//------------------------------//
// Chapter X: On The Train 
// Story: A Love Beyond Worlds 
// by Viatorem 
//------------------------------//

“Can I sit next to you Arceus?” Celestia asked, as she received the train tickets form the ticket-pony, who was making sure that every creature in the train had their tickets.

“Of course,” Arceus answered while moving himself towards his right, closer to the train’s window, making enough room for Celestia to sit.

“Thank you,” Celestia said as she sat down next to the legendary pokemon, “I hope you don’t mind my presence, it’s just that I tend to talk a lot while travelling, and well, Luna is busy right now,” Celestia added while looking at her sister, who was sitting on the other side of the train, catching up with Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis.

“It’s not a problem at all Celestia!” Arceus answered with a jubilee tone, “I have always liked to talk with other creatures, especially those who are lovely to be around with”.

“Thank you,” Celestia answered to Arceus complement, while keeping her attention on her sister and her two talking partners in an  attempt to hide her lightly coloured cheeks, “why do I blush every time he gives me a compliment?” she thought to herself.

Celestia’s thoughts were interrupted by the whistle of the train, “NEXT STOP, PONYVILLE!” the ticket pony scream from the next train car, after that, the train made a jerking movement back and forward, signalling that the train brakes were now lost, Celestia, due to her experience travelling by train, moved with the whole train car, keeping her balance, the same can’t be said for Arceus, who almost fell to his face if it wasn’t for Celestia, who stopped his fall by using her right leg.

“Careful there,” Celestia said as Arceus regained his balance on his seat, at the same time, the train began to slowly move forward.

“Thank you, Celestia,” Arceus said to the princess while looking at her, before clearing his throat, despite Arceus's dark grey face, Celestia could clearly see that his cheeks had a light red colour just like hers.

“Well, at least we are even now”, Celestia thought to herself, as Arceus turned to the window, only to see darkness as the train was passing through a tunnel, “Never been on a train?” She asked in a non-serious tone, as she already knew the answered to her question, after all, Arceus had told her the day prior that he had no problem travelling by train, she just wanted his attention back so they could start to talk with each other.

“More like lack of practice, the last time I was in a train was a few thousand years ago,” Arceus answered with a somewhat similar tone to Celestia’s own non-serious tone, however, his tone also made it somewhat clear that he wasn’t very keen on talking about how he almost planted his face on the cabin’s floor.

Celestia seemed to take notice of that, and began to think of something else to talk about, she didn’t think for a long time, as a simple glance to the other side of the train, where Luna was still talking with the soon to be parents, give her an idea.

“You know, in retrospect, it makes sense that those two ended up together,” Celestia said, without taking her eyes off Fleur and Fancy.

“Really?” Arceus asked while turning to see Celestia, “because it seems that the news of their engagement also took you by surprise”.

“Of course it surprised me,” Celestia responded, “but what I’m trying to say is that thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense that those two ended falling in love, I mean, they have been living together for almost 6 years, and during that time they built a very close friendship aside from their relationship as boss and employee, so, liked I said, it makes some sense that they ended as a couple.”

“I guess it makes sense,” Arceus answered, before adding, “although there are two things I don’t understand.”

“Well, whatever it is, I will recommend you to wait and ask Fleur and Fancy directly,” Celestia answered.

“No, you misunderstand me, Celestia, it’s nothing personal, it’s simply two little things that you seem to know by what you have told me,” Arceus explained. 

“Well, I will try to answer whatever doubt you have, however, as I said before, it will be best if you go and ask them directly.”

“Thank you, and I will keep that in mind,” Arceus answered, before saying, “anyway, my first question is: what do you mean with, they have been living together for almost 6 years? I thought they said that they have only started dating over a year ago.”

“Oh, that! Well, that’s quite simple, you see, Fancy offers his house employees, like the cook or the housekeeper, the opportunity to move with him at his mansion basically rent-free, Fleur decided to move with him after she accepted the offer to work as his bodyguard.” Celestia answered, before turning her attention to the cabin door that had begun to open, allowing a mare pushing a little cart packed with sweets to enter, as usual, upon seen Arceus, the mare became a little hesitant to enter, Celestia took notice of that, and made a small gesture to indicate to the mare that she wanted to buy something, she also gave the mare a small assuring smile, the mare began to slowly move the cart and after a few seconds the mare stopped next to Celestia, who began to look at the sweets on the cart with great interest, however, she was distracted from her choices when Arceus began to talk.

“Celestia, I wish to remind you that we brought some food with us,” Arceus explain, before levitating a small basket, with 5 sandwiches, one for each member of the original group of 2 alicorns, one unicorn, one bat-pony and one pokemon that have left the castle.

“True, but a piece of cake is the best companion for any kind of food,” Celestia answered while eyeing a small circular chocolate cake in a crystal container that was already cut in 8 uniform portions.

“Also, you said you didn’t want to eat that much, as it will be rude to show up to Twilight’s castle and not eat most of what she was offering us,” Arceus asked with a playful tone.

“Since when you decided to become my mom Arceus?” Celestia asked as she turned to see the pokémon.

“I’m just saying what Luna is thinking right now,” Arceus answered while looking at the sweet cart.

“Wait, what?” Is was only then when Celestia realised that Arceus was shining a little, indicating that he was using one of his powers, she then turned to see her little sister, who had stopped talking with the two unicorns and was now looking at her with very judge-full eyes.

Celestia simply smiled to Luna, before turning to see the mare in charge of the sweet cart, “I will take one slice of cake and some hot chocolate,” while the mare separated a slice of cake and began to fill up a blue mug with chocolate from a kettle on a lower level of the cart, Celestia turned to see Arceus. “Do you want anything?”

“Oh yes!” Arceus answered, before pointing towards a small bowl full with mini-chocolate-chip-cookies, “I will take those cookies and another mug of hot chocolate, please.”

“Yes sir, right away,” the mare responded before following Arceus's instructions, in a few seconds she delivered the two orders.

“Thank you,” Celestia answered as she took both orders from the mare and passed Arceus his order.

“Thank you, Celestia,” Arceus said as he used his own powers to levitate the bowl and mug in front of himself, “and thank you too, misses,” he added as he turned to see the mare.

“It wasn’t a problem sir,” the mare responded before turning to see Celestia, “anything else, princess?”

Celestia, who was taking a sip off her mug, turned to her left and using her magic took Luna’s sandwich out of the basket, and put it on a plate in the cart, “yes, can you pleased give this to Luna, as well as this muffin,” Celestia levitated a vanilla muffin on the same plate and put it next to the sandwich, “and a mug of hot chocolate”.

“Understood princess,” the mare said as she prepared the mug for Luna, “are you sure that you don’t need anything else, princess?”

“No, that will be it,” Celestia answered before taking another sip from her hot chocolate, while the mare simply made a small reverence with her head before she started to push the cart towards Luna.

“So, just saying what Luna is thinking’ eh?” Celestia said as she turned to see Arceus, “care to explain”.

“Oh, that, I just used one of my powers, it’s very simple really,” Arceus answered with a nonchalant tone, although he perfectly knew what she was actually asking.

“So, for what I’m understanding one of your powers allows you to read the thoughts of other creatures, is that right?” Celestia asked while getting a little closer to Arceus face, looking at him with similar eyes, to Luna’s accusatory eyes, although a lot more accusatory.

However, despite her best efforts, Arceus keep his nonchalant tone, although he showed a little discomfort., it that was mostly due to Celestia getting so close to him, “you are correct Celestia, however, this is a power that I rarely use, most of the time there isn’t a lot of interesting thoughts in the mind of most creatures, so contrary to what you believe, with a few special cases, it isn’t a very useful power.”

“Really?” Celestia asked with a little more relaxed tone.

“Yes, you'd be surprised of how many times I have used this move trying to get some kind of valuable information, only to listen to a very bad hum of the chorus of a song, or pure trivial things like I need to do this, or buy that, I forgot to do that, I wonder where she or he is, and my personal favourite, I wonder what that tastes like,” Arceus added, this time with a more joking tone, to infatuate what he was saying.

“In that case then, why did you read my sister's mind?” Celestia asked, her tone was reliably relaxed and showing a certain curiosity on the whole topic.

“You saw the face that Luna made, right?” Arceus said before taking a sip from his mug of chocolate, allowing Celestia to answer to his question with a quick nod. “Well, I saw that face too and I wanted to know what was going through her mind, well besides: ‘I'm going to end you if you dare to take anything from that cart’”.

Celestia held back a chuckle with Arceus's last comment, it was obvious to her that Arceus was trying to escape the little lecture she wanted to give him about violating someone’s privacy by using one of his powers, and she had to admit, he was doing a good job, however, just like him, she had her own experience in circumventing nonsenses to get what she wanted. 

“Well, I must admit your powers are quite impressive, however, I would have been perfectly capable to know what was Luna thinking without any kind of powers,” Celestia said with a playful tone, as she prepared to lay her trap.

“Oh really?” Arceus asked with interest.

“Mmm-hmm," was all Celestia said, she knew short answers were a good way many creatures act in a non-meditated way.

“Does that include the diet?” Arceus asked with a teasing tone.

“Ha! Gotcha!” Celestia thought to herself, her little trick had worked, she had Arceus where she wanted, “especially the diet, you have no idea how many times Luna has been insisting that I need to lose some weight,” Celestia answered with a small smile, caused both by the whole nonsense of the diet and her little trap working.

“Well, in that case, you probably know that I completely disagree with her and that I think that you look perfect,” Arceus said with a cheapish tone while turning to see Celestia, he followed her previous example and got uncomfortably close to her.

“D-do y-you really… i-I m-mean… t-thank you,” Celestia said as her cheeks began to win a red colour, she turned her head to her left, to avoid looking at Arceus; it seems she had underestimated Arceus's own abilities when it came to avoiding nonsense to get what he wanted, but that’s what happens when a creature that is only a little over 1000 years old, that comes from a very innocent world tries to manipulate another creature that’s at least 1,000,000 older than her. “That’s not fair Arceus! You know that I always bush every time you give me a compliment, and thinking about it, why the hay do I blush every time he compliments me?!” Celestia thought to herself, she could not believe her trap had backfired.

Things only got worse for Celestia, when she heard Arceus's voice inside her head, who simply said, “Well you know what they say, Celestia, all is fair in love and war,” with a playful tone.

“Arceus?” Celestia thought to herself, although she knew that what she was thinking was no longer reserved just for her, as she turned back to see the alpha Pokémon.

“Yes Celestia?” Arceus said in and outside of her head, at the same time, Arceus made a small nod, before taking a sip of his mug with chocolate.

“Get out of my head!” Celestia thought, her tone had become quite childish.

“Of course,” Arceus answered, still inside of Celestia’s mind, “just promise to not lecture me about why using this power of mine is bad, because like I explained to you before, not only do I rarely use it, I also don’t like to invade the mind of others, which by the way, I apologise for entering your mind”.

Celestia couldn’t believe what was happening, “Arceus! This is exactly why I wanted to lecture you!” She REALLY wanted to shout back at him, but she also didn’t want to make a scene.

“Oh Celestia, you can be so cute some times,” Arceus said while eating a few cookies, while Celestia’s blush got a little bit redder, “Don’t act like you didn’t try to put up a trap to lecture me.”

Arceus had done it now, in a few moments he managed to make Celestia feel both angry, and ashamed of all things, true she tried to manipulate him, but manipulating anyone wasn’t a thing Celestia has ever been proud of, so when he confronted her on that, she began to feel terrible, the mix of emotions made it worse, she wanted to both apologise and lash at Arceus. “At least I didn’t give you a false compliment,” was the only thing Celestia was able to think, her tone was a mix of both shame, anger and a little bit of sadness.

Now Arceus might have been trying to avoid a lecture, but he didn’t want to make Celestia upset with him, “that complement was not a lie, I honestly think you look, w-well, e-excellent”.

Celestia, who seemed to have forgotten that Arceus was reading her mind, turned to see the alpha Pokémon, who was taking a rather long sip from his mug, she wanted to say something, anything, however, before she was able to say anything, she realised that Arceus was blushing as well, this gave her an idea, an evil idea that will allow her to get things even between the two, and judging by how Arceus had become a little bit tenser, something he didn’t like, “of course, you will think I look perfect, after all, you stared at my rear in my room yesterday, you little pervert!”

Saying that might have made Celestia’s face even redder (somehow), but it was worth it for her, as she now was even with Arceus, who, just like her, had very red cheeks, and had lower his head, or at least that’s what she thought, because suddenly Arceus face turn into one of confusion before smiling a little, he then turned to see Celestia, “D-don’t act like you didn’t l-like it, Celestia! I-I k-know you did, I’m still reading your mind.” His tone lacked most of his usual confidence, it was obvious that he was both ashamed and a little flustered as well.

As for Celestia, she wanted to disappear, to be swallowed by the floor, she had never felt this embarrassed in her entire life, and her cheeks, they were so red she was starting to feel worried that she might start bleeding from her nose.

While the two were at it, both were too distracted to notice the unicorn in armour that was walking towards them. “Princess, are you all right?” A very concerned Golden Spear asked, getting the attention of both Celestia and Arceus.

“What? Oh yes, I’m all right Golden,” Celestia answered as she turned to see the guard.

“Are you sure princess? You look very red,” the guard answered, he then tried to move one of his hooves to put it on Celestia’s forehead, however, he stopped and simply asked, “yo you have any kind of fever or something similar?”

“F-fever? N-no I’m alright is just that- well…” Celestia answered with haste, not thinking of a good excuse to explain her red face, “it's just the heat,” Celestia finally added, not with a lot of confidence.

“The heat?” Golden Spear asked while tilting his head a little to the left.

“Y-yes the heat!” Celestia answer, this time Celestia was more confident on what she was saying, a little bit too confident, as her tone was more similar to Twilight’s own tone when she was freaking out, “I mean, even when is winter, remember that there are fewer snow clouds that previous years, so, the temperature is hotter of what I’m used to for this season.” Celestia added, trying to make her lie a little bit more convincing.

“The same goes for me,” Arceus added, also trying to justify his red face before the guard asked anything, his tone showed a lot of haste, and none of the calm that was so characteristic of him. 

“It’s probably due to the hot chocolate, in fact, let me open a window so we can cool down a bit,” Arceus quickly added before turning around and opening the train window he was sitting next to, letting a quite annoying breeze of cold air enter the cabin.

Golden Spear simply stared at the princess and alpha Pokémon, before shrugging, “Well, if it’s the heat, then I think I will bring you a glass of water for you two, is that alright?” Golden asked.

“Yes please, some water will be nice,” Celestia answered quickly, while trying to keep her body as still as possible, as she was shivering due to the cold breeze of air that was entering the cabin through the window Arceus had open.

Golden nodded before making a salute and quickly walking down towards the door and leaving the cabin.

Celestia and Arceus simply stay there in silence, as neither of them wanted to go back to their discussion, what else could they say that didn’t embarrass them more? 

However after seen Celestia shiver again, as well as shivering himself, Arceus decided to change his type to fire, to warm the two of them, just like he did yesterday, but, Celestia had a similar idea; as just as Arceus change his type to fire, and his body began to naturally emit heat, Celestia opened her right wing and moved Arceus a little closer to her, wanting to share her heat with him after she saw him shiver.

As Celestia moved Arceus closer to her, she took notice of Arceus's change in his type, feeling the heat emitted by his body through her wing; doubting that Arceus was willing to get closer to her, she stopped moving over him with her wing, however, Arceus took the initiative and moved even closer to her, under normal circumstances, Celestia might have protested, but the heat emitted by Arceus body and the cold air entering through the window, made her prefer to stay quiet.

Celestia enjoyed the heat emitted by Arceus body, while he simply enjoyed being close to her and the ‘hug’ she was giving him with her wing, something that actually surprised Arceus, it would seem that he underestimated how much he actually needed some kind of physical contact, the two remained like that, in silence for a few minutes, until both finally decided to speak up.

“I’m sorry Arceus- I’m sorry Celestia-“ The two said at the same time, as they turned to see each other, just to stop and hold back a chuckle.

“Are we really going to do this again?” Celestia asked, remembering their scene during the walk to the train station.

Arceus, who also remember said scene, simply moved his head from one side to another, before making a gesture with one of his frontal legs, indicating to Celestia that she could talk first.

“Well, I wanted to apologise for well… trying to manipulate you, doing that is something that I’m not really proud of, and I promise that I will never do it again “. Celestia said, lowering her head a little.

“And I’m sorry for entering your mind,” Arceus answered. “and I swear that I will never use my powers in you, or your sister again”.

“Do you swear it for your honour as a pokemon, and… sorry how did your oath went?” Celestia asked, with a little of a joking tone.

“Yes, for my honour as the alpha pokemon, leader of all the legendries and father of my sons and daughters, I will never use my powers with you your sister unless it’s an emergency,” Arceus said with a little smile, he then added, “also, I will never talk about any of the humiliating things we said to each other,” with a similar tone to Celestia’s non-serious tone. 

“Arceus you don’t need to swear for me to know that you are not going to talk about that,” Celestia answered, “although is difficult to trust you in the first place when you don’t seem to take your oath seriously”.

“What?” Arceus asked in confusion.

“You make a very silly smile every time you do that oath,” Celestia explained.

“Oh, well, I’m sorry, is just that, I haven’t made, or even heard the version of the oath that calls me as a witness, be used in a few millennia, it brought back memories of a simpler time.” Arceus explained, before adding, “I was kind of hoping that it would come back, I've never been a big fan of excessive formalities, but there’s a certain charm to them, although I can’t complain that much, my name is still used as an expression”.

“Oh, well that makes sense,” Celestia answered, before adding with a cheapish smile, “I have an idea for a joke that you might want to use.”

“Oh really?” Arceus asked.

“Yes!” Celestia exclaim with excitement, “you see, my name is also used as an expression here in Equestria, but most ponies don’t feel comfortable using it in front of me, but when they used it, I like to pretend that I didn’t know it existed, so I ask them to explain the expression for me, they get incredibly awkward while they try to explain the uses of the expression, it usually ends in a good laugh, and its an incredible way to put overpompous nobles in their place, or simply show my little ponies that I’m just like them”.

“You know”, Arceus said as he scratched his chin, “that’s a good joke, I might use it when I get back to my world, there’s this little lovable town next to the ocean, called ‘Treasure Town’ that I been wanting to visit for some time.

“Do you think you can take me there?” Celestia asked. “For what few things you have said about your world, it sounds like a lovely place, plus visiting a nice and warm beach during the winter sounds very inviting, and between you and me, any excuse to get out of the castle is good for me and Luna”.

Arceus smile, “Of course I will, I think Fau-“ Arceus cut himself, one’s again, he almost made the same mistake in regards of Faust and her real identity as the creator of this world; luckily for him, it seems that Celestia didn’t hear him, as Golden Spear had finally returned with the two glasses of water.

“Here it is your majesty and lord, a glass of water, sorry for taking so long,” Golden explained, as he used his magic to levitate the glasses of water in front of Celestia and Arceus.

“Thank you Golden,” Celestia said while taking the glass in front of her with magic, Arceus did exactly the same, although he used telekinesis as he lacked magic.

“You are welcome,” Golden answered, he began to turn around before stopping, “princess, may I ask you something?”.

Celestia look at the guard estranged, “yes, of course, Golden, what is it?” 

“Why is lord Arceus under your wing?” Golden asked.

Upon hearing that, Celestia panic a little, but before she was able to come up with an explanation other than we were freezing, Arceus began to talk, “Oh, that, you see, Celestia told me that pegasus feathers are a very cosy material, and she decided to show me, and I can say that she was right,” Arceus then began to rub himself a little against Celestia’s wing before adding, “these are very comfy”.

Golden simply shrug, “very well then, if you need anything else, I’m at the door”.

Celestia and Arceus simply nodded before putting the glass of water aside, “so, do you think you can take me and Luna to your world?” Celestia asked.

“Of course!” Arceus answered with enthusiasm, this time not making the mistake of mentioning Faust, “although keep in mind that you two will attract a lot of attention”.

“Just like you do?” Celestia asked with a somewhat sassy tone.

“Touche,” was the only thing Arceus said, before going silent for a few seconds, “although now that I think about it, I will also attract attention as well, I’m kind of important in my world too, so it will be like if we interchange roles”.

“So, Luna and I will be the curiosities, and you the figure of authority that already attracts attention?” Celestia asked, before taking a sip from her chocolate mug.

“That’s basically it”, Arceus answered before eating a cookie.

“Well, getting some unwanted attention for a vacation in a tropical paradise sounds like a nice exchange for meed, even though we will only be able to stay there one day”. Celestia said, before eating a tablespoon of her piece of cake.

“Why is that?” Arceus asked.

“Well, because Luna and I have responsibilities, remember that our magic is necessary to raise the sun and moon”, Celestia explained, “I mean, it's not like Luna and I can create some kind of magical artefact that allows any pony to lower and raise the moon, making our talents, you know, the thing that we do better than no one else, and where we got our names, pointless”, she then added, holding back a chuckle, as the simply ridiculous idea amused her.

“Or you could simply put an alarm early and rise the sun, and go back to sleep, and do something similar for the moon, instead of that oddly specific thing”, Arceus answered.

“Yes, I don’t know why I said that” Celestia answer thoughtfully.

“Indeed, it was almost like you were voicing the complains of a fan, about a plot convenience that made his two favourite characters pointless, just so the writers could end the series the way they wanted, in a somewhat convincing way, instead of respecting all the new characters and things they set up for the last 2 years and continuing the story in some kind of logical way, also completely changing the status quo the series had since its conception, something that is especially annoying when they have already make a situation similar before, and resulted in nothing but some minor changes to the dynamic of one character, that were rarely present trough the series run, resulting in a situation where everything they started to build for the finale felt force and fake;  making you wonder if the all the events of the show after certain point were only a dream of one of the characters, because everything is as disconnected and that makes as little sense as a dream.

Celestia look at Arceus with an expression of confusion in her face, she was about to say something when Luna, who was standing next to them said, “Hey! Dreams might be confusing at times; however, they have their own architecture and structures!” Luna then used her magic, and slammed shut the window Arceus was sitting next to, startling both Arceus and Celestia, “Also, we art freezing here, so could thou please do not open any of these windows!” She added, before walking back to keep talking with Fancy and Fleur.

After that, Celestia turned back to see Arceus, and asked, “don’t you think that what you said was also oddly specific?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask that to Viatorem?” Arceus responded while looking at the ceiling.

“Who?” Celestia asked with a lot of confusion.

“No one”, was the only thing Arceus said, before eating another cookie.

“Alright then… so what we were talking about?” Celestia responded/asked, hoping to get back the conversation back on track.

“That you were only able to enjoy my world one day, something that, you are wrong about, by the way,” Arceus answered with a carefree tone.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Celestia asked.

“Celestia, remember that I can manipulate time, I can take you and your sister to my world, and you can stay there for days, months, years even millenniums, and I can take you back to Equestria, a second after you left”, Arceus answered, with a normal tone, like if he’s abilities were something really simple.

“Wait are you serious?” Celestia asked incredulously.

“Of course, I’m been serious, didn’t you and Luna see me manipulate time before?” Arceus ask as he turned to see Celestia.

Arceus couldn’t avoid making a small smile as he saw Celestia’s face alight with excitement, her eyes were wide as dishes and her smile was enormous, “Oh Arceus that’s wonderful!” Celestia exclaimed before hugging Arceus with her frontal legs and kissing him on his left cheek.

Celestia separated herself from Arceus, although she kept hugging him, not even acknowledging what she just did, and began to talk, “Luna and I can finally take a break that lasts more than just a few days, that’s just amazing, Luna will be so happy,  thank you so much and…” Celestia stopped talking, as she saw Arceus rubbing his left cheek, that now had gained a light red colouration, as he was blushing, with his left leg.

It was only then when she realised what she had done, her cheeks also began to win a pinkish-red colouration, “I’m terribly sorry Arceus… I got a little excited, I’m just-“ Celestia separated herself form Arceus, she began to take her wing off his back before Arceus gently press against her wing.

“I-it's OK Celestia”, Arceus said, interrupting her, “I understand, and please, keep your wing there, like I said before they are very comfy”.

Celestia did as Arceus told her, and rested her wing on his back, “Now”, Arceus said, making Celestia turned to see his face, he also got a little close to her, “can you please explain me why did you react in such a way”.

“Well, as much as I loved been the princess of my little ponies, its a very tiresome task, true since Luna's return things have been easier for me, but it still takes most of our time, we are lucky if we get at least a few free hours a day, and our only break is at the end of the year, and only because pretty much everything in Equestria slows down, and we are lucky if we get a little over a week to rest”, Celestia explain, slowly, as she wasn’t very fond of complaining.

“So that’s why Luna wasn’t very fond of me when we first meet?” Arceus ask.

“Yes, we were lucky enough to get two weeks off this year after torturing ourselves doing the paperwork for two months in just two weeks”, Celestia explained, before adding with a somewhat joking tone, “so I guess she didn’t want to lose all that effort babysitting you”.

“Babysit me!” Arceus said with exaggerated indignation, almost like he was trying to cheer up Celestia, “I’m sorry Celestia, but I’m an adult perfectly capable of taking care of myself!... Now give me your crown, I’m bored, and I want to play with it”.

Celestia simply chuckle by Arceus antics, “well, I think she has quickly warmed to you, at least I have, you are very lovely, especially when you change to fire type and become a walking fireplace”, after saying that, Celestia move a little closer to Arceus and closed her eyes while taking a sip of hot chocolate.

“A fireplace?” Arceus asked, “I was going form something more like early morning sunbeams”.

“I’m sorry Arceus, but the best way to describe the heat your body emits is that of a fireplace, and trust me, I know, after all, I been present in every sunrise for the last 1110 years”, Celestia explained.

“Well, maybe you can teach me later, how to emulate early morning light”, Arceus answered before eating a cookie.

“Yes, but later, now, I want to go back to your question”, Celestia said, before taking another tablespoon of chocolate cake.

“Oh, right that, I almost forgot, well, I wanted to know, why did you let Fleur take the job with Fancy Pants? She seems to be a very competent and dedicated guard”.

“And that’s exactly why I had to convince her to take that job”, Celestia answered sharply.

“What do you mean?” Arceus asked, completely surprised by what Celestia just said.

“Let me explain”, Celestia answered, “as you said, she was a very competent guard, but she was specially dedicated, to the point that it was almost bad for her, you have probably realised that in the castle there are very few guards, right?”

Arceus simply nodded, before making a gesture with one of his legs, indicating Celestia that she could continue.

“Well, that’s because most of them are in their rest for the season, however, some guards tent to volunteer to stay at the castle, well, Fleur volunteer to stay at the castle 3 years straight instead of taking the opportunity to see her parents, not only that but, I think I was her only friend during all that time, being a guard was starting to affect her social life”. Celestia explained, while looking across the train car, to were Fleur was sitting next to Fancy, talking to Luna.

“Anyway, so after her third stay at the castle during the hearth's warming season, I basically forced her to take an extra-long leave, and I was only able to convince her to take that leave, under the condition that she could come to the castle to guard me during tea hour, something that actually worked in my favour, as I was able to talk with her and know if she was making any kind of progress,” Celestia then took a sip from her glass of water, as her throat was starting to get a little dry.

“Now it was during that leave that she met Fancy Pants, and when I heard the news that he had offered her a job, I basically spend the next two months talking to her as a friend to convince her to take that offer after her 4 years of service were finished, as you can see, she listened to me, and now she’s about to get married and be a mother”. Celestia smiled while looking at Fleur, who was been kissed in the cheek by Fancy.

“Wow, Celestia!” Arceus exclaimed, “I knew you were a good leader, but I wasn’t expecting you to be this caring”.

“Thank you, Arceus, but it wasn’t that much, it's just that, I have learned that it’s necessary to respect and help a pony with their personal life if they need anything, after all, it’s the least one can do for those who put a lot of effort in their profession”, Celestia answered, with a humble tone. “I just wish my little ponies did the same for me,” Celestia added to herself in her mind.

“So that’s why you let those two doves act all lovey-dovey despite being on service?” Arceus asked while looking at the end of the train car, were Night Star was eating a fruit Golden Spear had brought for her.

“Yes, well, that, and Cadence will be incredibly mad at me if she discovers that I block any kind of romance, especially between a unicorn and a bat-pony, she really wants to know how their descendants will look like”, Celestia explained while she smiled.

“Who?” Arceus asked as he turned to see Celestia.

“Oh, right I forgot that I haven’t mentioned her to you, Cadence is my adoptive niece, she is the princess of love and co-ruler of the crystal empire with her husband and Twilight’s brother Shining Armour”, Celestia answered, “in fact, she, her husband and daughter are at Twilight’s castle for the season, I can present them to you when we get to Ponyville”.

“I can’t wait to meet them”, Arceus answered, before asking with a more mocking tone, “princess of love?”.

“Yes”, Celestia answered, “too cheesy?”

“Not at all”, Arceus answered, “I mean one of my daughters is named Diancie, and she’s basically a massive pink diamond with a head and arms and is embedded in a rock and wears a white dress, and she also floats around, trusts me, Celestia, my family is cheesier than yours”.

“It will seem that is indeed the case”, Celestia answered while looking at Arceus, “by the way Arceus, I been wanting to know more about your family”.

“If you want, I can talk about them, just keep in mind that my family is quite big, so I will need a lot of time to tell you about them”, Arceus answered.

“Well, this is a somewhat long train ride as well, so I think you have enough time”, Celestia said, before taking a sip of water.

“Then you better get comfortable because this is going to take some time”, Arceus answer, also taking a sip of water in preparation for the long conversation ahead.

Celestia simply moved a little closer to him, before resting her head on the seat, “done, feel free to start”, she said before eating another spoonful of cake.

Arceus simply smiled, “in that case, let me star with Mew, my oldest daughter”.