Star Vision came back that night to a house that smelled strongly of soap and nearly busted his nose on the slippery steps. Though, the lack of traction wasn't the only reason he tripped. It was the feeling, the one that had been absent all day until he came back to Elfilis. It was a strange feeling, one he recognized but could not understand. Star would need more time to figure out what triggered it, but he had a strong inclination that his most gracious host (and saviour, and fellow ~~chaos~~ Dream manipulator) was the cause. Which meant it was time to have another conversation with Elfilis already. Days since Star Vision refrained from dumping emotional baggage on a friend: Zero.

"Elfilis? Can we talk? You should probably know about- Oh! Uh, hello Lulu- Luna- Princess Luna! I uh, wasn't expecting to see you here." It was certainly a strange sight, one that Star was sure he was about to be sworn into silence over. From the doorway to the master bedroom he could see Elfilis sitting on the bed trying very hard to hide his arousal, and Princess Luna giggling at the poor Kirin around some kind of toy in her mouth. "I... uh... you know, it's probably not important-"

"I beg to differ." Star Vision blinked as Elfilis suddenly appeared crouched in front of him. "It must be of unbelievable importance. I should hear this right away. Let's find some privacy, where you can discuss your plight in peace and with the knowledge that no perverted changelings will be able to listen in." And Star blinked again and found that the two of them were in a cave. A surprisingly well furnished cave, but a cave nonetheless.

"I... That was Carina then? What was she doing?" Efilis groaned and threw himself sideways onto the new (old?) bed and curled himself into his ears.

"Carina was being a smartass, next question. Can you make it sound really important? So Carina can't pretend to be so mad at me once I get back?"

"Uh, I don't actually know how important it is but I do think you should know anyway so... I... Don't know how to explain this."

"I get that. You should start by talking about when whatever this is about started, or when you noticed it... Damn I give good advice when I'm not talking to myself." Star Vision was growing less sure about the mental stability of the creature that went sifting through his soul, but he shelved that thought for later.

"Alright. So, it started with Discord." He tried not to flinch as Elfilis swore. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly. He didn't do anything far as I can remember, but while he was a statue he started getting this feeling, like he was being watched."

"And we aren't talking about ponies visiting the castle gardens and gawking at the draconequus sculpture?"

"No, the first time that I can remember was only a little while after Lulu- Luna came back from her banishment. There were no ponies, or anyone or anything else as far I could tell. Luna came to check not long after but the feeling went away after Celestia joined her."

"... And we are sure it isn't just Discord being an unstable amalgamation of powers?" That was a fair question.

"Yes, because I have that same feeling right now." The wing cocoon slowly unfurled itself as Elfilis sat up on the bed, holding himself upright with his hands over his thighs. "Yeah, exactly. I spent all day without the feeling until I was halfway up the steps to your room. And I think that whatever is 'watching' me is actually more interested in you. I'm just in the way sometimes."

"Wait, but you said the first time was before Luna visited you?"

"Yes, followed shortly after by her sister holding cake made of lettuce. Something that Luna knows how to make because you taught her how, right? The younger Princess had only ever skimmed the surface of that ability until you came along."

"... Alright. When else?"

"There was that great big party at the castle before Discord escaped, he had the feeling several times during that. It was pretty sporadic. There were a few times while he was harassing the ponies, like when he was looking for Twilight or when he was taunting Celestia. But just before you started yelling from behind the throne room doors..."

"It was back again."

"And it was the most consistent when you were both there. And every time I've felt it since has been shortly before or after talking with you. It's still here right now."

"...Fuck. Alright, Filthy Rich will have to wait. This is definitely more important. Even if it just turns out to be some sixth sense you developed, it definitely takes more precedence over some dickhead trying to take the house."

"... Somepony tried to take the house?" That sounded important to Star Vision. He lived in that house now after all.

Carina could apparently tell that something was bothering me if her sudden loss of Princess Luna shaped disguise was of any indication, but that did little to stop my mood from dropping significantly that night. Luna didn't visit the Dream. I didn't expect her to visit every night, she had no obligation too and I had the feeling that she was neglecting her self-imposed duties by visiting as often as she did, but the lingering frustration over the night before and my paranoia over Star Vision's feeling left me feeling foul. I waited until morning for her, and by the time I woke up I had no doubt that Prof. Oak's Alakazam and Twilight would tell me I was a 'Dark-Type' as I stabbed my fork through breakfast hard enough to shatter the plate. And the table. And the fork.

I barely registered Star sneaking past the dining room as Carina began trying to distract me in her own special way. Which was by being silly and trying to say and act out strange and ludicrous scenarios like the bubble bath bomb from earlier, get your head out of the gutter...

...Wait, who the fuck am-

"Oh! Tia- Celly- Fuck, Princess Sun... Butt... Please, just erase my memories." I looked up from the mess on the floor as familiar giggling cut off Star Vision's stuttered greeting.

"Apologies Star, but I'm afraid I have a zero tolerance policy on memory spells." The Princess of the Sun trotted past him as he hung his head in embarrassment and rushed out the door with a speed that was likely less than polite. I suspected it wasn't just Celestia's teasing that had him in such a rush though.

"...while he was a statue he started getting this feeling, like he was being watched."

"Well, what happened here?" I realized with a start that I was still sitting a table that had been rendered to splinters. The remains were portaled away as I tried to massage my headache away with both hands. When I pulled them away and I could see again, I was greeted by the sight of Celestia sitting opposite of the missing table to me and Carina nuzzling me before laying herself across my lap. "It seems that you have a lot on your mind. Let's go through it one thing at a time, okay? Do you mind if we start with the contract that interrupted my reading yesterday?" I could only nod in the face of her concern. "Alright. Well, first things first, it is written in barely legible legal jargon. I would like to know who wrote it if you could tell me, because I take great offense to ponies trying to use the law or anothers lack of knowledge in it to try to take advantage for themselves." One thing at a time...

"Pony named Filthy Rich. Brown fur, darker brown mane. That's about it."

"Okay, I'll make sure to put his name down somewhere so I don't forget. Next, Carina didn't tell me what the second thing that's bothering you was about-" But she knew, of course she did. "-But I had an interesting conversation with Luna that leads me to believe that I best leave you two to solve that dilemma for yourselves." Part of me was still mortified, and another wondered if that was Celestia trying to subtly tell me that Luna was on the same fence I was in regards to our feelings towards each other. Carina sitting up to bump her antlers against mine with a coy smile told me that she thought so at least. "Finally, I hear that you had a private conversation last night. Would you be willing to share?" Right, the third thing. The-

Í̵̞ṉ̷̈t̸͓̀è̵͎r̸̯̓v̵̞͐e̶̤͋ň̵̹ț̵̓i̶̺̒o̶̮͆n̸͎͐/̴̲̑ ̷̢͋Ć̸̬ō̵̠n̴̹̈f̴̠͌ụ̸̍s̷̥̀i̷̡̋o̵̙̓n̸̜̋/̸̘̑ ̶͎͑R̷̬̈ē̴̦d̷̖͆í̶͓r̵̨͐ȇ̴̱ć̶͇ẗ̴̮́i̷̩͗ơ̶͖ṇ̴̀/̶̫̇ ̸͓̑Á̴͉ṕ̶̬õ̶̻ĺ̷̙o̷̩͑g̴̩̊ĭ̴͕ẽ̶̳s̷̬̐
̸̜̀
̷̱̈Ỵ̶͘ö̸̫u̵͇̍ ̴̮͝a̶̧̚r̵͛͜e̴̫̓ ̶̧̒n̶̰̐o̷̫͌t̷͖̕ ̶͎͆Ṟ̴͊è̸̟ä̷̢́d̶͖͂ȳ̷̪.̴̞͝

-knocking on the door told me that they were here right now actually. I waved a tired hand as the door opened, and I smirked at the weird look Carina gave me. The magenta mare with smiling flowers on her flank walked into the open room before openly gaping at the alabaster alicorn already sitting in the room.

"P-Princess Celestia!" Said princess looked bemused at my willing inclusion of the school teacher, but nonetheless she smiled and greeted her subject.

"Please, just Celestia is-"

"Do you understand how much work you've made for me!?" Uh oh.

"I... Apologies?" Cherilee wasn't done yet though.

"Don't misunderstand, I think the reforms are a great idea! My goodness the number of times the young ponies of this town have come into class with horror stories about griffons and minotaurs is disheartening by itself, but that they just default to their parents opinions on them because I don't have any material on foreign cultures makes me want to strangle whoever wrote the current curriculum!" Celestia's tight grin doubled as a chagrined grimace and I couldn't help but wonder if she was at risk of being chokeslammed by an educator at the moment. "And now I have no choice but to force the truth and understanding into their young spongy brains but I still have nothing! I'm trying to get guest speakers but Zecora lives in the Everfree for goodness sake! How-"

"You have nothing?" All of our gazes snapped onto Celestia as the princess cut into the rant like a sharpened blade. "You did not receive any of the books I approved for widespread distribution? You did not receive the names and mailing addresses of griffons and minotaurs and donkeys who are willing to travel to discuss their cultures with young ponies? You did not receive any of the funding I approved to try to make up for having to reschedule everything around the new curriculum?"

"N-no. No, I have not Princess."

"... You are a teacher aren't you? What is the name of the school you work at, and who is the principal in charge?" This wasn't how I expected this to go. Though, I suppose I didn't really have any idea how it was going to go in the first place.

"It's the Ponyville Schoolhouse your majesty. And, there isn't a principal in charge."

"Head teacher?"

"M-me, I suppose. Technically."

"... Technically?"

"Princess... I'm the only one who works there. I'm the teacher, custodian, manager, records keeper, security, everything. Everypony else quit or retired around the same time I accepted the job. I would have quit right after too, but, I run the only school in Ponyville..." Damn. I felt bad for being so short with her yesterday now. This mare was an education juggernaut.

"How... do you receive funding, if it hasn't been from the crown?" That... was a damn good question.

"A pony named Filthy Rich makes donations, his daughter and her friends attend the classes together. He's... Difficult, to work with if I focus too much on his filly, but that means I have a bully in the class I can't punish appropriately if I want to guarantee the next generation knows how to do basic maths in the future. And... The same goes for if her grades drop. Which they should, because she doesn't do any work even though I know she knows the material... Princess?" The silence was deafening, and the sound of the princess standing up and calmly walking out the door was thunderous. Or that might have just been me, with my wing sized ears and all. "O-oh dear..."

"Hey." Cherilee gnawed on her lip as she looked away from the open door, and I gave Carina a light squeeze before I prodded her off my lap. "I want to help."

"Really?" It took me a second to realize both of them spoke at the same time.

"Yes, really. I don't know how much help I can be as a guest speaker, but I want to help anyways if I can." It was Carina who pulled me away from the relieved teacher.

"Not that I think you shouldn't, but where did this come from? I thought someone might have tried to burn down Toby's bar the way you were angry last night." Well, why did I want to help? I... Hm...

I̴̡̚ṅ̴̳s̷͚̏p̵̪̽i̷̝͐r̶̤͌a̷̫͘t̴͓̀i̵̞̇ő̶͚n̵̢̈́
̷̩̈́Y̸̭͘o̸̠͘u̷̳͆'̵͙̀ř̷̰ẹ̵͐ ̵̛͔Ẁ̸̹e̵̱̐l̵̤̓ċ̸ͅo̵̻͋m̶̤̂è̸͙

"Because I love you. Because Star Vision feels like we are being w̶a̴t̴c̸h̸e̵d̴. Because you have a sister in this town that you can't treat as more than a friend without her revealing herself as a changeling. Because Spike is a cool little dragon who seems reluctant to go anywhere without a pony to ride on the back of. Because I want us to be able to live here, with the ponies we know, and not have to worry about how the others might judge us without even knowing what we are just because we aren't them. Toby apparently owns a bar here for fucks sake, which you will have to tell me more about later because what the hell, and I might destroy more than the table if anything were to happen to people like you and him. People who have nothing but love to give to the world." The looks I received told me that they were surprised by how passionate I was about this. I was surprised too. "These children don't understand, don't know any better. Just copying their parents. It's the job of parents to make sure that their children turn out better than they did, and... If you and I ever have children..." Holy hell I was going for it. "Then I would like to know that I wasn't going into raising them blind and deaf to the pitfalls of parenting."

Cherilee left at some point while Carina was squealing and trying to crush my ribs, I was distantly aware of agreeing to meet again later to talk about what we could do moving forward, and it was a very excited and happy Carina that kept me confined to the bedroom all day. I think she was more emotionally exhausted than anything when she fell asleep, if that was even possible for a changeling. Maybe it was more of a food coma? Regardless, I was feeling much better by the time Star came back and I couldn't even bring myself to be embarrassed by the way his nose scrunched up as he got close.

"So...?"

I just smiled at him and told him that I think I had f̷i̷g̵u̵r̶e̸d̸ ̶i̴t̵ ̶o̵u̵t̶, but that I'd let him know if anything popped up I could use his help with. I was gladdened by the way he finally seemed to relax, the tension leaving his body, and I found myself hoping I could do the same for Luna the next time I saw her.

Author's Note

Have another totally normal chapter, with an equally average authors note.

Has anyone else noticed just how common the phrase 'alabaster alicorn' has been used on fimfiction? I'm not even sure alabaster is even the right color to describe Celestia, but I am also mildly colorblind so...

Also, new Kirby game was lit. I 100% it and it actually inspired some future content. No spoilers for the new stuff though, not yet anyway.