23 – The Princess Summit
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Princess Summit
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A trip to the Crystal Empire was usually a good time, but seeing Morning’s reactions made it even better. Of course, she was already familiar with their crystal castle, but seeing a whole city where everything was crystal still awed the little filly.
“I like their manes,” Morning said quietly as they walked to the castle, referring to a group of ponies they passed on the street.
“Maybe we can ask Aunt Cadance how to style your mane like that,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight nodded. “That’s how a lot of ponies used to style their manes a thousand years ago. Do you know why the Crystal Empire might use a style from so long ago?”
“Uhm… is it because that was when it disappeared?”
“That’s right!” Twilight said proudly. “Most of these ponies were actually alive back then, but when the Empire vanished the ponies disappeared with it.”
“And who was it that saved them?” Spike wore a cocky grin.
Twilight rolled her eyes, but she smiled. “It was kind of a group victory, but yes, Uncle Spike was the one who saved the day in the end.”
Twilight Velvet cast a glare at her son. “Spike, no bragging.”
Spike looked sheepish. “Sorry, Mom…”
Morning and her friends laughed. As a special treat, she’d been allowed to bring the Cake twins as her guests to the Princess Summit. Altogether they were a very large group – the three moms, Spike, Twilight’s parents, and the three foals. It was a little nerve-wracking to travel in such a big group, but the Princess Summit was an important occasion, and all the adults helped keep an eye on the three foals.
And as they reached the castle, their group grew a little bigger. “Hello, everypony!” Cadance said as they approached. “Say hi, Flurry.”
“Hi!” Flurry Heart smiled and waved at everyone, then tapped on Shining Armor’s foreleg. “Daddy, can I play with Morning?”
“Not right now, but after the Summit,” Shining Armor said. “For now, why don’t you go meet her friends?”
“Okay!” Flurry Heart used her wings to glide down from the top of the stairwell to the others. She immediately ran over to Morning. “Hi, Mo Glow!”
Morning blushed at her nickname being used around her friends, but she just said, “Hi, Flurry.”
“Morning, introduce Flurry to your friends,” Twilight instructed.
“Uhm, Flurry, this is Pound and Pumpkin Cake,” Morning said, gesturing to each in turn. “And this is Flurry Heart, my cousin.”
“Nice to meet you, Flurry,” Pound Cake said.
“It’s so weird that you’re related to all these princesses,” Pumpkin said.
“Mo Glow’s a princess too!” Flurry said. “Mommy said so!”
Pound Cake scrunched up his face. “Morning’s not a princess. She’s just a regular pony.”
“Uhm…” Morning kicked at the ground. “Mom says I am a princess…”
“It’s true.” Sunset placed a foreleg around Morning’s shoulder. “Don’t read too much into it, though. She’s a princess, but she’s also a regular pony.”
“So she can’t boss Pumpkin around?” Pound Cake asked.
“Morning wouldn’t boss me around!” Pumpkin insisted. “She’d boss you around because you’re a boy!”
“Morning doesn’t care about that,” Pound said, but he didn’t sound too sure. He turned towards Morning for confirmation. “Right?”
Morning looked between her friends. “I’m not going to boss anypony around!”
Shining Armor chuckled. He and Cadance had walked over to the rest of the group while the kids talked. “Cadance bosses me around sometimes.”
Cadance nudged him playfully. “That’s because I’m your wife, not because I’m a princess. Don’t listen to him, kids, being a princess isn’t something that should matter to your friends.”
There were many greetings around the large group, as everyone wanted a hug or a hoof bump from everyone else. They made the obligatory comments about how big Flurry was getting, told each other it had been too long since they were all together, introduced Pound and Pumpkin to Cadance and Shining, then made their way into the castle.
“So has anyone else shown up?” Sunset asked.
“A few other guests are here, but I don’t think any of the ponies you invited,” Cadance said. “Aunt Celestia and Luna aren’t here yet either.”
Fluttershy frowned a little. She knew she was going to have to meet up with Luna at the Summit, and she had been dreading it. She was fine with everything else. Visiting their Crystal Empire family was always nice, and doing so with their Ponyville family coming with them was even better.
She didn’t even mind the Summit itself; she was dressed up in her regalia that she never wore for any other occasion, but she would just hide behind the more charismatic princesses during the event. Only the adult alicorn princesses were expected to give a speech, and then there was an interview afterwards where she’d have to answer a few questions, but the journalist they got for these events was always friendly and polite.
No, all that stuff was fine. But seeing Luna… Fluttershy hadn’t seen her since they met in the dream to talk about Stormy Skies, and she wasn’t sure what would happen. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to happen.
But before anything could happen, they reached a large room that had been set up as a buffet for their guests. Spike immediately ran off to get something to eat and, probably, to mingle with the Crystal Empire ponies who saw him as a hero.
Twilight’s parents saw somepony they knew and excused themselves from the group as well. Fluttershy looked around and found that there were a few ponies she knew as well, but everyone seemed busy and there was still plenty of time before the event to talk to them.
Instead, she turned to her daughter. “Are you hungry? There’s lots of food here.”
“No, not real– is that cake?”
Twilight extended a wing to guide Morning along. “How about we get you some real food, then we can go to the dessert table? That goes for all of you kids.”
All the other foals followed Twilight, leaving the rest of the adults to talk. “How’s Morning feeling about the Summit?” Cadance asked.
“She’s holding up well, but I think she’s really worried,” Sunset explained. “She’s still getting used to even being related to princesses, it’ll be a while before she really accepts that she is a princess, I think.”
“I know I was nervous at my first time at the Summit.” Fluttershy watched Morning as Twilight helped get her and the other foals plates of food. She looked like she was getting overwhelmed trying to keep all four plates separate. “I think Twily could use some help.”
“I’ve got it,” Shining said and walked over to her. He took two of the plates, and they managed them much better.
It was cute to see how Flurry stuck close to Morning. It was only their second meeting, but they were already inseparable. Maybe that would help Morning see that being a princess didn’t mean she had to give up being a kid.
“Well, if it isn’t Princess Fluttershy.” Everyone turned to see a couple of stallions approach them, and Fluttershy broke into a smile.
“Silver Spark! Sea Star!” Fluttershy extended her forelegs to give hugs to her friends, which they each accepted in turn.
“It’s been quite a while,” Silver said with a smile. “How have things been?”
“They’ve been good. Have you heard about Morning?”
“We have,” Sea Star said. “We’ve been very interested in meeting her.”
“Sea especially.” Silver chuckled. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say he wants a little one of our own these days.”
“Really? That would be wonderful!”
Sea Star rolled his eyes. “He’s exaggerating, I never said that. But we were both very happy to hear your news. I know you and Twilight are sure to be excellent moms, and everything I know about Sunset makes me think she’s the same.”
“I don’t think we’ve met,” Sunset said. She extended her hoof to bump each of theirs in turn.
“This is Silver Spark and Sea Star,” Fluttershy explained. “They’re the heads of Unity.”
“Oh, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Sunset said with a smile.
“Silver’s the head of the company,” Sea Star corrected. “I mostly just get him into trouble.”
“That he does,” Silver said with a shake of his head, though as always it was clear that he loved his coltfriend. “I believe Twilight mentioned it was your journal that inspired the Unity program?”
“That’s right,” Sunset said. “Celestia gave me one when I was younger, then her copy wound up in Twilight’s hooves after a while. It was really cool to hear it was used as a blueprint for something so positive.”
Silver nodded. “It’s been very rewarding working with ponies and setting up their pen pals.”
“Is your mom still causing problems?” Fluttershy asked. “I haven’t heard about her in a while.”
“Actually, something amazing happened.” Silver Spark grinned broadly. “She came to see us. She’s… I can tell she still doesn’t like it, you know, but she left the VES and we’re speaking again.”
“She asks about me sometimes,” Sea Star said with a smirk. “ ‘How’s your friend doing?’ That sort of thing.”
“Baby steps, love,” Silver said. “At least she asks.”
“That’s great news,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight always said if she would just talk to you about it, that she’d come around.”
“Little by little,” Silver said. “But speaking of moms, you’re one yourself now! What’s it like?”
Fluttershy giggled. “It’s been wonderful. Morning is the sweetest thing, we all just adore her.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.” Silver watched her as Twilight and Shining sat the foals down to eat. “How’s she adapting to being a princess?”
“She’s learning little by little,” Fluttershy said.
“I think spending some time with Flurry might help her,” Cadance added. “We could always plan a sleepover.”
“Ooh, that sounds like a great idea!” Fluttershy smiled at Morning and Flurry, who were sitting side by side
“Good to see she’s getting along with the other princesses,” Silver said.
“She’s still a little unsure about that part,” Sunset admitted. “But she’ll come around.”
“Oh yeah?” Sea Star asked. “How is she with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?”
“She’s… still getting used to them.” The idea of Luna and Morning had come across Fluttershy’s mind a lot lately, and she wasn’t sure what she thought of them spending time together. “I think they’re a little more daunting than the others, but I think they both like her a lot.”
“Wanna go say hi?” Sunset asked. “They’re with Twilight right now, so it’s probably a good time. Once they’re on their own, they probably won’t want to talk with strange adults.”
“That sounds good to me,” Silver said, then turned to his coltfriend. “Sea?”
“Of course, I’d love to. Lead the way.”
Sunset led the couple towards where Twilight and the foals were, and Fluttershy was going to follow. She was stopped when somepony tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and found herself instantly being hugged.
Fluttershy giggled as she realized who the other pony was. “Hello, Amber.”
“Hey, Fluttershy.” Amber pulled away from her. They’d gotten dressed up in one of the suits they favored. “How’s it going?”
“It’s pretty good. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. You nervous about the Summit?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, but I think Morning is.”
Amber nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Her first time and all that.”
“So, uhm…” Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “I guess if you’re here, then Luna must be here too.”
“Yeah, she is.” Amber scratched at their neck. “Actually, she wanted me to ask you if you wanted to see her. I mean, you’ve got to for the Summit, but like, before that starts I mean. She… really wants to talk with you.”
Fluttershy sighed. She knew this would be coming. “We can talk.”
“Alright, I’ll let her know.”
Amber left, and Cadance took her place. “Is everything okay between you and Luna?”
Fluttershy sighed. “No, we’re having a fight. Luna did something really bad, but I don’t want to talk about it here.”
Cadance put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I understand. You know I’m happy to help if I can.”
Fluttershy smiled. “I know. Thank you, but for now, I think I should probably talk to Luna one on one.”
“It may prove difficult here,” Luna said from behind her, causing Fluttershy to frown. “Perhaps we could go to another room?”
Fluttershy sighed, then turned to see her. Luna had her head bowed. “I think that would be a good idea.”
Luna turned and led them away, and Fluttershy followed. She looked back and saw Cadance waving, and Twilight was talking to their friends. Sunset noticed she was leaving and nodded encouragingly.
They made their way out of the room, and Luna led them down the hall. She opened a door and they walked into a storage room filled with boxes of food and drinks. There was nopony else in sight, so it would serve their purposes.
“I must start by saying I am sorry,” Luna said before Fluttershy could say anything. “I have thought carefully over what happened and what we talked about, and I have come to see how wrong I was. I am sorry.”
“Twilight said you talked to her.”
“That is true. I wanted the counsel of somepony close to you, and Twilight or Sunset were the obvious choices. I chose Twilight because I felt she would be less sympathetic to my position.”
Fluttershy nodded. She hadn’t talked about it with Sunset, but she knew her wife. Sunset wouldn’t see anything wrong with what Luna did, whereas Twilight could be sympathetic to both of them. “Twilight told me she knew about the Tantabus all along.”
“Yes, I spoke with her about what I did some years ago. I… hope you are not angry with her as well.”
“I don’t know. I’m upset with her, but it helped me understand what you were thinking too. I don’t know how I feel.”
“Fluttershy, I…” Luna stepped forward and bowed. “You believe Stormy Skies could have come back from what he did. Please, believe in me as well. Give me the chance to make amends.”
Fluttershy wished Luna wouldn’t bow to her. She knew it was a sign of respect, but she didn’t like feeling like some judge to decree who was right and wrong. “Luna, please… this is hard enough on me.”
Luna picked up her head. “I just want to know what I can do to make up for this.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t know! All of this is just so much, and I can’t even ask you for help. You’ve always been there for me when I need advice, and this time… you can’t be.”
“I… I am sorry.”
“I know you’re sorry,” Fluttershy said testily. “If that was all I needed, then everything would be okay now.”
“I see. I’m… unsure what to say.”
Fluttershy bowed her head, and she almost wished Luna would come over and hold her. She just wanted Luna to tell her that this would be okay somehow, because when Luna said things like that, Fluttershy believed her.
But Luna didn’t hold her. Of course she didn’t, nothing about Fluttershy’s actions suggested she wanted to be held right now. Eventually, Fluttershy looked back up at Luna. “I love you, you know. You’re so important to me, and in so many ways. But… but I’m also disgusted with you. I can’t believe you’d do that, and I especially can’t believe you’d hide it from me.”
Luna winced, looking almost as if Fluttershy had struck her. “I understand. I would like to honor your wishes, but… I admit I am not prepared to lose my friend. Please, if not now, tell me someday things can be okay between us again.”
Fluttershy caved in and leaned her head against Luna. “Yes, okay. Yes, things will be okay between us again. I… I care about you too much to lose you. But I think I need some time right now.”
“I understand.” Luna gingerly wrapped a foreleg around Fluttershy. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I promise I will be the friend you deserve.”
“You should say hi to Morning,” Fluttershy said, making up her mind where she stood on that topic. “I don’t want her to know that we’re having problems. She’s having a hard enough time getting used to you.”
“I am glad you still want me around young Morning.”
Fluttershy bowed her head for a moment, then pushed herself tighter against Luna. “You know, I almost wanted you to be Morning’s guide mother…”
“Truly? I am honored.”
“Rainbow is great, and I’m happy she’s one of Morning’s guide parents. But I did want you to help guide her as well.”
“I take it these feelings have changed,” Luna said sadly. “I am still grateful that you told me.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I haven’t changed my mind. Luna, we may have chosen other ponies to be Morning’s official guide parents, but I want you to be there for her too. I want you to help us raise her.”
“I… I do not deserve this honor after how I’ve hurt you. But I will, I promise, I will do my best to raise her alongside you and her other mothers.”
Fluttershy pulled away. “Thank you. We should head back.”
Luna nodded. “I suppose we should. I would like to speak with Morning, and with the others.”
Fluttershy opened the door, and the two of them walked out of the room. They made their way back to the main room together, with Fluttershy’s thoughts rattling through her head. She didn’t want to be upset with Luna, certainly not over Stormy Skies, but she would sort those feelings out in time.
For now, what mattered was doing what was right for Morning, and that meant making sure she got the chance to spend time with her unofficial guide mother.
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There were so many ponies to greet, but Sunset didn’t mind that. She was good at it, after all. She floated between ponies, exchanging pleasantries and answering questions. It helped that for once ponies were asking about something she actually wanted to talk about – Morning Glisten.
It also helped that she finally got the chance to talk to somepony she’d genuinely like to spend more time with. Amber was catching her up on their travels as part of their new job as a reporter of everyday life.
“Then I spent a couple weeks with this wilderness guru,” Amber explained. “He lives out in the Smoky Mountains, and just like, lives off the land and stuff. Spends a lot of time meditating. Drinks these disgusting onion and banana smoothies.”
“I remember reading that one,” Sunset said with a smirk. “Sounds like he was a load of fun.”
Amber chuckled. “Fun might be the wrong word. But he was actually really cool. Taught me a lot about coping with anxiety, and it’s already helping when I travel.”
Sunset nodded. “So you’re still getting travel anxiety?”
“Nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but sometimes it still hits me. Anyway, I think he was skeptical since I wanted to write a story about him, but he came around to the idea of teaching ponies a few things and maybe inspiring them to get in touch with nature.”
“Sounds like it’s going well then.”
Amber grinned. They seemed genuinely happy, which was nice after they’d spent so long living miserably in Fillydelphia. “It is, and ponies are responding well to it. Even right here in Equestria, there are so many ways to live! It’s really been eye-opening.”
“For us too,” Sunset said. “We get your magazine delivered to the castle, and we always keep up with what you’re doing.”
“Aww, thanks.”
“Yeah, Morning even did a school report on one of them. The kids had to do a current event report, so she picked one of your articles.”
“Oh gosh.” Amber broke into a wide grin. “That’s so sweet. Does she even remember meeting me in Canterlot?”
“A little, but that was a big day for her.”
Amber laughed. “Yeah, hard to compete with meeting Luna and Celestia on the same day.”
“A bit, yeah.” Sunset laughed as well, then she stopped when she noticed someone. She had to remind herself that she had been invited by Sunset herself, and that this was inevitable. “Well, there goes my good mood.”
Amber followed her gaze, but they just seemed confused. “Why, what’s up?”
“That’s my mom over there.”
“Oh, shit.” Amber frowned. They had met Sunset’s parents once, and no doubt remembered how awkward that meeting had been. “Want me to cause a distraction so you can sneak out?”
Sunset chuckled. “No, I’m just gonna go say hi. We’re kinda on better terms these days. Not good terms, exactly, but better.”
“Oh, cool. I guess I’ll see you later then.”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah, absolutely. If I’m still talking to her in half an hour, come and save me.”
Amber laughed. “Yeah, okay. Good luck.”
Sunset nodded, then walked over to greet her mom. Predictably, she was with Sunspot and his family. Sunset had expected that, and she’d been mentally preparing for this meeting for the past two weeks. She still wasn’t sure how it would go, but she was prepared for it.
“Sunset!” Stellar Flare said. Out of everyone, she seemed to find being around Sunset the least awkward. “It’s so good to see you.”
“Hi, Stellar,” Sunset said. “And everyone else. How’re you all doing? Was the trip here okay?”
“We’re all doing good,” Sunspot said. “Had a nice train ride over. Stellar and I used to travel a lot, so it was nice to get out again.”
“What about you, Sunburst?” Sunset asked. “Have you travelled much?”
“Not unless books count,” Sunburst said with an awkward laugh. “The Crystal Empire is such a fascinating place! I really hope we can get the chance to check out the royal library while we’re here.”
“I’m sure I can arrange that,” Sunset said. “Today is going to be pretty busy, but we’re here for the weekend, and you all are welcome to stay as long as you want.”
“That’s very generous of you,” Stellar said.
Sunset shrugged. “Not really, it’s generous of Shining and Cadance to let you stay in the castle. I just paid for the train ticket, and that costs the same whether you stay for the weekend or a month.”
“Well, we won’t overstay our welcome.” Sunspot chuckled.
Sunset turned to the one pony who hadn’t said anything yet, and she reminded herself to keep things cordial. At the very least in front of Sunspot and his family, Sunset would get along with Golden Lace. “And how about you, Mom? Doing alright?”
“I can’t complain,” Lace said. “I’m glad to show Stellar, Sunspot, and Sunburst a little luxury. You know I’ve tried to get them to come out to Canterlot, but they haven’t.”
Sunset suppressed an eye roll. Why ever would a married couple not want to stay with the recently divorced mare who clearly fawned over the still married stallion? “Well, some ponies don’t like the high society thing. I’ve lived both ways, and it’s hard to go back and forth.”
“Oh, I understand,” Golden Lace said, and Sunset wondered if she really did. “I’m just glad we have this chance.”
“So the rest of your family is around too, right?” Sunspot said. “I understand if you don’t want me to, but I’d love to meet them.”
“Yeah, they’re around somewhere. Let’s see…” Sunset took a look around to find her family, and she did. Not the family she was expecting, though. “Is that Dad?”
It was a little hard to tell with him being across the room, but it looked like him. Golden Lace narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t realize Brass would be here.”
“Yeah, I didn’t exactly plan on inviting him originally,” Sunset said. “But then, I didn’t really plan on inviting you, either.”
She hoped her mom caught her message to play nice, but it didn’t really matter too much. She doubted her parents would cause problems with one another.
But her dad… he was just standing around awkwardly. He clearly didn’t know anypony, or if he did, he didn’t want to talk to any of them. Sunset could not believe it, but she pitied him. At least her mom had Sunspot and his family. “I’m gonna go say hi.”
Golden Lace frowned. “But you just –”
“Of course,” Sunspot said. “Maybe we can talk later.”
Sunset nodded. “We’ll be here for the weekend. I’m sure we’ll find some time to get to know each other.”
Sunset left the others and walked across the room. Her dad saw her coming, but he didn’t react until she was right in front of him. “Sunset.”
“Hey, Dad.”
They stood in silence for a moment, until eventually Sunset sighed. “Alright, this is awkward. You wanna go find Morning?”
“I think that would be ideal.”
Sunset looked around, and she saw the kids raiding the dessert table. She led the way towards them, her dad falling into step behind her.
Morning jumped back when she saw Sunset, scrunching up her muzzle and looking off to the side. Sunset arched an eyebrow. “Are you kids supposed to be having more sweets?”
“Uhm…” Morning wouldn’t look at her.
“What did Mom say?”
Morning sighed. “She said we could have one dessert each.”
“And how many have you had?”
“I don’t know,” Morning said with the tone of somepony who knew very well how many she’d had.
In truth, Sunset didn’t care that much. At least not about the sweets thing; it was a special occasion, and if she got herself sick, she might learn a lesson about overdoing it. But she did care that Morning had disobeyed Twilight. “Okay, that’s it, you’ve got a babysitter now.”
All the kids groaned. “But Mrs. Sunset,” Pumpkin said, “Mrs. Twilight said it was okay if Pound and I looked after Morning and Flurry.”
“Yeah, and it was until you disobeyed her.” Sunset jerked her head towards her dad. “So now he’s watching you.”
Brass Badge blinked. “Pardon?”
Sunset shrugged. “It’s easy, just make sure they don’t eat a bunch of sweets, tell them a few war stories, that sort of thing. You wanted to spend some time with Morning.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea, Sunset,” Brass Badge said.
“Uhm, who is he?” Pound asked Morning.
“He’s my grandpa. But uhm, not my grandpa I live with, my other one.”
“You both wear clothes like my daddy!” Flurry said, referring to the officer’s jacket that both Sunset and Brass Badge were wearing. Since she wasn’t appearing in the Summit itself, Sunset hadn’t bothered to wear her regalia.
“You know, I helped train your dad when he was a recruit,” Brass Badge said. “He was a good guard.”
“See, there you go,” Sunset said. “You have something to talk about already.”
Brass Badge looked at Sunset, and she had to stop herself from laughing at the panic in his eyes. “I’m really not sure about this, Sunset.”
“Okay, fine, you big baby.” Sunset gestured for the kids to follow them. “You babysit the kids, I’ll babysit you.”
They made their way for a secluded corner, and Sunset found a chair for Brass Badge while she and the kids sat around him on the floor.
Brass looked at Sunset uncertainly. “So go on,” Sunset said. “You were telling us about Flurry Heart’s daddy.”
“Right.” Brass Badge looked at the kids with panic in his eyes. It didn’t break through to his voice, at least. “I wasn’t in the Celestial Guard, but as a general, I did work closely with them. At times when there wasn’t a need for military action, our soldiers stay sharp by training with the royal guard. That is how I met Shining Armor.”
“So got any cool stories about him?” Sunset asked.
“Let’s see… I didn’t know him that well. I knew his captain, Stout Shield. Of course, Shining Armor became the captain after Stout Shield retired to Princess Celestia’s personal guard, but by that point I was on the verge of retiring myself. I did go to the ceremony when he was given the title Captain of the Celestial Guard. He gave a speech, and spoke very well.”
“Did you two ever speak personally?” Sunset asked, for her own curiosity as much as for the foals.
“We did, but only once. He told me that he admired my work. He had studied my battle tactics and learned from them. That was when he invited me to the ceremony, although we didn’t get much of a chance to say anything besides a quick greeting then.”
“Aww, that’s nice,” Pound said. “Morning’s grandpa and Flurry’s dad were friends.”
“Yay, friends!” Flurry said.
“Well, we weren’t really –”
“You forgot something,” Sunset said.
Brass Badge blinked. He had never told any of this to Sunset, and Shining hadn’t mentioned it either, so of course she had no idea what really happened. “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t mention the manticore attack!” Sunset punctuated her statement by pouncing on Morning, who giggled as Sunset pretended to eat her.
“The manticore attack?” Brass Badge asked in confusion. “You’re mistaken. It was a normal ceremony.”
Sunset nodded. “Right up until the manticore attack. Isn’t that right, Morning?”
“Yes.” Morning nodded matter-of-factly. “It was, uhm, the king of the manticores!”
“And then you and Shining had to team up to stop the manticore from destroying everything.” Sunset pointed with her eyes towards the foals, who were already laughing about the sudden change in the story.
Brass Badge bowed his head and for a moment Sunset thought he was going to refuse to play along. “Right. The manticore. How could I forget.”
“What did you do?” Flurry asked, possibly the only one in the group who didn’t realize this was a made-up story.
“Well, I’ve fought manticores before. In the, uhm, manticore wars.” Brass Badge looked to Sunset, who nodded encouragingly. “That was why the manticore king wanted to attack. He was looking for revenge.”
The foals all gasped at the story, although Sunset got the impression the older foals just did it for the effect of the younger ones. “Did you have to fight him?” Pumpkin asked.
“We did. Shining Armor and I, we fought back to back against the manticore king.”
“And that was when Flurry’s dad saved you from a sneak attack,” Sunset reminded him.
“Yes, it was.”
Much to the delight of the foals, Brass Badge told a high action story about the time he and Shining had squared off against the manticore king. He wasn’t the best storyteller, but the kids seemed amused. And when he got stuck, Sunset was always ready to throw in some ridiculous twist for him.
The story concluded with Princess Celestia thanking the two of them for their bravery, which all the foals seemed to find to be a satisfying conclusion. They all thanked Brass Badge for telling them the story, then Morning leaned in to whisper something into Sunset’s ear that made her smile.
Brass Badge took notice. “Not a fan?”
“Oh no, she loved the story,” Sunset insisted. “Morning just isn’t sure what to call you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Twilight’s dad is already ‘Grandpa’, so you’ll need to be something else.”
Brass Badge frowned, but that was his usual reaction to anything so Sunset didn’t read too much into it. “When I was growing up, we called older stallions ‘sir’.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no offense, but that probably messed you up as bad as it did for me. How about Granddad?”
Brass Badge frowned more. “Granddad?”
Sunset turned towards the pony who would have the final say. “What do you think, Mo Glow?”
“I like Granddad.”
“There you have it,” Sunset said. “Trust me, I’ve heard worse.”
“I… suppose it will do…”
“Great, it’s settled.” Sunset smiled, then she saw somepony else she wanted to greet. “Celestia’s here. Come on, kids, let’s go say hi. Granddad can come too.”
“Auntie’s here!” Flurry Heart cheered as she got up.
“We’re meeting Princess Celestia?” Pound Cake asked.
Pumpkin rolled her eyes with an exaggerated roll of her head. “Poundy, it’s the Princess Summit! We gotta meet all the princesses!”
“She’s right, you know,” Sunset said. “Come on.”
Their group made their way over to Celestia, who was unfortunately talking with Golden Lace. Sunspot, Stellar Flare, and Sunburst seemed too in awe to say anything.
Sunset stopped in her tracks when one detail of Celestia’s apparel came to her attention. She went wide-eyed, and Pumpkin bumped into her. “Is everything okay, Mrs. Sunset?”
“Yeah, it’s… nothing.” Sunset led them the rest of the way to greet Celestia.
She turned to smile at them as they approached. “Sunset, hello. I see this is becoming quite the family reunion.”
“I guess so,” Sunset said, lacking her usual bravado. “That’s a nice scarf.”
“Do you like it?” Celestia used a hoof to gesture to the scarf, which was really quite ugly and poorly made. “Somepony very important made it for me.”
“You don’t say.” It was enough of a surprise that Celestia had kept that old thing, to see her actually wearing it… And to the Princess Summit at that!
“Brass,” Golden Lace said.
“Hello, Lace,” Brass said, sounding more casual than Sunset had expected of him. “You look well.”
“You too. How have you been?”
“You know how it is. Keeping busy as best I can.”
Golden Lace nodded. “I see. I suppose you haven’t found something more fulfilling than making models, then.”
Brass Badge looked back at his granddaughter, who was too distracted by Celestia to notice the grandmother she hadn’t yet met. “No, I think I found something after all.”
Morning seemed to notice that the others were looking at someone other than Celestia. She tapped on Brass’s foreleg. “Granddad, who’s that?”
“That’s my ex-wife,” Brass Badge explained. “Your grandmother.”
“Oh.” Morning looked up at Lace, who smiled.
“Granddad? How cute. You must be Morning Glisten, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” Morning said shyly.
“Morning Glisten,” Sunspot said. Whether Sunset considered him her father or not, he was looking at Morning the same way he had looked at Sunset – as a long lost part of his family. “So you’re Sunset’s daughter then.”
“Morning, come say hello to Princess Celestia,” Sunset instructed. “We’re going to be spending some time with your grandmother and these other ponies over the weekend, so you’ll get to know them soon.”
“Okay.” Morning walked around Brass Badge to look up at Celestia, who bent down to smile at her. “Uhm, hi, Princess Celestia.”
“Hello, Morning,” Celestia said. “I wanted to show you this scarf. Your mother made it for me when she was my student.”
“Oh. Uhm, which mother?”
Celestia chuckled. “Sunset did. Twilight also made me something, but I’ll have to show you that another time.”
“Were you ever Mama’s teacher too?”
“Fluttershy is Mama,” Sunset explained.
“No, I was not. I met your mama when she was already an adult. She’s a very good pony, and she’s actually taught me some things.”
“Like about animals?” Morning asked.
Celestia chuckled. “No, not about animals. She taught me about love, and what it’s like for your parents to be in a relationship together.”
“Oh. Did you also think only two ponies could be together?”
“Yes, I did. I thought that for a very long time. Your mama helped me see that I was wrong. All of your mothers did, but your mama was the first one to show me.”
“Mrs. Fluttershy taught me to eat broccoli,” Pumpkin said, causing the adults to laugh.
“Do you think you can manage the kids on your own?” Sunset asked Brass Badge. “The Cake twins can pretty much watch the younger kids alright, just make sure they stay away from the dessert table.”
“You’re insistent on seeing me fail, aren’t you?” Brass Badge asked, and Sunset wasn’t sure if he was joking. She had no idea if her father had a sense of humor, so she wouldn’t know how to recognize it.
“You could ask Sunspot and Stellar Flare for help,” Sunset said with a shrug. “They’ve got a son, so I’m sure they know a thing or two about kids. Might mean Mom tagging along, though.”
“That’s…” Brass Badge gave Sunset a meaningful look, and she understood.
“Yeah, that’s who that is.”
Brass Badge nodded. “So be it. If they’ll help me, I would be grateful.”
Sunset turned towards the couple, but before she could speak, Stellar answered, “We would be delighted to.”
That got rid of everyone except for Sunset and Celestia. Sunset looked at the ground as she spoke. “You didn’t have to wear that thing today, you know.”
“Are you embarrassed? No one even knows you made it.”
“I guess a little.” Sunset shook her head. “Anyway, where have you been? The Summit is about to start and I haven’t seen you around. I figured you’d show up with Luna.”
“I had an errand to run on the way in,” Celestia explained. “I had to stop by Ponyville.”
Sunset scrunched up her face. “Ponyville? What for?”
“For this.” Celestia levitated a crown from a nearby bag. It was instantly recognizable, as it was Sunset’s crown. “I hope you don’t mind, I had your friend Pinkie Pie show me into your house.”
Sunset blinked and took her crown in her magic field. “What? But why?”
“For the Summit, of course.” Celestia gave a sly smile. “I should have thought to tell you to bring it ahead of time so I wouldn’t need to go through your things, but by the time it occurred to me, it was too late to send word.”
“Yeah right.” Sunset placed the crown on her head. “You just wanted to see my face when you brought it here.”
“Well, that didn’t hurt either.”
Sunset wanted to hug Celestia, but she resisted the urge. “Does this mean what I think it does, then?”
“It means I would like for you to join us at the Summit and present yourself as Princess Sunset of Equestria. The law may not have changed yet, but it is well on its way. I feel it is overdue that we treat you as our equal.”
“Thank you.” Sunset looked up at Celestia. “How do I look?”
“Radiant, as always.”
Sunset nodded. She didn’t really know what else to say; her relationship with Celestia had never been an emotional one. She was saved when Twilight walked up to them. “There you are! The ceremony is about to begin!”
“Already?” Sunset asked. “I just sent Mo Glow off with my dad.”
“With your dad?” Twilight scrunched up her face in surprise, then shook her head. “We’ll talk about that later. Can you go get her, please?”
“I’ll wait here for you,” Celestia said.
Sunset nodded and went back into the crowd. A lot of ponies had shown up, which made searching a little challenging. Thankfully, it was a big group she was looking for, so Sunset was able to find them before too long.
Surprisingly, Brass Badge and Sunspot seemed to be talking amiably about something. The kids were mostly doing their own thing while the adults kept an eye on them.
“Morning, Flurry, it’s time for the Summit,” Sunset called.
“Oh… okay…” Morning walked over to Sunset with her head bowed.
Sunset guided her along gently with her hoof. “Hey, it’ll be alright. Just remember those etiquette lessons Mom gave us.”
Morning nodded. “Right.”
Sunset turned to the others. “Can you keep an eye on Pound and Pumpkin Cake for us?”
“Of course,” Stellar said. “Leave it to us.”
Sunset guided Morning and Flurry back to the others. Along the way, they found Cadance and Shining and passed Flurry off to her parents. Fluttershy and Luna had shown up with the others, so they were all together.
Luna approached Sunset and Morning. “Sunset, if you would like to change into something more regal, I had a change of clothes prepared for you.”
“Oh, so you were in on it too?” Sunset said with a smirk.
“She wasn’t, actually.” Celestia arched an eyebrow. “You knew I was going to invite Sunset even before I did, didn’t you.”
“I had my suspicions, yes,” Luna said proudly.
“Sunset’s joining us?” Twilight asked. “That’s great!”
Fluttershy walked over to Sunset and kissed her on the cheek. “It is. You and I can keep Morning from worrying too much.”
“I’m not worried!” Morning insisted.
“I am,” Flurry said. “It’s scary when everypony looks at you…”
“Oh.” Morning walked over to Flurry. “Well, stay with me then.”
Cadance placed a hoof on Flurry’s shoulder. “Would you like that, Flurry? Standing next to Mo Glow?”
“Yes,” Flurry said, then pressed against Morning.
Celestia chuckled. “I think if we don’t head into the dressing room, Twilight will have our heads.”
“We are six minutes behind…” Twilight grumbled.
They all started walking, with Twilight leading the way. Cadance, Luna, and Fluttershy followed, with Flurry forgetting her decision to stay next to Morning and running after her mom.
Celestia smiled at Sunset, then started walking. Sunset followed behind her, and Morning behind Sunset.
As they walked, Sunset couldn’t help but smile to herself as she thought of Celestia's earlier words. She’d called it a family reunion, but she didn’t even realize how accurate that was. Three generations of princesses, following behind the rest of their family.
⠀
⠀
“Alright, say cheese!”
A flash went off as a picture was taken. Morning was smiling for the camera, and with the photographer’s instructions, she had managed to shake her awkward smile and take a few genuinely good press photos.
“I think that’s a wrap,” the photographer said. “You’ve been so good, Princess Morning, if you’ll just move along to the next station so I can photograph Princess Flurry Heart next.”
“Okay.” Morning stood up and walked over to Twilight, who already had a wing extended to guide her. The two of them walked over to another stallion, who was smiling at them. Meanwhile, Flurry Heart took the seat Morning had been in and the photographer started snapping photos of her instead. Despite her age, she was much more used to being photographed and needed less coaching.
Of course, Twilight was more concerned about the next station. She had already done her interview, but it had been with a different reporter. This one looked friendlier, at least; Twilight had gotten a stern mare that asked hard-hitting questions about Twilight’s political stances and what she was doing to help lead Equestria. This stallion was a friendly-looking earth pony with a warm smile and soft features, and the only goal of the day was to introduce Morning to Equestria.
“Hello, Princess Morning,” he said with a small bow. “How are you feeling today?”
“Uhm…” Morning looked to Twilight, who smiled and nodded. “I’m okay…”
“She’s feeling a just a little overwhelmed by everything,” Twilight explained. “This is her first interview, after all.”
The stallion nodded. “Of course. There’s nothing to worry about, we’re just going to have a little chat and I’ll ask you some easy questions. If you don’t feel like answering any of them, you can ask me to skip it and we won’t use that question.”
Instead of answering him, Morning turned to Twilight. “You won’t leave me, will you?”
Twilight smiled. “No, I’ll be with you the whole time. But they do want to hear from you, not me, so I’ll let you answer the questions.”
Morning bowed her head. “Okay…”
The stallion picked up a pencil with the corner of his mouth, and he proved quite adept at talking while holding it. “Let’s start with today. What did you think of being part of the Princess Summit?”
Morning looked to Twilight, who only nodded. “It was strange. There were a lot of ponies there, and uhm, I kept expecting them to ask me to do something.”
“Was it a little scary having all those eyes on you?”
“A little… but I told Flurry that I would look out for her, so I had to be brave.”
“And might I say, you did wonderfully. This is your first public appearance, but you’ve met the other princesses before, correct?”
Morning nodded. “In Canterlot. And uhm, I’ve met Luna in my dreams. Oh, am I supposed to say Princess Luna?”
“Whatever you usually call her is fine,” the reporter said. “But if you met her in dreams, were you having a bad dream?”
Morning shrunk back a little. “Uhm, yes.”
“Poor dear. But it’s good we have somepony like Luna, isn’t it?”
“Yes. She’s really nice.”
“What about the other princesses? Do you get along with all of them?”
“Yes, they’re all nice to me.”
“Of course, no one could be mean to a sweet filly like you. You said you were being brave for Princess Flurry Heart. Are you and Flurry good friends?”
“Well, uhm, I think we’re cousins. But I guess we’re friends too.” Morning looked at Twilight. “Can you be cousins and friends?”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “Yes, you can.”
Morning turned back to the reporter. “Aunt Cadance says we can do a sleepover soon.”
“Oh, how fun! Are you going to sleep over at the Crystal Empire, or is she going to sleep over at Ponyville?”
“Uhm, I don’t know.”
“Alright. Speaking of Ponyville, you didn’t live there until around five months ago. Do you have some friends there too now?”
“Yes. Pound and Pumpkin Cake. They’re twins. They came with me to the Crystal Empire.”
“Aww, how nice. Do you go to school with them?”
“Mhm, we’re all in Miss Cheerilee’s class.”
“Er,” Twilight interrupted. “Maybe we could omit Cherrilee’s name? I don’t want ponies visiting her at school.”
The stallion nodded. “Of course, with kids we always remember to filter out personal details.”
“Sorry…” Morning looked down at her hooves.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Twilight insisted. “I’m sorry for interrupting. Please continue.”
The reporter nodded. “Another new thing is your moms. Do you like living with them?”
“Yes, they’re really nice and they take care of me and teach me things.”
“I’m sure a lot of ponies wonder what it’s like to have three moms. Most ponies only have one or two.”
“Uhm…” Morning thought about that question for a moment. “I think… it’s good to have three moms. I think it’s better, because there’s always somepony around if I need help with something.”
“You live with some other ponies too, don’t you?”
“Yes. Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Spike all live with us. We’re lucky we have a castle because I don’t think we’d all fit in a house very well.”
“Do you like having so many ponies around? Well, ponies and a dragon, of course.”
“I like it. I didn’t like it at first, but now I know everyone and they’re all nice and they take me out to play with my friends and tell me stories. It’s good.”
“It is a very big family, I can see why that was a little much at first.”
“I like it now. I like how our family doesn’t care about who’s actually related. Like Aunt Rainbow and Uncle Shining.”
Twilight smirked. “Uncle Shining is related to me by birth, Mo Glow.”
“He is? I forgot that…”
The journalist chuckled. “It’s a pretty special thing when you don’t even remember which family members are related by birth and which aren’t. I bet there’s a lot of nice things that come with having so many family members too. Lots of ponies to spoil a sweet little girl like you.”
Morning shifted in her seat. “Maybe.”
“Like, I bet being the granddaughter of a novelist means there’s always a lot of stories to hear, huh?”
Morning smiled. “Yeah, Grandma tells really good stories. Ma’s really good at storytelling too, and Mom is good at, uhm, reading stories.”
Twilight smiled to herself as she caught the difference, but she couldn’t disagree. Her mom and Sunset made up stories all the time, but Twilight wasn’t really creative in the same ways they were.
“Oh, which one’s Mom and which one’s Ma?”
“Twilight is Mom, Sunset is Ma. And, uhm, Fluttershy is Mama.”
“That’s such a lovely idea. It sounds like you have a really nice life with them.”
Morning looked up to Twilight and smiled. “Yeah, I do.”
“Well, we won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you so much for doing this interview, and I’ll let your mom take it from here.”
“That’s it?” Morning asked.
“That’s it,” Twilight said. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
“So… now what?” Morning asked as Twilight guided her along.
“Now we’re done! What do you want to do?”
“Can I go play with my friends?”
“Let’s wait until Flurry is done, then she can play with you all too.”
“Okay.”
Flurry’s interview was even easier than Morning’s had been, since she was a few years younger. They took about half as long, and they learned such vital pieces of information as Flurry’s favorite color being blue, but only light blue with lots of sparkly bits in it.
During the interview, Twilight took Morning over to a snack table and got her a few non-sugary snacks. She’d learned from Sunset that she had caught Morning and the others raiding the dessert table after they’d explicitly been told not to do that, so now she wasn’t allowed dessert for the rest of the trip.
While they were waiting, Fluttershy came into the room and walked over to them. Twilight smiled at her. “How’d it go?”
“It went well,” Fluttershy said. “I think she went easier on me than on you. I’m glad I’m not an alicorn.”
Twilight kissed Fluttershy’s forehead. “Morning’s interview went well, too. We’re just waiting for Flurry’s to finish up, then the two of them are going to play with the Cakes.”
“Sounds nice.” Fluttershy turned to address Morning. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. I thought it would be harder.”
Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “I thought it would be too, my first time.”
Before long, Flurry was running over to them, with Cadance following behind. “Mommy says I can play with Mo Glow again!”
Cadance nodded. “There’s a playroom for all the kids in the castle, I’ll take them over that way. Once Sunset finishes up, Shining can show you three where it’s at.”
“Sounds good,” Twilight said. “Be good for Auntie Cadance.”
“I will be,” Morning said, then she followed Cadance out of the room with Flurry hanging on her side.
“They’re so cute together,” Fluttershy said. “I’m glad they get along.”
“Me too. Morning’s really doing a lot better about other ponies these days.”
“She is. All she needed was a little bit of love and patience.”
Twilight nodded and put a wing around Fluttershy. “We’re actually doing a pretty good job, aren’t we?”
“We are. You were worried, weren’t you?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m always worried, Shy. But… But I think we’re doing good. I just have to remember this the next time I’m worried.”
“Hmm, you need to come to us more when you’re worried too. We can help, you know.”
“I know, I just… you’ve both been going through a lot lately. I’m the one who doesn’t have all this drama going on, I need to be the strong one.”
Fluttershy bapped Twilight with her wing. “Nonsense. None of us need to be the strong one, we need to all support each other.”
“You’re right, again.”
“So what’s got you nervous lately?”
Twilight gestured around her. “This. All the princess stuff. It’s gotta be a lot for a little filly. It was a lot for me, and I was a grown mare when I was crowned.”
“It was a lot for me too. But we had help, and that made it okay. And now Morning has us, and we’ll make it okay for her too.”
“You don’t think… she’d rather be a normal kid, do you?”
“Well… I think she is a normal kid.”
Twilight frowned a little. “She’s a princess, Shy.”
“And the first thing she wanted to do when her princess duties were over was run along and play with her friends. And you know Pound and Pumpkin don’t care that she’s a princess, they didn’t even realize until today.”
Twilight could kind of see Fluttershy’s point, but she wasn’t sure she agreed. “Sure, she has friends who are regular ponies, but she’s still a princess.”
Fluttershy giggled. “That’s not what I’m saying. But, uhm, what would she do if she wasn’t a princess? She’d probably play with her friends, and spend time with her family, and read books about ponies who aren’t like her and imagine herself in their place.”
Twilight nodded slowly as she caught on to what Fluttershy was getting at. “And she does all of that stuff already.”
“Exactly. She’s a regular pony who has something different about her. But she can still be a normal pony. Especially in Ponyville, where ponies are used to seeing princesses out and about thanks to us.”
“I guess that’s true.” Twilight hugged Fluttershy and felt a little better. “Thanks, Shy.”
Fluttershy hugged Twilight back. “Want to go check on Sunset?”
“Sure, let’s make sure the interviewer isn’t going hard on the newbie.”
The two of them left the room, heading next door where they had been interviewed and photographed. They had decided to keep the triad separate from the fillies so they could ask about the political nature of Sunset’s marriage becoming official without having it frighten Morning.
Sunset was talking to the interviewer, and she seemed to be doing a rather good job of it. Or at the very least, Twilight thought she was judging by her expression. She looked smug, like she knew the perfect answer to every question. Knowing Sunset, she probably did.
“– relationships with more than two ponies where everypony isn’t together?”
“Oh, like V’s?” Sunset nodded. “That will require some thought, but yes, I would like to extend marriage as an option to those relationships as well. I think what’s important is figuring out what’s right rather than what’s easy. It’ll take some extra work, and I don’t know all the details of figuring out how that’ll work if, say, only one part of the relationship gets divorced since not all assets are shared like in a closed triad, but I’m committed to figuring out answers to that stuff with my fellow princesses.”
“Some have noted a change of heart with Princess Celestia taking a more active role in the matter of polyamorous marriage than before. Do you have a comment on this?”
“I think it would be better to ask Princess Celestia about that, but if I were to speculate, I don’t think it’s a change of heart as much as it is her deciding what she wants to do after careful consideration. It’s worth noting that even if she never directly involved herself before, that goes both ways. She never opposed polyamorous legal reform.”
“Poor Sunset,” Twilight muttered.
Fluttershy shook her head. “Something tells me she’s loving this.”
It did seem like Fluttershy might be on to something. Every question that was thrown at her, Sunset had a well thought out answer. True, she wasn’t asked any easy questions, but she really was in her element.
They weren’t the only ones watching. Celestia came up to greet them as Sunset answered questions. “She’s quite good at this, isn’t she?”
“She is,” Twilight said. “Have you done your interview yet?”
“Yes, they asked me many of the same questions. Luna shrugged it off to take a nap, I’m afraid.”
“She has been up all day,” Fluttershy said.
“She seems troubled lately.” Celestia shook her head. “It’s probably nothing, but I do worry about her.”
“I think Luna will be fine,” Fluttershy said. “It just might take a little time.”
Celestia seemed to be studying Fluttershy. “I see. Something has happened, then. I won’t pry, but I do hope it gets resolved.”
“It will,” Fluttershy assured her. “But, uhm, I think she could use somepony on her side in the meantime.”
“Of course. I will speak with her about it.”
Apparently the interviewer finished with Sunset, because she came up to see them. “Hey, where’s Morning?”
“Cadance took the foals to play,” Twilight explained. “Are you done? We can go see them.”
“I am, yeah. Where are they?”
Twilight grinned sheepishly. “Well, first we need to find Shining so he can show us the way.”
“I’ll let you three get to it, then,” Celestia said, though she smiled at Sunset. “You did very well today.”
Sunset scratched at her neck. “Hey, I learned from the best, right? I’ve seen you answer more questions than I can count.”
Celestia stepped forward and gave Sunset a quick hug. “Still, I wanted to say you did well. Good work, Princess Sunset.”
Sunset chuckled. “I think I like being your gifted student even better.”
“Really? Well then, my gifted student, I’m proud of your accomplishments.”
“Yeah yeah,” Sunset waved off Celestia’s praise, but it was clear that she loved it. “Thank you. We should go save Cadance from having to watch all four kids herself, though.”
Celestia left the room with them, then she walked a different direction as they set off to find Shining. Sunset smiled the entire way.
“That was interesting,” Twilight said, pressing against Sunset and nudging her playfully. “I didn’t get a ‘congratulations’ from Celestia.”
“Hey, you just didn’t kick as much ass as me.” Sunset nudged her back. “But don’t worry, I could give you some lessons.”
Twilight snickered. “Lucky me.”
“Sunset,” Fluttershy said. “You don’t think Morning minds being a princess, do you?”
“I don’t know, why?” Sunset frowned. “Did she say something?”
“No, Twily’s just worried.”
“Oh, that makes more sense.” Sunset leaned against her wife. “Twi… I don’t know what Morning thinks about being a princess, but she seems happy, right? Even if that’s not her favorite part of her life, she can still be happy.”
“I guess… I just worry that she’d be even happier if we were regular ponies.”
Sunset shrugged. “We’ll talk to her when we’re back in Ponyville. But you know, she’s happy. Just focus on that. And anyway, it’s not like she’s going to have to be a ‘save Equestria from Nightmare Moon’ kind of princess. She’s not even going to be a political princess unless she wants to be. She’s just gonna be a ‘enjoy the perks of the title’ princess.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “So neither of you think this is something to worry about.”
“Not something to worry about, but it’s something to think about,” Sunset said. “Maybe she does need to talk to us about this. Maybe she needs to talk to somepony who isn’t us about it. We talked about enrolling her in therapy for her anger issues. Maybe she’d like having that to talk about princess stuff too.”
“Maybe…”
Fluttershy giggled. “I think Twily needs some time to process that even if she does have a point, we’ll still be able to handle it.”
“We do kind of kick ass,” Sunset said.
Twilight sighed at Sunset’s language, but at the same time, she actually kind of agreed. “I guess we do.”
They walked for a little while before Fluttershy said, “Uhm, do any of us know where Shining Armor is?”
“I was following Sunset.”
“What? I was following Twilight.”
They all stopped and looked at one another, then they laughed. “Let’s just find a guard,” Twilight suggested.
Sunset nodded. “Good idea. And Twi?” She kissed Twilight on the cheek. “It’ll be okay.”
Twilight nodded, and this time, she believed it. “You know what? I think you’re right.” She extended one wing over each wife. “As long as we’re together, everything will be just fine.”
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Narrator: Everything was not fine.
Progress for everything. Sunset has a working relationship with her parents, Fluttershy and Luna have started on the path to figure out how Luna can atone for what she did, and Morning's been very sociable. She has her friends in the Pound twins, as well as her cousin Flurry.
Few things of note for me. Sunset has actively let her parents into Morning's life, and seeing Brass being confused about Sunset embellishing his story for the kids was pretty cute. And then....if the trio needs to find a guard to ask where Shining is so he can bring them to where the kids are.....then they can just ask the guard they find to bring them to the playroom can't they? Cut out an extra step there lol.
Thanks for the chapter!
Guru Pathik?
I know I say this every time, but great chapter! I liked all the different POVs. I really liked how Brass Badge and Sunset collabed on an impromptu story haha. I’m also glad that Luna and Fluttershy had a talk. A lot of good things in this chapter. Now, I just hope you don’t pull a The Sound of Rain on us and devastate us sometime soon.
10623174
Expecting more drama from a bun story? Smart
10623183
To some extent, this chapter closes the plot lines of the fic while the final chapter is the emotional conclusion, as I see it. And lol I suppose they want to make sure Shining is on the same page where everyone else is. I could imagine him sitting around just like... waiting for the others who have moved on elsewhere haha
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You're welcome
10623249
Yeah, that was a reference to Guru Pathik. I had recently watched Avatar for the first time while writing this story and wanted to throw a small reference to it in there. And who knows, there's one more chapter, I could throw something devastating at y'all...
Now that was a sweet chapter I like how it was told through all three perspectives, glad shy was able to talk with Luna they maybe talking but it might be awhile before she forgives her but the healing has begun.
It was also nice that brass was able to see morning again even though it was out of his element and it was good he was getting along with sunspot, glad morning was having a good time at the summit, glad she finally let some walks down so she could have a goid relationship with pound,pumpkin, and flurry. It was a nice touch having celestia were sunsets scarf.
It feels like everything is wrapping up although
this line felt a little to ominous.
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And just like that, things are wrapping up for this fic! Glad you enjoyed the chapter, and I'm sure I don't know what you mean about ominous lines
Always a pleasure to get your updates!
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Thank you, glad you're enjoying the story
pff, I'm sure Brass would have been a great dad in another world.
And with that chapter, I'm completely caught up to Who We Become. What a ride. Can't wait to see how you'll break my heart next, Krickris.
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Possibly, I admit I'm unsure and hadn't thought of it before you brought it up. Although I've seen some candid photos of celebrity kids that I can't imagine the parents consenting to, so I dunno. But as for the Summit, I imagine the parents are consenting to Morning being photographed and interviewed. It's a controlled environment, where they know how things are going to go, and it'll help get Morning used to something that will be part of the rest of her life, being royalty and all. Where it would have come into play more would have been the earlier chapter where they were swarmed by reporters after initially adopting Morning. That would have been without parental consent.
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I was wondering if you would get caught up before or after the final chapter drops tomorrow. Well, guess you have that to look forward to, then weekly chapters after that, since I publish pretty regularly. Thank you for your comments along the way as you read the series, I enjoyed them, even if I didn't reply to all of them like I usually would (just been a bit of a frustrating week, and I didn't have the energy to engage as much as I would have liked to; I'm usually one of those authors that replies to every comment)
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Don't underestimate someone's ability to read through good drama
Final chapter this soon? Nice. Glad to see you have such a regular schedule, now I can get my heart broken on a regular basis!
And I enjoyed commenting and interacting with you, hopefully I'll continue to be active down here on future chapter and stories ^^
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Yeah, Acts of Love (and future long stories like this one) get published on a biweekly schedule (Sundays and Wednesdays) while shorter stories only update weekly (Sundays). Hopefully switching to weekly chapters for the next two stories will give me time to write the next line story and I can keep publishing content on a regular schedule, but at the last I have content buffered up until March 7
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Can't wait to read it all then. I'm seriously in need of more good drama like that now that I'm deep into it. Btw, are we gonna get more of Human Fluttershy? I'm really curious how she'll make more bad choices in the future lmao
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The next human Shy story is called Coda, and it comes out on February 7. It's a shorter story, five chapters long, and follows her from shortly after Thicker Than Water to concurrent with Acts of Love
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Good to know! Thanks!
'that old thing' refers to the scarf that Sunset saw again in chapter 15 (Two Suns) when Celestia was showing her around her past students memories room. And I think we first heard about it in a memory in Looking Glass, but my point is that Sunset already knew that she had kept it.
So unless I am mistaken that paragraph might need a bit of a change.
Regardless I really liked the whole Celestia and Sunset bit. I briefly entertained the idea that Celestia was wearing Sunset's crown as a bracelet (or would it technically be a sock) on a leg, when I was guessing what it was that Sunset had noticed about Celestia.
Then Celestia DID have the crown to give to Sunset and I felt less silly.
So, acknowledging that Fluttershy has irrational beliefs in the impossible in the same line where Luna is asking for a chance she shouldn't necessarily have to is... argh...
Why can't you just admit that you were wrong?
I UNDERSTAND THIS REFERENCE!
So, three questions:
1) Stormy was Fluttershy's step-father. That means we don't know what his life was like before. Seeing how centered this series is around family... would that mean Zephyr Breeze is a possible step-brother for Fluttershy? A lost one who may have found out about his disappeared dad's death and so forth/ You said that you would be including later season's material where it suited your interests. More drama sure seems to...
2) Side-story about Sunset playing poly matchmaker to her step-and-a-half-brother-to-be's parents and her mom when? C'mon, Bun. You can't convince me you don't want poly-family rom-com-drama fun.
3) We've seen the family of Cadance and Shiny (assuming they have no more foals) and Twilight, Sunny, and Shy (assuming they don't get any more foals) but one thing hasn't quite come up, even though it seems you're building towards it. Luna likes caring for young children and Celestia contemplated her relationship with motherhood. The main cast is settling down, and many are having families now, as you've hinted with AJ. You've also said that Sunset has helped improve the technology in the horse world a lot. Surely magic and genetic technology could work to a point in the future where Luna and her budding(?) polycule would be able to have a foal somehow? And maybe Celestia (dunno if you have any relationships planned for her or not)? You referencing their species status and other stuff really smacks of "Oh, it's Bun foreshadowing again" and I refuse to believe otherwise.
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I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't have the energy to get into this or your other comments on Stormy Skies much, but to be brief, my personal view is that Luna was wrong, and if she was going to kill him she should've just done it. I'm not okay with torture as a form of punishment regardless of circumstances.
While I'm all for predictions, I'll say outright that Zephyr Breeze will never be in any story I ever write because I just personally hate him passionately.
Lol could be fun but I don't have plans for a story focusing on that. Too many side stories already and I just want to get things moving on this series.
I don't plan on ever making Luna and Celestia futile again, though I won't rule out that they'll play parenting roles. Luna's narration in In Pieces said she is uninterested in having foals, but Celestia is. Celestia herself here says she has an interest but a crippling fear of it. I'm avoiding saying what comes by instead saying what's happened lol
That a girl.
Gross.
lol 😂
Precisely.
I was hoping someone would ask her that.
You worry to much Twilight.
Kids these days.
Good thinking.
Crying screaming shaking throwing up I love their relationship
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Hehehe I'm very happy. It won't come as a surprise, but so do I
I'd say that went quite well. Flutters and Luna are working towards patching things up, Brass and Golden behaved themselves. It was fun seeing Brass weave together a grand story for the foals with a little help from Sunset, and it's good that he was behaving amicably towards Sunspot.(I wonder what they were talking about?) Morning did quite well in her interview, and so did Sunset.
One chapter and an epilogue left.
Plenty of time for something to still go horribly wrong and leave a dramatic hook for another story.Also, kids are precious sometimes.