It had been a long day for the diarch of Equestria, but those long days weren't uncommon for the Princess of the Sun. Not for the first time, she wondered what it would be like to have Luna’s job, to not be fussed by stuffy nobles, or forced to keep up the ideal image of a Princess among her subjects. The dragon and yak conflict had been a particularly tiresome affair.

Thankfully, there was a silver lining on the horizon. Whilst certainly the discovery of these ‘Roots of Harmony’, as Spike called them, was concerning, she looked forward to being reunited with her student, her friend, and her adopted brother. All three lovely, wonderful ponies with noble hearts and joyful lives ahead.

For now, though Celestia was meeting the last appeal in her sun court. Every day ponies would come before her and make requests to their sovereign. It was a mixed bag for Celestia, on the one hand, there was no shortage of entitled fools, arrogant nobles, and outrageous demands. Once Celestia had a noble demanding that she carve out Las Pegasus to be its own independent kingdom under him.

But sometimes this was the best part of her job, sometimes her ponies had reasonable requests, and were polite and understanding. Sometimes Celestia would be given the chance to give a pony hope for their future, pay for a loved one's medical bills, or perhaps sponsor a young pony’s dreams.

Her final appeal for today’s sun court was one such example, a young mare with a passion for her new art. She reminded Celestia of her sister, and how passionate Luna could get when excited. Though she was much less sure of herself than her sister.

“So, um, that’s it, Princess. Do…do you think you might consider sponsoring my sculptures? It’s my dream job, even my cutie mark but rather expensive,” the artist, Ivory Stone, explained. She was shy, not quite as shy as Twilight’s friend Fluttershy but still wrung her hands in fear.

“You seem to have quite the talent, Ivory, I would love to see more of your wonderful designs throughout Equestria. If you hone your talents enough, perhaps I might ask you to add a few new statues for my garden,” Celestia said, delighted to make this young mare's dreams come true.

“You mean-“ she gasped, tears of joy threatening to spill from her eyes.

“Speak to my secretary Raven, she’ll provide you with the funds. I expect great things from you, Ivory, I hope you won’t disappoint yourself.” Celestia said with a smile.

“Yes-yes… of course… thank you, Your Highness,” Ivory muttered, making her way out of the room. Then she came back, having forgotten to bow, and hurried off again.

Celestia sat back on her throne, pleased with herself for helping this young mare, yet also relieved as this brought her day court to an end. She leaned back on her throne, to enjoy her little respite before Twilight and her friends arrived.

Even though Celestia always tried to dress the part of a regal and proper Princess, she had long since learned that her body would never allow her to be completely proper. The beauty of her body seemed to radiate through even the most concealing of dresses, even when they were several sizes too big, her breasts strained against them. Despite her best efforts, Celestia couldn’t stop her body from inspiring less than moral thoughts among her subjects. She just hoped Luna hadn't seen those dreams.

"Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends have arrived.” Her guard announced, bringing a warm smile to her face.

“Send them in please, and then leave us with some privacy.” Celestia requested with a wave of her hand and a smile on her face. The doors opened and in walked Twilight, Spike, and their friend Rarity. Behind them, the Royal Guard bowed their heads and shuffled out of the door.

As soon as they were outside the door Celestia rose from her throne and shook off her professionalism and mystique in favour of a friendly smile and a light skip in her step. “I hope I didn’t keep you three waiting.”

“Not at all Princess, I hope you weren’t having too much trouble with the yaks and dragons?” Twilight asked, her hands held behind her back. Though, Celestia noticed Twilight’s eyes flickering over to her friend, Rarity.

“It was quite the hassle, and I am so sorry for keeping you two waiting too long. But, thankfully it gave me some time to do some research.” Celestia explained, but as she did so she noticed that Rarity was acting funny. Her eyes were wide as if surprised, and her jaw was dropping from her mouth.

“Something the matter, Rarity?” Celestia asked, cocking her head slightly in confusion at the unicorn’s odd behavior.

A quick nudge from Spike startled the unicorn out of her reverie. “My apologies Princess, I just couldn’t help but admire your outfit. I suppose I just got lost in my own head.”

Celestia wasn’t quite so sure about that, she knew that by Princess standards, her dress wasn’t anything fantastic and that a fashionista like Rarity should notice that. But something told Celestia that she didn’t want to know what she was talking about.

“Why thank you Rarity, your outfit is truly splendid, but let us get back to business,” Celestia said, her smile becoming slightly more serious. “So, Rarity, Spike, and Twilight, you’re holding these Roots of Magic, Honesty, and Loyalty is that correct?”

They all nodded and Celestia continued. “I’ve been doing some research whilst I was away, and I came across some research on the Tree of Harmony by a scholar in the past. An old mage who lived four hundred years ago, Shade Leaf, studied the Tree of Harmony and he speculated on the magic that was a part of it.”

“Somepony studied the Tree of Harmony?!” Twilight almost shouted, “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you give me his book?”

“Two reasons, my dear Twilight.” Celestia held up a finger. “First of all I never thought there was any basis to it. It wasn’t the model of scientific investigation that I thought would be helpful, and second." She held up a second finger. "And second of all is the fact that he wasn’t a particularly nice pony. His research into the Tree of Harmony was to try and corrupt it, to use it to his own ends, so I wasn’t keen on using it. Thankfully he never seemed to have found the roots.”

“So why are you showing it to us?” Spike asked, though Celestia noticed his eyes flicking to Rarity’s in some silent conversation. Or perhaps it was just an expression of his crush, or perhaps it was a bit more than a crush now given that their hands were interlocked. She would have to ask him more about that later.

“Because he was the only source to speculate on the existence of the Roots of Harmony, and he was correct on the nature of the Root of Honesty. He speculated that whoever had the Root of Honesty would be able to change the truth of our world, and it seemed he was correct. But I wonder if the rest of his speculations were,” Celestia explained, as she did so, she grew more and more concerned. Her student seemed to wilt as if Celestia was unhappy with her. It was something that happened to Twilight frequently when her anxiety got the better of her. Such as when she worried that Celestia looked down on her for emulating her sister-in-law’s more promiscuous nature.

With a flash of light, Celestia summoned Shade Leaf’s journal into her hands. She opened it to the relevant pages. “So according to Shade Leaf’s research, the Root of Magic would grant its user the ability to instantly replicate any magical talent they see, to a higher standard. Is that correct, Rarity?”

Rarity seemed taken aback, her head turned to her friends who responded in kind. “Yes, that’s exactly it.”

“And you Twilight,” Celestia said turning the page. “Shade Leaf said the Root of Loyalty would let you change the principles of the institutions that ponies belonged to if I’m correct?”

“Yes, I suppose Shade Leaf was smarter than we gave them credit for,” Twilight said, but again there was concern there.

“Thankfully, I suspect if he ever did discover a Root, we’d know, so I don’t think he ever found them. But it seems he did know what he was talking about, so I’m guessing he was right about the other three,” Celestia said, turning the pages in the journal.

“What did he write for the other three?” Spike asked, looking worried.

Celestia continued to explain the power of the other three roots. How Laughter would allow one to perform any behavior without question, how Kindness allowed them to read both the mind and soul of ponies in a vast area or how Genorsity would allow these powers to be shared between the roots.

“Speaking of Generosity, it seems that Shade Leaf was able to find that Root but the power had already been taken, at least four hundred years ago," Celestia explained, again their eyes flickered toward each other. "You wouldn't know anything about that?"

“No, we searched all over the Everfree Forest and found nothing,” Rarity said, but Celestia wasn’t sure that was the whole truth.

“Well in any case I have concerns about the Root of Laughter,” Celestia explained, shutting the journal and becoming much more serious.

“The Root of Laughter?” Spike asked, head cocking in confusion.

“Yes, there’s been some strange things happening in the Crystal Empire. As if some kind of secret hidden amongst them all, to keep a secret on such a vast scale seems improbable but if they were convinced such an act was normal…”

“Then it would be a lot easier,” Twilight finished. Unbeknownst to Celestia the culprit for such an event was standing right before them. After turning the Empire into a den of Sin, Spike had asked a question to ensure knowledge of this wouldn’t spread but it seemed Celestia had noticed.

“Do you have any idea who it could be, Princess?” Twilight asked, but the graceful monarch could only shake her head.

“No I’m afraid I do not, and besides it is all speculation. But I think we need to get to the bottom of this soon, “ Celestia said becoming serious. “But I confess I have little idea as to who it could be, or if it even is the case.”

“But are you okay overlooking this? Don’t you think everything is fine?” Spike blurted out. Celestia was about to answer that of course she didn’t, but then she started to think better about it. She had no real evidence that anything was really going on, so there wasn’t much need to get too worked up over it.

"I suppose you're right Spike, I just wanted to share my concerns. We shouldn't do anything hasty," Celestia reassured them. Then, relaxing visibly, she smiled and changed the subject of conversation. "So Rarity if you can mimic any magical power do you think that includes my power to move the sun? I don't know about Luna, but I for one wouldn't mind a break every once in a while."

The conversation continued into simple small talk about all sorts of things for a while, such as what possibilities as to how the powers of the Roots should be used, theories as to where they could be, and other topics of small talk. They talked like friends and talked well through the afternoon, soon enough it was time to lower the sun. As such the Princess ushered them into a guest room and left to perform her solar duties. When she was gone, the three of them let out a sigh of relief.

“That was too close Master, to think Celestia had gotten that close to the truth,” Twilight said, letting her shoulders sag.

“Yeah, we probably should have been more careful,” Spike admitted with a weak grin. But then his gaze turned to Rarity. “So what did you find? I saw the look on your face, what little fantasies does our noble princess possess?”

Rarity gave a sly little grin “You’re never going to believe this Master, but our Princess has some lurid little fantasies that aren’t very appropriate for a princess to have. It seems when nopony can hear her, she dreams of being quite the wicked princess indeed. Of abusing her power as a sexual deviant, serving as the sex tyrant over all of Equestria.”

“I-I had no idea,” Twilight gasped, looking positively shaken. “I guess there was some truth to those Molestia rumors.”

“And I guess that she can keep her fantasies under control. Unlike some unicorns I know…” Spike teased, earning a sharp gasp.

“Why I never!” Rarity gasped, covering her chest, before letting out a laugh. “It’s not as if you don’t enjoy it, Master.”

“Never said I didn’t,” Spike admitted, “though I wonder what would have happened if she had indulged herself.”

“That could be arranged Master,” Came a fourth voice. Turning, the voice turned out to belong to a young alicorn with pink and blue hair. This wasn't the future Flurry Heart though, no, this was the one that had been raised within the mirror universe and was meeting her Master for the first time.

“Flurry Heart? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, causing her to bow demurely.

“My future self told me you would need me. She said that you would need my help,” she said pulling out her cue cards. “She said you would want to warp the history of Equestria into a much more perverted light. She said you would need my help with that.”

“I thought you had to make a stable time loop when messing with time?” Spike said, and Flurry Heart took out another cue card.

“It is hard, Master, for me, I mean. But because of our Mistress’s Root of Magic, she’s a lot stronger so she can do it a lot better as long as you follow my guidelines," she explained, before taking out a new cue card. “My future self suggests you don’t change major fixed points, especially in your own lives, but in all the subtle ways. Like what happens behind closed doors feel free to change. Do them right and it’ll butterfly into a new better Equestria to rule.”

“Or see how a new perverted Celestia might change things,” Spike said with a grin. “What do you think Rarity? What do you think Equestria would be like with a perverted Princess Celestia in charge?”

Author's Note

I had this time travel idea in mind for a while now, changing Equestria’s history with the perverted Celestia in charge. Suggestions are welcome though I have plenty of ideas of my own. As Flurry Heart said Major events can’t change, but small events can snowball into having a big impact.

Sorry if this chapter came off as mostly setup, I hope it was still enjoyable. I intend to have another chapter mirroring this one with the changed Celestia in the future. I know people wanted Celestia to be a complete sub, but I could still include that when Spike is involved. But I think there’s an idea in having Celestia be the publicly benevolent princess but secretly the malevolent, perverted tyrant behind closed doors.

Crowdfunding for Future Artwork here:https://ko-fi.com/darkstar239

Any suggestions, feedback, and constructive criticism are welcome.