They love each other. But they don’t always understand. Centuries of shared time still haven’t been enough for each sister to fully comprehend how the other views the world, and that’s just one of the reasons Celestia and Luna still have fights. And sometimes it’s the smallest, stupidest differences, like how Luna prefers the longest of baths and Celestia doesn’t…

Luna feels that being immersed brings a pony closer to her world. And Celestia doesn’t understand.

Some lessons require special measures. Along with a lot of water.

And tiles. There’s definitely going to be tiles.

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This story is a sequel to A Confederacy Of Dunce Caps

He's her daddy. Hers alone, and... they've been alone for a long time. Father and daughter, with each as the only pony whom the other has in the world. As far as Diamond's concerned, that's natural. It's the way things have just about always been. (She was too young to remember anything else.) And therefore, that's how their lives should always be.

Except that now her father is talking about dating. He has his eyes on a mare, and that pegasus can barely keep one eye on anything. Diamond's had all of her father's love for just about the whole of her life, and if somepony else comes in, then... there's going to be less for her. That's just basic business sense. Limited supply, increased demand.

Her father wants to be with somepony again.

There has to be a way for Diamond to save him. Before it all goes wrong.

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This story takes place after the events of Anchor Foal and DELWMG, but no knowledge of either story is required.

There's a certain risk in sending this particular class of students on field trips, and Ponyville's school board is tired of seeing all of the disaster odds come through. So if the kids want to visit the Autarky Magic Center, then they're going to provide the security deposit. And that money can only come from one source: the classic school fundraiser. The corporate adults providing the 'chocolate' even promised a personal reward for selling lots of the stuff!

Cheerilee is putting Diamond in charge of the sales brigade.

The adults are going to regret that.

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She just wants to get home. Explaining the group's actions during that last mission took hours longer than it should and now that the palace has finally been fully briefed, all Applejack has to do is make her way to the capital's central train station. Enter the Grand Gymkhana, catch the last westbound of the night and eventually, she'll be in Ponyville. Back on the Acres. Surely she can manage that much, even when stumbling through an empty city while half-lost within a thick winter fog. But the mists are making edges blur, and it's becoming so hard to perceive what truly is.

And then she finds somepony who can no longer truly see the world at all.

Tonight, Applejack is the enemy. And there can be no peace with those who already lost the inner war.

(A standalone, no-prior-reading-required part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

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The Cumulus. There's no finer mattress in the world. It's just like sleeping on a cloud, because that's exactly what you're doing. It just happens to be a cloud that's been saturated with pegasus magic, to the point where anypony (and anyone) can rest upon it. The support is perfect, the temperature ideal, and Rainbow would do a lot to own one -- except saving up for it, because that's clearly stupid.

But the company has a factory in Canterlot. One which just started offering tours to the public. So in theory, all she has to do is get in there, see how it's done, and then apply that to creating one herself. Getting locked in after hours wasn't part of that plan, but if you're going to be stuck anywhere at night...

A mare who loves sleep, and sixty of the world's best mattresses.

Welcome to one of the worst nights of Rainbow's life.

Cover art provided by Rambling Writer, with thanks.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages. The current Ko-Fi drive is for a new mattress. That is why this story exists.)

(The author is not subtle.)

Hitch doesn't really like change. It used to be that if tomorrow wound up pretty much the same as today, with forensic analysis needed to distinguish either from the day before... then that meant he'd done his job. The peace had been kept.

And now everything has changed. There are pegasi and unicorns in Maretime Bay, some of whom seem to believe that they've brought their own laws with them. The task of keeping those interactions from becoming explosive is being pressed between the hooves of one stallion. A decidedly harried, extremely overworked stallion who doesn't like change, happens to be raising a baby dragon on the side, and doesn't understand the other two cultures at all.

Hitch is tired. That's probably not going to change any time soon.

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Only a few days have passed since magic's restoration and when it comes to the little things, Pipp is still trying to adjust. Minor details like 'all of Zephyr Heights still knows I couldn't really fly' and 'I went outside and the dirt got me.' The royal family's reputation still needs a touch of repair, and that's why her mother is considering whether to send the siblings away for a while. Just until the gossip cools down.

Zipp wants to go investigate the new. Pipp would like to have her status quo back, thank you very much. So they can really fly now? Why does that mean things have to change?

...and maybe she can also make... lightning? Electricity? As in 'that stuff which keeps my phone, and therefore me, alive'?

The new might have possibilities. Which includes an increased chance of exile.

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Nothing ever changes within the forest. Public joy is shameful, pleasure fleeting, and you're not allowed to talk about what you're missing. They tell you what not to say, because that's the best way to make sure you think about it all the time. The younger generation is taught to be just as miserable as the older, allowing the perpetual miasma of depression to occupy fresh hosts. And so the facade which calls itself 'life' goes on across the centuries. Without change and, for the pain of loss, without end.

There's nothing new in the forest. There never will be.

And then there is.

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The heroic life isn't necessarily glamorous. Ben didn't get to fight the most recent alien to pop out of a pocket wormhole, because it collapsed shortly after arrival. The weird quadruped (a hand at the end of its tail, eyes where its nostrils should be) is currently doing nothing more than sleeping the trip off. But the Plumbers need to know what it's doing here -- and as long as it's asleep, there's only one means of interrogation available. Which requires using one of his least-favorite forms, but... that's the heroic life for you.

It's just that someone's already invaded that alien's dream.

And she has no problems with telling Ben how bad he is at it.

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Rarity generally tries to embrace innovation: after all, a mare who's always trying to stay ahead of the trend (or just outright create it) must be ready to accept the new. And the stress generated by a designer's life creates a certain need to... relax. Something where, quite frankly, spa sessions and private time in the designated screaming room aren't always enough to do it. So what's wrong with following up on a magazine article and personally learning how buffalo meditative techniques have been newly adapted for unicorns?

Absolutely nothing. Unless, of course, she recalls that some of her friends happen to enjoy pranking.

She doesn't always remember that last part in time.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.)