Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

"I, I am, I am getting through to you!" A sweaty, panting Twilight grunted.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say, bookhorse. I swear you haven't changed since school," Auric sighed.

"Wait, what do you mean? Did we go to school together?" Twilight asked as Celestia sighed and shook her head.

"Yes! I was in the same grade as you! We had all the same classes! I was the colt who constantly did better than you in transmutation!" Auric angrily said as he stamped his hooves. "Sterling was in the year behind us! How dare you not remember us!" Auric growled.

"Brother, it isn't anything to get angry about. We knew that we'd always be working in the background. In a way, not being recognized was good practice," Sterling tried to calmly reason.

"What'd I miss?" Luna asked as she walked into the mint's foyer. Looking around the room, Luna sighed. "See, sister, I was right," Luna said with a smile as she walked up to the warded door.

"I never disagreed with you. I just said that she'd be ready eventually. Evidentially, eventually is not today," Celestia sighed as she walked up to Twilight. "Alright, Twilight, you tried. Don't feel bad. That door has been warded by every stallion that has ever worked the mint, as well as my sister and myself. Let Luna deal with it," Celestia told Twilight.

"Why has it been warded so many times? It seems a bit excessive," Twilight asked as she looked quizzically at Celestia.

"It became a tradition among the Aleric family, though I'm not too sure why myself. I never looked deeply into it and always chalked it up to a family tradition," Celestia shrugged.

"Brothers! Brothers, are you there?" Luna asked as she approached the door.

"Well, if the prodigal sister hasn't returned. What do you want?" Auric deeply sighed.

"I have with me a metal, not of this world. I would request that you look at it and see if you can duplicate it," Luna requested.

"Uhhh, we're the royal transmuters. We spend all day making gold and silver. We can transmute anything into anything; of course, we can," Auric confidently said.

"Great! So you can open the door then?" Luna asked as she looked at the door patiently.

"No," Auric flatly said. "Have you any idea how busy we are? We've been working the whole time Egghead McBookhorse has been trying to break down the door," Auric told Luna.

"I brought a gift," Luna said as she levitated a bag in front of the door. "Fresh vegetables from Sweet Apple Acres and a few sweets from Sugarcube Corner."

"I see, bringing a bribe, I see," Auric chuckled. "Well, usually, we don't take bribes, but if it's coming from a princess, I guess we can make an exception," Auric happily said as some heavy-sounding hoof steps approached the door. "Alright, Sterling, help me unlock the door," Auric said as the two started to grunt heavily. "No, no, Sterling, that chain goes over there."

"B-brother, you need to move that deadbolt that way," Sterling told Auric.

"OK, Sterling, get over here; I need to get on your back," Auric said with a grunt. The two continued like that for several minutes.

"How locked is that door?" Julius asked as two pained yelps came from the other side of the door.

"Each Aleric added their own wards and locks to that door. The last time I saw the other side of the door, it looked extremely convoluted. I get a headache just thinking about it," Celestia sighed as angry murmuring could be heard from the door.

"And opened," Auric sighed as the doors slowly opened. "Oh, come on, you heavy bastards," Auric grunted as the doors slowly opened. Once the doors were opened, two stallions stood in the doorway. One was a petite blonde pony; the other was a tall, dark blue pony. "Alright, the bribe first," the blonde pony said as he looked at Luna.

"See Twilight. The door was just a small matter," Julius said as he gave the two stallions a sideways look. "You made a mountain of a molehill of such a minute matter. Frankly, it was of little concern," Julius said with a devilish grin.

"I know what you're doing!" The blonde pony angrily said as he ignored Luna and the bag and stomped up to Julius. "You got something you want to say to me? Well, say it to my face!" The pony angrily commanded as Julius looked around.

"You, uhhh, you got a ladder? Or do you want me to lay on the ground? Or maybe you can stand on your older brother's back?" Julius taunted.

"I got a better idea. How about I put you on the ground, punk!" The blonde pony angrily said as he started to charge his horn.

"Alright, enough, enough, we didn't come here for a fight," Celestia sighed as she levitated the two and suppressed the blonde pony's magic. "Julius got his fun, and you got your taunting on Twilight; let's end this here. Julius that's Auric, and the large blue one is Sterling. They're the royal transmuters; please, try not to antagonize them too much. Auric, Sterling, that's Julius, and over there is Zecora. I trust that you've already met Twilight," Celestia said as she got through the introductions.

"I don't know, have we? I think I've talked to Twilight once or twice, be she seemed to talk to a book each time," Auric huffed. "Now, why are a zebra and a weird minotaur here?"

"Human, actually, I'm a human. I'm here because the metal belongs to me, and it could be beneficial to Equestria," Julius told Auric.

"Right, the metal," Auric sighed. "Sterling, have you got the metal from Luna?" Auric asked as he heard some crunching.

"Oh, sorry, brother. I was eating some of the vegetables. They're fresh; they still have a nice crisp to them," Sterling said with a smile.

"Oh, come on, Sterling. We can use those to make a good stew," Auric sighed as he walked up to Luna. "Let me see the metal," Auric said as he looked at Luna.

"Alright, though, be warned, the metal seems to repel magic," Luna warned as she levitated a bag over to Auric. "The metal ring is in the bag."

"Alright, good to know," Auric said as he took the bag in his own magic. "Hmmm, slippery, like soap, or maybe a magnet," Auric hummed. When I said that it repelled magic, I thought it did so along the lines of changeling black stone, but this really does repel magic," Auric assessed as he levitated the bag.

"Wait, I thought changeling black stone repelled magic. If it doesn't, what does it do?" Julius asked.

"Changeling black stone is often simplified to repelling magic, though, technically, that's not true. It absorbs whatever non-changeling magic is around it, then dispels it into neutral energy. Under normal circumstances, this difference doesn't matter. It's only in a technical setting that such a difference matters," Sterling calmly explained as Auric let the ring fall out of the bag and onto one of his hooves.

"It's lighter than I thought, and it looks nice," Auric commented as he saw the ring. Testing his magic on the ring, Auric closed his eyes in thought. "It is possible for us to transmute other materials into this, but it won't be easy. It'll take most of our energy. So, if you want more of this metal, either we'll have to close down the mint for the day, or we'll need help. The only creatures with clearance that can help us are Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, so it'll need to be one of those three. Also, we'll need to keep the ring with us as the principal metal. Now, seeing as this is a special request, we'll be requiring payment, which we'll take in the form of enough of this metal to put a sheet of it over the inside of the door," Auric told the group. "Oh, and what's the name of this metal?"

"It's called titanium, and we figured that you'd require help transmuting it. Luna and I already talked about it, she'll help with the transmutations, and I'll help with providing the heat to work the metal," Celestia told Auric.

"We can work with that," Auric said as he magically prodded the ring. "Though be honest, you also want an excuse to skip out on the royal court. We've all heard the rumors. And I've sat in on a few court hearings; it's so dry and whinny," Auric said as he winked at Celestia.

"I won't lie; I can count this as court work, which can get me out of the royal court for a time. While some of the things the nobles bring to court are a bit prosaic, it's still nice to be so relied on," Celestia said with a warm smile.

"Over relied on if you ask me," Luna, Zecora, Aloysia, and Julius all said in agreement.

"Maybe, but all my little ponies need a strong mother to guide them. And I'm more than willing to be that motherly figure," Celestia confidently said. "Remember the olden days?"

"Well, yeah, I was there, but the land has been tamed for the most part. Most of the dangers have been dealt with; the borders are secured; honestly, these days don't require the same kind of control over our subjects," Luna commented.

"Oh, Luna, you've always been so hooves off with your subjects. Remember how many times that's gotten them in trouble?" Celestia said as she looked at Luna.

"Yes, and we dealt with it. Besides, you've always been so controlling with our subjects. Remember how slowly it took for any change to happen in the olden realm?" Luna shot back.

"Well, change might have been slow, but it has happened. And Equestria has been stable all these years," Celestia told Luna.

"Yes, but the change has been slow. A thousand years ago, the train was new, and yet, it's barely been developed. The only tracks are leading toward the major cities, and after a thousand years, there haven't been any advancements to it," Luna argued back.

"Enough arguing, you two," Sterling interjected. "This isn't the place for it. Now we need your help for both the transmutation and the working of the metal. So if we can just work out a date that'd work for you two, we can get to work," Sterling calmingly said.

"OK, I know this isn't related, but you have a really soothing voice. Seriously, if you ever need a hobby, look into doing therapy," Julius suggested. "Well, either that or reading books to creatures."

"Thank you. I do read to the local senior homes when I get free time. They seem to like it," Sterling said with a smile.

"Somehow, that's very fitting. I don't know why, but it just fits with you so well," Julius commented.

"Again, thank you," Sterling smiled. "So, about the times you two can help us?" Sterling asked as he looked at Celestia and Luna.

"Well, we could help today. I have no problems with it," Celestia offered.

"I'll have to shift most, if not all, of my dream work onto Aloysia and her charge, but yes, I can help today," Luna said in agreement.

"Great! Brother, what do you think?" Sterling asked as Auric continued to test the ring.

"Well, we can do it today, I guess. Technically, we are ahead of schedule. And it would be helpful to have more magic power to test the metal. As is, I only have a theoretical grasp on transmuting something into titanium. I'd imagine there'll be a few failures before we make quality titanium. So as long as you two are willing to put up with some magical bumbling, today works," Auric said as magical energy bounced off the ring.

"I thought you had a lot of work to do?" Celestia teasingly said.

"We're ahead of schedule, but if either of us gets sick, that'll change. It's a bit of a cushion, but not much of one," Auric cleared up. "So, are we doing this today?" Auric asked as he flipped the ring off his hoof and onto his back as he walked towards the inner sanctum of the mint.

"Yes, today works," Celestia and Luna said after a brief look at each other.

"Great, just follow us inside. Oh, remember, we will need to keep the ring," Auric said as he walked inside.

"We'll see you all later. We would let you in, but the inner sanctum is only accessible to the brothers and direct royalty, sorry," Celestia apologized as she, Luna, and Sterling entered.

"Well, that's fair," Julius said with a shrug. "So, what to do while we wait?" Julius asked.

"Well, Fancy Pants wanted to meet you," Twilight suggested.

"Of course, there's a pony named Fancy Pants. He sounds like a stuck-up noble," Julius sighed.

"Actually, the Arch-Duke is one of the good nobles. I think he should be in the gardens," Twilight hummed as she walked towards the exit of the mint.

"Well, I can't think of anything better to do, so why not," Julius said as the group left the mint.