Deviation

Chapters

Friendship/Games - Budding/Friendship
Friendship/Games - Book/Report
Friendship/Games - Health/Education
Friendship/Games - Social/Behavior
Friendship/Games - Open/Secrets
Friendship/Games - Breaking/Point
Friendship/Games - Pack/Bonds
Friendship/Games - Basic/Instinct

Friendship/Games - Budding/Friendship

Luna had never, ever been a morning person and likely never would. Being the vice-principal of a school and second in command of a pack did carry with it certain responsibilities, so needs must and all that, but that still meant that she would gladly maim anyone who stood between her and her morning coffee. Her sister could lead the morning runs with her blessing. She’d take the night runs any moon of the year.

Now, of course, there was Sunset. The odd girl was changing things quite a bit in a very short time, including the household dynamic. Luna, of course, knew it made perfect sense for them to take her directly into the Pack Alpha’s house due to her unique (and pack secret) nature, she needed direct supervision under the very top-most leadership. Fostering wasn’t directly the duty of the Alpha, but it was a job they could do and Celestia had taken to it like a fish to tartar sauce. Not exactly willingly but none-the-less very, very well.

She had her computer open in front of her, a cooling breakfast sandwich sitting next to it, sipping her coffee when a juvenile scream ripped through the air, followed by the rapid thumping of tweenage feet. Luna only barely controlled the spit take, returning the sipped coffee to the mug rather than splattered all over her computer and glared in the direction of the bedrooms. From her position in the breakfast nook she couldn’t see down the hallway to the bedroom doors, of course, but she kept her heated glare on the archway in case their young charge thought Luna might be the person to run to for whatever this new crisis was so they could be dissuaded from pursuing Luna’s intervention.

Fortunately, Sunset chose to go for her sister’s assistance; the rapid, only barely controlled knocking on Celestia’s door joined with the urgent, not-as-quiet-as-Sunset-thought-she-was-being calling of the Alpha’s name.

Luna sighed and returned to her coffee and computer, keeping an ear open for the teen drama occupying her home.

A door opened, “Sunset what is…oh!”

“Celestia, what is this?!’ Sunset’s voice was approaching pitches that only certain omegas, canines, and birds could hear.

“Oh! You’re presenting for the first time!” came Celestia’s motherly sing-song, followed by confused tones, “It’s…didn’t we talk about this last week? I even gave you the booklet.”

“You didn’t tell me I was gonna grow a DICK!?” Luna was mid sip when Sunset’s exclamation announced the nature of the problem. She once again saved her computer a sticky, caffeinated fate, this time prompted by the snickering giggle she was struggling to stifle.

“Yes, I told you that all Alpha females have phalluses…ponies don’t have penises?”

“YES, ponies have penises…male ponies have penises! I’ve never had one in my life!”

Ah, the joys of morning wood. Thought Luna, having gotten her laughter under control and chuckling around sips of coffee. Gonna have to get used to that one, kiddo…

“Oh, I see…well, there’s…several ways you can handle, uhm…” Luna snorted in renewed snickering as she could practically hear her sister’s blush forming, “That is, the situation can be resolved by several methods, though it’s not uncommon to simply go about your morning business and let it settle down on its own.”

Luna paused as she heard Sunset’s mumbled response but couldn’t quite make out the words.

Apparently, Celestia couldn’t either, “What was that, Sunset?”

This time it was just clear enough to make out; “...need to pee…”

There was silence for a moment, then “Stop laughing!” preceded a wave of pheromones she recognized as Celestia’s humor being triggered, …warm sun-baked clay, been a while since she’s released that scent.

“I’m not laughing!” came the reply, the words belied by the telltale hitch in the word ‘laughing’ that proved, yes, Celestia was holding in a belly laugh so hard she was probably getting a stitch in her side.

“Yes, you are! I can smell it…scent it! Whatever! You’re laughing at me!”

“Okay, yes, I’m...enjoying the humor of the situation. I promise you that one day you’ll find it funny, too.”

“Nooo…” Sunset nearly whined in a voice that was approaching her ‘normal.’ It seemed the crisis was over now that she’d made her embarrassment ten times worse by panicking about it. “I want to erase this morning from my memory, I don’t want to laugh at it…”

“Well, put your towel around your waist, even though Luna and I have seen all that kind of thing before, it’s not polite or proper to wander around with it…ah, hanging out like that.”

Some cloth rustling could be heard, “Oh, yeah, this is so much better!” came the grumpy verdict. “It’s like a flag on a pole now!”

This time Celestia did giggle, “And you’ll learn tricks to minimize its profile. For now, just go into your bathroom, sit down, and relax. Think of your homework, I’m sure that will help. Once it’s retracted back into its sheath, you’ll be able to do your business as usual.”

A muttered, “Thank you…” trailed down the hallway, followed by the sound of a door closing.

Her sister’s sigh drifted down the hall before another door closing could be heard.

Twenty minutes, a full mug of coffee, and one breakfast sandwich later, Luna was working on some paperwork for the music department. They were needing far more instruments than last year due to CHS absorbing the students from Canterville Middle and the budget was whimpering because of it. Sunset stomped down the hall, still lightly blushing. She flopped in a chair opposite the vice-principal, crossed her arms on the table in front of her, and rested her chin behind her folded wrists, glaring at precisely nothing. All in all, a fairly expert sulk, given she probably couldn’t sit like that as a pony. Or could she? Might have to ask about their anatomy, if Sunset happened to have studied that…

She let silence reign for a few breaths.

“Sunset…” Luna began.

The girl shifted her eyes from staring into space and glowering to looking at Luna, all without moving her head. “Hmm…?”

“For your breakfast…” she looked Sunset in the eye and let the corner of her mouth quirk up into a grin. “...maybe you’d like some sausage?”

Sunset’s face blossomed into a red brighter than the girl’s hair and she screamed in frustrated teenage angst, “AAAAGH, LUNA!”

Celestia would later assign her a morning run and the night run on the same day as punishment for messing with Sunset. Worth it! was Luna’s only thought in response.

Sunset clutched the straps on her backpack as she stood outside the door to the cafeteria. Saturday’s training had been…invaluable. Scenting, she was learning, was like its own language. If you could speak the language, every interaction was simple, and even walking through a noisy crowd could be easily managed by knowing what conversations to tune out and which to pay attention to. However, if you didn’t even have the alphabet, let alone the vocabulary for said language, even a small number of “voices” could result in a stressful din that could overload even the strongest of willpowers. This room had been the greatest source of overwhelming scents, combined with smells and other stimuli, that she had experienced since arriving in this universe. Every day had been slow torture as she struggled to first identify, then interpret the new feedback in her mind.

And Friday, when she’d lost control…it was worse than any magic surge she’d ever experienced, and it was like she’d briefly been taken over by an entity of pure rage that had been living in her own head. Was it always there, or is that something I gained with this body? She absently glanced up and down the doors, her eyes briefly caught by the sight of a minor difference in the doors; the hold-open arm on one seemed to be…newer than the other. She inhaled deeply and sorted through the smell library in her mind, Metal shavings, probably steel, old paint, a hint of sweat, and a fading scent marker from the maintenance pon…man, Mr. Turnip-truck, petroleum-based lubricant, this last she was remembering the fairly old scent from her time dabbling in steam engine construction during her time at CSGU, as she, fortunately, hadn’t had the misfortune of smelling it with her current, much more sensitive nose up close, And a faint smell of…plastic? To her disgruntlement, she realized that plastic could smell different due to formulation, and she had a theory that it could smell different from batch to batch.

She turned her head slightly and repeated the process, challenging herself to sort out the separate device’s odors without moving any closer to it. It took several deep inhalations, turning her head slightly each time, but she thought she just might have it. Same as the other one, but…slight oxidation, no plastic, and no scent marker from another pon…er, person.

Satisfied that she’d figured out that the modules at the tops of the doors were, indeed, a mismatched pair, she readjusted her backpack faced the door…and hesitated.

Oh, c’mon, Sunset! she berated herself, It’s just a door! Open it, face the…chaos in there like a mare, get your food, and get on with it!

The door didn’t magically disappear, nor did it open itself for her to make it any easier. Her belly rumbled, clamboring for the savory flavors of the meat products that Granny had probably prepared for her again, she sighed. Okay, getting this over with. 3…2…1…go!

Finally reaching out her hand and pushing on the horizontal lever, she opened the door. For all of five seconds, the audible assault on her senses was just as powerful and tumultuous as the olfactory miasma. Then, the babble just…stopped. In moments, it was replaced with murmurs and whispers and not a few furtive glances in her direction. Accompanying that was a sudden dilution into the scent cloud that made Sunset think of nothing less than nervousness, anxiousness, and…is that envy?!

Sighing again, this time in resignation, she made her way through the lunchroom to the food line, doing her best to ignore the attention she was receiving from the other students. A less jovial interaction in the lunch line, but still full of matronly concern on the old Alpha’s part and gratitude from Sunset, resulted in another piled-high tray of food. Once again, she ignored the smothered conversation, the rancid scents, and the furtive (and not so furtive) glances as she made her way to sit at the same empty table she’d been sitting at during lunch hour since she arrived.

She gently dropped her tray on the table, shrugged her backpack off to place it between her feet, and picked up a burger. She was able to look at the food without feeling queasy at the thought of eating cow this time, though she still felt guilty. Heh, Ambassador Bessy would have a heart attack if she could see me now… Any humor she may have been able to muster at the thought was spoiled by the acrid scents from around her. She put the sandwich back on the pile of food and rested her temple on the palm of her hand, leaning slightly to hide the sudden pricks of tears building in her eyes.

I thought…I thought I could start over, she mulled, Nobody would know me as ‘Celestia’s Star Student’ anymore, I’d be just another orphan, no royal houses, no Day Court, no politics. My ‘destiny’ was a wash, no princess-hood for me, no alicorn wings…Tartarus, I’m not even a pony anymore. My plans to hide out here… totaled because I smell different... She flicked her eyes up and saw the suspicious glances and smelled their fearful scents, But here we are again, nobody will even look at me like I’m just another po…person, I mean something again. She rubbed her eyes absently with the back of her hand to banish the tears, And they don’t see me, they see…whatever that something is. Probably some sort of awful demon Alpha from…whatever happened on Friday.

She sniffled, a bit irritated at herself for the self-indulgent pity-party, And here I am, complaining about how my life is “so hard” like a damn teenager…which I suppose I am, again…

Rather than tuck into any of her food, she twisted a little so she could pull the thermal bottle Principal Celestia had bought for her so she would be able to stay hydrated. Apparently, a human Alpha needed significantly more water than a pony did to keep from dehydrating, something about the way there were fewer sweat glands throughout the body to make room for pheromone glands. She was taking a sip when she felt the same small blue body slide up next to her and practically cuddle her the same way she’d done last Friday. Sunset swallowed wrong in surprise and began coughing and choking on the water.

“Whoah, you OK there, Sunset?” chirruped Rainbow Dash.

A tray clattered on the tabletop on the opposite side from Sunset and she sensed the same comforting cloud, trees, and apple scent that had been so pleasant before she lost control with the other Alpha three days prior. “Rainbow, didn’t we just go over this last week?” Fluttershy asked sternly.

“What?” protested Dash, “I’m not introducing myself, she already knows me!”

The scent of apples suddenly amplified by several orders of magnitude as the tall, strong girl Sunset barely remembered being part of the group of girls that separated her and Gilda stepped up to the bench seat and dropped her tray next to Fluttershy’s before she reached across the table and picked up Rainbow by the collar of her shirt at the scuff of her neck, and hauled her over the table. She was casually holding the other girl like one would a kitten or puppy, “Yeah, an’ there’s this thing called ‘personal space’ that y’aint respectin’.”

“Aw, c’mon, AJ!” protested the smaller girl, as though this kind of display were normal. “I just wanted to make our new friend feel at home!” Home, the thought intruded into Sunset’s consciousness, Want to go home, want to get out, want to be a pony, don’t want hands don’t want scents want to go home… Sunset breathed deeply, trying to center herself.

“Yeah,” replied AJ, “You were so eager you ignored yer food.” She set Rainbow on her feet, “Now go get yer tray, and get some red meat!” she raised her voice as the little omega darted off, “Y’need the…oh, forget it.” She sat down and reached across the table to offer Sunset her hand, “Name’s Applejack, don’t figure you were in any condition to respond to a proper handshake last time we were in the same room together.”

Sunset tentatively reached out her hand and gripped Applejack’s doing her best to hide her surprise when the other girl pumped it up and down vigorously. “...Sunset…ow…” the last was said under her breath as she tried to surreptitiously shake some feeling back into her appendage.

Another tray was placed on the table next to Sunset’s, this time being carried by a white skinned girl with wavy, purple hair. “Do forgive Rainbow Dash, darling. She’s one of those omegas that equates, ‘loving and nurturing’ with, ‘mating with every Alpha with a pulse.’” She seemed to realize what she said a moment later, “Oh, that is, well, she’s not a total slut, mind, she just feels that ‘friends’ automatically means, ‘friends with benefits.’”

The hairs on the back of Sunset’s neck started to stand up, bristling against the fabric of the neckline of her shirt and jacket. So many…too many… She’d never been exactly social, preferring the isolation of study and books over interacting with ponies. But human people? Some of whom could potentially attack her, not with just words but with teeth and claws? And these scents were making her nose itch. And she was 99% sure the smell coming off of Rarity wasn’t a scent so much as an applied odor, a perfume of some sort, and the chemical smell was causing all sorts of jangling alarms to go off in her head. Strange, get away, get alone, leave me alone… She shook her head as slightly as possible to try and get the intrusive thoughts to quiet.

Applejack snorted as she picked up her sandwich, “Settle down, Rarity, she’ll tell you to yer face that she’s a slut and proud of it…’course, yer right. She only tries to crawl in the bed of Alphas she knows’ll take care of their omegas. She just wants…more of ‘em than most omegas do.”

“Um…” interjected Fluttershy, “Do we…want to do anything about the…ah…” she pointed to the far end of the table.

Poking up from under the table was a bouncy puff of pink hair only barely held down by a pith helmet with a forehead and pair of eyes visible. As soon as she saw them looking at her, she gasped and “hid,” an action that consisted of dropping about two inches, which was enough to cover her eyes but not enough to cover the pink hair or the hat. “Anthropologist’s log, day 4. The new pack is beginning to form as expected. Study of a pack with three Alphas and a single omega may be the paper that makes my career.” came the bubbly voice from under the table.

Rainbow Dash came back with her tray at this point, “Three Alphas and an omega? I think I saw that on PornHub.”

Rarity blushed at Rainbow’s statement but didn’t otherwise respond to it and rolled her eyes, “Pinkie, darling, please take off the tacky hat and come join us.”

Applejack looked down at Dash’s tray and frowned, “Dash, y’gotta have red meat. Yer gonna be deficient in iron; don’t you remember your last heat?”

“What do you all want from me?!” snapped Sunset.

All five of the girls halted what they were doing and exchanged glances. Rarity, who was closest, noted that Sunset was hunched inward, gripping her inhaler tightly. It was clearly not going to be used, it couldn’t be with the absolute death grip Sunset was holding it with, but Sunset was almost holding it like a particularly small stuffed animal or stress toy. The expression on the girl’s face wasn’t anger or frustration, but mild panic bordering on fear.

“We...don’t want anything from you, darling.” the beta gently reached out and put a hand lightly over the Alpha’s wrist, not gripping, just making physical contact. “On Friday we spoke to Vice-principal Luna, who told us you had been neglected by your previous pack. We,” she hesitated and glanced around the table, “Well, once Gilda had been sent off for punishment we rather…volunteered to…ah…” words seem to have finally failed the fashionista as she glanced around the table.

“You looked sad,” interjected Pinkie, “And not in, like, the way you get sad when you watch a sad movie or read a sad story, but the kind of sad you get when you’ve lost everything and everyone you ever knew and couldn’t get it back…”

“Ah think what they’re tryin’ to say,” interjected Applejack, “Is y’all might be pack with Celestia, but y’need more’n a mom. We’ll be yer pack,” her hand stretched across the table, opened with palm up, “At least, if you’ll have us.”

Sunset took several deep breaths, her shoulders relaxing, as she looked at the open hand. Finally, she said, “Celestia isn’t my mom.”

All five of the girls chuckled at that, “Shee-oot, sugarcube,” replied Applejack, “You know how many times the principal has come down to the cafeteria about a little scuffle between Alphas?” She didn’t wait for a reply, “The lunchroom’s my granny’s territory, t’aint nobody gonna try t’get between Alphas but Granny Smith here…’cept maybe a parent comin’ fer their kid.”

Sunset blushed, still not looking up, but she shifted toward Rarity slightly, “Gilda…the other Alpha…she was punished?”

Now Rarity squeezed Sunset’s wrist gently and nodded, “Yes, she has to inspect and fix the fence around the school’s game field.” Sunset finally looked up to glance up to Rarity in confusion. At the inquiring noise from the Alpha, Rarity clarified, “The field where students are taught to hunt as part of the physical education requirement. The fence keeps wandering Alphas out of the protected range. I know only a few schools do it, but Principal Celestia felt it best to use easier prey for minors to practice on before being taken on a pack hunt.”

Sunset nodded in quiet comprehension before returning her gaze to Applejack’s open hand. A glance up to the farm girl brought another snicker from the table. “AJ is stubborn,” said Rainbow as she picked up a chicken leg, “She’ll wait until you tell her no or take the offer.”

“T’aint bein’ stubborn,” smirked Applejack, “It’s bein’ determined!”

Sunset’s face finally cracked into a small smile. “...you guys are planning on hanging around whether I accept or not, aren’t you?”

Rarity blushed even as another round of chuckling sprang up, and Fluttershy smiled proudly at her. Applejack smirked, “And she’s smart, too!”

Sunset sighed heavily and took Applejack’s hand. A small cheer sprang up around the table and Pinkie ran off to fetch her lunch and a round of deserts to celebrate.

As they began to eat, Rarity spoke between bites, “If you don’t mind me asking, darling, why were you so afraid of us?”

Sunset grimaced, “Back in…er, back where I came from, I was the special apprentice to the pr…ah, the Pack Alpha,” she winced, “Yes, I know it sounds weird, but please don’t ask me to explain, Celestia’s orders.” The girls exchanged confused glances but didn’t interrupt. Pinkie returned with her own tray and a second tray of what looked like cake and ice cream in single-serve containers and set her tray next to Rarity’s as Sunset continued, “It…kinda kept me at arm's length to most other students. Pretty much the only time someone acted friendly was because they wanted something from me…usually to get favors from the Pack Alpha.”

Applejack snorted angrily as she spoke around a bite of hamburger, “That’s jes’ plain despicable. Aint nobody tried t’be yer friend just ‘cause?”

Sunset shrugged, “If they did, I didn’t recognize it as such. After a while I just…ignored people trying to make nice.”

“Aww, that’s just sad!” chirped Pinkie as she gobbled down a chicken sandwich, very messily and much to Rarity’s disgust.

“Pinkie, chew with your mouth closed and don’t talk with your mouth full!”

Seemingly oblivious, Pinkie took a big bite, turned to the beta, and said, “Whut?”

For the first time since Sunset arrived, she laughed.

Students near the entrance of the lunch room, were they inclined to look up to the doors, might notice one was open just enough to allow someone to look through the crack between the door and the frame long enough to allow said observer to watch some interactions among the students. Because the students were all young and untrained in being observant in any surroundings, they could be excused for not realizing that someone was, indeed, there.

Principal Celestia had suppressed her pheromone output significantly and had opened the door as quietly as possible. What little noise it had made wasn’t able to be heard over the din of the students. She had watched the entire interaction between Sunset and the other girls with cautious optimism. When Sunset broke out into laughter, she breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door with a gentle click.

She turned to return to her office to be startled by the irritatingly amused grin on her sister’s face.

She glared at Luna.

Luna simply snorted, not breaking eye contact.

Celestia huffed and pursed her lips.

Her sister’s posture and grin didn’t change.

Celestia growled and absolutely did not stomp away indignantly. Stomping off in apparent defeat like a moody teenager was not something Pack Alphas did, after all.

Author's Note

Not exactly willingly but none-the-less very, very well.

Points to anyone who can name the fic I ripped this line off from!

Friendship/Games - Book/Report

Principal Celestia sat in silence, observing the student in the chair on the other side of her desk. Sunset Shimmer was, by all accounts, a brilliant mind in the body of a 12 year old that should be full of the confidence of a strong, intelligent young lady just about to present for the first time. Instead, the girl held all the bearing of a trapped herd animal, prey attempting to locate the predator hunting it; shoulders hunched, eyes flitting about, unable to remain focussed, muscles tensed. She behaves like an omega around an abusive Alpha…but she’s an Alpha…

This was what brought the girl to her attention. The whole school’s attention, frankly. A little over two weeks prior, a wave of pheromones seemed to blanket the campus, laden with nervousness, fear, confusion, and intense regret mingled with a rage that had clearly simmered. The cloud of pheromones practically tasted red. It had many of her omegas, students and staff included, on edge for three days until the initial “cloud” dissipated. It had since condensed down into the extremely notable presence of the tween girl who was making waves wherever she went. After the initial miasma, she at first left a trail of confidence and authority that were practically locking up the agency of every omega in whatever classroom she entered, but then that started to fade into confusion, and then fear. All the teachers, staff, and Alphas among the student body all confirmed for her; nobody was bullying Sunset, harassing her, or challenged her to dominance contests. Even had the inexplicable fear reaction not been impacting the rest of the student body, every other aspect of the girl’s presence would have caught Celestia’s attention.

Finally, the principal sat forward, resting her elbows on her desk, and locked eyes with the student. Sunset flinched, almost as if struck. Her nostrils flared and the wave of angry fear, almost smelling like three-day-old gym socks left in the boy’s locker room, filled the office. In the corner of her eye, Celestia saw the shadows in the corner of the room shift. Her sister Luna was getting restless, sensing a weakened prey, not the young and undisciplined Alpha that Celestia saw. Best get this underway, she thought. “Miss Shimmer,” she began, opening the file folder in front of her on her desk. “I have plenty of information on you, but what I have raises some…interesting questions that I honestly am not sure how to address.” Sunset was clearly trying to focus on the principal, but her eyes kept darting to the shadowed corner, Luna, dial it down! She thought to herself as she willed her pheromones and dominance to counter the naked predatory hunger of Luna’s presence. Sunset seemed to relax slightly, or at least was able to keep her eyes on Celestia longer.

“You tested-in in the middle of the term, getting advanced placement in literacy, mathematics, and art. Even in the subjects you don’t show clear mastery in, you’ve demonstrated a quick intelligence that absorbs lessons quicker than your peers and a willingness to ask questions for clarification. Your only weak subjects are biology and history, but you’ve caught up with a speed that, if kept up, will likely land you a spot in the Honors program before the year is out.”

She flipped a page, “Academically, you’re an ideal student. You have incredible knowledge, brilliant reasoning, and a desire to learn. But then we get to the non-academic aspects of the student before me and run into…gaps.” Sunset’s eyes dropped, this time not returning to look directly at the principal but instead staring unfocused in the direction of the front edge of Celestia’s desk. The educator sighed and continued, “The phone number provided to contact your parents leads to a disconnected line. Nobody has seen your parents at all, in fact, and while close enough to be overlooked by casual inspection, no two parent-guardian signatures on your intake paperwork match each other. While your overall hygiene is good, your control over your pheromones is worse than an infant’s.” At this, Sunset’s head popped up, a confused expression on the girl’s face. When she didn’t respond beyond that, Celestia continued, “Socialization is poor, to the point that other teachers have a hard time pairing you up with other students. And finally, your home address is vacant.” As she spoke, she flipped through the scant documents in the folder, far fewer than would normally be in a student’s file. “Your previous school is non-existent, your medical records are missing, and there’s no documentation on your second gender.”

The girl in the chair seemed to shrink into herself with every statement, as though each declaration was a verdict pronouncing judgment. The tangy, acidic lemon of shame and confusion and a scent Celestia couldn’t quite identify practically boiled from Sunset by the time Celestia was finished. I’m going to need to air out the room before any other students come in…or their parents…or anyone else, really.

When Sunset remained silent, Celestia sighed and folded her hands together. “We’ve established everything you are not, Sunset Shimmer. You are not here with your parents, you are not legally one of my students.” She leaned forward, “So the question becomes; what are you?” The older Alpha’s emphasis on the word ‘what’ made it clear what she was asking, and from Sunset’s startled gasp and change in posture from protectively curling in on herself to unfolding her body so she could bolt at any moment, the girl knew Celestia had figured out that the younger Alpha wasn’t…quite…human.

A tense silence reigned for a moment, and for a heartbeat, Celestia thought she might need to perform a dominance display to get the girl to provide more information. Sunset’s chest lurched, and for a moment Celestia thought she was preparing to bolt, but then the girl practically folded back in on herself, and a piercing whine of a sob escaped. So quietly Celestia wasn’t sure she would have heard it without her enhanced Alpha senses, the girl said, “I just want to go home…”

In an instant Celestia was out of her chair and around the desk, kneeling down next to Sunset and rubbing her back to comfort her. She glanced up at her sister, who other than repositioning herself to be able to also spring from her seat if necessary, just nodded in acknowledgment. “It’s okay, Sunset, it will be alright. I won’t let anything bad happen to you, I promise.” Short of wrapping her arms around the girl in a hug that was always problematic for young Alphas when receiving them from other Alphas that weren’t their parents, Celestia pulled every soothing, comforting trick in her extensive educator’s playbook.

They held that scene for a couple of minutes, Sunset sobbing, “I wanna go home,” over and over, before the young Alpha managed to regain enough composure to reduce her crying to some tears and sniffling. Celestia plucked a few tissues from the box on her desk and handed them to the girl. “Thanks,” she muttered and wiped at her face, and blew her nose.

As soon as Sunset showed signs of being collected enough, Celestia backed away and resumed her seat behind her desk. Best not to tempt fate and assume the girl’s “inner Alpha” wouldn’t take her proximity as a threat. Sunset sat quietly, still in a slightly defensive posture but with an introspective expression on her face. A few moments later, she finally spoke, “I… I need to tell you something, and it’s going to sound like I’m making it up.” She paused, a slight uptick in the corner of her mouth was the only preamble to reaching down to her backpack, which she had been wearing and taken off when she sat down. She pulled out a fairly large bound book that, to Celestia’s untrained eye, looked to be hand-stitched and glued. On the cover was a yin-yang symbol enveloped in a stylized sun, though the yin-yang was incomplete. It was lacking the tri-lobed knots in the middle of the largest parts of the swirls.

Yet another strange piece to this puzzle, thought Celestia. Her old friend Rain Shine, Alpha of the Kirin pack, had once explained to her the importance of the symbol in acknowledging both the primary and second genders and the balance that they maintained in the lives of humans. Some betas liked to modify the symbol slightly to show voided dots, removing the second gender indicator and replacing it with a representation of aspects of the other primary gender instead, but for Alphas and omegas, the second gender was far too important to remove and betas only altered the symbol as a performative rebellion. What a void in the place of the second gender could possibly mean, Celestia had no idea.

The two adults watched as Sunset opened the book and began writing in it. A journal of some sort, pondered the principal, but why is she…? Before the thought could complete, Sunset closed the book with a light “thump” and reached out to lay it on Celestia’s desk.

“I…hope the companion journal is still with…” Sunset began before waving off the comment, “Let me start from the beginning; I’m… not human. I’m not even from this world.”

Celestia’s brow furrowed and she felt as much as heard her sister lean forward in her chair. The first they’d already guessed, but the second hadn’t even entered their discussions on the matter before calling the girl in. But…I guess it makes sense, she thought, How else would a non-human Alpha appear from nowhere unless she came from…somewhere else? “So you’re an alien?”

Sunset shrugged, “I mean…sorta? I saw some videos on the Internet last week when I went looking for non-human sentient species in this world and saw some of your sci-fi. I’m…not like that. I didn’t come here in a ship or anything, I came through a magic portal.”

A snort from the corner preceded an incredulously asked, “Magic?!” It was the first thing Luna said to the young Alpha.

Sunset glanced furtively at the vice-principal and then down at the journal on Celestia’s desk, as though afraid to make eye contact. “Yeah, magic. It was my major at…” she paused, this time glancing up to look Celestia in the eye briefly before resuming her watch over the book, “...CSGU.”

Major? That’s for upper forms, not high schools…unless she is spectacularly gifted in this other world, she can’t be more than 12! Instead of voicing this, she opted for what appeared to be the easier question, “‘CSGU?’ A…university?”

“No, it’s…Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

Luna snorted again, clearly incredulous, and Celestia opened her mouth to respond when suddenly the journal on her desk…vibrated. Both administrators jumped slightly in surprise, and the vibration repeated, accompanied by a throbbing glow as the entire journal began pulsing in soft yellow light.

Some of Sunset’s confidence from the previous week seeped back into her scent as she smirked at Celestia, “Go ahead, open it.” Looking at the girl skeptically, Celestia turned the journal so it faced her right-side-up and opened its pages. It immediately stopped buzzing like a cell phone and the glow dimmed to nothing. “You have to open it to the last entry for it to work fully. If you close it before you do that it’ll start glowing and vibrating again.” A glance up at the girl showed there was a slight smirk on her face. Rather than respond directly, Celestia did as instructed and saw the entry that Celestia guessed was the one Sunset wrote earlier.

“Dear Princess Celestia…”

By this time Luna had stood and stepped over to Celestia’s desk to read over her shoulder. “...what?!” the younger sister reacted for the both of them. Celestia didn’t speak, simply continued reading.

“Please don’t be upset, I’m sorry. I know you will say it’s too late for that, but ~~I really want to go h~~ ~~I messed u~~ the situation has changed significantly and...I acted hastily and didn’t listen to you and now need your help. I know you probably will never let me back into Canterlot and will probably have me escorted from the palace if I ever do show up again, but I’m trapped in another world. I went through the mirror portal and there’s…something wrong. I’m in a strange body and I feel like I’m being watched and I can’t figure out what’s going on. I’ve already been discovered by the local authorities and they’re holding me for questions. I can only hope you kept your journal and that you’re willing to respond, because at this time you may be my only hope.

Your former student,

Sunset Shimmer.”

Just before Celestia read the last sentence, more words started spontaneously appearing below Sunset’s signature line. Celestia read them silently as they appeared on the page.

“Sunset Shimmer-

Where have you been?! The guard has been on high alert looking for you and I had Lieutenant Armor erect a shield just to keep you in Canterlot! I’ve been pacing the floor waiting for word from you. I canceled six diplomatic meetings in the last two weeks!”

There was a pause in the flow of words, giving Celestia and Luna a chance to turn to each other, as though asking if they were both experiencing this. They turned back to the page when the writing resumed.

“You went through the mirror? You’ll be trapped there for 30 moons! We went over this, young filly! I told you not to mess with the mirror, it won’t get you what you think you want, and even if you got what you wanted it wouldn’t be what you hoped! I can’t send anyone over to help you, I don’t know how the mirror works, Starswirl never told me how he made it.”

“Starswirl?” gasped Celestia and looked up at Sunset, “She knew Starswirl the Bearded?! He was a mathematician and philosopher who died…five centuries ago?!” she glanced at Luna, who nodded.

“Closer to six, actually. I substituted for one of the history classes a couple of days ago and he was part of the lesson for the day.”

“Closer to 12…hundred years ago in our world, actually…” Sunset spoke up. “He predated the founding of Equestria.”

Celestia was beginning to feel vertigo. Hoping to find something to ground herself, she glanced back down at the journal and realized that looking for a lifeline in the very thing that cut her worldview adrift may not have been the wisest thing she’d ever done. The message continued;

“I will await your next message, please reply as soon as you can, I don’t want to be that frantically worried about you again.

Yours in friendship,

Princess Celestia”

Principal Celestia settled back in her chair as Luna straightened and examined Sunset as though looking at a particularly interesting new species of lower life form. “Well, I guess we now have a way of contacting her mother.”

Sunset squirmed slightly under Luna’s gaze, “Well, no, I’m...an orphan. I was left at an orphanage as a filly, nobody knows who my parents were.”

This seemed to center Celestia, she glanced up at Luna, who was looking down at her with a similar expression and the scent that Celestia had learned to associate with doubt from her sister. Lilacs and rotting garbage, I hate that scent, thought the elder sister. She noticed Sunset wrinkling her nose at the smell and glancing around, apparently trying to find the source but not looking at Luna. Interesting…

“So you came from, what, a mirror dimension?” asked Celestia.

“Mirror universe, technically, and it’d probably be better to just say ‘parallel,’ ‘cause there are enough differences that it’s not a perfect reflection,” answered Sunset.

“Right, and one of those differences is that I’m an immortal princess who was buddies with the greatest mathematician in centuries and keeps a herd of unicorns at her school.”

“Ah, no.” Sunset blushed, “She’s an alicorn, and we don’t know that alicorns are really immortal, but they don’t seem to die of old age, and she was Starswirl’s student. And the ‘for unicorns’ is just a name these days. They have programs for weather magic and about ten years ago started a college for earth pony magical studies.”

Something in the way Sunset clarified the statement caused a ‘click’ of understanding. “...are your people even humanoid?” she almost, but not quite, stammered.

Sunset looked every inch the awkward pre-teen as she clasped her hands between her knees and hunched over, as though fearing reprisal for her answer. She shook her head and said, “No, we’re equines sapiens…ponies, specifically.” As she spoke, she began rocking slightly, nerves on display as her eyes flitted around the room instinctually.

Luna’s eyebrows shot up. “Ponies? Little horses? And…you were a pony? How did you become a human?” The somewhat rancid smell of lilacs and decaying food waste rolled off her, this time Sunset practically flinched back, her nose wrinkling. Sunset’s eyes teared up and the girl’s own scent of grassy fields after a rainstorm was overpowered by the sour smell of rancid oil, the scent Celestia had determined was Sunset’s expression of nervous confusion mixed with fear of some sort.

The girl hugged herself and started hunching in again as Luna’s pheromones flooded the room. In that moment, Celestia decided to try a blind test; she exerted her mental control and nearly completely smothered her own pheromone production and muted her Alpha dominance as much as possible. Luna noticed and glanced down at her sister, Celestia just gave the slightest shake of her head and subtly raised a finger to indicate Luna shouldn’t say anything. In the absence of Celestia’s influence, the room became almost oppressive with Luna’s scent.

Sunset abruptly whimpered and curled in on herself. The subtle rocking became shivering as she clapped her hands over her ears and buried her face in her arms. “No…no…no…I wanna go home…no…”

Celestia reached up to clasp her sister’s wrist without looking away from Sunset, though she didn’t need to. Luna’s suspicion finally gave way for concern, and the rancid trash smell was swiftly replaced with the soft, slightly sweet smell of brown sugar baked into cookies. Slowly, Sunset calmed, the muttering and whining being replaced with quiet sobbing.

Celestia released her sister’s arm, again without looking away from Sunset, and asked, “Sunset, have you had these…reactions often since you came to this world?”

“Yes,” sobbed the girl, voice muffled from her face still being buried in her arms, “It…it gets really bad in P.E. or in a test, I feel like I’m surrounded like I can’t get away and everyone’s pressed against me and I just want to be left alone and I can’t get away and I want to hit someone and bite them and…” her whole frame shuddered.

Sunset’s reaction was running its course, the girl’s rocking and shaking finally settling down. Celestia let her own pheromones loose and called up her inner Alpha to assert comfort and reassurance. The girl instantly stilled and began to uncurl, even Luna’s posture softened, leaning gently in the direction of her sister. Luna had told Celestia it smelled like cinnamon and allspice baked into a pie during Harvest Festival to her.

“Sunset…” Celestia began, “Do…ponies…have Alphas?”

The girl’s head popped up, tears staining her face and pure confusion rolling off her, “Alphas…what? What does that mean?”

“Alphas, that’s what you are…do you know what betas are?” Celestia asked. Sunset shook her head again, “Omegas?” another, highly confused denial of understanding.

This time the look shared by Celestia and Luna was deeper and carried more meaning, both sisters frowning visibly and concern wafting off them like spring rain. The principal stretched an arm across her desk to the desk phone and pushed a button, “Raven, can you please reschedule my appointments to clear my afternoon? Luna will take any that absolutely can’t wait.”

Her secretary’s voice came through the phone, “Certainly. Will I need to contact the steam cleaners to do a deep clean? There’s been more drama wafting under the door than the last time Diamond Tiara earned herself detention by getting into a fight with Trixie.”

Celestia chuffed in irritation even as Luna chuckled. Sunset seemed just as confused by the secretary’s response, but smiled and smelled a bit of…cherry pie? Thought Celestia, what in the world could that scent indicate? “No, Raven…actually, yes, it might be a good idea, but have them bill my private accounts instead of the school’s. I think…I think we’ll need discretion with this one.”

Raven didn’t hesitate, her tone losing its playful tease, “Of course. I’ll use my cell phone for the call, then.”

“Thank you, Raven,” Celestia responded before releasing the button. She turned to her sister, “Luna, can you go to the cafeteria and get Sunset’s lunch and a cup of hot water for me, then stop by the nurse’s office and ask Redheart to bring a vapor inhaler and…” she turned to Sunset with a sigh, “And her ‘runaway’ kit.”

Author's Note

While I am fairly new to the whole Omegaverse "scene," I've been reading similar works since the mid- to late-80s (Yes, even the erotic kind...you'd be shocked what makes it through into public libraries), so finding my first Omegaverse fic (ironically also my first NEW Ranmafic in nearly 10 years) was like old home week. I barely needed the primer built into the plot to understand the meme, and when I realized the "omegaverse" tag I'd been seeing scattered about the Internet like slightly perverse apple seeds was the same thing as what I was reading in the (very enjoyable) Ranmafic, I went hunting for more. I think I binged about 10 full fics and 12 incomplete fics from a whole variety of fandoms, some of which I was pleasantly surprised to see had a connection to the Omegaverse, but then, fandoms have been producing crazy things that Should Not Be (but somehow are awesome!) since before I was born.

I've had to do some world-building because I've noticed there is a lack of writing to cover certain subjects as they fit into the omegaverse, but I've done my best to make the lore I've introduced fit perfectly.

FYI, I'll be adding more tags as I add chapters. I don't want to spoil things.

This chapter wound up containing less than I planned but flowed so perfectly I only had to do a little touch-up to get it into a comfortably publishable form. Huge thanks to my new friends on The Omegaverse Discord server! You all made my welcome into the omegaverse a wonderfully joyful experience!

Friendship/Games - Health/Education

To: Princess Celestia, HRM Equestria

From: Principal Celestia, Alpha Canterlot High Pack

Subject: Sunset Shimmer

Your student Sunset had the fortune of arriving in our world in my pack’s territory. We will be taking her in as a member of the pack until such time as she can be returned to you. As we will need to be able to exchange information that may exceed the capacity of this journal and it can’t be replaced in the next 2.5 years, I will be limiting how long messages will be. As much as I’m sure you will want to air out your grievances with our student, I ask that you wait until the portal opens again and you can do so face to face.

In the meantime, we will be requesting information on Sunset’s history, specifically medical, family history, and educational background. All signs point to her physical age being approx. 12 years old, has been changed into a human and is inexperienced in dealing with matters of her second gender, which I understand from interviewing her you do not have in your world. Sunset is definitely a different type of Alpha than any we’ve dealt with, so any information that will help us solve that puzzle would be appreciated.

Given the physical immaturity, gaps in knowledge, and need to integrate, we will be registering her as a high school student. As pack Alpha, it is my duty to ensure any in my pack are properly cared for, so you may rest assured I will be able to return your student safe and well.

Sincerely,

Principal Celestia

Celestia sipped at her tea as she finished penning the message to her counterpart. She also kept her ear open to the sounds of Sunset eating her food as she double-checked for any spelling or grammar mistakes, she had gotten far too used to the conveniences of spell-checking on her computer and it had been college the last time she had to proof her own work.

She heard the sounds of meal consumption slow down and raised her gaze to check on her latest student. Her brow creased in concern, “Sunset, you’ve barely eaten half your food. Aren’t you hungry?”

“Oh…uhm,” the girl hedged, “I…yes, kinda. I’ve eaten more today than I ever did at the palace in one sitting, so I think…I mean, I kinda feel like I’ve filled my stomach, but I’m…” confusion crossed her features coupled with the scent of burnt iron filings. Celestia was guessing that was Sunset’s ‘frustration’ scent. “I’m still so hungry…” the girl almost whined as she cast a distressed glance at the other half of the plate piled high with food.

Celestia closed the journal and put her tea down, tilting her head slightly in confusion. The cafeteria food, while never stellar, was usually decently good and solidly nutritious. Even if Celestia hadn’t insisted on her school providing a balanced diet to the members of her pack, Granny Smith, solid-as-granite battleax of an Alpha that she was, would have issued a challenge to anyone who called her “vittles” less than tasty and nutritious. She examined what Sunset had eaten and what she had left on the plate and realized with a start that the girl had left anything with obvious meat content alone while consuming all the vegetable matter eagerly. Considering the dietary requirements of a growing Alpha, Luna had loaded up half the tray with burgers, chicken fingers, a couple of hot dogs, and what Celestia was guessing was a beef burrito. Why would she…? Celestia knew there was a small percentage of betas that enjoyed eating vegetation-only diets, but even omegas were practically meat consumption factories that demanded animal proteins and fats, for the amino acids needed for their diet if nothing else.

Celestia nearly smacked her own forehead when she remembered, Right, she was a pony up until two weeks ago, she probably hasn’t ever eaten meat in her life. Sighing, she smiled sympathetically at Sunset, “I’m guessing you haven’t eaten any of the meat you’ve been offered in the cafeteria since you arrived?” The girl turned sickly colors and shook her head vigorously. “Well, I’m afraid you are going to have to.” At Sunset’s gagging response, Celestia chuckled, “You’re an Alpha now, which means your body is going to demand nutrients that plant-only diets simply cannot provide.”

Sunset grimaced and poked at one of the hamburgers with a fingertip. “...are you sure? There isn’t, like, a high protein soy plant or some kind of legume I could use? They produce the right proteins for muscle development…”

Celestia shook her head in amusement, “Nope, you’re going to need to eat meat. ‘White for lean, red for mass, marrow for blood, and bone for kicking…’ uhm…” she blushed as she almost slipped and used language she didn’t permit on campus in her own office with a student. Rhyming couplets were wonderful teaching tools, but that particular one was usually repeated by young pack leaders in charge of college dorms and one she’d had to use frequently to keep the members in her dorm from overloading on red meat, which tended to make Alphas sluggish and omegas irritable. “Yes, you’ll need meat. No plants will do.”

Sunset groaned in discomfort and tentatively picked up one of the burgers. She slowly brought it to her nose and gave it a sniff. For all she grimaced, her stomach growled loudly enough to echo in the small office. Celestia suppressed a chuckle so as not to distract her young charge as the girl gingerly took a small bite. Sunset chewed thoughtfully for a moment and swallowed, her eyes bulging as her mouth popped open in surprise, a trickle of drool leaking from the corner of her mouth. She absently wiped it with the back of her hand then took a much larger bite, “Thish is…” she mumbled around the mouthful of food, “...delishish!”

Celestia finally allowed herself a giggle and said, “Take it slowly, you’ve already eaten quite a bit, you don’t want to have it come back up on you because you packed too much in.”

Sunset nodded as she chewed and slowed her pace a bit and sighed contentedly, “I didn’t realize this was what I’d been craving…but I’m probably going to have a complete breakdown later,” she blushingly acknowledged, “Cows back home are actually sentient.”

Celestia nodded as the sense of vertigo returned, not nearly as strong as before but still a powerful reminder that she was dealing with an alien in every sense of the word.

Before she could ruminate on that, her office door popped open and Nurse Redheart entered carrying a medical case worthy of an EMT that was half the mass of the woman who had it slung over her shoulder with a strap. “Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, boss-lady, Snails forgot his heat blockers, and Snips, bless his little beta heart, wouldn’t leave him alone in my care until Snails’ parents dropped off his pills. Finally got the two off to class a couple minutes ago.” Redheart set the case down with a rattling thump on one of the empty chairs in Celestia’s office, “So, is this my patient? I thought she’d been here for a week, how did we not know she was a runaway?”

Celestia smiled at the school’s medical professional, “It’s the ‘special circumstances’ we all suspected, but…the story is quite a bit different than any of us could have guessed.”

Just then, the journal vibrated and began glowing, causing Redheart to jump in surprise. “What the…?”

The principal just nodded with her head, “It’s part of the special circumstances. Why don’t you get started with Sunset and I’ll explain more when I’ve taken care of this.”

Celestia flipped open to her entry to the princess as Redheart pulled out her clipboard with Sunset’s woefully incomplete medical profile and started asking the intake questions that had been left unanswered by the girl’s attempt to forge her paperwork. She nodded in appreciation at the reply as it appeared on the page.

“To: Alpha Celestia - Agreed on the decision to minimize message length, recommend less than 2 in. used per message and 1 message/day unless otherwise necessary. Sunset’s age here is 38, but if the mirror’s magic regressed her age along with changing species to match yours, all factors together confirm that placement in school for her apparent phys. age is best option. Req. more details on 2nd gender. Sunset was raised in an orphanage until being brought to the palace for tutelage under me, so no fam. hist. avail. at this time. Med. hist. avail., advise on what’s needed and will advise. Educ.: Post-doc in magical theory, grad. CSGU magna cum laude declined valedictorian honors. -Yours in friendship, HRM Celestia

Celestia swallowed thickly; Sunset’s presence was rocking her back on her heels more than anything since her first rut hit her back in middle school. A 38-year-old trapped in a 12-year-old body about to face puberty all over again…this is going to be rough. And she has a doctorate? No wonder she’s such a good student, she thought as she took a sip of her tea, If she hadn’t already taken her placement tests showing massive gaps in her knowledge of our world, I’d worry she was going to test out of Canterlot High entirely.

Her pondering was interrupted by a startled, “Oh! No, deary, I meant after we get back to the infirmary!” from Redheart. She looked up to see Sunset in the middle of taking off her pants, probably for a genital exam Redheart had mentioned while Celestia was distracted.

Must be some sort of cultural thing? I wonder what pony views on nudity are… “Sunset, please wait until you’re in private to remove your clothing. Nudity, especially of the reproductive organs and secondary sexual characteristics are frowned upon here.”

As Celestia guessed, Sunset seemed confused more than anything else but complied by pulling her pants back up and zipping and buttoning the fly.

With that resolved, Redheart cast Celestia a confused look before continuing the exam. Pulling a tongue depressor from her kit with already gloved hands, she prompted Sunset to open her mouth. After a few moments of examination, she nodded, “Yup, at least your age is accurate on your paperwork; wear patterns, tooth length, and count place you at 12 to 13, canines not yet presenting indicating you’re not quite into your full puberty yet…but wow, you keep your chompers clean! Good girl!”

Sunset was confused by this but didn’t respond beyond some expressive blinking. Of course, any other reaction was hard to do with a stick of wood pinning your tongue. The nurse continued while moving the depressor around and pulling out a penlight from her pocket and shining it in Sunset’s mouth, “Tonsils look good, been taking care of yourself from the looks of things, no signs of dehydration if the gums are anything to go by.” Redheart removed both light and depressor, tossing the wooden instrument and clicking off the penlight in a smooth, unconscious motion. “Let’s get that jacket off and get a look at you.”

Sunset complied and Redheart examined her arms, “No signs of recent fighting, of course, with how much the Alphas in the student body are complaining about your dominance aura you probably won’t have had a chance to get into one yet, but this also means you don’t have a history of them. You’re either a really strong Alpha or just good at avoiding the fighting instinct.” She twirled her fingers to indicate Sunset should turn around. When the girl had done so the nurse said, “I’m going to pull the back of your shirt up, you’ll need to hold the front down to avoid exposing those ‘secondary sex characteristics’ Celestia mentioned.” said Redheart with a mild chuckle.

“Teats are sexualized here?!” replied Sunset, a bit shocked. Redheart’s confusion ratcheted up enough to trigger even her comparatively weak vestigial beta scent glands to produce a slightly astringent vinegar bouquet.

Celestia couldn’t hold back the snicker this time. “Okay, have a seat, please. Redheart, I think it’s time I informed you of what we’ve learned today.”

After a fifteen-minute conversation that upended the worldview of yet another member of her pack, Redheart resumed her task, this time asking a host of additional probing questions to prepare a report for Celestia later. Celestia watched, sipping her tea and mentally composing a reply to the princess about the nature of second genders. It was a challenge because she was struggling to imagine a functional intelligent species without something that was such a basic fact of life.

Several minutes later, Redheart put away her blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, “And you’re all set, deary. Fit as a fiddle, if a touch anemic from the look of your eyes. I recommend doubling your red meat intake for a couple days, but other than that, you’re good to go.” So declaring, she pulled out a sharpie and began marking the samples she was able to get, including the swab of Sunset’s scent glands and a cheek swab. The school's medical first responder had opted not to take blood or urine samples until they got back to the infirmary, a fact for which Celestia was grateful. As good as Redheart was at her job, Celestia had to clean enough blood out of her carpets already this year and didn’t relish the thought of having to spend yet more money to have it cleaned again if there was an accident during the draw.

“Did you show her how to use the inhaler?” asked Celestia when she saw that Sunset didn’t have it yet.

Redheart looked up from her work with a confused expression, “Hmm? But…there’s no omega here…?”

Celestia nodded, “It’s not to mask a heat, it’s to mask…everything else.” At Redheart’s continued confusion, the principal tilted her head in Sunset’s direction and said simply, “Pony.”

Redheart nodded with a silent, “oh!” and popped open a compartment on her kit labeled, “vapor inhalers.” She pulled out a blue tube and handed it to Sunset. “Okay, deary, I’m guessing you’ve never had to use one of these, so pay attention.” She pulled a second inhaler out to demonstrate. “So you’ll want to break the seal on yours, just twist it at the base and then pull the cover off.”

Sunset fidgeted with the small plastic device and found the seam. Following the directions, she revealed a rounded tip that had a pair of vents. An icy menthol smell trickled into the room, only barely noticeable above the other scents that had been layered in over the last two hours. “Very good. Now you’ll want to pinch one nostril shut and stick the tip in your other nostril, don’t shove it in too far.” Redheart demonstrated everything short of actually pushing the capped and sealed tube in her own nose, just holding it just away from the side of her nose. She waited until a grimacing Sunset did as instructed before continuing. “Now inhale slowly through your nose. Once it starts to feel like a burning sensation, stop and pull it out.” The tween complied, eyes beginning to water as she stopped inhaling with a, “Gah!” Redheart nodded and said, “Very good, now the other side too…” shuddering, Sunset did as instructed.

Sunset re-capped the inhaler and started breathing normally again, then blinked and heaved a deep breath. “What…? The…the pressure is gone! My mind is clear all of a sudden!”

Celestia spoke up, “The inhaler is made to blow out your scent receptors temporarily. We normally use those on Alphas who are struggling with the scent of an omega in heat who isn’t able to use suppressors for whatever reason. Your brain interprets the scents that you pick up and creates the mental state you were experiencing. It’s meant to make you a more effective member of the pack by increasing your awareness, being able to read emotions in others, and recognizing allies or friends. You can even scent family members when you learn how to read the scents well enough.” She scooted her chair around the desk and reached out to take Sunset’s hand, “I cannot even imagine not having that sense. It’s so much a part of our lives…even when cubs are born we make sure parents have as much time touching and holding their infant so there’s a sense memory. For someone to go from not having that scent at all to suddenly being surrounded by it…”

Sunset was staring down at the hand clasping hers, a mixed scent of the cherry pie from earlier and the girl’s rancid oil nervousness. “...probably the inverse of how it felt,” she took a shuddering breath, “How it felt to lose my magic when I came through.”

Celestia blinked in surprise. If their connection to…magic is as close as ours is to scenting… “Yes, that may be an appropriate comparison.” Taking a gamble, she clasped her other hand around Sunset’s, “I’m sure there are similar rules for magic, but here we don’t abuse our sense of smell. That inhaler is a short-term solution to your inexperience, it will damage your olfactory nerves if you abuse its use. I will be teaching you how to process the scents around you.”

The nervous scent started to fade as the smell of cherry pie grew more pronounced. Sunset let out a watery sigh, still staring at her hand held clasped in Celestia’s, “Just like old times…” she muttered.

Celestia gave Sunset a reassuring smile. “You’ll have to explain that one to me…but later. For now, I need to talk with Redheart in private. Can you wait for us in one of the chairs by Raven’s desk, please?”

Sunset nodded and stood, removing her hand from Celestia’s (somewhat reluctantly if she read the girl’s body language properly), and retrieved her pack from in front of the desk. she paused and looked to the journal still open on the desk, then up to meet Celestia’s eyes. The principal shook her head gently at the unasked question, “I still need to report to your…princess about your current condition. I’ll bring it home with me, I’ll make sure you have access to it there.”

Sunset started, “Wait, what?!”

Celestia’s smile gained a mischievous edge. “You didn’t think I was going to make you sleep in the P.E. storage shed still, did you?” At Sunset’s shocked expression, she tapped the side of her nose, “We scented you the third day. You’re a…unique Alpha, we could tell that’s where you were sleeping. No,” she shook her head, “You’ll stay with me and Luna for the time being.”

Sunset clutched her backpack against her chest and nodded, a slightly shell shocked look accompanied by a mild renewal of the rancid oil scent, then left the office to grant Celestia and Redheart privacy.

Once the door was closed, Redheart turned to the Alpha, “Should I presume you want me to run a rape kit?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, not unless your more thorough exam later shows signs of a need for it. By all accounts, she arrived in our territory from her home universe and never left, and you know what I’d do to anyone who was found trying to rape anyone in my territory.”

Having witnessed the aftermath of the last victim that came to Canterlot High for sanctuary from a pack of rogue Alphas, Redheart shuddered. She was a beta and so hadn’t had to take part in the hunt, but was head of the team that was responsible for patching up the rogues left alive so they could face trial. It had not been pretty.

“What I’ll need you to do,” continued the principal, “Is to explain the second gender to Sunset.” In response to Redheart’s indignant snort, Celestia grumbled, “You’re the best clinician I’ve ever had and you’re fantastic at speaking to the students. She’s already shown she’ll listen to you.”

Redheart chuckled as she stood and grabbed her kit, swinging the shoulder strap on and heaving it up from the chair it had rested in since she arrived. “I’m also the best doctor you’ll ever get to work for the title of ‘Nurse,’ and you earn that loyalty because you’re the best damn Pack Alpha in six states, if not the country. You’re also an Alpha that doesn’t shirk duties that you volunteered to take on…princess.” she replied with a smirk.

Celestia just leveled an exasperated glare at the beta, “I wasn’t making a request…”

Redheart rolled her eyes, “I’m not one of your pack-bonded Alphas or omegas, you can’t order me and you know it. Besides,” it was her turn to flash a mischievous grin, “It’s the parent’s job to teach the birds and the bees to their kids. You issued that territory-wide mandate yourself four years ago, complete with consequences if students wound up failing tests in health class.”

Celestia blushed slightly and scoffed, “I’m not her mother!”

Redheart was by now walking toward the door and didn’t even bother looking back at Celestia, “Sure thing, ‘princess,’” she opened the door and said, “I’m taking Sunset to the infirmary, don’t take too long to join us.”

Celestia watched the door close behind her chief medical officer and school nurse. “...betas…” she chuffed with a frustrated sigh.

Three-quarters of an hour later, Celestia watched as a mildly blushing Sunset pulled her pants back on a second time for the day, this time having done so in the privacy of one of the medical bays. “Gynecology is a lot less intrusive when you have a unicorn doctor doing the exam.” she grumbled at the older Alpha.

“I’m sure, but I guarantee that if you could create a scanner that you could just wave at a woman’s belly and get the same information, you’d be set for life and become the hero of everyone with a cervix,” replied Celestia with a grin.

Sunset rolled her eyes and reached for her jacket. “Well, maybe you guys should figure out a better solution for these always-on teats…I mean, ‘breasts,’” she corrected herself, “They’re just kinda lumps of tissue and they’re always there and you need a special exam just for them, I mean, what’s that about? Cool machine, but I’d rather they not be sandwiched in it again.”

By now Celestia’s eyes were glittering with repressed laughter, “Let’s just say that, for us, the benefits have so far outweighed the negatives.”

Sunset sniffed at the air, as though catching wind of something familiar. “What…what is that?” she reached into her pocket and pulled out her inhaler. She turned it over in her hands struggling with the fine print on it, “Did this stuff wear off already?”

“Probably, it’s not intended to be overly powerful, just strong enough to shut off your sense of smell for a little while. Don’t use it,” she shook her head at Sunset as the girl moved to twist the cap off again, “Not yet, anyway. Until we can get you trained in managing your senses and your inner Alpha, only use that when the sensations from the scents around you grow too intense.”

Sunset nodded as she put the tube back in her jacket pocket, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you smell and what it makes you think of?” the principal prompted.

Sunset sniffed the air again, this time more deliberately. “I smell…bubbling cider, or maybe…” she sniffed again, “The soda fountain at the Canterlot Palace Pharmacy!” a grin split her face and the cherry pie smell started wafting from the girl again, “Celest…er, Princess Celestia used to take me there after I finished an exam! We didn’t even wait for the test results, we always knew I’d pass with a perfect score, so it just became a thing for us to sneak a little time out of her schedule after classes got out for the day…” the smile slipped slightly, becoming more melancholy, and the scent drifted away from baked goods to an old library that had too much dust on the shelves, “...we…stopped doing that after I got to university level…and I got…greedy.”

The cherry pie is…nostalgia? Homesickness? thought Celestia, Which would probably make the ‘dusty library’ regret… “Very good. Now, do you remember what prompted the scent?”

Sunset cocked her head to the side in a gesture that was more canine than equine, which made Celestia wonder just how thorough the magic that turned the pony into the girl before her was. After a moment’s thought, she said, “...we were talking about my gynecological exam?”

Celestia’s smile returned, “Yes, but you were also expressing a rather amusing level of frustration with the attendant parts of the medical process associated with it. You weren’t saying anything that hadn’t been said before by nearly every woman or omega who’s had their heels in the stirrups. You were scenting my amusement.”

“Oh,” Sunset thought about that for a moment, then wrinkled her nose incredulously, “You smell like the soda fountain from Canterlot when you think something is funny?”

Celestia giggled, “No, that’s how your brain interprets the scent. Luna says I smell like clean pennies and Granny Smith says the scent reminds her of a particular tree in her orchard.”

Dawning comprehension started to blossom on the younger Alpha’s face, “Oh, so it’s not the smell…”

“Scent,” interrupted Celestia.

“...what’s the difference?” Sunset inquired.

“A smell is what comes off a thing. To me, when you’re thinking of some aspect of the world you came from, or at least the pleasant moments you had there, your scent is like cherry pie. You’re not actually producing the smell of what an actual cherry pie would create, that’s simply the association my mind makes when that particular scent is processed by my olfactory receptors.” She tapped her nose in absent demonstration, “A cherry pie will smell like a cherry pie…well, assuming you make it right,” she winked at Sunset, “But the scent you make when you’re remembering triggers a response that has nothing to do with cherry pie.”

“She’s right, kiddo,” came Redheart’s voice from around the corner, immediately preceded by the sound of a rolling office chair being pushed across the tile floor. In moments, Nurse Redheart wheeled her way into the alcove backward, propelling herself with her feet. She made her way over to Celestia and stopped about a foot in front of the principal. With a flourish, she handed the Alpha a folder with a small stack of papers in it. “Smell is objective,” she explained to Sunset, “Meaning everyone smells the same thing about the same thing, but scent is interpreted; no two people identify the same scent the same way.”

Celestia began flipping through the folder she’d been handed, “Except for smarty-pants betas.” she interjected without looking up from the report.

Redheart responded by lobbing a pamphlet at Celestia, which bounced off her nose and landed in the folder. “Ow!” blurted the principal and smacked her free hand against her nose. She glared without heat at the other two, who were openly giggling. Celestia glanced down to see what had been tossed at her and saw the title in plain sans-serif font that read, “Heat, Rut, and Reproduction: A Parent’s Guide to Having ‘The Talk’ With Your Children.’”

By the time she looked up from the pamphlet, the school nurse was already wheeling her way back out of the bay, “Redheart!” she snapped at the retreating beta.

“Have fun, princess!” sing-songed Redheart as she closed the privacy screen with a delinquent grin.

Celestia sighed and closed the pamphlet into the file folder, which contained Redheart’s preliminary report on Sunset’s physical, including the brief notes the beta had made about the pelvic exam. Definitely an Alpha, complete with all the appropriate parts. She sighed and repositioned briefly to get more comfortable. Sunset seemed to sense Celestia’s change in mood…the principal saw Sunset’s nostrils flare and a moment of calculation, and she made a minute nod, apparently to herself, and a mix of floral honey and chalk dust met Celestia’s nose. I’d say she just felt satisfied that she solved a puzzle, and that she made the first conscious use of scent identification.

Celestia stifled a flicker of pride (She’s not my daughter, she growled to herself), and took a settling breath. “Well, your second gender…I suppose we should begin with the question; what sexual presentations and gender presentations do ponies have?”

Sunset pushed herself back up on the exam table they had used earlier so she could sit, “Well, we’re sexually dimorphic, meaning there’s mares and stallions…or male and female. There’ve been some articles in medical journals about transgender ponies, but it’s mostly been experimental research. The princess was pushing for it to be properly studied, apparently, she had some advisor a few centuries ago that said he should have been born a mare and…I guess he couldn’t cope with not being one.”

Celestia thought she was correctly reading between the lines on that subject, but chose to leave it for another time and continued. “Well, leaving aside the transgender issue for the moment, which is an issue on this world, by the way, you’ll be expected to respect pronouns while you’re here; our primary sexual presentation is the male-to-female spectrum. I presume this corresponds with the mare-to-stallion spectrum in your world,” she trailed off briefly to flash Sunset an inquiring look, to which Sunset responded with a shrug, “Fair enough, let’s assume for the moment it does. We have a second gender, which is fairly immutable compared to the primary sexual presentation. Unlike the male-female spectrum, there are really only three definitive secondary genders, which present in people across the primary spectrum identically; Alpha, beta, and omega. Some experimentation has been done, usually unsanctioned, to alter someone’s second gender presentation, but it has almost always either been unsuccessful or resulted in…something else.” A flash of darkness crossed Celestia’s face, but it passed as quickly as it came.

“But...why? What do these sub-genders…” Sunset began.

“Second genders. Don’t ever call them sub-genders.” Celestia interrupted, “A faction of betas started a genocidal war trying to wipe out Alphas and omegas a couple generations ago. They used the term ‘sub-genders’ to dehumanize Alphas and omegas.”

Sunset flinched, then continued, “What do these second genders even mean?”

Celestia bit her lip. She had never before had to explain the concept to someone with only a single-axis of sex characteristics as reference. Everyone simply had both and were at the very least taught what theirs was from birth. Sure, some people were suspected of being betas but were simply late-blooming Alphas, but they still at least knew what a beta was and had a reference point for the others. …actually, she thought, That may be the reference point I need.

“Betas are most like your people if I understand correctly. While they’ll have the vestigial tissue that becomes knots and mascervixes on Alphas and omegas, it’s inert. Male penis and female vagina. I’m guessing that’s the same with ponies?” Sunset nodded with a blush. “So betas can mate most easily with other betas, and they have so-so odds of producing offspring. Between 10-15% likelihood that a sexual encounter between two betas producing a child. Also, betas have, at least compared to Alphas and omegas, stunted pheromone glands and tissue. In some cases, the pheromone sacs are completely inert.”

“Okay, yeah,” Sunset nodded again, “That sounds about right, but with a pony couple, the chance of a child is higher, around 20-30%, which is pretty high compared to even the griffins or minotaurs. Theirs is in the 10-15% range, too. Equinologists theorized ponies have a higher birth rate ‘cause of the higher ratio of mares to stallions.”

Celstia sighed, “I find myself wishing our two species had made contact under better circumstances. The comparison alone would probably result in incredible studies and breakthroughs.” Sunset lowered her gaze to the floor as a scent of day-old guacamole wafted from her. Celestia sighed, “I’m sorry, Sunset, I spoke without thinking.”

The younger Alpha straightened with a start and blinked in apparent surprise, “Oh, uhm…that’s alright.”

Silence reigned for a moment, only to be interrupted by the school bell announcing change of class. Celestia chose to use that as a prompt to continue. “So, omegas are…’submissive,’ is the old term, and most do fall into that role in a relationship dynamic, but there are enough individual omegas who are more assertive and aggressive than even betas that we’re trying to figure out a new way to describe them that doesn’t happen to equate to, ‘always follows orders and is unsuited to lead.’ Omegas tend to be built to be caretakers in some capacity. They tend to be more empathetic, less likely to escalate to violence in any given conflict, and are more receptive to compromise.”

“This is a good balance to the Alpha. We,” she indicated herself and Sunset with her hands in a sweeping gesture, “Are going to be more assertive and aggressive. Again, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, and being assertive and aggressive won’t necessarily look like the same thing from Alpha to Alpha. Miss Harshwhinny is collected and controlled, but still a powerful Alpha. Similarly, Coach Iron Will is loud and bombastic, has larger muscles, and is generally acknowledged as being the more aggressive of the two, but he’s actually much lower on the pack hierarchy than Harshwhinny.”

“As for physiological differences…” Celestia finally reached a point where she was uncomfortable with the subject of conversation. There’s only one good way to discuss the mechanics of the process of procreation without introducing oversimplification or misinformation, after all. “So, all males have a penis, and females have a vagina. There’s intersex and transgender, but we’re keeping it simple for the moment.” Sunset’s blush returned full force and nodded in comprehension.

The older Alpha continued, her own blush starting to form as she sought for the right words, “All omegas have cervixes, so even the males will have to have exams like the one you just had and their…waste elimination configuration has remarkable resemblance to an Alpha’s sheath to protect their reproductive system. When they go into heat, they tend to alter their diet to consume larger quantities that will produce less solid waste, their slick glands produce massive quantities of fluid for cleaning and lubrication purposes, and their mascervix descends to make the opening to their uterus accessible to an Alpha.” Poor Sunset was turning slightly green as Celestia described the mechanics. “Male omegas tend to have lower pregnancy and birth rates than all females except female Alphas, but they also have a lower tendency toward infection due to the amount of protection their organs create against their own bodies.”

Sunset shifted in discomfort, settling her weight back and forth as she gripped her stomach with her arms and Celestia tried not to identify the scent bubbling off the girl for the sanctity of her own digestion, “I don’t think I’ll ever complain about my period again…”

Celestia snorted in mild amusement, “Well, fortunately, the rest are less…’squicky,’ to use a phrase. All women have vaginas, cervixes, uterus, etc., but in Alphas they’re…less developed, save for the ovotestese, which develop differently in the womb depending on if the individual is male or female-presenting at birth.”

Sunset held up a hand, “Okay, hang on. ‘Mascervix,’” she mispronounced it, more like ‘masservix,’ but that was common for children learning the name of the organ for the first time, “Is pretty easy to guess in context, ‘masculine cervix,’ duh. But what in Tartarus is an ovatestese?”

Celestia bit her lip, trying to think of how to explain it, “They’re the…gonocological organs responsible for the production of semen or ovum depending on the primary sex presentation.”

“Oh! Testicles and ovaries!”

The older Alpha blinked in surprise, “Those are…archaic terms. I don’t think they’ve been used in common language in centuries.”

Sunset’s expression grew thoughtful and her eyes flitted about, as though tracking prey, “It makes sense that you would have a single word for them, though. They come from the same fetal tissues in the womb and on male omegas they would probably not produce sperm…?” she glanced at Celestia for confirmation.

The principal smiled warmly and bobbed her head, “A small fraction do, most don’t.”

Sunset nodded and continued, hopping off the bed and beginning to pace as she worked through the problem in her head, “So if the omegas are always…fetal carriers, betas are based on their primary sex presentation and the women are the fetal carriers…then I’m guessing that the Alphas are the ones who get the fetal carriers pregnant…hang on, I need to write this down…” she glanced around the room and spotted a whiteboard mounted on the wall with a magnetic eraser stuck to the surface and a handful of markers in clips on the back of the eraser. Sunset darted over to the board and snatched the eraser down, pulling a maker out of it’s clip and popping the cap off. Sunset’s problem-solving scent is like whiteboard markers? Celestia thought in amusement as the smell of the markers permeated the room.

The student started drawing a two-axis chart, splitting the middle of the board into quadrants. At the top she wrote “Alpha” in her slightly untrained but extremely florid handwriting, then at the bottom wrote “omega.” On the right she wrote “male” and the left “female,” and where the two lines intersected in the middle wrote “beta.” She uncapped a red marker and drew two parallel lines separating “Alpha” and “omega” from “beta,” then paused, clearly thinking through what she just drew before erasing the middle horizontal line and replacing it with another pair of lines on top and bottom, bracketing the whole diagram. She capped the black and red markers and pulled out the blue before drawing hash lines on the parts of the chart for “omega” and “female” and wrote off to the side as the start of a chart legend, “Has uterus” with a small box containing similar blue hash lines.

Celestia observed Sunset work, and could easily see how the girl had graduated magna cum laude. She didn’t even have all the information yet and she was so close to a complete picture that the principal was confident the younger Alpha would have been able to figure it out with a single reference book and enough time. Additional labels were added, noting details of the omega and female commonalities in the reproductive process, adding notes on topics that Celestia had only hinted at. In the corner of the board, a swiftly jotted, “slick = ?” indicated a gap in her knowledge but an unwillingness to stop the creative process. A couple of minutes later, Sunset re-capped all the markers, having eventually just pulled the caps off all of them so she wouldn’t have to waste time between colors, and stepped back to take in the whole image. She gave a confident nod and turned to Celestia, “How’d I do?” The wide eyes and hopeful smile were almost incongruous with the display of intellect, and she looked for all the world like just any other girl looking for approval from a teacher or parent for a job well done.

Her inner Alpha suddenly started demanding she take this stray cub in as her own and raise her. Calm down! she told herself, I’m already bringing her into my home and teaching her, she’s a grown woman in a tweenager’s body, I’m not going to try to mother her. Out loud, she said, “Very good! Only one thing missing, and that looks like something you haven’t guessed at yet. I’ll give you a hint, see if you can piece it together; when two omegas mate, they have less than 1% chance of gestating and being able to carry to term. When a beta mates an omega, it’s less than 2%. An Alpha mating a beta offers a 5 to 10% chance of pregnancy. When two Alphas mate, the probability drops back down to 2 to 3%. An Alpha mating an omega results in a 50 to 60% chance of pregnancy.”

Sunset’s knees buckled, but she caught herself and straightened. “Sweet Cel…er, I mean…wow!” She looked at the chart she drew and her brows furrowed. “So, wait, what’s the population breakdown along the primary sex presentation between Alphas and omegas?”

Celestia’s eyes twinkled with a burst of pride, She’s almost there… “Nearly identical to betas. It fluctuates to favor females during times of war, more Alpha males tend to die in large-scale conflicts, but that’s mostly due to antiquated ideas of primary sex somehow impacting gender roles in society...well, that’s a lesson for your history class. So pretty close to a 50/50 breakdown between males and females when factoring out the statistical minorities of trans, intersex, and similar individuals.”

Celestia watched as the cub examined her diagram, nostrils flaring unconsciously, eyes dilating in an effort to gather as much information as possible. Watching this pre-teen tilt her head back and forth, working the problem like worrying a bone for the marrow. She’s probably not even aware she’s doing it…

Sunset’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Do…female Alphas mate with…omegas?”

I think she’s got it… “Yes, I take it where you’re from females aren’t capable of mating with another female?”

Sunset blushed again and shrugged. “I mean, I was kinda…antisocial, but I had fantasies…but a pregnancy? Not without magical assistance, and that’s fairly recent, like ‘last 50 or so years’ recent.”

“If your species developed without Alphas and omegas, then your development may not have required it, leaving the question moot. But here,” she gently pulled a pair of markers from Sunset’s grip and stepped over to the board and began filling in parts. “There’s two elements you’re missing. The sheath and knot.” She filled in the spaces on the Alphas with a reverse crosshatch and added to the legend for “knot” and did similar for the Alpha female and omega males with a vertical stripe pattern and labeled it “sheath.”

“Both Alpha females and omega males have sheaths that protect their sex organs. We’ve already talked about omega males; for Alpha females, the sheath protects their phallus, which is the Alpha female’s means of inseminating during their rut.” It was Celestia’s turn to blush, “Of course, rut isn’t the only time it can come out. If you happen to be…with a special someone…and you’re getting affectionate…your phallus can drop and…uhm…”

“It’s okay,” blurted a poleaxed Sunset, “Don’t go into details, please!”

Feeling completely awkward and out of her depth for the first time, Celestia darted back over to the file folder and fished out the pamphlet, flipping through it to find the applicable section. A quick glance confirmed the diagrams on the page were complete and the clinically presented information was accurate as to the mechanics of the Alpha-female-on-omega sex acts. She folded the corner down, slapped the booklet closed, and handed it to Sunset. The girl took it slowly, as though it were about to bite her, then tucked it into her jacket. For a moment, the stood facing each other, looking everwhere but at each other, faces bright red.

“Oh my god!” came a playfully aggravated groan from the other side of the privacy screen, “You two are such useless disasters!”

“Redhart!” snapped Celestia, eyes whipping to the screen.

“What?! My desk is right next to that bay and it’s not like this screen is sound-proofed and you’re the only other two people here. I’m a beta, not deaf.”

“You could at least pretend to have the professional courtesy of ignoring us!” growled the Alpha.

“Knots, princess.” came the reply, “Don’t forget to explain knots!”

Celestia growled quietly, “...and stop calling me princess!” she snapped under her breath. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, before turning to face Sunset directly. The girl finally managed to overcome her own embarrassment enough to return the look. Celestia smiled reassuringly and took another cleansing breath. “So, yes, she’s right. Knots. It’s the final component for Alphas and has long been thought to be part of the reason the birthrates for Alpha-omega pairings are so high.” She stepped over to the nearby counter and leaned against it to at least appear as relaxed as she was trying to sound, and honestly leaning while she was also expending a lot of energy to suppress her pheromones so as not to exacerbate the woefully inexperienced younger Alpha’s mood meant she didn’t have to focus on such minor things as “staying upright.”

“Without getting into too many details, the knot swells up and, effectively, seals the opening to the vaginal canal. Betas are…not well equiped. Due to their reproductive organs being non-specialized compared to Alphas and omegas, they simply don’t have the ability to take a knot, so Alphas have to be careful to not fully…ah…penetrate the beta if they’re…being intimate.” she cleared her throat as Sunset’s blush renewed itself, “I’d recommend avoiding putting yourself into that situation, whether with an omega, beta, or even an other Alpha, especially if you’re going to be leaving for your home universe in a couple of years.” Celestia was glad she was already suppressing her pheromones, because she wouldn’t have been able to hide how much the thought of Sunset going away forever hurt. Must be my inner Alpha thinking she’s my cub, she thought, Bad Alpha! She’s a grown woman and just because she looks 12 and in your territory doesn’t mean she’s your cub!

Celestia looked back at the whiteboard and smiled. “You know, I don’t think anyone’s ever put the pieces together like that before.”

Sunset glanced back at her then took in the chart they had cobbled together. “Well, I always was a visual learner, it helps me figure out things when all I have is a blob of data.”

The principal pulled out her phone and took a picture of the whiteboard, Might as well duplicate this for the princess, a picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

They were both startled when the privacy screen slid open. “Well, Sunset, your samples are off to the lab and we should get results in a couple days. This particular lab is in a friendly territory and knows better than to keep Celestia waiting, so there shouldn’t be any delays.” She glanced at the whiteboard, “That’s the ugliest pride flag I’ve ever seen.” Sunset’s face scrunched up in confusion as Celestia sighed in exasperation.

Princess Celestia sighed heavily as she put down the journal, gazing out the open window overlooking the valley below the Canterhorn but not seeing any of it. Her counterpart’s explanation of Sunset’s new biology after going through the mirror was fascinating, and had it been any other circumstances or any other pony…

I shouldn’t have waited, she reflected, I should have told her she was my daughter when she graduated. Even if I had to tell her it was a state secret…

Her musings were interrupted by the grandfather clock in the corner of her private study chiming the hour, and she realized it was officially evening and time to raise the moon. Her heart hurt anew, but the original pain wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been 10 centuries ago. No, now the pain was compounded by losing another pony important to her…

Another member of her family, locked away from Equestria entirely, transformed into something almost unrecognizable, and all due to her mistakes.

For the hundredth time, she thought about just writing a message to Sunset in the journal, finally relieving her burden she’d carried since Sunset was born, filling the hole in the filly’s heart that Celestia saw even when Sunset tried to hide it. But there was too great a chance somepony could find the journal, and her enemies in the court, especially Welldweller, would use it for…horible leverage. They’d make demands she could never in good conscience meet, demands to make pegasaii and earth ponies less than citizens, bar non-ponies from Equestrian soil, and if she capitulated on even one thing, it wouldn’t be too long until they were pushing to legalize slavery in some form or another again, and she could never let that happen.

And if she didn’t…well, before Sunset went through the mirror, they could assasinate her in retaliation, or just…disapear her. They could even go so far as to replace her with a changeling (as little as the race had been heard from in the last decade, Celestia was all too aware of the threat they still posed) and threaten to dispose of the real Sunset if Celestia didn’t continue to follow orders.

Now? They could shatter the mirror and burn the journal, and Sunset would be forever beyond her reach, forever removed from Equestria and Celestia’s reach entirely.

Resigned, she gently nudged the sun through it’s final setting before raising the moon into the sky. As Luna’s face stared unseeing down on the world she threatened to plunge into eternal darkness nearly 1,000 years ago, Celestia looked up, hoping her sister would forgive her in time.

A young, bubbling laugh carried up to the window and drawing her attention to the courtyard below. In the courtyard, Lieutenant Armor had his sister Twilight in a headlock and giving her a noogie. “Shiny, stop that!” she ordered.

Ineffectualy ordering, of course; Shining just shifted his position slightly, “What’s that you said?” came his amused chuckle, “You want more Humble Noogies? Well, okay!”

Squealing laughter made the night seem less dark, and a little off to the side their very proud parents looked on with satisfied smiles on their faces.

The star cluster cutiemark that Twilight had gained just that week was more evidence of Celestia’s mistakes. She had spent so much time preparing Sunset to be the bearer of the Element of Magic, pushing her daughter without being able to say why…only to lose her to another world. And it had all been unnecessary; a little pony from one of Canterlot’s lesser noble families bore what Celestia always thought was just the Tree of Harmony’s symbol without the filly having ever been exposed to even the knowledge of the tree’s very existence.

Destiny had once again made a fool of the princess who would be wise, but at the same time, young Twilight gave her hope. The day was drawing close, so very close, for Nightmare Moon’s return. The same group of extraordinary fillies she had found in Ponyville, hoping they would be Sunset’s friends eventually, were still there. The old castle certainly wasn’t going anywhere, and if her counterpart was as good as her word, even Sunset would be returned to her in the blink of an eye in comparison to the length of an alicorn’s life.

The amused mezzo-soprano voice greeted the pair of siblings, followed by the traditional “sunshine, sunshine” dance that Cadence always performed with her former foalsitting charge.

She needed a reverse coup; a young noble seizing control of Equestria’s greatest superweapon, one that hadn’t been used in a millenia, a new ally nation, raised from the ashes of history and helmed by the first new alicorn in Equestria’s recorded history and fully allied with the Equestrian throne, and Luna returned from exile, hopefully by the very Elements she had been originally banished by, this time properly wielded by six ponies for whom the bonds of friendship went beyond the obligations of family? Sunset’s triumphant return after returning from an alien world would just be icing on the cake.

Celestia hated gambling, but this was history’s biggest gamble and she knew it. All her chips were on purple, and if that gambit failed…well, at least her daughter was safe.

Author's Note

I'm a total slut for Momlestia. I've done it before and I'll do it again, don't think I won't!

As you may have guessed, this universe is a touch different. I've left plenty of context clues, but the biggest is the infirmary in CHS. It's MUCH better equipped than any high school nurse's office in our world, and I've already hinted at the reasons why.

I've read a few other fics that bother to world-build beyond, "Like our world, but with A/B/O dynamics," and when you put certain real-world events in the perspective of a world populated by Alphas, betas, and omegas, some of them would never have happened the way they did, for good or ill. The EQG universe provides a fantastic narrative platform to examine this, 'cause you get a whole playground of a civilization to alter to fit your needs without having to figure out how it would match IRL historical events.

If you've read my other works, specifically "My Empire of Dirt," you'll likely recognize the setup between the two Celestias and Sunset. I didn't want this to be a re-hash, however, so I had to come up with a damn good reason for Princess Celestia to not tell Sunset about her family history, thus the conspiracy by unicorn supremacists (which will become a plot point later) that could threaten Sunset's life if anyone knew of the relationship. It's the decision between the right choice and the right choice, but neither is a good choice.

Friendship/Games - Social/Behavior

“I’m sorry, you said what nonsense, now?”

Cranky had finally broken the silence that had reigned in the faculty lounge for a full minute after Celestia finished briefing the staff.

“Precisely what you heard, Cranky.” the principal replied calmly. “The Canterlot High pack is currently host to an alien from another universe.”

The old omega glared at her, then stood and strode up to her chair. Celestia had to admit, of all the other staff, Cranky came the closest to actually intimidating her. A survivor and veteran of the Holocaust War, he actually had a higher body count than most Alphas. And for all he had cause to hate all betas for The Pact costing him his family and nearly the love of his life, he managed to treat Alphas, betas, and omegas with the same irascible, grudging respect. He leaned in close and growled, “Say it again, to my face.”

She raised an eyebrow.

He snorted and grumbled, “...please…”

A corner of her mouth quirked up just before she said, “Sunset Shimmer is a sapient being from another universe that operates by different rules than ours. Her method of transit, through some means unexplainable by our science, converted her body to that of a human, specifically an Alpha female girl. She will be here for the foreseeable future and we will be integrating her into the pack.”

Cranky hovered before her, sniffing the air subtly.

Finally, he turned around and waved his hand dismissively. “Well, y’aint lyin’, so I’ll go with it.” As he dropped into his seat, Celestia noticed the rest of the pack in the staff office also seemed to…unclench; relaxing subtly, as though they, too, hadn’t quite believed what Celestia was saying, and having Cranky vouch for her was enough to ease their concerns.

Reasonable, she thought to herself, If my old Alpha had told me a similar story, I might have tried to challenge his leadership on mental illness grounds. “We’ve all noticed her…unusual scent…”

“It’s like a campfire,” whispered Cheerilee. When she noticed that nearly the whole room had heard her, she jumped, flinching slightly at the unexpected attention. Cheerilee was a fairly young Alpha, and Celestia could see her running her own pack one day, possibly even partially composed of the students she was helping teach and raise now given the care she put into her teaching and the loyalty and devotion it inspired. The teacher cleared her throat, “It’s like…burning. Warm, comforting, but you need to treat it with respect.”

As though Cheerilee’s observation was a missing clue, more of the staff began muttering similar observations.

“Like lava flows on an island…”

“Finding the perfect spot under the heater in winter…”

“Walking across hot sand on the beach…”

Even Celestia found herself making the connection, Hot desert at high noon, seemingly hostile to survival, but teeming with life if you know where to look… She cleared her throat and the murmuring subsided, “It’s not just the…we’ll call it ‘hot’ scent. Did you notice? She has two scent profiles.” At the poleaxed expressions on her staff’s faces and the miasma of scents that all combined to mean, ‘confused and incredulous,’ Celestia prompted, “Wet grass after a rain.”

Another wave of murmuring, more hesitant than before then growing in pitch and volume as more of the pack made the connections spread across the room.

“Sipping tea in a rainstorm…but how…?

“A mountain stream…”

“The wheat fields on the farm after the irrigation’s been run…”

Realizing that this flash of conversation wasn’t about to die down on it’s own this time, Celestia flicked a hand in Luna’s direction. The vice-principal growled low and stomped twice, her boot heel clacking loudly on the tile floor.

Silence returned to the room as Celestia waited a few moments to be sure she had their undivided attention. “I have a means of communicating with Sunset’s home, but we have no means of returning there for another two and a half years.” she began, “And before any of you raise the possibility of her presence being a threat of some kind and ejecting her from the pack,” as much as she hated to admit the possibility that one of her pack would behave in such a xenophobic way, the reality was that there was a solid reason for her people to be suspicious of the new and strange. Even as she spoke she saw a few people averting their eyes, and as much as she wanted to reassure them that they weren’t being taken to task, there were higher priorities, “Imagine being in her shoes. Imagine you made a mistake and stumbled through a door that closed and locked itself behind you. Imagine that as soon as you went through the door, your sense of smell was ripped away and you were left crippled of the ability to make sense of the world around you using the senses we all take for granted. Imagine losing the use of your hands and having to walk around on all fours, and worse, your body has been reshaped so that’s now normal for you. Imagine not being able to wear clothes, or grip toilet paper, or having to eat with your feet.” A wave of disturbed, frightened, and even nauseous scents permeated the room, accompanied by expressions of mingled horror and disgust on faces all around, “Now imagine you had all the skills and experience of being an adult, but all of that meant nothing because your body and mind have been regressed to that of a preadolescent for your new species.” She leaned forward, clasping her hands and settling her elbows on her knees and moving her gaze about the room, locking eyes briefly with every member of her staff that she could, “Imagine you suddenly can feel the world around you through a brand new horn on your head, but you have absolutely no idea what you’re sensing because you don’t even know it’s the horn that’s giving you that sense and don’t realize that the sensations you’re experiencing are normal but they’re always on and you can’t identify them, like whispers in a language you don’t understand that you cannot escape.”

“Now imagine realizing that your second gender is missing,” the flinching horror that spread through the room in an instant, “Not because of a birth defect, or an accident, or someone castrating you, but because it was simply never there.”

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, “This is Sunset’s reality. She’s in a foreign world in a foreign body. Some senses she always took for granted are simply gone, and replaced with others she has no idea how to process. She’s dealing with a flood of new sensations and will shortly be starting her second round of puberty, this time dealing with twice the hormones and sex organs as she did the last time. We,” she emphasized the word with a hand gesture that included the entire population of the room, “Are going to treat our unexpected guest like she’s just as worthy of the love and respect that you’d give any cub in the pack.”

Nagatha spoke up at that point, “I believe you were implying that she was an adult where she came from. How old is she? Are we to treat her as a child?”

Celestia had known Ms. Harshwhinney for long enough to recognize a prompt; the social studies teacher made a fantastic advisor but not a great leader, a failing she was well aware of and was more than happy to let Celestia run the pack so she could focus more on her personal interests. She was also absurdly observant, scary good at getting information subtly, and one of the best lieutenants she had ever taken out in a hunting party. If Nagatha was asking the question, it was because more than one member of the pack was thinking it but unwilling to speak up.

She nodded, “Yes, treat her as an exceptionally gifted 12-year-old. Both her…mentor and I agree that she will need the educational environment to adapt to our world. Additionally, Redheart’s preliminary report confirms that every aspect of her body seems to match that of a child, and that likely includes her brain, so I expect that she’ll be dealing with the usual impulse control issues, susceptibility to peer pressure, and ‘teenage-itis.’” she quirked a smile, “Probably worse since she used to be an adult that paid taxes and could vote.”

Iron Will spoke up from the back, “I don’t think she’ll miss the ‘paying taxes’ part.”

For the first time since the meeting started, the tense, somber mood broke and laughter rippled across the room. Celestia beamed at the man, grateful for his perfectly timed quip. She let the laughter die down and said, “For Sunset’s safety, as well as the pack’s, we need to keep her nature a secret. You all know I hate keeping secrets, you also all know we have plenty that we must keep for the good of the pack and its members. As far as the world beyond the pack’s borders is concerned, Sunset is just a runaway stray Alpha with a unique scent profile.”

“And the students?” asked Mr. Nexus, “Some of them will be curious after we’ve asked them to…’surveil’ Miss Shimmer.”

Luna finally spoke up, “We respond with the truth…or at least a version of it. Sunset is a new student, separated from her home pack and can’t return for some time and recently experienced severe trauma and has to re-learn how to be a person. We do not need to tell them that her need to re-learn is due to being a different species or that the trauma involved being cut off from her own world. Let the rumor mill do the rest.” a wicked grin split her face, “Within a week the idea of her being an alien from another dimension will be the least unbelievable story.”

Another round of laughter, this time more boisterous, was interrupted by the first bell of the day. “Alright, we all know the situation, Luna will be available to ask questions and I’ll do my best to be available as well. We all still have cubs to raise and homework to assign, so keep on task. Thanks for meeting early today, let’s get to work.” She permitted herself a proud smile as the skepticism and worry from her pack earlier was replaced with optimistic confidence, “Dismissed.”

Sunset Shimmer’s morning had been fairly pleasant, all things considered. With the exception of a couple of teachers giving her extra homework to learn more about the world she now lived in, it hadn’t been all that different from when she was a regular student at CSGU. The notable exception was the smells, or rather scents, and how her brain was constantly changing her perception of the space around her. An empty classroom felt like the comfort of the library stacks at the Canterlot Archive. When a teacher walked in, the stacks were suddenly next door to a linen warehouse. Then a student would come in and the experience of the sounds of fillies and colts playing between the Archive and the linen warehouse would come to mind even though no such youth ever played in the non-existent space. By the time the class filled, Sunset’s sensorium was filled to the point of distraction with an almost alternate reality that managed to be a reflection of the actual classroom she was sitting in, each component a representation of the individual people in the room. If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine a surreal environment where she was experiencing just the sensations of the people. The next teacher became writing on the announcement chalkboard in the Archive. The students would be the scent of cinnamon on a breeze or the smell of fresh new tires on a market cart or a host of other things.

She surprised the language teacher by reciting the poem he’d been reading by some human that had died 150 years ago by simply reading off the chalkboard in her mind. The teacher responded that it was nice that she wasn’t sleeping like he thought she was, it wasn’t polite to attend class with her eyes closed. I think I unnerved him when I said it would probably only work like that in his class anyway. The thought with a chuckle to herself.

By the time lunch rolled around, the ‘beast’ that was now Sunset’s stomach was making its displeasure known at not being fed to a distracting degree. When she arrived at the cafeteria and greeted the sturdy-looking older woman with the… strong(powerful/controlled/dominant/parental?) scent that seemed to underly the principal’s and a few of her teachers’ scent profile (she was beginning to think this was the “Alpha” that Celestia had described the previous day), the old lady just grinned back at her and, instead of handing her an empty tray for her to fill from the steam tables, handed her a completely full tray that she had apparently prepared beforehand.

“Nurse Redheart said that y’might not have a good idea ‘bout what constituted ‘extra helpin’s’ a good red meat, and Celestia thought y’may not be ready fer solid muscle yet, so I made this here tray up so you’d get what y’need. Doctor’s orders and chef’s recommendation!” the lady said with a wink.

Quelling her surprise, she smiled up from her tray and replied, “Thank you! Miss…?”

The matron’s face crinkled into a sunny smile, “Jes call me Granny, everyone else does, no need to stand on manners, but it’s nice to know you got ‘em.”

She couldn’t help but grin even bigger at the infectious ‘down-home country’ mannerisms, “Well thank you, Granny! And you’re right, I don’t know the first thing about ordering meat, I’d have been completely lost.” She looked back down at the (frankly) enormous pile of food on her tray, “...though I may need to call for reinforcements to finish this.”

Granny just cackled at that and ushered her through the line so she could feed the rest of the students.

Sunset found a seat, finding that she was starting to get overwhelmed again. She had taken it as a point of pride that she hadn’t used her inhaler all morning and didn’t want to break the streak now. Still, as she sat down and started eating, trying to consume the meat that she still had a visceral reaction to even thinking about consuming, it started to get to be…just too much. Taking a bite and refusing to think about what she’d just put in her mouth, she scrambled to pull out her inhaler, her hands starting to shake. Too much…too much…too loud, too many scents…

She had gotten the plastic tube out of her jacket pocket and was fumbling to remove the cap when suddenly a small blue person with a bob-cut shock of rainbow-colored hair slid down the bench at her table and practically cuddled up to her. “Hi!” came the chirping, gravelly greeting.

“Gah!” was the only response Sunset could produce, immediately fumbling the inhaler and dropping it on the table. It rolled across the laminate surface but was stopped by a delicate-looking yellow hand.

“Rainbow Dash,” came the gentle voice with a chiding tone, “We’ve talked about how you introduce yourself to people!”

To her credit, the now-named Rainbow Dash blushed slightly and sat up straight. She was still well inside Sunset’s comfort zone, but at least she was no longer touching…all over.

“I’m sorry about Dashie, she means well, but she’s…enthusiastic.” Sunset looked up to see the speaker was a fairly tall girl with yellow skin and long pink hair. “I’m Fluttershy and…well…it looked like you needed help.” She reached the hand holding the inhaler across the table to offer it back to Sunset. “Is it your rut? Are you scenting too many omegas in one room? I can help…”

Suddenly, Sunset’s mind seemed to clear, the cacophony of sensory input falling away to…a cloud mattress nestled in an apple tree?! Odd… She sat up, blinking as though waking from a nightmare. She glanced around and everyone in the cafeteria was still where they had been moments ago, but it was like all their scents were suddenly gone. Within a few moments, though, a few students at the nearby tables also started to react as though they noticed something similar.

“What…what happened?”

Fluttershy blushed, “I…have strong pheromone glands. I learned a while ago that I can kind of…calm down other Alphas. It only works if I’m close enough and only if the other Alpha wants me to.”

Sunset breathed in deeply through her nose, and to her relief, the flood of her sensorium didn’t return. “Oh, well thanks! And I’m Sunset Shimmer.” she replied with a wan smile.

Fluttershy blushed and smiled in return, “You’re welcome,” she turned to the blue girl, “Rainbow, can you please get our lunches while I keep Sunset company?”

Dash practically hopped up from her seat and saluted, “Sure thing!” She immediately darted off to the lunch line. As she left, Sunset noticed the scent signature that reminded her of a cloud mattress faded, leaving just the scent of trees, the earlier note of apple fading as well.

Fluttershy smiled at her, somewhat awkwardly, “So is it your rut? I know mine can be a pain to deal with…”

Sunset mentally scrambled through her lessons from the previous day as delivered by the principal. Rut…rut…oh, right! Like an Alpha's period! “Um, no,” she replied with a blush, “I haven’t had my first rut yet.”

Fluttershy's brows crinkled, “So why do you need the inhaler?”

Sunset’s blush deepened, “I’m…not supposed to say why.”

They wound up sitting across from each other in silence, Sunset put the inhaler on the table next to her tray and began to slowly work her way through the pile of food on her plate.

Abruptly, Rainbow returned carrying two plates and dropping one in front of Fluttershy and quickly scooting next to Sunset again. “Gah!” the former pony blurted, jumping slightly in her seat.

“So you’ve been here a week, huh?” started Rainbow, ignoring Sunset’s startled reaction and already picking up a burger and tearing off a bite before a slightly exasperated Fluttershy could pull her tray in front of her properly.

Sunset distractedly shoved the rest of her burrito into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed quickly before replying, “Yeah, it’s…new. Lots of this…school is completely new to me.”

Rainbow snickered as she ate, speaking around the bite in her mouth, “Yeah, y’been kinda a fish outa water the last few days.” with a gulp she waved her burger in Sunset’s direction, “We were gonna see if we could help ya out, but…”

“I didn’t think it was a good idea to try and offer you help when you looked so…” Fluttershy interjected, shrugging slightly.

“Yeah, you looked like other strays the pack’s taken in from abusive Alphas, and you gotta give ‘em space to feel safe.” Rainbow took another bite of her burger and grabbed a bundle of fries, clearly getting ready to assembly-line her food.

“Dash, slow down and chew your food,” Fluttershy said sternly before continuing with Sunset, “When you were called into the principal’s office yesterday and then came back to school today with her scent, we thought she probably helped you feel safe enough to accept pack membership, so figured that we could approach without...” the other girl trailed off with a slight blush.

To Sunset’s surprise, Rainbow Dash actually did slow down her eating after Fluttershy’s chastisement, but still talked with her mouth full of fries, “Without goin’ feral on us.”

Fluttershy continued to give Dash an annoyed look, but smiled at Sunset. “Except for…well…” she waved at the inhaler, “...that, you seemed to be doing so much better.”

Sunset shrugged and nodded and began working on her second burrito, deciding to leave the salad she really, really wanted to be eating right now for after she finished her meat as a reward. “Yeah, Celestia made me a member of her pack. Spent most of the time telling her about…” she frowned, “...ah, stuff she asked me not to tell anyone else, sorry. Also told me we’re going clothes shopping after school today, she didn’t like that I only had the one outfit…”

Fluttershy gasped, “Your last pack didn’t make sure you had enough clothes?”

“Oh, well, no, I didn’t have a pack before…” both Fluttershy and Rainbow gasped at that.

“What about your parents?” asked Fluttershy softly.

“Oh, yeah…uhm, I’m an orphan.” Sunset filled her mouth with more food to keep from saying any more.

“Woah, you were a rogue Alpha?! Cool!” Rainbow pumped her fist, “AJ owes me ten bucks!”

Fluttershy gave a sighing chuff and shook her head.

Before any further conversation could happen, the little bubble of mostly pheromone-free space that Sunset was enjoying was pierced by another student. A girl, taller than Vice-principal Luna but still not as tall as Principal Celestia, with a shock of white hair, pale skin, and just enough make-up to look punky but not slutty strode up to the table. Her brown leather jacket covered a faded white muscle-shirt and the pair of jeans she wore had holes in the knees and her shoes were showing signs of fraying. The pleasant scents that reminded Sunset just a little of Equestria were suddenly interrupted by the icy smell of a mountain wind undercut by…what is that, flop sweat?! thought Sunset. Whatever the scent was, it was setting something off-kilter. She was aware her breathing was becoming a bit ragged and suddenly everything seemed so bright. Her neck itched and she was starting to feel little tremors in her belly. It was all she could do to keep from just curling up under the table with her hands over her ears. And she was suddenly so very angry, and as soon as she consciously realized that, it was like the bubble Fluttershy had made for her just…popped. The overwhelming everything of all the scents from the students and staff in the room slammed into her at once. She was distracted enough she didn’t notice the quiet whine that escaped her throat.

All this happened before the girl even spoke, “Hey, Dash, who’s the new dweeb?”

Fluttershy didn’t snarl, but the muscles in her face were clearly twitching to do so, “Gilda, we’ve told you before, Rainbow Dash doesn’t want to be your omega anymore. You need to listen and respect her wishes and please leave.”

The scent of ash drove in on the mountain wind and suddenly Sunset was even angrier. She’d never been so angry in her life and didn’t think it could get worse. Get out, bite her, get out of this room, hurt her, gotta get out, drive her away from my pack, out, out, outoutout… she was starting to feel vertigo and her hand started twitching toward the inhaler.

“Nah, you don’t get it. I like Dash, even if she doesn’t wanna mate, she's cool and I want her in my pack.”

Rainbow was glaring at Gilda by this point, “‘Your pack’ are a bunch of jerks, Gilda! I’ve been packmates with Fluttershy all our lives. She doesn’t care about cool, and yeah, I thought that was lame at first, but then I started hanging around with you and Lightning Dust and the others and found out how you treat people, especially betas, and if that’s what ‘cool’ looks like I don’t want it either!”

She hurt my friends, make her hurt back! her inner voice seemed to be saying, Hurt her, drive her away, drive her out… Sunset felt a trickle of sweat dripping down the back of her neck and felt like it was a forty-pound hoof weight being dragged down her spine. The horrible sweaty scent mixed with the ash to create a nauseating combination that simultaneously made Sunset want to vomit and kick something hard enough to shatter bones. The thought that all the food, especially the animal product, that she had eaten could come back out the hard way finally made the decision for her. She blinked to clear her vision and shook her head, looking down to find her inhaler.

“Hey, what’s this?” A hand snatched up the plastic tube.

MINE!!! snarled the inner voice Sunset had been trying to ignore just before her world went red.

Dash was growing to be just as concerned about Sunset as she was irritated at Gilda. The acrid scent of fresh ozone that seemed to follow Gilda around wherever she went was particularly strong, but then the girl always did seem to have an anger issue, especially if she felt something that belonged to her was being taken away. It had started out strong when Gilda approached them, and only doubled when Fluttershy had told Gilda to back off. She saw the same pinched look in Sunset’s face that had been there before she and Flutters introduced themselves return with a vengeance, like the Alpha was trying to remember how to breathe.

Gilda seemed to have dismissed Sunset’s presence until Dash had told her off about her pack when the tall girl’s eyes landed on the inhaler. She saw Sunset start to move to grab it when Gilda said, “Hey, what’s this?”

In that moment Dash realized that if she could scent Gilda’s anger through Fluttershy’s pheromone cloud, so could Sunset, and it was clearly triggering whatever had been giving the new Alpha problems before. “No, wait!” was all she got out before the inhaler was suddenly in Gilda’s hands.

“Oh, wow, what a loser, needs an inhaler to…”

Two things happened at once.

An absolute explosion of pheromones blanketed the cafeteria, immediately silencing all conversation. Every Alpha tensed on high alert and, for the first time for many of them, their inner Alpha was screaming at them to get away from a predator bigger, meaner, and nastier than they were. All omegas, including Rainbow, suddenly felt the need to find the nearest Alpha and hide inside their protection, crawling under the table to get away. Even the betas seemed to sense that something big and scary was suddenly in the room with them and they were far too far away from the door to escape in time.

Sunset had launched herself over the table so fast that even Dash, CHS’s rising star track student and acknowledged fastest omega in the entire pack, faster even than all the pack’s Alphas, could barely track Sunset’s moves as she launched herself up off the bench, propelled herself over the table and vaulted over Fluttershy, and tackled Gilda to the floor, pinning the much larger girl. Gilda’s jacket collar was gripped in Sunset’s balled-up fists, one knee on the larger alpha’s sternum and the other on the floor next to Gilda’s abdomen.

Sunset’s growl, a nearly bass note that Dash practically felt in her chest, rumbled through the dead-quiet lunch room. Sunset’s lips were peeled back in a vicious snarl, a look of fury so intense that Dash nearly fled right then.

“Whoah!” she barked out breathlessly, “Sunset, what the heck?!” As she scrambled around the lunch table, she wondered why it was so quiet, why nobody seemed to be moving to at least clear space for the fight, and why Gilda was just laying there, not even trying to fight back, just staring up at Sunset with a slightly horrified shock. By the time she got over to the two Alphas, she saw why Gilda wasn’t moving.

Sunset’s eyes changing color and her fangs dropping were expected. She was an Alpha, that was how they fought. What wasn’t expected was the color of the irises and the shape and quantity of Sunset’s dropping fangs. Sunset’s cyan eyes didn’t turn the usual red, they were a golden color so bright they nearly glowed! That Rainbow had never even heard of such a color shift was secondary to the clearly visible teeth. Sunset’s canines, her two outside incisors, and her premolars were all dropped. In addition to being six more dropped teeth than humans were even supposed to be capable of presenting in an Alpha fighting fury, they were shaped…wrong. Like a shark’s, but completely smooth, much more narrow, and curved back slightly.

As Rainbow blinked in confused astonishment, another growl split the air, and now she was so close she did feel her chest shiver in sympathetic vibration. Either that or pure, gut-quaking terror. Still, she was Rainbow Dash, and she wasn’t going to leave a friend hanging! “Sunset…?” she managed to squeak out.

The Alpha’s breath, ragged and fast, hissed through her bared and clenched teeth. Another growl came, this time accompanied by words, “Rainbow…” Dash had never been pants-wettingly terrified in her life, but being right next to an enraged Alpha and hearing her name spoken like that she came darn close. After another breath, Sunset continued, “...please…stop me…”

At that moment Dash, realized that her fear response had nearly blinded her to tears starting to pool in Sunset’s eyes. The vibrations shaking the Alpha’s body weren’t from her growling, she was shivering, and she could see blood squeezing out from Sunset’s clenched hands, and since they were only gripping Gilda’s jacket lapels meant that she was gripping so hard her nails were cutting through the leather and piercing her own hands.

Dash took a breath, glancing back to Fluttershy. The other girl shrugged in bewildered fear and confusion. Rainbow turned back to Sunset and put her hand on the Alpha’s shoulder and shook. There was barely any give and the girl’s growling amped up in volume and Dash flinched back in reflex.

She breathed in through her nose and heaved out the breath through her mouth, “Well, nothing else for it..never been asked by an Alpha to break up their fight…or not-fight,” she mused noting how Gilda was still under Sunset, eyes flicking from the golden-colored irises to the teeth and back repeatedly. “Sunset,” she paused briefly at the renewed growl that came as a response, “Just remember, you asked for my help, and I can’t think of any other way that won’t lose me a hand, so…sorry ‘bout this.” So saying, she cocked her arm back, balled up a fist, and drove it into Sunset’s temple.

The growl cut off almost immediately and the oppressive layer of scent that held the population of the room still and quiet disappeared with a nearly audible snap. Sunset gasped, her eyes suddenly losing the golden glow and her hands loosened from Gilda’s jacket collar. The teeth were still extended, though, so she put a foot on Sunset’s shoulder and kicked the Alpha off Gilda.

Sunset seemed to roll into a wobbly crouch, eyes fixed on her own hands. Now that they weren’t clenched shut, Rainbow could see that there weren’t the usual Alpha claws, which were really just the fingernails extended out a bit over the fingertips to make them into weapons, these were practically talons, very sharp and twice as long as they should have been.

Gilda had started to slowly push herself up, but stopped when she saw the claws that had been just inches from her throat moments before.

The tableau was broken when an orange hand grabbed a handful of Gilda’s jacket and hauled her up to a standing position. Applejack had pushed her way through the crowd and was holding Gilda off the ground with one arm. Considering Applejack was shorter than Gilda, this was a pretty impressive display of strength. “What did Ah tell you about makin’ trouble around Dash?!”

“Indeed!” came a voice in a High Canterlot accent, “That is hardly how a lady, especially an Alpha, ought to act!” A couple of tables over one of the girls Dash rarely interacted with due to different social circles stood and marched over to point a finger in Gilda’s face, just inches away from the Alpha. “You respect an omega’s wishes! And the new Alpha, she’s a newly arrived stray, and you know Principal Celestia’s standing rules on adopted strays is to give them space and do not try to pick a fight with them!” There was no wave of pheromones accompanying the angry tirade, so Dash assumed she was a beta. The girl’s white skin contrasted with her purple hair and matching colored nails was definitely memorable, but Dash couldn’t remember her name off the top of her head. She seemed to remember her dad dragging her out to meet the girl’s family shortly after they had moved into the territory. Their parents got along like a house on fire but the girls had so little in common and the beta had already been surrounded by other kids from the neighborhood Dash just hung out on the periphery and never really spoke to her. Rabbit…Radiant…no, Rarity! For her part, Gilda didn’t even seem to register the two girls who were holding and chastising her, still staring in shocked fear at Sunset.

Satisfied that Gilda was well in hand, Dash kneeled down next to Sunset and gently touched her shoulder and was mildly surprised at feeling trembling under her hand and heard a quiet sobbing coming from the Alpha. Before she could do anything else, a poofy shock of pink hair suddenly flopped next to her. Surprised, Dash leaned back to take in the new presence to see a girl, about the same size as Sunset, with bubble-gum pink skin and poofy pink hair and clothes that looked like they belonged to a grade-schooler sized up for a high school girl. Contrary to her bright, bubbly appearance, she had a stricken look on her face as she reached out to touch Sunset’s other shoulder, “Oh no, don’t cry! I’m sure Gilda was just trying to make friends like Alphas do. I know you’re an Alpha but sometimes even Alphas get scared of other Alphas and that’s okay and…”

“Yo, pink!” interrupted Dash quietly.

The new girl, an omega by her scent, blinked and turned, “It’s Pinkie, actually.”

“Yeah, okay; Pinkie…shush!” she tilted her head at Sunset, who hadn’t even looked away from the still extended talons.

The population of the room started murmuring and moving, recovering from the shock of…whatever it was that had stilled them. A loud, “THOOM,” split the air and the crowd went silent again, this time a respectful quiet and almost as a single unit the crowd of students parted, letting Rainbow Dash see the Pack Alpha standing in the doorway, hand still on the door, whose handle was now partially buried in the cinderblock of the wall, the hold-open arm at the top of the door snapped off its mount and swinging free. Principal Celestia’s face was thunderous and a wave of power that wasn’t so much as a scent that she could identify with anything but more a feeling of being a lit candle in a hurricane pressed down on the room.

After taking in the state of the room and spotting Sunset, who was the only person not looking at Celestia, the Pack Alpha strode through the room, not rushed, but as inevitable as a landslide. She stood over the three girls huddled on the floor, her expression unchanged as she looked first Rainbow Dash, then Pinkie in the eyes. Without a word, the two of them scooted away from Sunset.

Celestia squatted down and took Sunset’s hands in her own, almost dispassionately examining the unusual features and the bloody punctures. She then lifted the girl’s hands up and moved them around her neck, pulling Sunset into a hug. The younger Alpha pulled herself up to bury her face in Celestia’s neck, nose right over the principal’s pheromone glands, and the principal slipped her arms under Sunset’s knees and around her back and stood, clearly no more burdened than if she had lifted a feather off the floor.

Celestia made a slight turn back and forth, eyes roving over the scene and its players. “Miss Dash, Belle, Shy, Apple, Griffin, and Pie; follow Raven to Vice-principal Luna’s office,” she nodded at the door to indicate her secretary, who had arrived sometime when everyone’s attention was on the principal, “You will explain to my sister what happened here. You will tell the truth, you will explain the complete situation, and you will face whatever judgment Luna deems appropriate.”

Responses were immediate; “Yes’m,” “Yes, principal,” “Yuppers!” “Sure,” “Okay…” and a nod from Gilda.

Celestia nodded at the group still standing, gave a second nod to the three sitting on benches or kneeling on the floor, and carried Sunset out of the room.

Silence reigned for several moments, Raven standing at the door to the cafeteria expectantly.

The quiet was broken when Gilda blurted out, “I didn’t know Celestia had a kid!”

Celestia, you idiot! the Alpha thought to herself as she marched into the infirmary with the same student in tow as the day before. Yes, you trust your students but they’re still students; they’re just as young and dumb and impulsive as you were at that age and you knew Sunset wasn’t able to handle her new senses, yet you just launched her out into a whole school full of hormones and drama and…

Her self-flagellation was interrupted by a surprised, “Hello, what do we have here?” from Nurse Redheart. The woman snatched up her stethoscope from her desk as she rose, then plucked a pair of nitrile gloves from their mounted dispenser on the wall. “Even I can smell the blood and,” the beta tsk’d as she circled around Celestia and pulled the Alpha’s hair out of the way to examine Sunset’s face, “You’ve got some on your jacket.”

“Jackets can be cleaned.” replied Celestia in a no-nonsense tone, “Look at her hands.”

It took a moment to untangle Celestia’s pastel strands from the girl’s fingers. Redheart finally got the hair pulled aside to reveal Sunset’s hands, crossed behind Celestia’s neck at the wrist, and lightly oozed blood from four puncture marks on the pads of each palm. “Goodness!” she exclaimed, “What caused this? They’re not the right shape to be bite marks and they don’t look like claws did it…”

“Are Sunset’s nails retracted?” asked Celestia, turning her head to look back as best she could without shifting Sunset.

“So there was a fight,” the nurse deduced, “Yes, they’re retracted, why?”

“Those marks are from Sunset’s…claws. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Redheart’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, take a seat, she’s calm in your arms and I want to get these cleaned before we add any additional stress.”

Celestia nodded and perched on the leading edge of the same clinic bed Sunset had her exam on the day before and gently rocked the girl while Redheart went about gathering her supplies. The principal looked down at the former pony in her arms and could only imagine how terrifying it must have been for someone who grew up as a prey creature to suddenly have predator instincts telling them to do the very things they’d sought to avoid on a base-instinct level their whole lives. Equines are some of the most skittish creatures in our world, almost unrideable by an Alpha unless an omega is present to calm them, she mused, And now she’s got an Alpha riding in her own head…

Sunset had stopped crying while they were en route to the infirmary, and now just clutched to Celestia like a cub in need of soothing. She wondered idly if ponies shared as physical contact with each other as humans did, though perhaps for different reasons, as Sunset seemed to find Celestia's presence and contact to be soothing. She closed her eyes and leaned her head down to rest her cheek on the top of Sunset’s head, just listening to the girl’s breathing and feeling her heartbeat through their contact.

She was startled out of her quiet contemplation by Redhart’s giggling, “Are you purring?”

Celestia’s eyes snapped open and her head came up. Redheart’s grin was on a level of “shit-eating” that Celestia had only seen a few times before on the beta. She growled lightly, “Her hands, Redheart.”

“Of course,” she said with a languid smile as she hustled around to the side of the table and laid out her supplies, “Of course.”

Celestia felt and heard more than smelled or saw Redheart’s progress, the lifting and setting down of supplies on the paper-covered vinyl cushion, the sloshing of the disinfectant bottle as she uncapped it, the gentle up-down pressure as the liquid was pumped onto a cleaning pad. Redheart began humming lightly as she worked, beginning to sing-song under her breath after some randomly selected number of notes, “Big bad Celestia, Alpha of the strongest pack in the Canterlot region, purring over a cub with tiny little puncture bleeding…”

Celestia chuffed loudly in irritation and knew she’d been heard when Redheart giggled.

A few minutes later, the nurse tossed the bloody swabs in the biologicals disposal bin, yanked off her nitrile gloves with a “snap” and tossed them in the waste bin, then gathered the rest of the supplies. “All set,” she reported, “Now let’s talk about what happened. How did her claws make puncture marks like she was stabbed with a large gauge needle?”

“I didn’t see it as it was happening,” Celestia began, “But when I got there, Sunset was curled up on the floor, being attended to by a couple omegas while Miss Griffin was being held off and scolded by Miss Belle and Granny Smith’s granddaughter. I could smell the blood and traced it to Sunset’s hands and saw…” she paused for a moment to compose her thoughts, “Her claws…well, they weren’t claws, not like we have them.”

Redheart tilted her head slightly in an almost canine fashion. Celestia wasn’t sure if it was instinct or just something betas picked up from Alphas and omegas as they grew. “Imagine a raptor’s talons.”

The school nurse tilted her head the other way, “Like the movie dinosaur?”

Celestia rolled her eyes, she knew Redheart knew better but played along anyway, “No, like a bird’s talons. They were black, narrow, and wickedly pointed. They looked like those vanity nails some kids get at the mall when they hit their goth phase, only sharp, shaped to slice as well as pierce.”

Now Redheart was genuinely puzzled, “How is that possible? Especially for them to retract into normal human nails after the Alpha fury…”

“I have no idea,” replied the principal, “I’ll check with the princess when we get home and I can write in the journal again. I only hope there’s some aspect to their world that will make this make sense.”

Redheart hummed in agreement, “Well, that’s a matter of inter-pack politics, so I’ll leave it to you, oh mighty Alpha.”

Celestia rolled her eyes and gently lowered Sunset’s legs until her feet were touching the floor when suddenly the girl dropped her arms to clutch the older Alpha in a tighter hug and shifted her upper body to bury her nose in Celestia’s armpit. “Wah!” came the inarticulate reply from the older woman as the girl practically crawled into her lap. That’s what toddlers do when they’re scent bonding with their parents! Why is she doing it to me?!

Redheart’s eyebrows shot up and she began snickering, “Well, well; looks like you’ve bonded yourself a cub there, Puh-rincipal. Congratulations, it’s an Alpha girl.”

Celestia stifled a growl as she felt Sunset starting to purr even as the girl’s breathing slowed and she curled up even tighter on Celestia’s lap. The principal wrapped her arms around Sunset again to make sure the girl didn’t slip off in her sleep.

“Redheart, help me get her untangled from me. Now that she’s asleep we can…what are you doing?” her directive was interrupted by Redheart clicking off the light in the medical bay before pulling a pillow out of the cabinet over the sink. “Redheart, help me get Sunset into bed.” The nurse started humming that same tune from early, ever so often singing, ‘Big, Bad Alpha Celestia,’ as she put the pillow down on the head of the bed and gently guided the principal to the horizontal, adjusting the pillow so it was under Celestia’s neck and Sunset’s arms so they wouldn’t be pinned behind Celestia’s back. Redheart then moved to the foot of the bed and lifted Celestia’s legs to get clearance for the extender that turned the short exam bed into a full-length, if narrow, sleeper bed. “Redheart!” she snapped quietly.

“Oh, relax, princess.” Redheart pulled a blanket out from under the sink and spread it out to cover the two Alphas. “I’m always telling you to take it easy, I’m using this to make sure you follow doctor’s orders.” She plucked the supplies she had gathered earlier and strode to stand in the door, she turned to flash her signature impish grin and said, “Besides, we both know if you were really objecting to this, you’re more than capable of resisting my efforts and putting her to bed yourself.” With that pronouncement, the doctor with the title of nurse stepped through the doorway and slid the privacy screen shut.

Celestia sighed into the darkened room and thumped her head once against the pillow. Well, she’s right about me needing to take some time to myself, I don’t think I’ve paused for rest more than five minutes in the last 24 hours and I only got about four hours of sleep last night… The protective Alpha in her kept trying to keep her awake to keep watch over the cub in her care. That it was an unnecessary vigilance was lost to her instincts, of course. She used the time to get ahead on some paperwork the district would be needing her to file for a new stray in her pack and trying to figure out how to fudge Sunset’s records so nobody would try to hunt down her origins. She caught herself mentally reviewing the work she had done the previous night and sighed, trying to release the worry over her responsibilities with the expelled breath. She tried to distract herself by listening to Sunset’s breathing again, this time accompanied by the sound of the first purr she’d heard from the former pony.

It took her about a minute to realize she was purring, too.

Author's Note

Suddenly, Sunset’s mind seemed to clear, the cacophony of sensory input falling away to…a cloud mattress nestled in an apple tree?! Odd…

Yes, you probably guessed 100% correctly what this means.

Friendship/Games - Open/Secrets

It was Saturday, and Celestia was, for the first time in a very long time, grateful for it.

Her normal weekend schedule usually involved meeting with pack members, checking in with the various committees, and preparing for the monthly Hunt for the pack. She sometimes would squeeze out a little extra time to spend with her sister, but they both had responsibilities so that didn’t happen nearly as often as they would have liked. Her weekends were usually just as choked with business as the weekdays but without the respite of being able to work directly with the pack’s children, which was her true love and calling.

This morning, however, an emergency had required that she make changes to her schedule: the much more pleasant diversion of teaching Sunset life skills. Anything that could be rescheduled was, and Luna was taking the bulk of the rest of it while the remainder was delegated out to other senior pack members.

She and Sunset were in a fairly sizable park about two blocks from CHS, well within the pack’s territory. They were there far earlier than any of the children in the pack would have arrived thanks to the both of them being early risers for years, though in Sunset’s case she was more “draggy” than she was accustomed to; proof that no matter how many years of discipline and long study nights, teenage metabolism demanded more sleep than adults and the former pony hadn’t yet adapted. They were wearing more casual clothes, Sunset in a new set of CHS-logoed t-shirt and gym shorts that would become her standard P.E. outfit come Monday, and Celestia was wearing her usual running gear of a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra with her hair tied back with an elastic. Sunset’s hunting shoes, differentiated from the cross-trainers they had purchased for P.E. only by the row of soil-gripping cleats that jutted out along the inside edge of the sole from the toe to the ball of her feet, were so new they were squeaking, which was why they were using them for this exercise in an effort to break them in before Sunset would be expected to participate in a pack hunt. Celestia had selected a single pine tree as their ‘home base;’ it was central to the park and within a football field’s distance of nearly every major park feature, such as the fountain in the north and community pool building by the west parking lot.

Celestia slowly turned in a full 360-degree surveillance of the park, confirming there was no one nearby. She, of course, knew this from her scenting ability, but when dealing with cubs, drilling the basics in and showing by example was more valuable than appearing omnipotent. After Sunset curiously followed suit, Celestia nodded.

“Someday you may be able to detect the presence of someone in your surroundings effortlessly, but a wise hunter will always confirm with multiple senses and even mistrust those. Senses can be deceived, and even crippled, making you less able to hunt, battle, or defend. And a wise hunter is an alive hunter.” Sunset nodded dutifully, and though Celestia knew the girl didn’t have any frame of reference, her body language expressed intense interest and focused determination. Seems that no matter the subject, she’s absolutely voracious when it comes to learning. “Your first task will be learning the difference between a scent and a smell. I can tell you’ve already started to work on figuring out the differences, but you also need a very firm understanding of what smells are around you and what odor your mind is associating with an object or activity.” And speaking of which, she mused identifying the scent of linen-stock paper, What is she doing here on a Saturday? She suppressed her instinctive reaction to the presence she sensed arriving and continued her instruction of her student, “I want you to begin exploring your environment. Just smell the things around you. Grass, dirt, bushes, trees. See if you can identify the specific plants, look for differences in the objects here versus where you’re from. Don’t just hang around me, venture out a bit, but make sure I’m in sight at all times.”

Sunset offered her an affirmative grunt and scanned her area again. Settling on a playground a dozen or so yards away from where they were standing, she jogged over and started sniffing the air.

“Get closer to it,” Celestia called out, “I’m not expecting you to rub your nose in what you’re smelling, but you need to isolate the odors.”

Celestia watched as Sunset glanced back at her, cheeks noticeably pinked, and leaned closer to the metal support pillar she was standing by and inhaled deeply. She abruptly leaned back and pulled a disgusted face, sticking out her tongue.

The Alpha chuckled lightly and listened as another pair of shoes, this time a sensible pair of loafers that she knew without looking went with a skirt-suit, approached her from behind. She waited until the other woman drew up next to her, not taking her eyes off Sunset. A bit of a power move, but this was her territory, and another Alpha had entered uninvited.

“So, this is your newest stray…would you be willing to tell me why she’s going through exercises most three year old cubs are expected to have already learned?”

Celestia watched Sunset make her way through the playset one distinct material at a time. The tire swing elicited a particularly amusing, “Gross!” loud enough to be easily heard across the distance. “She was never trained.” from the corner of her eye, she saw the other woman’s head whip in her direction, probably to give her an incredulous raised eyebrow.

“I presume the neglecting parents or pack has been dealt with. I know you don’t suffer fools lightly.”

“She’s an orphan, and she won’t be returning to her old pack anytime soon.” Celestia smiled as the girl knelt down and sifted through the playground sand a bit before pulling a handful up to her nose. “So, Madam Mayor, what brings you out here on a weekend?”

“Straight to it,” replied Ivory Scroll, “Very well. The other pack Alphas are expressing their concern, again, that you’re trying to expand your pack-lands even further.”

Celestia snorted, “I have plenty of land for my pack already, and the pack is almost too big for a single Alpha as it is.”

“This is the crux of their concern, Celestia. It’s no secret that you are very…strong. And you manage to win over new pack members quite readily, to the point that they will refuse offers, coercion…even bribes. They believe that you’re going to bite off more than you can chew.”

The principal grinned, “Ah, you’ve been speaking to Capper, I see.” She chuckled, “That Alpha is crafty and clever, but he thinks short-term and assumes everyone else also does. It’s his own fault his territory is so small.”

“Yes, but he’s just one Alpha among many. Your neighbors are getting nervous.”

Sunset had bounded over to a small stand of trees the city had installed before Celestia was born that now stood tall and proud…and climbable, as Sunset was demonstrating. To the principal’s slightly surprised satisfaction, she noted that Sunset was very carefully confirming that each branch she put her weight on was stable, but also moving with confidence once she determined she could move forward. “Tell them to build a fence if they’re worried. I’ll be sure to toss any balls back they accidentally lose over it.”

Ivory huffed, “Celestia, please. If you hadn’t taken Canterville Middle School…”

“Goldcap was unhinged, and so were her two cronies.” Celestia interrupted, “They were turning a feeder-school for CHS into their personal fiefdom. They were abusing the kids, turning away betas at the door with a penalty of death if they returned to the school and teaching beta and omega inferiority as part of the curriculum.” unbidden, her nostrils flared as she got lost in a memory, “...they were starting a harem, Scroll.”

The mayor flinched, “Yes, I know. Your after-action report was…detailed.”

Celestia glared at Ivory, “And the city didn’t act.” Not a question, accusation, or provocation, just a statement of fact.

Ivory Scroll looked pained and her scent was under-cut with the acidic tang of spilled liquid acetate. “We had no proof and no support from the Alpha counsel, you know that.”

“Yes, which is why I don’t blame you and why I acted the way I did.” Celestia went back to watching Sunset, who had abandoned the tree and seemed to be searching for something in the dirt near a row of bushes.

For a while, they stood in silence as Sunset flitted about from object to object, sometimes bringing it to her face for a sniff, sometimes having to bring her face to the object.

“I heard there was an incident yesterday. Something about a fight in the cafeteria that was surprisingly one-sided.”

Ah, thought Celestia, Finally the real reason for her visit. “In that an overconfident Alpha approached a new stray to pick a fight, triggering a trauma response that nearly put the stray into a feral state within moments of harassment being initiated? I supposed it would be very one-sided given those conditions.”

“I had heard there are rumors,” hedged the mayor, “That she has an unusual Alpha fury presentation. That her claws and fangs aren’t…normal.”

So another Alpha got a spy in my school and is trying to pressure the city into forcing me to give up any power I may have collected. Out loud, she said, “Rumors are rumors. There’s a rumor that Mayor Gladmane is trying to secede from the Union. We all know he cares more about making Las Pegasus the wealthiest city in the world and he knows he can only do that if he’s not busy fighting a secession war. There’s no reason to pay attention to rumors.”

The women stopped talking about the subject as Sunset trotted up to them, “I found this over there,” she waved at a smaller, less ornate playground from the one she had first started at, “I thought I remembered the scent on it from school.” Held carefully in the palm of one hand was a cell phone, a single crack running through the glass.

Celestia took the phone and brought it to her nose for a sniff. As she did, she noticed in the corner of her vision that the mayor’s nostrils subtly flared, indicating that she was taking in scents as well, and it was extremely unlikely she cared about the disposition of a random phone. “This,” she pronounced with a smile to the former pony, “Belongs to Sweetie Belle. Very good job in remembering the scent! I know you haven’t interacted with her at all, she’s in the middle school classes that meet in the temporary buildings in the south parking lot, but she sometimes comes into the school proper to visit her sister.” Sunset beamed with the pride and satisfaction of being praised for a job well done. “Go on and keep scenting. When you’re done with this section of the park we’ll head over to the area with the pool and see how you do with chlorine in the air.” The girl bounded off, heedless of the small divots her cleats were tearing in the sod.

Ivory Scroll waited until Sunset was back across the park and chuckled, putting a hand on her hip, “Well, well. Celestia, strongest Alpha in Canterlot City, Pax Solaris, The Sunrise Terror…has adopted a cub!”

Celestia rolled her eyes but couldn’t quite hide the smile. “It was…accidental. She bonded with me almost in her sleep after the incident yesterday. I’m not sure if she knows or if she would want to keep the bond once I explain it to her.”

They watched as Sunset spotted something near a fence at the edge of the park. The girl was on all fours and reaching out tentatively, seemingly scraping the ground with her knuckles. After a few moments, the two women realized she was trying to draw a cat to her, its whiskered nose poking out from between slats in the fence. As they heard Sunset make an odd whickering noise, they shared a smile as the cat carefully approached the girl, whiskers twitching in cautious curiosity.

“Well, so far it seems motherhood suits you.” For the first time that day, Celestia saw a warm smile on the mayor’s face. “You know, scenting that, more than anything else you’ve said or done, convinced me you haven’t really changed all that much since college. You’re still taking in strays and being the mother hen.”

“I’m certainly not bleaching my hair white in an attempt to look more respectable.” While Celestia’s eyes didn’t leave Sunset, Scroll saw the smile that took the bite out of Celestia’s words.

“Yes, well, you try looking like a bubble-gum princess in a room full of stodgy old Alphas that still think a female is inherently less leadership capable than a male.”

They shared a few more pleasantries about their lives, their memories of their college days together, and some of the current events they both had to deal with as leaders. Scroll offered a friendly, if polite and slightly sterile, farewell and took her leave. Celestia waited until she heard the mayor’s car pull out of the parking lot behind her before she said, “Bon-bon…”

A girl, only a little older than Sunset, dropped from the pine tree and landed in a practiced crouch. She was wearing clothes that could blend perfectly with the styles and colors of any crowd of people in the city but also happened to be perfectly chosen to blend with the tree. Her lack of strong scent meant she was a beta and was one of a small, secret group of students and staff who worked directly for Celestia. Bon-bon was a pavement artist and stealth expert; she could tail a target anywhere for nearly indefinitely, and it was a talent she had naturally. She also had an overdeveloped olfactory epithelium for a beta, which while not as good as an Alpha’s, let her pick up scents almost as well, but being without the Alpha’s or omega’s neural connections in her brain to automatically create the sensorium connections of scent to experiential memory that meant she simply processed those scents differently and had no instinctive reaction to the pheromones. It was Luna that had identified the girl’s skill and natural gifts when the beta had been caught trying to sneak into the school at night to alter a grade. She’d since been given even more training and improved access to tools and mentorship to improve her craft. “Yes, ma’am?” asked the girl in a professional tone.

“Find the leak, report back to Luna. They want a member of our pack, we’re not going to let them have her.”

Bon-bon saluted, “Yes, ma’am!” With that, she darted off while Sunset was still distracted by the cat. By the time the cat trotted off to slip back under the fence and (presumably) go home, there was no sign Celestia ever had the company of another student.

Were it not for the fact that the view was spoiled by the tremendous waterfall that came down off the Canterhorn just below the palace, the cavern might have been a prime sight-seeing spot for the tourist industry of Canterlot. If there weren’t a stream running through it and wearing down the stone of the floor into a tremendously uneven surface, it might have been a magnificent place for auxiliary storage for the palace or one of the noble houses that dwelt near the cliffs that Canterlot Castle hung off of. If it weren’t for the tremendous levels of noise generated by both water sources, it might have been snatched up by the lower strata of Canterlot’s populous, the levels of income that were so low as to be unable to afford even the least expensive of the upper-class homes in the city above.

As all those were a factor, as well as the lack of connecting tunnel directly to the city above and the only way to the cave opening from within the mountain plunging to the abandoned mines below, this particular cave had remained unused and untouched by pony hooves for centuries.

Until now.

A series of flashes lit the cave, all bearing the same bright gold tones that shone like the summer sun at noon, then the light winked out. Blinking their eyes back into the ability to see more than the blown-out haze that felt like they’d stared into the sun too long were Lieutenant Armor, Princess Cadence, Raven, Kibitz, A.K. Yearling, Bon-bon, and Twilight Velvet. The only pony not blinking away spots in her eyes was Princess Celestia, who immediately lit her horn and began scanning the cave as far as her magic could reach. Raising her voice above the din of the crashing water outside the cave and the burbling notes of the small stream, she ordered, “Lieutenant, get me a perimeter shield, nothing in but light, and even that needs to be refracted to hide shapes.”

Shining snapped a salute and lit his own horn, forming a purple bubble around them. Immediately, the light dimmed a bit and the overwhelming sound cut off, leaving just the sound of the water that was flowing through the bubble, and when he noticed that Shining adjusted the bubble so the water went through a channel under the shield, effectively sealing them in.

“Very good. Everything trapped in here, including the air?”

“Yes, ma’am, you said nothing but light, we’re now completely sealed in here. I estimate about 15 minutes before we start to experience oxygen deprivation.” the lieutenant confirmed.

“Excellent,” the princess gave a grim smile, “We’re now on a timer, Agent’s Daring Do and Sweetie Drops, perimeter search. Make absolutely certain there’s no listening device within the bounds of this shield. Velvet, Raven, Kibitz, please ensure that someone is watching every angle. I don’t want even a hint of what we’re doing getting out.”

As the ponies moved to follow their orders, Cadence turned to the older alicorn, “What happens if they do catch someone watching?”

Celestia didn’t look at Cadence as she said, “Then we find an even deeper hole to bury the spy in for at least two years.”

The younger princess had felt out of her depth many times since ascending to become an alicorn, and this was yet another moment that she thought maybe she should have just stayed with her adoptive family out in the country.

As soon as the two pseudonymous agents reported the cave clear and the other three ponies confirmed they couldn’t see anyone watching either outside the cave entrance or deeper in the depths of the mountain, Celestia addressed them.

“What you are about to hear does not leave this cave. Even knowing the other ponies here makes you a liability if you choose not to participate. What we’re about to discuss will determine the outcome of a series of events that have been in motion for a thousand years, if not longer and the fate of two fillies, two nations, and possibly two worlds hang in the balance. If you hear what I’m about to tell you and want out…well, you won’t be killed, but you also won’t be heard from by anycreature but the ponies in this room until…well, I’ll come to that.”

Twilight and Cadence shifted uncomfortably and Shining looked between his mother and his princess, clearly torn by the implications he just heard. The others merely indicated their understanding with nods or salutes, as their station demanded.

Celestia inhaled through her nose and began her briefing of the ponies she had personally selected for the most critical period in her nation’s history.

“Everyone in this room knows that I fought Nightmare Moon to a standstill and banished her to the moon 1,000 years ago. What is not common knowledge is that prior to this event, another kingdom had already fallen.” Celestia turned her gaze to Cadence, “The Crystal Empire was ruled over by a unicorn family in peace and harmony with the rest of the world for centuries, but then it was conquered by a mad tyrant who harnessed certain crystals to mind control the citizens of the Empire. I faced against him, alongside my sister, Luna.”

This seemed to take at least Cadence, Shining Armor, and Twilight Velvet by surprise. As part of their duties with S.M.I.L.E., Yearling and Bon-bon had already been briefed on this part. If Raven or Kibitz were at all surprised, they didn’t show it.

“Before Luna and I could truly defeat the tyrant Sombra, he used a spell to cause the Empire, all its citizens, and himself to vanish into the mists of time. At the time, Luna and I had no way of determining how long it would take, and I’ve had a small garrison stationed there ever since.”

“I’ve heard of that garrison, there are lots of rumors about it. They say it’s haunted and a few times in Equestria’s history it’s been used as an Omega Squad posting.”

Celestia nodded at her soldier with a quirked smile, Oh, the multiple meanings to that, now… “The ‘hauntings’ are not ghosts, at least not like the ghost stories told around campfires. They’re the echoes, shades of the ponies that disappeared with the Empire. Centuries ago, only one or two might be sighted, and those are what were actually reported. Over the years, the sightings have increased in frequency to the point that it’s impossible to discount them as bored soldiers telling stories. After the first such sighting happened in the mess hall of the garrison, they requested some mages from the Academy to investigate.”

“They determined that the Empire was returning, but slowly. Whatever magic Sombra used was either set to expire at a set time or simply wearing out. The Empire will return in about 5 years' time.”

Shining and Cadence looked at each other with concerned expressions. “I’m sorry, Auntie, but what does that have to do with any of us?”

Celestia’s intense gaze locked with Cadence’s and held it as she said, “It has to do with you because you’re destined to sit on the Empire’s throne.”

Cadence gasped, “Me?! But…I’m not qualified to run a whole empire!”

Celestia extended her wings and lit her horn, “Nonetheless, you are a princess. And besides,” she smiled gently, almost apologetically, “You gained your horn because you loved, and that’s the most important quality a leader could possibly possess.”

Shining put a hoof gently over Cadence’s to comfort her as she fell into troubled thought.

Celestia turned to Velvet, “And I know you’re wondering why you are here and not your daughter.”

Twilight Velvet nodded and Shining perked up to attention again but didn’t leave Cadence’s side. Celestia finally directed the magic she’d been activating to create an illusion in the middle of the group, crystalline tree, “This is a scaled-down image of a living magical artifact, buried in a cavern under my old palace in the heart of the Everfree Forest. Since it’s creation, it’s been tied to the destiny of Equestria and the source of the most powerful force a pony can wield. My sister and I used it as a weapon against Discord to end his reign of terror and make way for the founding of modern Equestria.” Six stones lit up on the tree, seemed to pluck themselves off like fruit, then floated over to a tiny illusory Celestia and Luna, giving the other ponies a sense of the scale of how large the artefact was. “The Tree of Harmony has been keeping Equestria stable for centuries since the defeat of Nightmare Moon, and the time is coming soon for her to be freed from her prison in the moon, and the Elements that were removed from the tree must be taken up by ponies again, but they cannot be wielded by me. I…lost my connection to them.”

Bon-bon spoke up for the first time, “But…why? You’re the strongest source of harmony I know…well, aside from…” she waved her hoof at the illusion.

For the first time Celestia seemed hesitant to answer, “Because I had to use the Elements on my sister, the only other weilder of the Elements in existence…and an act of betrayal. Even though it was necessary, it still destroyed my ability to use them. They became inert stone and the Element of Magic simply…disappeared.”

Concerned glances flew around the cave as the younger ponies heard this for the first time. “Your highness,” began Shining Armor hesitantly, “Why did you do that?”

She focused on him, seeming to need an anchor as she said, “Because my sister is Nightmare Moon.”

He gave a look that was partly sympathy, partly satisfied, “That…makes a few things we learned in history class growing up make more sense…that and the flag.” He grinned wryly, “Never did make sense to have two alicorns, one of ‘em black, if both of them were supposed to be you moving the sun and moon.”

Twilight Velvet looked contrite as she said, “Your majesty, that’s very sad, and I am sorry, but that still hasn’t explained what any of this has to do with Twilight.”

Celestia rotated the illusion to show the other ponies the side that had been facing her, with three cutiemarks embedded on the surface. Hers, Lunas, and…

Velvet gasped, “That’s…that’s Twilight’s cutiemark!”

Celestia nodded, “When I first saw the tree before Luna and I confronted Discord, we saw our cutiemarks, of course, but we had no idea what to make of the larger symbol, other than that it matched the Element of Magic. But when I saw Twilight’s cutiemark last week during the…eventful exam,” this drew the first laugh from those that had either been there or heard of the immediate aftermath, “I realized that…I had made a tremendous mistake.”

This drew confused looks and more exchanges of glances, so Celestia explained, “For centuries, I had pondered the challenge of my sister, Nightmare Moon, and the Elements of Harmony. I came to the determination that the Elements needed to be wielded by a pony with true friendship in their heart. My sister’s bond with me was strong enough to overcome the Tyrant of Chaos, but we were family; that friendship was formed after we already had a bond. To truly wield the Rainbow of Light, each Element must be held by a different pony. And only when the five are present, a Spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.”

Twilight and Shining both look like they’d been smacked with a polearm. The mare’s tail thumped on the floor of the cave, “A Spark…like a Sparkle…oh, my…it was just a family name! My favorite aunt was named Twilight Sparkle, and I wanted my daughter to carry her name…”

Celestia smiled maternally, “And she was a fine pony and a wonderful secretary, and in any other circumstance it would just be another name.” The image of the tree dissolved, and an illusion of the filly Twilight Sparkle stood in its place, “But now all our fortunes ride on this innocent little filly, who must never, ever be told of her role in the destiny of Equestria.”

“Your highness,” interrupted Shining Armor, “Not to question your decision, but shouldn’t she know? ‘Better intel makes for a more effective soldier,’ after all.”

Celestia sadly shook her head, “Prophesy is a horrible compass and predictions are a terrible map. Knowing of a destiny beforehand can cause a pony to become so sure of their destiny that they either become overconfident that it will simply be hoofed over to them without any effort on their part, or become the worst version of who they were destined to become, or both…as I learned the hard way with my…daughter.”

This did elicit a response of shock from everyone present. Kibitz and Raven looked almost betrayed, “You…” began the aging stallion, “Your majesty, when…when did you have a foal?!”

Rather than reply directly, Celestia applied more magic to the illusion and Sunset Shimmer appeared next to the image of Twilight Sparkle

Another round of gasps. While recently overshadowed by Twilight Sparkle’s rise to the status of Princess Celestia’s premier student, Sunset Shimmer was still well known and remembered by the Canterlot nobles as the “orphan” that seemingly appeared from nowhere and snagged the top spot with the princess. The relationship between Celestia and Sunset had been the fodder for tabloids and the gossip circuit for years, but the crown had always vehemently insisted that they were mentor and student and nothing further.

“Celestia…” breathed Raven, “Why would you keep this so secret?!”

Before the princess could reply, Twilight, the only other mother in the cave, gave Celestia a pained look, “Does Sunset know?”

Celestia mirrored the anguish and magnified it a thousand fold. “No.”

This set everyone in the cave further on their back hooves. “There’s gotta be somethin’ your not telling us, your majesty,” Yearling glared at Celestia, “‘cause that’s absolute horseapples.”

Celestia smiled indulgently at her agent, “Yes, it is. And were it not for one thing, I would have simply told Sunset as soon as she was old enough to say the words, ‘state secret.’ However,” she dissipated the illusion of the two ponies and brought up another. It was a flag with a similar design to one flown once a year on nearly every stage in Equestria for Hearth’s Warming, but instead of House Blueblood’s usual blue-backed standard with a profile of a unicorn stallion’s, the figure was now on a red background wearing a captain’s helmet and arched over it was the lettering, ‘Fac Equestria Magna Iterum.’ The princess continued, “Agent Drops and Do will recognize this or a variant of it from their missions over the years,” and, indeed, the two ponies’ faces were dawning with the beginnings of comprehension, “And the rest of you will recognize this as being similar to the banner of Princess Platinum.”

“You’re highness…” began Bon-bon, “Yes, I’ve seen that, but any investigation into the possible source turns up dead ends. We’re not even sure if it has anything to do with our missions.”

“Let me assure you, it does.” Celestia answered, “Your agency is secretive by nature and necessity, so you agents don’t ever see the whole picture. I do.” She shrank the standard to appear to be the size of a pin and generated a map of Equestria under it, then added more pins across the map. The map was positively littered with the little red flags, with clusters around major metropolitan areas, like Manehattan, Trottingham, and Canterlot. Other, more isolated locations like Ponyville, Wanderlust, and even as far out as Griffinstone were marked as well. “This flag symbol has been appearing in locations across, and outside Equestria for the last twenty or so years.

“The organization is…nebulous. They’ve learned from the mistakes of those that came before them, groups whose movements I crushed as soon as they came to light. They are antithetical to everything Equestra was built on, from the founders on the first Hearth’s Warming to today. My sister, who wanted to plunge the world into eternal night, even saw their actions and goals as reprehensible. They look back on the Hearth’s Warming pageant and see not a lesson in harmony between ponies, but a subversion of what they think is the ‘true, rightful’ order…”

Twilight looked sick to her stomach, “You don’t mean…”

“Yes,” confirmed Celestia, “The organization we’re calling FEMI is the latest unicorn supremacy movement.

The tense moment was interrupted by a sudden guffaw from Yearling, “WHAT!? BWA-HAHAHA!!!” she didn’t even seem to notice the others staring at her in shock, “A unic…hahaha…unicorn ‘suprem…’ *hic* ‘supremacy’ movement using ancient Roaman for their slogan!”

Celestia smiled wanly and Lieutenant armor seemed to realize the connection the secret agent was making and started chuckling as well. At his mother’s and Cadence’s concerned, inquiring looks, he explained, “Roam was a pegasus city-state. Unicorns weren’t even allowed citizenship.”

“Yes, well,” interjected Celestia, “I think history has proven that tribal or species supremacists aren’t exactly the brightest lights in the chandelier.”

This seemed to break the tension, even if the next statement from the princess brought it right back, “This group is expert at hiding in plain sight. In the last 50 years, I’ve had agents go missing in action,” she nodded at Yearling and Bon-bon, “Soldiers become corrupted,” another nod at Shining, “Staff members blackmailed into becoming spies and saboteurs,” this time indicating her seneschal and head of staff, “And noble houses swept under the rug of history because they either got to close to FEMI or spoke out to loudly against the groups goals.” Her final nod was to Twilight Velvet.

“FEMI has shown a ruthlessness and cunning that I’ve never encountered before from ponies. Sunset’s conception was a…happy accident. I never told the father, and until I can guarantee the safety of his legitimate children, I will continue to carry that secret, to my grave if I must. And just having Sunset has brought me great joy, but every time I saw a report that included that flag,” she indicated the map hanging in the air in front of her, “I was reminded that Sunset cannot know she is my daughter until this organization is exposed or crushed or she’s beyond their reach. Even the slightest leak of her true relationship to me would give FEMI leverage they have never enjoyed in their history that, for the sake of Equestria and Sunset, I cannot permit them to have.”

She dismissed the map and brought up a mirror, “You all know that Sunset abruptly left the palace, and the reason stated to the press was the truth; she and I had a difference of opinion, she expressed her intention to pursue forbidden studies and was ejected from my tutelage. What has not been divulged and what I never expected was that she would flee our world entirely.”

Her audience was looking at the image of the mirror closely, trying to discern its purpose. “This is a magic mirror left behind by my mentor, Starswirl the Bearded. Luna and I were given strict directive to never pass through it, only to use it as a…disposal, of sorts, for magical criminals, monsters, and artifacts. The mirror contains a portal leading to another universe. It has very low magic, at least as far as we understand it, so any magical creature sent through would starve, and magical artifact would become significantly de-powered or inert, and any pony sent through would be stripped of their magic.” All seven other ponies in the cave looked vaguely ill at this. “Sunset disabled the guards escorting her and fled through the mirror. It closed on her almost immediately after and won’t open again for another 30 moons, after my sister’s expected release from her imprisonment.”

She dismissed the illusion of the mirror and smiled absently at Shining, “I’m afraid, lieutenant, your training of my daughter was a little too good, in this case. She used your own teachings against your soldiers.”

Shining snorted in mixed satisfaction, “Well, I guess I’m going to have to drill them a bit better, then.”

Celestia didn’t respond directly, but pulled from her mane the companion to her daughter’s journal. “A couple of you probably recognize this…”

“A communications journal!” supplied Bon-bon, “Does Sunset have the other half?”

Celestia smiled at her agent, “She does indeed, and to my surprise, it works across the barriers between worlds.” She opened it and her smile turned melancholy as she glanced over the few entries since Sunset fled, “The other world is apparently a close mirror to ours…I’ve been chatting with,” a bit of impish humor crept into the smile again, “Me.”

“I beg your pardon, madam?” interjected Kibitz.

She turned the journal to allow the others to view the entries and as soon as each of them read past Sunset’s message, followed by the princess’ reply, which was met with a response from Pack Alpha (whatever that was) Celestia, jaws all around dropped in confusion.

She turned the journal back, re-scanned the entries to be sure nothing new had come through in the last few hours, and closed it with a snap. “The beings on the other side of the portal are not ponies. I haven’t yet received details, my counterpart is going to be sending me as brief a report as possible on their biology, but I’ve already read brief snippets of the differences…and they’re astounding. What that this were a proper diplomatic contact…” she shook her head, “But the most disturbing element to this is Sunset was…transformed by the mirror’s magic. She is now a creature like them, and worse, she’s been de-aged. A feat that is only possible by the darkest and most powerful of magics was done to her in a moment.” She shuddered, “I cannot imagine what she’s going through right now.”

A moment of silence permeated the room, the attendants to the meeting looking to each other in curious support. Finally, Raven spoke up, “Your majesty…Celestia…This is all fascinating, but, I’m sorry, how does it all add up? Why are we here and why the secrecy?”

Celestia nodded, grateful for her assistant’s reminder, “Right! In two year’s time, your daughter,” she waved her horn in Twilight’s direction, creating the illusion of Twilight Sparkle again, “Will need to be ready to confront my sister,” an image of Nightmare Moon appeared next to the image of the filly, “With only the assistance of the friends she will make and the Elements of Harmony. Harmony willing, Twilight will be able to achieve what I couldn’t and cleanse my sister of the infestation that is the Nightmare.”

“With my sister returned, the diarchy will be fully restored and the tenuous balance between the throne and the House of Lords will be tilted in our favor, eliminating the possibility of a parliamentary override to any royal edict. And with the Rainbow of Light in the hands of a minor unicorn noble, any FEMI objection to the superweapon being out of their control will be hamstrung by their own philosophy.”

She turned to Cadance, “Sometime after that, the Crystal Empire will return, and an Alicorn born as a pegasus will take the throne, setting Equestria up with a firmly anti-FEMI ally and a third princess to defy their cause.”

“And in two and a half years, a unicorn will return, Harmony willing, to an Equestria where the threat to her knowledge of her birthright will be significantly reduced. Her birthright will be announced to all of Equestria, she will be informed of the full reason it was hidden from her, which…if she can forgive a silly old nag like me…” Celestia proviso’d wistfully, “Will cement her loyalties away from FEMI…wherever she may choose to go with her life and destiny from there.”

She gathered herself and spread her wings as though to gather the rest in, “Shining, Twilight, and Cadence, you will have the hardest job of all of us, you cannot let any hint of Twilight Sparkle’s destiny slip. You cannot tell her, your friends, or even your reflection in the mirror. And no,” advised the alicorn to the elder Twilight, “You can’t even tell your husband. He’s a dear and loves you all, but he’s notorious for gossiping at work, even about those things you don’t want him to repeat to anypony.”

Twilight blushed, “Don’t remind me…” she muttered through gritted teeth.

“Cadence, Kibitz, and Raven; you will need to watch the staff. Look for behaviors out of the ordinary, and if you find something, bring it to me. Use the code phrase, ‘strange set of circumstances and I’ll understand why you may be mentioning something trivial to me and we will figure out if it’s a threat and a way to deal with it, preferably in a way that works out for everypony except FEMI.” The three ponies nodded, Cadence with a pensive expression on her face, where the other two took it as they would any other order from their regent.

“Agent Daring Do, your assignment will now change. You are going to hunt down all sightings or even rumor of FEMI outside Equestria and you will shine a light on them. Your code name will become a writing alias to protect your identity and allow you to continue working for the agency under my direction.”

Twilight perked up, “Oh! I can help with that!” she seemed excited to be able to contribute more than her ‘mom’ skills. “I’ve still got contacts in the publishing industry and I can be your copy-editor. Just send me your field notes and I’ll work them into a novel. It can be an adventure series!”

“Oh, I like that!” replied Yearling, “I’ve always wanted to be an author, got a manuscript at home I never really thought worth publishing, maybe you can look it over to get an idea what my writing style is like? Maybe give me pointers?”

Twilight chuckled, “I used to do that for fanzines when I was in college, and that was just so silly mares who liked Fetlock Holmes detective novels could circulate their fanfiction. This is much bigger and more important!”

Celestia grinned at the two ponies, Clearly, Harmony does smile on us sometimes. She turned to Bon-bon, “Agent Sweetie Drops, you’re being reassigned. Get to Ponyville. There are five fillies there now or on their way who match the aspects of the five known elements almost perfectly. Your job will be to prevent anything from happening to them, and like young Twilight Sparkle, they must never catch wind of their rolls in Destiny.”

She smirked, “And Lieutenant, don’t think I didn’t realize we’ve been breathing clean, fresh air for longer than 15 minutes.”

He didn’t even look sheepish as he waved his hoof in the direction of the area where the shield covered the stream going through the cave. In the place of a simple dome, there was a fairly complex piece of magical machinery, consisting of spirals and pumps. “I figured your briefing was more important than the time limit, so I figured out a way to use the flowing water to act as a disruptant to any attempted use of magic to get around my shield to pull fresh air in, and used a one-way membrane over by the entrance to let stale air out. It doubles as being a positive pressure environment, so any passive sensors that were made somehow inert to magic would still be pushed away by the air pocket inside the shield.” Twilight was beaming in pride and the two spies were nodding and grinning in appreciation. Cadence looked to be a bit star-struck and her staffers had the smug looks of ponies who recognized a fellow pony of excellence. Shining blushed humbly, scratching the back of his neck, “Well, Twily isn’t the only genius in the family…”

Celestia smiled and then sobered, “We have one shot at this, there are no fallbacks, no backup plans, and no reinforcements. If we fail…well, I know my sister would suffer these fools even less so than I, and infested with the Nightmare, she’s unlikely to be…lenient with them, and my daughter would be safe, but the rest of our lives, especially mine, would likely be forfeit. We crush the FEMI, we prepare Twilight for success, we usher in the return of the Crystal Empire, and we get my daughter BACK.” She hadn’t expected to snap out those last two words, but then she’d been bottling up her feelings regarding Sunset for a long, long time.

Of all the responses she got, from the “Yes, ma’am!” from Shining and her two agents to the, “Of course, your highness” from her staff members to the “Of course, aunty!” from Cadence, somehow the soft, satisfied smile from Twilight Velvet meant more than the rest combined. A silently communicated, Good job, from one mom to another.

Author's Note

Gotta admit the second half of this chapter was kinda tough to write. I thought I'd addressed the topics covered in the scene for Equestria's characters at the end of Chapter 2, but I got enough questions on it from my readers on FiMFiction.net that I figured I'd spell it out, and it was a challenge to have to repeat myself but in more detail. (There's a reason I don't do retreads)

Friendship/Games - Breaking/Point

Luna sipped her coffee, reveling in the bitter bite on her tongue as the flavors burst through her senses. While Celestia preferred tea, the flavors were too muted, the scents too subtle for Luna, who had a far greater appreciation for bold, full culinary experiences since the procedure…

She grimaced, the last drops of coffee on her tongue now tasting a bit sour as she stumbled over that memory. She’d long since dealt with the changes and the fallout that happened, and she was grateful for the life she’s been able to lead since, but while it was happening…

Her introspection was interrupted by a shouted, “LUNA!” loud enough to be heard through the walls between her office and her sister’s. She smirked briefly, then schooled her features as first her sister’s door could be heard slamming open, then her own office door crashed against the wall as the Pack Alpha stood silhouetted against the light flooding into her usually dark office. Cradled in one arm was a laptop, the light managing to illuminate Celestia’s face enough to be visible even with the ambient glare that obscured her other features, showing a downright murderous expression.

“Good morning, sister.” Luna sing-songed glibly, somehow keeping from letting any of the mirth she felt show on her face.

Celestia stalked into the room, letting the door drift shut behind her. “I was just entering the training I did with Sunset over the weekend into her file. The file that, currently, only you and I have access to. I am, after all, in charge of her education. I am the chief educator of the territory…”

“Mnotarealtitle,” muttered Luna as she took a sip of her coffee.

The hand not holding up the laptop slammed against the surface of Luna’s desk, “Imagine my surprise to find myself not listed as her primary educational contact. Instead, I find you there!”

“Indeed. Your own rules dictate that a child’s primary educational contact cannot be a direct family member,” Luna replied glibly as she took another sip of her coffee, eye turning to the screen of her own computer, “‘Conflict of interest,’ your words.”

Celestia’s glare was so intense it would have had nearly any other pack member pissing themselves and begging for their lives. Luna simply raised an eyebrow after a quick glance up, set her coffee mug down, and resumed typing up the response to requisitions from Iron Will for the P.E. department.

The Pack Alpha huffed and snapped the computer in her hand shut then finally slumped into the chair usually meant for students. “Why is everyone trying to get me to be Sunset’s mom?” she almost whined.

Luna looked up from her computer to her sister, “‘Trying’?” she snorted in amusement, “Sister, we’re simply acknowledging what you and Sunset are already making a reality. An alien girl accidentally pack bonded to you and you just...kinda folded like a teepee made of toilet paper. It’s cute, just accept that you’re in a new phase of ‘mom-hood’ in your life and move on.

Celestia growled, but it was clear her heart wasn’t in it, “But I’ve got a pack to run, I don’t have time…”

“Redheart, Harshwhinney, and I have been trying to get you to delegate more responsibility for years. Imagine our surprise when it turned out that getting you to take in a cub was just the push you needed to actually do it. Pack Alphas have kids all the time, it’s hardly an excuse.”

The matter-of-fact statement was met with a glare, “She’s going back to her actual home in two and a half years.”

Luna shrugged, “Not necessarily, she’s banished from the capital, remember.” This had been a factoid that Sunset had revealed to the two of them after the Princess’ most recent communique. The mutually agreed lack of space in the journal for the messages meant that details often had to be filled in by Sunset. The girl had been thoroughly embarrassed and the full story of her dip into ‘the dark side’ had come out. By the time she was finished, it had been clear to both women that some form of regret had taken hold of Sunset and she had been in tears; tears that only slowed after Celestia pulled her into a hug, and the two had clutched for a good twenty minutes, giving Luna time to start on dinner while they worked through the girl’s emotions. “And also, she may not want to go back; two years is plenty of time to establish a full life, and if she does want to remain in our world, she’ll need a home.”

Luna picked up her mug while staring pointedly at her sister, “And what better place to call home,” she sipped her coffee loudly and swallowed, “Than with her chosen mother?”

They sat in silence after that for a while, Luna continuing to work while Celestia sat and brooded, an old grandfather clock in the corner ticking the time away. When the clock chimed the three-quarters hour, the Alpha sighed and stood, and with a nod to Luna returned to her office.

Sunset sat in Miss Cheerilee’s English class, heart still aching a bit from the previous night and nasal passages stinging from the menthol inhaler. Normally she wouldn’t have used it this early in the day, but after last night, she didn’t want to risk another meltdown because her instincts were reacting to someone else’s emotions via scent receptors.

It was the first time she’d really sat down and vented her frustrations to another person in at least two decades, if not longer. Princess Celestia certainly wasn’t the one she could talk to, given most of Sunset’s emotional turmoil revolved around her mentor. Cadence, well-meaning country bumpkin that she was, had no hope under the sun by the time she came to the palace; Sunset had loaded up too much emotional baggage around princesses, destinies, and familial status vis-a-vis Celestia to be able to bond with the pink alicorn. The staff were great…as staff. She couldn’t talk to Kibitz about this kind of thing, even though he’d hinted that he would have been receptive. Sunset would always have a little nagging voice in her head telling her that Kibitz would run off and tell the princess every little thing she said the moment she left his sight.

And so it was that right around when they were supposed to be getting ready for dinner she’d found herself having to explain exactly why the princess had banished her from Canterlot. Principal Celestia had, apparently, requested information on why Sunset had so few possessions on her person when escaping through the portal. The princess replied with a very simple, “Banishment does not allow for a lengthy packing of belongings. What she left behind was to be shipped to her destination, wherever in Equestria that was to be. 2 in. not enough space for details, ask Sunset, I will clarify any details you wish.” Sunset knew that she had no chance of dodging or evading or lying. The version of Celestia she wound up spilling her guts to was simply too good at detecting things, from her sense of smell alone, like lies. So, the girl told the truth as best she knew it and left very little out. The two older women had some clarifying questions which prompted her to respond with some facts or observations she had forgotten about, but she left out nothing.

Along with the bare bones came the emotions, dragged along like a dolphin caught in a commercial fishing net (and hadn’t that been a disturbing revelation to find that some of her seafood came with the potential loss of life of one of the ocean’s most intelligent non-human animals, Equestria didn’t have enough of a demand for fish to have that knock-on effect). At first, the sting of her younger self’s experience of the emotions connected to rejection from a mother figure was dulled, muted by time and distance. A child is a child, however, and even with the benefit of an adult’s hindsight recognizing that adults have responsibilities that don’t always include the children in their care didn’t make the old hurt any less. The princess was the regent of the largest, most powerful nation on the planet, so couldn’t be a fill-in mom for a filly. After a while, she’d come to accept that Celestia just wasn’t going to be her mom, but she was a nice enough mentor to have, and over time she’d learned that being in her position as Celestia’s protege had its perks.

Royal perks without royal responsibilities led to entitlement, which was where the real schism began. Old hurts buried for years with no outlet started getting new offenses piled onto them, growing them like a particularly loathsome pearl. The pain of rejection became frustration at being denied, which then grew into anger at being held back. Eagerness to earn a place in the royal family became an expectation that it would simply happen, and a prophecy from a mirror became the only pillar to the foundation of her expectations for her life.

Being honest and truthful about her own actions turned out to be brutal. When forced to recite the track of her own life, especially given she was taught the principles of Harmony like every other filly and colt in Equestria (maybe even more so what with her status as Celestia’s protege), every time she had to admit some action she took that violated one of those principles was like a knife to her own heart…or more accurately like ripping the scab off the wound so it could be flushed clean. She’d actually damaged her soul by violating her own core principles decades ago, these weren’t fresh wounds, after all.

By the time Luna had to prepare dinner and left her with Celestia, Sunset was practically a waterfall of tears, weeping over the numerous times she’d betrayed someone’s trust, backstabbed, manipulated, lied, and bullied in an effort to get her own way. By the time she was finished, she fully expected Principal Celestia to turn her out of the pack lands and make her a stray Alpha by telling every other pack about her.

Even sitting in the classroom on the second floor of Canterlot High looking out on the sprawling city she now called home, she felt her eyes water at the memory of what happened next.

She had been sitting on the living room sofa, her hands in her lap, tissues crumpled up and scattered around her, the object of landing them in the trash long since abandoned when it had filled to overflowing nearly an hour before. She had taken to fidgeting with her inhaler, flipping it over in her hands repeatedly, a habit she had intentionally started developing to learn how to properly manipulate things with these digits called fingers nearly as soon as she started carrying the tube. She found herself unable to look up to see that look a second time in her life, the one that practically shouted ‘disappointment’ while being stern enough to let you know just how little of the sun you would feel for the rest of your days. I’ll just…stay still. I’ll sit here just a little longer, just to pretend I’m not about to pay for my mistakes all over again. I want…is it possible to want something you’ve never had? I want my mommy…

The thoughts chasing themselves in circles in her head were suddenly stilled when pale hands wrapped around hers. Startled, she was unable to stop herself from looking up, and was shocked to see tears in Celestia’s eyes as well. “Oh, my poor little cub…” she whispered so quietly Sunset wasn’t sure she’d have heard it if she’d been even a hooflength further away. Louder, the Pack Alpha said, “You had such high expectations placed on you, so young…” She then used her surprising Alpha strength to sweep Sunset into a hug, an embrace so complete Sunset was in the older woman’s lap and completely wrapped in her arms. Thanks to the comparative size differences with Celestia being nearly two meters tall and Sunset being in the body of a 12-year-old, she really did feel like a child in a parent’s embrace.

She was shaken from her remembrance by a poke at her side, the sensation of the dull end of a pen poking against a rib through several layers of fabric. With a slight start, she turned to find the source, to see the concerned face of Rarity, sitting in the chair next to her. “Are you alright?” the beta girl silently mouthed. In response to Sunset’s confused look, Rarity gave a slight huff and handed over a hoofkerchief…rather a handkerchief (human terms were weird, even if this one made some sense), and gestured with her hand to mimic blotting under her eyes.

Sunset abruptly realized that she was crying again, her cheeks cool from tears shed while she was being introspective. With a shake of her head to indicate she couldn’t talk about it now but a smile to indicate thanks, she blotted her cheeks dry and attempted to hand the cloth back to Rarity, who just cupped her hand over Sunset’s and pushed it back.

“I know two of my students aren’t passing notes during my lecture.” cut in Ms. Cheerilee’s voice. They looked up to see the young teacher finishing up some notes on the whiteboard before turning to look both Rarity and Sunset in the eye.

“Oh, no ma’am,” spoke up Rarity almost immediately, “Simply assisting Sunset with a…ah…personal matter as quietly as possible.” So said, she removed her hand from Sunset’s, who simply opened her palm to reveal the kerchief, damp spots visible above an embroidered and stylized “R.”

Cheerilee nodded with a slight smile of understanding. “Very well, thank you for being considerate to your classmates, Rarity. Sunset, do you need to take some time in the nurse’s office?”

Sunset cleared her throat as she pulled the handkerchief over to her desk and Rarity similarly pulled her hand back to her own space. “No, thank you, Ms. Cheerilee. That won’t be necessary.”

Cheerilee just nodded again, “Very well, let’s continue,” she turned to address the class at large, “Loving Son wrote some of his best work at Mighty Ruler’s Pond, though his writings were very controversial in his day…”

Sunset gave a tiny wave to Rarity to catch her attention, then nodded while holding up the kerchief to communicate thanks. Rarity gave a smiling nod and then returned her attention to the teacher, a motion which Sunset chose to interpret as the interaction being over for the time being. Taking a centering breath, she turned her gaze out the window and glanced down at the courtyard, idly noting the statue she’d tumbled out of only a few weeks before. Ignoring the small stab of melancholy

She realized after a moment that she wasn’t just seeing the courtyard scenery; she was seeing a person out on the grass. It was a man, though she wouldn’t swear it without being able to catch his scent.

She spared herself a moment’s thought that she was already thinking along human identification lines more than how ponies identified others.

Sunset watched as the man held up his hands to his mouth, as though holding a megaphone of some sort, then shouted. The double-paned glass on the windows was proof against most of the sound, something she was sure the man knew as his volume was just enough, she could barely hear the muffled shouts. She saw others she’d identified as Alphas and omegas turn and take notice as well, and she didn’t think they had any more idea what he was shouting than she did, as the words weren’t coming through, just a bit of his tone of voice, rather like a trombone might sound from down the hall and through cotton earplugs.

Sunset raised her hand without looking away from the window, her attention mostly focused on this odd scene. When she heard Miss Cheerilee’s ‘Yes, Sunset?’, she lowered her hand and pointed, “Ma’am, there’s some guy shouting at the school out there.”

Cheerilee sighed, an exasperated sound. Confused, Sunset turned from the window finally to see the other students looking either at her or the window but almost none at Cheerilee. Seeing that her class was pretty much a lost cause by this point, she addressed the class. “Well, it looks like we’re going to be treated to something you don’t normally get to see during school hours. Go ahead and line up at the windows, but don’t shove and make sure everyone can see.”

As the class surged to their feet, the betas initially confused but then excited shouts coming from the students as they nearly all were looking out through the windows, Sunset found her view blocked and she was the only one still in her seat.

Cheerilee put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. As the student stood, the teacher guided her to the end of the row of windows by the teacher’s desk. A few quiet words to some of the students and they suddenly had a bit of a gap and Cheerilee kneeled next to Sunset as they looked down at the courtyard. “I know you’ve never seen this before, so it couldn’t have been helped. I was hoping the entire thing could be handled without disrupting class…” she shook her head, “You’re about to witness a territory challenge.” Sunset’s head tilted as she glanced between Cheerilee and the scene outside.

She watched as Cranky shuffled out of the school’s main entrance, then looked the stranger up and down. They watched as he gave a huff so indignant his whole body shifted before taking what was clearly a predetermined spot nearby. After that, Nurse Redheart moved to a similar spot in the courtyard, giving all the appearance of bracketing the stranger. “A territory challenge is always witnessed by one omega and one beta. It’s traditional, though there’s some theories that it dates back to Mesopotamian times as part of the precursor to the Healer-kin Codes.” Cheerilee explained, then waved her hands as though clearing away, “Neither of them is going to fight, and honestly Redheart would probably get slaughtered if she tried to intervene, and I’m afraid Cranky’s days of being a soldier are several decades past.”

Sunset nodded as she observed, seeing Celestia finally emerge from the entrance to confront the interloper. Sunset’s head tilted as she noted Celestia’s posture and gait were…different from her usual. It wasn’t something the young teen could put into words, but it was almost a distinct confidence, a projection of power and authority.

Whatever it was, the other Alpha clearly didn’t have it.

There were more words said by the stranger, but Celestia was almost ignoring it. Instead, she very carefully and deliberately, almost ritualistically, removed her jacket. To Sunset’s surprise, the principal also removed her shirt, revealing not a bra like she’d been expecting, but a stay.

When Celestia had taken her to get new clothes, the principal had insisted that she get bras. Sunset hadn’t really seen the use or facility of the additional and (to her) unnecessary undergarment. The principal had replied to Sunset’s objections by pointing out that her breasts were already fairly well developed for someone her apparent physical age and were likely to only get larger, and soon support would be absolutely necessary, so she might as well get used to it now, and a bra was the most common and (comparatively) most affordable solution Sunset would have access to while on this side of the portal. Naturally, the wording caught Sunset’s attention and, once she got home, she researched the history of bras, why they were needed, and what the alternatives were.

The stay was a piece of clothing technology that was positively ancient in comparison to the bra, which for reasons having to do with fashion (something Sunset only paid attention to enough to say it absolutely was NOT interesting to her, even if steeped in culture and technique and as much a fact of life as anything a social creature like ponies or humans did), the bra had almost eliminated stays, but there were a handful of people who kept the making and use of them alive, and Celestia was one of them. From Sunset’s research, there was apparently a debate among female Alphas as to whether the stay or the bra was better for combat.

Celestia was obviously the former, and after carefully folding her shirt and letting the challenging Alpha run out of steam in his attempts to taunt her into starting the fight on his terms, she carefully and deliberately stepped out of her shoes, revealing that she wasn’t wearing anything like hose or socks. She stepped onto the grassy part of the courtyard that with the deliberation that reminded Sunset a bit of how Princess Celestia sometimes would square off against some noble or other who had the temerity to challenge her authority in open court.

The principal cooly padded across the lawn, coming within feet of the man. Sunset heard the rest of the class gasping, some holding their breath. “She’s making a power-move here,” Cheerilee explained before Sunset could ask, “You’re supposed to keep your distance until absolutely necessary during a fight. Getting that close is either a rookie move or a demonstration that you think your opponent is so far beneath you in skill you don’t see them as an actual threat.”

Definitely like the princess, Sunset thought, Stupid nobles always treated her like she was a filly because she liked cake and spending time with students. Sunset snorted in amusement at the memory of Princess Celestia in Day Court facing down some blowhard. She loved watching Celestia work in those situations and found herself hoping to see similar with this version of the princess.

The principal leaned forward and said…something. She would find out later that even Cranky and Redheart hadn’t heard what Celestia said to the man, but his face twisted up in fury and his fist whipped up and slammed into the Pack Alpha’s face.

The class gasped almost as one, seeing Celestia twist and spin slightly on her heal. She caught her balance and slowly straightened, popping her neck first to the left, then right, before opening her eyes fully to see the faces of the students, not just in Cheerilee’s class but apparently from several others. Even as blood started pouring down her face from her nose, she grinned ferally, and something primitive and prey in Sunset quivered in abject terror. She realized she was seeing very much more clearly than she had moments before. The light suddenly felt so much brighter, and she could make out details that she hadn’t noticed just minutes ago. The higher functions of her brain were trying to analyze this moment, but her hind-brain was suddenly screaming at her. Pupils must be dilated, adrenal response kicking in, good for flight or fight, need to run, need to escape, get away…

Those details on Celestia that Sunset was noticing from a few dozen yards away and up one story in the building (behind a window, no less) were awe inspiring and terrifying to an equal degree. Celestia’s irises were a bright, bloody red, nearly the same color as the blood dripping from her nose. Her lips, normally painted a tasteful pink, were stained red with her own blood even as the peeled back in a grinning snarl that exposed a pair of dropped fangs, canines that jutted down over her lower jaw more like a wolf than the simian teeth that Celestia usually sported.

As Sunset was taking in her mentor’s…no, this wasn’t her mentor. This was a creature that shared her name, some of her mannerisms, even a bit of her appearance, but this was NOT the Princess Celestia Sunset knew. It’d been such an easy mistake to make, but Princess Celestia had never looked like she could eat someone’s heart in front of them. The principal’s muscles flexed, distinct lines on a well-toned body that was obviously the result of a great deal of work and not a little bit of good genetics, and she raised two fingers to her forehead in a salute to her students. The students at the window exploded into almost howling cheers, and Sunset could hear a couple other classrooms echo the noise.

In a single movement, Celestia pivoted on one foot and launched her other leg from standing to a power-kick to the man’s chest, a sharp strike that sent him stumbling back several feet before he managed to arrest his stagger.

Sunset gasped as Celestia performed what she could only describe as a charging punch combo. Her bare feet gripping the grass as she moved forward at almost running speed, all while executing vicious right-left jabs at the other Alpha. The man stumbled further back, barely able to keep his guard up as he reeled. While Sunset couldn’t see Celestia’s face, she could easily imagine what the man must be seeing with his one good eye; a nearly feral grinning face, sharp eyes burning with the need to rend and crush.

In moments, Celestia’s longer legs and greater height easily overpowered the other Alpha. She dropped to her knees, straddling his torso. In her left fist she gripped his shirt and with her right started hammering down on his chest.

Sunset realized suddenly she was almost pantin. She was predominantly mortified, a visceral disgust underscored with gut-clenching terror that she slept in the same house as this…beast presently giving absolutely no quarter in this purely physical contest. But at the same time, she felt…warm. She felt like she should be taking off her leather jacket and her boots and joining her Alpha on that lawn. Her fingers were arched, almost rigid. Her arms were almost vibrating with the desire to rush down and jump into the fight.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cheerilee glance down surreptitiously, then move to put the bulk of her body between Sunset and the rest of the class. Sunset looked down, her sight almost feeling like it was burning from how much brighter it seemed right now, to see black talons extending out from her fingertips where her fingernails should be.

The sight terrified her, and she suddenly realized that the growing desire to go down to the lawn and join the fight was her “Inner Alpha.” She’d heard the term a few times but hadn’t yet managed to put together a coherent question on the subject. All the little snippets of conversation suddenly fell into place like interconnecting children’s blocks, forming a complete picture. The monster that had tackled and pinned the much larger girl in the cafeteria the previous week, the dominant voice in her head that was demanding she act in ways that she had never even had intrusive thoughts to do before, all that was this horrible aspect of her new form that was so foreign, so alien to everything she’d ever known of herself or other ponies all her life she had no good means of qualifying or quantifying it. A quiet, frightened whine escaped her as she started shivering at the evidence sprouting from her own fingers that she didn’t just live with the monster that was this universe’s version of her old mentor, she was one of those monsters, too!

Cheerilee looked down at her most unusual student, ignoring the now-obviously one-sided fight on the lawn, and took in Sunset’s state. The poor girl was shivering, and her pheromone glands were starting to excrete classic ‘panic’ scents (Rubbing alcohol with an undercurrent of ozone AND burning oil? she thought, how is she doing that?!) and clearly had no idea how to retract her claws. She quietly called Rarity over to her, fairly easy to do as the beta was, unlike most of the class, not plastered against the window but instead was watching with detached interest behind some other students.

“Ma’am?” said the girl in her oddly proper affectation. It made the girl stand out both as a student (understanding proper English made her language arts and writing skills top notch compared to her peers) and made her seem more mature than the others. Fortunately, the perception matched reality for the most part and Cheerilee was comfortable giving the girl responsibilities she normally wouldn’t give anyone else in her class.

“Would you mind taking Sunset down to the nurse’s office after all? Once you’ve got her situated, come straight back here so you can take her stuff down to the principal’s office, I have a feeling Sunset won’t be attending any further classes today.”

Sunset had almost folded in on herself, her hands tucked into her jacket, apparently to hide her claws. Rarity’s face pinched into a concerned mou and she nodded at the teacher, gently taking Sunset’s elbow and guiding the young Alpha out of the room.

The walk to the nurse’s office was quiet, most of the classes either focused on their work or, like Cheerilee’s class, watching the action through the north-facing windows. The entire way, Sunset’s face was a tight, uncomfortable mixture of fear and confusion that Rarity hadn’t a clue how to address.

They entered the office without preamble, Rarity glancing about to see the miniature clinic empty of personnel. “Nurse Redheart must still be out monitoring the fight.” She took Sunset’s elbow and directed her to one of the darkened bays. “I’ll just get you settled here, then go get your things.” Putting words to action, she helped Sunset up to sit on the exam bed, casting her eyes about the room to see if there was anything she more she could do. She came to the disheartening conclusion that she simply lacked the skills needed or familiarity with the facility to do any more than she had.

She gently patted the young Alpha’s shoulder, “You sit tight, Sunset. I’ll come by and check on you after I take your things to your m…the principal’s office.” The other girl gave an odd shudder that Rarity couldn’t work out the reason for and just nodded without looking up.

Rarity gave her newest friend’s shoulder a squeeze and left the bay, leaving the light off and closing the partition to grant a small measure of privacy. She didn’t think Sunset needed any more stimuli than she was already dealing with.

Sunset felt bad for not speaking to Rarity, but she felt like she couldn’t trust her voice at that moment. She was afraid to open her mouth and a row of fangs popping out, or pulling her hands from her jacket to find them completely replaced with griffon’s talons. I’m not a monster, I’m not… the refrain kept circling in her thoughts, the only thing keeping the…other thoughts at bay.

Sunset hadn’t been paying any attention to the world outside her own head, so was completely surprised when she heard the nurse’s office door slam open and what sounded like at least three sets of feet storm in. She jumped nearly out of her skin, her eyes fixed on the partition that separated her from the alien world she was trapped in.

“Get him in one of the bays, yes, that one’s fine.” She heard Redheart order. A snap of nitrile gloves accompanied the sight of two pairs of legs bracketing a form being dragged between them. With a disconcerting start, she recognized the parts she could see around the bottom of the partition as the challenger that had been fighting Celestia. She saw small patters of blood fall to the tile as he was dragged to the bay directly across from the main entrance to the office. Once the dragged form passed out of sight, she heard the competing sounds of Redheart gathering supplies and what sounded like a clipboard or two and the man being hauled up onto a clinic bed. She saw Redheart’s feet hurry across the floor, completely heedless of the blood she was tracking on her shoes. She heard the beta complaining quietly and apparently to herself as she made the noises that Sunset could only imagine was some sort of examination. Sunset cringed as she heard the man moaning in pain.

Not even a full minute later, the door to the office slammed open again, this time accompanied by a voice she clearly recognized. “…don’t need a medic, just let me clean up and we can get back to our day.” It was Celestia’s voice, but not like Sunset had ever heard. It had a deep, throaty quality to it, a slight rumbling rasp on the lower notes that made it sound like she practically growled the words out.

“Uh-huh,” came her sister’s sarcastic reply, “Tell me that when you can keep your fangs in your mouth.”

“Quiet out there!” snapped Redheart over the renewed groaning of the man she was working on, “Luna, did you have to bring her here? Her presence is agitating my patient!”

“See?” barked (Barked!!! thought Sunset) Celestia, “Redheart thinks I don’t need to…where’s Sunset?”

“Luna!” snapped Redheart, “Control her or by goddess I’ll give you both an unhealthy amount of tranquilizers!”

A sudden sense of presence flooded the room, “Sunset won’t have seen a territory fight, she won’t know what’s happening. Let me find her!” this last part was definitely growled, causing Sunset to start shivering, eyes almost bugged out as she watched the closed partition like a mouse watching for a cat.

Abruptly, the overwhelming, crushing not-weight seemed to double. Her instincts were telling her that it wasn’t the original source getting stronger, it was two apex predators vying for dominance. “Celestia, calm down!” snapped Luna, “This isn’t the time to be playing mama wolf!”

“Luna! Get her into a bay! And keep her there! All we need is some idiot teacher or ignorant student getting in the way of a fury’d Alpha!”

Sunset heard a scuffle and some squeaking of shoes before she heard the sound of a partition being slid closed.

I…I gotta get out of here… the thought came even as she gingerly pulled her hands out of her jacket (observing with only the tiniest portion of her attention that her claws had somehow retracted while she’d been nearly curled up in a panic) and used them to, as silently as possible, dismount from the exam bed and put her feet on the floor. That she was using some of what Celestia had taught her the previous weekend to move to the partition as stealthy as possible wasn’t lost on her, but at the moment her priority was escape using whatever tools were available.

Extremely carefully she tugged the partition open and peeked through the crack. She could see the other two occupied bays, leaving three others dark and quiet. In the open bay with the hostile Alpha she saw Redheart’s back, the stranger’s torso and face mostly blocked by the nurse hunched over his form in some part of her exam, and the shoulders of the other two people peaking around the door jam to the bay. They were facing the challenger, rather like two of Princess Celestia’s guard might monitor an untrusted dignitary of a hostile nation.

A couple of bays over and nearly directly across from hers was another lit alcove, this one with the privacy screen covering it. She could see what she recognized as Celestia’s bare feet and Luna’s shoe-clad ones. She could hear Luna arguing with an increasingly recalcitrant Celestia, mostly continued invectives to stay put, sit down, and “pull back on the dominance aura, damnit!”

As quietly and carefully as possible, watching the other two occupied bays for any sign she’d been noticed, she slid her privacy partition open just enough to squeeze herself through silently. She padded as quickly across the tiled floor as she could, grateful for once that she didn’t have hooves anymore as they’d have made a tremendous racket on the tiled floor. Her shoes barely squeaked, once, as she made the traverse, and even that was covered by the sounds of Redheart’s procedures.

Opening the door to the clinic was a challenge as she wasn’t sure how to dampen the sounds of the mechanism that controlled the latch, but once through she eased it shut.

She wandered the halls at that point, not knowing where she might go or what she’d do once she got there. Her head felt like a chorus of ponies were swimming around in it, some demanding that she find the source of her current turmoil and rip its throat out, some urging her to run, run as far and fast as possible to get away from the predators surrounding her. Her higher reasoning functions were chiming in, trying to convince her to go back to the clinic to seek out the help and potential comfort of the people who’d shown her so much care and support.

Unbidden, her mind recalled the previous night again, after she’d been pulled into Celestia’s lap she’d been unable to contain the last of her pain from her fillyhood; she’d bawled with renewed tears, this time the emotions flooding out of her were a sense of relief, a feeling of belonging and home and (if she were completely honest with herself) of coming home and finding your mom waiting for you. Celestia had simply held her, rocking her gently, purring to sooth her in the way the Alphas (and omegas, from what she’d read) of this world did to comfort their young. She could recall hearing Luna quietly working in the kitchen, preparing dinner and setting the table.

After a bit, her crying jag tapered off, and she pulled out yet another wad of facial tissues to blow her nose and blot the tears from her face. “Sorry,” she’d said once she had regained full control (well, maybe 90% control, her vocal cords were still a little tight) of her voice, “I…you shouldn’t have had to see me like this.”

Celestia had just chuckled, gently taking a clean tissue to a couple of tear tracks Sunset had missed, “Don’t apologize, cub. You’re dealing with so very much more than anyone could possibly demand, and learning, I think, to let go of what hurt you in the past. That’s a far greater task than anything else you’re doing, and I find you’re very brave for doing it.”

Luna inadvertently chuckled, interrupting the moment. The other two turned to her in confusion and Luna, who’d been leaning in a bit with obvious interest, had merely waved their curiosity away, “No, don’t mind me, I’m just cooking here.”

The moment was broken, though, and Sunset took a shuddering, though eased, breath as her feet touched the floor, “What was that do you think?”

Celestia leaned forward, elbows on her knees, as she stared at Luna. “I…don’t know, but I suspect my sister is planning something, and it’ll be harmlessly frustrating or frustratingly harmless, or both.”

Luna clearly knew she was being observed and discussed, she started whistling a tune that Celestia seemed to recognize, a slight smile quirking her lips. “Stellar Quest: Lower Decks, eh? Well, it’s on, sister.” she muttered. Sunset’s eyebrow went up at the word salad, Celestia noticed and clarified. “One of Luna’s favorite sci-fi shows, the tune she’s whistling is the show’s theme tune.” She glared toward the kitchen in ‘accepted challenge,’ a look Sunset knew well from her Equestrian mentor and for the first time took comfort in the similarity. “The challenge,” Celestia continued, “Will be figuring out if that’s a red herring or a clue, and if it’s a clue what the clue means…”

They went on to eat, and something had seemed to have changed since the previous night’s dinner. Sunset felt like she was now fully part of the dynamic, like she’d been invited into the…pack and accepted. She felt, during those hours of dinner and getting ready for bed and even a comfortable restless time while she was in bed but unable to sleep, like she could stop running, and whether it was to or from something, she wasn’t sure.

And here she was, not even 24 hours later, running away. She realized she’d put her hands in her jacket pockets and her right hand was clenched around something. She pulled the hand out and examined what she found; it was Rarity’s handkerchief. A small token, a gift from the beta girl to her for no other reason than she’d needed something to wipe her face…and a friend.

Sunset smiled, carefully re-folded the kerchief, and put it in the inside breast pocket of her jacket. She looked around to see where she’d wandered to and was surprised to realize she was fairly close to the P.E. storage shed she’d stayed in the first week of her time in this world. She turned, taking a deep breath, and froze.

Mountain glacier, icy wind…and flop sweat. Her mental analysis of the scent caught by her enhanced senses came right before a maudlin recitation of, “Well…well…well.”

Sunset turned to find the source of the voice and spotted Gilda stepping out from the other side of the shed. The taller girl took the cigarette out of her mouth she’d been smoking and flicked it to the ground, stomping on it without looking. “I think I owe you for that shit you pulled in the cafeteria last week. You didn’t even challenge, you just jumped me and pulled out those freak claws, and I don’t even what to ask what kinda birth defect those fangs are, but I think I’d better put you down, you know, for the sake of the pack…but mostly ‘cause you just piss me off.” As she spoke, the girl almost strutted, youthful menace practically radiating off her.

She was also over a foot taller than Sunset and clearly had muscle definition going on under that faded letterman jacket that had apparently replaced the leather jacket Sunset had damaged with her claws. Sunset estimated the girl probably weighed twice what she did, and most of that was likely to be the mentioned muscle.

“Gilda…it’s Gilda, right?” having her name spoken just seemed to anger the other Alpha, so Sunset tried continuing, backing away slowly, “I’m sorry for what happened on Friday, I…well, I can’t really say what it was about, but I promise I didn’t mean to~grkhhhhh…”

Pain exploded from her abdomen as she collapsed to the ground. Her adrenal responses, seeming to have been tapped to exhaustion earlier during the events surrounding Celestia’s fight, finally hit her system and her brain realized she needed an explanation for what just happened before she could respond in any way.

She realized she had seen Gilda move, it was just so quick that her conscious mind had seen it happen and simply dismissed it as impossible, right before Gilda’s fist collided with her stomach.

It wasn’t that fast… some part of her observed, noting additionally that she, herself, had moved faster the previous Friday. Great, she thought, how about we do more of that now? Like, right now? Before that foot that’s about to collide with our head hits?

Unfortunately, Gilda’s booted foot slammed into Sunset’s forehead causing stars to blanket her vision. By the time they cleared enough for her to see, Gilda had given her two more kicks, one hitting her sternum and another practically crushing her hands into her own stomach.

Pain was now nearly all of Sunset’s existence, locking up her muscles and dominating her thinking. As her thoughts were consumed by a rising tide of the dull roar of agony, a single coherent conviction bubbled to the top; I’ve fucked up again…badly…

Author's Note

So if you follow my blog, you'll know I kinda blew myself out last September while I was having sleep problems so severe I was suffering sleep deprivation. I've managed to recover from that a decent amount, but per my doctor's and coach's recommendation, I'm taking things slow. I'm quite proud of being able to get this chapter up and posted, and I felt like overcoming a bit of writer's block (right around where you read about Cheerilee going full "teacher mode" with Sunset about the challenge fight) was a huge step for me in getting back into writing.

My next big goal is to finish Chapter 1 of a fic called "Lost in the Dark."

A huge generation ship floats silently in the space between stars, silent, dark, and abandoned. After a thousand years of drifting, all systems shut off or in "sleep" mode, the ship is in remarkably good condition...save for a completely destroyed engine mount and damaged fuel stores. In another 10 thousand years or so the ship would have wandered into a gravity well and fallen in, eventually getting incinerated by a star or crushed by a black hole, or just colliding with enough space debris to render the entire hulk unrecognizable as being crafted by intelligent beings.
There's one, singular system still in operation; in a large bay connected to the engineering compartment, a portal machine sits idle. Powered by the energies of the multiverse, it doesn't need any other energy source to operate, but there's nobody on the ship to operate it.
Until one day, it flares to life, for the first time in 1,000 years. Through this open portal stumbles two beings, super-soldiers who have been in pitched battle for years and only stop fighting when they realize they're suddenly not where they had been. Adora, Princess of Power and wielder of The Sword of Protection and Catra, Force Captain of The Horde, declare a ceasefire until they can find a way home. They set about exploring their surroundings to find some hints or clues, but are interrupted when the portal fires to life again and disgorges...Adora, high school student and football team captain and Catra, high school student and lead guitarist for the grunge metal garage band "The Horde." A while later the portal opens again and spills out Adora, intern for the Eternia Colonization Project and Katrina, fully normal human and struggling college student.
The portal has locked onto Adora and Catra, specifically, and is pulling in variants from across the multiverse, and the device doesn't seem to have an off switch or a reverse...

If you've followed my progress at all for the last couple of decades, you'll know I tend to stop-start projects, but I almost never abandon them. Deviation is absolutely still on the "active projects" pile and I'll be coming back to write Chapter 7 before you know it.

Friendship/Games - Pack/Bonds

Upon Rarity’s return to the clinic, she heard the commotion of her Alpha (whom she did NOT have a silly “hot for teacher” crush on no matter what Rainbow Dash said) and paused outside the door to arrange her clothing and check her hair. ‘Betas don’t have the abilities of Alphas to own the room,’ her mental version of her mother quoted, ‘One must look their best if one cannot project it the way Alphas do.’ Taking a breath, she put her hand on the push bar and paused, her eyes catching on something out of the corner of her eye. A shoe print, sneakers (though she wasn’t sure of the brand), made with the trailed blood from the Alpha fight. Eyebrows pinched together, not sure why that caught her eye among all the rest of the blood trails on the floor, she pushed the door open and entered the room she had left Sunset.

She was beset by a cacophony of noise. The groans and screams of pain from the challenging Alpha as Redheart treated him mixed with the roaring and snarling of the pack’s two leaders in another bay. Rarity had grown most of her life in Celestia’s territory, so the overwhelming presence of twinned dominance from the principal and her sister was not unknown to her. That said, she still hustled through the common space to the bay she had left Sunset it, her instincts driving her to move as quietly as possible.

“Sunset,” she murmured at the privacy divider, “I have your backpack, I’m going to just…” As she opened the screen enough to see to the examination bed, she saw it was vacant. An empty pit of fear had already started to form in her stomach with the presence of multiple Alphas in close proximity and already highly agitated, it now yawned wide enough to swallow her whole as she took in the empty bay.

Her mind finally connected what had bothered her about the bloody shoeprint outside the clinic, it was sized for a minor and pointed away from the clinic doors. “Oh no…” escaped her lips before she could catch it.

She suddenly felt like the entire planet was suddenly standing behind her and watching her every twitch, and a deep, bass rumble shook her to her toes. She already knew what she’d find when she turned around, and sure enough, there stood Principal Celestia. As tall as the Alpha was, she seemed to fill the small space completely. Intellectually, Rarity knew her perceptions were being altered by the absolute flood of adrenaline being trapped in a small room with an apex predator produced, but at that moment her lizard brain was telling her prefrontal cortex to kindly fuck the hell off.

“Where,” growled the Pack Alpha, “Is Sunset?”

To Rarity’s credit, she did not evacuate her bladder or her bowels in that moment. Certainly, nobody in that room would have held it against her, but she was extremely pleased that she managed to hold her composure together well enough to simply stand there stuttering rather than any of the far less…decorous responses she could have engaged in. “I…I d-d-don’t kn…know…”

Rarity was saved from a response when Vice Principal Luna’s fist slammed into Celestia’s chin, removing the Alpha’s focus from her and drawing it to the pack’s (unofficial) enforcer. “Sister! Your student…Rarity?” the question was directed at her, and she nodded meekly, “Rarity did NOT abduct your cub, but if you stop frightening the giblets out of her might actually be able to give us more information.”

Chastened, Celestia re-oriented herself and sat on the lip of Redheart’s desk, eyes still a fury red, and nodded as she gingerly touched a knuckle to her now bleeding lip. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry, Rarity. And Luna, your right hook is improving, you nearly knocked me out with that.”

Luna just snorted in amused exasperation and put her body between Celestia and Rarity, allowing the girl to recollect enough of her wits to be able to actually respond when the Vice Principal asked, “That’s Sunset’s bag, do you know where she might be?”

“She…she was supposed to be here,” she gestured at the empty bay, “She had some sort of panic attack, I think, while we were watching the fight and Ms. Cheerilee had me bring her here. I left her to get her pack and was going to bring it to your office when I realized you wouldn’t be there for a bit and Sunset would probably need some company, so I came here instead.” It didn’t escape Rarity’s notice that Celestia’s eyes fluttered closed and one hand went to her temple as she took in her student’s explanation. She wasn’t sure exactly what the principal was thinking, but if rumor was at all accurate, Celestia had pretty much adopted Sunset and there were some unusual (possibly abusive and/or neglectful) things going on with the Alpha girl’s previous pack, and Celestia’s protective instincts were well known throughout the Canterlot High pack lands. She hurriedly continued, “But I think I can find her! Or rather, I know where to start looking, and if I have permission, I’ll get Applejack and Fluttershy’s help; Applejack is the best tracker on the Hunting Team and Fluttershy is very well known for calming Alphas.”

It was to Rarity’s great relief that she saw some of the tension drain from Celestia. Luna nodded in agreement. “Yes, good, plus you’re all her friends, she’ll trust you…I think. Do you know what classes they’re in now?” Rarity nodded, “Excellent. If any teacher tries to stop you, direct them to Raven.” Rarity nodded, clutching Sunset’s pack firmly as she hurried from the room. They would need it to track Sunset’s scent.

When they found her, Sunset was crying into the cement.

When Rarity retrieved the two Alphas that had joined her in volunteering to help Sunset integrate into the pack, Rainbow Dash had been in Applejack’s Geography class and refused to remain behind while they looked. Rather than argue, Rarity took the liberty of extending Vice-principal Luna’s mandate to Sunset’s other pack members. Somehow Pinkie wound up with them, Rarity had learned better by now than to ask how that had come to pass.

When they were unable to get a response from Sunset other than the girl curling into an even tighter ball of emotionally expressive Alpha, Fluttershy set about checking her wounds and Applejack ordered Rainbow to get help. Rarity had quickly amended the order to seek out Luna, specifically, and to NOT tell Sunset’s condition in front of Celestia. Rarity didn’t inquire how Dash had managed to achieve her directives, but by the time Fluttershy determined that there was little outward damage beyond a split lip, the Vice-principal was there and picking up Sunset in a cradle-hold.

On their way to the clinic, little was said, even Pinkie was subdued as they made their way through the halls, still empty thanks to class still being in session. The quiet was broken only once when Rainbow leaned close to Applejack, “You scent it, too?”

Applejack didn’t turn to look away from the hall in front of her, nor did her extremely cross expression change at all as she replied, “Gilda? Yeah, she didn’t exactly try to hide her scent.”

“We gonna do something about it?” Rainbow Dash cracked her knuckles expressively.

Before Applejack could reply, Luna spoke up without turning her head, “’We’ are doing nothing. Leave Gilda to me, clearly the previous discipline wasn’t enough of a message.”

That matter having been apparently settled, they were quiet the rest of the way until entering the clinic, their entrance being met with Celestia’s extremely distressed, “Sunset!” The elder Alpha swooped in and lifted the girl from Luna’s arms and almost ran into one of the bays, the privacy screen snapping in place. Rarity noted it was the same bay she had deposited Sunset in, rather than whatever bay Celestia had been ensconced in before.

Fluttershy had gone directly to Nurse Redheart and began reporting the results of her examination. Having spent a good amount of time with the Alpha girl, she knew that Fluttershy had occasionally volunteered to help in the clinic, as well as in the game field to tend to the animals kept there. It made some sense in hindsight that she’d be able to act as a first responder.

Redheart nodded at the delivered information, “All right, glove up, I want you helping with this. You might be the only member of the pack that has a chance of handling Celestia outside her sister, and Luna’s a little too ‘physical assault’ happy for this kind of situation.”

“Hey!” objected Luna.

Redheart ignored her and yanked off the gloves she had been wearing with a ‘snap’ and tossed them into the nearby biologicals bin. She said a brief thanks to Fluttershy as she took a replacement pair that wasn’t covered with another Alpha’s blood. She started tunelessly humming as she tugged on the new gloves and then picked up a clipboard and pen. She double-checked the forms on it hadn’t been used on another patient before handing the clipboard and pen to Fluttershy, then she grabbed a magazine as she walked over to the bay the principal had absconded Sunset off to. Still humming, she rolled up the magazine with her hands as she bumped open the privacy screen with her hip, Fluttershy following her dutifully. Neither the beta nor the younger Alpha flinched at the nearly roared growl that their entrance prompted. The privacy screen swung closed with a ‘snipt’ and a moment later a hollow, ‘THWOK’ was heard from inside the bay. “Knock it off, you big idiot!”

“Ow!” a much more ‘human’ sounding Celestia blurted.

“You’re scaring Sunset, now let me in to examine her.”

This was met with a much more subdued growl, followed by another ‘THWOK.’

“Hey!” Celestia almost sounded whiny, “Stop hitting me with a rolled-up magazine! It’s demeaning!”

“Stop me yourself, princess, you’ll either have to let go of Sunset to take the magazine from me or you’ll let me in to examine her. Either way, I win.”

Pinkie was doing her best to keep her snickering as quiet as possible and Rainbow was grinning wryly and almost staring at Rarity.

“What?!” whispered Rarity harshly.

“Schoolgirl’s teacher-crush gets disciplined in the nurse’s office? I think I…”

Rarity was nearly volcanic now, “Rainbow Dash, if you even THINK about finishing that sentence, I will find a way to END you!”

They both stilled as they heard a throat cleared with a distinct grade of authority, “I think that, for everyone’s sake here, Rarity’s request that you not complete your thought aloud be followed.”

“Ah, right, VP. Sorry.” Rainbow Dash blushed and seemed to shrink in on herself.

Luna gently placed an arm over Dash’s shoulders, “I will not say it’s okay, just remember to be more circumspect. I remember being young and impulsive, too.” The young omega relaxed into the physical contact.

Rarity also cleared her throat, “Ma’am, what happens now? I know you advised us you’d be disciplining Gilda, but what about Sunset? She seems more…traumatized than I would have expected. How can we help?”

To Rarity’s surprise, it was Applejack that spoke next, doffing her omnipresent hat and scratching at the back of her neck with the other. “Bein’ honest, ma’am, I think we all feel a little guilty here, we went and offered t’be Sunset’s pack, and here we are in the infirmary with that same pack member need’n patching up. Feels like we aughta be doin’ somethin’ ‘sides just sittin’ around and twiddlin’ our thumbs.”

Rarity may not have interacted with Applejack much before they wound up in the same basket of helping Sunset, but pretty much the whole school knew her ‘country’ dialect started coming out strongly when she was feeling particularly emotional, and it was very strong now. “Perhaps if, once Nurse Redheart clears her for it, she could join the pack during morning runs? I only participate to keep up my figure, of course,” she waved dismissively, “But I know for Alphas and omegas it’s considered vital for their wellbeing and sense of belonging.”

Luna grinned knowingly at Rarity, “I think you do it for similar reasons, Miss Belle, I’ve led the morning runs often enough to see how much you’ve come to rely on them, too.” The vice-principal thought for a moment, “I believe you’re on the right track, though the runs might be a bit too far out if she’s not cleared right away by Redheart.”

A pink hand shot up, connected to an equally pink girl with cotton-candy hair, “Oooh, ooh! Pick me! I have an idea!”

Luna tried to surreptitiously roll her eyes, though if she caught the action, Pinkie didn’t say anything, “Yes, Miss Pie?”

“We could have a party!” Luna’s eyebrows practically skyrocketed, and Dash clapped her palm to her face. Pinkie rushed to continue, “Skeptical Luna is Skeptical; hear me out. So she needs social contact, right? And as soon as possible? What’s the one thing all Alpha’s need after a fight?” At the confused expressions around her, she replied in a, ‘duh, it’s so obvious’ tone, “Sleep! Lots and lots of rest. Lots of slumber, one might say. And what goes well with anything? A party, of course!”

Rarity felt a bit of consternation that it actually took more than a moment for her to connect the dots Pinkie Pie was laying out, and Luna seemed to be taking the same amount of time to come to the realization. The vice-principal’s eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment, “You…want to have a slumber party?”

“Ding-ding-ding!” exclaimed Pinkie, “You got it!”

Celestia was so completely focused on Sunset and Redheart’s care thereof that she was intellectually aware that there was a conversation outside the privacy gate, but no understanding of what was being discussed. As her Alpha receded and her less feral mind once again took control, she also was devoting no small amount of her mental processes to analyzing her own behavior.

Luna and Redheart had been right; she was being ‘mom’ to this alien cub. Awareness of her years on the other side of the portal be damned, in every way that mattered in this world, Sunset was a child. She was unfamiliar with how the world worked, unsure of her own body, and probably felt more alien than ever after witnessing the Alpha challenge unprepared. She was reminded of a book series by an author, a Trottingham gentleman who served in The Holocaust War on the Allied side, who wrote about a group of siblings that went through a magical portal and lived a whole life on the other side, only to return and become children again. She had originally read that story as a child, herself, and had often wondered through the years what it must have been like for those characters, to be adults in one moment than a child all over again the next.

I suppose I have my answer…’be careful what you wish for,’ as they say… Sunset had almost not moved since Celestia had scooped her up and pulled her into the darkened medical bay. She was curled tightly, eyes closed against the world outside her head. She was responsive, though, when Redheart asked a question about her condition she would nod or shake her head in clear comprehension. She allowed the nurse to open her eyes and mouth for examination and showed awareness of the world around her.

Any attempt to get her to talk to Celestia, however, was met with a cringing, followed by a renewal of tears. What most greatly concerned her was what she scented from Sunset, or more accurately, her lack of understanding of what she sensed.

Shame.

It was practically dripping from the young Alpha, a disappointment in herself so profound that Celestia could practically taste it in the air. “Sunset,” she began quietly when Redheart had finished her preliminary exam, “Are…are you disappointed you didn’t do better in your fight with…” she paused and sniffed the air, only not rolling her eyes thanks to her concern for the girl in her arms outweighing her exasperation with her recalcitrant student, “Gilda?”

Sunset’s eyes squeezed tighter and she shook her head almost violently back and forth. Celestia repressed a sigh of frustration and cast her gaze around the room, as though something there could identify the source of Sunset’s anguish. “Are you…ashamed of being afraid? I…I’m sorry if I did a poor job of preparing you for what you saw…”

Some of Sunset’s tension eased and she was still for a moment, but shook her head again, though less forcefully this time.

Celestia bit her bottom lip absently, then turned to Redheart, who had been patiently waiting. “Can you please clear the clinic? I think Sunset might need privacy for this.”

Redheart nodded silently (for once) and gestured to Fluttershy to follow. Fluttershy paused briefly to reach out to Sunset and gently squeeze the other girl’s arm. Sunset’s eyes opened finally, her tears reflecting the light from the doorway as she cast a beseeching look to the pink-haired Alpha. Fluttershy merely gave a small smile, “It’s going to be okay. You’re afraid of what’s inside you, but you have the best…” Fluttershy flicked her eyes up to Celestia, then back down to Sunset meaningfully, “…mentor…” the word was said with special emphasis, and if Celestia though her hearing was bad she would have questioned whether she actually heard ‘mother,’ “…a girl could ask for.” With that enigmatic reassurance, she left to help Redheart clear the clinic.

It took some time, the challenger Alpha (Celestia never did get his name) being bodily dragged out on Redheart’s orders taking up the bulk of it, but soon Celestia and Sunset were the only two beings in the infirmary.

Celestia stayed quiet for a while, opening her mouth twice to continue her questioning, but closing it again as she realized she didn’t really know what to ask.

Finally, she simply asked, “Sunset…my little cub, why are you ashamed?”

Sunset’s face twisted up in some sort of emotional agony as she gasped out a renewed sob. As much as Celestia knew about running a pack, she was somewhat lost with dealing with this sort of thing. She loved teaching, certainly, and as the undisputed most powerful Alpha in the region she had her pick of jobs, and being the head of a school made the most sense with her educational background, but she’d never had to fill the role of ‘mother’ so completely as she was finding she needed to do with Sunset. She fell back on her usual; she let Sunset cry.

Several false starts later, Sunset finally gained enough control of her diaphragm to blurt out, “I’m so stupid!” Her bunched fists scrubbed at her eyes, and she dug her fingers through her hair, leaving them there as though to block out the world with her forearms. “’Oh, look, there goes Celestia’s favorite little pony, such a good student even the princess agrees she’s the smartest pony in all Equestria and beyond!’ Soooo fucking smart! Smart ponies learn from their mistakes! Smart ponies don’t do the same dumb things over and over again!” Celestia was about to ask what that all meant, but Sunset continued unprompted after a few choked sobs, “Celestia says, ‘go make friends!’ I say, ‘noooo, friends are stupid, I’m gonna study, ‘cause a fuckin’ book can find you when you’re beat up by a bully. Celestia says, ‘You should ask that filly out instead of just pining, I saw her at a function the other day, I could probably introduce you,’ I say, ‘What? Noooo, I’m too busy doing Important Student Stuff. I don’t have time for silly things like maybe actually talking to the absolute hottest mare of my generation. What’s the worst that could happen? Like she’s gonna marry some crusty old guy from an ancient family that my orphaned flank couldn’t POSSIBLY compete with!’ I just go hide in the library stacks instead. ‘Sunset, you should try to at least be friendly to Cadence, she’s going to be my niece and it’d be nice if you could…’” At this Sunset choked off, unable to continue for a bit as her breaths heaved with an unbidden ferocity that spoke of a hurt deeper than the offhand statement would belie.

When she was able to continue, she was more subdued, most of her energy seemingly spent on…whatever the issue with the pony version of Crystal Prep’s youngest dean since its founding had been. Sunset lowered her hands and just stared at them for a moment before saying, “Princess Celestia tells me to stop pursuing the restricted subjects, that it’ll have consequences. I do it anyway, and then run away from the consequences.” She closed her hands into fists, clenching them hard for a moment before a deep, shuddering breath shook her frame and she sagged against Celestia, for the first time since the fight allowing herself to be supported by the older woman rather than just held. “And then I get a fresh start…one I don’t deserve. I land in a pack that just takes me in, accepts me even though I’m a complete fuckup and they would have every right to turn me out…or kill me…and…and I see something that scares me, something that is just the way it is here…I used to have dinner with Saddle Arabian princes and helped negotiate a peace accord with the Dragonlands…but one stupid fight scares me and I run.”

Sunset finally seemed to have completely deflated, unconsciously nuzzling against Celestia’s shoulder, using an instinctive motion to transfer scent between parent and child.

Celestia realized later that this was finally the moment when she truly accepted that Sunset was her daughter. Alien origin or not, expecting to leave in two-plus years or not, Celestia was Sunset’s mom, for better or for worse. The sight of a cub so unconsciously turning to her for love and comfort seemed to fill a hole in her heart that she hadn’t realized she was protecting.

“Well, my little sun,” the new endearment slipped out without a thought, “I believe you may be ready to stop running.”

Distantly, since there was not speaker for the ‘bell’ in the clinic, Celestia recognized the sound of what was probably the final bell for the day, and this was born out a moment later when she heard the rumble that was the sound of hundreds of students all scrambling to get home after a full day. She waited until after the sound of the controlled chaos to subside before squeezing her cub gently in a loving hug and setting her on her feet. “Let’s get home. I think we could both use some rest after today.”

Both Celestia and Sunset were quite surprised when it wasn’t just Luna that was waiting for them at home, but all of the girls who had self-identified as Sunset’s friends. Once Luna explained the girl’s proposed solution of support, Celestia put her full backing behind it. Sunset balked momentarily, but the principal gently put her hands on Sunset’s shoulders and leaned down to quietly say, “I believe you were upset about your habit of running away? It seems you have nearly the perfect environment here to take the first step. Luna and I will be right here if you need us.” The young Alpha took some time to process this, mulling it over like a new flavor or scent.

Sunset took some time to observe the activity in the house that had become her home only recently. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had planted themselves in front of the large screen TV and booted up one of Luna’s older video game consoles (“Vintage, thank you!” Luna had barked when the age of the systems had come up), Fluttershy had pulled out what looked like some form of needlecraft and was nestled in a corner as her fingers worked with the yarn connecting the needles in her hands to her backpack on the floor next to her, Applejack was perched on one of the breakfast bar stools keeping an eye on everything happening, and Rarity was almost dithering next to Luna as they debated dinner options (Rarity was pushing for something Asian, whereas Luna was leaning toward the simplicity of pizza).

Finally, the girl nodded and moved to join Applejack at the breakfast bar.

Celestia smiled, a little pride sneaking in. Luna clearly saw and they locked gazes across the room for a moment, Celestia flicked her eyes over to Sunset and then back, nodding in a surrendering salute. Luna merely got the smug look she enjoyed whenever she’d successfully defeated another gamer in a PVP game and returned to dinner planning.

The night had proceeded fairly well, Sunset using the skills she had developed dealing with the social functions required of Princess Celestia’s star pupil to keep up with the conversations at first, then finding herself settling in quite nicely with the other girls. Fluttershy was quiet but supportive, nearly always. Applejack had a competitive streak but never seemed to let it go too far…unless Rainbow Dash got involved, in which case Fluttershy would often be required to reign them in. Rarity always gave the impression of just being happy to be included, though in Sunset’s opinion, she was often the easiest to just talk to. She gave clear visual cues to what she was thinking and wanted to say, whereas the other Alphas and the omegas often seemed to rely on scenting and learned body language (a dialect that Sunset was woefully uneducated in).

Pizza was consumed, during which Sunset discovered the spicy wonder that was pepperoni. She almost made it quite obvious she’d never eaten the meat product before but caught on from everyone else’s lack of reaction that it was just an everyday thing for them. Before she knew it the whole party had retired to her room, which had apparently once been a room for visiting Pack Alphas, so it was plenty spacious enough for a gaggle of six girls to gather for the night.

Having never participated in a slumber party, Sunset was unaware of what sort of activities occurred after the usual party niceties she had experienced when she kept ponies at a distance. She assumed that at some point they actually did sleep, but once pajamas were put on (Sunset did see the logical sense in wearing clothing even while sleeping for humans, they didn’t really have fur the way ponies did, but it was still something she wasn’t quite used to) the party didn’t seem to really be winding down. She sat on her bed, back propped up against the wall by her pillow and feet under the covers, feeling confused by the continuing conversations carrying on around her.

“I just don’t see the point,” Applejack was saying to Rarity, “I’m an Alpha, Alphas just don’t do silly frou-frou things like makeup and fashion.”

Rarity tch’d and waved in Fluttershy’s direction, “Oh, I beg to differ! Fluttershy here has a natural knack for fashion and even preferences. She’s an Alpha that understands the soft and feminine things, I’ve even helped her with her makeup on occasion. And you can’t tell me that you haven’t seen Principal Celestia or Miss Cheerilee without makeup. Why, I believe I spotted some slightly smudged mascara on Celestia’s face after the fight.”

Sunset thought back to her trip home and remembered seeing the smudge on Celestia’s right eye but didn’t really think anything of it at the time. “Yeah, she had some smudged makeup. I think she fixed it after we got home, though.” Her sentence was punctuated with a yawn she couldn’t quite hide.

Applejack blushed, “Yeah, okay, you gotta point. But my granny don’t wear makeup, and there aint no question about her ability t’attract a mate.”

Rarity sputtered, “It’s not just about attracting a mate, Applejack!” Rainbow Dash cackled at her indignance, but the beta girl soldiered on, “Sometimes a girl just wants to look nice, just for herself! I’m sure if you just tried…”

Applejack shook her head firmly, “Nnnope! Not gonna happen.”

Rarity huffed and crossed her arms, “Well, perhaps I can convince Sunset to wear some.”

Sunset snickered, “No thanks, I already tried makeup, I hate scrubbing it out of my f…” she caught herself just in time, or so she hoped. The strain and depression she’d managed to shed since the party began came roaring back, and the feelings she had been almost drowning in as Celestia held her in the darkened medical bay flooded over her. Tears pricked at her eyes as she realized she felt comfortable enough around these girls that she almost forgot to watch her words.

What am I feeling? came the thought. She almost automatically began the process of cataloging her experience, something she had been trained in Celestia’s school from an early age as part of the advanced curriculum that the princess had created for her benefit. ‘There are creatures in our world,’ the princess taught, ‘And even ponies with special talents who can infiltrate your mind and manipulate your emotions. You need to be able to sort out what is truly you and what is being inflicted upon you from an outside source.’

Anxiety, depression, fear… Those were obvious, and totally in line with what she experienced before, and she could probably have stopped there and just moved on, covered up her slip of the tongue and been done with it.

She stared down at her hands, which she was absently clasping and unclasping, more to experience the sensation than for any reason she could choose to name. Anxiety, she began again, depression…fear… she hesitated, knowing there was more but fearing the identification of it, like there was something awful on the other side of that realization that could ruin her forever.

…homesickness, and…loneliness…

That was it. She was lonely…and realized she had been all her life. If she got to know ponies, made friends, got close enough to them, they could leave her. They could abandon her like her parents (whoever they were) had, they could make fun of her like her classmates had, they could reject her like the princess had. So, it made more sense to leave. Leave first, before they could, so it wouldn’t hurt so badly when the rejection came.

‘I believe you may be ready to stop running.’

It was her voice, the mare she first looked to as a mother figure, even knowing how unlikely it was she would ever be accepted as the princess’ daughter, but the one who spoke the words wasn’t the princess, it was a woman who hadn’t required she prove herself or pass some test, she just needed to be who she was, and now she actually had a chance to choose who that was.

She was startled out of her introspection by a white hand clasping over one of hers. She looked up to see not just Rarity, but all of her friends looking at her with concern. She could even tell from their scents that it was genuine concern, not something faked or manufactured for appearance’s sake.

“Darling,” began Rarity, almost carefully, “Are you all right?”

Sunset wrapped first one, then both hands around Rarity’s. She was quiet for a bit, then said, “I need to…no, I want to tell you all something, but…it’ll sound crazy. Please…please don’t laugh at me when I tell you.”

It was Pinkie, surprisingly, who bounced up her bed and pulled over the hand on the opposite side from the one Rarity was left holding so she could clasp Sunset’s, “Laughing at a true friend is a sign of a bad friend when that friend is telling a secret. And just to make sure…” she turned to face the room, left hand still holding Sunset’s and right hand held up like she was swearing an oath, “Everyone here understands and agrees that they won’t laugh at Sunset and will keep her secret no matter what. Repeat after me; ‘cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.’”

Rainbow Dash snorted, “Seriously, Pinkie?”

“Yes, Rainbow, seriously!” and for once Pinkie looked genuinely as serious as it would be possible for her to get, “You never break a Pinkie Promise.”

Dash turned to Applejack, who then looked to Fluttershy, who simply shrugged and held up her right hand. This prompted a shrug from Applejack, who also raised her hand. After a moment she cleared her throat with a meaningful look at Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes and raised her hand, too. Rarity raised her hand as well and they repeated in unison, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

To her surprise, Sunset found herself giggling, “Thanks, Pinkie.” She paused, trying to collect her courage again. Finally, she blurted out, “I’m not human.” Into the silence that followed, she waited for someone to object, or point and laugh, but all she got was confusion. “Well, I didn’t used to be…and maybe I’m not entirely human now? I’m not 100% sure on this, but until I walked onto school grounds the first time I was…a unicorn.”

This finally got a reaction; Rainbow Dash started to blow out a prolonged snort, when suddenly her face was plastered with a pillow and not one thrown gently, either. Dash pulled the pillow off her face with a, “Hey!” only to be met with Pinkie’s incredibly stern glare.

“Pinkie…Promise!” snapped the other omega.

Rainbow flinched, “Okay, okay! Sheesh!” she tried to be casual about tossing the pillow back over to Sunset’s bed, but everyone heard the, “Wow, she can be scary when she wants to be…” that Dash muttered to herself.

Rarity gently squeezed Sunset’s hand, which the Alpha chose to interpret as a prompt to continue. “I know you girls know about my…claws, and my fangs…”

“And your eyes,” interjected Rainbow Dash. At Sunset’s confused look, she said, “They’re gold when you’re in fury. Every other Alpha I know has red eyes when they’re fury’d.”

Sunset processed this new information with a, “Huh,” before continuing, “I was born in a parallel world where humans don’t exist. There’s dozens of sentient species, not just one, and that includes equines, cows, sheep, bison, griffons, dragons…there’s even a few species I haven’t found any reference to, or at least that you’d recognize. Changelings are pony-like insectoids that can magically mimic just about anything they want, the only description humans have for them is some sort of human-like species that pulls a magpie with their children.”

She shook her head, “Anyway, I was born to…somepony. I really am an orphan, that part I didn’t make up. But I was born a unicorn. My first years were spent in an orphanage in Canterlot, which is the capital of Equestria. When I was old enough to test into a school, I…kinda blew out the test. As in, the wall behind the test area was gone.” This earned a few surprised looks, “I was particularly gifted, and apparently the princess had been looking for a student, because when I showed how strong my magic was, she took me into the palace as her personal protégé.”

Rarity now had stars in her eyes, “Oh my! Did that make you royalty?”

Sunset snorted, “No…well, maybe? Not really, even if the position came with a lot of baggage and political duties.”

From there, she told her story. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t already told Principal Celestia, and though she felt like she’d gladly walk through broken glass for the Pack Alpha already, telling these girls…her friends, not because she’d been caught out or because she was being forced to, it was a different experience. It felt…close. The more she revealed the more she wanted to tell them. She found herself wandering off topic several times, but each time was natural, organic. The girls wanted to know about the culture, the food, the fashion, the races and people. Sunset held little back, only limiting information for time and returning to the topic of how she came to live with humans as one of them.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” interrupted Rainbow Dash, how did Principal Celestia get to this magical unicorn land?!”

Sunset paused, realizing as she did so she was actually smiling a bit and having a good time. “Oh, that wasn’t Principal Celestia, that was Princess Celestia.”

A chorus of confused, “Huh?!” and “What?!” came back at this.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I didn’t really explain that part well. My world and this one are…well, not quite mirror images, but there’s a LOT of people who have like-for-like counterparts between here and there. Celestia’s secretary, Raven? She’s a unicorn back home, seneschal to the throne.”

While there was mostly confounded silence as a response to this, Pinkie snickered. At Sunset’s confused look, she chirped, “If I had a nickel for every time you became Celestia’s student, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t much, but it’s weird that it happened twice!” The entire rest of the group was absolutely nonplussed, none of them had a clue what she was talking about beyond the obvious and were even further confused when Pinkie collapsed into a giggle fit.

As bewildering as Pinkie’s behavior was, Sunset knew there was no malice to it, so she just shook her head and soldiered on, “Anyway, I think that was when Princess Cadence showed up…”

“Oh!” Rarity gasped out, clapping a hand over her mouth. Sunset glanced over at the beta, who shook her head, “It’s nothing, just another person with an apparent doppelganger. Please continue, darling.”

Sunset raised her eyebrows and continued, even managing to keep herself from breaking down during the retelling of her self-imposed exile from Canterlot…to a semi-permanent exile from her home universe.

“…and so, here I am,” an echo of her earlier emotional storm washed over her. “And I’m…alone.”

Almost before the sound of the last syllable of ‘alone’ left her mouth, Pinkie crashed into her in a bear hug and Rarity squeezed her hand tightly. “Oh, darling, you’re not alone!” Using her free hand, Sunset pushed Pinkies enormous poof of curls out of her face to see Rarity looking downright stricken, “I don’t know how things work in pony-world, if you have herds instead of packs or whatever, but here in this world, especially in Canterlot High pack, you will always have someone there for you. Even if Celestia hadn’t taken you in, any of our families would have…”

“Heck, Grannie’d challenge a lesser Alpha for the right t’make you her fourth grand-child,” chimed in Applejack.

“Oh, and my mom and dad would love to have you…but you’d have to put up with my brother, so maybe not.” Added Fluttershy, even as the rest of the girls visibly cringed at mention of the mentioned sibling.

“My folks’d take you for sure, but you’d have to deal with mom ‘n dad being, like super embarrassing,” piped in Rainbow Dash.

“And I’d TOTALLY love another sister and momma and pappa would absotutely-rootely love you! You’re such a hard worker and they love hard work but they love me too which shows that they love a whole range and…”

Rarity put the index finger of her free hand on Pinkie’s lips to silence her, “The point is, darling, that you are never alone in a pack, and especially this pack.”

“I reckon,” said Applejack, “That what you need is a pack bond. More’n what ya got with your moth…er, I mean with Celestia.”

Sunset felt like something was happening. It was just as important as when the girls first invited themselves to sit with her and probably meant a whole lot more from how everyone in the room suddenly sat up or stood straighter. “I…don’t understand. Aren’t we already in the pack?”

“Well, sure,” drawled Applejack, “But that aint the same as having a pack bond. Y’can have packs like Celestia has, where y’have the Pack Alpha and lots o’ Alphas under that and plenty of beta families and, if your like Celestia, plenty of omegas with the freedom and agency to pick their Alphas based on suitability and whether they treat their omegas right. But that’s more of a…” she paused, looking for the words.

“Social contract?” supplied Rarity.

Applejack snapped and pointed at the beta girl, “That’s the one. Now a pack bond, that’s something special. Y’get a bunch of people together, they mean a lot to each other and care about each other, they want to show everyone that you mess with one, you mess with all of ‘em. And if you treat one right, the whole group’ll have your back. It’s a bit like family, but a family you’ve picked for yourself.”

The cowgirl Alpha blushed a bit, “Now I reckon we kinda chose for you, but so far you aint told us to pound sand, so I don’t think I’m wrong that you like us. And you trusted us to tell us your secret, one I think Celestia even told you not to tell anyone if’n I recall right,” Sunset blushed lightly and nodded, “And sharing a secret and caring for someone lost and lookin’ for a home? Well, that’s what being in a pack is all about.”

There was a reverent silence for a few breaths in the room, until Rainbow Dash said, “…wow, AJ normally doesn’t string that many words together in a week!”

Warm laughter filled the room as Applejack almost pounced on Dash, the pair clearly not actually fighting but more play wrestling, and it didn’t last long. The pair stilled and the room quieted and everyone focused on Sunset. Unexpectedly at the center of attention, she blinked owlishly. “So…what do I do? Is there some sort of ceremony?”

“Sorta,” answered Applejack, “We jess gotta scent mark each other. Instinct plays a big part of it, once we start you’ll probably know what to do.”

Sunset swallowed nervously, “Oh…kay…so how do we start?”

AJ and Dash gave each other sidelong grins and, competitive as ever, played a quick round of rock-paper-scissors. When Rainbow’s rock beat Applejack’s scissors, she scooted herself closer to Sunset, Pinkie and Rarity moving back to allow the omega space. Rainbow carefully leaned in, cognizant of Sunset’s reaction as she invaded her friend’s space, and gently rubbed her temple across Sunset’s, then twined her wrists around the Alphas. She repeated the motion on the other side of Sunset’s head before leaning back and releasing Sunset’s hands. Applejack chose to be next, basically repeating exactly what Dash did, though this time Sunset started reciprocating the motion.

As the physical contact continued, she started to feel…almost bubbly. She felt safe, she felt like she belonged, and most of all she felt loved. Not the sort of love she once entertained as a fantasy for a peer who didn’t even know she existed, but the kind that she imagined the most loving siblings felt for each other. By the time Fluttershy was waving Pinkie forward to go next, she was purring lightly. That purr, to her mild embarrassment, only grew louder as Pinkie scent marked Sunset, then again when Fluttershy did the same.

To Sunset’s surprise, Rarity wasn’t immediately behind Fluttershy, but standing off to the side watching the proceedings. “Rarity…?” she left the interrogatory hanging, not quite sure to word her question.

Rarity almost winced, her fingers wringing together as she said, “Oh, no, it’s quite alright darling. Betas don’t participate in that sort of thing, it’s for Alphas and omegas. Betas don’t have scent glands, you see, so…”

“Tarnation, Rarity, I thought we managed to get rid of that kind of thinking?” exclaimed Applejack. “You should know as well as any member of the pack that yer allowed to participate in a pack bond. Wouldn’t be fair if you weren’t.”

Rarity stood for a moment, clearly stunned if the nearly slack jaw were any indication, “Really?” she almost squeaked.

Sunset almost surprised herself when she said, “I don’t know about pack bonds, but I know I wouldn’t feel right if you didn’t join the rest of our friends in this.” Her purring underlined every word, even getting louder on the word ‘friends.’

At first hesitant, Rarity sat down in the space that Fluttershy had just vacated. She and Sunset twined wrists and clasped hands and then they paused, Rarity apparently not having the instincts for the act and Sunset still new to listening to said instincts. The purring Alpha quirked a grin and said, almost intimately, “You know, you’re probably going to be the most valuable member of my pack to me for quite some time.”

Rarity blinked in astonishment, “What? Really? How could a beta be the most valuable member of a pack?”

Sunset leaned forward slightly, gently thumping her forehead against Rarity’s, “Ponies don’t have Alphas and omegas. For all intents and purposes, we’re all betas. I’m newer to being an Alpha than literally anyone but a few babies. You’re basically going to be my interpreter, diplomat, and confidant while I figure out this whole mess I’ve stepped in.”

It was like she’d given Rarity a more valuable gift than all the gems in the world. Her face lit up with a huge smile, her eyes glistening a bit, and she awkwardly moved to nuzzle Sunset, trying her best to mimic her friends. Sunset let her instincts and earlier experience pick up the slack, moving her scent glands to glide along the right spots on Rarity’s head. Sunset’s purr rumbled inside her, and she could feel the beta stifle a giggle as she leaned back and let go of each other’s hands.

For a moment, there was another reverent silence as they all processed the act they had just performed. Sunset looked to Rarity, then the others, then asked Applejack, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but since Rarity doesn’t have scent glands like we do, unless we’ve basically done what she and I just did, you won’t be carrying her scent, right?”

Applejack was clearly trying to figure out what Sunset was implying, but then finally caught on even as she started nodding automatically. The corner of Sunset’s mouth turning up impishly was probably the clue she needed, and she grinned back at Sunset conspiratorially. “Oh…oooooh! Yeah, that’s right!” She put her hands on her hips and turned squarely to face Rarity, “I do reckon we can’t rightly call you a member of the pack unless the whole pack is marked by you.” So saying, she stepped forward and gently, but firmly, tucked her hands under Rarity’s chin and leaned forward the rest of the way, scent-marking the beta. If Rarity might have been starting to tear up before, it was a sure thing now as her smile returned with full force and she leaned into Applejack’s stropping.

As they were twining wrists, Pinkie Pie shouted, “SNUGGLE PUDDLE!” and tackled them to the bed. Sunset started chuckling as she yanked her legs out of the way as the trio crashed into the mattress.

“ACK! PINKIE!” blurted Applejack, “Y’don’t go…the pack bond is sacred…”

Not releasing from her full tackle-grade glomp, Pinkie craned her head up to look directly at Applejack, “Isn’t that the triangular bone at the base of the spine?”

AJ was now just plain poleaxed, but Rainbow Dash apparently could pick up what Pinkie was putting down; she leaped onto the bed next to the pile and started rubbing her forehead against Rarity’s, “Nah, that’s a sacrum. ‘Sacred’ is what you call a plank of wood with four small wheels attached to it.”

“Psshsht, silly Rainbow, that’s a skateboard. A sacred is a suspension of salt in water used for medical purposes.”

Ooooh, word games! That is my JAM! Thought Sunset, “No, you’re thinking of Saline,” she said as Applejack’s confusion turned to mild betrayal as the Equestrian girl joined in, “It’s what you call a vessel powered by the wind using a sheet of cloth mounted on a framework bolted to the deck.”

Fluttershy was trying to hold back her giggles as she joined the cuddle puddle, Rarity was a giggling, grinning mess and couldn’t even open her eyes without a tear spilling out so was just letting it all happen. Rainbow Dash continued the game, “That’s a sailboat. Sacred is the character from the cartoon about the animated sea sponge that lives in a pineapple under the sea.”

“No, silly!” said Pinkie, “That’s Squidward.”

“What’s a squid-word?” grinned Rainbow, clearly realizing they were nearly at whatever punchline Pinkie was steering them to.

“Cephalopod!” chirped Pinkie as she popped herself out of the cuddle puddle and landed on the floor with a cheerleader’s pose.

Sunset’s barely contained chuckles blew out into all-out belly laughter, her arms gripping her torso as she rolled around on her bed, barely able to keep from pounding the bed with her fist to express her humor.

Applejack’s quietly moaned, “What have I got myself into…” finally set off Rarity, who began laughing in the most undignified (but joyous) way, and while she’d deny it until the end of her days, giggle-snorted several times.

You hearing all this?

Why do you think I’m playing Tetris with the sound muted? The walls aren’t that thick. I can probably hear it better than you, you’ve got two doors and a hallway between your bedroom and hers, I’ve just got the one wall.

In fairness, you could have had your headset on.

You know you’d be hearing me give orders to my squad mates even over that racket they’re making in there.

Should we do anything about it?

Like what? They’re pack bonding, nothing wrong with that.

I just feel like I *should* be doing something. Supervising or…I don’t know.

That’s just your new ‘mom’ instincts kicking in. Just keep an ear open and try to relax. Keep calm and mom on.

I still feel like I was tricked into being her mother, and if I thought there was ANY way you could have arranged it, I’d be pointing fingers right now.

Sister, you’ve got Big Mom Energy, as the kids say. Just accept it, the universe was going to make it happen for you one way or another. If anything, you can blame yourself. Well, the pony version, anyway.

Oh, she and I are having words when the portal finally opens.

No! Bad Alpha, no challenging the leader of their free world to a dominance contest! Don’t make me sick Redheart on you with a rolled-up magazine.

I’m never living that down, am I?

Like I’d let you! ○( ＾皿＾)っ Hehehe…

Think we should tell Sunset that we can hear everything they’re doing through those walls?

She’ll figure it out on her own…but if she does bring someone over for some…happy naked fun time, we should probably say something.

BEFORE they do anything, right?

…and there you go ruining my fun.

Author's Note

Yes, I'm back, and with a new chapter of Deviation, too!
The observant will notice I'm adding chapter titles, and yes, there's a theme and intention behind how they look and what they mean. Throw your guesses in the comments for me to confirm, deny, or slap a spoiler label on. :pinkiehappy:
That's not all, I've also got the start of a new fic I've been working on for nearly a year posted on AO3. It's not a pony-fic (though will it crossover with our favorite girl-horses/horse-girls at some point? With me involved it would be silly to assume it wouldn't... :rainbowwild: )
I'll be posting to my blog here on FiMFiction.net with what my future plans are and what to expect from me, as well as a bit more on what's been going on to slow down fic activity lately, so check me out there.

Friendship/Games - Basic/Instinct

Author's Note

Sneaky TLT reference is Sneaky, see if you can spot it.

MAJOR TW CHANGE FOR THIS CHAPTER ONLY!

Blood
Violence
Animal death
Holocaust mention
Torture mention
Hate group mention

Friendship/Games - Basic/Instinct

Sunset had experienced many a morning after while serving as the Beloved Student of Princess Celestia, but it was never a welcome or pleasant thing. Verbal sparring while all the competitors were imbibing increasingly toxic levels of alcohol, getting into an argument with the princess (sometimes under their breaths, sometimes loud enough to be heard in Ponyville), then returning to her quarters angry and bitter did not make for a good following morning, no matter how gentle a hungover Celestia had tried to make it by raising the sun as slow as possible.

Waking up in a massive cuddle pile with her new pack-mates, however, was so wonderful, so revitalizing to her soul that she would gladly have dealt with every single one of her many and myriad Alpha traits just to enjoy a morning like this every so often. There were at least two sources of sleepy purring beside herself, and she couldn’t tell which Alpha or omega it was.

It hadn’t been without hiccups; partway through the night, she wasn’t exactly sure when, nearly the whole pack had been woken up by Rainbow Dash’s absolutely terrifying snore. A half-asleep Applejack curled around the omega, pinning her on her side so she couldn’t roll on her back and repeat the sound, followed by Fluttershy scooting in closer and wrapping her arms around both of the other girls. Rarity, Pinkie, and Sunset managed to nod off again after about a quarter-hour, Rainbow hadn’t woken for any of it.

As much as Sunset wanted to stay comfortably embedded in the warmth and comfort of her friend’s sleeping bodies, the demands of her bladder would not be denied now that her body was rousing properly. She began shifting limbs and Rarity rolled gently off the bed, the beta girl apparently also awake. They helped each other out of the bed and took turns using the en-suite bathroom before tiptoeing out of the room and closing the door quietly.

They made their way to the kitchen and found Celestia already pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Good morning, girls,” she said brightly, “Do you drink coffee, Rarity?” Celestia was already pouring Sunset a cup.

“Oh, that would be lovely, I am normally an absolute harridan before caffeine.”

Celestia chuckled, passing Sunset her mug and pulling another down in almost one smooth motion, “Luna is the same way, so we definitely keep plenty of coffee in the house. Milk or sugar?” she added as she poured.

“Yes, please, to both.” Rarity glanced curiously at Sunset, who was already sipping down her very much black coffee.

Sunset shrugged, “Lotta late nights preparing for finals at CSGU, I got used to taking it black ‘cause I was too impatient to trudge down to the palace kitchens for some milk. ‘sides, the royal chefs would have probably ambushed me and tried to make my coffee ‘gourmet’,” she intentionally mispronounced the Prench word as ‘goor-mett’, “And, frankly, I was too damn tired to wait 20 minutes for them to make me a damn cup of jo.” She took another pull at her coffee and stopped mid-sip, eyes shifting worriedly from Rarity over to Celestia. She swallowed and lowered her mug, “Ah…” She found herself at a loss, her brain catching up to the fact that she just revealed she’d spilled a pack secret against Celestia’s orders.

Celestia just grinned as she passed the requested beverage additives to Rarity, “This is as good a time as any to let you know the walls aren’t exactly soundproofed here. Luna and I could hear pretty much everything.”

Both Sunset and Rarity blushed, though the latter also tittered nervously. “Oh, um…I do hope…that is to say…”

Celestia smiled at the beta as she turned to the fridge, only barely paying attention to actions that were so habitual she performed them without conscious thought, “Don’t forget, I was the one who authored the bill in the National Alpha Council to destigmatize betas being full members of packs.”

Any response Rarity may have made was interrupted by Sunset nearly choking on her coffee. Celestia paused in her breakfast routine to make sure her daughter-in-all-but-name-and-saying-it-out-loud was okay. Rarity rubbed and lightly patted Sunset’s back with the hand not holding her mug.

Finally getting her physical reactions under control, Sunset put her mug down and wiped the back of her hand against her bottom lip to catch the little coffee that escaped while she coughed. “Two things,” she said croakily, “First, why would a beta not be allowed in a pack? Isn’t the whole job of an Alpha to guard the pack? If that doesn’t include betas it’d just be the few Alpha’s they get along with and their omegas…pretty small pack, really.” Celestia noticed Rarity start to practically glow at Sunset’s apparent shock regarding anti-beta prejudice but said nothing, knowing the girl would wave it off anyway. “Second,” Sunset continued, “And I say this having pretty much lived with your pony self nearly my whole life, you were in government?!”

Celestia noticed that Rarity seemed as caught off-guard as she was, “Why would that surprise you?” after the question, she finished fishing out her eggs from the fridge and grabbed a loaf of bread, carting them to the counter to make herself food. “Oh, and did you girls want anything? I’m mostly an eggs and toast girl, myself.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose…” tempered Rarity, “But I could go for a bagel, if you have one. If not, toast will do nicely, thank you.”

“Cel…goddess, I miss hay-bagels,” muttered Sunset under her breath. Celestia made a mental note to ask later what name the girl kept starting to say before switching to the more generic ‘goddess.’ “I’ll have eggs and toast, too. Oatmeal just doesn’t do it for me since I got here. …stupid predator’s body…” she groused, “And what I mean is this country doesn’t have a noble class, it was one of the first things I looked for when I found the library, I was trying to find out which family lines I needed to…ah,” she glanced sheepishly at Rarity, probably trying to guage how to explain her strategy of more or less schmoozing up to the right people to get what she wanted, “’Butter up’ to. How were you in the government if you aren’t appointed by a royal house or decree?”

“Oh, that’s…goodness, I hadn’t considered that.” Rarity trailed off and looked to Celestia with the request for help written all over her face.

Celestia happily broke out her metaphorical educator’s hat as she started preparing food for the three of them, “We actually were a collective of colonies of the crown before the War for Independence,” she began, “The first Colonial Alpha Counsel declared independence after the European powers kept trying to tax the colonies like crazy to fund their wars. There’s…a lot about that you won’t know about, it’s covered in 3rd-grade social studies, which you missed.” She winked at Sunset playfully as she set about cutting Rarity’s bagel for the toaster, “I’ll talk to Nagatha about some coursework to get you caught up on US history.”

Sunset’s head tilted in confusion at that, “’Yeoo-Ess,’” she said, somehow making two letters sound like a foreign word.

“Short for ‘United Sovereign Packlands, the U.S.P., or just ‘US’ for short.” Sunset gave a comprehending, silent ‘ah’ as she sipped her coffee. “The same group of Alphas who just bucked off a High Alpha didn’t want to submit to anyone else, either, plus the betas and omegas who fought alongside the Alphas didn’t want the old feudal system to continue, some of them had finally started building little business empires and they didn’t want an Alpha coming in to claim it, so they came up with a representative system. It’s full of compromises that have had to be amended over the last couple centuries and we have a long way to go before we get real equality, which is a partial answer to your question about betas. Historically, they’ve been marginalized due to Alphas constantly fighting over the top spots in a pack, even after nations got large enough that the old pack structure just started looking like tyranny. The Holocaust War was about betas trying to exterminate Alphas and omegas using eugenics and…other methods,” Sunset noticed Rarity grimacing at this, “Which only served to set back equal rights measures for betas by centuries.”

Sunset’s brow pinched together, “Oh…I get it. Back home we had a history of the pony races being very divided. Unicorns considered themselves superior so set things up so they’d be in charge and have all the power, the pegasi were basically a military state that liked to think they were better than any ground-bound pony, and the earth ponies got, well, kinda dumped on. The Hearth’s Warming story gets really dark the more you dig into it.”

“Hearth’s Warming?” interrupted Rarity, “What does the holiday have to do with how the races interacted?”

Sunset smiled, “I guess it would be pretty different here, since it’s not about the founding of the country…anyway, the three pony tribes used to fight all the time, but when you get down to it, the earth ponies were pretty much a slave class to the other two. They fled and then revolted when the unicorns and pegasi followed. If it weren’t for the windigoes giving them a reason to band together, they might have killed off pony-kind before Discord even got his chance a few years later.”

Celestia placed a plate in front of Sunset and Rarity, “That’s actually fairly similar to our own Hearth’s Warming origin; the Alphas, betas, and omegas were at war, then a plague hit and they had to stop fighting. A sage from each group each wound up contributing to find a cure.”

Sunset’s stomach growled at the sight of eggs and toast on her plate. As she grabbed the fork Celestia provided she chuckled, “I’m guessing the story is very romanticized?”

Celestia put her plate down on the breakfast bar and decided to eat standing up, “Just as I’m guessing ponies owning each other as slaves isn’t mentioned in a holiday play?”

Sunset saluted Celestia with her fork and popped a bite into her mouth. The principal took that as a cue to continue her impromptu civics lesson, “The representative system was intended to give everyone a voice and make sure nobody could abuse power, so three branches of government were set up and a document was drafted to outline the rights, liberties, freedoms, responsibilities, etcetera. The president is the Chief Executive…”

Sunset swallowed quickly, “Not ‘Alpha Supreme’ or something like that?”

Celestia chuckled, “Actually, Wheat Farmer wanted that title…”

Rarity gasped, “What?! A beta wanted to be called, ‘Alpha Supreme’?!”

The Pack Alpha chuckled, “Yes, there’s a lot that gets left out of the curriculum, there’s just so much history to cover and we’ve only got you as a student for just so long.” She sipped her own coffee and continued, “The president can pass or veto laws, but can’t propose any and can’t declare war. The Supreme Court was intended to be a court where packs could have final arbitration, but it became a balance to the president and congress and between the federal government and the packs.”

“The third branch of government is where things get a little tricky. It was originally just supposed to be a single governmental body where legislators gathered to propose new laws and do the managing of things, but the Alphas got a little nervous that they were being stripped of their traditional leadership role, so the congressional body was split between the National Alpha Counsel and the Parliament. Parliament is pretty much whoever gets elected by popular vote in their districts, and there’s a set number of people represented by each representative, so the size of Parliament can grow or shrink depending on the census.”

The three had eaten their food by this point, the two teens fidgeting with their mugs. Sunset was paying close attention, her voracious mind consuming the new knowledge as Rarity paid the attention of an interested student who’d heard it all before. Celestia took the last sip of her coffee, “Technically, all pack alphas are members of the Alpha Counsel, though that’s mostly on the state level.”

“Is a state like a province?” asked Sunset.

Celestia thought about this for a moment and nodded, “The first states were those original colonies I mentioned. Since they started out as colonies of different political powers in Europe, they all had different political affiliations and cultures and weren’t really interested in blending those, so they kept separate states, which have pack-lands that can cover counties or cities or even open wildlands. By the time the USP had been around for a century, the country had become a collective whole, even if there are enough differences from state to state that you can tell if you know the cultures of each state.”

She began stacking her dishes, which prompted the girls to do the same. As she took hers to the sink, she finished up her unexpected Saturday morning lecture, “Each Alpha takes a turn serving on their local Alpha Counsel, which elects an Alpha from their number to represent the local counsel on the state level, who then elects someone to represent the state on the federal level.” She took the plates from the girls as Sunset grabbed the coffee pot to refill her mug, and Rarity offered hers for a refill as well. She looked up to Celestia, who nodded and gestured to her mug with her head and shoulders on the counter, wordlessly confirming she wanted more, too. “Put on a new pot for Luna, please,” she said in quick aside. “A few years ago I finished up my time in the National Alpha Counsel.” Her face puckered in remembered frustration, “I don’t think I’d ever do that again. Your princess has my respect for running a federal-level shit-show. I can’t imagine having to do that day after day for…” she shuddered, “Centuries.”

Twilight Velvet’s horn lit up in her signature white-purple glow as she levitated the dishes to the drying rack, noting with a slight melancholy that there were only two pony’s worth of dishes in it. My daughter won’t be graduating for another two years, surely, it’s okay to feel upset that I’m already getting ‘empty nester’ syndrome, she thought.

Her self-pity party was interrupted by a knock at the door of the house. It may have been in one of the older parts of Canterlot owing to her family’s ages-old ‘noble house’ coat-tail status, but it was reflective of the family’s standing in the city that it also wasn’t a very large house, the front door being close enough that, should the dividing wall between the kitchen and dining room not been in the way, she could probably have looked out the front room’s panel windows and seen who was there. The wall persisted in existing, though, so she shouted in the direction of the ceiling, “Nightlight, sweetie, can you get that? I’m almost done with the dishes.”

A muffled, “Sure thing, honey,” came in reply followed by the thumping of hooves on carpet as her husband hustled down the stairs from the second story.

She turned on the kitchen sink faucet again and formed a little spout on the outlet with her magic to pressurize and direct the flow, spraying down the sides of the sink to rinse out the remaining dishwater. Lil’ Twilight Sparkle had figured out how to do that when she was 12 and struggling just to lift the plates when it was her turn on washing, and it’d quickly been picked up by the rest of the family when they were doing the chore as it made the entire process immeasurably easier for a unicorn. She began to feel slightly melancholic again, nostalgic for the time her children were actually children and not adults (or nearly so in the case of Twilight), when her husband called from the front door, “Hun, it’s Sunny Skies.”

Blinking in surprise, she absently shut off the water and looked up at the wall calendar, She’s two days early…? Twilight checked her appearance in a convenient window reflection before she pushed open the swinging door connecting the kitchen to the dining room.

Framed in the door was a white unicorn mare with bright, golden blond mane and tail with pink highlights. A familiar sun-shaped cutiemark graced her flank, but it was naturally smaller than the symbol gracing the Princess’ hindquarters, so most ponies (like dear, slightly oblivous Nightlight) never guessed the actual identity of the pony paying the Velvet/Light home a visit. “Oh, Sunny! I didn’t expect you today…” she glanced over to her husband trying to keep the mild panic off her face.

While he may have been slightly oblivious about other ponies, he proved he wasn’t oblivious to her and gave her a reassuring smile, “Don’t sweat it, hun, the club’s having a game night tonight anyway. Sunny here just gave me a good excuse as any to go so I can leave you two to have your mare-talk.”

She actually had to work to keep the relieved exhale from being too obvious, “Oh, that’d be lovely, sweetie.”

He turned to the mare still waiting outside the door, “C’mon in, Sunny.” He turned and trotted past Twilight, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, “Just let me get my saddlebags and I’ll be out of your hair.” With that, he trotted up the stairs and out of sight.

The mare named Sunny Skies stepped into the Velvet/Light manse and anypony who didn’t know her would think she was expecting a lovely visit with a friend. Twilight had only known her personally for a few months and could already tell the mare’s emotions were an absolute tempest. “Thanks for having me, Twilight,” she began, “I know we normally have these chats on Tuesday, but something came up and I just had to step out for a bit and, well, my hooves seem to have led me here.”

This explanation caused Velvet’s eyebrows to wing up under her hairline. With as much as her visitor normally dealt with on a day-to-day, the only thing that would cause her so much stress she’d have to step away from her normal duties and see Twilight, of all ponies, was…oh, dear… she thought.

Before either mare could say anything further, the sound of Nightlight’s hooves on the stair sounded through the house and moments later he was trotting past his wife, another trot-by-kiss delivered, “You two have a fun ‘filly’s night’ tonight,” he said, his magic adjusting the drape of his saddlebags as he nodded at Sunny as he passed her. “Do all the things we warn our children not to do and I expect to read about the rabblerousing you two get up to in the paper tomorrow.” He paused at the door to wink at his wife.

Twilight gave him a fond smile, “Go have fun, you troublemaker.”

He magicked over a bucket hat from the nearby hat stand and tipped the headwear to her before blowing her another kiss and closing the door behind him.

They remained quiet, watching him trot away until he was out of sight.

“Manehattan?” queried Sunny Skies, seemingly randomly.

“Steamtrain,” replied Twilight.

Simultaneously they lit their horns and twin spells fanned out and swept the house. Once every cubic inch of the place had been scanned twice, Twilight closed the curtains with her magic and levitated a decorative shade over to cover the area in front of the window she’d bought for this very purpose a few weeks prior. Sunny almost seemed to collapse, rump thumping against the front room carpet and head sinking so low she was almost brushing the floor between her front hooves with her nostrils.

“Tea?” offered Twilight with a flinch.

The other unicorn nodded, “Something stronger if you’ve got it.”

Twilight grimaced, “That bad, huh? Well, I think we’ve got a little rum left, not enough to really get you drunk, but it might take the edge off…but let’s start with the tea.”

A quarter of an hour later, Sunny sat across from Twilight Velvet slowly nursing her cup of ginger tea.

“Apparently there was an incident a week ago.”

Sunny’s pronouncement shattered the silence that had settled over the house. Twilight actually had to pause to get her brain caught up, trying to make sure there hadn’t been some conversation she’d tuned out on accident. Once she had reassured herself that no, she hadn’t missed anything, she asked, “Involving Sunset?”

Sunny nodded, took a sip, then elaborated, “You remember that sleepover I told you about last time?”

Twilight nodded, a bit buoyed at the memory of how happy Sunny was last Tuesday.

“I was so excited that she was finally doing ‘normal filly’ things, things she missed out on being my…student… that I didn’t think to ask any questions.”

“I presume that the incident was somehow the cause of the sleepover?” Velvet ventured.

Sunny sipped at her tea, fortified with a splash of rum, “It turns out that instead of simple politics and a royal guard, my counterpart deals with challenges to her authority with direct violence.”

At first, Twilight didn’t seem to register the concern. Then it occurred to her the level of violence Sunny had dealt with over the centuries, and for the other mare to be concerned about it must mean… “Exactly… how violent? ‘Yaks on a bender’ or ‘cranky, sleepy dragon’?”

Her face partially covered by the teacup, the other mare gave a thousand-yard-stare over the rim and said, “’It’s not uncommon for one of the participants to be fitted for a body bag’ levels of violence.”

Twilight was exceedingly glad to have not been actively drinking her tea at that moment or she would have choked on it. As it was, she barely got the now shaking cup back to the saucer on the coffee table. “…oh…” said a weak voice into the silence, and it took a moment for her to realize it had been her.

Sunny tossed back the rest of her tea and gently put the cup down across from Twilight’s, “The reason she didn’t mention the conflict, they call it a ‘territory challenge,’ was because it happens with such frequency they didn’t consider it to be at all worthy of mention. It took up several inches in the journal of me asking multiple questions before the other me even picked up that I was distressed about that fight. And then when I got clarification on the connection to the sleepover…” Sunny shuddered, and Twilight could tell it wasn’t needless dramatics but genuine emotion powering it.

It had been several hours, and the rest of Sunset’s new pack had roused themselves. Redheart had made a special trip to do a follow-up on Sunset, given the rushed and somewhat incomplete exam the previous afternoon.

“Well,” pronounced the medical professional as she tugged off her nitrile gloves, “I can confirm no concussion, or at least as much of a confirmation as we could get without a CAT scan. No broken bones, though there’s a few bruises and a sprain and a strain that needs plenty of R&R. That means no challenge fighting, no P.E., and no pack runs until you can flex and extend both arms without pain or tightness.”

Sunset’s brow scrunched together as Applejack and (to Sunset’s surprise) Fluttershy both vocally objected on her behalf. She even saw Celestia’s eyes tighten, the only sign the older Alpha was upset by this declaration.

It was Applejack’s words that caught her attention most, “What’d’ya mean, she can’t challenge Gilda?!” complained the farm girl, “That girl’s already impossible, she’ll be cock-o-the-walk if’n Sunset can’t challenge her!”

Nurse Redheart was resolute, “No. It’s a small miracle she doesn’t have a split lip or cheek that would require stitches. Gilda was not holding back when she attacked Sunset. If she hadn’t stopped when she had we’d probably be looking at broken bones or internal injuries. Sunset needs to recover before she can even think about that kind of thing.”

“I don’t understand,” interrupted Sunset, “Why would I challenge her to a fight? She…kinda kicked my ass.”

Fluttershy, once again surprising her, stepped close and clasped Sunset’s hands, “That’s exactly why you should be challenging her as soon as possible…” she nodded in Redheart’s direction and, in a much more deferential voice, said “Once you’re medically cleared for it, of course. I know you come from a world of ponies…and I would love to visit there someday, you probably look so cute as a pony!”

As she blushed, Sunset saw Redheart lean over and murmer to Celestia, “They know?”

“Sleepovers and secrets, you can guess what happened,” muttered Celestia with a smile, expression still creased with concern. Redheart responsed with a silent ‘oh.’

Fluttershy continued, either not noticing or willfully ignoring the adults, “So you probably come from a prey…a herding culture; leadership in a herd shifts depending on who’s the healthiest and most fit at any given time and happens with a consensus, at least it does among horses here…”

Sunset shrugged, “Well, there is a lot of politics involved, but with the exception of the Princess the noble houses do shift in power depending on which is more capable at the time. It’s part of why the premier schools in Equestria belong to the crown, no one family could sponsor one long enough to go generational.”

Rainbow giggled, “Schools? What are you, a nerd?”

Sunset rolled her eyes at this, “Celestia’s Beloved Student, remember? ‘Nerd’ is kinda baked in.”

Her reminder of her status as the princess’ protégé seemed to be the hook Fluttershy needed, “Yes, that! How would you have responded if someone had managed to get a higher score in a special test?”

Sunset felt a spike of incredulous anger, “Yeah, right! Nopony could even come close! If they tried I’d out-study them…” she saw Celestia’s eyebrow twitch up and a knowing smile quirk her lips. Sunset blushed and confessed, “…and I’d probably wage a shadow campaign to discredit them and make their life miserable to pressure them to back off.”

Fluttershy released Sunset’s hands and gripped her arms, clearly trying to drive her point home. “And if someone showed up that was somehow better than you in every way? Someone who, just by being around, threatened your position with the princess?”

As much as Sunset had grown bitter about the mare herself, as much bad business had happened the last time they saw each other as more than words on a journal page, as much water had passed under that particular burned bridge, Sunset’s pride still flared strong at the mere thought of someone supplanting her place by Princess Celestia’s side. The muscles in her face tightened into a sneer, “I’d find a way to end them!” All at once she understood what Fluttershy was saying, “…oh…”

The normally reserved Alpha girl smiled grimly, “You’re one of the strongest Alpha presences I’ve ever felt. Not as strong as Celestia, and some of the teachers are stronger, too, but I’ve never been around someone our age who can just…quiet a room like you did.”

Sunset winced at the memory of that first time she experienced her own Alpha fury but nodded slowly. “Gilda wasn’t just going after me to get back at me about Dash or losing control, she came after me because I was the toughest pony in the cell block?”

This drew a cackle from Rainbow Dash, a snort of amusement from Applejack, and a chuckle from Celestia. “I would prefer an analogy that doesn’t compare my school to a prison, but that is essentially correct.”

Sunset quieted, her mind turning inward and casting back to her time in the Equestrian equivalent to high school, to the competitive nature of the Middle Session years to get the best test scores, write the best papers, score the best contacts to gain access to the best research. She had dozens, possibly counting in the triple digits, of basic- and proficiency-level skills she had learned for the sole purpose of being “the best” at anything, and for those subjects that caught her interest, she had a mastery level and beyond. In every case, however, all that learning began with one of two things; seeking a mentor in the subject or researching until she had more knowledge in her head than whomever she was trying to best, then practicing until she could perform whatever tasks she needed to attain proficiency in her sleep.

She looked up, seeing that she was still the subject of everyone’s attention, even if they had all remained quiet to give her time to think. She glanced around the room, realizing that she had an entire pool of subject matter experts in this very room. She let her eyes flicker to catch everyone’s gaze at least briefly before turning her whole attention to Celestia.

Are you forty forms of fucking out of your mind?! Her past self seemed to scream at her from the recesses of her subconscious, Don’t you remember what happened last time you were Celestia’s student?!

Gently squeezing Fluttershy’s hands, Sunset straightened her spine as she thought, Of course I do, and I’m going to be a student and learn from it. Still holding Celestia’s gaze, she asked, “Can you train me to fight like you did with that Alpha yesterday?”

That had clearly been the right thing to say, as Celestia’s face lit up like…well, the sun.

“Oh, she’s learning their culture?” Twilight asked hopefully.

Sunny sighed mournfully, “You…don’t understand. Sunset is driven. She’ll do anything to win. I once saw her drag a dozen cookbooks into the royal kitchens, chase half the staff out, and pretty much camp out there just so she could prove that ‘anypony’ could make croissants better than the palace pastry chef. The staff had to use the backup kitchens for a week and Sunset insisted that he be fired.”

“Oooooh, wait! I know this one! Or, at least the next part, wasn’t that Jo?” Twilight interrupted.

Sunny lost her pained expression in favor of an incredulous one, “Yes! You know what happened to my pastry chef?”

Velvet chuckled, “Oh, well I didn’t really connect him to Sunset until that story, but he and Twilight get along like a house on fire! I swear he’s one of the only ponies Twily will go out of her way to talk to. He didn’t say it was Sunset that challenged his skills, but he did say he took that as a sign that he needed to leave the palace staff and start his own shop to make his ‘true passion’ of…”

“Donuts,” both mares said at the same time with a fond chuckle.

Sunny was truly smiling for the first time since entering the house, “And that was worth losing a pastry chef. I didn’t tell either of them at the time, but Jo’s donuts were always better than his other pastries…including his croissants, and I’m just as glad he quit without waiting for Sunset to finish her final batch…Her’s really were better.”

Twilight didn’t reply, not wanting to interrupt the fond, motherly smile, one she recognized easily because she’d made it about her own children more times than she could possibly remember. She deserves more good ‘mommy’ memories, she thought, She’s practically Equestria’s mom, but really needs to experience it from her own child more often. With any luck, the team Celestia assembled would be able to make it happen, and Twilight once again renewed her determination to do her part.

All too soon, the smile faded from Sunny’s face, starting with her eyes. Twilight couldn’t help but think it reminded her of watching the sun set. “Sunset doesn’t stop,” Sunny’s voice was choked, “Until she achieves her goal, whatever it may be. She never made another croissant, she just wanted to prove she was right.” She used her magic to lift the kettle, Twilight noting that it wasn’t a stable hold and the pour was downright sloppy for a mare who’d been pouring tea for centuries. “So…she…the other me…will be training my daughter on how to be a good Alpha,” the kettle almost wobbled its way back to the serving tray.

When Sunny didn’t continue right away, just letting the steam rise from the still hot tea, Velvet let the mare have her silence, noticing a slight sheen of unshed tears and kept herself from commenting by picking up her own tea in her magic and sipping slowly.

Several pregnant pauses later, Sunny finally broke the silence, “Principal Celestia is teaching Sunset how to hunt.”

This time, Twilight did choke on her tea.

Sunset held the very obvious children’s book like it was slightly radioactive. “This is the best book you’ve got on how to hunt?!”

Cheerilee chuckled, and if Celestia hadn’t briefed her that morning about helping Sunset with the “theory” of hunting (Sunset’s words), she would have been completely confused and a bit insulted by Sunset’s incredulity. “You have to understand, dearie, hunting isn’t really something that’s studied, it’s just done. Books like that are to make sure young Alphas can describe the things they’re experiencing for the first time. Most cubs have a solid handle on the basics before they get into middle school.”

“Nobody studies hunting as a sociological construct? I’d think at the very least there would be an anthropological paper on it.” The teen held the book with one hand and started flipping through it with the other, “I think there are literally more pictures in this book than words.”

The language arts teacher and librarian shook her head, struggling not to laugh at Sunset’s frustration, “I forget you’ve passed university levels back where you’re from sometimes. Yes, there are some papers published, but none of those will teach you the basics like this will. And it’s not that bad, there’s maybe three pictures per chapter. It’s designed to work with a parent’s teaching their children how to hunt.”

Sunset held the book open absently, eyebrows pinched and corners of her mouth turned down, eyes slightly unfocused as they twitched back and forth like she was reading words written on an invisible whiteboard. Cheerilee had learned the look was Sunset’s ‘I’m about to drop a very verbose and extremely well-referenced ad-hoc essay on you’ look. She mentally prepared herself even as she had to work to keep her amused pleasure at having such a good student in her library off her face. “But…what about children of betas? Or if an Alpha’s Alpha parent dies before it’s time to teach them? You might as well teach sex ed with a pamphlet that just has, ‘don’t do it’ written on it!”

Cheerilee blushed and actually did laugh out loud at that, “You’re not wrong, though most of the time the rest of the pack will help in those situations. It used to be Alphas born to betas or had lost their Alpha parent would just be taken in as a child of the pack and moved into the Pack Alpha’s family. That stopped being allowed about 50 or so years ago.”

Now Sunset’s face was about halfway between a grimace and a frown, “Let me guess; right around the time of the Holocaust War?” In response to Cheerilee’s flinch, Sunset gave a very equine-like snort, “I’m starting to think everything ties back to that war.”

Cheerilee sighed, “That’s…yes, you’re right, it does. It was a worldwide war, after all.”

“…what?!” Sunset looked both ill and horrified and nearly dropped the book.

Cheerilee was feeling the slightly vertiginous feeling she got when she really contemplated everything that was implied by Sunset’s mere existence. “Surely you had wars in your history back on your home world?”

“Not in 1,000 years we haven’t!” Sunset hissed, “And even then it was a civil war just in Equestria!”

It took Twilight Velvet a few minutes to collect herself and clean up the mess. Fortunately, the teacup didn’t break. Unfortunately, it was saved by landing on the area rug. The very old, antique area rug that had been in the family for at least two generations.

Sunny sighed down at the stain, “I’ll send someone down from the palace under the guise of getting something for Twilight, I’m sure Kibitz or Raven can find someone to take care of that.”

Velvet grumbled half-heartedly for a moment, then poured herself a cup of tea. Noticing it had cooled a bit, she used her magic to warm her cup first and then the pot itself. “It’s okay, we made it through the kid’s ‘terrible twos,’ not to mention Twily’s ‘practical experimentation’ phase when we got her that chemistry set. In the end, this isn’t that big a deal.”

Sunny smiled indulgently, “Take it from someone who’s had to let go of more than a few sentimentally important things over the years, you’ll want to hold on to your memories.”

Twilight nodded and took a sip from her fresh cup, “I’ll take your word for it…now tell me about this hunting thing?” Velvet could hear her pitch rise as she neared the end of the sentence.

Sunny sighed, this time in muted sadness, “Ah, yes, I…it’s not like I’ve never dealt with someone who’s hunted for their food before. Back before Griffinstone fell, we regularly had visits of state and as a visiting dignitary I was frequently invited on royal hunts whenever I went.” Sunny noticed Twilight looked vaguely ill and hurried to explain, “I never directly participated in the hunt, and unlike a lot of the Nightmare Night tales fillies and colts like to tell around campfires, griffins have never hunted ponies, not even when Discord was in control.”

This mollified Twilight somewhat, “Oh, good! But what about the other races?”

Sunny chuckled darkly, “Griffins don’t eat the meat of anything that can talk. They say there’s something off with the taste. I don’t think any griffon has eaten the meat of another sentient in centuries, so I’m not sure how they’d know, but the superstition keeps their hunting practices…unproblematic, for lack of a better term.”

Sunset was genuinely unsettled, the poor girl was barely able to read a page before putting the book down and pacing for several minutes in front of the television. Luna was quite glad she had cooking dinner to distract her, or she’d have been tempted to grab the girl by the lapels of her jacket and give her a few good shakes while demanding she calm down. Sunset never said anything, she just paced a bit, then sat down, picked up the book, and continued reading.

Luna had legitimately run out of things to do to stretch out dinner’s cooking and prep any longer, so after about the 240th (she may have been exaggerating a little) such circuit of the living room and reading material, she sighed loudly and said, “Sunset, take a seat.”

“Hmm?” the girl glanced over to Luna briefly, then started another pace of the room with a wave of her hand, “No, it’s okay, this is my thought process.”

Luna gave the former pony an exasperated glare, “Sit,” she snapped, “Down.”

For her part, Sunset seemed to realize her gaff and hustled over to the Celestia-sized barstool-style chairs at the kitchen island before planting herself in a seat with only a little difficulty. She’s going to be tall for a girl, Luna noted absently, Not as tall as Celestia, certainly, but I’ll probably be looking her in the eye by the time she’s 16…16 on this side of the portal, anyway. “Thank you. You’ve been practically trying to start a fire with your shoes and the carpet over there.”

Sunset flinched, “Sorry! I’m just trying to…absorb the information in the book. There’s so much I haven’t even thought about hunting. Cel…er, Princess Celestia used to tell me about her occasional state visits to Griffinstone ages ago and I think I was just so revolted by the thought of a sentient being going out and eating meat intentionally I never thought to ask about the actual process.” Almost absently at first, Sunset cast her eyes around the kitchen and spotted the dinner Luna was making. It was a simple one-pan dish consisting of some mixed vegetables, pan-gravy, pasta…and a pound of ground beef.

Luna kept her features neutral, refusing to show the sympathetic regret she felt at her choice of dinner. Sorry, kiddo, she thought, Meat eating’s a fact of life for you now. “Don’t sweat it too badly, kid. A lot of betas get squeamish about it, too.”

Sunset was turning slightly green, “I thought at first a children’s book wouldn’t really be very useful, but I keep stumbling onto little things that…” she shuddered. “The worst part is part of me is starting to really look forward to it, like now that I know all the bits involved just having words for the concepts are activating nodes in my brain for the computer of ‘Alpha’ that’s up here,” she tapped at her skull.

“’Nodes?’ Do you mean ‘circuits’?” she waved her hand absently, “Never mind, probably a difference between how computers work in your world versus ours. Thing is,” Luna started plating the food, “I don’t think it’s just that weirdness bothering you. I’ve seen you adapt to things pretty well and yeah, you’ve had your moments of breakdown, but honestly, you’re handling it all like a champ.” Scraping the rest of the food out of the pan and onto the third plate, she let the moment gestate as she put the pan in the sink and fished the flatware out of a drawer. “I’ve only ever seen you get this brand of nervous, not to mention the particular scent of this,” Luna gesticulated in Sunset’s direction with an all-encompassing circle with the forks, “Kind of anxiety only ever happens when the journal starts buzzing during Celestia’s daily check-in with the Princess. And that won’t happen today for another,” she glanced at the wall clock, “hour and a half. So why don’t you tell me what’s got you tied up in knots?” Even as she said it, Luna was glad she was dealing with Sunset, as a less mature student might have chuckled lewdly at the mention of a knot in any context the same way some of them did when the number ‘sixty-nine’ came up in conversation.

The equestrian ex-pat glanced across the room to the archway that opened to the hall that led to Celestia’s office, as though fearing she might get caught uttering something clandestine, then glanced down at her own nervously clasping hands. It took a few moments, and more than one false start, but Sunset finally explained why she was so nervous.

“The worst part,” Sunny practically moaned, her eyes misting over a bit, “Is even if Sunset were here, even if she were going through this or anything like this…” a sniffle escaped, “She wouldn’t come to me. I put the ‘princess’ before ‘mother’ and now…”

Velvet was at the cabinet that bore the title, “liquor cabinet” but was more likely to be used for holding the children’s gifts to parents and various projects she and Nighty wanted to keep for posterity. As such, she wasn’t looking at the other mare so felt free to roll her eyes a bit. I know I’m her first real outlet for this, but really, every week? With an under-breath grunt, she shoved the nearly empty bottle of rum back in the cabinet and closed it with a ‘snickt’ of the latch. “Okay, you know what?”

The abrupt statement and action of closing the cabinet clearly caught Sunny by surprise. She lifted her head and blinked her incipient tears away with a startled, “Mwuh?”

“We,” she trotted over to the couch and began collecting the tea set with her magic, “Are going to follow my husband’s advice.”

Velvet deliberately didn’t respond to Sunny’s confused glower as she trotted over to the swinging saloon-style doors leading to the kitchen. By the time she returned from pouring out the undrunk tea, Sunny was almost scowling as she mentally reviewed the brief contact she had with Nightlight earlier, “What advice?”

“We,” Velvet allowed smugness to color her tone, “Are going out on the town.”

“What?!” Sunny went from confused to panicked in a heartbeat, “But we can’t go out there right now! What if other ponies find out?”

“Find out what? That their princess needs a night out every hundred years or so?” she rolled her eyes, deliberately ensuring that Sunny could see her do so, “Or maybe that some random mare named Sunny decided to go out with a friend and get plastered?” As she spoke, she trotted over to the door and pulled a couple of hats down, plopping the stocking cap on her own head and levitating the toque over to the other mare. When she merely stared at the thing with a blend of confusion and horror, Twilight plopped it on Sunny’s head. “Normal, mortal ponies are going to be chilly this time of year, you’ll need it to blend in. Besides, if you’re that worried about being recognized, the hat will help. The more ridiculous you look, the easier it is for ponies to ignore you as Somepony Else’s Problem.”

“’Somepony Else’s Problem’? Really?”

“Yes, Daring has been teaching me a few things about disguises. Now,” she opened the door and, when Sunny didn’t move from the couch, bodily lifted the other mare with her magic (and having to hide the strain, whatever she was doing for the disguise magic, it wasn’t doing a thing for how much she weighed, and given the princess out-massed most ponies by 2-3 times…she wasn’t a small pony)

Sunny slumped as far as the magic allowed and glared at Twilight Velvet, “I’m not being given a choice, am I?”

Velvet snorted in amusement, “N-nope!” and trotted out the door, dragging Sunny Days through the air behind her.

“Sunset is terrified of disappointing you,” explained Luna as she tied her running shoes.

There was a ‘clang’ as Celestia practically dropped the chest press weights rather than ease them down, “Wait, she said that?!”

Luna finished with the laces and straightened, “No, of course not. She did use a ton of forty-dollar words and referenced about half a dozen scholars I don’t think even exist on this side of the portal and said a lot of things that all boil down to her being afraid of disappointing the newest mother figure in her life.”

Celestia frowned, resuming her interrupted set, “No wonder dinner was late, what did you tell her?”

“Mostly some pretty basic, ‘it’s your first hunt, nerves are to be expected,’ kitsch with a bit of pony-isms tossed in. I think I’m the ‘dad’ here,” Luna snorted in amusement, “Apparently my use of horse puns was a little too much and very cringeworthy.”

Celestia finished her set and grabbed her water bottle, “Serves you right for pushing the whole ‘mom’ thing.” Her face fell from a smirk to a small scowl, “So it’ll be up to me to de-escalate a teen dealing with dysmorphia and the usual first hunt trauma.”

“Dysmorphia?”

Celestia took a pull of water before putting her bottle down and starting her next set, “Related to dysphoria. I stumbled across it when I was researching ways to help Sunset since she reacts very much like a trans kid with the way she’s having to deal with new hormones and growing into a new body.” She took a few breaths, the repetitive weight lifting starting to have the intended effect of burning calories and gently strained muscles, “We can’t take her to a mental health professional for it the way we would for someone with an actual case of dysmorphia because the DSM defines it as the perceived,” she used the exhale of her push against the weight machine to emphasize the word, “Difference between how the subject thinks of themselves versus what they see in the mirror. In Sunset’s case…”

“…she genuinely is in a different body than the one she’s supposed to have right now. That’s…rough. Wonder why I never found dysmorphia in my own research?” Luna pondered as she clipped her running belt on.

“Sunset still in her room working on her homework?” Celestia asked as her sister turned on her headset to pair with her phone.

“Last I saw before coming downstairs,” she replied without looking up from her music app, “She was pulling about a dozen reference books from your personal library for Harshwhinny’s assignment on U.S. history.” She smirked as she put one earbud in to test the playback, “She kept muttering about, ‘war-obsessed predators.’”

Celestia rolled her eyes as she finished the set, grabbing a towel to wipe sweat off her forehead, “Well..she’s not wrong.” She stood and wiped down the bench before picking up her bottle and flopping the towel over her shoulder, “Soloing the night run today?”

“You know night runs don’t operate like morning runs do. I don’t bother with a silly all-call. My crew knows when we start, knows the cadence, and knows the route. They don’t need me micromanaging like a dorm mother.”

Celestia rolled her eyes, choosing to forgo the long-running argument between them. Instead, she started her first set of Beautiful Warrior curls, grunting from exertion between lifts, “Sunset will have her choice of runs in one week; that’s how long Redheart said she would need to recover enough for exercise. If she wants to do a night run, will you accommodate her recovery?”

Luna just glared at Celestia, who didn’t even need to look up from her concentration on her form, “Didn’t think so. I’ll let her know she’ll be joining morning runs until she’s fully recovered.”

The vice-principal put her other earbud in, socketed her water bottle in her running belt’s holster, and made her way upstairs.

Sunny’s head was fully rested on the bar, her chin pointing at the tumbler a quarter full of liquid. Next to it sat the bottle, also about a quarter full, but unlike the glass the bottle had started completely full. It was also a type and vintage that Velvet flat out refused to touch when the thing started glowing ember as the earth pony bartender pulled it off the top shelf behind the bar. Over 1,000 years old or not, I hope she’s not flat-out poisoning herself with that! Mused Twilight for perhaps the thousandth time.

This was one of Twilight’s favorite bars, though she didn’t get out to it nearly as much since Shining was born as she did during her younger, more carefree days. It was still owned by the pegasus Heartfire and her adopted earth pony daughter Crookleg (a misnomer if ever there was one, young Crook had been hale and hearty her whole life and even as a teen out-massed some members of the guard) still served drinks of the alcoholic variety to the 5 PM crowd and the caffeinated variety to the 5 AM crowd, but Heartfire was getting gray around the muzzle and Crook had gone off to serve a tour in the guard and had come back with a rarely seen wife, an amusingly-scrawny-to-Crook’s-buff unicorn that Velvet could see her daughter getting along with if she could conspire to get both mares in the same room at some point.

When Crook started by asking what Velvet and her friend wanted to drink, Twilight had ordered her usual and Sunny ordered the ’45 Draco Fireberry Burbon. Crook had laughed in Sunny’s face, but then Sunny dropped a coin on the bar that made Crook’s color drain. The young mare looked at Twilight with a, “What kind of crowd are you mixed up with?!” expression, then disappeared to the back without a word and retrieved Heartfire. Heartfire hadn’t even needed to look at the coin, she just saw Sunny and whispered to Crook to get the mare whatever she wanted and, with a brief nod at Sunny, returned to her office in back. Twilight didn’t see where Sunny put the coin, but it clearly hadn’t been used to pay for the drinks, but Crook also wasn’t saying anything about the tab.

Twilight wondered if she would be served whatever she wanted no questions asked from now on, but quashed the idea as she had a suspicion that she could sell every last piece of property she owned and take out a loan for as much as the bank would give her and still not be able to afford that one bottle Sunny had casually consumed most of already.

“You know what?” interjected Sunny randomly, “I think your husband was right. I really needed this.”

“Well, in fairness, you really haven’t ‘cut loose’ yet, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an alcohol I was genuinely afraid was going to spontaneously combust before.”

Sunny snickered, finally sitting up and lifting the tumbler in her magic and tossing it back. “Last time I cut loose we went to war with the Yaks…though I think that was more their king being way too fuckin’ stuffy.”

Twilight’s eyes bugged out, “Oh, my! I was starting to wonder if even that stuff could loosen you up,” she gestured at the bottle with the hoof holding her own drink, “But I’ve never…ever heard you swear before, so progress, right?”

Sunny shrugged, “I just…I’m worried. I can’t stop worrying, it seems, and the more drunk I get, the more I start to worry…I’ve been saying ‘worry’ a lot.” She poured herself another glass and mulled over the contents, her eyes starting to lose focus. “I worry that Sunset will ‘go native.’ She’s so…headstrong. Once she decides something is a certain way, well, fuck what anyone else has to say.” She slumped her head back on the bar, staring blearily at the glass, “I mean, I’ve only been around a thou~” Twilight cleared her throat loudly, Sunny flicked her eyes to the other mare with a grateful expression before continuing, “A lot longer than she has, but I couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to want something and not be able to have it, now could I.” The now clearly inebriated mare pulled herself up from her slouch and clopped a hoof on the bar, snorting in frustrated anger, “And then her…‘solution’ to just run away…yes, I…kicked her out, but she was supposed to stay here where…”

Sunny’s ears drooped and her whole body seemed to sag, “…where I could at least try to show her I didn’t hate her.”

Twilight put her drink down on the bar and draped her arm over the other mare’s shoulders. “I’m quite sure she doesn’t think you hate her. She doesn’t understand enough to think you hate her. At most, she probably thinks she disappointed you in some way that can’t be fixed. She probably doesn’t know any more than anyone else what really happened.”

They were quiet for a while, Crook stopping by briefly to top up Twilight’s drink.

Sunny seemed to have drunk enough to relax her inhibitions, to Twilight’s surprise, the next time she raised her head, it was to wrap her neck around Velvet’s. Twilight just leaned into the surprise intimate gesture and rubbed Sunny’s back as the other mare said, “I can’t help but worry…that this hunt will mean I’ll lose Sunset entirely, that I’ll lose Sunset to her.”

At any other time, Sunset would have loved to be where she was at that moment.

The grounds of the school’s game field really were beautiful, with more verdant green trees and fresh growth than Sunset had seen since leaving Equestria. For the first time since becoming a human, she truly appreciated her enhanced sense of smell, as she was able to pick up notes of plant and animal life that she hadn’t been exposed to in some time and all of it triggered happier memories of a time when she actually had hooves and could dine on the wild plant life without having to cook it down thanks to the superior (in her opinion, anyway) equine digestive system. The sheer variety of wild growth tucked into the hidden gem on the school grounds had taken her breath away and, very briefly, made her forget about why she was there in the first place on a Sunday morning instead of comfortably in her bed, resting up as much as possible before starting the morning runs with Celestia tomorrow.

Getting her claws to extend on command had been the most daunting challenge she’d faced thus far, something she’d only managed in the wee hours of the morning. She’d gone down an internet rabbit hole trying to chase down anything that resembled a ‘how to’ guide for humans extending their claws, only to realize that due to her unique nature (As an Equestrian? As an alien? As someone with a magical core? She was unsure what her uniqueness entailed and was frustrated with being the only sample available from which to make anything like an educated guess), she couldn’t use normal human biology as a guide anyway.

Eventually, she realized her claws had more in common with a cat’s than a regular human’s. Initially, she could only get the claws to come out by pressing on the anterior digital region on each finger, which seemed to trigger an autonomic response that got her claws to flex out. The exercise also gave her the answer of how her claws even worked; the raptor-like talons were “stored” in between the distal and middle knuckles of each finger and the fingernail, which was normally just the tip of a normal Alpha human’s claw, was the “bed” on which the claw slid until it snapped into place.

Once getting the claws out was managed, she had to figure out retracting them. This was quite a bit harder, and for a brief period, sometime between 11 PM and midnight, she experienced a bit of existential panic where she imagined that she wouldn’t be able to get them to retract at all and would need them removed surgically. This brought up a host of conflicting emotions which, to her surprise, none of them included relief that she’d be rid of the evidence of the horrible monster living in her skin. Instead, the feeling of dread was closer to her fillyhood fears of losing her horn and how knee-quakingly terrifying the idea was.

During the panic, she was more tempted than she ever had been of trying to initiate an Alpha fury, simply because those were the only times she’d been able to both express her claws and retract them, even if the action was strictly instinctive. She did everything short of giving herself a concussion to terminate that line of thinking whenever it came up. Her “inner Alpha” was something she hoped stayed firmly locked away, never again to rise to the surface.

Eventually, she realized that she could actually feel the little channels in her fingers the claws passed along, and once she found those, she discovered some very tightly tensed muscle and tendon in the tips of her fingers that also served to dull some of the pain receptors in the tips. She spent some time massaging the tension out of those muscles, and as soon as the first claw retracted it acted like a signal to the rest to pull back.

She physically stimulated her hands for both the extension and retraction of the claws multiple times before she started being able to command the appropriate tiny muscle groups to flex just right, but by the time 1 AM rolled around, she’d managed to do it without touching one hand to the other at all. By 2 AM, she figured that she was so good at it she could do it in her sleep…a sentiment that was born out when she collapsed to the bed and passed out from sheer exhaustion only to wake up with punctures in her pillow.

She had no idea why Luna kept snickering when Celestia spent part of breakfast trying to reassure Sunset that night-time incidents like Sunset’s were actually fairly common for teenage Alphas and that even some adults still had the occasional accident where their claws expressed in their sleep. With every giggle the vice-principal let out, Celestia blushed a little bit more, further confusing the young Alpha.

And now, she was on all fours next to a tree, sniffing at a branch.

They had arrived at the game field after the morning caretakers had cleared out. Given the students were charged with (and graded on) maintaining the field and the plant life and all the animals in it, the paid maintenance crew didn’t really have much to do on the weekends other than just make sure nothing major happened since the previous Friday afternoon. This meant that Celestia and Sunset had the entire miniature preserve to themselves.

Sunset’s jacket had been left behind in the car, leaving her in just a t-shirt and her gym shorts and the hunting cleats…which now that she was actually hunting turned out to be far more useful than she had initially thought. Since humans had hunted clothed for millennia, they had developed the specialized shoes. Sunset had read that once upon a time what was now a series of curved metal spikes covered in weather-protective hardened rubber that could be easily replaced by screwing them on the built-in studs started out as sticks woven into boot soles. It wasn’t until the 20th century that a surprisingly parallel evolution in sportswear introduced the bottom of the shoe cleats (that, amusingly to Sunset, reminded her of some sportswear horseshoes back home) that was later adapted to the pseudo-claws that existed in the hunting footwear of today. She had added, at Celestia’s suggestion, a hair tie to pull back her shoulder-length hair into a tail.

A part of her mental processes was spending a good amount of time trying to figure out how humans pulling their hair back with a tie got to be called a ‘ponytail’ when they weren’t ponies and, depending on the human, may look nothing like a pony’s tail. She was just as happy to let her mind spin out on this, regardless of how distracting it was, because it was helping to keep her inner Alpha from taking control.

She was using the remaining mental processes that weren’t occupied with the minutia of examining her previous and current experience examining her surroundings and trying to extrapolate the path of a deer. She could smell the animal’s presence and was learning how to gauge how long ago a scent trail had been left as she went. The mental exercise was doing wonders for keeping her logic and reason firmly in place, keeping her more violent instincts from ever being more than an unpleasant murmur of her subconscious.

Since starting the hunt and picking up the trail, that had been her entire focus; smell around to pick up the deer’s scent, figure out where the trail lead, chase down the trail, make sure she hadn’t lost the trail, pause and pick up the scent again, repeat. And through it all, ignore the voice whispering in her head about how she needed to relax and let loose and just allow instinct to take over and that she’s overthinking it.

And she absolutely refused to allow that monster that had, she was sure, almost killed Gilda out again.

Besides, instincts (as Celestia had told her before during previous training sessions) can be fooled. A well-reasoned, rigorously applied intellect could easily beat out pure instinct more often than not, so her inner Alpha could go buck herself.

Sure that she had identified the direction the deer had traveled, she oriented herself and launched into a run, sprinting through the trees. The heightened senses that indicated her more base nature was nudging closer to the surface informed her that another body was tailing her, but she knew this was Celestia, keeping up easily and offering the occasional suggestion where the educator knew Sunset’s pony upbringing would be inadequate for her current circumstances. The principal’s silence on Sunset’s course of action could either be an indicator that she was on exactly the right track or she was wildly off-base and Celestia didn’t want to get in front of Sunset’s analytical abilities, a trait in teaching that both the Princess and the Principal coincidentally shared, apparently.

Sunset confidence in her choice was born out moments later when a deer, the same one she’d been tracking by scent, leapt from a small stand of grasses that had been allowed to grow to impressive heights. The basic directions that had been printed in the children’s book that she’d been repeating like a mantra since she checked it out of the library echoed through her thoughts; disable, disarm, dispatch.

Putting on a burst of speed almost unconsciously, she ignored Celestia’s surprised, “Oh!” and snapped out her claws, severing the tendon at the back of each leg that connected the deer’s calf muscles to it’s calcaneus in a single swipe. The deer collapsed with a nerve-jangling bleat of pain. Ignore it! Sunset practically mentally shouted the order, Ignore the sound, it’s just an animal, it’s your target, your goal! Do not let instinctive reactions get in the way!

She skidded to a stop, her cleats digging into the dirt and raising a small plume of soil. Not allowing herself time to second guess, she launched herself back and leaped on the deer, using her familiarity with the equinoid form to grapple with the flailing creature, pinning its torso with her hips, nesting her pelvis below the bottom of the ribcage and dropping her weight on its pelvis so it couldn’t kick her with its hind legs. She proved the utility of human hands when she grabbed its forelegs by the ankle, then hastily pushed both ankles into her left hand and slammed the limbs to the ground next to the beast’s head, twisting the muscles so they couldn’t bring their…his strong tensor muscles that allowed for the impressive springing cervidae were known for, which when given half a chance can buck the teeth right out of a pony’s mouth in a fight. She realized she could recognize nearly entirely masculine features in the deer’s skeletal structure, but the lack of antlers meant this was a juvenile. …shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP! Stop analyzing it, stop personalizing it, it’s an animal, it’s prey, it’s going to be meat and you’re a meat eater now!

Gritting her teeth…not her fangs, thankfully (she had successfully managed to keep them from dropping), she leaned her weight on the hand pinning the deer’s hooves and raised the other, extending her claws to strike.

…and hesitated.

Sunset, you stupid bitch, this is the consequences of your actions! This is the path you’ve chosen; you made your damn bed now you get to lie in it! Her hand remained in the air, she snarled then made a fist and slammed it into the ground next to the deer’s shoulder before pulling it back again, claws once again fully extended. Now! Do it now, the longer you delay the worse this will get, end it!

Then she looked the deer in the eyes.

She thought back to everything that had happened since coming through the portal, every moment both terrifying and healing, and tried to use it as fuel to get her arm to move. But now she couldn’t look away from the terrified animal’s eyes. No…no-no-no-no! Do not fail this, do NOT fail this test! She is right there, she’s watching right now, she already knows you’re fucking up, you’ll never be a part of the pack, you’ll never belong to her fam… She felt a tear escape the corner of her eye and slide down the side of her nose, the tenseness in her muscles that had been so taut she was shivering starting to slacken, her legs began feeling like dead weight as the adrenaline dispersed. Her breathing started to become ragged as she tried to blink the film of water away from her vision.

She felt Celestia’s hand on her shoulder and knew it was over. She heaved herself away from the dear and almost skidded on her knees in the dirt. She curled up, clutching her closed fists, left hand still covered in blood, against her stomach.

Sunset was distantly aware that Celestia had moved closer, she could see the older woman’s hunting boots (an affectation she learned from Rarity some Alphas still used, preferring the enhanced ankle support and lifted heel, not to mention the leather aesthetic, over the ability to easily replace the cleats), and she focused her energy on minimizing the sound of her crying, a bubble of loathing forming on top of the anguish of failing the hunt right at the end.

Celestia kneeled, the tan pants the principal wore as what was apparently part of her normal hunting gear matching the color of the dust-colored soil entering Sunset’s blurred field of vision. Sunset’s rational mind tried reminding her of this Celestia treating her with unbounded kindness and compassion falling flat in an overwhelming flood of shame and self-flagellating disappointment. She didn’t have to worry about her inner Alpha right now, that monster had retreated in the presence of a much older horror, an abomination she’d been running from for far longer than she’d even seen the mirror that trapped her in her current body.

Celestia’s hand gently touched her back right over her shoulder blade, and Sunset instinctively let out a very canid whine of distress and flinched into an even tighter ball. “Sunset,” came the gentle voice, “I…you deserve to feel the emotions you’re having right now, but your prey is suffering.”

Sunset lifted her head and turned enough to see the deer, wiping her eyes with the back of her wrist so she could see without tears. The deer was, indeed, clearly suffering. It…he was flailing about in the dirt where Sunset had felled him, but clearly unable to get his hind legs to respond. Blood was pouring from the wounds she had inflicted, and even in the moments she took to watch his movements were growing weaker. Fresh tears obliterated her sight and she blindly reached out, but couldn’t bring herself to move from her curled up kneeling position. “…oh, Celestia…I did that. I…” she hissed.

Whatever Celestia’s response to the use of her name in abbreviated prayer-like slang, she didn’t let on. Instead, she asked, “Will you be able to…do I need to take over?”

Rather than respond directly to that, Sunset asked, “I…know some first aid, maybe we can…?”

The sensation of movement through the hand on her back told Sunset that Celestia was shaking her head before she answered, “You nicked an artery, by the time we managed to get it to a vet with proper care facilities, it would be too late.”

Sunset moaned into a full-throated weeping, dragging herself over to the deer’s side and catching one of its flailing forehooves, “I’m so sorry,” she grieved.

She heard Celestia sigh and stand, then looked up as the older Alpha gently lifted the deer’s head into her arms, gripped with her palms on his jaw and the back of his neck, and yanked hard. Sunset flinched as the sound of the deer’s vertebrae shattering carried through the layers of muscle and tissue. The hoof in her hands went limp, and Sunset dissolved into tears.

At some point later, she had no idea exactly when, Celestia had sat down on the ground and pulled Sunset into her lap, just holding the younger Alpha and rocking her, letting her pour out her feelings that she couldn’t quite seem to identify. As her emotions calmed, her more rational mind started to return to the fore, and as she was wont to do began analyzing her emotional state. The expected dread and regret of having taken…or at least causing the loss of the life of the deer was there, but it was a much smaller part of her overall anguish. It was like water added to oil; it might be in the same place, but it was not part of the rest and over time seemed to be separating out. The remainder was harder for her to process, and her lack of understanding was leading to frustration that she just didn’t have the energy for, so she simply stopped trying to examine it.

“Sunset,” murmured Celestia, “Do you want to talk about it?”

In a way, she did. If nothing else the woman might be able to help her understand what she was feeling and give her the words and context to properly handle it. On the other, she was just…tired. Tired of fighting her inner Alpha, tired of chasing things that she would end up destroying, tired of being a broken, discarded disappointment. She shook her head, not even opening her eyes.

Celestia rumbled a comforting purr, “Take your time, my little cub. Tomorrow or Tuesday…or next week or next month are just fine for talking about it. We will talk, it’s unhealthy for any Alpha to hold in the kind of thing you’re dealing with now, but for now, just rest and recover.”

Not waiting for a response, Celestia used the strength she hid so well on her large, graceful form to rise to her feet, almost casually shifting Sunset to be held entirely by her left arm, before once again casually displaying just how far Sunset had to go to become an Alpha on Celestia’s level by crouching down next to the deer and single-handedly hefting the carcass onto her right shoulder. More to fill the quiet than anything else, Sunset suspected, Celestia informed her, “Cranky lives pretty close to the school, we’ll take the deer to him. Goddess knows he can’t get out as much as he used to, and Matilda does love visitors, no matter the reason.”

“Crook,” came an authoritative voice, almost more of a command than a name, “Would you care to tell me why your mother’s 50-year-old bottle of dragon bourbon is sitting nearly empty on the bar, nearly entirely consumed by two mares?”

Velvet looked up from Sunny’s shoulder to see Crook’s wife trotting up to the bar with a clipboard in her magic and glaring daggers at the earth pony bartender.

“Just the one mare,” interjected Twilight, hoping to spare Crook the unearned wrath of the unicorn.

Crook’s wife, Terramend, was a fairly rare type of unicorn, an umbrum. She had the signature sickle-like, curved back horn and dark mane and tail, even as her fur was extremely pale. Twilight had only seen one other, during her college days, and realized with a start that she’d heard a more common, less savory name for the recessive traits that didn’t often surface in unicorn foals and fillies, ‘Sombran.’ Considered by many to be bad luck, umbrum unicorns often faced (very unwarranted) discrimination among the pony communities. The possible connection between their derogatory soubriquet and the would-be tyrant now forgotten by history was likely blamed for that, a fact she probably wouldn’t have known without her briefing from the princess after her daughter fled.

Terramend turned her angry eyes on Velvet and left the, ‘How dare you interrupt my righteous tirade, peon?’ question unasked.

Crook threw her a lifeline. “Oi, show’er the coin,” she said in her New Sheepland accent.

As Sunny seemed disinclined to disentangle herself from Velvet anytime soon (how long had it been since the mare had allowed herself a hug?!), Twilight lit her magic and probed around in Sunny’s mane a bit, looking for the metal disk that was large enough to be a small hubcap more so than an actual coin. Sunny giggled a bit but didn’t offer any assistance.

Shortly enough that Terra couldn’t complain too much, Velvet found it and pulled it out, showing the distinct design of an alicorn rearing before a design showing off the sun on the left half and the moon on the right. Some old Pegasii words were engraved around the edge that Twilight didn’t have the lingual skill to translate and the outside edge was etched with what looked like an overly detailed reverse-360 of the view of Equestria from the top of the Canterhorn rendered in extremely fine detail, and the backside of the coin bore the royal seal, complete with horn, horseshoe, and wings. Now that she was able to see it at more than a passing glance, she understood why Crook had blanched earlier; this particular coin was, while not unknown to the populous, per se, it was only really known and understood by members of Equestria’s military and their families. It was an officer coin, though not just any officer coin. It was no wonder Heartfire let them have the run of the bar, this was the princess’ officer coin. Anyone holding it basically had a direct line to the throne.

Of course, Twilight knew why Sunny was carrying it, but Terramend did not. She inspected it closely, took it in her own magic to flip it around a couple of times, then glared at Twilight, “Did you two steal this?”

Sunny finally snorted in amusement, “No, we didn’t steal it.” Straightening, she finally disengaged from hugging Twilight and turned to face the (much) younger mare, “It’s the genuine article, and if you like I can make sure you can speak with the right people in the palace to authenticate it.”

Terra glared at Sunny for a moment, then sniffed and thrust the coin back at the mares. “Fine, then you can expect a bill and a hefty commission charge. That bottle cost more than this bar to procure, and that was twenty years ago before the surge in inflation a decade ago.”

Twilight refused to let her sudden lightheadedness show when she understood exactly how much the bottle she’d been side-eyeing since Sunny ordered it cost.

“Honestly, I’m shocked you’re not dead, that was made to get dragons drunk.” Snipped Terra.

Sunny’s answering grin could have slit a throat, “I’ve got a strong constitution.”

“Y’know, if you want to get drunk, and I mean rip-snorting so off your arse you can’t remember how many hooves you got, you’re doing it wrong,” interrupted Crook.

Twilight, who’d gotten smashed before but never deliberately or by design, felt the beginnings of a feeling in her gut she’d learned to call her, ‘Maybe this was a bad idea’ vibe. Oh well, she thought, I did start this, time to see about finishing it. Dramatically flourishing her hoof, she said, “Guide us, o’ sage of sasparilla.”

Crook snorted, “I only use sasparilla when the college crowd finally makes their way here. Nah, what you need is this,” so saying, she reached under the bar and dropped a bottle on it, covered in dust and still sealed.

Terra gave the bottle a disgusted look, “Well, that at least will mean the books aren’t going to be too egregiously in the red until we get payment from the palace for the damage these two caused already. By all means, Crook, serve them that prison still garbage, princess knows it’ll never move otherwise.”

Crook just grinned and pulled out some shot glasses, then cracked the top of the bottle, blowing her wife a kiss as the unicorn returned to the back office with her account books. With the deftness of many years of experience, she filled up two rows of shots, one for each of the mares. “There you go, that’ll knock you both out or I’ll eat my sunglasses.”

Twilight, as per her usual, lifted a glass in her magic while Sunny used a hoof. They saluted each other skeptically and, as one, tossed back the liquor.

Twilight’s eyes immediately watered as she started hacking, her body seeming to be reflexively attempting to both eject the contents of her stomach and exhale every breath she ever took at the same time. “Oh, that’s revolting! How did that distillery stay in business long enough to make that instead of being arrested for war crimes?”

Sunny seemed to be attempting to scrape lint from the roof of her mouth as her eyelids seemed to be attempting a forbidden dance, “I think I’ve drunk paint stripper that wasn’t that strong…and it tasted better!”

Crook just grinned, her firey red mane seeming to glint in the dim bar lighting. She pushed another glass forward a few inches, “More?”

Twilight cringed as Sunny’s razor grin returned, this time with an air of ‘challenge accepted,’ “Please!”

Sunset stood next to Celestia as the older woman pushed the doorbell, instigating a bit of muffled conversation leaking through the seams of the door, just quiet enough the words couldn’t be made out. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal Cranky Doodle, the history teacher at school.

The man was dressed more casually than Sunset had ever seen, but that wasn’t really saying much. Instead of a pinstripe, collared shirt with bowtie, he wore a button-down flannel. Corduroys substituted for his usual slacks, and instead of penny-loafers he was wearing a pair of house slippers. The old war vet turned teacher took in the scene and grunted, “First hunt?”

Celestia nodded, “Sunset is…I don’t think today is the time to teach her how to dress a deer.”

Cranky looked closer at Sunset, taking in her features that she was sure made her look like she’d just walked through a desert without shoes or water. He grunted again, turning to call back into the house, “Matilda, could you take this game off Celestia’s hands, please?”

An older woman, many features in common with her husband, poked her head out of the kitchen, smile stretching from ear to ear. Her eyes lent her a feeling of warmth and welcome, were the same smile matched to any other eyes, it might come off as over-aggressive and creepy. “Certainly! Hello, Celestia, good to see you! Will you be staying?”

Before Celestia could reply, Cranky interrupted, “Nope. Kid’s staying, though.”

Both surprised, the Alphas on the porch shared a confused glance before turning back to the omega. He simply raised an eyebrow, “The kid needs a talkin’ to, and you’re not the one to give it,” he grumbled as Matilda relieved Celestia of her burden and hustled off around the side of the house to the back yard, “We’ll get her cleaned up and fed, don’t you worry about that. I’ll drive her home before bedtime.”

Celestia frowned, but to Sunset’s surprise didn’t object. She simply turned to Sunset, “I’m not sure what he’s going to talk to you about, but it will be worth it.” She punctuated her statement by reaching out and pulling Sunset into a hug, “Know that I’m proud of you, my little cub.”

Tears sprang to Sunset’s eyes and she found herself too choked up to respond verbally, so she simply wrapped her arms around Celestia and fiercely returned the hug

Cranky goaded the pair to separate and brusquely but affectionately waved Celestia off, then guided Sunset into the Doodle home.

If the dimensions were slightly different and more corners rounded, Sunset might have sworn she’d been transported back to any middle-class home in Equestria. Nearly everything in the place practically shouted ‘vintage,’ but just the same everything bore signs of periodic use. An old record player (something she hadn’t seen since the princess had been gifted a top-of-the-line hand crank model shortly after a new type of high-fidelity vinyl record had been developed) sat next to a radio that, save for more human-friendly controls, could have been purchased at any department store in Canterlot. The one concession to modern technology in the living room seemed to be an HD-capable LCD TV, but it looked positively archaic compared to the models she had seen in Celestia and Luna’s house.

Just as she was taking in the living room, Matilda came in through what looked like the kitchen, which Sunset guessed had a door to the backyard. Despite having handled a deer carcass, she didn’t appear to have any stains or significant rumpling of her clothing, which consisted of what appeared to be an old blouse and skirt combination protected by an apron. She was wearing a pair of house slippers similar to Cranky’s and had her hair twisted up into a simple bun. “Oh, hello, dearie. I don’t believe we were ever properly introduced, but then I’m hardly ever up at the school. I’m Matilda, and goodness, look at you, didn’t Celestia give you a chance to clean up? Why don’t you come with me and we’ll get you a quick shower. You’re a bit smaller than me, so I think a pair of my sweats should fit okay, goodness knows I haven’t used them since my hip surgery.” She clutched Sunset’s arms, not intrusively by any stretch, but certainly not shy, “You are just so thin, but I can tell Granny’s been trying to put some meat on your bones, bless her soul. You’re going to be tall, too!”

“Matilda, let the girl breathe, hun,” the reprimand was delivered without heat, and Sunset thought she could see a corner of his mouth turn up.

“Oh, of course she can breathe,” she waved his concerns off, “Come along, I’ll get you situated in the bathroom and dig up those sweats. What’s your name, hun?”

It seemed like barely a few moments had passed before Sunset had stripped off her dirty clothes and climbed in the shower after Matilda had pointed out where she kept the guest toiletries stocked and given her some privacy. She watched as the water from the showerhead rehydrated the blood that had been drying on her left hand and drip to the tub floor, where it made a red river to the drain. She had scraped her knees a bit without noticing, but that had resulted mostly in some abraded skin with some dirt stuck in it.

She felt…hollow. Like whatever was supposed to fill her normally just drained out. Who even am I? she pondered. Having no answer, she sighed and picked up the soap to actually clean herself.

Fifteen minutes later, she was changed into Matilda’s old sweats (apparently a pair she bought some years ago to support Cranky in some capacity as a member of CHS’s staff as it had Canterlot High lettering but in a design she was unfamiliar with), her “hunting” “outfit” (really just the clothes she normally wore to PE, a mistake she didn’t think she was going to make again) was in a plastic grocery sack hanging on the front door’s knob. Cranky had merely pointed to a chair in the kitchen as he set about assembling a vegetable chopping station on the kitchen table opposite the chair she’d been directed to. She asked almost timidly if he wanted help, and he gave a brief, “Nope,” as he set about turning a handful of carrots and celery into small chunks.

The atmosphere was cozy for all it was foreign, and the repeated ‘ssh-thock’ of the knife cutting vegetables created a soothing cadence that started to lull her into a mildly meditative state.

“Celestia is a fantastic Alpha,” said Cranky suddenly into the silence, “But there’s some things she just doesn’t get.”

Sunset inhaled in a half-gasp as she brought herself back to full awareness. She quickly reviewed the omega’s words in her head so she didn’t sound completely vapid and asked, “Like what?”

“Like what someone who wasn’t raised as an Alpha so powerful it was a damn near inevitability they’d become pack leader might go through when taken out on a hunt.”

Sunset took a breath and realized she had nothing to say to that, so remained quiet.

“I talked to Luna about where you come from,” Cranky said a moment later, “Celestia didn’t give the staff much detail initially, but we’ve picked up a few things from your answers to schoolwork and some of the things your mom and aunt have hinted at…don’t object, girl, you and Celestia marked each other so firmly there’s no taking it back at this point. You’re family, and that means Luna’s your aunt.” Sunset frowned at this but obediently kept quiet, allowing him to continue, “Luna mentioned that you come from some sort of parallel dimension?”

This was more comfortable ground for Sunset, “Universe, and yes. It’s not one-for-one, but a lot of people here have counterparts there.”

Cranky gave an understanding ‘hmm’ to this before asking, “Y’ever meet me over there?”

Sunset grinned slightly, “Well, no, but you might have a counterpart. ‘Doodle’ used to be a pretty substantial donkey merchant family and Matilda is one of the more common donkey names.”

“Donkey merchants? We sell donkeys there?”

Sunset snorted in amusement, “No, donkeys who are merchants, not merchants who sell donkeys, that’d be slavery and that’s so very illegal.”

The omega’s eyebrow went up at this. He put down the knife and stood, picking up the cutting board to transport it over to the counter next to the stove. He remained silent as he took the knife to the sink to wash it and put it in the nearby dish rack, then returned to the table. “Matty’s probably going to be a bit working on the deer you hunted, so we have some time to talk before she comes in to finish making dinner.” Sunset scooted her chair up to the table so she could lean her elbows on it, clasping her hands. When she had finished, he continued, “I don’t figure you all had the Holocaust War over there, did you?” when she shook her head no, he snorted, “Kinda wish we hadn’t. But let me tell you about that a moment.”

“We had The Great Pack War ‘round the 20s, and that played merry hell with the economy of a lot of countries, and in one in particular, well, a lot of people blamed them for the way the Pack War went, so they got stuck with the bill, which sent them into a particularly bad depression. When enough people feel like their way of life is threatened, they tend to get stupid in groups. One particular group decided that they had the answer, and that answer was to exterminate all the Alphas and omegas.” Sunset gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. Cranky huffed, apparently satisfied at her reaction, “So they declared certain sexual practices to be illegal and destroyed all the research at the leading university about it, and then they used that to leverage a whole bunch of new legislation that made it criminal for Alphas and omegas to be what they were in public…then they went ahead and rounded up all of us and shoved us into camps.”

Sunset was quite smart and was starting to get an idea why the Holocaust War was such a major pivot point in this world’s history. Cranky’s next words confirmed what she was suspecting, “They…took us. A lot of families got split up. Some betas who had Alpha or omega kids were lumped in with their families as ‘carriers’ and taken to the same camps, the Griffin Diaspora got a shot in the arm, and anyone with even a shirt-tail link to the Griffin families got rounded up. Some camps were just for political prisoners, and by that point, the Party had stopped pretending it was about blaming the non-betas and just started saying the quiet part out loud; it was about getting rid of anyone that didn’t fit with their specific world, a beta only world where nobody had any relations that weren’t just a man and a woman.”

He leaned back in his chair, unbuttoned his sleeves, and started rolling them up. “Me and Matty, well, we didn’t know each other before we were on the same train to the same camp, but if there was one bright spot that made it all worth trudging through that particular valley of Tartarus, it was her.”

“When we got to the camp, she and I would find ways to meet up under the guard’s noses. I managed to bribe a couple guards, some of the other ladies…The Party didn’t believe in splitting us up by Alpha and omega…idiots…anyway, some of the ladies found ways to make their work spread out a bit, cover for Matilda’s absences…it was hell, but she was like an angel in the middle of it.”

He paused for a bit, eyes hooded as he worked up whatever he needed to continue his story.

“Then, one day, Matilda and a bunch of the other Alpha women were just…gone. We tried to ask around, but the guards just told us they were taken and it wasn’t our problem. At that point…well, a bunch of us omegas and some of the betas in our camp decided we were getting out. We waited until the trains bringing supplies weren’t going to show up for a couple days and we did a prison break.” He snorted, almost a growl, “They made a movie about it a decade or so later, made us look like a bunch of goddamn heroes instead of the desperate kids we were. It was chaos, and even if we did beat them, we only had a third of the people left. We didn’t even have time to bury our dead, we had to move.”

“When we got to Allied territory, we hooked up with one of the U.S.P. armies and…they told us that intel said that Matilda’s group had…that the camp had killed all the occupants and burned ‘em in open mass graves.”

Sunset by this point felt like she might vomit and was keeping a hand clasped over her mouth. In the quiet left by Cranky remembering the time he thought his love had died, Sunset made a realization, “Wait…you said Matilda’s an Alpha?” he nodded, “But…I didn’t scent Alpha on her…”

He grimaced, one hand clenching into an angry fist, “Yeah, kid. She obviously didn’t die like we thought she did, but her and a bunch of other Alphas were taken to a different destination. One of the betas, he had a ‘theory’ that Alphas were parasitic mutations, and if the Alpha parts were removed, then they’d ‘revert’ to being good little compliant betas.” Sunset blanched even further and felt her face going numb from disgusted shock, “He…he cut into her…”

It took a bit, but he managed to settle enough to continue, “I didn’t even know that yet, but I knew they’d taken her, not to mention the rest of my family. Ma and pa…it hurt they day the I found out they were dead, but losing Matty?” He shook his head, “Well, once the medics in that army got us all checked out, a bunch of us were just running on Mad and Fury and wanted to get some good ol’ vengeance, so we just joined up with the Army right then. Got my papers as a US citizen and learned to shoot a gun and march in time.”

He leaned forward, “You see the movies from that war and Applewood makes it look all nice and honorable and glorious. Good guys and gals going to fight the good fight. Truth was, it was ugly, it was hell, and out of all of it, almost as much as the memory of thinkin’ I’d lost Matty, you know what I remember most?”

She almost didn’t respond, so caught up in what he was telling her, but she shook her head. She wondered if he’d told this story to any other student in the school.

His eyes went unfocused for just a moment, “The first time I killed a beta. That changes you, when you make the conscious choice to take a life. You…change. You don’t lose somethin’, or at least the good ones don’t. You remember what you were before you took that life. You remember that you once didn’t realize just how dangerous and lethal you could be.”

He snorted, “That deer…did it remind you of someone?”

Sunset felt like she was tasting ash as she replied, “Yeah…I mean, it clearly wasn’t a counterpart or anything, but it almost could have been Prince Bramble.” She shrugged, “Wrong jawline, wrong spot pattern, but he had the royal family’s brow ridge and was probably going to grow a good set of…” her vocal cords choked off before she could finish, her eyes blurring again.

“Goddess,” she spat once she could speak again, “You must think I’m pathetic! You were a soldier, you killed people. I just almost killed an animal and I’m…”

He chuckled darkly, “Sunset, killin’ is killin’. Worse for you, you grew up where the ‘animals’ talk and vote and fall in love,” he let that settle for a moment, “How’d the kill go down?” She explained, very briefly, about maiming the deer and Celestia finishing it off. He nodded, “Lemme guess, you didn’t do the final act, but you feel like you did anyway?” She took a shuddering breath and nodded. He patted her hand, “Well, I don’t got good news for you, kid. You did kill ‘im.” She looked up, not caring that a level of terror was showing through the twin trails of tears on her face. She could see in him a wisdom, a hollowness to his gaze, a slightly unfocussed nature to his pupils as he looked directly at her. He was seeing her, she could tell, but he was also seeing…something else. “But everyone’s responsible for at least one death, whether they meant for it to be or not. It’s part of being alive. And I’m not gonna tell you any of that popycock about ‘life is for the most fit’ or any of that bullshit,” she gawped a little at the use of a word that he'd have sent her to detention for, “Life is life, and part of that includes death. And the fact that you chose to include death, no matter how ignorant you were of it, just means that you got a little more intimate with death than most.”

Before he could say anything further, they heard the screen on the back door swing open just before Matilda opened the back entry. She saw them sitting at the dinner table and smiled warmly. “Just hang tight a bit longer, I’ll go get cleaned up from dressing that kill and get back to making dinner. I can’t wait to hear more about you, Sunset. Celestia only adopted one cub and she’s never personally taken anyone she’s not related to out on a hunt, so you must be something really special.”

Sunset smiled and blushed, nodding quietly.

Dinner was…nothing special, really, other than that she had it with a really nice, cute old couple that she now wished, more than she ever thought she could, that they could live forever just to show the world what love could be like, in spite of all the ways the world tried to stop them. Between them, they managed to get her not just eating (and eating meat, no less) but actually smiling and talking and even laughing a little bit.

And when she got back home…and she realized she was really starting to think of Celestia and Luna’s house as her home, she got the biggest, warmest hug from the Pack Alpha that she could ever remember receiving.

She still hurt, she still had the shock and guilt and all the other emotions that were roiling in her, but whatever Cranky had been trying to say…she had understood. And in understanding found, in the middle of her emotional storm, a calm center of peace.

Twilight flinched and nearly threw up when an amused voice that sounded far more smug than it had any right to said, “You know, when dad said he told you two to go rabble-rousing, I didn’t think you’d taken him seriously.”

She heard Sunny (was she still Sunny? Twilight opened her eyes to check and found out two things; yes, it was Sunny and the actual sun hated her with a passion she would never have ascribed to it) moan incoherently.

“Shiny,” moaned Velvet, “Please tell me you brought a little hair of the dog.”

Her son, traitor that he was, just snickered as loud as it was possible for someone to snicker, “No can do, according to that rather prickly unicorn at the bar you two started your night at, you did shots until the bottle was empty, and we checked, that brand was so bottom shelf the company that made it went under. No hair of the dog for you two.”

Twilight struggled to get her eyes open, and the struggle was real as her hindbrain was convinced she was trying to drive needles of dry ice into her eyes whenever she parted her eyelids even slightly. She negotiated, pointing out that squeezing her eyelids shut hurt just as much, and managed to face the fact that photons did, in fact, exist, and might possibly want to end her existence on a fundamental level. “Did you at least bring painkillers and coffee?”

The normally muted sparkle-twinkle sound that unicorn magic made when in use for something like levitation sounded like it was being replayed on a concert speaker. Accompanying that sound, however, was the blissful, wonderfully bitter smell of boiled bean juice. She groaned, “Ooooh, Shiny, you may have just won The Sibling Supreme award already for this year.” She forced herself to achieve some semblance of upright and took in her surroundings a bit better and realized that she was, in fact, in a jail cell. The shock and dismay were promptly ordered to take a number until coffee had been imbibed, and she lit her magic, doing her level damndest to ignore the absolute raging-white-hot-axe-to-her-temporal-lobe feeling it gave her head. She reached out and made grabby motions with her forehooves while tugging the coffee free of Shining’s magical aura, “Gimme, come to mamma.”

Shining chuckled and magicked the top of a bottle of painkillers open and levitated them into the privacy-adjacent room through the bars. “I think you’ll both be relieved to know that I took a little initiative and had the incident reports and all records pertaining to your arrests routed to my private inbox in the officer barracks. ‘Mares, including mother of princess’ protégé, arrested for defacing public property,’ was not a headline I think anyone would be prepared for today.”

Sunny finally stirred from her collapsed-in-a-puddle-of-blotto’d-pony, “Officer thinking, lieutenant,” she managed to get to her forehooves on the cot she’d been poured onto at some point in the prior eight-ish hours and looked to the coffee with bleary eyes. “Who raised the sun today?” she inquired as she shakily levitated her own cup of coffee over.

“Oh, you did,” he chuckled again. He was clearly enjoying this entire incident, “That’s how I figured out where you were, actually. We got a greenhorn from this precinct who came to the palace guard station convinced you needed to be brought up on some sort of treason charge because you were, and I quote, ‘Claiming to be the princess and saying she needed to put her sister to bed so that heavy bitch of a ball of gas can get her ass in the sky.’ Although, I’m sure that was partially hyperbolic on the part of the officer.”

Sunny took a long sip of the coffee and grimaced both at the bitter brew and the description of her words, “No…that sounds right. I remember that now, at least. I believe your mother can attest that I seem to get…sweary when I’m inebriated.” She took another sip of her coffee and grimaced again before muttering, “And ponies wonder why I prefer tea…”

A Canterlot PD officer trotted in at that moment, bearing a file folder and a ring of keys. “Got that paperwork you requested, Ell-tee,” passing the documentation over from his own magic field to Shining’s, he inserted the keys into the lock and gave a friendly mock salute, “Yer mom is a handful when she’s partying, but on the whole more entertaining than anything harmful.”

Shining was almost giggling when opened the file and found a particular police photo, “Oh, wow, spray painted graffiti, ‘Down with the diarchy,’ followed by, ‘Let the princess have a nap.’”

The cop was barely stifling a chuckle, “Well, I’ll leave you to it, tell that marefriend of yours that we miss her at the gaming table.”

“I’ll see if I can talk her into joining, usual time next week?”

“Yuppers,” he tipped his cap, “Stay safe out there, Shining.”

Armor waited until the cop was out of earshot before he turned to the two mares with a grin, “Well, ‘Sunny,’ I’d better get you to the palace, Kibitz was practically having kittens looking for you.”

Sunny groaned, pushing herself off the cot and slumping her way out the cell. Twilight followed, struggling to keep her head from dragging on the floor as she walked, indulging in the brilliantly bitter coffee to get her body moving in something approximating the direction of home. “I need to sleep for a week. Remind me to only do this when it’s not going to be Monday morning…like, ever.”

Shining just chuckled and tailed the mares out of the room.