//------------------------------// // The Day of the Coronation // Story: Familial Ties // by CircuitChaser //------------------------------// Two weeks after the last gathering, and the Coronation was upon them. Backstage, Celestia was giving Luna some last-minute instructions. "Now Luna, remember that when we group hug, control your strength, lest you accidentally crush them." "Of course, Tia. I shall use the same strength I used with Fluttershy on Nightmare Night." Luna could be gentle when she wanted, but that was difficult to do when she was excited about something. "We're here!" Pinkie happily squealed like the girl from Poltergeist. Twilight considered admonishing her, but then thought against it. She shrugged and thought, 'Eh, it's as good an announcement as any.' She quickly made her way to Celestia. "Do you have the speech on hoof, Princess?" Twilight asked. "I just want to make a minor spelling correction." Celestia hovered the speech (which fit on one note-card) to Twilight, who then took it, and pulled the ink from an extraneous letter she'd added in her sleepy state. She, unfortunately, could find no way to lengthen it. "Okay, we're good to go. Sorry, but that error would have annoyed me all throughout the event." Rarity took a quick peek from one of the sides. "I see most of our families here. Excepting Pinkie's and Fluttershy's, unfortunately," Rarity said, hoping their day wouldn't be ruined. "Ah, don't worry, I got a letter from them saying they've gotta stay, or the U-235 isotopes they've been enriching would leave the farm a smoking, radioactive crater!" Pinkie said in the same way she might explain why her favorite flavor of ice cream has gummi-wyrms in it. "Oh, and Maud, Limestone, and Marble have abdicated." "And *ahem* my family doesn't really like crowds, so they'll be, um, they'll be watching from the forest." Fluttershy then pointed towards the Everfree. "We're scheduled to start in five minutes, your Majesties," said one of the guards, interrupting the admittedly rather bizarre (and disturbing) conversation. "Thank you, Lieutenant." Celestia turned to the our heroes. "Well, that's our cue to get into position." She nodded to Twilight and company. Luna and Celestia went to opposite ends of the stage. 'Ready Luna?' She mentally asked her sister. 'Yes, Tia.' came Luna's reply. They appeared onstage. *GASP* "This crowd is bigger than I thought it would be! It stretches to the ends of the town!" Celestia said, hooves to the sides of her face, feigning surprise. The audience laughed. "We're here, on this beautiful spring day, to welcome some members to our family." pause for effect. "Would you believe they are our grandfoals' descendants?" Celestia asked the crowd. Murmurs of befuddlement rippled through the gathered masses. 'They had grandfoals? Why didn't we know this?' "What my sister has said is the truth, dearest subjects," Luna said as she took over the speech. "Six of them are well known throughout Equestria for ridding me of the spirits that possessed me and became Nightmare Moon." The crowd murmured again. "Though they did not know it themselves at the time. Then, there is our Captain of the Royal Guard, who married Princess Cadance." The crowd began to understand. "Last but not least, Macintosh, more commonly known among the ponies of this beautiful little town as 'Big Mac'." The audience's eyes were wide open by that point. 'Mac is a prince?' they seemed to ask. "Let us begin with the ceremony." The audience gasped when the first of them stepped out: Applejack without her trademark stetson (a rare sight), and Mac. A cry of 'Woo!' came from the stands; Caramel, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom were cheering their loved ones. Then Fluttershy came onstage, followed by Twilight and Shining Armor. After them came Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie (which the crowd was justifiably nervous about), and Rarity. Celestia gestured to the gathered eight. "These eight ponies are our descendants, and eight of our greatest treasures." Cadance came onstage with the ceremonial headpieces. "We give to you the honor of first crowning, Cadance," said Celestia. Twilight was first, a tiara, the right half made of gold studded in diamond with a sunstone, and the left made of silver-plated aluminum, with rounded obsidian spikes centered around a moonstone, the halves bonded with gold-aluminum intermetallic. Shining's circlet was a large gold ring, with a silver band wrapped around, inset with diamonds and hematite, sunstone and moonstone side-by-side. Cadance placed Twilight's tiara upon her head, while simultaneously placing Shining's circlet. "This is a good look for you," Cadance purred to Shining, whose face quickly became as pink as hers.. After that, the ceremony went surprisingly quick, with Celestia going first. The circlet Mac wore was gold plated steel, a sunstone on the band, with rubies set atop it like little panes of stained glass, while the tiaras Applejack and Fluttershy wore shared the same willowy design, with a single sunstone in the center of a cluster of gems; fire opals for Applejack, and yellow sapphires for Fluttershy. The Lunar Trio's silver/palladium alloy tiaras shared a more robust, solid design, with a single polished moonstone in the center. Rainbow's held several triangular aquamarine shards, like the statue of liberty. Pinkie's had tourmaline dotted all along the front rim. Rarity's featured eight pearls circling around the moonstone. After the circlets and tiaras had been placed, Celestia began the next part of the ceremony. The group hug. The crowd 'awwwww'-ed and cooed at the sappy, syrupy sweetness that was happening on stage. __________________________ "Why don't we ever hug like that, Honey?" asked a small dragon who was hiding behind a large tree, holding binoculars. "Because my coat gets caught in your scales, then Firestarter ends up having to grab some scissors to free us. And we don't kiss anymore because your tongue tastes like lighter fluid." The dragon held the binoculars to his wife's face. "I think they're going to get something to eat now. Oh, Flutters looks so beautiful with those sapphires on her head." "Let me see, Ma." The binoculars were given to a golden, heavily-armored pegasus about twice as big as her similarly colored husband. "Haha! That's my little girl! Honey, look!" The binoculars were then given to a slight, butter-yellow stallion, who nodded agreement with his wife's statement. "Way to go, Flutters," he said in the same tones his daughter would use. The group then slunk back to a hole in the mountainside. __________________________ 'Wow, Grandma and Grandpa are really getting into this.' Spike thought as Twilight Velvet and Night Light cheered on their little ones. Spike then dug out another amethyst, and ate it. 'Way to go, Mom.' __________________________ "Hah! And just think. In six years, it'll be you and Apple Bloom up on that stage!" Magnum said to Sweetie Belle. "Then I'll have Auntie Celestia make Scootaloo a Baroness!" "Of what dear?" asked her mother. "I dunno. Just something so Diamond Tiara won't bug us anymore," Sweetie told them. Both parents just shrugged and turned back to watch the event. __________________________ 'If I know Dash, she's gonna take that tiara and stuff it under so much sports equipment, nopony'll be able to find it.' thought Heavyweight. He turned to an empty seat. "Oh, if only you were here to see this day, sweetie." "Ah, don't worry. The hospital is right there." Dash's Honorary Uncle Lightning Strike took his seat next to Heavyweight. "Rush'll be able to look out a window and see the whole thing." Sugar Rush had an unfortunate run-in with a Mama bear. Now she knows not to take a cub's lollipop from them. Especially if the cub is an Ursa Minor. __________________________ Granny Smith wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Phew, good thing Ah abdicated. Ah don't think Ah could walk across that stage." "Why Granny?" Asked Apple Bloom "All those eyes on me woulda made mah hip seize up. Even worse because Ah don' have mah walker no more." Secretly, Granny Smith thanked Discord for fixing her hip, but that's a different story. ----------------------------------------------- 20 minutes later, at Sugarcube Corner... ----------------------------------------------- "That was the most fun I've had at an event since... the Battle-Golem Tournament!" Celestia said to nopony in particular. "You were not upset by all the attention, were you dear?" she asked Fluttershy. It could be very difficult to read Fluttershy's face, even for a nigh-goddess. She nudged the pie she had been eating closer to Fluttershy. "Would you like some? It's Prench Siii-iilk..." She much preferred a well-made pie to a towering cake. Similarly, Luna preferred a Manechester tart over a tray of sugar cookies (this preference went out the window if they were chocolate chip). "Oh, no, I'm still eating the cupcakes I ordered." Half a dozen cupcakes (One of which was covered in rubies. Eesh.) could last a while for the butter-yellow pegasus. "I had a wonderful time." She thought for a moment. "Oh, maybe just a little pie." Fluttershy then proceeded to eat the remaining quarter of the pie in three bites, ending with a rather uncharacteristic *BELCH*. "Excuse me," she said, putting a hoof to her mouth. The table burst into laughter. "You have GOT to teach that to me, 'Shy," said a very impressed Rainbow Dash. Not wanting to be outdone, Luna let loose a belch that threatened to collapse the building. "That is how it is truly done," she said to the ponies at the table, their manes blown back. Even Celestia's ethereal mane was affected by the great burp. "Too much?" They nodded, then started laughing again. "Now, where should we build the castle?" Asked Luna. Celestia groaned, while the others looked confused. "I never received a reply from you as to where the castle should be built." "Um, Luna? I'd thought we'd agreed that was a joke." Luna looked at Celestia, eyebrow quirked upwards. "Ugh, if you want to build a castle so badly, we can place it-" She pulled out a map of Ponyville "-here." Celestia pointed to lake as she rolled her eyes. "We can build up an island, then build the castle, then move their personal affects into their rooms," said Luna, clapping with filly-like glee. "Uh, don't we get a say in this?" asked everypony simultaneously. The two Sisters looked to the group , then to each other, then to the group again, then apologized for getting carried away. --------------------------------- An hour, two cakes, three dozen cookies, three pies, a caramel apple, half a dozen cupcakes, and a few questions later... -------------------------------- "So, you do not want a castle." The group nodded. "Oh well. Now that I think about it, there are no proper places to build one, are there?" Luna looked a little sad at that. "I think this is the part where we depart. Do not worry, Rainbow, you won't have to wear jewelry all the time. Just for special occasions." Celestia then thought of something. "Oh, should we leave a guard detail here? Just in case?" she asked Shining. "Ma'am, these girls would most likely end up rescuing my guys from the sticky situation of the week, not vice versa," said Shining. "However, you could update the Candy-maker's and the Harpist's mission parameters." "We shall consider it. Have a good evening, Little Ones. We will have to bring you over to the castle some time. We have a surprise waiting for you," said Luna, cheeky grin on her face. The two alicorns then flew off, leaving eight newly crowned royals to wonder 'What the hay just happened?' As they flew higher, out of earshot, Celestia said to Luna, "Don't make promises we can't keep." "We can, and will, keep this promise, Tia. I am sure of it," Luna replied.