Everypony was waiting patiently in the room for Twilight, Spike and Bright to return. Even when they seemed calmed, all of them were so worried about them. The portal was going to close any second now, Celestia felt the seconds go by like hours. What if her most faithful student, her little dragon and her son didn’t make it? What if she wasn’t going to see them for another 30 moons? She was close to going through the portal herself when, to her and everypony else’s surprise, Twilight and Spike exited the portal. Twilight had retrieved her crown back and she was walking only using her hind legs? Well, considering the place she came from, it was obvious to her but confusing for everypony else.
“Twilight! Spike!”, Everypony cheered and proceeded to hug their friend but they noticed something else;
“Hey, where's Bright!?”, Flying Hope asked.
The second she said that, her fiancée came out of the mirror too. Figuratively, he looked like he was lost in another world. With the sight lost, Flying Hope immediately rushed and tackled him.
“Bright, you're safe! Oh, I’m so glad! I was so worried about you!”
Bright saw his marefriend in front of him and smiled. After a deep kiss and stroking her mane, he stood up to see everypony else and his... family. All of them were there; The Elements, his Aunt Luna, Cadence and... her.
Princess Celestia trotted towards her son to hug him, but he, as quickly as his acceleration let him, moved away from her. Celestia felt his heart being pierced.
“Just... not now... 'Princess Celestia'.”
Another arrow penetrated Princess Celestia’s heart. Her son... calling her... 'Princess Celestia'. She wasn’t the only one surprised and in shock; almost everypony in the room was as stunned as her. All except Cadence and Luna who were only looking at the scene with expected eyes.
“Son... I don't think I heard you quite right...you called me... 'Princess Celestia'?”
“You hear me loud and clear... Princess Celestia.”
A third stab. Celestia started to felt her energy leaving her body. She knew her son was angry and he had all the right to be, but... this was too much.
“Bright... son... you know you don’t have to call me... 'Your Highness' or 'Princess Celestia'. For you, I’m... 'mom'... or 'mother' or... if you want, even... 'mommy'.”
Bright looked at her... he knew she was in pain and he wasn’t proud of doing it to her, but... he just couldn’t call her 'mother' right now. Not wanting to look at her breaking apart, he started to go through the door, exiting the room.
“I’m sorry... but I just can’t call somepony I don’t trust my mother! Now if you'll excuse, I need to be somewhere else.”
“BRIGHT! Where... where are you going?”, Celestia said with a half smile. She was doing her best to look cheerful. Her son wasn’t serious, was he? He... said he didn’t trust her anymore? Yeah, he had to be kidding. Nice one, son!
“I’m... going to pack my stuff. Everything is done. We retrieve the crown and left my good friend, Sunset Shimmer, in good hands. Feel free to ask Twilight for every detail... I just need to get out of here, so... see you later... everypony.”
With that said, Bright exited the room, not minding her mother's pleas to come back.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Bright! Bright! Come here! Please!”Celestia screamed to her son.
She so wanted to go after him, but she felt her body was too heavy. She knew why he was so angry and she hated herself for that. He wanted to tell him how sorry she was and why she didn’t tell him about the other humans, but she just couldn’t bring herself to say it. After a few seconds, she couldn’t bear it anymore. She crumbled on the floor and started to cry. As everypony tried to console Princess Celestia, Flying Hope ran after Bright.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Why? Just why? Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me that you knew about those humans?!”
Bright kept repeating that to himself while walking to his room for his belongings. Even though his heart aches, he somehow knew that his mother had her reasons... maybe she was afraid he would leave Equestria to live in that other world... a world populated by humans! How naïve could his mother be? Of course he would never abandon her or his family in Minus! Especially... Flying Hope. Maybe... that was she was afraid of. She didn’t trust him, thinking she didn’t trust he loved her enough to stay by her side! She doubted his love and loyalty for her!
Tears of sadness started to fall down his cheek. He quickly wipe them away. He hated showing weakness to anypony. After a few minutes of walking, he finally made it to his room. He took his traveling backpack, thanking his mo... thanking Celestia that the servants didn’t take anything out yet. Nopony knew yet, but he lied to them too; he wasn’t going back to Canterlot. Surely his mother would cancel that stupid summit and would return there the same day to try to talk with him and he really wasn’t in the mood to even see her.
While grabbing his backpack and exiting the room at that moment, a very pissed off mare opens it with a kick and stared at him with daggers in her eyes.
“Bright! What is wrong with you!?”, Flying shouted.
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with me? In case you didn’t notice, my mom lied to me, and not just any other lie. No. She lied big time! Since I returned to Equestria, she's been keeping this from me; An entire world with more humans, Flying! More humans! Like me!”
“Yes, I know that! But have you ever considered why she didn’t tell you? Maybe she was afraid that she lose you! She is your mother, for goodness sake. She already lost you once before, so of course she wouldn’t take a chance to lose you again!”
“What chance, Flying? There was never a chance! Do you really think I would have left her alone and escape to that other world? She didn’t even give me a chance to choose! And even if she did, I would have stayed here with her! But at least I would had been happy and excited, knowing some day that I could've met more humans! But no~, I had to find out by accident! It was always about her and her selfishness!”
Flying Hope was shocked. Bright... did had a point and she knew it. She also had something in common with Princess Celestia... if things would have turned out different, then... she started to feel so sad.
“And what about us? What if your mother had told you about other humans? You probably would've waited all this time for the portal to reopen and... try to get a nice human girl... you would have never set your eyes on me. I mean, why bother dating a pony when there is a world full of pretty human girls waiting for you... the very thought just... scares me. I’m scared that maybe you will never see me the same way before you left. Maybe you met some pretty girls... girls who can... give you babies... girls with nice, furless human bodies, hands instead of hooves, noses instead of muzzles... human girls... more suited for your love...”
Flying Hope started to cry, almost like Bright just broke up with her. That was enough to break Bright's anger a little. He immediately dropped his backpack and rushed to hug his fiancée.
“Flying... How can you say something like that? Of course I would have been with you anyway. You are the love of my life. I don’t care if there is a full world of human girls. Sure, they are pretty, but they are nothing compared to you. I don’t care about your fur, your hooves, the fact we can’t reproduce... I love every inch of you! Every night I spend with you is amazing! And when we are not sleeping together... I think of your amazing body... on how badly I want you until I finally fall sleep!”
“R... really?”
“I swear by Celestia’s name that there is no lie in my words, Flying! I will always love you! Not only that, but the idea of forming a herd has never crossed my mind. I’m yours and only yours! You hear me? Please believe me!”
Flying Hope eyes widened to impossible levels. She knew he wasn’t lying. Even after coming back from a world filled with human girls... he still wanted to be with her. Not only that, but he made it very clear that he wasn’t interested in marrying any other mare beside her... she sometimes considered, maybe... forming a herd with Twilight, but... if she could be honest with herself, she wanted Bright only for herself!
She felt so happy. She immediately kissed him deeply. He received the kiss gladly. They only broke it for the lack of breath and looked in each other's eyes.
“Now... no more tears, okay? I know you're trying to help me and Celestia, but please try to understand. She betrayed me. I really can’t see myself trusting her... at least not for now. I really need to cool my head and think about this.”
“... okay... can I go with you?”
“Thanks, my love, but... I think I have to do this on my own... you understand... don’t you?”
“... Yes... okay. In the meantime, I will return to Manehattan for a few days to see my family. I haven’t visited them since mom died. I think this is a good opportunity to do so.”
“Good. Don’t worry, I'll work this out. Don’t misunderstand, I don’t hate Celes...”
“At least call her 'mother', Bright! She doesn’t deserve that degree of cold shoulder! And you know it!”
"I promise I will think about that too. But, for now, 'Celestia' seems good to me.”
“I just want you to know I disagree. Now tell me, where are you going? Minus? Zebrica?”
“They would be my usual choices, right? But, no. I don’t want to be that far away from my family. After all, I promised her I wouldn’t leave Equestria for a long time, I need a place where I can relax and think things through. A place where even a pony with no interest in friendship managed to change.”
“Bright... you don’t mean...”
“Yep! For a long time, I wanted to visit that place. And I think it’s time for them to personally know their human prince.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After drinking some water and calming herself, Celestia, alongside Luna and Cadence, flew at top speed to her son’s room. Maybe it wasn’t too late to stop him from leaving. She didn’t care about the summit anymore. The only thing she cared about right now was talking to her son. She wanted to tell how sorry she was. Terrible thoughts about Bright leaving her plagued her mind. She was dealing with it the best she could and taking caution with it as well. She didn’t need another nightmare trying to get to her again. Not that she was stupid enough to let herself succumb to it again.
“How could I let this happen? Now my little colt hates me!”
“Aunt Celestia, don’t be so melodramatic. I told you, I felt anger, disappointment and sadness. His heart didn’t show any sign of hate. He loves you far too much to find himself hating you.”
Celestia was relieved after Cadence told her that, but still... it was not so much condolence. Her little colt was angry and disappointed in her. He didn’t even called her 'mother'. She didn’t know how, but she knew she needed to regain his trust again. She made an oath at that moment; no more secrets from her son.
When they arrived at his room, it was empty. Not signs of Flying Hope or Bright. They searched all over the castle and then the train station. There they found Flying Hope.
“Flying! Where are you going?”
“I’m going back to Manehattan for a few weeks. Me and Bright are taking a break.”
“Taking a break?! Flying, don’t lie to me! You two can barely spend a single day being apart!”, Luna said, almost shocked.
“That’s true. I miss him already and I know he misses me too, but he thinks he needs some time alone to think things through and, as a good wife to be, I will support his decision. But trust me, the moment he asks me to come back, I will be here in a heartbeat!”
“But why he didn’t he accompany you on the train to Canterlot?”
“Oh! About that... he knew you would come to search for him here to try to stop the train, so he flew instead.”
“What? Then... where is he going? Minus? Zebrica?”
“He said he wanted to visit the place where Princess Twilight learned about friendship.”
“What!? you don’t mean...”
Flying Hope nodded. Princess Celestia gasped and was about to go after him but she stopped immediately after. She knew her son didn’t want to see her right now and she really needed to think of a better way to approach to him. She immediately summoned a quill and parchment and wrote a letter. She then ordered a Pegasus royal guard to fly to Bright's destination and give the scroll to the Mayor. The guard saluted and left immediately. Everypony saw him flying away. Celestia didn’t know what to do. She felt alone. How was she going to cope with this? At that moment, Flying hope grabbed her hooves and looked at her with warm eyes.
“Don’t worry, Princess. I know it won't be easy, but we all know you and Bright love each other very much. Just give him a few weeks to relax and then you can talk this through.”
“*sniff*... you think so?”
“I know so... After all, nopony knows him as well as I do...”
The Princesses looked at Flying with questionable eyes. Flying Hope realized what she just said and blushed heavily.
“No, no, no! I didn’t mean it that way!”
All the princesses laughed while Flying Hope kept turning even more redder. Princess Celestia felt a lot better. She knew Flying was right. She knew she screwed up, but she also knew she didn’t lose her son again. If time is what he needed, then she had plenty to spare, After saying their farewells to Flying and ordered the train workers to let her use the royal cart, all of them returned to the Crystal Castle to resume planning the summit. Celestia was still very sad, but now she needed to be strong... for her and her son.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Watching the beautiful landscape from above, Bright continued sky walking. The feeling was awesome! He wanted to travel like this more often. He felt so good at that moment. He already missed his fiancée so much. The pain was still there. He just couldn’t stop being pissed off at Celestia. Maybe he overreacted, but didn’t care. He had every right to. He didn’t want to think about her anymore. For now, he wanted to see Ponyville. Twilight recommended it with so much passion. With his mind set in his way and new found conviction, he continued kicking the air faster to reach his destination as soon as possible.
“Ponyville, here I come!” He shouted before disappearing in the horizon.
