63
Aegis Flare yawned as she slowly awoke from her night's rest, looking around blearily. It took her a moment to remember, but she eventually recognized the room she had been staying in for the past week in Canterlot where she and her friends were learning from Luna and Cadance their duties as a princess. The seven new princesses had made it through the last week, and starting today they would all be helping hold Court with the two other princesses, during the four hour period when the Night and Day courts overlapped. This would last for the next week which would then have them alternating between the two to get the full experience.
Still, the mare had to admit that there were some advantages to being in Canterlot as she had complete access to the guard training grounds. In fact she decided to head out to check on them now that she had some spare time, patting Scarlett on the head as she passed by her perch. She decided to head towards the Royal Guard training grounds instead of the Black Guard's, just to see if there had been any changes since she was last there.
This led her to be disappointed when she arrived as she saw no real changes since she was last there. She was about to leave towards the Black Guard training grounds, when her ears caught the sound of sparring, yet it didn't sound quite right to her. Following the sound, she soon came to an enclosed area which caused her to slowly raise an eyebrow.
“Training golems? Those are new.” She sat back and watched a couple of the guards spar with the stone ponies, and frowned as they seemed to be struggling against rather amateur movements. She winced as she saw one of them take a double-hoofed buck to the chest and go flying into the wall. The pony only shook his head and stood back up as if the heavy hit was only a light tap, making the curious princess realize that there must have been a spell in the area to prevent injuries.
With a shrug, she moves up to one of the operators for the golems and indicates that she wants to give it a try. After a bit of arguing, she gets the level set to max, while the guard shakily sends a recruit to get one of the drill instructors. Standing in the starting ring, Aegis Flare, breathes in deeply before rearing back onto her hind legs and settles into a two-legged stance, with one forehoof in front of her and the other angled off to the side.
“Sir! Sir! Corporal Punishment says to tell you that there might be a problem at the golem arenas. One of the princesses just entered and set the system to its highest level.” The drill sergeant groaned and muttered something about 'stupid nobles' when he realized just what the private had said.
“Wait, which princess?” The private glanced back before informing him who caused him to smile.
“Well now that changes things. After what she did last time she was here this may be interesting. FALL IN!” For the last he turned to the recruits and privates that were currently training in different activities, causing them to jump and surprise and look over in confusion as it was much too early to quit for the morning. This did not stop them from quickly putting their equipment away and forming up in front of the smirking form of the drill instructor. With a couple more commands he had them following over to observe the princess as she began to spar against the fresh training golem. The instructor's eyes widened when he saw the stance the bat-winged princess was in.
“Well now this will be interesting. Pay attention and maybe a few of you will learn something as it's not everyday you see someone that knows the core martial arts of any of the pony tribes.” With that he turned his attention back to the princess, hoping to see what he could learn himself from the spar.
Aegis Flare carefully watched the stone figure advance towards her with heavy steps. It slowly picked up speed before it was barreling at her at a galloping pace, causing the princess to frown at it. Sliding a hoof around as it neared, she quickly spun around to its side before slamming the golems head into the ground with her right hoof and leaping back in case it tried to counter.
The golem twitched as it stared at the ground in front of it as it tried to register what had just happened to it. It actually took it ten seconds before it slowly rose to its hooves once again, leaving the watching drill instructor to facehoof at it. Craning its head around, the stone pony soon found the princess a short distance away and turned towards her for another attack. What followed could be described more as a slaughter than a spar as Aegis Flare continued to use the same move every time her opponent neared as it failed to be able to register just what was happening to it.
After ten minutes of this, the bat-winged mare sighed in disappointment and signaled to the operator to shut down the golem. Walking out of the small arena, her eyebrow lifted at the gathered guards before shrugging to herself and heading back to her room. Once she was out of sight the drill instructor turned to the gathered ponies.
“Now if any of you can pull of something a tenth as good as that then maybe you'll have what it takes to even think of becoming an officer. Now then, all of you back to work! Move it! Move it! Move it!” As he chased the recruits and privates back to what they were doing, the instructor looked back at the sparring rings with a frown before shaking his head at how badly they had done. They may have been new, but they should not have just froze like that in the face of one of the three pony martial art styles.
Back in the palace, Aegis Flare cleaned up back in her room before joining the rest of the princesses in the dining room for breakfast. Unsurprisingly, she was the last to arrive except for Luna who wouldn't be awake until around lunch. With Celestia on vacation, that left Cadance in her place as she was down from the Crystal Empire to help the new princesses get settled in.
“Well now that we are all here we can finally discuss just what is going to be expected of you the next few days.” Waving a hoof to one of the servants, she signaled for them to take their orders before they all began. Once they were placed, she turned to the group with a small smile directed at the last to arrive.
“First, I hear from the instructors for the Guard that you have been showing off again. It seems that some of the recruits have been disheartened by your example, though there are some that they have said are working even harder.” She stops to hear what the darker orange mare has to say who just shrugs in reply.
“I thought that those sparring golems they had would have at least been a challenge, but they ended up being rather disappointing. I think even the physically weakest of the black guard could have taken them on without much trouble. Though I really need to practice that style more often, it managed to nick me a couple of times still. Hopefully, I can find who came up with them, though. I want to see if I can get one with a few ideas added into it.” Cadance blinked a few times as she tried to guess what she would need one for and came up blank. Shaking her head she looked back around at the others.
“Anyways, just please try and be a bit more careful when you show off like that. Shiny has been complaining about there not being enough ponies getting through the Guard training. Now as for the second thing, today you will all be sitting in on the Night and Day Courts for the next week.” The newer princesses nodded, with only Twilight rolling her eyes.
“So pretty much what Princess Celestia always had me doing as well as what we've been doing the last few months?” The pink pony princess just smirked at her sister-in-law.
“Yes, but this time you are not going to be having your head stuck in a book the entire time. Also Any decisions will be made by all of you before I give them out in a manner that they will expect, instead of like before where you offered your opinions yet Aunty Celestia or Luna still decided.” Her comeback drew laughter from the others as Twilight blushed, knowing that she couldn't argue about it. When the mirth around the table settled, Cadance looked around one more time to see if there were any questions. Seeing none, she settled into her chair and proceeded to finish her breakfast before they had to head out to the throne room.
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When the Day Court began, things already went in a direction that most of them weren't expecting. As most of them were expecting, as soon as the first petitioner entered the room, Pinkie Pie was up in her face babbling away. What they weren't expecting though, was for the mare to just walk on by her as if she wasn't even there. With a sigh Cadance pulled the other pink mare back to the cushion set up for her before explaining as the mare began to speak.
“I forgot to mention, Auntie has a spell on this room making it so that many of her actions are hidden. Anything outside of what is expected of a princess is ignored, while something like that will make you practically invisible. You'll understand why she did this soon enough.” It actually didn't take them long as the first petitioner was exactly the type of pony the spell was for and they found out at the end of her long rant.
“...and that is why it would be best if that old orphanage was torn down to make way for my fabulous new pool.” The newer princesses could only stare at the noble mare blankly as Cadance brought a hoof up to her face.
“Wait, she can't be serious, can she?” Cadance could only nod at Rainbow Dash as she could already feel a migraine coming on, having had to deal with issues like this for the past week already. With a sigh she gave what had become the most used answer she had for ponies like this having seen the rejection in their response and not needing a discussion.
“We shall consider your proposal and get back to you as soon as we investigate the issue.” The mare nodded and trotted away smiling, while Cadance rubbed at her head.
“Well, at least the worst is over. I mean the rest can't be as bad as that one, right?” The pink princess gave Fluttershy a deadpan look before sighing.
“Oh, you have no idea.” From then until lunch it was a line of pony petitioners, many with issues just as bad if not worse than the first.
“...So in conclusion, an expenditure of bits on my project will help stave off my impending lack of cheese.”
“...he said yes but now I need a new dress!”
“...Free Destiny! Free Destiny!”
“...I'm here to refill my rash cream medication.”
“I feeeeel sooooo bluuuuuuuuue!”
After the last one, which happened to be the fifth song of the day for Rainbow Dash, the court broke for lunch where they were joined by a weary looking Luna in her pajamas. Throughout the past few months they had gotten used to the night princess' habits and how she wasn't in a condition to socialize until after her first cup of coffee. After procuring it, the dark blue mare noticed the lighter blue princess banging her head on the table and raised an eyebrow in question.
“Ahh, it seems that many of Rainbow Dash's... fans... have come been showing up again to try to serenade her.” Luna looked thoughtful as the embarrassed mare growled at the rest of the table.
“Why is it only me anyways?! How come none of you ever seem to have these creeps pining after you?” While the rest of the mares shrugged, Luna looked at her more closely before nodding in remembrance.
“This happening sounds familiar to me as it is much like what happened with my sister. Discord made what is called the Royal Maiden's Curse that causes many to attempt to woo those under its effects. All those of royal blood that have not felt the intimate touch of another are inundated with a multitude of suitors.” Rainbow Dash just stared blankly at the elder princess before her head fell to the table with a thump once again.
“Are you telling me that this is all because of some stupid prank that Discord set up over a thousand years ago? What the buck was the point of that?” Luna smirked as she thought back to one of the few times back when she first faced the spirit and was actually entertained by his antics.
“I believe his exact words were, 'Sunbutt really needs to get laid.'” This got a combination of chuckles and eye-rolls from around the table while Rainbow Dash once again face-planted into the table.
“Seriously? All these annoying colts keep bothering me just because of a stupid joke of Discord's?! Ugh, when I get my hooves on him, I'll...” She trailed off as she began pouting over her predicament while the others watched on. Cadance tilts her head in curiosity as she examines the mare.
“So why haven't you actually done anything about it? It can't be that hard for you to find a stallion or mare with how attractive you are, and even before your change.” The cyan pegasus groaned at the love princess' comment before turning a glare on her.
“I keep telling ponies that I'll do it when I'm ready. I'm not just going to get with the first pony I'd see, otherwise I'd be with Cloud Kicker. I at least want somepony as awesome as I am before I even think about sleeping with them.” With that the former pegasus turned away from the others with her front legs crossed as she started pouting. This wasn't the first time she had gone through something like this and she was starting to get tired of others trying to push her into something she wasn't ready for. In fact, the mentioned pony was probably the worst of her friends to bother her over it and after becoming an alicorn there was no way in Tartarus that she was going to feed her ego even more.
“As interesting as this all is, isn't it nearly time for the mixed court to begin?” Looking at the time, the others realized that Aegis Flare was right, and they had about twenty minutes until it began. Those that hadn't finished eating quickly shoveled their food down, while Applejack, who had already finished, just snorted at the mare.
“Why do ya even care? Ya barely even said anything during tha morning court and had yer nose stuck in all that paper ya had with ya.” The bat-winged mare just shrugged as the other princesses looked at her, the two elder ones with a glare at her not paying attention.
“I kept up with most of it, not like there was anything important to pay attention to. Well except for that one stallion requesting help for his business. He has a lot of wasted spending on things he doesn't need, as well as he is overpaying for his supplies. If someone could send him this he won't even need extra funds.” The other princesses stared at her blankly for a moment before Cadance looked the documents over. Finding nothing out of place, as much as she could understand at least, the princess passed them to a nearby guard and sighed.
“You do know that we have ponies that can take care of things like this, right? They could probably even do it even faster as well so you don't waste an entire morning like today.” The other princess just gives her a strange look.
“Actually, I finished it about ten minutes after he had left. Much of what I was working on was reports from the Black Guard.” She continued to talk as they all started making their way towards the throne room.
“Lately, there have been some kind of strange sickness going around affecting unicorns. It was only a few at first, but the numbers are starting to grow so I've had to put some more focus on it. From the sounds of it, there may be some being spreading it so I've been putting some of the best on it.” Luna frowned as something sounded familiar about the problem, but shook it off as they began entering the throne room and took up their seats.
The afternoon petitions were much like the morning group as they brought in complaints and requests that were as trivial as ever, with only a couple real requests. At the mid-point of the afternoon court, a guard ran in past all the waiting ponies and stood panting before the throne. All eyes were on him as he tried to catch his breath, the current petitioner glaring, before he pulled a large gem and held it before him.
“Princesses, urgent message from the north! Code Level: Black!” Most of the ponies in the room looked worried at his words, except for four of the princesses. Luna, Aegis Flare, and Rarity knew that their wasn't much to worry about as the code was for general messages, yet still something to check on right away. Pinkie Pie wasn't worried either, but there really wasn't much that could get to her.
“Guards! Clear the room, court has been suspended until Night Court!” There was a bit of grumbling from the nobles as they were ushered out, but the room was soon cleared. Once they she was sure that the room was clear, Luna put up an isolation field to prevent any sound from leaving the room.
“So does anypony know what this emergency is all about?” The three princesses that have the most direct actions with the Black Guard glance at each other before quietly letting the darker orange mare explain.
“Well it shouldn't be anything disastrous judging by the code used, but the area is worrying. There aren't many agents up north but what is concerning is that one of the teams are under an active Requiem Order.” She got a bunch of blank stares at the term before she sighed and rubbed a hoof at her temple.
“Right, you haven't heard. My mother decided to take off with that 'song' comment a while back and changed all the mission codes into ones based on musical terms. She even calls all the agents her little 'Songs' or 'Songbirds' depending on the situation. A Requiem Order is just as it sounds, it's a death order.” Gasps were heard from many of the princesses not knowing the meaning, with Rarity looking sad but not surprised over it. Before any of the others could complain the mare continued.
“This isn't something done lightly and is usually the last resort. When they tried diplomacy, they were immediately attacked just because they were female, but as they were escaping they found something alarming. This kingdom of caribou were planning on invading Equestria to enslave all the females they came across and had built a device that would corrupt all the leylines in the country.” The princesses just learning of this let out gasps of horror, though none were as horrified as Twilight.
“But that's just insane! If they did something like that then after a few years all of Equestria would become uninhabitable as the very magic in the land dies! How could a group even think to do something like that to a place they want to conquer!?” Aegis Flare shrugged as she looked at the gem waiting for them.
“I have no idea, but there may be something in their report.” Nods went all around as Luna started funneling mana into the gem, allowing it to connect with the one trying to contact them. Soon an image began to form over it as the image of a fluffy, white, chow chow breed of diamond dog appeared. If she looked surprised to see a majority of the princesses gathered for her report she didn't show it as she saluted.
“Your highnesses! The mission is complete with a few... complications.” Rarity's eyebrow rose at the wording as it should have been rather simple to remove the targets that she knew of considering the skills of the two on said mission.
“Complications?” The bitch sighed as she glanced towards somewhere outside of the projection before shaking her head.
“While the targets have been... neutralized... there was an issue with disabling the 'Mana Bomb' as it has been called. You see, Tempest decided to get involved.” The three alicorns that knew all of the current Black Guard members groaned and rubbed at their temples in irritation.
“What's the damage then? She never does things half-way when she gets involved.” The dog sighed as she looked away from them once again.
“Well let's just say that you won't have to worry about the caribou doing anything for a very long time. At least as long as it takes them to rebuild the population... and the entire city... and... FIZZLEPOP BERRYTWIST! You put that skull down right now and...! Wait! No, don't cry, I'm sorry I yelled at you and... I'll have to finish my report later, your highnesses. Fluffykins, signing off. Come on Fizzie, come here and get a hug.” The last thing the group of princesses saw before the image went dark, was a dark orchid mare crawling towards the dog. When they saw her broken horn those having not seen her before gasped in horror.
“Oh my goodness! What happened to her? And who is this Tempest pony she was talking about?” Aegis Flare shook her head sadly as she moved to pick up the gem before retaking her seat.
“That unicorn is both Fizzlepop Berrytwist, as Tempest Shadow. She was one of the ponies that we released from prison because of bribery from Manifest Destiny and those connected with him.” Applejack raised a hoof at the name causing her to pause and allow the farm mare to speak.
“Wait, isn't that the varmint that those ponies earlier were wanting us ta free? And wasn't he tha one that almost caused that war in Appleloosa?” Aegis Flare nodded before she glanced over to Luna.
“Yeah, though I'm not sure what all came from that yet. I haven't been keeping track of that at all. Luna would probably know more.” The elder princess sighed before shaking her head.
“Unfortunately, nothing has been settled yet regarding him.” She raised a hoof to forestall any complaints.
“The problem is that there is still so much we are investigating that we do not have the full picture of his treachery. Already we have enough to imprison him for life, but we still do not know how many followed him willingly and how many were forced into doing his work. As the information comes out the ponies are put on watch, but only the worst have been apprehended though much of our information points to connections outside of Equestria, most which have vanished if they ever existed in the first place.” Applejack snorted as Luna explained the situation.
“Well that snake better hope that ah never have ta meet him. Nopony messes with mah family. But back to that unicorn, how can a pony have more than one name?” The other orange pony looked away slightly as she ran a hoof over the communication gem.
“She was one of the unlucky few locked away. The pony that put her away had her locked in isolation for almost a decade. He was the only one that she saw the entire time and... I refuse to go into detail about what happened, but she had a daughter because of him and her mind broke after she managed to break out and leave her daughter with her sister in Ponyville.” The room went silent as the others processed this and slowly looks of horror grew over their faces at the implications. Anger crept into the bat-winged mare's voice as she continued.
“She barely could function on her own when we found her but Agent Fluffykins has done a lot putting her mind back together. Right now there is probably little more that can be done to help her, but she has been left with two distinct personalities. Fizzlepop who is much like how her sister described her as a filly, though still growing, and Tempest, who came about to protect her mind. Tempest is the one that convinced Fizzlepop to join the Black Guard and has been coming out less and less often. When she does though it tends to get messy. Hopefully, she will be ready to be reunited with her family, but at least she won't have to worry about seeing that... THING... again. Once we found out what happened to her he was immediately arrested and was thrown into Tartarus itself.” There were no arguments about the punishment being too severe as the crime was something that they would have thought unthinkable so there were no other punishments that they felt would have fit.
“So that Diamond Dog, Fluffkins, has been with her ever since she was rescued?” The three in charge of the Black Guard nodded to Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, it was my idea. After seeing what Sombra had done to the Crystal Ponies I had been looking into ways to heal mental damage and training mind healers. Sometimes they aren't enough, though, and we have found assigning a compatible companion to them works better. I've seen her file and until recently she hasn't been able to trust other ponies. Since Fluffykins was raised by ponies she was the best match we had at the time.” Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly to Cadance before she frowned.
“I guess that explains her name as well. I was going to make fun of it, but with what she is doing I can't help but respect her.” Rainbow Dash's words earned her a few glares, but the others nodded at her last point.
“Since the issue has concluded, for now, I guess we should break early for dinner before you all join Auntie Luna for Night Court.” With nods all around, the group followed Cadance as they moved out to the dining room once again. After a quick meal the newer princesses were back in court under the watch of the second eldest of them all.
“...and for just three simple donation you will never again have to worry about twittermites ever again.”
“...that pony stepped on my dress! I demand you punish him, now!”
“...I swear that she was a changeling a moment ago! You have to believe me!”
“Is every court like this? I haven't seen so many crazy ponies since Twilight enchanted that doll.” Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash for the comment as a slight blush overtook her face.
“Unfortunately, the ponies of this time are much softer than they used to be. A thousand years ago court was only for important problems that needed input from my sister or me. While it is good for us to keep track of our pony's issues, I still disagree with Celestia's decision to let any of them come to us whenever they wish.” Twilight looks thoughtful for a moment before pulling out an empty scroll.
“There is a lot of wasted time because of that, true. And many of the issues should be going to the courts first anyways before it comes before a princess. Not only that, but it is not even guaranteed that we could handle the issue without checking with the others or doing research first. I doubt Rainbow Dash would know much about a magical issue, but ask her anything about the weather and I doubt there is much that she would have to check on.” Rainbow Dash shifted nervously in her seat as Twilight began talking more to herself as she started planning something out. Turning to Luna, the cyan mare attempted to change the topic.
“So, um, how many more ponies are there supposed to be today for Night Court?” Luna sighed as she leaned over to an attendant and whispered a question. A moment later she was given an answer and she nodded before turning back to her fellow princess.
“It appears that there is only one more for now. Today there have been more ponies than normal for it, but that is to be expected with how the nobles feel they can get away with more with all of you. The last petitioner appears to be one, Grand Pear.” Applejack's eyes widened at the name, causing her to shoot up straight in her seat. The others looked at her curiously for her reaction, barring Twilight who was more focused on her work. As the pony entered the throne room, the apple mare's eyes stayed locked on him warily as he approached.
The aged, light amber stallion looked up at the princesses with a sad look, but the inspection by them could see that he was completely focused on Applejack. The princesses waited for the stallion to say something but the tension only increased as the two stared at each other. Finally the gray maned stallion sighed before looking away.
“You look so much like her.” His words confused the princesses causing them to look towards Applejack questioningly who only shrugged.
“Excuse us, but is there a reason that you have approached the Night Court?” The stallion glanced at Princess Luna before sadly shaking his head.
“No. I'm just an old fool trying to atone for past mistakes. I only wished to bring a gift for Princess Applejack before returning home.” With a bow the stallion set a box on the ground before turning to walk away. As he neared the exit, Applejack finally shook off her shock and realized just what he had said.
“Wait a moment. Ya knew my mother? Mah granny always told me that the Apples and the Pears were always feuding before ya left Ponyville. Pa didn't marry her until after that so how did ya know her?” The stallion paused and looked down at his hooves in shame, but didn't turn back to look at the princesses.
“That is something you should ask your granny about. I'm sure the old bat is still around.” With those parting words, the stallion left the throne room leaving the princesses to look at each other awkwardly. Seeing the box as her only answer, Applejack walked over to it before looking inside, gasping in shock at what she found.
“What tha...? Just how did...?” When she saw what was in the box her eyes widened as she tried to come up with a coherent thought. The others were wondering what she had been given, and when she lifted it out with her magic they gasped as well.
“Is that a small tree growing both apples AND pears? But that should be impossible!” Applejack slowly nodded to Twilight's exclamation and slowly examined the tiny fruit. Seeing nothing wrong with either of them, she tasted one of each and her eyebrow rose at finding them to taste perfectly fine.
“Ah don't know how he did it, but that is exactly what they are. Ah think that ah may have ta miss tomorrow doing all this because ah really need to talk ta Granny about who that was.” Princess Luna looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.
“Yes, I can see how that would be important to you, being the one to bear Honesty. Go on then and meet with your family; I know better than to get in the way of that.” Applejack sighed before looking back at the small tree in front of her. As court closed down for the night, that mare's eyes barely left the impossible tree as she wondered just what Granny Smith had not told her.
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Applejack breathed deeply as she strode through the trees of her home orchard, having missed the scent of them. Her enjoyment was cut short as she heard a set of hooves hit one of her trees awkwardly, followed by a yelp of pain. Glaring to the side she saw one of the groups of guards that had been sent to help out at the farm to help train their strength up. She didn't want them on the farm, but she was convinced by Aegis Flare and her brother to at least try them out while she was in Canterlot for the month. While she didn't like them being there, she was still curious as to why Bon Bon was asked to check in on them a couple of times a day. Speaking of the mare, she found her glaring at a group of stallions that were just standing around doing nothing.
“This is the third time now that I've been called down here because you have not been listening to Big Macintosh. Since you don't seem to understand how to listen when asked nicely, we'll just have to be a little less nice.” Before any of the stallions could react, her right rear hoof shot out and sent a distortion of air shooting out behind her. Their jaws dropped as it hit one tree before passing through it and striking three more, divesting all of them of their apples. Looking back she frowned at the filled buckets before turning her gaze back on the slackers.
“I may be a bit out of practice, but that will be you next if you don't start listening. It may not be the dozen that I used to be able to do, but four is enough to send you half way across the orchard.” Big Mac had been watching for the entire time and gazed neutrally at the trees. Glancing down at his own hoof he slowly pointed it back to the ground before stomping down lightly. The gathered group stumbled as a shockwave traveled through the ground and all the trees nearby, over five dozen in total, shed their limbs of their fruit. Bon Bon looked over at the large stallion before rolling her eyes.
“Pff, showoff. Now ask yourself, do you want deal with that? Or actually listen for once?” She didn't even finish before all the guard trainees were rushing away to get back to work once again. Applejack shook her head at what she saw, especially since she had never seen her brother do anything like that before, before waving over to the two.
“Hey, Big Mac! Ah need ta talk with Granny about something, have ya seen her? Ya might want ta come with as well.” The stallion looked at his sister for a moment before slowly nodding. He could see that something was bothering her, especially if she was asking him to come along as well. Waving to Bon Bon, who decided to stay and keep an eye on the recruits, the two made their way to the house and found both Granny Smith and Applebloom. Applejack was about to say something, when she noticed the her sister was eating out of a jar of something unfamiliar.
“Applebloom, now what is it that ya've got there?” The younger filly looked up at her sister before setting the jar she was eating out of down.
“Just some pear butter. Some strange old stallion came through town a few days ago and gave it to me. It's actually pretty good.” Both of the jaws of the elder siblings dropped when they heard this before turning to look at the older mare who was watching on with a sad expression. Shaking her head, Applejack looked at her granny before rubbing at the back of her head.
“All right, now ah know that something is wrong here. Ah'm pretty sure that same stallion was just up in Canterlot yesterday, but he said that Granny would know why he was there before giving me this and leaving.” Lifting her hat, the alicorn revealed the small tree which she set down in front of her for the others to see. Her two siblings could only stare at it in shock, while the elder mare sighed on seeing it and shook her head.
“Now what is that derned fool stallion up to. Applejack, grab the book, we have a little trip ta take, ah'll explain everything there.” It took the orange mare a moment to realize what her granny was asking for, but when she did she quickly ran up to her room to retrieve the Apple Family Journal that was there. With it retrieved, the four ponies made their way out into the orchards towards an area they rarely went to. As they went the tried to get at least a hint of what the old mare was planning, but she was tight lipped the entire way. They knew they arrived at their destination when they saw something much like what had already shocked them earlier that day.
“What in tha world? Ah couldn't believe what ah saw before, but this is just as impossible.” As the younger trio stared up at the pear and apple trees that were entwined with each other, Granny Smith took the journal from her granddaughter and sat before the tree.
“Ah'm sure that ya have noticed that this book is not yet finished. It still is missing much of recent years including much about yer parents.” Applejack slowly nodded as that had been bugging her since she had tried to see what it said about them at one time out of curiosity to find it mysteriously blank except for a sole entry recording the birth of her father. The elder mare looked sadly up at the tree before running a hoof over the entwined trunks.
“Ah never did tell ya how things were added ta this did ah? Well ah guess now is as good a time as any. What do ya know about yer mother's real name?” The three younger ponies just stared at her blankly for a moment before they looked at each other and silently agreed on the middle sibling to take the lead with this.
“Ah'm not sure ah understand, granny. Isn't Buttercup her name? That's tha only thing ah've ever heard her called.” Granny Smith just smiled sadly as she opened the book to the last page and set a hoof on it.
“True, our family called her that, but it was only what yer father called her as a pet name. Her real name was Pear Butter, and she is why family is tha main focus of the Apples in recent years.” As she spoke, black lines ran out of her hoof and began to cover the page and snake around to the following pages leaving a trail of words. Soon the journal had expanded with much of the recent history of the Apple family that had not yet been written until that point. The trio of siblings could only stare at her in shock as the ramifications of what they were hearing meant.
“But what about the feud?” The two sisters nodded along with Big Macintosh's rare moments of speech.
“Yer parents never really cared about that feud, and ta be honest ah don't even remember what even started it. All they cared about was whatever time they could get seeing each other over tha years. In the end they had ta sneak away with Mayor Mare to get married in secret from everypony. Yet her father and ah still caught them right at the end.” The green mare sighed as she ran a hoof over the book.
“What happened next made me realize just how wrong ah was keeping them apart. As soon as tha wedding was completed, her father forced her ta make a choice. Yer father, or her family. Ya can guess what happened with that.” The three gasped in horror as Applebloom buried her head in her brother's chest, tears leaking from her eyes. The old mare continued on, heedless of their cries as she was lost in her memories.
“Not long after tha rest of the Pear family moved away, leaving her behind. We did everything ta make her feel welcome, but ah could tell that she would have given near anything ta see tha rest of her family again. Yet not once did they try ta contact her since that day, and even on her funeral day not a one of them showed ta pay their respects.” The aging mare pressed a hoof to the trunk of the trees again as she bowed her head in remembrance of her departed children. As Applejack watched her family she began to wonder just how hard it was for what she now knew as her grandfather to finally be honest with himself and admit his mistakes while trying to make up for them. As she made a mental note to see Twilight about the journal she and her friends had been writing in, a faint shimmer rippled along the leaves of the small tree she had been given.
----------
The rest of the month of Celestia's 'vacation' passed relatively quickly for the six newer princesses. A few issues came up, but with the help of Cadance and Luna they were quickly smoothed over. The court periods were actually shortened as Twilight had taken it upon herself to completely reorganize how things were done to improve efficiency by reducing wasted time. Now it was required for petitions to be put in writing except for those that dealt with the immediate threats of life. This also allowed for the princesses with the most experience on the issue to handle it personally instead of wasting time by having to gather them all together for each petition. This did not sit well with a large number of the nobles as they began finding their issues shunted to the bottom of the piles more often than not, and they even found some of their plots turned against them without them being their in person to interfere. So it when Celestia finally returned there were many eager to meet with her as she entered the palace.
“Princess Celestia! Thank goodness you have finally returned! Those miscreants that took over while your radiant self was indisposed have made a mockery of your court! You must fix it before they make it any worse!” The noble that accosted the solar princess wasn't even paying attention to her or else he would have been horrified by the sunglasses that she wore as well as the black cap sporting a pair of mismatched horns much like Discord's. Peering over the upper rim of her shades she sipped from a cup full of shaved ice she was levitating before replying.
“What seems to be the problem, my little pony?” Still not paying attention, the noble pulled out a scroll and passed it over to the princess.
“It's just horrible! They've completely ruined the court system and require near everypony to send notice ahead of time. They don't even see us when they should and instead have been seeing commoners first instead of those more worthy! And that's not all that we have gathered in that list!” Celestia boredly browsed through the list until her mouth quirked up in amusement at some of what she was reading. Coming to the end she just shook her head sadly before rolling the scroll up.
“It seems that you have made a mistake and left out certain information that is now required before it is considered by a princess. If you would rewrite it and turn it in tomorrow I will be sure to look at it. Until then I am still on vacation until the end of today and I have an important appointment with the royal baths.” Passing the scroll back to the noble she brushed by him, leaving a smear of tree sap on his side which also dripped in a trail behind her.
“Seriously, how do those fillies manage to find so much tree sap in a log flume?” The noble could only watch with his jaw dropped in horror as the princess walked away muttering to herself.
And finally done with this chapter. Up next? Pinkie Pie puts the fun in fun... Er... All right that's probably not a very good joke. But yeah, the last pieces are arriving, just in time for him. 
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Yay! A update! I can't wait to see what happens next chapter.
8894219
I suppose I'll dive back in again, once I've finished a few other fics.
You have no idea how much i want to hug you... your bones might hate me after the hug Fresnor.
*jumps at Fresnor in an attempt to glomp*
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dbxfanon/images/6/61/Here_we_go.png/revision/latest?cb=20171124021725
What?
8894289
Area, and fixed
Oh! Looks like Celestia's been hanging around with the CMC!
Hazza
a new chapter appears, time to ready it and long for the next chapter 
Open up your eyes
poor Fizzlepop. also CMC alicorns Yay
Welp, seems Tirek has become active.
8898156
thank you for this reply, it reminded me of this story's existence!
The again mare pressed a hoof to the trunk of the trees again as she bowed her head in remembrance of her departed children.
Should that be aging?
I'm happy to see this fic getting updated again! Though if that tree happens to be the key...that's going to be quite tragic. I don't think the keys ever actually turned back to their original objects, did they?
Celestia the Princess of Vacations, shall from this day forth be know as...... "The Best Princess"
...Cadance, the reason they keep coming back with proposals like that is because they get that kind of response
And yet they have to sit and waste hours upon hours listening nonsense
8894350
But at least they got to relax. Considering she had to be forced on vacation.
Discord is a treasure
Yup, Celestia the Princess of Vacations is still awesome