“Everything okay, little petal?” I asked the little filly currently fretting over her mane. Cadance’s eyes found mine in the mirror and I couldn’t help but giggle as she pouted cutely up at me. “Your mane looks fine if that's what you are worried about.”
“But isn’t it... too simple like this? Shouldn’t we put it up? How do I have to look?!” she asked, fidgeting nervously. “Do I need make-up? What about nail... no wait. Hoof polish? Is that a thing? What about clothes?! Do I have to wear a dress or something? Do I have to use perfume? How do I even have to behave?”
I laughed, shaking my head in amusement. “Just be yourself, Cadance,” I told her as she started to worry needlessly. “You’re still a little filly, dear. Nopony is going to think less of you for how you might behave, certainly not with us there. And you look beautiful just the way you are.”
Cadance blushed softly as she looked down into her lap with embarrassment. “Do you really think so?” she asked and I nodded with a soft smile. I didn't even need to say anything to calm her down as she put a gold-clad hoof on her chest before breathing in deeply and letting it back out slowly. Then she gave her shoes an unsure look. “Won’t I outgrow these shoes within months?”
“I thought you liked them?” I asked with a raised brow.
“I do! They make me look pretty,” she answered, scuffing her hoof on the golden, red-cushioned stool she sat on as her blush returned brighter than it was before. “But isn’t it expensive to refit them? They are made out of gold!”
I shrugged, not seeing the reason why she was so worried about some little shoes needing to be refitted every once in a while. “Gold isn’t exactly very expensive, Cadance. Was that different on Earth? I... don’t remember, it has been such a long time.”
“Oh...” Cadance mumbled. “That explains all the gold coins, then. I just thought Equestria was really rich...”
“While we are quite well off as a nation, gold has nothing to do with that wealth,” I giggled, holding a hoof to my muzzle. “Now come. I think you have delayed long enough. Everypony wants to see their new princess.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to be royalty,” she said, breathing in dreamily. “A princess! Eee!”
“Don’t get too excited just yet, little petal,” I told her, smiling mischievously. “Being a princess isn’t everything it is cracked up to be.”
She pouted back to me, giving me a tiny glare over the mirror. “Don’t ruin my fantasies, Mom.”
“As you wish, little princess,” I giggled, nudging the side of her head with my muzzle. “Love you, my little Rose.”
“Love you, too, Mom,” she smiled, nuzzling me back happily.
Cadance followed me to the adjacent room of the throne room where she would wait until it was time for her to come in and be crowned a Princess of Equestria. I almost didn’t want to leave her there and just hold her all day long in my forelegs, but as hard as it was to let go of her, I needed to be at the side of my wives so that we could officiate the ceremony together.
I never thought the day would come when I would be the one to crown another alicorn princess. And my own daughter, no less! This was... it was a little overwhelming, to be honest.
As she walked down that deep red carpet toward us, I could see the nervousness in her eyes. I was so very proud of her for not letting it show in her posture, though. We had rehearsed this moment so many times, it was probably the only reason why she fought through the mass of eyes staring at her with awe (and some in envy) without letting it affect her.
Luna, Liz, and I smiled serenely as Cadance came to a stop before us and the gathered crowd in the throne room waited with bated breath as we began with the main part of the ceremony after the music died down.
“Today, we are gathered here for a historic occasion,” I spoke loud and clear, and most importantly, very proudly as I looked over the ponies here to witness my daughter being crowned. I didn’t do it just for the sake of appearance, though. No, my eyes continued to scan the crowd for anypony that would dare to do something foolish. Thankfully, this time it was just my paranoia wanting to make sure nothing happened to ruin this day for my daughter and Equestria as a whole.
“She has accomplished something nopony has for more than a thousand years,” I continued on, my eyes lingering on a grey stallion with a fedora and a suit for a moment. It felt like I had seen this exact stallion somewhere already (and not any time recently, that is), but I couldn’t put my hoof on exactly when and where that was. “Through the kindness of her heart and the love and joy she brings to those around her, she was able to defeat a despicable witch using magicks most foul.
“I’m proud to present to you the first pony to ascend to alicornhood since Equestria has been founded,” I announced, throwing my wings wide open dramatically. “Princess Cadance!”
Luna presented Cadance with her crown-like tiara and Liz floated over the sword we had forged for her. Like ours, Cadance’s sword had a mana gem in the crossguard in the form of a pink heart. While the sword was comically huge for her now, she would eventually grow into it. The blade was a light silver and had a few ‘thorns’ in allusion to her past near the crossguard. The pommel of her sword had a little keychain attached to it with a depiction of a rosebud.
“Henceforth thy royal title be that of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the Alicorn of Love,” I said, kneeling before her. My sister and Liz followed my lead, and soon, everypony in the room was showing their respect for the newest princess. Cadance looked around flustered, utterly speechless that I was bowing to her and I couldn’t help the little grin that wormed itself onto my muzzle. I rose back up and motioned for her to turn around and face her new subjects. “Say something, little petal.”
Cadance squeaked fearfully, stuttering for a moment before she breathed in deeply to calm herself down. “I... uhm.. hi? I-I’m honored and... and I appreciate you coming here for this special day. I promise to always be fair and kind, to never abuse the power that has been vested in me by the Princesses, and to never be selfish with those that need generosity the most. I’ll uphold the ideals of Equestria even if it means I have to breathe my last breath. Uh... thank you!”
Well, that could have gone a lot worse... I’m so very proud you haven’t forgotten your speech entirely, my little Rose. May your reign last until the end of time. You will do great, I know it.
The gathered crowd cheered, stomping their hooves loudly and I smiled as the little blush on her muzzle exploded into a bright red. Cadance looked so adorable, it was the cutest thing ever. Nothing could top this moment, I thought with a warm feeling in my heart.
The nobility, of course, had to swear their fealty to their newest princess, even those brats of House Blueblood. I still can’t believe they somehow managed to trace back their lineage to my father’s brother and could thus prove their relation to my sisters and I. Mhh. I could do without them in court, seriously. I have never seen such arrogance since the days of Platinum.
Eventually, it was time for the meet and greet poorly disguised as a party that was (of course) mainly attended by the nobility, the rich, and the celebrities. Cadance tried multiple times to hide shyly behind my legs but wasn’t very successful with it. Either because there were too many ponies around us or because I shoved her out from underneath me with a gentle nudge. As much as I hated to do it, she would have to learn to live in the spotlight sooner rather than later.
Of course, the minefield that was the nobility wasn’t easily navigated and I helped Cadance wherever I could. I would never trust the nobility to not try to take advantage of my little filly, and as much as I knew Cadance was 'technically' an adult, she didn’t know how to pick up the subtle clues as to what they truly meant with their honeyed words (watered down as they were).
As much as I would have loved to lecture these idiots that tried to pull their pathetic schemes with me being present, they wouldn’t ever learn their lesson. It was a futile effort to beat the stupid out of these kinds of ponies and I have long since given up trying to do so. Thankfully, Cadance wasn’t trusting them as far as she could throw them, either.
It did help that they genuinely thought she was the age she appeared to be, but try as I might, even their foals were as horrible as they were. The new generation was already off to a great start, I see.
There was one favor I could do for my brave little Rose, though. The refreshment table was always a good way to change a conversation to a more manageable and relaxed level.
“Are all refreshments so... tiny?” Cadance whispered over to me and I giggled as she gave the hors d'oeuvres a skeptical look.
“They are,” I nodded, picking up a canapé with a smile, showing Cadance that they are meant to be eaten more or less in a single bite (two if they were on the larger, more decorative side). “They don’t interrupt conversations too much, so they are a great snack at parties.”
“My definition of a party isn’t this... boring,” Cadance muttered, on the verge of frowning. I nudged her and gave her a warning look and she put a tiny smile back on her face.
I sighed, feeling disgusted at myself for having to force her to go through with this. “To be honest, it isn’t mine, either. You sadly get used to it, little petal.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” she retorted. “You must have gone to so many parties like these already.”
“I did warn you that being a princess isn’t all sunshine and rainbows,” I giggled and Cadance’s smile looked a bit thinner with regret. I leaned my head down to her level so that I could whisper into her ear with a bit of humor in my voice. “Believe me, I’d rather deal with paperwork than entertain these ponies for a minute.”
That didn't seem to reassure her much, but she did seem to draw a bit of comfort from it. “How did Mom deal with this?” Cadance asked me shyly and I gave her a melancholic smile. “I can’t exactly see her finding this entertaining at all.”
“Oh, you would be surprised,” I snorted. “She excelled at drinking up all the attention.”
“I guess that’s true,” Cadance giggled. “She could never resist being the center of attention.”
“Yes...” I sighed sorrowfully, hiding my frown as I drank from the alcohol-free champagne I got. The drink wasn't by far my favorite, but it had its uses in situations like these. “It was ultimately her downfall, gaining the wrong kind of attention. If she hadn’t been so popular, I don’t think Platinum would have considered making Celestia her puppet. She was everything Platinum wanted and when she ran right into her hooves, she sprang her trap...”
Cadance and I found ourselves at a secluded spot on the balcony overlooking the majestic city that Canterlot has grown into in the past millennium. I could still remember the days when it was but a fraction of what it is now, a small (almost humble) city nestled against the mountain (if humble could ever be a thing with the nobility, that is). My daughter gave me a curious look and I smiled back, encouraging her to voice her thoughts out loud. “What did she look like? Mom, I mean?”
“Gorgeous,” I smiled. “Like a thousand sunrises couldn’t compare to her sheer beauty. The vibrancy of her mane, the sparkling magenta eyes, the brilliant smile...”
“Sounds like you’re describing yourself, Mom,” Cadance laughed, leaning against me as she looked up at me with that child-like wonder in her eyes. I dearly hoped it would never leave her eyes, it suited her quite well.
“Well, we are twins in this life,” I answered back with a wink. “It didn’t stop her from seducing me all over again, even though she wasn’t certain I was who I was.”
“For some reason, that doesn’t surprise me,” Cadance snickered and I shared in her amusement with a tiny laugh. “It must have been so confusing to you to feel that way for your own twin...”
“I only remember a few snippets of my struggles to come to grips with it nowadays, petal,” I said before thinking back to one particular memory that was still clear as day to me. “But I could never forget the moment we realized who we were to each other. Right before our estrus, too.”
“What’s estrus?” Cadance asked me with a confused tone and I blanked out for a moment. Oh, for everything holy about my sun, that was not a conversation I was going to have with my little filly anytime soon. She was too young to know, anyway. Must. Preserve. Her. Innocence!
“Something only grown-ups need to concern themselves with,” I told her with as straight a face as I could manage. “You do not need to worry your pretty little head about that just yet.”
“I’m almost thirty, Mom!” she whined and I gave her a glare.
“Exactly,” I said. “Still a foal, so stop asking.”
“You’re a meanie,” Cadance pouted, angrily crossing her forelegs in front of herself and I suppressed the urge to growl, keeping my emotions as positive as I could so I wouldn’t start transforming into Fallen Star. I had almost forgotten how... agitating it could be to deal with one’s own daughter and their childishness. Even if they 'claim' they were an adult. “I bet other mothers would be a lot more understanding of the significance of my age...”
“Other mothers aren’t alicorns and have a reborn daughter as their foster child,” I shot back, staring down at her disapprovingly. Her ears splayed back against the back of her head and she looked away from me, sniffling slightly. Judging by how sharp my vision had gotten, she had just seen exactly how cruel the golden, slit eyes of my other half could be when I felt slightly angry. I let out a sigh as I felt bad about how I had treated her, reprimanding myself harshly within my mind before extending a wing over her back. “I’m sorry, little petal. You didn’t deserve that. I... might be a bit rusty at being a parent.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered back dejectedly. “I understand that I’m not really 'your' foal anymore...”
“You are, my little Rose,” I insisted, snatching her up within my forelegs. I nuzzled her affectionately and she squirmed slightly in my embrace, a tiny smile worming itself back onto her muzzle. “Just because you didn’t come from my womb doesn’t mean you aren’t still my daughter, Cadance. That will never change, do you understand? It will absolutely never change. I promise to always love you like my own flesh and blood, even if we don’t share that anymore. Such a bond like ours transcends that.”
“You really mean it?” she asked and I squeezed her a bit tighter in reassurance. Oh, my little petal, I will always mean it.
“Of course,” I answered as I nuzzled the top of her head, mussing up her mane with a happy smile. “And that is also true for Luna and Liz, you know. They are as much a part of your family now as I am and I know for certain that Luna would love to hear you call her your mother. Liz might grumble a bit here and there, but she also would enjoy hearing you call her that. She is a bit silly about openly showing affection if you ask me.”
Cadance smiled back at me with a content sigh and simply snuggled herself against me, a cute yawn escaping her lips. “Love you, Mom...”
“Love you, too, little petal,” I whispered back to the lightly snoozing filly in my arms. “And I always will, I promise. It might sometimes seem like I don’t, but I will always love you no matter what. I might say some hurtful things without meaning to and I will regret them as soon as I utter them, but that won’t ever change how much I love you, you silly little filly...”
The sleepy filly in my embrace smiled a little brighter as I gave her my promise. I suppose it was high time to retire for the day, huh? I deposited her on my back, bringing her back into the castle. The party was about to wind down anyway, so I excused myself politely, stating that I had a very precious package to deliver to her bedroom, and began to ascend the stairs towards where her room and mine were located.
Smiling, I opened the heart-emblazoned doors to her room and tucked her gently into the bright pink bed. I felt like cringing a little bit at the decor, but if it made her happy, it made me happy. Who was I to complain about the blatant gender stereotypes if she was the one that wanted her chambers decorated so... sickeningly... pink. I was glad she didn’t know my natural hair color, that would only lead to... ahem, things. Whatever those things were, I had no idea, but they couldn’t be good, I’m sure.
Leaving the door slightly ajar, I told the guards to alert me to anypony that was not authorized getting within a hoof’s length of her room. By my sun... I might be becoming as paranoid with her as my mother was with me, I realized with slight unease. Well... I guess Mom did have a point about one thing in particular. I will definitely have to make sure that no colt dared defile my precious little Rose.
Nopony will take her innocence away from her if I have a say in the matter. The poor colt that inevitably catches her attention will have to deal with me first. That, I swear.
For the sake of my poor, innocent filly, I might even have to burn his dick off before he could get her pregnant with his filth...
Ahem, anyway! That's enough of that, Summer. It wouldn’t do to chase away every potential suitor. And besides, she is still a little foal. There is no cause for concern just yet. I don't need to make plans right now. Perhaps I would get lucky and she finds herself a nice mare, instead. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting pregnant with the hellspawn of some unworthy colt. A colt that would eventually grow old and die, leaving her alone to grieve her lost love.
I couldn’t allow that. Not to my little petal. A mare would have to do. I could probably get her to ascend to alicornhood so my sweet, little Rose won’t ever have to go through such heartache. Yes... a mare is the only option. Eh heh heh...
Then again... if my little filly does fall in love with a colt (and he survives my Trials of Worthiness™ with his dick intact)... perhaps there is a spell to change his sex permanently? Make them a mare so I could then turn them into an alicorn? Hmm. That might actually be worth looking into. I’m sure Liz would help me without asking any pesky questions...
“And what are you cackling about?” Liz asked and I jumped almost up to the ceiling in the darkness of our bedroom.
I let out a tiny growl, throwing open the curtains to let the last hour of sunlight in before the night was about to replace the day. “Must you always seclude yourself in the dark like that?”
She shrugged back at me, grinning slightly with that insufferable smugness I couldn’t help but lose myself in from time to time. “It’s not like we need the light to see, Sunflower.”
I blushed as she stretched out like a cat, giving me a smoldering look with her emerald eyes. Liz levitated a stack of papers away to the nightstand and patted the space next to her invitingly. With an eager grin, I jumped up on the bed and my wife took ahold of the wing I presented her with, taking it into her mouth so she could bite gently down on the joints with the smallest amount of pressure. I moaned happily and melted on the spot as she started to play with my wing.
Liz really knew how to work my wings to get me into a state of bliss, her strange fascination with feathered wings had not diminished at all over the past millennium. “Where’s Lulu?”
Liz shrugged. “No idea,” she said before she moved on to each individual feather with a happy and eager hum. “Definitely not at the ‘party’, you know how much Lulu and I hate those. My guess would be that she is going over tax reports or something.”
I sighed in contentment before giving the stack of papers a glance. “And what were you working on?” I asked, causing her to stop giving my wing the attention it craved for a moment.
“Adoption papers,” she answered and I gave her a stare, baffled. “What? You didn’t seriously think you could take in a foal just like that, did you? She is an orphan, Summer. There are rules and regulations for that. At least you didn’t steal a mother’s little filly. Sometimes you really are an idiot, you know that? Luna should tell you that more often, in my opinion.”
“You’re being mean,” I pouted, blushing in embarrassment. “Of course, I knew she needed to be adopted, who do you take me for?”
“An idiot, like I said,” she snarked and I swatted her muzzle with my wing. Sadly, I did not manage to wipe that insufferable smirk off her face. Stupid bitch.
“Seems I need to make the same ‘no cookie’ threat with you,” I muttered and she just giggled. “I’m glad you thought of it, though. You’re... 'awkward' with family matters at the best of times.”
“Summer, I have had hundreds of thousands of ‘children’ since we started living together,” she snorted. “If I would care for each and every one of them like you ponies do with your offspring, I would have been driven mad with the sheer loss of them dying of age. I lay my eggs, maybe feed one or two, and that's it. The little shits are way too eager to hiss and bite at you, I'm not gonna deal with that if I don't have to.”
“I guess that's true...” I sighed, still feeling saddened that she thought so... indifferently of the lives she brought into the world. I suppose after Ocellus, I couldn’t really fault her for thinking like that, though. “When do you need to lay next?”
“Not for another few weeks,” Liz whispered absentmindedly, plucking a loose feather and spitting it out onto the pile right next to her. “If you’re concerned I don’t have enough love in my reserves, don’t be.”
“I still can’t believe you just... fertilize them with the love you gather from Luna and me,” I said, feeling the strange warmth in my heart well up whenever the topic came up. Liz chuckled in that weird way she always did when talking about this before nibbling my wing joint affectionately, going right back to preening me. “So... what do you think of Cadance?”
“She is utterly hopeless,” Liz commented and I glared at her. The stupid bug merely giggled cheekily back at me. “Hopelessly optimistic and a romantic to boot. She certainly reminds me of you, Sunflower. Both of you have a bleeding heart, even if yours doesn’t show as often anymore after... you know, the whole ‘banishing your sister to the moon’ thing. I’m lucky you decided to grant me mercy for all I have done in my hungry craze.”
“You and your subjects weren’t really in a craze,” I argued and she rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” she said. “It’s not like I wiped out entire cities to feed my hive.”
“I’m sorry, Liz,” I sighed. “I know you don’t like to be reminded of that time and that you’d rather think of it as the madness of a starving bug monster...”
“Well, it’s true, so shut up,” Liz shot back and told me to turn around so she could get at my other wing. I rolled over onto my back and gave her a sad look. “Okay, maybe I was entirely aware of my decisions and a bit of a megalomaniacal bitch to boot, but can you deny that it wasn’t a bit mad of me to do what I did? I hurt innocent ponies because a few of them were total dickheads. There's nothing good about that. There were so many other different ways to go about it and I’m glad you found me when you did. I don't want to know what kind of monster I would have become had you not been there to change me.”
"Aww," I cooed, smiling. “I'm glad I found you, too. I love you, Liz,” I told her before giving her a big kiss to show her just how much I meant that statement. She laughed into my kiss, pushing her tongue into my mouth to wrestle with mine. My stupidly sexy wife had me subdued in no time and I felt my heart flutter and marehood drip with wetness.
“Wow, somepony is horny today, isn’t she?” Luna commented as she came in from the balcony and had the perfect view of my glistening, weeping marehood. “What brought this on?”
“Liz being totally sexy for thinking ahead about adopting Cadance formally,” I answered. “Where were you? We missed you.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Celestia came over for a visit,” she told me before hopping up onto the bed next to me. She pouted at seeing the wing on her side already fully preened and Liz stuck her tongue out at her with a self-satisfied grin. “Something about gaining a new niece. Sound familiar?”
“She isn’t adopting the Cadance of her world as her daughter?” I asked, confused. “Why?”
My sister sighed tiredly. “I would like to know that as much as you do, Sunny,” Luna shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t feel worthy of the title?”
I grumbled out a sigh. “Ugh. It seems like we need to have a serious word with her if that is the case,” I said, saddened. “She can’t just..."—I frowned in frustration as my tail swished around in agitation—" why must she be so stubborn? She constantly denies herself the happiness she truly deserves.”
“I don’t think we should pressure her into these things,” Liz commented, spitting out a feather as I frowned at her... her-ness. “She already feels guilty enough for ‘replacing’ her Luna with us, and as much as she tries to hide this from us, I can smell her emotions quite clearly. We just have to hope Luna manages to get her out of her funk when she returns.”
“I really would like to help her with that, but considering that Tia is going to come back at the same time...” Luna sighed. “‘Tis frustrating.”
“I’m glad we decided to embrace our darker sides, Lulu,” I whispered, brushing through her starry mane with a hoof. “I’d rather not think about what would have happened otherwise.”
“It’s quite clear 'what' would have happened,” Luna snorted derisively. “The same thing that happened to her Luna. Nightmare going on a rampage in a jealous fit.”
“And without you and Tia here, I would have never been tempted enough to give Liz a chance and I would be feeling just as guilty as Celestia,” I muttered, not feeling in the mood for sex as much anymore. And here I had been looking forward to some intimacy after dealing with the nobility all day long...
Chrysalis huffed in annoyance and stuck her tongue into my ear, sounding only slightly disgusted for doing it, and I shrieked in surprise. Luna invaded my other ear, making me shudder as the pleasant tingles of arousal picked up again while I moaned quietly in approval.
“Seriously, Sunflower, every single, damn time. We need to stop talking about these things in bed or I’m going to be pissed off at not getting any action,” Liz growled, throwing herself on top of me and shooting me a mock glare. “Don’t you dare stop soaking the bedsheets with your fluids until I’m through with you. I hate it when you get all depressed over things that haven't even happened.”
I smiled up at her, blushing warmly at her concern (perverted as it was). “I’m married to nymphomaniacs.”
“And you love it,” she shot back with a self-satisfied grin.
Nodding, I giggled as I looked deeply into her vivid green eyes. “Yes. I love it. Say... won’t you change back for me? As much as I like seeing you like this, I’d rather have the real you fuck me silly.”
She shrugged and her green flames burned away her alicorn disguise. “I consider that form my real form as well, you know? I don’t know how often I’ve told you that already, but you continue to be an idiot about it.”
“Shut up and make my pussy burn with pleasure, Liz,” I ordered her and she grinned back wickedly, buzzing her wings in eager anticipation. Luna, on the other hoof, was abandoning my ear and went for my horn, instead. Liz was not one to be outdone and started to grind her rear against mine with a vigorous fervor, the soft plates of her chitin almost completely gliding against me without resistance and her hindleg rubbed itself against my marehood in the most pleasant way possible.
A millennium had made her an expert in getting me to sing as soon as she started having her way with me and I didn’t care that I almost made the room vibrate from the volume of my voice. At least Cadance won’t be hearing anything of it, the silencing charms on the walls and doors were doing their best to not overload from what we subjected them to on a weekly basis.
Chrysalis chuckled each time I weakly bucked myself against her and we battled with our tongues between panting breaths, all the while smearing our fluids all over each other and the bedsheets. The holes in her hooves gave her a better grip on me and Liz definitely knew how to take advantage of that.
Where Luna was more of a slow, gently grinding type of pony, Liz was the total opposite. She couldn’t content herself with taking her time if her life depended on it. For her, it was the faster the better. Well, as long as we stuck to regular sex without getting kinky with all sorts of additional toys or transformations. Then Liz suddenly became the most gentle changeling that has ever lived while having sex with me.
Whatever it was, I had long since given up trying to figure out her... 'quirks'... in bed. Maybe it was just a changeling thing that went over my head or she simply didn’t want to hurt me in any way, I enjoyed both sides of her in bed. And, well... she's an empath. She would definitely pick up on emotional fluctuations even I might not be aware of I might have had.
But that's a thought for another time, perhaps. Right now, all I wanted was to be fucked silly. As much as I have grown my endurance over the last centuries, Chrysalis (when she really wanted to) could bring me to orgasm after orgasm within minutes without much trouble. Every time I thought I knew how to hold myself back for sure, she proved to me that she was a dirty cheater and brought me over the edge anyway. Damn her wings making her body vibrate so much, making me feel so... damn... good!
My vision went white for a few minutes as she and Luna giggled, licking my marehood clean of my leaking fluids while I couldn’t keep myself from cumming multiple times in a row. Not that I would want to, but by my friggin’ sun... it felt like I was losing a game against them each and every time. And they always were incredibly smug about it, too.
Haah. Damn this addiction to feeling good. I couldn't even be mad about it to them. Stupid bug waifu and sexy sister being so friggin' hot. I loved even that damn smugness of theirs.
I'm such a sub, aren't I?
Luna, while incredibly gentle in her methods of having 'regular' lesbian sex, had become the one among us that was incredibly difficult to get over the edge due to her almost inexhaustible endurance. Even when both Liz and I teamed up on her and had her marehood almost fucked raw from Liz shapeshifting into a stallion version of herself (something that Luna found sexy beyond measure, me not so much), she could keep herself from an orgasm for hours if she really wanted to make us work for it. Her orgasm, on the other hoof, had her passing out from pleasure nowadays, though.
Sometimes I felt jealous that she could just... explode... from all the pleasure that she was unable to keep herself conscious afterward. While I might devolve into a twitchy (and giggly) pile of orgasmic delight, I seldomly found myself passing out after a single round of sex.
Liz was perhaps the perfect middle-ground between Luna and myself. She could reasonably keep up with my sister for a while, but without me helping things along, we could keep at it for the whole night trying to get Lulu off on our own. My running theory was that Luna’s body temperature had something to do with it, but I wasn’t too sure about that.
As I felt myself get more aware of what was going on around me, I watched Liz and Lulu go at it with reckless abandon, shaking the whole bed back and forth with their movements. Liz had shapeshifted into a male copy of Nightmare Moon and was plowing into my sister with heavy thrusts that, if she were to do that to me, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with her. Heck, I'm sure she would've utterly broken me like that.
Luna had this weird fetish of having her Nightmare self, well... have her way with her. Liz found it extremely sexy and had no qualms about using her shapeshifting in that way to satisfy all of Lulu’s desires. And to be honest... the image was fucking hot. It was like that one time Tia had made out with herself, only... lewder. In a way, it was like watching twins have sex with each other without them actually being twins if that makes sense.
I could still feel the tingles from my orgasm running through me, so I contented myself with watching them, a fond warmth in my heart. It was almost cute, now that I thought about it. Them fucking their brains out after having reduced me into a puddle of bliss.
Luna’s moans and pants were muffled after I found what I searched for in the nightstand and I began to lick her horn like an overly long candy cane, making her go cross-eyed from the additional source of pleasure. There was only one weakness my sister had that could actually get her to cum far sooner than usual and that was by overwhelming all her senses at once while at the same time appeasing some of her fetishes.
That gag in her mouth? Tastes like vanilla taken to an extreme due to an enchantment. Hearing and touch, as well as sight, were pretty much already covered as it was. That left smell, but I suppose the overwhelming smell of sex was covering that front, too. So, the only thing I had to do now was to get her magic sense overwhelmed. Judging by the pleading look she gave me, she knew what I was trying to do by licking her horn.
She never stood a chance once her magic started to react to my ministrations. All of that combined, together with Liz playing mischievously with her wings while hammering her (or his) cock into Luna, made Lulu fall into unconsciousness from an overload of sensations.
Holy flying penguins, wow. This might be a new record. She was out cold before we even had to lower the suns... and... the moon... still needs to be raised, damnit. I should have thought that through more, I groused to myself. Pouting, I gave Liz a pleading look and he let out a suffering sigh for also having forgotten that we still had a job to do or the world would suffer for our little blunder.
“Fine,” Liz sighed with a grumble, flames burning away his ‘Nightmare Moon’-esque look, shifting back into her alicorn form, her mane shifting back and forth between an almost glowing pink and a gentle red color before it went slowly back to the usual green one of her natural form. “You owe me a month's worth of cookies, Sunflower...”
I smiled happily. “Thanks, Liz,” I said, a skip in my step as I followed her onto the balcony. Together, we reached out to the suns and guided them over the horizon (a task that I felt like I could do in my sleep by now... if only that was true).
I peeked over towards my wife and saw her concentrate with a grimace on her pretty muzzle. She looked way too cute like this, the slightly scrunched-up look of focus suiting her well. The moon slowly rose, and with it, the image of the alicorn head on it.
Oh, Tia... have a little bit more patience. We will find a solution, I promise.
Liz nudged me with a knowing (and pained) look in her eyes, empathy evident for my plight in her gaze and posture. “Come, Sunflower. Tomorrow is a new day and we still need to adopt Cadance into our family.”
I nodded, giving one last sorrowful sigh as I looked up at the moon and followed her back to our bed. Luna unconsciously snuggled herself to my side and Liz did the same for the other half. “Night, Liz...”
“Night,” she whispered back, placing a loving kiss on the tip of my muzzle.
That night in the dream realm, Luna and I had the... pleasure... of getting an unwanted visitor in the form of the mockery our sister had been transformed into due to the mind currently in control of her body.
“Platinum...” I sighed, unable to keep the sneer away.
The mare in front of us looked as sinister as ever and the mocking attempt to give us a ‘genuine’ smile looked entirely out of place on her muzzle. “Summer! What a nice surprise to see you here! How long has it been?”
“Not long enough,” Luna muttered next to me and I agreed, shooting Platinum a glare.
“I wasn’t talking to you, plebeian,” she spat. “Truly, nopony nowadays understands the value of being courteous to each other...”
“Like you have been with Tia?” Luna growled. “Taking her body and parading around in it? You worthless, unworthy bitch!”
“You say the most flattering things, dear,” Platinum said, making a swooning gesture back at Luna. “I’m sorry, but incest isn’t really my type of thing. To debase oneself to such degenerate things... you really must be desperate. That you lower yourselves to the standards of primitive ponies and their incestuous herds, I pity you. Truly."
“Shut your foul mouth,” my sister snarled. She was about to throw herself at Platinum in her rage, and as much as I wanted to do it too, it would be a waste of time with her. “You drag the name of Nightmare through the mud, you little brat. It’s bad enough that we had to erase Tia’s name from history for her protection. What do you want, Platinum?”
“My, my,” she giggled with glee. “'Erase her', you say? What... loving... sisters you are. Anyway, I have come for information and I will get it one way or another. I felt that pulse and I want to know what it was.”
I tried to keep the angry snort contained within me, but a puff of flames escaped my nostrils despite my best efforts. Don’t let her words get to you, Summer. You know it was for the best. All the horrible things our ponies said, I couldn’t let it continue on like that and Luna was of the same opinion as I was. Better have it this way than letting Tia come back to such... toxicity.
“You won’t get any information out of us, witch,” I glowered, the raging inferno of my emotions managing to partially transform me to Fallen Star, my fiery gaze burning into her cold and dead arrogant one. “All you shall learn from us is the certainty of your impending doom. Know that when your prison finally breaks and the shackles that hold you loosen, we will be there to strike you down.”
Platinum smiled like a shark, a mad gleam in her eyes. “Such confident words,” she said, laughing in a way that indicated she didn’t take them seriously at all. “While you sat on your fat little flanks, I have been honing my skills. Let’s just say the suns make a lovely vacation spot for you and your... miscreant of a sister.”
“Don’t think we have been idle, monster,” Luna growled. “You are but one alicorn, a thief at that, what do you hope to accomplish?”
“Take my rightful place, of course,” Platinum stated matter-of-factly. “And it matters not that I am alone, you won’t touch me. Your precious sister could get... hurt.”
I felt a stab of emotional pain unlike anything I had ever felt before going through me as she laughed triumphantly while Luna and I grimaced. Yes... she could get hurt, die even... but the alternative was seeing Equestria ruled by an imposter, a foul thief unworthy of the position. That would be a future even worse than having to release my sister of such a terrible fate by having to ultimately put her down. She wouldn’t want to be used as a puppet, that much I knew for certain.
If that was me in her position, I would expect nothing less of her. I couldn’t live with myself to be used in such a manner. While I haven’t given up on finding new bearers for the Elements of Harmony, I need to prepare myself for the possibility we won’t ever find them in time. Should that be the case, then we can’t let our feelings get in the way of what needed to be done.
Oh, Tia... I wish you hadn’t run away in fear all those centuries ago. If only we had searched for you with more fervor, with more zeal...
“Don’t believe yourself safe from us,” Luna answered in a deathly whisper, her icy eyes drilling into Platinum’s deep blue ones with unfathomable hatred. “Your downfall comes, witch. Should we need to sacrifice Tia for the safety of this world, we will do so.”
Platinum cackled back at us with that mad gleam in her eyes, grinning toothily with those... disgusting, monstrous teeth. “Your sister says hello, by the way. Such a shame she feels even more betrayed now. Oh, such lovely irony. You know, she blamed herself for betraying you, when it was you who betrayed her. This torment, this pain she is in... Mhh... it’s so very delicious~.”
Magic erupted around us as Luna flew into a rage and I wasn’t far behind her as Platinum’s laughter echoed around us while her body faded away from our dream. The attack never managed to reach that monster, sadly. I could have used a punching bag, for once.
“Now... to get back to tormenting that so-called ‘daughter’ of yours...” Platinum whispered with glee as her presence faded entirely and I gasped in fear. How did she even know of Cadance?! She couldn’t possibly know she is my daughter from another life!
Luna was quick to open the door to the dream realm for us, breaching the spell barrier that kept the rest of Equestria safe from Platinum. Our frantic search for Cadance’s dream was thankfully quick, and much more importantly, Platinum wasn’t there to torment my little petal. It was just a bluff. Oh, flying penguins, it was just a bluff, thank goodness. By my sun, I don’t know what I would have done had she actually been there causing nightmares for my daughter.
The shielding we put on the minds of our ponies must be getting weaker or Platinum was getting stronger the closer we got to the date of her return. We couldn’t let her torment our ponies again and we definitely couldn’t let her run free once she got released from the moon.
But for now... I can keep my daughter safe in her dreams and be the mother she deserves. The rest of the night was spent playing around with my little Rose in her dream, allowing myself a rare carefree moment in her presence, knowing she was safe with Luna and me present.
Alas, all good things come to an end eventually. While that was only the nice dream we had with her for now, I know she won’t exactly appreciate all the private tutoring she would need to go through to become a proper princess. But first, as the new dawn ushered in a beautiful day, I would show her a few things that were sure to bring a smile onto her muzzle.
“Where are we going, Mom?” she asked and I smiled warmly back at her. We were on our way to a very special tower of great importance to Luna, Liz, and me. My little filly stared at me with those twinkling eyes that could have been mistaken for my own when I was her own age. It's curious that we still share a similar eye color, isn't it?
“A place where we store our most precious things,” I answered, opening the door to the tower. I went in with my petal securely on my back. As soon as the first shelf came into sight, I watched with mirth as her reaction changed to one of awe.
On many of the shelves around us were little glass orbs with little flashes of moments long gone. I floated one in particular closer to her and I couldn’t have been happier as she gave me a bright smile, a lone tear traveling down the side of her head.
In the memory ball was the moment of our own coronation depicted, and while I would have liked to keep the fact of my natural hair color away from her forever, I couldn’t keep this memory away from her in good conscience. Tia, Lulu, and I were standing around perhaps as awkward as my little petal had been at her coronation, and off to the side was our mentor and honorary grandfather.
I floated another orb over to us, showing her the memory we made while in the dream realm: our second marriage. Cadance couldn’t keep her tears at bay after seeing that memory and my own melancholic tears joined hers as I gave her an affectionate nuzzle.
“Thank you,” she whispered tearily. “You were right. Mom seems so... absolutely perfect and pretty in every way. Like life itself couldn’t drag her down. You look so beautiful in those dresses and Mother looks stunning like that...”
I giggled, breathing in shakily as I shook my head warmly. “Of course, dear. I don’t come here often, but for you, I suppose I can always spare a moment to open the locks. I'll teach you how to disable them so that you can come and go whenever you want, little petal. Provided that you aren’t currently being tutored and have no other pressing matters to attend to.
"Take a look at all of the memories we have of her here, ask me any questions that you want, I will not keep this away from you. You deserve to learn as much as you can about your mother.”
Cadance nodded, hugging my neck as she started to sniffle gratefully and I made a few reassuring noises, placing a tiny kiss on her head with a smile. She tried to tell me how thankful she was for this, but her emotional distress was making it difficult for her to get a coherent sentence out, not that she needed to tell me that in words.
We stayed in the tower for the better part of the day, going through one memory after another and I answered as many of her curious questions as I could. While we went through quite a lot of memories, we barely made a dent in the sheer mass of memories we had stored here, and at one point, Liz joined us with a tea set in her magical grasp.
I felt immensely glad that Cadance and Liz were getting along so well, and as much as I wanted to get mad at Liz for telling my daughter a few not-so-innocent occasions between us (much to my eternal embarrassment), it did manage to get them to become fast friends over one of their mutual hobbies: playing match-maker.
Cadance couldn’t get to hear enough of all the little stories Liz had about playing Love’s Advocate with our subjects and her changelings. Of all the things that could have surprised me, this was not one of them. We had two love-crazy alicorns running around now, even though one was only partially an alicorn (we found that little tidbit of information out as soon as Liz managed to get lost in the Realm of Ascension).
By my sun, I think I might have made the greatest mistake in the history of Equestria... Liz and Cadance bonding over how to best shoot Love’s Arrow at random ponies to see what came from it. There won’t be a single pony left without a special somepony by the end of the decade, I swear. Not that that would be a bad thing, per se, but... I’d rather they don't experiment on our subjects like that. Not every relationship is meant to bloom into true love, as much as it pains me to admit such a thing.
That's going to be a painful lesson to learn for my daughter, I’m sure. I mean, I am reasonably sure she knows love doesn’t work like that, but she is still a filly and I don’t want her to be disappointed. Perhaps I should stop thinking of her as a naïve little filly and stop lying to myself that she needs to be taken care of in such a way. She is a young adult (in mind), after all. But... my motherly instincts continue to scream at me to coddle her for a few centuries and ensure nothing could break her delicate heart.
Was it wrong of me to not want her to be all grown up and independent? By my sun, I’m pathetic, aren’t I? This was my Rose Petal I was thinking of, she couldn’t be all grown up already, could she? It feels like I have missed half of her life, I don’t want to miss another second of it. I have all the time in the world with her, and instead, I want to coddle her right now at this moment.
At least... at least I have a few years where I could legitimately treat her as my little filly and carry her around on my back like any mother does, right? She doesn’t seem to mind at all. Sure, she might grumble here and there, but I know she enjoyed having her mother back just as much as I enjoyed having her back. There was no harm in thinking of her like that, was there? In relation to the lifespan of an alicorn, she truly is still a newborn...
Why was I even worrying so much about this? Summer, you old fool, get a grip on yourself and just enjoy life as it comes at you. Be there for Cadance while you can and don’t... don’t think about what could happen to you should Platinum actually prove to be stronger and...
No, that won’t happen, stop thinking such dark thoughts. Everything will turn out fine, you’ll see. Nothing is going to go wrong. Definitely nothing.
Oh, who am I kidding? I’m such a worrywart. A dolt, really. Luna and Liz are right, I get worried over the littlest things, nowadays. Panic won’t help me, and if one part of that damn prophecy can come true, then so can the second part. I’m too old to keep worrying over these things, but neither am I so naïve to think everything will solve itself without ensuring that it actually does.
So, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to raise Cadance into the strong mare that I know she can be and make her a princess that everypony can look up to. I’m going to bring Tia back and ensure Platinum won’t ever take her away from us again by finding the next bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They have to exist, somewhere! Or at least they will exist over the next decade or so. Hopefully.
If I have to, I’ll beg them to return. I’ll grovel before their hooves and plead with them to give me back my twin. I’ll even apologize for all the things I said to them after they... uhm... 'abandoned' us.
I’ll even pray to God if it helps! Just, please, don’t forsake us again, Harmony. Please, Hope. I can't do it without you and your siblings.
Ugh. I’m not going to enjoy teaching Cadance all of our knowledge, not because I don’t think teaching her will be a bad thing... but because of the nature of the things that we would have to teach her. Things that could kill another pony. If she was to be as prepared for the future as she could be, though, that was one thing we can’t just not teach her.
Cadance needs to know how to defend herself. Either for the possibility of us... not making it through the return of Platinum... or because of the return of the Crystal Empire. A very likely possibility, considering her Cutie Mark has the Crystal Heart in it. Fate was at work and for better or for worse, we have to make sure that she gets through it unscathed. If that means teaching her... 'those' methods, then so be it.
The first week with Cadance here living with us... it was like I couldn’t stop smiling. Not even the nobility could put a dampener on my mood, and with Cadance officially adopted by us, none of them could try some of their more stupid schemes to get rid of her. Not that there were many that tried to act on their jealousy.
I’m kinda glad that I decided to go through with that old law that automatically made an alicorn a princess. It backfired so hard for the nobles, I found it funny that I pretty much predicted that a commoner would be the one to ascend instead of a noble. And I rubbed it so much under their brownnosing muzzles, my glee found no bounds.
There was one very memorable moment that happened during the second week Cadance was here and I wanted to introduce her to two special individuals. So, after she was done with her lessons for the day and Cadance had watched on long enough in court sitting next to Luna, I quietly stole her away with a giddy eagerness. Lulu probably knew what I wanted to show her and the only thing she did was roll her eyes at me.
I kept my mouth shut the whole way, only making her more curious about why we were in the Royal Gardens. I had told her to keep quiet until we actually got to the spot where I suspected my darling was staying around. The animals living here were a bit... skittish at the best of times. If I didn’t have my gift with animals, the animals would probably be as skittish around me as any other pony.
“Yu’la?” I whispered, calling out to the heavenly cloud serpent and getting a happy chirp back in response. “I have somepony that I want you to meet~.”
The shimmering light of her form burst out of the trees, flitting around me with that playful enthusiasm that never left her. I giggled as Yu’la snaked herself around my neck, sticking her head out of my mane so that she could look at Cadance with a curious tilt of her head.
“What... what type of creature is... she?” Cadance asked with a staggering amount of awe, offering Yu’la a hoof. My little petal started giggling as Yu’la started cooing happily as she scratched her head against the hoof of my daughter gently.
“A one-of-a-kind being,” I answered, smiling fondly at my darling and my Rose Petal getting along so well. “Her mother entrusted me with her care a thousand years ago, give or take a few years.”
Cadance hummed thoughtfully, marveling at the tingling feeling that tickled her hoof from the powerful aura that Yu’la exuded passively. Depending on my darling’s mood, it gave somepony different sensations. Most of the time it was a calm, comfortable feeling. When she was in a playful mood, though, it turned into an excited tingle.
“So, is she a dragon? I thought dragons were... bigger,” Cadance asked, looking at me with hesitant confusion as if she was afraid she had just asked something stupid.
I laughed disarmingly, giving Cadance a gentle smile. “She is a type of dragon but one you wouldn’t find on Equis. Yu’la is technically a spirit being, a living statue that got life breathed into it.”
“I..." Cadance began before blinking perplexedly. "...what?” she asked uncomprehendingly. “A statue? But... she looks so..."—she bit her lip, scrunching up her muzzle—" well not exactly fleshy, but also not... you know, stone-like. How could she move so fluidly if she is made of stone?”
“You feel her power, don’t you?” I asked and she nodded. “The little piece of her mother’s soul that she breathed into Yu’la’s statue made her into her own being. Yu’lon and Yu’la are two different beings, even though both of them share the same soul and the statues Yu’lon uses for her rebirth are made of jade. She does bear a resemblance to that, doesn’t she? The power you feel coming from her makes that jade more life-like, but not entirely. That is also the reason why my darling doesn’t grow larger, it’s because she quite literally can’t. Not without a new statue to breathe life into, but that would mean she would cease to exist in the sense of the new Yu’la replacing the old Yu’la.”
“That sounds so confusing,” Cadance said, idly scratching Yu’la behind her horns. Yu’la let out a chirping laugh, amused by my petal’s curiosity, and I giggled myself.
“Now, now, Yu’la, I know of a little dragon that didn’t feel that differently about it when I explained it to her, so be a dear and be a bit more understanding of Cadance, okay?” I gently chided my darling dragon and Yu’la let out an apologetic chirp while Cadance looked even more confused than before.
“You can talk to her?” Cadance asked in awe and I nodded with a smile.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “An alicorn develops a gift as they grow older. Luna, for example, can enter the dreams of other ponies at will and put them to sleep with a single word. Let me tell you, that has caused us a lot of grief in our youth. It was quite annoying to see her try to shirk her duties by causing herself to fall asleep whenever she felt like it.
“Liz, on the other hoof, has the gift of empathic compulsion, not unlike myself. While my gift focuses more on animals and their feelings, Liz can sense the emotions of other ponies and influence them accordingly. That gift of compulsion that we share... it isn’t something we like to use overly much. Liz has fewer qualms about using it than I do, but we don’t use it lightly. My version of the gift for compulsion is also the reason why I can talk with animals. Or perhaps it is just more of a gift of understanding. I’m not quite sure how my gift works, even after having it for a thousand years. It’s a complicated thing to understand, I suppose.
“Celestia has... a problematic gift that has caused Luna and me quite a lot of sorrow. Your mother’s gift... she can sometimes see into the future. She has the gift of foresight and... well, it ultimately led her to Platinum in fear of what she had seen would come to pass. Being able to see glimpses of the future, of what could come to pass... sometimes I think her gift is more of a curse.”
“That’s... oh my gosh, that’s so... I have no words...” Cadance whispered, utterly stunned. And judging by the way she was worrying her lip, she felt saddened for how big a part Tia’s ‘gift’ played in her downfall. “Am I... when do alicorns develop these gifts?”
“You should see first signs of it appearing just before your sixteenth birthday, little petal,” I told her. “It is rare for non-alicorns to develop these types of gifts, but there are a few cases here and there that I know of. I’ve known of six ponies in the last century that had been able to talk with animals. Dreamwalking is also one of the more common gifts to appear among thestrals. Future sight rarely appears among our ponies, but it usually happens with earthponies and unicorns.”
“So I could be able to talk with animals, too?” she asked excitedly and I giggled amusedly. “That would be so cool!”
“Hmm. Yes, I suppose it would be ‘cool’, as you say,” I said, shrugging my wings. “Don’t get too excited about it, though. You might get a gift completely different from what we have. There are pegasi that can charge their wings with electricity, for example. I also know of a unicorn a couple centuries back that had natural telepathy. They decided to live a rather secluded life. Understandably so.”
Cadance let out a thoughtful hum. “So... is there a gift that could, say... make ponies fall in love with each other?”
A fearful whinny escaped my lips and I stared at her with horror. Cadance laughed while Yu’la joined in with the laughter. “Don’t you dare, little missy. Playing matchmaker with Liz is already bad enough, forcing ponies to fall in love... by my sun, I dare not think of what my little ponies would think of you in that case.”
“Aww, that’s cute!” Cadance giggled and I gave her a perplexed look, mystified how she could think my worry for her safety was cute. “You are swearing on your sun. I think that’s really cute, Mom.”
“Please, Cadance,” I sighed, exasperated. “Promise me you won’t do anything foolish. No forcing other ponies to love each other, okay? Love magic is an incredibly fickle thing that only works on emotions that are already there. What you are suggesting is... it is very dark, indeed. Forcing such emotions on another is worse than mind control. Trust me, I have learned my lesson with mind control in my youth, I’d rather have you not follow in my hoofsteps.”
“Mind control?!” she asked, aghast. “Mom! What could possibly make you think that’s a good idea? That’s... oh my gosh, that’s really disgusting. I’m disappointed in you.”
“What?” I shrugged. “Enchanting a few éclairs to make a griffon king drool all over them and crave more is hardly the worst thing I could have done to him. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but still the better alternative to war. To be honest, in hindsight, he deserved far worse than me getting him addicted to enchanted éclairs. He wasn’t even the least bit remorseful for trying to kill your mother. Not that it didn’t come back to bite me in the flank later, I suppose.”
My daughter gave me an incredulous look at that. “You... made him want sweets?” Cadance asked, suppressing a snort. “Wow... when you said mind-control, I thought you meant things like actual mind-control. Like Nightmare Dream, or what was she called again? Platinum?”
“Oh dear, no!” I shook my head back and forth, suppressing the urge to throw up at that thought. “Not to that degree. By my sun, no! I wouldn’t ever actually puppeteer somepony around like that. The subtler mind arts are more along the lines of mind control that find actual uses in society. Like altering the memories of a criminal to align their personality to a more favorable one so they won’t murder again. That’s far more preferable than sentencing them to death or throwing them into prison for life.”
“Ponies have really weird morals,” Cadance muttered and I gave her a confused look. I’m missing some human thing again, aren’t I? I guess a thousand years aren’t too kind on memories you would rather forget entirely. Not that there weren’t memories from this life that I wanted to forget with a fierce passion, either. If anything, there were even more of those than there were memories of my past life that I wanted to forget. “But I suppose I can’t really complain if it works, huh? Might take me a while to get used to this... mind-altering magic thing being okay and not... you know, totally despicable. I guess the idea of making ponies fall in love with each other blinded me more than I am comfortable to admit.”
“We don’t make it a habit, Cadance,” I sighed, feeling the urge to rub my eyes tiredly. “Only when there really are no other solutions left to exhaust. As forgiving as ponies tend to be of criminals, some just require a different approach in order to reintegrate them back into society as a functioning (and decent) member of it. It isn’t even my decision to make in the majority of those cases. It is either the Mage Order that makes those choices or relatives concerned for the well-being of their kin.”
“If you say so...” Cadance said unsurely. “I suppose even in magic pony land there are bad apples, huh?”
“Don’t let the Apple Family Clan hear you say that~,” I giggled. “They are a proud lot. I remember the time when they were still traveling seed merchants. Don’t tell them this, but I go to Ponyville every year for cider season in disguise. Their cider is simply to die for.”
Cadance giggled with me and Yu’la made a few chirps, sharing in our amusement. “So, where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” I told her cryptically. I think I understand now why Starswirl loved to be so cryptic. It was fun to be as cryptic as possible and seeing my daughter pout just made it that much more enjoyable to me. “Although, if Yu’la would be a bit more helpful instead of lazing around on my neck all day, I’m sure we could have found her already. Won’t you tell me where that pesky bird of your sister is, darling?”
Yu’la snorted with a huff, shaking her head and I pouted at her. “Come now, Yu’la. I’m not going to start a fight with her again. Please?”
My darling let out a disbelieving growl and I gave her a glare. Cadance watched us bicker with a little smile, and if Yu’la hadn’t been so stubborn about this, I might have smiled back at her with a roll of my eyes. As it was, I was a bit put off that my darling didn’t trust me around Philomena and I can’t say I took offense to it too much.
Celestia’s pet phoenix and I didn’t get along all that well, after all.
It wasn’t like I hated Philomena, it’s just... she could get on my nerves quite fast with her antics and her stealing from my secret stash of sweets didn’t make it any better. I swear, that bird wants me to strangle her sometimes.
...she probably has a kink for that, now that I think about it. Half her pranks were about hanging from a noose, playing dead. I have no idea where she picked up that kind of humor, seriously. Probably because dying and rising from your own ashes has become such a normal thing for her, she doesn't care much if her gallows humor scares the castle's staff and visitors.
Yu'la should know better than to always take her side. Alas, I guess she was just as kind-hearted as Yu'lon was.
Well... there is one thing I know will make her change her tune in no time... “I’ll make you cookies with jade sprinkles~,” I sing-songed and grinned immediately as Yu’la perked up attentively. “But only if you show us where that bird is hiding, okay? I want to introduce her to my daughter, I won’t do anything else, I promise.”
Yu’la cooed hesitantly but gave me a nod with a chirp. “Yes, yes, I love you, too. And despite what it might look like, I love that pesky bird, as well. You know I can’t ever stay mad at your sister, right? Especially not when Tia might take exception with us constantly fighting, but Philomena isn’t entirely innocent, either, and you know that.”
She hummed and gave me a small, loving nuzzle that I returned straight away and led us through the garden to the middle of a clearing. A scratchy cough caught my attention to one of the trees and I spotted a small nest in the branches. Being careful with Cadance on my back, I flew up and found Philomena looking positively miserable.
“Hey, you stupid old bird,” I whispered and grinned as Philomena shot me a pouty glare. “How are you holding up? Shouldn’t be too long now until the last feather falls out, huh? You’ve almost made it, I know you can do it.”
Philomena let out a cough and squawked indignantly. “Now, don’t be like that. I’m not here to ‘laugh’ at you, you know I wouldn’t do that. Besides, I have somepony for you to meet, so behave yourself.”
Cadance was watching our exchange with equal parts curiosity and concern. It wasn’t that surprising to me that she showed so much pity for Philomena, she hadn’t ever encountered a phoenix before in her life and I’m pretty sure there weren’t any on Earth. I think.
Were there phoenixes on Earth? I can’t remember. Eh, it's not like it is all that important, anyway.
“Is she ill?” Cadance asked, squirming in discomfort as Philomena let out an exaggerated cough and I gave the bird a warning glare. “Who am I kidding? Of course she is ill. Can we do anything to help her? I feel sorry for her...”
“No, she isn’t ill,” I told her with a roll of my eyes. “She is being a diva about it, though. Philomena, may I introduce you to my daughter? Rose, meet Philomena the Phoenix.”
“Phoenix?!” Cadance squealed excitedly. “You’re not joking, right? Please, please, please tell me you aren’t joking.”
Instead of answering her question, the last feather of my proverbial long-term patient fell out and Philomena burst into a quick-burning flame that consumed her mortal body entirely, leaving only a pile of ash behind. It was a good thing her flames didn’t burn long enough (or too hot, for that matter) to set her nest aflame. I could have dealt with a burning garden by myself, but I’d rather not have Cadance here for such a thing.
From the ashes, a tiny whirlwind of magic rose up into the air, and after a brief flash of light, Philomena flew around us with a musical trill, restored to her original glory. Cadance’s eyes sparkled with fascination and glee, watching the majestic bird fly enthusiastically through the sky with renewed vigor.
Yu’la was right beside Philomena and the two adoptive sisters flew around with happy chirps, making the rest of the animals sing along with their semi-parents (Yu’la considered practically every animal in the garden her ‘child’ nowadays and Philomena wasn’t any different in that regard).
After that day, Cadance spent much of her free time either with Yu’la and Philomena in the garden or going through the memory balls in our tower. I couldn’t take the few joys she had away from her when we had to force so much knowledge into her head that was better left unknown. Her foalhood shouldn’t be spent learning how to best deal with the nuisance that was the nobility and how to govern a nation, not when she was still so young.
Sadly, if we wanted her to be as prepared as she could be, we needed to show her what being a princess was all about. I got my joy out of watching her try out the first spells we taught her and felt immensely proud when she got the hang of the levitation spell and the little floating light spell for the first time after a measly few weeks of cramming magic theory into her head.
She was, much like myself, a pony that used her emotions for casting spells. Luna was sufficiently skilled with both rational and emotional magic, but not a master of either. I, on the other hoof, was perhaps the most knowledgeable pony alive with a vast understanding of emotional magic that was only rivaled by Liz. Celestia, of course, would have no doubt become a master of rational magic that even Starswirl couldn’t have hoped to emulate. I feared Platinum had the same proficiency with rational magic by now and that it would come down to the question of which kind of magic was ultimately stronger in the end.
At least I could teach Cadance everything I know with the knowledge she wouldn’t have too much trouble getting proficient in that type of magic (if not master it eventually). Cadance was like the student I could have only dreamed of and the fact that she was my daughter made educating her even more enjoyable to me. I mean... sure, she could get a bit frustrated from time to time (and throw a hissy-fit here and there, bitching about this and that), but that was hardly a bad thing considering the pacing we set for her.
She was like a sponge soaking up everything that used positive emotions in spell casting. While she might have had a few difficulties at first with getting specific combinations of emotions together before casting a spell, she was determined to work for as long as she could to get it right (oftentimes even practicing when she should have long since been asleep in bed, not helping her argument that she was technically an adult).
There was one thing she was totally incapable of doing with her spells, though. Cadance couldn’t work with negative emotions if it meant saving her life, further enforcing my belief that her soul was just too pure to evoke genuine feelings of hatred and so on. While I was extremely relieved by that fact, it also left me worrying quite a bit.
Combat spells that were meant to inflict harm on another were entirely reliant on such negative feelings, of truly wanting to hurt somepony else. As much as I wished she wouldn’t ever need those spells, I know a day would come when it was inevitable that she would need those. No battle was ever won by being passive and playing the defensive game.
So, instead of teaching her combat spells, Luna and I resorted to the teachings of our mother. I wish we didn’t need to make her go through that kind of torture, truly... but it was necessary. Cadance... oh, my sweet little petal, I dearly hope you won’t hate me for hammering these lessons into your head about how to dispose of a pony with any object imaginable in the most efficient way possible (and get away with it).
Alas, life wasn’t fair, not in the least bit, and that was a harsh lesson Luna and I had to teach her over and over again. Even Liz was reluctant to show our sweet little filly the art of poisoning a foe without getting caught.
The worst part about this? Cadance wasn’t even mad at us for showing her all those things, for making her go to bed with aching limbs after a long day of training. She was understanding of it, even. My little petal was happy as long as she could spend more time with her mothers (something I’m very happy to say that she also considered Lulu and Liz to be in that definition). In a way, she used her training as a way to distract herself from sitting in court with us or learning about taxes, laws, and diplomacy.
While there weren’t so many different languages she needed to learn in order to deal with foreign diplomats, there were a few that caused her quite a lot of grief (one of those being German and Luna wasn’t the best help in teaching her that, Liz was the only one among us that was actually competent in teaching other languages) and Cadance always let her frustrations out on us when we taught her how to fight with blades and everyday objects alike. She was quite surprised to find out that a toothbrush of all things could be deadly. Well, anything was deadly with enough force, I suppose.
A year into her training to become a fair and just ruler, she was already regretting her decision to become a princess. Despite that, though, she powered through everything we threw at her with admirable determination. I’m glad she didn’t let the dullness of paperwork dissuade her from doing her best, though. I know we had our own difficulties when we learned all of this in our youth, so I was quite proud of her for not letting it drag her down.
When she finally turned six and had a somewhat sufficient knowledge of holding court, we let her try to decide what was best in a few cases that our ponies brought to our attention. Minor things like funding problems that we were sure she couldn’t possibly make a wrong decision about and one or two more serious cases of two parties fighting over one thing or another.
With each case that she handled in the correct way, I felt reassured that everything would work out. And that was only after such little time of us teaching her, there was no doubt in me that she would perform admirably once she had to handle such things on her own one day.
We also started to teach her more combat with the blade that we gifted her on the day of her coronation. While we were still teaching her with dummies that couldn’t fight back, the day would arrive all too soon where we couldn’t avoid having her fight against a training opponent. Usually Luna or Liz, but I didn’t refrain from teaching her myself from time to time in the art of the blade.
Before long, I had to ask myself whether it was a good idea to have her attend a public school on top of her homeschooling. I tried to delay that decision for as long as I could, feeling nervous about how she would fit in with other ponies and whether or not she would be able to make genuine friends at such a school. I would have considered perhaps enrolling her in our own private school, but I felt like Cadance wouldn’t get as much out of it by attending an elite school as I would have liked.
Elite schools were... I don’t know. While I certainly felt like our own school was the best one that a parent could send their foal to, I also don’t think everypony needed to go to one of them to become the best possible pony they could be. And the fact that our school was full of foals from rich families dissuaded me from considering sending Cadance there for the sole reason of making friends.
I’d rather not have them poison Cadance with things like tribalism and feelings of superiority. While I’m sure such things exist in public schools, too, it would be to a far lesser degree there than in Canterlot’s Royal School for the Gifted.
Cadance was as excited as she was nervous about the prospect of visiting a school so that she could socialize with ponies her (physical) age. She was approaching the age of fourteen and... by my sun, I forgot to warn her about how... ahem, bothersome... estrus could be the first time around. Or any other time, for that matter. It would take half a century for the effect it has on her to become bearable and as much as I would like to say it would go away completely, an alicorn had the unfortunate ‘fortune’ to never get rid of it.
Could I get away with simply not telling her anything? Just lock her in her room for a little while and deal with the fall-out afterward? It would be a little mean, to be honest, but... she could complain to me afterward, right?
Damnit, I’m sure Tia would have loved to explain everything estrus related to our daughter and I’m not going to ask Liz to do that because of reasons. What am I going to do? Ugh.
Damn my obsessive need to keep my little petal innocent from all things sex. I don’t want to have her all grown up. Now that I think about it, wasn’t there some crazy stallion a few centuries ago that experimented with age spells? Oh, wait... that was Starswirl, wasn’t it? Right, uh... I could make her a little foal again. That would be nice, right? She definitely won’t hate me for that. I’m her mommy, I can’t let her grow up into... into a strong, independent mare...
Oh, Summer, you foolish old hag. Stop thinking like the world is going to end just because your little Rose is growing up. It’s not fair to her and also not fair to you, either. Get a grip on yourself. Everything is going to be okay, everypony has to grow up eventually. Don’t make this harder on yourself than it has to be, Summer.
By my sun, I can’t believe she has grown so much already. Gone is the little curious filly, having become this kind and beautiful teenager that was about to embark on her first mission to become a proper adult. A mare in her own right and nothing I could do would stop that from happening, would it? I suppose it was time for me to acknowledge that she wouldn’t stay a little filly forever.
Now, how to explain... that... to her? It’s probably better to rip the bandaid off in one go than drag it out unnecessarily.
“Mom?” Cadance asked, looking up from the book we had assigned to her reading list. I’m not surprised that she was already halfway through with reading it (she was her mother’s daughter, after all), we would have to see how much of it she had actually read and not just glanced through (or sketched silly doodles in her notebook again). She wasn’t safe from taking tests just because we were her mothers, after all. “Is it time for lessons? I... might have forgotten to do my homework, but I’ll do them when I have the time, I promise!”
“No, Cadance,” I smiled, a bit rueful of what I had to... ugh... teach her about. “And your homework isn’t due for next week, remember?”
“Right, sorry,” Cadance giggled, although her laughter ended quickly and her expression changed to one of concern as I stood there awkwardly with a hesitant smile on my muzzle. “Is everything okay? It’s not about your decision to send me to school, is it? Mom, I need that! You have no idea how boring it is to constantly be surrounded by older ponies. It’s like nopony around here knows what the definition of fun is! It’s driving me crazy! And don’t even get me started on Kibitz, he is the worst one of them with ‘Your Highness, your schedule’ bla bla bla. I swear, he's got a stick up his...”
“No, I haven’t changed my mind about that, little petal,” I said before she could go on any further with her tangent. I suppressed an amused smile as I sat down beside her, knowing how much of a bore our chief aide could be at times, and I extended a wing over her back with a heavy sigh. Here goes, I guess. “It’s... you know about that one thing I said was for older ponies and you didn’t have to concern yourself with it?”
“You have to be a bit more specific than that, Mom,” Cadance said, rolling her eyes. “You say that like... every other day. I’m not a little filly anymore, I don’t need to be coddled. When are you going to get that through your thick and ancient skull? I swear, there is only dust left up in there.”
“I don’t appreciate that tone, young mare,” I scolded her and she merely huffed. “But I suppose you’re right, as much as it pains me to admit it. I have been coddling you too much. I just... don’t want to see you all grown up already, Cadance. One day you’ll understand and feel no differently about it with your own foal, of that I have no doubt.”
Cadance crossed her forelegs over each other. “If I ever get a coltfriend, that is,” she muttered and I gave her a tiny, pouty glare. “Don’t give me that look. I don’t want to be a friggin’ virgin forever, Mom. I barely got any fun as a human, and that was hardly a great time since stupid college jocks don't care if you finish or not. I had more fun with a silicon toy than I did with the real deal. I'm not gonna be the princess locked away in her tower forever, okay? I'm the Princess of Love, Mom.”
"I..." I sighed, biting my lip with a sharp fang while keeping the angry remark back that almost fought its way out of my muzzle. Just... stay calm, Summer. No need to go all 'she-demon' on your daughter. “I’m sorry, Cadance. I’m just concerned for you, okay? Please, understand that. I don’t want to see you get hurt over losing a lover a few decades down the line, but... I guess it wouldn’t be fair to keep you away from finding love, either. It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
“It’s okay, Mom,” Cadance reassured me with a small smile while nuzzling my side and I bent my head down to shower her with my own affectionate nuzzles. “I’d be disappointed in you if you weren’t looking out for me like that, but I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”
“That you are,” I nodded. “And that brings us to what I wanted to talk with you about. There comes a time in a young mare’s life in which her body goes through a major turning point that paves the way into adulthood...”
“Are you...” Cadance whispered in shock, leaning away from me. “Mom, are you seriously giving me the talk?! I know about sex, damnit! You had that talk with me twenty-five years ago!”
“I, uh...” I stuttered, blushing profusely. “I did? I thought Tia was the one that talked with you and your sister about that. I honestly don't remember.”
“You both gave us the talk,” Cadance huffed, her muzzle getting as red as mine. “And Mom made it sound extremely pervy.”
Of course, she did. “Well, now that you mention it, I think I remember it now,” I giggled. She really did make it sound extra perverted because of how nervous she was, talking about naughty things with our daughters. “But no, I’m not here to talk with you about the bees and the birds. Well, sort of...”
“I don’t get it,” Cadance said and I booped the tip of her muzzle with a hoof. “What is this about then?”
“Well, you once asked me what estrus meant,” I said, a mischievous smile starting to spread on my muzzle. Haah... I might have to channel my inner Tia in order to get it over with without beating around the bush too much. “On the day of your coronation, remember?”
“I... think so? You were being mean about it, weren’t you?” Cadance said and I cringed slightly. “Every time I asked, you got all defensive about it and whenever I tried asking the servants, they kept stuttering around like it is something taboo.”
I blinked. “You tried asking the servants?” I asked and she grinned back innocently. “How many times have you tried going behind my back, exactly?”
“A... few times?” she giggled and I narrowed my eyes dangerously thin at her in disapproval. “Can we get on with this? What was I supposed to do...”
“Take my word for it?” I offered with a glower. “Anyway, I suppose explaining this will be punishment enough. So, let’s do this again...”
And so I talked lengthily and with very detailed explanations about how a young mare goes through heat, practically going sex crazy for the sole purpose of reproduction. Meanwhile, Cadance drew more and more into herself as I drew a small amount of pleasure from seeing the look of horror on her face as the realization started to set in.
Suffice it to say, my little Rose was thoroughly disturbed and didn’t leave her room for a few weeks after our conversation. A month before her birthday, she was getting desperate and tried talking me into using that age spell I had briefly considered using, but I was having none of it and neither Liz nor Luna wanted to grant her that wish, either. For better or for worse, Cadance would have to go through her first estrus and we would make sure there was no secret coltfriend with her (we weren’t as naïve as our mother, not trusting our daughter with this at all).
As an apology, I promised to teach her how I made my cookies and it was the only thing that kept her sane enough once that time came around for her.
I didn’t give her the lie that it would get ‘better’ in a few years, I wasn’t as heartless as my mother was with us. But my little petal chose to stay eternally young and she would have to live with those consequences, one way or another.
She was shaping up to be a fine princess, despite the few odd quirks she had. We weren’t different in that regard, I suppose. Nopony said she (or we) needed to be perfect, after all.
Let’s hope she can make genuine friends at school, then. She would need a few of those to keep herself grounded. That, and she did have a point...
Kibitz does have a stick up his bum.