Princess Luna walked through one corridor that leads to the one passing in front her sister chamber. She was followed by a young light gray earth pony mare, one of younger Blueblood aids. The Prince had assigned her to see if she could fit as a secretary for her future court. The princess was glad her nephew assign her somepony young, as Luna knew first hoof old ponies had a harder time adapting to change.
The mare was lecturing the Princess about some recent law change, a scroll in her hoof ”As you could see here-”
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!” interrupted a scream.
Both ponies stopped walking.
“Is that Princess Cadance’s voice?” asked the earth pony, looking confused at the direction of the shout.
“DO YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR THIS FAMILY?”
“Stay here,” Princess Luna said to the other mare before trotting toward her sister bedchamber. She was also very confused. Cadance was, unlike her sister, a very emotional pony but showed mostly positive emotion, still, she did not appear to be a pony prone to losing her temper.
The two royal guards posted at the large door were seemly also worried. They did not react when Princess Luna approached. She got close enough almost got it by one of the doors as it opened violently. A pink alicorn storming out of the room after shooting “-out of my family.”
Princess Luna watched as Cadance trotted quickly in the opposite direction. She kept watching until she disappeared from view.
“Excuse me, your highness?” asked one of the guard stallion, ready to close the door “Do you want to see your sister?”
Princess Luna did not answer immediately, she was not sure if she should intervene between what was likely a dispute. Still, she respected Princess Cadance too much to just ignore it.
“No, maybe later.” she replied calmly to the guard.
She trotted slowly in the direction the other alicorn has taken. After getting direction from the occasional servants she came across, she felt on Princess Cadance, her crown on top of a hoof, watching at the garden below the balustrade she was leaning on.
“How do you feel by presiding a wedding?” she asked without turning her head when Luna get closer.
“I….” Princess Luna hesitated “Cadance, are you alright? I don’t want to pry...”
“This thing is heavy.” was Cadance reply, holding her crown just above the balcony.
Luna did something she did not do in a long time, she opened her wings and put one at rest around the other alicorn “Yes, we know the burden of the crown. But, please allow us to know what distress our dear sister brought to you.”
Princess Cadance finally looked the other princess in the eyes and sighed, she put her crown at rest on the balcony “Your sister being herself.”
Twilight was having lunch with Spike. She was not really in a good mood and on top of it, she felt weird to not have Morning to provide some distraction or comfort. It was a feeling even worse now that she had Morning always around. And Spike story with Applejack was not helping to try to recover from the conclusion of her previous day. She spent most of the morning trying to do chores or read to distract herself, but it barely helped.
“...and that when Mr. Cake chase her off and...”
She sighed in front of her half-eaten lunch. She cried enough last night and now she needed to be happy for the small party to celebrate Dinky cutie mark.
“Want me to put that back in the fridge?” asked Spike.
“Duh?”
He pointed at her plate “You are not gonna finish this?”
Twilight looked at her salad, she only munched on some leaf and most of it was still in the plate “Ho, probably not.”
“Hey, cheer up! Your friends are coming this afternoon!” Spike said while picking up her plate of half finished salad. “And no dessert for you young filly! You did not finish your salad.”
Spike remark triggered a small smile on Twilight’s face. She levitated a donut to her, sticking her tongue to the young dragon.
“Hey! That’s cheating!” pouted Spike, but quickly smiled as a donut was levitated toward him.
They both ate their treats in silence before heading toward differents place in the library to wait for Ditzy, Dinky and Morning.
Twilight was in the middle of cleaning her room, eyeing for the tenth time her closet with her dress. It was not the dress fault, Rainbow Dash simply did not like mares this way. And even Captain Spitfire had a good point, if she was going to be on the Wonderbolts she could not have a sedimentary relationship.
She was interrupted by a knock on the door, she dried her tears before getting downstairs to answer.
Upon opening the door, Morning rushed to her. Twilight grabbed the filly, hugging her then said after releasing her. “I hope you have been a good filly?”
“Huhu” replied the filly.
Twilight eyed Ditzy that nodded. “She cried a bit after you left, but she quickly cheered up.” The pegasus mare turned to her filly “Hey muffin, why you don’t help Morning unpack in her room?”
“Ok!” both fillies rushed upstairs in Morning’s room saying a quick hello to Spike when crossing him near the stairs.
When Twilight heard the door of Morning room closing, her smile flattered. She noticed on the back of Ditzy her saddlebags full of supplies “Do you want some help?”
Ditzy made her way past the unicorn and moved toward the kitchen “I carry the mail all day. But with the look on your face, yesterday did not go well I guess?”
Twilight sighed and lost all the small happiness she managed to display. “She... She does not like mares.”
“I am sorry to hear that. Maybe, maybe we should cancel the party?”
“No, No. I can’t do that to Dinky. It’s important for her.”
Ditzy put her saddlebags on the kitchen table and hugged the mare. “Thanks for doing all that. Despite what happened to you.”
Twilight lost herself in the hug and started crying again.
***
Ditzy broke the hug when Twilight was done crying. She emptied her saddlebags containing leftovers muffins made yesterday and a present for Dinky. She heard a knock on the front door, looked at Twilight still washing her eyes “It must be BonBon and Lyra, I will open.”
She moved to the main room of the library and opened the door. Instead of the expected mint unicorn and a beige earth pony mares, was standing a couple of a unicorn.
The first one was a bright pink mare with a beautiful three coloured mane, she was taller than Ditzy and maybe taller than any other mares she knew. At her side was a tall -and in Ditzy opinion- handsome white stallion, he had an electric blue mane, reminding her of something.
The mare beamed “You must be Ditzy!” said pegasus mare tried to focus both eyes on the mare, trying to figure if she already meets the mare. She extended a hoof “Sorry, sorry, you must be confused I am Cadance. I am a friend of Twilight.”
Before she could form a reply, Ditzy was nearly put off balance by a zooming filly. Said filly nested herself against the stallion, hugging his neck. Ditzy recovered and was surprised to see her own daughter was behind and moved to mimic Morning.
“He is very popular with fillies” Cadance statement was followed by a giggle.
“Hey, Hey Morning!” The stallion said, he lifted his leg where Dinky was attached. “And you must be Dinky.”
“Yep!”, Dinky released her grip on the leg, landing with a small thud “Who are you?”
“I am Shining Armor. I am Twilight big brother.”
Ditzy looked at her daughter and scold her “Why did you hug mister Armor?”
“Morning was all huuuuggy, so I figured he must be very huggable!”
Ditzy sighed, Dinky was a very optimistic filly and could trust everypony too quickly, but it seems it was some of Twilight family.
She did not delve very long on these though as she witnessed a strange thing: Morning was in the front of the pink mare lowering herself to the ground and started singing “Sunshine, sunshine...”
She watched with amusement as Cadance mirrored the filly gestures: Hiding their eyes then clapping their hooves together “Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake.”
She blushed at the part where they showed their rump to each other, but it’s when she noticed something odd about the mare.
“You are a princess!” gasped Dinky at the view of the wings on her back.
Ditzy realized this too and lowered her head quickly to bow, she pushed a wing on the back of her daughter to force her to bow too.
She felt a hoof raising her head and Cadance soft voice said to her “Ho no. no. no.” Cadance pointed to her head “No crown, no Princess today.”
“Yes, Cady is Cady” stated Morning.
They were interrupted by Twilight entering the main room “Shiny?! Cady?! What are you doing here?” she said loudly upon seeing the newcomers.
“Yes, happy to meet you too, Twilight.” replied dryly Cadance.
The exchange made Ditzy realize different things, first Twilight never talk about her family outside her parents, and she did not remember the unicorn talking about surprise guests. Maybe it made sense if she was friend with a Princess.
The stallion whispered something to the alicorn.
“Hey, Morning. I am sure Mommy made you a beautiful room,” she said cheerfully.
“Yes! I will show you!” replied the filly.
Ditzy watched as Shining Armor rushed to her sister to brought her into the kitchen. That left Ditzy, Dinky and Spike in the main room.
Spike get closer to Ditzy “I am glad they are here.”
“You invited them?” Ditzy asked in reply.
“No, No. Shining was supposed to come tomorrow for the school job thingy.”
***
Shining Armor muzzled his sister when the door closed. He looked at the small traces of tear on her cheeks “So, it did not go well, yesterday?”
Twilight looked at the stallion with sadness in her eyes “No...”
He reached to hug her, but she pushed off softly with a hoof. “I run out of tears already. I am don’t know what to do Shiny.”
“Hey, you know I am always here for you. I am not Cadance but-”
She cut him “No, no it’s fine. You are fine. I… it was stupid of me. It was obvious that could not work. She-”
“Nop” Shining Armor forcefully grabbed her sister in a hug “Love is not logical and can make you do silly stuff, right?”
Twilight relaxed “Right… You are always right.”
She rested for a while in his powerful arms. She felt like a filly like this, and she had to admit, it was what she needed to forget all her worries.
“So, how Morning is doing here, in Ponyville?” asked the stallion to engage a lighter conversation.
***
“You have a crazy life, Twilight,” concluded Bonbon after had been told the official truth on Morning. Cadance convinced Twilight it would make the whole afternoon more comfortable for Morning to be able to call Twilight ‘mommy’.
“I mean, I thought mine was crazy when I moved out Canterlot to live here with Lyra. But you? You are the Princess’s prized student, your brother is marrying a Princess and you adopt a filly.”
“Hey, we are here for the cutest filly of Equestria!” beamed Cadance. She leaned toward Morning and said softly “Sorry, today it’s not you”, the filly giggled from her spot on Shining Armor laps. Cadance continued “Not to talk about boring adult stuff.”
“Yes. Dinky, so how did you get your cutie mark?” asked gently the only stallion around the table.
“Ho, Ho. It was at the lake!”
“The lake?” asked Shining.
“Yes, Ponyville has a super lake! It was Wednesday. So we were at the lake with Mommy, Twilight and Morning” Dinky looked around her “and Lyra!”
Lyra put a hoof on the filly head and ruffled her mane “Thank little Dinky.”
Dinky put her front legs on the table “I am not little, I have my cutie mark!”
“Hooves off the table,” said Morning.
Dinky glared at Morning while the adults at the table giggled. “You are just jealous.”
“Dinky!” scolded Ditzy.
Morning pouted and pull her tongue out before bursting into a fit of giggles. She was quickly followed by Dinky.
Shining’s eyes went wide. Cadance giggled, but Twilight was surprised too. Ditzy sighed “It was like this all morning. And I thought a filly was hard enough to handle.”
“You are the best mommy!” beamed Dinky.
Ditzy blushed at the praise “Thank you muffin.”
Most ponies around the table dawwed while some emitted a small giggle.
Cadance cleared her throat “So the lake?”
Dinky started moving again in her seat “Yes, the lake! It was all sunny, so we went to the lake.”
Dinky tale continued with the whole series of event that leads to her cutie mark appearing. It was occasionally punctuated with other rounds of Morning remarks about behaving properly while seated at the table since Dinky was having trouble containing her excitement. She concluded by jumping on the table to display her cutie mark to all the ponies. Morning started to frown but any remarks were stopped by Shining Armor.
“You will see when you will get your mark.”
Still, the filly crossed her hooves looking at Cadance, but the alicorn simply ruffled her mane “You will teach her good manner another day. Stop the frowny face and smile!”
Morning mumbled to herself “Still you don’t put your hooves on the table.”
The ponies close enough to hear laughed at her expense.
Lyra smiled at Dinky excitement. “Haha You should have seen me when I get my cutie mark. I strung a lyre giggling like a possessed pony and I ended breaking the strings. My parents had to be brought me to the hospital since it cut my hooves. Since that day I am a little sensitive on the hooves.” she concluded showing her hooves that bear no trace of the accident.
“She just has lazy hooves” pointed Bonbon seeing the face of a confused Dinky trying to see some scars of some sort.
Dinky giggled at Lyra expense.
“Ok, It’s time for cake,” interrupted a proud Spike carrying a big platter with a cloche on it. He climbed into his seat and put the platter in the middle of the table. He lifted the cloche letting ponies discover a plain white cake decorated with Dinky cutie mark.
“Ho, that looks like a nice cake, Spike” smiled Cadance “And living with a cake addict as an aunt I know my cakes.”
Spike put a claw behind his head “Oh, it’s nothing, I made it yesterday with Pinkie.”
Twilight cut the cake and everypony adult and foals eat it with various degree of enthusiasm. Cadance and Shining Armor eating small bites at a time, while the 2 foals and Spike were more eager to get as much as possible in their mouth.
“And now it’s time for presents,” said Ditzy, she produced a warped box she has stored nearby. She proffered it to Dinky “Here.”
Dinky eyes grew wide “Oh.” She grabbed eagerly the package with her hooves and looked at it. She stared for a while at it.
“You are not gonna open it?” asked Morning.
“Oh. I just did not expect gifts!”
“Well it’s not every day you get your Cutie Mark.” Ditzy smiled at her daughter then nodded “Go on. Open it.”
Dinky teared the package, the eyes of everypony and dragon were on her. It revealed “A book!”
“Not just any book.” Ditzy pointed at the cover of the book.
“Ho. It’s the first aid book we have at home. But this one is new!”
Ditzy blushed “Well, I figured you wanted a version where most pages are not loose or covered in blood.”
The filly reached to hug her mother “Thank you, mommy!”
Bonbon smirked, “If it was not from Ditzy I would say it’s a weird present.”
Lyra jabbed the earth pony “That not very nice.”
Bonbon grumbled then produced a bag “I made a little something for you too Dinky.”
Dinky grabbed the proffered bag and opened it “Candies!” she grabbed one “Oh... My favorite!”
“Look a bit closer” nudged Bonbon
“There is my cutie mark on it!” she took another one and give it to Morning “Look, look!”
Morning levitated the candy toward her but it was snatched away by a blue aura.
“Ho it’s true,” said Cadance just before throwing the treat in her mouth, but it was saved from its fate as alicorn snack by a pink aura. The candy levitated again toward the hooves of Morning.
“What did I say about stealing candies from fillies?” scolded Shining Armor.
Cadance grumbled quietly “Don’t do it.” she lowered her ears on her head, looking Shining Armor in the eyes, moisture forming in the corner of her eyes. She concluded by making a poutty face “Buuut they must taste soo good.”
That made both fillies giggle while Bonbon, Lyra and Ditzy were rather confused. For her part Twilight just facehoofed.
Bonbon proposed “I can make some for you if you want, Princess.”
Said Princess waved her hoof at the candy maker “It’s fine. And don’t call me princess.” Her horn glowed and a small golden crow came levitating toward Dinky. She put the crow on the head of the filly “Today. It’s Dinky the Princess.”
Dinky started probing her head with her hooves and felt the crow “Really? Is that your?”
“Nop, today it’s your!”
Dinky stopped for a while, then a smile formed on her face. She jumped on the table, luckily free of any dishware “Bow to me my subject!”
Morning reacted immediately “Hooves of the table.”
Dinky replied, “Princess Dinky says that she can put her hooves wherever she wants!”
Morning grumbled before joining the adult on lowering their head to bow while seated around the table.
“You may rise my subjects!” Dinky continued before giggling and getting back on her seat.
Twilight hide a giggle behind a hoof, she was now smiling, sure it was still hurting to think too much about yesterday but today silliness of Cadance and the apparent joy of Dinky made all her bad feeling goes away. If she thought about it she rarely felt happier in her life. She was with her family and some friends sharing an important moment of pony dear to her.
She looked at Morning enjoying herself in her father laps. Her ‘Woona’ plushie was on his head giving him a silly look. But he did not seem to mind.
“I have a present for you, Dinky,” Shining Armor said while levitating a small blue box with a nice red ribbon.
“Hoo,” said Dinky. Every mare in the room shared the same surprised expression at the unexpected source of the gift.
Dinky looked at the perfectly well-made gift box. The paper looked expensive and there was no flow in it. So unlike her mother gift, she took extra care to properly untie the bow first then turned around the box to find the duct tape holding the paper.
When she finally unwrapped the present she saw a nice red paper box. The eyes of everypony were on the box, Dinky opened it and was met with a purple piece of clothes laying on a white cushion.
“It’s a ribbon.” stated Shining Armor.
“Ohhh. It’s pretty!” replied Dinky. She approached her hooves toward it, then lit her horn in the hope of getting a more soft grip.
“Let me help you little Dinky,” said Lyra before grabbing the ribbon with her magic. She levitated it toward the filly mane and started fiddling with the ribbon and the blonde hairs on Dinky’s mane.
When she was done Lyra smiled then Morning beamed “You look so pretty!”
Dinky eyes crossed toward her horn, turning her head everywhere. Twilight came to her rescue by bringing a mirror. “Here Dinky.”
“Hoo,” said Dinky, turning her head in front of the mirror.
“Do you like it?” asked Shining Armor.
“Yes, I love it!” she bounced out her seat to hug the stallion. Nearly knocking off Morning.
Morning groaned and mumbled, “He is mine.”
Cadance leaned toward Morning and whispered loud enough for everypony to hear “No. He is mine. All mine.”
“I heard that” the stallion replied.
Dinky let’s go of the stallion and looked at Cadance “I give you back your fiancé. He is very huggy!” she got back at her seat giggling.
Everypony laughed at the filly antics. Even Morning smiled and was quick to follow with a laugh of her own.
***
The two fillies, Spike and Shining Armor were playing mikado, a game requiring patience and dexterity. For Dinky, it was a great occasion to work her levitation skill, for Morning just an occasion to play with her best friends. Spike was indulging the fillies and Shining Armor was just enjoying himself, coaching the youngsters.
Cadance thanked Twilight that brought tea to the mares of the gathering. “It’s so nice to see them like this” she turned her head toward Ditzy “You have a very nice and cute filly.”
Ditzy blushed at the praise but Cadance continued “I foalsitted lot of fillies and colts. Trust me, a lot of Canterlot families had spoiled brats.” she eyed Twilight “Well not all. This one was easy to handle, give her a book and you were set. Easiest bits ever!”
“You got paid?” asked Lyra.
“Yes. Auntie Celestia was pretty miser when I was young.” Cadance rolled her eyes “To teach me the value of bits.”
“Thou for Twilight I was not really into the bits” she giggled looking at Shining Armor patiently waiting for Dinky to pick up a stick.
Lyra and Ditzy looked at the stallion with dreamy eyes. “He is also good with kids,” said Lyra. Ditzy nodded along,
Bonbon poked her “Ahem. I am here, honey. And I think his fiancé make it clear of whom he belongs.”
Cadance nodded strongly then looked at both mares “Ho, you two are a couple!” She clapped her hooves “You go so well together!”
Bonbon blushed while Lyra grabbed her strongly with one hoof “Yes, she is mine! She is my own Candybutt.”
The earth pony blushed fiercely and whispered: “Don’t call me like this in public.”
Cadance laughed at the display “It’s so rare to see mare couple assuming their relationship.” she looked at Twilight “You see, if you were willing to give a chance to Lyra you could have been her Starbutt or whatever.”
“Sparklebutt” blurted Lyra with a cauff. She whispered to Ditzy “I called her that when she was doing her magic under my tail”
The pegasus mare snorted, making the tea she was drinking goes through her nostrils “Ow, Ow.”
“I am sorry, Ditzy” panicked Lyra, she looked left and right “Let me grab some napkins.”
“Are you alright, Ditzy?” asked Twilight, worry showing on her face.
“Are you alright, Mommy?” asked Dinky that had rushed from the game, throwing every piece everywhere.
Ditzy cleaned her muzzle with a napkin provided by Twilight, “I am fine everypony. You can get back at your game little muffin.” she said ruffling the mane of the filly trying to not make her new bow fall off.
“Ok!” Dinky looked at Morning and Spike and beamed to them “All clear!”
Bonbon glared at Lyra “What did you say to her?”
Lyra finished wiping the table of tea strain “Nothing, nothing!” she looked at Twilight “something private.”
Twilight was halfway through eating one of Ditzy muffins when she asked “Do I have something on my face?”
Ditzy burst in laughter, tears were coming from her eyes “Lyra!”
“What?” asked a confused Twilight. But that just leads in Lyra joining in Ditzy mirth.
***
Shining Armor smiled, they had to start the game all over since Dinky scattered everything rushing to her mother. But it didn't really matter to him, seeing Morning playing happily with a filly close to her age was new and it brought warmth to his heart. It was what normal fillies her age were supposed to do: playing with friends, running outside making a mess of themselves, not stay inside confined.
It had been a sad necessity to hide the filly from the world, but now it was over he hoped. So he smiled. Smiled at Morning guiding the older filly keeping a good hold with her magic on the sticks of the game. Smiled at Spike who was probably utterly bored trying to sneak peek at a nearby comic book.
He levitated the comic to Spike that smiled and gratified him by what the dragon called a Thumbs up. It was both making sense and no sense for the stallion since he has no opposite claw to compare or do the gesture.
He was also happy to hear her sister having a good time with other ponies than her family even if from what he was guessing from the laughs of other mares and Twilight confusion, there were making fun of her.
“It’s your turn Shiny,” said Morning.
“Alright.” he looked at the state of the game. There was still a lot of sticks easily removable. In the previous game, he contented himself to pick 1-2 stick with a low score. He removed an obvious free stick and fake stumbling a harder pickup.
Morning frowned at him. She probably had picked up of him not playing seriously. But it was not the most engaging game for unicorns with great mastery of their telekinesis. “Hey. Why don’t we play without magic except for Dinky?” the stallion suggested.
“But it’s too hard!” complained Morning.
“Hey, at least you have tiny hooves. Look at Shining with his big hoof. I still can’t figure how you do without these babies,” said Spike flexing his claws.
Dinky beamed “Yay, I am gonna win.” That elicited a chuckle from Shining Armor.
They were interrupted by Ditzy’s voice “Actually, muffin. Princess Cadance has a gift for you.”
Shining Armor smiled, She knew Cadance did not bring something, but he had an idea of what it was.
---
Dinky followed her mother toward the kitchen. She was confused. Cadance had given her a small crown and her fiancé an awesome bow. Maybe it was a special muffin reserved to Princess and Cadance would give her a bite to taste! Dinky giggled, it was something her mom would dream of.
Dinky liked muffins but it was more because her mother loved to make them for her. Still, she would not say no to Royal Special Muffin.
She entered the kitchen and watched everywhere, there were Twilight, Princess Cadance and her mother. She seems as confused as her. There was no sight of new things from the last time she saw the kitchen. She sniffed the air and there was no scent of muffin etheir.
“You will have to wait a bit. Twilight are you ready?”
“Yes, just hold your hooves together please.” Dinky grabbed a hoof of her mother that grabbed a hoof of Twilight. On the other side of Twilight, Cadance followed suit.
Dinky felt a huge amount of magic forming nearby. It was something she recently was able to feel. She could feel when an unicorn nearby was casting something. Twilight told her that it was perfectly normal but it could take a while to tune it down.
When the spell reached its peak she heard a popping sound and Dinky felt very dizzy. It lingered for awhile, all she could see was green.
“Hoo. This is so confusing” she heard her mother said.
“Sorry, getting teleported for the first time is quite the experience,” Cadance beautiful voice said.
Dinky vision cleared, and she looked in the direction of her mother and giggled “Your eyes are so funny!” the golden eyes of her mother were converging to look at her, it was a rare sight and only happened when Ditzy was really mad at her.
“How so?” as she said that one eye of Ditzy started to focus on another thing.
Dinky heard another pop and when she looked in the direction of it, she noticed Twilight was gone. It was when she realized that she has teleported a lot of ponies. In the book Twilight give her about magic, she read it said it was a nearly impossible feat, only doable by a master of the arcanes. Twilight was really awesome!
Ditzy shook her head to remove the last of dizziness “What are we doing here?”
“Ho. You will see! But I asked for a place a bit isolated. Twilight does not really want ponies to see me here” sighed Cadance.
“Why that?”
Cadance rolled her eyes “She doesn't like ponies knowing she is involved with important ponies. To be honest it’s rather silly.”
“But she is Princess Celestia’s student!” blurted Dinky.
“Yes, Yes. Anyways, that should be...” there was another pop “Good.”
“Hello ladies.” said the newcomer. He was tall like Shining Armor and was wearing a royal guard armor.
He looked at Dinky “Ho, I guess you are the lucky filly getting a Princess ride. I am Steel Wings” he presented a hoof toward Dinky.
She looked at the hoof, eyeing the stallion. She did not shake the hoof but said “You are handsome! You could be my daddy!”
He looked confused as Dinky was holding a hoof in front of her muzzle to hide her laughter. Her mother had tried in the past to find her a father without success. Now she had made a game of it!
It was always funny to look at the face of the confused stallion. She noticed that Princess Cadance was amused too.
Her mother planted a kiss on the cheek of the confused stallion and whispered something in his ears but it was loud enough for everypony nearby to hear “She is messing with you. But you are quite the looker.”
The stallion smiled and ruffled Dinky’s mane “We have quite the jester here.” then he looked at Ditzy “Sorry but I already have a mate. I hope you will find somepony to take care of this cute filly with a beautiful mother.”
“Always the sweet words, Steel” replied Cadance.
Dinky turned toward Twilight as she was casting another spell “Anyways, have fun Ditzy and Dinky!” and with a pop, she was gone.
“What is a Princess ride?” Dinky asked, eyes full of curiosity toward Cadance.
“Well. I foalsitted some fillies and colts that were not pegasus with pegasus parent, often the parents are afraid to take their foals to fly on their back.”
“I am so afraid I will drop my little muffin or not be able to catch her if something happened.” confirmed Ditzy.
“Exactly. But I have something you don’t have” Princess Cadance pointed at her horn.
“You have a horn!” beamed Dinky, liking where this was going!
“Yes. I can only catch Dinky with my magic and in case something happens to me. Steel Wing is trained to catch falling ponies.”
Dinky did not need to hear any more to jump with joy. She was going to fly! She was going to fly! Like not just hovering one or two meters above the ground!
“But it’s up to you Ditzy,” concluded Cadance.
“I don’t know,” replied the pegasus mare.
There was no way her mother should refuse the offer! She put her best puppy eyes when her mother looked at her.
“I guess I can’t say no.” Ditzy patted her head “You will have to stop doing that. Grows fillies does not do that.”
“Alright.” Cadance lowered herself at Dinky level “hop on.”
Dinky giggled at her mother remark and jumped with glee on the back of Cadance, but to her dismay the alicorn did not start flying at all.
“You give the rhythm, Ditzy. Steel Wing will follow below us.”
“Are you sure?” asked her mother.
Getting antsy, Dinky shouted “Mommy!”
“Alright, Alright” her mother replied before finally slowly taking off. She was finally going to fly! Well not on her own. But she could see how her mother saw the world from up in the sky!
Except her mother was still hesitating. They were flying in a circle maybe 2 or 3 meters above the ground. “Come on mommy! I want to see the clouds!”
“Alright muffin. But you don’t let go of the Princess.”
Dinky tightened her grip on Cadance’s neck “Yes, mommy!”
Slowly Dinky could saw the ground going farther and farther away. She finally could saw the forest that surrounded the clearing they starting taking off. It was breathtaking. In every direction there were trees! More important she was above the trees.
“Wow” she said. “So much tree!” she looked at more tree “Mommy. Do you see all these trees?”
Her mother smiled at her “Yes muffin.”
Dinky looked below and was surprised to see the pegasus guard flying just below Cadance. She waved at him and he waved back.
“You should keep your hooves on me before your mother decides to stop.” whispered Cadance to her.
Dinky stopped waving and quickly put back her hoof around Cadance neck. “Thanks!”
“What was that, muffin?”
“Nothing! Nothing.” she giggled and tightened her grip.
***
Ditzy smiled. She could not dream of a best way to celebrate Dinky’s cutie mark. She neither have the bits to throw a big celebration like Filthy Rich did for his daughter, neither did Dinky would probably have liked it. Despite being a cheerful and open pony, her daughter did not have that many friends, and she preferred to celebrate things with ponies that mattered to her.
She had originally thought of just a small celebration between Dinky and her, eating a special muffin, but it looks too much like when they celebrated another one birthday. Thankfully, Twilight has insisted to do a bigger celebration at the library. She invited Lyra and Bonbon because they occasionally foalsit Dinky, and Lyra was here when Dinky gets her cutie mark.
She did not expect a couple of additional ponies to show up nor them being so important. How could she have guessed a Princess and a high officer of the guard would show up?
She had no word to describe how lucky she felt. Especially now. Flying had always been part of her life and her being, even if she knew she was not the best flier in town. But she had never really been able to share that with Dinky. Like Princess Cadance had said she was too afraid to have Dinky fall to the ground.
But now she was flying at her side. Not by her own mean but still, she could see the world like her. And seeing her daughter’s mouth open agape and her eyes full of wonders brought endless happiness to her.
There were now flying maybe 50 meters above the ground and soon the first clouds could be seen. She noticed that Dinky was disobeying her order of keeping her hold on Princess Cadance as she was releasing one hoof to try to catch the clouds. She said nothing because you could not expect a filly to not express herself when discovering something for the first time.
She continued circling above the forest. Ponyville was not far from here, but Ditzy did not want to risk for ponies to spot the alicorn flying at her side. While she was pondering where to go, she was surprised to feel something land on her back.
“Mommy!” she heard.
Ditzy looked on her back and panicked at seeing her daughter here. “Dinky! What...” she turned toward the princess, she noticed her glowing horn and the glow surrounding Dinky.
“It’s so awesome to fly!”
“I know muffin.” eased Ditzy just smiled.
“I wanna touch the clouds!”
“Ok” Ditzy looked around and spotted a large set of clouds not too far away. She got close and hovered nearby the cloud formation. She heard her daughter beamed of excitement.
Princess Cadance got closer and whispered to her “Land on the clouds. One last surprise.”
Ditzy complied and the princess cast a spell on Dinky.
“Is that a Cloud walking spell?” asked Dinky.
“Yes, you are very clever.” praised Princess Cadance.
Ditzy did not have time to react as she felt her daughter leave her back and land on the clouds. She panicked but quickly recovered as hearing Dinky just landed with a soft poof sound.
She smiled again, seeing her daughter enjoying the sensation of softness that cloud provided under hooves.Today was really an amazing day for her and her daughter.
---
After saying goodbye to all Twilight’s guess. The small family shared a light dinner then Cadance and Shining Armor excused themselves to go to bed early. Cadance had a good time but she was still exhausted from her morning dealing with her aunt.
She was now watching with a smile Morning nested between her and her fiancé. They were sitted with their back against the wall. She could feel the love Shining had for Morning and she did not need special power for that. The smile on her stallion’s face was enough when interacting with her. It was for Cadance, another proof that he was the right stallion for her.
The filly was sharing some of her school days with Shining Armor when she said, a serious look on her cute face “Mommy said you will make me a brother after your wedding, is that true?”
Cadance giggled at seeing Shining almost froze at the implication.
“Mommy said that?” the stallion looked with a smile at Cadance “Well it’s very likely.”
“A brother you said?” Cadance added, then teased Shining “Already tired of fillies?”
He just smiled and planted a kiss on her cheek “Never, but a small colt could be nice.”
Cadance was caught off guard without the filly on the bed, she would have some idea on how to start providing a colt for her stallion.
Morning ignored the flirting adults and added: “But a sister like Dinky will be fine too!”
“You really like Dinky” smiled Shining Armor.
“She is my best friend!” Beamed the filly, but it was quickly followed by a yawn “Good night Cady and Daddy.”
Cadance and Shining planted a kiss on her forehead “Good night sweety.” And just like that, the filly was asleep.
Cadance was used to Morning tendency to quickly fall asleep. It was cute seeing the filly nested at the side of her stallion. It was hard to not project too much on the filly and see her as her own daughter. It was Shining Armor’s daughter, not her and Twilight sacrificed enough for her to be removed this right.
She looked at Shining that was slowly stroking Morning mane, she expected a smile on his face like he always has when doing this but there was a thin line on his muzzle. “Something on your head?” she said softly.
“Yeah. You still want Twilight back in Canterlot or somewhere else than Ponyville?”
“And who was the pony that was thinking the same thing?”
“It’s not that Cadance” he eyed Morning “Do I want to remove Morning from her first friend? It hurts me to think of that.”
Cadance’s ears lowered on her head. She looked once more time at Morning thinking ‘Should I?’