//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Acts of Love 
// by Krickis 
//------------------------------//

Of course the sun was shining. The Crystal Empire weather team wouldn’t schedule anything to happen on today of all days, after all.

The Princess Summit was here once again, and the mare wished she were anywhere else. She hated the Princess Summit, hated the way ponies flocked to it and celebrated all of Equestria’s favorite heroines.

But unfortunately, her partner had been adamant about going. Anywhere with a big crowd was a place they wanted to be, after all. At least if they wanted to eat.

And eating was exactly what she was about to be doing. It was midday and they were breaking for lunch, so the mare had gone to get them a couple of hayburgers. She normally didn’t mind running errands like this, but listening to everyone chatter about their favorite princesses was driving her up the wall.

Every princess had fans, even the controversial Sunset Shimmer. The mare tried to tune them out, but occasionally things  drifted into her perception.

“– think of Equestria’s newest princess?” she overheard someone asking.

The mare just rolled her eyes. She remembered a time when Celestia was the only princess. Now it seemed that every time she checked, there was a new princess popping up. 

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out today,” somepony answered. “What was her name? Morning something?”

“Morning Glisten.”

The mare stopped in her tracks and looked back at the two stallions that were talking. She walked over to them and smiled sheepishly. “Excuse me, did you say Morning Glisten?”

One of the stallions shrugged. “I think that was her name, but I’m not positive. Why?”

The mare shook her head. “Nothing, I just, er, hadn’t heard the news.”

It had to be the wrong name. It had to be. Morning Glisten…

She had to be sure. Thankfully, there were only a hundred different ponies hawking the day’s newspaper, so it was easy enough to find one. She only had a few bits on her, and they were supposed to be for food. Still, she would go hungry to make sure they’d had the wrong name…

She bought the paper, and looked at the cover, which only showed the four adult alicorn princesses. The mare hated looking at them, but she’d gladly take that over the alternative. The story continued inside, so she tore open the paper and flipped to the right page.

There were pictures of all the secondary princesses. Fluttershy, Sunset, and Flurry Heart were expected, but like she had heard, there was a fourth now.

It had been six, almost seven years, and still the mare recognized her. Recognized her daughter. She’d never forget that little pink filly that had cried so much when her mother had been forced to give her up for a better life.

But not for this. She was meant to have a normal life with other ponies like her, not be adopted into Equestrian royalty!

“There you are,” her partner said. “You took so long that Trixie came looking for you.”

The mare turned to her, but she couldn’t speak. Instead she just levitated the paper over to her.

Trixie skimmed the article, then turned to look at her with her mouth hanging open. “Morning Glisten? But isn’t that your…?”

The mare nodded, then looked up at the castle. That was her daughter, and she had made the ultimate sacrifice to give her a better life. And now this…

No. This was unacceptable, this could not be another thing that Twilight Sparkle took from her. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do yet, but as the mare looked up at the castle, she knew she would do something. Twilight Sparkle… she had not seen the last of Starlight Glimmer.