Sunset Reset

by LordBrony2040


Chapter 18: Before the Storm

The amber alicorn approached the stallion that was standing in front of the heart-shaped bed with the red sheets on top. Sunset was as perfect as ever. Taller than most stallions, her whole body was a sculpted mass of physical perfection, fit to the point of athletic without the bulging muscles some ponies were known to have.

In contract Shining Armor was...an adorable kind of sexy. Lean and tall, the young stallion was on the cusp of full development that promised to make him one hay of a hunk. But even without that last trot, he possessed a boyish charm that just screamed ‘cute’.

“Hey there,” Sunset said as she reached up to caress the side of Shining’s cheek.

The stallion responded in kind. “Hey yourself.”

“So...we’re here,” Sunset said as she looked over to the bed.

“Yep...here...we are,” Shining replied.

“It’s...been a long road,” Sunset continued.

“But...worth it,” Shining Armor went on.

Then, both of the ponies gave a startled cry as Cadance let out an irritated yell before grabbing them both up in her magic and shoving them on the bed, in the correct positions. “OH JUST GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!” she shouted before sitting back down in a huff to eat some of the popcorn floating beside her.


Sunset Shimmer pulled herself into the bathroom she shared with Cadance with about as much enthusiasm as a man going to his excaution. A mix of nightmares involving Princess Celestia explaining in no uncertain terms why Sunset was a total failure as a pony and the guilt for abandoning Twilight’s sleepover because of her human culture slip had made for a restless night.

It didn’t help that Celestia would be dragging her to meet the griffin ambassador later today. The vague memories of a gruff old cat-bird that she had met while just a filly, combined with the fact that all the research involving the Griffon ‘Empire’ that consisted of little more than a single major city with a few outlying farms and trading villages was coming to Equestria to beg for money while Celestia was going to force Sunset to apologize just because she was telling it like it was, all added up to create some kind of fiendish torture that the amber alicorn would have to endure.

If not for her earth pony constitution, Sunset would have just whipped up something in an alchemy lab to fake a cold and crawled back into bed. Although thanks to being an alicorn, she was no longer sure how much distilled illness her body could take without actually becoming seriously ill, and was in no mood to experiment.

The amber alicorn looked into the mirror and had to stop herself from cringing. The disheveled mane was its normal amount of bedhead, but the blood red eyes looking back at her made Sunset cringe. Just one more week, seven more days, one-hundred and sixty eight hours, she told herself.

Then, Sunset could go back to Earth.

Get cut off from her magic again.

Live in a small studio apartment while she waited for the portal to open up again.

And then… “AND DON’T COME BACK!”

Sunset closed her eyes and looked down a bit before she had to brace herself as a depressing weight settled on her shoulders. She wanted to tell herself that it had just been a stupid dream. She wanted to tell herself that Celestia had more than proven that she cared for the amber alicorn. She wanted to tell herself that...her...mother loved her.

She wanted to, but she couldn’t.

The facts said otherwise.

A wing settled across her back, accompanied by a soft voice full of loving concern. “Sunset, is there anything bothering you that you want to talk about?”

Sunset leaned over to put some weight on Cadance, thankful for the other alicorn’s presence. “Just...tired,” she mumbled. Sunset leaned her head over and took in a deep breath of Cadance’s mane through her nose. Despite the two of them just getting out of bed and the complete lack of haircare products since the night before, it smelled of strawberries.

It took everything Sunset had not to collapse on top of her friend and teleport the two of them back to the bed so she could lose herself in Cadance’s scent and just pretend the day hadn’t begun. Although Sunset knew Cadance would freak out if she did. The mare slept with the biggest monster in her life because she was afraid of the smaller ones, not out of any want for companionship.

And if Sunset were to lose to her base desires… For some reason, Sunset found the idea of Cadance agreeing out of fear even more abhorrent than the idea of her trying to resist.

“You were calling for your mother as you cried in your sleep last night,” Cadance’s voice told Sunset in a soft whisper.

All traces and want for sleep fled from Sunset’s body. She stiffened for a moment and pulled herself upright before looking over to the other pony. “I...um…”

Cadance held a steady gaze. “Now, is there something you want to talk to me about?” she asked before her horn lit up and she turned on the bath water. Her eyes never left Sunset as she began gathering her mouth and hair care supplies.

For the first time since coming to Equestria, Sunset wished she was back in her old human body. Human dreams were chaotic and stupid. Equine dreams, or the equine subconscious at least, was much more orderly. When they were happy, ponies dreamed about what made them happy. When they wanted something, they would usually dream about what fulfilling that want would be like. And when a pony was upset about something, the nightmares came to remind them just what that something was.

Come to think of it, that’s probably why humans are so much better at ignoring shit than we are, Sunset reasoned.

“Sunset!”

Cadance’s cry yanked Sunset back to reality, and the amber alicorn looked down at her friend. “Okay! Okay!” she relented before plopping her butt down on the tiled floor to slump under the weight that returned thanks to her mind focusing on the problem at hand. “I...had a dream last night that I went back to Earth for three years, and when I came back...Celestia...didn’t want me anymore.”

The eyebrow Cadance raised told Sunset all she needed to hear of the pink princess’s opinion when it came to her fear. Cadance thought Sunset’s fears were stupid. “That’s…” she began before pausing to turn off the water running into the bath before it overflowed. “Why would you think that?”

Hearing the question made Sunset grit her teeth in anger. It was obvious she didn’t think the perfect Princess Celestia could never possibly just abandon Sunset in another world where magic didn’t make sense and she had to rely on the kindness of a near-stranger that was some kind of freaky analog to the same pony that threw her out in the first place!

“BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED!” Sunset shouted at her friend pathetically. “Even after the portal closed and trapped me there for what I thought would be another three years, even after I proved that I had changed, even when all my friends turned against me and left me crying in the middle of the floor, not once, not once did she EVER WRITE TO ME!”

Cadance’s ears folded down as her body took on a submissive posture, and Sunset realized that she had gotten back on her feet. She lowered her head and backed away. Good going idiot, you frightened her again.

Once Sunset backed off, the pink princess nervously licked her lips. “You mean with that journal? The one you, um...can’t find?”

Being reminded about how she lost one of the most important things in her life did nothing to lift Sunset’s spirits. “Yeah.”

“Well...I might have an explanation for that,” she said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sunset asked with a frown as she picked her head up.

Cadance walked over edge of their bath and stuck a hoof it it before swirling her leg around. “Well, it’s something I’ve been thinking about since we met Twilight. And…” The pink princess’s expression hardened just a bit. “Remember how you told me that Princess Celestia did write to you a few times when you first got to Earth?”

The memory Cadance’s words brought to mind made Sunset cringe. “Yeah,” the amber alicorn admitted. “She...asked if I was there, then asked if I was okay, and then...asked if anything holding the journal knew what happened to its previous owner.” It was obvious to Sunset that Princess Celestia had been terribly worried about her. But much to her shame, all Sunset had felt at the time was the satisfaction of making the big alicorn panic.

“And then you met Twilight Sparkle, and…stuff happened.” Cadance didn’t need to continue. Sunset had been the one to tell her the story after all.

The amber alicorn nodded slowly in response, still unsure where this was going. “Yeah.”

Cadance’s expression darkened. “And then she left you there,” the pink princess said with a frown. “Homeless, crippled, and at the mercy of a group of creatures that you obviously have very little respect for.”

“Oh-kay,” Sunset mumbled slowly as she gave Cadance a wary look. “What’re you getting at Cadance?”

“I think Twilight Sparkle, the adult one you met first,” the pink princess clarified a little too quickly. “I think she was keeping you away from Celestia, as well as keeping Celestia away from you.”

Sunset frowned at the idiocy that had just come out of Cadance’s mouth with more than a little bit of anger. “Say what?”

A pink hoof raised to forestall any arguments. “I said you wouldn’t like it. But, just listen to me for a second before you say anything,” Cadance told her. “After everything that’s happened between us, I’ve been reexamining everything I’ve seen since becoming an alicorn, see?”

“All right,” Sunset replied as she raised her guards, not sure where Cadance was going with...whatever she was doing. Still, if the pink pony needed to get something off her back, the amber alicorn wasn’t about to stop her.

 “When I first came to Canterlot, I was enamored with Celestia. I thought she was perfect. The big pony that everypony else looked up to in every sense of the word. I wanted to be just like her. And Celestia, well...I think she liked me being like that. But since we became friends, I’ve taken a step back to take a good look around. The more I’m around her, the more I see that she likes all the other ponies looking up and saying how amazing she is. If anything, she feeds that desire.”

Sunset let out a snort and rolled her eyes. “Yeah. And I suppose all the lectures about humility and junk were just Mom giving lip service.”

“Yes!” Cadance exclaimed before Sunset shot her a glare and killed the pink princess’s happier expression. “And...no. I think Celestia believes what she’s saying, but...well...Celestia may talk a good game, but she doesn’t follow through on it when it comes to her own actions. Years and years of that has turned Canterlot into one giant ego trip full of yes mares that nod their head at whatever she says!”

With more weight being added to the anti-Celestia argument, the amber alicorn found herself needing to put the brakes on Cadance’s train of thought all the more. “Now you’re just rambling,” Sunset mumbled.

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Then take a look at the royal court! Hay, look at anywhere in Equestria for that matter! Where’s the dissenting opinion? Whenever has a pony really argued with her over anything? Where’s the pony that’s supposed to stand behind Celestia and whisper ‘you’re not perfect’ while everypony else is cheering her name?”

As Sunset felt her anger build thanks to the insults Cadance was throwing around about her mother, the pink princess held up a hoof. “Don’t get me wrong Sunset. Celestia is a wonderful pony. Nopony in Equestria could have done half of what Celestia’s accomplished even if they had lived twice as long,” Cadance told her. “But...she has her faults. Her ego being the big one.”

“Okay, fine! She’s a hypocrite,” Sunset grumbled. She was too tired to put up much of a fight. “I kind of figured that out when the most famous and respected pony in Equestria that went to all the parties and had a fucking holiday, school, flower...hell, just about one of everything named after her in some way told me to be humble!” Huh… Looking back, that might of been one of the reasons I stopped listening to her.

But even if Sunset accepted what Cadance was saying, she still didn’t see the point in it. “So what the hell does that have to do with Twilight Sparkle?”

Cadance took a deep breath and walked into the bath water before sinking in it up to her chin. “I’ll admit that I never met the adult Twilight, but I’ve spent plenty of time around the filly. Sunset, I’ve never seen a stronger case of hero worship than she has for you. If she wasn’t so young, I’d say that it borders on obsessive.

“And if you were to put a filly like that under Celestia’s tutelage?” Cadance asked rhetorically before shuddering, despite the warm water she was immersed in. “I don’t even want to imagine the kind of pony it would create.”

Warm water surrounded Sunset as she walked down into the bath to frown some more at Candace. “Twilight was a princess,” the amber alicorn said. “You don’t get wings and a horn if you’ve got a screw loose, Cadance.”

“News flash Sunset, princesses aren't perfect!” the pink pony replied. “Celestia is a repressed egomaniac that has all of Canterlot kissing her plot! I’m a coward that ran away rather than offer you help when you were alone and afraid. Buck! I can’t even sleep a night these days without somepony to hold my hoof. To be honest, your anger issues make you the least problematic princess in a lot of ways!”

Sunset looked away from Cadance, unsure on how to take the assault on Twilight’s character as the pink princess went on. “Trust me on this one Sunset. I’m an expert in love, and that includes the dark obsessive kind that won’t take no for an answer. And if Celestia had nurtured the Twilight you met the same way she did you...there is no doubt in my mind that the sycophant such an action would create would not allow anything to get between her and the top spot in Celestia’s heart. The place your mother reserved for you.”

Instead of telling Cadance how full of shit she was, Sunset kept her opinions to herself.

Princess Twilight....she wasn’t like that.

She had spared Sunset after the then-unicorn-turned-human had given her every reason to end her life.

Except...do we even have a death penalty in Equestria?

She had wanted Sunset to learn about the Magic of Friendship.

After she claimed the Princess of Friendship title, making the best position I could ever hope to be runner-up.

She...left Sunset with a group of humans to be her friends.

Humans that constantly reminded me of my mistakes and thought of me as little more than an extra wheel to be cast off at the first sign of trouble, Sunset told herself as she remembered how the Rainbooms never invited her to play with the group until after the Battle of the Bands, or when they immediately turned against her thanks to the A-non-a-miss incident. Rainbow had even made a giant multi-part poster to remind the school of Sunset’s first major screw-up during the Friendship Games pep rally.

“No,” Sunset told herself in a voice that was barely more than a breath. Those girls had been her friends. They were flawed and unforgiving, but...the amber alicorn knew she still cared about them a great deal. And she knew they had cared for her as well. Second thoughts wouldn’t be allowed to taint the love Sunset had for them.

But Twilight...the Princess of Friendship hadn’t done anything more than send her an encouraging letter when Sunset’s friends turned against her. Which was a lot better than her actions during the Friendship Games. She hadn’t bothered to even write back when Sunset told her lives were in danger!

Cadance cleared her throat, and Sunset looked back up to the pink alicorn with the sympathetic look on her face. “And...there’s something else I’ve been wondering,” she said. “In that other timeline, did Celestia even know you came back?”

“What?” Sunset asked with a confused frown.

“Did she see you? Did you talk to her, or have any kind of meeting before stealing that magic crown?” Cadance asked.

The foolishness of the question got an eyeroll from Sunset. “Do you honestly think I would have been able to get away from Celestia if she had seen me?” All things considered, the big alicorn probably would have locked Sunset in a private room with the greatest comforts Canterlot had to offer before canceling all her appointments for a week to bond with the other mare.

Cadance smirked. “So, run this through your brilliant mind. Princess Celestia finds out you’ve come and gone only after you’ve taken the crown. But instead of chasing after you like she wants to, Twilight Sparkle volunteers because it was her you wronged. Then after everything’s said and done, and you’re...beaten, she thinks back to how Princess Celestia, your mother, reacted to hearing you had come and left without having a chance to save you from yourself. I could tell how much you mean to the pony that calls herself my aunt five minutes after I came to Canterlot. Imagine her as a distraught mare that had just missed her daughter after years of separation.”

No...that’s not… Unable to think straight, Sunset looked back down into the water. “But...t-the journals,” she said. “The ones I told you about...that’re working copies. Celestia never wrote in hers. Even after I changed…”

“You mean the journal that you said Twilight had?” Cadance deadpanned before her face darkened again. “The one thing that might have allowed you to reconcile with your mom despite the dimensional divide and knock Princess Twilight down from favored pony to second-place that she could easily find out about in casual conversation with Celestia considering she probably had her own book? That journal?”

Sunset flinched at the implication.

“Come on Sunset. You’re smarter than me, and I can already think of two ways that other mare could get it from Celestia without arousing an ounce of suspicion,” Cadance told her. “All she would have had to do is ask to study it, or make a copy that wasn’t enchanted and switch it out for the real book.”

Sunset closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what the amber alicorn’s mind needed to analyze the situation and begin to form conclusions. What Cadance said made a kind of sense. Even when Sunset had been a unicorn, Princess Celestia had taken an interest in everything she did, even from an extremely young age. That was what the journal was for after all. A way for Sunset to tell the mare about her day in an organized manner. It was something a young filly needed to help order her chaotic thoughts. It was only as Sunset grew older that she used it for a direct messaging system.

And Celestia not writing to her even after the Battle of the Bands...now that Sunset thought about it with a cooler head...she did think it was extremely odd.

But the idea of the one equine she had been able to rely on, the only friend who stuck with Sunset when all the others abandoned her being a pony that stabbed her in the back so casually…it tied the alicorn’s stomach in knots. “Why’re you saying all of this this?” Sunset mumbled.

“Because I love you Sunset,” Cadance told her in a concerned whisper. “You talked about Celestia with Velvet last night, but I think there’s another mare you’re comparing yourself to as well. A mare you’re comparing Celestia to on top of that. And watching you suffer because of this ideal pony that might as well be a figment of your imagination while you shout at your mother tears me up inside!

“Twilight Sparkle, or...Princess Twilight Sparkle, I should say,” the pink princess said, grumbling out the title as if it were some unclean thing. “She’s not worth a single one of your tears.”


As the pink and amber alicorns trotted out of Sunset’s royal apartment to face the day, Cadance was starting to think she had gone a bit too far in her assault on Princess Twilight’s character. After their talk, Sunset had become extremely withdrawn and gave all the signs of a pony that was in no mood for a conversation about anything. The worst part of it was that they weren’t the usual Sunset Shimmer kind of ‘Buck with me and I’ll turn your mane into a bonfire’ signs.

She was really troubled.

Good job there Cadance, the pink princess told herself. Even though Sunset wasn’t ready to hear it, you just had to go and bring it up because you couldn’t bear being around her when she’s upset. Then she stopped and looked down at herself to frown. Oh great, now I’m the one beating herself up.

Sunset trotted for a few more steps before Cadance wasn’t next to her and looked back. “Something wrong?”

“It’s….” Cadance sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry about just dropping all that on you in there right off the bat,” she said as she caught up with the other pony. “But you need help, Sunset. Help I can only give you if we get all of this out in the open.” Help Cadance couldn’t stand not giving to the pony she was in love with.

For some reason Cadance couldn’t understand, the other mare’s expression turned into a glare. “Would you drop this already?” Sunset demanded before she started trotting faster. “Twilight...what does that even matter? She’s just a little filly now.”

Cadance increased her speed before Sunset could get away. “It matters to you, and you matter to me!” the pink princess told her. “And I don’t hold anything against that little filly. She’s done nothing wrong.”

“Glad we’re clear on that then,” Sunset told her.

“And neither has this Celestia,” Cadance added as they reached the door to the dining hall and she opened it with her magic.

Sunset froze, her mouth half open to fire a retort, but presence of the even bigger alicorn sitting at the long table waiting for them probably stopped her from shouting a reply. Instead, she snapped her mouth shut and put on a fake smile before turning her head in the direction of Princess Celestia. “Hey Mom. Good morning.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Sunset. It’s nice to know you approve of my work,” she replied before nodding at the other alicorn next to the fiery one. “Cadance.”

The pink princess nodded her head and went to her seat. “Auntie.”

“It’s a big day today,” Celestia said as both the girls sat down to an already placed meal that looked a bit fancier than usual. Aside from some extra portions of fruit, pancakes, and a generous helping of oatmeal with whipped cream on top, there was also a trio of champagne glasses filled with sparkling cider.

Cadance had to wonder if Celestia was preparing their palates for what would probably be a more high-class dinner later that evening, or if they were going to be celebrating something as the big mare continued to talk. “I want you both back in the castle by ten. That will give you more than enough time to visit your teachers and pick up any assignments you have for the day. Then we’ll get you both dressed in and have your manes styled.”

Before she could start eating, a bit of curiosity turned Cadance’s attention away from the more important matters of her friend and the griffon delegation. Something Cadance had to admit to herself had slipped her mind in light of more important things like Shining Armor and Sunset’s deteriorating mood. “By the way, have you heard anything from Minister Board about Principal Cinch?”

Celestia let a little smirk show on her face. “About that,” she said before her horn lit up, and a newspaper that had been sitting on a table at the far side of the hall behind the white alicorn flew over to present itself to Cadance.

PRINCIPAL CINCH ARRESTED
Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of School Reform?

Cadance blinked at the title before pushing the paper down on the table with a hoof before skimming through the article on the front page. “Guess Cinch took that go to your room stuff very seriously,” she said before looking back up to the white alicorn. Part of Cadance wanted to feel a little bad for the mare that the paper said had been found cowering in her office until seven o’clock when the Canterlot civic guard knocked down her door and dragged the unicorn out, but...she just couldn’t find the strength to make herself do it.

“There was also a good deal of evidence that the two of you turned in to implicate that mare in a dozen wrongful arrests that coincide with sporting events due to take place involving Canterlot Academy, numerous letters involving blackmail, and several other various crimes that I think would spoil our breakfast,” Celestia supplied before Cadance could turn the page to read the rest of the story.

The chair next to her shuffled around on the floor, and Cadance felt Sunset’s coat brush against her shoulder as she bigger alicorn looked at the paper. “Geeze, and we just thought she was letting athletes beat up on the wimpier students,” she said with a frown.

Celestia took a sip of her tea, and then frowned at the cup in her magic for a few seconds before she looked back up at the two smaller alicorns. Then she took the trio of sparkling cider glasses in her magic to pass them out. “So, to your first act as a Princess, Cadance. Cheers.”

“Cheers,” both of the other alicorns repeated at the same time before Sunset took one of the glasses in her magic as Cadance opted to use her hooves and clinked them together.

With the ritual over, the former pegasus drew back her head as she threw the tiny amount of sparkling cider down her throat and...shot her wings out as her body went through a minor convulsion at the presence of the disgusting liquid in her mouth before Cadance’s gag reflex saved her from swallowing the swill. Instead, she spat it all over the food laying in front of her in a spray before going into a coughing fit that did its best to rid her of the lingering taste.

Sunset wasn’t so lucky.

“GAAAAAH! IT BURNS!”

The amber alicorn tilted back in her seat as she clawed at her throat with her hooves before pitchers of milk, water, juice, and a small bowl containing several sliced peaches floated over to Sunset under the command of her telekinesis to begin pouring down her open mouth. At least until her cheeks puffed out and she promptly bent in the opposite direction of Cadance to throw it all back up. Then she grabbed the pitcher of milk with her hooves to gulp its remaining contents down.

Across the table, Celestia gave them both a worried look. “So...um, I take it neither of you liked the cider?”

Sunset threw away the empty pitcher of milk to shatter it on the floor and glared at her mother. “Cider my ass!” the amber alicorn shouted in anger as her wings spread out before she pointed towards the tiny empty glass that was laying on its side. “What the fuck was that shit?”

After enduring her daughter’s angry stare for several seconds, Celestia looked at her own empty glass and let out a sigh. “I thought something was wrong with my tea this morning,” she said before turning her attention to Sunset. “I put a few drops of a magical potion in your cider before the two of you came in to see if either of you could tell it was there.”

Sunset slammed her hoof onto the table hard enough to crack it, and Cadance scooted out of her way as the amber alicorn shot to her hind legs in anger. “WHY THE BUCK WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?” she demanded before her face twisted a little to include hesitation. She looked down at the discarded glasses, and then up to the white alicorn. “What was that junk you roofied us with?”

“Roofied?” Celestia asked before she shook her head and sighed. “Nevermind. And in response to both your questions, it’s a minor potion based of a zebra salve that disrupts a changeling’s shapeshifting abilities.”

As the amber alicorn got her ‘angry but thoughtful’ look on, Cadance gaped at Princess Celestia. “You thought we were changelings?”

Celestia groaned before she rolled her eyes. “Of course not Cadance,” she said as she focused on the pink princess. “But the two of you are the only ponies in Canterlot that I can trust enough to help me with a project that I am working on. You two spend nearly every waking moment together and share the same bed at night. The two of you protect each other and prevent something from happening even when Sunset’s passive defense magic isn’t active.”

“Pass-the-what-now?” Cadance asked.

Sunset sighed and looked over to the pink princess. “Some basic defensive magic that I keep around almost as an afterthought to protect against things like love potions and...well, let’s just say I don’t have to worry about you revenge-shrinking me while I’m in the bathroom.”

“Chrysalis has been free for what could be years,” Celestia went on with her explanation right as Sunset finished talking. “Which means she has had time to plant her pawns all over Equestria. As Sunset suggested, I reached out to the zebra tribal leaders and found one of them knows the formulae for salve that exposes changelings for what they are. After which, I created a potion that has the same effect. Unfortunately…”

As Celestia probably searched for just the right words to explain her actions, Cadance felt a shiver run down her spine. She hated thinking about the fact that the changelings were out there. Watching. Waiting. Just itching for the perfect moment to strike.

Cadance looked to the door behind her as if it was going to burst open to let a swarm of the insects through and reached out for the pony sitting next to her.

“It tastes like refried horse apples,” Sunset deadpanned before Cadance found her hoof. The other pony blinked at the pink princess’s touch, and linked their fetlocks together with an impossibly strong grip.

Celestia winced. “I had thought I managed to negate the taste last night,” she said before looking down at her tea. “Although, now I believe that was just because most of my taste buds were destroyed thanks to prior tests of the potion.”

“Well you could have at least told us what you were doing!” Cadance said, the fear she was feeling at the C-word helping to fuel her agitation. “Or just left this...stuff as the way the zebras made it?”

There was a slight tug on Cadance’s foreleg as Sunset shifted in her seat and made a sour face. “No, she couldn’t have. It would have destroyed our objectivity,” the amber alicorn mumbled, clearly distressed at her defense of Celestia’s actions.

“And I can’t exactly have everypony walk around Canterlot covered in green goop,” the other solar princess added. “Even if I managed to disguise it as some new kind of makeup, a pony exposed as a changeling in the privacy of their own home does none of us any good.” She sighed and shook her head.  “Looks like it’s back to the drawing board.”

A tense silence passed over the three princesses for a moment. Sunset broke it with a grunt. “Yeah, well...I guess it’s a good thing you trust us enough not to spill the beans. Even if your stupid roundabout way crap makes me want to smack you upside the face.”

Celestia gave them both a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry for your discomfort. Making the two of you ill was the last thing I wanted,” she said. “But if it makes either of you feel any better, I probably won’t be having anything but cardboard-tasting cake for the next few days.”

It didn’t. Cadance had never really seen how making somepony else suffer was supposed to make somepony who was already miserable feel better.

“Not really,” Sunset grumbled before she took up a spoon in her magic and looked around at the food that Cadance hadn’t drenched with her drink cautiously. “Is anything else going to make me puke?”

Celestia shook her head before her horn lit up, and Cadence watched the liquid both she and Sunset had expelled be surrounded by a golden glow before it disappeared.

The conversation soon turned back to the preparations for the griffons, and Cadance managed to console herself with the fact that Princess Celestia was indeed doing something to help root out the changelings beyond taking a few extra security precautions at Sunset’s upcoming coronation. Eventually, things got back to what passed for normal between the three alicorns as Celestia reminded them about what was expected when it came to greeting the coming emissary.

As the time passed, Cadance found herself running late when it came to her own plans for that morning. The pink princess briefly considered putting them off for three days, but… Sunset might not survive three more days, she thought before looking around at the feast in front of her and picked out the more mobile foods as Celestia went on about the importance of just letting the griffons get away with...something. Cadance really wasn’t paying that much attention.

“Well Auntie, I think it’s time we should get going.”

Celestia blinked as Cadance got to her hooves and there was a bit of resistance before Sunset let Cadance go so the pink princess could begin trotting away from the table. Not fast enough for the others to notice anything was wrong, but quicker than her normal pace.

“Uh, Cadance? There’s still plenty of time,” Sunset told her before taking a bite of her oats from the spoon held in her magic.

Nervousness filled Cadance’s mind for a brief moment before she steeled herself and put some magic into her horn while taking a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing. “Yes. But you and Princess Celestia really need to talk about the fact something’s been bothering you for the past week to to the point of you crying all night while calling out for your mother in your sleep because you had a nightmare about her throwing you away like trash because you see yourself as replaced with a new princess!” she got out in a rush while grabbing the chosen food from the table and opening the door to make her escape.

As Cadance galloped for her life, her ears rang from Sunset voice right before the pink princess slammed the door shut. “Oh! YOU BITCH!”

And brace for impact, the smallest alicorn thought to herself as she waited for Sunset to smash open the door and unleash her wrath.

When nothing happened, Cadance let out a sigh of relief and sank to the floor to eat the rest of her breakfast.


Sunset glared at the golden field of protective energy surrounding the doors before she turned around to face her mother. The other mare’s face had a frown on it as well, but Sunset could tell the white pony hadn’t made it in anger like the amber alicorn had.

When Celestia had been given proof that Sunset wasn’t going to go through the door in pursuit of Cadance, the glow around her horn stopped. However, Sunset could see the tension in her body as she continued to watch the smaller alicorn. “Sunset? What is Cadance talking about?”

For a moment, Sunset thought about telling the bigger alicorn to mind her own business. But as the look in Celestia’s eyes became more concerned, Sunset lowered her head and gathered her thoughts. She couldn’t tell her mother about her plans, but...the nightmare was another matter. “I had a dream last night that I went back to the human world for three years,” she said, hoping the older pony didn’t pry too deeply into that. “And when I came back…” Once again, Sunset felt the depression she had been able to ignore thanks to her mom’s special cocktail reappear. “When I came back, you...you said you didn’t want me anymore. Th-That you...never...wanted me.”

What?”

Once again. Celestia’s horn lit up, and the entire dinning table was surrounded in a golden glow before it was lifted up high enough for her to walk straight to Sunset and put herself on the edge of the amber alicorn’s personal space. “What would ever make you think something like that?”

Sunset glared at her mother. The idiocy of the question that had just been asked brought her anger to the surface. “You mean besides EVERYTHING YOU’VE EVER DONE?” she shouted before getting her voice back under control. “And everything you didn’t do.”

Celestia flinched as if struck. “Yes,” she said as sadness crept into her eyes. “I admit that I was a horrible mother to you. But I thought we had agreed to move forward.”

The logic of Celestia’s argument and the memory of Sunset’s own words made it impossible for the amber alicorn to deny her mother had a point. Bringing up the past only caused them both pain.

 But...she glanced over at what was obviously a celebratory feast for Cadance and her actions in taking down Principal Cinch, and couldn’t help but remember there hadn’t been anything even remotely like that for herself. Sunset couldn’t even remember the last time her mom had done anything for her after Cadance had come around, back when the amber alicorn only had a horn on her head. “Yeah well...maybe I don’t want to. And neither do you, apparently,” she finished with a grumble.

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

Sunset opened her mouth to explain. Only, she...couldn't. “I don’t know,” she mumbled before plopping her plot down on the floor. “I just...well...I look at things like that, and...how come you never threw me an...alicorn banquet, or something? I became an alicorn, and there wasn’t any congratulations! There wasn’t any celebration! It was just, time for the next lesson Sunset!”

After taking a look at the table, that had become a little messier thanks to Celestia’s handling of it, the white pony looked back to her daughter. “Well...that’s what your coronation is for,” Celestia explained. “And...with how you were acting at the time, do you really think you would have enjoyed any kind of big gesture on my part that revolved around celebrating your transformation into an alicorn?”

“Well…” Sunset stopped and looked back to her wings.

Her stolen wings.

It was actually a little disconcerting how quickly she had shoved that little fact to the back of her mind. But with Celestia’s words reminding her of how things were, she couldn’t ignore the fact that her position as a princess had never been earned like Cadance’s. “Okay, but...you…”

“Yes?” Celestia gently prompted when Sunset couldn’t think of what to say next.

I hate this, Sunset thought to herself as she tried to focus on the jumble of emotions running through her mind.

Sunset felt annoyed towards Cadance because of her big mouth.

Ashamed at her alicorn existence because it wasn’t really hers.

Angry at Celestia for...something.

“I...don’t know,” she mumbled before looking down at the ground in defeat as she tried to think of just why she was angry at Celestia, only to come to the conclusion that her mom didn’t deserve it. “I just...whenever I’m around you for any length of time and talk to you, really talk to you, I just… It’s like there’s this anger that just swells up inside of me and makes me feel like I’m going to explode!”

As Sunset took some deep breaths to get the rising emotions under control, Celestia continued to look down at her in concern. “If that’s the case, then tell me what I’ve done and we can work together to make it right.”

“But you haven’t done anything!” Sunset told her mother as she looked back up at the bigger alicorn’s face. “You’re perfect. You encourage me, you congratulate me, you...you do everything the way you used to before…” Sunset stopped, and gulped. “Before you...stopped.” Before Cadance came into the picture. “You do everything right, and all I do is get angry. Mom, what’s wrong with me?”

Celestia sighed and moved forward to put a wing on Sunset’s shoulder. “Oh Sunset. There’s nothing wrong with you. I love you.”

The light touch on her coat that coincided with her mother’s words cleared away all the doubt and confusion in Sunset’s mind. Anger took its place. “Well why now?” the amber alicorn demanded before she spread her wings, knocking Celestia’s away as she stepped forward hard enough to cause the room to shake. “Because of THESE?”

Celestia met the challenging stance with her own. She straightened her neck and tilted her head down towards the smaller alicorn. It was a position her daughter was more than familiar with, one of a teacher preparing to chastise a rebellious teen. “What? No! How could you even think that Sunset? You becoming an alicorn has nothing to do with how I feel about you!”

The lie resounding in her ears only heightened Sunset’s anger. “You say that, but every time I think back, in all the lessons, and everything else since…” Since Cadance came to Canterlot. “All I can remember is you looking down on me with contempt before you rolled your eyes at EVERYTHING I EVER SAID SINCE CADANCE CAME AROUND!”

“Because everything you said was something that came from a mouth of a spoiled brat that should have known better!” the bigger pony countered, her own voice raised. “Yes! I lost my patience with you. I’ll admit that, that was my failing. But even I have my limits Sunset. And after...after a pony that was younger than the pony that I had practically raised achieved ascension while I watched you become…what you were.”

Celestia clamped her mouth shut, closed her eyes, and took a moment to breathe in deeply. “And yes, I was the one that should have been teaching you patience, as well as many more things! I should have been the one to nurture your heart as well as your mind. But now that I am…” Celestia’s posture deteriorated. “It…” She sighed and shook her head. “You still get angry and shout about anything you can think of. It’s like you want to hate me. Why can’t you just let it go?”

“Let it go?” Sunset questioned. “JUST LET IT GO? Translation! You just want me to be some stupid little yes-mare and fall in line, like every other pony you have following you around kissing your fat ass and calling it ice cream!”

The mask of calm on the bigger alicorn’s face broke, and she frowned down at her daughter. “THAT’S NOT IT AT ALL!” Celestia yelled.

“THEN WHAT IS IT?” Sunset demanded.

“IT’S HURTING YOU!” Celestia cried before Sunset saw water glisten around the edge of her eyes. The Alicorn of the Sun let out a sharp breath as droplets of water fell from her eyes. “Being angry all the time, it hurts you, Sunset. Yes, you are right to be angry at me. For...for so much... But...the pain and the weight of my mistakes in your upbringing? That is my burden to bear, not yours.”

Caught off guard by the emotional display, Sunset lost the hold on her anger and slumped back down as Celestia looked down at the ground and silently wept. Part of her wanted to just teleport back to her room and crawl into bed. Or maybe pop over to Shiny’s house and crawl into his bed so he could help her feel better.

But if she did, Sunset knew this would never be dealt with. So she took in a deep breath, and just said the first thing that came into her head when she thought about her mother. “You never wrote to me.”

The anger in the words surprised even Sunset.

But as she ran them through her mind, Sunset felt her whole body tremble with an urge to strike out at the mare that had abandoned her in the human world.

“What?” Celestia asked as she raised her head to look at her daughter.

“When I was...in the mirror,” the amber alicorn said, after pausing a moment to amend what she was going to say. “After I became good, I mean. All those months passed by, and you never...sent me a single message.”

Celestia took in a deep breath and looked down at her daughter with a calculating gaze for a minute. “Alright,” she said before letting it all out. “Although I am not the pony that did these things...if you want me to...theorize as to why what happened to you occurred the way it did, I will say this.”

Sunset watched a sadness appear in her mother's eyes as she began to speak. “If you were to be stranded in an unknown realm and crippled in such a way that your magic was no longer available to you, I imagine the reason I wouldn’t contact you is because of shame, and fear.”

The words reverberated in Sunset’s head, and she looked up at Celestia with wide eyes as what the white pony had said really sunk in. “You...were ashamed of me?”

Celestia froze at the question. “N-No,” she replied after a moment of staring at her daughter in shock. However, the tiniest hint of uncertainty in Celestia’s voice said that the denial was most definitely a lie.

As the fact of how her mother felt about her washed over Sunset, she had to use every bit of strength her earth pony side had to keep from collapsing.

After taking in another breath, Celestia sat down and continued in a tone that matched her expression. “You yell at me now over these things I’ve never done to you, but even though nothing like that has transpired between us, the weight is crushing to me. If such a thing were to happen to you Sunset, after everything was said and done, I know that I would be too ashamed to face you.”

Sunset sucked in breath after breath, and she did her best to focus her anger at Celestia to keep from drowning in the newest revelation. She remembered all the nights she spent alone as a human when she was new to that word, cold, alone and afraid. Of all the times she had spent standing in front of the portal outside Canterlot High after turning her life around, wondering if it would be okay for her to leave the world where magic made no sense and return to the one that did.

She remembered that even after making her friends, how not a single one of them could ever really hope to understand her. How could they? None of them had ever really used magic the way it was supposed to be used. None of them had ever had a cutie mark. None of them had a talent that might as well have been intertwined with their soul, a talent that was next to useless in the human world.

Twilight...couldn’t have understood her. Sunset knew that. If what Cadance said about her was right, the good purple alicorn would have never lost anything approaching what Sunset had. Twilight would have just nodded her head, and done whatever Princess Celestia had told her to do. The amber alicorn didn’t blame her for not digging a little deeper to see if anything was wrong.

But Celestia...she was old, and had experienced over one thousand years of life, living long enough to be part of the founding of Equestria. She would have been able to understand that despite everything that Sunset had gained, the true happiness as only a pony that was doing what she was born to do would have been forever out of reach.

And the despair that was only a breath away would come in time.

Yet...Celestia had done nothing to help her.

“That’s it?” she demanded through gritted teeth. “I was alone, without a single person or pony that had a hope in Hell of understanding me, and the reason the one pony that could have been able to help me didn’t because it would have made her FEEL BAD?”

“And if...if I had,” Celestia went on. “Then what? Look at the two of us now! I would dare not speak to you for fear of making things worse! Even now, whatever I do, it only causes you pain my precious little sun.”

The hoof Sunset slammed into the ground left more cracks. “How the hell would you know something like that?” she demanded. “YOU DIDN’T EVEN TRY!” Although the reasoning behind that was obvious now, Celestia hadn’t wanted to. Sunset running through the portal had just been a convenient way to get rid of the embarrassment!

Celestia let out a tired sigh. “You’re right. I never wrote in your journal when you needed me to be there for you,” she said before looking Sunset in the eyes. “Just like you never went to Earth.”

“You-” Sunset said before the bigger alicorn cut her off.

Eye contact broke as Celestia bowed her head again. “And I do not say these things to give an excuse as to why this...other version of me never reached out to you. I only offer these explanations so that you might have some answers. But...even without your experiences in the mirror, there’s plenty of reasons for you to hate me. I do not want to add to the number. I am so sorry for everything, my little sun. Every doubt. Every judgement. Every foolish thing I ever did in regards to you. I am so sorry.”

The sight of Celestia practically bowing in apology to her made Sunset gape at her mother, derailing her furious train of thought and reminding the amber alicorn of a harsh reality: Celestia had good reason to be ashamed of Sunset. She had given the foolish mare everything she had ever wanted, and all Sunset ever did was increase her demands.

But even worse than that was what Celestia believed Sunset thought in regards to the white pony. “Mom…” the amber alicorn told her mother softly before she stepped forwards. “I don’t hate you!”

When the bigger alicorn looked back up at her, Sunset went on. “I just…” She dropped back onto her butt and sighed. “When I think about things with you, I just get so...angry! But that doesn’t mean I stop loving you! Not even for a second! Even when I was...bad, I never stopped loving you! Everything I did revolved around you.”

Silence descended upon the room as Sunset finished speaking.

Celestia offered Sunset a wing, but the other alicorn looked away in shame.

Hate her. Had her own mother truly thought that?

Had Sunset acted so horribly, she made Celestia think something like that?

Sunset glanced back at her mother, who looked about as bad as the amber alicorn felt. Because of yet another one of Sunset’s foolish actions. Because she was yelling at Celestia for things she hadn’t done.

Yet, Sunset reminded herself. Things she hasn’t done yet.

But Sunset remembered that Celestia had done those things.

She would do them.

And she would...do them again.

...wouldn’t she?

“Tell me what to do.”

The weakly-voiced question pulled Sunset out of her introspection, and she turned her full attention back to Celestia as the bigger pony continued to talk. “What do you want? Just give me the word, and I’ll make it yours,” Celestia told her in desperation as her voice increased in volume. “Tell me what you need to fix this and-”

“THAT’S IT!” A jubilant cry came from the dining hall’s main doors before they slammed open, wrapped in a light blue glow. Cadance quickly skipped in, her face carrying an excited look. “That’s what I was missing!”

Sunset blinked at the mare’s sudden reappearance. “Cadance? Wha...What’re you doing back here?” she asked in a bit of a daze.

A blue light surrounded some of the food on the table, and some slightly crushed fruit that was being held in the pink princess’s too strong magic made its way to Cadance’s mouth. “Oh, I never left,” she said before taking a bite of the cantaloupe slices and strawberries. “I just got out of you and your mother’s way while I listened from the other side of the door. Don’t tell me you actually thought I had abandoned you.”

“Well...yeah,” Sunset replied. Everybody else she had known in her life had at one time or another.

Cadance actually stopped stuffing her face for a second upon hearing Sunset’s reply. The food floating in the air dropped to the ground, and the joyfulness the pink princess had been wrapped in quickly evaporated. “Oh...um...okay...that’s...wow. Sorry that I made you think that,” Cadance apologized before giving Sunset a wincing smile. “But, I might have a bit of insight about why you and Celestia keep going back to...this.”

“And that is?” Celestia prompted.

“You raised her like a teacher would a student,” the pink princess proclaimed with a self-satisfied smile.

The statement made Sunset roll her eyes. “Yes. This, we are both well aware of Cadance. Thank you for finally catching up to the two of us.”

“I believe we have covered how horrible a mother I’ve been more than once,” the white alicorn deadpanned.

Cadance smirked at Sunset’s snark before she looked over to Celestia and frowned. “Yeah, but I don’t think any of us ever realized how badly your terrible parenting affected Sunset.”

Sunset looked back over to the pink pony to put on her own frown. While the amber alicorn was usually the first in line to berate Celestia, anyone else who dared to insult her mother needed Sunset’s approval to do it. “Hey! Just because you might be right about Mom’s ego doesn’t mean you can say things like that about her Cadance! Stop blaming her for my mistakes!”

For her part, Cadance actually frowned at Sunset. “I’ll stop when it actually isn’t her fault!”

“Sunset,” Celestia said before she placed her wing on her daughter’s back to stop Sunset before she went any further. “And what do you mean, how badly it affected her?”

After the amber alicorn calmed down, Cadance took a moment to compose herself. “Well, do you remember what we talked about the day Sunset showed up with wings?”

“Are you referring to how you shouted at me in the hallway about how neglectful a mother I’ve been to her?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.

Cadance nodded without an ounce of shame. “That’s the one!” she said as Sunset’s frown deepened. “I talked about how you neglected the duties of a parent, but I never really understood how Sunset adapted to it until now.”

Tired of Cadance beating around the bush, not to mention how the other two ponies were completely ignoring her, Sunset spoke up. “Okay miss psychoanalyst, what’s wrong with me that Mom is to blame for?”

“Well…” Cadance said cautiously before looking back to the amber alicorn. “You were being truthful when you said you loved your mom, Sunset. And when you were much younger, I think you figured out a way to receive love back from Princess Celestia, even when she wasn’t really showing it to you.”

Sunset rolled her eyes as her impatience grew. “Which was?”

“Even when a parent has to discipline a child or becomes disappointed in them for whatever reason, they never stop making sure that they are loved, even if it’s by just telling them that,” Cadance explained to Sunset. “But Celestia never gave that to you. She never said, I love you, just to make sure that point got across. So instead, you latched onto her actions. Every time she gave you attention, good grades, or a gift, you latched onto it as the proof that your mother loved you. Because you had nothing else.”

Cadance paused for a moment, and blinked. “Which makes me coming around to take some of those things away seem even worse,” she mumbled with unease before she quickly shook her head to clear it. “Sorry, getting off topic.

“The point is,” the pink princess went on. “That’s the way you were raised. And yes, Celestia can say she loves you all she wants, and you can soak it up like a dry sponge that’s needed water for so long it’s as hard as a rock, but...a part of you will always place the importance of her actions over her words. Like when she throws me a banquet for the work you did.”

Cadance looked back up to the biggest princess in the room. “I don’t deserve any thanks for what happened to Cinch,” she told Celestia. “Sunset came up with the plan, directed the actions of our friends, and gathered the proof we needed to show the minister what Cinch had done wrong. All I did was yell at that pony before sending Cinch to her room.”

A little laugh escaped from Sunset’s lips. “Hehe, wish I could have been there to see that.”

“I...see,” Celestia mumbled before she looked back down to her daughter. “I’m sorry for...everything...Sunset.”

The amber alicorn groaned. She wanted to deny the fact that Cadance was right about everything. But after a restless night and her verbal battle with Celestia, Sunset just didn’t have the strength. “It’s...okay, Mom.”

“No it’s not,” Cadance deadpanned, which made both Sunset and Celestia look at her with less than pleasant expressions as the pink princess continued to lock gazes with the white alicorn. “Look, I know you two want to hug and put all these horrible feelings behind you, but this is a part of who your daughter is. It’s not something that you can just trot away from and ignore. You don’t get to just wave your horn and tell Sunset to be more like you, and hope it all just goes away. The time for that came and went years ago, when you should have been building the foundation of who she was going to be. You’re the one that needs to adapt to her needs now, Princess Celestia!”

Sunset frowned at her friend. “Cadance-”

The other alicorn help up a pink hoof. “Look. I know you don’t like me talking bad about ponies you care for Sunset,” she said before the amber alicorn could lay into her. “But after these past two weeks, I will always think of your needs before anypony else’s.”

“Fine,” Sunset agreed as she lit up her horn. “Then get to school. I need my homework.”

Cadance groaned as Sunset let loose with the teleportation spell. “Again?”

With her annoying friend gone, Sunset looked back to her mother. “Mom, don’t pay any attention to what Cadance says, you’re-”

“No,” Celestia said, making Sunset frown as she was cut off for a second time. “Cadance is right. It’s foolish of me to just think that a hug and a few words, as powerful as they are, will solve the mess that I spent years making. I need to accept that you...that my desire to mold you into something that you’re not is far too late, and an insult to the mare that stands before me now.”

Sunset frowned at Celestia’s confusing words. “Say what?”

“Sunset,” the white pony said before looking over to the dining table for a moment. “I can see that you’re tired. Please, go to your quarters and rest. Meeting griffons is always exhausting, and going into a summit as you are now...it wouldn’t be good for any of the parties involved. I...need to think about some things this morning.”

As the amber alicorn looked at the pain in her mother’s eyes, she felt the guilt over being the cause of Celestia’s grief well up inside. “Mom...you were right to be ashamed of me,” she told the mare that had given her everything.


Thankfully, Sunset had acquiesced to Celestia’s request, allowing for the bigger solar alicorn to head to her quarters for some time to think. As soon as she magically sealed the door behind her, the High Princess of Equestria let the invisible weight on her back just drag her down onto the floor.

She hated to admit it. Hated to even think it. But...Cadance was right when it came to the reason for Sunset’s faults. Still, it was the other issue, the one Sunset herself had raised that carried the most weight. Even in the middle of Canterlot, Sunset was feeling lost and alone, abandoned by the one pony that should have been an absolute in her life.

And...she had been abandoned…

Sunset herself had said…

Celestia closed her eyes and crushed the thought before it could form. Stop that, the white pony told herself. That’s not...I won’t let that happen again.

After clearing her mind of such thoughts, Celestia stood back up and looked to the chest containing all of her plans for Sunset’s coronation. While she hadn’t wanted to share too much because of the looming Changeling threat and the way it worried Cadance, having Sunset take a greater part in the planning aside from just her regalia and dress…

Celestia blinked as a sudden realization struck her.

A dress.

With Sunset’s increase in stature, there was no possible way that any of the dresses she owned would fit when it came time to greet the griffons.

“She needs a new dress,” Celestia told herself as she mentally worked through the details. It would have to be magically crafted to be ready in time. Which would be expensive, not to mention the fact that such dresses were always much flimsier than the ones created through proper sewing techniques. But, Celestia didn’t see any reason it wouldn’t hold up for at least one night, even when factoring in Sunset’s level of strength.

And it might even help their strained relationship. Cadance had said Sunset responded more to actions than words. A new dress would help show the amber alicorn that Celestia did care for her, and was willing to prove it in the way Sunset needed her to.

At least...until Sunset saw that the only reason Celestia was getting her a gift was to make her presentable for the griffons. Then, Sunset would have to sit through what would be something that was even worse than humiliating as Celestia forced her to apologize for speaking her mind on Griffonstone-Equestria relations to the newspapers, while Cadance flew off to go enjoy a replay with their friends.

Once again, Sunset would be doing the work, and Cadance would be getting a reward.

Celestia groaned as the realization hit her, and she raised a hoof to her face. “Ugh. You idiot.”

She needed to do something else. Something that not only showed Sunset that she loved the fiery alicorn more than anypony in Equestria, but was also as proud as a mother could be.


Shining Armor blinked as his mother finished talking to take another swig of her coffee. What do you mean I’m not going to school today?”

“Shiny sweetheart,” the tired mare said before taking another sip from her mug. “You’re going on a date with a princess. That requires a full dress suit, not just the tie you wear to flugelhorn recitals.”

Twilight looked up from her cereal. “But Mom, what about Shiny’s perfect attendance? What about his education!?”

The light gray mare looked over to her daughter. “Some things are more important than going to school every single day, Twilight.”

“But...but…” Twilight got out as the world she knew crumbled around her.

As Twilight’s young mind continued it’s failed processing of the new reality in which education was not the be-all-end-all of everything, Shining Armor looked back to his mother. “I thought Sunset finally got you to stop being so nervous about her.”

“But you’re not going on a date with Sunset, you’re going on a date with Princess Cadance! The Princes of Love! Certain expectations have to be met!”

Shining Armor opened his mouth to tell his mother everything would be fine. Only...the first week that the unicorn had spent with Cadance came to mind, stopping his argument before it could even begin.

“So um...bow tie, or neck?” he asked.


Sunset did her best not to let her annoyance show while the dark green unicorn mare wrapped the measuring tape around her midsection. Still, she supposed that getting fitted for a new dress beat moping around in her room because she had lost control and yelled at her mom again. Although, the fact that she was getting a new dress after giving her mother a hard time about what were her own inadequacies when it came to needing reassurance from Celestia didn’t sit all that well with the alicorn who had stolen her wings.

So, Sunset looked back to her mother and kept the frown that wanted to form off her face. “Is this really necessary?”

“None of your old dresses fit,” Celestia reminded the smaller pony.

After taking a moment to raise her wings at the seamstress’s urging, Sunset let out a sigh. “Yeah, but it’s not like the griffons are going to be wearing anything when they come to beg for more bits.”

The look on Celestia’s face became a little downcast. “You used to like it when I took you to be fitted for a new dress.”

A second of panic, followed by immense guilt had Sunset lowering her ears. “Yeah, when I was a selfish brat getting a treat,” she mumbled as the tape measure moved to take the size of her plot. Curiosity had Sunset looking back to see just what the numbers said about her butt as soon as the tape stopped moving around.

Celestia blinked. The tiny smile she had on her face shattered and then the big alicorn hung her head so low her hair brushed around on the floor. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Sunset mumbled in confusion before the realization of what was going on struck her.  Celestia was blaming herself for the stupid things Sunset had done again. “Mom no! I don’t care what Cadance says. You…”

A shake of Celestia's head stopped Sunset from continuing. “Sunset, as much as I am gladdened by your defense of my character, it is undeserved. I did raise you like you were nothing more than a student. And that is to blame for everything that went wrong between us.”

While Sunset’s opinion on the matter didn’t come anywhere near Celestia’s, she knew the futility of arguing with her mom about the root cause of all the problems involving her personality. I wanted my last week with her to be full of happy memories, the amber alicorn told herself.

Instead, Sunset was finding herself getting angry at Celestia, hurting the mare that had been like her own mother, getting angry at Cadance, and just resenting her whole situation in general.

It just wasn’t fair that she should be given everything, only to be forced to give it up!

But every time Sunset thought about not doing what was right, she couldn’t help but think of everything bad she had done in her life in comparison to Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia’s words rang in her head. “She sounds rather cruel and selfish.”

She kept you there,” a memory of Cadance added.

She abandoned you when I was waiting for you here,” Sunset remembered Celestia saying.

Sunset slammed her eyes shut and shook her head to both argue with the absent pink alicorn and clear her mind.  While an outsider might see things involving the real princess in a bad light because of her relationship with Sunset, the amber alicorn knew Twilight wasn’t like that!

And after meeting her as a filly, Sunset knew without a shadow of a doubt that she couldn’t stick around to mess things up. She needed to be the type of mare that Celestia would be proud of, the type that wouldn’t sell out another pony’s future because of her own selfish desires. The kind that...accepted her punishment, and let Twilight have what was hers.

Twilight’s the real princess, Sunset told herself. Twilight’s the pony Celestia was really proud of. Twilight’s the good pony.

But…

Why didn’t she come and help me? the amber alicorn asked herself as she pictured the girl with the purple hair in her head. When everyone had turned against Sunset and after that when the Games had begun, Twilight hadn’t really done anything.

“Sunset?” Celestia asked in a worried tone before the smaller alicorn felt her mother’s hoof touch her cheek. “Is everything alright?”

The amber alicorn took in a deep breath. “Just...thinking, Mom.”

Before Celestia could inquire just what those thoughts were, Sunset was saved by the sound of the seamstress clearing her throat. “Pardon me, Your Highnesses,” she said before backing away a trot to bow her head. “But I must take a moment to intrude. Princess Sunset, which color would you like me to make the dress from?”

Sunset looked over to the more than half a dozen fabrics that were waiting on a nearby shelf the royal tailor had brought with her and licked her lips nervously. Ever color of the rainbow and then some was arranged before her. She kind of liked the pink, and they even had it in the same shade that Cadance was.

“White,” Celestia suddenly spoke up, completely wrecking Sunset’s train of thought. “The same shade as my coat. It will give the griffons a subtle show of solidarity.”

With the decision taken away from her, Sunset put a frown back on and found an interesting wall to stare at as the dressmaker began to talk with Celestia to work out all the minor details about how her daughter’s dress would look like so that it would go with Celestia’s...natural beauty.


Despite the fact that the hours in her school day had been greatly reduced, Cadance felt as if the time she spent in the building was much longer than normal. After Sunset had teleported her directly to the Academy, Cadance found the first class of the day canceled in lieu of introducing the new principal, a dark gray pegasus stallion named Black Board. While the new pony wasn’t much of an interest to the princess, the fact that Shiny’s friends said he never showed up for roll during first period did occupy her mind.

Was he sick?

Hurt?

Nervous about their upcoming intimate date?

What if he was so nervous that he made himself sick, and then stumbled down the stairs in a way that ended with one of his legs being broken?!

Such were the pink princesses thoughts as she made her way back to the palace, her saddlebags full of homework for both her and Sunset.

However, it didn’t take the pink princess long to realize the foolishness of that train of thought.

Okay Cadance, calm down, she told herself as she landed on top of a building not a hundred trots from her new home. It wouldn’t be good if the guards saw her flying around in a fluster. Everything’s just fine. Shiny’s...probably one of those ponies that camps out in front of theater to be the first one inside...or something.

Although the reasoning was rather weak, Cadance grabbed hold of it and refused to let go. Shining Armor had probably been there since last night, leaving only after Sunset ported the two of them out. The pink princess took a moment to imagine Shining Armor sleeping inside a tent, all bundled up in a sleeping bag. It was getting a little chilly at night, so Cadance knew the stallion would have pulled it in on himself, making Shining’s outline easy enough to make out. Especially his pair of big, round…

“GAH!” Cadance cried out before her thoughts involving Shining Armor’s enlarged private parts could become as explicit as the dreams she had experienced the night before.

Which were more the product of Sunset’s distressed moaning than anything else! While Cadance wanted nothing more than her best friend and Shiny to get together, she was not just going to sit in the same room while Shining Armor was riding Sunset Shimmer to cheer them on! What type of pony would even think about something like that?

Thankfully, Cadance hadn’t had any such thoughts in regards to the stallion herself. Shiny was cute, nice, and absolutely adorable. But he was more like a puppy than anything else. A puppy with a nice package that would let him get all the female dogs if he managed to become top dog, but the white unicorn was a long way from claiming such a title.

For starters, he was still much too timid for Cadance’s taste.

So...minor sexual attraction or no, the pink alicorn had no problem putting images of Shining Armor in all his glory aside.

After taking another breath to steady her thoughts, Cadance let out a controlled sigh. So...Shiny’s just waiting for the play to start.

Despite his presence next to the theater making absolutely no sense with the assigned seating.

Shut up common sense, the pink princess told the rational part of her brain. I’m royalty now! That means I don’t need you anymore! She had...whatever type of sense the nobles possessed, only...nobler.

“Okay so…” Cadance mumbled to herself before she focused back to the task at hoof. “Got to get back to Sunset and...Celestia.” A Sunset that had been angry enough to kick her out, and Celestia hadn’t been acting as above it all as she usually did, now that Cadance thought about it.

After making a quick circuit around the palace to check for any foundation cracks made by earthquake-causing hooves and windows that had been shattered from the sheer power of a royal voice, Cadance landed at the front gate and trotted in.

As soon as she set a hoof in the door, a pair of guards came galloping towards her.

“Princess Cadance!”

“Princess Cadance!”

The pace of the pink princess’s heart skyrocketed as the two stallions in golden armor skidded to a stop in front of her. Judging by the looks on their faces, things were bad. Really bad. “Please tell me somepony didn’t get banished to the sun.”

Both the guards gave her an odd look, then each one looked to the other to give a shrug, which was quickly followed by an explanation from the stallion on the left. “Princess, where have you been? The royal mane stylist has been throwing a fit!”

Cadance blinked. “I was just-”

“We need to get you washed, groomed and dressed Princess. This way Your Highness, quickly!” the other guard said before he motioned for the mare to follow him.

Trotting after them to catch up, Cadance was struck by an odd thought. Wait...Celestia has somepony to style her mane?

The brief moment of confusion that such a thought allowed had Cadance following along without complaint and in an empty room before she knew it. In what seemed like no time at all, Cadance’s bags had been removed for storage in Sunset’s room, her coat had been cleaned of the little layer of exertion she had gained from flying back from the school, and she stood before a full-length mirror, clothed in a dress made from white and gold with a little crown resting on her head while golden horseshoes completely covered her hooves.

Cadance examined herself for a moment, and then looked back to the mare with her mane done up in a bun with several pins sticking out of the top. “When did you make this?”

“Last week, Your Highness,” the seamstress replied with a bow. “I still had all your measurements from when I made your coronation dress. Princess Celestia had intended it to be your Fall Formal wear.”

The explanation made Cadance look back in the mirror. While the gown was most definitely one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, it was lacking...something. The pink princess didn’t quite know what was missing but...the idea of wearing such a thing to a dance with all of her friends, it just felt...wrong.

But wearing it to a stuffy meeting with an ornery creature, followed by a not-date with her best friend’s future husband? For that, the dress was perfect.

“Thank you,” she told the mare.

“Of course, I’ll have a new one for both you and Princess Sunset by next week,” the seamstress quickly added. “Something new. A pony of your position just can’t wear the same thing twice. You won’t have to worry about the quality either, Highness. It makes me feel dreadful that I had to wrap Princess Sunset in a rush job. I promise you that when everypony sees the two of you at the Fall Formal, they’ll know that nopony else in Equestria could hope to be clothed in a garment half as radiant!”

Despite the offer, Cadance found herself unable to feel happy about the prospect of wearing an even more magnificent dress than the one she was currently clothed in. While she knew that whatever the dressmaker would come up with next would most definitely be amazing, the pink princess also knew that it would be...just as cold as the one she had on.

Not a physical chilly kind of cold. It was more…

Cadance blinked as she realized why the dress she was in felt so wrong to wear to the Fall Formal. While ascetically perfect, it lacked heart. The kind of heart that only a pony who made something for another pony she knew could put into a dress. Even though the mare that had constructed what Cadance was wearing had been the best in all of Canterlot, it had been crafted for some perfect princess that lived in a castle. The pink princess wanted a dress made for Cadance, not Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

I wonder if Sassy has time to sew me something? Cadance asked herself as she opened the double doors to the throne room where Princess Celestia and Sunset were already waiting.

As soon as she caught sight of the pair, Cadance blinked in surprise. Sunset was clothed in a dress that looked a great deal like Cadance’s minus some stylistic flairs that went with her coloration, and had her mane combed out and straightened to the point that it hung down more than blew like usual. If the thing had been blowing around in an invisible breeze…

“The two of you really are mother and daughter,” Cadance commented as she approached the dais to ask for permission to ascend.

The comment put a warmth in Celestia’s eyes, while Sunset became a little uneasy. “Yeah well...that dress looks great on you.”

Cadance found herself heating up more than she should have at such a simple comment. “Ah...um...thank you,” she said without stuttering. But instead of just keeping her mouth shut like she should have, Cadance found herself wanting to give Sunset a little verbal nudge. “But I suppose anything would look good on Hot Pink.”

“Hey, if you want me to tell you it looks sexy, then you should wear something that hugs your flank a bit better,” the amber alicorn replied as Cadance took her place on Celestia’s left side.

The biggest pony in the room looked back and forth between the other two alicorns. “Alright. What’s going on with the two of you?” she said before turning her head to look at Cadance. “Did I miss something?”

Cadance giggled. “It’s just a little joke between us, Celestia,” she said before breaking out into a explanation. “We make nicknames for ponies based on a coat color and descriptive trait. “I’m Hot Pink, Sunset is Angry Amber, and...um...t-that’s all we have for right now.”

“Oh really?” she asked before looking over to Sunset. “So, what do you think would be a good nickname for me?”

The question made Sunset raise an eyebrow. “Uh...why would you want a nickname?”
Celestia’s head pulled back just a bit. “Well...the other two alicorns in Equestria have nicknames. So I should have one too.”

“Hmmm,” Sunset said as she looked down at Celestia’s cutie mark on the big alicorn’s flank. “Nah...too easy.”

“Well your coat is white,” Cadance mumbled as she spoke her thoughts. “And everypony knows you're the most magical pony around. So...what about...White Power?”

Sunset let out a groan, and Cadance looked around Celestia to see she was holding her head in her hooves.

“Is something wrong, Sunset?” Celestia asked.

The amber alicorn let out a loud sigh, and looked back up to her mother. “Can we please just go with another nickname?”

“What’s wrong with White Power?” As far as Cadance could see, the unofficial title fit Celestia perfectly.

Sunset sighed and slumped a bit. “Nothing that a pony would understand,” she said. “Which, I guess that means there’s nothing...really wrong with it...in Equestria.”

“Very well. We’ll table the subject for now,” Celestia told them.

In the ensuing silence, Cadance looked over to Sunset. Despite the name...thing, she didn’t look too aggravated. Hmm...Aggravated Amber, maybe that should have been her name, the pink princess thought before the double doors opened and the blast of a flugelhorn reverberated throughout the room.

Not a minute later, one of Celestia’s guard pegasi trotted in and cleared his throat. “Announcing the most honorable Ambassador of Griffonstone, Gruff the Griffon, and his granddaughter Gilda...um...also, the Griffon.”

What?”Sunset said in a low voice that oozed malice.

Celestia looked over to the amber alicorn. “Do you know this griffon, Sunset?”

Before Sunset could answer, Cadance blinked as a stuffy old bird waltzed right into the chamber. Despite his age and...less than impressive physique, the griffon looked around, looking at the princesses and the few guards placed throughout the throne room as if he owned the place. There was also a distinct lack of the second griffon that had been announced.

A fact Cadance felt the need to speak about. “But...there’s just one of-oh!”

Another avian head poked its way out from behind the first cat-bird, and Cadance couldn’t keep the smile from forming on her face as she summed up her opinion of the second griffon. “She’s so cute!”

The announcement was all the little griffon needed to dart back behind her grandfather.

“Uh...n-no, Mother, I...don’t think I’ve ever seen that griffon before,” Sunset said in a bewildered tone after a few seconds.

“GILDA!” the older griffon shouted. “Quit hiding behind me like you're some pony’s prey, and stand next to your grandsire!”

As the little flying feline scampered out from behind her father’s father and did as she was told. Even though her legs shook with nervous abandon. “Um...I-I’m G-Gilda.”

Sunset’s frown went from angry to thoughtful, and she glanced over to the older griffon. “So that’s where she got it from,” the amber alicorn mumbled barely loud enough for Cadance to hear.

The griffon cleared his throat, and began talking as the three alicorns turned their attention back to him. “Celestia! I am here as a representative of the Great King Guldo! To him, you will bequeath one-hundred million bits as a tribute to the superiority of the griffon race’s magnificence, or suffer our wrath!”

A slight grinding sound made it to Cadance’s ears, and she looked over to see Sunset had once again put on her angry face, complete with gnashing teeth sound effects.

“Your turn sweetie,” Gruff said before he stepped back and pushed the griffon hatchling forward.

“A-And we would also l-like a membership to Junior Speedsters Flight Camp,” Gilda added before Gruff gave her a disgruntled clearing of his throat. “Or I-I’ll rip off your heads, a-and bring them all back to Griffonstone on a p-pike.”

Sunset let out a snort, which quickly sent Gilda back behind her grandfather’s hind legs. However, whatever she was going to say was cut off as Celestia began speaking. “Ambassador Gruff,” she said with only a hint of her usual gentleness. “While I would be appy to negotiate the aid I am willing to send to Griffonstone in order to avoid mass starvation and general anarchy, that can wait for tomorrow. In the interest of a continued friendship between our two races, I would like to invite you to the premiere showing of the latest installment in the Solar Battles series of plays.”

“Say wha-”

Before Sunset could even begin to really speak, the little griffon let out an excited gasp, and ran out from behind her elder. “You mean Solar Battles Five?” she asked with a smile on her beak before she spun around. “Can we go Grandpa? Please, please, please, please, please?”

“GILDA!” Gruff roared in agitation, making the little cat-bird scamper a few steps back. “A predator does not demand her due like that!”

For a few seconds, the bigger griffon frowned down at the smaller one, then looked back up at the three alicorns. “Well, as much as I’d loved to see a bunch of ponies prancing around like the idiots you all are, there is still something else that needs to be be discussed,” the griffon said before he reached under a wing to pull out a torn piece of paper that looked as if it had been torn from a newspaper. “On my way here, I read this article stating that this uncrowned princess, Sunset Shimmer, is spreading lies about Griffonstone! I demand as recompense, that she personally come to the shining jewel that is our grand city to personally give unto each griffon that rules over it one-hundred-thousand bits as an apology.”

Sunset frowned back at the griffon. There was no way she was going to spend her last few days in Equestria with those things. “Denied.”

Wow that’s...unbelievably controlled for her, Cadance thought to herself as the griffon Sunset was glaring at continued to not burst into flames.

Although the real surprise was that Celestia’s expression came to match her daughter’s, and continued to focus on the griffon. “Ambassador Gruff,” she spoke in an authoritative tone. “For several years now, I have done nothing but show the griffons of your land the Kindness of Equestria, giving you bits so that some of it may trickle down from the claws of your city’s rulers to fill the bowels of the griffons living in poverty, all the while hoping that one of your leaders would be inspired by my actions and become a true leader among your kind, encouraging trade between our nations and using the bits to grow Griffonstone’s economy so that you could one day sustain yourselfs on the things your nation produces.. Instead, I have seen the incessant greed of your leaders become the standard for your entire species.

“Now, you come to my land and demand my daughter debase herself before you, because she gave nothing but unbridled Honesty in regards to the actions of the griffons,” Celestia went on. “Forcing me to either Loyally stand with the mare that I raised, or side with you to try and...placate an old fool that doesn’t know when to shut his beak.”

Said griffon opened his mouth to speak, only for it to be surrounded by a golden glow and have it snap shut. “I was respectful enough to allow you your say sir griffon. You will give to me the same,” Celestia told him before he could say anything.

Then, Celestia actually did stop talking for a second before she became thoughtful. “Respect,” she said before looking back down at the smaller creature. “You know, we ponies hold the five virtues that make up our ideal of friendship above all else. I had hoped by showing you these things, the griffons would come to join us in friendship. But instead, you rebuke my Generosity with greed, my Kindness with contempt, and my daughter’s Honesty with anger. You test my Loyalty to my own child, and mock my attempt to offer you Joy. All born from a lack of respect. The griffons have fallen far since the time of King Gregor and his son, Prince Grover.”

Sunset snorted. “You mean that idiot king who tried to invade Equestria after it was founded and gave up in return for eclairs?” she asked with a roll of her eyes. “Wake up Mom. He saw that the army he thought he was going to be fighting was three times the size it had been a week before, not to mention you. Considering it was before his little bird managed to find that idol thing and unite the griffons, his little...what? Flock? It would have been completely annihilated.”

“Yes,” Celestia mumbled for a moment. “I suppose that is one way of looking at it. Regardless, the friendship that I had cultivated with the griffon leadership seems to have grown stale and crumbled away from this...lack of respect. So now you come before me like some petty child, so sure of his sense of superiority. So I shall treat you like a child and send you to your room without your supper. And if you have not come to your senses by morning, then I will be sending you back home with an empty coin purse. Guards, escort our guest to his room, and ensure he remains there for the night while I am attending to my business this night.”

As four of Celestia’s royal guard trotted towards the amalgam creature, Celestia finally released him from her magic and allowed the cat-bird to speak. “Y-You! How dare you treat an ambassador this way!”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Is this not how the griffons treat one-another? I have simply decided to respect your nation’s choices in how a griffon deals with...how is it you refer to creatures that are weaker, smaller, and slower than you again? As yes, prey. Perhaps by showing you and your ways such respect, you will do the same to me when tomorrow comes and it is time to discuss a relief effort for your people. Or...we can continue to do things the griffon way.”

As the older griffon let out a strangled gasp at Celestia’s offer, that sounded a little too much like a threat to Cadance’s ears, Celestia lightened her gaze. “Very well then, I look forward to having a proper conversation with you tomorrow to discuss the trade between our nations, as well as your granddaughter’s entrance into the...Junior Speedsters, was it?”


For the first time in a long time, Celestia found herself feeling a little hopeful after a meeting with the griffon ambassador. While dealing with the Gruff had always been something she had been willing to endure for the sake of the less fortunate griffons that her aid could reach, playing along with the griffon’s foolish antics in front of Sunset had proven too difficult.

Perhaps it was how Sunset had refused to bend, or Celestia’s own pride had been unable to relent in front of her daughter. Whatever the reason, Celestia found herself reevaluating her method for dealing with other kingdoms as she came to her daughter’s door. While she would always offer a hoof in friendship, there was something to be said of the harsher methods of dealing with the less and pleasant creatures of the world.

Then again, Luna had always been the pony to take care of the negotiations when things went down that road, Celestia thought before she could stop herself. Thinking about her sister was a trap that would bring the big alicorn into a pit of despair that took too long to escape.

She needed to be strong and focused. Stay calm and smile, Celestia reminded herself. Don’t let it out. Don’t show Sunset. She already feels guilty for everything that’s your fault, you stupid old nag.

Celestia took in a deep breath, and pushed out all the dark thoughts in one long breath. “Sunset?” she asked as she raised a hoof in preparation for a knock. “Are you still dressed? I know it’s been a few hours since we met with the griffons and the play doesn’t start for another hour on top of that, but I’m afraid my presence at the theater will cause a bit of a stir. So we need to arrive with enough time to let it burn out.”

The door opened, but the mare Celestia found standing in front of her was not Sunset Shimmer.

Instead of the pony the princess had been expecting, the unicorn on the other side of Sunset’s doorway was a mare of the usual height found outside Canterlot, with a blue coat and mane that was a mix of red and white. Although what grabbed Celestia’s attention, aside from the cluster of tiny stars on her flank and the light dampness around her eyes, was the generously swollen belly that held a foal that was nearly ready to come into the world.

For several seconds, all the mystery pony could do was look up at Celestia with wide eyes. “Pah...Pah-pra,” the pregnant mare managed.

“Princess,” the white alicorn offered.

“P-Princess Celestia!” she exclaimed before she tried to go into a bow, and nearly fell forward onto her face.

Celestia reached out and stopped the mystery mare from crashing into the ground. “Whoa there now, my little pony,” she told the young mother-to-be. “I think we can forgo the bowing for you. I wouldn’t want something to happen to your little pony, after all.” To help defuse the situation, Celestia offered the mare a kind smile and considered striking up a conversation about the most apparent topic that was still sleeping inside her belly.

“Mom,” the voice of the pony Celestia had been expecting to meet said as Sunset came trotting up. The white alicorn noticed her daughter’s lack of dress, but didn’t comment on it. “This is Spangled Star. Spangled Star, Mom.”

The unicorn looked down at the ground. “Y-Your Majesty.”

Celestia let out her best disarming laugh. “Oh, no need to be so formal when we’ve already done away with the bowing. I’m delighted to meet one of Sunset’s friends, Mrs. Star.”

“She’s not,” Sunset cut in with a bit of irritation. When Celestia looked over to Sunset, the other alicorn was looking back at her with a look on her face that matched her voice. “Married, or my friend. She’s just a pony that needs some help. Something I’m going to need to talk to you about tonight, by the way.”

Celestia looked down at the pregnant mare’s swollen belly in confusion. “But...she’s with foal.”

Spangled Star winced at the declaration and sunk in on herself, at least until Sunset lifted her back up. “Hey, none of that now,” she told the mare gently before her voice took on a firmness. “Never be ashamed of your child. You did nothing wrong. And even if it’s the last thing I do here, I will make sure you are given every opportunity to succeed while your little one is provided everything she needs, including you.”

Tears glistened in the mare’s eyes again. “Th-thank you, Princess Sunset.”

“H-Hey! Don’t get all weepy on me again,” she complained. “You need to...save all that liquid and stuff for your baby.”

Spangled Star nodded once, and blinked away her tears. “Yes, Princess. T-Thank you, Princess Sunset.”

Pride drowned the confusion Celestia was experiencing as she saw her daughter’s kindness in full force before Sunset told the young mare to gallop on home to her own mother, or at least as far as the carriage Sunset had arranged to take her home. After watching Star disappear around the corner, Celestia turned back to look at Sunset. “What was all that about?”

“Just something that needed to be done,” the amber alicorn replied.

The cryptic response made Celestia frown. While playing the all-knowing ruler had always been one of her favorite games, she didn’t much enjoy having the horseshoe be on the other hoof. “Sunset.”

Completely ignoring her mother’s irritation, Sunset spoke in an even tone. “By the way, there’s something I need to talk to you about during the play.”

Although it irked her to play along, Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“Education reforms.”

Celestia locked her jaw to keep from sighing as Sunset made her way past the bigger alicorn and trotted down the hall. She fell in behind her daughter and...kept her face neutral. Even if it was obvious that Sunset was planning something that was practically in direct competition with Cadance’s latest accomplishment that Equestria had decided to praise her for in what was obviously an attempt to show the younger princess that had achieved alicorn status first up.

But...Celestia was certain she could keep her daughter from becoming too jealous like what happened at breakfast. She and Sunset would be spending all night together while Cadance was off with her coltfriend. And now that they had managed to take care of the underlying cause of Sunset’s anger, things could finally be put back on track.

It be a perfectly pleasant evening at the theater with her daughter with the both of them in the perfect position to spy on Cadance’s date. As far as Celestia could see, nothing could possibly go wrong.