//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: Aftermath // Story: Sunset Reset // by LordBrony2040 //------------------------------// After Celestia had the guards get the full story of what happened from the princesses and Shiny, they dug Buck out of the trash heap the waste removal cart had created when it sent him careening into a building at the bottom of the hill before taking him and his friends away, leaving the three teenagers standing in the back parking lot of the theater while the pony who pulled their carriage hitched himself up. Throughout it all, Cadance sat on the ground, a wreck of her former self as she sipped some hot cocoa one of the guards had fetched from the theater to help calm her nerves. Shiny was so nervous at the presence of the third princess that he looked like he almost wished Buck had clobbered him. Sunset stood off the the side, away from the other two, with her body losing the fight against gravity as her ears, wings, and neck hung low. “Well, we should all get going,” Celestia said as she said before looking over to the rest of them. “Cadance, you should be fine for tonight, but I want Sunset to ride with you on the way to Shining Armor’s home if something unexpected happens and you need help.” Cadance choked on her drink, and went into a coughing fit before she looked up at her adoptive aunt. “What?!” she cried out in a panic before frowning at the insanity of the idea. “You want me, Sunset, and Shining Armor to be alone in a little box for over half-an-hour?” “Yes. Teleporting with your kind of injury is never a good idea,” Celestia told the pink princess. “Sunset knows enough healing and diagnostic magic to make sure that concussion you got doesn’t worsen, and hopefully the three of you will work your way through his little mess that you’ve managed to stumble your way into. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make sure the castle dungeon is cleaned out, set up a meeting with an extremely irksome pony, and look into just what the penalty is for attempted regicide since nopony has actually tried it in over nine hundred years.” A second later, Celestia lit up her horn and disappeared in a flash of golden light. Sunset picked herself up just a bit and slowly made her way towards the carriage. “Come on, let’s just go,” she said as she walked past the two other ponies in formal attire. The pit Cadance had been feeling in her gut that no amount of warm chocolate milk could fix grew ten feet deeper as she looked up at her best friend. “Sunset wait. Y-You don’t have to-” “Cadance,” Sunset said. Despite the lifeless tone of her words, the pink princess stopped talking as the amber alicorn looked back at her with a dead expression. “You’ve got concussion. I’m not going to risk some stupid pothole or...something making it worse on the ride back and me not being around to help you. Now come on.” For some reason, the fact that there was no malice in her words only made what Sunset said that much worse for the pink princess. Feeling about ten inches tall, Cadance picked herself up and made her way to the carriage to take the seat opposite of Sunset. The liquid clinging to her gown soaked into the cushion as she did, only adding to how lousy the Cadance felt at the moment. Shining came into the carriage last and looked back and forth between the two ponies for permission to sit down. Sunset picked her head up at the colt’s indecision, then turned her attention to the multi-colored puddle Cadance was sitting in. “Oh, um...just a second Shiny,” the amber alicorn said before she began to channel a spell. The liquid still in Cadance’s dress, seat and coat was drawn out to collect in the middle of the carriage under the direction of Sunset’s magic. Then she threw what had become a ball of brown gunk out the window. “Really should have done that earlier.” With his choice apparently made for him, the young stallion sat next to the pink princess as the amber alicorn went back to sulking. Something both Shining Armor and Cadance joined her in a moment later. The carriage was a block away from the theater before anypony said anything. “I’m sorry.” Cadance blinked after hearing the other two ponies talk at the same time she did and looked up to Shining Armor and Sunset. “What’re you two apologizing for?” she asked in confusion before looking over to her best friend. “Sunset, I’m the one who kissed Shiny and…didn’t do my job as a princess.” Shining Armor frowned at the last part. “Hey, I’m the one that decided to go on this date in the first place, and I just stood there when Buck showed up,” he replied before dropping his head back down. “If I had stood up for myself sooner, none of this would have happened.” “Neither of you did anything wrong!” Sunset told them in a pathetic tone. “Shiny, you and Cadance...you’d be a hundred times better off with her than with me, and Cadance...it never should have even gotten that far. I should have just teleported down and stopped Buck the second he showed up. If I had, maybe then Mom wouldn’t have been able to hold me back.” With that little bit of information, Cadance couldn’t help but wonder. She had known Sunset had been around during the confrontation based on what Celestia had relayed to the guards. But the amber alicorn taking so long to save the day did have her curious. “Why did she restrain you?” Sunset sighed. “You want the one that makes her look smart, or the real one?” she asked before sighing. “Doesn’t really matter, she was right either way. She’s always right. Officially, Mom was just giving Shining Armor the chance to stand up for himself so he could grow a little. But...really, she was just making sure I didn’t do something monumentally stupid, like bashing Buck’s head so hard it turned into mush.” The exaggeration had Cadance rolling her eyes. “Sunset, that’s just ridiculous. You would never really hurt-” “I’m serious!” the amber alicorn said before lowering her head. “When it comes down to it, I’m not a good pony, Cadance. Tonight proved it. Stop trying to turn things around to make it sound like I am.” Shining Armor shifted uneasily on the seat, and Cadance gave him a fearful glance. The visual poke made him clear his throat. “Come on Sunset-” “Don’t,” Sunset told him softly. “Don’t try and defend me. I’m not...what you think I am, Shiny,” she said. “And nothing you say is going to change that.” Before Cadance could argue, Sunset switched topics on them. “Let’s talk about something else,” she told them in a tone that sounded like a pathetic imitation of cheery as she looked over to Shining Armor. “So Shiny, how much better a kisser is Cadance than me?” The guilt the pink princess had managed to put aside to try and pull Sunset out of her depressed state came back full force thanks to the comment. Cadance found herself muted by her feelings as Shining Armor stuttered. “Buga-uh-wha-I mean, t-that’s...um…” When the stallion looked over to Cadance for help, the amber alicorn frowned. “Oh no you don’t,” she said as he horn lit up with a spell. “I’m not letting your cold feet get you out of this one. Now talk!” To punctuate the command, a blast of pale blue energy shot from her horn and into Shining Armor’s mouth. “What’re feet?” he asked before frowning and looking down at himself. “Hey, I didn’t mean to say that. You did something to me didn’t you? What’d you do to me? I can’t stop talking. Why did you make it so I can’t stop-oh, right the kiss thing. Yeah, Cadance is better at it than you.” The aforementioned alicorn’s mouth dropped at Shining Armor’s declaration. “Shiny!” Cadance yelled at him. Although she immediately regretted the action when the aching headache that Buck had left her with became a full-on throb. Which in turn gave Shining Armor the opening he needed to keep talking. “Sorry, but you are! Kissing Sunset is like getting pinned by a bear and hoping it doesn’t crush you in a hug or something. She just barrels right in and you need to be along for the ride or get run over.” Sunset sank in on herself a little more as Shining Armor took a breath and looked over to her in a panic. “Oh mare, you’re getting sad. But you shouldn’t be! Cadance may be the better kisser, but I like being around you more than her, Sunset. You’re the most amazing pony I’ve ever met, including Princess Cadance! In just one week, you’ve gotten rid of everything that make school miserable and made me feel happier than I ever have in my entire life! “Although...I really, really like being with Cadance too,” he said. “And the more I think about it, the more I think she might be better off with me than you would be. Sure, she’s a princess and still way out of my league, but you’re like this super impossible mega princess that’s not even in the same sport as I am that belongs with a real paladin rather than some loser that just plays at being one on the weekends.” The stallion next to Cadance sighed and lowered his head. “The truth is, I’m just terrified of the day when the two of you realize that you’re both attracted to each other and I’m just in the way or some kind of weird way to try and make the other pony jealous so you’ll ask each other out and then you’ll just shove me off to the side-” Oh no, nonononono, BAD SHINING ARMOR! Cadance mentally screamed as she tried to focus her magic to clamp his mouth shut. However, a spike of pain shooting through her brain twice the size of her horn brought an end to any attempted concentration on the pink princess’s part. Sunset looked up enough to turn her confused face towards Shiny’s way. “Say what?” While Shining Armor’s eyes were wide with fear, his mouth was still quite functional. “Well I was talking to Cadance awhile ago, and she said that she really-” “OH LOOK SHINY! IT’S YOUR STOP!” Cadance shouted at the top of her lungs before she felt the world lurch and her head explode in agony. The pain was worth it. Shining Armor stopped talking to look out the window for a second. “No it’s not. My house is at least three blocks from-ahhhh!” the young stallion yelled as Cadance shoved him out the carriage’s door and onto the street while mentally making a note to do something amazing for him to make up for it. “I’m really sorry!” the pink princess said to him as loud as she dared. Sunset groaned. “For crying out loud,” she mumbled before her horn lit up. “If you wanted him gone I could have just done this.” A brief feeling of stupidity washed over Cadance as she watched Sunset teleport Shining Armor away. Right, Sunset’s got his house marked with a teleportation beacon, the pink princess told herself before she settled herself back in her seat and Sunset had the driver start trotting down the road again. The road back to the palace was sheer torture in more ways than one. With Shining Armor spilling the beans, Cadance knew what would come next, it was what always happens when a best friend reveals she’s secretly in love with her closest confidant. Sunset would feel hurt and betrayed that the pony she trusted the most had kept something like that from her. Unless...Cadance could find a way to mitigate the damage. Despite the fact that it probably made her the worst pony in all of Equestria, Cadance found herself a little glad of Sunset’s depressed silence as the carriage took them back to Canterlot Castle. It gave the pounding in Cadance’s head time to lessen and the pink princess time to think. When they did reach the castle, the amber alicorn took Cadance up in her magic, and the pink princess found herself unable to resist thanks to her own magical abilities being nullified by the mother of all headaches. It was only after Sunset came to her room that Cadance found herself unable to stay silent. As soon as the amber alicorn floated the pink princess through the living room of her apartment and onto the bed in the adjoining area, Cadance found the courage to speak. Or lie. Because that was what she was going to be doing. “Sunset...about what Shining Armor said,” the pink princess said uneasily as she got ready to explain that Shining Armor was obviously just confused about how Cadance felt towards her best friend and secret crush. The amber alicorn stopped in the middle of her turn towards the bathroom and looked back to meet Cadance’s eyes. What the pink princess saw stole the words from her mouth and made her heart ache far worse than any head injury ever could. Sunset looked...dead. Defeated. Empty. “I’m sorry,” Sunset mumbled before lowering her head for a second, that is until her eyes widened a bit and she looked back to Cadance in what the pink princess could only call fear. “That is, I mean-yes! Yes, I think you’re hot, but I never-this changeling thing...I’m not using as an excuse to cop a feel on you or something!” Cadance blinked. She didn’t really get the expression, but after seeing Sunset’s reaction was enough of a context clue for her to understand what the pony she loved was really saying. “Sunset, I never once thought of our sleeping arrangements like that, even if you are...attracted to me,” she said. Fighting her urge to gulp at the idea took a moment though. After all, if Sunset did think of her like that, well...wasn’t it Cadance’s duty to allow her to explore those feelings? Oh hay, duty nothing, you just want to be with her, Cadance told herself. She was the Alicorn of Love. She wasn’t about to lie to herself when it came to that. Sunset was a pony she admired and looked up to, a pony she both had a crush on and loved. Cadance decided to push that stuff to the side for the moment. She could sort that out later. Sunset needed her reassurances more than the pink princess needed some self-clarification. “Well…I’m not stupid, Sunset. I know how I look, and I wouldn’t be a very good love princess if I hadn’t of picked up on any of it,” she lied. “W-What?” Sunset before she shrunk away from the other pony. “Then why did you...I mean, you...if you knew, then...why didn’t you just…” Seeing her attempt to make Sunset a little easier with their situation backfire before her eyes, Cadance quickly wracked her brain on what she needed to say to calm her distraught friend down. “Sunset, I’m flattered you consider me attractive,” the pink princess quickly told the amber alicorn while silently wishing it was more than just some physical lust. “And I can’t really be angry at you for thinking something half the school does as well, right?” Sunset looked away from Cadance. “Y-Yeah,” she said before looking back to her friend. “But why didn’t you just…” “What? Tell you?” Cadance asked as Sunset hesitated again. It was strange. Normally, a comment like that would have been a demand instead of something the amber alicorn hadn’t even had the strength of will to ask. Whatever was bothering Sunset must have been one hay of a doozy if it even stopped her from flaring up like she usually did. “Sunset, you’re my best friend. If you didn’t want to tell me, then I wasn’t going to call attention to it. Telling me your feelings is your decision to make, not mine.” For some reason, Sunset actually perked up a bit at that. “So we can just forget about it?” she asked in a slightly less depressed tone than she had been using all night. “Just...you know, pretend Shiny never said that I...you know.” Cadance felt her heart lurch. Here they were, alone in Sunset’s bedroom with their mutual attraction out in the open, and the amber alicorn wanted to pretend as if there wasn’t anything they needed to talk about. “I…” The pink princess paused as an odd thought occurred to her. From the way Sunset was talking, it sounded almost as if she hadn’t even heard the part where Shining Armor told her it was a mutual physical attraction! Which...actually fit Sunset’s current need to make herself less than the pony she really was in her own eyes. And as much as she felt the need to refute the amber alicorn’s attitude that was at the root of the problem, Cadance found herself unable to muster the strength. She was tired and Sunset was emotionally drained. Settling things in the morning would be a much easier task. “Okay,” the pink princess agreed. Although when the amber alicorn headed back towards the bathroom, Cadance couldn’t help but try to cheer her up a little bit. “But just so you know Sunset, this doesn’t change the way I feel about you. You’re still the most admirable pony I know, the one I look up to the most, and my best friend that I will always support.” After Sunset came back into the bedroom she shared with Cadance one bath fresher, she set up a few minor triggers on her door and windows that would set off an alarm ward in the center of the room just in case there was some actual weight to Cadance’s changeling fears of her being abducted in the middle of the night. Then she walked over to her bed and...hesitated. The pink pony was already curled up on her side of their bed, just waiting for Sunset to complete the cuddling. However, Sunset found herself unable to undertake the final motion that would get her under the covers and around Cadance’s smaller frame. Mostly because...they would be...cuddling. Sunset gulped at the reality of the situation. Despite all the nights she had spent curled around Cadance before, they had never cuddled, snuggled, bed hugged, or done any of those other intimate words that involved a deeper emotional connection of two bodies touching. She had simply gotten really, really close to Cadance, to the point where their bodies couldn’t help but touch and Sunset’s nose was filled with the scent of strawberries from Cadance’s mane. But after their little ride home and Shining Armor’s words pulling Sunset’s buried sexual attraction to the surface of her thoughts, the amber alicorn couldn’t help but flush when she thought of how she was going to completely envelop Cadance with her body. Every single part of Sunset’s frame would be caressing Cadance’s very naked form at the same instant. The sound of shifting sheets brought Sunset out of her considerations about just how sexual sleeping with Cadance’s naked, hot and all too desirable body would be as the pink princess half turned around so she could look over to the amber alicorn. “Sunset, is something wrong?” Sunset gulped. “No,” she said truthfully after a few seconds. Truthfully, because having to share a bed with a pony she wanted to kiss in every sensual way and place while not being able to was the perfect penance for Sunset. As a human, Sunset had used her body as a weapon both to get what she wanted and dominate Canterlot High. So it was fitting that she wouldn’t be able to get her hooves on the pony of her physical desire. Suck it up Sunset, the amber alicorn told herself. You’ve done worse. Which was probably why the universe had led her to such a situation as the one she was in now. So, after taking a breath to steel herself, Sunset climbed into the bed she shared with Cadance and got as close as she could while her rock-hard wings stuck out from beneath the sheets and extended over the edge. Cadance wiggled herself in closer to Sunset’s bigger body, and the amber alicorn got a muzzle full of her mane as the nerves of Sunset’s coat covered skin took note of every curve Cadance had, every fluff in her fur, and all the other details that made the mare in Sunset’s pony-arms the hottest piece of plot in Canterlot. Like usual, she tried to think of something else to get her mind of things. But the feel of Cadance’s smooth coat, the smell of her freshly washed mane, the way she just hugged herself up against Sunset’s body, all of it combined to make the pink princess in the amber alicorn’s pony-arms impossible to ignore. “You sure?” Cadance asked, this time without turning her head around. “You seem tense.” Sunset gulped as she tried to get her muscles to relax by force of will. “I uh...um...well, I just have this weird feeling that I’m forgetting something, and it’s really bothering me.” Sunset Shimmer blinked in confusion as she found herself standing outside a door. The confusing part was that she had no idea how she had gotten there, and that there didn’t seem to be anything else around her but an endless darkness. She touched the ground that wasn’t really there, and looked around at the nothingness before confusion gave way to understanding. “I’m dreaming,” she said before frowning down at herself. “Wait...how do I know I’m dreaming?” As of late, Sunset’s dreams had been little more than showing her the unvarnished truth of reality that Celestia and Cadance were too kind to admit to her face. As such, she usually awoke in tears with a small lake forming on a pillow that was too wet to absorb all the water she leaked out overnight after facing her impending future, how the ponies in her life really felt about her, and the fact that her selfish desires would destroy the life of the one pony in Equestria that had truly believed in her. “Hey!” an indignant shout came from the other side of the door. “I believe in you too you know!” Sunset blinked in confusion. “Uh...hello?” She moved to open the door, but her hoof stopped halfway to the door. “Could you come in already? I promise, there isn’t going to be a guilt trip waiting for you this time around,” the mysterious mare’s voice called out again. “And standing there all night is gonna get really boring.” Giving into the unknown mare’s commands, the amber alicorn sighed and did as she was instructed. She opened the door to find a dimply lit room was a few candles lining the walls that didn’t give enough light to see to the center of the chamber. Nervousness crept up Sunset’s spine as she walked inside and looked down at the plush red carpet under her hooves that was covered in...rose petals? “W-What the fuck?” Sunset mumbled right before a human song began playing in the background about how some guy with a deep voice couldn’t get enough of somebody’s love. “What?” the very familiar voice that Sunset recognized now that it wasn’t being distorted by a few inches of wood. “This is exactly the type of setup Cadance would make for when you take her virginity.” Sunset looked up from the floor to see the pink mare laying on her stomach at the foot of a heart-shaped bed with satin sheets thanks to the room no longer having a dim light problem. The sight had Sunset’s brain shorting out for a second before she managed to process just what the hell she was seeing. “C-CADANCE?! W-What’s going on?!” “I think it’s obvious,” the pink princess replied before her smile turned lecherous. “You’re having a dream in which you’re gonna take this hot pink mare and do to her all the naughty little things we can think up in the next couple of hours.” “But-it-you-what-how-th…” As she couldn’t get a full question out without another one jumping in to be answered first and thus spoiling the entire sentence, Sunset switched to simple statements. “THIS ISN’T HOW DREAMS ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK!” Cadance rolled her eyes. “You cast two spells that lets you talk to your subconscious not twenty-four hours ago, and now you’re calling bullshit on a lucid dream? Do I need to point out the problem with that logic?” The mare that looked like Cadance smirked as Sunset reluctantly found herself starting to agree with her logic. Any spells involving the mind were always a bit iffy, and she had cast two on herself not ten hours ago. And the second she opened her mouth to admit that Cadance had a point, Sunset was seized in the pink mare’s magic before she got dragged along the floor and to the edge of the bed. “Great!” dream-Cadance said before she spun around to stick her ass in the air and lift her tail to stick her pretty pink princess plot right in the amber alicorn’s face. “Now, how about we get started?” Sunset took a step back from her best friend’s rear end. Once again, she fought her thoughts of desire by latching onto the thing that didn’t make sense in her dream. This time, it was the black silk underwear that was covering the pink pony’s private parts. “Hey! Hold on a second! Ponies don’t wear panties!” The indignant cry made the fake Cadance stop shaking her rear before she lowered her tail and dropped her butt to turn around and frown at Sunset. “Seriously?” she asked. “Here I am, a perfect piece of pussy just screaming take me, and you’re still fighting it? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Sunset flinched at the demand before she remembered something: she wasn’t actually talking to Cadance. The mare in front of her was just some figment of her own imagination, and a rather twisted one at that. So, since she wasn’t actually fighting with the real Cadance, most of her reservations about arguing with the mare in front of her quickly faded. “You’d know that, considering you ARE me!” she shouted back before throwing out her wings in a wild gesture to point at the whole room. “And what the hell am I even doing here? Cadance would never do anything like this!” The not-Cadance rolled its eyes. “Well duh, it’s a sex fantasy you repressed prude,” she fired back. “You want to fuck Cadance like a two-bit street trotter, and if you do it like this, she doesn’t ever have to find out. You get all of your fun, none of the guilt.” With everything explained out to her in such a way, Sunset found herself halfway agreeing to it before she was suddenly flung forward by telekinesis. Her body slammed into Cadance, and pinned the pink princess to the bed, under the amber alicorn’s larger frame. Protest ignited in her mind, but the second Sunset opened her mouth to tell the dream-thing to stop, Cadance’s head darted forward to snake her tongue into Sunset’s mouth. The kiss was...interesting. It was too forceful for Sunset to stop, but had a strange gentleness to it, exactly like Shining Armor had described Cadance’s kiss in great detail. When the pink pony broke it, she moved her head forward and whispered in a heavy voice. “Come on now, Sunset. This is just a dream. Do what you want. Get some release. Make me your mare.” “I…” the amber alicorn said before she tenses and stopped to close her eyes to help focus. After taking a deep breath, she reopened them with a little more control over herself...or at least the herself that she was, the part of her that had decided to be like a Cadance wet-dream was still looking at Sunset with lust in its eyes. “No.” It took everything she had to refuse and more. But she managed it...barely. Cadance didn’t stop. She reached up with her forelegs to wrap them around Sunset’s neck and gently try and coax her down “Why not?” The soft whisper had Sunset gritting her teeth. “This is just a stupid dream. A temptation. You’re that part of me that wants me to stay in Equestria, and you’re doing this to try and change my mind. Well I won’t. Even if I’m not a real alicorn, I’m at least going to try and act like one. Mom said it herself, a princess does what needs to be done, no matter how much she doesn’t want to.” “I’m pretty sure Celestia didn’t say it quite like-” “And I am NOT going to be tempted by some cheap illusion!” Sunset said before Cadance could finish. “I’m going to go to Earth where I belong! Where I won’t have my magic. Where I won’t have any real friends. Where I can just sit back and not have to worry about screwing everything up like I always do!” Cadance pulled herself up to kiss Sunset on the neck. “But we’re not on Earth right now,” she said as she worked her way up the bigger alicorn’s body. Each touch of the pink princess’s lips sent a shiver through Sunset, and she found it harder and harder to resist as the seconds ticked by. “We’re not even in Equestria. You said it yourself. This isn’t real. It doesn’t count. Nopony will ever know. There’s no need to feel guilty that this is what you want. You don’t have to follow through on it. Just indulge this one time. Admit it to yourself, if no one else.” “I…” Sunset gulped as she looked at the pink mare in the eyes. It would be a lie to say that she didn’t think Cadance was sexually attractive. And after tonight...Sunset couldn’t just shove that inconvenient fact off to the side. Not only that, Sunset had to admit, she wanted Cadance. Cadance kissed her right on the muzzle. Sunset paused to lick her lips as her forelegs trembled. “I…” The pink princess leaned further upward to run her tongue along the edge of Sunset’s ear before whispering into it. “You don’t have to stay in Equestria. You don’t have to try and make things work out between us or Shining Armor. You just need to admit to yourself what you really want. Just this once. Stop resisting and find what little happiness you can in the time that is left to you.” And the amber alicorn did. Shining Armor was in Tartarus. No. He was in a place worse than Tartarus. While the breakfast table wouldn’t usually be considered such a place by most ponies, most ponies weren’t under a curse that made them say whatever was running through their minds. And while the magic that made Shining run his mouth had waned over the night so that he could actually stop talking if he needed to, it still had enough power to make him speak when there was something to focus on. Which also meant that whenever somepony asked Shining Armor a question, he couldn’t help but answer with the full and honest truth. Added to this problem was an inquisitive little sister. “So, is wrestling fake?” Twilight asked as both of their parents looked on in amusement. Shining Armor tensed as he tried to resist the compulsion to talk, but it came out anyway. “Although I want to really say yes and believe it as well, there’s just too many stupid coincidences and really weird plot twists in the presentation of the matches for me not to admit that a good deal of the action is choreographed,” he said before blinking after his mouth stopped moving. “Twilight! Stop doing that!” The lavender unicorn, something Shining Armor now had to call his sister after the curse made him admit that the shading of her coat was just too dark to be called regular purple, giggled. “But it’s just so much fun!” she said. “I mean, if Princess Sunset is making you answer every question honestly, then I can finally find out the answers that everypony won’t tell me!” “Dad make her stop!” Shining Armor begged. In response, the stallion only chuckled before picking up the morning paper. “Now son, if a princess thinks you should be more honest, I’m hardly in a position to disagree with her.” “You say that now, but what happens when she asks something neither of you want her knowing?” Shining Armor mumbled. “Like how Fluffy didn’t really go to a farm to retire from house life, Santa Hooves isn’t real, and Nightmare Moon isn’t going to come down and gobble her up if she doesn’t stay in the house after dark.” While everypony else at the table tensed and Night Light put down his paper to give Shining Armor a frown, Twilight rolled her eyes. “I already knew all that,” she said before scrunching her face up a bit. “Although you might be wrong about Nightmare Moon. There are historical documents alluding to her existence, even if there isn’t any actual account of her actions. But I suppose you have a point and I really should ask something important before Mom and Dad put a stop to this whole thing so...where do babies come from?” Shining Armor quickly clamped his hooves over his mouth to try and fight the compulsion to speak. “Twilight!” Night Light scolded his daughter. The lavender unicorn looked back to her father. “What? Whenever I ask you or Mom, you say I’ll find out later. And whenever I ask the public librarian for a book on it, say say it’s in the older mares only section. But I want to know now!” Despite his best efforts, Shining Armor couldn’t keep himself from talking. The compulsion forced his hooves away and made him give Twilight an answer. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!” Magic surrounded the tiny pony  and lifted her up before Velvet also removed herself from her seat with a yawn. “Alright little filly, that’s enough of that. You’ve had your fun. Now, it’s time for your morning bath.” “Wait, something’s wrong. Shiny didn’t answer my-” A knock at the door cut Twilight off, and Shining Armor jumped out of his seat. “Oh thank Celestia!” he said before rushing to the door as fast as he could. Not even bothering to use his horn, Shining Armor reached for the doors with his hooves and threw it open, not knowing if he was going to hug his salvation, or give her a good chewing out for putting him in such a situation. “SUNSET you-’re...not Sunset.” The royal guard pegasus standing on the other end of the door in his golden armor gave the young stallion a frown. “Oh wow, a royal guard. You guys are so cool. I’m going to join you one day you know,” he told the pegasus in front of him before a sudden dread entered Shining Armor’s mind. “Wait, you’re not here for me, are you? It was just a kiss! And I said I was sorry! I’M TOO YOUNG TO GO TO PRISON!” Before Shining Armor’s thought’s could get away from him, the guard rolled his eyes and held out a letter. “Shining Armor, the Princess is summoning you to a private audience in her solar at ten o’clock today. A carriage will be by in two hours to fetch you.” As Shining Armor took the letter, which said the exact same thing as the guard had just told him, the stallion in front of him nodded once, and then departed before looking over to the clock. “Well, I guess I can take a couple more hours of this.” Although, he had to wonder what Sunset was doing that she couldn't just pop over and see him. “I am so so so so so so sorry!” Cadance did her best not to sigh and looked away before she rolled her eyes at the blubbering alicorn that had been the terror of her life not two weeks ago as Sunset bowed in forgiveness for the fourth time this morning at the edge of the bath while Cadance worked to get the gunk out of her tail. Unfortunately, that gave the pink princess a clear view of the bed that she and Sunset shared. And while she couldn’t actually see the stain Sunset had left, Cadance the image of the amber alicorn’s...joyous nightly secretions soaking the majority of the blankets and mattress was fixed in her mind. It wasn’t that Cadance was mad about what had happened. Sunset could hardly be faulted for having a wet dream when she was so sexually frustrated and sleeping with a pony she had a crush on. So a few messy nights were more than understandable. She wasn’t mad. At all. However, the pink princess might have had a few frayed nerves thanks to the bigger alicorn keeping her up all night with the way Sunset’s body had reacted to Cadance’s presence as the amber alicorn’s mind indulged itself. Then again, it also might have been some of the things that Sunset said in her sleep. While she was used to hearing a few whimpers and sobs from Sunset during a nightmare, what had come out of the mare’s mouth the other night had been… “Mmmmm Cadance, you taste so good…” “...show you how to use a horn….” “Mnnnth, don’t do back doors…” “Oh yes! Cadance! Worship my sun!” ...rather odd, Cadance had a pretty good idea what the dream had been about. The problem was, Sunset just couldn’t be attracted to her. Not that it was impossible, Cadance had more than enough to see that the amber alicorn was definitely drawn to the pink princess. But she had seen where that path led. So, she had to put a stop to it. Sunset gulped and continued to look on with a guilty expression. “I’ll do anything to make it up to you, I swear!” “Okay Sunset,” she said before turning around and letting her tail drop back into the water to soak some more. “I believe you.” As the bigger alicorn started to look a little bit relieved, Cadance struck hard and fast. She placed her hooves up on the edge of Sunset’s hot tub turned bath and met the pony she had a crush on eye to eye. For the faction of a second, Cadance felt the urge to kiss Sunset, but restrained herself in light of something more important. “So, how big was he?” Sunset’s face went from worry into confusion. “Uh...what?” “Shining Armor, how big was he?” Cadance asked with a forced cheerful curiosity as Sunset once again looked on in horror as her wings flooded out and knocked over a good amount of toiletries with the powerful gust her wings created. The pink princess wasn’t about to stop there though. She was going to lay the seeds for some thoughts that would hound Sunset for the majority of their weekend. At least until they all went to play with that LARPing tablet again and she and Shiny just happened to get separated from the rest of the party to have some much needed alone time. Adrenaline combined fact that whatever they did together while under the enchantment had no consequences guaranteed a sexual encounter. “Going by his size, I’m guessing...sixteen inches? Or is it eighteen?” Not that she really needed to guess. Judging by what she had seen of Shiny so far, she doubted he was bigger than the average size for stallions. But getting Sunset thinking about Shining Armor in such a light again would set her back on the path of the two of them getting together. Sunset’s cheeks turned redder than her mane. “C-Cadance?” Once again, Cadance had to force herself to put on an expression she didn’t feel as she rolled her eyes. “Okay, so I know it was a dream, but you’re way too meticulous to let something like a fantasy not be as close to reality as possible,” she said before breaking out into a grin. “I don’t...that’s not...just mind your own business!” Sunset snapped back as she fought off her blushes. Cadance giggled. “Sorry, but love is my job, which makes your romance every bit my business,” she said with a smile. “So, was he all masterful, or did you take the reins in bed?” Sunset groaned in response before she collapsed on her belly. “You’re just lucky I’m not a violent maniac anymore.” The exaggeration of Sunset’s darker days killed Cadance’s good mood at seeing her friend fidget. She reached over to pull Sunset into an embrace that was more Cadance pulling herself halfway out of the bath than any movement on Sunset’s part. “Stop it,” she whispered into her friend’s ear. “I hate it when you talk about yourself like that. If you were a bad pony, then I was an even worse one for not helping you when I should have.” Before Sunset could throw the pink princess off and give her rebuttal, Cadance’s ears picked up the sound of a door being opened and the voice of the only other alicorn in Equestria calling out. “Sunset? Cadance? I know the two of you don’t need to go to school today, but I’m afraid I can’t let you sleep-WHAT IN THE WORLD?” Sunset cringed before her embarrassment and dour mood was slowly consumed by an angry flame. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she mumbled before Celestia stuck her head in the bathroom door. The appearance of her mother seemed to put a fire under the amber alicorn. Sunset leapt to her hooves and gave Celestia a disbelieving look. “Seriously? You’ve got to come in here now?” she demanded without her usual level of anger. But she was still pretty fiery. “You always wait for the two of us to come trotting in every day for breakfast, but the one day when I really don’t want you just showing up in my room, BAM! There you are!” Celestia actually dropped her ears a little. “Sunset, what-” “I HAD A WET DREAM, OKAY?” Sunset shouted as she threw her hooves up before stumbling forward at the loss of her front-end support. After she caught herself to give Celestia a little frown. “I’m a girl with needs Mom! It happens!” Despite the odd outburst, Cadance noticed that Celestia actually looked a little relieved at Sunset’s confession. “Oh, so you and Cadance didn’t-” Sunset tensed for a fraction of a second before she snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yes Mom, two girls can sleep in the same bed and not have sex!” she said before calming down as her anger cooled. The amber alicorn sat back on the floor and cocked her head to the side just a bit. “What’re you doing here anyway?” “I’ll have a new bed brought in for you, your old one is much too small of the two of you will be continuing this sleeping arrangement anyway. And as for your question,” Princess Celestia began before the tiny bit of her calm that had been disrupted by Sunset’s outburst was restored. “I’ve just finished preliminary negotiations with the griffons and-” “But it’s barely past seven in the morning,” Candace spoke up, unable to contain her disbelief. If Celestia was put off by being interrupted, she didn’t show it as she looked over to the pink princess. “After the griffon’s display the other day, I decided to put them in at a time slot that gave them plenty of time to pack their bags. Gruff became much more agreeable to actually talking when I showed him my willingness to simply dismiss his pleas for assistance as well as a ban from the Equestria Games for the griffon team. As such, I’ve agreed to let his grand daughter attend the Junior Speedsters Academy.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “And you’re telling us this why?” “Because to show him that there’s no hard feelings, the two of you will be taking her there,” Celestia explained. While Cadance had to admit that she liked the idea of spending a little bit more time with that adorable cub (or was it hatchling?), sending both princess off to be a babysitter was...pretty much how they had been spending their weekends before now anyway. “Okay, what’re you up to?” Sunset deadpanned. This time, it was Celestia who cocked her head just a tad to show confusion. “Up to? Sunset, what do you mean, up to?” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Okay, first off, you’ve seen what happens when I flap my wings,” she replied before spreading one of her feathered appendages with all of the outward feathers curled in save for the outermost one. “One wing flap, and there isn’t going to be a Cloudsdale. Secondly, I know you Mom. You don’t do anything without about a bazillion different hidden motives. And thirdly-oh geeze, is this some stupid idea you’ve got to make me be more sympathetic to griffons or something, isn’t it?” “Pardon?” Celestia asked. The amber alicorn let out a tired groan. “Please, I make all those comments talking about how the griffons should work to rebuild their own damn economy instead of constantly borrowing from us, and now you’ve got me flying to Cloudsdale, in a sky chariot I hope, with a poor little griffon who can’t even afford to go to flight camp.” “Junior Speedsters,” Cadance cut in. “Flight camp is for fillies in the double digits. Junior Speedsters is foals seven to nine.” When Sunset looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, Cadance gave a shrug. “Hey, just because I didn’t have a chance to go to either doesn’t mean I didn’t learn about them.” Sunset sighed as she rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine, whatever,” she said before looking back over to Celestia with a little frown. “But if I do this, you leave me alone come tomorrow.” The offer made Celestia raise an eyebrow. “Why would you ask something like that?” “Because I got plans for tomorrow!” Sunset replied. “And the last thing I need is you suddenly deciding I need to make friends with a bunch of changelings or something.” A shiver passed down Cadance’s spine. “Don’t even joke about something like that Sunset!” Every historical record she had read in regards to changelings to try and get her head around the greatest threat Equestria had ever faced was worse than the last. They were a race of pure evil without a single redeeming quality, just waiting in the shadows to abduct a pony before taking her place and feeding off the love all of her friends and family had for her until they were empty husks. Sunset winced at Cadance’s tone, which the pink princess had to admit could have been a little less panicked. “Right,” the amber alicorn apologized. “Sorry. Uh, I...um...I’ll go have the guards ready the chariot.” As the two alicorns that shared the chariot watched the clouds pass down below as they neared the outskirts of the last pegasus-only city in Equestria, the other chariot that carried the griffon they were escorting and her luggage followed several meters behind. While Cadance had wanted to comment on Sunset’s deviation from the spirit of Celestia’s plans, the pink princess had other worries to occupy her mind. Something she had only realized after the trip began. Something she had yet to figure out how to broach with Sunset, despite the three hour flight. Cloudsdale was considered by most to be the spiritual home for all the pegasi in Equestria. No matter where they were born, every single feathered pony on the planet made a trip to the great city at least once in their lives...if the city didn’t come to them that is. A city made of clouds could do that. But when it came to the little village that Cadance had occupied not too long ago, a weather team was enough to bring Winter to them, the whole weather city didn’t need to bother. And with her own parents ground-bound, Cadance had found herself much too nervous to make the trek alone when she was younger. But now, she was going to Cloudsdale, and as an alicorn no less. Once she went into the city, all eyes would be on her, the pegasus that had become a princess. What would they think of her? Were there any special customs she needed to observe? Secret pegasi wing slaps? None of the books she had been reading on pegasus customs mentioned things like that! “What’re you so nervous about?” Cadance’s wings floofed out at Sunset’s sudden question, and she had to grip the chariot for some extra support to keep from being pulled out by the drag her plumage was creating. Which in turn made the whole chariot lurch for a second, and that was followed by the sound of metal crying out in pain before the pink princess could get her wings under control. “Nervous? I’m not nervous. What makes you say I’m nervous?” Cadance asked in a slightly...unnerved tone before looking down to see that Sunset had grabbed the chariot hard enough to crush the enchanted pony carrier as if it was made of tin. The amber alicorn gave Cadance an eye look. “I’m a bully, remember? We can smell fear.” “You’re-” Cadance stopped herself from getting into another argument about Sunset’s characterization and looked down at the chariot’s floor. “Okay, I’m a little nervous about going to Cloudsdale.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?” “Well…” Cadance stopped for a second to gather her thoughts. “When a pegasus goes to Cloudsdale for the first time, it’s supposed to be this really special, life changing experience, and...well...this will be my...first time.” Sunset blinked. “...Oh…” Cadance gave her a nervous smirk. “I know. I dreamed of how this day would go for years. And...well, it’s always been a bit of a downer, to be honest,” she said before lowering her head. “Pegasi call it the Homecoming. It’s an event that shared with everypony you love in your life. But...I never had anypony to share it with...until you.” A lack of an immediate response had Cadance looking back up a second before Sunset did a tiny shrug. “Eh, it’s an okay place I guess.” Thanks to the impossibility of the information, Cadance took a second to respond. “Wait...you’ve been to Cloudsdale?” she asked. “But...how?” “Mom knows a spell that gives other ponies wings for three days,” Sunset explained before letting out a dejected sigh and looking back to her new appendages. “Not like these. They’re um...more like a butterfly’s, and pretty flimsy. I tore them after the first day while trying to see how fast I could go.” Cadance smiled at the idea of spending the day sightseeing with her best friend. “So you could show me around?” she asked happily. For some reason Cadance couldn’t quite understand, Sunset suddenly tensed and actually drew in on herself a bit. “You mean...like a...date?” The reality of what her request might have been construed as slammed into the pink princess with all the force of a locomotive. Her eyes widened, and she put up her hooves to bring that train of thought to a crashing halt. “Nonononononono!” she told the best friend she was in love with but forbidden to pursue. “Not a date! Just uh...two friends, that are definitely just friends, just spending some time together. In a new city. Together. As friends.” “Oh...uh...good,” Sunset said to the pink pony before looking back to the city. “Because...you know...Shining Armor…” Cadance nodded. “Right...Shining Armor,” she agreed. The last thing she needed to do was get in the way of Sunset and Shining Armor. They were going to get together, and at least give Sunset some happy memories before an eternity of loneliness set in for the pony that was destined to take Celestia’s place. All of a sudden Sunset’s face turned into a frown, and she looked back down at the floor of the chariot. “Shining Armor...Shining...Armor...why do I feel like I’m forgetting something?” “Shining Armor, come with us.” The young stallion in question leaped up from the couch in the room he and the rest of his family that had accompanied him to the castle had been guided to when he had arrived in Canterlot for his meeting with Sunset. “Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!” he said before quickly making his way out of the waiting area while his Twilight Velvet gave him a fierce scowl. In all honesty, it wasn’t Shining’s fault he said his mom was getting fat. She had asked what he thought about her! As he made his way down the hall, Shining Armor did his best to keep his mind focused on the topic at hoof while doing his best not to mess with the tight suit his mother had insisted he wear despite using it just the night before. “So um...what’s the princess up to today?” he asked the pair of unicorns leading him through the castle. “It isn’t our place to spread gossip about royalty,” the guard on the right said. “And disrespectful,” the one on the left added in a harsher tone. There was a brief silence as Shining Armor took in a breath, but the relaxation allowed his mouth to get away from him. “Well, you guys don’t know if she’s mad at me, do you?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to kiss Cadance and say that she was a the better kisser than her! She made me, and I was under a lot of stress!” Both of the guards suddenly stopped, and the left one turned his head to raise an eyebrow. “You kissed...the...princess?” Shining Armor sighed and dropped his head. “Yeah, I know it’s a little weird because of the size difference and she’s so much more...uh...experienced in this type of stuff,” he said while trying not to make it sound like Sunset just pranced around town. But, there was a definite feeling that she had done this sort of stuff before. With his explanation done, Shining Armor bit the inside of his cheeks to keep going before he could start talking about the times he and Sunset cuddled in his bed and later in the park. “But aren’t you...what? Sixteen?” the guard on the right asked. The left guard cleared his throat and stomped his hoof on the ground. “AHEM! It’s not our place to judge the actions of the princess. And uh...besides, everypony’s going to have an age difference with her,” he said before quickly trotting forward. “Now come on, we gotta get him to the royal apartments.” While the rest of the trip was made without a word, Shining Armor couldn’t shake the feeling he should be worried when one of the guards quickly trotted ahead to push open a pair of large double doors with his magic. “Bedroom’s in the back,” the other guard told Shining before the young stallion found himself pushed inside the room a second before the doors slammed shut behind him. After blinking at the quick dismissal, Shining Armor turned around. The sight before him made the young stallion stare in confusion. The large and somewhat spacious room Shining Armor found himself standing in looked extremely off. It wasn’t weird or anything. In fact, the place looked extremely cozy with the large fireplace and numerous pictures, books, and sitting decor spaced evenly throughout the room. But all the furniture was very oversized. The scale of everything made the young stallion feel as if he was a colt around Twilight’s age again and put him a bit on edge. Since Sunset was nowhere to be seen even after he called out her name a few times, Shining Armor made his way over to a couch that could have doubled as a bed and jumped atop it to sit down and wait. Several minutes ticked by, and Shining Armor found himself growing board before he looked around the room for something to do, going so far as to get off of Sunset’s monstrous love seat and take a look around. The room looked like it was made for an even bigger nerd than his little sister with all the books on history and magic. One in particular caught Shining’s attention. It was a book with Sunset’s cutie mark. Although he knew it might have been in bad taste, the idea of seeing something like pictures of Sunset when she was a foal rather than the huge painting of her standing next to Celestia that was currently hanging up in the room was too much of a temptation. So, Shining Armor snatched the large brown tome from the shelf and opened it up to one of the final pages to see what she had done before they met. Baby pictures would come later. Instead of pictures, he found words. Words that he couldn’t help but focus on. And thus, read. “Dear Sunset,” Shining Armor said as his eyes scanned the paper. “I’m so sorry to hear what happened to you. It’s never easy to lose good friends. Do you-” “You know,” a gentle but firm voice said from behind Shining Armor, freezing him in his tracks before he could finish the page. “It’s considered rude to go poking through another pony’s private correspondence.” Before even turning around, Shining Armor knew that it wasn’t Sunset or Cadance who had spoken to him. Although, the voice did belong to a princess. One in he seen last night in fact. “P-Princess Celestia,” the young stallion managed to say in a voice that was barely above a breath. All of a sudden, Shining Armor was glad his mother had insisted on him wearing a suit to the castle. If anything, he was a little afraid that Twilight hadn’t gone far enough. This wasn’t an alicorn that went to his school, this was the pony that raised the sun! The pony that had ruled Equestria’s before his grandfather’s grandfather was in diapers! A golden glow surrounded the book that his magic had lost hold of upon seeing who was behind him, and Shining Armor gulped as the giant pony brought the book up to read with her neutral expression before her look turned to one of irritation and she slammed it closed. “I didn’t get very far!” Shining Armor assured the goddess as Princess Celestia moved further into the room at a leisurely pace. At the very least, the spell Sunset put him under would allow him to explain himself in full. So, Shining Armor just let the words flow out. “Just those few lines. I’m not even sure what-” Shining Armor blinked as the white mare cantered past him and his teenage mind was drawn to the royal pony’s rear. “Oh wow, she really does have the biggest plot in Canterlot.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Shining Armor froze in a combination of shock and terror before his survival instincts kicked in and he brought his hooves up in a vain attempt to keep from talking. But, the damage was done. And it was some pretty damning damage indeed. Princess Celestia, the mare that all the stories said was unshakable, unflappable, and pretty much every other un that meant she never lost her composure actually stumbled at the comment before her head whipped back around to face Shining Armor with a frown marring her usually serene face. “EXCUSE ME?” Shining Armor struggled with himself for a few more seconds, but it was a losing battle. He had already said enough to condemn himself to Tartarus. So, he let his forelegs fall and just went with it. “Your plot, it’s really big, and not just your a big pony big. Even on a normal mare, it would look really good!” “My little pony-” Celestia said with an even less gentle voice than she had used when she caught Shining Armor reading Sunset’s diary. But before the Alicorn of the Sun could dole out her judgment for his actions, Shining Armor decided to plead for mercy right then and there. “Princess Celestia I’m sorry but I can’t help it! Princess Sunset put a spell on me last night, and I just can’t stop talking! I say anything and everything that pops into my head. Like how you have this really round rump that probably has more padding than a pillow and now you’re probably going to kill me.” Silence permeated the room for several seconds before Celestia raised an eyebrow as her mouth curved into a tiny smirk. “Ah, Sunset put a Speak Your Mind spell on you, did she?” the princess asked with a little laugh. “Why would she do a thing like that?” “Because she wanted to know if Cadance was a better kisser than her,” Shining Armor explained before going on without meaning to. “Which she is. A lot better, really. When Sunset kisses me, it’s like I’m being smothered or something. Cadance, it’s more gentle.” The tiny smirk on Celestia’s face disappeared. In it’s place, a frown descended that made Shining Armor realize all the better that Princess Celestia was much bigger, stronger, and for more powerful than he could ever hope to be, with the authority to make him disappear from the face of Equestria without any questions asked. “And how exactly do you know what it is like to kiss my daughter?” she demanded in an even tone without any of her gentleness. Although she did her best not to show it, Sunset Shimmer was nervous. She had a good reason to be nervous. After all, she was standing on a cloud. Clouds were not meant to be used as something to support one’s weight by non-pegasus ponies. She knew it was illogical. As an alicorn, she had pegasus in her, and could thus stand on clouds. Hell, even as a unicorn, Sunset had enough magic to both levitate herself and knew of a spell that would have allowed her to walk on clouds like a pegasus. Despite all of that, she didn’t like the feeling of standing on a cloud. So, Sunset focused on the forms in front of her that needed to be filled out before she could dump the future bully off and go show Cadance a good time. A good time in the way that a friend showed another friend around another city. Not the kind of fun time she had dreamed about the night before, or even the kind of time she had spent with Shining Armor in his bedroom or on the grass of the park, kissing him, snuggling up to him, nuzzling his neck and taking in the young stallion’s scent until it filled her whole world. Sunset brought the quill away from the parchment before her distracted mind could give the ink time to blot. What the, the amber alicorn managed to think between memories of feeling her lips enveloping Shining Armor’s. Even though it had been so many days ago, she could still remember his darling little expression as she pinned him to his bed to begin their makeout session, the taste of his lips, the hardness of his-Gaaaaah! Stupid emotional part of my brain! He’s supposed to be with Cadance, Sunset told herself fiercely. However, Sunset’s mental command to herself wasn’t headed, and she found herself unable to completely banish thoughts of the colt from her mind. So, she did her best to think about her two best friends together, like last night when Cadance and Shining Armor had been on their date. An action they would most likely repeat several times after she was gone. They would be together, and grow closer. Then one day, they would find a place with some privacy and-“Sunset?” A bolt of lightning ran down the amber alicorn’s spine at the mention of her name, and Sunset’s wings unfurled to their fullest with enough force behind them to create a strong gale. The papers Sunset had been holding along with several others were suddenly knocked into the air and flung in several directions from the blast of air. Under normal circumstances, Sunset knew that would have probably been the end of things. But as they were in a pegasi-built structure, the amber alicorn watched as the spawn of her involuntary reaction continued forward to completely obliterate the western wall of the cloud building the Junior Speedsters had to house their records, as well as a good piece of the cloud used for the floor. Sunset’s eyes widened at the destruction for a fraction of second before she leaped into action. “Sorry! Sorry!” she apologized before grabbing as many documents she could in her magic before another gust of errant wind could sweep them all away and turning towards the pair of now terrified stallions behind the desk. “I’m sorry, that was just...sorry.” To try and make up for her mess and contain the damage, Sunset threw up a shield bubble that extended outside the building around the destroyed area that could easily keep in the rogue papers. Then she looked back at the admittance form for Gilda that had almost been completed. “Here, let me just…” she said before quickly signing her name and thrusting it close enough to one of the stallions before she trotted out towards the center of her destruction to collect the other papers that were trying to escape. It was an easy task to snatch them out of the air with her magic and pull them back down towards her in an only slightly crumpled state that was probably nowhere near the right order. But, Sunset was at least consoled a little bit by the fact that she had gotten them all. As for the property damage...well… “Whoa! That was awesome!” Sunset sighed in an act of sheer reflex as she rolled her eyes and switched to snark mode as she prepared to kill her friend’s enthusiasm with sheer sarcasm. “Yes Dash. I’m sure everybody that just saw the big bad alicorn take out a wall with a kneejerk reaction went ‘Oh wow! That demigoddess who still doesn’t have a handle on her power and could probably destroy half our city by sneezing too hard is sooo-” Sunset turned her head to direct the finish of her comment at the athlete...and blinked as her mind slowly restarted upon seeing just who had to have spoken to her. “...you gotta be kidding me.” Right in the center of Sunset’s field of vision, a little blue pony with an unmistakable mane that looked even scruffier than the human version beat her tiny wings at about hummingbird speed as she looked at the alicorn with a confused frown and cocked head. “Huh?” She...she’s… Sunset thought to herself as her brain tried to wrap itself around the fact a little rainbow pegasus was floating in front of her and what it meant. What would happen if they touched? Would it be the same as the time she touched Twilight? It could go very differently, that Twilight had been the original owner of the crown, this pony was just some copy of a human she had known. “Sunset?” Cadance’s voice rang out before she heard the real princess continue on at an ever increasing volume. “What happened? You rushed out after the papers, and now you’re just-Oh! Hello there little one, what’s your name?” “I’m Rainbow Dash!” said the overly obnoxious coincidence as she actually did a loop upon the proclamation of her identity. Then, she put a frown back on that scrunched up her muzzle to a great extent and landed on the clouds to walk both closer and off to the side as she studied Cadance for a few seconds. “And-hey, are you a princess too?” Sunset raised a hoof. “Uh, technically-” as all she was able to get out before Cadance giggled and stepped forward. “That’s right Rainbow. My name’s Cadance.” “What’re a pair of princess doing here?” she asked. The pink smiled and giggled a little. “Not much. We’re just dropping off another cadet as a favor to Princess Celestia. Oh! Hold on one second,” Cadance told her before looking back towards the hole Sunset had made in the wall. “Gilda, could you come out here?” A second later, the little griffon poked her head out from behind the destruction, and then meekly started to make her way over to where Cadance was standing. “A griffon?” Rainbow Dash mumbled in confusion. Cadance smiled at the little filly and nodded. “That’s right. Gilda just got here today. I know it’s a bit late, but we’re getting her enrolled in the Junior Speedsters” she said before kneeling down to get on eye level with the blue pegasus. “And to be honest, she’s kind of nervous about the whole thing. Being in a new place without any friendly faces can be pretty scary. Do you think you can show her around and help her out? I’d consider it a personal favor to me.” The addition of a princess owing her one was all the incentive Rainbow apparently needed, because as soon as Gilda came over with her suitcase, Dash introduced herself and then dragged the bewildered griffon off to go see the cumulus cabins and other camp commodities. As soon as the two kids zoomed off to do whatever flying children did, Sunset looked over to Cadance to see the pink princess giving her a worried expression. “Are you okay?” Sunset tensed at the question. “I...um…” She glanced around nervously, looking for something to pin her emotional state on that had nothing to do with the pony version of the human that had been her friend a few weeks prior. “You know, just...the uh...wall,” Sunset finished gestured with her hoof in the destruction’s general direction. Cadance’s cheeks actually turned the slightest bit pinker, and she cleared her throat before looking down at the ground. “Right. Sorry about that,” she apologized while poking the cloud beneath them with a hoof. “I know you were nervous and you’re still new to your wings. I shouldn’t have tried to ask you something when you were preoccupied with that form.” With Cadance trying so obviously to take care of her guilt, Sunset decided to just go with it and rolled her eyes. “Look, it’s fine,” she said before her eyes drifted back in the direction that the fillies had flown off to. “I just um...well, it looks like I’m better off not going into Cloudsdale right now.” “Oh come on Sunset, it’s not...wait,” Cadance told her before she frowned at nothing and began mumbling to herself. “You and me in Cloudsdale alone...carry the two...divide by the crush coefficient and add hero worship and emotional factor…” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Uh...Cadance?” she asked. “Why’re you talking math?” When no answer came and Cadance’s mumbling fell to something Sunset couldn’t even hear, Sunset got a little worried and lifted her hoof in preparation to poke her friend in order to try for a response. Only, Cadance looked up at her with a slight frown. “According to my calculations, if we go into Cloudsdale the way things are now, you’ll destroy at least fifteen-percent of the city.” “Your...calculations?” Sunset asked as she tried to sound skeptical, but only succeeded in sounding confused. Cadance rolled her eyes. “Princess of Love, remember?” she asked rhetorically. “I can see the patterns and paths that ponies take, and the two of us going into Cloudsdale now ends with you getting spooked, or surprised, or...um...look, it’s just a bad idea of the two of us to go to Cloudsdale right now! Okay?” Unsure as to how to react to Cadance suddenly becoming irate, Sunset stared at the smaller alicorn for a few seconds before he guilt set in. Cadance had probably been wanting to see Cloudsdale since she was a filly, and Sunset had put a dampener on the situation. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I’ll take these back into the office and get going then.” “Sunset,” Cadance said before she started walking alongside the amber alicorn. “I just said we can’t go to Cloudsdale until you get your wings under control.” Sunset looked back at her friend. “Uh yeah. I’m going to drop these papers off and then teleport back to Canterlot.” If she just ported herself home, it shouldn’t be too taxing. A groan came from Cadance’s mouth. “Can’t we just take the chariot back?” she asked. “If we both take one, the guards will be able to make better time.” “What do mean both take one?” Sunset asked before she set the papers down on the desk in as neat a pile before offering the clerks her apologies and turning back to Cadance. “I’m not going to Cloudsdale. You just said bad shit would happen if I did.” For a second, Cadance frowned at Sunset in confusion before the amber alicorn practically saw a lightbulb go off over the pink princess’s head. Then, the smaller pony’s frown turned angry. “Wait a second! You mean you thought I’d try and visit Cloudsdale without you?” Sunset blinked at the sudden, and extremely confusing, change in demeanor. “Um...yes?” A hoof poked Sunset in the chest, and she found herself actually backing up as Cadance advanced. “Oh no missy! You promised me a personal tour of Cloudsdale, and I am not setting one hoof inside that city until you’re ready to give it! So we are going home, going to bed, and then you are going back to those flight lessons even if I have to drag you out of the castle and throw you off of Canterlot myself!” the pink princess declared. “Then, when you’re ready, you are going to take me back here and we are going to have the time of our lives and make memories that will last for the rest of yours! UNDERSTAND?”  With the unexpected assault throwing her off balance, Sunset couldn’t help but agree.“Y-Yes ma’am!” Cadance let out a tiny snort. “Good! Now come along,” she said before turning around and stomping towards the exit. “Honestly, thinking I wasn’t going to share my Homecoming with you! You’ve got some nerve Sunset! Now get in a chariot!” As Sunset found herself following Cadance to their rides, the amber alicorn could help but wonder about what the hell had just happened. Although she knew the pink princess had some fire in her, Cadance usually wasn’t so...raging. Or hot. Sunset blinked at that last thought and then shook her head fiercely to try and dislodge it. Oh, how I hate you, Princess Celestia thought as she glared at the communication journal floating in front of her while she waited for the guards to bring in her next appointment. Unlike her time with that Shining Armor colt or his family she had met with earlier, Celestia had arranged to meet with her next pony in her royal office. The place where she did most of her paperwork, a place where any pony called before her wouldn’t see the inviting, motherly pony that just wanted to sit and chat. Celestia’s office was for business, and every inch of it let anypony on the other end of her desk know that she was the boss. But, with the stallion that was her three-thirty not due to be let in for another half-hour while she let him stew in his worry out in the hallway, Celestia found herself focusing on the object that was the biggest proof of her failure to connect with her daughter. Looking back, she could see how the journal in her magical grip was the root of how Sunset had started to slip away from her. “Here Sunset,” Celestia said in her memories as she gave the excited little filly a present. “This is a special book, just like one I’ll be taking with me. Whatever you write in yours will appear in mine, and vice versa. From now on, I want you to use it whenever you want to talk to me, and I’ll write you back as soon as I have the time.” IDIOT, the current solar monarch yelled at her past self as she finished telling a little filly who had just lost her parents that she didn’t have time to take a few measly steps down the hall and talk to her anymore. That was how it began. Part of Celestia reminded herself that the journal had been given to Sunset because the monarch had needed to go to Griffonstone and speak with their king about urgent matters. But...it had just been so much easier to read something Sunset wrote at the end of the day rather than listen to her in pony. Letters from her were the final draft, edited and removed of any heat of the moment emotions that a real conversation would of had. And when she got back to Equestria...Celestia took the easy route. Instead of a warm voice full of love and concern, Sunset was given scratches on paper to help her with her problems. A cold block of thinly sliced wood replaced a real body that could offer warmth and comfort. A presence that could have seen what was wrong from the second trouble began to form was replaced by...correspondence! If not for the limitations of Starswirl’s temporal manipulation, Celestia would have traveled back in time again twice in a row to before Sunset had appeared with her wings in order to giver herself a hard kick to the face. She may have stopped listening to you, but you’re the one that stopped talking first, Celestia told herself as she envisioned a past version of herself laying on the ground and nursing a bleeding muzzle. Even after becoming an alicorn, Sunset still only spoke business with her. A coltfriend. Sunset had a coltfriend, or at least the beginnings of a coltfriend. A coltfriend she thought she had to hide from Celestia for some reason. Not that Celestia could blame her. She had conditioned Sunset to hide anything personal from her a long time ago. As for the relationship itself...Celestia hadn’t quite pieced everything together yet, like the rather odd events of the night before with Cadance kissing the colt Sunset had her eyes on, but it was clear that Sunset was galloping down the same path Celestia had traveled centuries before without any desire for guidance.  And it all came back to the magical collection of paper that floated in front of her. If not for the knowledge that lay buried within, Celestia would have lit a match and watched it burn. Not to mention how she could make use of it should things take a turn for the worst with Sunset. The sudden call of a clockwork bird pulled Celestia out of her musing, and she looked up at one of the first clocks that relied on fowl to call out the time as it declared the hour in four odd chirps. “Four o’clock?” Celestia asked the cuckoo before it retreated back inside its home. “Has it really been that long?” She looked back at the journal in her magic, then let out a sigh and put the book inside her desk before she opened the door with her magic to see the pair of guards keeping their eyes trained on something out of her sight. She didn’t blame the little ponies for being irritable, they had all been standing out there for an hour. “You may escort the councilman in now,” she ordered firmly. “And shut the door when you leave. I’ll call you again to escort him out.” Celestia hoped the guards understood her commands were more to be heard by the pony in front of them than the guards themselves. Giving such orders may give the impression to the pony getting them that she lacked confidence in their abilities to make decisions, but it also showed to anypony else who was in absolute control. Strong Withers looked nervous as he made his way into the princess’s office. He tried to hide it, but Celestia could see right through him. The atmosphere helped. It was a high-ceiling room built for a pony that stood nearly twice as tall as he did, lined with books in ancient Equestrian that Celestia doubted anypony could read outside of herself and a few archeologists, and a slightly sloping floor that corrected itself an inch from Celestia’s desk to make her seem all the more towering as she looked down on her little pony. “Hello Mr Withers,” she greeted firmly to hammer in the fact of her displeasure, purposefully leaving out his title. “I take it you have already gone over the report the guard gave you upon arrival outside my office?” “Princess, I assure you, my son-” Magic clamped down on his mouth to stop whatever lie was going to come out. When the stallion looked down at his muzzle, Celestia spoke again. “I am not here to listen to whatever excuses you have for me. I am here to speak and you are here to listen. If you are unable to do that, then I will leave your mouth closed and not bother to hear whether you understand me since a nod or shake of your head is all that is required. Is that understood?” Withers nodded, and Celestia released her magic. “Now, have you read the report?” After the stallion nodded, Celestia went on. “After your son Buck was placed in the palace dungeons, I had the investigators in the civic guard look into his past. Thanks to the documents procured by Sunset when Cadance put an end to that horrid school mistress, it was rather easy to discover several oddities and more troubling things about your son. “Several reports filed from numerous staff and students show your son to be a reprehensible stallion that should have been expelled ten times over. Then there is the fact that he is nineteen. A legal adult adult by all accounts, and fully accountable for his actions.” The pony below her opened his mouth for a second, and then slowly closed it before looking away. Celestia frowned at him. “Is there something wrong? Some excuse you would like to make for your son’s actions?” she demanded firmly. “If that is the case, I give you permission to speak.” “Your Highness,” he started with a slight tremor in his voice. “Buck...he managed to procure some cider the night before. The police reports-” “I am not speaking of last night, Mr Withers,” Celestia told him before he could complete his excuse. “I was speaking of the dozens upon dozens of other reprehensible actions your son has undertaken for the past five years as he walked down a very dark path. A path you have apparently done nothing to correct. If anything, I would say that you have done your best to conceal his actions and thus encouraged them! “But since you wish to speak of last night, let us move past the mountain of past actions that paint a rather vivid picture of your son’s character, and discuss his latest crime,” Celestia said. “The crime where your son assaulted a Princess of Equestria!” Withers's controled shell shattered as the stallion visibly gulped. “Y-Your Highness. The guard report clearly states that Buck had a high amount of cider in his system. If not for that, I doubt very much that anything would have happened. Clearly, it was the drink that made him do what he did.” “Yes, I am certain that whatever mental facilities your son possesses would have allowed him to see the stupidity of his actions had he not been inebriated,” Celestia replied curtly. “But in my thousands of years of life, I have neither seen nor heard of a pony doing something simply because being drunk forced them into it. The desire is always there. Cider simply makes it harder to listen to the little voice in all our heads that says going through with those desires is a stupid idea. Like how for the first time, your power and influence isn’t going to be enough to save your son for his brutal attack on another pony. Attacks that he has been taking pleasure in.” “Princess Celestia-” The alicorn cut the stallion off with a glare. “Do you know what the punishment is for attacking an alicorn princess in Equestria, Mr Withers?” After a second of leaving his mouth hanging open in mid-word, the stallion clamped it shut and considered for a moment. “Well Your Highness, crimes against the royalty are punished by the pony who was wronged, or their surviving kin.” “No. That law exists for the lesser royalty, ponies in charge of regions under those such as myself,” Celestia began. “When it comes to an attack on alicorn royalty, I actually had to look it up. Because in all my years on the throne, nopony has ever been that stupid. It’s an old law, one that dates back to the founding of our nation, when I was still too young to be little more than a figurehead and glorified weapon.” Celestia paused for a moment to let the stallion sweat as she took on a more authoritative stance. “Alicorn princesses are the living symbols of Equestria. And any pony who should dare to strike at them shall be struck down themselves, and those who hold blame for the deed shall be banished from Equestria forever,” she told him before frowning at the stallion. “It is one law in our nation that was never amended to have the death penalty removed. A law meant to crush any attempt at separation in a time when unity was the only path to survival.” It didn’t take the stallion very long to catch on to what Celestia was implying. His eyes widened in fear, and his legs began to shake. “Wait...you can’t mean...I...I’m not responsible for this!” “Your son is an idiot that was never reined in because you thought yourself the better of everypony around you. His actions are the result of your willingness to allow for such things! So do not tell me that you are blameless for the actions of your son when you not only allow him to continue with his actions, but help to conceal them!” Celestia told him. “P-Please, Your Highness...this...I...you can’t…” Celestia snorted. “I am the absolute authority in Equestria,” she told. “It is my right to do whatever I please. Which includes carrying out ancient laws that nopony knows about...or staying my hoof, and telling the public I am holding the stallion that assaulted the darling princess of Canterlot as I decide what to do with him while not mentioning the rest of his family. However, it's all up to you whether I decide to take that effort.” The stallion beneath her froze. “Princess?” “A few days ago, you led a coalition of lesser nobles and others against my daughter in a poorly constructed attempt to oust her from Canterlot,” Celestia said. “A coalition that I am certain only showed its most stupid members to the public when it challenged Sunset’s right to be in this city. So I want every single one of their names, as well as as the identity of any pony who so much as thinks Sunset has a bad mane style. Is that understood?” Withers gulped. “And...if I give you this…” “Let me make something clear to you Mr Withers,” Celestia said to him. “You are now living on borrowed time. So I would advise you to keep your credit rating good by making prompt payments.” It was well past the time when the sun had fallen from the sky as Sunset walked into her bedroom with Cadance resting on her back. The pink alicorn had conked out halfway back to Canterlot, and safety concerns had left Sunset needing to make it so the chariot they had to share had enough room to hold both an amber alicorn and a princess that would go splat should she hit the ground. So, Sunset found herself with a foal-sized Cadance that weighed about as much as a full-sized one trying to work a groove in the amber alicorn’s spine as the two of them came into the bedroom they shared. “Alright, we’re here. Ride’s over.” Cadance groaned in protest as she nuzzled Sunset’s spine. “It’s okay. I’m good right here.” While every instinct in her body said to just buck Cadance off her back and onto the bed, the need to aim at her landing made Sunset freeze. Her bed was different. Very different. Instead of just swapping out the sheets, it looked like the majordomo had decided a soon to be princess pony needed a princess-sized bed. The thing was big enough for Celestia to sleep in. A pair of Celestias in fact, or a Celestia and a pair of other ponies, or a Celestia and half a dozen foals. The humongous thing took up nearly a fourth of the room and left Sunset slightly annoyed. Great, now I’ve got a princess-sized bed. One more gaudy status symbol she had no desire to keep. That, combined with the whole pony’s worth of weight pressing down on one point in her back made Sunset grunt at the situation. “Cadance, get off.” The little alicorn giggled. “Are you coming onto me Sunset?” Sunset tensed, and then looked back as Cadance wrapped herself in the amber alicorn’s fiery mane like a blanket. “I think those little lungs of yours have had way too little oxygen on the ride over,” she mumbled before teleporting the tiny princess off of her back and into the air above their new bed and undoing the resizing spell to let her drop onto the mattress with a poomf. After letting out a displeased groan, Cadance pulled herself up and gave her friend a little glare before rolling over so her back was to Sunset. “Fine, I’ll just take the snuggles.” Despite the fact that Cadance couldn’t see it, Sunset rolled her eyes at the pink princess’s actions. “Cadance, there’s more than enough room so we don’t have to cramp each other.” Cadance looked back at Sunset with a tiny frown. “Yeah, but where are we going to sleep if you have another accident in the middle of the night this time?” “Wha-IT WAS A WET DREAM!” Sunset corrected her before blushing in embarrassment at having to bring that up again and the idea of something worse happening. “You know what? Fine. We’ll cuddle.” It wasn’t as if Sunset found the experience unpleasant. She had come to enjoy sleeping with Cadance...in a completely platonic manner! Sunset crawled into bed and found Cadance scooting back as soon as she did to take the place of the little spoon a few seconds later. Like always, the amber alicorn found the scent of her friend’s strawberry-scented mane filling her nose. She took a deep breath and let the sensation relax her. The pink princess didn’t say much as soon as the two of them had taken their usual positions, and was letting out little breaths through her nose that weren’t quite snores not long after Sunset wrapped her wings around the smaller alicorn. Huh, she must have been really tired...or I’m more comfortable than I thought, Sunset told herself. Then again, considering Cadence’s density when she had been shrunk, a rock would have probably felt soft in comparison. As she continued to lay awake, waiting for sleep to come, Sunset glanced back down at the sleeping face of her beautiful friend. “Sorry I screwed up your Cloudsdale thing,” she apologized in a whisper. Now that she thought about it, that might have been Celestia’s real purpose for sending them both, not some attempt to get her all friendly with a griffon. “I think I really would have enjoyed that, seeing it with you. At least, seeing you seeing it for the first time.” A feeling of guilt descended on Sunset as she thought about how she was going to crush that little dream of Cadance’s. “I guess...that’s one dream that will never come true for you. I’m sorry,” she apologized. “But I know you’ll find somepony better than me to share it with.” While Sunset would...not find anyone to replace the three most important ponies in her life on the other side of the mirror. The loss of her magic, of her cutie mark, of...Celestia. Humans just didn’t get what it was like to lose what they never had in the first place. Like always, a sense of dread crept up from the depths of Sunset’s mind as she found herself faced with the inevitability of returning to Earth. Even the thought of maybe making friends with the girls again didn’t have that much appeal anymore. Which was odd. Her old friends had always been the one draw the human world had, the one thing that tempted her to return. But for some reason, Sunset didn’t feel as much pull as she usually did. Sunset frowned as a rather odd thought occurred to her. It isn’t because I saw that other Rainbow Dash, is it? she asked herself with a frown. Replacing a friend with some little pony Twilight’s age seemed pretty shallow. Even if they did have the same level of maturity. And...the thought of getting her and Twilight together made Sunset smile at the adorableness it would produce. In fact, if the rest of the girls had doubles around Twilight’s age… Sunset blinked, and then reluctantly pushed the thought away. Why am I doing this to myself, she thought before trying to find something else to concentrate on. A minute of looking around to only find the sexy slumbering princess in her embrace didn’t give her any better ideas. Cadance was an even bigger temptation to stay in Equestria than any foal, almost as much as Shiny was. Sunset needed to clear her head away from the temptations that made her just want to smash that damn mirror and spend the rest of her life in the Canterlot where everything went around on four legs. A simple spell ensured Cadance wasn’t going to be waking up as Sunset slid one of her wings out from under the pink princess. Then, she surrounded the bed in a layer of webs that would trigger an alarm and create a bubble shield should anything disturb them before adding an extra layer of protection to the already warded windows. After finishing with the protection spell on the door, Sunset made her way down the hallway, unsure of where she was going. She let her body wander along with her thoughts, giving the casual nod to the cleaning staff that did most of its work at night as not to be caught underfoot by the more important ponies. Which led to Sunset giggling at the mental image of Celestia tripping over a maid that was scrubbing the floors while she was walking down the hall and discussing politic with some nobles during the day. Not like anything of the sort had ever really happened, but it was funny to think about. It also made the amber alicorn realize she had been turning back towards Celestia’s quarters. She thought about running to her mother’s pony-arms and asking for her advice. It would mean she would need to come clean about everything, but… Sunset squashed that thought before it could finish. She couldn’t talk to Celestia about what was going on. Ever. The mistaken course was quickly corrected, and Sunset moved to trot down the lesser used rooms of the castle. She thought of just getting lost in some research at the library for a minute when she passed its doors, but shook her head at the idea and went on. After nearly an hour of just walking around, Sunset came to a door. There wasn’t anything really special about it, or the room behind it, really. It was just one of the lower rooms in the palace that the princess used to store old junk that she didn’t want any ponies messing with, but things that weren’t dangerous enough to be stored in the castle vault where some of the more dangerous artifacts were kept. What made Sunset stop in front of this particular door was what was inside the room. It was the room where Celestia kept the mirror portal. The mirror that would take her to Earth in less than a week. Just being in front of the door made Sunset gulp. She stood in front of the door for a good ten seconds before finally taking a look at herself. For crying out loud, I’m supposed to be going back there on Friday, and I can’t even get in the same room as that stupid mirror, Sunset thought. And I’m supposed to be the example everyone is supposed to follow? Despite the nervous pounding of her heart that she could practically hear, Sunset took in a deep breath through her nose to help fortify herself and then channeled the magic through her horn. The locking spell on the entrance was stronger than most, but it gave to her magic in the end. Then, all that stood between her and her destiny was just a few inches of wood. A door. An unlocked door that she could easily push open. So Sunset gulped, and moved the barrier to the end of her happiness with a hoof. Inside, she saw...nothing. The pounding in her ears stopped, nervousness and dread gave way to confusion, and Sunset blinked at the lack of anything at all in the room. “Wh...Where’s the portal?” she asked before walking forward while looking around to see if it was just in a corner and out of sight. When she got inside and saw that wasn’t the case, a new kind of terror filled Sunset. The portal was gone. Inexplicably missing. Vanished. Panic began to overtake her mind as she realized what that might mean for Twilight’s destiny. What the lack of a real princess would mean for Equestria, and how horrible the future of Sunset’s homeland would be with her being one of the ponies at the helm. “WHERE’S THE PORTAL?”