When Cinny first moved to Canterlot, one of the first things she noticed, aside from the number of ponies wearing clothing, was the walls. It seemed, no matter where she looked, that there was always a wall or two. It wasn’t that there weren’t any walls in Cloudsdale, obviously they still had homes and businesses even if they were made out of clouds rather than stone or wood, but there were also huge, wide open spaces. It wasn’t that it was particularly crowded or that Cinnamon ever felt particularly claustrophobic living in Canterlot; it was—according to her friends and everything she had read—one of the better designed cities in Equestria. Yet, however wide the streets, it simply didn’t compare to the wide open skies of Cloudsdale.

Cinny, of course, had never been inside the Castle.

It wasn’t really possible to visit or even approach Canterlot without seeing the Canterlot Castle. Even if Cinny had never visited Canterlot, she probably would have recognized the structure regardless, simply because it was so iconic. More over, the Castle’s towers were so large that no matter where you were in the city, you could at least see part of it if you looked in the right direction.
What she hadn’t known, however, was just how big it really was. It made the Lachrimose house look small by comparison, despite the large amount of land Lucent owned around the building itself. Also, although Cinny was no architect, she was certain the Castle’s designer— whoever that might have been, probably multiple ponies—had designed the gigantic halls and rooms in such a way that Cinny could have sworn they were bigger on the inside.

Or maybe they really were.

Furthermore, as big as the place was, it was utterly stuffed with ponies. There had to be hundreds, all of them wearing their finest dresses and suits and jewelry— although a few ponies wore less. At one point, Cinny was certain she had spotted a couple of members of the Wonderbolts, but before she could be certain, the crowd had swallowed them up again. She’d say there were ponies of every stripe there, and there was certainly a mix of all pony tribes as well as a few donkeys and zebras, but truthfully every pony there was either rich, important, or powerful. Unlike her.

Her only claim to fame was being a total fuckup.

All of it served to make Cinny feel very small. Very, very small. She wasn’t a skittish pony, but she couldn’t help but feel like the best course of action would be to gallop away. Very fast.

“Well?” Lucent’s voice was remarkably warm, considering Cinny was finding herself on the edge of panic. Again. But then, he had been doing parties like this all his life as far as Cinny knew.

She glanced at him, then around the room again, before returning her gaze to her stallion. She swallowed hard. “Um, it’s… there’s a lot of ponies… and, uh.” Cinny licked her lip. “Are… Are you sure you don’t want to go back and grab Crystal or something, Lucent? I know I said I’d apologize to Twilight, but… uh…” Cinny’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I could do it tomorrow? I just…”

“Cinny, I would have wanted you here, regardless of…” Lucent let his voice trail off and let his eyes wander over the crowd. “Just relax sweetie, everything will be okay—besides, you’re with me.”

“What difference does that make?” Cinnamon asked, feeling momentarily confused, on top of everything else.

“It means, my dear, this,” Lucent leaned over and kissed Cinny on her lips.

For a brief moment, Cinny felt paralyzed, then a gradual wave of warm and comfort washed over her. Of course, this was hardly the place or time to go further, but after a few moments, her wings twitched upwards and stiffened every so slightly. All too quickly, Lucent broke the kiss, and smiled at her.

And she smiled back, feeling ever so slightly better.

“Right, well, what do you want to do first?” Lucent asked, while pulling her closer to him and deeper into the Grand Hall. There was, of course, an unspoken question in the offering; did she want to go find Twilight, and, presumably, the rest of Elements?

It wasn’t an easy question to answer. When she had originally confessed to the herd, she really had been ready to go apologize to Twilight right then and there, and she still was. However, the terrified part of her kept pointing out that, given how badly this night was going to go—and there was no question about that—she should delay confessing for a long as possible. Like, forever.

But she couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t.

“You pick.” Cinny said, briefly wishing she had brought some money with her. Obviously she was going to have to leave, once the horseshoe dropped, and she didn’t want to ruin Lucent’s night while she was at it by making him leave with her. But it was best if he got done whatever he wanted to get done, in case that’s what it came down to.

“Well, how about a bite to eat?” Lucent said, suddenly steering them in another direction through the crowd. After a few moments of weaving their way through the crowd—well, Lucent was doing the weaving, Cinny was just following and doing her best not to make eye contact with any other pony—they came to the food table. It probably wasn’t the only table at the Gala, but it was long and covered in white cloth. Not that anypony could see the table cloth under all the food and drinks piled on top of it. The food was obviously not the same as a four course meal or, in Cinny’s mind, proper food, but it was just as fancy as the ponies in the room. Everything seemed to be garnished to within an inch of it’s life, and most if not all of it was stuff she had never seen before. There were fruits from distant lands, and fruits from not-so-distant lands that just looked weird. Like rainbow coloured apples. And those were the least of the strange foodstuffs on the table.

Another time and place, Cinny might have found the whole display appetizing, but at the moment, her stomach was doing somersaults. The very notion of eating just made her feel nauseated.

Lucent, on the other hoof, didn’t seemed to have any problem with grabbing a number of items onto a plate. They weren’t paper of course, they were fine china. Nothing at the party was cheap. Or he did, until he glanced over at her.

“Not hungry?”

“Not… really,” Cinny grimaced and frowned as Lucent put his plate back. “Don’t. Not on my account.”

“I can eat at home,” Lucent said honestly, and warmly, and only managing to make Cinny feel a bit worse. “Do you want to mingle?”

Mingling was something Cinny had never really never really tried to do. After all, most of the parties she had been to had really only involved ponies she already knew. And what would she talk about, with these ponies? It’s not as if she could talk about her own work, and she wasn’t really interesting enough otherwise.

“Or,” Lucent’s face broke into a smile, “we could dance.”

“I don’t dance,” Cinny pointed out. Perhaps she should have asked for dance lessons.

“Don’t worry, Cinny, I’ll lead,” Before Cinny could make her objection clearer, Lucent grabbed her by her hoof and pulled her through the crowd and through the hall into another room. It was just as big as the first room, but with large, stained glass windows at the very end of the room. There was, of course, a band playing the sort of high class music Cinny knew to associate with what nobility considered dancing. It was slow, and frankly, more than a little bit boring.

“I remember this song,” Lucent commented as he stopped tugging her along and turned to face her. Cinny just stared blankly at her stallion, but her lack of response didn’t seem to deter him at all. “Star and I danced to it at my wedding.”

“You did?” Cinny said despite herself; she had hardly heard anything about Lucent and Crincile’s wedding, other than it happened and Star Sparkle hadn’t been happy about it. Yet she had difficulty mustering up any amount of curiosity at the moment. Every second just seemed to delay the disaster pointlessly.

“Sure. Just follow my lead,” Lucent pulled her close to himself, and slowly began to move. At first, Cinny resisted; she couldn’t help it. All she could think was every other pony must be laughing at her, it was obvious that she didn’t know what she was doing. But after a couple of moments, Cinny’s eyes met Lucent, and it felt like the rest of the world disappeared. She still didn’t know how to dance, of course, but Lucent was an able teacher—or, at the very least, an excellent leader.

The song ended, but if Cinny thought that’d be the end of it, she was very much mistaken. Immediately, the band started on the next song; different notes, different tempo, different dance. Despite herself, she found herself starting to smile.

And enjoy herself.

Even if everything came crashing down, at least she’d always have these good moments.

One song led to another, and another, and another. Cinny was almost ready to ask Lucent if they could take a break—not because she wanted to stop dancing, but because her hooves were starting to get very sore and she needed to catch her breath—but the music suddenly cut off. Then restarted, in a more discordant fashion. Then cut off again.

“What the—” Lucent said, pulling away from Cinny for the first time since they started dancing, and glancing in the direction of the band. Cinny followed his gaze, but the disruption was no mystery.

On the raised stage that had been set up for the band-ponies, there was a pink mare, hugging several of the band members, although the look on the ponies’ faces seemed to imply she was an uninvited guest, at best. Before anypony could intervene, however, the mare had jumped from the stage to a stylised statue of an alicorn—possibly of Celestia herself, Cinny couldn’t tell—and was doing some sort of wild dance, and singing.

It was no music created from the magic of harmony, and it was fairly off key, but Cinny couldn’t help but smile. There was something infectious about the mare’s shameless energy and excitement… although it seemed most of the nobility was relatively immune, given the way they were glowering at her. Even Lucent seemed dismayed, and some sneaky, evil part of Cinny decided then and there to take her stallion out to a club at some point—the look on his face would undoubtedly be worth it. Still, after a few moments, the pink mare seemed to clue into the fact that the rest of the room was pissed off at her rather than joining in, and it was as if her whole body slumped.

Cinny couldn’t help but feel sorry for her… then with a queer little chill, Cinny thought she recognized the mare. It was… Pinkie Pie. Cinny had only seen pictures of the Element Bearers in black and white, but there was no way she could mistake Pinkie Pie from her description.

It looked like she wasn’t the only mare having a bad night, and Cinny sighed. It wasn’t just Lucent’s life she might be ruining, it was Twilight’s as well, and suddenly she just wanted to get it all over with.

“Lucent, I want to see Twilight now.” Cinny found herself saying. It wasn’t that she wasn’t still afraid, but… she didn’t know. Maybe it was the magic of harmony pushing her towards what she needed to do. It wasn’t that she wanted to ruin Twilight’s night, but it seemed best to be quick and get it over with, like ripping a bandage off.

Lucent looked surprised, but then nodded. “Alright, let’s go find her…”

“Where do you think she’ll be?” Obviously the Elements hadn’t stuck together, since none of the others seemed to be in the same room.

“Celestia— err,” Lucent blushed and glanced around the room at the other ponies and corrected himself. “Princess Celestia, rather, indicated Twilight would be helping her greet guests on the Grand Stairs.”

“W-what?” Cinny didn’t want to meet Celestia! Then she shook her head. But she had to do this. She really did. “O-okay…”

Even though Lucent was a duke, and, as far as Cinny could tell, a very important pony, the two of them still had to get in line with all the other ponies waiting to shake hooves or… bow… or whatever it was one did when meeting a princess. It wasn’t a particularly long line, at least not for Cinny, who had experienced queues much longer; however, she hadn’t experienced a wait so… troubling, before. For the first time, Cinny had laid eyes on Twilight, who was standing next to Celestia looking slightly frustrated.

Despite the situation and herself, Cinny couldn’t help but smile at how pretty Twilight was. It was obvious from the way she held herself that she wasn’t used to this sort of royal function, nor did she seem particularly interested in the proceedings, but she did at least try to smile. In many ways, she seemed to have inherited all of Star Sparkle’s best attributes, and Cinny wondered how pretty her lead mare would look if she spent more time smiling and being nice to ponies.

Then Cinny shook her head, forcing those sorts of thoughts out of her head.

It really didn’t help that she was in the mess by writing such extensive and naughty things about the mare she was just about to meet, and in spite of herself, Cinny’s wings kept twitching. Thankfully, as they drew nearer, fear overcome those particular thoughts, and by the time they reached the head of the line, they were twitching more with a need to get away than anything.

“Ah. Welcome to the Grand Galloping Gala, Your Grace,” Princess Celestia said as the ponies in front of them moved aside and Cinny stepped forward with her stallion. “I’m glad to see you’re here.”

“Thank you again, your Majesty, for the invitation,” Lucent said with an air of formality. Thankfully, Cinny had been able to watch the ponies ahead of them, so she had some idea of what was expected of them: formal introduction, followed by some informal chitchat. Or at least, that’s what others had been doing. “Allow me to introduce this lovely mare, Lady Cinnamon Swift.”

Cinny blinked, and before she could stop herself, she blurted out, in a hiss; “Lucent! I’m not a Lady!”

Lucent smiled at her crookedly, but it was actually Twilight who replied for him.

“Actually, since you’re part of Daddy’s herd, you’re granted a noble title by association, and—” Twilight frowned as Celestia glanced at her. Cinny doubted Celestia was actually angry with her, given the small, understanding smile Celestia gave the much smaller mare.

“This is, of course, my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia gestured with her wing at Twilight, who blushed ever so slightly. Then Celestia turned to meet Cinny’s gaze.

Even though Celestia wasn’t the first alicorn princess Cinny had met, it was clear that Celestia wasn’t exactly on the same level as Cadance. Cadance was, as far as Cinnamon knew, relatively young, but as she looked into Celestia’s light pink eyes, Cinny could almost feel the weight of the years the mare had lived. And there was power there, of course. One didn’t raise and lower the sun on a daily basis without having the magic to back it up, though obviously Cinny herself had so little magic in her that even the weakest unicorn had more. Her gaze wasn’t unfriendly, but it seemed to pierce her, as if she was being x-rayed or examined very closely and deeply. It felt like she could guess her whole life history from a simple glance… After a moment, Cinny looked away and focused on her hooves.

“Pleased to meet you, Lady Cinnamon Swift. I can see Lucent’s taste in mares hasn’t dulled over the years.”

“I, err…” Cinnamon wasn’t sure what to say. “T-thank you. Your Highness.” Cinny glanced up at Celestia in panic, before deciding that wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had, and looking away as she hastily repeated herself. “Thank you, Your Highness.” There, that was much better.

Right?

“I hadn’t heard you had grown your herd again, Lucent,” Celestia said, apparently giving up on Cinny as a lost cause. “I had some faint hope you might bring Glint with you, I daresay it’s been a while since I’ve seen that lovely colt…”

Cinny didn’t bother feeling insulted. She had wished Lucent had brought Glint too…

Of course, that only reminded her of what she had come here to do. She just hadn’t expected to have to confess in front of Celestia, and once she managed to get her panic under control, Cinny glanced up at Twilight, wondering how to begin.

Twilight, for her part, was looking at her with an expression that was best described as a mixture of curiosity and something far less easily defined. Cinny frowned. No, it was recognition. It had to be. And…displeasure.

“C-can we talk, um, Twilight? Miss Sparkle.” Cinny forced out. Had Twilight recognized her from her name? It was, after all, on the cover of every copy of Elements of Love. “Uh, alone?”

Celestia paused, looking mildly curious, although for the life of her Cinny had no idea what her stallion and the Princess had been discussing before she had interrupted. Twilight glanced at her teacher, then back at Cinny, as if asking for permission. If the Princess gave it, Cinnamon must have missed the nod, though.

“Okay,” Twilight said, sounding more than a little bit cold. Then, before Cinny could respond, Twilight turned tail and walked up one of the side flights of stairs, to the actual second floor. It took a moment for Cinny to focus enough to follow her, and she did her best to keep a respectful distance.

It only took them a moment to reach the second floor landing, and Twilight turned to her with an expectant look on her muzzle. Of course, Cinny’s words caught in her throat, and she just stood there staring at Twilight like an idiot.

“Well?”

Cinny closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then… “I wrote an erotic novel about you and your friends and I’m really, really sorry, and I didn’t mean for it to be published but I wanted to be a published author but I hadn’t had any luck and that was the first thing they accepted and I wasn’t thinking and I’m sorry and I don’t know if you can—”

It took her a moment to realize Twilight had cut her babbling off by shoving her hoof into her mouth. Cinny did her best not to lick it or anything, and then she smiled half-heartedly around it.

“You’re the Cinnamon Swift, author of that,” Twilight’s voice grew a bit disgusted, “book?”

Cinny’s smile fell a bit.

“I… know,” Twilight said, causing a momentary stab of panic in Cinny. How did Twilight know? Had Rarity gone and told Twilight? She had promised she wouldn’t, but, on the other hoof, she did seem like the sort of mare to gossip. “Daddy wrote to me a month ago, explaining what you had done.”

Oh.

“He wants me to accept your apology. To forgive you.” The coldness in her voice seemed to drop the temperature of the room a few degrees, but Twilight looked away, and pulled her hoof out of Cinny’s mouth.

Cinny waited for Twilight to say something more, but she didn’t. She just kept looking down at the ponies enjoying themselves down at the Gala. After a moment, Cinny risked following her gaze, and noted that Lucent had apparently finished talking to Celestia, and had now moved off into a crowd. He was chatting with some other pony, another stallion Cinny didn’t know, but as if he could feel the weight of his daughter and herdmate looking down at him, he glanced up in their direction and waved at them, with, Cinny hoped, a smile.

“But… I can’t.”

Cinny’s heart froze in her chest.

“I really can’t. I’ve tried and tried, but it’s… it’s…” Twilight turned back to Cinny, with hot tears in her eyes. Out of, Cinny assumed, anger. “How could you write something like that? What’s f-fucking wrong with you?”

Cinny opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

“I mean, it would be one thing if it was j-just me,” Twilight continued with a choked sounding voice. “It wouldn’t be the first time somepony tried to s-slander me… b-but… m-my friends!” Twilight clenched her jaw. “I’ve tried my best to keep them from finding out, I… I don’t n-normally have those sorts of books in my library, b-but the previous owner—” Twilight shook her head and rubbed her eyes with the back of her fetlock. “I can’t imagine how much they’d be hurt, by what you wrote, if they ever found out.”

So, obviously, Twilight had no idea that Rarity at least had her own private collection of erotica.

But that sort of thought wasn’t particularly helpful.

“How could you?” Twilight repeated herself, as her gaze focused into a glare.

She had to say something, she had to… defend herself? But Cinny really wasn’t sure she should defend herself, or, if she was being honest with herself, if she really wanted to. It hardly seemed to matter though—Twilight had already decided she wasn’t going to forgive her.

“I was wrong,” Cinny said a tiny little voice. “I… I’m sorry.”

“Oh good,” Twilight’s voice took on a sarcastic edge. “You’re sorry. I’m sure that’ll make explaining to Applejack why she suddenly has a penis easier, won’t it? Or Rainbow Dash, for that matter. Do you have any idea how insecure Rainbow is?”

“I—”

“Oh, of course you don’t,” Twilight looked out over the crowd again, before adding bitterly. “Sometimes I wonder if he really loves me.”

“W-who?”

“Daddy. Lucent. His Grace,” Twilight snapped. “You know, the pony you’ve been fucking? Or did you not figure that one out either, Cinny?”

Cinnamon had never had her nickname used as an insult before. It was certainly different. And she couldn’t help but wonder what exactly Lucent put in that letter he had sent Twilight.

On the other hoof, as bad as her crimes were, she wasn’t going to stand here while this filly doubted her stallion.

“Of course Lucent loves you,” Cinny said, “the whole herd loves you, Twilight. I should know, they haven’t been—”

“He has a funny way of showing it. They all do.” Twilight said, sounding more depressed than angry now. Then she turned back to Cinny, and poked her with her hoof. “No, I don’t forgive you, and I’d very much prefer it if I never had to speak with you again. Goodnight.”

Twilight turned to go, and looking past her, Cinny could swear she saw Celestia’s ears twitch in their direction.

“Wait,” Cinny said, trotting out in front of Twilight and blocking her way.

“Why? You came, you apologized, you did what you said you were going to do,” Twilight pointed out. “You can’t make me accept it.”

“Can’t I… I don’t know, make it up to you?” Cinny tried to ignore the part of her that was pointing out that she had spent the past several weeks trying to figure out how to make it up to Twilight.

“Can you turn back time?” Twilight asked rhetorically, “Undo what you did? No? Then just f-fuck off.”

Twilight didn’t seem to swear very often. Cinny couldn’t help but find it endearing.

“I don’t know.” Cinny shook her head. “I don’t understand why you’re so mad about this.”

Well, that wasn’t true, but maybe if she could get Twilight to talk through it…

“You…! You!” Twilight sputtered. “You wrote erotica about me and my friends, you made us perverted fools to satisfy your own sick pleasure… and you wonder why I’m angry? You should be wondering how Lucent could forgive you at all.”

“Even if I wasn’t part of Lucent’s herd, or hadn’t published it, I never meant it maliciously!” Cinny blurted out. Now that she was saying it outloud, it seemed to be so much clearer to her. “I mean, I wrote it because… I cared about you.”

Twilight looked like she was trying to set Cinny on fire with her eyes.

“You’re all heroes you know,” Cinny continued, despite Twilight’s attempts to murder her with her gaze. “I… I looked up to you, all the Element Bearers.”

“Normal ponies write thank you letters,” Twilight hissed.

“But… I would have wanted you to be happy,” Cinny looked away from Twilight, out over the crowd. “Lucent… your birth herd, they’ve made me very happy, but when I wrote the novel, I had nothing like that. Writing what I wrote, it’s because, well, I think you and your friends probably deserve that sort of happiness.”

“Oh, sure,” Twilight said in a mocking tone, “You so clearly did it out of the goodness of your heart! And what was all the sex about, hmm? You’re unbelievable.”

“Sex is part of love too,” Cinny said with a sigh. “You can’t tell me you’ve never…?”

Twilight blushed hard. “What I do—or don’t do—with my friends, is my business, not yours.” Twilight lit her horn. “I have to get back to the Princess… get out of my way.”

Cinny had no illusions about Twilight’s power, and quickly stepped aside to let Twilight pass. It wasn’t until the mare had reached Celestia that she realized she had failed so completely. She had gone and confessed and Twilight hadn’t accepted it. She had rejected her apology and it was pretty clear she wasn’t exactly shy about expressing it.

It… was over. There was little doubt in her mind that, if Twilight rejected her, Cinny’s herd would too. There just wasn’t anyway around it. She didn’t have a foal by Lucent or Glint, and it was obvious her continuing existence as a member of the herd wouldn’t be conductive to herd harmony… Maybe Lucent loved her, maybe he didn’t, but if she was in Star’s position, she’d want Cinny out. It wouldn’t be the first time she had seen a pony kicked out of a herd for that sort of reason.

She didn’t even feel sad anymore, just cold. Very, very cold.

It took her a moment to locate Lucent in the crowd again, then she turned and went to find the exit. She’d have to figure out what to do later.

**

Immediately, Cinny got herself lost.

Like the Lachrimose house, Canterlot Castle was a maze of hallways and corridors, filled with doors and paintings and vases. Naturally it looked all the same to Cinny, and it wasn’t until she had been walking for about ten minutes, not seeing a single servant or Royal Guard, that it occurred to her that there probably weren’t going to be too many exits on the second floor of the Castle. But It wasn’t as if she could go back. Behind her was the Gala, her failures, and… Lucent. And she simply couldn’t face them again.

Thankfully, and to Cinny’s completely surprise, Rarity obviously knew what she was doing when she made the dress. Despite it’s appearance, a few experimental flaps with her wings had shown Cinny that the dress barely hindered her ability to fly at all. After that, it was just a matter of finding a window that could be opened, and slipping out into the night air.

It wasn’t that Cinny didn’t feel guilty, leaving Lucent at the the Gala without saying goodbye, but she didn’t really think she could face him right now. What was she going to do? Tell him his daughter didn’t want to forgive her? Part of her wondered if she should feel angry that Lucent had gone behind her back and contacted Twilight in her place. Maybe if he hadn’t, Twilight might have been so shocked or surprised that she might have forgiven her… but then, that wouldn’t be a real forgiveness, nor would it have lasted. He only meant well, and she could hardly fault him for trying to support her as much as possible.

Well, it was over now.

The night was cold, but not unpleasantly so, at least not for her. Obviously the weather pegasi had done their best to keep the Gala night as clear and beautiful as possible, though Cinny doubted most, if any, of the Very Important Ponies at the party would bother going outside. That said, it wasn’t as if the Gala was the only party going on. Below her, Cinny could see a number of parties going back and forth to bars or shops—all open late to take advantage of ponies who felt like enjoying themselves, even if they hadn’t received an invite to the big event. Cinny couldn’t see herself joining any of them though. She was hardly dressed for a bar after all, and she wasn’t sure she really wanted anypony to see her crying either.

But, in the same vein, she couldn’t fly back to either of the herd’s houses. Crystal and Twilight Velvet were at the townhouse, and she doubted she was nimble enough on her wings to find her room at the House. At least not without making a lot of noise and attracting the attention of… everypony.

So, she flew in circles. Around and around, over the city with its bright lights, just letting the wind ruin her mane and sweep back her coat and gently wipe away her tears. Hopefully they weren’t falling on ponies’ heads below her and making them wonder why it was suddenly raining salty rain on a clear night. Not that she was the only pegasus up there, of course, but few bothered to approach her.

Finally, however, she had to land anyway. Her wings were starting to ache in a wholly unpleasant way, and Cinny suspected that if she didn’t get back on her hooves soon, she’d be too tired to do anything for herself. Obviously she needed to find a hotel—or try to find where DeeDee and Gear were living now. Perhaps meeting the rest of their herd would cheer her up, although she suspected it would just make her feel worse. And, on top of all this, Cinny couldn’t help but feel a bit hungry. The mocha so long ago was hardly a meal to begin with, and despite everything her stomach was starting to growl. But she hardly felt like eating at some fancy restaurant or even a less fancy one. Truthfully, she didn’t really feel much like eating a proper meal at all.

She sort of felt like having a donut, and another coffee or so. Her dress was still a bit of a problem, however, since she’d look out of place if she popped in at most coffee shops. There just didn’t seem to be much helping that, though.

Cinny was just about to turn and head back to the coffee shop in her old neighbourhood—after all, at least she wouldn’t be a total stranger and Bitter Brew might have some idea where she could find her friends—when she happened to swoop by an almost completely empty looking Donut shop. Donut Joe’s, apparently.

In her circling, she had apparently returned to flying fairly close to Canterlot Castle, and Cinny suspected the reason the place was so empty was that most of the locals—being relatively rich or important even if they weren’t nobility themselves—were probably at the Gala. Plus, she doubted the Royal Guard would want any drunk or disorderly ponies approaching the Castle at this range anyway.

Her landing certainly could have been more graceful, but given how hungry she was, Cinny could hardly care. It wasn’t until she had pushed open the door and was halfway to the counter that she realized she still didn’t have any money on her. Because her day couldn’t possibly get any worse, could it?

The stallion at the counter, a unicorn who managed to look slightly scruffy while remaining as absolutely clean as the shop—Donut Joe, she assumed—just stared back at her while Cinny tried to figure out what to do.

“Bad night,” Joe said in a knowing tone of voice. It suddenly occurred to Cinny that this shop was probably used to getting the rejects from the Gala; the ponies who, rather than ‘making’ it, had been utterly ‘broken’ by the make-or-break event.

“I… don’t have any bits,” Cinny found herself saying.

“No worries,” Joe said as he pulled out a tray from behind the counter and placed it in front of her. Then added a tall mug of coffee beside it. “On the house.”

“Really?” After all the body blows she had taken tonight, Cinny supposed she had to get some breaks. But she couldn’t help but sound a bit suspicious.

“Yup.”

Cinny stared at the offered goodies for a moment, before hurrying over and plunking herself down at the counter on one of the barstools. The first bite was almost painfully delicious, and the second bite was even better, Within seconds the first donut had met it’s timely demise—and Cinny was halfway through her third donut before she realized Donut Joe was staring at her. Cinny nearly kicked herself as she blushed faintly.

“Thanks,” Cinny mumbled around a mouthful of fried heaven. Then she swallowed and smiled sheepishly, before repeating herself. “I mean, thank you. How much do I owe you?” She could come back later, once she had her bits again, and repay the stallion’s kindness in full.

“No charge,” Donut Joe grunted with a wave of his hoof. “The Princess—excuse me, Princesses—pay everything on Gala night.”

“So…” Cinny frowned and suddenly felt the urge to laugh like a filly. Apparently she was right, this was the shop for the rejects. It was only natural she’d find it, she supposed. Fitting, in it’s own way.

Donut Joe didn’t really prompt her to continue, just glancing over her shoulder towards one of the other booths. “Excuse me,” the stallion paused to pick up another tray of donuts, apparently going to serve some other mares or stallions who had fucked up the night.

Even though she hardly wanted company, and she didn’t really want to share her pain with another pony, Cinny couldn’t help but follow the stallion with her eyes as he carried the tray to the booth. He didn’t linger, but as he turned away and got out Cinny’s line of sight, she could feel her eyes widen.

She couldn’t bucking believe it.

It really was just her luck.

Behind her, in the booth, sat all six Element Bearers. And Lucent. And some sort of creature Cinny couldn’t identify. Maybe that was the infamous Spike, Twilight’s supposedly dragon familiar? Cinny had no idea. She’d imagined he would be taller. But really, that was neither here nor there.

Like herself, all of the Element Bearers looked somewhat worse for wear, although several of the ponies, like Pinkie Pie and a mare who could only be Rainbow Dash seemed to be trying to make the best of it. Or perhaps they were just the only ponies around the table that were less bothered by what Cinny could only describe as a sort of chilly coldness between Lucent and Twilight. Clearly, the two of them weren’t talking. Or something along those lines. Both seemed to be pointedly avoiding each others’ eyes, and the small talk they were having with the others—Twilight was talking to Spike, whereas Lucent was chatting with Rarity—was decidedly awkward, even from a distance.

It would probably only get more awkward if they spotted Cinny there, stuffing her face. So, naturally, they did.

“Cinnamon!” Rarity called out suddenly, sounding for all the world as if she was very relieved to have something or somepony to save her from whatever forced topic of conversation Lucent was trying to engage in with her. “Darling, how are you? I looked absolutely everywhere at the Gala, but they told me you had left! Join us, won’t you?”

Biting back a frustrated retort, Cinny nodded to Rarity to acknowledge that she had heard her—while avoiding looking at Lucent or her herd-daughter—before putting her mostly undrunk coffee onto the tray and preparing to carry it to the table. Obviously she wouldn’t be staying long, but she didn’t particularly feel like she should or could be rude to Rarity. After all, Rarity had forgiven her… in her own way. Not that, in the end, Cinny felt like she could really blame Twilight for not being so merciful.

Before she could even pick it up, however, Cinny suddenly found herself in a bone crushing hug from behind—and a particularly intimate one too, given how the pony was rubbing her through the fabric of the dress. She didn’t need to smell his deep, comforting scent, or feel the whisper of his lips against her ears to know it was Lucent.

“Cinny—! I, I didn’t know what happened! One minute you were there, the next you weren’t and—” Lucent babbled as Cinny wiggled around so she could return the hug. She wasn’t sure why she did so, since it seemed it was only going to prologue the pain when she got officially booted from the herd, but she also couldn’t stand to see her stallion cry. “Twilight said…” Lucent’s voice took on a slightly angry edge, then he shook his head. “But you’re here now.”

“Awww,” Rarity fawned, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling at her. The yellow pegasus—who Cinny suspected was Fluttershy—echoed her a moment later, if in a far quieter voice, while Twilight’s face grew ashen and, if possibly, more frustrated. She really did look a lot like her mother, with that irritated look on her face.

“Lucent,” Cinny finally forced herself to say after a moment. She couldn’t help but be acutely aware that everypony in the room—except Donut Joe, it seemed, was watching the two of them. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“But where were you?” Lucent asked pulling back. “I mean… one minute you’re there, and the next you weren’t…”

“I… I…” Cinny tried to formulate something to say, but it was difficult when there were seven pairs of eyes looking at her with looks that ranged from sincere interest—those were Rarity and Fluttershy—to indifference, like Rainbow Dash and Applejack. At least Twilight was the only pony who looked particularly angry, so Cinny could be assured that the others didn’t know who she was, or what she had done. But she hadn’t expected Twilight to tell them anyway. “Can we talk privately?”

“Of course,” Lucent nodded at once, before directing her towards the front doors. Given how quiet the shop was—and given that Rainbow and Fluttershy were both pegasi and had excellent hearing—putting a wall or two between them was probably a good idea. Lucent certainly learned quickly.

Too bad it was all for naught.

The night air was as cool and crisp as it had been before, although the streets seemed to be slightly more crowded with, unless Cinny was mistaken, plain-clothes Royal Guards. The fact that the crowd was nearly all stallions was a bit of a give away. But that wasn’t important.

“Yes?” Lucent whispered as the door swung closed and Cinny turned to face him.

Cinny licked her lips and wondered, briefly, how to explain all that had happened. It wasn’t an easy thing to think about, or to put into words. “She… she didn’t accept it, Lucent. My apology.” Before she could complete the sentence, she was already staring down at her hooves.

Silence.

Then:

“And?”

She forced herself to look up at her stallion, feeling a wave of disbelief come over her. She had always considered Lucent to be a smart pony—maybe not smart in the same way as Star or Velvet, but certainly he wasn’t an idiot. Surely he could connect the dots? Yet Lucent was looking at her with a bemused expression, hardly looking mad or unhappy at all.

“I don’t… Lucent, surely you realize Star’s going to kick me out?” Cinny felt her stomach clench unpleasantly as she said it outloud. “She’s not going to keep me around, not if Twilight… your daughter Lucent! Your daughter hates me!”

Lucent stared at her for a good half a minute; all the while Cinny’s heart began to beat faster and faster. It wasn’t an angry stare, or even an unhappy one… if anything, it was more disappointed than anything. “Cinny, why didn’t you believe me, when I told you the herd was a forgiving sort?”

“I…” Cinny frowned.

“M’dear, Cinny… Cinnamon…” Lucent placed his hoof under her chin and looked into her eyes. “I forgive you. The herd forgives you. We love and care about you—yes, even Star.”

That seemed a bit far-fetched, but Cinny couldn’t bring herself to interrupt him. For the first time in what felt like centuries, she felt… hopeful. It was a small hope, of course, but and one Cinny suspected might betray her and hurt her badly if she wasn’t careful, but it was there. It filled her with warmth. After a moment, she kissed him. Just softly, but… well, every kiss with Lucent was special, but she had the feeling she wasn’t going to forget this for a while.

“I’m sorry I doubted you,” Cinny whispered as they pulled away.

“Here, I wanted to give you this,” Lucent said, lighting his horn and pulling a thin looking box out of his suit. Cinny frowned. It hardly seemed to be an appropriate time to give jewellry, nor did she feel like she deserved it. Especially since she had already received those false feathers as a gift—not to mention the dress—because of this whole Gala fiasco.

Nevertheless, she accepted the box without complaint, and after a second, opened it. Inside was a silver necklace, with a large pendent, set with a ruby or other red stone. While it wasn’t quite tarnished, Cinny could tell the necklace wasn’t exactly new. There was an air of age and crudity to the make of it, although it didn’t mean it was no less beautiful.

“I know, among pegasi, you sometimes give feathers to loved ones,” Lucent explained as she looked back up at him. That was a rather ancient tradition, and one that Cinny doubted more than a hooful of pegasi bothered doing anymore—not that she was going to correct her stallion on that point. “And, well, I always thought it was a lovely gesture, even if we unicorns don’t have a similar tradition… so this is the best I can do, I’m afraid.”

“I don’t understand,” Cinny looked down at the necklace, before Lucent’s magical aura enveloped it and placed it around her neck. It wasn’t a particularly long necklace, and the pendent sat quite close to her throat; nor did it particularly go with her dress, but she wasn’t about to correct Lucent on that point either.

“This necklace,” Lucent said with an air of concentration as he set the clasp on the back of her neck. “Was my mother’s, and before that, my grandfather’s, and… well, you get the picture. It’s a family heirloom, one as old as my House. Our, House. I want you to have it, so you’ll always know you belong in the herd, with me. Consider it my feather to you.”

Now, Cinny was wishing she had thought to give Lucent one of her feathers. Of course, they were some of the most boring looking feathers in existence, and truthfully, most of the feathers from her younger years had either been destroyed or turned into quills. “Thank you, Lucent…” Cinny couldn’t help but wonder if Star would have gotten the necklace, if she hadn’t come along. Cinny opened her mouth to thank him, when her buttcheeks started to tingle. Her thanks turned into a surprised yelp.

“There it is!” Lucent said, apparently unbothered by her reaction; rather, he was staring at the pendent. Cinny glanced down too, and to her surprise deep within the stone and glowing softly, was a representation of her cutie mark. “I always wondered what it looked like! I’m afraid my mother never wore this necklace, so I had only heard stories. See? The necklace is yours now, and nopony can take it away from you.”

“I can’t take it off?” Cinny said, sounding a bit more alarmed than she wanted to. It wasn’t that she didn’t like it, but she couldn’t see herself wearing it everyday, wherever she went, for the rest of her life. She had, of course, heard of necklaces of that sort, although usually they were more collars than necklaces, and typically displayed the owner’s cutie mark, not the wearer’s cutie mark and—

Cinny’s wings flared slightly as she blushed.

Lucent didn’t seem to notice, however, and just shook his head. “No no, it’s enchanted so that, so long as you own it, it will always return to you, and it’ll always display your cutie mark.”

“Oh.” Cinny took a deep breath and tried to relax her wings. “Thank you, Lucent, it… it means a lot.”

“I love you,” Lucent murmurred.

“I love you too,” Cinny replied, as she leaned in for another kiss. That lasted longer, much to Cinny’s enjoyment. But all good things had to come to an end.

“What about Twilight? I don’t want to…”

“Don’t worry about her, she’s always been a stubborn little filly, just like her mother.” Lucent shivered. “Shall we go back inside?”

The inside of Donut Joe’s hadn’t changed much in the few minutes they had been gone, although Cinny couldn’t help but notice, with a grimace, that her tray of donuts had mysteriously vanished. Whether it was Donut Joe’s doing or one of the Element Bearers, Cinny had no idea. As for the ponies themselves, Twilight still looked remarkably grumpy, even though she looked up and over with the rest of her friends as the door’s chime rang.

“You’re back!” Rarity exclaimed, looking happy to see them. Pinkie Pie looked fairly excited too; but, then, that seemed to be the mare’s thing. “Oh? And what a lovely looking necklace!”

“Daddy!” Twilight exclaimed, “Don’t tell me you gave her the Soulheart!”

Suddenly, Cinny wondered if Twilight was supposed to inherit the necklace, and Lucent had inadvertently given Twilight yet another reason to hate her. Great.

“Yes, Twilight, I did,” Lucent’s voice had a hard edge to it, as if he wasn’t about to discuss it further. Somehow, Cinny doubted that was going to stop Twilight… “Cinny’s been… upset, lately, and it’s not like Shining was ever going to wear it. Cinny can pass it on to her foals when it’s time.”

“Upset?” Twilight echoed, sounding all the world as if she had never heard the word before, or was confused as to its meaning. “What does she have to be upset about? It’s not like she wrote about her…” Twilight’s voice trailed off as her eyes grew wide with shock. Clearly, she hadn’t meant to say that, and some small, petty part of Cinny crowed in glee, before the rest of her told that part to shut up. It’s not as if the rest of the Element Bearers finding out was going to be a victory for Cinny.

“Wrote about?” Rainbow Dash echoed, glancing at Cinny. “What are you talking about, Twilight?”

“Yeah Twilight!” Pinkie Pie waved her hoof at Twilight. “You’ve been a grumpy-bumpy pony-butty all night, especially when you see Cinnabuns here! What’s going on?”

“I…” Twilight bit her lip, glared angrily at Cinny as if it was somehow her fault, and pointedly looked down at her mug.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Rarity said with a shake of her head. “Twilight, darling, I care deeply about you, but if you don’t tell them, I will.”

“You… you know?” Twilight said, looking up at the white mare with an almost comical look of shock on her lips. “But… but how?”

“You’re not the only pony in Ponyville who gets her books straight from the publishers,” Rarity said simply, then glanced at Cinny.

For her part, Cinny was frantically trying to signal the mare and tell her to say no more about it. But, they weren’t exactly friends, or at least they weren’t familiar enough to each other that Cinny could do much more than vigorously shake her head in the hopes that Rarity would pick up on this subtle clue that she should shut up.

Rarity was remarkably obtuse about that.

“Cinnamon here is an author of… a certain sort of romance novels,” Rarity explained as Twilight stared at her. “Quite skilled at that. And she wrote one about us…”

“About us?” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. Cinny wondered what she was expecting…

“Well…” Applejack scratched her chin.

“Oh come on,” Rainbow Dash said. “You couldn’t write, like, something cool about us?!”

“Erotica!” Twilight half-shouted, her anger apparently resurfacing. “She wrote erotica about us, not… romance.”

“Erot-a-what?” Applejack’s muzzle turned quizzical.

“It’s a story with significant sexual content,” Fluttershy explained softly, causing every other pony to look at her in surprise. “Eep!” she squeaked and disappeared under the table.

“Why’d you write somethin’ like that about us, missy?” Applejack snapped, turning to glare at Cinny with hard eyes.

Cinny blushed and stammered, “It… my cutie mark… it’s my talent… writing that sort of story.”

Applejack’s glare softened, and she gave a small nod as she glanced at the necklace. “Well, I can’t say I rightly agree with it, but… well, a mare’s gotta do what her cutie mark is telling her. Can’t argue with that.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and sighed heavily, looking a bit wistful more than anything else, although she covered it up before anypony—Cinny suspected—noticed except for her.

“Can’t argue with it?” Twilight echoed in disbelief. “Of course you can argue with it! Applejack, she turned you into a stallion! And Rainbow Dash! And we had to… to… f-fuck to defeat Nightmare Moon!”

“Say what?” Rainbow Dash said, sounding shocked.

“A stallion eh?” Applejack said, sounding thoughtful… “I can’t say I’ve never thought about it, but I just can’t imagine myself with one of those things between my legs.”

“Applejack!” Rarity said, sounding scandalized. Apparently even Rarity had her limits.

“Oh… Oh my,” Fluttershy’s voice came from below the table.

“I’m sorry,” Cinny forced herself to speak up. She had the feeling that the group of them were going to end up discussing the book in depth, but this wasn’t really the time or place for it. Besides, she owed them an apology. “I really am… I know I’ve probably hurt you all, and… well… I’m sorry. Maybe one day you’ll forgive me.”

“Apology accepted,” Applejack said simply, ignoring the look of mangled shock and horror on Twilight’s face. “Can’t say I agree with you, but, well…”

Rainbow looked a bit green, but her face seemed to harden slightly as Applejack apologized, and seemed to take on an air of ‘if she can do it, so can I’. “Oh, yeah, it’s… uh, totally cool.” She tried to sound breezy about it, but Cinny could tell she wasn’t as comfortable. “Not my thing, of course, but, uh, it’s… cool.”

“It is?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily. “Awesome!” Before anypony could do anything, Pinkie Pie reached over and pulled Rainbow Dash into a shockingly deep kiss. Rainbow gasped and sputtered as she tried to get away, but it wasn’t until Pinkie released her that she was able to scramble backwards.

“Pinkie!” Rainbow wiped her lips with the back of her fetlock. “What the hay!”

Pinkie Pie licked lips and shrugged. “Nah.”

“Pinkie!”

“You said you were cool with it, Dashie!”

“I meant—what Cinny—-” Rainbow continued to sputter.

“Maybe another time, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said with a giggle. “I’ve got a lot going on right now.”

Naturally, everypony was staring at the pair, before finally deciding to move on.

“I guess I’m, uh, okay with it too…” Fluttershy said, peeking up from under the table, before her eyes grew wide with imagined horror. “You’re… um, not going to ask me to… um, r-read it? Are you?”

“Of course not,” Cinny said with a shake of her head. If anything, she wish she could withdraw it from publication and put this all behind her… but there wasn’t much hope of that.

“Oh… oh… good.”

And then there was an awkward silence, making Cinny shift uncomfortably on her hooves. Lucent glanced at her and smiled, while Twilight seemed torn between shock and confusion as she looked at her friends.

“Well, Twilight?” Rarity prompted suddenly, breaking the silence. “We’ve all forgiven Cinny…”

“I… don’t see how you can!” Twilight snapped, then looked like she regretted it. “You haven’t read it, you don’t—”

“Would it really be so horrible?” Rarity asked, “if we were a herd?”

“I—I didn’t—” Twilight stammered. “I mean—you girls, I—”

“Yeah, what gives?” Rainbow said, sounding a bit grumpy. “We’re not good enough for you, or something?”

Twilight’s eyes kept growing bigger and bigger, darting back and forth between her friends with growing horror. “O-of course you are! I just—I don’t—”

“Twilight?” Pinkie Pie’s voice was filled with sadness, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing because it was too heart breaking.

Cinny couldn’t stand it.

“Twilight’s upset because she thinks you’re being hurt by what I wrote,” Cinny said, hoping she wasn’t too far off the mark. “She’s worried you wouldn’t want to be her friends anymore, if…” Cinny groped for the words “...if this was the price you’d have to pay for it.”

“Twilight, we can’t blame you for what other ponies say about us,” Applejack said, as Rarity and Fluttershy—who had popped back up from under the table—nodded. “I won’t lie to you, I’m not one for the spotlight, none of us fillies are—” Cinny couldn’t help but snort as Rarity looked offended at that, and Pinkie Pie and Rainbow rolled their eyes “—but I reckon we wouldn’t trade it for the world, not if it meant giving you up as our friend.”

“You… really mean that?” Twilight asked, sounding hopeful and a bit like she couldn’t believe it.

“Mhmm” the other ponies nodded or agreed in unison.

“Oh, girls!” Twilight half-sobbed, before pulling her friends into a big group hug.

“I think we better let my daughter and her friends enjoy the rest of the night,” Lucent said in a stage whisper, before nodding towards the doorway. “Come on, the night’s still young.”

As the two of them walked away, Cinny’s ears twitched, turning to face the group as she heard Spike speak up. “Um, this is nice an all, but is somepony going to explain what erotica is? Or sex?”

Lucent must have heard it too, since he half stumbled, half laughed—as Cinny looked askance of him.

“Spike’s still a baby dragon…” Lucent murmured, “I daresay the conversation is about to turn very interesting.”

Cinny’s eyes grew wide. Hopefully everything was going to work out between Twilight and her friends, but that was certainly not a talk she wanted to help with! “Let’s get out of here!” Cinny said with a laugh, and darted for the door—only to run right into the broad barrel of…

Of…

Oh Sweet Celestia’s behind! It was Princess Celestia!

“Mhmm, yes,” Celestia murmured as she glanced down at Cinny with a knowing smile, where she lay sprawled on the tiled floor. Lucent was bowing, of course. “I always did feel my… behind was one of my best features.”

Oh.

Oh no.

Celestia chuckled musically, and shook her head. “Worry not, my little pony.” Celestia turned her gaze to Lucent, “I take it Cinnamon’s come clean?”

“Y-yes, your majesty…” Cinny answered for herself. Honestly, she was right there! Also; she couldn’t believe Lucent would tell Celestia about that—or maybe it was Cadance or—

“Good!” Celestia smiled warmly, “I’m glad. Well, I have to speak with my faithful student and her friends, if you two would excuse me…”

Cinny nodded furiously, and only scrambled to her hooves as Celestia stepped around her. She really did have nice flanks and—Cinny shook her head. Those were… uh… bad thoughts.

It took all her willpower to look away from the mare.

Then, Celestia glanced back at her with a conspiratorial smile on her lips. “I should mention that Nightmare Moon, Luna, is my sister… I wonder if she might enjoy a copy as a birthday present?”

Well, naturally, Cinny recovered from fainting and woke up several hours later, back in the townhouse, with the sincere hope that the Princess was joking.

Please let her be joking!

Author's Notes:

Well, here we are, at the end.

This is definitely an end.

Unless I write an epilogue.