Chapter 42: The Incredibly Concerned Adopted Daughter of a Solar-Powered Pony Princess

When I looked at the horse-turned-human crouching a little so she would fit into the doorway meant for ponies, I had to repress a groan. After letting Twilight and Dash see the cracks in my happy face, and then talking to Celestia about…well, everything, the absolute last thing I needed was some alone time with Sunset Shimmer.

What made it all the more worse was the look in her eyes as she stood there. The magic-less human who was barely getting by emotionally was feeling bad for the creature that had been handed everything she ever wanted on a silver platter. It repeatedly kicked my pride in the balls.

There was some other stuff too, but...it was mostly my pride.

And, okay...I may have felt pretty damn ashamed over the whole thing too. Sunset had nothing. At least in the way of what she should have had, and she was feeling concern for someone who had everything compared to her.

So yeah, lots of shame for that.

And a good part of me wanted to just zap her out of the room, then lock the door closed with some kind of super locking magical spell.

But...it was Sunset asking, and the last thing I wanted to do was upset her anymore than she already was. Considering the mental condition she was in, blowing up on the girl, or just plain denying her anything was pretty much forbidden. “Just…keep your hands to yourself,” I mumbled before looking away from her. Those things tore through my emotional defenses like hot knives through butter.

“Sure,” the girl replied before I heard her walk over to me and the bed sunk in from her weight. “So um…didn’t see you at lunch.”

I let out a long breath. “It’s not like I eat real food,” I mumbled. And I was pretty sure my little talk with Tia meant I had missed it anyway. Although, maybe she had managed to catch the girls and tell them what had happened.

Which of course meant I’d have to talk to them about what was going on later tonight. Not just to allay any concerns but…if my girlfriend spent some alone time with a supermodel-level hot person, I would probably be a little worried over just what had happened between them. And that was without the emotional feeding that could bring Twilight to orgasm on its own these days.

A hand touched my back, but it didn’t start petting me, so I let it remain. It wasn’t like I would have been able to stop Sunset if she did decide to do anything anyway. “So let me guess, Celestia got all confrontational, and…what? It didn’t go too well?”

“Just…brought some bad stuff to the surface,” I replied after a moment of thinking about things. All in all, our time together hadn’t been that bad between us, but…well, the aftertaste of the conversation was what wasn’t sitting with me very well with me.

Especially considering how it had be looking at things now.

I had been keeping Twilight and Rainbow at arms length. Even with all my proclamation of love, when I reexamined the way I had been behaving towards them in other areas, I was starting to reevaluate our relationship.

A good bit of the evidence said they weren’t girlfriends. They were sex buddies, people that you slept with and had a friendly relationship with, but there was a distance between me and them that I had kept up. Twilight was fully open with me, and so was Celestia…if only because the whole mental landscape made it next to impossible not to be, Rainbow was getting there, but I had yet to really let two of the girls I slept with in.

And...part of me wondered if that was as far as I should go.

Which also led me to consider the horrible possibility that I needed to just step back and end things with them all here and now rather than become some kind of emotional leech that dragged them down in order to keep himself going.

Sunset hummed a bit before speaking. “Better than letting it simmer, trust me on that one. When it happened with me, the Princess…well…you know what happened.”

“Princess?” I asked with a little frown as I looked up at the teenage human. “What happened to Mom?”

I got a wince for the capital M from the girl. “Hey it’s only been a week,” she mumbled before clearing her throat. “And um look, Mom said you had some problems last night, and I just about had to tell her everything I knew about humans the whole ride over and…well, I just came to see if you were alright.”

Since it seemed Celestia hadn’t sicked Sunset on me as some sort of follow-up therapy, I collapsed towards her rather than away, and just grunted a bit. “Thanks. But, you didn’t really need to do that.”

“Just like you didn’t have to be so kind to me when I first got to Equestria,” she countered warmly while her fingers worked their way across my ribs. “So what’s wrong? I know you and Celes-Mom, had a talk, and she can be pretty intense, even when she doesn’t want to be. And hard headed, and...well, you know.”

My stomach churned at the thought of dumping my problems onto Sunset, but then, with the situation I was in, I didn’t really have to. “I…don’t really know.” Not anymore anyway.

There was the whole female thing, but I didn’t really feel comfortable talking to Sunset about that just yet. As for the dresses and fancy parties, I was still unsure what I would hate worse, letting Rarity down or going to them. And my relationship problems weren’t really something I should talk to the adopted daughter of one of the women I would probably be fucking if things ended up working out. Not that the breakup option would make anything in any way better.

“Still having species change issues?” Sunset asked.

Okay, that was one thing I could talk to her about, even if I probably shouldn’t. “Not really.”

Sunset frowned at me. Not an angry frown, just one of confusion. “But I thought, the whole way here, Celestia was going on and on about all these problems you’re supposed to be having with being a pony and-”

“Well it’s not exactly a pony problem,” I said, cutting Sunset off before I paused to take a quick breath. “See, I never really had a species change problem.” Although as memories as my first day as a changeling came to mind, I quickly had to put in a correction. “Okay well I did, but the changelings got rid of it pretty quickly with a bit of mental programming. Sure, hooves will never be a substitute for hands and I’m kind of miffed at being eye level with your rear, but I’m not exactly crying over the magical horn and wings either.”

When what I had just let out of my mouth reached my ears, I quickly sat up and gave Sunset the most apologetic look I could manage. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…oh buck,” I mumbled.

Sunset’s confusion returned, and after several seconds she blinked once before breaking the silence. “What?”

I lowered my head into the mattress. “You’re probably the last human that wants to hear the words wings and horn together like that,” I mumbled. “Hay, seeing me sad at all has got to be killing you when I’ve got so much.”

A hand touching my head made me look up, but I didn’t stop Sunset from running her fingers through my hair. “The only thing I’m upset about is seeing one of the best ponies I know so down in the dumps when all she’s ever done is care about me,” the human told me quietly before she leaned in to give me a awkwardly placed hug. “And that’s it.”

Once again, my resolve wavered…but not all that much. I had just got done talking to Celestia about everything. Rebuilding walls took time, and Sunset…well, while we weren’t exactly going through the same thing, I knew that girl could understand my hardship on some level like I could do with a little bit of hers.

Although, if I was going to compare us, the human certainly had me beat when it came to endurance. Two and a half years living a downgraded life as a human was a million times worse than the upgrade I had been given when I was made a changeling. Even if she had gotten her former primary relationship back while all the ones of my previous life were permanently severed, my gains still beat her losses by a wide margin.

But...with her being so damn...Celestia-ish and everything else, I caved.

I told her about everything. I told her my fears involving the four way relationship, my clothes issues, promises to Rarity that meant I had to go to parties in dresses, fears about sex as a girl with a man, and all the other girl trouble that was coming about because, well…I was a girl.

“And it’s not like I can just stop being a girl either,” I grumbled. “Sure I’ve got my natural changeling form, but I’ve seen how ponies look at me when I’m like that, and chitin isn’t very comfortable to sleep against. Not to mention nuzzling. I mean, sure Twilight’s working on some spell to change genders-”

“Technically, she’s completed the spell, and has for weeks,” Sunset cut in, making my ears perk up. “But it’s tooled to work on ponies, not changelings.”

I rolled my eyes at the correction. Even if they had been brought up a decade apart, Twilight and Sunset were so alike that it was kind of freaky. “Right. Not like it matters. Even as a changeling, I’ve still got all the parts I need to get ready to lay eggs, even if my face looks like a stallion’s.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “How does that work anyway? Fertilized eggs without a male, I mean.”

“Changelings are asexual, or close enough to it,” I explained. “Technically, I’m neither a guy or a girl as a changeling, or maybe I’m both at the same time. Each drone is just an imperfect clone of me, or Chrysalis considering she laid us all. Although the fact that I’m different suggests there’s some kind of real genetic programming involved that doesn’t exist back where I come from when it comes to single parent reproduction. I haven’t really looked into it since it’s the queen memories that hold all that information and…putting all that in my head probably won’t be very pretty.”

Thankfully, Sunset didn’t follow with question on changeling anatomy or start asking about my inheritance from Mom. The less I thought about all the stuff she had left for me, the better. Mostly because of how tempting it all was. Thousands, and thousands of years of magical knowledge and all the other secrets the changeling queen alone was allowed to possess. Of course it also carried everything else she had in her head too, and the queen before, and the one before that one, and…the Hive’s knowledgebase got a little murky after that. That stuff I didn’t even want to touch with a ten foot imaginary pole.

The human nodded. “Yeesh, no wonder you’re having identity issues. At least I was still sure of who I was…most of the time.”

My ears perked up a bit at that. “What do you mean?”

For a few seconds Sunset got a cute little embarrassed look on her face, and then she bashed it as she cleared her throat. “Let’s just say I didn’t know sex could be casual until I ran into your species,” she mumbled.

I…honestly had no idea on how to follow that.

Although, if Sunset was willing to talk about her time on Earthquestria, and not breaking into tears or shuddering in horror, my curiosity wouldn’t let me stay silent. So, I opened my mouth. “So, what was it like?”

Sunset’s eyes went wide, and her mouth kind of dropped just a little bit as she just stared at me in surprise for some reason.

In the ensuing silence, I thought back to what I had said to try and figure out just why the hay Sunset was looking at me like I had just gone insane. All I had asked was… “Oh!” I mumbled before the panic set in and I jumped away while flapping my wings to get some extra distance between us and giving me the opportunity to use my forearms the way my remaining humanity said they should be used. “No, no no! Not that!” I assured her quickly before dropping my arms. “I meant, what was it like for you, going from pony to human? How did well…survive, or I mean, take it?”

“Ah, that,” Sunset said before sighing. “At first, I had found it interesting. The fingers were weird and it took me awhile before I mastered bipedal motion, but once I got around to exploring, well… Everything was shiny and new. I stole a phone and some other things, played with computers and got excited about stuff like YouTube and Wikipedia. Hell, I got so caught up in all that crap I missed the deadline for my return trip and ended up in the human world for two and a half years.”

Sunset sighed and laid back, using her hands to prop herself up. “After that, well…I was kind of in a daze for my first few weeks,” she said. “I got put in the system and ended up in Canterlot High and, well…at first I got by with distracting myself with technology. I learned computer languages, managed to get a smart phone from my foster parents, and picked up a boyfriend to get some knowledge about human social customs.”

I wanted to ask Sunset about some of her past dating experiences, but as her face turned sour, I lost my chance as she started talking again. “Of course the only reason I hooked up with him was because he could play guitar and I wanted to learn to use my fingers better,” she said before readjusting herself so she could raise the things and wiggle them at me.

A second later, her face fell and she sighed. “And then came the first Fall Formal I went to,” Sunset mumbled. “I know in pony terms I was a bitch when I left Equestria, but in human terms, I was actually pretty tame at the time. Hell, I traded so many favors for basic human information that everyone in school thought I was just being friendly. So, when it came time to vote on Fall Formal Princess, I won.”

Sunset sighed and shook her head. “At first I was so happy, I thought I had finally achieved my destiny but…well, then I kind of looked around and saw what I had really gotten. I had won a stupid popularity contest. I had traded real magic for toys, surrounded myself with creatures that turned their backs on each other over the stupidest things,” she grumbled before her face fell. “And I abandoned the one pony who cared about me the most for a stupid piece of tin. Even if I had gotten my wings by going through that mirror, it wouldn’t have been worth it.”

Then, she shook off the air of depression, and looked at me. “I think the reality of everything hit me harder than it would have most unicorns, or earth ponies,” she added after a second of thought. “Probably about as much as Rainbow would feel after losing her wings, or Twilight her horn. I actually learned about human stage magicians, thinking they actually might know real magic, and tried a dozen other things.” She let out a little snort. “Man I was such an idiot. I gave up everything for…for just….”

I quickly landed and trotted over to put my fetlock on her leg. It was the closest thing I could really do to offering a comforting hand. “Hey now, come on Sunset,” I said, doing my best to reassure her. “You and Twilight are the smartest magical savants around, and Tia’s even volunteered to spend some time to crack that mirror. You’ll be eating hay and prancing around on four hooves in no time!”

Sunset reached out to scratch my ear, and I let her work her magic as the human’s face took on a melancholy look. “I know. I…thanks,” she said while I got close enough to put him head on her lap. “Heh. I came here to see if you needed cheering up, and here you helping me.”

I did my best to shrug, but…look, getting my ear scratched as a pony felt really good, okay? There was no way I was moving away once it started.

Although, I did manage to talk through some gritted teeth. “Hey, it’ what I’m here for. You’re under my roof, so you’re my responsibility, right?” It came out a little more gruff than I would have liked, but that was the problem when speaking through teeth.

Sunset laughed through her nose a little. “Yeah,” she agreed with a little smile. “Got to say, you’re a way better foster parent than the last one I got saddled with.”

That actually got me to break away from Sunset’s attentions and back up a little. “Um, wait…what?”

“What?” Sunset asked in genuine confusion while I tried to figure out just how the hell our conversation had gone into the direction it had. But she didn’t give me me much time to think before more noise coming from her lips demanded attention. “I mean, you pretty much are. You let me stay in your palace, you’re learning a whole new branch of magic just to try and turn me back into a unicorn, and then there’s everything else you did for me, like the wardrobe. I just…it’s…”

I froze as Sunset actually started to get a little teary-eyed. “Aw geez look at me,” she said before sniffling a bit. The redhead reached up to wipe her unset tears away, then pushed off the bed and got on her knees so we were at eye level. “Look, you want to know how I survived being human?”

Sunset reached forward and put her hands on my shoulders. “The truth is, I didn’t,” she said before her eyes started glistening again. “I hated it. Everything was different, and wrong and…I… It made me into something that was even worse than the selfish little brat that left Equestria.”

The news didn’t exactly give me much hope for my own situation. “You really need to work on your motivational speeches if that’s supposed to give me hope for getting through this whole me as a mare problem,” I deadpanned.

A second later, the human groaned, and rolled her eyes. “Okay, if you don’t want to read between the lines,” she mumbled before locking gazes with me. “I went she-demon bitch way before I put on the crown for one simple reason, I was all alone. I didn’t have anyone I could confide in, or talk to, or relate to. You do.”

She licked her lips and took a breath. “If you need to talk about something only a human will understand, I’m here for you,” she told me. “If you need a shoulder to cry on, Celestia is here for you. If you want to try and be a guy alicorn, Twilight’s here for you. If you just need to unwind, Rainbow is here for you. You have over half a dozen ponies who care about you, and instead you just keep everything to yourself, and that’s just…it’s a bad idea.”

I looked away from the girl as my suspicions on just what had sent her here started to turn back towards the giant white alicorn with the fat ass. My usual angry retort died before it could get past my lips as it was beaten to death both my inability to be the slightest bit mean to Sunset, and my memories of Celestia chewing me out just moments prior.

Instead, I fought her with some logic, and grumbling words. “What type friend just dumps all his problems on everyone else?”

It had always been one of my pet peeves to do nothing but listen to someone else bitch about their troubles. Don’t get me wrong, I was plenty sympathetic to a guy who had just lost his girlfriend/job/dog/whatever, but having to listen to the same whining day after day without end while nothing was really done about it, that was another thing altogether.

“One that isn’t so prideful and stupid he thinks he can shoulder everything by himself,” Sunset replied with a little smile I swore she got from her adopted mother. “And leaves the ponies, and people, who care about him in the dark to worry themselves half to death.”

It also reminded me of my earlier conversation with the horse princess, and how I had kind of just been delaying what I had kind of promised her. Not to mention how I had also been thinking about just calling the whole thing quits and backing even further away from the girls a few seconds ago.

As if I really could do such a thing. Broken pony hearts aside, Tia would haunt me in my dreams. So it was either face the girls, or run away and let whatever would happen to Celestia if she went to bed without me happen.

“Ah buck,” I mumbled before looking back to the girl in front of me. “Okay, so where are the girls? If I’m going to do the whole confession thing, and do it with every pony, I’m getting it all done in one go.” Things like that were like pulling off a band aid, which hurt a hell of a lot more as a pony than they did when you weren’t covered in fur. So I was only going to do it once, and that was it.

Sunset took on a thoughtful look. “Well, Pinkie talked Trixie into setting up a magic show down in the Crystal Palace’s courtyard to entertain all the ponies still arriving for the coronation, Rarity went off with Shining Armor after lunch, Princess Luna is still getting your coronation decor set up, Fluttershy is touring the menagerie with Cadence, Applejack wanted to take a look at some of the crystal crops, Rainbow flew off after Princess Celestia, and Twilight’s at the city’s library. At least that’s where she said she was going. Oh, and my guards are just outside the door, if you were wondering.”

After my brain wrestled to file the mass of information away without losing anything, I found at the oddity in it. “Wait, Celestia did what?” I asked.

“Flew off. Said she needed to work off some frustration,” Sunset explained before shrugging. “Don’t ask me what had her so…well, she wasn’t really upset. More like, antsy. I think. She kept fidgeting around while she told us what was going on with you, and then took off right after the explanation. Twilight wanted to go after them but…they were both already to the horizon before she even got a few feet off the ground.”

The strangeness of it all had me frowning at the air in front of me. It seemed more than a little weird for Tia up and take off for no good reason. It had me worried that there was something going on in the way of life-threatening trouble. Considering how attached Tia had become to the Mane Six in the past few weeks, I seriously doubted that the princess would have sent them on another dragon removal mission. During the last major threat to Equestria, she had her guards shove them all onto a magical bullet train and stuck them in the most defensible city there was.

“Okay, tell you what, you go round up the gang,” I told her. “I’ll go see where Tia went and…check to see if anything’s wrong.” There was no need to get too worried about things just yet.

I mean, if there really was something going on, Pinkie would have sensed it, or Tia would have teleported Rainbow back to the palace with her wings wrapped in golden magic to keep her grounded. So, there was absolutely, positively no reason whatsoever for me to be worried at all.

Just because we were once again in the place where catastrophe had struck the last two times I visited, or how there seemed to be a rule that whenever Cadence and Twilight got together Equestria had to be in peril, or Sunset had described the most in-control being of all time as being antsy, there was absolutely, positively, no reason whatsoever to be worried.

None.

At.

All.

My denial lasted all of ten seconds. Then a loud rumbling shook the entirety of the crystal palace, and its normally colorful illumination was turned up from a ten on the pastel scale to a freaking twenty-five that would have had any children watching the events through a television falling into an epileptic seizure.

“W-What the hell was that?” Sunset shouted over the ringing in my ears as she held her hands over her own. “And what’s up with the palace? Are we under attack or something?”

For some reason, I only felt more nervous when I looked out my window. Outside, I watched the magical wave of color continue off into the distance, giving everything it touched a little boost of vitality and making everything just seem to sparkle in the wake of the Rainboom.

Despite the beauty of the scene, a little voice in the back of my head said that it was probably a bad thing that Rainbow had actually flown that fast to catch up with Celestia. Or attempt to catch up to her. Honestly, I couldn’t see anything, no matter how fast, getting its hands on a teleporting magic user that could fly as fast as Celestia unless she wanted to be caught.

“No,” I assured Sunset before letting my head droop with a sigh. “But…something tells me I’m going to wish we were in a few seconds. You go get the girls, I’ll…be down in a minute.”

And with that, I quickly teleported Sunset outside my door and locked it. Then I hopped back into my bed and settled down for a quick slumber to find out just what the hell those two had been doing while I had been moping around like an idiot.