Sunset sat on her mother’s throne as she looked out the demolished wall of her palace to the land of Equestria below. Ponies rioted in the streets of Canterlot over a complete lack of food and burned Celestia in effigy as the real one was being tied to a wooden pillar by the mob surrounding her with torches and pitchforks. A swarm of dragons flew through the city of Cloudsdale above, literally tearing the city apart before they glided down to breathe a slew of fire that completely consumed Ponyville, where they then proceeded to settle down and make a meal of its remaining citizens.

“Wow, I’ve seen some doozies in my time, but this is one hay of a mess, Princess Sunset.”

The amber alicorn tried to ignore the purple princess sitting next to her, to no avail. Twilight’s words cut through any attempts to block them out. “Please stop.”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “But I’m not doing anything. You’re the one who came up with a new tax system without seeing all the loopholes the nobility could use to avoid paying anything. And I didn’t send that letter to the dragons showing weakness, you’re not supposed to ask dragons to find a flight path for their migration that doesn’t take them over a town, silly!” she said happily before reaching behind her back to pull out a scroll that unrolled with a list so long it fell to the floor and rolled off of the cliff that the far end of the throne room had become. “By the way, they finally got the casualty report from Manehattan. Do you want to know how many ponies died from that burst of magic you sent in that direction?”

“N-No,” Sunset replied weakly as she raised a hoof to her head. She vaguely remembered something about an invasion of griffons, their entire species, if the numbers were to be believed. Reacting as fast as she could, Sunset had fired a blast of energy from Canterlot to stop their invasion. Only, the offensive spell obliterated anything in its path between her and the target, including the city of Manehattan itself.

“All of them!” Twilight announced happily. “Oh that’s the ponies and the griffons. Well, all the ponies in Manehattan and all of the griffons. Congratulations Sunset! You wiped out an entire species!”

A second later, Twilight blinked. “Hey, you got a little...something there, on your hooves.”

Sunset raised her other hoof to her face as she heard the screams in her mind. Blood flowed out of her hooves to cover the ground. “I...I didn’t...I…”

“Hey look, Cadance is back!” Twilight exclaimed excited as she extended a hoof.

Grateful for some help, Sunset looked to where Twilight was pointing...and widened her eyes in horror. A diamond dog, a zebra, a buffalo, minotaur, yak and a hippogriff marched in a line with long pikes slung over their shoulders. Attached to each of the pikes was one of four legs, a torso, and finally, the head of the pony in question. Sunset stared blankly at the sight of them carrying the pieces of her girlfriend over to where Celestia was tied to the unlit pire and holding them up to the wood like marshmallows waiting to be roasted.

“Well, most of her is at least,” Twilight said before giving Sunset an excited smile. “Wanna see what your idiocy has done to Shining Armor?”

Sunset curled in on herself, bringing her hooves up to protect herself despite the innocent blood that covered them. “N-No.”

“Sunset!” her boyfriend cried out. “Sunset, how could you let this happen to me?”

“No...no,” Sunset told herself as she pulled inward to try and protect herself.

“Sunset, Sunset!” Celestia cried out over the mob’s demands for her to burn. “How could you let them do this to me?”

“I...I didn’t...I…” she whimpered.

“Why did you send me away to talk to these monsters?” Cadance asked despite her head being detached from her body.

“Leave me alone,” Sunset begged pathetically as more voices called out to her.

“How could you let this happen?”

“Why did you let them do this to me?”

“What were you thinking?”

More and more ponies crowded around her. Friends and their family.

“How-”

Another pony began talking before the first could finish. “Why-”

“What-” Yet another pony demanded.

Ponies that worked at the palace, others that she just knew in passing at their school.

“How-”

“Why-”

“What-”

As more and more of them crowded her, Sunset saw glances of burnt skin, missing limbs, soldiers that had nothing but terror in their eyes because of what they’d seen, all thanks to her.

“How-”

“Why-”

“What-”

The mob closed in on Sunset, completely cutting off her view of anything else as they fell on her, becoming a sea of death and pain that dragged her down into its depths while demanding answers.

“How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? How? What? Why? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhy HowWhatWhy? HowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhyHowWhatWhy?”

As Sunset sunk deeper and deeper into all of the ponies that suffered from her all she could do was curl in on herself and beg for forgiveness while the dragged her down to Hell. “I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry…”

Cadance slowly opened her eyes to a field of golden yellow that was her pillow. She smacked her lips a few times and looked over to Shining Armor’s still snoozing face before turning her head back to...Sunset’s butt. The oddity made her blink before memories from the night before came flooding in to remind her of how she ended up in her current position, with one of her romantic partners sleeping the wrong way.

Thanks to Sunset marking Shiny’s place at the start of Canterlot’s heat week, which wasn’t the best of ideas considering that it was the time when the vast majority of mares in Canterlot entered their cycle and felt an overwhelming urge to breed, Sunset had deposited them in the young stallion’s bedroom. Surprisingly, Shining Armor had been awake. A side effect of the aging potion that nopony had counted on was that it had also given him too much energy for him to get to sleep.

It was a problem Cadance was happy to help him take care of, after a little bit of foreplay to help her get in the mood. Although the sex that followed was extremely enjoyable, especially since Shiny broke the double digit mark that only earth ponies tended to pass, the more emotionally satisfying moment of the night was when Sunset, who wasn’t as keen as just watching her colt and filly friend go at it like Cadance, decided to stretch her horizons. She was still pretty new to the experience and hesitant, but the fact that she had used her mouth on Shiny’s lower rear regions at all when she had given nothing but harsh refusal before was a clear sign that she was much more laid back and comfortable being with her lovers than before.

“Sunset, did I ever tell you how good a pillow you make?” Cadance asked lazily before she put her head back down on the bigger alicorn’s fat flank. The perfect mix of cushion and support made Cadance smile in contentment.

A slight shiver ran through Sunset’s body, causing Cadance to lift her head. A whimper barely loud enough to detect came from Sunset’s mouth, causing Cadance’s ears to flatten. Another nightmare, the pink princess reasoned sadly before she moved around to take Sunset by the shoulders with her hooves. Sound rarely got Sunset’s attention when she was in the grip of such fears.

“no...no…” Sunset mumbled as Cadance shook her. “Leave me alone.”

“Sunset, Sunset! Wake up!” Cadance said as she increased her volume and the amount of force she was using to stir Sunset from her slumber.

“NO!” Sunset shouted as she sat up halfway in a rush after rolling over onto her belly. Bleary eyes looked up to reveal wet fur that showed signs of extensive crying and a lost expression. “C-Cadance?”

Although she had no idea exactly what had been going on in Sunset’s mind moments before, Cadance could guess that it wasn’t good. “Shhh. It’s okay, it was just a dream. Everything’s fine now.” Cadance assured her after getting Sunset up on her butt to bring her in for a supportive hug. She kissed the bigger pony’s forehead to reassure her. “I’m here and everything is okay.”

The amber alicorn sucked in deep breath after breath as if she had just run a marathon. Cadance could feel the heart pounding hard in Sunset’s chest like it was a hoof beating against a wall with the intention of freedom. “It was horrible, Cadance. Absolutely horrible!”

Seeing where this was going, the pink princess made a move to steer the conversation away from such talk. “Well it’s over. Now, let’s go see our friends and get you ready for your coronation,” Cadance said happily before Sunset went rock solid stuff. She moved a hoof to try and dislodge Sunset’s grip, but found it firmly attached. “Um, Sunset?”

A second later, Cadance found herself at leg length with Sunset as the amber alicorn held the pink princess by her shoulders. “Are you crazy? I can’t be a princess!”

Oh no, Cadance thought to herself. It had been some time since Sunset had experienced a nightmare. Or, at least a nightmare that turned her into a hopeless, fearful wreck. Sunset’s recent dreams from the past week about being so big she filled the street with her presence and knocked over buildings with her big butt just made Cadance giggle.

Even Sunset laughed about them after she managed to look back on them in a calmer mood a minute later.

But, Cadance could see that the nightmare Sunset just had wasn’t the type she would be laughing about in an hour or two. “Sunset, you need to come get ready for your coronation,” Cadance told her. “Think of all the ponies that came from all over Equestria to see you.”

“They can get over it!” Sunset told her before she fell down to the floor. Then she crouched down on the ground and lit up her horn for a few seconds. “I’m not moving from this spot, and you can’t make me.”

Taking that as a challenge, Cadance stepped around Sunset to get behind her, then wrapped her forelegs around the amber alicorn’s barrel and lifted. “I’m part earth pony too you kno-urgh! Urgf! Ungh!” After her third tug with absolutely no success, Cadance flapped her wings to fly around back in front of Sunset. “Sweet Celestia! HOW ARE YOU NOT FALLING THROUGH THE FLOOR RIGHT NOW?”

While not the strongest pony, Cadance’s weight limit was several hundred pounds above what Sunset should have been able to be even at a gross overestimation of her body’s dense musculature. She had bucked boulders into the air during their workout sessions that were lighter than what her marefriend weighed!

Sunset looked up at Cadance and gave her a smug smile. “Magic!”

Lost on what to do next, Cadance looked up at their coltfriend. “Shiny, your princess needs your help.”

The seriously fluffy and hot in more ways than one unicorn picked his head off of the pillows before getting off of the bed. He took a long, considering look at the situation and...quickly cantered past Cadance. “I’m gonna go get my mom.”

“...seriously?” Cadance asked the open door that Shiny had disappeared through. “Sunset, I adore Shiny and all, but...there are moments when I wonder if we would have just been better as a couple.”

Sunset gave Cadance a considering frown as she studied the pink pony. “You don’t really mean that.”

Cadance sighed in defeat. “Yeah. Okay, I don’t. Still, what the buck is his mom going to do?”

A minute later, Cadance’s ears twitched as Twilight Velvet’s muffled hooves striking the carpet could be heard coming down the little hall that ran along the staircase. She poked her head into the room before trotting in all the way, then looked around a little before her gaze settled on the bed.

The mare’s nose twitched as she took a loud sniff that had Cadance realizing they had forgotten to cleanse the air after last night’s activities. The smell of a three pony sexual encounter that had lasted until a pair of alicorns had worn each other out still hung heavily in the air.

Twilight Velvet stepped forward and locked her legs in place before looking down at the crouching alicorn with the expression of an equality fearsome beast. “Young lady,” she said gently, but with a firmness only a mother could achieve without seeming too hard. “You may be a ruler of my country and the most powerful pony in the land right now, but you are also a guest in my house. And guests in my house do not carry around a telltale scent that let’s everypony know what they were up to the night before.”

“Urk! M-Mom!” Shining Armor shouted from behind her as his face reddened.

The older mare looked over to her son with an even expression. “Shiny, you spend nights over at the palace. I’m not stupid. I have spoken to both of the princesses about this and I’m hoping your father has done the same with you.”

Shining Armor’s blush intensified. “Y-You talked to them about it?” he asked in horror.

“Mostly to make sure we weren’t using you as a sex toy and were willing to break your heart for a cheap thrill,” Cadance told Shiny to keep him from developing a terminal blush from all the wild places his mind was going.

Twilight Velvet ignored the question and turned back to regard Sunset. “Now, come along. We need to get you cleaned up.”

The command was completely ignored by the amber alicorn, who only curled in on herself all the tighter.

“Young lady,” Twilight Velvet went on. “I may not be a Princess of Equestria, or an alicorn, or even a noble. But when you are in my house, you will follow my rules. Now, outside this house, I have absolutely no authority in regards to you. I can not say what you will, or what you will not do. But while you are here, you will obey my rules, and that means you will make yourself presentable before heading down for a morning meal. Now, come along please.”

It took a few seconds, but Sunset slowly reached up and took Velvet’s hoof, then stood to her full height at the little unicorn’s urging. Once Sunset was looking down at everypony else in the room, Velvet looked over to her son. “Now, Shiny. You need to...ah, well, you can’t get dressed without getting that full body mop of yours trimmed, but I expect you to at least wash and comb those things before we go to the palace. Um...Princess Cadance…”

Without the need for some motherly discipline, the pink princess could see Velvet’s hesitation at telling an alicorn to do anything start to reappear. So, Cadance moved to help her out. She sat up straight and puffed out her chest before throwing up a hoof in salute. “Ready to fire off a salvo of cleansing spells to freshen up the room, myself and Shiny, Ma’am!”

Twilight Velvet blinked three times. “Oh, that’s...very well, carry on then. Princess,” she replied before turning around to lead Sunset out of the room.

Before she departed, Cadance leaned over to whisper at Shining Armor in a voice loud enough for the parental pony to hear. “Your mom is awesome.”

Twilight Velvet led the big alicorn through her and Night’s bedroom and into the bathroom she and her husband had for themselves. Such things were a requirement for ponies with younger foals. She turned back and closed the door behind her with her horn. Unfortunately, it also gave Velvet a look into Princess Sunset’s lost eyes as the dim things stared ahead but saw nothing.

The sight broke the older unicorn’s heart, but she didn’t let it show before she turned around to look away and made sure she wasn’t facing the wall-length mirror to her left. Years of experience taking care of ponies too young to do anything for themselves gave Velvet her checklist, which she quickly fell back on with the absolutely terrifying event of one of her nation’s primary leaders just shutting down in front of her.

Half a dozen odors that came from the room of a young stallion who had just shared his bed with an equally young mare wafted off of Sunset’s coat and made Velvet turn on the bath’s hot water at full stream before twisting the cold nozzle until it had gone from boiled alive to mildly scalding. Then, she led the alicorn back to the wash basin and levitated a wet washcloth to help clean her face and other obviously dirty areas.

“So, I take it that you, Shiny and Cadance are all happy together?” she asked while doing her best to keep thinking of Sunset as a young mare that was just going through a rough patch and not a princess.

Sunset lifted her chin to give Velvet a better view. “Yes,” she said before her cheeks went a little red. “If you’re ah, wondering why I’m so-”

Velvet quickly dipped a new washcloth in the bath water and floated it over to clean the front of the filly’s face. The fact that this also had the effect of stopping her from talking was just a completely unintended side effect, as Twilight Velvet would certainly never attempt to stop one of the princesses from saying whatever she wanted. “Sunset, sweetie. I was a young mare once too and I still have fun with my husband every now and then. You don’t need to tell me anything for me to know why there’s a mess on your coat. All I need to know is that Shiny is happy with what the three of you have worked out, which I can clearly see that he is, in a teenage way, that is.”

The cheeks on the amber pony lit up. “R-Right. Sorry,” Sunset said before looking over to Velvet. “Uh, in a teenage way?”

Velvet smiled smiled back at her. “Oh, you’ve had some of those moments yourself, if fact, I’ve seen you have one. When you get into that type of thinking that has you start questioning things you didn’t when you were a foal, but since you don’t have the experience to get a firm answer and you’re old enough to know you don’t have the experience, you’re constantly questioning all of the answers to life’s questions that you yourself come up with. Like with Shiny and how he’s going on about how he may not want to join the guard these days.”

“Actually, Shining Armor’s training with me and Cadance to get in shape so he can join the guard,” Sunset told her. “Which...is probably going to be a lot easier for him now.”

“See? Questioned things, looked deeper, found an answer that he’s going towards ever stronger than before. Now,” Twilight Velvet said before she spun around back towards the bath and looked up at the numerous shampoos in her collection. “We probably don’t have the choice you’re accustomed to, but we have lilac, kiwi, lavender and there’s a bit left in the rose shampoo. I really do need to get a new bottle of that this weekend.”

Sunset looked down at the ground. “Anything is good, Mrs Velvet. I’m used to, um...anything is good.”

The odd answer was so far away from Velvet’s preconceptions about the mare that she cocked her head to the side and for a moment, forgot that she was speaking with royalty. “Really? I would think that after living in a palace, you’d have some fancy tastes,” she said before putting the rose aside and deciding to go with the lavender. “Then again, Shining Armor does say you’re very down to earth more often than not.”

“I...learned to live without a lot of things,” Sunset said as Velvet guided her into the bath.

When the bigger mare winced halfway down into the water, Velvet looked to the temperature controls. “Too hot?”

Sunset shook her head. “No. It’s good,” she said in the same empty tone that she had been using all morning.

“Now, what were we talking about before I got distracted?” she asked rhetorically before putting the answer out herself. “Oh right, Shiny and how good you’ve been for him despite all this teenage drama you’ve all got going on. Which is completely reasonable considering how old you all are.”

“Actually, Mrs Velvet, I’m more closer to twenty or twenty-one than Shiny’s...age,” Sunset said before she looked over to the mare with a fearful look in her eyes.

Twilight Velvet stood motionless for a moment as she absorbed that new bit of information while cross referencing it with everything she knew about the old filly, which was quite a lot. While the newest member of the royal household treated the press like the children of Nightmare Moon, ponies from Sunset’s old school had been more than willing to give magazines and newspapers information on Sunset Shimmer. Her friends in the writing sector had even told Velvet that there was a trio of biographies coming out detailing the amber alicorn’s life up until this point. All of which she had read, save for the unpublished books, of course. While a lot of it stunk of jealousy and bias, describing the lovely young mare in front of her as some petty and stuck-up little filly, those sources all agreed that her age was a fresh eighteen. “Um...how exactly-”

There was a knock on the door. “Honey, there’s somepony here who-”

Velvet didn’t let her husband finish. She spun on the door and glared at it. The fact that her husband was trying to interrupt her when all the signs Velvet saw told her the poor filly in front of her was screaming for help didn’t sit well with the gray mare. “I’m busy right now!”

“Um, sweetie, I really think you should come out and speak with-”

“I don’t care if you’ve got Princess Celestia Herself out there!” Velvet yelled through the door. “Tell whomever it is to plop their plump plot down and take a number!”

When muffled voices began speaking on the other side of the door, Twilight Velvet looked trotted back to the bath and gathered the alicorn’s mane up in her magic before doing the same with some of the water and moving the two of them to occupy the same space. “Now, you were saying something about being two years older than all the newspapers and magazines claim your actual age to be,” Twilight Velvet surmised. “Not that I’m doubting you, of course, but how did something like that come about?”

Sunset stared at the older mare for several seconds before speaking. “Shouldn’t you um, go...see what’s going on?”

“My dear, unless my daughter stumbles down the stairs and injures herself, you are the most important thing to me in this household right now,” Velvet told the big filly before something occurred to her. “Although, if it does turn out to be my supervisor wanting me to come in today to clean the telescope lens even though I’ve told him seventy-three times now that is a job best suited for pegasi, I would very much appreciate it if you would have a word with my supervisor’s boss to make sure that I am not fired.”

“...oh...kay?” Sunset replied.

Velvet let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. “That’s good, now. What’s all this about you being two years older than what everypony thinks?”

After gulping loudly, Sunset looked back to the front of the bathtub. “Well, you see...more than two years ago my time, but only about a month to the rest of Equestria, I...I ran away through a magical mirror because I thought it would make me more powerful,” Sunset said. “I was transported to another world that was very different than this one. Once there, I stole from the inhabitants and hurt them in too many ways to count for about two and a half years before somepony stopped me and I came back here.”

Twilight Velvet studied the young mare as Sunset sunk deeper into the water and looked away from her completely. Although a dozen different questions ran through her mind, she focused on one of the questions put forth in the scientific journal she read in regards to Sunset’s ascension and lack of any warning. “I take it this other world is where you became an alicorn?”

“Well...um...:” Sunset lifted one of her wings and looked at it before putting it back in the water. “...yeah.”

Guess that answers that, she told herself while taking in a deep breath. The news had wondered how Sunset’s change had come out of the blue like it did when Cadance’s arrival in Canterlot had been to a parade and her coronation was within two days of that. Sunset’s had taken weeks to prepare.

Velvet closed her eyes and steadied herself. She needed to keep herself hard for the next few moments and experience said Twilight Velvet was anything but that around alicorns. But the filly in front of her wasn’t just an alicorn. Sunset was somepony very precious to Shiny that was obviously in a great deal of pain. “Tell me something, Princess Sunset. Do you always try to sabotage yourself like this?”

The amber alicorn looked over to Velvet. “Huh?”

“Well, it’s just that after your first little incident in my home and this, it’s obvious that you are a mare in need of somepony to help you with your burdens,” Twilight Velvet told her. “But the moment that I even begin to get into a position to offer even the slightest comfort, you do your best to make me change my mind.”

Sunset frowned at her. “Are you even listening to me?”

Velvet nodded at the question. “Both then and now. I also listened to my son when he said you were complicated and a little like Twilight in more ways than one before refusing to go into details. But after seeing this hearing his ‘just a little nervous about princess stuff’ explanation...I’m thinking that you’ve got some seriously troublesome mismatched perceptions to reality problems going on behind that big horn of yours.”

“...huh?” Sunset said as her frown went back to her lost expression.

“It’s a term I came up with while dealing with Twilight. Basically, it describes an event where a pony holds two very contradictory beliefs about themselves and the world in general,” Velvet explained. There was much more to it, but they didn’t really have the time to go into it in detail. “Like you are right now. You think that you’re going to do something bad because of mistakes in the past you must have had in that other world.” Otherwise Velvet was certain she would have known about it. While one pony from Celestia’s school had Sunset a jerk in an interview, guilt over a little thing like bad relationships would hardly cause what Velvet was seeing in front of her. “When you’ve been nothing but the perfect pony to my family and all of your friends.”

“Yeah, but before I came back to Equestria-”

Velvet held up a hoof and swatted the words away with a wave of her leg. “Doesn’t matter.”

The stunned silence coming from Sunset lasted several seconds before she frowned. “Of course it matters!” she shouted as she raised a foreleg out of the tub and...stopped before slowly lowering it to rest her fetlock on the edge. “See, I almost lost control and...um, smashed your...bathtub.”

Velvet took in a deep breath to keep herself calm. “And now you’re focusing on the fact that you wanted to do something bad for a brief second rather than the fact that you didn’t. Something you’re still not doing. Just like just like how despite you did bad things before, you’re not doing them now. But here you are, thinking you’ll do bad things again, even though...I take it you don’t want to repeat that behavior?”

“No. I don’t,” she said.

“Then it’s not important,” Velvet told her before noticing the mare’s hooves. While clean, the edges had a definite scruffiness about them. She went in for a closer look and saw they were in serious need of some upkeep. Velvet looked up at Sunset’s face. “Have you been taking care of yourself, dear?”

Sunset’s expression became one of confusion. “Yeah, I’m...oh!” she said as something dawned on her. “My hooves. Yeah...um…the other world turned me into this other species and ah...I didn’t have hooves. Honestly, I still forget I have a tail from time to time.”

Practice at being a parent let Velvet keep a straight face as she digested the information. “Well, that’s no excuse for doing it now,” she said before looking back up at Sunset’s made that was being held in the bubble of water. “Let’s finish that up first and then I’ll do your hooves.”

After Sunset agreed and put her hoof back in the bath, Velvet grabbed a hard bristle brush and scrubbed the young mare’s head before using her magic to collect most of the shampoo particles and pull them along with the water away from the alicorn. She dumped the dirty water in the sink, then opened the cabinet underneath to pull out her hoof cleaning kit.

The practiced routine kept Velvet’s mind from thinking too much about the other pony in the room, or from thinking too emotionally about her at any rate. From what Velvet could see, Sunset was the adult example of a pony with Twilight’s problems. She knew what she had to do. Keep her calm and remind her of the way things are.

A second look at Sunset and her wet mane made Velvet grab a few brushes and combs. “Alright dear. Let’s get you out and cleaned up.”

Sunset gulped. “Um, that’s okay. I ah...I’m-”

“Dear. You said yourself that you’ve spent so long as something else that you still forget you have a tail,” Velvet told her. “Are you honestly telling me that you know every little thing about grooming yourself for big events like this?”

The blush Sunset had turned her coat the other color of her mane. “Cadance helps me,” she said before pulling the stopper on the drain and stepping out to sit on a towel that Velvet laid out on the floor.

With Sunset’s extra height, she was on eye level with Velvet even when on her rump. Although, the use of magic made height differences matter little when it came to unicorn groomers. “Is there any special way you want me to fix it up for you?” she asked. “Or at least, start it for the ponies you have waiting at the palace?”

“In all honesty Mrs Velvet, I’ll take whatever you can give me over what any professional pony could do,” Sunset told her with a small smile.

Twilight Velvet blinked at the mare’s words before she picked out the combs and got to work. She had seen Sunset’s mane enough times to comb it out the proper way. As she moved them through the hair to work out the tangles, the unicorn took in a breath and forged ahead on the more important task. “Sunset, do you mind if I ask you a question? The type of question you may be uncomfortable answering, I mean.”

After a few seconds of tense muscles, Sunset nodded. “Okay.”

“You’ve had a nightmare. One Cadance said you’ve had before,” Velvet said. “One I take it is about you becoming a princess?”

It took some time for Sunset to answer with a nod and a few more seconds to speak. “Yes,” she said. “It’s not the same exact one every time. But they’ve all got their commonalities. Like how it’ll be terrible for Equestria if I’m in charge.”

“How will you be a disaster for Equestria?” Velvet asked. “Give me specifics.”

“Because I...um...well…”

Velvet finished with the mare’s mane and moved to start working on Sunset’s tail, motioning for her to stand up. “Something wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing it’s just...I was just thinking back to my dream and...it’s stupid,” she whined.

Velvet craned her head around the amber alicorn’s rear to look at her face. “That’s not very specific.”

Sunset groaned and looked back at Velvet. “Look, I know everything in my dream was overblown, okay? Getting worked up about it like I did was...stupid. Now that I’ve had some time to calm down, I get that.”

“Not stupid, just too reactionary,” Velvet told her firmly. She wasn’t about to let Sunset start beating herself up again. “Your nightmare was a symptom of your fears, not the cause of them. When you get confused about that it’s like chasing your tail. You don’t go anywhere and spend all your time coughing on your own dust as things just get worse and worse.”

While Sunset mulled that over, Velvet took a stuff brush and water scraper to start working on removing the excess moisture from Sunset’s body after a stiff brush to her coat loosened up any clinging dirt particles. Magic was also an option, but that was rather fast and Velvet knew that she needed to take as much time as possible. Plus, the process was very much like getting a massage, and Sunset needed all the help relaxing that she could get.

But that time wouldn’t be spent relaxing from a water scraping. “So, why is it that you’re having nightmares about being a princess?” Velvet asked.

Thankfully, Sunset didn’t tense up from the question. She just smirked and let out a snort as Velvet moved to take care of her front end. “It’s a pretty long list.”

“And now you’re smiling about it, or close enough anyway. That’s a good sign,” Velvet told her. “But, not an answer to my question.”

When Velvet locked her eyes on Sunset and didn’t falter, the amber alicorn sighed in defeat. “Okay, if you really want me to get all introspective about it, I don’t think I’d make a good princess because I’m too reactionary. The very first thing I did while ruling Equestria’s had some major...problems.”

“Then learn to slow down and think things through,” Velvet told her with a shrug, it’s not that hard. “What the next reason on this big long list of yours?”

Sunset let out an annoyed sigh. “Ugh, you sound like my mom and Cadance,” she grumbled. “Just coming up with solutions like it’s no big deal.”

“Thank you,” Velvet replied with a bright smile before she used her magic to fetch her hoof grooming kit and the stool for Sunset to rest said appendages on. “Now, let’s get a new towel under you so your barrel doesn’t get wet again.”

After Sunset did as she was told, Velvet worked to clip away the outer edge of her hoof. It took a lot more effort than she thought it would. “For your information young lady, I’m well aware that coming up with solutions is a lot easier than following through with them. Especially when you’re not the one doing the work.”

“Cadance says the same thing...sort of,” Sunset told her with a tiny smile.

Velvet smirked. “Well, it’s nice to know that you’re following her advice.”

Once she had clipped away the edge of Sunset’s hoof, Velvet got to work with a file to even out and smooth the edges. As she did, Sunset looked down at her. “What do you mean, following her advice?”

“Sunset, the night of that little school dance, both you and Princess Cadance came to pick Shining Armor up for the same reason. When both of you found out the other one was supposed to be the one taking him out, you didn’t throw a fit or do anything beyond trying to make sure he went out with Cadance, probably because of the self-esteem issues you’re suffering through at the moment. Not long after that, Cadance is being interviewed by a magazine because the three of you are doing something that nopony before you ever has.”

The princess gulped. “Mrs Velvet-”

She didn’t let the young mare finish. “When faced with an impossible decision, you invented a completely new solution. And that’s why you’re going to go out there today, put on a crown, and be a princess. Not because of anything I said, but it's because that's what you do.”

Sunset blinked. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

“You’re an alicorn,” Velvet told her before she motioned for the other hoof and began working on it. “According to everything history has ever said on the subject, that makes you a princess. Just like how history said that only two ponies could be in a close relationship together. If you didn’t want to be a princess, you wouldn’t be here.”

Sunset was silent as Velvet went to take care of her rear hooves. She remained that way, thinking to herself as the gray unicorn took care of her right one. Then the left. When she was done, Velvet moved back to the front and dug around for her hoof lacquer.

“What a hard thing it is, to hold onto one’s resolve in the face of adversity,” Sunset muttered.

The gray mare looked up at the big pony. “Pardon?”

Sunset looked down at her with a little smile before Velvet went back to work. “The night of the Fall Formal, I was going to run away from Equestria. From everything, really. Shining Armor, Cadance and my mom stopped me from making that mistake. When I made that decision, even if it was to keep them from being hurt, I accepted what came with staying in Equestria. I accepted that I would have to take up the position of Princess of Equestria.”

“You make it sound as if this is a burden,” Velvet said as she finished Sunset’s front hooves and moved to her rear ones. “That’s not exactly a good mindset to have when it comes to your career choice. Has being a princess been nothing but trying for you?”

After lifting one of her rear hooves, Sunset looked back to the mare. “No, there’s been some good points. I introduced Twily to her new friends. Pretty much led Cadance through getting rid of that corrupt principal, saved Shiny, met Shiny, helped Star get a job and continue her education, straightened out those three foals at the fair, not to mention I’m finally able to put this huge asshole that works at the palace in his place,” she said with a smile before giggling. “Boy, do I enjoy doing that.”

Velvet finished with the one hoof and moved on to the last. “So, from what I gather, you’ve had two bad experiences as a princess and...how many good? Ten? Fifteen?” she asked before finishing up and trotting back around to Sunset’s front side. “An even twenty?”

“It’s...not a good idea for somepony to keep a score of their good works,” Sunset told her. The way she said it sounded as if she was quoting somepony else. Speaking thoughts that weren’t truly her own, but ones she still tried to follow.

The scowl that Twilight Velvet gave Sunset made the other pony take a step back. “It is for ponies like you!” she snapped before taking a moment to calm down and take a breath. Honestly, how could a pony that was obviously so intelligent also be so stupid? “You’ve done so many good works as a princess, but all you seem to care about is the two missteps? Now, I’m not saying to completely focus on the positive and simply eliminate the negative. I’m not even saying that you shouldn’t examine the negative and figure out where you went wrong. But to only focus on the negative to the point where you believe that all of your outcomes will be equally bad is by far the worst philosophy you can have when it comes to anything!”

Sunset blinked a few times when Velvet finished before looking down at the floor with a sad smile. “Is that really how my thought process works?”

“You’re the only one that can say that for sure, Princess Sunset,” Velvet told her.

“I…” Sunset stopped and frowned. “To be honest, I don’t really like the thought of me thinking like that. But, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to completely change my ways of thinking...or the second, really. Third?” The amber alicorn’s frown deepened. “Geeze! How many times have I had to completely rebuild the way I think about things from the ground up?!”

For some reason, Twilight Velvet couldn’t stop herself from giggling at the amber alicorn’s angry outburst. “Well then. That experience should help you immensely, Your Majesty.”

Princess Sunset looked back to the gray mare. “Although, um...I don’t suppose,” she said as hesitantly as possible while a blush slowly crept up her cheeks. “If I needed to, um...talk to you about this stuff again…”

“It would be my pleasure,” Velvet said as she went into a tiny bow. “Your Majesty.”

The sudden change in address is probably what got Princess Sunset to press her lips together in a thin line. “By the way, mind if I ask you a question?”

With the final leg of her little idea not yet come to fruition, Velvet quickly grabbed at the only chance to save it. “If you’ll answer one of my own, first.”

“Shoot.”

Twilight Velvet forced her voice to stay absolutely neutral as she spoke. “Do you want to be a princess?”

After the question was asked, the amber alicorn stood silently for a moment, the sat down on the smooth floor and frowned in thought. Sunset was silent for one...two...three whole minutes before she looked back up to Velvet with a small smile. “You know if anypony had asked that before yesterday, I probably would have just told them yes out of some sense of obligation while screaming no as loud as I could inside my head. But now, I really think I do,” she said before giving a small laugh. “Okay, I’ll still probably do my best to shove all the big decisions and bureaucratic work on Mom and Cadance until I’m ready for that kind of stuff, but when I really think about it...I love being a princess. I love helping ponies and having the authority to throw my weight around when I need to solve real problems instead of just being some kid with good intentions and no power. So...yeah, I do want to be a princess.”

Velvet smiled at her. "Well, that’s good to hear.”

“So, my turn now?” Princess Sunset asked, to which Velvet gave her quick consent. “Where’d you learn to do...this?”

The question got a giggle from Velvet. “You’ve met my daughter, right?” she asked before getting a knowing smirk from Princess Sunset. “I’ve read dozens of books on parenting, but none of them came close to helping me with Twilight. To be honest, there isn’t a single source for everything. We’ve talked to medical doctors and they gave us some suggestions about how to deal with her episodes when there isn’t a potion nearby. Other parents, teachers that had had to deal with problem foals. Using what they’ve told me, I’ve come up with a few contingency plans should Twilight ever need a good talk with her mom.”

“Are you telling me that you gave me a speech you had prepared to give a six year old?” Princess Sunset deadpanned.

Velvet laughed a little at little at Sunset’s demeanor to avoid thinking about how she had upset the royal. “Oh no, Princess. I gave you a lecture that I have tucked away for when Twilight has a freakout at the age of seventeen to thirty five,” she explained before standing up proudly. “I’ve prepared over a hundred different scenarios for helping my daughter work through her troubles, all of which I’ve practiced dozens of times!”

“So...cookie cutter psychotherapy...got it,” Sunset mumbled.

Psycho-what? Velvet asked herself as she tried to deduce what the princess had said while she followed the royal out the door. After Princess Sunset made her way into Velvet’s bedroom, she looked to her right and pulled her head back in surprise before calming down to speak. “Yeah. Should have guessed you’d be showing up.”

“Hmmm?” Velvet asked before following the younger mare out through the door and...freezing when she looked over to see the big white alicorn sitting in the corner of the room. “P-Pr-Prin-Princess Celestia!”

The highest ruler of Equestria and pony who controlled the sun and moon, which all other life on the planet relied on, smiled back at the mare whose nervousness was quickly skyrocketing as she tried to determine just when the most important pony ever had graced Velvet’s house with her presence. “Ah, Twilight Velvet,” she said with a smile that seemed a tiny bit fiendish. “I plopped my plot-does it really look that plump?-on the ground as you instructed, but I’m afraid I don’t see any numbers to take.”

Twilight Velvet’s mouth dropped to scream in absolute terror as she realized the only reason Princess Celestia Herself would say such a thing. Only, no words came out due to her paralyzing fright.

“Mom, be nice,” Princess Sunset said as if she was addressing a pony below her standing. “And what’re you doing here?”

Celestia sighed almost disappointingly before addressing her daughter. “Your absence at the palace has caused a bit of a disturbance, Sunset. We couldn’t even finish the song we were singing. Such a lovely melody,” she said before Sunset snorted. “Yes, well...I already sent Shining Armor and his father ahead with Twily. Cadance is downstairs waiting for you. Now, I need to have a conversation Twilight Velvet in private.”

Oh no. No no no no nonononononononono! Velvet begged Sunset with her eyes as the amber alicorn looked back and forth between the two ponies. Protect me Princess Sunset!

“Okay,” she agreed hesitantly before fixing Celestia with a stare. “Be. Nice.”

As Princess Sunset turned and left, Twilight Velvet reached towards the amber alicorn in hopeless desperation in an attempt to make her stop leaving by sheer force of will. When Sunset closed the door behind her, Velvet’s last little hoped died. WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?

After the amber alicorn was gone, she looked behind herself to the white pony sitting on the carpet behind her. Well, I might as well get this over with. Twilight Velvet gulped. “So, um...w-what do you wish to speak to me about, Your Highness?”

“How did you do that?” Princess Celestia asked.

Twilight Velvet looked around the room to see what the white pony was referring to. “D-Do what? Highness?”

“When I came here looking for Sunset, Cadance met me downstairs. From from she told me I fully expected to have to drag Sunset back to the palace. And getting her to go through with the coronation...” Princess Celestia said before pausing and taking a deep breath. “Well, that probably wouldn’t have happened anytime soon.”

A few seconds later, Twilight Velvet managed to speak. “I just did what I would have done with Twilight in that situation,” she said before smiling and seeing a way to hopefully placate some of the anger Celestia must have been concealing for being treated so poorly. “I’m sure you would have done a much better job with your own filly than I did.”

Princess Celestia’s wings dropped like they were made of stone and she looked down at the ground. “Actually, I’ve been learning as of late that I am an absolutely horrible parent.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Velvet told her.

When Princess Celestia looked back up at her, Twilight Velvet was shocked at how downtrodden the ancient mare looked. Her eyes dropped with a sadness that the mother could tell ran very deep. “Mrs Velvet, please don’t lie to me. I get enough of it from the nobles trying to kiss my plot. You’ve seen my daughter, she’s a mess. And I’m the one to blame.”

Velvet found herself in a position she hadn’t been expecting. From the looks of things, Princess Celestia didn’t want to punish her for actions that most other ponies would have considered treasonous disrespect. “Well, I’ll admit that this morning was a bit...problematic, but I wouldn’t say that young mare is anything to feel sad about. Unless, um...d-did she really spend two years in another reality where she was transformed into a completely different species?” Not that she wanted Princess Celestia to think that Velvet believed her daughter was crazy or anything…

“Yes, it wasn’t a mystic vision or pocket dimension,” Princess Celestia replied. “A physical I had her undergo shortly after Sunset returned gave her newfound age and other physical evidence she didn’t even know about backs up her claims. By the way, such knowledge is a state secret that you’ll be keeping to yourself.”

The order made Twilight Velvet gulp. “Understood, Your Highness,” she said before quickly moving back to a happier subject. “But if that is true, then I think you did an excellent job raising that young mare, Highness.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“Because she’s a strong, independent mare with a good mind behind those eyes of hers,” Velvet explained. “She had a little hiccup today, but…” A thought occurred to Velvet, making her pause and frown in thought. “Actually, that is a little strange.”

“Pardon?”

The lack of malice in the alicorn’s voice let Velvet continue on. “Well it’s just...forgive me if I sound too familiar, but I know your daughter, Princess. She is a very resolute individual and hearing that a nightmare of all things turned a pony that has survived on her own in a completely foreign environment for two years into such a mess that she needed a in a worst case scenario that I had made for my own daughter is a little...strange.”

Princess Celestia’s gaze became hard as she looked down at Twilight Velvet, telling the unicorn that she had messed up. Nopony talks about an alicorn strange and she had just do so to Sunset in front of her mother. “Well...Sunset’s undergone some…” She stopped and looked away from for a moment.

When she turned her head back to the mare, Celestia was wearing a smile again. “Thank you for showing kindness to my daughter today,” she said with a slight bow of her head. “I will not soon forget it, or any others that I know will one day follow.”

Sunset trotted through the little hallway and down the stairs to find Cadance waiting for her on the couch. As soon as she saw the pink pony, an immense amount of guilt set in from her actions. Horrible as it was to even think about, Sunset had lost count of how many times she had put something on Cadance’s plate first thing in the morning. Sunset’s movements became hesitant the closer she got until she eventually stopped altogether and just cleared her throat to get Cadance’s attention.

When the pink princess looked her way, Sunset licked her lips nervously. “Um...hey.”

“Sunset!” Cadance said happily before she hopped off of the large seat and trotted around to get close to the amber alicorn. “You look nice. Well, except for your wings, but I can help you with those when we get back to the palace. Did you get your hooves done?” She got on her belly to look at them closely.

It was times like that which made Sunset wonder if Cadance was actually a fiendish genius who only played at being a pony of average intelligence with moments of pure stupidity. Crouched beneath Sunset as she was meant that the amber alicorn couldn’t casually avoid eye contact with her usual maneuver of looking at the ground. In fact, when Sunset looked down on pure instinct, Cadance looked back up at her with a happy smile. “Yes, Sunset?”

“Um…” she gulped and stepped back. “I’m sorry for...this morning.”

Cadance’s face became serious as she stood up, making Sunset follow her with her eyes. “Okay, guess we should have a little talk if this is going to keep happening,” she said before going back to the couch and sitting down on her plot and rear hooves, leaving a space for Sunset that she patted with a hoof.

When Sunset joined he on the sofa, Cadance reached over and locked her fetlock with the bigger pony’s before putting her hoof on top of Sunset’s. “Look, when we were just sharing a bed because I was going out of my mind with fear, you had every right to feel guilty over waking me up in the middle of the night with your whining and making me worry that you were going to wet the bed or something.”

“Seriously, Cadance?” Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow. “You thought I was going to pee on you?”

Cadance gave Sunset a half-lidded stare. “Hey, I’m giving the talk, you’re giving the attention,” she said before taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh. “But now, we’re in a relationship. Even if you exterminate the entire changeling race today and ensure that I can go back to my old bed, I’m not going anywhere. I made a choice and went into this relationship knowing full well that you could worry the buck out of me every single night that we’re together with one nightmare after the next. Fact that you’ve gone nearly two weeks without any real problems aside, you have no right to feel guilty about this, understand? I knew all of this going in.”

With Cadance being so...her, Sunset felt a little embarrassed about her feelings towards the subject. “Um...okay?”

Wet lips touched the end of her muzzles and Sunset twitched her nose to keep from sneezing. “But don’t you dare start taking it for granted either,” Cadance told her before the smile on her face became more of a frown. “Seriously, don’t you dare start taking me for granted. I have my limits.”

Sunset gave her girlfriend a nervous smile and backed away off the couch. “Got it!” she agreed.

“So, you feeling good about finally becoming an official member of the royal family?” Cadance asked.

The question made Sunset turn her smile from one of nervousness to joy. When it came down to it, that was what she was really excited about. Official adoption by Celestia. For that, she would trade her wings, her title and everything else. “Oh yeah,” she said. “But, I’m gonna like being made a princess too.”

Cadance trotted over and kissed Sunset on the lips with a quick peck before maneuvering around to her side. “Well that’s good,” she told Sunset as music started wafting in from nowhere and the amber alicorn felt the air around her change slightly as Cadance started to move in synch with the music.

Cause there’s a party here in Canterlot
There’s excitement in the air
And everypony’s gonna gather round
To see you put on that crown

“We’re doing a song, now?” she asked as Cadance opened the door to lead her out of the house and locked the door behind them. “Well, I suppose if it’s not the kinky type, I’m good with it.” She had been singing those the past week after all.

Cadance shot her a smile. “No promises,” the pink princess told Sunset before beginning another series of verses.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And everypony will be there.
So we need to get those feathers fixed.
And do something with your hair

“Wait a second,” Sunset mumbled as she saw streamers, confetti and balloons going everywhere in the air over the rooftops blocks away. Along with those things, notes of music were carried on the wind that were in perfect synch despite coming from everywhere at once instead of being localized around a single pony. “Cadance, is the entire city-”

Sunset was cut off when every pony in the neighborhood suddenly opened their windows or doors to pop their heads out.

Sunset’s getting crowned
And it's gonna be
the celebration of
The century

“Singing?” Sunset asked as she became completely dumbfounded. “The entire city is singing in Harmony?” She had ever heard of anything like that before. Nothing even came close!

Cadance giggled and leaned in close to Sunset. “Well of course they are,” she she said before her body began to move in synch with the rhythm.

‘Cause you’re getting crowned
and you’re gonna see
Just how we love you

Once she had fought off the blush from the kiss, Sunset put a wing on Cadance’s ass and forced her to pick up her pace. “Cadance, do you have any idea just how impossible an entire city singing in Harmony about one event revolving around a single pony is?” Sunset asked. “We only do stuff like this when we have something to sing about. Is everypony just stuck in the chorus, or do they actually have something to say?”

Coming back from breakfast, the orange earth pony stuck close to her Ma. Although they had asked for something to eat for breakfast, the palace maid told them that while plenty of food was being prepared, the number of ponies to bring it to them weren’t available thanks to just how many other guests the palace had today. So, Applejack had to trot through the mess everypony was making with her Ma to grab some eats before heading back into the set of rooms she and those other girls had been given.

It was a mite...noisier than she woulda liked.

Sunset’s getting crowned and it’s gonna be
The celebration of the century
Nobles gathered round are gonna see
Just how much I can do.

Applejack trotted out of the hallway with the big hoopla going on. That snooty cook she had seen making lunch for them all the day before was trotting around with a bunch of his staff and all their fancy fixin’s. She had a few songs sung to her by her Ma and Pa over the years, but none of them were such a hullabalu as the one she had seen as the one that started up on her way back from breakfast.

“Buttons and bobkins Applejack, where have you been?” that overly tall unicorn friend of the princesses said as soon as AJ came into the common room of their set of quarters. “We need to get you ready for the coronation.”

Buttercup smiled at the taller mare. “Pardon us bein so late to get back, M’Lady,” she said with a bow of her head. “We got a bit turned around out in the hallway. This place is just so much bigger than we’re used to.”

The big important mare, which she was considering just how much she did with three princesses giggled and waved Buttercup’s worries away with a hoof. “Oh, I’m not a noble,” Sassy Saddles told them. “I go to school like everypony else.”

“Are you saying the important ponies in Canterlot don’t have to go to school?” Rainbow Dash asked as she zipped out of whatever corner she was hiding in. “How do I get to be a noble? Can Princess Cadance make me a noble?”

A pony just as tall as Sassy, but with a coat of pure white and mane so pink that Applejack was afraid that Tia had come back as a teenager until she saw the three symbol cutie mark on her rear trotted up and giggled. Still, she was just as beautiful as Applejack thought a teenage Celestia would be. “No, Dashie. The nobles of Canterlot that don’t decide to enroll in Celestia’s school get private tutors,” she said in a melodious voice that sang in Applejack’s ears. “So it would just be you all alone in a small room with the teacher, who could give you all her attention. Which means, no goofing off, no sleeping, no-”

Rainbow let out a scream of terror. “AHHH! I take it back! I take it back!” she said before quickly dashing away to her parents’ room.

“Fleur de Lis,” the unicorn said to AJ’s mom. Once she had gotten a polite nod, she moved past the mare to get down on her belly. However, she was still a good head taller than the earth pony filly. “And you must be Applejack! It’s nice to finally meet you.”

With the magnificently white unicorn filling up her field of vision, Applejack couldn’t think of much to say. “Y-Yer purdy.” As soon as she said it, Applejack knew she made a mistake. You didn’t just tell ponies you just met that!

“Awww, thank you!” Fleur explained before she got back on her hooves and looked around. “Now, Sassy said you all picked out your dresses for the event yesterday?”

Applejack blinked in confusion. “Picked out, wait you mean that dress up game Rarity made us all play after lunch?” she asked with a worried look on her face. Her and that bigger Rarity that had a mane like Rainbow’s had gotten Applejack into a thing that was nothing but pink poof and frills!

Fleur raised an eyebrow and looked over to Sassy. “Game?”

“I thought it better than telling them we were deciding what they would be wearing to the coronation,” she said before pulling over a rack of clothes from the corner of the room where Applejack had missed it. “Now, where was yours?”

Applejack looked back at her mother. “Do Ah have to, Ma?”

“This is Canterlot, sweetie,” she told the little filly. “Ah can’t wait to see what kind of beautiful outfit that you picked out for me to see.”

Sassy came closer, holding a mess of clothing in her magic. “Well, I did have to make a few changes,” she said before the music that was playing outside crept in and the big unicorn smiled at Applejack before a tornado of clothing that was worse than any storm Applejack had ever experienced came flying at her, completely blocking out the young mare’s field of vision. “After all...

You mustn't wear an outfit that’s shoddy
And going nude, it just won’t do.
No jewelry that’s tasteless or gaudy
Don’t worry you’ll look gorgeous when I get through

If anything, Sunset found the palace was even more hectic than the city that had tripled in population thanks to all of the ponies coming in for the festivities. Servants were running everywhere, setting up freshly picked flowers for the decorations and carrying food to rooms or empty plates from them for the out of town nobility that rated a room at the place.

Despite their status as alicorns, even Sunset and Cadance found themselves nearly trampled a time or two. Once they got to a hallway that looked relatively safe from traffic, Cadance looked over to her fillyfriend. “So, you want to take care of your wings first, or jazz up your mane?”

“Honestly?” Sunset asked before spotting a familiar light gray mare with a black mane that looked like she was about to have a meltdown as she stared at the scroll in front of her. “I think I wanna find my mom, first. Hey Raven!”

There’s a party here in Canterlot
But preperations aren’t quite done
Celestia’s not finished her duties yet
HAS ANYPONY SEEN THE MARE THAT RAISES THE SUN?

Despite how wrong it was to laugh at another pony’s panic, Sunset giggled as Celestia’s personal aide looked around frantically before she decided to proverbially swoop in and save her. “Hey, relax Raven. I saw Mom earlier when I was at Shining Armor’s house.”

The shorter unicorn looked over to Sunset. “You mean your paramour’s place-wait!” the distraught pony exclaimed. “Y-You mean, she’s no longer in the palace?!”

Sunset winced as Raven shrieked in her ear. “Y-Yeah.”

Using her magic, Raven rolled the long list of things to do makeshift megaphone before turning to face down the hallway to Sunset’s left. “Attention everypony! The pigeon has flown the coop! Code red! Code red!” she said as she trotted away at a brisk pace. “I repeat! THE PIGEON HAS FLOWN THE COOP! SCRAMBLE AERIAL RETRIEVAL TEAMS!”

“Should I be worried that there’s a code phrase for Celestia running away from the palace?” Cadance asked nervously.

Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. “Pfft! This is nothing. Last two times I went with Mom to the Summer Sun Celebration, she got drunk off her ass and spent most of the night either hugging me, crying, or shouting at the moon of all things.”

“R-Really?” Cadance stuttered. “Well...um, since your mother isn’t here. Let’s go get those wings touched up.”

The comment made Sunset look down at her still-new appendages. “Do they really look that bad?”

Cadance gave Sunset an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but…”

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And all eyes will be on you-

“Okay! Okay! I get it,” Sunset told Cadance before she could continue. “We’ll go get my feathers done and put on makeup. You don’t need to chew me out in song that the whole bucking city is in on. Sheesh!”

She began to trot away quickly, but Cadance quickly caught up. “Little mad you haven’t gotten your part yet?”

“...yes,” Sunset grumbled. “Yes I am. I actually learned to carry a tune and play an instrument when I was a human. They don’t get mystical trace paths for dance numbers and background music just pop out of thin air you know!”

Sunset's getting crowned
And it’s gonna be-

Lady Crooked Line turned away from her balcony and went back inside before that horrid song could continue to damage her ears. Eve since that fake Princess Cadance had appeared, Princess Celestia had been becoming more and more foolish. Now that Sunset Shimmer was also revealed to be of her blood, it made the whole Line family want to puke.

The lesser alicorns were supposed to be the best ponykind had to offer. Unicorns that had been plucked from the cream of Canterlot crop. After all, whom else would the offspring of Celestia had lain with, if not the most prominent families in Equestria? The fact that harlot Cadance had been a sky farmer before Celestia’s blood came into bloom meant that too many of Line’s ancestors had been sleeping with the help!

She looked over to her husband. Blue Line was a thin unicorn stallion that had the same darkened color as his namesake with a black mane. Like his son, the old stallion had served as the captain of the guard, with his father holding the position before him. He looked up from his paper and set aside his coffee. “Is there something wrong?”

Crooked Line took in a breath and felt a need overcome her that she hadn’t experienced in years.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
But I’m not sure that we’ll go
While the hostess is the shining sun
The guest of honor is rather low

Blue Line took another sip of his drink and stood up. “Well, the colt has been telling us it would be best not to attend. Not that it will stop us, of course. Stupid brat thinks just because I decided to give him my position, it means he has any say in how this House functions.”

“Still calling him that, Blue?” she asked with a frown.

The stallion snorted. “I’ll call him that ‘till he proves himself otherwise,” Blue Line said. “And we will be going, because he told us not to. I am still head of this family, and I decided to attend. So, we’ll be going. She may be some...pauper that Celestia pulled from the gutter, but as you said, Celestia is hosting the event. Go tell the colt.”

Crooked Line sighed. As the only son of the seventh house of Canterlot, she had thought that marrying the self-important stallion would have been a big trade up. After all, Crooked was the fourth daughter of the twelfth house. Her eldest sister would have been the one to inherit the title when their parents passed away and she doubted that both of her other elder sisters would pass on too.

So, she spent her money on cosmetic treatments to make herself taller, basic illusion enchantments to lighten her coat from gray to white and dyes that turned her mane a light blue much like a part of Celestia’s own. It was enough to attract the attention of a stallion from a higher station, so she considered it a sound investment at the time.

However, Crooked learned just why a prime stud like Blue Line had stayed unclaimed despite the political connections that came along with him rather quickly. The stallion was one of those backwards-thinking ponies that actually thought males should be the ponies calling the shots. Something she supposed came from generations of being in the one profession outside that silly little political body that gave stallions the chance to run for position based on peasantry favoritism. It had been a source of strain on their marriage, especially considering the fact that they had beaten the odds and produced a stallion foal on the first try.

Blue Line had gotten what he had wanted out of their union. As far as he was concerned, they were a pair of ponies that had united for the purpose of continuing his line. In return, Crooked got invited to social parties of a higher tier that allowed her to forge better business ties and make a fair amount of money.

Although, the opulent days looked long past with the advent of Sunset Shimmer. The low-born little filly had already shown that she wasn’t the type of pony to let anypony that crossed her off the hook like Her Highness. There was also the fact that she had taken in some commoner that had gotten herself pregnant and enacted new laws that let ponies that didn’t even wear clothes half the time take their betters for paternity tests.

What was next? Letting commoners take the highborn before a magistrate because a servant needed some correctional action?

It was bad enough that some of the merchants were all but buying their way into high society thanks to that little revolution in industry during her father’s time, but royalty coming from the common stock like Cadance and Sunset was just insulting!

After letting the situation swish around until it left a bad taste in her mouth, Crooked resisted the urge to spit and cleared her throat. “Well, if we’re going, I suppose I should tell Hard the bad news. Hopefully, we’ll have...well, under the circumstances, I’m not sure if I’d prefer a seat to just standing in the crowd.” Even if it would have been an insult to her house.

Crooked trotted out of the living room and into her mansion’s grand entrance, then up the left flight of stairs since that was the wing that Hard lived in, preferring to be as far away from his father as possible. She passed three servants on her way there, ponies whose families had been in service to the house for generations bowed to Crooked as if she was Celestia herself. All of them Canterlot-born unicorns.

She didn’t bother knocking as she entered the living space of her stallion’s quarters. She found it empty, but the question of just where Hard Line was at was answered when she heard the stallions words coming from his bedroom, accompanied by a tune in the air.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And my role will be a surprise
While that brat will be expecting words
I’ll give her a sword in the eyes

Crooked Line gasped at the last part of her son’s song, drawing his attention away from the mirror he was using to examine his dress uniform as she opened the door.

“Mother!” Hard Line exclaimed as his eyes went to the thin blade sitting on his bed.

The mare took a step in the room, hardly believe what she had just heard. To...kill a princess...it was unheard of. And when it was finished, Crooked had little hopes for the future of her offspring.

But…

All of her worries, all of the problems that Sunset Shimmer would cause, all of a sudden, her son had found the perfect solution to them.

However, Crooked Line could see one little problem with his idea: it didn’t go far enough. “You’ll have to get the pink one too,” she told him.

And should Celestia punish him in turn...well, there would be little reason for Blue to hold out on giving her a new foal. One she would make sure was a filly.

Fleur trotted down the halls of Canterlot Palace, freshly garbed in in the black dress she had made for the coronation. Well, the dress Sassy had made using materials provided, but Fleur had given her the instructions on coloration. It seemed a little dark for such a happy occasion, but...Fancy had said he planned to wear a jacket of similar coloration, and since she was his foreleg candy, Fleur needed to dress to match.

The thought of Fancy Pants put the white mare in a bit of melancholy. While certainly not the worst stallion she could have gotten, he was just...nice. The nice son of one of the bottom tier noble houses. So bottom tier that they let in lesser Canterlot ponies who were pretty, magically powerful or wealthy. Not that Fancy’s family needed the money.

What’s wrong with me? Fleur asked herself. A month ago, she had been happy about the arrangement her parents had made with the House of Covers, to which Fancy Pants belonged. They were important ponies in the textile industry and didn’t have any awful rumors floating around like several of the more important houses did. After meeting him and finding out that the young stallion was a perfect gentle colt, Fleur knew that she should have been ecstatic at their engagement.

But when it came time to create the mental image of the colt that was satisfying her over the past week like Princess Cadance had instructed her to when using the rods of relief, it wasn’t Fancy Pants that came to Fleur’s mind. She had tried picturing him, tried like there was no tomorrow. But the closest thing she could manage was just a nondescript white unicorn with a blue mane.

“What’s wrong with me?” she asked herself as she trotted along, deep in thought.

That is until somepony had the audacity to not notice she was coming around a corner and bumped into her. Bumped into her so hard she fell down. “Off!” the bothersome pony said as Fleur worked to get her bearings.

“Oh! Fleur, sorry. I should have watched where I was going,” a familiar voice told her as she felt a big, strong hoof take hers and wait for the pony with the pink mane to recover instead of just yanking her up like so many so-called gentle colts tended to do.

When Fleur pulled on his foreleg a gentle tug helped the young mare to her hooves. “Thank you,” she said before looking to see just who had been so kind and freezing in shock.

The pony certainly looked like Shining Armor. Only, more...like a type of pony that reminded Fleur she had just entered her cool down and there was still a slight chance that if the pony in front of her spun Fleur around with his fit forelegs to lift up her dress and tail to mount her right then and there, pounding her from the back with powerful after thrust after powerful thrust with his strong hind legs until she whinnied like an inexperienced filly.

“Fleur, are you okay?”

Hearing her name again shook Fleur out of her daydream. It also confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that the pony standing in front of her with the fresh mane and coat cut was Shining Armor. A very well developed Shining Armor that made the space between Fleur’s rear cheeks quiver with excitement. “W-What?” she stuttered as her brain tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Shining Armor was not hot. Shining Armor was the nerdy little friend of Princess Sunset that she had taken a liking to because he was a nice colt with a cute smile that didn’t have an overwhelming urge to try and breed every mare he saw. Admittedly, it was something that made Fleur desire him a tiny bit, but not enough to...well, date him in school. Ponies like him, she could wait until she was out of Canterlot Academy to ask him out on a date in the hopes of getting a decent stallion.

However, the Shining Armor she was seeing in front of her with the dress suit slung across his back had the body of the type of colts that played sports and got the cheerleaders to raise their tails. The type of pony she had gone gaga over before her hoof had been promised to Fancy Pants.

“Shining Armor,” Fleur said as her brain continued to try and work through the impossibility in front of her. “You’re...hot.”

A second later, as Shining Armor was blinking at the statement, Fleur’s mind caught up with her mouth and she realized just what she had said. Oh, good one YOU IDIOT, she mentally screamed at herself. She just made a pass at the royal bed stallion. If Sunset Shimmer found out, Fleur’s only hope was finding out that she was also a descendant of Celestia in time to sprout wings before she hit the ground after the big mare tossed her off the edge of Canterlot.

“Really?” Shining Armor said before he looked himself over. “We clipped off a lot of my coat, but I guess I am still a little sweaty.” He took a quick sniff of himself. “Well, I need to shower and get all of the hair that’s still clinging to my coat anyway, so...um...hey, Sunset was looking for you earlier. She’s in the west wing, third story, hallway B, third door on your left.”

Fleur gulped. “I’ll um...go see her now,” she said before turning around and trotting away as fast as she could without galloping.

It took some time, but Fleur managed to find her way thanks to several guards that pointed her in one direction or another. She was rather nervous as she walked up to the room Sunset was using to get dressed. Although she was friends with the alicorn, promising to show up to help out with all those fillies and then not doing it might have put Fleur on the outs with the princess. Not to mention the comment Fleur made to Shining Armor, which she knew Sunset would eventually know about. And as the last pony from their social circle who made Sunset mad was currently rotting in the Canterlot dungeons...the young mare didn’t want to take any chances. But, refusing the invitation and not coming now that her heat had finally abated might have been worse.

Okay Fleur, just trot on in and see how it goes, the young mare told herself. A shaky hoof raised to touch the door and...the unicorn wished that she could have been the one stranded in Manehattan with Princess Sunset and forced to ride the train back a few days before the Fall Formal. Whatever happened on that train let Sassy speak to royalty as if they were just regular ponies.

The unicorn took one last breath to steel herself and opened the door to take the plunge.

“Okay now, just one last...got it!” Cadance exclaimed before she brought her head up and away from Sunset’s wings that sparkled a bit in the light from the same wing decoration that she had worn at the Formal.

Behind the big alicorn, that pregnant unicorn name Star...something was inspecting Sunset’s rear end. “Princess Sunset, are you sure you’re not just imagining it? I can’t see anything wrong with your dress from back here. At least, nothing to suggest it shrunk in the wash.”

Cadance giggled. “Maybe it was that extra slice of cheesecake you had with the girls yesterday.”

“Ugh! Figures you’d play the weight gain card,” Sunset grumbled at Cadance before she noticed the pony in the door. “Fleur!”

The unicorn found herself caught up in the Princess’s magic that moved her forward and into an engulfing hug. Forelegs twice as thick as Fleur’s squeezed her tight and had the pink-maned pony worrying that Sunset was trying to find out of she could pop a pony’s guts out or if squeezing a mare too hard just made her go squish. “I’ve missed you so much!” Sunset told her before hesitating for a moment before placing her cheek on Fleur’s for an affectionate nuzzle.

Then, it was over as suddenly as it began and Fleur found herself back on the ground while Sunset looked her over. “Like the dress too, by the way. Very slimming.”

“Oh, um…” Fleur took a moment to look at Sunset. While the green gown the princess had on looked a great deal like the one she wore to the Fall Formal with its dark green coloration and gold-colored trim. Sequins were sewn into the rear that made it look like Sunset sparkled with every movement she took, while a gold and ruby decoration that matched her cutie mark adorned her body just below the alicorn’s neck. Rubies were also decorating the mare’s obsidian horseshoes, one large gem each.

To anypony who had seen Sassy’s work at the Formal, it was as if the pony who made the dress Sunset currently wore was standing up and shouting ‘ANYTHING SHE CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER’.

“You look lovely, Princess,” Fleur told her in absolute honesty.

Sunset sighed and looked down at herself. “Yeah, I know I should have gotten Sassy to make me a dress, even put in an order for one too,” she mumbled. “But, Mom’s been planning this since before I even knew Sassy, and...well…”

Fleur nodded in understanding. “Sassy’s not this good.”

“Yeah. Plus this is a public event,” Sunset grumbled. “Can’t show favoritism and all that. Although, it would be cool to at least make her my personal seamstress once she graduates.”

A second later, Cadance cleared her throat. “Did you just badmouth favoritism and then show it in the same breath?”

Sunset blinked, then rolled her eyes and snorted. “No, me hiring Sassy is cronyism. Which is a totally different thing that favoritism. They’re pronounced and spelled with completely different letters.”

Listening to the two princesses have their friendly argument as the three other mares in the room laughed at Princess Sunset’s excuse, Fleur blinked as she felt something she hadn’t in a long time. Just being around the other two alicorns filled the unicorn with a feeling she had been missing for six days too many.

Or more.

As Princess Sunset went on to share a few quips with Princess Cadance before dragging their chambermaid into the conversation and letting her talk to them on equal standing, Fleur was reminded of just how empty her life had been during her reign over Canterlot Academy. Her three member clique had gossiped and discussed the latest magazine topics, but they never really had time to talk in a friendly manner the way Fleur found herself doing with royalty from time to time.

Which made what she had to confess all the harder. “Um, Princess Sunset?” Fleur asked.

“Admit it, you just think there’s something wrong with the dress because Sassy didn’t make it for you,” Cadance said.

“Okay, you may have a point there,” Sunset replied before looking back to Fleur. “What’s up?”

Fleur gulped. “Princess, I...ran into Shining Armor in the hallway.” She froze in fear, unable to say more. If she did, it would be the end of their friendship.

After a second Sunset stepped forward to tower over Fleur’s retreating stance. Her smile curved upward and became absolutely predatory before she lowered her head to within inches of Fleur’s. “Isn’t he just scrumptious now?” she asked with a giggle before trotting away with a spring in her steps and continued talking in a voice that bordered on musical. “Bet you wished you had hitched him to your post when it was still single!”

“Y-Yes!” Fleur told her quickly before realizing what she had just said. The mare’s eyes widened as both alicorns turned their full attention onto her. “I mean...um...oh, ponyfeathers, I’m dead now, aren’t I?”

Princess Sunset and Princess Cadance shared a confused look before the amber alicorn turned her head back towards Fleur. “Huh?”

As the room was filled with silence, Princess Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Did you also have sexual fantasies about him?”

“J-Just one, Princess,” Fleur admitted as she shrunk in on herself.

Princess Cadance stepped forward and frowned. “Did you tempt Shiny with an offer or receive a pass from him?”

After gulping down her nervousness, Fleur looked up to the bigger pony. “N-No. I’d never-”

Princess Sunset didn’t let her finish. She glared down at Fleur with a look that made the white pony wish she was a mouse and had a hole to hide in. “Did you shove a magical potion down his throat that made him unable to do anything but have sex with you?”

“Of course not!” Fleur exclaimed in a panic.

And just like that, the irritation on Cadance’s face along with the dark storm on Sunset’s cleared up. “So all you did is have sexy thoughts about our super sexy coltfriend,” the amber alicorn said with a smile that only widened. “Somepony’s jeal-ous.”

Fleur slowly got to her hooves, but kept her head low. “Of Shining Armor and many other things,” she admitted to the big, strong, powerful and beautiful alicorn with the personality to match.

“Although, I don’t think we could be angry at you if Shiny initiated it, or if you did proposition Shining Armor, for that matter,” Princess Cadance said in consideration a moment later.

Sunset turned her head to face Cadance. “Say what?” she asked evenly.

“Well, we are in a multi-pony relationship that has no established rules, so it would be pretty hypocritical for us to be angry for anypony seeking to increase our numbers when we ourselves have gone outside the limits of a couple,” Cadance explained. “Plus, let’s be honest about the ponies involved. Shining Armor isn’t the type of pony who would just chase a mare’s tail for what’s underneath it. If he did go after Fleur in a romantic way, it would be because you and I aren’t giving him what he needs. Either that, or all the extra stuff he has to deal with because of who and what we are is too much, and he just wants somepony simpler. In both cases, we’d either have to let him go or...see if Fleur could be worked into the relationship if that was what she wanted.”

The mention of such a possibility had Fleur freezing up until Cadance looked over to her. “Which isn’t going to happen,” the pink princess told her. “Sunset is the only mare I will ever need.”

Sunset groaned and rolled her eyes. “You just had to get all love science on me, didn’t you?” she asked before looking back to Fleur and putting up a hoof to wave away the unicorn’s concerns. “And I’m not the thought police Fleur, you can think whatever you like and look wherever you please. And if Shiny’s unhappy with us...can’t believe I’m actually saying this, talk to him about it and...maybe us?” She looked over to the other princess. “Okay, need you to do the love science stuff again because, um...did I seriously just give Fleur permission to hit on our boyfriend?”

“If Shining Armor is genuinely unhappy, then yeah, she should do something about it if she has the mind to go the distance. Even if that means...stealing him,” Cadance admitted reluctantly.

In the interest of staying on the good side of the royal family, Fleur quickly spoke up. “Let me just say that, even though Shining Armor is probably the best colt I know, that’s...probably not going to happen. So...no...worries?”

“Oh, so you’re saying Shiny’s not good enough for you?” Sunset asked.

It was only a few seconds later that Fleur noticed the little smirk on the princess’s mouth, which made her giggle and smile in turn. “There’s just no winning with you, is there?”

Sunset’s smile widened. “Well I am a princess,” she said before she threw out foreleg to put it behind Fleur’s neck and walked over to the window. “So, what’d you do for your week off? Other than...you know...putting a fake penis in your pussy?”

“I read some books,” she said. “Now that I’m not getting the answers to every test ahead of time, school’s a lot harder than it used to be. Talked with my mother about Fancy during my more...controlled days.”

Cadance trotted up to stand beside Fleur after dismissing the blue unicorn. “How’s that going?”

“I...don’t know,” Fleur admitted before searching for something good to say about the stallion in question. “Fancy’s...nice.”

There was a knowing nod from Cadance. “But coltfriends that you’re hoping to marry need to be more than nice,” she said. “That’s the problem with arranged relationships. There’s no foundation to build on.”

“Hey!” Sunset whined. “Me and Shiny didn’t have anything to build on and look where we are now.”

Cadance extended her head forward to look past Fleur to Sunset. “Yeah well, you’re weird.”

The comment got a few blinks from Sunset before she managed to retort. “Yeah well…” she said before sticking out her tongue to razz Cadance. “So, I win.”

Even though it went against the survival instincts that hadn’t been fully shut away, Fleur found herself unable to stop herself from speaking. “Actually, Princess Sunset, I think the pony who resorts to razzing is the pony that loses the argument.”

“Oh yeah?” Sunset asked before briefly razzing Fleur.

To which Fleur replied with her own, “Phfzzzt!”

Sunset took in a deep breath and…

“Phffffffzzzzzzzzzzzzz!”

...promptly choked on it when Cadance stuck her head out beneath the space between the two of them and shook it furiously while razzing both the girls at once. Both Fleur and Sunset giggled before the trio split up in stumbling laughter.

“Well, Cadance had a point,” Sunset said.

Fleur managed to her herself under control. “Yes, hard to argue with that.”

As the three girls got themselves under control, another silence followed. Then Fleur realized that she still had things to tell them. “Oh! I also took part in the song this morning!” she exclaimed happily.

It looked to be the wrong thing to tell Sunset, as her face fell and she sighed. “Oh...that’s...great.”

Cadance trotted up to stand alongside Fleur before she leaned over and whispered out of the corner of her mouth. “Sunset hasn’t gotten any musical inspiration yet.”

“Okay, yeah. It’s stupid,” Sunset said before turning back to the window. “I mean...

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And the party’s all for me

Fleur blinked as she heard a violin’s slow melody floating in on the wind.

I can barely believe just where we are
And how my dreams have come to be

I never thought I’d have a real family
Or even just one true friend
Somepony who would understand me

Sunset shared a look with Cadance and her friends as they stood there with her dress and all of her royal regalia save for thee crown Celestia had made for her. The four of them smiled at each other and Sunset found herself enjoying the moment. Then...the door burst open to admit a big white alicorn flanked by her secretary Raven and the palace’s majordomo, Kibitz. “Sunset hurry up! The ceremony is at ten!” Celestia yelled.

She rushed in and all of the amber alicorn’s makeup was on in a flash of magic that had Sunset wondering just what the hell had happened before Celestia put a wing across her daughter’s back and guided her towards the door.

There’s a party here in Canterlot
And it’s starting right away
Get rid of that frown and ready for a crown
Because it’s your coronation day!

Cadance fought a losing battle as she tried to keep her nervous panic from showing as she trotted in place wearing in her white and gold gown next to Celestia as she adjusted the enormous pink covering that had been made for her. “You know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should do things a tiny bit different than planned,” she told the bigger alicorn. “I should escort Sunset to the dais for the ceremony.”

“I know you’re nervous without Sunset around, Cadance. But you saw me drink the same potion you did in the dressing room,” Celestia reminded her. “You know I’m not a changeling. You’re safe with me.”

The hole in Celestia’s logic was enough to back her big butt through. “That’s if you weren’t already replaced! I could be talking to a changeling right now!” Cadance pointed out.

Celestia gave her an even look. “The day of your coronation, you complained about an upset stomach I said was just nerves. Then, when it came time to give your crown acceptance speech, you farted with enough pressure to ruffle your gown. An event nopony has commented on since I used my magic to cover it up, so only you and I know about it.”

“...okay fine. You’re Celestia,” Cadance admitted when she worked through the embarrassment of that particular memory. Here I thought everypony was just being nice. Although, knowing what she knew about Sunset now, there was no way that the then unicorn wouldn’t have made her the butt of every joke possible.

Still, the fact that she was next to the second most powerful pony in Equestria was calming. “So, are you doing that to us again?” Cadance asked.

“I use it every time there’s going to be paparazzi,” Celestia explained before she look forward and lit up her horn. “You can look nervous or ask me any question you want when we’re not supposed to be speaking, as long as you don’t do something like start dancing on your hind legs, nopony will see it.” She looked over to Cadance. “Is there something bothering you. I know this is Sunset’s day, but...I am here for you too, Cadance.”

The pink princess sighed. “You mean besides my rampant paranoia?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, I’m willing to listen to that too. As long as it’s in a way to help you. I’m not just going to let you work yourself into a frenzy because you think everypony and everything in the next room is a changeling in disguise.”

“Well...okay, I guess there is something else bothering me,” Cadance admitted. She started to sit down, then thought better of it and quickly straightened out her hooves. “Sunset had a relapse this morning.”

“I’m aware of that,” Celestia said flatly.

Cadance gave the big pony an irritated groan. “Well, what I mean is...I just don’t get it! This and when she first came back. I know I’m really biased here, Celestia. But...Sunset’s a strong pony, and I’m talking in more ways than just the Canterlot-shaking kind of strong. She survived being ignored by you for years, then she didn’t flip out and burn me alive when I showed up and was given what she always wanted. Not to mention how she apparently thrived on her own on a whole other world, not even bothering to call out to you once, even though we both know she would have wanted nothing more than to have some kind of communication from you. Plus-”

Celestia snorted very loudly. “I am well aware of my failings and Sunset’s strengths, Cadance.”

The annoyance in Celestia’s voice was apparent. Cadance lowered her head in apology. “Sorry,” she told the bigger pony before looking at her again. “It’s just...she goes through all of that and more without a single mental scratch. But she gets home and now she’s having problems?”

“Weren’t you the one who thought that being cut off from her magic helped her deal with everything as a type of liberating punishment?” Celestia asked.

Cadance looked back to the ground. “Well...yeah,” she admitted. “But I’m finding a replacement for that. You saw it the other day when you saw Sunset as a human. A human with a horn, but…” Cadance sighed and shook her head. “Maybe I’m just overthinking things. But...well, what if I’m not? What if there is something making Sunset be this way?”

“That something being?” Celestia asked while holding back any sign of emotion.

The question had Cadance thinking back to one of her earlier theories. Theories she had spoken to Sunset about a little, but not all the way. “I’m hardly knowledgeable when it comes to magic. But I know there is magic out there that can alter a pony’s mind, make them think what another pony wants them too. Sunset told me that Princess Twilight used a magical item on her to cleanse her of a demon she herself made, or turned into or… Look, I know Sunset’s still shown herself be far from pure, so the idea that somepony just came along and scrubbed her clean of any dark impulses is really far fetched. Maybe I just want there to be some evil monster out there giving Sunset nightmares because it means there’s something more I can do to stop it than just help her by holding my fillyfriend when she cries. But you can’t deny that there is something strange going on with how she’s acting.”

When Princess Celestia didn’t give Cadance some kind of warm reassurances about how her actions counted for more than she knew or other some such thing, the pink pony looked up to the bigger alicorn. “Celestia?”

The blare of trumpets sounded and Celestia shook her head, as if throwing off some annoying insect of a thought. “That’s our cue,” she said before trotting forward.

Cadance followed along not a second later.

The throne room looked very much like Cadance remembered from her own coronation, with the exception that instead of pink banners with crystal hearts, amber ones with fiery suns hung in their place. Every single inch of the room that they didn’t need to move around was packed with rich and noble ponies, with the exception of the right rear corner where Sunset’s special guest fillies were gathered and the very front of the crowd to Cadance’s left, where Shiny’s family was seated on posh cushions.

The later was a position that Celestia and Sunset had argued about. Apparently, the first ten rows of the crowd, the ones allowed to sit during the proceedings that were less exciting, were supposed to be held by the top ten noble families of Canterlot, plus important military commanders. The fact that she had given it to a bunch of political noponies...well, like Celestia had said, it wasn’t doing Shiny’s family any favors.

Once they had taken their places in front of the throne, Celestia smirked. “Do you have your speech ready?”

Cadance’s eyes widened. "Speech?” she asked before looking over to the bigger pony. “What speech?”

“Before an alicorn approaches to be crowned, the High Princess of Equestria gives a speech to introduce her,” Celestia told her with a wide grin. “Remember?”

“...this is that...tolling thing Sunset warned me about, isn’t it?” Cadance asked with a scowl. “You play some silly joke that is obviously a joke if somepony bothers to stop and think about it for more than three seconds. But since you’re Princess Celestia, nopony does and just panics.”

Celestia’s grin devolved into a smirk. “She called it trolling. And don’t worry, I’ve got you covered,” she said before stepping forward. “Fillies and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous event. One that I have been waiting for some time to occur. My most beloved student, Sunset Shimmer, has done many extraordinary things in the past several years, many things that I am sad to say, nopony will ever know about outside her immediate family. However, the achievement of fully realizing her potential is not something to be humble about. Thus, she will be crowned as Equestria’s newest Princess!

“So, without further ado, may I present for the very first time...since, you know, she wore a different title the last time she ruled Equestria, Princess Sunset Shimmer!”

A worry ran down the back of Cadance neck. “Celestia, I just realized something. I’m not with her and neither are you. What happens if she turns tail and just runs away?”

The wide smile didn’t disappear. “Then, as Sunset would say, we’re totally fucked.”

Unlike the first time Sunset had attended a coronation, the princess waiting outside the throne room wasn’t surrounded by any guards. They were all over the castle, making sure nobody suspicious went anywhere they were supposed to. So, Sunset stood in the entryway all by herself.

The announcement of her name by Celestia made Sunset gulp down her fears and put one shaking hoof in front of the other. And then…

Then she…

She…

Hesitated.

Why am I just standing here? Sunset asked herself.

The amber alicorn nervously licked her lips. Rationally, she knew he old thoughts of not deserving a crown were foolish. Velvet was right, Sunset had made the decision to become a princess weeks ago. If she didn’t want to, she could have just turned around, smashed through the wall and gone her merry way.

But if she did, it would cause no end of problems for everyone she loved. Not to mention, Sunset would never be able to show her face in public again. And Cadance would most definitely freak out and spend the rest of her life hiding in a closet. Oh, and there’s some stuff I want to do as a princess too, Sunset reminded herself.

Which was...something Sunset thought she probably should have started with. Doing things out of obligation and fear was never a good place.

So, Sunset took a deep breath to steady herself and opened the double doors with her horn. A minor illusion spell made anybody who bothered to look see Sunset looking ahead of her with purpose. What she really did was look around every which way at the crowd around her.

The regional nobles from all over Equestria looked on in excitement and awe. Which was to be expected. Unlike the ponies in Canterlot, they had no idea just what Sunset was like and if the reports were to be believed, the southern ponies looked very favorably on Sunset thanks to her actions as Empress. Then came the Canterlot nobles, they were a mixed bag. Some looked upon the amber alicorn with worry and outright fear, others were more calculating, trying to see how they could use her to their advantage. Fancy Pants looked a little hopeful about the whole thing though.

She looked over to Shiny as she passed him and smiled. When Twilight raised her hoof to wave at the alicorn before her father moved to stop her, Sunset paused to wave back. The huge break in protocol got several gasps and pictures taken, but Sunset’s thought on that was, fuck you idiots I’ll say hello to whomever the hell I want, protocol be damned.

“Sunset,” Celestia said before she looked over to where a black crown that looked like a smaller version of Celestia’s own instead of the thing Cadance wore to formal events sat on a short column that had been brought in for the coronation alongside a scroll. It had been a rush job after the crown Celestia planned on giving her ended up a flawed mess, with the promise that an improved version would follow in the coming weeks. “Although it fills me with a great deal of pride to finally present you with this badge of office, what comes next is what I will remember this day for.”

Sunset bowed down as Celestia levitated the crown over place it on her head and set it firmly behind her ears. The cool dark glass that had been magically reinforced like her horseshoes pressed against her coat and limited the movement of the ears atop her head. Once she was sure it wasn’t going to fall, Sunset turned around to stand beside her mother as ponies snapped dozens of photographs.

Once Sunset was in place, Celestia took the scroll in her magic to unroll it and brought the paper over to float in front of the two of them. The legal jargon that took up more than half the page took Sunset a minute to work through, but she already knew what was on the paper before she even started reading. It was the official adoption order that would legally make Sunset Shimmer the daughter of Princess Celestia.

There was a fluttering in Sunset’s heart at she looked at the document. It was a strange feeling that went up to swirl around in her head. Sunset knew that legal papers didn’t really account for much in the way of family. It didn’t really matter what a paper said if it wasn’t true in a pony’s heart. Celestia had called Sunset her daughter dozens of times since she came back to Equestria in front of everypony. But there was something to be said about something being put down on paper, the creation of an undeniable record that would exist for the rest of time.

Which, Sunset saw the document would. Celestia had woven so many protections about the paper that it wouldn’t get wet in the rain or even be singed from being tossed in a volcano. The space set for their signatures was mystically receptive, the proof of which was shown when Celestia touched her horn to the paper and her cutie mark appeared along with her name.

It took Sunset a whole second to do the same, leaving her magical signature on the page along with a recreation of her cutie mark.

As soon as it was done, Celestia showed the front of the paper to everyone long enough for photographs to be taken before she rolled the scroll back up and placed it aside before looking back to the crowd. “Although I have loved and cared for her as my own for many years now, let it be known that as of this moment, Sunset Shimmer is my daughter and heir.”

For the first time since Sunset came back, she didn’t feel the urge to yell at Celestia’s synopsis of their earlier years. She simply stood next to her mom and smiled.

“Now,” Celestia said. “Let those who wish to approach your newest princess come forth to show her your devotion.”

A large white stallion with a golden mane and matching mustache got to his hooves along with a dark gray mare who followed behind him with a satchel on her hip. Sunset recognized Blueblood the some-number-that-was-one-less-than-the-one-the-son-that-had-been-sitting-beside-him-possessed.

As he trotted forward, Sunset leaned over to Celestia. “Hey Mom, did we check their stuff to make sure it was free of explosion runes and junk?”

Celestia blinked and looked over to Sunset. “Why would anypony do something like that?” she asked in disbelief. “They could be caught up in the explosion as well.”

“...nevermind,” Sunset replied. Considering what happened the last time she introduced a human idea to Equestria, it was best that she didn’t tell anypony about terrorism.

Although, Sunset still got ready to deal with any surprises that would come her way.

Blueblood went into an elegant bow. “Greeting, Princess Sunset. I am Prince Blueblood, of the House of Platinum. In show of my house’s longstanding ties with the crown, going all the way back to my ancestor, Princess Platinum. I give to you my grandmother’s favorite country estate,” he said before looking over to the mare beside him who in turn reached into her pack to pull out several documents and photographs of an opulent mansion, as well as pictures of a vineyard, farmland, lakes and a small village Sunset wasn’t familiar with. “The land is one thousand, three-hundred thirty-eight acres of viable farmland in total, with a peasantry that is very hard-working and obedient. I assure you that it will be a very profitable holding.”

After making a show of studying the documents that gave her information on the financials of the prosperity, Sunset gave a tip of her head in thanks. Unlike her signing with Celestia, there would be time for transfer of possession later. “Thank you for this lovely gift,” she said gently. “I’ll have to ask for a personal tour as soon as I can.”

Even though she didn’t think much of the first family, the offer of thanks was genuine. A personal estate of her very own meant an income that didn’t depend on tax money, something Sunset felt guilty about spending on anything but necessities. Despite being in a palace again, years of living as a minimalist had taught her how to get by without much of anything. So, things like a guitar were put on a wishlist instead of in her hooves.

Once she was done giving thanks to Blueblood, the stallion gave a respectful bow before taking a few steps backwards and turning to return to his seat. Then came the House of Card and House of Mouse, which also offered up estates in the southern and eastern areas of Equestria. More ponies came with gifts, until finally, the head of House Guard approached.

Sunset blinked when Blue Line stood up and inclined his head. “Our son carries our gift to you, Your Majesty.”

There was a gasp of surprise from some of the ponies gathered, along with more than a few smirks at the open act of defiance. To try and circumvent the rules surrounding the gifts of fealty was unheard of. Still, by saying that the gift his son carried, a gift that was also tied to an arm of the palace’s military unit, he had lumped the royal guard in with him if their gift of fealty was judged insufficient.

The oddity got a frown from Sunset. Her eyes darted over to the stallion with the steel rod up his ass before she turned her head back to the blue unicorn and motioned for him to stay with a hoof gesture. “Well then, let’s see just what he’s got for me, shall we?” she said before looking over to the other Line stallion. “Hard Line, come up here with your father and show everypony just what you’ve got in store for your newest princess.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sunset saw Celestia giving her one of those looks she remembered from her last days as a unicorn, but she ignored it. The gift that Hard Line was supposed to be handing over was a gift from the palace guard, which was usually a decorative weapon with a message of fealty inscribed upon it. However, Sunset didn’t see him carrying anything aside from his normal blade, which had a hilt that wasn’t the least bit fancy.

“Sunset, what’re you doing?” Celestia asked.

“This may be maximum hypocritical coming from me, but ponies have been getting away with way too much as far back as I can remember,” Sunset said as she looked over to her mom. “And I get it. You’re patient, you give ponies the benefit of the doubt and second chances and all that, but I’m not you, Mom. I call ponies on their bullshit and give them enough rope to...tie themselves in knots.” Sunset didn’t want to use the usual saying. It would just make Celestia more upset.

Hard Line approached the dias. “Sunset Shimmer, I have your rightful gift,” he said. “But before I give it to you. Let me say, that what I shall give you will show the dedication and love that my house holds for all Equestria. For Princess Celestia, and all of the ponies who are here today. So, let them bear witness to my house's dedication to you all!”

With all the grandstanding going on, Sunset was pretty certain what was going to happen. She just didn’t know how another pony could flip her the bird without fingers. Still, it was getting pretty boring. She let out an annoyed groan and looked up at the ceiling. “Get on with it, you idiot.”

There was a bright flash of light on the edge of her vision that was enough to draw Sunset’s attention before she saw the stallion coming at her with a sword in hoof while on his hind legs. Hard Line’s horn lit up with a light spell that completely blinded the amber alicorn as the stallion’s voice reached her ears along with another one right behind it that Sunset could half-recognize over the din of screaming that was the crowd’s reaction. “DEATH TO SUNSET SHIMMER!”

“NOOOOOO!”