//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 - The New Royal Family // Story: Puny Purple Pony: From Padded to Proud // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 11 The New Royal Family ___________________________________________________________ As it had every morning since Luna had been freed of Nightmare Moon, Twilight’s Sun-linked internal clock woke her early. She was lying in her bed, Cadance snuggled next to her. She couldn’t help smiling at the small pink Alicorn. It had been a month since Cadance had arrived and Twilight could understand just how much her Celestia cared for her Cadance now. Being an aunt, having a younger Alicorn relying on you, it was a wonderful thing. Sadly, she hadn’t gotten to spend as much time with Cadance as she wanted. She still was too tired each day to do more than raise and lower the sun. However, she had been able to hear Apple Bloom and Pitchfork teaching Cadance how to applebuck. After hearing Twilight did it all the time before she’d become bedridden, she wanted to do it too. Twilight couldn’t deny that, while being woken during the day, when she was meant to be resting, wasn’t ideal, since it was the sound of Cadance’s laughter coming through the window that woke her most of the time, she couldn’t complain. Cadance would also tell Twilight about her day when she was finished or when they were getting ready for bed. She’d tell of all the things she did, how much fun she’d had competing against Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in contests to see who could buck the most apples, or flying races. It all warmed Twilight’s heart. After what Cadance had been through, she deserved some good memories. Twilight put aside those thoughts for now and focused on the Sun. She could do it from here, without having to get out of bed and she was thankful for that. She didn’t want to have to wake Cadance so early, just because she was raising the sun. Her horn glowed and she reached out her magic to the glowing orb. She felt it’s warmth through her magic and smiled. Since gaining her title as Regent, she’d been able to understand Celestia’s connection to the giant orb of heat. Twilight focused and the sun rose, its light drifting into her room through the window. She smiled and braced herself for the drained feeling she had grown so used to after so long. However, it didn’t come. True, she still felt tired, but it was the kind of tired that you could still deal with. This was new to her, because it meant that, maybe, she could get up today. True, she wouldn’t be doing anything too strenuous, like bucking apples, running or flying, but she could at least move around. Smiling at that thought, Twilight waited for Cadance to wake. Four hours later, Cadance stirred. She mumbled something and rubbed her eyes. When she looked to Twilight, expecting to see her asleep, Twilight smiled at her. “Good morning, Cadance. Did you have a nice sleep?” Cadance looked stunned, rubbed her eyes, then smiled. “Twilight, you’re awake?” Twilight nodded. “I think I’m finally starting to get better control over my power. I don’t think I’ll be able to play with you or anything like that, but I can be up today. You won’t have to worry about waking me up accidentally again.” Cadance blushed, her pink cheeks going red. Twilight chuckled and nuzzled the filly. “Let’s get up. I have a feeling everypony’s gonna be very surprised.” ___________________________________________________________ Luna yawned as she sat at the meal table, a small stack of pancakes in front of her, covered in maple syrup. She really wanted to go to sleep, she’d been getting very little since her return, spending her waking hours either dealing with settling things between the kingdom about her and Twilight becoming the rulers and catching up on all the millennia she’d missed. “Once ya’ve eaten, ya should get t’ bed, Luna,” Fresh said, concern in her voice. “Even though yer an Alicorn princess, ya’ll need yer sleep just like the rest o’ us.” “Indeed,” Luna yawned again, rather loudly. “I think after breakfast I shall return to bed.” “Good morning, everypony!” Cadance called as she walked around the corner, her smile wide. “Good morning, Cadance,” the four ponies said at once, smiling at her. “Hey, Cadance, how’s about t’day we—” Apple Bloom’s voice caught at the sight of the mare who followed Cadance, looking tired, but still smiling. “Twilight?” Fresh and Pitch gasped, staring at her in shock. Luna was now fully awake. She had not expected Twilight to be out of bed for at least another month. Twilight gave a small grin. “Hey, everypony. Guess who’s up?” “Have ya’ll gotten control over the sun already?” Apple Bloom gasped, her eyes wide. Twilight shook her head. “Not completely. But, I think I’m getting there. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything too strenuous, but I think I have enough strength left after raising the sun today to at least move around, instead of being stuck in bed all day.” It took several moments before anypony could respond, by which time the two youngest of the three Alicorns had sat down at the table. After breakfast, Twilight went outside and watched Apple Bloom and Cadance as they competed to see who could buck the most apples. It brought a smile to her face as she watched her cousin and her niece having so much fun, the fun only young fillies can have, even if Apple Bloom was a lot older than Cadance, it was still fun to act like a little filly sometimes. “Is it alright if I join you, sister?” Twilight turned her head as Luna walked out onto the porch. She smiled and nodded. “Of course, Luna. It would be nice to talk with somepony.” She frowned. “Though, shouldn’t you be resting, now that it’s day, I mean?” Luna nodded, then shook her head as she sat down next to the smaller Alicorn. “Whilst I was ready for sleep before, seeing you able to get up today has given me reason to stay up longer.” “Luna, please, don’t trouble yourself—” Luna stopped her by draping a wing over Twilight’s back. “Sister, I have wanted to talk for a while, without it having to be within your dreams, but in the physical world, yet your being bedridden has prevented it. Do not deny an older sister her first chance to speak with her younger in so long.” Twilight gave a weary smile and looked down. “You know, I am still getting used to that, being the younger sister of an Alicorn. Back in the other world, I had an older brother who is a unicorn.” Luna blinked, slight uneasy entering her eyes. “Did... Did your Celestia tell him that... well, that we Alicorns...?” Twilight shook her head. “I wasn’t born an Alicorn, Luna. I became one after finishing a spell.” Luna looked very surprised for a brief second, before she raised an eyebrow. “What kind of spell?” “Remember Star Swirl the Bearded?” Luna looked up for a moment, before she nodded. “One of Celestia's first ever pupils. He was a very gifted unicorn. I never understood how he enjoyed having so much facial hair, though.” Twilight nodded. “Well, after a long time of my studying the magic of friendship, Celestia from that world gave me a journal of his, containing his unfinished master piece.” Luna cocked an eyebrow. “Unfinished master piece?” Twilight nodded, her smile turning into a sheepish grin. “I kind of cast the spell without realizing it. When I did, it effected the Elements of Harmony and the other Bearers.” Luna’s eyes widened slightly. “What happened?” Twilight rubbed her leg nervously. “Well, it might be a little hard for you to understand just how bad things were, since some of the ponies you don’t know, from this world, I mean, and you only know them from the chats we’ve had in my dreams, but, Applejack was making dresses, Rarity was a weather pony, Pinkie Pie was working on the Apple farm, Fluttershy was trying to make ponies laugh and Rainbow Dash was trying to care for the animals.” Luna blinked; thinking over the memories Twilight had shown her of her friends from the other world in her dreams, before her face blanched. “Yes. I can see why that would be a problem.” Twilight nodded. “If I hadn’t realized it didn’t matter that they’d changed and that they were still my friends and our friendship was what kept us connected. Because I did, I was able to help them all remember who they were, restore their Cutie Marks and the Elements, and once I finished the spell, I was transported to the Celestial Space and became an Alicorn.” Luna was staring, her mouth slightly open. “I... well... that is certainly different than how Celestia and I became Alicorns.” Twilight chuckled. “I can imagine.” They were stopped by the sound of hooves against the ground, coming from up the road. They both turned to see a white pony walking towards them. As they drew nearer Twilight noticed a blonde mane and tail and blue eyes that were very familiar and not in a good way. The two overlaid four-pointed stars, i.e. a compass rose, confirmed it. This was this world’s Prince Blueblood, expect she realized this pony wasn’t a stallion, but a mare. When she stood in front of them, she bowed. “Hello, Princesses. It is an honour to finally meet you. I am Princess Bluebelle. I am Emaryalis’ younger sister.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “I am surprised that, considering Emaryalis is your sister, you are being so polite to us.” Bluebelle stood and nodded. “True, one would think that I would hate you both for robbing me of my chance to rule when my sister stepped down, leaving me now with no chance of becoming Queen myself.” She shook her head. “However, I never wanted to be Queen. I am quite happy being a princess. To be honest, I was relieved when you both took rule. I have been helping with swaying the public to your side so there is not a rebellion.” “Twilight!” All three mares turned as Cadance bound towards them, leapt into the air and tackled the named pony. Luna reacted by using her magic to keep Twilight in place, to prevent her from falling backwards. Bluebelle, however, was horrified. “How dare you just tackle the princess, like that!” Cadance stiffened and pressed herself into Twilight, who was giving a slight frown to the unicorn. “Bluebelle, look closely at Cadance.” The white mare blinked, confused as to why her princess would ask that when she’d just been tackled, but did so. Her eyes widened when she noticed the horn and wings. Twilight nodded. “Cadance is an Alicorn, just like my sister and I and I would kindly appreciate it if you would not talk down to her or anypony I care about like that in the future.” Bluebelle gulped, realizing she’d just given a very bad impression of herself just now. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is our niece and, as an Alicorn, she is higher ranked as princess than yourself, so I would ask you to refrain speaking to her in such a way again,” Luna agreed. Bluebelle nodded again, then cleared her throat. “I... I apologise for that outburst, Princesses. It will not happen again.” “Hey, Twilight!” Bluebelle glanced as Apple Bloom was running towards them. However, this time she glanced at Twilight and saw she was not worried. A pony she cares for, I suppose, she thought, putting on a smile. Well, if the princess cares for them, then they are important. After introductions were done between the Earth Pony and unicorn, they all went inside and Twilight introduced Bluebelle to Fresh and Pitch, telling her that it was they who cared for her when she was younger and kept her safe, meaning they deserved respect from her as much as Apple Bloom. With all introductions done, Bluebelle told of why she had come. She had come to explain how things were going in Canterlot and in Ponyville, since many nobles had moved there to be near the princesses. Things were going far better than Twilight could have hoped. Not only was the majority of Equestria willing to accept Twilight and Luna as the High Princesses, but so were the lands that Equestria was allayed with, like Griffonia. True, the Griffin King had been hesitant to accept that Equestria was being ruled by new ponies, but after a few meetings with Bluebelle and other nobles who had witnessed Twilight and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon and freeing Luna, he had come around. Twilight was pleased by this, because it meant she wouldn’t have to worry about Equestria going to war. She knew it had had to do so in the past, and hadn’t wanted to experience that. Bluebelle promised that she was willing to give her full support to Luna and Twilight, which made Twilight chuckle a little. When asked why, she explained about Bluebelle’s male and stuck-up counterpart. “Well, I guess it proves we mares are far more mature than stallions,” Bluebelle said after Twilight had finished telling everything she knew about Blueblood. “This Blueblood sounds like a child in an adult’s body.” Twilight blinked, then smirked. “I might tell Celestia that the next time I see her.” Bluebelle blinked. “Which one? From what you’ve told me, you have spoken to our world’s Celestia as well as your own.” Twilight giggled. “I meant Celestia from the other world. Though, I’m not quite sure when I will see her again. The portal is still sealed and, until that seal breaks, there can be no traveling between the worlds.” “Well,” Bluebelle sniffed, closing her eyes, “when it does open I intend to go and speak with my male counterpart. He needs to learn that being royalty does not mean you can be a jerk, but that you must set a good example.” Twilight blinked, then smirked. “You’re definitely different from him.” "I should hope so." Cadance had been hesitant around Bluebelle at first, what with how she’d shouted at her, but, as the day wore on, Cadance started to speak with Bluebelle like she did the rest of them. As they talked, the rest of the Element Bearers came by and they joined in the conversation, Bluebelle complimenting Sweetie Belle’s sister on her latest designs and giving her condolences, late as they were, to Derpy for her father’s death and told her how she would have been honoured to meet him if she’d gotten the chance before his passing. Bluebelle even tried her hoof at applebucking, if only because she wanted to make up for how she’d acted to Cadance and knowing that Twilight had been doing this since before she became High Princess. She definitely wasn’t the very good. She flopped onto her stomach so many times Scootaloo almost peed herself laughing. However, whereas Blueblood would’ve thrown a tantrum like a little colt, Bluebelle took it in her stride, humbling accepting that she was terrible at applebucking and saying she would leave it to the pros. When the day came to an end Twilight was grateful to lower the sun. However, as soon as she did it was clear she couldn’t stay up any longer and needed sleep and Luna helped her younger sister to bed. Twilight was joined an hour or two later by Cadance, who, despite having her own room, still preferred sleeping with her aunt. The two nestled down for the night, Twilight draped her wings over the younger Alicorn and they both went to sleep.