Sunset Reset

by LordBrony2040


Chapter 15: A Day in Canterlot

Despite her best attempts, Cadance found herself unable to go back to sleep nearly an hour after she opened her eyes to a room unlit by Celestia’s sun while a larger alicorn held her so close she could feel the bigger princess’s heartbeat against her back.

Sunset wasn't to blame for the bout of insomnia. Even with the occasional distressed murmur from the amber alicorn that spoke of troubling dreams, Cadance was more than comfortable enough to fall asleep in Sunset’s wonderfully warm and protective embrace. If anything, being snuggled by her crush helped offset some of her mental distress.

But, despite Sunset’s comforting cuddle, Cadance’s mind just wouldn’t settle down enough to let sleep come. The problem that Sunset’s physical attraction to Cadance brought up was something Cadance just couldn't stop thinking about. If it even was a problem.

Which...Cadance had to admit was the case. She didn’t like to think of Sunset's carnal desires as being a problem, but the amber alicorn’s situation was quite unique.

Sunset was already dealing with those strange nudity customs that were causing her already overly active sex drive to turn it up a notch. If the pink princess were to complicate matters even more by admitting her own attraction to the other alicorn...she knew Sunset would only become more stressed.

The last thing Cadance wanted to do was increase her best friend’s burden.

But...what kind of love princess would she be if she ignored her own heart? A rather large part of Cadance just wanted to roll around and kiss the amber alicorn on the lips, repeating what Sunset had done with Shining Armor after that dragon had been slain and more. She wanted to take Sunset in her forelegs and show her how an alicorn was supposed to act when it came time to share a bed with her special somepony.

It was selfish, and shortsighted, and about a dozen other things that Cadance knew came from the darker, more possessive side of love. But she couldn’t deny having them.

Then there was Shining Armor. Although Cadance didn’t feel a nearly overwhelming physical desire that she felt towards Sunset when it came to the white unicorn, the pink princess had to admit to herself that if she had met the colt first, she would have pursued him with intensity. His friendship with the two alicorns had shown Cadance that while he only ranked as cute on the looks department, the young stallion’s personality was of the level that any mare that ended up with him needed to slap a ring on his horn as fast as possible.

Well, I’d have chased him if he had managed to get my attention, Cadance corrected herself. Which...probably wouldn’t have been very likely. The guy was sweet, but that alone didn’t really turn heads.

But now that Shiny had gotten her attention and Sunset was out of the picture…

No, Cadance told herself before she could consider the possibility that Sunset didn’t want to be with Shining Armor anymore. Sunset was just a little confused and frightened. From what the amber alicorn had said of both her time as a human and before, Cadance knew that Sunset had never experienced anything remotely like the level of attraction she had towards Shining Armor. Her sexual advances, while somewhat disturbing to the pink princess, were the only thing Sunset had ever experienced that came close to creating an emotional bond with another creature.

It was another problem Cadance could chalk up to the lousy parenting Sunset received at the hooves of her mother. But...she couldn’t focus on that at the moment.

And there’s her nudity thing too, Cadance reminded herself. It was something she would have to keep in mind. Although, she didn't see how just walking around without any clothes could be tied to sex. Plenty of ponies got ridden with their clothes on. Some even preferred it.

But...Cadance couldn’t just toss the possibility of her being with Shining Armor to the side. The projections she made promised her and Shiny lifelong happiness in the Crystal Empire while Sunset and Shiny…didn’t have much of a chance of anything beyond a mediocre love that would leave Celestia’s daughter scarred for the rest of time.

So, didn’t that make it Cadance’s duty as the Princess of Love to intervene?

To give all the ponies involved the best possible romance there was?

Princesses were the ponies that made those hard choices all the time.

But, a basic ethical rule stopped her from continuing to consider the possibility. Friends didn’t poach each other’s coltfriends.

Unless...they have permission, Cadance reminded herself.

Which was given at a time when Sunset obviously wasn’t in her right mind.

And who was to say that Shining Armor would even want Cadance?

Not to mention Sunset…

Cadance blinked at that incomplete line of thought as the amber alicorn shifted a bit in her sleep and tightened her grip on the pink princess as she rubbed her belly up against Cadance’s back in addition to letting out a breath of hot air that tickled the back of both of her ears. And for an instant, Cadance found herself fantasizing about what it would be like to be with the volatile mare…

Cadance would take the lead in their relationship and be more assertive in their private life, but it would be a gentle kind of assertive. She would guide and suggest, not command like her wife would do. Sunset would be the princess that made all the government decisions and held the reins when other ponies were around. Cadance would support and advise the bigger princess in public, and offer her comfort in private while handling as many of their marital burdens as she could to allow her future wife some rest when she wasn’t wearing the crown. She had seen that Sunset would need such assistance.

And in the bedroom...Cadance couldn’t help but smile at the thought of being with her wife. Sunset would definitely be the more forceful of the two, but it would be the pink princess who claimed dominance under the sheets with her superior skill and knowledge of love.

The sudden appearance of the sun as it crested the horizon brought Cadance out of her musing daydream, and caused the mare holding her to groan in protest as the bright light came flooding through the bedroom windows to wake Sunset up with all the grace of a pregnant yak.

She rolled over onto her belly, taking Cadance with her as she pinned the pink princess to the mattress and let out a loud yawn that made Sunset’s jaw conk Cadance on the top on her head, all the while making Cadance think that Sunset was belting out a bovine mating call with all of the ‘mawing’ sounds that were coming from her mouth.

Then, the amber alicorn finally opened her eyes as she smacked her lips and made to sit up as she scratched under one of her forelegs with a hoof before addressing Cadance. “Hey Cady, you have a good night?”

From her place beneath Sunset,  Cadance let out an annoyed sigh. If they were going to get married, the first thing Cadance was going to do was pound some bedroom grace into her future wife. “More or less.”


Breakfast was as immaculate as ever in the castle’s dining hall, with enough fruits and greens to make three different types of salads, oats of the highest quality, and oatmeal flavored with a healthy amount of cinnamon. All of which Sunset scarfed down with reckless abandon thanks to her alicorn-level appetite that allowed her to devour three times what she normally ate without gaining a pound.

Although, part of her did feel a little odd, eating as much as she was.

Back on Earth, apart from the rare meal with Applejack’s family, Sunset ate light thanks to her rather limited budget. Eating out was done for appearances rather than anything else when her friends were around, and none of the food that touched her lips ever came close to what Ram Say prepared. It was something she was going to have to get used to again when she went back.

A realization that made both her heart and stomach ache.

When the topic of conversation fell on the subject of what Sunset was going to do now that she had twelve days or less to prepare for her departure from Equestria, a question Celestia asked in a rather roundabout way by simply inquiring about her plans for the day, the other alicorn at the table gasped after hearing her answer.

“What do you mean you’re not going to school today?”

Sunset did her best to hide her grimace at Cadance's question. “Okay first off, remember the whole thing we talked about last night?” she asked rhetorically before immediately moving on to the official explanation for the sake of the big white alicorn sitting across from them. “Plus, with the ambassador from Griffonstone coming, I need to brush up on my knowledge of their history, customs, and any intelligence we have regarding Gruff himself.”

The question left Sunset wondering, do we even have an intelligence agency in Equestria? It was something she had never bothered wondering about before. But...her mom did seem to know a little too much about what was going on sometimes for her not to have a spy agency that secretly monitored everything everypony did at all hours of the day.

Celestia cleared her throat, drawing her daughter’s attention back to her. “Sunset, while I’m glad you’re taking this meeting so seriously, all you’ll be doing is observing my discussions with Gruff. There’s no need for such preparations. Go be with your friends,” she ordered her daughter gently.

The amber alicorn glared at the first obstacle to her plans for putting Twilight's future back on track. It seemed that even when Sunset was trying to do what was right, Celestia would be there to stand in her way. And on top of that little irksome development, there was her mother’s approach to the diplomatic meeting. “So I’m not supposed to have any context about the griffons beforehand? I’m just supposed to sit there, nodding my head like an idiot while you talk about junk I have only a basic understanding of, and yet still be able to learn something when I’m completely lost after this Gruff guy starts going on about whatever old trade agreements you guys made half-a-hundred years ago? I mean, it’s not like he’s coming to visit because of me and what I said in the papers, right?”

Sunset watched as the sheer weight of the sarcasm that slammed into Celestia and forced the alicorn to tense her muscles to keep her footing. “This meeting was arranged before your introduction to the press and the...opinions you expressed. However, it’s more than likely that he will be a bit put off by how you referred to the aid we send to Griffonstone. Although I’m sure that once you apologize and offer recompense for your words, things will be smoothed over well enough.”

Sunset’s felt her eye twitch at her mother’s command as the real purpose of her presence was made clear. “So that’s what this is really about!” the amber alicorn declared as she slid off of her seat and onto the floor, knocking her chair back as she did so. “You don’t want me to learn anything! You just want me to bow and scrape and kiss the rear of some self-important jackass!”

The expression on Celestia’s face tightened to a frown. “First of all, we’re meeting with the griffon ambassador, not a donkey,” she replied, confusing Sunset long enough to make it to her second point. “And you do need to apologize.”

“Actually, Sunset said one of those human words that has another meaning,” Cadance quickly explained. “I think it means...jerk.”

“Which is what I call a guy that shows up demanding money from us because his Empire is fracturing,” Sunset added before she looked over to Cadance with a little frown for the pink princess putting her two cents in on a family debate. “And shouldn't you be heading out to meet your boyfriend?”

As Cadance blinked in confusion at the question, or maybe the bit harsh emphasis that had been put on her fake relationship with Shiny, Sunset prepped her teleportation spell. “Why would I-” she got out before disappearing in a flash of light.


“-do that?” Cadance finished before she blinked away the soreness in her eyes from the bright flash that had covered her vision and fought to keep standing. Once the princess was certain she wouldn’t tip over and the soreness faded, Cadance opened her eyes and slowly looked around.

Instead of the pristine white floor and columns with the occasional golden decoration that Canterlot Castle was decked out in, the pink pony found herself standing in a nearly empty suburban street, with a row of houses both in front of and behind her, along with a green pegasus mailmare that quickly dove out of the sky to bow to the princess.

Despite the awkward feeling it still gave Cadance to see other ponies do that to her, she managed to keep a straight face and nodded to the mare in recognition of her manners, then trotted up to the door to hit it lightly with her hoof a few times.

There was a strange grunt on the other end, and then a squeak. Cadance raised an eyebrow as a few garbled words came from the other side of the door that she couldn’t make out before it opened to reveal Twilight Velvet’s smiling face for just a moment before her eyes widened and she went into a bow.

Which allowed the other Twilight standing a little behind the bigger one to dash past her not even a second later. “Princess Sun-oh,” the little purple filly said as Cadance watched the excitement on her face wilt into disappointment not a second later, complete with fallen ears. “It’s just you, Princess Cadance.”

Once again, Princess Celestia’s lessons on how to maintain her composure came in handy as Cadance forced herself to smile down at Twilight as her pride healed from the sting of Twilight’s reaction. Although, Cadance supposed she couldn’t really be angry with the little filly for being disappointed her hero wasn’t at the front door.

Plus, Sunset had told the filly they would be coming by every day. So, it was Sunset’s fault for just popping Cadance over to kick her out of what promised to be one hay of an argument between herself and Princess Celestia. Cadance had no reason to be miffed at the unintentional slight whatsoever.

Inside the room, Twilight Velvet got to her hooves and replaced the worry on her face with a mask showing some displeasure. “Twilight Sparkle!” she said from behind the filly in an authoritative tone that made the little unicorn stand up just a little too straight. “You will apologize to the princess this instant for your disrespect! Why, if Princess Sunset had come and heard you speak in such a manner to her friend, I doubt she would want to come back and donate her valuable time to helping you learn magic!”

The little Twilight’s eyes went wide in horror at her mother’s words before she spun around to face the bigger pony. “W-What?” she whimpered before her hooves began to shake. “N-No! She…but she...”

Unshed tears glistened in Twilight’s eyes to no effect on Velvet. “Now go to your room young lady!” the light gray unicorn commanded as she pointed a hoof towards the stairs. “And I don’t want to see you reading, or doing any math equations when I get up there!”

Twilight Sparkle cringed at her mother’s words, and bowed her head before she turned around and totted away.

“Princess,” Velvet went on before going back to her bow. “I am ashamed of my daughter’s actions. Please, I beg that you accept my apology for this whole affair.”

As Cadance looked down at the mare in front of her, and then to the little filly climbing the stairs to the second floor, another feeling of unease came over her. Unlike with the mailmare, Cadance found herself unable to just shake it off. The pegasus had simply been showing respect to Cadance’s presumed title. Twilight Velvet’s actions were born from an intense fear of it.

“Ms Velvet, she’s just a foal,” the pink princess said a little too melancholy than she had intended while doing her best to chose her next words carefully. “And, while I do not believe it is my place to tell you how your children should be disciplined, it is my opinion that saying such a thing to her was much too harsh.”

Velvet cringed at the words, making the princess think she had perhaps been a bit too harsh on the mare. “But Princess, she disrespected you!”

A sigh escaped from Cadance’s lips, and she sadly lowered her head. “Mrs. Velvet, may I come in and speak to your daughter?”

“Of course Your Highness,” she agreed before quickly stepping back and gulping. “D-Do you wish me to accompany you?”

Cadance paused, unsure of what to do with that. While she did think that Velvet owed an apology to her daughter, dragging the mare up in front of the little filly in her current state and making her do it was definitely not the way to go. Plus, foals did need to learn to be polite. “No,” she finally decided. “I’ll go cheer her up a bit, but you need to go later and fix this.”

Was that too much? Cadance asked herself. After seeing Princess Celestia’s relationship with Sunset, the pink alicorn couldn’t just stand by and see another family destroy itself. But dealing with the Twilights like that left a bad feeling in her gut.

After giving a quick hello to Shining Armor and telling him she would explain Sunset’s absence on the way to school, Cadance trotted upstairs to where Twilight was.

Like the first time she had seen Twilight’s room, Cadance was amazed at how clean and orderly everything was. The somewhat spacious filly’s bedroom with the dark blue walls decorated like the night sky, complete with perfect representations of the constellations, did not look like the bedrooms of the children she had sat with in her home village. Three bookshelves of filly height were placed against the wall to Cadance’s right, opposite of the bed, and filled with books that were far beyond what somepony of Twilight’s age should have been reading. In fact, the only two things that marked the space as a filly’s room were the toy chest stored in front of the bed that looked mostly unused, and the Smarty Pants doll the tenant of the room was currently clutching in her forelegs as she breathed in a sniffle of a breath through her nose.

Since it didn't seem as if the purple filly would notice Cadance on her own anytime soon, the pink princess spoke up. “Twilight, can I come in?”

Her voice made the little unicorn look up with a sudden jerk of her head, and the alicorn winced when she saw the unshed tears. “P-Princess Cadance?” Twilight asked in a fearful voice. “What’re you doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure you were alright,” Cadance told her while she resisted the urge to gallop in and hug the filly. “Now, can I come in?”

Twilight gave Cadance a confused look, probably a little bewildered over the fact a princess was asking for a filly’s permission. “Ummm….it’s may I come in,” she corrected the bigger pony a second before her eyes widened and she clutched her doll even harder. “I-I mean, yes. Y-Yes. You’re a princess, you can do and say anything you want!”

After crossing the threshold, Cadance slowly walked up to Twilight and extended a wing to wipe away the little unicorn’s tears that had leaked out before she spoke to the fearful girl in a soft voice. “Oh Twilight, why’re you so upset?”

Cadance knew what she was asking was an extremely loaded question. If Twilight started going on about her mother, Cadance didn’t know how much she could say without eroding the other mare’s authority. But if Twilight was going to start going on about what Cadance had a sneaking suspicion she was going to say…

“Please don’t tell Princess Sunset I disrespected you!” Twilight begged in a panic. “I didn’t mean to!”

Before Twilight could really get into the begging, or maybe start singing Cadance’s praises as a foalsitter for the one time they had been together, the pink princess held up a hoof. “Twilight, why’re you so worried about something as silly as that?”

The comforting laugh Cadance added at the end to show the little filly her worries were unwarranted were apparently lost on Twilight as she looked up at Cadance in a panic. “Because she’ll stop tutoring me in magic! Then, she’ll dump Shiny, and Mom will be fired from her job, a-and Daddy will have to sell our house because we’ll be ostracized from the community and we’ll all be forced to move to another country!”

Cadance didn’t know whether to laugh at Twilight’s estimation of future events, or be horrified at them. What in Equestria could make this filly think such a thing? she asked herself.

“Oh sweetie,” the pink princess said as she concentrated and lifted Twilight up in her magic very carefully before getting on the bed. Then Cadance rolled onto her back and set the little filly down on her stomach before she wrapped Twilight up in a hug. “Sunset Shimmer would never do something like that to you.”

The purple filly blinked some of the moistness out of her eyes. “You think so?”

As Twilight looked down at her, Cadance took a second to nuzzle the unicorn’s nose to get a little laugh from her. Although it was a bit early, Cadance could see how the little filly could grow into a mare that Sunset held in such high regard. Something Cadance still found a little bit strange since it was the purple filly that was looking up to the amber mare now.

Twilight was...overly genuine. Her expressions, her thought process that appeared on her face more often than not, her obvious brilliance, all of it added up to an extremely honest and loving mare that anypony would love to call friend.

A pony that still needed some reassurance, judging by the worried question she had just asked.

“Twilight,” Cadance began as she looked into the purple filly’s eyes. “I can say with absolute certainty that Sunset Shimmer loves you. She would do anything for you, and nothing you could ever possibly do will ever change that.” To emphasize her point, Cadance pulled the purple unicorn closer, and kissed her on the cheek. “So stop worrying so much about such silly things, okay?”

In response to the affectionate physical contact, Twilight laid her body out across Cadance’s barrel and nuzzled her fiercely. “I will Princess Cadance,” she promised before becoming a little hesitant. “And um...I think you’re a great princess too.”

Cadance giggled and hugged Twilight a little tighter. “Thanks,” she said before ruffling the filly’s mane. “But I know Sunset's your favorite. And...I think she may be mine too.”

“Cadance, I’m done with breakfast. Are you ready?”

Shiny’s words drew the pink princess out of her little moment, and made Cadance decide to hurry things up to end things quickly. “So don’t you worry about Sunset not wanting to teach you anymore. In fact, I’ll even send her here after school so you two can work on your magic together. Okay?”

Once Twilight had been reassured, Cadance made her way back downstairs. Thankfully, Shiny had hurried through his breakfast, so they still had plenty of time. With the quick trip Sunset had sent the pink princes on Cadance found herself needing to borrow an extra pair of saddlebags and a few other supplies for the day.


I think she likes you even more than I do.”

Shining Armor gulped as Sunset's words ran through his mind for about the millionth time since he had heard them the day before. Such was the reason that he wasn’t walking shoulder to shoulder with the princess, opting to just follow her instead of trotting in a formation that allowed for conversation.

Of course, that had its own set of problems. The saddlebags with his mother’s cutie mark were a little tight for the princess, making her constantly fidget as she trotted down the road. Which had the unintended consequence of Cadance shaking her rump at the stallion every few seconds. So, it was perfectly understandable that Shining Armor couldn’t take his eyes off the beautiful body and perfect plot that made even the hottest unicorn in school green with envy. A body that had Shining Armor wondering what it would be like to be with Cadance the way Sunset had been with him in Shining's bedroom.

She would probably be a lot more gentle, and less physically dominating, and Cadance was the Princess of Love. So she not only looked the part, but she probably also did certain things much better than the other royal pony when it came to that private couples stuff.

Not that Sunset wasn’t hot!

It was just...in a different way.

The amber alicorn managed to be athletic without being bulky, with plenty of padding left in her rear to admire despite the firmness that hid beneath. It was just that Sunset was so...big! Not in a super body builder way, or how Fleur and Sassy were taller than most mares, but exceptionally thin. Sunset had both the height, and the muscle mass to look like a normally fit mare...that was also a head taller than most stallions.

Which made her unbelievably dominating. It wasn’t really bad. After all, when Shining didn’t adjust for the proportions of her body, Sunset had the second-biggest plot of anypony in Canterlot. But…despite what had happened the day before, Shining had a feeling it was Sunset that would be doing all the holding come cuddle time.

And sure, it made sense. She was bigger, stronger, more powerful, and a Princess on top of it all! Shining Armor knew that Sunset was the pony that would be holding the reins in their relationship.

Still...even though the amber alicorn was so far above the unicorn, Shining would have liked to have been the paladin who slayed the dragon, rather than the pony who was saved by the princess.

In contrast, Cadance was…

Well, Shining had to admit that the pink princess was pretty bucking scary. Cadance had an intensity in her that Sunset lacked. Not to mention she was kind of pushy. But despite that, Shining Armor understood everything Cadance had done had been to help the unicorn with building himself up. He was pretty sure their first lunch date together would have been nothing but Shining trying rather unsuccessfully to talk to Sunset if Cadance hadn’t spent a week with him at lunch going over dating rules.

“Okay, what’s wrong?”

The even-toned question coming from the pony in front of Shining Armor pulled him out of his thoughts and made him look up to Cadance as she gave him a half-lidded stare in return. “Huh?”

The pink princess sighed. “Well first off, whenever I match your pace, you slow down even more,” Cadance told him before smirking. “Plus, you’ve been doing nothing but stare at my plot for the past five minutes.”

Shining Armor’s eyes widened and he gulped as he found himself adrift in a sea of unease, unable to think. “Uh…”

Cadance did away with the even stare and giggled before trotted over to put her hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m not exactly mad for the attention Shiny,” she told him before a frown appeared on her face. “But I’m sure Sunset wouldn't like you looking at another mare’s rear when you haven’t even asked about why she’s not here today.”

Although Cadance didn’t say it with any malice, Shining Armor couldn’t help but wince. “Sorry,” he apologized as the guilt from his mishap lightened a little. “Um…so what is going on with her? She seemed fine yesterday.” He had to wonder if alicorns could even get sick.

There was a brief pause as Cadance gave Shining Armor a measuring look. “Well...that’s kind of...complicated,” she admitted. “Officially, she’s getting ready to receive the griffon ambassador this weekend. But, the truth is...um, Shiny…” The look on the alicorn’s face became hesitant. “I take it you’ve noticed Sunset acts a little...differently than other ponies. Right?”

Shining Armor blushed as he remembered being pinned to the park floor the day before and how he and Sunset… “Um...what do you mean by differently?”

The look on Cadance’s face became half-lidded. “Like how she’s constantly having to fight the urge to have sex with you,” she said in an annoyed tone.

“Y-you know about that?!” Shining Armor yelled in a panic.

Cadance rolled her eyes. “Oh please, we’re mares and best friends Shiny. We share everything.”

That little revelation made him blink. “Okay so...what is going on with Sunset?”

Once again, Cadance became very hesitant and looked around at the empty street for a bit before answering. Even then, she stepped closer to Shining Armor, until he could feel her breath on his muzzle. “Alright look, what I’m about to tell you, not many ponies outside of the palace know. First… you are aware me and Sunset weren’t born alicorns, right?” She asked in a whisper while looking around to steer anypony that came too close away from them with an even look that quickly sent the odd curious mare or stallion trotting to the other side of the street.

The question got a nod from Shining Armor. He remembered that for a week after Cadance’s coronation, the history teacher had spent time going on and on about ascended princesses, and how they were Princess Celestia’s several time great-grand foals that had inherited enough of her divinity to become alicorns themselves upon hitting a kind of second puberty. “Yes,” he replied before thinking things over for a bit. “You were a pegasus, and Sunset was a unicorn, right?”

“Well, other than the wings, horn, or a little height, there’s also some less obvious changes,” Cadance told him before breaking eye contact and clearing her throat. “And in Sunset’s case...those changes happen to include an extremely enhanced sex drive that she hasn’t really learned to control yet.”

Once again, Shining Armor found himself lost in the memories that involved the unicorn laying on his back while the amber alicorn worked her lips on his mouth. “O-Oh!” He replied as something rather terrible occurred to him. The first time the met, Sunset had purposefully raised her tail at him. Had everything that happened between them just been...hormones? “C-Cadance, does that mean...is Sunset only wanting to be around me because of…that?”

“Wellll,” she drawled out in an uneasy manner. “I wouldn't go that far. But...that is probably why you caught her eye in the first place, yeah.”

The admission made Shining Armor feel as if somepony had hit his barrel with a hammer from the inside. “Then…” he managed while trying to figure out just how bad things were. “When Sunset gets herself...under control...does that mean she’s going to...dump me?”

Cadance’s jaw dropped. “What?” She cried out in shock before frowning at the stallion. “NO! Of course not! How could you even go from Sunset saving herself for when everything is perfect to...to THAT?”

Shining Armor backed away from the angry alicorn. With her usually sweet demeanor and more inviting physique, it was sometimes hard to remember that Cadance was the more intimidating princess between her and Sunset. “But you just said Sunset's really into sex right now, but we haven’t done anything but kiss and do some full body nuzzles!”

“That’s because it's barely been a week since you met each other, you moron!” Cadance yelled at him before she let it a hiss of a sigh through her teeth. “I swear, it’s horse apples like this that makes me wonder why I’m still trying to keep the two of you together instead of chasing after Sunset myself!”

As soon as the words left her muzzle, Cadance’s eyes went wide. A silence stretched out between the two of them, and then the pink alicorn groaned before she covered her face with her hooves. “Uuuuuugh, I can't believe I just said that!” she exclaimed before frowning at Shining Armor and moving to poke him in the chest with her hoof. “And if you so much as utter a word of that to her...well...okay, I’m not as good with threats as Sunset, but I will do something to you if you tell her, understand?”

Shining Armor quickly nodded. Then as soon as Cadance backed away, the white unicorn’s mind pointed out a strange error in the information that he had just been given. “But wait, Sunset said you um...liked me too. M-More than her even,” he said.

“She-ugh, I can't believe she…” Cadance stopped talking and looked over to the young stallion. “Okay, look Shiny, don't take this the wrong way,” she told him before hold up a hoof. “Yes, I think you're both great company and cute. But I’m not the type of mare that just grabs up the first guy she sees and lifts her tail.” The words ‘like Sunset’ were left unsaid.

“Oh,” Shining Armor replied, unsure if he should be disappointed that Cadance didn’t see him in such a way, or relieved that Cadance wasn’t after him like that. “But...uh Sunset…”

Cadance smiled just a bit as Shining trailed off. “You don't have to worry about me swooping in and taking Sunset from you,” she assured him before her face was covered in a thoughtful frown. “Hay, if anything I'd be more worried about Sunset trying to shove us together because of this...sex drive problem of hers. You know that’s what she’s trying to do, right?”

The world felt like it shifted as Cadance’s words made their way through Shining Armor's brain. “W-What?” he stuttered. “Why is Sunset doing something like that?”

Sunset wasn't trying to pawn him off to another princess, was she?

“Same reason she refuses to pick up on some of the signals I've probably been subconsciously sending out since last night,” Cadance replied. “Sunset's got some stupid guilt motivating her to do some pretty moronic things, like how I'm supposed to take you to that re-play because she’ll be having to deal with the griffin ambassador this weekend. We’ll go have some fun, and that’ll be it. I’m not going to try and steal you from Sunset. I’m not that selfish and you’re not that hot.”

Shining Armor blinked at that bit of information. He really didn’t know how to take that. “Oh...uh...thanks?” he asked before another piece of the conversation demanded his attention. “And what’s this about griffons?”


Sunset groaned in exhaustion as she collapsed on her bed. While her earth pony-ness may have let her body go on nearly forever and recover with a few minutes of rest, mental exhaustion was another matter entirely. After the shouting match she just had with her mother in regards to Equestria’s foreign policy that had the castle shaking both from Sunset putting her hoof down and Celestia proving she still had the bigger mouth, the amber alicorn felt as if she could sleep for a week.

But, as the human saying went, there was no rest for the wicked.

So, Sunset looked over to the writing desk tucked away in her bedroom’s right corner and grabbed some paper along with a quill from the top drawer using her magic. Then, after bringing the two objects over to her, she frowned at the ancient writing device that didn’t come with its own ammo and opened the bottom drawer in her desk to pull out the enchanted bottle that kept the ink inside fresh before levitating it over to her bed as well.

After uncorking the bottle, Sunset dipped her quill in took it out, tapped on the edge to remove the excess ink, waited for it to finally release the final drop, then brought it to the paper before glancing down at her pristine sheets with a frown.

One minute later, Sunset had added modern pens to underwear and the internet in her short mental list of technological revolutions she would bring upon her return to Equestria as she sat down on the cushion in front of her desk.

While Sunset knew she was mostly a hands on kind of pony that adapted according to the moment, the amber alicorn had to admit that hadn’t gone so well when it came to her more complicated plans. Even her post-return actions hadn’t been very wise when they really counted. So, actually planning things out in a way she could see everything would probably be the best way to avoid any mishaps.

Like what happened with the filly Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset still felt like hitting herself for the mess she had gotten herself into with the lavender unicorn. Happiness over being right combined with their future friendship had led Sunset to trying to first adjust things so that she being in Equestria didn’t have any effect on Twilight's future. A path she admitted to herself was impossible, and a result of her inability to face the truth about what really needed to be done in order to preserve Twilight’s destiny.

So, like with her first mistake, Sunset knew that her first order of business was making sure her absence didn’t cause as much damage to Twilight as her presence did.

After thinking of what she needed to do in order to fix things, Sunset took out another piece of paper and began to write. Dear Twilight, she thought to herself as she put quill to paper with a little smile.

By the time you read this, I will have left Equestria. I’m sorry, but there is important work that needs to be done, and despite how much I wish I could stay and watch you grow into the amazing mare I know you’re going to be, I have to go. Although I don’t know exactly how long I’ll be gone, I do know that it will be several years before I am able to return.

Please don’t be sad. You still have so many ponies that will love and watch over you like your parents, your brother, and Cadance. And I know that everything will certainly be fine.

Sunset signed the paper, and rolled it into a scroll before grabbing some wax and a ribbon to tie it closed. With that taken care of, she heated the wax and shaped it into a seal resembling her cutie mark to make everything look all princessy.

As soon as she did, Sunset felt a weight settle down on her, and she had to stop herself from ripping open the letter and adding a few more lines. But that wouldn’t do any good. Whatever Sunset wrote, she knew it wouldn’t change anything as far as how Twilight would feel because of the amber alicorn's departure.

It would hurt her. Maybe even crush her.

No, that’s not… Sunset thought as she tried to unsuccessfully tell herself that Twilight wouldn’t be that affected by her just up and leaving. Even though it hadn’t been that long, the purple unicorn looked up at Sunset in the exact same way that little human kid Scootaloo had looked up at Rainbow Dash.

Sunset leaving would hurt her, and hurt her dearly in the short term…

But… It’ll be better for everyone in the long run, Sunset assured herself. And another three years of having to suffer from the crippling loss of her magic would be a fine penance for making the purple filly cry.

A shiver passed down Sunset’s spine at that thought. For three more years, she would have to give up her magic again. It had almost driven her insane that first time, and the alicorn had to admit that more than a little bit of her ever-present anger and need to make sure every human around her felt as miserable as she did came from that.

But…things might be different this time around. Knowing what she did about humans, Sunset could make changes to her actions in the human world. A better house, smarter choices for her fake identity, actually putting her real age of eighteen down rather than fifteen so she didn’t have to attend school.

The last change would probably be the hardest, but it was one that needed to be made. Even though Sunset shared more happy memories than bad ones with her human friends, she didn’t think it was a good idea to get mixed up with them again. Sunset would just get a nice place in a good neighborhood, and wait out the two-point-five years it took for the mirror to open again before coming back home with a quick side-trip to knock three gem-wearing assholes upside their empty heads with a baseball bat.

Yeah, Sunset thought to herself as she finished out her plans to pass the time in the human world and deal with the Sirens while keeping the growing feelings of depression at bay. Just thirty moons all by myself. I can handle that. I used to be alone all the time. I...love...being alone.

After taking a deep breath and letting out a cleansing sigh, Sunset went back to her planning.

Thankfully, making a list of the rest of the things she needed to get in order to make her transition to the human world easier didn’t weigh as heavy on her heart as the necessities involving Twilight and Sunset’s approaching isolation did. Bits and gems would be easy enough to procure. Plus, this time around, Sunset could use her magic to remove the Equestrian identifying marks from the gold and replace them with some French or English symbols. A horse’s face on the last gold coins she had exchanged had raised some questions when Sunset had traded in her pocket change the last time she visited a bank.

A fake ID showing her actual age would be another thing Sunset could get a lot easier in Equestria than on Earth. Thanks to some practice the week before, the amber alicorn had shaken off most of the cobwebs when it came to her horn’s dexterity, and was confident in her ability to create a reasonable representation of her human face using magic to guide a pen. Then she could combine her artistic skills and magic to make a fake driver’s license.

Clothes were next on the list of things she would need to procure. Although, Sunset decided to hold off on getting something human to wear until after she went through the portal. Inability to get some proper measurements aside, considering the mass she had gained in Equestria, Sunset had to wonder….

Will I look different this time? she asked herself as she looked down to her body. Even though she had been taller as a biped, her five-plus foot frame equated to something around six-and-a-half, if not an even seven as a human. An athletic seven.

The idea of what that would be like made the alicorn smirk when she thought of doing something like playing basketball with Rainbow Dash…

“Come on shorty, I thought you were supposed to be some big athlete in your old school,” Sunset said as she held the ball as high as she could and smirked as the girl with the rainbow hair jumped up over and over again to try and get it away from her.

And if her physical strength as a pony was indication…

Sunset smirked as she carried four crates full of cider as Applejack struggled to keep up with the larger girl while only lugging around one. “Don’t worry AJ, I’m sure with enough work and plenty of cider, you’ll be half as tough as me one day.”

Although, Sunset knew she wouldn't be able to stomach making her friends feel inadequate for very long, and would be helping them out more than not…

“I-I’m sorry Fluttershy,” the bully Sunset had ran off shortly after her arrival in Canterlot High, one Gilda Griffon, stuttered as she nursed the black eye while Sunset stood behind the animal lover with her arms crossed and a promise that the bully would be getting a lot worse if she ever tried anything else ever again.

Sunset blinked as the last scenario faded from her mind, and she realized both of her errors for thinking of things in such a way. For starters, Sunset wouldn’t be messing with her human friends this time. And just because she skirted Saddle Arabian size as a pony didn’t mean she was going to be some kind of tan She-Hulk with red and golden hair. If humans and ponies were perfect reflections of each other, then Principal Celestia would have been somewhere around nine feet tall.

So...the clothes could wait until she was on the other side of the mirror. It wasn’t as if she could find somepony to make them without raising a lot of questions either.

A knock at her bedroom door brought Sunset out of her musing. “Sunset, are you there? I’d like to speak to you.”

The sound of her mother’s voice made Sunset feel like a bolt of lightning ran down her spine. If Celestia saw the list Sunset had made...it wouldn't be too incriminating, but Sunset knew it would raise questions she didn’t want to answer. “J-Just a second Mom!”

Sunset opened a desk drawer and shoved the list of materials she would be needing to get by in Human Land into one of the drawers before resealing the inkwell and using her magic to clean her quill of the leftover ink with a fine disintegration spell. Then, once the evidence of her plot to escape Equestria was hidden from view, Sunset called out to her mother in a crisp voice to hide her panic. “Come in.”

As the door opened, Sunset winced at the expression on Celestia’s face before the white alicorn walked in with half-a-dozen books floating in her magic. Since they weren’t in public, it seemed Celestia had gone back to showing her emotions to anyone who knew her well enough, and Sunset could see the hesitation covering the white alicorn’s every action as clear as day.

It made Sunset feel both guilty and worried. Kind, loving, sure of herself, even self-righteous more often than not, those were the traits that Sunset would have used to describe her mother before coming back through the mirror. But throughout it all, the descriptor that Sunset had always accompanied Celestia was confident, sure of herself, never...hesitant.

And now that she thought about it, this wasn't the first time Sunset had seen her mom in a state that was less than confident since coming back through the mirror. It both frightened and angered her. The fact that Celestia was acting a little less like the all-perfect being she carried herself as was pretty off-putting, but the fact that it was coming only after Sunset had sprouted a pair of wings for herself made the amber alicorn’s ire grumble in the back of her mind.

Ever since she had realized the truth of things thanks to Twilight’s appearance, and her mom’s actions since, it seemed more and more that ascension was the only thing that made Sunset worth caring about in Celestia’s eyes.

No, Sunset told herself before stomping her hoof down on such thoughts. She had been the horrible student that abused her mother’s faith by squandering it. Sunset was the one that had been the bad pony, not Celestia.

And...Sunset needed to focus on the other alicorn in the room, not her returning resentment now that she knew Celestia's throwing her daughter away like trash wasn’t some vision given to Sunset by the mirror to straighten her up just because she wouldn’t be a good little yes-mare and obediently nod her head at every stupid thing her mother said.

“Is everything alright?” the amber alicorn asked in a barely civil tone as Celestia closed the door behind her. Then, Sunset frowned at herself. Cut it out, you don’t want to fight with her anymore.

The question made Celestia stop for a second before she set the books down. “I brought you all the materials we have on our past relations with the griffons since the Unification,” she said before looking back to her daughter. “Sunset...I’m sorry for...letting things get out of control between us after breakfast.”

If Sunset had been sitting in a normal chair rather than her cushion, she was pretty certain that she would have been unable to keep in her seat. Even though it wasn't the first apology Celestia had given her, getting them from her at all was still a shocker.

But Sunset was back to normal a second later. “Yeah, well…” the amber alicorn mumbled before her memory brought her back to just what they had been fighting about. “I’m the one who lost her cool first,” she finally admitted.

Celestia sighed again. “Still, you’re not my student anymore,” she replied. “I shouldn’t expect you to just nod your head and agree with everything I say right away.”

But you still expect me to in the end, huh? Sunset thought with a frown as she fought to keep her opinion to herself. Although, it was a little comforting to at least get that much from her mom.

“Sunset,” Celestia said in a tired voice as she looked down at her daughter. “I don’t want to fight with you about this again. I understand where you're coming from, but as a princess, you need to adopt a wider view of the world. One that is even bigger than just Equestria.”

“What’s the point?” Sunset grumbled with a frown before she could stop herself.

Celestia blinked and tilted her head. “Sunset?”

Although she was able to reel herself back in before exploding even more, Sunset supposed that it was already too late to stop from going down this particular path again. But...she found herself able to at least stay a bit more civil. “You say you want me to sit in on this meeting,” she began while wondering just why Celestia was letting her look into a part of Equestria’s workings the big alicorn had dealt with almost completely on her own even before Sunset’s great-grandparents were in diapers. “But you don’t want to hear any of my opinions on the matter when they disagree with yours! Hell, even if I do become some kind of ambassador to another country or something, if I don’t do things the way you want, you’ll just shove me to the side and do it your own way without me! Why am I even getting a crown if the only thing I’m going to do is carry out your orders instead of deciding anything for myself?”

And as Celestia pulled her head back, Sunset was struck by the sheer pointlessness of arguing with the big alicorn over this yet again. She would be gone in two weeks, so what did it matter if she disagreed with Celestia’s decisions on how to run her country? Even if Sunset wanted to change things, she wasn’t going to be around long enough to do anything about it.

Fighting about such things now would only make her last two weeks in Equestria a basic repeat of how she had left things the first time. Something Sunset didn't want to take with her as the last memory of her mother for the next thirty moons.

It was only after she had wallowed in that thought for a few seconds that Sunset realized Celestia hadn’t spoken for some time. When she looked back up to the only pony in Equestria taller than her to see the sadness in the white pony’s eyes, Celestia finally broke the silence. “I do value your opinion of things Sunset,” she said in a voice that matched her expression. “It’s just...I’ve played this game for so much longer than you and...I just don’t want you making the same mistakes I did when I was your age. Those mistakes were both plenty, and painful. If I can spare you that while still letting you learn the lessons you need to be a proper princess, I will.”

While Celestia’s words did make her feel a little better, Sunset also found herself unable to ditch the bile her mother’s lack of confidence and feelings of how pointless being an alicorn was with the big pony around. “Yeah. A proper princess,” Sunset grumbled. Carbon copy would have been a better way to say it.

For some reason, the comment got a droop of ears from the Sun Princess. “Sunset...”

“Can we please stop talking about this?” Sunset asked as her mind became steeped in the past again, when they had their last big fight. “It’s your way, or the highway. I get it.”

Celestia sighed and hung her head. “Do I truly appear so...tyrannical to you?”

With her mother acting the way she was, Sunset found herself feeling more a little guilty for causing such a response. “Well, it’s not like you don't have a right to be,” she admitted. “I mean, you usually are the one that's right most of the time. Other ponies should just do what you tell them to no matter what they think.”

“No, that’s not…” Celestia paused for a moment, and shook her head. “That doesn’t mean I don't value your input Sunset, or that I’m always right either,” she added a few seconds later. “And I’ll admit, being the sole ruler of Equestria for as long as I have has affected how I do things. Sharing authority doesn’t come easy to me, even now.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow at the odd comment at the end, but put it out of her mind a second later. “Well...um...thanks for the books,” she said to try and get the subject turned towards something else. At the very least, it showed Sunset that Celestia was at least trying to let her grow as a princess.

Not that she was going to be around long enough to enjoy it, but...Sunset calmed herself down with the fact that it was the thought that counted.

When she noticed the bigger pony wasn’t leaving after the books became gathered up in her magic, Sunset began to feel a little uneasy. “Did you want something else?”

“Just to say that I love you,” Celestia told her before she bent down to kiss Sunset on the forehead.

The contact with her mother made the anger Sunset had been feeling towards the bigger alicorn melt away in a wave of embarrassed heat. “I love you too Mom,” she said after a few seconds. “And...I’m sorry for...being so difficult.”

Celestia giggled and smiled down at her. “Oh my little pony, you wouldn’t be worth loving so much if you weren’t,” she said before an oddly mischievous smile crossed her face. “Although...before you get started on that research, do you want to run a few errands with me? I could use the company.”

With her mother giving Sunset that weird half-smile she tended to use from time to time, the amber alicorn found herself becoming nervous. “Doing what?”

“Well, I need to see some ponies at your old school,” she explained. “I thought you might like the chance to say goodbye to the old place. Something tells me your last trip there didn’t go so well.”

Despite the work in her desk that was still calling to Sunset for her to finish it, she didn’t see the harm in one little side trip. At very least, she could spend some time with her mom in a way that didn’t end with them yelling at each other.

The thought of which made her smile. Even with everything that had passed between them, Sunset still wanted to share her time with her mother. “Okay...if we can get some ice cream on the way back.” Some of her best memories as a filly had been born from Celestia’s sweet tooth trips. If Sunset was going to be leaving Equestria, and she had to relive her past in more ways than one, then she was going to at least run through a few of the happier memories.

Celestia giggled at the amber alicorn’s words. “I think that’s a given.”


Once she parted ways with Shining Armor at the beginning of school, Cadance found herself thinking about her relationship problem again.

A problem every fiber of her morality screamed wasn't even hers!

Shining Armor and Sunset were a couple. Just because the odds were against them didn’t mean Cadance had any right to swoop in and snatch one of them up! Plenty of couples beat the odds and found their happily ever after. If anything, Cadance should have been helping them find their happiness by planning out their next big date, not running the odds of her future with Shining Armor while she was dreaming about sleeping with Sunset Shimmer.

Not the platonic kind of sleeping, the kind that had the amber alicorn pinning Cadance to the bed before she locked lips with the pink princess with a predatory level of ferocity. Sunset’s tongue would dominate Cadance's mouth as they kissed, putting the lesser alicorn in her place as she brought her forelegs up behind Cadance’s back and wrapped her powerful wings around the pink princess’s whole body. But, despite her masterful handling of the smaller pony, every move Sunset would make would be gentle as it was firm.

Then, after asserting her dominance and getting Cadance warmed up, Sunset would move down below to claim her sweet prize with the same amount of power and care she had taken her lover to bed with. It would be…

A sudden screech in her ears jolted Cadance out of her fantasy, and she looked up to see the clock was signaling it was time for students to get to class. After regaining her composure, the pink princess quickly galloped down the hall to beat the rush of students to her first class.

But even after class began and the teacher started lecturing, Cadance’s thoughts drifted back to Sunset and her powerful legs, her thick wings, her masterful presence…

OH COME ON! Cadance mentally yelled at herself. She might have just fallen into the infatuation stage, but she was the Alicorn of Love! Controlling her desires should have been simple!

Okay, she thought while the stallion in front of the class droned on. Let’s think about this logically. Logic was the bane of out of control emotions. If Cadance took a look at things from a logical standpoint, then she should have an easy time of distancing herself from Sunset emotionally.

From a logical standpoint it...made sense that Cadance was attracted to Sunset. Physical beauty aside, Sunset had gone from being her tormentor to somepony Cadance both pitied in regards to her relationship with Celestia, and admired when it came to her talents and restraint. Plus, the new role she had taken as Cadance’s protector made the pink princess feel that much warmer when it came to the amber alicorn.

It was perfectly logical that the pink princess should lust after the amber alicorn both from physical desire, and emotional attraction.

But...would it even work out between us? Cadance wondered.

Fantasizing about physical pleasure was...mostly fine, but it was just a tease without something substantial to go with it. Despite how they got along since her ascension and how Sunset deferred to Cadance at times despite her forceful personality, which told the pink princess Sunset respected her a great deal…

Ugh, I’m trying to talk myself out of a relationship here, not list reasons that it’s a good idea, the pink princess thought with a frown. But, instead of getting back on track, all she could think about was her growing list of reasons as to why Sunset would be such a great wife.

Cadance frowned at her mental analysis, and then reached into her saddlebags to grab a pen and paper. Since it seemed that she couldn’t stop herself from contemplating a future with Sunset, then it was best to go ahead and plot it out. But if she was going to test her compatibility with Sunset, she was going to do it right!

Twenty minutes, three prices of paper and six colored pencils later, Princess Cadance and completed her romantic compatibility and future happiness assessment for her best friend.

Like with Shining Armor, the results weren’t quite what she had been expecting.

The honeymoon period looked to be everything Cadance had found herself fantasizing about earlier. Sunset would be a loving wife that acted as an amplifier to Cadance’s destiny as Cadance supported and comforted Sunset from behind the scenes, turning them both into the best ponies they could possibly be.

But...from what Cadance could see, things would take a turn for the worst after Celestia was due to die. The death of her mother would shatter Sunset. She would withdraw from the world for weeks, if not months, only coming out after a severe amount of coaxing from Cadance.

Then, once the amber alicorn was onto the road to recovery with the pink princess guiding the way, tragedy would strike again.

Cadance didn’t know exactly what would happen, but her heart told her that she and Sunset would be separated, and the High Princess of Equestria would not react well to the loss of her wife.

Instead of withdrawing from the world again, Sunset would become cold and hard. She would turn into something that was ten times worse than the bully Cadance had met upon her arrival in Canterlot. An unrelenting harshness that came into being after Cadance disappeared from the prediction would eventually turn to cruelty, and Equestria would find itself under the hoof of an uncaring monster.

As Cadance's imagination provided a picture of a gigantic alicorn with a blood-red coat and eyes that radiated darkness as well as a pair of red leather wings that cast the whole world into shadow, she had to suppress a shiver. Then, the pink princess quickly crammed the sheet of paper prophesying the destruction of Equestria under Sunset’s tyrannical rule into her borrowed saddlebag.

No, Cadance told her prediction. While she may have been a little temperamental, Sunset would never become the monster Cadance’s prediction had said she would under any circumstances. At her very worst, she was a brat. The pink princess knew from personal experience that Sunset wouldn't actually hurt anypony.

There had to be some kind of mistake in her calculations, something she missed. While Cadance knew that the loss of a loved one could change a pony in many ways, several of them less than ideal, their true selves would always shine through when given the chance.

But Cadance’s attempts to  reexamine the path of their relationship for where she added the numbers together wrong or didn’t cross a T were cut short as the teacher finished talking, signaling an end to the notes and beginning of individual work. So, the pink princess had to put her personal problems on the back burner and get to work on other things.

Still, she found herself going back to the dilemma Sunset’s future represented whenever her thoughts wandered away from the paper in front of her. A mistake, the pink alicorn told herself. I had to have made a mistake somewhere. I’ll look over everything again next period.

As first period came to an end, and Cadance made her way to her alchemy class, she went back to thinking about Sunset with all of her attention. It turned out the time she had allowed herself to focus on something else had been a good thing. After getting a fresh start on the destiny of Sunset’s heart, the pink princess knew where she had gone wrong during her initial prognostication.

I’m being too narrow in my predictions, Cadance thought to herself. Sunset wouldn't take the loss of loved ones very well, so much so that she would be unable to climb out of the despair without a great deal of help. But the Alicorn of Love knew there was more than just the romantic kind of love that she was focusing on when it came to Sunset.

There was also the fact that a good deal of Sunset’s future actions were based off both the bratty way she acted towards Cadance as a unicorn, and what she had told the pink alicorn in regards to her actions on the other side of the mirror. Actions Cadance was starting to think weren't as bad as Sunset was making them out to be.

By the time she got to her second period classroom, Cadance had already mapped out a new relationship web in her head that included a great deal more than just two little ponies. She included Shining’s friends, Cheerilee and the other earth pony, even Fleur and her group were warming up to Sunset enough to be considered a long-time influence on the amber alicorn’s heart. Then, she added Twilight Sparkle as Sunset’s…

Cadance frowned at the last pony in the mental lineup as she came to her desk near the back of the room and sat. Although the pink princess knew the amber alicorn would want the lavender unicorn in her life, she wasn’t quite sure what form a relationship between Sunset and Twilight would take if the next ruler of Equestria had a falling out with Shining Armor because Cadance snatched Sunset up.

While Sunset would most definitely pursue a platonic, if not outright familiar relationship with Twilight thanks to previous experiences, the purple unicorn’s love for her jilted brother would certainly bring an end to the hero worship the amber alicorn was getting and then some. Judging by how much Sunset loved the younger pony, it was something that would haunt Sunset for the rest of her many days.

So, with the latest revelation given to her in regards to the complicated love life of Sunset Shimmer, Cadance let out a growling sigh, and put her royal plot down on the pillow in front of her desk as she focused her mind on the newest little problem to crop up.

No matter who she ended up with, Sunset breaking things off with Shining Armor would hamper her relationship with Twilight. But Cadance could see that Sunset and Shiny wouldn’t get much of a happily ever after, even if the unicorn managed to show himself capable of withstanding Sunset’s less than friendly moments. He would die, and she would pine after her lost love for...well, ever.

But Sunset can't be without anypony, Cadance told herself. Even if the amber alicorn had been misrepresenting herself when it came to her time on the other side of the mirror, the pink princess had seen the difference between a Sunset that was alone in contrast to a Sunset surrounded by friends and family. She needed other ponies in her life, or the pain that came from being alone would make Sunset eventually turn it outwards and towards those that were happy.

The whole mess made Cadance’s head ache. Stupid sexy Sunset and her bucking lack of a previous loving environment that made her so unstable. Why couldn’t I have just gotten one of those tough mares that thought she was too cool to be in love?


The halls of Celestia's school were much like they had been when Sunset last walked them a week ago. Everything was as pristine as it could be, numerous trophies for academic events were displayed near the entrance to show off the school’s top position in the magical competition community, and every pony Sunset saw in the hallway put their noses to the floor as she passed.

But, unlike last time, the ponies looking at the floor had a better reason than her to be prostrating themselves. It’s just Celestia they’re bowing to, not me, Sunset tried to tell herself as they passed the third stallion who should have been in class instead of in the hallway with his nose to the ground.

It didn’t make the undeserving alicorn feel any better about her position.

After a brief stop at the headmaster’s office to bask in his pleasantries, Sunset pulled the pony’s puckered muzzle out of Celestia's ass and followed her to the classroom of the stallion the big princess really wanted to see with the other pony in tow.

As they approached the door, Sunset's ears twitched when she picked up the unicorn stallion’s dry voice snaking its way through the glass window that allowed ponies to peek into the room the door led to. “Once again, I remind you class, there will be no horns glowing or reagents levitating in potion making. Since you need to have some help remembering this, Ms. Ginger Weasley, I have a special hat you can wear to help you with it.”

Sunset opened the door to see a tall unicorn with a rather bulbous muzzle and a long black mane that went with his gray coat grab a long suppression cone with the word DUNCE spelled out in large letters on the side. Then he placed it on the head of a young ginger mare maybe two years younger than Sunset’s supposed age.

The ridicule the poor girl faced from the act made Sunset frown, but as a former student of the alchemy teacher, she did at least see a point behind it. Some of the ingredients in the advanced alchemy class were dangerous when exposed to mystical energies. So unicorns were forced to use their hooves, despite the obvious problems it caused several of the teenaged ponies.

“Professor Snap,” Celestia called out from the doorway. “Do you have a moment?”

Right as all the colts and fillies turned to face the doorway, Sunset tensed.

“Princess Celestia!”

“Oh my gosh, what’s she doing here?”

A few seconds later, the giant alicorn glided into the room while Sunset waited in the doorway. “Oh hello little ones,” Celestia said as she looked around the room with a smile. “It’s does my heart glad to see so many of my little ponies taking an interest in alchemy. Remember to study hard, talent alone doesn’t make one a success.”

“Princess Celestia,” the stallion she and Sunset had come to see said as he bowed to her. “To what do I owe the...pleasure of your interruption?”

Despite the dour reply Sunset remembered that Snap was known for, Celestia politely nodded her head towards the stallion in greeting. “I wish to discuss something with you, if you have the time. I trust the headmaster will be able to teach the class in your absence?”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the potion maker replied with a bow.

A few minutes later, Sunset found herself sitting in the rather cramped teacher’s lounge, with the long rectangular table that took up most of the room fighting with Celestia for territory as the big alicorn put a pair of floor cushions together to rest her rear on. As she was adjusting herself, the dark unicorn turned his attention on the smaller alicorn in the room.

“Ms. Sunset, I must say that it is good to see you again,” he greeted with a nod. “I heard this rather odious rumor that you were attending Canterlot Academy of all places.”

Sunset frowned at the stallion’s attitude towards her new school. While its academics were sub-par compared to Celestia’s School, the atmosphere was much friendlier. “I’ve found that it has a great many lessons of more importance to teach me than this place ever did.”

Obviously picking up on Sunset’s hostility, Snap cocked his head to the side. “Is there something wrong Ms...ah, pardon me, it’s Princess Sunset Shimmer now, isn’t it?” he replied. “My apologies, and congratulations for fulfilling your potential. I always knew there was a reason you stood head and shoulders above your peers.” He looked the taller pony up and down for a moment. “Metaphorically, I mean.”

Sunset had to fight off her urge to give a curt reply. She wanted to tell him that if anything, the praise he had given her so many years ago was one of the things that only pushed her away from alicornhood, and Celestia as well. The last of which made Sunset’s hoof shake as she restrained herself from also giving a physical reply to Snap’s politeness.

“Yes well, Sunset has not been crowned just yet,” Celestia cut in, “and we are not here to talk about such things. Rather, I came to ask you about your knowledge regarding Zebra potions, Professor Snap. Your resume did mention you spent a year abroad in their tribal territories. I take it you studied such things?”

After giving the goddess a brief nod, the dry stallion went into a lengthier answer. “Yes. But I must say that zebra alchemy is much more...coarse than the fine art we ponies practice, Princess. The only thing I find interesting about it is the rather exotic list of ingredients it uses that are hard to come by in Equestria,” he told her. “Why the sudden interest, if I may ask?”

Celestia let out a little laugh. “Oh I’d hardly call my interest sudden,” she replied with a smile. “I’ve dabbled in alchemy for the past eight-hundred years or so, Professor. But I must admit that I am not familiar with some of the more exotic ingredients found outside Equestria. So I was wondering if you could take a look at a list I have and answer a few questions I have regarding what’s on it.”

A second later, the goddess's horn lit up, and a roll of parchment appeared in midair, then unrolled as it floated down for the stallion to read. “Hmmm...interesting to be sure. None of these seem too hard to come by for a pony with friends in the right places, but...what is it you are wanting to know about these herbs?”

“For starters, are any of them toxic to ponies?” she asked. “If ingested, I mean.”


As he sat down to lunch, Shining Armor couldn’t help but notice the distressed look on the face of the alicorn he was kind of forced to sit next to despite there being plenty of room in the growing corner of the cafeteria that had been set aside for the nerd herd. Which had grown to include a pair of mares that were also social outcasts, and...the five most popular girls in school. A fact that was still hard for Shining to wrap his head around.

It wasn’t Sunset and Cadance’s membership in their group that made Shiny’s brain wonder if he wasn’t in some kind of coma dream, their being around at least made some kind of sense.  It was the three new mares that made him question if what Shining was currently experiencing was really reality. Fleur De Lis, Upper Crust, and Sassy Saddles were the top three mares in the school, if the alicorns that were also in the group of social misfits weren’t counted that is.

Which...really made Shining Armor wonder if his group of outcasts and nerds now qualified as the cool colts.

But, any real attempt at considering the change in Shining’s social standing was put on hold when he noticed Cadance’s expression had changed from distressed to lackluster depression as she munched on an apple piece. Seeing the usually...emotional princess so down, Shining Armor could help but ask about it. “Princess Cadance, is something wrong?”

The question made Cadance pick her head up from where she was just nibbling at the small mountain of food on her tray, and look over to Shining Armor before she put on a little smile. “It’s...um, nothing you need to worry about Shiny,” she assured him in a rather unconvincing way before she looked back towards her food. “I’ve just been making some...bad predictions.”

A second later, everypony in their group was looking at the princess in confusion while Shining Armor felt a worry in the back of his mind. Because of their talks and some later information from Sunset on top of what else he could figure out, Shining Armor understood that Cadance’s matchmaking talents went beyond just putting ponies who liked the same things together. While he didn’t want to go so far as to call them prophetic, her being an alicorn said there had to be something special about them.

“Bad...predictions, Princess?” Fleur asked. “I’m not sure I follow.”

Cadance looked up at the other pony and smiled a bit. “It’s a bit hard to explain, but...I can tell if a pair of ponies will be able to work out,” she said. “Or the basic path a single pony’s lovelife is going to take.”

“Really?” the unicorn with the pink mane asked as her eyes brightened. “Because my parents are pushing for me to meet with this young stallion from some noble family. It’s not an outright engagement, but...I must admit I am a little worried about being sent to the Fall Formal with a total stranger. If you could tell me something about this Fancy Pants colt they’re going on about…”

Cadance shook her head. “Sorry, but it doesn’t really work like that,” she said before giving the other horned pony a tiny smile. “My abilities aren’t some kind of magic spell that just calls up an answer out of the blue. I need to know at least a few things about at least one of the ponies that I’m making a prediction about. And even then, the answer I receive might be a false positive or negative if a future event slated to happen falls through. We haven’t really spent that much time with each other yet Fleur.”

Despite being turned down by the princess, the head unicorn mare in Canterlot High nodded and gave her a half-smile. “Oh, that’s too bad.”

Before the subject could change, Sassy Saddles spoke up in an excited tone. “Oh! But could you do it for somepony else that’s sitting at this table?”

As all the eyes but the pair belonging to Cadance shifted around to settle on Shining Armor, the pink princess let out a snort. “Let’s go with something a little more difficult than predicting the future of my best friend’s love interest, shall we?” she said before looking around at the assembled stallions. “So...you three, any of you want to know how your love lives are going to go?”

Gaffer snorted. “Oh please. I already know any prediction you make for me is going to be so bleak it’ll bring tears to your eyes.”

From his place beside the unicorn, Eight-Bit chuckled. “No thanks. I’m keeping my dream of losing my virginity at the age of forty alive and well, thank you.”

“Uh..” Poindexter replied as he adjusted his bowtie and gave a nervous look to his two friends. “Okay, why not? I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

As everypony at their table focused on either Cadance or the nerdy earth pony with the light coat, the pink princess gave Poindexter a calculating stare. “Let’s see…” she mumbled. “Well, you’re definitely going to fall for somepony. In fact, you might already have your eye on the mare. But...I don’t think you’ll pony-up enough to ask her, and settle for loving her from afar. And while that’s all well and good if you don’t have the courage, there’s something a little more...oh, that’s...kind of disturbing.”

Nervousness crept onto Poindexter’s face, and his eyes darted around for a moment as if there was some danger just about to jump out at him. “What? What is it?”

“Welllll,” Cadance drawled on as she tilted her head to the right ever so slightly as she continued to examine the earth pony sitting across from her as a faint glow surrounded her horn. “Even though you’re never going to ask her to go out with you, you’ll actually leave Canterlot after she graduates and moves away. But you still won't ask her out, and because of that, she’s going to fall for some local earthy pony with a...rather limited dialect. Because of this, you’ll get really dejected to the point where any female complimenting you will have a profound impact, even to the point of a young hot mare being able to charm her way into making you give up the last bundle of asparagus you just bought.”

Gaffer raised an eyebrow. “That seems a little specific for something that’s supposed to be very generalized.”

A tiny smirk appeared on Cadance’s face. “Well, I do get a few flashes of intuition when taking a look at where a pony’s lovelife is going to lead,” she told them with a tiny shrug before her face turned serious. “But I only get them when it comes to romantic relationships. The love between family and friends is a whole different creature.” Her face became a little downcast a second later. “Especially family.”

All of a sudden, Shining Armor got a sinking feeling. “So...wait, all that stuff you said about Sunset-”

Cadance didn’t let the stallion finish before she looked over to him. “I’ll admit, I may have taken things a bit too quickly when it came to the two of you, but...at the same time,” she sighed and shook her head. “Maybe I was picking up on Sunset’s...desires, but...there’s a strange feeling of...urgency, I guess you could call it, whenever I think about the two of you.”

With Cadance’s explanation only making him more confused, Shining Armor cocked his head to the side. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

For a few seconds, Cadance looked back to the rest of the ponies at their table, and then she turned to face Shining again. “I’ll tell you after school.”


For the first time since becoming an alicorn, Sunset didn’t much mind the ponies around her bowing for no reason other than that she had both wings and a horn as she walked down the school hallway by herself. It was by far preferable to having lunch with the school staff along with Celestia. All of those ponies congratulating Sunset for fulfilling her potential in the same snide way the potions master had done, it would have been enough to drive her insane if she had been around them for more than a few minutes.

So she had made some excuses, and trotted out when Sunset’s mother finally finished talking about zebra potion reagents. A topic the amber alicorn still didn’t understand why Celestia was so interested in. Hobby or not.

If she got back to the castle early enough, Sunset supposed that she could even manage to get some actual research done on the griffons. Even if it wouldn't matter in the long run, Sunset needed to at least do what she said she was going to do. If only to make use of the books Celestia had taken the trouble to bring in.

“Would you leave me alone already!” an unfamiliar colt’s voice sounded from around the corner. “I said I don't want to hang out with you anymore Starlight.”

Sunset blinked at the disturbance and peered around the turn to see what was going on. A bit further down the hall, she spotted the filly she had mistaken for a siren glaring at some colt with a golden coat Sunset didn’t recognize at all.

“But Sunburst,” the filly cried out. “The only reason I even came to this school was to find you.”

The colt looked back and frowned at Starlight. “Yeah well, the only reason I came here was to get away from you!” he said before turning his head back around and walking away.

Sunset blinked at the little pony’s words. Ouch...that was harsh.

“H-Hey! You can’t just trot away from me!” the pink filly went on before she began to build up power in her horn at a surprising speed. “You're my friend! I OWN YOU!”

Before the little filly could unleash her magic in a wild blast that would have either sent the colt to the nurse’s office or a hospital, Sunset focused her own magic and clamped down on the little filly’s horn with a sealing spell.

“W-What?” Starlight stuttered when her magic suddenly failed, something any unicorn would have found traumatic, even if she had been old enough to detect the enchantment on her horn.

With that done, Sunset stepped out from her corner and frowned at Starlight. “And just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded in an even tone.

The little filly’s back went straight, and turned around just as Sunset finished walking up to the little pony. Judging by the wide-eyed look of fear, the amber alicorn guessed that she must have looked quite intimidating to Starlight. “P-Princess Sunset Shimmer.”

“I asked you a question, little filly,” Sunset said as she continued to use the voice Princess Celestia had employed during the final month of Sunset’s instruction before kicking her out.

Starlight gulped. “I...I was…”

“Trying to hurt that colt,” Sunset finished for her.

Slowly, Starlight’s demeanor changed from one of fear to anger. “Y-Yeah, well...he shouldn’t have trotted away from me! He was my friend! MINE! He can't do that to me!”

As the angry little filly finished, Sunset blinked at the malice in her expression. Was I ever as bad as this kid? the amber alicorn asked herself before she shook off the unwanted comparison and gathered the little brat up in her magic.

“H-Hey! Let me go!” Starlight shouted as she waved her legs around in the air in a fruitless attempt to escape.

Sunset snorted. “I will when I get done escorting you to the office and tell them what you did.”

Thankfully, it was a process that didn’t take too long. While most of the staff was out to lunch so they could take their turns kissing Celestia's big fat butt, a secretary was able to take hold of the magicless filly as Sunset put down what she saw in writing before she took her leave of the brat that Sunset couldn’t help but compare to herself for reasons beyond her comprehension.

She spent most of the walk home replying what had happened and shaking her head. No, Sunset told herself. I was never that bad...at least, not at her age.

A bit too curious and emotionally dependent on Celestia, but not some raging little hellion that worked to hurt other ponies at the drop of a hat. Although, later on in life...Sunset had to admit she had just been a single step away from that. A step Twilight’s crown made me take.

After she put it on willingly. Sunset might have been able to slink away from the guilt that came with trying to murder her friends in the form of a raging she-demon on that technicality, but it didn't make her blameless for the monster’s actions either.

Although, Sunset had to wonder...if she had remained in Equestria, would she have ended up even worse than the Sunset Shimmer of Canterlot High? As she had just been reminded, a unicorn with a horn was much more dangerous than a human bully.

As Sunset began to frown at the strange possibility that her being kicked out by Celestia might have actually been a good thing in the long run, an excited screech equal to any boy band crazed girl assaulted her ears, and the amber alicorn barely had time to look up before she was set upon by a little purple beast.

“Princess Sunset!” Twilight Sparkle cried out in joy as she rammed into the much bigger pony with a level of enthusiasm only a child could have. “Ohmygosh you’re here! What’re you doing here? Are you going shopping too?”

Sunset opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off as Twilight let out an excited gasp and voiced the idea that was probably giving light to her bright expression. “Do you want to go shopping with us?”

Once Sunset finished catching her mind up with Twilight's words, she found herself unable to talk yet again thanks to the efforts of another, much bigger Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle! What do you think you are doing, just galloping off on your own like that? You know the rules while we’re in town. You are to remain in my sight at all times!” she scolded the filly before looking to the alicorn and bowing deeply. “My deepest apologies for the interruption, Princess Sunset Shimmer.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” she told the shorter pony before waving off Velvet’s groveling and looking down at Twilight. Seeing her as a little filly still made Sunset feel a little strange.

But it was a good kind of strange.

Twilight was Sunset’s reminder. The reason she was planning to leave Equestria. All of the doubts she had managed to push to the side in lieu of what had happened at the school returned, and were quickly crushed as Sunset looked into Twilight's big purple eyes.

A world without magic, drilling loneliness for three years, giving up on Shining Armor and letting her mother down. All of it was worth it if Sunset could give Twilight back her rightful future.

“And you should listen to your mother,” the amber alicorn went on with a little frown as she did her best to look only slightly displeased to avoid upsetting the filly too much.

“But I had to get your attention,” Twilight replied.

Behind the little filly, the larger Twilight gave her daughter a disapproving frown. “Don't talk back to the princess,” she said before looking up to the bigger pony. “I beg your forgiveness, Princess. For both my daughter’s interruption of your day and the disrespect she has shown you.”

The reprimand made Twilight Sparkle go rigid. “Oh no! I-I didn't… Princess Sunset, I didn't mean to disrespect you too! I’m sorry, it was an accident! Please don't stop tutoring me!”

Sunset’s eyes widened at the little filly’s reaction, and glanced over to the mare prostrating herself on the street. She sucked in a breath, and did her best to hold in her anger towards the mare responsible for Twilight being in such a state.

But, something told Sunset that if she roasted Twilight's mother right in front of the poor girl, it wouldn’t do anything to improve her mental well-being. So instead of going off on the mare, Sunset sat down and picked the little purple filly up in her pony-arms to hold her close. “Oh Twilight, you don’t have to worry yourself over something like that. I would never abandon you.”

“Y-You promise?” she asked with hopeful trepidation.

Sunset smiled down at her gently as the perfect way to both reassure Twilight and cheer her up just popped into her head. “Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.”


Rocks.

Rocks surrounded her.

There were rocks everywhere on her farm.

A rock farm.

It made her happy.

Because Maud loved rocks.

Sometimes, she wished she could even be a rock.

But, actually becoming one would have to wait until she died and her body was properly placed in an area that allowed for the proper amount of pressure to be applied, eventually leading to fossilization after several years.

Maud knew from personal experience that she couldn’t just will it to happen.

She had tried.

A lot.

Which was why when she saw her baby sister just standing in a field staring off towards the horizon, Maud decided to tell her that. “Pinkie-”

“I feel a strange disturbing force,” the pink pony replied. “As if something were being made, and yet broken at the same time.”

Maud blinked.

She went back to work.

Her sister was weird.


As the two mares approached Twilight Velvet’s home, Sunset had to remind herself that the annoying purple thing that was both drooling on the back of her neck and snoring in her ear was the bestest friend she would ever have. The minor inconvenience was worth what had happened earlier. Seeing Twilight so happy and as energetic as Pinkie over something as simple as shopping had made the amber alicorn’s day.

When they got to the house, Sunset let her mind wander as Velvet worked the lock with her magic.

What's your favorite fruit Princess Sunset? I like grapes,” the little filly said as they looked over the vast amount of choices given to them at the Wall Market. “But not because they’re purple! The correlation of color between myself and my food has nothing to do with my dietary desires.”

I’ve been working on my levitation Princess. I’m up to being able to reliably lift five pounds for a whole minute,” Twilight proudly declared as Sunset turned down the offer of a cart and gathered all of Velvet’s groceries up in her magic.

“Mommy I’m tired, can you carry me?” the lavender filly asked with eyes that looked about twenty-percent bigger than they had been a moment ago.

The sound of a door being opened made Sunset pull herself back to the present, and she followed Velvet into the house while carrying both the mare’s groceries and her daughter.

Once she was inside, Sunset couldn't help but see the worried look on the mare’s face, one she had been wearing since Twilight had started drooling on the amber alicorn’s coat. But while Twilight could be excused for her actions because...well, she was Twilight Sparkle, the light gray mare lacked the proper last name that would excuse her from any wrongdoing in Sunset’s mind.

“Honey, we’re home!” Velvet called out after she walked to the stairs near the front door. Then she looked back to the bigger pony carrying her daughter for a second with trepidation. “And bring a towel, a damp towel!”

Sunset sighed through her teeth after seeing Velvet’s fearful glance. Just what the buck is her problem with me? the amber alicorn wondered. As far as Sunset could remember, she had been nothing but cordial with Twilight's mom.

Another snore sounded from the purple pony on Sunset's back, and the amber alicorn looked over to Twilight-classic. “I’m going to go put her to bed,” she said.

“I’m sorry for my daughter causing you such discomfort Princess,” the mare next to Sunset apologized for the thirty-third time since they bumped into one another. Something that was getting more annoying than the foal snoring and drooling on her back.

Sunset let out a disgruntled breath. “It’s fine,” she grumbled loud enough to be heard before trotting upstairs.

Right as she got to the top of the stairs, Sunset stopped as a stallion with a dark blue coat stepped out of the second floor family bathroom with a small hand towel in his magic.

Although it wasn’t the first time she had seen Twilight’s father, with their first meeting being on a dark street and their second having several sheets of newspaper between them, Sunset realized that this was the first time she had gotten a good look at Twilight’s dad.

Looking at the stallion really made Sunset wonder where Cadance got the idea that Shiny was supposed to grow up into a hottie. Nightlight was everything Sunset expected to see from an adult nerd that didn’t get to drive to work everyday. He was kind of fit, but nowhere near what the palace guards were.

Which, come to think of it, might have spoiled me when it comes to stallions, Sunset realized. Either that, or filled her life with so much muscle that the idea of dating a pony associated with Captain Hard Line was a subconscious turn-off for her.

“Princess Sunset Shimmer,” the stallion said before putting himself into a bow.

For her part, Sunset managed to acknowledge the gesture without being too off putting. All she had to do was remind herself that Night Light wasn’t Twilight’s mom and deserved a bit more patience than the mare Sunset had spent the day with. “Hello Sir. Let me just put Twilight down for her nap, and then I’ll speak with you and your wife.”

With that, she took the towel and headed into Twilight's room to grab the little filly in her magic and flip Twilight around before pulling back the sheets to set her down on the bed and tuck her in.

Unfortunately, as soon as Sunset pulled the sheets back over the purple pony, Twilight let out a tiny, almost disappointed moan and slowly opened her eyes.

“Wha?” the lavender unicorn mumbled mumbled as she crawled her way back to consciousness. “Princess Sunset? What’s...going on?”

Sunset smiled down at the little filly and used a wing to brush a lock of hair away from Twilight’s eyes. With the way her strength tended to act up, a hoof would have probably been too...fatal. “Hey there girl. Sorry if I woke you. But, you're home, safe and sound,” she said before smiling down at the little pony. “Feeling okay?”

After getting stared at by some half-lidded eyes for a few seconds, Sunset had to fight the urge to just snatch the little filly up in a hug as Twilight let out a yawn big enough to let Sunset see her uvula. “Tired.”

“Well, you did have a pretty big day today,” Sunset replied in a soft voice before she took a second to look around the room and found the little gray doll Twilight had introduced her to. She took it up in her magic, and brought the toy over to its owner. “Do you want to hold him?”

Twilight nodded and held out her forelegs. “Smarty Pants,” she mumbled before grabbing the doll that was barely smaller than she was before letting out a yawn. “Princess, can I see you again tomorrow too?”

Although she certainly had better things to do, Sunset disregarded that fact in favor of not upsetting the little unicorn. “I’ll give you some more magic lessons, and you can show off that horn of yours, okay?”

“Okay,” Twilight agreed after finishing another yawn. “Thank you for tutoring me Princess Sunset. I love you.”

The declaration of affection from Twilight was followed by a crushing weight on Sunset’s heart. What she was doing, it was nothing she deserved thanks for, and especially not in the way Twilight had put it. In fact, if the little unicorn had known the truth about Sunset's there was no doubt in the alicorn’s mind that she would hate and fear the older pony.

The amber alicorn quickly shoved such thoughts to the back of her mind. Twilight wouldn’t learn the truth about Sunset for years. So for now, the fake alicorn decided to concentrate on the present.

To help the filly get back to sleep, Sunset quickly threw a gentle slumbering spell from her horn and into Twilight's face. A second later, the purple filly’s eyes shut again and her grip on the doll relaxed.

And of course, no snoring this time, Sunset noted with a mild frown that quickly faded as she watched Twilight sleep.

Once Sunset was certain Twilight really was asleep and not just faking, since it had been some time since Sunset had needed to put a pony to sleep with magic, she trotted out of the room and headed downstairs.

Which had become a bit of an annoyance since becoming a pony again. Despite the inferior magical abilities and looks, Sunset had to admit that humans did stairs better than quadrupeds. But, thanks to her slow going, which also helped to lighten the sound of hooves on the carpeted stairs, Sunset’s improved hearing was able to make out the voices of the two other ponies in the house long before they detected her approach.

“Oh Nighty, this is even worse than what happened with Spangled Star!” Sunset heard Velvet complain to her husband.

“Now hold on there Twilight, maybe you’re-”

“I am not jumping to conclusions Night Light!” Velvet replied in an emotional voice. “You didn’t see her with Twilight! You know how old Princess Celestia is! She must have taught that mare to pick them while they’re young too, so when Shiny wears out, the princess will have a replacement ready to go. We’re going to lose both our son and our daughter!”

With her confusion and the anger towards original-Twilight’s fear Sunset had managed to push to the side thanks to Twilight-purple’s presence getting the best of her now that the lavender unicorn was no longer present, the amber alicorn stomped downstairs and turned the corner to stand in the living room’s entryway.

Both of the unicorns jumped at her presence, and Sunset made no effort to hide her displeasure as she frowned at Twilight’s parents while looking down at them from her full newfound height. “Just what the buck are you two idiots going on about?” she demanded after marching into the room.

The two ponies were laying on their couch as ponies were supposed to, which meant they were barely above eye level with the cushions, and being glared at by an alicorn that could look down on most full grown stallions.

“P-Princess Sunset!” the mare of the pair exclaimed.

Her husband was a bit more controlled. “Please, Your Highness, my wife has a bit of an overactive imagination when it comes to her worries, and she tends to say the most peculiar things because of it.”

Sunset marched towards the two terrified ponies, and for once, didn’t bother to hide her displeasure at seeing them cower before her for no good reason as she got into a position to completely loom over them. “I asked you a question,” she said in an unamused tone. “Who is Spangled Star, and what are you talking about with this losing Twilight and Shiny junk?”

Twilight Velvet gulped and crawled closer to her husband.

Night Light placed his fetlock on the fetlock of his wife, and looked up at the amber alicorn. “W-Well Princess...in regards to your question...Spangled Star was the daughter of one of our coworkers that...got herself...into trouble.”

“It was all that Lord Affluence’s fault!” Velvet suddenly snapped at her husband with a scowl. Then, her eyes widened and she looked over to Sunset with wide eyes. “I...I mean-”

The amber alicorn raised a hoof, cutting the unicorn off, and took a deep breath. If there was some kind of disassociation going on, which Sunset had a feeling that there was thanks to Velvet’s odd comment, she could...kind of forgive Twilight’s mom for her baseless fear.

If that was what it was, of course.

“Alright,” Sunset said after taking a deep breath to help calm herself down. Then she forced herself to look the part as well. “Let's start with that then. Who’s this Spangled Star, and what happened to her?”

When she got her answer, it came from the light gray mare. “It all started about a year ago. Spangled Star was the daughter of Midnight Watch, my former supervisor,” Velvet began. “She got accepted into the School for Gifted Unicorns, and even received a scholarship because of her magical aptitude.”

Sunset blinked at that little fact, and managed to hide her wince as her memory came into play. Although the amber alicorn had known Celestia gave out assistance with entrance fees, Sunset had always considered it just another ego boost that even though her mother had felt a few dregs of society deserved a helping hand, the fact that none of them had been able to outright replace Sunset herself was just more proof of her superiority.

“During her third year at the school, Star met another pony by the name of Affluence,” the unicorn went on. “He hadn’t inherited his father’s title at the time, but...um…”

Since she could guess the reason for Velvet’s sudden hesitation, Sunset decided to throw her a bone. “You can say whatever you want about the nobility in front of me Ms Velvet,” Sunset assured her in as kind a voice as she could manage. “Before I got my wings, the social standing I had by birth was even less than yours. I may be an alicorn now, and Princess Celestia may be adopting me next month as soon as I’m crowned, but the fact remains that I came from even more simpler beginnings than this.” And she gave the smaller mare a little smile. “And just between you and me, I don’t have any liking for the nobility either.”

After staring at the bigger pony for a few seconds, Velvet closed the little ‘O’ her mouth had formed, and gave the tiniest of grateful smiles before her face became sad again. “Well, at first...everything I heard made it seem like one of those storybook romances. A worldly noble takes an interest in a smart young mare and they fall in love before living happily ever after,” she said before hanging her head. “But a year after they started dating…”

“Let me guess,” Sunset went on softly since it didn’t seem like Velvet was going to continue the story anytime soon. She looked far too distraught for that. “Star got thrown away, or something worse.”

Night Light nodded. “One night, Star told her father that she went to the Affluence home and found another mare nuzzling the colt’s neck...among other things,” he explained. “From what I understand, she tried to get back together with the guy even after that. And it even seemed like it might work out when he finally decided to talk to her again. Only...from what I understand, when Star came back from their meeting, she was so heartbroken, that poor filly couldn’t keep her grades up during her final year and flunked out of Celestia’s School and it just...she just...it ruined her future.”

At that, Velvet finally picked herself up. “And that...that plot hole, he didn’t even care! After he had his fun with her, he just threw her away. She was-she was just a toy to him!”

As Night Light moved to embrace his wife and comfort her again, Sunset felt her anger begin to flare up again. Not over the actions of the noble stallion, the amber alicorn had been certain whatever story the unicorns had been needing to tell her would end badly. What had started the process of stirring Sunset’s anger was that the ponies in front of her were thinking she was just like this stallion that they had heard about.

Just like the students at school.

They thought that she was just using Shining Armor for...fun!

It was almost enough to make the amber alicorn raise her hoof and smack the hell out of the mare in front of her.

All afternoon, Sunset had walked beside Twilight's mother. She had talked to the mare, played with her daughter, and carried her junk. In no way had she ever shown herself to be some egotistical asshole that thought of the other pony as anything less than a creature deserving of both her respect and friendship.

But despite that, Twilight Velvet was still a terrified little pony around the big bad alicorn.

Just like everyone back at that stupid school!

When she hadn’t even done anything to merit that sort of fear this time!

And...despite all of that…

...Sunset couldn’t blame her for being afraid.

The biggest pony in the room took in a deep breath, and let out a long sigh. She looked over to the dark stallion. “I take it that this guy was never held responsible for her...breakdown?”Sunset was certain that there had to be more to it than that. A pony didn’t become a wreck just because somebody else up and walked out on them. It seemed almost foolish that a pony that was at least seventeen years of age would have that kind of reaction to the loss of her boyfriend.

More than likely, she had been counting on the Noble’s connections to help provide for her future, and gave up when that assistance disappeared. That combined with her heartache might have crushed her spirit.

Although...the more...human way of thinking Sunset had gained presented another theory. Everything she knew about the situation was secondhand. It was more than possible that Star had given a ride to the colt, and ended up baking something for him. Something he hadn’t wanted to deal with after finding out about it.

Not...my problem, Sunset told herself.

It was probably just heartbreak. That happened to ponies. Lots of ponies.

Just because it was a stupid reason to throw away her future didn’t mean this mystery mare had an illegitimate foal growing in her belly with connections to a noble house that would be shamed in the eyes of the nobility if the higher ups of Canterlot ever found out about it didn’t mean there was anything else going on other than an overly emotional pony who didn’t know how to handle a breakup.

Mental note, Sunset told herself. Summon mare over to castle later this week, give her a checkup spell, and...fix problem if it really is a pregnancy. And if it wasn’t...Celestia would probably let the girl back in school to graduate a year late if Sunset asked her to.

Nightlight sighed and shook his head. “Technically, nothing he did was against the law,” the stallion told her sadly, making Sunset focus on the matter at hand.

When her husband finished talking, Velvet took in a sniffling breath, and Sunset...realized that towering over the two ponies wasn’t helping her to calm down any. So she backed away and sat down on the carpet. But the idea of laying down completely was tossed away because Sunset wanted the two ponies in front of her to see how serious she was.

As she waited for Velvet to calm down some more, Sunset found her mind wandering to the side topic of what both this conversation, and the next one would be about.

Toys. Pretties. Accessories. Nobles had dozens of names for them, but they all boiled down to the same thing: lesser-off ponies that had something a richer pony wanted, from looks and sexual skills, to brains and magical talent, but without enough common sense to see that they were being bought by the rich pony seducing them.

Okay well, I suppose some do, Sunset corrected herself. She had been to a few high-class parties thanks to her status as Celestia’s student, parties where some of the arm candy pretty much knew what they were, and rolled with it. When it came down to it, Sunset didn’t know if she respected those particular ponies a bit more for actually using the nobles in turn, or lost all respect for them since they were outright whores.

But before she could come to a decision on the matter, Sunset noticed that Velvet had settled down, and needed to be set straight. “Alright, I know you’re afraid for your son. So I’ll forget the insulting way that you’ve been thinking of me practically since we first met,” she told them evenly. “Now, let me just say right out that I love your son, and your daughter.”

When Velvet tensed at the declaration, Sunset had to stop herself from shouting ‘OH COME ON!’ at the mare, and simply went on in a controlled voice. “I adore Twilight Sparkle, and I will give her the world on a silver platter while wanting nothing more in turn from her than a thank you and a promise not to let my hopes in her down.” Although, Sunset had to admit to herself that the way the little purple filly looked up the amber alicorn like she was the one that raised the sun and moved the moon instead of Celestia did make Sunset stand up a little straighter. She liked showing off in front of Twilight.

“As for Shining Armor...I’ll be honest with the two of you. I’m not certain what the love I feel towards him is,” she told them. “He is one of my best friends, a pony I both respect and admire. I will admit that I am physically attracted to him, but I have too much respect for your son to turn him into some kind of...sex toy that I show off at parties. And if he wants to pursue a relationship with me, and if I...figure things out in that way…” Sunset took a second to restore her faltering image. “Then I will treat him as a special somepony deserves to be treated. Just as you treat your husband, Mrs. Velvet.”

And, as Sunset took in another breath, she thought of one last thing to stay to help calm their nerves. Not that it really mattered since she was due to depart soon. “If the two of you will let me, that is.”

The uneasy request made Velvet’s ears perk up. “What?”

Sunset blinked, unsure where that last bit had come from. She took a second to lick her lips and buy some more time to gather her thoughts. “Look, I said I was concerned about Shiny’s happiness. But he can’t be happy with me, or whatever pony he does want to be with if the two of you don’t approve of the relationship, whether he chooses me or Cadance,” she explained. “So...if you want me to...I’ll back away. Shiny doesn’t even have to know. I’ll stay his friend, but that’s it.”

Both of the ponies on the couch took a whole minute to stare at Sunset before they shared a baffled look with each other, and then looked back to the amber alicorn.

“Wait,” Nightlight spoke up. “What does Princess Cadance have to do with any of this?”


After the bell rang and signaled the end of the school day, Cadance packed up her saddlebags and made a beeline for the front of the school’s main entrance. Once she achieved her freedom from the academic prison, the pink alicorn flew off to the side to avoid the rest of the stampede, and found a seat under a tree to wait in the shade for her best male friend.

Unfortunately, that ended up taking a little while since Shiny lacked enough strength to muscle his way through the crowd, wings to fly over it, or enough social standing to just make everypony get out of his way.

So, Cadance found herself alone with her thoughts. Something that she was finding was not a good thing as of late. Because then the pink princess didn’t have anything to distract her from the fact that her best friend’s love life was a doomed mess of a disaster that threatened to bring about the end of the world!

If Sunset hooked up with Shiny, she would spend her eternity wallowing in misery, with her only hope for some joy coming through some vicarious path, like being somepony else’s pen pal!

But Cadance's future with the amber alicorn promised something even worse! Every time Cadance tried to plot out their future together, a shadow enveloped their path shortly after Celestia was due to die, and Sunset emerged from the darkness alone.

It was both depressing and infuriating. She was the Princess of Love, the alicorn whose destiny it was to give couples happiness for the rest of their lives. She had done it all the time back in her home village. So how the hay is it that I can’t even find a happy romance for my best friend? Cadance demanded.

What really irked her was that it didn’t seem to matter who Sunset ended up with. Shiny’s friends, Fleur, Cadance had even tried plotting out a relationship between Buck Withers and the overgrown alicorn! Although, there was some light at the end of that particular tunnel. The fact that the last prediction ended with Sunset decking the muscle head five minutes into their first date only confirmed Cadance’s abilities were still working just fine.

“Well hey there baby, nice to see you waiting for me.”

The deep voice caused Cadance's train of thought to derail, and she looked up from the spot on the grass she had been frowning at to see the larger than average earth pony standing over her with his letter jacket still on his back.

“Hello Buck,” Cadance replied, forcing herself to keep an even tone since she was a princess and had to act with a certain amount of decorum in public. Internally, the pink princess was retching and kicking herself in the gut. Speak of the centaur, and one shall appear.

Completely missing the signs Cadance was shouting at him with her neutral expression, tone, and flicking tail that moved as if to shoo away a fly, Buck smirked down at her. “So hey listen, I’m not one of those nerds or anything, but I’ve got some tickets to this big replay opening on Friday, and I decided to let you go with me.”

The love expert in Cadance wanted to cover her face with a hoof. With the sheer amount of arrogance Buck was displaying, the only kind of mare that he could ever hope to land was one of those shallow fillies that only cared about big muscles and game scores.

But the princess that had been hanging out with Sunset for the past several days wanted to cover Buck’s face with her hoof...hard, and multiple times. The fact that idiot thought he could just waltz up to her after what he had done to one of her best friends infuriated Cadance on so many levels. It made her seriously think about taking a page out of Sunset's book and practicing a crystal conjuration spell so she could smash the stallion’s head in with something big and hard.

Something like a hammer.

A big crystal hammer.

After seriously considering option two for a few  seconds, Cadance blinked she saw another path open up for her that was a bit more her style, although still pretty Sunset. Completely ignoring the big colt next to her, the pink princess bolted up and stepped forward to wave a foreleg at the young white stallion that had just walked out of the school. “Shiny! Over here,” Cadance called out excitedly before moving past the earth pony as if she had completely forgotten about Buck the moment the blue-maned unicorn appeared.

Shining Armor trotted over with a little smile on his face before he got into the shade and noticed the pony with her. “Hey Cadance what’s...Buck doing here?” he asked in worry as the pink alicorn went around behind his back to stand beside the stallion.

For a tenth of a half of a second, Cadance found herself hesitating. What she was about to do would probably start a whole new batch of rumors involving herself and Shining Armor. But it would also, as Sunset would say, put Buck Withers in his proper place.

So she threw her wing around Shining Armor's back and pulled the stallion close until their sides were touching in the classical pegasi declination of love that told every other pony that was bothering to look in Cadance’s general direction that Shiny was her stallion. Then, to add insult to injury, Cadance leaned in close to nuzzle the white unicorn as she spoke. “Oh Shiny, Buck was just inviting me to go see a play with him this weekend,” she said before moving her cheek off of Shining’s neck to look at Buck. “And I was just about to tell him that I was already going there on a date with you.”

Then Cadance’s instincts took over, and she completed the little lovey-dovey scene with a kiss on the unicorn’s cheek. It wasn’t just a peck either. Lips to coat contact lasted a good three seconds, and enough suction was achieved to pull Shiny’s head a few inches when Cadance disconnected her mouth from his face.

After that, she used her wing to guide the stunned stallion away from Buck, and trotted away from the overgrown colt with the tiniest bit of sway in her hips to show off her perfect plot that he would never have. A plot Cadance had just shouted to the whole school was Shining Armor’s personal plaything.

Not Buck’s.

Unfortunately, after they had gotten two blocks away from the school, with Shining Armor still in Cadance’s embrace, the pink princess’s more rational mind took over, and she looked over to the young stallion next to her.

The young stallion that was still under her wing.

The young stallion that all of the school now knew she was dating.

The young stallion she had just kissed.

Cadance blinked. She withdrew her wing. And stepped to the side before falling on her plot and covering her face with her hooves to let out a loud groan. “Ugh! I can’t believe I just did that!” the pink princess exclaimed before she looked over to the blushing stallion and tried to think of just how she was supposed to apologize for that.

“C-Cadance? What was-”

“Oh Shiny, I’m so sorry!” she began before deciding on the explanation route to keep her stallion in the loop. “I just-Buck just cantered on up to me and was acting all smug, and I just wanted to put him in his place and show him what a real stallion was like, and you were there and I just…” Cadance stopped her rant and let out a loud sigh. “I...I just wanted to hurt him, and I ended up… I’m sorry Shiny. I shouldn’t have put you in that position.” Cadance dropped her head in shame.

A fetlock fell on the princess’s shoulder, and she looked up to see Shining Armor smiling at her. “It’s okay,” he said.

Cadance shook her head. “No it’s not!” she told him before meeting the stallion's beautiful blue eyes. “And it’s not just this either! Ever since I heard that Sunset likes you, and you were up for giving her a try, I’ve been shoving the two of you together as fast as I could.

“Real love doesn't work like that!” Cadance went on as her guilt over her actions began to compound. “Sure, the passionate stuff does, but real, lasting love needs time to grow and take root. And I’ve been treating the hookup phase of your relationship with Sunset like it was some quick fling all because I’m getting some stupid feeling that if you and Sunset don't cement your relationship by the end of next week, then it’ll ruin any chance you have of ever getting together!”

Shiny’s eyes widened in obvious panic at the problem. “W-What?”

Cadance sighed and shook her head at her own foolish exaggeration. “Okay, it’s not that bad,” she admitted. “But even if you do there’s also…” In her mind’s eye, Cadance saw a Sunset as big as Celestia crying over the wrinkled corpse of Shining Armor before she locked away her heart for the rest of her days.

“There’s also what?” Shiny asked.

Since Shining really didn’t need any more on his plate, Cadance decided to give him at least a little reassurance. “Look, if you can get Sunset to love you by the end of next week, then she will love you until the day you die.”

Only, Cadance didn’t know if that was such a good idea anymore, even with every single instinct the alicorn had screaming at her that the two of them would be nearly perfect together. And not just in their own little world either, Cadance would mesh perfectly with Shining Armor’s family. She didn’t even need to examine things to see that after meeting Twilight and hearing Sunset’s stories about the purple pony.

“But what about you?”

Shiny’s question made Cadance’s mind drift to her own potential future with Sunset after the bigger alicorn went full-on High Princess of Equestria and took Celestia’s place. There would be so much passionate heat in their relationship that Cadance would find herself unable to keep up despite love being her talent.

And then...they would be torn apart…

The thought of such a thing happening made Cadance hang her head. “Yes, I carry a torch for Sunset so hot I could sweat in the middle of Winter,” she admitted. “But she won't even begin to look at me like that.”

“Right, you...said something about that this morning,” replied in an uneasy tone. The poor guy had probably been hoping that it had all been a fluke since he failed to bring it up at lunch.

An uncomfortable silence descends on the two ponies, and the slowly stood up to begin trotting down the street. Cadance got only three steps before Shining Armor spoke again. “That must be hard for you.”

The princess nearly stumbled, and looked back to the young stallion standing behind her. “Huh?”

“You liking Sunset,” he clarified. “I mean, you two spend so much time together, with you having feelings for her, and Sunset not even knowing about it.”

Cadance blinked once. And then twice. Followed by a third time. The guy in front of her had just heard that the only real competition for Sunset’s affections wasn’t even a factor, and instead of feeling good about it, he was trying to comfort her.

It was...more than a little sweet.

Noble.

And...

The reminder as to why Sunset liked the stallion so much put a little smile on Cadance’s face as she waited until Shiny caught up to her so she could give him a thankful nuzzle before the pink princess swung herself around to lean on the unicorn just a little bit. If he wanted to offer her some support, Cadance wasn’t about to deny it.

It would make him feel less guilty.

“Thanks Shiny.”

They continued on at a matching pace for a little while longer before Shining spoke again. “So...why don’t you tell her?”

Cadance found herself assaulted by a vision of a gigantic Sunset Shimmer with fiery hair and bat-like wings standing over an enslaved Equestria. But instead of just giving him the answer, the pink princess decided on the long route to knowledge that Princess Celestia seemed to favor. “Do you remember the first thing I taught you about love?”

A few seconds later, Shining Armor frowned as he replied to the question. “That it’s more confusing than anything else in the world and makes you really scary?”

Cadance didn’t appreciate the joke. “It’s about caring for somepony else more than you care for yourself,” she reminded him with a frown and a sideways glance before her own future with Sunset made the pink pony slump a little. “She doesn’t need the distraction of my affections right now, and you’d make her happier than I ever could.”

So, she couldn’t be selfish. Shining Armor and Sunset would be happy until the end of the stallion’s days. Sunset needed his love. And Shining Armor…

“W-What about you though? And um...me,” he added uneasily a second later.

Cadance picked her head off of the place it had been laying on Shiny’s neck, and failed to hide her trepidation as the answer came to mind. She didn’t want to tell him, but at the same time, the stallion deserved to know. “We’ll live happily ever after for the rest of our lives in a crystal palace, with a few foals. Although the first one will cause a bit of an uproar…don’t know why though.”

They turned the street corner, and Cadance absently noted that Shining was following her lead rather than separating and heading home. She didn’t question it though. At the moment, she needed a friend to lean on and a reason to hold herself together. Shiny gave her both.

“It’s not right.”

Cadance blinked, and stopped walking before she shifted her weight off of the stallion to look at him. “What do you mean, Shiny?”

The unicorn shook his head. “I mean you and Sunset!” he exclaimed. “You’ve known her for longer, and then I just-”

Seeing where Shining’s rant was going, Cadance placed a hoof over his lips to stop him from saying anything else a she gave a little laugh at the ignorant stallion’s attitude. “That’s not the way love works Shiny.”

It was sweet though, and admirable. Cadance couldn’t deny that. Another reason on the long list of traits that made him such a good friend and perfect coltfriend material. He was just so supportive, and fair-minded, and… Okay really need to kill this line of thought before it can go anywhere else, Cadance told herself as she took in a deep breath to help still her beating heart.

To keep her mind off Shiny’s kind acts and words, Cadance focused on the upcoming meeting with Minister Board. Since it would probably go over better if she took a more diplomatic route than something Sunset would do, like just ordering the older pony to get rid of Cinch, Cadance found herself studying Shining Armor for reasons other than his less than impressive physique. Like how he knew firsthoof how slanted the disciplinary action of Canterlot Academy was.

“Shiny, I have a meeting with the Minister of Education today over some things that have been going on in school. Would you mind coming with me?” Cadance asked. “He’s probably want to hear from a student that’s attended the school for more than four weeks.”


By the time Shining and Cadance made it to the place the pink alicorn needed to go, the unicorn’s head was spinning as it tried to make sense of everything Cadance had been going on about at the start of their half-hour trip. He was dimly aware of the mare in the front office telling the pink princess where to find the stallion Cadance was looking for before they were off again.

Of course Cadance didn’t want to talk about it anymore, and Shining couldn’t really blame her. She had probably had a thing for Sunset since she came to Canterlot, and Shining had just galloped in and snatched her away from the pink princess.

Thinking about it like that… No wonder Cadance’s been so aggressive towards me, Shining realized. In that light, the fact that she was helping him to try and get Sunset at all was pretty amazing.

And then there was that whole thing where Sunset told him Cadance liked Shining too, which Cadance herself had admitted to. The whole idea had seemed crazy to Shining Armor when the pink princess had told him on the trot to school, but after that meeting with Buck, and that kiss…

Shining blushed at the memory of Cadance’s lips on his cheek, her silky soft coat pressed up against his own, her beautiful wing thrown across his back, with some of her feathers curling around the base of his tail as she gently pushed him away from the threatening earth pony.

But she also liked Sunset. Something that made so much more sense in the stallion’s head. Yet it was also so confusing, because for some reason, Sunset didn’t like Cadance back!

Is that what she meant by the friend zone? Shining asked himself as he kept pace with the pink mare moving through the halls ahead of him. No wonder she was so...that when she talked about it.

“So, let me get this straight,” Shining said to get Cadance’s attention after they stopped at another door with the words Minister Board written on the nameplate. “Sunset said you like me, and you sort of do, but you also don’t because I haven’t really done anything super cool like Sunset, who you also like because she’s um...really amazing, which is why you say I like her, but the reason she likes me is because I’m well...not amazing, which is a bad thing, and the reason she won’t like you back is because she’s your friend.”

“Wait, you’re still going on about…” Cadance looked up at the ceiling and sighed before she turned her attention back to Shining Armor. “No, the thing with me and Sunset not being a romantic issue is because of Sunset’s guilt,” the pink princess grumbled as she rolled her eyes. “That stupid mare is still hung up on a bunch of junk that’s done and over with. It’s stupid, and annoying, and...ugh!”

As Cadance made her annoyed/disgusted grunt, Shining Armor lowered his ears. The idea that the other alicorn might throw her crown into the ring for Sunset’s attention made Shining feel weird. On one hoof, he was unbelievably thankful he didn’t have to compete with the Princess of Love for Sunset's affections. But on the other…Princess Cadance was the better pony. If Sunset deserved to be with anypony, it was Cadance.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Shining Armor blinked and looked back to Cadance to see the scary alicorn glaring at him. “Huh?” the confused stallion asked. What’d I do?

A hoof poked Shining in the chest hard enough to make him step back. “Don’t you put that look on your face! I know that look,” Cadance told him before she got in inch from his muzzle. “That's the same look Sunset had when she got that stupid idea about how you and I would make a better couple, and decided to make us go on a date! So you are not about to try and jump ship just because you got this crazy idea in your head about me and Sunset!”

Shiny gulped from his place under Cadance’s glare. “Y-Yes Princess!”

Then, the gaze that Cadance was giving Shining Armor abruptly vanished before she fell back on her plot and sighed. “I’m sorry Shiny,” she apologized. “It’s just been a real stressful day for me.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her before putting his hoof on her shoulder, something Shining was actually becoming a little used to with a the panicky ponies that were filling his life.

Cadance shook her head. “No, I….ugh,” she said before sighing. “And now I’m the one guilt tripping herself.”

After taking a deep breath, Cadance let out a long sigh as she reached out with a hoof to touch Shining Armor’s shoulder. “Thank you for accepting my apology Shiny,” she said before moving in close to nuzzle the stallion and talk some more. “Let’s just move past this and focus on-”

Shining Armor’s eyes widened as an amber alicorn came around the corner. “S-SUNSET!”

“Right!” Cadance said as she pulled her head away from the stallion. Then she frowned when she saw Shining’s face. “What?”

With her presence still unknown to Cadance, Sunset put on a smile and trotted up behind her until she was less than a foreleg’s reach away. “Awwww, don’t stop now, the two of you look so cute together.”

The pink princess’s back went rigid as she got up and spun around so quickly Shining Armor narrowly avoided getting smacked in the face by her flank. “S-Sunset! We were just-”

“About to kiss?” the amber alicorn cut in before she sat down and waved them on with one of her hooves. “Well don’t let me stop you. Go on now. You got to watch me do it with Shiny when we were in that dream tower. Turnabout's fair play and all that.”

Shining Armor blinked as his lips and tonsils tingled at the memory of his first kiss thanks to Sunset’s words.

“We already did that!” Cadance quickly replied with a frown...that quickly turned into wide-eyed panic. “I mean-”

Since he didn’t want Cadance to dig him in any deeper, Shining Armor quickly interjected the factual events of the pink princess’s lips on his body. “It was on the cheek!”

Cadance nodded. “Right, the cheek!” She agreed, making the spot where she touched Shining’s body tingle as he remembered that particular interaction between the two of them. It had been a nice kiss.

The smile on Sunset’s face turned into a grin, and Shining Armor blinked at the blizzard occurrence of Sunset acting like the matchmaker while Cadance was the one on the defensive. “So what else did the two of you do?”

“Well, after Cadance got rid of Buck-”

Sunset’s smile disappeared in a instant. “What?” she demanded before dashing over go get right in front of the white unicorn to look him over as she continued to talk. “Buck tried to mess with you again? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Her face twisted into one of rage. “If he hurt you, I’ll-”

Before Sunset could finish, Cadance put a hoof on her shoulder from behind. “It’s okay,” she assured the amber alicorn. “He wanted to ask me to the play this Friday. That’s also why I kissed Shiny. I told Buck the two of us were going to the play instead, and made it sound like a private date instead of a group outing.”

Shining Armor blinked as Sunset visibly relaxed, and then lead forward to nuzzle her neck with his cheek. “Well, nice to know you still care,” the unicorn told the amber alicorn a second before he felt one of her big wings fall across his back and pull him into a hug.

Then he blinked when she pushed Shining back and held him at foreleg-length. “What are you-of course I care about you Shiny!” Sunset said before her expression turned to one of pain. “Why would you think I didn’t?”

With Sunset playing the hurt victim, Shining Armor couldn’t help but frown in annoyance. “Well I don’t know, maybe because you’re trying to shove me onto Cadance,” he said in a slightly disgruntled tone.

And only then did Shining Armor realize what he had said.

To an alicorn...that he had seen take out a dragon with casual ease.

Then, the alicorn that could make the whole city shake with a stomp of her hoof lowered her horn that could channel more magic than Shining Armor could comprehend, and sighed pathetically as her ears drooped along with her expression. “But...Cadance would be a much better fillyfriend to you than I could ever be.”

Behind him, Cadance made a noise of agreement so clear Shining could practically see her head nodding. “Yeah, can’t really argue with that one,” she said before her voice dropped so low the unicorn could just barely make it out. “Unfortunately.”

Shiny Armor slumped his shoulders. “Thanks for the backup Cadance.”

“Just calling them like I’ve see them,” the princess replied as Shining Armor looked back at her with a frown. “Although…short term, Sunset is definitely the better pick.”

After hearing the compliment, Sunset’s eyes widened in horror for a second before she glared at Cadance. “No I’m not! I’m manipulative, intimidating, and sexually predatory!” she insisted before she glanced back to Shining for a second and turned her full attention towards him. “And what the hay are you doing here anyway? We’re supposed to be meeting with the Minister.”

“I thought Shiny could tell him about everything that Cinch has let slide during her time as principal,” Cadance replied. “And when it comes to how I’ve been acting in Shining’s case, I’ve been far too judgmental, overbearing, and controlling.”

Sunset snorted hard enough to displace the air around her nose. “Please, that just means you care about him and want everything to be perfect for us. I’m the one who just hooked up with him because he’s got a penis!”

It was a comment that made Shining Armor blush and look down at himself. He really wasn’t all that impressive in the lower horn department. Maybe a bit bigger than the average unicorn, but earth ponies were the ones with the best...equipment below the barrel.

“Can we please just go meet with this Board guy now?” Shining Armor asked before the girls could really get into which of them was the worse fillyfriend. An argument Shining knew would have a bad ending in his case no matter which mare won.

Both of the alicorns turned their attention to the unicorn...and let out deflating sighs.

“Okay,” Sunset agreed.

“Sure thing Shiny,” Cadance added a moment later.


Sunset fought the urge to stomp a hoof through the floor as Shining Armor finished listing the rather large amount of humiliations and injuries that had been inflicted on him and his friends by the head bully of Canterlot Academy and all of Buck’s underlings. While the amber alicorn had a rather extensive list of crimes attributed to her own name, the more physical pains that brute had put her stallion through made Sunset’s blood boil.

“Oh Shiny,” Cadance said sympathetically before she reached out and took his fetlock in hers.

The action put things into perspective for Sunset, and she slowly breathed through her nose to try and calm down. After a few breaths, the lesser solar alicorn threw out a wing and laid it across Shiny’s back. Supporting her stallion was more important than vengeance right now.

Across from the table in front of them, a heavyset brown stallion with a dark blue mane and thick glasses nodded at Shining Armor’s story. He had been unnaturally calm during the exchange in Sunset’s opinion, for a pony anyway.

“So then Princess Cadance, what exactly is it that you want done about Principal Cinch?” Board asked with his hooves joined together in front of him.

Sunset didn’t let the other alicorn answer. “We want her fired, disbarred, and imprisoned!”

On the other side of his desk, Board looked over to Sunset. “Princess Sunset, while I can certainly get the ball rolling on the first two, I would suggest consulting the captain of your guard for the third,” he told her.

Sunset’s eye twitched at the thought of going to that poor excuse of an elitist stallion for anything as the bureaucrat continued to talk. “And I feel a need to remind you of what will happen after Cinch is removed from her position.”

“You mean how the entire sports team of the Academy will be locked up for what they did to Shiny?” the amber alicorn asked with a deadpan expression and voice.

The minister shook his head. “Princess, while Cinch’s claims that the public will turn against the two of you should she be removed are little more than embellishment on her part, it really would look better if you at least have some kind of evidence. The two of you acting like minotaurs on the birth of your political careers will cause more than one headache as the years go by.”

While Sunset snorted at the stallion’s suggestion as only a creature with hooves could, she refrained from yelling at the idiot when she saw Cadance giving her a look out of the corner of her eye. Instead of co running the debate, Sunset stepped back and let her friend take the lead.

“But that’s what I brought Shining Armor for,” the pink princess said. “He told you what happened to him, and Cinch did nothing when I reported it! How is that not proof?”

Minister Board nodded. “Under normal circumstances, that would be enough to have an investigation done. And while your involvement in this matter makes such things moot, I would prefer that there be some sort of physical evidence if we are going to skip straight to Cinch’s removal. You gathering it would also give me time to have a proper replacement for the mare found.”

Once again, Sunset had to stop herself from putting the government employee in his place. Cadance...this is Cadance’s thing. You let her take the lead. You’re a good friend, you don’t steal the spotlight and constantly remind someone of a stupid mistake that happened months ago over and over again, even after everyone has long since forgiven you, the amber alicorn told herself before she reached up to rub a spot under her horn.

Okay so...if I do come out the other side of the mirror as some super athletic amazon, I’ll take a few minutes to humble Dash when she comes to school next year, and that’ll make us even, Sunset compromised with the irritation she felt towards the rainbow-haired human.

Her pettiness satisfied, she turned her attention back to the prettier princess right as she finished considering something. “But where am I supposed to get something like that?” Cadance demanded.

At that, Sunset couldn’t help but raise a hoof. “Well, I can get something like that easily enough tomorrow,” she said as the skeleton of a plan formed in her mind. She turned her head back to the Minister. “That enough time to find a replacement?”


Although most of the day after Cadance had concluded her meeting with Minister Board went well enough, with Shining saying his goodbyes and Sunset informing Cadance she had already been to Twilight’s house to both cheer the filly up and get to the bottom of Velvet’s odd behavior, the amber alicorn was disturbingly cryptic whenever the pink princess asked her to divulge her plan for getting rid of Cinch.

All Cadance knew after an hour of questioning Sunset was that it would make Celestia proud of the pink princess, and they would need to leave early tomorrow morning to get everything ready.

Unfortunately the distraction of Sunset being all mysterious, which Cadance was pretty certain was just her friend doing something to get under the pink alicorn’s coat was a major distraction when it came to her magical training. Much to the pretty princess’s annoyance. Which in turn just made learning the ancient form of magic all the harder.

Like all good Equestrian magic, the mystical formula for crystalmancy involved an emotional component. However, unlike most of the magic unicorns wielded in modern Equestria, emotion was the fuel for the Crystal Empire’s magic, not the focusing element. A pony simply couldn’t think of her friends as she cast a spell fueled by her love for them. She had to let it wash over her, let it drive her, guide her and help focus the magic as much as her horn did.

And the distracting thoughts meant that Cadance couldn’t focus on the emotional requirement for crystal magic clearly enough to properly form a proper construct. Something Sunset said she needed to learn to do, as nobody was going to give her time to think about pink hearts and butterflies in the middle of combat.

A problem Sunset gave her a very lewd solution to when the amber alicorn followed the pink princess into the giant bathtub Celestia’s daughter had installed in the floor.

“Just think of what it would be like to have Shiny over your back, with your barrel on the bed,” Sunset suggested as she sank into the water and let out a moan that came off as much too sexual for Cadance’s liking. “I can even give you his approximate measurements if it will help.”

Cadance gave her friend a level look. “First off, there is a big difference between love and lust. And why would I need his measure-” Seeing Sunset’s smirk, the pretty princess’s eyes eyes went wide. “OH SWEET CELESTIA! H-How do you...that...you mean you...and Shiny…”

A sudden force surrounded Cadance, and she found herself pulled close to the bigger mare before Sunset threw out a wing to wrap around her back and pull the pink pony in close as she forced Cadance to sit down in the small pool. “Relax Cadance. It’s an approximation.”

Being put under Sunset’s wing again made Cadance’s heart skip a beat, and she leaned in close to enjoy the physical contact. “Oh…” she mumbled before nuzzling her friend. “Sorry for thinking...um…”

“Okay, okay,” Sunset told Cadance before she pushed the smaller alicorn away from the wonderful feeling of her touch. “You feel plenty relaxed, so let’s get back to work, alright? Calm your mind, draw the magic into your horn, and then focus on your...uh...loved ones.”

It wasn’t what the book had told her to do, but Cadance didn’t bother to correct Sunset as she went through the proper motions for creating a crystal construct. She closed her eyes to eliminate the distractions, and didn’t draw on anything as she let her mind wander to thoughts of her...parents...loved one.

The image of Sunset appeared in Cadance’s mind, followed by the sensation that came with being held by the amber alicorn. Although the physical desire was there, it was a far second to the warmth the pink princess felt build in her chest at the thought of Sunset Shimmer. Her protector. Her teacher. Her friend.

Her...beloved…

A sound of glass breaking made Cadance open her eyes before a wall of amber feathers swung around to nearly block all of the pink pony’s sight. She didn’t need to ask what happened. “Instability again?”

“Yeah,” Cadance said before she let out a dejected sigh and went back to leaning on Sunset.

The other alicorn added a foreleg to the wing she had across Cadance’s back. “Sorry, I was hoping the warm water would have helped you relax.”

After hearing that Sunset blamed herself for Cadance’s failure, the pink princess let out a tiny breath through her nose and pulled away from the other alicorn. “No you’re…” Cadance blinked at the sight of her crush.

The bath water and moisture it put in the air had done its work. Even the parts of Sunset’s coat that hadn’t been submerged clung to her body to show off just how amazingly athletic the amber alicorn’s ascension had made Sunset. Every curve that a pony’s coat usually hid was laid bare to Cadance’s eyes, and she couldn’t help but like what she saw.

I should tell her how I feel, Cadance thought before she could stop herself.

She had seen how things were going to go between her and Sunset. Even if the amber alicorn wasn’t going to turn into some kind of mare-demon, the future of the two princess didn’t look all that bright.

“Cadance?”

Hearing her name snapped the pink princess out of her daze. “Wha-oh! Sorry Sunset, I just...blanked out for a second there.”

Sunset frowned at Cadance and stood up to lean in close until the pink princess could feel the breath coming from her muzzle. She gulped at how close the amber alicorn was as Sunset’s horn lit up, and how much she wanted her to just move a step closer and press her lips against Cadance’s coat, wrap her wonderful wings around the smaller alicorn’s body, and sink her hooves into the heart on the pink pony’s plot.

The air became even heavier as Cadance forced oxygen into her lungs while her desire went to war with her better nature. No...that’s not...Sunset needs me as a friend right now. She...I nearly ruined everything between her and Celestia because I didn’t see what I was doing to her. SO STOP THINKING ABOUT HER LIKE THAT! Cadance shouted at the mental image of Sunset ravishing the pink princess in all the right ways.

“Increased heart-rate, shortness of breath, loss of attention,” the amber alicorn said before she stepped back and the glow around her horn went out. Sunset’s frown became a concerned look as she sat back down on the other end of the tub. “Has anything else weird been going on with you?”

Cadance blinked at the question. With the added distance, Cadance found herself calming down a little. “Huh?”

After her lack of response, Sunset’s eyebrows went back to frowning. “Side effects! What other side effects have you been experiencing?” she demanded. But before Cadance could answer, Sunset let out a groan and shook her head. “Ugh, never mind. I should have known there was a reason Celestia put the book on crystal magic in her forbidden library.”

The odd diagnosis of Sunset’s close proximity to Cadance made the pink princess give her crush an even look. For a pony whose life revolved around love, the amber alicorn’s obliviousness of it was a little off-putting. Seriously? I get all hot and bothered from being next to you, and you think it’s a magical side effect?

“I’m going to go see if Mom knows anything about this,” she mumbled before stepping out of the bath. Halfway to the door, Sunset’s horn lit up and the water still clinging to her coat simply disappeared.

Cadance frowned at the departing pony. “Isn’t it a bit late to go running to Princess Celestia?” The sun had long since set, and that was before they had started practicing with magic.

The question made Sunset stop at the door and look back. “I’m just going to send her a text message.”

With the answer that didn’t really explain everything given, Sunset headed out the door, and Cadance’s curiosity made her move to follow. Unfortunately, Sunset had yet to teach Cadance any instantaneous drying spells, so she had to work a water scrape and towel across her body while she listened to Sunset talk to herself.

“It should be right…”

“Okay...not in the desk…”

Then there was a loud thumping sound, and Cadance looked out into Sunset’s bedroom to see the sheets of her bed rustling before the amber alicorn spoke again. “Not under there either?”

With her coat mostly dry, the pink princess stepped forward. “Sunset, is something wrong?”

The bigger alicorn turned to face Cadance. “You haven’t seen a big thick brown book with my cutie mark on the cover, have you?”

“No,” Cadance said almost automatically before a memory tingled the edge of her consciousness. With a second to think about it, she did remember seeing something like Sunset described. “Wait...I think I might have. It was in Princess Celestia’s room, I think. But that was weeks ago.”

Sunset shook her head. “No, she has one of her own.”

Hearing that she couldn’t help her friend, Cadance’s mood dipped a little. “Oh. Sorry.”

The apology got a hesitant look from Sunset before the alicorn shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said before she looked back over to her desk for a few seconds. “It’s...not like I really need it.”

“What is it?” Cadance asked.

Sunset looked away from her desk and took in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh. “It’s just this thing Mom came up with so we could talk whenever she was...too busy for me,” she said before relaxing just a bit. “It’s not a simple transcription spell. The books are a copy of...each other, really. Whatever happens to one, happens to the other.”

Although Sunset probably saw the mystic books as something good, Cadance frowned at the idea of such things. Just writing to each other when they literally lived a few trots away seemed wrong to her. Parents made time for their children, even if it was only just to talk.

“Well, we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to tell her about your reaction to the magic I guess,” Sunset said before she moved over to her mattress and pulled back the sheets with her magic. “Ready to hit the hay?”

Cadance’s eyes widened as she considered what would happen when Princess Celestia learned of her ‘reaction’ to using the new form of magic. Sunset might have been as blind as a bat when it came to matters of the heart, but her mother wasn’t that dull. “Um, you know...maybe we should wait, before telling Celestia, I mean,” she suggested as Sunset’s eyes narrowed into a scowl. “I um...well, the bath was a little hotter than normal, so I got a little light headed. It would be pretty embarrassing for two grown alicorns to go running to Celestia over something like that, right? Eh-Hehe.”

While it didn’t look like Sunset bought the fake laugh, she eventually nodded. “Okay, I guess I can agree with you on that point,” she said before motioning to the bed with her head. “Now come on. Let’s get some sleep.”

Thankful she had dodged that arrow, Cadance crawled into bed. A second later, Sunset joined her, and the pink princess snuggled deeper into the amber alicorn’s embrace.

Once she had gotten comfortable, Sunset shifted around just a tiny bit, and Cadance could feel the bigger alicorn’s breath on her ear. “So Cadance, now that we’re alone, how was it with Shiny?”