Space-Time Out

Chapters

Royal Prerogi-Thingy
Inter-Something Gateway
Political Philoso-Bargle
Xeno-Whatchacallit Studies

Royal Prerogi-Thingy

Flurry Heart was not pleased.

This wasn’t that uncommon, as a lot could displease Flurry: Being told to take a bath. Being told to come out of the bath. Being told to finish her alfalfa. Being told “We’ll tell you when you’re older.” Having to wear an inhibitor ring to school even though she was a big filly—seven and a half years old!—and could definitely be trusted not to zap her classmates.

“Come on, please?”

“Nuh uh,” said Rhodolite, hugging a napkin to his dumb, red chest, probably getting crumbs in the fur and hairs on the prize. “It’s my cookie. You already had yours.”

And, of course, not being able to zap those classmates when they really deserved it, especially when they were outside the classroom and she wasn't really in school anymore. “But it’s my favorite kind!" Flurry very reasonably shouted. "You don’t even like oatmeal crystal berry cookies.”

“It’s still mine, though." Rhodolite pressed it even tighter to him. A harder cookie probably would've crumbled there and then. "Besides, you already had Cubic Lattice’s and Polished Facet’s. You’re just greedy.”

“I’m not greedy, I’m hungry! It's been a long time since lunch." Flurry tried the wide-eyed, lip-quivering look that always worked on her nanny when Mom and Dad were busy. "Pretty please?”

Rhodolite just scowled and stuck out his tongue. At her! “I said no.”

Flurry looked around. Mrs. Calcite was nowhere to be seen, which meant she couldn’t ask her for help. But it also meant…

She stomped each front hoof, left and right, and glared down at Rhodolite just like Grauntie Luna would. She flared out her wings, took a deep breath, and boomed out, “I’m the princess! I’m more important than you! Now give it!”

“Flurry Heart!”

Flurry's wings flopped to the ground. That voice and that tone never meant anything good. She looked back to see a much bigger alicorn glaring at her the way she had at Rhodolite. “Mom?”

Mrs. Calcite scurried after Mom, sweat running down her neck and doing funny things to the light going through her. “Y-your Highness, I am so sorry, I’ve never seen this kind of behavior from Flurry before—“

Mom didn't look any happier. “In that case, we can nip it in the bud here and now. Flurry?”

Flurry bit her lip, ears folding back. “Um… Sorry?”

“Go back to the castle, dear. Mr. Sentry will escort you.”

“Okay…” Flurry sighed and dragged her hooves to the guard standing a few feet away, staring at nothing like they usually did.

“Flurry’s in trouble!” Rhodolite led the chant, but he wasn't the only one.

She whirled back, crying “Hey!”

“Be nice, class,” Mrs. Calcite said, getting mumbles in response.

“Go on, Flurry." Mom turned her attention to the teacher. "Mrs. Calcite, I would like to discuss this with you later today if you’re available.”

That got shocked gasps. “Mrs. Calcite’s in trouble…” whispered Cubic Lattice.

“Be nice, class.”

“Yes, Miss Princess.”

Mom winced like she'd stubbed her hoof. Flurry tried not to look too smug at that. Especially when Mr. Sentry cleared his throat. It was his job to protect princesses, and sometimes that meant protecting them from other princesses.

Cadence wasn't happy.

There wasn't much she could honestly say she hated, but the uncomfortable atmosphere around a crystal pony trying not to get punished was definitely on the list. For all the bright colors in the classroom, Lavender Calcite's choking anxiety made the place feel like a monochrome nightmare. “I apologize for undermining your authority in front of your class earlier, Mrs. Calcite."

"I mean, that is, you don't have to, well..." The teacher trailed off, starting to tremble.

"Please, be honest with me. Was this really the first time Flurry’s tried to get her way like that?”

Mrs. Calcite mumbled the starts of several sentences, her eyes darting around and never meeting Cadence's. The closest they came were a few inches above her head.

Cadence sighed and took off her crown, making a point of using her hooves. “I’m not Sombra, Mrs. Calcite." Celestia probably would've called the mare by her first name, try to make them feel like equals. Based on past experience with crystal ponies, that would only make the panic worse. "Right now, I’m just a concerned mother who wants the best for her daughter. And I need your help to make sure of that.”

“I, I..." After a few deep breaths that bordered on hyperventilation, Mrs. Calcite shook her head. "I’m sorry, Your High… Cadence." She grimaced like saying the name was a criminal offense. "But you’re the princess. Who wants to tell you bad news?”

Cadence held back her sigh. “I’d much rather somepony tell me than find out for myself. I've had my suspicions for some time, but I need to know how bad it is.”

After a few more, thankfully slower breaths, Mrs. Calcite said, “Flurry definitely has a temper. She doesn’t take hearing ‘no’ well.”

That got a nod. “Or being told to do what she doesn’t want to?”

“She does listen to me. Generally.”

“Generally?” Cadence echoed.

“If her classmates don’t listen to her, she gets very frustrated. Sometimes enough that I have to ask her to step outside for a moment. But this really is the first time I’ve seen her, ah…” Mrs. Calcite cleared her throat.

“Exert royal authority?”

After a few moments, the teacher risked a nod. “In so many words, yes.”

“I see. She’s rambunctious at home, certainly, but…" Cadence sighed. "I’m going to have to talk with her caretakers. Shining and I try to be there for her whenever we can, but ruling the Empire—” She cut herself off as she saw the trembling resume, enough that there was a sound almost like wind chimes as the crystal mare's teeth chattered. “Thank you, Mrs. Calcite. This has been very helpful, and I’ll do my utmost to make sure this won’t happen again.”

Mrs. Calcite nodded. It was a very large nod. Some might have even called it a bow. “Of course, Your Highness.”

Shining Armor was downright peeved.

"I blame myself," he grumbled, pacing at the foot of the royal bed.

Cadence held out a wing to hold him. "Shiny—"

"We both know you're the statesmare," he said, trotting right past her. "I've been playing war games while our daughter's turned into a spoiled little tyrant. I should've been focusing on her rather than battle plans for Twilight's alliances going sour. Like that'll ever..." He trailed off and looked down, realizing he'd been trotting in place a few inches above the floor for the last sentence or two.

"You've also been focusing on diplomatic work, athletic programs, the Arctic Rangers..." Cadence let him drop just in time to nuzzle him. "Shining, you're as much a ruler of the Empire as I am and I wouldn't have it any other way."

It was like rubbing against a rock for all he responded. "And where has that left our daughter? Coddled by nannies afraid to tell her 'no' ever since Sunburst moved to Ponyville."

"He got married, Shining. Who am I to tell a stallion not to follow his heart?"

"And now Flurry's going to be the second coming of Sombra. Or Nightmare Moon. Or some combination of them." Shining shook his head. "Ugh, I knew it had been too quiet for the last few years."

"Dear."

"Yeah?"

"You're Twilighting." Cadence glanced at the floor. There probably wasn't a groove in there. Not yet, anyway.

After a few moments, Shining sighed and bowed his head. "Okay, maybe a little." He snapped back up, that same mad fear of failing those close to him burning in his eyes as Cadence had seen in his sister's so many times before. "But this is our daughter we're talking about! I think I'm entitled to worry about her."

Calmly, reasonably, Cadence guided Shining out of the madness place, as much by a gentle wing on his back as with her words. "Yes, but she's still a foal. We have plenty of time to fix this. And the first thing we need to do is delegate more so we can actually spend the time with her she needs. And when we can't, we find somepony who can."

"Which won't be easy. Even a young alicorn inspires respect." Still, when Shining next looked at Cadence, he looked more sane. Not all the way there, but she didn't feel all the way there herself. "What did your parents do?"

That got a flat look. "Shiny, I didn't get my horn until I was fourteen, remember?"

"Right." He let out a breath as something that was half-sigh, half-nicker. "Sorry, my head's all over the place right now."

"I understand. But the pegasus from a Spurcilian kelping village doesn't know the secret to raising an alicorn anymore than you do."

Shining finally gave her an affectionate nuzzle of his own. "I do miss your accent."

"That makes one of us. It always made me feel so out of place in Canterlot, especially compared to..." Cadence trailed off as old memories dusted themselves off.

"Compared to who?"

"Shiny, I think I know what we need to do. But first I need to find a book." Cadence wrenched the doors of the royal chambers open with her magic before galloping out.

Shining chuckled as he followed her. "Now who's sounding like Twilight?"

Flurry watched snowflakes zip by the train, trying to figure out this latest puzzle of parents doing weird parent things. Finally, she looked back at Mom and Dad. “I don’t get it.”

“What do you mean, dear?” said Mom.

“Aren’t you mad at me?”

Mom shook her head. “Disappointed, maybe, but not mad.”

“Oh.” Flurry winced. Mad was scary, but over quick. Disappointed hurt, and did for a while. “But why are we taking a train ride if you’re disappointed in me?”

"We think we've decided on your punishment, but before we settle on it, we want to get your side of things."

"Even given the Crystal Express, we should have time to get everything figured out. And if we're wrong?" Dad shrugged. "We have options."

Flurry had no idea what to think of any of this. "... Okay?" she eventually said, looking from one to the other.

"Right now, Flurry," Mom said, "we just want to know why you thought it was okay to shout at that colt like that."

"Oh." Flurry's ear folded back. This was going to tricky.

"And please be honest, dear."

Really tricky. "Well... aren't I?"

"Aren't you what?" said Dad.

"More important than Rhodolite."

"Flurry," said Mom, short and sharp and scowling.

"Aren't I? I mean, I'm a princess and an alicorn. I'm gonna help rule the Empire one day, or maybe help Aunt Twilight rule all of Equestria, or help Uncle Spike make friends with the rest of the world." Flurry stood up on her bench and flared out her wings, already almost as big as Aunt Rainbow's. "I have so much magic I almost destroyed the Empire by accident the day I was born!"

Dad sighed and pressed a hoof against his forehead. "I knew we shouldn't have gotten Trixie to perform at her fourth birthday party."

"Miss Great and Powerful Trixie's great. Rhodolite's just some dumb colt who picks his nose when he thinks nopony's looking. And he doesn't even like oatmeal cookies. He should've given it to me when I asked. I said please and everything!" Flurry stomped. It should have been dramatic, but it just made the cushioning go whumph.

"And you think being a princess means you should get your way all the time?" said Mom.

Flurry sat back down. If the bench wasn't going to cooperate, then it wasn't worth getting that mad. "Well, not from you or Dad. 'Cause you're important too. It's why you can't always tuck me in or pick me up from school."

Dad winced like he'd stepped on one of his not-a-toy soldiers. "Which we're going to work on."

"And we'll talk about that later," Mom said to him. "But we can't always be there because being a princess isn't about what other ponies can do for you."

Flurry looked around the royal train car, with its glittering decorations, mini-library, fully stocked snack bar, and high-rimmed hot tub. "It isn't?"

Dad grinned. "The only reason we get treated this nicely is because nopony would want to do the job if there weren't some upside to all the work."

"But that work is what's important. Not having a crown, or both a horn and wings, or a lot of magical power."

"But..." Flurry trailed off as she took in Mom's serious face, then looked away. "Okay. I guess."

She heard Mom do the Stay Calm Breath. "It's okay, Flurry. You can say what's on your mind. It won't get you into any more trouble."

"Well... It's still gonna be a million years until I can do any real princess work. Why do I have all that other stuff if none of it matters?"

Mom and Dad traded a look. "We're still figuring that out ourselves, Flurry," Dad said. "Nopony in living memory had ever seen a naturally born alicorn before you." He leaned over and ruffled her mane. She giggled despite trying to squirm away from him. "You're special, and I'm sure that one day, we'll find out why."

Mom settled in next to Flurry, wrapping her in a wing. "Until then, we're doing our best to let you grow up as a normal little filly, because, well, we haven't had a lot of time to just be a family. We'll do our best to fix that, but until then—"

A low hum interrupted her, making Flurry look around the train car. She spotted something where Mom had been sitting, glowing and shaking. "What's that?"

Dad picked it up in his magic and grinned. "It's called a book. I think you saw one or two when visiting Aunt Twilight."

"I know what books are, Dad. Why's that one buzzing?" Flurry glowered as Dad opened his mouth again. "And don't say 'magic.' I can tell that much."

Before Dad could say his next silly answer, Mom took it from his magic grip and brought it closer. The cover had no words, just a symbol with the Crystal Heart surrounded by wavy lines. "This book's paired with another one a long, long way away. Anything written in one shows up in the other. And I've been writing to a pony who's going to help us. It turns out your Aunt Twilight had thought about this, and she's already prepared something for your punishment."

Despite Mom's wing, a chill ran down Flurry's spine. "She has?"

“You know how your Aunt Twilight can be with planning ahead,” said Dad. “Remember the last Two Sisters Festival?”

Chill or no, Flurry giggled at the memory. “She tripped over her own checklist.”

“She is still growing into those new legs of hers,” said Mom.

“So this pony works for Aunt Twilight?” That just narrowed it down to almost everypony who lived south of the Empire.

“Kind of,” said Dad.

Flurry blinked. “Kind of?”

“It’ll be a surprise.”

A surprise with Aunt Twilight. Flurry tilted her head. “I thought I was in trouble.”

“Oh, you are," said Mom. "And this how we’ll punish you.”

The chill came back, and brought friends. Flurry didn't like any of them.

“That feeling right now?” Mom leaned in close and booped Flurry's muzzle. “That’s part of your punishment.”

Sometimes foals in class would talk about who the best alicorn was. (Flurry could admit she wasn’t the best. Yet.) Some said Aunt Twilight. Some said Grauntie Celestia or Grauntie Luna. The ones who said Mom never did so for the right reasons; they didn’t know her well enough.

Soon enough, the train screeched to a halt, brakes hissing. Flurry looked out the window and frowned at the unexpected view. “If we’re going to see Aunt Twilight, how come we're getting off in Ponyville?”

“You’ll see.”

Grauntie Luna could be dark and cool and tough. But even when smiling, Mom could be scary.

Author's Note

This ballooned into a multi-chapter event on me. It'll be fun to see where it leads. :pinkiehappy:

Cadence being born a pegasus comes from Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, one of G. M. Berrow's pony novels. Her coming from Spurcily, the largest island in the Marediterranean Sea, is my own elaboration on the theme. (By implication, it also means you should never bet against Cadence when death is on the line. Which the data appears to support.)

Inter-Something Gateway

As far as Flurry was concerned, the best part of Canterlot was seeing Aunt Twilight, while the best part of Ponyville was that it wasn’t Canterlot.

Sure, getting to see her other aunts and Sunburst was great—especially Sunburst!—but after Aunt Twilight, Uncle Spike, Grandma, and Grandpa, there just wasn’t anything fun in Canterlot. But Ponyville always seemed to have something new and exciting going on. A new building going up, a new monster knocking one down, or even just Aunt Pinkie experimenting with a new cupcake and needing taste testers.

Ponies waved as they went by, and Flurry waved back. Ponyville was a town where ponies weren't supposed to care that you were an alicorn, like Manehattan. Unlike Manehattan, nopony yelled at Flurry because her wings were "hogging the sidewalk." As Mom and Dad trotted with her to the crystal castle—another point for Ponyville; at least it had one proper building—Flurry could almost pretend she wasn’t in trouble. It lurked in the back of her mind, sure, but she could focus on the happy ponies surrounding her instead.

And when they got to the castle, she found somepony even better to focus on.

“Sunburst!” The moment she saw him in the entry hall, she took off and raced towards him, forelegs outstretched.

“Flurry!" The breath whuffed out of him as she gave him a hug. A very high-speed hug, but he deserved it. He was Sunburst after all, the best pony in the history of Equestria. "Oof. Goodness, you’ve grown.”

Flurry pulled back, spitting out red-orange hairs. “So has your beard.”

Sunburst smiled, running a hoof through the hair going down to his chest. “I’m trying it out. I think it makes me look distinguished.”

Heavy hoofsteps made Flurry look to the main staircase at the mare tottering down it. “Trixie thinks you look like an even more desperate Star Swirl cosplayer than usual.” Aunt Trixie, who would be Miss Great and Powerful Trixie if she were on stage but here just looked weird without wearing her cape or suit or anything, gave Flurry a nod. "Hey there, Menace. Explode anything lately?"

Flurry giggled. “Hi, Aunt Trixie! You grew too.”

“Ugh." Aunt Trixie rubbed her round belly as she took the last stair. "I’m not the one doing the growing. You may not be ‘Menace’ for much longer the way it’s going. Don’t know why I agreed to this.”

“Starlight won the bet,” Sunburst said as he moved to her side, kissing her cheek.

“More like she cheated. I stacked that deck fair and square!”

Mom and Dad walked up. Mom put on the little smile she had when she was being polite. “Trixie.”

Aunt Trixie didn't bother. “Cadence. Sparkle-colt.”

“Really?” said Dad.

Mom nudged him with a wing. “Let her be, dear. She’s snarking for two."

"I might be okay with that if she acted any differently when she wasn't pregnant."

That got him another wing nudge. "Have you thought about a name?”

"We're thinking something traditional," said Sunburst. "Gleam, Shine, Luster, along those lines."

Flurry settled in for a long, boring grown-up talk. They'd probably end up talking about her punishment, so she'd pay attention, but she'd still rather do just about anything else.

“You got our letter?” said Dad.

"Your little message flake nearly flew down Trixie's throat at breakfast, but yes."

“Starlight’s in the quaternary library getting everything set up." Sunburst started up the stairs. "Follow me.”

Walking helped with the boredom, even if they had to go slow for Aunt Trixie.

"Trixie still thinks you could just have Menace talk to Diamond Tiara."

Sunburst gave her the same look Flurry used to get when asking for a third bedtime story. "Just because you've been banned from Barnyard Bargains for life doesn't mean the rest of us want to join you."

"Then she can talk to Trixie. There are plenty of ponies with experience in getting over their entitlement without getting that one involved."

Mom shook her head. "We did consider a few other options, you included, but we think she's the best choice after talking to Flurry."

The chill, chased away by the warm friendliness of Ponyville, came back in force. "Who's 'that one'?" said Flurry.

"Don't worry, Menace," said Aunt Trixie, making Flurry worry more, "you'll find out soon enough. Though Trixie still thinks this is overkill. And she's not just saying that because she's been blamed for enough interdimensional incidents as it is."

Sunburst gave her a funny look. “You were responsible for them.”

Aunt Trixie stuck out her tongue at him. “Trixie refuses to be responsible for anything outside of work hours.”

Flurry tilted her head. “Inter-what-now?”

"Royal pardon!" Aunt Trixie half-sang, her usual answer for stories she didn't want to tell Flurry. She usually pranced a bit when she said it, but with her belly bulging the way it was, that wasn't happening.

Sunburst turned back to Flurry, and the chill got even worse as he frowned. “I have to say, Flurry, I heard what you did, and I am not pleased with what you did with your classmate.”

Flurry felt her wings droop to the floor. “B-but—”

He shook his head. “I don't want to rub your nose in it while you're already being punished, but I still don't want you thinking it's acceptable behavior.”

Even Sunburst's disappointment wasn't enough to overwhelm the question nopony would answer. “What is my punishment?”

Sunburst turned his eyes forward and just kept walking. “You’ll see.”

Flurry took to the air, hovering in front of him. “That’s what Mom and Dad said!”

Pinkish magic dragged her onto Aunt Trixie's back. “Got to build up the anticipation, Menace. Otherwise there’s no weight to the reveal.” As Flurry fluttered off of her, Aunt Trixie rubbed her belly. “This one understands that much.”

Flurry didn’t say anything more until they reached one of the palace’s many libraries. She didn’t sulk, she just didn’t have anything to say to ponies who couldn’t give her a straight answer. Once they were in the library, she saw Aunt Starlight fiddling with a bunch of gadgets and gizmos surrounding a mirror.

Well, it might be a mirror. There was glass in a frame, but Aunt Starlight was standing right in front of it and Flurry didn’t see her on the other side. She didn't see the bookshelves behind her, either.

“The Menace arrived, Starlight,” said Aunt Trixie.

Aunt Starlight blinked and shook her head. “I guess time flies when you're calibrating portals." She waved to everypony in general. "Shining, Cadence. Hey there, Flurry.”

“Hi, Aunt Starlight." Flurry landed by her side and looked up at the whatever-it-was. "What’s this thing?”

“The mirror?” Aunt Starlight pulled a lever, sending all the stuff around the apparently-a-mirror to whirring and grinding. “It’s how you’re getting to your punishment.”

“Huh?” Flurry took a few steps back, watching magic build through all the different parts, the glow building along with the tingle in her horn until two giant globs of magic smacked into the glass, making a swirling ripple like the surface of a pond that couldn't stay still.

After a few moments of watching it, she turned back to Aunt Starlight. "Huh?"

Aunt Starlight just swept a foreleg towards the ripple. “Step on through.”

“But why?”

"It's where the mare who'll be looking after you lives," said Sunburst. "Far away in another world."

“Call it a tradition," Mom added. "Misbehaving princesses get banished. The way your graunties tell it, Star Swirl was very serious about time outs.”

“But, but…” Flurry looked around the room, not seeing anypony who looked like they’d be willing to help her. Unless…

She opened her eyes wide, bit her lip, and sniffled at the one pony she knew she could always count on, no matter what. “D-daddy?”

He shook his head. “It’s for your own good, sweetie.”

A quick pivot had her facing the other one pony she knew she could always count on. “Sunburst?”

Sunburst didn't even bother with the headshake. “That stopped working after your fourth birthday, Flurry.”

Flurry dropped the pout and stomped a hoof. “Shoot.”

“Come on, Flurry," said Aunt Starlight, "it's just for the weekend. Take it from me, it’s worse if you drag it out.”

After a few more thoughtful moments, Flurry heaved a big sigh. “Okaaaay. I just gotta walk through it?”

That got a nod. “That’s right.”

“Okay. See you soo—” Midword, Flurry pivoted on a hoof and galloped for the library’s door, only for sky-blue magic to lift her up and leave her wings pinned and legs scrambling on air. “Moooom! No fair!”

“So just because I’m a princess doesn’t that mean I can do what I want?”

Flurry sighed as she took in the smirk on Mom's muzzle. “Can I just say 'I get it' now?”

“This will be good for you, dear. And it is only for a weekend. Have fun!”

"I thought it was supposed to be a punishment."

Mom winked. "You'll see."

And before Flurry could say anything else, Mom tossed her into the ripple. Rather than smack into the mirror, Flurry kept going, surrounded by twisting rainbows and flashing lights that made every magic sense she had go nuts. She couldn't tell if she was spinning in every direction, or if she was the one thing in the world that was actually holding still.

Eventually, things started getting less crazy than more. By the time Flurry could tell up from down again, she found herself staring up at the clouds. Which didn’t make any kind of sense. Wasn’t she still in the castle?

“Hey there. You must be Flurry Heart. Heard a lot about you.”

The unfamiliar voice made her blink and sit up. Everything felt… weird. Not painful, but nothing like it should. A glimpse of something in the corner of Flurry’s eye made her pause. She tried shifting a foreleg, and the thing slipped by again. Slowly, almost (almost!) fearfully, Flurry turned to face it.

It wriggled. It twitched. It was a very familiar shade of pink. And as Flurry followed it to its source, she realized that under the dress she hadn't been wearing a minute ago, it was attached to her.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Yeah, that’s a pretty typical reaction.”

Flurry tore her gaze away from her warped foreleg to see some orange monster looming over her, with a missing muzzle and hair like flames and more wriggly mini-hooves coming out of her legs.

“AHHHHHHH!”

The monster… just stood there. Probably stunned by Flurry’s ferocious battle cry. Though the way it sighed made it seem less than completely terrified. “Less typical, but still more so than I’d like." It pressed some mini-hooves against its mini-snout and rubbed it. "Really wish Fluttershy were here right now.”

“Y-you know Aunt Fluttershy?” Aunt Fluttershy definitely had some strange and even scary friends, but they behaved themselves. Usually.

“Both of them," the monster said, like that was something that made sense. "Not surprised nopony mentioned me, though. Your whole family has a bad record with that kind of thing." It laughed for some reason. "No offense."

"Wait, you're..." Flurry hesitated and realized that nopony ever had mentioned the name of the mare who'd be taking care of her. "Um, 'that one'?"

That got the monster to smile. She was actually kind of pretty, in a weird, flat-faced kind of way. "I see you met Trixie. I'm Sunset Shimmer. It's nice to meet you." She reached towards Flurry with those grasping mini-hooves. "Come on, up you get.”

“What are you—” Flurry watched in fascinated horror as Miss Sunset wrapped their mini-hooves together, then pulled until Flurry had reared up. “Wh-whoa…” Sunset let go, leaving Flurry to wave her forelegs for balance until she realized she didn't actually need to.

Flurry looked herself over. The dress reminded her of one Aunt Rarity had made for her, the same colors as her mane with enough frills to keep Aunt Rarity from trying to add more. This one went down to her knees, and below it her hind hooves were completely covered by really weird looking shoes with little wings on the heels.

It took a few tries to get that much; Flurry's attention kept drifting back to the awful mini-hooves coming out of her fetlocks. she looked back at Miss Sunset, who was dressed up like a business stallion in jacket and pants and even a tie with a two-tone sun on it. Flurry felt her face, feeling bumps and smooth patches that made her more sure of the horrible truth. “A-am I…”

Miss Sunset nodded. "Same creature as me, yeah. It's part of what the portal does. Welcome to Earth, Flurry Heart. You're going to be human for the next few days."

Flurry didn't scream again, but she did think about it.

Author's Note

Hey, if Cadence can announce her pregnancy on the show, Trixie in her tenth month should be within the bounds of an E rating. For the record, the story's in the same timeline as Lost Faculty, not that will matter for continuity.
(Starlight agreed to carry the second one, assuming they have one.)

Luster Dawn being Trixie's daughter is something I've only seen proposed by Badumsquish, but they make a persuasive argument.

As for Trixie calling Flurry "Menace," I applied the nickname based on what Flurry's aunt gets up to in one of the Georgian timelines.

Rest assured, you'll be able to see what the portal site is like next time. Flurry just needed to reach a state where she could take in her surroundings without being blinded by terror.

Political Philoso-Bargle

Flurry glanced back at the mirror. Or, at least, what was supposed to be the mirror. All she saw was a block of white stone. Craning her head up, she saw something like the Saddle Arabian pony who came to talk to Mom and Dad last year. She reached out a foreleg and prodded the rock just in case. It was cold, rough, and definitely didn't lead back to Equestria.

"Sorry, Flurry," said Miss Sunset. "Wouldn't be much of a punishment if you could just go back right away." Flurry turned back to see her hold up a book with the same design as the one Mom had had on the train. "Part of what Cadence and I were arranging, just like making sure I'd be here to help you when you arrived. No one wants you all alone in a strange world."

Flurry crossed her arms and pouted, trying to ignore the itch in her eyes. "Ganging up on me isn't..." She trailed off as she took in the building behind Miss Sunset. It wasn't a proper crystal building, but even for a blocky, brown thing, it was still pretty impressive. It definitely towered taller than most houses she'd ever seen. "Is that a castle?"

Miss Sunset followed her gaze and smiled. "Not exactly. Used to be a school, but they moved that across the street." She pointed behind Flurry, who looked back behind the statue and saw a really weird building on the other side of a black path. The front would've fit in in Ponyville, with bright walls and heart-shaped windows. But it had parts coming out of it that looked a lot like the not-a-castle. "After the first... incident, we decided it would be easier to have the embassy next to the portal instead of forcing Equestrians to cross the street moments after they came to this world."

Something like a metal train car without a track picked that moment to speed across the black path like Aunt Rainbow running from Aunt Applejack. Flurry looked at it, looked at her weird, skinny body, and imagined one hitting the other. "Oh."

"Yeah. Good thing Prince Rutherford laughed it off. Though we did have to talk him out of returning the favor on the other side of the portal."

"So, you're an..." Flurry's mind raced. She had some idea of what an embassy was—she still wasn't allowed near the Griffonstone embassy in the Empire for something she barely remembered doing, and the scones turned out tastier anyway—but she wasn't sure about the right words. "An embasser?"

"Close. Ambassador. I handle a lot of the same diplomacy stuff your parents do, and that's where I work. Even if it weren't a weekend, the place and I have enough of a reputation that no one would be concerned by me standing next to a kid screaming her head off." Miss Sunset frowned. "That says a lot about how I've led my life."

Flurry focused on the part she most understood. "I'm not a goat."

"Sorry, local terminology."

“Oh.” Flurry was pretty sure she knew what that meant.

“Haven’t been back in Equestria since…" Miss Sunset trailed off. Flurry was still getting used to human faces, but she could guess what a wince like that meant. "Well, I try to make it to Twilight's Hearth's Warming party, but I didn't manage it last year... or the year before that... Let's just say it's been too long.”

Back in Equestria. Flurry gasped as the pieces came together in her mind. “Are you a princess too?”

“Wh-what?” She definitely knew what Miss Sunset's widened eyes and gasp meant. Flurry had been caught out like that many times herself.

“Everypony said I was in time-out, ‘cause naughty princesses get banished," Flurry reasoned. "If you’re from Equestria, but you’re here…” She trailed off like Aunt Twilight, using the same encouraging grin. She had to admit, it was pretty fun to let somepony else finish the thought.

Miss Sunset sighed and shook her head. "Shouldn't be that surprised by Twilight's niece," she muttered. "I'm not exactly a princess. It's complicated."

Flurry knew what that meant. "You'll tell me when I'm older?" she grumbled.

"More like I'll tell you when it won't bore you to sleep. Better?"

After a few moments of consideration, Flurry gave a reluctant nod. "Better."

"Thought so." Miss Sunset looked back at the embassy. "I'd give you the tour but, you know, same story. Most field trips of ki— of foals your age look bored out of their skulls by the time they got to my office."

Flurry grasped and clapped her hands against the sides of her head. "That can't actually happen to me now, can it?" She was so worried, she barely noticed how weird her ears felt.

Miss Sunset put a hand in front of her mouth, so both of them could pretend she didn't laugh at that. "No, humans may look flimsy, but they're pretty well put together. Mostly." She shook her head. "But we're not here just to talk about the locals, Flurry. We do still need to talk about why you're in trouble."

That dumb chill managed to make itself known even in a different body. "But I just did that with everypony!" For a moment, Flurry thought about making a break for it, but she was barely keeping her balance in her current body. Galloping wouldn't end well.

Also, Miss Sunset had much longer legs than she did. Another sign she really was a princess, no matter what she said.

"Yeah, but now we're on the next part of the argument."

"Huh?" Flurry blinked as her attention went back to the weirdest lecture she'd ever been through. "What do you mean?"

Miss Sunset flipped through the book. "Cadence has been keeping me updated, including your counterargument on the way to Ponyville." She found her page, then raised an eyebrow as she read. "I can see why she sent you to me; you're making the exact same mistake I did. You just got caught earlier."

"What mistake?"

"Think about it this way: You don't have a horn, wings, magic, or anyone who recognizes your title." Miss Sunset held up a mini-hoof with each thing Flurry had lost. Each one made the loss sting again, and the itch in her eyes that much worse. A flat stare down at her capped it off. "How important are you now?"

Flurry turned away and wiped at her eyes with a sleeve. She wasn't crying. She was just tired of seeing Miss Sunset's dumb, flat face. And if she felt she could gallop without falling on her own dumb, flat face, she would have. Instead, she just slumped down until she sat and mumbled, "You're mean."

Legs wrapped around Flurry from behind, making her flinch. She wasn't sure if she wanted the hug or not.

"I'm sorry."

That was enough. Flurry didn't need magic to feel the sincerity in Miss Sunset's voice. She twisted around and returned the hug as best she could.

She also might have gotten just a little snot on Miss Sunset's suit jacket. It was only fair.

“Great work, Sunset," the older mare muttered. Flurry might not have heard it if it weren't right next to her ear. "Let’s treat the seven year-old like a Griffonstone ambassador. That’ll go outstandingly. Celestia, I suck with kids…” After a deep breath, she stood back up. “You’re right.”

Flurry blinked back the last of her tears. “Huh?”

“I am mean. Some days it's my job to be mean. And I used to be a lot meaner, back when I thought I was more important than everypony else."

"When you made the same mistake as me?"

"Right. Follow me, Flurry." With Miss Sunset holding her hand, Flurry felt confident enough to totter on half as many legs as any reasonable pony would. While she was finding a rhythm, Miss Sunset continued. "I used to be Prin— your Grauntie Celestia’s personal student, back before your Aunt Twilight. Back when Celestia was the only alicorn most ponies knew about.”

Flurry stared up at her in awe. “You’re that old?”

Miss Sunset shot her a grumpy look, though it didn't last once Flurry giggled. “You’re lucky you’re cute. And the portal does weird things with time. The point is I made a lot of mistakes and made a lot of people miserable, including me." She heaved a sigh. "All because I thought I was better than everyone else. Because I deserved better.”

“Did you?”

That got a shake of the head. “I had it backwards the whole time. It was something Celestia tried to teach me, that Twilight tried to teach me, but I had to figure it out for myself in the end. It’s okay to be strong, be smart, be powerful. What’s wrong is using that to hurt people just because you can. If you have that kind of ability, you should use it to help people, not hurt them. With great power comes…” Miss Sunset trailed off as they stopped in front of a bright red trackless train car.

“Comes?” Flurry prompted.

Eventually, Miss Sunset ground out, “Great responsibility." She sighed as she pulled a handle on the train car, opening a door and helping Flurry into the seat inside. "Now I owe Twilight thirty bucks," she said as she pulled some kind of belt over Flurry. "I told her I could get through this talk without using that line.”

Flurry paused in looking around the inside of the machine. There were all kinds of dials and lights, but Miss Sunset was still more interesting. “What do deer have to do with anything?”

That got a snort as Miss Sunset shut the door and walked around to the other side. “Really need to get back to Equestria soon," she said once she sat and belted herself. Dials jumped as something started rumbling in front of them and Miss Sunset grabbed a steering wheel like an airship's. "Brush up on the current slang if nothing else. The deer aren’t the point, Flurry. Do you understand what I mean?”

Flurry had jerked up and was watching as the embassy slid away from them.

"Flurry?"

She shook her head and shut her eyes. That way she could shut out everything else and focus on the question. “I know being a bully is wrong. But Mom and Dad tell ponies what to do, and Aunt Twilight spends all day telling all of Equestria what to do!" Flurry crossed her arms, opening her eyes so she could put in a proper glare at the ground. "I’m a princess. I have all the great power. When do I get to say what’s what?”

A bit of motion in the corner of her eye got her to look up. “Yeah, I’ve been there," Miss Sunset said after she nodded. "Flurry, you’re seven.”

“Seven and a half.”

“Seven and a half, sure. The point is that you don’t need to worry about that kind of thing yet.”

Flurry thought about that for a moment. “Worry?”

“I called it responsibility for a reason," said Miss Sunset. "When you’re the one telling everypony what to do, that means that if they mess up, it’s your fault.”

That had a simple solution. “Well, I’ll just tell them not to mess up!”

“Ever tried to tell yourself not to mess up?”

Despite Flurry's best efforts, memories of trying to bring Mom and Dad breakfast in bed on their last anniversary came to mind. “I mean, I got startled.”

Miss Sunset grinned. “Sure. But I think you see the problem.”

“Maybe,” Flurry allowed.

Miss Sunset had nothing to say to that, and so Flurry let herself watch wonders pass by. It wasn't like the Crystal Express. Or it was, but like trying to drive it right through the middle of Ponyville. So many strange things, and people, and people doing things. Here and there she'd spot something familiar, like someone walking their dog or reading a book, but most of it was a complete mystery.

"Someone's having fun. Feel free to ask me about anything," said Miss Sunset. "Though it may take a while to explain all of it."

"I..." Flurry shook her head. "I don't know where to start."

"Fair enough. We have time to help you sort it out." Miss Sunset turned onto a very short stretch of black road next to a small house, squat and square like a tiny version of the not-palace. She pressed a button, and the train machine turned off.

Flurry got her own belt off once she saw how Miss Sunset did it. “Where are we?”

“This is my home.”

“There you are!” a familiar voice cried, followed by an almost familiar body coming out of the house.

Flurry took her in while Miss Sunset went around the machine to open her door. The glasses and the general shape weren't right, but the color, the voice, the gentle smile... “Aunt Twilight?”

“Kind of," said the human Aunt Twilight. She turned to Miss Sunset. "Have you explained the parallel worlds yet?”

Miss Sunset shook her head. “Still trying to cover the whole power and responsibility thing.”

“Did you—”

That got an eye roll. “Yes, I said the line. I’ll pay up after Flurry gets back home.”

“Miss Sunset sucks with kids,” added Flurry.

Both mares stared at her in surprise for a moment. Then Not-Aunt Twilight burst into laughter while Miss Sunset blushed and covered her face in all her mini-hooves.

“Yes, well, Miss Sunset is good at many other things." Not-Aunt Twilight gave her a kiss on the cheek. Flurry filed that away; Mom would definitely want to hear about that. "How about we come in and discuss this between the three of us? I made pudding.”

Flurry’s eyes went wide. She was in a strange world, escorted by a strange creature, trapped in a strange body. But Aunt Twilight’s pudding could forgive a lot. “Okay… but I get three bowls.”

“One bowl.”

It was a familiar bit of aunt-niece haggling. Flurry went for her usual counteroffer. “Two and I won’t perch on anything.”

Both mares stared at her until she remembered she didn't have wings right now.

“Okay," she grumbled as they led her inside, "one bowl’s fine.”

Author's Note

Thanks go to Krack-Fic Kai for prereading this chapter.

And yeah, Sunset may deal with creatures who have the maturity of seven-year-olds fairly often in her line of work, but not actual children.

Xeno-Whatchacallit Studies

Flurry wasn't sure what to expect inside Miss Not-Aunt Twilight's house. Aunt Twilight's castle was...

Well, Castle Canterlot was old. Ancient. Older than Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Spike, and all of Flurry’s aunts put together. (Though not Grauntie Celestia and Grauntie Luna. Sure, Dad had said she'd been kidding, but Flurry still believed Grauntie Celestia had been there the day they'd invented dirt.) There were closets, rooms, whole hallways that ponies had forgotten about, built copies of, found again, and then coughed awkwardly in. It was a great way not to get in trouble; Flurry wasn't wandering off, she was discovering her heritage.

She wasn't sure what kind of heritage she'd find in this little house—definitely not a lot of it—but she hadn't been expecting the giant pile of purple fur waiting just past the front door.

"Uh..." Flurry craned her head up to a huge, shaggy head... with floppy, bright green ears. A faint sense of familiarity built in the back of her mind.

Then the huge dog smirked, opened his mouth, and made it clear. "Well. Hello down there."

Flurry's jaw dropped. "Uncle Spike!?"

Not-Uncle Spike tilted his head in a very doggy way. "There's a 'monkey's uncle' joke in there somewhere."

Not-Aunt Twilight sat behind him—really more around him—and gave him a big hug and a scratch behind the ears. "My Spike and I don't have quite the same relationship as our counterparts, but he's still a very good friend who I've had for a very long time."

"Oh." Flurry thought about that as she made her way inside, taking in the bookcases and weird thingabobs that showed this was definitely a Twilight's home, even if it wasn't the one she was used to. "Like Miss Sunset is your very good friend?"

Not-Aunt Twilight froze mid-scratch, eyes bugged out. Not-Uncle and Miss Sunset both snickered.

"No. Not quite like Miss Sunset." Not-Aunt Twilight jumped to her feet. "Let's get you that pudding!"

Any more questions fell away from Flurry's thoughts, shoved off by the promise of Aunt Twilight's pudding. It may not have been made by Aunt Twilight, but she still eagerly followed the human mare through the short hallway between entry hall and kitchen. The treat was in the icebox, so she couldn't help make it, but she easily recognized the best dessert in the whole world. Two whole worlds, even!

When Flurry was about halfway through her bowl, Not-Aunt Twilight gave her a familiar serious look from the other side of the kitchen table, even if the glasses and missing muzzle made it feel weird. "Now, Flurry, just so we're clear, do you understand why you were sent here?"

Flurry threw back her head and groaned. "Yes. We talked about it the whole way here. And to Ponyville."

Not-Aunt Twilight nodded. "I just want to make sure the big, mean bacon ogre got through to you." She grinned at Miss Sunset the same way Dad looked at Mom just before a really bad joke. "Despite being big, and mean, and a bacon ogre."

And just like Dad's really, really bad jokes, it got Flurry laughing her head off.

"Really?" she barely heard Miss Sunset say from the kitchen doorway.

"She's laughing."

"She doesn't even know what bacon is."

"That doesn't matter," Not-Aunt Twilight said in Aunt Twilight's "the argument is over now" voice. "What does is that she's laughing."

"Bacon ogre," Flurry said around one last giggle. She wiped her eyes and presented her most serious look. "But I did talk about it with Miss Sunset."

Not-Aunt Twilight nodded. "And once we're sure you understand what you did wrong, we don't have to talk about it anymore, and we can spend more time showing you how much fun you can have while you're here."

More ideas came together. Flurry squinted at Not-Aunt Twilight. "Are you a teacher?"

That made her tilt her head. "Why do you ask?"

"This sounds like when Mrs. Calcite tries to make learning fun."

This Twilight frowned and said the same thing Aunt Twilight had when Flurry had told her that. "Isn't learning fun?"

"Not when there's a bunch of stinky colts in the room. And I know Aunt Twilight used to be a teacher before Grauntie Celestia made her a princess."

"Is that according to your aunt or your grauntie?" said Miss Sunset, moving into one of the empty seats.

Flurry savored the last spoonful of pudding before answering. "Both."

Miss Sunset smirked and crossed her forelegs. "Nice to hear the old mare admit it."

"Sunset, that's terrible," said Not-Aunt Twilight.

"She has more than a millennium on us, Twi. At minimum. Back when I was around Flurry's age, she'd tell me she was there when they invented dirt."

Flurry gaped up at her. "You too?"

That put a thoughtful look on Miss Sunset's face. "Huh. Well, if she told somepony else, maybe that is true."

"That's not how logic works," Not-Aunt Twilight said flatly. "And your pronouns are slipping."

"It'll make her feel more at home. But first she needs to answer that question." Miss Sunset turned back to Flurry, eyes staring more into her than at her. "What have you learned today, Flurry?"

She looked back and forth from one adult to the other, both looking at her expectantly. After a few moments of working through everything she'd been told, she tried, "With great power comes great responsibility?"

The two humans shared one of those married couple looks, the kind where they said a whole lot to one another without ever opening their mouths. Finally, Not-Aunt Twilight nodded and said, "I'll take it. Though we may still need to talk a bit more about it later. I did prepare some visual aids."

Miss Sunset frowned at that. "You didn't load up the footage for this, did you?"

"It's a perfectly reasonable illustration of—"

"Twilight, she grabbed another foal's cookie, she didn't—"

"Slippery slope, Sunset."

Miss Sunset got to her feet. "You literally just named a fallacy, Miss Not-How-Logic-Works."

Not-Aunt Twilight did the same. "It's my para-niece. If I can't be a little irrational with her, then with whom?"

Not-Uncle Spike, who had walked into the kitchen as they were arguing, cleared his throat. "You two do know Flurry can hear everything you're saying, right?"

That got both to twitch like startled crystal sheep. Not-Uncle Spike shook his head and smirked at Flurry. "Yeah, I help get them out of their own heads. Spikes are good at that."

She beamed and nodded. "They are!"

"We can at least have some fun now. No need to bring Mid—" Whatever Miss Sunset was going to say got cut off by two loud, blaring sirens. She and Not-Aunt Twilight both pulled little rectangles out of their pockets, frowned at them, and started poking at them. The sound stopped early on, but that didn't stop them.

Flurry turned to Not-Uncle Spike. "Is it a monster attack?" The Empire didn't get many, but she'd been in Ponyville for a few drills and one hydra incident. But she didn't think she'd be able to get a fun bit of jump rope out of whatever was going on, not when she didn't have any magic.

He thought about that for a moment before saying, "More or less."

"I've got confirmation from most of the girls," said Miss Sunset. "Dash is en route from Seaddle, she may take a bit. Nothing from Fluttershy; she may not have any bars."

Not-Aunt Twilight sighed and held up a hand. It glowed along with a jewel on the neck of her blouse. "I told her 7G wasn't good enough anymore. Energy readings are consistent with a false geode, but whoever has it isn't holding still long enough for more detailed analysis." Two full-body jumpsuits like Aunt Rainbow's flight suit floated into the kitchen, wrapped in the same magic. Each adult took the one that matched her coloration, Miss Sunset taking off her suit jacket.

"What's going on?" Flurry asked.

"There isn't a lot of magic in this world," said Not-Aunt Twilight, leaving her glasses on the table. Helmets floated into the room, hers with a clear purple visor. "When people misuse it, or it misuses them, there aren't many people who can stop it."

"It's mostly us," added Miss Sunset. "We've got the power, we've got the responsibility. And don't you even start, Twilight."

"Be good, Flurry," Twilight Sparkle said on her way to stop some emergency. The eerie familiarity was made all the stranger when Aunt Twilight's wings unfolded from her back and the jumpsuit shimmered like it had been dipped in crushed amethyst. Miss Sunset did the same thing, but with rubies. "Spike, show her how the TV works."

Not-Uncle Spike's ears pulled back. "You're seriously going to let screens and a dog babysit her?"

Not-Aunt Twilight stopped her rush just long enough to give him one more hug. "Given the dog? Absolutely." Then she literally flew out the door.

Miss Sunset waved as she took to the air too. "We'll be back soon, Flurry!"

"I knew she was a princess!" The warm glow of being right didn't last long as the situation hit Flurry fully. "Are they gonna be okay?"

After too long a pause, Not-Uncle Spike said, "They should be." But he didn't look away from the front door, and he didn't look any happier.

Flurry looked from him to the door and back, thinking. It wouldn't be the first time she'd helped Aunt Twilight with an emergency... without her permission. And she may not have made things better last time, not at first, but she'd still helped in the end.

Of course, Not-Uncle Spike didn't know any of that—probably not, anyway—so all she said out loud was "Wanna go check?"

"We don't need to leave the house for that." Not-Uncle Spike started padding into another room. "Come with me, kiddo."

She followed him to an assembly of couches all pointed at a big black rectangle. Not-Uncle Spike leaned down and grabbed a very pony mouth-handle set in the carpet, pulling and sliding a panel to reveal a bunch of buttons. He pressed one, and the rectangle lit up to show a human stallion with an odd wand in front of what looked like a storm cloud somepony had dropped in the middle of a busy city street. Red lightning flashed behind him even as he tried to look calm.

"We've just gotten word from representatives of the Sparkle Institute that specialist responders are en route, including most members of Harmony Team. There haven't been any casualties thus far, but—" The human flinched back as one bolt got too close. The rectangle pivoted to show a black path like the kind Miss Sunset had driven on, except now there was a jagged line of glowing red crystal where the lightning had hit, somewhere between carnelian and lava. A few seconds later, Flurry heard the thunder.

"As you can see," the human's voice continued as the rectangle turned back to him, "the situation is still developing. We'll be on the scene for as long as we can. I-I-Iyiyiyiiii..." The image, like the human's voice, froze, stuttered and flickered before breaking apart into squares of every color of the rainbow. Flurry might have thought that the device had broken were it not for the high-pitched cackle getting louder and louder.

Suddenly, the rectangle gave way to two humans, a stallion and a mare, in a big room like an audience chamber. Both looked shaken for a few moments before the stallion cleared his throat. "Sound Bite appears to be having some technical issues. We'll get back to him when we can."

"Coming up next," the mare said with one of the fakest smiles Flurry had ever seen, "five superfoods to get you ready for bikini season."

Not-Uncle Spike's paw all but slammed on the big button again, and the rectangle went dark. He sighed. "Well then. I don't suppose you want to learn about streaming video?"

Flurry moved to his side, rubbing his neck with her weird mini-hooves. "Wanna go check?" she said again.

"We really shouldn't," he answered even as he looked back towards the front door. "You could get hurt."

In her best impression of Grauntie Celestia actually being serious, Flurry said, "With great power comes great responsibility."

That got a strangled sound somewhere between a sigh, a laugh, and a whimper. "This whole family..." Another thunderclap sounded, louder than the last one. The whole house shook a little. Not-Uncle Spike winced and knelt down. "Alright, hop on. And remember, this was your idea."

It wasn't the first time Flurry had gotten a ride from a Spike. All the fur actually made it easier to hold on to this one. "Don't worry. I'll be careful."

"Sure you will, Flurry," said Not-Uncle Spike in a familiar, weary tone. "Sure you will."

And once she opened the door for him, they were off.

Author's Note

The "older than dirt" comment is a joking reference to a documentary on fungi narrated by Nicole Oliver that, among other things, discusses the origin of soil.