Shining had come to visit. Celestia hated talking to him nowadays, but his time was running out and he’d requested a private audience with her.

She could guess why, and decided to take his audience in her personal chambers.

“Shining, It’s… rare to see you lately.” She didn’t like to lie unless she had to, so instead she chose to be cordial.

He sat himself down and stretched. “I have been busy, haven’t I? Preparing the Crystal Empire for the Equestria Games is a lot of work! It’s also worth mentioning that I’m helping Cadence get settled in as Empress. That should be a full time job in and of itself.” He settled down, and smiled evenly. “Plus, I know you don’t like to see me.”

Celestia was calm in her answer, and even smiled serenely. Perhaps she would have to lie to him. “Why ever would you think that? You’re my friend and student.”

He shrugged. “Envy. Maybe jealousy, depending on your perspective of the situation. Perhaps a little fear. I can’t actually know what you’re feeling.”

Celestia frowned, speaking more directly. “Only what I will do, then?”

Shining nodded. “Something like that.”

She felt a small fire of rage burning at his indifference, but squashed it. While she could incinerate him in a moment, that wasn’t an acceptable way to solve this. It would be better to talk to him and understand him. “You never speak of your limitations. That’s the first time you’ve let slip a shortcoming. Are there any more you’d like to share with me?”

Shining nodded. “A few. For starters, I’m pretty easy to manipulate. Lift a little tail, and I’ll move mountains. Twilight figured that out pretty early on.”

Celestia’s little fire of rage started to burn the air around her. She really could incinerate him, and he was actively antagonizing her.

“Next is my arrogance. I’m pretty confident in my luck so far. So much that it should be easy to convince me to make a mistake.”

Celestia was aware of these personality traits, and likely he was aware that she was aware. So instead of letting him waste time, she interrupted him.

“I saw her, you know. It’s why I’m angry with you as of late.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Her?”

Celestia glared at him. “Princess Twilight Sparkle. Of course, she felt more like a queen or an empress. Far more so than Cadence ever will. She was larger than me, and even more powerful.”

Shining looked confused, and slightly concerned. “How odd. I wonder if it’s breaking…”

Celestia snorted. “I don’t know what “it” is, nor why it would break. I do know that the pony I saw is who Twilight is supposed to be. I also know that you’re supposed to be in my royal guard, a loyal captain. Do you have anything to say about that?”

Shining blinked, looking at her. “You’re right. I am supposed to be your captain of the guard. At least until I was supposed to be married to Cadence. Then I was to be a prince consort.”

Celestia sighed, deflating. “I fought you both on that one, didn’t I? Is that why she’s so madly in love with you even though you treat her like any one of your concubines?”

Shining seemed offended. “I’ll have you know that I do love everypony in my harem. They’re all my waifus.”

Celestia looked up with dead eyes, having a flashback to a much earlier conversation. “And Twilight is above the rest, as your number one waifu, if I remember?”

Shining smiled contentedly. “That she is. That Twilighticious purple smart is the best flavor in the skittle bag. She’s just adorkable, isn’t she?”

Celestia continued to stare, the fire coming back. “I don’t know those words, Shining. But I understand the meaning. Unfortunately, the meaning is the problem. She was never supposed to be yours to have, was she?”

Shining continued to smile. “Perhaps not, but now she is.”

The fire raged. “And now, because of your selfishness, she risks not becoming the princess I saw. You didn’t help her save my sister, she saved my sister in spite of your meddling. Now you’re struggling to make her ascend on the proper timeline. That’s why you made this bet.”

Shining’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Oh?”

“You said it yourself. You can see the future, somehow, but that doesn’t mean it will come to pass. You specifically stated that if you and Twilight spent the whole time fucking then you’d fail with your goal. You needed an incentive.”

Shining continued to smile. “And you and Luna are part of it. You’re good at this. As I said, I’d move mountains to lift some tail. Flaws can be virtues if you look at them from the right angle. All it takes is a little extra dimensional thinking.” He tapped his head with his hoof a few times to emphasize the thinking.

Celestia frowned, her heart beating wildly in anger but her voice remaining calm. “I believed you when you said that you were on my side. I didn’t have any reason to, but I did. I had faith, Shining. Was it misplaced?”

His exuberant smile fell and he sighed. “I still am. That wasn’t a lie.” He took a few deep breaths. “Sometimes I get caught up in my game. It’s exhilarating, you know? I used to be so average and now I can keep pace with, or even out maneuver the Great Celestia.”

She sighed, unsure of what to say. “Captain of the royal guard is hardly average, Shining.”

He snorted. “Yeah, something like that.”

“So if you are on my side, why all the debauchery? I truly just don’t understand. All of this is hardly the desire of a healthy pony.”

Shining laughed. “I’m not healthy. I’ve said before that I’ve got my own goals. It just so happens that my goals and your goals have a wonderful intersection. That’s where I want to take us.”

Celestia hung her head. “I’m not feeling like your forwarding my goals very much, Shining. Twilight would have ascended without your interference, all you seem to have done is corrupt everypony I love.”

Shining glared deviously. “And there, right there is the intersection. That’s the money shot, as it were. Every pony that you love.”

Celestia glared up at him. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

Shining smiled darkly. “Do you know how your relationship is supposed to go with Twilight Sparkle?”

Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Tell me.”

“It’s mentor and student. Just mentor and student. Eventually, you retire and leave the whole mess of Equestria to her. You live a long, healthy eternity with just yourself and your sister.”

Celestia huffed. “That doesn’t sound particularly bad.”

Shining kept smiling. “A lonely eternity. Twilight moves on, focused on ruling and raising her own students. Cadence is married to me, and we have a family that takes all of her time and energy. Luna grows to resent you once again, feeling as though the opportunity to lead was once again taken from her by your selfish desire to retire. All the while she stays timid and would never say no to you. Nopony ever would.”

Celestia stayed silent.

“I altered your relationship with Luna as soon as she returned. I had you nip her meekness in the bud early on. Luna and you really do treat most things as equals nowadays, and she has no problem voicing her dissent. That was not part of the original plan, and it’s better for you both.”

Celestia ground her teeth.

“Cadence and I might have a family, but now that you two have had that tiff and gotten over it, things are better than ever. Aren’t they? Now you’ll be closer than ever to our family, won’t you? If you’re part of my little harem, you’ll even be treated as a second mother to little Flurry when she’s born. Now Cadence thinks of you as an equal as well, and that makes you happy.”

Hot air blew from her mouth as she thought, mulling over his words.

“Lets not forget the harem. Lonely nights wont be your eternity. Aside from the regular sex, you’ll have ponies that truly want to be with you. These girls are all the real deal, literal elements of harmony. They won’t want your attention for your power or body; they’ll love you purely for you. That’s something you haven’t had in a long time, isn’t it?”

Celestia lowered her eyes, telling herself that she wasn’t considering these options. She hated how Shining always made her lie to herself.

“That’s one of the reasons you love your sister so much. Speaking of sisterly love, my sister has had her eyes opened wide to the world of romance and paramours. The original plan for Twilight is a mare so chaste and innocent that it would be incomprehensible for her to even consider a special somepony. You’d have to find a Twilight from a world where they’re all horny high schoolers to even see that hinted at.”

Celestia closed her eyes tightly.

“But this Twilight, my personal little fuck toy of a sister, is so full of carnal and romantic love that she’d ecstatically share any amount of it with you. All you’d have to do would be to join my Harem and she’d give you everything you want and more. That powerful, intimidating mare? She will love you from the depths of her heart like no other. You can have her coddle you when you’re lonely, sad, or even horny and she’ll fucking love it.”

He leaned forward, whispering. “You could even snuggle her at night, safely wrapped in her wings whenever you want.”

Celestia’s eyes opened slightly. She’d always considered the specter of Princess Twilight Sparkle as somepony separate from her delicate little Twilight, but it wasn’t, was it? That was the same Twilight. If that Twilight was already in some sort of love with her, then Princess Twilight Sparkle…

Oh no.

He chuckled as her wings slowly spread. “That’s what gets a rise out of you? Snuggling a bigger mare? I guess that makes sense. Not many ponies for you to look up to, are there?”

Celestia forced her wings down and shook her head. “That’s none of your business, Shining.”

He smiled again. “It might be soon, I don’t see any harm in doing a little research first.”

Celestia glared.

“Maybe you’d like to have her hold you down. Instead of just snuggling, she could press you down, nip at your neck, and lick your horn until you feel like jelly. I bet you wouldn’t fight her at all if she tried that, would you?”

Celestia’s mind was filled with things that distinctly were not snuggling, and she nearly choked. She had to put an end to this. “Enough, Shining. Enough. You’ve made your point. My desire’s don’t matter as we both know that you have me trapped in this situation regardless. I can let you fail, and we all suffer; most of all Twilight. Or I can help you succeed and this nonsense comes to pass where only my dignity suffers.”

Shining smiled. “So, will you help me fill the world with nonsense then, your soon to be undignified majesty?”

She slunk down, looking at him sideways as she asked in an exasperated tone, asking him one more time. “What do you want from me, Shining?”

Shining’s smile seemed too wide, and his eyes too narrow. He didn’t look like a pony when he answered, instead looking like something far more alien. “It’s real simple, and it’s something Twilight loves. I just need a book.”

Author's Note

Getting close to the end. Gotta decide how I chunk this up....