A minor flare of magic that moved throughout her body brought Celestia out of her sleep and into the waking world. Just enough moonlight streamed in through the window to give her a clear vision of the pony sleeping contently next to her. The tiny smile on Sunset’s face brought a matching one to her own before Celestia’s body reminded her of yesterday’s strenuous activities.

Even with magic that let her skip half the journey by teleporting, it had still taken several hours for a round trip to the Nightmare’s prison and pack. Which had occurred after having endured a spell that put a great deal of mental and emotional strain on her body. Such things were not removed with only a few hours of sleep. Celestia’s wings throbbed, her legs ached, even her hooves hurt. A moment later, there was a dull throbbing in her head as well.

Entwined with Sunset, Celestia knew that she wouldn’t be able to get up without waking her daughter, but...letting Sunset just sleep in wasn’t an option either. They had business that needed attending.

“Sunset, it’s time to wake up,” Celestia told her.

“Meh,” Sunset replied as she fought off her mother’s gentle prodding.

Celestia sighed before she shook her foal a bit harder. “Sunset, wake up.”

“Wha?” Sunset awoke with a sudden jerk, her eyes fluttering open to take a look around. “Mom? What’re-oh, right,” she said before blinking the sleepiness out of her eyes. “Man, I’m wiped.”

A giggle escaped from Celestia’s mouth as she extracted herself from her bed. “Well, perhaps you shouldn’t have waited until I came home then and gone to bed with your loved ones.”

Sunset snorted. “Couldn’t sleep,” she said before yawning and rolling off of the other side of Celestia’s bed. “You run off without telling anyone tends to worry everyone around you. I’m a princess now too, you know. You shouldn’t be keeping secrets from me.”

“I...panicked,” Celestia admitted. “Information came to light and I acted to prevent further...complications. And I’ll admit, it was a mistake not telling you that I would be gone. I’m sorry.”

For a few moments, Sunset simply stood on the other side of Celestia bed, just giving her a blank look. “Yeah, don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that.”

“Get used to what?” Celestia asked.

Sunset smirked. “You apologizing.”

The mirthful reply made Celestia slump. Despite just waking up, she was too tired to put on a brave face for her daughter. Even if Sunset had obviously meant it in jest, the truth hurt. “I didn’t think I could. Not as a teacher, or a princess, anyway.”

“Uh…” Sunset put on a little smile. “This is where you put on a smile and say something like, well you didn’t give me many reasons to practice.”

Celestia resisted the urge to correct her. She needed to apologize for every day that Sunset had been under her care. But they didn’t have that much time. “Come along Sunset, we need to wake Cadance. There’s work to do this morning,” Celestia told her before moving out onto her balcony in order to lower the moon and bring up the sun.

When she was done, Celestia slowly cantered out into the hall with her daughter not far behind. Sunset must have sensed the mood, because she was quiet on the way to her room. After reaching the door with the stylized sun, the amber princess opened the door and allowed Celestia entry before moving on to stick her head in the bedroom.

“Hey guys, time to get up, we need to...” Sunset paused to take a sniff of the air. “Wait...you two didn’t do it last night?”

Cadance let out a tiny groan. “It’s not as if I’m in the mood all the time, Sunset,” she said sleepily.

“Well that’s-whoa! Shiny...um, you uh…” A blush appeared on Sunset’s cheeks before she cleared her throat. Her wings twitched and her tail flicked around before raising ever slightly. “You want me to...take care of that for you?”

Celestia moved up behind Sunset to see what the problem was. “Is something the matter?”

A high-pitched scream came from Shining Armor before he grabbed the blanket’s to cover his male anatomy. “P-Princess Celestia!”

“Oh, Shining Armor,” the mare said as matter-of-factly as she could. Doing things her usual way would be a mistake. Stallions were very sensitive about their reproductive organs and Celestia had no intention of making the colt Sunset was so head-over-hooves for want to break up with her because of everypony else that came along in the bargain.

She looked down at the floor where the regalia of two princesses and a stallion’s coat had been discarded. Seeing them made Celestia realize that she still had her crown and the rest of her princess gear on. Meaning that she had slept in them.

Again.

“I’ll send a member of the staff to have your suit pressed and ready for you after breakfast,” Celestia told the colt as if she had never seen anything before gathering up Sunset’s regalia and taking it with her out into the living room to set in front of her daughter. “You should take better care of your things, Sunset. Especially considering how long you waited to earn that crown.”

Sunset got dressed and carefully set her crown on her head. “Not like I wanted the stupid thing. Not anymore, I mean.”

“Good,” Celestia replied. Which earned her a confused look from her daughter and demanded a follow up that she quickly delivered. “While I can’t say those who seek power shouldn’t be trusted, those that have power thrust upon them without the desire for it are set to make much better rulers”

A tiny smile appeared on Sunset’s face. “Pretty sure I’ve heard that one before.”

Celestia straightened up a bit. “Well, it’s a good lesson. Besides, let’s...um…” With her tank still only-half-full, the train of thought Celestia had let detour found itself completely lost. “We need to go find Raven and Kibitz. They should have today’s schedule.”

“You okay, Mom?” Sunset asked as she followed Celestia out before letting out a little yawn. Not to mention able to locate other documents for her that any investigation to a crime she knew had been committed but not yet seen far more easily solved.

Celestia smirked. “It would seem that I am not the only one still out of sorts. I said that you should have gone to sleep with your lovers. It seemed to me, Shining Armor felt the lack of your presence well into the night.”

The mention of her coltfriend got a tiny stumble and blush from Sunset, as well as numerous other signs of what her first thought was upon hearing her stallion’s name. Something must have happened to cause this flare in embarrassed behavior outside of their usual passions. “Y-Yeah well, um…”

“As you noticed, I didn’t make a single quip about him while I was in the room with him,” Celestia pointed out before feelings of mischievous began to crop up. “Although I have to wonder...considering that you’ve had the same stallion at two different sizes now...what are you thoughts on the bigger is better theory?”

The coat on Sunset’s face changed to match the other color of her mane. “Moms and sex talk don’t mix.”

Celestia giggled. “Well, if you ever want any tips…”

“I already read your book!” Sunset exclaimed before freezing up again. “That...um...you know…”

The mention of that particular tome earned a wince from Celestia. “Right...well, I’m just saying…” she let out a long breath to clear away any mirthfulness. “Sunset, I had a pegasus for a lover. It’s no secret that they’re the least endowed of the three tribes. I had to come up with a few tricks to keep things...interesting. Beyond the one that became famous, I mean. So, if you ever do find your relationship becoming a bit stale in the bedroom because of ah...size differences, I can give you some pointers.”

Sunset continued to walk uncomfortably as they got to the stairs and descended to ground level. “...thanks,” she replied. “So, uh...you gonna tell me what you were up to last night?”

“I receive information regarding another attempt on your well being. So, after making sure the palace’s defenses against such things were in place, I set out to investigate,” Celestia half-lied. “What I got instead was a message informing me that during my absence from the palace, the Line family was given the chance to escape under the cover of night.”

“WHAT?” Sunset shouted as she whirled around and glared at her mother. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me about it when you got back?”

Celestia sighed. “I tried. You mistook my intentions for a desire to hold you,” she explained. “A slumbering spell must have been placed on me, set to trigger when I returned, or perhaps something that slowly drained my already depleted stamina had been placed on me without my notice.” Such things were not beyond her sister, and Nightmare Moon had been allowed a much longer time to practice than Luna did.

There was no hesitation on Sunset’s part as she moved to gallop down the hall. “Then what the hell are we standing around here for?” she demanded before taking off towards the stairs that would lead to the lower levels.

“Sunset!” Celestia shouted at her daughter to no avail before following her lead despite the protest her body gave. Despite the fact that she could already guess what would happen, the big alicorn followed without further protest down the long, single set of stairs that led to an area carved out of the mountain and separate from other parts of the palace.

When they reached the bottom of the long flight of stairs, Celestia watched her daughter look around in a panic at the cells. “Where is she? She’s not-the guards were keeping her down here, right?” Sunset asked.

After sparing a moment to examine the guard sleeping on the floor with a diagnosis spell that told her he was in a state of magically induced slumber, Celestia did her best to avoid the pie remains on the ground and slowly walked over to her borderline-panicked daughter. “Crooked Line was being held with the stallions, yes.”

“I don’t care about her! I’m talking about Upper Crust!” Sunset exclaimed. “She was in here too, right?”

Celestia blinked at the question as her mind worked to recall the pony in question. “The...rapist?” she asked, tripping over the word she had only heard Sunset mention a few times before nodding. “Yes. We were holding her here for today so that you could sentence her under your own authority.”

The nervousness Sunset was displaying quickly transformed into anger before Celestia’s eyes. “Well, she’s not here anymore!”

“True,” Celestia agreed before moving to take a look around the barren cell. “It would appear that she went with them.”

“Or they took her!” Sunset exclaimed.

Celestia nodded at the theory. “It’s possible. But, as most of the dust in her cell is undisturbed, there didn’t look to have been a struggle. She went willingly,” she replied. “More than likely, she is still with them.”

“Or they didn’t want to cause a racket when they killed her, so they strung her along until they were out of the palace, then dumped her body somewhere!” Sunset shot back.

With her daughter giving such harsh accusations, Celestia raised her head up in alarm. “You think they would do such a thing?”

Sunset’s frown deepened. “Do I think that the guys who tried to murder me in front of everybody else would stoop to killing another pony? Uh, YES I DO!”

With her daughter falling into old paths, Celestia frowned. “Sunset, the only reason they did that was because you constantly pushed Hard Line and-”

“ARE YOU SAYING THAT IS MY FAULT THAT SOMEBODY TRIED TO MURDER ME?” Sunset raged.

Celestia blinked. “No, that’s not-”

Sunset didn’t let her finish before speaking in a mocking voice. “The only reason they did that was because you,” she repeated. “That’s what you JUST SAID!”

“Please stop-”

“What?” she demanded. “Stop living? Hey, maybe I should just-”

“LISTEN TO ME!”

When Sunset was pushed back by the sound of Celestia’s voice, the older alicorn took the opening to lower her head. “I’m sorry, Sunset. I misspoke,” she said. When she looked back up at her daughter, Celestia continued. “What Hard Line did was in no way justified, that much I want to make clear to you. However, the circumstances between the attack on you and the abduction of this other filly are different. I doubt that any cries for help could have been heard from down here, so taking her to keep an alarm being raised makes little sense. And as you put it, they have already shown themselves to be capable of a crime that would turn a normal pony’s stomach just to think about. So, if they wanted to silence her, Upper Crust’s body would be lying here right now, either unconscious like the guard’s, or dead.

“More likely, they had some ulterior motive for taking her along,” Celestia reasoned. “Her parents are quite wealthy, and while she was cast out in an attempt to curry favor with you, she is still their daughter. Even if they are not willing to pay for her release, it’s entirely possible that she is capable of providing them with information on the family’s wealth or skilled enough to forge her mother’s signature on a request for funds from a bank.”

Sunset was silent for several seconds before she sat down on the hard stone. “Oh...yeah. Guess that makes sense,” she said. “Uh, sorry I thought you meant…”

Holding up a hoof to stop her daughter, Celestia went on. “The fault is mine. I trained you to think for yourself and read other ponies at a young age, then did everything I could to show you the worst facets of myself,” she said with a sigh. “I was so much harsher with you than what I should have been and I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay-”

Celestia shook her head. “No, it’s not. But, I promise to do better in the future.”

“Well, suppose I should let you finish talking before I spout off about junk,” Sunset grumbled.

A feeling of deja vu settled over Celestia. “Didn’t you already promise me something along those lines?”

“...it’s a work in progress,” Sunset admitted as she turned her head away.

“As am I, it seems,” Celestia said before moving to put a leg around the back of her daughter’s neck. Once the brief hug had concluded, Celestia looked back to the guard. “Now, let’s wake him up and see if we can find out just whom put a single guard in charge of four prisoners.”

Unfortunately, Sunset and Celestia found nothing out from the guard pony that they had awoken. The magic potion that had been mixed into the pie included an effect that did away with a pony’s short-term memory, meaning that the eye-witness to the beginning of the crime couldn’t even give them a description of just who had drugged him.

Celestia hope for a lead didn’t pan out either. With Hard Line removed as the guard captain and the security staff being short on members, Celestia had given the lieutenants orders to manage their sections until a new captain was promoted. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any lieutenant that was in charge of the section of the castle that didn’t have a single pony in it for the past hundred-plus years. So, that meant there wasn’t a glaringly obvious finger pointing to a pony that had been assigned to the dungeons and willing to aid in his escape.

That meant they would have to get a complete headcount of all the guards and the cooks that had come to work today to try and find any suspicious absences before even starting on the ‘where were you on the night of’ type of questioning. Which was going to take awhile. Time they would have to spend surrounded by a bunch of foals and nervous parents that kept glancing to the big white pony in the room while they ate breakfast.

Each of the ponies had the usual staples of a hearty Equestrian breakfast, with the proportions to match their needs. Foals got a few chopped up pieces, alicorns got miniature mountains. Pre-peeled fruits were arranged across the middle of the table and within easy reach of the parents and white foals with horns that were willing to give the orange pony some help, as well as pancakes, three different types of juice alongside the milk and some fancy oats from somewhere Sunset could barely pronounce properly.

“My, I never imagined would be able to eat breakfast with Princess Celestia!” Rarity’s mother...Cookie Crumbles, that was her name, exclaimed before gulping and fidgeting in the miniature sofa she was laying on. “So...I understand that the coronation was...eventful? I would have gone, but...” She nodded to her swollen pregnant belly.

The memory of Shining Armor saving her played through Sunset’s mind again, making her heart flutter. She reached over to sink her hoof into his flank and dragged the stallion of her dreams closer to lay her head his shoulder. After a little bit of scrunching down to his height, anyway. “Yeah, my Shiny saved me,” she said before kissing him on the cheek and giggling.

“Yes,” Celestia agreed in a voice that brought all eyes onto her as if she was an approaching hurricane.

Cadance cleared her throat. “So...um, did you girls enjoy your night?” she asked.

All of the girls nodded, but Rarity was the only one to speak. “It was lovely, Princess Cadance. Are you sure we can keep the dresses?”

“Yes, Rarity,” Cadance assured her before taking a bite of the fruit on her plate.

Celestia finished off the pineapple on her plate and looked up to the clock before speaking. “Well, we need to be off. Shining Armor, your appointment is at ten sharp. Please do not be late. Court business like this means that I have to hold petitioners at the gate until it’s done.”

Applejack’s mom looked over to the big pony in surprise. “Yer taking petitions today, Princess?”

A little smile appeared on Celestia’s face. “While I can give myself as many days off as I wish, the problems of Equestria are not very accommodating,” she said before frowning a little. “Ah, pardon me. We only met briefly and…”

“Pear Butter,” the earth pony mare said, which earned an odd look from Applejack.

Celestia blinked a few times in confusion. “Oh...I thought...never mind,” she said. “What is it that you wanted to ask?”

The earth pony cleared her throat nervously. “Er, my family made an arrangement with Princess Sunset when she...well, ruled Equestria. Is that still...valid now that you’re in power?”

“All proclamations, laws and judgments made by my daughter will be upheld,” Celestia assured the worried mother. “You’ll receive your agricultural assistance as soon as we can provide it. Now if you’ll excuse us, we must be going.”

Sunset kissed her lover’s neck before she whispered in his ear. “Hey Shiny. We’ve still got an hour, you want to-”

“He has an hour, you will be coming with us, Daughter,” Celestia told Sunset as she moved to rise from the table.

Cadance gave the girls a little smile. “We’ll see you all off before your trains depart,” she promised Applejack and Rarity before focusing on the pegasi. “Or chariots.”

“Seeya later Princess Cadance!” Rainbow Dash said, before flying up into the air to give a wave and drip more than a bit of food.

“Our little Dashie, friends with a princess!” Dash’s mother exclaimed.

“Well of course she is,” the male Rainbow replied.

Fluttershy just gave a nervous wave.

As they got up to depart, Sunset leaned in close to give Cadance a whisper. “Me thinks you need to keep an eye on that one, my future delinquent senses are tingling.”

During her reign as Princess, Cadance had only been to court with Celestia a dozen or so times. Usually on Saturdays when there wasn’t anything else to do. Despite how simple Princess Celestia made it seem, Cadance knew that making important decisions on the fly took a great deal of knowledge about every little thing regarding Equestria and beyond.

Even if her domestic decisions made the mare wonder if Celestia was missing something upstairs, she ran Equestria better than anypony else possibly could. Even Sunset wasn’t on par with her by any stretch of Cadance’s biased imagination.

However, none of those days of court involved a large crowd of ponies that Cadance recognized from her coronation. Eighteen of them were the head mare and stallion from the nine remaining top houses in Canterlot, along with seven younger ponies that were old enough to behave themselves. Behind them were what she guessed to be other minor noble pairs of ponies with their heirs mixed in with a few other ponies that stood on their own.

She noticed that stallion that Fleur had taken to the dance standing the neat back with what may have been his parents. It was hard to tell, sometimes.

From what little Cadance could pick out from their mumbling, most of them were worried about why Celestia had summoned all of the assembled ponies. Some whispered about war, others were worried that Sunset had been displeased with her offerings and was going to demand recompense for the insult, others...wondered if Cadance would be engaged to Prince Blueblood?

Cadance flicked her ears and turned her head away from the crowd to face Celestia. Honestly, it isn’t as if Sunset and I are being discreet, she thought to herself with some indignation. Maybe going to a high society party and getting Sunset to put up one of her time bubbles so they could bang in front of everypony wasn’t such a bad idea after all. At least then, something might sink into their subconscious so that everypony realized that she had already been claimed by a pair of ponies.

Thanks to turning her head, Cadance could see Raven standing behind her with a small clipboard and notebook along with a small satchel that looked to be full of parchment for Celestia to make decrees as well as the ink and quills to do so. When Cadance gave her a smile, the unicorn returned it with a polite nod before the pink princess faced forward again.

“As you are all well aware, there was an attempt upon my daughter’s life yesterday,” Celestia said in a loud voice that was one trot short of a shout. “The ponies responsible for attempting this heinous act were quickly bound and sent to palace dungeon. Once there, they confessed that they were not alone in this act and that many more worked with them in the act of sabotaging the potion that would have displayed a pony’s true colors.”

Cadance blinked and turned to face Celestia. “Really?” she asked. All Sunset and Celestia had told her before the nobles came it was that the guard for the dungeons had been found asleep and there were no other leads. Even scrying spells and potions that would allow a pony to see into the past couldn’t be of use thanks to current state of temporal affairs, with the universe's rotation on its temporal axis being increased to such a degree they were going several times faster than what was proper.

It...messed up the aim of the spell...or something. Cadance couldn’t really follow the specifics of higher magic so early into her training.

A sigh came from the other side of Celestia before Cadance saw Sunset dip her head and rub it with a hoof. “No Cadance. She’s bluffing.”

For a second, Cadance widened her eyes. “And I just told them-”

“Nothing,” Celestia informed her. “As far as they can see, we’re all just studying their response.”

In other words, Princess Celestia was using the same spell to hide their reactions, just like how she had done at the coronation and the banquet. Not wanting to press her luck, Cadance looked back to the crowd as several ponies talked in hush tones among themselves.

“Did you help them Mommy?” one little pony asked louder than most of the others.

“W-What?! N-No, sweetie, of course I didn’t!” a fat mare said before looking at the other ponies around her to give a big smile. “The silly things foals say these days.”

“But last night, you told me that Sunset Shimmer was just a big fat poo poo head,” the mare’s foal pointed out. “And that that crown of her would need to be cleaned daily to keep the stink off.”

The mare froze when Sunset’s gaze focused on her, almost as if she could feel it. As the crowd took a step away from the nervous noble, she let out a pathetic whine and sunk to the floor before looking up to Sunset. “P-Princess, please. I-I didn’t…”

“You’re very lucky that I think honesty is one of the traits we should cultivate in foals as soon as we can and that I consider it the greatest of tragedies for a foal to be separated from her mother,” she said evenly. “And I prefer to use dandelion shampoo, by the way. Not whatever scent you seem to think my mane smells like.”

The lesser noble gave a shaky nod. “A very good choice, Princess. As an apology for my error in judgement. I ask that you allow me to insure that you are never without such things.”

Celestia cleared her throat. “I assure you. If any of you had been implicated by the perpetrators, you would not be here right now,” she said, much to the room’s relief before her expression darkened. “However, I consider the lot of you barely one step away from the ponies that did it in the first place! A colt, barely more than a foal stepped in to defend my daughter while the rest of you sat on your plots! How many of you attended my school, the institution created for the purpose of creating unicorns that would be able to defend this kingdom? How many of you look down upon every other pony below this city because your superior breeding is meant to produce competent casters? Yet when it came time to actually put those skills and traits to use, the lot of you did NOTHING!”

“Are you saying we have a eugenics program in Equestria?” Sunset asked.

Cadance leaned her head forward. “What’s a eugenics?”

“...never mind,” Sunset mumbled.

Prince Blueblood stepped forward. “Princess, please,” he said in a poor attempt to placate the alicorn. “The ponies here that did attend your school rather than study at home took mostly non-magic intensive courses. None of us ever expected use what we used the in the real world. In truth, I’ve already forgotten half of the spells they taught me.”

“Then perhaps you should have stayed home and bought your education like your peers instead of wasting the space in the classroom for a pony who could have used that knowledge properly,” Celestia told him, quickly cowing the pony back into place. “Now, while we have taken other ponies into custody I know that Hard Line had accomplices whose identity were unknown, even to him. This is because late last night, while I was away on business, one of these ponies descended into the dungeons to subdue the guard with magic and release the Line family, as well as Upper Crust, the mare that my daughter had placed in jail days earlier because of her actions in forcing a stallion to breed her in an attempt to appropriate half that young stallion’s fortune.”

As the crowd gasped before speaking amongst themselves in the sudden silence. Although she knew that she should have been trying to pick out any incriminating speech, Cadance found herself focusing on the talking going on between Sunset and Princess Celestia.

“Did you seriously just do that to me?” Sunset asked evenly.

Celestia smirked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Mom. It makes your moments of true stupidity only that much worse,” the younger alicorn said.

Peeking past Celestia again, Cadance got her lover’s attention. “I really don’t know what’s going on, Sunset. Care to enlighten me?”

“Hm? Oh, sure thing Cadance,” Sunset replied after she also look around Celestia. “So, Mom just told the overgrown fillies and colts how disappointed and upset with them she was, then proceeded to say that even though she can’t prove that any of them were in on it, every last one of them looked pretty complacent with the whole thing. So now, to prove their loyalty and junk, well...you’re going to have to start sharing my butt with everypony else that wants to kiss it.”

Cadance gasped. “No! That is my butt. There may many butts in the world, but that one is mine. So tell them to go get their own!”

After giving Cadance a dumbfounded look for several seconds, Sunset sighed and covered her face with a hoof. “Out of all the human lingo I drop, that’s the one you pick up.”

Due to the fact that nopony could actually see them, the pink princess felt her mischievous streak extend all down her back. “I also like the word boobies,” Cadance told her happily. “Boobies and butts. They just go together.”

Sunset groaned and brought up her other hoof to shake her head. “My girlfriend is a total pervert.”

“It’s not perverted when princesses do it,” Celestia reminded her daughter before she cleared her throat.

The news didn’t cheer Sunset up in the least. Still, she did settle down so that Celestia could continue speaking when the rest of the crowd did as well. “As of this morning, all land and property belonging to House Guard has been seized by the crown. As of this moment, I declare that the house itself be dissolved and spoken only as a curse and example of the most despicable beings on four hooves imaginable! I also strip them of their titles and declare them enemies of Equestria. Anypony who knowingly gives aid and comfort to them in any way, shape, or form will be subject to the aforementioned acts before being banished from the kingdom, cursed to never return!

“Royal scribes and bankers are currently going over all documents in regards to the former house’s finances. As such, I will look favorably on any house that decides to aid the crown in this endeavor by revealing any dealings with House Guard. At the same time, any house that attempts to hide a connection will not only fall under suspicion of treason themselves, but they will earn my displeasure. Displeasure I will be very vocal about.”

There was a collective wince among all the ponies gathered, both noble and rich commoner. This time, none of them broke out into gossiping as Celestia’s words were carried throughout the chamber. Some of the ponies looked ready to turn and run out the door right then and there to try and find their private ledgers.

Still, Cadance could only tilt her head in confusion at the reaction. Celestia told them all that she was going to banish a pony that helped the Line family, but they took that calmly. Yet they freaked out when she mentions her displeasure? “I don’t get it,” Cadance said. “Is having your mom say bad things about somepony really that big a deal?”

“Okay, well, you know how the nobility has their hooves in a lot of pies when it comes to commerce and finance, right?” Sunset asked. “They don’t really make anything themselves, but they do fund projects that are expected to give a payout, own a few brand names and are able to rent out property for farming and such, right?”

Cadance nodded. “More or less.”

“Well, how many ponies do you think would go to a pony with money making ideas, buy their stuff, or rent their land if Princess Celestia told everypony that she didn’t like them?” Sunset asked.

The logic was sound. She knew even before coming to Canterlot that everypony did their best to copy Celestia. But she never endorsed or decried anything. If she did...“Then why-”

“Because greed makes ponies stupid,” Celestia said before Cadance could finish asking her question. “You were going to ask me why I wasn’t simply charging them with treason and banishing them as well, right? Well, while a pony could argue, even rightfully, that covering up some backroom deal with House Guard isn’t the same as aiding them, making the action a crime in and of itself with a punishment with a cost that surpasses any fine on the books isn’t a risk worth taking.”

Celestia took a deep breath. “Any other questions, girls?”

A thoughtful groan came from Sunset. “Well, I was going to ask if you could do that. But private property right are more of a democracy thing than a monarchy one,” she said “So...no.”

“Excellent,” Celestia said before turning her attention back to the crowd. “Now that we’ve covered the topic of the traitorous monsters and made the punishment that shall be dealt to anypony who dares to aid them clear, let us move onto a happier bit of business, shall we?” She clapped her hooves together. “Bring them in!”

The doors at the other end of the throne room opened to reveal Shining Armor standing at the entrance, flanked by his mother and father. Cadance didn’t see Twilight among them, but it made sense to leave the filly with her friends when there was serious business to attend to.

Not that Twilight couldn’t be serious. In fact, she was probably the most serious filly that Cadance had ever met. But still, this wasn’t a time for fillies. At least, not actual fillies, overgrown ones that whined about everything were allowed.

Sunset...reacted appropriately for a mare who had become freshly infatuated with a stallion. Her tail swished around a few times and Cadance saw a little bit of glossing over of her eyes as she imagined doing all sorts of things to the approaching colt.

A murmur spread throughout the crowd as the three little ponies made their way over the red carpet. Somepony must have schooled them on proper court manners, because the three of them went into a respectful bow when they reached the correct distance from the throne and remained in such a position until Princess Celestia bid them to rise.

“Shining Armor, you may approach,” Celestia said with a little nod of her head. “Tell us, Shining Armor...do you know the history of Equestria?”

With their stallion being put on the spot, Sunset gave Celestia a disgruntled sound. Cadance opted for giving Shiny an encouraging nod and smile she hoped wasn’t covered up by Celestia’s private conversation protector.

A few seconds later, Shining Armor gave an uneasy smile. “Well, not as much as I probably should. Er, Princess Celestia.”

As the crowd mumbled some more on top of some light laughter as Sunset turned her attention on them and let out a near growl.

“Well, it’s a subject that I will admit to have never studied at all,” she said with a light chuckle, getting nervous laughs from the crowd as they attempted to mimic her. “What most ponies don’t bother to learn is the history of Equestria’s most important families. When many of the old Unicornian nobility resisted the three tribes joining together, much of the landed gentry sided with House Platinum, of whom I am a member. Those that distinguished themselves with acts of bravery or works of great compassion, would comprise the new nobility when the rest of the Unification troubles were over. They were given preferential treatment by the crown in many ways.

“But when it came time for their descendants to assist one of mine, they showed themselves to be slow, lazy, inept, and impotent. Squandering the superior opportunities and talents given to them,” Celestia announced. “While a mere common colt, the product of public education was able to do what they could not using a spell hastily thrown together on pure instinct!”

The hash words had everypony without wings and a horn in the room slowly pulling in on themselves, Shining Armor included.

“So, as a commoner has proven himself to be superior to the entirety of the nobility. He will be inducted into their ranks so that they might better understand how to use the opportunity provided by their wealth and station,” Celestia announced. “Shining Armor, as of this moment, I hereby grant you the title and station of Lord, to be held by your parents until you have come of proper age to wield the authority that comes with it. The crown also bequeaths unto you the following.”

Celestia brought her hoof down twice. A second later, Raven trotted forward and pulled a scroll out of her satchel to begin reading. “The land and structures located at Gentry Row Seven, and all the items therein. The sum of two hundred million bits in Equestrian coin, a collection of various gemstones estimated at five hundred million bits, properties located in the following…”

As Raven continued to name the numerous belongings that Shining Armor was to be given, Sunset looked over to her mother. “Let me guess. The entirety of the former House Guard’s belongings?” she asked.

“And a few other little things to show my appreciation to Shining Armor for saving you,” Celestia said.

Sunset let out a long sigh. “Well, I wanted to put that off until after we were married and Shiny put a couple of foals in us, but...oh, we uh...should probably stop Raven.”

Celestia turned her head away from the crowd. “Why’s that?”

An amber hoof pointed to the ponies down below. “Pretty sure Shiny and his parents are going to completely shut down if this keeps up.”

“Oh! Well, yes, I suppose having the new colt on the block standing around in shock isn’t the best way to introduce him to the nobility,” Celestia said before she stood up and took a step forward to lay it on her secretary’s shoulder. “Thank you, Raven. But I am sure that our new noble family is much more eager to celebrate the rightful bounty of Lord Armor’s actions than hear you list off every little thing. Now, before we allow the new member of our court to depart, let us give him our congratulations.”

Everypony in the room simply stood there in mute shock, so Sunset stepped forward and took a deep breath.

“CLOP YOU IDIOTS!”

The command had the assembled ponies beating their hooves as fast and loudly as they could a moment later.

When it died down, Celestia spoke again. “You may take your leave. I also give you the services of my assistant, Kibitz. So that he can help you to sort through everything you’ll need and help with such a big adjustment.”

However, Shining Armor and his parents continued to remain as still as they were when Raven mentioned the collection of estates in western Equestria, totaling some ten-thousand acres. So, Cadance moved to act. “Well, come on Sunset. Let’s get them going.”

With Cadance’s gentle guidance, Shining Armor managed to make his way out of the throne room and into the hallway. His parents fared a little better, capable of moving on their own. As for Sunset, she trotted in front of them all with her tail swishing back and forth in an angry manner as she talked to the older stallion that had been behind Celestia’s right side.

“I want you to fire all of the servants in the Line’s old house and get some appraisers to go through the place. Oh, and give the ponies we let go three months severance for the trouble, I’ll pay for it. Collect every painting of the family and anything else with the house sigil or cutie marks, we’ll put them up for auction and have the proceeds go to Shiny’s family. The nobles will bid high to show their support for the new family that’s got the backing of three princesses and sleeping with two of them,” she told the stallion, Kibitz.

Part of Shining Armor wanted to remind Sunset that he and his family had just been given all that stuff, but...he had no idea what to do with any of it. Plus, being from Canterlot, he knew that there were special rules that applied to nobles on top of certain privileges they were granted. It was just that, being a colt, didn’t know what any of those rules and privileges were.

The stallion with the mustache cleared his throat. “Actually Princess, your mother had the civic guard round up the staff yesterday and took them to stations throughout the city. Most of them are still being questioned in the hopes that one or two of them overheard a plot against you,” he told her.

Sunset snorted. “Can’t believe I’m actually glad these assholes treat their servants like dirt for once,” she grumbled before the anger on her face cleared up a little. “And you don’t have to call me Princess, Kibitz. You used to help dress and teach me the facts of life for pony’s sake. Pretty sure having to give the speech to a little filly that’s wondering why she’s so hot on a cool spring day entitles you to that.”

“I’m afraid I have far too much respect for you these days for that, Princess Sunset,” the older stallion replied. “And I’m afraid that your recollection is flawed. I hid behind Ms Raven for most of that explanation. By the way, where is it that we’re going, exactly?”

Sunset stopped and yawned before she turned to face the stallion. “Oh...um, well...since I should probably explain just what Mom got them all into…” she said before looking around to stop when she saw a door. “Oh! Private audience chamber, here we go!”

After she opened the door, Sunset spotted a pegasus maid that was carrying a set of bedsheets. “You, fly by the kitchen and have somepony bring us some tea, something soothing,” she said before yawning again. “Oh! and some coffee!”

Once the servant bowed and headed on his way, Sunset led them into one of the few rooms Celestia used for meeting with ponies to discuss private matters. The room had a few small padded benches for letting ponies lay out on their side as well as a very large one on the other end of a table that had obviously been sized with Celestia in mind.

As soon as they were all inside, Sunset kicked off her horseshoes and detached her torc decorated with her cutie mark on her flank before moving over to her mother’s couch to jump up and snuggle into the corner. She held out her hooves. “Come here, Shiny.”

Shining Armor kicked his legs in alarm when he was levitated off the ground. However, a cough from the stallion he wasn’t related to drew Sunset’s attention. “Princess. Considering that you didn’t get much sleep the night before and an apparent lack of rest the night before that, perhaps it would best if you didn’t get too comfortable?”

“Spoilsport,” She grumbled before letting Shining Armor go and falling forward onto her belly. “Okay, so um…”

While Sunset let out another yawn, everypony else took a seat in the couches provided, with the stallion that Celestia had sent moving the seat on the far right to the head of the table, between the ones for Shining Armor’s family and Celestia’s. Cadance went to take up the other half of the big couch, hooking her fetlock with Sunsets after she did.

“Oh! Uh, sorry for stepping on your hooves like this,” Sunset told them. “I just...well, I just thought we’d have more time to get you two accustomed to the whole noble thing. Like, years more. After we married Shiny.”

The mention of marriage jolted Shining Armor’s parents out of their state of confusion. “W-What?” Night Light asked.

“Pardon?” Twilight Velvet quickly followed.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t think he wasn’t going to get a title from our relationship, did you?” she asked before quickly shrugging. “Admittedly, any foals we have won’t be princesses, but lots of the minor nobility can trace their lineage back to an alicorn princess, and just about all of the higher houses have pulled a second-born filly or foal from those bloodlines to try and get an alicorn themselves. Not that it’ll actually work, of course.”

Cadance’s eyes went wide for a moment and she gave a little yank on Sunset’s leg, who suddenly winced. There had apparently been something important in that, but Shining Armor didn’t understand what it was.

“We’re still quite a ways off from marriage,” Cadance told them with a light laugh and wave of her hoof.

Twilight Velvet smiled and nodded. “Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about that. But, we would appreciate your help with this, Princess. Er, Princesses.”

Sunset gave her head a quick shake and blinked her eyes a few times. “Okay, so...new staff, accountants, uh...help me out here, Cadance. What else are we gonna need?”

The question got a confused look from the pink princess. “I don’t know anything about this sort of stuff.”

“What’re you talking about? You were granted unclaimed land by Celestia and given three already-made estates during your coronation. Not to mention what the minor houses have given you since,” Sunset pointed out. “Okay sure, it’s probably all in a trust until your turn eighteen. But you have some accountants and property managers to help you manage all that stuff and give you updates, right?”

Cadance started to look from Sunset to the older stallion and then back to Sunset. “Um…”

Sunset’s entire body drooped. “Kibitz, please tell me that Mom set something up to manage the incomes from what Cadance was given when she received a crown.”

“Ah, well...I’m not the pony to ask about that, Princess Sunset. I’m your mother’s majordomo for the palace. Perhaps one of the secretaries would-”

“Make a note to hire Cadance a pony to administer her accounts, a few to manage her estates and a team of surveyors to look over all of the land given to her by Mom to see if it’s just farmland, or if there are valuable minerals to be mined,” Sunset told him.

Night Light chuckled. “My, Princess Sunset, you sure seem to know your way around all these things.”

A second later, Kibitz let out his own chuckle. “Well, Princess Sunset was studying to be-”

“A princess,” Sunset finished for him. “Mom was teaching me everything I needed to know to be a princess.”

Kibitz chuckled again. “Really? Princesses are something you’re born as, as I recall. Now, the position of High Magus, on the other hoof, that requires plenty of knowledge about Equestrian society, a great deal of magical skill, and the ability to blast dozens of pillow-monsters.”

Sunset let out a tiny groan and covered her face with her hooves. “Quick Cadance, banish him! Banish him forever!”

For her part, Cadance giggled. “Wait, isn’t that the same type of game we play with Twily?” she asked.

“You were hoping to become a magus, Princess Sunset?” Twilight Velvet asked.

An embarrassed moan came from the amber alicorn. “High Magus,” she corrected with a little blush while Shining Armor tilted his head in confusion. He had never heard of a High Magus. “Instead of being given an area of Equestria of protect centered around a town, I um, woulda been Mom’s right hoof mare. Taking care of trouble that popped up that she was too busy to deal with all across Equestria, marrying into a powerful noble family like ah...well...House Platinum.”

Cadance gave a long, knowing “Ah,” before smiling. “Technically making you Celestia’s niece.” Her smile died a second later as she blinked. “Wow, no wonder you hated my guts from day one.”

A strange look formed on Sunset’s face as her eyes made like they were miles away for a moment before the door opened to admit the pegasus pony from earlier, wheeling a tray of coffee and tea. He set it out for all the assembled unicorns and made a quick bow before leaving.

“Okay! So...staff!” Sunset exclaimed. “Need staff on the inside, groundskeepers on the outside. Um, better hire out-of-towners. I don’t want some snoop that’s a spy from another house getting in to report back to their bosses.”

Shining Armor raised a hoof. “Uh, do you think we can see the house?” he asked.

After taking a sip of her coffee, Sunset looked over to Shining Armor. “Why’re you asking me, Shiny? It’s your house.”

“Yeah, but...you’re making all of these decisions,” he told her.

Sunset slunk in on herself at the point. “Am I? I’m just telling you all that you need to hire ponies, not telling you the ponies that you’ll need to hire.”

Kibitz cleared his throat, drawing Shining Armor’s attention. “Honestly, Lord Armor, I’d be the one screening applicants. Your parents would have the final say on all hires, of course. But, I can assure you that I am better suited for weeding out the incompetent applicant and liars than most.”

“And Kibitz, look into getting some painters, the house interior and portrait kind. Since we’re going to be taking down a ton of pictures, I don’t want any of those, uh...you know when a painting has been hanging in a place for years, making an outline kind of thing? I don’t want any of those in Shiny’s new house.”

Twilight Velvet looked over to Sunset. “You want us to have a portrait made?”

There was a brief pause from Sunset before she took in a deep breath. “This is going to make me sound so snobbish, but...everypony does it, Mrs Velvet. Considering the amount of parties and other junk you’re going to have to start throwing, you need to have fancy decor everywhere. Which reminds me, we’re also going to need porcelain vases, plates, whole new set of stuff with Shining Armor’s cutie mark.”

“Why mine?” Shining Armor asked.

“It’s your title, Shiny,” Cadance reminded him. “They’re just holding it for you. Since you’re the founder of the house, you need to put your mark on everything. Windows, doors, dinner plates-oh!”

Cadance grinned before leaning over and whispering something into Sunset’s ear. To which the bigger princess gave a tiny frown. “You are such a pervert.”

“That’s not a no,” Cadance replied happily before knocking her hooves together excitedly.

After getting to see Sunset show her embarrassment for a few more seconds, she cleared her throat and went on. “Which reminds me, you need to start thinking of a design for your house name and sigil. Which you’re also going to have to put on another set of everything.”

Twilight Velvet let out a worried groan. “This sounds like it’s getting a bit expensive.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing were rich now, huh?” Night Light said before chuckling. “I’d hate to see our boss’s face if we asked for a cost of living expense raise.”

“Oh, that’s another thing,” Sunset spoke up. “You’re going to have to quit your jobs.”

Before even bothering to look over at his parents, Shining Armor developed a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Despite the awkward schedule it caused at home, Shining Armor knew that both of his parents loved their jobs. They didn’t talk about work when they were home that much, but what he did pick up was that due to one of them being an astronomer while the other being an astrologer, they both shared the workplace without their careers geeing in the way because of the differing fields.

Twilight Velvet gave Sunset a blank look. “But...I like my job.”

“I’m really sorry,” Sunset told her. “It’s...well...okay, you guys don’t really have CEOs, so I can’t really give the whole pony that decides to give himself a raise analogy, but...look, nobles don’t get to have jobs. They drive the economy and invest in it, they don’t...serve as a cog in the machine?” Sunset groaned and reached up to rub her forehead. “Sorry, not really at one-hundred percent here.”

Night Light reached over to hold his wife’s hoof before looking back to Sunset. “But, the guild is run by a noble! Our overseer’s boss’s supervisor reports to him!”

After giving the stallion a nod, Sunset sighed. “Yeah, because he’s the main investor keeping you all paid. Although, I think that Princess Celestia is also subsidizing the whole thing...I’d have to check,” she mumbled more to herself than them before turning her attention back to Night Light. “But, he doesn’t actually do any of the things that keep the place running. He just...makes sure the building is still standing at the end of the day.”

“Hey wait a second,” Shining Armor said as fear started to build in his mind. “Does that mean I can’t be a guard?” A guard was a job, right?

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Um, Shiny? Hard Line was a guard, remember?”

“Technically, being a guard isn’t a job. It’s a service to the public,” Sunset told him. She took a breath and rubbed her eyes. “Look, I know, this is a big change. But, it was an inevitable one, too. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t get you all ready for it in time.”

“But what’re we supposed to do all day?” Twilight Velvet asked in desperation. “I-I’ll enjoy being with Twily more, but she’ll be in magic school a year from now. Am I supposed to just sit around the house all the time?”

“Actually, one of you will be needing to attend court for the next year or so with Mom,” Sunset told Velvet. “And the other one’s going to need to be doing a bit of traveling. House Guard was one of the Ten. You’re going to need to look over your new holdings, make sure everything is on the up and up, and probably replace some-or a lot of staff.”

Twilight Velvet looked back to Shining’s father before asking Sunset another question. “We have to meet with Princess Celestia every day? Why?”

“Because you’re the new favorite,” Sunset told her. “The nobles of Canterlot may be big into business, but they are also like bickering foals, squabbling for their mother’s attention. You need to be there to remind them of that. You’ll go to court, stand around, maybe comment on the rulings of a few audiences, then go eat lunch with Mom before calling it a day.”

A dazed look fell back over Twilight Velvet. “Lunch...with Princess Celestia...for a year,” she said before looking down to her tea. “I’m going to need something a lot stronger than this.”

Cadance got worried as she watched her filly friend continue to blink her eyes several times in an attempt to stay awake. “Sunset, maybe you should go lay down and take a nap. You had a big breakfast, after all.”

“Coffee, had coffee. I’m good,” she assured them before nearly stumbling into a small table with a flower vase on top of it.

Not convinced in the least, Cadance moved to support her before slowing down her pace so Shining Armor could catch up. After guiding Sunset over to her, Cadance threw a wing around the dazed stallion’s back to support him as well. While his family had managed to get over the sheer amount of stuff that they were getting, the changes that becoming part of the nobility was still hitting him hard.

“Hey Cadance, am I gonna have to drop out of school or something?” he asked.

Once she had gotten a wing under Sunset’s barrel, Cadance looked over to their stallion. “Where’d that come from?”

“Don’t nobles get-well, the ones that aren’t in Celestia’s school, I mean, don’t they have private teachers?” he asked.

Cadance sighed. “Shiny, I go to public school, Sunset gave up the private school to go to public school. If you want to keep going to Canterlot Academy, do it. If you don’t...well, do it anyway for now, because making a big life choice after a major change like this isn’t the best idea.”

With her wing on his back, Cadance could feel her stallion’s muscles loosen up just a little. “Okay, that’s...yeah...but, what about my friends?”

“What about your friends?” Cadance asked.

Shining Armor groaned before motioning to himself. “Cadance, I turned into this two days ago, and now I’m rich. Like, super-impossible, buy the bank that owns the mortgage on a pony’s house if they don’t sell to me and foreclose on them rich. I’m basically, Buck Withers now!”

The mention of the stallion’s name brought Sunset’s head up as she wildly looked around like a dog that had been told there was a squirrel nearby. “Huh? What? Where? Where’s Buck? Is he trying to pick on Shiny again?”

Cadance sighed and put a hoof on the amber alicorn’s side. “Down girl,” she ordered. “Think somepony decided to give you decaf.” Which made her wonder if was an honest mistake, or somepony being a...dick, as Sunset like to say. Considering the importance of Sunset being awake when she wanted to, that was probably enough to cost a pony their job. Ugh, and now I’m thinking...well, is this how Princess Celestia thinks? Considering every little thing at all the possible angles?

The thought left a bad feeling in Cadance’s mouth before she shook her head to clear it and looked over to Shining Armor. “Okay, so...you think you’re Celestia’s gift to mares now and had the irresistible urge to attack me?”

“Um...n-no,” Shiny admitted.

Cadance smirked. “Well, you certainly don’t sound or act like a violent jerk.”

“Yeah, but...you know...money,” Shining Armor told her pathetically.

With Shiny bringing up the one thing that may change things, Cadance began her verbal tip-toeing. “Well, you’re probably going to have to be the guy that always pays for the snacks when the guys comes over and I doubt we’ll ever have a game anywhere else other than your new house once the renovations are complete. But, how things change more than that is more up to them than you.”

Shining Armor cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”

“Shiny, you know how I’m from a middle of nowhere little village, right?” Cadance asked. “The kind that doesn’t really get any help at all from anypony. Well, about a week after I became a princess officially, I started getting some requests from back home. Some were reasonable, some were...not. If your friends are really your friends, they won’t make unreasonable requests.” It wasn’t the answer he was hoping for, but it was the one he needed.

When they got to the ambassadorial quarters, Cadance kissed him on the cheek. “Now, let’s go play with the girls, shall we? They’re not going to care about some silly little title,” she promised him.

After she opened the door, Sunset stumbled through before the other two with a yawn. “Hey girls, what’s going-”

“PRINCESS SUNSET!” a little purple bolt asked before it stopped to take the form of Twilight. “Is it true? Did Princess Celestia give a lordship to Shiny? Does that make me a Lady, now? Or do you have to make me one?”

Rarity was behind her a moment later, except she ignored Sunset to go straight to the colt of the group. “Lord Shining Armor,” she said before dipping into a curtsy. “How delighted I am to make your acquaintance.”

“Okay, well, most of them aren’t going to care about your silly little title,” Cadance corrected herself.

Thankfully, Shining Armor was able to grin the introduction off. “Rarity, we met two days ago. I gave you my ice cream after yours got dropped.”

A tiny blush appeared on the unicorn’s cheeks. “Yes, well, I still have a slip with my horn from time to time.”

“I’ll Lady you!” Sunset told Twily happily before she moved to pin the little unicorn with her nose and… “Pfbttttt!” Twily laughed at Sunset’s breathing on her belly set the foal into a fit of wild kicking.

Cadance took that as her lead. “So, ignoring a pony of higher standing to talk with a mere Lord, huh?” she asked before stepping forward to look down at Rarity. “I think somepony needs to be punished for such insolence!”

“W-What?” the older unicorn foal asked before Cadance pounced. Rarity’s eyes went wide as the pink princess came nearer and she held out her forelegs. “Oh no! Princess! I meant no disrespect-Bwahahahahahahaha!”

“Hey, what so funny out here?” Both Cadance and Sunset looked up from their respective prisoners to see Rainbow Dash entering the room with Fluttershy right behind her, peeking over the more outgoing pony’s shoulders.

Sunset looked over to Cadance. “Did they forget to bow to us when entering the room?” she asked with a smile; previous exhaustion apparently forgotten in the face of the fillies.

“Yes. Yes they did,” Cadance agreed before scooping Rarity up with one of her wings. “I call Dashie.”

Sunset followed suit with Twilight. “Then Flutters is mine!”

“Meaning Applejack is the tie breaker!”

The girls played their little run around game for an hour, tickling the girls and releasing them to chase them down again. Pillows were thrown, which Sunset acted as if they killed her at one point before the ponies foolish enough to check on her were quickly subdued.

Twilight called for a set of rules to be applied to their nameless game.

To which all the other fillies responded by covering her in the sewn sacks of feathers and cotton.

However, whatever second wind Sunset caught managed to escape not long after she got it. Luckily for her image, whatever the girls had been up to the night before had them joining in her yawning before she just fell back on the thick rug next to the main room’s fireplace. An action that got Twilight cuddling up on her barrel before Rarity agreed to take a short break and digging into Sunset’s left side, with Applejack taking her right. Fluttershy was the last to join in willingly as she laid down on Sunset’s wing. Rainbow Dash commented how she didn’t need a nap before Sunset yanked her out of the sky to bundle her up in her other wing. She was also the first one to fall asleep.

As the five foals slumbered atop the big pony, the parents finished getting everything packed before exchanging pleasantries with Princess Cadance and Lord Shining Armor, even if the title wasn’t quite his just yet. However, when Princess Celestia came into the room, she wasn’t very pleased to see what was going on, even less to learn what had transpired. She was so distraught that she made her pleasure known by plopping down on the ground, crossing her forelegs, and puffing out her cheeks in an indignant matter.

“Are you seriously pouting because you didn’t get to play a glorified game of tag with a bunch of fillies?” Cadance deadpanned.

Celestia promptly humphed. “Yes. Yes I am.”

“...I’m keeping the High-Princess position,” Cadance told her in a deadpan voice.

With a great deal of difficulty, Shining Armor turned his attention away from the pair of alicorns and back to the five foals that had pinned the most powerful pony on the planet. “So, um...should we wake them?”

Cadance gave a dejected sigh. “Yes. The parents will be back any minute.”

“Okay,” Shining Armor said before trotting up to take his little sister up in his magic.

Unfortunately, the tiny purple fuzzball stirred from her sleep. “Huh? Wha? Shiny?” Twilight asked before letting out a yawn and looking around with sleepy eyes. “Where’s Princess Sunset and my friends?”

Shining Armor blinked. “Friends? You made friends with those fillies, Twily?”

“Physical proximity and…” she paused to yawn. “...mental images of them generates a feeling of mutual affection,” Twily said. “So...friends.”

Being as careful as he could, Shining Armor set his sister on his back. “Well, it’s time for them to go home.”

“They coming back soon?” Twilight asked as her eyes closed again.

Shining Armor smiled. “Hopefully.”

“...good.”

As Twilight fell back asleep, Shining Armor spared another look towards the princesses while Celestia took the fillies in her magic and Cadance shook Sunset awake. A funny realization came over him as he turned away from the trio to head down the hallway. Since meeting Sunset, he had watched her fight dragons, bullies, break the laws of magic, cause earthquakes and destroy a god of destruction’s avatar with a single hoof to the face.

But finding ponies that Twilight Sparkle could actually make friends with?

That was an achievement.

Once all the foals had been set home with their mothers, Celestia found herself looking down at her sleeping daughter, curled up with a content smile as if she was some kind of overgrown cat with wings and a horn. It a sight Celestia hated to ruin, but she needed to get Sunset into a real bed. So she took a moment to wrap her in a spell to ensure her sleep wasn’t disturbed, then carefully carried her into one of the nearby bedrooms before setting her down and pulling the sheets over most of her body.

“Well, that was the last one,” Cadance said as she trotted into the room. “I sent one of the maids with Cookie to make sure she got home and had everything she needed. How’s Sunset?”

Celestia smiled. “Good,” she said both commenting and replying to the question.

“No more nightmares?” Cadance asked.

The question had Celestia guiding her adopted niece out of the door a few moments later. She put a spell around the living room a moment later to make sure nopony would be able to hear them. “There’s something I need to tell you about that. You were right,” she said. “Nightmare Moon was delving into Sunset’s dreams and magnifying her fears to an uncontrollable degree. Last night, I traveled to the Moon and...dealt with her.”

With the way that her relationship had been going with Cadance, Celestia planted herself and prepared for the worst. There would be shouting, probably a few things thrown, and an honest assessment of her intelligence from an extremely biased source, but she could deal with it. So long as she could explain to Cadance what was going on. After all, if she told Sunset about Nightmare Moon, Celestia’s deal would still be broken.

Seconds ticked by. Cadance’s ears drooped and she bowed her head. “Oh Celestia, I’m so sorry.”

“...eh?” she asked, completely thrown off by the response.

Cadance quickly moved forward and wrapped the bigger pony in a hug. “You must be going through so much right now,” the pink princess said as Celestia continued to wonder just what was going on. “We-we’ll have a memorial for her. For Luna, your little sister. Everypony will learn how wonderful she was and-”

“Wait,” Celestia interrupted. “What? Cadance, what’re you talking about?”

After pulling back to they could see each other eye to eye, Cadance blinked. “Your sister, who was attacking Sunset. I’m talking about how you made a hard choice that nopony should ever have to make and went to the Moon to kill her.”

“It’s rather disturbing how quickly you jumped to that particular conclusion,” Celestia deadpanned before she sighed and raised a hoof to rub her head for a second. “And no. I literally dealt with her. As in I went to the Moon, and made a deal with Nightmare Moon so that she would no longer harass Sunset, you or me.”

Cadance stared at Celestia for several seconds before turning her head to the side just a little and giving her a very cautious frown. “Okay, I may not know much about everything involved, but that sounds like a very risky move.”

A nod of agreement preceded Celestia’s response. “It was. So close to my sister’s power source, I needed Nightmare Moon’s help just to leave the rock. But, a deal was struck. Sunset’s fears will no longer be fed as they were before.”

While Celestia knew that such fears had to grow from somewhere, and that Sunset’s original startling statement about her life was probably not the work of Nightmare Moon’s interference, her daughter could finally heal without all of her efforts being destroyed by that thing coming along to rip off the proverbial scab so that she had to start all over again.

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “And what did you have to do in return?” she asked.

“In return for her for leaving you, me and Sunset alone, neither of us will reveal her existence to Sunset,” Celestia explained. “Also, when Nightmare Moon does break free of her imprisonment, I will confront her alone. The agreement was sealed with magic. If one of us breaks it, that pony’s life will immediately end.”

Cadance’s eye twitched as she stared at Celestia for several seconds before finally throwing out her wings in a display of anger and speaking.

“ARE YOU A SPECIAL KIND OF CRAZY?”

Once her mane stopped being blown around from the force of Cadance’s voice, Celestia sighed. However, the pink princess continued to lay into her. “You know, when Sunset revealed to be some kind of super god-being, or at least when everypony calmed the buck down about it, I thought, maybe just MAYBE you might think to yourself ‘Oh, my daughter is powerful enough to easily defeat my sister, looks like I don’t have to die after all and spare her unimaginable suffering’. But nooooooo,” Cadance drawled out before her words become more of a primal neigh. “I just...you just...GAAAAAAAAH!”

Celestia watched as Cadance trotted back and forth in a complete fit. “Did you actually expect me to have my daughter kill my sister?” Celestia asked calmly with some effort. Even though that might have been the outcome if Nightmare Moon’s survival instincts hadn’t been enough to let Celestia go, it was a risk she had been willing to take for Sunset’s continued survival.

“No!” Cadance said as she stopped pacing and turned to face Celestia. “I expected Sunset to SAVE YOUR SISTER!” As Cadance took in a breath, she began to slowly trot towards the bigger alicorn. “It’s just like this whole mess with Sunset! Except instead of never seeing your daughter as anything more than a student, even when you were acting like a mother to her with half of your oversized plot, all you can see this long road that you’ve been walking for nine-hundred years is death!”

Celestia’s shoulders slumped. “Cadance, you don’t understand. I tried to save her. I used the most powerful magic there is, the same power that Sunset has found a way to tap into. Even then, all I could do was-”

“NO!” Cadance shouted, cutting her off with a hoof to Celestia’s mouth. “You do not get to talk about this anymore! You gave up! Now, I may have one hay of a job in front of me since I can't tell the super alicorn about it without killing her mother, but I will find a way. And when I do, after you’re done hugging it out with your baby sister, you’re going to get on your belly and thank me after admitting how stupid you are!”

Before Celestia could reply to the fuming alicorn, Cadance spun around and trotted to the door before opening it and slamming it shut behind her in a magical fury, leaving the white pony to sit silently as she tried to sort through what had just happened before other ideas began to form in her head.

With that newfound assuredness Cadance had found, Celestia couldn’t help but wonder...