Chapter 1 - An Unusual Friendship Problem

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle was at Canterlot Castle trotting down a hallway, pondering her predicament.

Having recently returned from having ‘helped’ save the Crystal Empire, as opposed to her having saved it herself, with Princess Cadence now on her rightful throne after the fall of King Sombra, she was killing time before returning to Ponyville. Princess Celestia had already made it clear that Spike having ultimately saved the Crystal Empire instead of herself didn’t constitute a failure on her part, however she was having a hard time accepting that fact.

No.

She had to make up for that failure and she couldn’t think of a better way of doing that than by helping Princess Celestia solve problems in the capital… friendship problems specifically.

In the past, she had made it a point to offer help with friendship problems while she was in Canterlot because it was so much easier to deal with them while she was in town on other official business rather than to make a special trip later. This time was no different, but it was also more urgent, as Twilight felt like she had something to prove.

It still surprised her how many ponies would bottle up a problem until invited to talk about it. In a city where nobles and the otherwise wealthy elite almost outnumbered common ponies, intrigue was the rule rather than the exception, and it was clear that ponies had a hard time making friends or solving the problems they had with those friends.

But no. Twilight couldn’t just solve any friendship problem. It had to be a problem big enough to attract Celestia’s attention. A problem that, when solved, would ease the burden of her teacher.

As the personal student of the Princess, she was allowed special privileges… such as use of the flying chariots and the ability to give basic orders to the on-duty guards. While she was hesitant to use the power that she had, she used that privilege today.

The Royal Guards did a good job of spreading the word that the ‘Element of Magic’ and Royally Appointed ‘Student of Friendship’ was willing to help fix friendship problems before she returned home… with mixed results. She did help a few low-ranking Royal Guards with minor problems but nothing that hit the expectation she had set for herself.

At least… until the request came. The request of a lifetime…

The Royal Guard in question sounded half smug and half filled with remorse when he informed her that none other than Prince Blueblood had requested her help. Twilight had been both shocked and yet pleased. This, for sure, had to be the friendship problem of all friendship problems that would make up for her failure in the Crystal Empire and might even help her mentor.

So here she was, trotting down the halls towards his room, hoping to solve his friendship problem. The request didn’t include any details… only that there was a problem that she could help with. She thought back to everything that she knew about him…

Prince Blueblood is descended from a brother or sister of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that didn’t become an alicorn and is roughly 52 generations removed from that unnamed sibling but still blood family. The fact that Celestia treats him as a ‘nephew’ instead of a distant relative beneath her notice spoke volumes about her character. He was also horrible to Rarity during the Grand Galloping Gala, and I never really got to the bottom of that, not that I’ve had the time to try… but I remember the gentle, older colt who was only slightly bigger than me, when I first started attending Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns…

Twilight smiled to herself as her pace slowed and she fully took in the memory of her personal interactions with Blueblood, as few as they were.

He helped me with an awkward social situation when I first started attending the school… the nobles not understanding how a non-noble became the personal student of the Princess. And I helped him learn a difficult spell that for some reason he didn’t want his aunt’s help learning…

Twilight’s face took on a blush at a more personal memory.

And then… there was that one time with just the two of us in personal tutoring with the Princess when Blueblood fell asleep during a boring political lesson, and I decided that for once I didn’t care about politics and fell asleep beside him while technically cuddling him. I remember him being so soft and warm and we just dozed the lesson away. I can vaguely remember that Princess Celestia continued the lesson, her voice lulling us to sleep, completely unfazed that the only two students were both asleep.

We woke up later to find Celestia gone and the sun starting to set. I remember thanking him for being a soft pillow and he thanked me for being a warm blanket. I had awkwardly joked that we should cuddle more often, and he had replied in an almost serious tone that if it meant cuddling more, he’d gladly sleep through every political lecture since those were the only ones I didn’t like and could allow myself to doze off in.

Twilight’s blush faded as the tail end of the memory ruined the moment for her.

And I… I snapped at him in my usual ‘school is everything’ tone and said… ‘As a Prince of Equestria… these political classes are far more important for you than they are for me. We really shouldn’t sleep through them in the future.’ Taken aback, he stiffened but nodded in agreement. I don’t think that anypony had ever reprimanded him like that before and I felt bad for having raised my voice, but I also didn’t apologize for it.

Unfortunately, everything seemed to change after that. Neither of us ever fell asleep in class or tutoring again, even the political ones… but we also never cuddled again. He barely spoke to me but made sure I saw that he was taking his studies seriously. And like a wall too big to climb over, my lack of desire to have friends allowed me to distance myself from him with no regrets at the time…

Did I miss out on something special by being the perfect student? Why are these regrets surfacing now?

Twilight turned a corner and resigned herself to the fact that even with all the things she knew about friendship… matters of the heart were still beyond her. But despite that… deep down she knew why that memory was a sore spot for her, even if she didn’t like admitting it.

She had never had a coltfriend.

She had never been kissed…

The only two stallions she had ever cuddled with were her own brother and Blueblood, and her brother didn’t count because family members could cuddle as much as they wanted to.

And even that was off the table now that Shining Armor was married.

Thinking about her love life, or lack thereof, was very depressing for her. She was more than simply a ‘late bloomer.’ When it came to dating, she hadn’t even sprouted. In the back of her mind, she thought that she’d do what her mother did and start dating and then getting married after she started her career. But… as the personal student of Princess Celestia, not to mention Element of Magic, she would never have a real career. Saving Equestria was her career, if she wanted to admit that she was already ‘working’ and would probably be doing this for the rest of her life. No normal stallion would marry a national hero that faced the dangers that she did.

She had friends… but she was still very alone. But not as alone as Blueblood… who had no family except for his two aunts and probably fewer ‘real’ friends than she did. But… that didn’t make a lot of sense either.

How can you have a friendship problem without friends? Or was having no friends the problem?

Her over-analytical brain had to take it a step further.

Or maybe I am the problem?

She panicked at that last thought. If she could remember that fateful encounter, then of course he did. And now she was an expert on friendship and yet she had never apologized for being so cross about something that was clearly meant to be a joke… or a poorly phrased offer. Surely, they didn’t need to sleep through class to cuddle. They could have just cuddled whenever they wanted. She doubted that Princess Celestia would have stopped them.

Her pace slowed to a crawl as she approached Blueblood’s chamber door, clearly apparent that he was in there with two guards stationed outside the door.

Was it too late? She was 12 when all that had happened but as an adult now… she could still cuddle with him and give him a genuine apology. Maybe even ask him out on a date? Would the Prince date a commoner if the commoner was a pony like her that had a royally appointed title now? It was worth asking about… the worst he could say was no. She just needed the right opening…

She resumed at a normal pace and finished walking up the guards. She cleared her throat when she was the traditional three paces away. “Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia, here to meet with Prince Blueblood, as requested.”

The Guard looked down at her. “Ms. Sparkle. You are late.”

That took her aback as she hedged a reply. “I wasn’t aware the prince expected me at a specific time, only that he wished to see me. The guard that relayed the message wasn’t very specific.”

The Guard narrowed his eyes. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted a green recruit with an issue of such importance. Prince Blueblood has a lot of paperwork that he is trying to catch up on. Perhaps, after your meeting, you could help him get organized as a favor for delaying him.”

She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Of course. Given the prince’s position, his friendship problem might contain some sensitive information relevant to the security of Equestria. Therefore… I request no interruptions. No maids or guards are to enter unless summoned. Eavesdropping will be punished at the highest level, am I understood?”

The guard nodded, even saluted, which Twilight rarely saw directed towards her. “Of course, Ms. Sparkle. You may go in now.”

The doors opened and Twilight walked in. The room was massive. It was easily larger than the entirety of the Golden Oak Library in Ponyville. Bookshelves lined the walls, all filled with books that covered a wide variety of subjects. Twilight arrived at Blueblood’s desk only to find that he wasn’t there. She looked around and didn’t see any trace of him, but she knew he was in here somewhere.

The stacks of paperwork on his desk were enormous and even though she knew that she shouldn’t do it, she started to look through what he was working on, hoping for an inkling of the friendship problem he was going to ask her to solve.

Hoofing through them, she saw a half-finished letter to Rarity which appeared to be the start of some sort of apology for his behavior at the Grand Galloping Gala.

Help with writing an apology sounds like a friendship problem I could solve. That’s promising.

Looking over another stack of close to 30 letters he had recently received, Twilight froze as she read through them and saw that every one of them was a marriage proposal to Blueblood in the form of traditional unicorn noble arranged marriages and the other stack was apparently his attempts to reply to them. She couldn’t bring herself to read what he wrote in reply to any of the proposals. Her heart couldn’t take it…

No… am I too late? Did I wait too long? Am I going to lose him too?

Twilight just barely managed to avoid a panic attack as she walked away from the desk and went deeper into the cavernous room. Turning a corner, she was suddenly in the sleeping area of the room with a king-sized bed that rivaled the one in Celestia’s own quarters.

Twilight’s breath caught in her throat as she saw Blueblood asleep on the bed, bathed in a warm afternoon light flowing in from an open window. The rays of light seemed to highlight his golden blonde mane and his coat shined a radiant white that was almost a perfect match to Celestia’s.

Twilight had to blink back tears as she realized for the first time just how handsome Blueblood really was. And how much time she had lost over being uncouth and being unwilling to fix it.

How long was he waiting for me? How long has he been asleep? Should I wake him for the meeting he wanted to have, or should I leave until he summons me again? Or… will he even bother to summon me again if he thinks I blew off the meeting with him…

She took two steps forward and then a step back as her ears folded back.

Waking him up seems like a bad idea if he was tired enough to justify an afternoon nap and as badly as I want to cuddle with him… I can’t just get in bed with him!

Twilight frowned at that thought.

Wait… why can’t I? I defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis and helped take down King Sombra. We were friends once and I know if I asked him politely, we could be friends again.

Her mind returned to all those marriage proposals…

Buck it! I’m out of time. I wanted another chance so I’m going to have to prove it!

Twilight steeled herself for a rebuke as she climbed into the bed beside the prince. Just like when she was a foal, she wrapped herself around him like a blanket and nuzzled into to him, using him as a pillow. She felt him stir and was worried that she had woken him up only for her to barely hold in an ‘Eep’ when Blueblood wrapped both his forehooves around her and pulled her in closer to him. He nuzzled into her deeper, using her as a blanket… just like that one time.

With a deep sigh, she smiled.

I’m going to take a nap. The repercussions for my actions is a problem for future Twilight.

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Blueblood

Blueblood sighed in contentment. He had desperately needed a nap after trying to deal with all those dreadful letters and somehow, he had found the warmest blanket ever. Even better… it smelled like Twilight Sparkle. She used a lavender scented soap or perfume, and it smelled simply divine. He always had liked the fact that she smelled like a flower that matched the color of her coat. It was something that a noble lady would have done.

He hummed to himself in thought.

Twilight never knew that I redoubled my efforts in school because of how she scolded me. Aunty would have never scolded me like that… and I’m a better pony because Twilight made me want to try. Made me want to succeed. Made me… want to earn the right to cuddle her again. I don’t know why she never really spoke to me again… maybe I am still unworthy of her… even to this very day. She is the Element of Magic… how could a mere Prince compete with that?

With a yawn, he opened his eyes. His eyes drifted to the window, revealing that it was much later in the day than he had planned.

I don’t see how I overslept so badly… What happened… Oh. OH!

Looking down… he saw Twilight Sparkle held tightly in his hoofs. His eyes widened as he held her tighter subconsciously.

Is this a dream? If so… I never want to wake up from it…

He leaned down and kissed her cheek, watching her stir awake. Her eyes fluttered in an attractive way, although probably unintentional with her just waking up. It still called to Blueblood’s soul.

Was there ever a pony more beautiful than Twilight Sparkle?

Blueblood cleared his throat gently. “Did you sleep well, my lady?”

Twilight blushed deeply. “Very well, your highness. Did you enjoy the cuddling?”

Blueblood felt a knot in his throat, but he had to speak. “More than you will ever know.”

A silence passed between them, and Twilight knew it was her turn to speak.

“Well then… why didn’t you ask me to cuddle you sooner?”

Blueblood blushed. “After you scolded me over having fallen asleep in class that one time, I redoubled my efforts to be a student that you respected. I was hoping that you would ask me to cuddle again once I was worthy of you… but I guess I never was…”

Twilight winced. “It wasn’t my place to scold you and I always felt like you were mad at me for doing so. I was waiting for you to forgive me and then ask me to cuddle with you…”

Blueblood sighed. “So… we were both waiting for the other to make the first move. It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.”

Twilight winced again but smiled. “So, we lost some time. We can still start again. Right?”

Blueblood held her tighter but didn’t say anything.

Twilight trembled in his hooves. “What… was the friendship problem you needed help with?”

Blueblood sighed, loosening his grip on her. “I need your help in preparing me to propose to the mare that is going to be my wife and become a Princess of Equestria. Will you help me?”

Twilight froze. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. She gasped but then clamped down on her own uncouth outburst. She cleared her throat and tried to keep an even tone.

“This sounds more like a Princess of Love problem. Maybe you should write Cadence?”

Blueblood nuzzled her neck, whispering into her ear. “Under normal circumstances, you would be correct. However, Cadence will need time to firmly establish her rule. She probably won’t leave the Empire for anything, at least for the next 6 months. And while letters might walk me through this process, I really need a mare like you to be with me and help me in pony. You see, I need to practice changing my mannerisms, and that practice requires me to have a mare to practice with. Physically, mentally and emotionally, I need to change… at least a little.”

Twilight nodded but also frowned. “Change what exactly? I think you’re okay.”

Blueblood snorted. “Okay isn’t good enough. I don’t want my wife calling me by my title or saying, ‘your highness.’ No. I want to be able to use pet names for her and have her use pet names for me. I want to be able to spend time with commoners as if I always had. I want to be the perfect stallion for the perfect mare and you, of all mares, are the best there is for teaching me how to do that.”

Twilight pursed her lips. “The mare you plan to marry is a commoner?”

He winced and she could feel it through his hold on her. He had nearly said too much…

“The mare is a Countess, but she has a lot of commoner friends. I want to be able to mingle with them without it being awkward for everypony.” He paused but then continued. “It’s okay if you don’t want to help. I understand…”

Twilight shuddered but also shouted. “No! … Um… I, okay. I’ll help you. What do we do first?”

Blueblood grinned while he pulled her closer and kissed her cheek in a move that shocked Twilight.

“It’s dinner time. Let’s go to the dining hall. We’ll walk together and speak about normal things. We’ll both try to throw in some pet names towards each other and let’s just get used to hearing it out loud and in public. This might sound odd, but, for the sake of the process… I’d like to pretend that it’s you that I’m getting married to.”

Twilight giggled. “That kinda sounds like fun… almost like a prank on a larger scale, but there will be rumors and gossip if we do that.”

Blueblood shook his head. “There will be rumors and gossip regardless. If the Countess gets jealous enough, maybe she’ll propose to me and make this easier on me.”

Twilight frowned a little. “But… what if she refuses your proposal completely due to you flirting with me?”

He sighed. “Then she wasn’t the mare I thought she was. Either way, it will serve a purpose. Shall we be off, my dearest?”

Twilight leaned back into his grasp and returned his kiss on cheek. “After you, beloved.”

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Chapter 2 - A Massive Misunderstanding

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Twilight Sparkle

Twilight and Blueblood left his quarters and started headed towards the dining hall. Twilight decided to start the act early so the guards at his chamber doors would overhear.

“Tell me about the rest of your day, beloved?”

I can’t believe I just agreed to pretend to be his fiancé so he can practice on me for the real one. This is going to be Tartarus on my nerves and emotions. I wonder if he would have still asked this of me if he knew I liked him. I don’t believe that he would hurt my feelings on purpose but there is no way that I won’t fall in love with him only for him to break my heart when he finally proposes to the other mare, whoever she is.

Blueblood sighed. “My morning was horrible before you arrived, dearest. I’m still in the process of rejecting all those other marriage offers. You know I only have eyes for you…”

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As they left earshot, the guards started whispering to each other frantically. “Did you hear that! That must have been a very productive meeting.”

The senior guard shook his head. “Such a dramatic change… I wonder if she cast a spell on him or him on her. Neither of them is acting normal.”

The first guard widened his eyes. “Or maybe they were replaced by changelings!”

The senior guard looked around to see if any other pony could have heard that. “Now look. We’re guards, not maids. If we get caught spreading rumors, they will transfer us to that frozen wasteland of the Crystal Empire to help settle things and I am not going to go freeze my flank off, so cut out the crazy theories.”

The chastised guard looked at the floor. “What makes your theory any less crazy than mine?”

The senior guard rolled his eyes. “They are both unicorns that have been extensively trained. A love spell isn’t as far-fetched as us failing to protect them from changelings. Now remember that we are still on duty…”

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Blueblood

Blueblood did his best to keep up a natural sounding conversation but found it hard to speak with Twilight pressed up against him tightly. She was nuzzling him as they walked, and she just seemed to fit beside him like she was made just for him. Her tail was wrapped around one his rear legs, which was very distracting from how intimate the action was.

Is she acting or does she have real feelings for me? Like I have real feelings for her… Should I just ask her and get it over with?

They reached the dining hall quickly enough and the doors opened with magic. Twilight’s eyes were closed, using Blueblood to guide her steps with all the trust of a mare in love. The maids they passed had looked at both of them in open mouthed shock but said nothing.

Twilight spoke up finally, breaking the recent silence. “So, what’s for dinner, beloved?”

Blueblood tapped his chin in thought. “I didn’t check today’s menu but I’m sure the chef…” He trailed off abruptly.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked up at him. “The chef what, beloved?” She followed his gaze to the table where Princess Celestia was sitting at the head of the table, with wide eyes, mouth hanging in open shock, and wings slightly flared.

Twilight emitted a loud “EEP,” and then did what was probably the worst thing she could have done under the circumstances.

She tried to hide behind Blueblood.

Ancient instincts to protect his mate took over and he involuntarily took up a battle stance learned from the many self-defense classes he had once taken.

Celestia’s eyes managed to go wider before she chuckled. “Beloved… is it, Twilight? Protecting your mate like an ancient unicorn, Blueblood? Good for you. When were the two of you going to tell me?”

Twilight managed to untangle herself from Blueblood’s tail as she desperately tried to suppress a blush hot enough to rival the sun itself. “Well… you see Princess…”

Celestia raised an eyebrow and Twilight’s explanation faltered. Celestia smiled. “I knew the two of you had something special going from the time you fell asleep cuddling each other in political tutoring. You certainly kept it quiet though… no rumors at all, until today it seems. I couldn’t be happier for either of you. So, when’s the wedding?”

Panic seemed to pour from both him and Twilight as they struggled to answer the question. On one hoof, being honest was best, on the other, it would ruin all his plans.

Blueblood cleared his throat. “We haven’t really gotten that far in the planning…”

Twilight interrupted him, trying to interject an idea that was sure to get shot down to hide the fact that they weren’t really engaged.

“…Well… I was thinking about holding it during the Summer Sun Celebration. June is a lovely month for a wedding and the Summer Sun Celebration is already one of the biggest parties of the year. Holding a royal wedding would make it more special, yes?”

Blueblood smirked. Very good Twilight… there’s no way she’s going to go for that…

His eyes became pinpricks as Celestia smiled wider. “A lovely suggestion. The Summer Sun Celebration has long represented my greatest failure, when I had to send Luna to the moon. It would be nice to give it a better meaning as your wedding anniversary date.”

Twilight nuzzled into Blueblood to hide her face while he laughed nervously. “But Aunty… it’s still your special event. We wouldn’t want to highjack it.”

Celestia waved a hoof dismissively. “For something as special as the two of you? I can share.”

Twilight laughed nervously also, the situation rapidly spinning out of control. “Are you sure Princess? We could…”

Celestia’s glare cut her off. “What is this Princess nonsense? You’re marrying my nephew so that makes you my niece. Call me Aunty Celestia. We’re family now, isn’t that great?”

Twilight practically died on the spot while responding weakly. “Yeah… I’ve always wanted to be your niece.”

Celestia eyed Twilight closely. “Twilight… is there something that you’re hiding from me?”

Twilight broke out in a nervous sweat. “Like what, um, aunty?”

Celestia circled her like a shark looking for a weakness. “You seem a bit more pudgy than usual… are you… pregnant?”

Blueblood drew Twilight to his side, instantly protective. “Aunty! Please! None of that.”

Twilight almost started to cry with real distress as she sniffled into his ear. ‘She called me fat… am I still pretty?’

Blueblood kissed her in a reassuring way and glared at his Aunt. He whispered back. ‘You are as beautiful as ever.’

Celestia backed off. “Okay, fine. Keep your secrets. What do you need me to do?”

Blueblood sighed and hugged Twilight, planting another kiss on her cheek to continue to reassure her. “For now, please start planning the wedding, but with regards to the fact that we don’t know what city it will be held in yet… and please stop additional marriage proposals. I’ve already found my wife. Make the nobles understand that I’m no longer available.”

Celestia nodded vigorously. “Of course. HERALD!!!” The royal canterlot voice practically cracked the wall.

A tall pegasi came running into the room. “How may I serve you, your majesty?”

Celestia smiled. “Prince Blueblood is getting married to my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Spread the word. I want the entire city to hear of it by tomorrow and the whole nation should know by the end of the week. Dispatch as many couriers as is required.”

The herald bowed. “At once, your majesty.” He turned briefly to the mortified couple. “And congratulations, your highnesses.”

As he left the room, Twilight recovered her voice. “Highnesses?” She squeaked.

Celestia walked over and nuzzled her student. “Of course, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight looked over at Blueblood and gulped; her thoughts were very loud.

Prank to reality in ten seconds flat… Rainbow Dash would be proud.

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Chapter 3 - Matters of the Heart

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Twilight Sparkle

Dinner was served but the conversation was stilted. For her part, Twilight found herself with remarkably little to say with the thoughts of her and Blueblood’s engagement being spread all over Canterlot as they were eating.

I don’t know if my parents are going to be excited or if they are going to kill me. This would have been the biggest secret of my life… had it been real.

Blueblood cleared his throat and turned to Celestia. “Aunty? If you don’t mind, me and my sweetheart have some details for the marriage to work out still. Do you mind if we finish the discussion during dinner?”

Celestia wiped her face on a napkin. “Of course not, nephew. You may talk about whatever you want. We are alone in here, just the three of us.”

Twilight looked at Blueblood and caught a mischievous grin on his face. It was clear that he was going to say something unexpected to throw Celestia off. Something powerful enough to cause her to step in and cancel the engagement herself? What could he say that would be that bad?

He cleared his throat. “So, sweetheart. How many foals do you want?”

Twilight and Celestia both spit their tea out all over the table. Twilight blushed fiercely at the awkward question, having been completely caught off guard, but she managed to find her voice and continued to play her part.

“To be honest, beloved, I haven’t given it much thought. But then… I wasn’t raised as a noble. How many foals do you want to put in me?”

Clinical. Scientific. Awkward. Blunt. Pure Twilight at her best and worst. Almost as if on purpose.

Celestia went as red as the red wine that was sitting beside her, wine that disappeared as she downed the whole glass in one go. As old as she was, it was clear that she had little experience with these types of questions… having never been married and having never had her own foals.

Blueblood responded to the honest question. “As a prince, I will need at least an heir and a spare. More is better, obviously… I don’t believe that Aunty ever completely forgave my parents for only having one heir, but I want our foals to be a symbol of our love, not just a noble or royal obligation. I greatly desire an honest answer on this matter from you.”

Twilight smiled a warm and not at all fake smile and replied in turn. “In that case… let’s have a dozen! Six Colts and Six Fillies.”

Celestia’s eyes managed to bulge out of her head with the mere thought of that many foals running around the castle.

Blueblood seemed taken aback but pushed the subject. “Truly? That’s wonderful, my dear. I’m sure that you already know a spell to ensure the correct sex of each foal?”

Twilight winked. “Of course. A colt first, naturally. Your heir should take priority. I would like to name at least one colt and filly after my parents and another colt and filly named after yours. I’ll draw up an ordered checklist of all the most popular names for the other eight and we can choose at our leisure.”

Celestia refilled her glass of wine from a nearby bottle, wincing slightly at how open they were both being about breeding, and there really was no other word for it. By modern standards, having more than three foals was unheard of. A family of farmers, like Pinkie Pie’s family might have five or six. But twelve was almost obscene.

Celestia downed her glass again, quickly. “My… so eager…”

Twilight huffed at her ‘aunt’. “No, I’m not already pregnant but that doesn’t mean we have to wait until the wedding…” Her statement had a teasing tone to it that was at odds with how she normally spoke. Enough to give away that something was off about the conversation.

Celestia coughed up a bit of the red wine from the third glass that she was now sipping on. She eyed the ‘couple’ with a wary expression. She cleared her throat and offered a soft comment, hoping to not sound accusatory.

“If I didn’t know better… I’d be tempted to think that this was a joke of some kind. But surely my dear nephew and my most faithful student wouldn’t put me through this… let alone leave me explaining to the public why the recently announced engagement was called off…”

Blueblood and Twilight’s eyes met, and Twilight knew that this was it. He seemed remorseful that this might end so soon and she knew that she had to either come clean or double down and accept her fate.

Did she love Blueblood? She wasn’t sure she knew what love was, but she knew she did find him attractive, and she really wanted to cuddle him and spend more time with him.

Did she really want foals? Yes… yes, she did.

A dozen foals? That was a problem for future Twilight.

Was she ready to get married?

Twilight cleared her throat. “If I may be completely honest for a moment… I feel like I need to explain something.”

Blueblood closed his eyes, knowing the gig was up but he said nothing, allowing Twilight to take the lead on this. To his surprise, she walked over to him and nuzzled him.

“Me and Blueblood have an unusual relationship. For most of the last 10 years, we’ve both been working hard to earn each other’s approval. While not considered normal for a healthy relationship… we’ve barely spoken, but we have remained very aware of each other. My recent title of ‘Element of Magic’ does put me in a higher social station than I was before… and for the first time in my life, I feel like I am worthy of a prince. I like Blueblood. I want to cuddle him. I want to make up for lost time. As to all of the pet names… we were practicing for marriage… but we aren’t technically engaged yet.”

Celestia nodded. “So… I jumped the spear on this one. Did you want to say anything else?”

Did she want to say anything else? Yes. This was a once in a lifetime chance and she had to take it. The worst they could say was no. I wanted this… so bad. Courage… don’t fail me…

Twilight nodded. “Yes. With your permission, Princess, I would like to court Blueblood and take him as a husband. Will you accept me as a Princess and a Niece? For real, this time...”

Celestia nodded. “You have my permission.”

Twilight broke the embrace and turned to face Blueblood, only to kneel before him.

“Blueblood… you would make the happiest mare in Equestria if you would marry me. I’m sorry… I wasn’t fully prepared… I don’t have a ring to give you…”

Blueblood’s eyes grew wide and then misty as tears started to form. “Twilight… I never had the courage to admit it… but I like you too. No. I dare say that I love you. I want to explore these feelings more with you and of course, I’m willing to pursue marriage. With my aunt’s permission, of course.”

Celestia’s eyes teared up as she drew both of them into a hug. “Of course, you may both court with my blessing. I’m so happy for both of you. Do you need anything else?”

Twilight blushed as Celestia pulled back from the hug.

“Just one thing. Cancel my guest quarters. I’ll be sleeping with Blueblood tonight.”

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Chapter 4 - House Sparkle

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Blueblood

The morning rays of sunshine poured through the open window rousing Blueblood from his sleep. Him and Twilight had worked on writing letters long into the night, finishing the apology letter to Rarity and turning down all the remaining marriage offers from the other noble houses.

As he had explained to Twilight the previous night, the reason why he treated Rarity so badly at the Grand Galloping Gala was because it was obvious that she only wanted to use him for his title, like so many other ponies. Even Twilight had to agree that Blueblood’s wealth and influence would have allowed Rarity to expand her boutique much faster than normal by having the connection of everyone wanting a dress made by ‘Princess Rarity’ or by ponies buying her dresses to ingratiate themselves to Blueblood himself.

In hindsight, it was a very selfish motivation made by the ‘Element of Generosity,’ made worse by the fact that she blamed Blueblood for seeing through her act, even if he had done so by making himself undesirable. He did admit that the act was fun to play, if only because while he was prim and proper, he wasn’t snooty.

Wanting to fix the issue once and for all, Twilight wrote Rarity a separate letter informing her of Twilight’s engagement to Blueblood, on the off chance that the news hadn’t reached Ponyville yet and requesting that she accept Blueblood’s apology. After all… Twilight didn’t want to have to use a different dress maker for her Royal Wedding Dress, or worse, not invite Rarity to the wedding entirely.

When the time for sleep finally came, he was left blushing by Twilight’s eagerness to cuddle him. He accepted without hesitation because they were a perfect fit for each other, and they drifted off to sleep swiftly.

And now, in the early morning, he was still amazed by how warm she was. He leaned in to kiss her cheek again, stirring her awake. He really enjoyed watching her eyelashes flutter awake… a prettier sight he had never seen.

Twilight yawned. “Morning already? Five more minutes…”

Blueblood kissed her again so she could feel it and whispered into her ear… “But if you oversleep, we won’t have time for coffee.”

Twilight’s eyes bolted open. “Coffee?”

Blueblood smiled at her. “Of course, breakfast is waiting for us.”

A quick trip to the dining room revealed a large breakfast prepared for them in advance. They both dug in quickly and Blueblood smiled at how quickly Twilight ate, as if without any table manners at all.

Twilight saw him watching her and her ears folded back. “I’m sorry. I often work late like we did last night and then borderline oversleep. I normally don’t have a lot of time for breakfast, and I almost never have guests… so I rarely stand on ceremony.”

Blueblood nodded with a smile. “I normally eat alone for the same reason. A prince can’t afford to be uncouth in the public eye but what happens behind closed doors is our own business.”

Twilight giggled at that. “You’re more normal than I expected.”

Blueblood grinned briefly before his face fell. “Unlike my aunts… I am mortal, with all the wants and needs of a normal pony. I think ponies overlook that because of which family I descend from.”

Twilight gulped, afraid that she had reopened old wounds. “Umm…”

He waved her off. “It’s fine. It is hard to admit how much I like you without really knowing you. I know of all your accomplishments and some of the deeds of your friends, but I still don’t really know you. I’d like to fix that if you have an idea.”

Twilight sensed an opportunity. “Actually… yes. I’d like you to meet my parents. They live here in Canterlot so it’s unlikely that they haven’t heard of our ‘engagement.’ I need to introduce you to them before they besiege the castle.”

He smiled at that. “Another lovely idea. When will they be available?”

Twilight returned the smile. “They should be available today. Mom is a writer and Dad is a College Professor. Neither tend to work much on the weekends.”

They finished their breakfast silently, Blueblood trying to work up a plan on how to approach Twilight’s father. A castle page brought Blueblood a missive and left the couple to have their meal.

Twilight hedged. “You seem to do more work around here than I thought…”

He harrumphed. “I am a ‘Working Royal.’ I may not have a lot of official power, but Aunty does give me tasks to deal with that she doesn’t have time for. I am trusted to make very important decisions for Equestria, and my wife will be expected to do the same. You already have a lot on your plate being the Element of Magic and having saved Equestria four times now… but as my Princess… you will probably be given royal tasks to complete as well. If that doesn’t sit well with you, please tell me now.”

Twilight shook her head. “Extra work doesn’t bother me. I like being useful… I just never pictured myself as a Princess.”

He finished his coffee and looked at her. “You don’t think that we could have just cuddled forever without moving the relationship forward, do you? Friends may can cuddle without being considered a couple, but much like your brother, I would be expected to marry eventually.”

Twilight gulped again. “I regret having waited so long to find the courage to come back to you and now I see that we don’t have a lot of time to make this right. I’m sure that you’re under a lot of pressure to get married because neither Celestia nor Luna are. On one hoof… it feels like we are rushing this… and on the other hoof, I know we don’t have a choice if we want to be together.”

He nodded. “Well said. Shall we be off?”

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Twilight

They walked together through the streets of Canterlot, leaning against each other and whispering cute things back and forth while four royal guards followed them and rolled their eyes at the antics of their young charges. Normally, Blueblood would have taken a carriage to his destination, but Twilight had insisted that her parents’ home was not only close to the Castle, but that walking would get him closer to the common pony, like he claimed to want.

Twilight pointed out her favorite places to go from her foalhood and explained the establishment’s purposes. Blueblood listened with great interest, getting to know her a lot better just from being able to understand her foalhood more completely. Granted… most of the places that she pointed out was libraries, study centers, city parks, museums or restaurants. It detailed a serious filly that loved to eat and loved to study. The thought made him smile.

An hour later… Blueblood’s legs were sore from all the walking on the rough cobblestones, but he tried to put a brave face on it. “I need to look into improving the walkways… they are so unlevel.”

Twilight shrugged. “It’s considered a low priority. So long as ponies aren’t being injured by them, I’m not sure anypony cares.”

Moments later, Twilight turned up a walkway to a medium sized tower that had been converted into a house. She knew that she could walk into her family home without knocking but she knocked anyways since she had Blueblood with her.

Twilight Velvet opened the door and smiled widely. “Twilight! You’re home. Give your mother a hug!”

Before Twilight could do anything, her mother squeezed the living daylights out of her.

Left panting from the hug, she wheezed. “And… this… is…”

Twilight Velvet’s eyes nearly popped out of her head before she quickly bowed. “Your Highness! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you…”

Blueblood walked forward. With a commanding voice he said, “Rise.”

As Velvet did so, Blueblood raised one of her hooves to his lips and kissed it. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Sparkle.”

Velvet grinned. “Ohhh. A Gentlecolt. I’d expect nothing less from the Prince of Equestria, but your affections are wasted on me, as I’m a married mare. Save it for my daughter… and come on inside!”

Blueblood turned to the guards. “Please stay outside. This shouldn’t take too long.”

The lieutenant nodded and the guards took up their posts.

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Blueblood

As Velvet led Twilight and Blueblood into the living room, Night Light rose from his chair to greet his daughter. With a gentle ruffing of her mane, he teased her.

“Long time no see, kiddo. And what’s this I hear about you getting married! Wow… you’ve gotten kinda pudgy since the last time I saw you. You’re not pregnant, are you?”

Twilight’s mouth opened in shock but before she could deny it, Blueblood stepped forward, intending to make an uncharacteristic joke.

“I’m afraid that she is… and I take full responsibility. This may be a bit late to ask, but may I take your daughter’s hoof in marriage?”

Night Light glared at the Prince. “Damn right you’re going to take responsibility. I fully expect you to marry her.”

Twilight whipped around to face Blueblood, as if he had become Discord himself.

He grinned at her. “See? It wasn’t as hard to earn permission to marry you as I thought. Let’s talk about it over lunch. I’m sure my beloved knows a good restaurant within walking distance from the house.”

Velvet squealed in delight. “Oh, I’m so happy! I’m finally going to be a grandmare!”

Twilight got red in the face. “I am not pregnant! Why does everypony think that?”

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At the Restaurant

Twilight

Twilight looked at the menu. “I’ll have the triple hayburger with extra fries and the triple stacked cheesecake for dessert.”

Blueblood cleared his throat. “I’ve never eaten here before, so I’ll just have the same.”

Night Light whispered to his wife. ‘That’s why she’s pudgy…’

Velvet simply giggled as she ordered for both herself and her husband. The waiter was smart enough to leave quickly, so as not to get in the way of the family argument about to erupt.

Twilight glared at her father, but Blueblood stopped an angry retort with a quick kiss on the cheek. “Now, now. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy appetite. Given Aunty Celestia’s status as an immortal goddess, I’m shocked that being a little overweight isn’t the fashion. I’ve been told that she has curves that make artists cry. Aunty Luna is a lot more athletic but still seems to have curves. I’ll confess that I don’t see either of my Aunties in that light… but at the same time, Twilight seems to have the same types of curves and I find that I like it on her.”

Night Light smiled at the softer mental image of both princesses and comparable overall compliment towards his daughter, though Twilight kneed Blueblood in the ribs with a forehoof, knocking the wind out of him.

Night Light grinned at Velvet. “Reminds me of the light flirting we used to do on our early dates.”

Velvet nodded. “Yup. Right down to me kneeing you in the ribs to make you shut up.”

Night Light laughed at the playful memory but then turned serious. “Prince Blueblood. I find you to be an agreeable enough stallion but despite Twilight’s position of personal student of Princess Celestia and Element of Magic, we aren’t nobles, and the other nobles will rip both you and our family apart for allowing yourself to marry a commoner. My son’s marriage to Princess Cadence may not help in this case since the Crystal Empire is considered a different nation.”

Twilight knew her father was right, but she hoped to find a work-a-round.

Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “The position of Personal Student to Princess Celestia includes the basic peerage of Countess or Count of Canterlot. Twilight Sparkle is a noble… up to or until she is dismissed from Princess Celestia’s court. If she marries me, she’ll be a Princess for the rest of her life. Even if Twilight doesn’t marry me, and even if my Aunty takes on a new student, as long as Twilight isn’t dismissed from Celestia’s court, she’ll always be at least a Countess.”

Twilight gasped. “Which is why I can give orders to the on-duty guards.”

Blueblood nodded. “Yes. As studious as you are, I’m surprised you didn’t know that sooner.”

Twilight face-hooved. “Yeah… well… I guess that comes with having done very little socializing until recently.”

Night Light sighed. “Be that as it may, you still might suffer from your wife’s parents not being nobles. Can you afford to take the risk?”

Blueblood shook his head. “Normally, I would say no; I can’t afford to take the risk, however… in this case, I don’t have to.”

Velvet cleared her throat. “And how do you manage that?”

Blueblood grinned in a coltish way that Twilight had grown to realize was him using the limited power he had been granted by Celestia. “By giving you both titles and appointing at least one of you to Celestia’s privy council.”

Night Light’s and Velvet’s jaws both dropped at the pronouncement. Velvet recovered first. “And what titles would you bestow upon your fiancé’s parents?”

Blueblood took on a serious tone, a tone that Twilight had grown to see as his ‘working’ tone. He fixed his gaze on Velvet first.

“The last heir to the title of Princess of Unicornia has passed away. It was the title that Princess Platinum created before the three tribes were united in harmony with each other. While ‘Unicornia’ no longer technically exists, the title is symbolically important to Unicorns and can be only held by a Unicorn Mare. Therefore, Twilight Velvet, I hereby declare you to be Princess Twilight Velvet, of House Sparkle, Princess of Unicornia.”

Twilight barely had time to gasp before Blueblood moved on.

Turning to Night Light, he proclaimed, mock angered. “And how dare a commoner be married to a Princess! Therefore, Night Light, you must take up the burden of ‘Duke of Canterlot.’ But… you can’t be a mere Duke, no… I feel the need to thrust more responsibility upon you. As a College Professor, perhaps you would feel comfortable filling the vacant slot in Princess Celestia’s privy council as the Minister of Education? What say you, Duke Night Light, of House Sparkle?”

Night Light bowed his head slowly as the words threatened to send him reeling. “I don’t feel like we are worthy, but we accept.”

Twilight kneed Blueblood in the ribs again, a little harder this time. “My brother was a mere commoner when he married Cadence!”

Blueblood shook his head while he rubbed his sore ribs. “Not true. He was the brother of a Countess and as a Captain of the Royal Guard, was a high enough military rank to be considered a ‘Warrior Lord’ or a ‘Lord of the Sword,’ worthy of his own peerage. He earned his right to marry Princess Cadence and of course had Auntie’s blessing, the same as us.”

The food came right at that moment, cutting off any retort that she could make and gave her time to think about the situation. She ate in silence while Blueblood and her parents engaged in small talk, and she was the first pony finished eating when the time came for her to speak again.

In his own way, Blueblood is right. But it doesn’t feel right.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Beloved… won’t ponies think you bribed my parents with these titles for you to gain their blessing to marry me?”

Blueblood frowned. “I suppose that is a valid concern, but I have no issue explaining my thought process on the matter. You, my dearest, have saved Equestria four times. Technically, your brother was present for two of those times and he helped. You and your brother are two of the most important ponies in our generation. Now… I think that how you were raised is just as important as what you learned and how you’ve applied that knowledge. So, for the peace of the kingdom, I want your parents in positions of authority that allow them to nurture an entire generation the same way they nurtured you.”

Twilight’s jaw hung open while the words soaked into her. She numbly heard both her parents express great joy at the prospect of serving Equestria more directly.

When she gained her senses, she dove in for a kiss. Blueblood seemed a little hesitant to allow a public display of affection but allowed Twilight to kiss him fully on the lips.

She took her time to taste him. To flick her tongue on his teeth. He opened to her, and she battled his tongue for dominance. The moment stretched until they both broke the kiss, gasping for air.

Velvet clapped her forehooves together. “Ah… I sense that this was your first real kiss. Cheek pecks are one thing, but a real kiss can take your breath away.”

Night Light interjected. “With a kiss like that, foals are next.”

Twilight blushed. “You should have seen Princess Celestia’s face when I told her we were going to have a dozen. It was priceless.”

Velvet raised an eyebrow. “A dozen… foals? Twilight, that may be a bit too many.”

Twilight giggled. “I don’t care if it makes me a broodmare. I want both myself and my husband to be happy and the idea of having foals makes me very happy.”

Blueblood sighed with contentment. “You wouldn’t believe the number of royal titles I still have to give out to fill the empty slots. Having more than two heirs would do wonders for restoring the strength of the monarchy. Still… I’m glad that the only ponies that saw the kiss were the restaurant staff, the guards and our chaperones. I’m not ready to see a kiss like that in the press.”

Twilight wilted a little. “Sorry… I didn’t even consider that.”

Blueblood smiled. “It’s okay. Well. I can’t eat another bite and we really should be getting back to the castle. We need to pack for the trip to Ponyville.”

Twilight frowned. “Already? The next train doesn’t leave until tomorrow.”

Blueblood nodded. “Unfortunately, I’m going to Ponyville on business, so I need to arrive in style on a Royal Air Chariot. And, since we are engaged now, we need to arrive together. It may be better to leave this afternoon, take care of some basic errands, get a good night sleep at your place, and then handle the official business tomorrow.”

Blueblood got up from his seat to go address the guards while she said her goodbyes to her parents, promising to stay in touch with them if there were any changes. Having lingered a little too long, Blueblood called back to her.

“Come along my little foal factory, we have more work to do.”

He trotted out the door. Twilight yelled back. “Bluey! Come back here!” She raced off after him.

Night Light blew out a breath. “Bluey… I haven’t heard her call him that since she was 12.”

Velvet shook her head. “And he called her a foal factory without her getting upset. They must really be into each other. At this rate… it is shocking that she’s not already pregnant. And we… need a bigger house.”

Night Light grinned. “Big enough for a Princess and a Duke?”

Velvet nodded. “Big enough for a dozen grandfoals.”

Night Light winced. “Well… we need to ask Princess Celestia if our titles include a royal stipend outside of my new pay as Minister of Education, and then review the value of the tower if we were to sell it and the total amount in our savings as a downpayment on a larger estate. That is… if we don’t just end up living in Canterlot Castle.”

Velvet smiled wickedly. “Shining Armor and Cadence are going to have a lot of work to do to keep up with Twilight and Blueblood.”

Night Light laughed at the thought. “Yeah… they were always in competition with each other but a challenge to see how many foals they can raise shouldn’t be one of them.”

Velvet grinned wider. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

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Chapter 5 - Trials and Tribulations

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Blueblood

Blueblood gathered his belongings. Packing for the trip was more like moving. He knew that he was moving in with Twilight in Ponyville to get more of a feel for how to interact with commoners. He only needed some clothes for important events and his Princely regalia for official duties. His Aunty had already been informed that she could contact him in Ponyville through the normal letters she sent to Twilight through Spike.

Twilight had packed lightly and was already ready to depart, having stayed in Canterlot a day longer than she had originally planned. She didn’t seem nervous when she got in the Chariot.

Blueblood looked her over. “Nervous?”

Twilight shook her head. “I used a Royal Air Chariot when I first arrived in Ponyville all those months ago. I do prefer taking the train though… at least I can read.”

He chuckled at that. “The chariot will have us in Ponyville in 20 minutes while the train would have taken 4 hours. You’ll have plenty of time to read in the comfort of your own home once we get settled in.”

Twilight leaned in for a kiss. “I guess I’ll have to settle for 20 minutes of cuddling instead.”

He happily gave her a kiss and was left waiting for the Pegasi Guards to finish getting ready to fly the Chariot to Ponyville when Twilight suddenly spoke up and asked a question.

“Beloved. You told me that you were going to marry a Countess that had a lot of commoner friends and that you wanted my help to learn how to interact with commoners to make it easier to propose to her. But then you accepted my proposal without hesitation and then earlier today informed both me and my parents that I am also considered a Countess. Do I even need to ask who the mare you were going to propose to was?”

Blueblood smiled warmly. “It was always you. The plan was to propose to you, but I needed to get to know you better first. That’s why I didn’t care about there being rumors about us because it wouldn’t matter when I finally proposed to you. The one thing I wasn’t counting on was my Aunty making the official announcement so quickly nor you stepping up and proposing to me. It worked better than I had hoped. I just hope that you don’t feel like I tricked you into proposing.”

Twilight’s eyes sparkled in the afternoon light. “It took some courage on my part, but I don’t regret it. In fact, I’m relieved that I didn’t accidently break up some other relationship that you were hoping for.”

He kissed her again. “No, like I said. I only have eyes for you…”

The chariot took off and 20 minutes later they landed in Ponyville, right outside the mayor’s office. He dismissed the chariot back to Canterlot and turned to Twilight.

“We need to order your wedding dress, order the rings, and start finalizing other plans. We have a lot to do still.”

Twilight frowned slightly. “What other plans do we need to discuss?”

Blueblood was decisive about naming everything, as if he had already given it a great deal of thought. “First of all, as a married couple, even if we weren’t royalty, we can’t live in the public library forever. There’s just no room for a dozen foals. We need to make plans to build or buy an estate either in Ponyville or Canterlot… or wherever else you’d like to live, if we don’t end up living in Canterlot Castle. Plus, as to the wedding itself, we need to decide if we want it in Ponyville or Canterlot or anywhere else and start finalizing a guest list. As to the wedding dress… I’m sure you want a dress made by your friend, Rarity, just like or better than the dress she made for Cadence. Having her make the dress should seal my apology to her, since it’ll cost me more than she normally earns in a year.”

Twilight blushed, very moved by his level of consideration. “We should start with the dress then. It’ll be the fastest errand given that all she’ll have to do is measure me and pick the fabric and colors. We can discuss the rest of the issues tonight.”

“Surprise!” A party cannon fired a volley of confetti at Blueblood and Twilight jumped out of her skin as Pinkie Pie appeared behind her.

“Welcome back to Ponyville, Twilight. Who’s your stallion?”

Twilight got her breathing back under control and introduced them. “Pinkie Pie… this is Prince Blueblood, Blueblood… this is the Element of Laugher, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie Pie got right up in his face, less than an inch away. “So… you’re the stallion that was a big meanie to Rarity at the Grand Galloping Gala. Whatcha doin in these parts, hmmm?”

Ever the diplomat, he held her gaze. “I’m doing many things, Pinkie. First, I’m trying to apologize to Rarity. Second, I have some things I need to work on with Twilight. And third, but not least important, I’d like to make some local friends. I’d like to throw a party so I can meet as many ponies at one time as possible… but I don’t have a party planner. Do you know one?”

Pinkie Pie backed off and took an impossibly large breath before speaking in an almost impossible to comprehend storm of words.

“Iamthetown’spartyplanner! Doyouwantthewholetowninvited? What’sthebudget? Whenistheparty!!!”

He grinned at her enthusiasm. “Yes, the whole town is invited. There is no budget, spend whatever it takes to put together the best party. And, if possible, I’d like the party tonight. I don’t want ponies being nervous about there being a Prince in town. Can you handle it, Pinkie?”

“Of course, I can handle it. I’m on it, boss.” She shot off like an arrow sprung from a bow and was out of sight within seconds.”

Twilight giggled. “Well. You made a friend for life by having her throw you a party, but they can be a bit much.”

He laughed. “I’ll take a bit much over boring. It’s clear that all of your friends either distrust me or flat out hate me for what happened to Rarity. It’ll take some work to win them over.”

Twilight winced at the truth but shrugged. “It’ll be easier on both of us if we win Rarity over first.”

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Twilight

She led Blueblood to the Carousel Boutique, and they entered the store. Rarity was hard at work at her sewing machine and didn’t bother to look up at all from her work.

“I’ll be with you in a moment darling.”

Twilight giggled. “Take your time. Once we get started, it’ll be a rest of the day thing.”

Rarity smiled but still didn’t look up. “Oh Twilight! You’re back from Canterlot. I was worried when you said you had to stay but then I remembered that Canterlot is your hometown. You visited your parents, yes?”

Twilight nodded and spoke up. “Yes, among other things. I had some old business to wrap up and I’m happy to say that my life is finally moving forward in a way that I had always hoped for yet also could never dream was possible. I will need your help for a few dresses if you’re up for it.”

Rarity nodded but looked at her work even more closely as something just didn’t seem right to her. “I’m always up for helping you, Twilight.”

Twilight looked at Blueblood and shrugged. She continued. “So… umm, did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

Rarity laughed. “Yes! I got a letter from Prince Blueblood. Can you believe it?”

Twilight smiled smugly. “Oh? And what did it say?”

Rarity snorted. “Pish Posh, darling. I don’t know… I burned it without reading it.”

Twilight gasped and turned to Blueblood who seemed regretful but focused on making a point.

He cleared his throat. “Well, Ms. Rarity. That’s awfully generous of you to give me a real second chance. You certainly live up to your element.”

The sewing machine jammed up as Rarity leaped out of her seat to face Twilight, whom she was expecting, and Blueblood, whom she had not.

“Your Highness!” She went to bow but froze when she saw him wave her off.

Blueblood turned back to Twilight. “My lady… I believe my business here is done and there’s nothing for it. If you still want her to make your dress, I have no qualms about it, but I feel that she doesn’t deserve my bits.”

Twilight nodded at Blueblood and quipped. “Of course not beloved… your bits belong to me.”

Blueblood blushed at the insinuation but didn’t shy away from Twilight kissing him on the lips in front of Rarity, all the while Twilight managed to glare at her friend.

Twilight broke the kiss in due time. “You have my ring size already so feel free to do some shopping without me. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

Blueblood smiled at her warmly. “Take all the time you need. You’ll probably find me at the library or wherever the party is going to be. I’ll see you tonight, my dearest.”

The door closed behind him, and Twilight turned her full attention to Rarity who was now hyperventilating into a paper bag. Twilight considered the situation fully.

Rarity is always trying to be posh. I think the best way to help her in this situation would be to firmly put her into her place, much like I did to Blueblood all those years ago. Rarity is stubborn though… I’m going to have to take this to extremes.

“Well… I’m guessing that you didn’t read my letter either. Or did you burn them together?”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Twilight, It’s not like that! I’ve just been very busy with my new spring line-up of fashion, and I haven’t gotten around to it. As for Blueblood… maybe my actions were a bit hasty but apologizing by letter is considered a little cheap. A real apology is made face to face. You have no idea…”

Twilight cut her off. “Silence. I have plenty of knowledge about etiquette and I’ve heard enough of your excuses. I am Lady Twilight Sparkle, Countess of Canterlot, and its way past time you showed me some respect!”

Rarity shuddered at the full force of being out of the loop of something game-changingly important. “La.. Lad… LADY TWILIGHT! I had no idea!”

Twilight brought the full force of a Canterlot Noble’s glare upon Rarity, an effect that Rarity didn’t know that Twilight was capable of.

“No idea? Indeed, I don’t often introduce myself by my title, but I do have one. You knew I was the Personal Student of Princess Celestia and a member of her court. As deep as you are into making connections with the rich and powerful, how could you not know that I was a Countess? For that matter… I expect that you’ll now also claim not to know that my Father is the head of House Sparkle and is the current Duke of Canterlot and was recently appointed as Minister of Education. Or more importantly… claim to not know that my mother is the Princess of Unicornia!”

Twilight’s rage was half real, while the rest was exaggerated. Okay… that’s not entirely fair… my parents have only had those titles for a day. I don’t care… Rarity would have used this information against somepony else in the exact same way, given the chance.

Rarity was as frozen as a statue, so Twilight continued. “I remember when I had that plus one ticket to the Gala and you begged me for it so you could ‘meet your true love’. Except that the true love in your mind was Prince Blueblood. No other noble or aristocrat would do. You had to have the best. You never considered my feelings. You never considered that I already knew Blueblood. That I had attended classes with him. That we studied together. That we cuddled together! That we might be secretly engaged!!! I sent those tickets back because I didn’t want to embarrass him and Celestia went ahead and sent me seven tickets anyways so all of you could attend. The entire Gala ended in disaster. I know that I looked excited to get the tickets, but it wasn’t my first Gala!

I’ll clue you in on a little secret. Blueblood doesn’t like fake. Fake ponies. Fake art. Fake anything. Your Canterlot accent is thicker than mine and I was raised there! He could tell you were fake and was just trying to use him. So, he treated you poorly, hoping you’d lose interest in him and then you ended up disgracing yourself when you blew up at him in front of everypony and then had the audacity to blame him!

If you had read my letter, you would know that me and Blueblood are now engaged to be married and that I wanted you to accept his apology. If you had read his letter, you would have found a real apology meant to put the past behind us so we could move forward but you’re too focused on yourself. Perhaps a face-to-face apology would have been better, as you said, but would you have even listened to him? It’s clear to me that you’re still holding a grudge.

As to why I came here specifically today… I had intended to get a wedding dress from you that was better than what Cadence wore to her wedding recently. A year or more worth of your normal income from a single commission but you had to throw it away on being too proud to admit that you might have been wrong! Forgiveness can be generous, and you failed.”

The silence dragged on and Rarity had to force herself to breathe. Finally, she spoke. “I’ll admit that at least some of what you’ve said has merit, but the rest is too idealist. Noble or not, you were very sheltered as a filly. And engaged or not, I can’t believe that you’re taking his side on this. Sisters before Misters, right?”

Nervous giggles poured from Rarity following the weak argument and tapered off as Twilight’s expression deadened, and she prepared to be the most unkind she had ever been.

Twilight’s voice was ominously low. “Husbands before Hoes.”

Rarity winced as if physically stuck and her jaw hit the floor, completely unable to retort.

Twilight sniffled. “I’d tell you to plant a garden, but your tears might salt the earth. I would have never expected our friendship to end so badly or so abruptly. You need to find yourself and figure out what you want before you end up alone for the rest of your life. You’re not getting any younger.”

Rarity trembled. “This… seems like it came out of nowhere, darling. I had no idea you felt this way… Have you been upset with me for long?”

Twilight shrugged, secretly happy to be completely honest about at least one thing without having to act or exaggerate.

“It’s comes and goes. You’ll do something nice but then you ruin it with something mean. You’ll have Spike running errands all over town for you just so you don’t have to do it yourself because you know he likes you… but you never plan to return any actual affection for him. You’re using him. Spike is practically my brother… I helped raise him for pony’s sake. Blueblood may give him a pony noble title after we wed. You’ve been as great as you are rotten. If this keeps up, I won’t be able to even invite you to the wedding, let alone allow you to design my dress. You made this bed, now lay in it. Or cry. I’m not sure I care anymore.”

Twilight turned to leave with an uncharacteristic ‘HMPF’ that Rarity herself had been known to use when walking away from somepony at the end of an argument. And this time, it was clear that Rarity had lost.

Rarity broke her own shock and cried out… “WAIT! I’m sorry! Please tell me what I need to do! I’ll do anything…”

Twilight stopped and looked back at Rarity. “Pinkie Pie is throwing a party for Blueblood so he can meet the ponies of the town as an icebreaker. You are invited to attend. You may apologize for your behavior if you wish. Otherwise, just stay away from my fiancé.”

Rarity nodded with tear filled eyes. “I’ll be there.”

Twilight left without another word.

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Chapter 6 - Ponyville Party

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Blueblood

Blueblood wasn’t happy with the outcome at the Carousel Boutique but trusted Twilight to deal with it. Love required trust, after all.

He walked around the town and asked questions, learned names and made connections. It didn’t take him long to strike up a conversation with Filthy Rich, the owner of Barnyard Bargains. The business pony seemed very pleased to speak to Blueblood in pony.

“Yes sir you betcha… My general store supplies nearly the entire town with everything they could need.”

Blueblood hummed in thought. “And so, you know what ponies in the town needs?”

Mr. Rich smiled. “Of course! I even offer a lay-a-way program for the more expensive items.”

Blueblood tapped his chin. “I’d like to buy some gifts for certain ponies important to my fiancé and other ponies of importance in the town… If I gave you a list of the mares that I need gifts for, could you help me pick something that they would like?”

Mr. Rich nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! And I’ll even have the items delivered at no extra charge.”

Pinkie Pie picked that moment to appear. “Hey BB! The party is going to be at Sugarcube Corner at 6! Don’t be late!”

She raced off again without Blueblood being able to respond. He turned back to Mr. Rich. “I guess you’ll be delivering the items to Sugarcube Corner.”

Mr. Rich rubbed his hooves together. “Not a problem, your highness. Now, lets take a look at that list.”

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Twilight

Twilight left Carousel Boutique both upset and full of anxiety. In her entire life, she had never threatened to end a friendship in the manner that she just did with Rarity. At least it seemed to work. Maybe.

Wandering around the town, she tried and failed to find her fiancé. She checked the library, the jewelry store and the mayor’s office. She finally came to Sugarcube Corner and found the party prep nearly complete with Blueblood chatting with Mrs. Cake.

“So, you can make a ten-tier triple layer wedding cake?”

Mrs. Cake smiled warmly. “Of course I can. This may be a small-town bakery, but we are experts. Anything you want wouldn’t be too much, your highness.”

Twilight sighed with the satisfaction of finally finding Blueblood and walked up to him, planting a chaste kiss on his cheek. He turned to Mrs. Cake. “Can we have a moment please?”

Mrs. Cake bowed and gave a polite, “Of course, your highness,” while Blueblood returned the kiss to Twilight’s own cheek and asked quietly. “So… what happened with Rarity?”

She groaned. “I… I wasn’t very kind to her, but I forced her to open her eyes and see just how bad her drama queen moments can hurt other ponies.”

He frowned. “And how did you do that?”

She looked away from his gaze. “By acting almost the same way she does when she’s at her worst. She can have pride in her work, but she shouldn’t put it in everyponies face. She can ask Spike for help, but she shouldn’t trick him into giving it. She can be generous… without having to show off. She’s coming to the party. I hope she apologizes.”

Blueblood nodded slowly. “…And if she doesn’t?”

Twilight looked around briefly to ensure there was no eavesdropping and whispered to him. “Then there may not be any Elements of Harmony to stop the next threat to Equestria. The way I yelled at her could permanently damage my friendship with her if this backfires. I’m so scared.”

He pulled her into a hug. “There, there. It’s okay. For my sake… can you please not do that again? It’s very touching that you’re willing to make sacrifices to put our relationship first but we have a duty to all of Equestria. The Elements are important, and I dare say that its your job to make your friendships with your closest friends as strong as you can. Please don’t put me over the rest of them.”

That forced Twilight to gasp. “But I might have to choose. How can I choose their friendship over your love?”

Blueblood kissed her forehead at the base of her horn, a move that was as intimate as possible without being obscene in public. “Princes rarely get to marry for love. I was most likely going to be used to strengthen an alliance by marrying me to the daughter of another nation’s ruler or to the daughter of a powerful noble family to strengthen Auntie’s hold on the throne. There will be moments where I can’t come first, and I understand that. The briefest moments of love with you is more than I was expecting, and I’m grateful.”

Twilight hugged him tightly. “I guess I should have cared more about politics. I never realized how lonely you were, just waiting to be used.”

He chuckled. “The Lonely Prince… I guess that could be a moniker if I needed it to be. But yes, my prospects for love were slim. I’ve already gotten more than I ever expected so please, don’t put me first. For the peace of the kingdom… we will love each other when we have time and spend the rest serving our people.”

Twilight pulled him into a deeper kiss. “I never thought that I could love you more.”

The flash of a camera stopped the kiss cold as she realized that the kiss would now be front page news. Blueblood groaned. “Aww. That’s my bad side. Here. Take a picture of this.”

Blueblood repositioned himself and Twilight into a prefect kissing pose with multiple picture angles. With a gasping Twilight in his hooves following multiple deep kisses, Blueblood raised an eyebrow at the reporter. “Happy?”

The reporter took off his hat… “Equestria will be pleased to see you happy, your highness. The going rumors were that Princess Celestia just wanted you to produce more magically powerful foals by having you marry one of the most powerful unicorns in the world. The public will be pleased to hear firsthoof that this isn’t the case.”

As the reporter walked away, Twilight groaned. “I should blow up his camera with my magic.”

Blueblood shook his head. “Freedom of the Press is a legal right except during times of war when information getting in the wrong hooves can get soldiers killed. I warned you at the restaurant only a few hours ago that this was possible.”

Twilight’s ears folded back. “Are you mad at me?”

A light chuckle and him pulling her to the center of the party about to start was her answer. The music started and Pinkie got a bullhorn out.

“ALRIGHT EVERYPONY!!! LET’S PARTY!”

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Blueblood

Two hours into the party, Blueblood noticed Rarity for the first time along with a younger filly that was clearly her sister, talking to Spike.

He nudged Twilight. “Should we be worried about that?”

Twilight turned to look at the scene unfolding. Rarity was all smiles at both of them and Spike was grinning nervously at Sweetie Belle while Sweetie Belle looked completely infatuated with Spike, her tail swishly lightly from side to side. Sweetie Belle leaned in and gave Spike a kiss on the cheek, causing both the dragon and the filly to blush profusely.

Spike took one of Sweetie Belle’s hooves within his claws and kissed it gently, prompting a giggle from the filly. Sweetie nuzzled into Spike while he led her to one of the dessert tables, where he started to hoof feed her sweets, causing her to blush more at the romantic, date-like activity.

Twilight shook her head. “Nah. Let them have this.”

Rarity chose that moment to walk over to Twilight and Blueblood. “May I have a moment, your highness?”

Blueblood nodded and Rarity continued. “I wish to apologize for my uncouth behavior in refusing to even entertain the notion of accepting an apology from you while also needing to apologize for my own actions. The gala wasn’t my finest moment… Twilight was right, and I am very sorry.”

Blueblood nodded. “I accept your apology. I also wish to apologize for how I treated you. I can see how the allure of a Prince might have gone to your head but perhaps you weren’t strictly trying to use me as other mares have sought to in the past. I should have been more upfront with you and did less to embarrass you. A Prince shouldn’t toy with his subjects.”

Rarity nodded. “I accept the apology. However, let me add…” Her eyes narrowed a bit at the stallion. “A Prince should not hide from flying objects behind his subjects and use them as living shields. And maybe not toy with a lady’s feelings after he approached her in the gardens. Some would call that… unbecoming.”

Blueblood turned a shade of red. Coughing into a hoof, he nodded again. “Yes, well… the gala wasn’t my finest moment either. I will work on that, you have my word.”

Rarity seemed to accept his vow, smiling brightly at him before her attention went to Twilight. Perhaps her smile dimmed a little. She certainly sounded more distant than unusual.

“A word with you too, Twilight? Just us?” she added with a glance to the Prince. Blueblood took the hint. With a quick bow, he trotted away to leave the two young mares to their discussion. Twilight wasn’t happy to see him go. She wasn’t looking forward to this talk, not after Rarity sent her stallion away. For a long moment, they stared at one another.

Finally, Twilight tried to cut through the silence. “Rarity, you—”

“No.” Rarity interrupted her with a raised hoof. Twilight paused, a little stunned. “No, I think I should start. You got your say last time. I think I should have my say now.”

Twilight winced. She tried again. “This isn’t a contest—”

“So it’s only okay when you do it? Is that what you’re saying?” Rarity gave her a mild glare. Before Twilight could say anything to that, the other mare sighed and shook her head. “You never told me.”

“Told you what?” Twilight asked with a blink.

“You never told me you had your eyes set on Prince Blueblood.” Rarity raised her hoof to point at the royal who was currently off the side, acting like he was chatting with other partygoers but secretly watching them. “You were angry with me for having a crush on him because you had a crush on him, but you never told me. You said I take advantage of Spike without considering his feelings. You called me fake and ungenerous. You said I wasn’t worth being friends with, especially since you are a noble lady. Which makes you better than me. And you ended our friendship.”

“I did not!” Twilight half-shouted. “I would never say I’m better than you just because I’m nobility! And I didn’t end our friendship!” She glared at Rarity, but her momentary outrage melted at the expression on the other mare’s face: a look of sadness. When she replied, it sounded hollow.

“‘I am Lady Twilight Sparkle, Countess of Canterlot, and it’s way past time you showed me some respect. I would have never expected our friendship to end so badly or so abruptly.’”

Twilight grimaced to herself. Those were her words, quoted back at her. Rarity saw it, her own gaze dropping to the floor between them. Her rump plopped down as well, as if she couldn’t hold herself up anymore from the weight of it all.

“How can we be friends, Twilight?” Rarity finally asked. She was still staring at the ground, not meeting her eyes. “How can we be friends if you always think the worst of me? How can we be friends if… if I don’t know you’re going to throw me away as soon as you’re angry… for things you never told me? If you think I’m not worth being friends with…”

She stopped as soon as she felt Twilight’s forelegs around her shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug. Twilight heard her gasp in surprise, but soon a pair of white forelegs rose to return the embrace.

“You are worth being friends with,” Twilight told her in a quiet but firm murmur. A shudder ran through the other mare. “You are generous, cultured, and helpful. I’m sorry I made you feel like you weren’t. Some of those things I said were exaggerations, and some were unfair to you.” Twilight pressed her eyes closed and leaned into the hug. “It’s just, I know how stubborn you can be, so I wanted to break some things through to you. Things that had been bothering me for so long. But I guess I overdid it. I didn’t talk to you, I just… blew up on you. Sometimes I’m just too convinced I know better than everypony else around me.”

Rarity reacted with a short, tingling laugh. Twilight felt herself squeezed tightly. “You tend to do that, yes. I’m sorry, Twilight. I’m glad we can be friends still.” They pulled away after a few more seconds. Rarity’s look of relief was profound, but Twilight also felt like a weight had lifted from her conscience. Blueblood took the opportunity to rejoin them after looking between the two and seeing them apparently be fine again.

“So, have you two made peace?”

“Yes, we have, Prince Blueblood.” Rarity gave the two of them another smile, this time a more genuine one. “As a token of goodwill and to show that there are no hard feelings, I’ll make Twilight’s wedding dress at cost. I only wish to be able to advertise my business as the provider of the dress afterwards.”

Twilight shook her head. “No.”

Rarity took a step back, shocked. “No?”

Blueblood smiled. “What she means is that I will pay you handsomely for your hard work and still let you advertise your work.” Twilight giggled, leaning into him.

Rarity’s look of shock became one of joy. She laughed and wiped a forehoof across her brow. “Oh, darling. You really had me going.”

The moment settled and Twilight raised an eyebrow at the make-out session that Spike and Sweetie Belle were now having, caring nothing for whatever stares and whispers they were getting. She turned back to Rarity.

“Um. Can you explain that for me, please?”

Rarity looked over at her sister, a little shocked at how open they were with their new romance. She blushed and started her explanation.

“Well… umm. I explained to Spike that I was sorry for using his infatuation with me to get him to do tasks and errands for me that he wouldn’t normally have done. And I… umm… kinda got Sweetie to open up to him about how much she liked him. I gave them both my blessings to date each other with the understanding that I wouldn’t find it weird for a colt who liked me so much to suddenly start dating my sister because… well, we are a lot alike. Sweetie was shy… for about five seconds… but I think that kiss was really an icebreaker… made sweeter by how much of a gentledrake Spike has always been. I do hope that you don’t mind your little brother dating my little sister?”

Twilight hugged Rarity again. “They have my blessing too but aren’t you going to feel awkward when Blueblood gives Spike and Sweetie Belle titles? Titles that could have been yours?”

Rarity bit her lip but sighed. “Darling… I am too old for Spike. I’m the oldest of the six of us in our little circle of friends. Even once Spike becomes an adult… the age gap would be uncomfortable for most ponies. But him and Sweetie are around the same age, and she does like him. I think she was afraid to tell him how she felt because she didn’t want to get in between me and him, but once I explained to her that she should go for it, she found her courage. And I think once Spike lets go of the idea of being with me completely, he’ll be the best husband Sweetie could have ever asked for. I desire nothing more than the happiness of my sister.”

Blueblood smiled warmly. “That is generous of you, and I won’t forget it.”

Pinkie Pie stood on a stage complete with red curtains hiding the gifts Blueblood had obtained earlier in the afternoon.

“Okay everypony! I hope everypony has been having fun and we will continue the fun but first, Prince Blueblood has a few announcements to make. Take it away BB.”

Blueblood took the stage. “Thank you, Pinkie, for both the opportunity to speak and the cute new nickname.” Pinkie grinned like a madmare but didn’t interrupt.

He continued. “Citizens of Ponyville. I am pleased and honored to be able to meet you in a fun and less formal manner where I can let my mane down and be a normal pony. I know that many rumors about me paint me as a cold, unfeeling Prince looking after his own self-interests… but I can assure you that I work tirelessly for Equestria and that I have both a sense of justice and a sense of humor.”

He paused and allowed the crowd to murmur about that for a few moments before clearing his throat and continuing.

“First, in case the news hasn’t reached Ponyville yet, I’d like to announce that Countess Twilight Sparkle and I are engaged to be married.”

The whispering increased in volume and intensity. It was clear that the messengers hadn’t gotten to Ponyville yet despite being very close to Canterlot. Twilight joined him on stage, on the off chance that she’d have to answer some questions.

Rainbow Dash called out a question out of turn. “Since when is our Twilight a Countess?”

He turned to Rainbow Dash. “Twilight Sparkle was named Countess of Canterlot 10 years ago when she became Princess Celestia’s Personal Student. Furthermore… Twilight’s father, Night Light is Duke of Canterlot and Twilight’s mother, Twilight Velvet, is Princess of Unicornia. Twilight’s older brother, Shining Armor, is the Prince of the Crystal Empire from his marriage to Princess Cadence and Spike, Twilight’s adopted younger brother, will be eligible for a title once he is of age or once he’s officially engaged to be married.”

The town anxiously took in the information. The town’s librarian was the most important noble in the city and nopony had ever realized it until now. Spike spoke up.

“Your Highness… If it’s not too early to say so, I’d like to announce that Sweetie Belle and I are in love with each other and wish to get married!”

Blueblood snorted. “You’ve been dating for 20 minutes. You might want to slow down, young drake.”

Spike crossed his arms. “Yeah? And how long did you and Twilight date exactly?”

Twilight nuzzled into Blueblood and whispered. “Any answer you give, I’ll support.”

Blueblood nodded and responded. “Technically, we’ve been dating 10 years. We just kept it very quiet until yesterday.”

The town was surprised that a secret that important could have been kept for so long.

Sweetie Belle called out. “Well then… me and Spike have been dating ever since he came to Ponyville about 8 months ago. It’s just we didn’t call it dates until today when we were able to come out as a couple.”

Spike blushed at Sweetie’s assertion and Twilight giggled. “It must run in the family.”

Blueblood nodded in turn. “In that case, by royal decree, I name Spike, of House Sparkle, Viscount of Canterlot and his fiancé, Sweetie Belle is hereby Viscountess of Canterlot. If the engagement is cancelled for any reason, you both lose those titles, am I understood?”

Spike and Sweetie Belle bowed or curtsied in turn and said together, as if practiced. “We understand, your highness.”

Rarity pulled them both up in a big hug and squeezed them both tight, looking genuinely happy for them both. Blueblood continued.

“Second. I’d like to award the Elements of Harmony some gifts for their efforts to protect Equestria. Now… some ponies might not think that gifts or awards are necessary… but it’s not like they chose this life. They aren’t members of the military that volunteered to risk everything to protect ponies. The Elements picked them and it’s not an easy life. First up, Applejack.”

The town whispered excitedly as Applejack walked forward and got up on the stage beside Blueblood. Blueblood motioned to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie… what do we have behind curtain number one?”

Pinkie pulled a rope that opened the curtain and called out the prize like a gameshow host. “It’s a new plow! With the Super Plow 5000, the seasonal crop can be tilled and planted in a day instead of a week. With all this extra leisure time, Applejack will have more time to relax, help her friends or, if she can’t give up working hard, extra time to make us some Cider. Hint, Hint.”

Applejack’s jaw dropped at the sight of such an expensive gift. “Ah don’t know what ta say. Thank ya kindly, your highness.”

Blueblood smiled at the mare. “You are very welcome, Applejack. I knew that something that would help you on the farm would have the most value for you.”

He turned back to the audience. “Rainbow Dash… you’re next!”

Rainbow flew to the stage to stand beside him, and he motioned to Pinkie. “Pinkie, what do we have behind curtain number two?”

Pinkie pulled a second rope and the curtains opened to reveal… a piece of parchment.

Rainbow Dash groaned. “I got a letter?”

Blueblood smiled. “Not just any letter. A letter of recommendation to join the Wonderbolts. With this letter of introduction from the Prince of Equestria, the Academy will let you in early. Follow your dreams. Inspire everypony.”

Rainbow Dash trembled as she took the letter and read it, tears forming against her will. “This… this is the best gift ever. Thank you, so much.”

Blueblood nodded to her and gave her his handkerchief. “Your pride is leaking.”

Rainbow smiled wider, wiping the tears from her face, completely unfazed to be crying about something so cool.

Blueblood called to Rarity. “Rarity… your next.”

Rarity hopped up on stage as Rainbow Dash left and was bouncing up and down in anticipation for whatever the gift could be. To her surprise, he didn’t call for Pinkie to pull the third and final curtain cord but rather pulled a parchment from his own saddlebag.

“And for you, Rarity, I have a Writ of Execution…”

Rarity’s eyes went wide, and she fainted on the stage. Twilight snorted. “Drama Queen.”

Blueblood smiled. “Well… her apology was very late… And these types of writs do have two meanings… I can’t fault her for drawing the wrong conclusion.”

Twilight giggled. “Yeah… like you’d really execute an element of harmony. However, this writ of execution executes the exchange of a vast amount of money to pay for my wedding dress.”

The entire town exhaled as one, nopony realizing they had been holding their collective breaths.

Blueblood turned to Pinkie. “Can you take her home really quick and come back to finish the awards?”

Pinkie scooped Rarity up and disappeared in a flash just to appear just as quickly. “She’s all tucked in, boss.”

He shook his head. “How does she do that… oh well. Next Fluttershy…”

Fluttershy timidly gets on the stage and Blueblood smiles at her. He pulls out another piece of parchment and presents it to her.

“Fluttershy. This is the deed to a huge amount of land for you to build an animal sanctuary on. I know that you probably would have done this eventually on your own but now you don’t have to save up to buy the land… it’s already yours.”

Fluttershy hugged him. “On behalf of all the animals I’ll be able to help, thank you for this.”

He smiled as she left the stage. “And finally… Pinkie Pie. Pinkie… what’s behind curtain number three?”

Pinkie pulled the cord and the curtains opened to reveal… a larger Artillery cannon.

Blueblood smiled at her dropped jaw. “Pinkie… with this Party Artillery, you’ll be able to confetti bomb the next town over.”

Pinkie hugged him extra tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!”

The gifts for other important townsponies continued with a couple of gag gifts including a lifetime supply of hair dye for Mayor Mare and unlimited free sugar and flour for Sugarcube corner. Ponies laughed and the recipients smiled, happy to be part of the fun.

With that finished… the music and dancing continued. Pinkie Pie pulled Twilight into a dance on the dance floor and Blueblood winced at how uncoordinated Twilight was with the upbeat music. Her limbs just couldn’t seem to do anything with the offbeat of modern music.

And ponies were laughing at her. Laughing at his Twilight. He set his jaw.

Time to show these ponies what nobles can do.

Blueblood joined Twilight on the dance floor, letting her cry into his coat, and called Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, can we get a selection of Waltz of the Flowers, please?”

Pinkie grinned again. “On it, boss!”

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https://youtu.be/QxHkLdQy5f0]https://youtu.be/QxHkLdQy5f0

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Twilight gasped as she heard his request. He looked down at her. “Do you remember the dance lessons that Aunty made us take together?"

Twilight nodded. “Like it was yesterday. I loved dancing with you. We never said a word, but I could feel how close we were to each other when we danced.”

Blueblood smiled down at her. “Then… let’s dance, my love.”

Twilight positioned her head in the nape of his neck, waiting for the music to start. The music started and they pushed off each other, dancing in a focused, refined manner of nobles. They circled each other, never breaking eye contact. They weaved around each other in circles and when the time came, Blueblood dipped her, spun her and planted quick kisses on her cheeks as they passed each other in the coordinated moves of the dance. The seven minutes might as well have been a lifetime. By the end of the dance, the whole town roared in approval of the perfectly executed waltz.

Twilight trembled in Blueblood’s hooves, breathing hard but very happy to have not forgotten a single step from the waltz. He kissed her deeply, showing his love.

“What would you like to do now, my dearest?”

Twilight sighed into his chest. “I’m tired. Let’s go home.”

Blueblood smiled as he excused them both from the rest of the party, content to cuddle Twilight in her library bedroom.

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Chapter 7 - A Difficult Choice

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Twilight

The next three months passed by with a new routine that worked well.

To the surprise of the locals, Blueblood had stayed in Ponyville and lived with Twilight in the library while also working alongside the commoners of the town. While Blueblood didn’t like getting his hooves dirty, he did do a good job in learning what the average stallion had to do to earn a living first-hoof. To add to the realism of his efforts, he lived off the bits he earned from his part time work as well as Twilight’s royal stipend, which was smaller than he realized, while cutting himself off from the rest of his Princely wealth.

It was eye-opening for the Prince and Twilight was pleased to see him get out of his comfort zone because it did exactly what he hoped it would… it allowed him to relate to the common pony and interact with them without it being awkward.

As the time passed, plans were made for a Canterlot Wedding similar to what Cadence had enjoyed, which was no surprise to anypony.

After careful consideration, the general plan for living arrangements after the wedding was for Twilight to move into Canterlot Castle with Blueblood, with Twilight visiting her friends in Ponyville or her friends visiting her in Canterlot in between saving the world.

Dramatic, but probably true.

In the meantime, on the days that he didn’t take part-time work around the town, Blueblood held a local version of Day Court, allowing ponies in and near Ponyville to receive Royal help and Royal Judgement without having to go all the way to Canterlot. Twilight enjoyed helping with the process and was pushed out of her own comfort zone when Blueblood put her on the throne to practice rendering judgements… which allowed her to relate to being a ruling princess.

While they did this only 3 times a week, Spike was always on hand to record who the pony was, what they asked for, and what Blueblood or Twilight agreed to, which was sent off to Canterlot to be processed. Celestia had expressed a great deal of thanks to her nephew and future niece for doing this because it helped thin the Canterlot crowd for Day Court.

However, this weekend was different.

Blueblood had been recalled to Canterlot by Celestia to deal with pressing issues at court which had to take place in pony. When they had said their goodbyes to each other at the train station, Twilight hadn’t realized how lonely she would be afterwards. Blueblood was a solid fixture in her life now and him being gone left her feeling empty.

Twilight had never felt as alone as she had these couple of days but fortunately Celestia had sent her a book to read yesterday, and Blueblood was due back today. She burst from the library in song.

“Morning in Ponyville shimmers. Morning in Ponyville shines. And I know for absolute certain, that things are certainly fine…”

She continued her song with no pony really batting an eyelash and several ponies seemed happy to join in on her antics. She was just so happy that Blueblood was coming home today that she didn’t really care. At least… not until a torrent of water fell on her like a bucket had been dropped on her.

“Rainbow Dash! That’s not funny!”

Rarity looked over at her. “I’m terribly sorry darling… I’m not very good with the thundery ones.”

Seeing Rarity with Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark was far from expected. After a brief explanation that made no sense, Twilight got Spike from the library and started to investigate the situation only to discover that all her friend’s cutie marks had changed.

Returning to the library in a panic, Twilight remembered the spell book Celestia had sent her yesterday and concluded that the spell she had cast to try to figure out what it did had probably been the cause of the cutie mark mix up. Spike rapid fired several suggestions to fix the problem but she had to deny all of them because she just knew it wouldn’t work. Spike tried to cheer her up with the notion that their friends would like their new lives but that just made Twilight feel worse as she went to lay down on her bed.

She knew that wallowing in self-pity would solve nothing but… the door opening refocused her attention as Blueblood entered the library.

“Dearest, I’m home! Is it just me or are the pony’s acting stranger than normal today?”

She hopped off the bed and ran down the stairs, crashing into him with a big hug as her tears flowed freely. He held her tight. “What’s wrong? Beloved?”

Twilight quickly explained what was happening and waited for judgement. Blueblood sighed. “Magic can be dangerous; we both know that. But these are your friends. Just go help them… I know you can do it.”

Twilight walked over to the mantle of her fireplace with a picture of all her friends and she just seemed to glow with pent up magic as an idea occurred to her.

“You’re right. And I know just what to do!”

Blueblood smiled at her warmly. “I’ll stay here and out of your way. You got this… I believe in you.”

Twilight and Spike made the rounds and took the better part of the day to fix the problem but at the end of the day, she came rushing back into the library with all her friends to rewrite the spell.

Blueblood was as excited as the rest of Twilight’s friends as the spell was rewritten and inadvertently cast at the same time. The beams of magic from the necklaces of the elements of harmony hitting Twilight wasn’t part of the plan but when Twilight pinned her ears to her head with a small smile of acceptance, Blueblood’s breathe caught in his throat as he witnessed the moment she literally exploded into magical nothingness.

Pinkie’s gasp of surprise paled in comparison to Blueblood’s own heart wrenching wail of despair. All five girls gave Blueblood a big group hug as they worked to calm him down.

Blueblood looked at the blackened mark on the floor. “What am I supposed to do without her?”

Pinkie patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s go outside. We’ll think of something… my Pinkie sense tells me that she’s not dead.”

Blueblood sighed as he headed outside and Applejack nudged Pinkie. “That could have been phrased a mite gentler, sugarcube.”

The stallion and five mares stared at the beautiful night sky waiting for a sign, any sign that Twilight was okay. Within moments… a huge burst of magic with Twilight’s cutie mark flared and floated down from the sky. When it landed on the ground, it seemed to explode, causing a bright flash of light that revealed Twilight Sparkle, safe and unharmed… but now as an Alicorn.

Blueblood’s eyes went as wide as saucers as Rainbow Dash expressed joy at having a new flying buddy, Rarity expressed an honest shock at not knowing it was possible to transform into an Alicorn and Fluttershy causally commented that Twilight looked just like a Princess.

Celestia appearing and commenting that Twilight was a Princess now didn’t help Blueblood’s situation. As all her friends moved to bow to the newest Alicorn Princess, he did the same, falling to his knees and bowing as respectfully as he could. Twilight’s question of if there was a book on how to be a princess may have caused Celestia to chuckle but it did nothing for Blueblood.

Twilight quickly motioned for her friends to rise but Blueblood either didn’t see it or couldn’t physically do it. Twilight walked closer to her fiancé.

“Rise, my love.”

Blueblood shook his head. “I cannot, Princess.”

She frowned. “Please… rise.”

Blueblood bowed lower. “My Princess…”

Twilight looked at Celestia who just shrugged, and then at her friends who just seemed to look at each other completely at a loss of what to do. Twilight, left with no other options, physically pulled Blueblood up back into a standing position but he seemed so weak in the knees that the possibility of him collapsing again was a real possibility.

Twilight nuzzled into him. “It’s been a long day… lets go cuddle in the library and get some sleep. I bet these wings are pretty warm… what do you say?”

Blueblood smiled weakly. “After you, Princess.”

The inclusion of her new title bothered her. All the pet name practice was meant to allow them to speak to each other without any titles. It’s as if they lost all their hard work in an instant. Still, she was willing to admit that this new change was going to take a little getting used to.

They got comfortable with each other and fell into a deep sleep that lasted until early morning.

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Twilight woke up cold.

Why am I cold?

Patting the bed beside her revealed that Blueblood wasn’t there but that wasn’t anything new… he often got up extra early to handle things that he needed to take care of like a good reliable stallion would. As Twilight tried to drift off back to sleep for an extra 30 minutes of rest, a pounding at the library door forced her to get up.

As she opened the door, she was presented with a very upset Rarity. “Darling! What is the meaning of this!!!”

Twilight backed up a few steps with her ears folding back as she tried to process that was going on. “What is the meaning of what?”

Rarity pressed a letter into her hooves. “THIS!!! Why did cancel your wedding? The dress is almost finished!”

The blood drained from Twilight’s face as she read the letter, written in Blueblood’s horn writing, cancelling the wedding. Rarity realized that something was wrong when Twilight started to cry.

“I don’t understand… things were going so well…”

Rarity cleared her throat. “You mean… he didn’t tell you?”

Twilight sobbed into her hooves. “…No.”

Rarity looked around. “Maybe he left you a note that explains it?”

Twilight sniffled. “Maybe.”

They both walked into the dining room portion of the library and found a note on the table. With shaky hooves, Twilight opened the note and read it. She could swear she heard Blueblood’s voice.

‘My Dearest,

You are now more of a Princess in your own right than a marriage to me could ever make you. I’ve seen how my Aunty forsakes love because the slow march of time will allow you to outlive me as all of Auntie’s friends have passed on in time. I cannot do this to you. I can’t allow you to love me just to lose me as the years press on. I’m sorry. It may be best to rip the bandage off now and accept the truth that you are immortal, and I am mortal. I shall always strive to be your friend and I’ll be here in Canterlot to advise you on matters that you need help with… but I cannot hurt you with my impending death. Regardless of if that death is tomorrow or 100 years from now… it will hurt you all the same and I can’t live with the knowledge that my love will pain you so. May your future be bright and may you remember me fondly. Maybe someday you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me. Maybe someday… I’ll be able to forgive myself.

Yours, forever in friendship,

The Lonely Prince.’

Rarity read the note while Twilight cried.

Rarity put the note down and grabbed Twilight by the shoulders. “Darling… do you love him?”

Twilight sniffled and wiped the tears off her face and looked at Rarity confused. “What?”

Rarity repeated herself. “Do you love hm?”

She nodded. “With all my heart…”

Rarity hugged Twilight tightly. “Then go find him! There is an old saying. ‘If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours.’ He loved you enough to let you go. To not have to lose him in death. If you love him, then return to him. Hurry! Now!”

Twilight broke the hug and ran from the library heading towards the only logical place. The Train Station. As she arrived, she saw Blueblood sitting on a bench like any other pony waiting for a train. She called out to him.

“Blueblood!”

He rose from the bench only to kneel to her in respect. “Your Highness…”

Twilight found herself enraged by the royal treatment and slapped him. “Stand up this instant!”

He stood up, wide eyed and cheek sore but he obeyed. “Wha?”

Twilight lit into him. “How dare you cancel our wedding! How dare you try to spare me my feelings! I love you, you big idiot! I want you to spend the rest of your life with me. I don’t care that I’ll lose you someday. I want today. And every day that I’m blessed to have you! You can’t take that from me!”

Blueblood lowered his head to conceal his tears. “I love you, Twilight. More than anything. I don’t think I could allow myself to hurt you by dying.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “I’ll decide what I’ll allow to hurt me. And it certainly won’t be you. I will love you. And I will stay with you. And when you pass, I may be sad, but I’ll cherish the days I had with you! It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. I think Celestia has it wrong on this. She is denying herself the most important part of life. Love! Come back with me. Let’s continue. Please, my love. Don’t look at these wings and forget my face.”

Blueblood’s jaw dropped as he was forced to consider her point. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think that you would want me now that you are a Princess. Please, forgive me…”

Twilight kissed him passionately. “You are forgiven. But you will have to make this up to me with extra cuddling.”

Blueblood sighed in mock disappointment. “Oh, the horror. Woe is me for all this extra work…”

Twilight giggled as she guided him back to the library. The first thing she did was write Princess Celestia.

‘Dear Princess Celestia,

I have decided that I want to turn my coronation into my wedding. I wish to be crowned with my husband. Please make this happen.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle’

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Chapter 8 - A Royal Wedding

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Twilight

Rarity put the final touches on Twilight’s wedding dress with only moments to spare. Twilight was fidgeting in the dress, making it harder for Rarity to really call it done.

Rarity sighed. “Darling… the wedding and coronation is in 30 minutes. I want this to be perfect and you should want it to be prefect also so please stand still.”

Twilight stood as still as she could but was still trembling. She wasn’t expecting the coronation and her subsequent wedding to be the very next day after her ascendance to alicorn-hood. She had no idea how Princess Celestia had managed to move up the wedding from the next Summer Sun Celebration to today so quickly.

It’s as if she knew this was going to happen and had it planned.

Rarity continued speaking. “For the life of me I don’t understand why you didn’t want a traditional white wedding dress like Cadence had. Don’t get me wrong, darling, I like my creation… but pink and yellow with a white bow and white train doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

The question at least gave Twilight something to focus on. “Well… that question has multiple points of consideration to create a complete answer.”

Rarity nodded as she continued to work. “I’m listening…”

Twilight was grateful that she was able to stop trembling while she entered explanation mode.

“First of all, Blueblood’s coat is pure white. I didn’t want a white dress next to his white coat in the wedding pictures. Even with diamonds embedded in the dress, I don’t think it would have looked good. However… this dress is the same shade of pink as the pink streak in my mane and tail and the yellow is the same shade of yellow as Blueblood’s mane and tail, giving it an intentional semblance of love and unity by incorporating part of both of us into the dress itself. The white bow is a cute touch, as it also implies either manes or tails, and the white train is expected in a wedding dress. Second, even though I didn’t know when I ordered the dress that it would double as a coronation gown, it does work out because I would not have been able to wear a white dress to my coronation anyways. The train being white is fine, but the whole dress can’t be white. And finally, as is traditional, white wedding dresses are typically reserved for virgins or mares who want to pretend like they still are. I have no problem admitting that I am not…”

Rarity stabbed herself with the needle, stifling an un-ladylike curse. “Darling… that is something I did NOT need to know!”

Twilight giggled. “You asked.”

A light knock interrupted them, a voice called through the unopened door. “10 minutes, your highness.”

Rarity sighed. “Well… it’s as finished as it’s going to be. I still wished I had a chance to add gemstones to it.”

Twilight smiled at her friend. “Blueblood is all I need. Besides… I bet he’s going to rip this dress off me…”

Rarity placed a hoof on Twilight’s muzzle. “Ah, Ah, Ah! No details!”

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Blueblood

Blueblood stood at the altar, both of his Aunties and his cousin Cadence standing with him. Celestia was acting as the priestess in charge of marrying them, while Luna was the shield-maiden in charge of protecting the bride and gloom from harm, and Cadence was the best-mare. He knew that Twilight would walk down the aisle with father at her side and trailed by her coronation attendants, and then her father would join Twilight’s mother in the audience. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were once again acting as flower girls for the wedding, just like they had done for Cadence.

The mix of wedding and coronation was something that had never actually been done before. Even Prince Shining Armor had been crowned in private after the wedding.

Princess Celestia cleared her throat to start the proceedings. “Mares and Gentlecolts, we are here today to celebrate both the ascension of a new Princess as well as a Royal Wedding between that Princess and my dear nephew, Prince Blueblood. Twilight Sparkle has done many amazing things since she came to Ponyville after years of being my faithful student. She even managed to reunite me with my dear sister, Princess Luna. But now, she has done something that has never been done. She has created new magic. I was overjoyed to give my blessings for her union to my nephew even before her ascension and now I’m very hopeful for the future of our beloved nation. Let me present to you for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

The doors opened, revealing the Cutie Mark Crusaders dancing around throwing rose petals on the red carpet with Twilight following closely behind in her gorgeous dress, her father at her side and four attendants following them, holding banners and heralding the arrival of the new Princess. Night Light walked Twilight up to her husband and kissed her on the cheek before joining his wife in the front row. The attendants moved to line the aisle, still visible but out of the way. Twilight placed her hooves within Blueblood’s own and he leaned in for a kiss. Before Celestia could stop them, they were making out in front of all the assembled guests.

Cadence giggled at the couple’s antics, earning a glare from Celestia. Celestia cleared her throat in a vain attempt to get their attention, to no avail. Luna stage whispered to Celestia.

“Tia… just skip to the end.”

Celestia turned to her sister. “But Lulu… I worked hard on this ceremony… you know I try to make each one unique…”

Luna snickered. “It’s unique all right…”

Celestia sighed. “Oh for Equestria’s sake… I pronounce you Mare and Colt… just keep kissing each other.”

Just at that moment, Blueblood came up for air. “Oh, did you say something Auntie?”

Celestia face-hooved as Luna and Cadence laughed harder. Even the audience snickered. “I said… you may kiss the bride… again.”

Blueblood smiled and went back at it.

Celestia sighed loudly and started walking towards the open balcony. “Those two need a cold shower.”

When they finished their second kiss, the audience applauded loudly, and the happy couple was escorted to the balcony for Twilight’s speech. She kept it short but managed to include both her husband and all her closest friends within the speech. Afterwards… they took a chariot tour of the city together so everypony could see the happy couple. It was only a few hours, but it felt like it had lasted all day. While Twilight liked seeing the city and her ponies, she found herself happy to get back to the castle for the final part of the wedding festivities, post coronation.

Once everything was said and done, the evening reception allowed Twilight to meet other important nobles within the city and spend more quality time with both her new husband and their new combined family. It struck her as odd that she was now related to Cadence in two different ways, from both her marriage to Blueblood as well as Shining Armor’s marriage to Cadence. It’s as if it was simply meant to be.

They danced and chatted and smiled more than Twilight or Blueblood had thought possible.

Once the reception ended, Blueblood escorted Twilight to their new shared chambers… which was in actuality Blueblood’s old room that had been heavily modified to see to both of their needs. This time when they entered, the room started as a neutral sitting room or common room with a pathway that led to the main sleeping quarters. Three other adjacent rooms were accessible from the common room, the first as an office for Blueblood with a second separate combined office and lab space for Twilight with the final adjacent room that had been aside as a foal’s nursery and bedroom.

Twilight smiled at him. “So, this is what you were called away for… putting the final touches on our home?”

He nodded and picked her up with his hooves, carrying her across the room Earth-pony style to the threshold of the master bedroom, entering the room for the first time as a married couple. He laid her gently on the bed and lovingly took off her dress, careful not to damage it.

Twilight blushed fiercely but smiled brightly, a sly smile crossing her muzzle as she remembered an old, not so innocent book of Spike’s that she pretended to not know that he had.

“What are we doing on the bed, senpai?”

Blueblood was momentarily taken aback but chuckled at the question, knowing the answer. “This is where the magic happens.”

Twilight gasped, startled that she forgot something. “Oh! Magic! I almost forgot to cast the spell. We wanted a colt first, right?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just let nature take its course.”

She shook her head with a smile. “Nope. I promised you a colt first and a dozen foals in all. Let’s do this right.”

Twilight’s horn glowed as her body was infused head to tail with magic and then she proceeded to do the same for Blueblood so there was magic on both ends.

“There… this should be prefect. I should get pregnant tonight with our first foal. Are you ready?”

Blueblood was suddenly timid. “Are you sure this is okay? Did you cast the right spell?”

Twilight stuck out her tongue. “Of course, I cast the right spell. Don’t worry… what could possibly go wrong?”

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*Spoilers – Something goes horribly wrong. Stay Tuned for the next chapter*

Chapter 9 - Love and Marriage

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5 Months Later

Blueblood was wrapping up his work early today. He was largely caught up with his own work so it wouldn’t matter much. And today was the day that Twilight was due to be home from her latest set of adventures and he couldn’t wait to see his dearest again.

The reform of Discord had been a shock, with Fluttershy getting him to reform faster than anypony had imagined. Once he was settled into his new reformed lifestyle and confronted with the fact that Twilight was pregnant, the Spirit of Chaos proclaimed that he wouldn’t meddle with that because pregnancy was chaotic enough on its own. Twilight was forced to silently agree.

Having to return the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony was no less of a shock. The treasure chest with six locks was a fun mystery that became less fun as it became apparent that certain deeds earned a token of affection that would produce a key to open it. Blueblood couldn’t fathom what his dearest would have to do to earn a token of affection from somepony not her husband to open the chest.

As for Blueblood, he was further worried about the strain that Twilight was putting on herself to learn more combat and defensive magic in the wake of losing the Elements of Harmony, not completely trusting what the chest from the tree would do for her or for Equestria as a whole.

But no matter. She was coming home today and that was all that mattered. He was waiting in the common room when the main door opened and revealed his dearest Twilight Sparkle.

At five months pregnant, she had doubled in size. The expression ‘heavy with foal’ definitely applied as anypony looking at her would assume that she was nearing full term as opposed to barely being halfway. The doctors had assured them that the pregnancy was healthy with a single foal, and not twins or triplets, but the rate of weight gain was troubling. After having talked about it together the last time she was home, they had concluded that it was some sort of bizarre side effect of using too much magic during the conception of their foal.

Twilight was small for an alicorn, and he was starting to think that she might have been too young to get pregnant, despite being a legal adult. It was a worry that he kept to himself.

He trotted up to her and embraced her. “Dearest. Welcome home.”

Twilight returned the embrace but sighed. “I’m exhausted… may I rest?”

Blueblood frowned. “Of course… please, come with me.”

He led her to their shared bedroom and helped her get on the bed. She laid on her heavy stomach, spreading her wings outward as if to air them out. Blueblood frowned with greater concern as he circled the bed to stand in front of her.

“Your wings look horrible. Have you preened them recently?”

Twilight sighed. “No. I’m too fat to reach all of them so I stopped trying. I can’t even fly now, which bothers Rainbow Dash since she went through the trouble to teach me to fly. I’m too fat for anything.”

Blueblood clicked his tongue. “There is a huge difference between being fat and being pregnant. I think you’re beautiful.”

Twilight huffed. “I would expect you to say that. I’m a fat, ugly, useless Princess and I… Mmph!!!”

Blueblood’s kiss cut off her scathing opinion of herself. He leaned in closer and whispered into her ear.

“You are beautiful and I’m going to keep saying it until you believe it.”

Twilight sighed, too tired to argue but retorted softly. “Beloved… please stop. I look as disgusting as I feel. I mean seriously, have you ever heard of a Pegasi too fat to fly, even while pregnant? Even that weird bodybuilder pegasi in Ponyville with the tiny wings can fly. Scootaloo can’t fly yet but I’m sure she’ll fly someday, despite being half Earth pony.”

He decided not to argue with her and instead circled back around to her rear. He climbed up on the bed behind her and rubbed a hoof down her wings, smoothing out the good feathers and leaving the bad ones in disarray.

Twilight sighed harder. “I’m sorry, beloved. I know that we haven’t made love since our wedding night but you’re going to have to wait a little longer. I’m too tired to enjoy it.”

Blueblood nodded to himself, since she couldn’t see him. “That’s fine. I’ll keep myself entertained with something else.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed as she tried to work out what he meant. “What do you…”

Pluck.

Twilight’s gasp filled the room and her wings stretched out further, as if subconsciously hoping for more attention. His hoof slid down her wings to the next feather in need of preening.

Pluck.

That time, Twilight moaned. A good preening done by another pony was very intimate. And Blueblood clearly knew what he was doing. For the next two hours, he preened her. He found and plucked every last bad feather with his teeth, just like a pegasi stallion would have.

Twilight felt wonderful with the complete preening completed but silently cried herself to sleep.

Blueblood is cheating on me.

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3 hours later

Blueblood woke Twilight up for dinner and escorted her to the dining room. Twilight normally would have relished the chance to nuzzle into her husband as they walked, but she kept her distance this time. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything.

The dining room doors opened with magic with Celestia and Luna already in attendance. Celestia beamed when she saw them.

“Ah, my dear niece is back from her latest adventure. The chef made us a special meal to celebrate your return.”

Twilight smiled a timid smile. “The staff shouldn’t work harder just for me.”

Blueblood nuzzled her. “Everypony loves you, dearest. Now sit, I’m sure you’re starving now that you’ve rested.”

Twilight took her chair and Blueblood sat beside her. He served her from the communal table plates with the main course and sides, making sure she got a little of everything and extra of her favorites. He even took the time to hoof feed her like it was a date or special occasion.

Twilight didn’t stop him from all this extra attention but frowned a little.

He certainly acts like he still loves me…

Luna cleared her throat. “Twilight. Your wings look amazing. I had heard from the staff that they seemed a little unkempt earlier. Clearly, they were wrong.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “They weren’t wrong. My wings were in bad shape when I got home but Blueblood preened me. I’ll need to thank his pegasi lover for teaching him how to preen so well.”

The table froze. Her statement seemed to come out of nowhere. She turned to Blueblood.

“So… do I get to meet her?”

Blueblood’s eyes widened and he panted, trying to regain control of his emotions. Finally, he sighed and got up from the table.

“Aunties’. If you will excuse me, I am no longer hungry. I’ll be in my office if anypony needs me. But please, don’t need me.”

As he turned to leave, Luna spoke up. “Running away won’t fix this, nephew.”

Blueblood turned to face her, with tears in his eyes. “I’m not running away. I’m making a strategic withdrawal. I love my wife. And I would never do or say anything to hurt her feelings. Clearly, something is on her mind that we need to discuss, but I won’t do it while I’m emotionally unstable. She deserves all my love, after all.”

He left without further permission. Twilight sighed. “Did I ask the wrong question?”

Celestia cleared her throat with force. “What makes you think your husband is cheating on you?”

Twilight rubbed her tired eyes. “He preened me today, but I never taught him how. And I’ve been gone for over two months. If I’m being honest with our situation, we haven’t made love since our wedding night, and I’ve been gone more than I’ve been here for the last five months. I can’t blame him for seeking a lover and I’m not angry about it… I just want to know who she is. A pegasi lover makes the most sense given the evidence. What do Canterlot Nobles call them? Saltines? Blueblood has the wealth for a side mare.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “You can think of no other reason why or how he acquired these skills?”

Twilight frowned. “I know he loves me, so he would have acquired the skills for me. But I still don’t know who could have taught him other than a pegasi. Most stallions won’t let another stallion preen them so that logically only leaves a mare. Unless I’m missing something?”

Celestia drew attention to her wings. Her immaculacy preened wings. And cleared her throat gently.

“Pegasi mothers often teach their sons how to preen a mate. When they aren’t available… Aunts may teach their nephews. Blueblood had his heart set on a unicorn, or perhaps you specifically. He never needed to know how to preen a pegasi or an alicorn… until you became one. He’s worked himself to the bone these last five months. Waking up before my dawn and working well into Luna’s night. He has done all his own royal duties and most of yours… giving you time to rest the few times you’ve been home since you married. And recently, he pushed himself further to learn how to preen so he could take better care of you. I swear that he hasn’t slept with me. He stayed faithful to the mere idea of marrying you someday for ten years… other than not being intimate for an extended period of time… what else makes you think he would cheat on you in the five months since you’ve been married? Especially since your pregnant?”

Twilight’s face paled as she broke into flesh tears. “What have I done?”

Luna cleared her throat. “You accused him of cheating without merit and brought it up during a family dinner. Pregnancy hormones may excuse the event, but you need to be mindful in the future. Blueblood was really hurt from the accusation… I’ve never seen him walk away like that to calm himself. Clearly, he has more self-control than you.”

Twilight cried into her hooves while Celestia scolded Luna. “That wasn’t very nice, sister.”

Luna retorted. “The truth can hurt. But it is the truth. For example, isn’t it true that most ponies bring up an allegation of cheating to cover up the fact that they themselves are cheating? Does that foal you’re carrying even belong to my nephew?”

Twilight’s eyes widened at the accusation, but she physically couldn’t speak to retort it.

Luna nodded curtly. “See? It hurts to be baselessly accused. And the worse the accusation, the worse it feels. I swear… this is exactly why I invented the contraceptive spell in the first place. I’d like to be able to enjoy some fun with a stallion without becoming an emotional, overweight wreak.”

Twilight’s wailing grew louder under the harsh criticism as the truth of the words sank in and Celestia gave her sister a rare glare.

“Is that what you would say about me, dear sister?”

Luna snorted as she got up to leave the room. “Dear sister… with your weight… I hardly think anypony would notice if you got pregnant. However… with my athletic figure, still primed for battle… ponies would notice.”

Luna stuck out her tongue at Celestia, lessening the sting of the less than playful, but still joking retort. Celestia snorted silently, opting to continue this back-and-forth banter in private once the sun was lowered for the day. She turned back to her niece.

“Twilight. While I don’t agree with everything that Luna said… some of her points have merit. You jumped to the worst possible conclusion and asked him about it in front of the only family he has. If you love him as much as he loves you… then you need to talk about this, in private, and work it out.”

Twilight nodded as she tried to dry her tears. “What if the damage is too great? What if he can’t get over this?”

Celestia shook her head. “You’re jumping to the worst possible conclusion again, which is almost like steering yourself towards that possibility. Work. It. Out. I can’t afford a royal divorce on the front page of the Canterlot Star Newspaper.”

As Celestia left the room, Twilight found herself heartbroken and no longer hungry.

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Blueblood was at his desk, signing ten more documents that could wait until tomorrow but could just as easily be finished now while he had time. Maybe finishing this extra work now would help in the long run. At the very least it would give him more time to talk to Twilight and work out their newest problem without falling behind in their royal duties. After all… most of this paperwork was technically hers.

A gentle knock on his office door caused him to look up. “Enter.”

Twilight walked into the office with a tea service. “Good evening, beloved. I brought us some tea. Do you have time to talk?”

He nodded and used his magic to put away the paperwork back into ‘Still needs to be signed’ pile. He crossed his hooves across his chest while Twilight poured two cups of tea and added milk and sugar to both cups in accordance to how she knew they both liked their tea.

She used her magic to place the cup on a saucer in front of him. She shifted in her own seat nervously, unable to look him in the eyes. She didn’t know where to start.

The silence dragged on, punctuated with the sounds of breathing. Blueblood sighed and broke the silence first.

“You think I’m cheating on you because you see yourself in such a negative light that you can’t fathom how I still love you. Me learning how to preen a pegasus’ wings reenforced that because only a mare could have taught me. And since you don’t believe me when I say that I still think you’re beautiful, we have an impasse. Does that sum it up?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. Celestia explained to me that she taught you how to preen, and I am overjoyed that you loved me enough to learn extra skills to be able to take better care of me. I was also informed that you’ve been working even harder by taking care of most of my royal duties in addition to your own, so I have more time to rest while I’m home. I’m more than pleased with your efforts but I’m also concerned about you overworking yourself. I know… that being pregnant has made me extra emotional and my mood swings are unpredictable, but I want you to know that I’m sorry for accusing you of cheating. It wasn’t fair of me.”

Blueblood shook his head. “I went ten years without dating or making love. You think that eleven months makes a difference just because I’m married now? I can see how hard this pregnancy is on you. I want to support you better, but you’re always going on some adventure that I can’t follow you on. My heart breaks knowing that I’m failing you as a husband. Knowing that I’m not making things easier for you. I told you before we got married that I wasn’t expecting to be loved in whatever arranged marriage I ended up with and that even the smallest amount of your love would be better than nothing. That hasn’t changed.”

Twilight teared up as she got up and walked around the desk to embrace her husband. “But it has changed. I’m supposed to love you. I’m supposed to be here for you too. I’m supposed to give you the benefit of trust. I’m not supposed to make you feel bad. I’m not supposed to accuse you of random crass actions. I’m really sorry that I took the evidence and ran towards the worst possible outcome. Can you forgive me?”

He kissed her. “Of course. But… you know… this is just the first foal. We got to do this eleven more times.” He raised his eyebrows a couple of times in a suggestive manner.

Twilight laughed with released tension as she kissed him passionately. “Eleven more times. Let’s get through the first one first.”

Blueblood kissed her back.

“Of course, dearest, one day at a time.”

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Chapter 10 - A Beautiful Tragedy

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6 Months Later

Prince Blueblood was in the hospital wing of the castle, holding Twilight’s hoof. It had been a long 12 hours, but he had refused to rest or leave her side. The pain in his dearest’s eyes had nearly undone him more than once but he remained strong and steadfast for her sake.

Twilight cried out in pain as another contraction rocked her body. Blueblood took his free hoof to wipe the sweat from her brow with a dry towel and he gave her a gentle smile.

“You’re doing great, dearest. Just a little more.”

Twilight gave him a mock glare. “Next time you can carry the foal. I… urgh!”

Pain rocked her again as a stronger contraction hit her faster than she expected. The doctors rushed over.

“Alright, your highness. It’s time. Big push. One, two, three… push!”

Twilight closed her eyes tightly and yelled as she pushed, Blueblood holding her hoof the entire time. The doctors nodded. “Again… push!”

Twilight leaned forward on the bed, spreading her legs a little wider as she let out the most animalist sound she had ever heard, let alone uttered. “Gah! Urgh! AHHHH!”

Too loud to be a moan, Twilight was silently pleased that the noises leaving her sounded like ‘labor’ and not like ‘lovemaking’, as birthing sounds were sometimes described as. This was not pleasurable.

One of the nurses called out. “I can see the head! Be careful with the horn. One more big push and it’ll be over.”

Twilight clinched down and drew up the last of her will to push. With a grunt, she pushed again and felt the foal leave her, to be caught by the waiting doctor. She felt… empty. So empty.

Twilight’s relief quickly turned to shock and worry as a hushed silence fell over the room.

Twilight cried out. “My foal! Why can’t I hear my foal!”

The Princess’ question shocked the doctors back into action as they cleared her airway and gave the filly a slap on the rump to jumpstart her breathing. The nurses cleaned up the filly quickly and gave her to Twilight.

With a gentle clearing of her throat, the nurse said. “Congratulations… it’s an Alicorn filly.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as the filly was placed in her hooves. The horn was much longer than normal for a newborn unicorn and the wings seemed fluffier than the typical pegasi. The filly had a lavender coat and a two-tone mane that was a mix of purple and golden blonde. She was a perfect mix of her two parents.

Blueblood was smiling with the eager grin of a father already in love.

Twilight leaned in and nuzzled the crying newborn. “Hi there, Velvet Dawn. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Blueblood felt a tear roll down his cheek. “Ah. A mix of both of our mother’s names, hmm?”

Twilight nodded as she settled the filly onto a teat to suckle. “It feels appropriate.”

One of the doctors came over and cleared his throat. “Your highness… if I may have a minute?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course Doctor, is something wrong?”

The Doctor nodded slowly. “There was a lot more magical backwash with this birth than is normal for any of the normal three pony races. We would like to examine you for any damage while it’s fresh so that we may quickly treat anything that is treatable if anything is indeed wrong. I wish I could say this was routine, but this is the first natural born Alicorn birth I’ve ever heard of.”

Velvet unlatched from the teat she had been working on and Twilight moved the filly to her shoulder to burp her. The newborn almost immediately fell asleep on Twilight’s shoulder while being held. Twilight looked back up at the doctor expectantly.

“If you want to do an examination, you should do it now before the next feeding time.”

The Doctor conducted his magical scans, and then used the most modern technology they had available as well. Done with his part, he called over a second doctor who seemed to do the exact same thing, but perhaps it had been a little different? A third doctor tried his luck at an examination and then called over a Senior Nurse for a second opinion. After two hours of scans and having been examined by no less than four medical experts, Twilight had gotten the sense that something was horribly wrong.

Unable to take it any longer, Blueblood stepped up to speak. “Doctors… we’ve been patient but now is the time to explain why such a thorough exam was needed. Having observed the process, it feels like my wife is one exam away from being a walking talking medical experiment and she is not to remain on display like a brothel whorse. I expect an explanation and I want it now.”

The Doctor’s paled at the displeasure of the prince and quickly moved to cover up Princess Twilight to allow her to retain what was left of her modesty. Twilight gave a look of appreciation at finally being able to be covered up, given how cold it was in the hospital room. She may not have agreed with her husband’s methods but was secretly pleased with how quickly he moved to defend her honor, circumstances notwithstanding.

The Chief of Medical staff cleared his throat. “We are sorry about how this appeared to look, but we are professionals and I swear that we weren’t simply ogling her. As to the need for such a thorough examination… we wanted to be absolutely sure about what we were detecting before we was forced to deliver bad news.”

Blueblood walked back to his wife and held her hoof for comfort and support, their daughter still asleep on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight nodded.

“Tell me.”

The Doctor cleared his throat. “The magical backwash from the birthing seems to have short circuited your reproduction system. Barring it healing on its own, advances in medical science in general, or a miracle… I’m afraid… that there is a 99% chance that you will never be able to get pregnant again.”

Twilight froze. The room seemed to completely stop. The ramifications of what the doctor said was too much for her. Blueblood exhaled first.

“Very well, Doctor. You and your team are dismissed.”

The Doctor hesitated for just a moment. “We could try…”

Blueblood nearly sneered. “I SAID YOU ARE DISMISSED.”

The doctor’s bowed quickly and mumbled… “You have our condolences, your highnesses.”

Twilight burst into tears which in turn woke up Velvet Dawn who also burst into tears.

Blueblood tried his best to calm down Twilight. “Shhh. It’ll be okay.”

Twilight tried to get her crying under control if only to stop the filly from crying. Twilight placed Velvet on a teat, hoping that the filly would eat and then go back down for another nap. She looked up at her husband in despair.

“I promised you twelve foals… and now… we only have one. Our only one… ever.”

Blueblood placed a hoof under Twilight’s chin and got her to look up at him. He bent down and kissed her lightly.

“They are wrong. They have to be. There simply isn’t any data on it. My Aunts never had foals and Cadence hasn’t had one yet either. It’s too early to lose hope, my dearest.”

Twilight sniffled, mindful not to disturb the nursing filly. “And… what if they are not?”

Blueblood nodded with grace. “You have a full lab space in our quarters, and you learned the scientific method at the School for Gifted Unicorns, and you have yourself as a test subject. If the doctors can’t fix this, I have confidence that you can fix it yourself. There is nothing stopping you from going to university and becoming a doctor yourself. I’ll support you in whatever decision you make.”

Twilight looked deeply into her husband’s loving eyes and whispered. “…And if I can’t fix it?”

Blueblood nuzzled her to hide his own tears. “Then we have a beautiful tragedy.”

Twilight looked at her nursing filly, the joy of the birth mixing with the shock of bad news, making the day bittersweet.

Twilight mumbled. “Which is which?”

Blueblood, being hyper focused on his wife, heard her, and answered. “Tragic, that we may not ever have any more foals… but beautiful, that we have a daughter that we can love forever.”

Twilight looked back up at him, biting her lip. “I promised you a colt. I even used magic.”

Blueblood nodded. “And I wouldn’t trade our filly for anything. I love her, with all my heart. And I love you, with all my soul. If this is what fate has for me, I’ll take it, and I’ll be grateful.”

Twilight silently cried as she kissed her husband sweetly.

Velvet Dawn, oblivious to her parents’ pain, quietly fell back into slumber.

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Chapter 11 - The Power of Loss

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A month had passed, and Twilight was finally getting into the swing of being a mom, but she couldn’t have done it without her husband. She wasn’t sure how any mare raised their foals alone, let alone held down a stable job while doing so. Relying on friends, family, and co-workers seemed to be the answer for most of them but she just didn’t see how it worked.

As for her own little family, Celestia had offered them personal servants, even a full-time nanny, but Twilight declined. She wanted to raise the filly with her husband like normal parents without the trappings of royalty. It helped that Twilight didn’t have much in the way of royal duties and that Blueblood had gotten accustomed to handling both of their shares. Blueblood had admitted that very little extra in the way of duties had been added for Twilight to do, given that Twilight had been expected to continue to serve Equestria as the Element of Magic, which was more or less her full-time job as a ‘working noble’ even before she got her wings and became royalty.

Spending time with her filly eased the burden of knowing that she wouldn’t ever have another one, but the thought still brought her sadness. The medical staff had been sworn to secrecy. No pony had been told about Twilight’s inability to bear more foals, not even the other princesses, Twilight’s parents, or her friends. It was a hard secret to keep but she really didn’t want any extra pity. Her husband did a good job of being stoic on the matter and provided her with all the support that she needed without any false platitudes.

Be that as it may, taking care of her filly was the important thing to Twilight right now… except for getting more sleep. Twilight was running on fumes most days, like most new mothers seemed to be. Buying a breast pump to pump fresh breast milk to put into foal bottles so Blueblood could feed Velvet Dawn had been the best idea of the last 2 weeks. It allowed him to feed her and bond with her while Twilight caught up on some much-needed sleep. As hard as her husband worked, taking care of a newborn was more than a full-time job.

Still… things were finally settled and all that was left was to have a boring uneventful day off with her husband. Even better! Cadence was in town and Twilight couldn’t wait to spend time with her sister-in-law.

There was a knocking on their chamber door and Twilight rushed to answer it. To her disappointment, it was a Royal Guard. “Can I help you?”

The guard bowed. “Your Highness… Your presence has been requested in the throne room by Princess Celestia.”

Twilight sighed. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”

She closed the door and mentally prepared for the meeting. Even being an alicorn princess herself didn’t soften the presence of her mentor, despite Twilight now being her niece. Did Celestia find out about Twilight’s barrenness? Could she lie about it if asked directly? Did she want the problems that came from lying about something this important…

She called to Blueblood. “Beloved… our Auntie has called me for the meeting in the throne room. I’ll be back soon.”

A loud raspberry on the tummy of a squealing filly was her answer. She smiled at her husband and daughter, playing on the floor without a care in the world. She knew that Blueblood had put in a lot of extra hours this week taking care of his work, her work, and even being proactive on other issues so that he could have one full day off to spend with his family. She didn’t need to be the princess of love to know that his love for their family was absolute.

The trot to the throne room wasn’t nearly long enough to put her mind at ease but she walked into the room with the grace of a princess. Celestia turned to her and sighed.

“Thank goodness you’re here. I need to bring you up to speed on what’s been happening.”

Twilight was taken aback by that phrasing and hedged a reply. “I haven’t been gone that long. What’s happened?”

Celestia stepped forward. “Lord Tirek has escaped Tartarus. He is a villain of Equestria’s past that in many ways was worse than Nightmare Moon. He is capable of absorbing ponies’ magic, and he grows in strength every time he captures more magic. Since you’ve been on maternity leave, I sent Discord to handle him… but Discord has betrayed us. I am afraid that we no longer have the induvial power to stop him… so to prevent Tirek from getting our magic, we must relinquish it.”

Twilight gasped. Of all the things to happen… this had to be the worst possible thing. While the thought of Discord betraying them didn’t actually surprise her much, the idea of losing her magic was terrifying. Magic was her talent. The one thing apart from being a Princess that made her what she was.

She bowed. “Of course… if you believe that it will keep Equestria safe… I’ll gladly give up my magic.”

Luna shook her head. “You misunderstand us. Magic cannot simply disappear… it must be hidden for safe keeping. We need you to take our magic and keep it safe.”

Twilight’s level of concern was growing. “I can barely control my own Alicorn magic, and I didn’t have a lot of chance to practice while I was pregnant. Are you sure this is wise?”

Cadence stepped forward and nodded. “You are the Element of Magic. I can’t think of anypony more capable of this.”

The encouragement of her sister-in-law did help, and Twilight nodded in acceptance. “Alright. I’m ready.”

The three other princesses took their places and infused Twilight with their magic. It honestly didn’t seem like it should have been that easy to transfer Alicorn magic and yet it’s as if the runes needed for the transfer were already craved into the floor as if Celestia had foreseen the need for this. The magic infused with Twilight, and she was twitching from the extra power. Celestia, Luna and Cadence looked drained.

Twilight tried to steady herself. “This feels… weird. I wish I had time to slowly acclimate to one extra set of powers at a time instead of taking all three sets at once. If I must face Lord Tirek directly… do you have any instructions?”

Celestia was barely able to manage a nod. “With all the rest of the magic of Equestria at his disposal, he will be a difficult foe to defeat if battle is necessary, but he should be beatable as long as he doesn’t take Discord’s magic too. If he does take Discord’s magic… even the power of four Alicorns probably can’t defeat him. It may require a diplomatic solution at that point.”

Twilight twitched again as magic surged through her again. “I don’t think he’ll be willing to negotiate if he thinks, or worse, knows, that he can’t be beaten. I suppose vested with all the Alicorns powers in existence, except for my daughter’s power… I’ll have to see what happens.”

Luna nodded weakly. “Ideally, we’d like to see him re-imprisoned in Tartarus… but if you find a way to kill him…”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “Luna!”

Luna glared back weakly. “No sister. Mercy has its place, but Tirek is irredeemable. If he so chose to, he could have used his freedom to return to his homeland but instead he chose to attack us again. We don’t have the time or power to keep facing the same threats over and over again. And worse still is Velvet Dawn!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What about my daughter?”

Luna looked back at Twilight. “Unicorns use their magic automatically and subconsciously at an internal level during the first six months of their lives to keep themselves alive while the rest of their vital organs stabilize. It’s a problem unique to unicorns. However, your daughter as an Alicorn, may or may not have the same magical dependency. Nonetheless, there is a fifty-fifty chance that if Lord Tirek steals your daughter’s magic, that not only will he gain the power of an alicorn… but the sheer loss of her magic may kill her. Tread carefully, Twilight Sparkle, for your daughter’s life hangs in the balance.”

Twilight’s face took on a look of shock that fell into a painful determination. “I’m going to retreat with my family to Ponyville. Should I tell Blueblood?”

Cadence shook her head no. “I don’t believe that would be wise. He stands no chance against Tirek so you shouldn’t give him any reason to make Blueblood want to confront him. Just convince Blueblood to watch over Velvet while you do the fighting, like always.”

Twilight took her leave from the throne room and quickly returned to her family quarters. Spike was staying in the castle also, but he had his own accommodations now. Fortunately, Spike was there in the main chambers with Blueblood and Velvet when she came back.

Blueblood smiled at her. “So, how did it go?”

Twilight shook her head. “No time to explain. We need to get to Ponyville now and start preparing for battle.”

Spike’s eyes widened. “Like… right now, rig…”

A flash of purple magic engulfed the whole room and a couple of blinks later they were standing in the Golden Oak Library in Ponyville.

Velvet giggled and made a motion to ask for more. Twilight smiled grimly. “I’m sorry Velvet… I can’t play with you right now. Mommy has an important bad guy to beat.”

Blueblood shook off the magic. “Which bad guy this time?”

Twilight looked towards the door leading out to Ponyville. “Tirek.”

Blueblood froze in place and then nodded. “Very well then. Off you go. I’ll make preparations.”

Twilight turned to face her husband and saw that he was already drawing a rune on the floor. “What is that?”

Blueblood didn’t break eye contact with the chalk. “Shield Rune. Tied into my own magic, I’ll have a shield stronger than your brothers. My horn will shatter, and my heart will stop before I let anything harm our daughter.”

Twilight gulped. “What are you talking about?”

Blueblood’s brow creased with focus and sweat started to form. “I’ve read extensively on the villains of Equestria’s past. I know what Tirek is capable of. If he takes Velvet’s magic, she’ll die. I won’t let that happen. So long as I draw breathe, she will be safe. Now go. I can’t activate the shield until you’re outside.”

Twilight was torn at this moment, but she had to know. “How do you know for sure?”

Blueblood looked into her eyes and seemed to peer into her very soul. “Call it fatherly instincts. Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to protect her. I know I can’t directly face Tirek and I would never stand in your way or make this harder on you. If I can give you the peace of mind of knowing that Velvet is safe, then you can focus on the battle and you can win. Go. Do what you do best and know that I love you.”

Twilight closed the distance and gave her husband a hug and kiss. “I love you too. Keep your head down once that shield is up. Let’s not take any chances.”

Twilight headed outside with Spike and Owlowiscious. Twilight had originally regretted leaving Owlowiscious in Ponyville, but this was his home, and he had a right to not go to Canterlot with the rest of the family. She turned to both of them.

“Okay, Tirek will be coming soon. Owlowiscious… I think you should go hide in Whitetail Woods. Spike… you should round up the girls or go hide in Sugarcube Corner, either way, keep yourselves safe. Please.”

They both nodded and took off, acknowledging the seriousness of the situation. Twilight flew up to the balcony of the library and used the telescope to try to spot Tirek. Unfortunately for her, Tirek spotted her around the same time that she spotted him.

Tirek charged up a gigantic ball of red magic and shot it directly at her. She barely had the chance to leap out of the way of the blast only to realize that she realistically should have put up a shield to protect herself and the library behind her.

She looked back at the library to see a smoking ruin. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sheer amount of destruction.

The entire top half of the tree was gone. The front door looked intact, but just barely. From the now exposed top of the open roof, she could see the faint golden glow of Blueblood’s shield.

It flickered. And failed.

The shield failed.

The shield… died.

Blueblood was dead. Velvet Dawn was dead. Her only foal…

Twilight just knew that the worst possible thing that could have happened had come to pass.

She heard a gut-wrenching scream that just tore the soul out of her. Never in her life had she ever heard such a sorrowful sound. The pain… was vivid. Like the world was ending. She looked around herself for the source of the scream only to realize that she was the source.

Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. The five stages of grief.

Denial… no… they can’t be dead.

Anger… how could Tirek just randomly destroy a building that might have ponies in it?

Bargaining… she would do anything to have them back.

Depression… there was no bringing them back… they were gone.

Acceptance…

~~Acceptance.~~

No Acceptance.

Revenge. Yes… revenge was the only answer.

Twilight felt a shift in herself and looked at her reflection in a nearby window. She was on fire with dark flames. Her mane flowed with unstructured magical power. Her eyes were slits that reminded her of Nightmare Moon. With a cackle of raw dark power, she knew who she was, and she knew what she had to do…

She was Dark Sparkle… and she was going to kill Tirek.

#2132111 - safe, edit, editor:lyinx, twilight sparkle, alicorn, pony, armor, crown, female, flying, horn, jewelry, mane of fire, nightmare twilight, nightmarified, not daybreaker, older, older twilight, princess twilight 2.0, rapidash twilight, recolor, regalia, simple background, solo, spread wings, tail of fire, transparent background, twilight sparkle (alicorn), ultimate twilight, wing armor, wings - Derpibooru

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Chapter 12 - The Return of Harmony

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Dark Sparkle had a goal and a target. Tirek. She was going to show that homewrecking, foal murdering centaur why you shouldn’t mess with an alicorn. Let alone a dark one.

She was poised as she closed the distance on Tirek, however her thoughts were getting the better of her.

Luna became ‘Nightmare Moon’. Celestia is rumored to have the ‘Daybreaker’ alter-ego. And now I’m ‘Dark Sparkle’. I wonder what Cadence would become if pushed too far? Equestria forbid that it ever must happen. I suppose it doesn’t matter what Velvet Dawn could have become… she was too young to be anything but a baby… my baby. My little filly!

Dark Sparkle’s anger continued to overtake her as she became close enough to teleport. She reappeared directly under Tirek and looked upwards. He didn’t seem aware of her presence, which wasn’t a surprise because he was as arrogant as most villains. Looking for a point of attack, she instantly found her target… his massively proportionate stallionhood.

Blasted thing is as big as a house. Still… the weakness at the base of the scrotum and along the sheath is the same as all equines. Every mare who ever took a self defense class knows where to put the knife to create a gilding if the situation calls for it. I’ll just have to use magic… and I need to ask Luna about getting a sword to keep in a magical storage portal for emergencies. Not that this will ever happen again. Oh well… if I can’t have foals then neither should he.

Her normal lavender magic was tainted to a darker royal purple with black tendrils interweaved as the beam launched and focused at the exact point of no return, lobbing off the huge piece of meat. Tirek screamed as he jumped back, exposing Dark Sparkle to the light of day and leaving behind a very obvious piece of equipment.

He roared, pain and displeasure overtaking him. “What are you doing!!!”

She smiled at him with a look of evil triumphant. “What does it look like? I’m having a weenie roast! You can have the first bite once the summer sausage has finished cooking.”

His eyes widened at what he was seeing, and he even took a moment to look underneath himself to verify the truth of his situation. He roared in pain, anger and disbelief as his counter magic forced her back, but only for long enough for her to redirect another high-powered energy spell that when met by the force of Tirek’s magic, caused widespread destruction.

The part of her that was still Twilight Sparkle was grateful that the battle was taking place way outside of Ponyville. For better or worse, the library was the only building in town damaged or destroyed by the initial attack.

Content to allow Tirek to wear himself out while she tested the limits of her power, she was surprised that he had the power to use her to punch a hole in a mountain and she was even more surprised that all it did to her was tickle.

She would have never known that pain could be ticklish. Maybe there was something to say for Minotaur mating habits after all.

Having gained a better appreciation for pain, she decided that it was time to properly inflict some. Teleporting back into place, she focused her magic into a condensed beam that would inflict a massive amount of damage to a small, precise spot. Aiming and firing, she shattered the top part of Tirek’s left horn. To her disappointment, he could still use his magic, but doing so seemed to now cause him pain.

He very well may have been an even match or even stronger than her as a regular alicorn, even with the power of four princesses, but as a ‘darkness’, he was overmatched, and they both knew it. He drew out his last trump card.

“Princess… do you want your friends to be returned to you safely? Surrender your power.”

All five of her friends and Discord were encased in bubbles, waiting to be set free.

First my family and now my friends. I won’t allow this to continue.

With a scream of rage, she yelled “NO!!!!” and powered up the mother of all magical beams, launching it into Tirek.

He raised a shield that held for a few moments before starting to weaken. Left with no choice, he released his six captives and redirected the magic he had been using to encase them to reinforce his shield.

It did no good.

He was being pushed further and further and closer to defeat. Left with no other choice, he opened his mouth to try to absorb her power.

Unfortunately for him, Dark Sparkle was no fool and knew what he was trying to do. Ending the magical beam, she cast a spell to reverse the polarity of Tirek’s magic, causing him to expel all the magic he had absorbed so far.

Discord regained his chaos magic. Pegasi could fly again. Earth Pony strength returned. And Unicorns regained their spells.

And Tirek… Tirek got smaller and smaller as his magic released. In no time at all, he was a feeble old man as small as a colt.

Dark Sparkle walked up to the powerless old Centaur. “Tirek. For crimes against pony-kind, as a Princess of Equestria, I sentence you to death. Do you have any last words?”

Tirek snorted. “You wouldn’t dare. No true princess would.”

Dark Sparkle snorted. “I am a darkness. Now die!”

With the cast of a teleport spell, Tirek vanished. Only Discord looked directly at the sun and gulped.

She walked towards her friends. “Sorry to keep you ladies waiting… but I had business to handle.”

Rarity shook her head. “Twilight?”

Dark Sparkle shrugged. “I am Dark Sparkle. I was Twilight… before Tirek killed my husband and daughter. Anyway. Equestria is safe. Magic has been restored and Tirek is gone.”

Rainbow Dash looked around. “Is he coming back?”

She snorted. “No. I sent him to the sun. He isn’t coming back.”

Pinkie Pie started jumping around in circles, excited. “Ohhh, Darky, so you imprisoned him in the sun for the next 1,000 years like Celestia did to Nightmare Moon?”

Dark Sparkle looked at the pink mare with a slight blush. She wasn’t expecting her friends to casually acknowledge her new form as a darkness without some pushback.

“No… I simply sent him to the sun.”

Apple Jack rubbed the back of her head. “Ah’m afraid that ah don’t understand the difference.”

Discord cleared his throat for the first time. “Dark Sparkle teleported Tirek to the surface of the sun, where he was cooked alive and reduced to less than ash. He is as dead as dead can be and he will never ever bother Equestria again. Tirek was right when he said a Princess of Equestria wouldn’t do something like that… but a villain would. Tirek failed to realize that Dark Sparkle, despite being a ‘villain’, was willing to call herself a Princess and not a Queen or Empress.”

She looked at him. “I am a Princess. I shall always be a Princess…”

Her smile became something feral, and she called out to him sweetly…

“Disssscorrrdddddd… You have betrayed us… We have business to settle, you and I.”

Discord gulped and he turned to Fluttershy. “I am sorry for how I betrayed you. You deserved all of my friendship and I just never really seemed to understand what I was given. They say that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence… what they never say is that the grass might be fake. Remember me fondly…”

He gave Fluttershy a hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning back to Dark Sparkle. “I am ready.”

Dark Sparkle raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

Discord paused. “Yes?”

Fluttershy spoke up. “You’re not going to hurt him, are you?” She hid her eyes behind her mane, but she very much wanted to stick up for Discord, despite his misdeeds.

Dark Sparkle embraced Fluttershy. “Shhh… I could never do to you what he did to me. This will be painful, but fun to watch.”

She turned back to Discord. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to something far, far worse. I’m going to tolerate the shit out of you. I’m going to smother you in friendship. I’m going to spend so much awkward time with you that you will regret ever having betrayed us. And then. Once you think it’s finally over, I’m going to use my magic to turn you into a filly and I’m going to dress you up in my daughter’s dresses. And we’ll play together, and I’ll feed you my breastmilk in foal bottles, and change your diapers, and love you like you’ve never been loved before. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

Discord blinked, snapped his fingers, and vanished.

Dark Sparkle raged. “DISCORD!!! YOU CAN’T HIDE FROM ME FOREVER!!!!”

Discord replied, although remained invisible. “I’m not going to hide forever. Just until you regain your senses. Maybe you should go check on the town?”

She huffed, lowered her head, and started walking.

Her friends fell in step with her. Nopony had anything to say. They all understood the ramifications of Twilight Sparkle now being Dark Sparkle, but they also understood how it happened. They all had respected Blueblood in their own way, and they all adored little Velvet Dawn. The idea of them being gone just didn’t sit well. Losing your entire family could push anypony over the edge, alicorns included.

As they entered the town proper, it was a ghost town. Everypony was still in their homes, fearful of leaving. Dark Sparkle regretted her part in the fear they still felt but she could do nothing. The wind seemed to carry a filly’s laughter and a stallion’s chuckle.

How dare the elements taunt me with the memories of the sounds of my happy family playing outside.

She turned the corner and looked at the ruins of the library, only to freeze in place.

Blueblood and Velvet Dawn were playing together outside the ruined library, the door having been forced open. The scene was surreal, but they were too solid to be ghosts.

She cried out. “Beloved!!!”

Blueblood looked up and smiled. Velvet Dawn also looked up and smiled. Blueblood used his magic to place the filly on his back and he rushed to close the distance, meeting her halfway.

He nuzzled her. “Dearest. I’m so happy. You look different… did you do something to your mane?”

She barked a laugh but returned the nuzzle. “I fell to darkness… I thought I lost you. I saw your shield fall…”

Blueblood kissed her. “Me and Velvet hid in the basement. We kept our heads down, just like you told us. When the magic beam destroyed the library, it destroyed my shield rune too… so I had to pull the shield back to better protect us. I’m sorry if it looked like it failed. I didn’t mean to worry you, dearest.”

Tears pricked her eyes as she openly cried, Blueblood doing his best to comfort her.

She wailed. “How am I supposed to fix this? I can’t be a loving mother as a darkness, can I?”

Blueblood stepped forward. “I can fix it.”

She looked at him. “You can? How?”

He smiled a calm smile. “Kiss me.”

Dark Sparkle kissed her husband and a peace washed over her. When she opened her eyes, nothing had changed.

He looked disappointed. “Ah. I thought I could fix it.”

She couldn’t bring herself to chastise him. After all, love did win the battle against the Changelings. There had to be something…

“Mama”

She looked down at Velvet, eyes widened at her daughter’s first word. The filly held up a shiny rock. It was pretty and the filly was offering it up to her as a present. It may have been an ordinary rock, but to Dark Sparkle, it may have been the greatest treasure ever.

As she took it into her grasp, magic seemed to wash over her, and it shined into her eyes.

Apple Jack asked quickly. “Is that the last one?”

She nodded. “I think so, let’s go find out!”

Dark Sparkle placed her filly on her back as they raced to the Tree of Harmony and presented the shiny rock to the chest. It transformed into a key and unleased a mighty power. All five of the girls took on a more powerful shine and it cleansed Twilight Sparkle of her dark form. All of the Alicorn Powers released from Twilight, only leaving her own, and it freed the other Princesses from Tartarus. And a castle seemed to grow from the ground in Ponyville…

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Princess Celestia introduced Twilight to her new castle and dubbed her, officially, the Princess of Friendship. The townsponies came out and the girls sang a song about friendship. Rebuilding began and all was right with Equestria… except for one thing…

Twilight Sparkle called to order the first meeting of the council of friendship.

“Okay. Everypony is here. So… umm. I feel like I have a lot of explaining to do but I don’t know where to start. Anypony have a question?”

Apple Jack called out. “Ah have one. I can understand how losing family is hard… but I don’t understand how it drove you into darkness. Can you explain that?”

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And Twilight Sparkle explained her condition that prevented her from having more foals.

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Apple Jack sighed. “I’m sorry I asked…”

Twilight raised her head. “No. It was a honest question that deserved an honest answer. I’m sorry that I didn’t say something as soon as I was told about it, but I didn’t want pain to overshadow what was supposed to be joy. I love my daughter and I love my husband, but she is going to be my only one and the thought of losing them…”

Rarity interrupted. “We understand, darling. Nopony would want to see what would happen if I lost Sweetie Belle. I trust that this is a secret you want to keep?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. I don’t intend to tell my parents or the other princesses, but I do want to try to fix my condition. I would like to ask you girls for help. I need to study healthy reproductive organs and I’d like to study at least one set earth pony, pegasi, and unicorn both before and after birth, if possible.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “You can study me all day, and my mom would probably help too… although she might be older than you want to work with.”

Apple Jack piped up. “Both me and Apple Bloom would be glad to help in your research. As to Earth Pony moms… Mrs. Cake or Cream Heart could help you.”

Rarity spoke up. “Sweetie Belle and I would gladly help you but there are no unicorn moms in Ponyville…”

Twilight sighed. “I guess I could ask my own mom for help, but I don’t want to tell her…”

Fluttershy spoke up. “A mother’s love is absolute. You know this…”

Twilight’s eyes teared up. “You’re right…”

Pinkie Pie tried to console Twilight. "Aww. Don't be so sad... we have a huge summer sausage to eat!"

Twilight smiled awkwardly. "Knock yourself out.... I'm not eating that."

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Chapter 13 - The Slow March of Time

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The next six months passed by with incredible speed. Twilight got used to having both her Castle of Friendship in Ponyville as well as her family quarters in Canterlot Castle. The main difference was that Blueblood now had an office in the Castle of Friendship, almost identical to his office in Canterlot, so he could still perform his royal duties even while in Ponyville. This was great news because that meant that he and Velvet Dawn could now travel to Ponyville with Twilight and the family was never apart. As such, they spent half their time in Ponyville and the other half in Canterlot. This also allowed Twilight to start her unofficial research into her condition.

Twilight had quietly gathered volunteers from all three tribes for her ‘wellness study’ in reversing damage that prevented a mare from conceiving following a traumatic birth. Against all odds, even Twilight Velvet was excited volunteer to help her daughters research. All the mares involved in the study had been happy to help the newest Princess and none of them were told that it was to fix Twilight’s own problem, which was still a closely guarded secret.

The shock came when Twilight’s sister-in-law, Princess Cadence, announced that not only was she pregnant, but she was due. With her family in tow, Twilight rushed to the Crystal Empire. Although Twilight had wanted to get there before the birth, they arrived too late.

Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Blueblood were introduced to a three-day old alicorn Flurry Heart, who acted more like a toddler than a newborn, much like Velvet Dawn had acted at that age. Flurry Heart was immediately drawn to Velvet Dawn, and they settled down to play together, completely lost in their own little world, which prevented loud magical outbursts.

Celestia and Luna exchanged pleasantries with Cadence and Celestia remarked off handedly. “Two new alicorn fillies. I regret not having children sooner if every alicorn can bear alicorn offspring. What stayed my hoof was me not wanting to outlive my own children.”

Twilight winced. “It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Velvet can be a hoofful when she’s upset. I’m glad that Flurry seems to like her or there might have been a magical war in here.”

Shining Armor laughed nervously. “Is that why you still only have one? I know that mom is expecting twelve out of you since you made those promises to Blueblood. But… in the meantime, maybe we should place the crystal heart in a safe place until things calm down? If anypony could break it, it would be an alicorn. Or two alicorns… in this case.”

Cadence quickly teleported the crystal heart to a safe place and then came back with a smile on her face. “I’m glad my husband knows how to tackle the really important problems… or has the paranoia to prevent them in the first place.”

Celestia and Luna were shown to guest quarters almost immediately to give the rest of the family time to catch up. Twilight asked the first question that popped into her mind. She tried to hide her nervousness but failed completely as her tone suggested more than mere curiosity.

“So… did the doctors examine you after you gave birth to Flurry? Were there any… complications?”

Cadence frowned. “I don’t remember getting any extra treatment or exams. It all seemed to correspond to what I knew about normal birthing practices. Should they have done extra tests?”

Twilight looked almost shocked. She deflected the question with a question if her own. “May I magically exam you? It might help with my side project…”

Cadence smiled widely. “Of course! I heard all about it from Celestia. It’s a wonderful study that you’re doing, and it’ll help a lot of mares.”

Twilight nodded. “I’m going to cast the spells. Hold still.”

Cadence held still while Twilight cast a series of spells on Cadence. The spells were very medical in nature and left Candence wondering how and when Twilight had learned them. When the last scan was finished, Twilight’s face became drawn and with a single tear escaping her eyes to roll down a cheek, she ran away.

Blueblood called to her. “Dearest!” Twilight didn’t even look back as she continued to escape.

Shining raised an eyebrow. “Okay… I’ll be the first pony to admit that my sister is weird but that goes beyond normal Twilight weirdness. Can you explain what’s going on, Blueblood?

He winced. “I could… but it’s not my secret to tell. I can say that I could hazard a guess as to why she ran off like that, but if I’m wrong, it would cause unnecessary pain and heartache. You’ll have to ask her yourself… in private.”

Blueblood moved to gather his daughter and rejoin his wife, but Cadence stopped him. “Wait. We’ve been cousins since Celestia made me her niece and I took care of Twilight as a foal long before she got her wings. Whatever this may be is clearly hurting her. I am her friend and sister-in-law. Her brother is also willing to help. Please tell us what’s going on!”

Blueblood sighed. “I will tell you… under one condition.”

Shining nodded. “Name it.”

Blueblood took in a deep breath and held it, slowly exhaling to release tension. “You can’t confront Twilight about the information. Let her come to you and then act surprised to hear it, as if it’s the first time. If she chooses not to say anything, you will let it rest, as if you never learned the information. Betray me on this and I will never trust you or even speak to you again.”

Cadence stiffened. “That’s… rather harsh. Is it that important?”

Blueblood narrowed his eyes at his cousin. “It’s that sensitive. Only I and the other five Elements of Harmony know, other than the medical staff present at the birth.”

Cadence nodded slowly and whispered with concern. “Tell me.”

Blueblood sighed and lowered his head. “The birth of Velvet Dawn damaged Twilight’s reproductive system. The amount of magic required to give birth to an alicorn short-circuits everything down there, other than still being able to experience pleasure. Giving birth to an alicorn might kill a non-alicorn… of course, that’s never happened in recorded history, so we’ll never know. The ‘wellness study’ that she’s doing is meant to fix her own reproductive system, although she doesn’t want the public to know. If I was to hazard a guess… the fact that she ran away crying probably means that your reproductive system is also messed up from the joy of giving birth to a naturally born alicorn. Love her. Cherish her. For she will be your only one. As to me and Twilight wanting twelve foals… that’s a dead dream. And as to Twilight Velvet wanting us to race to see which of her children can have more offspring… congratulations… we’re tied. If you’re upset to learn this from me… maybe you need to fire your medical staff. Me and Twilight were told within hours of Velvet Dawn being born that something was wrong. Now. If you will excuse me, I need to find my wife. I’ll see you at dinner. Good day, cousin.”

Blueblood picked up his daughter and kissed her cheek, placing the filly on his back to go in search of Twilight. The filly hugged him tight and seemed to enjoy the horseback ride.

Cadence turned to Shining. “I want to go to medical and have a full work up done. If Twilight and Blueblood are right… I can tell her at dinner that I can’t have more foals as an opening to let her confess that she has a problem that’s bothering her.”

Shining nodded. “And if she was crying because you can have more and she can’t, what then?”

Cadence winced. “Then we do as Blueblood instructed. We don’t say anything and let her come to us. If she doesn’t say anything, then we pretend like we don’t know what’s going on. For better or worse… there is no moral support here. Twilight loves Blueblood as much if not more than I love you. I don’t want to damage that with a betrayal of trust between spouses. I know that you would never tell anypony something like that about me without my permission. We must have the same courtesy and respect.”

Shining nodded and placed Flurry Heart on his back, following Cadence to the Crystal Palace Medical Wing. Once there… she requested a full examination.

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Dinner was quiet.

Celestia and Luna could feel that the mood was heavy. Twilight was stabbing her salad hard enough that it was possible that she was going to eventually break the plate.

Cadence was red eyed from recent crying and Shining was silent as well. The two fillies were at a kid’s table and were eating without paying attention to anything else around them. Blueblood broke the ice as delicately as he could.

“You seem upset, cousin. May I ask what is bothering you?”

Cadence sniffled. “After the odd experience of Twilight examining me and then running away, I went to medical for a full work up… and they told me that I can’t have any more foals! How can the Princess of Love only have one foal!!!”

Celestia and Luna gasped but didn’t say anything. Twilight dropped her fork and hung her head in shame. Blueblood kissed her cheek in an encouraging way and Twilight smiled at her husband, although a tear was trailing down her cheek.

Twilight looked at Cadence with regret. “I’m sorry, Cadence. I should have told you myself… but I couldn’t work past my own sorrow. I should have told you… I’m so sorry…”

Cadence gasped, as if surprised by the information. “Does that mean… that you can’t have any more foals either? Is that why you’re doing that wellness study?”

Twilight nodded and openly wept. “I’ve known since Velvet was born but I couldn’t bear to tell anypony! I want to fix this… but I don’t know how…”

Celestia cleared her throat. “You may exam me. I hope that having access to a healthy alicorn will help in your research.”

Luna spoke up also. “And you may exam me, as well. I would be happy to assist.”

Cadence left her chair to hug Twilight and they shared a healthy cry to shed their sorrows.

Dinner ended on a positive note, with decent conversation after the hard revelations had been revealed.

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In the privacy of their quarters, Blueblood asked Twilight a serious question. “What are you going to do now that it’s not just you?”

Twilight steeled herself. “I’m going back to university to become a doctor. I’ll specialize in OBGYN and Reproductive Health. I’ll fix this… I swear. You will have more than one foal.”

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Chapter 14 - Old Enemy or New Ally?

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One Year Later

Chrysalis

Queen Chrysalis was walking down the streets of Canterlot heading towards Canterlot Castle for morning court. She wore a simple disguise that was so not a disguise that it was almost painful that the ponies around her didn’t seem to recognize her.

The size of a regular unicorn, she had a normal length straight horn, a black coat, teal hair, and green eyes. It was exactly her colors… just as if she had been born a unicorn instead of as a changeling. Adding insult to the intelligence of the ponies around her, when asked for her name at the Castle gates to be admitted for Morning Court, she told them her name was Chrissy. She supposed it worked as both a nickname and a shortening of her real name, although no changeling in her kingdom would dare use anything other than her full name and title.

As she stood with the other ponies waiting for Morning Court to start, she felt rather than heard her stomach grumble. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. That, of course, was why she was here. Her kingdom was starving to death, and she had already gone to extreme measures to stabilize things only for things to continue to fall apart. Against her better judgement… she was here, in Canterlot, to throw herself upon the mercy of the ponies that had defeated her.

Blueblood had walked into the throne room from a side door with a bouncing filly hopping beside him. The whole room hushed and took in the rarely seen alicorn filly, Velvet Dawn. At only 19 months old, she already had a good command of equish and was as large as a typical 5-year-old unicorn. Blueblood sat down on the throne and Velvet Dawn jumped into his lap. She turned to face the crowd and spoke loudly and clearly, spreading her wings to show her authority.

“Morning Court will now begin.”

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Blueblood

The crowd seemed overjoyed by Velvet’s presence and the line to make requests went quickly, given that nearly everypony with a request that they would rather not make in front of a 19-month-old filly had left the court. Even cuter for most of them, Blueblood would ask his daughter for her opinion on the easier requests, and she would render a final decision that was 9 out of 10 times both fair and so cute.

By the middle of the court, Velvet had worn herself out and curled up into a ball to take a nap in her father’s lap. The crowd tried their best to make their requests as soft as possible, not wanting to wake up the sleeping filly, which made Blueblood smile at his subjects. Court lasted as long as it normally did, and he was just a little miffed that his wife didn’t make an appearance at all. She knew she was supposed to do one Morning Court per week as continued Royality training. Maybe he should have woken her up after all instead of letting her sleep in…

Finally, the last petitioner came forward. Blueblood nodded at her. “Please state your name for the record.”

The black coated unicorn nodded. “My name is Chrissy.”

Blueblood looked at Raven Inkwell, who recorded the name. When she nodded, he continued. “And what can I help you with, my little pony?”

Chrysalis took in a breath to steady herself when the filly yawned a big, loud yawn and stirred from sleep. Velvet Dawn got up and stretched, wiped sleep from her tired eyes and then looked around to see only her father, the guards and one remaining Morning Court pony.

Velvet’s eyes narrowed at the unicorn, and she jumped up from her father’s lap, pointing a hoof directly at the unicorn. With a voice that startled everypony, she pronounced judgement.

“Bug.”

Chrysalis’ jaw dropped at the simple statement. Blueblood looked confused. “Bug? What do you mean, my darling Dawn?”

Velvet Dawn’s horn charged in a spell, and she yelled with a voice that rivaled Royal Canterlot tones… “BUG!!!”

A mana bolt shot forth and struck the bewildered unicorn, causing her form to destabilize and revealed herself as Queen Chrysalis.

Velvet Dawn smiled in triumph of having cast a complicated spell. “Arrest the bug!!!”

12 Royal Guards ran towards Chrysalis with weapons raised. Velvet may have ordered an arrest, but they were out for blood, most of them having been veterans of the changeling invasion. Chrysalis was too weak to flee. Too weak to fight. She lowered her head in acceptance of her fate.

Blueblood had narrowed his eyes at the scene and seemed to pick up on it immediately. He yelled a counter-order. “Everypony STOP!!!”

The guards stopped in place but didn’t lower their weapons. He looked at Chrysalis. “Queen Chrysalis… I would like to apologize for the rude behavior of my daughter and her guards. I hope that you will not hold it against us as we continue our meeting.”

Chrysalis’ eyes widened at the apology. She replied weakly. “Your guards have every right to hate me after I attacked the city. I’m not sure why your daughter hates me though… she wasn’t even born yet during the Canterlot wedding attack.”

He winced. “She likes history…”

Chrysalis found herself smiling at the statement. “A wise ruler remembers the past to plan the future. Equestria is in good hooves, it seems.”

He nodded and looked down at his daughter. “You never, ever, attack the ruler of a foreign nation when they arrive to discuss events or terms. She may have been under a disguise, but she is protected under the rules of parley, do you understand young lady?”

Velvet pouted. “But daddy…”

He cut her off. “No buts. Everypony deserves a fair hearing. You denied her the chance to speak. Now, go give her a hug and apologize.”

Velvet crossed her forehooves and continued to pout, not wanting to follow her father’s orders.

Chrysalis cleared her throat. “I’m not offended. If anything, that was a very changeling reaction. I’m honored that she saw through my disguise and acted. She doesn’t have to hug me.”

Blueblood acknowledged the statement but spoke to Velvet again. “Go on, give Auntie Chrissy a hug. If we make this negotiation successful… she’ll be a great friend. You know how much your mommy likes friendship… right?”

Velvet’s eyes widened at the possibility of making a new friend and hopped off her father’s lap to go run towards Chrissy and give her a hug. Velvet burst into tears, offering the best apology that she could. Chrissy, for her part, hugged the young alicorn back cautiously but also tried to soothe the fillies’ tears in the same way she had seen other pony mother’s sooth their young.

Chrissy smiled and patted her back. “It’ll be okay…”

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Twilight

Twilight hated to be late to anything. Deep down in the back of her mind, she knew she had morning court today, but she had stayed up too late studying her university assignments and had vastly overslept. She knew that Blueblood wouldn’t wake her up… and with Spike spending more time in Ponyville with Sweetie Belle, she needed an alarm clock.

As she trotted towards the throne room, she hoped that there would be at least one case left for her to help her husband with but was shocked to hear a filly crying. Her pace quickened and she walked into the throne room from a back entrance that was behind the throne itself. Once she cleared the throne and was standing beside it, next to her husband, she froze in place at the sight of Queen Chrysalis holding her daughter while her husband looked on, seemingly unable to stop whatever was happening.

The change was nearly instantaneous. Before she knew what was happening, she was ‘Dark Sparkle’ again.

The funny thing about ascending into darkness was that even after being purified by the Elements of Harmony, you retained the ability to become that evil form at will. Even better, since ‘Dark Sparkle’ was achieved while she had the power of four alicorns… Dark Sparkle retained that level of power as well, making her far more powerful than the normal Princess Twilight… and far more powerful than any other darkness that had ever existed previously.

She stomped a forehoof upon the marble floor and the boom echoed throughout the room like a storm cloud had given off a thunderclap inside the throne room. Chrysalis looked up at the pissed off Dark Sparkle and her eyes widened in absolute fear.

Dark Sparkle spoke in a menacing tone. “Release my daughter or the maids will be cleaning up green goop off the floors, walls and ceiling for a week.”

Chrysalis put the filly down slowly and carefully, so not to injure her and backed away three paces.

Not deterred by the demands of her mother, Velvet jumped back into the forehooves of Chrysalis to finish the hug. Chrysalis closed her eyes against the tears that were forming and returned the hug. She held it for five seconds and then smiled at the filly.

“I accept your apology, now… I believe your mother wants a hug too!”

Velvet brightened at the prospect and bounded away, flying towards her mother at breakneck speed and tackling her with a hug. Dark Sparkle sighed at Velvet’s boundless energy and hugged her daughter fiercely, eyeing Chrysalis warily.

Velvet finished the hug and smiled, pointing at Chrysalis. “Auntie Chrissy.”

Dark Sparkle frowned at the Queen who seemed to hold a reserved smile, which was a sharp contrast to the haughty smile she was accustomed to.

She looked down at her daughter. “Auntie Chrissy?”

Velvet nodded. “Good pony. Wants to make friends.”

Dark Sparkle frowned at the impossibility of the words when her daughter booped her muzzle while giggling, causing a release of held anger, and the reversion to her normal self, happened. Against all odds, Velvet Dawn was one of the few ways that Dark Sparkle could return to her natural Twilight Sparkle form. It was so easy for Twilight to become Dark Sparkle and so hard for her to change back… she secretly blamed her barrenness for long held anger and control issues, and that was something she couldn’t even confess to Blueblood.

Back as the normal Twilight, she passed her daughter off to one of Velvet’s personal guards. “Make sure Princess Velvet gets a snack and then put her down for her mid-day nap.”

The guard smiled and took the little princess. As they walked away, the guard pulled a plate of cookies out of a magical storage portal, causing the young princess to squeal in delight.

Twilight didn’t even look back at the guard, still focusing on Chrysalis in front of her. “A healthy snack, if you would?”

The guard hid the plate of cookies behind his back, smiling sheepishly even though Twilight wasn’t looking at him. “Of course, your highness.”

Velvet sighed and let out a groan, way too mature for her age, when Twilight relented. “Fine. She can have the cookies, just not the whole plate.”

The guard crammed exactly one cookie into his mouth and gave the rest to Velvet as they walked towards her room.

Twilight groaned after the back door to the throne room closed. “He did the bare minimum to follow my orders… Velvet has them all wrapped around her hoof. I need better guards.”

Chrysalis cleared her throat. “If I may… your guards are loyal to Velvet. They love her with a storge love that would normally belong to a little sister or daughter. I could feel their emotions… they would die for her. They would kill for her… You couldn’t ask for more loyal servants.”

Twilight was rendered speechless by Chrysalis’ words. She cleared her throat to try again. “We appear to have started out on the wrong hoof and I regret jumping to conclusions. From one monarch to another, I apologize for my rash actions. What brings you to Canterlot?”

Chrysalis bowed to the Princess who had helped defeat her once. “I seek peace with Equestria. I would like to open trade and borders and discuss how we might be able to help each other.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Chrysalis. “That… is unexpected. Why the sudden change?”

Chrysalis was going to explain when her stomach grumbled loudly and caused her to wrap her forehooves around herself.

She looked up at Twilight with a tear dripping down on face. “We are starving… we will die without your mercy.”

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Blueblood

He cleared his throat. “Morning Court is over. I believe that we can move this meeting to the dining hall for an early lunch, if you’d care to continue this meeting while we eat?”

Chrysalis gave a weak smile. “I would like that. However… the only solid food that will help me is meat.”

He nodded. “That won’t be a problem. Our chefs cook for all races… just tell me how you want it cooked.”

Chrysalis nodded as she fell in step with Twilight and Blueblood, following them to the dining hall. “I like my meat cooked, but with at least a trace of blood still in it, if possible. I don’t know what you have available, so as the host, I’ll allow you to order for me.”

They sat down at the table and the waiter stood by to take their orders. Blueblood ordered for all three of them. “I will have the hayburger with hay fries, Twilight will have a daisy salad and the visiting dignitary will have a manticore steak, cooked rare.”

The waiter bowed and left. Blueblood continued. “The food will be out soon. Now. Tell us about your plight?”

Chrysalis sighed. “The short version is that every creature in the entire world knows how Dark Sparkle killed Lord Tirek, thanks to Discord telling the story and even vividly replaying the battle as if watching a movie or a play. Lord Tirek wasn’t just a centaur. He was the centaur equivalent of Celestia… a living God. They are not all that powerful. My drones are afraid of Dark Sparkle. They don’t want to try to harvest love from Equestria if it means seeing the whole hive slaughtered like bugs. So… love collection has been cut in half. All of the elderly and the infirm committed suicide so the younger changelings could live… but it wasn’t enough. We don’t have enough love… and we are all dying of starvation. We could eat meat to stave it off… but we can’t kill ponies for the same reason. There are no manticores in the Badlands and we are too far from the Dragon Lands to hunt dragons. I doubt the Crystal Empire would even agree to meet me so our only option is peace with Equestria in the hope that we can get enough love to not die.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “That sounds horrible… yet… it is still a big change in attitude very fast. I’m not sure I want to trust it.”

Chrysalis bowed her head in total defeat. “Princess… it is easy to swallow your pride when you have nothing else to eat.”

A lump formed in Twilight’s throat, and she looked at her husband. Of all the humbling experiences she had ever encountered, this one might take the cake.

He nodded. “I think we can help. How does this sound? Open borders and open trade. We will announce that changelings are welcome in Equestria so long as they keep their normal changeling form and do not try to impersonate ponies. We will allow them to seek work, seek relationships, and otherwise harvest love as long as they are honest about it. All we ask in return is that you provide changelings to assist our spy core with gathering information on the other kingdoms and generally keep the peace. We will do all we can for our allies… if that’s what you wish to happen. What say you?”

Chrysalis was wary but accepted without much push back. “I trust the changeling spies will be treated well?”

Blueblood nodded. “As well as any other member of the Equestrian military.”

Chrysalis nodded, pleased by the equally beneficial agreement. “I will sign a treaty that says that. How quickly can one be drawn up?”

Blueblood looked at a pocket watch. “Raven Inkwell can draw it up today and I’m sure it can be signed tomorrow. We can’t sign it though. Auntie Celestia and Luna will have to sign it. I’m sure that we can convince them. Of course… you will have to negotiate with the Crystal Empire separately. They may be ruled by an Alicorn, but they are a separate nation. We can send a recommendation with you to help you with future negotiations, but you will have an uphill battle with Princess Cadence.”

Chrysalis sighed. “I guess I should have expected as much. The Crystal Empire is small compared to Equestria… maybe I could sweeten the pot by agreeing not to mess with them at all.”

Twilight frowned. “With the birth of Flurry Heart… I’d say there’s more love in the Empire than there is in Equestria. Your compromise might get Celestia to sign the treaty faster, but it doesn’t help your people at all. Are you sure you want to give that trade off?”

Chrysalis fixed Twilight with a meaningful look. “There are several old sayings that would explain my viewpoint. ‘Half of something is better than all of nothing.’ Or ‘Don’t fight a battle that you can’t win.’ Or my favorite, ‘One victory doesn’t win a war.’ My changelings are dying. Literally dying. I will trade whatever it takes to secure their future. I know you don’t like me, and I know you don’t trust me, but please… show me some mercy. I am not a tyrant! I only ever wanted what was best for my lings.”

Chrysalis started to dry-heave from the stress and hunger that she was under, causing looks of concern from both Twilight and Blueblood. The waiters brought out their food and everypony started to eat.

Chrysalis dug into her steak with the zeal of a starving pony, not even caring if it was cooked properly. Twilight ate her salad while Blueblood enjoyed his Hayburger.

They ate in silence and waited until everypony was done before moving the conversation forward. Chrysalis looked better from the cooked meal but also still looked hungry.

Twilight frowned. “Did you want another portion? The chef won’t mind.”

Chrysalis shook her head. “There is only so much meat I can eat before it makes me sick. Like any other creature, I can’t overgorge. This will prevent me from dying in the short run, but I need love to no longer be hungry. Preferably enough love to share with the rest of the hive.”

Twilight smiled as a wicked thought came to her. “Perhaps we can help each other in a more meaningful way.”

Blueblood’s eyes widened as he instantly knew where this was going. “Dearest… I beg you to think this through completely before making a deal that you might regret…”

Twilight winked at Blueblood, causing him to sigh. She continued. “As it happens… I am infertile after the birth of my filly, and I am doing reproductive research to try to fix it. I’m sure I can get you the love you need… if you are willing to let me examine you magically and physically afterwards to add to my research.”

Chrysalis’ mouth watered at the possibility of pure love given to her so freely but asked two serious questions. “I am willing to consider it… but first… I must know. How invasive will the exams be? And… who will you get to perform such a serious act on such short notice?”

Twilight released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “The tests are no more invasive than giving birth, and a lot faster and less painful. As to the stallion…” Twilight looked at Blueblood and raised an eyebrow.

Chrysalis followed Twilight’s gaze and her jaw dropped as the meaning became clear. “You would give your husband for this? Why?”

Twilight sighed. “I don’t give him enough affection. I’m always so busy. Trying to fix my fertility issues is taking a lot more time away from my family than I wished that it would. This kills multiple birds with one stone. You get your love. Blueblood gets tail. And I get super valuable research data. As a bonus… this will seal our treaty. You will know that our intentions can be backed up with actions and I expect the same in return from you as time passes. Do we have a deal?”

Blueblood sighed. “You once accused me of cheating on you with a pegasus and now you’re throwing me to a changeling, literally, as a meal. Are. You. Sure? Once this happens it can’t be undone.”

Twilight nodded. “I love you Bluey, I really do, but I need to fix my issues. You don’t deserve to be lonely, and Chrissy can’t die if we want this treaty. And I need this data. I’ve never studied a changeling before.”

Chrysalis watched the back and forth with both amusement and dread. She needed this. But she also wouldn’t take it by force. She watched the conversation play out.

Blueblood threw his hooves into the air. “This is the first time you’ve asked me to make love to another pony or creature for your research. What’s next? Are you going to find volunteers for me to lay with an earth pony, unicorn, pegasi and crystal pony next? Why stop there! Let’s just convince my aunts to lift their tails too while we’re at it!”

Twilight had pulled a parchment and quill from a magic storage portal and was taking notes. “That’s a good idea! I’ll round up volunteers.”

Blueblood’s face went pale as his counter argument failed to hit the point he was trying to make. He gulped. “I suppose you have a good reason for wanting to study my seed in interactions with other mares?”

Twilight nodded, still taking notes. “Your seed made an alicorn, but it also made me infertile afterwards. Maybe I haven’t fixed this yet because I’m only studying one side of the problem. I have to know… please… do it for science!”

Blueblood sighed. “And if I get a mare pregnant?”

Twilight shrugged. “The royal treasury can pay for it. If the mare doesn’t want the foal, I’ll raise it. It may not be mine but as long as it’s yours… I have no issues.”

Blueblood looked at Chrysalis. “Can you take Twilight’s form?”

Chrysalis nodded. “I can take any form you want. I suppose it’s sweet that you want your wife more than any other pony.”

He nodded. “Let’s get this over with before I change my mind.”

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Twilight

Twilight sat in a chair in the corner and was taking notes while her husband rutted Chrysalis, perfectly disguised as Twilight. As a twist… Blueblood had requested Twilight’s old unicorn form, which Chrissy was more than willing to provide. Blueblood had managed to overcome his reluctance in order to give Chrysalis the love that she so badly needed, given that doing this half-heartedly would do no good and be wasted for both of them.

With a final sigh of passion, they both collapsed onto the bed. Blueblood rolled out of the way and left immediately to take a shower, allowing Twilight to do her examination.

20 minutes later, Twilight was done and sighed at the mixed results. Chrysalis was left worried.

“Is something wrong with the sample, Twilight?”

She shook her head. “It’s not what I expected. I’ll have to do more tests on it in my lab but I’m still very grateful for this opportunity.”

Chrysalis nodded slowly. “May I be honest with you for a moment, Twilight?”

Twilight cocked her head. “Of course… what’s on your mind, Chrissy?”

Chrysalis sighed. “I’m so full that I don’t know what to think. It normally takes four or five lovemaking sessions to harvest this much love. I would go so far as to say that Blueblood loves you more than your brother loves Cadance. I would know… now being able to compare both.”

Twilight gasped at the revelation, but Chrysalis held up a hoof to forestall a counter claim. “If I could, I’d get my changelings to become Equestrian marriage counselors because they can feel love and would be the best at fixing love problems, almost as good as Cadance herself. May I give you some advice… one immortal to another?”

She nodded slowly and Chrysalis continued. “You have an amazing daughter and an even better husband. But… he is a mortal husband. While I’ve now heard the story about the twelve foals promise, I feel that you are wasting your best years on this. Your husband will die someday. Maybe you should just cherish the time you have with him and then worry about fixing this in like 80 years when you’re looking to get remarried after Blueblood’s passing.”

Twilight protested. “But my promise…”

Chrysalis cut her off. “…Is meaningless if he thinks you no longer love him! Do you have any idea how awkward it is to feel a reluctant lover? It’s almost like rape. Thank Celestia for getting his head in the game and really giving it to me, or this would have been awful. Let me impart the best advice I can… Spend time with your family while you can. Your daughter will always be there for you… but Blueblood won’t. Don’t wake up one day regretting that you spent 50 years in a dusty laboratory instead of at your husband’s side. And for fucks sake… don’t consider more mating experiments. This pushed Blueblood to his limits… having him do this with 4 or 5 other mares might break him.”

Twilight sighed. “That… makes more sense than I would care to admit. Thank you for your honesty. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “You’ve given me more than I expected, and I’m more than grateful. I feel like I need to give you more. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Twilight considered the request thoughtfully before answering. “Yes… there is one thing. Send out your spies and find a unicorn by the name of Starlight Glimmer and have her brought to me. She is a villain of Equestria… but I need her help.”

Chrysalis nodded. “Consider it done.”

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Chapter 15 - Unexpected Progress

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Three days… Three long, sleepless nights.

Twilight had moved the ‘samples’ from the master bedroom to her lab, which included Blueblood’s seed, remnants of Chrysalis’ own orgasm, and, perhaps most shocking of all, a few of Chrysalis’ eggs. It was a gift that was beyond valuable.

Twilight had done every test she could think of, backed up with the scientific method she had learned in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, years of self-medical study, plus now a full year at Medical School.

The results were mixed, at best. There was no clear sign of being able to fix her own fertility issues from the experiments, from one source, but she was drawn very near to her own limits by Chrysalis’ advice and warning.

Psychologically speaking, once a pony started to cheat, it was very hard to stop. And the more a pony did it, the easier it became to justify it. Twilight had opened that door for her husband herself and pushed him through it, and then watched him do it for her own curiosity. In the back of her mind, she knew that Blueblood loved her, and he had said repeatedly that he would do anything for her. She knew that he would indulge her scientific experiments… but at what point would he stop doing it ‘for science’ and just start sleeping with random mares on a whim?

Would she even care if he did? She had more or less given him her blessing at this point, which was a shocking turn of events for herself given how she used to feel about it two years ago, back while she was still pregnant. The chain of events of him learning something to help her led her down the rabbit hole of the worst possible conclusion during that first time that she assumed he had been cheating on her when he learned how to preen pegasi wings. The shocking how’s and why’s had humbled her. His love for her had never failed to impress her.

She sighed to herself, quite the lonely princess herself at this point. The lab was quiet. As empty as her womb. Blueblood had long since stopped trying to spend time with her while she was working, least he interrupt her ‘important’ work. Part of her valued his understanding but she also knew that she was pushing him away. He was too nice to fight back… he just accepted it. What was that old saying he often used? ‘The briefest moments of love with you is more than I was expecting, and I’m grateful’. She hated herself for how she treated him, but she could never admit it because that would make him feel even worse than he usually did, as if it was his fault.

It wasn’t fair to him. And she knew it.

The doors to the lab opened on their own and then closed behind the unseen guest, which could only mean one pony.

“Hi momma.”

Twilight looked down at little Velvet Dawn. The 19-month-old filly was filled with excitement and adventure this morning. She smiled at her daughter in a way that only a mother could.

“Good morning, Velvet. What are you doing today?”

Velvet fluttered her wings and landed on the lab table. “Daddy is taking me to a museum. I wanted you to come with us. Please?”

Twilight winced. She only had at most two more days before these samples would be unusable and she wasn’t sure if Chrysalis would be willing to provide more. She took a breath and held it, exhaling slowly, and trying to come up with a way to not disappoint her daughter. When she opened her eyes to look at Velvet, she stopped short.

Velvet was looking at the samples curiously. On instinct, she lit her horn to cast a spell. Twilight lit her own horn and cast a magic tracking spell to record and map Velvet’s spell… so she would be able to deconstruct it and learn whatever spell Velvet was casting. Normally, Twilight would stop any interference in her work, but something seemed incredibly, and profoundly important about this moment. Velvet’s spell was nothing that Twilight had ever seen before… it was certainly nothing that she had learned or had been taught. While too young for a cutie mark, this spell had a cutie mark level natural talent that rivaled her brother’s shield spells. This was something Velvet was doing by instinct. Twilight eyed the process closely.

Velvet went sample by sample, casting her spell on each one. Twilight’s tracking spell showed that it was, in fact, the same spell each time.

Velvet would stop, cast the spell, shake her head and mutter ‘Nope.’ And then move on to the next sample.

“Nope.”

Velvet got to one of Chrysalis’ eggs, this particular egg was magically artificially inseminated with Blueblood’s seed. It was non-viable, given that it wasn’t in the correct environment to hatch, but in the correct environment it could hatch. Twilight was still toying with the possibility of giving the egg back to Chrysalis so it would hatch. The idea of having a second foal was intoxicating, even if it was a changeling foal. The morality of the situation was ambiguous at best, given that she didn’t have Blueblood’s consent to allow the egg to hatch, giving him a second foal. She wasn’t sure how he would respond if she asked him…

Twilight still wanted 12 foals… and at this point, she was willing to accept surrogate mares baring Blueblood’s foals. She would love them as her own… they just needed to be of her husband’s seed. But could she convince him to get other mares pregnant? It would be an uphill battle at best and an outright ‘no’ at worst. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to find the limit of Blueblood’s love for her. She wasn’t sure that her heart could take it.

Velvet eyed the egg and cast her spell. Her eyes widened in excitement and pointed a hoof at it. “Life.”

Twilight’s breath hitched. Did Velvet know that the egg could hatch?

Twilight gulped. “Life? What you do mean, Velvet?”

Velvet frowned, searching for words. “Life. Daddy life.”

The blood drained from Twilight’s face. She didn’t want Velvet to know that it might be possible for her father to have foals with other mares. That wasn’t the life lesson she wanted to give her very young daughter. “Umm. Daddy’s foal?”

Velvet shook her head, frustrated with her own inability to convey what she wanted to say. “Daddy life. Daddy… forever.”

Twilight’s magic deconstructed Velvet’s spell and the results left her jaw hanging open. Velvet had just crafted an Immortality spell for Unicorns. She would never have to lose her husband, or her brother, or her parents!

Tears pricked Twilight’s eyes as she hugged her daughter. “You don’t know what you just did but thank you Velvet. Thank you, my beloved daughter.”

Velvet giggled into the hug and then yawned. “Museum trip cancelled. Nap time.”

Velvet hopped off the table and walked towards her room, exhausted by the amount of magic she just used. Twilight walked her out of the lab and met Blueblood in the common room. The blood seemed to drain from his face when he saw them.

“OH! Dearest… I’m so sorry that I failed to stop her from interrupting your work! Please forgive me!!!”

He seemed distraught which made Twilight feel worse about, well, everything. Twilight momentary left Blueblood in the common room while she tucked Velvet into bed and kissed her goodnight for a short nap.

She returned to the common room to find Blueblood sitting down on the couch with his face in his hooves, crying, seemingly unable to accept his failure. She sat beside him.

“Beloved… you didn’t fail. I get so caught up in my work that sometimes I forget that I need a break. Our daughter is good at reminding me about how much I love you.”

Blueblood looked at her with bloodshot eyes. “Dearest…”

She hugged him fiercely, overcome with emotion. “I love you Blueblood… never forget that. I know that the thing with Chrissy was a little unexpected and you did great with it, but I hope you know that I don’t think less of you for having indulged me. It wasn’t cheating and I love you!”

Blueblood shuddered into her hug. She could feel all his uncertainty. She couldn’t tell him about the immortality spell, at least, not yet.

She hedged. “If you are willing to indulge me a little more… I have a request of you, my beloved…”

He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “I’m not going to like this, am I…”

Twilight sighed. “Maybe? I was hoping to convince you to allow surrogates into our marriage so that we could have our 12 foals. I would raise them and love them as my own, but they must be of your seed to have royal rights and royal or noble titles. We can’t simply adopt. I know my friends would bare your foals… if you were willing to try.”

Blueblood was as still as a statue. He didn’t seem to be breathing. “… And… how would you be able to look them, or me, in the eyes again knowing that I got them pregnant, on purpose?”

Twilight gulped. That wasn’t the worst question he could have asked, or response that he could have given. “It’s my idea. If I have any regrets, I’ll have nopony to blame but myself. I surely won’t hold a grudge against you or my friends when it is my idea. Maybe simply having the foals would be enough to make it worth it… Maybe?”

Blueblood sighed. “I’ll try. I guess ask them and see if it’s… okay? I won’t do it with a random mare… that’s too close to cheating and I can’t…”

Twilight hugged him again. “Thank you!!! You don’t know how much this means to me!”

Blueblood nodded with a tear leaking from an eye. “So… who do you think would even say yes? I doubt that all your friends would be on board with this… if any of them are.”

Twilight considered the question. “I think I know at least one mare that won’t turn me down.”

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A couple of days later, Fluttershy knocked on Twilight’s door in Canterlot Castle. Twilight answered the door and pulled Fluttershy into a hug.

“Thank you for coming! I knew I could count on you!”

Fluttershy blushed. “Your request caught me off guard, but Discord is okay with it, and I don’t have any other stallions in my life that would object to it. I am in estrus so it should only take one time…”

Twilight led her into the common room and Fluttershy met Blueblood’s eyes. He could smell the estrus in the room, and he gulped. “So… you agreed?”

Fluttershy blushed. “Yes, your highness. It is my honor to help my friend have more foals. I hope that you can take me as you took her. Breed me.”

Blueblood nodded mutely and escorted her to the master bedroom. Twilight sat in her favorite chair to watch, quill and parchment in hoof to take notes. Fluttershy, for her part, lowered her head to the mattress and lifted her tail, exposing herself, completely sweet and submissive.

Blueblood stared at her uncovered marehood. Sweat started to form on his brow as he considered his actions. He placed his hooves on her hips and mounted her, he placed his hips against hers and he tried to thrust forward only to find himself as limp as a pool noodle.

He rubbed himself against her marehood, trying to get hard enough to penetrate, but to no avail. He looked at Twilight, who smiled in response, giving all her approval to the process. He sniffed Fluttershy’s marehood, searching for the scent of estrus. That scent alone should have made him hard enough to breed any pony… He tried one more time but couldn't find purchase. Frustrated, he yelled and ran from the room in shame, crying.

Fluttershy’s ears folded back upon her head. “Was it something I did? Or said?”

Twilight sighed. “No… he loves me too much to cheat on me. He managed my experiment with Chrysalis only because she was able to look like me for the process. I guess I should be grateful that he won’t cheat on me, but I’m sorry for putting you into this situation to begin with…”

Twilight lowered her head in shame, but Fluttershy lifted her chin up with a hoof, forcing Twilight to look into her eyes.

“Your husband loves you… there is no shame in that. We should all be so lucky…”

Twilight gasped and burst into tears, placing her head on Fluttershy’s shoulders. Fluttershy held her tight and tried to soothe her. She whispered.

“I’m going to leave you two alone. Go to him, Twilight. Tell him it’s okay. Tell him that you love him. I’m not mad about this and I’m very happy about the love he has for you. Please…”

Twilight nodded and hugged her tighter. “Thank you for trying… and please… don’t tell our friends about this. I don’t want my husband to have to deal with embarrassing rumors about his… lack of performance.”

Fluttershy gasped. “I would never…” She stopped short and nuzzled Twilight, allowing her actions to express her words.

Fluttershy met Twilight’s eyes one final time once the embrace ended. “Blueblood is a very misunderstood pony. His past actions have painted him in a bad light, but I believe in my heart that he would never hurt you. He may have wanted to accept a surrogate to give you more foals, for your sake, but actively breeding another mare was too much for him. He loves you too much to betray you even while trying to follow your suggestions. I know that this is a confusing emotional issue, but please don’t hate him for loving you!”

Twilight was forced to reflect upon everything that led to this moment. She sighed. “You’re right. I don’t hate him. I hate myself. I hate how little I have considered his feelings.”

Fluttershy gasped. “You shouldn’t hate yourself either. Nopony should have to face being barren. You are a problem solver. That doesn’t mean that all your responses have to be correct. I don’t know how many foals I want but I’m not sure I could handle being told that I could only have one. You have to forgive yourself too.”

Twilight sobbed into Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“But can I?”

She didn’t know.

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