Night felt good. She had a lot of reasons to feel good. She was an official shaman, she was the First Wife of her herd, a position she had grown comfortable with wearing like a good suit. There were only a few little things in her way from perfection, but it was in these little details that problems could crop up. Problems she could, and should, address.
She knocked softly on the door before entering, or was that exiting? She left the hallway into the garden where the Royal Sisters had agreed to see her and marched over the grass towards them. They were seated around a table and were talking to an officious-looking unicorn stallion of advanced age. She had the decorum to stay back and let them talk until he rose and bowed before trotting off on his own business.
That meant she could come closer, so she did with a smile. "Do you still petition to join?" She raised a brow. She had no doubts, but it was formal to ask to be sure.
Luna dipped her head. "We do, First Wife. Do y--
Celestia's wing extended, cutting off Luna's words. "You're looking especially in good spirits."
Night started faintly. She didn't expect Celestia of all ponies to cut off the process. There had to be a reason. "I am...."
She leaned forward over the table. "Good, because I want this to be shared." She spread her wings. "You, First Wife, have an unusual position. You are a wife in a group that outranks you, socially, but you hold a key position within them. Fortunately, you have already provided a solution."
Night felt her eyes darting without her leave, to take in the position of the guards and anything else that may serve her. "I have?"
"She has?" agreed Luna, looking equally as confused.
Celestia nodded. "Equestria has few experts in the field of shamanism, and here you are. Would you do me the honor of accepting the title of--"
Night understood where Celestia was going and her mind raced. Did she? She was a shaman, it was true, but she was a new one. There were a million things she didn't understand.
Celestia saw that doubt and reached to pat a cushion beside her. "Sit. You must be worried about your lack of knowledge, but is that not true of all learners? You know enough to learn more, and you are eager to do so. Are you willing to guide others towards this?"
Luna looked between the two mares and brightened. "I should have thought of that myself. All the more logical that I would share that book with you."
"And that we would form a herd of nobility." Celestia nodded. "Will you become Equestria's Shaman?"
Night cleared her throat as she settled down. "Won't there be cries of favoritism?"
"Oh, certainly. I should name any other pony of Equestria to the task. Very well, the second best shaman shall have the title." Celestia looked around slowly. "That appears to still be you."
Night quirked a smile. "Alright, let's assume I accept that, shall we continue?"
"Not quite so fast." Celestia shook her head. "It needs to be clear to all what we're doing. You, as much as you may not like it, will accept our plea to join your herd in public sight, and we will bow to you as First Wife. If we do this quietly, there will forever be doubt about who is the true matriarch of this herd, and they will assume it's me, as matriarch of the nation." Celestia looked to her sister. "Do you agree?"
"I see what you imply," spoke Luna. "I thought we were to make the public showing at Silver's coronation."
"Too late," spoke Celestia in somber tones. "The herd will stand together, but it must be formed ahead of time." She reached suddenly and stopped before dipping her head. "I've been rude. I saw your smiling face and the bounce in your step and assumed you came to deliver good news to us, very particular news. Was I right?"
Night glanced between the two sisters, one larger than the other. "You're not wrong... But you are ruining the moment." She cracked a little smile. "I may as well bring it up, but I plan to invite Fast Change to this."
"The changeling princess?" asked Luna with a raised brow.
Celestia shook her head. "I know you've had past relations with her, but... must you?"
Night frowned a little. "We never separated from her because we wanted to, and she misses us." The angry words of Fast Change were still clear in her mind, practically crying as she admitted her sadness. "Besides, I have an angle for it."
Celestia looked, but said nothing. It was permission enough, so Night continued, "We will be the Canterlot herd. You all operate from Canterlot. Cadance and Twilight are not Canterlot, which is why they are not involved. Fast Change does, and is a princess, so of course she is. Easy and simple."
Luna tapped her chin with a metal-clad hoof. "It's so much new to throw at once. Can we not induct her afterwards, when things have calmed down?"
Celestia had a bit more tact. "We should make our approach to her, in private, so she knows we're waiting but coming."
Night smiled at that. "I think I could... live with that, but it's my decision, not either of yours. You're not even in yet." Her wings ruffled on her back a little as she fidgeted. "I'll talk to her." She rolled a hoof. "However, she has waited a long time already... She may not be thrilled to hear she's the one asked to wait some more."
Luna flashed a bright smile. "You should bring Silver with you. His presence will calm her, and he deserves to know in either event."
That seemed like a good idea to Night and she rose to her hooves. "I'll do just that. Celestia, let me know when and where you want to do this."
"I will."
She trotted out of the room, having not formally invited either to the herd or to be examined and judged by the stallion. She had other things to worry about, such as Fast Change, and her new title. "Royal Shaman of Equestria," she tried quietly to herself. She would be expected to lead studies and see to students, presuming this wasn't an empty title. Studies...
Night flashed a smile. She knew exactly who to approach for that. She found Samantha in a park near the castle, watching the foals, scribbling notes, and enjoying the warm sun.
"Samantha," she called, which drew the attention of her foals. Soon she was swarmed by them and offered each a wing to hug tightly to her sides a moment. "Samantha, I've been given a new title."
"Congratulations." Samantha picked up Clear Twilight in her magic and floated the earth pony to her back. "Are we to celebrate?"
"Later, but I wanted your help. You know how to conduct studies, don't you?"
Samantha's eyes lit up. "You want me to do a study? Officially?" She clopped her hooves with building joy. "I would be delighted. What are we examining? Is there a theory to test? Do we have a control prepared?"
Night swung Morning Glory to ride on her own back, one foal to a parent. "We'll have to go over that, but I'm the Royal Equestrian Shaman, which means we will be expected to study the effects of shamanism."
Samantha tilted her head. "I'm going to have to make new measuring devices." Her tone implied she accepted it more as a challenge than a set back. "Wait, are there other shamans besides you?"
Night pointed to the castle. "There's Nefertari, but she hardly counts."
"She's the only one besides you, how can she not count?" Samantha shook her head. "We can't perform proper tests without a control and a reasonable sample size. If this is going to be official, we need more shamans. Is this a learnable skill? We should begin training new class as quickly as we can."
Night quirked a smile. Asking her future adopted daughter had some detriments. "Samantha, I do want other ponies to learn this, but I have to be sure it's safe to do so. We can't just do it because we can."
Samantha pointed at herself. "Then I will be your first student!" She leaned in close, Clear dangling a bit as she leaned off to the side of her mount. "What's the first thing I have to know? I met a spirit before. My mother counts, right?"
Night reached out a wing to gently correct Clear's sitting. "It's not that simple. We'll go over it later." She wasn't sure she wanted Samantha as her first student. "I have to visit Fast Change first." She gently extracted Morning Glory from her back, gave him a nuzzle and set him down near Samantha. "Thank you for watching your siblings."
"That's part of what siblings do." Samantha nodded with certainty. "I'll do some reading on the subject while you're away and be ready to begin when you're ready."
It would have to do. Night nodded and went to find Silver to begin the next leg of her journey. She approached his office and stayed to the side as a human emerged with an uncertain but hopeful expression.
Night entered after him to find Silver gazing out a window. She glanced where the human had gone. "Everything alright?"
"Mostly." He turned to her and slid to his hooves. "Awkward start of things. He didn't believe I used to be human, and once he did, he didn't have much nice to say about being a 'horse fucker', and things went downhill a bit, but I convinced him, personal decisions aside, I was devoted to helping. We made some progress... What about you?"
Night snorted softly. "You'll be with people more like horses soon, given Celestia's size if nothing else, but avoid telling her that. I doubt she wants to hear it. Speaking of her, and Luna, we're to make a public showing of their proposal and our acceptance."
"That figures." Silver rolled his eyes as he approached and kissed each of Night's cheeks. "You look like you're ready to take off again."
"Nowhere without you." Night returned the kisses. "I'm going to Fast Change. We're going to let her know that she will be invited, but it will be held off until after the public has settled down about you and us and everything." She suddenly remember something. "Oh! I'm Royal Shaman of Equestria now."
Silver blinked. "Congratulations." He moved past her towards the door. "Let's tell Fast about that too. I'd rather get it all out of the way, but at least we're moving in the right direction. Nothing's out of place at the moment."
"At the moment," agreed Night hesitantly as she followed.