Princess Celestia sat in her throne room. It was another slow day – in fact, not a single pony had yet come to visit her. Then again, the day was just beginning. Just beginning to pick up, that is – a knock on the door signaled her first visitor. The door opened, and two ponies she had seen just a few days prior entered. An irate white unicorn mare stomped in, followed by an incredibly nervous blue unicorn stallion.
“Ah, Mister and Missus Sparkle! So nice to see you again! What brings you here this glorious morning, if you don’t mind me saying?” Celestia asked, her gloomy demeanor gone, replaced by all sorts of cheerfulness at a chance to converse with her favorite student’s parents.
“We have a serious problem,” Mrs. Sparkle replied, through gritted teeth, “That monster, Queen Chrysalis, is still at large, and worse, has my son under her control again!”
Celestia arched an eyebrow. “So they told you, and you didn’t believe them?”
“Yes, he’s in great danger and… wait, what?” Anger suddenly lost direction, dissipated by confusion.
“Shining Armor and Queen Chrysalis visited you, last night, yes?” Celestia asked. Mrs. Sparkle nodded in response. “He told you she was his wife, and he knew what she was, and that he loved her, correct?” Another nod. “He then explained that you never knew the real Princess Cadance?” Celestia could see the gears turning in Mrs. Sparkle’s head, and, surmising the answer to her question, had to suppress the urge to facehoof.
“Of course we knew the real Cadance, she foalsat for Twilight for years, and romanced my son,” the mare replied.
Celestia sat for a moment, trying to decide what to say, when a scroll materialized beside her. She reflexively caught it before it hit the ground, and opened the seal. A letter from Twilight, especially at this particular moment in time, was likely rather important. She read it quickly, smirking slightly, before knowing what to say to relieve the Sparkle family’s tensions.
“Mrs. Sparkle, this is a letter from your daughter. I believe you will find its contents quite intriguing,” the Sun Goddess stated calmly, levitating the letter towards the couple. Mrs. Sparkle gently took the parchment from her ruler’s grasp, moving it close enough to read.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I write to you in hopes this letter reaches you before my parents. Shining Armor and Chrysalis made a rather unexpected visit last night, with some rather disturbing news – he and Chrysalis informed my parents of her true nature, and they received the information poorly. Granted it was entirely my idiot brother’s fault for relaying the truth poorly and incompletely, so if you could please visit them and let them know that we never knew the original Princess Cadance, that it has been Chrysalis from the very start, and that neither I nor Shining Armor are under any spells, I would be most grateful. I love my brother, and so do my parents, but he can be a real goof at times. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,” she read aloud, her face changing to one of recognition as she reached the end. She looked at the letter, to Celestia, and back to the letter. She gave another glance to Celestia, who merely nodded knowingly.
“I’m a fool, oh I’m such a fool…”
“It’s ok, honey, we didn’t know, we couldn’t have known,” Night Light finally spoke, his voice quivering with fear.
“No, that is true, but still, we overreacted, horrifically. I did, at the very least. Princess, can you send letters back?”
“Of course I can, my loyal subjects. Would you like me to?”
“Yes, please, if it is no inconvenience to you, Princess.”
“Of course not! Between you and me, I wish more ponies would come here simply asking me to send letters. It allows me to get a more personal look into my subjects lives, get to know their fears and hopes, etcetera. I was once practically a one-pony mail service, but that was thousands of years past. Now, what would y-” Celestia was interrupted by the materialization of a second scroll. She broke the seal and read it, this time failing to suppress a facehoof.
P.S. He also assaulted three members of the Royal Guard and is now Equestria’s most wanted. If you could do something about that, I would be forever in your debt, Princess.
---
Twilight Sparkle was pacing around the central table in her library, growing increasingly worried by the second.
“Twiley, calm down, you sent the letter seven minutes ago. The Princess might not even be awake yet,” Shining Armor tried to calm her.
“Might not even be awake? In case you haven’t noticed, the sunrise happened! She’s kind of an integral part of that!” Twilight restrained herself from yelling, gesturing emphatically to her window with a hoof. To accentuate her statement, the sun seemed to grow extra-bright for just a second, as if smiling.
“I… suppose you’re right about that, sis,” Shining Armor said, mentally smacking himself for missing something so obvious.
“I think what he’s trying to say,” Chrysalis cut in, “is that seven minutes is an awfully short amount of time for Princess Celestia, as powerful as she is, to remedy the situation with your… our parents, remedy the situation with the Guard, and reply back to you? While she is practically a god, the ponies she needs to interact with on this are not,” she finished, a hint of humor trickling down in her voice.
Twilight Sparkle smirked, puffing out a little extra air from her nose. “You’re right, Chrysalis,” the nervous unicorn said with a sigh, “Though at least a quick confirmation that she got my letters would be nice.”
“Yeah, letters, plural, Twiley. Was that second one really necessary?” Shining Armor asked, and was met with glares all around.
“Was the second one necessary?” Twilight exasperatedly asked, “Of course it was necessary! Celestia is the only one aside from yourself with the power to rescind that order, and your orders don’t count for anything at the moment!”
“Oh… right…” Shining Armor hung his head.
“Oh, Twilight, don’t be so mean to him. He was just trying to protect me,” Chrysalis said, shifting to put a foreleg around her husband. She pulled him close and kissed the top of his head. “He might be a goof sometimes, but he’s our goof.”
“That’s true, but still… Ugh, I just wish Celestia would respond!” Twilight Sparkle said it and it was so.
Spike felt his stomach rumble for just a moment and belched a small gout of flame, the green fire dissipating to reveal two pieces of parchment wrapped in a red ribbon. Before Spike could formally declare the letter’s arrival, Twilight had already grabbed it and began to read.
“My most faithful student, I had the good fortune to receive your letter while your parents were in my presence. They had, in fact, come to me to discuss the issues raised in your letter, namely their fear for the safety of your brother and our fair city. Enclosed is a letter dictated by your mother, and, on occasion, your father. In addition, please inform your dear brother and my faithful Captain of the Guard that he is, indeed, a blockhead, and that I will do my best to mitigate the situation (of which your parents have not been informed). However, please also inform him that my direct order that Queen Chrysalis is no longer a fugitive or a threat would raise significant suspicions, and that I cannot do so. Your mentor and friend, Princess Celestia,” Twilight finished.
As she had read, her voice had grown higher in pitch out of fear from the first few sentences, shifted to amusement at the regal Sun Princess referring to Shining Armor as a ‘blockhead,’ to somewhat solemn acceptance that the situation would not be so easily remedied. Shining Armor and Chrysalis heaved synchronous sighs of relief when Twilight finished the letter.
“Well, it’s good to see that our parents have some semblance of sense…” the white stallion groaned.
“This whole situation could have been avoided if you had explained it better in the first place,” Twilight said to her brother, “Don’t think there’s any way you’re not taking the blame for this, BBBFF.”
The use of his childhood title let him know that Twilight was only half-kidding, and he lowered himself to the floor.
“Oh, Shiny, it’s not so bad,” Chrysalis encouraged, laying down next to him.
“It isn’t?” Shining Armor and Twilight replied in unison.
“Of course not. You’re a blockhead, but you’re my blockhead,” Chrysalis giggled, nuzzling her husband.
Twilight pretend-gagged at her family. “If you two are done poisoning Spike with your sickeningly sweet displays of affection, I can read you Mom and Dad’s letter,” she said, receiving a nod from the couple.
“Dear Shining Armor, Queen Chrysalis, and Twilight Sparkle, I would like to formally apologize for my absolutely horrific behavior two nights ago. Chrysalis, I can hope you understand that your sudden appearance coupled with my son’s incomplete explanation… we had no idea that you were actually the Cadance we had known all along. You have done so much for our family, and provided so much for us. Every one of us loves you to death, your sudden shift in appearance was just… jarring, given the events of Shining Armor’s (and your) wedding day. We welcome you back gladly with open hooves, and we wish you can forgive us. My husband also wishes to convey his intentions of trying his best to not be afraid of you.
“Shining Armor. You, my beloved son, are more than I had ever hoped you would ever be. You are the Captain of the Royal Guard for Princess Celestia, you married a beautiful and talented Princess of Love, and you’ve darn near ruined it, on account of us. Please understand that you gave us very little information to process before informing us of the truth on your wife, but please forgive us for how terribly we overreacted. I take back everything I said about you having to leave, and your father and I fervently hope you will as well.
“My dearest daughter Twilight, thank you for showing us how blind we were to our own son’s love, even if it was somewhat of a surprise to us. We are so very thankful that you had the wits to send a letter to Celestia to explain to us the situation properly. Were it not for your letter, we very likely would have been disinclined to believe our beloved Princess, given her less than stellar performance against the changelings at the first ceremony,” Twilight laughed at how the writing became slightly agitated at these words, “but we believe that you have a level head and enough magical prowess to know if Chrysalis is telling the truth. If you believe her, we believe her. With love and hopes of forgiveness, Mom and Dad.”
Twilight smiled. She had known that between herself and the Princess, her parents were sure to believe her.
“See, Shiny? I told you they’d see reason if they knew the whole story. I can’t believe Mom talked down about the Princess while she was dictating that letter though. I hope she’s not locked up in a dungeon somewhere,” Twilight said after a moment of silence.
Shining Armor smiled back at his sister. The letter had done much to lift his spirits. “Thanks, Twiley. It was totally my fault, yeah, I’ll admit that and accept it. I’m just glad that they did come around when you explained it better.”
“Of course they came around. It was your sister, the brightest and most talented unicorn ever to live, explaining it to them, not you, the most handsome and toughest stallion,” Chrysalis said, nuzzling her husband again. A moment later she realized the implications of her statement, and gasped. “Oh, Shiny, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to call you stupid. You’re not stupid! Not at all! I just mea-”
Chrysalis was silenced by another kiss from her husband.
“I know what you meant, love. It’s ok,” He said, smiling, after he pulled away.
Wow. They really could not possibly be better for each other. He’s a coltish goof and she’s still a massively in-love little filly at heart. Nothing could ever break this romance apart. It’s almost like something out of a novel for young fillies, Twilight thought, giggling at the romantic display in front of her.
“Well…” Twilight said, giving a light cough to break the silence. Shining Armor and Chrysalis were lost in each other’s’ eyes. They both blushed slightly and turned to Twilight. “A train is leaving for Canterlot in about half an hour. We can easily make it if we get packed quickly, to go back and talk to our parents in person. Chrysalis? Would you mind turning into Cadance again? Even a failing disguise is better than nothing.”
Chrysalis nodded, and green fire flashed around her. When the light faded, she stood before them, unaltered.
“Chrysalis? I said you should turn into Cadance, not you,” Twilight laughed nervously. This can’t be happening. This isn’t happening.
Another flash of green.
“I… I can’t.”