A knock was heard at the Apple Family door. 'Now who could that be?'she thought. "Hold your horseshoes, I'm comin'!" Applejack set down the paper, went to the front door and opened it. Two royal guards were standing in front of her. They appeared as stern as ever.
"We have been sent to gather Applejack and 'Big' Macintosh." Their looks softened a little. "May we assume you are Applejack?" She nodded, staring confusedly. The guard spoke again. "Could you please gather your brother? We are to meet with the others at Princess Sparkle's dwelling, by order of her brother, Captain Armor. I don't want to disappoint him. He's the best commander we've ever had." By this point, he was almost pleading with her. She turned her head.
"Mac, git yer kiester over here! We're goin' ta Twi's!" Mac meandered over. The guards' voices had traveled very well through the house. Caramel stood to Mac's right, looking both anxious and amused by what was going on. "Caramel, you stay here, and keep an eye on Granny and Apple Bloom. Ah don't know when we'll be back." Applejack and Mac left, with their apparent security detail trailing behind them.
"Bye Honey! Come back soon!" His voice gained a more nervous tone. "Seriously, A.B. scares me!" shouted Caramel as the siblings left. They heard screaming as they left the farm, but it was just Apple Bloom messing with Caramel. Granny'd straighten her out when she got up from her nap.
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One hour later.....
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The girls (and Mac), and their twelve guards were standing right at Twilight's front door. Applejack figured they were together because of the article she'd read at breakfast that day. "Twi, we wanna talk to ya about this here article." She held said article up to the window. "How in the hay are you a Princess? And are you related to Bluebl-"
"Don't you dare say that vile cur's name!" shouted a very literally fiery Rarity. The guards recoiled for fear of being burnt. The flames died down. "I'm still cleaning cake out of my mane because of him."
Applejack turned back to the door. "Are you at all related to that Other Guy?" She turned her head toward Rarity. "Happy?" Rarity gave a curt nod. "Good." She turned to the now open door, where Twilight stood. "You gonna let us in, or what?" she asked the zoned-out Twilight.
"Hehe, sorry. I guess you deserve an explanation, come in. Don't worry about Spike. He's out on a camping trip with my parents for the week." Twilight then levitated the six ponies outside her door into the building. The party landed with a crash. Twilight was having one of her episodes. Again. As the door closed, the guards set up in front of the library/house/tree that the soon-to-be-crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle lived in, as crowds began to gather. After that, they set up a small canvas checkpoint in front of the thing Twilight called home.
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About 20 minutes of uncomfortable silence later....
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"Okay, this all started a little over a month ago when Pinkie brought to my attention that the record of my lineage stopped at generation forty six, as opposed to six or so generations before that, as is normal." Twilight went into what could be called a lecture-trance. She then explained how her visit to the Princesses had gone. Then, Shining Armor's account of their meeting with the Princesses, as well as the tale of Blueblood's sentencing.
"To answer your likely questions in no particular order: Yes, I am, indeed, a Princess, just as Big Brother is now a Prince, not Prince-Consort. He and I are the genetic descendants of Princesses Luna and Celestia. I've also gone over the charts again, because there is a high statistical improbability of there only being two descendants in all this time. They do have other living descendants, whom are in the room with me. And no, none are even remotely related to Blueblood. I checked three times, Rarity." She settled onto her seat, rearranged her friends so they sat upright, and then unfurled the banners that had gone unnoticed by everypony else. Six jaws went agape at who the other most recent descendants were. Them. Fluttershy 'eeped'. Rainbow Dash gawked. Mac looked unfazed, as usual. Applejack pulled her hat down. Pinkie threw confetti. Rarity looked deep in thought.
The five (since Rarity was zoned out by now) stared uncomfortably at Twilight. "Soooo, they're our grannies, too?" Mac, of all ponies, asked, finally breaking the silence.
"In a manner of speaking, yes. It turns out that Luna and Celestia had three grandfoals each. Not one as Pinkie and I had originally thought. I wish they'd given me that information before I'd left, but oh well. I am the descendant of both Flower Power, and Stone Wall, Pinkie's ancestor. An oddity, considering everypony else only has one royal ancestor," explained Twilight, coming down from her episode.
"Just to clarify, and make it easy on us all: Fluttershy, Mac, and Applejack are part of Princess Celestia's line, while Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity are part of Princess Luna's." As she spoke, she pointed to each of the ponies in question, one by one. "I've also searched for more relatives who might share the royal genetics, but I've found nothing. It's like there was some outside force preventing other branches from coming to fruition." Twilight shrugged. "Oh well."
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Five minutes of rambling Later....
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Rarity looked positively giddy about this. "Princess Rarity." She did a fidgety little dance. "Ooh, I love the sound of that." Rarity was definitely taking this very well. Then a frown appeared on her face. "Wait, Blueblugh-" Rarity tried again "-Bluebluhuhuh-" Once more, with feeling! "-Blueblech! Oh, you know who I mean! He won't attempt to court any of us, will he?" Hm, It seems even Rarity can't say his name in this story.
Mac spoke up again (wow, second time today!). "HA! Ah doubt it." Everypony turned to Mac. "First, he'd hafta fight me, Caramel, and half o' the mares 'n stallions in town to get any of us near a marriage certificate with his name on it. An' that's if the Princesses themselves don' intervene." Everypony then relaxed, letting out a visibly held breath. Yeah, Mac needs to stop getting all the mares. And stallions. "Second, he'd hafta clean up his act 'fore they'd accept him back. 'Sides, most of our family here don't care fer all this High Society stuff y'all're so interested in, Miss Rarity, so that'd leave you an' me, an' Ah'm taken already." He held up his hoof to show off the ring. "So that leaves you. An' he'd avoid you like you'd just stepped out of the Everfree, if he knew what was good for 'im." As he said that, he clacked his front hooves together. "Right, Family?" A resounding 'Yeah!', and the brandishing of various blunt items, from baseball bats, to pipes, a rolling pin, and a war hammer (where does Fluttershy find this stuff?), confirmed this.
"Hey!" Twilight was tapping into the Royal Voice. Presumably, her grandmothers taught her. Anyway, the group was blown back a good two feet. *Ahem* "I know he's not the most well liked pony, but isn't this a bit much? I grew up around him. The only things that I could say about him is that he drinks too much mead and makes some (very) poor decisions." Twilight sighed. "His recent conviction being an example." The group appeared dumbfounded. "Nothing to do with Rarity, I assure you."
Applejack had been mulling over something she'd heard Twilight say. "Let's go back to the main point. You said all of us're related to one or both of the Princesses? The previous holders of the Elements? How does that factor into our ability to use 'em?" Applejack asked. "Would we have been able to use 'em even if we weren't related? Hay, would we have even been able to find the durn things?" Valid point. "And on a side note, does this have anythin' to do with our 'unstable' psychowhoozits?"
"Considering there is so little known about the Elements, for all we know, they could be alive and self-aware. We just know they work though six semi-codified virtues, which we embody." Twilight closed her eyes and smiled warmly. "I like to think we could have used them even if we were just friends, not relatives. As for the predisposition to mental instability, It's possible this town is the problem, but it could just as easily be our shared ancestry, considering none of the other ponies in this town haven't showed signs of similar problems. I'll do some tests on the town's water supply after this." She paused, thinking. "And maybe a few on the Elements, just to be safe."
"Okay. Now, onto the next issue. We don't have to start wearing those frou-frou tiaras and crowns the Princesses wear, right? 'Cause that's gonna be kinda difficult to do that when I'm flying. I mean, Fluttershy might be able to fly with one, but I can't," said the speed-obsessed Rainbow Dash. Everypony facehoofed. "Hey! With how I fly, if it falls it could hurt somepony on the ground pretty badly!"
"Rainbow, while you are right in your concern, I have been here for the past month since my visit. In that time, have you seen me wearing a crown, a tiara, or any jewelry for that matter? It's entirely optional. Luna and Celestia only wear their jewelry because of what the Princesses call the Ermine Cape Effect." The group looked confused. "Basically, royalty is expected to dress better than those not of the royalty, and because of this, the princesses must wear gold and other finery, in their subjects' minds at least, such that if they didn't, their subjects would spend ruinous amounts of money attempting to invoke the trope," Twilight explained, growing ever snarkier. "Hay, the Princesses would be happier if they could get away with the simpler, sturdier materials Mac and AJ are wearing instead of their bare minimum of gem-encrusted, gold-plated aluminum neck-wear and silver shoes.-" Twilight paused, and took a deep breath. "-No offense to your craft meant, Rarity."
"None taken darling. I can understand not everypony enjoys the feeling of cloth and metal rubbing against their coats," Rarity said, as she quickly began searching for paper. "Now, if you'll be a dear and help me find some paper, I'd be more than happy to begin designing the coronation attire."
"C-coronation?" Fluttershy hid behind Mac, arguably the safest place to be, and covered her eyes with her hooves. "C-can't they just s-send a letter to everypony in the mail?" Fluttershy feared being in front of large crowds. Even more than she feared dragons. Or other ponies. Or her own shadow. "Please?" Fluttershy then pulled off the most powerful puppy-dog eyes she'd ever done, which is really saying something.
"Supposing such a thing would happen, you wouldn't have to speak, Fluttershy. You'd just stand on a stage surrounded by guards and three of the most powerful ponies in existence, Princess Celestia would place a tiara on your head, everypony in the audience cheers, you walk backstage, et cetera. Then you can go right home," Twilight said glibly, trying to comfort her friend. Somehow, it worked. "It would be more of a formal acknowledgement of our ancestry than anything."
"O-okay. I think I can do that." Fluttershy came out from behind Mac.
"Ooh! Ooh! If the Princesses are our (46 times) great grandmothers, does that mean we'll be like them? Y'know, one day we're just doing our thing then POOF!, Alicorn?" Pinkie asked in her normal, LOUD voice. Everypony looked up at that question. They too, wanted to know if that would happen. Mac especially. He'd heard some of what the guards had said about Shining Armor's mishap.
"Pinkie, no. That would require outside intervention to happen. It wouldn't just be a 'poof'. And Mac, what you overheard was an account of a prank Luna pulled on Big Brother. That didn't really happen, no matter what he looks like when he comes down here." Mac sighed with relief, and wiped the sweat from his brow, while Pinkie's mane deflated a bit. She'd wanted to be able to fly, Celestia bless it!
Mac's head jerked back up. 'Wait, no matter what he looks like?'
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"I'd better go get that." Twilight got up, quickly ran to the door, and opened it. She was quite shocked. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked to the pony in the checkpoint.
"Yes. I want to see how they'll react." It sounded like Celestia to the assembled ponies. They relaxed a little.
"Okay..." She led the visitor in. An unknown alicorn. She had a shield with a star for a mark, with mane and tail of various shades of blue, and a white coat, which caused the assembled ponies to think they knew her from somewhere. Twilight was rather pointedly looking away nervously, blood rushing to her cheeks. She rubbed the back of her head. "Hehe. Everypony remembers my brother, right?" Insert noise like two cogs grinding steel wire in their teeth. The group was dumbfounded. Fluttershy (eventually) spoke up.
"I-It might have been the cider I drank at the wedding, b-but, um, wasn't your brother a unicorn before? And a s-stallion?" -Fluttershy had overdone it at the wedding. The catering staff went for Scumble, instead of more expensive, but higher quality Apple Family Ice Cider, which has a relatively lower alcohol content, not to mention it is less reactive to metal and water, and fewer rumors about its manufacture. This goes double for a stronger recipe dubbed 'Suicider' by a dragon called Sharpclaw. Due to her sheltered life, Fluttershy had ended up downing a pint (even Celestia Herself only drinks the standard shot of the stuff at any event), then, after the effects kicked in, flew into the cake just as they were cutting it. Surprisingly, the only lasting effects were that her tail was rather short for a few weeks, and she had a mild aversion to weddings and frosting, which was more due to the ceremonial knife falling on her tail than the drink itself.-
"This is a result of our shared ancestry. Turns out the spell Celestia and Luna used to have their foals caused their, hehe, 'attributes' to be able to flare up down the line. They just helped it along with me is all." Shining turned to the whole group and smiled. "If they want, I could jump-start everypony else's alicorn genetics as well." The faces of the various ponies in the room showed expressions from fear, to wonder, to being disconcerted, to excitement. Mac looked ready to dive out a window. Then, there was Twilight, who tired of the charade.
"Okay, you can lose the guise now, Shining." Well, so much for the mental image of Mac as a recolored Celestia. Priceless.
"Oh, you're no fun." A puff of smoke, and where the bad facsimile of Celestia once stood, now stood Captain of the Royal Guard, Prince Shining Armor. "I wanted to see if I could get them to go along with it. Then, I would have zapped 'em. Like, just a little shock."
"Knowing you, you'd probably end up using a transformation spell instead of a guise or a shock, and then we'd all be up on the moon with no air," Twilight playfully snarked. "I'll use the spell they taught you. Come here." They crossed horns, and both glowed. They broke contact and shook their heads. "Data transfer complete. Anypony else want to see what they'd look like?"
"Long as it's just smoke an' mirrors, Ah'm alright with it." Wow, Mac is really talkative today. The rest of the group joined in, one by one.
"Okay, everypony ready?" Murmurs of consent rippled through the group. "Here. We. Go!" Twilight's horn glowed. An extremely large plume of smoke appeared, then dissipated, leaving many of its occupants coughing. "Everypony okay?" Twilight's voice sounded like a mix of two; calm and gentle like Celestia's, yet as sharp and clear as Luna's. "Whoa, that'll take some getting used to." She also stood taller than Luna, but shorter than Celestia. It seems she unconsciously put the form together.
"Don't I know it." Shining was back in his guise. "Hehe. I'm still taller than you though, sis." He put a hoof on her shoulder. "I have to get a picture though, otherwise the Princesses will never believe me." He figured one with the two of them, then a family photo.
"Oh, alright." Twilight summoned a camera. Thankfully the film developed after you took the picture. The fewer that saw them like this, the better. "Get over here." Shining did as she asked. "Now smile." The two sat with Illusory wings flared. Insert camera flash. "Okay, everypony. Group photo." The whole family scrunched together as best they could. Insert camera flash. "Now let's get one without the spell." Dispel, then another camera flash. After the photo shoot, everypony spread out. "Now that that is out of the way, why did you come down here?"
"What, I can't see how my LSBFF is doing?" Shining could almost feel the snark radiating off of Twilight. "Oh, okay. Y'know, you're no fun this early in the morning. Anyway, our beloved grandmothers have sent me and a contingent of guards to secure the town for the coronation. Oh, and Cady will be coming down with them. I've also had them send a letter to Spike so mom and dad could come."
"Wait." Great. Twilight's confused again. "The coronation is actually happening?" Twilight looked to Fluttershy, who was surprisingly calm, then to Shining. "I figured this wouldn't happen so quickly, if at all."
"Grandma told me, and I quote: 'We wish to publicly acknowledge you as part of our family', end quote."
"All the more reason to get me some drawing materials, darling! I'm in the zone right now! I'll even take crayons!" Rarity was shaking Twilight in her excitement. "Ooh, I can see it now! White dresses with gold trim, and accents from the colors of our Elements!" Mac coughed a little in annoyance. "Oh, and suits for the gentlecolts. How did that slip my mind?" Rarity thought for a second, her hoof on her chin. "Gold with red trim for Macintosh and a dark blue with white trim for Shining Armor. And maybe some purple and gold bands around Shining's upper forelegs noting his status as Captain of the Guard." This is why Rarity will never need caffeine, or any form of stimulants for that matter.
"Luckily for you, I keep some crayons and paper around here in case Spike has nothing to do. In my office, red filing cabinet, top drawer." As Rarity left to gather her impromptu materials, Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "I guess the hypothetical situation is real. You're still okay?" Fluttershy nodded. Twilight laughed nervously. "I guess I have a letter to write. Hehe. Where is that pen?"
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2 days, and everypony's favorite grey mailmare crashing into the mailbox later...
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"Thanks Bright Eyes!" Yes, in this work she's named Bright Eyes. She still has the strabismus however...
"Bye, Twilight." Bright Eyes flew off. She did loop-de-loops as she flew to the other end of town.
Twilight opened the manila envelope. It was marked with two blue ribbons, signifying an urgent letter for or from Celestia, not dealing with any catastrophe in the making.
___________________________
Dearest Twilight,
Thank you for informing us about our other descendants. To find that the Elements have bonded to them is remarkable, to say the least. However, I must apologize for not giving you information regarding the number of our grandfoals. Enclosed, you'll find seating arrangements, and an itinerary for the coronation. We would also like a recommendation for a local bistro or cafe as well, for snacks after the coronation.
Love,
Grandma Celestia
P.S.- Luna wants to know where in town to place the castle she's commissioned
___________________________
Twilight breathed deeply. "Okay. I can work with this," Twilight said to nopony in particular. "I'd better gather the others." The water testing would have to wait.
After a lot of walking between her friend's/cousin's dwellings, she'd gathered everypony at her (I'm just gonna call it the librar-tree). "I've got the (relatively) finalized checklist for how the coronation is going to go. Seems I was right about the series of events. The princesses make a speech, everypony else walks onto the stage, Cadance brings in the ceremonial headpieces (circlets for the colts, tiaras for us), they crown us, we group hug, everypony cheers, and all of us go to Sugarcube Corner for a snack. After all of that, we go home. Okay?"
Twilight had inadvertently caused the manes of her family to be blasted back due to her speaking. Fluttershy smoothed out her mane and did something rather unusual for her. "YAY!" The others looked at her like she'd gone legitimately insane. "I'm actually looking quite forward to this." Fluttershy smiled.
'She could kill a diabetic at 100 yards,' Twilight thought. "As for how everypony will be seated, I've made a chart." She pulled a projector screen down, and turned on the projector she'd summoned. "Applejack and Mac will be sitting farthest right, then Fluttershy, then Shining and I . To my left will be: Dash, Pinkie, and Rarity, in that order." She turned the lights back on. "And before anypony asks; no, I did not arrange the seats. Cadance did."
"Uh, question: Why aren't AB and Sweetie Belle part of the ceremony?" asked a confused Applejack (which is not as dangerous, but not a good thing either).
"That's actually because they aren't old enough. The Princesses have put it into the law that nopony shall be crowned before age 16, as they were." The group raised collectively raised an eyebrow. "Yes, the Princesses were 16 at some point."
A guard came up to Shining Armor and whispered something into his ear. "Hey, Sis. They've got the stage set up. Oh, and Grandma wants some help with writing the speech. She asked for you because she's having trouble thinking of ways to lengthen it. Nothing urgent."
Twilight turned to the guard. "Send word that I'm just about finished explaining the seating arrangements for the event." The guard saluted, accidentally hitting his head with his hoof-armor in the process, said 'Ow', then left. 'And these are the guys who are doing security?' she thought to herself.