Shining Armor hung in the air, placed their by the magic of the dark red unicorn guard still standing behind him as the princess continued to stand in the hallway for several seconds. Then, she was right in front of the white unicorn, looking him up and down for a solid minute while her horn glowed before there was a brief spike of pain that made him let out a tiny yelp.

“Okay, so you’re not a changeling pulling some sick joke,” she mumbled before Shining Armor felt some of his mane fly up before there was another brief moment of discomfort and a few strands of hair were floating in her magic. “Not a clone either.”

The purple dragon cleared his throat. “Ah, Princess-”

Flurry Heart spun her head around. “Quiet you!”

“Yes Ma’am!” he said before standing up straight.

Then the Princess turned back to Shining Armor and frowned. “Okay...you,” she said with a frown. “Tell me, how did you get here and why did you come?”

Shining Armor gulped. He wanted to play it cool, but his memory kept remind him about how explosive alicorns could be. So, he quickly worked to come up with an answer. “Um...well, judging by the griffon, dragon and stained glass windows, this is the future, isn’t it?” he asked.

“That wasn’t what I-wait,” she said, the oddly detached alicorn’s suddenly lit up with a panicky fear before she spun on the dragon. “Spike you idiot! you took a time traveler through the Hall of History?”

“W-What?” the dragon stuttered.

“YOU’RE ALL FIRED!” Flurry Heart yelled angrily as she jumped in the air, suspended simply by the power of her voice for several seconds.

“What?!” the rest of the guards said.

Then the strange alicorn frowned. “Wait,” she mumbled before shaking her head for a second. “Okay, escort him to a containment cell, then you’re all fired.”

Spike bowed his head. “Yes, Your Highness,” he said before moving towards Shining Armor.

“Wait!” Princess Flurry Heart exclaimed before she dashed back into her office, then came back out with a black bag to throw it over Shining Armor’s head. It smelled like carrots. “Okay, now take him to a containment cell, and no talking about anything to him!”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Shining Armor heard Spike say.

The world spun as Shining Armor was taken in the direction he had come in at. They got three steps before the temperature suddenly dropped to freezing, and all the guards stopped in their tracks. “Oh and boys, make sure that my da-new prisoner, gets to where he’s going without any trouble,” she said, the raging emotions in her voice from earlier completely gone. “If not, I’ll lower your body temperatures to absolute zero.”

After the line started moving again and got far enough away from the crazy alicorn, Shining Armor looked in the direction that he was pretty sure the dragon was standing. “Um...sorry about...costing you your job.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Spike replied in an easy tone. “It’s the third time Princess Flurry has had me fired.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Yeah, but-”

“This week,” Spike went on before Shining Armor could continue. “She’s...like that.”

“...oh,” the white unicorn said. “So, uh...what’s a dragon doing in the royal guard?”

Spike let out a loud sigh. “Just continuing the family tradition,” he said before they started heading down the stairs.

There’s been enough dragons in the guard to make a family tradition? Just how far in the future am I? Shining Armor asked himself. “So your dad was in the guard?”

“No, my mom,” Spike told him. “Adopted mom, I mean. I...probably shouldn’t say anything more.”

Shining Armor found himself a little curious. “So...what’s it like being the guard of a princess?”

The movement stopped, and Shining Armor’s bag was removed. The palace dungeons were a lot cleaner than he expected and the number of bars on the square hole in the wall were far fewer than he was expecting. In fact, nothing seemed to be there to keep ponies from leaving the tiny room that was equipped with a thin mattress on the ground and toilet in the corner. “This is a jail cell?” he asked before looking over to the dragon. “What’s to stop me from just walking out?”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re a unicorn?”

“Magic,” Shining Armor said as he was led inside before he turned around to face the opening. “Got it.” He didn’t need to know if it was some kind of force wall, teleportation safeguard, or what, he knew not to try and leave.

Seconds passed, followed my minutes, and while the quadrupeds headed out, the dragon continued to remain. Shining Armor looked over to him. “You know, you never answered my question about being a princess’s guard.”

“Oh...that,” Spike said before crossing his arms and thinking for a second. “Well, it’s not as glorious as a lot of ponies like to think. And sometimes, it’s pretty thankless too, but I can’t really hold that against Flurry, she’s more of a arcanist than a princess. Hell, I don’t even do any real guarding. I mostly just help her on research projects or experiments. You were the first time I ever really had to put my training to use outside of simulations. The only thing I really do is...hmm, how to put it?”

Shining Armor got a little worried as he waited for the dragon to reply.

After another minute, Spike looked up at Shining Armor. “Okay, so...Flurry’s the Princess of Ice, ya know? She tamed the windigos and bound them in the Crown of Winter, making it so the frozen north could be settled. A pony like that doesn’t need guards, we just get in the way. But it’s like every now and then, when she’s walking along, there’s this...caltrip in the road, that she’s walking right towards. She doesn’t see it, but you know if she keeps walking, she’ll step on it, stagger, fall, and land flat on her face in front of everyone. So I run in and snatch it up, or lay over it and let her walk over me if I have to. I look like an idiot and everypony laughs at me when I do, but the Princess doesn’t fall on her face in front of everypony.”

“Spike!” Flurry Heart’s voice echoed throughout the dungeons before the Princess came sliding in on shoes that looked to be made of ice. A dozen different platters floated in her magic as well as a pitcher of red juice along with one of water. She stopped in the place between them and turned to face the dragon. “Um...about before, I uh...I’m sorry. It’s just, Mom wants everything perfect for the Festival of the Rising Sun, and Chrissy isn’t here and-and now this!”

The Princess pointed towards Shining Armor. “I was a glorified organizer! I didn’t sign up to deal with this!” she exclaimed.

Spike looked up from the Princess and over to Shining Armor. “Okay, so we got an intruder. So what?”

“You mean...seriously? You don’t know who this is?” Flurry Heart demanded.

After taking a few seconds to look at the white unicorn again, he turned his head back towards the Princess. “No,” he said. “Should I?”

Flurry heart took in a deep breath, put a hoof to her chest, then let out a long exhale. “Okay,” she said before taking another breath. “Spike, I love you like a baby brother, but get the fuck out. And don’t tell anyone about what you saw here.”

“But-”

“Out!” Flurry Heart said.

“But-”

“Outoutoutoutout!” the alicorn with the oversized parts exclaimed before her horn lit up and Spike disappeared in a bright flash of light.

With Spike gone, Flurry Heart turned to look at Shining Armor before all of the food she was carrying zipped over to float between them. “Okay, so I’ve got your favorites. I didn’t know which ones you wanted, so I just had them all made. Wait, are you hungry? Crap! I had all this made before I knew if you were hungry.”

Knowing where this was going, Shining Armor held up a little hoof. “I could eat a bit. “Do you have any broccoli?”

“Yes!” Flurry Heart replied with a happy smile. “Yes I do!”

A serving plate flew to land in front of Shining Armor before it was uncovered and the lid went back to the Princess. When he knelt down to eat it right off the plate, the Princess spoke. “So...how did you get here?”

After taking a bite of the food in front of him, which Shining Armor had to say, was very good, he realized something odd. “Wait...how did you know my favorite foods?” he asked after looking up at the Princess.

Flurry Hearts eyes widened. “Uh...crap!” she said before throwing all of the food still in her magic out of Shining Armor’s view and turning back to him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

One of the covers to the dishes rolled between the two of them and continued down the hall. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“H-Hey! You can’t look at me like that! I’m a princess...a-and older than you now! So...do what I say and stop asking questions!” she said before plopping down and crossing her forelegs to look away and puff out her cheeks in a pout.

Shining Armor decided not to press his luck and went back to eating. The food tasted a bit odd, but he didn’t say anything about it. “Look, can you just go get Sunset Shimmer?” he asked after eating enough to be polite.

“GAAAAH! Don’t say her-” Flurry Heart paused and looked up above Shining Armor with widening eyes before she got herself under control. “Oh...right, she’s still sleeping.”

The sudden outburst made Shining Armor blink. “Ohhhh-kay, that was, uh...weird,” he said. “What’d I do?”

Flurry Heart took in a deep breath and exhaled. Once she had calmed down, the alicorn frowned at the unicorn. “What do you mean, what’d you do? You said her name! You can’t say M-mmmmy great and exalted Empress’s name! Uh, may her glorious light forever guide us to an even brighter future,” Flurry Heart recited before drawing a circle in the air and dividing it with a waving line. Soon as she was done with the incantation, the alicorn went back to frowning. “You can’t say Her name without attracting her attention! And if She’s just waking up, She might just focus all her attention on you. And since it’s you, She might even wake up early! Do you know what it’s like to attract the attention of an all-powerful god-being when she’s too sleepy to bother putting up the proper amount of protections before she looks at you? Do you want to get your entire existence snuffed out or Her Glorious Radiance to get sad over crushing your meager existence like the amoeba that we are to Her? Noooooooo? SO STOP SAYING HER NAME!”

Shining Armor gulped at the mare’s absolutely terrified reaction to Sunset. “Uh...okay, so...I already figured this out, but...you know who I am, right?”

“Pff, of course,” she said before going back to crossing her forelegs. “I’m not blind Daaaa-mn...it.” The two ponies sat in silence for a moment, Flurry Heart growing more nervous by the second as Shining Armor tried to figure out what was going on with her. “So what do you want?”

“I’m wondering why I’m still here,” Shining Armor said.

Flurry Heart locked her eyes on the young stallion with a frown. “You’re a time traveler. There are rules for this sort of thing!” she said before taking another breath and smoothing her features into a gentle smile. “I know you’re a good pony. I know you’re not here to hurt anyone. And I know you being here is all some big mistake and we’ll get your memory wiped and sent back to where you belong soon as...uh, how old are you? I need your age so I can put you back where you belong with any accuracy.”

With the Princess being so difficult, Shining Armor decided that he would need to get tough. “Look, the spell that sent me here was given to me by Princess Celestia. She told me to find Sunset, and ask her what was going on,” he explained before crossing her forelegs. “So either you help me out, or...Sunset Shimmer.”

“GAAAH!” Flurry Heart screamed, her wings going wide in fright. “STOP DOING THAT!”

Shining Armor took in a breath. The princess in front of him seemed just about ready to leap out of her skin. Maybe calling on Sunset wasn’t a good idea, but Princess Celestia had said to seek her out. So… “Sunset Shimmer.”

The third calling of Sunset’s name got another cry of terror from Flurry Heart before she leaped across the cell’s threshold and tackled Shining Armor to put a shield around them both.

There was a sudden pressure pushing down all around him despite the shield before the room began to shake. W-What’s going on?”

Hmmm? Shiny? Is that you?

The...Shining Armor didn’t know how describe the words he became aware of. There was no sound, but they reverberated inside his brain and made his teeth rattle.

“Sorry,” Shining Armor heard Sunset say over the ringing in his ears. “Flurry, sweetie. You can get off of him now.”

The alicorn picked her head up and looked back. “Um...oh no!” she exclaimed before scrambling to her hooves. Shining Armor saw Flurry give him a brief glance. “I-I tried to stop him! And now you’re awake, and the festivals been ruined! And-and did you get enough sleep?”

“Flurry!” Sunset snapped as Shining Armor got up to look at Sunset.

The pony he saw looked a lot different than what he was expecting. For starters, she wasn’t a ten foot pony with two pairs of wings, a horn that crackled with energy as her mane flowed in the wind. She didn’t even have wings. “You’re a...unicorn.” he said as Sunset trotted up to give the alicorn a once-over.

She looked back towards him. “One moment, Shiny. I need to take care of this first,” Sunset said before turning her attention back to Flurry Heart, who sat down and pulled in on herself as she closed her eyes.

Sunset examined the bigger pony for a minute, then blew a gentle breath over her face. Flurry Heart’s face became distorted before melting away. In its place was a pony with dozens of hairs out of place and dark circles under her eyes.

“How long has it been since you slept?” Sunset asked gently.

“Mom, I’m sorry, I-” Flurry stopped mid-sentence to look over at Shining Armor. She let out a pathetic whine and lowered her head.

Shining Armor’s mouth dropped for a moment, and he looked over to Sunset. “Mom? What does she mean, Mom?” he asked. “Sunset, is she-”

The unicorn giggled as she looked back to Shining Armor. “I adopted her, Shiny. You know, like Mom did with me?” she asked before facing her daughter again. “Now, how long have you been up?”

“...two days,” Flurry Heart eventually admitted before looking back down to Sunset’s face. “I’m sorry Mom! I had everything planned out, but then some stuff came up, and-”

Sunset held up a hoof. “Sweetie, it’s okay,” she said. “ I get it. You procrastinated and now you’re rushing to try and make up the time. It doesn’t matter. You’re going to get some sleep, then we’ll talk.”

“But-”

“Shhhh,” Sunset gently said before Flurry Heart slowly drooped and curled into a ball that just...floated there. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at the sight. There was no magic or glowing horn. “Spike.”

There was a popping sound, and the purple dragon was standing in the hallway between the cells. “Wh-oh shit!” Spike said before collapsing into a bow. “E-Empress! You’re awake! I...um-”

“Spike,” Sunset said gently. “Take Flurry to her room so she can get some sleep. I’ll speak with you both in ten hours.”

“Yes Empress!” Spike replied before standing up to take the alicorn in his arms. Once he had her, he left at a brisk pace.

Then Sunset looked up to Shining Armor and smiled. “It’s good to see you, Shiny,” she said softly. “Do you need anything? Water? Grapejuice? Cider? I can conjure anything you want. Here, let me give you something better than that dingy mattress.”

Sunset flicked her neck. The next thing he knew, there was a large, plush pillow behind Shining Armor as well as another one across from him that Sunset sat on. “Honestly, I want to sit with you. But I doubt you want to cuddle with an old mare like me.”

“Um…” Shining Armor said before he plopped down on his pillow. “How are you doing that without your horn glowing and um...how old are you...exactly? And what’s with the Empress thing? And what was that stuff that happened when I said your name? And-and what’s wrong with that alicorn princess? She’s...well, honestly, she reminds me of Twilight a little too much. And how are you a unicorn again?”

After a few seconds of silence, a giggle came from the amber unicorn. “Oh fuck, I didn’t count on that cuteness of yours,” Sunset said. “Okay, well, working from back to forward. This isn’t my real body, it’s a construct avatar that I’m focusing on at the moment. Think of it like a puppet I’m using to talk to you. It...wouldn’t be a good idea for you to see the real me right now.

“Flurry’s a...long story,” she said with a loud sigh. “She’s trying to prove to everypony that she can be a princess and everything else when she’s not really cut out for it. When it comes to magic, she’s a natural genius. Her analytical mind is second to none and she’s so sweet I can practically taste the sugar in the air whenever she’s around. But a princess? It’s just not in her. Whenever she tries to take on any duties, well...you see how she gets.

“Sorry for what happened when you got my attention,” Sunset went on. “The thing that made me like this also connects me with all of Equestria. If I don’t spread that focus out a bit, or they’re not in properly shielded location, ponies tend to pass out when I focus on them. Don’t worry, I’ve never really hurt anyone though.

“The Empress thing is more of a joke that snowballed on its own,” she said before smiling. “And you shouldn’t ask an old mare her age, Shiny. I thought you had better manners than that. And I am using magic, I’m just doing it from one hundred and seventy three miles away.

Once she was finished giving her answers and refusals, Sunset took a moment to study the colt as Shining Armor digested them before going on. “Now, would you mind telling me just how in the hell are you’re here?” she asked before giving him a once-over with her eyes. “You’re...what? Sixteen? I don’t remember you just disappearing at that age. So how did you get here?”

“Well, I’ve been having these...feelings, so Princess Celestia gave me a time travel spell that sent me here and told me to come and talk to you,” Shining Armor explained. “So, uh...since it’s, you know, the future...can’t you tell me what I told you about it in the past. Since I’m going to tell you what you tell me when I get back. Um...I can go back, right?”

Sunset let out a loud laugh before she rolled onto her back. “BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the amber unicorn laughed before she turned herself over on her side. “You-you actually thought Celestia would just point you straight towards the answer you needed?”

The response let Shining Armor mute for a moment. Then, he got to his hooves and frowned. “Hey! Sunset, I’ve been marehandled, had to deal with another crazy princess, and got thrown in a jail cell. I’d appreciate not being laughed at! So could you just tell me what I need and...um, can you send me home?” It seemed like Sunset could do even more than when Shining Armor left, but this was time travel he was talking about.

“Okay, sorry Shiny. You’re right, I shouldn’t have laughed,” Sunset said before she also stood up and slowly started to walk towards Shining Armor. “Okay, I’ll tell you what you need to hear, but only if you keep it a secret between the two of us.”

When Sunset got to him, she leaned up as much as she could, which meant Shining Armor had to lower his head a little to hear. “You…” she whispered into his ear, making Shining Armor lean as close as possible. “...are sixteen years old.”

“And as much as I’d like to keep you around to have oodles and oodles of fun, show off our empire and be your personal sex toy for a few days, I can’t. It would be really wrong of me to do so and I don’t even want to know what you’d do with as much maybe as that would cram into your head.” Then the unicorn tapped her horn to his, making Shining Armor wince as there was a tiny shock that accompanied the touch. “Now, time to send you back home.”

Shining Armor frowned at Sunset’s choice of words. “Wait, you’re just sending me back in time? Right now?” He hadn’t gotten the information he needed!

“Oh Shiny, don’t you remember what Sunset told you about that silly stuff the first night we were all together?” she said before letting out a sharp breath, as if blowing out a candle.

Then, the world was gone.

When the world came back to him, Shining Armor picked himself up off the carpeted floor. He was back in the room he’d been sharing with Twilight. Shining Armor only had a moment to wonder what time it was before the sunlight rushing in through the window made him look away and shield his eyes.

Shining Armor blinked several times as he tried to clear his eyesight and mind to properly wonder about what had just happened. After getting Twily to sleep and barely being able to keep his own eyes open, Shining Armor cast the spell Celestia had given her to help him figure out what was the cause of the sensation that was gnawing at him, and then...he had spent about four hours in a cell without bars without batting a wink.

“Then, was that all a drea-” Shining Armor stopped himself from talking. Something sounded...off. He looked over to the bed and blinked again. The mattress was even with his eyes. “W-What the hay?”

A little groan coming from the top of the bed stopped Shining Armor from thinking too much as Twilight rolled over to face him and opened her eyes. “Shiny?” she asked before picking her head up. “Why’re you my age?”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” his squeaky voice went before he galloped out of the room in a panic.

Twilight got out of bed and quickly followed behind. “Shiny wait up!”

Cadance awoke feeling dirty.

It wasn’t the sweat that covered their bodies thanks to the extra sheets Sunset needed to stay warm throughout the night that made her think she was filthy. The heavenly scent that Sunset’s body was giving off made Cadance want to bury her nose in the human’s chest and bottle the stuff. There was no physical reason for what the pink princess was feeling.

What Cadance was experiencing was purely mental. For the first time since getting in bed with Sunset, she couldn’t call the time they spent together an expression of their love. The lack of such a thing left her feeling...tainted.

A bit of physical discipline, Cadance could handle. That’s what she had planned on before the night had even started. It was a simple solution to help Sunset deal with a guilt problem there didn’t seem to be any real solution to. Making her take the form of a human would have allowed her to separate it from her new life as a pony princess.

But, complications arose that Cadance hadn’t counted on.

For starters, humans were fragile, ridiculously fragile. Things that would have just made even a unicorn pony, the least physical of all the tribes, which had Sunset doubled over as a human. Apparently, whatever magic was empowering her didn’t give the current biped the invulnerability she gained as an alicorn. Even Cadance’s marehandeling of her lover had left marks.

Then, there were all the things Sunset had wanted Cadance to do to her that the pink alicorn hadn’t felt comfortable with. It hadn’t been an issue after Sunset gave herself amnesia and thus forgot everything she told Cadance so that she didn’t have to go through with the vast majority of it, but the pink princess had remembered it well.

Cadance knew that Sunset needed an outlet for what she was feeling, but...she wasn’t sure if what she could do about it would have any effect, considering how far Sunset was wanting her to go. And if that were the case, well...she already felt uneasy where she was now, if it went any further…

I need to nip this in the bud, Cadance told herself before her thoughts could become too dark. “Sunset, wake up, we need to talk,” she said before nudging the human sleeping beside her.

Which in turn got a tiny moan from the human next to her.

“Sunset?” Cadance asked. “Are you awake?”

“Waaaaaa?” the animal next to her replied.

Cadance wiggled around, before groaning a little. “Okay, buck this.” She lit up her horn and tossed off the sheets before looking up to ignite enough candles around the room so that Sunset’s weak eyes could see what was going on.

Sunset let out a cry of dismay as she lost her blankets and curled up in a ball to help conserve her warmth. It also showed Cadance a few places where her hooves had touched Sunset much too harshly the night before when she was yanking her around in a display of dominance before having some fun with that tasty body of hers.

For a moment, a frightened thought ran through Cadance’s mind as she looked at some of the welts on Sunset’s skin. Did I kick her in my sleep? While the pink princess hadn’t broken anything when she had been playing with Sunset, unconscious movement wasn’t very restrained, and there had been more blankets on the bed due to Sunset’s lack of temperature resistance. “Okay, yeah. We really need to have a conversation about this.”

A pathetic whine escaped from Sunset’s mouth, and Cadance saw she was reaching for the discarded blankets.

Cadance sighed. “How about this?” She rolled Sunset onto her back, which allowed Cadance to see the remaining red marks on her body, then scrambled over to cover the human.

“Wha-C-Cada-Mistress! What’re you doing?”

“Making sure you can’t ignore me. Conversations mean two ponies talking,” Cadance said as she slipped her front legs under Sunset’s arms. “And stop calling me Mistress, that’s my title for you.”

As Cadance readjusted herself as not to put too much of her weight on the fragile human, Sunset thought to herself for a moment. “What about Princess?”

Cadance frowned. “No,” she said firmly. “Now, we need to talk about what happened last night.” The pink princess looked down at the numerous welts and bruises on Sunset’s body. While the human hadn’t experienced any major injuries, some of the places Cadance had grabbed the girl with her hooves to simply flip her around with her hooves were sore where the end of Cadance’s appendages had dug into her. The rough nature of the alicorn’s hooves had demolished the human’s soft skin. “Look, I understand you need an outlet for your feelings. But unless you figure out a way for me to put my hooves on you in a rough fashion without causing damage, I can not do this with you anymore.”

“What?” Sunset cried out as the last vestiges of sleep left her eyes. “No! You can’t-”

“Sunset!” Cadance exclaimed. “It’s bad enough that we’re doing this, but I am not going to cause real damage, is that understood?”

The human broke eye contact. “Yes...Cadance,” she mumbled in a dejected tone before bouncing back with bright eyes almost immediately.”Oh! What about socks?”

“What’s a...sock?” Cadance asked, stumbling over the odd word.

Sunset brightened up a little. “Well you see, humans have almost no heat generation around their feet, so they need special covering for that part of the area alone and-and um, well, they’re like stockings for...hooves,” the human explained before frowning thoughtfully. “Which Equestria doesn’t either, so...I’ll have Sassy make us some. They’ll blunt the force and keep the ends of your hooves from scraping me. Which was the worst of it.”

“Okay fine, next time, I’ll wear socks.” Glad that was dealt with, Cadance when on to the other problem she had with what had occurred between the two of them last night. “Next is the insults. I know that you were expecting some kind of verbal beating from me last night. I’m not budging on this one, those aren’t happening.”

“What? But how did you know-”

Cadance growled down at her. “There is a difference between punishment and abuse, Sunset. You want me to be rough with you as I take what I want from your body, make you do embarrassing things like lick my hoof or use a little stormcloud to give you a jolt and tell you it’s for all the pain you caused on Earth? I can manage that.”

Admittedly, Cadance had no intention of just stopping there. Just punishing Sunset only served as a stopgap measure that she wasn’t sure would truly solve anything long-term. Over the next few months, Cadance planned to direct Sunset to engaging in acts that pleasured the pink pony, but left the human high and dry in an attempt to ‘make up’ for all of the distress Sunset caused Cadance during their time together. Then, once she had conditioned Sunset to obey her when it came to her penance, Cadance would tell Sunset she had done enough and she didn’t need to engage in such acts for any reason other than the shared pleasure.

If Sunset had to work off her guilt, that was the way she was going to do it. Not through emotional torture. “Doing it while calling you a stupid little whore of a useless cunt? Not going to happen. Understand?”

“...yes, Cadance,” Sunset agreed.

“Now, cast a spell to reduce my weight so I don’t crush you when we snuggle,” Cadance ordered after remembering to be assertive. She could at least do that for the non-pony. “And why do I weigh so much more than you?” The difference in size wasn’t that great. If anything, Sunset looked bigger than her.

The amber horn on Sunset’s head lit up. “It’s a density thing. Although we take up about the same amount of space, but there’s just more of you packed in the area. Which is a little strange since you would figure that a flying pony would weigh a lot less, but you’ve also got that whole earth pony thing going on, which I think is finally kicking in now that you’re actually using those legs of yours to do more than walk around.”

Cadance blinked. “Uh, Sunset...that is the majority of the training we do,” she replied. “I run around blasting targets you’ve set up before. You know what? Never mind, we’ve got a good half an hour to cuddle before the sun comes up. Now grab my butt and squeeze it. We’ll move on from there.” Those finger things were unbelievably useful.

“Yes, Cadance.”

A second later, Cadance felt her human’s hands dig into her rump before she buried her nose in Sunset’s shoulder to take in a breath. The scent that greeted her was so much more wonderful than anything she had experienced before meeting Sunset. So much so that she couldn’t stop herself from scooting down the bed so she could bury her nose in Sunset’s bare chest, between her teats that just begged to be sucked.

The fingers Cadance had broken free of moved to scratch her ears, further enhancing the experience. “Oh Celestia, why do you you smell so good?” Cadance asked before she kissed her human’s skin to put Sunset’s taste on her lips.

“Do you really want to know, or is it just one of those rhetorical questions?” Sunset asked.

Cadance picked her head up for a second to think about it. “Actually, yeah. I do.”

The question had Sunset scoot herself up and stack the three pillows she, Shiny and Cadance slept on to double as the back of a chair before she sat up and leaned against it. Not wanting to let go of her human, Cadance moved closed to her and leaned her head up against Sunset’s stomach to kiss her skin again.

“So ummm, see….” she began as Cadance gave her another hickey. “Unlike ponies, humans don’t smell good to other humans. In fact, we stink.”

There was a light pop as Cadance removed her mouth from Sunset’s skin. “Really?” she asked in disbelief.

Sunset nodded. “Different olfactory senses and brain composition,” she explained. “And the reason my scent is so strong is because every inch of a human’s skin is made for extreeting oils, salt, certain acids, proteins and other...stuff.”

“Wait,” Cadance said as she latched onto the important part of Sunset’s explanation. Salt was one of the most inebriating additives in pony society. Cadance had seen stallions that could down a gallon of cider without a problem become unable to stand after working their way through half a pound of salt. “Are you saying I could get drunk off you?”

The sun blasted through the window as the day came to Canterlot.

Sunset moaned in pleasure as Cadance allowed her a brief rest from being used as her as an oversized lollipop that could give ear scratches and belly rubs. “You know, it is a little disturbing how much you like the taste of my skin,” she told the Princess.

“Good thing ponies don’t eat meat,” Cadance told her before turning her head towards the window. “Although, it looks like we need to get ready for-um, are you going to the Sun Court today?”

Before Sunset could answer, the door banged open to admit Princess Celestia. “Up and at’em Sunset! We need to get going early this morning….to…” she stopped talking and looked at the pink pony laying on top of the human’s lap in silence before shaking it off. Her smile disappeared. “I have got to stop coming into this room.”

The sudden presence of her mother had Sunset sitting up in bed and covering her breasts on instinct. “GAH! M-MOM!” the embarrassed girl yelled. “Knock first!”

Celestia frowned. “Young lady, this is my palace. So-” she stopped to sniff the air. “What is that wonderful smell?”

“No!” Sunset exclaimed. “No, we are not doing this! It’s weird enough that my girlfriend likes to smell, lick and-okay, the boob sucking isn’t that strange, guys want to play with them all the time and-look! Point is, no more weirdness!”

Before she could push Cadance off, or at least use her out of place horn to float Cadance away so she could get out of bed, a high-pitched scream echoed throughout the halls that grew and grew until a little white unicorn pony galloped into the room and jumped onto the bed.

He was cute. Adorably cute. With a messy blue mane and bright eyes that were framed with cheeks just begging to be pinched. “Sunset! You gotta fix...Sunset?” the tiny colt asked.

Cadance leaned forward and looked at the colt’s cutie mark. “Shiny?” she asked. “What happened to you?”

“Hello? Is anypony-ahh! Princess Celestia!” Sunset thought she heard Twilight shout before hearing a scrambling of hooves even a human’s ears could detect. But by the time she looked back at the door, it was empty.

Shiny pointed a hoof at Celestia as he looked to Cadance. “She gave me a spell that teleported me to the future, and when I got back, I was like this!” he squeaked.

“I told you there were side-effects,” Celestia said before lifting a hoof to wave away her concerns. “Don’t worry. The aging potion I put on for you last night will be done simmering by the end of the day.”

Shiny looked back to the biped. “Sunset? Why are you...uh…” he stopped to lean in and sniff the human’s chest. “Mmmmmm. You smell nice, Sunset.”

“Okay, time out everypony!” Cadance said as she stood up in the bed to throw out her wings in a display of dominance before looking over to Celestia. “What’d you do to my coltfriend?”

Said coltfriend was wrapped in Sunset’s arms as he was kept away from her chest. “Please don’t suck boobs right now Shiny. There’s only so much weird I can handle in one morning, and fake breastfeeding my youthanized boyfriend crosses the line.”

The accusing question didn’t even get a reaction from the big princess. “Shining Armor said something was bothering him that he couldn’t put his horn on, so I gave him a spell so that he could visit a future to gain the information he needed. However, the side effect is that the caster loses half his age. It took away fifty years from me when I used it,” Celestia explained before looking over to Sunset and frowning. “Now, tell me what are all of those scratches and red marks are about.”

Sunset looked over to her mother with a frown. “You gave my boyfriend a time traveling spell, knowing how screwed up everything is right now?” she demanded.

“Oh yes, Sunset. I am a complete and total moron,” Celestia replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes before she frowned back at her Cadance. “Bruises, explanation, now!”

From her place atop the bed, Cadance let out a loud sigh. “Okay...fine,” she said before giving them all an even look. “Sunset, go clean yourself up and get changed back into an alicorn. Shiny, you go get Twily so we can take a bath together and calm her down. Celestia….um...we’ll talk while they’re doing...all of that and….um, what are you doing this morning, anyway?”

“I’m reviewing the security arrangements for Sunset’s coronation tomorrow with my daughter,” she deadpanned.

Sunset’s eyes went wide. “Ohmygosh! I’ve really been looking forward to this!” she said before jumping out of bed to leave Shiny laying on his back a moment later. She started to leave, then looked back to the colt standing on her bed. “Sorry in advance Shiny, but…” She reached forward to snatch the colt off the bed and hug him as tight as she could. “Cutie!”

The little colt sighed as Sunset hugged him to her chest, then lifted the little pony up to touch noses. “Sorry sweetie. I had to do that just once,” she said before leaning down to kiss him lightly on the nose.

A tiny jolt ran through her horn, making Sunset pull away a second later. “Shiny?”

“Yeah?” the colt asked a second later.

After not getting anything from the colt a moment later, she set him down on the bed. “Never mind. I’m gonna go clean up and get changed back to normal. Be just a sec,” she said.

Instead of leaving, Sunset stared at Shiny for a few more seconds. “You’re coming with me!” she declared before snatching him up and holding the little pony to her chest before running off to the bathroom.

“Sunset, we don’t have time for you to take a bath, just use magic,” Celestia called out to her before she looked back to Cadance.

“Okay then,” Cadance said under the older pony’s gaze. “Now, about last night.”

Cadance looked back to the colt sitting uncomfortably on her back as they escorted Twilight towards the Saddle Arabian guestroom. There were closer bedrooms, but it was the only one with a bath large enough for the three of them aside from the ones Celestia and Sunset had, and she didn’t want Twily going into Sunset’s bedroom after last night’s activities. “What’s wrong, Shiny?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” he deadpanned.

With the colt on her back still a little on edge, Cadance didn’t say anything as she opened the door for Twilight and went into the room with all of the Celestia-sized furniture that had an exotic quality to its design. “Come on Twily, the tub is this way, but we need to get everything ready before we go in,” the pink princess told the little filly before she opened another door that led to the bathroom.

“Okay Princess,” the purple unicorn said before trotting through and starting the water. “Let’s see, we need towels, shampoo, combs and brushes…”

As Twilight rooted around the room, going through a verbal checklist, Cadance set Shining Armor down and gave him a gentle smile. “So, ready to stop pouting?” she asked.

Shiny looked up at the big mare and frowned. “I’m barely older than Twilight, Cadance,” he said in a voice that squeaked half-way through.

Taking a cue from the cause of all of this, Cadance let out a little squeal of delight and clapped her hooves. “I know, isn’t it great?” she exclaimed. When Shining Armor gave the pink princess a look that told her he thought she was crazy, Cadance went on. “I was wondering how we were going to get Twily to go on all the rides that were meant for all the little ponies by herself. But now, you can go with her to make sure she feels safe.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Uh...that’s…”

“And now you get to go on all the rides you probably wanted to experience, but would have looked silly on,” Cadance continued.

The colt looked down at the ground with a frowned. “Okay, I did want to ride on the-”

“Plus, you can get to really know all of the other fillies that Sunset is bringing along much better than either of us and being as young as you are right now means Sunset will keep her hooves to herself long enough for you to explain to her what you told me yesterday,” Cadance told him. “Honestly, I think this whole age regression problem you have could be turned to your baby sister’s benefit in a way that makes sure her first real foray into a social activity, which can really be a make it or break it thing for a filly her age is a stroke of pure genius on Celestia’s part.”

After a few more seconds of looking up at Cadance, Shining Armor sighed and hung his cute little head. “Okay, I’ll admit, there are a few benefits to being like this, today of all days.”

Cadance giggled and picked the colt up in her magic. “I was hoping you would,” she said with a smile that slowly became a dark frown. “Otherwise, Celestia and I would be having words.”

“Umm…” Shining Armor began hesitantly as Twily adjusted the water coming out of the tub faucet to get it the correct temperature once it hit the cold tub and cooled a bit. “Cadance, I’ve been noticing something lately. Do you...not like Princess Celestia?”

The question got an uncertain sound in reply as Cadance thought it over for a minute. “Well...it’s not that she’s a bad pony, or anything,” she said. “It’s just...Celestia tends to focus on the big picture so much that she tends to trip up on the little things. And she’s been doing it so much lately…it has gotten me a little miffed at her.”

“Okay, everything’s ready!” Twilight called out from the bathroom.

Celestia looked over to her daughter as they sat down in the big pony’s office, the plans for her coronation’s security and the details of the banquet that would follow laying on her desk, hiding the nervousness she was feeling at seeing Sunset’s expression. The reason for her nervousness was Sunset’s happy expression. Everything she knew about her daughter told Celestia that the amber alicorn’s expression should be anything but happy at the moment.

And yet, there it was. A big, wide smile that showed teeth.

It wasn’t fake. Sunset was genuinely happy about what was to come.

Then, the door opened. “Greetings High Princess Celestia,” the captain of the guard said as he nodded towards the ruler of Equestria. He walked into the room, and the big pony blinked as she noticed the heavy bags under the unicorn’s eyes.

“Hello Hard Line!” Sunset said in a voice that was much too cheery. “I’d ask how you are today, but before we get to the pleasantries, I really should point out that absolutely horrible mistake you just made!”

Oh dear, Celestia told herself as she saw the unicorn’s eye twitch at Sunset’s happy tone. Now, she understood what was going on. Instead of her usual grumpy or high and mighty demeanor, Sunset had decided to use an annoyingly happy tone to mess with the stallion.

The animosity between the two ponies had gone back years, since before Sunset was an alicorn. Like his father and grandfather before him, Hard Line had commanded the royal guard since he was old enough to be given the responsibility. And, like many ponies in Canterlot, he looked down on anypony who wasn’t part of the noble house system that had grown out of the final days of Unicornia in an attempt for the more prominent families of that time to hold onto their political power in a changing world.

As a whole, the system was a good thing to have around. While Celestia couldn’t deny that many of the noble houses in Canterlot had grown a bit...lazy, the standards that they upheld kept them from slipping into moral decay as many tried to outdo the other in philanthropic acts such as charity auctions and donations to the needy. While Celestia would have prefered ponies to do good deeds simply for the sake of doing good, a pat on one’s back and praise from peers was a simple enough reward that she didn’t raise a fuss about it.

Unfortunately, no system was perfect. Some ponies that were born into it forgot the moral half of their standards and simply looked down on anypony outside Canterlot’s special social circles. Such ponies were rare, but Celestia had seen the effects of their actions, like with Sunset’s private maid.

While Hard Line wasn’t quite as bad as a stallion that would...knock a pony up, as Sunset put it, Celestia knew that he was full of faults. Ironically, it was that same sense of superiority that both kept Hard Line out of any serious trouble and made him such a disappointment in Celestia’s eyes.

“What mistake would that be?” the stallion asked evenly.

Sunset let out an overly dramatic gasp before going on her much too sweet tone again. “Why, you called Mom the High Princess! She’s not the High Princess anymore,” she said. “I think you need to go apologize to the real High Princess right away!”

As Hard Line simply stared at Sunset as if she had gone crazy, Celestia looked over to her daughter in confusion. Unable to stop herself, she asked the obvious question that the amber alicorn was probably just waiting for the stallion to voice. “What makes you say that, Sunset?”

“Well, you see, Mom,” Sunset said to her mother. “You abdicated the throne to me for a weekend before I restored you to power. Under the wording of Equestrian law, the High Princess is the alicorn that’s held power the longest. Since I’m not a princess anymore, and your term has only lasted nine days, that makes Cadance the supreme authority in Equestria.”

Then, Sunset turned her head back to Hard Line. “You remember High Princess Cadance, don’t you?” she asked the stallion. “That pony you called, an overblown sky farmer who you will never accept as a real princess, no matter what? That is what you said to me a week after she arrived, right?”

Hard Line’s eye twitched. “I...do not recall that conversation,” he replied after a moment before looking over to the big pony in the room. “Now, Princess Celestia, might we get down to business?”

“We are on a tight schedule this morning,” Celestia reminded her daughter before looking back to the map that showed the layout of the throne room. “Now, I want the southern exit completely sealed off, four guards at the door and another four in the hall itself. Aside from the members of Sunset’s honor guard, there needs to be two pegasi at every window and ten other guards at the entrance to the room.”

Taking a break from poking Hard Line with her proverbial stick, Sunset looked over to Celestia. “Not that I’m all that worried about the changelings attacking when three alicorns are together, but are you sure that Chrysalis isn’t going to try something when I put my crown on? You told me what she said, and let’s be honest Mom, that would be your big moment of triumph.”

Celestia shook her head. “It’s extremely doubtful that Chrysalis would reveal herself at that moment,” she assured Sunset before turning the map over to a sketch of the palace’s garden. “If anything is going to happen, it will be during the celebratory banquet. So many ponies will be coming between the coronation and the dinner that it gives all of them ample opportunity to take whomever they want with little trouble. All the important ponies of the kingdom will be in one place and by giving the majority of the staff the day off, they will see it as an golden opportunity to sneak around. That’s why I’ll be making a celebratory toast after everypony has taken their seats.”

“Okay,” Sunset said with a nod. “So, I get my crown, then stand around for hours on end while the heads of every noble house in Equestria comes to give me something, followed by pledges from the commanders of the military and-oh!”

The wide smile returned as she looked over to Hard Line. “Captain! As a high ranking member of the military, don’t you have to do something to prove your loyalty to the crown?”

Once again, Hard Line’s eye twitched as Sunset went back to poking it with her invisible stick. He cleared his throat. “Ahem. That...is correct.”

“Oh, I wonder what feat of daring do you could perform to show Equestria your devotion to the crown?” she asked before crossing her forelegs in thought.

Hard Line’s mouth became tight and he looked away from Sunset. “I am sure it will be...acceptable.”

Sunset nodded. “You know, I’ve been reading up on previous princess throughout Equestria’s history and how their coronations went. Just to, you know, get me ready for this whole thing,” the amber alicorn said. “And I found something really, really interesting in the case of Princess Star Butterfly.”

The utterance of that pony’s name got a wince from Celestia. While not the worst of ponies, Celestia had spent years wondering how Princess Butterfly had become so...odd. “Sunset-”

“While not exactly the most...admirable of princesses, she did set a very nice precedent when it came to one of the ponies that showed his loyalty with a half-hearted action,” Sunset went on, completely ignoring Celestia. “Apparently, Star decided that if a pony’s act of loyalty isn’t good enough, then the newly crowned princess can make up a new one for him to perform on top of what they promised.”

Sunset’s false air of joy disappeared, replaced by an angry scowl. “So tell me, Captain, do you have an idea for something that will prove to me that you no longer think of me as some gutter trash that Celestia mercifully took pity on and salvaged from the trash heap when it would have been better for everypony if I had just been thrown from the side of Canterlot the day my low born parents died?” she asked. “Because if you don’t, I’ve got a few ideas.”

“Did you see how much he wanted to piss himself at the end there?” Sunset asked happily as she took her seat on the cushion next to Celestia’s throne. “I thought were were going to see a puddle on the floor before he got out of the room!”

Celestia sighed and gave her daughter a look of tired disapproval. It made Sunset feel a little bad about herself, but not enough to show. After all, it meant that while her mother didn’t condone Sunset’s actions, she had gotten used to them. “You know Sunset, Hard Line isn’t the only pony that acted in a manner unbefitting of his station.”

The comment made Sunset sigh through her nose. “Hey, I’m paying for the way I used to act,” she replied. “And if he’s willing to apologize and act the way he’s supposed to, then I’ll treat him the way he’s supposed to be treated. If he doesn’t...well, I’ll treat him the way he needs to be treated.”

After a few seconds of silence, a tightness crept its way into Celestia’s eyes. “So, you and Cadance...devised something, between the two of you?”

Sunset sighed in disappointment as she remembered their activities the night before. She understood Cadance was doing her best, but...she deserved more than what Cadance was giving her. Then again...Cadance endured about just as much as all the humans I tormented. Maybe she’s right about me being too hard on myself.

While not the best pony, two days of ruling had allowed Sunset to make some much needed reforms to the way things worked in Equestria when it came to parents and their children. The laws might not have been put to use very much from here on out, but it was good for there to be something around in case parents tried to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.

“We worked something out,” Sunset explained.

Celestia smiled and nodded. “That’s good,” she said before Raven trotted up to bring her a scroll that the Princess too up in her magic. “Now, I followed through with your suggestion and we’ve only got a few ponies to deal with today. Sunny Daze, please tell the first pair of ponies to enter.”

The pegasus zipped off and had the guards open the door, making Sunset turn her head to see what was going on. When she caught sight of the pair, Sunset blinked. She was familiar with the the yellow unicorn with the pocket book thanks to all the time they had spent together at Canterlot Academy, and although she couldn’t name of the silver gray stallion wearing the ascot, Sunset did remember he had been with her at the Formal.

Both of the ponies trotted up to the dais with the usual amount of reverence and respect Princess had been shown by the vast majority of Equestria, although the looks on their faces said that they would rather be anywhere else. When they got in place, Celestia began the usual greeting she had been using for the past few days. “Hello my little ponies. Tell me your troubles,” she said before looking towards Sunset. “This is my daughter, Sunset Shimmer. She speaks with my voice in all matters. A decision from her will be thought of as one from myself as well.”

“Princess Celestia, I am Jet Set, and let me just begin by saying-” the silver gray stallion said before Upper Crust immediately butted in. “Sunset, tell this stallion to give me my money!”

The non-existence of Upper Crust’s decorum shattered Jet Set’s. He looked over to the yellow unicorn with a frown. “Preposterous!” he said before looking back to the alicorns. “I want this horrible mare locked up for forcing me on her!”

Sunset blinked at the confusing use of words. “Um...say what now?”

Upper Crust cleared her throat. “Your Highness. Due to my circumstances, I stayed with Jet Set over the past week. The two of us had relations when I was in heat, and according to this test,” she said before pulling a sheet of paper from her purse, “I am pregnant. As he was the only pony with me for the past week, he must be the sire. So, as per your new laws, I am entitled to half of his family’s fortune.”

“You forced me to drink a love potion at the Formal!” the stallion yelled at her before looking to the biggest ponies above him. “Your Majesties, surely there is an exception to be made here. I was unable to stop myself from mounting her because of a potion she made me drink!”

“That is completely irrelevant!” Upper Crust exclaimed. “I get half of your family’s money to help provide for-”

“The unborn foal that you made me produce!” Jet Set said.

“ENOUGH!”

With Celestia’s shouting, the room went dreadfully quite. She took in a deep breath through her nose, and looked over to her daughter. “Well, Sunset. As this involves a law that was created during your term as Empress, I believe I shall grant you full authority to decide which course of action needs to be taken.”

Sunset’s mind tried to digest what she had just heard, taking its sweet time to do so. When she had made the law, it had been to ensure that ponies like Star weren’t forgotten by Equestria and given a chance to have some sort of a life that didn’t involve a dead end job where most of the bits went to feed a foal that barely ever saw its mother because she needed to work twice as hard as most just to put food on the table. And, like many of the ideas for all of the inventions she had come up with late at night while Shining Armor and Cadance were spending time together on the bed, the idea for the law had come about thanks to all the time Sunset spent amongst humans.

Humans, a species that didn’t have love potions.

Well, love potions that allowed you to keep the majority of your mental faculties and not stand around in a daze where you offered no resistance to mental or physical suggestions at least.

“So, you…” Sunset paused as she went over the information in her head again. Then, she reviewed everything she knew about Upper Crust. “Forced Jet Set to breed you...because of one of the laws that I made?”

Fluttershy looked back to her father as he held her little brother while trying to wave goodbye. “Do you think father be okay with Zephyr on his own, Mommy?” she asked.

“I’m sure he’ll be able to manage,” the older pegasus told her as they boarded the golden chariot that was hitched to the two burly white pegasi.

The size of the guards made Fluttershy nervous. Not to mention the idea of having to fly all the way to Canterlot. And there was the fact that they would be going halfway to the ground.

Just the thought of the ground made Fluttershy nervous. Like all pegasi her age, she had heard all of the stories about that terrible place. Down there, monsters roamed a land that was covered with blades of grass! Ponies that weren’t lucky enough to be born with wings spent their lives running from the awful creatures until their hooves were so cut up they couldn’t escape anymore.

Because of that, none of the foals flew very far away from Cloudsdale. If they did, they might get tired and find themselves unable to make the trip back. Then, they would have to glide down to the ground, too tired to fly away and get eaten by something horrible like a bunny!

The thought made Fluttershy absolutely dread the idea of going to flight camp come Spring. Once there, the fillies and colts would have to endure all sorts of punishing exercises as they built up their stamina and learned how to deal with things like updrafts and various weather patterns.

When she got into the chariot, Fluttershy took a seat as far away from the edge of the vehicle as possible and was glad when her mother took a position that would stop Fluttershy from stumbling backwards and falling to the ground and being devoured if they got bumped.

Although, the fact that she would need to spend time at the Princess Fair did make Fluttershy nervous. Not as nervous as the idea of being on the ground, but still very uneasy. A fair meant lots of ponies, and lots of ponies meant that some of them would laugh at her and make fun of her for being tall, or being a poor flier, or...well, Fluttershy didn’t think that anypony would make fun of her because of what happened in cloud kindergarten, but that was only because none of them knew about it.

The chariot slowly accelerated and Fluttershy crouched down onto the floor in fear of the pegasi hitting a bump and throwing her off into the air so she could through a hole in the clouds before she found her wings unable to work and plummeted down to the ground, where a pack of kittens would be waiting to turn her into their lunch!

“Oh, hello there,” Fluttershy heard her mother say. “Were you called to Canterlot by the Princess as well?”

“That’s right!” an energetic female voice replied somewhere above the crouching yellow pony. “Princess Celestia’s daughter noticed how special our little Dashie was and invited her to attend the coronation!”

Fluttershy picked her head up when she heard mention of another pegasus going to Canterlot like her.

“Oh, Princess Celestia and Sunset brought my little filly home with them one day and invited us to Canterlot as well,” Fluttershy heard her mother reply. “She’s…” there was a pause as the older pegasus looked down at her daughter. “She’s a little uneasy about flying all the way to Canterlot. First time away from home.”

“What type of pegasus is nervous about flying?” a squeaky voice asked, growing closer and closer as it talked.

Before she even knew what was going on, there was another filly in the chariot, looking down at her. Thankfully, it wasn’t one of the mean fillies Fluttershy had met in school’s classroom the previous year. But...the rainbow mane and tail did stir something in Fluttershy’s memory.

Had she been in another class? Fluttershy had seen plenty of ponies on the playground between lessons that she never talked to.

Dashie gave the taller pony a deep frown. “You...look familiar.”

Fluttershy gulped and let out a tiny squeak as she hid behind her mane. If Dashie had heard the stories the other foals in her class had been telling to anypony that would listen so they could have more ponies to point at her and laugh, she would tell. Then, the Princess wouldn’t want anything to do with Fluttershy!

Rarity looked up at the strapping stallions that would be pulling their carriage with stars in her eyes. The perfect example of what Canterlot ponies should be, both of them were larger than any pegasus in Ponyville and had an air of authority about them that just screamed heroic. Like true gentlecolts, they helped her mother into the enclosed flying box that came with a bench large enough for her currently ample frame.

Inside the carriage, a white box with a bow on top held the dress Princess Sunset had promised her. Just thinking about it made Rarity giddy with anticipation. She just knew it would be covered with sapphires and rubies!

“And your husband is…”

“Still out on a delivery, I’m afraid,” Cookie Crumbles explained.

The guard nodded. “Very well them, Ma’am. We’ll leave as soon as the other family we’ll be transporting arrives.”

Rarity blinked and looked towards the big strong, strapping stallion. “Other family?” she asked in confusion. Were the Riches also coming? They were certainly of a high enough class to attend Princess Sunset’s coronation.

“Ah, there they are now,” the guard announced as he looked at something behind Rarity.

The white unicorn turned to greet the most affluent stallion in Ponyville and... froze in horror. The pair of ponies coming towards her were most definitely not the classy ponies she was expecting to travel with her to Canterlot. In fact, they were just about the most unclassifiable pair of ponies in all of Ponyville!

Well, with the exception of that Hayseed Turnip Truck colt.

Across the street, a pair of earth pony mares approached the carriage. The first was that apple farmer named Buttercup, her mane full of flowers that while pretty, probably had a ton of dirt still clinging to them. Next to her was the most uncouth, mannerless little filly that had ever been born, Applejack.

The very thought of having to spend any amount of time locked in a box with the filly that always came into the classroom with a trail of dirt behind her made Rarity want to scream in terror.

The sight of Sassy and Cheerilee coming into one of the palace’s many solar’s that she caught out of the corner of her eye made Cadance look up from the book she was reading about the art of potion making. “Girls!” the princess said before getting down from her couch and trotting over to the others to give them a big hug with her forelegs and wings.

“Morning Cadance,” Sassy said.

“Good Morning, Princess Cadance,” Cheerilee greeted her, taking a moment to bow.

The pink princess sighed at the formal display, but let it pass in lieu of more important matters. She looked back and forth between the two mares for a moment. “Where are the others?”

Sassy sighed. “I’m afraid Fleur is still in the midst of her heat. She came a bit late this week.”

“Mare too,” Cheerilee said.

“Well, I suppose we have enough. Thank you for agreeing to help me out with this,” she said. “Especially now that we’re one stallion down.”

Both of the mare’s blinked in confusion before Cadance looked back to the couch that Shining Armor was hiding behind. It took him a few seconds, but Cadance didn’t need to give him another queue before he slowly trotted out. Even though she knew he was embarrassed by the fact of being a little colt, Cadance couldn’t stop herself from getting a little bubbly over how cute he looked.

“S-Shiny?” Sassy stuttered.

“What happened to you?” Cheerilee asked in surprise.

As Shining Armor blushed at the attention, Cadance made her way back to the sofa to sit down before levitating Shiny up and placing him in her forelegs. “There was a bit of a magical mishap, I’m afraid,” she said. “A spell reduced Shining Armor to half his actual age and although he’s still him on the inside, I don’t think it would be a good idea to have him act as a chaperone for our day at the fair.”

Cheerilee gave Cadance a worried look. “Can’t Princess Sunset or Princess Celestia do anything to help him?”

“While age spells do exist, they’re too...ballpark to do anything less than one-hundred years,” Cadance said before she glanced over to the book she had been looking over. “However, there are magic potions meant to age whomever drinks them depending on the dosage. Princess Celestia is brewing one that will return Shining Armor to his proper age, but it will need to simmer for a few more hours.”

Twily looked up from the book she had been glued to since Cadance led them into the room. “So that means I can play with Shiny at the fair today!”

His sister’s words got an embarrassed groan, which made Cadance hug Shiny and kiss him on the top of his head before she looked at both the young mares standing near the door. “I don’t think I need to say that any mockery of Shiny’s condition will get a Sunset-level response from me, do I?”

Both of the mares shook their heads.

“Cadance!” Shiny complained. “You telling them that just makes it worse!”

Shiny’s words got a wince from Cadance. “Sorry.”

The little colt sighed and looked back to the unicorn and earth pony before he took a deep breath. “Okay so...lay it on me.”

Both of the newcomers shared a confused expression for a few seconds. “Lay...what on you, Shining Armor?”

“Oh come on!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been made fun of and bullied for so many years, I know the patterns. Something stupid and embarrassing happens, everypony points at me, cue laughter and stupid jokes.”

Sassy quirked an eyebrow. “Why would we do that?” she asked.

“Because that’s what you’re supposed to do!” Shiny told her as he squirmed in the pink princess’s grip. Cadance held fast to her colt to keep him from escaping. It also stopped him from continuing his rant.

The assumption got a look of surprise from Cheerilee while Sassy frowned at him before speaking. “You mean it’s what Buck and Crust did,” she said before sighing. “And what everypony else just went along with.”

As Shining Armor blinked at her words, Sassy trotted over to look down at him. “Shining Armor, while I will admit that I do find you adorable at the moment, your discomfort is nothing to laugh about,” she said. “And if you want, we will never speak of this again. Okay?”

Shining Armor blushed and looked away from the bigger pony. “Okay.”

“Good!” Cadance said before she took Shiny up in her magic as she hopped onto the ground to place him onto her back. “Now, let’s go meet up with Sunset. Then we can meet with the other foals.”

Celestia gave her daughter a hesitant look as they sat in her office, finalizing the paperwork she would need to close the little loophole Upper Crust had found that violated the spirit of Sunset’s laws in regards to foals. Sunset sat in one of the chairs, staring out the window with the same blank expression she had after the problem was brought to her.

While Sunset’s lack of reaction or breakdown in the throne room had been a good thing for the crown’s image, seeing her daughter just shut down was beginning to trouble Celestia even more. So much so, she couldn’t stop herself from disturbing the pony. “Sunset?” she asked, getting her daughter’s attention.

Sunset slowly looked back at her. Celestia could see the utter devastation in the amber alicorn’s eyes. “Yes, Mom?”

“What’s...going through your mind?” Celestia asked. “A week ago, I would have expected you to be more...verbose about something like this, if you had a problem with it.”

The question went unanswered for several seconds as Sunset just stared at Celestia before she looked down at her mother’s desk. “Yeah,” she mumbled quietly. “I guess I would have been obsessed with beating myself up rather than…” Sunset trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.

More silence followed, making Celestia even more nervous. She felt as if she was a foal poking a sleeping dragon with a stick. While it might have appear to be a good idea to let the creature lay there, everypony would pay for it in time.

So, she spoke. “Are you...placing the blame for what Upper Crust did on yourself?” Celestia asked quietly instead of in the tone she felt like, one that would have told Sunset how stupid such an idea was.

“Well, she wouldn’t have done it if not for me, right?” Sunset asked in a depressed voice. “I’m the one who gave her the idea. Me and my stupid laws.”

Celestia took in a breath to keep herself from breaking her calm. Sunset didn’t need to hear how stupid her current train of thought was. “You made those laws to protect ponies like Spangled Star.”

“And Upper Crust just came around and turned everything on its head!” Sunset exclaimed as her head show up to look Celestia in the eyes, a bit of fire returning to her voice. “How-how am I supposed to be a princess when the very first fucking thing I did ended up creating a situation like that?”

When Celestia saw that Sunset wasn’t going to start on a rant, she took a moment to think about how to respond to her daughter. She knew she couldn’t raise her voice to Sunset. If Celestia got into a shouting match with her daughter, Sunset would start arguing just to win the fight.

So, she kept her tone low, but firm. “Sunset, I know more than most that there will always be that one pony who will try to take advantage of your kindness,” Celestia said, getting a wince from Sunset. It almost stopped the Princess from going on, but she kept herself on task. “But you must not allow one incident to dictate your every following action. Yes, Upper Crust used your own laws to her personal advantage, but that is one of the reasons I hold court every day, to stop such abuses.”

“And what about the foal?” Sunset asked, her anger leaking out of hrr again as she looked down at Celestia's desk with empty eyes again. “We can make all the laws to stop this from happening again that we want, but Crust has already conceived. I know an abortion is an option, but...a pony that forces herself on a stallion to get herself pregnant so she can take half his fortune, that’s not a pony that would have a foal if there wasn’t any financial gain in it. And the idea of Crust just...undoing it, even if it’s only a small collection of cells right now seems just as bad as bringing a foal into the world when she won’t have a parent to love her.”

Her huh? Celestia thought with a little frown before she smoothed her face out again. “You don’t know that, Sunset.”

The amber alicorn frowned at Celestia. “The stallion was forced into having sex, Mom. It would be hard enough for the mother to keep a foal under those circumstances,” Sunset told her. “Expecting the sire to do it is just wishful thinking on anyone’s part.”

Celestia decided to approach the thing from a different angle. “So, what do you want to happen?”

“I want,” Sunset said before pausing to think for a second. “I want Upper Crust to pay for what she did, I want her to take responsibility for her actions! Nobody should just be allowed to just bring a little filly up for any reason and then just toss her aside because things don’t work out the way she wants them too!” Sunset yelled.

It didn’t take much to see that Sunset’s thoughts had gone a bit off track. Celestia considered her daughter for a moment, then put her hooves up on the table and placed them together. “Okay,” she said. “So, how can I make what happened up to you?”

“Y-” Sunset got out before she stopped herself. Her eyes went wide for a moment which she followed with a hanging of her head. “Oh. I...I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to... I know it wasn’t you who…”

Celestia took in a deep breath. “Do you want to know what the spell I cast on Shining Armor did?” she asked suddenly to bring whatever train of thought Sunset was riding to a halt before it could go anywhere too dark. “It’s one Starswirl concocted hundreds of years ago in an attempt to see what the future held for Equestria.”

“...huh?” Sunset said.

“Doesn’t actually do that though,” she went on. “What happens is the caster is transported to a kind of miniature universe for a few hours. The universe’s existence is based off of a probability prognostication magic developed several years before Starswirl's spell. I cast it myself, and for the most things, it got stuff right. But, it missed a few things too. Yet, I had determined to live every moment of my life since then according to what that spell let me expedience. Even though none of it was real.”

Sunset blinked. “Mom, I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

“I’m telling you this because, like me, you experienced a future,” Celestia said. “And in this future, I abandoned you.”

“Mom, that's not-”

Celestia silenced her daughter with a glare. “It’s something I would have done again if not for Cadance, so don’t defend me and let me make my point here,” she said. “Which is, I have wronged you, Sunset. Maybe it wasn’t the current me, but it was still me. The me that would have been. And if the current me needs to do something to prove to you that I do feel remorse for what I did to you, then it is something I will gladly do. Understand?”

When Sunset gave her a nod, Celestia smiled. “Good! Now, as for Upper Crust. If I understand you correctly, you want her to feel the consequences of her actions, but you don’t want her to bring a foal into the world if there’s nopony to love it, correct?”

After thinking on it for a few seconds, Sunset nodded. “Yeah, that’s the gist of it.”

“Oh, well that’s simple enough to achieve,”Celestia told her as she formulated the bare bones of a plan in her mind. “I’ll work out the details with you in good time, but Crust will keep in the palace cells for the moment so that we can focus on much more important things.”

Sunset blinked. “More important things?”

Ignoring her daughter’s question, Celestia opened up her desk’s topmost right drawer to withdraw the clothing she had stored inside with her magic. “Yes I’m afraid I’m going to be needing a bit of help if I want to fit into my dress when we go to the fair.”

Sunset blinked again. “Your...dress?”

To which Celestia nodded in reply. “Yes, I know. Me in a yellow sundress is a bit of a pun, but it really is the best color for my coat and mane.”

“Mom,” Sunset said as she looked at the little dress Celestia would have had trouble putting a single leg into. “That dress is for a little fil-oh, buck. I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Celestia gave her daughter a little smile. “Well, how else did you expect me to go on some of the rides with Twily?” she asked before using her magic to grab the bucket of white paint and setting it down on her desk. “Now, I’ve already done the calculations that will let you cast a spell that will leave me about six years old, but please don’t reverse the math. I like ponies not knowing my actual age.”

Cadance gave Twilight a concerned look as the filly trotted back and forth in a worried frenzy while they waited in the courtyard for the carriage and chariots carrying Sunset’s guests to arrive. When the pink princess had told the little purple pony that she would be meeting some new friends, the reaction that Twilight had given had been a bit different than what Cadance had been hoping for.

“What if she likes them more than me? What if they don’t like me? What if I don’t like them, and not liking them makes Princess Sunset not like me? What if she decides to make one of them her student instead of me?” Twilight asked in a panic before something truly horrifying occurred to her, judging by her worsening expression, and she turned to Cadance. “What if they’re better at magic than me?”

After taking a moment to raise her hoof and rub the spot just below her horn with a hoof, Cadance looked down to the little pony. “Twilight, I really don’t think you need to worry about that. Only one of them is a unicorn,” she assured the filly.

Thankfully, before Twilight could start on another horrible possibility, there was a blare of several horns. The noise made the filly close her mouth before any sound came out and look at the direction the noise came from as the pair of ponies lowered the long instrument while a third stepped forward. “Announcing, Sunset Shimmer,” the earth pony in the poofy outfit said before the amber alicorn exited the palace...with another filly behind her that was trying to look every direction at once.

“Okay, two unicorns,” Cadance told the Twilight before looking over to the strange little filly trailing behind Sunset.

Clothed in a plain yellow dress, the pony with the white coat and pink mane looked every which way while firing off several questions, only half of which Cadance managed to catch when they came close enough to hear. “I didn’t think everything would be so big! Are we gonna ride in a carriage to get to the fair? Will it be roomy? I think it’ll be roomy!”

Sunset slumped a bit and sighed as she got to the pink princess. “Hey Cadance,” she greeted before looking over to the other adult ponies that were present. “Cheerilee, Sassy. Good to see you girls.”

“Princess Sunset,” both of the commoners both replied with a formal bow.

Cadance nodded to her. “Hello Sunset,” she said before looking past her fillyfriend. “Who’s-” Cadance blinked at the sudden lack of a pony.

There was a pop of magic, and all of the bigger mares besides Sunset turned their attention to the new filly as she appeared in front of a surprised Twilight. “Hiya Twily! My name’s Sunny Skies,” the energetic filly said before she snatched up the little pony in a hug that made Cadance worry about Twilight’s oxygen supply. “I just know we’re gonna be bestest best of friends!”

“Y-You can teleport?” Twilight asked as her back hooves dangled off the ground.

Sunny let Twilight go and gave an excited nod. “Uh-huh! I love magic! You love magic too, right?” she asked before continuing on without pause. “Learning magic. Casting magic. Making magic. Oh! We should try making magic together!”

As Twilight gave the manifestation of her worst fears the same horrified look she had shown Cadance not five minutes prior, the pink princess turned her attention to Sunset. Despite the amber alicorn’s lack of excitement and other signs that something was weighing on her mind, Cadance had to figure out just what in the name of all things pony possessed Sunset to bring such a filly to play with Twilight.

“Ohmygosh! Is that a royal guard chariot?” Sunny asked as she raced over to where a pair of pegasai were getting ready to take off with one of the golden things in tow, taking Twilight with her.

“Sunset...sweetie,” Cadance said as she gave the other alicorn a forced smile. “Just who is that? I didn’t know you knew such an...excitable filly.” She looked back at Sunny for a moment and frowned when her dress bulged at the sides for a brief instant.

After giving Cadance a flat look that lasted a second or two, Sunset let out a sigh. “It’s Celestia.”

Cadance and the young mares as well as Shining Armor turned their heads to look at the energetic filly for a few seconds to watch her talk Twilight’s head off while her dress revealed a blank flank, then the pink princess turned her attention back to Sunset. “Say what?”

“That’s...Princess Celestia?” Cheerilee asked in confusion.

“She seems...different than I remember,” Sassy added before looking back to Sunset. “In uh, personality, I mean. Not just...age.”

A small uneasy moan came out of Sunset’s mouth. “Yeah.”

Shining Armor frowned and looked back to Sunset. “How?”

“Age spell,” Sunset told him. “And before you ask, no. I can’t use it to fix your problem. Mom spent most of last night doing the calculations to make sure I didn’t put her in diapers.”

She moved onto Sassy. “And yeah, aging spells have a few side effects. Apparently, Mom was a really hyper filly with AD-”

“Look Twily! A butterfly!” Celestia said as she chased after the thing.

“...attention problems,” Sunset said before her horn lit up to encompass her mother in a field of magic before she could nab her prey. “Come here you!”

As the little filly let out a disappointed whine while she was levitated over and Twilight followed her back to the group, Shining Armor spoke up. “Well, guess I can’t be angry at her for turning me into a little colt anymore.”

Sunset snorted. “I can,” she said before glaring at the little filly.

Before she could really get going, Cadance stepped over to give the amber alicorn a nuzzle. “Oh lighten up a bit, Sunset,” she said. “I think is sweet she wants to play with Twilight like this. And don’t be so gloomy. I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

A second later, a pair of golden chariots came into view from over the walls and landed in the courtyard. While the blue filly zoomed up and out then all about while her parents trotted over towards the group, the yellow filly followed what had to be her mother at a much more conservative pace.

Before anypony could even start to make an introduction, the blue pegasus zoomed over to hover right in front of Twilight and Celestia. “Hey there! I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“Hi there Dashie!” Celestia said with an enthusiasm to match Rainbow’s own. “I’m Sunny! And this is Twilight!”

After a little bump on the rump from Celestia’s own blank flank, Twilight raised a hesitant hoof. “Hello.”

When the mother and her foal arrived, Cadance stepped forward and gave the filly a friendly smile. “Hello there, I’m-”

“Eep!” the little pegasus said before she darted behind her mother.

Rainbow Dash landed and looked over to the frightened filly for a few seconds before she turned her attention back to Cadance. “That’s Fluttershy.”

With the yellow filly still cowering behind her mother, Celestia took a step forward before pausing for a moment in consideration Cadance doubted a filly her apparent age would have bothered with. “Hmmmm, better not,” she said before looking over to Rainbow Dash. “She a friend of yours, Dashie?”

“No,” the other pegasus said with an annoyed snort before becoming a little thoughtful and flying over to Fluttershy to begin examining her. “Although, I think we have met. Just can’t remember where.”

The statement made Fluttershy crouch down behind her mother all the more.

“That’s our little girl!” the blue pegasus mare said as she reached down to pick up her daughter.

“She even remembers the noponies that aren’t worth it!” the blue stallion that accompanied Rainbow Dash added a moment later.

Cadance did her best not to frown or roll her eyes at the parental encouragement. That really wasn’t something a foal should be hearing coming from her primary authority figures before she looked over to Sunset. “Well, I think that Fluttershy and Twily will be able to get along, but uh...Rainbow and...Sunny seem a bit excitable.”

The look on Sunset’s face morphed to one of extreme worry. “You think they won’t get along?” she asked almost desperately. “Cadance, I-I need these girls to get along.”

With Sunset needing some encouragement, Cadance quickly worked to turn a better light on her first assessment. “Oh, well...I’m sure that they’ll become friends. Rocky starts always lead to the best of bonds, right?”

Just then, a pegasi drawn carriage landed in the courtyard. The door banged open and a little white unicorn galloped out screaming for several feet before she turned around to glare. “You-you uncouth fiend!” she shrieked.

“Hey!” a little orange earth pony shouted back at the unicorn. “I said I was sorry!”

Sunset’s worried look became more pronounced. “Um-”

“You threw up on my dress!” the unicorn yelled.

“Well pardon me for never flying before!” the earth pony yelled back. “It was either yak in that box, on mah seat! Or would ya rather of had me do it on yer momma?!”

Another Earth pony with curly hair finished helping a pregnant unicorn out of the carriage, then quickly trotted over to the pair of fillies. “Alright you two that’s-”

“Now I know where I’ve seen you before!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed triumphantly as she flew into the air and point a hoof at the horrified Fluttershy. “You’re that filly everypony said peed herself during the first day of cloud kindergarten!”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide before she quickly galloped away with tears flying through the air behind her.

After Cadance took in the sight of the earth pony and unicorn arguing about who was to blame for the destruction of a dress, a pegasus galloping away, another pegasus looking proud of proud of herself, and Twilight becoming even more disturbed as Celestia created a magical barrier to show off, she looked over in time to see Sunset conjure a paper bag out of thin air and begin hyperventilation procedures. “Are you sure that these girls are supposed to be friends?”