***
Comet Streak knocked on the door to the Ponyville Library with a smile. He had a good reason to smile, he was going out on a date with Princess Twilight Sparkle. The door opened and to his surprise no pony was there, the inside of the library was dark save for a single lantern.
“Come in Comet,” he heard somepony say.
The unicorn gulped at the voice's tone. He slowly walked in and the door closed behind him. Inside, he saw Princess Celestia sitting at the low reading table. Whatever fear he had upon sighting her turned into outright terror at the look she was giving him.
“Have a seat, Comet Streak. Twilight will be down in a few minutes, but you and I need to have a little talk.”
He gulped. “O…of course, Your Majesty.” Comet did as he was ordered.
She took a sip from the tea cup sitting in front of her. “Twilight is very dear to me and I would not like to see anything bad happen to her.” Celestia gave him a hard look. “How much of my history do you know?”
“N…not much,” he stammered out.
“I appreciate the honesty. Let me give you a brief lesson. I lead a full scale revolt with an army against the Chaos Tyrant. I fought and beat the Empress-Matriarch of the Dragons in single combat. I lead a force to depose the Usurper King Sombra, and I lead the army against Nightmare Moon in the heart of the Long Night. If you so much as misplace a single hair on Twilight's tail, I will have you - minus certain parts of your anatomy - sent to the Isle of Dawn so fast you will be there the week before I send you. Do you understand me?”
He nodded vigorously. Make Twilight cry and he could kiss whatever chance he had to score goodbye.
To reinforce her point Celestia forged a large double headed battleax out of the very light given off by the lantern.
He gulped once more.
Their gaze broke when they heard soft hoofsteps coming down the stairs. Celestia quickly broke her axe back into light and Comet breathed a sigh of relief.
“Ready to go?” Twilight asked.
He nodded and smiled weakly. “Of course let me…” Comet turned to the other seat only to find it vacant, the tea set missing. “Er... come on Twi, our table awaits.”
She smiled and trotted out the door with him following behind. He wondered if he had just imagined Celestia there. Surely the Princess would be too busy to do the overprotective parenting thing.
As soon as the couple was out of sight of the library, a spot next to the door shimmered and Celestia reappeared. “Come out, Luna.”
Luna pops out of the shadow cast by the nearest street lamp. “Scared him good?”
Celestia nodded. “I think I put the fear of… well... me into him. I'm guessing you wish to follow them just to make sure?”
Luna snorted. “Of course, Tia. I just don’t trust him to keep his word. So, if you will excuse me.”
With that she faded back into the shadows, already tracking her quarry. Celestia heard a rustling in the bushes next to her and groaned. “Cadence.”
A head popped out of bushes though it would be hard for anypony to guess the identity of the pony. Cadence’s pink coat was obscured by camouflage face paint and a camouflage Royal Guard battle dress.
“Here Auntie.” She looked out into the town. “Auntie, I do wonder why you are letting them go. I mean you do love her right?”
Celestia didn't move. “Yes I do. But I will not force her to love me in return. While pretty much everypony else doesn't like him, she does, and I will not interfere beyond my little Shotgun Speech.”
Cadence nodded. “I understand. We all feel protective of her, and if he harms her…”
“Get in line, Cadence. Her mother has first dibs. Then me.”
A week later Comet Streak found himself stranded on the Isle of Dawn, far to the east of Equestria as Celestia and Twilight started to court.