> Fed up
>  by Billblok
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Realization
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Princess Celestia watched the sunrise from her balcony. It was a beautiful sight to behold-at least, she hoped it was. Everypony said it was so, but did they ever mean it? She brushed a lock of her mane from her face. She was probably just over thinking things a little, of course they loved her sun!

Her sun which, for some reason, failed to remember to reinforce its cosmic link with her. She just realized this because it was moving on it's own. And her hair was pink, that too. She flashed a glare at the glowing orb of light.

"AAAAH! Please, don't put us out!" It begged. "We just wanted to try rising on our own! Surely you can understand that!"

"Yes sun, I do understand," Celestia said. "You should ask me next time though."

"Yes, yes, of course, mistress! we'll do that next time! A thousand thank you's for not putting us out!" Celestia's mane flashed white for a moment, and returned to its typical aurora like colors, blowing in the solar wind.

Apparently, the Sun still doesn't know that I cannot put it out without the link. Of all the stars to pick from the sky to light up the world, why had I chosen the frail, overly submissive little yellow one?

"You said yourself," The moon shouted from the other side of the earth. "Red giants Don't listen to anypony!"

Fair enough. Celestia stood up to prepare for the usual tedium of ruling a country.

The halls were still decorated golden for the now passed summer sun celebration. for all intents and purposes, she was absolutely thrilled that it went about without any considerable setbacks like temporary suspension in the sun by a rabid, vengeful dark side of her beloved sister. The sun had desperately panicked, bombarding the planet with a high amount of heat, therefore slowing the inevitable nuclear winter eternal night would set upon Equestria. The summers were also considerably hotter for a few years afterword. Having to wait quietly, in a a pile of thorns with only her emergency tea set to pass the time was far better than that. (*) Celestia relaxed into the sound of her golden shoes clicking against the marble tile. She was going to be doing a lot of walking, so she might as well get used to it. One of the "servants" was heading on her way to who knows where in the castle to do not sure what. That was a mistake ponies made about alicorns. Alicorns are not omniscient. Thankfully, what she did not know, she could add on to what she did know.

"I haven't seen you around the castle," She addressed the servant. "Are you new around here?"

"Oh! Princess!" The pony shot around to face her, bowing. "I didn't see you there, forgive me!"

Celestia gently pulled the pony back to her feet. "Don't worry about it. Failing to see me once will not count against you. So what's your job here in Canterlot?"

She blushed visibly through her red coat, and her yellow eyes glanced to the left. "Me? Well, it's not much, I'm just a janitor."

Celestia smiled, slightly amused by the pony's naivete. "Just? Well, if you're just a janitor, I'm just a princess, aren't I?"

"What? No! You're so much more important that! I couldn't- well- I- Forgive me, but I really should be getting back to work, Those Cobwebs aren't going to remove themselves from the library shelves!" She ran off, desperately hoping not to be smitten by the supreme goddess' wrathful vengeance.

The goddess stared blankly down the hall. What was that? Was it something I said? Is she going to be terrified of me for the rest of her life? Oh, I really hope she isn't...

"Don't worry, Mistress!" The sun said. "we're sure she knew exactly what you meant! After all, we did!"

"Of course you did, you cosmic fart!" The moon shouted from the other side of the earth. "You have the link with her, so you know the ups and downs of her mind!"

"We're sorry, Mistress! we're sorry we forgot again! Please don't put us out!

"And I'm sorry I'm associated with you!"

WOULD YOU TWO QUIET DOWN!?! Celestia boomed at the two heavenly bodies. With that through and over with, She continued on her way, still somewhat confused by the red unicorn's nervousness around her. As she approached the back door to the throne room, she heard the sound of (respectful) argument. Carefully, she opened the door and stepped quietly through, making sure not to interrupt until the time was right.

"This project is too expensive. How will you make one available for every family in Equestria? This machine you speak of, needs oil. Oil is very expensive, 500 bits a barrel, at least."

"But don't you see, princess? We have been working on making these locomotives as efficient as possible. our latest one gets 500 miles to the gallon!"

"Your 'locomotive' requires Iron as well. We'll have to double our imports from the griffon kingdom to make up for the demand. That would also mean a generous tax raise, and I'm sure you two know as well as I do that ponies do not like taxes."

"But princess, It's the only thing to our name! There must be some way we can con- I mean sell our product to ponies-"

"WE SHALL ONLY SAY THIS ONCE. WE WILL NOT PERMIT THIS PROJECT TO GO UNDERWAY, UNLESS YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD REASON.

"Holding audience with Flim and Flam, sis?" Celestia spoke up. "They're only the biggest con ponies in Equestria."

Luna turned to her sister, relieved. "Oh, great! I thought I was going to have to be here forever!" She hopped off the throne, nuzzling Celestia on the neck. "Good luck with those two, They're a stubborn pair!" The door to the back of the throne room shut, and Celestia turned to the two con ponies

Flim tipped his hat. "Well, Princess, I suppose if you do not approve of our project, then we had better leave." The brothers promptly galloped out the front door and out the palace, leaving Celestia once again alone.

She scowled slightly. They didn't even try to give their sales pitch to me...

"Mistress?" The sun asked.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "Sun, please. I don't need to hear from you at the moment."

"AAH! We're sorry! Please don't put us out!"

Celestia sat down on the throne, groaning. First the janitor, now those two. I suppose they had their reasons, however improbable. I'm sure most ponies see me as a nice pony, right? Ah, our first subject seeking guidance from the "immortal goddess of the sun".

Her subject looked back and fourth cautiously before entering. He was a skinny fellow, glasses shiny clean, resting firmly on the bridge of his nose. his horn was freshly grounded to a sharp point, and his hooves likewise. His mane and tail were cut evenly, and his chin was as clean-shaven as they go. Celestia also noticed on the blue colt a hole in his ear where there was a lack of an earring. Quietly approaching the throne, he politely bowed, throwing in the traditional cross of the front left hoof as well.

Celestia smiled warmly at the gesture. "Well, my little pony, you certainly proved yourself more than worthy of my audience if you decided to be so polite. Please rise." The pony obeyed, like most of the ponies do. "Now, what is it you'd like to talk to me about?" Celestia laid down, preparing for the first talk of many.

"Actually, uh..." the pony began. "If it would please your highness, I would like to know a little more about your student. She's very... well... studious." He sat on his haunches, attempting to relax. "Does she major in anything?"

Celestia chuckled. "I don't think you know my student very well. If it can be researched, she'll research it! She would major in all the academic subjects if she could, but even my mind has limits. Why the interest?"

"Well your majesty... I wanted to set up an appointment with her. I heard that she's a good psychiatrist?"

"Really? Who recommended her to you?"

"Well, it was... ah... a pony who went by the name of Rainbow Dash."

"Rainbow-?!?" Celestia's voice was cut off by her own laughter. Oh, dear Twilight! If only you knew that that your friend thought you were a psychiatrist I swear, Rainbow, you and Pinkie are the best pranksters I have ever came across on. "Ha ha ha... I'm so sorry, I shouldn't be laughing!" Tears ran down her cheeks. "Oh, my sides! Somepony knock me back to my senses! Air, I need air!" Of all the things she was expecting, a prank from Rainbow Dash to her was not it! She had thought up all sorts of other ponies that could possibly recommend Twilight, but because Rainbow Dash didn't fit any one of the ponies she was expecting, all the thought energy was released in a healthy guffaw.

Celestia wiped a tear from her eye, finally recovering. "I'm so, so sorry!" She said. "In all seriousness, Twilight Sparkle is as good a psychiatrist as any of them! I'm sure she would be happy to-" She blinked.

The room was empty. She was alone once more. There was a moment of confusion before she realized what happened.

Her subject left, misinterpreting her laughter as something of an "Are you ridiculous?" expression.

She snapped her wings out, growling very loudly.

"OH, FOR-"

The princess used a very un-princessy word indeed.
> One deal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
"As a princess I may be, so am I nothing without the support of my subjects."


-Core conduct of the princess, Maxim 1


Princess Celestia lay on her throne, curled up with a cushion which she normally reserved for a long day in court.(1) Right now, however, she had decided the best course of action since the young stallion left from her initial laughing fit was to prop her head against said cushion, bury her face in it, and groan like a wounded bull.

The guards flanking her throne tried to keep their cool, retaining that stoic pose they all were supposed to be trained for, but it was clear that they were shaking in their knees.

With the volume, and the nature of her expletive, it was inevitable that the princess of the night would arrive, pounding her hooves on the floor. With a loud THUD, the doors to the throne room opened swiftly. Luna was fuming.

"CELESTIA!! CARE TO EXPLAIN THE MEANING BEHIND THINE OUTBURST?!"

Celestia dragged her head up. "Outburst? Look who's talking..."

Luna huffed. "At least we do not scream obscenities for all to hear for ten miles!"

Celestia groaned. "Does it matter...? It's not like anything I do will make them feel any more casually of me..."

Luna huffed. "Aside from letting an evil shadow entity into my heart because of a little bit of jealousy? As if there's nothing."

"I thought we've been over this; we were both at fault..."

Luna inexplicably burst into tears; it must be a tender point still. "No! I'm responsible, It's my fault, and hang it all, I'm sorry!! If it weren't for my dumb bout of jealousy, because ponies need to sleep when the sky is most beautiful, I WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THE MOON IN THE FIRST PLACE!!"

Celestia stared, wide eyed at her sniffling sister. after a few seconds, she finally spoke.

"Are you done being angsty? Wait...You're still jealous, aren't you?"

"Yeah... A little bit..." She furiously scrubbed her eyes. "MOOD SWINGS ASIDE!! There is no excuse to scream such filth at the top of your lungs."

"I have freedom of speech, Luna."

"Yay, that thou doth have, but thou doth not have the freedom, rights, nor the privilege to partake in acts of petty imbecility!"

"..."

"You were being an idiot."

"Oh; right then..." Celestia's head sagged back into her precious cushion. "Still won't change anything..."

Luna was about to reiterate her previous question, but decided against it; instead, she said one sentence. Such a sentence has been known to break bones, bring up kings, topple empires, and give ponies severe cases of indigestion and diarrhea.

"I know what's going on, you're just a lazy sissy who doesn't want to deal with the problem."

"No, I just can't--"

"Sissy."

"If you would just--"

"Sissy sissy, big sis' a sissy~!"

"Luna, this isn't--"

"SISSY!!"

"WILL YOU STOP BUGGING ME IF I SAY YES?!"

Luna bore a very cheesy grin. "Yes!"

"Alright, FINE!! BE THAT WAY!!" Celestia gnashed her teeth together. "Ever since Twilight's royal coronation, you've been nothing but an irritant!"

"YAY!!" Luna jubilantly cheered, glomping onto her beloved sister. "We knew thou wouldst see reason! You shan't be disappointed, we assure you!"

Celestia halfheartedly hugged back. "I really hope what you're planning is worth it."

"Absolutely and entirely, my dearest sister," She replied, nuzzling her nose into Celestia's cheek in that annoying way she really didn't like."But first, we had better take care of those poor guards."

The guards flanking Celestia's throne had tried to keep their cool, retaining that stoic pose they all were supposed to be trained for, but it was clear that they had fainted after all this time.

Luna clicked her tongue. "Something tells me you made your royal guard soft over the years. We should fix that too."

"One problem at a time, Luna..."





Much like the sun every morning, Celestia was absolutely beaming by the time Luna had exposed every last bit of her plans to her. Since then, a great feeling of confidence had washed over her, making her feel on top of the world once more. She felt like she could do anything. The plan Luna gave her was so simple, so thorough, so wonderfully easy--

"And so crazy, it just might work!" The sun said excitedly.

Oh, hello sun, Celestia replied as she waited patiently on the throne room for those which she called into service. Have you just come back from your wild trip across the galaxy? I have to commend you for bringing in someone else before going into a full bore linear panic.

The sun yelped. "We're so sorry! Don't put us out!!"

Celestia rolled her eyes. It was a good thing she was in a much happier mood than earlier on, or the poor sun might have had a few grey shinetrees from all its panic. (2)

Finally, the doors to the courtroom open, revealing five ponies and one lavender alicorn. Celestia dearly desired to bound up and embrace the ponies who helped her and her kingdom so often, but kept her calm, at least for a little while. A sudden, abrupt change of how she did things would only confuse them without an explanation.

Twilight's friends bowed, and Twilight awkwardly stood there, eliciting a giggle from her sister standing next to her. Meanwhile she looked at every pony there, and saw the same sort of thing she so often did: Nervousness. Each one of them was nervous around her, and she saw through years of experience and subtle movements why. Fluttershy was hoping she was polite enough. Rarity was unsure she was presentable. Applejack was unsure she was doing any of the motions correctly. Pinkie Pie dearly hoped she was happy. Rainbow Dash didn't want to screw up, and Twilight was running through her head a contingency plan for if she angered her enough to send the wrath of the sun upon the planet; or that's what she assumed, she may just be worried about the whole princess thing still. Repressing a sigh through her nose, she called for them to rise.

"Thank you all for coming here with so little warning ahead of time," She said. "It means so much to have ponies ready and willing to help."

"Happy ta serve, yer highness." Applejack tipped her hat.

Celestia smiled. "Happy to hear that. Now that you're all here, I'd like to inform you of what's going on." Her horn glowed, slipping her tiara off her head and allowing her hair to flow more freely. "So, as you all know for certain, this is my crown."

"...What about it?" Twilight asked.

Celestia held her smile, gazing into the shiny surface of said crown. "You'll find out soon enough. But first, what do you think about it?"

"Why, it has always been at the peak of fashion!" Rarity said. "Such a simple, wonderful beauty is what all the industry dreams of crafting!"

"It's really cool! I mean, how many ponies get to wear a hat made out of solid metal?" Rainbow Dash gushed.

"It's very pretty..." Fluttershy squeaked out.

"It's the superb-est, bestest, crowniest crown for crowning around at parties and princess-y formal social stuffs!" Pinkie exeuberently shouted with a bounce for emphasis.

"Can't deny that," Applejack agreed. "Fancy enough ta be formal, simple enough ta be social."

"It's PERFECT!!" Twilight squeed.

"It's junk," Celestia said.

"Exactly!! Wait--what?"

"Junk!" Celestia reiterated. "This crown is made of gold with an amethyst encrusted in it. What do we use gold for, everypony?"

"...our coins and as basic enchanting material?" Twilight guessed.

"Good! and how cheap is an amethyst, Rarity?"

"...One of that size?" Rarity hesitated. "Cheap enough to purchase at a two bit store." She felt a hint of shame towards the fashion industry.

"Indeed," Celestia nodded. "Then if this crown is in fact so cheap that you could recreate it at your local smithy, then the very position of the pony who wears it could perhaps be regarded as..." One of the stain glass windows on the right side of the throne room opened up with her magic, and the golden headgear was swiftly thrown out, cascading down the mountain slope for the six ponies there to gawk at it in astonishment and horror.

"...worthless outside the eyes of the beholder."

There were two seconds of silence before all the ponies made a commotion at once.

"Sister, don't you think that throwing out your crown was a little bit excessive? It's like tossing out a perfectly fine pair of socks; you just don't do that!"

"What?! I thought a princess' crown was important; that's what all the books said!"

"No!!" Rarity wailed. "I don't care how cheap it was, that act is a DISGRACE. AGAINST. ART!!"

"nooooooooooo, the party crown got dumped! Why dump the party crown?!"

"Ah dunno what that was, 'sides from messed up."

"Wait!! Aren't you the one pony everypony looks up to?? That's your emblem!!"

Fluttershy couldn't even speak in horror, simply resorting to crying.

"HOOVES. ON. LIPS!!" Luna shouted in the royal Canterlot voice. Everypony was immediately silent, all hooves touching lips. Satisfied, she spoke to her sister, right hoof still on her lips. "Now Tia, care to explain yourself?"

Celestia nodded, steeling herself for one of her motherly lectures, like she always did. "Do you see now from your own reactions, my little ponies? Sometimes, we ponies forget things. We get so caught up in the awe, the amazement and supposed majesty of our idols, so caught up in what they are, that we forget who they are. Like my crown for which we put so much sanctity on when it's just another piece of metal, some ponies are put on such high pedestals, they can't look down and see the lives of other ponies; not just because the 'little ponies' won't share out of lack of worth, but because they're afraid of attracting unwanted attention to those ponies."

Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane, reminded of the unwanted attention she got during her brief spree as a model.

A sigh escaped the sun princess' lips, as she prepared to finally loosen the mask she had on all these years. "One of the blessings of being an alicorn is eternal youth, but with a twist. With the right kind of magic, one can disable the aesthetic effect it has on a pony and see a pony for what they truly are." Celestia's horn glowed, slowly becoming brighter and brighter, until the golden light was blinding to the eyes. The magic charged with a great resonating hum, and then the spell was finally released.

POP!

"That was... Anticlimax," Pinkie said.

"'Anticlimactic' is the word you're looking for, Pinkie," Twilight corrected.

Before the ponies was no longer the regal princess they had known and were so utterly nervous around. Gone was the flowing aurora mane and tail, the slender neck, the beautiful legs, the eyes filled with many millennia of experience, the beautiful, perfectly polished horn and the towering frame of an ageless pony. What replaced that was a considerably smaller figure, of whom only just fit in the regalia she was wearing.

"...Wow." Rarity exclaimed simply.

"She looks so young." Remarked Applejack.

"So...relatable." Rainbow dash fumbled out, trying not to sound insulting.

"So... CUTE!!" Fluttershy squealed affectionately, trying to hold back from hugging the sun princess.

Standing before them now, and beside the baffled Princess Luna, was a pony only about three fourths the size of Twilight. It was quite clear that perfection still fell across her body, but it now seemed achievable with daily exercises and thirty minutes of makeup.(3) The aurora mane was now a light pink which fell softly around her neck, tail curling around her legs. Her horn was now approximately the length of Twilight's, tapering off to a little sharper point.

So too had her eyes lost that wizened old look, the eyeliner entirely gone, a few strands of hair falling between her eyes. Pose now more relaxed than regal, the now smaller princess resumed. "My little ponies, I have a favor to ask of all of you. What you have seen is merely a demonstration of how I would like to be treated, and you can be assured that this isn't the new norm. I would like you all to help me destroy a perception of me that has been ongoing for thousands of years. To put it simply: I need you to help me become relatable, because I'm simply fed up of my supposed godlike status."

With as much dramatic flair as her small size could handle, she raised a hoof in the air. "Failing that, let it be known that no princess shall ever be forced to wear the crown again! So please... Will you help me?"

"...Help you?" Twilight asked after a moment of thought.

"Yes, help me."

Twilight sprouted a big grin. "Help you, like help you?? Like you're helping us??"

Celestia nodded. "In a way, yes."

Twilight cheered, hopping around in circles. "YES!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!" She snagged Celestia in a back-crushing hug. (4) "Thank you so much!! You have no idea how much this means to me!!"

Celestia to her credit managed to return the hug with little sign of discomfort. "I probably can take a guess; but I'm glad you all agreed to work with me-- Fluttershy, are you okay?"

Fluttershy whimpered, holding the biggest pair of sad puppy eyes the pegasus pony could muster. The plea was very much evident in the way she held out her hooves.

Celestia's heart skipped a beat. The yellow pony recoiled a little when she approached her, but she eventually managed to lend the same bit of affection to her as she did to Twilight. "Better?"

"...Yes..."

Celestia smiled, releasing her grip and turning towards the other ponies. "Judging by all your smiling faces, I believe Twilight has already spoken for you four. We'll get started soon, but for now, I'd like you all to relax, and perhaps sleep on what you've all heard overnight. You may go wherever in the palace you please."

The ponies soon left, each talking amongst themselves, leaving Celestia and Luna with eachother. With another flash and a POP! Celestia returned to her grand looking self, summoned her regalia, and promptly fell on the floor laughing jubilantly.

"It worked!! It was a plan, It was crazy, and it WORKED!!"

"is working, sister?"

"Who cares!? It didn't flop!! It's working!!" She jumped up on her feet. "We need to celebrate! Let's partake in cake!!"

Luna flashed her a knowing look. "I suppose you're going to hog whatever's in the fridge?"

"Hay no! This is for everyone! I get a Triple chocolate cake! You get a lemon cake!" She grabbed a guard by the shoulders, twirling him around in her arms. "And you get a chocolate swirl cake with pink frosting!!"

A mustached pony entered the throne room with a piece of parchment.(5) "Your highnesses, I can't seem to find my green highlighter--" Celestia jammed her face into the pony's.

"Kibitz, do you like cupcakes?"

"I-I suppose, but--"

"then it's cupcakes for you!!" Celestia bounded out the door, happier than she's ever been in a long time, pointing at ponies along the way. "you get a cake, and you get a cake!! EVERYPONY GETS CAKES; LET THEM EAT CAKE!!"

Luna blinked once, then snickered. "I don't think she'll be quite as happy when she remembers what happened to her crown..."
> Action Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So girls," Twilight queried. "Your thoughts?"

Twilight and friends(1) were gathered around a table in the Ponyville wing common room, which was recently constructed sometime after Twilight's coronation. The room was, as Rarity had put it at their first visit, "rustic". Nestled to one side of the room was a fireplace, gently burning for the sake of the cold mountain air, as well as the incoming fall weather. As for the room service, the six actually knew a few of the servants-for-hire, and the cake was absolutely delicious, even if they didn't know the occasion that called for it. Something about a crazy plan working.

"That was a thing, it happened, and we saw it," Pinkie said. "the thing that happened resulted in cake, too." She casually crammed a whole cake into her mouth, then politely wiped the frosting with a hoofkerchief, smiling contentedly.

"It's a really big revelation, I think." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, about as big as Nightmare Moon being Princess Celestia's sister," Rainbow agreed

"Rainbow!"

"What? It's true!"

"Back to the point, girls," Twilight said with a light jab of her wing at Rainbow. "I'd say if the princess were to reveal this great revelation publicly, there'd be some big changes in how things work."

"You've said it, an' ah know one big ol' thing that'd change..." Applejack said in her typical drawl, attempting to daintily bite a piece off her cake, and failing rather miserably. "Should the highest noble be thinkin' her class is entirely worthless, who knows what'll happen to the lower ones?"

"and the term 'filthy commoner' will finally be put to an end with." Twilight giggled. "Blueblood would be absolutely livid!"

The little group laughed amongst each other as they continued to converse about the implications of such a drastic change in how the princesses were viewed, but mostly about how cute tiny Celestia looked.

“All this time, and we’ve been bowing to an adorable filly! Granted, a filly with power over the sun, but a filly nonetheless!”

“She was sooooooo cute!” Fluttershy squeed. “I just want to hug her and never let go!”

“That’s kinda creepy, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said. “Sweet, but still kinda creepy.”

“You wouldn’t hug her?!”

“Well yeah, but I would at least let go.”

“Of course; it would be rude to keep holding her! Why would anypony—Rarity, you haven’t said anything in a while.”

Rarity blinked, shaking herself. “Oh? No it’s fine, please continue, I’ll be okay.”

The others didn’t seem it buy it. “Rarity, you look… pale.” Twilight said, concerned.

“White coat darling, of course I’m pale.”

“Maybe y’all should go an’ have a lie down, Sugar.” Applejack suggested.

Rarity waved a hoof. “Oh no, its fine; I’ll just have a little breather, and I’ll be okay!” With graceful deliberation, she got up, leaving the table and took a few calm steps away. Then she wobbled slightly, and began to fall over to her right. 

“Ohmygosh, Rarity!!” Thankfully with lightning quick speed, Twillight managed to catch the unicorn in her magic. “Somepony got some smelling salts, or anything?”

Rainbow whistled, impressed. “Wow, of all the times she faked fainting, I never thought she could do it for real!”

“Rainbow!! You poor pony, It’s okay; we’ll make sure you’re fine when you wake up.”
A few minutes later, Rarity was safely deposited in Luna’s bedroom, where she could wake up comfortably in a bed. All present were relieved that Rarity was now not quite as pale.

Eventually, the white unicorn did in fact wake up to a rather comfortable bed with silken sheets and soft pillows, along with six smiling faces beaming down on her. Rarity shot up, accidentally hitting her head against Pinkie’s head. Pinkie barely seemed to notice, opting to grab her in a hug.

“Well, it appears that the fashionista has awoken,” Luna said smiling. “How’re you feeling?” Noticing that the lunar princess was present, Rarity jumped out of the bed and dropped into a bow. Luna rather forcefully pulled her back up. “Oh no, I’m not having that from a friend who’s recovering from a fainting spell.”

“I… Fainted?”

Applejack smirked. “Yep, and just moments after you said you’d be fine! Fell like a rock; never seen you fall like that before!”

“Indeed,” Luna replied. “From what I heard, it was impressive. So how does it feel to faint for real?”
Fluttershy spluttered. “I—why?! Is it too much to ask for no retorts from anypony?!”

“I jest, Fluttershy; I was merely teasing.” Luna patted a whimpering Fluttershy on the head “At any rate, it is rather relieving to find that Rarity is feeling much better. However, I think she should relax, nonetheless.” With a gentle nudge, Rarity was once again deposited on the bed. “Alright then, I think we should get an idea of what to do next.”

The ponies were rather confused. “Really? What for?” Rarity asked. “Princess Celestia told us to just relax for the rest of the day.”

Luna hummed thoughtfully. “Did she? Well if she wants to be treated like a normal pony, she’ll know how to take no for an answer. Yes, I think we need to make sure that ponies are comfortable saying no.”

“Alright, that sounds good as any plan, ah think,” Applejack agreed. “So how’re we goin’ to make this work?”

“Well we have two options, and Twilight will be helpful in this. The first option would be to remind ponies that they do not need to blindly obey Celestia. Unfortunately, that’s something Celestia can only do by herself. The only other option is to either feed Celestia some ridiculous things to make her subjects do, or nag a particular pony until they put their hoof down.” (2)

“That sounds mean…” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Yes, and hopefully they’ll know.” Gazing out the window, Luna observed the late sun over the horizon. “Well, it appears that we’ve just let the time go. Considering that we somehow managed to skip supper, do you want something to eat before you retire?”

The ponies gazed at each other, weighing the circumstances. Finally, Rarity spoke up.

“Today’s been rather… difficult, and I don’t think I can stomach anything right now.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. Do I speak for the rest of us when I say we’d like to sleep instead?”

With the nods of agreement that followed, Luna smiled. “Good! I will have to go back to my duties, so I’m just going to have you six use my bed.”

“What?!” All ponies exclaimed.

“What? It’s not like my bed is some kind of divine ground, is it? It may be hoof crafted, but it hardly cost me anything to get, so it’s not exactly luxury.”

“But he may have given you a discount on it,” Twilight countered. “You know, with the whole ‘I’m a princess, be nice to me’ thing.”

“Point,” Luna agreed. “But this was actually bought from a yard sale, so there you go. Now if you would please—”

“Wait, if Celestia wants ponies to regard us princesses as normal ponies, why're you ordering us around?”

“We couldn’t care less, Twilight Sparkle. Our sister may find the bowing unsettling, but we are only working with Tia to make her happy.”

“Wait a minute!” Pinkie shouted. “Twilight’s a princess and your equal! On what grounds do you have for ordering her around??”

Luna pushed her muzzle into Pinkie’s. “Because, Pinkie, I have lived long enough to be a mentor to our new princess, and simply disobeying me on the mere grounds that we are equals would make me very upset, which would be very unwise.”

Hearing no further objections, (3) Luna’s horn lit up, and she tucked the stunned silent ponies into her own bed. With expert skill, she made sure each and every one was placed in an ideal sleeping position, with a perfectly even amount of soft blanket between all of them. “Now, Action plan: Make sure ponies are comfortable with saying no, okay? I’ll help you sleep if you’re having trouble. Good night!” The door closed, and Twilight and friends were now surrounded in darkness. Applejack fidgeted.

“It’s only eight in th’ evenin,” Applejack whispered. “Ah’m not even tired yet…”

“Nopony’s making you stay here,” Rarity nagged.

“Except Luna,” Rainbow Dash complained.

“Yes, except for Luna.” Rarity shivered. 

“I think we’d do better to just listen. I do not want to be stuck on the moon again, by Celestia or not.”

Fluttershy started bawling.

“Oh, what now!?”

“Rainbow…” Twilight warned.

“What?! What did I say?”

Lavender unicorn magic levitated a pillow, which was promptly jammed into Rainbow’s mouth. “You need to learn a little tact.” With a little struggle, Rainbow Dash pulled it back out, spitting up feathers.

Rainbow harrumphed, determined to stay awake over this punishment for what most certainly wasn’t her fault at all. Besides, she’d just fly back from the moon, is all. She had walked there, after all. Unfortunately for her, the princess of the night held to the promise of helping her and her friends sleep. Around eleven at night, the door opened again with a gentle motion, and Luna stepped in. A simple little bit of magic and the gentle touch of a hoof against her cheek, she felt drowsy.

“Sorry I didn’t come sooner,” Luna said. “But I was a little busy tonight with some other ponies’ dreams. I’ll talk about it later, now sleep.” Before her reluctantly restful slumber, The last thing Rainbow saw was Luna tucking tucking her in once more and kissing her on the forehead. Rainbow Dozed off utterly confused by why a princess would do that.

But that would be the least of her problems the next morning…

> Meanwhile...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Princess Luna’s moon hung high in the sky that evening, full and brilliant. Being full, the moon rather enjoyed this night, for that’s when its reflected light was the brightest, and it could see what was going on in the night. While it was in fact pleased that its own surface residents had now started up a little society of their own in the warm “daylight” of its sibling body, this night was a particularly special cold night in the badlands, for within the changeling castle (now a full-fledged hive) a section of workers cut off from the bigger group, donned warm black robes, and gathered around a bonfire out in the sandy clearing. This only happened once a year, and the moon has secretly attended since the founding of—

“Whatcha doin’, moon?” the sun asked.

“Oh for—sun, what the hay?! I’m trying to listen!”
This only happened once a year. It was a time when the children of harmony gathered to the fireplace on a national scale. (1) 

Lepidos, a young changeling with slim, pretty wings and long ears that curled around like antenna, was one of the attendees to this event, and she was quite excited. Not just for the general goings of harmony, which sometimes kept her up at night, but because this was a special meeting.

“Greetinkz, evrylink; and welcome to the zixty zixth annual meetink of the cult of harmony.” Brother Formici’s voice rang out over the desert, strong and proud in such a way fit for a leader; in spite of his unfortunate speech impediment. This changeling had since day one been in a constant battle with getting his pronunciations in check. None dared laugh though, for Formici was a digger drone, and digger drones, while they did not have obvious fangs like other changelings, they did in fact have an exceedingly strong carapace, along with a wicked horn. So basically, Brother Formici was a walking tank. Lepidos admired him for his prideful nature. “If I can get a roll call, pleez?”

One changeling spoke up. “Brother Formici, with all due respect, we’re a hive mind; and don’t exactly need to do a roll call.”

Formici’s left eye brow arched slightly on his plated forehead. “And? the queen knowz we meet, but we ztill meet ‘in zecret’. It iz but the zpirit of thinkz!”

The other changeling flinched. “Apologies Brother Formici, forgive me for my senselessness.”

“There iz no need for fear, brother; all are friendz in the cult of harmony! Now, North hive?” Several of the changelings groaned over the prospect of audible roll call. “I will not have any complainink either; North hive, pleez?”

“All present!”

“Zouth hive?”

“Lampyres is absent.”

“Zuch a shame, any reason?”

“Sick with Chitincrack, Brother.” (2)

“I zee. Very well then. Eazzt hive?”

This continued until all twenty-five sectors of the hive had stated roll call, each rather bored after the three minutes that had passed. However, the great leader was pleased, and they could now move on to better things. “Now brotherz and zizterz,” Brother Formici continued. “Let uz reczite our code of honor!” The crowd put their hooves over their hearts, and with a little more enthusiasm than the rest, Lepidos recited with them:

By understanding that love must be given first to receive more,
I swear to one day release my true pony self
And feed on love without making anypony braindead.

“Brotherz and zizterz, it brinks me much happienezz to zay that we are that much closzer to achievink our goal! Today, one of uz haz crozzed the boundary between pony and changelink to do the harmoniouz! Zizter lepidozz!”

“It’s ‘Lepidos’, Brother Formici,” She said.

“My happinezz iz zo great, I cannot even zpeak properly! Come to the front zizter, zo you can tell uz of your good deed of spreadink harmony!”

This was it! This was the moment! This was the point where she could shine! With a proud smile upon her face, Lepidos stepped up beside the leader. “I smiled at a filly!”

There was a great gasp that erupted from the crowd, then a roar of applause, far outmatching any other sort of applause. She beamed.

A single tear made a path from Formici’s right eye, down his face and onto the floor. “Ah, what wonderz I have whitnezzed! We have come long zince my father’z father’z founding of zhiz cult! Our zizter haz given uz hope; hope for achieving our goal! Zhiz forager haz begun buildink the bridge for our zpeciez! Already, I feel I too can zmile at poniez!” The leader placed his hooves on her shoulders. “Tell uz; did she zmile back??”

“She did!” Lepidos fluttered her wings excitedly. “And it wasn’t nervous or anything, it was the sincerest smile from a pony I have ever—meep!”

Brother Formici could no longer control his happiness, and snagged the female in an embrace, contrasting greatly with the female changeling’s own slender body. Lepidos awkwardly returned the hug with a nuzzle while the crowd cheered ever louder.

When the crowd calmed, The cultist leader spoke once more, breaking the embrace. “Brotherz and zizterz, I believe it’z time to move forward onzce more.” The crowd murmured. “The tazk ahead of uz will be a hefty one, but I am thoroughly convinzced it iz now in our capabilitiez. Tomorrow at dawn, we zshall head out, with the guidenzce of Lepidozz—“

“It’s ‘Lepidos’, Brother.”

“Watever—With the guidenzce of Lepidozz, we zshall head out and rizk ourzelvez for the zake of the greatezt virtue of harmony: Friendzship!”

The crowd gasped at the sudden turn of events, but Formici silenced them.

“Do not fear ziz! For ziz iz the very thing we all zeek to accomplizsh! With one final puzsh, we can truly achieve the harmony we all dezire, and never go hungry again!” He sighed. “But if any of you are feelink nervouz over ziz becauze you merely zought food, you may leave now, and I zshall not punizsh you.” None moved from where they were, and his happiness returned. “Wonderful! Now the only thing left is receivink the queen’z blezzing.” Suddenly, all formalities dropped when said queen spoke up from the very back:

“I’ll think about it; but didn’t I make it rather clear that curfew was two hours ago??”

The changelings trampled over eachother, trying to turn around so they properly bow to their queen. Queen Chrysalis tapped her hoof in disappointment. “I swear,” she huffed. “I try to make sure you kids get a good night’s sleep, and now you’re sneaking out to play your games! Quite disappointing;” She snapped her gaze at Lepidos. “Especially from the children that I raised myself!! Especially you!” Pushing through the nervous crowd, she rather forcefully pulled Lepidos back up on her hooves. “I thought you of all foragers would know a little better than to head outside unprepared.”

Lepidos’ ears fell. “But Mommy, I’m not foraging right now—”

Chrysalis silenced her with a hoof to the muzzle. “Not now; Mommy’s real tired. It’s eleven in the evening, and we should all be in bed.”

The changelings moaned a collective “Awwwww…”

“No, I’m not hearing any of it! Everyling knows what you’ve been doing, and I’m sure you don’t want any of the other adults yelling at you, so march!”

Lepidos whimpered. “Mommy, we’re sorry--”

“MARCH, NYMPHS!!”

Obediently, the nymphs scampered away from the fireplace, back to the hive proper. Once she was sure they were all back where they belonged (and not tangled up in the silly cloaks they wore at that time every year), she let out an exasperated sigh, following them. “Children sometimes. What’s next, visible pupils, shorter fangs and actual manes…? Still, I’ve got a promise to keep.”

The moon sat overhead. If it had a mouth, it would have been slack-jawed.
“Mistress! Mistress Luna!”

Just a moment, Moon.

“But Mistress, this is important!”

I said just a moment!

“What are you busy doing that’s more important than the cult of harmony resolving for change in harvesting love??”

Luna smiled. Perhaps the giving of love. She placed a kiss on Rainbow Dash’s forehead, tucking her in. Now, what is so urgent that you’d try to interrupt me helping a rather distressed pony sleep?

If the moon had a mouth, it would have probably gagged. “Ick; why do you insist on doing that to full grown mares?”

It’s only right to give a mother’s comforting touch when putting ponies into slumber.

The moon would have gagged if it could. “But you’re not her mo—”

I’m most certainly old enough.

“You’re old enough to be a great great grandmother, and that’s creepy.”

There was a time of silence as the princess considered the moon’s retort, during which she took a trip to the royal kitchens and indulge in what would count as a day-goer’s lunch. Being a heavenly body, the moon was rather patient as she contentedly ate her cheese sandwich. However, Luna was no such fellow. Are you going to tell me your important message?

The moon cleared its nonexistent throat. “The Cult of Harmony has reached a consensus.”

Are they the group of young changelings who usually can’t get anything done because of the queen?

“Yes, but she said she’d think about it.”

Ah yes, the assuring lie to get irritating children out of your mane. I’m certain she has decided to simply leave them inside 

“Actually, I overheard her mumbling to herself.”

And…?

“And she said she had a promise to keep; this was only shortly after she said she’d think about it.”

Very well then; I’d like you to watch the changeling hive for the queen’s decision.

“It shall be done. But wouldn’t this be spying?”

Luna smirked. Who would execute the moon for spying?

The moon was silent, completely understanding in the power that Luna held over it.

Don’t answer that.

The moon changed its gaze back to the changeling hive. “Okay, Future moon’s problem I guess.”
---
“Your highness, what is your decision?” The advisor asked at Queen Chrysalis’ bedside. The queen, given the circumstances that she was now in her favorite nightgown and stockings getting ready to sleep in her luxurious bed, which was only meant for her and her alone; was rather patient.

“I’m thinking about it, Honeycomb!!” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “It’s not every day you decide whether or not you’ll send out a bunch of kids into enemy territory!”

“With all due respect, that was your fault.”(3)

The moon stifled a laugh, then flinched at what happened next.

Queen Chrysalis cuffed the changeling advisor. “Let’s not play the blame game here! How about you ask yourself who swore to follow me into the invasion??” The advisor whimpered, stuttering out an apology. “Now now, I have you here to advise me, not cry,” Chrysalis replied, squeezing the changeling in a hug. After a momentary time of comforting, she let go of the changeling. “Better?”

“I—Yes, my queen.” She wiped her eyes. “Um… may I make a suggestion?”

“Absolutely! You are my advisor.”

“I… I think you should make a decision… It’s been five hours.”

Chrysalis stroked the advisor’s head, rolling her eyes. “And I think you’re a broken record, honey. I have five hours left; give me time to sleep on it.”

“Choosing not to choose—as you’ve said to me, your highness—isn’t choosing at all.”

Chrysalis snorted. “Who assigned you to this position!?”

“You did, your highness. Shall I tuck you in?”

Chrysalis lie down on her pillow, sighing. “Proceed, Honeycomb.”

“Very well,” She acknowledged, pulling the queen’s covers up to her neck in the gentlest way she could. When she was certain that Chrysalis was comfortable, she hopped up on the bed carefully, curling up by her rear legs.

“What’re you doing?”

“Article twelve, section nine,” Honeycomb explained. “During an important decision by her highness, an advisor or other sort of assistant must be present with her highness at all times.”

“I SAID I’D THINK ABOUT IT!!”	

The moon giggled. “I don’t even care if she says no anymore, this is quality entertainment!”

“What? What’s going on here? Entertainment?! I must see, I must see!!”

“Gosh dang it Sun, stop pushing!!”
---
Lepidos wasn’t a naughty nymph. She should know; the filly she smiled at made it quite clear that she was very nice, even if not verbally. She ate her motherly love, practiced her morphs, and shared the love she foraged from the outside world. She even kept her chitin black and oily; using only the best oils, just like her mommy!

So why, oh why was she doing something so despicable like sneaking into mommy’s room?! Brother Formici told her to do so, being the most in the good queen’s favor (AKA mommy’s little girl). Still, she really felt the butterflies in her stomach. She voiced her concern to Formici.

B-brother, I’m not sure I can do this…

Immediately, The cult leader’s voice replied to her with that same charisma as always, even when just awoken. Mnng, wha… What’s that? Do what?

I’m s-scared…

Oh right; scouting. Sister, now is not the time for anxiety—

That doesn’t matter, because I am scared… When she heard mommy’s light snoring, she jumped and dove under the bed. Oh no!! Is she awake?! I hope she’s not awake!!

Sister, you know mother’s not that light a sleeper. Please, the cult NEEDS you to do this.

I c-c-can’t!

Sister, we won’t know until you try it!

Lepidos swallowed her anxiety to make an attempt at scouting. In this case, she had to scout the queen’s mind by establishing a deep connection, a very personal and close thing; definitely not something you do to a sleeping changeling. However, Formici had somehow managed to convince her that any violation of a changeling’s sleeping space would be justified by the joy of never worrying about harvesting love again. It was by these ideals that Lepidos fluttered her wings to alight on the bed, and with extreme care, crossed horns with the sleeping queen to establish a deep connection. Ever so carefully sneaking around through her mind, she eventually found what seemed to be archives. Lepidos had hardly thought Mommy was so organized with her thoughts.

I’m so sorry Mommy… She thought as she started opening the files. Her eyes were immediately opened, and she learned a great many things. Like her favorite color, (green), her favorite food, (Steak with wine) and her favorite activity! (Impersonating lovers of high standing) She also learned a couple things that she didn’t want to learn, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that she couldn’t find a thing. Poor Lepidos was losing patience, and nerve. Where is it…? Everything’s out of order…

Just keep searching!

But it makes no sense!!!

Sister, you must not give up!!

Frustrated, Lepidos Closed the file cabinets, heading off to the other sectors. Conveniently, the doorway to “Active thought” was just around the corner, right next to the doorway to “Ear worms”.(4) Near the front, she had finally found what she was looking for, in a nice little book. She picked it up and started to read, feeling rather guilty. The book appeared to be an active account of thoughts in sentences. Some was erased out presumably by forgetting, but the rest was still legible. Flipping to the back she, full of relief, found the answer.



What am I going to do with those kids…? Sometimes they irritate me to no end. But it’s impossible not to love them. So you know what? I think I’m going to actually let them go with supervision. I’m a queen; I’m quite competent that I can take care of them, so I’ll do it…



Lepidos smiled in glee. She said yes! She’s going to do it! After all this time, she was going to let them go into Ponyville, or Canterlot, or wherever! She read it again, just to see if she was dreaming.



…Provided little Leppy decides to stop reading my thoughts of course… 



“Can’t sleep, honey?”

Lepidos turned around, in terror at the Queen’s disappointed mental apparition. Immediately, she fell flat on her face in a bow and expressed her repentance. “MommyI’msosorryIwastoldtodoitbymybrotherandhesaidweshouldbesurethatyouwantedtotakeustoequestriabeforewemadeanyactualplansandIneverintendedtolearnaboutthetimeyou—”

“Get out, please.”

Lepidos’ ears drooped. “Yes, mommy…”
---
“Do you realize that you’re not allowed to enter changeling’s minds without permission?”

Lepidos nodded; a deep set frown upon her face. She knew she had been naughty, especially since mommy didn’t even care that she was on her bed.

The queen sighed. “Formici talked you into this, didn’t he?” Lepidos nodded again. “Of course; that nymph is far too good at convincing changelings to do things.” Lepidos bowed her head, ashamed about actually listening to him. Chrysalis clicked her tongue. “I’m going to have to make him a hive supervisor someday. At any rate, I think we’re going to have to have a little talk about this eventually. Do you understand?”

Lepidos nodded once more.

“Sorry, I can’t hear your head rattle.”

“Yes…”

Chrysalis quirked an eyebrow. “Yes…?”

“Yes, mommy.”

“Good girl.” Lepidos blushed lightly as mommy kissed her on the forehead.

“Um, are you going to still let us go to equestria?”

Chrysalis beamed. “Absolutely! As a matter of fact, you and the rest of your little group is a perfect option for getting there!”

She was perfect for the job?? How honorable! That she and a bunch of little… fillies would be useful is… confusing? “…Really? Why?”

“Oh it’s quite simple—Ponies don’t have the guts to attack children. We can come in and invade, and nopony will even lift a hoof!”

“Uh, what?”

“Oops, did I say ‘invade’? Sorry, I meant ‘Integrate’! Yes, we’ll be integrating the ponies with us. It’ll be so quickly accomplished; we’ll be all done before they even know what’s going on!”

“…Why would we want to integrate them into our society?”

“Because our society is superior!”

“But that’s not--”

Chrysalis booped her on the nose. “You think too much, sweetie. Anyway, I think you need to be in bed now.”

Lepidos stuttered, but finally complied with a weak “Okay,” and snuggled up to the queen, quickly falling asleep with a lullaby spell. Satisfied that everything was going to be perfect, Chrysalis also settled in, but not before addressing another problem.

“Honeycomb, out. I've made my decision.” With a simple nudge, the changeling advisor awkwardly flopped off the bed.

The moon stared down at the now sleeping changelings silently. There was only one thing it could say after all this.

“Invading again…? Are you kidding me?”

> 2 sweet 4 me
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


“Love is a curious thing. Not because of how it makes people do things they wouldn’t normally do, but because it actively seeks out the world for purpose behind it, and further discovery of other reasons for its love.”

-Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, The Spirit of Love Alongside Friendship


It was a few minutes early of having to wake up for the day, Twilight had woken up, and so had the rest of the ponies. In the quiet early morning moments, each pony reveled in the soft warmth of the bed which gave them that wonderful feeling of “I want to stay here forever”, and there they stayed in relative comfort and laziness.

Then Twilight’s wings snapped open, disrupting that comfort. “Horse apples; really?! I thought I was done with that!”

The other ponies groaned from the absence of blanket, and Twilight tried in vain to pry her wings back down. Failing that, She rolled over to her side, allowing the blanket to slip off her cramped appendages. She shivered from the chill.

Fluttershy—next to her—allowed herself the opportunity to ease the annoyed alicorn’s pain by rubbing her wing bases. “So,” Fluttershy asked. “How exactly are we going to make her give out ridiculous orders?”

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know; make sure we’re more familiar with her?”

Fluttershy eep’d. “Oh, but I’m not used to social interaction, and I can try to be nice, but I might come off as too nice… Twilight, what do I do??”

Rarity—behind Fluttershy—Put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Fluttershy, you’re a friend of royalty, remember?”

“Well, yes but—”

“Royalty that is now on a first name basis with her former teacher?” Twilight quipped.

“Yes, but—”

“Royalty that lives in a library rather than a throne?” Applejack added.

“Yes I know, but—”

“Royalty that still enjoys scarfing down burgers in a very un princess-like manner?”

“Rainbow, that’s uncalled for,” Twilight chided.

“It’s just...” Fluttershy fidgeted, trying to find the right words. “I’m not the only one uncomfortable about all this… right?”

Rarity sighed. “You’re right Fluttershy, I don’t like the looks of this either. I looked up to her, you know?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“And now? She doesn’t even want to be looked up to.” She shrugged dejectedly. “What does that make me then? Most of my life I’ve been making dresses and trying to become famous fairly while being generous. I looked up to her because she was fair with her fame; now she doesn’t want to be famous… am I greedy for wanting to be famous?”

“Nah,” Rainbow disagreed. “I mean, look at me, I’m trying to get to the Wonderbolts. If anypony is selfish, it’s me.”

“And I want to be the center of every party!” Pinkie chirped.

“See? You’re not greedy, you’re just trying to make ponies look pretty.”

The ponies giggled, and Rarity breathed a small sigh of relief. “Thank goodness; that’s one crisis of self averted.”

The small amount of celebration they shared was not to last, however. The doors to the royal bedroom slammed open, startling the ponies, and Luna stepped in with great enthusiasm. “Good morning, my little ponies!”

The six ponies sat in silence.

“Let’s try that again. Good morning, my little ponies!”

“Uhh… Hi?” Rainbow Dash offered.

Luna frowned. “I don’t understand how she does it. Very well then…” Her smile returned. “So does anypony have an idea from which to execute our action plan?”

Twilight shrugged. “Sorry, I guess we just think best awake… And I’m sorry for not being quite enthusiastic this morning.”

“Oh no, it’s alright; I’m not my sister anyway. It doesn’t matter… So why don’t we head off to breakfast?”

The ponies enthusiastically nodded.

“Oh but first; who wants to talk with Celestia today? We’re going to have to get started with our action plan as soon as—”

Fluttershy’s hoof shot up. “I’ll do it!”
---

Most rulers of their respective countries took non-royalty sitting on their throne as high-treason, and executed those that dared to do so. As such, most even in Equestria believed that sitting on the throne was high-treason, or that they were simply “unworthy”. As such, ponies refused to step ten feet within the area of the throne, like children who get it into her heads that they can’t even touch the cookie jar when they were only told that they can’t take cookies from the cookie jar.

However, the “royal throne” didn’t exactly belong to anypony in particular. It was owned by the government itself, which basically meant all royals and their subjects had de jure permission to sit on it, sit with the princess, or even sleep in the throne.

Which is partly why Princess Celestia del Sol of the immortal empire of the solar diarchy (1) hadn’t minded it at all when Fluttershy came to court one day with her odd request. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway; Celestia was always a nice pony.

“Um, princess?” She started nervously. “I was wondering if—well, with your permission of course—if I could, maybe… sit with you…?”

Celestia chuckled.  “Sure you can, if you can walk.”

“Oh, um… may I…?”

That was exactly what she was hoping to hear. With a gentle nod, she moved over to her right, and patted the seat. “Hop up, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy took her time, still unsure if she actually had permission, but eventually she came close enough for Celestia to wrap a wing around her and pull her close to her side. The shy pegasus yelped from the sudden close-contact, but Celestia soon got to enjoy the feeling of a pony nuzzling into her fur, relaxing in her gentle touch.

Fluttershy’s happy sigh returned a gentle squeeze of her wing from the princess, and Celestia asked the question that others were probably asking in their heads. “So, not many ponies actually have the nerve to sit with the princess. What gave you the idea that I’m approachable?”

Fluttershy stuttered. “W-w-well, it-it’s that—that—that I…”

Celestia quirked an eyebrow. “…yes?”

“I mean—Ever since I met you, I’ve been kinda fond of you, and I just wanted to say that I—um…”

Celestia nodded.

“I’m… your biggest fan!”

“Really? I’ve never had a fan before.”

She blushed, smiling. ”Oh yes; I read up on many books about you, newspaper articles, even old legends! I’ve never called myself that before, but well, getting to know the princess personally fixed that.” She reached from behind her to grab a scarf with her aurora mane colors and a stitching of her cutie mark on each end. “I... didn’t come here just to sit next to you, I mean, I am grateful for that, but… I made this for you, if you don’t mind…”

“Oh Fluttershy, it’s wonderful!” She beamed when she put the scarf around her neck. “It feels so nice; what on earth did I do to deserve this?”

Fluttershy gulped. “Um, it’s… it’s not about what you did, really, but about what you… might do, I guess?”

“Really?” She gave her a scowl. “Fluttershy, you’re not trying to do the unthinkable, and bribe the princess of all Equestria?”

The poor pegasus, realizing she had been caught, wilted like a flower. “B-b-bribing?? N-no, I would never do such a horrible, awful, stupid thing like—”

“Hold on, Fluttershy; I would be happy to do something for you! You and your friends helped the whole kingdom so much, how could I not repay you?”

“You—you’re sure you would do— But you don’t even know what I want yet!”

“Of course. If you have a favor to ask of me, it would be my pleasure.”

Fluttershy grabbed the princess in a hug. “Oh thank you thank you thank you! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this!”

Celestia giggled, returning the hug. “You’re always welcome, my little pony. So, what exactly did I agree to?”

“Oh right. Princess Luna said we should make ponies more comfortable with saying no.”

“Saying no to what?”

“…Commands that they don’t think are right… So, we thought you should start giving ponies outrageous or lofty orders…?”

“…She told me to abuse my power? This is stage one of her plan?”

“Uh, yes?”

“I see…” Celestia contemplated the gravity of the situation. Was that really what it would take to make ponies think of her as just another pony? It just sounded corrupt, rude and inconsiderate. How could she possibly do such a thing? That sort of thing would instate rebellion! But if she had to drop her reputation a little to do this, then so be it. “Very well Fluttershy, I will do it. I—Princess Celestia of Equestria—hereby order you to get me some cake.”

Fluttershy stared. “That’s not very outrageous.”

“It isn’t? But isn’t a princess supposed to keep her perfect figure as part of her subject’s Idealization?” (2)

“Everypony eats some cake, you highness…”

She scratched her head with a hoof. “Okay, how about an entire cake?”

“That’ll do it.” Fluttershy hopped off the throne and a little distance before she realized what exactly she was trying to do in the first place. “Oh right… If you don’t mind, I’ll have to refuse…”

Celestia should have expected it, but she didn’t. Oh… She said no. That’s a little jarring to have that sort of thing happen. Did that actually happen? “What did you say…?”

A little squeak of fear emitted from the pegasus. Confidently, she re spoke her words. “I-i-I’m sorry, but I s-said no.”

“Oh…” Celestia’s ears drooped. She felt crushed, dejected; forbidden from the love and attention she deserved—No, she deserved none of that; she was just any old pony—just a scared little filly inside an adult pony’s body.

A scared little filly… Wait… that’s it!

“Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy turned around once more. “Y-yes, your highness?”

“I think I have an idea for how to make our plan work practically overnight!”

“Really?”

“Yes, I believe so!” With her magic, Celestia exposed her real self to the world once more.

“No wait, mistress, don’t leave us alone without your thoughts—WE LOVE YOU WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US—darn it.” (3)

POP!

The short little white alicorn with pink hair and a childish stature smiled back at Fluttershy. “Well? What do you think?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. Then she squealed in delight. “IT. IS. PERFECT!!” With all the speed she could muster, she pounced on the little alicorn, twirling her around in her endless affection. “It’s the most wonderful most fantastic thing ever because ponies will think you’re just any old pony because you are just any old pony!!”

Fluttershy stopped the moment she saw a spear at her nose. “Stop! You must unhand the princess, or we’ll be forced to—”

Fluttershy whimpered. “B-but she’s just a little pony, I’d never do anything to hurt her…”

The guard inexplicably fell over, clutching his poor heart. So did the others.

“Oh no, princess! Your guards!” She let go, fawning over the unfortunate stallions. Celestia was left wondering how those ponies managed to become guards through the health screening, and missing the feeling of her fan’s affection. So she slumped over on her royal cushion with a deep sigh.

---

“Ugh… Muh… Mommy? Was the teleportation really necess… necess…”

“Necessary? Of course it was necessary. How else are we going to get our plan in motion in the course of a few hours?”

As of that moment, there was a small crowd of changeling children and one queen situated within a back alley of Canterlot, still trying to recover from their long distance teleport from the badlands to Canterlot; Lepidos among their ranks. “We could have…” She held back a gag. “Just… just flown there, right?”

“Nonsense! Some of your brothers cannot fly. Would you rather carry them there?”

“Yes, I think I would… maybe?”

Chrysalis smirked. “…All fifteen of them?”

Lepidos’ long ears drooped. “No…”

“There, you see? It was the best choice, and we made it with no repercussions whatsoever!” Unfortunately for her, Chrysalis’ sound logic was made unsound from one nymph losing their lunch. “…mostly no repercussions. Look, why don’t we just get this started, yes? And Acari, go help Siphona.”

After some cleaning up (And lots of “eew”), a couple of changelings peeked out the side of the alleyway, waiting for some sort of signal. Out from back alley of Canterlot, the changelings had discovered an interesting thing: What ponies do when they aren’t panicking. As it appeared, ponies tended to walk very briskly to get to wherever they were going. They also seemed to have the strange counter-productive habit of not looking where they were going, and pointing their noses at a ninety degree angle from level to the ground. The population also consisted strangely of a high amount of unicorns. 

However, that wasn’t remotely as intriguing as the small procession of out-of-place foals, along with one earth pony adult mare heading in the direction of the castle, or at least what they assumed was the castle.

“Whoa, what’s that?”

“Is that some procession?”

“Is it a hive?”

“It is a hive!”

“Kids—” Chrysalis attempted before finding out she was being ignored.

“No it’s not, it’s too small!”

“They’re not even ponies, how could it possibly be a hive?!”

“Oh hey! There’s that little filly I smiled at!”

“Ah, zo it iz! Look, she iz zmilink back! Zo beautiful…”

“Kids—” Chrysalis growled at the continued ignorance in front of her.

“What’re we gonna do, follow them? Is that how you integrate?”

“Yeah, become a part of the group!”

“But how? Changelings don’t have a good reputation…”

“I propose we just walk up and say hi!”

“KIDS, WE ARE GETTING DISTRACTED!!” The changeling nymphs shot their heads around towards a frazzle-maned Chrysalis. She huffed. “Standing around and staring at foals will help us none, will it? We can definitely do more than that.”

The group sat in silence, before one dared to ask a question. “How, Mother? They are zshurely far away by now, and we cannot make a zscene, am I correct?”

Chrysalis scowled. “A procession of foals may not be counted as a reliable source of information, but their teacher may…” She half mumbled to herself. “I believe an interception is in order.”

“Interception? How?”

“Only the one tried and true way!”

Brother Formici didn’t understand. “…What iz the one tried and true way?”

“Stalk, ambush, then feed! Works every time!”

“Why would feeding the pony help?”

“Not feeding the pony; feeding on the pony! There’s a crucial difference.”

“But a pony haz to zshow affection firzst!”

Chrysalis smirked. “That should not be a problem. Oh, Lepsy~?”

Lepidos sat nervously. “…Yes, mommy?”

“Do me a favor and drain the earth pony teacher dry, would you?”

Lepidos cringed. “But mommy, that goes against the code of—”

Chrysalis silenced the nymph filly. “We’ll discuss morals later; but you need to do what mommy says.”

“I—Yes, mommy…” Lepidos took to the roofs, searching for the small procession of foals. It was okay, mommy always knew best, even when she knew better than mommy! A little sigh escaped her lips. Mommy’s always been a little stern when ordering changelings around. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought she was a pawn! But she did know better; mommy sang them to sleep every night. When she saw a familiar purple-ish earth pony mare, she stopped buzzing her wings and relaxed into a glide, lightly stepping on the cat walk of the castle. She turned her ears towards the little crowd of foals. One of the fillies appeared very excited.

“I can’t believe I thaw her again!” the filly exclaimed. “And she wath tho cloeth!”

“Was she the cute one?” A pink filly asked next to her. “Anypony who looks that good must be rich!”

“Yeth, she mutht be rich!”

A grey filly next to the pink one perked up. “Do you think we could get her to buy something for us?”

Lepidos razberried (quietly). Changelings don’t do the money thing…

“Maybe, but only if she hath thum money to throw around.”

The pink filly grinned. “Think about it silver! With your fortune, my daddy’s fortune, and the strange random filly’s fortune, we can make a really big fortune!”

She just wanted money that I don’t even have. Well I guess that makes my achievement less notable… The cult doesn’t need to hear about this, I’ve got a job to do! With a flap and a buzz of her wings, she gracefully flew around in a circle. I guess it makes sense that some ponies just find it difficult to make friends… with a buzz of her wings, she delicately landed.

Right in the middle of the crowd of foals, in broad daylight, right in front of the castle gates. For the cult of harmony, such an action could be spoken of as heroism. For any other changeling worth their salt however, this was a rookie mistake.

“There she ith again! Hi thtrange filly!”

“Oh my gosh, is she—like, a blank flank?! Ew!”

“Whath tho wrong with that?”	

“A talentless pony can’t do anything in society! They don’t—oh gross, she has holes in her legs!!”

“CHANGELING!!” A random colt shouted, throwing the rest of the foals into a panic. It took a few seconds for the earth pony mare to grasp what just happened and take measures to defend her students.

There they stood, eye to eye, face to face. One was terrified, and the other was determined to keep herself between her students and the threat in front. Neither moved an inch, waiting for the other to dare even twitch an ear. Thankfully, the hive’s gracious mother took notice of the delay.

Lepidos, what’re you waiting for?! Suck her dry!!

Mommy, I’m scared…

Lepidos, just let your instincts through and feed! It can’t be that hard.

But she’s… bigger than I expected…

Lepidos felt her mother’s aura in her eyes for a moment. Hmmm, I agree… She looks quite healthy, even if she is a little pudgy…

Lepidos’ cheeks flushed violet.(4) Th-That’s not what I meant, that’s rude!

Well we’ll get a better look at her later; I need you to take her out of the picture!

H-h-how?!

Start with a hug or something, I don’t know, just do it!!

So lepidos did just that; against all her instincts as a forager to run as fast as possible away from the mare, she closed the short gap with a whimper and a jump, awkwardly clinging to the mare’s neck. Meanwhile she contemplated how she had managed to affect the world for the greater good, for it was clear that her life was only moments from the inevitable end. Silently, she said her goodbyes to all her brothers and sisters before she couldn't when...

...a pair of hooves hesitantly wrapped around her, holding her lightly, but lovingly all the same. When a stream of love trickled into her filling her with the scent of flowers and a feeling of happiness, she realized what happened. She couldn’t believe it. It worked! Mommy could barely believe it either!

Okay, what?! That makes no sense! Changelings work though deception! I swear, what is it with you and your unfathomable way of making things work in your favor?! This goes against everything changelings are about…

Lepidos nuzzled the cheek of the mare, who seemed to have relaxed after a little time of feeding. Everything seemed to be going smoothly; and she expected that at any moment the teacher’s sclera would take on that sleepy green color. Just to check and make sure, she looked up, smiling sweetly. Her eyes widened.

The mare’s whites were as… white, as they were when she first saw her. Now she had made possible the impossible. She had managed to feed off love from a pony without making them brain dead! Not only had she fed, she was full! She had accomplished what all in the cult of harmony had only hoped of doing years from now!

Lepidos… Why haven’t you drained her yet…?

She had done it, and she was scared to death about disobeying her mother. She was surely going get her bottom chipped for this.

“Tho… Are you thtill here to invade uth again, like from the latht time we thaw other ghangelingth?”

"I... I..."

Lepidos, I swear if you don't drain the earth pony right now I will make sure you cannot sit down for a week!!

B-b-but I'm full! Lepidos tried to defend herself. Her mother's angry voice made her reflexively cover her ears which were probably too long to cover.

LEPIDOS, GET YOUR FREAKING THORAX OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!!

And so Lepidos did what any naughty little girl would do in her situation.

Quick as she could, she sprinted as fast as she could in the general direction of away from mommy.
> Breakfast table manners
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Okay, Prin—I mean Celestia, how on Equus is this supposed to work?” Twilight and company were strolling along down the corridors of the palace on the way to the grand hall, where breakfast would be served. And the newest alicorn princess still didn’t understand how Celestia being a smaller version of herself could possibly work.

Celestia smiled knowingly. “Oh, it’s just a little modification on Luna’s big plan, it won’t hurt!”

“Plan?” Twilight cocked her head.

“Why yes, her plan to make me like any other pony, if not physically so!”

“That still doesn’t quite explain why you think this is going to work.”

“Well it’s simple! You understand how when you were a filly, adults wouldn’t take you as seriously, right? By making myself like this, I have become younger, more relatable and far less serious to my ponies.”

Twilight shrugged her wings. “I haven’t noticed a difference yet.”

“Oh but you see? I was once a grand, powerful ruler to look up to; but now to Fluttershy, I am but a pony to give hugs to.”

Fluttershy sputtered. “I-i-I don’t think that!”

Celestia smirked. “Ever since we started walking down the hall, you’ve inched towards me half a foot.” Fluttershy squeaked in embarrassment. “Well, we’re here!”

The grand hall was not exactly grand along the lines of beauty, though it did have some very fascinating architecture; it was actually grander in size. Painted in golden, purple and deep blues, it was in a word, massive. Long tables spanned across the hall, breakfast foods of all sorts piled upon them. Seated at these tables were a great many ponies, talking and laughing their time away while they waited patiently for the guest of honor to sit at her place. (1) It would have explained why the palace was mostly empty at the time.

As they were gestured to their own seats, Twilight saw that where she would have expected merely two seats for royalty, there was now three. She was rather curious about who would be sitting there.

“Ah, looks like they’ve finally got our new Princess Twilight’s seat installed.” For reasons known only to her, Twilight shrunk down nervously, looking back at her five friends who were taking their own seats a few feet away. “Is something wrong, Twilight?”

Twilight fidgeted her wings. “Uh, no—I mean—yes! Well—Maybe?”

Celestia chuckled. “Relax, the spotlight’s on me. They’ll barely even notice you!”

“No, that—That’s not it! It’s just—um—friends?”

Another chuckle escaped the sun princess’ lips as she wrapped her considerably-smaller-now wing around the purple alicorn, but somehow still made it work. “Oh come now, you’ve got friends here too, remember? I’m your friend as well.”

Twilight (gently) pushed Celestia away a little. “Wait—since when?”

“Excuse me?”

Twilight looked more nervous than ever. “Since when were we friends? Teacher and student? Definitely. Mother and daughter? For sure in a metaphorical sense. But friends? Since when?”

“Since now,” Celestia said, nuzzling Twilight and pulling her over to the royal seats.

“Uh, okay,” Twilight sheepishly replied, taking her own seat right at the host’s table.

“Good, good; now I do believe we shouldn’t keep the other ponies waiting anymore, yes?” Levitating a spoon in her magic, she tapped it three times on her glass. “Good morning, my little ponies!”

A hearty “Good morning, Princess!” sounded from the crowd in response. 

Luna puffed out her bottom lip.

“First and foremost,” She continued, “I would like to thank the chefs for so quickly handing cake out to everypony in the castle. I know I didn’t give them very much time ahead to prepare, but I’m sure that the day everypony got cake will have a lasting impact for the years to come.”

“It’s ‘effect’, Tia,” Luna whispered.

Celestia idly glanced at her bottom. “But it also appears like it might make a lasting impact on my figure as well.” The crowd laughed heartily at this little remark.

“Effect,” Luna hissed.

“Thank you Luna,” Celestia whispered back. “Now to the guards that were in the throne room yesterday, I’d like to also thank you for staying rock hard throughout day court, despite my… outburst.”

Luna snickered. “That’s what she said!”

“Luna, that joke’s foalish, and not becoming for a princess.” Celestia cleared her throat. “Now I don’t want to keep any of you starving for any longer, so I only have one more thing to say: Who wants pancakes?”

The crowd broke into polite applause, and then proceeded to dig in.

---
“Uh… Rarity? How the hay am I supposed to eat this?”

“Well that’s simple: pick up your table fork, and neatly cut an edge off.”

“Uh, beg yer pardon, but I think they’re all table forks.”

“Yes, they’re on the table, but they’re not all table forks.”

“Oh…kay?” Applejack tentatively reached for  the one closest to the plate.

“That’s the dessert fork, dear.”

Applejack was upset and confused. “And how d’yall know that?!”

“Why, it’s far too small! You couldn’t possibly eat a main course meal with that!”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “Wanna bet?”

“You wouldn’t dare…”

Smugly, Applejack grabbed the dessert fork to take a piece of pancake.  She could already see the image of Rarity looking on in shock and horror, and she would revel in it.

Unfortunately, fate would not allow her to win out against her socially “superior” friend, and she fumbled the device, cringing as it clattered on the table surface. “Blast it, how am ah supposed to pick up the dang things?!”

Giggling, Rarity lifted up the dinner fork—which was between the salad fork and the dessert fork—up in her magic. “Allow me.”

Applejack growled, scrunching her muzzle. “Ah swear, the entire society of ponies is against us earth ponies.”

“So I’ve been told,” Rarity said as she punctured a piece of Applejack’s pancake.  “Now if you’d cooperate, we can fight this social injustice and make sure you leave with a full stomach.”

“Hmmph,” Applejack hmmph’ed.

"Don't be such a baby, Applejack;  This is for your own good!"

"Hmmph."
---
Poor Twilight, she looked so nervous right next to the sun princess. Of course, She did happen to declare her undying love friendship with her; and in a rather blunt manner as well. Friendship with a princess/mother figure/teacher/family-member-in-law was hardly something to take lightly. (2)

Or at least, that's what Celestia thought was going through Twilight's head, as she was trying to strike up conversation. "So Princ— Uh— Celestia," Her ex-student awkwardly started.  "What exactly  is this plan that you and your sister came up with?"
"Why, It's quite simple Twilight," Celestia replied with a little smile. "You know how I hold a banquet yearly, don't you?"
Twilight blinked. "Don't you do that every day?"

Celestia was slightly indignant. "What? Don't tell me you've never heard of the Chuckle-lot!"(3)
Twilight's eyes twinkled with understanding. "Oh right! That's the day long party where you let go of all your inhibitions to make ponies lighten up around you, right?"

Celestia nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! And do you know what Luna told me to do?"

"…Yes?" Twilight carefully took a sip of her orange juice. Luna pulled a large grin in anticipation of her brilliant plan finally being put into light.

"Well she told me to do that, every day, everywhere, whenever and wherever! So that's what I plan on doing; Playing games and goofing off!"

And Twilight lost all control of her lungs and cheeks, spraying a fine mist in the direction of her mentor. A couple moments of coughing, and she finally managed to speak. "I'm sorry- What?? Do you even know what that'll do to your reputation of ponies respecting you??"

Celestia simply gazed at her ex student disapprovingly. Calmly, she picked up a napkin, wiped her face, and lifted her own glass.
"Oh my word, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…"
Celestia arched an eyebrow, smirked, and doused Twilight with her still warm(Thankfully not hot) tea. Twilight spluttered at the sudden feeling of getting soaked.
"Ackpth!! What in— So that's how you're gonna play? Okay, that's it…" Twilight got out of her seat. This was not what Celestia intended.
"Wait, Twilight, I didn't mean to—"
"HEY PINKIE!! CELESTIA'S CALLED FOR A FOOD FIGHT!!"
A loud gasp reverberated throughout the entire dining hall. "CELESTIA WANTS A FOOD FIGHT?! YOU'RE ON!!"
"Oh, so it worked after all."
Then all Tartarus broke loose.
---
"That. Was. INTENSE!!" Rainbow Dash shouted, pumping her forelegs in the air. "Did you see how I dodged that waffle!? And then I volleyed that egg right back at that smug unicorn! I was haulin'!!"

Applejack guffawed. "That wasn't what you were thinkin' when ah smacked y'all out of the sky with that slice of toast!"

"Truly, you are a worthy opponent!" Rainbow Bowed with one hoof behind her back, making Applejack burst out in laughter.

"Ohhhh… That was delicious…" Pinkie mumbled in her euphoric state of tummy fullness. Currently, each and every pony was out in the courtyard, receiving an impromptu shower(4). Pinkie barely noticed when she received her own shower, despite the water being somewhat cold. "I'm so happy I did that; all that food fighting…. I've never been so full in my entire life!"

"Well at least somepony had her fill of food," Twilight giggled, using a towel to dry herself off. "Unfortunately, I'm still pretty hungry. Any chance you have some other food that I could eat?"

Celestia shrugged. "I found an uneaten cheesecake in the fridge."

"That'll do."

"I must admit sister," Luna Spoke after shaking herself off. "That was much better performed than I imagined it would be. Perhaps a little more excessive than I would do, but I think most of the ponies enjoyed it."

Rarity and Fluttershy simply clung to each other in terror, one because she was worried what the syrup would do to her hair, the other simply didn't like the cold water, or the fight in the first place.

Celestia giggled nervously. "I might have been a little too excessive… Twilight? No more food fights, okay?"

Twilight stuck out her tongue. "You started it…"

"Don't stick your tongue out at me, young mare!"

"You want to be treated like any other pony, so I don't have to listen to you!" Twilight smiled smugly.

Celestia clapped her hooves together, completely ignoring that rebuttal. "So! Why don't we pry the two petite ponies apart and get over to the commons? I'll see what I can scrounge up from the royal fridge."

Twilight giggled. "Sounds good, Prin— I mean, Celestia."


---


"Thanks, Princess!" Fluttershy called out to Celestia, Smiling and waving.

"Don't have to call me by my title!" Celestia called back, also smiling and waving.

"I'm so sorry!" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Thanks for the cheesecake that was supposed to be Twilight's!!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"What?! Is that what happened to it?!? Pinkie, you JERK!!" Twilight shrieked, smacking the pink pony on the head with a rolled up napkin.

Despite grudges for stealing cake, all the ponies left happy and full. "Enjoy yourselves! I'll call you back when I have the need later!"

Our story continues with the yellow quiet pegasus, now heading on a trip to the gardens. Goodness knows she needed some company with someone who didn't happen to be a white-coated Pinkie Pie. Yes, she loved the pony, but if she were honest with herself then she'd admit that hyperactive ponies tired her out. But she couldn't be honest with everyone, because that'd probably make Pinkie Pie cry, and she didn't want pinkie to cry! That'd be awful! However did Applejack handle it? She would have liked to be like her…

Fluttershy shook her head. She had bigger things to deal with. Like the thing that happened that night. She was extraordinarily tired, but she thought she had seen the night princess kiss rainbow on the forehead. It confused the pegasus pony. What on earth had it meant? Was it teasing? Was it legitimate love for her? Was Rainbow Dash just lonely, and she wanted her mother, but Luna was the only substitute? Whatever it was, she was envious. If only she hadn't silently listened, then maybe she would've got a kiss on the forehead too. She sighed, walking towards the castle's garden gate. What's done is done, I guess… I'm just gonna get over it in the gardens. Plenty of time for some rest and relax—

"OOF!" Fluttershy was suddenly knocked over by something, and she fell with an awkward flop through the gate. "Ouch… Who did that?"

"EEP!" Came a little shriek as a changeling leapt off of her to hide in a patch of raspberries. Wait, a changeling?!

Fluttershy gulped, and put on her most stern guise. She strained her fearful look into a glare. "I-I-I know you're in there, ch-ch-changeling, so… comeoutandIwon'thurtyou!"

Two long ears perked up from the bushes, followed by head and neck of a lanky changeling filly. "You're scared of me?"

"I—No, no I'm not afraid of you! Now c-c-come out, and I won't hurt you!"

The skinny changeling slowly climbed out of the raspberries, delicate wings fluttering once before folding on her back again. Cautiously, Fluttershy approached in kind. Then she got a good look at this strange changeling in front of her. The changeling… filly, she was pretty sure it was— stood on skinny legs, gazing up at her with her eyes—which she expected to be the same pupil-less eyes she had seen during Chrysalis' first and second invasion— wide and full of great interest, with deep, sparkling black pupils. Her horn was but a stump on her forehead unlike other changelings, yet much like the terrifying queen herself, she had hair! It might have been short, but the only other changeling she saw with hair was the tyrant queen.

She just might have been dealing with a changeling princess.

The little changeling grinned ear to ear. With any other pony, it would have been adorable. Especially when she hopped up, flapping her wings, and touched Fluttershy's muzzle with a hoof. "You really think I'm scary?"

"EEP!!" Fluttershy's legs froze up at the sudden contact. Without such control, she lost her balance and fell flat on her back.

The changeling hopped up onto her chest. "You do think I'm scary! I didn't think anyone actually thought I was scary! Why do you think I'm scary?"

Fluttershy struggled in vain to take back control of her limbs.

"Pegsus? Are you okay?"

Fluttershy was starting to panic even more than she already was, despite all attempts to make herself feel brave. She just wasn't built for bravery, it seems. Not too shocking, considering she was afraid of her own shadow. Fluttershy was quite familiar with the problem of being afraid. She always suffered from it, and countless times, with the help of friends, she managed to conquer it. Thankfully—though her friends were not here— the object of her fears seemed as friendly as terrifying, so she silently repeated a mantra to herself to try to get over her fear. "I am with a friend, I am with a friend, I am with a friend…"

The changeling seemed quite concerned. "Um… Pegsus? It-it's okay… I won't hurt you, promise!"

Fluttershy dared to open one of her eyes. "You… won't?"

"Yeah! No point to hurting a pony! It's mean!"

Fluttershy couldn't believe it. "M…mean?"

"Uh huh," the changeling filly replied. "Hurting ponies is no way to get love."

For the first time since she first saw this changeling filly, she actually felt safe. She dared to smile. Control returned to her limbs, so she sat up, wrapping the little changeling in a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. The changeling returned the hug, wrapping her own hooves around her neck.

"Well, what do we have here? Isn't this sweet?" a voice cooed from behind them.

Slowly, the two turned around from their embrace. As the fates would have it, Fluttershy found another thing to be afraid about.
"No… No, not you!" Fluttershy reflexively clung harder to the changeling. "Please oh please, anyone but you!"

Standing there in all her glory, with a great army of changeling and pony children(6) was Chrysalis; sarcastic smile and all. "Don't look so ecstatic, Fluttershy! Did you miss me or something?"

"Oh sweet Celestia, she knows my name!!"

"F-Fluttershy, you're squishing me a little…"

The smile left her face. "I wouldn't be complaining if I were you, Lepidos; it's the only thing between you and a spanking. Do you realize how much trouble you're in?"

"Muh—Mommy?"

"That thing is your mother?!"

"Be quiet, both of you," Crysalis said sternly. The two promptly zipped their lips. "Now, Lepidos… What is it that I told you before you were even born?"

"Mommy always wants what's best for you…" She said in a pained tone.

"Yes, and…?"

"Always do what Mommy says."

"Right," Chrysalis replied blandly. "Now then, if you understood this, why didn't you do so?"

Lepidozz—as Fluttershy heard— wiggled out of her grip to look Chrysalis in the eye. "Because…"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Oh, this'll be very interesting…"

"Because what you told me g-goes against everything th-the Cult of Harmony stands for!"

Chrysalis' hoof hit her forehead. "Oh no…"

"A-and should I b-be accused of high treason for disobedience of the hive-mother, then s-so be it! I will not hurt p-ponies for love!"

"Lepidos Arthropa!!"Chrysalis snapped. "I have had it up to here with your little rebellion! I have given you, and every other nymph here the privilege to be escorted to Equestria by yours truly. Would it kill you to have some appreciation for that?"

"B-but I am grateful…" Lepidos whimpered.

"THEN SHOW IT," Chrysalis growled. With a flash of magic, she pulled a nervous pony from the crowd.

"Miss Cheerilee?" Fluttershy spoke in barely above a whisper.

"Hi Fluttershy," Cheerilee said with a nervous smile.  "Our class field trip… went wrong."

"If you trust my judgement, Lepidos, you'll finish what you started. I want you to drain this pony dry." Not half a second later, chrysalis was bombarded by complaints from pony and changeling alike.

"We can't hurt them!"

"She's our teacher!"

"How could you be so cruel!?"

"Ith thadithtic!!"
"We were supposed to integrate, not invade!!"

"I don wanna lose Miss Cheerilee!! Why would you do this!? I don't want her to die!! Whaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

"Every one, quiet please!!" Chrysalis shouted. "What makes you think I would hurt her??"

Several of the changelings flinched. However, their great cultist leader held strong in posture, determined to speak out the current concern. "But mother, doezn't drainink a pony of love hurt them? I'm zsure that it izn't particulary pleazant."

Chrysalis sighed. "I understand your concern, but it is without cause. When have you ever seen me actually hurt someone or something?"

Three fillies at the back of the crowd shot death glares at her.

"That was one time! One time, and suddenly I'm an evil tyrant?" She laughed in what seemed a nervous sense. "Realy, when was I an evil tyrant, or a scourge?"

Cheerilee awkwardly raised a hoof. "Well, you kind of tried to invade Equestira twice, once where you tried to replace everypony in town."

"First-hand experience of life in Ponyville!"

"You threatened to kill three of my students."

"I never said I'd kill them…"

"Y-you kidnapped a bride on her wedding…" Fluttershy murmured.

"Wedding couples are full of romance, and I was hungry!"

"You killed a kitty cat!" one of the three mentioned fillies—Sweetie Belle— shrieked.

"Well that was… Collateral damage!"

"HORSE-S***!!"
"Sweetie Belle!" Fluttershy gasped, suddenly not quite as concerned about the danger she was currently in. "Watch your mouth!"
"THAT 'COLLATERAL DAMAGE' WAS MURDER!!"
"Look, can we just not—"

"I'M NOT LISTENING TO A MURDERER!"
"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!!!" Chrysalis shouted. "I've managed to hold my patience for so long, but now it's wearing thin! I now see why I don't keep lucid captives with me. So everypony… Cocoons. Now."

"But—" Fluttershy started, only to have her mouth clamped shut.

"No, Nopony's playing hero until all this is done," Chrysalis stated with a huff. "Look, Fluttershy? You don't like me, I know. There's an awful lot of ponies that don't like me, and you're not the first, nor will you be the last."

Naturally, this was quite true; Lepidos understood this. Many ponies didn't like them solely because they were different, others didn't like them because of the generally preferred method of feeding (Which, naturally, she didn't like). Thankfully, mommy was there to fix the problem. After all, she was planning on integrating ponies into changeling society! It didn't matter what the ponies said— they were liars after all— therefore she could trust that Mommy was really as loving as she said she was!

"But before I do anything, thank you for watching over my daughter while I was gone. For your trouble, I will not be putting you in a cocoon and leaving you behind."

Lepidos smiled as Fluttershy released a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Lepidos will be putting you in a cocoon, which she'll carry, and we'll be taking everypony else with us asleep."

"W-what?"

"Me?"

"Now Lepidos, you know you need to learn these things when you go out and work with the big changelings, right?"

"But I am a big changeling…"

"Not by a long shot dear," Chrysalis gently spoke. "Now let's get this done, so you can get your punishment over with quicker."

Lepidos swallowed a lump in her throat with a hiccup. She knew she very well deserved the punishment for her disobedience, but that didn't mean she liked it. Didn't matter though. If she wanted to be back on good terms with her mother, she had to go through it. "Y-y-yes, mommy…" She replied, whiping the tears from her eyes.

Chrysalis smiled, taking Lepidos by the hoof to the earth pony teacher, who glared defiantly at the changeling queen. "You won't get away with this," She lied.

Chrysalis laughed, then leaned in to whisper in Cheerilee's ear: "Guess what? I'm getting away with it now!"

Lepidos walked up to the earth pony teacher, pained look clear in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Ch-Cheerilee." Then she wrapped the pony up in a sincere hug. She held the hug, willing the pony to sleep, despite the foul taste of forced love. Cheerilee's eyes became a dull green, and her body sagged on the little changeling. She gently set her down on the floor, then made her way to Fluttershy.

"A-are you just going to do whatever she asks, j-just like that?"

Lepidos sniffled. "Yes, but at-at least it will be comfortable."

Fluttershy gawked. "You're kidding me, right?"

For the first time in a while, she smiled. "Nope! Watch this." She held her hoof up, and with a retching noise, she spat out a glob of green goo. "See? Nymph hive material doesn't set quite as hard."

"Eeew…"

"It's okay, I'll show you." She walked up closer. Fluttershy cowered the moment before the warm slime touched her nose.

"O-okay, that's not so bad…" Fluttershy sighed, relaxing to the feeling of the already setting material. Lepidos did exactly as she was taught, albeit with a little change. Be efficient, be quick, be careful; the last note being about avoiding getting your head clocked by a pony's panicking hoof. However, Fluttershy was not panicking over being bound up by spongy but cocoon stuff, so she continued applying the material as though she were simply rubbing in fur cream.

Eventually, her captor was completely sealed, and so were the other ponies, with the help of all the changelings, with little to no fuss.(7) Lepidos prepared to lift Fluttershy's cocoon(carefully) upon her back, when Chrysalis stopped her.

"Lepidos, you still have a punishment to take."

She cringed as mommy sat down and laid her over her knee, waiting for the first strike.


---


"Fluttershy! Tia has called a meeting, and would like to see you now!" Luna called out into the garden.

The only thing she heard was the wind.

"Fluttershy? Where are you?" Luna called out once more, stepping out. Again, silence. She looked around, worried. "Fluttershy??"

Luna nervously cantered around the length of the garden trail, trying to find where the pony was. "Fluttershy?!"

Again, there was only silence. Luna suddenly caught an eye on something green mixed in with the dirt. When she came to have a closer look,  she froze in place.

It was changeling goo.

"N-no… Fluttershy, please don't be… Please don't let this be because I slept through something again…!" Luna fought away tears with a glare, which only seemed to hold for a couple of moments. "If anything happened to you or the others… N-no, p-please be pulling a prank, just—"

Luna was never like her older sister, hardly at all sturdy in stature or able to keep her emotions in check. While Celestia always was the more stoic of the two, Luna was always one to seek advice from the heart. Currently her heart was telling her that Fluttershy was in grave danger.

Luna held no more patience for keeping said emotions in check as she pulled in a shuddering breath. "GUARDS!! TIA! SOMEPONY HELP!!"
> A conflict of interests
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Uh… Moon?” The sun called out.

        The moon, on the other side of the planet with all its moony lifeforms that lived upon it, insisted on ignoring it.

        “Mooon?” The sun tried again.

        No response was heard.

        “Moon?? Moooooooon?? Moon moon moon moon MOON MOON MOONMOONMOONMOONMOON--”

        The moon sighed from across the planet. “Okay, I give; WHAT exactly is it this time?”

        “Do you feel like we’ve been forgotten?” The sun asked. “We think that our lovely mistress has forgotten about us. It has been at least a day since she graced us with her divine presence, and we have not heard her beautiful thoughts since then.”

        Yeah; look sun, I’m sure she’ll--

        “We love her, you know? We’re sure she loves us too, but not having her in my mind makes me feel less secure--”

        “I’m sure Celestia hasn’t forgotten for long--”

        “OH MOON, WE’RE SO SCARED!!”

        “SUN, SHUT UP!! You’re fine, you’re still floating, so it isn’t the end of the stellar system, now is it?”

        The sun blubbered a “no” in reply.

        “Good. See? you’re fine!” 

        “Okay, but  we’re not sure why she unlinked with us in the first place…”

        “I’m sure she’s just busy with the upcoming changeling invasion.”

        “Wait, another invasion is underway??”

        “Oh, you didn’t know? I was sure Luna told you. Did I even tell her?”

        “It’s news to me!”
        “I guess I didn’t… I suppose I should tell her at some point.”

        "GUARDS!! TIA! SOMEPONY HELP!!"

        “Oh, never mind, she already knows.”

        “Moon?”

        “Uh, yeah?”

        “We think you shouldn’t be allowed to be a messenger anymore, because you can’t deliver.”

        “Yeah? Well ‘We’ think that you’re too clingy to your ‘mistress’.”

        “Stop it! It’s a condition! How would you feel if We mocked you for your sociopathy?!”


---

        It was coming along to be a wonderful day so far. 

“Celestia.”

        “Why Twilight, I’m happy you managed to say my name without tripping over the title!”

        “We need to talk,” Twilight spoke with an angry pout.

        “Well, of course! We do need to be on a first-name basis, after all.”

        “Okay then.” Twilight pulled out a pillow, sitting her purple pony bottom on top of it. Celestia suspected that this was going to be for the long haul. With Luna’s nervous shift of movement, She knew Luna thought the same. “You know how when you first introduced your sister’s ‘plan’, I nearly choked to death on my drink?”

        “Indeed,” Luna replied. “It was quite amusing.”

        Twilight scowled.

        “I-i mean, If you actually choked to death, I wouldn’t be laughing anymore! We swear, we’d bury the body too!”

        “Want a shovel so you can also get out of that hole you dug yourself into as well?”

        “N-no, we’re good...” Her ears drooped. “sorry.”

        “Right; Now then,” Twilight continued. “Let me level with you two. I have been trained in the magic of friendship a long time. I know this because you, Celestia, taught me. Is it okay for a student to be disappointed in her former teacher? Because that’s kinda how I feel right now.” She leaned in conspiratorially, and Celestia felt the hairs on her neck stiffen. “This is a matter of personal opinion, But I don’t think you’re managing your… resources, properly.”

        Celestia felt a cold sweat trickling down her neck ever so agonizingly slowly. “Uhm… How did you know I was using you, Twilight?”

        She smirked. “I don’t know how many people even know this; but It’s kind of your job to use ponies for the benefit of your country. Amass armies, fund public use projects, raise up a student to care for the country in your absence, the gist. Very scandalous, I know. You two didn’t look so riled up when you were freed from those thorns.”

        Celestia chuckled nervously. “Emergency makeup supply kit within a compartment in the chestplate. You should have one!” Her smile faded when she still saw Twilight’s sarcastic smirk. “So just what brought on this sudden burst of confidence, anyway?”

        “Well, to be frank, I think this whole idea is STUPID!!”

        The two elder princesses were stunned. Did she just say that?? of all the times she heard Twilight speak up, it was hardly ever in an air of irritation, much less indignation. Celestia in her own nervousness steeled herself for what could possibly come next. “...What makes you think that...?”

        “Celestia, think. This whole thing about you joking around, trying to get ponies to have a laugh from you. If you finally make ponies think you’re some kind of comedian, What do you think will happen when you try to tell them something serious? They’ll just be waiting for the joke!!”

        “What makes you think my situation will be like that?”

        “Oh, just my friend Pinkie Pie. She’s so wild sometimes, I find it very difficult to take her seriously. Hay, I don’t think she even knows how to take herself seriously when she wants to be taken seriously! That’s a road of pain and suffering I don’t want you to go through, because even though I told you personally that It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives, even when they don’t always make sense, I still struggle with it.” She sighed. “I’m pretty sure that ever since that whole mirror pool incident, Pinkie Pie would be rather against having another Pinkie Pie.”

        “Twilight, would you please just--”

        “And another thing, If I may add? Why did you even call us here in the first place?”

        “So I wouldn’t be revered as a goddess?”

        “I thought that was over with a couple thousand years ago.”

        “Well, it sure feels like it sometimes...” Celestia wilted slightly. “I just want to be more relatable...”

        “OH, GOOD GOSH...” A hoof came in a vertical direction to make contact with Twilight’s face. “Okay, you two; do you even know my friends?? ever since I came here and agreed to help you, along with my friends, your demeanor has taken an alarmingly grand change, and I think that ditz came right along with it.”

        Now that really stung. “I… Twilight--”

        “You just invited six comm--” Twilight stopped for a moment, correcting herself in embarrassment. “Five commoners to the royal palace, asking them to help you become more relatable to the common folk. And yet you want to go with your own plans from a pony who by circumstances beyond her control is behind with the times and is also just as out of touch with the rest of us!” She pointed a hoof at the two. “You don’t need to make any plans. We will make the plans!”

        It was only at this point that twilight realized just what she did after she stopped her talking. The two pony princesses sitting at their respective thrones looked like beaten puppies. Needless to say, Twilight felt utterly awful, and she had lost pretty much all of her putting-her-hoof-down-ness.

        “I’m sorry… Was that too harsh? I didn’t mean to call you a ditz, princess, it just kind of came out like that… Are you two okay?”

        Celestia recovered from her moment of depressed hurt. “I… I’m fine, just a little… disappointed?”

        “Disappointed? By what?”

        “I suppose because I was hoping you might not lose your confidence with us like that.”

        Twilight smiled sadly. “Well, I guess that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it? Shall we call a meeting?”

        Celestia nodded. “That sounds like the best course of action. Luna, if you would…?”

        “Must I, sister?”

        “Luna, do this for me, and we’ll get this whole thing done quicker.”

        “I just don’t think you should just sit on your duff the whole day, like you usually do.”

        “Luna, Please.”

        “Okay, fine...” She trotted off.

        Silence reigned for a time, then Celestia finally spoke up. “She probably needed a walk to clear her head anyway. But by all accounts, so do I, but someone has to stay in the throne room.”

        “I can hold down the fort,” Twilight offered.

        Celestia reached her forelegs around her once faithful student. “Thanks Twilight,”

        They shared a heartfelt hug for a moment, and then Twilight quickly (but hardly in a rude sense) broke it off, gently pushing her mentor out of the way so she could sit on the throne in her stead. “Go on, shoo! . got this, Pinkie promise!”

        Celestia giggled, walking out of the throne room to find the other ponies that Luna hadn’t came for yet.

---


        “Oooff… ow, I didn’t think ponies were so heavy...” Lepidos complained as she carried Fluttershy upon her back. Fluttershy watched as her carrier struggled with the load she was assigned, limping along with her poor sore bottom. She had a decent amount of pity for the nymph, but Lepidos refused to take that pity.

        “Well I hope she didn’t hurt you too badly,” Fluttershy said.

        “No you don’t,” Lepidos replied flatly.

        “But I do!” Fluttershy lied. “I’m the element of kindness! Didn’t your--” she shivered. “--mother tell you who we are?”

        Lepidos nodded slowly. “You’re not Applejack though. She’s not very pony like.”

        Fluttershy tilted her head. “But she’s honest because she’s a pony of her word, not that she doesn’t lie.” Obviously a lie. Mommy told her otherwise.

        “No, she just doesn’t lie.”

        Fluttershy sighed miserably. What was even wrong with this little nymph, anyway? She just seemed to be contradicting everything she said. It had to be Chrysalis’ doing. Of course. It just had to be that Crysalis would even deceive her own children. Which begged the question. “Lepidozz?”

        The nymph giggled. “Lepidos, you silly pony!”

        “Oh… okay.”

        Lepidos changed the weight of her load, Fluttershy adjusting within her cocoon. “What’d you want to say?”

        “It’s just-- i-is Chrysalis your mother?”

        “Yeah,” She replied, giving the pegasus a “what kind of world do you live in?” look.

        “You just seem a little… different.” Fluttershy avoided using the word “small.”

        “Oh! Yeah, that’s because I’ve got daddy’s eye color.” She tilted her head. “What about it? Something about mommy being an invader?”

        “Y-you know?”

        Lepidos bowed her head. “Ponies say mean things about mommy… Things like how she invaded this place twice, and kidnapped fillies, and she’s a liar, and tried to starve a princess...”

        Fluttershy shrank down. “But why do you think they said that if they are liars?”

        “They don’t know her!” She shouted, bringing up her pace. “They don’t know mommy! They haven’t seen her in the city doing her job! She’s the nicest queen I know! She treats all our hossts with respect and dignity!” she sniffled, wiping her nose

        “But why didn’t she treat me with any respect during the invasion of Canterlot?”

        Lepidos stared in shock. “You too?!”

        “Um, I… Yes?”

        “Stupid pegsus, mommy didn’t invade anypony!!”

        “Fluttershy, if you would refrain from agitating my daughter?” Chrysalis requested. “I hardly think that she wants to talk to a pony, when ponies got her in trouble. At any rate, I do wish to have a little chat with you in private. Lepidos, if you would?”

        Lepidos trudged behind, walking up to her mother, who had her own cocoon on her back of the purple earth pony teacher. A brief flash of horns and the two were swapped. Fluttershy was far more scared than she was before she saw Chrysalis in the first place. But all the same, she was upset as well. “Why the hay have you been lying to them?!” She hissed.

        Chrysalis chuckled, walking closer to the back of the whole group. “Really Fluttershy, you honestly expect me to do everything a pony does? I have an image to keep.”

        Fluttershy defiantly fought through the fear. “Well… M-maybe if you j-just told them the truth, you’d have honesty in your image t-too.”

        She faked shock. “Do you honestly understand how horrid that would sound?” She put on a sarcastically sweet tone. “‘Oh kids, I know you like ponies, but I really don’t, and I’ve been lying to you for years on end. While you were busy with your happy little cult of harmony, I’ve been trying to take on a conquest against their country, where I would usurp the throne and make them love slaves for the rest of their natural lives. You don’t mind, do you my dears?’ It’d just break their little hearts.”

        Fluttershy felt fear, anger and grief at the same time. It practically made her sick as the inevitable tears came in. “Y-y-you monster...!”

        “No, ‘slave’ is a little too harsh. I think you’d end up being our pets! Think about it; your own little bed, a pretty little collar on your neck, and food and water provided, all with the simple cost of a few hours cuddling! I don’t think you would even have to leave your own home!”

        “I-I don’t care, your plans never work anyway!”

        Chrysalis burst into a fit of giggling, grabbing the pegasus’ cocoon and twirling her around. “Oh but it has, it has! All I had to do was with a little mind control, project myself as so boring and uninteresting, barely anypony would even notice! It doesn’t work on children, but you silly ponies don’t even listen to them! I made it through, into the very capital of Equestria with nopony but you and twenty four ponies in a class of schoolfoals noticing!” Her happiness was so infectious, Fluttershy almost felt happy for the changeling queen’s sucess. Almost. “Finally, finally I’ve managed to weave my way into Equestria to sneak by and launch a surprise takeover!”

"GUARDS!! TIA! SOMEPONY HELP!!"

        “I-- Oh… Isn’t Luna supposed to be asleep right now?”

        Fluttershy stared back behind her where Luna had shouted. “I-- well, sometimes, but that’s only when she’s on night patrol. Usually she searches the dreaming realm, I think...”

        The changeling queen held her head in nervousness. “It can’t be. Something happened to reveal ourselves. Something left behind to make her notice. What did we miss? What on earth did I miss this time?? What could possibly have hinted her that something was amiss?!”

        “Um, well… I might be… missed? I thought I was replaced...”

        “Oh no-- and that was my idea!”

        “And a rather poor one, I might have you know,” Said a voice behind her.

        “Oh, Fluttershy!! You’re okay!” Another voice exclaimed in relief.

        Chrysalis yelped, abruptly dropping poor Fluttershy on the ground. She stood, terror-stricken at just being caught by…

        “Hello Chrysalis, can we have a moment?“ asked a pink-haired alicorn.

        She tilted her head to one side, fear being  slowly changed into confusion. “Hold on… Who are you, and why do you have Celestia’s voice?” She pointed a hoof at the other ponies present. “And how did you earn their respect? Or the sleepyhead’s, for that matter?”

        Luna snarled indignantly, hugging Fluttershy--who was just recently released-- quite tightly. “We are no ‘sleepyhead’, vile insect! And that is our sister, whom thou wouldst do well to treat with respect!”

        “Oh what, her? Hardly the case. Celestia’s got rainbow wavy hair, everypony knows that!”

        “Chrysalis, I don’t have time for this, Stop joking around!”

        “I’m not. But if you want joking around, I’m sure we could do that.” She turned to the attentive little eyes behind her. “Kids, you want to have a little fun?”

        “Oh my, I’m not sure I’m going to like this sort of ‘fun’...” Fluttershy mumbled into her current protector’s fur coat.

        “Brace yourselves girls,” Twilight said warningly.

        “Ponies love games, and I’m sure you would like to take a break and move around a little, hmm?”

        “We won’t hurt them… will we, mother?” Formici, from the back, asked with an air of restraint.

        “Oh, the pink haired one can take it,” Chrysalis dismissed.

        “Chrysalis, my name is--”

        “Go on, have some fun!” The group of changeling children looked at each other, then back at the ponies, putting down their cocoons. Then with the excited buzzing of wings, several jumped into the air.

        “Here they come!” Twilight called out, flexing her wings for the third battle she had against the changeling peoples. She had to make this quick and efficient, or she could be quickly overrun.

        “GET THE PRUPLE ONE!!” Formici rallied his siblings.

Then before she even knew it, a black cloud of nymphs tackled her to the ground.

> CRY HAVOC
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Sister! Is everything alright?”

“T-tia?” Luna turned her tear-stained face to meet Celestia and the six other ponies.

Celestia picked picked up her sister from the ground, looking her in the eyes. “What’s the matter? Have you found Fluttershy?”

“T-that’s just it,” Luna hiccuped. “I heard her not ten minutes ago, but when I l-looked around the garden… she was gone! captured by changelings!” She pointed at a small piece of hive material on the ground. “Barely even a trace left! Not even a chance of tracking her captors down, or even a single lead to find where she could possibly be!”

Suddenly Luna was enveloped in a hug. “Oh Luna, my dear sweet sister, I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner… We’ll be able to find them. Somepony must have noticed them, it’s impossible not to.”

Luna sniffled, comforted little by what she heard. “But how will I ever be able to pay my debt to her or her friends if they who wish to do them harm keep slipping by right under my nose…?”

“Luna, that wasn’t your fault, and neither is this, alright?”

Twilight was confused. “Debt?”

“Y-yes, my payment of my debt,” Luna explained. “T’would be most unjust to do nothing after you all rescued me from the darkness within my heart...”

“No Luna, You don’t have to repay us for saving you! Besides, we don’t have any time to deal with this, we’ve got a pony to rescue.”

Luna, being a princess, knew how to hide her real emotions, and quickly took action to regain a dignified look. “I disagree about it being necessary, but I do believe we must get searching.” She stood up, and the ponies began their search.

“Found them!” Pinkie jubilantly cried.

“...What?” Twilight asked.

“Over there!” Pinkie pointed somewhere outside the garden.

“Ah don’t see nothin’ but some darker colored ponies.” Applejack said.

“Of course not!”

“...Beg your pardon?” Rarity asked.

“Of course not!” Pinkie repeated.

“Darling, I knew what you said, but why?”

“Duh! Perception filter! They look uninteresting because they’re making themselves look uninteresting!”

“I--What?” Twilight stuttered.

“Hold on Twilight, Let’s give it a shot.” Celestia urged.

Twilight half heartedly agreed. “Right… Go ahead, Pinkie.”

“Oki doki loki, Look reeal closely...”

So they all did. Suddenly, changelings. It was like a blindfold was removed from their eyes, or a curtain was opened, no longer blocking the window to what was real.

“...Okay then, Let’s say hi.”

One by one, the snuck up, Celestia leading in front.


---



        “AHH, GIRLS HELP!!” Twilight squealed before about half a dozen changelings proceeded to smother her in hard chitin The other ponies stared in absolute shock at how quickly Twilight was tackled to the ground. They could hear her screams of terror, her pleas for mercy, muffled from beneath the ruthless swarm, and when they finally struck, her...giggling?






        “Hee hee hee-- no, stop! T-t-too much tickling--ahh ha ha ha hah!!” Poor Twilight writhed under the onslaught of changeling nymphs who were not soon intent on ceasing their tickling, nibbling or vicious belly rubs. Her panicked laughter brought tears down her cheeks in a perfect suffering that only a victim of tickle torture knew. Every little movement was met with retaliation of another barrage of tickles.






It took her several long seconds to remember she had a horn. A flash of magic (from the spots where there was an absence of changelings) and She had successfully left behind a pile of confused, still giggling nymphs. Fluttershy rushed over to Twilight’s side. “Twilight, are you alright?? That just looked awful!”


        



        Twilight dusted herself off. “Got a bruised ego, but I think I’m fine. Anyway, I think we need to jump into full gallop before they figure out where I--meep!” Before she could finish her sentence, the changeling nymphs did indeed find her, and had taken another leap at her. With some quick thinking, Twilight created a shield to block them. With a series of thumpity bump sounds, the changelings bounced off the shield, and the two ponies under it were on the run.






        Suddenly, Celestia and Luna were snagged up, along with the other five ponies, In Twilight’s magic, making a beeline for the other side of the field.






        “Twi, what the hay are you doin’?!” Applejack yelped, trying to hold on to her hat.






        “I have no idea!” Twilight yelled back, eventually letting go of her friends so they could run on their own. “If you’ve got an idea with how to get changeling foals off our tails, I’m all ears!”






        “Nymphs!” Pinkie shouted






        “Same thing!” Twilight yelled back in irritation.






        “Well Shoot, Twilight! They’re children!” Applejack continued, running right along beside her. “And playful ones at that! We gotta tire them out before they tire us out!”






        “You want me to play with them?!” Twilight yelled. “I’m not sure if you remember that there’s a bug pony queen on the loose, and I don’t have time for that!!”






        “I didn’t say anythin’ about us playin’ with them! Just make a distraction!”






        “I gooot iiiit!!” Pinkie sing-songed, suddenly taking a left turn, much to the confusion of the other ponies.






        “Pinkie!” Rarity called. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about the changelings than running around--”






        “Working on it! Look at all these cocoons!!”






        Twilight growled in frustration. “Pinkie, we don’t have the time to let the class of ponies out of their cocoons when there’s a freaking changeling queen on the loose!!”






        “Twilight, could you get over here and use your unicorn magic on them?”






        “Pinkie, I just--uugh, fine...” With her horn magic, Twilight instantaneously teleported them all to the cocoons. Unfortunately, what was not noticed was that Chrysalis was still right there, faithfully guarding the cocoons to make sure her leverage was secure. The girls froze for a moment, sans Pinkie, who busied herself with knocking on a cocoon.






        “Hello again,” Chrysalis said. “Trying to ruin my plans for country wide domination?”






        The ponies gawked. “Man, she’s not even subtle anymore,” Rainbow said.






        It was expected that Chrysalis would have been irritated or even angry at Rainbow’s quip, such being understood from the looks of shock from the ponies around her. They all understood that the one thing you don’t do is bug an evil changeling intent on conquering the world… for a third time.






        Yet as they all watched and waited for the tragic moment when Rainbow became a skittles-smear on the freshly cut grass, the evil bug-pony queen simply smiled a sinister little smile, shaking her head and approaching Twilight. “It’s just never quite so easy as finding the ‘big bad’ and tripping them up during their little monologue, is it?” She reached with a hoof to touch Twilight’s chin. It was difficult for Celestia to not jump in front and push away Chrysalis herself. “Shame that life never works that way in the real world, you must be disappointed that I thought ahead of you.”






        “Don’t touch me!” Twilight yelled, slapping the hoof away. “What the hay is your plan, anyway-- to use kids to capture our country??”






        “Actually, yes!”






        “...What?”






        Chrysalis giggled. “Behind you.”






        “No seriously, what’re you talking abou--AAHH!”






        How very inconvenient it was that a little changeling decided to leap onto the back of her head and chew on her ear. Twilight’s initial reaction was to do the least productive thing for getting a changeling nymph off of her; which happened to be running in a straight line.






        Twilight’s friends (and the princesses) tried desperately to catch up on poor Twilight, who was shrieking “Get it off!!” at the top of her lungs.






        “Doggone it, if only I had my rope...” Applejack growled. “Whatever happened to other ponies helpin’ out and keeping these varmints under control?”






        “I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure we have magic!” Rainbow replied. “Princess, can’t you just grab that changeling from her head?!”






        “Sorry, I’d rather not hurt anypony if I don’t have to!”






        “But it’s a changeling!”






        “IT’S A CHILD!!” They all shouted at once.






        “Alright, fine!” 






        Celestia, of course, was trying to rectify the situation herself, along with keeping certain that she didn’t run out of breath from all this running. Sure, she could grab the changeling from her head, but what if when she pulled, The nymph still had a grip on Twilight’s ear? Sure they could regrow it, but losing an ear is quite painful, and it’s expensive to fix. The changeling could probably take a sudden drop onto the floor, but it’s in poor taste to be careless about any children at all.






        Celestia tapered off to the side, looking behind her to see where she was in comparison with the nymphs, the queen, and the Chrysalises.(-) The changelings were close behind, Chrysalis still in the same spot, guarding the cocoons.






        “Hey Princess!! I’m gonna try to crack one of these open!”






        Oh, and Pinkie was there too. Celestia took to the skies, a few other changelings following along behind her. Her point of action was to attempt an aerial evasion, get the changelings off her tail, and eventually rescue the pony class from their fate. Speaking of “off her tail”... 






“Ouch! Would you quit pulling so hard?!” Celestia scolded at a particularly mischievous nymph on said tail. Of course, she was entirely aware that this wouldn’t possibly work, but can you blame a pretty pony princess for trying?


	



“I’m sorry!” The nymph cried, spitting out the tail. “I was just playing, honest!”


	



“Just be careful next time, do you understand?”


	



“Yes, miss...” The nymph flew off, apparently to tell the others. Well, that went quite swimmingly, she thought. It appeared that her authoritative stance and statements managed to be effective with anyone, including children.


	



Wait, what? That shouldn’t have worked at all. They weren’t her subjects, for what reason would they answer to a random stranger like her? Especially since she dropped her connection with the sun, and now looked completely unrecognizable to what she was beforehand.



	


Celestia pushed that thought away for now, focusing on the task at hand: Rescue the ponies (and perhaps poor Twilight while she was at it). The princess took a dive to the right, turning towards the cocoons. The changelings followed suit, taking a harder turn to the right in hopes of cutting her off. A sound strategy, if she wasn’t at least twice as big as all of them. Swiftly she drove herself through the cloud of changelings like a wedge, pushing them aside and clearing the other end of the group. She was so close again, she could barely take it. Twilight could wait, she had a score to settle.


	


---


Twilight in the meantime continued running in one direction, Lepidos desperately clinging on behind. The purple pony was panicked, and so was the nymph. This was not a good combination in the slightest. “Slow down!!” She yelled. “I can’t hold on!!”


	



“Get it off me!!”


	



“Pegacorn, Please slow down!! I’m scared!!”


	



Unfortunately, the pegacorn was not willing to listen, such was her panic of having a changeling latched on to the back of her head. Twilight much prefered being stuck in the pile of changeling nymphs than the vicegrip on her head. She bucked, kicked and shook her head, along with flapping her wings to generate inertia. She knew this reaction was irrational, but Twilight was never the rational sort of pony anyway, at least in the sense of charting out a proper plan in the face of the unpredictable.






        “PEGACORN, LOOK OUT!!”






        The pegacorn didn’t open her eyes in time. Twilight had somehow turned herself around at some point during her full-bore-linear-panic and THWACK. Her sprint had came to an abrupt stop, sending searing pain across her face for a brief instant, before everything went black. Lepidos’ forward momentum stopped only briefly later when she bumped into the castle wall, rolling back to a stop. The nymph rubbed her head as the other ponies finally caught up with Twilight.






        “Oh no!! Pegacorn, are you alright??” She rushed over to the pegacorn, who had a rather large bump on her head and tongue sticking out on one side. Lepidos tried to rouse the pegacorn by jostling her body, but it was of little use to wake her. Lepidos assumed the worst. “I...I killed her… Did I kill her??”






        “No, you didn’t kill her, Lepidos, It’s okay!” Fluttershy said as a wing wrapped around her.






        “I--huh?” Lepidos turned to see five ponies behind her, each with a varying look of concern or distrust






        “She’ll be quite fine little one,” Luna said, joining the nymph with another wing. “it takes a lot more than that to injure a pony.”






        Lepidos cringed. She knew these large pegacorns were liars. “Y-you’re just saying that to make me feel better...”






        Luna sighed, tapping a hoof. “Applejack?”






        “...Yeah?”






        “Am I telling the truth?”






        “Yep.”






        Lepidos considered this. “...Okay.”






        “I suppose we both can agree that this has gone too far?” Luna asked as she lifted Twilight’s limp body upon her back.






        “...Yeah.”






        Luna smiled. It was a warm, pleasant smile that made Lepidos feel happy and even loved. This was far different from what Mommy had taught her about big pegacorns like her. Of course, this could be an exception, not the rule, but Lepidos had a couple of doubts set into her mind from this. It made her conflicted.






        Luna had paid no mind to this, simply turning around and gazing towards the gardens once more. “We should regroup with your...Siblings, correct?”






        Lepidos nodded, still certain that the pony was lying.






        “Yes, with your siblings, because unfortunately, I think playtime is over now, considering somepony got hurt.”






        “Huh? But you said she was alright!”






        “‘is’ and ‘will be’ are two very different things.” Of course; it’s in their nature to bend the truth, isn’t it? “Now come along, I’m sure your playmates want you back.”

        “It’s a cult...”

        Luna chuckled, leading her by a wing. “I know full well what a cult is, and a bunch of little children is hardly grounds for some name so negative as a--” Her words were cut off by a sudden explosion. Smoldering wreckage fell from the skies in flecks of dirt and ash. “What in the name of...”

        Fluttershy clung tightly to the changeling nymph, who eagerly accepted the comfort, also startled by the loud explosion. “W-wh-what was that?!” Lepidos whimpered.

        Luna scowled. “Oh Celestia, you foalish idiot… Why did you decide to do that?”

        Rarity, who was only just now finished straightening out her hair, turned her head in confusion. “Beg your pardon princess… But what did she do?”

        Luna pointed somewhere to the left of the gardens, where there was an extraordinarily large divot in the ground. uprooted trees were scattered nearby, flowers were crushed, and the grass further away from what was assumed to be the epicenter of an explosive blast was now a crispy brown color. And there in the center was the face of wrath itself, staring down a worried looking queen. Pinkie Pie was by no fault of her own on the wrong end of it.

        “It appears that our princess of the day has let slip the dogs of war.” Rarity stated in shock.

        “Dogs of war?” Rainbow asked.

        “Never you mind that!” Luna shouted. “We need to get over there before Pinkie Pie gets hurt, or worse!”

        Lepidos heard not even a single word of it. Her attention was focused on one thing, and one thing only. “...Mommy?”

        The changeling nymph shot out from the wings of the pegasus and princess, doing only what she must for the sake of her family. A yellow hoof tried to pull her back, but it was too weak compared to her desperation.

        “Lepidos, wait!!”

        “Rainbow Dash, go after her, right now!”

> Consequences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Under most circumstances, Princess Celestia del Sol of the immortal empire of the solar diarchy Lady of dawn etcetera etcetera would have been calm and collected, the only sign of anger written upon her face being the particular way she spoke the thing of her concerns; a stern voice with a slight scowl. It was the kind of anger that was not anger, but a disappointment. All the same, anypony who was faced with that disappointment quaked in their horseshoes, scared to death of what could possibly happen if they were faced with true anger.

This was, in fact, one of those cases. At least for the time being. How she had managed to keep calm so far could boggle the heads of many a monk who had sought after the ever elusive inner peace. How could anypony stay calm when a grand dictator of a land of deceitful beings--who looked so much like ponies, yet not at all-- continuously attempted to take your kingdom by force?

The answer to that which applied to most situations, save for those where her friends, family or beloved students had messed up, was a truly dark secret. Celestia’s rage was only barely controlled by the weakest element that she represented, that being kindness. It was no surprise that this kindness was being tested. Celestia clenched her teeth as she prepared once again for facing one who seemed to be the most irritating creature on the planet.

Chrysalis didn’t seem too happy to see her either. “Okay, seriously how do you keep on popping up?!” Scratch that, Chrysalis was truly irate to see the pink alicorn once more. Just who was this pony that insisted on butting her nose in her business of taking over Equestria so that she can increase her power and influence at the expense of them?!

Granted, the pink haired pony had a perfectly legitimate reason to butt her nose in on her business, but that wasn’t not the point! The point was that the pink hair pony was here, and she didn’t want her to be here.

Celestia eyed the changeling queen standing in the way of her and the imprisoned class of ponies (all the while holding back the changeling children, who sweet as they may be, were bothering her severely.) “...Really?”

Chrysalis stared blankly. “What?”

“Did you think it would be so easy to get rid of me?”

“Well yeah, you’re not the aurora-maned one.”

Celestia stomped a hoof. “My name is Celestia. Princess Celestia to you.”

“Oh, really?” she rolled her eyes, brushing a lock of her mane aside. “And I’m a bug-pony.”

A smug grin tugged at her mouth “Exactly.”

Okay, now she was mad. “You...” she hissed. “I am not--”

“Touch a nerve?” Celestia was not sure why she was intentionally agitating her adversary. Perhaps she was slowly cracking under the pressure of dealing with her sudden discovery of the way her subjects treated her or the fact that she was currently under the risk of losing her country to the rule of Chrysalis, the bug-queen.

Didn’t matter anyways; Chrysalis was indeed agitated. “Touched a nerve?!? What do you think?!”

“I think you have no idea who you’re talking to.”

Chrysalis snarled. “I know that you’re just an impersonator! And a terrible one at that!”

“If that were the case, How does that make you any different from me?”

While most ponies would think that since she was a princess she never really got in trouble. Celestia was actually quite familiar with being in trouble. For instance, there was one particular time when she had said something in court in front of a foreign dignitary which in hindsight was quite offensive; but that never ended in a swift strike in the nose.

Of course, she also never had the privilege of having a spat with a pony intent on being one of her worst enemies. “Ouch, Dat hurd.” Yes, that nose-- muzzle and all-- was broken in two. Only to be expected as part of the career of being a ruler and a diplomat.

“How dare you,” Chrysalis hissed, seething with anger. “How. Dare. You! Who are you to criticize me?? To get on my back and hinder me from my goal?? Who are you?!” By this point, several young changelings either crept back, leaving Celestia alone, eyed her broken nose with concern, or went around the long way to behind Chrysalis’ back.

“Ib sibly doing by job; preventig invasiod ob by country,” Celestia calmly said through her broken muzzle.

A smug smile crossed the changeling queen’s lips. “Oh really now? How are you planning on stopping my invasion… without hurting their mother?”

Celestia was shocked. “You… You’re deir budder?”

“Of course I’m their mother! What did you expect me to be, royalty?”

“Childred… you’re usig childred.”

Another smug grin. “Does that bother you, little pink-haired pony?”

She sighed, simply resorting to sitting on her haunches and eyeing Chrysalis with a glare. “Yes, yes id does.”

“Too bad.” She turned to the nymphs. “Well, this has gotten pretty boring pretty fast. Perhaps we can find some other source of fu--” Chrysalis never finished her suggestion, as all the sudden, an incredibly loud SNAP echoed across the clearing between her and the pony. Said pony’s muzzle was no longer broken, and she was taking a few experimental sniffs just to make sure it was clear. “Uhh… how’d you do that?”

Celestia smiled. However, that smile had no sincerity in it. “Bone setting spell. So, care to tell me why you’re using children?”

“No, I don’t.” So now that the queen was caught red-handed, she appeared to be completely avoiding the subject. But who could blame her for trying to avoid trouble? She didn’t know who she was talking to, and neither did the nymphs, but rest assured, they would. Celestia was not keen on letting go of this.

Now what exactly was going on in all their heads? To see the look on Chrysalis face, Celestia had made the most reasonable guess that she was feeling defiant. It helped that she was actually defying her, but Celestia took pride in being able to guess how ponies (or not ponies) felt. The changeling nymphs on the other hand had mixed feelings. Some were nervous, some confused, but most were generally cautious. That was nothing new to her. 

The most important thing however was a particular pink pony who-- now that the children had stopped playing with her and her friends-- was making her way to Celestia’s position, and the face she wore… was concerning. She seemed to know what was going on, despite being on the other side of the garden.

Despite all this, perhaps against her better judgement, Celestia continued. “Ah, so you don’t want to explain why you’ve got children with you? I suppose I’ll just assume the worst, that you’re using them to assist in your invasion of Equestria.”

Chrysalis flinched. “That’s not the reason.”

“Well then why not give me your reason? A master of deception you are, I’m sure you could come up with an answer if you don’t have one already.”

“...”

“So… Nothing then?”

“Integration...”

“I see… Integrating who?”

“Ponies into changeling society...”

Celestia was not buying it. “By what means…?”

“Peaceful...negotiation…?”

“Well...” Celestia sat on her haunches, choosing her next words carefully in hopes to turn this in her favor. She could very easily change herself back to her brilliant self, but she’d rather avoid the intimidation technique. Given who she was dealing with, that seemed like it would be rather difficult, even borderline impossible… “Sorry, I don’t buy it.”

“Of course not. So is that it? You fixed your nose, are you just going to sit there?”

“Hmmm… Yes, I think I will.”

“Okay, I’ll just walk around you--” A golden magic stopped her in her tracks. “What are you doing?!?”

“You’re not going anywhere, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis fussed in the golden aura, which refused to budge. “Unhand me!! Do you have any idea who I am?! I am Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, and I demand that you leave me be!”

“Demand?” Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “What gives you the right to demand of me?”

“I broke your nose, imagine what I could do to your skull, little pony!!”

Gasps sounded from the many little changelings. So they didn’t know? There was trouble now. Judging by the way Chrysalis clamped her hooves on her mouth and how her ears folded back, it was something she didn’t want to tell them either. “...And here I thought your kids were in on this. Chrysalis, I’m honestly rather disappointed in you. Are you that much of a liar that you would manipulate your own children into your dirty work?”

“It--” the pink-haired pony with a familiar cutie mark glared at her in a very familiar fashion. “It’s not manipulation,” Chrysalis shot back with spite. “It’s for a good cause that they don’t understand! Who are you to get in the way of the queen of changelings!?”

Welp, that was it. The straw that broke the camel’s back, and Celestia really loved that camel. This called for blind, unbridled rage. Chrysalis anger paled to that of Celestia’s infuriation. those eyes that were usually ever-so-gentle had narrowed tightly, holding the very fire of her own sun within those pupils. Was it just her, or did it seem to be getting warm around Chrysalis? “Choose your next words carefully…”

Chrysalis actually halted for a second, before very much not choosing her words carefully. “...I’m sorry, but why should I?”

Celestia immediately took action, and in this brought up the beginning of the end. Sun, I’m going to want a full connection.

“YES! OUR MISTRESS REMEMBERS US! SHE ACKNOWLEDGES OUR PRESENCE AND-- Wait, what?”

Sun. Right now, please.

In the short seconds of Celestia’s full connection to the sun, several things happened. Pinkie Pie, being close by and deeply concerned with Celestia’s growing anger, had walked closer in an attempt to get the Princess to calm down. This was a grave mistake, as the changelings had already backed up considerably, and Pinkie had to take cover behind Chrysalis. Chrysalis had shrank considerably, literally and figuratively. The Sun, with its perpetual fear of being put out, maximized its connection to Celesta as quickly as possible. This resulted in an explosive blast that could be heard for miles.

“THIS IS WHY, CHRYSALIS!!”

Fire roared from Celestia’s mane as her beautiful, terrible self was made known to all. 
In all her long, long years, Queen Chrysalis had never seen such fury, such wrath as this from ponies. No, nothing had ever come even close to this. What was once snowy white fur had now become black as charcoal, and those eyes… those eyes stared into her, demanding the right to see her transgressions, to peer into her soul and demand penance.

        Chrysalis shrank back further than she possibly thought she could shrink back. Celestia was still looming over her.

        “WELL? HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY, OH MISTRESS OF LIES AND DECIET?!”

        “H-help--”

        “NO HELP WILL COME TO YOU NOW! DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?? YOU HAVE INCURRED THE WRATH OF THE PRINCESS OF THE BURNING SUN!!”

        “I-I didn’t know--”

        “I HAVE A PICTURE OF THE SUN EMBLAZONED ON MY BUTT!! DO YOU SEE ANYPONY ELSE WITH A SUN ON THEIR BUTT?!” Chrysalis was utterly terrified. She shook her head frantically. Celestia growled, and the flames billowing from her mane flared up briefly. “TELL ME, LITTLE QUEEN. DO YOU KNOW WHAT I AM? OR THE EXACT MEASURE OF MY POWER??”

        Chrysalis whimpered. “I-I thought you were a princess-- Just a powerful alicorn-- What are you, a goddess??”

        “A LITTLE WORD OF NOTE, CHANGELING QUEEN, THERE WAS A TIME IN THE HISTORY OF OUR KINGDOMS THAT IN THE EQUESTRIAN TONGUE, ‘PRINCESS’ AND ‘GODDESS’ WERE EXACTLY THE SAME THING.” Their noses almost touched, and Chrysalis could have sworn that her chitin was melting. “If this thrashing shows you anything at all, let it be this: Childeren. Are NOT. Your toys.”

        Yep, Chrysalis was in trouble. Silently, she prayed to whatever god or goddess that wasn’t celestia to send forth some divine intervention to save her poor tail, because while Pinkie Pie was warm and fuzzy, she was not exactly going to be anymore fireproof than she was.(1)

        Celestia’s horn lit up blindingly bright. “PREPARE FOR A ROYAL SPANKING OF A SORT THAT YOU’LL NEVER FORG--” Out of seemingly nowhere, Celestia suddenly winced in pain, whipping her head around to her back leg. “WHO DARES?!”

        “Don’ hurt muh mummy!!”




Lepidos, do you have adeath wish?!

No, she did not in fact have a death wish, but the little nymph in question knew that what exactly she was doing was in fact something that would be a sign of a pony--or changeling-- having a death wish. In a wild attempt to save her mother, Lepidos intended to offer herself up as a distraction, long enough for Chrysalis to get away properly.

"Kid, stop!! Do you have a death wish or something?!" Well at least the pegsus following really close behind her agreed she was doing something that someone with a death wish would do. However, it was all far, far too late to think about that anymore.

It wasn't that Lepidos was faster than Rainbow Dash, it was just that she was considerably more dodgy and squirmy than your typical pony.(2) Rainbow Dash was right behind her, but she didn't actually manage to get a grip on her either. Something that irritated the prismatic pony to no end. "Kid. Stop. Dodging. And. Let. Me. Save. Your. Life!!"

Of course, nothing ever managed to out fly Rainbow Dash, and she finally got her jaws around the changeling's tail. But only after Lepidos got her jaws around Ms. Fiery Death's ankle. 

*CHOMP*.

Celestia's head whipped around, snarling at Lepidos. "WHO DARES?!"

"Oh Hay," Rainbow squeaked out through her mouthful of changeling tail. She cringed, squeezing her eyes shut and backing away. There was just no conceivable way that this would end without a melted changeling filly or a cooked, plucked and marinated pegasus. She pitied that little changeling if only a small amount, but there was no way she was going to become the element of fried chicken.

One second passed. There was no puddle of molten chitin. Two seconds passed. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. Three seconds passed. Lepidos was still biting into the princess' ankle. A long five seconds later, and Rainbow dared speak up. "Kid!" she hissed. "Clearly she's not upset at you right now, maybe you should do her a favor and--" Lepidos bit down harder. "Oh, hay!"

Celestia stared long and hard at this little nymph that had insisted on biting down on her leg. Clearly she was very distressed, if the tears welling up from her eyes were anything to go by. Still, she had other things to deal with. "...Little one?"

"Kid, quit it!" Rainbow hissed, wildly gesturing a sort of "get out of here" motion. Celestia took to wiggling her ankle, trying to coax her off.

"Little one, I have no quarrel with you."

"Don't hurt muh mummy!!" she yelled around the hoof in her mouth.

Celestia shook her leg. Why was this changeling biting her ankle? She darn well wasn't going to kill her mother; that was out of the question! So why was she biting her? "Little one, please refrain from biting my leg..."

"Noh!"

"Little one, please--"

"Noh!"

"Please--" The nymph bit harder. "OUCH!!" Celestia winced painfully, hissing through her teeth. “Irritating little changeling; let go!” Her horn flashed, and she relieved the pain of being bitten by teleporting the little nuisance away a good distance. “Of all the things to happen… I was wasted a perfectly good thrashing...”

Chrysalis, stunned, wondered quietly about what wonderful little thing just happened. It seemed to her that her own dear daughter had shot in behind the monstrous princess, and allowed her to live a little bit longer! She would have to remember to properly reward her if she made it out of this alive. 

she also recalled that she should probably take advantage of the goddess’ brief distraction and hightail it out of there. Should be simple, she thought, inching her way around Pinkie Pie so that she would have a clear path. Then again this pony can turn into living fire in an instant, who’s to say that I shouldn’t tack on omniscience to her repertoire of skills? She dearly hoped that Celestia would not notice.

Chrysalis had yet to understand that one should not tempt fate as her little “friend” took notice of her sneaking around her, completely turning the odds against her when she protested: “W-wait! Where’re you going, chryssy!?”

Oh, if only she had simply stayed put. Because now that Celestia had lost her anger, she was competent. And competent ponies were entirely unable to be tricked, or evaded. Celestia knew this, and she was not intent on letting her catch go. Celestia turned to Chrysalis, shaking her head in disappointment.

“Um--” Chrysalis whimpered. “...Sorry?”

        “Sorry, but just because your little child distracted me momentarily, that doesn’t mean you can simply sneak off.” She flicked her horn, and immediately, Chrysalis felt her wings become restrained.

        “No! No no no no no!” Chrysalis panicked, trying to find a way to get out of the trap that was being set upon her. There was little she could do to escape, and the options were dwindling quickly. But before she could get out of the way, a golden orb grew around her almost instantaneously, blocking out sound and light. Wildly she bashed at the walls with magic and her hooves, shouting “No, not like this!!”

Celestia smirked at the opaque golden orb. “Well then, I don’t think she’s going to go anywhere anytime soon.”

        “Anypony can see that, Tia,” Celestia’s little sister came up behind her in a cool, steady gait, three other ponies nervously following behind, faces to the ground as close as possible. “You always seem to use such overkill when detaining a pony.”

        Celestia--despite her imposing figure, terrifyingly fiery mane and ash black fur--managed to flash a surprisingly friendly smile. “Ah, Luna! How nice to see you join me with the prisoner.” She tapped the shield. “This little changeling queen has had a punishment coming for a long time.”

“Y-you mean she’s in there for sure?” Fluttershy whimpered, head bowed low. “That’d be relieving…!”        

        “Indeed! Took a little moment of clarity, and now I’ve got her where I want her, so she’ll finally face her judgement.”

        “Well… Congratulations, dear sister!” Luna exclaimed in approval. “I may not approve of the freak-out beforehand, but it certainly yielded results! Quickly sister, let us lock her up in a cell!” Luna held out a gleaming blue chain with the intent to use it against Chrysalis, but her sister stopped her.

        “No, this is not over. I want to take care of her punishment personally. She’s going to pay dearly for what she’s done to all of us.”

        Luna protested. “I-- Surely you jest! Punishment is one thing, but vengeance is completely another!”

        “But this isn’t vengeance!” Celestia said, defending her reasoning. “I mean, what did she do to me, defeat me in battle? That’s hardly enough to warrant vengeance.”

        Luna sighed in irritation. “Celestia, I know you better than that. You never avenge yourself, because that’s too selfish; only others.”

        Things were winding up again it appeared; and just when it calmed back down too. “I’m sorry Luna, but I still don’t see why I should refrain from punishing her myself.”

        “Because, sister, you failed to keep a level head when confronting Chrysalis, Did not back down when the changeling child begged you not to hurt her mother, And now you’re claiming your own judgement in the wake of your stress is superior to anypony-else’s. Now Please step aside!” Luna made another attempt at getting past her sister, but was gently held back.

        “No, Luna, This is between me and her.”

        “Oh so that’s how it is; it is personal!” She growled in frustration. “See, when you actually get mad it’s so hard to actually reason with-- You know what? Fine. Excuse me for a moment?” 

“Sure, take your time.”

Resigning to Celestia’s stubbornness, she turned to the other ponies, pulling them up from their prostrate positions and underneath her wings for a huddle. Those five ponies were doing rather well, considering Celestia’s freak out; and Twilight was blissfully unaware, still yet to wake up from her unconsciousness as she lay across Luna’s back. Twilight’s going to be pretty upset after all this, she thought as she gave the ponies a gentle squeeze before she started talking.

“Girls, I’ll be honest here… Celestia’s lost it.”

“Ag-greed,” Pinkie mumbled.

“And if I’m being just as honest as before… I really don’t have a clue how to stop her from getting revenge against Chrysalis.”

“Um…” Fluttershy raised a hoof. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not when it’s personal. There has to be a better option… I just have no idea what.”

“Well what is there to do when words don’t work to make a pony step down?” Applejack fussed at the rim of her hat. “You gotta use force, but… against her? Ah don’t wanna do that. Nopony does.”

Luna nodded. “I suppose that’s how she felt when she had to stop me. But there aren’t any other options.”

“What if we just...”

“Yes, Pinkie?”

“...Hugged her?”

Luna tilted her head. “I’m not sure how that’ll help the situation.”

“With a bunch of other ponies?”

“So...”

“And we did it all at once!”

“So we simply dogpile her?” Luna cracked a smile. “That might work if we can get close enough to her, I suppose. So… What say you, Rainbow Dash? Given the circumstances, how do we get some extra ponies?”

“Well… given the circum-whatsits, we’d have to use changelings…” Rainbow humphed. “Darn it, we’re gonna have to free the bug-queen, aren’t we?”

“Not just the bug-queen...” Luna eyed the cocoons, weaving another plan in her head. “Girls, Operation: Princess Pounded by Pouncing Ponies is go.”

Pinkie scratched her head, trying to recite the acronym which though it was unpronounceable, she pronounced like “Pthbpp??”.

“Is everypony in on this?” Luna annoyedly spoke over pinkie’s spitting. Five hooves shot up, the sixth one unable to be raised because its occupant was, again, still unconscious. When she got the yes from all the ponies still awake, she broke away the huddle and walked back towards the shield and the pony powering it.

“Well? Are you going to let me do what needs to be done?”

Luna smiled sympathetically. “Oh sister… Some ponies want justice… others revenge...” Her horn glowed softly, slowly shining brighter till it gleamed its bright blue color. “As for me sister...” Luna flared her horn, shooting a beam of pure blue energy at the shield surrounding Chrysalis.

“What?? No!!”

Crack! great fractures ruptured the perfectly smooth surface of the shield, and in moments, it shattered, the spell entirely neutralized. “Huzzah!” The changeling queen within cheered. “Now I can finally teleport out of this blasted--” She paused, looking around. “Oh, I’m free? Oh no… There’s nothing between me and her!”

Celestia stared, dumbfounded at her sister’s betrayal. “Lulu...Why?”

“Because, sister, this is hardly what I had in mind when I wanted to deal with our troublesome queen.”

The eldest of the two sisters pulled the biggest, saddest pout she possibly could, which might have worked if she didn’t look like a monster from the depths of some inferno. “But...But Justice, Lulu!”

“I don’t want justice, Celestia; I want quiet.”

“Are we really going to do this?? I don’t want to do this!”

“Yes, we’re going to do this; and We...” She emphasized by pulling the terrified changeling queen close to her, “We are going to do this right now!”

“You’re not seriously planning on getting me involved, are you??” Chrysalis hissed at Luna.

“Chrysalis, you were involved from the very beginning of this,” Luna hissed back. “Now shut up and help me; or I’ll simply let you end up in a volcano like the last time she caught you!”

Chrysalis mouth opened briefly in retort-- then it closed again. “There had better be something that I get out of this...”

“We could always use somepony else helping around the castle...”

The queen’s ears perked at this. “You mean you’d willingly give me a throne to rule Equestira with? That seems like a bad idea for you, but I’m not complaining!”

“Yeah sure, I guess.”

“Done.” With this, the two turned their attention back on Celestia, gathering close ponies and changelings alike. A great many took position around the queen, forming a protective circle, and Celestia on the other end dug her hoof into the dirt. Luna gave out commands.

“Girls, make sure she doesn’t approach until we’re ready. We need some sort of projectile.”

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof. “How about my party cannon?”

“If it shoots projectiles, Then that’ll be sufficient, Pinkie.”

“Right!” Pinkie called back. From out of her mane, Pinkie pulled out her comically pink and baby blue weapon of party power, setting it down in front of her. “Pony princess, identify yourself or I will shoot!”

“I--What?? Pinkie, I’m--”

“Wrong answer!” Pinkie pressed a little button on the cannon, and pastry death exploded from the barrel. Celestia only barely had enough time to dodge the flying pie, grazing her left ear and splatting on the ground behind her. It was a good thing too, because that one was cherry. Celestia liked any sort of cake offered to--or thrown at her, but she did not like cherry pies. At any rate, that wasn’t important. What was important was the fact that Celestia was slightly miffed at this.
        
        She glared at pinkie. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

        “You won’t!” Pinkie called her bluff, firing off another shot. Chocolate cake flew at her, and just in time, she caught the pastry in her magic, relieved that the tasty treat did not burn up upon contact with her scorching body. It was a shame that she wouldn’t be able to eat it yet--No, not while somepony so foul as to use children as war tools was still free to roam the lands. 

With the dignity required for something as nice as cake, she teleported her prize away to the nearest convenient fridge in the palace, bracing for whatever else was coming at her next. Pinkie’s cannon shot a series of attacks this time. Several cupcakes in rapid fire succession flew at her, impossible for her to simply dodge out of the way. So she teleported blindly up above the projectiles, diving straight down on top of the pink pony. 

“Oh no! She’s onto me!!” Pinkie cried as the air heated up around her. Pinkie sweat fiercely. Celestia had considered melting the darned thing, but there was probably a simpler solution. with one hoof, Celestia grabbed the of the cannon, flipped the barrel around along the wheels and smashed her hoof into the trigger. “Girls! Avenge--”

The rest of Pinkie Pie’s sentence was cut off by the thunderous boom of her party cannon firing at least a hundred pastries into her face and burying her in frosting and other baking matter. Pinkie was no longer able to fight. “This is not good,” Fluttershy whispered, barely audibly.

“Fret not Fluttershy,” Luna soothed. “Pinkie is not so easily stopped by cakes; just a little dramatic about them.”(3) She smiled. “Besides, we’ve still got more ponies between her and Chrysalis.”

Celestia in the mean time smiled with her small victory. With the little pink nuisance out of the way, she stepped around the pile of baked goods and back to her target to deliver her--

“NOT SO FAST!!” Rainbow dash hollered.

Celestia stopped, ears falling flat. “Oh no… Rainbow, if you’re going to try to tackle me, at least be careful-- Holy hay!!” She had little time to react before the prismatic pegasus charged at her. But when she did, a teleportation was plenty enough to make her eat dirt. Rainbow banked around the other way--spitting soil-- and came back for another shot. This one being far more easily predicted, was swiftly and gracefully dodged, making rainbow have to bank around again for a third shot. This time she flew up into the air, and sped at her from the skies.

“Why. Can’t. I. Tackle. You?!”

Celestia sidestepped, and Rainbow hit the ground, knocking the wind out of her. “You’re a little too predictable. Are you okay, by the way?”

Rainbow panted, trying to get her breath back in spite of the immense heat that was radiating off her adversary’s form. “Better than...huff… you’re going to be!”

Celestia rolled her eyes, pressing a hoof down on Rainbow and watching her flail around underneath it. “Really Rainbow, why’re you so mad at me?”

“You’ve went nuts! Celestia does justice, not vengeance!”

Celestia, tired of her bickering, simply sat down on top of the pony, pinning her against the ground. Rainbow yelped at the sudden weight, struggling in a vain attempt to release herself. Then a gentle touch on the head with her horn was enough to put her to sleep. Two down, three to go… But Rarity was not right there with Luna anymore. Only moments earlier, Luna had motioned for Rarity to make a run for it to the pony cocoons to get some more mare-power. In her light footing and extremely nervous-of-the-goddess-incarnate emotional state, she snuck off around Celestia and Rainbow Dash while they were still fighting, found the cocoon housing the ponyville schoolteacher, and was currently in the process of breaking its membrane. 

Things were looking bleak. The last time she had to break anypony out of a changeling cocoon, the material had hardened enough that a strike to a particularly thin part of the membrane could break it. This stuff was almost like rubber with the way it sprung back. If she were honest with herself, she had no clue how to actually go about breaking the soft membrane.

Time was running short. She had tried a great many things: Clawing at it (it made a strange squeaky noise like thinly stretched plastic), punching it (it bounced back, bringing her hoof into her eye), making it float (it just kinda wiggled there) and flat out zapping it with magic (It just kinda got slurped up). There was only one option, and that option was one she didn’t really like. She swallowed hard, shuddering at the idea. 

At least let it not taste awful, Rarity thought to herself as she finally reached down and bit hard on the membrane. Surprisingly enough, her teeth sank into it just fine, and with enough force, she tore the darned thing clean in half. That said, it was sickeningly sweet, and Rarity was still trying to get the flavor out of her mouth when the ponyville school teacher climbed out from the cocoon and stretched her legs.

“Rarity!” Cheerilee beamed. “I hardly thought you were the savior type; but thanks a bunch! I suppose that the crisis has been taken care of?”

Rarity spat out the last bit of sweet bile from her mouth. “I only wish that were the case dear...” She pointed to the changelings and ponies engaged in a battle against Celestia. “Celestia caught the changeling queen in a jam, and wants to deliver a punishment personally.”

“...Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not with such a barbaric thing as vengeance. I shudder to imagine what disproportionate punishment she’d deal because of personal matters.”

“But the Princess still has a point… Didn’t the changeling queen invade equestria twice?”

“Yes, and nopony was hurt, it took ten minutes for every loveless pony to recover when with their loved ones, and that little village full of kitties still stands.” She shrugged. “My friends and I were told to read the damage reports written by Twilight. Surprisingly little, save for property damage.”

Cheerilee sighed, shaking off what was left of the pod gunk off her fur, much to Rarity’s chagrin. “That’d be nice to hear, if it weren’t for the fact that I had to personally console three little fillies over the death of one of those little villagers… I’m sorry Rarity, but I still don’t see why I should help her.”

Rarity paused in thought, hoof to her head and other hoof shaking off slimy gunk. “You do know that Queen Chrysalis is the mother of those little changeling children, yes?”

“Oh! Well that changes everything,” Cheerilee exclaimed in her epiphany. “I’m sold! What do we have to do next?”

Rarity gaped in shock. “Really? Just like that?”

“Not ‘just like that’! I’m simply putting the interests of children in front of everything else.”

“Very well, I’m not one to argue… Help me out with the rest of these cocoons, yes?” They each walked over to a nearby cocoon. “Oh, and… you might have to use your teeth.”

Meanwhile, the fight was as strong as ever. As soon as Celestia had stood up to try to find Rarity, Fluttershy was sent on her light footing to retrieve the napping Rainbow Dash from underneath the princess. As quietly as she snuck up, she pulled her oldest friend back to safety once more. Then as Luna took care to undo the sleeping spell cast on Rainbow, Applejack darted into the fray, wielding Luna’s blue chains which were so generously offered in replacement for her own rope. The chains were heavy and awkward, so she had to put considerable effort into actually utilizing them effectively. “Tie her wings so she can’t fly!” Luna ordered.

“Easier said than done, yer highness!” Applejack said through the chains in her mouth. She took another shot, using too little force, and missed by about three feet.

Chrysalis, though she knew better, was giggling plenty at Applejack’s poor aim. “Come now farmer, you couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with that kind of throw!”

“You do remember what’s at stake here if we fail, do you not?” Luna warned.

“Uh-- I-I mean ‘Go Apple-pony!’ You can do it!”

Applejack chuckled at the queen’s expense reeling in the chain once more. She had undershot this time, but her aim was right. Now she only had to hitch it around her neck as she flew at her, then it would be as easy as apple-pie to hogtie her once she got out of the way of her horn. Celestia approached for another magical, sleep-dart, and she threw the chain again, making sure it hit its mark. Sure enough, the chain flew in the air, and just before the slack ran out, her makeshift lasso slipped around her neck, and then her barrel. “Yee-haw!” She whooped, pulling the lasso tightly. “Was that a throw, or what?”

“Applejack--” Fluttershy squeaked. “You didn’t get her wings!”

“What-- Of course I got her wings!” She scoffed. “Princess Luna told me to tie up her wings, I tied up her wings!” She grinned through the chain in her mouth, crossing her legs. “Y’all can always count on your faithful earth pony friend Appleja--UhoooaaAAAAAAAHH!!” Applejack’s boasting was cut off when it was clear to her that she did not in fact tie her wings, but merely wrapped the chains around the base of her wings. This was made quickly clear by the sudden pull of an alicorn princess taking off into the air and pulling her along by the very chains intended to bind her up. Air rushed by her head pulling tears from her eyes. Before her hat which had fell off during her reverse bungee jump could even hit the ground, Celestia had stopped flying up, and Applejack kept going in an arc, gracefully caught by the princess herself in her forehooves. The earth pony had completely forgot why she was facing against the princess in the first place, and promptly wrapped her hooves around Celestia’s barrel, shaking like a leaf despite the heat radiating from her. Celestia felt awful.What sort of way was that to treat an earth pony? They liked to have the ground beneath their hooves, not to be tumbling in the air like debris caught in the wind.

Celestia tenderly hugged the pony back as they came in for another landing. “I’m so sorry Applejack… It’s just...You all have been an awful lot of trouble to deal with… I’m starting to think that it may not even be worth it to try to get past all of you.”

“It’s not,” Luna replied bluntly.

“Sister,” Celestia glared. “I have been princess for over three thousand years, and I know full well when to stop fighting.” She loosened the chain around her barrel, using it instead to wrap poor Applejack up, lashing her to her back. The pony barely even reacted. “I don’t fight battles I like them… I do not fight them in such a way that I’m less a pacifist and more a coward… I fight battles as quickly and efficiently as possible so that the fewest ponies get hurt.”

“Finally something we can agree on,” Luna muttered. “Which is why I believe that my course of action would be far better, so we do not hurt a mother.”

“Queen Chrysalis is hardly a pony, Luna!” Celestia argued. “She may be able to disguise as one, but--”

“THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!!”

“Ouch… Sister, I know you like the canterlot voice, but please don’t shout right at me!”

Luna’s ears fell flat. “That...Wasn’t me.” Celestia gasped. Where there was once an unconscious Twilight sparkle on her sister’s back, Luna’s back was now completely devoid of purple pony princesses. Instead, all six of those ponies that had saved equestria were awake completely, and only Applejack was incapacitated, still tightly pressing herself to her barrel. Twilight was awake, nursing a headache, and ticked. “Oh Twilight,” Luna smiled, nervous and relieved at the same time. “Thank the stars you’re alright! I was worried that we might have put you in a--”

“Not a word of that,” Twilight cut her off. “What was your plan?”

“Um...” Luna struggled to find her words. She looked at the ponies sitting behind Celestia. Rarity shrugged unhelpfully. “We were going to dogpile her…?”

“Yeah, okay.” Twilight nodded. “With everypony else?”

“That was the idea...”

“Sure… if you can get somepony fast enough to knock her off her feet.”

Celestia for her part felt an immense level of betrayal. Her heart broke. “Twilight… You too?!”

“You’re being quite selfish, Celestia; of course I’d side with them.”

She held a hoof out. “But Twilight… Don’t you--”

“No.”

“Twilight, I’m your tea--”

“No.”

“Twilight, please just listen to me for half a second--”

“No.”

There it happened again. As soon as the clarity had come, Celestia’s clarity was replace once again by a slowly building anger, which eventually burned hotter and hotter and hotter until she was seeing red. It was only Applejack who was spared of this anger, being seen but as her own little bear cub, to scared to be with her friends and too scared to be with Celestia.

“YOU WRETCHED, INSOLENT CHILDREN!!” She roared, hurt and enraged. “WHO ARE YOU TO SAY ‘NO’ TO ME?! YOUR OWN TEACHER, WHO HAS LIVED WITH HER LITTLE PONIES FOR TENS OF MILLENNIA! WHO ARE YOU TO SAY NO!?”

While everypony else cowered, Twilight simply looked at her like a child having a temper tantrum. She gave a subtle motion to Fluttershy, who very nervously made her way to the group of changelings. “Celestia, you’re making a scene.”

“Twilight sparkle, I am not to be scolded, like some colt who got caught with her hoof in the cookie jar! I am far older than that; there is no pony who is above me or older!! My wisdom exceeds yours by centuries, and it tells me that I am perfectly fine in what I am doing! You however, need a change in your attitude!!”

“Really?? Because what I am hearing is ‘I am not getting my way, so I’ll blame everypony else for it!’” Celestia growled, hurtling a searing flame at Twilight, which she jumped out of the way of. “What the hay?!”

“DON’T TALK BACK TO ME, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!! I raised you! Just like your own parents did, I nurtured you and taught you everything you know! You do not have the right!!”

“Great, so shouldn’t you be listening to me??”

“I have no idea what got into your head, Twilight Sparkle. But let it be clear that it is nothing of the sort that I taught you!” Celestia continued on with her furious words, but Twilight had stopped listening, instead opting to watch Fluttershy’s progress, and everything else going on around her. Most of the ponies had fallen flat on their faces, were in tears, or were staring in absolute shock at Twilight’s rebellion. It wasn’t that shocking in Twilight’s head, she had a special talent for magic and Celestia only had the sun and other minor spells. She didn’t have to bow, or cry, or shake at the knees. Her courage just kinda happened. Speaking of what just happened, Fluttershy was now right next to the Changeling queen, who was also in tears. When Fluttershy had politely asked her to let her on her back, Twilight hissed out two very meaningful words: “Fastball special”.

“(Blah blah discracefull blah)-- Twilight Sparkle, are you even listening to me??”

Twilight turned her head back as the changeling and pegasus flew off. “Sorry, but no I wasn’t. Kind of hard to concentrate when you’re claiming to the whole of Canterlot and anypony down the mountain how much of a goddess you are.”

“You did WHAT?!”

“Oh no, not me; you did that just fine on your own.”

“I DID NO SUCH THING!!”

“Just take a look at everypony else around us.”

“Hah! The only pony that is doing anything wrong right now is--Oh…” Celestia looked, and she saw the ponies and changelings were absolutely terrified. “No...” Her lips quivered. “No… I--It can’t be...”

        “Yeah, it happened.”

        “I just-- It can’t-- No… No, it isn’t… It’s just a trick...”

        “There are no tricks happening here Celestia, you’re just feeling the weight of--”

        “This is entirely a trick, Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia shouted. “There is nothing this can be but a trick!!”

        Twilight nervously glanced at Chrysalis and Fluttershy, worried that they may not have been far away enough yet. “Celestia, this is just ridiculous--”

        “No, Twilight Sparkle, I will end this trickery! And I will do so by nipping your little plan in the bud!” Celestia had heard perfectly find what Twilight had whispered to Fluttershy, and when she had found the two off in the distance, she charged her horn… Just as Chrysalis held her charge above her, throwing poor Fluttershy right in the direction of Celestia’s blast.

        “CELESTIA, NO!!”

        Fluttershy screamed in terror at the ludicrous speed of her enhanced flight. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” The wind resisted so forcefully against her, but she flapped even more forcefully with her own wings, even as she felt the wind like a cone, even as the cone bent and flexed. Even as the cone almost shook like weak arms trying to lift something too heavy. She flapped harder and looked ahead at her target.

        A golden beam of pure plasma was sailing right at her. “NOOO-”

        The beam struck, and Twilight died a little on the inside.

        The beam shrank in length slowly. Twilight was confused.

        The beam shrank considerably back over time. Twilight could have sworn that that there was a ring of fire behind it.

        Suddenly there was a thunderous explosion of collapsing air. Everypony present save for Celestia jammed their hooves in their ears. If she squinted, Twilight could see… flaming butterflies?

        As quick as it came, the fire dissipated, and something very yellow smashed into Celestia, and she and it fell over, rolling several feet before they came to a stop. Twilight stared at the yellow thing. It lifted it’s head, blinking with it’s green eyes and brushing its pink hair away from its face. “Fluttershy??”

        “No time!” She shouted, squeezing tightly against Celestia’s head. “Dogpile her now!!”

        Wasting no time, Twilight leapt upon her mentor, hugging her legs tightly together. It was now or never! The changelings were quick to follow suit, pouncing on her wings and rear legs. “Unhand me!!” Celestia shouted, fighting furiously. She tried to cast more magic to teleport, but Pinkie Pie was quick to pin her horn to the ground, forcing her to stay there. The ponies came scrambling in, wrapping their forelegs around each of her wings. “I am a princess of equestria!! I am not to be pony-handled like this!! Do you hear me!! I will not be pinned! I demand...”

        Cheerilee ran up, pinning her body against her back after having untied Applejack from the chains. The fiery heat radiating off Celestia cooled, but she still struggled.

        “I want you...to...”

Rarity and Rainbow Dash came up, sitting right up against her belly, heads on her side. Tears slipped from her eyes. It was working.

“I… I j-just...”

 Finally Luna, with Chrysalis in tow, nudged a few ponies and changelings aside, lay down and spread a wing over most of the prone princess. “It’s all over Celestia,” She gently urged. “Time to let go.”

Celestia did not hold back on the waterworks, bawling her eyes out. Twilight smiled, sympathetically nuzzling her for every little “I’m sorry” and every sentence that she couldn’t complete. Over time, her coat faded back to its normal white color, and with enough strength, she sat up, giving each and every pony and nymph present that she wronged a heartfelt hug. Even Chrysalis got one, despite how awkward it was for both parties. But when it was all done, Celestia felt that all the anger completely faded, and she felt so much better. “Thank you… Thank you all, my little ponies.” They all seemed to feel so much happier. But there was still so much to fix; it was for this reason that Twilight dropped her little bombshell.

“Everypony?” Around fifty faces turned towards her. “I’m afraid that we have another problem, particularly Celestia, Luna and Chrysalis.”

Celestia whimpered. Her sister draped a wing around her once more.

“What we had here was the most dreadful breach of conduct I have ever experienced.” She glared at the two princesses. “This loss of control to such a point like that cannot be tolerated. So...” Twilight tapped a hoof, looking at all of them. “Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis and everypony else… Meet me in the library. You all have ten minutes.” 

Then with a flash of her horn, she was gone.

> Title Drop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                    

CANTERLOT TRIBUNE: PRINCESS CELESTIA CLAIMS GODHOOD
Today at three in the afternoon, Princess Celestia Del Sol proclaimed in a loud voice that the words "princess" and "goddess" made no difference in the equestrian language. After our top linguists thoroughly examined most of the current dictionary editions, it appears that we've all been fooled. Most of the noble class citizens that we had interviewed for such breaking news have been baffled and shocked. Pop culture star Sapphire Shores expressed concern over the lyrics of her songs following this turn of events. "I had never been concerned with using Princess Celestia's name in vain before," She said. "Now I suppose I'll have to get my lyricist to rewrite most all of them"
Prince Blueblood, Princess Celestia's nephew claimed it as "Utterly terrifying to have a goddess for an aunt". When asked about how this would affect their relationship, The prince refused to comment. The popular noble couple Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis were not available for an interview.  More news on the daily lives of the princesses shall be available tomorrow.


 
            Twilight put the paper down, having finished reading it aloud. She heaved a sigh. "Celestia, do you know what this means?" Gathered around her was the strangest group to ever be found. Around thirty students and one schoolteacher were mixed and mingled with fifty changelling nymphs and their own mother, standing in front of them all. Five heroes of Equestria sat at her side, looking on with stern glares or sitting in uneasy postures. Twilight's focus was upon the three sitting right in front of her, wings fidgeting and hooves tense. The worst of it was that the two princesses in question had the worst beaten puppy looks she had ever seen. Luna's head was near the floor and Celestia still couldn't stop sniffling, apparently trying not to cry. There was a time that Celestia crying would have broken her heart… But now there was nothing. "Well?"
 
            Luna chuckled dryly. "I suppose it means that Blueblood will not be bothering anypony in the castle for a while."
 
            "No, it means the everypony within a hundred miles heard what you said!" The poor newspaper that she was holding in her magic was ripped to shreds, suddenly being turned into fine confetti. Twilight fell forward, head in her hooves. "No words," she mumbled, shaking her head. "There are no words to describe this all… But I'm sure as hay going to try. There are a lot of things that need to be said…" After a brief silence, Twilight cleared her throat, beginning another long speech, similar to the one that she had made after the breakfast that morning. "Celestia… What you did was—beyond a doubt— one of the worst examples of throwing a royal fit I have ever heard of."
 
            "I'm sorry Twilight," Celestia whispered.
 
            "Seriously, that was immature."
 
            "I know…"
 
            "Like, everypony could see and hear it for miles."
 
            "Twilight—"
 
            "You really need to get that in order."
 
            "Twilight, I get it!" Celestia snapped, getting tired of apologizing. "Where are you going with this?"
 
            "Seriously??" Twilight snarked. "You intended to kill a ruler! Celestia, that is unacceptable!"
 
            "…Thrash, actually."
 
            "Fine, you intended to thrash a ruler! And for what? Taking her kids on an excursion to Equestria and putting a few ponies in cocoons? Nopony got hurt!"
 
            "Twilight," she reminded her student, "Aren't you forgetting the things she did in the past?"
 
            Twilight sighed. "No, I'm not… I'm not worried about whether she's guilty or not of various tyrannical behaviors; that is quite obvious. I'm worried that if we do the wrong thing, we're going to hurt far more people than just Chrysalis." She took a deep breath. "Do you even know what these nymphs are?"
 
            "I don't know… Little children who just happened to be in one group?"
 
            Twilight stared. One hair on her head popped out of place. "Have you even been listening to any of the ponies explaining everything to me before I even started this little meeting?! These nymphs— Right here—" She waved a wing at one of the nearby changelings. "—are freaking zealots for harmony and peaceful love consumption! Does that not mean anything to you?!"
 
            "Twilight, I can appreciate your love for friendship, but… I'm not seeing how it's beneficial to have them around with us. They're just a bunch of children—"
 
            "They're the next generation!!" Twilight hollered, springing several hairs on everypony's head out of place, including her own. "Impressionable young nymphs, believing of most anything, especially the truth! These are the ponies which will reflect public opinion of the changeling population in the future, and a good impression means we're that much closer to friendship with them…" Twilight had only barely noticed that she had gotten up, now pacing around the room, back and forth. "…But if we were to punish Chrysalis in a drastic manner that would upset these nymphs, it could mean some awful things… Things like further hatred of our races towards each other, which could mean a war on our hooves, and it's been years since we've had a full on war with any other kingdom!" Twilight was slowly getting more manic, but if she knew it, it was hardly like she cared. What she was saying was just far too important for her to back down.
 
            "Not only that, We'd also have to deal with grieving children if we happened to make the decision of outright killing her for her actions! I've never had experience with grieving children, so I'm not even sure how to handle that situation…" Twilight paused, nervously chewing her hair. " But seriously, it would be a bad idea to hurt their mom over all of that!"
 
            Celestia sighed. "Twilight… I think you're overreacting. Beside the point, it's not like they're really that well off with Chrysalis as their mother—"
 
            The ex-student cut her off. “Celestia, No.”
 
            She shrunk back, confused. "I—What?"

        “Just don’t! I don’t care if there are better guardians out there for them! Isn’t it obvious that they love them? Yes, one little changeling springs into mind, particularly one by the name of Lepidos. Yeah, that changeling absolutely adores her, to the point of insanity! Love is blind; we all know that, Cadance knows that, most ponies with any sort of understanding of love know that. Beside the point, if she really was a bad mother, wouldn’t they be scared of her?”

        Celestia weakly shrugged. “It’s not always clear that somepony’s a bad mother...”
 
        It was subtle, but something in the poor unicorn’s psyche snapped. One little hair by her left ear popped out of place, and her right eye twitched. "You know what?? Fine! Be that way! Why should you understand?! Why should you care that the pony you're punishing has a family?! Who cares at all??"
 
            "I’m sorry Twilight, please don't be mad—" Celestia drew a hoof to Twilight, now pulling at her mane, but as she tried to reach to her, Twilight simply drew back further.
 
            "Darned be the consequences of hurting family, terrorizing children and creating wars! Darn it all, because Princess Celestia is sour over her first defeat in battle!"
 
            "Twilight, I already said I'm sorry, okay?!"
 
            "I KNOW!!" 

It really is quite amazing to watch a pony like her go into a conniption; the sudden raising of room temperature, the way her eyes turn bright red, her normally purple coat turning white and her mane turning into a mass of plasma. What is the most impressive part, however, is how quickly she reigns it all in, turning back into herself, the only thing showing her physical change being a smouldering mane. Taking a few deep breaths with the help of her old foalsitter's breathing exercises, she calmed down enough to talk slowly and deliberately.

"I— Yes, I know. It’s just...” She blushed, glaring at the poor state of her mane and tail. “I really… really think this was a severe lapse of judgement on your part… And you know how worked up I get over things not going just so. Would you—” She cleared her throat, trying to remove the scratchy feeling from yelling. “Would you please tell me again? I think I kind of need it...”
 
            Celestia held her calm, relieved that she could probably settle this quickly with the correct response. "I'm sorry, Twilight, for losing my temper and attempting to severely maim Chrysalis because I lost my temper."
 
            True to her guess, Twilight let out a breath she hardly knew she was holding, sighing contentedly. "Well… thanks, Celestia, for understanding." She smiled, rubbing her mane with an idle hoof along her mussed up curls. "I guess it's time to move on with this, and discuss what's going to happen to Chrysalis." It was at this point that Chrysalis—silent for most of the time— let out a giggle in wicked delight. Twilight snapped her head at the changeling queen. "What's so funny?!"

            The queen continued chuckling, waving her hoof. "Oh, nothing! Nothing at all! Just a little deal that Celestia's dearest sister promised me!"
 
            Twilight paused, unsure that she actually heard what she thought she heard. "…A deal?"
 
            "A deal."
 
            Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "...What kind of deal?"
 
            All present gazed at Chrysalis intently as she cracked a smile. Luna was not feeling remotely comfortable in her spot. "A very bad one, if you want my opinion… Do you know what she promised me?"
 
            "Spit it out," Twilight growled.
 
            "Why yes, she promised me a throne over Equestria in return for helping her calm Celestia down! And I barely had to do anything anyway!"
 
            Twilight's jaw dropped. "She what?!"
 
            Chrysalis scoffed. "Of course you didn't hear me the first time… I said that she promised me—"
 
            "I know what you said! Oh, I can't take this…" Twilight was slowly nearing her wits-end as it became clear that Luna's own foolish actions were far more severe than the unicorn had originally thought. Being in such a disheveled state,  Twilight walked over to Princess Luna and did the only thing she actually thought was reasonable for endangering the entire country. 

Crack!!
                    
            Twilight smashed her hoof against the side of Luna's cheek. Luna recoiled and put a hoof up to the burning spot, shocked, then infuriated. "Twilight, why in the hay did you hit me?!"
 
            "Because Luna, what you've done is potentially worse than Celestia did! Anypony can argue that doing anything to hurt Chrysalis would jeopardize our relations, but we can't be that close for you to give her rights to the Equestrian throne!"
 
            "I— It's not like I intended to hold out on that promise!" Luna said, attempting to defend her position.

            "Wow, do you have any Idea what the little changelings think of that?!" Twilight rolled her eyes, waving her hooves around. "'Oh! Oh! So typical of a pony! So very predictable! I'm not surprised at all that a pony lied!'"
 
            Luna gulped. "Well yeah, they do, and so does every other creature from time to time, right?" Twilight grabbed Luna’s mane — a larger amount than she probably should— and shook.
 
            "Oh yeah, they do! But does any creature with a sound mind lie compulsively?? Because yes, that's what all these little children think we do! They think we're all freakin' liars!"
 
            "Twilight— Ouch— You’re making assumptions—" Twilight only shook harder, threatening to pull hairs out.

        “I’m assuming nothing, because we’re dealing with a mother who says that only Applejack doesn’t lie out of millions of ponies! Get. it. through. your head!”

        “Okay, —Ow, please don’t! I get it! Stop!” Luna finally got a grip on the pony, forcing her to let go of her messed up mane. “What’s your point?!”
 
            Twilight backed up, heaving a sigh. "My point…" the disheveled pony muttered, almost jumping right back to pacing around, but sitting down instead. "My point is…" She groaned, shrugging. "My point is that I probably shouldn't be talking anymore right now… There was something else I wanted to talk about… but it's slipped my mind." Twilight tapped her hooves together, worrying over the state of her hair. That… did not go as she had hoped. For one, she had hoped to keep her emotions in check. While she had believed her logic to be sound, the way she lost her senses at the end really put a damper on her ability to be convincing. Secondly, she knew rather clearly now that she needed something essential. She needed a nap.
 
            Thankfully, one orange pony was there to step in for her. Smiling, Applejack put a hoof around Twilight's shoulder, gently pulling the flustered pony closer. "Alright Twi, I think you've said quite enough."
 
            "Applejack?" Celestia's ears perked up. "I almost forgot you were even there what with Twilight's rather loud scolding."
 
            Applejack tipped her hat. "What can I say? I usually work in the background." She let Twilight go, who returned her a grateful smile, and joined her other friends. "Today's gonna be a little different though…" Her smile dropped, turning into a proper frown. "We've got a very bad changeling to deal with."
 
            All around her it was silent, everypony waiting patiently— or impatiently— for Applejack to say what she had to. It was worrying to Celestia how tense the little changeling nymphs were now, seeing that they all heard Applejack speak of Chrysalis as "a very bad changeling". The queen turned away from Celestia and Twilight towards the earth pony, projecting her opinion of Applejack as inferior to her, and almost laughable.
 
            "Really? I'm a 'bad changeling'? Is that the best insult you could do?"
 
            "Oh don't you worry none about that; I've got plenty of other colorful names ah could have called you, just none I wanted to say in front of a bunch of foals." She crossed her hooves. "But… here's one that I find simple, family friendly enough for young ears and to the point: Yer an idiot."
 
            Chrysalis chuckled. "Oh, spare me! If I'm so idiotic, how could I have ruled over my hive since I became its queen?"
 
            "Simply put: because without the princesses to save yer sorry butt, you'll have doomed yer race as efficiently as possible."
 
            Almost immediately, her smug grin fell from her face, replaced by a slack-jawed stare. "I what?"
 
            Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "Did I stutter? Or did you simply not hear that?"
 
            "'Doomed my race'?! I did no such thing!"
 
            "Oh yeah, 'cuz a race that gets its energy from love does really well by terrorizing the creatures or beings it feeds off of! Yer an idiot."
 
            "Don't call me that, pony!"
 
            "Then speak up." Chrysalis scowled deeply, enough to form wrinkles on her chitin covered face—which normally doesn't wrinkle, being chitin. Applejack waved her hoof, urging her on. "C'mon, tell me! Surely with all yer wisdom and understanding, you've got a perfectly legitimate excuse for this behavior."
 
            By now, all of the little changeling nymphs— and even some of the pony children— were weepy eyed. It was understandable, but still troubling nonetheless. Celestia made a mental note to bring tissues when this was all done. Chrysalis was having trouble making a reply, holding her head in her hooves. It was entirely amazing that she didn't outright attack anypony yet. It was probably because Celestia was still there to hold her back, but it never really stopped her before...
 
            Chrysalis finally managed to open her mouth and say something: "Bad nut."
 
            Applejack cocked her head. "Beg yer pardon?"
 
            "I started out as a bad nut." She sighed. "Just another reject; a little acorn that a squirrel didn't even want to smell, so I was just left to turn into a proper tree…" She gulped, drawing in a shaky breath. "That tree ate a biting fly, and that's where we got our tendency towards a parasitic relationship… of course, with it being a biting fly… you know the rest."
 
            "So… You're telling me that it’s simply in your nature to steal love and terrorize ponies, right?"
 
            "Entirely. I was just born this way… It's really tragic."
 
                    Applejack clicked her hooves together, then pulled a smirk. "Well then, I guess we really shouldn't feel any remorse for disposing of changelings, should we?"
                    
            Chrysalis flailed her hooves around wildly. "What?! No no no no nonono, you shouldn't!!"
 
            "Really? You sure?"
 
            "I mean—I—Yes, you should!! I never said anything of the sort!"
 
            "So that was a load of bull?" Chrysalis growled in reluctant affirmation. "Uh-huh. So what is it then?"
 
            "I… I've been cursed."
 
            "Cursed now?" Applejack questioned sceptically. "What, cursed to have to draw love from others to live?"
 
            "Yes… Equestria and the changeling kingdom have been enemies for years, and I just got desperate—"
 
            "I never heard of the changeling kingdom until a month ago," Celestia interrupted.
 
            Chrysalis stuttered. "I—What—"
 
            Applejack glanced over at Celestia. "She speaks the truth." She crossed her hooves. "Spirit of honesty. Try again, missy."
 
            "I— Well I was hungry, just like all the rest!" She held her hooves out in desperation. "Right?" That made Applejack start laughing. "What?!"
 
            "Wow, do you even hear this?? She says she was hungry at the time, all the while she had a hoot claimin' how she was gonna overtake Canterlot, then all of Equestria!"
 
            "You be silent! I didn't hurt anypony!" She snarled, ripping into the library's floor carpet.
 
            "Apparently, y'all killed a small feline citizen of a little village nearby your new hive."
 
            "You don't know that!" 

Applejack scoffed, and Chrysalis ripped the carpet further. 

"That was collateral damage! A cost of war!"
 
            "Ah had ta take my little sister ta counseling, and I insisted on her sharing my bed for a week, because she couldn't stop havin' nightmares over how you laughed over its corpse!"
 
            "It-it's true," The younger sister replied among the schoolponies. "Ah was scared that I was gonna be next—"
 
            Chrysalis shot up, snarl on her lips. "You insolent—"
 
            "That's enough, Chrysalis," Celestia snapped a glare in her direction. The queen immediately froze up, gazing into her eyes. "Be nice." The victim of her anger meekly nodded her head, backing down. "Good." Twilight stared in awe at how Celestia handled that. It was almost as if she used Fluttershy's stare.
 
            Following the rather easy thwarting of Chrysalis temper, Applejack resumed. "That was rather ugly, wasn't it? So are ya gonna try again, or can we all agree that y'all got no excuse?"
 
            "There's no excuse," She mumbled angrily, yet still subdued. "I have never told anyone the reasoning behind how I've become what I am today, and I'll carry that to my grave."
 
            "So there's no reasoning behind the invasion either?"
 
            "There's none!"
 
            "No regrets?"
 
            "Absolutely none. And you know what? I'd do it again." She stood up slowly, simply saying what was on her mind. "I'd do it a thousand times, over and over because I didn't— and don't— regret it. I don't regret imprisoning Celestia's little niece in a cave for over a week, I don't regret replacing her, I don’t regret draining her husband's love so I could strike a full on invasion..." A smug smile formed on her lips, and she giggled. "And I definitely don't regret watching Princess Celestia get absolutely smeared, how fake or not it seemed! And I don't even regret lying to my little children to get them to help me invade you a third time. It was necessary, and I, Queen Chrysalis, sovereign of my changeling kingdom, can do no wrong!" She stuck out her tongue, rudely displaying a childish gesture. "So there. Is that enough of an answer?"
 
            Applejack's answer was simple, and to the point. "Congrats, Queen Chrysalis… Yer an idiot."
 
            It took her some time, but once she figured out just what she said, she practically collapsed. Chrysalis tongue hung limply from her mouth, flopping pathetically on the floor. Applejack heartily applauded, severely contrasting the horrified faces surrounding her. How could she have not noticed her own children crying? Slowly retracting her tongue, she turned her head to the children, wincing as they backed away from her. She raised  a hoof pleadingly. "I'm…Sorry?"
 
            Her precious children sniffled. Then they choked back sobs.
 
            "No, please don't cry—"
 
            The room was filled with screaming wails.
 
            "Funny how things come back ta bite ya, don't they?" Applejack casually droned, walking back to and picking up a particularly miserable looking changeling in a hug.
 
            Chrysalis silently cursed herself, fed up with her own idiocy.

> The catch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “This is so dumb,” Chrysalis muttered as she sat kneeling at the hooves of Celestia.

        “Sorry Chrysalis, you made the deal, now you’re going to go through all the formalities to get a throne.” Celestia scowled. “And you’re going to go through it all again during the coronation ceremony, so get a backbone.”

        “This is hardly how I wanted it to go.”

        “You want the crown and the position, then don’t whine. And stop looking so cute! It’s distracting!”

        "No."

        Celestia heaved a long sigh. Today had not been a good day in the slightest. Following the occurrence of most everypony in the library bursting into tears, many had been exhausted after all the shared grief and simply opted to find a room or two in the castle grounds to rest and relax. Celestia had offered up her own room because of the fact that she would not be needing it until her own bedtime, but Cheerilee insisted otherwise, saying: “I don’t exactly want to offend you if you actually decide you’re a goddess later on, your majesty.” 

From her big sister’s pleading look, Luna had shoved the whole crowd (gently) into the sun princess’ private chambers, locking all the windows and bolting the door shut. What could she say? The luxury of royal furniture (and perhaps the several servants that were ordered to do anything that was asked of them) would do them a world of good.

        Twilight Sparkle, while still understanding that she should be taking a good long nap, wanted to stay up long enough to make sure her plan for dealing with the queen went along properly. She wanted to make sure the crown she had conveniently found in a cupboard was ready for its new task.. However, her need for sleep outweighed her desire to stay awake, and the youngest princess was now sleeping soundly with her head on top of Fluttershy’s back, the latter quietly suffering for the sake of her snoozing friend. In the meantime, Chrysalis was going through the coronation rehearsal, and generally making a big stink about it.

        Celestia picked up Twilight’s scrawled out notes. They contained a very detailed list of instructions regarding her… subject’s punishment. The list was as followed:

        

1: Conduct initial “Coronation” to trick subject into false sense of security (further instructions on Form A)

        2: Offer up crude crown (will be provided)

        3: Deliver sentence (Celestia’s decision, suggest house arrest and very close observation by staff and any party who doesn’t wish to follow step 4)

        4: Find proper compensation for parties betrayed/used by Chrysalis.

        5: Take a vacation for stress relief while Chrysalis is trained to be a proper ruler.



Celestia was not sure why having a vacation was included in the list, but she did like the idea. She’d have to thank Twilight for that idea. After squinting over form A for a while, she continued with the coronation rehearsal. 

“Right then,” She said to herself. “‘Approach eldest princess’--which is me, ‘bow in reverence’--still need to get that reverence thing right--and I think that’s what we covered.” She smiled gently. “Next would be the oaths, which are listed here, but I know them by heart. So…” She smiled as she recited fondly. “Chrysalis, ‘do you hereby swear to obey and withhold the constitution of Equestria, submitting to its laws an authority?’”

        “If I had my way, I’d tear your little constitution into a thousand pieces,” She snarked back. “There is so much wrong with that bloody thing--”

        “That’s something that can be discussed with the council. Just answer the question.”

        “...Yes, I swear,” She mumbled.

        “You’re going to need a little bit more enthusiasm than that.”

        “Yes, I swear it,” she mumbled loudly, as though it were such a chore.

        “A little better, but let’s move on: ‘Do you swear to lend an open ear to your advisors to learn more, to pay mind to your fellow princesses with your decisions, and to listen to the concerns of your subjects that they may better provide for each other and for you?’”

        “Provide? What on earth do they provide for me? I provide for them!”

        Celestia held up several feathers, counting each of them with her other wing. “What do they provide? Let’s see… Food, money, medicine, marepower, knowledge, land, resources of metal, lumbar and cloth, and ultimately their trust. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but what do you provide?” Chrysalis mouth formed an “O” shape. Celestia smirked at her own little victory. “Well? What’s your answer?”

        “Uh… Well--yeah, sure.”

        “I’m going to need something a little more official than that.”

        “...Really?”

        “Yeah really,” Celestia replied. “Anyway, final question: ‘In times of war, do you swear to hold the front line and lead your brothers and sisters in arms, and should it be necessary, submit your life to your country and its people?’”

        “Well, that’s freaking flowery.”

        “Just answer the question, Chrysalis.”

        Chrysalis thought a little. “...Yeah, no.”

        “Oh, freakin--” Celestia huffed. “Why not?!”

        “It’s not a ruler’s job, you dimwit!”

        “I don’t like that tone!” Celestia snapped.

        “Yeah, and I don’t like your stupid oaths!”

        “Well I don’t like your face!!”

        “Sister! Both of you!” Luna scolded, hitting her hoof against the ground. “We are full grown adults, not children! Act like it at least while you’re around each other!”

        Celestia glared. Chrysalis glared back. Stupid changeling, she thought. She had no idea just how much of a free ride she was getting. Every student she had went through vigorous training to be a wonderful princess like her; caring, kind and a servant to her peoples. Sure there was only one case in her lifetime where a pony had actually became a princess, but that was hardly the point! Everypony who became princess earned it, and she didn’t. It was that fact that made her rather… impatient. 

It was such impatience that made her simply crumple form A into a little ball, set it on fire and crush the carbon remains into a crude diamond, tossing it out the nearest window to be forgotten. She knew what was on the list anyway. Rubbing a hoof along her temples, Celestia sighed. “...Let’s just continue, shall we? We’ll just say that Chrysalis actually made her oaths, so the next part is much simpler.” Celestia fluffed her wings, right first then left, and clicked her tongue. “Right then. It’s time for our newest royal resident to have her tiara.”

Chrysalis’ eyes snapped open. “Wait, you’re kidding, right??”

“Oh I wish I was,” Celestia replied with an eye-roll. “By now, I wish you would have been locked up in a cell to serve a proper long-term sentence… But I resigned myself to Twilight’s plans, so now we’re going with that.”

The queen’s jaw fell slack. “Really? No theatrics?”

“Only because you frustrate me.”

Celestia watched as an infuriating grin grew on her face. “Oh, finally… After all this time...”

“Oh would you come off it? It’s only been five minutes,” Celestia huffed.

“So where is it?? You’ve got my crown, right?” She hopped up and down in a way that was almost adorable, but only almost. “Oh I really hope it’s a good one! It’s bigger than my other one, right? You put pearls on it? I love pearls, especially blue ones on black metal! The best!”

“Yeah, go ahead and rub it in my face, won’t you? Excuse me for a moment...” Celestia stepped off her perch on the throne, walking over to where Twilight was snuggled up underneath one of her friend’s wings. Fortunately for the pegasus, Twilight had to be woken up and removed from her sleeping spot in order to do what she planned. “Twilight?” She asked, tapping the littlest alicorn on the shoulder. “Do you have the crown ready?”

“Munh?” Twilight grumbled, wiping her eyes. “Sorry, what?”

“I said, ‘Do you have the crown ready?’”

“Mh, oh yeah… Here,” Twilight fizzle-popped(1) a crown into the throneroom. It was, by all accounts, unexciting. It looked like a cross between Celestia’s crown, and Chrysalis’ crown, all in all making for a rather boring average, seeing that the only distinguishing features were the sharp points with blue pearls on the ends. Another thing of note was the hole below the largest pearl in the middle. “By the way, princess...?” Twilight sleepily added.

“Yes, Twilight?”

“You kinda did a stare like Fluttershy… We should talk about that later… Then I should do some research...”

Celestia took a moment to ponder what Twilight said, determining just how important that would be later. “...Huh. Right, thanks Twilight.” 

Soon after, Twilight fell asleep again, and Celestia walked back, crown in magic aura. Chrysalis could barely sit still, her dearest dream so close to fulfilment. Little shivers went up and down her spine in excitement. She was so close. So close, she could taste it!

Celestia never made it back to the throne before the changeling queen shot out to snatch the crown from Celestia’s magic. Celestia had to duck away from the jaws that snapped at the piece of cheap jewelry “Mine! I win! I win I win!!”  Chrysalis laughed maniacally, admiring her reflection in the large blue pearl in the middle of the crown. “It’s done! I have won, and now I’m the princess of Equestria!”

“No, you’re not yet a princess,” Celestia corrected. “You still need to be trained--”

“HA! Says who?!” She shouted back. “I’ve got a crown worthy of your princesses, wings, a horn and strength beyond all measure once I secure my throne! I am a princess--no, a queen-- and now there is no power on this world that’ll stop me!” She raised the crown over her head, discarding her old one. “With this, I rule my kingdom and yours! I win, you lose!”

“I really don’t think just that makes you a princess,” Celestia retorted as Chrysalis slipped the crown on.

“It’s too late, Celestia! And the best part?? There is no catch!”

It was at this that Celestia started laughing. Chrysalis’ grin immediately faded.

“What… What?! What’s so funny this time?”

Celestia took a moment to catch her breath before she made her answer. “Oh my little pony… When it comes to earning a throne, there is always a catch.”

Click.

“...Click?” Chrysalis stared up at her crown.

        Celestia couldn’t help but giggle harder. “That’s right, ‘Click!’ What’s it mean, Chryssy?”

        “What’s it--What did you call me?!” She snapped at the princess.

        Celestia still giggled harder. “What’s--hee hee-- What does the ‘click’ mean, Chryssy?”

        “My name is not Chryssy!” Chrysalis charged up her magic, preparing to zap that dumb look right off the sun princess’ face. Celestia simply stood there, watching sparks fly from her horn as her magic glowed brighter… then backfired in a sudden--yet predictable--feedback surge. The queen let out an undignified squawk, and Celestia doubled over in laughter. “Oww… What’d you do to me…?”

        “Oh you--you just fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book!” Celestia was laughing so hard that she fell on the floor, rolling. “It’s just so incredible, nopony ever checks to see if the crown’s hexed!”

“You mean-- You hexed the crown?! How was I supposed to know that?!”

“You weren’t! Oh man, so many decades of controlling my emotions, it all finally paid off!”(2)

“You mean you were faking it?!” Chrysalis hollered, slacked jawed.

“Why yes, yes I was! Weren’t you there when I hugged you?”

Chrysalis was astounded, and also pretty livid. “You… I… What did you do…?!”

“That really should have been a warning signal, Chryssy! ‘Say, why’s she so mean to me now, when she was hugging me before?’ I mean, I may think you’re stupid, and you don’t deserve to be a princess, but who am I to hate a pony’s face? It’s not your fault you have your face, after all!”

“What. Did. You. Do. To. Me?!?” Chrysalis screamed loud enough to wake up Twilight.

“Good heavens, would you lower your voice?!”

“Answer me.”

“Okay, calm down! I didn’t do anything. It was Twilight’s work that enchanted the crown. It’s not exactly your typical spell limiter. From what I heard, it’s got a stronger feedback depending on the amount of power you put into a spell.” Celestia shrugged. “I don’t know, I only understand enough magic to get by.” Chrysalis was at a loss for words, mouth opening and closing like some sort of fish. The words struggled to leave her mouth as she desperately tried to find something to say that could possibly justify her complete and utter outrage she had for this grave offense. Finally, something came out of her mouth in barely a whisper.

“So that’s it…? This was your ploy all along, to turn my dream into a living nightmare?”

“Oh dear… Well, I can’t say you didn’t deserve this...”

“Do you realize how hard I worked for this?!” Celestia rolled her eyes at Chrysalis. “Don’t roll your eyes at me, Celestia! I have worked so very hard on this! I schemed, plotted and planned for years and years on this, to finally get some sort of stability on love, our most prized resource!”

Celestia raised a hoof, stopping the changeling queen for a moment. “Sorry, just-- Do we really have to go through this? I have to deliver your sentence, so...”

“My senten-- My sentence?! Oh, so now you saw it fit to punish me!”

“Technically, that was also Twilight’s idea--”

“And you just went along with it?!”

“What? I think it’s a good idea!” Celestia defended herself.

“Says the pony who’s not being punished for nothing at all,” She snarked back. 

Celestia stared. “Wow, you really are an idiot. You really think you did nothing wrong?”

“I’m no idiot, I did nothing wrong, and can do no wrong!”

“Oh for pete’s sake!” Celestia now knew intimately how little her patience was, seeing the crack developing in the floor below her. “Chrysalis, you Invaded my country, you threatened my little ponies, you stole my niece away, and,” Celestia pointed an accusatory hoof. “you lied to your own freaking children for the sake of your selfish, despicable desires! Don’t you at least have any sort of remorse for that last one?” Celestia took a moment to catch her breath.

Chrysalis’ ears drooped. One hoof with several holes in it dragged along the carpet in a back and forth motion before it finally stopped to rest on its sibling, its owner sitting down slowly. Technically, Celestia was right, but she didn’t want to show it. “...A little… Maybe. I regret letting them know!”

“Great, it’s a start!” Celestia clapped her hooves together. “The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem! So with that, I think I can leave you in my dearest sister’s capable, loving hooves!” She giggled. “Twilight was actually quite detailed on how you were going to be reformed, and that’s impressive, considering that she only had five minutes to make a plan like that! Anyway, Luna’s going to be training you to be a princess. Isn’t that right, sister?”

Luna nodded, barely containing her dread. “I’d rather not, but somepony has to do it.”

“Alright then. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking these two--” A glowing golden aura surrounded Fluttershy and Twilight. “--putting them to bed before I talk with the 'peasantry'.” Celestia turned to leave, but the queen’s hoof shot up in the air. Celestia heaved a sigh. “What is it this time?”

“Just what will you be doing this whole time that ensures that you can’t be available to train me as a princess? I’m not sure when the training part of the deal was struck, and I’d like that to be done on my terms.”

Celestia simply smiled. “Vacation.”

“What?! You… You little--” If Celestia looked carefully, one could swear that a little bit of chitin on her forehead cracked from the pressure of a bulging blood vessel underneath. Clearly she touched more than one nerve as was determined by the way the queen’s face turned a rich purple, hot enough that it could probably boil an egg. “I’LL KILL YOU!!”

However, Celestia had no time to look carefully, because it was at that moment when the queen of changelings stated her intent of murder that she was suddenly confronted by a very quickly forward-flying bug-pony which in her forward momentum, smashed her face into Celestia’s own soft white chest, knocking her and the princess into a near stain-glass window. The two tumbled out of the window in an uncontrolled mix of panicked flailing and vicious brawling; snarling, biting and crying all the way down till they hit hard on the floor of the courtyard.


        ---

        Three ponies stared out the stained glass window that once displayed Cadance and Shining Armor’s victory over the very same queen of the changeling kingdom that they were trying to reform. The night princess was confused, the pegasus was nervous, and the bookhorse was simply too sleepy to form a coherent opinion on what had awoken her up from her little nap.

        Fluttershy was able to make the first observation as she saw the two out in the courtyard. “Well, Chrysalis’ aim was quite… accurate.”

        “Muh,” Twilight agreed.

        “I would agree Fluttershy,” Luna added with her own sentiment. “But what’s more worrying is how despite the limiter, Chrysalis’ strength still shows.”

        “Mmm,” Twilight mumbled in acknowledgement.

        “Care to explain how that works, Twilight?”

        “Muhnah?” Twilight rubbed her eyes. “Oh… Right, horn magic’s usually the most dangerous when used by an experienced pony, so...”

        “So you only blocked her ‘unicorn’ magic, right?”

        “Mmyeah,” Twilight confirmed.

        Down below, Chrysalis screamed. “This is not over, Celestia! I will have the high ground!”

        “O-oh my--!” Fluttershy squeaked. Two ponies cringed at Chrysalis’ flailing around. The third one’s eyes widened at least a little more. “Is she hitting her?!”

        “My suspicions tell me that she’s trying to rip her throat out,” Luna suggested.

        “O-oh--!”

        “I’m not too worried,” she assured. “My sister has proven once that she can wipe the floor with her, I’m sure she could do it again.”

        “That’s not very comforting...”

        “I suppose not, but I’d honestly prefer Chrysalis being beaten up over Celestia.”

        “And that’s not very nice!” Fluttershy protested.

        “No it isn’t,” Luna agreed. “but neither is Chrysalis. It’s part of the reason why we have several misplaced younglings who really don’t want anything to do with their mother.”

        “Younglings?” Twilight questioned.

        “Changeling children, nymphs, younglings, same thing really.” Luna shrugged. “If they’re going to be living around here, I figure we need some sort of distinguishing name that’s non-interchangeable.” (3)

        Twilight slowly blinked. “Sorry, too sleepy to understand half of that. Try again later?”

        “Of course! Don’t worry your sleepy head.” Luna patted Twilight’s mane with a hoof.

        “Um, hate to interrupt--” Fluttershy interrupted, hating to do so. “--But shouldn’t we be more concerned with what’s going on down in the garden??”

        Down below, Chrysalis had taken to, after failing to rip Celestia’s neck out, attempting to deal blunt trauma to the solar princess, yelling at the top of her voice. “You may have trapped me in this feeble form, but I swear that this is far from over!! I am but one changeling, and there is a great family that I left behind, wondering where their queen, sister and daughter is!”

        “Well that’s new,” Luna observed.

        “Meh, the yelling’s hardly...” Twilight fought back a yawn.

        “No, she just mentioned herself as a sister and a daughter.”

        Fluttershy managed the weakest of smiles. “I’d like to meet them someday.”

        “Sure, only if they’re not as nasty as she is.”

        “Mmm,” Twilight agreed.

        Chrysalis continued to scream. “I swear by your petty books of law, your fausticorn pony and any other higher entity you possibly believe in that they’ll come! And when they come, nopony will be safe! Not you, not your little citizens, not your nieces or nephews, and especially not your precious little granddaughter!!”

        Luna was completely smitten with curiosity by now. “Granddaughter? I had no idea Celestia had a granddaughter. Probably adopted I suppose.”

        Fluttershy whimpered, head drooping down quite obviously.

        Twilight managed to notice in her sleepy state. “...Is there something you want to tell us Fluttershy?”

        “No!” Fluttershy answered far too quickly. Her poor correction of “I mean-- I’m perfectly fine and have nothing to hide” did nothing to help with that.

        Two ponies looked upon her skeptically. Fluttershy cracked under the pressure. 

Twilight gently poked her. “...You okay?”

         Only a squeak was her response.

        “...Think she’s turned into a squeaky toy,” Twilight mused to herself. “Really gonna have to talk about this soon. It can’t be healthy for her.”

        “I agree,” Luna spoke up. “But right now, a more pressing issue is at hoof. See? Celestia is coming back with… Goodness sister, did you do that to her?”

        Celestia shook her head, carrying up her charge up along with her, exhausted, beaten up and clearly in a poor state of emotion. “No, I’m afraid she did all that to herself.” She threw a glance at Chrysalis. “How did you manage to give yourself a black eye?”

“You’ll--(hic)--you’ll p-pay for this, Cel--(hic)--Celestia!” was her reply.

        Celestia faked shock. “Oh! Still after all this time, you’re still plotting the destruction of Equestria? You’re paying the price first, Chrysalis, not me.”

        Chrysalis fell apart, to which Celestia grinned ear-to-ear, turning to her sister. “Oh man, that felt real good to break her! That was a long time coming, let me tell you!”

        Luna stared, flabbergasted. “Celestia, what’d you do!? I’ve never seen her in such a sobbing wreck in all the time I knew her!”

        “I simply stood there and took all her punches. She did the rest. Beside the point, you’ve only ‘known’ her for what, an hour? Not enough time at all to peg a pony.”

        “It’s just… She looks so miserable,” Fluttershy meekly returned. “Will she ever recover?”

        “Oh, I’m sure she will Fluttershy, she’s a little bit more hearty than that, I think.”

        “Sister, what did you do?” Luna asked sternly. “And don’t say that you just stood there, I know there was more to it than that.”

        Celestia shrugged. “Well when she started growling about how unfair her treatment was, I told her she didn’t have a choice...”

        “Go on,” Luna urged.

        “Then I said she would have to go through all the training as a princess...”

        “Get on with it, sister.”

        “And after I told her that I was going to pull a peace treaty for her to sign out of my butt after all the training was done and she proved herself sufficient--”

        Luna sputtered. “E-Excuse me?!”

        “--I told her that I was quite sure that you would find creative and interesting ways to make the whole thing as painfully tedious as possible, forbidding her to visit her family!”

        “Sister, that is absolutely absurd!”

        “What, you wouldn’t do that?”

        “Well for one, I am hardly the sort for devious punishments and the like!” Luna scoffed.

        “But I thought you were the bad cop?”

        Luna stamped a hoof in reply. “Who was the ‘bad cop’ was established early on, the very moment you burst into flames, screaming about how you were going to kill Chrysalis.”

        “Thrash,” Celestia corrected.

        “Excuse me; thrash. At any rate, it’s clear that you are the bad cop.”

        “Oh… Well, I wanted to be the good cop.”

        “Sister, you’re missing my point! My point is that I’m not going to be mean, I’m going to correct her.”

        Celestia sighed. “I guess it can’t be helped then… Very well, I suppose she’ll bring about her suffering by her own volition.”

        “I find your sadism disturbing,” Luna opinionated.

        “That’s why I’m usually not sadistic,” Celestia replied pointedly.

        Luna stared back, still clearly upset. Fluttershy continued sitting in her own corner, cowering. Twilight’s head dragged itself as she tried to stay awake.

        “Well then...” Celestia turned away. “If that’s all you need to talk to me about, I’m going to make a formal announcement in front of the public. In the meantime...” Celestia leaned down, gently touching a sleepy Twilight’s nose. “You need to take a nap.”

        “Can’t argue with that...” Twilight mumbled.

        “Do take some time to maybe find a suitable bedroom for our newest princess, hm? The poor thing’s probably not going to want to see anypony for a while. At any rate, I’m out of here!”

        Luna continued staring as Celestia lifted the changeling queen off her back and on the floor, patting her on the head, and then making her exit, presumably out to the public balcony to address her people. The changeling queen sniffled, but otherwise did nothing as she approached her, putting a gentle hoof on her back. Fluttershy’s gaze had yet to leave the door that the solar princess had left through.

        “...Fluttershy?” Luna asked. “Are you alright?”

        “Well I just… I have so many questions,” she replied.

        Luna nodded. “Yes, there really are. Chrysalis’ family, just how many changelings could be out there, even who could possibly be Celestia’s granddaughter of all things.”

        “Eeep!” Fluttershy fell over, frozen up.

        Luna Rolled her eyes.


---

        To say the current residents of Celestia’s private chambers were not the usual ones, you would hardly be wrong. But that doesn’t exactly explain the situation to a sufficient point. Celestia’s private chambers were surprisingly expansive, equipped with one bedroom with a king-sized bed, several cushions, a walk-in closet and a doorway out to a private balcony, one bathroom with enough room for six ponies which links to Luna’s chambers, one office with a whole wall of bookshelves, an intricately designed oak desk, and a cushy office chair which one could sit in all day and still not get a sore bottom, a living room shared with her sister, with three couches, one very long couch, each with their own fold-up-bed for guests, two recliners, one rocking chair, several beanbags and a small cooler for snacks, and a kitchen with enough room for six ponies, equipped with a table and chairs, a stovetop, an oven, several cupboards, and a large refrigerator.

        When one took into account that Luna’s chambers were just as well furnished and large as her sister’s, it was clear that the princesses did not go light on their house budget. But that was neither here nor there. In Princess Celestia’s bedroom, six bearers of harmony, twenty schoolfillies, thirty changeling nymphs and one schoolteacher had taken up residence, each in various states of exhaustion and/or misery. Most slept uneasily, taking up spots on the other cushions or in the corners, or even next to each other. But five ponies watched on with sadness as Lepidos Arthropa was--with much futility--being comforted by her big brother Formici and Miss Cheerilie.

        Applejack pulled the nymph who clung to her closer, resting her head on his and sighing. “Can’t plumb believe that I had ta do that,” she mumbled.

        “Do what?” Rainbow asked. “Call chrysalis an idiot? If you ask me, she totally deserved it.”

        “That ain’t what I meant, Dash, I just...” She gazed at Lepidos. “...didn’t want to say it in front of them...”

        “Just shows how much of an idiot she was.”

        “We get it dear,” Rarity cut in between the two. “The thing that Applejack is upset about is that she had to say anything at all. You ever had to give bad news to your ‘sister’, for instance?”

        Rainbow Dash cocked her head. “I don’t have any sisters.”

        “I’m talking about Scootaloo, darling.”

        “Oh.” Rainbow thought for a moment. “Uh... no?”

        Rarity scowled. “You just ignored the issue and hoped she wouldn’t bring it up, didn’t you?”

        Rainbow’s sheepish grin was obvious. “...Maybe?”

        “Are you for real?”

        “Um, I don’t think we should worry about that right now, Rarity,” Fluttershy quietly interrupted. “An argument isn’t going to cheer up these poor nymphs at all...”

        Rarity sighed. “Well, yes, I can agree with that… Tact lessons for Rainbow Dash can wait till later.”

        “What’s ‘tact’?” Rainbow Asked.

        “And that is entirely the reason she needs to learn it.”

        “Do not!”

        “Girls,” Fluttershy scolded, a little louder. “Let’s save this for later… Please…?”

        “Right, right, sorry; we’ve got bigger issues than that,” Rarity sat up, proudly placing a hoof to her chest. “And Rarity is a mare of action, not complaining.”

        “‘A mare of action’, she says,” Rainbow mumbled. “And I’m an oversized, flying weasel.”

        “Rainbow...” Fluttershy warned.

        “Sorry. It slipped out.”

        Fluttershy pretended to ignore her, instead opting to follow Rarity to the great bed in the middle. Hopping up, she crawled over to the center, gently catching Lepidos’ attention.

        “Lepidos? Are you alright, dear?”

        Lepidos snapped a glare at her. “What do you think?”

        Fluttershy recoiled slightly. “Oh! Right, sorry; that was a bad question.” She tried again. “Are you feeling any better?”

        “N-no, not any better,” she sniffled.

        “It’z a zshame...” Formici mourned. “To think that we were betrayed by our very own mother, who had pretended to zupport uz for zo long...”

        “I wish she was dead...”

        Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my… Lepidos, you don’t really mean that, do you?!”
        
        “Every word!”

        “But that’s horrible!”

        “I absolutely mean it!” She hiccupped. “She’s a horrible mommy, and I wish she was dead!”
        Fluttershy choked back her own misery. “Okay… Okay, I-I understand...”

        “Y-yeah, I might wish that...” She whimpered through Cheeriliee’s now tear-stained coat. “But… But only for a while, right…?”

        Fluttershy sniffled. “Oh, Lepidos...”

        “And… And maybe when she came back, she’d be a proper mommy… and she’d love me again!”

        “But she does, I’m sure of it!”

        Lepidos wiped her nose with a free hoof. “Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

        Fluttershy returned the question with her own. “Is it working…?”

        Lepidos stared at Fluttershy. Then at Rarity. Then at her brother, who flashed a small smile, then at Cheeriliee and back at Fluttershy. With a quivering lip, she nodded.

        “Oh, you poor, poor thing...” Fluttershy cried, opening up her forelegs for an eagerly accepted hug. Tears fell from her cheeks, and soon her soft crying turned to bawling.

        Rainbow Dash stared, horrified. “Oh great, she’s crying again… Did I say something wrong? This isn’t about that tact thing, is it? P-Pinkie?!”

        Pinkie was too busy crying to answer, so Applejack did so in her place. “No, No that’s alright. Everything’s fine, everypony’s just gettin’ all teary-eyed, that’s all.”

        “Oh, right… Yeah, it’s getting all sappy around here… heh...” She nervously laughed.

        “Ya know, there’s no shame in cryin too.”

        It was only at that moment that Rainbow Dash noticed what she had rogue water droplets falling from her eyes. Furiously, she scrubbed at her eyes “Oh… Oh, Darn it, stupid eyes...”

        Applejack chuckled, waving a hoof at her. “Go on then, I’m sure they’ll be fine with one more!”

        “M-me? What ab-bout you…?”

        She shrugged. “I cry on the inside. ‘Cept for special occasions.”

        Rainbow Dash smirked, making her way to the bed herself. “I bet.” She sniffled. “There’s no shame in crying, Applejack!”

        “Nope, not a bit! Go on then!” She urged her. “Don’t let me hold you up.”

        Rainbow needed no more urging, so she joined the mess of ponies softly crying into each other’s fur. Applejack looked on, eventually standing up and depositing the nymph she was holding and Twilight on the bed. When she hopped up herself, she gently nudged the others aside to talk to Lepidos. “Howdy Little’un.”

        “...Yeah?”

        “Yer probably gonna want some place ta stay until this all blows over, huh?”

        Lepidos nodded.

        “So how’s about ah let ya stay at my place? You’ll get ta meet some sheep an’ cows. Maybe they’ll be honest unlike us little ponies. Would ya like that?”

        She smiled, but that smile faltered slightly. “You seem so sad… Are you okay, miss Applejack?”

        “Yep, ah’m right as rain! Not a problem in the world, ‘cept for sayin’ what I had to.”

        Lepidos wasn’t buying it. “Did you learn that your mommy was evil too…?”

        Applejack drew back. How did she find that out so easily? Granted, AJ’s mother wasn’t evil per se, but…

        Eighteen years of experience controlling her emotions seemingly disappeared in a second’s time. “No… No I just...”

        several changelings and ponies looked at her expectantly.

Tears welled up in her eyes. “I...I just mis my mama!”

        Several sets of hooves wrapped around the two with a collective “Awwwww...”

        “Hee hee,” Rainbow Giggled. “So much for ‘cryin’ on the inside’.”

        “Sh-shut it, Rainbow...”

        One pony princess nuzzled a little closer to the pony/changeling pile in her sleep.


---


        A catch… of course there’s always a catch… Celestia despaired silently. She had come to the foolish assumption that even though everything so far went by swimmingly, everything else later on would go by just as easily. It was this assumption that she carried along down the hallway… at least until fifty feet from the public balcony.

        She knew clearly that something was wrong when she did not hear the hustle and bustle of news reporters, or the white noize of a large crowd… but rather an angelic choir? Just what is going on here? Did they actually take my “claim to godhood” seriously? She sighed, nodding to the guards on either side to open the doors. What she saw dropped her jaw.

        Celestia estimated at least a thousand ponies, all gathered up in neat little rows. Each and every one was as tense as a tight spring, ready to snap. As she stepped through, every single one of them dropped their heads, falling flat on their faces. The angelic choir had switched to a song of grander scale… something about how long she lived? Whatever, she was not even listening to it. As a matter of fact, it was getting fairly irritating. “Okay, would you please stop with the choir of angels? If I wanted to hear ponies singing, I’d go to the canterlot performance hall!”

        The music suddenly stopped. The choir ponies took off their fake halos in shame.

        “Sorry, It’s just… Really your singing’s great! But singing my praises? Or mentioning my age? I can’t take that.” She turned to the crowd, blowing hot steam through her nose. “Rise, my little ponies.”

        Nopony dared budge an inch.

        “Oh come on! All of you! You lot! Up up!” When they still didn’t listen, shaking in fear. her irritation rose. “Seriously, do you know how many dirty, smelly hooves have touched that ground? And you’re all jamming your noses in it!” Quickly, the whole crowd shot back up. some of them spitting dirt. “Thank you. Now, what is this all about?”

        Celestia was quite beyond exasperation at this point, and was simply intending to get some answers now. When whoever it was that lead this whole thing had came into the front, that didn’t help the situation at all. Especially when he finally spoke.

        “Well?”

        “Hail, Princess Celestia del Sol of the immortal empire of the solar diarchy...”

        Oh great, here goes the title

        “...Lady of dawn; Our merciful ruler eternal, generous, kind and all powerful...”

        Okay, powerful is definitely a stretch. Why did I ever let that stand?

        “...Queen over all her light shines upon and warms; The never ending, the light in the darkness...”

        Okay, did he add something? I’m going have a little talk with him after all this.

        “...May you continue to reign for aeons, never grow old, and may your reign never be contested in your long rule...”

        Good heavens, just take a breath!

        “I come before you as but a humble servant, with but one request...”

        Celestia waited with what little patience she had left for the pony to make sure he didn’t say anything more. “Very well then… What is it?”

        “May I take your picture?” The journalist asked, holding up his camera.

        Celestia lost all her patience. “I--What?! You’d go through all that just to ask for a picture?! LISTEN HERE, YOU--”

Then she said some very un-princessy words indeed.
> I am goddess...?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Evening. Such a time of day was a point of time that was usually spent at home with one’s friends and family/loved ones, frequently sitting outside on their porches and watching the sun set on the horizon.

Typically, the sun setting was always the burden of the Sun Princess. It was her requirement to set the sun, making sure that it would not linger for too long in the sky, scorching their world on one side, and freezing it on the other. She had done this for over three thousand years,  being born four thousand, one hundred and twenty six years, seven months, eighteen days and nine hours ago; so one could forgive her for letting the sun linger in the sky for a minute longer.

In all honesty, the citizens of Equestria had not even bat an eye regarding the sun staying up for even another five minutes. What was going in the castle however was another, completely different story.

Celestia slammed the door to the balcony hard enough to make the sound echo through just about the entire hallway. She pressed up against it, heaving panicked breaths. If anything had shown her she needed to get out of the castle and into someplace where she could lay low, the way they reacted to her less than stellar behavior should have proved it. There were so many questions. Questions about whether they may speak her name in vain. What they should do if they incurred her wrath. How to avoid incurring her wrath. Where they should build temples for her. What they should do in the temples. What kind of goddess she was. The questions just wouldn’t stop. And she was sure they were still trying to ask questions about what sort of sacrifices they would have to make, and where, and when. “Oh Celestia,” she sighed to herself. “you’ve really goofed up now...”

“Um, your highness…? Are you alright?”

Celestia realized three things. One: She was not alone. Two: This pony that asked her how she was feeling was one of the castle maids. Three: That maid in question was very familiar. “I… Oh! Hello again, you’re just the pony I need.”

The red maid that she had seen two days ago jumped in surprise, dropping her feather duster. “I-- Me??”

“Yes, you! And this is really important--” She stepped over, grabbing said maid by the shoulders. “--I need your help.”

“B-b-but I’m just a maid,” The red pony protested. “Why would you want my help??”

“Little maid, we’ve already been over this; without you or any other maid in this entire palace, we’d die.” After lightly shaking her, she let go. “Now will you help me?”

The maid seemed to ponder this for some time.

“Please, I need an answer!”

“Y-yes, your highness!” The maid replied, saluting rather poorly but all the same enthusiastically.

“Great! Now, I have two questions for you… First, what’s your name? I never caught it, and I apologize for that.”

“P-Poppy, your highness.”

“Good name; fits your coat color. Poppy, how quickly can you-- and follow me on this-- send me--and everypony in my private chambers--packing on a vacation to ponyville--along with anything that could cause trouble being left alone in the storehouses??”

Poppy’s eyes widened. “A vacation? But why now?”

“Oh I’m sure I’ve stocked up on enough vacation days to last me for a thousand years, so I’d love to spend at least a month or two off if it isn’t too much to ask. How quickly can you do it?”

“Well… how many are in your chambers right now?”

“Fifty seven, thirty out of country” Celestia didn’t tell them where out of country those thirty were, for fear of instilling paranoia too early on.

“...And that coupled with booking fifty seven tickets, Plus shipping of essential cargo on the next train and handling of delicate instruments, arranging for living space of those thirty… two days, and that’s at a quick pace.”

“Okay… what would it take to do it in twenty?”

“...Hours?”

“Minutes.”

“M-m-minutes?! But that’s madness!” She protested again. “Booking tickets alone would take at least an hour!”

Celestia raised her right eyebrow. Clearly, what she was saying wasn’t working. She had to try a different approach. The palace staff’s peace of mind from the paparazzi depended on it.

“Just how many maids would it take?”

“Um… All of them?”

Celestia dropped her right eyebrow, raising the other. “‘All of them’?”

“All of them, your majesty.”

“All of the maids…?”

“Yes, all of the maids, your highness!”

“What, in the castle, or…?”

“All of the maids ever!!” Poppy shouted out. “Um, in an exaggeration of sorts, your majesty.”

“Very well then, Poppy. We must gather all the maids, and organize them into a single, collective force to complete this upcoming task! I have complete and utmost confidence in you. Now I must go and tell Twilight and company the news.” After what was supposed to be an assuring hug, Celestia exited the room, and took off speeding down the hallways to her destination.

Poppy was alone, but not for long. Where one maid was, there was always another. As she--with slight hesitation--picked her duster back up, another maid rounded the corner.

“Oh…? Poppy, aren’t you supposed to be on your way to those library shelves that always seem dusty?” The other maid stopped in her tracks, noticing the panicked look on Poppy’s face. “Oh dear… Princess orders?”

“All the maids…?? Poppy whimpered.  Why must the goddesses put me up with an impossible task like this??”


---


	

While Celestia may have been trotting ahead with a purpose, Anypony who was getting some much needed sleep was thinking otherwise. Seven ponies and two changelings were snuggled up underneath princess Celestia’s luxurious bedding. Along with how warm and fluffy ponies were, coupled with the natural spread of warmth to points of contact and back into a body, the changelings and ponies were not remotely interested getting out from their makeshift nest.

It was for this reason that Celestia stood at an impasse. For Celestia, it was important to her that she leave as soon as possible, lest she somehow perpetuate the popular belief that she was a goddess. However, the eight beings (and one lump--probably Pinkie who had scooted herself to the foot of the bed) sleeping soundly made her really not want to get them all up and out. Her mind was at war. Thankfully, she did have someone-- or rather somethings-- to bounce thoughts around with, all without saying anything out loud. Sun, I’m having just a little bit of trouble figuring out what to do here…

“Please don’t put us out, mistress!” the sun wailed in reply.

Really? After all this time not actually saying a word to you, the moment I say something, that’s the first thing that occurs to you to say? I’m hurt!

“We’re sorry mistress! We-- we heard you were a goddess, and--”

“Oh would you just shut up!” the moon snarked from near the horizon. “If you took ten seconds to actually listen, you’d realize that she wasn’t mad at you! So quit blubbering, you’re like ten times bigger than me!”

“We--You’re right Moon, as always… What’s the issue, mistress?”

Oh, I’m just trying to figure out how to handle this problem. I need to get us out as soon as possible, but I don’t want to be the one to disturb Rarity’s beauty sleep.

“How did you hear about that?” the moon asked.

Oh, Twilight wrote about it in one of her old friendship reports, Celestia mused. Smart really, not bothering a pony in the early morning over something as trivial as a romance novel returned with an unofficial, Ponyville library unapproved bookmark in it.

“‘Tartarus hath no fury like a big-sister scorned.’,” The moon quoted. “Especially a big-sister scorned for sleeping one minute late. Learned that from you, dear goddess.”

Oh, not you too! Celestia felt offended.

“No worries, I say it ironically.” It replied in defence. “But we’re getting off topic. There’s only one way to get it done.”

And that is…?

“Don’t worry about it.”

Celestia’s teeth clenched. That’s not helpful.

“Hey, I’m just a space rock, floating about with my spaciness, carrying space creatures who live in their space cities, eating their space food and doing their space work--”

“We get it, you’re from space!!” The sun interrupted. “But… is that truly the best way to go?”

        Celestia sighed. “I suppose there’s just no other option. I could call on my guard, but they’re trained to be forceful.” Celestia reached a hoof out, placing it past the threshold to her room. “Well, here goes,” she muttered.

        “MY DEAR SWEET GODDESS, WAIT!!” Celestia shot her head around, startled by the sudden lack of silence in the midst of her potential bold action. She was surprised to see several maids sliding-- no, drifting-- around a corner in a mad dash towards her position. And leading them was Poppy. 

“Poppy, I’m surprised at your punctuality--”

“PLEASE DON’T!! YOU MUSTN’T SOIL YOUR HOOVES ON OUR BEHALF BY TOUCHING A MORTAL BODY!!”

Celestia watched, indignant at the fact that somehow poppy caught wind of false exaltation of her, then slacked jawed as the army of maids in one single force shot around her, gently gathering each and every one of the temporary residents up in their own pre-warmed blankets, all of them barely noticing being moved an inch before they were carried along by the stronger earth pony maids. “So… that was pretty impressive, though I didn’t like the whole ‘soil your hooves’ part... Where are the rest?”

“Oh thank you so much dear goddess,” Poppy blushed somehow through her red coat. “It’s absolutely wonderful to hear such admiration from you. I would beg of you to forgive the rest of them, they’re… coping through the use of paper bags.” She looked inside the room as the last of them carried out the remaining changelings. “So… Foreigners?”

Celestia sniffed the air, noticing the pungent smell of burnt rubber possibly from high heels against the marble floor. “Is there a problem, my little pony?”

        “Well, yes-- I mean no! It’s perfectly fine… How could just little old me ever manage to comprehend the thoughts and feelings of Princess Celestia Del sol of the immortal empire of the solar diarchy--”

        “Okay, stop right there,” Celestia urged, jamming a hoof in the maid’s mouth. “I’ve heard that spiel, and if I have to hear it again I’m going to be very saddle sore.”

        Poppy cocked her head. “W-whatever do you mean, my sweet godde--”

        “I mean thou shalt not use my full title ever again!!” The princess shouted, practically knocking over the poor maid in the process. Groaning, she ground her wings into her temples. “I can’t believe I ever allowed that title to get so big…” Her horn glowed, attempting to straighten out her hair, but it seemed that the only thing that could fix it right now was a comb, despite her powerful magic. “Anyway yes, as far as you’re concerned, the nymphs are foreigners, and they’ll be coming with me for the duration of my stay in ponyville. I would hope that’s acceptable for the near future?”

        “I--Well yes, yes it is.”

        “And I’m very glad to hear that,” Celestia nodded, smiling in exaggerated gratitude. “Now, if you would kindly head on your way to… oh I don’t know inform the rest of the staff of this event?” Saying what she wanted to say, Celestia turned tail to follow the other maids down the hall… until she noticed that Poppy was not following her. “Um, Poppy are you alright?”

        Poppy shifted nervously. “Just one question… What is it like being with children of… of her?” In the moment after asking the question, she flinched visibly, as if she did something very wrong.

        Celestia took easy notice of that. “Poppy, nopony who’s ever asked me a question has been smitten by the wrath of the sun as a result.” It’s got a soft spot for the castle staff anyway, she noted to herself.

        “S-so does that mean you won’t--?”

        Celestia rolled her eyes, opening up a wing and wrapping it a little more roughly than intended around her back, eliciting a surprised squeak. “Poppy, sweetie-- Look at me, right here and right now.” She squeezed her close and snug, beaming at the scared little maid in her protective grip. “Does this face look like the face of a raging, wrathful, heartless goddess ready to kill anypony who so much as trips in her presence?”

        In hindsight, she could have phrased her question differently-- that is, she probably shouldn’t have given Poppy a rhetorical question for her to mull over in her head and draw her own conclusions for, because the question in mind and the gentle wing hug did the exact opposite than the intended effect. This predictably made Poppy fall catastrophically into a panic, fighting to get out from underneath the wing holding onto her. It was only Celestia’s understanding of the minds of ponies that told her that apparently she felt she was trapped, and the answer to that rhetorical question was “yes”. Only a tight hug and a silent plea for her to not freak out kept poppy from running off screaming that she should have never left the library of which its shelves constantly and conveniently needed dusting. Thankfully, Poppy was plenty receptive to calming hugs and reassurances, having dropped her panic as quickly as it arrived. “By the way,” she softly spoke to her maid. “The correct answer you were to draw out of that little rhetorical question was supposed to be a resounding ‘no’.”

        Poppy giggled, partly because of nerves, and partly from embarrassment. “I’ll… keep that in mind, my goddess.”

        Celestia chose to ignore that, instead satisfying Poppy’s curiosity. “To answer your question Poppy, being with the little nymphs was an enlightening experience. For one, those little children were strikingly naive, thinking that their mother would allow them to waltz into Equestria and do the cowardly deed of ‘earning love’. But she allowed them to go anyway under that guise, and then used them as a cheap way to worm her way onto the throne. I was… unhappy, to say the least.”

        Poppy shivered. “Oh no… that’s just horrid...”

        “What’s even scarier is how quickly they distanced themselves from her when they found out. I don’t know who among them carried around the idea that Chrysalis was unworthy of their love, but it was a scant few minutes before they all disowned her.”

        “Oh my word, that’s even worse!”

        “Oh yes, that’s why they’re all going to come along with us to ponyville. They’re really such sweet little things when you finally get to know them, filled with an absolutely wonderful sense of curiosity around us ponies… and maybe even love! I think you’d love to meet them.”

        “Yeah, I would...”

        “But having their mother be so manipulative, it just made me so mad… That’s why we’re punishing her with a little bit of irony… See, she wanted to rule equestria with an iron hoof, conquer it and bend it to her own will… so in that end we’re going to get her what she wants,” a glare fell on her face. “She’ll have all the power, prestige and glory... along with the long hours, stacks upon stacks of paperwork, infuriating meetings where nothing gets done, and every little hearing in court with every vile, selfish petition put forward by the greedy upper class. She is going to suffer through every little second of painful rulership, not to mention the understandable spite towards her and her kind.”

        “That’s only just what she deserves.” Poppy agreed. “...You’ve been holding this rulership thing in for a while, haven’t you?”

        “Yeah… It’s really been quite lonely. I’m glad to be able to have this vacation.” The two shared in a nice, tight hug. “It’s funny though… I didn’t think that you’ld actually agree with putting the changeling queen on the throne.”

        Poppy gasped in realization.

        Celestia relaxed her grip, looking into Poppy’s yellow eyes. “Have you just been agreeing with me because you’re afraid of being contrary.”

        Poppy gulped. “I--I just-- um--”

        “Don’t worry my little pony, I’ve got a little bit of a thicker skin than that--”

        “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t tell my mom! Please don’t banish me and then tell my mom either!! I’m only a mortal and I make mistakes and I’m sorr-yyyyyyyy!!!” Suddenly Celestia found she had her forelegs full of thrashing pony. She had to let go for Poppy’s sake so that she wouldn’t injure herself, but when she did, she charged off as far and fast as she could.

        “No wait!” Celestia called out to her. “I won’t let you leave until you’ve formed an independent opinion from myself!” It was futile. Poppy was out of sight.

        Celestia stared, slackjawed. With shaking steps, she joined in with the rest of the ponies, speaking the greatest understatement of the year. “That… can’t be good.”


---


        Of all the trains in Equestria, the Friendship Express traveled the most, with the highest number of tickets per day for any train in the entire country. This might have been because it was a charmingly ugly looking train; designed by a second grade school body after their teacher won a lottery hosted by the Equestria transportation company. Everypony seemingly forgot that it was not hosted for charitable reasons, but rather strictly for profit; yet that was not a factor even when known that kept it from being such a popular train to ride.

        This trip was different, however, as the Friendship Express was sparsely packed--nay, almost empty, because somepony had not only bought off every bound from Canterlot to Ponyville, but also convinced every pony who had already bought a ticket to get a refund and travel by different means. (1)

        A short walk down a back alley to avoid the public made the trip there a little longer than normal, but once she knew that every dangerous and/or classified item of questionable usage was in crates and safely stored away in the cargo hold of the train, she along with twenty six ponies and thirty changelings boarded the train. Then, Celestia found a seat in the nearest passenger car, laid down on her belly and contemplated just how everything went wrong.

        Twilight Sparkle and friends woke up, realizing quickly that they were now facing a change of scenery. Twilight stretched her limbs, her blanket still draped over her back. It made
stretching her wings a little bit more difficult, but she really didn’t want to get out from underneath her warm bedding. She liked her bed in the Golden Oaks Library, but palace bedding always held a special place in her heart; so soft and warm as it was against her body. If she could, she’d find at least ten of those blankets, drop them smack dab in the middle of her home, burrow underneath them and hibernate through the winter--

        Suddenly it occurred to her that not everything was well, and there was something very wrong that they were trying to get away from. Many ponies looked around the train with worried glances, coming to the same realization since they had made peace with their nymph friends.

        But the most worrying thing that could be was the sorry state of Celestia. Fluttershy was already by her side, one wing over her back. But it didn’t seem to help her. Her eyes were wide as if she’d seen a puppy get run over a cart; and she just couldn’t stop shaking--

        “Oh my gosh, is she in shock?!” Now wide awake, Twilight rushed over to her precious princess, pulling her own blanket off and wrapping it tightly around Celestia’s shoulders. Then she went through important steps, lying her down on her back, keeping her legs elevated and checking to make sure she was breathing properly. Now all she needed was some sort of way to contact a hospital and she’d be certain that Celestia was going to make it through this medical emergency alive and well once more.

        “Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy stopped her before she could dart out of the car and get the medical team to the scene. “I appreciate the effort… but she’s not in shock.”

        “Huh?” Twilight stared up at Fluttershy in slight disbelief. “But--but she was shivering! I couldn’t just leave her like that!”

        “And that was very nice of you,” Fluttershy assured her. “But I already checked up on her, and physically speaking she’s perfectly fine. Some of the biggest signs of shock are shortness of  breath, confusion, clammy skin and a rapid but weak heartbeat.” She smiled. “Every university in Cloudsdale requires some guard training; I took a course on field medicine.”

        “...Oh.” Twilight dumbly replied. “Wh… What about the shivering?”

        “Well, I was going to use my blanket, but you beat me to it. Shivering is a sign, but in this case she was just nervous.”

        Celestia nodded weakly. “Thank you by the way, Twilight...” Twilight smiled in reply. But just to make sure Fluttershy was right, she lit her horn, casting a warming spell on the blanket Celestia wrapped herself up in. “Oh...” she moaned in approval, pulling it tighter around her.

        “Feeling any better?” Fluttershy asked gently.

        “Oh no not at all,” Celestia replied bluntly. “It’s been maybe forty hours since we all started this whole fiasco, and I’m just remembering how my loss of temper crushed everything I have worked for the past thousand years… maybe longer.”

        There was a thick silence. “...Wow,” Rainbow Dash said.

        “That sounds just dreadful,” Rarity Seconded.

        “Mm-hm,” Celestia nodded. “I had started this whole blasted thing because of the way my little ponies were scraping their heads on the floor whenever they saw me, and every little patch of dirt I walked upon was sealed up in glass jars labeled as ‘soil blessed by the sun goddess’.”

        “Well that’s just a tad bit silly,” Applejack scoffed.

        “What’s worse is apparently the very plants revered that dirt, and really did grow stronger.”

        Applejack’s eyes twinkled. “Really?”

        “Now now AJ,” Pinkie gently scolded. “I’m sure there’s nothing special about that dirt except what the plants thought about it.”

        Twilight stared at Pinkie. “I don’t understand.”

        “It’s an earth pony thing.”

        “...Right then,” Twilight remarked, allowing the sun princess to continue. And continue she did.

        “Back in the earlier times after I had been crowned queen of Equestria, the ponies under my rulership believed that the battle armor that I had forged rather shoddily in preparation for our remarkably anticlimactic battle against Discord was condensed sunlight, and not only was it burning to the touch, but apparently it hid my glory from their eyes. As such they were only comfortable when I wore it.”

        “Well that’s just dumb,” Rainbow snarked.

        “No no-- It gets better,” Celestia held up a hoof, urging everypony else to listen. “When one pony actually happened to see me without the horrendously uncomfortable plates of metal, the whole town called for her to be executed!” A collective gasp sounded from the ponies. Celestia rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad, really. Being the ultimate authority allowed me to go in direct conflict with the supposed religious doctrine surrounding my existence, and that little filly was spared her life.”

        Rarity was indignant. “Well I hope you gave those ponies a stern talking to!”

        “Oh believe me, there was much more than a stern talking to.”

        “...D-did you… beat them?” Fluttershy squeaked.

        “Of course not,” Celestia assured her.

        “Oh, thank goodness.”

        “I gave each of them a four hundred bit fine, two strikes with a belt and put them all to bed without dessert.” Fluttershy curled into a ball, whimpering. “What? Did you think I used the metal end across the face? It’s gotta hurt, but I’m not gonna leave bruises on my little ponies!”

        “I think Fluttershy is saying that you shouldn’t whip ponies with a belt.”

        “But they were adults, they could handle it!” Celestia protested. However, Pinkie put a hoof to Celestia’s mouth, stopping her from saying any more.

        “Shh, this isn’t your fight. When you’ve got kids of your own, you’ll be able to punish them for their wrongdoings however you want… within reason.”

        Celestia wisely gave up, choosing instead to continue her rant. “...So Twilight… Did you know that this name of mine is not actually my real name?”

        Twilight tilted her head. “I had no idea. What is your real name?”

        Celestia shrugged. “That’s just the thing. It’s been too long for me to remember. That very name-- ‘Celestia’-- was just part of an increasingly long string of titles tacked on behind the title of princess. That name’s also part of a dead language which while at the time I knew it because everypony spoke it, I had come to forget it a while after we’d all moved out of the dream valley when the windigos invaded.”

        “Wow, so you weren’t always a princess when you lived among ponies?” Pinkie interrupted.

        “Of course not; did you really think I was just born as a princess of Equestria, Unicornia, Pegasopolis or Earth?”

        “Nope, I just thought you were at some time just a pony who lived in the wild and was raised by wolves or something. Were you always an alicorn? Or did you start as an earth pony? or a pegasus? or a unicorn?” Pinkie caught herself with another train of thought. “Wait wait-- were you a mixed breed? Like a pegacorn, or something?”

        “...What’s a ‘pegacorn?’” Celestia asked. “Is that a pony with unicorn and pegasus traits, but no earth pony strength?”

        “Wow, how’d you know?”

        “I’ve been around for a while; I can make a couple of educated guesses,” Celestia replied cooly. Then she realized that she went off topic. “You know Pinkie, you’re kind of distracting.”

        Pinkie toothily smiled. “Welllll, your train of thought was just leading down a path of perpetual misery and depression. Can’t have that when you’re around the bearer of laughter, right?”

        “Pinkie, I just lost four thousand years of progress with easing ponies’ fears of me in the course of an afternoon! Am I just supposed to dance a little jig because I didn’t destroy anything in the process?” Celestia let out a soft, dejected sigh, curling the edge of the blanket she was so generously given with her hooves. “And now, even in all of this, I’m asking you Twilight, to run in and fix my mess for me… again. Oh Twilight… What am I going to do? I’m just… I don’t know, is world weary the right word? No, I’m just sick. Sick of the world, sick of not managing to fix my problems, sick… of me.”

        Twilight tenderly ran a hoof along Celestia’s back. “Celestia, I think Pinkie’s right. You shouldn’t be worried about the world on your shoulders right now. Besides, you did solve one problem! I’m quite confident that Princess Chrysalis will not be conducting an invasion against the country that she’s been thrust into rulership over while you go on your extended vacation.”

        “That’s… That’s a very good thing, yes. I just hope that that doesn’t become all messed up as well.”

        “Tell you what: next big crisis that strikes Ponyville by force, you can personally bring down your solar fire when words of reason don’t work.” Twilight winked, earning a small smile from her ex-teacher. “That being said, is there anything I could do for you right now?”

        Twilight waited, watching Celestia as she looked out the window. If there was any deep thought going on in her mind, Twilight couldn’t tell what it could possibly be. But then again, Celestia had proved quite effectively how well she could hide her emotions. It was with bated breath that she waited for a response. A nodd. A shake of the head. Hay, even a grunt might have been enough for her given the awkward silence that all the ponies were waiting on--

        “Actually Twilight, I believe that there is something I missed while I was training you to become a princess.”

        That was hardly the response she was expecting. “I… I-I thought you were quite thorough...”

        Celestia shook her head. “No no, there was something that I always did for my previous students; a something that I used to decide what sort of curriculum that student was going to study to become a princess. It was something of a test, really--”

        Twilight interrupted her, shooting up a foreleg. “Princess Celestia, I haven’t done much studying in practical magic applications since my first entrance exam! If you’re going to throw a test at me like this, can I at least get some books on the study material?”

        Celestia let out a hearty laugh, reaching out a hoof to pull the purple pony into an affectionate headlock. “Oh Twilight, why would there be test on the curriculum when I would have had no idea what sort of curriculum one would be studying?”

        “...So, it’s not a written test, but an oral one?”

        “Um… Sort of. More like an ‘observe and report’ test.”

        “I still don’t understand.”

        “You know what?” Celestia got up out of her chair from underneath Fluttershy’s wing. “Come along, I think it’d be easier to just show you what sort of test this is.” She grabbed Twilight’s wing with her own, and carried the two of them out of the passenger car and further back the train. “I’ve got the very thing we’d need for the test right on this train too, conveniently waiting for somepony to look at it.”

        The remaining five friends waited in another awkward silence. Applejack cleared her throat in a vain attempt to break the silence. “So… A lot ta take in, huh? Celestia don’t wanna be a princess right now, and now we’ve got kids who disowned their ma. Now we’ve gotta find a home for them, and I’m not sure just how easy that’ll be dependin’ on how much it matters to the ponies that they’re changelings...”

        Fluttershy scratched her ear nervously. “I guess we’ll just have to hope that it doesn’t matter.” (2)

        “And then,” Pinkie spoke up, “We can worry about bigger problems, like who the hay is Princess Celestia’s granddaughter!”

        “Eeep!” Fluttershy collapsed on the floor.

        “Okay, this is getting really old.”


---

        Celestia turned a key on a particular padlock on a fairly large crate. Allowing the lock to fall, she simply grabbed hold of one of the boards, wrenching it open. Twilight watched in fascination as Celestia dove into the crate, haphazardly tossing packaging paper all over the place before picking up a larger thing covered in similar packaging paper and thick ropes. “Twilight, this test I’m giving you is not about any particular field of study,” Celestia began. “It’s more a test of character, or personality.” She began to untie the ropes around the very large thing, revealing that it was… a mirror. 

It was actually pretty elaborate. It had a blue frame with intricate wire decorations outside of it. Eleven gems were set in the frame, five on each side and one on the top. Steps led up to the mirror, and on top of that mirror was another mirror which only seemed useful for displaying the image of a pony rearing back.

“This mirror,” Celestia continued, “Is not just any sort of mirror. Starswirl called this the Erised fo Rorrim… He thought it was really clever, but Personally, I don’t think it’s very creative at all. I’m sure a smart pony like you already knows what that name means.” She beamed. “Go  ahead and take a look; Tell me what you see.”

        Twilight wondered just what sort of trick was being pulled on her that she was asked to look in a mirror and tell her what she saw. She knew exactly what she was going to see, She was just going to see herself, and that would be all she saw. No silly mirror with a silly name was going to do anything special. Hay, for all she knew, it was named for some smarmy crush Starswirl had on another pony. Twilight felt proud of finding the trick, turning to the mirror with a smug grin.
        
        To her credit, Twilight was right about seeing herself. “Uhh… Pri-- Um-- Celestia?”

        “Yes, Twilight?”

        “Why does my reflection have really long, floaty hair?”

        Celestia’s grin seemingly widened. “Oh I don’t know, why do you have long, floaty hair?”

        “I-I don’t know, does this mirror show ponies with long, floaty hair or something? Pr-Prin-- Just-- Look at this, would you?”

        “I’m looking.” Celestia held a hoof to try to stifle her laughter.

        “I’m pretty sure this just-- Wait, you don’t look pink in the mirror, you’ve got your typical aurora mane and-- Wait, did my friends follow me here??” 
        
        “Twilight?”

Twilight turned around, but her friends were in fact not there. “Wait, I don’t understand-- What’s going on?? Now my parents are there! I really don’t understand--

“Twilight?”

“Okay I’m really scared now, and for some reason we’re all hugging despite the fact that I’m not actually hugging anypony; Princess, what is this?!?”

        “Twilight, this is the mirror of desire! I’m sure you know what that means!”

        Just like that, all the ponies behind her in the mirror image up and disappeared. “Um… Oh.” There was the long flowey mane again, and nothing else. “So… Mirror of Desire?”

        “Mmm-hm.”

        “What’s the point of using it?”

        “It’s supposed to show you what you desire, but it’s kind of unreliable because it’s on an at-the-moment basis.”

        “So what’s the point?”

        “It works a little better if you’re asked something like ‘what do you want for Hearthswarming?’, or something like that. Gives a pony a particular desire to focus on.”

        “Okay then, thanks for scaring me.” Celestia chuckled, hugging her fellow princess. “So what question would you hypothetically ask a future princess?”

        “How do you see yourself ruling over Equestria?”

        Twilight looked back at the mirror. There was a definite vision of herself looking back, showing her exactly what she wanted in the distant future.

        “...Can I get a long flowey mane?”

        Celestia laughed. “Yeah sure, why not? I’ll see what we can do when we get to ponyville.”

        “Thanks, Princess!” Twilight wrapped Celestia in a hug. “I don’t even know why I want it… But thanks anyway!”

        “It’s probably a desire to emulate me, but we’ll work on that later. Believe me, it’s no trouble at all! In the meantime, we should probably be heading back to our seats.”

        “What do you see when you look at the mirror, Princess?”

        “Twilight, that’s a very personal question.”

        “Says the pony who got me to show her my heart’s desires.”

        “Touche.” Celestia thought for a moment. “There are some things that I couldn’t hope to accomplish within three earth pony lifetimes, but there is one thing that could be solved very quickly.”

        “And that’s…?”

        “I look in the mirror, and I see…“ Celestia looked at her reflection’s hooves. “Socks. Nice, long, fluffy stockings. Made from the highest quality wool, and very toasty.”

        “Socks? I’d have thought it was--”

        “Cake? Oh, I really do love cake, but socks are a little less temporary. Sometimes, I feel like I can’t get enough socks...” She smiled a sad smile, but it had a hint of a humorous glint in it. “There’s not a Birthday party or Hearthswarming that goes by where I don’t get cake for a present instead of socks.” Celestia pat Twilight on the shoulder, trotting off away from the storage cart and back to the other passengers. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to talk with the other ponies on this train a little longer before we arrive in Ponyville.”

        Twilight was gobsmacked. First Spike didn’t want books, now Celestia didn’t want cake? She sat on her haunches, wondering just what she had been doing wrong all those years.
> Settling In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The trip from Ponyville to Canterlot always took about an hour. Considering that the last third of the trip consisted of a steep incline up and around the mountain six times (Twilight counted), that wasn’t a surprise. Naturally, that’d also mean that the trip from canterlot to Ponyville would take exactly the same time. Twilight had quite the habit of filling her mind with empty information to keep herself distracted from actual more pressing matters. Those pressing matters being what in the bleeding hay she was going to do for the nymphs and Celestia once they were actually there in Ponyville. And she was going to have to figure that out fast, because she could see Ponyville only a slight distance away as far as trains went.

        The Friendship Express rolled to a stop, and the doors to the passenger cars opened up. However, only the engineer and those few in the first car actually exited the train. There was no one at the time actually at the train station that was there to announce Celestia’s presence, so the conductor did it himself. “Make way for the supreme goddess of Equestria, Princess Celestia Del--”

        A white hoof clamped over his mouth before he could complete his announcement. “Shoosh,” Celestia hissed. “I’ve been trying to be inconspicuous, please don’t screw this up for me.” Diligently, the conductor nodded, bowing, and left to a little booth in the train station that he would call home for the night. Then Celestia lit her horn, and the storage cars opened, levitating every crate full of dangerous and classified items of questionable usage outside and behind her. If it was anything to marvel at, Twilight paid no mind. She was busy answering the curious questions of a very curious little nymph.

        “Miss Applejack said we were going to stay at a… a ‘barn’ in ‘Sweet Apple Acres’?”

        Twilight nodded. “Yup. Since you said it’d be alright, Applejack says she’ll let you live at her place, just a little ways away from Ponyville proper. You should be safe enough there.”

        “Why?”

        “...Well, it’s not your fault, but Chrysalis gave many of the changelings a bad reputation in the eyes of the ponies, so we’d like to make sure they don’t do something stupid, like attack you.”

        “Why?”

        “Ponies are paranoid little creatures, Lepidos; anything that they might see as a threat they blast with the power of friendship or violence. Or they just run away, so I’m pretty sure there’s not going to be much problem unless the royal guard shows up.”

        “Why?”

        “Not Every pony was informed of our situation Lepidos. The uninformed won’t make informed decisions. Royal guards would be among that case, and I’m sure so would my big brother.”

        “Why?”

        “Well, he lives in the Crystal Empire, up north!”

        “Why?”

        Twilight was getting… A little bit annoyed. “Because Princess Cadance, Shining Armor’s wife, lives there with him as the empire’s leader?”

        “Why?”

        “Because the Crystal empire’s previous ruler was evil, was eradicated, and they needed a new and kinder ruler?”

        “...Why?”

        Twilight rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, maybe they’re just dependant on-- Lepidos, where are you going with this?”

        “But I want to know!”

        Twilight rubbed her forehead with her wing. “Lepidos, you’re... going to have to be more specific than that. You want to know what, Lepidos?”

        “I don’t know… Everything?”

        “About what?”

        “Ponies!” she enthusiastically replied.

        “Okay, great! I’ve got a big library full of books about ponies from pony anatomy, to pony psychology, to pony etiquette, to pony magic, pony history, just about anything pony you want! And the best part is I live there, so it’s open whenever I’m awake and at home!”

        “...Why?”

        Twilight giggled awkwardly. Working with children was not her strong point. “Okay Lepidos, that’s enough I think… Somepony help me...”

        “Um, zizter Lepidoz, if you would be zo kind? The pegacorn needz her zpazce.”

        “Why?” Lepidos asked again.

        “Lepidoz, pleaze don’t be like thiz,” Formici plead. “Zshe cannot anzwer every queztion you have.” He smiled apologetically at Twilight in a way that was surprisingly mature for somepony of his age. “Pleaze, do forgive lepidoz, zshe iz one of our youngezt memberz, and zometimez getz into a little ztate.”

        “You don’t know me!” Lepidos objected.

        “You’re zix monthz old, the favorite daughter of Queen Chryzaliz, you prefer the affection of fellow children and you entered into our organization becauze you didn’t want to be zcared of other poniez. Honeztly zizter, why would you ztate that I don’t know you when we are completely able to read eachother’z mindz?”

        Lepidos dragged a hoof. Twilight for her part was very confused.

        “Six months old?”

        “Iz there a problem?”

        “Wouldn’t she still be… you know, a baby?”

        “Most of a changeling’s knowledge is gained while they’re young and still in egg,” Lepidos bluntly explained.

        “...Right. Thanks for that I guess,” Twilight replied. “That was very… enlightening.” She was going to have to process that odd revelation later on, but right now she had other things to do. Twilight stepped away from the changeling group to meet up with her friends again. “Okay girls… It’s really late, and we’ve got a bunch of changeling children, and a bunch of schoolkids that need to find a spot to stay for the night. Now, would it be too much to ask that we get everypony home or in their lodgings?”

        “Ah don’t know,” Applejack shrugged. “Miss Cherilee?”

        Cheerilee sighed. “Well on one hand it’s really late, and I’m sure that many of the ponies here will say that they’d like to sleep.”

        “But Miss Cheerilee, I’m not tired!” Was the collective objection of all the earth pony’s students.

        Cheerilee rolled her eyes at the baggy eyed schoolponies. “Sorry, more like pretending they’re not sleepy. All the same, I’m sure they’d be grateful to go to bed as soon as possible. We need to take into mind that their parents are certainly missing them, and they’d appreciate it if we got them home, but how are we going to get them all home?”

        Celestia grinned. “Keep them in the library, or maybe at the farm!”

        “I--What? But princess, I’m kind of worried about--”

        “Miss Cheerilee, was your little class excursion supposed to be overnight?”

        “Well, yes--”

        “Then I’m pretty sure they’ll only be worried if they don’t show up tomorrow by… what time does your class get out?”

        “Two thirty, your highness.”

        “Yeah, we’ll say three. So really, freaking out over a problem like that, when there is in fact no problem is really silly.”

        Cheerilee sighed. “Well your highness, please excuse me for being at least a little concerned for my students and their parents.”

        Celestia giggled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

        Soon enough they all arrived at the library proper, crates of stuff floating behind Celestia in her signature golden glow. Twilight’s laboratory was open and available for storage of items, and the sun princess took her up on the offer for use of that laboratory. Within fifteen minutes, everything was stored away, save for the mirror of desire which was placed in the middle of the library because it would have taken far too much work at that time of night to pack it back up. In the meantime, Twilight did everything she could for the house guests, setting up her spare bed, pulling out extra blankets for the couches, and even dragging out a few sleeping bags. A few were going to have to share, but it wasn’t like they were complaining the last time they were all together.

        Celestia closed the door to the library with finality. “Wow… What a fine mess these last two days have been, Spike. You really should have been there to see it all.”

        Spike stopped in the middle of his progress with sweeping up the dirt tracked in at the front door. “Uhh, sorry; do I know you?” Celestia flashed her flank at him. “Oh… Princess Celestia!” When he realized who it was, he dropped into a bow. “It’s good to see you! Why’re you so… tiny?”

        “Oh it’s a rather long story; short version is that I was getting sick of the affairs of government, so now I’ve moved here to take a break from all of that.” She smiled brightly at Spike, pulling him out of a bow. “You would understand the wish to get away from the stress of life, right?”

        “I suppose so...”

        Celestia beamed. “You know, it’s been so long since we’ve actually got to talk to each other-- bond even; You know, as mother and son!”

        Spike protested. “Uh, sorry but I don’t think--”

        “Oh come on, Twilight wasn’t the only one who took care of you! Who do you think cared for you while she was busy doing her homework or otherwise occupied?”

        Spike shrugged. “I don’t know, the maids?”

        “Spike, would you please just hug me??” Celestia begged, pulling a lip pout.

        “I-- fine...” Spike gave in, walking up to the princess and reaching for a hug. Celestia eagerly wrapped her forelegs and wings around the little drake, rocking him back and forth. Spike seemingly disappeared within a feathery cocoon, such that only Celestia could see the smile on his face. “Okay; yeah, this is nice. What was I worried about anyway?”

        “Oh I don’t know, perhaps you were worried over my unknown change in demeanor?”

        “Maybe...? I’ve just got an image to keep; I mean the only dragon in Equestria being a momma’s boy? What would any other dragon even think?”

        Celestia laughed. “You’re a baby dragon Spike; I think you could get away with it. So now that you’ve acknowledged that you remember me, did you miss me?”

        “You bet mom,” Spike replied in a barely audible mutter. “Twilight’s nice, but it’s just not the same, ya know?”

        “Aww, she can’t be that awful, can she?”

        “Hey, I didn’t say that!” Spike denied, breaking away from the hug. “All I’m gonna say is that she doesn’t hug me enough and she could use a hint.”

        “Oh, I didn’t know you were critiquing the way ponies showed their affections.”

        “Don’t tell her I said that,” Spike hissed.

        “Tell who what, Spike?” Twilight had finished setting up the library’s main floor for fifty five ponies, and had just walked in when she overheard a conversation.

        “N-nothing!” Spike blurted out. Twilight nodded skeptically, not buying it. “Really, it’s not that important!”

        “Spike was just telling me how much he missed me,” Celestia explained. She squeezed Spike close. “And he’s really happy that I came over here to visit. He says you don’t hug him enough.”

        Twilight’s lip curled in a pout. “I don’t…?”

        “Aww, Princess I told you not to tell her!” Spike complained in the Celestia’s embrace.

        “Don’t you worry Spike, mom’s just doing what she thinks is right.” Celestia watched his face turn red, giggling at his embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I’m just an awful mother, aren’t I?”

        Spike grumbled, burying his head in the crook of her neck. “Great, if you’re around Ponyville at large, just who’s out in Canterlot keeping the place under control?”

        Celestia stopped laughing, suddenly feeling quite nervous. “Oh, I… didn’t tell anypony else about that, did I...? Yeah, funny story...”


---

        “...You did what,” was Spike’s response. It was a particular kind of “what.” It wasn’t the sort of what that was questioning. It wasn’t particularly the “what” that demanded an answer, or expressed agonized or outraged disbelief. It was a what from someone so shocked or confused that in light of trying to process what they had witnessed or heard that they had no time or effort available to make their “what” expressed in the form of a question. This is what could be expressed as a “flat what”; not a question, but not quite a statement either.

        Typically, Celestia was quite good at putting on a fake smile to ease the troubles of others; like those of the noble class or dignitaries from neighboring countries. But the trouble with somepony close to her is that they learn to see through that grin by watching the eyes. They may not have met for a long talk in a while, but she played a big role in raising Spike, so he was family. Family that had been with her long enough to see through that fake smile.

        That fake smile had slowly become more forced, as if grinning wider would help. “Well technically, it was Luna’s idea...”

        “You. Did. What?” And there was the extended delay between words, followed by a demanding “what”. The “flat what” was easier to deal with; simply wait for the subject to fully process the information and then pull them under wing and calmly hoof-wave a statement that was plausible enough, but still a load of horseapples. That would have worked if it was anypony not close to her-- or Twilight-- but again, this was Spike, somepony close to her and not Twilight. And now she had to deal with the “demanding what”, which demanded that she actually say something honest. Yet instead of doing just that, Celestia confirmed the definition of insanity.

        “It was Luna’s idea--”

        “I know it was Luna’s idea!” Spike yelled. “Why the hay did you go along with it?! It’s a bad idea; a really bad idea!! Am I the only pony who thinks that is a bad idea?!” Celestia bit down the urge to correct him that he was a dragon, but thought better of it. “Well?!”

        “Yes, most everypony else thought it was a bad idea,” Twilight replied.

        “See?? See?! A bad idea! So why’d you go along with it?!”

        Celestia swallowed a lump in her throat. “Oh, I was just a bit bound by it by something Twilight said.”

        “...Really? And what did she say?”

        “Basically, if I didn’t go along with the deal, it’d simply prove to the… ‘the next generation’ that ponies were compulsive liars, and they don’t ever keep promises.”

        Spike stared at Twilight. “Are you for real? They’re kids. They’re gullible. Take them aside, tell them just about anything and they’ll believe you!”

        “Obviously, you’ve never met Lepidos,” Twilight interjected.

        “Lepidos?”

        “The skinny short one with long ears and wide eyes. I’m pretty sure she just likes being contrary to anypony that’s not Applejack.”

        Spike seemed rather unconvinced. “... Yeah, I bet. Look Twilight, do you want me to send some sort of letter to tell Princess Luna about this problem? I can do that right now.”

        “Spike… It was Luna’s idea in the first place.”

        “Yeah, that’s exactly the problem. Should I send a letter?”

        “No!”

        “Well why not?! Somepony’s gotta beat it into her head that putting the monster that wanted to take over Equestria in power over Equestria is a bad idea!”

        “Because I already smacked her in the face for it and I feel really bad about it!!”

        Spike blinked, stunned. “Wow, really? And you got away with it?”

        “I… I also pulled her hair, and snapped at Celestia.”

        “...How are you not on the moon right now?”

        “Spike!!”

        “Sorry… But really, just what are you planning on doing to fix this problem?”

        “We were intending to make sure she was trained up to become a proper ruler under careful watch.”

        “That is way more than she deserves.”

        Celestia nodded, dismissing Spike’s concerns. “Yes I know, but it’s been such a long day, I’m tired and I’d really like to have a nap. Big day tomorrow full of wondering what a pony does out of their hometown and all.” She got up, stretching her legs and wearily walking to the stairs up to the living area of the library. “That, and other continuously worrying things on my mind...”

        “Yeah… okay… Still think it’s a stupid idea.”

        “Believe me, I agree.”


---


        Celestia took herself upstairs, finding a guest bed set up just for her. She’d complain about it being too small, but that’d be silly considering that she was actually just the right size for it. Thus, she hopped up on the edge of the bed and unceremoniously flopped down, only taking a brief amount of time to properly tuck the blanket in around her shoulders. Actually now that she was in the bed, she realized just how much larger than her it was. There was practically enough for two ponies!

        Twilight apparently took notice at her astonishment. “Yes, the bed is plenty big enough for more than one pony.”

        “Whuh?” Celestia turned her head.

        “You looked a little bit confused at how big it was.”

        “Oh, I see.” With that little conversation ended, Celestia flopped her head down on the pillow. What a week. What. A bucking. week. Princess Celestia only wanted to be able to say hello to her subjects without them scraping the floor every time they saw her. Sure it was reasonable enough to not want another Pinkie Pie in the world, but it might have been really nice to make them genuinely smile when they saw her, not have that stupid forced grin that barely held back their terror. So now Twilight and her friends were helping out; or at least supposed to. Nothing would have gone wrong had that bug not decided to invade a third time, using her own children as leverage! Now she was stuck with a bad deal, she blew her top proclaiming her supposed godhood so that she could scare Chrysalis into submission, and to top it all off, she made her original goal that much harder to reach, considering that she basically shouted “I am a goddess” to everypony within a hundred miles.

        Yup, some goddess you are, Celestia…

        “Well, t-to be fair mistress, you do carry the aura of one...”

        Celestia sighed softly, remembering who was always listening in on her thoughts that manifested in sentence. Hello again Sun… you feeling okay?

        “We’ve been better, mistress.”

        Oh, I’m sure; and I’ve been better too. I’ve really screwed up this time; first Luna, then Twilight at the wedding rehearsal, and now--

        “Sorry,” The moon cut off, “But is this going to be another self deprecation thing?”

        Um-- excuse me?

        “Oh you know, where you sit on your bed for an hour longer while one of the maids looks worried as you cry about missing Luna and down hard cider laced with cyanide just to give it enough kick for you to forget after a while, you know?”

        I swore off alcohol a long time ago moon, Celestia defended.

        “Yeah I know; I was there when you threw all forty barrels of it off the mountainside. Then you cried over that too, and ever since you’ve been eating cakes instead.”

        Moon, what has gotten into you?!

        “Hey I just want to know so that I can tell Princess Luna about it, and she can comfort you in your dreams; ‘cuz there are some days where you look like you really need it.”

        Celestia considered. ...Your point?

        “Yeah yeah, the point. Sun, first question; how many despicable things have you done?”

        “Oh, w-well there were all the times we spoke out of turn, all the times we pushed you around, and that one time we said we hated you--”

        “Don’t list them off, sun! We’d be here all --” The moon choked on one of its words. “U-uh… I’m sorry, that was rude. Next question then, have you ever forgiven yourself for such things?”

        “How could we?!” The sun sobbed. “Every little h-horrible thing we’ve done is a blemish to our b-beautiful bright light, and we are but a fraction of the glory we once were! It would be better for our mistress to snuff us out and find another star to fill our place! We’re sorry! So so sorry...”

        Aww, sun it’s okay, I’m not going to--

        “No no, this is perfect!” The moon cut her off again. “This brings me to my next point!”

        Celestia was incensed. Moon, are you seriously--

        “Please, mistress? I got these words from your sister, and it’d do great things for the both of you to listen!” Celestia’s ears perked up, though no sound was heard. Her eyes would have widened if they weren’t closed. “Ahh, that got your attention, didn’t it? Look, right now it’s about an hour into Luna’s shift, and I just got back from talking with her during a slow point in night court.”

        Go on…

        “She was thinking about the whole Chrysalis fiasco, see? And about how torn up you were about blowing up and nearly hurting somepony because of it. She connected some things you said to her the morning after her return to Equestria, and I brought up the question: ‘I wonder how long it’ll take for her to forgive herself for that, because it’s quite clear already that everypony else has forgiven her’. Do you know what she said?”

        It was a conscious effort for her not to speak the words into the air. What was it moon? What did she say?

        “She said: ‘She won’t forgive herself’!”

        Celestia was hurt. What a horrible thing to say…

        “My thoughts exactly. But she didn’t say it just to be mean… She said it… because she hasn’t either.”

        Really? Even after I had forgiven her, and apologized over and over for ignoring her when she felt neglected…?

        “No… she can’t.”

        Celestia’s lips trembled. I have to talk to her.

        “No-- No don’t! See, she also told me something else; something that convinced me to share this with you. She said that to forgive is to let go of the pain and suffering that has been caused, and important for other ponies to do, lest they go mad with thoughts of vengeance. But to forgive yourself is impossible.”

        That’s ridiculous.

        “No I mean it! Look, do you think anything you can do will make up for banishing your sister?”

        No…

        “Right. You tried and tried again to find a reason you should have gotten forgiveness, but you can’t find any reason. Forgiveness is mercy, and mercy is undeserved! So here’s the thing: other ponies will forgive you. Be happy! You have their mercy! But for you, because nothing you can do will make up for what you have done, you will remember it all, and it’ll become a driving force to do good so that you will never ever jump into that pitfall again!”

        But that sounds really unhealthy.

        “Trust me, it works!”

        It’s perfectly possible to forgive yourself.

        “But who has, mistress?”

        Celestia pondered this. However much the moon had been stepping out of the bounds of respect, it did give her a question which set the argument in it--or rather her sister’s favor. All the ponies that she knew who realized they did something bad never said a thing about how they were okay with what they did. And even when they did? That mushy “nopony’s perfect” saying was used as an excuse, rather than anything like forgiveness, because they wanted a get out of jail free card. Hay, Chrysalis tried to say it was in her nature to be mean and nasty! That must mean something…

        “Twilight?” Celestia quietly called out to her ex student.

        “...Mmm?”

        “Did you ever forgive me for blowing you off when you were trying to warn everypony that ‘Cadance’ wasn’t who she said she was?”

        “Well yeah, I didn’t really make a good case by how frantic I was either.”

“And that incident with the Smarty Pants doll… I know everypony laughs about it now, but did you ever forgive--”

        “No.”

        Celestia nodded her head slowly. Perhaps there was some grain of truth in what the moon claimed her sister said. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

        “Just… Never again, I promise.”

        “Okay… And I promise I won’t do that for any other student I bring up next.”

        “...Thanks.”

        Celestia let her head fall. As unhealthy as it was, the whole ‘not able to forgive yourself thing’ seemed surprisingly therapeutic, especially since Twilight, her most recent student, struggled with forgiving herself. It felt right putting her mind into finding good things to do rather than dwelling on the horrible things she did in the past. Now if only a good thing to do came knocking on her doorstep…

        She shrugged to herself. It was likely enough that something would happen; after all, she was on vacation at the perfect point where there was a strange state of political affairs in Equestria, and what better time to invade would there be than that? It’d only take an hour or so to deal with the problem anyway. Even if or when it came around, Celestia was supposed to be taking a vacation; and Twilight certainly would insist that she actually enjoy it rather than get involved. She shook her head, trying to get the worries out of her mind. Thoughts for tomorrow, Celestia. There’s a wonderful little town to explore, and worrying will only keep you awake and unable to appreciate it. She pulled at the very large covers with her hooves, carefully wrapping them tightly around her for maximum comfort. The realm of dreams awaited her, and with Luna probably changing shifts so that she could train the new “princess”, she’d be able to come up with an action plan for such problems.

        Celestia wasn’t worried, she was on vacation!

        But in hindsight, she probably should have been.


To be continued in: Celestia Does Stuff in Ponyville While Other Things Happen Elsewhere