//------------------------------// // How to Piss Off Your Sister, Step Two // Story: The Breaking Straw // by Shinzakura //------------------------------// Robin’s footsteps echoed down the hall as he departed the newly-built portal room. A secured area within the palace, it contained a master portal through which anyone could go to any of the portals on Human-Earth. And right now, Robin was returning from an uncomfortable two days back in Seattle, having had to deal with more paperwork concerning his impending retirement from the CEO and chairman position at Kirkland Industries in favor of his sister, Zoe. Investors were not taking it well, and he’d had to console them…leaving his fiancée to stew in her own juices for the past two days. As he tugged off his tie, harried hoofsteps came from behind him; he turned to see his royal assistant, a seemingly perpetually-frazzled earth mare by the name of Buzybee, running to catch up to him, leaving a paper trail of documents scattering behind her like leaves in an autumn wind. “Lord Robin! Lord Robin!” she called out, her silver-rimmed eyeglasses barely holding onto her muzzle for dear life. “Bee, are you okay?” he asked, watching as she practically plopped on the ground, her black and white mane a mess while her honey-yellow coat looked as though it hadn’t been combed in days. Granted, she always looked like she was one step away from a meltdown, but Raven had assured him that there was none better when it came to working with humans than Bee. “I’ve been practically chasing you all over both Earths, sir!” she moaned. “But if it wasn’t your secretaries at your business, or the security guards at your home, then it was personnel at the consulate!” She gasped and tried to take deep breaths, attempting to calm herself down. “I think I’ve logged enough flight hours on Pegasus Pride Airlines to get a free first-class ticket to Hoofalulu!” Robin looked at her oddly. “Don’t you have portal authorization, Bee?” She was about to say something, then her jaw fell agape before she facehoofed. “All that money on my credit card. The expense account manager’s going to kill me….” He waved it off. “Just give me the documents and I’ll authorize them. Now what’s got you in such a panic that you had to follow me instead of calling?” Buzybee said nothing, instead handing a scroll to Robin. The man took the scroll, opened it and read. A second later, Buzybee watched as the future prince-to-be raced down the hall at top speed. She sighed, set her glasses back on her muzzle once more and began the chase – her job was never done. In her office, Luna sat in conversation with her niece – although conversation was a relative term. “I said no, and I mean no!” Luna growled, trying to keep calm. It wasn’t Cadance’s fault. Well, not entirely. “Luna, be reasonable, okay?” the younger alicorn stated. “At least you have a chance to ease your daughter into public life! Remember what they’re saying about my son! ‘Cadance Adopts Abomination’! That is a horrifying thing to say about a newborn!” “At least your son doesn’t have an assassin hunting after him!” Luna countered. “And with that in mind, I have no idea why you agreed to be Celestia’s delivery filly!” “That’s not fair! I wouldn’t have agreed to it if I didn’t think it was a good idea—” “NOPONY ASKED ME!” Luna roared, tears in her eyes. “Nopony asked me or Robin! It’s our daughter we’re talking about! I will not have her thrown to the timberwolves just because Tia wants her to be publicized! Furthermore, it is not fair of her to make you be her hatchetmare!” Cadance took a breath. “I’m not doing this for Celestia’s sake! I’m doing this because I want Sterling to have a better adjustment to being announced as a princess than I did! You weren’t here for everything I had to go through! Just ask Tia, or any of my friends! They saw the Tartarus I went through, and I don’t want that to happen to your daughter!” “Cadance, I—” “I know you’re worried. We all are. I’m worried about her too – and I have other worries to be concerned with. Wing just told me that Lyra intends to go into work tomorrow, and from what she told me, they’re worried about her mental state.” “Mental state?” “She’s permanently changed species – if that doesn’t do anything to one’s mindset, I don’t know what does. And as long as I’ve known that filly, she’s always been happy-go-lucky…but this is the kind of thing that rips that kind of Tirek-may-care attitude right out of a soul.” “She’ll be fine. She’s with her family, and she has friends there.” “I know, but I’ve been a de facto big sister to her, Twily, Vi and Octavia – I worry a lot about them. And that goes for Sterling and Dawn as well.” Luna rubbed her head; she could feel a migraine coming on. “I guess I have to talk to my sister again, don’t I?” At that point, Robin opened the door to Luna’s office and he looked as though he was out of breath. “We probably need a second portal room so I don’t have to sprint the length of the palace,” he gasped. “Looks like you two need some time together to discuss this,” Cadance commented, rising from her seat. “Besides, I need to check in on my son. He’s already a hoofful, and I’m sure he has his foalsitters at wit’s end at this point.” Nodding briefly to Robin, she then left the room. Robin walked up to his fiancée, who at this moment sat at the coffee table, looking utterly disconsolate. “I’m back,” he said softly. She nodded, taking a drink from a now-cold cup of tea before sighing. “I’m an immortal goddess who’s lived thousands of years. I control the night itself, and aid my ponies in dreams. I am second-to-rule of a vast empire, sprawling over most of the continent, and we are this world’s preeminent power.” She then looked at him, and there were tears in her eyes. “Then why do I feel so helpless?” “Luna, I…I’m not sure what to say.” She chuckled as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “A millennium-plus ago, I could have just hunted down the varlets themselves and none would have gainsayed otherwise; in fact, they would have stated that it was my holy right to do so. But now, there’s investigations, interrogations, discussions with allies. And that’s even before the arrests and trial. And all the while, our daughter is still in danger at all times.” She shook her head. “There’s no fairness in this world, is there? All there is are just hollow speeches about how justice will be done and how a young girl should not be made a target,” the night alicorn hissed. “And meanwhile, our daughter has to live like a pariah rather than the princess that she is!” “Except Sterling doesn’t even want that,” Robin reminded her as he approached. “She’s not comfortable with the role yet. For that matter, neither am I. Give her time. ” “All the time in the world for both of you, you know that,” she said, nuzzling him the moment he got next to her. “I love you both, and I want the best for both of you. It’s just hard, having to rely on others to prosecute this.” “That’s the way it’s been for the longest time on Earth,” Robin pointed out. “Hell, as I understand it, that’s how it’s been here in Equestria, how your sister set it up.” “I know, and I agree as a princess,” she said, sighing. “But as a mother….” He took her head in his hands and kissed her. “As a mother, there is none better, Luna. You love our daughter and she knows that. And we know you would do anything to keep her safe, including the hardest thing of all – trusting others to do so.” She chuckled. “And you say you’re not prince material.” “Hey, I was head of a transnational corporation for fifteen years. Had to learn a few things.” A thought then came to him. “So where is Sterling?” “In Ponyville – Dawn wanted to show her around. Apparently those two have grown very close. It’s going to be a shame to separate them when school starts up in the fall.” “I might have an idea on that,” he confessed. “We’ll have to talk to Twilight about it, but given her concerns, I think I can convince her.” “Oh? Twilight’s quite the negotiator, you know. We’ve had her deal with some countries before and she had them eating out of her hoof by the time it was all over.” “Trust me, I have everything under control. If I can deal with the CEO of the Orpora Group, I can deal with Twilight.” He grinned. “And, unlike Dieter Luden, she’s not likely to be intentionally insulting.” “Well, then, I trust you.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now, in the meanwhile, I need to look at this report. There’s some concerns about gang infighting in some of the major cities involving a Communist group.” He looked at her oddly. “A Communist group?” She nodded, levitating a sizeable report. “One of the REAL agents wrote up an analysis the whole thing. It’s fascinating reading, and by that I mean trite and dull. Maybe I should have some people who survived through the lifetime of the fall of the Soviet Union come tour those cities?” “I don’t know how that would help. Anyone that age was a baby or a toddler at oldest when the USSR fell. As it is, I only know about it through history books.” He looked again at the report in Luna’s magic field. “Given that Equestria is shifting to a war footing, I hope this is all just overblown. Trust me, internal unrest is something you really don’t need right now.” “That won’t happen. After the War of the Elements, ponydom has gotten internal unrest out of its collective system, thankfully.” At the same time as that meeting was going on, a second was taking place in a secluded villa in the town of Horseshoe Mountain. It was an open secret that the mansion there belonged to the Crown, but nopony gave a thought to it. At least not until the day that a full security contingent appeared out of nowhere, cordoning off that section of the town for an impromptu visit from Princess Celestia. “Was this really necessary, Celestia?” Fluttershy asked as she arrived in the room where she was meeting her Sister Royal. “I could see closing the immediate streets close to the mansion, but a no-flight zone? In a pegasus-majority town?” “I know, and I’ve discussed that with Quick Draw,” Celestia told her. “But she’s adamant about protection given the Preacher’s Iron bullets the HDA apparently now have. In any case, we’re not here to talk about that.” “Yes, I gathered that. My secretary briefed me on it this morning. The question is, why me?” “Because I trust you, Fluttershy.” The butter-yellow mare gave the alicorn a disbelieving stare. “No, I think you’re confusing me with my Element, Celestia. Now would you tell me the real reason?” The older mare just shook her head and chuckled. “Sometimes I still think of you as when we first met.” “I know, but I grew up – even though I’m now the same physical age as my daughter. But Kindness isn’t just platitudes and sobriquets. Sometimes it’s telling people the hard truth. Tough love, to use the human phrase.” “I see.” Celestia took a sip of her tea before continuing. “Luna is bound and determined to shield Sterling and Robin from their royal lives, but with their information now public, we cannot afford that anymore. I know why she’s doing it – if I had threats made against Twilight or Cadance at that age I would have done the same – but we didn’t have the factors in play that we do now.” “Such as?” In response, Celestia conjured a magiscreen. An image flickered on it, and Fluttershy gasped. “The British National Crime Agency arrested the man in Cardiff that made this. He said he had to pay a lot of money to find a girl that looked like Sterling that was willing to do this on-screen for pay, and even then, he had to use digital enhancement to make sure it completely looked like her.” The alicorn banished the image away. “At least this girl is alive. We can’t say that about the one in New Zealand.” A flicker of anger appeared in Fluttershy’s eyes. “But Sterling’s just a filly!” “Yes. But you know Luna won’t see it that way.” “You might be surprised,” Fluttershy told her. “Luna’s far more cosmopolitan than you give her credit for. I know she had a hard time adjusting when we all first met, but that was nearly a half-century ago! Times have changed and so have we. Please don’t be offended when I say this, but I think Luna’s far more comfortable in modern society now than you are.” “I know, and I’m not offended. And you’re not the first to tell me that. Twilight and Rarity have made the same observations.” “Then you should realize this might be Luna’s way of saying that the reason she doesn’t want them involved in this is because she may not want this life either. Maybe she’s telling you that when she wants to keep Robin and Sterling separate from royal duties, it’s because she wants to be as well? Have you ever seen her in Ponyville?” Celestia looked at Fluttershy oddly. “No, I haven’t.” “Since the first Nightmare Night, to the citizens of Ponyville, Luna is just…well, Luna. She’s not seen as a princess or even an alicorn, but rather just as yet another mare in town, barely different from the rest.” A weary smile came onto the pegasus’ face. “If you ask me, I think she’s rather enamored about the whole democratic process, mainly because if we were one, she wouldn’t have to be on a perpetual pedestal. Plus, her husband and daughter come from the most significant democracy on Human-Earth. Here, we have what? Donkonia and Polara, as well as their breakaway state Sibearia, none of which are particularly good examples of the concept, as I understand it.” “Yes, I am aware that democracy didn’t plant itself as well here as it did on Human-Earth. I must admit, that’s rather ironic.” “You’re changing the subject. Have you really talked to her about this?” “No, I have not,” the white mare admitted. “I don’t want to lose her again, Fluttershy. A thousand years was too long, and I have suffered as much as she has. And now, the filly that I always thought would never have a normal life is yearning for one – and I don’t know what to do.” Fluttershy smiled. “Perhaps you should take a page from Rainbow’s notebook: when you don’t know what to do, make it up. We all understand that this is a delicate situation. But as you said, Sterling’s information is now public, whether Luna wants that or not. And you’re suggesting that the best way to regain control of the situation is to change the narrative. So talk it over with her and Robin. Let her know this is what is best for Sterling, not because you think it is, but because the situation has dictated it. I’m sure she’ll be reasonable about it if you bring it up under those circumstances.” “I will. Thank you, Fluttershy.” “You’re welcome. Now let’s leave this place, so I can go tear Quick Draw a new one. She’s gotten out of hoof and somepony has to talk to her about it.” “Be nice – she’s only doing her job.” “That’s the thing about being the Knight of Kindness. I have to be kind. I don’t have to be gentle.” Several more days of business and urgency went by in a flash. The news of what happened to Lyra eventually became public, and Cadance immediately departed for Washington to help, taking a worried DJ along. Given that both Celestia and Luna needed to leave town “on Crown duties”, that left Blueblood in line to be acting regent…but to Celestia’s surprise, he turned it down, stating that he had a prior engagement: the need to check on a charity foundation in Australia that he and Champagne had set up for impoverished children there. Based on that, the Sun Alicorn couldn’t say no and to everypony’s surprise, had Queen Imago sit in as acting regent while everyone was gone. As Celestia mused on her decision, she could see the newspaper headlines now: CELESTIA GONE MAD? HANDS KEYS TO GOVERNMENT TO CHANGELING QUEEN! Of course, that wasn’t even remotely fair to Imago; the young flutter queen had done more in her short time appearing to the public than most of the minor royals still within Canterlot. Yet, she knew the reason for that was jealousy. That, and fear. Hopefully that would pass in time. Like so many of the royals junior to her, Celestia would just have to— “Ow!” She looked down and saw that her finger was bleeding. Sam looked up from outside. “You okay, hon?” he called out. “Yeah, just cut myself on a knife.” She held her finger up, and sure enough, the cut had vanished. “Fine now, though.” Sam opened the door to the backyard, walking over to get the items ready to be barbecued. “Hope so. Secret ingredients typically do not count alicorn blood amongst them.” She grinned. “Don’t worry, I was careful.” “Don’t bullshit me. Your mind was occupied, and even you can’t focus on multiple things at once. You’re an alicorn – not a computer.” “Guilty as charged. Would you believe me if I told you I was distracted because I was thinking of you and got hot under the collar?” “If I did, would we be making dinner for everyone here?” “And I can’t thank you enough for suggesting we do it here at your place in Hawaii,” she said, briefly leaning her head on his shoulder. “Good thinking that Canterlot wouldn’t be neutral ground.” “Well, for one, you bought me this house when you hired me,” Sam reminded her, “so we might as well get some use out of it. Besides, better to do this in a more relaxing setting, and what better a setting than central Oahu?” A second later, there was a knock at the door. Sam looked at her and said, “I’ll get it.” He walked over, opened the door and there was Robin, Luna and Sterling, all looking relaxed and in casual attire. “Hey, glad you could make it.” The three went in and Luna looked around. “Nice place, Sam.” “Thanks. I’ll be burning burgers and stuff in the backyard.” He turned to Sterling. “Want to help?” “Depends on whether this is your subtle way of saying ‘let the adults talk’ or not,” she responded drily. Sam laughed. “She reminds me way too much of my sister when she was a teenager,” he admitted. “Probably not a good thing,” Celestia interjected. “C’mon, let’s go talk at the table. Sterling, be a dear and help him out, would you?” Getting the hint, Sterling nodded and said, “Good, I can learn how to grill. Dad never lets me near the grill.” As the two departed, Celestia led them toward the kitchen. “I’m surprised it doesn’t need much of a mare’s touch,” she admitted. “Maybe DJ or a previous girlfriend helped him. Really don’t know.” “Tia, cut the crap and just get to your point,” Luna said, grabbing a chair. Celestia, meanwhile, went over to the fridge. “Care for anything?” “Tia….” “Luna, you’re not the only one who pines for a normal life you know,” Celestia said, continuing to look through the fridge. She finally withdrew carrying three beer bottles. “Here, try the Psychedelic IPA. Local make.” “Oh, I’ve had them before,” Robin said, gratefully taking the bottle. “I actually was part of a program giving the founders of Volcanic Breweries advice. Glad to see they’re doing well.” Celestia nodded, snapping her fingers and making the bottlecaps vanish. “So, let’s be clear, everyone. After Luna’s tirade and with Director Justus throwing a very ugly reality into Maggie’s face, I wasn’t in the best of moods. I appreciate you coming to the rescue, Robin.” “Tia, we’re family. We’re a very dysfunctional family at times, but we are family,” he said with a smile. “That we are,” Celestia replied. “But that is supposed to be Luna’s duty.” She then turned to her sister. “And honestly, I’m disappointed in your behavior, Luna. I understand why, but you could have handled it better.” “Don’t bother explaining again,” Luna replied testily. “You’re going to tell me how I screwed up and stormed out of an important meeting, but you have no idea what it’s like to be a mo—” “Don’t even finish that sentence,” Celestia warned her. “And I will repeat it until you get it through your thick skull!” Luna told her. “I know you raised me when you were but an adolescent and I am appreciative, sister! I barely remember our mother as is! And no doubt you have been a better mother for Cady than any of Helios’ secondary wives could have been.” The Night Alicorn grumbled. “Why do we allow that barbaric practice to continue in Saddle Arabia?” “Because it was the way they had set up their lands after their retreat from the Empire,” Celestia explained with a tone of talking to somepony who should’ve known all this already. “And the population balance of the lands back then was far worse than it is now – one stallion for nine mares back then, as opposed to one to six. It became ingrained in their culture to the point that mere couples in Saddle Arabia are seen as either a foreign concept or selfishness if they are local. You know all this, and you’re changing the subject.” “It is something we should attend to,” Luna said. “Thankfully those on the Bitalian peninsula have been disabused of that horrid notion, even if it is commonplace on the rest of Saddle Arabia.” “Because Bitalia was its own refuge colony for decades before the Bitalian and Saddle Arabian thrones united,” Celestia reminded her. “Luna, are you going to sit there criticizing cultures or are we going to talk about your immature departure from a meeting about Sterling’s safety?” “I don’t want to talk about it,” Luna told her. “The world is far different from when I was just a filly. Far different from when Sombra demanded my hoof in marriage when I wasn’t even ten. Far different than I recall just before our…schism. And even if it wasn’t different….” Luna sighed. “My daughter was raised as a human and all she knows is human ways.” “Yes, and a human girl was ki—” “I KNOW!” Luna roared, and when Celestia looked up, she saw Luna’s face as one of sorrow and shame. “When Robin and I went to go meet with the parents of that other Sterling? My heart just shattered. Sterly – that was what her nickname was – was only a couple of years older than my little Starlight and yet that life was robbed, because of my own child! How could I say to those parents her child would never be able to bless them with grandchildren because she needed to be used as a proxy for my daughter? What could I say to those parents? George – the father’s name – he said there was nothing to forgive, because we weren’t at fault. He understood what I couldn’t explain. But Sterly’s mother? I could see it in Martha’s eyes – she hated me. She hated me because my Sterling lived and hers did not.” “It wasn’t your fault.” “Tell that to Martha Kirkland, whose daughter wanted to be a doctor and who will never heal others because she herself could not be healed.” Luna’s eyes were Caribique pools of pain. “Tell that to the monsters who wanted to kill a child so much they grabbed an innocent girl for the crime of just sharing looks and a name with the real target!” Celestia wrapped her wings about her sister. “I’m afraid for her, too, Lu. I worry about her as well.” Both sisters cried, letting their pain out. “Did you know she thinks I hate her because of the Tantibus?” A tear-stained alicorn looked up to another. “What?” “She thinks I hate her because of what happened in Malaysia. I told her that I didn’t – and I don’t – but I think she’s afraid of me still. Plus, our own personal problems have crept into my relationship with her…she’s angry at me for sealing you in the moon for a thousand years.” Celestia looked at the floor. “I have never forgiven myself for that.” “You did what you had to in order to save our ponies, Tia,” Luna assured her. “I will talk to her about that.” The larger alicorn nodded. “Which is the other thing I want to talk to you about, and Robin needs to be a part of this: I think it’s time we formally introduced your betrothed and daughter to our ponies.” “What? No! No, sister, that’s a bad idea!” Luna looked at her sister. “We want her to have a normal life – you cannot have a normal life if you’re a princess!” “Funny, I’m pretty sure Cadance would tell you that even as a princess, she had a normal life.” “No, you told me you had specifically made her a princess, so she had known no other life other than your ward, Tia! But Sterling is different! Until she reached adolescence, she had no reason to believe she was anything other than a normal human girl!” “A normal human girl who comes from an extremely wealthy family, thus making her the closest thing to a princess that a republic like the United States has. She has always been a princess, Luna! You’re just letting your feelings get ahead of you.” “And why shouldn’t I? I don’t want her to be hated and reviled like I was!” Luna was frantic. “LIKE I STILL AM!” “You’re not hated, Luna. Where did you get that idea—” “It’s obvious! They have never loved me as much as they do you and Cadance! Twilight and the others get more respect than I do! And the only place I have ever felt at home here in Equestria is Ponyville – they at least treat me as Luna, if not as Princess Luna!” She turned away. “I don’t want that pain for Sterling or Robin. I don’t want them to see that our ponies revile and hate me.” She reached out with her magic for a tissue. “And I don’t want my family to be hated as well.” “Luna, we’re not in Equestria right now.” “You know what I mean! And who’s changing the subject now?” “Fine. But I assure you, Luna, I won’t let that happen to Robin or Sterling, I promise.” Celestia looked forlorn while her sister. “They are my family as well. I would never let them, or you, come to harm.” Robin finally spoke up. “Ladies, if I may? For one, Celestia, as Sterling’s parents, I think Luna and I have final decision in what is best for our daughter. I’m not saying that as the ruler of Equestria you don’t have that call, but I think it would be prudent to consult other royal families and see what the standard is. May I suggest contacting King Enrique?” At that, the two alicorns looked at him with embarrassment; it was an old thing between the three that had never gone away over the years. “No, I’m serious. I’ve spoken to him a number of times over the years – including telling him the story of how we met, Luna – and he actually found that amusing. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind giving advice. Besides, the real Skye and Cynthia are old enough that they might be able to offer advice as well.” “You would bring that up, wouldn’t you?” Celestia groaned. “Yes, I would. The other thing you both need to realize is that Sterling and I don’t work on the same timeframe as you do. You two are used to playing long chess games – games longer than most mortals live. People out there have short lifespans and short memories. A century from now, there won’t be anyone or anypony or any-insert-species-adjective-here who will remember Nightmare Moon and her impact on Luna. And I guarantee they won’t remember that we handled Sterling’s entry into public life badly. We just have to do this right.” Robin turned to look at Luna. “I know you’re trying to protect us, Luna, and I love you for that. But I’m an adult and Sterling is growing up. And neither of us want her to grow up in a bubble; that’s how princesses – and I mean that in the pejorative sense – come about. We want our daughter to be a moral and fair member of society, and that is what society will expect of us and her. From what I get, this family already has two family members at each other’s throats; do we need to do this again?” The reminder of DJ and Rarity got the point across; both alicorns looked at each other with chagrin. “I just want the best for all of you, Luna, you know that,” Celestia told her. “And I love you for that, sister. But I want the best for my husband-to-be and my daughter, and maybe that’s because I missed out on so much of their lives. Surely you can appreciate that, right?” “Good, because I’m going to do this.” The three adults turned to look at Sterling standing there with Sam behind her. “The food’s, ah, ready,” he said sheepishly. Walking over to the kitchen to set them down, he chimed in with, “Look, maybe none of this is my business, but as someone who got a front-row seat to the whole hell that my sister’s life has been, I have to say that this girl here—” he said, gesturing to Sterling, “—deserves better than that, than to be treated like a royal pawn. Maybe you three don’t think of it that way, but I’m sure my parents didn’t think of the greater ramifications of a custody battle between them and Rarity and Silversteel.” He leaned forward on the counter and said, “Look, as a cop, I’ve seen my fair share of domestic incidents. And this one isn’t anywhere near what I’ve seen before, sure. But I’ve seen more than enough scared little kids in the course of my career, kids that were scared out of their wits because Mommy and Daddy gave so much of a care about their children in the abstract they didn’t realize what it was doing in the concrete.” He then looked at her. She looked back at him. “Do I have to?” “No, but trust me, as someone who’s been there: better to get it off your chest than to let it fester. That’s not good for anyone, kid.” “Okay. Please don’t hate me,” the teen alicorn pled. “Mom, Dad, I appreciate and love that you’re looking out for me. You too, Aunt Celestia. But…isn’t this my life? Shouldn’t I be old enough to make some decisions? I know I’m just a teenager, but…I’m an alicorn. I’m not a normal teenager by any stretch of the imagination. Dad, you taught me that I should be more than just my name and our family money. And though I haven’t spent much time with Mom, I get the feeling that I understand the importance of being a princess – especially with the heavy burden she’s had to bear. That goes for Aunt Celestia as well, and I expect Cadance, too. “I want you to think the best of me and be proud of me. But I don’t want to hide. I don’t want Dawn to be the only contact I have with the outside world – I haven’t spoken to my friend Athena in a couple of weeks now and she’s probably worried about me. And I bet that someone like Becky Carlisle is just itching to talk about me behind my back – not letting that happen. I want to be normal, but I can’t, not anymore. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be as normal as I would like to be. “So, before I’m grounded for the better half of infinity for saying this, please stop acting like Goddamn toddlers and let me be me? I don’t care if I’m Princess Luna II, Sterling Kirkland or the Alicorn of Languages, for fuck’s sake! But I just want to be me.” The three adults were silent for the longest time before a whimsical grin came over Celestia’s face. “Well, clearly I’m not drunk enough today,” she commented. “What is it with teenage alicorns being impudent?” “I guess because of that teenager part,” Luna told her, then looked at Sterling. “Well said, Starlight. We will look into what we can to make this easier for you. And I’m sorry you felt that we weren’t doing our best to do that.” “I’ll call Enrique’s office and see if we can arrange something informal for a chat rather than a state visit. Fortunately, he’s not one to stand on ceremony,” Robin admitted. “His functionaries might treat me a little different than your office since I’m not officially a prince yet.” “Good, glad to see this is all settled,” Sterling commented. “Anything else before we eat?” Robin and Luna looked at each other, giving each other loving smiles until they turned to their daughter. “Yes,” they said in unison. “You’re grounded.”