The Coronation went off without a hitch.

No. Seriously. It did.

The decorations were beautiful. The great hall was packed to capacity. The fanfare, the trumpets, the six princesses in their elegant white dresses, manes and tails bedecked with flowers(1), had paraded in step gracefully down the aisle(2) to accept their tiaras. All of their families were in the first rows; tears of pride and joy in every eye. The traditional parade down the main thoroughfare of Canterlot was a glorious spectacle as well, all six princesses were showered with streamers and rose petals by their adoring, if somewhat overwhelmed, public. It was an event that would be remembered for centuries after as one of the most glorious and extravagant events in Canterlot history.

Getting everything set up for it had been far more eventful.

The previous week...

The mane six were at the train station, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Royal Express. Celestia and Luna had arranged for  their families to be in Canterlot for the coronation, and the train ride was the last leg of the journey for all of them. The girls were all at the station, more or less incognito,(3) all but hopping with a blend of excitement, eagerness and nervousness.

The train-- a special engine, built exclusively for royal business--- pulled into the station in a cloud of steam at twelve on the dot. It was midnight blue with gold filigree, and symbols of the sun and moon prominent on the engine and every car. Guards could be seen on every car through the faintly tinted windows.

The first to disembark was, surprisingly, Spike. He was carrying Peewee and Owlowiscious on his shoulders. He immediately waddled over to Twilight and caught her in a hug, dislodging the two birds. "Twilight! I am so glad to see you!"

"Spike!" Twilight crowed, returning his hug enthusiastically. The baby dragon burped and winced, looking a little queasy. "Urf, not so tight," he said. "I kinda over-ate on the trip."

"What? You did?" Twilight frowned.

"He never could resist my ruby chip cookies," somepony said. Twilight looked up to see her mother and father stepping down out of the train, her mother carrying an obviously depleted picnic basket on her back. They all quickly mobbed in a group hug.

"Oh Twily, it's so good to see you," Velvet said, her eyes shining. "And..." she took in Twilight's carefully tucked-in wings. "My daughter an alicorn princess! I knew you had incredible things in your future, but this!..."

"I bet your brother's fit to be tied," chuckled Night Light. "He here yet?"

Twilight nodded. "He and Cadence arrived by balloon earlier today..."

The next car down disgorged a familiar trio: Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and an exuberant Applebloom who was so excited she was bouncing like a superball. The yellow filly hit Applejack at a dead run, nearly bowling her over. Her big brother and grandmother followed at a more sedate pace. They were followed off the car by several more ponies with apple-themed cutie marks. And they were followed by several more. And several more after that....

"Apple Butter? Apple Brown Betty? Caramel Apple? Apple Sauce? Apple Dumplin'? Golden Delicious? Honeycrisp? Braeburn? Babs Seed? Red Delicious? Apple Tart? Great gumption, did the whole apple clan show up for this?" Applejack said, overwhelmed.

"Pritnear," Granny Smith cackled. "An' the Oranges are in the next car!... ooh, thankye, sonny," the Apple matriarch said to one of the Guards; he had appeared carrying her walker. He handed it to her with a bow and returned to his post.

Applejack couldn't help noticing that Granny looked tired under all her good cheer, or that she was walking more slowly than usual, favoring her bad hip.(4) For the first time Applejack saw the world through Celestia and Luna's eyes. Through the eyes of an alicorn.  Blessed with long, full lives and time in abundance-- forced to watch as their loved ones disappeared like mayflies, devoured by pain and sickness and debilitation. Their fate; Her fate, now.

Which is just? To kill, or to heal? To do harm, or to do good?

What risks would you take, what Hell would you dare march into, to buy back the years which were robbed from her?

...It would be a terrible wickedness... to not relieve the suffering of others....

Nature is change. It always has been. And it starts when we decide.

Hold on, Granny, Applejack thought. Just a little longer. So help me you'll be runnin' through the orchards with your great great great grandfoals, if'n I have anything at all to say about it.

Rarity's family could be seen disembarking in the midst of the crowd; they peeled away from the mob of Apples and joined the fashionista, trading hugs and nuzzles. Sweetiebelle was there, and like Applebloom was wound like a watchspring. Every sentence she spoke was practically nothing but a sequence of high pitched squeaks.

Further down the track, a much smaller reunion was taking place. a teal pegasus stallion with a rainbow tail and mane was cautiously descending the steps from the car. He was stocky, with that slightly sagging, heavy bellied build of a former high school athlete-- still hale but, as one might kindly put it, obviously past his prime. He looked around the station apprehensively.

Rainbow Dash saw him. "Dad! Over here!!" She galloped to meet him, beaming.

The older stallion looked up and saw her coming. His face lit up with a smile, twenty years seemed to fall away. "There's my little Rainbow !" They hugged exuberantly. He backed up a step, grinning. "Let me get a look at--" He paused, eyes crossing slightly as he looked at her new horn. "Hmm. That's gonna take some getting used to," he muttered.

"Tell me about it," Dash said, blowing a lock of her mane out of her face. "Didja have a good trip?"

"Heh, yeah," her father said with a laugh. "You should see the inside of the train. Swan-kee. And I had somepony to keep me company, too." At this, a familiar orange pegasus filly with a purple mane came buzzing out of the train car.

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo jumped off the bottom step and caught air, flying in a wobbly arc to where the two technicolor ponies were standing. She landed with a fourfooted ker-klop in front of her idol, practically vibrating in glee. "Omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh!" She squealed. "I can't believe it! You're really really REALLY an alicorn? Omigosh omigosh omigosh, like a hundred and twenty percent cooler! And... and you invited... me... to be at your crowning thingy..." At this last part the filly actually teared up.

Spectrum Blitz chuckled at the filly. "You shoulda seen her face when we stopped in Ponyville to pick her up. Thought she was gonna faint before they got her on the train." He grinned down at the little filly. "Spent the whole ride telling her all my stories about you when you were her age..."

At this Rainbow Dash turned a little green. "Oh jeez. All of them??" She sidled closer to him. She shot a look around her to make sure nopony was close. "Even the.... 'Iddle Binky' story?"

Spectrum Blitz chuckled even more. "Especially the Iddle Binky story," he said. Rainbow Dash's groan of despair only made him laugh louder.

Scootaloo for her part seemed oblivious to the mention of Iddle Binky. "Wow, so this is really happening! So when do you start flying with the Wonderbolts, huh? Now they just gotta let you in. Did they get you your flight suit yet? When's your first performance---"

"Hey wait wait wait," Rainbow Dash said. "The Wonderbolts? What---" it sunk in what Scootaloo was saying. Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head with one hoof. "Oh. That." She cleared her throat. "Um... it doesn't look like I'm gonna be in the Wonderbolts, Scoot. Um. Ever."

Scootaloo stopped in mid flutter-hop and thunked to the ground. The look on her face was like she'd just been told Saturdays had been cancelled forever and that the only flavor of ice cream in the world was now brussels sprouts. "Whaaaat?"

Rainbow Dash gave a crooked grin. "YYYeah. I'm a Princess now. So they kinda work for me, now. And... it'd look wrong if I was flying around as one of them. Like I'd bought my way in with my crown, or something."  Besides, irony of ironies, she was an alicorn--- she was too good, now. She was stronger, faster, tougher and more agile than even the best of the Wonderbolts now, by a ridiculous margin. A quick day of trials at the Wonderbolts training camp had proven that. The wonderbolts were a team, and even if she magically disguised herself she stuck out too far. She'd either have to fly at a fraction of her ability, or she'd have endangered her teammates with her sheer speed and power.(5)

That had been a bitter pill to swallow indeed. Dash had moped for two whole days after that. She'd maybe even cried a little. A little. When she was alone. Maybe. Aw heck, she'd bawled her stupid eyes out.

As it was, it looked like Scootaloo was about to burst into tears herself. "You're never gonna be a Wonderbolt?" she quavered. "Never?"

Immediately Rainbow Dash threw a wing around her and pulled her in for a hug. "Hey, hey, hey, it's not so bad. Really! Besides--" she looked around, then whispered in the filly's ear, "Wait'll I show you the compensation prize I get." Scootaloo's teary expression gave way for a mystified one.

Twilight Sparkle came over at that moment, Spike at her side, Owlowiscious and Peewee perched on her back. "Say Rainbow," she said. "Has Fluttershy's family made an appearance yet?" She peered over Dash's shoulder to where the butter-yellow alicorn stood meekly waiting.

Dash looked around. "Nah, I don't see 'em yet." She chuckled. "Believe me, you'll know 'em when you see 'em."

Rarity wandered over and joined them. "I couldn't help overhearing, darlings. I must say I am rather curious to see what her parents are like; she rarely talks about them." She paused thoughtfully. "Though granted she rarely talks at all, but still..."

Scootaloo giggled. "I bet her dad's real big and loud," she said, thinking of her own father. "A real big loud muscle-y type."

"Nah, no way," Spike said. "I bet it's her MOM that's big and loud. Like the fat lady in the opera."

"Spike...!" Twilight scolded.

"Well?" Spike cocked an eyebrow, arms folded.

Twilight relented. "It's almost sort of expected, isn't it." She looked at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, you've known her longest..."

Rainbow Dash shook her head."Oh no, I'm not spillin' anything," she said with a smirk. "You ponies will just have to wait and see for yourselves."

Several other ponyvillians in the crowd had gravitated to the conversation. "I hope they're nice," Sweetiebelle said. "It'd be awful if they weren't, and that was the reason she's so shy.." the other cutie mark crusaders nodded.

"Well, I hate to say it," Twilight murmured, "but the way Fluttershy is, I get the feeling she had a... very demanding upbringing... probably very strict and heavy-hoofed parents." she eyed Rainbow Dash, waiting for a reaction. The rainbow-maned pegasus kept her poker face.(6) "Anyway, simple common sense and standard narrative tropes dictate that at least one member of her immediate family is loud, boisterous, rambunctious and extroverted, as justification for why she herself is so introverted and shy."

"Five bits says it's the Dad who's the loud one," Applejack said.

"My money's on the mother," Big Macintosh murmured. "it's allus the womenfolk in the family..." he made no further explanation. Applejack shot him a funny look but said nothing.

"Ah bet she has a whole big family of big loud types," Applebloom said.

"I think the poor dear comes from a broken home," Rarity said. She could never resist succumbing to a romantically tragic fantasy.

"Oh I want in on this action," somepony said. Bits and bets soon started exchanging hooves; somehow Pinkie Pie ended up holding the hat for all the wagers.

Everypony saw Fluttershy brighten and start trotting toward the train. "Shh shh shh! Here they come," somepony else whispered. Every pony on the boardwalk fell silent, leaning forward and waiting with bated breath for Fluttershy's parents to step down off the train. Everyone held their breath... then everyone blinked. And blinked again.

The first pony to appear was...a butter yellow pegasus mare with a flowing pink mane and tail. She was wearing a sun hat, shades, and a pair of saddlebags with a potted flower sticking out of them. Her mane was done up in a loose bun on the back of her neck, and her cutie mark was of three blooming flowers, but otherwise she was almost indistinguishable from Fluttershy.(7) "Flutters!" she called in delight.... in a tiny, whispery voice that rivaled Fluttershy's own.

"Mommy!" Fluttershy said, running forward to nuzzle with her. After a moment she stepped back, looking apprehensive. "Could Daddy make it? I.. I know he's awful busy at work..."

"For this? He wouldn't miss it for the world," her mother said. "Honey?" She looked back into the train car. "Are you there?"

The crowd on the platform waited with bated breath. This was it.

Right behind Fluttershy's mother was... a butter yellow pegasus stallion with a pink mane and tail. He was wearing a bow tie, and his cutie mark was of three white puffs of cloud. He disembarked with a sheepish smile. "Hello, baby doll," he said in a (you guessed it) soft, meek voice. "Give us a hug?..." he paused. "... If you don't mind, that is..."

Fluttershy giggled and gave him a hug and a nose-nuzzle. Both their noses squeaked. (8)  "Oh, and your brother came too, of course--"

"Okay, this has gotta be it," Applebloom said. Everypony held their breath and leaned forward again.

Fluttershy looked behind her father. "Oh, my," she said, surprised. "Hello, little brother. MY, how you've grown." Out of the shadows of the train stairwell stepped--

--A butter yellow pegasus colt with a pink mane. He regarded the crowd out on the platform with wide, fawn-like eyes, then ducked behind his father, blushing...

SweetieBelle stood on her friends' shoulders. "OH COME ON!" she yelled. Rainbow Dash fell to the floor, laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.

"Well, that's that," Pinkie said. "Looks like Babs wins the pot. She bet on 'just like her family...'

Babs took the hatful of bits and hoof-pumped. "Yeah!" She said, giving Applebloom a hoof-bump. "Ice cream's on me, Crusaders!"

Fluttershy jumped--- actually, her whole family jumped-- and turned around. "Oh! Um, everyone? This is my family." Her nose crinkled. "This is my mother, Rose Petal-- she's Cloudsdale's best botanist and gardener."

"Um, hello?" the older mare said, hiding a bit behind the brim of her hat."Actually, I'm the only botanist and gardener in Cloudsdale..."

"And this is my father, Gossamer Cloud," Fluttershy continued. "He's a cloud sculptor and architect." The pegasus stallion grinned awkwardly at everyone.

"Botany? In Cloudsdale? Interesting," Twilight said. "How do you grow anything, though?"

"Hydroponics, actually," Rose Petal said. Her cheeks turned pink.(9) "It's how her father and I met," she said. "I wanted some way to grow flowers in Cloudsdale so badly, and he--"

"And I, ah, came up with a way to do it," Gossamer Cloud said, a hint of pride in his quiet voice. "Just thicken the clouds, mix in some plant food, and the flowers will get their food and water right out of the cloud."

"Interesting," Twilight said, even as she quietly made note to keep a lookout for any discolored rainclouds in the future.

"And my baby brother Breezy Shy, but we all call him Bishi for short," Fluttershy said. "Come on out and say hi, Bishi." She nosed the reluctant colt out from behind her father.

'Bishi' stumbled out into the open, blinking awkwardly. There was no other word for it: the colt was pretty. He had the same flowing mane and tail as his older sister, the same large dewy wet eyes, and once he'd caught his balance he was every bit as graceful as his older sister. He had no cutie mark, and had a peachy-soft look to him nopony could fail to notice. He was so girly and sweet looking he practically sparkled.

He found himself staring at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The four blank flank fillies stared back.  He brightened up and smiled. "Oh, there are some pretty girls here in Canterlot!" He blurted out. He seemingly realized he'd said that aloud and turned bright red, curling up on himself and batting his ebony lashes.

"Oh! Now Bishi, that was very forward of you," Rose Petal scolded with a voice as harsh as cotton swabs. "Now apologize."

"I'm sorry," Bishi said, his blush spreading up his face and down his neck.

"Oh my," Fluttershy said. "You'll have to forgive him. He can be very brash and straightforward..."

The four girls got the strangest expressions on their faces. It took a moment for the older siblings and Dash to place it; it was alarmingly similar to the look they'd gotten the time Pinkie Pie had plunked a jumbo triple-decker chocolate sundae in front of the four them and handed each one a spoon.  Dang, Applejack thought. They look like they're about to ask where the whipped cream is. Applebloom looked up at her sister. "Can we keep him?" she asked, her eyes sparkling and an alarming grin on her face.

"Say what?" Applejack said, cocking an eyebrow. And smirking.

Applebloom realized what she said. her cheeks bloomed red. "Ah, I, ah, meant can we take him.... To... the ice cream shop in the station! Yeah. Um, to.. get to know him better. And. Stuff. Babs, you're still buyin' right?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," the city filly said, not taking her eyes off the shy colt.

Sweetiebelle looked at Bishi's mother. "If that's all right with you...?" she asked, her own grin framed by powder pink cheeks.

"Oh, um, I suppose...?"

"Great!" The quartet of fillies immediately surrounded the hapless pegasus colt. "C'mon, Let's go..." They herded him down the station platform, giggling; he looked back over their heads at the crowd of grownups, confusion and alarm plain on his face. The last they heard was a bewildered, Fluttershy-like "squeak" before the group vanished around the corner.

The mane six and their families watched them go; most of them didn't know whether to "squee" at the cuteness or laugh their flanks off at the colt's bewilderment. Twilight chuckled and tossed Spike a couple of bits. "Do us all a favor, Spike," she said. "Go follow them and make sure poor Bishi doesn't end up like Smarty Pants almost did. If they ask, you're just buying a ginger pop to settle your stomach."

"Can do, Twilight," Spike said, saluting. He waddled off after the foals.

Twilight shook her head and looked over at Pinkie Pie. The pink alicorn was looking at the train with a certain wistfulness; her mane hadn't gone flat, but it was looking rather droopy. "Is everything all right, Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie smiled and shook her head. "I'm okay, Twilight," she said. "I... I kind of hoped my family would come, too, but I guess--"

"Pinkamena?"

Pinkie turned. Standing on the platform was  a quartet of ponies; a tan stallion with a gray mane, a gray mare with her mane in a bun, a shawl and granny spectacles on her nose, and two younger mares Pinkie's own age-- one blue-gray with a light gray mane, one light gray with a dark mane. The one in the granny glasses had a box balanced across her back. All four of them had an apprehensive look in their eyes.

"Pinkamena, is that you?" the older mare said again.

"Don't know as who else it could be with that mane and cutie mark, Mother," the stallion said, doffing his pilgrim hat. His face was worried and careworn, but he smiled at Pinkie all the same.

Pinkie's eyes started to water. "You came...?"

Her father nodded. "I reckon we did," he said laconically.

There was a sound like the crack of thunder. The windows in the old farm house rattled like castanets. There was a loud "Boom" as something struck the ground outside hard enough to form a crater ten feet wide. Clyde warily opened the door a crack and peeked out, pitchfork at the ready.

Standing on the front porch, shaking the gravel off her hooves was a snow white alicorn mare with a fashionably styled purple mane and tail. She dusted off the hem of her elegant gown, primped her hair and kicked the door open with one dainty hoof, sending the pony behind it flying.

"HEL-lo, Mister Pie," she said, stepping through the door and addressing the prone rock farmer sprawled against the far wall with a smile as dazzling as her sapphire earrings. "My name is Princess Rarity. (Oh I do love saying that! Hee!) I'm here to let you know that you and your family are cordially invited to the royal coronation of the Princesses of Harmony, including the coronation of your own wonderful daughter Princess Pinkamena Pie."

The elegant and vaguely terrifying mare stepped into the middle of the room. "Oh do come out, everypony, there's no need to be uncivilized." Slowly the rest of the family came out from behind the overturned furniture where they had taken cover. "There, you see? I just want you to know that dear Pinkamena harbors no ill will, in fact nothing would make her happier than to see you there on her very special day.

"And nothing would make her unhappier than if her family were to SHUN her and not make an appearance." The mare stuck out a pouty lip. "And if poor Pinkie were to be unhappy...

"That would make the rest of us... very... VERY.... UPSET!" Lightning crashed outside. Eldritch lightning crackled down the alicorn's horn and sprayed from her mantled wings, throwing the shadows of the room into high relief. After a few moments the sizzling lightning faded away. The alicorn minced over to the rough-cut dining room table and laid a stack of train tickets out in a neat little fan. "Those are your train tickets; Clyde, Sue, Inky and Blinky I believe? Yes. The Royal Express will be by the local train station on the time and date listed, do be there. Come as you are. Oh, and don't worry about accommodations, they have guest rooms at the palace. Ta!"

With that, she gracefully stepped out of the house and leapt into the sky, leaving the rock farming family to mop the puddles on their floor, look over their tickets, and memorize the date and time VERY carefully.

She never even noticed the four other hoofprint-bottomed impact craters scattered around the farmstead...

"We, uh, kind of got the hint we should come," one of her sisters said.

Pinkie took a step toward them. "...I thought you didn't want anything to do with me--- because of the Jinx," she said. "That's why you sent me away..."

Her father looked pained. "I reckon it's our fault you thought that," he said.

"We sent you away to protect you, Pinkamena,"  her mother said. "Folks knew the Jinx ran in our family. They left us alone so long as they thought nopony in our family had it anymore, but once we saw it in you... we sent you someplace we thought you'd be safe from... that kind of cruelty." She huffed. "Ponyville's always been a harbor for odd doin's, even before all this Nightmare-- Elements-- Discord-- whatever business. We figured the Jinx wouldn't be so obvious there."

"B-but the invitation?"

Her sisters looked like they were ready to cry themselves. "We didn't respond to your invitation because you're a princess now," Inky said. "We were afraid that if anyone knew you were related to a bunch of dusty old rock farmers, they'd use it against you."

"Especially if they knew it was a bunch of Jinxed rock farmers..." Blinky added.

That did it. Pinkie started gushing tears. She all but flung herself at her family, catching them all in a bear hug. "I don't care if you're a bunch of dusty old rock farmers," she sobbed. "You're MY dusty old rock farmers, and if anypony doesn't like that they can bite my plot!"

"Pinkamena! Mind your language," Sue Pie scolded. "You're a princess now--!"

"Don't care!"

A minute or two passed with a great number of tears among the family, and more than a few hankies among the watchers on the platform. Pinkie sniffled. "And-- aren't you scared now.... cause I'm an alicorn now, and all magicky and stuff...?"

"Right out of my britches,"(10) Clyde confessed. "But... I reckon we can learn to cope..."

"Well you don't need to be," Twilight said, stepping up. "Pinkie isn't 'Jinxed', Mr and Mrs. Pie. She's just got a very unusual and very special gift... Luck Magic. And Princess Luna herself has taken her as her own personal pupil, so that she can learn how to use it better."

"Well, that's.... good," Clyde said. He carefully refrained from noting that his daughter was receiving magical instruction from the former Nightmare Moon. Well, one can't have everything perfect in this world, he reflected. I guess ifn you don't want somepony to go down a bad road, you could do worse for guidance than somepony what had done seen the elephant... He looked at Twilight seriously. "Thank you all for looking after my little filly," he said. "And," he added under his breath, "For scarin' a little common sense into us..."

Twilight and the others did their best to look innocent.(11)

"Oh, Pinkie!" Inky took the box her mother had been carrying. "We baked you a surprise. Your favorites!"

Pinkie gasped. "For me?" She tore open the box; nestled inside were two dozen dark chocolate cupcakes with bright red frosting. "Oh you guys-- you remembered! Twilight, you gotta try one, these are my Mom's special recipe!"

Twilight smiled. "Well... Pinkie's the best darn baker in Ponyville. It'd be foolish to pass up a cupcake made by the pony that taught her..." she plucked a single cupcake out of the box and popped it in her mouth. "Mmm, rich and moist---"

Her eyes suddenly started gushing tears. Her cheeks bulged, her face turned brilliant red. She leapt into the air, hooves flailing, as her mane burst into flame. She hit the ground running and vanished around the corner--- presumably headed for the ice cream parlor and hopeful relief from the flames. They heard her howl in the distance.

"Gee," said Inky. "I guess she doesn't like Tabasco frosting."

"Yeah," said Blinky, grabbing a cupcake herself and chewing. "Go figure."

1)the dour moon princess had complained that "it looked like some ancient pagan fertility ritual." Till both Rarity and Fluttershy had given her a double barreled dose of the Sad Puppy Dog Eyes. The flowers stayed.

2)Yes, even Pinkie Pie. Rarity had even managed to give her a hairdo-- her mane cascading down one side of her neck in a waterfall of curls. It actually lasted through the whole ceremony.

3)Which for six alicorn mares generally meant leaving behind all the royal jewelry and most of the guards, and covering either their horns or their wings. Hats or saddlebags were de rigeur whenever they went out these days. Of course even that was overkill sometimes; it was surprising how long it took some ponies to notice they had both wings and horns. Of course the fact that they weren't twice as tall as everypony else and their manes and tails didn't flow in nonexistent breezes helped a bit, too...

4)The first thing Applejack had put on her schedule was an appointment with the royal surgeons, right after the coronation. Granny wasn't going back home till she had that new hip, doggone it, if Applejack had to hog tie her and deliver her to the doctors herself.

5)Picture a team of WWII flying tigers trying to incorporate an F-15 in their group.

6)It was a lousy poker face. It consisted of her biting her lip and holding her breath, looking like she was about to explode.

7)Well, and the horn. But you knew about that.

8)Three guards promptly collapsed from insulin shock.

9)And there went five more.

10)He didn't own any britches, but that's just quibbling.

11)And failed miserably. Next Chapter: Chapter 6 Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 23 Minutes