The palace was made of white marble, cut from silt clouds in the east and imported and constructed over decades. Twilight knew, at night, it became colder and colder, no matter how many sconces were put in place under Princess Luna's orders. If anything, it just added an extra level to how imposing the great building was at night - shadows flickered back and forth on the walls, dim lightposts glowed dully on the bright white stone outside the heavy wood and iron gates.

Each hoofstep on the pavement resounded in Twilight's ears. It was so confusing and unrealistic. It felt, to her, like the Princess must have already known about her and Pinkie. She was the Princess, of course she knew. So why did she call them all here, acknowledging both her and Pinkie and Fluttershy and Dash? The thoughts and fears were draining one by one out of her mind as she tried to force logic to take over.

They were stopped at the gate, and she barely even remembered taking out her credentials and showing them to the guards, but she must have - the next thing she knew, they were in the castle's main hall, on the thick velvet carpet, in the huge, empty throne room. A hoofstep or two from behind her reverberated, showing truly how empty the palace was at this time of night.

The weren't standing in the hall for long before Princess Luna, with a personal guard of three, almost silently appeared from the left room behind the throne. They bowed, hesitating out of tiredness or forgetfulness or a mixture. "Rise," she said in her already-loud voice, amplified heavily by the halls.

Twilight looked up. Her mouth went dry. Yes, her and Princess Luna were on good, even friendly terms, but she was still a princess, and that of the night itself - and with the circumstances, the second-most imposing figure she'd ever seen before in her life. "Princess... why are we - why are we here?" she stuttered, almost wincing as her own, weak voice was amplified as well.

She noticed Princess Luna's expression with a knot in her stomach. It was sympathy. "My sister will meet you all on the Garden Balcony. All will be explained, friends. Follow me," she finished, her voice becoming softer.

The group trotted along behind her, shooting glances back and forth that asked more questions than any of them had answers. Twilight wondered whether anypony had seen the Princess' expression. She almost hoped they hadn't, for their sake. It scared her.

The glass doors swung open with dark blue magic, letting a breeze and the smell of midnight fireplaces and frost and flowers into the hall. The Princess stood by the door as her guard walked quietly down the hall behind her. "I will not be joining you." Her deep blue eyes showed no emotion.

Twilight stood before the balcony, looking up at Princess Celestia, who was already sitting at a large table with a white glass teapot. She turned to Princess Luna, and whispered, "Please tell me it's something good."

Luna said nothing for a moment. "It's something necessary," she replied.

Twilight lowered her head and walked in, the others following. Only the phrase please, no ran through her head as she sat down at one of the cold metal seats across from the Princess.

She seemed to hear her thoughts. As each of the ponies sat down, she began pouring tea. "I'm not here to judge you," she began, her voice gentle. Twilight knew then beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Princess could read her mind. A weight felt lifted from all over her, and it took every measure of her respectable self not to sigh for relief.

"Nor am I here to separate you," she continued, looking over at the two couples one at a time. "But we do need to discuss something.

"You all have seen the papers today, I would assume." They nodded, with Twilight letting out a weak 'yes'. "I apologize, by the way, Twilight, for the use of the emergency note, but I needed you here as quickly as possible and I wasn't sure where you were."

"It's, um, it's okay, Princess," Twilight murmured uncomfortably.

The Princess smiled briefly and began again. "The only reason you're broadcasted like this is because you're celebrities, as the Elements of Harmony generally are. The Elements of Harmony, though, are your function," she said, speaking slowly and picking words carefully. "You need to understand the importance of them."

Twilight looked into her tea, and back up at the Princess. "We're a defensive mechanism. We're also based on friendship. I understand that. I think we all do, right?" she asked, looking around at the group, who nodded.

"That's right. The magic of bonding ponies together is a force that we were able to harness centuries ago. It's extremely potent and, technically, can break magical law with its own power alone." She paused. "And that's why it's so touchy. I ask you, Twilight, to write friendship reports because it shows that you're committing upkeep to your friendships, which is important."

"But... does this mean something with... us?" Dash asked, the first time she'd spoken in quite a while.

"Like I said. The magic is touchy, and putting something beyond friendship - romance - will unbalance it." She stirred her tea, a gentle clinking sound the solitary noise on the balcony. "For now... there may not be a problem."

At this, Pinkie sighed audibly. "Told you, Twi," she muttered, and smiled brightly.

"But - tomorrow, we'll be testing whether this is true. We'll be using the Elements on something and observing its effects, and we may do this multiple times. It can get exhausting, but it's necessary."

"But it's alright? For now?" Rarity asked.

"For now, we will be, by government standards, in class two lockdown. This means that the Library will close, the Great Databank will close and be on guard and lockdown, and the seedbanks in the east will be on guard and lockdown for as long as necessary. Secondly, borders will be closed in some places and security heightened in others. And the general public will not be given this information." She closed her eyes and took a sip of her tea.

Twilight covered her face with her hooves. She didn't want to look at the Princess as the whole weight of everything crashed down on her. "I'm... so sorry, Princess," she murmured into her hooves, on the verge of tears.

The Princess sighed. "No. It's not your fault. It's not any of your faults," she added, turning back to the others, who were already covering their faces or looking away.

"I'm sorry, too," Pinkie said, looking uncomfortable. "It was my fault to begin with. I shouldn't have -"

"I'm happy that you're both happy," she interrupted, "and one way or another, I can't stop you from seeing one another. That power doesn't belong to anypony. However, precautions and some more extreme measures may need to be taken."

She stood. "Tonight, you'll each be given a room, and you'll get some rest. Tomorrow, at nine o'clock, we'll begin with the Elements." She smiled as she added, "You can take your tea to your room."

"Princess," Dash asked, slowly. "How... how did you know about us?"

With a burst of warm yellow magic, the Capitol Cadet appeared, unfurled, before her. "You're both on page three. Apparently you proposed."

Dash's eyes widened. "Is - is there a - um, picture?" she asked, badly trying to keep her voice calm.

"I believe. Perhaps you should have this," she said, levitating it over to Dash, who took it in her mouth, eyes still wide.

As they filed back into the palace one by one, Fluttershy hung behind for a moment at the door, turning back to the Princess and immediately looking at her hooves. "Um... your Majesty, I..." she began. "What if we can't use the Elements anymore?"

"We'll see whether that happens first. You need rest, Fluttershy," she said, and walked alongside her into the palace. "You know, you and Rainbow Dash are cute together," she added casually. As she expected, Fluttershy blushed heavily and tried to stammer some kind of thanks. She laughed.

The stillness in the darkened room was broken with the slamming of a door. Dash spit the rolled-up paper onto the floor, her brow furrowed in an anger she felt it was too late at night to express properly. The torch by the door illuminated the bright, colourful image printed onto the page. All six of them, at the blanket, the box in Dash's hooves. She cursed quietly, frustration welling up like tears in her mind. She spent so long finding the perfect spot and the perfect necklace and everything and she didn't want to be reminded of the embarrassment.

Fluttershy had been part of Dash's life for so long that she knew in some part of her psyche how close they were before she even approached her that afternoon. She was forming some clouds, pressing them together to increase density or something, and Fluttershy came right out and asked her. And she'd know for so long that Fluttershy was more than her most intimate friend, but she didn't have the guts to even suggest that to herself. And it'd been stagger and screw-up every step of the way from then on out.

The first date was a disaster. Dash wasn't prepared in any way, shape, or form for what a date with a friend really was, and things were awkward the entire time (including towards the end, when she kissed her for no other reason than because that's what was in her stupid head.) But apparently she liked it and they did that a lot the first few weeks.

Then the potluck that Pinkie threw just because, and that she had a habit of going to. She asked Fluttershy if they could meet up and they did and Dash had no idea how to act. Another bust.

Then, a few months later, something told her to propose and she just up and did it. No reason. And, wouldn't you know it, another bust.

She finally felt the tears come back as she recounted it all, and put her head in her hooves. She didn't even hear the door open, but she did hear the quiet "Dash?" that followed, and jumped to her hooves.

"H-hey, Shy," she replied, kicking the newspaper closed with her back hoof and grinning briefly. "You know, you -" have your own room, she was going to say, but it sounded rude. "Never mind."

She brushed past her and sat on the bed, patting the blanket next to her. Dash walked over to take the invitation, but, as she looked at the torch flames dancing and sparkling in her eyes, and felt the concern emanating from her, instead simply leaned onto the bed with her forelegs and kissed her.

The canopyless canopy bed creaked quietly under the weight of two. She could feel the warm pressure of Fluttershy's hooves on her back, pulling her into comfort. It was still dark, and both the past and the future still sat heavily at the back of her mind, but she was content just for that moment's kiss. If there was anything that she didn't screw up, it was that she loved her.

According to the Laws of Probability, chances resolve with the same possibility as they logically appear. A fifty-percent chance that something will happen means that it will happen half the time. It's more likely that an event with a larger probability will occur, and it's less so that an event with a lesser probability will occur.

But it didn't feel that way to Twilight at that moment. She held the pillow tightly to her chest and tried to remember what the Princess said. No matter how little the percentage chance was that the Elements would fail, it felt definite and that her whole world, her entire political position, and her future, would fall apart because she took a chance and enjoyed it. She could almost hear Pinkie's voice telling her it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't stop thinking, knowing, that it was.

It was no longer a problem of losing Pinkie. It was a problem of losing the Princess. All that setup all those years ago to put her where she was would fall apart under her hooves. All of this, her being the Princess' prized student, going to Ponyville, learning about friendship - she knew it was because she had to be the Element of Magic. She wasn't stupid. And she ruined it.

Pinkie would be separated from the Elements, and possibly Fluttershy or Dash or both as well, and all-new 'recruits' would have to be shifted in unless Twilight didn't consider them her friends, in which case the only possibility was recruit set number three...

She rolled over and felt angry tears fall on the pillow, before a harsh whisper shocked her into sitting up. "Twilight! Are you in here?"

"Pinkie?" she whispered back, unable to see anything but a pink-lined silhouette in the dark.

"Duh!" Pinkie replied, dropping the whisper and bounding into her bed alongside her, apparently not understanding the concept of a twin-sized mattress and sending her almost flying off the edge of the bed.

"Pinkie!" she cried, wiping away her tears quickly.

"Sorry. Came to see how you were... you know."

She sniffled as she tried to inhale, mentally smacking herself for doing so. Stop crying. "... Yeah."

"Don't worry about it, Twi, nothing bad's gonna happen. Just go with it and see how it turns out. It's not your fault."

"Of course - of course it's not my fault!" she replied in a harsh whisper and a sharp sarcastic edge. "No matter how badly the consequences for my actions may be, I can always be assured that it's not my fault!"

There was silence for a moment, as Twilight felt it settle. "I - I'm sorry, I was... I'm frustrated."

"I know. It's okay."

"Why can't you just be angry with me? Please?" she asked, a sudden burning sparking in her chest. How could she be so gracious? Why to her? Why did she have to be in love? "It'd make me feel better." It'd let me be angry with you.

"I don't know how I co -"

She stopped her with a kiss. It was a heavy one, and it pushed her onto her back, allowing Twilight to roll over onto her. It was full-force now, and each murmur of 'hold on' and 'slow down' from Pinkie changed her mind in no way whatsoever. She was gripped by a sudden passion, a want that she had no reason to repress. So she didn't.

Pinkie fell back onto the pillow as Twilight righted herself and sat up, her breathing still shallow. She sucked in breath as whatever myriad of feelings she had rushed through her, making her lightheaded. Pinkie muttered something about it being hot (or something being hot) and kicked the covers off of her. She felt a hoof on hers, pulling her back gently a little at a time.

She looked out the window, past the balcony, into the dimly-lit city beyond. Everything going on here wasn't out there. Thoughts danced by her as her head cleared, showing themselves just enough to be interesting and then ducking away to hide somewhere in her mind.

Suddenly, she slid off the bed to all fours and wobbled a bit to get her balance.

"Twilight?" she heard. "Where are you going?"

She didn't reply. How could she? She didn't know the answer. With a fizzle of pink magic, the thick blanket wrapped around her and she opened the small balcony door and walked down the steps, through the garden, and out of the confusion.