I woke up the next day, hugging my Celly. I knew about what she ended up doing to Shooting Star, fuckin’ asshole. Even when he’s dead, he’s causing some sort of trouble for my family. Celly has fought, and killed other sapient beings before. Hell, she had to do that a lot just to unite the Equestrian tribes together and… well, form the country we have today. However, it’s been a while since she’s had to execute anypony, and she wasn’t doing too well. Katie noticed this, and forced me to spend some time alone with Celly the night before; she deserves it. Katie had Ma and the rest of the family, according to my sister herself, and Celly didn’t have that.

She should know better than that. Celly’s family. She has a family to turn to.

I nudged my wife with my nose, she was awake, she was just staring ahead. “Celly?” I asked.

“It never does get easier doing it, does it?” Celly asked.

“Dear?” I whispered.

“It won’t ever feel good when you take somepony’s life, does it, Source? You keep feeling remorse when you have to kill somepony?” Celestia asked, raising her head and giving me a small smile. “Shooting Star was a monster in the making, a completely horrible pony that tried hurting my family and wanted to do awful things to Twilight, somepony I see as a daughter. Yet… it still felt awful to execute him as I did.” Celestia looked me in the eyes. “I know what Shooting Star was, yet I still felt bad.”

“Celly, that’s… better than I am. You’re a far better pony than I am.” I shook my head and sighed. “I was willing to let that asshole bleed out after I snapped his horn off.” I hugged her. “If there was a human in your stead, they would’ve gotten corrupted and borderline evil at your age. You… are still so nice, full of love, and thinkin’ about everypony around you. You’re a good pony.” I hugged her tighter. “You have so much going on in that head of yours, that I’m shocked that you’ve not gone mad yet, that you have the restraint that you do.

“I lay against your side and am reminded of just how truly strong you are; I still feel just how much of you is muscle, and not just a bunch of cake, even if a decent portion of you is cake.” I tapped her side, it was a little plush, but under that I could feel raw, hard muscle. My wife’s feckin’ strong. Celly giggled and thwacked me with a wing for that. “But me lying against you reminds me of just how great you are; you’re so soft and gentle, yet so strong and dangerous, but you’ve got restraint. You’re nothing but gentle with me and Button, you’re like a nice, pleasantly warm fireplace when you’re being Celly.” I let go of her. “And yeah, I don’t think killing is ever truly the best option, but sometimes it’s necessary, and we both know that it was necessary in this case.”

Celestia nodded. “You… are correct. If I imprison him, he’ll find a way out and come back. If I banish him, he can still send assassins after you from afar… or send them after your-”

“Our family, Celly. Whether you like it or not, we’re your family now, me, Ma, Dan, Dave, and Katie. We’re all here for ya, feck, if you asked, Ma would be here giving you a hug and a bunch of smooches on the forehead; she adores ya. Kinda like this,” I started constantly kissing her and nuzzling her ears, and nipping her neck.

Celly giggled. “Source, I need you to stop,” she started snickering. “My ears are ticklish and you know it!”

“Hmm…” I hummed. “Do you need to use the restroom?” I asked.

“Not particularly, I usually go after… break… fast. Buck. Fuck you, Source for using your brain for once!” I grabbed her ear with my magic and plucked one of my own feathers. “Source, please. Spare me from the tickles!”

“Then smile, be happy,” I demanded. “I hate seein’ ya like this, and I’ll do my damn best to bring you out of your funk if it’s the last thing I do!”

“Okay, okay, just don’t tickle me.” Celly giggled and hugged me tightly. “Thank you, Source. Truly, I do not know what I would do without you.”

“Mmm, I can’t be that great,” I shrugged. “But I know I wouldn’t still be standing in Equestria if you weren’t there for me in my early days. I think it’s about time that I returned the favor, especially since I’m your husband. Making you feel better is both a duty, and the greatest pleasure I’m lucky enough to experience.” I kissed her nose. “I love you,” I whispered as I laid back down. “Sun’s raised; I think Luna did it for you.”

“She definitely did; she knows how I feel about executing anypony, especially when I do it myself.” Celly sighed, and nuzzled into me. “We don’t need to be at the convention until noon.”

“It’s also been a while since you’ve slept in.” I climbed on top of her. “If nopony would smell it, even if we showered, I’d please you even more right now. But as it stands… Shit,” I sighed. “I didn’t really uphold our bargain yesterday, after the sparring match.”

“Oh… we can do it tonight; I fully understand why neither of us were in the mood last night.”

“And yesterday was going so well too!” I grumbled. “I felt at the top of the world after that exhibition match, and then I got to spend some time with Dan and Katie, and then it woulda ended with some hot, kinky-”

“Snu-snu,” Celly interjected.

“And that…” I grumbled. “Anyways, wanna just cuddle for a few hours and see if we can’t get some extra shuteye?”

“Hmm, I suppose.”

“By the way, I might have planned this out… slightly. If I couldn’t get you in a better mood, my family was gonna barge in…” Ma and my siblings barged in, all of them had pajamas on. Where and when they got them, I dunno. “About now. We were gonna snuggle and cuddle you until you were your happy, lovin’ self again, Celly.”

“And we’re gonna do darn good-” Ma stopped. “Damn, Kodi, you ruined it! We were supposed to make your wife feel better as a family!”

“And if I couldn’t do it on my own, then I’d be one shitty husband,” I pointed out. “We can still snuggle together-” Luna crashed through our window.

“Sister, as the time calls, I must snuggle you to make you smile!”

“Wait…” Celly paused. “What?” My wife was immediately piled on by all of us. Cadance and Shining Armor, along with their adoptive changeling children, joined us too. Granted…

Pharynx was getting spooned by Shiny. He looks so fucking happy!

A few hours later, and we eventually accepted that we couldn’t just sit here all day; we’ve gotta sit and silently root for Twilight. Since Fillydelphia was short a pony, they were sitting out of any competitions this year. And also because, apparently, it was all over the news that one of their students attacked one of mine, and the student that was attacked was my sister. Yeah, it’s not looking so hot for that school’s PR. I took a long, deep breath after putting my suit on. Celly put her regalia on, but I then stopped her.

“Hey Celly, do you have to go out and smile and wave?”

“No, Cadance said she was hosting the event this year; me and Luna are free of any smiling and waving. Why?”

“I’d say fuck the regalia, if I were you. You’ve been through some shit; just take it off today and just be Celly, not Princess Celestia, aye?” I asked.

“Hmm,” she hummed. “I could put on my suit. Would you like that?”

“Which one?” I asked. “The one you wore to the Gala?”

“I bought a skin-tight, very form fitting flight suit a long time ago. I can wear that, or the one from the Gala.”

“Tia,” I hugged her. “While that would look amazing, and sexy, I don’t think it would be very comfy. You wanna put that on just for the sake of-”

“Source, how long have I been alive?”

“For at least three calendar systems,” I answered. “...You know how to put that flight suit on in an instance, don’t you?”

“That I do.” Celly’s horn lit up… she was now wearing a hot pink flight suit. Going up the forelegs and hindlegs were golden stripes that went up and connected to a golden stripe that went across and up her barrel and down to her flanks. Sewn into the flight suit, on one side, just under Celly’s wings, was her full name. Well, her full, public name. Nopony really knew Celly’s full name. I got right to that since I’m her husband, and she knew my human name. It was a fair trade, and it didn’t matter; Celly was always Celly to me, and I was always ‘Source’ to her.

I sat there, staring at her. It fit her form tightly, and had slits in the side for her glorious wings. To nicely top off the rest of the suit, she had four, purple boots that she bought at my request. Her mane and tail were tied back, with her mane being in a ponytail, whereas just the base of her tail was tied back. I then noticed the cute, pink headband hugging her head where her crown usually sat. I stared at her some more, and opened my mouth.

“I… uh.” I chuckled. “Uh…” Source.EXE has stopped working. “Holy.” I chuckled. “Holy shit, Celly.” I laughed. “Have I mentioned just how fucking lucky I am that you’re my wife?” I asked.

“A few times.”

“Celly, if you dressed like that more often, or could, do you know how often I’d rut you?” I asked.

“Hmm,” my wife mused. “Perhaps I shall have to wear this more often, then. We’ve still yet to have a foal besides Button, and I’m sure he’d love a little sister, or a little brother.”

We snuggled up together, before we went to greet the rest of the family. We all decided that, especially after Katie’s incident, we need to stick together. Dan’s jaw dropped when he saw my wife. Ma whistled. Katie was busy sketching in something, and Dave was the only one who spoke.

“Are you trying to seduce my brother that hard?” Dave asked.

“Which one?” Celly asked with a snicker.

Dave slowly looked at Dan. “Dan, that’s Kodi’s wife.”

“Holy… fucking… shit,” Dan whispered. “Why is that actually kinda ho-” Ma thwacked my brother across the back of his head.

“That’s Kodi’s wife, Dan.” Ma shook her head and sighed. “I will admit, Celly’s a sight to behold, but that’s Kodi’s wife.”

“I don’t mind,” Celly giggled. “Do you understand just how many ‘love letters’ I get, which just consist of more… abrasive of my little ponies telling me about all the… things they would do to me if they could.”

“It’s really fuckin’ weird,” I added. “And disgusting.”

“I was just trying to say, even if my choice of words aren’t the best a lot of the time,” Dan took a deep breath. “You look pretty, Tia.”

“Thank you,” Celly giggled. “I do find it funny that you react in such a manner to the sight of me.” My wife then walked over to Katie and looked over her shoulder. “What are you drawing this time?” Celestia asked.

“Oh.” Katie shrugged. “I sketched out how your fight with Kodi went.” She flipped her notebook over, and did the little flipbook animation. After a moment, Celly just sat there, genuinely impressed. “Is it good?”

“It still amazes me that nopony came up with that; it’s some simple, yet such a wonderful idea,” she kissed my sister on the forehead. “How are you doing, by the way? I cannot imagine what you’ve been through was any fun.” Celly asked.

“Kodi told us you’d be feeling bad and-”

“Sun Butt just has to make sure everypony else is fine,” I answered. “I tell her, it’s fine if she puts herself first, but this is just how she is; always looking out for everyone.”

“Don’t get me started on you, mister,” Celly said pointedly at me. “How often are you looking out for me or Button? How about the time I had to make you go eat something during the Fall Formal Festival? Or that time you made sure Luna and I were alright after you just took on a bear?” Celly, and Button since he waltzed up beside her to hug her as he usually does in the morning. “Your first concern, if you got stabbed, would be if me and Button were safe.”

“So I-”

“I’m teasing you, dear…” She giggled and hugged Katie. “You are doing okay, correct?”

“...Seeing that much blood. Kodi, you’re fucking scary,” she said pointedly at me. I gave her a quizzical look. “Not in the sense that you’re scary, but more like… You could do so much to all of us, right now, and instead you use whatever talent you have, in keeping us safe. The fact that you jumped to such… a lethal way of keeping me safe, according to what Dave’s read on unicorns, snapping the horn clean off is a good way to let a unicorn bleed out. Or instantly kill them depending on how deep you cut the horn.”

“Nobody,” I growled. “Hurts you. Nobody fucking hurts anyone I love. Anyone that tries will understand why they do not trifle with me, for as long as I breathe air, anyone that hurts my family will not enjoy what I do to them in return.” I took a deep breath. “As the Alicorn of Magic, I’d sooner keel over than let that asshole break your neck, Katie.”

“And for that,” Katie dragged me over with her Levitation. “Is why I am grateful that you’re my brother. You can do a lot of scary things, but I know you wouldn’t dare hurt me, or light that horn and point it at me unless you meant well.” She kissed my cheek. “Seriously, Source, your wife’s great.” We hugged Katie. “Urhgph!” She squealed. “Help! I’m being cuddled to death!” She gave a pleading look to Button. “Help me, my dear nephew!”

“Mom, Dad, stop killing Auntie Katie with cuddles. She needs oxygen too.” Button smacked both of us on the head with a newspaper.

We stepped out into the field where the convention was being held. There was a big stage set up for the magic show, and there were tons of eyes on us, specifically my family… nevermind, I got fucking swarmed by ponies. Nopony even noticed Celly’s flight suit yet. Reporters and magic nerds all surrounded me and started asking me questions, and Ma started barking her orders to ‘get the fuck off my baby!’ And other things amongst those lines. Had this happened when I was a meek little unicorn, I’d probably crumple.

Instead, I’m a meek little alicorn being overstimulated, but I like to think that I’ve become just a little more confident. “FUCKIN’ SHUT UP!” I shouted. Everyone around me shut up after hearing my version of the Canterlot Royal Voice. Everypony around me backed up a few hoofsteps as a hivemind. “Okay guys,” I took a deep breath. “One at a time, anymore than that and this little questionnaire is over!” I commanded. Ma and my siblings blinked a few times at my outburst.

One reporter was brave enough to step forward, only because I pointed at him. “Prince Source, after your performance during the exhibition match, everypony is wondering if you’ll ever start your own school for gifted unicorns?” He asked.

“Nah. Fuck that. I can tutor those looking to get better with magic, but I ain’t a teacher. ‘Sides, I can’t teach jackshit besides Python.” I answered.

I pointed to somepony who was clearly a student. He walked up to me and asked quietly…

“Are you alright after yesterday, sir? We all saw what Shooting Star was doing to your student, and…”

“I’m fine. Go hug Princess Celestia; she needs it. She’s the one who ultimately punished him.”

“Okay… also, how did you use magic without your horn?” The same student asked.

I lifted my hoof, revealing a bit. “I used this as a wand.”

“Cool!” That’s the loudest this kid’s been the whole time. “Will you teach everypony how to do that with your next textbook?” He asked.

“Three questions, kiddo, you’re really brave,” I chuckled. “But yeah, I’ve actually got a few copies of my most recent textbook; it’s not for sale yet.” I smiled at what I can do now. “It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!” I teleported an updated Python book to me, and handed it to the colt. “Now, go hug my wife. She could really use one right now.” The colt, with the book in his mouth, ran up to Celly. He didn’t even blink twice at her flight suit, and jumped up to hug her leg as best as he could.

That. That was adorable. Holy fucking shit.

“Okay everyone,” I interjected. “I know I said I would answer your questions, if you followed Da Rules, but we’re not here for me. We’re here to celebrate what our latest generation of mages have accomplished! And also that,” I pointed at the colt I gave the textbook to. He was still hugging Celly… until she whispered something to him.

You see, he’s a teenager, about Katie’s age I’m assuming. He’s such a polite little thing that it surprised me that he had no inhibitions about hugging Celestia, and it made me laugh when he trotted over to Katie and hugged her neck tightly. He then sauntered off into the crowd, his tail wagging as he brought the book out of his mouth and into his magic.

I’m gonna find that kid and take him as a student; he’s a good kid.

The rest of the crowd aw'd at the sight of the colt after he wandered off.

“So anyways, that fried my brain!” I chuckled heartily. “Go enjoy the rest of the second day of the Unicorn Convention, please!”

Ma hugged me when I sat down in my spot in the crowd, first was the foal’s part of the event and then the actual thing. Button had left the castle early in order to get behind the stage and also get some quick practice in. He’a got a cutie mark in performing tricks, so I think he’s gonna win. Most of the foals here don’t even actually have their mark yet. The show hasn’t started yet, so I had enough time to fend off my Mum.

“Ma,” I said, my face was being smashed into her chest. “I’m all for getting hugged, but…”

“Kodi, you’ve never handled crowds well.”

“And I handled that just fine.” I pointed out.

“You did…” Ma agreed. “I was still worried, y’know? Yer not on yer meds, and that could’ve ended poorly for you. Can you blame me for worrying?” She asked.

“Definitely not,” I shrugged. “I hate being so feckin’ short,” I grumbled. Ma was a head taller than I was, the complete opposite of back in Ireland, where I towered over her.

“That’s too darn bad,” Ma giggled and let me go.

“So we’re just going to be…” Dave interrupted Ma getting ready to embarrass the shit out of me. “Watch foals do magic tricks?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Sweetie Belle’s partaking in this event, too. It’ll be a fun little thing,” I stretched. “Celly, how are you holding up?” I nudged my wife. She blinked before looking down at me. “Celly?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m fine, dear. I was just excited about seeing this part of the convention; it’s not something I could always experience.” She admitted. “It’s a nice change of pace, seeing foals have fun, instead of adults trying so hard just to get a trophy,” she nuzzled me. “Trust me, Source, if you’re worried about where my mind is right now, you’ve definitely done a good job at getting me out of that place.” She shrugged. “I’m just excited to see my son’s performance!” Celly clapped her hooves.

We were a bit in the back, mostly out of consideration for everyone else; Celly was fucking huge.

Luna was sitting beside us, eying her sister. “Did you have to put that flight suit on, sister?” She asked. “Seriously, that would be… what’s the term? Slutty?” I nodded. “Slutty a thousand years ago.”

“So I wanted Source to have something nice to look at-”

“Which could’ve just been you without your regalia,” I pointed out. Celly brought her hoof up to my cheek and gently lifted me up so she could look me in the eye.

“Source, dear, shut the fuck up.” I blinked at that. She never used that language with me, not counting the time she shouted at Luna about greeting ponies at the Gala. “I am trying not to lose an argument with my sister, so please do not try to counter argue; I know you think I look ‘sexy’ in my suit,” I nodded dumbly. “Good,” she kissed me on the nose. “I love you, and sorry about telling you to shut the fuck up,” we shared another kiss. “So,” Celly said, looking up at Luna. “My husband needed eye candy.”

“But you’re pretty enough as is,” I pointed out. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“Dammit, Source,” Celly sighed. “If you weren’t so genuine when you said that, I would be a little angrier about you counter arguing why I’m wearing a flight suit again.” She giggled and hugged me tightly. “I love you.”

The show began, so we all promptly shut up. I gotta admit, every single kid here was pretty damn impressive when it came to the creativity of how they used their very, very limited spell repertoire to make something flashy. None of them particularly seemed to care that much, about there being a prize for winning. It was literally a bag of candy along with a free meal pass for any of the vendors selling food in the convention. Most of them were just having fun.

I sat up when Sweetie Belle walked on stage, as she was carrying something using WME’s bullshit Levitation spell. She was clearly using Python to make use of the fact that she knew more spells in it than any other spell system, since Twilight agreed to show her how to use stuff outside of Python; Sweetie Belle had more than enough power to not need Python. While she danced around with a puppet of herself that she made into ‘life’, she had her eyes closed, fully enthralled in what she was doing.

Once she realized her time was up, she stopped and blinked. She was halfway through twirling around in a dress she teleported onto herself when it was up.

“Feck,” I chuckled. “That’s good,” I clapped my hooves. “NICE ONE, SWEETIE!” I shouted from my spot amongst all the cheering and the clapping.

“Source,” Luna nudged me. “You’re a good teacher.”

“Pfft, I just nudged her in the right direction. I’m fuckin’ proud, though.” I hummed and looked at the handy, dandy little list that was given to us so we could see who’s going and in what order. Button was next. I dropped everything and sat forward. I was looking forward to this. Not just the performance, just… being able to be a dad and cheer for my kid. I never thought I’d be at this point at all, but I am. A huge smile found its way onto my face as Button stepped on stage, looking actually a little nervous.

The first thing Button did was close his eyes, probably thinking about bald ponies, before teleporting eight rocks, each about the size of his head, and starting levitating them. As they went round and round, they slowly started speeding up. As they did, Button went and lit on fire, before he himself lit himself on fire with DragonFire and flew through the air, the rocks spun around him as he went. Soon, all the rocks were on fire and burning and burning and… they started turning into sparkly ashes that were soon whisked away so they wouldn’t actually fall on anypony. I stared in awe; this was beautiful…

He looked like a phoenix with how he was shaping that DragonFire.

“I’m chuffed to bits right now,” I said breathlessly.

“You sounded English,” Ma whispered back. None of us took our eyes off of his display as he broke from a DragonFire and into a Skywalker Spell, before landing on the ground. Clip Clop. He took a deep breath again, and bowed.

The whole crowd exploded in cheers.

Button scanned the crowd and quickly found us, it was hard to miss when his Mom was the tallest pony to ever exist. His eyes landed on me, and his face fell for just a second when he saw me not cheering or clapping. Instead, it grew into a big, big grin. The biggest grin I’ve seen on that face. He can probably tell, by how stupid I looked right now, that he went and impressed me and broke my brain in the process. He bowed one more time before running off stage so the next foal could go.

Once the show was over, I teleported right to the stage exit, before anyone could react and sat and waited. I’m jumping my kid. I’m jumping him, and I’m gonna tackle him. I’m gonna tackle him and then I’m gonna spoil him to high hell after I show him just how proud I am. He did damn well, and impressed me so fucking much that I couldn’t be any less proud of the foal I call my son. Button walked out first, his horn lit up, I assumed he was gonna DragonFire.

“Hey kid,” I said, tapping his shoulder. It took so much energy to not jump him. I could feel my body doing a little, wiggly dance as he turned around.

“Did I do good?” Button asked.

“No,” I said. “You did amazingly,” I laid down. “C’mere, lemme hug you and-” I got tackled. “You did fuckin’ awesome, kid!” I laughed and hugged him tightly. “God damn, Button! That was awesome!” I noted the blue ribbon hanging from his neck. “I take it you won?” I asked.

“Yeah, they were about to announce it after we all got off stage,” Button admitted. “I can tell why you weren’t cheering.”

“I looked stupid?”

“Yeah.”

“Figured. You had to go and do so damn good that I couldn’t process what you were doing.”

Sweetie Belle joined us and made her presence known by tackling my face too.

“Hey Mr. Source!” Sweetie Belle hugged me tightly. “Did you see my performance?”

“I did,” I laughed and managed to pry the excited filly off of me. “Got second place, ey?” I noted the silver medal hanging from her neck.

“Yeah… but then my coltfriend just had to go and one up me, right after I went!” Sweetie Belle gently shoulder checked Button. “Your performance was really good, though,” she nuzzled into him. “C’mon, we should go celebrate!” She suggested.

“But I wanted to watch the adult magic show,” Button whined. “I bet it could be really cool, too.”

“We can celebrate later, then,” Sweetie Belle clapped her hooves.

I sat up and stretched as the rest of the family, Celly included, joined us. Celly fell to her knees and skidded to a stop, plowing into Button and wrapping him up in the biggest hug she’s given anypony besides me. She squealed and started skipping on her hindlegs while holding Button tightly. Button just sat there, bug eyed for all but a moment, before he started purring and hugging his adoptive mother’s forelegs. Ma patted Sweetie Belle on the head, before smirking at her grandfoal.

“That is adorable,” Dan said as he sat beside me. “I’m surprised that you aren’t joining them,” he pointed out. “With how you are now, I half expected you to join them on the hug.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the most common thing to see. Button’s all about me, he wants to be like me, he loves hanging out with me whenever he can. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to join, but I know Celly sometimes hates not being able to have proper one-on-one time with our son. I’m letting this happen because I know they both could use this moment together. ‘Sides, you know I'm not huge for celebrating while that high on energy; I already did that before y’all caught up.” I smiled slightly at that. “Celly, you’re confusing our kid!” I chuckled.

“No she isn’t,” Button pointed out. “I’m getting Mom hugs! This is the best day ever!”

…

Celly’s heart just melted. I saw that moment where she paused before going back to dancing on her hindlegs while celebrating our kid’s win.

I sat down next to Thorax and Pharynx, well, Pharynx was sitting on the other side of Thorax. He was snuggled up into Shining Armor’s side while he stared ahead at the stage before him. We were all getting ready to watch the magic show that the adults were having. I was kinda excited to see Trixie and Twilight perform again. Trixie’s magic shows are pretty nice, even if I only got to experience the one, and accidentally rain on her parade. Twilight would find some way to impress everyone with the magnitude of the spells she’s using.

“Hey Thorax,” I patted the changeling beside me. “It’s been a fuckin’ minute since you and I have chatted,” I commented. Some of the adults’ attempts at being ‘magical’ was kinda sad. So I didn’t feel bad about skipping over them; they had more access to spells, but lacked the creativity of a foal.

“Yeah, it has,” Thorax smiled. “How have you been?”

“Doin’ good. Cadance and Shiny treatin’ y’all good?” I asked.

“Yeah… wait, what do I call you? Just Source, Great Uncle Source?”

“How about…” I smiled. “Grunkle Code?” I asked. “Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” Thorax nodded. “What’s a Grunkle?” He asked. He then processed what I did and ‘oh’d. “Oh, I see, that’s kinda clever.”

“Stanley did it first,” I shrugged. “How’s Pharynx?” I noted that Cadance had taken Shiny’s place; they were sitting right next to each other. Upon being swapped out, Pharynx stopped leaning into where Shining Armor was sitting so he could sit up straight. Cadance pouted at not being able to hold her bug colt. “Your brother really likes Shiny, doesn’t he?” I asked.

“Yeah, those two hit it off; when they aren’t sparring, Pharynx takes every chance he can get to snuggle up to Dad.” Awe, that’s cute. Both what Thorax said, and what he just called Shiny. “Hey Pharynx, if you’re going to not cuddle with Mom, can we switch seats? I want to cuddle with her.”

“Suck it, Thorax,” Pharynx grumbled.

“Pharynx, be nicer to your brother,” Shining scolded. “He just wants to hug his Mommy, don’t be rude.”

“Yes, Dad,” Pharynx rolled his eyes, before switching seats with Thorax. The changeling’s wings buzzed as he nuzzled into my niece’s side with a happy little chirp. “Hey Source,” Pharynx greeted me. “Why are you lookin’ at me like that?”

“Oh nothin’. It’s just kinda fun to think that you were married to your dad for almost a day, and now you adore him.”

“I will break your arm if you do not stop talking.” Pharynx threatened.

“No you wouldn’t, Pharynx. Shiny would be disappointed in you for breaking my arm.”

“Bucking dammit,” Pharynx groaned. “How’d you know?”

“You love Shiny, even if you won’t openly admit it. Shiny clearly loves you and Thorax,” now the changeling in question was smashed in between Cadance and Shiny; the three of them ‘squeaked’ and smiled before going back to watching the show. Twilight was going up now, so we all went quiet to watch what would happen. That didn’t stop the old changeling captain from grumbling in his seat about the ‘stupid, blue alicorn’ beside him. I snickered for a moment before focusing on Twilight.

Twilight had summoned blue fire balls and was rotating them around her head. Her horn flickered for a second and she then casted several ice balls and rotated them around her as well, while keeping the fireballs. Going. Oh, she’s doing a funky technique to cast two spells at once, I think. I don’t actually know what she’s doing, but she’s currently running three spells, even if Levitate really doesn’t count since it’s such an easy spell to cast. Twi’s performance eventually broke into her summoning several trees, growing them instantly, and having them return to the saplings they were before she jump started their growth cycle.

Twilight’s a cheat code, as she started running several spells at once, and even made a cactus sprout from literally nothing.

“And Twi thinks she’s worse than I am in raw application,” I chuckled. “Feckin’ hell.”

“You know,” Celly said, she was right next to me. “She has written to me in letters about improving her magic to try and keep up with your application of magic. It appears you both believe that neither of you can edge out over the other?”

“She’s better with magic theory than I am. You sendin’ that uncompleted spell with her to Ponyville after the event’s over?” I asked.

“Maybe. I was going to suggest sending your family for a day, but I feel like Dave would immediately understand what the Starswirl spell did, even if nopony else knows what it does, and keep Twilight from casting it.” Celly shrugged. “But yes, I believe it’s time to send Twilight that spell. It’s about time she stops feeling left behind, don’t you agree?”

“Pfft, left behind? She’s in a league of her own.” Twilight had grown a miniature jungle out of nothing. “I couldn’t imagine doing that, ever. Even with how optimized my magic is.”

Trixie kinda bowed out after that, as did everypony else; they knew they weren’t competing with that. Actually, Trixie did try, only to fall flat in comparison. She had neither the spell knowledge, even with some Python Spells I’ve seen from her, nor the scale of magic, to get even close to what Twi did. It was… kinda sad, but Twilight may as well be magic incarnate with how fucking gifted she is with the stuff. Add in that she’s a nerd and will want to learn any new spell you give her, and you get a recipe for a mare that’s damn good at magic.

“Twilight… did so well that she made everyone else give up?” Ma asked.

“Yeah, can you blame me?” I asked.

“Hell no, but I’m still gonna call them pussies. I ain’t gonna let myself get rolled like that in any competition.” Ma crossed her forelegs.

“You also have enough magic to contend with Twilight, even if you don’t exactly have magic theory nailed down-”

“That term, magic theory, sounds retarded and you know it, Source.”

“It does,” I admitted. Celly and everyone else here who knew about magic was glaring at us now. “Trying to theorize with magic, but it’s the best term we’ve got for describing how magic works. So why change it?” Celly whacked both of us over the head with a newspaper… and got pulled into a headlock by Ma.

“Twilight, what the fuck?” I asked as I went to meet her.

“Yeah…” Twilight nervously laughed. “I uh… went a little overboard if even Trixie didn’t want to perform after me.”

“No fuckin’ shit, mate! You did so fucking much on such a large scale that nopony could even DREAM of following!” I threw my hooves in the air. “How the fuck did you grow a CACTUS OUT OF A ROCK?”

“Uh…” Twilight sighed. “Okay, yeah, I tried a little too hard. It’s your fault, you know. You just had to put pressure on me after you took on every Princess in Equestria and forced a draw between you and Luna, after taking out Celestia and Cadance!” Twilight shot back. “And with all the magical bullshit you manage to learn and pull off everyday, I feel like I need to catch up at times!” Twilight laughed.

“And I gotta keep up with you because of how much more naturally gifted you are!” I pointed out. “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FUCKING MAKE TREES GROW AND UNGROW?!” I asked.

“YOU’LL FIND SOME STUPID WAY TO DO IT WITH PYTHON!” Twilight shot back.

“Okay, fair. I might,” I agreed.

“It’s actually kind of fun, having you as a colleague, y’know?” Twilight asked. “You keep me on my toes, and because of that, it resulted… in that. That’s the first time I’ve not followed anything I learnt, and just relied on how I applied my skills rather than raw strength and book smarts. It’s great,” she nuzzled me. “I wouldn’t have gotten better with magic if you weren’t coming up with ingenious things seemingly every week… or breaking magic theory.”

“Hey, I gotta in order to keep up with ya,” we both had a good laugh and a hug.

“Trixie, says you’re a bucking horse, Sparkle,” the showmare walked out to greet us. “Trixie knows that Sparkle has a reputation because of how gifted she is, but did you have to do that right before Trixie had her turn?” She asked as she plopped her rear in front of us.

“Okay, yeah, I do deserve that, being called a horse, ” Twilight chuckled. “Blame Source.”

“Did Source say to show just how broken you are?” Trixie asked.

“No, what did he do right at the start of the event?” Twilight asked. Trixie ‘oh’d.

“Okay, Trixie believes we should beat up Source for that…” Trixie hummed. “But that is for later. Source, are you alright? There's a rumor that one of your students is actually your little sister, and that somepony tried to kill her.”

“Wait,” Twilight stopped. “Somepony tried hurting Katie?”

“Trixie,” I growled. “Remember that fucker what that wanted to get under your tail last year?” I asked. At Twilight’s nod, I continued. “For the last year, that fucker made attempts on my life, by sending griffins after me. Damn near hurt Button and one of his filly friends in the process. Shooting Star decided, after guessing he couldn’t do shit to me, he’d hurt somepony close to me. He chose Katie.” I levitated my bit up to me. “I decided that while I breathe air, nothing shall come to hurt anyone I love ever again.”

“What… Did you do?” Twilight asked. “to Star, I mean.”

“Broke his horn. Clean off.”

“What the fuck?” Trixie asked.

“He tried hurting my little sister,” I lifted a photo of Katie I took while we were on the train. “Look me in the eyes and tell me, anypony who’d willingly hurt this,” I let Trixie look at it. “Is a good pony.”

“That is adorable,” Trixie nodded. “That’s your sister?”

“Eeyup,” I nodded. “Star threatened to break her neck. I used this bit as a wand and broke him first.” I sighed. “First execution in Equestria in literal centuries, too.”

“He lived?” Twilight asked.

“He got executed.”

“Oh.”

“My wife was the one who went through with it,” I pointed out. “I feel like an ass for making her do that, so do me a favor, Twilight.” I patted her back. “Get her to sleep in your chambers with you tonight. She’ll say she’s alright, but Celly hated executing Star even if she knew it was necessary. Go get her and read a book with her or something, alright? Tomorrow I’ll greet her with some ice cream cake, and she’ll be happier.”

“Why me, though?” Twilight asked.

“Celly loves you, Twilight. I’m doing a five pronged attack. First, me, then our family, then a cute little colt, and then you. Then we’re getting her her favorite cake; I'm trying to make her happier, Twi. Do this for me.”

“Alright… I’ve been hoping to spend some time with Princess Celestia while we were here anyway.”

“Trixie will pretend like she didn’t hear a word either of you just said. Source…”

“Hey Trixie, how’d you forget Katie? She tackled you in the last chapter,” I asked.

“So for as Great, and Powerful as she is, Trixie is bad with names!”

Author's Note

Twi is gonna learn to not go so 'by the books' when it comes to magic. it may make a certain unicorn struggle in the future when she inevitably screws with time travel.

Next chapter, Maeve kicks some ass.