> Getting Used to Being [Fe]Male in Equestria
>  by Spacecowboy
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> Prologue
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November 22

To think, it’s already been almost six months since I found myself dropped into this world from some weird, freak event. Calling life eventful would be a gross understatement, as going from man to mare by itself was nuts, let alone becoming a ‘blank-flank’ (as the self-proclaimed Cutie Mark Crusaders dubbed it) alicorn who could be surpassed by any foal ability-wise.

Still, Twilight and her friends have helped me progress a fair amount, even if I’m certain that I’ve shaved years off their lives from stress. I’m still extremely slow at learning magic; anything beyond basic levitation is a chore. Rarity’s claims are outlandish, like most of her words, but Twilight’s explanation makes sense. My mind just doesn’t quite think in the most conductive manner for spellcasting, so I can expect everything to be a pain.

Flight has been a different story at least, thank goodness for the small things I suppose. I can hold a sedate pace for a few hours in any given day, although Dash still flies circles around me. She’s only nabbed me once and given me an intimate experience with corkscrews; Twilight had a nice chat with her after that. I still don’t know what was said, but Dash seems to turn green when I ask her if she plans to do it to me again.

Life has been somewhat of a pain though. Anytime I go out into Canterlot, a bunch of ponies do the whole bow and scrape routine simply because I’m an alicorn. They don’t care that I have no part in their government, that I have no power period, and that their children are more of a threat than I am. They simply see an alicorn and react. Annoying as hell, and honestly it’s already beyond old. 

The nobles too, what a pain in the ass they are. Again, all because I’m an alicorn. I’d gladly give up the horn and magic just to be normal, but sadly that’s not an option. They’re all tripping over themselves to try and ‘nab me’ as their own for their silly power games. Even Blueblood has been hounding me, and he’s the most annoying of them all, if only because he has access to most of the castle. He tried sneaking into my room once, and only once. Dream repaid him by taking another run at his showering products. Celestia even got in on it and claimed that the poison joke antidote was out of stock, and it would be a few days before they got any in. I have to say, Blueblood as a mare is pretty hot in his own way.

Incidentally enough, today is also •



I let the quill drop from my magic to the table’s surface, a long sigh escaping from my lips. I blew one last puff of air on the bit of wet ink before closing the journal and stowing it back in the small cubby underneath the bed. It had kept it safe from Dream’s prying hooves so far; she had an aversion to going underneath the bed, so it served its purpose well. I really didn’t feel like writing the next part down, instead I felt that it called for a nice late night flight to try and sort through the thoughts running rampant in my mind.

On my way to the balcony, I paused in front of the mirror, taking a moment to glance over myself. Sky blue eyes framed by a shade of lavender peered back, the large eyes showing an underlying weariness beneath the deceiving inquisitive look they always seemed to hold. A spiral horn, much like Twilight’s, jutted from my forehead, parting through the pink mane with its lone blue stripe running down its middle. At my side, large wings were folded, the edges of the feathers tinged in pink. This was me, and had been for the last six months. With one last glance at my reflection, I turned towards the balcony again.

It was a small one, overlooking a few private gardens nestled in the back corners of the castle furthest away from the city. I was thankful for that, as it allowed me to come and go from this point without any prying eyes, without the reminder of who and what I was. I mean, I was secure with the new me, Aurora the alicorn rather than Elam the human, but beyond that my mind was a giant, jumbled mess most times, even if I did a decent job at fooling most everypony about it.

Spreading my wings wide, I launched myself into the expansive night sky. I was hoping that if a late flight didn’t bring clarity, it would at least let me push off my problems until another day. I smiled as I felt the wind running through my feathers, and couldn’t help but chuckle at just how angst-ridden I sounded. Introspection is definitely not a strong suite of mine.

I ignored the silhouettes of the patrolling guards, dark forms against an equally dark night, and made my way to a cloud high above the castle. The first snow was scheduled in just two days, and as such there were plenty of the fluffy cushions to pick from during this staging period. Nearly stumbling as I touched my hooves down onto one, I rolled onto my back and looked at the star-filled expanse above me.

Something about the stars calmed me, bringing order into the chaos of my mind. Even as my vision jumped between the many bright specks of various colors, my thoughts began to fall in line. I sighed and let my wings splay outwards as I sank into the cushion of the cloud.

Lazily, I reached up with a hoof and reached towards the stars, as if I hoped to grasp one within my hold. Since there was nothing to actually close around them now, I simply pretended to hold them on the edge of my hoof, chuckling as I did so. The steady beat of wings in the relatively quiet night drew attention towards the sky below me, and I rolled to my side in time to catch the visitor.

“Good evening, Aurora. Mind if I join you?” Celestia politely asked, landing on the edge of the rather large cloud. I nodded and she walked closer, folding those massive wings of hers to her side.

“So, what brings you up to my cloud tonight, Celestia? I doubt you just ‘happened by’ at this time of night,” I curiously asked, knowing full well that around this time is when she would usually be wrapping up the last bit of her day while eyeing her bed. I knew that she had purposely come here, but for what reason was unclear.

Celestia took a seat next to me as I finished rolling over, with my stomach now to the cloud. I looked at her with a raised brow and received a smile in return, one that was warming and reassuring. “How are you doing tonight, Aurora?” she quietly asked me, and I just sighed in reply after a few seconds. She patiently waited for me to speak as I pondered.

She was a deceiving perceptive pony, which only made sense given her position and age. Even though I spent very little time with her compared to everypony else, she was the first to catch on to my ever-growing dilemma. “Not too great, I suppose,” I finally muttered, moving my gaze from her to the town below, studying it. Lamps illuminated the mostly empty streets, and the only real activity was centered around the aptly named Night District.

A warmth covered my back, and I tore my sight back to her, noticing the lone wing draped over me. I smiled a little bit at the friendly gesture before elaborating for her. “I mean, everything here is nice, some might even say it’s a utopia compared to Earth, really. But I miss a lot of things, and I’m starting to realize just how much more is ahead of me here still.”

The muscles in her wings tightened slightly in reassurance as she met my eyes. “Such is life though, is it not, Aurora?” She wryly smiled, and I noted a glint of humor hidden in her eyes. “I can say from experience that there are many things in one’s past that we come to miss, regardless of whether it was a day ago, six months, or even a thousand years. Rather than lament over it though, I’ve found it’s much better to simply enjoy the memories. Saves a lot of stress.”

I couldn’t help myself and began laughing. The notion of enjoying the memory of annoying commercials when thinking of a television was just a bit too much for me to handle. I knew that she was right, the only real thing I truly missed was visiting my parents’ graves, everything else back home was more a convenience than anything else.

“As for the latter, it’s also a fact of life. I’ll admit that things are decidedly more complicated because of,” she waved a hoof at me, and I chuckled, “but even then, it’s only slightly more complicated than moving is, right?”

“I don’t think people considered crossing dimensions and changing bodies as part of the moving process when deciding how complicated it’d be.” I rolled my eyes, eliciting a small chortle from Celestia.

She removed her wing and stood up, a smile on her face. “Very true. Still, it’s food for thought, hopefully you find some use of it.” Celestia faced the night sky, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath before turning back to me. “Would you like to go for a quick flight? I wouldn’t mind the company before I turn in for the day.”

Springing to my hooves in nearly record time, I filed away her words to think on them later. Sure, life was challenging here, but she made a good point. Plus, when faced with flying, there was always tomorrow to worry about everything else. I watched her drop from the cloud, spreading her wings into an easy glide, waiting for me to join her. With a small rush of adrenaline, I jumped off the cloud, allowing myself to momentarily freefall before snapping my wings open and arresting my fall.

We calmly flew through the sky, keeping over the castle as we did so. It was enjoyable, the cool winter air gave just the smallest chill as we soared along. I stayed just to the side of Celestia, her large white form extremely visible in the pale light cast by Luna’s moon.

Celestia closed the distance between us, a grin on her face as she somehow bopped me on the nose. While flying upside down I should add, it was pretty impressive, broken only by the words she spoke next. “You’re it, Aurora. Catch me, if you can,” she laughed and darted off, going at a speed that at least allowed me a chance to catch up with her.

I followed her form with my eyes as I dashed off as quickly as I could, barely overtaking her. All thoughts blanked from my mind as the distance between us began to close, following her and mirroring almost every move she made. Although I lacked her finesse, taking turns much wider than she did and just generally looking like a drunken fool at the speed I was flying at, she kept the same speed.

As the minutes passed, I finally came within reaching distance, stretching out a forehoof to tag her on the rear. Instead, I bowled her over in midair, briefly becoming entangled with her as she just laughed. I found myself floating within her magic as she smugly smiled at me, a twinkle in her eyes.

A groan passed from my lips as she smirked before cutting off her magic, and I fell for a few moments before I caught myself, white filling my vision as I leveled out. I glared at her for a moment before joining her in laughter, thankful for the nice distraction she provided.

We flew down towards her balcony as fatigue finally began to set in, the day’s toll finally coming to hit me. In order to catch up to Celestia I had to really kick it up to a speed that I couldn’t hold for too long, so I was more than ready for sleep now. She landed first, and then I touched down, nearly stumbling as I did so.

“Aurora, just think on what I said, and sleep well tonight,” Celestia quietly spoke before walking into her room. As the doors to her balcony closed, I took to the air and swung around to my own room, completely missing the balcony and landing inside my room. With a careful amount of concentration I closed and latched the double doors that led outside with my magic.

Sighing, I took the ties out of my mane and tail before climbing into bed, sprawling myself out on top of the covers. Limbs and hair everywhere, I sank into the soft cloud mattress, my consciousness slowly drifting into the sweet embrace of sleep. A final thought made its way into my mind before being replaced by gentle snores.

Somehow, someway, I’ll find where I belong here…

> Chapter 1
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	I found myself floating, complete and utter darkness encompassing everything. A pinprick of light formed below me, flecks of green visible in the far distance. As time passed, the speck grew outwards, slowly showing more of what lay beneath. I found streets beginning to take form, then buildings, and as I watched a jungle of concrete and steel sprang into existence underneath me far below my hooves. As more of it came together, I realized that not only was it a city from my past, but it was the city. The place that I had called home for so long before finding myself unceremoniously dumped into Equestria.

My gaze wandered, following the familiar ribbons of asphalt through the city. Some locations stood out like beacons to my mind; the schools that I went to growing up, the ballpark where I first broke my arm, my house, and other various locations that held memories of the life I had given up. A wistful smile found its way to my face as I continued scanning the city below me.

Sounds pulled my attention from below to above, where instead of the blue skies and familiar sun, another location began to unfold. Starting at the base of a large mountain that dominated the landscape around it, a winding path unfolded beneath my gaze, terminating at a set of ornate doors leading into a city of another sort. The buildings within the town seemed to gleam, the buildings lending an excellent foreground to the gleaming towers adorning the castle behind it.

As my neck craned upwards to take in the sights, I could only think just how magnificent it was. If one were to take a snapshot of the view and put it directly to canvas, it truly would be one of the greatest pieces of art ever made, sure to make any other works pale in comparison. I let my gaze stray over the winding paths of cobblestone marking the streets of the grand city, my eyes lighting up when Donut Joe’s Bakery entered into sight. The familiar looking building had become a place of refuge at times; after all the new me loved to bury my concerns in sweets, and he had the best in town.

As I continued to admire the wondrous city, a quiet sound from below reached my ears, extremely faint at first. Stringed instruments playing an unknown concert number drifted on the wind from the city below. I tried to ignore it, not caring much about what was behind me for what was in front of me, but it began to physically tug on me.

A mixture of woodwinds entered into the piece, this time coming from above. They played a different tune, the two melodies offsetting each other and creating a rather discordant sound as they clashed. I felt both sides tugging at my very core, as if two ponies had each of my forehooves and were lightly tugging in opposite directions. I attempted to ignore one of them and move towards the city in the sky, intent on leaving the last vestiges of my old life behind.

It refused to let go, however, the strings become more intense, the music becoming violent in nature as the tugging turned into a pulling sensation. The woodwinds from above retaliated, and the pulling and tugging quickly caused my discomfort to surge; an almost painful feeling now.

The battle raged between them, the pain gradually increasing as I felt myself being pulled apart. Just when I thought it could not get any worse, trumpets entered the fray, lending their sounds to the violent cacophony of noise. They immediately began to crescendo, and I felt as if I were ready to fall apart from the pain.

“Oh, this isn’t any good!” A voice broke the cacophony, the instruments ceasing their discordant playing and falling silent, the pain fleeing at last. A swirling portal of colors entered my sight as my vision cleared, Dream bouncing out of it. “There, nightmare’s s’all gone now!” she giggled a bit, bopping me on my nose. “You have some weird nightmares, Sis!”

I was left speechless as she bounced back out through the portal, the swirling of colors disappearing as everything faded, my mind drifting back into a dreamless sleep.





“Cannonball!” a voice exclaimed, waking me up from my sleep. The speaker sounded familiar, as did the word they said, but my tired mind simply could not process what it was, or how I was supposed to respond to it. Blearily my eyes opened in time to see a dark blur racing through the air towards me, causing me to jump in place. However, I was thoroughly wrapped up in my covers and only succeeded in flailing around for a moment before Dream slammed into my chest, both of her hooves wrapped around my barrel.

“Good morning, Sis! It’s time to wake up, come on!” Dream pranced about on top of my chest, each impact actually rather light, what with the blanket cushioning the hits. After a few circles of this, she hopped off of me and decided to bop my nose with her hoof. As she pulled back, I chuckled and nuzzled her.

Pulling back, I focused on removing myself from the covers. Dream’s wakeup call had me wide awake now, so it was relatively easy to extricate myself from the covers. I stretched, opening my mouth and letting out a very loud yawn, causing Dream to giggle. I closed my mouth and smacked my lips a few times for good measure, then turned to look at her.

“So…” I began, looking at Dream with an almost predatory expression, “was jumping on me really necessary to wake me up?”

“Umm… not really?” she squeaked out, an impish grin on her face belaying her attempt to appear as innocent as possible. I went in for the kill, my hooves seeking out her most ticklish spots as she tried to escape me. She attempted to escape the bed, but I managed to predict exactly where she would go and a hoof and a wingtip found her stomach. Dream collapsed in laughter moments later as I triumphantly stood over her, laughing along with her.

I relented my attack after a minute or so, collapsing next to Dream as she recovered. “And that,” I smugly stated, a grin betraying my voice, “is for using me as a landing pad!” I hopped off the bed to let her recover from my attack, deciding to quickly clear up the bed-mane I was certain I had. A quick golden tie for my mane and tail thoroughly solved most of the issue of having hair everywhere, and I turned back to the bed, where Dream was standing on top, her tongue sticking out at me.

I just laughed at the sight and blew a raspberry at her, stopping next to the bed. “Well, shall we go find some pancakes to slay, Dream?” Her eyes lit up like lights, the bright teal color a stark contrast to her midnight black coat. I turned around and began to walk out of the room, but stopped at the distinct lack of sounds coming from her.

“Please?” Dream pleaded, a longing look on her face as she attempted to give me diabetes with her eyes. I sighed and walked next to the bed, allowing her to clamber onto my back. I gave her a moment to get situated before turning back around and leaving the room. “Hi ho, ‘Rory!” she exclaimed, and looking back I noticed she had a single hoof pointed down the hall that led to the dining room.

Laughing, I set off towards food at a sedate pace, thinking on a few things. The nightmare I had was a somewhat reoccurring one, although it had been getting less frequent as time passed on. I kept telling myself that I enjoyed everything about this world, even with the crazy first month I had. After all, I had a nice group of ponies to call my friends, and some I could even call family. Even with all of the holes that still needed to be filled in, what was there to dislike? Sure, there would always be things I missed from before, but honestly they paled in comparison to having a family again.

At this thought I turned my head and gave Dream a brief nuzzle, which she leaned into. She truly was an amazing filly, and I was more than happy to think of her as family. I had always been a single child, so having a sibling was a new experience, especially now that she truly was a filly in and out. At one point she had quite a few memories left over from Nightmare Moon and Luna, but those had finally completely disappeared. Now she was just an extremely ordinary filly, well except the whole alicorn bit.

I flared up my magic, opening the doors into the dining room, nodding absently at the guard posted at the door. “Good morning, all.” I quietly greeted as Dream glided off my back, her hooves clattering loudly on the tiled floor. I took a seat next to Celestia as I watched Dream shuffle into her seat between Twilight and Luna.

“Good morning, Dream,” Luna lovingly spoke, her voice completely filled with warmth, “I hope you did not wake Aurora up by jumping on her, right?” I did my best to contain my laughter as Dream attempted to stammer out a reply, causing Luna’s lips to tighten around the corners a bit. She and Twilight had been attempting to reign in some of Dream’s behavior, and jumping up and down on sleeping ponies was currently at the top of their list. From what I understand, Dream had woken them up that way after the two of them had fudged an experiment that left them both quite bruised. I could hear their voices clear through the walls that morning; it was quite comical, although I think they both managed to scare Dream quite a bit.

“Good morning to you as well, Aurora,” Celestia quietly spoke into my ear, drawing me from my thoughts as I focused on her, “I hope that your mood is much better this morning? You seemed quite down last night; I hope that I was able to help you.”

“Eh…” I started, taking a moment to concentrate on getting some pancakes on my plate, “I had another nightmare, same thing again. Overall though, I’m feeling pretty good this morning.” I rubbed at the spot where Dream had landed on me, grinning slightly. “Well, mostly good I should say. I had a ball of energy give me a rather quick wake-up call.”

Celestia and I both laughed rather heavily, drawing the attention of Twilight and Luna, who had apparently just finished scolding Dream. They had basically become her parent figures, as she was technically born from a part of Luna. Twilight had explained its full dynamics to me one day when I made the mistake of asking her about it; needless to say it simply was what it was. I do not think that my brain could survive that lecture again.

“Good morning, Aurora,” Twilight and Luna both said at the same time as I finally took a bite of my pancakes. I just chuckled and waved at first, doing the polite thing and not speaking while I had half of a waffle coated in syrupy goodness crammed in my muzzle. “I hope that Dream didn’t wake you up too violently, Aurora.” Twilight spoke alone this time, a small glare directed at the filly in question.

I swallowed, grinning at Twilight. “Relax a little bit, let your mane down, Twilight,” I playfully chided, “I mean, I am her sister, right? So, if she wants to wake me up like that, it’s fair game.” Dream’s eyes seemed to light up again, and I internally laughed. “However, she just needs to remember that it means I can do similar things to her.” I menacingly raised my hooves, making tickling sounds, causing everypony at the table to break out into laughter.

“Very well, Aurora. But if she breaks anything again, don’t say I didn’t warn you, okay?” Twilight briefly stuck her tongue out at me before focusing on her pancakes. Luna went to take a bite, but then paused and looked at me with a confused look in her eyes.

“Pray tell, what exactly did Twilight mean when she said again?”

I exchanged looks with Twilight, Celestia and Dream before breaking out into laughter again. Luna simply looked on in confusion the entire time, at least until I could get myself back under control. “Well, remember when you went on that diplomatic mission to Gryphonia for a month?” Luna nodded in reply, and I continued with a smile on my face.

“Well,” I began, drawing it out as Luna leaned forward a bit in her seat, “while you were gone, one of my magic lessons involved levitating rubber spheres without crushing them. I kind of slipped and sent it flying across the room. We ended that day a little bit early, and I had a very nice bruise on my chest. I found out the next morning it was actually a cracked rib when Dream landed on me and turned it into a broken one.” Luna looked at me oddly, then again that might have been because I had a rather goofy grin on my face at the moment.

“What? Don’t judge, Luna… Equestrian pain-killers are some amazing things!” I broke out into laughter again, remembering how time seemed to be much, much slower for those three days I was laid up while healing.

Luna hummed to herself, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I see,” she slowly replied, turning to look towards Dream and Twilight. “And why was I not informed about this upon my return?” Luna queried, her brow raised as she stared at them.

I just chuckled, waving my hoof at her. “No big deal, Luna. Stuff happens. You need to learn to relax a little bit.” I stuck my tongue out at her before, in what could very well be a moment of extreme stupidity, focused hard and gently tapped her in the face with one of her own, still untouched pancakes. She turned around to look at it, her mouth partially open, and before she could utter a word I stuck it in her muzzle.

The entire table went deathly silent, everypony frozen as Luna sat there, a pancake partially in her mouth, the glow from my magic gone. Finally, she simply chewed on it, and after a few moments swallowed. “I must say, this needs syrup,” she simply stated, a light smile on her face as I let myself relax. She shot me a devilish grin when nopony else was looking though, and I figured that I might want to watch my back in the near future.

“Aurora, I’ve been meaning to tell you this, but when you’ve got some free time I need to go over some of the results of the experiments we ran last month, okay?” Twilight asked as she refilled her coffee mug, the now full cup lingering under her nose.

I took a look to Dream, and thought for a moment about what I had to do for the day. I had long since moved past simply waking up, magic lessons, flying lessons, history lessons, and then going to sleep. Now some days I had hours of free time, some of which I spent going down into Canterlot and spending with Dream.

“I think I’ll be free after dinner, Twilight,” I slowly stated, sorting out the plans I had for the day in my mind, “I’m taking Dream down to play with the other foals at the Second Chance Orphanage after breakfast, and probably won’t be back until lunch, and I want to practice either flying or magic after that.”

The orphanage was a place that I had stumbled upon merely by chance. I had taken to walking through the streets of Canterlot in the evenings, as the majority of traffic dominated the daylight hours. While on one such walk, I heard crying coming from one of the many parks in the city and stumbled upon a small pegasus filly. It took a little bit of time, but I managed to get her to tell me her name.

Once Comet Burst opened up to me, I offered to take her home after her tears had stopped. I was quite surprised to learn that she lived in an orphanage, and after dropping Comet off I spent some time talking to the matron, who was coincidentally called Matron. The chance meeting at night turned into weekly visits to visit Comet and the rest of the foals. Dream had asked to come along one day, and now she had a whole group of friends her age that we visited a few times every week.

A voice pulled me from my thoughts, loud and full of excitement. “Oh, we’re going to see Comet today?!” Dream asked, beginning to bounce up and down in her seat. I laughed, nodding my head.

“Yes, but first… you need to finish your breakfast. That includes your vegetables, by the way.” I stuck my tongue out at Dream, who looked at the small pile of carrots and greens that Luna had snuck onto her plate. I still found it pretty funny that she disliked most vegetables, with a few exceptions. She was quite a picky eater it seems.

The rest of the breakfast passed in small talk, every one of us content to finish our breakfast so that we could all move on with our day. I got up and pushed my seat back in a bit, finishing off the last of my orange juice before setting the now empty glass on the table’s surface. “Well, I hope you all have a good day. Who should I bug to escort the two of us there?” I asked Celestia as Dream came up to my side.

“Hmm,” Celestia brought a hoof up to her chin as she thought for a moment. After a few seconds, a sly grin formed on her muzzle. “Aurora, if you go down to the Guard’s Barracks, I believe you’ll find Shining Armor there. If he puts up any resistance, you can just drop my name. I think he could use the time around foals.” I chuckled at her choice, nodding my assent.

“Thanks, Celestia. Try your best to smite some nobles, please? It might make things a bit easier for me.” I goofily grinned, somewhat hoping that she would indeed blast one or two of those pathetic excuses for ponies out of existence. Most of them were quite the whining, sniveling snob types who thought the world existed for them. Plus, the fact that increasingly more of them were trying to tie me up in a ribbon for their respective family’s status. That might have colored my opinion just a little bit.

I looked towards Dream, who had a big, goofy grin on her face. I lightly chuckled at the sight, causing her to realize that I had been staring. “Sis, I need to get some stuff from my room, can I just go there while you get the guards?”

I mussed her many lightly with a forehoof, laughing as she tried to dodge it. I finally relented after a few moments, a small smile on my face. “Sure thing, Dream. You want me to pick you up from the garden?” She nodded her agreement, and with a nod of my own she took off. I watched her scampering form quickly retreat, a smile still present the entire time. Once she left my sight, I turned around and left through the door on the opposite side of the room.

I navigated my way through the corridors, pausing to say hi to a guard here and there. While I still did not know many of them, I had become friends with a couple of the ones living at the castle. It all began one night over a barrel of Applejack’s best special cider, and by special I mean one hell of an alcohol by volume content. One poker game later and I had a small group of friends in the castle guard, even if one of them left with a black eye that night after sneaking a feel of my rear end. That had been about a month back, and now I could tell a few guards apart from the others, even with the armor that made them all look uniform.

Turning another corner, I entered the wing of the castle that was used almost exclusively by the Royal Guard. Eating, sleeping, training, relaxing… you think of it, they could do it here. A lot of the younger members actually lived in this part of the castle, something to do with it being easier for the single stallions and mares without any attachments. I never really asked for the full details, but it was a pretty interesting set-up. Luckily, the offices were at the front of everything, and as I approached the door a sky-blue unicorn stallion grinned and opened the door.

“Hey there, Breeze, I’m looking for Shining Armor, he around?” I asked, returning his grin as I bumped his offered hoof. His full name was actual Gentle Breeze, but for the obvious reasons everypony referred to him as Breeze. He was easily my closest friend in the guard, which was quite humorous as he had been the pony I gave the shiner to the first time I hung with them.

“Yup, he’s slinking around somewhere in the offices,” Breeze replied with a chuckle, slightly tossing his head towards the interior. “I think he still has it in his mind that if he doesn’t come down to check on us, we’ll just fall apart or something.”

Breeze and I began laughing. I had heard many tales of how the former Captain of the Guard essentially ‘babied’ his former charges. It was quite endearing to some, although they wasted no time in joining everypony when the mothering jokes began flying around. “Well, I’m here to take him off your hooves, at least for a little bit. I’d say that maybe you could get some work done, but looks like you’ve got some downtime, eh?”

“Actually, I was just on break, but the moment I heard that you would be going into Canterlot I made sure to scamper back here as quickly as I could. Hopefully I can tag along again, sure beats doing paperwork!” I just snorted in amusement as I began to follow him inside in search of Shining Armor.

Following a trail of pointed hooves, we found Shining Armor within a minute or two. It really was not that hard, truthfully, as he was a rather commanding presence in any room, and when surrounded by guards it really showed.

Breeze knocked on the doorway of the office Shining was in, causing him to look up. “Aurora, Breeze, how are you two doing?” he greeted us with a smile, moving a bunch of loose papers into a neat stack on the desk.

“Well, I’m looking to head into town, and Celestia told me I should get you to come along. You know, we’ll need a sacrifice for the kids and all, and I guess she thought you’d fit the bill.” I just laughed at the look on his face, causing him to sigh.

“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” he stated, barely forming it into a question. I just smiled, doing my best to keep from breaking out into laughter as I took in the expression of relief on the pony’s face that had been talking to Shining before we interrupted them.

“Nope! Apparently she thought it’d be a good idea, so might as well come along quietly!” I jerked my head towards Breeze as I rested a leg over Shining’s neck in a totally platonic manner. “And this guy here wants to tag along too, give us some extra muscle too.”

Shining just sighed and worked my hoof off his neck. “Very well, I’ll be ready in ten. Just need to find one more guard to come along, just in case. Twilight told me those nobles are only getting worse, maybe having two guards and me around will deter them for a bit, hey?”

I sadly chuckled, shaking my head. “I doubt that an entire army would stop some of them. I still don’t get what part of ‘I have no interest in relationships or anything remotely resembling them’ they don’t understand…” I trailed off, a fun thought coming to mind. “Maybe we need to make an example of one? I figure a horn to an eye would be a good statement, yes?”

I managed to elicit a few laughs from everypony gathered, although Shining also ended up shaking his head. “They’d probably still come back even then. Maybe I could talk to Aunt Luna about sending them to her moon… nah, they’d dirty such a wondrous thing, I doubt she’d go for it.”

“I’ll meet you in the garden just inside the residential area, okay?” I asked, getting ready to turn around. Once Shining nodded, I left to let him and Breeze get ready for the foray into town. As I began walking, I thought on the garden that we would all be gathering at.

Probably the best thing about this garden was that it was located in a spot that only a few ponies had any access to, outside of the guard. Being so close to our rooms, nopony had any business being there. It was open to the elements, with flowers of all varieties planted. Basically, any time I wanted to have some of the outdoors without the hassle that went along with going into Canterlot, I could just come here and relax for a few hours. It was also a nice place for games of tag, as Dream and I did quite frequently. All said, it was a place where I could just let go for a bit, a rather nice luxury at times.

Dream was already waiting for me, a small package next to her side. She and Comet had gotten extremely close, and the two had taken to exchanging small gifts every other week or so. I was kind of curious as to what Dream had put together this time; she had made a point to ensure nopony knew what it was and to make it on her own without any help.

I walked up to her side, playfully bumping her with a forehoof. “Ready to go I take it?” Dream nodded in excitement, a massive smile plastered on her face. “We should be good to go in a few minutes. Shining Armor and Breeze are getting ready.” No sooner than I had said that did they enter, Breeze with a smirk on his face. “Or we’re ready to go now, it looks like.” Dream gracefully hopped up onto my back as they approached us.

Carefully, I picked up the package and held it out to Breeze. “Here you go, make yourself useful!” He rolled his eyes, but accepted the box and carefully stowed it away in the small bag strapped to his back. Turning to Shining, I just smirked at him. “Are you ready to go and visit some foals, Prince? Think of this as… practice for the real thing.”

“You’re trouble, you know that?” he quipped, one hoof over his face as he shook his head. I just laughed, knowing full well that Celestia had asked me to bring him along because Cadance apparently had been nagging him about children for some time. I just think that she was also playing a mostly harmless prank on him as well, either way it did not really matter too much to me. It just meant that maybe he could wear them down for me first.

We left the castle through the main gates, the sounds of a city in full swing reaching our ears. It was mid-morning now, meaning that everything was in action, and the streets were relatively full with ponies running about on their errands and business. As we walked along, a lot of them stopped and stared at us, but at least they were not all focused on me. Shining Armor made a really good patsy that way; he was basically a national hero and a lot more interesting than me, the random blank-flank alicorn, fortunately. For me, anyways, although it was pretty obvious that he had long since gotten used to the stares that still made me feel extremely self-conscious.

We passed through the commercial hub that was centered around the castle’s gates and turned into a quieter, residential area of the city. Here there were less ponies walking about, and the sounds from the market were a distant din that rapidly diminished the further in we walked. The layout of the city was quite ingenious, as they had a few markets, each one surrounded mostly by residential areas. It allowed ponies to never be too far from the shopping they needed to do, and ensured that the ponies selling their goods all had a pretty level playing field.

The rest of our route took us through winding swaths of residential roads, both sides lined with houses of various constructs. It still amused and amazed me to see a house made of clouds sitting between another made of wood and another of stone. Even with the varied materials and craftsmanship, it still felt like everything belonged, a place that one would love to live in. It was definitely a stark contrast to the noble-infested section of the city, as I had dubbed the upper crust’s homes.

The last turn came into sight, and we found ourselves on a dead-end cobbled road. Dream slipped off my back as we came to the last stretch of street, darting ahead of us for the main door of the large stone building at the end of the road. I chuckled at the sight, my gaze moving to rest on the painted wooden sign staked into the ground, quietly reading it aloud.

“Second Chance Orphanage.”

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Hurry up, slowpokes!” Dream yelled over her shoulder as she raced down the dead-end street towards the doors of the Second Chance Orphanage. We were in the back of a quiet neighborhood, well removed from any of the busy areas of Canterlot.

Laughing, I looked at my two companions, Shining Armor and the guard Breeze, and motioned with my head towards Dream. “You heard the filly; we need to hurry it up!” I took off after her at a slow trot, a large smile on my face. Quickly glancing back, I suppressed a chuckle as Shining groaned and looked back in time to see the door open up.

An older slate grey earth pony stood at the door, a large smile on her face as she noticed Dream. “Ah, Dream! It’s nice to see you again, little filly. Your friends have been looking forward to your next visit, especially Comet.” She moved out of the way, Dream darting off into inside moments later.

As the cobblestone yielded to a compact dirt pathway, I slowed down to a walk once more. “Good morning, Matron.” I greeted her with a wave of my hoof, a wide smile on my face as I stopped just in front of her.

“Oh, it’s such a pleasure to see you again, Princess Aurora,” she began, and then noticed my companions over my shoulder, “and I see you brought a prince along with you this time, oh the children will be thrilled about that!”

“Aww, I thought I asked you not to call me ‘princess,’ it makes me feel kind of weird still,” I jokingly whined, making the best pout I could manage. Eliciting a laugh from Matron, I dropped the fake expression just as Shining and Breeze finally caught up. “As for the Prince here, I figured that he could soften up the children for us while we talk for a bit. Let him get a feel for how it’ll be once he has some of his own underhoof.”

Breeze laughed at the expense of Shining as Matron moved in front of Shining. “Prince Armor, it’s a pleasure to have you here. I’m Matron, and as you’ve probably guessed, I’m the matron for the orphanage. I’m certain the children will be beyond excited to have you visit, even if only for a short while.”

Shining seemed a little nervous as Matron introduced herself, his ears twitching occasionally as the sounds of children playing reached them. “Ah, yes, well…” he started, uncertainty underlying his voice, “it’s nice to be here?”

Matron looked at him closely, nodding her head after a few moments. “Wife wants a foal, right?” She laughed as he nodded, resting her hoof on his shoulder. “I’ve seen it a lot of times, there’s nothing to be worried about. Why don’t you head on inside and go say hi to the children? The more time you spend around them, the easier it becomes. I promise.”

“Thanks,” he replied, taking a deep breath before glancing towards me and Breeze. “Don’t take too long talking though; I’m not sure I’ll survive that long alone.” Shining gave us both a nervous smile before heading inside.

“Straight through to the back, you’ll find them outside in the playground. We’ll be right inside here for a bit, just come if you need any help… I’m sure you’ll be fine though.” Matron calmly told him, a disarming smile on her face. She turned back towards me and Breeze, a trace of amusement shown by the faint lines in her face. “Poor stallions, almost every single one of them is scared stiff at the thought of foals until they hold their own in their hooves, and then it becomes their whole world,” She gazed off into the distance for a few moments before shaking her head slightly. “Well, come on in, you two. It’s nice to see you both again.”

The three of us walked inside, entering a reception area for the orphanage. We passed through a hallway to the side and stopped at a small office, the faint sounds of children laughing in the background as I took a seat in one of the chairs in the room.

“Well, I think I’ll go and make sure ‘Prince’ Armor doesn’t get too overwhelmed,” Breeze chuckled, humorously emphasizing the word prince as he quickly began to remove his armor and stow it in the rear corner of the room. As the last piece came off, the enchantments returned his white coat back to its normal sky blue color. Shaking his coat out quickly, Breeze moved the last one to the corner with his magic and then turned towards us. “Plus, this should let you two mares chat without any stallions around. See you shortly.” He flashed us a smile before leaving, the sounds of a door opening and closing reaching our ears a few moments later.

“So,” Matron began as I slumped back into my chair, “it sounds like you’re still quite apprehensive about becoming a Princess? Even though you were joking about me not calling you that, it seems like it still bugs you.” She kept her focus on me even as she began to put on a pot of hot water for tea. It still baffled me just how much she was able to do without the aid of magic, especially dealing with so many children all the time.

“Yeah, no matter how much I hear it, I still get unnerved. I mean, the kids calling me princess doesn’t bug me too much because it makes them happy, but everypony else…” I let out a sigh, closing my eyes and enjoying the aroma of the teabags Matron had pulled out. “It’s annoying, I guess? Celestia and Luna both keep telling me that I’ve got the material to make a fine princess with time, but I just don’t see it in me.”

Matron was amazingly perceptive. She reminded me of the neighborhood mother who would sit you down on her couch while offering cookies and milk with a warm smile, quietly listening as you spilled all of your problems. Then once you were done, with that same disarming smile, she would quietly speak and give ideas on how to go about solving those problems. I think that this is part of the reason the children always listened to her no matter what, as even the most unruly ones would quickly fall in line beneath her mothering.

“I see, so still hung up on that issue then.” She set a cup of tea down in front of me, then moved a chair across from mine and sat down. “You know, looking at you with these children, I think they are right. You may not realize it yet, but you truly do have the type of personality that shines under such pressure.” Matron calmly spoke, that motherly disarming smile gracing her face the entire time. “Really, you just need to focus on the smaller things, let the big picture form as it will.” She chuckled before taking a sip of her tea. “How do you think I manage to keep up with all of these youngsters?”

Her laughter was infectious, and within moments we were both laughing. It died down to short chuckles, a bright and cheerful expression on Matron’s face. “Children are different though, you know? Sure, they may wear me out physically when they want to play, but they don’t expect anything from me. Not like those annoying nobles…” My eyes unfocused as the memories of the last so-called noble that I met came to mind. To keep it brief, he basically propositioned me right in the middle of the street, and it had only been Breeze’s timely intervention that kept me from trying to geld him.

“Over here, dear,” Matron firmly spoke, waving her hoof in front of my face, causing me to focus on it. “You seemed to be spacing out there. The nobles are quite annoying, there was actually one here the other day enquiring about you…” Matron trailed off, a thoughtful look on her face. “Now, what was his name? Ghey? Hay? Grey, Grey something.” She noticed the look of hatred on my face and waved her hoof again. “Don’t worry, I sent him off packing. Claimed I’d call the guards on him for taking the wrong interest in my wards. That sent him scuttling off very fast.”

Tea threatened to escape my nostrils as I snorted at Matron’s words, my eyes the size of saucers. That was one hell of a threat, and knowing her she would have done it if he had stuck around. Not even being a noble would not have saved him from the consequences of that accusation, even if they were proven false at the end. And if it came to a he-said she-said situation, Matron would definitely win almost every time.

“Yikes… shame I can’t use that in the castle.” I took a long sip of tea, letting the smooth blend clear my mind. “Anyways, I’d rather not talk about those issues anymore today… so how are things going here? Did anything new happen since my last visit?”

Matron beamed, the smile she gave me going from ear to ear. “I had a lovely visit from a couple out of Cloudsdale. It turns out that they were distant family of Rain’s who had just returned from a trip, and they were glad to take her in.” A few tears of joy trickled from her eyes as she continued. “Plus, I only have a dozen children here now, that’s the lowest it’s been in over ten years. It has really allowed me to give even more attention to each child.”

A large crash from outside drew our attention, and we both chuckled in sync. “I guess it might be time to head outside, they may have gotten in over their heads.” Setting my cup down next to the small sink with magic, I got out of my chair and quickly stretched. “Shall we, Matron?”

The bright sunlight outside heralded an amusing sight. Shining was on his side, children piled atop him. Breeze was off to the side with Dream, both of them holding their sides and laughing. I looked around for the potential source of the crash and noticed the hole in the fence, its size the same as Shining’s head.

I walked closer to the group, doing my best to suppress the laughter threatening to overwhelm me. Once Shining noticed me, I stopped and just smirked at him. “Well, that’s one way to use your head.”

All at once, every kid stopped and turned towards me. “Princess Aurora!” a cacophony of voices rang out, and all at once a dozen tiny terrors took off towards me. I faked an expression of surprise, slowly backing away as they clamored ever closer. The first child to reach me was one of the older earth ponies, Boulder, and when he tackled my leg I made a show of falling down to my side, letting a loud ‘oomph’ out of my mouth.

After giving Boulder a chance to look triumphant to the others, I rolled off my side in time to see the rest of them stop just short of colliding into me. Chuckling as Dream hopped over the rest and landed on my back, I addressed them all. “Hey, kids. Have you all been good since I last visited?”

“Yes!” They all replied nearly at once, lighting my face up with a smile. I noticed that a few of them had grins on their faces as they looked between each other, betraying the truth that they had probably been up to some sort of mischief. The fact that there was a hole in the fence presumably because Shining’s head went through it spoke to that fact.

“Bloody rascals chased me all over the place. Me! Cadance and I single-hoofedly repelled an entire changeling invasion, but a mere dozens kids disorient me enough to go through a fence…” Shining spoke, walking up to us. “Kids, please, please. Please? Don’t tell anypony about that, okay?”

Everypony broke out into laughter as Shining begged the children not to say a word as I schemed how to further cause him embarrassment. Who knows, maybe I could trade my silence for favors down the road, it could prove quite useful. If nothing else, it would be extremely amusing to see. While he was occupied with the foals which had focused on him for the time being, I reached around to whisper into Dream’s ears. “So, what else can we do to have some fun with your Uncle Armor?”

Dream cutely put her hoof underneath her chin and stuck her tongue out the corner of her mouth in concentration. “Hmm, we were playing tag with Uncle, but I don’t know how he ended up going into the fence. One moment he was chasing Comet, the next he went through it, like bam!” She clapped her hooves together in emphasis, drawing the attention back towards us.

“Play with us, Princess Aurora!” Comet called out, immediately drawing the rest of the foals into a chant. “Play, play, play!”

I gave a quick glance to Matron, who had a large mirthful smirk on her face as she nodded. “Very well, let’s play a game!” They all cheered, stomping their hooves on the ground. “So, what all does everyone want to play?”

“Let’s do hide and seek!”
“Oh, we should play more tag!”
“We haven’t played hoofball since forever!”

Chuckling, I raised a hoof to try and get their attention. “Now come on, everypony, we can’t do all of those at once. You all know that!” I briefly stuck my tongue out, causing them all to laugh and make funny faces at me. Pulling it back in, I decided on the easiest approach. “Okay, when I say a game, raise your hoof if you want to play it. Only raise your hoof for one game though, okay?”

I briefly ran through the list, forcing myself to suppress a squeal of delight when most of the foals decided they wanted to play tag. I motioned for Breeze to come on over, leaving Matron to watch, or do whatever she wanted to do while we distracted the kids. I leaned in close and whispered as quietly as possible into his ear. “Gang up on Shining; I kind of want to see him go through the fence again if we can. Plus, he could use a bit more experience I think.” I pulled back, a large grin on my face as I faced the kids again.

“So, everypony, here are the rules. No wings, no magic. Just good, old hoof power, okay?” All of the kids nodded, although one or two of them had a slight pout in their face. “Okay, very well. Now…” Slowly, my hoof reached out towards Shining, “Three two one,” I quickly ran through the numbers and bopped him on the nose. “You’re it!”

Everypony gathered scatter in every direction as Shining just stood there with a puzzled look on his face. Dream was holding on to my mane, still riding atop my back. “’Rory! Wait up!” Turning, I noticed Comet was madly dashing towards me in an attempt to catch up. She was doing a decent job of it, although I definitely had the obvious advantage.

Making sure Shining was not chasing me first; I stopped and let Comet clamor atop me as well, my back thoroughly claimed by the two kids. “Hold on!” I kept a safe distance from Shining as we watched him chase down Boulder. It was quite comical to see him try and hold back enough to give the kid a chance, although it only took him less than a minute to tag Boulder.

The next thirty minutes rapidly passed as we all ran around, laughter and glee permeating the air. It was humorous when I let one of the kids tag me, and I immediately tagged Dream in turn as I launched her at Shining Armor. In an attempt to dodge her, we successfully put a second hole into the fence right next to the first. Matron had shot me a rather nasty glare, and I made a mental note to ensure we left some bits to fix the damage. Not that I did not already give the orphanage plenty of them, I had no use for the money and it was for a damn good purpose.

Finally, I slumped to the ground as Comet bopped me on the nose. “I give up.” I stuck my tongue out at Comet, gently grabbing her tail as she went to take off away from me. Mussing with her mane, the rest of the kids all gathered around and laid down in the grass with us. Shining and Breeze had backed out of the game shortly after the second hole in the fence had been made, and had been content to just watch.

Matron walked out with a large tray of sandwiches balanced on her back, grinning at the sight of us all lumped together. “Children, your savior comes with food!” It was amazing how kids could flip on a dime. They had looked moments away from naptime, yet the moment they caught sight of Matron with food, almost every single one of them jumped up at once and took off. I let go of Comet and slowly stood up, chuckling as I walked towards Breeze.

“Kids… so adorable, aren’t they?” Stretching out my limbs, I just grinned at Breeze and Shining, the latter of which still had a somewhat dazed expression plastered on his face. I did not try to rub it in anymore though, as I figured we had thoroughly exposed him to children enough for one day, and plenty of stories for me to share with Celestia later.

Breeze lazily waved a hoof in the air. “Oh, you like kids, do you? You know, instead of visiting here all the time, you could just have a little bit of ‘fun’ in the future and get some of your own,” he quipped with a massive grin plastered on his face. Heat blossomed in my face as I thought of everything that entailed, in quite a bit of detail, too. Unable to make any sort of comeback, I stood there stunned as Breeze began laughing, Shining joining in with him moments later.

“I. You… What? I don’t even!” sputtering, the words shot out in a highly disjointed manner. Finally, I settled on smacking Breeze with my hoof, but put no real force behind it. Mentally making a note to get him back as soon as possible, I decided to go ahead and twist the dagger just a little bit more and let my hoof rest on Shining’s shoulder. “So, how was the practice, ‘Dad?’”

Shining just shook his head, a hint of amusement in the small smile he had. “Actually… I’m still apprehensive about it, but… I think just one of these things will be manageable.” He shook his head slightly, a wry chuckle escaping from between his lips. “Still, I find it amazing that I can spend hours drilling outside, yet a mere half hour leaves me drained more than work ever has.”

“That’s kind of true for any kids, really. Least you have a very kid-friendly family from what I know. I mean, Luna and Celestia get to be aunts, Twilight…” trailing off, I released how that could possibly be a bad thing, although she had done a good job alongside Luna with Dream the past few months. “Yeah, I think Twilight would be good. I just don’t think you should leave your kid alone with Twilight and Luna for any extended period of time though. You won’t know what pranks you might wake up to one morning if that happens!” Grinning, I motioned towards Matron, who had organized the kids together at a few tables and had gotten lunch underway. “Come on, let’s go join them. I’m feeling a bit hungry myself.”

“Please, take a seat,” Matron motioned with her hooves as she greeted us. The three of us sat down at the table with her, three plates filled with larger sandwiches and a pitcher of water on its surface. “As always, Aurora, it is nice to have you here with us,” she quietly spoke, that motherly smile directed towards us. She turned towards Shining, nodding slightly at him. “And you, Prince Armor, I hope you got past some of your fears. They truly are wonderful things, and I’m sure you’ll get to find that our first-hoof soon enough though.”

“It was enlightening, to say the least. Definitely ended up being better than hanging around the castle, I have a feeling that I was driving some of them nuts with my hovering.” Chuckling, he took a small bite of a sandwich, letting out a hum as the flavors met his tongue. “I’d recommend Cady come with Aurora next time, but I’m sure that she would simply come back wanting as many kids as you have here instead.”

A round of laughter went about the table, my ears listening while I watched Dream animatedly chat with Comet and Boulder. Without realizing it, a wisp of a smile crossed my face, and it was not until Breeze elbowed me in the side a few times while nodding towards Matron that I found my focus returning back towards the conversation. “So, Princess, have you started thinking about one or two of your own? You seem to be quite the natural with them, you know.” Matron asked, glancing over towards Breeze as she talked.

Quickly, I threw my hooves in the air and waved them back and forth. “No no no! I mean, they’re nice to hang out with and all, but I don’t have anything special or anything, I just enjoy that… let’s go with their spark of innocence. I can just do whatever with them and be a kid again, get away from things. Plus it’s nice seeing Dream so engaged with kids her age.” Matron raised a brow, as if she did not believe me, which prompted me to further elaborate. “You know I’m not ready to really get into a relationship with anyone, Matron, so, umm… yeah. Besides, it’s kind of hard to have a kid without some help, you know?” I gestured helplessly with my hooves, uncertain of what else to say as crimson flooded my cheeks.

“You know, all you have to do is ask, Princess,” Breeze started, a large grin on his face as he kept his voice low. “I’d be more than glad to be your foal-daddy for you. I mean, I am in the Royal Guard and all, got some pretty good credentials and everything!” The glass that I had been drinking from dropped to the ground as I accidentally sprayed Shining with a mouthful of water.

Matron chuckled, darting her gaze between Breeze and I. “Oh, to be young again…” She rested a hoof on my shoulder, gently patting me on the back. “Trust me, Princess; speaking from experience, the Royal Guardsponies are a pretty solid bunch to pull from. Excellent father figures, too.” She turned towards Breeze, a glimmer in her eyes. “I must say, son, I approve.”

“This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, no way, no way…” I muttered moments before shoving the rest of my sandwich into my mouth. I kicked Breeze in one of his legs as I glared at him, imagining my gaze boring a hole through his head. Once the quiet laughter died down, I moved my empty plate to the side and threw my manners aside. “I’m just going to take a quick afternoon nap here, m’kay?”

Before anypony responded, I laid my head down on the table’s surface, its warmth transferring to my cheek as I let out a sigh. “Yup, just wake me up at the end of lunch.” The sounds of the children’s voices and laughter filled the air as I slowly drifted off into a light slumber.





The quiet noises of nature permeated the cool air as I lay down on the grass, the sun’s warmth striking my backside. Scents of flowers greeted my senses, their flowers in full bloom within a gorgeous garden bearing a striking resemblance to the one I often frequented in the castle. In the distance, somepony spoke, although at this range it was impossible to discern what was being said.

Standing up, I stretched out as a small form came hurdling into the garden, a gleeful smile plastered on her face. At first I thought it to be Dream, but then I remembered that she had long since grown up and was currently staying with her parents at the castle in the Everfree Forest. Twilight and Luna had rebuilt it while pursuing knowledge from the past, after all, and from there it was a short step to simply renovate it.

The filly nearly crashed into me, flaring her wings at the last moment. I felt her short hooves wrap themselves around my neck in a hug, trapping a few strands of my flowing mane against my coat. She squealed as I moved a forehoof to return the hug, a wide smile on my face as she squealed.

“Mommy, Mommy, guess what?!” she exclaimed, her voice partially muffled from her face being buried in my fur. Without even giving me a chance to reply, she continued on, the words rapidly pouring from her mouth. “Aunt Twilight and Aunt Luna are coming today! Not only that, but I heard they have a present for me!”

“Love, anytime they visit they bring you a present, you know that.” Chuckling, I let go of my daughter. She dropped to the ground and began bouncing in place, glee emanating from her. “That’s what aunts do, you know. They bring you gifts all the time and spoil you so that I’ve got to be the mean mommy. After all, cake more than three times a week is just too much!”

My daughter began rapidly shaking her head back and forth even as she continued to bounce. I swore that I could almost see Pinkie Pie in her, amazing what habits could be picked up after having the hyperactive pink bundle looking after her twice. “Nuh uh, cake is good! It should be eaten every single day!”

I laughed, picking her up mid-bounce in both of my hooves, swinging her up onto my back. She valiantly attempted to fight off the face-full of mane she received, sending me further into mirth as I waited to catch her in case she fell off. It took a few moments, but I felt a pair of hooves wrap themselves around the top of my neck as her head poked out of the flowing mass. “As nice as it is, you know you can’t have it every day, silly filly.” I playfully bantered with my daughter as I glanced up at the sun, gauging the time. “Oh my, it’s a lot later than I thought… Princess,” I started, addressing her, “would you like to sit in on my court today? You can finally see what exactly Mommy does for work.”

I heard her hooves clap together a few times as she bounced slightly on her hind hooves. “Really, Mom? Can you tell me what you do again, too?” she pleaded, and I could just imagine those twin orbs of hers growing to unimaginable proportions as she nearly begged.

“Of course, you only need to ask you know,” I began, nearing the arch to leave the garden, “I deal with…”





A nudging at my side slowly brought me out of my brief nap, causing me to yawn as I slowly looked for the culprit. “Hey, sis, they want you to tell them a story again!” Dream’s voice filled my ears as I rapidly blinked to clear my sight. “Plus, if you do it, it means we can stay a bit longer!” Her gaze fell towards the ground slightly. “Otherwise, Matron will have them all take a nap, and that’s no fun!”

Standing up, I attempted to recollect what I had daydreamed about and nudged Dream slightly with my head. “Sure, why not. I’m certain I can think of a story to tell them that I haven’t told you yet, too. Go on inside, I’ll be there in a minute.” Her eyes lit up, and she took off inside. I slowly stretched my partially numb legs while attempting to remember the dream. It felt important for some reason, but the details completely eluded me. Eventually the feeling returned to all of my limbs, and I just shrugged and headed inside.

The first time I had been asked to tell the children a story, I had been slightly hesitant to say the least. Kids of any age had a hard time focusing, and I was pretty bad at telling stories, or at least I thought so. However, once I saw the room they used for it, I caved in an instant. There were an insane number of pillows strewn about the room, and off to one side a shelf contained an equally impressive number of sheets. The first story I tried telling was somewhat of a disaster, but it was negated by the time spent building pillow forts and having a blast. Matron had only stepped in once we began a pillow fight.

Stepping into the room, Breeze caught my attention while the kids were wrapped up in getting comfortable. “Hey, just letting you know that Prince Armor decided to head back to the castle. I think Princess Cadance is supposed to be here within an hour or so, I figure we won’t see either of them for a few days.” Breeze bumped me in the side jokingly, a large smile on his face. “Anyways, knock ‘em out, I have a feeling Matron is hoping you’ll put them all to sleep for her.”

Chuckling, I just gently shook my head, a mirthful smile crossing my face. “I’ll just completely ignore that innuendo about Shining you said, I’d rather not think about that. In the meantime though, I think I’ve got a good story to tell them all, and it might keep them all nice and awake this time.” Grinning, I nudged Breeze with my shoulder as I walked towards the front of the room.

“Hey everypony, are you all ready?” I asked, inwardly laughing as everypony and everything completely stopped with the sole exception of a pillow that was precariously balanced atop a quite impressive stack of pillows. A resounding yes filled my ears, and I concentrated on plucking the pillow and a few others to the carpet in front of me. Once I was satisfied with the pile, I plopped myself down on it, facing all of the kids who had moved very, very close.

I smiled before launching into my tale. “Once upon a time, there was a small family that lived near the Everfree Forest. The father was a strong earth pony who ventured into the woods to cut down the massive trees that grew within so that he could sell the wood to support his two children…” Oh crap, umm… no time to make up names, I’ll just go with what I know. “Hansel, and his sister Gretel. Now, the life of a woodspony was not an easy one, but the three of them were happy together.”

All of the children looked on in rapt fascination, seemingly hanging off my every word even though I had just begun. I suppressed the desire to laugh at the sight, and continued on, allowing myself to be absorbed in the story as well.

Hansel’s father left early every morning to go into the woods so that he could return home as soon as possible. At first, Hansel watched his dad leave, his wide eyes watching his father’s retreating form through the small window in the bedroom. One morning, however, Hansel woke up before his father left, running to his side.

“Father, can Gretel and me come into the woods with you today?” he pleaded, presenting his dad with the best pout he had ever managed. His father’s eyes filled with sadness as he slowly shook his head.

“My son, I am sorry, but it is not safe for you or your sister. I cannot cut wood and ensure your safety at the same time; otherwise I would be overjoyed to bring you both along.” He placed a hoof on Hansel’s shoulder, a sad smile on his face. “In a few years, perhaps you two will be old enough to come with me. Until then, please stay here and make sure your sister stays safe for me, my son.”

Gretel left her room that morning in time to see her father leave out the door as he always did, her brother sitting on the floor. “Hansel, I have an idea,” she said, an idea in her mind. “Let’s go down to the river today and gather as many of the stones as we can carry back.”

“But why do they want rocks?” I paused, looking around the room. Everyone was looking at Boulder, who just shrugged in return. Laughing, I reached out and lightly bopped him on the nose with my hoof.

Everypony laughed while Boulder rubbed at his nose, and I just smiled at him. “You have to be patient; I promise you that you’ll find out exactly what they need it for. I think you’ll like it, too.” Letting them quiet down, I went back to my narration.

Hansel and Gretel returned to their house, two baskets filled to the brim with stones of all shapes and sizes. They were all a bright grey color, something easily seen against the grass in the forest. “I also want to follow Father, Hansel,” Gretel eagerly spoke, a beaming smile on her face as she felt pride with her idea. “We just need to drop these rocks behind us as we follow him, and then we can get back home before he does! Father will never know we were there, and we can finally go into the forest together.”

They moved the heavy baskets of rocks to their room, hiding them underneath their beds. The rest of the day was spent eagerly waiting for it to end so that they could follow their father the next morning. Even with their anticipation, their father did not catch on to what they had planned.

The next morning, Hansel and Gretel quietly watched their father leave their small house, the wooden door closing behind him. “Quickly, Gretel, we can’t let father get too far ahead of us!” Hansel bugged his sister, who stuck her tongue out in reply.

“What are you talking about, I’m ready to go now!” she shot back, grinning. “We just can’t be too close, or else father will make us come back home. That wouldn’t be any fun!” Hansel sighed, knowing that his sister was right. He impatiently paced around in the small room while Gretel laughed at him. “Okay, we should be good now!”

Together, they left the house, quietly closing the door behind them. In the far distance they saw their dad slip into the forest, his large axe strapped to his back. When they got to the tree line, Hansel paused, pulling out the first stone he could grab from the basket. “Okay, Gretel, let’s go!”

They followed the steps of their father through the woods, dropping a stone every few steps. The grey rocks stood out against the browns and greens of the forest floor, ensuring that Hansel and Gretel could find their way back home. For an hour they followed the faint hoof prints in the damp ground, until they came to a patch of stone.

“Uh… what now, Gretel?” Hansel asked as he looked around, uncertain of which direction their father had gone. He was unable to see his father, and they were running low on rocks. Gretel walked ahead of him and looked around, deep in thought.

“I think we need to go…”

A pillow smacked into my face, disrupting my focus on the story. I looked around for the culprit and noticed Dream with a pillow in hoof taking a swing at one of the fillies. In a matter of seconds pillows were flying about the room in huge numbers, and I had to duck to avoid a wildly thrown pillow.

Glancing through the fluffy onslaught, I noticed a distinct lack of Matron and Breeze. Grinning wildly, I grabbed the pillows that I had been resting on came up with one in each hoof. Dream was close by, and making sure to not put too much strength behind it, I swung it in her direction.

Dream’s reaction to the surprise attack was priceless. She staggered and dropped her ammunition, then turned and looked towards me in surprise. “Sis, you…” she stuttered, going slightly red in the face. Of course, what happened next I only had to blame myself for. “Everypony, its gang up on my sister time!” she squealed, bringing a shower of projectiles in my direction.

Laughing even as I was being pelted, I sank to the floor and lay in wait while I was partially buried underneath the onslaught of fluffy devastation. I waited for them to stop and approach, grinning all the while. When they came close enough, I stood up, pillows flying off my body in every direction, getting a nice group of the kids.

“Ah ha, I shall have my revenge!” Chasing after Dream, who had seemingly started the entire thing, I cornered her and mercilessly began tickling her sides. Some of the kids began attempting to tickle me in return, but I simply refocused my attention on them, a manic grin on my face. “I will get you all for attacking the Great and Wonderful Princess!”

A rather loud clearing of a pony’s throat brought our focus towards the doorway, where Matron stood. She was attempting to look stern, but the mirth in her face betrayed her, and I just waved and laughed at her. “Well, I see that the story went well,” she began, looking around the room, “but I’m afraid it’s time to end it for today.”

I carefully stood up, helping some of the kids up too. “Everypony, I suppose that I have to go now.” They all began pouting in less than a heartbeat’s span, although it had no effect on me. “Sorry, but it just means that you get to hear the other half of the story when I visit again, okay?” I turned towards Matron, noticing the beaming smile on her face, and addressed her. “Just give me a minute to say goodbye, okay? Feel free to grab Breeze from wherever he’s hiding if you’d like to.”

Turning back towards the kids who were now huddled around me, I gave each and every one a quick nuzzle, having thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with them all. “Now, everypony, make sure to behave while I’m gone. I should be back in a week or so, okay?” I gave one last wave before walking out the room, leaving Dream alone to say her own goodbyes.

As I walked closer to the office where Breeze had stashed his armor, I overheard part of a conversation as I approached, the door into the room open.

“—it’s rather obvious though, don’t you think?” Breeze’s voice drifted towards my ears, gaining in volume as I came closer.

“Yes, of course it is. However, remember that it’s only part of it. Just remember that telling won’t help at all, it might even hinder things.” Matron’s voice replied, carrying over the sounds of Breeze’s armor moving around.

“Hey, where are you all at?” I called out, pretending that I had not heard whatever it was they had been discussing. I figured that whatever the topic was, it was between Matron and Breeze, and at the moment I was not too concerned about prying.

“We’re in here, Princess. Just getting this armor back on.” A particularly loud ringing sound filled the air, a curse shortly following it as Breeze seemingly dropped a piece of it. Chuckling, I walked into the room, sticking my tongue out at him as I entered. “Matron, just waiting on Dream. Gave her a chance to say bye to her friends and stuff.” She moved forward and wrapped me in a motherly hug. “Thanks for having me as always, Matron. It’s a pleasant break from the rest of things.”

Matron responded by gently patting my shoulder, her hooves still firmly around me. “Anytime. As you know, me and the kids will be here anytime you need to stop by.” She unwrapped her hooves and took a step back, her ears flickering towards the hall. “It sounds like Dream is about to be here, I’ll go ahead and take control of this kids and get them moving with the rest of their day.” Matron laughed, a hearty, healthy sound. “The hardest part of the day… lessons!”

The three of us laughed as Dream dashed into the room, the corners of her mouth slightly turned down into a small frown. “Okay, Sis, I’m ready to go now.” I lowered myself a little and let her climb up onto my back and motioned with my head towards the door.

“Okay, let’s head home, still plenty of hours left in the day. Come on, Breeze, lead the way.” I followed him through the narrow hall and back outside, until he stopped on the edge of the street. I nudged him quickly to get his attention and he turned around. Before he could ask me anything, I smacked him in the back of the head with a hoof, the connection making his metal helmet ring like a muted cymbal.

“For the love of everything that is good, Breeze, don’t you ever give Matron any idea that we should be together, okay? The last thing I want to do is to find out she’s scheming something to hook us up… and she’d do it, too.” With that said, I took off into the sky, leaving a dumbfounded guard behind me, and Dream’s squeals of glee filling the air.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	On the short flight back to the castle, Dream’s sounds of excitement slowly petered out as exhaustion from the morning’s activities claimed the little filly. She had spent quite some time running around, so it only made sense that an afternoon nap would be in order. As I looked down towards the streets, I made a note to stop by her room first. I spotted Breeze’s form down below, running through the streets in an attempt to keep up with me in the sky. Quietly chuckling, I made certain to keep my pace and altitude low enough so that he could easily keep up with me; it’s not like I was in any real danger flying over Canterlot in the middle of the day, after all.

I carefully landed in front of the castle gates and craned my head around to look at my passenger, a gentle smile coming to my face as I noticed that she had managed to fall asleep, even while on my back mid-flight. Breeze ran up to me a few seconds later, a somewhat irate expression on his face. Bringing a hoof up to my mouth in the universal sign for silence, I motioned to Dream on my back with a twist of my head, and his expression gave way to resignation, a light sigh and a shake of his head his reply.

“Welcome back, Princess Aurora,” one of the guards stationed at the front gate spoke as we passed inside. His voice was low, as he had noticed Dream asleep on my back. “Princess Celestia would like to see you at your earliest convenience.” Turning to my companion, the guard smiled a bit, and I pretended to ignore the suggestive wink. “Welcome back, Breeze.”

Sighing, I simply shook my head a bit. My friendship with Breeze was apparently being seen as potentially something more, as every guard knew the story of how Shining Armor had managed to capture Cadance’s heart. It led a lot to think that the same could repeat itself, even though Breeze had specifically stated his intentions were otherwise. It was simply another thing I was coming to ignore as Breeze was a friend, nothing more. It was a bit reassuring to me having a few stallions as friends though; there were just too many mares around, myself included. Being able to hang out with the guards was a nice reprieve since many of them were stallions.

“Well, I’ll catch you around, Breeze,” I softly spoke as I turned to check if Dream was still asleep as we entered the main foyer, heading towards the private residential area.

Breeze nodded with a light smile on his face. “Take care, Aurora. If you need a guard for escorting, I’m your stallion any time.” He finished his remark with a mock bow, and I repressed the desire to reach over and hit him again. “Really though, I hope you enjoy the rest of the day. And thanks for getting me out of the castle; that definitely beat the standard guard posting duty.” Breeze chuckled and waved before heading off in his own direction, a light bounce in his step.

Sighing again, something I found myself doing a lot of, I made my way to Dream’s room without wasting any more time. I had no idea what Celestia wanted to see me about, but I might as well let Dream enjoy her afternoon nap. Setting her down gently on the bed with my magic, I tucked her in and lightly kissed her on the forehead, smiling as she dug into the mattress and covers a bit.

Quietly closing her door behind me, I followed the hallway back out to the main castle foyer, walking to the first guard. I rolled my eyes at his salute as I stopped in front of him, a wry chuckle escaping him. “Good afternoon, Princess Aurora. How can I help you?”

“I was told Celestia wanted to see me, do you know where I can find her at right now?” An interesting thing of note is that it seemed every Royal Guardspony inside the castle knew the location of Celestia, Luna, and Twilight at all times, regardless of where they were posted. It was another thing I’d simply chalked up to magic and stopped questioning. There seemed to be a lot of things that fell into that category, but I knew better than to ask about it, as word would inevitably lead back to Twilight, and she would dedicate a lovely hour or three block of time during our next lesson to explain in excruciating detail how it worked, who came up with it and when, what other things it was used for, and other things that fried my mind.

While I had been internally running off on a tangent, the guardspony had been using a bit of that magic to talk with other guards to pinpoint Celestia’s location. “It looks like she’s currently in the guest study across from her own. Do you want an—”

Cutting him off with a hoof, I spoke up. “No, thank you. I know where it’s at, and there’s no need for an escort inside of the castle. Thanks though.” I turned around and headed for the closest staircase, thinking on what Celestia could want. There wasn’t anything that stuck out to me, so it was a complete mystery.

The walk itself was rather short, as once I got up to the next floor the room in question was almost right there. There were a lot of offices up here, and it seemed that the ones most used were the closest to the stairs. I raised a hoof and knocked on the door loudly, smiling to the two guards stationed in front of it, a clear sign that Celestia was within. “Celestia, it’s me, Aurora. May I come in?”

A click reached my ears, and moments later the door swung inwards. “Ah, Aurora, I’m so glad to see you. Did you enjoy your morning trip?” Celestia looked up from a small table, its surface covered with a few spread out papers.

Walking inside, I took a seat on a couch that she’d motioned a hoof towards. “Yeah, I did. It was extremely relaxing, plus Dream got a chance to play around with all of the foals there for a while. And Shining Armor, well, you should’ve seen it.” I grinned a bit, sinking into the sofa. “Let’s just say that I made sure to include a few extra bits to fix the two Shining-sized holes in the fence as a result of feeding him to the foals.”

Celestia and I both laughed at that, a mischievous smile on her face. “I’m glad to hear that. He’s been a bit high-strung about having foals with Cadance, so I thought a bit of experience with some children would help him out.” She waved a hoof as she straightened out the few papers on the desk. “But, that’s not why I asked to see you. I figured that I’d be a bit more proactive at helping you with your issues with the nobles, get you educated a bit on them.”

I waited for her to continue, a curious look on my face. When it became clear she wasn’t going to, I rolled my eyes at her. “Well, what is it?”

“Oh, give it a few more seconds, Aurora, you’ll see…” Celestia spoke, holding out a hoof as if she had a watch on it. That grin was still on her face, and I just sighed and sank back into the sofa, closing my eyes.

A noise outside drew my attention, the quiet clop of hooves on the marbled floor growing louder, stopping just outside the room. Moments later, a voice called out to greet Celestia, and anger flooded my system. “Good afternoon, Aunt. You wanted to see me?” Blueblood’s voice questioned, my eyes immediately opening as I jumped to my hooves and stared at him. “And, ah… good afternoon, Princess Aurora.” His voice was a bit hesitant, but actually respectful for once.

“Excellent, now that the two of you are here,” Celestia began after clearing her throat to draw our attention, “I can go ahead and address the issue at hoof. Aurora, you’re getting tired of various nobles approaching you for dates and marriage contracts, correct?” I nodded my head at her question, a curious look on my face. “And Nephew, I understand that you’re now looking to find a wife and properly settle down. I figured I’d go ahead and play matchmaker, I’ve got reservations at that fancy Prench restaurant just outside the castle gates for you both for seven o’clock tonight.”

“What?!” I cried out, my words mirroring Blueblood’s. Before I could even begin my line of questioning, Celestia burst out into laughter, pointing at both of us. I growled, walking up to her with an angry look on my face.

Celestia playfully stuck her tongue out at me, blowing a raspberry right into my face. “Oh, Aurora… I did tell you that I would start a prank war with you given time, did I not? Consider this the first move of many to come. As they say, the ball is now in your court.” I just groaned, sitting back on my haunches. A quick glance over showed that Blueblood was still standing there, slack-jawed and a far-off look in his eyes from Celestia’s words.

“In all seriousness, I did call you here for that reason, dealing with the nobles, that is,” Celestia remarked, lightly hitting Blueblood back into the present with her magic. “Please, take a seat, and I’ll explain to the both of you, as Blueblood will be of great aid in this matter.”

Blueblood recovered and took a seat on a sofa well away from my own choice of seat. “I will, Aunt? How?” 

I was extremely curious as to that answer as well. Thus far, the only thing that Blueblood had been was a pain in the ass, so for him to be a help, well, that was rather unexpected.

Celestia got one of those smiles on her face, the one that visibly said it was best to not get on her bad side as she launched into her explanation. I visibly gulped, listening. 

“Well, I’m not sure if you are aware or not, Aurora, but Blueblood, despite his many character flaws, is quite intelligent and stays up to date on the political currents, so to speak. There may only be one or two ponies with more knowledge of them, and they are most likely some of the ponies seeking to bind you to them. So, my lovely nephew is going to help you navigate those murky waters.

“Now, with that said, I’m sure he has enough of an idea to take things from here. I’m running a bit behind on a few things that need my oversight, so I’ll leave you two alone to discuss the matter.” Celestia got up from the desk, picking up a few pieces of paper while leaving some on the desk. As she passed me she paused, smiling at me while sporting a large grin. “And oh, I was serious about the reservations. Seven o’clock sharp, they’re aware that royalty will be dining with them and they are so looking forward to your company, Aurora, Nephew.” She laughed, walking out the door. “It might turn into a scandal if you don’t show, so I’d suggest you do, and show up in your finest~” Celestia nearly sang before closing the door behind her.

When I finally drew my attention away from the door and towards Blueblood, I noticed how he seemed to be actively trying to hide in the couch, although he was failing miserably at it. “A-Aurora…” he stammered out, trying to string together words. I sighed and sat back, thinking to myself while waiting for him to compose himself.

While it was nice that Blueblood might be able to help me out with this problem, it seemed to create a few more of its own. Primarily that he was a lecherous bastard, figuratively speaking, and then to top it off, Celestia had basically set us up on a dinner date that was public knowledge. As far as pranks go, I think that Celestia set the bar pretty high on her first go, which only made me concerned as to what she might scheme up in the future.

“Aurora?” Blueblood’s hesitant voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I realized that I had a rather nasty grimace on my face, as if I’d just eaten some spoiled produce. I wiped the look away and replaced it with one that didn’t have him thinking I was about to murder him in a messy fashion as if I didn’t care about being caught.

Sighing, I looked towards him. “Yes? Are you happy, now that Celestia has railroaded me into a date with you? I seem to recall quite a few choice phrases you used to describe me, and none of them were very nice.” I spat at him in anger, not very thrilled at the prospect of working with him.

He merely fidgeted in his seat for a few moments, a somewhat crestfallen look on his face. “Aurora, I merely wish to apologize for my… past transgressions. I had fallen into a habit of seeing mares as nothing more than objects to manipulate and use, and I am sorry that I included you in that category as well.” My wings stopped moving in agitation as I heard his words, almost not believing them at first. If it hadn’t been for the fact that a large amount of shame and regret appeared to be splattered all across his features, I wouldn’t have believed him.

“Why?” I asked, the single word filled with curiosity, animosity and disbelief.

Blueblood fidgeted around for a few seconds at first, not even meeting me in the eye. The silence stretched on for what seemed to be an eternity as I awaited an explanation. After a few minutes, he finally spoke, softly and with a bit of sadness in his voice. “My… my mother just passed away, Aurora. She chastised me for my behavior even as she said that she loved me, and dearly hoped that I would grow to be an even better stallion than I am today.”

Needless to say, I found myself rather floored. There’d been quiet whispers here and there, but that was the typical castle life. If one were to believe everything heard within these walls, then I would have been pregnant with triplets sired by half the guard. I’m still not sure how that one got started, but needless to say I hadn’t thought much of those quiet whispers. Blueblood’s father must have kept it an extremely quiet and closed affair for word to not have spread.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Blueblood.” Getting up, I walked over to him, gently lifting his head up to have his eyes meet mine. “I’m guessing you loved her very much, right?” He simply nodded in reply as he cried, and I could see the fresh grief written all over his face. “Well, I’ll gladly accept your help then, Blue,” I replied, lending my shoulder for him to cry on. Losing a family member, especially a parent, was a harsh thing to go through, so I could set aside my dislike of him for the moment.

My mind wandered off, once more thinking back to a conversation I’d held with Celestia last month. Immortality was as much a curse as it was a blessing; I came to find out as she recounted a few of her more promising students that she’d taken over the years. When I’d asked her how she handled the loss, I got the saddest looking smile that I’ve ever seen in my life. She didn’t give me a reply that night, but it was a strong indication that it wasn’t easy.

Ever since that conversation, the mention of death would bring to mind that conversation, making me wonder how I would handle it. As it stood now, it was still rather impossible to even fathom, the notion of living forever. It was a concept that belonged in fantasy fiction novels, not in real life. My musings were cut short as Blueblood finally stopped crying though, looking at me with a look of thanks.

“Aurora… thank you. It’s been hard these last few days, and well, I really don’t have anypony to go to outside of family. For obvious reasons, no mare wants to be around me, and I’ve realized that the ponies that I thought were friends were nothing more than tools, whether it was me attempting to use them or them using me.” He wiped off his cheeks and coughed a few times, his gaze settling on my flank for a few moments before he quickly shifted it to the clock in the room with an embarrassed cough.

I set a hoof on his shoulder as I stood up. “Blueblood, everyone deserves a second chance… well, almost everyone. Consider this me giving you that second chance; please make your mother proud. I’d hate to come to like you a bit only to have you turn right back into that douchebag and make me have to set Dream loose on you.” Moving back to give him some space, I glanced over to the clock as well and made a point to ignore the pale look that crossed his face. The time was already rather late, and I wanted a bit of time to myself before this evening, not to mention the fact that the restaurant in question was the ‘up’ of upscale, so I needed to wear something. It was going to be quite the pain in the ass, needless to say.

The muffled sound of hooves on carpet reached my ears as Blueblood got up. “And about this dinner, uh, I’m sorry that Aunt set us up like this. She is completely aware of the fact that I’m trying to change too.” He shuffled his hooves against the carpet as he paced a bit. “I don’t think that there’s enough time to discuss the issue at hoof, so we can do that during dinner and at least make it somewhat useful. I’d also recommend you bring a guard you trust, Aurora. It should help dispel any illusions or misconceptions about us, um, dating, and will also give somepony to help… keep me in check if I slip any.”

“I think I have just the guardspony in mind, Blueblood. When and where should we meet up?” I began moving towards the door, madly grinning at the thought of putting Breeze through this. Plus, I wanted to enlist his help to come up with ideas to prank Celestia back, so it killed two birds with one stone.

Blueblood was humming a bit, looking lost in thought for a few seconds. “If the reservation is for seven, then I’d have to say a quarter till. It’s not that far from the castle’s gates, so that should have us arriving early, but not too much so.” I turned and nodded, ready to open the door and leave as he spoke back up again. “And oh, I’d appreciate it if what I said here stays between us, please? It’s not something that I want everypony to know about yet, my mother’s last words to me that is... I’ll see you later tonight, Aurora.”

Waving a hoof in the air as I opened the door I gave him my response. “Sure thing, Blueblood. Stay strong, and I’ll see ya later,” I finished speaking as I walked out the door, laying out the path back to the guard’s barracks. I wasn’t exactly sure how he’d take it, but Breeze was going to get the chance to eat some fancy food as well…





The hour was late, and I was currently fidgeting on my hooves in front of the mirror in my room. An hour ago, one of Celestia’s aides had shown up to ‘help me prepare’ as she put it. I made a note in my head to ensure that whatever prank I came up with was thoroughly humiliating, and the more ponies it could be in front of, the better. My mane and tail were both a tangled mess of curls that the aid referred to as appealing, somehow. Not only that, but a pale blue dress currently called my body home, the soft fabric a bit snug and covering up most of my body with the exception of my wings. I was beyond uncomfortable, and even with Breeze there I was uncertain if the illusion of this being a date could be shattered with how I looked.

“You can go ahead and leave now, you’ve done plenty,” I growled at the aid, having voiced my protests numerous times during the time she’d been working. Giggling, she finally departed as I sighed and looked at the clock, noticing that it was twenty till seven now. That meant that I still had enough time to mope for another minute or two before I needed to leave.

After the obligatory extra minute or two of moping had passed, I left my room, nearly bumping into Twilight and Luna, both of whom sported massive grins. “Oh wow, Aurora… Looking good!” they spoke in unison, to which I simply stared at them as I imagined boring a hole through their heads. They’d heard about tonight fairly quickly, and I assumed that Celestia had told them both as the cherry on top of everything else.

“Don’t tempt me to include you two in the prank I’m working on to get back at Celestia…” I softly spoke while glaring at them.

Luna waved her hoof in the air, a humorous look on her face. “Oh, relax, Aurora. We understand that you were set up on this faux date by my sister. She did claim that she would begin pranking you in the future, and this is quite majestic as far as pranks go. Besides, I understand that our bratty nephew will be helping educate you about a certain dilemma, hmm?” she rambled on a bit, finally stopping with a light smile on her face.

Twilight apparently felt the need to chime in as well as I rolled my eyes at Luna. “And, if for whatever reason he isn’t helpful for you, Aurora, then,” she shrugged her shoulders, “just let us know, I’m certain Dream would just love the chance to have some fun with Blueblood again.” Twilight sported a massive grin by the end of her words; I had a feeling that she was still holding a grudge over something that’d happened between one of her friends and Blueblood years ago.

“He seemed sincere enough; it’s simply that I just don’t like the fact that Celestia felt the need to make it into a public affair. I mean, all I did was ride her around the castle. In the middle of the day… during court… Okay, so maybe this is a little bit justified. Still sucks, though.” I finished with a sigh, lightly shaking my head, which caused the curls to bounce around a bit. Uugh, that was going to bug me all night, no doubt about it.

Luna nodded as she chuckled. “Exactly. I figure she wouldn’t have done this to you had Blueblood not been sincere in wanting to turn things around. She’s not that cruel... But, don’t let us hold you up any longer, I’m sure you’re most curious to hear what he has to tell you tonight.” Luna and Twilight waved with small smirks on their face. I rolled my eyes again and made my way to the castle gates, ready to get this long day over with already.

It was a short walk there, and the first thing that caught my attention was an ornate carriage waiting for me. Blueblood and Breeze were nearby, uneasily eying each other as I walked up. Both of them were wearing suits, which still caused me to snicker at the sight. Pants on ponies just seem weird, no matter how you look at it. I smirked at Breeze once they realized I was there, knowing that this was way out of his comfort zone as well.

“Hey, Breezy, looking sharp,” I poked at him with a small smirk. “Seriously though, thanks a lot for agreeing to this. I’m sure that you’d probably prefer to be guarding a pond or something over this.” The smirk fell from my face as I used my magic to straighten myself out. “This is a bloody nightmare…”

He rolled his eyes at me as I stopped walking. “It was an inventory storeroom, actually. Still not sure which one I would’ve preferred, but since you asked me so nicely…” he chuckled, shaking his head. “This is the one and only time though. I hate dressing up, you have no idea.”

I lightly laughed, grinning a bit. “Yeah yeah, I’ll just owe you one for once.” Before I could speak again, Blueblood walked up, a light smile on his face.

“Evening, Aurora. You look quite stunning, I must say. Whoever decided to curl your mane made an excellent decision.” He seemed sincere enough, and his eyes seemed to stay on my face rather than straying as they typically did. I returned his smile, slightly nodding my head.

Sighing, I looked over to the carriage. “Well… let’s get the show on the road then, I guess? Although, is that really necessary? I mean, what’s so wrong with walking the block or two to the restaurant?”

Blueblood immediately nodded. “Yes, it is necessary, Aurora. Appearance is an extremely large part of your overall public image. Since the general public is not aware of your true background and believes you to be a foreign-born alicorn who has moved to Equestria, you cannot give off any illusions of weakness that the nobles can attempt to capitalize on. That means that if you are going to a fancy dinner, an official function, traveling on business, et cetera, you need to fit the part. In this case, with how dressed you are, yes you need a carriage,” he calmly explained as he opened the carriage door, moving to the side. “After you, Princess.”

I shot them both a look of horror before getting inside that carriage, somewhat surprised at how spacious it was. As I took a seat, Blueblood and Breeze both entered, taking a seat across from me. “Hopefully we can get through this without incident…” I muttered under my breath, squirming uncomfortably thanks to the annoying dress I was wearing.

Breeze let out a sigh, looking over at Blueblood for a moment. “So… I was told that you’re going to help Aurora out with the trouble she’s been having with the nobles? They’ve been getting pretty persistent lately, even visiting the orphanage she likes to visit.”

Rolling my eyes, I saw Blueblood give a curt nod to Breeze. “Indeed, that I am. If there’s something to know about a noble family, I know it. Even some things that shouldn’t be known. Because of that, I am aware of which ponies she can ignore and those she needs to outplay. Currently, there are only three houses that I consider a true threat to her. While most would love to gain the power of having you, Aurora, they don’t want to tempt making enemies out of the current two most powerful houses. There’s one that’s also so desperate that they simply do not care, as they are most likely on the verge of collapse here within the next year or two without extreme intervention.”

The carriage coming to a stop put a hold to the conversation. “We can continue this discussion in full detail though once we’re seated,” Blueblood remarked, getting out and holding the door open with a hoof extended. “Princess,” he respectfully spoke, strongly hinting that I take his hoof to get out.

A chuckle from Breeze took my attention for a moment, and I caught a tongue extended at me with a mirthful look. With a not too gentle kick backwards that nopony could see, I accepted Blueblood’s hoof and left the carriage, which appeared to have literally stopped right on the doorstep of this fancy restaurant with a foreign name that I couldn’t pronounce. Breeze exited a few seconds later, a slightly pained look on his face which elicited a smirk from me.

As we walked inside, we were greeted by a fine dressed pony in what looked like a tux who also had a weird mustache, making the entire ensemble look a bit ridiculous. “Ah, welcome Prince and Princess… and their guest,” he remarked with an extremely heavy accent, looking over at Breeze with a curious look, “to Le Nourriture Palais! I am the owner, Gilded Plate, and your seats are right this way, if you will follow me.”

Cringing a bit at the heavy accent to his words, I followed Blueblood and Breeze, doing my best to ignore the stares that we were receiving from most of the patrons as we were brought to a private, and quiet, room in the back of the restaurant. “Our head chef will be out here shortly to take your orders, should you need anything simply call and I shall come,” he spoke, pointing out a small button next to the door within hoof’s reach from Blueblood’s seat.

“That was… uncomfortable,” I remarked as I took a seat, looking at Breeze and Blueblood. “Is it typical that the owner of a restaurant comes and seats you in a private room like this? And that the head chef comes out to take the order? It just seems so ridiculous…”

“You’re going to have to get used to that as time passes, sorry to say. I mean, you’re royalty whether you like it or not, Aurora, and it lets them feel better to be able to treat you as such. Does that make sense?” Breeze remarked, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “One of the things they teach us as guards is that even though some of you, alicorns that is, don’t see yourselves as such, the general public sees what you are and respects that, if nothing else. Some ponies are actually uncomfortable treating alicorns as actual ponies… just ask Twilight about it, if you haven’t had that discussion yet. Sure, you can still have your friends and such, but the public sees you as a figure of power and treats you as such.”

Blueblood lightly clapped his hooves together. “Extremely well said, Breeze, I believe it is? This is why you should get used to the royal treatment, Aurora. I understand that you don’t leave the palace too much with the exception of your weekly trips to the orphanage, so you haven’t truly interacted with the public on a wide scale yet. Most ponies do feel quite uncomfortable treating you like any other pony, because you are not any other pony.”

The conversation was once again cut short, this time by the arrival of a large unicorn mare, a white chef’s hat atop her blonde mane and a peach coat mostly hidden by a chef’s uniform. “Good evening everypony, and thank you for visiting our establishment today. I am Chef Doubt Fire, and I will be in charge of cooking your meals this evening.” She kept talking for another minute or two, but I drowned her out as I snuck glances around the room instead, a bit put off by how fancy it looked. It was as if whoever was in charge of decorating this room tried too hard and simply decided to make it look like twenty-four carat explosive diarrhea had occurred.

It seemed that Breeze had noticed my inattention as I heard him order a simple drink and some sort of salad for me. Once the chef finally left, Blueblood cleared his throat. “So, as I was saying earlier, there are only really three families right now that I would be concerned about: The Bladewings, the Shieldwalls, and the Ironbanks. Which of the three would you like to hear about first?”

Breeze let out a low whistle. “Those are some pretty heavy names right there… I know that the Shieldwalls own and run the companies that manufacture all of our guard armor, as well as the enchantments on them, and they have quite a bit of pull,” he remarked, messing with his water glass a bit.

Sighing, I looked at the two stallions in front of me for a few seconds, thinking. “Blueblood, you mentioned that one of them was desperate… desperation makes individuals do extreme things, so could you fill me in on that family first?”

Nodding his head, he set down his glass and launched into his explanation. “The Bladewing family is a very old noble house, one of the few remaining that was around during the true founding of Equestria. They made their existence off of weapons; until two centuries ago they were a very powerful house as the premier weaponsmiths of Equestria. However, during their efforts to expand their operations beyond Equestria, they reached out to one of the gryphon aeries and supplied them with weapons. Those same weapons were used by that aerie to not only completely destroy three rival aeries, but also the complete destruction of four new towns on the border we shared with them. The head of their family stood by their decision of selling those weapons and didn’t show any remorse, which led to extreme public backlash. Each successive generation seems to have inherited that pony’s stupidity, selling to anything that could provide money, and now they’re at a point that they have just enough bits left to sustain themselves for another year or two before they are completely broke.”

“So… they basically turned the family business into arms dealing, which bit them in the ass once, I would assume, their reputable and repeat customers stopped coming back for more, leaving just those on the fringes of society as their sole customers?” I reasoned out. It sounded like they deserved to disappear if they were that stupid. It still amazed me at how much Celestia let go on under her nose, her only explanation for it all was that micromanaging an entire country would suck ass, and the nobles, even the stupid ones, helped alleviate a lot of those responsibilities.

“Precisely. Aunt refuses to disband any noble house no matter what they might do as far as I know, so the Bladewings were simply left to naturally fall into bankruptcy. Which right now, every house wants to see happen. They’re under the impression, however, that ‘bagging’ you, perhaps by any means necessary, would allow them to make a comeback. I honestly think they’re the most dangerous to you because of that.” Blueblood explained, a bit of a thoughtful look on his face.

A quiet rap at the door redirected everypony’s attention as the owner entered a few moments after the knock. He had a bottle of wine in hoof and a cheery, goofy grin on his face. “Good evening once again, here we have a thirty-year-old chateau from my own personal stock,” he spoke as he uncorked it and began to fill up the glasses at the table. There was an uneasy silence as he flitted about, as our conversation definitely wasn’t something any of us wanted shared beyond ourselves. I quietly thanked him as he filled my glass, resisting the urge to punch him out and shave that damn mustache off his face.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be done as I was about to follow through on my urges. “And again, please remember. Should you need anything, simply let me know. Enjoy!” he cheerily chipped in with that annoying accent before leaving us in peace once again.

“That accent… makes me want to punch a kitten or something every time I hear it,” I grumbled out, staring at the wine in front of me. “So, anyways… Bladewings are desperate and dangerous. Meaning they’re probably going to try stupid things. Fun,” I finished in a deadpan tone, looking at the wine again before taking a sip of it.

“You should be safe from anything they can try, although I’d recommend maybe adding a guard or three for when you visit the orphanage. They’ve been associating more and more with ponies of ill repute the closer to the end they get, but within the castle there’s no way they can attempt anything. Be careful with Grey Blade though, he’s the one you’ll have to watch out for. He’s the current head of what’s left of their house.” Blueblood sniffed his drink before taking a small sip of it and sighing.

The name Grey jostled something that Matron had told me. “Huh, I think that he had actually stopped by the orphanage already. Matron threatened to call the guards and have them arrest him for taking a wrong interest in the children though, he ran off pretty quickly after that.” I chuckled a bit, smiling at the thought.

Breeze and Blueblood chuckled as well, both of them shaking their heads. “It sounds like he might be planning something already then. So, definitely be careful, Aurora,” Blueblood warned, going quiet as the main course came out. Seems I’d spaced out more than I’d thought, but luckily Breeze had ordered me something that, while looking downright ridiculous, still tasted good. Once the chef left the room, Blueblood spoke back up.

“The other two houses will simply be persistent. There’s a fair chance that they’ll hound you for years if need be, if you keep yourself open to it. Things like gifts, invitations to events and visits to the castle to specifically see you are probably going to be common. Both families will probably be looking to send their eldest son after your hoof in marriage, or even just to get you pregnant. A child, even out of wedlock, is a powerful bargaining tool to all three houses.”

“As if I’d let that happen!” I couldn’t help it, I broke down laughing. “Breeze here would have a better chance than they would, and he already knows that’ll never happen!” After I managed to get myself back under control, I looked over to Blueblood. “So, what you’re basically telling me is that they’ll be nuisances, but in the end there’s really nothing too much to worry about. I’m thinking it’ll be easier to just make an example of one of them… too bad Celestia won’t let me. I didn’t even mention killing, just breaking a leg or two…” I joked, a bit relieved. My mind had built this up into a seemingly massive issue when it was something small. I had made a mountain out of a molehill, as they’d say.

I turned my attention towards my food, in a good mood now. I could even overlook the fact that this dinner might be misconstrued as a date by the ponies that saw us enter. Hell, I could almost completely overlook Celestia’s prank at the moment as I focused simply on enjoying my meal.

“That does sound about right, Aurora… although do you think you could have realized that without proverbially trampling all over my balls?” Breeze whined, causing me to just look up and grin at him. He huffed and rolled his eyes even as a smiled crept over his face, and once more I was thankful at how much of a good friend he was.

The meal continued on in relative silence, a bit of small talk here and there now that the main focus had been thrown out there. Blueblood made mention of discussing it again at a later date, but for now we were done, thankfully. The food was gone in a pitifully short amount of time; like every fancy restaurant that thought themselves to be special, in the end one paid way too much for way too little.

With a relaxed sigh I got up at the end of the meal, looking over to Breeze and Blueblood. They’d seemed to get along rather well, and once more I was glad that I nagged him until he agreed to come along. Since he was easily the guard I spent the most time with, having him know all of the information Blueblood had divulged would only help me in the future, and it seemed that the two of them had hit it off rather well. Who knows, perhaps I even managed to facilitate giving Blueblood a friendship that wasn’t aimed at his status for once.

“Well, shall we depart then?” Breeze asked, moving over to the door and getting ready to open it. I nodded and looked to Blueblood, who mimicked the same gesture. Breeze held the door open for me, and the quiet chatter in the main dining room of the restaurant died once again as the three of us left.

It was a short trip back to the castle, and I couldn’t stop yawning the entire way back. It’d been a bit of a busy day for me, moreso than usual anyways, and I was ready for some sleep. As I left the carriage, I yawned again and looked at the two stallions. “For a prank, that dinner wasn’t entirely all that bad,” I tiredly spoke, smiling just a little bit. “Hope you two have a good night, I’m just gonna fly from here. Quicker.”

Without even waiting to hear their response I spread my wings and took to the sky, quickly coming to my balcony and getting into my room. Once again, the nagging thought of how smart it was to have open access to the rooms like this popped into my head for a moment as I quickly shrugged my way out of the dress before dropping onto the bed, sinking into the comfortable mattress. My eyes closed as I welcomed the embrace of sleep, my mind empty for once as my consciousness quickly fled.





I found myself woken up once again by Dream crashing into me. “Uugh, Dream… it’s too early for this,” I groaned out, opening my eyes to find hers staring into mine.

“Explain this, Sis! I thought you hated that annoying Bluey!” Dream angrily exclaimed, holding something up in my face. It took me a few seconds to find my bearing as I swatted at whatever it was that Dream had.

I groaned, blinking a few times to try and clear my vision from having just woken up as I found the object right back in my face. “Okay, okay, give me a few moments, Dream, please?” I sat up and yawned before turning my attention to the thing she’d put right up in my face, which turned out to be the early morning edition of the Canterlot Times.

Turning it around and unfolding it, my heart stopped when I saw the front page and the big, massive bolded letters of the main article.

‘Foreign Princess and Player Prince Forming a Herd with an Unknown Stallion?’

“CELESTIA!” 
	
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It had been a very long week for me, ever since the fallout from the dinner Celestia had set me and Blueblood up on. Our attempts to ensure that ponies didn’t misread into the situation backfired terribly, and instead of Breeze’s presence dispelling the illusion of a date, everypony now thought that I was forming a herd with two stallions. Stupid media frenzy, it was just our luck that a reporter for the biggest paper in town had been eating dinner with his coworkers…on second thought luck probably had nothing to do with it. Celestia truly was devious.

Because of this fallout, I hadn’t dared venture from the confines of the castle since that event. Thanks to Blueblood’s public reputation still being that of a player, a lot of ponies seemed to look at me rather oddly. Of course, the guard knew the truth, as word had already spread of the potential prank war coming. They tried to stay ahead of such things so that they could avoid being caught in the crossfire, I really couldn’t blame them for that honestly. Apparently there had been an incident in which half of the guard had been turned into their mare or stallion counterparts for nearly an entire day, so any time the words ‘prank’ and ‘war’ were put together, they wanted to be damn sure that they wouldn’t be around. Speaks a lot about the guard, but… when alicorns wage war of any type, it’s hard to argue against staying out of that mess.

For once, I was grateful for the lessons Twilight gave me, both magical and historical, as they helped kill large swaths of time. I was even almost thankful when a simple question on the aerodynamics of flight led into a six hour session involving lecturing and live demonstrations. That actually helped me figure out how to properly make sharp turns at my fastest speed. Sure, I was ready to die by the end of it, as high durability didn’t quite translate over to high endurance. I still had to work my flank off for that, sadly.

Speaking of endurance, I’d just finished another session with Applejack not an hour back. That farmer was strong. And fast, as she could still outrun me with seemingly no effort at all. At least we’d finally moved past her cantering backwards and throwing out words of encouragement, that phase had been embarrassing. By the time I was ready to drop she was only lightly sweating and panting, so I still had a ways to go, but it made a wonderful distraction to help me empty my mind.

“—Aurora, you with us still?” Applejack’s voice called out, causing me to jerk my head up as my musings dissipated. She was looking at me with a mix of curiosity and concern, her face a mere foot from mine as I coughed into a hoof.

“Yeah, sorry about that, AJ… mind is wandering again, you know how I can get,” I replied with a bit of embarrassment, my cheeks a little flushed. I straightened myself out and looked at Twilight and Dash, the former also showing the slightest amount of concern while the latter had her usual air of ‘awesomeness’ as she called it. “Still have a hard time believing that I still can’t catch you no matter how hard I push myself. You’re insanely fast, or just not pony, AJ.”

A snort from Rainbow pulled everyone’s attention as the mare cracked an eye open. “Well duh! Applejack is just so much more awesome than you, Aurora, even if she doesn’t have wings.” Applejack fixed Dash with a glare, causing her to simply stick out her tongue playfully.

Applejack didn’t move her glare off Dash as she spoke up. “What she means to say, Aurora, is that catching me is near to impossible because I’m one of the fastest ponies on the ground. Going up against me it may not seem like it, but you’ve got some speed yourself. Sure, Dash and myself can still outrun you with a bit of effort on our parts, and Twilight should still be able to outrun you if she hasn’t slacked off, but you’re faster than most ponies now. You’ve come a pretty far way in that, I’d say.”

Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t help but snort. “Oh hey, Aurora, you’re doing well, but only just above average after months of training. Oh, also, you’ll never be able to catch me, so don’t worry about that,” I sarcastically snarked.

Over the chuckles of Applejack and Dash, I heard Twilight finally chime in between her own faint giggle. “Oh, come off it, Aurora!” I innocently smiled at her, causing her to roll her eyes. “You already know that they’re helping out not only because they’re my friends, but because they’re the best ponies for the job that I know. I mean, Dash helped me learn how to fly… well, after I learned the basics from Fluttershy first. Sorry, Dash.”

I looked over to Dash and caught a brief look of fake outrage on her face. “Twilight, how dare you! How was I supposed to know that your crazy smart brain apparently didn’t have any idea what to do with your new wings, hmm? Like, I totally thought you’d be good to start with those seven hundred and twenty degree corkscrews!”

We all laughed at that, the image of Twilight in a death spiral and screaming at the top of her lungs popping into my head for a few moments. A knock at the door got our attention and I stood up, walking to it. “One moment,” I called out, using my hoof to open it. “Oh, Blueblood… what brings you by today?”

He stood in the doorway for a moment, catching a glimpse of the other occupants in my room and slightly smiling at them with a brief nod of his head before fully focusing on me. “Good afternoon, Aurora. I was wondering if I could come in for a few minutes, but if you’re busy at the moment, I can always return later.”

I looked over to my shoulder for a moment, knowing all three mares had heard him. Applejack was the first to speak up, waving a hoof to come inside. “Aw shucks, we aren’t doing much at the moment, come on in! We won’t bite, promise!” Turning back around, I caught sight of Blueblood shivering a bit. I think he still equated a ‘bite’ with one of Applejack’s bucks… long story there.

Dash nodded even as Twilight spoke up. “Come on in, we really aren’t doing much of anything and we’re perfectly fine with more company,” she warmly said, pulling another cushion from my closet to set a spot for Blueblood.

“Well, you’ve heard the verdict, come on in, Blueblood,” I remarked while smiling, moving out of the way so that he could come inside. “So, any particular reason for the visit today, or just swinging by to spend time with a friend?” I curiously asked, closing the door behind him and moving back to my seat. Since this part of the castle was heavily restricted, I wasn’t concerned about being seen with Blueblood; there was nopony here to fuel those illusions that some of the public still believed. The last thing either of us wanted was for those annoying rumors to start fresh.

Blueblood thanked Twilight as he took a seat between me and her. “Actually, I figured that since I still hadn’t fully filled you in on the Shieldwalls or Ironbanks, I’d come by and do that, but if you three aren’t interesting in hearing about what I have to tell Aurora, that’s fine. So long as you don’t mind me sticking around, I’ve had more than my share of being Lady Rarity’s pincushion for the day. She is scary on so many levels…” he finished, shivering in his seat.

Chuckling, I patted him on the shoulder. “She’s just too much mare for you to handle, hmm? Now, just imagine if you were trying to make it up to every mare you’d ever insulted beyond just Rarity…” I trailed off, grinning at him while Dash’s sounds of laughter filled the air. Twilight and Applejack were both a bit nicer, instead fixing him with a look somewhere between pity and concern.

“It’s not that, Aurora, she’s just… intense. Yeah, let’s go with intense. I wasn’t sure what I was going to get into when I asked her how I could make up for insulting her, but being her pincushion, or living ponyquin as she put it, wasn’t really in my mind. At least she’s stopped stabbing me now… at least on purpose,” He rubbed his shoulder with a hoof, shivering again.

Twilight passed him a glass of water, smiling. “Here you go; you’re more than welcome to stay for a bit. I will say, you’re very lucky though, after all the talk about how much she hated you, the fact that she’s giving you a second chance is pretty big, even if she might be taking out some of that anger on you in the wrong way. At least it’s just those small pins, we’ve all been poked by them a few times, so don’t feel too bad,” Twilight sympathetically explained, lightly smiling at him.

“Pft, like those little pins hurt at all.” Dash waved a hoof in the air as she rolled her eyes, looking at Blueblood. “They’re, like, a small poke, can’t compare to crashing into a cloud house. Or a lake. Or the ground. Or a tree,” Dash finished bragging, as if all of those things were good somehow.

“Sugarcube, some of us are smart enough not to go around crashing into everything imaginable,” Applejack poked at Dash, a massive grin on her face. “Even if we’re just as durable as you, Dash, we don’t have much interest into crashing into at least one of everything we can find.”

While Dash and Applejack began to playfully argue, Blueblood looked at us both curiously, glancing over at them briefly. “Is that common?” he quietly asked as their voices continued to rise in volume. I snickered while Twilight smiled widely and nodded, partially hiding her face with a hoof.

“Oh yeah, definitely is, Blue. From what I’ve seen, if they’re in the same room chances are they’ll have at least one ‘fight,’” I explained, raising both forehooves for a moment and making the quote sign with them.

Twilight lightly chuckled, nodding. “Yup. They’re both extremely competitive in nature, and this has become something of a… bonding experience? That they thoroughly enjoy. I’ve tried getting them to do quieter things like read a book together or something, but that didn’t really work out so well. If we were outside, no doubt they’d be itching for a race at this point.” She smiled the entire time she was talking; showing us both just how much she loved her friends. They all had their quirks, but most of them were humorous or tolerable.

“Just give them a few minutes, it’ll have run its course by then,” I whispered, motioning over my shoulder at them as they got up and moved away from us before beginning to wrestle on the floor. Forcing myself to move my eyes away from them, I giggled as Blueblood’s jaw was partially hinged open. Using a hoof I bopped him on the nose, pulling his attention back to Twilight and me. “So, you wanted to tell me about the other two houses, right?”

Nodding, he began tapping his hoof on the carpet. “Yeah, that was the plan,” he paused when Twilight made some parchment appear out of nowhere, a quill at the ready to write. She simply smiled and shrugged, motioning him to continue. “So… the Shieldwalls are the second most prominent noble family at the moment, and has been so for the last century or so now. They basically stepped up when the Bladewings started to drop.”

The entire time, the scratching of the quill tickled our ears as the sounds of Applejack and Dash wrestling dominated the background. As he paused and looked at Twilight curiously, she just slightly shrugged. “What? I like knowing things!” she defended herself, causing me to grin and rub her shoulder.

“It’s okay, Twilight. However, now I’m wondering what happened when you first started learning about more… adult things. I have this image of you trying to write down step by step instructions during your hooves-on experiences.” I mischievously grinned as Twilight blushed. Blueblood was shuffling on his cushion rather uncomfortably, and I just grinned wider and chuckled.

Twilight’s hoof dug into my shoulder a few moments later as I found some blank parchment in my mouth gagging me. She looked at me smugly. “I’ll have you know that I did not do any such thing, Aurora! I had already read plenty on the matter, there was no need for notes!” I spat out the parchment and madly giggled at how predictable Twilight was as she turned back to Blueblood. “So, you mentioned the Shieldwalls. I’m aware that they make the armor and enchantments that the entire Royal Guard uses, as well as a lot of the equipment and armament for the Equestrian Military.”

Blueblood coughed a few times as he nodded. “Precisely. They’re also a rather old house, they took advantage of the Bladewing’s poor business decisions to step in and fill that gap left behind. They’ve done well riding the middle ground, every issue that has come to them they have fairly weighed the options and picked ones that best served those involved without any favoritism. Because of that, they may not be well liked by every other house, but they do have their respect. They also tend to be arbiters for matters that the other houses don’t want to bring before Celestia or Luna.”

I thought on his words for a few moments. “They actually don’t sound all that bad. I mean, being able to be impartial? Pft, hard as hell, so if they can do it, that speaks volumes about their character. But still… don’t they have any skeletons in their closets or anything? Deep dark secrets and what have you?” I tacked on the last sentence after seeing the brief look of horror on Blueblood’s face; I think he took my remark about the skeletons seriously. Whoops.

The sounds of Applejack and Dash finally stopped, causing all three of us to pause and look at them. We all humorously shook our heads at how disheveled they both looked, feathers and fur pointing in nearly every random direction as they both simply smirked at each other. “Draw, then,” Dash remarked, wrapping a hoof around Applejack’s shoulder for a moment, her smirk turning into a grin. “So, what boring stuff didja eggheads talk about while we were having fun?”

Rolling my eyes, I gave her a knowing look. “Oh, nothing too much, Dash. Just the ponies who are apparently going to be annoying the everliving heck outta me over the next few months till they realize that I have no interest in them. So… not quite boring, least not to me,” I finished, sticking my tongue out at her.

“Pffft, bo-ring~” Dash chimed right back, smacking my nose with a wing as she grinned at me. “Come on, AJ, let’s leave em to their boring chit chat… nice spending time with ya again, ‘Rora, take care. See ya, Twi, and Bluey… good luck~” Dash spoke over her shoulder on her way out the door as Applejack got up, grabbing her stetson hat.

“Hey now, Dash, no need tah be so rude,” AJ chided even as Rainbow’s tail slipped out of view. Turning to the three of us left, she waved, a light smile on her face. “You three take care now, and I’ll see ya again in two days, Aurora, maybe come up with something fun… maybe an obstacle course? But, Ah’m gonna go follow Dash to keep her outta trouble.”

Twilight warmly smiled and wave before closing the door behind AJ, turning back to myself and Blueblood. “Knowing them, I have a feeling that they’ll be back outside in a matter of minutes and sprinting against each other and the like,” she warmly remarked, a smile gracing her face. A few moments later she looked to Blueblood, a more inquisitive look once again. “So, Blueblood… the Bladewings, the Shieldwalls, and then the Ironbanks… if I recall, they were part of the founding of the modern Equestrian bank system, right?”

My gaze shifted to Blueblood as he nodded to Twilight. “Indeed, and they’ve been heavily involved in the banking system and regulating it since then. Because of that fact, they’re quite wealthy, and could quite literally drown you in bits. They’re also a rather large family, plus very reserved for the most part. I wouldn’t be too concerned over them, truthfully, so long as you don’t mind gifts… quite a lot of them most likely.”

I just groaned and buried my head in my hooves. “Blech. That’s not bad, but… it sounds annoying. They all do, really, but thanks for the info, Blueblood.” Raising my head back up, I sported a brief look of disgust before letting out a long sigh, blowing some errant strands of my mane out of my face. “But, can’t really do anything about it until it comes up, and it’s not like I’m going to let some annoying nobles interrupt my life… speaking of, Twilight, is it time for magic lessons yet?”

Blueblood nodded, a look of hesitation on his face. “Before you two go, um… any hints on how to get Lady Rarity to not desperately hate me? I’m thinking I’d like to take her out for a brunch one morning, but I need to get past her driving desire to poke small holes into my body,” he quietly spoke, his normally stoic demeanor vanishing like mist in the sun.

Twilight looked a bit shocked at first, but then widely smiled moments later as I was occupied on the floor. By occupied, I mean that I was laughing my ass off, barely noticing Twilight’s reaction. “Oh, do you now? Isn’t that something…” she said, that tone just a bit creepy. “I’d suggest just… be yourself… your new self that is, not that pompous, egotistical, arrogant ass of a stallion you were~” Turning to me, she poked me in the side with her magic. “Now, come on, Aurora, we can finally move on the medium level magic, and we are not going to waste a single minute!”

Looking at Blueblood as I wiped the tears of laughter off my face, I just grinned and nodded at him. “I think she’s still looking for that prince, so… just give it time. Then again, you might not want to listen to a single thing I say, definitely the last one you should ask for romantic advice from. Good luck though!” I called out as Twilight forcibly dragged me out of the room with her magic, the last thing I saw of Blueblood was his astonished look of surprise.