Twilight awoke next morning feeling more refreshed than she had in a long time. It probably had something to do with being an alicorn. She could get used to it though.

As she rose and stretched all her limbs for all they were worth, she went over the day's schedule in her head. Her friends couldn't stay long since Ponyville had also planned its own party for its new princess, and Pinkie Pie couldn't wait to get started on that one.

Up first for her though, after breakfast, was a meeting with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Cadance. Cadance couldn't stay long either for she had to be back in the Crystal Empire soon.

Even now, months after King Sombra's defeat, there was still a lot to be done. While Twilight didn't know the full story, the crystal ponies had taken to Cadance well. Her help in defeating Sombra, and then securing the Equestria Games, helped for sure.

But it was her kind and caring nature that had endeared her to most ponies of the empire. Many had said she reminded them so much of Queen Amore before her. Twilight wasn't sure what that meant, but it seemed to be something important.

It was Appitrite though that was raising eyebrows. Nopony it seemed had ever seen Celestia or Luna with their own guard, so she had caused quite a stir. And it had gotten more so when Cadance had announced that Appitrite was to be her one and only personal guard.

The Imperial Guard was slow to take to the change. None would say anything bad about her. But her young age had raised plenty of questions among the officers.

But all those had been put to rest when Appitrite had out shot the Crystal Empire's best archers, and had even defeated a few in an impromptu jousting competition.

Twilight herself had plenty of questions for her and all the others as well. Her current read had left her with more questions than answers the night before. Maybe her biggest one was where did they come from? She remembered asking Hippothea the same question years before.

But the glare she had received in return had sent her running for cover, as if the elder was about to attack her. She didn't think she would have, but the memory remained vived in Twilight's mind.

In all the time when she had been folasitting her, Cadance had never explained it either. Whether that was because she didn't know or not, she wasn't sure.

At the time though, Twilight hadn't thought much of it. Appitrite was as kind and caring as Cadance had been. During the few times when they had stayed the night, for one reason or another, she had shared some of the stories from her home.

Adventure, romance, a bit of comedy, even a little bit of mystery. All things in common with stories from Equestria. One thing though stood out to her.

Not once had there ever been a mention of a male centauride. All seemed to be mares. But that didn't make any sense. How would they have children? Twilight knew their numbers weren't small if Appitrite was right, but there seemed to be no way for them to mate.

Why that was, Appitrite had never said, and now that she thought about it, there seemed to be more to it than her not just telling them.

How many of the stories were real or just allegory, Twilight didn't know, and neither did Cadance when she had asked her some time before. Somethings it seemed even she didn't know.

She had never asked Hippothea. There was just something about her that made her worry it would be the last thing she ever did if she ever asked her.

Dianathe was an even bigger mystery. Twilight hadn't had many chances to talk to her. During that first Nightmare Night in Ponyville, she had been so focused on helping Luna that it had never really crossed her mind. She made a note to change that today.

And those were just some of the questions she had for them. And now with the chance that Twilight would soon be getting her own, her anxiety was higher than ever. What could it mean for her life in Ponyville? For her life in general? Twilight liked her life the way it was, thank you very much. She wasn't sure she was ready for a change like that.

But as she left her room and headed for the Royal Dinning Room, something told Twilight that she really didn't have a choice in the matter.

***

"So how much do you plan to tell her if she asks?" Princess Celestia asked Hippothe as she sat down at the long table. For the moment it was just the two of them.

Hippothea shrugged. "Enough to keep her happy for now. It is not my place to tell her all she needs to know. And there things she will never know as well."

Celestia's brow rose. "You know Twilight will not be happy if she doesn't know all there is to know about you. Faust above, you have never told me everything. No matter how much I ask."

Hippothea frowned, and Celestia wilted under the look she was getting as she realized what she had said. It was one thing they disagreed on. Equestria had no true religion per se. Some say alicorns as gods.

Most though prayed in some way to Faust. The creator of all life on Equus and the universe in general and whose image, all alicorns had been made.

To say it had disgusted Hippothea and Dianathe when they had discovered this would be an understatement. Celestia well remembered what had been said that day.

"A false god claiming power it has no right to. If this Faust exists at all, then it is nothing but a sham made up by the stupid and ignorant," is how Dianathe had put it."

To this day neither Celestia or Luna knew why they despised the idea so much. Alongside their home, it was the one thing they refused to talk about.

"We swore an oath long ago Celestia that we would never again bow down to false gods or fake religions ruled by corrupt fools. Leave it be," was how Hippothea had explained it to her.

And for her part Celestia had. Something told her she didn't want to know. Most in Equestria though knew where the two stood on the subject, for they made no secret of their hatred of it.

Unfortunately some of the more zealous ponies had tried to promote their faith anyway, either by force or asking Celestia for funding for a church, and despite what she may have thought of the idea, she had never said no to such requests. There was no harm in it.

All were dead within a week of completion. Zealots had tried to place the blame on Hippothea and Appitrite for the deeds. But Celestia and Cadance knew for a fact that no blood stained their hands. Whatever they thought of it, they would not kill unless it was to protect their princess.

But she was letting her mind wander as she bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I know how much you hate that name."

Hippothea relaxed. This happened every time this came up. Before she could comment though, a feeling passed through her whole body, one that made her smile.

Celestia was surprised by this. "Is something wrong?"

Hippothea shook her head. "No. Something has happened." She raised a hand before Celestia could ask more. "This involves Twilight. You will learn of it when the time comes."

Celestia was still worried. Anything that involved Twilight made her feel this way. "Can you at least say if it is bad?"

Hippothea shook her head. "No. It is nothing bad." She chuckled. "How Twilight takes it though, I can't say."

That helped Celestia relax, though she still wondered what it could be.

Any futher talk was put on hold as a member of the staff announced the arrival of one Princess Twilight Sparkle. Nodding, Celestia sighed. No matter what she may have said, she was still nervous about what Twilight might ask.

Clover's journal would have wetted her appetite for more information, but there was only so much she, Luna, and Cadance could tell her, and having read the journal herself, she had an idea of what some of those questions could be. No matter how awkward they might be. She only hoped Cadance wouldn't overdue it.

She felt Hippothea place a hand on her shoulder. Celestia gave her a grateful smile, one that was returned, as a familiar purple head poke her way through the door.

"Princess Celestia? I hope I'm not early?" Twilight asked.

Celestia chuckled. "Not at all Twilight. Luna and Cadance are not here yet." She nodded to Hippothea. "I can guess you have a lot of questions after last night?"

Twilight nodded. "I don't even know where to start though."

Hippothea nodded. "Know this though Twilight. There are things I will not talk about. Our kind swore an oath long ago to never reveal all to outsiders, no matter who they are."

Twilight wasn't too shocked honestly at this. "I guess the first is, what do you call yourselves? Clover said something about Centaurides, but is that right?"

Hippothea smiled. "She was right. It is what we call our kind. Where the name came from, we don't know. We have used it for as long as we can remember."

Celestia nodded, smiling slightly. "And even getting that out of them was a chore. Let alone their own names."

Twilight was lost. "Why is that?"

Hippothea frowned. "Understand this Twilight. Our kind has been seen as freaks and abominations for centuries by those who see themselves as enlightened and right. We do not trust easily."

Twilight's ears wilted. "Not even us?"

"Not even you," Dianathe said as she and Luna entered the room, followed soon after by Cadance and Appitrite.

Appitrie chuckled. "Don't take it too personally. If you can get us to open up at all about anything, then you've earned our trust."

Cadance chuckled as well as she laid a wing on Appitrite's back. "It took me months to get her to open up about anything other than her role and name."

Twilight didn't fail to see the gesture, and neither did anyone else. But only she seemed confused by it.

Luna rolled her eyes a bit. "You read Clover's journal yes?" Twilight nodded. "Then I can say the part about us being more than princess and guard is true."

Twilight's mouth dropped in shock. "Is that why you've never been married Princess Celestia?"

Celestia nodded. "In part yes. But I have always prefered mares over stallions. I have even before we had met."

"As have I," Luna added.

Twilight looked at Cadance. "Is that why you and Shining never went anywhere?"

Cadance rolled her eyes. "That's one way to put. Of course for us, it didn't start out that way." She smiled as Appitrite placed a hand on her shoulder. "But it worked out for us in the end."

Twilight digested this. It was a lot to process for sure. Maybe even more so because she didn't know which way she swung yet. Which also lead her to her next question. "What about me?"

Hippothea, Dianathe, and Appitrite all shared a look. "You will know it when the time comes. And maybe sooner than later," Dianathe replied.

Twilight gave her a look. "What do you mean?"

"They are already on their way, and they will be here any day now. They left the homeland shortly before you arrived," Hippothea replied.

Twilight was still lost. "What do you mean they?"

Appitrite. "Looks like you have three coming, instead of one."

Celestia and Luna shared a concerned look. "Should we worry about this? It has always been one that has come," Luna asked.

Hippothea was also concerned. "I am not sure. As far as we know, this is the first time this has happened. What it means, I do not know."

Twilight though saw another problem. "Where would they stay? Golden Oaks Library doesn't have room enough for me, Spike, and now all of them at the same time."

Dianathe chuckled. "Lucky for you then that we sleep standing up, and we only sleep for an hour before we are fully rested."

Twilight was interested now as she pulled out a note pad and quill, in case she could ever use it herself, or for Equestria. "How does that even work?"

They only chuckled. "We're not sure either. It just comes naturally to us," Appitrite replied.

Twilight harrumphed in annoyance as she sat down next to her mentor and Cadance. "Oh, fine. Be that way. If they're on their way though, when will they get here?"

Hippothea shrugged. "We don't know. It's a long way from the homeland to Equestria, and if they are anything like us, they will arrive just in time to help you with something major."

Twilight was worried about it now. "What do you mean?"

Cadance sighed. "Ours came when we needed help the most." She smiled. "For me, I had just ascended from being a Pegasus filly to alicornhood, and I had just come to Canterlot. I didn't have any friends yet, and I hadn't even met your family Twilight." She squeezed Appitrite with a wing. "Appitrite came to me at the right moment. She gave me more than a guard. She gave me a friend."

Appitrite smiled as well. "And I've never regretted it since."

Celestia and Luna nodded, though their expressions were grim. "We'd rather not talk about our first encounter. Only that the same applied to us as well in some way," Luna said.

The looks on their faces told Twilight that she probably didn't want to know that story, even though she was curious. She sighed. "Great. Now I have to worry about when they show up and everything else," she grumbled.

Celestia draped a wing over her student's shoulder. "Twilight, you know that we will help you as much as possible right? Much of this will come down to you. But we will all do what we can to help."

Cadance and Luna nodded as well. It helped ease Twilight's spirits, but something was telling her that it wasn't going to be that easy.

Then again, it never seemed to be anymore.

Author's Note

So how good was Appitrite's archery in the Crystal Empire? She could do a Robin Hood more than once, something few had ever done at least once.

Look the term up if you don't know what it means. It's not the character though. It is an archery term based on England's legend.

And yes, I am making total and absolute fun of the fandom's idea that Lauren Faust was ever the supreme god of Friendship is Magic in the show's universe. I am not sorry at all.