When I went looking for Yu’la with Fluttershy and Sunset... I certainly did not expect to find my darling like this. Buried under a mountain of jade, the little serpent was... I have no idea how to even describe this. She wasn’t hoarding like some other dragons, that much I was certain of.
“Uhm... maybe we should come back another time?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly next to Sunset, fidgeting with her wings. My daughter was futilely digging through the white and green colored precious rocks with her magic, trying to find the reason behind the sudden need to amass so much jade that Yu’la refused to answer our call.
“I don’t know whether that is such a wise idea,” I mumbled, confused. “This has never happened before.”
“What the...” Sunset said, drawing my attention away from the pegasus next to me over to the sight that my daughter had ‘excavated’. In the middle of the pile of various types of jade was the not-so-little-anymore heavenly cloud serpent, coiled around an egg. “How did that even happen?!”
“Yu’la?” I asked, completely baffled. Disbelief doesn’t even describe my feelings sufficiently enough. My darling let out a humming growl, trying to hide the egg behind her. An egg that did not match her coloration at all and was very much not made of life-infused jade. “Could you please explain where you got that egg from? And for that matter, why did you grow? How did you grow?”
Yu’la looked back and forth between the young mares next to me and the egg she was coiled around, snorting out a puff of steam defensively. I sighed and told Sunset and Fluttershy to retreat further back so that I could talk with her in private, gently lowering myself to the ground.
My daughter did what was asked of her, hesitantly as it was. I could tell she was a bit hurt by having Yu’la show so little trust toward her after having bonded with her so much over the past few years. Fluttershy hugged her comfortingly with a wing, and once I was all alone with Yu’la, I received an answer from her.
Just... not in the way I expected.
A swirl of magic and a puff of smoke later, I was in front of a little filly with glowing jade-colored eyes. Her light-green coat resembled that of what I had seen of the crystal ponies so very long ago now and her mane was a bright white, floating in a non-existent breeze like my own. On her flanks was a symbol of a stylized cloud serpent, depicting Yu'lon. The thing that made Yu’la unique, though? She was a kirin.
I never thought I would see a kirin again after they went into hiding some odd few centuries ago.
“I promise I didn’t steal it,” Yu’la said, her voice reminding me so very much of Yu’lon’s, it almost surprised me more than the fact that she just spoke ‘regular’ words with me. “It just... appeared and I wanted to take care of it?”
“That’s... alright, darling,” I said, smiling gently. Yu’la beamed back at me, tackling me into a hug. “You should have come to me with this, you know that, right?”
Yu’la nodded reluctantly into my coat, sniffling as she refused to look me in the eyes. Oh, you silly little dragon, you. What am I going to do with you and this egg? “Can I... can I keep it?”
I blinked, unsure. “What of its parents, darling? They are surely searching for their egg right now.”
“I don’t think it has any...” Yu’la mumbled, letting go of the hug as she gave the egg in the middle of her nest a look. That was what she was doing with all of the jade, wasn’t it? She was preparing to become a mother. “There was a flash of light and then it was just... there.”
“Is that so..?” I hummed, studying the egg curiously myself. It was certainly big for a dragon egg. It was a light purple with darker splotches, not giving any clue as to what type of dragon was currently growing within it. Unlike the typical dragon eggs I was aware of, this one looked a bit scaly and had a crown of thorn-like protrusions. How curious... “Did its appearance also cause you to grow?”
“No,” Yu’la shook her head, looking up at me. “I need to be strong for my hatchling, so I decided to grow.”
“You... decided to grow?” I asked, raising a brow. “Well, alright then. If you are sure you can do this, I won’t keep you from raising the little one. You might want to have help, though.”
“Can Sunset help?” Yu’la asked shyly, only causing me to feel a little bit hurt that she wouldn’t consider me for the job. If that's what she wants, though, I couldn’t say no to her. And besides, I had enough on my plate as is, I couldn’t also raise a dragon on top of everything.
I gave Yu’la a nod, albeit hesitantly. “You didn’t seem too enthusiastic to have her anywhere near the egg a minute or so ago. What changed?”
“I...” Yu’la mumbled, rubbing a hoof against her neck awkwardly. This was the first time she used the unique dragonflight magic of Azeroth’s dragons to transform herself into the likeness of a mortal, wasn’t it? And to think she would choose a form native to this world instead of becoming a pandaren like her mother... “These instincts are a bit overwhelming to me, I couldn’t help it. Is she mad at me?”
“I don’t think so,” I smiled reassuringly down at her. “You might want to apologize to her, she trusts you a great deal. Sunset knows that most animals get defensive over their young, doubly so in the case of dragons, I imagine.”
“I’ve never had an egg to look after,” Yu’la said, looking down at her hooves, uncertain. “I know what Yu’lon felt like, raising big sister Yu’lei. But... she never felt anything like what I’m feeling now. Is this normal?”
“Any mother would tell you that becoming a parent is a frightening thing,” I mused, giving her my honest opinion. “It takes a lot of responsibility to look after a new life. While I can’t relate to hatching an egg, I do know what it feels like to take care of the growth of an unborn child. All the worry, all the joy, the anticipation... it can get a little overwhelming each and every time. You don’t have to feel bad for wanting to keep your unborn child safe, Yu’la. Sunset will understand that.”
“Could I talk to her?” Yu’la mumbled, giving me a hopeful look. I nodded back at her with a soft smile gracing my muzzle, glad that she wanted to include Sunset in this conversation.
My daughter was overjoyed to see me ask her to come back and talk with Yu’la, dragging Fluttershy after her with a happy skip in her step. I took my leave from them after that, shaking my head good-naturedly as they were chatting excitedly with each other (I couldn’t help myself, I had to subtly take a picture of Sunset hugging Yu’la in her kirin form... or more like squeezing her to death... it was so very cute). I apologized to Fluttershy for cutting our lesson short. It probably didn’t exactly turn out like she had hoped it would, but... perhaps they could learn something entirely different from this.
Instead of going straight to my office, I took a slight detour purely because I did not feel like doing my paperwork as long as I had some free time in my schedule from the unexpected change of finding Yu’la with an egg today. Kibitz would no doubt get a conniption from that, knowing him.
Sometimes I wondered whether Kibitz did anything without the meticulously planned-out schedules he made for absolutely everything one could plan out. I mean... he was perhaps the single best pony for the job in all of Equestria, but sometimes it just felt like he needed to find a hobby.
An actual hobby, that is. Not what Luna, Liz, and I called ‘staving off boredom’.
Like... eyeing that door that would surely lead to nothing good if I were to open it. My hooves had brought me to the one place in the castle that I usually avoided going to for the simple reason that, most of the time, the mirrors behind that door were inactive. I avoided coming here because some of those mirrors held enchantments that would cause nothing but heartache to me.
My magic slowly opened the seal on the doors, and before I knew it, I was standing in a dusty room with blankets draped over the frames of Starswirl’s old mirrors. My heart was beating faster with nervous and excited energy, I noticed.
There was one mirror in particular that my eyes were drawn to.
Slowly, I reached out a hoof and removed the cover from it, looking into the reflection within. After Starswirl reworked the mirrors to be more secure, some of those mirrors showed... bewitching sights that were meant to leave a pony unable to do anything else aside from gaze into it all day long. It would leave them incapacitated long enough for one of us to find the intruder, or if they were unlucky, starve them to death for having been foolish enough to seek these cursed mirrors out (Starswirl really knew no mercy when it came down to safeguarding our realm, did he?).
Celestia’s smiling face greeted me and my heart gave a painful twinge at seeing her again. The image flickered briefly, showing me a desolate landscape bereft of all life, and the mare that stood in front of me looked like a veritable goddess of destruction with a burning desire for death in her eyes, the chains that I so carefully placed upon myself laid broken and shattered into pieces before her... my hooves.
She, too, smiled back at me, inviting me to embrace my darkest side and bring about the end of the world, uncaring about the consequences of such a decision. Her only purpose was to leave nothing but ash behind once we were done ushering in the apocalypse.
Before I could get transfixed by the sight of myself in the form of Supernova, the image in the mirror flickered back to the one that showed me my twin. Her very presence assured me that everything would be alright, that I didn’t have to turn into a monster to bring her back. That I didn’t have to unleash the beast locked away inside of my heart.
My deepest (and darkest) desires were reflected back at me and I was unable to look away. The sight of a lifeless world should have evoked a feeling of repulsion from me, but all I felt was a profound longing. Thankfully, there was something that my heart desired even more than that apocalyptic world and she was staring right back at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. Eyes that I could never look away from.
How could I possibly look away from that entrancing sight, seeing the love she held for me in her eyes?
“Mom..?” Sunset’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, and with a fearful whinny, I turned around to see my daughter stare at me with confusion and... empathy? The pain in her eyes reflected my own. “You need to lower the suns, Mom.”
“Lower them?” I asked, perplexed. That couldn’t be right, could it? After all... “It’s still noon, little Sun.”
“Mom, are you okay?” Sunset asked me, placing a hoof on one of my forelegs gently. “You were staring into that mirror there as if your life depended on it when I found you.”
“I... I’m sorry, Sunset,” I said, hiding the wobbly smile by embracing her gratefully. Even an alicorn was not immune to the sights the mirrors in this room would show. I should have never come here in the first place. “Let’s leave this place, shall we?”
Sunset eyed the mirror I had gazed into wearily, following me after I draped the sheet back over it. I was too tired to explain to her what I had just done, so I just walked silently back with her to the hallway leading to our chambers.
Perhaps one day I might show her the secrets behind the mirrors, the wonders of the multiverse, but for today? I gave her a loving, if tired, nuzzle and told her to have a good night’s rest. Tomorrow was another training day for her and she needed all the strength she could get.
I had to get her ready for... that day. Already I was feeling like I would be unable to truly prepare her, but my little Sun kept surprising me. Day after day, she and her sister surpassed their limits in new and amazing ways, growing in ways I never imagined were possible.
Reluctantly, I had taught my daughter the manipulation of blood through magic (not that I knew much about it in the first place, I guess), having found out her true nature. My daughter was no thestral, as one would assume from her appearance.
No, it was not that simple, I’m afraid to say. Sunset was a pureblood vampire. Her blood could do things that even I could not emulate, things like materializing blood-infused objects she had bonded with. She could dissolve into a mist of blood and travel around with a certain immunity to physical, and to a degree, magical attacks. So long as nothing evaporated the blood, she could... ‘play’ with her prey.
Even more useful than that was her ability to create doorways to various places by inscribing a magic circle on any surface large enough for her to stand on. While she needed to have either infused the magic circle with her own blood (or in a pinch, have a readily available source of fresh blood at the target destination) in order for her to create a portal there, those portals had no restriction on distance or even a mana requirement.
It was one of her most powerful spells simply because it was so easy for her to use (especially during a battle). Every drop of blood her enemy spills would only make her stronger, granting her the ability to make use of the lifeblood spilled all over the entire battlefield by manipulating it into various shapes, including the magic circle needed for the portal. The creation of those portals overshadowed even my combat prowess of overusing teleportation magic, and as we had found out just recently, it also allowed her to enter a ‘sanctum’ of sorts. A safe haven, allowing her to recover her strength at an accelerated rate at the cost of inducing a hunger for blood bordering on starvation.
My little Sun was an actual vampire. I had no idea how that could have happened in the first place, but that was the case for a lot of things in regard to our daughters. Sunset required a regular diet of blood, something that was more or less dependent on the potency (not the amount) of the blood that she consumed, or rather the mana within it, allowing her to use those blood magic spells in the first place. She could eat regular food like any other pony (Sunset even preferred it like that most of the time), which debunked most of those scary horror stories about vampires.
For all intents and purposes, Sunset was not that much different from Luna and I. She didn’t even need to ascend to alicornhood to live forever, but it would certainly help in other areas. Like the sort of invincibility available to higher beings. Sunset was very much still a mortal in the sense that once dead, she would stay dead.
It was a bit ironic that Sunset, a pureblood vampire (and with that, a mythological creature that was commonly associated as a child of the night)... was a ‘daypony’ like me. Luna found it hilarious and I had to admit that it kinda was. In a sense, Sunset was taking after me, defying expectations like that.
On another note, my little Sun and Fluttershy had already become best friends with each other since they started holding their little get-togethers every month with the rest of their friends. So much so that they didn’t leave it at ‘once a month’ and pretty much stayed over either here in the castle or at Fluttershy’s every weekend or so.
Obviously, I could tell Sunset had a crush on her best friend, she couldn’t hide that from me even if she wanted to (besides, Cadance was the first one to notice the developing feelings my daughter held for the demure pegasus). Seeing how defensive Sunset (from the future) had been over Fluttershy, she might confess her feelings at some point in the near future.
I was glad that at least one of my daughters didn’t pursue a ‘weird’ relationship, not like Cadance with her newest idea of making a harem of Cadances. I swear, if she continues like that, I’ll do... something, I don’t know. I have absolutely no idea where I went wrong with her of all ponies. I would have thought Tabetha to be the one to do something weird like that, once upon a time. But seeing how Twilight wasn’t even remotely interested in romance? I’m unsure whether my little Star will ever find a pony that catches her eye. Or she simply won't. It could be entirely the case that she was aromantic, and that's it.
For a thousand years, I never thought I would be surrounded by so many loved ones again... only to realize that my family was well beyond screwed up. This all started with me being reincarnated together with my wife and quickly spiraled out of control from there, didn’t it?
Was it... was it too much to ask for grandfoals? How would that even work out with Cadance? I definitely wasn’t going to allow her to use that spell with Ruby, even if she begged me to. Sunset and Fluttershy might be my last hope in regard to becoming a granny. At least, as long as Twilight doesn’t find herself somepony to be with, and so far? It didn’t appear like she was getting that close with any of her friends.
If she ever gets that close to anything but her books, that is. Twilight was even worse in that regard than Tia had been, too engrossed with reading to spend some time with her muzzle outside of a book. Sunset was the only pony that could get her reliably out of the library these days, even Lulu and I struggled to get her out of there. Heck, even her friends had an easier time than us. Sometimes they even managed to drag Twilight out of the library without her noticing a single thing about the change in scenery in the process (I think Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were making a game out of it, quietly snickering each and every time when I caught them doing that).
It wasn’t like my little Star shied away from interacting with her friends, far from it even. She just liked to spend her time doing research whenever she could, simply enjoying having something to read. Whereas Tabetha had been thirsty for knowledge to a mad degree, Twilight was content with all types of reading material. Tabetha never really liked reading non-fiction (aside from mythology, I guess), something that had changed quite thoroughly with her new lease on life as Twilight.
She had her own ticks here and there, but those were thankfully mild in comparison to what they had been like in her previous life.
Speaking of their previous lives, Sunset and Twilight still didn’t remember anything beyond vague pictures of ‘scary shadows’. I doubt they ever will, to be honest. Maybe it was for the best that they forgot the majority of their old selves’ memories, considering how much they have changed for the better.
While Sunset was certainly not the kindest pony to those that she felt didn’t deserve it, she was most definitely a pony with hope beyond measure. She wasn’t as naïve about it as I had been in my youth, but she does give everypony at least a chance... aside from the nobility. There were few ponies that managed to get on her bad side and they usually did so by offending her (and by badmouthing her twin in even the most minuscule ways). She was truly an inspiring presence to have around, managing to bring about just anypony out of their funk, regardless of what might have caused it in the first place.
It was no wonder she would wield Hope Incarnate in the future. She had the necessary empathy to help out those around her that needed it most, becoming a shining figure amidst the darkness called ‘doubt and fear’. Her flame was one that could not be extinguished, I thought with a proud feeling welling up within my chest.
Luna might even say that Twilight was the one to have lit that burning bonfire in the first place and she would not be wrong with that statement. Our little Twilight was the center of the group of young friends, whether she knew it or not. I could only imagine how that dynamic between them would evolve with Twilight coming into the role of a leader, holding the whole group together with sheer wits alone.
Now, if only my daughters wouldn’t let their curiosity get the better of them and find their muzzles in places where they didn’t belong...
“Summer Sunset Shimmer Sol,” I said with a stern voice, grabbing her ear with my magic harshly. To think that I would find my mischievous, misbehaving daughter in this place of all places, having gone searching for her after she didn’t show up for her training, following her mana signature back to this cursed place. “What are you doing here with your sister?”
Both of them had somehow opened the door to the mirror portal room and were currently investigating the mirror that I had gotten so lost in yesterday in my carelessness. My little Sun let out a whimper, trying to free her ear from my grip while her sister looked startled between her and me, a sheepish look on her muzzle.
“It wasn’t her fault for coming here, Mom!” Twilight protested and I narrowed my eyes on her, instead. She gulped at seeing me with my burning golden slits directed at her, biting her lip nervously. “I asked her to show me the mirror...”
“Why would you want to see this cursed thing?” I asked, trying to rein my anger in before I did something I would regret later. Not that I wasn’t already regretting the decision to discipline Sunset so harshly (I might have unintentionally ripped out a few hairs from her ear...). “Nothing good ever comes from these mirrors, Star.”
Twilight looked down to the side, ears splayed back. “Sunset was concerned,” she whispered sadly. “I wanted to know what it was that caused her to be so distraught.”
“So you decided to come here instead of asking me?” I said, a brow slowly wandering up. “Star...”
“I know! I know! I’m sorry,” she exclaimed, her eyes starting to get watery. I sighed, enveloping both of my daughters in my wings. “We didn’t think too much about it, the door was open and we just thought to take a quick peek.”
“Besides...” Sunset began, fidgeting slightly. “There wasn’t even anything special about it, it’s just a mirror without a reflection. Why were you so transfixed by it, Mom?”
“What do you mean, 'just' a mirror?” I whispered and my heart skipped a beat. My eyes looked toward the mirror, and just like she said, the enchantment on it was not active. That could only mean...
I slowly reached out a hoof towards the mirror, finding no resistance as soon as I ‘touched’ it. My hoof went through as if the mirror wasn’t even there.
Twilight let out a quiet gasp while Sunset stared at where my hoof disappeared before I pulled it out in stunned silence. “What’s going on, Mom?” Twilight asked, breathless in fascination. “What is that mirror?”
“A portal to another world,” I answered, mesmerized. That mirror had never been active, not even once in a thousand years. The only thing it ever did was to show anypony that gazed into it their deepest desires and that was it. The gateway between worlds had been inactive for so long, it was a miracle to see it open all of a sudden. “I don’t know what lies on the other side and I’m not sure if I want to find out. We shouldn’t go through it... it’s far too dangerous.”
“But...” my daughter pouted petulantly. “Knowledge...”
“No,” I told her sternly. “Luna, Liz, and I will have to see if it is safe first. You are not under any circumstances allowed to go through it, do you understand me?”
I glared at her as she opened her muzzle to protest again, stopping her in her tracks. “Fine,” Twilight grumbled. “You never allow us anything...”
I sighed, feeling the urge to rub my temples tiredly. “Twilight, this is for a good reason,” I said, pleading with her to listen to me for once. “Traveling through the multiverse is dangerous at the best of times, and I'm not saying this lightly. I mean it. It is even more dangerous than learning dark magic, and no, you still aren’t allowed access to the restricted section of the library. Don’t even think about asking again, young mare. That’s final.”
Twilight nodded reluctantly, looking like a chastised little filly. I suppose I had been quite harsh with her the first time she had brought up the topic of reading restricted content that was restricted for a very good reason.
They were grown-up mares now (almost of legal age as well), and... at some point, I would have to teach them how to defend themselves from the dark arts, wouldn't I? Platinum knew perhaps more about dark magic than we had knowledge of it locked away from prying eyes, not only because of the crime she committed by possessing my twin but also because of the sheer mass of dark artifacts she created. Or the lives she snuffed out to further her own nefarious purposes.
I banished those thoughts from my mind lest I start to get angry and rage around, feeling tired of constantly riling myself up by thinking about that slimy toad. I have to give it to my daughters, that description fits quite well for Platinum. She’s the ugliest slimy toad that has ever existed.
By the time I returned with Liz and Luna, Twilight and Sunset were trying to get into the portal room again, failing to dispel the ward I put on the door to stop them from doing just that.
My sister growled next to me as she tugged harshly on the ear of our misbehaving daughter. “Twilight Lunar Star Sparkle,” Luna exclaimed with a furious tone. It was a rare sight to see her so angry, so much so that our daughters instantly locked up in fear.
I probably should have expected that they would try to do something to sate their curiosity, but somehow... somehow I was still surprised to see them blatantly try to go behind my back. Liz was snickering her flanks off next to me, delighted to see them defy me like that.
She definitely was a bad influence on them, wasn’t she?
Twilight let out a squeak, trying to appear as small as possible in the hopes it would get Luna to ease up on her. “Uh... hi, Mom! This isn’t what it looks like!”
“And what, pray tell, does it look like, then?” Luna asked, raising a brow challengingly back at her. “Because to me, it looks like you were about to break into a warded room and go against the wishes of your mother.”
“It might, possibly, maybe... look exactly like that,” Twilight admitted, grimacing as she rubbed her ear sheepishly. “But... can’t we come with you? You always treat us like we are about to break into pieces with the slightest nudge. We can take care of ourselves, we don’t need to be coddled.”
She... wasn’t entirely wrong with that. I gave Luna a questioning gaze, feeling reminded of how much we had hated the treatment of being coddled by Starswirl. He was justified to do that (most of the time, anyway), and it wasn’t like we weren’t doing it for a good reason. Although on the one hoof... in comparison to us? They were that fragile and need to be kept safe from harm. But then again... maybe we were actually overdoing it a bit too much. They weren’t actually made of porcelain, as much as I pretended that to be the case. I was... I am being too fearful that I would be too late to help them should something happen to them, aren’t I?
Heck, even Cadance and Ruby were of that opinion. They regularly told me to not go too easy on Sunset because I was too fearful of breaking her. She was far from the fragile filly she had been when we first started with her training and has come a (very) long way. If anything, it was Twilight I was more concerned about. If she were to find herself in a dangerous situation, I wasn’t certain she would be able to deal with it adequately.
Twilight’s arsenal of spells was vast, perhaps even more so than what I had in my repertoire... but that didn’t mean those spells would actually save her life. She might be one of the most knowledgeable ponies alive, perhaps even the most knowledgeable pony to have ever lived, which still didn’t mean she could hold a candle to Sunset’s combat prowess.
I sighed, feeling conflicted. I suppose... “As long as you stay near us, it should be okay. Let us go through it first, though. The only condition I have for you is to listen and obey our words, even if it is to save yourselves and leave us behind. I won’t hear any arguments in regards to that, do you understand?”
Twilight nodded and beamed happily back at me and I wondered whether or not I should rethink my decision. She no doubt didn't think her response fully through as she was so quick to agree, but... if I were to go back on my word and break her heart now... I couldn’t do that to her. Despite still being mad at them for being... well, their usual curious, mischievous selves... I decided it was better to just forgive and forget. Besides, their mischievous tendencies were kind of endearing and it wasn’t like I had behaved any better than them at their age with my sisters, causing more than enough trouble for Starswirl.
Now that I was thinking about it... did we ever do the homework he left us with? I completely forgot about that. It’s not like it mattered anymore with him gone for more than a thousand years to who knows where and I doubt he would actually get mad over it. He was used to us not doing our homework on time, so I wasn’t too worried about that. Although... I don’t know what he would say (or do) if he ever found out we procrastinated for a thousand years or so. Disappointed wouldn’t even begin to accurately describe it, would it?
Let’s hope he never returns, then. The spanking we would get for that... it made me shudder just thinking about it. Cranky old archmages being mad... that’s most certainly not a pretty sight. And this specific archmage? He was terrifying to behold when he was not pleased by our antics. Starswirl being mad at us could probably cow even Daybreaker, Nightmare Moon, and me as Fallen Star into obedience just like that without even having to try.
Ah, well... it's a good thing that will never happen, right? The day Starswirl returns from whatever grave he dug himself into will be the day Tartarus will freeze over and make all my darkest nightmares come true.
Anyway! Liz was the first one to step through the mirror portal's surface, followed by Luna, and then by me. Like some of the mirrors, the experience was anything but pleasant. It could have been a lot worse, like the portal leading to Remnant. That one really messes me up every time I pass through it to go and negotiate with the four kingdoms over this and that.
Setting up a workable worldwide network system could be a lot easier if it wasn’t for the Kingdom of Atlas that I had to primarily negotiate with. Heck, it was already a massive headache just to get a network set up in Equestria.
I suppose it was well worth the annoyance, though. Already, the internet was becoming hugely popular with my little ponies (not to mention with the changelings, go figure). It was also nice for those ponies that couldn’t, for whatever reason, make the journey over to Canterlot and petition the crown for aid. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as writing an e-mail, but it was a start to get the ball rolling, so to speak.
With the internet, computers and scrolls became even more popular since they were a lot more useful now than before. I mean, they were kinda popular with scholars and so on since the Remnant version was introduced to Equestria, being a lot more powerful and efficient in comparison to what we had before... but now, there was so much more to experience through the wonders of the internet that the advanced technology wasn’t just a simple curiosity to our ponies anymore.
I mainly was happy to have enough games to sate my hunger for the next decade or so. By that time, I will have even more than I know what to do with, of that I was certain. There was already a community sprouting up for that kinda thing and I was happily (and anonymously) a part of that group. I might even get King Aspen in on it... if he ever stops being such a stuck-up about ‘technology being the product of the devil’, that is. I swear, the deer are worse than what I knew of the night elves on Azeroth.
Hmm. Queen Novo might indulge my obsession with computer games, now that I was thinking about it. I was on good terms with the hippogriffs, wasn’t I? I would have to send a letter to Mount Aris, asking for an audience with Her Majesty. I’m sure I could convince her to become an addict... I mean, an avid fan of video games.
Doesn’t she also have a daughter? We could make it a family thing. After all, the more the merrier, right? We could play co-op games and puzzle games, the possibilities were almost limitless! Novo could team up with her daughter and I could do so with Sunset and, if she could be convinced to leave her precious library for a little while, Twilight. Or we could team up with each other and teach our daughters how it’s done. That could be a lot of fun, couldn’t it?
It would probably take a while to set up a relay tower so that we could play online, though. But it would be well worth the hassle of negotiating with Atlas to get them to help out, wouldn’t it? The title of Mistress of Cute was well out of my reach by now, but 'Best Gamer Milf' was up for grabs! Eh heh heh...
Ahem! Anyway, that’s enough of that for now. I managed to get out of my mental ravings just as my daughters stumbled out of the mirror behind me, promptly falling on their faces as they lost their balance. To be honest, if I hadn’t had so many interactions with Remnant recently, I might have found myself with my face in the dirt as well. Or dust, as the case might be.
Seeing that my hair was still as red as ever and even floated in the air a little bit, this world was enriched enough with magical energies for me to feel powerful enough even without relying on my connection to Equis’ sun through the mirror. I even had the outfit from Azeroth on, which kinda made me hopeful for a moment...
While I don't recognize this place as being similar to... Karazhan, wasn't it? I think the place Khadgar took us from was called that (or something similar along those lines, anyway). Now... where to find me one of those enchanted brooms to take home..?
I was about to look for an exit out of the chamber when I noticed that my daughter was having a panic attack. Judging by her shaking body, the erratic breathing, and the horrified gaze directed at her body... it was the worst panic attack she had so far. And I could guess why that was, as well...
Gently, I touched her shoulder, only to recoil as she looked at me with fear, or rather, terror. It was the look of somepony staring into the face of a monster and it hurt me to see her so terrified.
Sunset whimpered. “W-w-what’s g-g-going on?” she asked, stumbling over her words, unable to control her breathing. If this continues like that, she might just start surging on top of this. “W-why do I..."—she let out a rugged gasp, trying to hug herself with her unfamiliar limbs, only to flinch as the shaking and twitching of her fingers startled her—" t-this isn’t a n-nightmare, r-right?”
“No, Sunset,” I said, the pain in her eyes caused me to feel it as well. I never liked seeing her like this whenever she had a nightmare. And to see it right now because of the transformation was even worse. I could have probably eased her into this by letting her visit Remnant, but it was too late for that insight now, wasn't it? “This isn’t a nightmare, little Sun. Everything is okay, just listen to my voice. Close your eyes, let it calm you down.”
Sunset nodded, shivering as she did what I told her. Twilight was thankfully less perturbed by her transformation, studying herself in fascination as she did with so many other things. It didn’t surprise me that Twilight took to it (somewhat) better than Sunset did, considering my fiery Sun always had it worse than her with her nightmares. We’ve tried multiple things to stop them, but they simply returned a while later, sometimes worse than before.
I dearly wish I could help her somehow. Aside from dealing with the aftermath, that is. It caused me a lot of grief to see her suffer so much from having them. On more than one occasion I debated whether to sacrifice the protective spell over the dream realm to exclusively ward off any nightmares my daughter might have had, but that would be playing right into the hooves of Platinum.
I suppose all I could do to help her was to give her all the support she needs to get through it. Like whispering calming words, letting Luna sing a lullaby, hearing Liz recount stories of times long gone (and bitching about this and that, I guess). Thankfully, it seemed to work as she began to calm considerably down from her panic attack.
Oh, Sunset, I wish I could take away all of your pain. You, of all ponies, shouldn’t have to go through this. You deserve better than this, little Sun.
My daughter looked up at me with barely restrained terror. “What are we?” Sunset mumbled, her voice quivering slightly. “This... this is just like my dreams, Mom. I... I don’t understand.”
“I had hoped to never explain this to you,” I sighed, sadly. “You shouldn’t have to be reminded of... of a past life. Not like this.”
“A... a past life?” Sunset asked, hesitantly opening her eyes. “What do you mean? They are just dreams... aren’t they?”
“The shadows you see in your nightmares are...” I began, biting my lip. I gulped heavily, a frightened breath wreaking havoc on my mood. “They are memories, Sunset.”
“But...” Sunset said, slowly shaking her head. “How? You told me they were nothing more than bad dreams. That I shouldn’t let my monsters get to me, that I’m braver than that...”
“And you are so very brave, little Sun,” I smiled sadly. “What those bad dreams show you, though... I keep telling you that you are better than what you see in them, of what you fear they might mean. What I didn’t tell you, though...”
“Is that they are about me...” she finished, turning pale. “Did I... did I do those things, Mom? Was... was that another me I see in my dreams? This shadowy monster doing those horrible, atrocious things?”
“In a way,” Luna whispered, giving me a look while I rubbed the back of our distraught daughter comfortingly, too afraid to confirm her suspicions. “Those broken visions you sometimes see at night... they are remnants of a man that tried to protect the people he was... close to.”
“You mean his family? But... wouldn’t that... I..."—Sunset paused, furrowing her brows, eyes narrowed in suspicion—" Why ‘close to’? This doesn’t make sense, Mom. How? I don't understand,” Sunset asked, looking uncertainly back and forth between Luna and me. “How can... I was this man, wasn’t I? Why...”
I sighed. “It’s hard to explain, little Sun,” I said, frowning. “You and your sister... you had been human once, in a previous lifetime.”
“Human?” Twilight asked, interested. “As in ‘homo sapiens’?”
Luna raised a brow at that, mildly surprised. “And how do you know that?” she asked.
“It was mentioned a few times in my dreams,” she answered with a shrug. “I thought that was the name for the shadows...”
“I suppose it is no surprise, considering who you were in your previous life,” I muttered, making Sunset frown back at me.
“How do you...” she began, but stopped, giving both Luna and me a look. “You knew, didn’t you? Who we were in our previous lives? What those shadows were?”
“Yes,” I answered, closing my eyes ruefully. “Since before you were even born, Sunset. We didn’t know for certain then, but... once you started to get these visions, it was almost too obvious to deny.”
My daughter looked more confused than betrayed. I guess I could count myself lucky that she didn't resent me for withholding this information from her. “But... how did you know us?” Sunset asked, desperately wanting to know. “Is this why you didn’t want us to go through this mirror? Do we come from this place? Or another, similar one?”
“No, Sunset,” Luna shook her head, letting out a sigh. “You and your sister are not the only ones to have been reincarnated. Your mother and I, even your big sister... we all had lived on a planet called Earth before we were reborn on Equis. An ancient spell made sure that you would reincarnate in Equestria like us in the case that you died. Evidently, something went wrong in your case. Unlike you, though, we remember our previous lives as they were. Well, mostly remember them, in the case of your mother and I.”
“So...” Sunset began, starting to piece the picture together. “In that previous life... who were we to each other..?”
“You were my brother, Sunset,” I answered, smiling sadly. “Twilight had been my daughter, even in that life. As was Cadance. It does sound a bit silly, thinking that they are technically your nieces and your sisters, huh?”
“Right...” Sunset muttered, sharing a thoroughly disturbed look with her twin. “I’m just gonna ignore that and pretend to never have heard that in the first place.”
“Be glad you didn’t reincarnate with your wife as your twin,” I rolled my eyes. “Or with the sister of said wife being your younger sister. The things we got up to...”
Sunset let out a fake retching sound at that. “Ew, Mom! That’s... just ew,” she complained, making a gag motion. I snorted and saw her grin a little bit back at me, prompting Twilight to ‘giggle snort’, which set Luna off, and soon enough, Liz and I joined in with the laughter. “So... why haven’t we ever heard of this twin of yours, Mom?”
My laughter came to an abrupt halt. “That’s...” I said, my mood sadly ruined now. I should have expected that she would pick up on that detail, but it just... fell out of my mouth, so to speak. “Well... painful doesn’t even begin to describe this. Your... aunt? I don’t know what would be more appropriate for you to address her as, aunt or mother..."—I shook my head, not entirely certain how to feel about this—" Your future selves seemed to stick with aunt and I think I’m starting to understand why that is. Since there is the Celestia from the alternate universe who is your honorary aunt that you haven’t even met yet, which would make things... I guess the best word for this is also how this family could best be described as awkward, weird, and complicated, isn’t it? Some would say it is downright confusing, even. Huh, this is kinda difficult to put into words...”
“This aunt that we have... what happened to her?” Twilight asked, fidgeting awkwardly with her unfamiliar limbs.
“A nightmare happened to her,” I answered in a whisper, seeing Luna get that seething look in her eyes again. “We had to banish her to the moon, unable to stop the monster from possessing her. I’m afraid to say that our time is running out to prepare for her return. I had hoped I could avoid telling you any of this because I feared you weren’t ready for it, but... both of you have grown so much in these past few years. I’m so proud of you, my darling daughters.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Sunset said, blushing slightly in embarrassment. “I guess it makes sense why big sis keeps pushing us so much, constantly challenging me to improve...”
“You are a better pony than I could have ever predicted you would grow up into, my little Sun,” I said with a smile, grabbing her in a gentle but fierce hug. I wish it could stay like this forever and never let her go, but... she’s all grown up now. Well, almost all grown up. A year or two and she would, without question, be a mare in her own right, ready to take on the world. Just like Cadance was pretty much ready to create a legacy of her own with Ruby up in the Crystal Empire. An Empire that could return any moment from now.
“I feel like you are praising me too much,” Sunset sighed, looking down into her lap, sneering slightly at the foreign limbs she now possessed. I suppose that in her case, it was kind of justified (if a bit of an overreaction, to be honest). Considering her nightmares, I can’t fault her for having this unreasonable hatred for being in a human form. “I wasn’t a good pony in my past life, was I? All these things I see at night, they really happened?”
“I’m afraid they did,” Luna confirmed, stroking Sunset’s hair sorrowfully. “You aren’t that pony... or person rather. Not anymore. Your mother is right about being so proud of you and your sister, you know? You could never disappoint us, even if you tried. Don’t ever think otherwise.”
“Besides, it would take a lot to get those two to be disappointed with you, anyway,” Liz commented oh-so-helpfully, grinning to herself full of mischief. “Short of committing genocide, that stupid head will forgive you no matter what. Lulu might relieve you of an ear, though.”
Sunset covered one of her ears with a hand, giving Liz a nervous glance before looking over to Luna and blanching as my sister just gave her a raised brow. I snickered accidentally as I heard her mutter silently to herself about how often her ear got abused because she had done something naughty. My daughter pouted back at me and I couldn’t help myself from snickering even more.
“I’m sorry, little Sun,” I snorted, trying to contain my amusement to spare her the embarrassment but I sadly failed miserably at it. “There is probably a lot more you want to know, but that would be best left for a time when we aren’t running around in unknown territory. Let’s go and see where we found ourselves this time, shall we?”
“Finally!” Liz exclaimed, standing up with a happy, satisfied groan as her joints gave a few popping sounds. “Here I thought we would sit on the dusty floor all day long!”
“Shut up, Liz,” I groused, feeling the temptation rise within me to tug at her ear for being, well... her usual self again. Stupid sexy succubus bug.
After I dusted myself off and helped Sunset up on her feet, I gave the mirror standing in the far back of the (what appeared to be) empty classroom a cautious look, wondering how much time was passing back home. I would give it a full hour before taking a quick peek back home in order to ascertain the time difference (somewhat) accurately. An hour seemed to work out just fine most of the time and it wasn’t like the day had just started back home, anyway. Even if an hour here equates to ten back in Equestria, we would be back in time to lower the suns and raise the moon. So far, we had never come across a time difference greater than that aside from Azeroth. Generally speaking, it was quite rare to find an alternate reality where the time difference differed so greatly, it usually was more along the lines of a few minutes at most.
Still, better to be careful than careless, right?
As we left the room with the mirror (something kept bugging me in the back of my mind about that for some reason), we entered a hallway with quite interesting architecture.
It distinctly reminded me of our old castle, only... more... damnit! It was just on the tip of my tongue, I know this place reminded me of something, I just don’t know of what. It felt like very old knowledge wanted to push itself back into the forefront of my thoughts and I failed miserably to remember what it was. It must be something out of my youth, I mused. Perhaps even something I remember from Earth.
Now, that thought made me think a bit harder about why this place felt so... familiar.
Liz wasn’t doing me any favors, shifting her appearance around as she found out that her changeling magic still worked in her new form, only slightly different. Currently, she was walking around as a centaur version of herself because, for some reason, she thought that would be a good idea. I had to admit, though, she kinda does look quite... sexy... like that.
Even Luna thought similarly to me if I was correct by her subtly groping Liz’s flanks as she rode on her back, looking like every part of the ancient, regal moon goddess that she was. Her dress was leaving nothing to the imagination and... I was thinking with my nethers again, wasn’t I? Damnit.
But... how could I not, seeing them like that? All sexy and alluring and... so very hot. If our daughters weren’t here with us, I might have forgotten about exploring this place entirely, too enchanted by the sight of my stupidly sexy wives.
Thankfully (or regrettably), once we found a part of the castle that was a bit more... let’s say 'decorated', I guess... I felt a giddy feeling suffuse my entire being as I realized what this place was.
“Sister! Eee!” I giggled happily, grabbing her tightly while dancing around in joy (while probably suffocating her in the process). “It’s Hogwarts! Yes! Yes! Yes! Eee!”
“Great,” Luna grunted, trying to escape my grasp while giving the people in the paintings a glare as they snickered at her misfortune. Our daughters were curiously examining the different beings depicted in them and Liz was making sure they didn’t wander off too far as I had my moment with my sister. “Can you... you know... put me down now?”
“Right,” I said with a sheepish laugh as I rubbed the back of my neck, letting go of her. “Sorry, Lulu.”
“It’s okay, sister,” Luna smiled, taking my hand in hers as we followed after our daughters. She was also, most definitely, quite blatantly... leering at Liz’s rump with thinly disguised desire. I was almost certain my sister would beg our wife to have her fuck her silly as a centaur at some point once we are back home. Or even while we are here~...
I wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea, either. It would absolutely make things a lot more interesting, wouldn’t it? Maybe... maybe a quick detour to an empty classroom couldn’t hurt?
I shook my head, reminding myself that our daughters were here with us. Hmm. Maybe another time, then. For now, I was more interested in finally getting to see Hogwarts in its entire glory with my own eyes. To think we would stumble upon Earth in such a way...
“Summer?” Luna asked in a whisper, giving the moving staircases a wary glance as we found the grand staircase of the school for all things magic after a few minutes of aimlessly wandering the hallways. Almost aimlessly, I mean. I still know the way we took from the room with the mirror to here perfectly. It wouldn’t do to get ourselves lost now, after all.
“Yes?” I asked back, giving her a curious glance. “What is it? Why are we whispering?”
“You know more about this place than I do, right?” Luna asked and I nodded. “What happened in the books? I barely remember anything about the series, but I know there was some sort of dark threat intent on causing death and destruction, wasn’t there?”
“I...” I mumbled, trying to wrack my brain for answers. A thousand years was definitely not kind on unimportant information like that, wasn’t it? To be honest, all I can remember is the plot of the first book and the general gist of the books following that one. That and the author didn't even try to hide her blatant dislike for a lot of things. There was also the whole goblin thing based on really horrible views of actual people if I'm not mistaken... “Well, there was the chosen hero after which the series was named, Harry Potter, and...”
“Pfft, Harry Potter? What kind of name is that?” Liz asked, having obviously listened in to our conversation despite us talking in hushed whispers. “Doesn’t sound heroic at all.”
“You don’t get to talk, dear,” I said, glaring playfully at her. “You name your changelings after things that sound buggy or are inspired by insects. Or after sex.”
“Buggy names are the best names,” Chrysalis pouted sulkily to herself, causing me and Luna to giggle quietly.
“Now, back to what I was talking about,” I said, humming to myself. “I don’t remember the details, but I think I still know all the major points about each book. There’s obviously the whole fated encounter between Harry Potter and the dark wizard that begins with the plot to revive said dark wizard through the philosopher’s stone in Harry’s first year at Hogwarts. If I’m right, that mirror we traveled through was a key part of the last challenge to retrieve the stone and only those... was it pure of heart? Or someone without greed, one of those two, I think... could get the stone that would grant one eternal life...”
“Sounds definitely too dangerous for a ten-year-old child,” Liz commented. “It’s age ten, right? Like our school?”
“I think so,” I nodded. “And you are right. His time at this school is riddled with dangerous encounters after dangerous encounters. He fought a massive basilisk in his second year at this school if I am not mistaken.”
“You’re kidding,” Luna said, giving me an incredulous look. “You are kidding, right? Summer, tell me you are just making that up, please.”
“I’m afraid not, and it gets worse from there,” I said, glumly.
“What could be worse than a basilisk?!” Luna exclaimed. “Even you are afraid to get anywhere near close to a mature basilisk, Summer! Let alone an ancient basilisk, if what I’m hearing about its size is correct.”
I grimaced, biting my lip. I didn’t feel like arguing against that, my sister was right, after all. The larger a basilisk gets, the more dangerous it becomes. Not because of its size, though. A highly magical creature like that was dangerous even at an early age, but the older they got, the less affected by magic they become (magic that was not their own, that is). Nothing short of using enough mana to melt through a couple of meters of stone would show an effect on those incredibly hostile animals.
“I can’t exactly remember what it was, but... in the fourth book, there was something about a tournament between three schools for witchcraft and wizardry which ends with the resurrection of the evil wizard and bad things happen from there on out,” I answered before biting my lip thoughtfully. “That’s the last book I read, though. The next one wasn’t out at the time and the fourth one was more or less like a turning point, symbolizing the end of Harry’s and his friends’ childhood. Maybe Cadance knows what happened in the next book, we would have to ask her. I can’t imagine it leading to anything good, based on what was foreshadowed.”
“And what would that be?” Luna asked, a heavy and uneasy feeling settling over us. I think she knew very well what that might have been, to be honest. Everything that would have happened after the fourth book could only have been bad.
“War,” I whispered, frowning darkly. “What else could the return of unimaginable darkness mean?”
“Should we go back and shatter the mirror, then?” Luna proposed, her eyes reflecting a stormy look back at me. A feeling that was also running rampant through me, as well, I had to admit. “If this Dark Lord manages to find his way to Equestria...”
“I know, Lulu,” I sighed, biting my lip in frustration. “I know it would be the best course of action to take, but... would it be the right one?”
“Summer, we can’t go around fixing other dimension’s problems for them!” Luna reprimanded me, her voice rising slightly in anger, and I winced, knowing that technically we weren’t supposed to interfere at all, anyway. Not that we ever adhered to that little rule of ours, to be honest. “It may have worked for Remnant, but we can’t do it for everyone. I know you probably don’t want to hear this, sister, but we only have about three years left until Platinum is released from her prison.
“I’m glad you aren’t locking your heart away out of fear anymore, but we need to concentrate our efforts on what is really important right now, okay? We have our own problems to focus on, so don’t you start fixing things for those that are just as capable of doing so for themselves. Once we get this behind us, we can do whatever we can to help those asking it of us. And please, sister, for the love of the Moon, please only help those that seek out our aid and actually need it.
“Until then, though... try not to exhaust yourself by doing everything that others ask of you. You don’t owe anything to anypony because you feel guilty about failing Tia. You are already doing so much good by slowly introducing the internet to Equestria, you don’t have to ruin yourself trying to leave behind a legacy Tia could be proud of. You aren’t going to die, Summer, even if September’s words are set in stone. I won’t let you die, sister.”
I gave my sister a heavy nod, knowing the wisdom behind that line of thought all too well. Still... it felt wrong of me to deny this world our aid. While I was reasonably sure everything would work out in the end for Harry Potter based on what I knew of the books (not to mention, it would be really sad if the series didn’t end with a happy ending), I couldn’t help but feel like I could do something to lessen the burden just a little bit.
Liz nudged me as we descended the stairs to the ground floor, back in her regular form of a hybrid between changeling and alicorn (making me feel slightly jealous of her ability to transform into whatever caught her fancy at the time), pointing over to an old man standing in the entrance of what I knew must be the Great Hall, the first place each student finds themselves at every new year...
In front of us stood none other than the headmaster of this school, looking like he could be Starswirl’s long-lost brother. Professor Dumbledore gave us a look that didn’t speak of surprise but mere curiosity. If I didn’t know better, I would assume he even expected us to arrive.
“It has been a long time since this world saw the presence of beings from another reality,” the man said, appraising Chrysalis with fascination before glancing at me and my sister. Our daughters were hidden behind us. “I assume the creator of the Mirror of Erised put that enchantment on it for a reason?”
“That would be correct,” Luna said, giving me a look. It has been a long time since I had even thought of that world we had been foalnapped to in our youth, but without it, there would be no such enchantment on the mirrors in the first place. Only shards remained of the mirror connecting to that world and it was for the best it stayed that way. “Have you met Starswirl?”
“Oh, no,” Dumbledore shook his head while softly stroking his long beard. “Read about him? Yes. Met him? For me to have done so I would have to be more than a thousand years old, wouldn’t you say so? A feat far outside the reach of wizards and witches under normal circumstances.”
“A shame,” I said, giving him a tiny smile. That little tidbit of information alone reassured me that time was more or less running parallel to ours. “He would have loved meeting you, I’m sure.”
“Perhaps introductions are in order?” he asked, his eyes twinkling. It made me feel a little bit giddy finding out that they actually did that. “My name is Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster here at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”
“Well met, Dumbledore,” I said, giving him a respectful nod. “My name is Summer Sol and these are my wives, Luna Nocturnis and Chrysalis Thornheart. Those two are our daughters, Summer Sunset and Twilight Star.”
“I assume you are here because of your own Mirror of Erised?” he asked and I confirmed it for him by giving him a nod. It was kinda obvious in hindsight, wasn't it? “The school year hasn’t started as of yet. If you wish, I would gladly show you around the grounds. I am quite curious to learn more about you and where you came from. That is if it wouldn’t be too much to ask, of course?”
Dumbledore glanced at Liz as he said that, and once more, I felt like Liz’s tendency to do whatever she wants to bite us in our flanks. I wasn’t really mad at her for that, though. That’s just Liz being Liz.
Seeing that we had the time and I wasn’t in a hurry to return to my duties, we took Dumbledore up on his offer, giving him ‘breadcrumbs’ of information as we learned a bit more about Hogwarts and its history. Twilight was, of course, enamored with the idea of a house entirely dedicated to knowledge and wisdom. She couldn’t stop asking questions about Rowena Ravenclaw and the other three founders of Hogwarts Castle, the subjects that were taught here, and pretty much anything else that she could think of that involved the wizarding world’s application of magic. Things like prominent occupations, laws, and relations with other countries and/or creatures.
That got us to the topic of ‘servants’ and how a majority of sentient creatures were treated. That drained the enthusiasm pretty quickly out of us, mostly from Twilight and me. I had hoped things would be different from the Harry Potter series where non-humans were simply considered to be beneath wizards and witches simply because they were different.
Holy flying penguins, it was so disgusting to see. I was very familiar with this behavior from the time just after Equestria’s founding. Back then, each tribe had clung to their stupid superiority complex for far too long. But this? This was worse. Thankfully, this behavior was a thing of the past with my little ponies (...mostly, some nobles are just 'that' stupid), but they never thought the other races were mindless beasts.
Seeing this still being practiced here, though? For once, I did feel like leaving them to their own fate and denying them my help even if they asked it of me. For once, I felt like being petty. And by petty I mean that I even wanted to refuse help to those innocent of those crimes because... in a sense, they weren’t entirely innocent by not standing up to those that kept this faulty system running. They did nothing to change that by staying silent, by not supporting those that were unable to bring about that change on their own.
I would have felt bad about this if I hadn’t known anything about how the majority of the wizards and witches here were completely okay with keeping the status quo with ‘lesser’ creatures as it was. I might have felt differently, less vindictive, really... if they weren’t just content with how things were at the moment.
I felt bad for those that genuinely tried, though. People like Dumbledore, and, I think, one of Harry’s friends, too (because why would the hero of the story need to lift a finger and actually do some good when he was already lauded for being a hero?).
It would be a steep endeavor, though, to incite a rebellion and succeed in changing the views of those that felt no need to change theirs. The faunus on Remnant were more or less successful with their revolution, but such things need time. Time I couldn’t put into this because I simply did not have the influence here that I have on Equis and Remnant. I was, quite literally, a nopony in this world.
Bribing them with riches and knowledge beyond their comprehension would most certainly not work out in the long term. Besides, that's not how I do things and I wasn’t about to start doing so. I have made many mistakes in the early years of Equestria, particularly with the griffons, I knew better than to try these things. It always comes back to bite me in my flanks.
Although... it was kinda tempting to bribe them with exotic magical artifacts and watch the fireworks fly as I gave them a ‘misfortune malachite’, instead. Those are one of the nastier dark artifacts of Platinum’s design, the misfortune malachite would bring naught but ruin to those that carried it with themselves. It was an incredibly cruel thought that I ruthlessly banished to the depths of my mind. As much as I thought some of those people deserved it, I’d rather not lose myself to such an atrocious mindset at all.
I was staying silent throughout the majority of the tour, quietly listening to Professor Dumbledore as he explained the intricacies of the wizarding world to my daughters. I could tell that Sunset and Twilight were disturbed by the thought of what the people of this world used for magical focus in this secret society away from prying ‘muggle’ eyes. A ridiculous word, if I've ever heard one.
Wands. At first glance, everything seemed to be totally okay with them, but... if you took a deeper look into how they were made, the barbarism behind them was nothing short of disgusting to me. Dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, phoenix feathers... considering how the majority of witches and wizards thought of magical creatures, I could take a good guess as to how they acquired those ‘ingredients’. I mainly had a problem with the dragon heartstrings since feathers and hairs aren’t too hard to come by. I doubt that those dragons part willingly with their life-giving organ, though, and I’m rather doubtful that those heartstrings are collected only from already deceased dragons that died of natural causes.
It would be for the best that I never mention this dimension to the dragons living on Equis, or suns forbid, my darling Yu’la.
I could easily change this practice, couldn’t I? I could divulge the secrets of the mana gem to these wizards and witches, but... did they deserve such a powerful tool at their disposal? I was rather hesitant to trust them with such power if all that would do was bring naught but ruin to the rest of the world. I wasn’t so naïve to think some idiot playing at being a dark lord or whatever wouldn’t see an opportunity to get rid of those without magic.
That’s another thing I was rather miffed about. Why even hide all of these wonders from the rest of the world? Because they fear it would become polluted with magic-less ‘heretics’? Dumbledore tried to convince us that muggles and those born with magic lived peacefully together due to that secrecy, but... I knew that there was something more sinister going on. Since so many were simply content with the state of those ‘lesser’ magical beings, I knew for certain that their view on muggles was anything but grand.
I might not know much about their history, but I doubt the modern world would reject the idea of magic being real. They were keeping its existence a secret purely because of selfish reasons. Remnant is a different case because the remaining magic users depended on it for survival, but these people here? They have long since outgrown the need to stay hidden. The only thing holding them back from walking among 'muggles' as equals was a petty sense of superiority.
This world could benefit so much from magic and technology working hand in hand, I knew that. I knew that because it worked for Equestria, so why couldn’t it for this Earth?
Haah. It's a puzzling mystery, isn’t it? Was it because of fear... or was it a selfish desire to keep these wonders all for themselves? I suspect it was the latter case, based on what I could barely remember from the books.
This world was bringing out the cynic in me, wasn’t it? To think that I of all ponies would ever condemn a whole society and declare them as hopeless... I couldn’t even begin to understand why Sunset seemed to think otherwise. That these people were able to change, worth having hope for.
Maybe I was just too old, thinking mortals needed to be forced to their happiness. At which point does the line between benevolent dictator and selfish dictator blur? Am I still struggling with reconnecting to my heart if I was so quick to give up on this world?
Perhaps... perhaps I’m just tired of trying to help morons see what their own wrong-doings are doing to others and give them the chance to better themselves. I have seen it so often with the nobility, I was taking it out on the people of this world. At least I could trust the nobility to get over their pettiness (eventually), lest they earn my ire completely. They were easily cowed out of that attitude whenever it popped up. Even the two defective brain cells of those foolish enough in the nobility could recognize when I was displeased with them.
Luna could tell that I was in a particularly nasty funk, becoming increasingly more depressed the closer we got to the end of the tour. My enthusiasm for Hogwarts and all its wonders was completely gone from my system, having realized that I had... romanticized... an idea of a magical world I read about in my previous life while looking past all of its faults. My past self had no doubt seen something in it that gave me hope that it wasn’t that bad. Only now I knew that it wasn’t this incredible wondrous thing I had pretended it to be.
Equestria, on the other hoof, was turning out exactly like I had hoped it would. A peaceful place full of wonders that made me excited to see what each new day would bring with itself. Of course, Equestria wasn’t without its flaws, but they weren’t so blatantly bad as what I was seeing in this world. Nothing could ever be absolutely perfect, after all. They could always be better, but in the end, one could only aspire to reach that goal that was, in all actuality, unreachable. A paradise was a thing of myth and I know now that even this world was as far away from that as any other world.
Still... I'm allowed to dream, right? Perhaps one day I might find that ‘perfect’ world and gaze at it with nothing but envy. I was content with the state that Equestria was in, though. I only saw little room for improvement (that was actually achievable, that is), so... who knows?
Once we were back in the room with the mirror, I gave Dumbledore the offer of seeing Equestria for himself, actually finding the old man to be quite nice to have around. He reminded me of our old mentor, seeing something in this world that was worth saving. I shouldn’t be so quick to abandon it, but I just wanted to go back home and immerse myself in my work to forget all of these nasty thoughts.
It was funny to see him give his hooves a fascinated stare. It eerily reminded me of the reaction Khadgar had to his own brief transformation into a pony.
“My, this world...” Dumbledore mumbled to himself as my daughters snickered to themselves beside me, amused by how he seemed to act like a newborn foal. “This world is just brimming with magic! I can feel my bones tingle!”
I smiled as the old stallion chuckled to himself, turning every which way to get a better look at himself. He wasn’t wrong about the difference in the density of the mana in the environment, but the ‘tingling in his bones’ was more the fault of Canterlot, specifically. The capital was brimming with the magic of my wives and I, after all.
“I am glad you find it so amazing,” I said while stretching out my wings, gaining his attention (and not just because I made myself look intentionally bigger). The headmaster of Hogwarts looked at me with even more astonishment than he did with himself, craning his neck upwards to look me in the eye. I’m really not a vain pony, but... I could admit that I was a sight to behold by those that had never seen me in pony. “I’m sure my daughters would be happy to show you around. I sadly have to attend to my duties, so I’m afraid I can’t show you around myself.”
As much as I wanted to enjoy some relaxation with my wives (in the naughty way, that is), I'm sure Kibitz was already having a field day about adhering to my schedule. Alas, teaching him flexibility was a fool’s errand on my part. As much as I wanted the stubborn stallion to be a bit more lenient with poor, little old me, that would sadly never happen.
Dumbledore couldn’t even give me an answer before Twilight dragged him happily after herself with a skip in her step. I dearly hope she won’t ever change from the innocent young mare that she is right now. She held such a love for life in herself, it was so very inspiring to see. Maybe that was the proud mother in me speaking, but I don’t really care.
Kibitz, of course, gave me an unimpressed look as he found me about to enter my office, and I gave him the best apologetic gaze that I could muster. I wasn’t at all sorry for having taken the liberty to skip court today. I simply wasn't in the mood to talk with the nobles for the majority of the day, and... to be honest? I could do without any more stress for the next week.
Alas, my decision to skip court only gave me more paperwork to go through, having to look at request after request, numerous cases of ‘I’m too lazy to do the work myself, let my princess do the work for me’, some genuine instances of ponies seeking out our help, and a whole lot of tax reports and whatnot. All in all, I could sum it up as a typical day of doing paperwork, dealing with all kinds of things that cropped up on a daily basis in this wonderful nation of mine. The legislative work was by far my favorite because I could just mindlessly go through it, spotting the dumb attempts of the nobles from a mile away.
Sometimes, I wish they would get a bit more creative with their schemes so that I could put some actual effort into it. But... after having done this for a thousand years and more, there was little to nothing that they could come up with that I hadn’t seen before.
If I could trust any of them to run this kingdom I would say that this was about the time to consider going into retirement. Alas, if I were to do that, chaos would reign before I could even find a nice place to retreat to. No, I couldn’t do that to my little ponies, even if the idea of ‘going back to my roots’ sounded wonderful to me.
I suppose I would get antsy after half a century of living on a farm anyway, wouldn’t I? Hmm. I could go back to creating games if I wanted to as well, but... all of that would only be a temporary thing at best. Despite it being really frustrating sometimes, I was and will always be a princess at heart. I thrived on this kind of work, as boring as it could be at times.
Besides, Sunset and Twilight were the only ponies I would ever entrust with my nation and I didn’t want to burden them with all of this before they were ready for it. I’d rather they find their own way, something that makes them actually happy rather than throwing them into the deep end of having to rule this country (with or without the help of Luna, Liz, and myself). I knew Sunset was less of a fan of doing this kind of work than she was of the idea of being the protector of Equestria. She had her dream of safeguarding this realm from those that seek to harm it and I was loath to take that away from her.
Cadance took more after me in that regard, happy to do everything she could to rule justly and fairly over ponykind. She would, no doubt, thrive in the Crystal Empire once it returns.
Twilight might find the paperwork great, but I knew she would think less so of court and meeting with the delegates from other countries and social events. Luna was right about our little Star, she was a bookworm through and through.
The crown was a heavy burden, indeed. A responsibility I was happy to always place upon myself for the betterment of Equestria, no matter what. That would never change, no matter what. Perhaps someday, when ponies didn’t need guidance anymore, that might change. But until then? I would, forever and always, try to do everything I can to be the best princess I could be for them.
Once the day neared its end, I had two begging young mares standing in front of my desk, the wizened old headmaster next to them. Haah... I should have seen this coming, shouldn’t I? My daughters were trying to convince me to let them do an ‘exchange’ year so that they could experience what life was like on the other side of the mirror.
I strongly suspected that Twilight whined to Sunset first before coming to me with this absurd idea. I had no idea how she had roped her twin into this, but she somehow did. Despite knowing that Sunset was less of a fan of being constantly reminded of her nightmares, Twilight managed to get her of all ponies to agree to do this with her. I was pretty sure she appealed to Sunset’s overwhelming need to protect her sister at all costs...
“Please, Mom!” Twilight whined, shifting anxiously on her legs as I gave her a look that told her I was very much against this idea. I was rather reluctant to let them go to a school that saw one dangerous event after another. A school where students had even worse tendencies of spouting nonsense about supremacy to their fellow students than the young students at some of our own elite schools had about which tribe was ‘better’ than the others until they grew out of that foolish behavior. “We could learn so much about new types of magic there! An entire world with a history unlike our own! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Please!”
“Twilight...” I sighed but was cut off almost instantly. Not by my little Star, though.
“Mom, they teach about defense against dark magic there,” Sunset told me, causing my eyelid to twitch. So that's how Twilight managed to get her to agree, huh? “They might know something that you could never teach us! We could revolutionize magic combat in Equestria!”
I sighed. “Sunset, it's not that I...” I started, but once again, I was cut off.
“If you are concerned about their safety, I assure you that my school is the safest place on Earth,” Professor Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. The twinkle in them didn’t reassure me at all (or his words, for that matter). I was starting to become suspicious of the headmaster trying to manipulate me into allowing my daughters to attend his so-called 'safe' school. I have no idea what he was up to, but I would be damned to let him recruit them into his little 'war' with what's-his-name. Then again, I probably was too paranoid again, wasn’t I?
Haah... what could go wrong? I should put more trust in my daughters' judgment. “Alright,” I muttered while rubbing my eyes tiredly with a hoof. I have to start somewhere, right? “Under the condition that you do not, under any circumstance, do anything to endanger you or those close to you, I will allow this. Do not make me regret this decision, okay? You don’t want me to coddle you, I understand that. But don’t do anything unwise or rash. I cannot bail you out of every bad situation, as much as you think that I can.”
Twilight let out a happy noise before jumping towards me over the table to give me a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Twilight exclaimed and I giggled slightly at her excited behavior, returning it with a soft nuzzle. Sunset was giving her twin a grin and a hoof bump as they left the office, leaving me alone with the headmaster.
My gentle mood took an instant turn as I glared at the old coot with the full fury of the Red Sun. “Understand that if anything happens to them, I will make you responsible for it,” I told him while letting go of a fraction of my control over my carefully repressed magical aura. “Nothing will save you from my wrath, Dumbledore.”
He hid it quite well, but I noticed the shiver run through his spine and the way he paled. “I will make sure they will not come to harm,” the professor said, giving me a nod. “But I can’t guarantee it completely, I hope you understand that?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, relieving him of the magical pressure... for now. “They are very precious to me, Albus,” I said, taking out a tea set from a cabinet behind me. By the twin suns, I really do need something to calm me down. All this stress is getting to me, I can't think straight. I was assuming the worst of him and took it out on him, which wasn't at all fair of me to do. “I’d rather they don’t do this, but I can’t keep them from living their lives forever. Sheltering them like that... it will only make them resent me for it later. Promise me that they will be looked after at all times.”
Dumbledore smiled, though I could tell he was still shaken from my display of raw power. “I will personally make sure that they are not getting up to any mischief if that is what you are worried about,” he said, no doubt familiar with more than enough troublemakers at his school. I doubt he has seen the particular brand of mischief my daughters could get up to, though. Two highly magically adept mares could cause some serious trouble at times. “As a precautionary measure, they won’t take part in any extra-curricular activities. Some of the wizarding sports can get... quite dangerous, I have to admit.”
“Thank you,” I smiled slightly, glad he wasn’t taking any chances with this. For his sake, he better keep to his word. “What of school materials? Do they need anything specific?”
“I suppose there is enough time for Ollivander to craft them wands from their own hairs,” Dumbledore muttered, stroking his long white beard. “The school uniforms shouldn’t be any problem, either. I can call in a favor with Madam Malkin, she would surely love to work with a pair of princesses.”
“I would appreciate it if that didn’t get publicly known,” I said, giving him a stern look. “I fear it would draw unwanted attention. Something neither of us wants.”
Drawing attention on Remnant had been more than dangerous enough for Cadance and me, I don’t want to know what would happen if my daughters managed to do so in a world with those seeking to gain the means to bring about all kinds of dark and forbidden things.
“Of course,” Dumbledore nodded. “The school books shouldn’t cost you too much, either, and I’m sure you have cauldrons for potions?”
“You practice alchemy?” I asked, interested. “It’s a rather advanced subject, in my opinion.”
“I think it helps to learn about it at an early age,” Dumbledore laughed to himself in that typical, grandfatherly way and I got the impression we had rather different definitions of what one should teach young students. Alchemy was a volatile process at the best of times, but I suppose if they had experience with this subject, I shouldn’t dismiss the idea entirely. Sunset and Twilight could learn quite a lot from a potions master. I doubt they would go so far as to learn to transmute different materials into more valuable ones, though.
“Anything else they would need?” I asked. “Anything for ritual magic?”
“Ritualistic magic?” Dumbledore asked back, intrigued. “No, no. Nothing like that, I have to say. Anything else they would need, we can easily provide for them. If you have one, a crystal ball for divination might come in handy.”
“I’d rather they not learn of prophetic magic,” I warned him. “It has always led to less than stellar results here in Equestria, Albus.”
“There seems to be a story there,” he noted and I glared at him fiercely. “But I won’t pry, dear. Rest assured, they will be excused from that class if you so wish.”
“I would very much appreciate that,” I said, giving him a nod. “Now, then... is that all?”
Dumbledore gave me a short nod, and with a quick glance at the thick stack of paperwork that still needed to be done (preferably today), I decided I could spare a minute or two to escort him back to the mirror.
“Princess...” Dumbledore sighed, looking up at me as he stood before the uncovered mirror. “I know you seem rather reluctant to show your trust and I understand why that is. But not all wizards and witches are deserving of that mistrust, Your Highness. I believe we can forge a lasting friendship with each other if you are willing to do so.”
“Friendship, you say?” I hummed, giving him a closer look. His eyes didn’t speak of any deceit, but a schemer definitely hid behind them. I do know that he is more or less 'trustworthy' from what I remember from the books, so I guess showing him a little bit of trust wasn’t too much trouble for me to do, was it? “Starswirl would have loved meeting you, Dumbledore. You two... are quite similar, I have to say.”
“You make it sound like you knew him personally,” he commented and I smiled cryptically. If only he knew... if only he knew, indeed. “Your Highness, I would like to offer you and your wives an invitation to observe the Triwizard Tournament held later this year between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons Academy, and the Durmstrang Institute. Maybe that will convince you that the wizarding world isn’t as bad as you think it is.”
I let out a ‘humph’, knowing that the tournament was very much dire news and I’d rather not get dragged into it, but perhaps I could do one little thing to make the life of Harry Potter and his friends a bit easier. I will have to ask Cadance if she can remember anything specific from the books, though.
“Professor, tell me one thing,” I began, once more feeling like he was trying to manipulate me into this. “In this tournament, what happens to those that participate? What do they have to go through?”
“Trials, Your Highness,” he sighed, aware of what that sounded like. No student should have to go through a barbaric thing like that tournament. Despite that, though, he seemed to think it was a grander thing than it actually was. So far, he was failing my expectations of him more and more. “It’s a tradition from ages long past, meant to bring together witches and wizards of different nationalities.”
“Did these trials ever end in death?” I asked, knowing the answer to that already, but I wanted to hear it from him. He couldn’t possibly ask me to attend such an event in order to ‘forge friendships’ (more like make an ally out of me, if I'm correct).
Dumbledore gave me a remorseful look. “They did,” he confirmed my question without hesitation. At least he was honest with me instead of hiding behind false words to gain my favor. “I had hoped to have you and your wives there in case something happened despite the heavy precautions that will be taken to prevent such a thing from ever occurring again.”
“I will have to disappoint you there, Albus,” I said, glowering at him in mistrust. “I am powerful and can do many things, but preventing Death from claiming a soul is not one of them.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of keeping the competing students away from coming that close to death in the first place,” he told me and I hummed. There was perhaps one thing I could give him that would match those conditions.
“In that case, I will give you a way for those students to quickly escape from that danger,” I smiled thinly, disgusted at myself for even thinking about aiding him with that barbaric tournament. But if I didn’t offer him that little piece of help, who knows what might happen otherwise? I couldn’t in good conscience do nothing. “I trust you to not take advantage of my generosity, Dumbledore. And should even one of my daughters be dragged into this atrocious thing despite your promises, I will be the least of your problems, Headmaster.”
“I understand,” he said, though I doubted he truly did. He might think he knows what he’s doing, playing with fire like that, but he won’t ever truly understand how much my daughters mean to me.
Even I don’t know what my daughters might mean for the future of Equestria. The fact alone that they will wield the Elements of Harmony and become alicorns themselves was something that I had no idea of how it would affect Equestria or even Equis as a whole. September was right with his words during our first (actual) meeting. Sunset and Twilight are important, more so than anypony could ever imagine.
The weeks after our first contact with Hogwarts and its headmaster were stressful, to say the least. I did learn just what would happen at the tournament from Cadance, and even more worryingly, what might happen in the following years. The rightful champion of Hogwarts would die at the tournament to the Dark Lord ‘Mr. Snakeface’, as Cadance calls him oh-so-eloquently. Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory would fall into his trap and only Harry would escape with his life intact.
If I don’t interfere, that is.
I was hard at work creating the necessary necklaces with the teleportation matrix set into the pendant, pouring more than enough mana into them that they could transport them back to Hogwarts from any place they might get stuck in. I doubted they would somehow find themselves on the moon, so it would (hopefully) work without a hitch. As a precautionary measure, I did work in a fail-safe that would create a bubble shield around the wearer while Luna dealt with the other problem.
Apparently, Hogwarts has a thing against unauthorized teleportation but that was easily worked around with a bit of my sister’s ingenuity. Luna really had taken a liking to creating ‘magi-tech’, having found a love for creating all kinds of gadgets by combining magic with technology. In simple terms, the necklace would brute force its way through that restriction of ‘no teleportation allowed’ by simply overwhelming the defenses by attempting to teleport about... a hundred times per second until it succeeded. A bit excessive, to be honest, but it did work.
I wasn’t even surprised my sister found a way to create a working device that could function inside an artificial magic nullification barrier. After creating said magic nullification barrier in the first place, that is (because, of course, my sister does the impossible after she has already done the impossible).
Sometimes I wonder whether or not Luna was actually the true genius in our family...
One thing Cadance told me that disturbed me quite thoroughly was the fact that one of the teachers at Hogwarts would be impersonated through the use of a potion. My Rose Petal reassured me that he would eventually be found out, but that was another thing that made me worry about the safety of my daughters. I was even less happy about her suggestion to let things play out as intended to avoid causing massive deviations in the timeline.
I knew she was right to be that cautious, but that didn’t mean I would have to like it. We were already interfering in something that we probably shouldn’t, so I wasn’t too concerned about changing the fate of the poor student who is going to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Liz had a few ways of making sure that everything would happen as they were supposed to while changing everything one could change without anypony noticing it.
Of course, that meant getting a little bit creative about how to stage everything exactly like it was depicted in the books while at the same time making sure nothing went wrong. We would have to get the Hogwarts champions in on this scheme of ours without actually telling them that ‘Oh, hey! One of you might die to Lord Snakeface and we will enact some convoluted plan to change that, but don’t tell anyone about that or the return of said dark wizard!’. There was no way that this was actually going to work out like we hoped it would, was there?
Cadance, Ruby, Liz, Luna, and I all donated some of our tail hairs so that this Ollivander could make wands for Twilight and Sunset for the sake of appearances and I had to say... they did turn out to be very magnificent in their own right. They wouldn’t actually need them to practice magic, but it would look admittedly odd for them to not have their own wands while attending Hogwarts come November.
It made sense to simply let them attend during the same time the students of the other schools would arrive at Hogwarts and it gave us plenty of time to get them ready to be away for so long from home. They wouldn’t actually be that far away, considering where the mirror stood, but... for all intents and purposes, they might as well be cut off from home almost entirely. The students weren’t allowed to leave the school grounds on a whim and that was perhaps for the best. I won’t take any chances with curious students following them back to the mirror and wondering where my daughters disappear off to so often.
I was understandably incredibly anxious as the time arrived for them to start their ‘exchange’ year.
“Come on, Mom. They will be alright,” Cadance spoke up after she watched me turn around on the spot for the nth time, pacing back and forth worriedly. “You said they will only be attending classes, right? Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.”
Ruby let out a yelp next to her, shaking her marefriend. “Don’t say that!” she scolded Cadance and I let out a panicked snort, myself. “Things always go wrong when you say that, Cady!”
“Pfft, no they don’t,” my daughter shot back with a roll of her eyes.
“All I’m going to say to that is ‘Beowolf snowball’, Cady," Ruby said, causing my daughter to blush brightly in embarrassment.
“That wasn’t my fault!” Cadance whined and Ruby giggled, giving her a nuzzle. “You keep bringing that up, you meanie...”
“I wouldn’t have to if you would stop saying things like that,” Ruby shrugged. “It was a funny sight, though.”
“Yeah,” Cadance giggled, a bright grin on her muzzle. “The look on Weiss’ face was just priceless.”
Ruby snorted, beginning to laugh while I gave the two of them a thoroughly confused look, momentarily having forgotten why I had been pacing back and forth in front of the mirror leading to Hogwarts.
I will never understand them, will I? I don’t know what was so funny about getting into mortal danger on a daily basis and I never will. They could face the apocalypse and giggle madly, totally unconcerned about what might happen. I suppose their confidence didn’t come from out of nowhere, though. How many ancient Creatures of Grimm have they slaughtered and come out of it looking like they had the time of their lives? Far too many...
“Tell me you went over everything with them one last time?” I asked Cadance, changing the topic back to what I was actually concerned with. “You told them what to look out for and what to avoid under any circumstance, right?”
“Yes, Mom,” Cadance rolled her eyes, probably for the hundredth time today. “I told them about Moody, the three tasks, the dance..."—she paused and scrunched up her muzzle—" Heck, I even told them to stay away from the lady with the stupid journalism fetish.”
My sister arrived at that moment with Twilight and Sunset in tow. “I don’t even want to know, do I?” Luna asked, floating their luggage behind her in her magical grip. Twilight’s bags were full of blank scrolls, judging by the rustling sounds I heard. Leave it to my studious daughter to bring a mountain of school supplies with her.
“No, I don’t think you want to,” I sighed, giving Cadance and Ruby a nuzzle as I prepared myself for the uncomfortable journey through the mirror. “Please make sure Liz isn’t doing something to get the nobles angry at her?”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Cadance smiled. “I’m sure Ruby and I can handle Mother’s antics for a few hours until you get back.”
“I’m more worried about you helping her in whatever prank she is concocting for them,” I sighed, getting them to grin back bashfully at me. “Just... don’t overdo it, okay?”
“No promises,” Ruby said, giggling with Cadance. “It depends on whether or not they do something to warrant it in the first place.”
“They always do something to warrant it,” Luna shot back with a roll of her eyes. “Out of all of us, Liz is the one that brings the worst out of them.”
I let out an exasperated grumble, feeling the desire to drag a hoof through my face. “I can’t even fault them for that,” I groused. “Liz really doesn’t know how to keep her... her-ness... to herself. Sometimes it feels like we need to constantly foalsit her because she can’t hold court on her own.”
“Aww, you love our Cuddlebug, Summer,” Luna grinned, nuzzling me. I smiled into her affections, unable to disagree with that statement. “And you know she only does that because she worries for us, right?”
“Of course,” I agreed, giving her a tiny nuzzle of my own before kissing her. “It’s as much endearing as it is aggravating.”
I don’t even want to know what Liz got up to during my absence on Remnant, to be honest. She probably did something lewd in front of the nobles, didn’t she? She might put on a strong and carefree façade most of the time, but when she’s worried about something (that more often than not has got something to do with Luna or me), she gets... weird. As in, she does something to purposefully get the nobles aggravated enough so that she can forget that not everything was going exactly how she would have liked it to go. Especially if that thing might have not been for certain (like my return to Equestria while I was stuck on Remnant, for example).
Luna and I helped our daughters move the luggage through the mirror, and once we were on the other side, I frowned as the house elves of Hogwarts happily took care of moving it afterward. I might never get used to how they just ‘like’ being servants, will I? It was a complete mystery to me why they were content existing like that, feeling the need to be of service due to some compulsion placed on them a long time ago, as far as I understood it. Cadance wasn’t entirely certain, either, and to be honest? I don’t think I want to know the specifics.
“Now then, we were supposed to arrive at the Grand Hall like the other schools, right?” I asked and Sunset gave me a nod in confirmation. She and Twilight were already changing into their new school uniforms with the help of Luna. “No sense in dragging this out, then. Come on.”
After they finished tying their ties, our daughters happily led us through the corridors of the ancient castle (it might have actually been built around the same time we built our first castle in the Everfree Forest, I think).
A heavy feeling settled over me the closer we got to our destination, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight. Something... didn’t feel right. Once again I had that feeling, the feeling of an oncoming storm just like before when the future versions of my daughters and their friends appeared out of nowhere. I had a bad feeling that not everything would turn out like it did in the books and that feeling was, once again, tied to my daughters.
“And lastly...” I heard Dumbledore’s voice through the heavy double doors of the Grand Hall, and with it, my last chance to call all of this off to prevent whatever my feeling was warning me about was dashed before my eyes as the doors opened, presenting us with the sight of hundreds of students looking at us with astonishment. “From a far-off land, two very gifted students will join us this year to learn more about our ways of magic. Please, give a warm welcome to the daughters of the headmistresses of the Equestrian Magical School for the Gifted: Twilight Star and Summer Sunset.”
I glanced at the students sitting to the left and right of me as we walked towards the end of the hall where Dumbledore stood in front of the table for the teachers, feeling like I was walking closer to certain doom with each step. One student stood out to me, giving me a disbelieving stare through his round glasses as I walked past him and his friends.
It seems I have caught the attention of one Harry Potter. Perhaps it was the bright solar flare moving through my hair that did that, but it felt like there was more to it than first met the eye. It occurred to me that there might be those that were... more sensitive to the primal nature of a higher being in this realm and that he might have come across something that would have given him that impression, that recognition.
It was a bit like how Dumbledore reacted to us the first time we met each other, really. I had chalked it up to him having ‘expected’ us, but he might have felt our approach simply because of the aura we have around ourselves.
As much as I wanted to investigate this further, I just didn’t have the time to do so. Even if there are higher beings around here somewhere (or some kind of artifact left behind by one), I didn't plan to stick around for long to find out. Unlike the other heads of schools, I still have a duty to fulfill in my homeland.
Anyway, my daughters drew just as much attention to themselves as Luna and I did. Not only because their hair colors were unlike any of those attending this school (or the others, for that matter), but also because of their striking eyes and the slitted pupils in them. That, and Sunset made it her mission to glare at any student giving us a haughty sneer (mainly from the table of one particular house bearing the symbol of a snake as their emblem). Not even House Blueblood came close to the unpleasant vibe I got from the Slytherin table.
Huh. Would you look at that? I was actually giving House Blueblood credit where credit was due. These are strange times, indeed.
I gave Dumbledore a quick greeting and found myself seated at the table with Luna right next to none other than the burly man himself, Hagrid. Out of all the ‘teachers’ here, he was the only one I had an interest in that was genuine and without any ulterior motives.
How could I not find a kindred spirit in him, the one that was an expert in magical creatures of all kinds? I could tell that he was very much interested in learning more about what I knew of the kirin, and even more so, the crystal ponies. Those were completely unheard of here in the wizarding world, it actually surprised me that there was no ‘equivalent’ to them here.
I also learned that they had their own thestrals in this dimension (and much more surprising to me was the fact that they were closely tied to death). I suppose those ancient myths of theirs had a kernel of truth to them, after all. Perhaps I should look into the origin of the thestral pony tribe again...
Naturally, I expressed an interest in seeing these breeds of thestrals for myself, even if they were by far less intelligent than I would have liked to hear. I was particularly interested to find out how their ability to hide worked. It sounded like it might be a variation of shadow magic the umbrum were said to have possessed back during the time of the Crystal Empire's founding. It's too bad Amore wasn't around anymore, she could have given me some much-needed insight on that.
Anyway! Moving on from that rather depressing thought... Madame Maxime, the half-giantess headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy, mentioned that the pegasi that drew her carriage all the way from France to Britain only drink alcohol, causing me to sputter in shock and Luna to laugh uproariously in delight.
Out of all the things that could have surprised me... I have no idea how one could possibly get the idea to feed their steeds such... I don’t even know what to say that could put my indignation sufficiently into words. To give them alcohol, a poison by all rights... it was utterly disgusting and disgraceful to me.
At least my daughters seemed to have fun talking with the students from the Ravenclaw House as they partook in the feast. Sunset was drawing even more attention by drinking blood openly from a goblet, causing murmurs to spread among all the students that kept an interested eye on her and Twilight. I have no doubt there are going to be many rumors floating around come the next morning (probably even earlier, if I am honest with myself).
Later that evening, as the feast was winding down and every student had their fill, Dumbledore stood up and moved next to the covered Goblet of Fire and I couldn’t help but growl to myself as he proclaimed that ‘eternal glory' awaited the champion that would win the Triwizard Tournament.
At least he made sure that each and every student understood that this little competition was not for those that were unprepared and faint of heart. I could thankfully rest easy knowing that the necklaces I made with my wives would prevent any mishap from happening, but that gave me little to no reassurance that the conclusion of the tournament would work out like I hoped it would. It would be rather bad if even those precautions failed in the end.
While I could not save Harry Potter and the rightful Hogwarts champion by interfering directly (as much as I wanted to, I was strictly forbidden from ‘meddling’ with the timeline by my own daughter), Chrysalis thankfully found a way to ‘fake’ a corpse, which would hopefully lead to this tournament being permanently banned from ever occurring again.
Of course, that meant that we would have to make someone disappear from the face of the Earth, but that was the least problematic thing about this. I would gladly take in the Diggory family and let them live out their lives in Equestria (if they wanted to). The question, though, was how we would make that switch happen in the first place.
The only solution that came to my mind was to infiltrate the tournament as a contender myself, but that was an absolutely ridiculous idea, wasn't it? With the help of Liz, I could probably pose as Hogwarts’ champion with no one being the wiser of it, but... that also meant that I would have to put my own life at risk, instead. Not to mention, posing as Harry Potter or Cedric Diggory left me feeling icky and made me want to gag at the mere thought of it (not that Liz would have any qualms about this, but I'd rather not unleash her shenanigans on this world).
Dumbledore and (as I learned his name) Cornelius Fudge explained the entree rules to become a champion in the tournament. Only 'one' student of each school was permitted to enter and had to be over the age of seventeen. I knew that that was one thing that would definitely not work out as intended for Hogwarts, and just as I met the eyes of Harry Potter for probably the hundredth time already, the enchanted ceiling of the Grand Hall started acting up.
Alastor Moody (or rather, the man posing as Alastor Moody) arrived, having no doubt caused the disturbance by his mere presence. I felt repulsed that I wasn’t allowed to just turn the man to ash right then and there. But Cadance told me that the events following the return of Dark Lord Snakeface need to turn out exactly as they have to for Harry to get the chance to defeat him once and for all in a few years. And that meant staying my hand, reduced to a mere observer while a murderer and dark wizard was free to do whatever he pleased.
I’m sure September would find this funny (if he could feel that emotion, that is). It felt weird to be reduced to a passive piece, unable to do anything to influence the board directly.
What a conundrum this turned out to be. I could, at most, nudge the pieces into a slightly more favorable position on the board, but I couldn’t directly control the outcome. This must be what September feels like, simply being an observer of events that he deemed important enough to observe.
I had seen the stallion from time to time in the background in the past few years, following the events that marked the growth of my daughters into the rightful mares that they are now. But not once did he stay long enough for me to ask him anything in regard to the past, present, or future.
In a sense, I was becoming more familiar with the difficulties September has to face. Interfering meant changing things, and changing things meant outcomes that were unknown to me. Outcomes that might turn out favorably at first glance, but could quickly turn out to be even worse than if I didn’t dare to interfere in the first place. It would mean that I would have to fix my own mistakes, even if I might not deem them as such. Then again... changing things doesn’t necessarily have to lead to bad outcomes, as the butterfly effect so often portrays.
As long as you don’t interfere in your own past, things wouldn’t lead to the universe imploding in on itself suddenly. Causing minor paradoxes won't leave the universe an utter wreck, but it’s still better to be cautious than careless. Even minor paradoxes could cause more trouble than they are worth it, after all.
Thus, my inability to change major events in this universe by directly interfering, as much as I wanted to. At most, I could save the life of Cedric Diggory by replacing him with the look-alike corpse at the right moment, seemingly keeping everything as it should be while changing the thing that mattered most. And it irked me that that was the only thing I could do without utterly endangering Harry Potter’s future.
Apparently, there was some convoluted twist about how Lord Snakeface could not be killed because of phylactery shenanigans. Cadance doesn’t actually know whether Harry would succeed against his nemesis since the last book hadn’t been out before she died, but since it was supposed to be the last book, I could take a guess and probably be right about it.
Nopony likes a bad ending for the hero, after all. That doesn’t mean it would happen for certain, though. All I could do in the end was to hope that it wouldn’t turn out to be the bad ending with the forces of darkness triumphing over good.
Luna and I returned to Equestria once the festivities ended that day, thankfully finding our castle still intact without an angry mob of nobles after our wife. Liz did cause a bit of mischief, though. By... pretending to be a centaur with a larger-than-appropriate bust (going completely naked, of course).
I sighed, dragging my misbehaving wife after me as we got ready to retire for the night. I should have expected it, like so many other times, but somehow... I still expected to find her not being her usual self and behave for once.
The absence of our daughters left me in an unhappy mood, unable to even appreciate the appearance of my wife for what it was. I wasn’t even feeling remotely lustful, too worried that something might happen with my daughters. All I wanted was to find some restful slumber to forget my worries for even a little while, but Liz made that all but impossible by roping Luna into having sex for most of the night.
So, instead of joining them, I found myself wandering around restlessly in our garden. Before long, my gaze wandered up to the moon and stayed there for a good long while.
I sighed shakily, trying to keep the tears at bay as my heart felt so incredibly heavy. “What would you do, sister?” I whispered to myself, lost in thought. “Everything seems to be so complicated all of a sudden when, for the longest time, everything has been so simple that I wished for a challenge to appear before me, an event that would make me struggle for the first time in a millennium...
“And now that I am facing one such struggle... I don’t know what to do. I fear my daughters will do something very foolish despite me having them not to do so. Sunset, of all ponies, might try something to prove that she is worthy of all those expectations. Expectations that she alone places upon herself...
“I worry that..."—my voice trembled as I breathed in shakily—" I worry that she might just succeed with it. And I fear it will utterly ruin her in the process.
"It’s a silly fear, isn’t it? I have seen the future that awaits her, the mare that she grows into. Rightful, just, kind... and hopeful above all else.”
Of course, my twin couldn’t answer me. She couldn't give me some sort of reassurance, trapped on the moon like that. But still, I rambled on and on, laying my heart out just to get it off of my chest.
“What would you do if she does as you fear?” somepony asked me and I turned to see Yu’la floating gently through the air next to me. She had grown slightly larger since she had found the egg, enough so that she appeared like a tiny version of Yu’lon. I mean... sort of like an adolescent version? It was difficult to describe, truly.
“I don’t know,” I sighed, smiling as she gave me a nuzzle. “I will miss the times when you were small enough to hide in my mane, dear.”
“I could just use dragonflight magic to turn small again,” Yu’la proposed, doing just that. I giggled as she flitted around me, plunging into my mane with a playful demeanor. She let out a chirpy laugh, causing me to feel the slightest bit better.
“When do you think the egg might hatch?” I asked her and saw her change into her filly self, happily skipping next to me with that youthful exuberance that never left her.
“Oh, my little Spike won’t hatch for another year or so,” she stated, matter-of-factly.
“Spike?” I asked, a little bit surprised. “An unusually normal name, dear. I would have expected something a bit more along the lines of... I dunno, Yu’ something.”
“Nah,” she giggled, amused. “Yu is more or less the name of our soul, our surname for all intents and purposes. In that line of thought, Yu’lon is the original, big sister Yu’lei is the Daughter of Jade, and I am the Child of Jade, Yu’la.”
“I don’t quite understand,” I said, confused. “Wouldn’t that also make you the Daughter of Jade?”
“No,” Yu’la said, snorting in mirth. “There is a difference between being the Child of Jade and the Daughter of Jade. You could think of me as Yu’lon as a child, while big sis Yu’lei is my... well, Yu’lon’s daughter, but also kinda mine? Technically, we both are, since I am only a fragment of the original Yu’lon. Hmm, how to explain this? Think of it like this: Yu'lei was modeled after her while I am her but not?”
“This is a little bit confusing, Yu’la. I remember having to explain the reincarnation part of Yu’lon’s lifecycle to you and how you came to be, once upon a time,” I said, looking at her in a different light. Something had changed and I couldn’t quite put my hoof on what exactly it was that did.
“To be honest, it wasn’t something I really understood before you explained it to me,” Yu’la mumbled, rubbing her neck abashedly. “But the older I got, the more I understood my nature as part of Yu’lon’s soul. I’m sort of remembering what she knew at the time of my creation now.”
“That does make sense,” I hummed. A thousand years ago, Yu’la was nothing more than an infant. She wouldn’t know what those memories meant, and if Sunset was an indicator, those memories of a past life were blurry at best, weren’t they? Luna, Tia, Cadance, and I were lucky to remember our past so clearly (not so much anymore these days in the case of my sister and me, but still).
“If you want to know what I think, I think you should support her even if she decides to put herself directly in danger,” Yu’la said, throwing me out of my musings before I could get entirely lost in them. “Sunset is stronger than you think she is. As is Twilight, despite not seeming like it.”
“I know...” I sighed, my gaze wandering back up to the moon as my wandering hooves brought us over to the hedge maze. It was strangely calming, strolling through it at such a quiet time. Despite that, my thoughts lingered on my worries, like they so often did. “But this isn’t just something harmless. The tournament on the other side of the mirror is dangerous, Yu’la.”
“I have seen Sunset fight with the Rose Sisters before,” Yu’la mentioned and I looked back down towards her. Huh, I never thought of calling Cadance and Ruby the Rose Sisters before. A fitting description, I have to say. “That she even stands a chance against both of them is very remarkable.”
“This is different, though,” I muttered, kicking out a forehoof in frustration. “As much as Dumbledore pretends it to be, it's not a fully controlled environment. It's not a duel where she could at any time end the fight. She could die...”
Yu'la hummed before she shook her head, much to my surprise. “I doubt that,” she stated with a smile. “You know why? Because she is your daughter. If there is just one pony that could eventually surpass you in every way, it’s Sunset.”
“You sound quite convinced of that,” I said. Despite the doubt plaguing my mind, I found that her smile was infectious. Mine was a lot more melancholic, though. “I’d rather they don’t risk anything.”
“Well, of course, duh. That’s pretty much understandable,” Yu’la said, looking up at me with a beaming smile. “You are their mother, it would be weird if you weren’t so worried for their safety.
"But you also know that they will have to brave many challenges in the coming years. It would help them greatly to get some experience with real situations like... whatever it is that you feel they aren’t ready for. Platinum will return and try to genuinely kill you and your daughters. Against her, they won’t get a second chance. They don’t get to have a safety net against her.”
Yu’la was right about that, that much I couldn’t deny. With their necklaces, the tournament wouldn’t actually pose a threat to them. Heck, even without the necklaces they would probably encounter no actual problems with the three tasks. I was more worried about what came after the tournament.
If it came down to a fight, I could trust Sunset to last long enough to get to safety. She might even surprise me and fight back successfully to not need any rescuing.
Ugh. I was too overprotective of them, wasn’t I? Was I hindering their growth by being so hesitant? I did promise to give them a chance, didn’t I? A chance Starswirl had granted us despite having been so doubtful of us being ready to face the challenges the world could throw at us.
“I wonder...” I mumbled, trudging through the maze leisurely, knowing exactly which path to take to reach the center even if I were blindfolded. Yu’la gave me a curious look and I smiled gently. “What do you think Starswirl would think of them?”
Yu'la snickered. “He would probably be annoyed to have little Star nerding over him,” she told me and I had to giggle as well while I pictured that scene in my head. Twilight would do exactly that, wouldn’t she? He was her biggest idol, it wasn’t too far-fetched to think she would actually drool all over him. “You knew him better than anypony, what do you think he would have thought of Sunset?”
“I’m sure he would encourage her to become an archmage,” I mused, taking a turn to the left and then one to the right, finally arriving at the center of the maze. I gave the statue of Celestia a sad smile, sitting down in front of the likeness of my twin. Many a visitor mistook her statue to be a depiction of me, but only my twin could look so radiant, so beautiful. “Sunset is already mastering emotional magic at a far faster pace than I ever did, and her combat prowess could even rival that of Starswirl. He would be proud of that, at least.”
“He might also think they are immature,” Yu’la pointed out, giggling madly. “Oh, all the shenanigans Sunset and I could get up to with Philomena, I hope he returns just so that we can get on his nerves! The old fart was always so grumpy!”
“Yu’la...” I sighed, smiling at her antics fondly. Despite her being so well-behaved most of the time, my daughter was the one to finally corrupt my darling with thoughts of shenanigans. Of course, Philomena was absolutely delighted about that and I couldn’t deny that it wasn’t at least a little bit endearing.
“Don’t be like that, Sunny,” Yu’la pouted. “Starswirl could use a bit of humiliation to get that stick up his plot unstuck.”
“Your mother would be so disappointed in me,” I grumbled, giving her a tiny glare about her uncouth language.
“Sorry,” she apologized, thankfully appearing to be genuine with that. I don’t know how disappointed I would have been had she been a petty brat about it. “But you have to admit, pranking is fun. As long as Philo isn’t the one to suggest what we should do...”
I let out a heavy sigh, shaking my head. “I pray you never let your sister decide the prank,” I said, smiling tiredly in good-natured fun. Here's to hoping. I'm pretty sure nothing good would come from it if she did.
I guess one nice thing came from Yu’la’s recent changes, though. I once again had a little filly to cuddle with. I could spoil her with all my motherly affections to my heart’s content. Sure, she was closer to my age than an actual filly, but... I could pretend, couldn’t I? Yu’la was just as happy to snuggle up to me in between my forelegs, so I don’t think she really minded it that much.
We stayed there for a few minutes in companionable silence before Yu'la hummed. “How do dragons raise their young?” she asked me and I let out a hum of my own, opening my eyes briefly to glance down at her. I never really bothered to learn much about the dragons considering how... unruly... most of them were. Beyond driving them out of Equestria when they were causing havoc on my little ponies, I never truly interacted with them or their nation.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “You know we mostly leave them to their own devices. Ponies and dragons never had the best opinion of each other. Comparing the dragons of Azeroth to those on Equis would be an insult to your noble heritage, to be honest.”
Was that racist? Probably. I could care less about the dragons on Equis, though. Their attitude was frankly appalling to be around and I take exception to those adolescents of theirs. I wouldn't even be surprised if the egg Yu'la acquired was abandoned on purpose, good parenting wasn't exactly a thing I associated with them from the few times I had to interact with them.
Dragons had the unpleasant tendency to be massive assholes, even to each other. Unlike the griffons, they were proud of it, too. Maybe that's just me thinking in stereotypes, but I have yet to see a dragon (aside from my darling) behave like a civilized, decent being.
It also wasn't helped by the fact that hibernating dragons cause a lot of smoke and generally don't give a single flying penguin about who they might hurt with that. It would take a miracle for them to learn a bit of consideration for their environment, but that's what you get when the majority of them live in volcanic regions. Those that leave don't know that most other critters are deathly allergic to pollution.
And, well... there are a lot more things that would need to change with their attitude before I can consider giving them a chance. Among that was the fact that phoenixes were an endangered species for a reason.
That, and anypony making fart jokes by actually farting was beyond saving. There are no excuses for that kind of behavior whatsoever. None.
“Hmm,” Yu’la hummed, looking off into the distance. I continued to watch her while her expression appeared to be so concerned that she was beginning to frown. It was so unlike her, seeing her like that.
“In my opinion, you will do just fine raising your child the pony way,” I told her, booping her muzzle with a hoof. I giggled as she scrunched it up cutely, trying not to sneeze and only just succeeding against the urge to do so. “I know Yu’lon wouldn’t want you to raise him based on what dragons are like here and I know you wouldn’t want that either, darling.”
“No, I suppose not,” she nodded, yawning. Her yawn caused me to let out one, as well. It was quite late, wasn’t it? It was almost time to raise the suns and lower the moon already. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to holding court without having gotten any sleep at all tonight.
Haah... that's what I get for being a dumb worrywart. I was less anxious about holding court while being tired than going back through the mirror in the evening to witness which student gets chosen to be a champion at the damn tournament, though. To be honest, I was already expecting to hear Sunset’s name be called out despite the warnings we gave her.
Usually, when I’m this tired, I was irritable at the best of times. I fear I might still get mad (and not the tame kind of mad, at that). I might say things I don’t want to say and I might just say them with an audience listening in. I pray I can stay calm for the sake of my daughters, but I could already predict that I won’t be too successful with that endeavor.
Hmm. Perhaps it was a good idea to consider doing something that I wouldn’t do under any other circumstance, then. Suppressing my emotions to the degree that everything would feel muted... I might have to resort to that, don’t I?
I know Celly (wow, I never even once thought to differentiate her from ours like that, I feel stupid now) had fewer qualms about doing that kind of thing if it helped keep her calm in a battle, but I was a pony that literally relied on those emotions for everything that I do.
Using that kind of magic would be quite nasty as well, so I might have to think of something else. One thing that did come to mind was meditation, but I don’t know if I could reach a sufficiently calm enough state of mind to not turn into a raging she-devil as soon as I hear her name called out.
I hope Luna can prevent me from lashing out, at least. I would never get abusive with my daughters, but words could hurt just as much as a bruising cheek. They could hurt even worse and I fear my daughters would hate me for it. I need to keep myself from getting angry at them if they do go behind my back, no matter what.
I’m not concerned about Twilight throwing her name in the goblet, at least. She knows that doing so would be pointless. Twilight doesn’t feel the need to prove herself to Luna or me (or her sisters). Or herself, for that matter.
Sunset, on the other hoof, though? She constantly tries to one-up herself, and... I’m worrying too much again, aren't I? I need to stop being so antsy. She will be alright even if she does throw her name in and has to compete. I have to support her despite preferring it if she wouldn’t compete at all.
Yu’la and I returned to the castle grounds as soon as I had raised my sun and helped Luna with Celestia’s, bringing about a new day, and with it, new problems to work through.
Kibitz didn’t even give me enough time to let me eat my breakfast at my own (admittedly) tired and slow pace. Alas, I think not getting to enjoy my breakfast was the least of my problems that day. Kibitz really could be a slavedriver at times, I swear. It’s not like I couldn’t match the pace... I was just too tired to.
Court was an absolute nightmare that day. The first case was already grating on my frayed nerves and I gave the mare standing before me a disbelieving stare, my eyelids twitching subtly while I strained to keep my fake smile on my muzzle. Cadance was doing a far better job at it than I did, to be honest. But even my Rose Petal was having a hard time believing her own ears.
“You want to... what?” I asked, praying that I had actually misheard the noble mare's ‘request’.
“I want to get the permission to sterilize my stupid daughter,” she said and I felt a hot lance of anger run through me as she looked at me with that haughty look that told me she truly believed I would grant her that quite frankly ridiculous request. Cadance shook her head next to me, giving me a subtle nudge to remind me that I need to keep calm. “She can’t have a foal and spread her retardedness around.”
Suffice to say, I was seething on my throne. “And you have evidence of this ‘retardedness’?” I asked, barely stopping myself from shouting angrily at her to leave my throne room and never return. The sheer audacity...
“I-I...” the noble mare stuttered and then proceeded to refuse to give me the evidence that her daughter was a danger to society as a whole. I suspect she was trying to stop her daughter from becoming a parent herself because said daughter was in love with a commoner, and thus, in an ‘impure’ relationship.
Sometimes I wonder when I'm finally going to put a stop to this nonsense. I really should start to review court requests before they are brought to me, shouldn’t I? I could avoid these stupid idiotic schemes if I was just a little bit more forceful with my little ponies and didn’t allow everypony and their cat into court.
It was no wonder why I thought ponykind still needed a friggin’ foalsitter to avoid extinction. Each and every day, there was at least one pony that had two dysfunctional brain cells coming to court to petition for things that I had absolutely no time or patience for.
To make things even worse, the next case was even better. One overly greedy mare tried to keep the winnings of her lottery ticket to herself by divorcing her husband while conveniently leaving out that they were rich now. I gave the husband the entirety of the five million bits from the lottery reward and told the mare to get lost, disgusted at her behavior.
Holy flying penguins. Family should stick together and not fall apart over greed of all things.
At least Cadance and I had the pleasure to meet with an elementary school class visiting the castle on their school trip to learn more about the Equestrian government and how court was held, letting them come up with a mock case that we acted out. It was quite cute and I was very happy to take a picture with them.
Sadly, that was the only good thing that happened during court that day.
Two changelings followed by two thestral agents interrupted the proceedings of a court case between two con artists apparently having scammed numerous ponies into buying wine that was of a ‘famous’ brand that actually never existed in the first place.
“Your Highness, please come with us,” the one with the purple eyes said while his brother shifted nervously on his hooves. I gave him a nod and told Raven to make sure the two shifty sales ponies would pay repairs to the wronged ponies and give them a hefty fine for having committed fraud (a bit of community service wouldn't have hurt, either, but I was rather lenient with first-time offenders).
While she did that, I focused my attention back on the two changelings and thestrals in front of me. “Lead the way, Swarm Commander Pharynx,” I said. For good measure, I also gave a quick note to the guards that court was canceled for today until further notice (I was so done with this and Cadance couldn't be happier about it). The nobles were obviously outraged that their ‘important’ matters wouldn’t be heard, but I could care less about that while I had something actually important to deal with.
Kibitz wasn’t pleased about this, either, but that was more the fault of the unexpected change in schedule than my canceling court. I just hope that, whatever this was about, it wouldn’t make me miss lunch. I was already cranky enough as it was, I didn’t need to get even crankier.
“We received news from Abyssinia, Your Highness,” Thorax began. He grimaced as soon as I began to frown. If the Swarm and S.P.O.T.T. are involved, it could only mean one thing. “An army of unknown origin laid siege to the capital Panthera at approximately sixteen-hundred hours five days ago, conquering the castle within minutes of arriving.”
“How many casualties? Any known motives?” I asked, scowling deeply. “Do we have to worry about this enemy invading us next?”
“So far, we know that they are only after the riches of those that they invade,” Special Operative Nightowl answered stoically, taking out a folder from beneath her wing. “They didn’t kill outright, but they left the city a burning wreck. We are still counting the victims that couldn’t escape in time.”
“Tell me that the Disaster Relief Division is already on-site,” I muttered, not in the mood to hear even more bad news.
“We were fortunate with the high winds, Your Highness,” she answered and I sighed in relief.
“I want to know who is behind this, preferably before they invade another nation,” I stated just as we arrived at the bustling war room. Liz was screeching around in a fury, her mane glowing a bright red, very much displeased with the lack of information on our enemies. I couldn’t blame her, I wasn’t feeling any better.
It has been a long time since this room has seen use. Well, it did see use quite a lot, but usually not for the actual purpose that it was made for.
Since Luna wasn’t here yet, I gave Liz a comforting hug, nuzzling her softly. “How long did you stay up?”
“Too long,” my wife whispered back, buzzing her wings cutely in agitation. Her mane went back to the soft green as I hummed tiredly, her wings lulling me into a relaxed state that threatened to put me to sleep right then and there. “You?”
“I didn’t get any,” I answered, taking in a deep whiff of her mane, the smell of it managed to relax me even further. I have no idea how it always smells this good no matter what my beautiful succubus was doing. It probably had something to do with pheromone shenanigans...
“I could have fucked you unconscious, Sunflower,” Liz giggled and I pouted, feeling bad for having missed out on a fun time with Centaur-Liz. I would, no doubt, get my chance another time when I was actually in the mood for it. “You are worried that our little Sun will enter the tournament, aren’t you?”
“I am and I’m almost sure she will,” I sighed. “But I talked it over with Yu’la and she convinced me that Sunset is more than ready to take on the challenge. I hope she is right...”
“You really are dumb,” Liz mumbled, interrupting my angry retort with a hungry kiss. I decidedly ignored that everypony could see us making out right in front of them, melting against her touch. Damn her. “Sunset is one of the strongest mortals alive in this realm, Sunflower. A feral dragon wouldn’t even stand a chance against her and neither would some overgrown fish.”
“I’m not worried about the dragon or the merfolk in the lake,” I denied, growing restless again. “And neither do I think she would be unable to get through the maze, but that’s it, isn’t it? The end of the maze doesn’t mean she isn’t in danger anymore. She would move directly towards danger and...”
Liz shut me up again with a kiss before my breath could speed up to unhealthy levels. “Even this dark lord doesn’t stand a chance against her, you dolt. If she wanted, she could make his heart stop by manipulating the blood in his body from ever reaching it. There is literally no pony that could stand a chance against her, and as our precious Rose has told us, Mr. Snakeface is not immortal.”
“No, he isn’t,” I sighed, nodding reluctantly. “But he is a particularly powerful lich. I don’t know what he is capable of.”
“It’s not Sunset that has to bring about his end, sister,” Luna said, spooking the living daylights out of me as she snuck up on us without me noticing. “Now, let us get back to figuring out what happened to Abyssinia, alright? I have faith in our daughters to not do something that would put their lives at risk, and if they do, they will get through it unscathed.”
Luna was right. So, I mare-d up and we did just that. The mystery of the unknown army laying siege to Panthera occupied most of our thoughts from there on out until evening arrived. Beyond trying to prepare to offer aid to those that would need it, whether it be Abyssinia or any other nation we were good friends with, there was little we could do at the moment.
Apparently, these ape-ish creatures going around pillaging for magical artifacts arrived out of nowhere and were gone just as quickly. This ‘Storm King’ wasn’t actually the ruler over stormy weather, he was just a pretentious flying penguin that was clearly compensating for something.
I wasn’t actually worried that he would come for Equestria, not with the meager force of a few airships. And to be honest, conquering Abyssinia wasn’t that great of an accomplishment in the first place.
Why he would go for Abyssinia at all was a mystery to me as well. If he wanted magical artifacts, Abyssinia was the very last place I would go looking for those, and if he were to try, he wouldn’t get very far into Equestrian territory like that (obviously). Not to mention, I doubt he would be all that successful with getting into our vaults.
Suffice it to say, since I had no intention to suffer through Nightmare Night, I went through the mirror as soon as we had lowered the suns and raised the moon. We would keep an eye on the Storm King situation as best as we could, but for now, I was more worried about what our daughters were doing.
I really wish I had that restful night of sleep because as soon as I stood next to the teachers of Hogwarts with my sister, my anxiety rose to an all-time high after each little slip of paper was spewed out of the goblet and the chosen champions were lauded as some kind of 'heroes'. This was anything but heroic.
Harry Potter’s name was selected at the same time as one last slip of paper flew out in a blaze, smoking slightly from the heat of the magical flame burning brightly in the goblet.
“Twilight Star...” Dumbledore called out and my legs gave out in disbelief. What..? But that... t-that c-can’t be right. Why would Twilight do this? Out of all my daughters... I never would have thought she would be doing something so reckless.
The booming sound of thunder crackled through the hall as an icy coldness spread over it. “Twilight Lunar Star Sparkle!” Luna’s voice silenced the muttering of the students. I was rooted too deeply in my thoughts to give Luna a reprimanding look, feeling more helpless and full of despair than I had ever before. To think that Twilight... she was always so logical, so well-behaved... I... I don't understand.
Twilight nervously walked out from where she had been hiding, looking like we had just caught her in the act with her muzzle stuck in the cookie jar. Sunset was giving her twin sister a disbelieving look as well, clearly not having expected this outcome, either.
My daughter didn’t look happy at all. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was even angrier at her sister than Luna and I were. Perhaps she actually was, I mused, seeing the glare she sent after her sister.
Luna grabbed her arm roughly, dragging our daughter after her without slowing the slightest bit down for Twilight to keep up with her. I could see the icy blue of her eyes roiling with turbulent thoughts. Her hair was turning slightly nebulous and I knew my sister was on the verge of turning into Nightmare Moon. And I didn't do anything to stop her, still too much in shock at what had just happened.
I followed my sister and Twilight numbly out of the Grand Hall through the door in the back. My jumbled emotions were all over the place and unable to settle on any one emotion, a chilling coldness settling over me. It was as if my fiery aura had suddenly left me, unable to penetrate the icy grip this feeling had over my soul.
“I would have expected this of your sister!” Nightmare growled and fog slowly started to appear around her. “What were you thinking?!”
“Mom, I...” Twilight started, tears beginning to appear at the corners of her eyes. She looked over at me and saw my empty gaze and winced with shame. “I thought I could...”
Nightmare snorted, cutting her off before she could come up with an explanation. “No. You did not think, Star. You went against our wishes, daughter. You, of all ponies, did not listen to common sense and just entered a tournament that could result in your death. Not once did you even think about the consequences of throwing your name into a magical artifact!”
“I thought I could help...” Twilight whispered, tears streaming down her face. “I’m not stupid, Mom. I know you and Cadance are training Sunset in combat for a reason and all of you think I need to be protected. You think Sunset is ready for the return of your sister and... I’m not. You don’t have to lie to me.”
“Twilight...” I whispered, a spark of... something... piercing this hollowness inside me. She needed my support now more than ever, not harsh reprimands. I couldn’t let fear control me, I had to help her get through this if it's the last thing I do. My sister, I could tell, was thinking along the same lines as I saw her return to her regular self.
“I know you have come up with a plan to change the events of the last task,” Twilight mumbled, wiping away the tears with a quivering breath. “The only solution that I can see working out would be to be there in pony, to make sure everything turned out exactly like you want it to. I can do that, I know it.”
Luna sighed before grabbing our daughter in a tight hug. “You are going to need to learn how to cast spells far faster than you have ever needed to before, Twilight,” she said while placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. “You will have to train a lot with Sunset whenever you don’t need to attend your classes. And whenever we can, we will help you out as much as we can. Things in Equestria... have gotten complicated.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, confused. “What’s happening, Mom?”
“Abyssinia has been under attack by an unknown army,” I answered, balling up my hands into fists. Before I could work myself up into a fit of rage, I let out a sigh, relaxing my hands again after I reminded myself that being angry would help nopony. I really hate how volatile my emotions could be at times. “This couldn’t have come at a worse time... We already can’t spare too many resources on this because of the return of my twin and this tournament that you have gotten yourself caught up in. You are the highest priority to us, for now. We can’t bear the thought of something happening to you, little Star. We will have to figure something out with our regular duties and our investigation into this Storm King.”
“At least we know what we need to prepare you for,” Luna said and began leading us to the room we were told about where the champions would wait for the headmasters of the other schools. “Navigating the labyrinth will be the least challenging for you, the center path with the sphinx won’t pose too much of a problem since you of all ponies can retain information from just reading something once.”
Twilight would no doubt be ecstatic about learning everything the Hogwarts library had to offer. The only challenge we were actually worried about was the very first challenge of retrieving the egg from the dragon protecting it.
The other headmasters were just as displeased to hear about the extra two champions as we were. Their focus was more on Harry Potter, though, since he was actually still under the age of majority in the wizarding world. Technically, Twilight was considered underage as well, just... not here. Not that that would have changed much since she was about to turn eighteen in a couple of months.
This was definitely not how I thought we would spend her eighteenth birthday. Instead of it being a joyous occasion, it was going to be spent in uncertainty away from home where Twilight’s and Sunset’s birthday should have been celebrated.
And as Cadance had told us, the dance was going to be an absolute nightmare as well, wasn’t it? I might have to ask my little petal to teach Twilight how to dance without embarrassing herself. It might also be a good idea to just ask her to stay here with them and help train Twilight in defensive magic and combat to the degree that she could cast spells even under heavy stress.
We had less than a month to get Twilight into fighting shape. Sunset was reluctant at first to help train Twilight together with Cadance (and when we could, either Luna or me). I could tell that my little Sun was still mad at her for not telling her about her ‘grandiose’ plan to help us save Cedric Diggory from his ill fate. And naturally, she was even less enthusiastic about having to fight against her own twin to prepare her for the first task.
The days flew by and the closer the first task got, the more worried I became that Twilight wouldn’t make it through. Even though Twilight was catching up to Sunset’s combat prowess remarkably fast, she still had problems concentrating through the stress of actual combat.
Her firepower was beyond astonishing. She even managed to obliterate Cadance’s shield by the time the first task arrived, attacking every single one of the weak points in the shield all at once. Although, as soon as she had to defend herself at the same time, that firepower was less than stellar in comparison to what she could achieve when completely calm.
Luna had tried teaching her combat meditation, but so far, Twilight hasn’t been able to maintain it when the actual fight began.
I could only hope that she would get a dragon that wasn’t too aggressive, protecting its ‘egg’ from her. I would have smuggled Yu’la in and pretended that she was a ferocious dragon to all the other headmasters, but I think that farce would have been discovered as soon as they saw the act of Yu’la trying to be aggressive over an obviously fake egg.
I mean... if that egg was her unborn hatchling, I think it might have been believable to the degree that she would have actually tried to burn Twilight for trying to steal it. She wouldn’t actually try to kill her, though. Yu’la would never do that.
One after the other, the champions took out a miniature dragon from the bag held out to them, representing the actual dragon that they would have to face. Harry Potter drew the short stick, so to speak, getting the Hungarian Horntail that was, out of all of the dragons to pick, the most aggressive one.
Lastly, it was Twilight’s turn to reach into the bag, and with a slight grimace, she withdrew her hand, a little white dragon hanging on to her finger as it chomped down on it with far too cute snorting sounds coming from it.
“Ah, the Antipodean Opaleye,” Barty Crouch Senior said, giving Twilight a nod. “Quite fortunate for you, Miss Star.”
Twilight gave me an uncertain look and I smiled back reassuringly, trying to give her all the confidence she would need.
Turns out, Twilight had gotten the least aggressive dragon to face off against. The Opaleye was a dragon that, unless it was particularly hungry, was quite docile. That didn’t mean that it was going to part with its egg willingly, though.
Hogwart's rightful champion, Cedric Diggory, was the first to enter the arena in which his dragon, the Swedish Short-Snout, was awaiting him, bound to the ground with heavy shackles. The silverish-blue dragon was promptly distracted by the young man with a spell that transformed a rock into a poor, innocent, and quickly devoured labrador, allowing him to retrieve the egg.
I mourned after the unfortunate little dog, having been brought into this world through the use of the cruelest kind of magic. I had half a mind to hold a grudge against him for using transformative magic like that, giving life to an animal only to use it as nothing more than bait.
Hmph. I suppose it was poetic justice then that he got burned by the dragon. Serves him right for playing with magic that created life out of nothing. I felt for the poor soul that got dragged out of the Shadowlands only to die immediately afterward again...
Next up was the champion from Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour. Her dragon was a Common Welsh Green, and through the simple use of a sleeping charm, she retrieved the golden egg only to have the misfortune to get caught by a snort of flame from the snoring dragon, lightly singing her uniform which she quickly put out with a little bit of conjured water.
Fleur was the only one of the other schools’ champions to earn my favor by refusing to hurt the dragon even the slightest bit. I also gave her the appropriate full marks for that.
The one that I absolutely hated the most was Viktor Krum. He was apparently quite famous in the wizarding world for his skill in sport, but he was an absolutely horrendous person by throwing a curse at the Chinese Fireball, causing the dragon to destroy its own eggs in a blind rage.
I had half a mind to demand his immediate disqualification for that, but the judges could care less about the loss of innocent life because dragons were nothing more than 'dangerous beasts'.
While I might not have the highest opinion on dragons, it irked me to no small degree that the wizards and witches of this world were so indifferent to the lives of ‘lesser’ creatures. Every creature, no matter how intelligent, has a right to live, damnit. Only those that rely on cruelty shouldn’t get to have it so easy. If they were willing to better themselves, everything was fine by me, but... those that refused to learn to live their life peacefully needed to be taught a thorough lesson about what being a decent person meant.
Those that refused even that and learned nothing from it could burn for eternity, tormented by those they wronged so much. My forgiveness could only reach so far after having learned time after time that not everypony deserved it. I was less cruel about it nowadays, but the days of me giving chances upon chances to those undeserving of them were long gone.
Out of all the champions, Harry had it the most difficult, facing off against the Hungarian Horntail. The chains strained against the might of the dragon’s protective need to keep its eggs safe. They thankfully did not snap as the ‘boy who lived’ used his flying broom to retrieve the egg.
As far as creativity and skill went, his approach wasn’t all that imaginative. Nor was it technically allowed to use a broom within the arena, but apparently the rules were lax enough that they stated he wasn’t allowed to enter the arena with it. In my opinion, it was still a breach of the rules to summon it during the task. In that line of thought, a wand shouldn’t have been allowed, either, since he could have just entered the arena with his broom in the first place and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Somepony needs to teach these people some common sense, seriously.
Lastly, Twilight entered the arena after everything was set up for her. As expected of her, she was cautious of the Opaleye which was regarding her with an equally cautious weariness.
“You smell differently than these two-legged wretches,” the dragon ‘growled’, sadly only understood by me. An ominous feeling overcame me and I was pretty sure I knew what the dragon was talking about. Not a moment later, I heard her confirm my troubled thoughts. “You have the scent of prey on you...”
Judging by the hungry prowl of the pearly white dragon, she was very hungry for a taste of my daughter. I suspect that they might have purposefully starved the dragons before the tournament even began. I had chalked the aggressiveness of the other dragons up to the pure need to protect their young, but this was even worse than that.
This was nothing more than tormenting poor, defenseless creatures that had no choice but to partake in this spectacle for the amusement of pubescent children and those seeking to gain the glory of winning this tournament with their ‘noble’ champions (mainly one specific headmaster, but the other headmasters weren’t entirely innocent of this mindset, either).
Twilight was thankfully quick to get out of the way of the jet of fire, and before I knew what happened, Twilight stood behind the dragon with the golden egg in her hands. Then, another Twilight stood next to the dragon’s left side, another golden egg in her hands. Before long, there were dozens of Twilight’s surrounding the dragon, all of them holding the golden egg in their hands.
I smiled, intrigued. To think that my little Star would figure out illusion magic on such a large scale... it was simply fascinating. Even more impressive was the fact that the spell affected every one of the students, the teachers, and the staff, not only the dragon’s perception.
I just hope the real Twilight wouldn’t lose her concentration while trying to retrieve the golden egg.
The dragon was more confused than angry about the fact that each and every one of those Twilights seemed to have stolen the same egg. Not even once did it notice Twilight quietly sneaking past it and making a quick escape with the real golden egg.
Score-wise, Twilight managed to earn herself the second place in the tournament’s first task after Harry Potter and Viktor Krum, who managed to tie for first place only because Igor Karkaroff, the headmaster of Durmstrang, played favorites with his student despite the severe mistakes his ‘prized’ student made (and I had to ‘judge fairly’ according to Karkaroff because he didn’t like the zero points I would have given his champion like he actually deserved...).
Cedric Diggory placed third, avoiding tying with Twilight only because I felt petty about the dog, and last but not least, Fleur sadly got the last place because she got slightly singed in her attempt to retrieve the egg, and ‘it was boring to watch’ in the opinion of, who else could it have been that said that, Igor Karkaroff.
Despite me being so against this damn tournament, I felt quite miffed that Krum of all champions was placed higher in the rankings than my daughter (who obviously displayed the most skill out of all the champions, let's be honest here). I wasn’t surprised that Harry was placed first since Dumbledore played favorites with his golden boy just as much as Karkaroff did with his student and none of the other headmasters wanted to earn Dumbledore’s poor favor.
I was, in no way, salty about the placements. At all. End of story.
Okay, okay! Maybe I was a little bit, but that’s only because I thought Twilight was the only one that completed her task flawlessly without cheating or bending the rules. Heck, even Luna was mad that the judges were giving their points based on favoritism and not because they honestly thought the performance deserved the amount of points they appointed.
Luna and I greeted Twilight with happy hugs, glad that she was unharmed and very proud of the magic she had displayed against the dragon in the first task. Sunset and Cadance arrived not a moment later, taking up most of the attention of our little Star.
“Platinum won’t stand a chance against them, will she?” I hummed, leaning myself happily into the embrace of my sister. Her cool touch was erasing all the stress of the past month away and nothing could have destroyed this moment for me. Mhmm. Everything was just perfect~.
“Our daughters are something else,” Luna agreed, subtly groping my chest while her breath tickled my ear in the most wonderful ways. “We should find ourselves a room at the castle...”
“Stop thinking with your nonexistent dick,” I whispered back, blushing despite all my efforts to keep myself from being turned on by her sweet ministrations. Our damn outfits weren’t doing me any favors in that regard, I could feel the nipples of her friggin’ melons on my back, stiff and very much demanding me to play with them.
“I’m not thinking with my nethers right now, dear sister of mine,” Luna whispered huskily into my ear, trailing her hands slowly down my slim curvaceous body. My breath was starting to turn erratic, coming out in pants that begged my sister to force herself on me. Cadance was giving me a grin from where she was with her sisters and the other champions. I realized what was going on as soon as I felt her aura fluctuate in power.
“Luna...” I muttered, hoping beyond hope no one else would glance our way and notice what my horny wife was doing to me. “Can’t this wait until after I have ripped Cadance’s head off?”
“We could just leave,” Luna proposed, making me squirm as I was torn between the choice of berating my daughter for losing control over her aura or doing what my wife asked of me. “We don’t need to stay for the interview, Cadance can deal with the formalities as ‘deputy headmistress’ of our school.”
“More like chief janitor,” I grumbled, throwing a glare toward Cadance. But to be honest, I really don’t want to stay any longer and deal with the sensationalism of the Daily Prophet and their ‘reporter’. The woman was anything but pleasant to be around and the fact that she just made one ridiculous thing up after another when she felt like it didn’t sit right with me, either.
Quietly (and without getting seen by anyone), Luna and I made our way back to Hogwarts Castle, all the while, my sister got increasingly frisky with me the closer we got to the first broom closet that we could find.
To be honest, it was not the first choice I would have gone for, but it did feel... exciting, for some reason. Like we were doing something naughty (despite it obviously being naughty for all the right reasons). It made me feel young again, doing something that we were clearly not supposed to do.
Having sex in school in a broom closet of all things... I feel like I should be ashamed, but the risk of getting discovered managed to excite me even more than breaking the rules did.
I was still mad at Cadance, but for now... my pussy screamed at me to clamp my legs around Lulu’s head as she ripped my clothes slightly in her rush to get at my nethers. I didn’t say no to that primal desire, biting my lip so tightly that I drew blood, moaning slightly as I felt her tongue circle around my clit coquettishly.
My sister grinned up at me, clawing at my butt with her long fingernails and I let out a gasp at the pleasant source of pain, the sensation feeling almost alien with no fur in the way. “Fuck, sister! Ahn~!”
Lulu grinned even wider, slapping me roughly over the same spot she had scratched only a moment ago, gently biting down on my vulva with her extended fangs. It made me cry out again, and despite trying to muffle my sounds by forcing my mouth shut with my hands, my throat was still louder than I would have liked. If my beautiful wife continued on like that, I’m sure we would draw attention to this seemingly unimportant broom closet. It was almost inevitable, wasn’t it?
I moaned even louder, a giddy feeling coursing through me as I watched my sister lapping away at my needy snatch. I could understand why Liz always felt so excited about doing things like these, it was absolutely exhilarating getting tongue fucked in a ‘relatively’ public place.
Not that I would ever do this in Equestria, though. This was already way too much, I’d rather not risk getting discovered doing something like this by our own subjects. As exciting as this was, I’d rather not be seen as some slutty princess by my little ponies. I was more dignified than that...
But... fuck, this was such an incredible feeling, being naughty like I had never been before. I growled slightly as I grabbed my sister roughly, pushing her beneath me as I used my magic in a quick burst to give her that certain extra appendage I needed to feel right now filling my depths nicely. I was careful enough to use the correct version, it wouldn’t do to repeat what had happened with our drunken escapade a while back, after all.
I giggled at the expression my sister made at me, not having expected me to take charge so thoroughly. Luna looked like she was in heaven as I held her hands up above her head against the wall, slowly lowering myself on her eagerly twitching rod, a lustful grin coming to my face. “I’m going to fuck you so hard, your dick will bleed, sister.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my wife?” Lulu asked me and I moved my quivering love canal rapidly up and down on her shaft, my lust overcoming me for a moment. I didn’t care that I was moaning so loudly, I’m sure someone might have heard the noises from down the hall. I needed her. So. Much.
“I...” I moaned, biting my lip as I felt the pleasant burn of bliss burn through my entire being like a wildfire gone crazy. “I... I n-need... ahngh~..! I need to relieve this... this damn pent-up frustration, this craving need, sister. F-fuck me and don’t stop!”
Luna let out a grunt as I speared myself on her again, jerking up with her hips to move her dick even faster into me. I mewled out in delight, panting with exhaustion as I forced my body through frenzied movement after frenzied movement. I probably came a dozen times from the mad pace alone, savoring every time my beautiful Moon hilted herself within me.
By the time my wife finally came for the first time, I felt like I was quivering non-stop from a continuous orgasm that found no halt. Each time it started to hurt to move, I relished the pain like the masochist that I was. I didn’t care that I rammed my sister against the cold hard stone as all I felt was a selfish desire to make my body go through a tortuous pace of sex that would leave mortals unable to walk away without serious injuries.
My sister was so gracious and generous to go through that pace with me simply because she derived her own pleasure from being used as a sex toy. My pretty and dutiful sex toy...
The door behind me flew open and I shrieked out in shock, trying to hide the depraved act I committed with my sister behind some dirty sheets, which I realized were our torn clothes that got discarded at some point.
My eyes widened as I saw Cadance with a Cheshire grin on her face, her scroll extended. Through the glass of the screen, I saw her take a picture of us caught in the act. “Yes! Ah hah ha! Finally! Liz is going to love seeing this!”
I snarled, angry. Then again, anger didn't even come close to the indignant fury I was feeling. I was fucking livid. “Cadance!” I screeched, running after the laughing woman with murder on my expression. By everything holy... “You’re so friggin' dead! I’mma send Ruby your severed head as a birthday present! Hold still so I can mutilate you..!”
“Eh heh hah ha! That was totally worth it!” Cadance giggled madly, rounding a corner only to get stopped by Professor Snape and Deputy Headmistress McGonagall. “Uh...”
Professor Snape sneered, less than pleased at seeing us. “What is going on here..?” he asked. The Head of Slytherin gave me a disdainful look at my state of dress. Or the lack of it, I suppose. Not that I really minded going around without clothing, but humans had that silly thing about nudity that I wasn’t allowed to break.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” I said hastily, trying to subtly snatch away Cadance’s scroll before she noticed what I was trying to do. Sadly, my misbehaving daughter knew to never let her guard down around me under any circumstance. Sometimes, I really hate myself for having taught her so well.
“And what does this look like, then?” Professor McGonagall asked skeptically. At that moment, my sister decided to make an untimely entrance, having taken her sweet time to catch up to us. I wish she hadn’t. I truly wish she had stayed in the broom closet so that I could avoid... this. Whatever this was.
Huh... so that’s what it feels like when one is dying of embarrassment. I didn’t like it. “Okay... maybe this does look exactly like what it looks like...”
“I don’t know how you do things where you come from, but this is everything but befitting of a headmistress from a prestigious school,” McGonagall scolded me and Luna and I tried to futilely hide behind my... well, they sure aren’t clothes anymore, that’s for sure.
Cadance tried to sneak away stealthily, but... like me, she was as subtle as a pink elephant while doing so. Professor Snape was quick to take hold of her arm, preventing her from escaping. Something that would have worked out in my favor... if I weren’t in a worse position than her.
I really shouldn’t have taken Luna up on that far-too-tempting offer of naughty sex in a broom closet. I knew Cadance was up to something and now I was being dragged to Dumbledore’s office like a misbehaving student.
I hate Cadance.
Luna, Cadance, and I were left alone in the headmaster’s office with some blankets to cover our naked bodies while they also confiscated Cadance’s scroll. We were sadly not left alone for long enough so that I could go through with punishing my daughter for her transgressions. Liz had obviously put Cadance up to this and I was going to hunt down that damn succubus after I was done with fulfilling my threat to Cadance of relieving her of her head.
This went too far. Her damn lovable eyes won’t save her this time, I swear. Not even hot, lewd, and totally sexy centaur sex could save her from my wrath. I’m going to chain her up, drag her to a volcano, and then... I don’t know. I would do something. It's going to be so unimaginably horrendous that she will be scarred for life.
I don’t know what that is going to be yet, but I am going to do it! Yep! Totally. No way would she be able to weasel herself out of this absurd scheme of hers this time.
...I’m probably going to go easy on her, but until then, I’m going to come up with something appropriately horrendous. Maybe I’ll last long enough against her charm for me to actually go through with it. One can hope, right?
“Having a little romp in the closet, did we?” Dumbledore said, coming in with twinkling eyes. “I didn’t expect to hear such... eventful news.”
“It’s Cadance’s fault,” I grumbled, hearing my daughter let out a fake gasp. “She made me do it.”
“I so did not!” she said, not even bothering to hide the snicker that escaped her. She quickly shut up, though, as I turned my burning golden eyes on her, a puff of fire escaping my nose. Smoke wafted up from where I was gripping the chair's armrest rather tightly.
“I believe I do not need to tell you that such activities aren’t allowed on school grounds?” Albus asked and I gave him a nod. I wanted to get this behind me so that I could... ahem, 'discipline' my daughter. By removing her head. And then feed Cadance her own heart once her head regrows. And then repeat it a few times just to make sure she wouldn’t get the idea to listen to Liz ever again. And then... then I would do the same to Liz.
Albus Dumbledore gave me a concerned look as I began to cackle to myself, one crazy idea after another filling my head about how I should properly punish both of them. “I don't mean to be rude, but... is she alright?”
“Give her a moment,” Luna answered, rubbing her eyes tiredly with a few fingers. “This happens about every few years.”
“The mad cackling?” he asked, giving me a weird look.
My sister nodded so-and-so, exasperated. “That and Cadance ticking her off because Chrysalis managed to get her to cause mischief on her behalf,” Luna explained. “She will calm down in about a minute or two.”
“You ponies have... peculiar habits,” Dumbledore said and Luna shrugged helplessly.
“You get used to it,” Cadance commented, making my eyelid twitch erratically again just as I was about to gain my composure back. “But to be honest? Our family is weird.”
“In how many parts do you want me to send your mangled corpse back to Ruby?” I asked sweetly, batting my eyelashes innocently at her. Cadance gulped and began to laugh nervously to herself because of my threat.
“She... doesn’t actually intend to murder her, correct?” Dumbledore asked, giving Luna a hopeful look. My wife let out a sigh, shaking her head negatively.
“Believe me, Summer has given that threat far too many times by now only to forgive the one she was mad at the next day,” Luna told him and I pouted, promising to myself that I would actually do it this time. Liz’s reign of terror shall end once and for all. That, I swear! There shall be no excuses from her that will change my mind and there will be no backing down on my part.
I swear this on my title as the Supreme Cookie Mistress!
Okay, saying it like that... I really will go easy on her again, won’t I? Ahh, damnit.
Suffice to say, once Luna and I were dismissed and I got the chance to destroy all evidence of this day from Cadance’s scroll, I... totally went easy on Liz. I swear, it’s the fault of her damn eyes! Always those gorgeous eyes, damnit.
I just... couldn’t stay mad at them, looking at me like that! It was utterly impossible. Nopony alive could withstand a full assault from those eyes and I hated myself for letting her get away with roping Cadance into causing mayhem again.
All my daughters are troublemakers. All. Of. Them.
How could I have possibly gone so wrong with them? What could I have done differently to get my wish of an innocent little daughter? When did they get corrupted by this idea of mischief eternal? How could I have failed them so much?
I gave Liz a sideways glance, sitting next to me while she sucked on a lollipop in the most lewdest way possible while we were holding court the next day. Oh, I know where I went wrong. I went wrong by ever entrusting her to be able to take care of foals in the first place. It’s all her fault.
And by some miracle, I couldn’t even get mad at her for that. It certainly made things livelier in the castle. I couldn’t exactly remember a time when things were truly boring since Cadance had entered our lives. Things got even more... well... 'fun', I guess... with Sunset and Twilight.
I always had something to look forward to each and every day. Court wasn’t as much of a downer with our daughters around, despite me getting regularly angry at some of the nobles for trying to deceive us. Well... I guess paperwork was still as boring as ever, but I honestly liked it that way. Kibitz wasn’t as much of a Grinch as he used to be and our guards always had some story to tell even with us around. Heck, even our Captain of the Royal Guard didn’t turn out as serious and strict as I had feared him to be.
Speaking of Captain Shining Armor, I really don’t like the way he looks at Cadance. I know he knows that she’s taken, but with the laws on herds, I think he might still try his chance at wooing her and get his heart inevitably broken. Or shot. By an oversized sniper scythe. Repeatedly.
Ruby really doesn’t like the way he looks at her marefriend, either. The little reaper wouldn’t actually do anything like that, though. She was the last pony that would do something like that, to be honest. Now, if Yang had her way with him, on the other hoof... I don’t think there would be a single place on Equis or Remnant that poor Shining Armor could go to in order to escape the wrath of an overprotective big sister.
Haah... I really should worry less about Ruby giving Shining Armor some new breathing holes and worry more about him remaining identifiable in case he ever decides to make a move on Cadance and her. Yang Xiao-Long was terrifying in her own right, even here in Equestria. The fact that she got stronger the angrier she got made sure of that.
I much prefer her to not beat him into a bloody pulp, though. Not that I would get in her way if she did. Hell hath no fury like a big, protective sister scorned.
Liz nudged my side, throwing me out of my musings and I gave her a curious look. “You seem awfully lost in thought, Sunflower. Did something happen yesterday?” She smiled innocently and my eyelid twitched.
She did not just say that...
I breathed in deeply and gave her a glare. She knew full well what happened yesterday, but I let my breath back out in a long sigh before focusing back on the two nobles squabbling among themselves over something that I didn’t even care to remember what it was that had them at each other’s throats. It was funny to watch, at least. I think they were currently trying to come up with everything the other has ever done that wronged them, probably making things up as they continued on and on.
I probably should put a stop to this at some point, but that would mean letting the next noble in the waiting line even earlier with their ‘oh-so-important’ matters. As long as Kibitz wasn’t telling me we would have to move on with this case in order to keep to the schedule, I would use the time to simply take a breather from the awful day I was having.
Perhaps canceling court early was the better idea, but that would get Kibitz in a frenzy about his beloved timetable. It would be easier to just ban the nobles from attending court if they didn’t have anything actually important to bring before the court and call it a day. I could cut the line in half by doing that.
Hah! Who am I kidding? It would cut it so much that only a dozen or so ponies would be left from the looks of it.
Hmm... now here's an idea. I gave Raven a glance and shrugged, deciding to do just that even if it would cause an uproar within the nobility. I was done with this foalish behavior, it is high time that I go through with this idea of reforming the court system so that ponies with real problems could get their case heard instead of having to wait all day long because idiots kept taking up the time of my wives and me.
“Raven?” I sighed, making her look up from her scroll (the actual kind, not the technology one) on which she wrote the protocol of this particular ‘case’. “Please, for the love of the twin suns, make sure that only those ponies with vital matters are permitted entrance into the throne room. I’ve had enough of this, I have entertained these foals for long enough as it is.”
Raven smiled. “With pleasure, Your Highness,” she said, giddily skipping down the few steps of the stairs in front of our thrones as she went to do just that. My assistant for everything and anything had a quick word with the guards at the doors to the throne room and I could tell they were happy to do as ordered of them, looking forward to getting to boss around idiotic nobles for daring to waste all of our time.
That day was the first in a wonderful sequence of days that got better and better as the ponies that truly needed help could be heard instead of us having to entertain entitled snobs. Any and all ponies that tried to hide the true purpose of their visit got a hefty fine for wasting time on unimportant matters and I couldn’t have been happier because of that.
The backlash from the nobility paled in comparison to the gratitude of the commoners. Heck, even the nobles that possessed functioning brains appreciated not having to hear the drivel of their idiotic peers on a daily basis. Chief among those was House Pants and House Star. They have always been active and energetic supporters of the House of Commons.
Before long, winter arrived, and with it, the only break I would get from my duties this year. Well, aside from the one day during the holidays that Luna and I had to attend the Hearth’s Warming play, and as per ‘tradition’, the Yule Ball at Hogwarts Castle.
As far as formal events go, the Yule Ball was quite pleasant to attend, and not even Luna could find anything to criticize about it. I had never been that much of a dancer myself, but Luna more than made up for it. She was a very good lead in that regard. She had me dancing like a master in no time after the champions opened the dance floor to everyone else in attendance.
Twilight had, despite my expectations, found herself a ‘date’ to dance with. The girl was about her age (I think) with blonde hair and quite pale skin, a perpetual smile on her face as she twirled around the dance floor, not paying any mind to the ‘dancing skills’ of my daughter. Cadance had tried her best, but... well... Twilight was a lost cause, wasn’t she?
Not that I was a good dancer myself, per se. Luna was the graceful one between the both of us, and while I would have expected Twilight to take after her in that regard, Sunset was actually the one who was quite good at dancing, instead.
Sunset inherited Luna’s artistic skills in quite... unexpected ways, I have to say. Whereas Luna was more traditionalistic in her art style, Sunset liked to experiment with her art style and could get very creative in her approach to art. She even made graffiti look exceptionally good in a semi-comic, street art kind of style.
One of the most cherished paintings my daughter made for me was a picture of me walking along a field path with my wings stretched out to my sides, framed perfectly by the light of the twin suns. Her tendency to experiment with all kinds of art styles was quite refreshing to look at, but sadly, her muse only found her rarely to the point that she seldom was inspired to create something truly beautiful.
“You aren’t going to dance?” I asked my daughter after I found her sitting by her lonesome at one of the tables once I abandoned the dance floor due to the... ahem, current ‘band’ playing. Whatever they were doing, it was at best artfully screeching into a microphone. Maybe I was just too old to appreciate the music young ponies seemed to enjoy these days. Give me an orchestra any time of the day with the gentle hum of string instruments.
“No,” Sunset muttered, bobbing her head to the music slightly. At least one of us was enjoying it. “I’d rather not dance with any of these... I have no idea. They don’t like vampires around here, I think.”
“Is everything alright?” I whispered gently, rubbing her back in concern.
“I thought this exchange year would actually teach me something, Mom,” Sunset sighed as she leaned into the hug, more than disappointed with how things turned out. “Instead, we get an absolute madpony as a teacher against the dark arts, and Twilight is risking her life in a stupid tournament...”
I hummed. “Twilight is going to make it through this just fine,” I said, hoping beyond hope that I was right about this. “As for learning magic... Sunset, dear, you are exceptionally talented, there is little left for you to learn that you don’t already know by heart. Your blood magic alone makes you one of the greatest battle mages I have ever seen. And I'm not saying this lightly just to appease you. You are more than a match for Cadance and Ruby by now.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Sunset said, smiling subtly to herself. Not a moment later, though, a thoughtful frown came to her face. “What do you think is going to happen? In the future, I mean.”
“A great many mysteries lie ahead, dear,” I said, watching Luna hop around on the dance floor next to Twilight, imitating her silly movements so that Twilight didn’t feel so bad about being the only one embarrassing herself. Bright laughter echoed through the Grand Hall from my wife as she seemed to have the time of her life and I fell in love with her all over again. I turned back to Sunset with a gentle smile. “I can’t tell you how many dangers you will need to brave in the coming years, but what I do know is that you will do admirably as long as you have your friends at your side.”
Sunset hummed. She smiled as Twilight waved at us with joy written all over her face. I’m glad my little Star was having fun despite the stares the other students and teachers were sending toward her and Lulu. “I..." she began before hesitating. "Do you know what...”
“Hmm?” I gave her a questioning look, but my daughter sadly shrunk in on herself.
“Forget I said anything,” she muttered dejectedly, worrying her lip with a fang. “It’s nothing...”
“That doesn’t sound like ‘nothing’ to me, Sunset,” I commented, nudging her. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
“Yeah...” Sunset mumbled, fidgeting with her fingers awkwardly. “I just... I keep wondering about what happened that day, the day our future selves appeared...”
“I do, too,” I admitted, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. “But worrying needlessly won’t do any of us any good. Take it from me, I keep doing it and it never changes anything.”
Sunset frowned. “I’m not worried,” she denied. “I just... I...”
“Take your time,” I reassured her. My daughter nodded, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
Sunset gave me a hesitant look and I got the impression she was more confused than anything. “Mom... what does love feel like?”
I gave her a bewildered look, caught off-guard. That certainly wasn’t the question I was expecting. Now, how to answer this..? Hmm. “It is... a very complicated feeling to put into words. For me, it feels like the sunniest day, a nice cool breeze, and a whole lot of anxiety.”
“...anxiety?” Sunset asked, quietly.
“Yes,” I nodded, smiling down at her leaning against my side. “Like I’m constantly falling down, I guess. The quiver that races through me every time your mother looks at me with those beautiful eyes of hers, the giddiness that I feel when she talks to me. The burning desire to be near her, to feel her touch...”
“Okay, okay! I don’t need to hear more than that, sheesh,” Sunset quickly stopped me from describing all of the things I loved feeling when I thought of Luna. I giggled slightly as the face of my daughter turned beet red.
“Why do you ask, little Sun?” I hummed, mischievously poking her side with a finger. “Is somepony in love~?”
“N-no!” Sunset shook her head, blushing even brighter as my grin widened. “I... I don’t know. I’m confused, Mom. The me from the future... and... I don’t know...”
“Then let us start with something easy, dear. What are you feeling?” I said, leaving her to puzzle over the question. I know it was anything but easy, but... my daughter just needed a little nudge for her to realize what it was that she wanted to figure out so badly.
“Annoyed?” she said, giving me a teasing grin and earning herself a flick to the head, instead. “Whenever I think of, w-well... I-I... I get a bubbly feeling and my heart starts beating all weird. Is that love?”
Aww, how cute. “The beginnings of it,” I nodded. “Is that why you didn’t want to dance? Your special somepony isn’t here to dance with you?”
Sunset nodded, rubbing her hands against her dress as I could tell they were sweaty from being so nervous. “But... uh..." she began, struggling for a moment. "How do I know if she likes me back, Mom..?”
“By taking a leap of faith,” I answered, smiling wistfully. “I remember what that felt like with your mother, dear. It was so very frightening.”
“Well, she obviously said yes, that’s totally different,” Sunset grumbled and I let out a snort.
“No, she accused me of being a degenerate idiot,” I told her, giggling to myself. “Oh, how much she screamed at us about how disgusting we were for feeling like we did. You have no idea how much that hurt.”
“What do you mean..? You got together, right?” Sunset muttered, giving me a confused look. “How did Mom go from that... to that?”
“By trying to ignore her own heart and ultimately failing at it,” I smiled back at her, beginning to recount how our relationship came to be.
“That’s... beyond the weirdest thing I have ever heard, Mom,” Sunset snorted. “And she was kinda right, I can’t believe that’s how... well... that started. I’m glad it did, though... otherwise, I wouldn’t have such awesome moms.”
“I don’t know if I’m that awesome, but thank you, dear,” I said, squeezing her arm slightly. Sunset grinned a little bit, beginning to count out everything that made me so great in her eyes which only increased the intensity of my own blush as I drowned in my embarrassment. “That’s quite enough of that, dear. You know... Fluttershy misses you just as much.”
I couldn’t keep the sheer glee from my face as I turned the table on my daughter, watching her sputter with satisfaction. “Mom!”
“Oh, don’t get your tail in a twist, little Sun,” I teased. “You can’t hide such things from me and it is quite obvious that you have been giving your friend those types of glances.”
“Why do I even bother coming to you for these things?!” Sunset grumbled, pouting to herself. “You are just as bad as big sis is...”
“You didn’t deny it~,” I whispered in a sing-song voice, giddy. Sunset gave me the stink eye while trying to give me the best glower she could possibly give me, but she only managed to look even cuter than before like that.
She did calm down remarkably fast, though. “Do you think she would like me back? In a... in a romantic way?”
“I can’t answer that for you, Sunset,” I said, trying to be as gentle with her as I could. “Love is a matter your sister knows a lot more about than I do. I could, at best, make a guess based on what I know of her. I don’t know for certain what Fluttershy would say to you. Nor do I know whether or not she would return those feelings in an honest way. Despite fairy tales depicting love at first sight as something more than a myth, the simple truth is that love takes time. It doesn’t happen instantly and it can lead to much heartache if it doesn’t work out in the way you want it to. But that is a risk worth taking, in my opinion. Your sister would tell you just as much, I’m sure.”
“I... well, I guess that makes sense,” Sunset mumbled, looking so very vulnerable right now.
“Hey,” I whispered, nudging her reassuringly. “Out of all the ponies that you could have developed these feelings for, I don’t think she would break your heart on purpose.
"Fluttershy is not the type to take advantage of you, and neither do I think she would lead you on just to avoid breaking your heart, dear. A good lasting relationship oftentimes starts off with a strong friendship, and even if she doesn’t return those feelings, I doubt she wouldn’t want to be your friend anymore afterward.”
“You’re right,” Sunset said, a gleam of determination entering her eyes. “I have to give this a try despite the risks, otherwise I would keep wondering about the ‘what if’s and ‘what could have been’s. Thanks, Mom.”
“No problem, little Sun,” I smiled, standing up. “Now, I think it’s time to get some rest. I’m up way past my bedtime...”
“Pfft, yeah sure. Go take your old pony's nap,” Sunset snickered and I shot her a playful glare. I hope she will never change...
New Year’s Eve came and went and things went back to a familiar routine of going over this and that while entertaining the nobles here and there at important events like... well, if they were actually important, I’m sure I would bother to remember what I was actually attending most of the time. A garden party could only get so much important, after all.
Most importantly, we did get some news of what was happening with this Storm King. Apparently, he just had a change in command with his ‘trusted’ lieutenant abandoning him over some sky pirates. That was as much as we got, though. Gathering information on a constantly moving enemy wasn’t quite as easy as I had hoped.
Even more troubling was the news that he seemed to amass a following by forcing those he conquered to do his work for him. I was getting increasingly worried that he might not be as negligible of a threat as I had first thought. Equestria was getting ready to defend itself and I feared that he might just be powerful enough to bypass our defenses and reach the heart of my country despite everything we were doing to prevent that.
I have absolutely no idea how his airships moved swifter than the wind could carry them. No engine in existence was that powerful to let them move distances in mere days that even pegasi would have struggled with. It was like they appeared one day out of nowhere and were gone the next, leaving no trace behind other than the burning kingdoms they plundered for their riches.
It was even more puzzling to see them outsmart my wife’s changelings. For some reason, they knew how to avoid our attempts to keep track of them. If I didn't know better, I would have thought a traitor was tipping them off, but they did so even if there were no verbal orders from us. There was also no way that one of the changelings in Liz's hive fed them information, the swarm was completely loyal to my wife.
If it wasn’t a traitor, then... how did they do it? It seemed like they were intimately familiar with how changelings operated, but that was just ridiculous. No one should have known the tactics of the changeling swarm and they were kept secret from even our own non-changeling soldiers. Only Luna, Liz, and I knew the specifics.
So far, it appears like they are keeping a wide berth around Equestria (luckily). Whether that was as fortunate as I thought it was, I had no idea. It did tell me that this Storm King wasn’t a complete fool and was surprisingly cautious of trying anything with our nation. That in itself was troubling news, indeed.
A cautious enemy prepares and plans ahead. And that was anything but good news. The Storm King was taking his time to build up his forces until he felt ready to try and invade us, wasn’t he? It might take a few years until that's going to happen, and I fear it is going to lull us into a false sense of security. We cannot afford to let our guard down.
I had sent missives over to the Griffon Empire, the Hippogriff Kingdom, the zebra nation of Farasi, Yakyakistan, the minotaurs of the Labyrinth, and despite knowing it would probably not help, I send one to the Dragonlands in the hopes that they would take the threat of the Storm King seriously enough to not think he was easy prey.
Before I knew it, the day of the second task arrived, and with it, a choice was to be made.
“I will not allow you to place Sunset in the lake for Twilight to retrieve, Dumbledore,” I snarled, barely restraining myself from summoning Remorse to my side as the Headmaster sat behind his desk calmly regarding me as I paced back and forth in his office. Sunset was obviously here with us, but I had already told her to shut it because I wasn’t having any of it. One of my daughters was already risking her life, I don’t need to worry about my other daughters as well.
Dumbledore sighed. “Then we have a problem,” he said like the manipulative bastard that he was. “The task demands the champions to retrieve something that is very dear to them. Without someone to rescue, Twilight can’t participate in the task, which in turn would mean she would fail to compete in a task. The way this is set up wouldn't merely lead to her receiving the last place.”
That was the last straw that broke my patience with this buffoon. “I have had enough of this despicable tournament, why does she need to do this?!” I raged, flames following my wake. “You could have just used a regular sign-up system, but no... it had to be a binding magical contract. How come you people use life-binding artifacts on a mere whim here?! What is wrong with you people?!”
“Please, Princess,” Dumbledore said, trying to calm me down before I set his office on fire. Not that I would have cared, he deserved far worse for being so... so okay with this! “Sunset won't be in any actual danger throughout the second task. I promised you that nothing would happen to either of them and I have all confidence in the abilities of young Miss Star to succeed in the task of retrieving her sister. Should either of them ever be in mortal danger, won’t your necklace save them? Or were those empty words?”
“Fine,” I growled. “But it won’t be Sunset she will retrieve. She will retrieve me.”
“What?!” Sunset exclaimed, running up to me. “Mom! You can’t...”
“I can and I will,” I snarled, silencing her with a glare.
“But...” Sunset tried, only to be cut off again.
“No buts, Sunset,” I said, reining in my tumultuous emotions until I was sufficiently calm again. “I will not let you do this under any circumstance. I have to do it, I can’t bear the thought of you or Cadance being used like that.”
“Very well, if that is what you truly wish for, Your Highness,” Mister Wrinkles-for-Brain said, standing up from his chair, pleased with the result of this debate. “Then let us prepare for the task ahead.”
Remorse cut off his path before he could leave. There was one thing I needed to make perfectly clear with him and it wouldn’t do to let the other headmasters hear any of this.
I stalked my way slowly into whispering range and gave Professor Dumbledore a death glare. He didn't look so happy with the result of his machinations anymore. “Understand that, once this is all over, I will consider this world an enemy to the safety of my realm, Albus. I cannot tolerate these practices you consider to be ‘normal’ here. Your idea of friendship has shown me nothing more than a contest to earn the prestige of winning over the others. It serves as nothing more than a dick-measuring contest so that you can lord it over the other wizarding schools in a show of pettiness.”
Dumbledore sighed, truly looking sad that this had earned my ire so thoroughly. “I regret to hear that, Summer,” he said. “But I respect that decision. I suppose the differences between our worlds were just too steep to be overcome.”
More like you failed to uphold your word, Dumbledore. “I hope your world can move away from these... these..."—I bit my lip, biting back the angry retort on my tongue—" I’m not even going to dignify this with an insult, Albus. There are few things that I can tolerate on a scale like this, but this world continues to show me that I don’t want to have anything to do with it as long as things stay this way. Frankly, the treatment of other races as lesser creatures disgusts me, and the careless practices of magic even more so.”
“I know you only focus on these flaws because they seem so glaring to you,” Dumbledore said, making me sneer at him. The sheer gall this old geezer dares to display continues to astonish me. “But this world also has good people in it. I hope you realize that at some point in the future.”
I didn’t bother replying to him and instead just decided to get through this ordeal, popping the vial of dreamless sleep potion open. I just want to get this over with and leave this world behind me after granting it the only kindness that it deserved. Saving Cedric Diggory from this miserable place, even though I was less than happy about how he handled the task with the dragon. But I could forgive that. What I couldn’t forgive was the continuous bullshit this world threw at me.
Nothing Dumbledore could say would change my mind. I'm going to shatter the mirror to this damn world and rid myself of its... of its... I...
Each time I visit this place, I leave it feeling so... hateful. It was taking its toll on me, wasn’t it? Oh, dear. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t this hateful, ever.
Everything was just too much as of late. I wish I could go back to that peaceful time, to not have to feel so agitated all the time. I was letting it out on these (relatively speaking) innocent people and it wasn’t helped by the impending return of Platinum.
I was ruining myself. I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I would have liked. My emotions were a complete wreck.
And I fear that will only change once Tia is back where she belongs.
I didn’t get to ruminate over any of this as I was put into a dreamless state of sleep, only awakening after the task was over, swimming over to the platform in the middle of the lake as a little mermaid in the form of my daughter rescued me from the bottom of the Black Lake, surprising me by being the first one to do so.
It was like Twilight was made for these kinds of tasks, as much as it hurt me to know that. I know my daughters will go on many adventures in the future. They will do things that Luna and I have never done, and... I couldn’t help but feel like I was being a bad parent. She will do all of these things, dangerous or not, and I... I will let her because I knew she would succeed with each one of them. She will thrive with this kind of lifestyle, and it hurts me so much to know that she won’t need me anymore to look out for her. That I would, at best, be a liability to her.
She didn’t need me. She was so strong. And I was so very proud of her, but I wish I could have had a little bit more time with her where she would still depend on me to chase away all her nightmares with Luna.
She was an adult now, and in just two years or so, she would leave the nest and spread her wings (figuratively speaking, and, perhaps, literally). As would Sunset. And not too long after them, Cadance and Ruby.
I don’t want the castle to be so empty again. It was a silly fear of mine, wasn’t it?
Days passed, but my mood did not improve. Even sexy centaur sex with Liz could barely lift it. Platinum was about to return and the threat of the Storm King also loomed on the horizon. There was so much the future would bring, and I felt like I wasn’t prepared in the slightest. I knew what to do about Platinum, but the rest?
I just hope Twilight and Sunset will make it through all of this without having to suffer heartache after heartache of losing the ponies they love. I don’t want them to bear this same curse that I had to bear with Luna.
Things were about to change, weren’t they? Gone were the days when Luna, Liz, and I were the protectors of this incredible realm. Now that duty would fall to my daughters, for good or ill. Fate had chosen each one of them and I dearly hoped it wouldn’t be too cruel to them.
At long last, the final day of the tournament arrived, and with it, I received the news that there had been a death already. I had completely forgotten about it (as had Cadance, apparently), but Barty Crouch Senior had been murdered after the second task and I never learned of it because I couldn’t stand being in Hogwarts for longer than I had to be.
Let’s hope no one else has to die in this damn tournament.
“Remember,” I said, holding Twilight tightly against me after Luna had her fill of squeezing the living daylights out of her. “You have to make sure the switch happens at the correct moment. You know how to summon it, right? The... you know...”
“Yes, Mom,” Twilight whispered back, the gloomy labyrinth looming behind her. I wish I could go in with her, see what she was seeing... but that would be against the ‘rules’. I could care less about those, to be honest. “I went over this with Sunset more than a dozen times in the past few days. Sixteen times, in fact.”
“Alright, then,” I sighed, pressing her against me one last time. “Good luck, baby girl. I believe in you.”
“Moooom~!” Twilight whined and I gave her a sad smile back.
A few minutes later, each of the champions were gone into the maze, and I quietly sneaked away from the labyrinth with my sister. Sunset met us at the entrance to Hogwarts Castle. She already had her own and Twilight’s luggage at her side as she waited on us to go back to Equestria.
I didn’t bother to talk to her as I used a quick burst of my mana to float the trunks after us, too anxious to await the arrival of our little Star. Not so little anymore, I guess. They would always remain my darling little daughters, though.
Liz was already waiting by the mirror leading back to Equestria, and next to her was one of her most disturbing creations yet. A flesh puppet with the likeness of Cedric Diggory. I didn’t want to know what kind of foul magic she used to create this thing and how long she spent in the bathroom getting rid of the consequences.
Time ticked on and none of us said anything. The atmosphere was simply too tense and thick. It only got progressively worse the longer we waited. My feelings were running wild and this bad, ominous, foreboding feeling I had for some time now reached an all-time high.
A crackling pop and snapping sound echoed through the room and Twilight appeared, looking quite dirty as she coughed. I glanced at the fake corpse and immediately knew something had gone wrong.
“Twilight?” Sunset asked, catching her sister before her legs gave out underneath her. “Everything okay? Did you get hurt?”
“No, I... I’m fine,” Twilight muttered, tears appearing in her haunted eyes. “I... I failed, Sunny...”
“It’s okay, sis,” Sunset said, brushing her hand through her sister’s hair. “You did your best.”
“What happened?” I asked, kneeling down next to her.
“I tried, Mom,” Twilight cried, sniffling heavily. Luna was instantly upon her, soothing her with soft melodies. “I tried so hard, but I... I wasn’t good enough.”
“All that matters is that you are okay, Star,” Luna said, placing a shaky kiss on top of her head. Both Luna and Liz were just as shaken about this as I was. Something could have gone massively wrong, but at least my daughter got out of this mess unharmed. “We aren’t disappointed in you. On the contrary, we are glad you knew your limits and came back without trying to complete this task no matter what. Don’t ever think otherwise.”
“I’m sorry about Cedric,” Twilight muttered dejectedly, giving us a hollow look. “He... everything just happened so fast...”
“Such is the nature of the battlefield,” I whispered back, sorrowfully. “Even the best laid out plan might not survive contact with the enemy. That is an all too painful lesson to learn.”
Liz clicked her tongue next to us. “Let us move on from this,” she said before burning the flesh puppet to a crisp disdainfully. “Coming to this world has been a mistake, it is best we leave it behind and never look back.”
Sunset and Twilight nodded, moving through the mirror first. Luna followed after them, and Liz went in after her, taking the luggage with her.
I was about to do the same before someone stopped me. “I thought I might find you here.”
I turned around and saw Professor Dumbledore standing by the door. Of course, he would come... “I’m sorry that it had to come to this, Albus.”
“I know,” he sighed. “I know. I appreciate what you tried to do this day, Princess. I truly do, but... some things are simply not meant to be.”
“I know...” I repeated his words back at him. “But sometimes one has to try anyway. Goodbye, Albus.”
“Goodbye, Summer,” he said, giving me a sad smile. “May you find your happiness again, my friend.”
Friend... I don’t deserve that title from you, do I? I never once gave you a genuine chance. You and this suns’ forsaken world.
Some things are simply not meant to be, indeed. I'm sorry. I truly am.
Perhaps things might have been different had I met you after this year. I might have given you a chance, even helped you in your war against Voldemort, but... you tried to manipulate me into staying. You knowingly got my daughter involved in this stupid scheme of yours.
You didn't honestly think I wouldn't take notice of what you were up to, did you? From the moment we first stepped into this world, you gave yourself away. Just know that the universe has a cruel sense of humor, Albus. Fate can change their mind.