"There you are," Twilight smiled, approaching Sunrise in the common room and sitting down with her and Celestia, "You had me worried, sweetheart..."

"I did?" Sunrise looked at her with confusion, "Didn't Ma tell you I was here?"

"Of course she did, but you were so... just so angry at the house..." Twilight's smile fell as she sidled up closer to her, "...Are you still mad at me, sweetheart?"

Looking at her, Sunrise shook her head and brought an arm around her shoulders, "No, I'm not. To be honest, I was way out of whack."

Twilight brought her arms around Sunrise and held her tightly, "Are we going to be okay? Because if it's really making you that uncomfortable, I can tell your mother that her little kink has to stop."

Hugging her back, Sunrise nuzzled her hair, "Nah. I mean, what's that gonna do? I guess I just didn't really understand it and got way too overprotective. It's kinda hard to explain, but yeah. I'm sorry, Mom... Like I said, way out of whack."

Twilight smiled and held her, kissing the top of her head, looking over at her former teacher, "Thanks for taking care of her for the next few weeks, Celestia. I really appreciate it."

"It's my pleasure, Twilight," Celestia smiled warmly, "I think it would do her a lot of good, and you know I would love to spend more time with her."

Twilight grinned and kissed Celestia's cheek as Sunrise disentangled herself and slipped out of the room, leaving the two alone, "So, you said on the phone you had something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Giving a nod, Celestia gently stroked Twilight's hair affectonately, "Yes, I did. And I must admit that I do regret having not told you in the past. For that, I'm sorry."

Twilight smiled and hugged her around the shoulders, "Oh c'mon, it can't be that important," she giggled.

"Oh, but it is," Celestia chuckled a bit, "But I suppose I should start from the beginning. I suppose you wondered why I never did take on a husband or a wife all these years?"

Twilight shrugged, "Never really crossed my mind, to be honest. I always had trouble imagining Princess Celestia of all people having... desires for anyone."

Laughing heartily, Celestia smiled and pulled back a little, "Fair enough. I can understand why most would have that perception of me. However, that's only partially correct. There actually is one person I've always had desires for. In a different way than... some other admirations I've had in the past."

Twilight pursed her lips and eyed her mentor, "It's Princess Luna, isn't it?"

"Yes, and-wait, what?!"

"I may not like thinking about you having sex, but you've got 'I'm banging my sister' written all over you," Twilight giggled.

Admittedly stricken with surprise, Celestia managed to laugh, "Oh, goodness... You're just as sharp as ever, Twilight. However, that's an interesting way to assess someone. Care to explain?"

"Well, for one, the fact that you two can never keep your eyes off eachother, for two the fact that you and Luna are always snuggled up the same way me and Kitten are," Twilight giggled, "And for three, Nebula told me when I got here. She's cute by the way."

"I-she did?" Celestia looked at her, mouth agape, "Oh, goodness. So, it seems she told you... Looks like I just about didn't have to."

Twilight laughed and hugged Celestia tighter, "I'm happy for you two. I really am. And your daughter's so cute, I just knew you'd have the most adorable babies," she squealed in delight.

This made Celestia laugh and hug Twilight tighter as well, "Oh, thank you, Twilight! You're sweet to say that. Oh, I should have known I could trust you with all of this."

Twilight kissed her cheek and pulled back, "I don't see why you couldn't have told me sooner. I'd have loved to babysit."

"Believe me, I can see no reason why I shouldn't have," Celestia gave her a nuzzle, "But I suppose better late than never. She's wanted to meet you for ages, after all."

Twilight grinned and squeezed her shoulders. It wasn't often that Celestia confided in her. Usually she was the one doing the confiding, "This is fun, you opening up to me. What else ya got?"

"Oh, then we would be here all day," Celestia winked at her, "There are volumes worth of things I can tell you, Twilight."

"Oh c'mon," Twilight giggled, "Tell me your darkest secret! I'll tell you mine," she winked.

"I've had crushes on all of my students," Celestia winked back.

Twilight nearly choked on her own laughter, "No way! Even me?" she asked, pulling back.

"Especially you!" Celestia laughed, wiping her eyes.

"Oh my god!" Twilight blushed, burying her face into Celestia's neck, "Since when?"

"As far as I can remember, very young," Celestia stroked her hair a little bit, "Especially as you grew."

Twilight's laughter quickly died out as she contemplated Celestia's words, "Wait... how young?"

"Quite young, at around five or six."

Twilight's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks as her body started to shake.

"You idiot!"

Celestia sat with her head hung as Ascentia berated her for the better part of a half an hour.

"You fucking idiot! Could have gone with anything! Seventeen! Sixteen! That time she showed up in Canterlot dressed like a punk rock hooker! But no! Wise old Princess Fucking Celestia decides 'I'm gonna tell the girl who was raped by her fucking mother that the only real mother figure she's ever had wanted to do the fucking same!' How the hell did you stay on the throne for fifty years?!"

Ascentia seethed as she paced erratically around the throne room, stopping only to bellow at the top of her lungs some more. After Celestia had confessed, Twilight had gone into a panic attack. No, panic attack was putting it lightly. Luna had been forced to fly Ascentia in from Ponyville after Twilight had lashed out at three guards. Ascentia herself was nursing a deep cut from Twilight hysterically swinging a candlestick.

"How in Equestria do you function?! How does your own skull not tunnel in on itself?!"

Through the entire rant, Celestia said nothing, and allowed Ascentia's berating. She sighed, then looked up, "There is no excuse for what I had said. In my attempt to be honest, so as to allow no more deception, I hadn't been thinking about the consequences of the truth."

One of the truly embarassing things that Sunrise had to admit to herself was that Twilight's violent reaction was obvious in hindsight, and none of them had predicted it. Ascentia had berated Luna as well as her before rounding on Celestia. It had been two straight hours of listening to her mother yell, and she'd only seen her this angry once before, shortly after Auntie Dagi has passed away.

"Hadn't been thinking?! Of course you hadn't been thinking!" Ascentia yelled so loudly her voice was starting to tear, "That's pretty much your fucking motto! Princess Celestia 2034! She hadn't been thinking!"

Ascentia pressed a hand to her forehead. All this yelling had been giving her a splitting headache.

"Luna... please tell me her criminal record is clean," she sighed in exasperation.

"Yes, her record is clean," Luna said firmly.

"Good," Ascentia spat, turning on her heel to the room they'd locked Twilight in. As soon as she'd vanished, Celestia stood up and fled to the stairs leading to her bedchambers, covering her eyes.

"Uh... Auntie Celesita, watch out for that-" Sunrise was cut off when Celestia ran forehead first into the doorway, but recovered and ascended the stairs, "Never mind..."

"Sunrise," Luna said, approaching her, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm alright... it's Mom I'm worried about," Sunrise sighed, leaning back against Luna while Nebula rolled cartwheels around the throne room, "...Luna... how long has Auntie Celly been like this?"

"I can't say for sure, but a very long time," Luna explained, "She had grown a certain attraction toward children, that even she herself couldn't explain. However, it was nowhere near severe to the point that she ended up taking action. No incidents, no accidents, she merely had fantasies of the sort. To keep it under control, she only spoke to a trusted therapist and recorded her thoughts in journals she keeps hidden away."

"So how did you find out?" Sunrise asked, sitting up as Nebula jumped up into her lap.

"When I was younger, I was very... nosy, shall we say," Luna admitted, "I once came into her room, asking if she had a book I wanted to borrow. When she went to find it, I saw the journal she hid under her mattress. So... I went and fetched it, due to my curiosity. Much to my surprise, it was a journal about her thoughts toward her then-student, Sunset Shimmer."

"How old was Sunset at the time?" Sunrise asked curiously. Her Auntie Sunset had dropped out of Celestia's school at an early age and moved out near Baltimare. She was currently running The Razzle Dazzle after the death of her wife ten years ago.

"About sixteen or so, if I remember correctly," Luna recalled.

"Oh, well that's not too bad," Sunrise shrugged.

"No, it certainly isn't. The attraction was still there, despite that Sunset Shimmer was no longer a child. But anyway, then my sister returned, finding me reading it. Needless to say, she was ashamed and in tears when she saw I knew," Luna recalled, sighing softly at the memory, "As appalled as I was, I knew it couldn't have changed anything. Ever since then, I've allowed her to confide in me about it."

Sunrise raised an eyebrow, "Define 'confide'?"

"How do you mean?"

"Like, was she just talking about her problem, or was she confiding her fantasies to you?" Sunrise asked.

Luna nodded in understanding, "Usually it was a bit of both. Mostly the former, but at times she would indulge in sharing her fantasies."

"Oh god, that must've been uncomfortable!" Sunrise winced.

"A little," Luna admitted with a nod, "They weren't overly graphic, and she didn't exactly... play with herself during them."

Sunrise sighed in relief. This was a lot to take in over the course of nine hours, she didn't need the creepy-factor to go even higher, "When that sting on Grandma Velvet went out, Auntie Celly must have had an anyerism..."

"She did." Luna murmured, "She felt terrible, and vowed to try all she could to repress how she once felt about Twilight Sparkle... But I can see that backfired. If she had been inconsolable back then, I can only imagine how this is going to affect her, now."

"I think Mom will be okay," Sunrise assured her, "This isn't the first time she's gone off like this... though this was the worst... but I'm sure she'll be alright. She could never stay mad at Auntie Celly."

"Twilight, calm down," Ascentia said firmly as she held Twilight by the shoulders, stroking her hair, "For the last time, we can't change Sunrise's middle name."

"WHY! Why did this happen?! WHY?!" Twilight pulled away again, shaking and sniffling, "Even beyond the grave, she's TORMENTING ME! TORMENTING! She won't stop until I encounter her at the Gates of Hell! Why me! Why did she have to feel that way to ME! Wasn't that WITCH of a mother enough?! Can either of us really ever be free?!"

Ascentia paused for a minute as she tried to work out what Twilight meant by 'either' but abandoned the attempt as she kissed along Twilight's temple, "She's dead, sweetheart. Your mother can't hurt you ever again. And Celestia would NEVER hurt you."

"Don't you think I'd like to believe that?! I don't know WHAT to believe anymore!" Twilight yelled, more tears falling down her face, "Every... single... time... I finally relax, I finally feel like I can live my life... SOMETHING happens! I have to be on guard at every given second!"

"Twilight, all that happened was that Celestia confessed something she felt horrible about," Ascentia whispered softly, stroking her hair, "She still loved you."

Ascentia realized the way her words were going to be thrown back at her the minute she said it.

"Oh yeah, she loved me alright," Twilight yelled, "Every fucking inch of me!"

"Twilight, that's not what I-"

"She crushed on me since I was FIVE! FIVE! That was around the same time my BITCHFACE WHORESLUT ASSCRACK of a mother decided it was a great idea to RAPE ME! Why?! Who... Who does that?! Who likes on underage kids?! Sick assholes, that's who!" Twilight yelled, collapsing to her knees and shaking.

"Twilight, she never did anything to hurt you, don't you-"

"Oh shut up!" Twilight shrieked, "Do you have any idea what it feels like to be violated by someone you thought loved you?!"

"...Yes," Ascentia said softly as she hugged her tighter, kissing her cheek.

"...Fine, okay, maybe you do! But you just... I..." Twilight collapsed against her and sobbed.

Ascentia made soft shushing sounds as she stroked Twilight's hair, kissing her temple. That wasn't the first insult she'd thrown at her since she'd arrived, but nearly all of them hadn't registered in her mind. Twilight would probably be begging forgiveness after she'd calmed down and had time to think.

"It's okay, sweetheart. Kitten's here,"  she whispered softly into her ear.

"I know I'm a shitty wife... and can be a stupid mother... and a bad friend..." Twilight whimpered, "But this is just... Celestia was my... my teacher... my other mother! Now all I'm ever going to see is the cruel face of my mother when I see her!"

"Nobody's going to hurt you, sweetheart. Not while I'm here," Ascentia whispered, "She's still your best friend. She's still Sunny's godmother. And she never hurt Sunny either."

Twilight sniffled hard, shaking, "I want to go back in time... stop my mother before she could molest me..."

"I do too," Ascentia whispered, her voice choking up momentarily, "I wish she'd never hurt you. You don't deserve that..."

She sniffled as she stroked Twilight's hair, kissing her cheek.

"You don't deserve any of this..."

"Are you sure about that..." Twilight clutched the fabric of her shirt.

"I'm sure," Ascentia said, her voice quivering, "You never hurt anybody, why do so many people want to hurt you?"

"But I hurt you... I hurt my friends... and I even hurt Sunny..." Twilight sniffled, "I was a horrible person..."

"You never hurt me when you were five. You never hurt your friends then, and Sunny wasn't even born," Ascentia sniffled, nuzzling Twilight's hair and kissing her cheek again, "I saw Shining's home movies, you were the sweetest little girl..."

Looking up, Twilight wiped her eyes, "You really think so...?"

Ascentia nodded, "Reminded me of when we were in school... there was even one video of you snuggled up in my lap back in school... made me wonder why anyone would ever want to hurt someone so nice and sweet..."

"I... I..." Twilight sniffled, laying her head on her shoulder, "I wish I could be that person again... without the horrible bitch hiding underneath it..."

"You're always that sweet little girl," Ascentia whispered softly, "A little more irritable, but I can still feel you swoon when I pick you up," she smiled and wiped her eyes.

"Well, why wouldn't I?" A tiny pout formed at her lips, "It's nice..."

"I know... and you're still so cute," Ascentia whispered with a giggle.

Twilight sniffled, wiping her eyes again, "You really still think I'm cute?"

Ascentia nodded and kissed her cheek, "You're so tiny, and you fit right in my lap. And you make the cutest little noises when you snuggle... reminds me of when I first kissed you..."

"Oh yeah... you just did that out of nowhere... I'm still on you for that," Twilight scrunched up her lips cutely.

"I'm just grateful you never notice the feel I copped," Ascentia giggled.

"I-huh?! You copped a feel! You... you little minx!"

Ascentia giggled and stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah, but I'm your little minx," Ascentia licked her cheek.

"And you're always going to be," Twilight poked her nose.

Ascentia kissed her forehead and held Twilight tightly to her, relishing in how well she fit against her chest like a teddy bear, "I love you, sweetheart. I love you so much..."

"I love you too, Kitten..." Twilight murmured and relaxed a little more.

"One of these days I'm just going to change my name to Kitten," Ascentia cooed softly.

This made Twilight laugh, moreso than she expected, "Then you'd be Kitten Sparkle! Kitten Lilian Sparkle... That's cute..."

Ascentia giggled, nuzzling Twilight's cheek, "Kitten's a lot cuter than Ascentia ever was."

"Well, that goes without saying," Twilight giggled.

"There's my happy Twilight," Ascentia cooed, "You feeling better, sweetheart?"

"A little bit..." Twilight murmured with a little nod, "...I overreacted a bit, didn't I..."

"Nah," Ascentia said, before looking at the bruise on her arm, "Gave me a good thwack with the candlestick, though."

Seeing this, Twilight cringed, "I'm so sorry, Kitten..."

"Don't worry about it. You were having a meltdown," Ascentia kissed her forehead.

"Okay, I just..." Twilight sat up straight, wide-eyed, "Oh, no... Celestia must be feeling horrible! I have to go talk to her!"

"What, right now?" Ascentia asked.

"Yes! I have to go!" Twilight got up to leave, but was pulled back.

"Hey whoa," Ascentia whispered softly, "Only ten minutes ago you were screaming your head off. Give it until tomorrow, we don't have to go home tonight... besides, I'm not ready to give up my snugglepuss..."

"...Okay," Twilight conceded, going back to snuggling against her.

Ascentia smiled and wrapped her arms tightly around her, "I think we'll be fine to sleep here tonight," she looked at the clock and saw it was eleven at night, "Man, we haven't slept on a sofa since that time we stayed at Adagio's..."

"Oh... I remember," Twilight giggled at the memory.

"The back makes couches perfect for snuggling," Ascentia cooed, pressing her back against the couch as she spooned Twilight against her.

"That's true," Twilight closed her eyes as she settled against her happily, "They're great for that."

Ascentia squeezed her waist as she nuzzled Twilight's hair, taking a deep whiff of her lovely scent, "Goodnight Twiley... I love you."

"I love you too, Kitten... Goodnight and sleep tight," Twilight murmured, allowing herself to relax more and slowly drift to sleep.

Ascentia tugged gently on Twilight's waist and held her tightly against her, kissing her neck as she settled back against the sofa, "Goodnight..."

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