In the Castle princess Celestia was meeting with some of the ponies of the city in the throne room when her ears twitched rapidly as if she heard something nopony else could. She smiled politely to the ponies before her, she briefly excused herself and stepped into the hall. She heard the small bell sounds that meant Comet was using her magic. Ever since the accident she could hear the cue everytime that family used magic outside of the barrier. With a small glance around to make sure she was alone her horn glowed. In front of her formed a circle of magic that showed the scene in the studio of Rarity’s boutique. She frowned softly at what she saw.
She had not wanted Twilight to know of this. She wished nopony else to know of any this. She was the princess of the sun, she was who ponies looked up to. This whole thing was a huge red mark on her record that could sow distrust among all the ponies in her kingdom. As much as she valued her former student she would not take chances. She dispelled the magic and called for a guard.
Back in the studio Comet looked at the ponies before her in confusion. They were talking among themselves about things they could do with her. Comet started to feel uncomfortable and she looked over the dresses around her to distract herself. She felt a nudge so soft that it made her question for a second if she had been nudged at all. When she looked Fluttershy stood there with her hoof extended towards her like she was going to nudge her again. The pegasus quickly dropped her hoof when she noticed that Comet had looked to her.
“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked in a soft voice that reminded Comet of her mother. The studio was not very big and this question seemed to catch the attention of another pony. Starlight Glimmer trotted over to Comet.
“I know how you feel. This group can be a little much at first,” Starlight said with a small sympathetic smile. “They all mean well though and will respect if you don’t want to do something.” Comet looked to Twilight and glared softly at her wings. She walked over to the alicorn. Twilight noticed her approach and turned to give Comet her attention.
“Are you the one who took their place?” Comet asked bluntly. Twilight was obviously confused and Comet sighed. “Did Celestia make you an alicorn to save her sister? Are you the one that cured Luna?”
“My friends and I helped Luna with the elements. I didn’t become an alicorn until well after that though.” Twilight responded. Comet was obviously upset by this. Her parents were the product of Celestia’s failure and she didn’t even end up succeeding?! She didn’t even use the spell to save her sister. Without a word Comet left the studio. She was quickly followed by everypony else but none of them got far. In the boutique stood one of Celestia’s guards. Comet stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the white pegasus guard. Twilight walked around her to greet the guard however. He smiled at the princess of friendship and gave a salute.
“Celestia requests all of you to come and see her at the castle right away.” He stated in a matter of fact manner. Twilight went to respond but was cut off by Comet.
“No.” Everypony looked to Comet at her clear denial. “I already escaped that castle once before. I refuse to let miss perfect pretty princess force me to go home or worse yet make me stay in that gaudy castle of hers.” The ponies around Comet were shocked at what she had said. Nopony had ever heard such disrespect for a princess before. Comet scoffed softly. “You all act like nopony can dislike a princess. She hasn’t changed since the first day I met her. She is so concerned with being perfect to everypony even to somepony who knows that isn’t true. It’s sickening sometimes, she barely feels the need to grace my family with her presence as it is. I have seen her a total of five times before I left. Every hundred years just to be sure we know she is still watching us.” Every single pony in the room gasped out loud. Starlight looked to Comet.
“Comet are you saying you are over 500 years old?” Starlight asked with wonder. Comet looked at her with a small shrug.
“560 to be exact.” Comet said to another barrage of gasps. “Stop doing that. Is it really so surprising? I’m an alicorn. It comes with the territory.” Comet walked around the guard towards the door the the shop. “I am done being in a cage.” As Comet went to walk out though the guard spoke up.
“Shall I inform the princess that you refused?” Comet froze in place which everypony noticed. She considered it for almost a minute before giving a hard sigh.
“She knows I can’t do that. It’s against the rules she set. Ones she makes really hard to follow.” Comet shook her head sadly and returned to the group. “Fine. I’ll go.” The other ponies nodded their agreement but before anypony could speak Comet’s wings glowed brightly. The next second they all stood in the throne room with a surprised looking Celestia and Luna before them. Luna glared at the new arrivals, centered squarely on Comet.
“What recklessness you show! Anypony could have seen such a display. Do you not think about your actions?” Luna huffed in angry at the clearly uncaring alicorn. Celestia stepped up to silence her sister.
“Enough sister. She is still young with much to learn and please mind your temper.” Celestia stated in a way that would allow no argument. Luna looked embarrassed at the mention of her temper. With a stiff nod she stepped back to give her older sister the floor. Celestia walked down from the throne to stand directly in front of Comet. Towering over the alicorn she frowned. “Comet Flower.” As she spoke her name Comet felt the magic shift through her body. Her eyes widened in shock and in an instant she was encased in a bubble of her own magic. Comet stumbled slightly at the big power drain forced upon her. The other ponies in the room were very confused. Comet glared up at the pure white alicorn. Comet knew she could command her magic by speaking her name but she never thought she would use it. Twilight stepped up next to her former teacher to try and defend her new friend. Celestia did not acknowledge her for several seconds though. When she did look to Twilight though her face had returned to her neutral smile.
“I don’t understand all of this princess,” Twilight said with confusion. The older alicorn nodded sagely.
“Perhaps we should start from the very beginning and go over it all. After all I know how you love a good tale.” Celestia smiled down to her former student and her horn glowed. A magic panel appeared before them all showing Celestia and the moon bearing Luna’s image. Comet sat down with a tired sigh, this would take a while. She had heard all this before anyway. The question was how these new ‘friends’ would react.
Comet could only sit and watch. Somehow a small part of her hoped that it didn’t change anything though.