Twilight Sparkle once told me, I don’t remember when or where, that every essay she did went through at least four drafts.

I remember laughing at that. Four drafts? What effort! I only ever go through one or two designs for my dresses; maybe three if I’m feeling particularly perfectionist.

Well.

I understand her now as I sit here after having gone through more versions of this tale than I would like to admit. Isn’t it ever so frustrating when things don’t work out the first time around? When a dress doesn’t look as fabulous as you’d wish; when a student doesn’t learn what you wanted her to learn; when a sister cares little for what others think; when a dinner does not go exactly as planned.

If things worked out perfectly at first, life would be so much easier.

I would also have no story to tell, and this I promise is a story worth telling.

A story that begins with two very separate events.

There is a tradition in Canterlot City’s grandest brothel where once a month all the good little girls and good little boys of the establishment stride into the common lounge and drink, drink, drink. We drink until stress has washed away, until indiscretion joins us all, and until someone﹘usually me﹘asks the question that we will discuss throughout the night.

One such time, a lovely lady by the name of Sweet Liquor took a swig of whatever she was drinking and posed a question to the room.

“Why?”

We looked at her, our own unasked question hanging in the air.

Why what?

“Why did a wealthy heiress like Lady Luna open a brothel?”

Four theories were proposed that night.

The first, laid out by my darling Big Mac - a man of few words - proposed that it was none of our ‘darn’ business. We collectively decided that he was being a party-pooper.

The second, laid out by Ripple Seas, proposed that it was rebellion against her deceased parents who’d tried to raise her to be as uptight as they themselves had been.

The third, drunkenly slurred by Lily Petal, proposed that Lady Luna was actually the adopted child of a deceased prostitute; a dark secret Lady Luna had discovered when she was sixteen and decided to honor by using her inheritance to protect those like her dead mother.

I gave out the last proposal while lying on my chaise longue and swishing wine in my glass in a way I thought made me look mysterious.

“I bet she fell in love with one of us,” I said, ever the romantic, months before I even met Twilight Sparkle. “She fell in love, her parents forbade it, and when she tried to elope with her beloved Lady Luna discovered her lover had run away. So she opened the brothel in hopes that she might one day return.”

They called me dramatic. They called me a hopeless romantic who’d read one too many tragic romances. And we never did settle on which theory was right.

They would never know, of course, but I would.

“You don’t understand,” I sobbed as I lay on my bed, gripping a pillowcase tightly, tightly, tightly because I had been a fool. A fool who’d fallen into her own trap and had been left with a shredded heart. “You can’t possibly understand,” I said to one of the few people that actually could.

She loomed over me, the Lady of the Night, and surprised me when she sat down at the edge of my bed, her hands folded over her lap as she simply let me cry.

“Why?” I asked her suddenly, desperate for someone to blame and finding no one but the owner of the Sapphire Carousel herself. Lady Celestia had blamed her so many times. Why shouldn’t I? “Why did you open a brothel? Why you, of all people? Why?”

“I made a promise,” she said, “to a dear old friend.”

The second event began with my favorite person in this dreary awful world.

Twilight Sparkle didn’t have many friends, and as much as I found that to be a little sad, she was perfectly content with it.

She had her books, she had her teacher, she had a loose-lipped butler, she had a student, and she had a stunningly beautiful friend who tripped over herself trying to seduce her.

Allegedly tripped over herself, mind you. This is yet to be a verified fact, but it’s highly unlikely to be true.

The autumn leaves crackled in protest when Twilight stepped on them, her eyes glued to the lines in a book on magical thermodynamics. She did not see the children running past her, did not see the policeman dragging a frail vagrant away, did not see much of anything unless it interested her.

I think, ultimately, this is why it took her so long to discover my secret.

Someone as frighteningly smart as she was could be so very blind to what did not personally interest her.

It is also why she so rudely slammed into someone, her book falling to the ground and her self following shortly after, two sets of high-pitched yelps ringing in the air.

“O-Oh my! Are you all right?!”

Dazed and distracted, my beloved wanted to tell the lovely lady that she was anything but all right. The pavement was not forgiving with scholars who did not exercise too much, but her warm bulky outfit had kindly taken the brunt of the fall.

When she opened her eyes, sitting up on the ground, she saw an awkward young thing towering over her, her long pink hair tied up in a ponytail.

“I…” Twilight looked around and her expression fell at the sight of her book sprawled on the ground, the front page torn clean off. “Ah…”

“Oh no! Your book!” exclaimed the poor girl, stepping back and clutching her handbag to her chest as though she wanted to disappear behind it. “I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry,” Twilight replied, her words as heavy as her heart. “It’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

While Twilight painfully got to her feet, the woman let go of her bag and bent down to pick up the book and the page. She then placed the latter back where it belonged and winced when it pitifully slipped out again.

“Oh! One second,” she blurted out, flailing her arm around and trying to catch the page. She smiled victoriously when she caught it, put it back in its place and then finally turned to Twilight, offering the book. “Here you are.”

“Thank you,” Twilight replied, taking the book back and then…

Well, standing there quite unsure of what to do, and the mysterious young woman did the same. They just stood there for about ten seconds or so, blinking at each other as you do when you’re either a socially-inept bookworm and/or a terribly shy recluse.

I say both those things lovingly, I promise.

“Right,” said Twilight, re-adjusting her grip on her book.

“Yes,” said the woman, fiddling with her hair.

Eventually, Twilight remembered she had manners and awkwardly introduced herself as one should do with a pretty girl one has quite literally hit on.

“I'm Twilight Sparkle,” she said and offered a smile. “I’m sorry for bumping into you.”

The woman blinked at her and eventually returned the smile. “I’m Fluttershy,” she said. “It’s nice to, uh…” She giggled and it was adorable, I assure you. “‘Bump’ into you.”

A laugh was shared between them, and whatever awkwardness they’d felt washed away.

Twilight looked around and noticed they were standing in front of a large half-open silver gate, the vines covering it almost hiding away the large garden and even larger mansion Twilight caught a glimpse of.

“Is this where you live?” she asked innocently, something about it striking her as oddly familiar.

“Oh, yes,” said Fluttershy, “with my parents.”

Twilight nodded absent-mindedly, her mind already lost in trying to remember why exactly this strange mansion seemed familiar. She thought, and thought, until finally, it hit her.

“Wait,” she said, and whipping her head around, what did she see on the other side of the street but Lady Celestia’s beautiful towering estate and the bedroom window from which Twilight had seen this other mansion countless times. “This is your house?!”

Fluttershy nodded, a little confused by Twilight’s surprise. “Yes,” she said. “Do you live near here?”

“Yes, actually,” said my beloved and gestured to the Lady’s mansion. “Over there.”

And now it was Fluttershy’s turn to be shocked.

“You live there?” she asked, gripping her handbag and Twilight noticed her stepping back. “With Lady Celestia?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, and she almost wanted to ask if there was something wrong with the fact. “I’m her student. I’ve been living here for a while now.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, her nose crinkling and her voice falling to a whisper.

Oh.

Please bear in mind she did not mean ill, but she could not help it. She couldn’t help what she knew, who she knew, and the fact that she, like many others, had a reason to react strangely upon meeting Lady Celestia’s personal protégée.

She couldn’t help that she now saw Twilight in a much less favorable light, which was no fault of my beloved.

She didn’t know, after all, that as much as she was Celestia’s new student, to people looking in from the outside she also risked looking like something else.

A replacement.

But more on that later, or, actually, more on that now because Twilight Sparkle did not quite understand why this lovely girl suddenly seemed obviously discomforted by her presence. She did not understand why Fluttershy smiled painfully and quickly stammered that it was so nice to meet her before offering an excuse and running back into her house, the gates closing behind her.

Twilight, my poor darling beloved, stayed there for about a minute, thinking. Had she said something wrong? She mentally reviewed her conversation and found nothing indicated that a faux pas had been made.

Defeated, she decided she’d simply review the interaction with me the next time we were together. A second pair of eyes always helped, she thought, especially when it was the eyes of a lovely girl such as myself.

She arrived to the mansion several minutes later and wandered into the kitchens where she could usually find dear Flint doing something or other to ease his insatiable appetite.

“Something wrong, child?” he asked as he chopped vegetables, his previous formalities having dropped away after weeks of Twilight living in the mansion.

“No,” Twilight said at first, sitting on a bench and levitating an apple over. “I did meet the neighbors, though.”

“The neighbors?” he asked, carelessly dumping his uneven carrots into a bowl before moving on to the tomatoes. “Which ones?”

“The ones from the house in front of us,” she elaborated. “I met their daughter? Fluttershy.”

Flint sighed wistfully. “Ah, Miss Fluttershy. Hard to find a kinder girl,” he said, and Twilight was unsure whether she agreed.

“You know her?”

“I do,” he said absentmindedly and admittedly carelessly, having apparently forgotten who he was addressing. “She used to come here to play all the time with the cat and the young miss.”

This caught Twilight’s attention.

“The young miss? What young miss? You mean like a child?” she asked at once, for my dear beloved had not forgotten the mystery of Lady Celestia’s manor, and what a winning smile she sported when Flint yelped.

“Ah fiddlesticks,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I knew it!” gasped Twilight with wholly inappropriate delight. “There was a child living here!”

“Hah!” he said dropping any pretense of keeping secrets. “I wouldn’t call her a child no more.” He put down the knife and before Twilight could bombard him with questions, he intercepted her. “Yes. There was a girl living here before as the Missus’ protégée.” He then picked up his knife again and pointed it at Twilight. “And that’s all you’re hearing on the matter or saying on the matter. That’s private.”

“But Flint!” protested Twilight.

How could he go silent now, and especially after giving her that tidbit of information? Lady Celestia had a protégée before her? Where was she? Who was she? And, more importantly, why did no one ever mention her?

“Are we having a secret house meeting?” asked the Lady of the house, stepping into the kitchen quite unannounced.

Flint immediately looked at Twilight, his narrowed eyes conveying the age-old saying of snitches get stitches, which was all the more threatening considering he was holding a sharp knife in his chubby little hand.

Unfortunately for him, Twilight loved information more than she feared sharp objects.

“Lady Celestia,” said Twilight brightly, ignoring the poor servant’s murderous expression. “I met the daughter of our neighbors today! A girl called Fluttershy.”

“Did you?” asked the Lady, stepping further into the kitchen and levitating Twilight’s apple straight out her hand. She took a bite, which I’m sure she thought made her look cheeky, and continued to speak. “She’s a very nice girl.”

“Yes,” Twilight said, and then offered Flint an apologetic look before adding quite innocently, “Apparently she used to play with a girl who lived here? Is that true?”

Crunch.

Lady Celestia wasn’t one to bit into apples in such an unladylike way, but considering the question, well…

One, two, three seconds passed in which the Lady swallowed the metaphorical and physical lump in her throat, and after a quick glance at the shrugging manservant, she smiled the smile she always had plastered on her face.

“Yes, it is, Twilight,” she said quite casually. “I used to have a student living with me here, but she moved out several years ago to—” She faltered. She faltered, and her nose crinkled in that way it does when trying to put in pleasant terms something decidedly unpleasant. “Pursue a career.”

“Oh,” said Twilight, her shoulder slumping,

Well! Well, that certainly wasn’t as exciting as she’d expected, even though she wasn’t sure what she expected in the first place. Why would pursuing a career make someone seem so thoroughly taboo? Did the Lady miss her former protégée, perhaps? A sting of jealousy flashed through Twilight’s heart.

Well then.

“You know, Flint, we haven’t had Summer Breeze and her daughter over for dinner in a while, have we?” the Lady asked, eager as always to move the topic away from improper things. “Why don’t we have them over for dinner on Wednesday?” She turned to Twilight. “What do you think? It might be good to get to know Fluttershy better. Books can’t be your only friends, Twilight.”

“I-I have friends!” Twilight hotly protested, even if by friends she meant me and maybe my sister.

The Lady smiled. “Having one more wouldn’t hurt.”

Two separate events with two separate people.

One, the wealthy owner of the city’s most infamous cabaret and brothel; the other, the pleasant and proper girl next door.

Two events that would be brought together in a simple dinner that I, personally, would kill to have witnessed.

The next Wednesday afternoon, Twilight found herself in her room, engaged in her very favorite activity until three knocks at the door pulled her away from her book.

“Child!” Flint called from beyond the door, practiced aggravation lacing his tone. “Are you ready?!”

Putting her book down, my beloved got up and made her way towards the door, opening it and revealing to him that she was all dressed up and ready to go.

“Oh!” he said, his tone softening. “You are! Look at that.”

“I’m always ready on time,” Twilight pointed out and raised an eyebrow. “Why are you always surprised that I am?”

He grumbled. “Old habits.”

Twilight grinned. “You mean the girl who used to live here?”

“Twilight,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

“Sorry,” she said, even if she wasn’t, and even if she wished this infamous former protégée wasn’t such a secret. She offered a polite smile. “How can I help?”

He stepped to the side and gestured her out. “You can help by distracting someone for me!”

“Distracting someone?” she asked, too curious to protest the fact that she was Flint’s personal lackey more often than not. “Who? The neighbors? Aren’t they a little early?”

“It’s not the neighbors,” he said. “It’s the Lady’s sister.”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat.

“Lady Luna? She’s here?” she asked, the poor dear unable to withhold her enthusiasm. She’d never met her before, you see, and anyone related to Lady Celestia was an endless source of intrigue for her. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” he said and wagged a finger at her as though she were a child. “Don’t look so excited, either! It’s a right mess, it is!”

“What? Why?” Her eyes narrowed on the poor butler. “What’s going on, Flint?”

Flint gave her a hard stare and made a choice.

“Family issues. The Lady doesn’t approve of her sister’s business decisions,” he said gruffly. “Anyway, it’s none of your concern.” He waved her off towards the hallway. “Now, off you go!”

My beloved rushed away but stopped when he called out to her.

“Wait, wait!” he exclaimed, and when she turned to him, his chubby hands balled into fists.

She faltered. “...Yes?”

One, two, three seconds passed until he unclenched his hands. “No, nevermind, nevermind. You’ll be fine,” he said, much more to himself than to her. “Off you go! She’s in the library!”

Though she wanted to inquire about his odd behavior, her chance to do so washed away when he turned around and ambled off, leaving her with no other choice but to do the same.

When Twilight reached the library a minute later, she peeked in and found my dearest employer looking through a book. Even from the back, Twilight found Lady Luna just as imposing as Lady Celestia herself. Tall, tanned (God knows how in this cloudy city), and wearing a black cloak that looked straight out of a dark and broody novel, Lady Luna looked very out-of-place in that bright, white mansion.

“Er, hello?” said my beloved and felt the room’s temperature drop when Lady Luna’s book promptly closed with a snap.

Without a word to Twilight, she put the book back in its place and only then did she turn around to stare at the awkwardly smiling girl. An eternity seemed to pass, Twilight smiling and Luna staring, until Twilight felt more than uncomfortable and cleared her throat.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she continued, stepping further into the room. “I’m—”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Lady Luna cut her off. “Daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light.”

“Er, yes!” exclaimed Twilight, feeling encouraged by the fact Lady Luna knew her. “It’s very nice to meet you. Lady Celestia has told me much about you.”

“Oh?” asked the Lady, and for the first time, she smiled. “Has she?”

Twilight returned the smile. “Yes, she—”

“Yes, she has!” a voice interrupted, shortly followed by Lady Celestia herself walking into the room, more than a little short of breath.

“Lady Celestia,” exclaimed Twilight, surprised to see her mentor in such a state. Was she that excited to see Lady Luna? “Is everything all right?”

“Of course!” the Lady exclaimed, a smile setting on her lovely face. “I simply had to rush here once I heard Luna was here!” She set her eyes on Luna. “Sister, I’m delighted to see you!”

My Lady was direct.

“That would be a first, dear Sister.”

Lady Celestia laughed, stepping towards Twilight and putting a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. “Oh Luna, you and your strange sense of humor.”

“As always, dear sister, you and I have most different definitions of humor,” replied my Lady. Her eyes then went back to Twilight, who looked prim and proper in her formal attire, and she looked back to Celestia who was in a fetching gown herself. “Are you going out for the evening?”

Lady Celestia’s smile thinned and Twilight was surprised to feel Celestia’s grip on her shoulder tighten. “We’re expecting guests for dinner any minute now,” the Lady explained. “Your visit is a bit untimely, unfortunately.”

“That would not be a first,” she said. “I was hoping to discuss the incident with the Mayor with you, but I can return tomorrow if that would be more convenient.”

The Lady loosened her death grip on poor Twilight’s shoulder.

“Yes, it would!” she said at once, and now her smile was almost genuine. “Thank you for understanding.”

My Lady nodded. “Of course,” she said and then added with all the innocence in the world, “Who are you expecting?”

Twilight nearly yelped when fingers dug into her.

“Breeze and her daughter,” said the Lady in a measured tone, and my Lady’s smile turned absolutely predatory.

“Breeze? Summer Breeze?” she asked. “I was planning on heading home, but I would be most delighted to join you all for dinner if you would allow it, Tia.”

“Some other time might be best, Lulu,” said the Lady with a glacial smile. “Now, it is getting late, and—”

The clearing of a throat interrupted her, and all three women turned around to find Flint in the hallway.

“My Lady,” he said, looking pained. “Madame Breeze and her daughter are here.”

“Should I take the back door then?” Luna asked next, smiling when her sister shot her a glare.

“For heaven’s sake, Luna,” she scolded, and she was not very subtle when she looked at Twilight. “Can you stop acting like a child?” Without giving Lady Luna time to reply, she let go of Twilight and ushered her out. “Twilight, go with Flint and greet our guests. We’ll be right down.”

Grateful to get out of whatever was happening between the two sisters, Twilight nodded and followed Flint away from the library.

“You weren’t lying about family issues,” Twilight said as they walked. “Is the Lady really that upset over Lady Luna having a theatre?”

“A theatre?” Flint asked. “Who told you she has a theatre?”

Twilight blinked. “...Lady Celestia?” she said as though it were obvious. “She told me she has a theatre in the Lunar District.” She narrowed her eyes. “Doesn’t she?”

“W-what? Yes, she does!” he blurted out, which wasn’t a lie per se. “Now, hurry it up!” He opened the door to the foyer and gestured Twilight in. “In you go!”

And, despite her lingering apprehension at Fluttershy’s earlier odd behaviour, in she went to meet Fluttershy and her mother, Summer Breeze .

The first thing Twilight noticed when she stepped into the foyer was how nice Madame Breeze seemed. How nice in her ravishing white gown, how nice with her beautifully combed golden locks, how nice with her nice little smile and her nice little manicure and her nice little everything.

The second thing she noticed was Fluttershy, who had seemingly reverted back to her awkward but polite disposition. A smile graced her lips when Twilight stepped in, and she even went as far as timidly waving.

“Why, hello!” said Madame Breeze, moving forward. “You must be Twilight!”

“Hello,” Twilight greeted at once, walking towards the two women and extending her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Twilight, the pleasure is mine!” said Breeze and then gestured to her daughter. “And you’ve met my daughter already, haven’t you? Say hello, dear.”

“Hello,” said Fluttershy, stepping forwards and extending her hand with more warmth than Twilight had anticipated. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Summer! Fluttershy! You’re here!”

Lady Celestia’s voice filled the room, and Twilight turned around to find the Lady stepping into the room looking relaxed and carefree and totally unlike how she had been not even five minutes ago.

A grinning Lady Luna stepped in not even a second later, and though Twilight was too socially unaware to notice such an inane detail, Madame Breeze’s hand immediately reached out to grip her daughter’s arm.

“Ladies,” she said after a split-second recovery, her perfectly nice smile displayed for all to see. “How lovely it is to see you both!”

“I’m sure,” replied Lady Luna before quickly being drowned out by a very enthusiastic Lady Celestia.

“I’m so glad you could make it! It’s been far too long.” She joined Twilight and, as she had before, put her hand on my beloved’s shoulder and looked at Fluttershy. “Especially you, Fluttershy. And, before you ask about Opalescence…” She giggled when Fluttershy denied that she’d intended on doing that. “I’m afraid that my cat now lives with Luna.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” said Fluttershy, leaving Twilight with the distinct impression she was missing some sort of vital context.

“I don’t mean to hurry things along, but,” continued the Lady, gesturing Twilight and the two guests towards the general direction of the dining room, “why don’t you three head to the dining room while I see my sister off?”

“Oh?” asked Madame Breeze in her high-pitched dulcet tones, fluttering her eyelashes at Luna. “You’re not staying for dinner?”

Again, Twilight Sparkle felt her teacher’s nails dig ever so slightly into her shoulder, relaxing only when Luna spoke.

“No,” she said, and then ignored Celestia’s burning stare as she continued. “It would be most improper for me to attend a dinner uninvited, and I know you value the most proper things, Summer.”

“Oh, I do,” replied Madame Breeze, “but you’ve always been an odd duck ever since we were children, haven’t you, Lulu?”

“Twilight,” Celestia cut off, her tone much less enthusiastic. “Why don’t you and Fluttershy go ahead?”

“No, no!” exclaimed Madame Breeze. “Let’s all go! And,” she said, and I am sure she knew very well what she was doing when she did so, “if Luna is able, I would love for her to stay.”

“I really don’t think she can,” Celestia cut her off with a strangled laugh. “I can’t remember the last time Luna ever agreed to stay when I invited her for a last-minute dinner!”

“Then tonight will be a new first, dear sister,” said my Lady with a wide smile. “After you, please.”

What a beautiful Wednesday evening in the Celestial household! A lady of the day drank wine to tolerate her sister, a dame of the breeze spread her bread with jam and her words with insinuations, a lady of the night drank a vodka as transparent as her intentions, an awkward daughter wished she was as invisible as the minuscule portions of food on her plate, and a student…

A student tried her best to keep a sunny disposition and dispensed the appropriate remark for when you’ve really run out of conversation.

“The food is really good,” she said, poking at her cold, soggy and untouched meatloaf.

“Too good to eat?” asked Luna, and my poor beloved couldn’t help a blush.

“Well, I think it’s delicious, Celestia,” said Madame Breeze at once, and then turned to her daughter. “Fluttershy loves it as well, don’t you, dear?”

Fluttershy coughed. “Oh, yes.”

The Lady took a discreet but long, long sip of wine.

“And how are your studies going, Fluttershy?” she asked promptly, putting poor Fluttershy on the spot if only because no one at that table should have reason to be catty over such a darling girl.

“Oh, well, I—”

“They’re going wonderfully!” cut off her mother as she always did. “She’s the top of her class, you know?”

“What do you study exactly?” Twilight asked, excited to have something interesting to discuss. Did she study magic? Dancing? She seemed like a dancer. Or maybe—

“Business management,” she replied, which pleased her mother.

“Business management?” Twilight asked, surprised. She hadn’t really pegged Fluttershy as a businesswoman.

Lady Luna hadn’t either.

“What kind of businesses are you interested in?” she asked, and Madame Breeze froze up so noticeably that Luna glanced at her and smiled politely. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on hiring anyone today.”

“Luna,” hissed Lady Celestia.

“What business did you say you were interested in?” Twilight asked loudly.

“Animal sanctuaries,” said Fluttershy after a timid glance at her mother, whom was not pleased by her answer but was polite enough to not voice her dissatisfaction in front of individuals who clearly had worse aspirations in life.

“Oh! How interesting. I’ve noticed there’s a lot of wild animals in this neighborhood.”

“What about you, Twilight?” asked Madame Breeze, and suddenly every eye was set on my beloved. She felt as though she was being examined, and make no mistake, this was the case. “How are your magic lessons going?”

Twilight faltered, embarrassed to answer that question in front of her teacher.

“Twilight’s an extraordinary student,” the Lady replied in her stead, and Twilight let out a breath of relief.

“I don’t doubt it,” replied Lady Breeze and then displayed her inability to resist stoking the flames. “And such a proper girl, too,” she said as she winked at the Lady. “It would seem that, in this case, second time’s the charm, hm?”

It always is very entertaining when a single sentence evokes such different reactions.

From Twilight, confusion.

From Lady Celestia, a stiff smile.

From Lady Luna, a glacial stare.

And from Fluttershy, my blessed brave girl…

Like nails dragging on a blackboard, Fluttershy’s chair pulled back and the gangly woman stood up, pale as the white mansion itself.

“Excuse me, Lady Celestia,” she said, hands trembling as she grabbed her plate. “May I serve myself more?”

“Fluttershy, sit down! Where are your manners?!” scolded Madame Breeze. “Ring the be—”

“Of course, Fluttershy,” Lady Celestia interrupted, and she gestured to the kitchen. “Serve yourself as much as you want.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said quietly before turning around, marching off and disappearing into the hallway.

“Twilight,” Celestia said next, a soft but commanding tone to her voice. “Why don’t you go with her and make sure she doesn’t get lost?” she asked on behalf of a girl who’d played in that mansion dozens of times before.

“Yes, teacher,” Twilight said, getting up and doing as told, marching off after Fluttershy, into the hallway and…

And then, waiting about one or two seconds before hiding in the hallway and listening in to a conversation she could not resist. They were, after all, talking about the other girl, weren’t they? Celestia’s first attempt, no?

Lady Luna wasted no time.

“Second time’s the charm?”

Madame Breeze rolled her eyes so far, she probably saw the back of her head.

“Oh, get off your high horse, will you? It was just a comment.” She took her glass of wine and swished it around. “I hope you realize no one is buying into your little goody-two shoes act.”

“Stop,” Celestia said. “If you two are incapable of having a civil conver—”

“Civil conversation?” asked Luna, her eyes boring into Madame Breeze. “That would require having someone civilized to converse with.”

The Madame laughed. “Oh, Luna! How rich coming from you! Is that what you tell yourself you are when men throw bit bills at your employees, treating them like leashed show dogs while drool drips out their mouths? Spare me, please.”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide.

Did… Did Luna run some sort of… gentlemen’s club?

“The people working for me are entertainers, not show dogs,” Luna snapped.

“Is that what you call them?”

“And even if they did engage in what you seem to think they do, which they don’t,” Luna continued, “I would at least sleep well knowing that any leash my employees wear is consensual, unlike the one you tug your daughter around with!”

“Luna!” Celestia thundered, and silence reigned afterwards. “Really! Both of you stop!”

After a silence, it was Madame Breeze who spoke first.

“It is an improper job,” she said, “and whether you agree or not, it is a shame that child threw her entire future away to pursue it.”

“It is a way of making a living,” Luna replied. “You considering it improper does not make it so.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Luna. I never said it wasn’t a way of making a living,” Madame Breeze replied. “Regardless of what I think of you, no one here disagrees on the fact that you’re doing a service to the community. One shudders to think the terrible lives those poor dears had that led them to—”

“A bold assumption of you, isn’t it?” Luna said and then crossed her arms. “Do you go to your gardener and ask if he’s had a fraught life?”

The Madame, again, rolled her eyes.

“That’s not the same, and you know it.”

“How is it not?”

“It’s just not,” said Madame Breeze with the finality of someone who did not intend on discussing the matter further. But she did, because she is who she is and while that was terrible for Celestia’s hopes of salvaging her dinner it is splendid for my story-telling. “On the other hand, you can’t really blame them. It’s easy money.”

“Easy money,” Luna said simply.

Easy money! My, my, my.

“I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true,” Madame Breeze said stiffly, and if she wore glasses I’m sure she’d have pushed them up her nose and pointed it up. “It is easy money, and something you don’t need skill for. Doing that for a living is hardly challenging.”

Silence filled the room. The most wonderful silence as my dearest Lady sat back in her chair, regarding this woman with a whole new level of understanding.

“Hardly challenging,” she repeated, tasting the words in her mouth. I certainly am. She tasted and tasted and tasted them until finally she sat up straight and spoke up. “If that’s what you think, Summer Breeze, then I must ask you to tell your husband he has my most sincere condolences.”

Twilight didn’t know what came first: Celestia thundering Luna’s name, Madame Breeze letting out an absolutely scandalized gasp, or her own hurried footsteps as she told herself perhaps she really ought to go check up on Fluttershy now.

She rushed into the kitchen, expecting to find Flint and Fluttershy entrenched in deep conversation. When approaching, she’d heard them talking, but the moment she set foot in the kitchen, both fell into absolute silence, staring at her as though she were a ghost.

“What?” she asked at once, her defenses shooting up as if she’d been caught eavesdropping. “What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing!” Fluttershy blurted out, jumping up from the chair she’d been sitting at. She bowed her head at Flint and grabbed her empty plate. “Thank you for the food, Flint.”

Twilight watched her leave the kitchen and disappear into the hallway, only for her to come back in after having realized the aforementioned lack of food.

“Oh. Uhm. Could I have more food, please?” she asked, averting Twilight’s intense stare.

What was going on?, wondered my beloved. What was going on in this household where everyone seemed to have secrets? Why, it felt like she was the only one who didn’t have a single thing to hide!

She watched as Flint served Fluttershy a large second helping, and when Fluttershy was about to leave the premises again, the kitchen door swung open and Twilight paled at the sight of a very sombre Lady Luna looking straight at her.

Oh lord, she thought. This is it.

“Twilight Sparkle,” said the Lady, taking a step forward.

“Lady Luna?” squeaked Twilight, taking a step back and then forcing herself to clear her throat and repeat her question in an altogether less terrified sounding voice. “Lady Luna. Is something wrong?”

“I am taking my leave now,” said the Lady and extended her hand, the sudden smile on her lips practically bringing Twilight’s soul back from the pits of hell. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

“T-the pleasure was mine, Lady Luna,” Twilight said, feeling rather awful now for having so blatantly intruded on the Lady’s privacy.

Twilight dealt with, Lady Luna turned her attention towards Fluttershy, and though the latter cowered under the woman’s gaze, my Lady’s expression softened considerably.

“Fluttershy, it was most pleasing to see you again,” she said. “I know the owner of the Heart District public zoo has been looking for an assistant during the summer. It is not a job that pays much, but if you are interested, I can put in a good word for you.”

For the first time since she’d met her, Twilight saw Fluttershy’s eyes shine.

“Really? Oh, thank you, Lady Luna!”

The Lady smiled. “It is my pleasure.”

And with that, she was gone.

Gone, gone, gone and Fluttershy soon followed, leaving Twilight Sparkle alone with her thoughts and a butler who loved to gossip a bit too much.

“Well?” he asked. “Are you going back to dinner?”

Twilight balled her hands into fists, her heart telling her to march back to her teacher and their guests, but her mind… her insatiable curiosity that would one day be the end of her…

It demanded answers.

“Flint, does… does Lady Luna own some sort of gentleman’s club?”

Flint furrowed his brow. “Twilight,” he said, his voice bringing back the authority of someone who’d once been in charge of a staff of fifty. “I have half a mind to tell the Lady you’ve been poking your nose in places it does not belong, and I will if this goes on.”

“N-No!” Twilight exclaimed, cheeks burning. “No, please! I’m sorry! I just—”

“Then go back to dinner,” he interrupted curtly.

Chastized and ashamed, my beloved nodded her head and turned around to leave, swearing to herself that she would let the matter rest for once and for all.

“Wait.”

Wait? Dear, dear, dear.

She turned around and saw Flint staring down at the table, both palms firmly pressed against it.

He looked up at her, gave her a hard stare and made a choice.

“Close the door,” he ordered, and when she did as commanded, he took back his hands and rolled up his sleeve. “I’d rather you find out from me than someone else. Listen to me well, Twilight, I will tell you what I want, and after I have, if I catch you asking about this again, I will report you to Lady Celestia. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she replied.

He sighed.

“Lady Luna has many prestigious businesses across the city,” he said. “One of the… less prestigious ones is the Sapphire Carousel in the Lunar District.”

“The gentlemen’s club?”

“No,” he replied. “A cabaret.” He paused. “A cabaret and a brothel.”

Twilight’s mouth fell open. “A brothel? Lady Luna owns a brothel? Lady Luna? I… Uhm. Right.”

Right! Because really what else could she say? Lady Luna, who was prestigious and polite and well-brought up, owning a brothel? It was so strange, wasn’t it? So… disjointed. It was almost jarring to think about, in truth.

It’s a job like any other, Luna had said.

“Yes,” Flint continued. “A brothel.”

“But… But I don’t understand,” she said when she recovered. “What does this have to do with Lady Celestia’s former student?”

Flint’s eyes widened. “How did you know tha—” He startled her when he banged his hand against the table. “Lord’s sake, child! Where are you getting your information?!” he scolded, and then shook his head. “Maybe it’s better I don’t know.” He took a deep breath and looked at her again, eyes narrowing. “Not a word, Twilight. Not a word.”

“I-I’m sorry,” she blurted out, considerably more ashamed of her curiosity. “You don’t have to te—”

“She wasn’t a student, for starters,” he said. “Not a magic student, at least. Girl wasn’t talented enough, but… but she was smart and beautiful at that. Not a soul in this neighborhood that didn’t stop and stare when she walked by.” He moved towards the stove and stirred whatever was inside his pot. “Lady Celestia had big plans for that girl, but one day she followed Lady Luna to work and… Well, let’s just say she found better ways to use her looks.”

“Oh,” Twilight said.

Now she understood why this former student was such a mystery; why no one dared mention her. To go from being the personal student of the prestigious Lady Celestia to… to that? It boggled Twilight’s mind as much as it made her feel better.

She couldn’t say she was jealous any longer.

“Does she still work there?” Twilight asked. “What’s her name?”

“Enough,” Flint said with finality. “This city only seems big, and the fewer details you know, the better. Now, off to dinner! Go! And, Twilight…”

He gave her a pointed stare.

“No more questions. No more researching. No more anything, am I understood?”

“Yes,” said Twilight, nodding her head. “No more questions.”

“So, let me be sure I understand. You swore to Flint you wouldn’t indulge in this ‘huge secret’ anymore, and the first thing you do upon seeing me is want to tell me everything about it? Why, Twilight Sparkle!” I said with a laugh, leaning against the tree trunk and covering up with my shawl, my eyes drifting up towards the twinkling night sky. “And you call me a gossip!”

“It’s not the same!” Twilight protested, and when I offered a pointed stare, she amended. “Well. All right. It is the same, but—! But I’m only telling you because you’re my friend and you won’t tell anyone.”

I giggled. “I won’t lie and say your trust in me doesn’t delight me, even if it is terribly misplaced, darling.”

She frowned at me. “Rarity…”

“All right, all right,” I relented. I sat up straight and regaled her with my full attention. “Do tell, Miss Sparkle, what is this big secret you’ve uncovered?”

“Well,” Twilight said, her voice lowering to a whisper, “apparently… apparently Lady Celestia’s sister owns a brothel.”

I fell silent. I fell absolutely, deathly silent and Twilight Sparkle was pleased by having found someone who was just as shocked as she’d been.

Or, she was pleased until I gave her a long hard look and made a choice.

I started to laugh.

“Wha—? Rarity? Why are you laughing?” she asked, thrown off.

“Twilight, darling, that’s your secret?” I asked her, and the poor dear stared at me in disbelief. What? “That isn’t a secret at all!”

“What? Yes, it is!” she protested.

“No, it’s not, Twilight,” I teased. “Dearest, everyone knows that! Why, everyone living in the Lunar District knows it, at the very least.” I giggled again. “The Sapphire Carousel being a big secret. How amusing.”

“What?! But—! But Flint didn’t want to tell me about it and Lady Cele—”

I playfully rolled my eyes at her. “Twilight, come now, be serious. Of course they’re going to act like it’s some sort of scandalous secret and not talk about it. It’s not exactly ‘polite conversation’, is it? Not to mention that the Lady is too proper for those things, to put it nicely.”

Twilight blinked at me, realizing she was rather upset her big reveal turned out to not be that at all.

“Next time you have a big secret,” I said, tapping the tip of her nose, “make sure it actually is a secret, you silly girl.”

“I’m not a silly girl!” she protested in a very silly way. “And that’s not the only secret I found out!”

“It isn’t?” I asked her, fluttering my eyelashes. “What’s your other secret, then? That Lady Celestia is fabulously wealthy?”

“No,” said Twilight. “She used to have another student living with her.”

“Did she?” I asked simply. “Interesting.”

“That’s not all, though,” Twilight continued, her voice again falling to a hushed whisper. “Apparently, she left her studies with Lady Celestia to join Lady Luna’s brothel.”

I believe I smiled. At least, I think I smiled or something like that while Twilight stared at me, waiting for my reaction.

Well, well.

Well then.

“I can see why it would be a big secret to them,” I said simply, or as simply as I could manage, before I continued, “but I don’t see why you have the need to act so scandalized?”

Twilight blinked. “I… What?”

“This…” I gestured haphazardly to her. “The leaning in and the whispering and the big secret. I don’t understand why exactly her joining a brothel warrants such a… this.”

Twilight stared at me, confused. “But… Rarity… I mean… She joined a brothel, and—”

“Twilight, darling.” I licked my lips and sat up straight, folding my hands over my lap. “Twilight, I don’t mean to be rude, but… what’s it to you?” At her silence, I continued. “Really, darling, who cares? It’s just a job.”

“That’s what Lady Luna said,” Twilight pointed out, and I laughed.

“Well, I should hope so considering she runs a brothel! If she were all hush-hush about it, I’d be worried, frankly. And regardless, I’m sure this girl had her reasons for doing what she did.”

Twilight leaned back, somewhat confused by my sudden defensiveness. “I know that, Rarity. I was just curious about why.”

“And again I ask, Twilight, does it matter? Does it really matter why she made that choice?”

Twilight fell silent, for once.

“No,” she said eventually. “I guess it doesn’t, no, but…” She blushed, embarrassed. “I was just trying to understand. I was just curious.”

My expression softened. How could it not? There was a distinction between being prejudiced and being misinformed, after all.

“I know, Twilight, I do,” I reassured her. “I’m only trying to say that it’s not really any of our business, is it? It doesn’t affect you in any way, does it? So unless it does, then who cares?”

I certainly didn’t want her to care.

Twilight hesitated before me. She hesitated because something about that didn’t feel quite right, yet she couldn’t dispute it, either. It really wasn’t her business, like I’d said.

“...Right,” she conceded eventually, not wanting for me to think ill of her. “I suppose you’re right.”

And I was right, wasn’t it? It didn’t affect her.

Well, not yet, at least.

One day it would, and one day, clutching a crumpled ticket to the Sapphire Carousel’s grandest show, she would have to decide if she cared or not, but until that day…

Who cared?

I have an important announcement re: the story for those of you who might have not read the blogpost. A day or two after the posting of this chapter, the rating of the fic will switch to Mature. I go more into detail HERE, in case you want to read.

As I said there, I'm only doing this so I can have more liberties exploring the main theme, not because I intend on changing how I've been treating these topics.

Also, thanks as always for reading, and if you find typos, please let me know (preferably via PM), and thanks as well to the wonderful individuals who preread this chapter.