If Soronis and Puellula had believed they’d seen everything the world had to throw at a changeling, they were once again surprised with something new.

The sisters had just been enjoying a pleasant day out in Ponyville, having arrived with much of the hive ready for the Summer Sun Celebration. Both mares had, side by side, walked around the gentle countryside surrounding the town before stopping off at a small café on a street corner. There they’d partaken in some nice and cold glasses of lemonade and a light lunch consisting of daisy sandwiches and some fruit. Puellula had been disappointed to find they lacked a carnivore menu, but Soronis had pointed out that it was to be expected in a small business that seldom if ever, would see griffon patronage. Or that of any other meat-eating species, for that matter.

After they were done, and with nothing that the other changelings particularly needed their help with as they went about assisting the set-up of the celebration, the two had continued their self-led tour of the town. It was much as they remembered it, though there were a few new buildings that had cropped up over the years.

The enjoyable walk had eventually led them to the local park… and that brought them back the here and now, where they were seeing something quite unexpected. They’d escaped a doomed hive, survived being homeless in the Crystal Empire, found a new hive during an intense conflict, survived the flattening of Manehatten and gotten through the trauma of mass mind control…

And yet it was seeing Princess Avia hanging upside down from a tree by her hindleg, which was tangled in a rope, that really left them without words.

“…Don’t tell my mother,” was all the nymph said upon sighting the changeling sisters, spinning slowly in circles as she continued to hang from the branch. “Please?”

From nearby, three panicked pony fillies all ran over, with all sorts of leaves and twigs hanging out of and from their manes, which were also frazzled and messed up. The latter point seemed to distress the unicorn quite thoroughly.

“There you are!” Apple Surprise exclaimed in relief, coming to a stop just below the swaying nymph. “You went off mighty quick there!”

“Yeah! It was awesome!” Awesome Blitz gushed. “You all like WAM, and the ZOOM and then you were gone!”

“…Girls, can I ask what in the hives is happening here?” Soronis asked, not sure if she wanted the answer.

“Please, don’t ask,” Avia whimpered, blushing up a storm. “Can I get some help…?”

“I got it!” Sapphire claimed, her horn lighting up and attempting to untangle the rope. “Maybe a twist here… no, there…”

“Uh, let me lend a hoof,” Puellula spoke up, flying up to where the rope was attached to the tree and adding her own magic into the mix. “Uh, Sis? Can you catch her when she drops?”

“I’m not going to let the Princess of the Hive snap her neck now, am I?”

“Good point.”

After a few moments of prodding and probing the heavily knotted rope, Avia slid free from the tree and hurtled towards the ground. Her wings instantly kicked in, though Soronis placed a low-level levitation spell around Avia to assist her return to the ground.

The moment the nymph hit the dirt, she swayed on her hooves before falling back onto her rump.

“Uh… my head is all fuzzy…”

“Yeah, you were upside down,” Puellula said with a smirk. “Trust me, not a good idea. All that blood has gone to your head.”

“Great…” Avia replied, placing a hoof on her throbbing temple. “Owie…”

“Let me guess; crusading?” the mare then asked knowingly, getting a pained nod in return. “Heh, you do know we can’t get cutie marks, right? Trust me, me and Iuvenes tried back when we were your age.”

‘So she said…’ the Princess thought glumly to herself.

“Aww, and I thought for sure my idea would work…” Awesome Blitz sulked.

“I told you so,” Apple Surprise deadpanned.

Soronis giggled behind a hoof. “Well, at least you fillies are enjoying yourselves. But it will be dark soon.”

Huh, now Avia thought about it the light was beginning to fade, the horizon getting a distinctly orange glow to it. The twilight of which her mother was named after was, as always, pretty. And it also told Avia something else too.

“Oh, I should probably go soon,” she noted, also noticing a slight grumble to her stomach. “And I need food.”

“Yeah, we should probably get moving as well,” Apple Surprise concurred. “My Ma will wonder where I’ve wandered off to.”

“Can’t we hang out a little while longer…?” Awesome Blitz asked sadly.

“I’d like to, but I should probably head back too,” Sapphire responded, all while doing her best to fix her mane. “Ugh, my mother is going to freak when she sees my mane. And I am NOT wandering Ponyville with it in such a disastrous state!”

“It’s just a mane,” Blitz dryly shot back with a shrug.

Sapphire seemed incensed by that remark, though the soon to follow argument was quickly stopped when Apple Surprise interposed herself between her two friends.

“We can still all hang out tomorrow, can’t we?” she suggested, looking specifically over to Avia. “Unless there’s something else…?”

Avia shook her head. “Nope! I’m free tomorrow, and I’d really like to hang with your guys some more! Just… no more of Awesome Blitz’s ideas?”

The pegasus pouted. “Killjoy.”

“Sure thing!” Apple Surprise agreed without missing a beat, quickly grabbing onto Avia and giving her a quick hug. “I’m really glad you joined the CMC, Avia!”

Avia blushed again, patting the filly on the head before breaking from the hug. “Uh, thanks! I’m glad I met you, girls! Meet at Sugarcube Corner around lunchtime?”

“Or whenever we run into one another, sure!” the earth pony confirmed with a happy nod. “But I should head on home, see ya’ll later!”

With that, the fillies all dispersed with a few final words of farewell to one another, leaving the Princess with just the two adult changeling mares.

Her new friends were… odd. But she liked them! And it was giving her new ideas for a paper on what constituted good cutie mark crusading and what was clearly bad cutie mark crusading. Like all of Awesome Blitz’s ideas.

Never again.

“So, are you heading back to the library, kiddo?” Puellula asked with a light tap on Avia’s shoulder to break the nymph from her musings.

“Uh-huh,” Avia confirmed. “Oh, and both Grandma Velvet and Grandpa Night Light have a surprise for me! Isn’t that awesome?”

She chuckled. “Sure is! Now get moving, or who knows? They might forget about it.”

Avia gasped. “No way they would ever forget!”

“You’d better hurry up then, just in case!”

Avia didn’t need telling twice, and with an eagerness in her movements, she lifted her wings and quickly took the air. The Princess flew straight out of the park and into the buildings beyond, leaving the view of the sisters.

“Such a troublemaker…” Soronis noted with a laugh. “Reminds me of you, Pue.”

“Oh pish,” Puellula dismissed, she and her sister continuing their walk. “That was ages ago.”

“Not to me, Puellula,” Soronis replied with a small smile. “Not to me.”

The first stars were beginning to brightly twinkle in the young night’s sky as Avia arrived back at the Golden Oaks Library, dropping back to the ground and finishing the final few steps of the journey on hoof. Lights were on inside, and Avia could just see shadows moving within, indicating that the library currently had occupants.

Avia happily trotted up to the door and swung it open with her magic, letting it close behind her as she slipped in.

“Hi! I’m back!” she called out as she entered the main section of the library, taking stock of who was currently within.

Her mother, her father, and her grandparents all turned to her with welcoming smiles.

“Ah, there you are!” Twilight said, lifting her daughter up in her magic and dragging her into a large motherly cuddle as the filly giggled. “I was about to send out a search party.”

“Before Soronis called you in, anyway,” Façade made sure to add. “I hear you made some friends after all.”

Avia pouted, removing herself from her mother’s grasp and back to the floor. “But I asked her not to tell you what happened…”

Twilight blinked, and then an amused smile graced her muzzle. “She just said you were playing in the park with your new friends. What is it you didn’t want her to tell us…?”

Avia felt like morphing into a tomato. “N-nothing! Really! Nothing happened! It was just, well… Can we drop this now please I really don’t wanna talk about it!”

“Leave the poor dear alone,” Twilight Velvet lightly scolded her adoptive daughter, moving Avia’s attention away from her mother. “I’m sure if it was something serious, your changelings would have told you.”

“Yes mother,” Twilight droned with a roll of her eyes.

“Good,” Velvet replied with a nod. “Now that we’re here… I seem to recall something about a present?”

Avia gasped excitedly. “Oh oh! You did! MINE!”

“Really? I could have sworn it was for Flurry Heart…”

“Grandmaaaaa!” Avia whined, trying to pull off the cutest puppy eyes she could.

“Honey, I think she’s getting impatient,” Night Light said with a chuckle, levitating something wrapped up in wrapping paper from a nearby saddlebag. “Here you go, sweetheart. For a special filly’s first Summer Sun Celebration!”

Twilight snorted. “Yeah, like you needed a reason.”

Avia ignored that comment, practically glowing with joy as Night Light gave the present over to Avia. She took it in her hooves, giving it a big hug before getting to the best part.

Ripping away the paper!

The colourful mess spilled to the floor, shards of paper destined for the dump as Avia beheld the item hidden within.

“Eeh! A book! Called it!”

And a rare one. Canterlot Cantabiles Volume Thirty-One, signed by the original author. Just as Night Light had informed his daughter earlier that day, and as expected Avia was over the moon about it.

“Thank you!” Avia gushed as she immediately went to glomp her grandparents. “Thank you thank you!

“You’re welcome, dear,” Twilight Velvet gladly responded, returning the embrace alongside her husband.

They hugged for a few moments more before Avia was gently lifted in a lavender aura and lifted away from the two elderly unicorns.

“You can start reading it in bed,” Twilight told her, setting her back down. “But not for too long! Remember, you’ve got a long fun-filled day tomorrow that’ll spread all the way into the following morning! And you don’t want to miss the raising of the sun, do you?”

Avia shook her head. “Nuh-uh! I’ll go right now!”

Twilight nodded. “Good. Now head upstairs. I’ll be along to tuck you in soon, and I’ll bring you up some food while you read.”

Avia gave her a quick nod, gave her parents and grandparents a quick hug each, gave the book a quick hug as well, and then scampered off upstairs to her given room.

“I’ll make her some toast or something,” Façade said as Avia vanished upstairs, quickly slipping into the kitchen to do just that.

Twilight Velvet giggled. “Oh, that was just the reaction I was hoping for. I’m so happy she liked it.”

“There was ever a doubt?” Night Light asked jokingly.

“Now we just need to hope Flurry Heart’s is just as great!” Velvet squeed.

Twilight gave her an amused look. “Flurry is thirty, remember?”

“And that means I can’t spoil my grandfoal?” Velvet asked with a pout.

The Changeling Queen rolled her eyes. “I guess not. But I am looking forward to seeing Shiny and Cadance. Spike should be along around the same time as well.”

“That’s going to be a sight, all those dragons…” Night Light mused.

“It’ll be no dragon migration, but yeah,” Twilight agreed. “The rest of the Canterlot nobility should start piling in, and the guard too with them.”

“Which will mean that Broad Sword and Vladimir will be showing their ugly mugs,” Façade joked, emerging from the kitchen as he waited for the toast.

“Just go easy on the cider,” Twilight deadpanned.

Façade rolled his eyes. “One or two won’t hurt. Besides, they’ll be on duty once the Princesses turn up tomorrow night. We’ll save the getting smashed part until after Avia’s in bed.”

“I’m not carrying you home.”

“Eh, I can carry myself. For what I lack in disguise magic I make up in fortitude,” he claimed proudly before there was a ‘ding’ from the kitchen that got his attention. “Anyway, the Princess requires her toast. I’d best get to it.”

“Yes, yes you best have,” Twilight replied with a laugh, Façade vanishing back into the kitchen. She then turned back to her pony parents. “Do you need me to walk you back to the hotel?”

“Oh, we’ll be fine,” Night Light confidently replied. “Actually, I’m half tempted to ask Façade if we can join in on the drinks tomorrow.”

“I’d be up for that!” Velvet agreed cheekily.

Twilight glared at them. “I’m not chasing after my husband, nymph and parents tomorrow!”

“I mean, you could always join in,” her father teased. “Live a little. There’s more to life than dusty old books, after all!”

“I’m the Queen of the Hive!” she protested in turn.

“And I can’t wait to read the tabloids about it!” Velvet chirped.

“You’re the worst. Both of you.”