Celestia looked over the side of her chariot as it approached the small village of Ponyville. A hundred or so thatch roof houses lay just ahead, huddled around a small river and just on the edge of the forest. Ponies looked up in awe, and she could hear their chatter as word quickly spread that they had seen her. She smiled softly to herself; she could remember when it was just a single farmhouse. The town was quaint, peaceful, calm…

Just like every other town that had bordered the Everfree Forest.

She blinked and willed those thoughts to the back of her mind. “Keep your mind on the present,” she whispered to herself under her breath. The chariot began to descend as it circled around the clock tower at the town’s center. The gathering crowd gave her two personal guards room as they came in for a landing.

When wheels met grass, the princess stepped down from her seat and onto the natural green carpet, adjusting the designer saddle bags on her back. The ponies around her all bowed in silence and reverence. She just smiled her polite, porcelain smile at the crowd as a certain old mare scrambled up to her.

“Good morning, your highness,” Mayor Mare greeted with a deep bow. “We had no idea you were coming, or we would have had a more formal reception! What brings you to our neck of the woods?”

“You did not know because I did not tell anypony I was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise,” she said, her smile not breaking as she motioned for the mayor and the rest of the assembly to stand again. “I am here for business, however, not leisure.”

“Business?” Mayor repeated. “What is it that you need from us, your highness? All of our taxes are in order and the Elements of Harmony have kept the town safe from harm.”

“I have no doubt,” Celestia chuckled. “Actually I am here to speak with the Element Bearers and an immigrant that I hear has come to town. Does the name Doctor Insano ring any bells, Mayor?”

Whispers swept across the masses as Mayor’s countenance grew cold. “Yes, I do. Quite the surly one, he is. He wanders about town a lot of the time but mostly keeps to himself. Thank goodness, I say; when he does talk, every other word out of his mouth is a curse, an insult, or both. Do you want me to bring him to you?”

“That would be lovely,” Celestia said with a nod.

The alicorn’s ear swiveled toward the crowd as a ruckus arose within it, other nearby ponies turning their heads.

“Make way! Coming through! You need to go on a diet, plump plot. Move bitch, get out da way!” a scratchy male voice shouted among various exclamations of annoyance.

“Oh sweet Celestia,” the Mayor breathed, burying her face in her hooves.

“Right here,” the princess chimed with a grin as she turned her head to face the disruption.

A stallion burst through the crowd, his white-furred chest heaving. He shook his head to get his neon green mane out of his eyes. Or, more accurately, out of his goggles. “You…!” he snarled, taking what she supposed was meant to be a threatening step forward. Considering their comparative size and power, it was about as threatening as a puppy nipping at her tail.

“Don’t you dare approach or address the princess that way!” Mayor Mare barked. “Bow, you insufferable ingrate!”

“I don’t bow for anyone!” he shrieked back, turning his attention to the mayor. “Least of all a rich immortal fuck who lives in a shining castle on top of a mountain while six little girls do her fucking dirty work!” A collective gasp went through the crowd, and Celestia heard the distinct sound of bodies hitting grass from fainting.

Celestia’s smile did not fade or waver. “Whatever seems to be the problem, Doctor?”

“Well, for one, the ponies of this town elected a royalist bitch,” he spat, turning back on Celestia.

“Why, I never,” Mayor huffed.

“But ignoring that,” Insano continued, “thank you for reminding me why I came here. Namely: you broke my fucking gaydar!” He pulled a hunk of twisted metal and plastic out from behind him and threw it at her feet.

The silence that pervaded the center of Ponyville was total and absolute. It was so quiet, anypony could have heard a pin drop. Anypony could have heard a pebble drop. Even the wind itself went still as if to say “oh shit.”

“Pardon?” Celestia asked evenly.

“My gaydar,” he repeated with an angry snort. “It measures gayness. With science. You broke it. You came from the north, yes?”

“That is correct,” she said with a nod.

“Right before it practically exploded in my face,” he growled, “it picked up a fucking ludicrous reading of homo approaching from the north. It was so gargantuan, so strong, that it utterly broke it and somehow caused extensive internal damage. Well, excuse me, princess, but its estimated arrival time coincides exactly with when your chariot got here.”

Celestia swept her eyes across the crowd. There was a mix of rage and confusion among the faces and in the eyes of the ponies she could see. Rage directed at Insano for his insubordination, disrespect and accusations, and confusion about whether his accusations were true and what they meant. She opened her mouth to speak when her eyes met with Twilight Sparkle’s. She was at the front of the crowd, eyes on her mentor, her gaze full of trepidation, worry, fear… she could swear that she also saw a sparkle of hope. She gave her student a reassuring smile.

“You caught me,” the alicorn said with a smile and a shrug.

“Wh-what?” Mayor Mare balked, swerving around and gawking at her diarch.

“I don’t like stallions. Physically, anyway,” she elaborated. “I’m open to romantic relations with a stallion, but I’m not fond of intimate ones. I vastly prefer the company of mares in my bedchamber, should I ever find one I care about deep enough who reciprocates.” Her eyes swept across the crowd once more, her eyes narrowing with a glint of a dagger in her eye. “Does anypony have a problem with that?”

Silence once again pervaded the city center as the ponies exchanged nervous glances and blushes of varying degrees. The only sound was the wind, which had picked up again as if to say, “fuck this, I’m out.”

Celestia’s smile widened ever so slightly at the look of relief on Twilight’s face. “I thought so.” She turned her attention back to the fuming scientist. “You want me to replace this gaydar of yours, yes? I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to make one, and I don’t think anypony else does either.”

“I’m not out for compensation, you twat; I’m out for blood! Nobody breaks my stuff,” he growled. “Nobody!” A blast of yellow light shot out of his goggles and hit Celestia square in the chest.

“Princess!” Twilight called out along with her friends among the crowd.

Celestia, however, was completely unaffected. She looked with disinterest to the spot where Insano shot her and to Insano himself, whose legs started quaking and lips started sputtering like a beached fish.

“That tickled,” she said with a devious grin and dark mirth.

“That…that…that shouldn’t be survivable! That can’t be survivable!” Insano insisted as if he were trying to argue the rules with reality itself.

“When the books say that alicorns are indestructible, they mean indestructible,” she said, flaring her wings. “Now, I came here to talk to you, and we will talk. Understood?”

The stallion shrunk away and nodded rapidly, his hair bouncing. “Y-yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” She looked to the crowd and cleared her throat. She announced in the royal Canterlot voice, “Everypony return to your normal activities! We wish to have some privacy with the doctor and the Elements of Harmony!”

The crowd quickly dispersed like a mass of mice before a giant cat. The Mayor bowed again and offered her apologies, but Celestia wasn’t listening. Soon all that was left were the Element bearers themselves, who were rushing to her side, and “Time Turner,” who was looking at her confusedly. She sent him a look that said, “not you, Doctor,” and he nodded before galloping away.

“Are you okay, Princess?” Twilight asked worriedly, leaping up and hugging her mentor tight.

“I’m fine, Twilight,” Celestia assured, hugging the unicorn back and stroking her mane.

“I can see this is an intimate moment; I’ll just excuse myself,” Mayor Mare mumbled before slipping away.

“The buck is wrong with you?!” Applejack roared, shoving her face against Insano’s. “You just tried to kill ‘er!”

“Yeah, but he didn’t. Celestia is way too awesome to get punked out like that,” Rainbow said with a smirk.

“Which I suppose is why you cried out in terror and worry like the rest of us?” Rarity asked with a knowing smirk.

“It was a reflex,” the pegasus huffed.

“She wrecked my gaydar!” he shouted back, pushing his head against Applejack’s until they were even. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to build parts that defy conventional physics and logic? Here’s a hint: it’s easier trying to figure out just what the hell is going on in Pinkie Pie’s cotton candy cranium.”

“That’s no reason to go around tryin’ to murder folks!” Applejack snapped in return, pushing back. The two started a sort of reverse tug-of-war with each other’s foreheads as they shouted back and forth, Fluttershy trying to intercede but getting nowhere. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were off to the side and watching, Pinkie munching on popcorn while the unicorn looked everywhere but at the party pony with a soft blush and an awkward shift of her weight. Celestia tuned it all out when she heard a sob below her.

“Twilight, what’s wrong?” she asked, nuzzling the young mare’s head.

“For a second, I was so scared I was going to lose you,” Twilight whimpered, burying her face in Celestia’s chest.

“You never will, Twilight; I can promise that. I’ll always be there,” she cooed, wrapping a wing around her student. She looked over to the squabbling farm pony and scientist. Her horn glowed as her magic aura surrounded them, pulling the two apart. “Now is not the time for arguments. I came here to have a word with Insano, and I think all of you should be in attendance for what I have to say. Do any of you have any prior plans?”

“I was meeting Fluttershy at the spa, but we can push it back to tomorrow, your highness,” Rarity said, looking thankful for not having to endure the silence between her and Pinkie Pie.

“What she said,” the yellow pegasus said with a small bow.

“How could it be what she said?” Pinkie asked. “You can’t meet Fluttershy at the spa. You are Fluttershy! Oh, wait, did you use the Mirror Pool?! Tons of Fluttershys would be so adorable! I could just huggle and snuggle and nuzzle and snuzzle them all–”

Rainbow Dash mercifully plugged up Pinkie’s noise hole with her hoof as the energetic mare continued to rant. “I can take my lunch break early,” she said.

“Gotta tend to my orchard, but Ah suppose it could wait for a bit,” Applejack snorted, still giving Insano the evil eye.

“It looks like I don’t have much of a choice,” the scientist sneered.

“You don’t,” Celestia said, releasing him and Applejack from her magic grip. She nuzzled Twilight softly. The unicorn looked up and smiled, wiping the moisture from her eyes as she released her mentor and stood on her own again. “Pinkie, do you think you could go tell the Cakes that we’ll be coming to Sugarcube Corner? I haven’t had homemade sweets in a while, and I think that would be as good a place as any to talk.”

“Okie dokie loki!” The next time Celestia blinked, where Pinkie Pie once sat was a Pinkie-shaped cloud of dust that quickly blew away on the wind. She had long ago learned not to question these things.

“Pardon me, but don’t you think that might be a little too public?” Rarity asked.

Celestia turned around and gave a meaningful look to her guards. They unhooked themselves from the chariot without a word and trotted up to her side. “My guards will keep our conversation private. I will more than compensate the Cakes for their lost business.”

“Hello, what about my gaydar? Are you going to compensate me for that?” Insano griped.

“We will discuss that after we arrive,” Celestia assured as she trotted in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. “You’re lucky I don’t have you thrown in jail for attempted murder, so be grateful for what I do give you.”

“You are immortal; your guards aren’t,” he said pointedly as she walked past.

“Neither are you,” she shot back, not bothering to look over her shoulder. She heard him grumble the words “not yet.” Her brow furrowed and a frown creased her lips as she led her little ponies and her not-so-little guards through the streets of Ponyville.

Insano warily surveyed the table as he took a bite into one of the cupcakes he’d been offered. The assembled ponies were sitting around a circular table, the scientist placed directly next to Celestia. On her left hand/hoof/the fuck ever side, of course. Her right side was reserved for her “faithful student.” The jokes that Insano could make about illicit teacher-student relationships were so astronomical that he was struggling not to make them.

Especially since they were making small talk about their love lives.

“So, none of you take issue with my dirty little secret?” Celestia asked with that infuriatingly smug smile. He committed the exact shape and curve of that grin to memory. He silently swore that anyone he met with the exact dimensions of that accursed parabola on their face would be shot on sight when he took over the world.

“Of course not!” Twilight exclaimed, looking shocked that Celestia would even suggest it.

“Princess, we really can’t object,” Rarity said as she daintily sipped a cup of tea that Pinkie had conjured out of thin air for her. Insano chose to think the party pony literally pulled it right out of her ass, because it amused him and he was a sick fuck. “We discovered a week or so back that we were all filly foolers as well.”

“Though some of us were in denial,” Pinkie teased, throwing her forelegs around Applejack’s and Rainbow Dash’s shoulders.

“Not for that long,” Applejack chuckled nervously with a tip of her hat and a blush.

“I got around to it,” Rainbow huffed, taking a bite of a donut.

“Oh? That seems like something that would warrant a friendship report,” Celestia said, looking to Twilight.

Twilight blushed and avoided her gaze. “Well, um, I…” Insano resisted the urge to shout, “just shut up and kiss her already, we can all tell you want to!” The latter part may have been a lie, though. Everypony else was as oblivious to the romantic undertones of the two’s relationship as fish probably were to water. Though he had the sneaking suspicion that Celestia herself could tell and was just leading Twilight along. Bitch.

“Twilight was in a bit of a panic about it for a day or two,” Rarity cut in. “We had to calm her down and get her to warm up to the idea. By then she’d probably forgotten to tell you about it.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have, Twilight. One must accept one’s self before one can accept others for who they are,” Celestia said with a nuzzle to her faithful student.

“Y-yes, of course,” the unicorn stammered, the gears in her head locking up.

Insano cast an eye over to Fluttershy. She was just sipping on her physically impossible tea and saying nothing. Her sheer ability to keep her fucking mouth shut about her sexuality for ten seconds made her officially his favorite pony.

“Before I forget…” Celestia’s horn glowed and she pulled a jingling sack the size of a baseball out of her saddle bags. “Deliver this to Spike when you leave, would you kindly?”

Several gasps came from the assembly and a few eyes widened. “Well I’ll be bucked, how many bits are in that bag?” Applejack asked.

“Enough,” Celestia said, setting it in Twilight’s lap. “Luna sends her grudging regards.”

Twilight looked down at the bag and then back up at her mentor. “Um… thank you. I think.”

“For fuck’s sake!” Insano slammed his front hooves on the table and stood up. “Let’s just get down to business!”

The other ponies looked startled and annoyed, but Celestia just looked to him with that thrice damned smile. “What’s wrong? Don’t like the cupcakes?”

Pinkie Pie gasped and her head suddenly poked out from under the table, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes as he shrieked in surprise. “Oh no, did I undercook them? Did I overcook them? Did I put in too much sugar? Wait, there’s no such thing as too much sugar. Oh horsefeathers, did I not put in enough?!”

“No, no, the cupcakes are just fine, you damn freak!” he spat, shoving her head back under the table. The pony reappeared in her seat with a relieved smile on her face. “I just don’t like it when my time is wasted!”

“I thought not; you do seem like the sort of pony who’s always on the go,” Celestia said. She took a sip of her tea before adding, “Excuse me, the sort of human. You’re not a pony at all, are you?”

Insano’s bluster and rage deflated as if it were a balloon the alicorn had just sat on. “Y-you knew?!”

“What, you mean one of those humare weirdos like that harp player?” Rainbow asked, giving Insano a funny look.

“Her name is Lyra and she plays a lyre, not a harp. She’s a friend of mine and I’d appreciate it if you were sensitive to her chosen identity,” Rarity chided. She only got a roll of the pegasus’ rose eyes in response.

“No, I mean an actual human,” Celestia said with the calm patience of a teacher.

“That’s just darn silly; humans are fictional,” Applejack chuckled. “Whoever heard of a monkey that can talk?”

“Apes,” Fluttershy corrected meekly. “Humans are apes. Monkeys have tails, humans don’t.”

“Wow, didn’t know you were such an egghead, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash drawled.

“What are you talking about, Celestia?” Twilight cut in. “We can all clearly see he is a pony, just like the rest of us.”

“Biologically, he is,” Celestia admitted. “But he wasn’t always. He is now thanks to the polymorphic field around our planet. It’s a charm that casts polymorph on extraterrestrial visitors to make them blend in and enjoy themselves without drawing attention. He is the first visitor we’ve had that’s uninvited, however.”

Fluttershy gulped. “So you’re saying that Insano is an…”

“Alien?!” all six shouted at once.

Insano sunk under the table up to his nose, shrinking under the scrutiny of the six native mares. “Fuck you with a cinderblock,” he hissed at Celestia. She gave him a look out of the corner of her eye that said she’d love to see him try.

“So that’s why he didn’t tell us where he was from!” Applejack exclaimed.

“And why he doesn’t know magic,” Rainbow Dash added, facehoofing.

“And why he was looking through my star charts,” Twilight added with a gasp. “He wanted to know how to get home!”

“Why does everything suddenly make sense, yet no sense at all?” Rarity asked as she held her head.

“I’ve never seen an alien before,” Fluttershy mumbled, looking at Insano with interest. “And I’ve only seen humans in picture books.”

“Oh, this is so cool!” Pinkie Pie squeed.

Insano let out a scream of surprise as Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Twilight suddenly rushed him. He scrambled backward as the barrage of questions came.

“What part of the galaxy are you from? Are you even from this galaxy?” Twilight asked.

“What’s your planet like?” Fluttershy asked.

“On a scale of one to Rainbow Dash, how awesome is wherever you’re from?” Pinkie asked with a grin that threatened to fold back and eat her head.

“Is your technology normal for your planet?” Twilight added.

“What kind of animals do you have there?” Fluttershy asked.

“Do you have parties on your planet too? Oh, silly question, parties are universal,” Pinkie giggled.

The torrent of inquiry washed over him until he threw up his hooves and shouted, “Back up, back the fuck up!”

“Okie dokie!” Pinkie saluted before bouncing away.

“Sorry; got a little excited. I mean, I knew alien life existed somewhere out there, but I never thought I’d get to see it,” Twilight chuckled nervously as she gave him space.

“Oh, are you homesick? Sorry I asked, then,” Fluttershy mewled, hiding behind her mane as she backed away.

“I am not homesick; my planet fucking sucks!” he yelled as he got back on all fours. “It’s a hotbed of leaders who all seem to use a single brain cell on a time share, uneducated masses who toss their money away on distilled bullshit while others fucking starve and kill each other over scraps, and half of the decently intelligent people in our fucking history get their brains blown out for their trouble. I hate that fucking place! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!”

The ears of all the mares save for Celestia’s fell flat. The third grand silence of the day found its home in Sugarcube Corner, the only sound coming from Insano’s heaving lungs. Yog Sethis was most pleased.

“Wow, Ah…Ah had no idea that your home was like that,” Applejack muttered, pulling the brim of her hat down over her eyes.

“And we didn’t exactly give you a warm welcome when you arrived,” Rarity said, looking at the floor. “Or after you settled in.”

“Yeah… guess that wasn’t really cool of us,” Rainbow Dash mumbled, rubbing the back of her head.

“We’re really sorry,” Fluttershy said softly, extending a hoof to Insano.

The scientist swatted it away. “I don’t need your fucking pity,” he snarled. The pegasus shrank away and hid behind her mane. Rarity slid out of her seat and comforted her, whispering words in her ear he was certain were reassuring. He wasn’t really listening. “So, Celestia, I guess you want me to go back?”

“Actually, I want you to do the opposite,” she said, looking unfazed by the scene unfolding. “I want you to stay.”

“What?!” Twilight and Insano shouted in unison. The two looked at each other then turned their backs to each other with a huff.

“As I understand it, you are trans and want to make the change fully to stallion,” Celestia said, draining her cup of tea. “I know the spell to do that and am willing to perform it – with a few conditions.”

“Of course there’s a catch; you’re a politician,” he grumbled.

“First is that you work for me,” she continued, ignoring his remark. “You will be an employee of the state for the duration of your time in Equestria and on Equis. You will be well compensated, and I will pay to have a house built on the edge of Ponyville to your specifications. I will also pay for whatever components you need to construct your lab. But you will work only on whatever project I assign you. I will give you free time to work on your own endeavors, of course, but you will be kept under strict surveillance and heavy guard.”

“Your highness, I don’t mean to question you and your immortal wisdom,” Rarity cut in with a brown-nosing smile, “but does he really have to live here? With us? As in, we’ll have to interact with him on a regular basis?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Rarity, would you rather I put him in proximity to a large city like Manehattan? Or worse yet, in the middle of nowhere where if he outwits my guards, I won’t know until it’s too late?”

Rarity pursed her lips and rubbed her chin, humming in thought. “You… have a point,” she admitted with an angry sigh.

“I’d gladly accept if only for the fact I’ll finally have a house of my own, but there’s a teensy little problem with that,” Insano said. “My son is still on Earth.”

“You have a son?!” the collected mares asked in sheer horror, save for Pinkie Pie who was ecstatic.

“Yes. So?” Insano asked.

“You – you of all ponies – found a stallion and created life together,” Twilight asked, her jaw hanging open.

“Actually, I created him in my lab by accident,” he clarified.

“Why does that not make me feel better?” she deadpanned.

“Hey, fuck you, he means a lot to me,” Insano spat. “I’m not about to settle down here until I can find a way to bring him with me.”

“We will find a way to make an arrangement at a later date,” Celestia said as she slipped out of her chair. “Trust me, we’ll get your son and bring him here. For now, do we have a deal?” She extended her hoof down at him. Her smile had changed. It was less plastered on and felt more genuine. He still hated the fuck out of it, though.

“Deal.” He stuck his hoof against hers and shook it. With a smile of his own, he sent a jolt of electricity through the handshake and into the diarch. Celestia gasped in shock and spasmed, her ethereal mane frizzing out into a magical afro.

“Celestia, are you okay?” Twilight asked, her hooves up to her mouth in worry.

“I’m fine,” Celestia said, coughing out a ring of smoke. “What was that?”

“Finger-mounted electricity casters,” Insano said with a manic giggle. He held up his hoof and showed her, arcs of lightning flying across its surface. “Can’t kill you, but I can still annoy the fuck out of you.”

Celestia blinked. She blinked again. On the third blink she burst out laughing, holding her hoof to her chest. Even in the act of hysterical laughter, her voice was regal and commanding.

“P-princess?” Twilight breathed, looking at her teacher in confusion.

The alicorn took in a few deep breaths and calmed herself down, readjusting her mask of calm, smug superiority with a sigh. “Oh, I think we’ll get along just fine, you and I,” Celestia said with a grin as her hair began to flow normally again. “I haven’t had anypony outright get me like that in a long time. I like a pony with a spine.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got vertebrae to spare. Can you please get on with it and do this sex change spell you talked about?” Insano asked, shifting uneasily on his hooves. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

“I don’t know; it would be a shame. You’re actually a very pretty mare,” Celestia purred.

“I am not!” Insano shouted back.

“He’s really not,” Rainbow Dash drawled.

“Yes you are,” Celestia insisted, her insipid grin widening.

“Am not!” he repeated.

“Yes you are,” she said back with a nod.

“No I’m not!”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not!”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not!”

“No you’re not.”

“Yes I am!”

“No you’re not.”

“Yes. I. Am! I am a pretty pony!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. It was only when everypony around him burst into hysterical laughter did he realize his mistake. Even Fluttershy was on the floor gasping for breath. Through a massive blush he sputtered, “Did you just pull a Bugs Bunny on me?!”

“I might have,” Celestia giggled. “Now, my pretty little pony, are you certain you want this change made?”

He hopped up and down in anger. “Yes! For the love of all that is unholy, yes!”

“Very well; hold still.” The alicorn’s horn glowed in a golden light. Her magic aura surrounded him and blinded him as the laughter around him died down in favor of gasps of awe and wonder. There was a bright flash and the world came back into focus. “Well? Are you satisfied?” she asked.

Insano shook his head and propped himself up on his hind legs, looking down. All the young mortal mares covered or averted their eyes, save for Pinkie who let out a wolf whistle of approval.

“Yes!” he shouted in joy, pumping his hooves into the air. “Yes! Yes, yes, fuck yes! Suck on deez apples, bitches, haha!” He started dancing on the spot, not caring who was watching. He was white; he already knew he couldn’t dance. He probably danced worse as a pony, but no fucks were given.

“I’m glad you approve,” Celestia chuckled. “I will expect you to hold up your end of the bargain, though.”

“I’ll go and draw up plans for my new house now,” he said, jogging in place with energy. “Look out world, here comes the new and improved Doctor Insano!” He rushed out the door with a cackle of sheer glee, his laughter and boasting fading into the distance.

“Seems like the same old Insano with a Y chromosome,” Rarity deadpanned as she got off the floor from her laughing fit.

“I’m sure he’ll be much less grumpy now that he’s got the body he’s always wanted,” Fluttershy said with a warm smile.

“Yeah, and diamond dogs will someday come bearing gifts,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“Oh, but he looked so happy!” Pinkie said with a big grin.

“Still don’t trust ‘im, but it is kind of nice to see a pony happy, no matter who it is,” Applejack said, brushing off her hat and setting it back on her head.

“Now that that is settled, I really should be taking my leave. Canterlot is a circus that needs constant attention,” Celestia said. She gave Twilight a small nuzzle before trotting to the door. “Stay safe, all of you. Tell the Cakes that I really appreciate them letting us use their shop for this meeting, and they’ll find their compensation behind the front desk.”

The assembled mares all waved goodbye and gave their fond farewells. All except for Twilight, who galloped forward and got between the door and her teacher. “Actually, Celestia, there’s something we need to talk about. It’s urgent, but I couldn’t let Insano overhear.”

The alicorn looked down at Twilight in surprise and curiosity, while her friends all traded looks of confusion. “What is it, my faithful student?”

The young unicorn breathed deeply to steady herself before looking her mentor square in the eye. “Tell us everything you know about the ascension process.” Next Chapter: Hidden History Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes