Mary Sue rose tentatively. Throwing herself at Luna’s hooves had been instinctive, however she now had the freedom to inspect her new body. She was taller now. Still not nearly high enough to match the princesses but she expected she could probably look down on most ponies now; physically of course.

However she could probably look down on them in other ways considering her new features. Mary Sue was now the most objectively beautiful mare she had ever seen…alicorns notwithstanding of course. She didn’t know if Luna could read her mind but she’d rather be safe than sorry.

The earth pony took her time getting up. Each leg was longer, and it seemed that even the act of keeping her new form aloft was a complex balancing act. Feeling like she was on stilts, Mary Sue took a few tentative steps around the room. She had never realised the extent to which she took her old legs for granted. Not a minute since they’d been replaced and the mare was stumbling around like an inebriated tramp trying to find a phone box to soil.

Eventually she got into the flow… and it felt good. Once the adjusting was over Mary Sue was able to move with a grace that seemed slightly inequine. Her mane bounced lightly and her hooves barely touched the ground. She didn’t so much trot as she did dance. Each moved looked in equal parts organic and mechanical.

Once the earth pony had finished her impromptu waltz she turned to look at Luna, who was looking at her with an expression that suggested amusement.

“Have thee finished thine frolicking?” the monarch lightly teased. Mary Sue laughed in response. It was a musical and elegant sound, like wind chimes on a blustery day.

“I can’t thank you enough Princess,” Mary Sue replied. Her voice was now different, less that of a pony and more that of a siren. Like a swathe of warm milk and honey around the soul.

“Thou dost not have to thank us Mary Sue. Thine boon is a reward. It is our way of thanking thee, thou hast earned thine prize,” Luna asserted calmly. She still had a smile on her face but it was less one of amusement now. It seemed content.

“We suppose thou would like to know thine properties of thine new body.” Luna asked, prompting Mary Sue to nod enthusiastically.

“Thou canst obviously detect the purely physical changes, however the boon did more than simply alter thine image. Thine natural magic hast been warped and empowered. It does more now than simply provide thine innate, earth-pony vitality and strength. Thine magic will now also enrapture, as well as alter the actions of ponies in thineg proximity; provided said proximity is within 2180 cubits of you.”

“That’s fine Princess, my town is much smaller than that,” Mary Sue replied with a smile.

“Every encounter thee has will end in thine favour Mary Sue, and moreso thou will be loved by everypony. But thou needest remember not all good things can be eternal, and we would likest to remind you to not misuse this gift. I need to give thee one final warning, but before I do so thou must rememeber. This is to make thine life pleasurable my little pony, suffice to say mine sister and I will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour."

At that precise moment, because when you speak the laws of nature will often bend to reduce all credibility you may have, the door behind the thrones opened; to reveal a swaying, intoxicated Celestia.

“Speaking of inebriated tramps,” Luna snickered. For her part, Celestia didn’t reply with a snarky retort. She simply inspected a gilded hoof lazily, before half-heartedly replying,

“Third Annual Winter Solstice Festival, I seem to recall you getting drunk for the exact same reasons as I did sister, what with the Griffons attending. We all caught you with a mate that night didn’t we? I personally had suspected it was one of those concubines you were so fond of at first, but imagine the surprise when we all found out it was Princess Platinu-” Luna’s hoof covering her sister’s mouth did nothing to remove the smug grin on the Sun Goddess’s face.

“Point taken, don’t judge her too harshly Spike,” Luna said flatly while refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

“Thank you Luna, now shall we return to it?” Celestia trilled,

“Yes,” Luna muttered, eyes still on the ground as her cheeks burned furiously.

Celestia stumbled into the throne room. She took a look at her sister before an expression of steely determination graced her features.

The next few seconds played out as such.

She began to briskly trot toward her sister. Within seconds the full fury of the Sun Goddess was bearing down upon her insolent sibling. The transgression? Failure to start paper work. The punishment?

Whatever the superior goddess chose.

She spoke in a voice that made the royal Canterlot voice seem paltry. Luna’ eyes shrunk to mere pinpricks when confronted with the unleashed divinity of her fellow ruler. She tried to hide her face behind her hooves until Celestia’s voice once again ordered her to get to her rightful place as Celestia’s P.A.

Luna ran from the room as if chased by the very hounds of hell themselves. And Mary Sue, seeing the unmasked ability of the immortal princess, threw herself to Celestia’s hooves. She adorned them with all manner of kisses and whispers of sweet nothings and words of appraisal. The very sun itself shone brighter that moment in subjugation before its eternal master.

At least that’s how Celestia planned it to be. What actually took place was more like this.

Celestia looked at her sister and tried to trot towards her, however her inebriation made this difficult. A trot became a slide, a slide became a stumble and a stumble became a fall. It was at this moment that Celestia, the immortal alicorn of unimaginable power, started her greatest battle yet.

It was a battle with gravity.

Gravity used its ability to pull Celestia to the floor. A cunning move by gravity! But its opponent was a God, and one that had seen countless battles. Celestia responded by flapping her wings pitifully. Gravity decided to just do the same thing it did last time.

Another cunning move! Celestia tried to counter attack by placing her hooves in all manner of positions, none of which even slightly helped. Gravity decided that the same move had worked well thus far and so it just kind of shrugged and did it again. Did I say how cunning gravity was?!

Celestia saw her chance and decided to pull off her coup de grace against her foe, which was swearing loudly and emitting all manner of frustrated grunts. In the end, as if there were any doubt, gravity left this battle the victor, and to the victor his spoils. The spoils in this particular case was the sight of Celestia tumbling to the floor like a moron.

Celestia was a drunken entanglement of legs and stupid looking wing-flaps as she cascaded onto the throne room floor with all the grace and poise of somepony who had recently won the world ‘Hit yourself as hard as you possibly can over the head with a claw-hammer multiple times’ championship, which in itself is a testament to just how bleak the world was before smartphones.

Once she had gotten back up, Celestia swayed drunkenly over to Luna and slapped her with a hoof, only. To her surprise, her sister didn’t recoil, but fractured in a spider-web pattern.

“Don’t try that with us sister, we know thou cannot shatter,” Celestia slurred. In the elder alicorn’s defence it only took her a further minute to realise she was talking to a stained-glass window. But once she did realise, Celestia crossed the seven metres to her sister in a blistering thirty seconds.

“Luna, thou hast not begun our…we mean thine paperwork,”

“Sister how art thou already so drunk?” Luna questioned calmly,

“It is called ‘pre-drinking’ sister, it’s considered rude to go to a Griffon dinner if you’re not already a little bit *hic* smashed,” Celestia gave Luna an uneven grin. “But anyway, go and do our work now!”

“We art not doing thine work Celestia, it is thine fault for getting this drunk already,” Luna growled at Celestia, who scoffed in return.

“Oh! Thou art perfect then are thou? Thou canst not criticise us, remember Princess Platinum?!” Luna burned red and shouted at her sister to shut up.

“And remember that night will be starting two hours later tonight Luna,” Celestia prodded her sister’s chest with a hoof, which was smacked away by Luna. This action almost threatened to topple the drunken alicorn once more, but she was able to grab onto her throne. However Celestia had obviously not taken her divine strength into equation and she tore the seat into two pieces. She regarded it for a moment and shrugged before turning to yet another stained glass window.

“Thee are not stealing our glorious night! Thou already stolest our favourite consort,” Luna spat. Celestia turned to face the real form of her sister and snorted,

“She liked us more.” Luna went to reply but blinked rapidly and stuttered.

“They were a he,” the younger princess exclaimed. Celestia considered this with a dumbfounded look before finally concluding,

“Thou hast a weird choice in mates sister,”

“Says thee?” Luna laughed “We all know what happens with that ‘Faithful Student’ of yours!”

Spike turned to Celestia with a look a shock.

“Oh god, no of course not with Twilight Spike,” she cried when she noticed him, “That’s not what the faithful student position is for… at least not anymore.” She added with a rouge blush.

Spike shuddered but otherwise decided that eliminating the part of his brain that stored that memory with a heated wire could wait until later.

Mary Sue was shuffling around uncomfortably on the spot. She was clearly unaware as to whether she should interject. On one hand, she was supposed to get one final piece of advise from Luna, but on the other, these were the rulers of Equestria and she rather liked not being executed. In the end, the earth pony elected to simply slip away and let the chorus of personal insults and death threats continues behind her. She reached the end of the gargantuan throne room and spied a group of guards talking amongst themselves.

“Luna’s getting sick of Celestia now guys, I don’t know how long it’s going to be before we have outright civil war,” said a male solar guard.

“Oh please,” scoffed a lunar guard, “They’re sisters having a tiff, nothing’s going to come of it. I’m sure they’ll be back to gossiping over dinner and granting a boon to everypony and their gran in a flash.”

“Ahem,” Mary Sue delicately cleared her throat to get their attention. They each turned idly and regarded her with placid stares… for about half a second. After this apparent kicking-in period, Mary Sue’s magic clearly took effect. Each of their jaws hit the floor.

Literally.

They immediately clamoured over one another to get to her. Each guard was clearly racing to get the siren first. A Solar guard mare got to Mary Sue first and straightened out her mane hastily. She cleared her throat and spoke,

“What can I do for you gorgeo-” the question was never finished. A male lunar guard bucked her as hard as he could away from the one who so enraptured him. He went to speak before the mare cried out,

“Don’t listen to him, he’s got ultra-syphilis!”

“That’s not even a real illness Sunny!” he barked in retort,

“Yeah, but you’ve got so much syphilis, that it all combined to make ultra-syphilis.” She turned to Mary Sue, “And it’s transmitted through talking to him!”

“So by that logic, you now have ultra-syphilis,” a guard still caught in the tangle cried out, “But I just talked to her, so now I have ultra-syphilis!”

The pile of Equestria’s ‘Finest’ began a mad tangle to get away from each other, each crying out the word ‘Ultra-Syphilis’ at random intervals. A guard from across the hall who had decided to investigate slinked up to Mary Sue and crooned,

“I don’t have ultra-syphilis,” the mare regarded him for a moment, he could only be more stereotypically in love if he had actual hearts in his eyes,

“Aha, I’m talking to you now! We’re talking!” spat the mare called Sunny. She jabbed a hoof at him and repeatedly cried the name of the illness that everypony seemed to have forgotten was made-up.

“No-one’s got ultra-syphilis,” shouted the guard who was apparently patient zero of this terrible imaginary affliction.

“Oh God, he talked to all of us, we’ve all got it now!” shrieked a guard in the pile. Mary Sue watched the debacle with interest. If her mere presence could reduce the ponies charged with safeguarding the princesses to blubbering foals, just how much power had Luna invested in this body?

“Erm, guards,” they all immediately shut up and remained still, “I was just going to ask if you could take me back to my village?” in an instant they were all stood to attention,

“Of course milady,”

“Anything for one as fair as you?”

“We’ll guard you with our lives,”

Every guard was mere putty in her hooves. Mary Sue had never been one to crave power but, now that she had it, she couldn’t deny it felt quite nice.

“Guards,” she began with a growing smile, “Take me home,”

Walking back to the home she shared with her father had been otherworldly to Mary Sue. As soon as the golden chariot had touched down, her neighbours seemed transfixed. The guards announced her arrival as if she were royalty. When they were done everypony had erupted into cheers. Foals had cried, mothers had fainted and fathers had to be held back.

Bouquets of flowers had been thrown to her as she walked down the streets. It was like a parade, the guards kept the spectators behind a line as they fawned over the attraction. More than a few tried to break the line but the guards managed to hold them off, despite the fact that half of these rabble-rousers were guards themselves. Mary Sue had scanned the crowds, but her father was nowhere to be seen. That was good though, she would much rather reveal herself to him in private.

(Mary Sue privately thanked the gods that nopony could read her thoughts because that particular sentiment would have sounded pretty damn sinister to an outside observer.)

The earth pony was started to get quite crowded and so she decided to try out her new abilities, she turned to her new fans who waited for her proclamation with baited breath.

“Erm, could you guys please give me some privacy,” she asked sweetly. There was an immediate uproar of sycophantic complying.

“Of course!”

“Anything for you, you beautiful, perfect piece of godhood,”

“What’s all this I’m hearing about Ultra-Syphilis?”

“WE WORSHIP YOU!”

Mary Sue was dumbfounded as the crowd just did was she said. Ordering a group of ponies around was a good way to get punched in the face, but not a good way to get what you want. Yet here she was, and there they were. They followed her like she was their hgod. It almost disgusted Mary Sue that she had this ability.

Almost, but not quite.

After being everyone’s whipping-pony all her life, it felt good to now be in control. It felt damn good in fact. So good that Mary Sue had to suppress a small shudder as she trotted toward her house, she was fairly certain things were going to be quite different from now on.

She finally arrived at her home, and everything seemed a bit more rose-tinted now. The unpleasant colour and shape of the little hut, the filth-smeared door, even the tattered welcome mat that read ‘Hovel, Sweet Hovel’.

She reached out a hoof and daintily pushed the door open. While her hoof was outstretched, Mary Sue noticed something. The mud and filth from the road she had just traversed was coming off her hoof. The fur was still immaculate and sparkling, and despite the fact that she had walked through fifty metres of wet mud, none of it clung to her coat.

It was like water off laminated paper, and it amazed Mary Sue. It amazed her that she now seemed so physically disconnected from the world. Earth, the component of Equestria that was limitless in its conquest couldn't hinder her. She was like a ghost, fluttering through Equestria without ever marking it. She could probably dance on snow without leaving imprints. The sea itself would probably move for her to avoid making her coat wet. Was this how the princesses felt all the time?

Upon realising she had been stupidly gawking at her foreleg for about five minutes, Mary Sue cleared her throat and trotted indoors. Her father was sat in his chair as usual. A bottle of ale was clasped in his hooves as usual. He didn’t even register Mary Sue entering the room, as usual.

Not for long though.

“Ahem, father,” said Mary Sue. Chestnut’s ear flicked and he turned toward her.

“Ah Mary Sue you’re back. Now I know you’re still probably annoyed about that prostitute thing but I’ve realised that your opinion is worth less than mine because you’re a mare and I’m a stallion so…” Chestnut didn’t get to finish his half-baked insult. His sentiment died off when he got a proper look at his daughter. The way he regarded her was different to everypony else. It wasn’t a slightly intimidating mixture of fanatical devotion and lust. It was normal. It wasn’t an obsessive look, it was simply a blank one devoid of Chestnut Sue’s usual cocktail of condescension and arrogance.

He got up and slowly walked over to his daughter, and then he cupped a hoof to her cheek. His eyes misted over and he leant forward to place a tender kiss on her forehead. Mary Sue was frozen to the spot. The experience was so alien to her, and it came as such a visceral shock that she had absolutely no idea what to do.

“Lord knows there’s pressure on you young ones,” he chuckled lightly, “I can see you’ve finally gone to that unicorn barber to get your coat and mane dyed. Let me tell you child, you don’t need to. You really are beautiful Mary, just like your mum. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to realise it.”

Mary Sue was dumbfounded. Millions of different scenarios flashed through her mind over and over. She could take the role of the reckoner, she could throw all of his failures as a father and indeed, as a stallion, in his face. She could reject him in his moment of magic-induced clarity and have done with it.

She could simply accept it and remain stoic, punish him with indifference over harsh words. She could forgive him right then and there of every trespass and the two of them could begin a new chapter. However right now there was simply too much going on. She could decide all of that later, right now all Mary Sue did was embrace her father and let years’ worth of tears fall without shame.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear from you Dad,” the mare choked out, and for once she allowed herself to feel comfort from her father’s hooves gently stroking her mane, trying to scrub his daughter’s pain away.

Rarity had her muzzle thrust firmly skyward. Her eyes were closed haughtily and she only responded with a dismissive ‘hmph’ every time Twilight apologised.

“Look Rarity, I can’t say I’m sorry much more, I know I shouldn’t have written that on your house. But it’s just a quick spell to remove it,” The look Twilight was given suggested her attempt at cheering her friend up hadn’t worked, just like the last five thousand.

Twilight had initially planned on telling Rarity after they had resolved their group argument, however keeping secrets was never the unicorn’s forte. After the fourth time Rarity had tried to talk to her and Twilight had immediately cried ‘I don’t think you’re a whore!’ the white pony had realised something was afoot. So Twilight had come clean and had been immediately sentenced to death by silent treatment.

“We were both angry Rarity, remember? You did draw that horrible picture.” Rarity wheeled around on her.

“I scrawled a crude drawing about me beating my friends in a boorish hoof-to-hoof fight Twilight. I then realised what I was doing and lit the blasted thing on fire. You on the other hand defaced my home and declared me to be a… a whore, Twilight,” she deadpanned.

The fashionista tried to keep her voice level, but a crack showed the chink in her verbal armour.

Twilight looked at the floor shamefully. It was clear that she tried to come up with some sentiment to calm her friend but was failing. Added to that, the weakness in Rarity’s voice had only served to intensify the purple unicorn’s guilt.

The two of them remained stationary for a moment, that was until Rarity heard a small sniffle from the librarian. She didn't want to concede anything, she was mad and that was justified. However Rarity was generosity, and generosity would give anything. Even if she didn't want to the tailor would give, and right now she gave her forgiveness

Rarity let out a rough sigh and walked closer to Twilight. She gently lifted the mare’s head up to meet her eyes, and then brushed Twilight’s mane out of her face.

“Darling, it’s okay. I suppose you’re right, we were both quite mad. God only knows what caused this fight, I mean neither of us can even remember. I will admit, I wasn’t quite happy with you preaching about me dealing with my anger properly, considering you had done…that. But I think I’ve had enough of arguing for today dearie.”

Twilight wasted no time in wrapping her forelegs round Rarity’s neck in a crushing hug,

“You’ve got nothing to apologise for Rarity, I’m so sorry. You’re not a whore.” Twilight gushed. Rarity smiled, trust Twilight to make an apology sound as clunky as possible.

“I should certainly hope not darling… hold on, is that Applejack?” the librarian disentangled herself from Rarity and looked to the pony her friend was gesturing to.

Sat on a table outside one of the local pubs, was a mare of an unmistakable shade of orange. Her mane was shrouded by a battered old Stetson that covered her head; which was lay flat on the table amongst about fourteen empty cider tankards.

“I don’t think there’s anypony else it could be,” Twilight concurred. The two unicorns began to cautiously trot over to the booze-hound. Just because they’d forgotten why the group had fought, that didn’t automatically mean Applejack was in the same boat. They would rather not anger her if she had full knowledge of their fight. Especially considering what befell Rainbow Dash.

“Ahem, Applejack darling?” Rarity said delicately. There was a grumble from underneath the hat as the drunkard stirred, “It’s us dearie, Twilight and Rarity,”

“Are you feeling okay?” Twilight asked tentatively. Applejack groaned and lifter her head. The two unicorns waited as the hat rose higher and higher, slowly revealing the earth pony beneath like a prize in the world’s most depressing game-show. Her face was covered in a thin layer of dust and dirt from the table, and her eyes had thick, pronounced bags around them as if she hadn’t slept in years. Considering the fight had only been hours ago, this was pretty damn impressive in a sort of sick way.

Applejack’s bloodshot eyes snapped shut against the sudden assault of light now she was out from underneath what had to be the world’s worst tortoise costume. An orange hoof was brought, with noticeable effort, from her side and Applejack rubbed her head. She then swung it back to rest by her flank and knocked ten empty mugs of her table in the process.

“That you, girls?” she grumbled,

“Yes Applejack, it is Twilight and I. Dare I ask how you got into this state?” Rarity asked while rubbing the cow-pony’s face with a napkin. Applejack sniffled and then leapt over the table. She didn’t succeed in her endeavour of course but to her credit she gave it one hell of a go.

Applejack’s hind legs caught on the furniture she was immediately dropped face first before her friends’ hooves. This didn’t stop her though, she looked up, wrapped her forelegs around said hooves and began spluttering apology after apology.

“Ah’m sorry girls, ah meant to find y’all but ah just couldn’t face yer after ah’d acted like I did.” The cow-pony’s speech was a nigh-on incomprehensible mess of slurring, irritatingly down-home southern slang and irregularly-placed hiccups.

“So you decided to, as a more uncouth mare might put it, come to the pub and get leathered?” Rarity enquired with a light smile. Applejack untangled herself from the bench and sat pitifully on her haunches in front of the two unicorns. Her bottom lip was stuck out in a childish gesture of inebriated upset.

“Ah thought if ah had a few, teeny tiny drinks,” she began, “It’d be a bit easier, facin’ y’all.”

“Few teeny tiny drinks hmm?” Twilight smirked,

"Kinda went off the wagon,” the farmer mumbled pathetically. Twilight patted Applejack’s head and tried her best not be patronising when performing such an intrinsically patronising action.

“She’s too intoxicated to do anything right now Rarity. If we’re going to see the others then we’re going to have to sober her up.” Twilight began to go into full scientist mode. “If we get her back to the library I’m sure I can brew a potion to cancel out the effects the alcohol is having on her,”

“Nonsense darling, this one just needs a hit of coffee and some TLC,” Rarity replied airily with a wave of an immaculately groomed hoof. With that she picked up the sniffling earth pony in a telekinetic grasp and nuzzled her.

“Oh you’re just a big drunken baby aren’t you sweetheart?” the seamstress cooed while rocking her friend back and forth like a mother would a foal. Rarity took off in the direction of Carousel Boutique with Applejack levitating in tow. Twilight merely shrugged and leisurely began to follow them.

The last few weeks had been incredible for Mary Sue. She had gotten her and Chestnut a much better house just by asking for it. Mr Shakesworthy’s family had dropped her father’s debt just because she asked, her father himself had curbed his drinking all because she asked.

You see the pattern here don’t you?

Everything the mare could possibly want for was as easy to obtain as it was to just ask somepony for it. They wanted for no money as Mary Sue had cut out the middle man. Why use her power to get riches when they could simply acquire the items they would have spent said riches on? Whereas most ponies, if they had been in Mary Sue’s position, would have been out living the high life in Canterlot, Mary Sue had other ideas. She had catching up to do. Around twenty five years of it to be exact.

Chestnut and his daughter had barely parted since the day of her boon. What they did was unimportant to the mare, she was not sharing in her dad’s company simply to engage in a certain activity. Whether they walked, read, drew or listened to some music at the local tavern, the factor keeping Mary sated was always constant. It was her father’s attitude.

It had started at the only logical place. The beginning. Mary Sue had asked her father to read her bedtime stories and sing her to sleep. To stroke her hair while she rested and act as the doting father. She had then regaled him with stories of her life, ones that he had previously ignored, and let him clap his hooves and ask for more. She made him the interested father.

She had let him turn away the throngs of potential suitors Mary Sue received daily and be the protective father. She had let him prepare her meals and wrap his scarf around her neck on cold nights and be the selfless father.

Finally, she had wanted to tell him everything. She had wanted to confide in her father now an appropriate amount of trust had been established. This was a changed stallion and she wanted to clear the air.

But not during this moment. Because this moment was perfect.

Like the other ponies in her town, Mary Sue and her father were sat stargazing underneath the sparkling night sky. Ponies didn’t usually stargaze, no-one was up late enough and they spent most of their day working, but today was different.

The sun should have been up three hours ago; and yet here they were. The only lights in the town were the flickering amber ones of torches, and the moon was still very much high in the sky. No-one could begin their daily jobs in the low visibility so everypony had simply elected to lay out on the village green.

That was a new addition by the way. The village green used to be a large patch of wet, filthy mud with a single sign in the middle that read ‘Depressing’. Mary Sue had decided that the villagers needed a more idyllic pasture and so she had simply strolled into the middle of town and exclaimed ‘Grass!’ at the top of her lungs.

Lo and behold, the next day the small town had an emerald field of the stuff. The mayor had mentioned something about some grass salesponies making him a record bargain of ‘We’ll pay you to take the grass’. So on the grass they were, looking at the anomalous night sky.

Mary Sue specifically was lay with her father. He had one foreleg wrapped around his daughter’s neck and the other was pointing skyward. Chestnut was showing his daughter all of the constellations he knew; which was, surprisingly, quite a lot.

“I never knew you this much about the night sky father,” Mary said, her voice calm and content.

“Oh yes, I’ve always been a bit of an astronomy buff. I considered one day writing a letter to Princess Luna to tell her how much I love the glorious canvas she paints for us. Then again she’s a princess, I bet she wouldn’t have appreciated a letter just to say ‘I’m one of your subjects and I like the night’,” The stallion chuckled.

Luna scowled.

“Why not father?” Mary enquired.

“Well my dear, as I said, she is a Princess. I don’t doubt she has a massive influx of letters of appreciation, she’s probably sick of hearing praise for the night on top of doing all of her duties.”

Luna’s scowl became scowl-ier.

Mary Sue listened while wrinkling her nose slightly.

“Still though father, is it not the right thing to do to inform somepony of your gratitude?” Chestnut considered his daughter’s words.

“I suppose you’re right…as usual,” he added with a grin, however it was one that Mary didn’t return. She was busy pondering her own sentiment. Her life had improved a hundred-fold since receiving her boon, and yet she had not made any effort to thank the princesses for their generosity.

“Father, when the conditions improve I will be heading to Canterlot for the day,” she resolved. Suddenly there was a loud crack in the distance, followed by a large rainbow explosion. Something shot from the ground in a flash of blinding white light and continued upward into the sky.

It was like a shooting star from the ground, and, instead of reaching an apex and falling, it headed straight toward the moon. The object didn’t slow until it hit the silver orb. When everything had returned to normal, the sun began to rise in the horizon. Everypony got up and clapped their hooves at what they presumed was some sort of display for an unknown bank holiday.

The villagers on the green rose steadily and began, albeit reluctantly, to prepare for the day’s chores. The extended night was now over and it was time for business to resume.

“I suppose you’ll be heading off to Canterlot now my dear. However I don’t see how you will make it there before sundown.” Chestnut pointed out.

“Let me take care of that father,” Mary grinned before raising a hoof to her muzzle to let out a high-pitched whistle. It only took a couple of seconds for a golden chariot to appear from behind the clouds that the pegasi were beginning to set up. The guards towing it looked down excitedly at Mary Sue, who was giving her dad a satisfied look.

“See father, easy as pie.”

The ride to Canterlot had been rather uneventful. At one point Mary Sue had decided to ask the guards if there had been any recent developments in Canterlot but they weren’t aware. Apparently they had been waiting on a nearby cloud on the off chance Mary might need transportation for weeks now, never straying more than a hundred metres from her current position.

The earth pony didn’t know whether to feel flattered or violated at that admission. So she chose to go with a nice, only sort of creepy mixture of the two. In fact, when she thought about Mary Sue decided having her very own chauffer service ready at a moment’s notice was hardly a bad…

Something was wrong.

Even from their height, Mary Sue could detect that something was terribly wrong within the city of Canterlot. Ponies littered the streets staring skyward, their expressions ranged from anger, to sorrow, to just blunt shock.

What was most surprising though was that the collective was made up of a variety of classes. There were serfs, the ponies who made enough to live comfortably but not be considered rich, and, most surprisingly, the nobles. For the Canterlot nobility to actually come out and mingle with ponies not of their own class was unprecedented, and therefore Mary Sue knew something earth-shaking must have happened.

She kept gawking as until they touched down. When they did she made her way over to the castle. There was a lot of activity going on from inside. The foundations of the old building were being shaken and loud rumbles were noticeable but not intolerable.

In retrospect, the earth pony would curse herself for not having greater forsight, for not knowing putting two and two together considering that night had been extended for hours this day. But at that moment Mary Sue allowed the unease to simply wash off her. You see, living for a while as a perfect being, one that causes mortal eyes to glaze over in love at your mere presence, one for whom the very world will bend, one whose will is as unchangeable as the earth itself, it changes you.

You stop seeing things as a threat, you stop seeing the potential in events for you to come out worse off the other side. When you stop feeling pain, you don’t even notice when someone is taking your tongue out. So Mary would curse herself one day, but at that moment complacency infected her like something viral, and she allowed the knowledge that nothing was going to affect her swathe her mind and cloud her judgement.

That was why she didn’t bother to ask the stunned Canterlot denizens what was wrong. That was why she didn’t ask a guard why the night had been hours longer than it should have been. This is why she didn't even consider investigating the commotion inside the castle before entering it. That is why she didn’t exercise caution, because Mary Sue knew she’d always be okay

So she merely shrugged, and trotted toward the massive structure.

Author's Notes:

Righty then, the entirety of these flashback sections is now finished, however the whole thing pushed 17 thousand words.
So I'm breaking them into three, each a part of the chapter called 'The Final Ballad', and I'll be releasing the final two over the course of this next couple of weeks.

I know I said the next chapter would conclude Mary's section but it is the opinion of a stellar editorial type gentleman that 17k is just a bit too much. So it'll be an update a week methinks for a bit.

Also, the end of the ballad section isn't the end of the story, we still have to see what happens to Spike.

Many thanks to Flint Sparks for his help in editing the chapter, you guys should check out his page. And if you don't...
Then I'll know.
Because I'm magic.