//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Unexpected Aftermath // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 16 ___________________________________________________________ “There are other Alicorns out there! There are other Alicorns out there!” I’m pacing back and forth in my room, my nerves beyond anything I’ve ever felt, even the time I almost died in that swamp when I first got to Equestria. It’s been three weeks since I was sick and Pinkie dropped the biggest bombshell since learning Alicorns can basically be made as easily as a cake if you know how, this bombshell literally linking to that one. There are other Alicorns in Equestria other than the princesses and myself. I’d always thought those jokes about background Alicorns were literally just those, jokes, but, apparently not. Now, I’m wishing I’d paid more attention to when people in the fandom brought them up, because I can’t remember a single one of the ponies who seemed like an animation error in the show, but was clearly just us the viewers being able to see something the characters in the show couldn’t. Now, you’re probably wondering why, if it’s been three weeks, nothing’s happened so far. That’s because Cadance, quite wisely in my opinion, has opted not to tell a single soul about the huge paradigm shift to this world’s reality Pinkie Pie just casually dropped on us as normally as if she’d been talking about the weather. We’d already agreed that, if word ever got out that you can just make an Alicorn, there’d be chaos to a level even Discord has agreed would be bad. Imagine the further chaos upon it being announced there are already Celestia doesn’t know how many Alicorns just hiding amongst the populace. And that’s the concerning part: They’re hiding. Why are they hiding? Do they just want to avoid becoming royalty? As somepony who had to accept becoming royalty in order to protect herself thanks to my body’s previous occupant’s actions against Equestria, I guess I could understand that perspective. If I could’ve, I’d have gladly just found somewhere to live out my pony life in peace, maybe the Apple Family Farm? But, the fact the Elements of Harmony didn’t take away my Alicornhood means I’m stuck being royalty, whether I like it or not… despite the fact Luna and Celestia are allowed to simply abdicate the throne to Twilight and retire. Is it an age thing? Are you only allowed to do that if you’re over a thousand years old? Then again, could it be fear? As far as everypony is aware publicly, being an Alicorn is something only possibly from accomplishing a great feat or having a special purpose (the latter likely how some view me, seeing as they know my body used to be a Pegasus but didn’t change after the Elements zapped me). So, it could be possible that anypony who randomly created the events that turned them into an Alicorn, not knowing the how of it, felt they’d accidentally broken some special Alicorn taboo and went into hiding. Any unicorn who became an Alicorn is easy enough to explain. Most unicorns, regardless of their power level, are aware of Illusion Spells and have likely been using them since they, from their perspective, ascended. The pegasi and Earth Ponies are another story. They must’ve done their best to hide their Alicornhood before finding a way to teach themselves, not only how to actually use their magic, but to cast an Illusion Spell to hide the parts of them they wished none to see. Just how many ponies are out there right now, living in fear, thinking they’ve done something wrong when they’re not at fault at all? Or, we could be dealing with the absolute worst case scenario: an uprising. How do we know ponies don’t think of themselves better than others? Yes, a vast majorty of Equestria has proven able to accept other races, despite a former severe racist like Neighsay having been in control of the schooling for the last Celestia knows how many years, but, it’s also known there are some who don’t have such open minds. Throughout the show, especially the final season, it was made evident that there are ponies who view us as above every other race (likely not helped by the fact it is a pair of ponies who control the celestial bodies that govern day and night). And, knowing how easily Cozy and co were able to turn ponies not just against the other races, but each other, it’s not hard to imagine such ponies are out there. Granted, those ponies being able to create the specific conditions to turn oneself into an Alicorn is highly unlikely… but not beyond possibility. Yes, Sombra is a case where, as the Unicorn King in the early hours of Celestia and Luna’s rein, the circumstances were heavily in his favour, giving him plenty of access to figure it all out… but, I can’t ignore the possibility somepony else could figure it out by accident. “Princess Autum?” “YAH!” I cry out in alarm, leaping up and clinging to the ceiling, After taking a few seconds to calm myself, I glance down to see a pair of guards, both yellow, looking up at me in slight confusion. Shaking my head, I drop from the ceiling and glide down in front of them. “Is… everything alright, Your Highness?” the guard on the left asks. I scowl. He wilts, and stammers, “I-I mean Autum.” I sigh, before pouting. At least that pulled me a little more to my senses. “Nothing’s wrong. Well, I mean, something is wrong, but, it’s an Alicorn thing. Nothing you need concern yourself with.” The guards glance at each other, the left speaking. “Do you need Princess Cadance’s advice on the matter? Or, since she’s almost finished helping Maresberry in the library, we could get Princess Twilight?” I sigh again, shaking my head. “No. It’s fine. I can deal with it myself.” The guards do not hide the fact they can tell that’s a bold-face lie. Cadance has been handling the news we’ve a bunch of unknown Alicorns just hiding out in society perfectly fine, with the pose and regality one would expect from an Alicorn princess. Flurry? Well, she’s a baby. A smarter than average baby, but, still, just a baby. She don’t understand squat about what Pinkie revealed and why it’s such a big deal. And ain’t no way I was going to try explaining it to her. Does make me feel bad that she’s felt bad she can’t stop me feeling anxious. Seriously, I’m starting to wonder if that foal’s special talent is going to be related to therapy in some way, with how much she does to keep my mentality in check. Me, on the other hoof? I’ve been an absolute nervous wreck Shaking my head again, I look to the guards. “So, to what do I have the pleasure, gentlemen?” The two bow. “Prince Shining Armour wishes to speak with you… Autum,” I can tell they catch themselves right at the end. Cocking an eyebrow, I shrug and follow them out, them escorting me… towards the palace entrance? Shining Armour is waiting for as by the door, five guards standing with him. “Autum, good, you came,” the unicorn prince says as the two guards with me salute him. I cock my head. “Shining, what’s going on?” Shining sighs. “With the repairs to Canterlot Castle almost complete, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wish to speak with you in person.” I do not change my expression. “So… are they coming here or…?” I mean, the official event to announce me is to coincide with Twilight’s coronation as Equestria Head Princess, so, it makes sense, but… something just feels weird, here and I can’t place it. And, yes, I know, Head Princess isn’t a real thing, but how else am I supposed to describe it? She’s being given Celestia and Luna’s roles (minus the Dream Walking part, Luna has said she’ll keep doing that, but on a smaller scale) as the princess everypony will look to for the big stuff regarding Equestria at large. Yes, when it comes to the Empire, ponies do come to Cadance directly, but, otherwise, it’s going to be Twilight handling everything Luna and Celestia used to do. Shining nods in answer to my unfinished question. “It took finagling with their schedules, but, yeah. They’re both waiting for you in the Meeting Room.” I can’t help rolling my eyes. Leave it to Shining Armour to let a name his little sister made off the fly when she first came to the Empire to stick for a room. I follow him and the guards until we reach the room, at least six Royal Guards from Canterlot standing either side of the door, where I enter alone. The two tallest Alicorns at sitting at the table, a cup of tea in front of each of them. They look up as I enter and the door closes behind me. I sit down at the table and wait for them to speak first. “So, Princess Autum,” Luna speaks first, “how well are you adapting to living in our world?” I frown for a moment, thinking it over, before shrugging. “Probably better than could be expected, given the circumstances, though I’ll chock that up mostly to my spending most of my time here, in the Empire, where ponies treat me fine.” I snort. “Something amusing?” Celestia asks. I shake my head. “It’s nothing. Just remembering how it took Cadance and Shining Armour several weeks to convince the Crystal Ponies I wasn’t a secret love child they’d had before coming to rule here.” There’s a pause, before Luna snorts as well. “Luna!” her sister chides. “S-sorry, sister,” Luna manges through her giggles, “but, young Autum is right. It is quite an amusing idea.” I laugh. “Tell me about it. The logical loops some of them jumped through to try and explain how it could be the case despite the fact the two were barely married over a month before the Empire showed up, meaning I’d have technically been born out of wedlock, when Shining and Cadance were barely ready to leave high school and then panicking because they thought they’d offended them by even suggesting they’d have done that?” Luna and I both have a good laugh at the absurdity. Our mirth, however, is cut short by a loud clearly of Celestia’s throat. Luna takes a moment to calm herself, while I’ve gone a bit ridged. That kind of clearly of the throat is only reserved for when you’ve done something you shouldn’t have. What could I possibly have done wrong now? Wait. Did Celestia find out about that time I exploited the loophole in the conditions of my being in the Empire and went to Ponyville? I inwardly deadpan. Did Flash Sentry rat me out, bringing up my talking to Cheese Legs and Tirek’s statue as I sign I was actually Cozy plotting a way to free them and start the conquest of Equestria anew? “It is fitting you bring that up, as crudely as you did,” Celestia starts once Luna has calmed herself. I… can’t help cocking my eyebrow at that. “We would like to have had Cadance or Shining Armour here to discuss this with you,” Celestia continues, “however, as he has other duties to attend to right now, he had to leave as soon as he brought you to us.” “And Cadance is busy with her courts right now, in part due to sorting out your current situation,” Luna adds. Now I cock my head to the side. “Um… okay. Can… I please ask you two to elaborate there?” Celestia nods. “Autum Moonstone, the Elements of Harmony choosing to let you keep your Alicornhood means there is something important you must do. A task the Elements have deemed you are to complete.” “As to what that could be, we cannot even begin to speculate,” Luna takes over. “The Elements of Harmony do not always act as one would expect them to, so what they could have in store for you is a large unknown.” I nod, sighing. “Yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.” That was pretty obvious to me from the moment I found I still had my horn and Alicorn wings after the Rainbow Laser of Death washed over me. I do my best not to think about it, though. For all I know, whatever the Elements have planned for me might not happen for several years, even decades. After all, they imprisoned Luna on the moon for a thousand years instead of purifying her then and there, waiting instead for when Twilight and the others bonded to them. The Tree of Harmony exerts its will through the power of the Elements, originally just the gemstone and now the living embodiments of them, so, what it knows is impossible to guess. “However,” Celestia’s tone firms slightly, pulling me from my musings and making me nervous again, “there is a key problem with your being an Alicorn. You will need to be part of a royal family to be allowed to keep your title as a princess.” At once, I frown. “Uh, come again?” Luna sighs. “We are aware that you were one an adult, Autum, but, you are now a foal, a minor. As such, the law states you must be with a royal family due to you position as a future ruler of Equestria yourself.” I snort angrily. “Well, if any of the noble family’s in Canterlot thinks I’ll join them, they can kiss my ass. I’m not going into a toxic household just to be used as a political weapon. Fuck that!” I blink, then blush, wilting. “Sorry.” Celestia sighs. “Frankly, brash as your word choice was, we share the sentiment. Putting you in the care of any of the noble family to let you keep your title and prevent squabbling among them is much preferred to be avoided.” “Especially with Princess Twilight taking the throne in a short while,” Luna adds on. “The nobility are going to be up in hooves for quite a while as is on that. Your being placed in any one of their family would just add to the fire, making it a nightmare for Princess Twilight to handle so early into her reign.” “Can’t I just stay here and keep living with Cadance, Shining Armour and Flurry Heart like I have been all these months?” I ask sceptically. “Boring as the Empire can be at times, I’ve come to like living here and with them. I could never leave Flurry.” Celestia nods. “It is very good to hear you say that, Autum. That was our plan as well.” I backtrack. “Wait, wha?” Luna nods. “Living with Cadance and Shining Armour. We also feel that is the best option.” “But, I still need to be adopted into a royal family now, right, for the whole keeping my princess title thing? I don’t get what you mean?” Luna frowns in confusion. “The news from the guard grapevines was not wrong. You are very distracted, lately. We would have thought one of your original age would’ve figured this out easily.” I don’t know whether to be annoyed or more confused by Luna’s words. “We plan on having Cadance and Shining Armour adopt you,” Celestia says. My jaw drops. “Huh?!” Celestia gives that knowing smile, the one she always gave to Twilight whenever Twilight had figured something out without realizing she’d figured it out. “Well, you are close to them now, aren’t you?” “And you have become as close to our niece, Flurry Heart as any big sister, correct?” Luna chimes in. “Did you not just say you couldn’t bear to leave her?” “I… well, yeah, I… That would make sense…” I fumble, my mouth and brain very much not working together. Celestia holds up a hoof, giving me a reassuring smile. “Do not worry. We will speak with Cadance and Shining Armour about this as well. We have no plans on forcing this on you immediately.” “However, it is necessary to ensure you have as little issues with the nobility as possible after our retirement,” Luna nods. I just sit, trying to process everything and come up with the words to properly answer something so huge. My musings are interrupted, however, by a loud popping sound accompanying a flash of golden light and a very familiar weight plopping onto my back. I glance over my shoulder to see Flurry smiling back at me. “What do you say, Flurry Heart?” Celestia asks in a cooing voice. “Do you want Autum to become your real sister?” Flurry garbling eagerly, wrapping her tiny forelimbs around my neck and hugging me close. “Aw-dum!” All our jaws drop. Did… did she just say…? I stare at the foal hugging me, before turning to meet the I’m assuming as equally shocked looks on Celestia on Luna. Flurry started talking a little a while ago. I mean, I definitely know she can say “Mama” as she called it out to Cadance when Sombra was holding her hostage… but did she just say my…? “Well… it… would seem Flurry’s mind is made up,” Luna says slowly after a few moments of stunned silence. “She doesn’t want you leaving either, Big Sister Autum.” I give Luna a quick deadpan, before glancing back to Flurry, looking uncertainly at her. “Is that true, Flurry? You really want me as your big sister, for real?” She pulls back a bit to look at me blankly, before a huge smile spreads across her face and she rubs her cheeks against mine. I try not to blush at the “Awws” from the two sisters. After a moment, I sigh, nodding. “Okay. If Cadance and Shining want to adopt me into the family, I’m okay with that… just don’t expect me to start calling them Mum and Dad too soon. That would just feel weird to me.” Celestia laughs. “I’m sure they’ll understand, Autum.” “We shall see when the two of them are free so we may broach this matter with them,” Luna says as we all stand up and head for the door. “Preferably today, if possible,” she adds as the door opens. Flurry apparently wants to go flying, because she leaps of my back and flies right out the door, startling the guards. While a trio of Crystal Ponies rush off to catch the flying foal… my attention is drawn to three of the Royal Guard, all unicorns. Two of them are white with two-tone blue hair and greenish-blue eyes, while the other is grey but the same otherwise. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been so anxious or what, but, I noticed something odd about the way they reacted upon Flurry popping out of the room like a shotgun. It was their body posture. There’s another unicorn guard there, another grey stallion. He reacted by leaning back and aiming his horn downward. Now, once it was obvious the object that shot out the room was just Flurry, he’d relaxed. However, it was the reaction of the other three unicorns that caught my eye. There’s two white pegasi here too… and the unicorns’ reacted just like they did, while also reacting mostly like their fellow unicorn. While they aimed their horns downward, they puffed out their chests like the pegasi guards had, their bodies positioning as if they had… wait a minute. “Celestia, Luna?” I ask, keeping my eye on those three, while leaning my head back towards the sisters. “Yes?” they answer at the same time. “When the Changelings first invaded Canterlot, Twilight devised a spell that would dispel their illusions, but also effects any other Illusion Spells due to how potent she had to make it, yes?” The confused looks answer my question before it’s even spoken. “Yes,” Luna nods. “What are you going with this, Autum?” “How did you know how many of your guards were confirmed not to be Changelings in disguise back then?” I ask, my question causing the three stallions to look at me with worry. Celestia frowns, clearly trying to remember. “We had several guards whom had been present in the wedding hall and found outside bound in the Changelings’ sap going around, castling the dispelling, well, spell.” She blushes a little at her grammar flub. “And, would any of the guards here just so happen to be among those who reported on those confirmed not Changelings?” I ask, the worried looks turning into slight panic, which I can tell Luna has picked up on. “Yes,” the Night Princess says slowly, eyeing the three and pointing to the grey one. “Commander Strong Will reported a good number of the guard being confirmed not to be Changelings… including, if I’m right the two white unicorns either side of him.” “Why are you suddenly so nervous, my little ponies?” Celestia asks, thankfully having picked up on the oddness too. Thank god. I didn’t want to have to rope her into the stereotype several fans put her in, of somehow being a cunning genius and somehow completely oblivious. “I already know, boys,” I say bluntly, causing their eyes to widen into pinpricks. “You’re not in trouble, you haven’t broken any sacred taboo or whatever. We just wanna know why you’re the way you are now.” Luna, Celestia and the remains guards’ confusion is quickly turned into utter bewilderment as the three stallion look solemnly at each other, before lighting their horns and a shimmer passes over their bodies… a pair of wings appearance afterwards. “Wh-what in Equestria?” Luna gaps. “Other Alicorns, and males, in our Royal Guard?!” Celestia stares open-mouthed for a moment, before her heads snaps towards me. “How is this possible? What is the meaning of this, Autum?” “A question or two I myself would like answered, Celestia?” I say, eyeing the three Alicorns as their fellow guards just stare at them in stunned shock. “You boys mind explaining how you pulled this off? Also,” I narrow my eyes, “do you know of anypony else whom we should know about?”