach deep within her, and she was very grateful for that, they weren’t what made every single heat she had since her first stupendously special.

Sassy remembered every touch, kiss and lick that Fleur had given her. How she had cried out the mare’s name time and time again, begging for more until all she could do was produce a bestial neigh of pleasure as Fleur continued to push her over the edge. Memories of those nights stayed with her for days afterwards, weeks, even.

And all she had to do was say yes, and Sassy could experience that joyous rapture all over again. Even more so, considering how the throbbing biological need to breed wouldn’t be filling her mind with unfulfilled demands.

“I...I um…” Sassy bit the inside of her lip and released Fleur to quickly back away from the pony and sit hard on the cold, wet grass. She gave Fleur a bright smile and did her best not to think about all the times Fleur reached down deep within her. “I’m good! Perfectly fine!” What was that? Sassy demanded of herself.

She and Fleur had taken care of each other’s heat since they began! Even after they decided to no longer be a couple, Fleur had graciously taken Sassy into her home and cooled her off in the same way they always had. While there was always the unpleasantness of the Fall and Winter dry spells, she hadn’t ever worked herself up about it around the sexy pony.

The other unicorn blinked before absently picking up her book and standing up to properly place her saddle bag after knocking some of the sidewalk dirt that had clinged to it. “Are you sure?” she asked before getting a little serious. “Here. Turn around and lift your tail, let me see.”

Sassy’s eyes went wide as she thought of presenting herself to Fleur. The white unicorn would put her nose right up to Sassy’s exposed sex. Her breath would touch it. Her nose would detect the scents coming from it. And then, she would extend her talented tongue and- “I’m fine!” Sassy squawked.

“A-Are you sure?” Fleur asked. “It’s not trouble and there’s nopony around up this early.”

Sassy’s mind continued to assault her with the idea of Fleur pressing her nose between Sassy’s checks, delving deeper into the other unicorn’s depths with her long, loving tongue. “I don’t need you to lick-I mean! Look! I-I’m…” Sassy blushed as she remembered the feeling of Fleur’s hooves on her plot as her legs gave out and the white pony kept her aloft. “I’m fine!”

“Oh...kay,” Fleur slowly relented before cautiously turning down the road.

Once the other unicorn had gotten far enough that Sassy knew she wasn’t going to rush back as soon as the blue mare stood up, Sassy got to her hooves and did her best not to think of the dampness between her rear cheeks. Please let that just be the morning dew from the grass, she begged before following the pink-maned unicorn’s perfect plot as she sauntered down the street.

-Break-

Despite bracing herself for it, Cadance still stumbled forward when Sunset ‘bamfed’ them onto the street across from the school. As she regained her legs, Sunset turned to look at Shiny. There was an odd nervousness in her eyes, but the pink alicorn didn’t know if it was a wise move to call attention to it.

“Okay, gotta pop back to the house, pick up your mom and then port them to the palace,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll be done by the end of lunch so...meet on the roof? Your cloudwalking spell is still in place, so all Cadance needs to do is move the moisture around.”

Shining Armor gave Sunset a nervous smile as she looked down at him. “S-Sounds good.”

Instead of quickly exiting the scene, Sunset took a step forward and pressed her chest up against the bottom of Shining Armor’s neck. “Mmmm, you know, since I’m not going to see you for half the day, better get what I can while I can,” Sunset said before she reached down and locked her lips with the unicorn’s.

Shining Armor’s eyes went wide for a moment as his mouth was filled with Sunset’s tongue before he relaxed into the sensation and began to enjoy it. Despite the hotness of the scene, Cadance couldn’t stop herself from feeling a little jealous. She wished Sunset acted like that with her all the time, not just the private bedroom stuff that she had to coax out of the amber alicorn.

By the time the kiss finally broke, Shiny panted for air as his blush, or lack of oxygen, was put back under control and Sunset smacked her lips. “Mmmm, that was some good unicorn.”

The words made Shining Armor’s blush return. “S-Sunset!”

Seeing an opening, Cadance quickly trotted in. “My turn,” she said before rearing up and getting higher than Sunset to kiss her in the opposite manner than she had just done with Shining Armor. The pony beneath her trembled as their lips met and tongues danced, exchanging the taste of three ponies for several seconds before their lips unlocked. “Mmmm, love you.”

“Love you too,” Sunset said amorously.

“L-Love you girls,” Shiny stuttered nervously before he looked over to the growing number of students that were paying them attention from across the street.

With Shining Armor acting so uncomfortable his body language was screaming his nervousness out for everyone to see, Sunset moved closer to him in concern. “Shiny? What’s wrong?”

Cadance smirked and caught up to her fillyfriend. “You mean aside from the fact that our former little nerd is currently the center of everypony’s attention?” she asked Sunset before looking over to Shining Armor. “Honestly, Shiny, you just need to dive in and learn to revel in it, like I did.”

Without further adieu, Cadance spun around to the gossiping crowd and stood up tall. “Hey everypony!” she shouted before throwing a hoof out to the other two-thirds of her relationship. “Sunset just made out with both of us, using her tongue! Now watch this!”

Grabbing Shining Armor in her magic, Cadance extended her wings and reared up as she brought her Shiny to an equal height and touched her lips to his. With her wings holding her aloft, Cadance kept the pose for several seconds with only their lips touching as she wrapped her forelegs around her stallion and held him close.

When a full minute passed, Cadance finally broke away and let Shining Armor drop before she touched the ground as well and nuzzled his cheek. “I love my Shiny pony.”

A deep voice from behind cleared his throat. “Princess Cadance?” the new principal of the school asked as he took a step closer to them. “While you’re not on school grounds at the moment, it is my duty to remind you that such displays are frowned upon here at Canterlot Academy.”

“Well, as easy as it would be for me to change those rules, I’ll try to restrain myself during class,” she said happily.

Sunset sighed. “And with that, I’d better get going. See you at lunch,” she said before teleporting away.

As the principal looked at the formerly occupied space in confusion before turning to Cadance.

“Princess business,” she explained before the stallion went on his way, grumbling about how Celestia’s daughter needed to try and be a better role model.

Alone again, not counting the dozen-plus onlookers that Shining Armor kept glancing at from time to time, Cadance put herself alongside Shiny and leaned in close. “Sorry if we keep making you uncomfortable, but you really do need to get over your embarrassment. You’ll be happier, believe me.”

Cadance herself hadn’t been all that keen on having a spotlight shown on her when she first came to Canterlot, but the trouble that came from running from it was much worse than the temporary discomfort she experienced while learning to deal with it.

“I think it’s going to take more than a few weeks for that,” Shining Armor told her.

“I know,” Cadance said before kissing him on the cheek again, which made Shiny look at the crowd right as she kept talking. “But you’ll have me backing you up all the way.” And giving a few helpful pushes when needed.

However, something held his attention longer than it should have, and Cadance pulled her body away from his to see what was up. On the other side of the street, she spotted Fleur trotting along followed by a flustered Sassy that kept glancing back to a particular part of Fleur’s plot at least every two seconds. Then Shiny quickly started moving towards them. “Hey it’s some of the gang, let’s go say hello.”

It took a second for Cadance to catch up, but she quickly matched her pace to Shiny’s and smiled at the other two horned ponies. “Hey girls! Good to see you again.”

Sassy’s head whipped around towards Cadance and gave her a desperate look. “I need to talk to you!”

As the blue unicorn quickly grabbed Cadance’s leg, the pink princess offered no resistance as she was led away. “Um...okay,” she said before looking back to Shiny. “See you later, sweetie.”

As Shining Armor walked into the school, he found himself in a very uncomfortable position. The fact that everypony in the hallway stopped their conversations and looked at Shining Armor wasn’t anything new. Even before Sunset and Cadance started paying attention to him, Shining had gotten plenty of attention after a particularly bad day with Buck.

However, the looks he was getting now were...different.

A lot of the guys still frowned at him, but it wasn’t that ‘ew nerd’ kind of frown he was used to. And the girls didn’t have an expression of pity, but rather...something that was maybe a tenth of what Cadance gave him when they were alone...or surrounded by dozens of ponies. She didn’t seem to care which.

“Everything alright, Shiny?”

The question drew Shining Armor’s attention away from everything else and over to the mare beside him. Fleur De Lis, the cutest pony in the school; what with Cadance taking most attractive thanks to her all around perfection and Sunset grabbing the sexiest trophy with her big round rump. He was still surprised how nice she was, not to mention how well they got along.

It wasn’t just some hot filly vibe she gave off either. Fleur was a genuinely nice pony.

After clearing the distractions that came from looking at the older filly from his head, Shining Armor remembered he was supposed to be talking to her. “Just uh...little on edge. Being the center of their attention without a pounding headache or bloody muzzle to go along with it and take up all my attention is...weird.”

The young mare giggled a little bit. “You do realize that we’ve been the center of attention every day at lunchtime for some time now, right?”

“Sunset and Cadance are the center of attention, I just sit between them,” Shining Armor told her.

Fleur gave the other white unicorn a little smile. “That’s strange, because my eyes seem to drift more towards you than them, these days.”

For a brief moment, Shining Armor was so unnerved that he actually thought Fleur was being serious. But the idea of the top non-royal at school ever thinking about him like that was so ludicrous that it actually made Shining smile and give her a tiny laugh. “Heh. Thanks, Fleur. I uh...I needed that.”

“Oh…” the other unicorn said before her tiny smile fell off her face at terminal velocity before becoming confused. “That...uh...y-you looked like you needed something to cheer you up.”

Shining Armor stopped at his locker and let out another light snort at the idea of Fleur liking him. Even in his wildest dreams, that had never been a possibility. “So uh…” he asked before getting his books and closing the door to his locker. What he was going to say quickly died on his tongue as he noticed three other colts approaching him without the visual obstruction. “Oh...hey...guys.”

The three colts standing in front of Shining Armor had until yesterday, been in a tie for the position of best friend. The pegasus Eight-Bit was a bit of a romantic, the earth pony with the large glasses named Poindexter was definitely the most analytical of the three and then there was the unicorn Gaffer, who was the leader of the trio.

“Hello...normie,” Gaffer said as if the word was something that tasted vile. “What’re you doing here.”

Shining Armor blinked at the venomous words. “This is my locker,” he said before frowning a little. “And would you guys cut it out already? Is everything that happened seriously so bad?”

After pushing his glasses up closer to his face, Poindexter cleared his throat. “Must we recount the evidence again? You yourself admitted to taking physical enhancement potions.”

With his explanation being twisted, Shining Armor frowned back at them. “No I didn’t!”

“Sounds like somepony can’t even keep his story straight,” Eight-Bit cut in.

Poindexter continued. “You have acquired not only one, but two fillyfriends, not only in defiance to the one in five odds that any one of us would acquire a pony of the opposite gender that wasn’t well outside of the acceptable definition of attractive.”

“And you brought them into our hallowed sanctum sanctorum,” Eight-Bit added. “A place where only stallions should have been allowed to enter. You ruined the party!”

As the three geeks glared at Shining Armor, Fleur snorted and stepped forward. “In other words, you’re all jealous.”

Gaffer took a step back at the accusation. “Excuse me?”

“You’re jealous,” Fleur went on. “Beautiful ponies are paying attention to Shining Armor instead of you. He’s bulked up a bit and now looks better and his social standing is so far above yours, he could metaphorically step on the lot of you without noticing it. Admit it, you’re all just mad because Shining Armor stumbled onto the road of success, managed to find his hooves and got even further down it than anypony thought possible, and now you’re angry that it didn’t happen to any of you.”

The accusation got a frown from Gaffer. “Oh please, everypony knows that it’s the jocks, bullies and all you popular girls that are really jealous of us nerds!”

“Yeah!” Poindexter agreed. “Based on our superior intelligence, we’ll be the ones bossing them around in a couple dozen years and they don’t like that!”

Fleur rolled her eyes. “That’s a joke,” she said. “The jocks that shove you in the toilets don’t think ten minutes into the future. And being one of the hot fillies you probably stained your beds over, the only thing I only felt for any of you was pity whenever I saw Shining Armor walking down the halls with a limp. Now, Shiny. I know I’m not your usual escortee, but would you mind my company as you went to class?”

It took a second to shake himself out of the daze he was in, but once he could talk, Shining Armor nodded. “Um, y-yeah. And...thanks,” he told Fleur. “F-For standing up for me back there. I just, uh...don’t really know how to deal with those guys anymore.”

The beautiful mare looked back at him and smiled. “I’m sorry it took me so long to do it,” she said. “Hopefully, they’ll pull their heads out of their plots one day and see how stupid they’re being. Until then, I’ll be happy to call them on it for you.”

Shining Armor blinked when Fleur took a small side-step closer to him. Not close enough that they were touching coats, but closer than Shining Armor had ever been to a girl he hadn't slept with. It was an odd change, but...not an unwelcome one.

Cadance blinked as Sassy finished leading her out onto the empty polo field, then turned around in a fury. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?”

“C-Come again?” the pink princess stuttered as she took a step back from the emotional unicorn.

After taking a few deep breaths that she snorted out, Sassy resumed talking in a more reasonable manner. “Yesterday, after we spoke, I went home and didn’t really think about it. But today, after meeting with Fleur and trotting with her school, I can’t get her out of my head! So...WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?”

Since Sassy wasn’t making much more sense, Cadance blinked as she sifted through what the unicorn had said. “What do you mean, get her out of your head?”

“I can’t stop thinking about her! Thinking about her in ways only a mare in heat should be thinking about her best friend when she doesn’t have a stallion to take care of her needs,” Sassy said quickly. “The whole time I was heading here, I kept going back to the last time we were in heat together. Then, I started thinking about other things! T-Things that I didn’t do with Fleur, but...uh…” Her cheeks turned red. “Things I’d like to do...with...h-her.”

A second later, Sassy took in a deep breath and calmed down. “So, did you...do something, like...put a spell on me, or...something?”

Cadance opened her mouth to tell Sassy no, that she absolutely hadn’t done such a thing to her friend. On top of the fact that she didn’t even know any love spells, Sunset’s time in the human world had made the idea of any form of magically based mental manipulation abhorrent. Cadance would never spit on her lover’s sense of morality in such a way.

But...Sassy wasn’t exactly wrong, either.

“Well, I can assure you that there wasn’t any magic involved,” Cadance told the unicorn before she sighed and hung her head. “But I can’t say I didn’t influence your emotions in a way I shouldn’t have with what I said.”

Sassy blinked. “What do you mean?”

Hearing the question, Cadance paused. While she hadn’t done as much damage as she feared, going any further would definitely cause problems. But leaving her friend where she was at wasn’t acceptable either. “Sassy, if I answer that question...I need you to understand, it will change your entire view of the world and there’s no going back.”

“What do you mean?” Sassy asked again, more cautiously.

Cadance sucked in a breath as she tried to think of a good way to handle this situation. Back when she had been a simple matchmaker in her village, one of the biggest mistakes Cadance had ever made was telling another pony the feelings that she wasn’t ready to deal with or even admit existed. It skewed their development process and usually brought about action before the pony holding those feelings was ready to commit. “It’s about...perspective,” she explained as best she could without revealing anything. “Think of it like this. Right now, you and I are looking at a wonderful painting from two different angles. And from my angle, I can see something that you can’t, something that changes the very nature of the painting. It may even ruin it for you.”

After looking down at the grass for a moment, the unicorn looked back up to meet Cadance’s eyes. “You’re talking about my feelings for Fleur.”

With Sassy being so spot on, Cadance winced. “Yeah.”

“...am I in love with her?” she asked after a moment.

Cadance sucked in a breath. “I can’t answer that one for you, because doing so would defeat the purpose of you making that decision yourself,” she explained as gently as she could before becoming serious. “But, I do have a question, what happened between the two of you? I know there was something in the past, but…”

Sassy gave Cadance a forlorn smile. “Oh...that,” she said before letting out a loud sigh. “I suppose it’s the same with all first fillyfriends. We...heated up at the same time, the first time, I mean. Even though neither of us really knew what we were doing, she was still so perfect, while I was clumsy and everything else you could say about a filly who just did it wrong. But Fleur never laughed at me for it or anything. We started spending more time together after that, b-but it wasn’t anything two friends wouldn’t spend time doing, until...well...there was this one play we went to go see. A real play, not some magical illusion. It was a stupid little romantic comedy that was so bad the lead tripped over his own tail when he moved to kiss the mare on stage. Fleur laughed with everypony else, but said how she felt so bad for the poor stallion, and I...I um...I said he should have just...d-done this, and I kissed her. A-And it wasn’t a simple kiss between friends, I kissed her and I made sure she understood that it was a kiss meant for a pony you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.”

“So why did it end?” Cadance asked.

Sassy pulled in on herself. “Because I was stupid,” she told Cadance as her body trembled a little. “Fleur had always been the prettiest filly in school. Then that mare, Upper Crust. W-We weren’t really as friendly with her at the time, but she had been sniffing around us and s-she came with an offer for Fleur and her parents. How she would pay for the beauty treatments to make her look more like Princess Celestia and how Fleur would be able to go to all of the fancy parties to meet all these important ponies. Fleur was so excited, she said how she would get discovered as a model and then she would put my name in all the right ears, then she’d show off my designs in Manehattan. But...there was one other catch.”

“Fleur was being groomed to be a wife of a lesser noble, which meant she couldn’t be in a relationship,” Cadance finished for her before it became too painful for Sassy to talk.

It was something that happened a great deal in Canterlot. The less powerful houses would get into deals with some of the commoners to breed better heirs, be they good with magic, due a vast inheritance, or simply attractive. There were still a few things Cadance didn’t understand about the process, but there had probably been some poking around Fleur’s genealogy if she had been made such an offer.

The summarization got another little shudder from Sassy. “We weren’t as passionate as you are with Shining Armor, Highness. I even told myself that things were ending between us anyway. Then I said that things really wouldn’t change, and they didn’t!” she said as her tone became more desperate. “I still loved Fleur. I still cuddled with her for several days of the week, I still went to her apartment when I was in heat. E-Everything...it was...it was still the same! And our dreams were coming true, so...s-so...w-what did it matter if, if…I love Fleur. I never stopped, Princess. I just...told myself I did, apparently.”

Cadance gave her a knowing smile. “So, what’re you going to do about it?”

Instead of becoming more confident like she should have been doing, Sassy pulled in on herself. “I...don’t know.”

The unwanted answer got a frown from Cadance. “Well, if that’s the strength of your love, then maybe you should just let Fleur go on as she is.”

“NO!” Sassy shouted, her eyes wide with terror as she looked back up into Cadance’s face with an intensity that forced the pink princess back. “I can’t do that, not to her.”

Cadance tried to regain her mental balance at the unexpected outburst. “S-Say what?”

Sassy’s panic increased. “You, you don’t understand, Princess. Fleur, she...well, she doesn’t want to marry Fancy Pants. She...she can barely stand him!”

Not seeing the problem, Cadance tilted her head to the side. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known things were going that way after seeing the two of them sitting together at the coronation had told her that much. Fancy Pants barely looked at Fleur and a pony who was usually the center of attention wouldn’t like being ignored in such a way. “Okay.”

“So you have to do something about it!” Sassy exclaimed.

Cadance studied Sassy’s face for a moment. “By which, you mean put an end to their relationship.”

Sassy nodded. “Yes! You’re the Princess of Love, so it’s your royal duty, right?”

After sitting back down on the grass, Cadance sighed. “You’re going about this the wrong way.”

“W-What?” Sassy stuttered.

“Well for starters, you’re asking me to break up a relationship instead of trying to save it,” Cadance told her before looking away from Sassy to better concentrate on what she knew about Fleur and Fancy. “I’ll admit, there really isn’t much of a future for those two. Fleur went in knowing she’d be little more than an accessory. At the most, she’ll get used to being ignored and try to find contentment with spending all of her husbands money on cheap bobbles while going to extravagant parties. But it’s still their choice to continue on with it.”

Sassy stared at her in disbelief. “But...but Fleur, she…”

Before Sassy could continue, Cadance frowned at her. “Is she being physically abused in some way, or emotionally, beyond Fancy just looking at her like every other noble does with every other commoner pony? Does he shout her down? Insult her? Use the agreement between the two of them to force her to do physical things that are undesirable to her?”

If she was in some kind of physical danger, Cadance could bring herself to intervene. But if he was just a lousy coltfriend, that was something Fleur had to come to Cadance on her own for.

“Well...I-I don’t...think so,” Sassy replied as she looked down at the grass before shooting her head back up to meet Cadance’s eyes. “But still, you need to help her!”

Cadance moved onto the next big hole in Sassy’s plan. “And then what?”

After just staring at her frozen for a few seconds, Sassy blinked. “Pardon?”

As she let the fallout of such an action play out in her head, Cadance’s expression became hard. “Have you really thought how this is going to affect everything? Not just Fleur, but her family as well. Let’s say Fleur just decides to gallop away from Fancy Pants and into your forelegs. If that happens, House Covers isn’t just going to sit around.”

“I know. But, I have money, thousands and thousands of bits,” Sassy told the princess before seeming to realize what she had just said something she probably shouldn’t have. “Um, that is...I sold the designs for the dresses I made for you and Princess Sunset at the Formal. F-For a lot of money. Enough to just sit down and do nothing for years, decades, even! It doesn’t matter what would happen to her if she broke things off with Fancy. I could even offer him some kind of compensation.”

Cadance fought to keep her face an unreadable mask as she resisted the urge to wince. “That’s a bad idea.”

Obviously not understanding how the alicorn could possibly think that, Sassy’s frustration increased. “Why not?”

Seeing that just telling her friend no wasn’t going to be enough, the pink princess opted for the long explanation. “Alright, let’s just think about how things are going to play out if you do buy your crush from Fancy,” Cadance told her before Sassy moved to sit down. “You’ll have Fleur, as well as a line of clothing that’s guaranteed to be successful. Me and Sunset have already seen to that. Now, considering Fleur’s career choice, I’m also sure that you would have her modeling your line of clothes.”

Sassy nodded. “Of course. That’s what we’ve always wanted to do since the beginning!”

There was a long shake of Cadance’s head. “No. Before, the two of you would have been helping each other out. Both you and she would have broken into your respective careers on your own merits after your connections gave you the introductions you needed. You giving modeling jobs to Fleur is just that, charity.”

“But-”

Not wanting to be interrupted, Cadance continued over the unicorn. “Then, after she gets done with the workday that you gave her, trotting around in the clothes that you made her wear, you’ll take your little doll home to play something other than dress up,” she explained harshly. “It won’t happen overnight, but one day, months and maybe even years of you providing everything to Fleur, you’ll wake up next to her and you’ll notice something is different about her. You’ll notice that she isn’t as strong or confident as she used to be, and she sure as hay won’t be independent with you providing her with everything. And if she tries to be any of those things at that point, you’ll quickly remind her that she wouldn’t have anything without you before telling your sex toy to make up for her rudeness by using her tongue for its only good use.”

The princess’s face softened. “Sassy, a real, lasting, intimate relationship between a pair of ponies, or more than a pair, is built on a foundation of respect,” Cadance told her. “If it crumbles away, you would still love her, of course. Well, probably. But...it would be a pitiful thing that would imprison Fleur more than lift her up to let her be the mare you admire so much.”

The look in Sassy’s eyes dimmed. “Then, what am I supposed to do?”

Cadance gave her a little smile and trotted over to place a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Be there for her, just like I will. I never said I wasn’t going to help Fleur. But she has to be the one to make the first move. Otherwise, you might as well place a halter on her and call her your little pony from then on out, because that’s what she’ll end up being if you take this choice away from her. A little pony for you to trot around your house and play with.”

Teleporting was an interesting experience for Twilight Velvet. She was in her house, then nowhere, and then somewhere else, all at the same time. It was no wonder that Shining Armor described the experience as nauseous. As she worked to keep herself from falling over, Sunset looked up at the unicorn foal clinging to the back of her neck and resting her chin on the Princess’s head.

“Oh! Princess, you’re here!”

The familiar voice drew Velvet’s attention away from the opulence of Sunset’s living room, making her look to see a face that she hadn’t talked to in quite a while. Star Spangled was a bright young mare that had been the daughter of some co-workers with a very promising future. At least, she had been until one night of bad decisions had left her with a foal, but not a sire. With the sigma of being a young, unattached mother pinned on her like a second cutie mark, the poor dear’s future had been looking rather bleak. Then, Princess Sunset had stepped in. While the amber alicorn hadn’t simply waved her horn and made everything better, Velvet understood that she had taken steps to ensure Star completed her education while giving her a steady income.

“Well, at least you’re something,” a new pony that Velvet didn’t know added, making her look over to the mare that had used such a disrespectful tone towards a member of the royalty in confusion. “I don’t suppose you know where my employer has galloped off to this time?”

If Sunset was put off by the tall black mare’s words, she didn’t show it. “Sorry, Cadance is new at this whole underling thing,” the princess said, getting a twitch of an eye from the mare. “Might as well come with me. We’ll find you something to do. Uh...Star?”

The unicorn maid in palace livery looked over to Sunset. “Yes, Princess?”

To which Sunset gave her a nervous grin and actually pulled in on herself a little. “Sorry for all the messes.”

“Well I wouldn’t have much to do at all without you, Princess Sunset,” she said before offering a respectful curtsy. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to work.”

As the two young mares were bidding their farewells to each other, Velvet looked over to the taller unicorn with the dark black coat. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. My name is Twilight Velvet, and that little one on Princess Sunset’s back is my daughter, Twilight Sparkle.”

For a moment, she thought the mystery mare was just going to stand there. A few seconds ticked by before the tall black unicorn finally spoke to her. “Hidden Figures. I am Princess Cadance’s personal assistant in financial matters and other things relating to her personal holdings,” she replied in an even tone that didn’t sound the least bit friendly. Not unfriendly either, just...dulled.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said happily to try and get the taller unicorn to warm up to her. “Are you…” Velvet stopped, unsure of how she was going to ask the mare if she was in the same situation as Star, or if she was...not. “In the same program as Princess Sunset’s chambermaid?”

Hidden figures raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

“She’s asking if you’re pregnant,” Princess Sunset cut in without looking away from her bedroom’s window with all the tact of a...well, Velvet wasn’t sure if anything had that little tact. “Star hung out with a stallion that didn’t want to take responsibility for his half of the process, so I gave her a position in the palace so she’d have some income and time to complete a special academic regimen that will allow her to get a diploma.”

The eyes of Hidden Figures changed ever so slightly from the dull expression they had been before. She stepped forward with interest and looked down at the shorter mare. “You’re carrying a foal?”

Star blinked at the attention. “You couldn’t tell?”

“Well…” the taller mare stood up and cleared her throat. “I didn’t want to be rude. You were either fat, or a single mare with a foal on the way. Neither is something that ponies take much pride in or like attention being drawn to.”

A little smile appeared on Star’s face. “Thank you for that. You’re very kind, Ms. Figures.”

Hidden Figures’s eye twitched. “No I’m not.”

“Still feels like I’m forgetting something,” Sunset mumbled just barely loud enough to hear before she looked over at the uncomfortable unicorn and giggled. “Okay everypony, let’s get going before Figgy here has a breakdown from all those emotions she’s repressing,” the alicorn told them before leading the way out with Twilight on her back, who was looking a little tired.

Velvet wondered if she had gotten enough sleep the night before.

“So, got any of your own?” Princess Sunset asked the tall pony with a smirk when they got out into the hallway.

Hidden Figures joined the Princess at her side. “No,” she said evenly.

“But you want some,” Princess Sunset went on with a little smile. “I saw that look in your eyes. You want foals.”

There was a brief expression of discomfort that crossed Hidden’s face before she banished it and spoke. “I have a cousin with several very young fillies and colts. I will admit that they’re nice to be around...when they’re young.”

Velvet gave a short laugh. “Says the pony that probably doesn’t have to change the diapers.”

“Okay so, too late for breakfast...Mom’s probably in her study,” Sunset said before she turned to lead them in a new direction when the hallway they were in ended.

They barely got half a dozen steps before Hidden Figures spoke. “Tell me, Princess Sunset. Do you desire foals? Because the way you were asking implied there was some transference going on.”

Sunset stumbled before she looked back to the slimmer mare with wide eyes. “Urk. Um, that’s…” she glanced over to Twilight Velvet.

Who quickly gave the poor filly a giggle. “Don’t worry, Sunset. I’m not one of those mares that’s so desperate to play with newborns she pushes her son into making one before he or anypony else in the relationship is ready,” she said. Then, after a moment of thought, quickly added, “and I’m not so old that I don’t see another little colt coming up in my future.”

For the briefest of moments, a panicked expression crossed Princess Sunset’s face. Then, it was quickly replaced by a calculating one, which soon disappeared. “So ah...a...little brother or sister for, Twilight, then?”

The sound of her name brought the little purple bundle on Sunset’s back out of stasis. “Hm? Wha?” Twily asked as she looked around sleepily before yawning. “Somepony call me?”

“It’s nothing, Twily,” Princess Sunset assured her before concern showed on her face. “Did you get enough sleep last night?”

“Had a…” she paused to yawn loudly. “Bad dream. Couldn’t get back to sleep with Shiny’s help. Then you came, got excited. Now, crashing.” Then, when nopony else continued the conversation, Twily snuggled deeper into Sunset’s back.

In order to not disturb the filly, all conversation ended and they made their way to Celestia's office in silence after finding her quarters were empty. Like the Princess’s living room, the office that had been built for Celestia made Velvet feel like a foal that had found her way into an adult pony’s study.

As always, the pair of unicorns that Celestia usually had with her were standing at either side of her desk as she went through several of the papers on her desk. The stallion was looking at a list of some sort while the mare stood beside him with several other documents.

“Lord Stark wanted me to convey once again that he’s still waiting on a private audience with you, Princess,” said the stallion with the mustache that both ran Princess Celestia’s palace and seemed to have some say over her actions announced.

An annoyed groan that sounded like it should have come from a petulant teen instead of the ruler of Equestria proceeded Celestia’s reply. “But he’s so boring to talk to,” she bemoaned before laying her head out on her desk. “And I already know that the only thing he’s going to want to discuss is seasonal preparations. That’s all he ever wants to talk about.”

Completely ignoring their immortal ruler’s immature behavior, the light gray mare with the black mane went right on. “We received the bill for the coronation dinner,” she said, taking a parchment out of her saddlebags to lay it in front of Princess Celestia. “And the cooks are asking what you want to do with the leftovers. After High Princess Cadance’s premature outburst, most of the food went untouched.”

“Donate it to the Canterlot Orphanage,” Princess Celestia ordered before her eyes finally caught sight of the three ponies at the entryway. She brightened at the sight of them and picked her head up. “Oh, Sunset! So good to see you.” Then, a nervous look crossed her face. “Is something wrong? You’re not mad, are you?”

Princess Sunset got a suspicious frown on her face. “Uh, no. Should I be?” she asked before a cautious frown appeared. “Why should I be mad?”

Completely ignoring the question, Princess Celestia looked over to Velvet a little too quickly, then back to the pony on Sunset’s back. “And you brought both the Twilights! Is Twily okay?” she asked as she looked over at the filly.

The question got a fidget from the purple pony while the gray mare stepped forward. “Princess Sunset teleported us here, Majesty. Twily wanted to come to see your court and I didn’t see the harm.”

“Oh...well, that may be a problem. Foals aren’t allowed in the throne room,” Princess Celestia told her.

“Hm?” Twily asked as she sleepily picked her head up.

Princess Sunset was a bit more direct. “Since when?” she demanded.

Raven, the female assistant turned around and pushed up her glasses. “Since your orders created the play room that petitioners leave their foals at while they’re in the palace,” she explained.

With the wind taken out of her argument, Sunset deflated. “Oh. That’s right. Forgot about that.”

However, it didn’t seem that would be the end to the throne room issue, as Twily picked up her head. “So, I can’t go into the throneroom?” she asked sleepily. “Does that mean that everypony is just going to leave me outside, all by my lonesome?”

Sunset winced heavily at the question before putting on a little smile. “Don’t be silly, Twily, I’ll um...uh…” she stopped and looked around, her eyes falling on the tall mare with the jet black coat. “Figures, you watch her until lunch.”

The tall pony frowned. “I think I should remind you that my position is the High Princess of Equestria’s personal secretary. Watching over immature ponies is not part of my duties.”

Princess Sunset frowned back at her, but before she could say anything, a single laugh coming from behind Velvet drew everypony’s attention.

“HA!” Raven exclaimed before she looked over to the other clerical worker. “Figures, I got bad news for you. Watching after a foal has been the vast majority of my job since I got promoted to his position. A job that is both thankless and stressful.”

The comment got a wince from Sunset. “Sorry.”

Raven blinked and looked over to the amber alicorn. “What? Oh! No, Majesty. You were a little...spoiled, but looking after you was nothing compared to having to look after that foal!” she said before pointing forward with a hoof.

“Hm?” Princess Celestia replied before looking to her left and right, then coming to a realization as she turned her head to Raven once again. “Oh, you’re referring to me.”

Despite the treasonous level of disrespect her statement entailed, Raven continued talking to the other mare as if nothing was amiss. “So, just take little Twily here and give her something to read while you’re organizing your reports for Princess Cadance or something.”

Twily gasped in excitement, her tiredness quickly vanished and she jumped down from Sunset’s back to gallop over to the tall mare. “Can I help you organize them? Do you do it by date, relevance, or alphabetical?”

“Bwa?” Hidden Figures asked as she backed away from the foal as if she had the pony pox.

“Do you use files? Folders? Binders?” Twilight continued to ask, each word refilling her energy until she was hopping up and down each time she spoke. “What's your system like? Do you require triplicate documentation?”

Apparently reaching her limit, Hidden Figures looked up at the amber alicorn and frowned. “I don’t have any organizational work to do. That was the whole point of me being in your quarters this morning!”

Princess Sunset blinked. “Oh, well then...go check up on the renovations to Shiny’s new house. We need that thing ready by this weekend,” she said before looking back at Princess Celestia. “Which reminds me, Mom. Cadance sort of talked Shiny into having a big high society party this Sunday. You should probably come.”

“You know I don’t like to play favorites,” Princess Celestia told her gently.

To which Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yet, you somehow manage to make an appearance at every single major social gathering that I can remember.”

Princess Celestia let out a tiny giggle. “Those were parties you were invited to, Sunset. And as your de facto...guardian, at the time, it was my duty to be one of the chaperones.”

“And I’m sure it had nothing to do with stuffing your face and trying to get me to make friends,” Sunset said before snorting. “As if anypony at those parties you made me go to had a single genuine pony in attendance. They all wanted to cozy up to me to get to you. Even I could see that, and I wasn’t even in double digits when it came to my age.”

There was a subtle change in Princess Celestia’s face. It was so little, that had Twilight Velvet not been looking, she probably wouldn’t have caught it. Her eyes drooped ever so slightly, as her smile twitched. “Well, at least the food was good,” she said before pausing for a moment and turning to Velvet. “So, this party you all are having, we’ll have to figure out a way for me to come without being invited.”

“I could just add you to my invitation,” Sunset said after a moment. “Publicly, after I get invited, I mean. I’m not a member of the House, but it isn’t like they’ll object. Right, Mrs Velvet?”

The question turned the mare’s attention away from Celestia and over to Princess Sunset. Completely out of her element, Velvet just smiled nervously as the exchange between mother and daughter went through her head again. “No, Princess.”

“Now, how to spread the word?” Sunset mumbled.

“Ah, I believe I can help point you in the right direction for that,” Raven said before she reached into her saddlebags to put out numerous letters. “Three noble houses sent courtesy announcements that they will be attending court today, Your Majesty. And if three of them sent letters, then the actual number should be at least ten.”

Velvet blinked at the news. “Ten families? Yesterday, there were only two!”

Before she could begin fretting over the state of her dress and how it couldn’t hope to compare with anything a noble family member would be wearing, Princess Sunset picked up on her distress. “Something wrong?”

The attention only made things worse for her. Twilight blushed and lowered her head. “Well, some of the ponies at court yesterday, they were giving me odd looks. I...I think I’m a bit under-dressed for this, Princess.”

“Well, you certainly have better clothes on than me,” Princess Celestia remarked.

Sunset looked back to the bigger alicorn. “Mom, you’re naked.”

A tiny smile appeared on Princess Celestia’s face. “Am I, now?”

The confusion caused by Celestia’s question quieted everypony down long enough for her to skim through the remaining papers on her desk and finish them up faster than the gray mare thought possible, even with a speed reading spell. But, the quiet did let Velvet’s mind drift back to a few moments ago, when the two princesses had exchanged greetings. It stuck in her mind even after Princess Celestia announced that it was time to go and they trotted out and said their goodbyes to Hidden Figures, who Twilight had backed into a corner with her unending questions.

By some palace protocol Velvet could only guess about, Princess Sunset followed behind the two ponies that had been with Princess Celestia while the big white pony ended up walking next to Twilight Velvet herself. Just like every time she was near the mare, Velvet felt herself become a foal again, while Princess Celestia turned into some big, important, powerful aunt that didn’t have time for her little nopony of a niece.

Not that Velvet thought she was worthy enough to be related to the Princess!

“Something wrong?” Princess Celestia’s calm voice cut in, disrupting Velvet’s thoughts.

The little gray mare nearly missed a step. “W-what?” she asked before turning her head to look at Princess Celestia. “Oh, um...I…”

Having come to a stop in her head, Twilight performed a trick that had been taught to her daughter. She took a moment to stop thinking, took in a deep breath, then let it all out and focused on what she needed to do. Which was...talk to Princess Celestia about what she had seen transpire between the demigoddess and her daughter.

Twilight Velvet was silent for several seconds before she spoke. “Tell me something, Princess Celestia. That...exchange the two of you had, in your office. Do you...get like that, often?”

“Hm?” Celestia asked as she blinked. Then, the look of confusion slowly became one of apprehension. “Well...that was actually one of the better ones as of late, if I’m being truthful.”

Keeping her mind focused on the task, Velvet nodded absently. “I...see.”

As was the norm for royal entrances, the lesser ponies trotted in first. Kibitz and Raven proceeded everypony else before the stallion cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter. “Introducing, here at the invitation of the crown, Lady Twilight Velvet,” Kibitz called out.

From her place beside her mother, Sunset watched the small gray mare nervously trot out through the doors before pausing for a moment, then taking a spot well within the area Sunset had come to realize was a respectable distance from the throne during her younger years of sitting in on court. Not that she hadn’t gotten much closer to Celestia as a filly who didn’t know or care about silly things like that.

The question as to why this oddity occurred was answered after Kibitz announced Princess Sunset Shimmer, daughter of the sun and protege to Princess Celestia. She walked out into the throne room to see nobles, many more than the numbers Celestia’s aides had said were coming, standing around with various states of attention.

Sunset scooted her butt around on the guest royal cushion as she sat down next to her mother’s throne before looking back out to the royal court. Dozens of ponies looked up at her with all manner of expressions, until Kibitz began the long process of calling out Celestia, with all her titles. In an attentive display of suck-uppery, all of the ponies present began fawning over Celestia's appearance as she made her way up the dais. A particularly nasty lewd thought entered Sunset’s mind that she blamed on Cadance’s growing perverse personality. If Mom told them to line up to kiss her ass, I wonder if they’d fight for first place, or just try and outdo the last pony who tongued her plot.

Twenty ponies from ten families were in attendance. However, there were also thirty odd other ponies, most of whom looked to be members of the elected political sphere and a few well-to-do merchants that probably wanted to kiss the neophyte noble’s ass in an attempt to get in on the ground floor of some new business deal.

Once she took her seat on the throne, Celestia made a show of looking around at the assembled equines with a smile on her face. “My, it does my heart glad to see so many of my little ponies interested in the troubles of those that come to court!”

Several of the more obvious boot lickers stood up a little straighter at Celestia’s praise. Sunset wanted to feel more annoyed than she did at their responses, but made herself concentrate on other things to keep from working herself into a rage for no good reason. Especially since there would no doubt be plenty of good reasons for her to become angry walking through the door soon enough.

She hated the fact that Equestria was still so centralized that ponies had to come to the big fat princess to get help. During her short reign as empress, Sunset had streamlined the process a little and cut down on waste, but there still needed to be something else done for them. How many ponies with real problems couldn't make the trip or didn't even bother to ask for help?

“It has been so long since so many of you have gathered here,” Celestia said before looking around, settling on one noble in particular. “Ah, Trump Card. Tell me, how are your construction businesses going?”

The attention made the orange pony stand up a little straighter. “Well, thanks to some orders during your lovely, simply lovely, daughter’s time on the throne, we’re building a few walls in southern Equestria.”

Sunset leaned in closer. “You’re still going through with that stuff?”

“Well, they were your orders, Sunset,” Celestia told her before moving on to another pony. One Sunset didn’t like all that much. “Ah, nephew! So good to see you here.”

Not one to miss an opportunity, Sunset decided to poke and Blueblood a bit. “It’s a little odd to see you here, Prince. Didn’t you tell me that the bleating of the commoners was beneath you?” she asked sweetly.

“Y-Yes, well... I suppose if you and Auntie can stand to be around them for a little while, then I suppose I can endure a few hours,” he replied before taking a step back. “As long as they don’t touch me.”

Sunset's eyes narrowed. “Yes, that would be awful, wouldn't it?”

While the price-in-name-only didn't seem to notice Sunset's darkening mood, the other nobles took a step away from the idiot. But, before Sunset could lose herself in a fit of rage, Celestia spoke up again. “And Velvet, is there anything interesting going on in your life, lately?”

All the eyes in the room turned to look at the gray mare, who acted as if the weight of those gazes was a physical thing she strained under. “Oh, well, my family is um, getting ready to move into our new house, Highness. And this weekend, we plan to hold a little party as an introduction to the neighborhood.”

Sunset raised her head in thought. “Right, Shiny said something about that,” she said before looking over to Celestia. “Can I go, Mom?”

The other alicorn became thoughtful as well for a moment. “Well, I suppose so. Of course, I’ll have to attend as well to make sure you and Cadance behave yourselves,” she said before looking back to the room in general. “Now, let's get things started, shall we? I think that I've kept our petitioners waiting long enough.”

Celestia found herself enjoying herself more than usual as another pair of ponies headed for the door, their grievances settled in the best possible way. A glance to her side allowed a quick check on Sunset, who looked like a pony who had locked her legs in an effort to stay awake, or at least, not fall over when she did nod off as she looked towards one of the stained glass windows on the west side of the throne room with a frown that told Celestia she was thinking about something. “I seem to remember you being a bit more attentive during your earlier visits to court, my little sun.”

After her body jerked a little in response to the question pulling her out of whatever it was that had her mind occupied, the other alicorn looked back to her mother. “That was when I was getting off to the idea of running this place myself,” Sunset commented lazily before opening her mouth for a loud yawn. None of the ponies below would be the wiser to her actions thanks to the illusion magic Celestia used to hide any royal gaffs in public, but just because Sunset could get away with not paying attention didn’t mean she should.

So, Celestia decided to prod her a bit to get her daughter to wake up. “Yes, you have a pair of ponies to help you with that these days, don’t you?” she asked before her smile became mischievous. “So tell me, do you prefer a mare’s gentle caresses, or the powerful thrusts of a stallion?”

Sunset’s body went rigid as she sat up straight before her wings popped out from being so relaxed, sending a pleasant wind through the audience hall. “M-Mom!” she said in an admonishing tone. “This is not the time!”

“Oh, sure it is,” Celestia told her with a mirthful giggle. “I’ve got you trapped up here and these two ponies have been fighting over the same bit of land for the past three audiences. I’ve heard their arguments so many times that I could recite it all by heart and as soon as I make a decision towards one the other will appeal it after finding a new argument as to why half a dozen acres of land should go to him. So, this is the perfect opportunity to talk about your love life and find out if you prefer cuddling with your colt, or fooling around with your filly.”

For some reason Celestia didn’t understand, Sunset’s expression became hesitant in a way most ponies did when forced to go into an unclean restroom. “Did you have to put it like that?”

Celestia blinked. “Like what?” she asked before realizing that perhaps poking her daughter in the proverbial eye when it came to Sunset’s sex life wasn’t the best way for them to bond.

“Like they’re both just two little teenagers who’re way too young to be in a serious relationship that has a pony like Cadance probably picking out floral designs for our wedding!” Sunset said in a mild panic.

“Um…” Celestia tried to get a read on where that particular thought might have come from, but didn’t follow her daughter’s logic. “I missed something, didn’t I?”

“No,” Sunset told her curtly before looking forward and quickly going from angry, then down to annoyed, and actually a little excited. “Hey look! It’s a distraction!”

Celestia blinked in confusion before looking forward to see Neighsay had come into the audience chamber with a mess of scrolls floating behind him and a hard look on his face. “Princess Celestia, I must insist on speaking to you on a matter of grave importance involving the safety of our nation!”

A nervous silence fell over the crowd at the declaration and even Celestia found herself wondering what was so amiss that a pony like Neighsay, who she knew from personal experience to demand nothing but the strictest adherence to the rules, to violate all forms of protocol and charge into the throne room during court. “Oh my,” the biggest princess in the room said as she took a moment to get out of the mindset that always came on when dealing with her daughter and back into a more routine one. Celestia took in a deep breath and cleared her head. “It must be important for you to come barging in here like this.”

Next to Celestia, Sunset opened her mouth and made to speak, but paused for a moment before her eyes darted over to give the pegasi guards a considering look. “Maybe just having them throw him out would work better,” she mumbled.

“It is, Princess Celestia. I know that Princess Sunset has probably spoken to you about such an urgent matter, but after hearing so many ponies were in attendance this morning, I thought it best to-”

Turning her attention away from the stallion, Celesia once again found herself unable to guess Sunset’s thoughts, Celestia saw to it that the illusion around the two of them didn’t let any of the ponies notice her daughter’s indecision. “What’s wrong, Sunset?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Celestia barely noticed Neighsay use his magic to create a giant projection of one of his scrolls that showed the acronym NARF with a dragon beside it. “Your Highness, I have recently become the chairpony of-”

The question got a look of mild annoyance from the amber alicorn before Sunset let out a long sigh through her nose. “You’re seriously going to ask me that while he’s just standing here?”

“-these creatures are bar none, the most dangerous-”

Celestia pushed the pony that was talking out of her mind. “Oh, I’m sure whatever is troubling Neighsay can wait.”

“-and my organization, Not-”

“Exactly!” Sunset exclaimed, her wings shooting out in an uncontrolled burst of aggression.

“-in fact, the damage could be-”

Using her magic, Celestia kept the destructive winds that threatened to be stirred up by Sunset’s outburst under control while nopony in the throne room was the wiser. However, just what seemed to be troubling her daughter eluded her.

It couldn’t have been the questions about her relationship. Celestia was quite sure that was going well, despite the oddity of its existence and rather unconventional start. So it had to either be Celestia herself that had put Sunset in a mood, or something she wasn’t aware of. Unfortunately, Celestia had the sinking suspicion it was something she had done without knowing that caused her daughter to become agitated. History said that was most likely the case.

Councilpony Neighsay cut the magic from his horn to end the presentation that Celestia had barely been aware of while the nobles around him whispered among themselves and looked up to the princesses. “As you can see, Highness, something must be done about this looming dragon threat. That is why, under your intelligent daughter’s suggestion, I have come to you, the highest-ranked Princess in all the kingdom to present my case so that the proper solution for dealing with these monsters can be found before their next migration in only a few years.”

Celestia blinked as the stallion’s very words tore her out of her internal thoughts and back to the present. Is that what he had been going on about? The migration? It wasn’t scheduled for over a decade! Luckily, Neighsay’s closing remarks had pointed the way out of this whole mess.

“Oh! I can certainly agree with that!” Celestia told him. “With this matter being so delicate and Equestria needing to speak with a single voice, it should be the High Princess who makes such a decision.”

Neighsay gave her a nod. “Of course. Now-”

“You had best try and track down her aide to schedule a meeting,” Celestia suddenly said, cutting the Canterlot unicorn off before he could do much more than say three words, making him blink in confusion.

“...pardon?” Neighsay finally spoke, barely managing to work through his confusion as all the other ponies in the room looked around, equally bewildered.

Celestia couldn’t help but smirk in delight as she began to play with the stuffy older colt. “Princess Cadance. If you’re looking to talk to the High Princess, you had best schedule some time with her. She is the ruler of Equestria, after all. So her schedule is rather hectic. Cadance’s secretary should be able to help with that,” she said before looking back to the farmers. “Now, before we were so rudely interrupted, there was the manner of property rights, my good gentle colts?”

As lunch was being finished off, Twilight Velvet did her best to keep her mind on the food in front of her instead of the ponies sitting on opposite ends of the table. There was a big difference between giving Princess Celestia a tip about parenting once in a while and sitting in the middle of two alicorns. One of whom was giving the other dirty looks as Celestia wilted under Sunset’s perturbed glare.

Since it looked like it would be up to her to alter the mood, Twilight Velvet spoke up in the most cheerful voice she could manage. “Well, I think that the audience went well this morning, it was quite productive.”

Celestia looked over to her daughter and smiled. “Yes, the work you did to streamline things as Empress has really made things go by quickly, Sunset. I really must congratulate you on that. I’m afraid that being so old had me stuck in my ways like usual and I never even considered how to improve a system that’s been around for so long.”

With her words being so...generous, Velvet suspected that the big pony was saying something between the lines, but she had no idea what that was. The glower Celestia got in response made the bigger alicorn’s enthusiasm diminish.

As for Sunset, she...maybe Twilight Velvet would need to have a word with the smaller princess in private about the way she was treating her mother. And that little considering made Velvet remember just who she was dealing with. Oh sweet Celestia, I’m trying to mend the broken relationship of the alicorns. I think I’m in over my head here by several hundred leagues.

But Twilight Sparkle didn't seem to mind the situation. Although, she did have a cautious look on her face as she looked over to the biggest pony in the room. “Um, P-Princess Celestia? May I ask you something? N-Not this! Something else, after you answer this question!” she clarified.

Princess Celestia gave the little Twilight a smile. “Of course you can, Twily. You shouldn’t be worried about asking a friend questions of any kind. And we are friends, right?”

Twily's face scrunched up, the way it always did when she was either thinking extremely hard, or putting something to memory. “Okay,” she said before relaxing. “If Princess Sunset decides that Shining Armor isn’t good enough for her, are you going to banish him and all of our family from Equestria?”

The silence that followed the little foal’s question filled the room, that is, until Princess Celestia let out a mirthful laugh. “Oh Twily, what could possibly make you think something like that?”

Princess Sunset's mood soured even more. “Maybe it was that time you kicked a pony out of the only home she’s ever known for stupid reasons, like throwing a book at you,” Sunset grumbled. A second later, her eyes widened and she looked back to Princess Celestia. “Oh, Mom! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

The bigger alicorn slunk down at her daughter’s words. “No. I understand why you still hate me so much for that.”

Princess Sunset huddled in on herself as well. “But you never-”

“Sunset-”

“Mom…” the amber alicorn said in a pathetic whine before they both paused and broke eye contact, refusing to meet each other’s gaze.

With the two of them refusing to continue, Twilight Velvet turned her attention to her daughter. “Twily? I think we’re about to be discussing some adult stuff. Would you mind finding that nice Hidden Figures mare and seeing if she will escort you back home? I’ll be along as soon as I can. After I have a chat with Princess Sunset and Princess Celestia.”

The little purple pony turned her head all the ways it would go to look at the two alicorns before addressing her mother. “Um, okay,” she said before hopping down from the high chair and trotting out of the door.

Once her daughter had departed, Twilight turned her attention back to the big white pony. “Princess Celestia, why are you so afraid of Princess Sunset?”

“Say what?” Sunset, and Velvet had to fight to keep thinking of her as just Sunset if she was to have any hope of getting through this conversation, said.

Princess Celestia frowned down at the mare. “I am hardly afraid of my own daughter, Twilight.”

“You're afraid of making her angry, of disappointing her, of harming your relationship in even the most basic of ways,” Velvet said in counter to the new mother’s words. That was what she had to keep in mind if there wasn't going to be a complete mental breakdown. Celestia was just another new mother, and she needed help like all new mothers did. “When Sunset first came into your office, you asked her what was wrong! While her being there did mean something might be out of the ordinary, you immediately jumped to the idea that there was a problem and well, be honest with yourself, Princess...is Sunset the type of mare that would come running to you asking for help?”

After a few more seconds of silence, Princess Celestia hung her head. “I know I am more cautious than I should be-”

“That's because I’m a hot headed idiot!” Sunset exclaimed as she barged into the conversation.

Seeing Princess Celestia’s eyes go wide, Velvet knew she had to jump in before the newly minted mother rushed to her foal’s defense. The unicorn had seen what Sunset could be like once she started berating herself. “Tell me something, when was the last time the two of you did something together you both really enjoyed?” Velvet asked them. “Something like what did before, ah...Sunset’s exit and return?”

“We went flying together not to long-”

Sunset didn’t let her finish. “Falling out of the sky in a screaming panic isn’t fun,” she said evenly and with a little frown.

“Oh...well, then...not counting the time we met the Apple Fam-wait, we had to save them from timber wolves. Um...oh! The...Princess Fair?” Princess Celestia asked her daughter in a worried tone.

The attempt at finding an agreement got a hesitant moan from Sunset as she refused to meet Princess Celestia’s eyes. “That was more of a group thing, not just you and me.”

“I think that rules out all the meals we’ve had since then as well, what with Cadance being there,” Princess Celestia went on before her eyes lit up for a fraction of a second before the spark behind them died. “Well, the replay we attended didn’t end that well either.”

Princess Sunset’s face began to look more and more uneasy. “M-Mom, we’ve spent some good times together since I came back, right?” she asked cautiously.

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Princess Celestia nodded. “Oh yes. They’re just...well…” she became uncertain before looking away from Princess Sunset. “It’s just...most of them involved Cadance playing as some kind of moderator. Or you being too tired to stay awake for very long.”

When Sunset didn’t continue the conversation, the silence that followed in the wake of their conversation was deafening. It also cemented the theory that had been forming in Velvet’s mind since she came to the castle. The separation the two of them had faced and Sunset’s lingering resentment, no matter how unwanted, had made things seem hopeless despite the years of good times the two of them had spent together.

“Well, I think it's rather obvious what the two of you need to do,” Twilight Velvet said.

The two alicorns shared a confused look before turning their attention back to Velvet. “What?”

“Try again. Just spend time doing something that the two of you enjoyed before Sunset's...whatever it was,” Velvet told them as she tripped on the amber alicorn's experience. Even with all the times it had been explained to her, Velvet still didn't quite understand what had happened to Sunset. “When it comes down to it, that’s all you can really do.”

Princess Celestia gave the mare a dubious look. “Mrs Velvet, I was hoping for some better council from my family relationship advisor than just, give it another go.”

“There’s no special trick or anything else that you need to do. Just...spend time together, the two of you. Alone,” she told them gently. “It’s not hard or complicated. It just takes time. In fact, as your...um...family counselor, I’m ordering the two of you to spend the afternoon together, when Sunset is done with school for the day.” Then, Velvet blinked and realized the oddity of what she had just said. “Oh my. Um...c-can I...o-order the two of you to...do that?”

Princess Celestia gave a mirthful giggle. “I think I’ll allow that, for such a sensible command. What do you say, Sunset?”

The other princess had a look of disbelief on her face. “Have you seen what happens when we’re alone together?”