The Golden Age of Apocalypse - Book I

by BlueBastard

Chapter 14 - Time Weals All Hounds

Golden Age of Apocalypse

Chapter 14: Time Weals All Hounds

“Sunset Shimmer, I am removing you from the position of my pupil. If we cannot get past this, your studies end here. You are welcome to stay in Canterlot, but you are no longer welcome in the castle.”

“We’ll never get past this because you can’t see how great I deserve to be! Is that really all you have to say to me?”

“No. The guards will escort you out.”

“This is the biggest mistake you’ll make in your entire life!” the unicorn shouted as the guards moved to intercept her. “You’ll regret this!”

“One of many,” solemnly repeated Celestia, recalling the painful memory of the moment where she’d inadvertently driven Sunset Shimmer—her pupil, her protégée, in all but name her own daughter—onto a path of wanton and depraved self-destruction. But what stung the most was that it hadn’t been Celestia’s own choice to do so: Sunset simply had not been ready for the role that Celestia had been trying to groom her into; it hadn’t helped that, by her own admission, she may have focused on the newest alicorn princess, Cadance, instead of what was closer to home. The results of that hoofiwork had been nothing less than apocalyptic: by the time she’d realized what she’d done to poor Sunset, the damage had been irreversible…or so she’d believed had been the case in the five years following Sunset’s disappearance into the mirror.

The lessons learned from where things had gone so wrong with Sunset, however, had formed the foundation for how Celestia had merely guided Sunset’s successor (but never her replacement), Twilight Sparkle, into the same role instead of hoof-holding the whole way. This choice had turned out to be the right one, as Twilight attained what Sunset desired but could not gain herself: ascension, and not by the newest princess’ desires, either. Celestia had been very proud of her protegee, but even the sun alicorn couldn’t imagine what would come next.

Twilight had gone farther than simply ascend in the way originally meant for Sunset—she’d crossed dimensions and not only retrieved the stolen Element of Magic, but effectively saved Sunset from being horrifically possessed by a demon during her wayward years away from Equestria, restoring the filly Celestia feared had forever been lost.

Though despite choosing to remain in the human world, the restored Sunset quickly proved that she was every bit Twilight Sparkle’s equal soon after. Having already returned to Equestria once to erroneously attempt to destroy Raspberry Beryl, believing the mulberry unicorn of having tried to destroy the human Twilight Sparkle’s mind. That in itself was more than a bit surprising, given the fact that Sunset was willing to throw it all away to save another life. But the bigger shock came when Celestia discovered that Twilight’s counterpart had ended up becoming an adoptive little sister to Sunset brought the sun alicorn no end of amusement and pride at the inner strength the maize unicorn had developed.

But the most emotionally painful and draining part of the tale had to have been when Celestia found out that her daughter, the mare she had raised since foalhood, the filly that she'd fought with and made up with, and loved so very much, had died, sacrificing herself in a battle to halt another human—her own counterpart, no less!— who had been possessed by the same demoness that had taken Sunset initially. Devastated by the death of her daughter, Celestia entered a deep depression that left Equestria in an increasingly rough micro-ice age that made crop production difficult and otherwise severely interfered with recovery in the aftermath of Tirek’s war. Nearly a year had passed, pushing the realm to the brink when Celestia finally recovered after learning that her beloved Sunset had finally ascended as the Alicorn of Earth, the Rose of Humanity.

Words had not, would not, and never would exist to describe the rollercoaster of emotions Celestia felt that day...or the absolute nightmare that awaited the vile criminal whose actions caused Sunset’s death. In truth, the reason the cur wasn’t already begging for death because Twilight Sparkle had—wisely, admittedly—not told anypony where she’d hidden him, not even Celestia - the solar monarch didn’t even know the culprit’s name, though admittedly she’d not been in any sort of condition to be told that information until learning of Sunset’s resurrection. Of course, that was probably for the best, as it would be an unending headache to explain to the populace why their beloved ruler was laughing maniacally while roasting some alien bastard alive in the heart of the sun for days on end.

“You’ve been waiting in this room for two hours, Celly,” observed Princess Luna, who walked into the side room. “Is there any specific reason why?”

“This is where everything took a turn for the worse,” replied the elder alicorn. “It might seem like a small-minded gesture, but…but I think it’s only fitting that things be exactly as they were years ago when I can finally leave this sad fault of mine in the sands of time.” She looked at her sister with the concern of ages. “I owe that much to my daughter.”

When confirmation of Sunset’s ascension had come, Celestia had kept in mind through all her emotional swings of that day that the newest princess would need to be recognized through a proper coronation. This actually posed a unique problem as, until Celestia had masterminded a fabrication about the whole spectacle surrounding Sunset’s schism and disappearance as really having been a “top secret assignment” lasting years on end, the general public had thought Sunset a traitor for having rebelled against the Princess of All, as Celestia was often referred to at the time.

Once the “truth” had been publicly divulged, however, it was interesting—and more than a little disturbing, Celestia privately admitted to her sister—that ponies abruptly dropped their mass hatred for Sunset, though the fact that Celestia had, in truth, declared Sunset Equestria’s last-ditch chance to survive against Tirek may have helped things along as well. Furthermore, once the news of Sunset’s own battle on Earth, her sacrifice to save another and ascension had been made public, the citizenry were all too eager to declare a week-long celebration in honor of their newest princess-to-be. It bothered Celestia that her ponies had changed their outlook instantly on just her say-so (meaning that they relied on her too much) and that they’d done so without so much as even seeing any sign of the new princess, another sign that fed the stereotypes of ponies being “too naive.” Still, it meant that Sunset would be welcomed back to Equestria with open forelegs, and the sun alicorn saw it in the end as a mixed blessing.

Upon Twilight’s suggestion, it was decided that some time before the actual coronation would take place, Sunset would return through Platinum's Mirror—the time restriction having been removed a few weeks ago—and spend some time among the populace so at the very least it could be said she’d made a public appearance and ponies were aware of her existence again before being declared Equestria’s fifth alicorn princess out of the blue. A small smile came to Celestia’s lips as it had been unnecessary to decide where Sunset would go—there’d been only one possibility anyway.

And so now began the interminable wait—well, by Celestia’s standards—to see her daughter once more, to hold her in her forelegs and mother her as she should have so long ago. No doubt Sunset would be embarrassed by it, but that was a parent’s prerogative in the end.

Suddenly, the mirror—exactly placed where it had been nearly five years prior in that very room—began to glow ominously. “Just to warn you,” Celestia told her sister, “I think I’m about to become very emotional.”

“I think we both will,” replied Luna, smiling, then turning to look at the glowing centerpiece of the room. The glow brightened, then the reflection of the two alicorns vanished from the face of the glass, as now there was no glass at all. Instead, a watery magic membrane had replaced it, followed by ripples as Equestria's long lost daughter, Sunset Shimmer, emerged, excited as a little filly.

Sunset threw herself into Celestia’s side and fiercely nuzzled it. Celestia, in response, simply encircled her wings around her child and the two shared a long-overdue family moment, the two of them finally united as mother and daughter at last. Then, wordlessly, Celestia looked at her sister, inviting her to join, and the pair became a trio: a daughter, a mother and an aunt, not at the moment rulers of a nation, but as three mares who meant so much to one another.

Finally, Sunset looked at Celestia, tears of joys in her eyes. “I’m here, even if for just a short while,” she said, reaching forward to nuzzle her mother once more.

“And I am glad you are, my little sun,” laughed Celestia as she ruffled Sunset’s mane, emotional tears in her eyes as well as the white alicorn embraced her daughter.

“So…Mother saw fit to give you what you, ahem, demanded of me so long ago?” Celestia asked, gesturing for them to depart the room.

“More than that, actually—she’s actually shouldering the quote-unquote ‘responsibility’ of being the one who kidnapped the previously unknown ‘twin sister’ of the human Princess Sunset Shimmer at birth, to explain away to those who don’t know the truth of my origins how I can exist at the same time my human counterpart does.”

“Wait,” interjected Luna, “did you just say the human version of you is also a princess?”

“Yeah, remember that part I mentioned in my last letter,,” Sunset reminded them. “Somehow my counterpart, whose life I lucked into commandeering in California, turned out to be a minor princess related to the French—the human version of “Prance” is “France”—Imperial’ bloodline.”

“I thought you mentioned that she was dead.”

“Yeah, I thought so as well, but it turned out to be one hell of an error in a newspaper at the time. All it was, was that she had run away from home after her father’s death and had been picked up by the cops. In reality, they moved back to France shortly thereafter. The weird thing was that she has relatives living in town still, and somehow in the years I was there I never came across them.”

“So, if Mother set up some convoluted situation where you’re this other Sunset’s long lost twin, does that mean you’re also technically as much a princess as her, in addition to being the soon-to-be Alicorn of Earth, that Mother appointed you as?”

“They’re a house in pretense,” Sunset explained. “France is a democracy nowadays, and the only thing they do for the government is act as diplomats and the like.” Sunset gave the dusky alicorn a half-lidded look. “I don’t know the full story, so I really can’t comment further, other than the fact that my duties as a ‘Princess of Imperial France’—” she said, adding air quotes, “—is really nothing more than ceremonial at best. Really, all I need to worry about is being the Sunset Shimmer my friends and family back home have come to know and love, as well as all this bureaucratic stuff that comes with ascendance and all that jazz.”

“Well, the fact is you did end up becoming what you went into that mirror to be, did you not?” playfully asked Celestia.

Sunset, surprisingly, shook her head and gestured at the portal. “The Sunset who went into this mirror was someone who only wanted all the power she could get, without understanding that being a princess is more than just having obscene magical ability. Sure, I guess in the end I’ll be princess all the same but…no offense, but what I value more than royal titles and such is that I found where I belong, and it’s not in a castle or even in my native land of birth. It’s with those who took me in as a homeless, lost teenager, and even after learning I’d been lying about being the same species as them, they don’t treat me any differently.”

“Spoken like a true princess,” was all Celestia said in response, and Sunset blushed cutely.

Sunset smiled at the senior alicorn and she then asked, “So, Mother, what are the plans for my visit?”

“Well, let’s get you settled in,” Luna advised. “Afterwards, we can spend the day together before the formal dinner tonight.” She was about to speak further when when all attention was drawn back to the mirror as its interior started to ripple again. “That’s strange….”

“Is somepony else coming through the portal?” Celestia asked Sunset.

“Despite my best attempts to convince them otherwise” mock-grumbled Sunset.

“Your security team, I take it?”

“My cousins,” Sunset admitted, “though in addition to that, yes, they’re my security forces. Grandmother said that because I’m now a princess, I needed some bodyguards and long story short, there happened to be three candidates she appointed to protect me on the spot.”

The thought made Celestia wonder. “Why would my mother do that, given that you are now an alicorn?”

“Grandmother told me that at the rate that you and Aunt Luna aren’t having foals anytime soon, I’m the only grandfoal she has,” Sunset said with a slight blush, “and that until you two take care of that particular problem, she’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure I’m okay.”

Celestia could practically hear her mother’s laughter in the air, Sunset’s comment resonating all too much.

“Are they prepared for this?” voiced a concerned Luna, ignoring the slight on the love lives of both herself and her older sister.

Sunset sighed. “Not really, but given what happened two weeks ago when I went to Europe without letting anyone know, I kinda pissed them off a little, so they’re not letting me out of their sight once I announced my travel here.” The maize alicorn frowned as she added, “Trust me, it was hard enough to convince them that they couldn’t bring along enough weapons to arm the fucking Spetnaz.”

“The who?”

“Nevermind, just—” Sunset cut herself off as her “bodyguards” proceeded to tumble out of the mirror portal…and promptly lost their shit completely. She did not notice Celestia raising a hoof to conceal a giggle as the three newcomers had…decidedly noticeable problems bestowed upon them through the mirror.

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!”

“WHERE ARE OUR FEET?!”

“WHY CAN I SEE MY NOSTRILS!?”

“I see the brave heroes have arrived,” Luna quipped.

Sunset couldn’t help but join in. “Yup, they’ll be the pride of the Royal Equestrian Navy in no time flat.”

The Super-Electric flew off into the distance, having freshly delivered its Ponyville native passengers and crew in front of Twilight’s giant crystal lighthouse of a tree castle, but no sooner had it vanished from view did another entity of high energy make itself known.

“I can’t believe you all went and partied somewhere new without us!” whined Pinkie, who was practically teleporting between friends as she gave them big hugs. Twilight did her own round of hugging in turn, though less spastic.

“Uh, Pinkie?” asked Rainbow, “Just because we went as a rescue party doesn’t mean we actually went there to party.”

“Yeah, can’t say there was too much ‘party’ going on,” agreed Sandalwood, “since it was almost entirely ‘rescue’ from the moment we got there to the moment we left!”

“I’m sure it’s going to be quite a story you all have to tell me and Pinkie!” chuckled Twilight, whose smile faltered when she realized the group had come back larger than before. “Oh, uh, hello, Coco, I…can’t say I was expecting you to be…here…”

“Yes, funny story about how my new hire got mixed up in this little adventure you unfortunately missed out on,” said Rarity, a glint in her eye telling Twilight that the worst case scenario had just happened. “Maybe you can help shed some light on something you’ve been keeping secret from us? Something from me?”

“Wait, what?” asked Fluttershy, surprised at the sudden change of Rarity’s tone. “I think I’m missing something here…who’s keeping what secret?”

As all eyes looked to Twilight, she merely groaned, but then perked up as an idea came to realization. “Well, truth be told this might actually be most opportunistic. You did just say Coco is your ‘new hire’ by which I’m assuming she’s going to be your live-in assistant?”

Rarity nodded. “Indeed, I did. But am I correct in assuming that you and Princess Celestia summoned Coco for some hitherto vaguely undefined project that I can only figure involves a need for great fashion talent…and I wasn’t even considered?!”

“Rares, are ya upset that whatever you’re huffin’ an’ puffin about,” said Applejack, “is just Twi not lettin’ ya get first dibs on somethin’?”

“Well, I’m not quite sure, really,” huffed and puffed Rarity, “only because I don’t know what she overlooked me for!”

Twilight laughed. “Oh, don’t be so silly, Rarity—"

“I am not being silly, thank you very much!” Rarity screeched.

“Can you at least let me tell you what you’re supposed to be so riled up about?”

“No, I—” Rarity froze mid-sentence as she realized what actually had been asked. “Uh, yes, please continue.”

“Well, I was trying to keep it a secret, but if you insist, the fact is I didn’t overlook you—when Princess Celestia asked me if I knew anypony who should be in charge of designing the dresswear for Sunset Shimmer’s upcoming coronation, it was a given you were the only one we felt right for the job.”

“Huh?” Rarity was, needless to say, shocked. “B-but then how does—”

The alicorn laughed again. “Rarity, you know we know how easily you work yourself to the bone for these kinds of big jobs! That’s why I asked Princess Celestia to summon Coco to Canterlot to eventually be your assistant there anyway—it was supposed to have been a surprise. Well…at least one that didn’t involve that business in Nightshade.”

Applejack looked smugly toward the now furiously blushing Rarity. “And y’all thought Twi overlooked ya the whole time.”

“Fine, I’ll admit,” sighed Rarity. “Not one of my finer moments. I apologize for that.”

The group shared a good, hearty laugh at the misconception being resolved, only stopping when Spike hurriedly ran into the group. “Twilight, Princess Celestia just sent this!” he exclaimed as he hastily shoved a parchment letter into her face.

“Oh, thank you, Spike,” said the princess, opening the letter up. “Hmm, that’s weird, it seems the princess needs me and Razz up at the castle but…doesn’t say why.”

“Just the two of you?” asked Sandy. “You sure it might not be a fake?”

“Can’t be—it had the same stamp-backing flavor aftertaste like all the princess’s letters do,” Spike nonchalantly answered. Then, after a moment, he added with a sigh, “Oh, come on, I vomit these things up all the time! If you were a personal mail dispenser you’d know it’s kind of hard to not taste the letters coming and going through your gullet on a regular basis.”

“Best not keep the princess waiting, huh, princess?” joked Razz. Heliodor then promptly made his presence known by hopping onto her horn—she wasn’t going anywhere without him.

“Guess not, princess,” shot back Twilight. “Sorry to cut the reunion short, girls, but…y’know, duty calls and all.”

“I’m starting to feel like you don’t want to be around us anymore,” mock-pouted Rainbow, before her smile returned. “But yeah, you know we’re cool with that. Besides, we’ll probably show Coco around, catch up with Flutters, you know, all the usual stuff until you get back.”

“Sounds good, hope you like it here, Coco!” warmly said Twilight, before a quick, shared nod with Razz led to a momentary flash of light.

It then hit Pinkie she was forgetting something important. “Ohmigosh!” she exclaimed, taking Coco by her forehooves, “you’re a new pony in town, that means you need a big welcoming party!”

“O-oh, my!” was all the flustered neckerchief-wearing pony could manage before the pink pony shot off with Coco in tow into the heart of town.

“Here we go again?” asked Fluttershy with a knowing smile.

“Here we go again,” unanimously replied the others.

In the Imperial Palace of the Crystal Empire, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, more commonly referred to as Princess Cadence, exited the one of the many meeting halls within the palace. This one, however, Cadance particularly disliked, as she’d had the misfortune of being held as a prisoner of sorts, one sentenced of her own royal position. For the past three hours straight a slew of advisors had basically grilled her on such exciting questions about ‘How will you address issue x when issue y also needs addressing for completely unrelated reasons’ and ‘Are the rumors that you and Shining Armor are getting a divorce true’ and other such fun questions from ponies who honestly needed to do a little more thinking on their own part.

Not like most ponies really know better, internally admitted the weary Avatar of Love. Between the horror that was Sombra still fresh in their minds, the chaos following their return to the timeline a few years back, and ponykind’s own origins as herd animals, it’s a given they rely on their leaders who also happen to be ascended near-omnipotent deities for just about everything.

Her eyes narrowed; even with being a virtual goddess, some ponies were the blasphemous type, sadly. Kinda wish they’d at least show some fucking respect and not spread rumors Shiny and I are getting divorced—that’s a load of horseshit and they know it.

Mercifully, the one pony who Cadence felt she could just do away with all the polite formalities around and talk about how she really felt was already waiting around the corner. “Y’know, we seem to be getting divorced a lot only to end up back together—maybe we should stop getting divorced or something,” Shining Armor said with a grin.

“Or maybe we really should get divorced,” replied the weary princess, “then it’ll at least make ponies stop asking about it.”

“Yeah, but then they’ll either call it scandalous and tie it into something about how you felt you couldn’t love me after that changeling psychopath took your place—because the fact she’d mind controlled me the whole time somehow doesn’t matter—or they’ll continuously pester you about who you’d inevitably marry next, both the general public and prudish suitors trying to get my girl.”

“Nah, I think I’d be more worried about what would happen to you if either of us said we wanted a divorce—given two of my aunts and your sister who I babysat since she was in diapers are easily more powerful than I am, they’d sooner brainwash you back into loving me than allow you to escape this union.”

“No offense, Cady,” chuckled Shining, as he drew close to her, “but I’d be more scared of my mom than anything those three would do to me. Besides, you’ve always been the only mare for me, my love.”

“And you the only stallion I’d want, sweetheart.” Cadence finished by locking lips with her husband, sighing in contentment. It was only then she noted that he was wearing his dress uniform. “Don’t tell me—some veterans affair you need to attend for ‘princely’ duties.”

Shining shrugged as he draped a foreleg over his wife’s neck. “Yeah, both that and as acting captain of the Crystal Empire guard—tonight’s the night I announce the lucky winner who I get to pass that fun job to as I make them the actual guard captain.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, in all fairness I’m sure this stallion is going to do a fine job.” He then stepped back and cleared his throat, mock-announcing in his faux-deep tone: “‘Please, step forward, Pvt. Flash Sent–’”

“You are not!” gasped Cadence. “Shining Armor, I cannot in good faith allow you to name such a lousy excuse for a guard that he lost to me in a drinking contest some months back as the first guard captain the Crystal Empire has had since I—sorry, we—took the throne!” Her scowl melted at the sight of Shining doubled over in laughter.

“Shining!” she scolded.

He laughed again at her consternation. “Cady, Flash is a private. And admittedly I’m considering promoting him to corporal—he’s a good guardspony, even if he can’t hold his liquor. But he’s an enlisted pony, not an officer—I couldn’t make him captain even if I tried!”

“Oh, good, I thought I was going to have to get physical with you for that.”

“Well, as much as it would be a blessing for a divine beauty like my wife to repeatedly strike her hoof back and forth on my face,” chortled Shining, knowing Cadence would never lift a hoof against him in anger, “I’m afraid I must dissuade her from the notion I was at all serious about that.” He smiled. “Besides, I have different plans for Pvt. Sentry.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“The platoon sergeant over at Icespire Garrison has caught a serious case of strephorn, and the doctors said she’s going to be out of commission for a few weeks. Lt. Cordon suggested that we temporarily detail Pvt. Sentry out there as part of his promotion potential. He’ll serve as acting sergeant until Sgt. Backblast is back on her hooves. He then added, “As for who the new captain was going to be, I still have to discuss that with the Security Council––”

A flash appeared between them, trace motes of yellow magic fading as Cadence’s blue aura appeared around it. “Huh, it’s a letter from Auntie Celestia,” remarked Cadence, who proceeded to read the note. “Ohmigosh…Shining, remember Sunset Shimmer?”

“Yeah, wasn’t she the mare you threatened to kill when she came back to kill Raspberry Beryl or something, then you mentioned maybe last month she’s now a princess for some reason?”

“Yes, that’s the one; her coronation is in a few weeks but Twily thought it prudent that Sunset spend some time among the populace of Ponyville for a week before all that pomp and circumstance happens. Apparently, she’s in Canterlot right now….”

Shining knew that tone. “And?” he asked.

Cadance gave a small, awkward smile. “Well, ever since her last visit it’s been on my mind that she and I are actually about the same age and…” She sighed. “Maybe I could have helped prevent what happened to her years back if I’d reached out and been a big sister figure to her like I’ve always been to Twily.”

“Going to be hard to be a ‘big sister’ if you’re the same age as her,” Shining observed.

“You know what I mean. Seriously, we both lived in the castle and I saw Blueblood more often than her.” Cadance’s face took on a guilty cast as she said, “We could have been the best of friends, like sisters—or at least like cousins. Don’t get me wrong, Shiny, I’m not saying I’m completely to blame for what happened, but—”

Shining knew that look in his wife’s eyes and realized arguing was a moot point. “Well, it’s not like anything I say is going to dissuade you from doing what I think you’re going to do,” smirked Shining.

“Dammit honey, you know me too well.”

“Don’t be gone too long, okay? These dinners do end and the weather forecast said it’s going to be chilly tonight.”

“This Empire is situated in the frozen fucking north, that’s pretty much true every night.” Cadence then winked as she added. “But if Shiny needs a bedwarmer…I’ll see if I’m flexible later…” Then with a brilliant blue flash, she was gone.

Hot damn… thought Shining; I actually would seriously divorce her. Just so I could propose to her a second time.

The scene awaiting Twilight, Razz, and Heelee within Castle Canterlot was somewhere between almost expected and yet bizarre, depending on what each of them had seen in the recent past. Having been quickly relocated through some quick teleportation magic courtesy of Celestia and Luna, the trio found them, the newly-arrived Sunset Shimmer, and three earth ponies of light citrine, baby blue, and lilac coloration trying their best to keep calm.

“Looks like she brought the gunbunnies,” Razz laughed. “Heya, girls. Long time no see.”

Sonata Dusk turned to her friend and said in whining tones, “Razz, fix this! Sunny promised me I’d be a pegasus!”

“No, Soni, I said there’s a chance you’d be a pegasus, since you like to fool everyone into thinking you’re an airhead,” Sunset teased.

“Oh. Okay,” Sonata replied with a grin.

Aria Blaze tried to walk over on unsteady legs, grateful that Razz met her halfway. “It’s great to see you again, Razz,” she commented.

“Good to see both of you again,” Razz said, going over and hugging both. She then looked at Adagio. “And you as well, Dagi.”

“Too bad I can’t say the same,” Adagio said with clenched teeth.

“Dagi,” Sunset warned.

“Fine, fine,” the teen relented. “Besides, my duty to protect you takes precedence regardless of the situation, and sadly, this is the situation. I just have to get used to it, is all.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Dagi,” she repeated herself.

“Capt.t Dazzle, if you please, your highness,” Adagio commented. “We’re on the clock right now.”

“You know I don’t like this. You three are my cousins.”

“No, we’re only your cousins off the clock; when we’re on the clock, we’re your guards, and you’re our liegelady. We agreed to this, and we were ordered to do this by her majesty. So that’s what we’re going to do. Besides, after your little stunt two weeks ago, I’m sure you don’t want Aunt Velvet to find out you were being uncooperative, right?”

“That’s not fair,” Sunset accused.

“My job is to protect you. Fair doesn’t come into the equation,” Adagio replied.

Just then, the door to the ballroom swung open, through which came Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and three of the castle’s maids. Suspiciously, they looked almost similar to the three SIRENs assigned as Sunset’s protective detail, right down to the same colors—but they were all dressed as maids.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said they were young, your majesty!” gawked the magenta pony, whose mane was a mirror image of Aria’s normal hairstyle.

“Well, looks like you were right,” said the blue pony with the ponytailed mane that sounded exactly like Sonata as she looked at the other two. “Looks like we are gaining somewhat of a fan club.”

Celestia looked at her daughter. “Given the appearance of your guards, I thought it would be prudent if they met some of my newest Hooves, if for no other reason than to clear any potential misunderstandings.”

“Indeed,” said the golden pony, proceeding to bow, the other two hooves bowing with her. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Sunset.”

“She is a princess,” interrupted ponified Adagio, looking offended. “You dare disrespect her by merely referring to her as a lady?”

“Cool it, Adagio,” said Razz, having easily figured out why Princess Celestia had brought in the counterparts of the triplets. She then turned to the trio apologetically. “You’ll have to forgive her—she isn’t familiar with the Hooves’ traditions.”

“But they’re just maids!” observed Aria. “Isn’t it insubordination or something for them not to—?” A glare from Princess Twilight silenced her.

Celestia chuckled. “I’m sure everypony here wants an explanation, no?” Everypony nodded. “Well, truth be told, Sunset, I’d had my suspicions when you said Mother had appointed three ‘sirens’ to be your bodyguards, because you see…I also have sirens as my bodyguards.”

“Sirens?” Sunset asked. “I certainly don’t recall anything about siren bodyguards, Mother. I mean, you told me about the Hooves being your hidden bodyguards, but sirens?”

“I’m in agreement with Sunny,” added Twilight, who looked between the three SIRENs and the three maids brought in by the elder alicorns. “Given what Sunset’s told me about her world having highly-trained soldiers, it makes sense their counterparts are members of the Hooves, but sirens?”

“I will explain, if you’ll give me a chance,” Celestia said, feeling briefly sad about being reminded about yet another failure when it came to her daughter; worse, as it added her current protegee in the mix as well.

Luna, thankfully, took charge of the situation. “Miss Dazzle, Miss Blaze, and Miss Dusk, if you would be so kind?” said Luna. The three maids nodded, then as a cohesive group they trotted purposefully into the middle of the ballroom.

“What the…” said Dagi, confused, voicing what everypony was thinking, but then felt something…strange occur when the three maids who bore so much similarity to herself and her sisters started to vocalize in a seductive tone. Previously unnoticed ruby pendants around the necks of the three maids started to glow, then in unison promptly exploded as the maids’ voices rose, causing a blinding flash. Spontaneously, out from the flash shot out three serpentine forms, which proceeded to circle around the top of the ballroom before settling down to the ground. The transmogrified humans were aghast—they’d not been prepared to meet their own pony world counterparts so soon, or even had conceived of the fact that their ponyworld counterparts weren’t ponies, but something uncomfortably close to what their late compatriots had become thanks to their traitorous leader. Instinctively, three arms went for their sidearms...until they realized that the arms were forelegs and that none of them were weaponized.

“Well…this explains a lot!” remarked Razz.

“It really shouldn’t be that big a surprise, all things considered,” said the ruby-wearing Adagio, before turning to address the SIRENs. “I’m assuming that in your native forms, you’re a trio of highly-trained individuals who were taught to handle just about any kind of situation?”

“Uh…y-yeah…” the SIRENs replied as one, clearly taken abackby the situation.

The siren Aria nodded appreciatively. “Quick on the draw with those swordhooves. I’m betting if you were in your native forms, you would’ve had those blades out before we even finished transforming.”

The elder Sonata chuckled. “Figures. Your highness?” she addressed Celestia, “Would you care to explain? I fear if we try to do so, it might drive these three into further shock, since it’s not everyday you meet yourself in such a literal sense.”

“Speak for yourself,” Sunset muttered, and Twilight giggled.

“Certainly, Miss Dusk,” Celestia commented, ignoring her daughter’s aside before addressing the ponies who were still recovering from this new revelation. “As I’m sure you all can see, these young mares are sirens themselves—siren of course meaning the kind of creature they are, not a designation of a specialized group of warriors as they had been in the human world. However, in their line of work they take up the duties of the castle’s maid staff and are known as the Princesses’ Hooves, always being around to protect me and other nobility.”

Siren Sonata nodded. “That’s right—normally, sirens like us are native only to the Isles of Sirenia, nowadays a popular tourist getaway like Hoofalulu. But a few centuries ago, we were relatively isolated from Equestia, which was a problem as we sirens are a completely female species who needed to capture Equestriani stallions to mate with in order to breed—and no, despite the rumors we ate them, there is no actual record of doing that. Like I said, we’re really mostly vegetarians, and the stallions were let go after their duties were, ahem, filled.

“But to some sirens, they saw this as being subservient to the Equestrians in some way, and so decided to go and stage an invasion. The self-proclaimed ‘Queen of the Sirens’ Cantata Blast, with her three subordinates Contralto Rush, Medley Trance, and Canizone Burst, basically took over our entire civilization by force. Then she went and used her own people to attack Equestria to conquer it. Fortunately, our singing magic has a substantially reduced effect on mares, so things didn’t go quite as smoothly as Cantata wanted, as did the fact she hadn’t counted on the Equestrians being keen on prisoner taking.”

“From that, the captured sirens revealed to the ponies that this whole thing was not a collective choice,” continued Princess Celestia, “but Cantata having enslaved her own species against their will. As you can imagine, I was furious to hear of such gross tyranny on an otherwise peaceful culture, realizing this potential war needed to be fought not only for the sake of my ponies, but of the innocent sirens whose blood was being spilled to reach the goals of another.

“So I challenged Cantata to an honorable duel, one-on-one, to end this charade, and unsurprisingly Cantata was not as strong as she wanted to make others believe in comparison to me. Thus, she broke her honor by calling upon her three subordinates, and I in turn overpowered them all; casting them to the deepest parts of the ocean, locked in ice, for eternity.

”With the incident dealt with, brokering peace amusingly boiled down to addressing the problem of sirens raiding Equestrian shipping for mates, which they also admitted they merely had no other option of sustaining their species and were willing to work with me on solving. Thus, peace was achieved by establishing diplomatic relations with Sirenia and their new leader; Princess Chorale Aria, and the introduction of tourism to their home eliminating the piracy for mates.

“But Cantata had done more than nearly ruin her entire native culture with her warmongering, for many of the sirens forced to fight on Equestriani shores, their lives in Sirenia were gone. Families murdered, homes razed, they had nothing to go back to. So in turn, they took it upon themselves to uphold their code of honor, as I had unintentionally brought the entire siren species into my debt by saving them from Cantata, and thus pledged themselves to defend me as I had defended them. At the same time, getting maid service for the castle was a huge problem, which the sirens solved by simply becoming my maids. Thus, the Hooves were created, with their descendants continuing that service to this day.”

“Huh, that...kinda sounds like us,” said SIREN Dagi. “At least, we had been soldiers for a government that had betrayed and used us before we came to serve the princess who, in a way, liberated us.”.

“I still find it hard to believe that creatures so young were soldiers,” said the siren Aria.

“It’s kind of a tragic story,” admitted SIREN Aria, “but my sisters and I? We’re probably the only ones left from the SIREN group—that used to stand for ‘Strategic Intervention, Reconnaissance and Execution Network’—”

“Execution? But you’re just fillies!” the siren Sonata gasped.

“We were part of an illegal program operated by our former country,” SIREN Adagio continued. “SIREN is—was—a top-secret branch of the Royal Canadian Navy. As for us, we’re the last three left of the active group, and only because we were assigned to be Princess Sunset’s escorts.”

“Does that still apply given the timeshift?” Sonata asked her sister.

“I don’t know. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it,” Aria admitted.

The human Adagio continued to recap the fall of the SIREN program for the benefit of their counterparts, sparing none of the unpleasant details. From Cantata Blast’s alliance with the human responsible for Sunset’s death (Twilight had made sure Sunset had told the trio to never mention Divine Right by name while in Equestria), to their experiments to turn their soldiers into monsters. She spoke of finding out it had been Cantata who had carried out the hit on their flag officer, and lied about it to turn them into her personal army. Finally, Adagio spoke of fighting their fellow SIRENs, capping it off with their execution of Cantata herself after the battle.

“Cantata Blast, hmmm?” asked siren Adagio, her brow furrowing. “I’m not surprised she turned traitor, given what her counterpart in this world did.”

“It gets a bit complicated after that,” Dagi stated: “But the long story short is that under the command of a new flag officer, and charged by Sunset’s grandmother to watch over her, we agreed to transfer our flag over to the Royal Equestrian Navy. With my princess’ permission, we’re hoping to rebuild the SIRENs as an elite volunteer unit.”

“Would anypony even join a division called the ‘Strategic Intervention, Reconnaissance and Execution Network’?”

“No, because we came up with a new name for the acronym: Special Initiative, Royal Equestrian Navy. We’re hoping that between our main duties of protecting Sunny and family, and the secondary duties of serving as super-elite REN SPECOPS, that we’ll be able to find a happy medium.”

“Speck Cops?” siren Adagio asked, puzzled at the term.

“Ren?” siren Sonata added.

“REN SPECOPS,” Razz repeated. “It’s an abbreviation for Royal Equestrian Naval Special Operations. Humans abbreviate everything and their military personnel are exceptionally prone to that.”

“Oh! So like what those purple Wonderbolts are?” siren Aria asked.

“Purple Wonderbolts?” Sunset, not familiar with them, asked.

“That’s...a matter for another time,” said Luna, evidently trying to change the subject.

Just then, Sunset’s stomach growled. “Ugh,” she moaned, “I forgot how that stupid mirror makes me feel famished.” She then noticed her three bodyguard cousins didn’t look any worse for wear. “Okay, like, the first time I went through the mirror, it felt like I hadn’t eaten anything in my entire life—was it some weird SIREN training thing where you actually don’t need to eat so much as you perform osmosis or photosynthesis type shenanigans and get nutrients from the air or something?”

“We can go twenty-one days without food so long as there’s water available,” said Dagi with a perfectly straight face.

“We’ve been trained to get sustenance from the land if necessary,” Aria added.

“No thanks!” Sonata chimed in. “Don’t think I could go a day without Burrito Bandito!”.

“Burrito Bandito?” asked siren Sonata.

“Think Burger Princess,” quickly answered Twilight, “except based on Burroñeso food,”

Siren Aria winced at the mention of the example. “Oh, really? I think if I had the special sauce again from Burger Princess it might just kill me;—it was absolute murder on my throat. Couldn’t vocalize for days—it was horrible.”

“I’m sure Sunset and her entourage can tell you all about food that won’t impact your singing over some not-fast-food, for I do believe it is lunchtime,” interrupted Princess Luna. “Ladies, if you would be so kind?”

Instantly, the three sirens seemed to hum a single note, before their ruby pendants flashed and returned them to their usual pony maid disguises. “Right away, your majesty!” they replied in unison, before rapidly taking off. They’d not been gone but a second before another flash—this time a bright blue one—spontaneously occurred and left Princess Cadence standing in plain view...if hunched over, gasping for breath counted as “standing”.

“I’m not...gasp...late...wheeze...for anything, am I?” she asked, slightly out of breath as though she’d just physically exerted herself a bit too hard.

“No, you’re just in time for lunch, as a matter of fact,” cheerily replied Celestia, glad to see her beloved young ones all present. Though she wouldn’t admit it outright, she felt like she was on Cloud Nine—and it had been a while since she’d been to that particular pegasus nightclub, especially in disguise.

“Sheesh, not even been here an hour and everypony’s rushing to see me,” chuckled Sunset.

“Oh, I’m sure you two will be seeing a lot of each other in the following week,” cryptically mused Celestia, before tactically choosing that moment to follow Luna out the door before more questions could be asked of her.

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ah, yes, I probably should explain,” said Cadence. “See, you and I are about the same age—well, I think, not sure how that works out given you say you aren’t even physically over age seventeen in the human world—but I feel that small part of what caused you to turn against Auntie Celestia is my fault since I was around the castle a lot during that time and I should have been more proactive in being somepony else you could rely on in our foalhood years.”

“Don’t worry about that too much,” comforted Sunset. “There’s a human saying that hindsight is 25/25 or something like that. Basically, it means we can’t change what we did in the past, but recognize how we need to learn from our mistakes for our future.”

“Uh...sure, I guess? Anyway, the point is that you’re here now and so while you’re back in Equestria, I’m going to do my best to make it up to you and be the best. Cousin. EVER.”

“Oh, er...yay?”

“Hey, wait, if she’s your cousin...does that mean she’s now our cousin as well?” Sonata asked..

“Well, we’re going to protect her like we are going to protect her highness,” replied Dagi, ever the professional. Turning to Aria, she said, “XO, reevaluate our protective plans to include a second asset, if you please.”

Aria nodded, “Recheck OPLAN aye, Captain.”

“Yeah, great…” Sunset groaned as she facehoofed. Twilight merely giggled.

Razz on the other hoof simply shrugged. “Hey, consider yourself lucky, Sunny. You’ve got more family members by the hour it seems. I’ve only got the one distant cousin.” The three alicorns looked at the unicorn, and Razz suddenly felt a bit on the defensive, “Yeah,” she laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head as she added, “kinda forgot to mention that, didn’t I? Guess we’ll be talking about that at lunch, huh?”

Comments

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

Looks good, as always.

Looking forward, with much anticipation, to Chapter 15.

[RolkFlameraven]

Wondering if the human trio can swap forms too.

Sunny keeps getting family, though in Cadence's defence, she is Sunset's cousy by... Well double adoption, right?

So all of this craziness to get Coco was all to get Sunset? I can understand why a changing would try to steal that love, if Shinning was such a power up, what would Celestia be like?

Did I get that right? Because, yes I can see it working if you can get around Razz and Twi. Sunset has been gone for a long time. But with the triplets? This is going to get interesting.

Will say "rose of humanity" after reading some of Sombra's book does not give me warm and fuzzys though!

[Shinzakura]

9333283
Coincidence. "Rose of Humanity" is an honorific that goes along with her title as Alicorn of Earth. Doesn't have anything to do with the Broken Rose.

(Besides, if Sunny knew about that, she'd probably try to find a way to resurrect Sombra so she could obliterate him again.)

[dvdspires]

physically over age seventeen in the human world

Physically over the age of seventeen in the human world.

[Shinzakura]

9333661
Either version is correct. Just depends on what variant of English you're using, and not all of us here at the BV are Americans (Flynt is tragically Canadian, and Flash is Dutch.)