Cadance's head popped up from the grass.

The grass?

She looked around. She was in a forest clearing in the middle of the night, the moonlight mixing the strange ethereal glow of the glade.

I'm pretty sure I didn't go to sleep in a...

Cadance sat up all the way and thunked herself in the head with a hoof, "Ah, right, dream."

"You are quite perceptive Cadance."

Cadance rotated in place just as Luna stepped down of the silver glinted magic guiding her to the ground. The grass didn't part where her hooves touched, seemingly just disappearing from reality. Cadance looked around again, noting the solid colours and blurry objects far enough away to not be visually present.

Luna waved her horn, noting Cadance's inspection. A short moment of focus later, a blue wave of magic washed over the glade, sharpening the features, bringing in birdsong and the barely audible sound of water flowing somewhere in the distance.

Cadance stood and spoke as she closed the distance to Luna, intent on giving her a hug, "It's good to see you again, Auntie."

Luna leaned her head down as Cadance initiated the hug, wrapping a hoof around the smaller alicorn. "It is always a pleasure to see you as well."

They broke the short embrace, "What brings you to my dreams?"

Luna smiled, "I simply wished to speak with you again. The dreamscape is calm tonight, thus I found myself with several spare hours, and I could think of nopony else to spend the time with."

"Well thank you, what have you been up to? Since the last time we spoke?" Cadance sat down on a recently added cushion, as Luna summoned a table from dreamstuff to take up the centre of the glade.

"I have done very little. Perusing the dream realm takes up most of my time, and besides, there's little I can do for Equestria besides it." Luna shook her head, "This age is simply too different. Everywhere I turn there is a new way to do things. A new... pointlessly complex way to do things"

"I know it doesn't help, but I'm sorry it's like that."

Luna looked contemplative momentarily, then shrugged, "It bothers me much less than it did. I..." She looked like she was rolling an idea around in her head. Cadance's powers didn't quite work in the dream realm, but she really didn't need them either. Luna was expressive enough within her own domain for Cadance to work out the trepidation.

Cadance smirked, and raised a hoof, "Ah... So there is something you wanted to talk to me about."

Luna's head tilted, "How could you tell?"

Cadance chuckled "You're an open book to me Auntie." Luna looked moderately concerned, so she added, "I guessed." at the end.

Luna nodded, "I do. That is, have something to talk about. I have been considering..." Luna hesitated, her voice trailing off.

"You know I don't judge ponies Luna, go on, whatever it is, your secrets are safe with me." Cadance mimed a particular gesture pertaining to promises

"Right." Luna steeled her features, "I have been thinking of stepping away from royalty."

Cadance subconsciously sat up a little straighter, "What, you mean stepping down?"

"Ah, yes, stepping down from my royal position" She clarified

"Hmm." Cadance made the effort to mime being in thought, not that she wasn't, she just wouldn't have physically shown it without having done so intentionally.

Luna's expression turned neutral as she ruffled her wings slightly, "I was honestly expecting more shock from you."

"Quick Silver." Cadance summed up.

Luna nodded sagely, "Ah, yes, that will inure one to shock quickly."

Cadance dropped her posed and gestured to Luna momentarily, "What brought this on?"

Luna thought before speaking, "I... well... everything." She slumped at the table, "I'm not respected as a Princess, as Luna? Yes, as a ruler? No." Luna returned her posture back to normal, but the distaste for the conversation was still plain on her face, "I would not ever be a ruler in the eyes of ponies today, even without my past, my competition is steep. I have only thought about simply leaving it all recently."

"Why's that?" Cadance led

"Well. Friendship." Luna glanced at her hoof, "I know it sounds cliché, but I finally understand that I will not receive the admiration I want while being a Princess. I would rather live like Twilight Sparkle, it was her who showed me that friendship doesn't start from above the ponies around you. It all seems so simple in hindsight."

Cadance made a show of inspecting the back of her hoof, "I say, do it."

Luna glanced away from her convoluted thoughts and at Cadance with a raised eyebrow. "You are intentionally being blasé about this topic? Correct? That is sarcasm?"

Cadance shook her head, "Nope, why not right?"

Luna snrked, "Firstly, I would be leaving behind all of my responsibilities-"

Cadance countered, "You can still tend to the dream realm without being a princess, and you just said how the rest of your duties are unnecessary"

Luna frowned at both the interruption and counterpoint. "I don't want to create those problems for my sister."

"Did you talk to her by the way?" Cadance tried to steer the conversation away from the current topic.

Luna's frown deepened, "About her..."

Cadance awkwardly smiled and offered, "Unapproachability?"

"Mmm. No. I did not. I couldn't think of a way, or find a time to. I rarely even see her around the palace and... I believe she is also aware of the situation, and has simply not had a chance to address it."

"How can you tell?"

Luna's frown twitched upwards momentarily as she seemingly reminisced, "She has begun producing breakfast for me every morning as I am preparing to turn in for the day."

"Awww, that's so sweet."

Luna shook her head, "I have no clue where she has the time to do so, but she has been... I believe, trying to bridge that gap."

Cadance leaned forwards, hoping to convince Luna in equal parts to continue, and show Luna she was still listening.

"I do not know. It... Is a lot, I admit. I believe there stems my desire to simply leave it all."

Cadance nodded, mostly to herself, "I still say go for it."

"Why?" Was Luna's simple question back, the intent behind it carrying far more weight than the word itself.

Cadance tapped her chin, "It's the perfect time, isn't it? You've not been integrated into the 'royal system', but you've been recognized. That, and you're in a unique position to do all sorts of good. Celestia has been handling Equestria for a thousand years, she can handle running it for as long as she wants by now."

Luna gazed through Cadance, "I do not wish to simply abandon my kingdom and my responsibilities, even if I could with no guilt, such a thing goes against... goes against the things I believe in."

Cadance ignored Luna's verbal stumble and continued, "I don't have an answer for you." Luna's ears flopped down, "I think it could be a good idea. You could make your own friends, find somewhere to settle down. Maybe find a town on the outskirts of Equestria to protect from monsters."

Luna made an unreadable expression, "Has Quick Silver been telling you stories?"

Cadance returned a confused look, "No?"

"Hmm... Curious, that is, was rather, Dusk Swirl's life summarized."

Cadance reiterated, "A wandering, friend-making monster fighter?"

Luna nodded, "Besides the friend making."

"Right."

"Nonetheless, I thank you for your opinion, I will contemplate what you have told me."

Cadance rolled her eyes, "You're welcome, and nopony says 'contemplate' anymore."

Luna fake frowned as she leaned deeper into her old ponish accent, "And why not? Tis a fine word."

Cadance politely giggled as a smile adorned Luna's face.

"What have you been doing since we last spoke?"

Cadance pressed a hoof to her forehead, "What haven't I been doing?" She continued to theatrically gesture as she spoke, "Noble deals, my sudden pet project with a newspaper team, my less sudden project with building a school, and every day it just seems like something new just gets thrown onto the pile. That goodness I am still caught up with most of the paperwork; I'm so sick of paperwork."

Luna nodded as Cadance went through her triade, "On this, I agree wholeheartedly, back when Equestria was still a fledgling nation, the amount of paper waste of today would have been a genuine crime."

"Then there's open court, and you know how that is."

Luna just shook her head in sympathy.

Cadance went on, "Everypony has their own agendas, and I swear if I didn't have such a competent staff, the Crystal Empire would be more like the Crystal economic despondence groupings of isolated housing."

"That is oddly speci-"

Cadance interrupted by slamming a hoof onto the table, "And another thing! I just found out a few days ago, the Quick Silver is apparently part of my palace staff! Apparently she has the time to run half of the organization procedures!" Cadance took a deep breath as as she pulled her hoof to her chest, and exhaled as she moved her hoof away. "We're overhauling palace operations, and it's a lot of work, and renovation, the Palace hasn't been quiet since yesterday morning." She explained less animatedly

"You appear to have more on your plate than I do." Luna said carefully, hoping not to set off Cadance again

"I admittedly have an incredible staff, and a loving husband, who is equally incredible."

Luna's whole stance suddenly shifted to excitement, "Ah! Of course! Your pregnancy! Have you been to see the nature of it at a doctor's office?" The tail end of her sentence was mangled by her unfamiliarity with the terms.

"Yes, me and Shining did, and that reminds me about something I need to ask Silver tomorrow."

Luna tiled her head, her unasked question obvious

"Apparently my magical output jumped far enough to be considered seriously concerning, but everything else is fine as far as the doctor could tell."

Luna, to the part, looked concerned, "How concerning is seriously concerning?"

Cadance laughed, "It's probably nothing, if it was dangerous, I would have a lot of physical symptoms."

"But you require the opinion of Quick Silver?"

"She would know wouldn't she?"

Luna shrugged, "She would certainly give a compelling answer that sounds enough like she knows. There is no telling for certain, however."

Cadance lightly shook her head, "Right." She clarified, "Still worth a shot"

"Indeed, say, why tomorrow?"

Cadance raised a brow, "What do you mean?"

"You said you would be asking Silver tomorrow? Your question?"

Cadance realized the question, "Oh! Well, in addition to the fact that I'm asleep at the moment, tomorrow me and Silver are going out."

Luna's embarrassed look at forgetting Cadance wasn't nocturnal like her disappeared as shook her head in bafflement "Going out?"

Cadance twirled her hoof as she explained, "After I basically threatened to turn her in, she demanded that we spend Thursday nights together so that I wouldn't bother her at inopportune moments. So far, we've just gone out partying."

Luna's ears twisted in attention, "Partying? Like clubbing?"

Cadance's head cocked back, "I'm surprised you know what that means."

"Things that go on during the night are under my purview, the arts included." Luna said in a mix of pride and something else.

"I wouldn't exactly call it an art."

"It is something ponies do with incredible passion, and generally requires a lot of skill to undergo the tasks associated correctly isn't it?"

"Well when you put it like that"

"That sounds exactly like something Quick Silver would do."

Cadance's wings spread open subconsciously, "I just had an idea!" She folded her wings and collected herself, "Come out with us."

Luna immediately looked against the idea, so Cadance interrupted her before she could deny the plan, "Just think about it, you want to step down, but don't want to just quit, so why not just try what it would be like? Get a disguise and come out with us, make some friends, let your hair down, you know?"

Luna shook her head, "I am far more concerned with Quick Silver's perspective than my own concerns."

Cadance excited posture deflated, "Ah... right... I forgot about that."

"Silver has made a serious effort to keep me out of her dreams. In addition-"

Cadance interrupted, "She doesn't sleep."

Luna stuttered, "Wait, what?"

"She's said she doesn't sleep, and honestly, I don't see how she could do all she does and sleep at the same time." Cadance explained

"That makes a lot of sense" Luna looked off into the distant trees of the glade, "That is, however, very concerning."

"So... If she's not avoiding you..." Cadance led

"I still do not believe she wishes to see me." Luna said simply.

"That's what the disguise is for."

Luna curtly responded, "I could fool her visually, but she knows how I walk, how I speak, trying to hide my presence from her would be pointless."

"Maybe she won't mind? She does it with me to start with, don't you think she misses you? After all this time?"

Luna's ears folded down, "I hoped as such, but after our meeting in the Canterlot Gardens, it was clear that what I had guessed instead of my wishes was instead the truth."

Cadance 'hmmed', "Dusk, at the time, was playing us throughout... all of that."

"Not me." Luna shook her head, "At least, not at the end, the part that you were passed out for. When I cornered her."

Cadance stilled herself, and let Luna talk

"She warned me about the future. About Celestia's intent to kill her once and for all; so she and I made a deal. In exchange for me covering up her escape, she would give you a chance." Luna lifted her hoof to interrupt Cadance's incoming question, "The point being that during our deal, it was..." Luna's frown deepened, "Made clear to me that I should stay away from her. I believe the exact words were, 'keep your tainted stupidity away from me and Cadance while I work.'"

Cadance lightly cringed. "She's been a lot nicer, recently."

Luna looked at Cadance dejectedly and did not respond.

"Listen, what's the worst that could happen?"

Luna gave her a look

Cadance leaned forwards, more enthusiastically presenting the idea, "Silver's not a violent pony, at least not for no reason, at worst she angrily tells you to leave? Right?"

"You are not incorrect, but-"

"But nothing. I can tell even without my magic that you miss her."

Luna looked away.

"A lot."

Luna continued staring off, her eyes snapping to the dream animals wandering around, "I wish to pay her back for the kindness she showed me..."

Cadance raised an eyebrow, "Didn't she manipulate you? Leading to you hurting the kingdom and eventually getting impris-"

Luna curtly cut her off, "It's more complicated than that Cadance." She shifted in the grass, "Sorry. What I mean is that Silver's intent always carried love and kindness."

Cadance hummed to herself, "If that's the case, then shouldn't you give her a chance? Show her that you're willing to make up for your mistakes? Even if she doesn't want you to?"

The pair of alicorns fell into silence as Luna considered the premise. Cadance meanwhile was trying to piece together the depth of Luna's mood swings when it came to Silver. Without her magic, she couldn't just pick the emotional context from Luna's aura; so she was stuck to facial expressions and body language. The main issue being that Luna was quite accidentally good at hiding her internal monologue.

Eventually, Luna spoke up, "You think- That is, that Silver would go along with this?"

"Oh no, Silver will absolutely reject this whole premise, out of theatrics, if not out of spite."

Luna's expression went amusingly blank

Cadance's tone turned soft, "But I do think it will work- for you and her."

"If you think so, then I am willing to go out with you." Luna gave a confident nod as if she was making some kind of vow.

"Uh." Cadance added intelligently, put off by the intensity and the particular phrasing of the statement.

Luna, realizing the mistake, corrected with rosy cheeks, "That is, ehem, go o- I mean, spend the ni- bi- er" or at least she tried to correct herself.

Cadance held up a hoof, holding back her laughter, "I got it, don't worry."

Luna covered her face with her wings just as Cadance burst into giggles.

Cadance slowly stirred into wakefulness to the sound of someone running a rock over a cheese grater.

She reached over with her eyes still closed, realized she was facing the wrong direction, and then reached out with the opposite side wing until she found Shining. Eventually her wing found his head, and she pushed down on his shoulder. Shining's snoring stuttered and then cut off as she pushed him over.

Then she went back to sleep.

Cadance groaned as Shining tried to wake her up

"Cmon Cadance, it's really time to get up"

"Mmmmmmnoooooooo"

Shining chuckled, and Cadance assumed that he shook his head at her antics. His weight shifted off the bed and she lifted her head to see where he had gone.

Oh right, I fell asleep backwards last night

She turned her head to the other side to see Shining wearing half of his guard equipment, "Wait, what time is it?" she asked vaguely in his direction as she put her head down again.

"It's nearly ten."

Cadance's wings spread as she jumped up, "TEN?! Shining!" She jumped down and ran into the bathroom, Shining Armor's laugh following her in as she frantically fixed her mane up and made sure her coat was at least a little bit not a mess.

Shining eventually poked his head into the bathroom, now seemingly ready to go, "Want any help before I head out?"

Cadance, with two brushes in her levitation and a hoof in her mane shaking her wings out while trying to polish her back hooves off on a towel she'd just thrown on the ground, snapped her head in Shining's direction and aggressively flicked her tail.

"Right. Love you" Shining wisely left

Cadance called out, "You'll be hearing about not waking me up tonight!" but she didn't really mean it.

A few moments later she heard the door close, and the storm around her settled as she took a deep breath. Running a spell though her mane to get all the tangles out, she sat back and began working on tying it into something manageable

Gonna have to copy Amber's casual business bun

The brushes assaulted the wild nature of her coat as the soap and water on the towel cleaned the grime stuck on her hooves. A few moments later, she was ready to go.

"Alrighty." She turned her head a few times as well as the rest of herself to make sure she wasn't missing anything important. She nodded to herself, straightening out the hair in her tail as she race walked out of the bathroom and straight to the door out of their room. She grabbed her notebook in her aura in addition to a beanie for no particular reason. Once she got to the door, she tossed the beanie back to its resting place near their shared wardrobe and ducked though the exit.

Mumbling about how late she was as she half galloped down the hallways to the lower level, she remembered she could teleport and lit her horn as she slowed to a stop.

*pop*

"Whoah!"

Cadance appeared on top of a long table in a meeting room somewhere, the stallion who called out in surprise, Dawn Ray, probably did so because she was currently standing on whatever he was writing on at the time.

Cadance hopped down off the table, "So sorry I'm late."

"That's quite a way to make an entrance" Said Marker

Symbol finished, "I'll say."

"I may have slept in a little." Cadance shook her head, "Please, where were you all?"

Homeward answered, "We were actually still waiting for Blue Skies."

Oh?

"Oh! Right, of course, how is she?"

Marker verbally smirked, "You mean since she lost her job?"

Dawn gave Marker a look before turning to Cadance, "She's been a great help."

"She really knows her stuff." Homeward added

Just then, everyone's head turned to the door, Cadance leaned her head over and spotted Blue Skies through the glass struggling with the door while trying to hold a suitcase and a precarious stack of papers on her back.

"It's a pull!" Symbol yelled out.

Skies pulled the door open with the handle in-between her teeth, clutching the suitcase against her chest.

Homeward stood from the table and lit her horn, "Here, let me help you." The papers levitated from their place on Blue Skies' back and onto the table as she stepped into the room.

"Goodness, thank you; you would all not believe the morning I've had. I'm sorry for being late."

"It's okay. Cadance was late too." said Marker.

Blue briefly glanced at Cadance as she sat down on the table, turning her attention back to her suitcase and clicking it open. "I had a chance to read through your ideas, and I think I have everything."

Homeward retook her seat next to Cadance, who had choses to pull a cushion to the front end of the table. "Perfect, then we can get started."

"To begin," Dawn started, "We've been chipping away at learning what constitutes opening a school in modern Equestria."

Homeward smirked, "You have."

Dawn rolled his eyes, "Yes, Homeward has an expertise with this, so we've been able to start in the right place."

Blue Skies was skimming a sheet of paper as she spoke, "The main questions we have are scale and politics."

"More proof we're not the right ponies to run the school, we didn't even think of the economic positing of a research college." Symbol said

Homeward interrupted Marker before he could get started too, "What- they mean is that we overlooked the wider effects, I-"

"Doesn't look that way to me" Cadance said, "It's only been a week or so, and you figured it out yourself."

"Yes, well-"

Blue Skies interrupted, "First things first, is the school going to be its own private corporation? Or is it going to be funded by the Empire's treasury?"

"A hybrid." Cadance stated, mentally getting into the legalese headspace, "The school is obviously going to be founded by the crown, and most of the staff are going to be appointed by the crown, so saying that it isn't run by The Empire would simply be a lie."

There were a series of nods as Cadance continued, "It isn't going to be a non-profit, however. It'll still monetarily function as an individual party on paper, with tax bits funneling from the crown as a technical donation."

"Can that be done?" Marker asked Blue Skies

She nodded, "Yes, in theory, the main issue is the tax laws that affect individual corporations."

"Amber coached me on that; in short, the college can write up its taxes as crown funding, that is until it makes money on its own."

Dawn tilted his head, "Wait, so the crown won't actually be giving any bits to the college? The college just won't be paying taxes? How much money would that even save us?"

"More than you'd think." Responded Blue Skies, "International trade law is also a part of that, since it's a Crystal Empire institution, outgoing tax tariffs get comped as well."

Symbol was writing down a series of figures that Cadance wasn't able to read, "How much is that, percentage wise?"

Homeward answered, "Long-term, it's around a fourth of the total expenditures."

"So the Empire waives taxes, and a fourth of operating costs are just in the wind?" Marker asked

Blue skies answered him, "Keep in mind, that also includes things like income tax for staff paid by the school." Marker nodded in acknowledgment.

Cadance added on, "That includes equipment as well, license costs."

Symbol continued to scribble down information.

Dawn spoke up, "How big are we talking?"

The question was directed at Cadance, who wasn't quite sure what she was being asked.

"I mean, how big will the school be? Say to staff and students? Learners?"

Cadance tapped her hooves together, "I'm not sure. To be completely honest, I don't know how popular it will be to begin with."

"Give us a hopeful estimate." Marker said tersely

I'm not sure I appreciate your tone

Homeward must have noticed the facial exchange between the two, because she waved a hoof and said to Marker, "Do you think you could dial it back? Just a bit?"

Cadance tried to get a feel for the moods. Homeward was trying to be some frame of reassurance, whereas Marker's internal annoyance switched to frustration as he leaned back and crossed his legs in front of himself. He nodded, the emotion drifting away from Cadance, but she wondered what exactly Marker had against her.

I didn't miss you not calling me Princess either mister.

"Big." Cadance surmised

Marker rolled his eyes, and Dawn added, "I believe the term you used was, biggest ever? Correct?"

Cadance nodded, "That's right, split between a lab and a school."

Symbol spoke from around her quill, "Wait, so it is a research institution? Separate from the scholastic corporate entity?"

"Again, the plan is for it to be a kind of hybrid."

"That's probably going to be our biggest hurdle" Said Homeward as she closed one of her eyes and made a thinking face.

This is going to be a long conversation. Gosh, I wish I had taken that fruit bowl as I left.

Author's Note

Lots and lots of dialogue this chapter.

Also, Homeward is by far the cutest pony I've made in Ponytown