• Published 29th Sep 2015
  • 40,697 Views, 4,051 Comments

Sunset Reset - LordBrony2040



After the Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer decided it's time to return home. It's just that she comes back a bit earlier than expected.

  • ...
193
 4,051
 40,697

Chapter 24: Wednesday is for Wacky Antics

Complete consciousness slowly returned to Sunset as her body was assaulted by...the smell of chocolate, fresh coffee and...after taking another sniff with a nose that was much more sensitive than what she had been using for several years, Sunset picked up the scent of...pancakes? At least, she thought they were pancakes. There was quite a bit of difference in the equine olfactory senses when compared to a homo sapien, as well as quite a few odd similarities, like how hot dogs and carrot dogs tasted the exact same thanks to the changes.

Which raised another interesting question. As to how-Okay brain, stop thinking now, Sunset told herself.

Groaning at the unnatural stiffness in her body as she picked her head up and opened her eyes, Sunset suddenly realized a few things. The first was that she wasn’t in her usual sleeping room. In fact, the room she was in wasn’t made for sleeping at all. It was made for living, what with it being a living room. The second that it wasn’t her living room, but Shining Armor’s. The third was that…

“Hnnn, nooooooo Sunset!” the sleeping white pony beside her groaned with a fearful tone as he struggled in his sleep. “I don’t wanna go in your love tunnel.”

...said pony was right next to her, cuddled up to Sunset with a death grip on her coat as another pony with a much more pink body and multi-colored mane snoozed on her other side. Both of them had apparently moved some pillows from the couch to support the heads of all three of them, but were otherwise uncovered by sheets.

“We fell asleep,” Sunset mumbled uneasily as she surmised the obvious cause situation while she tried to remember just what had happened last night to make herself, Shiny and Cadance all in up in what would obviously be considered some type of orgy pile to anyone that happened by. But...it...HOW COULD WE HAVE JUST DONE THAT?

Sunset’s demand went unanswered as she tried to bring up last night’s events, but...the last thing she remembered was crashing into Shining Armor and tumbling down the stairs. She didn’t remember Cadance being a part of the pileup, but then again, being knocked for such a loop might have done a number on her short-term memory and caused a few things to be forgotten.

“Okay...okay! Calm down Sunset!” the amber alicorn ordered herself. “Just calm down. You can fix this. It’s just…” Sunset quickly glanced around the room that was fully lit by the sunlight streaming in through the windows until she found the clock on the wall. “Seven o’clock! Plenty of time to cover everything up before...wait, I’m missing something...”

As Sunset tried to think of what was causing the uneasy sensation in the back of her mind, the sound of hooves clip clopping on a non-carpeted surface caught her attention. She looked up to see Twilight’s mother poke her head into the room from the kitchen. “Princess Sunset, you’re awake,” the adult Twilight said before she slunk in on herself a bit. “The sound of my cooking didn’t wake you, did it?”

Sunset did what any sexual predator would do when caught by the innocent child’s parents, she let out a brief scream of surprise terror.

“Huh? Wha-huh?”

“Hnnn, snuggles!”

Ignoring Shiny and Cadance’s mumbling as Shining Armor's grip lessened, Sunset carefully used her magic to remove the two ponies on top of the pile and set them to the side, then stood up slowly. There was a dull pain in her back and wings, but she ignored it to rush over to where the colt’s mom was standing. “Mrs. Velvet!” the amber alicorn said nervously as her mind rushed to catch up to the situation. “We didn’t-wait…” Sunset stopped herself as she realized something. “You’re here, and...cooking…”

The older Twilight nodded. “Yes, Highness.”

“That means you’ve already seen me and Shiny all…” she looked back to where her not-boyfriend and best friend were still laying on the ground, slowly fighting off the sleepiness. “With Cadance.”

“Yes?” Velvet replied slowly, clearly confused. “We saw you when we came home from work. Honestly, I'm relieved-”

Sunset’s mouth threatened to drop at the pony’s words.

“-that we didn’t wake the three of you,” Velvet finished, stopping Sunset from becoming completely out of whack. “Oh! Where are my manners? Princess, would you like some coffee?”

Does she not… Sunset’s mind managed to think as it once again took stock of the situation. The daughter of one of the ponies Velvet worked with was pregnant with a noble’s illegitimate child, so it wasn’t as if such things were unknown in Equestria, but… She doesn’t think we had sex.

Sunset wasn’t sure how she felt about that as Mrs. Velvet walked off to pour a new beverage. The mare had come home to find her son curled up with a pair of fillies and thought nothing of it despite everything else that was going on in her life. It signified a level of trust that Velvet had in Sunset which Celestia had never shown even after Sunset had sprouted wings.

Still, considering what was going on in the lives of the ponies around her, Sunset knew that Velvet had to be having fears about some pony from the untouchable levels of society coming around to take advantage of her son. So, when the light gray mare came back holding a cup of dark brew in her magic, Sunset nodded to Velvet in thanks as she took it before handing her back some peace of mind. “Ma’am, I just want you to know that I am in no way whatsoever attracted to your son. Not physically or anything. Not even the slightest little bit.”

“Oh…” a distinctly male voice said from behind Sunset, causing her to look​ back and see Shining Armor standing there with a hurt look on his face. “I...um...uh...morning, Mom. I should go... brush my mane.”

Sunset's mouth dropped in shock and disbelief as her not-coltfriend turned around and trotted off up the stairs. “Are... are you kidding me?”

Living as a human, a creature with such dull senses that Sunset had to wonder how their ancestors had lasted long enough to evolve, and being turned back into a pony had given Sunset a sharper sense of her surroundings. While she didn’t have super hearing, beyond that of a normal pegasus at any rate, Sunset did notice things that she would have missed before. So not picking up Shiny’s hooves on the carpet had her dumbfounded long enough for Shining Armor to move out of sight.

“Princess?”

Sunset looked back to Velvet after hearing the question. “Um…” the amber alicorn replied before spying Cadance still picking herself off the floor. "Here." She handed Velvet the coffee in her magic. “Cadance probably needs it more than me.” Then she galloped up the stairs after her stallion. Crap crap crap crap CRAP!

Shining Armor’s tail disappeared into his room right as she topped the stairs, so Sunset quickly chased after him. She did it so fast that when she got into his room and nearly ran Shiny over, Sunset didn’t think about what to say before her words came out. “Shiny, I’m sorry!”

“Princess, what-”

“I don’t not want to have sex with you!”

“Huh?”

“I was just lying to your mom!” Sunset rambled on.

“Um-”

“I do! What to have sex with you, I mean,” she quickly continued. “Really, I do! Sometimes, it takes just about all my willpower to not just poof us back to the castle and toss you on my bed aaaand...I should probably think before I start talking again.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Oh...kay?” he replied before nervously looking back to his own bed.

“It’s just...look,” Sunset said as the memories of one of her side projects filled her head. “Your parents. Recently, I’ve been having to deal with this daughter of a friend of theirs who got knocked up by this stupid selfish jerk of a noble who just up and left her after he got her pregnant, and I didn’t want them thinking I was like that. So I said some things to keep your mom from worrying the same would happen between us.”

With her explanation done, Sunset waited for Shining Armor’s reply.

For his part, Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “So...you said all of that stuff that to my mom because...you were afraid that she thought you were going to get me pregnant?” he asked with a slightly upward curving mouth.

Sunset blinked before dropping her butt on the ground with a heavy thump. She frowned at the little smirk that was on Shiny’s face as he fought to keep from laughing and crossed her pony-arms. “Well when you put it that way, it just sounds stupid!”

The little snicker that came from Shiny’s mouth brought a blush to Sunset’s cheeks. She looked away to break eye contact, which in turn had her mind working to find a way to turn the tables on the younger pony. Only, her thoughts were interrupted when he cleared his throat. “Uh, Sunset?”

She looked back to the unicorn. “Yes?”

Shining Armor’s face became a little apprehensive. “Um, listen...Sunset,” he said. “Speaking of, you know, that stuff. You're...smart. And I was wondering if I could get your opinion on um...well...I had a pretty odd dream a few days ago.”

“And?” she said when Shining Armor was not forthcoming with a continuation, waving her hoof in a circle with her fetlock to encourage Shiny to keep talking.

It took him another second, but Shiny managed to get going again. “And I talked to Cadance about it, because it was a dream about...well…” he said before taking another deep breath.

Sunset made sure to keep her expression neutral as Shining Armor went into his explanation. The dominatrix Cadance made her a little tingly in all the right places, although Shiny’s story of Sunset getting bigger and bigger until he was little more than a sex toy to her had the amber alicorn feeling uneasy.

After all, having a little pony like Shiny put there of all places...Sunset’s rational mind was quick to point out that even if a tiny Shiny was a cute idea she found more than a little adorable, everything Sunset knew about anatomy said having an extremely tiny pony inside her most private of places was a very bad idea for both of them.

However, Sunset couldn’t keep her face from drooping when she realized the deeper meaning behind the imagery in Shiny’s dream. “So, my being super powerful is still making you feel bad, huh?”

“Wait that’s not-!” Shining Armor said quickly before stopping himself, the look of panic on his face slowly fading. “-what Cadance said when I told her.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

A blush appeared on Shining Armor’s face. “Well...she said, um...how you could probably...you know...um...maybe I shouldn’t-”

“Shiny,” Sunset cut in before her unicorn could embarrass himself to death. “I know you like big mares, but let’s be realistic here. The scenario would probably kill you, and having you stab me with your horn and beat at me with your hooves as I crush you to death isn’t in the least bit appealing to me either. So I really doubt you’re having wet dreams about me putting you under my tail. Sounds to me like the issue is something else.”

After giving Shiny a second to let that sink in, Sunset continued. “A pony that’s so far above you in status and power she doesn’t need anypony else to do anything and makes everypony in the royal guard obsolete? That is a nightmare I can believe a pony like you can have.”

Shining Armor gave Sunset a bit of a wide-eyed look as the amber alicorn’s mind caught onto the perfect way to take advantage of the situation. It was almost cruel how easily she was able to easily bring it up, a remnant of her old self, the Sunset Shimmer that was an expert at tearing others apart appearing at the worst time.

She wanted to tell him she understood his feelings. After learning the truth about Cadance, seeing the pink princess adopted by Celestia, then coming back to Equestria to find Twilight had taken Sunset’s place completely, Sunset knew exactly what Shining Armor was going through. She wanted to wrap herself around him and show him that everything would be okay. She wanted to prove to him that despite their differences in ability, Shining Armor still had so much he could accomplish and Sunset would be there every step of the way to help him along.

But, she couldn’t waste the opportunity what was presenting itself.

Because she wasn't going to be there for him.

So, instead of giving Shiny some much needed reassurance, Sunset quickly took a hammer to the possibility of Shining Armor ever trying to get serious with her.

“And that’s why we can never be together.”

“Huh?” Shiny asked, his expression showing more fear than confusion.

Not wanting to lose the momentum, Sunset grasped hard onto the dark epiphany that would bring an end to any hope of getting together with the young stallion in front of her. “Shiny, I’m sure you’ve got a bright future in the royal guard. But no matter how bright that future is, it pales in comparison to the sun. To my future. So to find fulfillment, to be happy, you can’t be with me. Because I’ll always serve as a reminder of what you can never be. And I could never live with myself if I made you unhappy.”

Shining Armor jolted himself out of his stupor. “But, wait! That’s not-”

“That’s why you should be with Cadance,” Sunset went on. “She’s not like me, Shiny. It’s not just ability with magic. She’s just too...loving to become tough enough to survive on her own. She needs somepony to help support her, protect her, a pony to comfort her.”

Before Shining Armor could protest, Sunset stood back up and looked down at his eyes. “I’m sorry. We said we wouldn’t discuss this relationship stuff,” she said before resisting the urge to give Shiny a peck on the lips that would most definitely become more if allowed to happen and trotted past him. “So...bye. I’ll see myself out.”


“What would you like to eat this morning, Highness?”

Cadance couldn't even consider her order, or even consider ordering something that wouldn’t feed a family of four and thus lighten the burden of Twilight Velvet’s breakfast table, before Sunset came tromping down the stairs. There was a look of displeased depression was written all over her face. “Come on Cadance. Let’s go.”

Thinking it best to have the conversation they needed to about what was bothering Sunset in a more private setting, the pink princess followed her friend out the door without argument and a brief apology to the gray Twilight for their hasty departure. Once outside, Cadance followed Sunset in silence as she tried to get a feel for what was going on in the amber alicorn’s head.

“You feeling okay?” she asked as they trotted down the road in the direction of the palace. Not many ponies were up and about at such an early hour, but she did notice a few doughnut shops with their lights on.

Sunset slowed for a second to unfurl her wings a bit. The action included a telltale wince from the amber alicorn that told Cadance all she needed to know. “Little sore, I guess.”

The announcement made Cadance wince. “Right...sorry about that. I guess sleeping on your back before you set your wings for the night put a cramp in them.”

When Sunset looked over to her with a confused expression, Cadance gave an answer to the unasked question. “Last night, after you fell asleep on top of me and Shiny,” she said. “Well, don’t take this the wrong way Sunset, but...you’re strong, really strong...which is probably why you’re kind of...heavy. We had to roll you over in the middle of the night when you tightened your grip and woke us up.”

Sunset looked at the ground for a moment the way she always did when she became despondent, making Cadance put an end to the conversation and focus on the world around her a bit more. As time passed, the unusually long trek continued for a few more minutes before Cadance had a bit of an idea about what was going on. “So, we’re skipping school again?”

Sunset lifted her head and looked back. “Huh?”

“Well, we’re walking back to the castle instead of teleporting there for breakfast or finding a restaurant,” Cadance began. “So you’re in no hurry to get ready for the day. Plus, considering how you just came back from talking to Shiny, I’m betting you want to avoid him for the rest of the day at least. So, that means no school today. Right?”

As her explanation ended, Cadance watched Sunset slump a little. “Yeah...that...sounds like a good idea,” she mumbled. “See you after school, Cadance.”

Before Sunset could leave her in the dust, Cadance trotted up next to her and pressed the side of her body up against the amber alicorn’s. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Sunset drew in on herself. “But Shiny...he’s, um...probably going to want to talk to you.”

“Shiny has Fleur, Sassy, Mare, Cheerilee, and all his colt friends if he wants to talk,” Cadance replied before she nuzzled Sunset on the side her her neck for support. “You go home, all you’ll have is me.”

“Hey, there’s my Mom-”

Cadance silenced Sunset with a frown as she took a step away from her taller friend. “Please don’t insult my intelligence by making me think you’re going to talk to Celestia about this. I know the two of you love each other deeply, but I barely trust either of you with smalltalk on the best of days. The way you are now, it would go badly. Very badly. So you’ll be talking with me, got it?”

The god-like alicorn that could destroy all of Canterlot with a stomp of her hooves meekly nodded. “Got it.”

With Sunset cowed, Cadance fixed her mind on keeping Sunset from guilting herself some more. “Besides, I’m needing to spend the day in bed too. Sleeping on the floor didn’t give me that much rest, not to mention the number it did on my wings,” she said before glancing down at Sunset’s plumage. “And yours could use some work too.”

“Sorry,” Sunset mumbled before she looked back to spread them a bit. They didn’t get far before she let out a sharp hiss. “Yeah. Something is definitely cramped, or pulled, or...whatever you call it with wings.”

Cadance winced at Sunset’s words. She had set her mind on helping Sunset getting her mind out of its pit, not pushing her down deeper. “It’s not your fault!” she told her bigger mare. “I’m the one who just let you sleep on top of me and Shiny. It’s my fault for letting somepony so heavy be on top of me half the night.”

The comment brought Sunset to a sudden halt. She looked back to the smaller pony with a frown. “You know, it’s one of the biggest insults in human culture to call another female fat.”

Seeing some of that familiar anger in her friend’s face made Cadance smirk. “Oh please Sunset, all your weight is muscle. What little fat you do have is just enough to cover it up and stopping you from looking like a super fit athlete,” she said before looking back to the amber alicorn’s generous rump. “Well, except for one particular part of you. However, I think we can both agree that your big bouncing bountiful butt only makes you look that more attractive.”

Sunset let out a groan and turned her head around before continuing forward. When she noticed Cadance wasn’t following, the amber alicorn looked back and frowned. “What?”

A giggle escaped from Cadance’s mouth before she quickly trotted to catch up. “Just taking a second to enjoy the view.”

Aside from Sunset’s sound of displeasure that followed the reddening of her cheeks, the rest of the trip was made in silence, something she was also glad of. If the two of them had kept talking about Sunset’s looks and other physical aspects, Cadance was sure she would have made a slip and turned Sunset’s perception of the pink pony’s attraction from a friendly appreciation of her body to a loving lust.


When the two princesses arrived at the castle, Cadance sent Sunset back to their room so the amber alicorn could prepare a bath with her magic while the pink pony met Celestia in the hallway to the rear throne room entrance before Court could begin.

She gave her adoptive aunt a quick rundown of last night’s events after they had left the castle and told Celestia both of them needed a day off from the drama that the academy had become thanks to everything that was going on. Then, Cadance remembered her manners and quickly went into an extra formal bow.

The biggest pony in Equestria looked incredibly tense as Cadance rose from the ground. “Princess? Is something wrong?”

“The two of you were gone all night?” Celestia summarized, her tone nothing but troubled shock.

Cadance drew in on herself a little at the way Celestia spoke as she glanced towards the pair of guards and the dark unicorn that served as the white pony’s assistant. Although the pink princess was far from the infallible being she had believed Celestia to be for most of her life, Celestia never let her mask slip whenever non-alicorns were around. “Um...yes. Sorry about that. We should have sent some kind of message.”

There was a brief moment where time seemed to stop as Cadance waited for Celestia to scold her for being so foalish. Then, the big pony closed her eyes, took in a deep breath through her nose, and opened her eyes back up as she let out the breath. “That’s alright, Cadance. You and Sunset are more than old enough to spend a night away from the castle every now and then. Although, I would like to be kept informed of such things.”

When no lecture about how dangerous it was to sleep away from the castle when there were changelings about, just waiting to snatch Cadance away and put in a replacement that would drain Sunset’s love until she was nothing but a shell of her former self before moving on to destroy all of Equestria, the pink princess could only look on in confusion as the big pony moved past her and continued on towards the throne room. The lack of a lecture left Cadance standing alone in the hallway for another five minutes before her mind snapped out of its stupor and she headed back towards the apartment she shared with Sunset. That was...not what I was expecting.

By the time Cadance made it back to the collection of rooms that had become more homey than the ones she had been given upon becoming a princess, she found Sunset had already gotten into the bath without her. The sight of her beloved amber alicorn’s naturally fit body in the water that had Sunset’s coat hugging every inch of her perfect form had Cadance licking her lips a second into the show.

“So, what did Mom say?” Sunset asked with trepidation.

The question pulled Cadance out of her daze before she could become entrenched in lewd thoughts of playing with Sunset’s body. After shaking off the lust, the pink princess made her way down into the water. “About what?” Cadance asked before using her magic to get a brush for her coat coat and begin working some of the dirt and dust out of it like Sunset had already begun doing. Sleeping on a floor had taken its toll.

After Cadance was done, Sunset’s horn glowed and the bath water became less murky as the purifying spell finished its work. “Us not going to class today,” the amber alicorn explained. “She knows I don’t need the education, but a day without social interaction probably has her snorting steam.”

“She actually seemed more upset that we had been gone all night without her noticing more than anything else,” Cadance replied.

The look on Sunset’s face took a turn for the peeved at that. “Par for the course then.”

Cadance decided to give her friend something else to focus on. “Okay, wings. Need to work out those kinks. Lay down till your wings are covered by the water.”

“Alright,” Sunset said before complying.

Once Sunset was almost completely submerged, a pregnant silence permeated the room as Cadance waited for the warm water to do its work and loosen up some of their muscles. Which reminded her that she hadn’t actually told Sunset what they needed to be doing to help with her wing problem. “So, um...after about fifteen minutes, just extend your wings and I’ll rub out the kinks.”

There was a half-nod from the amber alicorn before her eyes suddenly went wide along with her wings, splashing water all over the bathroom. “Wait You’re gonna…” Sunset’s tone took on a nervous quality before continuing, “rub my wings?”

Cadance nodded. “That’s right,” she said. “I know they’re sensitive in some places, but don’t worry. I think I should be able to do it without applying too much pressure.”

“Okay,” Sunset said as she turned around and prepared herself. “It’s just my first time going through something like this, so...be gentle.”


Sunset was laying down on her belly with her wings spread across most of her bed as Cadance finished messing with the last of her feathers. The whole thing didn’t take nearly as long as the first time she preened the amber alicorn. The process was so short that the aftereffects of Cadance working out the cramps in Sunset’s wings still persisted, leaving the uncrowned alicorn feeling all the more relaxed.

“Okay, I’ll admit, I was a little nervous when you said you wanted to give me a wing massage,” Sunset told her lazily. While most of a pegasus’s wing was very sturdy, the amber alicorn had learned from a little experimenting on herself that the joints where wings met back were a very sensitive area. Having hooves touch down around there hadn’t seemed like a good idea. “But now I’m wondering if I should lay on my back more often.”

Cadance looked up before spitting a feather out of her mouth. “Well you’re lucky you’ve got somepony to help you,” she told Sunset without any malice or jealousy in her voice. “Back in my home village, I was the only one with wings. Earth ponies don’t really get gentle, so it was just me that understood where it was okay to be touched. With all the work there was to do moving clouds for the lone pegasus in town, I got tons of knots and had to rub one out all the time.”

The conversation died down as Cadance attended to the needs of her own wings. While she hadn’t experienced the cramping Sunset had, being on the floor with a restless pony on top of her had ruffled the pink princess’s feathers quite a bit.

So without anything to distract her, Sunset found her mind wandering to topics that she admitted to herself that she tried to avoid, like the mirror. With so little time until the Formal and so much left to do, the amber alicorn knew that today was going to be the only day she could really put in the effort for a thorough search for it.

The question was, how was she supposed to ditch Cadance so the pink pony couldn’t let it slip to Celestia about what was going on?

“Hey Sunset,” Cadance spoke up, interrupting the various scenarios running through the other alicorn’s head. “What did you used to look like as a human?”

Sunset frowned at the question and turned her head around to look at Cadance. “Um, didn’t I already tell you that?” she asked before moving onto another question before getting an answer. “And where did that come from?”

“Well, if we’re taking a day off from school, I doubt you want to talk about any educational or social subjects. So the topics are kind of limited,” Cadance told her. “And, what I mean is...well, I can make a statue out of crystal now. Which means I know you can do something better than a verbal description. So can’t you show me what you used to look like as a human?”

A hesitant expression crossed Sunset’s face as her mental library of magic listed a transformation spell that would have been able to turn her into a nearly-hairless biped, but that idea was nixed when Sunset remembered the spell required a full biological scan of the target to alter a pony’s from. The second option that came to mind, a thought projection, was much simpler to do.

“Yeah, I can do that,” Sunset admitted. “But...why?”

Cadance gave Sunset an even look. “Because your explanation of those hand things was, ‘They’re um, like dragon claws or minotaur paws, but not’. Not really picture of words.”

Sunset let out an embarrassed groan. “Well, it’s hard describing something with almost no frame of reference,” she said as she put the image of what she used to look like in her mind and cast the projection spell. Human hands were different from every other fingered species in Equestria after all. They were a lot more dexterous for one thing and required careful upkeep in the nail department.

Three feet away from the bed, a barely opaque image of Sunset as a human appeared the way she used to look, back when she had her jacket.

After the image appeared, Cadance trotted over to circle the magical depiction of old Sunset. “This is very...I thought you said human’s didn’t have coats.”

“That’s clothing, Cadance,” Sunset replied evenly, unamused by the pun.

Cadance snorted. “Then take it off,” she said. “I said I wanted to see what you looked like. Not what you looked like dressed in some weird human uniform.”

The request made Sunset shrink in on herself an inch. While she had explained to Cadance that humans almost always wore clothes, the amber alicorn hadn’t explained to the pink princess what the removal of those garments signified. Which she didn’t need to. Ponies went around naked all the time. Cadance and Shiny went around naked all the time. Not having clothes didn’t bother Sunset...aside from the occasional draft that made it under her tail when she forgot to keep it low enough.

Wrapped in such a mindset, albeit hastily, Sunset nodded to herself. So, Cadance seeing the old me naked...shouldn’t...be an...issue, the amber alicorn thought as she used another spell to alter the image.

Starting from the rear, Cadance began her verbal assessment of Sunset’s naked body. “Say Sunset, do all humans have such puny butts?”

“Well...mostly,” the amber alicorn replied uneasily as Cadance continued to check out Sunset’s former ass with an odd level of interest.

Cadance looked around the image’s backside to frown at the human appendage that ended in phalanges. “Oh, now I get it! They’re like dragon claws, but not because they’re too brittle,” she said before walking around and tilting her head up. “Uh...Sunset, what’re those?”

Once again, Sunset found herself becoming a bit embarrassed at the object of Cadance’s focus. “Um, those are my...well...they were my teats.”

A look of shock covered Cadance’s face as she turned her whole body to look at the alicorn Sunset. “You...you had a foal?”

Confused shock overcame Sunset’s sense of embarrassment from Cadance checking her old body out. “Uh...what?”

“Oh Celestia, that guilt you carry around, it makes so much more sense now!” Cadance said.

“Wha-?” Sunset said as she plowed through the dumbfounded haze that clouded her brain. “What the hell makes you think something like that?!”

Cadance thrust a hoof towards the illusionary human’s chest. “Your teats. They’re huge!”

Although such a remark probably would have had made Sunset stand up a little straighter back on Earth, Cadance simply made Sunset groan. “Cadance, I may have slept around on Earth, but I was smart enough to check their contraceptives first,” the amber alicorn assured her friend. “Breasts of that size are normal for a human. Well, they’re on the larger side of normal, but still normal.”

“Oh,” Cadance replied. “That’s a relief. I don’t know how I would have been able to console you if you’d have lost a child, Sunset.”

With that little misunderstanding averted, Sunset turned back around and laid down, intent on enjoying her morning off before she went in search of the mirror.

“I wonder what it tastes like.”

The rather odd question made Sunset’s ears perk up before she raised her head and looked back to Cadance. “What does what taste like?”

“Human milk,” the pink princess replied, acting as if the question was completely natural.

Sunset moaned and looked back to the head of her bed. I should have gone to class.


Shining Armor sat in a desolate wasteland, separated from all of the other ponies by the pair of infinite chasms left by the two alicorns that hadn’t come to school. Seats that both Cheerilee and Fleur avoided as they sat on either side of Shining Armor, followed by their respective friends. When his friends came over, they took their places across from the white unicorn.

But even worse than the isolation was the feelings running through his head. Although she had been a bit nicer than Cadance about it, Sunset had outright said any relationship with her was doomed to fail because Shining Armor couldn’t get past the fact she was so much more powerful than him. It didn’t help that he had already known being so put off by her abilities wasn’t a good thing. But having both princesses be aware of it just made the feeling worse.

He looked up and across the empty space that was wide enough for Sunset’s alicorn-sized plot to where Fluer was sitting next to Sassy, with Upper Crust on the end as she ate from a lunch her butler had delivered at the start of the short period they were given to eat. Then Shiny turned his head and watched Cheerilee converse with her mare friend for a moment before looking ahead towards his buddies.

“Hey guys,” Shining spoke up, drawing the attention of every other pony on their private section of the lunchroom table. “I was wondering. Do you think I’m...petty?”

While the guys across from him gave Shining Armor a look that had him wondering if he had sprouted a second horn, Cheerilee became thoughtful for a moment the upper classmares each raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well…” Cherilee began without following up.

“I’d say you’re a little whiney,” Fleur told him.

“You could use a bit more of a backbone,” Sassy went on.

Upper Crust was the last of the mares to talk. “When describing you I’d use words like, poor, inadequate, aiming above his station, untalented, common,” she went on, getting a tired look from the rest of the group. “But petty? Hmmm, you accept your station in life without any resentment to your betters. So I’d have to say...no.”

Silence permeated the table as Upper Crust took the last bite of her food and levitated the empty dishes into a saddlebag with special lining meant to help keep things warm. “Now you must excuse me,” she said before levitating the container and trotting off towards the cafeteria exit.

After Crust had left, Gaffer was the one to speak. “No offense to you two, but...why exactly is she your friend again?”

“Social connections,” Fleur replied in a dry tone with half-lidded eyes.

Before the conversation could continue, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. So Shining Armor stood up, then looked to his right when he felt a hoof on his shoulder to see Fleur standing there. “Walk me to my next class.”

Even though talking to the former Princess of Canterlot Academy had become old hat, Shining Armor found himself becoming nervous at the suggestion. “W-What?” he asked before looking over to his empty tray. “But what about-”

“Sassy, would you handle cleanup for us, please?” Fleur asked the other tall mare.

When the blue unicorn nodded her consent, Shining saw his tray and Fleur’s float away in a magical aura, leaving Shiny without an excuse to back out. From what he had gathered after days of talking to the popular girls, Fleur’s next class was theater, and Shining Armor had learned that going to a big empty room with a pretty filly never ended well for him.

“Okay,” he agreed nervously.

So, after a quick stop at both their lockers for books, Shining Armor found himself in the school auditorium. The rest of the class had yet to arrive, leaving him and the beautiful filly alone on the stage amidst a set that resembled an everyday household.

Fleur sat down in a comfortable looking chair while Shining Armor took a seat on a slight out of place bright red couch that had him laying down on his back a moment later. “Shiny, what happened after we left your house last night? Does it have to do with why the princesses are absent today?”

So that’s what it is, Shining Armor thought to himself. Fleur just wanted to gossip. “Uh, they are princesses, you know. They’ve probably got a lot of important government stuff to take care of we could only guess about. All we did after you and Sassy left was sleep together.”

“WHAT?” Fleur cried out in shock. “You and-wait, who with? Was it Princess Sunset, or Princess Cadance?”

As Fleur’s words brought about a massive bout of confusion in Shiny’s mind, he rolled onto his stomach and looked at her with a little frown. “What’re you talking about?”

The unicorn with the pink mane gaped at Shining Armor for a second before frowning back at him. “What do you mean what am I talking about? Which princess did you sleep with?” Fleur demanded a second before drawing back to frown at the ground. “Well, not that I need to bother asking. I know Princess Cadance is the more attractive of the two both physically and mentally, but I doubt half of Canterlot would be here right now if it wasn’t Princess Sunset.”

“Uh, Fleur, it was all three of us, together,” Shining Armor clarified.

Fleur blinked, then her expression became a confused frown. “The three of you...wait, how exactly does that work? You can’t have sex with two mares at once.”

A bolt of lightning ran down Shining Armor’s spine, making him sit up and gape at the other unicorn. “S-SEX? We didn’t have sex! We just slept together! Sunset fell asleep on top of us and we had a problem getting her off! How in the hay does that sound remotely like anything sexual?”

“Um...well, sleeping together is the polite way of saying...ahem, never mind,” she said before bowing her head a bit. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed.”

Shining Armor fell back to rest his head against the couch again. “Yeah, you and everypony else, them included,” Shining Armor grumbled. “Especially them.”

“Shiny?” Fleur mumbled.

Although he heard her, Shining Armor continued on with his rant. “And do you know what really gets me about this whole thing? Sunset! Everypony except Sunset goes on about how the two of us will be a great couple, and even she’s all about how she likes me, but you know what? It’s...it’s…”

Fleur leaned in closer. “Shining Armor?” she asked hesitantly.

“Look, you’ve seen them together, anypony who’s seen them together can see the two of them obviously have a thing for eachother,” Shining Armor said. “But instead of pursuing it, the two of them just focus on me and which one of them I should be dating instead of throwing me out of the way and getting together like they should!”

A tight ‘hmmmm’ came from Fleur as she leaned back in her chair, causing Shining Armor to follow suit until he was laying down again. “Have you...talked to them about...well, them?”

Shining Armor snorted. “Yeah. They just say it’s not going to happen. Even though I know it will.”

“Um...Shining Armor, quick question,” Fleur said. “Do you...want to be the coltfriend of a princess?”

The absurdity of it all made Shining Armor frown. “Well...yeah,” he replied as if the answer was obvious. “When they’re not playing matchmaker, they’re both...really nice to be around. Sunset is just so intense, and Cadance...well, you know, she’s an awesome kisser. Plus, well...Princess of Love, and she says it’s every sense of the word, so...she’s um...probably really good at...you know.” With all the blood rushing to his cheeks, Shining Armor was afraid he would pass out if he completed that sentence.

“So...to recap. You’re worried that even if you choose to officially date one of the princesses, she will eventually get bored and dump you for the other one even though both of them, one of whom is the Princess of Love, are telling you that Cadance and Sunset will never even try to get together?” Fleur asked.

Even though she probably couldn’t see him doing in, Shining Armor nodded. It was nice that somepony finally understood where he was coming from. “Yeah!”

“If you ask me Shining Armor...you need to believe in yourself,” Fleur told the white unicorn with the blue mane laying on the red couch.


Celestia was unable to put her nervousness to the side as she sat at the empty banquet table, waiting for her daughter and niece to arrive. She knew they were coming, a maid had delivered their orders to the kitchen staff ahead of time to ensure the food would be ready when they arrived. It was something that had become a necessity thanks to Sunset’s newfound hygiene demands that needed to be met while allowing for preparation of a timely meal. Not that she could be angry at her daughter over that. Clean food was important.

But Sunset was only half the reason Celestia felt nervous. The other half of the reason was placed on the table across from her: a pair of glasses filled with the changeling revealing potion she had devised.

Both Sunset and Cadance needed to drink them. They had been out of the castle for a whole night, and the pink princess had explained that Sunset hadn’t set up any wards before going to sleep. The chance was small, almost minuscule that either of them had been replaced by a changeling. But still, for the safety of Equestria, she had to be certain.

Of course, knowing her daughter, the demand that they ingest the potions would cause her to erupt. That would in turn force Celestia to firmly confront her. There would be shouting, probably some thrown food, and then Sunset would storm off in a way that would leave cracks in the ground.

It wasn’t Sunset’s impossible strength Celestia was nervous about, although the memory of nearly having her horn ripped off the one time she needed to hold Sunset back for a fraction of a second did still make her uneasy, she knew the amber alicorn would never actually hurt anypony. What had Celestia worried was that the coming confrontation would destroy all the work she had done to grow closer to Sunset.

This is why I never tried to be the mother Sunset needed, a part of the Princess told herself. A teacher needed to keep a respectful distance from the ponies she taught. Becoming a parent eliminated that distance.

Because you were too much of a lazy coward to do what she so desperately needed, the other part of the big pony thought a second later. Plenty of mother’s taught their daughters life lessons after all. It was practically a requirement of the position.

Celestia took a deep breath and pushed such thoughts to the back of her mind. She could beat herself up after Sunset stormed out of the room from Celestia showing the amber alicorn that she didn’t trust Sunset’s word or ability to keep herself and Cadance safe.

So, she decided to focus on the positive. At the very least, Sunset would be in a good mood for the first five seconds of lunch.

“No Cadance!” Sunset’s angry voice came through the huge double doors of the dining hall, causing Celestia to slump. “I am not talking about this again. Go back to reading your stupid crystal history book. Or magic! Ask me something about magic. That I’ll talk about, not...ugh!”

As the doors were wrapped in a light blue glow before they swung open to reveal both of the alicorns, Cadance spoke up. “But why not?”

Sunset actually stopped halfway into the dining hall to look at Cadance with a glare. “Because it’s weird!”

In reply to the comment, Cadance frowned back at Sunset and held out a wing before counting off a list with feathers. “Cows, goats, and the book on the history of the Crystal Empire said we even used to have yaks give us milk. Yaks!” the pink princess said. “So what’s so strange about wanting to know what-”

Before Cadance could finish the question and give Sunset the perfect opening to just go ballistic. Celestia cleared her throat. “Hello ladies. Might I ask what this little argument is about?”

“Cadance wants to suck my teats,” Sunset deadpanned before she pointed over to the pink princess with a wing.

The explanation completely shattered Celestia’s calm exterior to leave a confused jumble of a wide-eyed expression and opened mouth in its wake. For her part, Cadance gasped at her friend before taking a step back in surprise. “Wha-that...that is NOT what I said at all!” she exclaimed. Then, she looked over to Celestia. “Princess, all I wanted to know was-”

“What my milk tasted like,” Sunset finished for her. “Which you would get from my teats.”

“YOU ARE NOT TELLING HER THE WHOLE STORY!” Cadance shouted as her wings flew out from behind her.

As the tiniest of smiles started to appear on Sunset’s face at the outburst, the pink princess looked over to the biggest alicorn in the room with a pleading expression. “Princess Celestia. You need to understand how this all started. You see, Sunset showed me an image of what she looked like as a human,” Cadance began before going into detail about their previous conversation.

Celestia only gave Cadance half of her attention while she found her mind stuck on one thing: Sunset’s human form. Although she had believed what Sunset had told her upon becoming an alicorn had been some type of hallucination caused by the mirror, hard evidence to the contrary had shown Celestia that the events Sunset described had indeed happened.

After seeing her daughter beat herself up upon having to tell her everything that happened on the other side of the mirror, Celestia had thought it best for Sunset to continue believing what she had experienced was nothing more than a product of her imagination to eliminate the guilt of her actions and help her move forward.

The fact that Cadance wasn’t attempting to do the same soured Celestia’s opinion of the pink princess a bit. But at the same time, Celestia also found her curiosity piqued. Sunset had described what she looked like, but Celestia’s decision to avoid bringing up time in the other world had her not going into any personal specifics. A projection spell would have made Sunset’s inability to paint a proper picture with words moot. To actually see what Sunset had looked like for nearly three years was tempting...a temptation Celestia almost gave into.

But instead of asking if she could see the image as well, Celestia cleared her throat as Cadance continued on with her explanation. “Yes, I know I’m a princess now, but I came from a rural village. A rural, earth pony village. Do you know what everypony did there? Farm! We farmed, which meant crops, and livestock. You know what we had for livestock? Cows and goats! So excuse me if I’m a little interested in how the milk a completely new species with GIGANTIC TEATS tastes!”

Celestia frowned. “Cadance.”

“Excuse me for being interested in something other than what the brand on my butt says I’m good at!” she kept going as she flapped her wings angrily.

“CADANCE!” Celestia repeated.

“I’m just-! Oh, yes Princess?”

Celestia sighed. “You’re interested in dairy products, we get it,” she said as she fought to keep her voice understanding. Then, she gestured to the chairs with a hoof. “Now, would the two of you please take a seat?”

With the focus back on lunch, Celestia found her mind focusing on the glasses in front of her, especially when Sunset sat down and took a look at the light golden liquid. “What’s with the drinks?” the amber alicorn asked before she took a closer look and put on a little frown. “Wait a second...these are changeling detection potions.”

Celestia stiffened to brace herself for what was coming as Cadance reached forward with a wing to take hers up. “Are you wanting us to be taste testers again?”

After bringing the glass up to her mouth, Sunset took a sniff, then recoiled from the concoction before looking to Celestia with a frown. “You think we’ve been replaced by changelings because we spent a night away from the palace,” she said in a tone that was a long way from furious, but obviously annoyed.

The fact that Sunset hadn’t thrown a fit already made Celestia hopeful. “Please understand,” Celestia told her, using every inch of her willpower to keep her desperation from entering her expression or voice. “I don’t want to even think that. But Chrysalis, the changeling queen, she is the greatest threat Equestria has ever faced. She’s ancient and devious. She can wait in the shadows for just the right moment and will strike if there is even a fraction of a second when our guard is dropped. And right now, we know she watching, just waiting for that moment to strike from the shadows and get her revenge. So, after the two of you spent a night away from the palace guards, from our wards and protection spells, from me, I have to make sure the two of you are...well, the two of you.”

How could you say something like that?”

Do you really have so little faith in me?”

You’re putting me through this crap again?”

I don’t see any gunk in front of you! How do we know YOU’RE not a changeling?”

Celestia kicked herself for not anticipating the last response until right then and there. If she had been willing to go through the same level of discomfort as her daughter, it might have cooled her rage. But as things were, Sunset was about to blow up, toss the changeling revealing potion in Celestia’s face and-“Yeah, that makes sense,” Sunset replied before she tossed back the glass of champagne in one gulp before her body shuddered in revulsion and she let out a gagged cough.

The lack of an apocalyptic tantrum had Celestia blinking in confusion. “You aren’t...angry?”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Why would I be?” she asked before putting on a tiny smile that was topped by an equally light frown. “It’s not like you hauled me out in front of every single important pony in Canterlot to accuse me of being a shapeshifting monster while sitting on the documents that proved I wasn’t.”

Despite the light barb, Celestia managed a genuine smile of relief. “Technically, they were under my wing,” she said. “And I do apologize for making you drink that stuff. I hope it didn’t ruin your appetites.”

“I’m an alicorn, remember?” Sunset deadpanned, showing that she was far from okay with having to down the swill, but a long way from where Celestia thought she would be. The big pony decided to take what she could get on that front.

“And you...Cadance?” Celestia asked, pausing when she noticed the pink princess sitting in her chair, still holding onto her revealing potion as her whole body trembled and a look of wide-eyed terror showed on her face.

“...oh dear.”

“Good going, Mom.”


There were times when Sunset missed being the old her. The old her wouldn’t have cared that Cadance had become a nervous wreck that looked like she was having a mild spasm as she trembled her way down the hall, giving every pony they passed a wide berth and every shadow a nervous look. The old Sunset would have just told her to grow the fuck up and piss off.

But she wasn’t the old Sunset. She wasn’t even the same species as the old Sunset.

She was the new Sunset.

After lunch, the new Sunset had told the servants to make some calming tea and send it to her room before she headed out with Cadance tucked under her wing as she walked down the hall back towards Sunset’s royal apartments with a forced look of calm understanding firmly in place.

“Sunset, I was thinking,” Cadance spoke as they neared a corner.

Gulping down an annoyed groan, Sunset answered Cadance’s question before he pink princess could ask. “Don’t worry. I’ll put up some wards as soon as we’re back in the apartment.”

Cadance shook her head ever so slightly. “No, not that. Although, you probably should, just in case,” she added after a second of thought. “No, what I was thinking was that we should probably get me an armed escort.”

The idea made Sunset raise an eyebrow. “What for?”

“For school,” Cadance replied. “We don’t have all of the same classes, and there are just so many ponies around me all the time, it would be easy for changelings to sneak up and-”

“Okay,” Sunset said before she stepped away from Cadance and held up a hoof to forestall her. “That’s enough. Cadance, I get you’re frightened of these changelings. Honestly, they are something to be a little afraid of, but this is getting way out of hand. Caution is good, but what you’re doing is living in fear of something somepony like you doesn’t need to worry about.”

Cadance looked up at Sunset with slightly widened eyes a second before her expression turned to a frown. “That’s easy for you to say!” the pink princess exclaimed. “Of course you don’t have to worry about something like changelings. You had more magical energy and skill than me when you we’re still a unicorn and now the sheer amount of power you possess is just insane!”

Then Cadance dipped her head and let out a depressed sigh. “But I’m not like you, Sunset. I’m not strong, or confident or anything a princess should be.”

The pity party Cadance was putting on got a snort from Sunset. “Cadance, you’re plenty brave, and nopony could do what I’ve seen you do without confidence in themselves.”

“Yes!” Cadance said as her head shot back up to look Sunset in the eyes. “What you’ve seen. Meaning you were close to me. When I’m not afraid. I know you’ll protect me, and all this worry and fear disappears. But when you’re not there…”

As Cadance lowered her voice and looked away from Sunset again, the amber alicorn tensed up a bit as the internal debate began. She understood that Cadance’s sudden increase in fear and paranoia was just due to Celestia going on and on about the changelings. Her mind was just racing in an out of control fashion, making her come up with ideas that she never would have otherwise. After some rest and the chance to put her mind on something else, Cadance would see how silly this whole bodyguard idea was.

But for that to happen, Sunset would need to spend the rest of the day practically holding Cadance’s hand. While she was happy to spend time with the other alicorn, it would mean her entire day would be shot. A day she needed to use with the mirror activating soon.

So, maybe I should humor her a bit, Sunset told herself. The idea of passing Cadance off made her feel a little dirty, but...desperate times called for desperate measures.

Plus, if Cadance was still nervous about changelings when it was time to go back to Earth, the amber alicorn didn’t even want to think about how losing her protector would affect her.

“Okay,” Sunset capitulated. It wasn’t as if they could cancel the order by the time Cadance had calmed down at the end of the day, basically making a stack of paperwork Hard Line would have to deal with, and then throw away once Sunset got Cadance to change her mind. “Let’s go see Hard Line and get him started on getting you a personal guard.”

As she led Cadance down the hallways, Sunset began tensing in preparation for her upcoming meeting with the captain of the royal guard. Even though their most recent encounter the better part of a week ago had given Sunset plenty of reason to have Hard Line transferred to the outpost in the Northern Wastes so the piece of anatomy the stallion had based his personality on could freeze off, the amber alicorn had long carried her current opinion of the stallion before that.

Hard Line was the absolute worst example of the Canterlot Elite. He was born to a family that had held political positions for so long that they, their children, and all the ponies around them believed that they deserved the best of everything simply because they had been foaled. But that alone didn’t make him the worst of the lot. There were dozens of ponies that came from such beginnings, Canterlot was the city in which they congregated and the social circle that Sunset lived in since becoming Celestia’s apprentice was the one they all fought to reach.

The reason Hard Line held the position in Sunset’s mind was that Hard Line detested anypony he viewed as inferior to him, looking at them as one would trash that was sure to carry some disgusting bacteria. To be inferior to him, a pony had to be born outside of Canterlot’s top fifty families. It was a criteria that had him sneering at more than ninety-nine percent of Equestria.

But that was a general dislike based on his rather messed up principles. Personally, Hard Line probably hated Sunset Shimmer as much as she despised him, much more than the run of the mill pony. After all, she had been born to a pair of nobodies who hadn’t even resided in Canterlot. To him, Sunset gaining the personal attention of Princess Celestia was probably something akin to the ultimate sacrilege. While the princess had probably gotten a good deal of students from the ‘lower classes’ before, Celestia had picked them from the ponies of Canterlot. They might have been trash to him, but they were trash of the highest quality. The fact Sunset had come from outside that group probably had Hard Line foaming at the mouth most days.

As the two alicorns came to the Royal Guard Commander’s Office, Sunset blinked as a sudden realization hit her. She despised the pony behind the doors that stood in front of her. There was no pity in her heart for the stallion that had given up every opportunity he ever had to become a better pony, no desire to try and help him become a better pony.

She just didn’t like him.

She didn’t want to be around him.

And, a tiny smile came to her face as she thought of how terrible it was for such a stallion to see her as an alicorn. At least one good thing had come from her transformation.

Sunset didn’t bother knocking before she banged the door open and walked into the Captain's office. There was no secretary since pushing papers was the job Hard Line basically did himself. He had no field experience and even Celestia wasn’t willing to put a pony like that in charge of an actual combat situation. Filling out reports and sending documents to more capable guards to do whatever task was needed was all he did, aside from the occasional routine and useless check of the palace grounds.

At the back of the room, two white unicorn guards in the palace’s trademark golden armor stood at attention. Sunset recognized them as the Captian’s gofers, little more than over-trained messengers he used to deliver his orders. Although trained to stand perfectly still unless called upon, both of them gave the amber alicorn very nervous looks.

As soon as Sunset stepped in, Hard Line looked up and scowled. “What’re you doing here?”

The feeling that had been building in the back of Sunset’s mind since she decided to meet with Hard Line doubled from just being in the stallion’s presence. But, instead of giving him what he deserved right then and there, the amber alicorn put on a false smile and forced some cheer into her voice. “Oh Hard Line, you know that isn’t how a lowly little guardspony like you is supposed to greet his betters,” she said as she trotted into the room with Cadance following behind nervously. “But don’t worry, I’m such a generous pony, I’ll give you another chance. Now, let’s try greeting your Princess properly this time.”

Hard Line gave a disgusted snort in response. “A pair of wings doesn’t make you a princess, you little brat.”

After repressing the urge to kick the pony in front of her all the way to Griffonstone, which Sunset believed was an option for her in recent days, she continued to put on a false nicety. Although, she did have to put a good deal more effort to it. “Well you’re technically right, as I haven’t been crowned yet. But Princess Cadance here deserves all the respect and deference you are capable of mustering,” Sunset told him as she lit her horn up. “Here, let me help you.”

Puppeteer magic was easily in the top ten most 'intrusive’ types of spellcraft in Equestria. While not outright mind control, a unicorn, or alicorn in this case, would use her magic to force a subject to move and talk according to the demands of the caster. However, as the target kept his free will, he could attempt to resist physically, which would be akin to wrestling someone inside his own body. Hence why it was considered to be so distasteful.

Sunset supposed that if a pony just went limp that it wouldn't feel too bad. But then, what kind of pony would ever do something like that?

But it was because the spell was so intrusive that Sunset wanted to use it. The idea might have offended her moral side, but as she would be gone before a crown really touched her head, this was probably the only opportunity she would have to put Hard Line in his place. It was petty and would have had Princess Celestia giving Sunset one of the glares she had been so good at the first time around, but Sunset didn't care.

One little step into the not-as-light side wasn't going to turn Sunset evil or anything.

A thin outline of magic peeked out from underneath the other unicorn’s skin and he let out a grunt of discomfort before getting out of his seat cushion and walking forward. The stallion’s legs shook with effort and there was a gagged sound from his closed mouth before he finally presented himself before the alicorns and bowed. “I’m...sorry...Prin...cess Ca-dence,” he said, doing his best to try and keep his mouth shut. “I’m just...a...stupid...tri-bal-ist that was given everything I ever had without...working for it...but...there’s no need to...forgive me...j-just reeeeplace me with somepony competent.”

Wow, Sunset thought to herself as she looked down at the pony who was sweating from the failed efforts to resist her magic. This is a lot more satisfying than I thought it would be. Contrary to what all those human cartoon shows told her, revenge really did make a person feel better.

The presence of a hoof on her shoulder made Sunset look back to see Cadance giving her a worried look. “Sunset, umm...maybe we should forget the bodyguard thing for right now.”

“Oh come on Cadance,” the amber alicorn told the pink princess. “This guy deserves it. Watch.”

Sunset looked back to Hard Line and locked his body in place then concentrated more of the spell’s power in his mouth. “What do you think about Princess Cadance. Be brutally honest.”

“She’s a stupid country hick that doesn’t belong anywhere near Canterlot, just like every other useless cloud pusher in this city,” Hard Line said with some difficulty.

“See?” Sunset asked Cadance happily before reaching over to pat the paralyzed pony on the head as if he was a dog. “And don’t worry about those two. You guys don’t mind me showing your boss how to act towards the Princess, do you boys?”

Both of the stallions gave Sunset nervous looks, then quickly shook their heads.

“Now, do you have something you want to ask our brave Captain?” Sunset asked Cadance.

The uneasy look on Cadance’s face didn’t disappear. “Sunset, I want to go back to the apartment. Please?”

With the little pink pony giving giving her a pleading looking, Sunset let out a defeated groan. “Okay fine,” she agreed before looking back to Hard Line. However, when she opened her mouth to give him a sarcastically polite goodbye, a thought occurred to her.

Hard Line was the head of the Guard. Something as important as the mirror portal would have had some kind of armed escort if it left palace grounds. Even if it was still somewhere inside the structure, then there was a possibility that he had been informed about where it had been moved.

“Say Hard Line,” Sunset began sweetly, “One more thing before I go. Do you know anything about a mirror that was being kept in the third storage room of the palace’s west wing?”

A sharp spasm rocked the stallion’s body as he tried to resist the hold Sunset’s magic had on his body, but the resistance proved futile as his mouth began to move a few seconds later. “It...was transferred...to the secret...magical repository, third level, sub-basement.”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, secret repository?”


“A secret repository!”

Cadance had to admit, life has a funny way of changing in the oddest ways.

“I can’t believe Celestia has a secret repository!”

The biggest example being Sunset Shimmer, or at least, how Cadance’s view of the other pony had changed in the past few weeks.

“A secret she kept from me!”

Two weeks ago, the thought of being alone in the same room as a Sunset that was one hundred times more powerful than the unicorn she had known before while she was in the midst of throwing a tantrum would have terrified Cadance.

“Me! Her daughter!”

Now, the angry amber alicorn’s furious stomping that shook the room and the castle along with it was little more than harmless background noise as she read through the instructions on how to cast some of the old Crystal Empire’s spells that didn’t deal with mineral shaping. Although Cadance didn’t quite understand why a book of love-centric spellcraft would include magic that allowed ponies to stay up late into the night or give a male pony extra stamina, she did her best to commit the formula to memory anyway.

“I mean, can you believe her?”

With a question actually asked directly to her, Cadance looked up from her book. “Well,” she said before pausing to think of a way to put her answer gently. “No offense Sunset, but...I wouldn’t want the old you near any potentially dangerous or unstable magical artifacts either.”

Sunset blinked at the response. “Well neither would I,” she said before frowning again. “But that’s beside the point. It’s the principle of the thing!”

Before she could start up again, Cadance let out a sigh. “Sunset, aren’t you reaching a bit on this one?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“Honestly Sunny, I’ll usually back you when it comes to an argument between you and your mom, but being angry over her not telling you about where she keeps all her super dangerous magical knickknacks when you agree with the fact it’s better that you didn’t know about them is reaching,” Cadance explained. Then, before Sunset could give a counter argument, the pink princess frowned in thought. “And why did you want to know about the mirror anyway?”

Sunset blanched. “Um...well that’s...uh…” she replied nervously with eyes that darted about instead of meeting Cadance’s straight on. Then, a knock at the door drew both alicorns’ attention. “I’ll get it!”

The amber alicorn galloped away and skid to a stop in front of the door. “Yes?” she asked after throwing the door open.

“Princess Sunset,” an earth pony in palace livery said formally. “There is a Fleur De Lis for you in private audience room three. She says she has schoolwork from your teachers.”

“Oh! Right, I should go get that because, you know, school...learning...it’s important! Be right back Cadance!”

The pink princess opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Sunset darted away with a few parting words, “Don’t worry I’ll ward the door and be back as soon as I can!”

The sound of a loud slam followed her exit, and Cadance was left lying on the bed alone. Despite the fact Sunset wasn’t around, she didn’t feel the fear of a changeling suddenly creeping up behind her to seal her away in a cocoon return.

Maybe I did overreact a bit to Celestia’s description of Chrysalis, Cadance told herself before looking down at the spellbook. Or maybe it was…

Cadance shuddered in fear a little as she remembered the scene from a few moments. The Sunset she had seen back then, that hadn’t been the Sunset she had fallen in love with, that had been the Sunset from before. When faced with a real fear, Cadance’s unease over the unknown boogiemare that Chrysalis was to her helped ground her a bit.

It was like Sunset had said, she had been letting the fear control her.

“Ok, so…” Cadance said to herself before she looked back down at her book. However, she found her thoughts unable to focus on the words in front of her, the pink princess’s mind kept sliding back to Sunset. The Sunset that scared her.

She knew it wasn’t right.

Five minutes of Sunset acting like a diamond dog didn’t mean that she was reverting back to what she had been before. It was probably just...stress...or something, Cadance told herself. Or something else that was bothering her.

Although, the question of just what that something was eluded her.

“Then again, she’s been pretty out of it since this morning when we woke up with Shiny,” the pink pony mumbled. “Shiny…”

Was that it?

Sunset had obviously done something wrong this morning, and Cadance knew how she tended to worry about things, then get mad because she didn’t want to worry about things...which she had obviously tried to do with the revelation about Celestia’s vault.

Had something happened between her and Shiny that she hadn’t told Cadance about?

The pink princess moaned in distress and rolled onto her back, the book of spells forgotten for the moment. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t just fly over to Shining Armor’s place and sort the whole mess out. She had promised the white unicorn she wouldn’t mess with their relationship.

But...doing nothing to fix the situation that obviously getting worse was just asinine!

Even with the promise in place, Cadance knew she needed to do something!

Or… Cadance thought to herself as an idea began to form in her mind. But, before she could finish it, there was another knock on the door. Not sure just what Sunset’s protection spell would do if someone tried to force their way in, the pink pony princess got up from the bed and cantered over to the door to open it.

“Princess Cadance,” the servant pegasus said from the other side of the entrance. “There is a Sassy Saddles here to see you, she says she has your schoolwork for today. She’s in the third sitting room, awaiting your arrival.”

Although it seemed a bit odd for Fleur and Sassy to arrive separately, Cadance shrugged it aside. “Okay,” the princess replied before realizing she had no idea where that was. “Would you mind leading me there?”


Fleur set the Princess’s homework down on the table and took a seat on one of the private waiting room’s plush cushions before taking one of the cucumber sandwiches that had been offered to her upon arrival in her magic and lifting it up to take a bite. Then she did the same with the jasmine tea in front of her.

A moment later, the door opened in Sunset’s familiar magical aura, and the amber alicorn trotted in not long after. “Hey Fleur, good to see you!” she greeted before sitting down right next to the white pony instead of across from her for some odd reason. “You have no idea how much you showing up now pulled my bacon out of the fire.”

The rather odd statement made Fleur blink in confusion. “Um...glad to be of help, Your Majesty.”

“So, anything happen today while I was gone?” Sunset asked.

Fleur became a little nervous as her mind fixated on one particular incident that happened after lunch. “Um...well, Princess Sunset, there was one thing that stood out,” she said before telling her about what happened between herself and Shining Armor.

When she was done, the amber alicorn let out a groan. “Ugh, so he’s…” Sunset said before pausing and letting out a groan. “Maybe what I said to him today worked a bit too well.”

“Princess?” Fleur asked.

Sunset sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, it’s nothing,” she replied. “Well, it’s not nothing, it’s just...it looks more and more like Shiny’s not going to ask Cadance to the Fall Formal in time, and the last chance I had to help things along seems like it blew up in my face.”

Although her survival instinct told her it was a bad idea, Fleur asked a question that had been bugging her since the night before. “Princess Sunset, if you don’t mind me asking, why exactly is it that you’re so insistent Shining Armor be with Princess Cadance instead of...some other pony?”

The Princess’s expression darkened a bit. “You mean like you?”

Fleur quickly shook her head. “What?! No! No, Princess...I…” she paused for a moment, unsure how to respond. If she told Sunset just why the amber alicorn had no reason to fear Fleur just galloping in to try and steal her stallion, it could lead to all kinds of trouble. But on the other hoof, if Sunset didn’t believe her...the memory of the fiery princess threatening Canterlot Academy’s top trio replayed itself in Fleur’s mind, sending an icy fear down her spine.

“Princess,” she said, having finally decided. “I mean no offense, but...Shining Armor is too...common...for me.”

The air around Sunset seemed to shimmer as the big alicorn made a sound akin to growling. “Fleur-”

“Please let me explain!” the beautiful unicorn begged fearfully. “It’s my family. My parents, they’re extremely ambitious social climbers. With me being physically attractive and friends with Upper Crust, they were not only allowed access to a higher rank on the social ladder, but a way to make their position stick if I were to catch the eye of a rich young stallion. The colt I told you about, Fancy Pants, his parents are in the top forty families in Canterlot. If I were to abandon my chances with him to go after Shining Armor, they’d probably disown and sue me for all the alchemical beauty treatments and social lessons I’ve been given over the years.”

Sunset’s growing ire quickly vanished at Fleur’s explanation. “Oh...um...that’s...uh...do you want me to try and do something about-”

Seeing where this was going, Fleur held up a hoof. “It’s alright Princess. I have yet to meet the colt after all, so he could be a perfectly pleasant pony. And if not...well, he’s rich. I’ve known I’d be traded off for awhile now and honestly, I think I’d prefer a lip service relationship with financial stability than a loving marriage with an empty wallet.”

Once again, Princess Sunset sat in what Fleur could only call stunned silence as the white pony suddenly thought of something. “Oh! Please don’t tell Princess Cadance. I don’t think I could survive her attempts to fix my situation.”

“Yeah...that’s um...okay, really wasn’t expecting that,” Princess Sunset replied before smiling a bit. “Well, except for the Cadance part. She can be pretty...extreme.”

Fleur shared a laugh with the bigger pony. “Yes, but she means well.”

All of a sudden, Princess Sunset’s expression morphed into a devious smile. “By the way, speaking of Princess Cadance, there’s something she and I need your help with,” she said. “You see…”


Sassy Saddles gave the pink princess sitting across from her a look of wide-eyed astonishment. When she had been told the princesses needed somepony to take their homework to the castle, both she and Fleur volunteered because, well who wouldn’t want an excuse to visit royalty in their own home?

So one took Sunset's assignments, the other carried Cadance’s. Of course, one pony could have gotten the job done, but where was the fun in that? Not to mention it would have meant going to the palace alone.

However, she hadn’t expected Cadance to rope her into her latest...project.

“Let me get this straight,” she said as she broke down everything Cadance had just told her. “You want me, to help you, to get Shining Armor to ask Princess Sunset to the Fall Formal, tomorrow?”