Dawn's new day.

I took a deep breath before entering the dining room. I had been asked to join the princess for breakfast but suspected it was more than that. Well even with everything happening lately, it probably isn’t all bad.

I slowly opened the door with my magic and ruffled my wings. I was still keeping them hidden but wondering why I bothered after the mess of last night.

“Ah, good morning Balanced Dawn.” Celestia’s regal voice rang through the room and I spotted her sitting with Feather duster at her side. Shining Armor and Cadence were across the table along with Twilight.

“Morning.” I gave a nod and decided it would be best to sit on her side to even thing’s out. “So things worked out well?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” She coughed. “Feather and I had a nice long talk. Speaking of which.” She glanced around the room. “Guards we require some privacy before breakfast arrives.”

The guards saluted and left the room just before she raised a privacy barrier. “There now we can talk freely.”

“Finally.” Imago dropped her disguise and draped herself over Celestia who blushed. “It’s hard to keep that up after being awake all night.”

Shining, Cadence, and Twilight all looked shocked while I tried not to laugh. “Tell me about it.” I decided to just roll with it and released the spell on my wings. Imago glanced my way and grinned in agreement. No point keeping so many secrets now, after all Harmony requires Honesty.

“Um auntie who is this creature?” Cadence recovered first and was trying to remain polite but Shining had shifted to looking alarmed and pressed himself into Cadence’s side.

“Changeling! Release the princess right now.” He lit his horn and I was a bit worried he might actually fire off a spell but raised a shield around his family members.

“Shining Armor while I admire your dedication please stand down. To answer your question Cadence this is my mare friend princess Imago of the Canterlot hive.” Celestia gave her a nuzzle that was happily returned.

Shining reluctantly lowered his shield but didn’t relax.

“It’s nice to officially meet you princess of food. Your ascension was celebrated amongst the changeling race, even if some foolhardy hives do want to foalnap you.” Imago hissed playfully.

So they really do call her that. I tried hard not to laugh while Cadence tried hard to decide what to say, luckily Twilight came to her rescue.

“Why call her the princess of food when she’s the princess of love?” Twilight tilted her head, she had apparently been overcome by her academic curiosity which stamped out her surprise at all the recent revelations.

“Simple. We changelings survive primarily by receiving and giving love in all forms. Typically we do this while in disguise, since other creatures have a hard time accepting us, but love exchanged in our true forms is the most satisfying for both parties. As Celestia’s student I will teach you more if you’d like.” Imago smiled and went back to loafing at Celestia’s side.

Twilight eagerly nodded.

“Yes well let’s not get too off topic shall we. I know that not all Changelings are good but neither are they bad, I just had some unfortunate encounters in the past. Imago and I are still trying to figure things out but we wanted to share with you all first.” Celestia gave off a warm smile.

“Ohh this is so sweet Auntie. You found yourself a literal love bug.” Cadence squealed like a schoolgirl.

Imago rolled her eyes but smiled at the apparent acceptance of their relationship from Cadence.

“Well I’m happy for you Tia. You deserve to be happy.” I moved closer and quickly nuzzled her while Imago flashed me a smile.

“If you two get married will you become queens?” Twilight tapped her chin and they both quickly replied with a loud, “No!” Then shared a look.

“I still don’t like it.” Shining grumbled but I expect I was the only one who herd him properly. Cadence wrapped him in her wing to help calm him down.

“Well with introductions out of the way shall we eat?” Celestia lowered the barrier and Imago donned her Feather Duster persona. I however left my wings unhindered and got comfortable.

“Wait, what about Dawn having wings?” Twilight pouted at the lack of answers.

She‘s taking the whole situation much better than I thought she would.We don’t raise fools.

“After breakfast my little pony.” Celestia must have used her magic to signal the staff since a buffet was brought in moments later.

Once we were all well fed our group made its way into Celestia’s study where Twilight and I normally had our lessons. I received plenty of second glances when ponies noticed my wings.

“Now then I know we all have a lot to talk about so where should we get started?” Celestia asked once we were all comfortable.

Twilight raised her hoof and Celestia giggled. “Yes Twilight?”

“Wings.” Twilight pointed a hoof my direction and wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Celestia sighed, this was already messing with her future plans but what wasn’t these days. “Dawn would you like to explain or should I?”

“I can.” I focused on Twilight. “Where should I start?” I smiled as she pulled out a notepad.

“Did you always have wings?”

“Nope.”

“How did you get them?”

“I’m not sure but The Princess and I think it was a combination of me having a powerful unicorn dam and pegasus sire along with finishing a unique spell for earth ponies.” Before she could ask I demonstrated by channeling some magic through my hooves. Imago was even a bit impressed by that trick.

“I see.” Twilight stuck out her tongue in a cute manner while writing. “Can anypony become an alicorn?” She glanced towards Cadence and even Shining armor perked up at this.

Celestia answered before I could “No Twilight. I do not know the exact reasons but only specific ponies can ‘ascend’ into an alicorn. But that’s as much as I can tell you for now.”

Twilight begrudgingly nodded.

“Any other questions?” I fluffed my feathers playfully.

“Do other ponies know? Does starlight?” She hesitated on the second part.

“No, Originally Just my immediate family and a pink pony who shale not be named.” I laughed at a joke they didn’t get earning a head tilt from Cadence thinking I meant her. “My mom has also been teaching me how to fly.” I hovered for a moment.

“So I learned something before she did.” Twilight smiled behind her notes.

“That’s all well and good but do you have any questions for me?” Imago was looking a bit left out.

“Oh yes.” Twilight enthusiastically nodded and for the next few hours we all talked about changelings and other topics while clearing the air.

When I finally returned to the dorms I was exhausted. Hours of conversation and spending the day at the castle had been great but it was nice to be alone again.

I had returned to hiding my wings of course since Celestia wanted to make the official announcement after speaking with my parents. Hopefully they won’t mind visiting the castle again.

Laying on my bed I found I wasn’t exactly tired but also didn’t want to move much. Lighting my horn I decided to sort my inventory. Subspace frozen time pocket was such a terrible name for the spell. I had learned how to create one after seeking out the book in the castle library.

“Let’s see old pencils, some nice photos,” I used some magic to quickly organize them along with creating some of today from a modified memory charm, “ huh what’s this?”

I pulled out the forgotten golden enslavement collar. “I meant to destroy you.”

I set it aside for a moment as I cleaned up the other items then held it between my hooves. Humming, I ran some magic through it and slowly reverted it back into the original leather lined iron. Immediately It felt different in my hooves and for some reason I looked at it longer than I should have before I threw it back into my inventory and shook my head. I’ll take care of that some other time.

Twilight yawned and pulled Spike closer. His scales felt wonderfully cool and comfortable on a summer night.

“I learned so much today Spike.” The baby dragon was half asleep but he enjoyed listening to his mother’s voice. “The princess is apparently dating a changeling and your dad is an alicorn, can you believe that? Anyway I’ll read you that bedtime story I promised about Star Swirl now.”

Spike nuzzled into Twilight’s fur and listened to the story as he drifted off to sleep.