Twin Suns

by Feynna

First published 26th of July, 2020

I lost my life inexplicably and gained a new one with a loving family. Everything should have been great, right? If only my beloved was here with me...

Dying was... perhaps the greatest thing that could have happened to me. I have the best twin, an awesome dad, and the most loving mother. If only the universe didn't take me away from the ones I love most, my wife and children.

Faced with species prejudice, how will my twin and I ever live a peaceful life? If there is one thing I know, it's that fate won't grant us an easy life. I'm the Summer Sun and my twin is none other than Celestia... and perhaps even more, I'm not certain yet. Could it be you... Catherine? Oh, my beloved...

Italics version can be found here.

#-#-# 26. July 2020: Well... I didn't actually think this would get to the Featured Box on the front page. Thanks, my lovely readers! :3 #-#-#

Warnings:
This will have the occasional adventure through universes (much like in the comics). Speaking of the comics, there are a few that get referenced a lot so be sure to read those first if you don't want to be spoilered. The same is true for the Journal of the Two Sisters. If I don't forget it, I'll say which comic is being used for the specific chapters and which universe I'm referencing/making a crossover of.

Characters might act out of character, but I'm sure you'll find out why that is, my dear reader.

This contains smut every so often and there is incest. Some other things also apply that might put off a few readers (gender spells and whatnot), so bear that in mind if you want to give this story a chance. I'm not going to make sex be a focus of this story, though, and there won't be any indicators as to when smut begins and ends because I believe it ruins the flow of the story.

I do not own My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic. I own horse words, though. Kinky horse words.

Chapter 001 - Reborn in another world.

Author's Notes:

Italics version can be found here.

So, I kinda died? Well, I don’t know how it really happened, one moment I was on my way home from a visit to my parents and then, puff. I’m dead. I’m pretty sure there was no other person around my vicinity and definitely no cars or the likes that could have just ended my life. Besides the possibility of getting killed by a sniper for whatever reason, but that is just silly.

Now, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be able to think any thoughts anymore, what with being dead. Or feel anything, for that matter. Sight wasn’t available to me, though. And whatever that sound was, it was slowly driving me insane. It was a constant beating that wouldn’t stop!

Anyway, my name is... or was, Rudolph Baker. No, I was not a baker in my lifetime, and yes, people made jokes about reindeer around me. Not that I minded, I kinda found it funny, too. Sometimes. One can hear a specific joke only so much before it gets annoying, after all.

I was a programmer for an indie games company, had a rather nice car, and was lucky enough to have met the most amazing wife in the whole world. We had two kids, one just over sixteen years old and a very special girl that was the jewel of my life. Sometimes she was just too smart for her own good, though. She would have started going to university way before what was considered normal next year.

Or, she would have started next year, that is. Now? I don’t know what happened to my family after I just seemingly dropped dead in the blink of an eye. I had so much to look forward to with my family, and now? It was all gone.

My wife was suddenly a widow, having to take care of two kids all alone. Although my parents or her sister would without a doubt help her out, I’m sure. Mom and Dad always had a soft spot for her and the kids, they would needlessly worry over them until they dropped dead from exhaustion. They were kinda that selfless, at times.

I always tried to make them think about their own health first before committing to such large tasks like buying a farm so they had something to do when they retired. It was quite endearing, though. They would take good care of my family without needing to be asked.

My concern rested with the sister of my wife, though. While she loved my kids more than anything, perhaps a bit too much, she didn’t really see eye to eye with my wife most of the time, though. She and Catherine seemed to have a different definition of when someone is taken or not. Catherine managed to win my heart without difficulty and her sister (sorta) hated her for it.

I had no idea how her jealousy would affect her now with me being dead. Would she resent my wife for it? What about the children? How would she feel about them, now that I was gone?

What about the rest of my family? My wife must be totally devastated by now. And my daughters would certainly miss me a whole bunch, to be sure.

How would they react to my passing? Would they find out what caused my premature death? I’m sure I didn’t have any relatives that had serious illnesses that could indicate as to what I had. If I had anything, that is. Maybe it was divine retribution for something I did or someone just hated my guts for no reason.

I still haven’t ruled out the sniper theory. But I don’t think anyone hated me that much to hire a hitman because of it. Then there was also the fact I felt no pain at all as I died and found myself here. No idea where here was, I mused glumly. The incessant beating never stopped, so I had to be somewhere, at least.

I wanted to sigh in despair, but my body was incapable of such an action. Wherever this place was that I found myself in, it felt like I was submerged in fluid. I was uncertain how I was still alive with no air to breathe. All that my body could do was twitch a little bit and that felt like a heavy work-out already.

Then again, it also felt really numb. I couldn’t tell if my limbs were all there or not, so I just prayed I wasn’t drugged on some substance that left me fully aware but incapable of everything else.

Perhaps this was hell? I mean, it kinda was unbearably hot and loud in here. Being submerged in water and drowning was one of my greatest fears, so this might be a punishment for whatever sin I committed. Not to mention the fear of being trapped within my own mind...

Maybe I should have gone to church while I was still alive? If God just punted everybody to hell for not going to church then I’m not certain I would have gone, anyway. It’s not worth following someone willing enough to do something like that to everybody not faithful to him, in that case.

I wasn’t particularly religious, to begin with, and it just made me stick with my belief in science more. Science was at least something understandable and didn’t care about your morals. I preferred to live by my own morals, thank you very much.

This is what I get for believing in science, wasn’t it? There was no way I could just simply believe in some higher being when science debunked everything the church had to say. At least whatever devil was watching over me, this wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

While I feared drowning quite a lot, I didn’t want to be subjected to physical torture, so I found it to be better like it was now. The constant but bearable suffering instead of the constant and painful suffering. In all my forty years of life, I always thought I was a decent person... so, why was I here, then?

As time went on, nothing seemed to change much. There was the occasional muffled sound reaching my immobile body that I couldn’t quite make out, but it always brought a sense of peace with it. My theory of this being hell was starting to lose its weight more and more.

There could be no pleasant things in hell, could there? I mean, sure, there was the possibility of me being granted a small reprieve and getting it cruelly stolen away, but I don’t think that was what was happening here.

It could be a very elaborate trap, I thought. Perhaps they wanted me to develop Stockholm syndrome? But why go to such lengths if there were way easier ways to accomplish that? Certainly not with the setting I found myself in, submerged in fluids, unable to move much, and the pounding that never stopped.

My perception of time was also slightly skewed, I had no way to count the hours efficiently. One little slip up had me counting anew, so at some point, I just gave up with trying to stave off the boredom like that. Counting time just managed to make me go slowly mad, anyway.

I would take my chances with boredom, then. Lest I go crazy and write strange symbols on the walls if I ever found them. And any time I actually tried to reach out towards the walls of my prison so I could try and break free from this accursed place, it felt sluggish and oddly different. I tried to put my finger on it, but even that I seemed to lack nowadays. Whatever happened to me, someone decided to steal my hands for some reason.

A strange thing to do by my captor, I had to say. Why would anyone even go so far as to cripple their prisoner like that? So they couldn't escape? A pair of cuffs would have done the job, too. Most of the time, that is. I didn’t know how to break free from those things, so they certainly would have been enough to keep me contained.

That is what I thought for a long time afterward. There was no way there could have been any other possible explanation but some kinda serial killer going around collecting hands for their sick pleasure. But as time continued on, I noticed my body was not normal. At least in human standards.

Well, I don’t think my captor thought it funny to glue my hands on my back and somehow make it possible for me so that I could still feel some amount of dexterity from them. I wish I could actually see something here in my weird cell, I wanted to look at what they had done to me, but my desires were left unanswered.

I also felt something that I shouldn’t have at where the end of my spine was supposed to be. I tried to figure out what it was, sometimes getting it to twitch. That left me wondering for days before I gave up making any sense of it. The theory I had was just ridiculous and I wanted to dismiss it by default.

Then, one day (at least I think it was during the daylight hours because I had the vague sense of my prison being moved around), I felt something poke me in my side with a nub of a limb. I assumed it was a limb, it had to be, because it gave me the strangest impression of someone kicking me aside for more space.

Dread started to fill my being and I did my best to ignore the most likely answer to my newest theory. I wasn’t alone in my prison, it seemed. Either this was indeed some scheme of a mass murderer going around stuffing people in tanks filled with liquid and somehow keeping them alive, or this was something even worse.

It wasn’t too hard to come to the conclusion that after me dying I ended up in the afterlife. Whether it was hell, the psychopath with a hand fetish, or reincarnation, I didn’t feel great about any of those possibilities. All of them were equally bad, in my opinion.

I always thought that after I died there would be nothing afterward. No hell, no heaven, no reincarnation. All of those were wishful fantasies of people afraid of dying, hoping that there would be something beyond life to make it less meaningless. I was realistic, though. The body had no such thing as a soul, I always believed. We would have found it with science already, would that have been the case.

What even was a soul, to begin with? Some imaginary component that allowed you to live on? Your very being? No, all we were was some data in the brain within our bodies, memories stored away until the time of ones passing. After that, the brain would start to die, and with it, erase what you were with each memory gone.

I really had a bleak outlook on life, hadn’t I? I swear, normally I’m not this philosophical about it. Generally, I’m quite a relaxed person, open to everything. My death must have changed that, or the boredom. I wasn’t sure about that, yet. I swore to rein in the bit of depression I found myself in.

No need to get into the mindset of life being a waste of time, after all. I found life to be interesting and worthwhile, it would be bad if that changed. Also, my wife would be so disappointed in me were she to hear my thoughts now.

There was another poke sometime later and this time I poked back annoyed. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, especially after I was taken from my family so suddenly that I had only this eternal prison as a place to grieve my loss, but the longer time went on, the more undeniable it got.

My sibling didn’t help in my grieving at all. That was the only thing that came to my mind that made any sense to me, which only proved to put on a bigger strain on my stressed-out mind. Wherever I was, this body was a second chance at life and I would have to content myself with never seeing my loved ones again.

That brought up the question of the soul, again. Perhaps there was some truth to it, something that could explain why I got this second chance. I always thought the brain was the only thing responsible for our memories, but if I had a new body now, how could I remember my old body? This wasn’t technically the same brain, right?

This new life was a second chance I didn’t want, though. Not if it meant that I had to leave behind my family. And, I had to admit to myself, there was no mistaking it as my body continued to grow within this womb. I had been reincarnated and I wasn’t human anymore. If the poking of my incessant sibling was any indicator, the limb was some kind of foreleg.

I’m pretty sure we were still mammalian in nature. That was at least some kind of relief, even though it was quickly overshadowed by another fear of mine. Was I now in the body of an animal? The original belief of reincarnation had something to do with karma, right? So, how shitty was my karma that I ended up in this position?

That thought filled me with even more dread. I didn’t want to be some sort of dumb animal for the rest of my life. I liked my ability of speech very much, thank you. And what even was I? Something with hooves, going by the shape of said limbs?

Was I doomed to live my life on a farm, being a beast of burden? Would I be robbed of my own freedom? Or would I end up in some zoo, being stared at all day long?

Were those human voices I sometimes heard? Were those my new owners, me being a mere object in their eyes? Or was I destined to live my life in isolation as a lab rat? Constantly being experimented on for whatever purpose...

I couldn’t take that reality, my poor existence wouldn’t be able to live with that.

Instead of torture in hell, a mass-murderer with a fetish for hands, or reincarnation as a human baby, I was some kind of genetic experiment in some obscure lab in the middle of nowhere, wasn’t I? But for what purpose would these extra limbs on my back be needed by them? Was it an attempt at breeding a weapon for an obscure and far-off war that was more efficient than a normal animal? Why even use animals in the first place when you had soldiers and machines to do the dirty work?

Even more dread started to rise up as my mind went over to some rich guy wanting an exotic pet, deciding to create some hybrid out of different animals. What was I? How come no one was putting a stop to this inhumane experiment? Or have I been reincarnated so far into the future that this was a legal thing now?

God, and here I thought people were panicking needlessly over the whole designer baby bullshit while I was still a human. Have they found a way to dramatically alter the genes of mammals that something of this magnitude was achievable?

Suddenly, I didn’t want to ever leave this place if it meant living in captivity by some rich idiot thinking this was okay. Everything was better than that possibility. Fuck, I would take hell over this! Or whatever other fate my mind could come up with.

Another poke brought me out of my panic-induced mind. I tried swatting the offending appendage away from me, although nothing came from it. Well, in the sense of getting my sibling to stop, from the outside I heard what sounded suspiciously like giggling and happy mumbling.

That couldn’t be right. I was sure the giggling came from the being I was currently taking unwanted refuge in. Was this genetic experiment even more convoluted than I originally thought?

Or... was this something different entirely?

My mind tried to remember every little bit and piece I could about fictional characters being reborn. I had read a lot over the years, most of the books I had were gathering dust in our personal library in our home. And in all the books I had read over the years, there wasn’t all that much about reincarnation to be found in them, in the first place.

If this wasn’t some kind of experiment and my new mother was apparently a being capable of speech, then where was I? What place even had other sentient species? Certainly not anywhere from where I came from. Earth was a vast place, but something like that would have been noticed ages ago.

The answer my brain provided to me was even more nerve-wracking than all my previous theories. While I have never heard of the concept of reincarnating as another creature as smart as humans, my thoughts went to those isekai novels my wife liked to read so much. She would flip her shit over something like this, enjoying every moment of it.

Besides the multitude of other, more perverted, things... Sometimes I wondered what went wrong in her childhood, but I had to admit that I loved her even more for it.

Reincarnated to a different world. That was the basic concept behind those story types, wasn’t it? That meant, not only was I now a child of some creature that apparently had weird limbs on their back, I was forever cut off from seeing my family. I couldn’t even see what future generations of my loved ones would have been like, had this been the future. No, I was entirely removed from that possibility.

This was worse than hell, a mass-murderer, some government experimenting on animals, a rich guy wanting exotic pets, and being reincarnated in the future, combined. My anguish lasted for what felt like months. All the while I was being subjected to the annoying touch of someone that couldn’t take a no for an answer.

Really reminded me of my wife, sometimes. She also didn’t know when to stop, especially when it came to the topic of sex. It mattered not where we were, she had no shame at all.

As time went on, regardless of what I felt about it, and I was left to quietly stew in my anger at the universe, it started to get tighter and tighter in our confines. I couldn’t hold on to my grief forever and I was getting tired of feeling miserable because of that.

Here I was, mourning the loss of something I would never be able to see again, wallowing in self-pity for such a long time my wife would have told me to get over it and start smiling again. Then she would have told me to have more sex, like the perverted idiot that she was. My perverted idiot, though...

I wanted to cry as I slowly began to feel acceptance for my predicament. Acceptance that I wasn’t coming back home, that I wouldn’t get to see my kids grow up and grant me grand-children, that I knew my wife would move on. Probably.

I felt angry that I was getting over this so easily as time passed on and the day of my rebirth came ever closer. I wanted to have my wife with me, so much. She was my rock, my everything. How could I go on without her?

And as I felt my body grow into the being that would see the light of day with entirely new eyes, I felt something even more devastatingly different about my body. It wasn’t the tail, the foreign limbs on my back, or the pointy thing on my head. No, it was what was between my hindlegs that changed my entire perspective anew.

I might have been someone that at some point wanted to know what it felt like on the other side of the fence, but coupled with everything that I had lost? I felt like laughing madly for the rest of time.

I was a friggin’ girl. A girl... pony? I think. I mean, my hooves (there was no mistaking that those were indeed hooves) were entirely too small to belong to a newborn horse. Not that I knew how big hooves were supposed to be, I guess.

How was I supposed to feel about this? On the one hand, or I guess hoof now, I wanted to rage and kick and scream about the unfairness of the universe, on the other one, I... felt kinda excited.

Excited to experience what no one before me could. At least, not to the degree of being biologically female. I felt... happy about this. Was this normal? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. But it felt so... right. As if I was meant to be female in the first place and I never realized it.

You know... like those transgender people I always empathized with. People didn’t deserve to be born with the wrong gender. It was a torture that no one should go through. Sadly, even with modern medicine, it couldn’t replicate a true female body. Those people would never experience the joy of being a parent like they should.

Sometimes I wondered what it would have been like had I been the one to carry our children, or at least one of them. A forgotten memory of a feeling resurfaced, a feeling of jealousy as I watched on as my wife carried our children instead of me.

It was like a punch to the face. An ice-cold realization.

I was transgender and never noticed it, not until now...

That would explain so much about my childhood. Feeling more comfortable around girls, having an aversion towards fighting, sweat, dirt, and grime other boys didn’t overly seem to mind as much as I, the occasional confused glance at some of the kids around me. Playing girly games.

All of that could actually mean nothing, although I was certain now that some part of me knew, always knew, that something was different about me. That there was something that set me apart from everyone.

The feelings of jealousy towards girls and other women. The fact I didn’t think there was anything wrong with wanting to know what it was like as one, too afraid to voice out such thoughts. Sometimes wondering what I would have looked like, had I been born female, to begin with.

I really was, wasn’t I? My heart told me I was right about this, but my mind rebelled against the idea. I loved my wife dearly, was that just a lie I told myself? That couldn’t be true, though! It couldn’t!

My mind was so occupied that I didn’t notice that something was changing around me. The confusion in me warred with every emotion, throwing me down a spiral of sadness and, oddly enough, happiness.

No, my feelings for my wife were never false, that I knew with absolute certainty. I might have been jealous of her, now that I think about it, but that didn’t change my feelings about her.

It was the body that was wrong at the time. Had I been a female in my previous life, I’m certain I still would have loved my wife with all my heart. In no way could anything less have happened, she was just the type of character that demanded someone to fall in love with her.

I was absolutely certain I still would have fallen in love with her, not only because I still felt attracted to females, but also because my wife was actually the perverted one in our relationship and wouldn’t have been stopped by me being the same gender as her.

She would have even loved it, I’m sure.

Some of the things she had me do bordered on dressing me up as a girl so she could at least pretend for a while to be in a lesbian relationship. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed then, but now I knew. I knew with so much clarity, making me want to hit myself for having been so oblivious to my own plight.

Fuck, I’m sure if I had told her I had the suspicion that I was transgender, she would have found a way to be a pervert about it. She even would have made me go through with it, just to sate her fetishes. I couldn’t have gotten mad at her for that, even if I wanted to, mainly because her intentions are always well-meant.

A slight breeze fluttered against my face as I felt something wrap around me. For a moment I was confused at what was going on, as it was the first real break from the routine of sleeping, being poked at by my sibling, and the constant flood of thoughts.

Anything that broke the boredom was a welcome change I embraced with open arms. The feeling of coldness was almost alien now, not having experienced it in such a long while. Was I free now? Had I been released from the prison within my new mother?

And, as I opened my eyes for the first time, I happily noticed I wasn’t within the womb of my mother anymore. We were in what appeared as a small cottage and through an opening in the wall that could generously be called a window, I saw the sight of two suns in the sky, about to dip down below the horizon.

The loving faces of what could only be my father and mother greeted me with bright smiles. My mother was a beautiful mare, lacking the weird appendages I felt flutter at my sides, but a spiraling horn glowed a soft green color amidst the light blue mane. Her twinkling golden eyes looked upon me with pride and affection, while her dark blue muzzle was stretched out in a wide grin.

“She has my mother’s eyes, dear. Both of them,” the deep voice of my father spoke in a deep commanding tone.

“And they have your color of hair,” my mother smirked and I noticed that yes, I did have his hair color. A bright fucking pink. Seriously? I might have realized I wanted to actually be a girl but that didn’t have to mean I needed to go full tilt feminine. I wanted to try my luck at reincarnation again, just to be rid of this color scheme.

Argent Star, as I learned was his name, was a very tall stallion who had a pair of wings at his side. Bright white wings that shouldn’t be possible, by any means. I mean, a horn I understand, but what the fuck went wrong with their evolution that they had the possibility to have wings?!

That at least cleared away one mystery for me. Whatever I was, I was a cross between a unicorn and a pegasus. Chances are, my sibling has the same traits. I was a mini version of my father with a pointy nub on my forehead, and I wasn’t happy about that. I didn’t want to look almost exactly like my new father, for fuck’s sake!

“What should we name them?” he asked her and Lunar Sky, that’s the name of my new mother, gave out a small hum.

“A good question, dear,” she answered. “I don’t think any of the names we thought of would do them justice.”

Her eyes followed my curious stare out of the window towards where the two suns were setting.

“How about Summer Sol for this little cutie and Celestia Sol for this little mischievous filly?” she spoke up, setting me down beside the other bundle of cloth and fur.

“You’re naming them after the suns?” he asked her, a smile slowly spreading in approval. So, that was what they were called here? The Summer Sun, a nice name if I had to say so myself.

“They are our little rays of sunshine, are they not?” she shot back, daring him to say otherwise.

“That they are. They are quite unique, don’t you think so? I don’t think I have ever seen a hybrid between the two tribes before like that,” Argent said. “You don’t think they will be ostracized, do you?”

“I have no idea, dear,” Sky said, frowning slightly. “The tensions have been rising as of late. I don’t want to subject them to this unnecessary hatred.”

“We don’t have to fear for their well being here, we are living quite remotely from any settlement. Should the tension get out of hoof and reach us here then we can always pack up and move further south,” he reasoned, throwing a reassuring wing over her back.

“I hope you are right,” she said, leaning into his side with a little nuzzle. “For now, let us just enjoy this moment.”

“Yes, I imagine you must be quite tired after yelling so loud I fear you scared off every bird in the forest,” he chuckled, ignoring the friendly swat of his wife. As I let out a little yawn, I heard them coo at the sight. “Seems little Summer agrees with me.”

“Her sister seems quite energetic, though,” my mother commented, watching my sister as she broke free from her bundles of linen. My eyes shot wide open as I felt her glomp down on my left ear and I began to squirm in discomfort.

The memory of my wife flashed before me, her doing the same in quite a similar fashion during the last few years. It had been a new development of habit that she had gotten after reading one too many adult novels.

And the first thing my own sister did to me left me wanting to cry out in grief and sadness and mourning. I felt despair claw at my small heart, threatening to swallow me whole.

A green glow from the horn of my mother separated us two not a moment later. Argent was laughing silently all the while. At least one of us felt mirth at my discomfort, asshole. But, to be honest, I would have reacted the same way in his position so I didn’t hold it against him.

A few seconds later, I was also enveloped in the glow of what could only be magic, making me go wide-eyed at the feat with wonder and fascination. Not a moment later I got to see where she was taking me. My sister was already happily gorging herself on the milk from one of the teats in front of us.

Oh, for everything holy, this wasn’t really happening right now, was it? I mean, if my wife were in a situation like this she would happily go through with this, unable to repress the pervert in her.

My stomach let out a pang as I was set down in front of one of Mom’s teats and my mind threw a fit at me. I couldn’t really consider doing what my body demanded of me, could I?

This was something I hadn’t even considered all this time within the womb of my mother, always thinking about things that wouldn’t affect me for years to come. How could I have been so foolish? Of course, the essential need for sustenance would have to be addressed as soon as I wasn’t passively leeching off of my mother anymore.

I was admittedly (and shamefully) suckling beside my twin as my tummy demanded to be filled. This certainly wasn’t how I imagined the first few moments of my life to be like. It was degrading and embarrassing, but I shut out the complaining part of my psyche as I guiltily enjoyed the taste of the milk.

My sister had no qualms about trying to take away my dinner, either. Were it not for our mother, she would have succeeded, too. I could already tell that she would be a pain in the flank to deal with in the coming years. Celestia proved to be just as greedy for food as my wife and it was just as adorable as her stealing bits and pieces from my plate during the many dates we went on.

I forced myself to stop comparing her already to my wife, following where that road went only lead to madness. And with me still grieving the loss of my beloved, that was not something I wanted to entertain. Celestia was going to be her own person, damnit. Not some kind of replacement for Catherine, so I told my mind to stop comparing them to each other.

After our first meal was over, we were placed in a crib together, and sleep soon followed after. Celestia was a clingy newborn. I didn’t mind the embrace by her, though. It felt nice. A little smile graced both of our muzzles in our slumber.

I could do without the wakeup call of my sister nibbling on my ear, though. And in the middle of the night, too. I let out a little whimper, unable to stop the tears from coming as I also felt the pangs of hunger start up again.

Damn this childish body. Damn Celestia for making me cry. Damn me for making her cry in return. Only she was the loud one, not helping my poor ears and stressed-out self.

I might have dealt with my daughters like a loving parent when they cried to the heavens and not complained about it, but this was an entirely different matter. This wasn’t me taking care of a little baby, trying to figure out what it was that they wanted from me.

No, I was the child now and got to experience these things while perfectly capable of understanding what was happening to me, not like Celestia (or my first time as a baby, even though I don’t remember it). This was me filling the role of the newborn now, unable to properly address my need to the ones taking care of me.

Thankfully, our parents didn’t freak out trying to figure out what we wanted. It seemed Sky had a good mother’s intuition and was able to calm us down in record time. Seriously, I would have loved to have had her with me when I had my first kid. Perhaps it was something ponies knew on an instinctual level?

“You two are so adorable, my little fillies,” our mother whispered fondly, preventing my sister from going after my meal, again. “Now, if you would just stop going after your sister’s meal, everything would be just perfect.”

I couldn’t help the little burp from escaping me, managing to confuse me a bit. I thought horses didn’t do that, were ponies here different in some way? I mean, it wasn’t a big thing, not like the whole ‘having wings and horns’ thing, but still. What else was different in that case?

As it turns out, ponies are also perfectly capable of throwing up. I could have sworn horses weren’t supposed to be able to do that, either. Didn’t help that I now had a half-digested meal from Celestia all over me.

Way to go, sister. Way to go...

That led to us having to take a bath in the middle of the night. I could tell mother wasn’t too happy with that, but she gave us the bath with a loving smile on her muzzle.

Celestia was having fun with the warm water and a bit later with the end of my tail. I really wished she would stop using me as her chewing toy. At least she left my wings alone as I didn’t think I would enjoy being chewed on there.

Not long after our bath, we were back in our bed. Celestia managed to somehow drape herself right over my back and I found out that I didn’t quite mind as much as I thought I would. At least she wasn’t squishing my wings or nibbling on my ears this time around. Small miracles, that.

The next morning arrived in no time. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Celestia hadn’t latched on to any part of my body with her mouth, instead I saw her with the end of the blanket in her muzzle. The sight was entirely too adorable to resist giggling about it.

It was something that reminded me of my own daughter when she was as little as we were, now. She also had the habit of latching onto the blanket in her sleep, causing us to have to wash it every other day.

I even found myself forgiving her for throwing up on me last night. Already I felt myself growing closer to Celestia, actually enjoying her antics. Who could say no to this cute bundle of fur and feathers?

Just like I couldn’t resist the charm of Catherine, Celestia weaseled her way into my heart. Not in a romantic way, but a sisterly way. I would do my best to be the best sister I could be to her. She deserved at least that much, and my own family would roast my backside if I ever managed to hurt my own twin.

Even if that meant never being able to deny her whatever she wanted. Celestia could beg me for anything and I would say yes without hesitation. Something I dearly feared she would come to exploit in our later years, and I was sure she would somehow find out about it sooner or later.

I was bad at lying, after all. Saying no and meaning it? Yeah, that won’t ever come across as genuine. She would see right through it, I’m certain of that. If my wife was already notorious for doing so, Celestia would be just as able at it, I could tell.

As it turns out, my parents were also unable to say no to each of us. Over the following days, Celestia managed to break free from the confines of our bed by the use of the little appendages on her back. This also made me curious and soon enough we were absolute nightmares to deal with.

I’m not sure how I would have coped with flying children in my previous life, but it couldn’t have been anything good. I mean, I already felt like we should be bound down to our bed so we couldn’t hurt ourselves, to what would I have actually resorted to if I was the one having to take care of someone like me?

We were absolute monsters to our parents. Well, more to our dad because he couldn’t do jack-shit to stop us from getting to the most impossible places with our little wings. It was a miracle he wasn’t frothing at his mouth by the end of the first week, let alone the first month.

Celestia and I behaved like the curious children that didn’t know what no meant, constantly getting into trouble. At least, as long as our mother wasn’t there. She always managed to rein me in no matter what. I had to curse my childish body multiple times as I gave in to the urges of playing around like Celestia, managing to drive my father up the wall as he was unable to stop us like our mother could.

I was only slightly sorry for him, still not having forgiven him for inheriting his pink hair. I was fine with the white fur over my body, but I drew the line at pink. Seriously, why pink? Paint my walls pink for all I care, I don’t want to live the rest of my however long life with pink hair.

Please, don’t let me die randomly again. I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime. The thought of leaving my adorable sister behind, too, would break my heart entirely. Let’s not dwell on such dark thoughts, Summer. You can do this.

Wait... did I just call myself Summer?

I mean, it kinda is my name now. Why wouldn’t I use it? Although, it left behind a bitter taste in my mouth. Was I really ready to just throw away my old identity for this? Rudolph Baker was dead, I guess. But still, was my old life getting less important to me now?

This new body seemed very insistent on adapting to my new environment. When I thought of my mom, I thought of Lunar Sky instead of my human mom... Did that make me a bad person? Pony?

No, I wasn’t throwing away my old life. I was... merely accepting my new one, I decided. I was still the same person I was as Rudolph. I still loved my human family as much as the newfound one here. I just... seemed to latch onto the only source of comfort and safety for now.

My old family wasn’t here to help me through these times (and literally change my diapers, although I wasn’t mad that I had to wear those). So, of course, I would feel that Mom meant Lunar Sky and not my old one. She was here currently, while I had left behind a grieving family.

Their son was dead, I had to accept that. I couldn’t come back, and even if I could, they wouldn’t recognize me like this. I had a family here and a loving one at that. Sure, Celestia was sometimes annoying, but weren’t all sisters supposed to be? I loved my family as a human and I vowed to love my new family just as much.

Now I wasn’t feeling as bad about calling myself Summer anymore. It didn’t feel like I was betraying my old self. Rather, I was honoring it. I would uphold the same ideals of kindness and generosity just as much as I did as Rudolph. I still held the thought of family above all else, no matter what stood in between.

I was a pony now. And that pony would be a good role model for my sister if it was the last thing I did! She deserves nothing less of me. The thought of having a sister of my own even filled my heart with warmth. If only Catherine was here with me. Everything would have been perfect in that case.

The first winter we experienced was unlike anything I had ever seen before on Earth. It was cold, for sure, but exponentially more beautiful. Trees that previously looked so ordinary, you wouldn’t have given them a second glance, were now turned into crystalline sculptures that demanded your full attention.

And the small lake by our house was like a perfect mirror, reflecting the breathtaking view of the stars from above. The glare of the suns that was reflected upon it made the surrounding trees and shrubberies sparkle, shine, and twinkle a brilliant yellowish red.

Our dad laughed at us as we pawed away at the falling snowflakes, gently drifting down from a single cloud up above. He had been gone all morning, doing whatever it was he did in his free time. As he came back, he told Mom he had a small surprise for her and bundled my sister and me up in as many layers as we needed to not freeze to death.

And then, he showed us the view we were all admiring now.

“Thank you, dear,” Sky said, resting her head against his. “It’s wonderful. And the fillies love it.”

“Of course,” he nuzzled her, a small smirk on his muzzle. “Anything for you.”

“Anything~?” she giggled, fluttering her eyelids at him. He let out a blush and I wanted to gag. Of course, they just had to go lovey-dovey on us and I’m sure I would hear them do it later in the evening after my sister and I had been fed. “What do you say to lighting up a few candles and...”

A slimy tongue invaded the inside of my ear as Celestia managed to tune their conversation out and for once I was glad she did so. I let out a squeal and she continued to abuse it even as I felt the chill of the air make my fur stand up straight. Pretty sure that was also something that ponies shouldn’t be capable of, but I didn’t care at the moment.

Celestia let out a happy hum, making me giggle from the vibrations running through my ear. I stayed still in her embrace, quietly suffering through her affections. I might have thought she did this on purpose, but that was just a ridiculous thought, wasn’t it? That would imply she was way smarter than I took her for.

All the other times of her acting like any child would have spoken against that, and I desperately held onto that notion. Otherwise, it would mean she was understanding what our parents were talking about and that was in no way okay in my mind.

She hadn’t seen them do that, had she? Oh, please, don’t let her have been traumatized by that, already! I’m not certain she even should understand what that act meant, but I have been wrong about so many things concerning ponies, for all I knew they knew what reproduction meant at an early age!

I wanted to throw up. I needed brain bleach, seriously. And then I needed brain bleach for my twin because that shouldn’t be something she should have any memories of. Fuck, those were memories I never wanted, either!

I felt myself get lifted off the ground by the familiar humming sound of our mother’s magic aura and we were brought back into the house. Mom settled herself in front of the fireplace, presenting her teats to us as she had done so often. I’m not sure when we would finally get to drink from bottles, I couldn’t wait to stop myself from feeling embarrassed each and every time we had to eat.

Celestia had no qualms about greedily sucking down the liquid from within them, though. And if I didn’t hurry, there would be nothing left for me and my hungry tummy.

“Not so hasty, little one,” Mom giggled, eating from her own plate Dad provided for her. Argent had put one of his wings over her back as they watched us with pride and fondness. Celestia disregarded her warning, still going at it like she was about to starve.

“Have to watch out for that one, dear,” Argent snickered, munching on whatever he and Mom were having for their meal. “If she continues like that, she will throw up again.”

“Not on my watch, Argent,” Sky shot back, looking back at him from an upturned muzzle. And thankfully, Celestia didn’t throw up on either of us.

The days were thankfully quiet, the only thing managing to break the monotony was Celestia continuing to harass my ear. Thankfully, neither of us ever witnessed our parents have their sexy-time and I was immensely glad for that.

One notable thing that happened was Celestia lighting up our bed with bright blue flames, causing our parents to panic for a moment. The giggling coming from my twin managed to calm them down (somewhat) and seeing that the flames didn’t actually consume us in a fiery blaze was cause for relief.

That begged the question though, how did Celestia do that? I had no luck with accessing my own magic (yet), so I wondered what she did differently than me. At least Mom was able to extinguish the flames before they actually grew out of control and started to burn things.

And continuing that disaster, Celestia turned random cushions and toys into plush versions of ourselves for a small number of times. Mom was giggling for days at the sight of our bed having been flooded with stuffed plushies looking so much like us you had to search through all of them to find our giggling selves.

After that, I actually got the hang on some basic telekinesis. It was surprisingly easy and instinctual, requiring only the desire to hold something aloft that made my horn light up in a golden aura.

That brought about an entirely new era of mischief on behalf of my twin and myself. Dad had no chance against us, me levitating around the plushies Tia created with the stuff I offered her.

Our army was vast. Our army was strong. Our army was endless!

Suffice to say, our mother put a stop to the antics of me and my sister after it got out of hoof entirely. I was pouting grumpily and Celestia happily returned to munching on my ears again.

There goes all my fun...

Chapter 002 - The cold icy chill of winter.

I snuggled deeper within the embrace of my sister, trying to escape the blasted sunlight streaming in through the window. I had no idea how the physics behind it worked out, but having two suns greet me every morning was worse than the one I woke up to on Earth.

Seriously, how did the orbit of this solar system look like? As far as I can tell with my limited understanding, the two suns up in the sky were impossible. That’s it. They couldn’t possibly maintain their position in the center of the solar system like that and not crash into each other. Both of them never seemed to change positions even remotely each time I observed them. Always exactly the same distance from each other. There wasn’t even a change in perspective as I observed them over multiple months. Impossible, I declared defiantly in my mind. Utterly impossible.

Unless they were orbiting the planet, which was such a ludicrous idea to even consider, they were not possible. End of discussion.

Celestia glomped down on my ear, making me giggle and shriek at the same time. I struggled to get out of her grasp as she continued to happily gnaw on my appendage without a care in the world. I whined as she began to lick the inside of it, subjecting me to this disgustingly wet torture early in the morning. Like the hundreds of times that she had done so in the past.

“My, my, already up, huh? What are my little fillies doing?” the voice of our mother reached us and I squinted up at her frame, silhouetted by the suns’ rays. She looked like an angel coming to save me. I turned my big pale magenta eyes up at her in a pout, but all she did was smile at our antics.

“Honey? The foals awake?” the sleepy voice of our father asked, making Mom turn her head around. I continued my struggles futilely against my sister who held on to me effortlessly.

“Sure are, sugar,” she grinned. “And you really need to see this.”

“Oh?” Argent Star said, coming up to her side. I gave him the same pout and the only thing he did was chuckle at my misfortune.

“Tia!” I whined, as now my other ear got the same treatment. My parents stared down at me in what I could only place as awe. Well, the secret was out, I guess.

“Her first word!” Mom bounced up and down. “And it took only nine months! Oh, look at you, my little cutie!”

I continued to glower as now my horn was subjected to the abuse.

“Now I’m sad. Here I hoped to hear her say ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’,” Argent commented lightheartedly.

“Just wait until Celestia says her first word. I’m sure she won’t disappoint you, dear,” Sky giggled, resting her head against his as they watched on as my own sister molested me. Damn you, horn! Why won’t you work when I wanted you to!

My pleas fell on deaf ears as my horn continued to be stubborn. Okay, then no levitation... Struggling against my sister was just as futile as getting my horn to work and my parents were jerks today. Why wouldn’t anypony help me?

I let out a dejected sigh, venting out my frustration. I swear to everything I hold dear if Celestia wasn’t this cute... Grumbling noises aside, even she wasn’t in the mood to let me go today, it seemed. Normally I would be free by now, whether it was because I broke out of her grasp or she decided to let me go after having had her fill of molesting me.

Damn you, Catherine, for making me like it. Damn you, Celestia, for continuing where my wife couldn’t. And damn my parents for watching me squirm in her forelegs.

It took a while, but our parents finally decided to have mercy upon me and lifted us out of our bed. Celestia was already running around as soon as Dad set her down while Mom wiped away all the slobber my sister left on me.

“There we go, squeaky clean again,” mother said, smiling softly as I rubbed my muzzle against her leg gratefully. “My little Summer Sun, let’s get you something to eat, hmm?”

With a quick use of telekinesis, I was sitting atop her withers admiring the view. Celestia soon joined me as we rode out towards the terrace, our mother heating up some milk in our bottles with her magic.

I valiantly defended my bottle against my twin. Although, as Celestia stared sadly at her empty bottle, I felt bad. So, being the good sister that I am, I gave her my half-empty one. It was worth the look of happiness on her face and our mother shook her head in mock despair.

“You have too big of a heart, my little one,” Sky said, taking away the bottles before Celestia decided they could be thrown around. She sometimes did that, I had no idea why. My sister really had a short temper at times. At least I was able to calm her down most of the time by letting her chew on my ear, to my discomfort.

I think it was a ploy on her part, to be honest. Catherine also used all kinds of tricks so she could have her way with me. Little deviant that she was. It left me feeling slightly empty, remembering her. Perhaps that was why I was giving Celestia all these things because she was so similar to my wife.

“Tia,” I simply answered and she rolled her eyes at me.

“Yes, you love your sister very much,” my mother tittered. “But that shouldn’t mean that you have to give her everything she wants.”

“Tia!” I shot back, trying to convey how I would do everything for her. Mom nuzzled me affectionately in response. “Tia?”

“Of course, my little Summer,” Sky giggled and turned and gave my sister also a nuzzle. Said sister giggled happily at the display of love and I felt satisfied. “Now why don’t you play a little with your sister while I get myself something to eat, hmm?”

Once more we had the pleasure of taking a ride on the back of our mother as she brought us back to our bedroom. Celestia immediately set upon playing with the blocks of wood while I sat beside her and pushed the blocks back her way as one crude tower after another lost stability.

She seemed to be having a lot of fun with that, it was quite adorable. So, I helped her try and build a more stable construction that wouldn’t fall apart after a few seconds, feeling the joyful buzz of my golden magic help us at our task

It wasn’t long before my sister lost interest in the blocks and instead tried to get the ball from the shelf. Our father had put it away and out of our reach after the last time we had demolished parts of the kitchen with it. Too bad we couldn’t fly in our room anymore after Mom had put up some kind of magic ward to prevent us from the more riskier shenanigans we could think of.

I tried to get it to come loose with my magic while my horn still complied with me. That was a mistake, as it turns out. As I poured more mana into the quickly flaring aura of my horn, the formerly stuck ball shot out like a cannonball and broke through the wall with a loud cracking noise.

The noise surprised me so much that I didn’t notice my magic getting out of control before it was too late. The commotion attracted the attention of our parents and the eyes of my mother shrank to pinpricks as she saw what was about to happen.

“Quick, Argent! Get Celestia out of here!” she shouted, powered up her own magic as the first bolts of wild magic jumped away from me as I let out a frightened squeak. “Summer is about to have a surge!”

Tears streamed down my face as the build-up of magic made my head pound painfully as if someone had decided to crack it open like an egg... from the inside. I shrieked as I felt myself become weightless and then everything got even worse.

Magic exploded away from me and I was just lucid enough through the pain to notice that my dad and sister were a safe distance away. My mom was doing her best at containing the surging power being unleashed from my body. It almost felt like the blood in my veins had been replaced with rampaging magma as the out of control mana rushed through every part of myself.

Like the frightened child I now was, I cried out for my mommy to come and save me. The entirety of my body crackled with magical lightning as parts of the walls got scorched, toys seemingly came to life, unused diapers flew around in a hurricane around me, and stuffed animals exploded into fluffy bits and pieces.

“It’s too dangerous, Sky! Get away from her!” Argent shouted, fearing for the life of his wife. One of the magic bolts impacted the doorframe, scorching it a deep black while smoke rose away from it.

“I’m not going to let Summer die from this, Argent! I’m not losing another foal!” she snarled back at him. I felt the tears on my cheek vaporize as unbearable scorching heat began to emit from the core of my being. The font of my very power was drawing in more arcane energy from the world around us than it could safely hold, threatening to rip itself apart.

“Mommy!” I croaked out, feeling like throwing up any second now. Everything was swimming around in my vision and I had to concentrate to stop myself from seeing two of Lunar Sky. Or of anything else, for that matter.

“I’m here, my little Summer. I’m here,” her voice reached out to me and a hoof made contact with one of my forelegs.

“Ow,” I said, the sounds my mouth was able to make still limited to very simple things. It was all I could say to convey the anguish I was feeling right now and it seemed my mother got the meaning behind my word.

“I know, sweetheart. I know,” she said, her smiling face coming into focus right in front of me. All over her body were scorch marks and I felt bad for having hurt her so much. “Now, don’t fight my magic when I reach out to yours, okay? I know, you might understand very little of what I’m saying to you, but I know you’re a smart little filly.”

Oh, Mom, if you just knew. I tried so many times to tell you that I was perfectly capable of understanding you, but all you ever did was smile and think me a prodigy. I really love you, you know? You’re always there when I need you, just like now.

I gave her a nod and she looked surprised and relieved at me. And as I felt her magic prod at mine, I gave her the utmost trust I could and let her manipulate my out of control magic.

Slowly, the unbearable fire in my chest dimmed down to an ember of its former power and everything in the room returned to relative normalcy. There was a lot that would need to be replaced or repaired, but the house was still in one piece thankfully.

“No more magic without supervision,” Sky muttered to herself as I gave her a very grateful and teary-eyed hug. She returned my gratitude with motherly compassion and I felt Celestia nudge my side that, in a way, asked if I was okay now. So, I glomped her and did what she normally did to me.

It was slightly disgusting to my tongue, but I did it anyway to cheer her up. The taste of her ear wasn’t anything that I could wash out of my mouth anytime soon. I couldn’t understand what my sister found so great about it, or even my wife once upon a time. It felt great making her laugh and squeal, though.

Mom and Dad watched our sisterly bonding time with fond smiles and for once I wasn’t bothered in the slightest by Celestia returning the favor. It was her particular way to show affection and how could I hold that against her?

And so the days continued on and seasons changed from one to another. Celestia said her first word not long after I managed to do so, which left our father feeling quite happy that she said ‘Dadda’ to him. I could already tell she would have him wrapped around her little hooves in no time.

Not unlike how I managed to wrap our mother around my hoof. What can I say, I was irresistible. Ponies, in general, had the great advantage of looking cute no matter what and I learned how to weaponize that.

Our parents managed to repair the house with no difficulties at all, even adding on to it. One of the new rooms would be used for magic practice and was, therefore, especially reinforced with wards and runes. I tried my best to understand what each rune meant that Mom set up, but it wasn’t an easy task that I set for myself. The only one I figured out was a force negation rune and that was only due to seeing the piece it was on fall down to the ground and not make a dent in the floor.

Our first birthday was a great and momentous occasion. Celestia absolutely loved the cake, practically devouring almost all of it were it not for Mom and Dad. I had no idea where she put all of that, she wasn’t even getting the slightest bit pudgy from overindulging in her eating habits.

For a birthday present, we both got matching armbands with sun motives. It was my most cherished treasure now, and Celestia never left our bed without it. Mom even enchanted it so it wouldn’t ever get destroyed and always fit around our fetlock, no matter how much larger we grew.

Then, weeks started to blur more together as our routine barely differed between days. Dad was out working our own little garden that could generously be called a small field. Mom took care of us most of the time when she wasn’t busy weaving new pieces of cloth, enchanting them while she did so. Tia still molested my ears and I continued to learn by observing my parents work.

Mother oftentimes let us watch from the porch as our dad did his work on the small field. We were cut off from any kind of civilization by quite the distance as I learned and lived a quiet and humble life without having to bother with what little I caught between our parents about the rising tensions between the pony tribes.

Apparently, even in this world, there was racism. Or tribalism, whatever it was actually called here. I just hoped it would stay far away from us. My parents shared my view of it being a stupid thing to get riled up over, especially as we found out that my sister and I were a mix between all three tribes and not as we originally thought a hybrid between unicorn and pegasus.

It was a shocking surprise to see my sister make a sizable dent in one of Dad’s tools with no effort at all. That brought out the scientist in our mom and we found out where our limits currently were. Suffice to say, we had the stamina of a fully grown pegasus mare, the strength of an earthpony stallion, and as we learned from my surge, the magical capacity to set the forest aflame if we really wanted to.

That brought about a frenzied redesign of our training room to make it more sturdy in case we got even stronger as we grew up.

Tia and I were playing around in the snow as winter arrived. Or so I thought, but my parents seemed to think that the snow shouldn’t have been possible. I wasn’t entirely sure why they thought it unnatural that it began to snow by itself.

By now we were old enough to actually speak coherent sentences and I noticed our mother gaining a little bit of weight. While I wanted to chalk it up for preparation for winter, I noticed the warm smiles she directed at her belly every once in a while.

I didn’t know how to feel about getting a little sibling and Celestia was, as it seemed, oblivious to what was going on. On the one hoof, I felt a little bit excited about getting a little sister or brother as I only had a big brother in my previous life. On the other hoof, though, I was getting a bit anxious with what I felt was a civil war looming on the horizon.

And as the months continued on unhindered, we noticed the winter didn’t want to go away. All the while our stored food reserves were slowly beginning to dwindle away.

“Mom, what’s going on? When will the snow be gone?” I asked her one day, by now a sizable bump was unmistakably showing on her, indicating that she was due any day now.

“I don’t know, my little Summer,” Mom smiled reassuringly down at me and my sister. We had grown a lot over the last few years and we were learning all kinds of things from our parents now. While the farm work had practically come to a stop, we still learned things from our dad about our pegasus heritage.

As it turns out, pegasi can control the weather. Which kinda clued me in on the reason why my parents thought this winter was unnatural. Everything in this world needed to be micromanaged, even the heavens as it turns out.

“When will Dad be back?” Celestia asked, staring longingly out the window. We had actually gotten around to trading for some of the glass panes with the distant village so we didn’t have to worry about the snowstorm getting into the house.

“Soon, dear,” Mom answered, also a bit worried by how long Dad was already out there getting firewood.

“Should we go look for him? What if he is lost?” I asked as panic set in and I hopped up beside my sister at the window sill, trying to look out for the lantern he took with him.

“Dear, I don’t think that is such a great idea,” Mom said, grunting slightly as she felt a kick in her womb. “Oh, dear, the little rascal is quite active today, huh?”

“Are you alright, Mom?” my sister and I asked at the same time. Celestia shot me a playful grin and I returned it with a smaller, concerned one.

“Yes, I’m good, my little Sunshines,” she said, although judging by the grimace, it was a lie. My ears splayed back in worry. If our little sibling came to the world now, all she would ever know is this little house and an eternal winter.

I didn’t want that at all, I thought grimly.

A thud at the door caught our attention as it opened up with our snow-covered dad stumbling in, chattering with his teeth as a small puffy cloud of air escaped his lungs. Tia and I ran up to him, asking him if he was okay and why it took him so long to return.

“No worries, my little fillies,” he answered us, shaking the snow from his body. “I was merely held up by some ponies getting close to our home.”

Mom looked at him in alarm hearing that little bit of news and even I felt like he wasn’t telling us the whole truth about that. That was something we really didn’t have the time to worry about, and who knew what their intentions were. I could tell that Dad hadn’t really talked with them, he was more of a silent observer if it came down to it.

“Dear, I... I think the water broke,” Mom suddenly interjected and I turned around in surprise seeing a puddle forming under her. I wanted to feel happy about this, but the looming threat of what I felt could only be raiders of some kind wasn’t easing my feelings about this.

“We will get through this,” Dad said, helping our mother to her hooves. “Girls, could you be so kind as to get some towels and a bowl of warm water?”

“On it, Dad!” we shouted, already scrambling to get the requested things as he led our mom to somewhere a bit more comfortable than the floor.

I filled the bowl with as much water as I thought we would need and heated it up with one of the charms my mother taught me. Turning, I saw Tia already with a veritable mountain of towels in her grip.

“Come on, Tia!” I said, galloping towards where I heard our mother scream at our dad that he was at fault for ‘knocking her up’ again and I could tell that my sister understood what she meant, her cheeks lighting up. Sadly, I also knew what that phrase meant and it left my white muzzle a deep cherry red.

Way to go, Mom, giving me these disgusting images. I wanted to gag at the thought of them, well, doing it, but I suppressed the urge. Now wasn’t the time for that, anyway.

Dad wanted to shoo us out of the room after we brought him the requested items, but I was insistent on staying with Mom and help keep her calm. Tia was a little bit scared, just as much as I was, although she stayed with us after seeing me not budge from our mother’s side.

And, as the hours passed well into midnight, pained screams turned into relieved laughs as our little sister finally came to the world. She had the hair color of our mother and a slightly lighter fur color, twinkling turquoise eyes stared out of the bundle of clothes Dad had wrapped her up in and babbling noises greeted us with a quiet fascination at what she saw around her.

“Celestia, Summer, meet your little sister, Luna Nocturnis,” my mom said, a proud smile looking down at the small filly.

“She looks just like you, Mom!” I giggled, as little Luna took the tip of my hoof in her mouth as I held it to her. Celestia also giggled at the sight, also wanting to greet her little sister.

“Continuing the trend of the family name, huh?” Dad chuckled, smiling just as bright as we did. “She certainly fits the name quite well, dear.”

“Oh, hush,” Mom shot back. “She is a Luna through and through, don’t tell me otherwise. How can I not name her like that when she looks almost exactly like my granny?”

“I didn’t say anything!” he countered, giving her a small pout that didn’t remotely work like he wanted it to. Mom, Celestia, and I snorted at his pathetic attempt to give us the puppy look.

“You’re hopeless, you know that?” Mom giggled and Dad just sulked a little bit more. “Stallions just can’t pull off a good pout.”

“You’re being mean to me,” he grumbled. “I can pout. My brother, for example, can’t resist it.”

“Yeah, but he is a pansy,” Mom shot back and Dad scowled before letting out a disgruntled sigh. “And don’t try denying it.”

“This argument is totally unfair in my opinion, though,” Dad muttered. “I can’t insult any of your siblings because somepony refuses to introduce me to their side of the family...”

“I’m... sorry, Argent,” Mom sighed, grimacing slightly. “I just... haven’t found the opportunity for that, yet?”

“It’s okay, Sky. You don’t have to introduce me to them if you don’t want to. Regardless of that, it seems our little Luna is also a combination of all three tribes, my dear,” Dad said. “It seems our little fillies are destined to live no ordinary lives.”

“I would have chalked it up to luck, but three cute little fillies like this? We must be blessed,” Mom commented, nuzzling both me and my sisters. I happily nuzzled my mother back, as did my sister.

The following days were wrought with chaos as little Luna had quite the pair of lungs. Celestia got a little bit jealous at all the attention going towards our newborn sister, but that was the least of our concerns right now.

The ponies our dad saw a few days ago had found our residence at the most inconvenient time possible. Father told us to hide with our mom, telling us to pack up as much food and fabrics as we could muster.

I had a bad feeling about this. Celestia and I were reluctantly doing what he told us, raiding the pantry and getting the thick blankets from our bedrooms. We stuffed them into the saddlebags we had lying around in one of the cabinets Dad had built over the years.

Tia and I tried to ignore the sounds from the front of the house as Mom ushered us out through the back. Luna was getting fitful in her sleep and I feared that if she were to awaken, she would give us away before we could make it to our storage shack to get the last saddlebag filled with the rest of the food.

The metallic sound of a sword being drawn made my heart stop. There was a brief sound of struggle and then... silence.

“Find the food and get back to camp,” a muffled voice said and my heart sunk further. He didn’t do what I thought he did, did he? Was... was Dad gone? Just like that? How... how could they be so mean and heartless and... and... cruel! This was not fair!

Daddy... why?!

My magic began to erect a tall barrier out of my blue magefire flames, the crackling spell taking on a mind of its own, and they slowly began to crawl up the outside wall of our house to slow our pursuers down. Tears streamed down all of our faces, even Celestia’s as I suspected she knew perfectly well Dad wouldn’t be coming with us.

Six years and I was already robbed of one of my parents because somepony thought it would be okay to take that which wasn’t theirs to take. Had they asked, I would have been happy to offer them something, but this was despicable. They were nothing but thieves and murderers, blinded by hatred and greed.

I didn’t pity the ones that tried coming after us as Mom wasn’t as kind with her magic as I was. Where I only created a barrier that would slowly consume the rest of the house, she activated one of the runes remotely and blew the entire building apart in vengeance.

She wasn’t the same afterward. She continued to retreat more and more into herself, a former shell of her loving self. It was hard getting her to move as we traveled further down south to hopefully find a place that wasn’t perpetually set in winter. Weren’t it for me and my sisters, I don’t think she would have had the will to live on for much longer.

It wasn’t like she stopped taking care of us, though. Mom’s behavior started to resemble that of a mindless zombie at most times, it was almost entirely mechanical in nature. It took me about a year to get her to talk once more and another one for us to find a place where the plant life wasn’t entirely covered in snow.

We slowly rebuild, Luna constantly asking where our dad was. I couldn’t get it over my heart to tell her the truth, honestly. Mom and Celestia couldn’t either. How did you tell your little sister that no, your dad hadn’t abandoned you and gave his life for your protection, instead? I certainly didn’t know how, so I just told her he would be back one day, not wanting to break her little heart so soon in her life.

I didn’t know whether this was a kindness or cruelty. Was it so bad of me for wanting to give her a little hope? I had no idea. Sometimes I just wanted to tell her the truth, but then I thought about how crushed she would be.

Never knowing your dad, that must be a hard thing for her.

As Luna turned four, she found out the truth as she listened in to one of our hushed conversations about how to tell her, if ever. She wasn’t pleased in the slightest by the news and ran away from our new home. It took all of my stamina and will to not lose her in the wilderness and as I found her, I saw some weird wooden wolf about to eat my little sister.

“Get away from her, you foul beast!” I shouted angrily, standing protectively over the small huddled form of my sister in a flash of teleportation. I didn’t know how I accomplished such a feat, but I was glad that my sister was still in one piece.

The same couldn’t be said about me.

The abomination managed to bite down on one of my outstretched forelegs as we struggled against each other. More howls could be heard in the distance and the frightened sobbing of my sister spurned on my magic as golden lances of arcane energy ripped the monster apart in front of me.

“Are you okay, Luna?” I asked, the adrenalin I was currently experiencing a rush from suppressed the agony of my wound somewhat.

“Summer, you’re hurt!” she cried, feeling guilty that she had been the cause of that. I didn’t hold it against her, though. She was upset and we had lied to her for so long, it should be me that was apologizing to her.

“Oh, my little Luna,” I smiled gently. “This is nothing I can’t recover from. More importantly, are you able to walk? Show me that leg, please.”

“I stumbled,” she whispered, holding her sprained ankle towards me so I could inspect it. I grimaced slightly at the bruise swelling on it. I don’t think she managed to break it, but better safe than sorry.

“Come on, climb atop of my back,” I told her, lowering myself to her side. “We have to get out of here before more of these things find us.”

“Sister, look out!” Luna shouted frightened and I turned to see the thing I had ripped apart mere seconds ago reassemble itself like nothing happened to it in the first place. My eyelid twitched at the bullshit in front of me. What were those things?!

The thing let out a deep howl and others of its kind answered in return. Soon after that, we were surrounded by a whole hunting pack of these... timberwolves. I don’t think I could fight them in the conventional way and if I were to set them on fire, it would cause more harm than good. If the whole forest were to be set ablaze we would be as good as dead.

“This is bad...” I muttered, trying to keep these abominations away with my magic. Luna was hiding behind my front legs as I felt my energy dwindle more and more with each prod from our adversaries. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold them off without a solution to our problem.

“I’m so sorry, Summer,” Luna mumbled between hiccups. “If I hadn’t ran...”

“Don’t feel sorry for that,” I grunted, the adrenalin slowly beginning to lose its effect. I had to throw up a full bubble shield as one of the things managed to somehow climb a tree to ambush us. I swear, if they were part cat, I’m gonna light them on fire regardless of the risks. “It’s my fault for leading you on that Dad would come back one day. I should have been honest with you, I’m sorry.”

“What are we going to do now?” Luna asked me, shrinking back as she saw one of their snapping faces break through a part of the shield. “We’re trapped!”

“Let me think for a minute or two,” I told her, still coming up with blanks. If I just knew how I did that teleportation in the first place! Although, I had no idea if I could take anypony with me... I couldn’t leave Luna here like this. I wouldn’t leave another member of my family behind like my dad!

A pulse of my mana heard my determination, tugging at my horn like I had never felt before. Instinctively, my magic reached out to one of the wolves and raging flames disintegrated it into dust. That little feat of destruction left me wheezing afterward, though.

“I don’t think we have a minute,” Luna quietly commented and I saw another timberwolf claw away at the gap the other one made. I bit my lip, feeling that my mana pool would only be able to support two more of those spells from before.

“When I tell you to run, you run,” I said to Luna, my voice dead serious. “And don’t look back.”

“I’m not going to leave you!” she stubbornly shot back.

“And I’m not asking you. I’m ordering you as your big sister. Do as I say!”

In the next moment, I let the barrier fall, shot two of the bastards between the eyes with the spell, and threw Luna in the direction of our home, telling her to go as fast as she could.

I tried to kick the remaining three away as best as I could, but the exhaustion was already getting to me. One of them managed to throw me against one of the trees, knocking the wind out of me. My vision swam and I saw the little figure of Luna stand protectively in front of me.

My heart sank as my ears picked up on the sound of their approaching figures.

No. Not like this. Not my little Luna, anypony but her!

The last dredges of my mana reached out to my sister, hoping beyond hope that a miracle would happen. I didn’t want it to end like this. My sweet Luna can’t die here, I refuse to let that happen!

A flickering light answered my call and little Luna was whisked away in a brief flash, bringing her towards safety. So, that was how it worked... I feel so dumb now. Passion was the key opening the way, determination was the link between here and there, and desire the trigger to cast the spell. A teleport spell of my very own design. Too bad it was the last thing I could do before my vision began to darken.

Before everything went black on me, I saw was a figure that looked so much like Luna, I almost forgot that it was my mother.

And she looked furious, a storm of mana following her wake.

The next moments I remembered were a blur, but they were all back at home with my family safe and sound. Luna played the little nurse as my feverish self was confined to bed rest. Whatever was in that saliva from the timberwolves really didn’t agree with my body, at all.

Celestia constantly made me soup, spoon-feeding me on every occasion she got. It was kinda cute how my sisters fought over who would do what to help me recover from this sickness. I just wished they would stop being so loud about it, and judging by the irritated expression of our mother, she agreed with me on that.

“Say ‘Ah!’,” Luna said, the spoon held aloft in her light blue magic aura while one of her hooves was shoved into the muzzle of my twin. They had wrestled for control of the spoon, Luna having used a dirty trick to win against her. Flicking one’s horn while casting magic was not a pleasant experience. I rolled my eyes tiredly and opened my mouth, swallowing the rest of the soup with a little bit of difficulty.

“Now, let her rest, Luna. She needs the quiet just as much as I,” our mother said, taking the bowl and spoon from my little sister. Luna pouted, although she did hop reluctantly off the bed as a stern stare from our mother told her to do what she said or there would be no cookies come the next morning. Mom made the best cookies, so whenever we felt like she threatened us with not making more of them we quickly became obedient. The power of sugar, it cannot be underestimated. “Sleep well, my little Summer.”

I nodded tiredly, absentmindedly noting that Celestia stayed at my bedside watching over me with a small smile. Sleep overtook me not soon after and it wasn’t a very restful experience. Sweat poured from my body in rivers and the few moments that I found myself slightly awake I felt the eyes of my twin staring at me as I shivered a lot from the fever. Her strong legs held me tightly against her chest and the aura of her magic stroked slowly through my mane in a calming effect.

The mornings blended into each other as I sometimes felt better and on other days even worse than before. I was lucky to have such doting sisters and a loving mother, even though sometimes their concern felt a little bit over the top, in my opinion. I don’t know why both of my sisters felt like they needed to compete over who took care of me, so I just silently bore with it to keep them happy.

It was getting weird, though. They continued to act like this even as my fever went away and we got older. Both of them offered to do the most menial tasks for me so I wouldn’t ‘strain myself’ as if I was unable to do those things myself. That certainly managed to make me feel useless at times. Thankfully, Mom helped me beat that mindset out of them by the time Celestia and I turned thirteen.

Our education picked up after that. After we had managed to reconstruct our little training chamber, Mom taught us how to fight for real. I had no idea where she had learned most of this stuff from, as some of it seemed eerily efficient in subduing, or rather, killing other beings with the least amount of movements needed.

The past of our mother was shrouded in mysteries and after Dad died, she didn’t seem particularly keen on opening up about it. And she knew a whole plethora of spells that could be repurposed for going to war with a small nation. She even taught us how to use anything as a makeshift weapon.

I was concerned about why she knew so many ways to incapacitate somepony. The only ponies, or rather people, that I knew of that had such a particular skill set didn’t use it for good. Although Mom never seemed like the type to be an assassin, I also never thought that she would have been so well versed in the craft.

Dad’s passing made her rethink having kept that side from her family for so long. And as it turns out, our family wasn’t some super-secret spy family or any other such nonsense. No, on one particular evening I learned the truth from her as she had partaken in a little bit too much alcohol.

“You know, I ran away from home to be with your dad,” Mom slurred, not turning from her seat at the window as I entered her room to check up on her. Every year on the same day she would lock herself away in her own room.

Today was the day Dad sacrificed himself to buy us enough time to escape the raiders on that fateful day. Would I have been old enough, I’m sure I would be sitting beside her. But seeing my mother stare out forlornly into the distance changed my mind over the usefulness of alcohol.

This wasn’t her, this drunken mare wallowing in self-pity. This was a broken mare that put on a brave face for her daughters for the rest of the year. Somepony that blamed herself for not having stood beside her husband when he needed her most. I didn’t blame her, I sometimes felt just as bad as she felt now. Especially today.

“Why would you need to do that?” I asked her gently. My mother gave out a scoff, snorting in amusement at whatever she found so funny about what I said.

“Come on, my smart little filly, you can figure it out,” she grinned, but her eyes looked so empty in contrast that it sent shivers down my spine. “Why would somepony run away from home?”

“Your parents...” I whispered, narrowing my eyes in thought. “They didn’t approve? No... that is just part of the reason. If they didn’t approve you didn’t have to run away...”

“Getting there, warmer and warmer,” Mom commented, taking another swig of whatever poison she decided would make this day more bearable for her. To my nostrils, it smelled quite strong and sweet. “Go on, little Summer.”

“I... always found it strange that you never told us you were so skilled in the art of war, scarily good even...” I muttered, thinking back on all the times we had spent in the new training room by now. Luna was already getting curious about what we did in there for so long. A few years and I’m sure she will find out firsthoof. “Normally I would attribute this to someone having been trained as an assassin.”

“Ah, getting colder again, my dear,” my mother told me. “I’m no assassin if that is what you were wondering.”

“Then... what else could it be?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, dear Summer... My little Sunshine...” Mom giggled, nudging my horn with a hoof. “Think a bit harder, I know you can.”

“It has something to do with that tribalism going on up north, hasn’t it?” I stated, not asking for confirmation. “That could explain the running away, but what about the combat knowledge?”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” she slurred, drinking once more from her beverage. “That is part of the answer, so what is the rest?”

“I don’t think any ordinary pony is just able to learn what you have learned, what you’re teaching us...” I said, connecting a few more dots in my mind. I had a working theory, but that would mean...

“Go on...” Mom prodded, smiling wistfully now. I gulped at the thought of voicing my theory. She waited patiently for me to continue as I thought of more possibilities, but I knew those were just half-baked attempts at avoiding the truth.

“You... are part of the nobility, aren’t you?” I asked, not enjoying the bitter taste it left in my mouth. Earth was a great teacher in that those of ‘noble’ descent couldn’t be trusted with power and the ongoing conflict up north was just further proof to that. The first few generations of nobility might still uphold the ideals that got them their position in the first place, but the longer they held such a position the greedier they always got.

Not that all of the nobility was like that on Earth and possibly here, those were sadly in the minority, though. Arrogance was like a disease that plagued those with wealth and power, lacking the kindness and generosity I held so dear to my heart. Perhaps the saying of those reluctant to rule being the best at it is true after all. Someone of humble origins lacking the drive to subjugate their peers was a better fit for the position as the one that got everything handed to them, feeling no compassion with those around them.

“But... why the excessive need to know how to,” I had to gulp at the thought, not liking it one bit. “...kill somepony? In what way is that needed for somepony of the nobility?”

“The crux of the matter, isn’t it?” my mother commented. “Why, oh why, would mother dearest know how to kill anything that stands in her way?”

“I...” stuttering, I looked upon her with horror. “I don’t believe this... There is no way that could be...”

“Oh, it is as you think, my dear,” she answered, voice darkened with spite and vengefulness. “I never told your father because I thought he would hate me. And I never wanted to tell you, but here we are.”

“... but why would your own family?”

“You see, my little Summer,” she began. “My family was a poisonous bunch, the only one with a lack of greed had been my grandmother, Lunaria Solitas. She was the rock I desperately clung to as my own mother and father fashioned me into a weapon to take the throne with.”

“I’m so sorry, Mom,” I whispered, embracing her in a tearful hug.

“There, there,” Mom said, patting my back as I fought with my breath to not start sobbing like the not so little child I still was. “It’s in the past now and your grandparents learned their lesson, I’m sure.”

“So, you named Luna after your grandmother?” I asked after we stayed like this for a while.

“Well, yes. But also after me, or have you forgotten the name of your own mother, my little Sunshine?” she answered, a little mischievous glint in her eyes. A moment later I was on my back laughing uncontrollably as she tickled me with the help of her magic. “Whatever shall I do for your punishment?”

“St-Stop! Please! I-I beg you!” I continued to laugh, my breathing coming in gasps and wheezes.

“What does one say when they apologize?” she teased me and I begged on, trying to crawl away from her. “I’m certain it was along the lines of ‘I am sorry’, or am I wrong?”

“N-no! Please!” I giggled, feeling some of my discarded feathers join in on the assault. “Tia! Tia, help me!”

“Oh, no calling for help, my dear. I taught you better than that,” Mom told me, booping me on the muzzle with a hoof. The door to her bedroom opened and the inquisitive head of my twin sister appeared in the doorway.

“What is going on?” Celestia asked us, confused. I sent her a pleading gaze as my mother continued the feathery torture, hoping that she would come to my rescue.

“Oh? Another one for the tickle goddess?” our mother cackled and quickly captured my struggling sister with her magic.

“No! Summer, why!?” my sister sent me a glare before she, too, was at the unmerciful touch of our captor. “I’m never, *snerk*, coming to help you again!”

“I-I’m sorry!” I whined, exhausted from all the laughing. At least Luna was spared from this embarrassment.

It took a bit of time but eventually, mother got bored of hearing us plead for mercy. Our foalhood days were coming to a close and with that came the most embarrassing and confusing time in all of my life.

Being a teenager again going through puberty, ugh.

Author's Notes:

Poor daddy...

Chapter 003 - Sister.

As it turns out, there is a significant difference between humans and ponies. One that brought about a lot of chaos the first time I experienced it. It was bad enough that our mother had to lock me and my sister away in two separate rooms and tell Luna that she couldn’t see her sisters for some time.

It was a maddening experience and I was wholly unprepared for it. Mares didn’t go through a monthly period like human females on Earth. No, what we had was so much worse. The mood swings were the easiest to deal with. The constant urge to molest myself so I could satisfy the damn drive to reproduce for a little while was driving me up against walls and had me screaming my voice raw as I pleaded for somepony to just end my misery. I was cursing at my mother for having had the foresight to set up some of her teleportation wards so I couldn’t escape to find anypony willing enough to help me out.

That was for the best, though. And I was glad that after the urge slowly subsided that there was also a noise cancellation field on my and my sister’s room. I didn’t want to explain to my little sister why her big sister was constantly moaning behind closed doors as I abused the hell out of my pussy. I swear, even weeks after I had gone through that ordeal my room still smelled like I just had sex in it.

I really wished my wife was there with me at the time. She would have happily complied with my demands to fuck me silly so that I couldn’t walk straight for weeks afterward. And, oh my gosh, sex as a mare felt so much better than it ever had as a human male! It was like having the bliss of Heaven and Valhalla combined. It was that mind-numbingly good, nothing else compared to the feeling of every cell screaming out in pleasure as I got off time and time again.

Magic was even better than any toy I could have used to satisfy myself with. Every little pulse of mana running through my overly wet marehood managed to make me scream even louder than before. The smallest touches sent shivers and pleasant tingles down my spine as my eyes rolled up in my head with each orgasm.

Although, I could do without the constant feeling of wanting more after I had exhausted myself quite thoroughly. At the time I didn’t care that I slept in my mare cum soaked bedsheets, finding myself not able to care in the slightest about the sticky feeling clinging to my fur, feathers, and hair. A small perverted part of my mind found it even more arousing than the sounds my throat made as I voiced out my pleasure, hoping against hope that somepony would hear me and invite themselves in.

Even more arousing was the thought of another mare licking my insides out as I was left to fantasize about all the kinky things my mind could come up with. I tried imagining what my wife would have looked like as a pony, imagining her eating me up just as I did with her while I was still a human, running her tongue through my clenching walls while I held her pretty little head against me with my hindlegs, not allowing her to stop until I was fucked into unconsciousness.

The thought of that image alone made me cum all over again. It was like my body couldn’t contain itself during my estrus. All the images of her using whatever toys we could get our hooves on left me wanting for somepony to be in my company at the time. I wanted somepony else to make me their mare so badly, I was crying in my sleep about it.

Every time I managed to force my body to go through another earth-shattering orgasm, the feeling of emptiness persisted. The fucking burning in my nethers just wouldn’t ever stop, no matter what I did. That was probably my body telling me that yes, sex was amazing and I should have more of it and no, it wouldn’t stop until I was pregnant.

During my estrus it was everything I wanted, so very much, but afterward? It felt like my own body betrayed me... The thought of having little foals of my own running around was downright terrifying, I was way too young to be thinking about having some of my own with this body. And the prospect of having to carry them myself? Yeah, thanks but no. Not when I was a friggin’ teenager. Maybe when I was older again and somehow got around the admittedly disgusting idea of letting a stallion do that to me.

Although my mind provided me with the image of my wife having both a vagina and a penis at the same time, causing me to masturbate to that image with reckless abandon as I found it sexy as hell. I was wondering if there was a spell for that, and if not, I totally would somehow make one of my own that would do just that. The thought of a mare mounting me like that had me biting into my fetlock as I moaned heavily.

I don’t think I was bisexual as the thought of being in a relationship with anypony but a mare made me want to gag. I had no idea why my mind found it okay if a mare had two parts instead of the usual, but something about the thought of being with a male rubbed me the wrong way. Even as I went through my estrus cycle I found myself unable to get excited over a male having his way with me.

There was just a certain excitability to the fantasies I had about being pleased by another mare that set my heart aflutter. Maybe it was part of my old life that ingrained that into me or it was just an aspect I never paid attention to until now. Either way, I felt somewhat relieved that my body didn’t crave the company of a male stallion.

The question was, what would my mother think of me if I told her that her daughter was lesbian? I don’t think I would ever mention my weird fetish of a bigender mare to anypony, though. Maybe my twin would understand my peculiar taste as we almost felt the same about a majority of things, but that is a particular can of worms I didn’t want to open any time soon.

My wife, on the other hoof, would jump on the opportunity, I just knew it. She had had a lot of strange fetishes over the years, some of them she managed to get me to play along with. Some even I found alluring, but I wouldn’t ever admit it out loud.

After what felt like an eternity I was all too happy to finally get out of my room and not feel like I had to pleasure myself every second of the day. Mom gave me a knowing (and deeply empathetic) look once she saw the absolute mess I left my room in and I was all too happy to burn my sheets to cinders. We had spares, so it wasn’t like it was too great of a loss.

I might want to learn some cleaning spells for the future, though. I don’t think I could go around ruining my bedding and default to destroying it afterward. It was a hassle to make new ones in the first place and trading wasn’t a notion I entertained all that much, either. Ponies were already suspicious enough of our mom and dad a few years ago, I didn’t want to find out how they would react to me and my sisters.

Celestia didn’t fare better during our craze and was just as glad as I was once it was over. Our mother told us that the estrus would get progressively less bad each time we had to go through it and both Celestia and I weren’t looking forward to the next time for sure. How much the urge would lessen with each time wasn’t something Mom told us, though. I had a bad feeling that it would take me well into adulthood before I started to notice any change at all.

It was hard to say no over and over again to Luna as she wanted to know why we had to be locked into our rooms for over two weeks and some odd days. I didn’t want to tell her what would have happened had our mother not had the foresight to do what she did. We really would have gone for the first available pony if it weren’t for her.

After a few weeks, some normalcy returned to our lives, thankfully. Celestia and I worked the field whenever we weren’t training under the watchful gaze of our mom, making sure we had enough food to last us at least a month in advance. Our storage shack had enough charms to keep the food from spoiling, but our growing bodies demanded more and more sustenance.

Mother suspected that we needed to eat so much because we had the characteristics of all three tribes, and therefore all three types of magic. The farmwork also had the purpose of training us in our earthpony magic besides providing a meal on the table. Mom didn’t know as much about earthponies as she would have liked, though. So we needed to learn by doing, more or less.

One thing we learned, besides the obvious strength boost, was the fact we could make the plants we cultivated grow more healthily even under less than good conditions. It was a reassuring thought that we wouldn’t have to worry so much about our crop dying on us.

“Mom?” I shouted back into the house as I stood in the open doorway, Celestia a few paces ahead of me looking puzzled at the first few snowflakes touched the ground. We were just about to go work on the field when it became apparent that something wasn’t right.

“Yes?” the groggy voice of our mother answered back. “What is it now? It’s still too early for me to deal with you and your sister’s antics, you know...”

“No, it’s not like that,” I said, rubbing a hoof against the back of my head. While, yes, we sometimes really needed to learn how to behave when our mother wasn’t breathing down on our necks, this was a bit more serious. “Is it supposed to snow this early?”

“What do you mean, snow?” she asked me, coming up beside me. “Oh dear... not again.”

“Is it like a few years back?” I questioned her, getting afraid at the prospect of the conflict up north following us back here to where we decided to make our new home. “Don’t tell me we have to move again.”

“I’m not sure, my little Summer,” she answered. “For now, just make sure the crops won’t die on us.”

“If you say so...” I said, joining my sister on the field as we let our hooves do the talking. Earthpony magic was more of an instinctual thing, something that is done passively. While one could force it to work rapidly, it didn’t help the soil if we decided to do that. We kinda depended on the earth being fertile, but anywhere else? It was quite a surprise to see my sister make roots grow into a fence-like barrier at the border of the nearby forest.

Luna was a bit miffed about not being so good at growing things. On the other hoof, she was a lot better at flying and manipulating the weather than us. So we had a routine worked out for caring for our little farm. My little sister was quite proud of being helpful and getting all the praise from me for being so good with the weather.

Sadly, even she couldn’t do anything about the falling snow. Where our dad had failed entirely at keeping the rogue clouds at bay, Luna was at least able to stop it from going full-on blizzard on us (at least, for now). I don’t think we’re going to need extra firewood this time around.

What we needed was a solution to what was causing this mess, to begin with. The unnatural coldness had to have a cause that we could fix, we just needed to know what it was.

The days continued in a quiet fashion. Our mood was way more somber than before as we watched on as our new home slowly got overtaken by the freezing temperatures. We had enough food to go through a prolonged winter if we were careful with how much we used per day, but even then I’m not certain if this winter will last as long as the one we fled from.

I was afraid that we wouldn’t make it through this. Secretly, I gave Luna and my twin parts of my portions so they wouldn’t have to go hungry to bed. That was something I could deal with, I had the mental fortitude to go without but they lacked that. My mother said nothing about my bleeding heart and I noticed she was doing the same for us.

We took to sleeping in a big pile by the fireplace so we wouldn’t freeze to death overnight. Although, with all the blankets and the quiet crackling from the fire, we still felt the cold creeping in.

Some days it got so worse we couldn’t even leave the house. This winter proved to be the worst one yet and with Luna unable to stop the clouds anymore, we were trapped for good. My little sister wasn't happy about that, grumbling unhappily about not being able to do what she was better at than us. Well, in that regard, my twin and I weren't better off...

“When is this going to end?” Celestia grumbled, shivering against my side. “This is the fault of those ponies up north, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know, sister,” I answered. “I don’t think we should go around blaming anypony.”

“You’re too kind for your own good, Summer,” she retorted, snorting away a cloud of steam. “Don’t think we didn’t notice you and mother giving us more than what is our share.”

“I can deal with a little hunger if it means you and Luna have a full stomach,” I shot back, looking away from her. She sighed and rested her head against mine.

“Why do you insist on this so much? Does your generosity know no bounds?” she asked me in a whisper, a saddened tone evident in her voice. I laid one of my wings over her under our covers and looked back at her. Her eyes reflected the flickering flame within the fireplace in a mesmerizing way.

I wondered why she had to confront me like this. Was it really so bad that I wanted her to be comfortable? She is my twin, after all. Isn’t that something every twin wants to do for their sibling? Maybe that was why she was getting concerned for me.

“I don’t want to see you unwell, sister,” I finally said, knowing full well how much of a hypocrite I was by denying her from returning the favor. “The thought of you hurting for anything makes my fur crawl.”

“And I don’t want to see you like that, either. So please, stop starving yourself for my sake,” she said, nuzzling me gently. “What sister would I be if I let you do this to yourself any longer?”

“Your loyalty is truly inspiring,” I giggled, accepting her ultimatum. She was right, I couldn’t deny that. “I’m glad to have you for a sister, Celestia.”

“And I you, Summer,” Celestia said, laying her head against mine once more. “What would I do without you, I wonder?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” I retorted, enjoying the moment for every second. We stayed like this until Luna weaseled herself between us, making my twin pout grumpily.

“I’m glad to have you too, Summer!” Luna said, grinning up at me. “You like me more than Tia, right?”

“Of course, my little Luna,” I giggled, ruffling her mane playfully. “There is enough room in my heart for both of you, though.”

“No! You’re mine, I say so,” Luna insisted with a little stomp of her hoof. Celestia rolled her eyes from where she started sulking. Our little sister didn’t seem to mind.

“Then you must be right,” I said with a pondering look. “I seem to recall you having stolen my heart at your birth, you little troublemaker.”

“Yay, I win!” she cheered, blowing a raspberry at Celestia. “Take that, Tia! She is mine!”

“I think a little filly needs to be taught a lesson on how to share,” Celestia sneered, feathers at the ready. In the next moment, Luna was squealing around the floor, trying to get away from my twin.

“Summer! Help, please!” Luna pleaded with me, quickly getting out of breath.

“Yes, Summer, help won’t you?” Celestia cackled delightedly and I shook my head at their antics. I was tempted to help both of them, so I chose the middle ground.

“As you wish,” I grinned, my own wings ready to do what was my chosen mission.

“Hah! Take that, Tia!” Luna laughed gleefully as I began to tickle my twin at every point where I knew she was ticklish. Mostly because I knew I was ticklish in the same spots.

“No! Betrayed by my own twin!” Celestia giggled, swatting away at me with her twitching legs. Luna went to join in, but that was when I sprung my trap.

I had two wings, after all. Why not use both of them on two naughty siblings having a fight between them? My mercy knew no limits!

“Su-Summer! W-why?” Luna said, unprepared for my superior assault against both of them at once. Neither was able to fight back against me and our mother looked on with a fond smile.

“That’s what you get for fighting over me,” I smiled devilishly, not letting up with my assault on them. Their struggles were futile for I learned from the best!

The magic aura of my mother caught me off guard as I, too, began to roll on the floor with a shriek, our blankets having long since been discarded all over the room. Her tickles were of legendary proportions, managing to make us so exhausted we fell asleep in a giggling twitchy pile of fur and feathers.

I was barely conscious enough to notice Mom put the blankets back over us before I succumbed to sleep. At some point, I’m sure we will get our revenge on our dear mother, whenever that day comes.

During the night I had a pleasant dream of being at a beach with a ponified version of my wife looking out at a sunset with two suns halfway down below the horizon, the water shimmering in a stunning way like I had never seen before.

“You’re going to have to let me go at some point, Red Nose,” she told me, her blue eyes looking at me from the corner of her vision. Her chocolaty mane dancing around her face playfully, perfectly complemented by the smirk stretching her beige-colored muzzle wide with amusement.

“I don’t have a red nose now and I never had one, to begin with,” I shot back, sticking my tongue out at her. I didn’t want to let her go just yet, so of course, I ignored her words much to her displeasure. That was something I just couldn’t do... she was my everything for more than twenty years. How could anyone let someone like her go?

“You do when you blush, beautiful,” she grinned, licking my cheek slowly in a sensual way. She always had been a massive tease like that. No wonder I fell in love with her.

“S-shut u-up,” I said, my breath hitching as one of her wings trailed down towards my flanks with just the tip of a primary feather.

“Oh, I know of a hundred different ways how you could shut me up,” she whispered into my ear with a hot breath tickling the inside of it, making it flick a few times as a shudder went down my spine.

“I...” my voice quivered, a shaking tongue wetting my dry lips.

“I know about those little fantasies of yours, my dear,” she continued, her teeth lightly nipping the edge of my ear as she bit down on it, dragging my head down and I felt my nethers heat up with a cherry red blush on my face. “See, lighting up is what you do, my little Red Nose Reindeer.”

“You know I hate that nickname,” I whisper, already whimpering in need of satisfaction. My wife was relentless in her teasing, though. She always was.

“No, you don’t,” she told me and Catherine shoved me lightly on my back, trapping me beneath one of her dainty hooves. My tummy quivered with suppressed shudders, leaving me fully at her mercy.

“No... I don’t...” I gulped, agreeing with her. Only she was allowed to call me Red Nose, after all. And by everything that was holy, it was sexy as hell when she did it.

“You like it when you’re not in control, don’t you?” she whispered huskily, going in with her muzzle to kiss me but denying me from ever reaching hers as I went to go meet hers with mine. “So helpless, I can smell your arousal, you know?”

“P-please...” I cried pathetically out to her, wanting... no, needing her to have her way with me. She merely grinned mischievously down at me, and I felt my tail dig deeper into the sand as I couldn’t get out from beneath her.

“Oh, how cute you are like this,” Catherine said, running her hoof over my bottom lip. I wanted to suck on it, but she withdrew it before I could do so much as even lick it with my tongue. “You like it as a cute little mare, hmm?”

“Yes...” I breathed out, trying to buck out towards her with my rear.

“None of that, now,” she grunted, shoving me back down on the warm sand. “You’re not allowed to lead, not when I’m on top.”

“S-stop teasing, already...” I whimpered, begging her with my eyes as she stroked the fur on my barrel.

“Oh, I’ll do so much worse than teasing, my little Red Nose,” Catherine giggled, slowly trailing a few kisses up my neck towards my jaw. She stopped just short of my delicate chin. “Why don’t you just enjoy this, hmm?”

I nodded numbly, my voice failing me entirely. One of her wings reached out to my splayed out ones, brushing a little bit of sand away from them. That just made me quiver more as it felt like she was torturing me for a little bit of fun at my expense.

“You like that,” she stated, not even asking. She repeated her actions with an even lighter touch this time and my wings started to press themselves even harder against the ground at that. “So very sensitive, aren’t they?”

“Y-yes...” I shuddered, biting my lip from the sensation. My wife smiled down at me and pressed the lightest kiss against my muzzle, holding my head back at my throat so I couldn’t make it more passionate. She knew me too well, it seemed.

“Don’t fight for control or I’ll stop,” Catherine ordered me and I forced myself to lay as still as I could under these circumstances. It took a lot of willpower on my part, I had to admit. “Good little filly.”

Her tail brushed against mine as my nostrils flared when she began to play with my lips again with one hoof. I wanted to never forget this intoxicating smell of sweet chocolate (and the faintest hint of motor oil) as her scent continued to play havoc on my body.

Catherine straddled my barrel with her back legs as she sat on top of me, one of her primary feathers tickling my lips slightly. She reached out with her right foreleg towards my clenching nethers with a teasing flick, not even having to look away from my pleading eyes. It came back into my vision glistening with my fluids, reflecting the light of the suns with little sparkles.

“You smell so beautifully, my dear,” she said, taking a deep sniff of my arousal. I whimpered as I felt my insides burn from the sight of her half-lidded eyes, turning me on so much that I thought I would orgasm from the view alone. Catherine gave her hoof a small lick, moaning as she did so. “And the taste...”

“C-Catherine...” I whined, my own forehoof tried to reach out towards my own nethers, but she was quick enough to stop my pathetic attempt at pleasuring myself.

“None of that, have I not told you so already?” she snarled, glaring down hotly at me. “Do I need to punish you?”

“Y-yes! P-punish me!” I nodded eagerly, hoping she would just do so before I lost it completely. “I’m a bad filly, I need to be p-punished!”

“Oh, is that so?” Catherine giggled, slapping my bare flanks with a resounding snap. “You have been so naughty, it will take a while to slap the bad out of you.”

“M-mhhmmm!” I agreed vigorously with her, my marehood agreeing wholeheartedly with her.

“Lick my hoof clean, won’t you?” she asked, holding the hoof with my juices in front of my face. I moaned throatily as I did just that, not taking my eyes off of her as she watched me like a hawk. “That’s better. Do as I say and I might reward you. Now, call me your mistress or I will be quite cross with you...”

“Y-yes, Mistress,” I said, continuing with my ministrations to please her. Just as I thought I was doing a good job at it I felt her flick my aching nub of a clitoris harshly, coaxing out a scream of pleasure from me.

“Not so fast, do I make myself clear?” Catherine growled and I gave her a wordless confirmation that I wouldn’t get too eager again. “Good~. Now, lick my hoof clean again and behave yourself this time.”

“Mhmm,” I hummed, already working on said appendage like she wanted me to. She let out a pleased tone as I did so.

“You’re so hot, do you know that?” Catherine told me, withdrawing her hoof and engaging in a hungry kiss with me. “Licking your own juices like that, it makes me go wild.”

“I aim to please, Mistress.”

“That you do,” she smirked, slapping my flanks again a bit harder this time. “Now, why don’t you tell me why you won’t let go of me?”

“I can’t,” I answered, melting under her grasp as she gave a single buck against my needy marehood. I let out a gasp, winding my hooves around her back as she bit down on my lip.

“Can’t or won’t?” Catherine inquired, going for one of my ears next.

“Won’t...” I said, my eyelid squeezing shut with a shudder as she licked the inside of my ear slowly. My throat let out a moan once more.

“Then you need to wake up,” her voice was a strange mix between hers and Celestia’s. “Don’t hold on to the past.”

“What do you mean, wake up?” I asked her in confusion, looking around me as things around us began to fade away slowly. “What is going on?”

“Let go of this dream, my little Red Nose,” Catherine told me, a sad smile on her face. “Don’t torture yourself over this. Move on.”

“But I don’t want to!” I shouted, afraid of what was happening to the little island. The palms were almost all gone by now, as was the mountain in the distance. “You were my everything!”

“And you mine, Summer,” her voice was getting more distant the longer this went on. “I will always love you, dear. Don’t let that stop you from living your new life, though. Do it for me, please.”

“How can I do that?!” I glared at her, tears streaming down the side of my head. “I might have deluded myself that I have moved on, but that won’t ever change what I feel in my heart!”

“Does your heart have so little room in it that I occupy all of it?” she asked me with a rueful tone. “Have I stolen it so completely?”

“Please, don’t make me let go of you!” I cried out, seeing her start to fade away, too. “I don’t know what to do without you! Please! Please, Cath...”

“You do, even if you haven’t noticed it yet. Stop lying to yourself.”

“But...” I started, but she placed her hoof on my lips.

“Don’t give me that, now. You know I’m right, so why fight it?” Catherine said, her colors changing from beige fur to light fuchsia-ish gray that was almost pearl white if you missed the subtle hint of color, her blue eyes fading to a pale magenta, and her chocolaty mane to a bright pink. “I know you want to... I know you best, after all. Give in, my little Red Nose.”

“But it is wrong! She is my twin, for fuck’s sake!” I said, slapping her hoof away. She instead brought me into a rough kiss, causing my insides to whirl around in so many confusing feelings.

“I’m not the only perverted one in our relationship, Summer,” she replied in a sultry way, her voice having been replaced by Celestia’s. She captured my lips a moment later voluptuously, her eyes smoldering down at me. “Give in, my sweet Sunshine. Your heart yearns for it, why deny it? Give it what it wants...”

“Please... not like this,” I let out a moan against my will. “Anypony but her. I don’t want to lose her. Not like I have lost you, Catherine.”

“You never lost me,” she huskily replied. “I stayed with you in your heart all this time, now I ask you to let go of me. Can you do that for me, please?”

“Why Celestia, though?!” I screamed at her, thrashing under her grasp. Our little world was almost gone by now.

“Because she reminds you of me, doesn’t she?” Celestia-Catherine told me, forcing me to acknowledge what I knew was right. She really did and it made me want to cry so much. This wasn’t fair! Why did it have to be my own twin?! I felt so dirty because of that... “You have to let go of me for you to find your happiness. Do it for me, please.”

“No! I... I won’t! I can’t let go of you like that. It would mean letting you go for good... I don’t want that. Please... not Celestia... not... not like that. She and Luna are everything to me, I can’t risk that!” I said, a hiccup forcing itself out of me. “I’ve already lost so much, I’ve only so little to give before I start to break down.”

“And here I thought you were so generous you would stop at nothing,” she stated, staring down disapprovingly at me. “Or are you so weak that you falter so easily?”

“What if she rejects me? What then?!” I demanded of her, staring her down as my anger flared hotly in my chest. “I won’t have anypony left, then!”

“How do you know she will reject you?” she asked. “How do you know she doesn’t feel the same? Can’t you see the signs?”

“What signs?!”

“Oh, my poor dear Summer,” Celestia-Catherine looked sadly upon me. “I didn’t know you had deluded yourself so much...”

“Deluded? Deluded?!” I growled. “You are deluded for thinking this is a wise idea! Stop playing with my heart!”

“You will see, my sweet Sunshine...” she simply said as she faded away completely and the world around me grew dark. “Accept it. Embrace it. But don’t shun it.”

Those were her last words to me before I felt myself wake up from this strange nightmare. I wished she hadn’t stopped the sexy-time to bring up my darkest, most closely kept secret that I tried to hide away from.

All this time I had to suppress the tingles and blushes as Celestia reminded me more and more of my own wife with each passing year. I would have even gone so far as to think she was an alternate version of her or even her reincarnated self, just like me, but I couldn’t let myself get weak like that. There was no way that was in any shape or form true.

Even though it sometimes seemed so eerily like the truth. Little things that I knew only my wife did were mirrored by my own twin, making me hate myself for feeling like that. It just couldn’t be possible.

Because that would mean my wife was dead by now. That... that she died, like me. And that was something I couldn’t entertain the thought of. If she was indeed a reincarnated version of the love of my life, then that meant she took her own life as she learned of the death of my human self.

The thing about that was, that that was something I could see her actually do. It would have been a thing I would have done if I were honest with myself. Our children would have been a painful reminder of what I once had with her, and it would have slowly driven me mad. If not suicide, then I would have lost myself to alcohol for sure. That wasn’t something I could have condoned, though.

What happened back on Earth? Had my passing such a large impact on her? I would have thought she was stronger than this, but then again, I would have thought to be stronger than this myself. We were bad parents, weren’t we? So selfish that we couldn’t live on without one another.

I wanted to puke from that thought. I didn’t deserve to live on and be happy. Not when that meant that I caused my own wife to take her life. I could be wrong, of course. My heart knew differently, though.

There was a reason why the dream version of my wife changed into Celestia, wasn’t there? It couldn’t be, though. These were the confused ramblings of a madmare, this was my mind playing tricks on me. Nothing more. A way to convince me of a forbidden love that shouldn’t be.

Have I lost it, already? Trying to see my wife in her because I mourned her so much? Was my subconscious trying to convince me Celestia was Catherine because of how much they resembled each other? Was it trying to reason that Catherine could be Celestia because I might have the fear she took her own life? That Catherine reincarnated like me because of that? Was I really unable to let go? Was it my brain’s way of coping with my new life?

I wanted to say no, I couldn’t be so depraved as to cling to this false image, but everything else in me said yes, I am capable of it. My heart yearned for these fantasies to be the truth because otherwise, I...

I wanted to rip my mind to shreds just to stop myself from feeling like this. But, as I felt the strong legs of my sister hold me in her grip, as I felt myself awaken more and more, feeling her tongue ravish the inside of my ear so much that I wanted to moan out... I felt a part of me relish these emotions I held for this forbidden love.

A hoof of mine found its way to my wet nethers, unbidden. The guilt in me warred with the perverted part of my mind and quickly lost to the ecstasy flooding my brain. I loved how Tia played with my ear and I felt revolted at myself at the same time. A small part, a very small part, wanted me to accept my feelings for her right at this moment, turn around and force myself on her. My marehood practically begged me to do so.

It would be a secret I would take with me to my grave, I decided. In no way would I ever risk her finding out and hating me for it. For feeling this strongly about her. She was too innocent for me to taint her like that. Never, I swore to myself, would I tell her of my feelings.

I would silently admire her from the safe confines of my mind, I told myself, but never go beyond that. It was the only compromise I felt I was okay with to some small degree. Even though my heart rebelled against me.

Even though the words I told myself felt like the most dishonest thing I have ever told myself...

As I felt my guilty orgasm shudder through my body, I looked out the window and had to bite back a gasp. It was such an alien sight after having been trapped within the house for so long, I never thought I would be able to see them through the clouds again.

Those clouds were gone now, as was the blizzard. No more snow fell down from the heavens, and the shiny blue sky was perfectly complemented by the glowing suns rising like nothing was wrong in the first place.

The early winter had come to an end at last after so long. I was grateful that it didn’t last for eternity. Telling time was already difficult enough without a calendar to count the months by, I didn’t know which month we currently had right now.

“Summer...” Celestia whispered dreamily and the voice of my twin brought me out of my musings as I felt her bite down on my ear again, sucking on it. My blush brightened as the words of the dream version of my wife came back to me. Was... was that one of the signs she mentioned? But Celestia did that since we were newborns, for fuck’s sake! There was no way that there was anything remotely sexual about it!

I silently continued to suffer as Celestia abused my poor quivering ear and I felt my tail start to stand up. Not like this, not before she was about to wake up! Please body, get a grip on yourself!

My body ignored my thoughts, though.

A small moan escaped me. I felt the mouth of my sister quirk up into a smile at that and I did my best to pretend that I was asleep. Oh, god... What if Celestia-Catherine was right about her? I... no. Don’t get your hopes up, Summer. It was wrong and you shouldn’t even entertain such thoughts in the first place.

It was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! So wrong... Damnit, Summer! Think unsexy things, quick! Anything but this...

Celestia made a wet slurping noise and my wings started to go up a bit as my heart was quickly filled with fear. Don’t have a wing-boner now, don’t have a wing-boner now, don’t have a wing-boner now, I chanted within my mind.

“Stop abusing your sister’s ear and get up, you have to see this,” the voice of our mother managed to pierce through the awkward tension in my muscles and I heard Celestia let out a groan as she stretched her limbs out with a cute little yawn. My heart skipped a beat as I heard her breathe in deeply through her nostrils.

Please, don’t smell my arousal. Please, don’t smell my arousal. Please, don’t smell my arousal.

“Sister, wake up,” Tia called out to me, shaking me on my shoulder. “Mother wants to show us something.”

I tried to fake being roused from my slumber, but I had a nagging feeling Celestia knew full well what I had done. She had that twinkle in her eyes that reminded me so much of a mischievous Catherine.

My brain was such a dick, sometimes. Stop seeing things, I told myself and tried to hide my glistening hoof away from her gaze. My blush threatened to reappear.

So wrong... This was depraved and wrong and depraved... Wrong, stupid, and... and sexy, but wrong! Wrong, damnit! For fuck’s sake, Summer! Get a grip on yourself.

“What is it?” I asked, not having to fake the yawn. Thankfully, I could wipe away the mare juices on the blanket and I was reasonably sure she didn’t notice as I did so with all the secrecy I could muster. It helps that she was staring out the window at the time.

Her flanks looked so divine from this angle, my mind treacherously whispered and I shook my head rapidly to clear the thoughts away. It was wrong! Utterly, damnable, heinously wrong!

She just motioned for me to come up beside her and so I did what she wanted me to do. Outside, where previously a heavy blanket of snow covered the landscape, now were green fields of grass, chirping birds, and puddles of water.

“How?” I asked, perplexed. The sight made me forget my previous thoughts completely, thankfully.

Outside, there wasn’t even a single speck of snow left to be seen. It was... confusing, to say the least. I would have thought for sure to at least see heaps of snow still covering the ground, there was no way it could have melted so fast.

“That’s something I would also like to know, sister,” Celestia said, glancing at me from the corner of her eyes and for a moment the image of Catherine stood before me, the same look in her eyes. After a blink she was gone, a mere ghost from my dream here to haunt me in my waking hours.

Why was this happening now?! Couldn’t I just live my life in peace?! Must I be reminded of my wife by everything my twin does?! These thoughts needed to stop before I did something foolish.

IT WAS FUCKING WRONG! Disgustingly wrong. These feelings, these thoughts... they were all wrong! Wrong! WRONG, DAMNIT! Wrong... It was abominable and disgusting and wrong and abominable and disgusting and... and...

“Are you okay?” she asked me, looking at me in concern. Startled, I gave her the best confused gaze I could muster and she lifted her hoof to my cheek, bringing a tear back with her.

Oh, Catherine... I missed you so much, even if you wanted me to let go of you, I can’t. And if it truly is you standing before me... what would I do then? This notion of forbidden love is driving me crazy now, why did you have to open my eyes like that?

I’m not okay, Tia. I... I love you. And it’s wrong of me to feel like this... It’s disgusting, detestable, depraved, and... and so sexy... Why? Why you?! Why can’t I go back to being ignorant? I don’t want to lose you...

“I’m okay...” I whispered, afraid of what I would say if I were to continue to talk, or even if I were to give her the reason for that drop of liquid. I couldn’t give you the truth, as much as I wanted to. It’s wrong... So fucking wrong... What would you think of me if you weren’t somepony that was reincarnated like me, sister? You would think me mad, wouldn’t you? I’m sorry I harbor such a love for you...

“Are you certain?” Tia asked again, checking for any deception on my part. I gave her a slight smile, but it didn’t reach my eyes. My body betrayed me as it demanded of me to tell the truth to her. But I couldn’t. I wanted to, so much... I was too much of a coward to openly tell you that, though.

And it was wrong. Atrociously wrong.

“I’ll be fine, just a nightmare,” I reassured her, hoping that would be all we would talk about on this topic. I feared I might tell you regardless of how much I didn’t want to if this conversation kept on. At the same time, my heart wanted to spill everything out and leave myself at your mercy, sister. Everything about you just... continued to remind me of my wife.

I hoped my mind would finally stop making me see these things in her. It was unfair to Catherine and Celestia, especially my own sister. She didn’t deserve to be treated as a replacement. She didn’t deserve to be treated as someone she couldn’t possibly be. It was impossible.

It was wrong and despicable. We are twins, damnit! Twins! Family! I couldn’t give in to these impulses! I couldn’t give in to things like incest just because my heart yearned for it. How depraved would that make me?!

“You can talk to me anytime,” she said. “I promise, I will listen. Do it for me?”

“I...” my breath hitched. Countless times of Catherine asking me, in the same way, flashed past my inner eye. Always saying the same words at the end when she asked me for something she wanted of me, no matter what I might have thought about it.

No matter what it was, I ended up doing it. Each and every memory was so similar to each other and perfectly matching the expression she made to the same pleading one Celestia had on her muzzle now. The slight bow of the head, her lip pointing out the smallest bit, her eyes staring practically into my soul.

“Your face just lit up with a bright red, was it about sex?” Celestia giggled. “You have a red nose, you know.”

Red Nose. My nickname from her. Red. Nose. There was no way, it must be a coincidence! Stop this, brain! I plead with you. Stop playing with my heart so much. Stop. Stop! STOP!

IT’S WRONG, DAMNIT! STOP!

A bright flash and I was sitting in the middle of the forest, sobbing my heart out. I screamed out in anguish, hitting my hooves against the dirt. I ignored the aching from the impacts, ripping out chunks of grass and dirt with my magic.

I continued, uprooting trees as my voice got more raw from the sobs leaving my throat. Everything welled up within me and I needed to vent it out, lest I fall victim to my memories of her. But everything continued to flash by me. Our first kiss. The first date. The stupid car race I took her on with me to impress her, trying to connect with her through her love of cars. The cheesy romance movies she watched with me only because I liked those...

The first time we had sex.

“WHY?!” I raged, burning the ground with bright blue flames of magefire. “WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN NOW?!”

I let myself fall to the ground, sorrow gripping my heart tightly as my voice did it injustice in voicing it to the heavens. The flames continued to lick against me, not hurting me and strangely comforting me at the same time.

“DAMN YOU, CATHERINE!” I croaked out, my voice still managing to sound deafening despite how much I had abused it by now. “DAMN YOU, CELESTIA! DAMN MYSELF!”

Why did she have to be so similar to her? Why did I have to notice it now?! Why must I feel this way?!

I wanted her here with me so much, I saw everything about her in Celestia. Every expression of Catherine I loved her for was so perfectly mirrored by my twin. Not only that but the way they behaved was like they were one and the same. A teenage Catherine stared back at me when I looked at my sister now and no matter what I did, I couldn’t stop thinking like that.

This was the fault of my second puberty, wasn’t it? Forcing me to recognize these things about my sister, if I wanted to or not. My heart yearned for my love and it sought somepony similar to fill that role now.

“Damn you...” I whispered, holding my forehooves close to my chest, whimpering mournfully. I tried denying it. I tried to be angry about it. I wished for anypony but my twin to fill that role.

Now... I was depressed. Nothing would bring me back my Catherine. I couldn’t let go of her. All I saw in Celestia was Catherine. My beloved. And now, Celestia made me feel the same way as I felt about Catherine. It made me want to puke, it made me want to cry in happy tears and in sad ones, and it made me want to kiss her so badly.

Why did I have to die and leave her on Earth? Why did I have to be reborn and find myself seeing her in my twin? Why did I have to fall in love with my twin?!

All of these questions... and no answers. I couldn’t know for sure what happened with Catherine and the kids back on Earth. I couldn’t know for sure Celestia wasn’t Catherine in disguise. I couldn’t know for sure what to feel about this.

I wanted to feel this way, and I didn’t. I wanted to have Celestia be Catherine, and I didn’t. I wanted to have sex with her so much, and I didn’t. Everything I wanted, I also didn’t want.

“My love, what are you thinking of me now?” I asked, staring up at the heavens. “What would you say? Not the dream version, but the real you?”

No answer came back.

Of course, a good guess was all I could make. And everything I came up with was the same conversation I had with her in my dream. Accept my feelings, truly accept them. Not just fantasize. Not just look and not touch.

I wanted to accept that I had these feelings. But was that so easy? I mean sure, it was easy accepting that I could admire Tia from afar, not even saying anything to her. But what I really wanted to do was lay my heart out to her and hope she accepted it.

Like I accepted feeling these things about her, to be honest. I couldn’t... I couldn’t continue to deny feeling like this anymore. Dream-Catherine was right, just like the real one always was. I loved her, there was no denying that.

I loved my own twin...

And I didn’t feel bad about it. Not anymore. This wasn’t a crush. This wasn’t a phase. This was true love. The kind that made one do stupid things. Like running off from home and marrying somepony, as our mother did. Like running off out of embarrassment and denial, trying to escape your own sister and feelings, as I just did.

The smile and giggle from Celestia just before I teleported out on her made me smile and giggle wistfully. The way she still continued to molest my ears in her sleep left me wanting for more. The guilty pleasure I let myself have as she sucked on my ear made my nethers flare up with arousal once more.

And this time, I didn’t feel guilty about it. I moaned, thrashed, and cried out in pleasure as I began to masturbate to the image of my sister and I felt no shame. Only love, unbridled love for somepony dear to my heart.

I cried out her name as I came once, then twice. Once more, my body shuddered with overwhelming pleasure and I didn’t stop there. I needed to feel good and I didn’t care that I was masturbating to my twin. I wanted to go back to her, let her have her way with me. The desire burned brightly in me and I desperately clung on to this feeling of need within me.

“Celestia... I love you, so much,” I whispered to myself, a giggle escaping me and I felt myself shudder again from another orgasm. “But I can’t tell you unless I know for sure you feel the same way about me.”

“You don’t have to tell me, Red Nose,” her voice whispered back and I felt my heart stop, eyes popping wide open as my body froze in fear. No. No no no, this wasn’t happening!

“...Tia?” I asked, a nervous tone entering my voice. Slowly, my eyes turned to the right and I saw her twinkling eyes staring back at me. “What are you doing here?”

“I came looking for you, dummy,” she giggled. “So, what is this about? Why hide in the middle of the forest?”

“I...” I murmured and my reply fell short as my eyes took her fully in. Her tail was notably raised, she was biting her lip, and no hostility was to be observed in her eyes. Tears fell from my eyes as I said my next words. They fell out of my mouth unbidden, but my heart danced with joy as they reached her ears. “I love you...”

“I heard... You know, you remind me of someone, Summer...” she whispered huskily and I felt my marehood clench tightly, a shudder running through me as her voice did wonders to my body. “Someone I loved a lifetime ago...”

“I could say the same thing,” I rasped out, all the abusement of my vocal cords catching up to me.

“I think we both know what this is about, Red Nose,” Celestia said and I nodded. “I missed you, you know.”

“Cath...” I started but her hoof stopped me from fully voicing the name.

“I thought I lost you as I died,” she said, placing a small kiss on my lips. I blushed brightly. “I thought I left you alone on Earth...”

“I did, too...” I whispered, returning the kiss. “I don’t know what happened, but the next moment I found myself here.”

“Same...” she said around the kiss, asking me for permission with her tongue and I granted it readily. Her tongue moved around just like I remembered it, wrestling for control. And I let her win, as I always did.

“But... if we’re here...” I started, breathing heavily. Celestia broke the kiss, a somber mood settling over us. “What about the kids?”

“I don’t know...” she returned, frowning. “I thought you were still with them, but I seem to have been mistaken about that.”

“I’m sure my parents or your sister are taking care of them...” I replied. “I know they would.”

“You know my sister was jealous of me for having you,” she shot back. I nodded meekly, grimacing at the reminder. She really was, but I’m sure she wouldn’t let that get in between taking care of them.

“You don’t seem so surprised that I enjoy being a mare...” I stated and she grinned lecherously at me. “But then again, you are a pervert.”

“Says the right one,” she giggled. “I was conscious as you moaned out into your fetlock this morning.”

“I knew it!” I shouted, poking a mare cum soaked hoof into her chest. “You did that on purpose!”

“I always did,” she said, laughing. “I couldn’t resist trying to make my own twin love me. It’s a thing that seemed to work in my light novels.”

“You little pervert,” I said, pouting. “Would you have done this to me if I hadn’t been who I am?”

“What do you think?” she asked me, raising an eyebrow. Of course, she would have. How could she not? “There is no way I wouldn’t have gone after the first love interest like in a dating sim. Who do you take me for?”

“A devil?” I shot back. “You’re the worst.”

“You know you love me~,” she said.

“I’m in doubt about that,” I said playfully, smearing a bit of my juices on the tip of her muzzle and making her go cross-eyed. A shudder went through her body, her inner pervert loving it. “What would you have done hadn’t you had a twin?”

“Don’t think just because Luna is six years younger I would have kept my pretty hooves off of her,” she smirked and I sighed in despair. Why did I have to ask? “Don’t give me that look, now. I knew I would have moved on from you eventually, as I’m sure you would have too, judging by you screaming my name out in bliss.”

“You’re incorrigible. Going after your own sister, for shame,” I said, turning my muzzle up at her. She laughed at that, her head shaking in mirth.

“And what would that make you?” Tia retorted. “At least I admit it.”

“But Luna?! How can you go after your own baby sister?” I asked, aghast. “We’re at least the same age! It’s like dating a kid, for fuck’s sake!”

“Dear, we are kids,” she argued. “And it’s not like I wouldn’t have waited until we were adults, idiot.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“No, you.”

“You times double,” I shot back, blowing a raspberry at her. Tia giggled, embracing me tightly. Fond eyes stared back at me.

“See? Such a child,” Celestia told me. “I’ve missed this.”

“Me, too. I had this dream where I dreamt of your human self as a ponified version, you know?” I said, gazing back at her twinkling eyes. “Chocolate hair, beige fur...”

“Why not blonde? I’m sure you haven’t already forgotten that I dyed my hair,” she said and I nodded shyly.

“I liked it dyed, though...” I mumbled and she giggled, nuzzling me lovingly and I sighed happily into the touch. I’m glad I won’t have to let go of her...

“So... was it a kinky dream?” she asked me and I sputtered for a moment. My blush was answer enough for her as she smirked at me. “What did I do?”

“You... do you remember the first fetish I asked you to let me try out?” I whispered, squirming a bit in her embrace. She nodded and I felt her breath start to pick up a bit more. “You had me pinned under you...”

“Go on...” she gulped, licking her lips.

“And then teased me endlessly with your wings, denied me from playing with myself, and slapped my flanks...” I answered, making a shudder go through her, her wings flared out as she beheld me with hungry eyes.

“Did I make you call me your mistress?” she wanted to know and I merely nodded. “You were a bad filly, weren’t you?”

“Y-yes...” I confirmed and she pressed me into the ground, giving me a rough kiss. “Mhmm...”

“I’m so gonna fuck you right now...” she growled, grinding against me. Her own marehood was slick with her arousal and I moaned into her mouth. “I wished I had you with me as we went through heat, you know...”

“Mhhh...” I hummed, rolling her over so I was on top. I was careful to not squish her wings as I did so. I smirked back at her as I reached out with my own wings, repeating what Catherine did in my dreams which managed to make Celestia mewl out in delight.

“Ru...” she whispered out, but my kiss interrupted her. That was a name she shouldn’t speak out loud anymore. I was Summer now and I let her know that. Our horns clanked against each other, making stars go through our vision. It didn’t stop our make-out session in the slightest.

“That’s Summer, Tia,” I said to her. With a quick flare of my horn, I made her squeal out my name as I vibrated her clitoris gently. “I have longed for this day so much, sister.”

“And so have I... It really turns me on when you call me your sister,” she said, her hips bucking out against mine. We gasped into each other’s muzzle as a pleasant jolt went through us. She turned the table back on me as I found myself under her once more. “Now shut up and let me fuck your brain out.”

“Shouldn’t we worry about Mom finding out?” I breathily asked her, feeling her magic begin to go for my own marehood. “Especially what happened the l-last time one of us ran away?”

“Don’t you worry about that, I’m better at magic than you,” she said. “She won’t find us until we’re done here.”

“Say... w-when... fuck, right there, Tia~... when do horses go through heat a-again?”

“Spring and Summer, why?” she asked me. I gulped, crying out against her chest as she found a particular weak spot of mine.

“What time of y-year is it?” I shot back with a moan, whining as my question made her pause.

“Shit...” she grunted. “No wonder, I was getting more frisky than I should have been.”

“I think the winter lasted too long...” I retorted, wiggling my flanks in the hopes she would pick up where she stopped. “I don’t want to be alone again...”

“Neither do I...” she said. “How long do you think until we go fully nuts?”

“Last time it was relatively fast,” I answered her, squirming underneath her. She went back to work on my needy pussy much to my joy and pleasure. “Think we can somehow alter the spellwork of Mom? So we could get to each other when she locks us away again?”

“We would have to be stealthy about this,” Celestia said, biting down on one of my ears. I let out a throaty moan at that, causing her to smirk playfully. “I knew you liked this already, but I didn’t expect that reaction.”

“S-shut up!” I mumbled, cheeks coloring up brightly. “All the times you have been going after it, it changes how one feels about it. I can’t believe you did this as a foal, you pervert.”

“I was a grown-up in a baby's body, how should I get my fix in your opinion?” Celestia retorted, running her tongue back over the inside of it. I felt my body seize up with an orgasm again, a squirt-shot of mare cum escaping from my nethers to my embarrassment. Celestia raised an eyebrow at me as I stared tiredly up at her.

“What?” I asked her, exhausted.

“How often did you make yourself cum already before I found you?” she inquired. I couldn’t help but giggle nervously.

“I... kinda lost count?” I answered sheepishly. Tia looked down on me incredulously. “That dream really had managed to make me question a lot of things. I tried to deny my feelings for you for so long, it flooded quite literally out of me once I accepted my love for my own twin...”

“Flooded out, huh?” she giggled. “I wonder if you taste the same as me.”

“Of course that’s the first thing you think about, you pervert.”

“Stop calling me names,” she pouted. “I seem to remember you being quite a bit perverted, too.”

“Not as much as you, though,” I argued with her. She rolled her eyes at me.

“So...” Celestia began. “Do you want to try oral?”

“Uhm... I don’t know how it feels like with a vagina, so yes?” I asked her unsurely. I mean, if it felt half as good as what she was doing with me beforehoof, then I certainly wouldn’t say no.

“Oh, you’re going to love this,” she said, standing up from me with a last kiss and a flick of the tongue on my horn, making me go cross-eyed at the sensation. The next thing I saw before me was her sopping wet snatch and the sensation of her tongue running around the edges of my own opening. I let out a moan as I heard her smack her lips in thought. “Spicy-sweet, rich in flavor, and... totally like me, I love it...”

“You weren’t kidding when you said you tasted yourself, oh fuck...” I groaned, biting my lip. “Why do I love the fact you’re such a pervert sometimes?!”

“Well, of course, I would. Do you know how hard it is to resist something like that?” she answered me, giving me a slow lick from tip to bottom. “Oh, by the way, this is totally an upgrade to the taste of your human self, gorgeous. Don’t know whether that is because of pony tastebuds or not...”

“Ugh...” I whined. “Why do you have to bring that up now?”

“It’s true,” she complained, her magic reaching out to my head forcing me a bit closer to her marehood. “Now, I’m sure you want to know what this piece of flank tastes like.”

“Your dirty talk needs more work,” I replied, giving out a tentative lick. Tia was right, spicy and sweet at the same time, quite rich in flavor. I stared at my own cum-soaked hoof, slowly taking it into my own mouth and finding out that yes, I did have the same taste. “Fuck, you were right, this is so weird.”

“Stop licking your own juices and lick mine instead, ass,” Celestia said, wiggling her nethers into my face. I moaned out, getting her to hum with a pleased tone. “Gotta do more than that to make me cum, pretty.”

“I’m your twin, I know where your sweet spots are now, sister,” I shot back, snaking my tongue into her waiting canal. That rewarded me with a long and deep moan from her. I felt myself shudder from her own ministrations as her tongue entered mine in return.

My hindlegs squeezed her head against me as the sensation of something physically entering me was unlike anything I have ever felt before. Celestia giggled into me, not stopping what she was doing and I felt my insides quiver around her tongue, my arousal spiking up from what she was doing to me.

I fought myself from going cross-eyed as she gave a sudden wiggle inside of me, a moan ripping out from the back of my throat. Fuck, where did she learn that from? My forehooves gripped her flanks roughly as I searched enthusiastically for a particular spot within her marehood with my own tongue.

Judging by the groaning coming from Tia, she liked me kneading her flanks quite a bit. So, I let myself grin a bit, digging my hooves into her soft but firm muscles. That made her buck out against me, causing my teeth to scrape against her opening which in turn made her scream out beautifully.

My own rear bucked out against her as she won the race against me in finding the sweet spot with her tongue. A muffled scream of her name forced itself out of my mouth and my walls clenched against her wiggling tongue, not letting it get away from where it currently was. The entirety of my body twitched a few times from the orgasm she inflicted upon me.

Celestia let out a laugh as I almost lost consciousness this time. Once my pussy started to let her go, she withdrew her tongue from my nethers, lapping up every last drop of my arousal with loud, exaggerated, totally hot slurping noises.

After I felt myself calm down enough, I went back to her own marehood with renewed vigor. There was no way I wouldn’t get her off within the next few seconds.

“Mhmm, right there,” Celestia mewled, pawing against my flanks with her own forehooves. She let out a few cute noises I didn’t know we could make as I almost had her where I wanted her. “D-don’t s-stop!”

I grinned and did just that. I let my tongue go completely still and she whined out against me, trying to get me to continue with a few wiggles and shakes.

“Summer, p-please?!” she begged, turning her head around so she could stare into my mischievous pale magenta eyes. Her own pale magenta orbs seemed to glimmer in the light with a few desperate tears. “C-come o-on! Don’t be a d-dick, now!”

“...” I silently laughed and gave her sweet spot a sharp lick, making her go entirely limb as her eyes rolled up in her head suddenly. Her walls clamped down on my tongue, trying to milk it for something that it couldn’t give. I withdrew it with a small bit of difficulty, getting my twin to shudder even more, as I felt her own juices squirt out against my face.

“Fuck, that is so hot,” I mumbled, drinking her practically dry as her orgasm found no halt. “Damn, it’s like you haven’t had sex before in your whole life, mare!”

The only response I got was happy giggling and I smiled, a flutter going through my heart with an overwhelming sense of love for my reincarnated wife. I’m happy I won’t have to let go of her, having her here with me. We would have to continue our relationship in secret, though.

This technically counted as incest, didn’t it? Celestia and I knew how much this was frowned upon while we were still human, how did ponies view something like this? I mean, as Rudolph I wasn’t of a different opinion than the rest of humanity, but now?

This was my friggin’ wife and she was my sister for fifteen years by now. Almost as long as we had been married. We swore we would love each other while in life and in death. This didn’t change a damn thing about that. But it was everypony else I was concerned with.

We couldn’t just say we were a reincarnated couple and expect anypony to believe that. They would think this is some sick excuse so we could be together out in the open. We would be ostracized, even more so for being an amalgamation of the three pony tribes.

“What are you thinking about?” the voice of my wife turned twin brought me back to reality. I saw Celestia next to me with a small content smile, her eyes holding love and happiness in their pale magenta depths. Her forelegs wrapped themselves around me as I scooted over to her and I put my head on her chest with a small soft sigh.

“You know we can’t ever let anyone else see us like this again, right?” I told her, feeling sad. One of her hooves stroked through my mane slowly and I heard her let out a small thoughtful hum. “Not like we could when we were married. No kisses in public places, no saying ‘I love you’ in the romantic sense, no more teasing words in front of anypony...”

“I hate that you’re right with this, Summer,” Celestia said, making an unhappy noise. “This could very well become something life-threatening if it ever caught the wrong kind of attention.”

“That, and everypony would think us freaks,” I said. I let out a giggle afterward, though. “Although your perverted nature is quite freakish sometimes, sister.”

“You going along with it is the freakish thing, sister~,” she retorted and I could practically hear the smirk in her voice. I didn’t bother to argue against that, it was practically true by now.

“So, what are we going to do now?” I asked her. “Not to mention the thing with the estrus, that’s going to suck if we can’t circumvent the wards on our rooms somehow.”

“I might have an idea about that,” Tia told me and I turned my head to look at her inquisitively, careful not to poke her with my horn. “What if the wards think our rooms are one and the same room? We can still teleport within the confines of our own bedrooms, can we not?”

“How do you propose we do that?” I asked skeptically. She grinned down at me and whispered her plan into my ear, tickling the inside of it.

“Quite simple, right?” she stated, eyes twinkling in mischief.

“If it works... I mean, what are we going to do when Mom brings us our food? I doubt she is going to fall for an illusion,” I answered. “And what about afterward? What are we going to do about our relationship? We aren’t going to tell Mom, right?”

“I say we continue on like nothing happened,” Celestia said. “Luna and Mom don’t need to know, so we just tell them you tried to get away before your estrus started and I dragged you back when I found you. I’ll set up our rooms in the meanwhile and don’t you worry your pretty little head about the glamour, sister.”

“Okay, Tia,” I mumbled, agreeing that this was probably the best course of action for now. I had run away from home suddenly without explanation and if it gave Tia the necessary distraction so we could be together during our estrus, I would happily throw myself at our mother’s mercy. “But, what are we going to do about our relationship when we get older? Are we going to hide this forever?”

“We will have to, Summer,” she sighed. “You know just as well as me that something like this won’t ever get accepted. While I’m sure there is a lot of inbreeding going on within the nobility of this world, even they would frown upon siblings like that.”

“This sucks...” I pouted. “Couldn’t we have been born in two different families? Then we wouldn’t have to worry about this so much.”

“Summer, think for a moment,” Celestia sighed. “We wouldn’t even know we exist at all. It was a massive coincidence we were born as twins, already. Imagine how unlikely that must have been! I think this only happened because we died at the same time, most likely.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said, pointedly ignoring the ‘I always am’ from her. “I just... this isn’t fair...”

“Dear... even if we had been reincarnated in two different families and found each other, what do you think they would think of two lesbian mares?” she questioned me and my ears splayed back as I perfectly knew what people thought about homosexuality for a very long time in Earth’s history, even to the present day. It had been getting better over the last few years that I remember of Earth, something I very much approved of, but one couldn’t eradicate prejudice like that entirely, sadly.

Judging by the lack of technology and any form of modern housing, this world was still in the friggin’ middle ages or so. If we were lucky we would be chased out of the country, if not, well, I don’t think they would do anything less than what humans had done when they thought they had to purge that out of the 'affected' like a disease. There was a reason why people had kept something like that hidden from others during those times.

“When should we head back?” I asked after I decided I had wallowed in my misery for long enough. Celestia squeezed me tighter to her chest for a moment, unsure if she wanted to get up at all.

“We probably have been gone too long already,” she answered. “But this is too nice for me to get up.”

“Come on, Tia,” I smiled. “I know I’m sexy, but we can’t stall forever. Let’s make this a quick thing and get it over us.”

“You’re really eager to get locked up again, Summer.”

“If we do this right, then we won’t be alone this time~,” I shot back and she let go of me reluctantly. I could tell she was miffed at having to let go of me for just a little while, now that we knew who we were to each other.

“Fine...” she grumbled. “You go do the talking, I’m going to make sure to meddle with the wards without alerting Mom.”

Together, we made it back to our home. Mother was very much relieved to find out that I hadn’t run away for good. While I distracted her with the little story we spun up about me trying to flee the house before the estrus fully got to me, my twin stealthily did her work on our rooms.

To say that Mom wasn’t pleased in the slightest by my ‘attempt’ to avoid getting locked up in my room was the understatement of the century. It was the first time that I saw her get so mad that she dragged me up to my room by the ear. Luna was confused as to why I was in the situation that I was in, but Mom told her to not get too curious about it with the threat of no cookies hanging in the air.

Thankfully, Celestia was long gone out of my room before Mom closed the door on me. A few minutes later a triumphant twin appeared in my room, grinning from ear to ear at having outsmarted our mother.

And our mother was none the wiser of what we did.

Author's Notes:

<sarcasm>
No one saw that one coming, riiight? :P
</sarcasm>

Chapter 004 - The Land of Equestria.

Having my twin with me during our heat was the best thing we could have come up with. It lessened the painful drive to get a friggin’ foal into my womb marginally, but it didn’t stop us from having sex like crazy depraved bunnies going at it as if they were about to die in the next minute or so.

And by the sweet sexy, hot as fuck, devil of a sister of mine, I loved every second of it. While we behaved more like rabid animals most of the time, I didn’t care so long as I had my wife acting in the same idiotic way as me.

I still can’t believe fate brought us here together for whatever reason. This couldn’t have been some kind of fluke with us dropping dead seemingly at random. Something... or rather, someone (or somepony?) had brought us here, I was certain of it.

Celestia had the crazy idea of comparing our lives to one of her stupid isekai novels that she had enjoyed so much in her previous life, where some people decided to summon a hero to save the day. Yeah, right... It sure was a weird way to go about it to get your friggin’ heroes in that case. I was content with the life we had right now, even though it wasn’t perfect.

There was no need to worry about that right now, though. For the moment, all that mattered was our little farm, Luna, Mom, and of course, Tia. Our way of life was peaceful and I didn’t want anything to take that away from me.

Sadly, even that had to come to an end. Ponies started to appear by the hundreds, all looking like they had just migrated from the other side of the world. Whatever happened between them, it seemed there was a temporary truce between all three tribes for now. Whether it would stay like that remains to be seen. Tia was rather skeptical that this peace would last for long, but I had hope.

There was one downside to this, though... with the arrival of those ponies also came problems. My sisters and I couldn’t continue our farmwork without wearing cloaks to hide away our wings to avoid unwanted attention. We had to live in constant fear of being discovered by the curious eyes of our new neighbors. While yes, we did live mostly removed from sight, that didn’t mean others couldn’t see us use our wings.

That brought about the end of our own personal weather for our fields. Luna was quite mad that she couldn’t do the one thing she was at least somewhat better than us in. And without the best weather, we had to put extra work in to achieve the same results we would have gotten with the optimal conditions.

Mom started to get more paranoid again, too. She didn’t want us to get hurt by ponies finding out what we were, so she was the only one that ever talked to strangers when they came by for trading.

While we got some nice commodities like new tools for farming, candles and oil for lamps, actual cutlery, and so on, we had to give up more and more of our privacy.

Before long, ponies started to use currencies instead of trading and we learned the name of the new nation that suddenly formed around us.

This was now the land of Equestria, currently governed by a council of the former rulers of the three pony tribes. Princess Platinum had the gall to implement exorbitant high amounts of taxes on anypony living in this land and her aide, Clover the Clever, was next to useless in stopping her from doing so just after this nation was founded.

Chancellor Puddinghead (whoever his parents were must have hated him), like the buffoon that he was, had lots of crazy ideas for new laws, some of which actually made it through. It was apparently illegal now to wear a hat that was bigger than your head, for whatever reason. Of course, he was exempt from that rule. His aide, one Smart Cookie, was desperately trying to keep him from running this new nation into a state of ruin from the get-go.

And the former commander of the pegasus army, Commander Hurricane, was already doing his best at pissing off every other nation in the world. Were it not for Private Pansy (I feel sorry for her name, too), I’m sure we would have already been invaded by an opportunistic nation seeking to expand their land. Like the Griffon Empire, for example.

It was a hard transition time into this new era, for sure. My family tried its best at staying away from most of it, sometimes successfully and sometimes... not. We had to pay our fucking taxes now. Taxes! I was quite annoyed by that because it wasn’t like I hadn’t had enough of that a lifetime ago.

The thing was, there was still quite a bit of hostility between the tribes, although officially, there wasn’t supposed to be any of that anymore. While it didn’t seem like it was as bad as it was a few years ago, there was still a heavy hint of prejudice in the air.

Unicorns were greedy, pegasi were lazy, and earthponies were dirty. That was to what this idiotic behavior basically boiled down to. I stayed the hell away from it, I didn’t want to get tangled up in that particularly nasty ball of retardedness. Racism was already bad enough in the history of Earth, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with this tribalism here in Equestria.

Then, there was the whole stigma behind ponies not having their, ugh, Cutie Marks. Who came up with that name, Puddinghead? While Mom didn’t have to be subjected to any ridicule because she had hers since she was ten or so, me and my sister were worried that we would be seen as freaks because we didn’t have one of these stupid pictures on our flanks.

Who needed those, anyway? I could be plenty good at anything and not need a pretty picture on my butt to tell me what I could do and what not. It seemed to me these ponies put way too much worth on those.

...No, I’m not jealous that I didn’t have one of my own, yet. Definitely not.

Then, things actually managed to get worse for some time. Apparently, this fucking impossible world was in a planetary centered solar system. I had no idea how that worked and Celestia was just as stumped about it as me.

So, at least now I knew why the two suns didn’t ever seem to change their position in relation to each other. They friggin’ orbited our own planet, howsoever that happened in the first place. Wasn’t the sun supposed to be in the center of a solar system? I mean, it was called the solar system and not the planet system, after all. I mean, it had been a ridiculous thing people had believed in on Earth ages ago, but... there was a good reason why ponies knew this was a geocentric system. And it was utterly ridiculous.

Ridiculous. Impossibly, utterly, stupidly ridiculous. That is what this was.

The actual bad thing about it was the fact that those suns? They didn’t rise over the horizon on their own. Noooo, they had to be magical suns, if that wasn’t enough yet. Oh yeah, and the moon? That stupid rock didn’t move on its own like it should, either!

What was wrong with this world?!

Anyway, those little celestial objects throwing physics the middle finger had to be raised by magic. And the ones responsible for that? They were all unicorns, causing the rest of them to be massive jerks to everypony else because they had a superiority complex as high as the tallest mountain.

The problem behind this little revelation wasn’t the mindset of most of the unicorns. No... It was the order of the most powerful mages burning through the magic within ponies like cheap batteries. Because apparently, their little ritual to move the heavens wasn’t the easiest thing to do and had massive consequences on the bodies of the casters.

There was one unicorn that has been able to do this for decades now, but he was getting old by now. This Starswirl the Bearded, weird title I had to say, was in charge of the ritual and wouldn’t probably be in the position for much longer.

Most of the spells our mother taught us were actually from him, so I had some modicum of respect for that old coot. At least for now, I had no idea how he was like as a pony. For all I know, he was an arrogant bastard.

While it was nice and all that they made the celestial objects their personal playthings, they had to start getting ponies from elsewhere for their rituals so they had enough unicorns to cast the spell.

Most of them never got their magic back. A few poor unfortunate souls even lost their lives, sadly. But even if somepony was lucky enough to only lose their magic to this ritual, they were doomed to live a half-life. The magic of a pony was an intrinsically important part of their self and without it, they were next to useless.

This continued on for years, them looking for all the willing ponies first before they moved on to less than ideal candidates. They went through those a lot faster than they did with the volunteers. Ponies that were sick to the degree that they hadn’t much to look forward to with the rest of their lifespan, ponies that were less ‘worth’ for society as a whole, and ponies that wouldn’t be missed.

Mostly criminals, but those weren’t the only ones. Oh no... They started to enlist the average pony because they had no other choice.

So far, they only enlisted ponies older than sixty years of age currently. I didn’t have to be worried that my sisters and I were going to be taken away and lose something that I had come to like more than I had ever appreciated my hands for.

Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for our mother.

“Stay in the house and don’t come out,” Mom said, the voice of our only parent that was left to us was quite thick with authority. I didn’t dare speak out against her, even though I really wanted to. I wanted to tell her not to go meet those guards outside of our property, but not even the slightest noise escaped my lips.

Celestia tried to argue fiercely against our mother, but Mom was having none of it. So, rather reluctantly, we continued to watch from afar as she went over to greet the stallions in golden armor.

“This really is a bad time for Luna to go through her first estrus,” I mumbled, glad ours hadn’t started yet. A few years did wonders for us in noticing when that time of the year came around for me and my sister.

“Especially now,” Tia whispered, trying to get her newest spell to work so we could listen in to the conversation outside of the house. It was quite fascinating how creative she could get with magic. Particularly in the bedroom. “We knew that the time would come after she turned fourteen, but now? She could have picked a better time for it, seriously.”

“It’s not like we can choose when we go nuts, sister,” I chided her and she stuck her tongue out at me. I gave it a quick lick, making her giggle. She nuzzled my cheek, something I was all too happy to return.

“Now let me concentrate on this, please. This is more delicate spellwork than what you call waving your horn around, sister,” she said, making me pout. Just because I relied more on feelings than actual thought out and calculated spells didn’t mean I was any less good at what I did.

I still wasn’t on the same level as my twin and that would probably never change with time. I was surprised she hadn’t actually gotten her Cutie Mark for something magic-related, yet. If there was anything that would warrant her getting one, it was that. She was almost like a prodigy with the arcane arts.

Now that I think about it, it was a bit ironic that I was the one that used emotions for spells and my twin was more... analytical about it. I would have thought, what with my past profession of programming games, that I would be the one to calculate my spells, instead. But I suppose magic was fundamentally different than programming, huh? If I ever get the chance to see Earth again, I would like to see how far my old field of work has advanced... maybe those 3D games were actually decent by now...

Magic... it’s still kind of hard to believe, isn’t it? A world full of wonders and the inhabitants don’t realize how extraordinary such a thing truly is. Well, some did, but considering how they find ways to be racist about it is... disappointing. While yes, magic was certainly something one could be proud of if they were proficient with it, it didn’t make one automatically better than the rest of ponykind. Flight to manipulate the weather and the connection to the earth to grow plants were equally as important.

No one tribe of pony was better than the other, after all. Well... whatever me and my sisters were, we sort of had an advantage over every other tribe, but that just emphasized how much each tribe had their own strengths. We knew what made each tribe unique and could empathize with them. If only they could look past their differences... Perhaps that was a futile thing to hope for on my part, but I like to see the best in everypony. Even if they are incredibly stupid and dumb and intellectually impaired... and retardedly dumb.

As I watched my sister try to calibrate her spell just right so that we could listen in on what was going on outside of the house, I couldn’t help but admire the look of concentration in her eyes. It was almost like there was nothing that she couldn’t do and... it made me wonder a bit.

Mom was wrong to call me a prodigy because I spoke my first word so soon, my twin deserved the credit way more. My wife had found her calling in this world and I couldn’t be prouder for her.

“M-ma’... We-ee-n-’am...” a sudden noise came from the glass pane in front of us, due to Celestia calibrating her spell. Currently, it was still gibberish, which managed to make her growl out in frustration. Trying to calm her down, I draped my wing over her back in a hug.

“I-I... d-do-o-n’t-n’t-n’t ca-aa-re... wh...” the sound came out a bit clearer, but then cut off again.

“Damn this spell, work already!” my sister snorted, pawing at the ground while one of her eyelids twitched.

“Just try again, dear,” I whispered comfortingly. She let out an explosive sigh, narrowing her eyes in focus. We really needed to get around to ironing that temper out of her.

Not that I couldn’t get... as angry as her at times, I suppose. Tia’s anger burned quick and hot while my own was more like... a simmering wrath that burned slowly. It doesn’t happen often, but I could be... terrifying when somepony managed to earn my ire. Mostly Tia and Lulu when they were fighting over something...

I try to keep my rage in check while my twin is prone to act on it and get it out of her system. Maybe Tia wasn’t the only one that should get her anger in control. While it doesn’t happen often that I... lash out, it does happen. I shouldn’t worry so much about this when our mother was currently out there dealing with whatever it was that those ponies wanted...

“And I told you,” the voice of our mother finally started to come through, although it was still a bit muddled. It was better than nothing, I guess. “I have children to take care of!”

“Ma’am, we understand, but the duty to this world comes first,” the voice of one of the stallions came through. It sounded quite exasperated and judging by how he held himself, he was tired of trying to argue with our mother. Honestly, arguing with Mom was a futile effort and I wasn’t surprised it got on his nerves. “If we can’t continue the cycle, then your daughters won’t have a world to live in anymore.”

“I don’t want to hear what regurgitated words your ‘Princess’ has to say on this matter, you can’t force anypony to go with you,” Mom shot back, a snarl evident in her tone. “I have to provide for my daughters, they still have a lot to learn.”

“Ma’am, please just understand where we are coming from,” the other guard said. “If we have to come back here with specific orders, we will have to drag you back in shackles. Do you want your daughters to see you like that?”

“Oh, make Platinum come for me, alright,” she retorted angrily. “What has she ever done that you’re so loyal to her?”

“Ma’am, she is doing this for the good of this nation,” the first guard told her. I heard my sister scoff at that and I was inclined to agree with her. Maybe Mom should have dethroned her while she was with our grandparents, after all. Platinum didn’t sound like the most selfless pony and I just knew she had ulterior motives behind this.

“Oh, she is doing this from the kindness of her rotten heart, hmm? Please, don’t make me laugh,” Mom snorted and we saw her cross her forelegs through the window. “That she roped Starswirl into this little scheme is...”

“Ma’am, please. Starswirl is already looking for a replacement that can continue what he does, Princess Platinum said that this is only a temporary measure,” he answered with a sigh. “But I can see you won’t come with us today, we will be back tomorrow.”

“You won’t have any luck then, either,” Mom simply said and we saw her turn around.

“Quick, shut the spell down, sister!” I said. “Before she notices we were eavesdropping on them.”

“I’m on it, don’t push me so much!” Tia retorted, sending a quick glare towards me. I saw Mom raise an eyebrow as she saw us bickering through the window and I put on a sheepish smile, hoping to not arouse her suspicions. “There, see? No need to panic.”

“What are you two up to, now?” Mom asked us as she closed the door behind her.

“Nothing!” I laughed awkwardly. “We were just... wondering what this was all about?”

“You don’t have to concern yourselves with that,” she told us. “Now, I don’t see you doing anything, so why don’t you go and work on the field?”

“Do we have to?” Tia groaned, dragging herself out anyway. “It’s always work now...”

“We have to pay those taxes somehow,” Mom scolded her and before she could send her glare my way, I scrambled to catch up after my twin. My pouty face sadly lost its effect on her years ago... Those were the easy times.

“Luna doesn’t have to do this, why do we?” my sister mumbled dejectedly. “Can’t we have a free day from time to time, too?”

“Tia, she is in heat,” I answered her rhetorical question. “Do you want to risk her running off to get impregnated by some random stallion?”

“Don’t start this,” Celestia said. “I don’t want to entertain having to feed another demon spawn in this family.”

“Demon spawn?!” I asked incredulously.

“What, she eats more than both of us combined!” she shot back.

“Yeah, because we give her the food instead,” I said. “What is this about?”

“Oh, I don’t know...” she started. “How about the fact that you coddle her so much?”

“Is that jealousy I hear?” I grinned.

“No...” Celestia answered, her tone not managing to convince me.

“You are jealous!” I giggled. “Of your own baby sister, no less. Oh, this is rich!”

“Fuck you,” she retorted, pouting cutely at me. “I’m not.”

“Oh, you definitely are,” I smirked. Then my muzzle got just shy of her ears so I could whisper into them with a husky voice. “And there is a spell I want you to try out... so yes, please fuck me.”

The sight of her cloak falling off as her wings stood up stiffly delighted me to no end. My magic wrapped around the piece of cloth and I giggled as I hung it up on her horn.

“Oh, you devious little...” Celestia breathed out a shuddering breath. I bit my lip as she glowered at me from behind her cloak, forcing her wings to comply with her before anypony saw her. Then she gave me a curious, and admittedly overly lecherous, stare. “Have you actually figured it out before me?”

“My, what is this I hear? Am I a better pervert than you?” I giggled. “While I lack the methodical skill for casting spells like you, I totally outperform you when it comes to the instinctual side of magic. What can I say, this kind of spell is well outside of your reach, sister.”

“So, how does it work?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Desire for the outcome, lust for the act, love for the sensation, and determination so one can decide if it actually does what it naturally can or just imitate the real deal. Sadly, it works only on others and not the caster,” I explained, smiling proudly. “Let me tell you, that mouse was so mad at me for experimenting on it.”

“I love you so much right now,” Celestia whispered excitedly. “Although I’m pretty sure it will take me a few years to get that mix of feelings down for me to cast it. So there is no risk for... that?”

“Not if we don’t want to~. And it’s probably for the best like this,” I answered, nodding. Celestia embraced me in a crushing hug, shaking me around like an excited filly. “A-air!”

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “You’re going to love it, promise.”

“Yeah, well... be gentle, okay?” I asked her demurely, scuffing my hoof on the ground. Tia gave me a small nuzzle reassuringly, murmuring her agreement and telling me that it would be a first for her, too. “But I think we should wait until, you know...”

“I agree,” Tia said. “Now, let’s get this work done before Mom comes out to yell at us to stop standing around while doing nothing.”

That was what we did and the day went over quickly after that. The only other ‘exciting’ thing happening that day was delivering Luna’s meal up to her room and shoving it into her room without her noticing that the door had been open.

And just as the guards had said the day before, they returned and this time they didn’t take no for an answer. It was actually kinda badass seeing Mom beat up more than fifteen ponies all at once, but even she couldn’t fight on forever. Both me and my sister wanted to help her out, but a barrier kept us from coming out to assist her.

Mom really didn’t want them finding out what we were, it seemed. Sometimes her paranoia was warranted, though. It was sort of excessive that Platinum sent so many ponies to apprehend our mother and I couldn't fathom why she would. It made no sense...

We had to watch on sadly as our mother was carted off to who knows where. Celestia had long since stopped trying to force the door open with her hind legs in order to try and break Mom’s spell.

Tia ran out as soon as the damn barrier dropped, discarding her cloak and taking to the skies to try and catch up to our mother. I did my best to keep up with her, trying to tell her to slow down a little bit. She didn’t listen to me, though.

Some of the ponies below stared up at us in surprise and I had to bite back a fearful whinny. Yeah... that was something that took me by surprise, unprepared for the alien sound leaving my throat for the first time I made it. Celestia was laughing at me for weeks afterward, at least until I managed to make her do the sound, too.

It also managed to make her perverted side extremely aroused, but that wasn’t important now, I told myself. I had to try and get my sister back home before too many ponies noticed that something wasn’t quite right with the winged unicorns ripping through the sky.

We really needed a better word for our race.

“Tia, please! My sides ache already...” I wheezed out, rasping in a breath with difficulty. I haven’t used my wings for this long before and I was kinda out of practice. Damn ponies forcing us to hide away a part of ourselves. My sister was doing her best at destroying all our efforts, though.

At my desperate cry, she let go of her maddened pursuit, trying to find the pegasus-carriage that held our mother prisoner. This Princess Platinum chick just couldn’t take a no, could she? She had just managed to piss off two extremely powerful siblings, not to mention what Luna would do when she found out they abducted our mother.

Where are civil rights when you need them, for fuck’s sake?! This was so unfair to us and our mother, I wanted to set the forest and the small village on fire in my own rage. I suppressed my pyromaniacal urges, though. It would do nopony any good if I let it out on innocents that had nothing to do with this.

I would give Platinum a thorough tongue-lashing if I ever met her, though. She wasn’t safe from the wrath of me and my sister, that much was certain. I don’t care if she was royalty, she friggin’ deserved it. And perhaps this Starswirl guy, too. It depends on how involved he is with this whole abduction business.

“Do you see them anywhere?” Celestia asked me, her breathing also quite winded. “Please, we can’t abandon her now! Not like Dad...”

“I’m sorry, sister,” I cried, sniffling. “But she probably tried to stop us from doing something stupid. You know, like going after her?”

“I don’t care about that, Summer! She is our mother, for Christ’s sake!” she shouted angrily, blue flames licking parts of her hooves and wings. Oh dear, she really was mad right now. “If I get my hooves on that bitch!”

“Please, calm down!” I said, trying to reach out to her. But she swatted my hoof away from her with a heavy snort, her wild eyes scanning every part of the horizon. “Sister, stop!”

“And then what?! Leave her to their mercy?!” she retorted furiously. “You know what happens to those ponies! Why are you trying to stop me?!”

“Because you’re causing a scene, idiot!” I shouted back at her, tears streaming down the side of my head. “Have you ever considered for one second what you have just done?!”

“What?” Tia asked, looking confused back at me. Then she noticed the other pegasi staying a safe distance away from us, gaping at us. “Oh...”

“Yeah, ‘Oh’ isn’t even doing it justice, sister,” I told her. “This was what Mom wanted to prevent by making us stay away from her! Now we have to come up with a solution to this problem, so please, let us go back home before more ponies see us.”

“Okay...” she muttered, ashamed. Her ears were splayed back in a way that made her look like a kicked puppy. “I’m sorry, sister.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me, Tia,” I said gently, wiping away my shed tears. “Mom is going to be so mad when she comes back.”

“If she comes back,” my twin said bitterly. I wanted to tell her that there was no way Mom would die from this, but then again... she was already a shell of her former self... only continuing to live on for the sake of me and my sisters. There was the very real possibility that losing this last part of herself, the magic holding her like a crutch, would bring her toppling down.

And I feared my sister was right about that. Sometimes there was this mysterious sense she had, telling her when something was about to happen. Normally, it was just a sense of something small transpiring and she couldn’t tell exactly what it would be that would happen. But then, there were the rare cases where she prevented something that could have hurt us. All of this started after our sixteenth birthday and now that we were twenty, she started to get slightly better at it.

I, on the other hoof, sometimes had the feeling I understood what the animals around me were feeling. It was a jarring experience the first time I felt like I knew the bird that just caught the worm was happy. Or that little mouse that I used for my small experiment.

I don’t think this was something normal ponies could just do. Mom certainly never mentioned having experienced anything like what we were telling her about. I had no idea if this was something specific to the race my sisters and I belonged to or not.

For now, it certainly seemed like it. It just reaffirmed the belief our dad held that we would never get to experience an ordinary life. I really missed him, despite inheriting his damn pink hair.

My sister and I were actually glad we had something to remember him by. The same could be true for Luna if our mother... left us... just as suddenly as Dad. I didn’t look forward to telling her that Mom could potentially be gone for good, now.

Something about this world just wanted me to lose my family members, didn’t it? Fat chance I would let it take my sisters away from me, too. Not Luna, and definitely not my wife. I already thought I had lost her once, not again.

A few days later, Luna was finally able to leave the confines of her room and she was happy to be let out. That happiness was soon taken away from her, though. We had to lock her away in the training room as she accused us of abandoning our mother.

Celestia was all too happy to enter a fight with her, both of them slinging around spells like there was no tomorrow. I tried to stop their fight, throwing up two separate bubble shields around them. Those quickly got destroyed, much to my dismay.

It was when they started to rip each other’s feathers out that I had enough and teleported them into the middle of the forest with me. If they wanted to make me mad, they had managed it.

And I was a terrifying force to deal with when mad. My little gravity field forced both of them to the ground as I let my magefire circle around them. They couldn’t get out even if they tried.

“Stop this at once!” I growled at them, my eyes narrowed and I extended my wings in a threatening manner. “None of this helps our situation. We have to hope Mom comes back and if not, then we have to figure out what to do with the ponies knowing about us!”

“Let me out, Summer!” Celestia grunted, snorting like a wild animal. “I will teach this naughty filly a lesson for accusing us of abandoning mother!”

“You let those ponies take Mom away from us!” Luna shot back. “Don’t deny it, sister!”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop?” I asked, my voice low. Both of their eyes shrunk to pinpricks. Good, they knew what was about to come.

“Come on, sister! We can talk about this?” Luna laughed nervously, but I didn’t care anymore. They didn’t want to talk before and they certainly wouldn’t now.

“Summer, don’t do this, I beg you!” Tia whined. I raised a skeptical brow at her. Then, the gravity well started to increase tenfold under them, beginning to crush them cruelly and I levitated two loose leaves from the ground, growling with rage. I was this close to let loose and beat some sense into them, but I had a better idea. Perhaps it was even crueler, but they had asked for it.

No mercy.

The tickle apocalypse was swift. It was relentless. It. was. GLORIOUS!

I didn’t stop until I had them apologizing to each other and even then, I continued on until they begged me for release. I wasn't in the mood to be merciful and until they couldn't breathe on, I would torture them to teach them a lesson. These were hard times and required equally hard decisions. Cooperation was a must if we wanted to get through them and I would be hard-pressed to let my family tear each other apart. What was left of it, that is.

Once everything calmed down from the heightened emotional stress and I gave them a few minutes so they could calm down, we started to debate what we should do next. We had to come up with something, and the faster we did so, the better. The secret was practically not so secret anymore, meaning we would either have to deal with the ponies coming for us or run away.

Celestia wanted to observe our house for a few days to see what would happen while Luna just wanted to continue like nopony ever saw us. And I just wanted my mother back with us, have the secret still be undiscovered, and have Equestria accept homosexuality, but we couldn’t get what we wanted, could we?

No, that would be too easy. The universe wasn’t that kind to us, after all. As we reluctantly went with Tia’s plan (because Luna’s honestly sucked), we saw those guards return a couple of days later.

And our mother wasn’t with them.

Fear gripped my heart like a vice and I had to stop both a raging Celestia and Luna from going over to them to burn them into a crisp. Never before have I felt hatred in my two lives. Well, not the true kind of hatred where you hated someone’s gut so much you wanted to make them evaporate with your gaze alone.

This got me very close to that feeling, but I had to stay strong. If not for Celestia, then for Luna. She was a heartbroken mess like us. One of us had to keep this family together, though.

Mom was already old, that much we were aware of. Ten to twenty years and she would have died, either way. Ponies here in this world seemed to have a great life expectancy even in the equivalent of the middle ages. Something about a healthier lifestyle, I’m sure.

This didn’t mean that we wouldn’t have been grateful to have her with us for the next odd few years, though. But we would have had to come to terms with it sooner or later, anyway. And while the loss of our father had hurt just as much, it was still hurting us to this day even, we learned how to cope with it already.

We... would just have to cope with this, too... I... Fuck, I can’t do this. This was exactly what I had feared most since losing my old family. While Catherine was still here with me, we had left everyone behind on Earth. And now, we had lost the two figures that had raised us since we had to wear diapers and nurse from the teats of a mare that was at first just a replacement for what we had lost. Not that we actually thought of Mom as a replacement for that long (if at all).

Both of whom we had learned to love with our whole heart, having embraced them as family. And neither of them we would ever see again... Now, we only had each other to rely on. And we weren’t exactly the most mature bunch, even though we were mentally older than our physical bodies.

Well, at least Celestia and I were older than we appeared. While Luna acted quite mature for her age at times, she also had the tendency to goof around like a little foal. She was still a teenager, after all. Not that we were better in that regard, sometimes.

So, during the night, we packed up everything worth something to us, mainly food, blankets, and memorabilia of our parents. We filled a whole cart full of all the things we wanted to take with us and we set out to find a clearing in the forest where we could hopefully live undisturbed.

If Mom didn’t want us to risk our lives for xenophobic idiots, we would honor her last wishes for as long as we could. Her memory deserved nothing less.

That also meant building a new house with all of the wards we could muster up that Mom had taught us over the last couple of years. While we weren’t exactly on the same level of spellcraft as her, we managed to at least safeguard ourselves from most threats.

We were experts in building homes by now, so the task was literally done within a few days. It helped that we had a lot of resources to work with, mainly our magic. And we didn’t actually need such a big house like before, we did kinda want to be hard to find.

At least we had gotten Mom to write down most of her spellwork so she wouldn’t forget it somehow. It was no problem to replicate what we had in our old homes.

That included a safe room for us to lock ourselves away during estrus, much to Luna’s annoyance. I didn’t want her to run off and find the first available partner, though. So I just told her to deal with it like a big pony, because the alternative was worse.

All thoughts of sexytime between me and Celestia were on hold for the foreseeable future, though. Luna was already suspicious of us about something that we kept from her (the relationship going on between us, duh), we didn’t need to add fuel to the fire.

But, as it turns out, we shouldn’t have bothered with trying to hide away again...

“You’re not that hard to track down, little filly,” a voice startled me as I sleepily left the bedroom to go get some water to wash myself for some modicum of hygiene. I let out a shriek in fear, bolting back under the covers of our shared bed, managing to wake up my twin in the process.

“Summer?” she groggily asked, lifting the blanket tiredly up with one of her wings. “What’s going on with you?”

“B-b-b-bur... B-burglar!” I squeaked out. That brought her to full wakefulness very fast, an angry grimace starting to replace her confused expression. Celestia leaped out of bed like an avenging angel, some type of spell already lighting up her horn.

“Begone, foul intruder!” she shouted, almost ripping the door out of the hinges as she went to confront whoever was foolish enough to break into our home. The noise startled my little sister out of her sleep, an alarmed gaze upon her face. She almost fell out of our bed, but she too was out the door a moment later with murder on her expression visible.

I heard the beam attack of my lover splash against what I thought must have been a very powerful shield spell if it could hold up to her assault, judging by the sounds alone.

The sounds of futile attempts to get to the supposed burglar continued on for a little while until one of my sisters must have noticed this wasn’t working as expected, so they stopped their current approach to do something different.

Crackling blue flames tried to eat away at the magical defense of the stallion within our home and once more nothing seemed to change.

“Are we quite done, yet?” the elderly voice asked, not in the slightest bit worried for his safety.

“What do you want from us?!” Celestia asked him. I peeked out further from underneath the covers, trying to see what the intruder looked like. All I could see was the soft glow of a shield and the threatening stance my sister had taken on for intimidation purposes. Slowly, I dared to leave the safe confines of the bed, trudging carefully to the open doorway.

There sat a very old stallion on one of the chairs in our living room, staring back at us as if nothing was wrong with this picture. He had a long white beard and piercing blue eyes, wearing a ridiculous hat with bells and a cape that looked more like a blanket, also decorated with little golden bells.

He cleared his throat while standing up from his position, transitioning over to a small bow towards us.

“I am here to ask for help,” he said. His tone was of the wise wizard type of quality one would have seen in a lot of fantasy films back on Earth. “I’m terribly sorry for startling your sister, dear. I was told I lack... tact. Anyway, my name is Starswirl the Bearded, pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Why would we give you our help?” Luna asked, snorting. “All you ponies have ever done was bicker among yourself, letting hatred guide your hooves. It caused our father to die at the hooves of raiders and now, you dare come here asking for our help after you took our mother away from us, too?”

“Yes, well...” Starswirl coughed awkwardly into his hoof. “While it seems unfortunate you have lost so much over the past conflict, and now with these desperate times calling for ponies to lend their magic to a cause that should have been handled by the Mage Order, I ask you to not forsake this world entirely.”

“And why should we accept your offer of an apology?” Celestia asked, still staring angrily at him. I came over to her and nuzzled the side of her head, giving her a pleading gaze. Hatred had started this cycle, we shouldn’t continue it. I had felt my rage flare up, too, at his... nerve for asking us so casually, too. But I wouldn't let my feelings get out of hoof, allowing them to control me.

“Perhaps we should hear him out?” I asked, uncertainly. At least that much we could do, right? If this cycle of mistrust just kept on, nothing would ever change. Somepony has to look past their misgivings first and I... I'd like to give him the chance. I had hope that he wouldn't abuse our trust and a little bit of kindness could go a long way. If we... if we continue to hold the death of our parents against these ponies, we would never get over this. I don't want to hold a grudge. Not against ponies that had nothing to do with this.

Platinum, though? She could burn in hell for all I care. Knowing me, though? I would offer her a chance, anyway...

“I can’t believe this. You know what these ponies did to our mother, Summer!” she snarled, growling in the direction of the old pony standing in the middle of the room. “He is the reason she had to die! Can’t you see that?!”

“Yes...” I said meekly, looking down and away from her. “But shouldn’t we show at least some small bit of kindness to somepony willing to offer their condolences? Shouldn't we be willing to forgive?”

“Summer, you and your fucking bleeding heart! Look at that old geezer and tell me he is truly sorry for what his ineptitude has caused!” she shot back, forcing me to look at the stallion that seemed to look totally indifferent to what was going on at first glance. But what I saw in his piercing blue eyes wasn’t a coldhearted monster. No. It was somepony desperate for a solution, willing to do everything that was necessary to save the world he loved. And mourn every loss along the way.

“So much pain...” I whispered, tears trickling down my face as I beheld him. He was quite startled as he saw me weep for somepony that was for all intents and purposes a stranger to me. “Why do you take on this heavy burden upon your own shoulders for so long?”

“My dear, somepony has to,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. It sounded quite lonely, too. He must have lost somepony close to him in his duty to uphold the order of the world. “If not for me, countless more would have already given their lives to this. I’ve done my best to take on as much of the burden as I could, but without the rest of my colleagues? I fear we will not have much time before even I can’t continue on with this.”

“What do you need us to do?” I asked, curious about what we could possibly offer that others could not. Although, I might have an idea regarding that...

“I think you know quite well what it is that I want to ask of you. This nation needs ponies like you, not those fools blathering in their seats, talking over each other all day long,” he smiled sadly. “I wouldn’t have come had I not heard the rumors. You truly are magnificent beings, aren’t you?”

“We can’t tell you much, mainly because we don’t know ourselves,” I answered, scuffing the ground with my hoof. Celestia had lessened her glare considerably by now but was still staring distrustingly at the old pony before us.

“Then we will have to find out in due time,” he said, nodding slightly in thought. “I see it was a mistake in asking you so brazenly to help a nation that has caused so much suffering for you. All I ask is that you think this over and perhaps accompany me to the city from where we raise and lower the celestial bodies?”

“And why would we want to do that?” Luna asked warily. “What purpose would that serve us but bring up painful memories?”

“To show you what I seek to prevent, my dear,” Starswirl told us. “And perhaps show you that we mean you no harm. You could be a symbol for the whole of ponykind, I hope you realize that? By the observations I have made on your particular species of ponies, I assume you are a combination of all three tribes?”

“Well, yes...” I answered. “But wouldn’t ponies fear us? We are different from normal ones, after all. Mother always believed we would be ostracized for what we are and I am inclined to believe so as well.”

“Why would you think so?” he asked me, confused.

“Well, ponies already find ways to hate each other for minor differences,” I argued. “And the tribalism that had led to the great winter? We represent all that they fear in others, hatred would be a natural response to that.”

“You are quite mistaken, my dear,” he laughed in his wizened old way. “Ponies would look to you and see somepony representing a part of their tribe in one pony having all three characteristics. All three tribes, unified by that which is all three of them at the same time. Do you see?”

“But... you can’t be asking us to lead a nation! We know next to nothing how something like that is done,” Celestia said incredulously. He chuckled at her answer, shaking his head slowly.

“No, my dear,” he retorted. “I’m not asking you to do that. I couldn’t even do something like that, to begin with. All I could do would be to try to convince the ponies of this land to accept you as their leaders. A leader is only a leader as long as their followers stand by them, after all.”

“That still doesn’t make us qualified for such a task,” Luna shot back.

“No, I suppose not...” he agreed. “But all great leaders start out somewhere, right?”

“That might be true, but I still don’t think my sisters and I would be all that good at it,” I said morosely, feeling like it was a massive undertaking to even entertain such a notion. “What if we make mistakes and cause a war? What if those ponies in charge resent us from taking their position from them as their new leaders? Wouldn’t the current leaders rise up against us? And what about the common ponies, what would they think of us? They don’t even know us.”

“A great many fears for something that is only a possibility,” he laughed. “Don’t wallow in the ‘What if?’ and instead think about ‘What can we do to make life better?’. Focus on that and I can tell you will make great leaders with a little bit of training in the more mundane tasks that such a position would require.”

“Can we think about this?” I asked, not sure how to feel about his arguments. I mean, he was kinda right. A leader that didn’t want to be one would make for the greatest one, right? We didn’t want to be in that position, but maybe it was something that would allow us to make this world a bit more bearable.

To guide all the little ponies in this land towards a brighter future... That is what he wanted to do, and if he could accomplish that in some small way already, what could we do for these ponies?

They deserved to have a unified banner to stand behind, a literal embodiment of harmony between all three tribes. Somepony leading them that wouldn’t let the difference between tribes cloud their judgment, like the current ruling body.

And it would allow us to take revenge on Platinum. For taking our mother away from us, we would be taking away her position as ruler of this nation in return. Something that our mother had been trained to do in the first place by her own parents, but we wouldn’t have to do it in a violent fashion.

We could just ask the ponies to follow us instead and they would jump at the opportunity of a pony that represented the very ideal Equestria was founded upon. Harmony.

Love. Generosity. Kindness... Those ideals were important to me and I had no doubt my sisters would think so, too... so why not think about this over a couple of nights, discuss this among us, and then decide? And in the meantime, we could observe what Starswirl wanted to show us.

Chapter 005 - The Crown...

Author's Notes:

So, here we are. I'll keep the references/crossovers in a spoiler for those of you who don't immediately want to know what might happen in the chapter. For those of you who want to read/watch/whatever the original material first, go and do that, I won't complain ;)
Source material for this chapter: The Journal of the Two Sisters - the first few entries

The first thing we noticed as Starswirl lead us through the sizable city of Canterlot, currently holding the seat of power of this nation, were all the stares ponies gave us. They weren’t fearful ones, as we had been afraid of for so long.

No, these were the stares of curious ponies trying to figure out what kind of pony we were. Admiring the fact that we had one of the three traits that made their own tribe unique. Well, it wasn’t that obvious we also had the earthpony trait, but one could assume it must be so just by looking at my twin’s behavior.

Murmurs already started to go around the populace as we went by. Ponies were arguing about whether we were a hybrid between unicorns and pegasi, or the combination of all three of them.

Luna was strangely finding all the attention delightful, but she was most often the one to be happy about anything, as long as nothing managed to ruin the mood. At least one of us was having fun. I was trying to hide behind my long mane, uncomfortable with all the stares directed at us, particularly me and my sister. We were a head taller than our little sister, after all.

A lot of those stares were also directed at our blank flanks. It was weird, to say the least. Everywhere I looked I saw ponies murmur in confusion about our lack of Cutie Marks. All of these ponies already had theirs and even the few little foals running around oblivious to what was going on had theirs, too.

I felt my wings flutter anxiously as I began to feel slightly self-conscious about this. Cutie Marks were never a thing on Earth, so why was I now feeling like it was weird to not have one? Mom always said that they would come with time and we just hadn’t found what we were truly special at.

That didn’t change my anxiety in the slightest, though. And here I always felt like I didn’t need one to tell me I was plenty special enough, already. We were twenty and still had none to grace our flanks, it made me fearful that we would never get one.

The thought of never getting a Cutie Mark of my own frightened me to no end. I... It felt silly, but I felt envious of everypony that had theirs. I wanted to have one now more than ever...

Maybe our race actually was unable to get these? But that didn’t make any sense. Not that those things ever made sense, but in a magical way it sure did. Somehow. It was a distinct pony thing, and we were ponies, so we should be able to get one of these for our own flanks...

Or perhaps there was something fundamentally different about our tribe that made us get them super late, or something. I don’t know. We had actually started to brainstorm ideas for a name to give to our particular tribe with Starswirl on the way over to Canterlot.

We were still stuck on that, at the moment. But we had a few ideas, already. Although the one Luna suggested was really dumb and ridiculous. Pegacorn, seriously. Sometimes I think she just wants to joke about everything.

Certainly reminded me of the sister of my wife, now that I think about it. But what were the odds that she, too, would be reincarnated to this world? I was tempted to ask her what she thought about Earth and make it seem like I was talking about dirt but secretly mean the planet.

But that could wait for when we were alone. Hopefully, I wouldn’t forget to ask. Maybe I shouldn’t, though... I didn’t want to alienate her with a revelation like that.

While I was more uncomfortable with all the attention directed our way and Luna was soaking it up like a greedy sponge, Celestia was in her no-nonsense mood. While I would have thought she would let her inner exhibitionist shine because all of these ponies were essentially staring at our rear end, she was putting on a brave face for my sake.

Her flared wings, deep scowl, and scanning eyes told anypony that was foolish enough to get close to Luna or me for the purpose of harming us that she would act and not ask for forgiveness if something were to happen.

I really thought it was hot, seeing her rippling muscles tensed up like that, ready to defend me and our little sister, that it was hard for me to desperately keep my tail down. It didn’t help that our estrus was practically around the corner by now. We still hadn’t had the time to... experiment with that spell. And it showed in the mood of my lovely twin. She was slightly easier to agitate which showed itself in her protective behavior.

As we continued our way through the city, I couldn’t help but admire how cute their buildings looked. It was like they were straight out of a fairy tale. Or ancient history, however one wanted to look at it. On that note, our life was practically like a little kids dream come true, wasn’t it? Pretty little ponies playing around all day long, it certainly seemed like something that could have been out of some old folktale about an enchanted land on Earth.

These ponies just needed the sparkles, fairies, and elves for the picture to be complete. I’m sure my eldest daughter would have loved it here, she was big on the cutesy things. My little Rose was hopelessly swooning over anything remotely romantic. She would have shrieked happily for days if she were to see me now, and that was already an understatement of how her reaction would be.

I feared what her reaction to my mane color would be. As a human, my hair had been mostly black, just like my little petal. The little bit of color I had in it was the result of her dyeing it in my sleep and from there it sort of stuck around. I mean, it sort of had looked really awesome, so much so that she started to imitate her father in that regard, but now? With my hair totally and utterly pink? Things would happen if she were to see me and Tia... It would be for the best to not get so lost in thought over what would happen with my daughter in Equestria, only madness could be found at the end of that road.

Starswirl led us to the biggest building in this budding city and I could already tell all the ponies seemed to perk up as we were brought to what was essentially their new government. I could hear the rumors already: were we here to take over? Was this a coup? Could it be that they would finally get someone competent to sit on the throne instead of bickering idiots?

I didn’t want them to get their hopes up, my sisters and I were still torn about this idea that we should be leading them into a brighter future. There was so much we would have to learn should we decide to go through with this and I have yet to further discuss this with Celestia and Luna.

Running a nation would be a lot of work for us, something we were notorious for procrastinating over. Were it not for our mother, we probably would have never gotten anything done in the past. Now that she was also gone, there was no threat of being denied her delicious cookies to get us properly motivated.

I really missed those cookies. They were the best we ever had. She just knew how to make them to get them to come out super duper extra yummy. While we do have one last jar full of them, warded so much that it could withstand the impact of a bomb (probably) and enchanted in a way to make sure they wouldn’t ever spoil, we all unanimously decided to save them for some very special occasions.

Those were the last ones we would ever get unless we managed to somehow replicate them. Sadly, Mom never taught us how she made them so that we would be dependent on her for them. It let her have something to bribe us with and considering the behavior of me and my sisters when we were younger (which is still somewhat true to this day), I say she did it for a good reason.

A reason that took the recipe with her to the grave, it seemed. I don’t think she had written down the process of making them anywhere, she was a paranoid mare first and foremostly, after all. No doubt would she have thought that if we ever stumbled upon the recipe that we couldn’t bother to behave anymore.

The cookies of my previous mother had been legendary already, but the ones Mom could bake? They were the stuff of myths. They could make gods cry and demons weep, so good were they.

It was just one more thing on the list of crimes Princess Platinum committed against us. The prospect of taking everything from her that she held dear started to sound even more enticing now. While I was usually above petty revenge, and generally wanted to forgive and forget before getting around to taking vengeance on somepony, I thought that for once I could let myself not solve everything with kindness and generosity first.

She just brought out the bad side in me, didn’t she? Platinum was of the arrogant royalty variety humans would have happily dethroned in the past, I was quite surprised the ponies here hadn’t done so already.

The ones currently in charge of Equestria were kinda at fault for what happened up north, I would have thought they would have done something about them a lot sooner than Starswirl going around looking for help.

That was the sole reason we actually agreed to at least look at their situation, wasn’t it? Him being concerned for the wellbeing of the citizens of this land was what brought us out of hiding. We couldn’t just sit idly by while the rest of the world suffered, even if we wanted to. Celestia might have disagreed with me on that, but she was always bad at dealing with feelings of grief.

It was the prime reason why she fled to her perverted nature, after all. At least, that was the reason I thought why she was like she was. I never knew her first parents and she never, ever talked about them. The only thing I knew about her first parents was that they died quite early on in her first life, and now? The same thing happened again. While I loved even her pervertedness, I was sometimes concerned about how much she was suffering on the inside.

She never showed her weaknesses outright, though. It was one of her endearing traits I had fallen in love with, but it was a pain in the flank to deal with. It took a lot of effort to get her to open up past her shield of pervy thoughts.

That emotional shield would break at some point, I feared. When that happened, I would be there for her no matter what. And hopefully, I would be able to prevent her from doing something extremely foolish.

Like ripping the head off of an irritating white unicorn with a gaudy crown on her head that was standing right in front of us with a haughty look.

“Starswirl, you’re back!” a young stallion exclaimed, happily running up to him. He had a yellowish coat, an orange-ish brown mane, and a horn on his noggin. “We were worried you had forgotten what you wanted to do and managed to lose yourself in the forest! Is that them?”

“Yes, Clover,” he chuckled. “While I’m not quite senile yet, I am slightly disappointed in your lack of faith in me, my young student.”

“I’m sorry, master!” he apologized, bowing his whole body low to the ground in a reverent fashion. “You are, of course, right, I shouldn’t have doubted your abilities, master.”

“Well, to answer your question, those are indeed the young fillies the rumor had talked about,” Starswirl said.

“We are no fillies anymore,” Luna scoffed quietly at my side, pouting. I giggled and embraced her with one wing in consolation.

“We are to somepony as old as Starswirl, sister,” I said. “We should at least respect his age if nothing else.”

“Quite right, my dear,” he let out a jolly laugh, turning to introduce us to his apprentice. “This is Clover the Clever, my student now for almost ten years.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Clover,” I said, a small smile gracing my muzzle. “This cute little bundle of energy is my sister, Luna. And this stoic mare is my twin, Celestia. Don’t mind her, she is still a bit wound up from... losing our only parent. We all still are. You can call me Summer.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” Clover said, his ears turned slightly down. “I hope they passed away in peace?”

“You would have to ask her that,” Celestia glared at Platinum, who turned her snout up in return. Little prissy prick, she had a lot of nerves, hadn’t she? “Seeing that she is responsible for abducting our mother in the first place. It wasn’t enough forcing ponies to go through a ritual that takes away their magic, no... they had to take her by force while we had to watch her be abducted, unable to do anything.”

“That’s quite enough, sister,” I said, holding her back with a hoof before they started to rip each other’s hair out. “We don’t need to cause a scene, now. We’re guests here.”

“Yes, listen to your sister, little blank flank,” Princess Platinum sneered at us and my eye twitched. “I don’t understand why you had to bring them here, Starswirl. They obviously are too immature if they haven’t even found their calling yet.”

“Shut your dirty mouth, you sorry excuse for a princess!” Luna roared, about to leap at her with a boost from her wings. “Has your daddy forgotten to teach you manners?!”

I had my work cut out for me, trying to keep my sisters from murdering a delusional cockroach in ponies clothing. Not that I wasn’t tempted to go after her myself, but that would only manage to cause other ponies to fear us for becoming some kind of tyrant.

“Why, I never! Rein that little monster in, or I will!” Platinum said towards me and I let out a low growl. She really was starting to piss me off. “To think Starswirl considered making you, simple farmers, the new rulers of this land! Don’t make me laugh!”

“Keep insulting us, worm,” Luna growled, struggling against me as I held her enraged self back from ripping Platinum’s throat out. If that cockroach continued on like that, I might let Luna go, instead... “I’ll show you simple farmers! I’ll freeze you solid and shatter you into pieces!”

“Luna, please! We are better than that. We can’t go around calling for blood, it wouldn’t solve anything.”

“Let me go, Summer!” Luna snorted, glaring at me. “She doesn’t even care that her actions killed Mom!”

“That still doesn’t make it right, Lulu!” I argued back. “Be the better pony and don’t stoop down to her level.”

“Oh, sure,” Luna rolled her eyes, ceasing with her struggling in my embrace. For a moment there, I thought she would have broken free. “You of all ponies would offer her forgiveness, what a fucking surprise... Are you out of your mind?! These ponies only care about themselves! Haven’t you heard what she said?! They wanted to make us their princesses without even asking!”

“I... but... That can’t be right. Why would Platinum say the opposite to what Starswirl said?” I asked, bewildered. “You insisted that you couldn’t make us the new rulers of this land even if you wanted to, Starswirl.”

“And that is true, my dear,” Starswirl stated, holding up a calming hoof. “Only the ponies of this land may accept you as their new princesses. They are the ones that are being ruled over here and dare I say, they are starting to see what I see in you.”

“The whole harmony between tribes thing?” Celestia asked, snorting derisively at him. “We don’t want to rule, when is that going through your thick skull, old geezer?”

“Yes, well...” he started, scratching his beard. “That may yet be subject to change. I can already tell that you and your sisters don’t agree with the current government, either. These ponies need somepony that won’t be playing favorites with either of the three tribes.”

“Can’t we be... more like guardians?” I asked unsurely, feeling like it would be a good compromise. “That way everypony could be happy, right? I mean, we don’t have to be princesses...”

“You want to keep ponies like these safe, Summer?” Celestia asked me incredulously. “Look at how they behave around us, making decisions about us already before they even brought us here! We can’t trust them!”

“Tia, they are just desperate,” I gently said, fidgeting slightly with my wings as I felt uneasy at the reminder. They... kinda did make decisions before we even arrived here, despite what Starswirl told us. It was obvious Starswirl counted on the fact that other ponies would start to see us this way and it wasn’t too hard to assume he made plans based on that possibility already. But... “I can’t just leave them like this. And I’m sure you couldn’t either, were you to look past these few ponies and notice the rest of them. They need us... I have come to accept that, why can’t you?”

“Celestia is right, though. They have done nothing to earn our trust yet, sister,” Luna said. “All they do is make demands, force others to do what they want, and care nothing for what we feel.”

“That’s... not true,” I shot back weakly. “They... have asked nicely?”

“No, they have invaded our home and taken our mother away for a cause that seems already lost to me, sister,” she retorted, glaring slightly at me. “Stop deluding yourself that you can change them for the better. Your kindness is misplaced with them.”

“But... but...” I sniffled. “You’re so mean...”

“One of us has to be to get you to open your eyes,” Luna said bitterly, avoiding my eyes. “It was a mistake coming here.”

“Don’t be so hasty to blame a whole race for the folly of a few, my dear,” Starswirl stated. “Your sister’s words have merit, does her opinion matter so little to you?”

“Don’t you dare accuse us of such a thing!” she retorted angrily. “I love my sister very much, but it is clear you seek to take advantage of her! Don’t think that you could get away with appealing to her forgiving nature in order to force her to help you!”

“Oh, I’m not forcing anypony to do this,” he answered sagely. “I have told you so already. And I will continue to tell you so until you actually start to listen.”

“All I hear from your mouth are platitudes,” Celestia shot back. “I’m not letting you take away my sister, not like you took our mother away from us.”

“The hotheadedness of youth...” Starswirl let out a suffering sigh. “Do understand that I’m not the monster here, I’m trying to save this world. A world with countless innocents, something your sister has already realized.”

“Tall words from somepony willing enough to sacrifice ponies left and right,” Luna stated with a sneer on her muzzle. “Your words ring hollow to my ears.”

“Sister, please...” I begged. “Don’t fault them for this. If not for them doing this, everypony else would have died long ago.”

“Summer, they took Mom from us,” Luna said. “Why are you defending them so much? Has her death affected you so little? Why would you take their side over... over mine?”

“I’m not taking anypony’s side and Mom’s death is not on Starswirl's hooves or the innocent ponies of this land, sister,” I said, tightening the embrace a little bit. “I’m not defending them, even if it might seem so. I’m... empathizing. And we would be no better if we fall to the same hatred that caused this in the first place. So, please... listen to me.”

“Sister...” Celestia said, joining in in the hug. “You have such a bleeding heart, you know that?”

“I’ve been told,” I giggled, feeling the mood starting to light up. “Can you trust me on this? I feel like we should at least help out somewhat. We don’t have to take all of their responsibilities, right? We don’t need to sacrifice our magic if we don’t want to or are you going to make us do this, too, Starswirl?”

“Yes,” Platinum said before the old pony could open his muzzle. “I’m sure whatever you are you could...”

“That’s enough from you,” a new voice said, deep and stern, and a tall stallion entered the room. “You have let your arrogance cloud your judgment for too long, my daughter. It is best you remain silent.”

“King Bullion,” Starswirl said respectfully, bowing deeply. “These are the young mares I wanted to introduce you to.”

“They truly are what the rumors state,” the broad stallion’s voice stated gruffly. “I hope you have told them of our situation?”

“Well, yes...” Starswirl answered, coughing into his hooves. “But they remain stubborn, besides the one in the middle.”

“A shame,” King Bullion said. “They would have made for great replacements for the throne.”

“Father, you can’t possibly...” Princess Platinum started to say but a glare from her father cut her off from complaining further.

“I do and if they accept, I will,” he stated. “I have seen where hatred can lead to, I will not allow this new land to fall like our old nation. They are the answer to the dilemma we have sought to solve. Those... what are they called?”

“We have no name for their tribe yet, my liege,” Starswirl answered. “They do have all three traits of the pony tribes, though.”

“Then we shall call them... Alicorns,” Bullion said. “A fitting name, no?”

“Yes, of course,” Starswirl agreed. “Alicorn. All in one. How could I have not thought of that word? It is a very old Unicornian word, I have to say. I’m quite rusty in the old tongue.”

“Don’t ruminate so much over it, my friend,” the King said, laughing slightly. “It is, after all, a dead language by now.”

“Uhm... sorry to interrupt, but I think we haven’t been properly introduced to each other yet?” I interjected, going up to him and holding out a hoof in greeting. The stallion stared at my hoof in confusion for a moment and I felt the awkwardness get a bit too heavy in the room. Right, he was a king, how stupid of me.

To my surprise, though, the stallion in front of me kneeled down and placed a kiss on the end of my outstretched limb. I could practically feel the glare my twin sent his way for that. And the one from his daughter, although that one was directed at me.

“King Bullion, ruler of the remnants of the Unicornian Kingdom,” he said politely. “I have to say, you are quite beautiful, my dear.”

“Uhm... Thanks?” I asked insecurely. “My name is Summer Sol, pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah, the Summer Sun, named after the red sun in the sky,” Bullion said, nodding approvingly. “And your sibling is named Heavenly Sun, then?”

“Close,” I answered with a giggle. That was a good guess, though. “Her name is Celestia Sol, we are twins.”

“Hard to not notice,” he let out a chuckle. “You look just the same, after all. So the twin suns, hmm? The Summer Sun and the Heavenly Sun, the red and yellow suns within our sky, a very fitting name for both of you, indeed.”

“I can imagine,” I replied. “And last but not least, our little sister, Luna Nocturnis.”

“My, your mother must have loved you dearly,” King Bullion said, smiling slightly. “To be named after the celestial objects themselves, quite an honor.”

“Yes, well...” I sighed, feeling down. “She was taken from us. I’m sure you are already aware of the... decree... your daughter made?”

“Oh...” he sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that my daughter has caused so much grief in your family. I specifically told her if she were to go through with this, that we wouldn’t force ponies to do what needed to be done. It seems to me that she has disobeyed my orders while I was gone.”

Platinum let out a small, nervous laugh as her father turned his head towards her with a glare, steely eyes boring into her green ones as she twirled her pink mane with a hoof. My glare wasn’t any less potent than his or even the ones my sisters sent her way. Of course, she would do something like that, that little pompous bitch.

“I’ll see to it that this... mistake... is rectified,” King Bullion said, growling slightly in annoyance. “I have no idea where I went wrong with her. She was such a sweet little filly.”

“I thank you for taking responsibility, at least. Not many would do so,” I said and he nodded at me as he went to drag his misbehaving daughter away from here. I’m sure she would be plenty sorry after he was done with disciplining her.

Judging by the loud booming voice yelling reprimands at her a moment later, making the ground vibrate slightly, I didn’t want to be in her horseshoes...

“Well,” Starswirl spoke up. “With that out of the way, what do you say about accompanying me to where we are going to lower the suns and raise the moon?”

“Lead the way,” I said as my sisters joined me by my side. Starswirl merely turned around and started leading us through the hallways and up a few flights of stairs.

“Are you certain we should trust them?” Celestia asked me. “I’m not entirely convinced this is such a wise course to take, sister.”

“Don’t tell me you never wanted to be a pretty pony princess,” I snickered, seeing her face light up red. “Now, who is the Red Nose?”

I didn’t pay too much attention to the suspicious stare Luna shot both of us, too occupied with teasing my twin. Might want to be a bit more careful with how affectionate I am with my wife around her... she might get the wrong idea. Or the right one, I suppose.

“Shut up,” Celestia said, pouting. “Like you haven’t ever entertained the idea, either. Since Mom told you about her part of the family, you have been a bit more reserved and humble.”

“What can I say? I would make a very pretty pony princess,” I said, blowing a raspberry at her with a grin. “Although, I could do without the actual duties that come with such a title. I didn’t lie when I thought we would make better guardians for ponykind than rulers.”

“Where did you even get that idea from?” she asked me, holding the door open for me as we entered a large chamber overlooking the entirety of the city we found ourselves in. Before us stood a group of ten ponies, all nervous for what was about to happen.

“Well, I thought about what Mom had been trained for and what she trained us for,” I answered. “I thought, if Mom had ever been given the chance, she would have jumped gladly at becoming a guardian of ponykind. Kinda like a silent watcher, making sure nopony came to harm.”

“And you think we could do something like that?” Celestia inquired. I shrugged a bit helplessly. It was at least what I thought she would have wanted us to become had we been normal. Upstanding and rightful, that was something I could see her represent.

“Perhaps,” I told her. “If we have to become princesses, would you want to sit on your butt all day long or rather go on awesome adventures? Explore the world, help ponies along the way, learn from your experiences. That would be something, wouldn’t it?”

“I think you’re right, Summer,” Luna said. I almost buckled under her weight as she decided to glomp me and have a ride at the same time. “Adventure awaits~!”

“Luna, I don’t think that is how it is going to work, though,” Celestia told her and I reluctantly nodded along. “If we really are to become princesses, then we have to appear regal and strong, not go around playing make-believe the whole day. While I’m sure there are going to be times where we will have our adventures and whatnot, most of the time we will have to deal with the grievances of our subjects.”

“Subjects? Must we call them that?” Luna gagged. “It sounds like we are above them. We would be no better than the old rulers.”

“I’m glad both of you are at least entertaining the idea now. You seemed to be pretty against this not too long ago,” I said, looking over my shoulder at my little sister.

“While the idea of adventures excites me, I still don’t think the regular duties are worth the hassle,” she answered with a grimace. “But I can see your reasoning too, sister. Princess Bitchface is at fault for our mother’s death, not these ponies...”

“Princess Bitchface?” I laughed, snorting out a whinny. “That’s... oh gosh, that’s priceless!”

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” Celestia giggled. “Thanks, Luna. I think we really needed that laugh. The mood has been so somber as of late...”

“If you’re quite done yet, we would be ready to start,” Starswirl interrupted our mirth and we turned to look at the five ponies out of the group of ten that were standing beside him with their horns aglow.

We nodded at him, giving him the go-ahead to continue with what he was going to do. All of them concentrated intensely on their spellwork, supplying power to the ritual while Starswirl guided the energy with his own, shaping it into the right form.

Slowly, the two suns dipped below the horizon as all of the five ponies fell to the ground utterly exhausted, their fur seemed a bit greyer than before. Almost as if they had just aged a decade or so.

Starswirls own beard lost a lot of its greyish color and transitioned to white. The few rare brown hairs he had before in it were entirely gone now. He was wheezing quite a bit from the exertion.

“Are you okay, Starswirl?” Clover asked him, helping the old pony stand on his wobbly hooves.

“I need just a moment,” he answered his apprentice, my sisters and I watched them with concern. He wasn’t kidding when he said he wouldn’t be able to continue this for much longer. A month or two and he would have to stop doing this for good or risk losing his magic, too. “We still have to raise the moon.”

Clover sighed sadly, coming over to us to give them the space to work with. It was clear for anypony to see that Clover was fearing for the life of his mentor.

“This has been going on for too long now,” Clover said, talking to us as we watched them slowly raise the moon. “Ever since most of the Mage Order was lost to the strife caused by the civil war and the winter that followed it, he had to do this on his own with ponies not trained for this job.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I whispered, staring sadly at the old coot. He really was doing his best for the world, sacrificing so much of himself in the process. The sight of him struggling managed to open the eyes of my sisters too, judging by the lone tears running down the side of their faces.

“You don’t have to be,” Clover shook his head. “It has been the duty of the unicorn race to uphold the order of the heavens for so long, but it has never been as bad as it is now. Without the training, ponies can’t keep themselves from losing their magic after a few times doing this.”

“Why don’t you train new mages?” Luna asked, looking over to him. He returned her gaze with a rueful smile.

“What do you think he is doing with me? I’m the only one that has shown any aptitude for magic over the last few years that he had been searching for replacements,” he answered. “And the process of training mages is a lengthy process. And time is a commodity we don’t have right now.”

“He does all this for nothing in return? There must be something he asks for in return, right?” Celestia raised her eyebrow and Clover shook his head.

“No,” he said. “He does this so we can continue to live our lives peacefully. All he ever wanted was a brighter future for the whole of ponykind, not just unicorns.”

“Surely he can’t be that selfless?” Luna asked. “Nopony ever does something so dangerous for so long and expects nothing in return.”

“He does,” I answered, looking at the exhausted elderly stallion. “He truly does... doesn’t he? Starswirl knows there is no greater calling in life than by making the world a better place.”

“Yes,” Clover agreed. “It was great news to hear of you and your sisters, so much so that I could see that spark of hope in his eyes again. Please, if not for Starswirl, do this for the rest of ponykind. I beg you, we need ponies like you to look after this nation.”

“I...” I mumbled, looking into his eyes and seeing the desperate hope in them that we would step up and relieve some of their burden to keep this nation running. Clover, just like Starswirl, was looking out for the good of ponykind and not just for the unicorns, didn’t he? “What about Platinum? And Puddinghead as well as Hurricane?”

“You don’t have to worry about Chancellor Puddinghead,” Clover snorted with a tiny smile on his muzzle. “That crazy pony probably prepared ahead for such an event that a new ruler would have been crowned and I assure you, my friend Pansy can keep Hurricane in check. The only pony we would have to worry about would be Princess Platinum, but I think her father will manage to rein her in. Now, I have to look after Starswirl, if you would excuse me.”

We watched as the young stallion went over to his mentor and I felt Celestia drape one wing over my back. Sighing happily, I snuggled up against her, bringing Luna in with me into the embrace. Now they saw what I saw. Starswirl can be trusted, after all. He wasn’t the coldhearted pony they thought he was, seeing that he too was a bleeding heart like me.

“I think we should take them up on the offer of becoming their princesses,” Celestia finally said, having stayed silent for so long in our little hugging session.

“Oh?” I hummed interested. “What brought this on now?”

“I want to do something. Something to lessen their load, at least a little bit. If they don’t have to worry about ruling the nation on top of this, they might find more time to think of a better solution,” she answered, her voice getting slightly more passionate with each word that she spoke. “You wouldn’t have let us go away from here, never to look back, anyway. This right here, what they are doing for the rest of the world... it changed the way I thought about them. They aren’t as selfish as I thought, so there you have it. You were right, sister.”

“Wow, I never thought I would hear you say that, Tia,” I smiled, nuzzling her.

“If both of you will do this, then so will I!” Luna agreed with a bright smile. “They will never forget the day we became their new guardians. Even if we have to be pretty princesses dealing with boring, mind-numbingly, tedious, and boring work.”

“You said boring twice in there,” I giggled.

“Nay, I’m merely stating how excessively boring this task will be!” she retorted, turning her muzzle up at us, causing both me and my twin to erupt in a fit of giggles. Luna soon joined us in our mirth, happy that she managed to make us happy.

And so, a few days passed as we continued to stay here with Starswirl, Clover, and his friends. The apprentice of Starswirl was actually the one to bring about an end to the endless winter together with Smart Cookie, a beige earthpony mare that was the aide to Chancellor Puddinghead, and Private Pansy (still sorry for her name), a demure light orange pegasus mare with a bright orange-red mane.

The three were way better company than the ponies they answered to. The first time we met Commander Hurricane, Private Pansy managed to avoid getting him mauled by Luna for insulting her by offering profuse apologies on behalf of the idiotic stallion.

And Chancellor Puddinghead was totally off his rockers, spouting nonsense every few minutes that only Smart Cookie seemed to understand, barely at that. I wouldn’t let him get anywhere near small foals, that’s for certain.

Our coronation was announced to be in just a few days, so together with Celestia, I decided to buy us a journal so we could record our feelings on the topics we would soon be confronted with.

I had to get Tia to promise not to write anything naughty in it just for the giggles that would cause. On the topic of naughtiness, our estrus still managed to elude us. We had come up with the theory that the emotional trauma might have caused us to skip it this time around or delay it.

Celestia was firmly of the opinion that it was just delayed if that was even something that could happen. She didn’t want to miss out on extra sexy times with me but I just wasn’t in the mood for it at the moment, what with everything currently going on.

She was pouty because of that, which wasn’t really surprising to me. I could tell that she had a lot of pent-up energy in her, so I at least promised her that as soon as I felt remotely ready for sex that we would have it when we got some modicum of privacy.

Sometimes, I swear. She was still as horny as the first time we did it in this world and the prospect of using the finished spell got her even more excited. I just wish she had a little bit more patience at times.

The big day arrived sooner than what we were comfortable with. The coronation was a massive event and ponies from all over Equestria and even beyond came to see the spectacle. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that not many of them could pass up.

Sadly, most of the nobility were also there, souring our mood to a degree. As soon as they had learned we would be put in charge of this nation they began to grovel at our hooves like the slimeballs they were. It was annoying to deal with and I’m sure we would have to continue to deal with them for a very long time, indeed.

With the coronation came also a crown. We insisted on something a bit less gaudy, staying with the image of a princess with a tiara. Naturally, the tiaras for Celestia and me were made out of gold, while Luna insisted on hers being made from a deep black obsidian, instead.

The craftsponies that made them for us wanted to add an exorbitant amount of jewels on all of them, something that Luna was entirely against. Celestia and I made a compromise with them of one gemstone each, so we decided what color we wanted them to be.

I went with a brilliant red ruby for mine, paying homage to my namesake in the sky (and, admittedly, a little bit to my past). Celestia, on the other hoof, decided to be totally cheesy about it and went with a deep violet amethyst because she wanted to be reminded of my eyes every time she put the damn thing on.

Then, the craftsponies went a bit overboard because they had a lot more material to work with than what they needed in the first place and crafted us some shoes and an ornament that went over our barrels and around our necks.

Because those ponies thought it was a good idea to put gemstones on everything, whether it looked good or not, they put more of those rubies on mine and would have done the same for Celestia’s had she not caught them trying to also put a few gems on her shoes.

I really looked ridiculous in them, now. While there was only one on each piece, the overall image was still too gaudy for my tastes. Celestia loved it, though. So, like the good wife I am, I listened to her and didn’t rip them from my shoes to appease her.

While mine had too many sparkling gemstones on them, they engraved the ones Tia had with fanciful lines to make hers stand out just as much as mine did. I actually thought they made her look more mature but decided to not go the same route with mine because that would make mine look... too crowded, I guess? Too many things on something was rather detrimental to the overall look, in my opinion.

Celestia at least was happy that I liked how they looked on her and I could tell she was turned on by me wearing mine. I guess we could add a princess fetish to the list of things that gets her drive going.

Luna stayed with her overly simple design choice of a smooth obsidian for her regalia, stating that she rather liked it like that. Well, as long as we were comfortable with wearing those things, I guess she could do whatever she wanted with it.

And that was how we looked as we stood before the former rulers and Starswirl, a massive crowd seated behind us as they set the tiaras down on our heads and declared us Princesses of Equestria, rightful rulers until the day we die.

The crowd went wild with their applause, cheering for us as we put on our most regal postures that we could muster. We waved respectfully, thanking them for standing behind us and supporting us with such enthusiasm.

Then, the nobles of this land swore their fealty to us, promising to stay loyal to this country and do everything in their power to make it prosper in the coming years. We, in turn, accepted their oaths and gave them ones in return, stating that we would not take advantage of their help to further our own goals.

Princess Platinum was also one of the ponies that had to swear her loyalty to us, much to her displeasure and our amusement. I guess we really did take everything away from her, in the end.

Her father didn’t trust her anymore, she had no right to the throne anymore, and she held no sway in the government any longer. She was a princess in name only now.

Lastly, King Bullion gave us a very special gift in the form of a magnificent blade for each of us. The swords were of the highest craftsponyship I had ever seen. The enchantments on them were simply astonishing.

The sword my little sister held was an icy silver with a red grip, the crossguard was a very simple design while the pommel looked like a crescent moon. And in the crossguard was something that I had never seen before with my own eyes, a mana gem. It was colored in blue and the energy contained in it got channeled out towards the fuller running down the middle of the blade.

Celestia’s sword was broader than mine, but both of them looked very alike. The main difference was the color of the mana gem set in the crossguard. Hers was purple like the gemstones on her regalia, while the color of my mana gem was red of course. While the pommel of her sword was in a simple round shape, engraved with the image of a sun, mine also held another (regular) gem in it. The energy from my mana gem traveled through the core of my blade, lighting it up from within, instead. Celestia’s mana gem provided its power in the same way that the sword of our little sister did, running through the fuller in the middle of the blade.

King Bullion told us that once we attuned our magic to those blades, and subsequently filled the mana gems with our own personal arcane power, we would never lose them as we could summon them to our side in the blink of an eye (even if they weren’t in our hammerspace). There was also no way anypony but me and my sisters would be able to wield them if we didn’t expressly wish for somepony else to hold these blades.

While these would have been no match for a mageblade, the enchantments on them made these stand out on an entirely different level. A mageblade is typically only the bladed part of a sword here in Equestria. Those would be wielded within a telekinetic grip and could cause quite the devastation if wielded by somepony that was trained in them. Our blades, on the other hoof, could withstand the force of an impact of something falling from the orbit of this world.

Essentially, if we would drop the moon on them for whatever reason, they would stay in one piece with nary a scratch.

Additionally, they could withstand the heat of the molten core of this planet. These weapons were meant to be able to deal with anything threatening the wielder. They would absorb the force of any attack thrown at them and store the excess energy within the gemstones, as long as that attack wouldn’t exceed their holding capacity. Magic could truly do some wonders, I marveled fascinatedly.

I wept for the fool that decided it was a good idea to harm our subjects, for they would meet their maker as soon as they did so. These weapons were our tools to keep our ponies away from any foe and a symbol of hope.

Celestia was extremely giddy to have such an overpowered weapon at her disposal and I’m sure she and Luna would love to have a spar with them. As long as they kept it friendly and didn’t try to kill each other, I would let them have their fun.

And so began our new life as the crowned Princesses of Equestria. The first order of business was establishing our own seat of power. Luna really wanted us to build our own castle, so that was what we decided to do.

Although, the question was where are we going to build it? There were so many places to choose from, we were already in over our heads. The bickering between my sisters didn’t help us in choosing a suitable place in the slightest.

They were already planning out how the castle should look like and Luna wanted to put all kinds of weird traps and secrets in it to make living there at least somewhat interesting. Tia, on the other hoof, felt like the castle should be simple and traditional, wanting to keep to the very image of what medieval castles were like back on Earth.

As we traveled and visited many different parts of Equestria, all of the ponies we encountered tried to convince us that their corner of the world was perfect for a mighty castle. I didn’t doubt them, they all had convincing arguments and such, but everywhere we went to, as idyllic and peaceful as it looked, failed to make us feel at home.

There was just something missing, something we had with our parents... Sure, our parents were one obvious thing missing, but that wasn’t what I meant when I thought about it. Tia and Lulu agreed with me as we traveled from one end of Equestria to the other.

Eventually, both of them at least agreed on incorporating both of their ideas for the castle. The only things I really wanted for it were nice tall windows, flowing carpets, and finely woven tapestries hanging from the walls so the castle looked less... empty, I suppose. Perhaps a few flowers here and there, too. Oh, and a tower for the view, of course.

Perhaps I should put my bed in there? That would have the slight disadvantage of me having to climb the stairs every day, though. A balcony might be the answer to that, allowing easy access by flight... Eh, I will worry about that for when we actually began with the construction of our new home.

Sadly, we just weren’t able to find the right spot for it anywhere. We felt that it should be remote to at least have some modicum of privacy, so me and my sisters decided to return back to Starswirl to ask him for his help.

“A remote place, you say?” he hummed, stroking his long beard thoughtfully. “You say you visited every place in Equestria already?”

“Yes, and nothing we saw picked our interest,” Celestia explained. “There was just this sense of it lacking... something. It didn’t feel like home and all the ponies we encountered had nice arguments for their community, but we feel that we also need our privacy from time to time. Being constantly surrounded by other ponies feels... awkward. We were on our own for most of our lives, do you understand where I am going with this?”

“Yes, yes...” he nodded, going over to one of his drawers and rummaging around in them. He returned to the table with a map of our nation. It still felt weird calling it ours, to be honest. “Hmm...”

“What about a mountain, Princess?” Clover asked, pointing out to one in the middle of the map. “Mount Canterhorn has enough space for a castle and you would have a whole city right beside it. I’m sure the ponies of Canterlot would be happy to accommodate you here. It also has a nice view of the surrounding area.”

“I don’t think we want to live in a big city, just yet,” I commented, feeling nauseous at the idea. “And really? Princess? I thought we told you to not call us that...”

“Very well, Your Highness,” Clover grinned and I groaned, hitting the table with my head in annoyance. Might as well get used to this nonsense, right? I should have taken the side of my siblings and not agreed to... this.

“You lived your whole life surrounded by a forest, haven’t you?” Starswirl mused and I watched as his eyes traveled towards a particular spot on the map. “There is this forest here that would give you an isolated place and I know of a ravine that could provide some natural barriers for you, Your Highnesses.”

“That sounds perfect!” Luna exclaimed, bouncing up and down in her chair. I couldn’t fathom how she could be so... upbeat even with them using our titles. “Where is it?”

“Here...” he said, his hoof landing on a spot that wasn’t even that far away from Mount Canterhorn. “The Everfree Forest. It has some exotic beasts in there, but I’m sure they won’t cause you any trouble. They generally tend to stay away from too large crowds of ponies or buildings.”

“Truly?” I asked, perking up. My interest has officially been picked, do not disappoint me you old coot. “What kinds of animals?”

This was my forte, ever since I found out I had this special bond with animals. Maybe I could even make some friends among them. As long as those weren’t big enough to swallow me whole... or bigger than a house, that is. I don’t think I would have the courage to go talk with something like that.

“What I have observed so far would be timberwolves, hydras, and manticores,” Starswirl stated. “Those are the more common beasts, although you would probably never run across a hydra in that part of the forest. They tend to stay in the bog area, just like most of the cragadiles. I also don’t think you would have to worry about lumber bears, they mostly stay in the north of Equestria. Still, you might find one or two of those in that forest.”

“Okay, sounds dangerous,” I said, fidgeting on the cushion I sat on. “And I don’t even know what some of these are...”

If those lumber bears are what I think they are, I definitely don’t want to run into one of them after having had a bad experience with timberwolves already. I suppose those cragadiles must be some sort of crocodile then, something I would rather avoid, too.

“Oh, you wouldn’t have to worry about those, they are quite easy to deal with,” Starswirl reassured me. I was rather skeptical if they were truly that easy to deal with as he made it sound... “The rarer beasts in there are the ones you should stay far away from, lest you risk ending up as their meal.”

“And those would be?” Celestia asked, narrowing her eyes at him. “If this is some ploy to get rid of us already...”

“No such thing, Princess,” he laughed heartily, a small smile on his muzzle. I nudged my twin with a hoof, giving her a look that told her to not go around accusing ponies again. “I doubt you will run across one of them, but it is better to go in prepared than lack information. The first beast you shouldn’t ever get fooled by is the insidious cockatrice, its gaze alone has the ability to turn you to stone. If you ever see the head of a chicken in there, be very wary.”

“And the other beasts?”

“A dragon, for example, but for you to come across one in the Everfree you would have to go and look for them. The last one I have only heard rumors of, so take this with a grain of salt,” Starswil said matter-of-factly. “There exists a cave that is said to house a beast made out of the very essence of the night sky. A star beast, to be exact. Pray you never come across one, even only a baby.”

“Why?” Luna asked skeptically. “They can’t be as deadly as you portray them to be, can they?”

“Oh, my dear Princess Luna,” he chuckled as he levitated a monster compendium from one of the shelves over to us. “This... is a star beast.”

On the page that he had opened was a reference picture of several different kinds of animals that I wouldn’t have thought to give a second glance to, were it not for the scale of a large building as a comparison next to them.

They entirely dwarfed anything made by a pony. They were so enormously big that I doubted any ordinary cave could house them. I could probably stand on my hind legs within one of their nostrils and try to reach up to the top of it with my forelegs and I wouldn’t even come close to touching it.

“Are you sure this forest is safe?” I asked, uncertainly.

“There is a reason why I recommended the location near the cliff,” Starswirl said, eyes twinkling with a cryptic shine. “There is a small cave there that holds something... extraordinary.”

“Well, if you say so,” I said, shifting out of my chair and levitating the map off the table. “Could we take this with us?”

“Go on, I don’t need that one, anymore,” he nodded, motioning with his hoof in a shoo-shoo notion. “Let me know if you want to build there and I will let the craftsponies know you’re ready to begin.”

“Okay, thanks,” we said, leaving his study to go look at this forest. The flight over there was a short one, not surprising seeing that we were practically a stone’s throw away from it.

We had no trouble navigating the map towards the spot where Starswirl told us to go. It helped that we had the power of flight on our side. This would have been a major pain in the flank if we had to trek our way through the forest on hoof. Seeing it from above made the ravine look kinda small, but up close we learned just how massive it was.

There was a slope traveling down to the bottom of it and not far away from that was the entrance to a small cave that had a strange glow coming from it. So, we decided to investigate a bit further and landed just at the opening with a small clop sound as we touched down.

“This is so exciting!” Luna giggled, already galloping ahead of us like the impatient filly that she was. We called out to her to wait up for us and followed after her.

“You really should be... more... careful...” I began to say but my breath got stolen away by the sight before us. There, at the very back of the cave stood a massive, shimmering, and sparkling tree out of some kind of crystal. It emitted a soft blue glow from the very core beneath its bark.

“What manner of tree is this?” Celestia asked, just as much in awe and wonder as me. Luna trotted slowly over to the thing, slipping one of her hooves out of her shoe in the process. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch the tree with her bare hoof.

“It’s warm,” she noted, smiling back at us, coaxing us to come over to her. “There is no doubt, it is alive.”

“A crystalline tree? And it is alive?” I asked, astonished. “This is unlike anything I have ever heard of. How do you think it ended up here?”

“No idea,” Luna answered and Celestia also shook her head in puzzlement. “What do you think those mean?”

What she pointed at was even stranger than the fascinating nature of the composition of the tree. There, along the trunk, were stylized depictions of the suns, the moon, and one big star. They looked like they had been naturally grown with the tree and not just carved in after it was big enough.

“I have no idea,” Celestia said, flying up to them to take a closer look. “Do you think this tree could somehow help Starswirl with the ritual to move the heavens?”

“I’m not sure,” I retorted. “I don’t think we could move it away from here. And Starswirl was already here, judging by the way he mentioned this cave having ‘something extraordinary’ in it.”

“Hmm...” she let out a thoughtful hum. “What about those crystals on the branches? What do you think they could be?”

“I would say fruit, but I don’t think they are meant to be eaten,” Luna joked. “They could be some kind of artifact?”

“An artifact? But what would their purpose be, then?” I asked, intrigued.

“Maybe Starswirl knows?” she shrugged. “I mean, he kinda implied that was the reason why this place was safe. Perhaps they are able to be used as some kind of defense?”

“Like an invisible force keeping the big bad boogeymare away?” Celestia snickered. “Oh no! Stay away from me you big mean monster, I have little crystals!”

“Haha, sister,” Luna deadpanned. “Obviously they are magical in nature, so it stands to reason one could use them somehow in some way.”

“It was funny,” Celestia pouted cutely. “Right, Summer?”

“Sure...” I laughed awkwardly. “Very funny, sister.”

“You’re mean to me again, aren’t you?” she snorted, her ears hanging back. “I can be funny. You just don’t appreciate my humor.”

“At least Mom managed to make you stop with those atrocious puns,” I muttered silently, making Luna snicker to herself. “Those were the absolute worst ones to ever be uttered by a pony...”

“They weren’t that bad,” Celestia pouted and Luna and I sent her a glare that told her that they were that bad. “Why does nopony appreciate puns anymore these days...”

“Regardless, let us get out of here and look at the clearing up above,” Luna stated. “Then we can go ask Starswirl about this tree and hopefully get a non-cryptic answer from him.”

“You know just as well as I that that is a foolish thing to hope for with the old geezer, sister,” Celestia shot back, following Lulu back out of the cave with me at her side.

“Maybe we will get lucky?” I mused. “Although, he does seem to love his cryptic answers a lot.”

“We will see,” Celestia merely said and we continued with our original task. The clearing up above was quite large, but for the maximum amount of space, we would have to cut a few trees down. That wasn’t really the problem, the transport of resources was. It would be a difficult undertaking to get the stone from a quarry all the way through the forest to this spot.

It would probably be easier to take the resources we needed directly out of the forest. Then again, it would be a lot more dangerous, too. A road we could keep safe, but scavenging for places to get things like stone and wood from while not entirely destroying the forest in the process would prove to be a very big problem.

Either we go with option one or two, both would prove to have advantages and disadvantages. Luna and Celestia were for the safe option, and I wasn’t inclined to disagree with them. It would take us longer to finish, but at least we wouldn’t needlessly endanger the lives of our subjects.

“I like this place,” I said, once we all agreed on what course of action we would take with getting the resources here. “I say we build here, no need to search for any other place.”

“Indeed, it almost seems too perfect,” Tia said, smiling as we settled down on a cloud. Luna was writing in our journal while I and my twin imagined what our castle would look like from our vantage point. The thought of living within a fancy castle was starting to excite me more and more.

We decided to sleep on the cloud that night before we went back to Starswirl. While it was a bit chilly, we stayed close together sharing our body heat with each other. Luna squeezed herself happily in between me and my wife, preventing us from cuddling.

Sometimes I think she did this on purpose. At least she wasn’t glomping down on my ear in her sleep. I don’t think I would find it even remotely enjoyable, not like I would if Tia were to do it. My twin would probably enjoy it, though. She kinda was into everything and if she got the chance to start a harem, she would.

That wasn’t something I wanted to entertain the idea of, especially not with my baby sister. The thing is, I’m pretty sure we could make a law that would make it legal, too. A harem, that is. I’m not so sure if ponies would appreciate us making incest legal.

Not that I would appreciate Tia doing that, either. She would get an earful from me if she let her desires get before the wellbeing of our subjects. There was a good reason why that was forbidden in the first place. We had responsibilities now and I would be damned to let this position corrupt us.

At least we could keep each other in check, each one of us held the same amount of authority in Equestria. There was no way that we would allow one of us to let this power go over our heads. Luna would keep Tia and me in check and Tia and I would hopefully make sure Luna didn’t do anything stupid, either.

We couldn’t just do whatever we want without good reasons. At least, we couldn’t do anything like that without expecting our ponies to start calling for our heads, instead. Making incest legal is one of the things I would never do, even if it would mean I could show my affections for Tia openly.

The position of princess meant we have to act with responsibility and with the wellbeing of our ponies in mind. Incest is the farthest thing from that and even if Tia thinks it would be okay, I would threaten her with another tickle apocalypse. Maybe something even worse. There is no way I would allow my wife to become a selfish ruler if I had a say in it.

I can’t risk losing her to such... desires. I’m not the most assertive pony, but if it concerned my family I would screw up the little bit of courage I had. We had lost so much already, we didn’t need to lose each other, too.

We went back to Starswirl early in the morning, so I put those thoughts away and focused on the here and now. Besides, I’m sure we wouldn’t have to worry about one of us doing something stupid like that. We were better than that, I hoped.

Tia, Lulu, and I explained what we had come up with over a cup of tea for what we wanted to do with our castle, Luna drawing up a few sketches in our diary for the few things she wanted to incorporate in our castle.

I had no idea why she wanted to make a hallway full of dismembered hooves holding torches, it seriously creeped me out. I mean, the secret passages were neat and the hidden escape behind our thrones would definitively become useful at some point. But the dismembered hooves? Icky.

Then, we asked Starswirl what that tree was down in the cave below.

“That, Your Highnesses,” he started with a secretive smile. “Is the Tree of Harmony. It will lend you strength and keep you safe.”

“The Tree of Harmony?” Celestia asked giddily and I looked at her in confusion. How did she know about this? Who am I kidding, she probably read about it from one of those dusty tomes she couldn’t get enough of... Sometimes, I swear, she married books instead of me. “You mean to tell me that that is the actual legendary tree?”

“That it is,” Starswirl nodded. “The exact location has been kept secret from the general populace, for obvious reasons. It is a very powerful magical tree and if it were to fall into the wrong hooves, I fear what they would do with it.”

“We will keep it safe,” I said, smiling reassuringly. “Don’t worry, we will literally be just around the corner, nopony could sneak up on it while we are watching over it.”

“I’m glad to hear that, dear,” he said. “Now, let’s get your little project started, hmm?”

We nodded at him and together we started to make preparations. He introduced us to a lot of ponies that would be helping us make our plans for the castle become a reality. While the forepony was admittedly surprised at all the ideas Luna, Celestia, and I had cooked up, he just shrugged and let us have our fun with it.

The forepony was a polite middle-aged stallion and was all too happy to assist us with any questions we had. He also told us what was possible and what wasn’t. He wasn’t entirely sure Luna could make the Organ to the Outside work in the way that she wanted it to, but he was up for the challenge.

Tia was happy that she would get her secret reading room in the library and I was sure she would stuff it full with porn. I wasn’t opposed to the idea of the room, though. It would surely become a nice retreat for both of us when we wanted to be alone. Not the sex-alone alone, but the cuddle-while-reading-alone alone.

I also got them to plan in a small hidden garden that could only be accessed through a hidden switch. No doubt it would become my own little sanctuary away from everypony. Even from Tia. There were times where I actually wanted to have a little space away from her.

It was a normal thing for a healthy relationship, I think. If we were constantly around each other we would drive each other mad. And with our duties starting as soon as we actually got our place done, a place to retreat to would surely be invaluable.

Luna insisted on having her own observatory, which would also act as an atelier. She was actually very talented with art and I would have thought she would have gotten her Cutie Mark for it.

Strangely, those kept eluding us. Well, we will get them at some point I’m sure and if not, it would just have to be like that. Starswirl wasn’t concerned about us not having those, either. So why would we be?

Let’s just hope nothing bad happens to the ponies working with us over the coming weeks.

Chapter 006 - The Castle...

Author's Notes:

Source material for this chapter: The Journal of the Two Sisters - the next few entries (regarding the castle, duh)

We decided that it would be for the best to clear out a road first before starting with anything, it would make transporting all of the stones easier (duh). The helping ponies were very enthusiastic about assisting us with our project. When we asked them, they always said to us that it was an honor to help us build our own castle, which made it kinda cute in my eyes.

They were like little eager kids trying to please their parents. Just that we were their rulers, instead. I really hoped they would never start to think we would be offended by anything they were doing or think that the slightest mistake would result in punishment. We were ponies like them, there was no need to put us on a pedestal.

Something told me I wouldn’t be so lucky with that. I hoped I could at least make them see that such behavior was unnecessary.

The process of clearing out the trees for the path through the forest was a quick affair. Ponies were hard workers if nothing else. They sure knew how to keep themselves motivated to do the required work with great efficiency.

It wasn’t long after that that we began to get the first few shipments of building materials. My sisters and I made sure that everypony was safe while we traveled through the forest towards the ravine. Thankfully, nothing happened. Starswirl was right, most of the wildlife never came close enough to our group. It must have been too much of a hassle for them to try anything and if they did, my sisters and I would have been there to deal with the animals.

The first order of business after that was constructing a bridge towards the clearing on the other side of the chasm. While it wasn’t a particularly fancy bridge, it served its purpose quite dutifully. As long as it held the weight of the carts loaded with the materials we had no reason to cry about the way it looked.

After the first week passed, we had the foundation finally done. The basement where the Organ to the Outside would find its place was completed, too. The next few weeks blended together with working from dawn to nightfall. All the work the earthponies, pegasi, and unicorns were doing was a great help to us, and progress was at an all-time high.

But not all things could go as perfectly as we had planned out. Our workers had actually managed to convince us to also get some materials out of the Everfree after our supply shipment ran late due to an error in planning. So we decided to let them do this if they promised us that they would stay in a group with a few guards.

As long as they were happy about it and played it safe, why not give them a bit of freedom as to how they procured the building materials?

That decision quickly came to bite us in the flank, though. Their plan worked for as long as one measly week because by then, we learned of the first missing team. Luna wanted to immediately go out and search for them because she felt guilty. She was the first one to agree to their proposal, although that didn’t mean it was her fault that they were missing now.

Celestia stopped her before she could run off on her own, though, stating that going in without a plan was foolish of her. Luna argued fiercely with her that it was her responsibility and that she would go search for them whether we wanted her to or not.

So, because Lulu and I had been spending some quality time exploring the forest in our free time, we decided that I should accompany her while Tia remained with the crew to keep them safe. I mainly came along in case we ran into any wildlife that would hinder us from finding our missing ponies.

It was easy to find some clues as to what must have happened as we saw the tracks they made when they went off the beaten path and into the wilder parts of the Everfree Forest. Luna and I landed to follow their trail on hoof, keeping branches on our way through the thicket away with our magic.

Luckily, the group that went through here left enough signs of their passage for us to easily find our way after them. They must have somehow found their way to a large rocky hill to get new stones for the caste. Our search for them led us past where they had been collecting resources towards a smallish cave that had been blocked off with an excessive amount of brambles.

Whoever thought it was a good idea to go after our ponies would soon learn their lesson. As soon as we saw what must have been somepony’s attempt to get rid of our workers we ran up to it, trying to see past the dense foliage and free them.

“Hello?!” we shouted just shy from deafening, seeking a reply from one of them in the hopes that they were still alive. “Are you okay?!”

Just as we were about to reach it, though, a massive beast leaped down from the ledge above us, cutting us off from coming to their aid. The manticore that stood before us let out a rattling roar that shook us to our bones. A moment later it was already charging at us and we took to the sky with our wings.

“Summer, can’t you calm it down?!” Luna asked me, avoiding a strike from one of its paws as I tried to catch it with a magical binding. The manticore kept dodging my hasty attempts, though.

Before I could say anything to it, I felt the flat non-pointy end of its tail impact the side of my head as the beast turned suddenly on the spot. I was unable to dodge in time and was sent spiraling to the ground, unable to right myself. Luna tried to catch me in her hooves before I would have crashed into the dirt but was sadly not fast enough.

Too bad that she forgot she had magic at her disposal. I felt stars dance through my vision as my regalia absorbed most of the impact. I was thankful that my wife had the foresight to put an exorbitant amount of defensive enchantments on it, lessening the damage I could have been inflicted with. It was a good thing she had thought ahead for such an occasion so that we at least had some modicum of protection in case we needed to fight. I don’t know what would have happened otherwise.

Luna landed beside me, inspecting me for any serious injuries. Aside from a small scratch wound on my head, I was fine. The worst thing I would have to deal with would be a concussion at the most.

I saw my little sister stand in front of me as I tried to get my vision clear again, noticing that she had drawn her sword and was holding it between her and the manticore. I couldn’t see her expression, but her posture told me enough that she was about to go full avenging angel on the animal that was pawing the ground in front of it, snorting through its nostrils like a mad bull.

I tackled my own sister to the ground before she could end the life of an animal that was just defending its territory. It was clear to me that our ponies stumbled upon its nest and that it was trying to stop them from destroying it completely.

“Stop, don’t hurt him!” I cried out, pinning her underneath me while I erected a barrier in between us and the manticore. “He hasn’t hurt anypony, not yet!”

“What are you doing, sister?!” Luna grunted, bucking against me trying to break free. “This beast almost smashed your head in!”

“I’m sure it didn’t mean to,” I told her, holding her at bay as I tried to calm her down. It was a bit difficult as my vision continued to drift slightly. “He was just defending his home, right?”

The manticore let out a small roar and to my surprise, I perfectly understood what he said. But before I could relay what he had said to my sister, my twin arrived with Starswirl. Both of them threw out magical bindings, trying to subdue an animal that appeared to them as if it was threatening us.

“Stop!” I called out, fluttering over to the manticore and standing in front of him. Both Tia and Starswirl gave me an incredulous look, although they complied with my demands to stand down. “He said he was trying to chase us off, he didn’t mean to hurt me.”

“You can understand it?” Starswirl asked me awestruck and I gave a small nod. I shivered as I felt the manticore lick the side of my head. I looked towards the animal in a questioning way and after he gave off a small meowl I understood why he did it. Apparently, the saliva of a manticore can accelerate the recovering speed of the body and cause small wounds to close within a few seconds.

It was a bit disgusting, though. The smell wasn’t nice, either...

“Have you found the missing ponies? We heard fighting and came to investigate,” Tia asked, walking over to me and giving me a small nuzzle where I wasn’t currently covered in saliva.

Figures she wouldn’t trust us enough to get this done by ourselves, having to make sure we were okay. It was cute and sweet of her, so I wouldn’t complain about it.

“Yes, they aren’t too far from here,” I answered, enjoying the feeling of my sister so close to me. My heart gave out a small quiver and I immediately understood what was going on with me. Of fucking course, my estrus was about to start within the next few days. Perfect timing, body. Perfect timing. “Melvin... that’s his name, by the way... said that our ponies were wrecking his home as they were collecting resources. So he just kept them locked away.”

“Can you ask him to let them out for us if we fix his home in return?” she inquired, looking over to the manticore uneasily. I could tell she wasn’t entirely too trusting of him, yet. Melvin let out another few meowling sounds and I giggled.

“He can understand you just fine, sister,” I told her once I saw her give me a confused stare. “Melvin will do as you have asked of him and he even offered to help us with finding new spots for resources.”

“Well, thanks, Sir Melvin?” she said unsurely and said manticore just gave us a small nod as he broke the brambles with a single swift swipe of his paw, lethal-looking claws outstretched.

After we got the small crew out of the cave they apologized for the misunderstanding and for wrecking Melvin’s home. I was glad that he didn’t hold a grudge against them, so we did as promised and fixed up his nest with our magic. It was quickly restored to what it formerly was, much to his happiness.

And much to our surprise, Melvin offered to help us build our castle as he saw what we were using this much stone and wood for. Together with his help in finding ideal locations for resources, him lending a paw at the construction site, and the ponies working throughout the day, we were back to our former speed and ahead of schedule.

I was immensely glad for that because we now had a few rooms that were estrus safe for the strength my sisters and I could muster up. Celestia had also noticed by now that that time of the year was finally just around the corner for us and was glad that we had at least that much done for our new home.

Although, before that started for me and my sister, Melvin also helped me convince a few nocturnal animals to help along with building our castle so we could have it being worked on around the clock. That alone boosted our efficiency so much that we should be done within a few weeks from now.

Starswirl also gave us the news that the ritual was currently working smoothly as a traveling unicorn had shown up one day that was almost at the level he was at. He said something about her having a blue-ish mane and having an old family name that dated back to the early Unicornian days. I didn’t remember the first name, but the last part stuck with me because it reminded me of my little sister. Her last name was Lulamoon. I quite liked it and I wanted to meet this traveler at some point if we got the chance.

Due to that, I was pretty optimistic that Starswirl wouldn’t have to lose his magic for at least another one or two months at a minimum. The little breather this traveling unicorn granted him did wonders for him, letting him relax for at least a little bit.

Then, one particular morning, I woke up to find out that I had the primal urge to mate with my wife right at that moment, making me groan in annoyance. I squirmed under the covers of my sleeping bag, trying to suppress the feeling of fire spreading within my nether region.

“Tia,” I grumbled, reaching a hoof out of the confines of my sleeping arrangements. While we had completed a lot of rooms within the castle already, it wasn’t entirely safe to sleep in it yet while it was being worked on around the clock. I suppose that would be changing now...

The sleeping figure in front of me let out a moan and I saw what looked suspiciously like her squirming her hindlegs together within the confines of her own sleeping bag. She continued to sleep, though. Nudging her a bit harder this time, I called out to her again hoping to wake her up from whatever dream she must have been enjoying.

She could fucking enjoy having me to herself and not continue to be a prick and stay asleep, damnit. Here I was, willing to make one of our mutual fetishes come true for her and she ignored the pleading call of her wife.

Instead of continuing to try futilely at attempting to rouse her, I conjured one of the water buckets I kept in my hammerspace (after the surprise with Starswirl, I’d rather not risk a repeat of stumbling sleepily into somepony).

Grinning deviously, I emptied the bucket out completely in one go over her head. My wife practically asked for it and I am not sorry for doing this to her. I wanted her so badly and I wouldn’t stand for her not ravishing me this instant.

Tia let out a little shriek, thrashing around in her sleeping bag within our tent in a blind panic. I snickered as she sputtered and coughed, trying to spit out a few of her hairs that had managed to find their way into her mouth during the night.

My twin whipped around with a furious scowl on her muzzle, looking for the perpetrator of this prank. As she saw me trying to keep my laughter in, she let out an irritated huff.

“Why did you do that?! I had such a good dream, too...” Tia asked me, pouting madly. Instead of answering her angry demand for an explanation, I slipped out of my sleeping bag into the crisp air of the tent and went over to her. I placed a long and deep kiss right on her muzzle, getting her to coo slightly at the sudden attention.

“Castle, room, now,” I growled slightly, biting her lip gently. Celestia nodded rapidly and powered up her teleport spell, taking me with her to the front of the door of one of the rooms that we had warded up to the high heavens. She locked one additional room for the sake of appearances, stuck a note on it saying we had gone into heat, and then dragged me with her into the room we would be staying in.

As the door clicked shut behind us, my sister picked me up in her magic and threw me playfully towards the cloud bed in the middle of the room. I shrieked out, surprised from her sudden act of roughness, feeling the mattress give slightly as she leaped on it after me.

A moment later I let out a pleased hum as she locked herself with me in a tongue battle, giggling into the kiss as she groped my flanks with her hooves. I snaked my forelegs around her barrel lovingly, giving in to her superior skill with the tongue.

We came up for a breath as Tia disengaged my mouth with a smack of her lips, her muzzle moving to my neck as she gave me a few small nicks with her teeth, causing me to giggle-moan at the feeling. She giggled in return, moving further down towards my chest as I loosened my grip on her, instead I reached my hooves out to just above her wing joints.

Her wings flared out as I had the pleasure of managing to force her to nicker, the sound music to my ears. I felt my lower region get even wetter because of that as I watched my wife sensually lick the fur on my barrel, making me bite my lower lip as she began to tease me with a grin on her muzzle.

And as she had learned quite thoroughly, I was at her mercy as she slowly stroked the insides of my flared out wings with her own primary feathers. I let out a whimper as she held me at bay from returning the favor to her.

“Just stay still, dear,” she told me quietly. “This is for you, after all.”

“But I can’t just...” I started and she placed a hoof on my muzzle to stop me from complaining about not letting her get any relief in return.

“Shh...” she shushed me, placing a soft kiss on each of my own wing joints. I moaned against the hoof still forcing me to stay silent as she began to run the tip of her tongue over my feathers, setting them into order one after another. Tia was incredibly careful and gentle as she started to preen my wings, taking out the feathers that actually needed to come out before they could cause me more discomfort in the future.

Each tug, while accompanied by a small prick of pain, left me with a warm feeling afterward. I delighted in the thought of my twin being so tender with this intimate task, her loving care causing my stomach to do a few flips within my excited body.

“Feels nice, doesn’t it? Being pampered?” Celestia asked me with a knowing smile, taking her hoof away from my muzzle. “Can’t give you a foot massage like you had done so many times on Earth, but this is even better, isn’t it?”

“Y-yes... Please, don’t s-stop,” I breathed out.

“As you wish,” she giggled, returning to her task and she actually let me stroke her mane as I watched her with affection in my eyes.

“Would you ever go back to Earth, Tia? If there was an option for that,” I asked her, voicing a random thought out to her.

“Hmm?” she hummed, spitting out a discarded feather from her mouth. “What brought this about? You’re normally not one for pillow talk before or after sex.”

“Isn’t pillow talk only after sex?” I asked her confused and she rolled her eyes at me.

“It’s pillow talk if I say it’s pillow talk, now stop distracting yourself from my question,” Tia told me, going back to my left wing to finish it up.

“I guess I have been wondering a lot about Earth, lately,” I said slowly, trying to get my thoughts ordered on the topic. “It has been over twenty years now since we have been reborn. I wonder what our kids are like by now...”

“Tabetha is probably nerding out in a big ass library and Rose is most likely trying to play match-maker,” she retorted with a roll of her eyes. “What do you think they would have done?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I agreed. “Still, I miss them. My little petal must be so devastated... Not to mention what my little star would think...”

“Dear, they are probably over us by now,” she told me, starting on the right wing. “While I also miss them dearly, they can take care of themselves.”

“Even so, ever wonder if there is a spell that would allow a pony to travel between worlds? Go for a visit, if nothing else?” I mused out loud.

“Sure, that would be nice,” Celestia answered, wiggling around on my chest to get into a more comfortable position for us to talk in. “Going to some movies or just driving around in a car again would be wonderful, but I don’t think we’re just going to stumble upon a spell that would allow us to go over there. Besides, you would probably waste all of the bits in the treasury on video games.”

“I would not! Probably...” I muttered, sighing contentedly as I felt a particularly annoying feather come out. “But... I guess you’re right. Although, Starswirl would probably jump at the chance of making some kind of portal to another world were it not for the whole ritual thing that he has to oversee.”

“That old geezer would get excited over any prospect of experimenting with magic,” she snorted. “Clover had to literally drag him out of his study the last time he had lost track of time trying to figure out a spell.”

“He had green hair for, like, a week,” I giggled, thinking back on seeing him after he had botched up his attempt at making his beard grow even longer.

“It was kinda funny,” Celestia giggled with me. “Luna couldn’t stop laughing for an entire hour.”

“Yeah... about that...” I hesitantly spoke up, getting her to look interestedly at me. “Do you think she could also be somepony that was reincarnated from Earth?”

“Why do you think so?” she asked me confused in return. “I haven’t noticed anything that indicated something like that. At least, not outright...”

“Well...” I started, rubbing the side of my neck with a hoof. “Sometimes I just get this feeling like I know her from Earth. She does seem to remind me of your sister, especially during her younger years.”

“Now that you mention it,” Celestia mused, furrowing her brow in thought. “She does have her brutal honesty and their taste in humor are practically identical.”

“She can’t be your sister, right?” I asked her unsurely.

“Dear, Luna is our sister,” she rolled her eyes. “But if you mean in the sense of Rebecca being Luna, I don’t know. If she truly is Becky, she isn’t showing it in an overt way... We would have to observe her more carefully, maybe bait her into revealing herself?”

“Oh yeah, and in the process weird out our sister if she is not your human sister,” I shot back with a snide tone. “Imagine what she would think of us if that were the case.”

“Not by being obvious, you idiot,” Tia retorted. “I’m not stupid, I know what I’m doing.”

“I think we should just... not try anything. I don’t want to risk it,” I said, fidgeting slightly. “Besides, she can’t be Rebecca, right? She would have said something to us already if she knew who we were... I mean, she should have noticed that you were her human sister and I was your... well, husband then.”

“We aren’t making it that obvious to her, either,” Celestia argued and I wilted slightly, seeing the truth in her statement. “And I know Rebecca wasn’t this stupid to not notice that I’m her big sister. Except if she is denying it to herself, but why would she do something like that?”

Why, indeed? Perhaps she doesn’t remember? Or our behavior was truly so different that she got confused, instead. My behavior had changed quite a lot since my rebirth, I was... sort of a doormat at times? I wasn’t the most confident pony anymore, or was it courageous I meant? Tia was way more... aggressive, I suppose? Stubborn, too. While I had a few moments here and there where my temper flared out of control, Tia let it show more often.

Although, at the same time, Tia was much more loyal in her approach to things. Like coming to the defense of one of us, even if it meant getting hurt in the process. If she had her way, she would have ripped the guards that took Mom away to shreds and if I weren’t here to keep her away from murdering Platinum, she would have done that already. We were sort of more vengeful if our temper spiraled out of control, although I always reined myself in before I could lash out in anger (more or less). I’d rather forgive and forget.

I wasn’t proud of the rare moments where I did lose myself to my temper and lashed out, as much as I pretended those moments never existed. I could be quite vicious with my punishments if Tia and Lulu were naughty, tickling them until they were barely able to breathe (sometimes even continuing on if I thought they weren’t genuine with their apologies). Staying kind and generous was the imperative I stuck to, those few rare moments where I lost my temper wouldn’t ever change that.

I might have even become obsessively kind, now that I think about it. Almost a bit zealous in my approach, even. I don’t think Rebecca would have ever associated me with Rudolph were she to see me now, acting like the gentle big sister that I now was.

“I feel like it would be too much of a risk with Lulu,” I sighed, worrying my lip slightly. “I’d rather not chance alienating her...”

“It’s your call,” she shrugged. “I don’t care either way, as long as she doesn’t steal you from me.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” I remarked. “Although I would have thought you would have jumped at the chance of making a harem out of the three of us, you pervert.”

“My my, is that desire I hear in your voice?” she grinned. “I don’t think you meant me there, beautiful.”

“What? No! I’m not that depraved,” I shot back, recoiling a bit. “I’ve already told you that would be inappropriate.”

“And here you are, bringing it up again,” Celestia snorted. “You can admit it to me, I won’t think any less of you. It might, in fact, make me love you even more~.”

“God, why are you so perverted?!” I groaned, throwing my head into the mattress.

“Are you asking God if he is perverted, or me?” she grinned and I swatted a hoof at her, trying to shut her up.

“That’s not even funny,” I told her. “Luna was right, you’re abysmally bad at this.”

“I am funny,” she said with a sniff, turning her muzzle up at me.

“Yeah, when you don’t want to be or you embarrass yourself,” I smiled back at her, sticking the tip of my tongue out at her.

“If you continue with this, I won’t continue with this,” Celestia grumbled, pointing at my unfinished wing. I pouted and acquiesced to her demands, feeling like I just got blackmailed.

Damn sexy sister...

“Now, that’s better,” she whispered around another feather as she pulled it gently out. I let out a small moan as a shudder raced through my wing and up my spine. “See, if you behave like a good little filly, you get rewarded~.”

“Don’t give me that routine,” I mumbled. “I’m not in the mood of playing mistress and slave right now.”

“Do be a sourpuss, why don’t you?” she groused.

“I’d rather be your little mare being bred by her big strong wife,” I shot back huskily, smirking as her wings popped up with quite a bit of force, causing a small gust from the movement.

“Oh, you wanna do it that way, huh?” she asked me gruffly, finishing up my wing in a hurry. I winced slightly as I felt a practically fine feather get ripped out in her haste, but it just managed to turn me on more.

“Yes, make me your mare,” I replied, my breath starting to come out in hitched pants. “Fill me up and don’t stop.”

With a little bit of concentration, my horn lit up and enveloped my wife in the golden aura we shared. A moment later I felt her body accept my transformation spell and I gulped at seeing her already at full mast, her own mare juices dripping slowly down from her vagina over to it as she stood over me.

I just gave my wife a penis (one that wouldn’t ever be able to impregnate me, but my body didn’t need to know that), and it looked so delicate as I stared at its tip with an apprehensive gulp. If a penis could ever look feminine, my wife managed to pull it off.

And my marehood clenched fearfully in anticipation, but first, I would show her what it felt like to have one before letting her at my nethers with it. For the first time, our roles were reversed since Earth. While she had pleasured me countless times like this as a human male, now it was my turn.

I pushed her on her back with a half-lidded gaze and she wiggled herself into a comfortable position. I had no idea what a stallionhood was supposed to look like, so I just went with a slightly longer version of a human shaft. It seemed like she didn’t care about that, though. I’m sure my wife knew what they were supposed to look like, but that didn’t matter right now.

I smiled slightly as I trailed my tongue up its length very slowly, seeing her watch me impatiently. Normally she was the one that endlessly teased me, so I thought it would be good payback to make her squirm under my ministrations. Because I knew that the tip was basically the only sensitive spot that would get her over the turning point any time soon, I stopped right before licking that part.

My wife grunted in despair as I moved my muzzle back to where I started and I couldn’t help myself from giggling like a little filly. She was so cute like this, wanting me to only concentrate on the part that would bring her to an orgasm as soon as possible. The thing was, I was in no particular mood to get this over with so early.

Wrapping my tongue around the base, I ran it back up to the point where I just barely touched her tip getting her to twitch her erection beautifully. I prevented her from reaching out a hoof towards the back of my head to force me to lick it fully with my magic, holding it to her barrel so she wouldn’t start to get any ideas. I did the same with her other hoof, just in case.

She was at my mercy now and I wanted her to know it. Starting the whole spiel again, I smiled around her shaft with glee. This was even better than I had previously imagined it, making her squirm so much.

Celestia let out a pathetic whine as I stopped almost shy of licking the tip, making a tiny jolt run through her again. I continued avoiding the tip for my own sick amusement, her eyes begging me to stop teasing her. She had done this so often to me that I wanted to show her just how agitating it really was.

Stopping with the teasing licking, for now, I breathed lightly on her saliva covered dick with a triumphant smile on my muzzle. I heard her let out a puff of air through her nostrils as I did so, noticing how it caused her to thump her head into the cloud mattress in frustration and arousal.

Well, well, well, she was mad at me for this, wasn’t she? I could continue with this all day long and she wouldn’t be able to stop me, even if she tried. Letting out a small breath again, I licked the part I blew air on right after I did so, seeing her try to buck out against my muzzle with an unpracticed motion.

She wouldn’t get to enjoy this until I said so, so her attempt was, while extremely funny, futile in getting anywhere near her desired objective. Tia never had an appendage like this, so she wouldn’t immediately know how she would have to move to get what she wanted. She thought like a mare and was wholly unprepared to change her perspective from trying to get her nethers closer to me.

And I took advantage of that. Slowly, I trailed up a few light kisses on her throbbing rod, provoking her to let out a growl at my taunting. I held her shaft still with my magic and my hooves prevented her rear from moving as I decided to give her just a little reward for putting up with me by placing a delicate kiss at the very tip.

Like I had already predicted, she tried her best at forcing it into my mouth with a little thrashing on her part to get me to release her lower body from my grasp. I wasn’t stupid, though. There was a reason why I had prepared myself for this action and she wouldn’t be able to make me do anything before I decided I wanted to do it.

Of course, that left her to growl at me unhappily, but I didn’t let that deter me. I had a plan with this teasing, and maybe, just maybe, I would get to see it come to fruition.

So, once more I began to tease her with my tongue, starting from the base and barely touching her glans as I went back to the base again. It was driving her wild and I delighted at every noise she made at me.

With every twitch of her tip, I knew I was getting closer to my goal. I grinned in anticipation as I started to pick up my pace a bit, making her hum in approval. Then, I sprung my trap as I saw her approach her peak.

I gave her tip a sharp lick and watched with a giggle as she let out a shuddering moan as her penis gave a mighty twitch, beginning to spray her spunk all over herself. It made me laugh and giggle so hard as I saw her so out of it that she didn’t even notice what she had just done to herself.

“How did that feel, hmm?” I asked her, starting to lick the sticky substance away, going from her abdomen to her chest and from there to the tip of her muzzle. She stood next to no chance to stop herself from expelling her fluids from her new body part, covering herself all over with it and I hummed in pleasure as I tasted the slightly salty-sweet cum from her (something that I was sure wasn’t supposed to taste this good). Tia happily returned the kiss I gave her as she began to calm down from her first orgasm with a penis.

“Wonderful. Not the same as to what I’m used to, but still pleasant,” she replied dreamily, giving me a nuzzle which I cheerfully returned. “I think I still prefer getting off as a mare compared to this, though.”

“I do, too, honey,” I giggled. “I really didn’t know what I missed out on all those forty years on Earth.”

“It’s superior in every way, isn’t it?” Celestia asked me with a pleasant hum in her tone and I nodded. “How about you do this properly now? Believe me, teasing is all nice and such, but I want to see you suck it until I shoot my load again... It would look so hot, Summer...”

“Let’s give you a few minutes to recover first. Believe me, you don’t want to go immediately again with no practice at all. Even if you had that, I would advise you to still not do it,” I told her. “You could hurt yourself and I don’t want that, dear.”

“You’re a meanie,” she pouted but relented to my demands. Instead, we engaged in a deep kiss until I saw her get fully ready again, her penis twitching alluringly back at me.

“You want to return the favor?” I asked her, wiggling my flank suggestively and all she did was to give me a nod with a shuddering intake of air. Smiling, I got us in position and felt her immediately lap her tongue around the outside of my marehood, collecting all of the leaking fluid with noisy slurps.

Not wanting to be outdone, I took the tip of her rod into my mouth with only the slightest bit of hesitation. Shrugging, I didn’t care that this was technically a male genital in my mouth now. It was attached to my wife so I found myself still being attracted to it, even though I was more into her mare parts.

I started to slowly bob my head up and down on the upper part of it, not trusting myself to go any lower and let it go down my throat. Didn’t want to have my gag reflex make me puke all over her, after all.

My wife let out a satisfied purr as I didn’t let up on my pace. Her hindlegs kicked out cutely beside my head as I felt her twitching tip in my mouth and her tongue inside my marehood. She really was enjoying this as much as I was, which furthered my happiness all the more.

A moan escaped my muzzle as I felt her wiggling tongue brush against a particularly sensitive spot inside of me, causing her to giggle-moan in return as the vibrations from my moan massaged the shaft inside my mouth.

With a loud slurping noise, I took her rod out of my mouth for a second or two to try and fill my lungs back up with air as all the panting from the pleasure has left me a bit short on breath. My wife tried to buck the tip of her dick back into my muzzle as the air began to tickle her wet appendage in front of me. Not wanting to leave her hanging, I went back to work on it at a slightly faster pace.

As I neared my peak from her ministrations, I was quickly overtaken by surprise as her load suddenly shot into my mouth as her hindlegs clamped themselves together around my head and I felt her try to shove her cock further down into me. Trying not to panic, I began to gulp down cum shot after cum shot, breathing in through my nostrils in quick bursts.

Fuck, she really was eager to pump me full, I didn’t know somepony could offload so much in one go. All the while Celestia was groaning with pleasure as her orgasm rocked her whole body and I tried to get her to bring me over the edge, too, with a wiggle of my flanks.

Tia continued to tongue fuck me a little bit hazily as she rode off her orgasm and I felt her load peter out just as I thought it would have never stopped from coming. A moment later I felt my own high wreak havoc on my body as I cried out around her shaft, warmth spreading through all parts of me while my eyes rolled around in my head.

We were left a panting, twitchy mess for a few moments as we tried to get our bearings. I rolled off of Tia as her deflating dick left my muzzle and I snuggled into the side of her flank with a happy smile. The afterglow was just amazing, I didn’t want this moment to stop.

Tia and I cuddled for a little bit as she turned my body around with her magic so that I was facing her. She giggled at my expression, delighting in the fact that she managed to get me out of it so much.

“Fuck, that was good,” Celestia mumbled and I felt her latch on to my ear, nibbling on it. I let out a coo at her, enjoying the feeling of her slowly kneading the delicate flesh with her teeth and the small licks she gave. “You’re practically glowing right now, Red Nose.”

“Stop talking and lick my damn ears,” I mumbled, not wanting her to leave them alone for even a moment. Celestia shook her head in amusement and did what I told her to do. I can’t believe she managed to get me to like this so much, but it felt just so addicting now! Happily humming, I played with the soft tuft of fur on her barrel.

Her regalia sadly managed to squish it beneath it but I had it back to its former fluffy glory in no time. I seriously considered to forbid her from ever wearing it again so I could enjoy the sight of her fluffy fur all the time, but she also managed to make her chest piece look sexy, too, when she wore it.

It was debatable which of the two options was superior, but at the moment my mind leaned more towards the regalia. I lamented the fact I hadn’t gotten to take the thing off of her during our foreplay, it would have been a very alluring thing to do.

“Are you ready for the main event?” Celestia whispered into my ear and I squirmed around a bit against her side, a queasy feeling welling up in my heart and stomach.

“I’m kinda a bit fearful of how it would feel, can we stay like this for a few more minutes?” I told her, looking up at her uncertainly.

“We don’t have to do it today if that is the case, Sunshine,” Tia answered me, concern etched on her face.

“No, I do want to, it’s just...” I started, trailing off as I was unsure how to relay my feelings to her.

“Just the initial fear, right?” she asked me and I nodded. It was practically spot on, I guess. “Don’t worry, I will be gentle, okay?”

“Okay...” I said, placing a small kiss on her lips. Tia gave me a small reassuring smile. “How are we going to do this?”

“Well...” Celestia began, thinking slightly. “I don’t think we can do it like we had done it on Earth, ponies don’t really have the physique for that. We could try if you really want to, but let’s leave the experimenting for later.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea for now, either.”

“Well, there is the option of me mounting you while you lie with your upper body on the mattress,” she offered and my face brightened considerably at the image, so I gave her a meek nod. “You wouldn’t have to do anything, in that case. And perhaps we can still kiss while we do it, just like we had on Earth. Pony necks are more flexible, after all.”

“I’d like that,” I told her with a small smile, glad that she thought about this.

“Knew you would, my sweet Sunshine,” Celestia giggled. She hopped off the bed after that, stretching her limbs out like a cat. “Now get that cute flank of yours off that cloud.”

“Cute? Not sexy?” I pouted and she grinned at me.

“Sorry, but you need a bit more padding on them for that, beautiful,” she told me, wiggling her own flanks. I stared at them bounce a bit and gave my own a curious look. Giving them a slight shake, they bounced far less than hers. “It’s your own fault for eating less than what Luna or I do. If it is any consolation, I like the slim look you have, dear.”

“You sure? I’m not too thin, am I?” I asked her, feeling self-conscious.

“Summer, I’m sure,” she reassured me. “You look better as a delicate little mare, now let me give you a good time, okay?”

“As long as I’m your mare,” I told her with a flutter in my heart. I slowly wiggled my butt off the cloud, anticipation building in my chest and nethers. “Don’t press in too fast, okay?”

“Like I said, I will be gentle,” Tia said, lowering her muzzle as her magic brushed the pink hair of my tail away so she could place a tender kiss on my folds. I felt a bit of wetness in my nethers start building up, so I just rested my head on my forelegs as she did her best to get me as aroused as I could be.

“Mhmm,” I hummed as my tail started to stand up on its own. Tia stopped her nuzzling and kisses and stood up, looking at me with a caring smile.

“Ready?” she asked and I gave her the go-ahead. Celestia reared up on her hind legs and not a moment later I felt her forehooves touching down on my back near my flanks to steady herself. “I’m just going to place the tip in, so don’t be startled, okay?”

“Okay,” I murmured, fidgeting slightly on my hooves to find a better halt on them with the added weight. Slowly, I felt her entering my entrance and I breathed in sharply in fear. This was an entirely different feeling from when she went in with her tongue, her tip was a lot broader and firmer in contrast.

“What did I tell you about being startled?” Celestia grunted, my marehood squeezing shut due to my anxiety. I breathed in and out, trying to calm down this irrational fear of being penetrated. “Relax, Summy.”

“Summy?” I squeaked out.

“I want to see you try to come up with a nickname based on your name,” she shot back and the distraction managed to make me loosen up, thankfully. “Mom only ever called us Sunshine, we have a nickname for Lulu and you call me Tia, Summy was the only option I could think of.”

“I think I like Red Nose more than that,” I said. “Summy sounds so... awkward, I don’t know.”

“Yeah, but Red Nose doesn’t have your name in it,” she called back, pushing further in slightly. I tried to avoid clamping down on her again, but I couldn’t help it as my marehood was spread further open by her. “Do I have to distract you the whole time? Maybe we should stop, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“No!” I shouted in panic while I gave her a pleading look. “I don’t want to stop, I put so much effort into this spell and I really do like the idea of a mare with a penis as well as a vagina. This is just... something I have to get used to.”

“Summer, don’t force yourself on this idea of a fetish, please,” Celestia told me gently, already going back to move out. I followed her steps stubbornly, not allowing her to ruin this for me. I felt like I wanted to snarl at her, telling her in no uncertain terms to not stop our first attempt at sex like this. “Summer, please! What is wrong with you?!”

“Tia, either you do this with me now or I will never get over this,” I growled, forcing her to step back towards the bed with me by using my magic. “I want this, okay?!”

“Summer...” she sighed desperately. “Why?”

“Because I want to... feel like I’ve made you feel,” I muttered, tears pricking against the corners of my vision. “I want to experience this, too. I want to learn what it feels like to be in this position... Is that so wrong of me?!”

“No...” she mumbled back. “But we can still continue this at a later time, why do you insist on doing this right now?”

“I don’t want to back down the next time, or the time after that,” I answered. “I want to get this over with so we can enjoy it more the next time we do this, so please... do it for me?”

“Using my own words against me now, huh?” Tia muttered defeatedly. “Alright, if this is what you truly want, then I won’t say no. Even if I want to so badly.”

“Thank you,” I said and I felt myself start to loosen up again.

“You’re welcome, I guess,” she shot back half-heartedly. I pushed my rear against her as she didn’t move one bit in her uncertainty. Breathing in and out, I calmed myself each time as we pushed into each other until my wife hilted herself fully into my fearfully clenching canal at last.

“There,” I said, my tone quivering a small amount from the alien feeling. “It’s in... it’s in, f-fuck...”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Celestia asked me and I nodded, giving her a nuzzle as her head was now close enough for me to place a kiss on the corner of her lips. “I swear, you’re way too stubborn when you want to be.”

“I love you, too,” I told her, a slight laugh escaping me while I got used to the feeling of having her all the way in me. “I really hope I get used to this before our heat starts to drive us nuts.”

“We can always just go back to what we’re used to,” she tried to convince me again, but I shook my head at that. “Ugh, you really are an idiot. And also too tight. Loosen up, already.”

“Oh, yeah, because I can tell my snatch what to do now, can I?” I shot back, locking her in a tongue-fight to shut her up. We both moaned into each other's mouth and I finally felt my nethers start to comply with my desires, somewhat. At least now Tia wasn’t being squeezed to death by my vagina, anymore.

Slowly, I began to lean forward pulling her dick out of me at a steady pace and leaned back to slowly start up a rhythm that I was comfortable with. Tia worked with me, not stopping our make-out session while we started to make love to each other.

And as we continued at what was basically a snail’s pace, I got gradually wetter in my nethers, helping us along and allowing us to increase the pace a bit. The fearful clenching of my vagina lessened with each time I managed to get her to hilt herself within me.

Before long, I started to moan more heavily from the sensation of her dick filling me, my breathing coming out in gasps and pants. More and more I started to enjoy the feeling of her sliding within me, hitting spots I hadn’t known I had. As my fear dissipated at long last, I wondered why I had feared having her rod penetrate me in the first place.

As Tia began to thrust in with a buck of her rear, I cried out her name telling her to continue with what she was doing. And with each thrust, I felt stars enter my vision as I screamed in pleasure.

I had to constantly adjust my stance with my back legs to not give out under her as we rocked back and forth, my slick walls allowing her to increase her pace to an even faster one.

And I loved the feeling of her fucking me with all she got. I started to feel silly for ever having been afraid of having something shoved up so deep in my marehood that I had to cry out with pleasure and I had to reprimand her one or two times to be a bit gentler as she went in, poking the entrance to my womb with her tip slightly, her shaft sliding in and out smoothly now.

Tia wasn’t better off in the pleasure department, grunting and panting as her thrusting pace began to transition into a steady hammering of my pussy. She had bit down on my ear at my insistence, tugging my head back with it. It just furthered my arousal and made this experience all the more memorable for us.

“Breed me, Tia!” I cried out, my mind in a frenzy. “Fuck me so hard I won’t be able to walk, give me a foal!”

“You d-did,” she began as she grunted out, “cast the”—she let out another pant—“correct spell, r-right?!”

“Yes!” I gasped, warmth starting to spread from my nethers over to my whole body. “Yes, I did! Now let me keep pretend, f-fuck!”

“I-in that c-case,” she chuckled, thrusting in fully and holding herself right at the entrance to my womb with a shuddering cry. “I’ll fill you up so full that you will leak cum for the next week!”

I let out a wordless scream as my vision went white from the sudden harsh thrust, my walls starting to milk my wife of every last drop from her heavily twitching mare shaft. With every vibration running up her rod came a new load of her spunk, shooting everything she got right into the cervix, painting my inner sanctuary white as the fluid kept coming for even longer than the time I had sucked her off.

Tia’s strong forelegs kept me against her as her dick continued to pump me full, making sure nothing missed its mark. A whole new kind of warmth filled me from the inside up and my hazy mind embraced it with open arms.

At some point, I felt my marehood let her go and she slowly retreated from my depths. I just continued to lie there half on the bed and half in a slowly growing puddle of cum. Tia levitated my half-conscious self up on the bed with her and I absentmindedly noticed her rubbing herself off again.

“Still not finished?” I asked dreamily, crawling over to her still needy sex. I nuzzled her hoof away, thinking that it mustn’t feel all that great to masturbate with it and plopped her length into my mouth, suckling on it much to the pleasure of my wife.

“N-no,” she answered me, squirming under my quickly moving tongue. “I don’t think your spell considered how much to, y-you know, produce.”

“That might explain that, then...” I mumbled taking her dick out of my mouth to lick the rest of it clean from our mixed juices before returning to the tip so I could bring her over her peak again.

“I’m c-close, Summy,” she whispered, biting her lip while she screwed her eyes shut. “P-please, j-just get me off.”

“Oh, with pleasure, Tia,” I giggled, licking her with a renewed vigor. And not long after that, another few shots were expelled from her as I heard her sigh happily.

“That’s so much better,” she mumbled, one last spray flying out of her just as I thought she was done. My sister giggled as I tried to get her cum away from my eyelid with a grumble. “Here, let me help you.”

She met my face with her tongue and slobbered all over me, not stopping even after I was technically clean from her spunk.

“You pervert,” I giggled, trying to get away from her muzzle playfully.

“Well, you know me,” she chuckled at me. “Although, did you do that on purpose?”

“What if I did?” I smiled mischievously and she engaged me into a rough kiss, arousal clouding her eyes heavily. “I have to somehow sate your perverted hunger...”

“I love you so fucking much,” Tia murmured, happily. “So... how does it feel to be my little mare, hmm?”

“Good,” I said, leaning into the kiss she gave me. “Positively nice, sister. I look forward to the next few days, even though we will go into a frenzy by then.”

“What time do you think it is right now?” she asked me, letting out a yawn.

“Time for sleep?” I shrugged, her yawn caused me to let out one, too. She ensnared me in her forehooves after I said that and together, we slowly drifted off to sleep.

I must say, this day was even better than I ever hoped it could have been. While I had to literally force myself to let her stay in me, it turned out to be one of the best things I have ever experienced.

Tia was, while a bit awkward in her movements, amazing in bed. The feeling of her holding me against her while she pumped me full of her fluids was exhilarating to me and I loved every moment of it. I felt her immense love for me as she held me in her strong embrace and I could just lose myself in that feeling all day long. It was utterly amazing.

Thankfully, as I felt myself awaken from the blissful depths of slumber, I saw that my wife still had her transformation active. The spell would probably run out of power in a few hours, but until then, I would give her a very nice awakening.

Wiggling out of her tight grip was a bit difficult and I almost feared I had woken her up too soon but she continued to blissfully snore on in a cute way. Feeling a bit giddy about what I was going to do for her, I nudged her penis a little bit, trying to get it to go fully erect.

I heard Tia mumble out in her sleep and I stayed still for a moment. It became quickly apparent that she was starting to have a wet dream from all of my prodding.

“Oh, this is even better,” I giggled quietly to myself, stroking her to full mast and then taking it into my eager mouth. I let out a few hums and giggles while bobbing up and down on it, letting the vibrations of my voice make her even harder.

My ears perked up as I heard her groan out my name and for a moment I feared she was already awake. She continued to mumble sweetly into the bed as I saw her already biting her lower lip from whatever she was seeing in her dream that made her so horny. Good, she was still asleep, wouldn’t want to wake her up too early, now.

Suckling on the tip noisily as I started to get a feel for how close she was to finishing, I giggled when she blearily opened her eyes. She took the sight of me with her cock in my mouth in for a few moments, not yet awake enough to comprehend what was going on. Then she let out a small moan as I felt her penis give a twitch in my mouth and I knew I was getting her ever closer to the finish line.

Celestia finally smiled down at me approvingly, her groggy mind getting clear of the cobwebs and I managed to bring her to an orgasm first thing in the morning. Greedily gulping down the salty-sweet treat of her cum that was being expelled from her mare cock, I grinned back at Tia as she gave me that look that told me that she found it sexy beyond belief.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” I whispered after she was done with her load. I came up to her muzzle for a tender kiss, having her hum a reply at me in return.

“You’re certainly eager this morning,” she told me around a few kisses. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I would have thought you would have remembered what day it is,” I answered back, raising a brow at her. “You know, this is a nice birthday despite us entering heat.”

“How could I have forgotten?” Celestia asked, facehoofing at her stupidity. “All those thoughts about estrus must have pushed it out of my mind.”

“Well, now you know, dummy,” I giggled. “Happy Birthday, sister.”

“Happy Birthday,” she mumbled in return, getting back to eating my face sloppily. I eagerly reciprocated her affections with my own. We stayed like this for a while, enjoying each other’s company.

“So,” Tia began. “What do you wanna do today?”

“How about a repeat of yesterday?” I eagerly asked back, feeling my marehood get excited already.

“You really are eager today, aren’t you?” she giggled. “Well, then. Let us get to it, shall we?”

“Yes,” I answered, presenting her already with my sex before she could even stand up from the bed. “I’m your mare, Mistress.”

“Oh, is this how we are going to do this?” Celestia asked interestedly. “Have you been good, my little Sunshine?”

“No, Mistress,” I whispered breathily, wiggling my flank at her. “I have been dripping all over the floor. I’m so sorry, Mistress.”

“Well, why don’t you get down on the ground and clean it up?” she asked with a demanding tone.

“Because I would make it dirtier, my mistress,” I answered. “I think something is causing me to leak, I need to be checked out.”

“I can see that,” she grunted, getting close to my nethers with her muzzle. “Let me see if I can find out what it is...”

As she told me that, I felt her begin to lick my dripping fluids up. Tia smacked her lips thoughtfully, running a hoof over my entrance and I leaned into her touch. She chuckled slightly at that, seeing how wet I was. I was already back to dripping my fluids over the floor again.

“I see...” she said. “It seems to me that you are in need of being filled up to stop the leaking, my little mare.”

“Y-yes!” I squeaked out, holding my vagina right in her face and smearing my fluids all over her. “I need to be bred! Make me your mare a-again, M-Mistress!”

“Look at what you have done!” she shouted at me, her gaze furious. Although, I could see the playful glint in her eyes, so I played along by letting out a fearful squeak.

“I’m sorry, Mistress!” I cried out. “I don’t know what must have come over me, please forgive me?”

“Oh, we will see...” my mistress told me. “First, you need to clean me up, do you understand?”

“O-of course, Mistress,” I answered, turning around to do what she had asked of me. My mistress stood still while I eagerly licked off my juices from her face. “Am I forgiven now?”

“Not just yet, my little mare,” she shot back. “I think you are in need of punishment, are you not?”

“R-right,” I breathed out, my nethers even wetter now. “What should I be punished with, Mistress?”

She let out a thinking hum. Then I saw her smirk and in the next moment, I felt her tug at my mane painfully while she placed a rough bite on my lower lip.

“I think a bit of pain should suffice,” my mistress answered. “Now present me your bare flanks so I can spank them, you naughty filly.”

“Y-yes~,” I moaned, already excited for what she would do to me. “P-punish t-this bad f-filly, Mistress~!”

“Don’t be so eager about that,” she said and one clap after another rang out as I let out a cry with a moan. “Now, if I feel you resist my entry, there will be more of that!”

“I w-won’t disappoint you, Mistress,” I told her, lowering my front half back to the ground again while presenting her my marehood with my tail standing painfully up and away from it.

In one swift motion, my mistress was on top of me. She aligned her tip with my entrance and in a single thrust, she was fully hilted within me. I let out a shrieking moan from the stimulus of her filling me up without warning.

“My, you are sopping wet, my little mare,” she chuckled. “I don’t think I can fix that. It seems to me you will have to leak all over the floor for the rest of your days~.”

“W-won’t that be a p-problem for you, M-Mistress?” I asked, another moan coming out of me as she withdrew from my depths only to thunder back in.

“N-no,” my mistress grunted, taking the hair on the back of my neck in her mouth. “I shust will hash to keep pluggin’ you up, shen.”

“M-Mistress!” I cried out, pleasure rocking my body as she started to pump in and out like a piston running wild. “I-I, mhmm, I d-don’t deserve s-such an honor!”

“Uhuh,” she growled, plowing even harder into me, causing me to skid forward on the ground a bit. She spit my hair out, a moan escaping both of our throats. “You will b-be reduced t-to a mere toy, m-my little m-mare!”

“Y-yes! If that is what my mistress wishes, t-then I will be your toy for eternity!” I answered happily. My mistress bore into me with her shaft in a sudden jerking motion and I felt her press into me forcefully as I was pressed to the ground harder in turn. I cried out her name as she started to try and get further in as her dick shot the creamy substance of her load into the deepest parts of me.

“F-fuck!” she growled out. “Take my load, my little mare! Take it and give me a foal!”

“Y-yes, breed me, f-fill me u-up!” I shouted back in ecstasy. “I will carry your young, Mistress!”

“G-good,” she chuckled, slapping me on my flank roughly. “I’ll be unhappy to see you not bloat up with a big fat pregnant belly!”

“Mhmm,” I giggled. “Anything for you, Mistress~.”

She slowly withdrew from my marehood with her slick dick hanging in front of me a moment later. I licked my lips in anticipation as I heard her demand for me to clean her up of our combined fluids. Eagerly, I followed her order without complaint, slurping noisily all over her rod much to her amusement.

“Was I too rough?” Celestia asked me as I finished up with her. I gave her a shake of my head, nuzzling her neck lovingly.

“No, just the right amount, sister,” I answered her as she brought me over to the bed. “I liked you biting down on my mane...”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Tia said, snuggling me tightly to her barrel. “What do you say to some pillow talk? I’m kinda really exhausted here.”

“Yeah, pillow talk sounds nice right about now,” I nodded. “I don’t think I can take any more of that for a little bit, anyway.”

“Wow,” she chuckled. “And here I thought you wouldn’t want to stop.”

“Nah, we will have more of that over the next few days,” I told her, gazing into her beautiful pale magenta eyes with love. “I’d rather be able to walk after we are through with this estrus, I don’t want to make Lulu suspicious of us.”

“Very well,” Celestia said. “She would probably do something stupid if she were to find out what we have been doing.”

“Like go around and tell everypony?” I snorted. “You know she would because she is terrible at keeping secrets.”

“We would have to lock her away forever,” she snickered. I let out a snort at that, picturing us standing before her locked door while she tried to escape us to tell the whole world what depraved ponies we were.

“So, what do you think we will have to do as princesses once our castle is done?” I asked, playing with the soft tuft of fur on her chest again.

“Probably boring paperwork all day long,” Tia mused, a tiny frown appearing on her muzzle. “Go on meetings with the ‘important’ ponies or other rulers of foreign nations, pass bills for snotty nobles thinking they could get away with everything, and so on...”

“I’m sure it won’t be all that bad,” I said. “We might even get petitioners, so we could hold court for a good part of the day.”

“Instead of boring paperwork, we get to listen to nobles whine about anything?” she snorted. “That’s even worse.”

“They don’t have to be nobles every time, Tia,” I said, giving her a disapproving look. “We could get to help the peasants with important things, make their lives better.”

“Oh, it’s the peasants now, huh?” Celestia rolled her eyes. “What’s next, are you going to call the workers servants?”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” I mumbled meekly. “This world’s vernacular is getting to me...”

“I guess that’s true...” Tia said. “It would look weird to the nobles if we behaved like the ‘peasants’ would. We probably should get used to the idea of acting like royalty. Just not the bad kind of royalty.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I agreed hesitantly. “Others would see that as a sign of weakness, I’m sure. As long as we stand true to our ideals though, we should be fine.”

“Stay loyal to our subjects, be honest with yourself, show kindness and generosity to those in need, and keep the happiness of the ponies of Equestria at the forefront of your mind...” Celestia said, quoting something Starswirl had told us on the day of our coronation. “I guess there are worse ideals than that. We should have no problem upholding these.”

“Yes, especially kindness,” I said with a smile. “So, get used to having a bleeding heart, sister.”

“I don’t think I would show kindness to just anypony, sister.”

“Everypony deserves it, even if it may be hard to give at times,” I told her. “Take Starswirl for example. He doesn’t care whether you’re young or old, pegasus, unicorn, or earthpony. Anypony deserves a chance.”

“Forgive and forget, huh?” Tia whispered. “Like Platinum?”

“I... I want to say yes, but even I don’t know if she has any redeemable characteristics,” I murmured, looking down in thought. “She certainly doesn’t want to change in her ways, even after her father talked with her.”

“You mean shouted,” she giggled and I smiled slightly. “She deserved every minute of it. That stallion packs a serious pair of lungs.”

“I kinda felt bad for her...” I sighed. “If that had been Mom shouting at you or Lulu, I would have thought she went overboard.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that King Bullion was right with every word he said to her. So I’m not nearly as sorry for her as you are. Not even the slightest bit, she is a bitch,” she said. “On another note, what do you think we should do about Starswirl and the ritual?”

“I don’t know, he told us not to worry about it,” I answered with a shrug. “At the moment we can’t really do anything but hope that he finds a more permanent solution. I don’t think even we are strong enough to do this ritual for any amount of time.”

“For all we know...” Celestia muttered. “I wish he didn’t tell us not to worry about it. We are the princesses now, aren’t we? We are supposed to be concerned and all he tells us to do is to concentrate on learning how to govern Equestria. The old geezer has a lot of nerve...”

“Well, I get where he is coming from,” I said, stroking the tuft of fur on her chest a bit in thought. “If we were to lose our magic, Equestria would lose three of their defenders. It would severely weaken our ability to lead our little ponies.”

“It fucking sucks, that’s what it does,” Tia growled angrily. “He continues to look at us like we are little kids that don’t know any better. We are a lot closer to his mental age than we appear, for fuck’s sake.”

“Don’t get so angry about that, dear,” I giggled. “He does have a lot more experience than us, that’s for sure.”

“He is still an ass,” she pouted at me.

“And you need to stop swearing so much. We are princesses now, it would reflect poorly on us if you were to let out such foul language in the presence of other ponies,” I scolded her, smiling playfully. “Even though I don’t mind as much. You could swear all day long and all it would do would be to arouse me.”

“Oh?” she smirked. “I think that’s fucking worth it to me.”

“Please, don’t,” I said. “I really meant it when I said it would reflect poorly on us as rulers.”

“Fine, you win,” she grumbled. “Why do you have to be so cute?”

“Why do you have to be a pervert?”

“Touché.”

We continued to talk about this and that, just enjoying the day for what it was. All in all, it wasn’t such a bad Birthday. Tia and I had our urges mostly under control and I was glad that our heat didn’t manage to ruin this day for us. The same couldn’t be said for the following days, though.

Despite going at it like rabid animals, Tia at least tried not to leave me in an utter mess once we were done and she felt finally spent enough that she couldn’t continue on pumping me full of cum. I had to say though, the spell I had created was doing its job beautifully.

While Tia was only the slightest bit saddened that I couldn’t work out how to cast the spell on myself without it failing on me, she was understanding enough to not complain about it. It helped that she was also the dominant one in our relationship, so she wasn’t all that sad about it after our heat ended.

Once we were able to think clearly again, we were able to leave the room. Thankfully the wards could recognize what state our bodies were in so that we couldn’t open them from the inside and only kept the room under lockdown when we were in heat. Luna had asked the animals to bring us our food while she was busy overseeing the construction of our castle, so she didn’t notice that the critters left all the food in our room.

The animals at least didn’t care what we were doing and I was glad nopony could understand them or the secret would have come out a long time ago. I felt like hitting myself for this slight oversight but was glad that we got lucky this time around. We would have to come up with a solution to that problem in the future.

Thankfully, the massive bath chamber had been completed as we were... laid up. Tia and I gave ourselves a thorough cleansing, trying to get the heavy smell of sex off of us. It felt nice being squeaky clean again as we scrubbed each other off and I was happy to see that we had a few natural sponges gifted to us by some nice ponies.

Seriously, natural sponges were awesome and extremely fluffy. Tia was just as happy about them as I was because using hooves to clean ourselves wasn’t the nicest thing. Thankfully, ponies already knew how to make soap and we had quite a collection of different scents to choose from.

After our well-deserved bath, we continued to go around the castle as we were pleasantly surprised by how much progress had been made. Ponies and animals alike were already almost done with the finishing touches.

As I had requested, we saw some of the most high-quality decorations I’ve ever seen being put up by a few ponies, all of them bowing happily as we passed them by on our walk. We asked a few guards standing watch where we could find our sister and were directed to the basement.

Luna was tinkering with the massive organ, testing out a few keys as we entered the room. She was so focused on her task that she didn’t notice Tia sneak up on her with her feathers at the ready. I smiled fondly as they were rolling around on the ground a moment later.

“Don’t scare me so!” Luna grumbled annoyed as she pinned my twin under her. “I’m glad that you’re back, but must you be so...”

“Childish? What, can’t take a bit of fun?” Celestia grinned slightly as Luna helped her back on her hooves. I came over to them, leaning down a bit to give my baby sister a gentle nuzzle. “How far along is the castle?”

“A few more days and we should be completely done, I’ve had a bit of trouble with the Organ to the Outside, though. Your animal friends have been a great help, Summer,” Luna told us, going back to tinkering with the mechanics behind the triggers of all the traps that were within the musical instrument.

“I’m glad to hear that, Lulu,” I said, trying to see what she was doing. It looked really complex and I’m sure only my little sister had the knowledge of what did what.

She let out an annoyed huff a moment later, cursing under her breath as she let her frustration show with a little growl, trying to get a moving part into the right spot. I had no idea what it was for, but I could guess that it was probably some sort of trigger for a trap somewhere within the castle. “I could take a break from this, actually. What do you say to a round of hide and seek in the throne room? Oh, you’re going to love what we have done with it!”

“Sure, I could go for a bit of light-hearted fun,” I said smiling. “What about you, Tia?”

“It certainly would keep my mind off of the thought of having to start our duties soon,” she shrugged. “Why not indulge in a bit of childishness for a little while?”

Lulu was happily skipping ahead of us, a cute little spring in her steps as she told us to keep up with her. And while the Hall of Hooves was definitely the most creepy thing within our castle, I had to say it added to the atmosphere a lot. As we entered the throne room, I had to admire the tapestries hanging above the golden and midnight blue thrones.

My throne was more of a reddish-gold while Tia’s leaned more towards a light yellow. Up above on the tapestries were the depictions of the heavenly objects we were named after. I felt a happy tear leave me as I squeezed the living daylights out of my little sister, babbling my endless thanks to her for getting some of the artists to make them as a tribute to our parents and us.

Because Luna kinda had the advantage over us with knowing more about the layout of the castle, we made her promise to give us plenty of time to hide before she started to seek us. It was a nice way to have us familiarize ourselves with the castle and we had a lot of fun while we kept on playing throughout the whole day.

It was a welcome distraction for the workers, too. They saw us behave a bit childishly, but didn’t seem to mind so much. If anything, it proved to them that we weren’t some snobbish ponies that would take advantage of them. We even had a few of them joining us while they were on their breaks, making the whole experience even more entertaining.

Soon, as the days continued to pass, we had our castle finally finished and polished up nicely. Starswirl came over with King Bullion and, much to our dismay, his daughter. We were gracious enough to host his presence while showing him around in our new home, all the while Platinum continued to give us glares.

It got so bad that, as we entered our throne room, Luna and her ended up in a shouting match...

“You dare come here into our home and behave like you own it?!” Luna growled. Platinum huffed and was about to open her mouth again to give one of her generic ‘I am better than thou’ insults, but Luna beat her to it. It was... I have no idea. I felt strangely proud that my little sister was being mean to her. “You are no princess, you prissy foal! A princess conducts herself with respect and earns it with her actions, not with her empty words and promises! You know nothing of how a princess should behave and you dare call yourself a royal?”

“I am a UNICORN!” Platinum glowered back. “We deserve to stand above everypony! Even you and your mongrel sisters. You are abominations and that ponies would follow you INSTEAD OF ME... it sickens me.”

“Platinum...” her father said, a warning tone thick in his voice. Instead of listening to him, though, Platinum let out a snort as she sent a baleful glare towards him.

“I can’t believe you would side with these... these farmers over ME, Father!” Platinum shrieked with her incredibly annoying voice. “These simpletons don’t deserve their place as princesses!”

Luna laughed hollowly, starting to pick up in volume as she couldn’t stop herself from laughing hysterically. “Deserve? You know nothing of what we deserve! You take everything for granted, thinking yourself privileged to anything and everything only because you have been born as royalty!

“Clearly, you don’t realize what your arrogance has led to! You ruin lives and don’t even bat an eyelash, never having had to live with the consequences of your actions because you thought yourself safe from punishment! NO MORE! Keep insulting us, your rulers, and see where it leads you, worm. Remember who you have sworn your loyalty to, Princess Bitchface.”

“You little brat!” Platinum cried out, enraged. “Know your place, peasant. That throne should have been mine! You aren’t even worthy of your position, blank flank!”

“Oh?” Luna smirked. “It should have been yours? Very well, then. If you think yourself better than us, then sit on it and we will see if you are worthy of it. A Cutie Mark does not make the mare, as you so perfectly serve as an example of. Show me that that crown on your flanks means you should rule, you little immature bitch.”

We got a quiet laugh out of Platinum as Luna tricked her into sitting on her throne while she gave me a look and I reluctantly asked Melvin to trigger the secret slide behind it, causing the throne to turn around to throw her into the ‘escape’ plan that Luna insisted on that we have.

Platinum came back covered in tears looking quite ruffled, ‘apologizing’ for her misbehavior. I could tell that she was still holding on to her grudge against us and that she wasn’t genuine about it, but as long as we had this truce between us now, I felt like we could somewhat tolerate each other. Probably.

...maybe?

King Bullion apologized for the way his daughter continued to behave and assured us that he would try to keep her away from us as much as he could. We were quite thankful for that, I don’t think we could stand her toxic behavior all that much even with this truce between us.

At least Luna got to call her an immature bitch for thinking we were the ones that needed to grow up because we hadn’t gotten our Cutie Marks yet. Luna was also quite happy that her Organ to the Outside worked perfectly like she wanted it to. And I had to admit it to her, the thing was quite useful for having fun and moving around the castle.

We also discovered we could infuse our magic into our voices, due to her thorough tongue lashing. Luna was extremely giddy with using it to annoy us and the servants in the castle, playing alarm clock first thing in the morning with glee.

Waking up at the crack of dawn started to become a regular thing after that and she managed to get us to wake up always at the same time even if she wasn’t screaming her head off. Well, the advantage was that we had a bit more time to get ready for work, so something came of that, at least.

And how tedious that quickly became, having to go over documents and such while Starswirl, Clover the Clever, and his friends taught us all about how to govern a nation. Luna tried to get out of our lessons by pretending to be sick for a while, but that quickly turned on her as we found her playing the Organ to the Outside to mess with me and Tia.

She was grounded after that, having to endure extended lessons from Clover as punishment. I wanted to say she asked for it with her pranking, but I kinda felt bad about seeing her be so pouty. Luna just wanted to have a little bit of fun, after all.

Still, she needed these lessons just as much as me and my twin. Luna didn’t try to weasel her way out of them afterward, the hassle apparently not worth the outcome. Her high jinks, at any rate, managed to get our new friends to laugh for a while, so something good came from it, at least.

Besides Luna having had her fun at our expense, Clover, Pansy, and Smart Cookie told us some great news regarding the state of our nation. Chancellor Puddinghead had a few rare moments where he let his inner brilliance shine by getting the earthponies to farm more effectively, leading to an overabundance of food. I was glad that we didn’t have to worry about that so much anymore, I had been getting antsy about things like that.

Commander Hurricane, on the other hoof, established the first official weather team, organizing our weather for the whole of Equestria. His team of pegasi were doing their jobs with an admirable enthusiasm.

But most importantly, Clover told me that the unicorns were making good progress with developing a safer way to raise and lower the heavenly objects. While they weren’t entirely there yet, they hoped to finish the new spellwork before Starswirl and Lulamoon couldn’t continue on anymore.

Our friends were quite grateful for us having taken on the mantle of princesses, as our presence alone had inspired ponies to look past their differences and work together in harmony. If only that was true for Platinum, but I suppose there was no changing her.

Smart Cookie and Tia had a little bit of trouble with reining in Chancellor Puddinghead as the wacky stallion decided to spontaneously visit us one day. Luna and Puddinghead had decided to have a little wager as to who was better in hide and seek, causing a lot of chaos.

I was quite surprised to find myself suddenly thrown off my throne in the middle of holding court while I was trying to help a pair of ponies out on a dispute of land, sliding to the outside of our castle without a warning. At first, I thought Luna was playing pranks on ponies again, but I later found out that Puddinghead had beaten my baby sister at her own game.

I won’t ever understand that stallion, honestly. He did things and knew stuff that should have been impossible. Luna and Puddinghead were a terrifying combination for pranks from that day forward, causing plenty of headaches for me and Tia.

When we weren’t busy with our duty as princesses, I continued to work on my own personal garden with tender care. My little animal friends were happy to assist me with anything and I was glad that they loved this place as much as I did. In the middle of the garden, I had a nice wide cherry blossom tree enchanted to stay in bloom for the whole year beside winter and it was my whole pride and joy. I often found Tia napping under it when she wasn’t busy with work, either.

It was a very cute sight to behold and I wished I had a camera to take a picture of her sleeping serenely underneath its vibrant leaves. She just looked so peaceful whenever I found her there.

Then, for one particular lesson by Starswirl, we were invited into his personal library and my twin totally geeked out over the massive collection, reminding me where our daughter had gotten that particular trait from. Not a thing had changed from Celestia being a massive nerd when it came down to books and magic (and cars, but those didn’t exist in Equestria).

Starswirl had us on a few research assignments, trying to teach us how to work around in a library if we ever had the need for it in the future. The old stallion assured us that it was a necessary skill to have to rule more effectively, seeing that it would help us keep organized and on task.

My twin was obviously the better pony at it than either me or my baby sister. She always finished her assignments with time to spare, so she helped us out by teaching us her methods. Not that it helped us that much, Tia just was a natural with this type of work.

Starswirl also told us that we were free to browse his collection whenever we wanted and Celestia was giddy at the prospect of learning all that she could from his magic tomes. It was really adorable how her eyes continued to sparkle brightly for days afterward because of it, her mood having been uplifted so much I thought she would have floated up into the sky because of it.

Luna made fun of her enthusiasm in our diary, so I left an entry telling her to stop antagonizing her (I was reasonably sure she would see my words, she never knew how to keep her hooves to herself). I also wrote about all the great times I had together with Pansy as I showed her to my private garden. She was such a gentle pegasus, she took after my own heart.

Besides that, Starswirl was working on a multitude of spells, some of which he even asked us for our input on. There was one about Cutie Marks that went over our heads because we mainly had no reference to it due to the lack of our own. What was more interesting were the spells involving time travel!

It was quite funny to see Tia try the spell out, despite Starswirl's warnings that the spell could only be cast by the pony using it once. There was something that the future Tia did that surprised me, though.

She made out with herself because, apparently, it was the perfect opportunity to test out what it would feel like to have yourself eat your face. Thankfully we were alone at the time in her private reading room, so Luna and Starswirl were none the wiser.

A week later as Tia was back in Starswirl's library, she found where Starswirl had kept that spell hidden and immediately used it, much to his grumbling protests. As she returned from the past, and I knew full well what she had just done, Starswirl gave her a thorough scolding for being so foolish to cast something without any kind of preparation first. Or consideration for possible consequences, for that matter.

That led to him giving us a refresher in the proper safeties of spellcasting, much to the chagrin of me and my baby sister. Celestia wasn’t even apologetic about it, still high on making out with herself, again. Sometimes she really was too perverted for her own good.

At least Starswirl had his fun lecturing us, the old coot needed all the distractions he could get. I fear that time was starting to take its toll on him...

Chapter 007 - And the Cutie Mark.

Source material for this chapter: The Journal of the Two Sisters - The last chapters

Melvin was a great source of information about the Everfree Forest. He knew his way around it to practically every corner of it. Luna had me ask him why he avoided one area of it, though. The manticore merely stated that it was forbidden to go beyond it and I think I understood why that was. Most of the predators that tried to do so never came back and the few peaceful animals living within this forest said that all they knew was that the predators were hunted down if they couldn’t be driven off.

A thing that most predators in the Everfree were notorious for not doing, it seemed. Luna wanted to go explore the land beyond the Everfree Forest under all circumstances and wasn’t deterred by the warning I relayed to her from Melvin.

So, because I didn’t want to let her go on her own, I accompanied her so I could at least act as a decoy should things get dicey and we needed to flee. Celestia was against it at first, but Luna managed to drive her crazy with the continuous begging coming from her until she relented.

My twin wanted to go instead of me, but I told her that I didn’t want to have them bicker all the way on their journey and promised her we would be careful. Didn’t change her opinion on it, but then Luna started to complain and whine about Tia being too protective of me and hogging me all to herself.

So, my twin gave up and Luna and I started to make our way through the forest where Melvin told us these things were happening. I wanted to make sure all my animal friends were safe and if it meant investigating this curious cause, then I would do so.

And what a cause it was. After we managed to break through the dense thicket and came across what appeared to be a savannah, we found something I never expected to find so close to our home. We had to take to the air just to look over the tall grass and there, in the near distance, was a small village of huts with very unique inhabitants.

The inhabitants were unlike any normal ponies because quite frankly, they were no ponies. What we found was a group of zebras looking fearful of us and their manner of speech was... different. It wasn’t like they spoke a completely different language, they just... rhymed whenever they talked.

Oh, and they also thought we were manticores just because we had wings. Talk about generalizing. They were quite... isolated, weren’t they? I could tell Luna wanted to laugh her flanks off as I tried to get them to understand that we weren’t there to harm them.

I got to understand just how isolated these zebras had been living after they put down their weapons so we could talk in a slightly more friendly setting. They had never seen anything in the form of a horse (or pony, as the case may be) but a zebra. It was a little weird that they got so fascinated with our horns and wings as if they were entirely alien concepts to them.

So, to show them that there was nothing to fear about our appendages, I let them inspect them from up close. By that, I mean that I let them touch me, much to the amusement of my sister.

When I asked them why they were hurting my animal friends when they left the forest, they told me that they did it for self-defense. It wasn’t that much of a surprise, considering what predators normally do. They also explained that they used their unique shamanistic magic and the potions they brewed to ward off their land.

Then, they also told us that they had a small manticore population problem in the past, which led to them hunting them down in the first place. Melvin was apparently too young to have known about that little tidbit of manticore history and I wasn’t particularly keen on explaining it to him when we returned home.

The zebras were gracious enough to host us with a small feast of their delicacies and we got to witness them do a little rain dance (I think it was a rain dance) to show us how their magic worked. It had a lot to do with movements and rhyming, it was a little bit cute to watch in my opinion.

We told the zebras that if they were to ever venture through the forest they would be welcome to stay in Equestria as we prepared to leave the next day. They promised to come visit us in our home should they decide to take us up on our offer, and so we said our goodbyes to the first foreigners we had come across, glad to call them our friends from now on.

Tia was glad nothing happened to us and got slightly excited about having zebras so close to our doorstep. I could tell that she had been fretting over us while we were gone, though. It warmed my heart to see her worry so much for the wellbeing of me and Luna.

We returned to our duties without much hassle, although I had to literally force Luna to do her paperwork at times. She couldn’t just pile her stuff on to us while only doing the things that were entertaining to her. Celestia was more fed up at her carefree nature than me, though. We had all agreed to rule equally and Luna was already shoving her work onto us when she felt like not doing it.

Something I would have honestly expected to happen with Tia, too. I suppose our duties to the ponies of Equestria finally managed to motivate not only her but also me to procrastinate less.

Paperwork was still boring, though...

Starswirl had us come over to his library again one day, telling us that he had some exciting news to share with us. And as we got there, we saw what he meant when he came tumbling out of a small vortex of a very complex looking spell.

He had just successfully traveled in time and he could control where (or I suppose, when) he wanted to go! Celestia’s inner child was getting all giddy over him finally succeeding in his quest for more knowledge and I wasn’t that much different from her with my reaction, either. I wondered what he saw while he was gone, but the old coot never told us. He had a strange gleam in his eyes, though.

The thing about that new time travel spell, though, was that it didn’t leave him entirely unaffected. We tried telling him gently that, while he obviously could use the spell to travel through time, it also left a very obvious mark on him. Luna got so fed up that he didn’t notice what he had done to himself that she levitated a mirror directly into his face, stating that the spell was too dangerous to cast while still incomplete.

Starswirl had stared completely baffled into the reflection within the mirror. A reflection of his obviously younger self. The spell had de-aged him at the same time, so while it was a time travel spell, it was also an age travel spell. Something that we all unanimously agreed on shouldn’t ever be made public, it would lead to too many problems down the line. You could basically live forever with this spell alone, something that would come with a heavy cost.

Agelessness wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, in my opinion. It only led to heartache once you started to outlive your loved ones. While Luna, Tia, and I could probably cast the spell at some point, we wouldn’t ever want to. Not only because we would leave behind all our friends that couldn’t cast the spell, but also because the spell took one back by a lot of years. Starswirl was now in his late fifties and not at the old age of eighty-ish.

He had been one of the oldest ponies in Equestria alive before this, now he would continue to get even older than that. Starswirl didn’t really see a problem with that, but I feared what other effects it would have on him given time. I just hoped that he wouldn’t go senile by using this spell over and over again.

It was quite funny to see him with a small brown goatee, though. He had the face for it though, his muzzle not being so wrinkly anymore. The fact that he felt stronger with his magic than ever took a load off my mind.

The not so old coot also wanted to begin teaching us how he and the unicorns raised the moon and the suns, having that strange cryptic gleam in his eyes, so that was a lesson that would probably take us quite some time to learn. Now that he had quite literally all the time in the world to do so, I hoped that he would at least go easy on us.

It was something that I had thought we would never have to learn, but just because we were the rulers now, didn’t mean it wouldn’t become useful knowledge in the future. He assured us that he would do his best to prepare us for the task before we even attempted casting it with anypony and told us that if the unicorns were ever unable to fulfill their task that we would have to help out. It was our duty as princesses, looking out for the good of everypony.

If it meant saving the rest of the world, I suppose losing my magic would be a minor thing to sacrifice. While it wouldn’t probably come to that, hopefully, I was prepared to do what was necessary. It was the far more preferable option, wasn’t it? I’d rather lose my magic than live in a... dead world.

When we weren’t busy learning about our new duties, we had our fun with the rest of our friends. One day Commander Hurricane came over and he taught us quite a lot about the weather. We even had a nice little competition of who could fly the fastest. While I wasn’t that particularly good at it, my sisters were having a lot more fun with it, trying to leave Commander Hurricane in the dust.

Tia and Lulu were able to go quite fast with their wings if they wanted to, but Hurricane put up quite a challenge for them. He was the fastest pegasus alive, after all.

While I watched them from a cloud after having given up on catching up to them, my heart plummeted as I saw Tia get tackled out of the air by a griffon, falling to the ground below while unable to right herself in time.

I was glad that Hurricane was here with us or I fear I would have lost my wife that day. He was able to catch up with her with no problem and I touched down beside them as Hurricane set her down on the ground. Luckily, while she had taken quite a nasty hit from that griffon, she was none the worse for wear.

I didn’t let her out of my hooves for a whole hour afterward (only reluctantly letting go of her as she started to get fidgety), afraid the griffon would return to finish the job. Hurricane explained to me and my sisters that there was quite a bit of history between pegasi and griffons. There had been an extensive and complicated rivalry between the two species for as long as they could think back, oftentimes resulting in skirmishes (and the odd few wars) between them.

While there was a somewhat friendly truce between pegasi and griffons in the past and they had respected the borders in between them, it seemed to me that with me and my sisters in power now, they wanted to challenge us for territory again.

Hurricane wasn’t all that certain about going over to their lands to negotiate with them, he was unsure if this was a good idea on my part, preferring to rather prepare a retaliatory attack, instead. Even Luna and Celestia were hesitant in that regard, too, but as I gave them my reasoning, they understood it was for the best. If we could come to a peaceful solution by talking, I would try that before resorting to military might.

Even though the bastards just attempted to kill my wife. I was willing to look past that if they gave us an apology, though. It wouldn’t do to hold a grudge over the actions of a single griffon, after all. I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the eye if I were to condemn the rest of their race for what one idiot did.

Although... on the other hoof, I was sorely tempted to eradicate their entire race for daring to lay their dirty claws on my wife. But that was the rage in me speaking, something that I wouldn’t ever follow up on. I couldn’t let myself get consumed by these dark thoughts because of what might be a misunderstanding here. That griffon could have acted on his own without any incentive from their king, after all.

If only I was right with that little train of thought...

The thing about their king, I sadly had to find out, was that he was a total asshole. And I don’t say this lightly, but I was starting to consider going to war with them just to get that dickhead off the throne. He was just skirting around the definition of being a selfish dictator with the way he ruled his nation.

This attack on our airspace happened because of one little technicality in the wording of the previous treaty. Seeing that Equestria wasn’t entirely comprised of pegasus territory anymore, King Gregor thought it would be okay to think the treaty was null and void. We tried to get him to accept our proposal of changing the wording from “Pegasus” to “Equestrian” in the treaty, but he continued to be stubborn.

The bastard really was out for war and he even told us that if we wanted our airspace back, we would have to fight for it. He sent us on our way back home with not so kind words and I could tell that he was just waiting for the chance to invade our home.

I told him he was welcome to try. I’ve had enough of his attitude and if he didn’t want to do it the peaceful way, then he would have to learn it the hard way that we were no pushovers. I’m sure my animal friends would be happy to lend us their aid, too.

If he wanted his head decapitated so badly, let him come...

So, while we prepared our own forces over the following weeks after that, repelling the prodding advances from the griffons (for now), Melvin and I had a talk about the chickens pretending to be lions. It turns out that my manticore friend knew quite a bit of interesting things about the race that he shared a common ancestor with. While both of their species were known to have inherited the temper of lions, the griffons had something else that they were known for.

Melvin told me that they had a massive sweet tooth. And as he told me this, a devious plan began to form in my mind. I would make the griffons rue the day they threatened my kingdom and my lover. That I swore with a vengeance. And it had the upside of not having to shed blood over this stupid conflict, so that was a plus in my book.

My plan was a very simple one, as the simplest of plans always worked best. I would get the griffons addicted to the confections our subjects could whip up and I would hold the recipe under their little beaks once they were and threaten them to never mess with ponies again.

Celestia found my plan to be ingenious and together with Melvin, we learned the favorite dessert of King Gregor: éclairs. I think I might have gone overboard with this plan by enlisting Starswirl’s aid. In hindsight, it kinda bordered on brainwashing by giving the damn birds a batch of éclairs that made your mouth water just by looking at them through a subtle mental suggestion from a spell Starswirl put on them.

I sorta felt bad about it? I... I don’t know. I mean, it got the job done at the cost of their blood sugar levels skyrocketing through the roof, but... was it worth it? On the one hoof, they kinda, maybe, sorta, possibly deserved it? On the other hoof, it felt like I went a little bit too far with my (admittedly insidious) plan. It wasn’t my proudest moment in the history of my (still relatively short) reign and I vowed to never resort to such underhoofed methods again.

So long as they didn’t try to kill my wife again, that is...

At least we got them to sign the new peace treaty in return for the... ahem, ‘recipe’... of the éclairs. We told them they would have to ask Starswirl for that, I wasn’t particularly in the mood to tell them we had just brainwashed them into stopping their attempt of an invasion.

Who knew you could avoid a war by appealing to the stomach of your (admittedly shitty) neighbor with enchanted confections? I’m glad that there hadn’t been any casualties, at least. Would that have been the case, I don’t think I would have been as kind as I was towards them. Brainwashing would have been the least of their problems in that case. Taking the head off that idiotic king still sounded very tempting...

Equestrian morality was really weird, considering taking away the freedom of thought was the most heinous crime a human could come up with. I got over it, though. Sure, I might have made a massive mistake that would probably still continue to haunt me every once in a while, but I’m sure I can learn to live with it.

Months passed us by with nothing really worthwhile happening, besides Luna turning sixteen and finding out she could suddenly dream lucid dreams on command, even enter another ponies dream for a little while. It seems to me that it was no coincidence that we developed these unique abilities and Starswirl attributed it as a trait of our kind. Alicorns were apparently extra special in contrast to normal ponies.

I was glad Luna couldn’t enter the dreams of anypony without their permission. Yet. Otherwise, she would have surely seen some of the naughty things my sister and I dreamt about.

Luna couldn’t just dream walk, though. No, she had the very ability to put ponies to sleep even under circumstances less ideal for that. She oftentimes helped out the healers with some of their patients when they were unable to do something to aid them. It was almost like putting the ponies she used this ability on under narcosis with a single word.

It wasn’t just other ponies she could use it on, though. Luna could just tell herself to go to sleep and she would. She tried getting out of her work by constantly causing herself to fall asleep after that. It got so annoying that we had to ask Starswirl for a spell that would wake anypony up from slumber.

Luna was grumpy that she was denied her ‘rest’ because of that. Sometimes she just couldn’t stop acting like an immature filly, I swear. Celestia and I were working our flanks off while she thought this was a game.

She could act her age, she simply didn’t want to and it drove me and my twin up the walls of our castle. I mean... sometimes Tia and I had the tendency to goof around as much as Luna, but we didn’t let that come in between our duties as princesses. I suppose our reincarnation was one of those things that gave us that child-like wonder back that Earth had taken from us as we grew older.

Equestria was our home now and I wouldn’t ever want to leave this magical place behind me. I wanted to see it grow into a beautiful nation that was the envy of every other race on this planet, see it prosper into a land that was almost utopia-like from an outsider's perspective. That would be something, wouldn’t it?

Something told me that making such a goal become a reality was going to be a grueling task for me and my sisters and that we would go through many hardships to reach it. We might not even see the hard-earned result of our efforts during our lifetime, my thoughts whispered treacherously to me as a little bit of self-doubt crept up within me.

After all, Kings and Queens on Earth were few and far between that could claim to have brought a golden age to their nation. Most of that was built on things I would never resort to. Blood, slavery, exploitation... those were common themes throughout the history of humanity, a history I’d rather want to distance myself from if I was honest with myself.

I don’t know... every time I thought back on the time before my reincarnation, hatred flared up within me like an ugly disease. The thought of me having shared a race with such despicable monsters that used any means imaginable to further their selfish goals left me with a queasy feeling.

I was glad that humanity had (mostly) learned from those times and tried to be better, but there always were those few black sheep that had me doubt my faith in humanity. The last Great War was perhaps the darkest time humanity had born witness to, erasing almost a third of the human population over something that was unbelievably petty.

Freedom to express yourself. The right to love. Creativity. All of that had almost been taken from humanity and I vowed to never let the same happen to the ponies of Equestria. The first World War had looked almost tame in comparison to the Great War (nothing about it was great, as the people fighting in it quickly found out). Not a single nation on Earth was exempt from the conflict and it showed in the final death toll. A conflict that would surely traumatize the ponies under our guidance if they were to ever learn of such horrors.

Heck, even war veterans from the first World War had been traumatized by the sheer cruelty of the Great War. I shudder to think what would have happened had humanity not stopped at the point they had. Humanity had come extremely close to the point of no return. Thankfully, that red line had never been crossed and humanity slowly recovered from the horrors of war.

I feared my parents would have been forced to fight for their rights if the war hadn’t ended at that point and it might have gone on long enough that I would have grown up in a time of war... if my parents survived long enough to get children, that is.

I might have never had children with my beloved if the Great War raged on for even longer. The Great War brought out the worst in humanity but also the best. Shining examples that, in the end, brought about an era of lasting peace. Shining examples that I wanted to emulate with my reign over Equestria together with Tia and Lulu.

Aside from Luna developing her own gift, Celestia started to have... weird dreams as we turned twenty-two. She constantly saw the Tree of Harmony in her dreams and both Luna and I started to think it was some kind of premonition. What it meant though, was anypony’s guess.

I, on the other hoof, could somehow turn my gaze into something that would get any creature to freeze up in fear. I don’t know why I got something that was normally so against my very nature while Tia’s ability expanded upon itself. It was quite useful to get Luna to do her work, though.

Starswirl told us to not worry about Celestia’s visions of the tree. The not-so-old-anymore archmage with the short beard was using his time travel spell again (he had apparently managed to ‘perfect’ it now) and whenever he returned, he had this weird knowing look in his eyes when we asked him about it.

We had little time to worry about what these visions meant afterward. While Starswirl was his usual cryptic self annoying us to the high heavens, we received a missive from a nation up north that had settled in the frozen wastes for whatever reason.

The message was a short one and merely stated that the Crystal Empire and their princess was in danger as something very important to them had been stolen. We had only seen Princess Amore briefly during our own coronation, so we were quite surprised that they were asking for our help in locating the Crystal Heart.

Without the Crystal Heart, their barrier against the cold would be gone and the city-state would slowly start to freeze over. The ponies living there had a clock on their lives now and we were all too happy to come to their aid. I remember Amore to be quite the nice pony, so I looked forward to properly meeting her.

“Sister, hurry up!” I said, bouncing up and down as I saw the gleaming tower of the centerpiece within the Crystal Empire in the distance. We were traveling with a detail of some of our best guards and I was already giddy to get over there and meet Princess Amore, the unicorn that was said to be able to power the Crystal Heart with her love all on her own.

“Summer, we’re almost there, get a grip on yourself,” Celestia retorted with a roll of her eyes. “You’re behaving like a little filly entering a candy store for the first time.”

“Can you fault me for that? I can’t wait to meet Amore!” I giggled, trotting happily in front of her. “She is the ideal example of what a princess should aspire to be! She rules with kindness, with compassion, and with generosity! She takes after my own heart, sister!”

“Oh, what a joy... Another bleeding heart,” Luna muttered. “Are you sure Summer isn’t Amore’s twin, Tia?”

“I don’t know... are you, Summer?” Tia asked me, a jealous tone in her voice. I stopped bouncing up and down so much with my ears splayed back, ashamed of how I have made my wife feel.

“I’m sorry, I just...” I mumbled apologetically. “She is like the perfect role model, you know?”

“It’s fine,” Celestia said looking down and away from me. “Just... don’t go all googly-eyed on her, weirding her out with your fangasm, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll try to keep myself from... weirding her out, sister,” I said with a nod, rubbing my neck awkwardly with a hoof as she still avoided eye-contact with me. It was... sort of sweet that she was envious of a mare we hadn’t actually met with, yet.

As we entered the city, we saw all manners of buildings made from crystals and the ponies themselves shimmered like diamonds. Their fur had this otherworldly beauty to it that I had never seen before, I was quite jealous of it. It looked so elegant and beautiful!

Princess Amore truly had a great Empire here, I was glad she had asked us for help instead of somepony else. The adorable sparkling ponies bowed to us as we passed them by with our guards on our way to the castle and I couldn’t help myself from happily giggling at their cuteness, I just wanted to hug them all day!

And rip the head off of the thief that dared threaten these cute and adorable and pretty ponies... Maybe burn their brain out with magefire? I... I might be getting a bit too overprotective of my ponies (even if they are technically not mine).

Princess Amore was waiting for us by the large plaza under the palace that eerily reminded me of the Eiffel Tower. I shook the snowflakes out of the white cloak I wore that had managed to stick to me without melting while walking through the light snowfall in the city. Normally the north was surrounded by a perpetual snowstorm, but Princess Amore’s unique magic was able to hold it at bay for now.

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Princesses of Equestria,” she greeted us and I happily gave the pink mare a big massive hug (despite her being larger than us by quite the margin), much to the chagrin of my sisters. Amore didn’t seem to care, though. She giggled at my enthusiasm, returning the hug gently. “My, how very affectionate you are!”

“Sorry!” I said in embarrassment, letting go of her. “I promised to not go all over the top to my sisters and here I am, doing exactly that... I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have to be,” she giggled and began to lead us into her castle. It was a very fancy place, even fancier than our own home. Once we were in her throne room, we saw her tiredly take a seat on her throne with a sigh. “Now, let me tell you the reason why I asked for your help... Without the Crystal Heart, I fear my little ponies will continue to fall into depression, a few already have. Their coat doesn’t shine healthily anymore and I fear for their wellbeing.

“Without the Crystal Heart magnifying my love magic, I’m hard-pressed at keeping my subjects safe from harm and my powers continue to dwindle with each day that the Crystal Heart is gone. Even worse, the one who stole the artifact is a dragon. It lives high up within a cave in the Crystalline Mountains that used to be a place where my ponies mined for crystals.

“It is from there that the Crystal Heart originates and we desperately need it back. I am loath to say that I can’t give you more information on this, as we ourselves have little information on the Crystal Heart. We found it in the mountains and it allowed me to create a barrier that kept the weather in a constant spring-like environment.

“I wouldn’t ask this of you if it weren’t for my weakened state, but we need your help. Could you return the Crystal Heart to us and save this Empire? I would be forever in your debt.”

My sisters and I looked at each other for just a moment and came to an instant understanding between us. Together, we gave Princess Amore a determined nod.

Princess Amore let out a relieved sigh at our answer and we saw her let down her strong princess façade, seeing just how exhausted she was for the first time. It seemed like she could barely keep herself awake. She almost looked like she would fall into slumber at any point now as she leaned tiredly against the back of her throne and it made my heart quiver anxiously for a moment. Just how much of herself had she already sacrificed to keep the weather at bay so that her subjects were safe? How... how much longer could she keep this up if we failed to retrieve the Crystal Heart?

“I thank you from the deepest parts of my heart,” she told us with a shaky smile. “I’m glad that you came to our side so fast. Please, feel free to stay for as long as you need to. I’m sure you will need to rest from your journey here, I wouldn’t want you to be at anything less than your best when you confront that dragon.”

“We thank you for your hospitality, we won’t let you down,” Celestia said in return. “I’m sure if we explain the situation to the dragon that he will see reason, but just in case he does become hostile, we will take a platoon of our guards with us.”

“And if it comes down to a fight, Starswirl taught us many spells to subdue a creature of that size!” Luna nodded, stomping her hoof down in determination. “He won’t stand a chance.”

“Yes, and if all else fails, I think I can... convince him with my stare,” I said, rubbing my hoof against the back of my neck. “I’d prefer a more peaceful solution, though.”

“I’m glad that you have put so much thought into this already, may you return victorious,” Amore said. We gave her a nod and some of her guards came over to lead us towards our chambers that we would be staying in.

The rooms were as luxurious as the rest of the Empire appeared to be and I had to say that the soaps within the bath chambers were absolutely divine. I enjoyed a nice long soak during the evening and my sisters joined me in relaxing before the big day.

Sleep came easily to us thanks to Luna, but that didn’t stop us from feeling nervous. I woke up multiple times during the night as my anxiety kept me from a full night’s rest. So I sneaked my way into my twin’s bed and after I snuggled myself into her embrace, I was finally able to succumb to a peaceful slumber.

Celestia roused me from my sleep the next morning with a pleasant wake-up call by nibbling on my ears. I giggled into her chest as she mumbled out her good morning to me.

“Morning, Tia,” I replied with warmth in my tone. “I couldn’t sleep, so I invited myself in. I’ve missed sleeping with you in the same bed.”

“Maybe we should combine our rooms back in the castle...” she whispered over to me, placing a tender kiss on the tip of my muzzle. “I don’t care what Luna would think of that, we’re allowed to share our rooms if we want to.”

“I think that wouldn’t be a good idea, though,” I told her, a bit downtrodden. “She would get the wrong idea, I’m sure.”

“It’s not like we haven’t shared a bed when we were fillies,” Celestia rolled her eyes. “Why would she get the wrong idea?”

“If you’re sure...” I said. She was kinda right, after all. Until just before we became princesses we had to share our bedroom because we could only take one bed with us to the little shack we had built in the forest, so maybe Luna would just roll her eyes at me and think I was unable to sleep away from my twin.

“Now, let’s go and get breakfast,” Tia said and my tummy made an agreeing noise to her proposition. “You need to eat your veggies and become big and strong like your sister, after all.”

“Haha, very funny,” I retorted unamused. “I thought you liked me with a slim figure?”

“Learn to take a joke, sister,” she shot back. “And I do, but a little padding would also look cute on you.”

“Learn to be funny, sister,” I taunted, blowing a raspberry at her.

“I am...” she pouted. “Nopony appreciates good humor anymore, I swear.”

“Your sense of humor wouldn’t even get the crickets to chirp.”

Celestia grumbled at me, saying that I was being mean to her again. I found it adorable and judging by the small giggles from Princess Amore as we entered the dining hall, so did she.

“You know... normally I don’t condone relationships like yours, but you do make for a cute couple,” Amore whispered over to me as I sat myself down beside her. Luna was across the table from us, snoring into her pancake while she also nibbled on it in her sleep. Once more I cursed myself for not having a camera, we really needed some of our ponies to invent them just for moments like these.

“How... how did you know?” I asked, my heart beating fearfully in my chest.

“Dear, I rule the Empire that runs on love magic, what did you expect?” Amore giggled. “I can see your love for your twin from a mile away.”

“Please, don’t tell anypony,” I begged her quietly, shifting uncomfortably in my seat as a server came with our own breakfast. Celestia was oblivious to our conversation, trying to get Luna into a properly awake state. I couldn’t help but snort as she propped Lulu up only for her to fall back on her pancake, continuing to nibble on it in her sleep. “Nopony would understand...”

“My lips are sealed, fret not,” Amore reassured me, giggling as Tia grumbled while she shook Luna until she finally managed to startle our little sister awake, the pancake hanging out of her mouth in a very cute manner as Lulu blinked wearily at what was going on around her. “Although, I’m curious how it came to be?”

“It’s a long story...” I answered, cutting my pancake into small bite-sized chunks. I was so happy that ponies had these fluffy delights despite being practically in the middle ages. I had no idea when humans had invented them, so I was glad that ponies had done so.

“I see,” she said, nodding understandingly. “If you don’t want to tell me, then that’s okay.”

“No, I guess I could, just... not now?” I told her before popping another piece of sweet goodness into my mouth. “Certainly not with Lulu present where she could overhear. She is really bad at keeping secrets.”

“You have not told her?” Amore inquired and I shook my head. “Keeping such things away from her will only lead to resentment.”

“I know, but telling her would also do that,” I said, my ears splaying back on my head. “I don’t think she would understand.”

“Sometimes family manages to surprise one,” Amore sagely said. “But it is your decision. You’re welcome to come visit any time and talk with me about this if you want.”

“Thank you,” I said with a smile. “I never thought I would meet somepony as understanding as you.”

“I try my best,” she smiled back, her tone jubilant. “Would one of you have been a stallion, though, I would have given you a few choice words.”

“I, uh,” I laughed awkwardly. “I don’t think we would have risked that, either. I mean, I have a spell, well... for that, but it’s completely safe.”

“Oh? I have not heard of such a transformation spell.”

“It’s of my own making,” I told her with a red face. I noticed Celestia and Luna give us a confused stare, although Tia looked a bit too suspicious of us. I mouthed a ‘later’ towards her, promising to explain what we were talking about before I returned my attention to Princess Amore. “It works somewhat like this, I’m not sure you will get my meaning here, but bear with me. I usually rely more on my instincts and emotions for spells, so I use desire for the outcome, lust for the act, love for the sensation, and determination for functionality purposes. It doesn’t work on the caster, sadly.”

“My, very interesting, indeed. And you came up with this on your own?” she asked me intrigued. I gave her a nod, explaining my trial and error approach on a brave mouse. “That I have never thought of this myself, it boggles the mind.”

“It took me quite some time to figure out,” I told her. “It’s nothing special...”

“Oh, on the contrary!” she said, perhaps a bit too loud as my sisters looked over to us again. “I myself use emotions for spells and that particular mix is quite similar to each other that it would be easy to tangle the spell up.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I laughed, feeling a bit embarrassed at her praising me. “My sister is still trying to figure out how to use her emotions for spells like that, she is more of the methodical caster.”

“So similar, yet so different. You are very interesting twins, my dear. Your parents must have been very proud of you,” Amore told me with a small smile. “I’m sure that they still are, in whatever afterlife they have found themselves in.”

“Perhaps...” I said, unsure. “Or they are rolling in their graves seeing what I do with my twin.”

“I’m sure they would still love you despite that,” Amore said gently. “Parents are a lot more understanding than one might think.”

“If you say so...”

Our conversation petered out after that and we got ourselves ready to make the journey towards the Crystalline Mountain. The guards wanted to go in first, make sure that the dragon wasn’t there to ambush us, but I told them that we could handle ourselves if that were to happen. They were merely there for back-up should we fail.

As we flew up towards where we saw the opening in the rocky terrain, we could already see a few hooves in. No sign of a dragon, thankfully. I don’t think I really wanted to be here, but my duty demanded of me to stay strong for my sisters.

I needed a confidence boost if this was already wreaking havoc on my nerves. I don’t think I have ever been so antsy while I lived as Rudolph on Earth, so what has changed? Wasn’t I a grown-up mare already? It certainly didn’t feel like I behaved like that at times.

Then again, I had a different body compared to the one I had as a human. Celestia certainly was just as confident as she was on Earth, so there must be a notable distinction between my old body and my new one. Most likely the difference in hormones has caused me to behave a lot more cautious? Reserved? It was hard to tell.

Now that I think about it, I don’t think it was confidence that I lacked, but more of my true self shining through. It just wasn’t in my nature to be as brave as my wife or little sister. Although I could and would still stand by their side, I wasn’t a complete coward. I mean, I am still as protective as ever (way more than what I have been like as a human), so I think it is okay to not be as assertive most of the time. If I screwed up enough confidence when it was really needed, everything would be just fine, right?

Luna pointed out that the Crystal Heart was just conveniently discarded on the ground right there within the entrance to the cave as we came in for a landing. Either this was an elaborate trap set out for anypony foolish enough to try and steal from the dragon’s hoard, or the dragon just... dumped it like a useless trinket.

Both of these options were bothering me a great deal. If the dragon wanted to spring a trap on us, then we would show him why that wasn’t a good idea. And on the other hoof, if the dragon treated the Crystal Heart as a mere toy, I would give him a few choice words about endangering the lives of my cute crystal pony friends.

“Let me do the talking,” Celestia said, her voice offering no room for argument, and without even giving us time to respond, she went up to the entrance, calling for an audience with the dragon. I wanted to tell her to shut the hell up before she actually managed to rouse the dragon, as did Luna because the Crystal Heart was right there, but Tia was of the opinion that asking first was the polite thing to do (and also make sure there would be no repeat performance by the dragon).

I wanted to groan at her reasoning. Now of all times did she want to be the polite one? Normally it was I that had to convince them of that, and I definitively didn’t want to actually have a talk with a massive, fire-breathing, big ass DRAGON. One that has incredibly sharp teeth and a maw big enough that could swallow us whole.

Now that I think about it, maybe it was this world that was making me this anxious? I mean, with monsters like dragons and star beasts, who wouldn’t be afraid to be here?

“Who dares enter my lair?” a deep voice boomed and had I blinked, I would have missed the surprisingly swift entrance of the massive beast with sky blue scales. His eyes glared balefully down at my twin as she stood calmly before him. I’m surprised neither of us had fainted from his appearance, his teeth looked extraordinarily ferocious, or that Tia was putting on such a serene façade.

“We have come here to talk about an artifact that you have taken from the city in the distance. My name is Celestia Sol and these are my sisters, Summer Sol and Luna Nocturnis,” she said, pointing us out to him. “We are the Princesses of Equestria and are here on behalf of the Crystal Empire, from which you have stolen the only defense it has, the Crystal Heart.”

The massive being before us turned to look at the discarded crystal in the shape of a heart, picking it up between his claws. “This thing here?”

“Yes,” Tia nodded. “If you could return it to us, we would be on our way and you can have your peace back.”

“Hmm...” the dragon rumbled. “I have to give it to you namby-pamby princesses, you have a lot of nerve demanding something from a dragon. Something that was originally stolen from me by these crystal ponies.”

I felt a bit awkward about that, technically he was telling the truth. I wouldn’t call it stealing, though. As far as I was aware, the crystal ponies had found the heart while mining in the mountains and judging by how this dragon took care of his hoard? I wasn’t sure if the Crystal Heart had been in his possession in the first place and he just claimed it because it came from his so-called ‘territory’. Then again, what need did he have for it, anyway? He could be so kind as to give it to us if it meant lives would be saved by it.

“Are these ponies behind you here to battle me if I say no?” the dragon chuckled, a menacing grin spreading on his face as he started to toss the Crystal Heart tauntingly up with his claws. I cringed as he almost let it fall to the ground and make it shatter in the process, giving us a mockingly apologetic gaze, not at all sorry for it. “It’s pathetic, really. Come back with more if you are serious about this, pony.”

My eye twitched a bit at the way he pronounced the word pony as if we were lesser creatures. Lulu looked like she was ready to draw her sword and I had to admit that I was tempted to do so, too.

“But I guess I could give it to you... it looks tacky, anyway. And I suppose I have enough treasures, already,” he said. Then he grinned cruelly again. “That is if I wanted to, pony. I don’t care what happens to those crystal ponies of yours, they are of no concern to me.”

“So, I guess asking politely won’t be enough?” I spoke up, glaring up at him for his inconsiderate comment.

“Pfft,” he laughed, wiping a tear away from his eye. “Dragons don’t share, pony. And certainly not to some little bitch of a princess thinking they can get whatever they want.”

“How dare thou!” Celestia shouted angrily, resorting to what we had dubbed the Royal Canterlot Voice. It was Luna’s idea, she had been practicing with it a lot lately in the valley on Mount Canterhorn, much to the chagrin of the ponies living in Canterlot. I felt my nethers heat up slightly as she used the archaic tongue.

That was a lesson that I hadn’t ever seen a particular need for, but Starswirl insisted that we should learn how to properly address the nobles and peasants and King Bullion agreed with him on that. That didn’t mean that I used it all that much, though. Perhaps if some of the ponies got a bit too rowdy while in court, but that was all.

Celestia mainly used it in her court because she found it sexy and I had to agree with her on that. It truly was breathtaking watching her lay into the dragon with the deafening voice, a furious scowl on her face.

“Thou art a blight upon this land, endangering innocent lives for thy mere amusement! We shall not stand for thine asinine behavior like this, we demand for thee to return to us what is not thine to hold onto! The ponies of this land are under our protection and we will see them safe! It matters not that the Crystal Heart had once been in thy ‘possession’, thou dost not need it!”

The dragon didn’t seem all that impressed. Surprised, sure. Impressed? Not so much. As Tia finished her speech, I saw the dragon take in a massive breath. And then, my ears felt like they would never stop ringing from the roar that he let out directly in her face, the force knocking her off her hooves.

After he did that, I saw red. He did not just do that. Not while I was here and not to my wife. The blue flames of my magefire turned into a yellowish red as they raged around me, charring the ground I walked on as my temper flared completely out of control and the only thing on my mind was retribution. The dirty, despicable thing calling itself a dragon was but a lowly iguana with no sense of respect and compassion. He would pay for hurting my wife...

Nothing hurts my wife. Nothing.

In the moment following that, I was in his face, my active stare paralyzing him in fear. I snorted out a puff of flames as I stalked closer to him as he took a step back with each I made forward.

“Apologize,” I growled out with the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Right. This. Instant.”

“I’m sorry! Take it! Just leave me alone!” he cried out, tears streaming down his face. “I promise I won’t steal it again, you can have it!”

“Good,” I snarled. “If I hear from you again, I won’t be so kind. Do you understand me?”

“Yes!” he whimpered, scampering back into his cave with his tail tucked in between his legs. Celestia came up beside me, putting a calming hoof on my side. I let the flames disappear with a shudder, shaking like a leaf from having been so mean that I managed to scare myself with it.

“Let’s go back to Amore,” Celestia said, nuzzling my cheek. I gave her a nod and levitated the Crystal Heart into her saddlebags and I just wanted to forget this day ever happened. Luna looked at me in concern, so I gave her a small shaky smile with a shake of my head.

Fuck... I was this close to ripping his throat out and I felt scared that I thought he deserved it... What’s wrong with me? This... this can’t possibly be just simple overprotectiveness, right? These dark thoughts weren’t like me... they weren’t what I strived to be...

The flight back was a fast one, mainly because we could just glide on the winds and they took us where we wanted to go. Princess Amore was relieved to see us return, all of us alive and (relatively) well. She could tell that we had gone through an emotional ordeal, though.

As we gave her the Crystal Heart, her magic seemed to be rejuvenated by its mere presence. She focused all her positive emotions into the spell to cast the weather barrier and as if a miracle just happened, the whole city lit up with a mystic light. The light traveled back up into the Crystal Heart and then it shot out through the spire in a beautiful display of an aurora borealis.

Like a switch being turned, the snow around the city disappeared and a warm breeze caressed my muzzle as the temperature returned to a spring-like state. The power from the artifact floating serenely under the castle turned the fur and mane of me and my sisters into a sparkling resemblance to the naturally born crystal ponies.

That managed to cheer my mood up like nothing else could while I giddily skipped around, trying to look at every part of my body in this facsimile of the native ponies. Amore giggled at my childish behavior as Tia and Lulu rolled their eyes with playful smiles on their muzzles.

“Hmm?” Princess Amore let out a hum as one of her guards whispered something to her. She raised a brow intrigued and then turned back towards us. “How would you like to be the guests of honor at a faire here in the Empire?”

“A faire?” Luna asked, a large smile spreading on her face.

“Yes, I guess we could even make it a yearly event. A Crystal Faire, if you will,” Amore told her. “My ponies would very much like to invite you to celebrate with us, you have just returned the Crystal Heart, after all.”

“We would be delighted to attend,” Celestia said. Luna and I were giddily skipping ahead as we saw ponies set up all manners of attractions.

Celestia and I tried out some of the interesting crystal food items they had to offer, they had a distinctly cool and fresh flavor to them. Especially the berries, they just seemed to melt on the tongue with an incredibly fruity taste.

My twin and I watched our baby sister win the main prize in the ring toss game within the first try, not even using her magic to cheat her way through the game. I shook my head as she gave me the life-sized plushie of Princess Amore she won and giggled as my wife gave it a baleful stare in jealousy as Luna smiled happily as I hugged her in appreciation for the plushie.

Princess Amore looked on in amusement as I levitated it after me everywhere we went to, Luna and I tried to beat each other in every game that the crystal ponies offered us to play and Celestia continued to grumble about us ‘wasting’ our time with our little competition. I think my wife was just pouty because she wasn’t that good with most of them.

And she was grumpy because of the plushie, but I didn’t care~. I was just too happy to indulge in my obsession with games, even if they weren’t of the virtual kind.

But there was also something that was right up the alley of my wife. Celestia and Luna had a great time facing off at the jousting tournament the crystal ponies set up in a large arena with a ton of spectating ponies cheering for both of them.

Luna was a bit sour as Tia beat her in the final round, which wasn’t really all that much surprising to me. It was a great duel, though. Celestia just had the superior strength over her, so I told her not to feel bad about it. I would have lost, too, if I ever made it to the final rounds, that is. And if I had competed, I suppose.

Around the evening we participated in the largest feast I had ever seen and some of the ponies in the crowd even decided to have a little singing contest. Ponies, in general, seemed to be very good with their singing voices, so it was a nice experience to round out the day. Amore was kind enough to let us stay for another night at her castle before we would depart back to Equestria.

This time it was Tia that snuck her way into my room during the night and I was very happy to cuddle with her. She was extra cuddly with me even, most likely because of the massive plushie sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. It was adorable how jealous she could get over me.

The cuddles were nice and all, but I enjoyed the small nibbling on my ear even more. It managed to relax me into a nice deep slumber that Celestia felt I shouldn’t be roused from. So, she brought me breakfast in bed the next morning much to my surprise.

Normally she didn’t do this that often. Usually, it was me that brought her a tray of food to our bed while we were on Earth. It was quite nice being on the receiving end of such a thoughtful gesture, every once in a while.

I enjoyed the variety of food items that we had gotten to sample yesterday at the faire and I definitely wanted to set up a trade deal with Amore for more of the crystal berries. I couldn’t live without them anymore, they were just so... yummy. The berries weren’t the only thing that was yummy, though~... Celestia was really adorable feeding them to me with her levitation as we shared a few kisses here and there. Small ones, but ones filled with love. Sometimes those were the best ones, I thought while happily humming.

I also told Tia about the things Amore and I had been talking about the day before. She was relieved to hear that she wouldn’t go around spreading our secret, even surprised when she heard me retell what Amore had to say about the spell I had invented.

Once we were finished with our breakfast, we met Luna and our guards in the throne room of the palace. Amore was giving out her thanks to us again, and I saw Luna blush as she gifted each one of us a crystal in the form of a delicate flower. They had a small glow coming from within their blossom and smelled like a rose would have. It reminded me of my (old) mother and my daughter and I would forever treasure this gift with all the reverence it deserved.

Before we were about to leave, I asked Princess Amore about the trade deal and she assured me with a smile that she would have a draft ready for my next visit. She saw us off as we began the journey back home with a wave, one we returned until we were out of sight from her.

The trip back was just as uneventful as the one to the Empire. We didn’t stop for much besides some small rests every few hours to relax our wings. The guards took the pace stoically, I had never seen them make a different expression, anyway. At least not while they were on duty. I think.

They might have snickered during one or two pranks from Luna, now that I thought about it. All of them looked the same under the enchanted armor, though. So there was no way to tell if there were some of the ones here with us that didn’t have sticks shoved up their butts.

Anyway, I was glad to finally be back in my bed on the evening of the day we arrived home. Celestia followed true on her promise to keep sharing a bed with me again, even if Luna might find out we were doing so. It was nice having my twin be with me during the nights, gently nibbling on my ears and giving them loving licks. It considerably improved my mood over the following days.

Starswirl was gone a lot over those few days. Tia and I had a few talks here and there with him while he practiced his time travel spell. We secretly planted the idea of other worlds into his mind as a ploy for him to help us out with one thing in particular.

We wanted to see how our daughters were doing on Earth. Starswirl, while we never directly mentioned other worlds to him, was intrigued with exploring the possibilities of creating a device that would allow us to do just that. Travel to other realities. He already had a few ideas on how he could create an anchor to find his way back to our Equestria. I was relieved he was thinking about things even Tia and I had (admittedly) overseen.

The multiverse was a vast place and it wouldn’t do to get lost in it, after all.

When we weren’t bugging Starswirl with complex magical theories about moving through the Void in Between, we were busy dealing with a few ponies that thought the idea of trying to tame one of the magical animals within the Everfree as their pet was somehow a good idea. That animal? It was a cragadile, a type of crocodile that had rocks as part of its thick hide, which is also an extremely territorial and hostile creature at the best of times. I told them quite thoroughly that I wouldn’t be using my gift to help them with their absurd goal and that they were forbidden from even trying. Cragadiles were extremely temperamental and even I had trouble communicating with them.

They didn’t even tell us why they wanted to do that in the first place. I could make a fairly accurate guess, though, and it made me very wary of their little group. Cragadiles were magical creatures, partially animal and partially elemental. There were a few rituals that I knew of that used reagents from such beings and I wasn’t inclined to let them hurt an innocent animal just so they could get more easily at those.

Amore and I at least had a nice chat over tea a few days after I was finished dealing with those idiots. Besides complaining about how stupid some of our ponies could get, I told her a heavily censored version about the dream I had of ‘Celestia’ and my subsequent confused feelings for my sister. She listened patiently as I recounted the forbidden love story between me and my twin, not judging me for anything that I told her.

I didn’t tell her anything about Earth obviously, as that would have just made her even more confused. Instead, I told her what had happened after I teleported out on my twin as I went into the middle of the forest. She was a very understanding pony as I told her what I had to struggle with as I came to grips with my feelings for Celestia.

Then again, she raised her eyebrow at how Tia just seemingly accepted my feelings for her because I left the part about her being my reincarnated wife out of the story. Either way, I told her how my twin made me feel safe in her embrace and the thing about her playing constantly with my ears. She giggled at that part, finding it quite cute that Tia had done this since I can remember (at least, in this world).

We also got the trade treaty done while we were at it. But there was one other thing that she wanted me to look into. Her guards had found an abandoned young colt of about twelve or thirteen years of age out in the cold and brought him back into the Empire. He was currently in the orphanage as nopony knew who his parents were and she asked me for my aid in finding little Sombra’s parents, just in case they were from Equestria.

I was feeling bad for the poor colt, so I readily agreed to do what I could once I returned back to continue my duties in Equestria. Sadly, besides his general description, there were no unique details that could be put on a flyer aside from that he wasn’t the normally brightly colored variant of ponies that I was used to. While it wasn’t unheard of, it was quite odd to have a grey coat of fur.

Back home, things were as smooth as ever. Luna tried to get out of her duties a few more times to instead do whatever else she wanted to do, but that was easily dealt with.

I bribed her with cookies, I had gotten quite good at making them. Nowhere near the level that Mom’s cookies had been, but mine were still extremely delicious. It helped that my human mother, too, had been a big enthusiast of all things cookies, so I already had a base upon which I could start working on in my quest to perfect them. One day they will be the most perfect... nay, the most divine cookies to have ever been baked!

Celestia was more into the cakes the staff made, though. I swear, she will get fat if she continues to eat them so much. I wasn’t entirely free of being guilty of stuffing my face with sweets, though. I just loved the chocolate covered crystal berries our kitchen staff whipped up. I really couldn’t get enough of those, to be honest.

And just as we thought the world was finally peaceful enough after settling into a routine, the universe decided to stick us the middle finger. Or a middle primary feather? I wasn’t entirely sure if that could be done in the way I envisioned, although our wings were quite flexible. It gave me cramps trying to figure out how to do that, so I just stopped trying. It wasn’t that important, anyway. And quite unbecoming of a princess...

So, as the world threw us our next curve-ball, we were wondering what the ever flying penguin happened to the day cycle as the moon was still hanging up above in an inky black vastness of empty space.

Clover came to us in a panicked frenzy just as we were about to go out to investigate what must have happened to Starswirl and his merry band of unicorns.

“Starswirl collapsed after he tried to complete the ritual on his own,” Clover told us as we galloped after him. “The unicorns trying to help us had just run out of magic before they could finish helping Starswirl, so he decided to take matters into his own hooves.”

“Why would he do that?! Aren’t there any unicorns available to help out?” Celestia asked incredulously. “Couldn’t he have reached out to us? I mean he had been teaching us the spell, for pony’s sake!”

“I can’t tell you what he was thinking,” Clover answered. We just left the forest behind us and hopefully, the rest of the way wouldn’t take us that long, either. “He had been a bit more scatterbrained than usual as of late.”

“We might have had something to do with that,” I grimaced, thinking back on giving him the idea of a portal to other dimensions. “Does he still have his magic?”

“I’m not sure, his beard turned entirely white again and it is back to its original length,” Clover said. Celestia took the stallion in her magic as we took to the skies to speed things up a bit. Time was of the essence, so Clover had to suck up his fear of heights as we thundered through the sky. “Even then, I fear he won’t be of any use for the ritual for the foreseeable future. He didn’t look that good as I left to come get you.”

“Perfect,” Celestia groused. “Why does he have to be like you, Summer? You and your bleeding hearts... Doing stupid things is a specialty of both of you...”

I didn’t bother to argue against that with her, seeing that she was somewhat right with that statement. I did do some... questionable things every now and then to help a poor animal out. Besides, she most likely didn’t mean it in a degrading way, our emotions were kinda running wild right now.

As we arrived in the city of Canterlot, I had to wince at what I saw. The state the city was in... wasn’t entirely reassuring. Ponies were panicking left and right. Tia grimaced as we saw one stallion run headfirst into a building in their panicked state and my sympathy went out to him, but we couldn’t stop right now to help him because there was something much more important that we had to take care of. The longer this continued on, the worse it would get.

“Let’s just get to Starswirl and see what he thinks we should do,” I told my wife, blasting the doors open to the building we were headed for. It was the one we had been first brought into before we were princesses. Can’t believe so much time has already passed between then and now.

“This way,” Clover said, thundering through the hallways and up the stairs. Back up in the chamber where we had first witnessed the ritual, we saw a severely weakened Starswirl on the ground. While he still looked as youngish as when he first cast his time travel spell, his beard had indeed been turned white again.

“You stupid old geezer, what have you done to yourself?!” Celestia mumbled angrily as he tried to wave her away from worrying over him so much. It was nice to see her be so concerned for the old coot, considering how suspicious she had been of him at first.

“There were no unicorns available, somepony had to do it,” he coughed and I saw that his hoof came back slightly red. Oh, this wasn’t good at all...

“We were available, you idiot...” Luna said, looking sadly at him. “Why not come to us?”

“You’re more important where you are, but you’re welcome to try raising and lowering the moon and the suns,” he told us. “I have taught you as much as I could, I’m sure you can do what I have failed to do...”

“How can you be so sure about that, huh?” Luna shot back. “What if the same happens to us? What then?”

“Spoilers...” Starswirl said and let out a small chuckle like he just made the best joke in the entirety of history. That made him cough violently again, though.

“Just rest for now and take it easy, Starswirl. We will try, okay?” I said to him, stopping him from getting up on his hooves like the stubborn stallion that he was. “Just... don’t be disappointed in us if we fail, too...”

“My dear Princess, I won’t ever be disappointed with you and your sisters,” he said, stopping his attempt to get back on his hooves at my insistence. “Remember what I taught you and everything will be just fine.”

“If you say so...” I said unsurely. “This isn’t something you have seen on your visits to the future, is it?”

“No,” he chuckled. “This, what is happening right now, isn’t something I have seen before, Your Highness.”

“What is it that you aren't telling us?” Luna narrowed her eyes on him.

“Ah... yes, that...” he said, smiling mischievously. Although before he could say anything further on the matter, he was already fast asleep. For a moment I considered waking him up to find out what he was about to say but decided ultimately against it. He needed his rest and I’m sure the healers will see to it that he recovers from his foolish attempt to do this on his own. Hopefully.

“Let’s do this and hope this doesn’t fry our magic,” Celestia said, looking sadly at the sleeping stallion. Her eyes hardened into determination afterward, ready to fulfill the task Starswirl passed onto us. “Ready?”

“As we'll ever be, I guess,” Luna answered and I nodded in confirmation.

Celestia counted down from three, and together, our horns lit up with massive amounts of magic. It was even more magic that was coursing through me now than the time I had the mana surge as a little foal. As I called out to the core of my magic, I felt the spark within me heat up into a roaring inferno. It surged through me for a moment and then... everything was seemingly gone from my sight.

At first, I thought I finally managed to use so much magic that I burned my very existence out of reality, but that was thankfully not the case. I felt strange, though. My mana had suddenly flared much stronger than I had ever felt it before and this time it didn’t feel like my blood vessels had been turned into magma.

It did feel warm, but more in the sense of a comforting warmth. Almost like it was meant to be used like that. Like a comforting blanket, even. And, as my sight came back to me, I stared at what was in front of me with awe.

Instead of the chamber my sisters and I had been in not a second ago, there was now a path of twinkling lights. All around me I could see little bubbles floating around with images and scenes playing out within them as if they had been taken straight out of my mind. Each time I tried to reach out with a hoof in order to touch them, they began to float out of reach and away from the path I stood on.

Confused, I walked slowly along the small lights, not actually seeing or feeling a physical floor beneath my hooves. My mind tried to come up with theories about what this place could be that I had suddenly found myself in, but I came up blank. This was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The Tree of Harmony didn’t even compare to the beauty of this place and that was something I had thought to be impossible, honestly.

Starswirl never mentioned a place like this before and I doubted he actually knew anything about it.

A bubble with a scene from Earth floated past me, the last memory I could remember happening on my old planet. But this time, there was something different about it. Right in front of my past self was a floating ball of light, not unlike the ones I was now treading carefully upon.

“I don’t remember this...” I said with a baffled tone of voice. I’m pretty sure I would remember being killed by a friggin’ light of all things. One couldn’t possibly oversee such an obvious thing, floating directly in front of yourself. Either I was majorly blind to not notice such a thing or something fishy was going on.

“That’s because you had no connection to magic at the time,” a voice answered. Startled, I turned my head around to look at myself. Well, more like a past version of myself, as my male human form stood just a wings length away from me.

He looked exactly like I remember... well, myself to have looked. The cleanly shaven face showing just the slightest bit of irritation from the crappy razor I never bothered to replace, the black pants that showed the tiniest hint of wear and tear, the nerdy T-Shirt with a picture of Pac-Man chasing Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde on it, and the necklace around his neck with the depiction of a rosebud hanging off of it. His grey eyes stared into my pale magenta orbs with disinterest, slightly unnerving me by how... dead they looked.

“Who are you?” I asked warily. “Where are we?”

“In the Hallway of Memories within the Domain of Harmony itself, the Realm of Ascension,” he told me and as I looked up at him, I noticed that his eyes had the faintest hint of a glow to them. “I am one of the keepers of this realm. I am Magic.”

“That’s not pretentious at all...” I mumbled and Magic-Rudolph let out a disinterested hum. “So, why am I here?”

“I brought you and your sisters here from Earth because you are needed,” he explained in a matter-of-fact tone and expected me to understand his vague declaration as if it was obvious. I had a feeling that this ‘Magic-Guy’ had next to no actual social interaction for quite some time now.

“For what?” I asked. “And what do you mean, sisters? Is Tia somewhere around here in this place? Wait, wait, wait... hold on a moment! What do you mean from Earth?! Are you telling me Luna is also from Earth?”

“She is,” he said with a nod. “One Rebecca Raven, if I’m not mistaken.”

“So she is the sister of my wife!” I muttered, stomping my hoof down on nothingness. “I was right about my gut feeling.”

“As you often are,” he answered with a slight shrug. “Both you and your twin are notorious for knowing these things, it seems.”

“Where are they?” I asked worriedly. “Are they okay?”

“Yes, but they are in a different hallway right now,” Magic-Rudolph stated. “I can be here and at their sides at the same time. Magic is everywhere in this place, so I see everything here.”

“So you’re basically like a god?”

“No.”

“What are you then?” I asked, confused.

“As I said, Magic,” he simply said, his expression never changing from a bored one. He began walking down the path without waiting for me and I decided to follow him, not having anything better to do than trying to figure out what the flying pancake was going on.

Was I dead, again? I didn’t feel like I was dead, so this must either be a really weird dream or I actually did manage to somehow find a way to get into this weird Harmony Realm thingy. Might as well just go along with it for now.

The pictures around us seemed endless and I even saw memories I had thought to have forgotten. Like my first time as a baby, or that time I broke a bone from trying to climb a tree to save a little kitten while I was barely old enough to take care of myself for the first time without needing supervision (not like that backfired, I suppose).

Another bubble showed me the first time I met my wife and her sister, trying to get them to talk with me while Catherine was extremely skittish around me, holding onto the little form of Rebecca in her arms. One could hardly believe they were sisters at all, seeing that they looked so different from each other.

It always was strange to me, their stark contrast to each other. Cath had a slight tan that never seemed to disappear even in winter while Becky was almost pale to the degree that her skin appeared to be snow white. Even their hair colors differed so strongly, it was like night and day. Becky’s red eyes sought comfort in the deep blue ones of Catherine, shying away from mine whenever I had looked at her, trying to hide behind the thick black locks of hair of hers. Cath had been very protective of her sister and always kept herself between her sister and every other person that tried to get close to them.

It was a miracle I managed to get them to talk with me, eventually. Heck, I remember one green-haired girl Cath had hospitalized after she had bullied them for being orphans. No one had tried to talk with them in a friendly manner in our school besides me and I never gave up on trying to become their friend. After I managed to get them to open up to me, we became the best of friends, almost inseparable even. And from there, everything else was history.

I smiled as I saw the next memory, seeing Cath start to be the awesome girl I knew her to be while I tried to keep up with her on the bicycle. She always wanted to see me at my best, even at some of the things I was really bad at in comparison to her. I think she knew that I didn’t like most of the things she liked to do (sport is really not my thing...), but she was never offended by it. If anything, it made her like me even more, seeing me try to enjoy the things she did.

Of course, she always found a way to be a pervert about things even as a child. I am a hundred percent certain she groped me on purpose most of the time she helped me when I did something wrong or hurt myself after some of the more riskier things she managed to convince me into doing with her. Not that I minded it that much, having a hot girl touch me everywhere... It was awkward from time to time, though.

Especially now that I knew those few subtle feelings I had were hints of my gender dysphoria showing through that I never acknowledged. Some small part of me always seemed to know that I didn’t want Cath to be in love with me because I was male at the time. Now that I knew that I was meant to be female from the beginning, it felt like a massive relief that my love could be in love with my true self.

“The reason I brought you here is because this world needs someone to uphold order,” Magic spoke up after a few minutes of silence as we traveled along the pathway to who knows where. “Forces are starting to move that seek the destruction of this and I plugged you from your world for that purpose. You and your sisters were compatible.”

“Compatible? What does that even mean?”

“Compatible.”

“Fine, don’t tell me...” I grumbled annoyed. He returned his gaze forward as we strolled through this place. My muzzle turned a bright red as we passed the memory of my first estrus. “Where are we going?”

“To your Destiny.”

“Like... what? I don’t understand,” I said looking at him. He merely looked at me from the corner of his eyes, not elaborating. I was starting to get the feeling that I wouldn’t get any concrete answers about anything from him. Magic-Me was even more cryptic than Starswirl, a thing I thought previously to be not at all possible.

“Do not be afraid of what happens next. Or be afraid, I don’t really care,” he suddenly said and I turned to give him a questioning stare, but he was gone.

“Great...” I muttered, trying to look at where it was that he had led me to. Around me was what seemed to appear like a stream of golden light not unlike my own magic.

Slowly, I saw it begin to reach out a few tendrils towards me. I stepped back in surprise, trying to find a way out of here before it could do anything to me. Whatever this was and what this Magic entity said, I didn’t trust it.

As if reacting to my distress, the tendrils quickly struck out at me, ensnaring me within them and I let out a scream. They seemed to flow into me everywhere they touched me and my vision faded from the tendrils to... somewhere else.

In every direction that I looked at in this strange new place I found myself in, I could only see a desolate rock empty of all life. It looked... almost scorched? Burnt in some sort of way, but I couldn’t put my hoof on how something like that could have happened. Or what could burn an entire planet to such a degree (I’m pretty sure this was the planet and not the moon)...

And whatever this place was, it only invoked a feeling of horror and... desire? My feelings felt jumbled and murky, so I couldn’t tell for certain. It couldn’t be desire, it made no sense to me. Whyever would I feel the desire to live in a desolate wasteland of all places?

I only got a short glimpse of this... destroyed world before the scenery changed once more to an out of body view of the sun I was named after.

Feeling a bit calmer from its mere presence alone, I felt its desire to move around the orbit of our planet, weirdly enough. Not knowing what to do I sort of tried to reach out to it.

The feeling of warmth, not unlike the roaring fire I had felt as I had my magic flare and just moments before I ended up in this weird plane of existence, spread through me again and this time it felt like I didn’t want it to ever go away. It felt like a part of me that, if it were to be gone now, would make me incredibly sad. It was something that I couldn’t live without anymore.

This feeling... it was like a gentle caress of my mother to me, a feeling I wished wouldn’t ever leave me. It was like the sun before me was communicating with me in a way that I was comfortable with.

And it responded to what I tried to do as it slowly began to move. I felt an exorbitant amount of happiness and love emanating from the burning ball in front of me, so much of it even that I was suddenly overwhelmed by the foreign emotions. Concern flooded me afterward, then an apologetic feeling, and then peace. It was a jarring experience.

Not only was the sun a magical one, but it was also somewhat semi-aware as it seemed. Another feeling entered me, one of annoyance and then a series of other feelings I was too confused to interpret correctly.

I think it was mad at me for the thing I had just thought about, and if that’s the case, I’m sorry? It wasn’t meant in a degrading way if it is any consolation.

The sun responded with indifference.

Wow, talk about being petulant. I’m sorry, okay? I really didn’t mean it like that and if you want me to, I’ll call you a self-aware sun? A very intelligent one?

The sun sent me back feelings of happiness, so I felt glad that we were on the same page again.

After I finished setting it on its course, I found myself back in my own body. The transition from out-of-body to back in it was a little bit confusing, but I managed to not lose my bearings... entirely. I mean, my body felt slightly weird, so there was that...

A body that wasn’t entirely like I remembered it should have been like... There was something different about me now. Something that was... slightly ticklish, if anything.

“Sister, why is your hair floating?” the voice of my twin reached me and I turned my head to the side, seeing Celestia there, but she, too, looked different. “And why is it red?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” I answered back, staring at her multi-colored hair. “It’s light blue, green, pink, and a... deeper blue? Almost a blue-ish purple, I think.”

“It is?” Tia asked, turning her head to look at the part that was flowing back from her in an unseen wind. I looked at my own hair in the meantime, admiring the way it moved. “Have you had a... weird conversation with your past self claiming to be Magic itself?”

“Yeah...” I whispered back, still staring at my red mane. Sometimes what looked like a solar flare moved through it, causing a small rippling effect in my mane as it moved in the ethereal wind. That’s the best description I could come up with, anyway.

“SISTER!” the bellowing roar of Luna came from behind us and I turned my head to see the furious gaze of my little reincarnated sister that was the sister of my sister. Really smooth explanation there, Summer. Really smooth.

“I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me that you were Catherine! Did you think I loved you and Rudolph so little?!” Luna snarled. “I had to bury your bodies, you assholes!”

“You did?” I asked, wincing. “I... oh god, Luna, I’m so sorry...”

“You better be!” she growled, poking a midnight blue hoof at me. “You have a lot of explaining to do. And you! You and sister? Seriously?!”

“What? She is my wife,” Celestia shrugged. “What did you think I would have done?”

“And here I thought you would have asked me to join your little herd,” Luna said, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she rolled her eyes. “Or are you not as sexually deprived?”

“Do you want to?”

“Wait, what?! Are you out of your mind?!” Luna shouted, rearing up in surprise. “You can’t be serious.”

“What, ponies have herds, I’ve read about that in my books,” Tia shrugged. “What would be so wrong about that?”

“YOU’VE READ IT IN BOOKS?! Is your whole life a narrative in somepony’s fantasy, sister?!” Luna shouted, her eyelid twitching madly and I was unsure if I should say anything at that moment, considering how emotional she was right now. “And I’m your fucking sister, that’s what is fucking wrong about it!”

“Summer is my sister and we still have sex, so what?” Celestia shot back.

“You little perverted stupid-head!” Luna growled. “Even though that is true, she was your husband before this! Your husband! While I think this is still inappropriate and depraved and... and disgusting, I can at least somewhat understand this. And really, must you mention what you do behind closed doors?!”

“Why not?” Tia shrugged and I facehoofed. Leave it to my sisters to get worked up about this in a weird floaty magic space. “The offer still stands, by the way.”

“I... are you really serious?! Tia, what went wrong in your foalhood?!” Luna asked exasperated. “You were bad before this whole reincarnation business, but this? This is madness!”

“Summer would also have you in our relationship, even if she won’t admit it out loud. I’m not mad because I love you,” Celestia said and rolled her eyes. “Believe me when I say there are no risks involved and you do look extremely sexy with your starry mane and midnight coat.”

“I can’t believe this... Summer, say something to your idiotic sister. Wife. Whatever,” Luna said, desperate eyes moving over to me and I had to bite my lip as Celestia’s words were kinda... true. She did look fucking sexy like this. “Not you, too. Am I the only sane one here?!”

“I, uh...” I giggled nervously, an awkward smile on my muzzle. “Sorry?”

“This can’t be happening...” Luna muttered, starting to pace back and forth and my eyes moved to her flanks as the black splotch with the depiction of a crescent moon within it moved alluringly right in front of me. “Both of my sisters are depraved morons. Why, oh, why, did I have to be reincarnated here with you?! Couldn’t I have enjoyed a peaceful afterlife as fucking Magic decided to kill us off? What’s wrong with this world?!”

“Uhm... sister?” I asked meekly, she gave me a raised eyebrow together with a miffed look. I pointed at her flanks, suppressing the shudder that wanted to go through me as her angry glare just looked sexy to me instead of having the intended effect. “You have your Cutie Mark.”

“So have you, Summer,” Tia interjected and I turned my head to look at a stylized orange-red sun on both of my flanks. My heart fluttered as I saw it and joy flooded my being. It... looked so beautiful. Like a perfect representation of my name. “And so do I, apparently.”

I looked over to my twin and saw her with the same symbol, just with the minor difference that it had lighter yellowish-orange colors. My muzzle turned up in a smile as I felt even more happiness at us sharing something in common.

“Okay, that aside, do either of you know how to get out of here?” Luna said after we all had time to admire our buttmarks. “And don’t think I have forgotten the conversation from earlier, sister!”

“Well, I don’t know how we got here in the first place besides Magic foalnapping us,” I answered. “And I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this, but why are you against me and Tia so much?”

“You didn’t just ask that, did you?” Luna snorted. “How about you being my sisters? Ever thought about that?! I would have thought you of all ponies to be better than this... depravity.”

“Didn’t you love me while I was human?” I shot back with a raised brow. “I seem to remember you being jelly of your sis.”

“That was then, this is now! This is incest you’re talking about!” Luna snapped back at me. “That isn’t something that is normal!”

“Eh, debatable,” Celestia said with a shrug. “Depends on your view on it. Is it wrong for two sisters to love each other? I don’t think so. Summer and I are twins, so it’s kinda like masturbating.”

“What?! But...” Luna turned towards her. “We’re still siblings, what is it that you don’t get about this?! Just because you two are twins doesn’t make this okay! Besides, I’m not your twin! What other depraved reason could you possibly have to justify asking me out?!”

“None of you are stallions, so what’s the worst that can happen?” Celestia asked. “Worst case scenario is our subjects finding out about this, but what can they do about that? It’s our own private life. Besides, we’re the princesses, right? We can... you know... just make incest legal.”

“No!” I growled, sending her a glare and she pouted back at me. “Don’t you dare, Tia! I will kick you out of the castle and forget I ever loved you if you do something stupid like that!”

“Fine...” Tia mumbled. “Still, even if nopony else knows about this and we have to keep our relationship a secret,”—under her breath she muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘stupid Summer, having no sense of fun’—”what is so wrong about loving your sisters, Luna? Don’t tell me you don’t find Summer at least still attractive. Be honest with yourself, Lulu, you loved her in your previous life. Where is that love now? Summer wouldn’t mind, why do you not allow yourself to feel like that again? It’s so easy to just... look past this little thing called incest and allow yourself to feel good... You want to, right? Admit it, little sister. All it takes are a few words and your whole world will be so much better~.”

“I... well...” Luna stuttered, looking back and forth between me and my twin. “No! Stop with this nonsense, I won’t be swayed by your honeyed words, sister! This is still wrong!”

“Amore approves,” I mumbled weakly.

“You’re kidding,” Luna gave me a look. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Oh, she is telling the truth, sister dearest,” Celestia grinned, coming up beside her, her wing outstretched. She trailed her primary feathers along her sides and I giggled as Luna’s midnight blue wings popped open, a scarlet blush on her muzzle. “I know you have entertained the idea, don’t think I haven’t noticed you trying to win Summer’s heart here and there. I know you still love her... I wouldn’t mind sharing her with you... not when I get to have you, too...”

“N-n-no! I-it’s not like t-that!” Luna stammered, trying to get away from my twin and ending up bumping into me. I was... confused. Luna tried what? I... I didn’t notice, to be honest. I always thought it was a sibling rivalry or something along those lines, nothing more. “I don’t love Summer like that. No. Nuh-uh.”

“All I hear are lies~,” Celestia sing-songed, giggling. “Admit it, you have been checking her out, Lulu. I know you want it, give in and everything will be so much better... Go on, turn around and tell her how much you love her, Lulu~. Look into those beautiful eyes of hers and tell me honestly that you don’t want to shove your tongue down her throat...”

“Don’t you dare put words in my mouth now, Tia!” Luna shot back. “You won’t manipulate me to sate your depraved fetishes!”

“You know, this has been fun to watch, but you are overstaying your welcome,” Magic-Whoever said, appearing in the form of our mother this time. “Can you just get out? I want my quiet back. You have done what you came here for, so why are you still here?”

“You!” Luna snarled. “This is your fault, you piece of shit!”

I held Luna back before she could try to beat the god-like entity to a pulp. She struggled against me while flailing her limbs and I feared she would break free. Why did she have to be so strong?!

“Uh-huh,” Magic-Mom said. “And I care, why?”

“Fucking die in a hole!” Luna growled.

“Like you? No thanks. Now get out.”

“Don’t you dare antagonize my little sister! That’s my job,” Celestia snarled, glaring at the entity wearing the face of our mother. “And if you want us to leave, we wouldn’t even know how to! How do you propose we do this? Snap our non-existent fingers?!”

“You mortals and your feelings, I’ll look forward to how you react when you find out that your bodies are very different from normal ponies,” she said in a bored tone. “And how do you not know how you entered this place? You have cast the spell, didn’t you?”

“So we just cast it again?” I asked, my glare no less baleful towards the being sitting in front of us. “That’s it? How do we raise the sun and moon then?”

“You cast the spell with the core of your alicorn magic, achieving your full potential,” she told us. “Cast it again and get out. If you want to get back here, for whatever reason, just reach out to your core and then will yourself into this plane, instead. Does that answer your question?”

“That’s so much bullshit right there, it’s not even funny,” Luna mumbled. “What spell works differently for alicorns? This is ridiculous.”

“If you hadn’t reached your full potential, it wouldn’t have done anything differently from normal unicorn magic, but you tapped into your font of power directly, drawing forth the most potent form of magic a pony like you has.”

“Okay, then...” I said. “Goodbye, have a nice day? Or whatever this is here. I can’t really say it has been a pleasure getting to know you.”

“Uh-huh,” Magic shrugged. “Can’t say that either. But you were the first available ponies I could get ahold of. I have to work with the things I get, so I don’t care either way.”

“That’s... a really bleak outlook to have...” I whispered sadly. “I’m sorry for what must have made you this way.”

“Understanding the futility of life and still trying to save it,” Magic answered monotonously and shrugged. “And I’m sorry for killing you if that is worth anything to you. I guess you are not so bad after all. For naïve little ponies.”

“We’ll be going then, I guess,” I replied awkwardly, reaching inwardly to the same feeling that this being has told us was alicorn magic. A moment later, I willed myself back into reality and noticed all the stares directed at us. I fidgeted slightly with my wings, noticing that Celestia and Luna were also opening their eyes.

We were still in the same spots that we had been standing in as we started trying to lower the moon and raise the suns. A slow clapping noise started and I saw Starswirl continue to do so with his hooves as the other ponies started to follow his example.

“Bravo!” he said, a proud smile on his muzzle. “Just like I knew you could! How did it feel, Your Highnesses?”

“Uhm... magical?” I said, trying to think back to when I guided the sun across the heavens. “Fulfilling? Like a part of me being completed?”

“Yes, that I can see,” Starswirl chuckled. “I didn’t know how it would happen, but here you are with your Cutie Marks! Ah, to see you little moody teenagers grow up so fast, it warms my heart.”

Moody teenagers?! I’ll give him moody teenagers... Damn crazy old coot... he was one to talk, doing the ritual on his own.

“You knew we would get them?” Celestia asked, standing beside me and I stared at her mane again. Whatever it was about her mane, it made her look more... Celestia-ish. I don’t know.

“Yes,” he nodded. “I have seen you raise them in the future, all by yourselves. A breathtaking view, I have to say.”

“I guess you won’t tell us more than that, huh?” I said, knowing he would be nodding his head to that, too. And he sure did, looking mischievous. “So, what now?”

“How about you becoming the new stewards of the moon and the suns?” Starswirl told us. “It is your destiny, is it not?”

“I... Yes...” I whispered, looking back at my Cutie Mark with pride. “Yes, it is.”

“Let us go home, Summer,” Celestia said. “Lulu already left, it seems.”

“She did? Why?” I asked, feeling a bit of sadness well up inside me. Tia started walking out of the building, taking to the skies afterward and I followed after her. “Do you think she is still mad at us?”

“Probably,” Tia answered. “She will get over it, I’m sure.”

“If you say so...” I muttered, uncertainly. “I don’t want her to hate us. You kinda went a little bit overboard there for a moment.”

“I just hate that she continues lying to herself,” she stated. “You have seen her react to that, there is no doubt about it. And the way she tried to deny it was the falsest thing I have ever heard leave her mouth.”

“Still, I don’t think you should pressure her so much,” I said. Tia let out a sigh but relented. “Let’s just give her some space and let her come to grips with her own feelings. Even if it has to take a few years, she should feel comfortable with such a decision.”

“You’re right...” Celestia sighed. “I don’t know what went over me. Perhaps I was just getting too excited about having her with us.”

“Tia,” I whispered gently. “Don’t beat yourself up over this, okay?”

“Yeah, I think I can do that...” she whispered back. “Thanks for being with me, Summer.”

“I won’t leave you, you know that. As long as you don’t make incest legal, that is. And if Lulu decides to take you up on the offer, I won’t be leaving either of you,” I told her, a small smile gracing my lips. “I guess you were right about me, loath as I am to say it out loud.”

“You being a pervert?” Tia giggled. “Or you loving your sisters in a romantic way?”

“Isn’t that the same question as the first one?” I giggled back. “Yes. To both of those.”

“See? It wasn’t that hard to admit, right?” Celestia laughed and I pouted at her. “Don’t give me that look now, you know I’m right. It was nice giving in to your inner pervert, I can see it in your eyes~.”

“Shut up,” I shot back. “Sometimes you just don’t know when to quit, do you?”

“Where would I be if I did?” she quipped back and I snorted.

“You know, these marks seem so familiar to me, it feels like I have seen them somewhere before,” I said, changing the topic to the marks adorning our flanks. “Like some sense of déjà vu...”

“Now that you mention it...” Tia mused, looking at my butt with undisguised lust. “They do remind me of the markings on the Tree of Harmony. You think Starswirl knows something about that?”

“Oh, definitely,” I muttered. “What are the chances of us getting the answers out of him, though?”

“Next to none, I would wager,” Celestia said, just as unhappy as I was that he continued to have secrets from us. “We will have to find the answer to that on our own, then.”

“Think it could have something to do with those crystals in the branches of the tree?”

“Most likely.”

Once we were back in the castle, Celestia and I went to look where Luna went off to and found her soundly asleep on her bed. I sighed at the obvious sign that she had put herself to sleep to avoid us, not even closing the door of her bedroom before throwing herself on her bed (she rarely ever closed her door, anyway), so I let her have her way and we gave her her space. Perhaps she would talk about this with us at some point, but I didn’t get my hopes up. She was confused right now and the best thing we could do right now was to let her sort it out on her own and hope for the best.

As Tia and I went to my room, I absentmindedly opened the door with my magic and Celestia tackled me to the floor while throwing up a shield with her magic (one that quite obviously was much stronger than what we were used to) as the door got ripped out of the wall in pieces, scattering every which way with such a force that it would have probably caved my head in had my twin not saved me from them.

We found out what the cause of that little problem was relatively fast. After our visit to that harmony magic thingy place, our magic had gotten a significant boost in strength. So much so, that just the slightest nudge sent things flying.

That also meant we would have to learn control all over again. It was like everything was made out of paper and it annoyed me to no end. Celestia wasn’t faring better with her magic. We both set things randomly aflame as we passed them by and we had to order our servants and guards to keep their distance from us until we were able to rein our magic in.

This passive aura of heat had the slight advantage that we were now immune to any hot temperatures and even low temperatures didn’t manage to bother us that much.

Luna, on the other hoof, had a perpetual coldness around her that managed to give Tia and I pleasant shivers whenever we encountered her in the dining room or in the hallways. It was clear to see that she was avoiding us, though.

I just wished we could go back to how it was before, it was breaking my heart.

Author's Notes:

So, there we are! The Crown, the Castle, and the Cutie Mark are complete and the next chapter starts off with the next story arc. I'm sure some of you can guess what will happen next *rubs her hands in glee*
I'm a little bit disappointed none of you guessed that they were killed by magic (and Magic, but I suppose Zapper Frost got pretty close with the Random Deity guess. Sorry, no tactical flamingos ;D )
The next chapter will be out on Halloween!

Edit: Please note that from now on the italic version can be found here.