Another cheery day in Canterlot was well underway. Any onlooker would be able to tell as much just by looking around at the many cheerful ponies, going to and fro, seeing to the business of managing such a happy nation. The ponies of Equestria had reason to be even happier than usual due to the recent discovery and coronation of a new alicorn princess, who, by all accounts, was both friendly and modest. With this in mind, it wasn’t too surprising that quite a few ponies may have been perplexed by the anxious expression adorning Princess Twilight Sparkle’s face as she hastily made her way to Canterlot Castle.

‘What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!’ This one thought was running the circuit through Twilight’s mind as she quickly approached the main entrance to Canterlot Castle, ponies quickly making way for their newest Princess. Drawing to a halt before the guard ponies, two of which had quickly approached at seeing her distress to assist, Twilight was able to derail the thought that had plagued her so for the last couple of days to regain a modicum of composure.

‘Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Breath in…’

Exhaling as her nerves steadied, Twilight soon took note of the many ponies watching her, some with no small amount of trepidation, at the sight of an Alicorn princess so frazzled. ‘Okay, calm down Twilight. There’s no need to panic anyone. It’s not the end of the world…You just have no idea how to be a princess. No big deal. So what if you’re the worst princess in the history of Equestria, and you disappoint everyone, and Princess Celestia is forced to revoke your crown?...’

‘Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Breath in…’

Exhaling again, and very deliberately not thinking about it, Twilight turned to the guards “S-sorry, everything’s fine-“ Pausing as she turned to the crowd “There’s no problem, just-…running late! Yes, I was terribly worried, I wouldn’t make an appointment…which I should get to.” Plastering a smile on her face as she placated the crowd and guardponies, she calmly walked through the gate, nodding to the bemused guards as she passed.

A moment after the newest princess passed, Silver Shield leaned over towards his fellow gate guard, the more experienced Stalwart Gaze. “Did that seem at all strange to you?” Glancing towards the greenhorn briefly before re-focusing his attention on his duties, Stalwart only muttered “Not nearly as much as you would think.”

“Okay Twilight Sparkle, no more panicking, you’re a grown mare, Celestia’s personal student, and now a Princess, you can handle this rationally.” Having stepped into an alcove in one of the many beautiful hallways of Canterlot Castle, Twilight was quickly getting herself in order. “Princess Celestia specifically told me to come to her if I had any questions about all this. She’s ready for this and I should be too. So, I’ll just calmly request some of her time, and explain the issue…”

It wasn’t like she had just immediately had a panic attack, when the thought occurred; she had tried to work through the question herself. And it was an important question, right? What does somepony do with all that power and responsibility? It seemed like it would just come naturally…but once the celebrations died down, and she had adjusted to having wings, she had found herself slipping into her old routine…and wasn’t that just wrong? Princesses did things, helped their pony subjects and made the world a better place…but Twilight was pretty sure she didn’t have subjects, yet. She didn’t really have any specific ideas of how to improve the world. She could fight evil-doers, and protect everypony still. But how often did evil-doers really show-up? Certainly not often enough to do as a day-to-day kind of thing. She couldn’t just keep studying and managing a library, right?

And creating a checklist for all of that, instead of giving her a course of action, only seemed to confirm that she didn’t know what to do…That had, admittedly, been a blow to Twilight’s inner world.

But she hadn’t panicked then either; she may have had Spike a bit worried by that point, but she had certainly not panicked. After all, it was clear that Twilight just needed to study up on the subject, to help her fill in the holes in her knowledge. Then a course of action would be clear. And as it turned out there were a great many books on the subject of Princesses, Government, and even a few on alicorns in general. They did not, however, actually tell her what she was supposed to do. It seemed that no one was even aware that you could just…become an alicorn and thus need to know that kind of thing.

But she still had her friends to turn to for advice! And they had all reassured her that she was going to be a wonderful princess, whatever she chose to do. Which had been comforting for a few moments…till things went off the rails.

“Trust us, sugarcube. Ya’re plenty smart and ya heart’s always in tha right place. I bet the Princess just wanted ya to relax a bit before jumpin’ into the Princessin’.”

“Applejack is exactly right, dear. You’re feeling restless, and anypony would in your position. Perhaps you can focus on just helping the ponies you know for now? I have a new design, that you would be a perfect model for.”

“Thanks girls. I think you may be right. Maybe I’m just trying to rush into things when being a Princess should just come naturally.”

“Yeah, it’s not like this is some sort of elaborate test by Princess Celestia, to see if you’re really, really, ready for all this, that if you fail will cause her to un-princess-cify you, Twilight”

“Pinkie!”

“…Though, Princess Celestia does seem to do stuff like that a lot.”

“Rainbow Dash!”

She may have panicked a bit, then…and teleported straight to Canterlot.

But, no more. She was calm. She was collected. And Princess Celestia’s doors were always open to her. Her head back on straight and most nervous ticks quelled, she quickly began making her way through the castle. Perhaps she should have taken the time to make a proper appointment, and…she probably shouldn’t have just left her friends like that. They were probably worried about her now. ‘Alright, I’ll just have to take care of this quickly, for their sake.’ That thought actually gave her a bit more strength she found. The pony she asked to direct her to Princess Celestia didn’t even stare at her with worry or confusion. Even better they had last seen Princess Celestia heading towards her study, so Twilight knew they could have a bit of privacy.

Slipping through the door into the antechamber, Twilight took a moment to do a quick check of herself, settling her wings and straightening her hair a bit; her mad dash had taken a toll on her appearance. ‘Oh, I forgot my wing maintenance…again.’ Rainbow Dash had been rather serious about instilling how to properly take care of her wings. Settling her feathers, she resolved to be more on top of that in the future. Pulling a loose feather, her ears twitched as she caught…a peculiar sound. The feather dropped and forgotten, she focused on the door that lead into the study, approaching as she tried to place the sound. Without thinking she placed one ear against the door; it was…sort of a buzzing sound, but also kind of musical, like bells…trilling was the best way she could describe it.

Pulling back to give a bemused look at the door, Twilight’s mind churned over this. She knew that Princess Celestia kept a fair collection of odds and ends in her study. Princess Celestia had shown a fair few to her over the years, whenever Twilight’s curiosity had overcome her sense of propriety. But she was fairly certain she would remember such a sound, if she had heard it before.

Shaking herself from her thoughts as she realized that she had been effectively eavesdropping upon her mentor, and what’s more had been distracted from what had brought her to the castle in the first place. ‘One thing at a time. And Princess Celestia always said that the best way to get answers was to simply ask.’ Setting her curiosity aside, she took the time to knock, before steadily easing the door open. She did note a slight stutter in the rhythm of the curious sound, after knocking.

Peeking in, she cast her gaze over the room, the door creaking as it edged further open. She was quick to note that it did not seem like Princess Celestia was present. Also the sound had abruptly stopped. It did seem like her mentor had been in recently. There was a cheery fire in the fire place, a small table set down by her cushions with what seemed to be a recently laid out tea set, and a rather groggy looking Changeling Queen rolling over on the aforementioned cushions.

Nothing out of the-…Twilight took a moment to reassess her thoughts, just as the Changeling seemed to catch sight of Twilight, mid-yawn.

Both standing stock-still, both trying to work the situation out in their heads…

“…”

“…”

“…”

“...so, I believe it’s Princess Twilight now?”

The calm broken by the attempt at small talk, Twilight found herself leaping into action.

“You! What have you done with the Princess, you monster?!” her horn already glowing brightly, as her magical power surged forward, ready to be used.

“Calm yourself! Nothing has befallen your Princess-“ The Changeling Queen’s words were soon cut off, as she found herself leaping to the air to avoid the blast of magic that had just decimated the cushion she had been lying upon.

“No one’s falling for your tricks this time, Changeling!”

The Changeling Queen now becoming increasingly irate herself “What tricks?! You asked me!” Not having much time to complain, the Changeling Queen was quickly levitating the table to serve as a shield against the very agitated purple princess’ assault.

What seemed like hours of deflecting or avoiding the bolts of energy, may have actually only been just under a minute. But even so, the furious amount of magic being thrown about was quickly wearing upon Twilight, giving the Changeling another opportunity to get in a word.

“Cease your foalish attacks! I am no enemy of yours!”

Halting her onslaught, Twilight gave the Changeling a look that made it clear that she had only stopped out of incredulity, instead of any genuine belief in the Changeling Queen’s claim.

“…I am not currently an enemy of yours.” Chrysalis would later admit to herself that this was a less than effective response. Particularly given how quickly the young alicorn resumed her assault.

To all outside observers, Princess Celestia seemed prepared to enjoy a nice, relaxing afternoon. And why shouldn’t she? With a platter, featuring a pleasing assortment of imported tea and pastries, in her telekinetic grip floating beside her, the hustle and bustle of her student’s ascent to alicornhood behind her, and the lack of looming evil on horizon for the foreseeable future, today was the perfect day for some relaxation. Surely nothing could interfere with that...

Silver Shield leaned towards the more veteran Stalwart Gaze, during a lull in the traffic to-and-from Castle Canterlot. “Princess Twilight did seem a bit agitated. Don’t you think we should have-...I don’t know, mentioned it to someone, sir?”

Glancing towards the green recruit, before refocusing on his watch “It’s generally best not to gainsay the actions of royalty, Shield.”

Looking a bit bemused, Silver Shield waited for the next pony to pass their checkpoint before asking “So…we shouldn’t be worried?”

Leaving the recruit to stew for a bit, Stalwart Gaze finally turned towards him, before flatly saying “I didn’t say that.”

Indeed, those ponies that knew Princess Celestia well understood just how much their beloved princess would need this time to herself, and spared only respectful greetings for the Princess, letting her be as she moved into the privacy of her personal chambers.

Those ponies that knew Princess Celestia so well, would be rather disappointed that their efforts had gone utterly to waste.

Opening the door into her private sanctuary revealed a scene of utter magical-pandemonium. The magical bolts flying back-and-forth were occasionally punctuated by globs of changeling goo, as both the walls and her many trinkets were alternatingly blasted to bits and encased in thick, quickly hardening slime. Most of the heavier furniture was being held in powerful telekinetic fields serving as mobile shields/battering rams. Two large sections of the room seemed to be experiencing major climates shifts. A miniature tornado was quickly sucking up most of her literary collection, as well as a worrying numbers of parasprites. And worse yet, it seemed her favorite cushion, so lavish and well-used that it was essentially irreplaceable, a piece of furniture that was literally part of Equestria history, seemed to have suffered the brunt of this chaos.

Her shock was thankfully short-lived, as she found herself protecting herself from a stray spell with her tea platter, which, much like her cushion, bordered on irreplaceable. Watching as its contents fell to the ground, and the platter itself tried to hop away on undersized frog legs, Celestia only briefly heard the the triumphant cries of her student.

“Princess Celestia!! Now you’re in for it, changel-”

“CEASE”

With that single declaration, the madness that had consumed her personal sanctuary did just that. The spell volleys ceased, furniture came crashing to the ground, the weather calmed, and apart from the parasprites and the transmogrified tea platter, everything came to a halt.

Taking a deep-breath as she glanced between Twilight Sparkle, who seemed to be in shock, and Chrysalis, whose cheeks were puffed out with unlaunched changeling slime and likewise seemed a bit surprised, Princess Celestia sighed. Closing the door behind her, mindful of what she assumed to be recently conjured parasprites, she passed between the two, marching up to the remains of her favorite cushion. Pausing only a moment before rather forcibly lying down upon the portion that seemed to have retained the most stuffing, she extended one hoof pointing it directly to her right.

“Twilight, please sit down.”

“Princess! I-what-you-…!”

“Twilight, please come here, and sit down.”

That ended any objections she might have had with Celestia’s request, as she quickly rushed forward and sat down.

Turning toward the Changeling Queen, her expression unchanged “Chrysalis,-“ Twilight briefly started, upon hearing Celestia addressing the changeling with a name “-please relieve yourself, and sit down.”

Chrysalis' cheeks still packed with the unlaunched goo, she soon glanced about looking for somewhere to cleanly dispose of the burden. Appraising their surroundings, she glanced back to Celestia, only to note that her expression had remained unchanged. Realizing that it was rather pointless to spare the study anymore punishment, she leaned to the side and deposited the slime amidst the wreckage of a bookcase. Wiping her mouth in as dignified manner as possible, she cantered to Celestia’s side before lying down, Twilight’s gaze following her the whole time.

Taking one more calming breath, Princess Celestia looked between the two at her sides “Now. While I am quite sure I can guess at what lead to what just transpired, I would like to ask the two of you just how my study was turned into a battlefield.”

Looking like she was about to burst from built up tension, Twilight burst out “What’s going on here, Princess Celestia?! You know who she is, right?!” jabbing a hoof in the Changeling Queen’s direction, which she seemed to totally ignore.

“Yes, Twilight, I-“

“I mean, she tried conquer all of Equestria! She kidnapped Cadence! And me! And brainwashed my brother!! And- STOP LOOKING SO SMUG ABOUT IT!!!” Indeed over the course of her little outburst, a small smirk had appeared on the Changeling Queen muzzle. Which soon faded as Celestia leveled an icy look in her direction.

“Why is she even here?! Is she-…Did she?”

Trailing off, as a terrible thought crossed her mind, as she looked between her mentor and someone she absolutely loathed. Jumping to her hooves, Twilight had almost began a mad dash from the room, before Celestia placed a gentle, but firm, hoof on her withers.

“Twilight, please calm down. I am not under her influence. She is only here because I am allowing it.”

Her calm, understanding tone halted Twilight’s growing panic, though only just “Wh-what?”

“Luna is aware of her presence here, as well as select heads-of-staff, and the interim-captain of the guard. You can confirm this with them…and if you must, you may check me for any sort of magical control.”

Slowly calming down, Twilight soon found the strength leaving her limbs as she found herself lying down again. Looking between her mentor and the Changeling Queen again, the latter of which seemed to have an unreadable expression on her face as she watched “B-but, why? Why is she here? Are you…negotiating or…?”

For the first time since Celestia had become involved in this affair, she seemed to hesitate. Twilight found herself noting the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis she had been called, giving a questioning look towards the Princess Celestia as well, as if she too was curious how she would respond.

Princess Celestia briefly cleared her throat, after taking a moment to consider her student “No…this is not to discuss diplomacy, or anything of that sort. Chrysalis is here in an…unofficial capacity.”

Still not understanding, Twilight looked up to Princess Celestia with a discomforting expression, her unasked questions written in the look she gave the pony she trusted most.

“This-this may take some time to properly explain, Twilight…”

With a snort, that utterly ruined the otherwise tense moment, both princesses turned towards Chrysalis as she tried to control an inexplicable bout of amusement. Noting their attention, the Changeling Queen quickly brought herself under control. Composing herself once more “Ah, forgive me, Celestia. And Princess Twilight, I suppose. That was just…quite the understatement…” as she trailed off, an uncomfortable silence settled in.

Clearing her throat, Celestia decided to break the silence, as a thought visibly occurred to her “Chrysalis, am I to understand that all of this-“

Gesturing a hoof at the devastated study, before continuing.

“-was a resulting of Twilight stumbling upon you while undisguised?”

Clearly a bit thrown by the question, Chrysalis blinked as she processed what was just asked. “…yes, well, your student was rather quick to leap to assumptions, about my presence. Ah, not unfairly, I suppose.”

Nodding at Chrysalis’ response, before continuing “Indeed. But I do recall asking you to try to be inconspicuous during your stay here. And you are, as you often remind me, a master of disguise.”

“Yes. What’s your point?” punctuating her own question with an arched brow, Chrysalis seemed a bit defensive.

“Oh, I am just wondering how someone with such a talent for going unnoticed, could have been uncovered by accident. Were you perhaps distracted?”

Not meeting her gaze, Chrysalis seemed to visibly be trying to avoid looking flustered by the direction of the conversation “Well- that is to say, even the most talented of individuals can be struck down by the wiles of fate. Regardless of their natural talent and vigilan-“

“You fell asleep again, didn’t you?” Celestia cut her off, her inquiry tinged with both amusement and exasperation.

“That is ridiculous! I-“

Scarcely missing a beat, Celestia turned to her dumbfounded student, who had been entirely wrapped up in the bizarre exchange “Twilight?”

Sitting up straighter at suddenly being involved “Wh-what?”

With a gentle smile, Celestia asked her student “When you discovered Chrysalis here, was she perhaps in the middle of a nap?”

Ignoring the indignant noise coming from Chrysalis, Twilight tried to recall the circumstances surrounding her discovering Chrysalis “I-I don’t really know. I was kind of caught off guard and-“ Thinking it over briefly she faced Celestia again “-maybe? She did seem to be lying down when I came in. And I think she may have been yawning when she noticed me. And there was-…”

Celestia’s eyes seem to glint with the faintest of amusement “Go on?”

Still not understanding the bizarre conversation she seemed to have been pulled into, she decided to simply humor her mentor, in the hopes of receiving answers afterwards “Well, before I knocked, I heard this sound. Like, this odd sort of musical buzzing-“

“I do not snore!!”

Jumping at the sudden outburst from the Changeling Queen, Twilight quickly looked over at the, now, rather flustered Chrysalis. Lowering an outstretched hoof, she looked between the surprised expression on Twilight’s face and the positively mirthful expression on Princess Celestia’s, before, to Twilight’s bafflement, blushing. Quickly drawing herself up and in a forcibly composed voice “Changelings do not snore. Nor do Queens. As I’m both, logically you did not hear what you think you heard.”

“I don’t think anyone has suggested that you were snoring, Chrysalis…apart from yourself.” Princess Celestia noted.

Sputtering as she tried to maintain her poise “That- d-don’t play coy! We both know what you were insinuating. And it is completely ridiculous.” Pausing briefly “And totally unrelated to the matter at hoof!”

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!”

Unable to contain herself any longer, Twilight’s angry outburst quickly brought an end to the exchange between the two. Looking down at her clearly upset student, Celestia’s mirth soon fled, as she realized how much stress her antics had inadvertently caused Twilight. Looking abashed “…forgive me Twilight. I promised you an explanation, and I let myself become distracted. As Chrysalis pointed out, her sleeping habits are not the matter at hoof” It seemed Chrysalis was simply content with the change of topics.

Considering her words briefly, Celestia seemed briefly conflicted before starting “I suppose the best way to start is with a proper introduction. This is Chrysalis, Queen of the Changeling Swarm. And for much of the last thousand years, somepony that I would consider a…friend…sort of.”

“You're friends? With her?! How would that- I mean, her?!”

At Twilight's exclamation, Chrysalis snorted “As if I'm that bad.”

“You are!!”

Interjecting between the two before things could again go off topic, or violent, Celestia turned towards Chrysalis “Chrysalis, I would appreciate it if you left this to me, for the moment.”

Rolling her eyes, before she let them wander across the devastated room, Chrysalis evidently acceded to Celestia's request.

Celestia turned her attention back to Twilight as the young princess continued.

“After all she's done, you're friends with her! She's a monster! After all she's done-...how can she be a friend to anything?”

Twilight quickly lost steam by the end uttering the last bit in a low voice. All throughout Celestia merely waited patiently and with a look of understanding. It was with that same expression she began to explain.

“You are absolutely correct Twilight, and I do nothing to excuse the wrongs she committed those days. Indeed, I was planning on having a very long conversation with her on just why she decided to take such-...extreme action, in the first place.” At this point, she pointedly shot a look towards Chrysalis, letting her know that a conversation was still going to be had about her invasion.

“I wanted this opportunity to attempt to understand why this time she has gone so far beyond what we've agreed to in the past. And see if what we had could not be salvaged.” Princess Celestia explained.

“...agreed to?”

Princess Celestia seemed to pause for a moment, before nodding at Twilight's question. Sighing before continuing “Yes, what we agreed to. That might take some time to properly explain, as well. I'm not entirely certain where to begin.”

Chrysalis interjected “One usually begins at the beginning.”

Glancing towards the changeling, she was a bit annoyed with her quip, but could find no fault in the reasoning. “I suppose you are correct, Chrysalis.”

Facing Twilight once more “I-...the first thing you must understand Twilight, is that...I am very old. And by most standards, so is Chrysalis-”

Chrysalis looked a bit miffed at this assessment, but couldn't seem to decide if it was meant as a jab or an honest assessment.

“-and I have known her for a very long time. Well before...Nightmare Moon, I've known Chrysalis as a foe, and have faced her many times. And that's how I believe things truly began, I think.”

Celestia smiled a bit at that “At times, I think she and I have exchanged more banter, insults, and exposition with one another, than I have actually spoken with most ponies I've known their whole lives. We were familiar with one another, if not friends at the time. She would make a move and I, and Luna, would move to stop her. Or some other circumstances would have us interact before going our ways again, to face each other again.”

“Until her sister fell.” Chrysalis again interjected, though this time it was more a neutral statement rather than amused quipping. Celestia didn't seem to betray any emotion at the statement; she would have had to bring it up at one point or another. It seemed to amount to little more than the Changeling prodding her forward.

“Yes.”

Celestia seemed to take a moment to consider just what she wanted to say. “In the days after I was forced to banish Luna, I was...heartbroken. She had been at my side since time immemorial, and for the first time in a...very long time, I was alone. I wanted to do many things in those days, but what I wanted was not what my little ponies needed. The country was still in a state of crisis and I had to put my woes to the side.”

Noticing Twilight's growing distress at where the story seemed to be going, she took a moment to smile gently down upon her student “I don't mean to suggest that I was struggling with this by my lonesome, Twilight. There were ponies that felt much the same, that missed Luna, and understood the circumstances surrounding those days. Many spent no small effort comforting me.” She sighed before continuing, the smile taking a somewhat sad countenance “But time passed, and those that knew Luna passed as well. Most ponies did not want to examine things too closely from that time, and within a few decades more knew the story of Nightmare Moon than of Luna, my sister.”

Twilight had always been quick at putting things together and saw where things were pointing “But she...”

Chuckling at Twilight's expression, as she grasped what had sparked the change between the alicorn and changeling, her mentor gave a nod. Chrysalis merely huffed, a bit irritated at seemingly being relegated to the sidelines.

“I think you see where I am going, my student. I don't mean to imply that Chrysalis was ever a comforting shoulder to cry upon, but she remembered Luna as I did, to my shock at the time. And that meant a great deal to me at the time, even if it was nothing intentional on her part. When we butted heads, time and again, it helped me remember Luna rather than Nightmare Moon. I imagine it was simply out of habit on her part, but hearing somepony refer to my sister as Luna helped me in ways I didn't realize would.”

Chrysalis snorted at this “Yes, I make a wonderful emotional anchor for weepy princesses.”

Celestia rolled her eyes as Chrysalis ruined the moment before retorting “Forgive me for being emotional at the time, I know how uncomfortable that makes you.”

“As well you should, I have made no secret of it. Quite inconsiderate, Princess.” Chrysalis replied.

“If I had known that thwarting your plans at the time would have led to an awkward moment between us, I certainly would have stood aside then.” Celestia countered with a smile.

Twilight had to admit that she was mystified by how quickly the two of them fell into such back-and-forth banter. The situation was hard to grasp, but it certainly seemed like they were used to speaking casually with one another. Her curiosity was still far from sated entirely though “Awkward moment?”

Looking back towards Twilight, it seemed to take a moment for Princess Celestia to get her thoughts back on track. She actually giggled for a moment, as she recalled the day “Yes, I suppose that warrants some explanation, given that it was the day that things became a bit murky between she and I.”

“Ah, yes. The day you decided that your nostalgia took precedence over a foreign power infiltrating your government.”

Smiling at Chrysalis' snark, Celestia continued “I was hardly ignoring your scheme at the time, Chrysalis. And I've apologized for throwing you off when you were trying to monologue.”

“I was not monologuing. I was explaining why you failed in averting my plan. If anything, that was exposition!”

“My apologies. I didn't mean to interrupt your exposition.”

“And even then, it hardly counts as monologuing when you keep interjecting.”

“I agree. If anything that would be a conversation...may I continue now?”

Taking Chrysalis' silence on the matter as permission to continue, Celestia resumed. “So, yes. I admittedly trampled upon our well-worn routine by that point, in my hopes for reminiscing.”

Twilight held up her hoof, as she felt something important was being glossed over “But, didn't she just admit that she doing something- you know? Terrible?”

Celestia nodded at the question “True, though by the point we had begun our usual confrontation, Chrysalis had already sent her changelings away. They had already collected a substantial amount of love, under the noses of just about everypony. By that point, it probably would have caused everyone more trouble letting anypony even know that it happened. Honestly, it probably would have made more sense to skip our usual routine entirely and focus on sorting out matters.”

Twilight seemed to nod as she considered this, not entirely comfortable with the answer, but at least understanding things a bit.

“As I was saying, I may have derailed our usual dramatic confrontation-”

“To my great annoyance.” Chrysalis chimed in again.

“-and from there, things seemed to lead to our first real conversation, I had ever really had with her.” Celestia continuing smoothly over Chrysalis' interjection.

Twilight tilting her head as she asked the next question that came to mind “What did you talk about?”

“Mostly we spoke of how annoying Chrysalis found it whenever I tried to bring up my feelings or Luna.” Princess Celestia said.

Twilight blinked at that, not really having a proper response to the blunt answer.

“After that, we did fall into our usual back-and-forth when it came to her raids against Equestria, to feed upon our love and how I needed to protect my subjects. But we had already had the same arguments before, and I suppose we had already sort of broken the ice earlier, and eventually we settled on a different topic. Which of us had the harder job.” Her mentor elaborated.

“So that's it?...You had a conversation, and then you were friends?” Twilight asked, with a tilt of her head.

“No, I think we both parted ways that evening still seeing the other as the enemy. It was just the...dynamics that I believe changed. We weren't just making declarations of righteousness and revenge or delivering clever retorts against one another before battling anymore.” Celestia clarified.

“A mistake I've regretted ever since.”

Celestia briefly pouted at Chrysalis' assessment, before going on “In any event, it would be decades before we actually met specifically for the sake of each others company, rather than as a result of our competing interests. That day opened the door to the possibility. And even then, I think we both had our own excuses for seeking one another out. From then on, it was more a matter of time than anything else, before I found myself actually looking forward to her company.”

“As I said, I excel at serving as an emotional anchor for weepy princesses.” The Changeling Queen noted.

“Indeed. Though you cannot tell me you didn't enjoy reminiscing from time to time, as well?” Celestia asked.

“Ah, yes. Like the time I broke into your room, only to find you in bed with a dessert cart and half of your royal guard?”

“What?!” Twilight had been steadily calming down as she had spoken with her mentor. Her calm quickly went out the door, to be replaced by outrage at the insinuation made by the Changeling Queen. That outrage soon followed her calm out the door, as she took note of the blush quickly spreading across the face of her mentor, the Immortal ruler of Equestria, the very embodiment of the warmth and power of the Sun, and apparent pervert.

“Chrysalis that-...You can't-...It wasn't half of the guard!”

Chrysalis looking quite pleased with the turn in Celestia's normally ever dignified demeanor, held a hoof to her chin recalling the day “I suppose, I could be wrong about the numbers involved. It was quite the mess, and I certainly wasted no time in giving you back your privacy.”

“Chrysalis! That is hardly an appropriate topic!”

“Oh, were we not talking about how our views about one another were changing? That certainly changed the way I saw our Princess of the Sun.”

Those words continued to bounce around hollowly in Twilight's mind, as her mind desperately did it's very best to not consider anything about what had just been introduced to it. A titanic conflict between her naturally inquisitive tendencies and her fervent desire to not break her own mind with imagery involving her mentor had ensued. But, as with all conflicts, one-side will gain the upperhand eventually, and Twilight was a very thoughtful pony. A tiny sliver of a thought slipped by her defenses and made it's way to the forefront.

'Shining Armor was in the Royal guard. He likes dessert.'

The bickering rulers were torn from their argument, just as Celestia was prepared to scold Chrysalis' for bringing up that incident, when they both turned at the sound of a body hitting the floor.

“Twilight?”

“...I'm counting that as a victory for changelings everywhere.”

Author's Notes:

First story here, but by all means criticize and ask questions. I spend enough time going over it in my head, having others do it for me would be a welcome change of pace. There are reasons behind the characterizations I've set down for Celestia and Chrysalis, so hopefully things will become clearer later on. As I mentioned, this should be the first of three chapters for this little story I have. There will be a more serious side to this story by the third chapter though I intend on continuing to inject humor in liberally.

For the record, I haven't seen Equestria Girls yet, and so I have no plans yet to incorporate anything from there into my writing. Not ruling it out, but don't expect me to bring it up.

Hopefully this isn't a trainwreck.