"...And now they're both Champions of the Crystal Empire," Nyx finished.

"Goodness, that's a story and a half," Cherry Blossom said. The others chuckled. "I can't wait to meet those two."

Twilight, swamped with the duties of the crown, had put Nyx in the care of the Quartet. They were in Twilight's observatory tower now, getting to know one another. It had been a bit tense at first; the four ladies-in-waiting had been a bit apprehensive of 'the filly Nightmare Moon,' and said filly hadn't been quite sure what to make of the identical quadruplets in her mother's service.  But the Quartet, after some cautious opening courtesies, had quickly learned that the littlest alicorn princess was like any other filly her age and had warmed to her almost immediately, while Nyx to her relief had found the four elegant ponies to be nothing like the stiff, stuffy servants of royalty as she had feared. They were warm and friendly and had an impish sense of humor. Nyx took to them like a duckling to water.

Speaking of which, she was about to get a dunking. It was getting late in the afternoon and the Quartet had unanimously decided that a certain little filly needed a bath. Were they to be honest with themselves though it was just as much an excuse for the four hoofmaids to play dress-up and makeup with the little filly as much as anything resembling responsibility.

Nyx stood by the tub, towel and rubber ducky levitating in her grip, looking apprehensive. While she and the four hoofmaids had whiled the day away, the castle staff - under the Quartet's watchful eye - had renovated the royal quarters right around them. (It was astonishing what could be accomplished in mere hours with magic, motivation, and more money than Croesus.)  Among other things that had been changed, the tiny cramped (by royal standards) bathroom had been replaced with a luxuriously appointed water closet.(1) The claw footed bathtub had been thrown out, and now there was a sumptuous open bath to one side on the main floor-- a sunken tub the size of a palatial reflecting pool tiled in white and blue marble, with every grooming amenity imaginable arranged around it.

She stood now on the tiled edge of the sunken bath, biting her lip. "Go on, dear," Cherry Blossom said. "What are you waiting for?"

Nyx looked at the enormous bath. It was big enough to swim laps in. "Aren't you supposed to wade in with a partner?" she said uncertainly.

The Quartet laughed. "Well, you heard the Princess," Snowcap teased, looking at Sea Foam. Chuckling, Sea Foam led Nyx down into the water. The other three followed, fetching shampoos and scrubs as they stepped down into the water. Snowcap was the last, tossing the duckie in with a flip of her head. They sat around the little filly and began shampooing her mane and tail. It felt weird at first, but Nyx soon relaxed as hooves massaged her scalp.

Nyx regarded the four. "Mom said you four had a secret," she said, curiosity piqued. "I've been trying to guess all day, but I just don't know. You said you're not all identical sisters..."

"Fraid not," Cherry Blossom said.

"Are yoooouuuu.... from the Crystal Empire?" Nyx hazarded. Then she scowled at herself. "No no, you're not sparkly... are you changelings?" At their astonished looks she said, "I have a classmate who's a changeling. She's really nice and funny. But..." the filly tapped her chin with a hoof. "Nah. Those Changeling lanterns would be making you turn back to yourselves all the time and people would be all freaked out and stuff.

"Are yooouuu... from a really really far away country?"

Sea Foam grinned. "You're getting warmer," she said. There was a spark of sapphire light. Her dolphin tail lifted up out of the water and slapped down, splashing the filly.

Nyx shook her drenched mane out of her eyes and gawped at the transformed hoofmaid. Her squeal of glee split the air. "Omigosh, you're a seapony!!" Her forehooves splashed in the water in excitement.

The Quartet all broke into peals of laughter at the little filly's excitement. "That's one out of three, Highness," Sea Foam said, giving her a wink. "Now you just have to guess the rest of us." Her tail fluke slapped the water, drenching Nyx (and a protesting Cherry Blossom, Snow Cap and White Dove) yet again.

"Hey, no fair!" Nyx began tossing water back at the seapony mare with her hooves.

The royal bath swiftly broke out into a gleeful splash-fight.

It was about an hour later when Spike and Bright Eyes came trooping in. The two came bursting in through the door, still dressed in their Crystal Champion armor. They were dusty, sooty, obviously very sweaty and joking back and forth boisterously.

The Quartet had moved on from the bath and grooming and were now seated around the living nook, giving Nyx her first introduction to the arts of makeup. Cherry blossom was carefully applying hoof polish to Nyx's hooves, while Nyx was using her magic to dab blush on Cherry Blossom's cheeks. They all looked up in surprise as the two boys came bouncing in. "Oh, hi Spike! Hi Bright Eyes!" Nyx chirped. "How'd practice go?"

"Pretty good," Spike chortled, wiping a smudge of soot off his cheek with his arm. "We got to test fire the Rainbow Cannon."

"Yeah, it was awesome!" Bright Eyes said.

Multi-hued light suddenly flared over the rim of the Canterlot skyline, seeming to emanate from the general direction of the Royal Guard training grounds. There was a sound like a power chord played on a mile-high electric guitar , followed by a blaze of white light and an enormous KATHOOM. A rainbow colored mushroom cloud rose over the rooftops, glowing from within.

"Jamie love big boom!" somepony screamed in euphoria.

"Too bad we could only fire the small version," Spike said. "Say, is there any place we can clean up... whoa, awesome, an indoor pool! Last one in is a rotten egg!" The dragonling dispelled his armor and ran for the sunken bath. He whooped and leapt in with a cannonball, sending water splashing into the air. He surfaced a moment later, rubbing his head. "Ow. This thing's kind of shallow... and why's there a rubber ducky in here?"

"See? You're supposed to wade in with a buddy!" Bright Eyes scolded, galloping after his fellow champion.

The girls laughed. Snowcap trotted over to enlighten the two grubby boys about the proper use of the 'swimming pool;' White Dove got to her hooves and gave Nyx a little curtsy. "Shall I set out biscuits and tea, Milady?" she said.

Nyx clapped her hooves. "Oh, yes, that would be nice." She paused. "But, um, wouldn't cookies go better with tea?" She was having a difficult time picturing Rarity's tea set back home with a gravy boat. White Dove giggled and proceeded to explain the difference between cookies, biscuits, tea cakes and biscotti.

A short while later and the three children, all groomed and freshly scrubbed by the hoofmaids (which had annoyed the dragonling to no end and had left the young colt in a somewhat flustered state of mind) were seated round a tea table set for six: Nyx, Bright Eyes, and Spike... and Bilbo Burro, Smarty Pants and Sir Scorch the dragon. Cherry Blossom and White Dove had quickly taken the opportunity to turn it into a teachable moment, and began the process of instructing the new princess and the unicorn Champion in the obscure details and rituals of afternoon tea. The effectiveness of the lesson was somewhat diluted by the fact that three of the participants were plush toys... and two of the ones that weren't insisted on using the plummiest Canterlot accents they could possibly manage. "I say," Nyx drawled, "shall I top awff yoah cup, good suh?"

"Oh, rawther, yes," Bright Eyes replied, holding out his cup in his magic. Nyx levitated the teapot over and carefully filled the cup to the brim. "Thenk yaew." He took a sip. "I say, might I have anothah one of those little cookies?"

Nyx faked a scandalized gasp. "Good Suh!" She said in her frostiest, loftiest tones. "These ahhn't cookies-- theyah biscotti and tea cakes!"

Bright Eyes put a hoof to his mouth. "Oh! Drehdfully sorreh, terrible blunder..." There was a snicker from an undisclosed location.

"Quite awl right. Shall Suh Scorch or Suh Bilbo be wanting any moh?"

Bright Eyes pretended to listen to the dolls flanking him. "Oh newh, rawther not," he said with a grin. He leaned across the table. "They tell me they're quite stuffed! Aw haw haw haw!"

"Oh ho ho ho! Mistuh Eyes, you're such a card! Oh ho ho ho!"

Spike groaned and facepalmed. "If the fruity accents don't get you banished from the upper crust, the bad puns will," he grumbled.

There was an explosive snort from the direction of the royal desk. Snow Cap had retreated to the office corner and was in the midst of sorting Princess Twilight's first batch of royal correspondence. She was having a bit of trouble paying attention to her work with the three youngsters cutting up halfway across the room. A fit of giggles came from elsewhere in the open tower, as Cherry Blossom and Sea Foam set about preparing the tower for her royal Highness' return.

Nyx suddenly looked up. "Oh! Would you like to join us?" she said to the Quartet.

White Dove smiled as she put down another tray of sandwiches (Spike had snarfed down the first batch.) "Thank you Milady, but that would be improper."

Nyx frowned. "Why?"

"Because we're the servants," White Dove explained.

Sea Foam made a sound of assertion as she trotted past with a floral arrangement. "Royalty doesn't sit down to tea with the servants or the lower classes."

Nyx frowned. She didn't like the sound of that 'lower classes' thing. "But..."

"You're a Princess now, Milady," White Dove said patiently. "And Bright Eyes is a Champion, which is like a knight... and he's your royal guest. But servants are just the help. You and Spell Nexus didn't have brunch with the help when you were Queen, did you?"

Nyx's frown deepened. "Nnno," she admitted reluctantly. "But Spell Nexus and I were the bad guys. We were being jerks!" This made no sense; was she supposed to be like... like that, now?

"Okay, bad example," Sea Foam admitted as she set the flowers up. "But Celestia and Luna don't either, do they? Nobles and royalty only associate with nobles and royalty. Servants are one class, nobles and princes and princesses and such are another."

"But why?" Nyx insisted.

White Dove sighed and shook her head. It was difficult explaining the obvious.  "It's just... some classes of ponies are just better than others. It's just the way it is," she said gently. She trotted off to fill the teapot.

Cherry Blossom trotted past, a stack of towels on her back. She noticed the distressed look on Nyx's face and paused by the tea table, leaning in to speak under her breath. "Don't let her get you down," she said with a conspiratorial grin. "White Dove is always overstating things. Just think of it like this for now: if you go to a restaurant with your mother, does the waiter sit down and have dinner with you?"

"No," Nyx scoffed. "Of course not."

"Exactly. We're like the waiter; it's our job to be running about and taking orders while everyone else is having tea."

Nyx seized on the obvious loophole. "Oh, you have to take orders?" She pointed an imperious little hoof at an empty space at the table. "Then I royally order you to sit down and have tea with us," she said loftily.

Cherry Blossom grinned, and booped Nyx on the nose. "Nice try, Milady," she chuckled. "Try again in a few years." She trotted off with the towels while Nyx puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

"Um, excuse me, I have to go to the little colt's room?" Bright Eyes said shyly. "Too much tea."

"Oh, um.." Nyx looked around. They'd put the bath down on the main floor, now where'd they put the other important bits of plumbing?

"Second balcony, up the stairs on the left," Snow Cap called out. Bright Eyes nodded gratefully and galloped for his relief. There was a tiny thunder of hooves up the stairs and the sound of a slamming door. The Quartet all giggled. "Hard to believe that little fellow is a Champion of the Crystal Empire," Snow Cap said.

"Tell me about it," Spike said sarcastically, resting his chin in his hand. "I have to cope with the fact that my battle partner still plays with dolls." He looked at Nyx. "The school bullies still pick on him, too. What happened to the tough colt who took on a pack of Diamond Dogs and rode a dragon into battle?"

"It's not like he can blast them in the face with the Rainbow Cannon," Nyx said sarcastically. She took a moment to relish the mental image of Diamond Tiara and her cronies hurtling skyward on a rainbow blast wave. She waved Spike's comment off dismissively. "He may be all tough when he's running around with you, but he's all sweet and sensitive and vulnerable with me when we get his armor off. ...What?" she demanded, as the four hoofmaids broke into explosive snickers. Spike facepalmed. "Whaaaat? What did I say?" Nyx looked around, baffled.

Before any innocence-diminishing information could be imparted, the front door opened. Twilight Sparkle came tottering in. "Good grief," she muttered to noone in particular. "I wasn't this glad to get back home in one piece after the dragons attacked..."

"Mom!" Nyx hopped to her hooves and galloped over to give her mother a welcome-home nuzzle. Twilight accepted it gratefully. "Was it a busy day in court?"

"You might say that," Twilight said. "Hundreds of ponies coming to Court to ask for royal intervention in the most ridiculous things... meetings with the military, the Weather Bureau, the press... dozens of petitions on everything from Apples to Zebras. Most of it is just planning on who Celestia, Luna and I will talk to. There's one group petitioning for royal funding for the Crystal Empire Scrying Crystal, another petitioning to have the technology obstructed...Just countless miles of official claptrap..."

"Oh yeah," Spike said, getting up. "That reminds me. I'm glad you're back, Twi-- I got a bunch of mail for you." He took a deep breath.

"Huh?" said Nyx. "But you haven't burped a letter all d-"

BWWUUUUUURRURRRRRRRRRRRRR

"Good night!" Twilight yelped. "What on--"

UURRRARRARRARARRRARRARRRRR

"Oh, that is just--"

HHHHUUAAAAAAAARRARARRRPPPP!!

The gout of green flame ceased. The cloud of purple sparkling smoke dispersed, and a good dozen or so scrolls came tumbling down to the floor. Spike gave a sigh of satisfaction and scratched himself.

"Whoa," Bright Eyes said from the upstairs balcony. "That was awesome, Spike!" Spike grinned and gave the crystal colt a thumbs up.

"Boys." Nyx rolled her eyes.

"Spike... what...?" Twilight said, aghast.

"Princess Celestia made some modifications to my fire-teleport spell," Spike explained. "I can put stuff into a sort of 'hold' box now and pull them back out later. No more accidentally raining stuff on Celestia's head anymore."

"All these scrolls in one day?" Twilight said in disbelief.

"The castle mailroom forwards all your stuff to me now," Spike said. Everypony began picking up the scrolls and sorting them out. Nyx picked up one with an undone seal. She read it and began having a fit of giggles.

"What is it, Nyx?" Twilight asked.

"It's a note from Miss Cheerilee, but I think you've already got it handled," Nyx said. She passed the scroll over to Twilight. Twilight hefted it in her magic and skimmed it.

"Why, what's it for?" She asked.

Nyx giggled louder. "It's a reminder that next Friday is 'take your foal to work day,' " she said.

Twilight sighed. "That's certainly going to be interesting. Oh, look-- one from your grandparents!" She cracked open the seal on the scroll and scanned down it. "I wonder what's...." Her half smile disappeared as she scanned down the letter, to be replaced with an expression of confusion, then disbelief, then horror. Spike and Nyx felt themselves growing alarmed.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Spike asked apprehensively.

"This... no this can't be right. This can't be true! It can't be!"

"Mom...?" Nyx said, a little shakily. This was getting frightening.

Twilight seemed to realize how badly she was frightening her adoptive son and daughter and snapped out of it. "Nothing I can't fix, sweetheart," she said firmly. "Girls, would you mind watching over the children while I go attend to something?"

"Of course, your Majesty," Cherry Blossom said, as the four bowed. "But where are you going?"

"I'm going to go speak to my parents," Twilight said, turning around and heading to the door. She threw it open with a wave of her horn and marched out into the palace. "And then I'm going to have a little meeting with Prince Blueblood and his family!"

1)Two words: heated seat.