//------------------------------//
// 3: Twilight Explains It All 
// Story: Principal of Equestria 
// by MareDoVVell 
//------------------------------//

"Dragon." Spike responded flatly.

Celestia stared at the diminutive (though still enormous by her standards) reptile, eyes as wide as the small tea cup bearing saucers he was now distributing to Twilight and Sunset. It took a moment for her already exhausted brain to wake back up after being startled, but moments later it sputtered back to life like an aged automobile on its last legs. "I'm sorry what now?"

"I'm a dragon, not a lizard." He told her with an annoyed glance. He leaned in towards Twilight and whispered. "Who is she?"

"You don't recognize her? She doesn't seem a bit familiar?" Twilight whispered back with a hint of confusion and more than a bit of curiosity at how Spike saw her as a completely unfamiliar pony while she had been completely convinced she was the Princess at first.

While Spike hadn't minded fixing up some refreshments, the task had interrupted a crucial moment in his comic book, and he paid little attention to the two newcomers, eager to deliver the tea and get back to it. He merely shrugged. "I guess she smells kinda familiar, can't really place it though."

Twilight made a mental note to study the olfactory senses of dogs versus dragons next time she got a chance, though Spike had been both so who knew how that had messed with his scent based perceptions. "She's...a friend...she'll be visiting for a bit, same goes for Sunset." Twilight decided to leave it at that for now. He'd probably figure it out eventually.

"Oh, ok." Spike's demeanor changed immediately, having always stuck with the policy that any friend of Twilight's was a friend of his. He turned back around and walked over to the white unicorn, adopting a more friendly expression. "Would you like some tea?" He extended a clawed hand clutching a saucer and tea cup.

Celestia continued to stare, images of enormous flying serpents spouting gouts of flame dancing through her mind, before nodding mutely and extending her forelegs, stopping them just short of the offered dishware. Her face switched from awe to confusion as she examined the hooves at the end of the appendages.

Twilight noticed her hesitation and grimaced. "Um, Spike, you can just leave it on the table for her."

"You got it." Spike placed the tea down and began a casual waddle back towards the door. "I'll see you girls later, I have a comic to finish." He called back, lazily waving as he departed.

Twilight looked back to Celestia, still half laying on the floor, staring at where the dragon had just exited. "So that was Spike, he's my assistant, and sort of adopted little brother. I don't remember if you met him back in your world, though he was a dog then."

Celestia blinked heavily for a few moments before slowly struggling back up into the chair, her posture slumping as she settled back into it. "So first talking ponies and now dragons are real, how can this possibly not be a dream?" She said to no one in particular before a flash of stern anger flared in her eyes. "Wait, you brought a dog into my school!?"

Twilight cringed, remembering the strict no animals policy of the school that had been frequently and excessively ignored daily by Fluttershy. "Um, yes?"

The color drained from Celestia's face, which was impressive given her ivory fur, and the anger faded, being replaced by a frantic twitching in one eye. Just as Twilight began to fear she was about to either explode or pass out, she instead burst into a fit of tired giggles, bordering on hysteria.

Sunset and Twilight could only look on sympathetically as Celestia sat and lost her mind for a few minutes. Twilight was immediately reminded of her own little breakdown in front of the high school the first time she had used the portal, unaware that Sunset was also mentally reviewing her moment of blind panic a few years prior.

After a bit Celestia's bizarre laughter wound down, changing to deep breaths and light coughs as she brushed away a few tears of both mirth and despair from the corner of her eye with a fetlock. "I'm sorry, I think I'm ok now..." She paused, mentally reviewing what she had just said. "Well no, that's a lie, I'm really not...but I think I've calmed down at least," she admitted with a sigh. "Anyways, while I'm sure it won't do much to make me feel better, please continue Twilight, I think I'm still missing a few details."

Twilight hesitated momentarily, trying to think of something she could do to make things easier for the Principal turned pony, but it didn't take long to realize she was drawing a blank. Instead she just nodded, launching back into her explanation with an academic fervor only she could be capable of, intent on recounting everything about the mirror and the events surrounding it.

As Twilight went on, Celestia found herself only half listening. It was all very interesting of course, and the parts she did catch filled in a lot of missing pieces concerning the recent bizarre events at the school, but she couldn't help but be distracted by the cup of tea sitting next to her chair.

It smelled delicious, and a small voice in her head kept telling her how wonderfully soothing just one sip would be for her frazzled nerves. She had always been a big fan of tea, typically opting to start her days with some, rather than her sister's tactic of guzzling multiple pots of coffee through the morning. Much like sitting in the chair had been a breath of fresh air, the simple normalcy of the cup of tea demanded her attention, convincing her that if she could only drink some then everything would be ok.

She looked to her hooves again, scrutinizing them with a glare. In her mind, hooves plus tea cup was an equation that could only equal disaster with a side of boiling hot liquid everywhere, but the siren song of the rapidly cooling amber liquid was becoming irresistible. Doing her best to leave one ear open to Twilight and Sunset, she turned and hunched over the arm of her chair, getting as close to the cup as possible. Like a scientist trying to gingerly handle a volatile chemical, she methodically lowered her hooves to each side of the cup, then attempted to gently clamp it between them. She could barely contain her excitement as she lifted her hooves slowly and saw the cup lift with them. It was short lived however. Before making it even half an inch off the saucer, the cup slipped between her hooves and plopped back down, only a drop or two being knocked from within by the impact.

Celestia gave the cup a frustrated glare cold enough to freeze the blood of even the most delinquent of high school seniors, but the cup just sat there in response, mocking her. Determined to not let a porcelain container get the best of her, she kept at it, each time lifting the cup a bit higher, and each time spilling a bit more of the precious tea as it fell back down. Before long, the cup was only half full and Celestia had completely tuned out the other two ponies in the room. With brows angled and her tongue sticking out in concentration, she grasped at the cup once more, convinced she would finally succeed. Of course it was not to be, as her hooves missed the cup entirely and unceremoniously clopped together behind it.

Celestia closed her eyes sadly for a moment, before releasing a furious howl and throwing herself back in her chair and crossing her forelegs with a huff, looking for all the world like a petulant child. Her eyes still closed, she tried to calm herself by thinking happy thoughts, though her mind was still consumed by a lust for tea, so all she could come up with was the mental image of the insolent tea cup flying up to her lips on its own by way of apology. She smiled at the vivid mental image, leaning in to take a sip and imagining the wonderful taste of the slightly cold tea. Or not imagining it. Her eyes popped open with a start, surprised to see the tea cup floating gently at the tip of her muzzle, surrounded by a pale golden light.

"That's strange, shouldn't the cup be sitting back down on the table?" she thought to herself in a mild daze. As if acquiescing to her logic, the tea cup gently flew back down and gingerly set itself back on the saucer. As she had spent most of the day so far, Celestia just stared at the cup, until what sounded like vigorous applause drew her attention.

She looked up to see both Twilight and Sunset grinning at her and clapping their hooves together. Both of them had been watching her silently for a while now, having finished their story in the middle of her pitched battle.

"That's amazing, I was wondering what it'd be like to be a fully grown unicorn that doesn't know how to use her magic, but it looks like you're a natural." Twilight said with a grin. "Well either that or it has something to do with being tangentially related to the most powerful pony in existence..." she added, a hoof to her chin, before she grinned, an idea popping into her head. "I should really send you to see the Princess. I'm sure she could help you while you're stuck here, not to mention it'd give me time to look into reopening the portal, or at least time to figure out when it'll open itself again."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Sunset added, a confident grin spreading across her face before she continued. "Between the two of us I'm sure we could get it open before she even gets back from Canterlot."

Twilight was also grinning, though hers was more mischief than confidence. "While I'm sure you're right, that sadly won't be an option, what with you escorting her to the castle and all."

Sunset gulped audibly. "You can't be serious! I'd be arrested on the spot! She'd banish me to another world where everybody is books, or rocks, or cardboard boxes, or something worse!"

Twilight drooled for a moment, her mind stuck on the notion of a land of sentient books, before she shook her head and turned back to Sunset. "I'm fairly sure the Princess doesn't have any other portals to parallel dimensions..." she paused "actually I'm not sure of that at all, but that's not the point. She is not going to have you arrested."

Sunset opened her mouth to protest further but was interrupted immediately.

"If you don't go I'll just teleport you there, and you can have fun explaining why you suddenly appeared in her private bathroom." Twilight told her flatly.

Sunset shut her mouth and hung her head with despair.

Celestia meanwhile was busy watching her cup float up and down off the table, a hint of a grin on her face.

Seeing that Sunset had given in, Twilight smiled as well. "I promise it won't be as bad as you think," she said encouragingly. "Alright girls, it's late, and we all have a busy day tomorrow, let's find you both some spare rooms and get some rest."

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An hour of being completely lost later, Celestia finished saying goodnight to the two of them and watched Twilight lead Sunset to the guest room next door. She gently closed the door and began inspecting the room she had been given. It was small but cozy, featuring a bed packed with pillows and blankets, a well stocked bookshelf, a few more assorted pieces of furniture, and a full length mirror.

Celestia was tempted to immediately leap into the bed and put this stressful day behind her, but the mirror had already caught her attention. In all the craziness, she had yet to really get a good look at her new body, and her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Stepping in front of the mirror, she took a careful look at the unfamiliar animal reflecting back at her. Much like with Sunset and Twilight, she started to see small commonalities between the pony and her normal self, which was oddly reassuring in a way, just knowing she was still herself.

After a few minutes she turned to her side to continue the examination, but stopped as soon as she caught sight of her entire side in the mirror. Her jaw dropped as she focused in on the ornate, orange and gold sun adorning her backside, something she hadn't managed to get a good look at previously.

"THAT'S NOT WHERE THAT TATTOO IS SUPPOSED TO BE!"