“Night Light! Night Light, damn it, wait up for a second!”

The words fell on deaf ears. Night Light was in full gallop, his one over-riding thought being to find Princess Celestia, immediately. He had no idea what had happened to him, or how, or why, but Celestia would know. She’d have to know. She’d have to have answers. In all likelihood she herself was probably central to them. It was the only thing that made even the tiniest amount of sense.

His magic had turned gold.

His eyes were glowing gold.

And not just any gold. The exact same shade of gold as Celestia’s personal magic aura. The same shade of gold that she had stripped him with, guided him with, grown him with, groped him with, on four separate occasions now. She’d always peeled the magic away in the end, of course, but… had she accidentally left something of it inside him this time? Was it dangerous, whatever it was? And more importantly, would she be able to fix it? Or was he going to be stuck like this for a while? Possibly a long while? Maybe even for life?

No, no, that was silly, Celestia wouldn’t do something like that to him, she wouldn’t risk permanently affecting anypony like that. He didn’t think it was possible for her to cast an irreversible spell. And whatever had happened, it certainly didn’t seem harmful. There had to be a perfectly simple, reasonable explanation, and an equally simple and reasonable solution…

“Night Light, I swear to Tartarus, if you don’t wait up, I’m going to kick your flank!”

Night Light stumbled to a halt just in front of his destination, the massive double doors that led into the castle’s throne room, and glanced behind him at the distant voice that had finally managed to register in his ears. At the other end of the hall his eyes found a panting, gasping Twilight Velvet sprinting toward him, and then jogging, then trotting, and then nearly collapsing against his chest as she finally reached him.

“Velvet? What are you doing?” Night Light wondered aloud. “You should be back at work.”

“Screw work… this is… an emergency…” she gasped. “Holy buck, you’re fast…”

“Emergency?” Night Light tensed up. “Do you know what… what this is?”

“I have an idea,” Velvet nodded frantically. “I’m not completely certain, but--”

Unfortunately for Night Light, she was cut off just then by the throne room doors being thrown open from the inside and a familiar, tired-looking bat-pony stepped out toward them.

“What the buck is all the yelling out here about--? Oh, Lighty, hey!” Pommel’s annoyed glare swiftly brightened. “You here to relieve me personally? Don’t mind if I buckin’ do!”

Night Light blinked confusedly for a moment. “What? No, Pommel--”

“And Velvet too? Damn, Lighty, you start bringing in conjugal visits on duty and the rest of us are gonna have no choice but to follow your example. Which I’m totally in favor of, by the way, so… hint-ity-hint-hint.”

Night Light groaned deep in his throat. Pommel might have been his best friend, but his crude humor was the last thing he needed right now. “I’m not here to relieve you, smartass,” he answered. “I need to--”

“Holy horseapples, dude, what’s up with your face?” Pommel interrupted him again. “Did you know your eyes are freaking glowing?”

“Yeah, I noticed,” he said in a rush. “That’s why I’m here, I need to speak with Princess Celestia about… about this.”

“Celestia? What does she have to do with anything?”

“It’s… nnhhh…” Night Light blushed, glancing around to make sure nopony else was in earshot beyond the three of them before continuing, and lowered his voice regardless. “It isn’t just my eyes, it’s my magic, too. It’s gold instead of blue suddenly. I think it might have something to do with Celestia’s magic, it’s the same color as hers…”

Pommel raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure that?”

“Because, I… she was using it on me, when I was… with her, last night, and--”

“Whoa, seriously?” Pommel interrupted with a grin. “No wonder she wasn’t around at all last night. How’d that go?”

“None of your business!” Night Light growled.

“Jeez, okay!” Pommel shrunk back a bit. “Just asking, damn. Can’t blame a guy for being curious. Least you coulda done though is let me know at the bar there’d be nopony to guard last night so I coulda gone back to sleep.”

“Nnhhh, Pommel, I swear, you are the laziest pony…”

“Wait, hang on, last night? I thought you went home with Velvet last ni--”

Pommel abruptly stopped mid-sentence under the death glare Twilight Velvet leveled at him before he could finish, gulping slightly and putting up a shaky smile. “…Uh, you know what, never mind. I’m shutting up now.”

“Thank you,” Night Light sighed, not failing to notice Velvet’s obvious anger. This was turning into an even more sore subject than he’d feared. Something was pushing her well beyond her earlier acceptance of the issue, and there was no way things were going to continue as they were without some kind of change. He had no idea what that change would be exactly, but regardless, they’d have a lot to talk about once this magic anomaly business was dealt with. Him, Velvet, and Celestia.

Speaking of whom…

Night Light craned his neck over Pommel’s shoulder, looking toward the throne room. “So can we go inside, please? We need to speak to Celestia, urgently.”

“Uh… sorry guys, you actually just missed her,” Pommel admitted, moving aside and revealing the empty throne at the back of the room.

“Just missed her?!” Velvet burst out. “Where the hay did she go?!”

“Back to her personal quarters, I think,” Pommel said. “She came in to raise the sun, and then said she was still feeling tired and left again. She actually looked pretty distracted, come to think of it…”

Velvet spun away from Pommel and stared straight at Night Light. “Take me there.”

Night Light hesitated for the briefest of moments. “Velvet, I can handle this, you should really get back to work before--urk!”

Velvet grabbed him in one hoof by his horn, cutting him off and yanking his face forward until it was pressed muzzle-to-muzzle with hers.

“Take me there. Now.”

Night Light gulped. Goddess above, that was a really difficult tone of voice to argue with.

“Psst. Lighty. This is where you smile and nod and say ‘Yes, dear.’”

“Shut up, Pommel.”

Velvet ignored the exchange entirely, staring at Night Light expectantly even as she released her grip on his horn. It was obvious she wasn’t going to budge on this. She had a bone to pick, and clearly Celestia was going to be on the receiving end of it. Not after work. Not after his magic issue was addressed. Right now.

Well. At least he wouldn’t be stressing it for the rest of mating season, Night Light thought with a humorless internal chuckle.

“Fine,” he finally said out loud. “Come on, it’s this way.”

Velvet nodded, falling in step behind him, and against his better judgment, Night Light led her away from the throne room and toward Celestia’s tower.

“Hey, what about my relief?!” Pommel shouted after them. “I’ve got beauty sleep to catch up on!”

Neither of them bothered to respond.

A few minutes later they reached the top of the castle’s tallest tower, facing the doors of Princess Celestia’s private quarters. The night shift guards had of course been dismissed long ago, and the day shift hadn’t quite arrived yet, and so there was nopony to impede them as Night Light tentatively knocked on the door.

“Uh… Princess Celestia?” he called out hesitantly. “It… it’s Night Light. I… I need to speak with you, please, it’s urgent.”

There was a long few moments of silence, and briefly Night Light recalled what Pommel had said, that the Princess had claimed tiredness and seemed distracted before returning to her room. Was that simply normal estrus symptoms? It had taken him three days to knock it out of her last week, it was possible she was still feeling it today. Or, on the other hoof, perhaps she was upset, Night Light realized with a sinking feeling in his gut. Upset that he had snuck out of her room without a word before she even woke, and left her alone. He hadn’t worried much about it at the time, he’d been so focused on setting things right with Velvet, but now it made him hang his head in shame just thinking about it…

There was another few moments of silence, during which Velvet had set her face into a bit of a snarl and looked ready to pound on the door herself, but the door swung open on its own before she could, and Princess Celestia stood in the doorway to greet them.

“Good morning, Captain,” she said rather formally to Night Light, who couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes just yet. “And… Twilight Velvet?” she added curiously upon noticing the other mare. “What brings you to my chambers this morning?”

“I wanna know what the buck you did to my stallion!” she barked immediately.

Celestia understandably jolted and recoiled just the tiniest bit at the outburst, clearly unused to hearing ponies speak to her with such ferocity. “I… beg your pardon? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about this!” Velvet shouted, jabbing an emphatic hoof in the direction of Night Light’s face. Night Light could feel Celestia’s gaze turning toward him in response, an unspoken question on her lips, and finally he forced himself to lift his head and return her stare. The glow in his eyes was still quite visible even in full daylight, and he allowed his magic to flicker to life as well, just for good measure, further illuminating the tower hallway with its golden magical light which now mirrored that of his Princess.

Celestia’s own eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and her lungs sucked in an equally tiny gasp as she looked over the new change in her Guard Captain. For a moment he could almost see her brain scrambling to process what she was seeing, to figure out exactly what it meant, and to come up with the answer that Night Light prayed she would have.

“Ponyfeathers…” she muttered under her breath at last, an embarrassed blush suddenly blooming across her muzzle before she spoke up again. “…Please, come inside, both of you.”

Night Light was all too eager to comply, trotting swiftly into her room once more. Velvet tailed close behind and spun to face the Princess again as soon as she was seated in the center of the room, the harsh glare on her face not budging. Celestia meanwhile closed and locked the door behind them, and to her credit did not flinch again when she turned and met the anger in Velvet’s eyes.

“Well?” Velvet stared at her expectantly. “What did you do?”

Night Light winced. “Velvet, honey, calm down, you’re being rude… I know it’s weird, but I feel perfectly fine, I’m sure it’s nothing dangerous--”

“You don’t know that!” Velvet shot back.

“No, but I do,” Celestia calmly interrupted her. “I understand your anger and your fear, Twilight Velvet, but I assure you the condition Night Light is currently affected by will have no negative effects on his health whatsoever.”

“How can you be so sure? It looks to me like Magical Overload!”

Celestia nodded calmly. “It is, yes. But not of the sort you’re worried about.”

Night Light couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “What the hay is Magical Overload?”

“A condition with symptoms matching the ones you are exhibiting,” Celestia answered. “It usually results from the use of dangerous, unstable magical artifacts that often overwrite the user’s own magical energy and replace it with their own. This can and often does have a very detrimental and corrupting influence on the user, potentially even driving them mad with power. There are many thoroughly-documented cases of this sort of Magical Overload, which I’m certain a mare as well-read as you, Twilight Velvet, have heard of, and I’m equally certain are the source of your fears. However, that is not what’s happening here. This is a much more benign case.”

“How do you know that?” Velvet demanded.

“Because I know for a fact the source of the overload is no Inspiration Manifestation or Alicorn Amulet,” Celestia said, and then gestured to herself. “The source, obviously, was me. And for that I apologize, to both of you, for frightening you. It was not my intention. It is a common side effect of the… magical enhancements I bestowed upon you, Night Light. When a pony is exposed to such powerful transfiguration frequently enough, the caster’s residual magic begins to remain in their body for a time, even after the spell is removed.”

Night Light fought a blush as he looked up at his own horn in his peripheral vision. “So that’s why it was gold like your magic… it literally is your magic…”

“Yes,” Celestia admitted, her blush returning for a moment. “But as I said, it is nothing like the more widely-known form of Magical Overload. This is completely benign, and it will dissipate on its own after a little while, no more than a day or so. If anything your magic will be more potent than usual during that time, though I wouldn’t advise being obvious about it.”

“I wasn’t planning to anyway,” Night Light answered, breathing a sigh of relief and smiling at Velvet. “There, see, Velvet, it’s totally harmless. I’m not going to be warped by evil magic. Everything’s fine.”

“Everything is not fine!” Velvet shouted over him, still glaring at Celestia. “Don’t you think you should have mentioned it a little sooner if it’s a common side effect, instead of waiting for it to happen so we could freak out about it?! It could have been anything as far as we knew! Do you have any idea how worried I was?!”

Celestia slowly shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t, Twilight Velvet, but I can certainly imagine. Again, all I can say is that I’m sorry. Night Light is exhibiting the symptoms of Magical Overload a bit sooner than usual, I was not expecting it to come up quite yet.” Celestia hesitated, again shifting her gaze to Night Light, although she didn’t quite meet his eyes. “…I had intended to warn you about it earlier this morning, actually… but… you had already gone when I woke…”

Night Light winced again. “O-oh… uh, about that…”

“You don’t have to explain yourself, Night Light,” Celestia responded quietly. “I’m sure you had your reasons…”

“No, Princess, don’t say that, I feel awful enough… I’m sorry I took off like that without saying goodbye, I… it’s just, I had to apologize to Velvet…”

“And a fat lot of good that did!” Velvet abruptly rounded on Night Light. “You probably got me fired dragging me into this stupid mess!”

“Wh--…me?!” Night Light recoiled indignantly. “I didn’t drag you into anything! I’m the one who told you to go back to work! You’re the one who insisted on chasing me down!”

“Well excuse me for being a little freaked out! I gave up my plans with you and went home lonely so you could go and mount her instead, and this is what happens?! The next time I see you she’s gone and… infected you with some leftover magic?! What was I supposed to do?!”

“She did not infect me with anything, it’s harmless!”

“Well I didn’t know that! I was scared!”

“That’s enough! Both of you, stop this!”

Celestia’s voice cut into the argument like a lightning bolt, freezing Night Light’s voice in his throat before he could take it any further. Velvet, too, abruptly found her jaw clamping shut, and dead silence filled the room almost instantly as both young Unicorns stared at their ruler in shock, neither of them having ever heard her raise her voice before. But much more telling was the deep pink blush in her cheeks, her calm and collected mask nowhere to be seen, shame and embarrassment written all over her face.

“Please,” she went on, quieter once again. “Do not direct your anger at one another. The blame in this matter is entirely mine. And I owe you both an even greater apology than I have already given. But it must wait until later. Night Light’s condition is not directly hazardous to his health, but it is not without potential consequences.”

Night Light’s eyes surged wide, the argument swiftly forgotten in favor of renewed fear and worry. “C-Consequences?”

“I thought you said it was harmless!” Velvet burst out, right back to shouting.

“It’s completely harmless,” Celestia repeated with a firm nod. “However… you were out in public like this.”

Night Light gulped. “In pub--? Y-you… are you saying it’s contagious?”

Celestia shook her head. “Not contagious, no… but your condition is very unique. Anypony who knows you – and many ponies in Canterlot know you – would notice the change in your magical energy. It’s possible… unlikely, but possible… that somepony could take a particular interest in or concern over the change. Questions would be asked, facts would be uncovered, connections would be made… and eventually, secrets could be revealed…”

And then Night Light got it. “You…y-you think somepony could figure out that you’ve been… t-that we’ve been…?” he stammered, going slightly pale.

“It’s possible, yes,” Celestia confirmed. “It wouldn’t be so terrible as though the sky were falling, but… I don’t think I need to tell you that I would prefer it does not happen.”

No, Night Light thought, she most certainly didn’t need to tell him. He could imagine the consequences just fine on his own. His reputation, tarnished. The validity of his position, questioned. His name, the butt of every dirty joke for years to come. Ponies whispering behind his back wherever he went. And it wouldn’t just happen to Night Light himself. Not even Celestia would be immune to the backlash. They would be forever labeled as a ruler who fraternized with her subordinates, and a guardpony who slept his way to the top…

“Wait, that’s all you’re worried about?”

Night Light whipped his head around to stare at Twilight Velvet. “What do you mean, ‘that’s all?!’ That’s a serious problem!”

“Yeah, it would be, if it had any chance of happening,” Velvet continued, looking back and forth between them. “Look, I understand that you don’t want this to get out to the public, but… I mean, how many ponies could have possibly seen you this early in the morning besides us?”

Night Light thought very hard about that for a moment. “I… well… there was Pommel just now, and he never shuts up--”

“Pommel knows where the line is, he wouldn’t betray your trust like that,” Velvet countered, her tone ironclad confidence. It was well-placed; she was completely right, and everypony in the room knew it.

“Well…” Night Light kept thinking aloud, “I talked to the old groundskeeper for a couple of minutes, he might have noticed my magic was a different color…”

“He has kept deeper and greater secrets than the details of my personal life. He won’t cause trouble,” Celestia answered.

“…Uh…?” Night Light stared at her quizzically.

Celestia apparently saw no need to qualify herself further, however. “Well,” she pressed on, looking thoroughly relieved, “if those are the only ponies you encountered, then perhaps Velvet is right, and we have nothing to worry about… we will simply ensure you aren’t seen by anypony else today. I will call for somepony to cover your absence, and you can take refuge somewhere private until the Magical Overload wears off--”

“Hang on, there was one more pony,” Night Light interrupted, looking to Twilight Velvet. “Your boss, that Feather Duster mare. She was right there when you noticed I was like this.”

“The Keeper of the Royal Archives?” Celestia asked. “She saw you?”

“Well… yes,” Velvet admitted hesitantly, “but she wouldn’t… I mean, why would she care?”

“Maybe because we kind of freaked out right in front of her?” Night Light reminded her.

“Yeah, but…”

“It would indeed be wise to speak with her about the matter,” Celestia said. “Feather Duster is a very intelligent mare with a keen eye, and access to the largest collection of knowledge in Equestria…”

“But, no, that’s ridiculous!” Velvet insisted. “She saw his face is glowing, therefore she can deduce he’s sleeping with the princess? Who could possibly make that leap in logic without knowing something in advance?”

“It’s just to be safe, Velvet,” Night Light reminded her. “It would make me feel better if we knew she wasn’t going to cause trouble. Besides, you really do need to get back there, if we hurry then maybe we can still save your job…”

Velvet groaned miserably, as though that were the absolute last thing she wanted to deal with right now, but eventually she conceded, nodding slowly under Night Light’s pleading gaze. “Fine… but I’m probably already fired anyway…”

“These are exceptional circumstances involving the health of somepony very close to you,” Celestia reminded her. “I’m sure she will understand that much. Come, we mustn’t waste time.”

The three ponies filed out of the Princess’ quarters and made their way toward the Royal Archives at a brisk trot, Night Light leading the way and Twilight Velvet reluctantly dragging her tail in the rear. The sun was out in full force as they reached the archive’s doors; although it felt like he had only just been here a few minutes ago at the break of dawn, in reality it had been at least an hour of frantic scrambling around, maybe more. Whatever else happened, Feather Duster was not going to be happy about that span of absence…

Night Light lifted a hoof to push the doors open, making a conscious choice to avoid doing so by magic for the time being. Unfortunately it wouldn’t have mattered; the door didn’t budge except to bump against the tumblers that kept it locked shut.

“What the…?” he murmured.

“Locked?” Velvet echoed his confusion. “Why would the library be locked? We were already open for the day…”

“I… don’t know. Maybe she was worried about what happened this morning, and locked up and left to look for you?” Night Light suggested.

Velvet snorted dismissively. “Feather Duster? Worried about me? Not likely. She barely says two words to me that aren’t orders, and that was before I was on thin ice. If she went anywhere it’s to get the forms she needs to fire me…”

“Regardless, either she is here now, or she will return here shortly, and so here is where we must be,” Celestia reasoned. She dipped her head for a moment, bringing her horn to bear, and tapped the tip of it against the doors, right between the handles. A small bead of golden magic remained behind at the spot she’d touched, which dissolved into the crack between the doors, and after a brief flicker of light the three ponies could hear the satisfying click of a lock as it came undone.

The front desk was abandoned when Night Light stepped forward again to push the doors open. It looked exactly as they’d left it an hour or so ago, actually; various scrolls and papers, Night Light’s bouquet of flowers, Velvet’s saddlebags and a healthy portion of their contents lay strewn across the desk, as well as the floor on either side of it. Feather Duster apparently hadn’t attempted to clean up the mess at all before going… wherever it was that she’d gone, which seemed odd to Night Light. He didn’t know the mare personally or anything, but from what he’d heard of her through Twilight Velvet, Feather Duster didn’t sound like the type of pony that would tolerate messes in her personal space. In which case, either she’d left to demand some poor soul come and clean up the mess, or something had occupied her focus completely enough to push the mess from her mind entirely.

Like your Magic Overload resulting from your illicit royal affair that she could expose to all of Equestria.

Night Light shook his head and cursed the intrusive thought away.

“Jeez, she really closed this place up tight,” Velvet said, stepping past the front desk into the oddly dark library. “All the curtains are drawn. I know I opened them this morning…”

“Perhaps she wished for privacy,” Celestia deduced.

“Privacy for what?”

Celestia narrowed her eyes at something far off in the darkness, tension growing upon her expression. “Research.”

Night Light followed the Princess’ gaze, and swiftly noticed what she had; a tiny, flickering glow of light from a distant candle or two at the far end of the room, barely noticeable around all the bookshelves between it and them, and the only source of light in the room aside from the scant slivers of sunlight peeking through the closed curtains.

“Oh ponyfeathers,” Velvet murmured. “Celestia’s right. She is in research mode.”

“How can you tell?” Night Light wondered aloud.

“That’s just what she does. She shuts out the rest of the world as completely as possible so her studies have her absolute, undivided attention. I’ve seen her at it before, it’s intense.”

“And unless you two have drastically reorganized the archives, that candlelight is coming from the medical journals section,” Celestia added, starting down the main aisle at a brisk trot.

Night Light let out a tense groan. “Three guesses what she’s researching,” he muttered, breaking into stride beside her.

“You guys, there’s no way she could…” Velvet started, jogging after them. “The leap of logic it would take to come to a conclusion like that is… is astronomical in size…!”

Neither Celestia nor Night Light responded, the both of them rounding the corner of the last bookshelf between them and the candlelight. Sure enough, the grey-maned librarian sat at a desk in the center of the aisle, a quill grasped in her off-white magical aura and scrawling notes across parchment with incredible speed. A lit candelabra hung from the ceiling overhead, illuminating the small stacks of books she had arranged neatly around her like a foal building a fort. Only a few titles were visible in the dim light, but they were all Night Light needed to confirm their earlier suspicions: Feather Duster had surrounded herself with what must have been every reference book, medical journal and professional research paper the library owned on the subject of Magical Overload.

Celestia seemed to notice the same thing, and though Night Light couldn’t be sure, he thought he saw a growing blush on her cheeks again in the flickering candlelight. Nevertheless, she stepped forward, announcing herself with a gentle clearing of her throat. “Ms. Feather Duster?”

“Princess Celestia,” Feather Duster replied, stiff and formal, barely even looking up from the desk. “I am sure you noticed, seeing as you would have had to undo a lock to get in here, but the library is closed.”

“I did indeed notice,” Celestia said, nodding slowly. “May I ask why?”

“I’m afraid I simply did not have enough hooves around to run the place,” Feather Duster answered. “My former apprentice chose to abandon her post and chase after her coltfriend rather than remain here where she was needed.”

Velvet’s whole body jerked, the words hitting her so hard even Night Light felt it. “Former apprentice…?”

“Oh yes. I’m sure there is plenty you’ve all come here to discuss, but I think we can easily establish that first and foremost, Miss Velvet, you are fired.”

Velvet jerked again like she’d been kicked in the face, falling back on her rear in shock. “Wh… n-no, ma’am, please, that’s not fair…”

“I agree,” Celestia began to add. “Twilight Velvet is--”

“I am sorry, Princess Celestia,” Feather Duster interrupted, “but you have already vouched for her once before. I listened to you at the time, against my better judgment, and she proceeded to misbehave yet again. I will not change my mind this time.”

“I would not blame you, were that the case,” Celestia countered, “but Twilight Velvet has done nothing wrong. She was merely--”

“More concerned with her coltfriend’s shenanigans than her obligations,” Feather Duster cut her off again. “I have no need for an apprentice who cannot set her personal life aside when it comes time for her responsibilities.”

“That’s a bunch of manure.”

All three mares turned, looking at Night Light in surprise. For a moment he wondered why, until his brain caught up with his mouth and he realized the words had come from him without even consciously thinking about it.

“Ex-cuse me, Captain?” Feather Duster snapped.

Night Light felt himself flush, but his tongue was surprisingly calm, and he could feels the words coming, and so he didn’t fight them. “Look, nopony knows better than me that there’s a time for fun and a time to be serious and responsible,” he began. “But there’s a limit. Responsibility can’t win out over having a personal life every time. If you can easily just close the library for a while like this when you don’t have the staffing you need, then it’s hardly as big a deal as you’re making it out to be when somepony has to leave for personal reasons. And I think being legitimately concerned over the health of her best friend and… and c-coltfriend, is enough to take priority over a couple of hours of work.”

Velvet’s hooves rose up to cover her mouth in awe. “Night Light…”

“And by the way,” he added, “I’ll thank you not to interrupt the Princess when she’s speaking to you. It’s rude and disrespectful.”

Night Light could swear he actually saw Celestia blush harder, and for a moment he feared she would scold him again for being too defensive of her, until she gave him a thankful smile, and he knew he’d been right to say so. As much as he’d learned that there was a time to treat her like a normal pony, she was still Equestria’s Princess, their leader, and there was still a time to treat her like the Princess she was. Now was one of those times, and this Feather Duster mare was being awfully rude about it.

In fact, she didn’t seem moved by his words at all. “Are you quite finished, Captain?” she said, her expression as stiff and deadpan as ever. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not in a hurry to put much stock in your words, given your transgressions.”

Night Light hesitated. “…Transgressions? What are you talking about?”

“Ah, we’re going to feign ignorance, are we?” Feather Duster asked, though Night Light was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question. “Very well then, I’ll just have to air out your dirty laundry myself. You mentioned your health was in question this morning. Care to elaborate?”

Night Light felt a knot growing in the pit of his stomach. “Uh… er…”

“No, of course you wouldn’t. Well I’m sorry to say, Night Light, that anypony with eyes could deduce that you are suffering from Magical Overload. And judging from the shade of magic overwhelming your own, it looks as though the source of the overload is Princess Celestia.”

“Y-you… you can tell that?” Night Light stammered.

“I can tell a lot of things, Captain,” Feather Duster answered. She stood from the desk for a moment and turned, briefly displaying the magical imprint of her namesake on her flank. “A lot of ponies see this cutie mark and think that my calling in life is to be a housekeeper. Somepony who loves to keep everything neat and tidy. But while it’s true that I appreciate cleanliness, in reality my cutie mark has nothing to do with cleaning or housework. It is about attention to detail. I observe, Captain. I can see and keep track of things that few other ponies are able to even notice, much less recall when pressed. It’s what got me where I am in life. It’s what got me this job. And it is what let me figure out all of this.”

“All of what, exactly?” Velvet demanded.

“Hmph.” Feather Duster turned her nose up at Night Light, sitting down again and returning her gaze to her books and notes. “I hate to break your heart, Miss Velvet, but your coltfriend here has been fraternizing with the Princess.”

“Bullshit.”

Night Light had already started going pale, and he was sure Celestia’s blush was getting stronger than ever, but Twilight Velvet’s expletive stopped both in their tracks. The mare had leapt to her hooves and set her face in an angry snarl like she was ready to tear her ex-boss a new tailhole. What the heck was she doing?

Feather Duster, again, was not fazed. “It’s the truth, Miss Velvet.”

“No, I am calling bullshit on this!” Velvet snapped. “Celestia accidentally gave him Magical Overload, therefore they’re having sex?! That’s complete guesswork and an absurd leap of logic, you have no proof whatsoever!”

“I have all the proof in the world, Miss Velvet. I could point out the guilty expressions on their faces right now, or the fact that you’ve come here to question me at all, or even the obvious scent of estrus coming from the Princess as rather telling evidence already, though admittedly circumstantial and inconclusive at best. But really,” she added, lifting a small scroll off the desk with her horn, “this is all the proof anypony would ever need.”

Night Light’s eyes went as huge as saucers.

It was Celestia’s note.

Oh buck no.

“Night Light,” Feather Duster held the note out in front of her and began to read it aloud. “The Royal Garden has grown quite parched. It requires a thorough watering. Please meet me at the castle after the sunset. Celestia. PS: Don’t forget the hose.” The scroll furled up in her magic aura again and tucked itself away among the rest of the librarian’s notes as she faced the stunned trio, giving them all a droll stare. “Honestly, even a simpleton would pick up on innuendo that unsubtle.”

Night Light quivered in his hooves. That was it. She knew the secret, and nopony in the room could deny it any longer. Even Velvet’s righteous fury had been cut off by such irrefutable proof, her expression blank and frozen. Her one true argument was gone. There was no absurd leap of logic here. Feather Duster was right, any idiot could have figured out what that note really meant.

“H-how in Equestria did you find that?” Celestia spoke up again at last, an ever-so-tiny waver in her voice, and even in the dim light there was no more hiding the deep crimson blush beneath her fur. “That was a private missive meant for him alone.”

“Your ‘underling’ was careless enough to leave it lying around where anypony could find it,” Feather Duster answered. “No doubt he dropped it in the midst of his panic attack when he realized what you’d done to him.”

I dropped it? Night Light wondered to himself. That didn’t sound right. He hadn’t even been carrying it that morning. At least, he didn’t think he was. What had he done with that note, actually? He’d shown it to Velvet last night when he received it, and then… then he couldn’t remember, he’d been so distracted by his ‘two mares’ dilemma. Had he stuck it inside his armor and it somehow fell out when he arrived at the library? But then why hadn’t it fallen out long before that, when he’d been undressed entirely in Celestia’s room…?

But no, he couldn’t worry about that right now. However it happened, she’d found the note, and she now knew everything. That was the part he needed to address.

“Ms. Duster,” Night Light spoke up, “I’m sorry you had to… get involved in this--”

“Believe me, I’m not happy to learn of it myself,” Feather Duster agreed. “But if it means exposing the truth about centuries of scandal, it’s a burden I’ll bear.”

“…What? Centuries of scandal?” Night Light echoed. “What are you talking about?”

“Hmph. Now that sounds like honest ignorance this time,” Feaster Duster said, throwing a dirty look toward Celestia. “Then again I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that she swore your father to secrecy, even from you.”

An unpleasant memory tingled in the back of Night Light’s brain. “My… father?”

“Feather Duster, that is enough,” Celestia snapped, crisp and firm suddenly despite her hot cheeks.

“No, Celestia, it is not enough,” Feather Duster countered, just as firmly. “It’s never really ‘enough’ for you, is it?”

Celestia’s lip twitched. “Orion Sparkle was an admirable pony, rest his soul, and I will not stand for you speaking ill of him.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure he was innocent enough,” Feather Duster agreed again, more dismissively this time. “It’s not him or his son here that’s to blame. Really this is about you.”

Night Light was thoroughly confused now. “Princess, what is she talking about? What does my father have to do with… with…?” he trailed off unable to finish the thought.

“You see, Captain, your Magical Overload isn’t unique,” Feather Duster spoke up when Celestia didn’t, her jaws having clamped shut and apparently at a momentary loss for words. The librarian swept one of the books piled on her desk out into mid-air before them and cracked it open to a page near the back of the book, revealing some sort of scrapbook Feather Duster herself had apparently made, clipping together a long list of what looked to Night Light like medical records, with one in particular highlighted and underlined with fresh ink.

Night Light peered at it closely, reading the blurb that she had highlighted. “Orion Sparkle… admitted to Canterlot General Hospital with possible symptoms of--” he gasped.

“Yes. Magical Overload,” Celestia abruptly found her voice again.

Feather Duster looked up in surprise. “Oh? So you’re actually willing to admit to your part in this scandal?”

“I have always been, despite what you have apparently assumed about me,” Celestia said. “But you are sorely mistaken if you believe this is some sort of ‘scandal.’ These are secrets of personal privacy, Feather Duster, not national security. But since you have insisted on dragging my secrets out into the open, I suppose we have no choice but to discuss it now.”

“Yes, lets,” Feather Duster agreed, an annoyingly smug smile of victory blooming across her muzzle that Night Light immediately felt an urge to smack off. “Now where was I--”

“You will be silent,” Celestia interrupted her again. “It is not the time, nor the place, nor could it ever be, for you to explain that kind of thing to my Captain. The truth shall come from me, and me alone, as I have always intended it to, before you forced my hoof early.”

Feather Duster was swiftly shocked into silence, and so Celestia took the floor without objection, leaving Night Light gazing up at his ruler in similar shocked awe. “Princess…?”

“It’s true, Night Light,” Celestia nodded. “Your father was recorded as contracting a case of Magical Overload himself, some thirty years ago, according to Canterlot General’s records. The case was swiftly withdrawn and closed, and anypony looking at it under normal circumstances would dismiss it as a false alarm that was quickly found to be something else. But Magical Overload is usually such a serious and potentially dangerous condition that any reported case of it, whether proven false or positive, is permanently archived. And before he withdrew from the hospital, Orion Sparkle was reported to be showing symptoms such as an ‘abnormal change in magical aura color.’ From blue to gold, specifically.”

Celestia unceremoniously yanked the scrapbook out of Feather Duster’s magical grasp with the superior power of her own, and flipped through the pages backward one by one, each page revealing another entry outlined in fresh ink. “As Ms. Feather Duster has apparently noticed, there are dozens of entries almost exactly like it, going back several hundred years,” she went on, poking a hoof at each of the marked entries and reading them aloud. “Gleaming Shield, complained of his magic turning gold, withdrew from the hospital a day later. Brilliant Ember, admitted one day at two o’clock in the morning with eyes glowing as bright as sunlight, was gone by midday. Ah, and here’s one she seems to have clipped from law enforcement records. Dusk Shine, was discovered looking for food in the royal kitchens by the Night Guard and mistakenly arrested as an intruder when a gold magical aura and an abnormal size of, quote, ‘twice that of a normal pony,’ left him unrecognizable. Sent to Canterlot General for evaluation, was released perfectly normal and with a full apology the next morning. Ah, we had a good laugh about that one…”

Celestia looked up for a moment toward Night Light, though her gaze was distant and not quite directly on him. “I’m sure most of these ‘symptoms’ sound familiar to you. As do many of the names, more importantly.”

Night Light gulped and slowly nodded. “Those are… my predecessors… and they all… they all had…?”

“Yes. Everypony on this list Feather Duster has collected was, at one time or another, Captain of the Royal Guard… and more privately, somepony I took as a lover in mating season. And because of the potency of my magic in particular being involved in assisting with that objective, nearly all of them at some point contracted a mild case of Magical Overload.”

Celestia now locked eyes with Night Light, sending surprised shivers down his spine under the sheer intensity of her gaze. “I told you that first evening, Night Light, I do not trust just anypony with my body at such a vulnerable time. They must always be a truly exceptional pony… one that I can trust implicitly, with anything. Only then could I even consider being intimate with them. Believe me when I say that I have never, and will never, abuse my station or yours for sex.”

“Of… of course I believe you, Princess,” Night Light stammered immediately. “I never thought otherwise.”

“Well that’s a nice sentiment, Celestia,” Feather Duster finally cut in again, standing stiff and incensed. “But it’s not that simple!”

“It is most certainly that simple,” Celestia countered, turning and frowning sternly at the elderly mare. “Who I choose to mate with is nopony’s business but my own.”

“Dress it up in whatever nice words you like, Celestia, but it still boils down to you choosing half your history of Guard Captains based on which candidates you’d rather take to bed with you!”

A shocked blush filled Celestia’s muzzle all over again at the accusation. “…Excuse me?”

“You heard me!” Feather Duster nearly shouted, making Night Light rear back a bit in shock himself. Feather Duster was hitting the crux of the axe she had to grind with Celestia, and it was coming out louder than he would have thought the old librarian capable of. “The Captain of the Guard is a noble position charged with protecting all of Equestria, and you are carelessly defiling it by making a final criterion out of whether or not they get your tail flagging! How many ponies who dreamed of the position have you denied because you weren’t interested in rutting them?! How many deserving ponies never reached that dream because they didn’t have the… parts to satisfy your heat cravings?! How many relationships and marriages and families have you hurt or destroyed by seducing stallions away from unwitting mares like--?!”

SMACK.

Feather Duster’s muzzle twisted to one side, the deep welt of a hoof-print rapidly forming on her cheek as the library fell silent, save for the echo of the slap to her face. She whipped her head back around a moment later, her expression livid, no doubt ready to rip into Celestia more aggressively than ever.

But it was not Celestia that had marched up to the desk to literally smack some sense into her.

“For somepony who claims to be super clever and observant, you’re being pretty bucking stupid right now,” Twilight Velvet said, shaking her hoof out a bit and dropping it back to the floor.

Feather Duster seethed, her teeth audibly grinding. “How dare you--!”

“No, how dare you!” Velvet cut her off, shoving her face up against the other mare’s. “What kind of petty, vindictive, stuck-up little snot-rag goes to this kind of insane effort to dig up a massive smear campaign against somepony who’s done nothing to deserve it?!”

“She has done everything to deserve it!”

“I don’t believe this, she’s the Princess, for pony’s sake! She’s done nothing but good for Equestria for centuries! How can you possibly think so little of her as to believe such garbage about her?! How can you villanize her for something as basic as having sex in mating season?!”

“How can you stand there and defend her?!” Feather Duster countered. “You should be thanking me, Miss Velvet! I am doing this for mares like you! She has been fraternizing with your partner behind your back and it deserves to be outed!”

“They are not fraternizing behind my back, you dense old lunatic!!!”

Feather Duster recoiled from Velvet’s furious shriek, and Night Light couldn’t help doing the same, shrinking back a bit against the floor. By the goddess, that mare was scary when she got angry. Harsh tone and earsplitting volume aside, her hooves were stamping on the floor, visibly fighting the urge to pop up and clock the old mare in the face again, and her horn was flickering and flashing violently with magical discharge, casting creepy and almost frightening shadows through their dimly lit corner of the library.

“M-Miss Velvet,” Feather Duster finally stammered when she found her voice again, “I think you are becoming a little unbalanced, and more than a little in denial. I realize you don’t want to believe something like this about your coltfriend, but the note from Celestia he dropped is impossible to argue with--”

“He didn’t drop it,” Velvet snarled, silencing her. “I did.”

Night Light gasped. Of course. That was it, wasn’t it? She’d taken the note to read it last night, and then… and then stuck it out of the way in her saddlebag and forgotten about it. She’d probably dropped the whole bag and gone to bed, and picked it right back up the next day and brought it back to work, where she’d knocked it over right in front of Feather Duster while chasing after him. Something must have caught her eye about the note – the royal seal, most likely – and she’d investigated from there…

Feather Duster meanwhile was starting to turn pale as she processed this new information. “I… I beg your pardon?”

“Yeah, you’d better be begging for my pardon!” Velvet snapped. “I know damn well what’s going on between Celestia and Night Light. I’ve known since mating season started. You know how I know? Because they told me.”

Feather Duster backpedaled a few paces, bumping against the bookshelf behind her. “But… but confessing the affair doesn’t excuse--”

“Oh my goddess, there was no affair!” Velvet shouted, marching after her until they were nose to nose again. “Night Light and I weren’t even together yet when Celestia asked him! And yes, she asked him! She did not seduce him away from me, she encouraged him to pursue me regardless! And when he did, and he told me what was going on between him and Celestia right up front? I was okay with it! When he got that note while I was with him? I could have said no and taken him home with me instead. But I didn’t. And if I had? If I said at any point that it bothered me? Celestia would have backed off immediately and dealt with estrus alone. She would have done the same if any of her past mates or their real partners had objected even once! As a matter of fact, she has done exactly that before! Because she is a good, honorable mare that deserves better than to be thought of as some kind of two-bit stallion thief by ignorant, stuck-up, know-it-all old nags like you!”

Feather Duster had shrunken down flat to the floor by now, wilting completely under the assault of Velvet’s words. But Velvet wasn’t finished yet. With a sharp jerk of her head as she aimed her horn, her crackling magic finally focused and burst out toward Celestia. Night Light very nearly jumped out in front of the violet beam on pure instinct, but it stopped short of the monarch, instead striking the scrapbook of ‘evidence’ Feather Duster had collected that still hovered in front of her. There was an angry flicker of effort as Velvet’s magic overtook Celestia’s without resistance, and then the entire book ignited in white-hot flames, turning every page to ash almost instantaneously. The magic vanished almost as quickly, and the book fell to the floor, nothing more than a pile of ash and the scorched remnants of its cover.

Feather Duster let out an incensed gasp. “You… you burned a book… you burned one of my books--!”

“I burned trash,” Velvet corrected her. “These are not your secrets to tell. So keep your mouth shut and don’t you dare try to drag Celestia or my coltfriend’s names through the mud again.”

“Y-you… you…”

“And by the way? Don’t worry about firing me. If this is the kind of pony you want me to be if I wanna become the head librarian someday, I don’t want it anymore. I quit.”

Velvet at last turned her back on the stammering, sputtering librarian, and walked back to rejoin Celestia and Night Light, who followed her in silent, wordless awe out of the dark library and back into the welcoming daylight filling the rest of the castle.

“Wow, Velvet,” Night Light was the first to speak up, picking up his pace a bit to trot beside her. “That was… I mean, I can’t believe how you stood up to her like that!”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Velvet muttered, her anger slowly burning out. “I’ve wanted to give her a piece of my mind for weeks anyway.”

“Nevertheless, we are indebted to you,” Celestia added, a thankful smile on her face. “It may take a bit of time for your words to sink in, but I think you may well have saved the both of us from a rather embarrassing public incident. I am deeply sorry it came at such a cost to you.”

“I said it’s not a big deal,” Velvet repeated with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Are you sure?” Night Light couldn’t help but press. “I mean, the librarian job, that was your dream, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, well…” Velvet shook her head. “Sometimes dreams aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. And living under her was no dream, it was a nightmare.”

“But what will you do now?”

Velvet shrugged again. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll write books instead of stock shelves with them. I’ve always kinda wanted to write a good adventure story…”

“I would be happy to personally see that you are published,” Celestia offered, “as thanks for what you’ve done today.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Velvet stopped her. “We still have a lot to discuss. All three of us.”

Celestia paused her stride, glancing curiously down at Velvet. After a tense moment of consideration, Celestia gave her a slightly more strained smile. “Yes… I suppose we do, don’t we?” She nodded, stepping forward to take the lead. “Very well… come with me, Velvet… and you too, Night Light… and let us talk.”

Night Light gulped, and wordlessly followed the other two mares back toward Celestia’s chambers, uncertain fear and tension shooting through his mind and body.

Perhaps he wasn’t quite out of the woods yet after all.