//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Twilight's Time // Story: Sunset Reset // by LordBrony2040 //------------------------------// “Well, that was certainly…interesting,” Minister Board said as Sunset’s replay of Fleur’s time in Cinch’s office finished. As the magical projection disappeared to make way for the room’s drab ceiling, he looked down at the mountain of papers that Sunset had summoned shortly after coming into the stallion’s office with Cadance. “And these are?” Sunset took a step forward. “Magical duplicates of every document in Cinch’s office that I could find,” she explained before her stomach rumbled and a redness appeared on her cheeks. “I might have skipped lunch to sneak into her office and copy them. Most of it is probably junk, but I didn’t have time to search through everything to find what was incriminating and what wasn’t. So I just used a duplication spell on every piece of paper I saw.” The old pony behind the desk bowed his head. “I’m sure we will be able to find something of use, Princess. In fact, with your approval, I’ll send a squad of civic guards along with some ponies from this department to go through her school office now.” After making their final preparations and signing some papers, the pair of princesses said their goodbyes to the minister and made their way back onto the street. While Cadance was content to simply enjoy the silent company of the larger alicorn, she soon found herself unable to keep quiet as she noticed the path Sunset was taking them down didn’t lead to Canterlot Castle. “Sunset, where are we going?” The amber alicorn looked back towards Cadance, but didn’t stop trotting. “I’ve got to give both you and Twilight magic lessons  tonight so...I figure two birds, one stone,” she explained. “I mean, you both pretty much are on the same level.” Although the bird and stone comment made little sense, Cadance found herself frowning at the amber alicorn rather than asking for clarification. “Gee, glad to know your expert opinion puts my magical ability on the same level as a foal that can barely use her horn.” Sunset gave Cadance a cheeky grin, and the pink princess found herself emotionally bracing for what was coming. “Hey you should feel proud of catching up to Twilight as fast as you did.” Okay, I was going to wait till later to give her the bad news but…buck it. “By the way, there’s something I should tell you about this Friday,” Cadance said to switch subjects before Sunset could get a rise out of her. “Since you’re not going to the replay, Shining Armor will be taking your seat so he can sit next to me. Away from everypony else.” It wasn’t anyway near what Sunset had agreed to in regards to Cadance’s date with Shining Armor. But...backing out of it after telling the young stallion where he’d be sitting during the replay seemed almost equally bad. He had tried to hide it, but the Princess of Love could tell when a stallion was really excited. Instead of getting even the least bit possessive or jealous, Sunset smiled back at her. “Great! That’s way better than trying to hook up with Shiny when you’re surrounded by the nerd herd!” she exclaimed before back trotting a bit to get close to Cadance and whisper in her ear. “Just remember, it’s not a good date without any tongue.” The wings on Cadance’s back tried to fly up as that comment brought Sunset’s ‘frenching’ demonstration to mind. “Uh, Sunset….” “Yeah, I know it’s the guy that’s supposed to make the move, but it’s Shiny. He needs the help.” Cadance raised an eyebrow at the other alicorn as her need to help mend relationships took precedence over her own embarrassment. “You know, letting him decided to make moves like that on his own might help with that problem in the long run.” Either unable or unwilling to continue the argument, Sunset spun back around and went back to leading them through the streets. Once they got halfway to Shiny’s house, Sunset suddenly stopped and looked to a collection of restaurants across the street. “So, what do you feel like?” Cadance followed Sunset’s gaze and frowned at the four small bistros promising a variety of different foods. “We’re not eating at Shiny’s house?” she asked after looking to the bigger alicorn. While Cadance knew they hadn’t been outright invited, Sunset Shimmer coming to train Twilight Sparkle in magic definitely implied the filly’s parents would at least offer her a meal. “I…don’t feel right taking food from their pantry when we don’t need to,” Sunset admitted. After a few seconds of watching the amber alicorn sulk about...something she couldn’t quite follow, Cadance took another quick glance at the restaurants, and then looked back to Sunset. “Why don’t you just pop us back to the castle then?” Sunset drew in on herself a bit. “Um…” Cadance frowned at the major increase in the other alicorn’s reluctance. “Are you avoiding Celestia again?” The question got Sunset to jump back up to her full height. “No!” “Then what is it?” Cadance asked in concern before she stepped towards the bigger alicorn and looked up into her eyes. “If there’s something going on between the two of you-” “There’s nothing wrong!” Sunset told Cadance before she could finish. Then, the amber alicorn charged up her horn for a spell. “Look, I’m taking us there right now. See?” Despite her assurances to Cadance, Sunset couldn’t help but feel there was something antagonistic forming between her and Celestia again. It wasn’t anything concrete, but...Sunset just couldn’t help but get a disagreeable feeling in her stomach whenever she looked at the bigger alicorn while Cadance finished explaining what had happened with Cinch. “Well, it’s certainly a bit more direct than I would have handled things,” said Celestia, the pony whose own mishandling of her then-student made Sunset turn away from the world before becoming a power-hungry filly that spent nearly three years as a cripple thanks to the big alicorn throwing her out. “But I can’t fault you for standing up for a friend. Good job, Cadance.” Although the pink princess probably blushed at the praise under her pink coat, Cadance waved off Celestia’s words modestly. “Oh, I never could have done it without Sunset’s help.” “Yes,” Celestia agreed before she looked over to her daughter and smiled. “I’m so happy to see the two ponies I love most in this world working so well together.” Although Sunset knew the comment was a complement in regards to how she had mended fences with Cadance, a part of her couldn’t help but compare the time the two of them had spent around Celestia. The fiery unicorn had been with her for years, and yet an alicorn with less than half a year under her belt was already tied for first place. It made Sunset wonder how quickly Cadance would outpace her in Celestia’s eyes once the amber alicorn was gone. “Sunset?” Celestia spoke up, cutting into the smaller mare’s thoughts. She looked back to her mother, and saw the white pony’s face full of concern. “Is something wrong? You’ve got this…look on your face.” The question gave time for Sunset to ball up her emotions and exhale them using an exercise Sunset’s mother had taught her when she was little. “No I’m just…” she thought for a second to try and come up with something other than demanding to know why Celestia hadn’t called her daughter before she became an alicorn. “Just hearing Cinch’s name makes me angry.” It wasn’t even a lie per-se. The mention of the unicorn bitch did make Sunset feel like somebody was poking her with a stick when she thought about how Cinch let that idiot Buck get away with bullying other students. “Well, do not let it pull on you too much my child,” Celestia told her with a somewhat sad smile. “It is in the past. Finished. Such things should not be allowed to destroy the happiness of your present.” Sunset felt her heart lurch after hearing Celestia’s words. She knew her mom wasn’t talking about her present situation, but...Sunset couldn’t help but think about them along those lines. And for some reason, they made her feel uncomfortable. Ugh, Sunset thought. What’s wrong with me? She knew that being angry at Celestia was wrong, and comparing herself to Cadance was an old trap that the amber alicorn had no intention of falling into again. But that meant...what? Resigning herself to be Celestia’s second favorite after she came back from earth? Third, counting Twilight...and whatever alicorn came after the purple pony in the ascension order, if not before. Sunset knew there was another pony out there somewhere that would have wings and a horn by the time Sunset was due to return from Earth. So that meant she would be number four in her mother’s heart. Sunset managed to keep the jealousy that wanted to accompany that fact away, but it left an empty feeling in her gut. “Sunset, is something else troubling you?” The amber alicorn looked up at her mother and gave Celestia a frown that she really couldn’t put her heart into. “I…” she stopped unable to assure the bigger alicorn that everything was fine. “Sorry. I’m just...distracted.” Cadance looked back and forth between the two alicorns and then stretched her wings. “Oh pony! I’m stuffed. It was a lovely meal as always Auntie. But, we’d better head out to Shiny’s house. They’ll probably be wondering where Sunset and me are if we don’t get there soon.” Extremely thankful for any excuse to get the hell out of Dodge, Sunset jumped out of her seat at the chance to escape Celestia’s questioning look. “Yes! Shiny’s house. The place we need to get going to. Now.” But, before Sunset could port them away, a small frown appeared on Celestia’s face. “Wait. Why is Sunset going to see Shining Armor?” While Sunset found herself freezing like deer in the headlights, Cadance giggled. “Oh, we’re not going to see Shiny. He has cutest little sister that Sunset is tutoring in magic, and...well, we’re kind of at the same level in magical skill, so…” Confusion turned to interest, and Celestial leaned closer to the two younger alicorns. “Oh? That’s wonderful Sunset!” she said with a bright smile that had a bit of mischievous to it. “What’s her name?” … … … FUCK, Sunset mentally screamed. Next to the stunned amber alicorn, the pink numbskull opened her mouth. “It’s Tw-” “PURPLE,” Sunset shouted as she said the first word that entered her head alongside a picture of Twilight Sparkle, the lavender unicorn. “Uh...Smart.” Internally, Sunset was kicking herself. MORON. “Her name’s...Purple Smart.” Celestia’s expression faltered for a second. “Oh...well,” she said before recovering. “If she’s good enough to attract your attention Sunset, perhaps we’ll have a new student in my school next term.” “M-Maybe,” she stuttered before motioning to Cadance that it was definitely time to leave. “Now come on.” After Cadance caught up with Sunset outside the dining hall, the pink princess gave the amber alicorn a raised eyebrow. “Purple Smart?” she asked with a tiny smirk. “What made you come up with that?” Sunset frowned back at the other alicorn. “It’s better than spilling everything like you were about to do!” she shot back before forcing herself to calm down. A moment of stupidity didn’t mean Cadance had attempted to betray Sunset to Celestia and blow the lid off the whole time travel thing before Sunset was ready for the secret to come out. “And color-plus-trait is a good way to create nickname.” “Sorry,” Cadance apologized as they moved a few steps away from the door, and then stopped. A cautious but playful look appeared on her face, and she smirked at her best friend. “Well then Angry Amber, what name you do you think would fit me?” The question made Sunset roll her eyes before she reached out and pulled Cadance in as close as she could. “Oh please. It’s so obvious I would have thought even a pony like you could have figured it out. “You’re Hot Pink,” she said in a grumble before quickly focusing her magic for a teleport spell. Cadance’s eyes went wide for a second, and she looked down at the ground. “Th-Thank you,” she mumbled in what almost sounded like embarrassment to Sunset’s distracted mind. With Cadance’s behavior causing a delay in her escape from Princess Celestia, Sunset let out a humph before she yanked Cadence into teleport range. “Whatever.” Two seconds after the light blinding her eyes cleared, Cadance found herself standing outside Shining’s house. She broke away from the alicorn and turned to face her friend to give Sunset an even look. “Okay, what’s got you so upset?” The wings on the amber alicorn fidgeted a bit at the question as Sunset put them back in their restful position. “What do you mean upset? I’m not upset! I’m...mildly agitated.” “Oh please,” Cadance replied in a non-pleading way as she rolled her eyes, and then softened her expression a bit. Just because she was a little annoyed by the bigger pony’s avoidance didn’t mean she didn't care. “I’ve been around you long enough to read your moods, Sunset. You’re not angry angry, you’re upset angry. And if there’s something bothering you, I want to help.” The pink princess completed the offer by putting her hoof on the other pony’s shoulder. Sunset tensed from the contact, and then drooped down with a sigh. “It’s...not that simple Cadance,” she said before looking up to give the house in front of her a glance. “To be honest, I’m not even sure what’s got me...like this.” “Is it something I did?” Cadance asked. Back before Sunset’s turnaround, the pink princess knew she had usually been at the center of the amber alicorn’s perpetual bad moods. “Or didn’t do? I’m sorry that Celestia spent all that time patting me on the back and you were the one who came up with the plan to catch Cinch. We could go tell her what really happened if you-” “No! The whole point of that plan was to make her give you a pat on the back,” Sunset replied without much fire in her voice. “And that’s not it. It’s just...well...ugh, forget it, it’s stupid.” As Sunset tried to trot away from her, Cadance threw out a wing to stop her from leaving. “No!” The amber alicorn stopped in midstep, and looked over to the pink princess. “Uh...say what?” Cadance reached up and poked Sunset in the chest. “Okay first off, we are going to Shiny’s house, so you are not taking this dark cloud in there with you,” she told the bigger alicorn before her anger at Sunset’s earlier words started to seep into her voice. “And if whatever is on your mind is bothering you, is hurting you, then it is not stupid. “Sunset, you are one of the most important ponies in the world to me. You’re my best friend and I love you,” Cadance half-lied as she wrestled her real feelings on the subject down in favor of helping the amber alicorn deal with her problem. “So I don’t care if it's something as simple as a splinter in your frog. I want to help you with it.” As Cadance finished her speech, she locked eyes with Sunset in a half-pleading, half-angry glare that froze the bigger alicorn for a few seconds before Sunset sighed in defeat and dropped her head. “It’s...Mom.” “Celestia?” Cadance mimicked in surprise, although once she considered Sunset’s actions before dinner, the pink princess couldn’t say that she was all that shocked. “What about her? Did she do something wrong? Again?” Or surprised that Celestia had bungled something. For a pony as old as she was, the High Princess of Equestria was terrible at interpersonal relations. “No!” Sunset exclaimed, almost in a panic before she drew back on herself again. “Tonight was...she was...perfect.” Cadance saw a tiny frown appear on Sunset’s face before she looked away and mumbled to herself. If not for the pegasus-level hearing that allowed flying ponies to hear each other over high-altitude winds, then Cadance doubted she would have caught it. “I’m the one that’s the problem.” The words put an uneasy feeling in Cadance’s gut. Has she gone back to kicking herself again? The pink princess had thought Sunset managed to move past her mistakes from the other timeline. The amber alicorn had cried out her problems, talked to both Cadance and Celestia, and moved on. Although...Cadance had to admit that in the past week, she had seen Sunset acting a little down from time to time. The morning Sunset woke up with a wet muzzle from crying in her sleep also came to mind. Cadance had thought that it was just caused by some lingering doubts, but… What if she never really recovered? the pink pony princess asked herself. If that was the case, Cadance needed to talk to Celestia, and they both needed to talk to Sunset together. Not a how was your day talk, or a cute stallion talk, the kind where Celestia would need to magically hold Sunset down while both of the crowned princesses dragged whatever was really bothering Sunset out into the light of day and dealt with it. Which wasn’t the kind of talk you had with your crush while in front of the house of the colt that you were trying to set her up with while at the same time doing your best to not develop feelings for said pony despite his adorableness because you were already falling for the mare. Cadance frowned as the situation ran through her head. You know, when Auntie said my life was going to get a lot more interesting, I don’t think this is what she had in mind. “Sunset-” “Look! I don’t know what’s wrong, okay?” she snapped with a tightness around her eyes that had nothing to do with anger. “I… We’re friends. Celestia, my mom, loves me! And, oh yeah!” Sunset unfurled her wings and spread them wide. “I’m a fucking alicorn with more power and strength than I could have ever imagined on top of a pair of wings!  Everything’s PERFECT!” With a little effort, Cadance managed to stop herself from saying Celestia had always loved Sunset, and sighed. Then why do I see so much sadness in your eyes when you say that? Before Cadance could ask her question, she heard a door open behind her and looked back to see Twilight Velvet step through. “Is everything alright Your-um, girls?” By the time Cadance looked back at Sunset the sadness she had seen was nowhere to be found and she had put on a small smile. If not for how Sunset had been acting a moment ago, Cadance wasn’t even sure if she would have been able to tell it was fake. “Everything’s fine Mrs. Velvet!” the amber alicorn said as she stepped forward and turned the pink princess around with a wing before Sunset’s unnaturally strong appendage clamped down in a hug that shouted to anypony looking they were dating. “Cadance was just freaking out about nothing and I had to calm her down.” The intimate touch of the other alicorn blew through the immunity Cadance had developed to being around her crush, and she found herself unable to not notice the softness of Sunset’s coat, her perfect musculature, the strong beat of her heart. Everything about the amber alicorn made the pink princess need to fight to keep from melting into her feathered embrace. But, Cadance was the Alicorn of Love. She decided when she would get weak in the knees, not the amazing pony next to her. So she mustered up all the aggravation she felt at Sunset avoiding the question, and turned to look at her bed partner. “Really?” the pink princess asked with an even expression. The light gray unicorn smiled. “Oh, I know how that is,” she said before stepping back and motioning them into her home. “Well, come on in. Night Light and I still have a few minutes. I’ll make you some tea, Highness.” Sunset let out what at least sounded like a lighthearted giggle. “We’re coming in now ma’am,” she said before trotting forward, taking the pink princess along for the ride. Cadance knew better than to try and stop the impossibly strong alicorn from pulling her along. So she did her best to trot in step with Sunset before they got to the door and the amber alicorn leaned over to whisper in Cadance’s ear. “Brace for impact.” “Huh?” Cadance managed to say before another voice rang in her ears. “PRINCESS SUNSET!” A little purple ball of adorableness latched onto the biggest pony in the room with a speed that had Cadance wondering if Twilight was part pegasus. After watching the little unicorn nuzzle Sunset’s leg so hard it seemed like she was trying to remove her coat for a few seconds, Cadance bent down to meet her youngest friend eye to eye. “Hello Twilight.” In response to her name, Twilight Sparkle looked over to the pink alicorn. She hesitated for a moment, and then let go of Sunset to nuzzle Cadance muzzle to muzzle. “Hello Princess Cadance,” she said before sitting down and giving her a curious look. “Um, what’re you doing here?” “Well, you don’t think you’re the only pony Sunset is helping with her magic, are you?” Cadance replied with a smile before she looked up and around the living room. Not seeing the target of her search, Cadance looked over to Twilight Velvet. “Where’s Shiny?” The unicorn that could have passed for a grown version of her daughter with a dye job smiled back at the princess. “He is over at a friend’s house, working on some school project that’s due Monday. He said they wanted to get some work in on it tonight because tomorrow is...well, you know.” Cadance smiled in response. “Yes, I’ll be sitting next to him during the re-play.” Twilight let out a little moan. “I’ve got to wait until Saturday and see it at noon because of my bedtime,” she lamented. Then, after Cadance gave Twilight a sympathetic smile, the little unicorn looked over to Sunset. “Unless…Princess Sunset? Can you ask Princess Celestia to keep the sun up an extra hour tomorrow so I don’t have to go to sleep until after Solar Battles is over?” After giggling at the question, Sunset opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by Twilight. “Wait! Can you keep the sun up for an extra hour for me tomorrow, pleeeeease?” Despite the big purple eyes looking up at her, Sunset shook her head before reaching down to gently ruffle Twilight’s mane. “Sorry Twilight, but the sun isn’t really my thing.” The lavender unicorn blinked and tilted her head. “But,” she said as she pointed to Sunset’s rear. “The sun’s your cutie mark! How come you can’t move the sun if it’s on your flank like Princess Celestia?” Tightness appeared around Sunset’s eyes again as she looked back to her flank too quickly for Twilight to catch the expression. “Probably that I’m only a half-assed Celestia,” she mumbled. “Huh?” Sunset’s eyes widened for a moment, and then she looked back to Twilight with the smile of a pony who knew she had done something wrong but was somehow getting away with it. “Oh, um...I’m just saying I….uh….I’m not even...half as good as Celestia,” she said before becoming a little sad. “And that’s being generous.” Yeah, Cadance told herself. Definitely need to get Sunset in for a talk with Celestia about what’s bothering her. Down below the princesses, Twilight let out a horrified gasp, and leaped up to put her front hooves on Sunset’s chest. “That’s not true! You’re the best princess in Equestria! You’re smart, and strong, and kind! You helped Shiny when nopony else would, and-and…” As Twilight’s argument began to run out of steam, her mother cut into the conversation. “And you’re taking the time to help the daughter of my friend, who nopony else has bothered to even notice,” Velvet told the amber alicorn in a motherly voice. “Although Princess, I think you may be a bit young to be comparing yourself to a pony that’s been around long enough to see the founding of Equestria. You’ve only been a princess for, what? Two weeks this Friday?” “More or less,” Sunset replied uneasily. “Definitely too young,” Velvet told her with a smile. “So dear, how about you stop worrying about all that behind Princess Celestia has, all the ground you need to cover if you want to catch up to her, and take things at the pace you’re meant to?” Sunset let out a little snort when Velvet mentioned Princess Celestia, and then smiled back at her. “Where’d you think of something like that?” The unicorn blew a tiny snort of her own and smirked. “I live in a house where my oldest has to deal with my youngest being an apparent magical prodigy skilled enough to attract the attention of royalty before she’s ten, and my youngest has been constantly comparing herself to a princess that’s been trained by Celestia Herself all week.” Wanting to end Sunset’s pity party on that note, Cadance moved forward, trying to drag the amber alicorn with her. “Okay! Time for magic training!” she exclaimed before she reached down to grab Twilight in her mouth and flip the little filly onto her back. Thankfully, having to focus on something besides herself and her foolish shortcomings seemed to be just what Sunset needed to get out of her funk for the time being. After they got done with homework from school, Sunset put Cadance to work on trying to form crystals of a specific shape that was different than the clumps of matter she had graduated to since her last major breakthrough in spellcraft. So once again, Cadance found herself muddling through the magic of a forgotten empire and falling short of her goal. Then came Twilight’s instruction… “Okay Twilight, you’ve got levitation down, and to be honest, your mom and brother can show you how to light up your horn, so…is there anything specific you want to learn?” The little lavender pony’s face became thoughtful for a few seconds before she broke out into an excited smile. “Teach me your dragon wrestling spell!” A little pop sounded as Cadance’s concentration broke, causing a deformed geometric shape of pale pink rock to fall out of the air that looked even more pathetic than the other half-dozen of her setbacks. She looked towards Twilight with wide eyes as she tried to think of a way to mitigate the coming damage to Twilight’s mood when Sunset denied her request. The other alicorn looked at her for a few seconds and blinked. “Wrestle…dragons,” she repeated. “Mmmmhmmm!” Twilight replied as she nodded eagerly. “Like you did when you saved Shiny!” Sunset continued to stare at Twilight, letting Cadance take the problem in her experienced hooves. “Twilight, I think spells for fighting dragons might be a little advanced for a pony as young as you.” As the unicorn looked over to the pink princess, Sunset stepped forward. A grin began to form on her face. “Yeah, there’s plenty of things you need to learn before I teach you anything like that. Like not to take your eye off the dragon!” the amber alicorn said before she pounced at Twilight. “Rwwwwaaar!” Twilight let out a scream that was soon ruined by her giggles as Sunset pinned her to the ground with her belly exposed and went in for the ‘kill’. “Oh no! The dragon’s got me!” “Muhahaha! Silly little morsel, nopony can save you now!” Sunset told her prey before she touched Twilight’s belly with her mouth and blew a blast of air that left the lavender unicorn giggling like mad. “Hehehe P-Princess Cadance,” Twilight said as Sunset stopped to take a breath. “Hehehe, help!” Years of dealing with foals allowed Cadance’s Imagination Land instincts to kick in quickly and override the part of her brain that said what she was about to do would be like running muzzle first into a brick wall. “I’m coming Twilight!” she ‘yelled’ using an inside voice before leaping towards Sunset. Instead of crashing into the impossibly strong pony and shattering her bones on Sunset’s unbreakable coat, she actually took the other pony down and made Sunset roll onto her back. Cadance paused as she stared at her friend for a few seconds, and then got back into character. “Ah ha! Now that my loyal knight has freed me from my prison, you’re in big trouble dragon!” And then she waited for Sunset to turn the tables on her. And waited… And… Cadance leaned in closer to whisper to her friend. “Throw me off.” “Huh?” Sunset replied with a confused frown, her inexperience in dealing with foals showing as bright as day. “Say something that disables me, then throw me off,” Cadance whispered back. “Twilight has to be the one to beat you.” Sunset’s expression changed to understanding a second before she smiled. “Oh, right!” she whispered before resuming her role. “Muhahaha! Foolish princess, just because you’ve escaped from your cell doesn’t mean you’ve won. This entire dungeon is inside an anti-magic zone!” After letting out a dramatic gasp, Cadance backed off of Sunset and reached up to touch her horn with both hooves while she spread her wings to help her stay up. “She’s right! My horn can’t release any power!” Twilight gasped. “Oh no! Quick Princess Cadance, we have to get out of here!” “Hold on a second. We need to fix something real quick.” Both of the ponies looked over to Sunset as she raised a hoof, making Twilight speak. “Princess Sunset, if you want to pause the game, you have to say time out.” “Oh, okay then. Time out.” “What is it?” Cadance asked before she looked around the room to see if they had broken or knocked anything over. But Twilight’s room was as immaculate as ever, save for the several pebble-sized crystals Cadance had left on the floor. Sunset focused her gaze on Cadance. “Sorry, it’s just that the whole scale is messing with my ‘I’m supposed to be a dragon’ mental imagery. I mean, if I’m the dragon, then aren’t you a little big to be a pony, Cadance?” “Well, yeah but…” An uneasy thought formed in the back of Cadance’s mind as Sunset’s horn lit up. Oh buck. “Don’t worry, I can fix it.” A wave of panic passed through Cadance as she felt herself being surrounded by Sunset’s magic. The world seemed to lurch and spin around, making the pink princess readjust her footing before she closed her eyes to help with the vertigo. Then, when everything stopped moving, Cadance looked at her surroundings in amazement. Everything was...bigger. Not to the point where she felt like a breezie, but the bed that had seemed extremely small to her before now held enough room for a whole family of ponies, and the normal-sized bookshelves towered over her like monoliths dedicated to reading. Then there was-“Ohmygosh! Princess Cadance! You’re my size!” Cadance took a step back from the excited unicorn, that she could was definitely not the same size as the pink alicorn when Twilight got within the personal space of the smaller pony. Aside from the two or three inches Twilight had on her, the foals proportions made Twilight about twenty-percent bulkier. “Um…” Then looked over to Sunset...and stiffened. Instead of the big alicorn she was used to, the Sunset Shimmer that stood in front of Cadance was massive enough for Celestia to walk underneath her body with little trouble. Thick legs equal to tree trunks that Cadance wasn’t sure she could wrap her own legs around held up a body the size of a rowboat, that was in turn surrounded by a pair of wings large enough to serve as a blanket for a pony of Cadance’s size. And then there were the oddities that Cadance noticed. She didn’t know if it was because she just didn’t know enough to notice such thing when she was Twilight’s age, or if it was the re-sizing of her eyes, but Cadance could see every tiny scruff and flaw in Sunset’s coat, and even a slightly out of place feather on her wings. Before she could comment on the oddity, Cadance found herself floating in the air, grabbed by a smirking Sunset and lifted until they saw eye to eye, with Sunset’s big head nearly filling her whole vision. “Awww! Look at the cute widdle foal,” she said with a smirk. “This is for the breezie thing, isn’t it?” Cadance asked her best friend with a little smile. “Yeah,” Sunset said before her face became serious and she pulled Cadance in close. “By the way, I also put a feather light spell on you so you’ll weigh about as much as Twilight. But even at that size you’re still going to be more than three times stronger than her, even with some weakening spell thrown in. So be careful, okay?” The humor faded from Cadance’s mind, and she nodded. “Got it,” the pink princess replied too quietly for anypony other than the giant in front of her to hear. “Anything else?” Sunset shook her head. “Not as far as Twilight goes. But you might want to lay off on the flying since your wings will be too strong for your weight.” “Okay,” said before her wings shot out and gently brushed the area beneath Sunset’s nostrils. The touch of Cadance’s feathers made Sunset’s face twist and twitch as she had the usual reaction to a pegasus feather touching a muzzle. “Ah! Ah! Ah!” “Time in!” Cadance chirped before the ‘dragon’ attacked. “AH-CHOO!” Magus Twilight Sparkle, guardian of The Library and princess-in-training cheered as Princess Cadance outsmarted the dragon of the raging sun to free herself from its evil clutches before she used the wind created from its fire breath to glide away and land next to her protector. “Come on Princess! We need to escape the dragon’s anti-magic zone!” “Lead the way...uh…” “Magus,” Twilight supplied. She didn’t mind the little pink princess forgetting her title. She was probably still a little jarred from her imprisonment. “Oh you little-” Twilight grabbed her princess’s hoof in her fetlock. “Run for it princess!” Behind them, the dragon was taking another deep breath and let out a roar before a gout of flame flew towards the pair of escaping ponies and Princess Cadance screamed in terror. “HOLY Bu-er, FUCKING HELL!” Twilight and Cadance barely made it out the door and turn into the hall before Sunset’s fire blast shot out behind them to impact the wall. Shortly thereafter, Sunset, who was making a great deal more noise than she usually did while galloping, ran out after them. Not wanting to die, Cadance raised her forelegs and made a T. “T-TIMEOUT! TIMEOUT!” Sunset froze and put on a worried look as Cadance glared at her. “What? What is it? Is Twilight hurt?” “You’re shooting FIRE at us!” Cadance shouted before she pointed at the wall that…had no burn damage at all? An oversized hoof on her shoulder drew Cadance’s after attention away from the horrified alicorn who had just tried to fry them up like fish, and made her look at Twilight. “Um, you know that was just an illusion, right Princess Cadance?” While the question calmed Cadance down, Sunset seemed to become even more distressed. “Oh fu-uuudge,” the gigantic amber alicorn said as she caught sight of Twilight looking up at her before lowering herself to eye level with the miniature princess. “I’m sorry Cadance, I forgot! I didn’t mean to scare you. I just-” “Sunset-” “I just caught so caught up and-” “SUNSET!” Cadance shouted in her face to make the bigger pony stop talking. When she did, the smaller alicorn sighed and sat down. “It’s fine. I’m hardly fire-phobic-” “Pyrophobic.” Twilight corrected her before she could stop herself. Memories of the few times she had gone to magic pre-school came back, and she drew in on herself. Other ponies didn’t like it when Twilight did those kinds of things. Especially the bigger ones. Which means Princess Cadance won’t like me now either! Twilight told herself. And if Princess Cadance doesn’t like me, then Princess Sunset will HATE me, and-Princess Cadance looked up and Twilight and smiled. “Right. That,” she said before nodding to the foal. “Thank you for the help, Twilight.” The oddity completely destroyed Twilight’s train of thought, and she looked back as the two other ponies continued to talk. However, she barely heard a word of what they were saying over the revelation that Cadance hadn’t reprimanded the purple pony, even with every legal right to. She was a princess after all, changing the Equestrian dictionary to suit her needs was well within Cadance’s authority. “Okay so,” Sunset said loud enough to break Twilight’s dazed awe over Cadance’s kindness. “Now that the itty-bitty pony princess has been shown I’m not going to burn down the house or blow up Canterlot. Time In.” “Twilight, even though this place prevents me from crafting spells, I can still lend you my power!” Princess Cadance said before giving her champion the energy she needed to fuel several attacks. Magus Twilight fired off a barrage of spells to slow the giant beast down as she led the princess towards the stairs of the sun dragon’s tower. The air hummed with her power as she launched missile after missile of magical energy. “Pew pew! Pew pew pew!” Twilight said as she hurled little crystal after little crystal that Cadance crafted for her. Although the tiny pebbles did no damage, Sunset looked around in irritation as the two ponies ran away from her. “You guys are gonna be the ones cleaning this up!” she told them with a frown. Cadance looked back and laughed. “Only if you catch us!” she yelled before sticking her tongue out and razzing the amber alicorn. Then she grabbed Twilight, and jumped into the air at the top of the stairs to begin gliding her way down. Twilight wasn’t scared when Princess Cadance took them both into the air to avoid the trap-filled staircase the magus had barely made it up on her way into the dragon’s lair. The feeling of flying was amazing, unlike anything she had experienced in all her years of adventuring. And being the brave and experienced adventure that she was, Magus Twilight Sparkle was definitely not afraid of Princess Cadance dropping her onto the staircase below. It was just...a little worrying that the pink pony holding her up hadn’t flapped her wings once. Not to mention when they almost crashed into the front door, and the wall...and Twilight wasn’t sure if Princess Cadance meant to land them on the dragon’s Great Sofa of Relaxation +3, but...she had to admit that it was pretty fun. Now that it was over anyway. Back at the stairs, Twilight could hear the dragon begin her loud descent. So with time running out, she sought guidance from Princess Cadance. “What now Princess? Do we try for the door?” she asked. The pink alicorn looked over to the exit with a frown. “No. The uh...dragon has most likely warded it to prevent our escape. We’ll have to defeat her first if we want to get out,” she explained while turning away from the sealed portcullis and giving her attention to Twilight. “So my champion, how are we going to defeat the dragon?” Twilight blinked as she felt the weight of such a grave responsibility settle on her shoulders. “What? I have to be the one to come up with the plan?” Despite her many adventures, Twilight had to admit that she had never once faced a foe as powerful as the fiery sun dragon. “Don’t worry Magus Twilight, I have something that may be of use to us,” she said before grabbing the blanket covering the dragon’s couch and pulling over the two of them as the monstrous beast came ever closer. Then she looked out towards the dark form that could be seen even through the sheet. “This is my magical cloak of invisibility! I hid it here when the dragon was taking me to my cell. As long as we’re under it, she won’t be able to see or hear us.” Although she had faith in Princess Cadance, Twilight still found herself a little worried as the dragon was practically standing right on top of them. “Bwa? Where Princess and pony go? Me just saw them sitting here,” the dragon said. “But me apparently too stupid to figure out they just hiding?” “Okay time out,” Cadance said before she threw back the dust cover Velvet had left covering the furniture and looked over at Sunset with half-lidded eyes. Thanks to the couch, they could actually look each other in the eyes. “What’s wrong?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You mean other than my character’s complete lack of intelligence?” A snort escaped for Cadance’s nostrils. “Hey, you’re the one who decided to start this game out of the blue.” Before Princess Sunset could give her counter argument, Twilight couldn’t help but speak. “You really should have made a plan Princess Sunset.” Faced with the filly’s irrefutable argument, Sunset sighed. “Okay fine, the dragon will conduct  search for her escaped prisoners,” she said before focusing on Princess Cadance. “But being such a stupid creature, I’m sure she’ll give up after making one round around the dungeon and come back to park her big butt on her nice comfy couch.” Cadance looked over to the alicorn’s rear end and gulped. “Gotcha.” As the dragon began testing the air for traces of their scent, Twilight leaned in close. “Don’t worry Princess Cadance, I visited every room in this dungeon before finding you. If the dragon tries to follow me by my scent, then she’ll have to look through every single room in the tower!” “And since I’ve been here for so long, she probably smells me everywhere too,” Cadance added. Above the intrepid heroes, the dragon let out an annoyed groan. “Little ponies not hide from dragon for long.” Despite the fact that the nervousness wasn’t showing on her face, Twilight let out a breath of relief when the dragon stormed off towards the place where it kept...whatever it was dragons ate. So, the two heroes huddled up and began figuring out how they were going to defeat the raging sun dragon. Although Princess Cadance wasn’t much for tactics, she did have a wide array of knowledge when it came to the weak points of dragons, their strengths, and means of drawing them into a confrontation. Twilight was just glad that Cadance’s cloak also dampened their voices, or the dragon would have been able to hear everything the two ponies had said as she searched the lower floor of her tower. When they were ready, Cadance smiled at her rescuer. “Okay then Twilight, as soon as the dragon doubles back to search the upper floors, we’ll have enough time to set up our trap!” The dragon let out a loud sigh groaning sigh. “Dragon is feeling lazy and tired. Thinks she needs to rest on couch.” Twilight’s eyes widened in fear as the dragon that talked to itself way too much looked over to their hiding place. “A smart dragon would check to see if her prey had doubled back on her,” Cadance told Twilight. The dragon let out a snort. “Or maybe dragon should just do real smart thing and go wait by the only exit to her dungeon.” Completely ignoring the dragon, Princess Cadance turned to her rescuer. “And if she tries to block the exit, we can just wait for her go to sleep, then take care of her,” Cadance went on. “Time is our ally here Twilight, not hers.” After a few seconds of silence, the dragon sighed. “Better go check upstairs.” Once the dragon was gone, Princess Cadance empowered Twilight with her magic once again to give the magus the power she needed to cast a trap spell strong enough for dealing with a dragon. Then, they placed the princess’s Cloak of Invisibility (with the sound muffling feature) over the trap before Cadance laid in the center to act as bait. But before they put their plan into motion, the princess reached out and took Twilight’s hooves. “Twilight. If things go bad, you need to let the dragon take me back and make your escape.” “No!” Twilight cried out as she looked at her princess in the eyes. “I’ll never abandon you Princess!” Cadance sighed and looked away from her champion in shame. “My wings are too injured to fly, and the last of my magic was spent preparing for the sun dragon. Even if we escape, I won’t be able to protect Equestria anymore. That duty is yours now, Magus Twilight Sparkle.” The declaration made Twilight let out a gasp. Slowly, she backed away from her princess in shock. Protect Equestria? Could she, a mere unicorn, carry on where even a princess had failed? Before the unicorn could even begin to answer the question, the dragon stormed down the stairs. “AH-HA! There you are my little ponies!” she said before slowly walking forward. Her wings extended, causing the entire room to darken under the presence of the massive lizard’s shadow. “I’ve got you right where I want you now!” Princess Cadance gasped in fright. “Twilight, run!” Despite the oaths she had sworn to always obey the princess, Twilight Sparkle found herself unable to do as she was told. Instead, she took her rightful place: between Princess Cadance and the monster that threatened her. “No! I’ll protect you and Equestria Princess Cadance, no matter what type of dangers you face!” she said before looking back to the dragon. “So come get some!” The dragon stood motionless for a moment with an odd look of surprise on her face before her mouth curved into a smile. “Daaaw! It really is cute when little girls try to act tough,” she said. Twilight blushed. But...not with embarrassment! Taking a cue from the animal kingdom, she puffed out her cheek and chest in an attempt to appear larger. But then Twilight had to release her breath in order to continue to discussion how how not adorable she was. “I’m not cute! I’m ferocious!” she said before rearing up on her hind legs in an intimidating display. In response, the dragon snickered. “I’ll give you ferocious!” she said before charging. Right into the trap Twilight had laid out for her. There was the sound of crunching crystal, signaling the unicorn magus that the dragon had stepped on one of the magical mines she had covered with Cadance’s Cloak of Invisibility. As soon as Twilight’s ears picked up the vibrations, she let out a victorious cry. “HA! Now that you’ve stepped on our paralysis mine, you won’t be able to move your foreleg!” The dragon looked down at what she thought was an empty floor. “Wait, that’s that you were-” Cadance got to her hooves. “Now Twilight, while she’s off balance!” “CHARGE!” the purple pony shouted before both Twilight and the pink princess galloped forward to crash into the dragon, sending her down onto at least half a dozen paralysis mines and exposing the monster’s weak point. “Now Twilight! Attack her weak points with everything you’ve got!” Princess Cadance cried as she struck out with both hooves. “Hey what’re you two-hehe ah-hahaha HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,” the amber alicorn laughed as both Twilight and the pink princess went after the ticklish spots Cadance had become privy to thanks to all the time she has spent sleeping and bathing with the bigger pony. “N-No fair!” Sunset rolled onto her back, and Twilight leaped up to continue the assault while Cadance found herself trotting back to just watch the two girls go at it, crushing the little bits of fragile crystal she had created to serve as ‘spells’ so Twilight could pretend to blast Sunset with her magic. Eventually, Sunset’s horn lit up, and she countered Twilight’s assault by lifting her into the air with her magic. The purple unicorn cried out how that wasn’t fair, but the imagination game was quickly forgotten in lieu of an impromptu wrestling match that had both the girls causing the others to laugh uncontrollably. Throughout it all, Cadance sat back and watched the strongest creature in Equestria as she gently played with the foal in her care. Sometimes Sunset would tickle Twilight, and then she allowed the unicorn to somehow regain the upperhoof for a time before reversing their positions. Eventually, Twilight turned the grapple into a chase, and the two ran around the room for a bit in a circle, but it was only a short break in a contest that had no rules, and two winners. Towards the end, when Sunset snatched Twilight up in her hooves to hold the purple pony close to her chest in a hug, Cadance found herself staring at the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. While the pink princess had seen her best friend be terrifying, friendly, admirable, pitiable, humorous, and even desirable, Cadance realized that as she watched Sunset be with Twilight, it was the first time she had really seen the amber alicorn be so kind and gentle. Beautiful was the only word Cadance could think to describe Sunset at that moment, and even that seemed to convey only a part of what she was seeing. The love Sunset had for Twilight Sparkle wasn’t born of some physical desire or emotional need for acceptance the way romantic or familial and platonic love tended to be. It was a pure, unconditional want to bring happiness to a little filly without anything gained. As the two ponies continued to play, the pink princess felt her heartbeat actually show down as she gazed at Sunset’s beautiful face. Time even seemed to stop at one point. And just like that...I’m in love with her, Cadance realized. Not a lustful attraction, or emotional infatuation that demanded Sunset’s attention. Cadance...didn’t care about such things at the moment. She knew she would again...eventually. But at the moment, all she wanted was for Sunset to be happy, no matter what. … And then the door opened, shattering the moment into a million pieces that would never be put back together again. The ruination of her perfect moment made Cadance while around in anger and storm up to the stallion that had dared to cut short that all too brief time of realization where a pony finds the one pony they’d do anything for. He might have been more than twice her height at the moment. He might have been staring at her with a level of shock that said anything truly startling would break his mind. He might have even been so big in comparison that when Cadance looked straight ahead, she was on eye level with the underside of his barrel where the parts stallions tended to keep on full display were completely out of view… But… Oh...WOW… the pink princess thought to herself as she saw the proof that her adjusted size made a VERY big difference in how her brain processed measurements. “Uh...humanaja…” Sunset looked up from the couch as she continued to hold Twilight against her barrel. “Oh, hey Shiny. Your mom said there’s some dinner left in the fridge for you and...uh, something wrong?” The too big stallion raised his hoof over Cadance’s head and pointed at the tiny princess. “Uh...Sunset? Why is Princess Cadance smaller than Twilight?” Sunset giggled. “Oh, that. Yeah, I shrunk her so we could have some fun playing with Twilight,” she explained with a wave of her hoof before her face became serious. “But, we really should be getting back to work. Come on girls.” Back on the floor, Cadance found herself unable to look away from the sight in front of her. “Ummm...right.” Then the whole world lurched as Cadance was grabbed up by Sunset’s magic and carried upstairs. While she was floating in midair, the pink princess finally managed to process the feelings that were going through her mind at the sight of Shining Armor’s...maleness. Lust...definitely feeling some lust towards him now, she noted. Several minutes after Cadance had been removed from Shining Armor, including the five it took to get the image of the stallion’s...parts out of her mind to the point where she could focus, Cadance found herself laying on Twilight’s bed next to the filly that was still a great deal larger than her. Sunset had gone off to help Shining Armor with some homework that he had been unable to complete in the company of his friends, leaving the two miniature mares alone together. Twilight, being her usual helpful self, was reading through the book on crystal magic as she tried to help the pink princess with the spellcraft. Fortunately for Cadance’s pride, she looked about as lost as Cadance was when it came to the subject. After apparently finishing the last of the instructions, Twilight looked over to Cadance. “Why can’t Princess Sunset help you with your magic, Princess Cadance?” “Because Sunset doesn’t know the magic I’m trying to learn, so she can’t guide me through it like Celestia did with light and the basic love spells I learned from her,” she explained. The filly looked up from the book and back over to the alicorn. “How does it work?” Cadance thought about it for a second, and then realized she was actually trying to dumb down an explanation to a pony that knew more about magic than she did herself. “Well, it manifests the love I have for other ponies into a solid physical form that I can shape and use to help them. Most ponies don’t use it these days because they have more reliable magic that is easier to control.” “Then why’re you trying to learn the old stuff?” Twilight asked as she tilted her head in confusion. Instead of explaining to Twilight that Cadance was under threat from a race of monsters that could look like anypony, and since crystal magic was a form of love magic that enabled her to defend herself it would be easier to learn quickly rather than something like throwing fire and lightning around, the pink alicorn went with something a little less frightening. “Well, the symbol for the area of Equestria this magic comes from is the same as my cutie mark,” she said. “And just because something’s a little older and more challenging doesn’t mean it’s not just as good as the more modern magics.” “Maybe I can help!” Twilight said before looking back to the spell book and reading. “Okay so...it says you're supposed to visualize your love and...what does that mean? Love is a concept, not a physical thing. How can you visualize something that doesn’t give a visual?” Cadance giggled at the little filly and closed her eyes before she learned over and rested herself against the lavender unicorn. The layer of filly fat Twilight still held onto made the purple pony’s coat extra comfortable. “Just start over again from the beginning Twilight,” she instructed before drawing on her magic. “Okay,” Twilight replied in a dubious tone. “Gather all the magic you can hold and visualize your love…” As the unicorn continued to read, Cadance cleared her mind of distractions and only paid attention to Twilight’s voice. But even that faded into the background as she continued to read the instructions that Cadance knew by heart. Visualize your love, Cadance repeated to herself as she set out to do just that. At first, she pictured her adopted parents. Although they had been a pair of earth ponies that found her abandoned in the woods as a foal, they had given Cadance all the love she had ever wanted as a child. The love she felt for them was a warm thing, built over the several years that they had spent caring for her. Then she moved onto Princess Celestia. While Cadance hadn’t known her for nearly as long as the earth ponies that raised her, the pink princess was touched the fact that the alicorn had welcomed her to Canterlot with open wings and brought her into the family as a niece...while the pony that should have been called Celestia’s daughter wasn’t given any such gestures of affection by her mother; making such things seem almost empty. Not to mention the annoyance that came with remembering how Celestia had treated the amber pony in regards to emotional neglect. Which brought her to Sunset. A hundred words ran through her thought as Cadance pictured the amber alicorn thought a window in her mind. Other windows opened, showing the unicorn that had tormented the princess upon her move to Canterlot, but Cadance could no longer see the fiery-maned monster that had given her nightmares. Instead, that unicorn had been replaced by a frightened young mare that had never been given what she needed by the one she loved the most. As for the alicorn version...Cadance didn’t know whether to be enamored, impressed, intimidated, or just plain in love with Sunset Shimmer. Their time together before her ascension had more than shown the pink princess Sunset’s numerous faults, so she knew the amber alicorn was hardly perfect. Cadance still saw her get too angry at things even after spreading her wings. And yet...Cadance saw that it made Sunset that much more amazing. Anypony could be the perfect little mare as long as things were going good, but Sunset had managed to crawl her way out of the darkness and continued to keep it from consuming her again by shining with a light that not only drew other ponies to her, but illuminated the best in them as well. A number that Cadance found herself included in. The pink alicorn knew that two weeks ago, she would have never tried pulling anything like what she had done during lunch. Standing up to Celestia on matters of affection was one thing, but dealing with Cinch...Cadance remembered that right before everything started, she had asked herself: What would a brave pony like Sunset Shimmer do? While such thoughts galloped through her head, Cadance felt her magic she was pushing through her horn surge and flow along unused mana pathways before Twilight let out an excited gasp. “Princess, you did it!” The little filly’s words made Cadance open her eyes, and she found herself standing in front of Sunset Shimmer. Or...a very lifelike representation of her that was completely made of crystal, which mimicked her color scheme perfectly stood and about half as tall as Cadance currently was, shining with its own little bit of inner light. And the details of the crystal statue were exquisite. Despite the spread wings and tiny frown on the face of the crystal statue, Cadance could see that Sunset’s expression was more determined than angry with the way her mouth was drawn in an even line. A nonexistent wind blew back her mane and tail while her hooves stood firmly planted in a way that let her stand even on the surface of Twilight’s cushy bed. The piece of crystal artwork depicted Sunset Shimmer as a determined guardian that would do anything for the ponies she cared about. The joy of finally getting the spell to work was overshadowed by the revelation it represented. This is how I see her, Cadance thought as she reached out to touch a hoof to touch the statue’s cheek. Both Sunset’s ferocity and kindness combined. “It’s so...pretty,” Twilight said in a whisper before she frowned in the cute way only foals could, and looked over to Cadance. “But how does this look like love?” A realization struck Cadance like a bolt of lightning. “That’s it!” she whispered to herself. Crystal magic needed the emotions of a pony that was in love to work. That was why she hadn’t been able to do anything beyond creating the most basic of crystals. Just because Cadance had experienced the love of friends and family didn’t mean she had the emotional requirements to properly mold the magic. Which was also probably why the magic had been abandoned. Cadance knew how rare to truly be in love with another pony was. And a pony that tried to fall in love just to learn crystal magic would have found the whole thing impossible. The sound of heavy hooves coming down the hallway broke Cadance out of her thoughts as Twilight let out an excited gasp. “Let’s show Princess Sunset!” Cadance’s eyes widened in horror as she looked at the statue that seemed to shout ‘CADANCE IS IN LOVE WITH SUNSET SHIMMER!’. She couldn’t tell Sunset about her feelings now! Sunset needed to get together with Shining Armor! With her mind half in a panic, Cadance quickly moved over to put a hoof on Twilight’s mouth. “Wait!” she ordered before using her magic to levitate the pillows on Twilight’s bed out of the way and flinging the crystal statue there to be covered up by them. “We um...Twilight, you like Princess Sunset, right?” The little-but-bigger unicorn nodded. “Mmmmhmmm.” “I’ll let you have the statue if you don’t tell Sunset about it,” Cadance promised her. Twilight cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Why wouldn’t you want to tell Princess Sunset?” With the foal being difficult, and Cadance getting desperate, the tiny alicorn stood up to her full height to at least try and look the bigger filly in the eyes. “Twilight. I need you to take this seriously.” “Okay,” Twilight slowly agreed. “But if Princess Sunset asks, I’ll have to tell her.” Cadance sucked in a sharp breath. “Nonono! You can’t tell her even if she asks,” the pink princess said. “This is super serious Twilight. So serious…” Cadance thought for a second as she tried to come up with the way to explain just how important it was to the filly. “Twilight, have you been to preschool?”  A nod came before Twilight’s response. “Yes. I was going at the beginning of the year. Until I tested out anyway.” How do you test out of...oh buck it, Cadance told herself as she kept her super serious face on. “Alright in Twilight. I need you to take the sacred oath not to reveal anything involving this statute to Princess Sunset.” Twilight’s eyes went wide for a moment before she looked down in thought. “Well, if it’s that important…” The little filly stood up at attention, and raised one of her hooves. “Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake. If I lie and spill the beans, you can make me eat sardines.” The promise given, Cadance moved to seal the agreement. When Twilight bumped her rump in response, the pink princess turned around and wiped the smile off her face. “Thus is our agreement made. One we shall remind each other of henceforth upon meeting.” With her own serious face in place, Twilight nodded. A second later, the enormous amber alicorn came trotting into the room. “Hey girls. What’s up?” Sunset asked before looking around. “Still no luck with the crystal magic, Cadance?” Cadance gave her a nervous grin as she forced herself to keep from looking back at the pile of pillows at the head of Twilight’s bed. “You could say that,” the pink princess replied. It would be completely wrong, but you could still say it. “Well, I’m sure you’ll get it eventually,” Sunset said before she looked over to Twilight and let out a tiny sigh. “And Shining Armor says it’s time for your bath. Then, me and Cadance need to get going.” Twilight’s eyes widened in horror that had nothing to do with the grammatical error. “What? No!” she cried out. “Y-You can’t leave yet Princess.” Sunset’s eyes took on a gentle expression that Cadance had seen come from Celestia more than half a dozen times as she looked down and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Come on Twilight, you know I’ve got to get going eventually.” The beginnings of tears started to form on the edge of Twilight’s eyes. “B-But...you...can’t you stay just a little longer? Please?” Despite the size difference, Cadance found herself moved by the pleading gaze. “You know, I doubt Twilight Velvet would care that much if we spent the night,” she said. Using whatever sixth sense foals possessed to get what they needed, Twilight Sparkle found the chink in Sunset’s defense and punished the opening. She let out a cute little gasp and began her verbal assault. “We can have a slumber party! It’ll be my very first one!” Uncertainty showed on Sunset’s face. “Umm…” “And if you’re worried about Celestia, you could just pop over and tell her,” Cadance added. “Please, please, pleaspleasplease, phlaheeeeeeze,” Twilight begged. Thus was the godlike alicorn brought low by the little purple unicorn’s overly expressive eyes. Ever so carefully, Celestia tilted the beaker in her magic to unleash the smallest drop of the bubbling blue liquid within and send it tumbling through the air to join with the purple potion waiting below. Held steady in her magic thusly, no more of the additive was allowed to escape from its container and ruin the concoction she had spent the past half hour brewing. “Okay,” the princess mumbled as she looked down at her latest alchemical mixture. “Try number twenty-seven.” There was a slight scape at the door, and Celestia looked back in time to see a piece of parchment slide its way into her personal lab before turning up into the air as if guided by some unseen wind, fold itself up into a paper airplane, and fly towards the white alicorn at full speed. Not wanting to ruin a whole night’s work, Celestia looked back at the lab table and quickly set the additive in her magic down before she looked back towards the incoming note just in time for it to find a place to land...in her nostril. Celestia let out a tiny sound of displeasure before the reached up and took the paper out to snort her airway clear. Then, she looked around the empty room in relief. Glad nopony was here to see that. The last time a photographer had caught her in an embarrassing position, it hadn’t gone well for anypony involved. After levitating the paper off the floor, Celestia unfurled it to read the contents. Mom, Purple’s parents won’t be back until very late and so Cadance and I are going to stay over at her house to help Shining Armor look after the filly. Don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow in plenty of time to greet the griffons. Sunset Celestia felt a bit of sadness ass he looked at the signature. No student or loving daughter, just...Sunset. And the title of mother only made the great alicorn feel all the worse for not earning it sooner like she should have. Speaking of should have dones, Celestia told herself as she turned her attention away from the letter that had been shoved up her muzzle over to the journal she had been reviewing while waiting for the potions she had been cooking to come to a boil. One side showed Sunset’s cutie mark, the other held Celestia’s. She slowly trotted up to it and looked down at one of the more disturbing passages Sunset had penned towards the end of the entries, then over to the letter her daughter had sent via an air mail spell. “I really should make her a replacement.” Thankfully, Sunset was able to talk Twilight down from a slumber party to a simple sleepover by the time they got to the bathroom. The difference between the two being that the second actually involved sleep, while Sunset’s Pinkie Pie education on the subject of parties was quite clear that those of the slumber kind did not. It also meant Twilight was unable to utilize her slumber party instruction book, allowing her to dodge a rather deadly bullet in regards to letting the purple pony down. “Okay, so…” Sunset said as she looked at the tub. It was a bit smaller than she was used to, but then her own bath would be more like a pool for Twilight to swim in. Plus, it’s not as if I’m-“Princess Sunset, do you want to take a bath with us?” Twilight asked with a smile. Sunset smiled at her friend’s question and laughed just a little bit. “Well, I may be a bit big for-” “Really?” the miniature pink princess asked as she plopped herself down and crossed her hooves while wearing an irritated scowl. “That excuse doesn’t really hold water anymore, you know.” Nailed to the wall by Cadance’s argument and gaze, Sunset let out a nervous laugh. “Okay you win. Just let me fill the tub and heat the water.” After putting everything off for a good five minutes by asking Twilight if she wanted bubbles in her bath and checking to make sure both the purple filly and Cadance didn’t need to pee, which got an eyeroll from the pink alicorn, Sunset found herself preparing a safe reduction spell for herself. It took some work to keep the annoyance from showing on her face as she worked. Compressing one’s mass was an extremely complicated process that could be very harmful if done incorrectly. Not enough counterbalancing, and Sunset would have found herself falling through the floor of Canterlot because her body was so dense. As she worked on the spell, Sunset couldn’t help but think back to that stupid movie Rainbow had dragged the other girls to on Earth and the impossibility of it all. A human with their atoms compressed to the point where he was small enough to ride an ant would have put a hole in any other human he tried to stand on without the proper spells protecting the world from the miniature terror. But of course nobody had been willing to listen to little things like facts. Finally, Sunset released the spell and braced for the vertigo that accompanied a change in perspective while closing her eyes. By the time she felt it was done, the amber alicorn opened her eyes to see Cadance standing in front of her with an odd look on her face while Twilight held an excited grin. “What?” Sunset asked the perplexed pink princess. Cadance totted up to her and look Sunset in the eye as she raised a hoof to put on Sunset’s forehead, then brought it over to her own, and back, and then over again. “We’re the same height.” The question made Sunset raise an eyebrow. “Yeah. So?” “You…” Cadance replied before frowning. “You spend two weeks being so self-conscious about how you’re bigger than everypony around, and you’re telling me you could have just used a shrinking spell on yourself this whole time?” Sunset frowned back at her older best friend. “First off, it’s compression, not miniaturization,” she corrected. “And this isn’t just some shrinking spell. Now come on, let’s get to scrubbing.” Thankfully, the water in the tub was nowhere near high enough to test if Sunset had perfectly balanced everything to allow both her and Cadance to swim with their overly dense bodies. However, they still managed to kick up plenty of water. The three filly-sized ponies splashed around a bit before Sunset added the bubble bath, then let Cadance comb and play with Twilight’s hair before setting the filly loose on Sunset’s and her own. But the fun eventually came to an end when Cadance noticed they were getting a little pruney. Even Sunset’s hooves that could cause earthquakes didn’t seem to be immune to the effect, and the girls had to get ready to dry off. So Sunset pulled the plug and let the water drain before waiting for gravity to do its part in the water removal process. The only problem was… “There’s only one towel left,” Cadance mumbled as she looked at the cabinet that she had opened with her magic and found it two short. Twilight stood up in the tub and threw her forelegs over the edge. “Don’t worry Princess, I’ll handle this,” she said before sucking in a deep breath. “SHINY! WE NEED MORE TOWELS!” As the world stopped shaking and the ringing in her ears started to die down, the purple pony blushed. “Sorry, I should have been more polite with company around,” she said before taking in a deep breath. “PLEASE!” After her ears recovered for a second time, the door burst open and Shining Armor came trotting in with two towels wrapped in his magic. “Okay I’ve got gaaaaa-” the young stallion managed as he walked up to the edge of the tub to see the purple pony flaked by the pair of princesses. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What? You’ve already seen Princess Cadance like this,” she said before looking over to the other alicorn. “Princess Sunset shouldn’t be that surprising.” Oh geeze, Sunset thought to herself as she was reintroduced to something about pony society the amber alicorn actually considered odd thanks to living among the hairless apes for so long. While the majority of Equestria walked around in the nude and didn’t mind seeing each other when they were soaking wet from the rain, coats that clinged to the body because of bathwater was a little more...intimate. Thankfully, Cadance took charge of the situation. “Yeah Shiny. There’s no reason to act all strange because your innocent little sister called you in here to hoof over some towels,” she said before climbing out of the bath and turning to the left immediately after landing. When Sunset landed on the ground, her eyes went wide at the...maleness she caught sight of. Holy fuck! That thing’s got to be as long as my-GAH! No! BAD THOUGHT! Out! Out! Out! Then Shining Armor crouched down with a blush. “Uh...P-Princess’s Sunset?” he asked. “Is...something wrong?” Despite the plenty of those things she had seen in her life, albeit of slightly different shape and coloration, Sunset Shimmer found herself blushing from the question. “N-No Shiny. Everything’s big-good!” she said before looked up into the wonderfully sweet stallion’s eyes. “Everything’s...really...good. Thanks for the towels.” Shining Armor cleared his throat. “Okay, well...um...I should...get going,” he said before rising. Look away. Look Away. LOOK AWAY!  Sunset told herself before she grabbed a towel and began drying off her face. When she finished Shining Armor had thankfully turned around. Unfortunately, he also had a bit of sway in his step. Which swished his tail out of the way just enough for Sunset to learn… Holy crap! Just one of those things have got to be almost as big as my… “Hey Cadance?” Sunset spoke in a daze. After a few seconds, the hot pink alicorn found her voice. “Yeah?” “Scale. Matters.” “Yeah,” she agreed as the purple unicorn looked back and forth between the two alicorns with a confused look on her face. Despite the oddity of what had happened in the bathroom, followed by Princess Cadance rushing ahead to prepare the bed without them, as the two princesses snuggled up to Twilight on both sides of the purple pony, she had to conclude that she was currently enjoying what was by far the best day of her life. While she may of not gotten any magical training from Sunset, Twilight understood that her mommy could show her the basics of lighting up her horn. That was all she really needed to learn before moving on to mana battery increasing exercises. Although Twilight knew she would need to work extra hard if she wanted to be of use to Princess Sunset in the future. Her magical skills may have been high, but unicorns were behind on everything physical, and Princess Sunset had more than demonstrated physical prowess was just as important as academic ability with both tonight’s exercise and her O&O demonstration. As per their nightly routine, Shining Armor came in shortly after Twilight tucked both herself and the princesses in and...froze. “So...you’re both sleeping in here?” he asked in surprise. Sunset raised an eyebrow at the stallion. “Are you implying something Shiny?” “No, it’s just...you two know we have a guest room, right?” he asked. The other princess giggled. “Relax Shining,” Cadance told him. “Slumber party rules say all the little fillies need to be in the same room.” Since it was official, Twilight found herself free to act. “Yeah!” she agreed. With three little ponies assaulting him with their ironclad logic, the BBBFF had no choice but to hang his head in defeat. “Okay, he agreed before looking over to the toy chest on the far side of the room, and then back to Twilight. “Uh, does this mean you don’t want Smarty Pants?” Twilight blinked at the question. She hadn’t thought about Smarty Pants. She knew he wasn’t really real, but...it didn’t seem right to just leave him over there after so many years of faithful cuddling. “Ummm,” Twilight replied as she thought it over while looking back and forth between the two princess clinging to her body. Finally, Twilight decided to try and compromise. “Yes please,” she said before holding out her forelegs. But when Shiny brought her the doll, she didn’t tuck in in next to her, and just left it out on top of her blankets instead. “Okay,” her big brother said. “Goodnight Twily.” Sunset frowned as Shining Armor started to try and leave. “Wait...that’s it?” He turned back around and blinked. “Huh?” “Where’s the story?” she asked. “Wha?” “The story,” Sunset repeated to Shiny’s non-question. “Aren’t you supposed to tell her a story to make her go to sleep? I read to her last time I was here.” Shining Armor’s expression became half-lidded, like the way Momma’s sometimes did when Twilight’s daddy said something wrong. “Isn’t that the foalsitter’s job?” “I’m not a foalsitter!” Sunset told him before she turned her muzzle up. “I am a highly skilled mystical tutor. There's a difference, we make the foals do all the reading.” Then Cadance looked over from where she was watching Sunset. “And while I am a foal sitter, your parents didn’t hire me for tonight. And the League of Foalsitters, Tutors, and Yodelers is very strict on its pro bono rules,” she explained. “Sorry, but my hooves are tied.” Twilight blinked as she thought she heard Shiny mumble something like ‘bucking LoFTY union’ but she was probably wrong. Shiny was a good pony, and good ponies didn’t talk like that. “So…” Sunset said as she cleared her throat and began throwing her foreleg into the air. “Story! Story! Story!” Soon, Princess Cadance joined her. “Story! Story! Story!” As did Twilight. “Story! Story! Story!” And Smarty Pants. Although he just thrust his hoof into the air along with all the others. Finally, the gravity of the situation got to Shining Armor, and his head fell in defeat. “Okay, okay you win,” he said before looking over to Princess Sunset with a frown. “Any preferences Your Highness?”  Before the amber alicorn could answer, Twilight spoke up. “Shiny, I know the only good story you know well enough to both tell and answer questions about is Solar Battles Four, A New Horse,” she told him. “So just tell that. I’ve heard it so many times it’ll put me right to sleep. The princesses too, most likely.” “Actually, I’ve never seen any Solar Battles,” Cadance spoke up before frowning. “So you should probably start with the first one.” As Twilight gasped in horror at Cadance’s sacrilege, Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. “One through three were okay, but they really just didn’t have the...um...why’re you guys looking at me like that?” Shining Armor cleared his throat. “Um...Princess Cadance, Lew Case never made one through three.” “Um...well...that’s...uh, the scripts!” Princess Sunset exclaimed before giving them all an oversized grin. “I, um...read the scripts...at the palace! Because I’m a princess, and...we have access to all that classified...stuff.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed at the explanation. “So what you’re saying is that you know-” “What does Solo do to make Java the Hut so angry at him he sent bounty hunters?” Shining suddenly asked. Not to be outdone by her brother’s question, Twilight quickly asked her own. “Why is Sky Walker’s Uncle Own so afraid of him becoming a magi knight like his father?” “Do light lances really exist?” Shiny went on. “Why was Solo bragging about sailing the Kessel run in only eight nautical miles, that’s a measurement of distance, not time!” Even Princess Cadance had a question. “What are you two talking about?” All of a sudden, Princess Sunset jumped up to her hooves. “Oh! I just remembered. There’s this big, super-important meeting we’ve got with the griffon ambassador tomorrow!” she said before reaching over to grab Princess Cadance. “We’d better go back to the palace and make sure everything's ready. Really sorry to cancel the sleepover Twi, but uh...princess duty, and...stuff.” Cadance looked over to the amber alicorn. “Sunset, I’m pretty sure Princess Celestia has everything well in h-ooph!” she said as her fiery friend picked her up. “Quiet! Or I won’t save you front the nerds,” Sunset whispered to Cadance just loud enough for Twilight to hear before her horn lit up. “Bye Shiny! Bye Twilight! See you Sunday!” There was a bright flash of light, and then...they were gone. Twilight blinked a few times to clear her eyes from the lingering blindness, and then sighed before she fell back onto her pillow. “Oh well.” “Uh...sorry, Twily,” Shiny apologized. The little unicorn looked up to her BBBFF in confusion. “For what?” It wasn’t his fault that Princess Sunset had to attend to her royal duties. And even though they couldn’t stay, Twilight still considered the time she had spent with the princesses to be the best night ever. Cadance looked around the bedroom she shared with Sunset as she once again found herself restored to her natural height. “So uh...about us just popping out like that…” “I was saving them from themselves,” Sunset told her before pulling back the sheets on their bed. “Trust me on this one Cadance, spoilers suck.” For some reason, Sunset’s eyes became a bit depressed when she said that, causing Cadance to end the argument in light of something else. School gossip was always a good subject, and since Sunset had missed what happened at lunch… “By the way, Upper Crust was acting really strange at lunch today,” she said. “She looked about ready to jump out of her coat.” Sunset let out a little laugh as she crawled into her bed behind Cadance, and wrapped the smaller alicorn up in both her legs and wings. Cadance took a moment to enjoy the utter bliss of the embrace before the amber alicorn spoke. “Hehe yeah. I’m not surprised after the talk we had between first and second periods.” The perfection of being in Sunset’s embrace disappeared, and Cadance frowned. “What did you do?” she asked in a tired tone. Sunset’s next laugh was a little nervous. “Well, I repressed my first instinct to just kick her out of Canterlot after dragging her into the bathroom. Then I thought to myself, what would Cadance do?” she said more gently. “I told Crust… ‘I used to be exactly like you, you know? Used to think what I had just made me better than everypony around me, and that they just existed to make me feel a little less unhappy. So, that’s why I’m giving you one one last chance. Because if I can turn it around and become this, then there’s still hope for you’.” “Sunset...that’s…” Cadance couldn’t find the words. On one hoof, it sounded almost like Sunset was sliding back into her bullying ways. But on the other...somepony needed to do something if Upper Crust had been serious with how she spoke to Cheerilee. I had just thought Fleur told her about it before they started. The amber alicorn snorted. “And if I catch her talking down to another pony the way she was doing to Cheerilee, then I’ll toss her off the edge of Canterlot.” The indecision on how she should feel in regards to Sunset’s actions was brought to a halt, and Cadance looked back at Sunset with a frown. “Sunset!” “What? It’s not like I wouldn’t catch her. Although I’ll let Crust find that part out when she crosses the line again,” the amber alicorn added at the end as an obvious afterthought. Cadance let out a groan. “I don’t think you’re reading me right. You can’t throw a mare off the edge of Canterlot! You’re a Princess for pony’s sake!” A snort blew air through her mane. “Actually, the Equestrian Charter literally gives us absolute power in perpetuity throughout the universe,” Sunset told her before she tightened her grip on the pink princess. “And I am reading you right, but… Cadance, I know you don’t get this. Honestly, I don’t think you can. You’re the perfect mare that was always the good little girl and did as she was told whenever her mommy and daddy said something. Most ponies are. But every now and then, a pony comes along like Upper Crust, a pony that thinks she’s above and beyond everything. A kind of pony that doesn’t even care when Princess bucking Celestia scowls at her. Just like I was when I stole a crown that turned me from spoiled brat into a real monster that tried to hurt and kill other ponies. Those kinds of ponies, they need to feel the consequences of their actions, because they’ve already stopped listening to everyone else.” Although she wanted to debate the fact, Cadance had to admit that Sunset did have a certain insight that she lacked. Still, that didn’t mean she had to be happy about it. Sunset Shimmer stepped out of the mirror portal, going from biped to quad as she planted her returned hooves back onto Equestrian crystal architecture. “Mom! It’s me Sunset!” she called out as she galloped into a room where four other alicorns were standing around a large square table. “I’m home!” The fully grown Twilight Sparkle and completely matured Cadance stood up and looked at the new arrival as Celestia turned around while the fourth alicorn, a large shadowy figure with dark features Sunset couldn’t make out sat at the other end of the table. Twilight and Cadance were completely silent along with the other princess. Celestia was the only one to speak as she gave Sunset an uncaring look. “Why did you come back?” “Because I missed you Mom!” Sunset said with a smile before she reared up in preparation for their reunion hug. “It hurt so much for me to leave, but I had to. And now that I’m back, we can finally be together again! Isn’t that great?” Celestia cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Why is it great?” The confidence and joy Sunset felt after seeing her mother again faltered as she landed back on four hooves. “Because...you...missed me.” “No I didn’t.” Sunset blinked at the dismissive tone her mother was using. “But...what?” “I didn’t miss you,” Celestia told her before smirking as Sunset’s own expression fell. “Hm? Oh! Is that what you’ve been telling yourself all this time? That I missed you? That I loved you? Hehehe, what a joke.” “Wha-n-no...you…” Celestia began to approach her, and Sunset found herself in a shadow that seemed to suck all the light and warmth out of the room. “Oh sure, I say that now,” she said. “But let’s be honest Sunset. Back before, after Twilight got my journal and and the two of you started communicating. How many letters did I write to you?” Sunset’s knees buckled. “Um…” “How many times did I congratulate you?” Celestia went on. And Sunset lowered herself onto the floor. “How many times did I ask you to come home?” she asked with an angry frown of contempt, like the one she had worn during the night Sunset was dismissed as her student. Tears blurred Sunset’s vision as Celestia continued to glare. “B-But-” “The truth is,” Celestia said before she leaned down and placed her hooves on Sunset’s shoulders. “You were trash. I was glad that you were gone, just like I will be again. So hurry up and leave!” With that, Celestia pushed her back, and Sunset screamed as she went flying through the air, back through the mirror. “AND DON’T COME BACK!”