Preview of Tomorow's Chapter! · 7:12pm Apr 7th, 2019

Because you asked for it...so shall it be!

Normally, Grand Royal Station, nestled in the southern neighborhoods of Canterlot, was a busy location, bustling with its duties as the central hub for all trains in Equestria – only Manehattan’s Royal Central Station rivalled it in terms of sheer size. Thousands of ponies, griffins and other beings bustled in and out of the nexus daily, headed to and from various destinations, metaphorical ships passing on a sea of rails. Many more used the shops, restaurants and other facilities that ringed the exterior of the station, adding to the throngs of those present. To say that a typical day here teemed with life and was a hive of grand action would be an understatement.

Today, however, the station was, surprisingly, even busier than normal, as the location had been declared a National Security Event. Guards from various divisions of the EUP were as far as the eye could see, and nearby, on surrounding buildings, Royal Army forces assisted their Guard sistren, standing by with a variety of weapons in case action was called for. And above it all, a Royal Navy airship floated above the station, the air monitor’s hull bristling with cannons, and with ponies armed with crossbows at the gunwales. Still, despite the sheer display of armed personnel, business continued as usual…or as usual could be with concerned ponies trying to ignore the military’s presence.

However, for anypony that made it into the station itself and saw who was present at Platform C, the reason for the grand security theater became all too obvious. After all, it was truly a rare event when five of the six known alicorns in history were gathered there. With them were the legendary Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, heroines who wielded the incredible artifacts and had saved the realm countless times. Other ponies of import were present as well, and under different circumstances, they would have captured the imagination as much as the aforementioned. However, that wasn’t what caught the eye of the various travelers present at the Grand Royal Station.

No, that attention had been unilaterally captured by the strange minotaur-like beings that were present with the VIPs. Were they a new species from a previously undiscovered nation, come to parley with ponykind? Or were they beings of a higher order, towering above all but the alicorns themselves? Strangely, the only thing that seemed to be approachable was that several of them had similar mane colors and styles as many of the ponies present.

No matter what was going on, one thing was for certain: once again, the world of ponies would likely never be the same again.

As she watched the two groups interact, Sunset Shimmer would have found the situation fascinating under different circumstances, as seeing the comparison and contrast of each living mirror fit no other description other than that word. A good example of this was her friend, Fluttershy, who had long overcome her shyness as well as the now-public revelation of who her father was. On the other hand, the pegasus that shared that name, despite being a world-renowned heroine and part-time model, still struggled to overcome her fear of, well, everything. Likewise, the initial reactions of the two Applejacks – the well-grounded farmer earth mare and the teenaged martial-artist and shopkeeper could prove to be very jarring due to the vastly different lives they lived, not the least of which was that the human girl’s parents still lived. That would be a sore spot for the mare, Sunset knew, and she hoped it wouldn’t drive a wedge between the two. The same, of course, went for the others and their counterparts as well, whether kith or kin.

At least they would have fun; Sunset, however, had more than a full plate this week. For one, she had to take care of Octavia’s mental health needs, and unfortunately that meant that her cousin and sister figure wouldn’t be able to spend much time in Ponyville with the others. Additionally, the SIRENs had to be fully acclimated and structured into the Royal Navy’s chain of command, something that was going to present unique challenges of its own. Finally, there were her own various responsibilities around the palace, and she would have very little time to herself. It made her wish even more that her “twin sister”, the Sunset Shimmer native to Earth, had come along for the trip as well.

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