1 - Celestia's Prologue: My Precious Nephew

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Every now and then I go down below the castle and visit Star Swirl’s personal library. It was a good way for me to just get away from it all and lose myself in the countless books and the memories of my days with Star Swirl guiding me and my sister Luna during our early days as princesses...

Although I had to stop myself whenever I thought of Luna.

It had been nearly a thousand years since I exiled her to the moon, and even after all that time, it still hurt as much as it did when I first made that fateful decision.

I shook my head as I skimmed through the bookshelves and workbenches, trying not to think about her. As I walked deeper into the library, I found several mirrors that Star Swirl and I worked on together. He was always fascinated with the existence of parallel worlds, and we visited many a version of Equestria. There was even a world we visited that had quite the strapping incarnation of King Sombra…

Ahem! Anywho, I wandered deeper into the library, and that was when I saw it, a mirror that I had never seen before. Attached to the mirror was a letter addressed to me, and I tentatively levitated it over to me and opened it.

Dear Celestia,

This is the last mirror that I was able to make before I ran out of strength to continue my research on other worlds. Despite the fact that I said that I’d be shutting our project down all those years ago, I still endeavored to complete this one mirror. While all the other mirrors we made led to alternate versions of our world, this mirror, theoretically, would take the pony using it to another world entirely. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test it, and it wouldn’t be right of me to ask you to blindly go through an untested mirror, but you do deserve to know of its existence, and what becomes of it is now your decision to make. You can choose to continue my research or simply consider this mirror to be another artifact to remember me by. The choice is yours.

Your friend and mentor,
Star Swirl the Bearded

I simply could not fathom what I was reading. Star Swirl, who had died centuries ago, left behind a mirror portal that I had never seen before, and it had the possibility of taking me to another world entirely. The possibility of making contact with worlds foreign to Equus raced through my mind, and the researcher in me couldn’t pass this chance up. The letter did say that I could do what I wanted with it, and I wanted to see if this mirror could work.

I couldn’t just use it on the fly, though.

I spent the next month studying the mirror, analyzing the magic flowing through it, making the necessary adjustments based on Star Swirl’s research, and making sure that everything was in place so that my inevitable maiden voyage would have as little a chance for error as possible. Countless hours of studying and testing led up to this moment, the moment where I would finally see if Star Swirl was right about the portal's ability to transport somepony to a completely different world.

And so, with a pounding heart and a deep breath, I stepped into the mirror.

The first thing I noticed when I crossed over was that I didn't go directly into the other world. With the other mirrors, crossing over was like stepping through a door, but with this mirror, it looked like I had stepped into a long hallway, with the entrance to the other world at the end of said hallway. As I walked, I thought of how I'd present myself to the new world's inhabitants.

"Okay, Celestia. This is a big moment; not just for you, but for all of Equus. As the political representative of one of our world's most important nations, first impressions with these foreign ponies will be of the utmost importance. Wait... this is a whole different world we're talking about. They might not even be ponies. In that case, I'll have to try my best not to stare at them or ask any rude questions. Wait... should I have brought gifts? Maybe I should go back real qui-Huh?"

I suddenly started to fall, and I looked up to see that I had walked straight into the other world while I was distracted by my thoughts. I then turned around as I fell and saw that the exit portal was over fifty feet above ground, which was coming at me fast! As I fell, I saw what looked like a house and tried to use my wings to regain my balance and land on the roof, but I was so disoriented by my sudden plummet that my body wouldn't obey what my mind was telling it to do, like they weren't on the same page.

Before I could even think of another solution, I felt my body make impact with the asphalt roof, knocking whatever thought I had out of my head as I tumbled down and hit the edge of the roof. If that wasn't bad enough, I fell right off the edge and dropped down to the hard ground below, despite the fact that it was grass.

"Fuck..." I groaned as I laid there in pain. I know, I know, it wasn't the kind of language that would befit a princess, but at the time, manners were the last thing on my mind.

"What was that!?" I heard from inside the house I was lying next to.

“Quit being a bitch, Hector. Let’s go see what it was.”

“No way, Maria! You can’t go!”

“You know what? How about we just go together? Will that ease your nerves, Hector?”

“Fine, but stay behind me.”

“Okay, I can understand their language. That’s good. Wait? They’re coming outside? Oh great.” I tried to get up, only I fell right back down to the ground, and I let out a disappointed sigh as I continued to lay there. The next thing I heard was the sound of a door opening, followed by a female voice.

“Whoever this is, they must’ve landed on the roof, then tumbled down to the ground.”

“They’re intelligent, too. At least getting to know them won’t be hard.”

“You think we should call someone?” a male voice asked, and the second I heard that, I began to worry and assume the worst. Who would they call? Would they call their local law enforcement and report an attempted break-in? It was then that I put more effort into trying to get onto my hooves so they could see that I was alright, and I groaned in pain as I tried to get up.

“Um… miss?” asked the male voice. “Are you okay?”

When I finally got up on my hooves, I stretched my arms and wings and let out another groan as I got all the kinks out of me. “Oh, I’m just fine, sir. You need not worry about me,” I reassured him. “I’ve been through worse.” I tried to speak as formally as I could so that I could leave a good impression. Thankfully, it was so dark that they couldn’t see the pained expression on my face.

After taking a moment to compose myself, I lit up my horn so that these beings and I could clearly see each other, and when they saw me, they were in awe.

To be honest, I was in awe, as well. Whatever these beings were, they certainly weren’t ponies. Their eyes were tiny and instead of muzzles, they had these little noses. They didn’t have any wings, horns, fur, or scales. The just had bare skin save for the hair on their heads and some more hair on the male being’s face.

I did my best to keep a straight face and not stare, and I like to think that I succeeded.

The three of us kept standing there in silence, and as the visitor, I decided to make the first move.

“What am I gonna say, though? I doubt that a simple ‘hello’ will suffice considering the fact that I just tumbled off their roof. Okay, umm…”

“Oh, my,” I smiled. “Looks like my spell did work after all.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good conversation starter… I think. Now what am I gonna-AGH!” I fell to one knee as a sharp pain suddenly coursed through me, and I tried not to yell in agony. I looked down and saw cut running down part of my leg, and it was bleeding profusely.

The female looked down at me with a worried expression. “Oh my God! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied as I waved it off. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Don’t give me that! Do you see your leg right now? Come inside and I’ll patch you up.”

Well, she was quite insistent. At least she wasn’t afraid of me. The male, on the other hand…

“Honey, we don’t know who or what this woman is, and you’re inviting her into our house!?” he exclaimed. I could understand his apprehension towards me. As benevolent as I claim to be, if I were in his position, I probably would’ve reacted similarly.

“He’s right, Miss,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Maria. Maria Cortez,” she corrected, “and it’s no imposition. My husband’s just being paranoid. Hector, help her into the house while I get something for that leg.”

“Yes, dear,” Hector said obediently as he approached me and helped me up.

Either this world has a matriarchal society like Equestria, or this Maria simply had her husband wrapped around her finger.

I was leaning towards the latter.

As Maria bandaged my wound, I looked around her and Hector's house and immediately noticed how technologically advanced the inhabitants of this world were. Their living room alone had many devices that were foreign to my world. The next thing I noticed was that Maria was with child, and she told me that was due very soon. Before she and I could start gushing over her upcoming addition for too long, Hector brought us back to the matter at hand.

“So… Miss…” he said, clearing his throat. “Could you tell us who you are?”

“Of course,” I answered. “My name is Celestia, and I am a pony.”

“You sure don’t look like any pony we’ve ever seen,” said Maria.

“Well, you see, that’s because I come from a different world," I explained. "My world is known as Equus, and the country that I come from is called Equestria. Civilization on Equus consists of ponies like myself, amongst many other magical beings. In Equestria, I am a princess, and for the past month, I have been perfecting a spell from my late mentor that would take me to another world so that I may establish relations with other life forms. As for how I crash-landed on your roof... I honestly have no idea. This whole thing was actually a big gamble, really. I didn't even know if the portal would work."

Hector cleared his throat as he took in my story. "Well... since you told us about your world, I guess it's only fair that we tell you about ours,"

He and Maria explained to me that their world was called Earth, and that they were “humans”. In contrast to the magically abundant Equus, Earth had no magic whatsoever, and to compensate, the humans excelled in technology.

When I took into account Equus's magical proficiency and Earth's technological superiority, I realized how much both worlds could benefit from a... partnership, if you will.

“Our two societies have a lot to offer each other,” I noted.

“You think so?” asked Hector.

“Most definitely, it may take many months, but I think that we’ll be able to establish some kind of partnership between my world and yours.”

“Well, Hector happens to work for the mayor here,” Maria told me. “We could start with him, and then work our way up to the President, and eventually to all the world leaders.”

I bowed my head towards her. “I thank you for your generosity.”

“It’s no trouble."

“No trouble?” Hector interjected. “No one will believe this, Maria!”

“Like Celestia said, honey, it’s going to take some time.”

I smiled as Maria reassured her husband. On the inside, while I was excited to establish a connection between Equus and Earth, I was still very nervous. It was like the anxiety I would feel before a meeting with an important political figure on my world was increased a hundredfold. I couldn't show any fear, though. I needed Earth's leaders to know that Equus meant no harm and that all I wanted for both worlds was to live together in peace.

Thankfully, my efforts, along with those of my newfound friends, were not in vain. Within the next year, my world and the human world were officially allies, and I was able to perfect, replicate and magnify Star Swirl's mirror portal spell in order to allow safe and easy passage between both worlds. In addition to the newly formed alliance, another big thing happened during that year.

Maria's son was born.

When I first got the call from Hector, I was in the middle of some routine paperwork, and while the responsible thing to do would have been to finish it before leaving, I disregarded everything else, rushed down to Star Swirl's library and practically jumped through the portal. It took me practically forever to find the hospital with Hector's directions as my only guide.

He wasn't very good with directions.

Fortunately, after several hours of aimless flying, I finally found the hospital. The secretary in the lobby directed me towards the waiting room, where I found Hector pacing around outside the delivery room.

“Celestia? You’re here!” he smiled.

“Just like I said I would be. Am I too late?”

“No. Maria’s still in the delivery room. The doctors asked me to stay out here while they delivered the baby.”

“Thank goodness. I thought that I was running late.”

He and I waited and waited, hoping that all was well with Maria, until the doctor stepped out of the delivery room with a smile on his face.

“He’s here,” he told us.

Those two words were the only invitation we needed.

We rushed into the room and found Maria sitting in a bed with a bundle in her arms. “He’s sleeping,” she whispered as Hector and I walked in. He then walked over to his wife as she handed their newborn baby to him.

“Hey there, son,” he whispered as he looked down at him, taking in the fact that he was now a proud father.

He then looked at me with a smile. “Do you want to hold him, Celestia?”

“Me? Really?” I asked.

“Of course,” said Maria.

I smiled gratefully and accepted their offer, and I soon found myself with an adorable baby boy in my arms. “Hello there, little one,” I cooed as I gently rubbed his nose with my finger, and he grabbed at it with his little hands, eliciting a giggle from me as I took a closer look at him. “You are such a cutie!” I told him.

The baby smiled and reached out to feel my muzzle, which I could only giggle at. He then poked my snout, which made me instinctively scrunch my face, and he let out a cute laugh.

“You two have already decided on a name for him, right?” I asked the new parents.

“Yeah. We’ve decided to name him Marcus,” Hector answered.

“He really seems to like you, Celestia,” Maria commented. “It’s like you’re his auntie.”

His... auntie?

I gave Maria a short look of astonishment, only to smile and look back at baby Marcus. “Yeah… I’m your Auntie Celeste,"

Maria let out a hearty laugh, despite having just gone through childbirth. "I have a feeling that nickname is gonna stick."

And stick it did. From then on, I was Marcus's Auntie Celeste. The nickname was used so often that he thought that Celeste was my real name until he was three. Of course, like all kids, he tried to grow out of calling me Celeste, but I still insisted that he call me that.

I couldn't have him thinking that he was grown just yet.

Over the years, Marcus started to show a talent for art, and so, knowing this, I arranged for one of my close friends that worked at the Canterlot University for the Arts to visit his school to give a presentation on the university. As I had hoped, he immediately made it his first choice.

Unfortunately, there was a major hurdle to get over.

I had just finished a meeting with a group of delegates from Neighpon when I received a call on my personal phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Celestia."

"Maria! How are you?"

A pause. "Well..."

"What's wrong?"

Maria sighed. "You know how excited Marcus has been about getting into CUFTA, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, we got a letter in the mail from their admissions office, and Marcus got in..."

I paused in confusion. "But that's great news! Why do you sound so down?"

"The school also sent us an estimate on how much their tuition, room and board, and books cost. Even though we can travel to Canterlot with no expense thanks to you, Hector and I just can't afford to send Marcus there, even with financial aid."

I stopped for a moment and stared blankly in shock. "Oh, no... How's Marcus taking it?"

"Not too well. Hector's trying to cheer him up."

"He applied to other schools, right?"

"Yeah, and he got into all of them, but he was really looking forward to going to CUFTA."

It was quite a bit for me to take in. I was almost, if not as excited as Marcus was about CUFTA. It was one of the best art schools on both Equus and Earth, and I wanted the best for my little nephew.

I should have anticipated that prestige would come with expense.

I couldn't just let this happen. There had to be something I could do.

"Maria," I said urgently. "Do you have some of Marcus's most recent pieces?"

"Yeah," she answered. "He always gives me a copy whenever he finishes a new one."

"Send me his best works as soon as you can. I think I have an idea. I'll get back to you later."

The next day, I paid a visit to the Canterlot University for the Arts, and I requested a meeting with the head of the admissions board, which I easily got.

While I don't normally take advantage of my status as a princess, this was a family emergency.

I walked into the Head of Admissions's office, hoping that what I had to say would convince him.

“Princess Celestia,” he greeted as I walked in. “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said as I sat in an empty chair. “I’m sure you’re wondering what brings me here so suddenly.”

“Well, yes, actually...”

“I’m here to discuss a particular student. I’m sure you have a Marcus Cortez in your records somewhere.”

“Um, let me check for a moment,” he said as he looked through his computer. I silently thanked the heavens that the humans brought their technology over to Equus. I don’t think I could sit and wait for this stallion to go through a whole file cabinet.

“Cortez… Cortez… Ah! Here we go. Marcus Cortez; he’s one of the recently accepted students.”

“I’m aware,” I smiled knowingly. “I’m here to make a recommendation on Mr. Cortez’s behalf. You see, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with him personally, and he is a very exceptional student. He has an impeccable work ethic, and he is very involved in extracurriculars, as well. It goes without saying that his artwork is top-notch, too.”

“Of course, that’s why we accepted him.”

“Well, I’d like to show you something,” I said as I took out a flash drive and handed it to him. “Mr. Cortez has been keeping in touch with me since our first meeting. This is all the work he’s done since submitting his application.”

"They are quite impressive. He certainly has improved in the last few months."

"I believe that Mr. Cortez has a lot to offer to your school, but unfortunately, his family can't afford to send him here despite having financial aid, so I would like to make a recommendation that he receive a full scholarship here."

The Head of Admissions put his hand to his chin and pondered my request. "Alright, here's what I'll do. We can pay for his tuition and his supplies, but as for room and board, he'll have to pay for that out of his own pocket."

"There will be no need for that. He already has an off-campus living arrangement set up."

I had anticipated this. I needed a failsafe in case Marcus wasn't able to live on-campus, and since he had no relatives living in Canterlot, there was only one option:

He had to live in the castle with me.

In a way, I was actually hoping that it would come to this. I always saw Marcus as my nephew, and this would be my chance to get closer to him.

Now, I know what you're thinking: if I wanted Marcus to stay with me, why didn't I make that the first option? Well, since he was still a minor, I needed his parents to sign over their guardianship of him to me, thus making it legal for him to live with me, and if I didn't mention it before, I'll say it now:

I hate paperwork.

First things first, though. I needed to tell Marcus and his family how my plan worked out.

On his seventeenth birthday, I paid my dear nephew a visit at his house and told him the news, and while his parents were reluctant at first, they soon agreed to it.

We spent the next several months getting all the papers finalized, and once they were, I called all my castle staff for an important announcement.

I sat on my throne with my younger sister, Luna, sitting on her own throne beside me with a confused look on her face.

I kept her out of the loop so that she'd be surprised.

I had also invited my nephew, Blueblood, but I half-expected him not to show up. I didn't even make his attendance mandatory since I knew that it wouldn't matter to him.

I gave up on that colt a long time ago.

Once everypony (that mattered) was present, I got up from my throne and addressed them. "I have an important announcement for all of you. As of today, there is a new addition to the royal family. I've recently adopted a close friend of mine, Marcus Cortez, as my nephew, and he will be moving into the castle within the next few days."

I heard several gasps and murmurs amongst my staff.

"As my nephew, I expect each and everyone of you to treat him like a member of the royal family. I want Marcus to feel welcome when he gets here."

"Yes Princess," they all said.

I smiled and nodded my head. "You're all dismissed."

Everypony left the throne room, leaving me and Luna as the only ones left.

"Sister, why wasn't I informed of this beforehand?" my younger sibling asked.

"Surprise!" I cheered as I gave her a hug, but Luna simply gave me a perplexed look.

"I don't get it. I've never met this Marcus."

"Of course you have! Remember two years ago when we celebrated your return?"

"With all the ponies and people you introduced me to that day, you expect me to remember one of the people I saw the least since then?"

"Regardless, I think you two will get along really well."

Luna rolled her eyes. "If you say so, Tia."

I chuckled. "You've called me Tia ever since you've returned. What happened to the nickname you used to call me?"

"What? Celie? That was when we were younger."

"We were in our early twenties when you last call me that."

"Whatever. I like Tia better, now."

I smiled and ruffled her mane. "Whatever floats your boat, little sis."

"Can you not do that?" she grumbled.

"You're no fun," I laughed as I made my way out of the throne room. I was probably the happiest I had ever been since Luna came back. I was going to have another new addition to my family.

And I couldn't wait for him to move in.

2 - Luna's Prologue: Culture Shock

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“Oh, Luna! I’m so happy to see you again!” my older sister cheered as she hugged me tightly.

I was the only one that could make it through her hugs without feeling pain… for the most part.

“I’m happy to be back, sister,” I said as I hugged Celestia back, although… something didn’t feel right.

Why was Celestia so much taller than me?

I mean, she always was taller than me, but the last time I saw her, she was a head taller than me, and now she was two heads taller than me.

“Um… Celestia?” I asked. “Why are you so tall?”

“It’s not that I’m tall, Luna,” she answered, “It’s that you’re so short.” She lit up her horn and conjured up a mirror for me. When I took hold of it with my magic and looked at my reflection, I was shocked at what I saw.

I put my hands to my face and felt my light blue fur, and my eyes widened when I saw my hands in front of my face. I then ran my fingers through my mane, which was a slightly different shade of blue and was much shorter than it used to be. On top of that, it didn’t have the abundance of stars or the ever-flowing movement it usually had.

“I look like my filly self!” I thought out loud.

“If I had to make a guess as to why, it’s probably because your magic is really weak right now.”

“I guess that makes sense, considering what I’ve just been through. As I am now, I probably only have the strength of an average unicorn.”

“I’m sure your strength will return in time, little sister,” Celestia told me, giggling when she said the word “little” and earning a cross look from me. “Sorry, sorry. I couldn’t resist. Well, first things first. We need to get ready.”

“Ready? For what?” I asked in confusion.

“What do you think? The Princess of the Night has returned to Equestria, and this calls for a celebration! We’re going to have a nice little parade in Ponyville later in the afternoon. Nothing too big.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that the parade is in the afternoon, because I’m not in the best of attire.”

I peered into the mirror again and made a disgusted face at the rags that were adorning my body. I was in major need of a dress change.

Hopefully I still had some of my dresses from my teenage years.

My wings were still quite weak, so my sister opted to teleport the both of us to her bedroom in her castle in Canterlot, which, according to her, was now the capital city of Equestria.

“So this is where you live now?” I asked.

“It’s where we live now, sister,” she replied. “I even saved a bedroom for you in case you ever returned.”

“Thanks. So, do I have any clothes?”

“Well... no, but since you’re the same size you were when you were a teenager, you can wear your old clothes while you’re in this state. We’ll go shopping for some more clothes that’ll fit you once you get back to your adult form.”

I looked out of the window and down at all the ponies and… whatever those hairless primates were. “No offense, Tia, but I’ve only been back for ten minutes, and I can already tell that the clothes I have are a little dated.”

“I suppose that’s true. I’ll get some better clothes for your current self to wear after the parade, then. For now, I’ll show you to your room. Your old clothes are in the wardrobe to the right of your bed, so just pick whatever dress you want to wear. Like I said, it’s nothing too big.”

“Okay,” I said as Celestia led me out of her bedroom and towards mine.

“Oh, and what was with calling me Tia a minute ago?”

“I figured I’d give you a new nickname,” I smiled as I looked up at my big sister. “However, there’s something I must ask you.”

“What is it, Luna?”

“When I looked out the window, I saw these strange creatures amongst the ponies. I’ve never seen them before and they are quite… peculiar.”

“Oh, yes!” Tia answered with a sudden tone of excitement. “I forgot to tell you. About fifteen years ago, I finished one of Star Swirl’s mirror portals and-”

“Is that what you two were always doing? I thought that you were just doing more studying, as if you didn’t do that enough already.”

She rolled her eyes and continued. “Anyway, I was able to go to another world populated by these beings. They’re called humans, and they’ve contributed so much to Equus’s society!”

“I did see quite a lot of unfamiliar contraptions on the streets…” I said.

“Yes, our world has changed in the thousand years you’ve been gone, but I’m sure you’ll be able to adjust just fine.” Tia said as we reached my new bedroom. “Go ahead and pick an outfit, Luna. I’ll come to get you when it’s time to go, but that won’t be for a few hours, so you can take the opportunity to explore the castle if you want.”

“Maybe,” I answered as I walked into my room. “I guess I will see you later, then?”

“Of course,” my sister smiled as she left. “Don’t get lost, now!”

I chuckled as I watched her walk down the hallway. Celestia has been quite ecstatic since I retuned. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think that I’d be missed… all things considering. When I saw her for the first time in a thousand years, I was terrified of what she would say, what she would do. With that in mind, I did the first thing that came to mind, which was to apologize. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to be mad at me at all. If anything, she looked like she was the happiest she had ever been.

I felt a sense of relief in that.

After spending some time to pick out a dress for the parade, I decided to take my sister’s suggestion and explore the castle a little. One thing that I immediately observed was that it was a lot nicer than our old castle in the Everfree Forest. While the interior design wasn’t as bold as the old castle, there was a sense of elegance to it that made it seem nicer. Unfortunately, my awe at the castle’s design was interrupted by a loud and annoying voice.

“WHAT IS THIS WRINKLE DOING HERE!?”

I folded my ears back at the sudden assault the voice made on my eardrums, and I followed said voice to its source. As I rounded a corner of the hallway, I saw a white-coated young stallion with a light amber mane and tail berating what appeared to be one of the castle maids.

“I have a date to the Canterlot Theatre in six hours! The least I could ask for is a suit that is pressed THOROUGHLY! Is that too much to ask!?”

“I’m sorry sir,” the poor mare whimpered with a bow. “I didn’t realize that I had missed a spot.”

At that moment, I had decided that enough was enough.

“Do not apologize, young mare,” I spoke up as I approached her and the arrogant colt who then reared his ugly, overdone head towards me.

“And who are you to tell her that?” he asked. Like Celestia, he was taller than me, but only by a few inches. Despite his height advantage, though, I was not intimidated.

“Who are you to yell at her?” I asked back.

He merely scoffed and regarded me with a condescending expression. “I’ll have you know that I am Prince Blueblood, nephew of Princess Celestia. You must be a new maid here if you don’t know that. I asked her to iron my suit and she has done an abysmal job!” He levitated his freshly pressed suit in front of my face to show me the wrinkle, which in actuality was only noticeable if you came within six inches of his shoulder, something that, judging from my first impression of this colt, I assumed didn’t happen often.

I made a stern face and moved the suit from in front of me so that I could see whom I was addressing. “Firstly, I think it looks fine, secondly, I'll have you know that I am NOT a maid. I am Luna, Princess of the Night, sister to Princess Celestia, and therefore, your aunt as well!” I saw his eyes shrink at that declaration, but I continued, gradually raising my voice. “You would do well to think twice before addressing me in such a manner! It seems that Celestia is still too nice, because if it were up to me, I would have you disowned in a heartbeat! Now cease your complaining and take your suit as it was given to you, you ungrateful whelp!”

I used my magic to throw the suit at the colt’s chest, causing him to stumble back a bit. He looked at me with fear as I gave him a deadly glare, and he quickly retreated into his bedchambers, shutting the door behind him.

The maid watched in awe at what I had just done. “T-thank you, princess,” she said with a bow.

“Don’t worry about it. Brutes like him ought to be put in their place,” I grunted. “Is he really of royal blood?”

“Unfortunately…”

I sighed. “I don’t even want to know how that happened. As you were, young mare.”

The maid gave me a curtsey and returned to fulfill her other duties, whatever they were. I continued my trip through the castle and took note of where all the sweets were kept. It had been a long millennium, and I needed to make up for lost time. By the time I had walked around the entirety of the castle, including the labyrinth garden, I returned to my room to prepare for when Celestia would come for me. As I approached my bedroom door, I saw two stallions that were dressed like guards, but rather than the golden armor that Celestia’s soldiers wore, these stallions wore purple and dark blue armor.

“Good day, Princess Luna,” the one on my left greeted when he saw me.

“Good day to you, too, soldier,” I greeted back. “If I may ask, why are you two dressed differently from the other guards?”

“Princess Celestia has split the castle staff so that half of the guards and maids would be under your authority, while the other half would be under hers,” the left guard explained.

“It literally happened just five minutes ago,” the right guard added.

“Wow… that’s rather generous of her,” I said softly, but then I cleared my throat. “Well, it’s a pleasure to have you two, then.”

“Pleasure to serve you, Princess,” they said in unison as I walked into my room.

I let out a heavy sigh as I put on my dress, wondering what this parade would be like. While Tia did say that it was nothing too extravagant, but I was still nervous about seeing all my subjects after a thousand-year absence. Sure, all the ponies that were alive when I became Nightmare Moon have long since passed away, but there were still the ponies that saw me when I appeared at the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville.

I was probably the last mare that they wanted to see.

I shook my head and approached my wall mirror. The garment that I decided on was a dark blue sundress made of a light, breathable material. As I examined myself, my mind began to wander again. Would this dress help me to appear less intimidating to my subjects? And those humans… did they know of the legend of Nightmare Moon? I didn’t remember seeing any of them at Ponyville town hall, but my memory of that event was very vague. The only one that I remembered being there was Twilight Sparkle, as she was the only one that spoke out against me.

Everything else was just a blur to me.

I was shocked out of my thoughts when I heard somepony knock on my door.

“Luna, are you dressed?” a voice said from outside. “Our carriage-car is here.”

“Carriage-what?” I thought to myself. “Uh… yes. I’m ready. Just one moment.” I quickly levitated a hairbrush over to me and fixed my mane, which I hadn’t brushed since I had retuned. With my mane now in a presentable state, I briskly walked towards the door and opened it to see Celestia waiting for me. I noticed the bright yellow dress that she was wearing and was surprised at how casual it looked. Even with the sundress that I was wearing, it still leaned towards the formal side.

“I didn’t overdo it, did I?” I asked.

“Of course not, sister,” Tia answered with a smile as she ran her hand through my short mane. “You look just fine.”

“If you say so,” I sighed as I exited my room and shut the door behind me. When Tia and I left the castle, I saw a peculiar looking carriage waiting for us. For one, there weren’t any stallions out front to pull it. Instead there was a strange sound coming from the front of the carriage.

Was this some new form of magic?

“Um… Tia?”

My sister merely chuckled. “I’ll explain inside.”

I gave her a skeptical look and entered the carriage after she went in. When I entered, I felt a blast of cool air hit me, a pleasant contrast to the summer heat outside.

I always preferred the winter months.

“So anyway,” Celestia said, “you know how I said that the humans have contributed a lot to Equus’s society?”

I nodded.

“Well, while our world is proficient in magic, theirs excels in technology. Their vehicles are operated using advanced machinery, so we don’t need ponies to pull our carriages anymore. We adapted our carriages to accommodate this technology.”

“And these machines are producing this cool air, too?” I asked.

“Yeah! It’s called ‘air conditioning’!” Celestia answered excitedly. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“Quite, but it’s funny how you’ve had this technology for fifteen years, yet your enthusiasm exceeds mine.”

“Oh, whatever,” Tia scoffed, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at that, something that she immediately noticed. “Finally, a smile.”

The carriage-car began to drive off, and I saw that we were headed for the edge of the mountain. “Wait a moment. If there are no pegasi to draw this carriage... how are we supposed to fly!?”

Celestia once again found amusement at my unfamiliarity with the times. “I had all the royal carriages infused with a special magic that allows them to fly, which you’re about to experience firsthand,” she explained.

As much as I wanted to trust my sister, I still hung on for dear life. Alicorns may have longer lifespans than normal ponies, but we're far from being immortal.

Or impervious to broken bones.

Celestia, on the other hand, merely buckled herself with a belt that was attached to her seat. She seemed to know what to do, so I did the same as her and hoped for the best.

When our ride veered off the mountainside, I sucked in my gut and held my breath, expecting to feel gravity pulling the carriage and us down to the ground below. Instead, it felt like we were still on the road. I looked out the window and saw that our carriage-car was moving through the air with a magical aura beneath it, and I let out a heavy sigh. The next thing I heard was a sudden fit of laughter coming from Celestia, and I turned to give her a deadly glare.

“It’s not funny,” I grumbled.

“I’m sorry, Lulu,” she said, in-between laughs, “but you should’ve seen the look on your face when we drove off the mountain! It got all puffy and everything!”

“Yeah, yeah. Enjoy your little laugh,” I muttered. “And don’t call me Lulu, either! I thought you’d be over that by now.”

“Well, I don’t find it fair that you can call me Tia and I can’t call you Lulu.”

I pouted and blew a stray strand of my mane out of my face.

After about twenty minutes, I saw a small little village come into view. “Sister, is that-”

“Ponyville? Yes,” she answered.

“I’ve never heard of this place before.”

“That’s because it was founded while you were away. It hasn’t even been a good hundred years yet.”

“Hmm…”

“Something on your mind?”

“Well, it’s just that I’m a little nervous.”

“About?”

“What will the citizens think of me? They saw me when I was at the Summer Sun Celebration, so they must be terrified of me.”

Celestia gave me a look of pity and pulled me close to her side. “Don’t worry Luna. Once you returned, I had Twilight Sparkle spread the news around the town that you’ve been reverted to your old self. Besides, the citizens of Ponyville are quite the festive bunch. They have a celebration for just about everything, so I’m sure they’ll be happy to be the ones to welcome you back to Equestria.”

I looked up at her. “Are you sure?”

She smiled down at me. “I’m positive.”

“Okay,” I said as she let go of me and the carriage landed right at the town entrance. As we came out, we saw Twilight Sparkle along with an older mare with a tan coat and a silver mane and tail. They both bowed to us as we approached them, only for Tia to simply chuckle at them.

“That won’t be necessary, Twilight, Mayor Mare,” she told them.

Won’t be necessary? What was she going on about? She never had a problem with ponies bowing to us before. Since when was she so modest?

“Sorry,” the young unicorn said sheepishly with a blush on her face.

“It is an honor for Ponyville to host the parade celebrating the return of Princess Luna,” said the mayor.

“The honor is all ours. It’s only fitting, seeing that the Summer Sun Celebration was supposed to be held here.” Tia replied, earning another confused look from me. I’ve never seen her be so informal with our subjects before.

“The carriage that will carry you through town is right this way,” the mayor continued.

“I’ll let you lead the way then,” Tia answered.

From that moment, and even throughout the parade, my mind was stuck on how Celestia was addressing the citizens, even when a nice pair of young pegasus fillies placed a rather lovely wreath of roses around my neck.

Tia was so friendly to all the ponies and humans, and she treated them like they were her family. Prior to my banishment, the ponies of Equestria saw the two of us in a completely different light. We lived apart from the common ponies and they revered us as though we were their superiors, their goddesses, even, despite the fact that we were far from that. In retrospect, we were treated more like queens rather than princesses, and because of that, neither of us took the time to really interact with our subjects, but now my sister was so close to them, and while she was still revered, it was more out of admiration than intimidation.

“Come, Luna,” Celestia said as our carriage finished its drive through the town. “There are some people I want you to meet.”

“Some… people?” I asked, unfamiliar with this new term. I followed her through the town and saw three humans, two males, and one female, waiting for us.

“Celestia!” the female said. “So good to see you!”

“Good to see you too, Maria,” my sister replied as they both hugged each other, and then she looked at the older male. “How are you, Hector?”

“A little dizzy from going through the portal, but I’m doing well otherwise,” he answered as he gave Tia a hug, as well.

“And how’s my little Marcus, doing? Come give your Auntie Celeste a hug!” she cooed at the young human male. I may not have known how humans aged, but this one looked like he was little too old to be spoken to like that. I could feel the embarrassment emanating from him.

Wait… Auntie Celeste!?

“Come on, I’m fifteen years old,” he complained. “When are you gonna stop with the Auntie Celeste stuff?”

“Never, so you’d better get used to it. Now come and give me a hug!”

The young human sighed with annoyance, but he then smiled and hugged his… Auntie Celeste.

Seriously, what!?

“Okay, you three. I’d like to introduce you to my little sister, Luna. Don’t let her size fool you, she’s actually just a few years younger than me.”

“Really?” Maria asked in disbelief. “But she looks so young! You could pass for her mother!”

Celestia jokingly huffed at her. “Are you saying that I’m getting old, Maria?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I do. You’re right, too. As she is now, she looks younger than Marcus.”

I looked at the young human upon hearing that notion, and he did, in fact, look older than I did. He was even taller than me by half a head.

“Hi,” he said to me, and I blinked in surprise. I wasn’t prepared to actually talk to anyone while I was here, so I was thrown off a little when he addressed me.

I cleared my throat and looked back at him. “Hello,” I said back.

“Thanks for coming on such short notice,” Tia said to the older humans.

“Well, it helped that you told the people at the portal station that we were to be here on ‘royal business’.” Maria stated with a matter-of-fact tone.

“You’re welcome,” my sister smirked.

Celestia and (who I assumed were) Marcus’s parents continued to talk away as I uncomfortably stood beside her as Marcus stood beside his father, the two of us appearing to have been kicked out of the conversation. Every so often, I would glance at Marcus, but then look away when he looked back at me. I would also see him glance at me out of the corner of my eye, only for him to look away when I looked back at him.

It was… quite the awkward moment, and the fact that Tia and Marcus’s parents were talking for what seemed like hours didn’t help, either.

When they finished, Celestia and I parted ways with the humans, and she looked over at her young student in the distance, conversing with her friends.

“I’m going to talk to Twilight for a moment. Wanna come with me?”

I shook my head. “No, I’ll just wait in the carriage.”

Tia gave me a sad look. “Okay, then. If that’s what you want,” she told me as she walked off, and I made my way back to the carriage car. As I walked, I thought about all I had witnessed since I returned. Looking back on it now, I had taken in a lot in the few hours since I came back, specifically regarding how much society had changed.

Especially with these humans.

As I thought about all I had experienced, I wondered what other changes were in store for me…

I supposed that I’d just have to wait and see.

It’s been two years since my return, and I was on my way out of my bedroom. Celestia called all the castle staff and me to the throne room, where she was supposed to make some kind of announcement. She never told me anything regarding this announcement, and I wondered what it was about.

As I walked out of my bedchambers, I stopped by my mirror and looked at myself. My appearance had returned to normal after being stuck in my teenage body for two months, and I made sure that my much longer mane wasn’t unkempt before I left the room. As I made my way to the throne room, I heard several squeaks along with the soft pattering of little paws.

I turned around and looked at the little critter that was following me and squatted down to take a closer look at it. “Oh, I’m sorry, Tiberius. I didn’t know that you wanted to come along.” I reached out my arm, and the little opossum scurried up its length and took refuge in my mane.

What? Don’t judge me. I give him regular baths.

“Comfy?” I asked my pet, who gave a squeak of confirmation before I continued my walk.

Once I made it to the throne room, I sat beside Celestia as she stood up and addressed me and the staff.

"I have an important announcement for all of you. As of today, there is a new addition to the royal family. I've recently adopted a close friend of mine, Marcus Cortez, as my nephew, and he will be moving into the castle within the next few days."

My eyes widened in shock at what I just heard. Why wasn’t I told about this before?

"As my nephew, I expect each and every one of you to treat him like a member of the royal family. I want Marcus to feel welcome when he gets here."

"Yes Princess," the staff members said.

Tia smiled and nodded her head. "You're all dismissed."

When everypony else left and Tia and I were alone, I took the opportunity to voice my concerns.

"Sister, why wasn't I informed of this beforehand?" I asked asked.

"Surprise!" She said enthusiastically as she hugged me, but I was still really confused.

"I don't get it. I've never met this Marcus."

"Of course you have! Remember two years ago when we celebrated your return?"

"With all the ponies and people you introduced me to that day, you expect me to remember one of the people I saw the least since then?"

"Regardless, I think you two will get along really well."

I rolled my eyes. "If you say so, Tia."

Several days later, I was in the castle library catching up on my reading, with Tiberius accompanying me again.

“Oh, so it’s ‘turn up’? I thought the expression was ‘steer up’. That makes a lot more sense.”

Tibbles looked at me incredulously and shook his head.

“Quiet, you!” I said defensively. “I’m trying as hard as I can to understand these modern expressions!”

Just then, I heard the library doors open and felt Tiberius climb into my mane, and I saw Celestia and a young human standing in the doorway. That must have been Marcus.

“Hello, little sister,” she said as they both approached me.

I looked at the two of them and stood up, looking at the boy with a confused look. He looked back at me, looking even more confused than I was. He was particularly eyeing my mane and my figure.

If it weren’t for how different I looked since I last saw him, I would’ve assumed that he was checking me out.

“Marcus, this is Luna,” she told him as she gestured to me. “I’m sure you two remember each other.”

“Barely,” Marcus and I answered in unison.

“I guess you two wouldn’t remember each other that well,” said Tia, and then she looked at Marcus. “Anywho, since I’m your aunt now, I guess that makes Luna here your aunt, too!”

I raised a questioning finger at that notion. “Uhhh…”

“She’ll need a nickname like mine that you can call her by… How about Auntie Lulu?”

I furrowed my brow at my older sister. “How about no.” I then looked at Marcus. “Just call me Luna, okay?” I told him.

“Sure,” he accepted.

“Come on, Marcus,” said Celestia. “There’s more that I want to show you.”

“Alright, Auntie,” he answered as she led him out of the library. “I guess I’ll see you around, Luna,” he told me before he left, and I nodded my head in response.

Tiberius squeaked and poked his head out of my mane, and we both looked at each other.

“Well, Tibbles, I guess things are gonna be changing around here.”

3 - Honey Pot's Prologue: A Desire For Humans

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Fresh out of the shower with a warm towel wrapped around my body, I walked over to my wardrobe and opened it up, looking at the multiple maid uniforms that I had.

When you work as often as I do, you’ll need more than just one.

“Shower’s free, Dusty,” I told my roommate as I took out a uniform.

“Thanks, Hon,” she replied as she walked into the now vacant bathroom. As she took care of herself in there, I continued to put on my clothes. I grunted as I pulled up my stockings and put on my shoes. Maybe it was just the earth pony in me, but I always preferred to go bare-hooved.

I gave myself a once-over in the mirror before remembering to put on my bonnet. At the risk of sounding conceited or stuck-up, I looked my usual best, which I always strived for. My light golden-brown coat was accented nicely by my dark brown mane and hazel eyes, and my uniform hugged my body nicely, accentuating my curves and pronouncing my hourglass figure. Of course, not every mare is perfect. In my case, I wasn’t as tall as other mares, standing only at a petite five-foot-four.

It didn’t bother me though. Like any self-respecting mare, I took pride in my appearance, regardless of how I compared to others.

I then heard the bathroom door open as a tall pegasus walked out with a towel wrapped around her. This pegasus was Dusty Feather, my roommate, confidante, and best friend.

Unlike me, who was short and curvy, Dusty was tall and thin, standing at an intimidating six feet.

Well, intimidating to anyone that didn’t know her like I did.

While she appeared to be a tomcolt, what with her short manecut and athletic build, and while she definitely wasn’t the frilly filly type, she was still quite the sweetheart. I had the pleasure of knowing her since our elementary school days, and like me, she was quite the beautiful mare. She had a white coat with a faint blue tint, a short light blue mane, and a pair of matching blue eyes to top it off.

“Looking good as usual, Honey Pot,” she complimented.

I closed my eyes and smiled. “Why thank you, Dusty, but I’m just applying what we both learned during our training.”

“Always look your best.”

“Exactly,” I finished with a laugh.

“It doesn’t seem like seven years since we finished our maid training,” the pegasus reminisced as she took a uniform out of her own wardrobe. “We’re getting old.”

“We’re only twenty-seven, Dusty.”

“Exactly, HP. We’re pushing thirty. For a mare that takes pride in her appearance, doesn’t that bother you?”

“Not in the slightest,” I answered. “In fact, I believe that a mare can look beautiful at any age. It’s all about knowing your body and what works for it.”

“Will all that knowledge about body shapes, you’d think that you’d pursue a career in fashion rather than becoming a maid.”

“We aren’t just any run-of-the-mill maids. We’re maids to Princess Celestia. If our paychecks are any indication, we’re the best of the best. We know every trick and technique in the book, and on top of that, we make major bank. Say what you want, but this is a major upgrade from when we were fresh out of high school and waiting tables.”

“Now that, I can agree with,” chuckled Dusty. “I just really wish these uniforms were less frilly. Not to mention that they’re a little too revealing for my tastes. If I didn’t get my skirt lengthened, my cutie mark would’ve been out for all of the castle to see. I don’t want to complain, but the uniforms that Princess Luna’s maids get to wear are much cooler.”

“You could always transfer,” I quipped.

“I know, but then I’d have to deal with schedule changes and all that, and as it stands, I like how our schedules line up. I don’t want to mess with that.”

“In that case, you have no right to complain,” I smirked.

Dusty rolled her eyes as she put on her bonnet. “Whatever.”

Just then, we heard both our phones chime, and when we looked at them, we saw that we had gotten the same message. “It’s a mass e-mail from Princess Celestia’s secretary,” I said, while Dusty went ahead and read the message.

“Important Notice: All castle staff must report to the royal throne room by 8:30 AM sharp for an important announcement. Attendance is mandatory.”

“Important announcement?” I repeated. “I wonder what for?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Dusty answered. “It’s mandatory, and I’m not gonna risk losing my job over missing a meeting. I’m making a lot of money off of this job, and I’ll be damned if I mess that up.”

“That’s one way to look at it, but I still can’t help but wonder.”

“Well, whatever it is, we’ll find out in the next… twenty minutes. Let’s hurry up and get there before we’re late.”

Dusty and I left our room and headed towards the throne room. As maids, we knew every nook and cranny of the place, and because of that, we knew the quickest route to and from any area in the castle. Our knowledge of the area rivaled, if not surpassed, that of the royal guards. By the time we got there, about half the castle staff was already in attendance, and we signed in as we entered the throne room. By the time eight-thirty rolled around, everypony was present and accounted for, and Princess Celestia’s secretary walked up to her to tell her just that. The princess then stood up and addressed everypony in the crowd.

“I have an important announcement for all of you. As of today, there is a new addition to the royal family. I've recently adopted a close friend of mine, Marcus Cortez, as my nephew, and he will be moving into the castle within the next few days.”

Several murmurs instantly filled the room. I could even hear some of them pretty clearly.

“Another royal is joining the family?”

“Will that make him a prince?”

“What is he gonna be like?”

“Let’s just hope we don’t get another Blueblood on our hands.”

The princess smiled down at us as she continued. “As my nephew, I expect each and every one of you to treat him like a member of the royal family. I want Marcus to feel welcome when he gets here.”

“Yes Princess,” we said obediently.

She smiled and nodded her head. “You're all dismissed,” she told us, and we all filed out of the throne room. I could still hear everypony talking about the sudden addition to the royal family. Some wondered what he’d be like while others wondered why he was adopted into the royal family in the first place. As for me, there was one piece of info in particular that I was focusing my attention on.

His name.

“Okay, when is that look on your face gonna disappear?” Dusty asked. “‘Cause it’s really starting to creep me out.”

“You heard what his name was, right?” I asked her.

“Yeah. Marcus Cortez. I’m not deaf, y’know.”

“Exactly, Dusty! Marcus Cortez! That’s a HUMAN name! A HUMAN is gonna be living in the castle!”

“Oh, no…” she said with a sigh that was laced with dread. “How are you so sure that it’s a human name?”

“Have you ever heard of a pony named Marcus Cortez? That’s got to be a human name!”

“I’m not sure if I should claim racism on that,” Dusty commented.

“How could you not be excited about this?” I asked her.

“I’m apologize for not sharing your manic affinity for human men,” she quipped sarcastically.

She did have a point, ever since the humans first came to Equus, I’ve been quite… enamored with their males. I remember when they first showed up, too.

I was just ten years old when they first arrived, summer was just around the corner at the time, and a lot of humans came over to vacation in Equus’s tourist hotspots, Canterlot being one of them. Despite the abundance of humans at the time, I didn’t really interact with any of them face to face…

Until school started back up again.

Dusty and I had just started fifth grade, and when we got to our homeroom, we heard a rumor going around that there were a few humans that were gonna be attending our school. Of course, Dusty and I were intrigued as to whether or not it was true…

And then he walked into class.

I could never forget how gorgeous he looked, and to make it even better, he sat in the empty seat next to me! It was my first time seeing a human up close, and I would never forget it!

Unfortunately, my younger self wasn’t as bold as my current self. At the time, I was still a little self-conscious about my height, or lack thereof, and I didn’t know what to say to him. Thankfully, I didn’t have to.

The boy turned his head to me and looked at me with those beautiful green eyes of his. I remember his short blonde hair and those cute bangs that ended just barely above his eyes. I remembered his cute little nose, his smooth looking skin, and those luscious lips.

I never looked at human boys the same way again.

“Hi,” he told me. “My name’s Isaiah.”

“I’m Honey Pot…” I answered shyly.

Isaiah… He was so dreamy…

Now, I had already gotten my first kiss on account of a dare to kiss this one colt I had a crush on at a birthday party, but when I kissed my first human, it was on a whole other level.

It was around December of that same year when I decided to make my move. I had overheard Isaiah talking to some colts from our class, and when I heard that they were talking about girls, I started to listen more carefully.

“Really, Isaiah? You’re in fifth grade and you STILL haven’t kissed a chick?”

“Man, that’s a shame.”

The boy just shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t think that it was a big deal.”

“It IS a big deal!” his friend corrected. “You can’t go your whole life without kissing a girl!”

I felt so sorry for the poor boy. He was being teased over not having his first kiss! I just had to do something to help him feel better. It wouldn’t be right of me to just let him be bullied.

That and I REALLY wanted to kiss him! It’d be a win-win!

Later that day, during recess, I waited until he was alone so that it wouldn’t be awkward for him when I approached him. When he saw me, a smile grew on his face, and I couldn’t help but smile myself.

“Hi, Honey Pot.”

“Hi, Isaiah. Listen, um… I couldn’t help but overhear that you never kissed anyone before.”

His smile wavered a bit when I said that. “Oh, you heard that?”

“Yeah, and I wanted to help you. I know that I’m not a human, but I thought that if you kissed me, then the other colts would stop teasing you.”

Isaiah blinked and thought about the idea for a moment. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

I nodded my head eagerly. Even though it was as much for me as it was for him, I was still concerned about him being teased and was happy to help end it.

We went to a secluded area of the playground where nopony could see us, but then we both stood there awkwardly, as neither of us knew what to do. Sure, I had kissed someone before, but that was just a dare. I had no idea how a normal kiss was supposed to work.

“So… how long is a kiss usually?” he asked.

“I dunno…” I answered.

“Five seconds, maybe?”

I thought on it for a second. “I think that sounds about right.”

We both awkwardly leaned our heads in, and the moment our lips touched, it was like a fire ignited inside me. I became addicted to the foreign feeling of human lips upon my muzzle, and I lost myself in the heavenly sensation.

I was so caught up that I forgot to count.

When I felt Isaiah’s lips pull away from mine. I felt… disappointed, like I came down from an incredible high, and I would’ve frowned at the boy in front of me had he not been looking at me with a happy smile.

“Thanks, Honey Pot!” he said happily as he walked away, and I stupidly leaned against the wall of the school with glazed eyes and weak legs.

“You’re welcome…” I whimpered with a shudder and a ridiculous smile on my face.

Ever since then, I’ve loved humans and only humans. I had turned down several stallions that approached me in high school in favor of humans, although I doubt that with their overzealous personalities, those stallions wouldn’t have been my type even if they were humans. The boys that I dated in high school were all really sweet, not to mention handsome, and to be completely honest, in addition my fetish for humans, I also developed one for younger guys; every guy I dated in high school was an underclassman.

“Hellooooooo… Equus to HP!”

I shook my head and fluttered my eyes as I was pulled back to reality. “Huh? What?”

“You were having another one of your fantasies,” Dusty told me.

“No, it was a flashback this time,” I corrected.

My friend groaned as she rubbed her temples. “Whatever you do, just don’t scare the poor guy when he gets here.”

“Scare him?” I asked, somewhat offended. “I wouldn’t even dream of it.”

A few days later, I was finishing up with dusting the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the Canterlot archives. I never really enjoyed taking care of that area, but that was the way things worked; all the castle maids tended to different areas of the royal property in a weekly rotation, and this week, I was placed in the archives. Thankfully, Dusty was with me to help me cover the area.

“Aaaaaand we’re done,” I sighed as I finished the last bookshelf. “You got the key, right?”

Dusty twirled the key ring on her finger. “Mm-hm.”

“Phew. Good. I don’t want to end up like Tin Kettle. She lost the last key and got a lot of shit for it from the head maid.”

“You think I want to be on the head maid’s bad side? Yeah right. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Dusty and I left the archives and walked to the castle, where we saw the two stallions guarding the front gate having a little chat.

“Hey Platinum Shield, Iron Mace,” I greeted them.

“Afternoon, ladies,” said Mace. “Did you hear?”

“Hear what?” asked Dusty.

“The Princess’s new nephew is here. He just arrived a few minutes ago and Princess Celestia giving him a tour.”

My eyes instantly widened as my ears perked up. “Really!?” I squealed. “Where are they?”

The guards flinched at my sudden change in volume. “Uh, last I heard, they were on their way to throne room,” Platinum Shield told me.

“Thanks!” I said as I ran into the castle so I could see the princess’s new nephew, only for Dusty to fly in front of me and block my path just as I got close.

“Will you take a chill pill?” she reprimanded me. “You can’t just barge into the throne room, Honey Pot!”

“I wasn’t gonna barge in, I was just gonna peek in and see what he looked like. Now let’s go before we lose them!”

Dusty and I snuck over to the main throne room door and listened in to see if Celestia and her nephew were there, and sure enough, we heard the princess’s voice.

“Now, Marcus,” she began, “since I’ve adopted you as my nephew, you’re part of the royal family now, and I’ve already informed the guards and maids that they will treat you as such.”

“Really?” Marcus asked. “That doesn’t make me a prince, does it?”

“Mmm,” I hummed. “He sounds cute.”

“He sounds young,” Dusty whispered. “Now be quiet, what did he say about being a prince?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” said Celestia.

“I’m not saying that… It’s just that I’d rather not draw that much attention to myself, Auntie,” Marcus explained.

“Well, I have kept your adoption hush-hush so far. I suppose if you don’t want to be a prince, I could give you another royal title…” She then paused before speaking again. “How about Duke?”

“Alright, I can work with that, but just don’t make it public; I don’t want anyone treating me differently.”

“Well, he’s definitely nothing like Blueblood,” Dusty whispered. “He doesn’t even want to be a prince.”

“The quiet type?” I asked, more to myself than to her. “Honey likes.”

I could feel the contempt emanating from Dusty.

We then heard the princess laugh. “You sound just like your mother. Okay, then. I’ll keep your status as a duke a secret from the public, but you’ll still be treated like one here in the castle.”

“Thanks, Auntie,” he said.

Dusty tapped my shoulder. “Okay, it sounds like they’re about to leave, HP. Let’s bail.”

“Hold on,” I told her. “I wanna see what he looks like. Just a peek.”

“No friggin way. We’re lucky we didn’t get caught eavesdropping on the princess, and now you want to press that luck!?”

Everything she said just went in one ear and out the other. I just had to see what Marcus looked like. He sounded so cute, and his personality seemed just my type. I wanted to see the icing on the cake! I peered into the room to look at him, and what I saw almost made me melt on the spot.

Marcus had a lovely tan complexion with a gorgeous pair of brown eyes. He also had short black hair that stood up. His body wasn’t very muscular, but it was still nice and svelte. He did look like he was on the young side, but that was the least of my concerns at the time. Time seemed to move in slow motion as I gazed at the Latin angel, but all of a sudden I felt something pull me away from the door. I was still dazed from seeing Marcus, so I couldn’t really object to it. The next thing I knew, I was in my bedroom.

SMACK!

“Agh! What the fuck, Dusty!?”

“Will you get your shit together!?” she yelled.

I groaned. “Oh, you don’t understand, Dusty. Marcus was sooooo fine! And he’s Hispanic! That is so sexy!”

“Just relax, Honey Pot. You don’t even know this kid.”

“Well then, I’ll just have to get to know him, and he’ll get to know me,” I then giggled to myself. “I’m gonna get me some of that hot Latin fire.”

Dusty scoffed. “In that case, I’ll get some ice for when you get burned.”

“You’re such a neighsayer,” I pouted. “You’ll see. Pretty soon he won’t be able to keep off of me.”

“Well, we’ll see about that.”

I smirked. She doubted me now, but I knew that I could get Marcus to fall for me. I just needed to work my charm on him.

First things first, I needed to figure out how I could get close to him.

4 - Octavia's Prologue: Left Behind

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I sat quietly in my bedroom as I sipped my afternoon tea, letting out a content sigh as I relaxed in my rolling desk chair. I looked up at a picture that I had framed and placed on my work desk. It was a photograph of my ensemble mates and me from this year’s Grand Galloping Gala, an event that we’ve played at since our late high school days. They were classmates of mine from the Canterlot University for the Arts, and we were all music majors. I looked forward to seeing them once school started back up again.

Just then, my phone began to ring, and I smiled as I saw the name of the caller.

“Speak of the devil,” I chuckled to myself as I picked up the phone. “Hello?” I answered.

“Hello, Octavia!” an excited male voice said into the phone.

“Frederick Horseshoepin. To what do I owe this honor?” I joked.

“Very funny. Your summer has been enjoyable, I hope.”

“While I’m not doing anything special, I can’t complain. I’ve been staying with my parents all summer, but at the moment I have the house to myself.”

“Looking at our picture from the last Gala, I wager.”

“Am I really getting that predictable?”

Frederick laughed. “I’m afraid so. I don’t blame you, though. It’s best to hold onto those memories while you can, considering that was our last performance together.

I paused for a moment with my mind stuck on those last words of his before clearing my throat and replying. “Yes, so… how have you and Beauty Brass been doing since transferring to Applewood Arts?”

“We’re adjusting well, and Parish is having a good time in Manehattan. It’s just… hard to believe that we’re not an ensemble anymore.”

“I know. It’s also hard to believe that the four of us were just a bunch of high school foals that were lucky enough to be at the Gala. Now look at us; several years later, and we’ve played at every Gala since.”

“I know,” Frederick sighed, “and now Beauty and I have to think about our futures since we’re in our last year of college.”

“Well, don’t think of it as if it were the end. Think of it as if it were a new beginning,” I reassured him. “Do you two have any plans for after graduation?”

“Beauty does, but I don’t. I have no idea what I want to do.”

“You’re a smart stallion, Fred. I’m sure you’ll figure something out in due time.”

I heard him chuckle nervously. “Thanks, Octavia.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sure. We’ll keep in touch.”

I nodded. “Of course. Bye,” I said as I hung up, only to hear several knocks on the front door. “Coming!” I called out as I rushed downstairs to the door and looked out the peephole. When I saw the spiky blue mane and the easily recognizable pair of sunglasses, a smile grew on my face and I opened the door.

“Vinyl!” I greeted the mare with glee. “How are you?”

“Y’know. The usual,” the unicorn shrugged as she removed her sunglasses.

It always brightened my day when Vinyl came to visit. We had been roommates since our freshman year at CUFTA, and we had been inseparable ever since. My ensemble mates may have left, but I still had her.

“Well, come in and have a seat. Would you like any refreshments?” I offered.

“A cherry cola would be nice,” Vinyl said as she made herself comfortable on the living room couch. “Where are the ‘rents at?”

“They’re out running errands,” I told her as I poured her drink. “I have the house to myself for the afternoon.”

“Every young mare’s dream,” the unicorn chuckled.

“So what brings you here?” I asked as I handed Vinyl her drink and sat beside her.

“Well, you know how our school has that study abroad program where they send students to one of its sister schools?”

“Uh-huh…” I asked, unsure of where she was going with this.

“Well, I signed up for it and I’m gonna be heading off to Saddle Arabia next week!” Vinyl’s hands shot up into the air in excitement as she said those words, but all I could do was blankly stare at her in disbelief. “Why aren’t you smiling?”

I blinked in surprise. “Oh, well it’s just… it’s just really short notice.”

“I know, but I had been thinking about it all summer and I finally decided to take a chance on it. Some Saddle Arabian influence could really help take my music to the next level, y’know?”

“Yes… Of course…” I sighed as I took a sip of my tea.

Vinyl gave me a concerned look. “What’s wrong, Tavi?” she asked. “You’re not that upset that I’m leaving, are you? I mean, it’s only for a year, and I’ll be back for the holidays and stuff.”

I sighed again as I placed my teacup on the coffee table and stroked my hair. “It’s not just you leaving that bothers me,” I explained.

The unicorn’s eyes widened when she realized what I meant. “Oh yeah… I forgot that your bandmates transferred to other schools.”

“Out of all my friends, I thought that you would be the one to stay, but now you’re going all the way to Saddle Arabia…” I lamented.

“Well, I can always withdraw my application if you don’t want me to go.”

I shook my head. “No, don’t do that.”

“So you do want me to go then?”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t, but this isn’t about what I want. It wouldn’t be fair for me to tell you what not to do just because I’m uncomfortable with it. If this is something that you want to pursue, then by all means, go for it… but it’s unfortunate that all my closest friends are leaving.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Vinyl looking at me with drooped ears and a sad look on her face. “I’m really sorry, Octi. I didn’t know you felt this way.”

I took another sip of my tea in an effort to soothe myself. “It’s okay, Vinyl,” I told her. “I’ll be fine.”

Despite what I had said, I still wasn’t sure that I’d be able to cope with not having my friends close to me. I mean, as a college student, I should have been prepared for something like this, but the idea of it happening never really hit me until now.

It’s funny… you think that you’d be able to handle something, but when it actually happens, you have no idea what to do about it.

“Well, we’ll make the most out of the next week we have together before I have to leave, okay?”

Despite my lingering sadness at the fact that my best friend was about to leave me, I gave her a smile. “Yes, I’d like that.”

Vinyl smiled back, and then she closed her eyes. “Shit, you’re gonna make me cry now.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Vinyl almost hated crying in front of others. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” I joked.

“So it’s settled, then. We’ll make the best of the time we have left together.”

I nodded with a smile as I tried to keep my head up, figuratively speaking, of course. Unfortunately, the harsh reality that my dear friend was going to eventually pack up and leave was still at the back of my head.

I wanted this past week to last forever, but instead it felt like mere seconds. It was almost as if Father Time was plotting against me. Before I knew it, seven days passed me by in the blink of an eye, and now I was at the train station platform with Vinyl as she waited for her train to Manehattan, where she would take a boat to Saddle Arabia. I looked back towards the exit, where my mother was waiting. I had asked her to give me some time alone with Vinyl before she left, but now I had no idea what to say to her.

“This past week was fun, eh ‘Tavi?”

I blinked and looked at the unicorn, who was looking back at me with a smile.

“Uh, yes. It was nice,” I replied absentmindedly.

Vinyl took notice of my unenthused tone and sighed. “Look, Octi. I know this sucks, but we had a good week, didn’t we? We went to the movies, visited an amusement park, we even went to that music museum you’ve been wanting to go to.”

“I know, I know,” I told her. “It’s just that I’m really not looking forward to being by myself.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. You’ll have a new roommate this year, and that should help you make some new friends. Don’t be such a downer.”

As much as I appreciated her words of encouragement. It didn’t do much to cheer me up.

Vinyl sighed again and put on her sunglasses. “We’ll still be in touch. I’ll Skype you from time to time.”

A small smile worked its way onto my face as I was reminded of the benefits of the integration with humans. “You promise?” I asked.

“Of course,” the unicorn smiled. Just then, an announcement was played on the train station’s PA system.

“Attention passengers, the train to… MANEHATTAN …is about to arrive. Please stand clear of the platform edges.”

Vinyl looked down the tracks as she saw the train come into view. “Well, there’s my ride,” she said, and then she turned back to me. “I’ll call you when I get to Manehattan, okay?”

I nodded my head silently, trying not to cry, but then I felt Vinyl’s arms wrap around me, pulling me into a tight hug.

“I’ll miss you, Octi,” she told me softly as she hugged me. I wasn’t sure if her voice was breaking or if my ears were just playing tricks on me.

Regardless, I hugged the unicorn back just as tightly. “I’ll miss you too, Vinyl,” I said as the tears became harder and harder to fight.

When we let go, the train pulled to a stop and the conductor stepped out. “Next stop, Neighagra Falls! Final stop, Manehattan! All aboard that’s goin’ aboard!”

“Like I said, I’ll call you when I get to Manehattan! Bye!” she said loudly over the crowd of ponies and people entering and exiting the train. Despite the smile she had on her face, I saw a tear run down her cheek as she looked at me one last time before boarding the train. I stood there and watched silently as the train pulled off and left the station, eventually leaving nothing but the smoke from the smokestack behind.

“Bye…” I said as the train disappeared from the horizon, my voice no louder than a whisper.

My head drooped as I walked towards the train station exit, where my mother was waiting for my with a sympathetic look on her face.

“Want me to drive home, love?” she asked.

It took me a moment to answer her. “Yeah…”

I sat silently in the car as my mother drove us home, and I looked out the window as we passed by the different buildings, ponies, and people. Mother noticed my downtrodden demeanor and tried to make conversation.

“You okay there, Octavia?” she asked.

“I’m fine, mother,” I lied.

“Come now, sweetheart. It wouldn’t hurt to tell me how you feel.”

I thought about it for a moment, and then I sighed. “I suppose not,” I said as I sat upright in my seat. “I’m just thinking about how all my closest friends have left and gone on to other things. My former bandmates have transferred out of CUFTA, and my roommate is off to Saddle Arabia while I’m stuck here by myself.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, love,” my mother said empathetically, “but you can’t expect everything to stay the same forever. This kind of thing happens quite often for college students. In fact, you’re rather lucky that you and your high school friends were able to attend the same college. Changes like these are… just a part of life.”

That was the problem. I was never one for change. While I never showed it, I was the one most torn about my ensemble breaking up. I had hoped that we’d all be together forever, and I would always chase away the possibility of that ending.

“I hate change…” I muttered, more to myself than to my mother, and she glanced at me with a sad look on her face for a quick moment.

“Sweetheart, don’t think of it as if it were the end. Think of it as if it were a new beginning.”

My eyes widened as I heard that, as those were the exact same words that I had said to Frederick not a week ago.

“I guess I should learn to practice what I preach,” I said under my breath.

“What was that, love?”

“Nothing, mother.”

She gave me a concerned look as we approached our house, and she parked the car in front of the garage. “Well, as I was saying, you could use this opportunity to expand your horizons and make more friends. All your friends are music majors, but have you ever considered making friends that study other arts?”

“Not really,” I admitted as I got out of the car.

“Then this is your chance to make those connections. You can start with your new roommate. I got an e-mail this morning from the school, and they attached a profile of your new roommate. Rarity, I think her name was. You could try and get to know her before school starts.”

“I don’t know…”

“Octavia, it wouldn’t hurt you to be a little more adventurous,” my mother sighed.

I looked at her with a blank face. “Adventurous?” I repeated.

“Come on, dear. Your father made some delicious egg salad for lunch.”

“Coming, mother,” I said as she walked into the house, and I marinated on my mother’s words, specifically that last one.

Adventurous…

Did she really think that I could be that kind of mare? I had always been the type of mare that would be content with things staying the same, but I had to admit it: that attitude wasn’t doing me wasn’t doing me any favors at the moment… so maybe it was time for a change of pace.

I took in a long, deep breath and looked up to the sky. “Well… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be more adventurous.”

5 - Rarity's Prologue: Closing Up Shop

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My head started to ache as I used my magic to zip my suitcase shut, my hands holding it in place while the zipper struggled to make it past the large gap across the middle.

“Come on…” I groaned, gritting my teeth and shutting my eyes tightly. “Close… close…”

Suddenly, the zipper became much easier to pull, and I was able to close the suitcase with ease. When I opened my eyes, I saw a light green magical aura swirling with my light blue aura.

“You’re welcome, Rarity” I heard from behind me.

I turned around and smiled at the young filly standing above me.

“Thank you, Sweetie Belle,” I said, standing up and ruffling her mane. “It’s nice to see that you’re finally starting to harness your magic.”

“Well, it did help that you already had a grip on the zipper,” she blushed.

“Aww, don’t sell yourself short, sweetheart. I’m sure you have tons of magical potential.”

Sweetie Belle’s ears suddenly perked up. “Oh! That reminds me! The other crusaders and I ran into Twilight on my way back from the movies and she’s gonna give me magic lessons while you’re away!”

“Well, that’s awfully nice of her to offer her time like that,” I chuckled, taking a seat on my stripped bed with Sweetie sitting beside me.

“Well, technically she didn’t offer her time per-se…” My sister’s eyes drifted as she said that. “We had asked her earlier if she’d tutor us after school this year. Apple Bloom wanted to learn potion making and Scootaloo wanted to learn how to build stuff. Twilight said that she’d think about it, and when we saw her at the market earlier, she told us that she’ll tutor us.”

I sighed. “You and your friends can be too eager for your own good sometimes.”

“Well it worked out, didn’t it?” she asked teasingly, giving me a playful nudge.

“True, and I suppose I have no right to say anything since I can be quite persistent when I’m ready.”

“Definitely,” Sweetie giggled, and then she let out a sigh as she looked around my barren bedroom. “Man, I still can’t believe you’re leaving to go to college. Everything’s all packed up and put away. When I passed by your inspiration room, it was probably the cleanest it’s ever been.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at my sister’s observation. “Yes, it is quite strange to see it without all the ponnequins, mannequins, and random fabrics strewn about.”

“Yep!” the little filly exclaimed, falling back onto the mattress. “You’re clean and tidy most of the time, but that room of yours was always a total mess.”

“It wasn’t a mess. It was organized chaos,” I corrected, letting out a scoff as I rested beside her, only for her to roll her eyes in response.

“Whatever you say, sis,” she shrugged. “Still, though… The Carousel Boutique looks really… empty now.”

“Well, I won’t be able to run the shop while I’m in Canterlot, so I have to lock everything up,” I explained. “I won’t be able to open it back up on holidays, but I’ll open it during the summer when I’m here for a longer period of time.”

The young filly stayed silent for a moment, as if she was taking in everything that was happening. “The summer went by so fast. Seems like just yesterday you got your acceptance letter in the mail.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” I laughed lightly as I recalled the memory…

It was early March, and I was in the middle of finishing up some designs for the last few dresses of my spring collection. I stood by the window of my inspiration room, pencils and other design ideas floating around me as I stared at the blank piece of paper in front of me.

“The last few are always the most difficult,” I lamented, digging into the recesses of my mind for some kind of idea…

…as I have been for the past half-hour.

“Maybe this is a sign that I should take a break,” I sighed as I placed the various floating objects on the ground around me. “A nice cup of tea should do the tri-AGH!” I looked up and saw a pegasus coming straight for my window, and I instinctively used my magic to open it at the last second. The pony flew right inside, skidding on the ground as she landed, but miraculously not breaking anything.

“Goodness, Derpy!” I gasped. “Do be more careful!”

Oh, who was I kidding? We went through this on a daily basis.

“Sorry about that, Rarity,” my wall-eyed friend said with a smile, unexpectedly softening my initially perturbed demeanor. “I got a letter for you!”

She handed me an envelope and I smiled back as I took it from her. “Thanks darling.”

“No problem. See ya later!” she said as she went airborne once more, clumsily flying towards the still open window while I did the best I could to guide her away from the more breakable items in my room. When she was finally outside, I shut the window with a sigh of relief, then looked at the letter she had given me. As I glanced over the envelope, I gasped at the seal that was on it:

CANTERLOT UNIVERSITY FOR THE ARTS
ADMISSIONS INFORMATION ENCLOSED

This was it. This was the moment where I’d find out whether I made it in or not. My heart pounded violently as a bizarre combination of fear and excitement overtook me, my hands shaking as I levitated a letter opener over to me. I slowly opened the envelope and unfolded the letter inside, reading the enclosed message aloud.

“Dear Miss Rarity,

With the approval of the Board of Admissions, the Fashion Department is pleased to inform you that your application has been approved and you have been accepted to begin study at Canterlot University for the Arts this fall. Congratulations.”

I froze when I read the message, staring at it in disbelief.

“I got in…” I muttered, the very notion making me question whether or not I read the letter correctly, but after reading it again, I let out a loud squeal of delight.

“EEEEEEEEEEE! I GOT IN! I GOT IN, I GOT IN, I GOT IIIIIIIIIIIN!”

I was so caught up in my excitement that I didn’t even hear the hoofsteps rushing up to my door, followed by the loud slam of the door hitting my wall when it was forcefully swung open.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle called, a frantic, worried look on her face. “I heard screaming! Is something wrong?”

I turned back to look at my sister, an ear-to-ear smile on my face. “Oh, I’m just peachy, darling! I’ve just received the most wonderful news! CUFTA accepted my application and I start this fall!”

Realizing that this wasn’t a state of emergency, Sweetie let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, well congrats, sis. Does the letter say anything else?”

It was at that moment that I realized that I hadn’t even looked at the rest of the letter. I read over the details of my acceptance, mumbling unintelligibly as I did so.

“Your acceptance details are as follows:

Student Number: 14357388
Term Start Date: September 3rd
Program: Fashion
Advisor: Silver Lace
Degree: BFA”

When I got to the last part of the letter, I then began to read it out loud once more.

“You will be receiving a follow-up e-mail from your advisor within the next few days, as well as some supplemental documents containing fee details, tuition expenses, scholarship information, and grants. Once again, congratulations on your acceptance, and we look forward to your attendance this fall.

Sincerely,
Fuchsia Fierce
Fashion Department Representative”

“Ugh… fees…” my sister groaned. “Isn’t CUFTA expensive… like, really expensive?”

I merely chuckled at her concern. “Of course it is, little sister, which is precisely why I’ve been saving up my earnings from dressmaking for the past year and a half, as well as spending some time applying for scholarships.”

“So you really were preparing for this, huh? What are you gonna do with Opal when you’re gone? You know Mom and Dad got a dog recently.”

“I’m sure Fluttershy would love to take care of her while I’m gone. Opal and Angel Bunny get along so well, anyway.”

“That’s what you think.”

“What was that, darling?” I asked.

Sweetie shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Anyway I’ll ask Fluttershy when I tell the others about my acceptance.”

“Celestia help her.”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing,” My sister answered again, shaking her head. “So when did they say the term was starting again?”

“September, I can’t wait for my first day!”

“Quite strange how time flies, isn’t it?” I asked Sweetie Belle.

“It sure is,” she sighed. “I’ll have to get used to living with Mom and Dad full-time, now.”

“Whatever do you mean? You lived with them full-time back when we were foals, before I moved out, remember?”

“Yeah, but still; I’ve gotten used to going back and forth between your place and theirs,” Sweetie explained. “It’ll be so weird not having my big sister around.”

I noticed the melancholic tone in Sweetie Belle’s voice, so I turned to look her in the eye, a warm smile adorning my face.

“I know this will take some getting used to, Sweetie Belle, but trust me; it won’t be as bad as you think. We can still talk on the phone and keep in touch, and I’ll be back to visit when Hearth’s Warming comes around.”

“But that’s three months away…” she whined.

“Yes, it does seem like a long time, but I promise you, the months will go by faster than you think. Just wait and see.”

Sweetie gave me an unsure look, casting her eyes off to the side. “If you say so…” she sighed.

All of a sudden, a loud chime filled the room, and my sister reached into her pocked to pull out her phone.

“It’s Mom,” she told me. “She and Dad are on their way over to pick us up.”

“We’d better get downstairs and wait for them, then,” I said as I grabbed some suitcases and brought them downstairs with Sweetie following behind me, carrying another suitcase. When I reached for the front door, though, I made a sudden stop. “Um… Sweetie Belle, go on outside. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Sure,” she shrugged as she passed me and walked out the front door. With her gone, I turned around and looked around my boutique… and what I was leaving behind.

When I first moved out of my parents’ house, this place was merely a home for me. At the time, I never would have imagined that this building would be the anchor for my dressmaking career. Not only did I receive plenty of business from Ponyville, but I had gotten orders from other cities as well. You could say that I was doing well enough as a businessmare, because I was.

But “well enough” wasn’t enough. I always strived to improve my craft. With Ponyville being the simple town that it was, there wasn’t anyone to mentor me during my early days; I was self-taught. Going to CUFTA was my chance to receive formal training from the best of the best, and to learn from my fellow students as well. This experience would open an infinite number of doors for me…

But I had to leave my home behind as a result of it.

It had always been at the back of my mind, even before I got accepted, but it never really hit me until now.

“I’ll surely miss this place,” I sighed to myself.

HONK-HONK!

“Rarity! Mom and Dad are here!” Sweetie Belle called out, snapping my attention to the pair of headlights illuminating the road in front of my house.

“Just a moment!” I called over the obnoxiously loud hum of my father’s car engine. I dug into my pocket for the front door key, walking outside and closing the door behind me. When I put the key into the lock, I froze for a moment before finally turning it. “There we go,” I lamented as I pocketed my key.

Suddenly, the sensation of a large hand touching my shoulder made me jump in shock, and I turned around quickly to see my father looking down at me.

“G’night, Rarity! Need any help with your bags?”

I stared up at him with a stunned look on my face before regaining my composure. “Ahem. Yes, Father. I’d really like that, actually.”

He gave me a smile and carried the two larger suitcases over to the trunk of the carriage-car while I carried the smaller one. Once they were packed away, I got into the back seat of the car, taking a seat next to Sweetie Belle.

“G’night, sweetie!” my mother said as I sat down.

“Evening, Mother,” I greeted back.

“Alright, family. Let’s head on home!” Father said as he drove away. I looked out the back window as we got further and further away from the Carousel Boutique.

“You alright back there, Rarity?”

I turned around and saw Mother looking back at me with a concerned look on her face. “Oh… I’m fine,” I lied.

Well, it was more of a half-lie. I was a little upset over leaving my home, but I wasn’t distraught. Still, I told her that I was completely fine so as not to arouse any further concern.

We went to the train station early the next day. Despite the early hour, though, the station was still moderately busy. It was the end of summer, and many ponies and people were heading back to their homes. I looked over my shoulder to see Mr. and Mrs. Morrison, two human neighbors of mine, seeing their grandson off as he left with his parents to board their train.

“Bye, Grandma! Bye Grandpa!” he said as he waved goodbye.

Even with all the humans in Equestria, Ponyville had one of the highest pony-to-human ratios in the country, along with Appleoosa. Most of the few humans that lived here were old folks looking for a nice, quiet town to settle into. Cities like Seaddle, Manehattan, and Applewood had a more equal ratio.

My family and I approached our platform with me looking at my watch along the way. My friends should be at the station any min-

“SURPRISE!”

“GAH!” I shrieked as a blast of confetti hit my face, stunning me for a few seconds. “Oh, what in the-”

My eyes shot open when I saw my friends waiting at the platform for me, with a certain pink pony giving me a nervous smile.

“Oops… I guess I went a teeeeensy bit overboard on the confetti.”

“Eheheh… It’s alright, Pinkie Pie,” I told her as I picked confetti out of my mane.

“Your mom and I will give your bags to the luggage attendant, Rarity,” my father said as he and Mother took hold of my suitcases.

“Thanks,” I told them as they went off to deliver my bags.

“We wanted to surprise you when you got here, so we all came a little early,” Twilight Sparkle explained.

I felt somepony’s arm reach around my shoulder, pulling me in for a pseudo hug. “You deserved a nice send-off from us, sugarcube,” said the southern mare that was holding me.

“Thanks, Applejack,” I chuckled. “Now, could you let me go? You’re holding me rather tightly.”

“Oh, right. Ah forgot you was a might frail.”

“I resent that statement,” I grumbled.

“C’mon, AJ! Let the rest of us share some love, will ya?” a cyan pegasus interrupted.

“Calm yer hooves, Rainbow Dash,” said the southern belle. “Ah’m just givin’ Rarity a hard time. Go on, now.”

Applejack shoved me over to Rainbow, who trapped me in a hug of her own. “You’d better show them what’s what at that school, Rares!”

“I’ll be sure to do that, darling,” I smiled as I felt somepony tap my shoulder, and I turned around to see my timid friend, Fluttershy, looking down at me.

“I hope you do well in school, Rarity,” the pegasus smiled as she handed me a gift basket.

“Aww! Thank you, Fluttershy!” I said as I took the basket.

“My pleasure,” she nodded.

Just then, an announcement played over the train station’s PA system.

“Attention passengers, the train to… CANTERLOT …is about to arrive. Please stand clear of the platform edges.”

I let out a deep sigh. “Well, here comes my train,” I said to my friends and my sister as my parents came back to join us.

“GROUP HUG!” Pinkie yelled as they all wrapped me in the tightest, most loving embrace I had ever received. I felt something cold soaking my chest, and I looked down to see Sweetie Belle crying into my blouse. I held her tightly as she sobbed into me, for once not caring about the stains on my top.

“You’ll call me when you get there, right?” she asked.

“Of course, Sweetie,” I answered, tears trickling down my face as the train pulled to a stop by the platform.

“Don’t forget to write!” Pinkie reminded me.

“Feh, nopony writes anymore,” Rainbow scoffed. “Well, except Twilight.”

“Good luck in school, Rarity!” Mother said over the sudden bustle of passengers entering and exiting the train.

“We’ll miss you!” everyone else yelled over the noise.

“Thank you!” I yelled beck as I turned to step onto the train. When my hoof touched the ledge, though, I froze. There was something that I had forgotten. Something that I needed to do before I got on that train.

I turned on my hooves and rushed towards Sweetie Belle giving her a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead. “I’m really going to miss you, Sweetie Belle,” I cried as I held her. “I love you. Be a good student for Twilight, you hear me?”

She was stunned for a moment, but she soon hugged me back. “I will. I love you, too, sis,” she cried.

I let go of my little sister as I rushed back onto the train, my friends and family waving goodbye as the doors closed behind me. I looked out of the window and waved back as the train left the station; my eyes stayed on them for as long as they could before they were no longer in sight. With the train having long since left the Ponyville station, I proceeded down the train car and found a vacant cabin.

I settled down in my seat and reached into my purse, pulling out an old CUFTA guidebook that I had received in the mail shortly after my acceptance. As I perused the contents of the book for the first time in a long while, my drive was slowly reaffirmed. I was leaving my home behind, but once I finished my studies, it would all be worth it.

A determined grin grew on my face as I said to myself: “CUFTA had better watch out, because Rarity is going to blow them away!”

6 - Excitement and Disappointment

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Celestia

I’m not one to brag, but it was a rather beautiful Monday morning as I walked down the halls of the castle with a skip in my step. Today was Marcus’s first day of school at CUFTA, and I couldn’t have been happier for him! The excitement of seeing his smiling face bubbled within me as I made my way to his room…

only to find that it was empty when I got there.

“Huh?“ I asked myself as I looked around his empty bedroom. “He left already?” I crossed my arms in as I left the room, closing the doors with my magic.

“Good morning, princess,” said a voice to my right. My ears perked when I heard the voice and I turned to see one of my maids passing by.

“Oh… Good morning, Dusty Feather,” I greeted back. “Question: have you seen Marcus at all this morning?”

The young pegasus nodded her head. “He was on his way to breakfast with Princess Luna a few minutes ago.”

“Great! Thanks,” I said excitedly as I teleported myself to the dining area, where Marcus and Luna were sitting at a nearby table eating their breakfast.

“Good morning, sister and nephew!” I cheered jubilantly as I pranced over to them.

“What’s up with her?” Marcus whispered to Luna.

“I don’t know. Just act like you don’t notice,” she whispered back, and then she looked at me with a bright smile. “Good morning, Tia.”

“Morning, Auntie,” Marcus said before taking another bite out of his pancakes.

“Aren’t you excited?” I asked him. “It’s your first day!”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to seem like the eager freshman, though,” he answered, taking a sip of his water. “So I can just ask one of the chauffeurs to take me to the school, right?”

“Actually, I have something better in mind!” I smiled, and for some reason Marcus and Luna moved their chairs away from me. “Since it’s your first day, I’m gonna have you go in style! You’ll be riding in one of my best carriages, and I’ll be going with you!”

The first thing I heard was Luna choking on her orange juice.

Marcus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Um… not that I appreciate the gesture, Auntie Celeste, but I’d rather just go in a regular old carriage. Probably the least royal one you have.”

“Really? Why?” I asked, my head tilted to the side in confusion.

“I’d rather not draw too much attention to myself. I don’t want to make a scene or anything.”

“Not to mention the fact that Marcus’s adoption is supposed to be a secret,” Luna added with a cross look. “You know, in case you forgot.”

“Pfft! I didn’t forget,” I scoffed, my eyes averted rom hers. “I was just really excited and didn’t think about it.”

“Riiiiight. Also, is it really necessary for you to accompany him on the ride? You’re going to be killing his vibrations.”

“Killing my vibe,” Marcus interrupted.

“What he said.”

“It’s not uncommon for parents to be there with their kids on their first day of college, Luna,” I stated with a humph.

“If you say so,” my sister conceded with a roll of her eyes. “Regardless, you’ll need to disguise yourself so you won’t be recognized.”

“Uuuugh. Fine…” I groaned, lighting up my horn and changing my appearance to that of a normal golden-maned unicorn. “Better?”

“Much,” my sister and nephew answered in unison.

“In that case, Marcus, meet me out front when you’re done eating so we can head out, okay? I’ll get the carriage ready in the meantime.”

“Okay,” he nodded, his mouth stuffed with pancakes as Luna giggled at the way it made him look.

I, however, was not amused.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, young man,” I told him with narrowed eyes.

He gulped his food down, looking at me sheepishly. “Sorry, Auntie.”

Luna shook her head. “Honestly, Tia,” she muttered under her breath.

I smiled at both of them as I turned around and left the dining hall on my way to the front entrance of the castle.

Luna

“She is just too much, sometimes,” I sighed once Celestia was out of earshot.

“Eh, I kinda expected her to fuss over me a little,” Marcus shrugged as he ate the last of his breakfast. He then stretched his arms and legs out before standing up. “Alright, I’m out. See ya when I get home, Luna.”

“Enjoy your first day, Marcus,” I smiled as I waved him off. I continued to eat my breakfast at my leisure, but I soon heard hurried hoofsteps approaching the dining hall as I swallowed my last bite.

“Who’s in such a hurry?” I wondered as I leaned back into my chair, waiting for whoever was running to appear.

When I found out who it was, I struggled to contain my displeasure.

“Princess Luna!” an elderly stallion shrieked as he rounded the corner.

“Good morning to you, too, Withers,” I sighed.

“Have you eaten breakfast already?” he asked frantically.

I glanced at my plate. “Well, there is an empty breakfast plate with used utensils in front of me, so I think so,” I answered.

My advisor sighed to himself. “Drat. I was hoping to get you started before breakfast.”

“Get me started on what?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I planned to start your diet today.”

“My WHAT!?” I snapped, immediately standing up and flaring my wings as I momentarily slipped into my Royal Canterlot Voice.

Withers stared at me in fear for a moment before fixing his glasses and clearing his throat. “Well, princess, I’ve been observing your eating habits and it’s come to my attention that your lack of a well-balanced diet has begun to take its toll on your body.”

I gave him an incredulous look before glancing over my physique, not noticing any flaws. “Taken its toll… what?”

“Look here,” the stallion said, motioning for my to stand beside him as he took out his tablet.

“For the love of Tartarus, not another chart…” I groaned with displeasure. Withers was practically attached to that infernal device, using it to keep track of schedules and pull out some random chart that was related to whatever lecture he happened to be giving me. In this case, it was one of those height-to-weight ratio charts.

“Can you do me a favor and skip all the mathematics this time?” I asked.

“Of course. You see, princess, you’re six feet tall,” he said as he dragged the silhouetted picture of the mare on the screen to match my height. “As you can see here, the appropriate weight for a mare your height is one-hundred and sixty pounds.” He then added another mare to the chart of the same height but started to adjust her weight. “I talked to your doctor about your physical last week, and her records show that you currently weigh one-hundred and eighty-one pounds, so you’re twenty-one pounds above average.”

“And? It’s not like I’m overweight. In fact, the doctor said that I was perfectly healthy.”

“Even so, a princess must maintain an appearance of absolute perfection in order to inspire her subjects.”

“Perfection is relative,” I retorted.

“In addition, you want to look presentable for potential suitors,” Withers added, ignoring my comment.

I scoffed when he mentioned “potential suitors.” Oh, how I dreaded the idea of arranged marriage. Unfortunately, Withers made me go through a semiannual process of meeting an assortment of desperate stallions that wanted my hand in marriage, but most of those neanderthals would still want my hand even if I was morbidly obese. I could easily tell that they were just in it for the social status it would bring them.

Marriage was the last thing on my list of priorities, as it was something that I didn’t want to rush into, and ideally, I would outright reject any proposals that came my way, but doing so would cause trouble for the diarchy, so I had to wait to hear their offers in full before saying no.

What was truly unfair was the fact that Celestia’s advisor, Kibitz, wasn’t bothering her with marriage, but Withers was so adamant with me. As much as Kibitz annoyed me, especially during my time taking over for Celestia, I’d take him over Withers any day.

“And that’s why your physical maintenance is of the utmost importance, princess. Now do you understand?”

I blinked. I hadn’t listened to a word he had said.

“I don’t, but I really don’t want to hear another explanation, so let’s just assume that I do.”

The stallion let out an exhausted sigh. “Very well, but I’ve already arranged for your future meals to reflect the new dietary regimen that you will be practicing effective immediately.”

My pupils shrank and I could feel my mane and tail becoming heavier. “You’re kidding.”

“Certainly not, princess. From now on, your meals will consist of items that have nutritional value. I have also notified the guards to make sure you don’t try to cheat.”

“You evil little bastard!” I thought vehemently. “How dare you try to come between me and my chocolate chip cookies!?”

“Trust me. This is for your own good. You’ll thank me later.” The old stallion said as he walked off without another word.

In case you’re wondering why I haven’t fired him, believe me when I say that I’ve tried, but apparently Withers has tenure as a staff member of the castle, and his employment cannot be terminated until that tenure is up.

“Eight months. Just survive for eight more months Luna. You can do this.”

Rarity

It was nine-o-clock in the morning when I had arrived at the school. I had stayed in a decent hotel the previous night, which my parents were happy to pay for, and had taken a taxi this morning to arrive here. As I took my first step onto the campus I took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh university air. I lit up my horn, taking out a sheet of paper and unfolding it with my magic.

“Okay, so I’m in Acrylic Hall, Room 116,” I muttered to myself, pulling my luggage over to a directory so that I could find where my residence hall was. “Oh, it’s not that far of a walk. Thank Celestia…” I thought, but then I looked at my bags. “Although, in retrospect… maybe I did overpack.”

I guess hindsight really is twenty-twenty.

Knowing that there was nothing I could do about it, I took hold of two suitcases with my hands and one with my magic, continuing on my trip to my new room, silently cursing myself for packing so much stuff. I didn’t even know whether or not I’ll have space for all of it.

I sighed inwardly as I trudged onward, but then I heard someone approaching me. I turned to my right and saw a dark-haired human standing in front of me.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

Octavia

I looked in the mirror as I combed my mane, nervously anticipating the arrival of my roommate. My room was in pristine condition, as I didn’t want to give this mare a reason not to like me. I was usually very tidy, but I made sure that not a speck was out of place when I cleaned up this morning.

Come to think of it, I never read the email the school sent me regarding who my roommate was going to be. It was originally sent to Mother, but she forwarded it to me in case I ever wanted to see it for myself. I glanced over to my laptop, setting my comb down on my vanity. “I guess now is a good a time as any,” I shrugged.

I sat on my bed, opening my laptop and looking though the emails that I had received over the past month, eventually finding the letter from the school that had my roommate’s profile attached to it. My heart began to race as I clicked the little icon, waiting for the profile to show up.

“Okay… so her name is… Rarity?” I thought out loud. “Sounds familiar. Where have I heard that name before?” I shook the thought out of my head and continued reading. “Okay, age eighteen… first year… fashion major…”

This “Rarity” already sounded a lot different from Vinyl. That mare didn’t give a flying feather about fashion. I was also surprised at the fact that my new roommate was a first year. Then again, the school recently starting pairing some newcomers with more experienced students in order to make their transitions easier. Well, at least that will take some of the pressure off. Whoever this mare was, she was probably more scared than I was.

“Well, I can’t make her feel uncomfortable,” I muttered. “I’ll just have to put on a smile and make her feel welcome. In the meantime, while I wait for her…”

I shut my laptop and grabbed a book from my nightstand, but as soon as I was about to start reading, I heard the door open. My heart jumped in my chest as I looked up to see a white unicorn mare standing next to a fair-skinned human boy.

I let out a relaxed sigh as I got up to greet them.

Honey Pot

“So, HP,” Dusty Feather said as we returned to our room. Several hours had passed since breakfast, and the clock had struck noon, which meant that it was time for our scheduled break. “It’s been a month since Marcus moved in. I thought you would’ve made a move by now.”

“I could do without the taunting, thanks,” I retorted.

“I’m just sayin’. You were so set on making him yours and all.”

“I know, I know! I’m just… waiting for the right moment. Besides, I’m still considering my approach.” I mulled it over for a minute before my eyes widened in realization. “Wait, Marcus is seventeen, right?”

My pegasus friend sighed. “Yes, and like I said before, it’s kinda creepy that you’re preying on a kid that’s ten years younger than you.”

“So what if there’s an age gap?” I asked. “My mom is twelve years older than my dad.”

“I didn’t mean that the age gap was bad, I’m just- Wow. Twelve years? Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that the way you’re putting so much thought into this is a little strange, not to mention unnecessary.”

“Whatever! Back to what I was saying. Teenage boys love hot older females, right?” I asked.

“Some do, yes, but I don’t think you should make that kind of generaliza-”

“Well, I’ll just have to show him that this hot older mare doesn’t mind a little young blood!” I declared with determination boiling in my chest.

“If you ask me, the kid doesn’t seem like that type of-”

“Oh, Dusty. Dusty, Dusty, Dusty. You don’t know males like I do.”

She rolled her eyes. “Apparently not.”

“Now I just need to wait for the right time to make my move, and he won’t be able to resist me.”

Dusty Feather let out yet another sigh. “Just promise me you won’t scare the poor kid.”

I scoffed at her, turning my head and looking into a nearby mirror.

“Oh, please. What could he possibly have to be afraid of?”

7 - I Wouldn't Call it Spying...

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Celestia

I had just finished a meeting with a group of delegates from the Griffon Empire, and I was in serious need of a break. I had the rest of the afternoon off, and I had plans to spend it with someone I really cared about.

When I approached his room, I knocked on the door, hearing shuffling sounds from inside, followed by the words “Come in.”

I opened the door to see him pulling a hoodie out from his closet. “Hey, Mom,” he said absentmindedly as he threw the jacket on.

Did he already have plans?

“Hello, Orion,” I greeted with a wary look on my face. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah. The guys and I are headed to the bowling alley and then we’re gonna catch a movie afterwards. I’ll probably won’t be home until around ten tonight.”

A frown grew on my face as my ears drooped, disappointed that my son already had a full day today. “Well, I was hoping we could spend the day together and perhaps visit your father tonight,” I said, hoping to sway him. “It’s been a month since we’ve last gone.”

“I know, but my friends and I already made plans, and I don’t want to leave them hanging,” Orion rebutted. “Can we go tomorrow?”

“I won’t be able to go tomorrow, sweetie. I’m going to be busy all day and by the time I get off, I’ll be too tired for us to go.”

Orion let out a sigh as he looked at his watch. “Well, I gotta head out, Mom. I’m already running late and I don’t want to keep my friends waiting.” He zipped up his black hoodie and headed out the door, his messy tail brushing my side as he passed me. “We’ll go visit Dad some other time, okay?”

“Sure Orion,” I sighed, looking down in disappointment before turning to look at him as he briskly walked down the hallway. “Have fun!” I called out.

“I will!”

“Be safe!”

“I will!”

“I love you!”

“Love you too!”

“Don’t spend too much money on snacks!”

“Mom!” he said, turning and looking at me with an annoyed face. I chuckled a little as I waved him off, but I still felt rather lonely.

I was really looking forward to visiting Orion’s father with him. We were only able to do so once a month, and he used to love seeing his dad even more than I did.

The sound of flapping wings made my ears perk up, and I turned to see Philomena flying towards me, cawing happily as she did so.

“Good afternoon to you, too, Philomena,” I smiled. “I hope you’re having a better day than I am.”

My pet phoenix opened her beak to respond, but what came out of her scared me out of my wits.

“BEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEEP! BEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEEP! BEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEEP!”

“Gah!” I shrieked as I fell out of my bed, landing on the floor with a thud. I let out a painful groan as I rolled onto my stomach and reached up for my nightstand, pulling myself up so I could see the time.

Six-o-clock AM.

“Already?” I sighed, finally getting onto my hooves. I levitated my golden silk sleeping robe with my magic, clumsily bringing it towards me and putting it on.

Another one of those dreams, fantasies of what could have been… They’d always happen towards the year’s end, and increasingly so as the end of November drew closer. Since Luna’s return, I made a habit of blocking my dreams so she couldn’t find them on her nightly surveys.

I went through every measure I could to keep that part of my life a secret.

A yawn escaped me as I tied the string around the robe, walking out of my room and heading towards the nearest mountainside balcony.

Sometimes this part of my job is the most tedious.

Octavia

“Would you like some tea, Rarity?” I asked the unicorn as she walked out of the bathroom, having just taken a shower. I perused the kitchen cupboards, wondering what flavor I should drink.

“Yes, please,” she answered as unwrapped the towel that had been holding her mane up. “What do you have?”

“Most everything. I’m somewhat of a tea connaisseuse.”

Rarity smiled as she looked through her closet. “Well, in that case, I’ll have some Jasmine.”

“Coming right up,” I said, taking a moment to think about what I wanted. “You know what? I think I’ll just have what she’s having,” I thought in surrender, preparing two cups of Jasmine tea.

Rarity and I sat next to each other on the couch, sipping away at our drinks. It had been five days since she moved in, and so far, I really liked having her around. For one, she kept her side of the room clean, which was one of the only gripes I had with Vinyl back when we were rooming together. I glanced over at Rarity’s bed and smiled at how spotless it was.

“You know, Octavia, I feel like going out on the town today!” the unicorn suddenly declared, causing me to snap my head back towards her.

“Oh really? What did you have in mind?”

She thought about it for a moment. “Actually, I’m not really sure. There’s just so much to do here in Canterlot that I’m not regularly exposed to in Ponyville.”

“Well, how about we go to the Canterlot Museum of Art? I don’t know if you’ve been there before, but they’ve made some recent renovations, so it’ll still be a new experience.”

I could’ve sworn that I saw Rarity’s eyes lit up like Hearth’s Warming lights at that moment.

“I absolutely LOVE that idea! It’ll be great to see some fine art! You know what? We should invite Marcus to come with us! The three of us will have our first outing together.”

I was taken aback by Rarity’s sudden excitability. Every now and then, she would have one of these outbursts, which always managed to shock me whenever I was around to witness one of them.

Wait, she wanted Marcus to come with us?

It was at that point that I became a little unsure. Because Rarity and I were roommates, it made it easier for me to get to know her, but Marcus was a different story. I had only seen him a few times since our first meeting, and he had been with Rarity all those times. I didn’t really know much about him, and I wasn’t sure if he’d be interested in museums.

I know Mother said to “be more adventurous,” but it’s a lot easier said than-

“Hello, Marcus! How are you?”

Huh?

I looked behind me and was surprised to see that Rarity was at her nightstand, talking to Marcus on the phone! When did she even get up from the couch!?

The unicorn seemed to pay no mind to my reaction as she continued to speak into the phone. “I hope I didn’t wake you up, darling… Oh, okay. Well, Octavia and I were headed to the Canterlot Museum of Art today, and we were wondering if you would like to join us.”

There was a long pause after that, prompting me to worry a little? Did Marcus not want to go? I didn’t want him to think that Rarity and I were too pushy.

“We were thinking about going at around noon,” she suddenly said, my ears perking up at the sound of her voice. There was another short pause before she said “Fabulous! Oh, and the museum has a café, as well, so we can all grab a bite to eat while we’re there!”

I let out a relieved breath, sinking back into the couch.

“Of course, Marcus. Bye!” the unicorn chirped before hanging up the phone and turning to me. “He’s going to meet us at the school’s main entrance at noon.” She then tilted her head, looking at me with a bemused expression before giggling at me. “Oh, darling. You need to learn to loosen up a little. There was no need to be so nervous. The worst thing Marcus could’ve done was say no.”

“Yeah. Right…” I chuckled nervously.

“So, now that we have plans, I was wondering if you could help me pick out an outfit to wear, we only have an hour to get ready.” Rarity smiled, skipping over to her closet.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Only?”

Luna

I tried not to regurgitate as I continued to eat my breakfast. Thanks to that accursed diet that Withers had forced upon me, all of my meals were limited to items that only had nutritional value. Today’s breakfast consisted of a bran muffin to start off, followed by a bowl of oats.

It was the blandest meal I’d ever consumed.

Marcus had long since left me. Once he was finished with his breakfast, he had to get ready to see some friends of his, leaving me to suffer through this terrible ordeal. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten my breakfast this slowly.

I let out a depressed sigh. Why me? Why did Celestia get the advisor that was obsessed with scheduling while I got stuck with the one that wanted to control my personal life? I’m a grown mare, for Equestria’s sake! What I do with my diet and my romantic life is my choice and mine alone!

“Okay, Luna. Calm down,” I thought. “You’ll get through this. You’ll figure out a way to outsmart that wretch of a stallion. All you need to do is survive for now until you can figure something out.”

Another sigh escaped me as the thought of losing weight crossed my mind. My current weight may have been above average, but I really liked the way I looked. My curves were in all the right places, and my body had a nice squishy feel to it, like I was a curvy, blueberry-flavored marshmallow, assuming the existence of such a thing. Additionally, my physician said that my weight was still healthy, so it’s not like I was risking my life or anything.

Above all else, though, I really enjoyed teasing Marcus.

Ever since he first came to Equestria, I’ve been pestering him about how he had been staring at me when we first saw each other after two years. We both knew that he was just surprised at how different I looked compared to back then, but I would jokingly claim that he was actually ogling me. The flustered and overwhelmed faces he’d make were simply priceless. How could I not find enjoyment in that?

Alas, once I start losing weight (and by extension, my squishy, marshmallowy physique), Marcus will stop staring, and then I’ll have nothing to tease him about, which would be a shame. Being able to tell jokes and laugh with him was one of the two things that got me through a day of dealing with Withers, the other being chocolate chip cookies.

And I’ve already lost access to one of those things.

As I managed to wash down the rest of my oats with water, I saw Celestia passing by as she left her morning court, and she waved at me happily once she saw me.

“Good morning, Luna!” she greeted cheerfully.

“There is nothing ‘good’ about this morning,” I scoffed.

“Oh, right. I overheard the guards talking about the diet that Withers put you on. How’re you handling it so far?”

“It’s only a matter of time before I start having suicidal thoughts,” I lamented. “I can’t live without my sweets…”

“I think you’re just going through withdrawal,” Tia said with a nervous look. “I’m sure you’ll be able to endure this.”

“I sure hope so…”

“Oh, by the way, have you seen Marcus at all this morning? He wasn’t in his room when I passed by.”

“He was here earlier for breakfast, but then he had to get himself ready. He’s going to be meeting up with some friends of his from school.”

At that moment, a worried look grew on my sister’s face, but it only lasted for a split second before disappearing as suddenly as it came. “Oh. I see. I guess he forgot to tell me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I guess so… Well, I’m sure he’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re in a massive city like Manehattan, and he’ll be with ponies that know their way around. At least that’s what I assume.”

“Did he say where he was going?” Tia asked.

I gave her another look. “Um… I think he said that he and his friends were going to an art museum.”

“Alright then,” she smiled. “I’ll see you later, Luna. Good luck with your diet.”

“Thanks. Heaven knows I’ll need it,” I sighed, watching Celestia as she walked off.

Why do I get the feeling that I shouldn’t have told her where Marcus was?

Celestia

I didn’t get it. Why would Marcus go out without telling me? My mind began to wonder what would happen to him. Sure, he was with friends, but he’s never mentioned them to me, so I had no idea who they were! I didn’t want my precious nephew to fall into the wrong crowd!

“What am I gonna do?” I thought. “I know it’s important for Marcus to have independence, but I just don’t feel right with this.”

I had reached my bedroom, worry building up inside me as I paced back and forth. “I promised Maria and Hector that I’d take good care of him. What would I say to them if something bad happened to him? They put their trust in me and I can’t let them down, but what can I-”

And just like that, it hit me. Luna said that Marcus was going to an art museum. Now, there were several museums of different kinds in the city, but there was only one museum of art, so there was no doubt that Marcus would be headed there. With that being the case, I thought that maybe, if I went to the museum myself in disguise and watched him from a distance, then I’d be one hundred percent sure that he’d be safe.

With this brilliantly concocted plan (if I do say so myself) in mind, I immediately went into my closet and found a simple white sundress and a matching hat to go with it. Looking into the mirror after redressing myself, I subdued the magic in my mane and tail, effectively causing them to be affected by gravity and fall from their non-existent breeze. I then used the subdued magic to hide my two massive protrusions.

The ones on my back, not on my chest.

“I should definitely change my mane color, too. Seeing a mane colored like mine will make me stick out like a sore thumb.”

With a snap of my fingers and a spark from my horn, I changed my mane and tail color to a very pale pink.

“Hmm… I should disguise myself more often.”

After taking that short moment to admire myself in the mirror, I grabbed my phone and sent out a text to Marcus before leaving the castle:

'Luna told me that you were headed to the art museum with some friends. Stay safe, and let me know when you get home.

-Celeste <3'

I arrived at the art museum at twelve-twenty in the afternoon, standing idly outside the building as I waited for my nephew to arrive.

“Okay, it takes a half hour to walk from CUFTA to here, so he should be here in about ten minut- wait.” I blinked as I suddenly saw Marcus approaching the building. “What the-? How did he get here so fast, unless… he took a shortcut! Why didn’t I think of that?” I let out a sigh of relief at the fact that I arrived early.

I watched Marcus as he walked up the staircase, and I noticed that there were two mares with him, and seeing who they were surprised me.

The mare to the left of Marcus was a white unicorn with a curly indigo mane and tail and blue eyes. I immediately recognized her as Rarity, a close friend of my former student, Twilight Sparkle, and the element of Generosity. Twilight did mention that Rarity was coming to Canterlot for schooling, but she never mentioned which school she was going to. On top of that, I was so busy preparing Marcus’s arrival that I didn’t even arrange a welcome for her.

The second mare, walking to the left of Rarity, was another one that I recognized. She was an earth mare with a grey coat, a dark grey mane and tail, and purple-colored eyes. I remembered seeing her at the Grand Galloping Gala several times over the past few years, and I’d been hearing that her ensemble had recently gone their separate ways, with her being the only one that stayed in Canterlot.

I let out a relieved sigh. Those two mares were very responsible young ladies, and if Marcus had to go out into the city with anypony from school, I’d prefer it to be them.

“Well, now I know that Marcus is with two mares that I trust,” I thought. “Hang on… Marcus is with two mares! Aww! He didn’t tell me that he had lady friends! That is so adorable!” I knew that Marcus was safe with those two, but now my worry was replaced by an overwhelming curiosity. “Is he on a date with them? Is he trying to impress them so they’ll want to be with him? It makes sense now that I think of it; he was probably nervous about his romantic life and didn’t want to tell me. That’s so cute! I definitely need to see where this goes.”

…What?

Oh, you think I was spying? That’s a rather harsh way to put it. I like to think of it as… looking out for my precious nephew.

Besides, I don’t think I’ll be doing any harm.

8 - Holiday Spirits

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Octavia

“So how has the first month of school been, love?”

“It’s been pretty good, Mother,” I said to the mare on my laptop screen.

“You and your roommate have been getting along, I hope.”

I nodded. “Mm-hm. Rarity’s a really nice mare. We actually have a lot in common.”

“That’s good to know. How about your human friend? What was his name again?”

“Oh, Marcus? He’s really nice, as well. He, Rarity, and I have gone out a few times already, and I’ve been helping him get acclimated to the Canterlot atmosphere, teaching him where all the major landmarks are and what-not.”

“Well, that’s really nice of you, dear!” my mother said cheerfully. “I told you that making friends in other majors would be a good idea.”

I rolled my eyes. “Uh-huh.”

“Well, I’m about to leave for work in a few. I’ll talk to you later, okay? Love you!”

“I love you too, mother,” I smiled, and just as I ended the call, the door to the dorm room opened and and Rarity walked in holding two envelopes, a flyer, and a magazine.

“We’ve got mail, darling!” she chirped jubilantly as she handed me the magazine and one of the two envelopes.

“I don’t know how you can be so upbeat in the morning without something in your system,” I commented as I looked over the cover of Musician’s Monthly. “I can’t fully wake up without a cup of tea in the morning… Speaking of which, I think I’m in the mood for some Earl Grey today.”

“Well, in my profession, it helps to be a morning pony, so I’ve… conditioned myself, so to speak,” she explained as I prepared my tea. “Oh, and before I forget, we also got this flyer for an upcoming school event. There’s going to be a Pre-Nightmare Night party!”

“Yeah, the school has one every year in the middle of October,” I told her. “I’ve never gone, but I’ve heard a lot about it from my classmates. The various student clubs set up booths and tents around campus and sell trinkets, clothes, food, and other attractions. There’s even a haunted house run by the Performing Arts club. It’s a big fundraising opportunity for the club and it gives the Fashion majors a chance to check out the competition for the big costume fashion show on the actual Nightmare Night.”

I noticed Rarity’s ears perk up in an instant. “Hang on… did you say ‘fashion show’?”

“Mm-hm.” I nodded. “The designers have their creations worn at the Pre-Nightmare Night festival so that they can check out the competition and make modifications to their own… why are you looking at me like that?”

“You know, Octavia, darling,” she said sweetly, “I don’t know if anypony has ever told you this, but you have a lovely physique that’s just perfect for modelling.”

I blushed. “Oh, really? Well, I’ve never been told that before but- Hold on a second!”

“Oh, come on, Octavia!” the unicorn begged, getting on her knees and holding onto my legs. “I really need a model for the show, and I do mean it! You do have a great physique.”

“I don’t know, Rarity… I mean, I’ve been on a stage before, but modelling? That’s a little out of my comfort zone...”

“Please?”

“But-”

“Please?”

“I-”

“Please please PLEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!”

It hurt to say “no” to Rarity, it really did, but I was really unsure about this. I don’t know if I would be well-suited for-

“Octavia, it wouldn’t hurt you to be a little more adventurous.”

My mother’s words suddenly echoed in my mind, and after brief consideration, I cursed myself for what I was about to agree to.

“When will my costume be ready?” I asked with a tinge of regret.

The next thing I heard was a squeal that was loud enough for the Crystal Empire to hear. “YES! OH, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!”

“Don’t mention it...” I chuckled nervously.

“I wonder if Marcus needs a costume, too,” she thought out loud. “I’ll have to ask him on the way to class today.”

“Speaking of which, isn’t your next class in twenty minutes?”

“Oh, you’re right! I suppose I should get going, then. Thanks again, Octavia!” she said again before leaving the room.

I let out a long sigh. “All this craziness and my tea isn’t even done yet,” I muttered. I looked over at the flyer that Rarity had brought in and saw the section about the haunted house. While I wasn’t one for horror, I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t at least intrigued by it.

Maybe I’ll go if Rarity and Marcus go with me.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

Celestia

“I’m telling you, Tia! This diet is KILLING me! If Marcus hadn’t snuck me that blueberry muffin, I’d probably be dead right now!”

“I think you’re blowing this whole thing way out of proportion, Luna,” I sighed as I continued to look over the numerous e-mails that I had received over the last few days, as I had been doing all afternoon. “I’ll agree that Withers’ methods are a little unnecessary, but since he has tenure-”

“Since he has tenure, I cannot fire him. Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she groaned. “There has to be some kind of loopy hole in the system, though.”

“You mean a loophole?”

“Whatever it’s called, I need one.”

I let out a groan.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sister,” Luna pouted crossly. “If I’m annoying you, I’ll gladly vacate your office. You clearly have more important things to do.”

“No, no. It’s not you,” I corrected. “I just got through this last e-mail, and I’m a little tired from reading all that business stuff, is all.” I immediately closed my inbox and went to my usual news site, catching up on current events, but then one article in particular caught my eye. “Luna, come over here for a second.”

My little sister curiously walked over to me, glancing at my computer screen to see what was going on. “College Students Arrested in Las Pegasus?” she read aloud.

“There’s a video embedded into the article.”

“You’re talking to a mare that just figured out computers. Simple terms, please.”

I sighed. “We can watch a video about the story instead of reading it,” I explained as I clicked “play”.

The first thing we saw was footage of young fillies and colts being led to police vehicles, and a newscaster narrated the scene as Luna and I watched it unfold. “Sirens woke up the block as several students at a Las Pegasus community college were arrested last night at a party held by the students. After responding to several noise complaints from neighboring homes, the Las Pegasus Police Department arrived to find copious amounts of illegal substances on site, and the students involved were subsequently apprehended.”

“Only in Las Pegasus,” Luna commented with a chuckle. “Oh, when shall they get their performance together?”

I, on the other hand, was not amused in the slightest. “Luna, this isn’t funny. What if this happens at CUFTA?”

“You’re not serious, are you?” she asked. “You’re talking about one of the top schools in the country, Tia.”

“That doesn’t mean that things don’t happen.”

“I’m sure Marcus will be fine,” Luna scoffed dismissively. “Speaking of which, he should be back by now. I’ll see you later, Tia.”

“Uh-huh,” I mumbled as she left my office. Even as I walked back to my bedroom, I wondered what would happen if Marcus were to attend a party at school. What would happen if anypony offered him drugs or alcohol? How was I supposed to keep him safe?

“Okay, Celestia. Just stay calm. Hector and Maria trusted you to take care of their son for a reason. You’ll be able to figure something out.”

Luna

It had been only ten minutes since I left my sister’s office. In that short time, I went through excitement, shock, disappointment, and slight anger. Never had I gone through this many emotions in such a short about of time.

Why?

Well, somepony let a certain news story scare her into forbidding somebody from attending a party at their school, prompting that somebody to leave that somepony’s room feeling disappointed and cheated.

And I felt just the same for him.

“Was that really necessary, Tia?” I asked.

“What are you insinuating?” she asked back with a defensive tone.

“Nothing, I just think that you aren’t giving Marcus enough credit. I’m sure he knows how to conduct himself. I understand your concern regarding the fact that it’s a college party, but this is an art school in Canterlot, not a community college in Las Pegasus.”

“I can’t take any chances,” she said dismissively. “I have to protect him.”

I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if that was truly her intention. “This is starting to seem less like wanting to protect him, and more like not wanting to let him go. When Marcus’s parents let him come here to study, I doubt they wanted him to stay locked up in a castle all the time.”

Celestia then looked up and gave me the same raised eyebrow, as if I was the one being unreasonable. “Thank you for your input, Luna, but I’ve made my decision, and it’s final. Marcus is not going to that party.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but decided not to. The tone of Celestia’s last words were a clear sign that there was no way she’d change her mind about this. She was definitely not going to let Marcus go to that party.

However, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going.

TWO WEEKS LATER

The night of the party had finally arrived, and Marcus was dressed in his timberwolf costume and ready to go. I cast a temporary flight spell on Marcus before flying out of his bedroom window with him in tow.

“So, what if Auntie Celeste checks my room while I’m gone?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about that. I cast an illusion spell on your room to make it look like you’re in your bed, sleeping like a baby,” I assured proudly.

“Looks like you thought of everything, then,” he said, stroking my ego even more.

“I sure did!” I laughed, reveling in the praise.

It took us five minutes to get to the school, and once we did, we were amazed at how festive the event was. All of the students were dressed in costumes, and there were countless booths and tents around the campus. “I wonder if I should start going to school here,” I thought.

“Thanks again for helping me sneak out,” Marcus told me as we landed.

“It was my pleasure,” I smiled. “Now go have fun, and I’ll make sure Celestia doesn’t find out that you left.” With that, I left the school and headed back to the castle.

Rarity

It’s been about a half hour since Marcus arrived, and he was currently in the haunted house with Octavia. I never pegged her as the horror type, but the mare needed some excitement in her life, so who was I to stop her?

In any case, this allowed me to scour the booths in search of a souvenir shop of some kind. I figured it would be nice to give Marcus a cute little trinket, what with this being his first taste of the Nightmare Night season, and all.

“Hey there! You in the Audrey Hepburn getup!”

I turned toward the direction of the sudden voice. “Me?”

“Yup!” the tall mare in the manticore costume smiled. “You seem like you’re looking for something.”

“Well, I was looking for a souvenir for a friend of mine.”

“Well then you came to the right booth! I’m selling Blind Boxes!”

I tilted my head. “Blind Boxes?”

“You heard right!” she answered as she held one in front of me. “They each cost seven bits, and they have a random piece of handmade jewelry inside. You never know what you’ll get!”

“Well, that sounds interesting,” I smiled as I took out my bit purse. “I’ll take that one off your hands.”

“Pleasure doing business with ya, missy! Enjoy the festival!”

“Thank you,” I said graciously as I headed back to the haunted house, where Marcus and Octavia had just gotten out.

“Wait a sec, where’s Rarity?” Marcus asked.

“Here I am!” I called out as I briskly walked towards them.

“What’cha got there?”

“Well, while you and Octavia were in the haunted house, I made a quick trip to one of the souvenir booths and picked up a little something for you.” I handed the box over to him, and I smiled at the curious face he made.

“What is it supposed to be?” I asked.

“It’s a Blind Box,” I explained. “Inside each one is a random trinket of some kind, but you never know what you’ll get.”

“Really? Cool!” Marcus happily opened the box, his excitement reminding me of my little sister on Hearth’s Warming. The item in the Blind Box turned out to be a metal wristband with the words “CUFTA Pre-Nightmare Night Festival” engraved into it. “Where did you get this?” Marcus asked.

“From that booth over there,” I answered as I pointed in the booth, and then I noticed something… different about Octavia. She couldn’t stop smiling for some reason. “What’s got you so giddy?”

She giggled. “Oh, nothing. I just enjoyed the haunted house more than I thought I would.”

As much as her sudden enthusiasm… surprised me, to say the least, it was nice to see that Octavia was finally enjoying herself.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

Celestia

“I wonder how Marcus is doing?” I thought. “I haven’t heard from him all night. Luna said he was in his room, but he couldn’t have been in there for so long.”

“Good night sister.”

I let out a pathetic yelp as I jumped in surprise, looking behind me to see my little sister. “Luna? Goodness, you scared me!”

“My apologies. Checking up on Marcus, I presume?”

I nodded. “I just want to make sure he’s okay,” I told her before peering into his room. “Oh, he’s sleeping already?” I whispered, a forlorn expression adorned my face as I closed my nephew’s bedroom door. “Maybe I was a little too hard on him. I’m starting to wonder if I’m being a little overprotective.”

Luna shrugged her shoulders. “Well, regardless of whether or not you are, you already made your final decision,” she told me, and I could hear a tiny bit of venom laced within her words.

“I’ll have to make it up to him, then,” I said as I walked past her. “It’s the least I can do.”

I walked back to my bedroom, clutching my sleeping robe as I made my way through the halls. Luna’s moon was the only source of light, but it was sufficient enough to allow me to see where I was going. It took me a while to reach my bedchambers, and while I could have easily teleported there, I needed to think a little, and walking helped the thoughts flow.

“I guess I was being a little paranoid when I said that Marcus couldn’t go. If I hadn’t seen that news article, I probably wouldn’t have said no. Hopefully he’ll give me a chance to make it up to-”

“AUNT CELESTIAAAA!!!”

“No. No. It is WAY too late in the night for this.”

I turned around to look at my other nephew with a fake smile. “Yes, Blueblood?”

“I’m heading out for the night, and I could use some extra bits,” he told me, putting his hand out expectantly.

I resisted the twitch in my right eye as I responded. “Sorry, sweetie. It’s such short notice, and Auntie is a little short. If you had told me earlier, I could’ve-”

“Oh, come ooooooooooooon!” he whined. “Marcus gets to go out and I can’t!?”

Wait… what?

“Could you say that again?” I asked.

“Marcus gets to go out and I can’t?”

“But… But I just saw him in his room. He was asleep!” I said, getting more confused by the second.

“Well, I saw him leaving the castle with Aunt Luna. She was using some kind of spell to carry him.”

In an instant, I teleported into Marcus’s room and looked at his sleeping form. As I walked over to him, I hoped against all hope that Blueblood was lying, but when I reached out to touch Marcus, my hand passed right through him. At first I was shocked, and then I became angry…

And that anger quickly turned into fury!

I threw on a simple dress with a spark of my horn and teleported over to Luna’s room, where she was lying on her bed, reading a book.

She looked up at me and blinked in surprise. “You know, I’m pretty sure knocking was a thing before my banishment.”

I was not having any of her smart-aleck remarks. “Luna, where is Marcus?”

“In his room, sleeping, like I told you the last time you asked,” she answered sarcastically.

“That’s interesting, because Blueblood told me that he saw Marcus flying out of his bedroom window towards the school.”

Luna gave me an incredulous look. “You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, right?”

“Of course, but then Blueblood mentioned that you were flying with him, and that you were using a spell to carry him with you. Sounds a lot less ridiculous, doesn’t it?”

“That may be so, but you’re forgetting that you saw Marcus in his room sleeping not ten minutes ago. I was there with you when you checked.”

“I know, but after Blueblood told me what he saw, I checked again and saw that it wasn’t Marcus sleeping in his bed, but a mere illusion spell meant to fool me.”

I could hear Luna cursing under her breath.

“You’d think that I could trust my sister not to go behind my back,” I said.

“What was I supposed to do?” she asked.

“Mind your own business, for one,” I retorted. “Raising Marcus is my responsibility, and my word is final. I don’t need you being a bad influence on him.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Raise him? He’s seventeen! He’ll be grown in less than a year. If anything, you’re merely taking care of him.”

“Regardless of his age, I’m still his aunt, and he needs to get over his problem with authority.”

Luna scoffed. “If there’s anyone with a problem that they need to get over, it’s you. You keep treating him like a baby when he’s almost an adult. Did it ever occur to you that the more you try, the more you’ll push him away?”

“Luna, I’m warning you, don’t push me!” I threatened. “I don’t want you near Marcus for a month, got it?”

“See? This is exactly what I’m talking about. You have this incessant need to control everything! Mark my words, Marcus will end up wanting nothing to do with you.”

“That’s enough Luna!” I warned. “Drop it or I’ll-”

“You’ll what? Use the Royal Canterlot Voice on me? We both know you can’t bring yourself to do that to your own sister.”

I hesitated. She was right. After all we went through, there’s no way I could use the Royal Canterlot Voice on my younger sister. Besides, she wasn’t who I should be focusing my attention on. I left Luna’s room and flew out of the nearest window, heading towards the night chauffeur. “I need a carriage-car parked at CUFTA as soon as possible!” I ordered.

“Y-yes princess!” he said as he hopped into the carriage-car and hastily drove off. I took to the skies once again and flew at a slightly slower pace in order to give the driver time to get to the school.

“Oh, Marcus. You are in SO much trouble!”

9 - The Waiting Game Begins

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Rarity

With the final hour of the festival upon us, Octavia, Marcus, and I took a break from the festivities, lying on the grass at the back end of the school campus.

“Man, this was probably the best party I’ve ever been to,” said Marcus.

“Mm-hm…” Octavia and I hummed contently.

“I’m glad I’m here with you guys, too,” he told us. “It made the experiences that much more fun.”

“Even the haunted house?” Octavia asked with a smirk.

“Yes, even the haunted house,” Marcus admitted. I was still rather perplexed as to why Octavia was so enthralled by the attraction. I hadn’t expected her to like things like that.

Eventually, the three of us were ready to head back to the festival and enjoy the last hour of it, and as we got up off the grass, Marcus looked at Octavia and me with a smile on his face and said “Man, I definitely don’t want this night to end.”

I opened my mouth the say something in agreement, but I instead heard another, more threatening voice.

“Too bad.”

Octavia and I looked to our left and our eyes widened in shock when we saw a tall, alabaster mare with a long, flowing mane and tail walking towards us. I was very familiar with this mare, but the furious look in her deep magenta eyes almost made me not recognize her.

“For you, this night ends now,” she said, although I had no idea who she was talking to.

“P-Princess Celestia!?” I said fearfully. “What are you doing here?”

“I came here to pick up my nephew. Apparently he thought that he could get away with sneaking out when I specifically told him not to go to this party.”

Wait, Blueblood was here? No, that made no sense. What would Blueblood be doing at a college festival? I then noticed that the princess’s gaze was focused on Marcus, and when I looked at him, I saw that he was shivering like Opal after a bath, but… there’s no way that…

“Marcus, she can’t be talking about you, can she?” I asked, unsure if I was ready for the answer. “Because that would mean-”

“That I’m his aunt,” Celestia finished.

Octavia and I looked at her in disbelief, then we looked at each other, each of us wondering if the other heard what we had heard. Celestia, Princess Celestia, was Marcus’s aunt!? Neither of us could believe it! Octavia then turned to look back at our human friend. “Is that true Marcus?” the earth mare asked.

“So you haven’t told them about me, hmm?” the princess asked. “Looks like I’m not the only one you’ve lied to.”

Marcus winced when he heard that, yet he still tried to defend himself. “Auntie, I can explain-”

“I don’t want to hear it!” she interrupted suddenly, and all three of us winced at that point. Celestia then turned her back to us. “Let’s go, Marcus. You are in SO much trouble.”

Marcus hung his head in shame as he followed his aunt off the school grounds, leaving me and Octavia standing alone in a mix of confusion, terror, and nervousness.

Octavia took a moment to steady her rapid breathing as she looked over to me. “I think we should sleep this off…”

Luna

“Blast it, blast it, blast it!” I cursed out loud as I angrily paced around the balcony outside my room. I heard worried squeaking coming from my pet opossum, Tiberius, who stood by the balcony door, looking up at me in concern, although I was too frustrated to acknowledge him. “Curse that brat Blueblood! Why didn’t I think of him foiling my plan! Now Marcus is in trouble because of me! How could be so stupid to let this happen!?”

Tiberius squeaked louder, momentarily snapping my out of my building self-directed rage. I frowned as I moved my tail over to him, the little marsupial climbing up its length to where my hand was waiting at my hip. “I’m so sorry you had to see that, Tibbles,” I sighed as I brought him to my face. “It wasn’t my intention to scare you. I’m just a little upset, is all.”

My ears perked as I heard the sound of a carriage car pulling up to the castle’s front entrance, and I peered over to see Celestia and Marcus walking out, the poor boy walking behind my sister with a grim look that, despite my distance, I could see very clearly. My eyes narrowed as I shifted my gaze towards Celestia, and I could feel my body tense up with frustration. Why did she have to be so overprotective of Marcus? All this just because of a party? I could only imagine how embarrassed the poor boy was when she showed up at his school.

I looked at Tiberius before walking back into my room and setting him down on my nightstand. “Now you just stay here, Tibbles,” I told him. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”

While he did give me an uneasy look, he ultimately gave a conceding squeak, and I left my room, casting an invisibility spell as I shut the door behind me. I made my way down the halls of the castle, eventually catching up with Marcus and Celestia and following them as they walked. My sister ended up leading him to her room, where she opened the door and looked down at him with a cold stare.

“In,” she commanded.

I could feel how scared Marcus was, and I began to fear for what Celestia might do to him. When she closed the door, I made my way closer, putting an ear against it so I could hear what was going on inside. As I waited, I looked at the guards on either side of the door, somewhat concerned that they didn’t even notice an invisibility spell.

Honestly, what were we paying them for?

“I cannot believe that you deliberately disobeyed me, Marcus,” I heard my sister say. “I thought you knew better than that… To go behind my back like this… I’m incredibly disappointed. And to think that Luna helped you, too,” she continued. “All this effort just to go some ridiculous party.” She took a short pause before continuing. So what do you have to say for yourself?”

My heart began to race. Marcus must have been on the verge of a breakdown. I’ve seen Celestia make grown stallions cry before, and she had the audacity to subject her own nephew to that same fate for something as petty as sneaking out. "All I could do was hope that Marcus wouldn’t suffer too much-

“I don’t have anything to say.”

I blinked. Was he standing up for himself? I sighed in relief, thankful that he hadn’t been reduced to a sobbing mess.

Even as Tia stood her ground, he wasn’t fazed, and he talked to her in a surprisingly calm voice. “This just might work out,” I thought. “If Marcus and Tia can calmly talk this out, then things will be fine.”

Unfortunately, I was about to find out how wrong I was, for as the conversation went on, I began to hear Celestia’s tone becoming more and more agitated, and even Marcus was starting to stir up a bit, something that my sister didn’t appreciate at all.

“Watch your tone with me, Marcus!” she warned. “You think you’re grown, but you’re not! I’ve lived several of your lifetimes and I’ve seen things that you’ve never seen. I know what’s out there, and I know what’s best for you. When I tell you that you can’t go somewhere, it’s because I’m trying to protect you!”

“Protect me from what!?” he asked angrily. “It was a friggin’ college party!”

Oh, no. This was getting bad. Celestia hated it when Marcus swore.

“I told you to watch your tone with me, Marcus. And I don’t appreciate that language, either.”

“Well, if you just let me go to the party instead of locking me up in the castle all night and treating me like a damn baby, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!”

I don’t know what came over me at that moment. For a split second, I felt a terrible chill run through my body, from the tip of my horn to the end of my tail, and in that moment, I became more terrified for Marcus than I had ever been.

“Alright… that is IT!!!” Celestia yelled, and the harshness she put into that last word caused a shockwave strong enough to shake the doors. The previously oblivious guards looked at the door in a combination of confusion and fear. “I’VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF THIS!” my sister’s voice boomed, the tone and distortion sounding very familiar.

She… she was using the Royal Canterlot Voice!

“I AM YOUR AUNT AND YOU WILL SHOW ME RESPECT! YOU THINK YOU’RE BEING LOCKED UP IN THE CASTLE, WELL I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT THAT’S REALLY LIKE! I’M KEEPING YOU UNDER LOCK AND KEY FOR THE NEXT MONTH! YOU’RE GOING TO COME STRAIGHT HOME AFTER CLASS EVERY DAY, AND YOU AREN’T TO STEP FOOT OUT OF THIS CASTLE FOR ANY OTHER REASON! STEP OUT OF LINE EVEN ONCE, AND I’LL KNOW!” There was a brief pause before she began again. “DON’T EVEN TRY TO SAY ANYTHING! YOU’RE LUCKY THAT I WAS GENEROUS ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU A MONTH AND NOT A YEAR. NOW GO TO YOUR ROOM, ORION!!!”

Wait… who?

Orion… it was the first time I’d heard that name. I hadn’t met anyone by the name of Orion before or after my banishment.

“What did you call me?” Marcus asked, sounding just as confused as I was.

There was a long moment of silence before Celestia finally responded. “Just go to your room.”

I then heard footsteps coming towards the door, and I backed away as Marcus left Celestia’s bedroom. The guards looked at him nervously, agitating him. “WHAT!?” he snapped, prompting them to quickly look away as if nothing happened. Once Marcus left the hallway, Tia emerged and addressed the guards.

“Send two guards to his bedroom door,” she commanded, “and let all of the guards know that he doesn’t go anywhere in this castle without an escort, understood.”

“Yes, princess!” they said in fearful obedience, and my sister went back into her room, shutting the door behind her.

“You know who this ‘Orion’ fellow is?” asked the guard on the left.

“How about we just forget what just happened altogether…” answered the one on the right.

The left guard looked at his fellow soldier for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea...” he said as he took out a small radio to alert the other guards. Meanwhile, I made my way down the hallway, following Marcus back to his bedroom, but when I got there, I saw that two guards were already posted at his door.

“I think it’s time for a little nap,” I thought as I cast a sleeping spell, causing the guards to drop like flies.

We really needed some better soldiers.

I shook my head as I walked into Marcus’s room, hoping to cheer him up at least a little.

SUNDAY

Octavia

Rarity and I couldn’t sleep after what had transpired last night. The shock of finding out that Princess Celestia was Marcus’s aunt was apparently a lot to take in. Eventually, after trying and failing to get back to sleep, Rarity and I decided to simply sit on the couch and drink some tea to calm our nerves.

We’ve been up since five in the morning.

“I’m not sure what I’m more surprised about,” said my roommate, “the fact that the princess is Marcus’s aunt, or the fact that he kept it a secret from us.”

I took a sip of my sweet tea as I pondered her observation. “I don’t know, Rarity. He was usually quite open with us. He never came off as the type who would keep secrets.”

“It just goes to show how someone you think you know can still surprise you.”

“Are you mad at him?”

Rarity took a moment to answer. “A little. Knowing that Marcus kept this from us makes me feel like he couldn’t trust us. I don’t know if I’m taking this too personally, though.” She let out a sigh. “What about you?”

I pondered the question for a moment. How did I feel about it? “I can’t really find a word to describe how I feel,” I sighed. “I don’t really feel the same as you. I’m sure Marcus had a reason for what he did, but I’d be lying if I said that I’m not curious as to what that reason is.”

“You and me both,” said Rarity.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

My ears twitched as I head those knocks on our door. “Who is it?” Rarity asked.

“It’s Marcus,” we heard from the other side.

The unicorn looked back at me. “Should we?” she asked softly.

“We did say that we wanted to know why he kept this secret from us,” I reminded her as I got up from my seat. “Whether we’re mad at him or not, this is our chance to find out.” Once I let Marcus in, we had him explain everything to us, Rarity was the first to ask him the question.

“What I don’t understand is why you would keep this a secret from us,” she told him. “Why didn’t you tell us that Princess Celestia was your aunt? Aren’t we your best friends?”

I glanced over at her, and I could tell how emotional she was getting. She must have felt more upset than she let on.

“You are my best friends,” Marcus defended, “I just didn’t want anypony to know that Celest…ia was my adoptive aunt. If everypony knew that I was a royal, then they’d start kissing up to me and pretend to be my friends just so they could brag about it. I didn’t want fake friends, I wanted real ones.”

At that moment, things began to make sense. While Rarity didn’t believe him at first, I realized how Marcus felt about his situation. Eventually, Rarity settled down and the air was finally cleared between the three of us.

“Hopefully we can put all of this behind us and start fresh again,” I thought, “although…”

I looked at Marcus with a smile on my face. “We’ll accept your apology… on one condition.”

MONDAY

Celestia

Today was simply exhausting.

I found it incredibly hard to focus on my work, as my mind kept going back to my outburst two nights ago. When I finally signed the last piece of paperwork, I slouched back into my chair, looking up at the ceiling and staring at the fan hanging from it. Without any work to distract me, I began to think back to the previous night once again.

I never thought that I would ever use the Royal Canterlot Voice on someone I loved, especially Marcus. What would Maria and Hector have said if they found out that I practically screamed at their own son? I promised that I’d take care of him and that’s how I keep that promise?

Still, Marcus did break my trust, and he would’ve gotten grounded regardless of whether or not I used my Voice on him. As much as I regretted using the Voice and as much as I want to take it back, he still needed to learn that there were consequences for his actions.

I shook my head and got out of my chair, hoping that a walk could clear my head. As I wandered aimlessly though the halls of the castle, I came across Luna standing out on one of the balconies. I hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not my presence would be welcomed, but I decided to try and hope for the best.

I cleared my throat as I stepped out into the sunlight. “Good afternoon, Luna.”

She looked back at me, regarding me with an uninterested expression. “Same to you, sister,” she coldly replied before looking back out at the view.

“Can I… talk to you?” I asked.

“Depends. Are you going to use your normal voice?”

“I guess you heard me, huh,” I sighed, my ears folded in shame as I walked up to her side.

“One of my night guards felt the shockwave of it the other night. Since I knew that you had gotten Marcus back from the party, I put the pieces together. So much for ‘never using it on a loved one’.”

“Lulu, I swear, I didn’t mean to break our promise to Star Swirl. It just slipped out.”

My sister merely shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it, now. It is what it is. So, what is it you wanted to talk about?”

“I’ve been thinking about what happened that night and how I should handle Marcus’s punishment.”

“And?”

“I wasn’t supposed to give him such a harsh restriction, but I’m afraid that if I let up now, he’ll think that I’m a pushover and act out again. I just want to know if I’m making the right decision by letting him go through his grounding.”

My sister scoffed. “Well, don’t ask me. I said that he should’ve gone to the party in the first place.”

Luna’s way of using her words as weapons never ceased to amaze me. “Right…” I sighed. “Well, what are you up to?”

“Well, Marcus should be home any minute, so I’ll guess I’ll go down and wait for-” Her eyes widened in fake realization. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot.”

“I get it,” I said as I walked off. I suppose I shouldn’t have asked for support from somepony that wasn’t on my side on the issue, but you’d expect your own sister to show some kind of understanding.

I continued to wander the halls of the castle, the cool afternoon breeze doing little to ease my spirit, until I heard someone rounding the corner, and I barely held in my surprise when I saw who is was.

“Marcus?”

He was home already? Just how long had I been walking these halls? I noticed the absence of a smile on his face, which made me mimic the frown that was there instead. Even though I felt bad, however, I still couldn’t let him think that I was going to budge on his punishment. I took a deep breath and looked forward, focusing only on reaching the corner of the hall. I practically forced myself to use tunnel vision, blocking out anything that wasn’t my destination.

When Marcus and I finally passed each other, I slowly and silently let out a breath of relief and quickened my pace a little. As I reached the corner, though, I felt the urge to at least look back at my nephew before I left. “Just one quick glance won’t hurt…” I thought.

I looked back and watched as Marcus continued on, and averted my gaze once he made a left. A sigh escaped me as I began to feel bad for putting him through this.

But I still had to press on.

Honey Pot

“So, word’s going around that Marcus got grounded,” Dusty Feather told me as she changed out of her uniform.

“I heard. One of the guards told me,” I said. “She said that she felt a light tremor while she was patrolling the east wing of the castle, and she later found out that the princess had used the Royal Canterlot Voice.” I sighed as I collapsed on my bed. “Oh, my poor Marcus!” I cried. “To think that he’d end up in trouble like this. I’m sure that whatever it was, he must be innocent!”

Dusty scoffed at me. “I didn’t know you were auditioning for Law and Order, HP.”

“Don’t mock me,” I mumbled.

Just then, an idea sparked into my head, and the cogs began to turn at full speed.

“Hold on a sec! I think I can use this to my advantage!” I exclaimed as I shot up out of my bed.

“Say what?” Dusty asked, confused.

“Word around the castle is that Marcus is pretty much under lock and key while he’s grounded,” I explained. “I could use this time to introduce myself, get to know him, and have him get to know me.”

“Don’t you think it’d be a little weird that a grown mare that’s ten years older than him would want to randomly strike up a friendship with him?”

“You’re not thinking big enough, Dusty,” I said in a singsong voice. “Since he’ll be spending all his spare time in the castle, he’ll want to take advantage of his access to the maids sooner or later, and once he does, I’ll be the first one there to help out! From there we’ll start talking, and it’s all smooth sailing from there.”

“I still think this is a really farfetched idea, Honey Pot,” said Dusty.

I giggled, finding her doubt cute. “Oh, ye of little faith…”

10 - The Waiting Game Continues

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Honey Pot

“So what’s your ‘Master Plan’?” Dusty Feather asked me.

“Well, the head maid assigned you to bring Marcus his meals, right?” I asked back.

“Yeah…”

“Well, why don’t you use one of your sick days tomorrow?”

The pegasus raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

“It states in the employee handbook that if a maid is to use one of her sick days, her roommate will be the first line of contact to replace them before requesting a different replacement from the head maid,” I explained. “It was on our entrance exam. Don’t you remember?”

“Don’t you remember that I barely passed that exam?” Dusty reminded me. “Besides, I’ve been trying not to use any of my sick days all year so that I can score that end-of-the-year bonus.”

I walked up to my friend and got on my knees, looking up at her with puppy-dog eyes. “C’mon! Can’t you take one for the team? We already make good money with this job! You don’t need that bonus!”

“And you don’t need to be creepin’ on a kid that’s ten years younger than you.”

“Show some compassion, Dusty! Haven’t you ever been in love before? Why would you be so cruel to deny me the chance to formally meet the man I love? Have you no heart?”

She furrowed her brow. “Y’know, Honey, if this maid gig ever goes south, you’d make for a decent actress.”

“Dustyyyyyyyyyyyy! Please do this one small favor! For me? Don’t you care about the happiness of your best friend, Honey Pot? Pleeeeeeeeeeease?”

“Okay, okay, fine!” she shouted, finally giving in. “Have I ever told you how annoying you sound when you whine?”

“Yes, and have I ever told you how awesome of a friend you are?” I answered, a smile on my face.

“And don’t you forget it,” she said, folding her arms and letting out a snort. “So, you’ll get to give Marcus his meals for one day. What then?”

“Well, I’m assigned to work in the castle infirmary during the next duty rotation. Since your position serving Marcus will last for the whole time he’s grounded, I’ll submit a shift exchange form so that I’ll be serving his meals when the next rotation comes around. In the meantime, I’ll use tomorrow to formally introduce myself to Marcus so he’ll at least know who I am before we make the official switch.”

“How come you never did this much planning in school?”

“Because this is important!”

Dusty Feather rolled her eyes at me and groaned. “This should be interesting.”

I lightly chuckled to myself. “Oh, it will be.”

THE NEXT DAY

I felt like I was on top of both worlds as I pushed the breakfast cart down the castle halls, humming musically with a skip in my step.

“This is it! I finally get to introduce myself to Marcus!” I thought, my heart pounding faster and faster with each step I took towards his room. “Alright, Honey Pot. Calm down. Don’t lose yourself in the moment. You gotta remember the game plan; act casual, while still giving off the allure that only an experienced mare can give.”

I smirked as I got closer to Marcus’s room, confident that I could woo him with my charm and sex-appeal. If there was ever a time to be thankful for my somewhat revealing uniform design, it was right then. When I approached the guards posted at his door, they gave each other uneasy looks before turning to me with suspicious expressions on their faces.

“What are you up to, Honey Pot?” the one on the left asked.

“Wha? What am I up to?” I innocently asked back. “Whatever do you mean?”

“You know full well what we mean,” the guard on the right answered.

“How could you be so wary of me when you know that I’m a trusted servant to the royal family? I am deeply, deeply offended!”

“Alright, spare us the theatrics,” the left guard said before knocking on the door. “Sir Marcus, your breakfast is here.”

“Coming!” I heard from the other side. This was it, my chance to make my first impression on Marcus. If all goes well, he’ll fall for me in an instant!

Once the door opened, I had to resist the urge to pounce on the boy. He was absolutely gorgeous! Oh, where do I begin? His smooth-looking, youthful, delicious, fair skin, his luscious black hair, his slim figure that walked the line between boy and man, or his tantalizing brown eyes that were like windows to the Latin fire waiting to burn inside his soul!

Who better than me to bring that fire out?

“You’re not the usual maid that brings me my meals,” he said to me, the sound of his gentle voice caressing my ears.

“Oh, she’s sick, Sir Marcus. Since she wasn’t here to take care of your catering today, I took it upon myself to cover for her in her absence,” I answered with a sultry tone.

“Uhh… thanks,” he said as he took his breakfast.

“It was my pleasure. If you need any snacks or anything, just ring the kitchen and I’ll come up with a cart for you.” With that, he’d know that I’d be willing to serve him whenever he wanted. What boy doesn’t love that?

“Thanks,” he said again. “So I guess I’ll see you at dinnertime.”

“Mm-hm!” I bowed before turning around and leaving, already counting the hours before we’d meet again later that evening.

“Not bad, HP. Not bad at all. You’ve officially met Marcus, and know it’s only a matter of time before he’s begging on his knees for you. Oh! Is that staring I feel?” I flipped an empty pan up and sure enough, I saw a certain human looking at my derriere. “Hm… If he’s already staring at me, then this might just be easier than I thought.” I resumed my musical humming as I continued down the hall, happy that I finally introduced myself to… wait… “Why do I feel like forgot something important?” My pace slowed down as a pondered what I could’ve possibly neglected to do. My introduction was damn near flawless, so what could I have-

My heart almost stopped when I realized it.

“I forgot to tell him my name!!!” I thought in despair. How could I have forgotten something so important!? Of all the things to forget, it had to be to tell him my blasted name? I’m such an idiot!

Well, I’ll just have to remember to tell him when I see him this evening.

THAT EVENING

Celestia

“Well, that’s does it for today’s duties, Princess… Princess…?”

“Hm?” I asked absentmindedly.

“Are you well, Princess Celestia?” my assistant asked. “You’ve seemed pretty preoccupied as of late. Is something the matter?”

I gave him a false, but reassuring smile. “It’s nothing to fret over, Kibitz. I just haven’t been getting much sleep, what with all this work I’ve been doing.”

“Well, your agenda has been getting rather hectic as of late…” he said as he looked over my schedule. “Shall I delegate some of tomorrow’s tasks to Twilight Sparkle?”

“Sure,” I answered.

Kibitz nodded and excused himself from my office, and I laid back in my chair, looking up at the ceiling, which I had been doing a lot lately. I knew that I had to stick to my word on Marcus’s punishment, but I found it more and more difficult to commit to that, and it had only been two days.

While I wanted Marcus to respect me as an authority figure, I didn’t want to alienate him, either. As mad as I was with him when he snuck out, he was still my precious nephew, and I didn’t want him to be afraid of me, or worse, hate me.

Maria and Hector made it look so easy. Marcus (mostly) respected them and their rules, and he knew the consequences that would come when he broke those rules, but he still saw his parents as people that he could talk to when he needed someone to confide in; they were his first line of contact. It’s not just them, but all the other good parents out there; how were they able to find a balance between parent and friend?

Maybe I was never cut out to be a parent. Maybe that’s why Orion…

I shook my head and got out of my chair. “Don’t even go there, Celestia,” I thought. “You shouldn’t be wallowing in self-pity like this...” I tried to clear my head as I walked out of my office, hoping that a nice walk would help, and if it didn’t, a nap would be my next option. “There’s no need to worry. You’ll just… do the best you can.”

Yeah… just do the best I can. I mean, that’s all I can do, anyway. It’d really help if there were some kind of manual for this parenting thing.

I continued to walk the halls of the castle, my head hung in thought, until I heard someone coming from the other end of the hallway, and I looked up to see Marcus and his guards walking my way. My heart nearly stopped when I saw him, but I tried to maintain my composure. When our paths crossed, I gave him a small smile, but he turned away and walked closer to the wall.

A painful chill ran up my spine as Marcus ignored me, and my chest began to hurt as the distance between us grew, literally and figuratively.

I sighed inwardly as I continued on towards my bedroom. “Maybe I should take that nap.”

Honey Pot

I took a deep breath as I pushed my cart, trying to get my mind right. While my first encounter with Marcus was mostly a success, that little mess up where I didn’t tell him my name was oversight that I could not make again.

“Okay, so I’ll just go up to his room, deliver his dinner and say ‘Oh, by the way, if you ever need something, ask for Honey Pot.’” I played that line over and over again in my head, wondering if it sounded good. “Yeah, that sounds natural enough.”

The guards eyed me again as I walked up towards Marcus’s bedroom door. “Are we gonna do this every time I come here?” I asked with a sigh. The guards shrugged and knocked on the door, calling for Marcus to get his dinner, and I put on my best smile as I waited for him.

“Hello again,” I greeted. “I have your dinner here for you. The chef cooked you the usual.”

“Thanks, miss,” he replied, taking his food.

“Okay, time to drop your line,” I thought as I prepared to-

“Say, I never got your name.”

Huh? He actually asked for my name? Well, then, I’d better take advantage of this.

I shot him a sexy smile, leaning over to give him a view of my bosom and topping it off with a couple bats of my eyelashes. “It’s Honey Pot,” I told him, my tone laced with desire.

Marcus looked back at me with the cutest blush on his face, and I could see him struggling to form words. “Well, uh… thanks, Honey Pot.”

“It was my pleasure, Sir Marcus,” I said, leaving him with a wink as I walked away with the cart in tow, putting a little swing in my hips.

What? Was it so wrong to give my man a little show? It’s pretty much his for the taking if he ever wanted it.

I’ll always make time for my Marcus.

The day had finally arrived, the day that I’d replace Dusty as Marcus’s maid! I was practically bouncing off the walls in excitement, but of course, Dusty had to be the one to spoil my mood.

“Will you take a chill pill, HP?” she said, popping her earbuds out. “I’m trying to listen to music, and seeing you spaz out is kinda distracting.”

“You sure have a knack for ruining a mare’s good time, Dusty,” I muttered.

“You call it ‘ruining a good time’. I call it ‘bringing the space cadet back down to Equus’.”

“Trust me, sister, you’ll be eating those words once Marcus is all mine,” I promised her. “I know that he’s already smitten with me, so it’ll be easy.”

“I don’t know why I’m asking this, but how do you plan on having him ‘admit his undying love to you’?”

I glared at the pegasus. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t patronize me. Anyway, since he obviously can’t resist my good looks,”

“Yeah, obviously.”

I shot her another glare. “I’m going to give him what he wants. If I show him that I have no qualms with him looking at my body, he’ll be more likely to admit his attraction to me.”

“Did you ever consider that maybe, juuuuust maybe, your fetish for humans could be clouding your judgment just a teeny bit?” Dusty asked?

“I know when a guy wants me, Dusty, and Marcus definitely wants me.”

“Y’know, for an earth pony, you seem to have your head in the clouds a lot, and this is coming from a pegasus.”

“If you disagree with me so much, then why aren’t you trying to stop me?”

“Because it’ll be hilarious when the kid rejects you.”

I let out a grunt. “Gee, Dusty, with friends like you, who needs enemies?”

“Honey, a good friend would let you know when you’re about to do something stupid, and I’ll be honest with you, this little plan of yours sounds PhD-level stupid.”

“Well, we’ll see who’ll be wearing the dunce cap, now won’t we? Tonight’s Nightmare Night, and I’m gonna give him a little snapshot of me in my sexy kitty costume.” I headed over to my closet to look for the outfit, trying to remember where I put it.

“Maybe instead of doing that, you should, I dunno, go serve Marcus his breakfast?” said Dusty. “Just a thought.”

My ears perked and I stood straight up. “Agh! You’re right! I don’t want to keep my man waiting!” I rushed out of my room and down to the kitchen, where I picked up Marcus’s breakfast and carted it over to his room. As I hurried down the halls, I slowed down my pace a little bit so I wouldn’t get all sweaty, but I still walked at an urgent speed. Once again, the guards have me a look before calling Marcus to get his food, and I felt butterflies in my chest when he answered the door.

“Oh… Hey there…” he said to me.

“Good morning, Sir Marcus!” I greeted. “Here’s your breakfast!”

He continued to look at me, unsure of how to respond. “Um…”

“Oh, poor boy. He must not be very good at talking to a mare he likes. I should make it a little easier for him,” I thought. “You’re probably wondering why I’m serving you today, huh?” He nodded his head. The cute innocence in his face was just precious. “Well, your usual maid, Dusty Feather, is now working in the castle’s infirmary, and I was asked to fulfill her regular duties from now on, so expect to see me more often,” I explained.

“Oh, okay…” he said.

“Hmm… maybe if I start a more casual conversation…”

“So, what are your plans for tonight?” I asked.

Marcus shrugged. “Well, I’m not so sure about what I’m gonna do.”

Ugh. Duh! He was grounded! What kind of stupid question did I just ask? “Oh yeah, considering your… situation,” I said, not wanting to rub it in. “Well, I hope you have a good night regardless. I’m sure you’ll find something exciting around the castle to do. I’ll see you later, Sir Marcus.”

I bowed my head before leaving him to eat his breakfast, thinking about how that conversation went.

“Wow, I didn’t realize how nervous Marcus was. The poor thing must think that he doesn’t have a chance with me. Well, once I give him that picture of me, he’ll think a little differently, and in the meantime, I’ll keep chatting him up when I deliver his meals so he’ll get more used to me.”

A cheerful grin grew on my face as I pushed the now empty cart along. It hasn’t even been a minute and I’m already waiting for lunchtime!

Several hours had passed, and I found myself in front of Marcus’s bedroom door again, this time waiting to serve him his lunch. However, when he opened the door, I noticed that he had a lot of drawing tools on his work desk. Was he busy with schoolwork? I began to wonder if I should wait until dinnertime to strike up a conversation. I wouldn’t want him to fall behind in his work.

“Here’s your lunch!” I said as he took his plate.

“Thanks,” he nodded.

“No problem! If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.” As usual, I bowed my head and turned around to leave, deciding that I should leave him to his work for n-

“Actually, could you come in, for a sec? I have a favor to ask.”

My ears twitched excitedly as I turned to him with a bright expression on my face. “Of course!” I answered without hesitation, and he motioned for me to follow him inside. I set the cart aside before shutting the door behind me, and I was so excited that my tail was twitching. I wasn’t expecting to be invited into Marcus’s bedroom this soon! Maybe he wasn’t as shy as I thought. I had to admit, he was a gutsy one. I mean, he had the audacity to take a mare while he was already in hot water with his aunt, on top of the fact that there were two guards posted right outside his room!

I’ll have to make sure to keep my moans as quiet as I can.

“Oh my… I’ve never done this on the job before, Sir Marcus,” I said, trying to keep my cool. “Are you sure that Princess Celestia won’t catch us? I surely wouldn’t want to get you in trouble or anything.”

I was met with a confused look. “Um… I didn’t call you in here for that,” he told me. Marcus explained that he wanted me to steal some sweets for Princess Luna and bring them to him so that the night princess could pick them up. To say that I was disappointed would be the understatement of the century, but then I had an idea; I wasn’t gonna do this little favor for free. I needed a little tit for tat for my services.

Emphasis on “tit”.

I smiled devilishly at Marcus, sauntering towards him. “Relax, I won’t bite,” I crooned as his back hit the wall. I turned around, pressing my back against him, then I grabbed his wrists and brought his hands up to my chest. I then gave him an ultimatum: either he gives me a good squeezing, or I don’t help him with his little candy heist.

Oh, he tried to deny how much he wanted to do it, but I could see through him, and with a little coaxing, he got started. I stifled a moan on his first squeeze, but just as it was about to get good, he suddenly stopped.

“Oh, no you don’t, mister!” I thought as I tightened my grip on his wrists. “Not so fast,” I whispered. “I’m not letting you off that easy. You can keep this up for a full minute, can’t you?”

After some consideration, Marcus agreed, and since I had him on the ropes, I decided to make things more interesting. I slipped his hands under my top, and brought them up to my braless mounds, and I had to hold back yet another moan when I felt his soft palms caress my fur, but a couple squeaks slipped out as the minute drew on, and it felt a lot longer than it did. I was especially pleased when I felt a certain something poking my backside, and if that wasn't any confirmation that Marcus was secretly enjoying this, I don’t know what was.

Unfortunately, the minute eventually ended, but it was definitely fun while it lasted. With Marcus’s end of the deal upheld, and with me being a mare of my word, I took my cart and headed down to Withers’s office, where he was just leaving.

“Good afternoon, Withers,” I told the old stallion.

“Ah, the office dusting is being done early today, I see,” he said.

“Uh… yeah!” I confirmed, going with the flow.

“Hang on… isn’t this usually done by a maid on Princess Luna’s staff since I am her advisor?” he asked suspiciously.

“Uh, yes. That is usually the case, but… you see, the night princess’s maids are all busy, which meant that somepony from Princess Celestia’s staff had to take care of it in their stead, so here I am! Don’t worry. I’ll be just as thorough as the other maids!”

“Hmm… See that you are,” he told me before walking off.

“Well, that was easier than I expected,” I thought, making my way into Withers’s office, where a bowl of treats was sitting right on his desk. “Okay, WAY easier than I expected. I wonder why Princess Luna couldn’t just swipe these herself, what with how little effort Withers is putting into hiding them. Then again, I ended up getting a nice boob massage out of it, so who am I to complain? At least this’ll give me some time to take that pic of my in my Nightmare Night costume.”

With that delicious thought in mind, I retrieved the candy and headed to the kitchen to get an extra bowl as a gift to Marcus… aaand it’d be a cute way to hide my other gift for him.

I really hope that costume still fits.

Celestia

The moon was high in the sky, and the stars shone brighter than usual. Seeing as this was Luna’s favorite holiday, I wasn’t surprised that she had put some extra effort into tonight.

At least one of us was happy.

Despite my lighter workload, it wasn’t enough to relax me. If anything, I felt even tenser than before. I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Marcus for over a week, and it was really starting to affect me. I’d spend all my spare time either wandering the halls or resting in my bed, constantly wondering if I had made the right decision in punishing him. I kept going over the same pros and cons in my head, only to end up as uncertain as when I started, and it was driving me crazy!

Once again, I was walking down the dimly lit hall, my mind empty as the sound of my hoofsteps lightly reverberated against the walls. I hoped that I could talk to Marcus in his room and try to at least explain myself and give him the chance to air his own grievances as well. When I rounded the corner of the hallway where his bedroom was, I saw that he was right outside his door, and after such a long period of not seeing his face, I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my heart. I looked at my precious nephew with a smile as I approached him, and I tried to at least make conversation.

“Good evening, Marcus,” I said. “Happy Nightmare Night.” I hoped that he’d acknowledge me and accept my offer to talk.

Nothing. He didn’t even bother to look at me.

I felt a tightness in my throat and an incredible pain in my chest as I was brushed off yet again. I took his ignoring me as a sign that he didn’t want to talk. I hung my head, walking back to my room.

“That’s it… I don’t care whether I was right or not,” I thought. “I miss my nephew!”

11 - The Waiting Game Ends

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Octavia

It was eight fifty in the evening, and Rarity and I were backstage at the school auditorium. The annual Nightmare Night fashion show and costume contest was about to begin, and Rarity was busy applying my makeup.

“Thanks again for doing this, Octavia,” she told me. “I really appreciate it.”

I chuckled. “This makes how many times you’ve thanked me?”

“I know, I know,” she said, laying her ears back sheepishly. “It’s just that I know that you said modelling was out of your comfort zone, and you really didn’t have to do this, so-”

I gave her a dismissive wave. “Don’t fret over it, Rarity. True, I was apprehensive at first, but I’m actually rather excited now?”

“That’s surprising. What made you change your mind, if I may ask?”

“Well, remember when Marcus and I went through the haunted house at the festival?”

She nodded.

“I’m not sure how to describe it, but being in that tense situation, all alone in the dark with only Marcus beside me and a slew of students dressed as monsters lurking around, it felt… exhilarating.”

“So it was like a rush?” the unicorn asked.

My tail flicked in excitement. “That’s what it was! A rush! After I left the haunted house, I started to look forward to this show. I’m actually really excited now!”

Rarity put a finger to her chin. “You did seem a little… off… this past week and a half. In any case, I’m glad that you’re so eager to participate. It helps ease my nerves a little.”

“I didn’t think that you’d be nervous. Haven’t your designs been featured in fashion shows before?” I asked.

“Yes, but this fashion show has that added competition element to it. I don’t know how well I’m going to do.”

Rarity looked off to the side with a nervous sigh, and I looked down to see her hands shaking. This was the first time I’d ever seen Rarity this vulnerable, and I felt compelled to do something to calm her down. I placed my hands on her, surprised at how cold they were, and her shivering slowly subsided. “Don’t worry, Rarity. You have me, remember? We’re in this together,” I calmly told her, and she took a deep breath and managed to give me a smile.

“Thanks, Octavia. I needed that.”

We both looked up at a monitor in the dressing room that showed what was going on in the auditorium. The stage had been converted into a catwalk with both professional and student photographers sitting up front, making sure their cameras were ready for when the show started. Other ponies and people were filing in and taking their seats, filling the auditorium bit by bit every minute.

“Okay, I need all the models to line up!” the stage manager called.

“That’s my cue,” I said with a small smile as Rarity finished my makeup.

“Good luck out there, darling,” she nodded, and I got in line with all the other models. As I waited, I peered around the pony in front of me and saw that there were quite a few models that were ahead of me. If I had to guess, I’d say about… eight, if my eyes weren’t failing me.

Just then, a demonic laugh played over the speakers and silenced the audience, and when I glanced up at the monitor, I saw the announcer step onto the stage.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, mares and gentlecolts. Welcome to the ninth annual Nightmare Night fashion show at Canterlot University for the Arts. Our students have worked especially hard this year to come up with some terrifying costumes for you all tonight, and at the end of the show, we’ll have a vote to see which costume was the best. So, without further ado…”

The announcer snapped her fingers, and the auditorium immediately went black, save for the lights on and over the runway.

“Let’s begin,” she said in a distorted, sinister voice, and music began to play.

“Okay! First model, let’s go!” the stage manager called over the music, and the first model, dressed as a manticore, walked out onto the runway. I could hear the “oohs” and “aahs” coming from the audience, and I could see the numerous camera flashes even from way backstage.

The line began to dwindle down as each model showed off their costume, with varying degrees of applause and cheers coming from the audience.

“Model number nine, you’re up!”

My ears perked when I heard that, and I put on my best face as I stepped forward. “This is for you, Rarity,” I thought as I walked out. All I could see was a bright, white runway with orange lights decorating the edge, and as I took that first step, I felt the rhythm of the music course through me, and I began to feel that rush again.

A small smirk grew on my face as I walked down the bright path, the bright camera flashes doing little to distract me as I continued to strut and work my costume to as best as I could. Once I reached the end of the runway, I struck the best pose I could think of, and the flashing lights quickly multiplied. I gave the photographers one more pose before walking back up the catwalk, and the praise I got from the audience boosted my confidence even more. Feeling a little bit daring, I used my tail to whip up my cape, giving the illusion of wind, and the cheering became even louder.

“I wish I’d thought of that earlier,” I thought. “Rarity would have loved that. Oh well, I hope I at least did this costume justice.”

I could still feel the adrenaline rushing through me, a smile permanently plastered on my face as I walked with a confident stride as though I was still on the runway. A loud squeal reached my ears and a heavy force hit me from the side, almost knocking me off balance.

“Octavia, you were magnificent out there!” she gushed, squeezing the life out of me. “The way you worked the costume was amazing, darling!”

I let out a strained laugh. “I’m… glad you liked it, Rarity. Hopefully we’ll place in the competition.”

After all the models showed off their costumes, there was a brief moment of rest before the models and their respective designers were called out to the stage. As we stood in front of the crowd, Rarity grasped my hand tightly, her hoof tapping nervously. I pulled her close to me, effectively soothing her while the announcer held a small paper in front of her.

“Alright, everyone. The votes have been cast, and here are the results. Third place goes to… Rarity and her Phantom of the Opera!”

The audience roared with applause as Rarity’s grip on my hand tightened, another squeal escaping her as we walked up to claim out prize: a bronze medal and a fifty-bit gift card.

“You take it, Octavia,” said Rarity. “You deserve it.”

“Really?” I asked, gingerly taking the card.

“You can use this card in any store you want,” the announcer told us. “Enjoy your prize!”

“Thank you so much!” we said with a bow, and we returned to our positions. After the award ceremony, everyone filed out of the auditorium, with Rarity and I being the last ones to leave.

“You know, Octavia,” she said as we walked out the double doors and into the hallway, “I was really nervous about tonight.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell. I assumed all that shivering was because you were cold.”

“Very funny.”

“In all seriousness, though, you did really well. Not many freshmen have the audacity to even enter the competition, let alone have the skills end up placing against the more experienced students.”

“Well, I couldn’t do it without you… roomie,” she chuckled, giving me another hug.

I smiled at her as I returned the gesture. “Don’t mention it.”

“I just wish Marcus was here to celebrate with us. He would’ve loved it,” Rarity said with a tinge of lament.

“Yeah, it really is a shame that he couldn’t attend,” I sighed. I began to wonder what Marcus would think, seeing me on the runway like that. Would he have been impressed?

Just then, Rarity’s ears wiggled a little, and her face suddenly brightened up. “Why don’t we send him a picture, just to wish him a happy Nightmare Night?”

“Sure. Why not?” I shrugged, and Rarity took out her phone and turned on her camera. She took a moment to fix her Audrey Hepburn wig and tucked a stray purple hair underneath it.

“Cheese!”

THE NEXT DAY

Celestia

“Orion… what are you doing?” I asked, dreading the answer.

My son was on his knees in his room, ignoring my question as he tried to zip a suitcase closed with his magic. When he finally succeeded, he stood up and pulled his luggage behind him, horn alit and hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Where are you going with that bag, sweetheart?” I asked, hoping that he’d answer me this time.

“I’m going to live with Dad,” he said, not even bothering to look up as he passed me by.

My heart instantly dropped and I looked at him in shock. “W-what?”

“You heard me.”

“Orion, I know you’re mad at me, but you don’t need to do something this drastic! You know that I can’t visit your father often!”

He grunted and picked up his pace. “That’s the idea.”

“Sweetheart, just hear me out! We can work this out! You don’t have to leave me!” I pleaded, my desperation increasing with every word.

No reply.

“Orion, please stop!”

He continued to walk away from me, and for a moment, my mind snapped.

“I SAID ‘STOP’, ORION!” I commanded in my Royal Canterlot Voice, but I quickly reeled myself in. “Wait, I didn’t mean to do that! Orion? Orion!!!”

My eyes shot open as I took in a sharp breath. I sat up and looked around, breathing deeply and rapidly, only to realize that I was in my bedroom. When I looked over to my clock, I panicked when I saw that it read four-thirty in the afternoon.

“What!?” I thought. “How did I end up sleeping this late? I have a ton of paperwork to do today, and Luna’s probably mad at me for not raising the sun and leaving her to do it!”

I rushed to my bathroom to take a quick shower, only for my memories from before I slept to come back to me.

“Oh, that’s right. I delegated all my paperwork to my court, and I raised the sun myself before taking the day off.” My panicked state immediately subsided and I let out a relieved sigh. Still, that dream I had was horrifying. “This is ridiculous. I know I’m the last pony Marcus wants to see, but I need to talk to him before this gets any worse.”

I made my way to Marcus’s room, and when I saw the guards posted outside his door, I knew he was home. After greeting the guards, I gave the door a few soft knocks and waited for Marcus to answer… assuming that he would, at least. Thankfully, the door began to open and while my heart felt a little better once I saw my precious nephew, it wasn’t by much.

I avoided looking him in the eye. “May I come in? I’d like to talk to you.” He stepped aside to let me in, and I sat on his bed while he pulled the chair from his desk and sat in front of me. “You don’t have to talk right now. Just listen, okay?”

He nodded.

I took a deep breath before I started. “Marcus, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve rarely seen you around the castle as of late,” I told him, looking down at the ground. “We’ve only seen each other three times in two weeks, and each time, you didn’t even say a word to me."

He kept quiet and let me continue.

"After a while, I started to think that you were doing this on purpose. You certainly had the motivation to do that. I figured that I was just play along until you calmed down, but…”

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to keep my composure, but as much as I tried to stay calm, I just couldn’t control myself. I sniffled and looked up at my nephew, tears streaming down my face as I pulled him into a tight hug.

“I just can’t take it anymore, Marcus!” I cried. “I miss hearing your voice! I miss seeing you happy! I miss being able to give you hugs and kisses! I can’t play this game anymore! I’ll give you anything you want! I’ll take you off of punishment, I’ll let you see Luna again, and I’ll even let you go wherever you want for however long you want! I just want my nephew back!”

I sobbed as I poured my heart out to him, letting go of all the grief that was building up inside me. It got to the point where my voice became weak and I could barely talk.

“I’m sorry, Marcus,” I whimpered. “Please don’t make me suffer anymore.”

I kept holding on to him, not intending to let go even if he tried to make me. I missed the feeling of having him wrapped around my arms, and I needed to feel that again. Suddenly, I felt his arms wrap around me, and he pulled me closer to him.

“It’s okay, Auntie. I forgive you,” he told me, “and I owe you an apology, too. I shouldn’t have been so cold to you. Even when I knew that I was hurting your feelings, I still continued to do it. I didn’t mean for it to get this bad. I was acting like a spoiled brat.”

“Even so,” I said, “I shouldn’t have used the Royal Canterlot Voice on you the night I punished you. I made a promise to myself years ago that I would never use it on a family member under any circumstances, and I broke that promise that night. When I think about how much I yelled and screamed at you, I get so mad at myself. You must have been so scared, Marcus.”

“I brought it on myself, though. You told me not to go to the party and I went anyway. I broke your trust. That would make anyone mad.”

I released Marcus and gave him a smile. “While that may be true, you did have a point when you said that I should have more trust in you.”

“Actually, it was Luna that said that.”

For the first time in a long time, we laughed for a moment. “Regardless, I’ll try to be less controlling,” I promised.

“And I’ll try not to break the rules so much.”

Another laugh escaped me and pulled him in for another hug. “I love you, Marcus, you know that?”

“I do, and I love you too, Auntie Celeste.”

With that, I felt an incredible weight lifted off me as everything returned to normal between Marcus and me. “Now, I’m sure you’ll want to go and tell Luna the good news. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”

A big, beautiful smile grew on my precious nephew’s face. “Thanks, Auntie! See you later!”

“No problem, Marcus, and don’t worry about me staying in your room. I’ll be right out,” I waved as he left me alone.

My ears perked as I heard something land softly on the floor. “Hmm?” I said, turning around to see a piece of photo paper lying face-down on the floor. “I didn’t think that they’d have students in Marcus’s major taking photography classes.” I approached the photo and looked up at the high shelf that it fell from. “Honestly, I know he’s not experienced in this field, but he really should take better care of his pictures if he expects to get a good grade. Those photography professors are really nitpicky.”

I picked up the photo and turned it over to look at the image, and my eyes widened when I saw who was in the picture, feelings of shock and mischief welling within me.

“Is this… Honey Pot!?”

12 - Defining Love

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Luna

“Just picture it: the two of us, united in marriage as prince and princess. We would look just lovely together, and I will treat you like the flawless goddess you are. So you see, Princess Luna, I am obviously the perfect choice.”

“I think that you really should consider this stallion, Princess,” said Withers. “He seems to be a very good suitor.”

I was practically fighting to stay awake during that long-winded proposal, giving a momentary glance down at the stallion in question. He was a tall, built earth pony with a pale red coat and a light grey mane and tail. I took a few whiffs of the air and resisted the urge to scrunch my nose in disgust.

“For pony’s sake, I can smell his hair gel from here! Has this stallion ever heard of moderation?” I thought. With his proposal over, it was now time for me to make my decision. “Okay, what is his name again… uh… Oh, right!” I stood up from my throne and cleared my throat as I prepared to make my judgement.

“Platinum Vault, I don’t know how you got the idea that I would want to marry you, but since you’re here, let me explain it to you nice and slow. I have no kind of attraction or interest in you, and most likely never will. Coming here was a waste of your time, and more importantly, a waste of my time. Your presence reeks of arrogance and I can easily tell that marrying you would be the single worst mistake I’ve ever made in all my years of living, now scurry on home and don’t get your tail caught in the door on your way out.”

…is what I would have said.

Instead, the more rational side of me let him down easily. “While you make a… compelling offer, Platinum Vault, I will have to decline,” I told him. “Like I’ve told the suitors that came before you, marriage is not a priority for me at the moment. I’m sorry for all the trouble you went through to see me.” There. That’s a lot nicer, or at least, as nicely as I could put it.

Naturally, Platinum Vault was left dejected and somewhat embarrassed, but he left the throne room without another word, which was more than I could say for some of the more… disgruntled suitors.

Some stallions don’t take rejection very well.

I stepped down my throne and gave my wings and arms a good stretch as Withers caught up to me with a flustered look on his face. “P-Princess! You’ve turned down yet another potential husband? That’s the fifth one today! Why?” he whined.

It was at this point that I wondered whether the decrepit stallion had short term memory loss, or was just stubborn. “As I’ve told you before, Withers,” I explained for the umpteenth time, “I have no interest in finding a husband right now. It’s been merely two years since my return. Don’t you think I’d rather enjoy my life first before I make such a big step? We go through this nonsense twice a year. What’s the point?”

“It’s tradition, princess.”

I scoffed. “A tradition that I would like to be rid of. Furthermore, why are you harassing me with this frivolity instead of Celestia? Why isn’t she going through this ‘tradition’?”

He hesitated and cleared his throat. “Well, Celestia said that she didn’t want to be married just yet.”

My ear twitched and I resisted the urge to use the Royal Canterlot Voice on him. “Hmph. So you’ll respect my sister’s wishes, but you won’t respect mine?” I asked, trying not to look at Withers lest I do something that I’d regret later. “I will be in my bedchambers.”

I stormed out of the hallway, leaving a stunned Withers behind as I made my way to my room. After all I’d been through today, I really felt the need to get away from… well, everything, to be completely truthful. I had grown fed up with Withers’ constant nagging; if it wasn’t about my weight, it was about my status as an unmarried mare. Right now, it’s best that I don’t see him for the rest of the day.

For his sake as well as my own.

I arrived at my bedroom and shut the door behind me, startling my sleeping pet as he let out a surprised squeak.

“Oh, my apologies, Tiberius,” I told him. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

He gave an understanding nod and scampered up towards me, and I knelt down to pick him up and give him a loving nuzzle. With a concerned look, he reached up and rubbed my snout, letting out a low squeak.

“I’m fine, Tibbles,” I assured him. “I’m just… stressed, is all.”

I got up and set my pet down on the bed before changing into something more comfortable, namely a pair of elastic shorts and a T-shirt that read “Best Princess.”

What? The custom T-shirt store downtown gave me a good deal.

With a sigh, I lied down on the bed with Tiberius climbing into my tail, wriggling around until he got comfortable. “You know, Tibbles, it wouldn’t kill those stallions to work on their personalities instead of trying to charm me with their riches. I don’t want any of that.”

He nodded in agreement.

“I mean, is it too much to ask for them to be a little more sensitive? Even if I were in agreement with this idea of arranged marriage, I’d prefer someone more grounded, someone that knows me, someone that I get along with really well and can have an actual conversation with.”

Tiberius squeaked again.

“Someone like Marcus?” I asked. “I guess that makes sense. It’d be nice to have a partner that gets me as much as he-”

He shook his head and articulated his point with three firm squeaks.

“Wait… you mean Marcus himself?” I asked, receiving a nod in response. My face contorted into a confused expression as I pondered the thought “I mean yes, he and I are very close, but I don’t know if I’d consider it to be a romantic kind of connection. Besides, he’s technically my nephew, I don’t think it’d be right for us to be together anyway.”

Tiberius continued to argue with me.

“Well, it is true that we aren’t related by blood, so I suppose that a romantic relationship with him could work out, but… I don’t know, Tibbles,” I groaned, putting a hand to my forehead. “All this talk about romance is wearing me out, and frankly, it’s making my head hurt.”

KNOCK! KNOCK!

My ears twitched as I looked over to my bedroom door. “Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s Marcus. Can I come in?”

Wow. Speak of the devil. “I’m really not in the mood to talk right now,” I told him.

“Please, Luna. If something’s bothering you, you know you can tell me,” Marcus pled.

Great. Now I felt bad. Marcus was only trying to help, after all. Would it really hurt to let him at least see that I was okay?

Probably not.

“You can come in,” I said, unlocking the door with my magic while Tiberius sunk back into my tail. I heard the door open and close as Marcus made his way in, not a word being exchanged as he shuffled out of his shoes and climbed into the bed next to me.

“I saw what happened in the throne room,” he said. “You want to talk about it?”

I hesitated for a moment, but I let out a conceding sigh. “I suppose it would make me feel better if I did.” I turned my head to look at him. “Marcus, you’re more acclimated to modern society than I am. What’s the general consensus on marriage?”

He stared at me, unsure of how to answer the question, and I could practically see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to come up with a response. “Ugh… what am I thinking, asking a seventeen-year-old such a hard question?” I thought. “He’s probably never given any thought to it until now-”

“Well, I honestly can’t speak for everyone, so I can’t tell you what everyone else thinks, but here’s my view on marriage,” he spoke up, then paused. “Marriage is when… two individuals, who have been in a steady romantic relationship for a long time, decide to make a vow to each other that… that they’ll stay together for the rest of their lives, committed to each other and only each other.”

I scoffed. “Rather profound for a seventeen-year-old. Are you simply regurgitating something you read in a book?”

Marcus chuckled lightly. “I know it sounds like that, but that’s really how I feel.”

“By your definition, then, you must believe that when these two individuals make this vow, it should be made after they have already been romantically involved for a considerable amount of time, yes?”

He nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“That’s what I thought. Which brings us to the problem I’m having: this tradition of interviewing suitors and simply picking one as my committed husband for life seems archaic and rather ridiculous.”

“I can agree with you on that.”

“I don’t see why Withers makes me go through this routine of looking through all the stallions that just want my hand in marriage for the sole reason of earning a position in the royal family,” I wanted to end it there, as I didn’t want to throw all my problems at poor Marcus, but I just kept going. It was like a knob breaking off of a running faucet; I just couldn’t stop. “Why can’t I be with someone that I have a true connection with? A committed relationship is fine, but why rush into marriage so soon? I would rather have a normal romantic relationship with someone I truly loved than an empty marriage with someone with whom I share practically no true connection.”

I was short of breath by the end of my little rant, a tinge of guilt within me for dumping so much onto Marcus, but when I looked at him, he still seemed calm, unfazed by my sudden venting. “What would your ideal relationship be like?” he asked.

“It would be a lot like ours,” I said without thinking, my heart skipping a beat as I realized what I had just said.

A light blush appeared on Marcus’s face, and I silently panicked. Was he embarrassed? Scared? Disgusted? The conversation was going so well, and now I made it awkward!

“What kind of relationship do you think we have?” he continued, much to my surprise.

Once again, I was taken aback by how calm he was about this, and I looked back up at the ceiling as I tried to come up with something to say that didn’t sound strange. “I think that we have the kind of relationship where… There’s an unconditional trust between us,” I told him. Yeah, that’s a good way to put it.

“Explain.”

Okay, how do I say this… “Well, I feel like I can tell you anything, no matter what it is,” I continued. “I also feel that you can come to me about anything, too, because that’s how much we trust each other. I feel connected to you on a level where I can tell when something is wrong with you and you can tell when something is wrong with me.” That feeling of a broken faucet came over me again, and I kept on going, attempting to convey my feelings as best as I could. “We can also be ourselves around each other without feeling self-conscious about it. You like me for who I am, and I like you for who you are.”

I paused for a moment, looking over to Marcus. “Lastly, I feel like we look out for each other. One of us is there to catch the other when they fall. I feel like you would do anything for me, as I would do anything for you.” I gave him a small smile and looked back up. “Yes, that’s the kind of relationship that I think we have.”

A warmth welled up in my chest as I finally got all of those emotions off my chest, my mind feeling much clearer, and I realized how much I needed to let it out. I looked back at Marcus, who was blushing even harder than before, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. “I never thought you felt that way about me,” he told me.

“In that case, you don’t give yourself enough credit,” I giggled.

He looked down and scratched his cheek sheepishly. “I guess not.”

This talk was going a lot better than I had imagined. I wonder… should I ask him if he feels the same way about us? He seemed pretty open to everything so far, so I guess it’s worth a try.

I took a quick breath and gave it a try. “So, Marcus, do you feel the same way I do? About our relationship, I mean.” He opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself and averted his eyes. He seemed hesitant to give me an answer, and I grew more and more nervous with each passing moment. Had I finally gone too far? Had I crossed some line that I shouldn’t have? “Marcus?” I asked again, hoping he would at least say something and not leave me hanging in uncertainty.

He blinked and looked at me, his mouth opening again, but no words coming out. I bit my bottom lip nervously, but then a smile, small as it was, slowly grew on Marcus’s face. “Yeah,” he said, “I think so…”

Without even thinking, I pulled him into a warm hug, humming contently as I nuzzled him. “Thank you, Marcus. I feel a lot better now.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said before I let him go. He sat up and stretched his arms with a yawn. “Well, I’d hate to leave you, but I need to get going.”

“Really? Where to?”

“I need to see your sister about something.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “I thought you were supposed to be avoiding her.”

His eyed widened. “Oh, right! I forgot to tell you, I’m off punishment. Everything’s all good now.”

I chuckled. “That’s good. In retrospect, I should have suspected as much considering you’re seeing me in person without any guards accompanying you.”

“Yeah, it feels weird now. I was getting used to it.”

“Well, I’ll see you later, then,” I said, waving him off as he left, shutting the door behind him.

I felt a rustling in my tail, and Tiberius’s head suddenly popped out, a smug smile painted across his face, silently telling me “I told you so.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not. One. Word.”

Honey Pot

There was a skip in my step as I headed down one of the many long hallways of the castle. My afternoon break had just started, and I was on my way back to my room to take a quick power nap. I hummed a happy tune to myself, wallowing in my delight like a pig in mud.

Everything was going perfectly! Just as I planned, I’ve made myself known to Marcus and have gotten closer to him.

“I wonder if he enjoyed that little present I gave him last night,” I thought with a devious smile. “He must have loved it! How many boys can say that they have the loving affection of someone older? Soon enough he’ll want to make me his marefriend, and then Princess Celestia will happily bless our relationship, and once he graduates we’ll get married and have beautiful kids! I wonder what kind of wedding he’d like. I’d prefer a big one, but if he wants a more modest ceremony, I’d be more than happy with that. After all, a wedding is a wedding.”

My thoughts suddenly stopped as I caught a glimpse of my sweet Marcus rounding one of the corners into the hall, and my tail wagged excitedly at the sight of him. “Marcus! Over here, sweetie!” I called.

He turned to look at me, only to turn back around and keep walking, this time with a more hurried pace.

“Aw! He’s shy. I guess he’s not used to a mare being so open with him.” I watched him as he rounded another corner, while I took a little shortcut to catch up with him.

You learn a few things working in a castle this big for so long.

In no time flat, I caught up with Marcus, surprising him as I jumped out of a corner. “BOO!” I said, making the boy jump and let out a frightened yell.

“How… How did you…” he struggled to say through heavy breaths.

I flipped my mane and chuckled. “I’ve been a maid at this castle for years. I know it like the back of my hand, so that means I know all the shortcuts.” I smirked at him and brought my face closer to his, batting my eyes cutely. “It’s pointless to run from me, Marcus. Cute, yes, but pointless.”

I blinked as he put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me away. “Ever heard of personal space?” he asked. “And since when do you call me by just my name?”

“Well, I figured that after the intimate moment we shared yesterday, you wouldn’t mind if I was less formal when addressing you,” I giggled.

He rolled his eyes. “That was anything but intimate.”

“Heh, I see the game you’re playing now, Marcus. You’re not shy. You’re just being a sly little tease.”

“Oh, by the way, did you find my gift?” I asked, not letting his little act faze me.

“Unfortunately.”

“And what did you do with it?”

“I contemplated burning it at first, but I just hid it somewhere.”

I giggled again. His little ruse was cute, but I knew how to crack that façade of his. I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his sides, being sure to press my chest against his as I looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. His effort to hold back his arousal was clear as day.

“You know,” I said with a low, husky voice, “while I simply love this little game of hard-to-get that you’re playing, part of me wishes you’d just cut the bullshit and admit you want me, already.”

“You know… There are ponies of which I’ve heard of. I believe they call them… ‘creepy stalkers’! And there is such a thing called ‘sexual harassment’. Maybe I should just quit running and simply report you,” he threatened.

I let out a low purr. “Oooooooh~ You’ve suddenly turned into the forceful type. I like that, but please relax, my master. I am simply here to serve you.” I lowered my voice and traced a finger along his chest. “Perhaps I can… ‘convince’ you to drop your charges if I… help you to relieve the tension that has been plaguing you lately.” I then moved my hands to the muscles between Marcus’s shoulders and began massaging them, and I could hear his breaths becoming slower and calmer. For the clincher, I leaned towards his ear and whispered “Trust me, I know when a man is torn up inside. A mare can feel those things.”

“Aren’t you cold in that skimpy outfit?” he asked, which took me by surprise. The boy had more willpower than I thought. “It’s November, and all the other maids are wearing coats over their uniforms.”

“Humph. While I appreciate your concern for my health, I’d rather not cover up my assets,” I said before bending over and showing off the generous view of cleavage that my uniform gave him. “Besides, if I covered up, how will you be able to see my beautiful babies? I know you miss them.”

“Trust me, I don’t, and I hope I don’t see them again anytime soon.”

“Oh, come oooooooooon! Stop denying it. Admit it, you know you want another chance to cop a feel.”

“Will you leave me alone?”

I smirked devilishly. “Your lips say ‘leave me alone,’ but your hormones say-”

“‘Go away’.” he finished.

Hm… You know what? I’ll let him win the game this time. I didn’t want to miss out on my nap. “Alright, fine. I’ll go. For now, at least. I’ll see you when I come by your room with your dinner.”

“No you won’t,” he corrected. “I’m not grounded anymore, so you won’t be taking meals to my room anymore.”

“Heh, I’ll still see you around, sweet cheeks,” I taunted, not letting that small setback affect me. I tried to smack Marcus’s butt with my hand, only for him to catch me before I could make impact.

“Cut that shit out. It’s getting old.”

“Ooh, feisty. Honey likes,” I said, deliberately licking my lips slowly as I could. Just as I intended, his eyes followed my tongue as it made its way around my lips. I bet he didn’t even know he was doing it. Marcus shuddered in feigned disgust as he walked away from me, and I decided to get one last word in. “Oh, and one more thing! Have fun jerking off to my photo, pervert! I know you’ll be doing it every night before you go to bed!” I let out a hearty laugh as my beloved and I parted ways. That was a fun little act that he put on, but he’ll eventually get over it.

He’s just having fun with me, and I’m more than willing to play along.

Celestia

I shuddered in anticipation as his warm breath caressed my neck, my heartbeat getting more and more erratic. His hand slowly moved down my sides, his fingers gliding gently down my coat…

“Wow… Maria was right,” I muttered to myself as I continued to read. “This book is pretty good.” Just then, I heard several knocks on my bedroom door. “Who is it?” I called.

“It’s Marcus.”

My ears perked as I looked up at the door. “Oh! Come in, sweetie!”

The door opened and my precious nephew walked in, a warm smile on his face. “What’cha reading?” he asked.

“Oh, it’s just a romance novel that your mother introduced me to.”

“Really? What’s it about?”

I cleared my throat and closed the book. “Actually, it’s best if you don’t know. It’s not very appropriate.” I placed the book in my nightstand drawer while Marcus took a seat next to me on the bed.

“Listen, Auntie,” he said. “I need to talk to you about something. Something serious.”

My eyes widened and my ears twitched at his change in tone. “Oh, really? What is it?”

He sat uncomfortably, his hands fidgeting as he tried to find the right words to say. “Before I tell you anything… promise me you won’t tell anypony about it.”

I nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I promise.”

“Okay…” He took a deep breath before continuing. “There are these three mares that I really like, each for different reasons, and I don’t know which one I like the most.”

Wait, Marcus was having mare problems?

I sighed and put my arm around him. “Torn between three mares, I see. If I may make a guess, those mares that were with you at the party, are they two of the three?”

“Um… yeah.”

Two down. I wonder, if that picture I found in his room was anything to go on...

“And the third mare is Honey Pot, right?” I asked.

He gave me an incredulous look. “What!? No! It’s somepony else!”

Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting, but if the third mare wasn’t Honey Pot, then who else could it be. Did he have another friend from school that I didn’t know about? “Oh really? Then who?” I asked.

My nephew’s face flushed red as he looked away from me. “It’s… um…”

I could see the hesitation in his eyes. For whatever reason, Marcus didn’t feel completely comfortable telling me who the third mare was, whoever she was. I pulled him closer to me, hoping to soothe him. “It’s okay, Marcus. You can tell me. I promise I won’t judge you, whoever this mare happens to be.”

He rested his head against my shoulder, taking a moment to think about it. At this point, the only thing I could do was wait for him to say something. Eventually, I saw his lips quiver, and he finally opened his mouth to speak.

“What if I told you,” he said quietly, “that the third mare I liked… was your little sister?”

My heart skipped a beat. Did… did I hear him right? He liked Luna? The same Luna that was technically his aunt? That Luna?

I honestly didn’t know what to think. I mean, I knew that they were close, but I never thought that Marcus would think of Luna in that kind of way. Did she know about this? Does she feel the same way?

Then again, it wouldn’t really be wrong for them to be together. My status as Marcus’s aunt is only a legal relationship. Neither I nor Luna were related to him by blood, so the only real concern would be if Luna returned Marcus’s affections. I wouldn’t want his feelings to be hurt.

Regardless, I needed to be there for my nephew.

I put my other arm around him and embraced him warmly. “I wouldn’t be mad at you,” I whispered.

“Really?” he asked, surprised at my acceptance. “You don’t have any problem with it? I mean, she’s my aunt. It would be the same as having feelings for you.”

“While something like this is rather… unheard of, and while I’m not one hundred percent comfortable with the idea, at the end of the day, I can’t tell you who you can and can’t have feelings for. That isn’t my right.”

“Would you have a problem if I ever decided to choose all three?”

I shook my head. “Of course not, Marcus. However, if you want my honest opinion, I think you’d be better off in a monogamous relationship.”

He looked up at me with a puzzled face. “Really? Why?”

“While it is true that having multiple partners isn’t uncommon in Equestria, a romantic bond is stronger when shared between just two partners, in my opinion. You’re the only ones that matter to each other, and your love for each other will be much stronger because of it. Also, I feel that you only want to be with all three mares because you don’t want to hurt any of their feelings.”

“Well, yeah,” he said.

I sighed. “Unfortunately, Marcus, that’s not a very good reason.”

“Why not?”

“There are times in life where you have to make choices, choices which, no matter what you decide, will end up hurting someone. I’ve been a princess for over one thousand years, and I’ve been in this situation many a time. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from those experiences, it’s that if you try to please Everypony, you’ll ultimately end up pleasing nopony, especially yourself.”

“That sucks…”

I nodded sadly. “Yes, it does, but it’s a part of life that we all must deal with. If it’s any reassurance, I’m certain that if Rarity, Octavia, and Luna like you as much as you like them, they’ll be happy for you no matter which of the three you choose.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, looking up at me again.

I looked down at him and smiled. “I’m positive.”

I once again got to see Marcus’s beautiful smile, and it warmed my heart to know that I was able to comfort him in his time of need, but then, his smile suddenly turned into a confused frown. “Wait, how do you know Rarity and Octavia’s names?” he asked.

“I’m well acquainted with both mares,” I chuckled. “Octavia’s ensemble played at the Grand Galloping Gala about a year and a half ago. As for Rarity, she’s a close friend of a former student of mine.”

“Really?”

“That’s right. She’s even helped to save Equestria on multiple occasions.”

“What!? You’re lying!”

“Nope. Despite this, though, her and her friends’ contributions usually go unnoticed. That aside, I think the best thing you can do is be honest an up-front about your feelings. I don’t know about human females, but when it comes to us mares, we prefer the direct approach.”

“And how do I do that?”

I smiled and put a finger on Marcus’s nose. “You’ll have to figure that out on your own, nephew. I can’t give you all the answers.”

He furrowed his eyebrows at me for a moment, but he quickly conceded. “I guess you’re right.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” I said with a smile. “Oh, and in regard to Luna, she’ll be an exception to the ‘direct approach’ that I just mentioned. I think you should take some time to truly figure out how you feel about her before you admit anything to her.”

“I thought you said that you weren’t going to give me all the answers.”

“Well, I won’t give you any more answers starting now,” I giggled, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey! Don’t do that!” he squirmed.

“What? I figured that since we’re on good terms again, we could return to that ‘five hugs, three kisses’ deal we had going on.”

“Celeste…” Marcus growled.

“Okay, okay, how about three hugs and two kisses?”

While he did grumble for a bit, he eventually agreed. “Fine… Oh, I was wondering, why did you think that I liked Honey Pot?”

“Oh… I just had a hunch,” I said with a grin as I put my hand behind my back and pulled my “evidence” out of the air with my magic. “Oh, and I also found this photo in your room.” I revealed the picture and held it in front of Marcus’s face, which lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree. “I figured that you’d harbor feelings for your ‘kinky kitty’. So, how did you even get this picture from her?”

“All I did was ask her to run an errand for me, and now she thinks that I have a thing for her,” he explained grumpily. “I don’t see how getting a bowl of Nightmare Night candy would make her believe-”

“Okay, I get the gist,” I said before leaning closer to him. “Be honest with me, though, did you have some fun with this picture last night?”

Marcus suddenly pried himself from me and threw his hands up. “That’s it, I’m out of here!”

“Oh, come on! I’m just teasing! It’s fine if you do, though. Everyone likes to get in touch with themselves from time to time!”

“LALALALALALALALALALALALA! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!”

“Do you at least want the picture back?”

“You can keep it!” he yelled, running out the door as fast as he could.

“Ah, boys,” I sighed. “They’re so easy to tease! Maybe I should give this picture to Luna and let her have some fun with it!”

The picture was quite funny, in all honesty. I never pegged Honey Pot as a jokester, though.

In any case, I’m glad that I was able to help my nephew out, and I hoped that whichever mare he chose would make him happy.

Even if that mare ends up being my little sister.

My Overbearing Aunt: Alternate Perspectives

by Sketchy Changeling

1 - Celestia's Prologue: My Precious Nephew

2 - Luna's Prologue: Culture Shock

3 - Honey Pot's Prologue: A Desire For Humans

4 - Octavia's Prologue: Left Behind

5 - Rarity's Prologue: Closing Up Shop

6 - Excitement and Disappointment

7 - I Wouldn't Call it Spying...

8 - Holiday Spirits

9 - The Waiting Game Begins

10 - The Waiting Game Continues

11 - The Waiting Game Ends

12 - Defining Love