//------------------------------// // 11: Group Therapy // Story: Principal of Equestria // by MareDoVVell //------------------------------// Sunset blinked rapidly as the cloudy darkness that had previously been swirling around her began to dissipate and she felt the now familiar warmth of Princess Luna's magic fade from the air. Where she had previously been standing in Luna's chambers, she now found herself in the entry hall to Twilight's castle, and while the journey had been hardly noticeable, the sudden change in light level and location did not agree with her hangover at all. Pressing a hoof to her head with a groan, Sunset began slowly hobbling in the direction of the main hall, hoping to find her way to a bed as soon as possible, or maybe at least someone to help her into a bed. ...hopefully Twilight... ...maybe she'd join her... Sunset's progressively dirtier thoughts evaporated almost immediately as she pressed through the door into the main hall and surveyed the scene that awaited her. In one corner was Twilight, curled up and fast asleep, using several half read books as a cushion and her own wings as a blanket. In another section of the room was Spike and several changelings, clustered around a pile of gemstones, seemingly playing cards. Finally, in the center of the room, was a quietly sobbing changeling queen desperately clutching on to a bright white unicorn who was calmly patting her back with a hoof. "Shhhh, it's going to be alright dear." Celestia cooed softly, gently stroking Chrysalis' mane. "I am all too aware of how difficult mother's can be, but I'm sure she only said those things because she thought she was helping you." "Y-y-you really think so?" Chrysalis murmured with a sniffle, trying to blink tears from her eyes. "I know so," Celestia answered, forcing as much confidence into her expression as she could muster and giving the changeling an extra squeeze. "I'm sure if she were here now, she would be very proud of you, even if you haven't enslaved all of pony kind." While Sunset was very inclined to ask what in the world was going on, she couldn't help but feel like the two shouldn't be interrupted, which gave her a very convenient excuse to go and wake up the adorable ball of purple in the corner. Trying to be as stealthy as possible, Sunset followed along the wall until she reached Twilight's improvised sleeping space and gave the alicorn a gentle poke in the shoulder. While Twilight stirred a bit, it was obvious she was still solidly asleep so Sunset gave her a somewhat firmer shake. "Hrrmsunsetstoooooopitrrrm," Twilight mumbled sleepily, giggling girlishly, much to Sunset's surprise. "How did you know it was me?" She asked, somewhat amazed. As far as she could tell, Twilight still looked fast asleep. "Hmm?" One of Twilight's eyes fluttered open lazily, immediately focusing on the golden yellow pony shape standing over her. After a moment both eyes snapped open wide and she stumbled up into a seated position, a slight blush on her face. "Oh! Hi Sunset! I didn't realize you were back..." she said with a nervous chuckle. "Yep, Princess Luna just dropped me off a few minutes ago." Sunset said with a smile before pointing back towards the pony and changeling behind her. "So between a crushing hangover making it really hard to see and think properly, and whatever is going on over there, I'm starting to think I missed something?" "Ugh are they still going?" Twilight grumbled, slapping a hoof to her face. "It's been almost 5 hours since the crying started...wait did you say you were hungover?" "Um...yes?" Sunset admitted nervously, suddenly remembering how much Twilight cared for responsibility and practicality and wondering how she felt about things like excessive drinking. "I'm sorry, here I was whining while you're probably standing there miserable!" Twilight practically yelled as she scooped a rather startled Sunset up in her magic. "Twilight it's fine, rea..." "No it isn't! You're headed straight for the fluffiest couch I can find in this damned place while I make us tea and find you a headache remedy." Twilight declared with a resolute nod of her head. "I guess I don't have much choice..." Sunset groaned while making sure Twilight was facing away as a very giddy expression spread across her face. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "And then Pinkie just ran up, grabbed his head, and kissed him!" Sunset exclaimed, trying to hold back a chortle. "I'm not sure who was more surprised, him or Rarity!" Twilight had fallen onto her back laughing at this point and had to roll over and take a few gasps before she could recover enough to speak. "Oh poor Rarity!" she said, still holding back chuckles. "She would have never seen it coming, of course I doubt anyone would. It's hard to imagine either Pinkie having any romantic feelings for anything that isn't at least 80% sugar." Sunset nodded in agreement before the two of them again burst out laughing. The two probably would've continued on doing so for a decent amount of time but they were interrupted by a soft knocking at the door to the small sitting room they had snuck off to. "Come in!" Twilight called happily, using her magic to pull the door open, revealing Celestia standing in the doorway. "Oh there you are, we wondering when your little therapy session would end, it's been 6 hours." As the door gently drifted open, Celestia walked in and headed towards them, though with a noticeably stiff looking walk. As she drew closer, both Sunset and Twilight noticed a very large but plastic looking smile spread across her face, and a rather prominent twitch in one of her eyes. "Did...did it not go well?" Twilight asked nervously. "You seemed to have everything pretty well in control when we left...I thought you might have even had a chance of breaking Chysalis out of her villainous behavior." "Oh, no, everything went well, great even!" Celestia said, sounding almost manic. "In almost any other situation I'd say things went absolutely wonderfully!" "So...uh...why do you look like you're about to murder us both?" Sunset quipped. While laying down and spending time with Twilight had dulled her hangover considerably, Sunset still felt a bit too frazzled to consider anything like subtlety at the moment. Celestia didn't answer at first, electing to instead to finish crossing the room before slumping into an unoccupied cushion with a heavy sigh. "Well, we sort of got to the root of her whole evil queen thing shortly after you left, and that seemed to have helped her a lot. After that we just sort of...talked" "Okay...that sounds good...buuuuut...?" Twilight encouraged hopefully. "She...well...she sort of...asked me out..." Celestia admitted with a cringe. "WHAT!?" Both Sunset and Twilight yelled in unison as they shot up into full sitting positions. "Oooooh I can just bet she doesn't take rejection well." "Not good, not good! Something like this could send her right back into a vengeful rage, this is my brother's wedding all over again!" Twilight whimpered, her eyes on the edge of popping from her skull as every hair on her head seemed to stand at once. Despite the situation, Celestia couldn't help but roll her eyes at their reactions. "Girls, girls, calm down, Chrysalis is fine!" "...she is?" Twilight whispered, practically pleading. "Huh, how'd you manage that?" Sunset asked. She may have only just met the changeling queen, but she considered herself a pretty good judge of character and Chrysalis seemed like the type to hold a grudge. "Well...I...I said yes." Celestia admitted quietly, before slumping even lower into her cushion. "WHAT!?" Both Sunset and Twilight yelled in unison, again. "I couldn't help it...she's cute..." Celestia murmured, glaring off into space guiltily as a light blush covered her face. "Wait, hold on!" Sunset said, holding a hoof to her temple in confusion. "If you said yes, because you're into her, then why did you look like you were losing your mind when you came in here?" "Because I am losing my mind!" Celestia shouted before digging her head into the cushion below her. "This has me questioning my whole sexual identity!" She mumbled through the plush cotton. "What, because she's a girl?" Twilight asked sympathetically as she laid a hoof comfortingly on Celestia's shoulder. Celestia pulled her head back up and gave Twilight a quizzical look. "What? No, I figured out I was bisexual all the way back in college." Sunset opened her mouth but was immediately cut off. "Don't ask." Celestia growled, before again shoving her head back into the pillow with an exasperated squish noise. "Okkkkkkkkkkkk...so then what's the problem?" Sunset asked after a moment's pause. "What do you mean what's the problem! I'm a human! One that thought she was attracted to other humans! She's a pony! A weird, bug pony! A weird...super cute...bug...pony...thing..." Celestia grumbled with another sigh. "This is raising a lot of really weird questions in the back of my mind that I...really really don't wanna answer." Sunset and Twilight both let out a relieved sigh before looking at each other and giggling conspiratorially. "What could possibly be funny about this?" Celestia asked, raising her head back up to give them both an annoyed and somewhat betrayed stare. "It's the mirror." Twilight answered matter of factly as Sunset nodded along in agreement. "I'm not sure how, or why come to think of it, but it messes with your head when you change. When I came over, I suddenly found myself all googly eyed over a few humans, but it went away when I came back...mostly." Twilight explained with an embarrassed blush. "I can't imagine how it's affected Sunset after she's spent long periods of time on both sides." "Totally don't wanna talk about it." Sunset said with an overly carefree smile. "But yeah, you're fine, though it does raise some questions about the Chrysalis back home," she added with a wink. "I am not a cradle robber! Why does everyone think that!" Celestia exclaimed angrily. Sunset just chuckled. "I'm kidding, but for now just enjoy it, have yourself a little fling." "Fine, I will." Celestia sniffed, before giving the two of them the biggest doe eyes she could. "But you two have to come with me, it'd be too weird by myself and you two are the only ones I really know here." Sunset's face immediately went red as her jaw dropped. "I don't thin..." "Of course we'll come...for morale support!" Twilight said immediately, not seeming to notice Sunset's nervous objection. "Right Sunset?" "Yeah, of course we will." Sunset said, forcing herself not to stutter. "You girls start figuring out a plan, I need to run to the bathroom real quick." She said with a smile, before charging out of the room as nonchalantly as she could. A few minutes later Sunset sprinted inside a spare room on the far other side of the castle and slammed the door. As soon as it was shut and bolted she threw her head back and raised both hooves in the air victoriously. "I HAVE A DATE WITH TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!"